Battle of Harlem Heights

The Battle of Harlem Heights provided the Continental Army with a badly needed morale boost just one day after the humiliating rout at Kip's Bay. American light infantry under Colonel Thomas Knowlton encountered British light infantry skirmishing south of the American position. When the British sounded a fox hunting bugle call — apparently mocking the retreating Americans — Washington ordered a counterattack.

Knowlton and Major Andrew Leitch led a flanking attack while other units demonstrated frontally. The flanking force engaged before reaching its intended position, and both Knowlton and Leitch were mortally wounded in the initial exchange. But American troops held their ground and pushed the British back steadily, fighting with confidence they had lacked the day before. The British eventually withdrew. Washington ordered his men not to pursue beyond the American lines.

The battle cost about 30 Americans against roughly 170 British casualties. After the disasters at Long Island and Kip's Bay, the Army's confidence had been badly shaken. Harlem Heights demonstrated that American soldiers could stand their ground against British regulars and drive them from the field — a crucial psychological restoration at a moment when the army's survival was in question. Thomas Knowlton, who died of his wounds, was one of the Continental Army's most promising officers, the founder of the Rangers — one of America's first elite reconnaissance units.