Background
British General William Howe, after evacuating Boston in March 1776, regrouped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and embarked in June on a campaign to gain control of New York City. The campaign began with an unopposed landing on Staten Island in early July. British troops made another unopposed landing on Long Island on August 22, south of the areas where General George Washington's Continental Army had organized significant defenses.
After losing the Battle of Long Island on August 27, General Washington and his army of 9,000 troops escaped on the night of August 29–30 to York Island (as Manhattan was then called). General Howe followed up with a landing on Manhattan on September 15, but his advance was checked the next day at Harlem Heights. After an abortive landing at Throg's Neck, he landed troops with some resistance at Pell's Point on October 18 to begin an encircling maneuver that was intended to trap Washington's army between that force, his troops in Manhattan, and the Hudson River, which was dominated by warships of the Royal Navy. Howe established a camp at New Rochelle, but advance elements of his army were near Mamaroneck, only 7 miles (11 km) from White Plains, where there was a lightly defended Continental Army supply depot.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of White Plains
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