Battle of Red Bank

Battle of Red Bank
Part of the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War
Monument at Fort Mercer commemorating the American victory in the Battle of Red Bank
Date October 22, 1777 Location Fort Mercer, National Park, New Jersey 39°52′17″N 75°11′22″W / 39.871371°N 75.18941°W / 39.871371; -75.18941 Result American victory
Belligerents
United States	Great Britain Hesse-Kassel
Commanders and leaders
Christopher Greene John Hazelwood	Carl Donop †
Strength
400 American Patriots	1,200 Hessian troops
Casualties and losses
14 killed 23 wounded[1]	82 killed 228 wounded 60 captured[1]

The Battle of Red Bank, also known as the Battle of Fort Mercer, was fought on October 22, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War.^[2] A British and Hessian force was sent to take Fort Mercer on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River just south of Philadelphia, but was decisively defeated by a smaller force of Continental Army troops.^[3]

Although Fort Mercer ultimately fell to the British a month later, the victory at the Battle of Red Bank served as a much-needed morale boost to the revolutionary cause, delaying British plans to consolidate gains in Philadelphia, and relieving pressure on Washington's Continental Army, which was embedded north of Philadelphia.