In November 1777, Fort Mifflin on Mud Island endured a devastating British siege from land and water as British batteries, a floating battery, and warships bombarded the fort for days, while American defenders suffered heavy casualties, cold, hunger, and constant labor repairing shattered works. British accounts recorded the progressive silencing of the fort’s guns, the destruction of its blockhouses, and the arrival of provisions and ammunition for the British army, while American accounts reported fierce engagements against British ships, the fort being torn to pieces, many men killed and wounded, and the garrison finally setting fire to the barracks and evacuating during the night of November 15. On November 16, the British took possession and raised their own colors over the abandoned fort. A Continental soldier later recalled the fort as a mud flat whose defenses were repeatedly leveled by British fire and rebuilt at night, and described the final bombardment on November 14 as leaving the fort in complete desolation before the survivors withdrew to the Jersey shore. Earlier in September 1777, after the British raised two of the chevaux-de-frise in the Delaware south of Fort Mifflin, six British ships sailed upstream to attack Fort Mercer at Red Bank, and after the Augusta and Merlin ran aground below the upper chevaux-de-frise, American forces engaged them, the Augusta blew up under American fire, the Merlin was abandoned and burned, and the Americans later salvaged guns and supplies from both ships.
