Battle of Red Bank | |||||||
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Part of the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||
![]() Monument at Fort Mercer commemorating the American victory in the Battle of Red Bank | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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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 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 Patriot cause, delaying British plans to consolidate gains in Philadelphia, and relieving pressure on Washington's Continental Army, which was embedded north of Philadelphia.