Pell's Point, Battle of
Years: 1776 - 1776
The Battle of Pell's Point (October 18, 1776), also known as the Battle of Pelham, is a skirmish fought between British and American troops during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War.
The conflict takes place in what is now part of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, New York City.
On October 12, British forces land at Throgs Neck in order to execute a flanking maneuver that will trap General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces, and the main body of the Continental Army on the island of Manhattan.
The Americans thwarted the landing, and Gen. Sir William Howe, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, looked for another location along Long Island Sound to disembark his troops.
On October 18, he lands four thousand men at Pelham, three miles (four point eight kilometers) north of Throgs Neck.
Inland are seven hundred and fifty men of a brigade under the command of the American Col. John Glover.
Glover positions his troops behind a series of stone walls and attacks the British advance units.
As the British overrun each position, the American troops fall back and reorganize behind the next wall.
After several such attacks, the British break off, and the Americans retreat.
The battle delays British movements long enough for Washington to move the main army to White Plains and avoid being surrounded on Manhattan.
After losing to the British in a battle at White Plains, and losing Fort Washington, Washington retreats across New Jersey to Pennsylvania.
