2nd+Hour+Washington

George Washington guessed the British would strike next in New York. He was right. On June 29, 1776 the British started arriving in New York almost 100 ships had anchored. On the decks of some were thousands of German troops hired by George III’s agents in the German states for war against the colonies. By late August more than 500 ships massed off the shores of Staten Island. Great Britain now had 32,000 troops that’s the most they had ever sent from there shores. Washington had about 20,000 men some were members of brave and hardy outfits that were to become famous in days ahead. These famous outfits could be counted on. But other thousands of the troops were untrained militia. When the war started things didn’t go as well as planned for the Continental Army. Adding to Washington’s problems was the geography of the area he had to defend. Soldiers dug trenches, threw up fortifications. There was just too much to defend. The Americans didn’t have a single warship to oppose the British armada, it was also impossible to guard every inch of shoreline. The British had powerful fleet could force their way up the rivers and land troops behind the American lines. So basically Brooklyn and Manhattan were potential death traps for the Americans. Washington made the decision to retreat to the north, up into the rocky fastness of Westchester County where the British would not be able to follow. Washington and his generals made a mistake of leaving part of their army in Manhattan, then sending the rest to Brooklyn. On September 15, 1776 the British heavily bombarded America. After a while Washington was forced to retreat across the Hudson to New Jersey. Washington’s men suffered about 1,407 casualties. While the British suffered about 377.