18 October in military history: the Battles of Pell's Point, 1776, and Tarutino, 1812

On 18 October 1776 about 4,000 British and Hessian troops landed at Pell's Point, in today's Bronx. Colonel John Glover's brigade of about 750 Massachusetts men fought them from behind stone walls along the road, falling back from wall to wall, and then withdrew across the Hutchinson River while Washington's army moved toward White Plains.

The figures differ. Glover's letter, as Franko prints it, gives eight Americans killed and thirteen wounded; Abbatt, from Glover's report, counts six killed. Howe reported three British soldiers killed and twenty wounded and said nothing of the Hessians; Colonel Baldwin, an American officer, judged that the enemy lost at least 200 dead.

The Russians routed the French left and took prisoners and guns, but Murat's vanguard escaped, and the sources differ on how much of the blame for breaking off the fight lies with Kutuzov and how much with Bennigsen. The next day Napoleon left Moscow.

The Presidential Library gives about 2,500 French killed and 2,000 taken prisoner, with 38 guns, and Russian losses of 300 to 1,200 depending on the source. Wilson, who was there, gives 2,000 French killed and 2,000 prisoners, and Russian losses of no more than 500.

The Allies renewed their attacks on Napoleon's line around the city, and part of his Saxon troops went over to the Allies. Maude puts them at some 3,000, going over about 2 p.m. The French withdrew the next day.