Battle of Harlem Heights 1776
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 16 September 1776 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1776 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | United States | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Revolutionary War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of Great Britain, United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 40.8119, -73.9636 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Harlem Heights was fought on September 16, 1776, in the Harlem Heights, Manhattan, during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War. A force of just under 1,800 American troops under General George Washington engaged a force of just under 1,600 British troops under Brigadier-general Alexander Leslie.
An early morning skirmish between a patrol of Knowlton's Rangers and pickets of Leslie's light infantry brigade developed into a running fight as the British pursued the Americans back through woods towards Washington's position on the Harlem Heights. The overconfident British light infantry advanced too far from their lines without support and exposed themselves to an American counterattack. Seeing this, Washington ordered a flanking maneuver which failed to cut off the British force but, in the face of this attack and facing pressure from American troops arriving from Harlem Heights, the outnumbered British retreated.
Meeting reinforcements coming from the south and with the added support of a pair of field guns, the British light infantry turned and made a stand in open fields at the Harlem Heights. The Americans, also reinforced, came on in strength and there followed a lengthy exchange of fire.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Harlem Heights (revision 1380723782), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the American Revolutionary War
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- Siege of Savage's Old Fields 1775
- Ambush of Geary 1776
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- Battle of Fort Washington 1776
- Battle of Iron Works Hill 1776
- Battle of Long Island 1776
All 190 battles of the American Revolutionary War →
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