How many soldiers died at the Battle of White Plains?

No exact figure exists. The American Battlefield Trust counts 50 American and 47 British and Hessian dead, within total casualties of about 450 on both sides. Other counts differ: Henry P. Johnston gives something over 140 American and about 230 British and Hessian casualties, and the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area about 150 Americans killed and wounded against as many as 313 British and Hessians. All figures are estimates.

Where was the Battle of White Plains fought?

Around the village of White Plains in Westchester County, New York, north of Manhattan. The main fighting was on Chatterton's Hill, a ridge west of the Bronx River on the right of the American lines.

Who commanded at the Battle of White Plains?

George Washington commanded the American army and General William Howe the British and Hessians. On Chatterton's Hill the Americans were led by Brigadier General Alexander McDougall, and Colonel Johann Rall's Hessians made the flank attack that broke them.

What happened at Chatterton's Hill?

It was the main fight of the battle. Covered by their artillery, British and Hessian troops crossed the Bronx River and attacked the hill, where McDougall's brigade beat back their first assaults. When Hessians turned the American right flank, the militia there gave way and the Americans fell back from the hill.

What happened after the Battle of White Plains?

Washington withdrew to the hills near North Castle on the night of 31 October. Howe turned south and took Fort Washington on 16 November. The Americans then retreated across New Jersey into Pennsylvania before striking back at Trenton on 26 December 1776.

Battle of White Plains 1776: Who Won and Why It Mattered

Q: Who won the Battle of White Plains?

The British. Howe's troops took Chatterton's Hill on 28 October 1776 and drove the Americans off it. But Washington withdrew his army intact a few days later, so it was a tactical British win rather than a decisive one; Britannica calls it an indecisive action forcing American withdrawal.

Q: Why was the Battle of White Plains important?

Because the Continental Army survived it. Howe gained ground but not the destruction of Washington's army, and he turned back to capture Fort Washington instead. The army that escaped White Plains won at Trenton and Princeton that winter, which kept the Revolution alive.

At a glance
Rank	Name
Date	28 October 1776
Where	Chatterton's Hill and the American lines at White Plains, Westchester County, New York
Result	British victory; the American army withdrew intact
American command	George Washington; on the hill Alexander McDougall and John Haslet
British command	William Howe; against the hill a British brigade and Hessians under Carl von Donop, Johann Rall and Lossberg
Armies	American about 14,000; British and Hessian 10,000 to 15,000
Engaged	American about 3,100, British and Hessian about 7,500 (American Battlefield Trust); on the hill itself about 1,600 Americans against about 4,000 (Henry P. Johnston)
American losses	217 in the American Battlefield Trust count
British and Hessian losses	233 in the same count
What followed	Fort Washington fell on 16 November; Trenton, 26 December

Quick answer

Who won the Battle of White Plains?

The British won the Battle of White Plains, fought on 28 October 1776 in Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolutionary War. William Howe's British and Hessian troops stormed Chatterton's Hill and forced George Washington's army back. But Washington withdrew his army intact days later, so Howe's chance to end the war in New York slipped away.¹

Anniversary 28 October 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle of White Plains, a British win that still left Washington's army alive for the winter counterstroke told in The Ten Crucial Days.

On the morning of 28 October 1776, British and Hessian columns marched from their camp at Scarsdale toward a small Westchester village where George Washington had dug in. By the end of the day they held Chatterton's Hill, the high ground on his right. It was one more defeat in a season of defeats for the Continental Army.²

Yet White Plains is remembered less for what was lost than for what was not. Within days Washington slipped away to higher ground with his army intact. It is rarely ranked among the greatest battles of the American Revolution, but the army that escaped it went on to win at Trenton and Princeton that winter.

Howe took the hill. Washington kept the army.

Part of The greatest battles of the American Revolution · Before: The Battle of Long Island · Next: The Fall of Fort Washington

The road from Long Island

The New York campaign went badly for the Americans from the start. After their defeat at the Battle of Long Island on 27 August, Washington's troops escaped across the East River on the night of 29 to 30 August. On 15 September British troops landed on Manhattan at Kip's Bay, and the next day the Americans checked them at Harlem Heights.³

Dark locator map with a gold star in a glowing circle marking the approximate site of the Battle of White Plains, the coasts, rivers and lakes of the region, and a small world map inset with the area boxed — The Battle of White Plains: the star marks the approximate site, and the inset shows the area on a world map. Drawn for this article from Natural Earth data, with no modern borders. Location map: © Echoes of Battle (data: Natural Earth, public domain)

Rather than attack the American works on Harlem Heights, General William Howe tried to go around them. He moved most of his army into Westchester County by water, landing at Throg's Neck on 12 October and then at Pell's Point on 18 October. The danger was plain: a British force on the mainland could trap the Americans on Manhattan. Washington left a garrison in Fort Washington, his main stronghold on the island, and marched most of his men north to White Plains, where the army kept its supplies.⁴ › Battle of Pell's Point, 1776

Colonel Rufus Putnam, Washington's engineer, rode out on 20 October to reconnoiter the country toward White Plains, where the army kept large stores, and the next morning the first American brigade reached the village. The army dug two lines of works on the hills north and west of it, with its right on the Bronx River. They were hasty works: some soldiers later claimed the breastworks were made mostly of cornstalks. From 23 October Washington made his headquarters at the Jacob Purdy House, and on the 28th he moved to the Elijah Miller House in North White Plains, in the dates given by the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.⁵

Engraved map of southern Westchester County showing troop positions between Throg's Neck and White Plains in October 1776 — Map of the Westchester campaign drawn by Samuel Lewis and engraved by Benjamin Jones, published in 1807. It shows the positions of the American and British armies from the British landing on 12 October 1776 to the engagement at White Plains on the 28th. CC0. Samuel Lewis and Benjamin Jones, 1807, New York Public Library, via Wikimedia Commons.

The fight for Chatterton's Hill

Chatterton's Hill rose west of the Bronx River, the far right flank of the American lines. Militia had helped fortify it, and Colonel Putnam had just arrived to throw up more works when the British came in sight on the morning of 28 October. A mile or more in front of the lines, advance parties of General Joseph Spencer's division met them on the main road to New York, fought, and were driven back. On the hill, according to Colonel John Haslet, his 1st Delaware Regiment was the first to report, with a Massachusetts militia regiment on its right, and it was followed at once by Brigadier General Alexander McDougall's brigade of New York, Maryland and Connecticut regiments.⁶

Howe's army, 10,000 to 15,000 strong by Britannica's estimate, halted in front of the American lines but did not attack them head on; Chatterton's Hill became its first target. Guns opened on the hill, and the militia behind its stone walls endured a fierce cannonade. The American Battlefield Trust puts the forces engaged that day at about 7,500 British and Hessians and 3,100 Americans. Henry P. Johnston, the nineteenth-century historian of the campaign, counts about 4,000 sent against the hill, a British brigade and Hessians under Colonel Carl von Donop, Colonel Johann Rall and Lossberg, and no more than 1,600 Americans engaged. They crossed the Bronx under cover of their artillery and started up the steep face of the hill.⁷

McDougall's men held their fire until the enemy were at short range, and the attackers fell back. Colonel Putnam, who was on the hill, wrote that the British were twice repulsed. Then Rall's Hessians came around the American right, the militia facing them gave way, and McDougall had to retreat. It became a fighting withdrawal, with the 1st Delaware Regiment guarding the rear. Britannica calls it a brief, sharp action, and by its end the hill was in British hands.⁸

Hand-drawn 1776 map of the hills along the Bronx River at White Plains with British, Hessian and rebel positions — Sketch of the White Plains by Captain Charles Blaskowitz, a British manuscript map of 1776 in pen, ink and watercolor. It marks the Bronx River, the field of action and the positions of British, Hessian and American troops around Chatterton's Hill. Public domain

The American view

For the Americans, White Plains was a defeat, but a limited one. Only part of the army had fought: Howe chose not to attack the main lines in front of the village. The Continental regiments on the hill, among them Haslet's Delawares and William Smallwood's Marylanders, had faced British and Hessian regulars and got back to the main lines; Smallwood was wounded. The militia's flight on the flank was a reminder of how fragile short-service troops could be. The American Battlefield Trust counts 217 Americans killed, wounded and missing. Washington's priority was the army rather than the hill, and the army was still there.⁹

The British and Hessian view

For Howe, the day was a clear tactical success. His troops had taken the high ground on the American right, and the Hessians had delivered the decisive blow. The price was real: the American Battlefield Trust counts 233 British and Hessian casualties. On the 29th Howe waited for reinforcements, and on the 30th rain put off the attack he had planned. By the morning of 1 November the Americans had gone. The British historian Charles Stedman, quoted by Johnston, judged their new position so strong that any attack on it must have failed, and Howe gave up the pursuit.¹⁰

How many died at the Battle of White Plains?

No exact figure exists. The American Battlefield Trust counts 50 Americans killed, 150 wounded and 17 missing, against 47 British and Hessians killed, 182 wounded and 4 missing, about 450 casualties in all. The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area gives about 150 Americans killed and wounded and as many as 313 British and Hessians.¹¹

Why was the Battle of White Plains important?

Because the Continental Army survived it. Howe took Chatterton's Hill but did not destroy Washington's army, and instead of pursuing it he turned south against Fort Washington. In doing so, the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area notes, he abandoned a strategy that might have destroyed the army and cost the Americans New York and New England.¹²

On the night of 31 October Washington pulled back to the hills near North Castle, taking roughly 14,000 men to more secure ground. Howe did not follow. Instead he turned south against Fort Washington, the last American stronghold on Manhattan, and on 16 November took it with about 2,800 men inside. Fort Lee across the Hudson was abandoned four days later, and the army retreated across New Jersey, crossing the Delaware into Pennsylvania in early December.¹³

That is why White Plains matters. Howe won the field but did not destroy the army, and an army that survived could strike back. On 26 December Washington crossed the Delaware again and fell on the Hessian garrison at Trenton, commanded by the same Johann Rall who had led the attack on Chatterton's Hill. Rall was mortally wounded at Trenton. On 3 January 1777 came Princeton. For George Washington, White Plains was part of the hard lesson of 1776: keeping the army alive mattered more than holding any single hill.¹⁴

Engraving of boats full of soldiers landing beneath tall wooded cliffs, with a column climbing a path up the cliff — Landing of the British forces in the Jerseys, 20 November 1776: a 19th-century engraving of British troops coming ashore below the Palisades of the Hudson and climbing the cliffs on their way to Fort Lee, four days after the fall of Fort Washington. Public domain

If you visit

Two houses linked to the campaign survive. The Jacob Purdy House, now at 60 Park Avenue in White Plains, is home to the White Plains Historical Society. Washington used it as headquarters in 1778, and the American Battlefield Trust says possibly during the battle in 1776 as well; the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area dates his stay there to 23 to 28 October 1776. The society has compiled a partial list of soldiers present at or near the battle. The Elijah Miller House in North White Plains, where Washington stayed from 28 October to 10 November 1776, is now the Miller House Museum, open by appointment. Chatterton's Hill still rises west of the Bronx River, and the City of White Plains marks the battle there in Battle-Whitney Park. Check the society's website for opening times; for other anniversaries, see On This Day in Military History.¹⁵