Fort Washington: The Worst Day of the Revolution
New York
In November of seventeen seventy-six, this ridge above the Hudson River was the site of one of the worst American defeats of the entire Revolutionary War. Fort Washington was the last Continental Army stronghold on Manhattan Island, and George Washington made the fateful decision to hold it despite the British encircling the island. On November sixteenth, a massive British and Hessian force stormed the fort from three directions.
The garrison of nearly three thousand men surrendered in a matter of hours. It was one of the largest captures of American troops during the war and a disaster that left Washington's army demoralized and in retreat across New Jersey. The fort itself was simple earthworks, long gone.
Today the site is marked by a small park on the highest natural point in Manhattan, at about two hundred sixty-seven feet above sea level, with a view that makes clear exactly why both sides wanted it.
