Battle of Bound Brook

Battle of Bound Brook
Part of the American Revolutionary War
Map by Johann Ewald depicting the Bound Brook area and the plan of attack. New Brunswick is at the bottom, and the Bound Brook outpost at the center. British movements are drawn in red.
Date April 13, 1777 Location Bound Brook, New Jersey Coordinates: 40°33′32″N 74°31′40″W / 40.5589°N 74.5278°W / 40.5589; -74.5278 Result British victory
Belligerents
United States	Great Britain Hesse-Kassel
Commanders and leaders
Benjamin Lincoln	Charles Cornwallis
Strength
500	4,000
Casualties and losses
reports vary: 40 to 120 killed, wounded, or captured	light: 7 wounded

 Great Britain

The Battle of Bound Brook (April 13, 1777) was a surprise attack conducted by British and Hessian forces against a Continental Army outpost at Bound Brook, New Jersey during the American Revolutionary War. The British objective of capturing the entire garrison was not met, although prisoners were taken. The American commander, Major General Benjamin Lincoln, left in great haste, abandoning papers and personal effects.

Late on the evening of April 12, 1777, four thousand British and Hessian troops under the command of Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis marched from the British stronghold of New Brunswick. All but one detachment reached positions surrounding the outpost before the battle began near daybreak the next morning. During the battle, most of the 500-man garrison escaped by the unblocked route. American reinforcements arrived in the afternoon, but not before the British plundered the outpost and began the return march to New Brunswick.

Following the Battles of Trenton and Princeton in December 1776 and January 1777, the Continental Army of Major General George Washington entered winter quarters in Morristown, New Jersey, while the British and German forces of Lieutenant General William Howe settled into winter quarters in New York City and northeastern New Jersey. Throughout the winter months, a guerrilla war of sorts went on, in which American militia companies, sometimes with Continental Army support, harassed British and German outposts and ambushed their foraging and raiding expeditions. One of the forward bases used for these operations was at Bound Brook, located on the Raritan River upriver from New Brunswick, the major British camp in New Jersey. The post was responsible for patrolling three bridges across the Raritan likely to be used by the British in moves against the main camp at Morristown.

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