Battle of Long Island

Coordinates: 40°39′58″N 73°57′58″W / 40.666°N 73.966°W / 40.666; -73.966
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This article is about the American Revolutionary War battle. For the Hofstra–Stony Brook rivalry, see Battle of Long Island (college rivalry).
"Battle of Brooklyn" redirects here. For other uses, see Battle of Brooklyn (disambiguation).

Battle of Long Island
Part of the American Revolutionary War

The Battle of Long Island, a 21st-century portrait of the battle
DateAugust 26, 1776
Location
Brooklyn, New York
40°39′58″N 73°57′58″W / 40.666°N 73.966°W / 40.666; -73.966
Result

British victory[1]

Belligerents
 Great Britain
Hesse-Kassel		 United States
Commanders and leaders
James Grant
Charles Mawhood
Francis Smith
William Alexander
Thomas Mifflin
Henry Knox
John Sullivan (POW
)
Strength
20,000[2] 10,000[3]
Casualties and losses
64 killed
293 wounded
31 missing[4][5]		 2,179 killed, wounded or captured[6]
Battle of Long Island is located in New York City
Battle of Long Island
class=notpageimage|
Location within New York City
Battle of Long Island is located in New York
Battle of Long Island
Battle of Long Island (New York)

The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at and near the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn. The British defeated the Continental Army and gained access to the strategically important Port of New York, which they held for the rest of the war. It was the first major battle to take place after the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. It was the largest battle of the Revolutionary War in terms of both troop deployment and combat.

After defeating the British in the

Manhattan Island. Washington understood that the city's harbor would provide an excellent base for the Royal Navy, so he established defenses there and waited for the British to attack. In July, the British, under the command of General William Howe, landed a few miles across the harbor on the sparsely populated Staten Island, where they were reinforced by a fleet of ships in Lower New York Bay over the next month and a half, bringing their total force to 32,000 troops. Washington knew the difficulty in holding the city with the British fleet in control of the entrance to the harbor at the Narrows
, and accordingly moved the bulk of his forces to Manhattan, believing that it would be the first target.

On August 21, the British landed on the shores of

Gravesend Bay in southwest Kings County, across the Narrows from Staten Island and more than a dozen miles south of the established East River crossings to Manhattan. After five days of waiting, the British attacked the American defenses on the Guan Heights. Unknown to the Americans, however, Howe had brought his main army around their rear and attacked their flank soon after. The Americans panicked, resulting in twenty percent losses through casualties and capture, although a stand by 400 Maryland and Delaware troops prevented greater losses. The remainder of the army retreated to the main defenses on Brooklyn Heights
. The British dug in for a siege, but on the night of August 29–30, Washington evacuated the entire army to Manhattan without the loss of supplies or a single life. The Continental Army was driven out of Manhattan entirely after several more defeats and was forced to retreat through New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

Prelude to battle

In the first stage of the war, the

Bowling Green
.

Lee remained in New York City until March when the

William Alexander (Lord Stirling).[11] Troops were in limited supply, so Washington found the defenses incomplete,[12] but Lee had concluded that in any case, it would be impossible to hold the city with the British commanding the sea. He reasoned that the defenses should be located with the ability to inflict heavy casualties upon the British if any move was made to take and hold ground.[10] Barricades and redoubts were established in and around the city, and the bastion of Fort Stirling was built across the East River in Brooklyn Heights, facing the city.[13] Lee had also seen to it that the immediate area was cleared of Loyalists.[14]

Strategy

Old Stone House, depicted in this map by Bernard Ratzer
based on his 1766–1767 survey.

Washington began moving troops to Brooklyn in early May,[15] and there were several thousand of them there in a short time. Three more forts were under construction on the eastern side of the East River to support Fort Stirling, which stood to the west of the hamlet of Brooklyn Heights. These new fortifications were Fort Putnam,[16] Fort Greene,[16] and Fort Box[16] (named for Major Daniel Box).[17] They lay from north to south, with Fort Putnam farthest to the north, Greene slightly to the southwest, and Box slightly farther southwest. Each of these defensive structures was surrounded by a large ditch, all connected by a line of entrenchments and a total of 36 cannons.[18]

Hulks were sunk at strategic locations to deter the British from entering the East River and other waterways.[20]

Washington had been authorized by Congress to recruit an army of up to 28,501 troops, but he had only 19,000 when he reached New York.[21] Military discipline was inadequate; routine orders were not carried out, muskets were fired in camp, flints were ruined, bayonets were used as knives to cut food, and firearm readiness was lax.[22] Petty internal conflict was common under the strain of a large number of people from different regional cultures and temperaments living in relatively close proximity.[23]

Commander of the artillery

Fort Washington. Fort Constitution, later renamed Fort Lee, was planned opposite Fort Washington on the Hudson River.[19] The forts were intended to discourage the British ships from sailing up the Hudson River.[19]

British arrival

Opposing commanders
General
William Howe
General
George Washington
Further information: Order of battle of the Battle of Long Island
The British fleet in the lower bay, published in Harper's Magazine in 1876, depicts a Royal Navy fleet amassing off Staten Island in the summer of 1776
British troops in the type of flat-bottomed boat used for the invasion of Long Island. Hessians, loyal to the British, are in the two boats (in blue uniforms and partly visible).

On June 28,

Richard Howe, the brother of General Howe.[26]

On July 6, news reached New York that Congress had voted for independence four days earlier.

George III of Great Britain.[28] In their fury, the crowd cut off the statue's head, severed the nose, mounted what remained of the head on a spike outside a tavern, and the rest of the statue was dragged to Connecticut and melted down into musket balls.[29]

On July 12, the British ships

Fort George, Fort Defiance, and Governors Island, but the British returned fire into the city. The ships sailed along the New Jersey shore and continued up the Hudson, sailing past Fort Washington and arriving by nightfall at Tarrytown, the widest part of the Hudson.[30] The goals of the British ships were to cut off American supplies from New England and the north and to encourage Loyalist support. The only casualties of the day were six Americans who were killed when their own cannon blew up.[30]

The next day, July 13, Howe attempted to open negotiations with the Americans.

flag of truce. The letter was addressed to "George Washington, Esq."[31] Brown was met by Joseph Reed, who had hurried to the waterfront on Washington's orders, accompanied by Henry Knox and Samuel Webb. Washington asked his officers whether it should be received or not, as it did not recognize his rank as general, and they unanimously said no.[32] Reed told Brown that there was no one in the army with that address. On July 16, Howe tried again, this time with the address "George Washington, Esq., etc., etc.", but it was again declined.[33] The next day, Howe sent Captain Nisbet Balfour to ask if Washington would meet with Howe's adjutant face to face, and a meeting was scheduled for July 20.[33] Howe's adjutant was Colonel James Patterson. Patterson told Washington that Howe had come with powers to grant pardons, but Washington said, "Those who have committed no fault want no pardon."[33] Patterson departed soon after.[33] Washington's performance during the meeting was praised in many parts of the country.[34]

Meanwhile, British ships continued to arrive.

Charles Cornwallis, along with 3,000 troops. By August 12, 3,000 more British troops and another 8,000 Hessians had arrived.[36] At this point, the British fleet numbered over 400 ships, including 73 warships, and 32,000 troops were camped on Staten Island. Faced with this large force, Washington was unsure as to where the British would attack.[37] Both Greene and Reed thought that the British would attack Long Island, but Washington felt that a British attack on Long Island might be a diversion for the main attack on Manhattan. He broke his army in half, stationing half of it on Manhattan, and the other half on Long Island; the army on Long Island was commanded by Greene.[37] On August 20, Greene became ill and was forced to move to a house in Manhattan where he rested to recover. John Sullivan was placed in command until Greene was well enough to resume command.[38]

Invasion of Long Island

Gravesend Bay
, where the conditions were more favorable for small British boats carrying the troops.

At 05:10 on August 22, an advance guard of 4,000 British troops left Staten Island under the command of Clinton and Cornwallis to land on Long Island.

Flatbush. He was given orders to advance no further.[40][41]

Washington received word of the landings the same day but was informed that the number was 8,000 to 9,000 troops.

rifles picking off British troops from time to time.[45]

The American plan was for Putnam to direct the defenses from Brooklyn Heights, while Sullivan and Stirling and their troops would be stationed forward on the Guan Heights.

Jamaica Pass, farthest to the east, which was patrolled by just five militia officers on horseback.[49]

On the British side, General Clinton learned of the almost undefended Jamaica Pass from local Loyalists.

James Grant's British troops along with some Hessians, a total of 4,000 men, were to attack the Americans in front to distract them from the main army coming on their flank.[51] Howe told Clinton to be ready to move out that night, August 26.[51]

Battle

Night march

Howard's Tavern, depicted in 1776 and demolished sometime after 1900, was located near the present-day intersection of Fulton Street and Jamaica Avenue.

At 21:00, the British moved out.

New Lots
, when it headed directly north toward the heights.

The column had yet to run into any American troops when they reached Howard's Tavern (also known as "Howard's Half-Way House"), just a few hundred yards from the Jamaica Pass.[53] Tavern keeper William Howard and his son William Jr. were forced to act as guides to show the British the way to the Rockaway Foot Path, an old Indian trail that skirted the Jamaica Pass to the west (located today in the Cemetery of the Evergreens). William Howard Jr. describes meeting Howe:

It was about two in the morning of August 27 that I was awakened by seeing a soldier at the side of my bed. I got up and dressed and went down to the barroom, where I saw my father standing in one corner with three British soldiers before him with muskets and bayonets fixed. The army was then lying in the field in front of the house... General Howe and another officer were in the barroom. General Howe wore a camlet cloak over his regimentals. After asking for a glass of liquor from the bar, which was given him, he entered into familiar conversation with my father, and among other things said, "I must have some one of you to show me over the Rockaway Path around the pass." My father replied, "We belong to the other side, General, and can’t serve you against our duty." General Howe replied, "That is alright; stick to your country, or stick to your principles, but Howard, you are my prisoner and must guide my men over the hill." My father made some further objection, but was silenced by the general, who said, "You have no alternative. If you refuse I shall shoot you through the head.

Five minutes after leaving the tavern, the five American militia officers stationed at the pass were captured without a shot fired, as they thought that the British were Americans.[54] Clinton interrogated the men and they informed him that they were the only troops guarding the pass. By dawn, the British were through the pass and stopped so that the troops could rest.[54] At 09:00, they fired two heavy cannons to signal the Hessian troops below Battle Pass to begin their frontal assault against Sullivan's men deployed on the two hills flanking the pass, while Clinton's troops simultaneously flanked the American positions from the east.[54]

Grant's diversionary attack

Upper New York Harbor and New Jersey, where Lord Stirling confronted about 300 Continental Army troops under Colonel Atlee and General Parsons, who attacked the British successively, ultimately took Battle Hill, and inflicted the highest casualties against the British during the Battle of Long Island.[55]

At about 23:00 on August 26, the first shots were fired in the Battle of Long Island, near the Red Lion Inn (near present-day 39th Street and 4th Avenue). American pickets from Samuel John Atlee's Pennsylvania regiment fired upon two British soldiers who were foraging in a watermelon patch near the inn.[56]

Around 01:00 on August 27, the British approached the vicinity of the Red Lion with 200–300 troops. The American troops fired upon the British; after approximately two fusillades, they fled up the Gowanus Road toward the

Vechte–Cortelyou House. Major Edward Burd had been in command, but he was captured along with a lieutenant and 15 privates.[57] This first engagement was fought in the vicinity of 38th and 39th streets between 2nd and 3rd avenues near a swamp located adjacent to the Gowanus Road.[58]

Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons and Colonel Atlee were stationed farther north on the Gowanus Road. Parsons was a lawyer from Connecticut who had recently secured a commission in the Continental Army; Atlee was a veteran of the French and Indian War in command of the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Musketry. Putnam had been awakened by a guard at 03:00 and told that the British were attacking through the Gowanus Pass.[59] He lit signals to Washington, who was on Manhattan, and then rode south to warn Stirling of the attack.[60]

Stirling led two units of

courts-martial duty in Manhattan. Following close behind was Parson's Connecticut regiment with 251 men. Stirling led this combined force to reinforce Parsons and Atlee and stop the British advance. Stirling had a total of 1,600 troops at his command.[citation needed
]

Stirling placed Atlee's men in an apple orchard owned by Wynant Bennett on the south side of the Gowanus Road near present-day 3rd Avenue and 18th Street. Upon the approach of the British, the Americans:

took possession of a hill about two miles from camp, and detached Colonel Atlee to meet them further on the road; in about sixty rods he drew up and received the enemy's fire and gave them a well-directed fire from his regiment, which did great execution, and then retreated to the hill. – General Parsons

Stirling took up positions with the Delaware and Maryland regiments just to the north of Atlee's men on the slopes of a rise of land between 18th and 20th streets. Some of the Maryland troops were positioned on a small hill near today's 23rd Street, which the local Dutch called "Blokje Berg" (Dutch for cube or block hill). At the base of this hill, the Gowanus Road crossed a small bridge over a ditch which drained a marshy area. When the British advanced up the Gowanus Road, the American troops fired upon them from positions on the north side of the ditch. To their left was Colonel Peter Kachline's Pennsylvania regiment.[61]

Just to the southeast of Blokje Berg were a few hills; amongst them was a hill which is the highest point in King's County at 220 feet which came to be known as "Battle Hill," in what is today Greenwood Cemetery by the cemetery's boundary of 23rd Street and 7th Avenue. The British attempted to outflank the American positions by taking this hill. The Americans tried to prevent the British move, sending troops under Parsons and Atlee to take the hill. The British got there first but the Americans were able to dislodge them in fierce fighting. Battle Hill was the site of especially brutal fighting, with the Americans inflicting the highest number of casualties against the British troops during the entire Battle of Long Island. Among those killed was British Colonel James Grant, which led the Americans to believe that they had killed General James Grant. He was alleged to have been shot by a Pennsylvanian rifleman who had been sniping at the British from up in a tree. Among the American dead was Pennsylvania Colonel Caleb Parry, who was killed while rallying his troops.[62]

The Americans were still unaware that this was not the main British attack, in part due to the ferocity of the fighting and the number of British troops engaged.[63]

Battle Pass

A circa 1866 lithograph of Battle Pass, also known as "Flatbush Pass" in present-day Prospect Park in Brooklyn, General Sullivan and his troops were outflanked by the British, who attacked from the rear while the Hessians attacked up Battle Pass.

The Hessians, in the center under the command of General von Heister, began to bombard the American lines stationed at Battle Pass under the command of General John Sullivan.[64] The Hessian brigades did not attack, as they were waiting for the pre-arranged signal from the British, who were in the process of outflanking the American lines at that time. The Americans were still under the assumption that Grant's attack up the Gowanus Road was the main thrust, and Sullivan sent four hundred of his men to reinforce Stirling.

Howe fired his signal guns at 09:00 and the Hessians began to attack up Battle Pass, while the main army came at Sullivan from the rear.[64] Sullivan left his advance guard to hold off the Hessians while he turned the rest of his force around to fight the British. Heavy casualties mounted between the Americans and the British, and men on both sides fled out of fear.[64] Sullivan attempted to calm his men and tried to lead a retreat. By this point, the Hessians had overrun the advance guard on the heights and the American left had completely collapsed.[65] Hand-to-hand fighting followed, with the Americans swinging their muskets and rifles like clubs to save their own lives. It was later claimed, Americans who surrendered were bayoneted by the Hessians.[66] Sullivan, despite the chaos, managed to evacuate most of his men to Brooklyn Heights though he himself was captured.[65]

Vechte–Cortelyou House

Lord Stirling and Mordecai Gist made two attacks against over two thousand British troops in a rear-guard action that allowed a majority of Stirling's 1,600-strong command to escape.[55]
Gunpowder smoke from cannons and muskets mark where Stirling and the Maryland troops attack the British, while the rest of the American troops in the foreground escape across Brouwer's mill pond. The building pictured is the mill. (Battle of Long Island, 1858 Alonzo Chappel
)

At 09:00, Washington arrived from Manhattan.[67] He realized that he had been wrong about a feint on Long Island and he ordered more troops to Brooklyn from Manhattan.[67] His location on the battlefield is not known because accounts differ, but most likely he was at Brooklyn Heights where he could view the battle.[68]

Stirling still held the line against Grant on the American right, to the west.[68] He held on for four hours, still unaware of the British flanking maneuver, and some of his own troops thought that they were winning the day because the British had been unable to take their position. However, Grant was reinforced by 2,000 marines, and he hit Stirling's center by 11:00, and Stirling was attacked on his left by the Hessians.[66][68] Stirling pulled back, but British troops were coming at him from the rear, from the south up the Gowanus Road. The only escape route left was across Brouwer's millpond on the Gowanus Creek which was 80 yards wide, where the American defenses on Brooklyn Heights lay on the other side.[69]

Maryland 400

Stirling ordered all of his troops to cross the creek, except a contingent of Maryland troops under the command of Gist. This group became known to history as the "

Vechte–Cortelyou House (known today as the "Old Stone House"). After the last assault, the remaining troops retreated across the Gowanus Creek. Some of the men who tried to cross the marsh were bogged down in the mud and under musket fire, and others who could not swim were captured. Stirling was surrounded and, unwilling to surrender to the British, broke through their lines to von Heister's Hessians and surrendered to them. Two hundred fifty six Maryland troops were killed in the assaults in front of the Old Stone House, and fewer than a dozen made it back to the American lines.[70] Washington watched from a redoubt on nearby Cobble Hill (intersection of today's Court Street and Atlantic Avenue) and reportedly said, "Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose."[69][note 1]

Disengagement

circumvallation around the American positions. He believed the Americans to be essentially trapped, with his troops blocking escape by land and the Royal Navy in control of the East River, which they would have to cross to reach Manhattan Island.[71][72]

Howe's failure to press the attack and the reasons for it have been disputed. He may have wished to avoid the casualties that his army suffered when attacking the Continentals under similar circumstances at the Battle of Bunker Hill.[72] He may also have been giving Washington an opportunity to conclude that his position was hopeless and surrender, in the European gentleman-officer tradition. Howe told Parliament in 1779 that his essential duty was to avoid excessive British casualties for insufficient purpose, and capturing Brooklyn Heights would likely not have meant capturing the entire American army. "The most essential duty I had to observe was, not wantonly to commit his majesty's troops, where the object was inadequate. I knew well that any considerable loss sustained by the army could not speedily, nor easily, be repaired. . . . The loss of 1,000, or perhaps 1,500 British troops, in carrying those lines, would have been but ill repaid by double that number of the enemy, could it have been supposed they would have suffered in that proportion."[73]

Aftermath

U.S. Army – Artillery Retreat from Long Island 1776, an 1899 portrait
Washington evacuating Army, a 175th anniversary issue, published in 1951 and depicting Fulton Ferry House (on right) and flat-bottomed ferry boats in the East River (in background)

Retreat to Manhattan

The Foot of Wall Street And Ferry House – 1746, a portrait depicting the Manhattan side of the East River crossing, known then as the Brooklyn Ferry, as it appeared in the mid-1700s.[74]

Washington and the Continental Army were surrounded on

Brooklyn Heights with the East River to their backs.[75] As the day went on, the British began to dig trenches, slowly coming closer to the American defenses. By doing this, the British would not have to cross over open ground to assault the American defenses as they did in Boston the year before.[76] Despite this perilous situation, Washington ordered 1,200 more men from Manhattan to Brooklyn on August 28,[75] and two Pennsylvania regiments and Colonel John Glover's regiment from Marblehead, Massachusetts responded to Washington, sending troops. Thomas Mifflin, who commanded the Pennsylvania troops after arriving, volunteered to inspect the outer defenses and report back to Washington.[77] In these outer defenses, small skirmishes were still taking place. On the afternoon of August 28, rain began to fall, and Washington had his cannons bombard the British well into the night.[78]

As the rain continued, Washington sent a letter instructing General William Heath, who was at Kings Bridge over the Harlem River between Manhattan and what is now The Bronx, to send every flat-bottomed boat and sloop without delay, in case battalions of infantry from New Jersey came to reinforce their position.[79] At 16:00, on August 29, Washington held a meeting with his generals. Mifflin advised Washington to retreat to Manhattan while Mifflin and his Pennsylvania regiments made up the rear guard, holding the line until the rest of the army had withdrawn.[79] The generals agreed unanimously with Mifflin that retreat was the best option and Washington had orders go out by the evening.[80]

The troops were told that they were to gather up all their ammunition and baggage and prepare for a night attack.[80] By 21:00, the sick and wounded began to move to the Brooklyn Ferry in preparation for evacuation. At 23:00, Glover and his Massachusetts men, who were sailors and fishermen, began to evacuate the troops.[81]

As more troops were evacuated, more were ordered to withdraw from the lines and march to the ferry landing. Wagon wheels were muffled, and men were forbidden to talk.[81] Mifflin's rear guard was tending campfires to deceive the British. At 04:00, on August 30, Mifflin was informed that it was his unit's turn to evacuate.[82] Mifflin told the man who had been sent to order him to leave, Major Alexander Scammell, that he must be mistaken, but Scammell insisted that he was not and Mifflin ordered his troops to move out. When Mifflin's troops were within a half mile of the ferry landing, Washington rode up and demanded to know why they were not at their defenses. Edward Hand, who was leading the troops, tried to explain what had happened, but Mifflin arrived shortly.[83] Washington exclaimed "Good God. General Mifflin, I am afraid you have ruined us." Mifflin explained that he had been told that it was his turn to evacuate by Scammell; Washington told him it had been a mistake. Mifflin then led his troops back to the outer defenses.[83]

Artillery, supplies, and troops were all being evacuated across the river at this time but it was not going as fast as Washington had anticipated and daybreak soon came.[83] A fog settled in and concealed the evacuation from the British. British patrols noticed that there did not seem to be any American pickets and thus began to search the area. While they were doing this, Washington, the last man left, stepped onto the last boat.[76] At 07:00, the last American troops landed in Manhattan.[84] All 9,000 troops had been evacuated with no loss of life.[84]

Conclusion of the campaign

The British fleet in New York Harbor following the battle

The British were stunned to find that Washington and the Continental Army had escaped.[84] Later that day, on August 30, British troops occupied Washington and the Continental Army's fortifications. When news of the battle reached London, it led to many celebratory festivities.[85] Bells were rung across the city, candles were lit in windows, and King George III awarded Howe the Order of the Bath.[86]

Washington's defeat, in the opinions of some, revealed his deficiencies as a military strategist. Splitting his forces resulted in his largely inexperienced generals misunderstanding the state of the battle, and his raw troops fled in disorder at the first shots.[87] However, Washington and the Continental Army's daring retreat later that night has been seen by some historians as one of General Washington's greatest military accomplishments.[20] Other historians concentrate on the failure of British naval forces to prevent the withdrawal.[88]

Howe remained inactive for the next half month, not attacking until September 15 when he

Kip's Bay.[89] The British quickly occupied the city. Although American troops delivered an unexpected check to the British at Harlem Heights in mid-September, Howe defeated Washington in battle again at White Plains and then again at Fort Washington.[90] Because of these defeats, Washington and the army retreated across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.[91] On September 21, a fire of uncertain origin destroyed a quarter of New York City. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, Nathan Hale
was executed for spying.

Casualties

Further information:
Prisoners in the American Revolutionary War
Old Sugar House and Middle Dutch Church, depicted circa 1830, was a British Army prison that housed some of Washington's soldiers that were captured during their retreat in the battle; the site today is the location of 28 Liberty Street, a 60-floor Manhattan skyscraper.[92]

At the time, it was by far the largest battle ever fought in North America.[71] If the Royal Navy is included, over 40,000 men took part in the battle. Howe reported his losses as 59 killed, 268 wounded and 31 missing. The Hessian casualties were 5 killed and 26 wounded.[4] The Americans suffered much heavier losses. About 300 had been killed and over 1,000 captured.[6] As few as half of the prisoners survived. Kept on prison ships in Wallabout Bay, then transferred to locations such as the Middle Dutch Church, they were starved and denied medical attention. In their weakened condition, many succumbed to smallpox.[92]: 191 

Historians believe that as many as 256 soldiers of the First Maryland Regiment under Colonel William Smallwood fell in the battle, about two-thirds of the regiment. It is known that they were buried in a mass-grave, but the grave's exact location has been a mystery for 240 years.

Legacy

Dongan Oak memorial in Brooklyn's Prospect Park

The most significant legacy of the Battle of Long Island was that it showed there would be no easy victory, and that the war would be long and bloody.[92]: 2  The British took control of the strategically vital harbor and put New York City under military occupation until the treaty ending the war was signed. With the British military command in residence the city became the focal point for espionage and intelligence gathering. The area surrounding the city and the harbor remained in a near-constant state of conflict as a forage-war harassed the surrounding communities.

Commemorations of the battle include:

  • The Altar to Liberty: Minerva monument: The battle is commemorated with a monument, which includes a bronze statue of
    line of sight from the cemetery to the Statue of Liberty in the harbor. The annual Battle of Long Island commemoration begins inside the main Gothic arch entrance to Green-Wood Cemetery and marches up Battle Hill to ceremonies at the monument.[93]
  • The
    those who died while kept prisoner on the British ships just off the shore of Brooklyn, in Wallabout Bay.[94]
  • Soldiers' Monument – Milford, Connecticut. Memorializes the 200 seriously ill prisoners of the Battle of Long Island who were dumped on the beach at Milford the night of January 3, 1777.[92]: 195 
  • The Old Stone House: A re-constructed farmhouse (c.1699) that was at the center of the Marylanders' delaying actions serves as a museum of the battle. It is located in J.J. Byrne Park, at Third Street and Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, and features models and maps.[95]
  • corinthian column.[96]

There are currently 30 existing

101st Eng Bn,[97] 125th MP Co,[98] 175th Inf,[99] 181st Inf[100] and 198th Sig Bn)[101] and one Regular Army Field Artillery battalion (1–5th FA)[102]
are derived from American units that participated in the Battle of Long Island.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ The 256 dead troops of the Maryland 400 were buried by the British in a mass grave on a hillock on farmer Adrian Van Brunt's land on the outskirts of the marsh. It was from this battle that Maryland gained its nickname the "Old Line State". This mass grave is believed to be around the southwest corner of what is today Third Avenue, between Seventh and Eighth streets.[71]

Citations

  1. ^ Syrett 2005, p. 61.
  2. ^ Lengel 2005, p. 139.
  3. ^ Lengel 2005, p. 140 – Figure indicates how many troops were on Long Island total. Only 3,000 troops were on the Guana Heights, where the British made their assault.
  4. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 179.
  5. ^ According to Lord Howe report 31 (1 officer and 30 Grenadiers of the Marines) were captured Diary of the Revolution p. 304
  6. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 180.
  7. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 101.
  8. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 112.
  9. ^ Lengel 2005, p. 128.
  10. ^ a b Lengel 2005, p. 129.
  11. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 121.
  12. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 122.
  13. ^ Lengel 2005, p. 131.
  14. ^ Field 1869, p. 47.
  15. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 127.
  16. ^ a b c "Forts :: New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center". museum.dmna.ny.gov.
  17. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 128.
  18. ^ Field 1869, p. 144.
  19. ^ a b c d McCullough 2006, p. 129.
  20. ^ a b McCullough 2006.
  21. ^ Lengel 2005, p. 132.
  22. ^ Lengel 2005, p. 133.
  23. ^ Ellis 2005, p. 159.
  24. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 133.
  25. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 134
  26. ^ a b Lengel 2005, p. 135.
  27. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 135.
  28. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 137.
  29. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 138.
  30. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 139.
  31. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 144.
  32. ^ Johnston 1878, p. 97.
  33. ^ a b c d McCullough 2006, p. 145.
  34. ^ Lengel 2005, p. 138.
  35. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 146.
  36. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 148.
  37. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 152.
  38. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 153.
  39. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 156.
  40. ^ a b McCullough 2006, p. 157.
  41. ^ Johnston 1878, p. 141.
  42. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 158.
  43. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 160.
  44. ^ McCullough 2006, p. 161.
  45. ^ Johnston 1878, p. 152.
  46. ^ a b c McCullough 2006, p. 162.
  47. ^ a b Lengel 2005, p. 141.
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Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Long Island.
Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Battle of Long Island.
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