THE BATTLE of HARLEM HEIGHTS
When the sun rose next morning (it was September 16th), the American
army and the British army lay encamped each on a highland close beside
one another separated by a valley.
The ground occupied by the British soldiers was then Vandewater Heights.
Much of this high ground still remains and is now called Columbia
Heights, and Columbia University and Grant's Tomb are upon it. The
American forces were scattered over what was then Harlem Heights, as far
as Washington's head-quarters in the country mansion overlooking the
Harlem River above Harlem Plains. It was the house of Roger Morris, a
royalist who had fled at the approach of the American soldiers, and it
still stands at 160th Street close by St. Nicholas Avenue. On the
heights and in the valley a battle was fought, beginning with a light
engagement quite early in the day, with more and more men of both armies
gradually joining in until there were 5,000 Americans against 6,000
British, with several thousand of each side held in reserve.
[Illustration: Map of Manhattan Island in 1776, Showing the American
Defences &c.]
The battle ended in the afternoon with the defeat of the British, who
lost 200 of their number.
This was a great victory for the Americans, who fought against superior
numbers--great because the men had lost heart after the defeat on Long
Island, and the forced retreat from the city. There was sorrow for the
dead, for even victories have a sad side. Every one of the 100 American
soldiers who were killed that day were brave men, and though all their
names are not written in history, the manner of their death urged on
their companions in the days that followed.