Battle of Red Bank

The Battle of Red Bank was a remarkable American defensive victory in which a small Continental garrison repulsed a much larger Hessian assault on Fort Mercer. The fort on the Delaware River was essential to maintaining American communications south of Philadelphia and denying the British easy supply access to their occupied capital.

Colonel Christopher Greene commanded only about 400 Rhode Island Continentals defending Fort Mercer. Colonel Carl von Donop led 2,000 Hessians in a confident assault, having dismissed the fort as easily taken. Von Donop divided his force into two attacking columns and advanced without adequate reconnaissance.

The assault was catastrophic for the Hessians. Colonel von Donop himself was mortally wounded almost immediately, shot three times in the attacking column. The Hessians could not breach the fort's walls, and American defenders poured devastating fire into the attackers from their parapets. Both columns were repulsed with enormous casualties — about 400 killed and wounded. As von Donop lay dying, he reportedly said: 'I die the victim of my ambition and of the avarice of my sovereign.' Christopher Greene's brilliant defense earned him widespread praise and contributed to the myth of Rhode Island Continentals as among the best soldiers in the Continental Army.