page_title: Landing at Kip's Bay
section_title: Preparations
hierarchical_section_title: Landing at Kip's Bay / Preparations
caption_attribution_description: Looking northwest at statue of Geo Washington in Continental Army Plaza, on the north side of South 5th Street and the ramps feeding the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge, on a sunny midday.
context_page_description: The Landing at Kip's Bay was a British amphibious landing during the New York Campaign in the American Revolutionary War on September 15, 1776, occurring on the eastern shore of present-day Manhattan.
  Heavy advance fire from British naval forces in the East River caused the inexperienced militia guarding the landing area to flee, making it possible for the British to land unopposed at Kip's Bay. Skirmishes in the aftermath of the landing resulted in the British capture of some of those militia. British maneuvers following the landing very nearly cut off the escape route of some Continental Army forces stationed further southeast on the island. The flight of American troops was so rapid that George Washington, who was attempting to rally them, was left exposed dangerously close to British lines.
  The operation was a British success. It forced the Continental Army to withdraw to Harlem Heights, ceding control of New York City on the lower half of the island. However, General Washington established strong positions on Harlem Heights, which he defended in a fierce skirmish between the two armies the following day.
context_section_description: On September 10, British troops moved from Long Island to occupy Montresor's Island, a small island at the mouth of the Harlem River. One day later, on September 11, the Congressional delegation arrived on Staten Island and met with Admiral Lord Howe for several hours. The meeting came to nothing, as Lord Howe was not authorized to grant terms the Congressional delegation insisted on. It did, however, postpone the impending British attack, allowing Washington more time to decide if and where to confront the enemy.
  In a September 12 war council, Washington and his generals made the decision to abandon New York City. Four thousand Continentals under General Israel Putnam remained to defend the city and lower Manhattan while the main army moved north to Harlem and King's Bridge. On the afternoon of September 13, major British movement started as the warships Roebuck and Phoenix, along with the frigates Orpheus and Carysfort, moved up the East River and anchored in Bushwick Creek, carrying 148 total cannons and accompanied by six troop transport ships. By September 14 the Americans were urgently moving stores of ammunition and other materiel, along with American sick, to Orangetown, New York. Every available horse and wagon was employed in what Joseph Reed described as a "grand military exertion". Scouts reported movement in the British army camps but Washington was still uncertain where the British would strike. Late that afternoon, most of the American army had moved north to King's Bridge and Harlem Heights, and Washington followed that night.
  General Howe had originally planned a landing for September 13, recalling the date of James Wolfe's key landing before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759.  He and General Clinton disagreed on the point of attack, with Clinton arguing that a landing at King's Bridge would have cut Washington off once and for all. Howe originally wanted to make two landings, one at Kip's Bay and another at Horn's Hook, further north (near modern 90th Street) on the eastern shore. He struck the latter option when ship's pilots warned of the dangerous waters of the Hell Gate, where the Harlem River and waters of Long Island Sound meet the East River.  After delays due to unfavorable winds, the landing, targeted for Kip's Bay, began on the morning of September 15.
caption: Statue of George Washington in Brooklyn
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