ton then transferred his army to New York and met Sir
William Howe at the Battle of Long Island on 27 Au-
gust 1776. He erred badly in drawing up his force of
18,000 men in the open where, in a regular, set-piece
engagement, they were badly mauled; however, because
Howe was reluctant to follow up his victory, Washington
was able to withdraw his forces across the East River to
Manhattan. Faced with growing British reinforcements
arriving in New York (which remained in British hands
throughout the war), Washington decided to withdraw
north up the Hudson river. Instead of following him,
though, Howe took his force south toward New Jer-
sey and threatened an advance on Philadelphia late in
1776.
Washington saw the danger to the American cause
if Philadelphia fell. He therefore split his army into three
and took one part, about 5,000 men, south around New
York to the Raritan River at New Brunswick, reaching
it on 1 December 1776. On 7–8 December, his army
crossed the Delaware river further south, and he ensured
their safety by capturing or destroying all the boats on
the northern bank to prevent Howe crossing behind
him. Washington’s last troops embarked from Trenton
as the first British troops entered the town. Howe, un-
able to pursue him and reluctant to campaign in the
winter, dispersed his troops in garrisons across New
Jersey and decided to wait for the spring. Washington
had other ideas, and on the evening of 25 December
1776, he took a force back across the river and attacked
the camp of Hessians at Trenton. In what was an almost
bloodless victory, he captured over 900 prisoners plus
weapons and cannon. The battle immediately brought
the British general Lord cornWallis south with 8,000
men, determined to destroy the American army, but at
Princeton in a skillful night maneuver (2 January 1777),
Washington marched his men around Cornwallis’s force
and routed the British by attacking from their rear.
In August 1777, a British force landed south of
Washington’s force and marched north to try again to
take Philadelphia. At the Battle of the Brandywine (11
September 1777), Cornwallis brought in forces from a
flank, and Washington’s army, badly defeated, was lucky
to escape annihilation. The British then marched on
and captured Philadelphia unopposed on 26 September
1777.
Forced to withdraw with his hungry and exhausted
army to Valley Forge, west of Philadelphia, Washington
spent the winter of 1777–78 in restoring the morale
and equipment of his army and fending off conspira-
cies against him in Congress and from other generals,
including Horatio gates. Vital assistance to the Ameri-
can cause came when France entered the war in February- When the British forces in Pennsylvania and New
Jersey began to move back to New York in the spring be-
cause of the threat of a French blockade of the Delaware
river, Washington marched his forces quickly eastward to
cut them off and met Sir Henry Clinton’s army at Mon-
mouth (June 28 1778). However, a certain American
victory was ruined by the actions of General Charles Lee,
who suddenly ordered his troops to withdraw. Washing-
ton hurried forward and personally restored the Ameri-
can lines, but the opportunity was lost and the British
were able to continue their march to Sandy Hook while
Washington was forced to withdraw to New Brunswick.
Nevertheless, the arrival of the French fleet off New York
isolated the British forces there, and Washington placed
some of his forces around the city and established his
main base at West Point on the Hudson.
There was then a period of stalemate. Without a
navy, Washington was unable to take New York, and the
British were reluctant to move outside the city. There
was fighting in the Carolinas to the south, but not until
1781 did Washington fight another major engagement.
In August that year, he agreed with the French admiral
François-Joseph de Grasse that the French fleet would
land troops to put pressure on Cornwallis to the south.
After elaborate precautions of secrecy and making an
ostentatious pretense of preparing to attack Clinton
in New York, Washington hurried his soldiers south
through New Jersey, embarked them in Delaware Bay,
and landed at Williamsburg, Virginia. Cornwallis, who
had marched north from the Carolinas, entrenched him-
self and his army at Yorktown and was promptly besieged
by Washington, who, supported by the soldiers from the
French fleet, forced the British general to surrender on
21 October 1781. With the exception of some minor
skirmishes, the war was over. Washington was present
when Clinton evacuated New York on 25 November
1783, took his leave of his staff on 4 December, and
tendered his resignation to the Continental Congress on
23 December.
Despite his desire to retire from public affairs and
to concentrate on administering his estates, Washington
was unhappy with the political confusion that followed
the war and urged that some radical reform was needed
to the Articles of Confederation of 1777. He reluctantly
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