Washington and the King’s Bridge

Join us for a presentation by Gerry Bogacz, of the Kingsbridge Historical Society, about Washington’s narrow escape over the King’s Bridge in 1776–giving the Continental Army the opportunity to continue the fight in the years that followed. The presentation will be held at 6:00 on June 10th at the Will Library in Yonkers at 1500 Central Park Avenue. On-site parking is plentiful.

Ken Burns’ remarkable documentary on the American Revolution has dropped in time for the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the military events of 1776 in Brooklyn, Manhattan and points north. The episodes which captured the actions of George Washington and the Continental Army in 1776 were not able to relate the full history of Washington’s evacuation of Manhattan Island. Rather, the narrative moves from the skirmish in Harlem Heights directly to the Battle of White Plains, reducing the actual evacuation to a footnote, regardless of the near demise of the Continental Army as it departed Manhattan.

The presentation will explore the details of Washington’s departure from Manhattan and the near destruction of the Continental Army as it moves north over the King’s Bridge from Manhattan to the mainland in the current northwest Bronx. It includes the critical roles of two militia units in obstructing British General Howe as his force attempts to encircle the departing Americans. The second of these militias, under Colonel John Glover, included free Black and indigenous soldiers fighting among their white counterparts. The presentation will be held at the Will Library in Yonkers at 1500 Central Park Avenue.

If not for these militias, the American forces certainly could have been encircled and destroyed, which would have ended the Revolutionary enterprise.

The Kingsbridge Historical Society’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.