In 1776, American forces under George Washington were pushed out of New York City, which became British headquarters in North America. More defeats followed, but Continental forces battled back and eventually surrounded New York. Victories in the southern states and the American and French triumph at Yorktown sometimes obscure New York’s centrality to the Revolutionary story, but for much of the war, recapturing New York was the Americans’ primary objective.

Several documents in the Washington Library’s collection demonstrate this focus. Join Dr. Dana Stefanelli, the Washington Library’s Curator of Special Collections, as he describes the ways that the battle for New York consumed so much of Washington’s time and energy, and so many of the continent’s resources.