Following the American debacle at Kip’s Bay the previous day, the British troops marched into New York City and the Americans fell back to their entrenchments on Harlem Heights.

Washington ordered a small party of 150 men under the command of Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton to move out and reconnoiter the British position.  Knowlton quickly recognized the British were not planning a major assault but his force had brought about the attention of the British light infantry. Soon Knowlton’s Rangers were outnumbered and quickly retreated back to the American lines. When Knowlton reached safety, the British light infantry paused, placing them out in front of their main lines. Washington seized the opportunity and ordered an assault on their rear by Knowlton’s men and a reinforcement of 200 Virginia soldiers from the 3rd Virginia Regiment under Major Andrew Leitch.

Though the American attack was supposed to be in the rear of the British light infantry, because of confusing terrain and attacking too soon, the flanking column instead hit the British in their flank. The attack still had an adverse effect on the British light infantry as they began to fall back. The Americans fought with determination and bravery. Washington wrote the next day that “The General most heartily thanks the troop commanded yesterday by Major Leitch, who first advanced upon the enemy, and the officer who so resolutely supported them.”

At the head of the attacking column both Knowlton and Leitch led their men forward to attach the British flank. Early in the attack both men went down wounded. Knowlton died that day, Leitch took three musket balls to the abdomen and was carried off the field. At first most reported his condition as improving and he was thought to survive his ordeal.  But he would eventually die a few weeks later, the doctor writing that “[I] disagreeable duty of informing Mrs. Leitch through you, of the death of her husband is imposed upon me. He expired yesterday morning at Hackinsack Bridge where he had been removed for his better accommodation…But on the 28th Sept he was seized by lock’d jaw – with spasms about his neck and throat so violent as to baffle every effort to minister to him by medicine.”

Soon the British began to retreat back to their main line. Washington then ordered an attack along his line and the British light infantry fell back to the main line in confusion. Soon the entire British line began to give way. After about a 90 minute fight, Washington learned that more British forces were arriving on the field and ordered his men back to the main line. Though not a major victory, the American army had finally stood up to the British and even for a moment, pushed them off the field in combat. The British suffered 14 killed and an estimated 154 wounded, with the Americans suffering 30 killed and 100 wounded.

Today the area of the Harlem Heights battlefield is now partly under the campus of Columbia University in New York City. There is a simple plaque on the wall on the east side of Broadway north of 117th Street. This plaque commemorates the Battle of Harlem Heights and depicts Major Andrew Leitch and Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton being wounded. You can still see the rock ledge nearby where they launched their ill-fated attack. Near here is where Leitch was mortally wounded while turning the flank of the British line.

Learn more about this historic event in Mark Maloy and Dan Welch’s new book on the 1776 New York campaign: Conquer or Die, out this November!

On September 15, 1776, William Howe’s troops landed at Kip’s Bay on Manhattan. After defeating Washington’s troops a couple weeks earlier at Long Island, Howe now intended to capture New York City. Kip’s Bay was located neat present-day E 34th Street on the East River. This area was a weak point in Washington’s defenses on Manhattan. The area was defended by Col. William Douglas’s 1,500-man brigade and a third of them were sick, and of the remainder, only half of that number were fit enough to man the trenches and oppose the landing.

At 10:00 a.m. the first wave of 80 British flatboats moved into the river with 4,000 British and Hessian troops aboard. By 11:00 a.m., the British fleet opened a cannonade against Douglas’s position. Approximately 80 guns fired on the militiamen for more than an hour. Their shallow ditches and weak defenses, coupled with their greenness, led them to a rout in the face of this overwhelming show of force by British naval superiority. General Clinton’s aide-de-camp, Francis Rawdon, from his boat saw Douglas’s men break and run. Clinton’s landing party thus, “pressed to shore . . . landed, and formed without losing a single man.”

As the first wave of British and Hessians secured the beachhead, not all of Douglas’s men were able to escape as they retreated toward the King’s Bridge Road. Bartholomew James wrote in his journal that he “saw a Hessian sever a rebel’s head from his body and clap it on a pole in the intrenchments.” One historian asserted that, as other Americans surrendered, hands upward, that Hessians shot or bayoneted them. 

While Douglas’s men fled, George Washington finally arrived within a mile of the Patriot position at Kip’s Bay. “As soon as I heard the firing, I rode with all possible despatch,” Washington wrote to Congress the next day. Somewhere on Murray Hill, Washington came across General Putnam, who also rode towards the sound of the British salvos. “[T]o my great surprise and mortification,” Washington recounted, “I found the troops that had been posted in the lines retreating with the utmost precipitation . . . flying in every direction. . . . I used every means in my power to rally them into some order; but my attempts were fruitless and ineffectual.”

Washington “drew his sword and snapped his pistols, to check them; but they continued their flight,” noted James Thacher, an army doctor. As Washington’s ire at his fleeing men raged on, Col. William Smallwood reported that the Connecticut troops in flight “were caned and whipped by the Generals Washington, Putnam, and Mifflin, but even this indignity had no weight, they could not be brought to stand one shot.”

Approximately 2,000 Continental soldiers now appeared under the command of Brig. Gens. Samuel Parsons and John Fellows. Seeing the retreat of the Connecticut Militia and a pursuing enemy was enough to break these reinforcements. “The Panic that struck Gen. Fellows’s & communicated itself to Gen. Parsons’ Brigade disgraced the last Retreat,” General Greene recalled. “The 2 Brigades run away from about 40 or fifty men, and left Gen Washington standing alone within an hundred yards of the enemy.” 

Washington was enraged by the cowardice of his men, and General Heath saw the normally reserved general break. “Gen. Washington threw his hat on the ground, and exclaimed, ‘Are these the men with which I am to defend America?’”

As the despondent commander tried in vain to rally and inspire his men, only the bravery and stubbornness of two of the general’s aides led them to grab the bridle of Washington’s horse and face him about to leave the field.

Learn more about this fateful and shameful day for American arms (and the patriotic efforts of a female New York patriot) in Mark Maloy and Dan Welch’s new book on the 1776 New York campaign: Conquer or Die, out this November!

On June 28, 1776, nine British warships under the command of Sir Peter Parker weighed anchor and began moving toward Sullivan’s Island outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Col. William Moultrie, commanding the 2^nd South Carolina Regiment in an unfinished palmetto log fort, ordered his men to their posts to prepare for a defense. The first four British ships moved into position and anchored 400 yards from the fort. In an amazing display of British firepower, the British ships began to fire broadsides, simultaneously firing all the cannon from one side of the ship. The broadsides were deafening as hundreds of British cannonballs screeched through the air and slammed into the palmetto walls of the fort. Local newspapers later described the cannonade as “one of the most heavy and incessant cannonades perhaps ever known.”

As the walls of the fort shook violently, Moultrie’s men coolly manned their cannon and returned the fire as best they could. A continuous roar of cannon fire from hundreds of artillery pieces belched forth, quickly filling the harbor with the sight of white smoke and the smell of burning sulfur. The crash of the cannonballs mixed with the screams of wounded men filled the air.

As the British cannon boomed away, their solid shot hit the walls of the palmetto fort. But the soft, spongy wood of the palmetto (and the 16 feet of sand behind them) absorbed the shock and the balls either buried themselves into the wall or bounced off and fell harmlessly to the ground. Meanwhile, the British ships endured terrible damage from the American shore batteries. American cannonballs smashed into the oak of the British ships, causing havoc and bloodshed.

As the British front four ships continued to trade shots with Moultrie’s men, three other British ships started a planned movement around Sullivan’s Island to fire into the unprotected rear of the fort. However, the British pilots did not know the configuration of the harbor; thus, they maneuvered toward the vulnerable rear, they ended up grounding on a shallow sand bar known as the “Middle Ground.” All three ships became stuck on the sand and were now out of the battle. This costly error stole from the British their best option for driving Moultrie and his men from the fort.

As the British navy realized they were in for a long-drawn-out fight, the British army north of Sullivan’s Island attempted to cross the Breach Inlet and land soldiers on Sullivan’s Island but were driven back. One Patriot remembered that the American artillery “spread Havock [sic], Devastation, and Death, and always made them retire faster than they advanced.” The battle now depended entirely on the action occurring at the unfinished fort.

A surgeon with the British fleet noted that the British ships were “raked fore and aft” by American artillery. He wrote that “perhaps an instance of such slaughter cannot be produced; twice the quarter-deck was cleared of every person except Sir Peter.” In the maelstrom on the British flagship, the Bristol, British officers and sailors quickly fell. The captain of the Bristol, John Morris, had his arm ripped off by an American cannonball and died a week later. The former royal governor of South Carolina, William Campbell, was also on board the Bristol and suffered a wound to his side and eventually died from it two years after the battle. Sir Peter Parker, commander of the British fleet, himself was wounded slightly in the fighting—his breeches were torn apart, and his thigh and knee were cut and bloody and needed to be helped below deck. One British officer on the Bristol noted that “no slaughterhouse could present so bad a sight, with blood and entrails lying about, as our ship did.”

If you are looking for something to do this Friday, May 8, 2026, consider coming to the National Museum of the United States Army for their 2026 Revolutionary War Symposium! There year has great lineup of speakers, including a few Emerging Revolutionary War historians.

The focus of the symposium is on the years 1777-1779. Billy Griffith will speaking about the Battle of Monmouth and Mark Maloy will be speaking about the Southern Campaign during these years. Other speakers include Michael Harris, Kevin Weddle, Gary Ecelbarger, Steven Elliott, and Iris de Rode. The symposium is free. For more information and to register to attend visit their website.

If you have never been to the museum, it is a fantastic experience, and you will be able to see the new 250th exhibit Call to Arms: The Soldier and the Revolutionary War, an exhibit Emerging Revolutionary War historian Mark Maloy helped write. They also have a new augmented reality exhibit focused on the Revolutionary War.

Check out Emerging Revolutionary War’s latest project done in conjunction with Prager University. PragerU is a 501c3 non-profit that works with multiple school systems across the country. They have a series of history themed 5-minute videos geared towards younger audiences. These videos get hundreds of thousands of views and introduce many “emerging” viewers to many stories from American history. Emerging Revolutionary War historians were invited to narrate multiple videos and they have begun to roll out this week. Be sure to check out Rob Orrison’s video on the Battles of Lexington and Concord and stay tuned on Monday for Mark Maloy’s video on the Battle of Trenton. More will be coming out over the next few weeks as the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in July. You can also access their videos on their YouTube page. To learn more about these battles be sure to check out the Emerging Revolutionary War book series!

Where do our rights come from?  The answer to this question is at the heart of the pine tree flag that was flown by soldiers and sailors during the Revolutionary War. The Founding Fathers were very clear about where they believed rights came from. In the Declaration of Independence, the Founders say that their “unalienable rights” were “endowed by their Creator”.  This was a distillation of hundreds of years of religious and enlightenment thought and writing. Because their rights came from God, the role of government was not to provide rights, but to protect their natural rights from people or governments that would infringe them. 

If a government were to attempt to subvert a people’s natural rights, who could the people appeal to for justice? At that point, the only recourse is an appeal to God or Heaven to protect their natural rights.

The actual phrase comes from a passage in John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government (1689): “And where the body of the people, or any single man, is deprived of their right, or is under the exercise of a power without right, and have no appeal on earth, then they have a liberty to appeal to heaven, whenever they judge the cause of sufficient moment . . . And therefore, though the people cannot be judge, so as to have, by the constitution of that society, any superior power, to determine and give effective sentence in the case; yet they have, by a law antecedent and paramount to all positive laws of men, reserved that ultimate determination to themselves which belongs to all mankind, where there lies no appeal on earth, viz. to judge, whether they have just cause to make their appeal to heaven.” [emphasis added]

As war between American colonists and British regulars began in 1775, the colonists stressed that the need for war was to defend their natural rights, or the “rights of Englishmen.”  Supporters of the patriot cause developed numerous flags and banners that highlighted the cause for which they were fighting.  These banners which flew from ships, forts, and carried into battle often included symbols and motifs as well as words and phrases.  There were rattlesnake flags with the words “Don’t Tread on Me”.  There were regimental flags with Latin phrases.  Many included stars and stripes, though a standard American national flag was not developed by the Congress until 1777.  Among the banners and flags created in the early days of the conflict that demonstrated the justice of their cause, was an “Appeal to Heaven” flag.

This popular flag that was flown by the colonists was a white flag with a green pine tree in the center and the words “An Appeal to Heaven” (sometimes it would say “An Appeal to God”) scrawled across it. No version of this flag still exists today, but descriptions from the time tell us what it looked like. This flag had much symbolism beyond the important phrase.

The pine tree symbolized the New England colonists’ home. The pine tree had long been used as a symbol of Massachusetts during the colonial period.  The eastern white pine was very common to the area and New Englanders adopted the tree as a symbol of their land as early as the 17^th century. As the colonies went to war with Great Britain in 1775, many Massachusetts troops carried flags with pine trees on them.  New England Continental army units used pine tree flags in battle, such as at Bunker Hill.  The colonial leader Dr. Jospeh Warren used the phrase “appeal to Heaven” in a letter he penned to the people of Great Britain after the first battles at Lexington and Concord in which he noted that “to the persecution and tyranny of his cruel Ministry we will not tamely submit; appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free.” He lived up to his words.  In one account, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, just before being shot in the head, Dr. Jospeh Warren pointed to one of the “Appeal to Heaven” flags and asked his men to remember what they were fighting for.

Following the incredibly bloody Battle of Bunker Hill, and following George Washington’s arrival as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, the Continental Congress published a declaration of “the Causes and Necessity of their taking up Arms.” In this declaration the Congress asserts that they had no “ambitious Designs of separating from Great Britain, and establishing Independent States”, but that they were “resolved to die Freemen rather than to live Slaves.”

This declaration reached the army encamped outside Boston in mid-July. General Israel Putnam had his division paraded at Prospect Hill on July 18, 1775 where the declaration was read to the troops.  A flag had been sent to Putnam from Connecticut and it was unfurled after reading the declaration and a prayer.  As the flag was raised, the wind caught it and unfurled it. On one side was emblazoned “An Appeal to Heaven” and on the other side “Qui Transtulit Sustinet” which is Latin for “He Who Transplanted Still Sustains.”  Included on this banner was the Connecticut armorial bearings.

By October of 1775, not just army units were using this banner, but also American floating batteries and ships were flying it. Col. Joseph Reed wrote to two other officers: “Please to fix upon some particular colour for a flag, and a signal by which our vessels may know one another. What do you think of a flag with a white ground, a tree in the middle, the motto “Appeal to Heaven”? This is the flag of our floating batteries.”  By January of 1776, British newspapers were reporting the flag flying from American privateers.  In April of 1776, the Massachusetts government directed that their naval forces use the banner.

Ultimately, the Patriots’ appeal was answered, and the United States won its freedom from British rule.  Today, the flag symbolizes a central aspect our Revolution: that our rights come from God and when tyrannical governments attempt to deny those rights, we have a right and a duty to appeal to the highest level.

Join us this Sunday at 7 p.m. on our Facebook page as we welcome back historian and author Gary Ecelbarger to discuss his latest book, George Washington’s Momentous Year: Twelve Months that Transformed the Revolution―Vol. 2: Valley Forge to Monmouth, January to July 1778. Volume 2 picks up where Volume 1 concluded, in the wake of the Battle of Whitemarsh in early December 1777, with the British army returning to Philadelphia and French officials opening formal negotiations with American diplomats. Check out our discussion with him last year for Volume 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFFTklzSDmI

Ecelbarger’s original research revises the history of this crucial period, presenting for the first time Washington’s aggressive plan to attack Philadelphia soon after arriving at Valley Forge and the fact that the encamped army was much larger than previously understood.

This video will be posted on our Facebook page and then later go up on our YouTube page and audio podcast.

On June 17, 1775, exactly 250 years ago today, American colonists and British troops clashed in one of the most brutal and iconic battles of the Revolutionary War: the Battle of Bunker Hill. Though commonly named after Bunker Hill, most of the fighting actually took place on nearby Breed’s Hill, just outside of Boston. This early engagement proved to be the bloodiest single day of the entire war and signaled that the conflict would be far more deadly and drawn out than many on either side had anticipated.

Following the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, thousands of colonial militia surrounded Boston, trapping British forces inside the city. To break the siege, British commanders planned to seize the heights around the city to gain a strategic advantage. On the night of June 16, colonial forces under Colonel William Prescott stealthily fortified Breed’s Hill, constructing earthworks that overlooked Boston and its harbor.

By dawn on June 17, British General Thomas Gage recognized the threat posed by the colonial position and ordered a frontal assault to dislodge the rebels. British troops, led by General William Howe, launched multiple attacks up the hill and against a rail fence line near the Mystic River under intense colonial fire. The colonists, although poorly supplied and lacking bayonets, held their ground and inflicted staggering casualties on the British ranks.

The first two British assaults were repelled with heavy losses. Only on the third attempt, when the colonists had largely run out of ammunition, were the British able to overrun the position. In the retreat, Jospeh Warren, one of main leaders of the Patriots was shot in the head and killed instantly.

The human cost was enormous. British forces suffered over 1,000 casualties. More than 200 had been killed and more than 800 wounded. The American losses were around 400, with over 100 killed and about 300 wounded. Though technically a British victory because they captured the ground, the Battle of Bunker Hill was a strategic and psychological triumph for the American cause. It showed that colonial forces, mostly farmers, tradesmen, and volunteers, could stand and fight against the professional British army.

For many in the colonies, the blood spilled on Breed’s Hill made reconciliation with Britain increasingly unlikely. The battle hardened public opinion and spurred the Continental Congress to intensify preparations for a long war. Just days before the battle, Congress had appointed George Washington as Commander in Chief. News of the battle reached him as he was traveling north to take command, and it confirmed the scale of the challenge ahead.

Looking back 250 years later, the Battle of Bunker Hill stands as a defining moment in the struggle for American independence. It was not only the bloodiest single day of the war but also the moment when the Revolution became real, marked by sacrifice, courage, and a growing commitment to liberty. The legacy of that day continues to echo across the centuries as a symbol of resistance and the high cost of freedom. While there would be hundreds more battles and skirmishes over the following eight years, no day would see as many casualties in one day as June 17, 1775.

Be sure to check out our Facebook page and YouTube channel later today to see videos from Emerging Revolutionary War historians guiding you on the battlefield today.