On this day 250 years ago in New York, the Patriots won the Battle of Pell’s Point or Pelham, in what is now the Bronx. That morning the Royal Navy transported 4000 British and Hessian soldiers under the personal command British Gen. Henry Clinton and George Cornwallis from Throgs Neck to land three miles northeast at Pell’s Point in modern-day Pelham Bay Park. Col. John Glover led four Massachusetts regiments, including his own Marblehead Regiment, in a masterful defense that delayed the British from advancing inland swiftly and enabled Gen. Washington to move the Continental Army to defensive positions at White Plains. Glover positioned each regiment behind stone walls lining the road that the British were marching on and had them fire a volley when the British were in close range, but then before the British could charge have them fall back to the next wall where another regiment was posted. Then those troops repeated the process multiple times inflicting heavy damage on the British and Hessian troops.
Most sources say that only 750 Americans fought in the battle, but one source states 843 were under Glover’s command and another source indicates that some American militia were also engaged in the fighting that day. Glover reported losing 8 men killed and 13 wounded, but another source says 12 Americans were killed. Although British Gen. Howe’s official report stated that the British lost only 3 men killed and 13 wounded, as usual the official British record was a gross undercount. The British reports never bother to record the number of German casualties although they likely lost more men than the British. A British officer recorded in his diary the next day that he had heard “L* Col* Musgrave, Cap* Evelyn, & L* Rutherford were wounded, & about 30 men killed & wounded” in the initial American volley, but he was on Manhattan and not on the scene and apparently did not know that the British and Hessians sustained casualties all morning. American reports claimed the British and Hessians had lost as many as 1000 killed or wounded, although that is likely exaggerated. Several historians say that about 200 British and Hessian soldiers were killed in the battle and all agree that the American losses were a small fraction of the casualties that day.
Although the number was relatively small, and once again I can’t find any names for the American casualties, we nevertheless should remember and honor their sacrifice for American liberty.
Some of the battlefield has been preserved as a golf course and parkland in the Pelham neighborhood of the Bronx, and you can tour multiple sites involved in the Battle of Pell’s Point by following New York City’s Liberty Trail.
Sources: O’Donnell, Patrick K., The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware, New York: Grove Press, 2021; https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/battle-pells-point; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=98622; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=275845; https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-battle-of-pell-s-point.htm; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pell%27s_Point; Mackenzie Diary at 82, accessed at https://archive.org/details/diaryoffrederick21ptunse/page/82/mode/1up; https://thelibertytrail.org/travel-inspirations/tours/battle-pells-point
