Landing at Kip's Bay - Background

Background

The American Revolutionary War had not gone well for the British military in 1775 and early 1776. At besieged Boston, the arrival of heavy guns for the Continental Army camp prompted General William Howe to withdraw from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia in March 1776. He regrouped there, acquired supplies and reinforcements, and embarked in June on a campaign to gain control of New York City. Anticipating that the British would next attack New York, General George Washington moved his army there to assist General Putnam in the defensive preparations, a task complicated by the large number of potential landing sites for a British force.

Howe's troops began an unopposed landing on Staten Island in early July, and made another unopposed landing on Long Island, where Washington's Continental Army had organized significant defenses, on August 22. On August 27, Howe successfully flanked Washington's defenses in the Battle of Long Island, leaving Washington in a precarious position on the narrow Brooklyn Heights, with the British Army in front and the East River behind him. On the night of August 29–30, Washington successfully evacuated his entire army of 9,000 troops to York Island (as Manhattan was then known).

Despite showing discipline and unity during the evacuation, the army quickly devolved in despair and anger. Large numbers of militia, many of whose summertime enlistments ending in August, departed for home. Leadership was questioned in the ranks, with soldiers openly wishing for the return of the colorful and charismatic General Charles Lee. Washington sent a missive to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia asking for some direction—specifically, if New York City, which then occupied only the southern tip of Manhattan Island, should be abandoned and burned to the ground. "They would derive great conveniences from it, on the one hand, and much property would be destroyed on the other," Washington wrote.