Originally called Marettico, meaning hill of hard stone, by the Indians who inhabited the area, Iron Hill was known by its present name as early as 1661, when three Englishmen were reportedly killed there by Minquas Indians. Indians frequented Iron Hill to obtain jasper for making tools, and the hill took its name from the presence of iron in the hills. Early Welsh settlers who received from William Penn in 1701 a grant to the Welsh Tract, an area of about 30,000 acres that included Iron Hill, extracted and smelted ore there. The remains of an old forge built by Sir William Keith, a colonial governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania, stand along the west bank of the Christina at the foot of Iron Hill. In later years, ore was shipped to Principio Furnace near North East, Maryland, and mining continued in the nineteenth century until about 1891 under the McConaugheys, the Coochs, and lastly the Whitakers, leaving ore pits still clearly visible. On August 27, 1777, Generals George Washington, Nathaniel Green, and Lafayette rode to the summit of Iron Hill to observe the movements of the British Army after its landing at the head of Elk River. The Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the only Revolutionary War engagement between British and American armies on Delaware soil, took place nearby on September 3, 1777, at the foot of Iron Hill, where considerable evidence and tradition support the claim that the Stars and Stripes were first carried in battle. British and Hessian troops were stationed on Iron Hill from September 3 to 8, 1777, and Caesar A. Rodney and his troops camped there during the War of 1812. About 300 acres of surrounding land and forest have been protected by New Castle County as parkland in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of American independence.