Washington Crossing The East River

There is not a famous painting of this river crossing on the night of August 29/30, 1776 unlike the crossing of the Delaware before the Battle of Trenton four months later (see The Jersey Campaign) but it was just as important for achieving American independence.

In March 1776 the British abandoned Boston, sailing away to Nova Scotia.  There, they were reinforced and developed a plan to capture New York City.  Once New York was occupied they could move up the Hudson and sever the troublesome New England colonies from the other colonials and end the rebellion.  In July, a huge British fleet appeared and offloaded more than 20,000 troops onto Staten Island (lower left on map below).  The next step was to land on Long Island and from there launch an attack on the city (which in the 18th century was limited to lower Manhattan).  To counter this General Washington made a risky and foolish decision to place the bulk of the American army on Long Island. The problem was that with the British fleet able to control the waters around New York, a defeat of the Americans on Long Island ran the risk of having the entire army trapped and effectively ending the revolution.

That is what almost happened as a result of the Battle of Long Island on August 27.  British troops landed on Long Island and advanced to the hills shown on the map.  They found a path through the hills (far right on the map) and around the American's left flank routing Washington's poorly-trained soldiers in the ensuing battle.  Washington and his remaining 9,000 men retreated to the banks of the East River across from Manhattan.  With the British army preparing to attack on his front, if the British fleet could push up the East River the American army and George Washington would be trapped.

(Map from Racontours.com)

Providentially, on the 29th, a storm blew in from the northeast preventing the British from sailing up the East River.  The General ordered that every flat bottom boat and sloop in Manhattan and the Bronx be sent to Brooklyn and that night, Washington began to evacuate his men helped by a fog that came in after the storm ended.  With British soldiers close by any noise indicating an evacuation could trigger an attack.  Quietly and stealthily the Americans moved across the river completing the evacuation shortly after dawn with not a man lost.  General Washington was the last man on the last boat to cross.(From Racontours.com)

The British were stunned to find the American entrenchments empty.