Key figures: George Washington, Henry Knox, William Howe, Richard Howe, Johann Rall, Nathanael Greene
Summary
For George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army since his appointment by the Second Continental Congress in June 1775, the year 1776 encompassed both his first great triumph and the near-collapse of the army he led. The year opened with the Continental Army still besieging British-held Boston. In the winter of 1775–1776, Colonel Henry Knox hauled the artillery captured at Fort Ticonderoga more than 300 miles overland by ox-sledge, and on the night of March 4–5, 1776, Washington’s troops fortified Dorchester Heights, placing cannon in a position to bombard the town and the British fleet in the harbor. Rather than risk a costly assault reminiscent of Bunker Hill, General William Howe evacuated Boston on March 17, 1776, sailing to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The bloodless liberation of Boston was Washington’s first major victory and confirmed the strategic value of the Ticonderoga guns.
Anticipating that the British would strike next at New York, Washington marched his army south. The ensuing New York campaign was a succession of defeats. At the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776 — the largest battle of the war — Howe’s forces outflanked the American positions and drove them back to the fortifications on Brooklyn Heights; on the night of August 29–30, Washington extricated his trapped army across the East River to Manhattan in a fog-shrouded evacuation that preserved the Continental Army from capture. British landings at Kip’s Bay (September 15) forced the abandonment of New York City, though a sharp check at the Battle of Harlem Heights on September 16 offered a modest morale boost. Further reverses followed at the Battle of White Plains (October 28) and, most damagingly, the fall of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776, where nearly 2,900 men were captured. Washington then retreated across New Jersey and over the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, his force dwindling through casualties, desertion, and expiring enlistments.
With his army near dissolution and the Revolution at its lowest ebb, Washington launched a daring counterstroke. On the night of December 25–26, 1776, he led his troops back across the ice-choked Delaware River in a winter storm and, on the morning of December 26, surprised the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. The attack routed the German auxiliaries — mortally wounding their commander, Colonel Johann Rall — and captured roughly 900 to 1,000 prisoners at almost no cost in American lives. The victory at Trenton, followed by the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777, restored American morale and secured Washington’s position at the head of the army.
Significance
Washington’s conduct in 1776 established the leadership on which the American cause would depend for the rest of the war. His willingness to abandon indefensible positions — evacuating Long Island and New York rather than sacrifice his army — preserved the Continental force as an army-in-being, ensuring that the Revolution could not be ended in a single decisive battle. His Fabian caution was matched by the audacity of the Trenton offensive, which came at the moment of greatest crisis, when Thomas Paine had written that these were “the times that try men’s souls.” The twin victories at Trenton and Princeton reversed a catastrophic autumn, revived enlistments and public confidence, and cemented Washington’s reputation as the indispensable figure of the Revolution. The strategic patience and personal steadiness he displayed across the disasters and recoveries of 1776 defined the model of command that carried the Continental Army through seven more years of war.