Following that battle, Washington and his men retreated while the British moved into Manhattan gave chase to the Continental Army. Their advanced was halted at Harlem Heights. In mid-October, the British began an encirclement of the Americans, aimed at trapping them between two land forces and the Royal Navy on the Hudson River. While British General William Howe had established his camp at New Rochelle, he had advance units located just seven miles from White Plains, an under defended Continental Army supply depot. Washington discovered that the British were dangerously close to his army and the supplies and ordered reinforcements to White Plains immediately. Washington relocated to White Plains on October 23 and established three-mile long entrenched defensive position.