The headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow was inspired by a real Hessian soldier killed by a cannonball during the 1776 New York campaign. This episode looks at the Battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776, when George Washington escaped General William Howe’s attempt to trap him in Manhattan and set up defensive lines in Westchester.

We follow the fight from the skirmish at Hartsdale to the battle for Chatterton’s Hill, where Hessian artillery, Johann Rall’s attack, and the stand of John Haslet’s Delaware regiment decided the day. Then a rainstorm stopped Howe’s final attack and let Washington slip away, keeping the army alive for the surprise victory at Trenton over the same Johann Rall.

• How Rufus Putnam’s scouting exposed Howe’s attempt to encircle the army
• Washington’s strategy of trading ground for time to wear down the British
• Why infantry without bayonets broke under the British cavalry charge
• Disputed casualty counts and Rodney Atwood’s corrected British total of about 267
• How rain disabled 18th-century muskets and artillery and why Howe turned toward Fort Washington