Battle of Connecticut Farms The Battle of Connecticut Farms , fought June 7 , 1780 , was one of the last major battles between British and American forces in the northern colonies during the American Revolutionary War . Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen , in command of the British garrison at New York City , made an attempt to reach the principal Continental Army encampment at Morristown , New Jersey . Knyphausen ' s advance was strongly met by companies of the New Jersey militia at Connecticut Farms ( present - day Union Township ) . After stiff resistance , the militia were forced to withdraw , but the battle and skirmishing that preceded it sufficiently delayed Knyphausen ' s advance that he remained there for the night . After realizing that further advance on Morristown would probably be met by even more resistance , Knyphausen withdrew back toward New York . Knyphausen ' s plan . Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen received word from spies that General George Washington ' s main army at Morristown , New Jersey , had been reduced by desertion and disease to only 3 , 500 men and was plagued by mutinies and low morale . Seeing an opportunity to inflict a mortal blow on the Revolutionary cause , Knyphausen decided to move against Washington . Knyphausen had also been led to believe that the war - weary people of New Jersey would give little resistance to his invasion . Knyphausen ' s plan called for his troops to advance from Elizabethtown , to advance seven miles to the northwest and seize the town of Springfield and Hobart Gap by sunrise on June 7 . Washington ’ s army was protected from attack by the Watchung Mountains , and Hobart Gap was the pass that led through them ; possession of which would allow an eleven - mile advance across flat ground to hit Washington ' s main encampment . Knyphausen ' s corps comprised some 6 , 000 men . The 1st Division , commanded by Brigadier General Thomas Stirling , consisted of the British 37th and 38th Regiments of Foot ; the Hessian Prince ' s Own Leib - Regiment , the Hessian Regiment von Donop and the Hessian Corps of Jäger s . The 2nd Division , under Major General Edward Mathew , comprised the British 22nd and 57th Regiments of Foot and the 1st and 4th New Jersey Volunteers . The 3rd Division , under Knyphausen ' s personal command , comprised the British Guards Battalion ( a composite unit comprising detachments from the 1st Guards , Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards ) and the 43rd Regiment of Foot . British advance . On June 6 , Knyphausen ' s troops boarded boats on Staten Island and , at midnight , started to land at Elizabethtown Point , New Jersey . As the column moved westward , one of the first shots fired severely wounded Brigadier General Stirling , upon which command of the 1st Division passed to Hessian Colonel Ludwig von Wurmb . The resulting confusion cost the British column valuable time . As the sun rose on June 7 , about 60 New Jersey militiamen under Ensign Moses Ogden , one of whose men had wounded Stirling , fought a rearguard action to try to delay the British advance in an orchard near Governor Livingston ’ s mansion . They were quickly swept away . A quarter - mile ( about 0 . 5 km ) further west , Colonel Elias Dayton , with a detachment of the New Jersey Continental Brigade and more militia , skirmished with the invaders before falling back to Connecticut Farms . At about 8 a . m . , Brigadier General William Maxwell , with his New Jersey Brigade and a force of militia , received the attack of the British 1st Division . Using trees and bushes for cover , the Americans held their ground for three hours until von Wurmb was reinforced by General Mathew and part of his 2nd Division . Now 3 , 000 - strong , the British drove the Americans through Connecticut Farms ( now Union Township , New Jersey ) toward Springfield . Knyphausen noted , " The Rebels , as they often did , withdrew from house to house and from wood path to wood path , resisting with all means available " . The victors plundered the village and set on fire at least a dozen of its houses . General George Washington now arrived on the scene from his headquarters and sent forward his personal Guard of 153 men under Major Caleb Gibbs . Gibbs charged a Hessian unit , incurring 3 killed and 4 wounded , but to no avail . With the sun now setting , Knyphausen halted his advance . Civilians killed . During the capture of Connecticut Farms , a stray bullet killed a civilian named Ball . In addition , Hannah Caldwell , wife of the Reverend James Caldwell , a chaplain in Washington ' s army , was shot dead as she sat in her house with her children . Thomas Fleming recounts the Caldwells ' maid , Abigail Lennington , seeing a British light infantryman outside the window . Fleming describes what happened next : " Nervously expecting trouble , the light infantryman approached the window , his finger on the trigger , . . . Abigail Lennington shrank back , pulling the little boy with her . Probably the … soldier caught a glimpse of her as she moved away from the window . It was a bright , sunny day , and it seems doubtful that a man standing several feet away from the window could see very far into a room that had no windows in three walls . But a movement , any movement , was all this jittery man . . . needed to see " . He fired his double - loaded musket through the window and both bullets struck Mrs . Caldwell . Moments later , more British troops arrived , breaking down the door , looting the house and checking Mrs . Caldwell ' s body for jewelry . British withdrawal . That evening , Knyphausen and his commanders evaluated the situation . He had failed to reach Hobart Gap and was surprised by the numbers of New Jersey militia who had assembled to oppose him , some of them from as far away as Hopewell , New Jersey . If he resumed his advance , " he was certain to bring on a general engagement with Washington ' s entrenched army . With the Americans in firm possession of the high ground and the militia swarming on the Royal army ’ s flanks " , the prospects did not look good . Accordingly , Knyphausen decided to withdraw . The next day , June 8 , saw some minor skirmishing as the British column retraced its steps back to Elizabethtown Point . One British soldier was captured at 6 a . m . , while an officer and 16 men of the 22nd Regiment were taken prisoner as they guarded the Elizabethtown road . Several Americans were killed by British artillery fire . A fortnight later , Knyphausen made a second attempt to capture the Hobart Gap and threaten Washington ' s main army at the Battle of Springfield . Casualties . The official casualty return for the Continental troops in this action gave 12 killed , 50 wounded , 13 missing ; of whom 6 killed , 38 hurt and 11 missing were from Maxwell ' s New Jersey Brigade . This return did not include militia losses . Thomas Fleming says that the " Pennsylvania Packet " of July 8 , 1780 reported that the militia casualties for the whole period of June 7 – 23 were 10 killed , 40 wounded and 10 prisoners . Including the losses on June 23 , which were 13 killed , 49 wounded and 9 missing , the combined American casualties against Knyphausen ' s expedition , June 7 – 23 , were 35 killed , 139 wounded , 10 captured and 22 missing . The British loss for the expedition that began with the Battle of Connecticut Farms on June 7 and ended with the engagement of June 23 was 25 killed , 234 wounded and 48 missing .