The Northern Strategy, 1776

Examines the 1776 northern campaign of the American Revolution, detailing key battles and British-American strategies.

On August 22, 1776, British troops began landing on Long Island. The much-delayed response to the outbreak of hostilities in Britain’s North American Colonies had finally arrived.

On the face of it, the rebellious Americans faced a daunting prospect. The British army, under the command of William Howe, numbered more than 25,000 men, supported by a huge fleet of warships and transports commanded by his brother. The fledgling Continental Army, led by George Washington and stricken with disease, could muster less than half that number of men and had to rely on state troops and militia. To the north, meanwhile, Sir Guy Carleton led a second British army striking southwards from Canada, threatening to cut the colonies in two.

Over the ensuing months, Howe relentlessly chased Washington’s dwindling army, inflicting major defeats in and around New York and threatening to end the rebellion before Christmas. As a harsh winter set in, the few remaining Continental soldiers found themselves underfed, under-dressed and under-equipped as thousands of British and German troops fanned out across the countryside to re-establish control.

How Washington survived, and kept enough of his army intact to inflict stinging defeats on the British to end the campaign, is one of the great feats of military history.