Anna Maria Boyer

The Battle of Long Island in August 1776 wasn't particularly costly to George Washington's Continental Army in terms of deaths, but it cost the life of German immigrant Anna Maria Boyer's brother, Peter.

And the campaign for New York City was far from over.

Following the evacuation of his army from Brooklyn Heights, Washington maintained control of Manhattan, but his position was still vulnerable. He feared the British would land on New York's mainland and gradually encircle him. Instead, the British landed on Manhattan's eastern shore, at Kipp's Bay, on September 15th. The result was an embarrassing failure to contest the landing.

This failure forced Washinton to make a choice:

1. Move his forces north, and abandon New York City,
2. Move his forces south to defend the city, and risk losing any chance of retreat, or
3. Try to do both, and risk his forces being split in two.

Washington decided to evacuate his forces northward to Harlem Heights, abandoning the entirity of New York City. (Back then, all of New York City fit on the southern tip of Manhattan.)

To prevent the British from taking control of the Hudson River and driving a wedge between New York and New England, Washington put his trust in the twin defense works of Fort Lee and Fort Washington. These two forts overlooked the Hudson River from both the east and west banks.

And to keep the Royal Navy from trapping the entire Continental Army on Manhattan, Washington moved everyone not involved in the defense of Fort Washington over King's Bridge to Yonkers. British general Williame Howe pursued, and fought the Battle of White Plains on October 28th. It was a British victory, but it was far from decisive.
What frustrated Howe was now that Washington was on the mainland, he could retreat in any direction. Instead of chasing Washington through unfamiliar territory, Howe decided to return to Manhattan to lay seige the fortifications guarding the Hudson River.

Aided by insider information provided by a turncoat, Howe attacked Fort Washington on November 16th, 1776, with 8,000 troops advancing from three directions.

As the outer defenses fell, retreating Patriots flooded the fort, until it became so overcrowded that the location could not be defended without great loss of life. Instead holding out until December (as its commander had hoped), the Continental forces surrendered that afternoon.
The Battle of Fort Washington was in equal measures a tactical masterpiece for Howe and a disaster for the Colonial Army. Although it suffered only 59 soldiers were killed and 96 were wounded, fully 2837 Patriots were taken prisoner.

It was also a tragedy for Anna Maria Boyer. One of those 59 was her husband.

Less than three months after losing her brother Peter in the Battle of Long Island, she lost her husband Johann Jacob Engler at Fort Washington. This left her a 40 year-old widow with eight children to care for, including twins that were still less than two years old.

Forever in history, Peter Boyer and his brother-in-law Johann Jacob Engler will face each other in the rolls of those lost in Captain John Arndt's company during the Revolutionary War. Yet life has a funny way of working out sometimes.

Within two years, Anna Maria Boyer would marry another German immigrant named Johann Philip Achenbach, and they would have three more children by the time she turned 47.

The oldest of the three was named John Philip Achenbach -- Harold Achenbach's great-grandfather.