The Battle of Red Banks was fought on October 22, 1777, and was one of the few bright spots for the Continental Army during the Philadelphia Campaign led by General William Howe.
A little under a month had went by since the capture of Philadelphia by the British had occurred. American morale was fading, and faith in General George Washington was beginning to dip significantly. To continue to push his advantage, General Howe ordered that a British and Hessian unit attack Fort Mercer, which lay across the Delaware River in New Jersey.
The force was decisively defeated by an inferior American force. The fort would eventually be taken from the Americans, but this victory helped raise the morale of the army and continued confidence in Washington.
American Perspective
The British had successfully captured the American capital of Philadelphia and managed to defeat the Americans in the surprise attack at the Battle of Germantown. This hurt the morale of the army and the war effort. Despite not being a strategic advantage, Philadelphia had been the place where the Founding Fathers first debated independence and had signed the Declaration of Independence, which meant it was the most important city in the United States at the time.
In response to losing Philadelphia, Washington sought to put it under a blockade by building two forts, Fort Mercer and Fort Mifflin, to overlook the Delaware River. If the Americans could maintain these forts, then they would be able to stop ships from resupplying the army. Therefore, after Howe moved into Philadelphia, it would be necessary to be able to capture these forts.
The fleet was armed with about one hundred cannons total, under the overall command of Commodore John Hazelwood.
The fleet of Admiral Richard Howe's consisted of eight or nine war vessels and several transports. His vessels were fully manned, with 285 guns on the war vessels alone. On just two of the vessels stranded in the river, Howe commanded more officers and men than Commodore Hazelwood had in his entire fleet.
British Perspective
On October 18, General Sir William Howe, the commander of the British Army, evacuated his camp at Germantown and pulled his forces inside the city of Philadelphia. He sent a part of his force to capture the two American forts, denying him use of the Delaware River.
Earlier, Howe had sent a group of men via Webb's Ferry, at the mouth of the Schuylkill River, to marshy Providence Island (actually on the Pennsylvania mainland by Mud Island) to construct artillery batteries to bombard Fort Mifflin. The first bombardment of Fort Mifflin came on October 11. This was merely a desultory attack that convinced the British to expand and improve their batteries.
Meanwhile, 2,000 Hessian mercenary troops under the command of Colonel Carl von Donop landed at Cooper's Ferry in Camden, New Jersey, about four miles (6.4 km) upriver from Fort Mercer, and made preparations to attack the fort, located on the high ground at Red Bank. The fort was garrisoned with four hundred men with fourteen pieces of cannon and were reported to have not been intimidated.
At 4 p.m., Donop sent an officer and a drummer with a flag and summons to surrender with the ultimatum, "The King of England orders his rebellious subjects to lay down their arms," and warned that if they stand the battle, no quarter whatever would be given, to which Colonel Greene promptly replied, "We ask no quarters, nor will we give any." The garrison at the fort replied that they would defend the fort to the last man.
Since it was ascertained that the fort was lightly garrisoned, Donop decided to attack directly and declared, "We'll change the name from Fort Red Bank to Fort Donop."
The Fighting Begins
Colonel Carl Von Donop had suffered disgrace at Trenton when his attack was repealed. In defiance of Greene's response to fight the last man, Donop shouted, "Either that will be Fort Donop, or I shall be dead."
However, upon approaching the fort, Donop quickly realized that the fort would not fall easily. He sent a request to General Howe for more artillery, which was denied. Howe told Donop that if he was unable to capture the fort, then the British would do it. This apparently insulted Donop, who saw this as a slight.
On October 20, 1777, five British warships, under the command of Captain Hamond, made their way through the lower chevaux-de-frise and sailed up the river. Among these vessels were the HMS Augusta, outfitted with sixty-four guns and commanded by Captain Francis Reynolds.
Donop believed that with his Hessian force and the British warships in place, the fort would fall by nightfall. He ordered his force divided into two groups, approximately 600 men each, for two two-prong attacks. He and Colonel von Linsing would attack the fort on the southern side while Colonel Freidrich Ludwing von Minnigerode's grenadiers and Lieutenant Colonel Werner von Mirback's infantry would focus their efforts on the northeastern portion of the fort.
Stiff Resistance
The Hessians covered their advance with cannon fire. As they approached the fort, Colonel Linsing's men were hit hard by well-placed cannon and musket fire. This resulted in the Hessians being forced into retreat. The southern advance ended quickly.
The north side faired the same but with a different experience. The Hessian grenadiers were able to scale an abandoned section of the fort only the be confronted by tangled moss and trees that had been knocked over. They did not have the proper tools to deal with the mess and were soon spotted by the Continentals and fired upon.
The American Navy also played a key role in driving off the Hessians when they unleashed an effective fire that would add to the already significant casualties.
Suffering heavy casualties, the Hessians began to retreat, falling back to their camp ten miles away in the village of Haddonfield, which they had taken after landing at nearby Cooper's Ferry. Von Donop was wounded in the thigh during the southern attack and was left on the battlefield by his retreating troops. Mortally wounded, von Donop died three days later in the Whitall House, a farmhouse just outside the southern works of the fort between the fort and Woodbury Creek.
He had not been able to take the fort, and his words at the Battle of Red Banks proved prophetic.
British Naval Disaster
During the Battle, there were six British men-of-war that were engaged by the smaller American gunboats. Two of these ships, the HMS Augusta and Merlin, came to close to shore and ran aground while trying to avoid underwater obstacles. The British tried to free the ships overnight but were unsuccessful.
When morning broke, the smaller Continental Navy engaged the stranded ships with cannons and fire rafts. The Augusta, a 64-gun-ship-of-the-line, caught fire and exploded. This would be the largest ship the British would lose fighting the Americans during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812.
The HMS Merlin also met destruction soon after the HMS Augusta was abandoned.
Conclusion
While the success at the Battle of Red Bank is an interesting story, it only slowed the British for a short period of time.
Howe, furious at losing the battle, ordered the Hessians to withdraw from New Jersey and launched a ferocious attack on the forts the following month, in which he was able to capture them with minimal casualties.
Washington's plan to blockade the British failed, and he retreated into a position to try and lure the British out and attack him at White Marsh. Howe launched a feint attack on his position but believed it to be strong. He then retired to Philadelphia for the winter while Washington and his men moved to Valley Forge.