The Battle for New York

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On 15 September 1776, the British army under General William Howe invaded Manhattan Island with the largest expeditionary force in their history. George Washington's Continental Army, still reeling from the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn two weeks earlier, retreated to Harlem Heights, leaving New York in British hands. Control of the city was Howe's primary objective, as it was strategically located at the mouth of the Hudson River, central to England's strategy to suppress the American rebellion. However, New York ultimately became a critical point that undermined the British war effort. The narrative explores how the city evolved into a focal point of the American Revolution, detailing the political and religious struggles of the 1760s and early 1770s that polarized its citizens and fostered radical thought and action. It covers the 1776 campaign that transformed New York into battlefields and the subsequent seven years of British occupation, during which Washington and Congress were resolute in their efforts to reclaim the city. This military venture was the largest of the Revolutionary War, involving significant participants from both sides, and the outcome profoundly influenced the war's major turning points.