Dispatches sets the words of the moment beside the photographs of 2026 — one account from each side, as each was written.
On October 28, 1776, General William Howe’s British and Hessian army attacked Washington’s lines at White Plains, striking first at Chatterton Hill, held by about 1,600 Continentals and militia under General Alexander McDougall. As British regiments climbed the hill’s steep face, Colonel Johann Rall’s Hessian brigade swept around the American right flank, breaking the militia and forcing the defenders from the height.
“At the same time they advanced in Two divisions, and after a smart engagement for about a Quarter of an Hour, obliged our Men to give away.”
— Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hanson Harrison, aide-de-camp to General Washington, to John Hancock, President of Congress. White Plains, 29 October 1776.
“…giving directions at the same time for Colonel Raille to charge the enemy’s flank…”
— General Sir William Howe to Lord George Germain, 30 November 1776. Printed in the London Gazette, 30 December 1776.
Photographs: Ward Pound Ridge Reservation Pound Ridge, New York. October 24th and 25th 2026. Rev250 living history photography by Thomas Musante.
Sources
If you’d like to learn more about the reporting of the day, below are the two accounts quoted above, along with a modern account of what took place.
Robert Hanson Harrison to John Hancock, 29 October 1776. Founders Online, National Archives. Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 7. founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-07-02-0037
William Howe to Lord George Germain, 30 November 1776, London Gazette, 30 December 1776. Text as reprinted in Israel Mauduit, Observations upon the Conduct of Sir William Howe at the White Plains (London: J. Bew, 1779). gutenberg.org/ebooks/33449
For a modern account of the engagement: American Battlefield Trust, “White Plains.” battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/white-plains
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