Siege of Fort Mifflin - Siege - October 22-23

October 22-23

A Hessian force under Colonel Carl von Donop attacked Fort Mercer on October 22 in the Battle of Red Bank. The 1st Rhode Island Regiment under Colonel Christopher Greene had arrived at the fort only on October 11 after leaving Peekskill, New York on September 29. Colonel Israel Angell's 2nd Rhode Island Regiment reached Red Bank a week later and Major Thayer was sent with 150 soldiers to help garrison Fort Mifflin. When it became clear that the fort was about to be attacked, Thayer and his men recrossed the river to help in Fort Mercer's defense. After Donop summoned the fort to surrender twice and each time received a negative response, he resolved to storm the place. The Rhode Islanders waited until their Hessian adversaries reached the abatis and then opened fire. The result was a one-sided slaughter. Greene's garrison lost 14 killed, 21 wounded, and one captured while inflicting 90 killed, 227 wounded, and 69 captured on their foes. The Hessians lost a high proportion of officers, including Donop who was mortally wounded.

The following day saw another stunning disaster for the British. In support of the assault on Fort Mercer, a squadron from Admiral Howe's fleet moved upriver under the command of Captain Francis Reynolds in the ship of the line HMS Augusta (64). Accompanying the Augusta was the sloop HMS Merlin (18) under Commander Samuel Reeve and the frigates HMS Roebuck (44), Captain Andrew Snape Hamond, HMS Pearl (32), Captain Wilkinson, and the HMS Liverpool (28), Captain Henry Bellew. A force of 200 British Grenadiers waited to make an amphibious assault on Mud Island when the fort's artillery fire was suppressed.

While bombarding Fort Mifflin, the Augusta and Merlin went aground. High tide came that evening, but contrary winds prevented sufficient depth for the ships to be freed. On October 23, the American forts concentrated their fire on the two stricken ships. HMS Isis (50) worked its way alongside the stranded sixty-four in a rescue attempt. British accounts claimed that American gunnery did only slight damage but that flaming wads from the ships' guns caused Augusta to catch fire. The Americans asserted that a lucky hit from one of Fort Mifflin's red-hot shot or a fire ship started the blaze. An American soldier in the fort wrote that the fire started at the stern of the sixty-four and that the flames spread rapidly. At mid-day, the Augusta blew up in a tremendous blast that broke windows in Philadelphia. According to Captain Montresor, 60 sailors, a lieutenant, and the ship's chaplain died while struggling in the water. The loud explosion was heard nearly 30 miles (48 km) away in Trappe, Pennsylvania. After the destruction of the Augusta the crew of the Merlin set their ship on fire and abandoned ship. At length the Merlin blew up in a less spectacular explosion.

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Famous quotes containing the word october:

    The autumnal change of our woods has not yet made a deep impression on our own literature yet. October has hardly tinged our poetry.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)