The Battle of Fort Washington is a battle fought in New York on November 16, 1776 during the American Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain.

It is a British victory that gains the surrender of the remnant of the garrison of Fort Washington near the north end of Manhattan Island.

It is one of the worst Patriot defeats.

After defeating the Continental Army under Commander-in-Chief General George Washington at the Battle of White Plains, the British Army forces under the command of Lieutenant General William Howe plan to capture Fort Washington, the last American stronghold on Manhattan.

General Washington issues a discretionary order to General Nathanael Greene to abandon the fort and remove its garrison—at this time numbered at  twelve hundred men[ but later to grow to  three thousand—to New Jersey.

Colonel Robert Magaw, commanding the fort, declines to abandon it as he believes it can be defended from the British.

Howe's forces attack the fort before Washington reaches it to assess the situation.

Howe launches his attack on November 16

He leads an assault from three sides: the north, east and south.

Tides in the Harlem River prevent some troops from landing and delay the attack.

When the British move against the defenses, the southern and western American defenses fall quickly.

Patriot forces on the north side offered stiff resistance to the Hessian attack, but they too are eventually overwhelmed.

With the fort surrounded by land and sea, Colonel Magaw chooses to surrender.

A total of fifty-nine Americans are killed and Two thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven are taken as prisoners of war.

After this defeat, most of Washington's army is chased across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania, and the British consolidate their control of New York and eastern New Jersey.