During the American Revolution, New York was mostly controlled by the British. While American revolutionaries (or traitors, depending…) had initially ousted British loyalists and declared New York to be independent of the British crown, the British army, navy, and Hessian mercenaries soon arrived at the mouth of New York’s harbor and began to march and engage towards Manhattan and beyond methodically.

The details of the battles, skirmishes, failures, and successes during this British recapture of New York are detailed elsewhere (see: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/lost-battlefield-disastrous-battle-new-york ) but in 1776, as soon as most fighting in and around the 5 boroughs ceased, British mapmakers in London began to document the numerous events that led to the British occupation of New York.

This map, from 1776, shows the step-by-step series of engagements between the British and Washington’s troops (from the British perspective):

The map is held in Columbia University’s collection, and by zooming in on Manhattan, it is possible to see Harlem identified as a village on the East River:

The red dashed lines symbolize British troops, the blue dashed lines symbolize the troops under Washington. Names, of course, have changed, and the geography of the map is off in a number of places. Note how Ward’s Island is Montresor Island, and Randall’s Island is Buchanan Island.

Zooming in more, you can see that the map maker has noted that the Americans sunk vessels around 140th Street to block access northwards by the British navy. The Americans were encamped near what is now Gracie Mansion, Harlem, McGowan’s Pass (northern Central Park), and beyond, in upper Manhattan.

The large red line of British Troops in the map above, were stationed there on the evening of September 15, 1776, just before the battle of Washington Heights.

As Seen In Harlem

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