New York and New Jersey campaign
The New York and New Jersey campaign in 1776 and the winter months of 1777 was a series of American Revolutionary War battles for control of the Port of New York and the state of New Jersey, fought between British forces under General Sir William Howe and the Continental Army under General George Washington. Howe was successful in driving Washington out of New York, but overextended his reach into New Jersey, and ended the New York and New Jersey campaign in January 1777 with only a few outposts near New York City under British control. The British held New York Harbor for the rest of the Revolutionary War, using it as a base for expeditions against other targets. Landing unopposed on Staten Island on July 3, 1776, Howe had assembled an army that included components that had withdrawn from Boston in March following the British failure to hold that city, combined with additional British troops, and Hessian troops hired from several German principalities. Washington's Continental Army included New England soldiers and regiments from the Thirteen Colonies as far south as the Colony of Virginia. Landing on Long Island in August, Howe defeated Washington in the largest battle of the war