The Battle of Harlem Heights

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. Dr. Thos. Addis Emmet mounts a spirited historical rebuttal to claims that the Battle of Harlem Heights was fought on Morningside Heights near Columbia University. Drawing on Lieutenant Samuel Richards's Revolutionary War diary, congressional wording, eyewitness testimony, family recollection, and his own long familiarity with the old roads, ravines, and landmarks of upper Manhattan, he argues that the action centered farther north, around the Point of Rocks, Manhattanville, and the line of high ground toward McGowan's Pass. He describes the American retreat after Long Island, the British landing at Kipp's Bay, the desperate movement of Washington's men, and the confusion of the ravine attack and Colonel Knowlton's death, all to show that the battle covered a broader and differently understood area than later accounts admit. Physical relics found near Trinity Cemetery, along with traced maps and historical records, are offered as further proof. Combative yet scholarly, the essay defends precise battlefield geography and insists the fallen may have been buried on or near the disputed ground.