Forty Minutes by the Delaware: The Story of the Whitalls, Red Bank Plantation, and the Battle for Fort Mercer is a historical narrative centered on the events surrounding the American Revolutionary War engagement at Fort Mercer and the surrounding Red Bank area along the Delaware River.
The book focuses on the Whitall family and their plantation at Red Bank, situating their household at the center of military operations during the campaign against British and Hessian forces in the region. The Whitall homestead becomes a lens through which the author reconstructs the disruption of civilian life during wartime, as well as the intersection of local communities with larger military movements.
A major portion of the narrative concerns the Battle of Fort Mercer (1777), part of the broader effort by British forces to secure control of the Delaware River and relieve pressure on Philadelphia. The work describes the American defensive position at Red Bank and the assault launched by combined British and Hessian troops, emphasizing the intensity and brevity of the fighting—reflected in the “forty minutes” of the title.
The involvement of Hessian units—drawn from the forces of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel—is typically presented within the broader British expeditionary effort. These troops played a key role in eighteenth-century coalition warfare in North America, and their participation at Fort Mercer is framed as part of the wider pattern of German auxiliary service in the Revolutionary War.
In addition to the military account, the book highlights the civilian experience of war, particularly how the Whitall family and local inhabitants endured bombardment, occupation, and the uncertainty of shifting control over the region. This dual focus—military action and civilian life—gives the work both narrative immediacy and local historical depth.
