McGown's Pass, New York
McGown's Pass, New York
McGOWN'S PASS, NEW YORK. McGown's Pass (also spelled McGowan's Pass) is a defile located at the northeast corner of modern Central Park, where the Post Road ran between two steep hills before winding down a steep grade to Harlem Plains. This terrain feature was one of British General William Howe's objectives after landing at Kips Bay on 15 September 1776. William Smallwood's First Maryland Regiment, much reduced by losses suffered at the battle of Long Island, was posted in front of the pass that day to stall the British advance. The Marylanders had orders to fall back to the pass and ambush the British there. Instead, the Marylanders inadvertently deflected the British toward a column of Americans escaping up the west side of Manhattan. The pass was held by Lord Hugh Percy when the main British force moved toward White Plains. Here the traitor William Demont entered the British lines, and it was from this position that Percy started his attack on Fort Washington, on 16 November 1776.
SEE ALSO Demont, William; Kips Bay, New York; Long Island, New York, Battle of.
revised by Barnet Schecter