Under General George Washington, the Continental Army survived the Battle of Long Island and carried the war through Manhattan and across Westchester to the stand off at White Plains. Thwarting the British plan to capture and destroy the army, repeatedly averting military disaster while underfed and ill-equipped, the Americans lived to fight another day, then surprised and captured the Hessians at Trenton and again at Bennington, defeated a British army at Saratoga, and after years of struggle, joined by French allies, gained a resounding victory at Yorktown, Virginia. White Plains was a prelude to triumph and independence.