What is the greatest American victory against the odds?
In our ranking it is Bastogne in December 1944, where about 11,840 men of the 101st Airborne Division, some 14,000 American troops in all, held an encircled Belgian crossroads town against a German panzer corps until relieved on 26 December. San Jacinto in 1836 is second. Midway is not on the list: the Americans there had more aircraft.
Americans tell many underdog stories, but the numbers do not always back them. This list keeps only the wins where sourced counts for both sides show the Americans clearly outnumbered on the day, which is why it has ten entries and why famous names such as Trenton and Midway are missing. The ten are ranked by score, and the odds count the most; see how we chose and ranked them. Every entry says who gives each side's figures and marks the ratios we worked out ourselves. Lost stands such as the Alamo are in our guide to the greatest last stands, and underdog wins from every age are in battles won against the odds.
1 Bastogne, 1944
- Where
- Bastogne, Belgian Ardennes
- War
- World War II, Battle of the Bulge
- Besiegers
- German XLVII Panzer Corps (2nd Panzer, Panzer Lehr, 26th Volksgrenadier), none at full strength; parts of eight divisions by 1 January; no reliable head count
- Defenders
- 11,840 men of the 101st Airborne Division with armor, tank destroyers and artillery; some 14,000 troops trapped, by Peter Schrijvers' count
- Outcome
- Town held; relieved by the 4th Armored Division on 26 December 1944
Bastogne mattered because of its roads: seven to eleven of them, by different counts, met in the town, and the Germans driving west needed them. The 101st Airborne Division drove 100 miles through the night and reached the town on the night of 18 to 19 December with 805 officers and 11,035 men, joined by 10th Armored Division tanks, tank destroyers and heavy guns. By 20 to 21 December the ring was closed, with some 14,000 American troops and 3,000 civilians inside.1
Exact odds are unknowable. The corps around the town had three divisions, all under strength, and by New Year parts of eight; the US Army's official history warns that even the American records are too thin for precise strengths. The popular figures, 54,000 Germans or odds of five to one, rest on no source we could trace. On 22 December four Germans under a white flag demanded surrender; Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe answered “Nuts!” The town held through shelling and a Christmas Day attack until the 4th Armored Division broke through near dusk on 26 December. The defense, writes John Rickard, badly disrupted German plans in the south of the bulge.2
Why it ranks here: No other American underdog story is as famous or as alive in memory, and holding the crossroads helped sink the Ardennes offensive, so recognition 5, memory 5 and consequence 4 put it first on 38 points, one ahead of San Jacinto. The numbers hold it down: no source gives a German head count for the siege, so odds 3 is our judgment from the formations and certainty is only 3.
2 San Jacinto, 1836
- Where
- Near the San Jacinto River, east of present-day Houston, Texas
- War
- Texas Revolution
- Sides
- Sam Houston's Texian army vs Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican army
- Strength
- 910 Texians vs about 1,200 Mexicans (Handbook of Texas); about 1,000 vs about 1,400 (Texas Historical Commission); about 1 to 1.3 to 1 to 1.4 by our sum
- Result
- Texian victory in about 18 minutes; Santa Anna captured; 9 Texians killed or mortally wounded, 630 Mexicans killed and 730 captured by Houston's report
Six weeks after the Alamo fell, Sam Houston's army was still falling back across Texas, with Santa Anna in pursuit. On 20 April 1836 the two armies camped facing each other near the San Jacinto River, and the next morning General Martín Perfecto de Cos crossed with about 540 more men, raising the Mexican strength to about 1,200 by the Handbook of Texas; Houston had 910. A Texas Historical Commission marker rounds the two armies to about 1,000 and 1,400.3
Houston attacked in the afternoon of 21 April, and his men charged shouting “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” The battle lasted about eighteen minutes. By Houston's official report 630 Mexicans were killed and 730 taken prisoner, while nine Texians were killed or mortally wounded and thirty wounded, Houston among them. The next day Santa Anna was found hiding in the grass dressed as a common soldier and was given away when other prisoners called him “el presidente.” On 14 May he signed the Treaties of Velasco, promising to pull his troops back beyond the Rio Grande. The government in Mexico City declared his acts as a captive void, and Mexico did not recognize Texas independence, but on 26 May the Mexican army began to withdraw.4
Why it ranks here: Eighteen minutes won Texas its independence, so consequence 5 and memory 5, but Houston was outnumbered by less than one and a half to one, so the odds score only 2. It is the only entry on 37, one point behind Bastogne.
3 New Orleans, 1815
- Where
- Chalmette Plantation, below New Orleans, Louisiana
- War
- War of 1812
- Sides
- Andrew Jackson's army of regulars, militia and volunteers vs Sir Edward Pakenham's British army
- Strength
- About 4,000 on Jackson's line vs about 5,400 attacking (National Park Service); 5,700 vs 8,000 engaged (American Battlefield Trust); about 1 to 1.4 by our sum
- Result
- American victory; 2,034 British and 71 American casualties by the American Battlefield Trust's estimate
The British landed below New Orleans on 23 December 1814, and on 8 January 1815 Pakenham threw his army at Jackson's defensive line on the Chalmette Plantation. The National Park Service's historical handbook gives Jackson about 4,000 men on the line and Pakenham about 5,400 in the attack; the American Battlefield Trust counts 5,700 Americans and 8,000 British for the whole engagement. Either way the British had about 1.4 men for each American, not the two to one claimed on one Park Service page.5
It was a frontal assault, and it broke on the American line. Of the 3,000 men under Generals Gibbs and Keane, 2,000 became casualties in less than 30 minutes; Pakenham was shot and died of his wounds. The infantry fight was over in no more than two hours. The Trust estimates 2,034 British casualties against 71 American, with 13 Americans killed. Yet the Treaty of Ghent ending the war had been signed on 24 December, two weeks before, so the battle did not change the outcome, though it made Jackson a hero second only to Washington.6
Why it ranks here: As famous as Bastogne and still a national story, so recognition 5 and memory 5, but Jackson's men were outnumbered by less than one and a half to one, so the odds score only 2, and the peace was already signed, so consequence is 3. It ties the Chosin Reservoir and Samar on 35 and goes first of the three on recognition.
4 Chosin Reservoir, 1950
- Where
- The road from the Chosin Reservoir to Hungnam, North Korea
- War
- Korean War
- Sides
- US 1st Marine Division and US Army Regimental Combat Team 31 vs the Chinese Ninth Army Group
- Strength
- About 30,000 UN troops (25,473 in the 1st Marine Division on 27 November) vs an estimated 120,000 Chinese in 12 divisions; our ratio about 1 to 2.8 to 1 to 4
- Result
- Successful breakout; X Corps evacuated from Hungnam and northeastern Korea given up
In late November 1950 the 1st Marine Division, 25,473 men with attached troops, and an Army regimental combat team east of the reservoir were strung out along a single mountain road from Hungnam when the Chinese Ninth Army Group struck on the night of 27 November. The Marine Corps' official history identifies at least 11 and probably 12 Chinese divisions, sent to destroy the Marines, and puts a Chinese division in Korea at 7,000 to 8,500 men, about 84,000 to 102,000 for 12 divisions by our sum. The usual totals are about 30,000 UN troops against an estimated 120,000 Chinese.7
East of the reservoir the Army task force, about 3,200 men including 700 South Koreans, was destroyed in five days but held off a Chinese division while the Marines gathered at Hagaru-ri; of just over 1,000 survivors, only 385 could fight. From 6 December the column fought south through roadblock after roadblock, and on 11 December its last units cleared Chinhung-ni. Marine battle casualties from 26 October to 15 December came to 4,418, plus 7,313 non-battle cases, mostly frostbite. It was no victory in the usual sense: X Corps gave up northeastern Korea and sailed from Hungnam with 105,000 troops and 91,000 Korean refugees, while the Chinese army group was too battered to stop it.8
Why it ranks here: Memory 5, recognition 4, and odds of about 1 to 2.8 to 1 to 4 score 4; but the Chinese strength is an estimate (certainty 3), and a fighting withdrawal that gave northeastern Korea back earns consequence 2. It ties New Orleans and Samar on 35 and sits between them on recognition.
5 Samar, 1944
- Where
- Off the east coast of Samar, Philippines
- War
- World War II, Battle of Leyte Gulf
- Fleets
- Taffy 3 of the US Seventh Fleet (Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague) vs Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's Center Force
- Strength
- 13 US ships (6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, 4 destroyer escorts) vs 20 to 24 Japanese ships, 4 of them battleships including Yamato; about 1 to 1.5 to 1 to 1.8 by our sum
- Result
- Kurita turned back; the US lost 2 escort carriers, 2 destroyers and a destroyer escort, Japan 3 heavy cruisers
On the morning of 25 October 1944 Admiral Halsey's fast carriers and battleships had been lured far to the north by Japanese carriers, and the road to the Leyte landings lay open. At about 6:30 Kurita's Center Force came over the horizon onto Taffy 3: six small escort carriers, three destroyers and four destroyer escorts, built to cover landings and hunt submarines. Against them came four battleships, among them the giant Yamato, firing on a surface target for the first time in her career, with six cruisers and ten destroyers by one count, eight cruisers and twelve destroyers by another.9
Sprague headed for a rain squall and sent his small escorts against the Japanese line, the destroyers firing torpedoes; Johnston, Hoel and Samuel B. Roberts were sunk doing it, and Gambier Bay went down under gunfire. Kurita in turn lost the heavy cruisers Chikuma, Chokai and Suzuya. At 9:11 Kurita, believing he was fighting fleet carriers, broke off, and later turned away from the gulf altogether, a decision that likely saved the Seventh Fleet from disaster. At about 10:50 a kamikaze hit the escort carrier St. Lo and sank her.10
Why it ranks here: The gap in guns and armor was far worse than the hulls show, but we score head counts, and by hulls Taffy 3 was outnumbered about 1 to 1.5 to 1 to 1.8, so odds 3; the Japanese count runs from 20 to 24 ships depending on the source, so certainty 4. It ties New Orleans and the Chosin Reservoir on 35 and comes last of the three on recognition.
6 Buena Vista, 1847
- Where
- Near the Hacienda San Juan de la Buena Vista, south of Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico
- War
- Mexican-American War
- Sides
- Zachary Taylor's US army, mostly volunteers, vs Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican army
- Strength
- 4,594 to about 5,000 Americans vs about 15,000 Mexicans (15,142 by EBSCO); about 1 to 3 by our sum
- Result
- Santa Anna withdrew by night; about 3,500 Mexican and over 600 American casualties
After Monterrey in 1846 many of Taylor's men, the best among them, were sent to Winfield Scott for a landing at Veracruz. Santa Anna learned this from captured dispatches and in January 1847 marched north with about 21,000 men to crush the weakened force of about 5,000. Death, disease and desertion on the desert march cut his army to about 15,000 by the time it reached the American position. EBSCO gives 15,142 Mexicans against 4,594 Americans, most of them volunteers.11
Taylor drew up where the road ran between mountains and refused a call to surrender. The Mexicans attacked on 22 February, and the next day their cavalry swung around toward the American supply base, only to ride into a V formed by Colonel Jefferson Davis's Mississippi volunteers and an Indiana regiment, while the American artillery held the infantry in the valley. That night Santa Anna slipped away. He had lost over 3,500 men, Taylor over 600. Both sides claimed the victory, writes Robert Scheina, but it was the last major battle in northern Mexico, and the fame it brought Taylor helped make him president in 1848.12
Why it ranks here: Of the entries above it only the Chosin Reservoir was fought at odds as steep: about three to one on figures that agree, so the odds score 4. But it did not decide the war, so consequence 3, and few outside the United States know the name, so recognition only 2; it is the only entry on 33.
7 Ia Drang, 1965
- Where
- Landing Zones X-Ray and Albany, Ia Drang valley, Central Highlands, South Vietnam
- War
- Vietnam War
- Sides
- US 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) vs the North Vietnamese 33rd and 66th Regiments
- Strength
- About 450 Americans vs about 1,600 North Vietnamese at X-Ray (EBSCO); our ratio about 1 to 3.6, before reinforcements
- Result
- X-Ray held; 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry ambushed at Albany; both sides claimed victory
On 14 November 1965 Lieutenant Colonel Harold Moore's 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, landed at Landing Zone X-Ray; Moore put his strength at about 450 officers and men, facing a force more than three times its size. EBSCO's reference entry gives 450 Americans against 1,600 North Vietnamese at X-Ray, about 1 to 3.6 by our reckoning, though two reinforcing companies arrived during the fight. The North Vietnamese 33rd Regiment attacked first and the 66th joined the next morning.13
The North Vietnamese tried to fight so close that American artillery and aircraft could not be used, a tactic their commander called holding the enemy by the belt buckle. The perimeter held, and by the third day the Americans had the upper hand. Then, on 17 November, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, marching to Landing Zone Albany, was ambushed and lost 155 killed in about six hours. In four days the Americans lost 234 killed; an estimated 3,561 North Vietnamese died in the whole 34-day campaign. Both sides claimed victory: Westmoreland's staff saw a kill ratio of 12 to 1 and built a strategy of attrition on it, while Hanoi learned that close combat blunted American firepower.14
Why it ranks here: Odds of more than 1 to 3 at X-Ray rest on an estimate of the enemy (odds 3, certainty 3), and the result was a bloody draw that both sides claimed, paid for at Albany. It ties Khe Sanh on 31 and goes ahead on consequence, because both armies took their tactics for the rest of the war from it.
8 Khe Sanh, 1968
- Where
- Khe Sanh Combat Base and its hill outposts, Quang Tri province, South Vietnam
- War
- Vietnam War
- Sides
- US 26th Marines and attached units vs the North Vietnamese 325C and 304th Divisions
- Strength
- 6,000 to 6,680 defenders vs an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 North Vietnamese; our ratio about 1 to 2.2 to 1 to 3.3
- Result
- Siege lifted in April 1968; base closed on 5 July 1968; both sides claimed victory
Khe Sanh sat astride Route 9 near the Laotian border. By January 1968 at least two North Vietnamese divisions had closed in, the 325C north of the base and the 304th, an elite division from Hanoi, from Laos to the southwest. Westmoreland argued that the base should be held at all costs, and Operation Niagara began a massive bombardment of the hills around it. The Marine Corps' history counts 6,680 defenders against an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 North Vietnamese; Peter Brush gives 6,000 Marines against 20,000.15
The siege opened with a bombardment on 21 January 1968 and lasted 77 days. The garrison lived on air supply and B-52s bombed around the clock. Three of the heaviest ground attacks came in the first week of February: the Marines held Hill 861A, but on 7 February North Vietnamese tanks broke into the Special Forces camp at Lang Vei. Operation Pegasus, an Army, Marine and South Vietnamese advance, relieved the base in April. Operation Scotland, begun in November 1967, cost the Marines 205 killed; they counted 1,602 enemy bodies and estimated 10,000 to 15,000 North Vietnamese dead. On 5 July the base was closed. Westmoreland called the battle a victory and Hanoi called it an American defeat; Brush concludes that it cannot reasonably be put in the American win column.16
Why it ranks here: Odds of about 1 to 2.2 to 1 to 3.3 score 4, but the enemy strength is an estimate (certainty 3), the Americans held the sky, and the base was closed three months after the relief (consequence 2). It ties Ia Drang on 31 and falls behind it on consequence.
9 Plattsburgh, 1814
- Where
- Plattsburgh and Plattsburgh Bay on Lake Champlain, New York
- War
- War of 1812
- Sides
- Alexander Macomb and Thomas Macdonough vs Sir George Prevost and George Downie
- Strength
- 3,400 regulars (1,500 fit to fight), about 2,500 Vermont volunteers and 700 New York militia vs 8,200 to 11,000 British (Kent-Delord House Museum); 6,354 vs 11,000 in all (American Battlefield Trust)
- Result
- American victory; British squadron beaten and Prevost's army back in Canada
In September 1814 Sir George Prevost gathered more than 11,000 British troops at Champlain, just inside New York, and marched south with 8,200. At Plattsburgh Brigadier General Alexander Macomb had been left with 3,400 soldiers when General George Izard took the main army away, and only 1,500 of them were fit to fight; about 2,500 volunteers from Vermont and 700 New York militia joined him by the day of the battle. The American Battlefield Trust counts 6,354 Americans against 11,000 British, land and water together. On those figures Macomb was outnumbered by about 1 to 1.2 to 1 to 1.7, by our reckoning, and far more if only his effective regulars are set against Prevost's army.17
On 6 September, as the British pushed into Plattsburgh and the Americans fell back across the Saranac, the day's fighting cost about 45 Americans and 200 to 300 British killed or wounded, the heaviest losses of the siege. The decision came on the lake. On 11 September Captain George Downie's squadron sailed into Plattsburgh Bay against the smaller American force of Master Commandant Thomas Macdonough. After about two hours the Americans had won. By 12 September Prevost's army was in full retreat to Canada. The Treaty of Ghent, signed on 24 December 1814, ended the war; the Kent-Delord House Museum credits the victory with helping bring it about.18
Why it ranks here: Few outside the United States know the name (recognition 2), but turning back an invasion helped the peace at Ghent, so consequence 4. Once the volunteers and militia are counted the gap is only about 1 to 1.2 to 1 to 1.7, so odds 2; it is the only entry on 29.
10 Kamdesh, 2009
- Where
- Combat Outpost Keating, Nuristan province, Afghanistan
- War
- War in Afghanistan
- Sides
- B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry, with Afghan soldiers and two Latvian mentors vs Taliban and allied fighters
- Strength
- 53 Americans, 20 Afghan soldiers (36 by the Latvians' count), 2 Latvians and about 12 Afghan guards vs about 300 fighters; our ratio about 1 to 2.9 to 1 to 3.4
- Result
- Outpost held; 8 Americans killed; abandoned and destroyed on 6 October 2009
Combat Outpost Keating, built in 2006 for a Provincial Reconstruction Team, sat low in a Nuristan valley under the mountains. The Army's investigation found that by mid-2009 holding it had no tactical or strategic value, and it had been due to close in July or August. On 3 October 2009, by VFW's account, it held 53 American soldiers, mostly of B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry, with 20 Afghan soldiers, two Latvian mentors and a dozen Afghan security guards; the Latvians put the Afghan soldiers at three dozen. Against them came about 300 fighters, which makes the odds about 1 to 3 if every Afghan is counted and nearly 1 to 6 for the Americans alone, by our reckoning.19
The attack began at about 0558 from several directions at once. Afghan soldiers on the eastern side failed to hold, and the attackers broke into the outpost in three places. The Americans fought on and kept the outpost, while aircraft dropped 16 tons of bombs; about 150 attackers were killed. Eight Americans died and 22 were wounded. Staff Sergeants Clinton Romesha and Ty Carter later received the Medal of Honor for the fight. A defense won, a position given up: three days later the outpost was abandoned, and what remained was destroyed on 6 October.20
Why it ranks here: Even counting every ally the defenders were outnumbered about 3 to 1 (odds 4), but the attackers' number is an estimate (certainty 3), few know the name, and the outpost was given up within days, so consequence 1: 27 points, one above the nearest miss.
How we chose and ranked these American victories against the odds
We counted a battle when American forces won it while clearly the smaller side: the United States, the Continental Army before it, and the Texian army of 1836, whose volunteers, by the Handbook of Texas, came mostly from the Texians, Anglo-Americans from the United States, fighting alongside Tejanos such as Juan Seguín's cavalry. A post that held and beat off the attack counts, which is why Kamdesh is here; a stand that ended in the defenders' destruction, such as the Alamo or Wake Island, belongs to our guide to the greatest last stands. A win counts only if the Americans were clearly outnumbered on sourced figures for both sides, so several famous names are out: at Trenton and Princeton Washington had the larger force on the field, Cowpens was fought at roughly even numbers and the counts for Kings Mountain conflict, and at Midway the Americans had more aircraft than the carriers they sank. Chancellorsville was a true underdog win, but by the Confederacy over the United States Army, so it is ranked on our global list of battles won against the odds. For the wider story see the greatest battles in American history.21
We considered 24 candidates and scored each one from 1 to 5 on five criteria, the same as on our global list. The odds count three times, because this page answers the question of which American victories were won against the heaviest odds; recognition, consequence and certainty of the numbers count twice, and memory counts once. Only ten battles passed the test of real inferiority in numbers, so the list has ten entries rather than fifteen:
- Recognition (×2). 5 if the name is known far beyond military history and appears on most published lists of its kind, 1 if only specialists know it.
- The odds (×3). How outnumbered the winner was, on sourced modern figures: 5 if about 1 to 4 or worse and well attested, 4 about 1 to 3, 3 about 1 to 2, 2 a clear but small gap (about 1 to 1.5), 1 if the sides were roughly even or the winner was possibly not smaller; a 1 puts a battle out of scope.
- Consequence (×2). 5 if it decided a war or the fate of a state, 1 if it changed nothing about the outcome.
- Memory (×1). 5 if it is still a living tradition (a day of remembrance, a monument, a song, a national story), 1 if it is forgotten.
- Certainty (×2). 5 if both sides' numbers are confirmed by records or independent sources, 1 if they rest on one late or partisan source. Ancient and medieval odds are often inflated and score low.
The list is ranked by total score, not by date. Ties go to the better-known battle, then to the one with the greater consequence, then to the older one. The scores are our editorial judgment, made on the evidence in the sources below, and the table shows every one of them, so you can see why Bastogne, one reinforced American division against a German corps, is first, and why New Orleans, perhaps the most famous American underdog story, sits only third: Jackson's men were outnumbered by less than one and a half to one, and the battle was fought after the peace had been signed.
| Rank | Name | Recognition ×2 | The odds ×3 | Consequence ×2 | Memory ×1 | Certainty ×2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bastogne | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 38 |
| 2 | San Jacinto | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 37 |
| 3 | New Orleans | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 35 |
| 4 | Chosin Reservoir | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 35 |
| 5 | Samar | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 35 |
| 6 | Buena Vista | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 33 |
| 7 | Ia Drang | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 31 |
| 8 | Khe Sanh | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 31 |
| 9 | Plattsburgh | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 29 |
| 10 | Kamdesh | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 27 |
Close calls
Three battles came close and did not make the list:
Palo Alto, 1846. The Mexican War's first battle: on 8 May Taylor, marching with 2,300 troops to relieve Fort Texas, found Arista's 3,200 men across the Matamoros road, and American artillery cut the Mexicans down until nightfall ended the fight; the next morning Arista fell back. On the National Park Service's figures the gap is only about 1 to 1.4, and the battle is little remembered, so 26 points leave it one short of Kamdesh.22
Resaca de la Palma, 1846. The next day about 1,700 Americans attacked some 4,000 Mexicans posted along a dry riverbed, about 1 to 2.4 by our reckoning, overran Arista's lines and drove his army back across the Rio Grande. The Mexican strength is an estimate and the name is known almost only to specialists, so it stays on 25.23
Chipyong-ni, 1951. From 13 to 15 February 1951 Colonel Paul Freeman's 23rd Infantry, with a French battalion and a Ranger company attached, some 4,500 to 5,000 men, held the encircled town and gave the UN its first victory over the Chinese. American accounts put the Chinese around it at 25,000, a figure we could not check against Chinese records, so odds 2 and certainty 2 leave it on 22.24
Why is Midway not on the list?
Because at Midway the Americans were not the smaller side in the weapon that decided it. Three US carriers met four Japanese, but with the planes on Midway atoll itself the Americans had about 350 aircraft, 225 on the carriers and 125 ashore, against 248 carrier aircraft and 16 floatplanes, by Barrett Tillman's count in Air & Space Forces Magazine.25
The battle was won by codebreaking and timing: Navy cryptanalysts had been reading Japanese messages since early 1942, and a false report that Midway was short of fresh water confirmed where the blow would fall. That makes it one of the most decisive American victories, told in our full story of the Battle of Midway, but not a win against the odds in numbers.26
Why are Trenton, Cowpens and Lake Erie not on the list?
Because on the day the Americans were the larger side or the sides were about even. The American Battlefield Trust counts 2,400 Americans against 1,500 Hessians at Trenton and 4,500 against 1,200 British at Princeton; at Cowpens it counts 1,065 against 1,150 and at Kings Mountain 910 against 1,125.27
At Lake Erie in 1813 Oliver Hazard Perry brought nine vessels against six British, although the British carried more guns, 63 to 54, by the National Park Service's count. These were wins against the odds of the war, by an army or a navy that looked the weaker overall, not against a larger force on the field. Our guide to the greatest battles of the American Revolution tells the Revolutionary ones in full.29
