Battle of Cooch's Bridge

Infobox Military Conflict
| partof = the American Revolutionary War
|

| caption =
| date = September 3, 1777
| place = Iron Hill, Delaware
| result = British victory
| combatant1 = flagicon|USA|1777 United States
| combatant2 = flagicon|United Kingdom|1606 Great Britain
flagicon|Hesse German auxiliaries
| commander1 = Brig. Gen. William Maxwell
| commander2 = Lt. Col. Ludwig von Wurmb
| strength1 = 720 milita
| strength2 = 950 Hessians
| casualties1 = 24 killed
40 wounded
| casualties2 = 4 killed
20 wounded

The Battle of Cooch's Bridge was a minor engagement between American militia and Hessian troops during the American Revolutionary War. On August 25, 1777, a large British army under the command of William Howe landed at the Head of Elk in Maryland with the objective to march northward and capture the Colonial capital of Philadelphia. During the advance into Delaware, British Light Infantry and German Jaegers provided the advance guard, patrolling the areas in the advance of the British army and gathering intelligence of the terrain and of enemy movements. George Washington, commander of the American Continental Army, had only about 1,000 Pennsylvania and Delaware militia under the command of William Maxwell to patrol the area in the path of the British army.

On September 3, 1777, the advance guard of the British army, which included over 400 Jaeger Hessians under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel von Wurmb clashed with American militia. The Hessians formed a front as they approached a wooded area near the small town of Iron Hill, some 5-6 miles from Newport. After a charge, the Jaegers drove off the American light militia into the woods, as the British 1st and 2nd Light Infantry battalions joined in the fray, with the British Grenadiers in their rear. After a fierce, close-quarters fight in the wooded area, Maxwell's men withdrew towards Cooch's Bridge, their line of retreat. Here they met the right wing of Jaegers under the command of Captain Wreden.

At Cooch's Bridge, Maxwell's men kept up an effective skirmishing fire, but the 2nd Light Infantry formed up on the Jaegers right and drove them from their positions and across the bridge. The Jaegers and British Light Infantry then rested, having succeeded in securing the area.

The British and Hessians reported their losses as only four killed and around 20 wounded. About 24 American dead were recovered from the battlefield, including five officers, while also losing around 40-50 wounded. With the line of advance into Pennsylvania secure, the British continued marching northward which then led to the victorious Battle of Brandywine, and later the capture of Philadelphia with it.

References

* Clement, Justin; "Philadelphia 1777; Taking the capital"; Osprey Campaign Series #176; Osprey Publishing, 2007, ISBN 9781846030338.