A Move Southward–November 7, 1776

It was pretty well-known by this point that General Howe’s objective was to occupy New York and then move northward through the Hudson Valley.

General Washington had issued a discretionary order to General Nathanael Greene to abandon the fort and remove its garrison, which then numbered about 3,000 men, to New Jersey.

Colonel Robert Magaw, the acting commander of the fort, refused to abandon it, believing his troops would be able to defend it from the British. This stubbornness pretty much cost him his ability to participate in the rest of the war, as he was captured when the British finally moved in.

Magaw was paroled later on but not permitted to leave Manhattan until the war was over. And Britain held Manhattan the entire time, so Magaw was basically out of a job when it came to the Continental Army, and may explain why there are no locations named after him. The site where his home in New Carlisle, PA is now a coffee shop/café and there is a plaque nearby marking the café as a stop on the Patriot’s Path.

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