Battle of Pell's Point

At dawn, the British began to land on the shore, an advance guard of 4,000 British and Hessian troops landing first. Inland, opposing them, was a brigade of some 750 men under the command of John Glover. Glover was on the top of a hill with a telescope when he noticed the British ships. Glover sent an officer, Major William Lee, to report to Charles Lee, Washington's second in command, and ask for orders. However, Lee did not give any orders and in the absence of orders Glover chose to attack. Glover turned out his brigade, which consisted of the 14th, 13th, 3rd and the 26th Continental Regiments. Glover left the 150 men of the 14th Continentals behind in reserve. Glover had not closed half the distance when he ran into approximately 30 skirmishers. Glover ordered a Captain and his 40 man company forward as an advance guard to hold the British in check while Glover organized the rest of the force.

Glover prepared an ambush by placing the main body in staggered positions behind the stone walls that lined either side of the laneway that led from the beachhead to the interior. Glover instructed each of the regiments to hold their position as long as they could and then to fall back to a position in the rear while the next unit took up the fighting. Glover then rode up to take command of the advance guard. The advance guard and the British began to engage each other, both side taking casualties. After a little while the British were reinforced, and Glover ordered a retreat, which was done without confusion. The British troops began to advance at the retreating Americans, however, the 200 troops of the 13th Continentals that Glover had stationed behind the stone wall stood up and fired at the British when there were only 30 yards away. The ambush worked, and the column of British troops took heavy losses and fell back to the main body of the invading army.

The British waited a half an hour before attacking again. This time when they attacked, they attacked with ...

On October 18, looking out over Eastchester Bay early that day, Glover noticed that the British ships had come in during the night. He sent a 41-man detachment to move forward and delay the British advance. Meanwhile, Glover formed up the remainder of his brigade to bar the road that was along the expected British route. The delaying detachment met the British and exchanged fire with them before falling back to Glover's position.

Part of the American force on the left side of the road let the British to get within 100 feet of them before rising from behind a stone wall and opening fire. The British were driven back, taking about 1 1/2 hours to reform and organize an attack supported by 7 guns. The previous American position fired 7 volleys before withdrawing to the next regiment's position. When the British advanced to the new position, the Americans was able to fire 17 volleys into the British line. This caused the British to make several attacks before they could advance again. The American position was forced to withdraw to a new position which the British did not attack. Both sides fired cannonades at each other until dark, when Glover withdrew his force back another 3 miles to Dobb's Ferry. There, he set up camp for the night.