Iron Works Hill

     Most Americans, to the extent they are knowledgeable about the basics of the Revolutionary War, can name, perhaps, a handful of battles.  The war consisted of thousands of skirmishes, most not rising to the level of "battle" nomenclature, but often just as significant and as bloody.  As we walk the ground of these lesser known places, it is good to remember that such places as well are places where men died, on both sides, in this war.  One such place is in Mount Holly, otherwise known as the Battle of Iron Works Hill.  Here we are looking up at the battlefield from the current road.

      General George Washington's surprise attack on Trenton on December 26, 1776 was successful in part due to the diversionary efforts, such as the skirmish at Iron Works Hill in Mount Holly on December 23, 1776.  Colonel Samuel Griffin was directed to lead New Jersey militia to take a position in Mount Holly, and distract Hessian Colonel Carl von Donop.  Griffin first skirmished at Petticoat Bridge and retreated to take up a position in Mount Holly here.  On the actual "Mount" Holly, Donop set up artillery.  The main battle occurred here.  The distraction worked, and Donop did not participate in the First Battle of Trenton.

Harlem Heights and the Manhattan Battlefield

Washington's victory at Harlem Heights, like the First Battle of Trenton, was not strategically significant; it was an accidental battle on Manhattan island that did not save New York from British occupation.  Nonetheless what began as a skirmish turned into a series of fierce engagements along what is now Broadway, Barnard College campus and the area around Grant's Tomb.  The Americans forced the British to retreat various times, and after the debacle in Brooklyn on August 27, 1776 three weeks earlier, this battle on September 16, 1776 proved the Americans were capable of standing up to the Regulars.

Here we are around 117th and Broadway in New York City--on the island of Manhattan.  I've walked up from Straus Park between 106th and 107th, where the Nicholas Jones house stood and the battle began.  On the wall on the right is the bas relief of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton (leading the Connecticut Rangers) and Major Andrew Leitch (leading a force of Virginians), set in the area where they attempted to turn the British flank.  Both were killed in this battle.

We are accustomed to looking at battlefields as parks.  While parts of Harlem Heights are still parkland, as in the area around Grant's Tomb, much of the battlefield is typical of this scene.  Still, as we visualize the events of the day, we can obtain a sense of space.  Notwithstanding the buildings and concrete, we can glimpse at times the Hudson River to our left and its embankment, and understand the roll and grade of the land.