Question

why would the American and British forces have wanted to control New York City during the revolutionary war?

Answer 1

British strategy changed throughout the course of the war as the British came up against more obstacles and challenges than they anticipated.

The British strategy at the beginning of the war was simply to contain the American Revolution in Massachusetts and prevent it from spreading.

This proved difficult though when the British suffered devastating casualties at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June of 1775 during the Siege of Boston.

After the Americans captured Fort Ticonderoga in New York, they brought the fort’s cannons to Cambridge, where they arrived on January 24, 1776, and planned to fortify the hills overlooking Boston harbor in an attempt to break the siege.

When powder for the cannons finally arrived on March 2, the Americans began firing on Boston. On March 4,  they mounted the largest cannons on Dorchester Heights. When the British saw the cannons on Dorchester Heights, they made an attempt to attack the heights but were thwarted by a storm. The British then decided to abandon Boston altogether and flee for Nova Scotia, Canada on March 17, 1776.

The new British strategy at this point was to capture New York City and use it as a base of operations. The British successfully captured New York on September 15, 1776 and launched the next phase of the plan in 1777.

This plan was to isolate New England, which was the heart of the rebellion, from the rest of the colonies by marching three British armies simultaneously from New York City, Montreal and Fort Oswego to meet in Albany and take control of the Hudson River, which formed a natural barrier along the western edge of New England.