Battle of Cooch's Bridge-British Position
DE - Wilmington, Delaware, USA
811 Eggerts Ln, Newark, DE 19702, USA
MARKER
VISITOR INFORMATION
NO TICKET REQUIRED
A roadside historical marker, free to read at any time. There is no parking area or restroom at the marker itself, so pull over only where it is safe to do so.
The outdoor historical marker has no separate admission ticket or staffed hours. Follow any posted hours or access rules for the surrounding park or property.
Peak visitation season unconfirmed. No reliable marker-specific monthly attendance pattern or recurring visitor programme was established.
May-June or September-October for a daylight marker stop and nearby walks in generally milder weather. Confirm the marker’s present location and permitted public approach.
HISTORIC SITES NEARBY
Nearby Historic Sites
miles
Landmark

WHO WAS HERE
1
PEOPLE WHO LIVED HERE
About Battle of Cooch's Bridge-British Position
British and Hessian troops occupied this position during the September 3, 1777 Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. They drove back American light infantry in the opening action of Howe’s campaign to capture Philadelphia.
A commemorative marker is recorded for Battle of Cooch's Bridge-British Position. The record does not establish what historic fabric survives or who maintains the site.
History happened here at Battle of Cooch's Bridge-British Position
Battle of Cooch's Bridge-British Position is associated with Sep 3, 1777 and the history of Philadelphia. British and Hessian troops occupied this position during the September 3, 1777 Battle of Cooch’s Bridge. They drove back American light infantry in the opening action of Howe’s campaign to capture Philadelphia. On the morning of September 3, 1777, soldiers of the Hessian Field Jaeger Corps encountered American light infantry positioned in the woods and fields along this road, which led from Aikentown (Glasgow) to Cooch's Bridge. The Americans attacked the Hessians, forcing the British army to deploy two light infantry battalions in an attempt to outflank them. Fighting was intense and at times hand-to-hand. The Hessian and British soldiers eventually forced the American troops back to a final position at Cooch's Bridge. Each side engaged at Cooch's Bridge is believed to have suffered approximately forty casualties. Following the battle the British army encamped for five days in the area between Aikentown and Iron Hill.
Because this entry concerns a marker, the visible object is primarily a guide to an earlier event rather than the event's original fabric. Markers select facts, names, and dates for public memory, often compressing uncertainty and change into a small amount of text. The most useful way to visit is to compare the inscription with the surrounding geography and the fuller account in this record. Doing so restores movement, distance, and setting to a story that the marker alone can only summarize.
Roads were active parts of the historical landscape, not merely lines between important places. They determined how quickly soldiers, messengers, political leaders, wagons, livestock, and supplies could move. Grades, bridges, weather, and nearby settlements could shape a march or delay it. Reading this location as a transportation corridor helps connect the event commemorated here to the practical problems of distance, communication, reconnaissance, and control that influenced campaigns and civilian life.
The subject belongs to the wider history of Philadelphia. Local episodes like this gave larger campaigns and political movements their practical form. Decisions made by commanders or governments had to be carried out through particular roads, properties, waterways, institutions, and communities. The record is valuable because it fixes that broader theme to a place where people acted, waited, traveled, fought, worked, or remembered. It also keeps regional experience from disappearing inside a narrative focused only on famous capitals and major battlefields.
The importance of the site lies in this combination of event, place, and memory. Although the present surroundings may differ sharply from those known by the people in the account, the location preserves a spatial connection that written history alone cannot provide. Careful stewardship should retain the marker, document changes to its setting, and distinguish verified facts from later tradition. In that form, the site can support a fuller understanding of the people involved and of the networks that connected this episode to wider events.
PEOPLE WHO DIED HERE
PEOPLE AT REST HERE
EXTERNAL LINKS
Historical Marker Database: https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=57931
Delaware Public Archives: https://archives.delaware.gov/delaware-historical-markers/british-position/
Commemorates the British and Hessian position during the September 3, 1777 Battle of Cooch's Bridge. Delaware Public Archives preserves successive marker texts and records the original installation in 1932 and replacement in 2024. Its current listing gives 801 Eggerts Lane, differing from the row's 811; the HMDB entry documents an earlier version.
Accessed 2026-09-30

