By November 1776, the last position the Americans held on Manhattan Island was the area around Fort

Washington on the northern tip, known as Harlem Heights. General Nathan Greene commanded the American positions with a discretion to withdraw if he considered it necessary. General Howe planned a three-pronged attack: Brigadier Lord Percy was to attack from the South, up the island; Brigadier Matthews, with the light infantry and Guards, and supported by Lord Cornwallis with his grenadiers and the 33rd Foot, was to cross the Harlem River, and attack Baxter from the east; with the main attack, on the northern perimeter of the fort that was manned by Colonel Moses Rawlings Maryland and Virginia Riflemen, to be made by the Hessian forces under the command of Baron von Knyphausen. The German general would be assisted in these efforts by the 42nd Foot, under the command of Colonel Sterling. (The grenadiers, light infantry, Guards, 33rd and 42nd were the corps regularly used for particularly demanding assignments.) Early on the 15th of November, Howe called on the fort to surrender. The offer was refused, and this led to a bombardment of the fort from British batteries set up across the Harlem River, as well as from a British frigate, the HMS Pearl, that was tied up in the Hudson. At 10 am, Percy initiated the first assault on the fort, and, two hours later, Matthews and his forces crossed the Harlem River and began the second phase of the attack plan. It was during this assault that Colonel Baxter was killed on the field of battle, and his death so rattled the militiamen under his command that they left the field and fled to the relative safety of the fort. Von Knyphausen and his troops had crossed over to Manhattan at Kingsbridge shortly after 10 am. He divided his troops into two columns, and began to move rapidly toward the fort, and they soon engaged the positions being manned by the Rawling's riflemen. After a hard fought, but brief, fight, the Americans pulled pack from the positions and and retreated back to the fort.hard fight with Rawlings riflemen the Americans fell back into the fort. With the forces under Percy attacking southernmost position of the fort that was under the command of Colonel Cadwallader, the British 42 Foot, under Colonel Sterling, landed on the east side of fort and pushed inland behind Cadwalladers position, forcing these Americans to also fall back to the fort. With all his troops pinned down inside Fort Washington, and with all areas of the fort now under heavy enemy fire, the senior American officer, Colonel Robert Magaw, was forced to was forced to surrender to General von Knyphausen. Casualties: The British side suffered 450 casualties, with 332 of them being Hessians. The Americans casualties amounted to about 150 dead and wounded but (far more significant) more than 2,800 of them were taken as prisoners, with many of them considered to be among the best soldiers the Americans could put on the field. Source: BritishBattles.com/Fort-Washington.htm