Long Island

On August 27, 1776, fighting erupted along the western reaches of Long Island, in what is now Brooklyn, in an engagement remembered under several names: the Battle of Long Island, the Battle of Brooklyn, and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. British forces overcame Washington's Continental Army in this clash, securing control of the vital Port of New York, a foothold they would maintain until the conflict's end. This encounter stands as the first significant clash following the declaration of American independence in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, and it ranks as the Revolutionary War's largest engagement measured by both the number of soldiers involved and the intensity of combat.

Following his victory over British forces during the siege of Boston, concluded on March 17, Washington shifted his troops southward to protect New York, a port city situated at Manhattan's southern tip. Recognizing that its harbor could serve as an ideal staging ground for the Royal Navy, Washington fortified the area and prepared for the anticipated British assault. That July, British troops under General William Howe came ashore on lightly settled Staten Island, just a short distance across the harbor. Over the following six weeks, naval reinforcements arrived in Lower New York Bay, swelling British ranks to 32,000 men. Aware that maintaining control of New York City would prove nearly impossible while British ships commanded the Narrows at the harbor's mouth, Washington shifted the majority of his troops to Manhattan, anticipating it would bear the brunt of the initial attack.

British troops came ashore at Gravesend Bay in southwestern Kings County on August 21, positioned across the Narrows from Staten Island and well over ten miles from the recognized East River crossing points into Manhattan. A five-day pause preceded the British assault on American positions at Guan Heights. Without American knowledge, Howe maneuvered his primary force around to strike from behind, following this with a flank attack shortly afterward. Panic spread through American ranks, leading to casualties and captures amounting to one-fifth of their strength, though a determined defense mounted by 400 troops from Maryland and Delaware kept losses from mounting further.

Surviving soldiers fell back to the primary fortifications atop Brooklyn Heights. As British forces settled in to besiege the position, Washington orchestrated a complete withdrawal of his army to Manhattan during the night of August 29 into August 30, accomplishing this without sacrificing any supplies or losing even one soldier. Despite this successful escape, the Continental Army ultimately lost its foothold in Manhattan after suffering additional setbacks, compelling a retreat across New Jersey into Pennsylvania.

Prelude

The war's opening phase found British forces bottled up on the Boston peninsula, and they finally withdrew on March 17, setting sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia to gather reinforcements. Anticipating that New York City would become the next target given its strategic port, Washington started shifting his regiments there. Back in February, he had dispatched his deputy commander Charles Lee to New York to organize the city's fortifications. Lee stayed until March 7, at which point Congress ordered him south to the Carolinas, but not before he had cleared Loyalists from the surrounding vicinity. Once Lee left, General William Alexander, Lord Stirling, took charge of finishing the defensive works.

Washington himself departed Boston on April 4 and reached New York by April 13, setting up his command post in Archibald Kennedy's former residence on Broadway overlooking Bowling Green. Given the shortage of available troops, he found the fortifications unfinished. Lee had already determined that holding the city outright would be futile once the British controlled the surrounding waters. His reasoning was that positioning could still be arranged to inflict serious losses on British forces should they attempt to seize and occupy territory. Work proceeded on barricades and redoubts throughout the city, and across the East River at Brooklyn Heights rose the stronghold known as Fort Stirling.

By early May, Washington had begun shifting soldiers into Brooklyn, and within a short span thousands were stationed there. Additional fortifications, Fort Putnam, Fort Greene, and Fort Box, named after Major Daniel Box, went up along the East River's eastern bank to reinforce Fort Stirling, which sat just west of the Brooklyn Heights settlement. Arranged from north to south, Putnam held the northernmost position, Greene sat somewhat southwest of it, and Box lay further southwest still. Deep trenches surrounded each structure, all linked together through connecting entrenchments, with 36 cannons distributed among them altogether.

Simultaneously, construction proceeded on Fort Defiance, situated even further southwest near what is now Red Hook. A floating battery was also set up at Governors Island, cannon emplacements appeared at Fort George overlooking Bowling Green in Manhattan, and additional artillery pieces were positioned at Whitehall Dock along the East River. To discourage British ships from penetrating the East River and nearby waterways, old vessels were deliberately sunk at key chokepoints.

Congress had granted Washington authority to raise a force as large as 28,501, yet upon arriving in New York he commanded merely 19,000 men. Discipline among the ranks left much to be desired: soldiers ignored standing orders, discharged muskets carelessly around camp, damaged their flints, and repurposed bayonets for cutting food rather than combat, leaving weapons poorly maintained overall. With so many people drawn from different regions and temperaments crowded together, minor quarrels frequently broke out.

Artillery commander Henry Knox convinced Washington to reassign somewhere between 400 and 500 soldiers who had no muskets over to artillery crews instead. Early that June, Knox joined General Nathanael Greene in surveying land at Manhattan's northern tip, leading to the establishment of Fort Washington. Directly across the Hudson, plans called for Fort Constitution, which would later be renamed Fort Lee. Together these forts were meant to deter British vessels from navigating up the Hudson.

Word reached Washington on June 28 that the British fleet, having departed Halifax on June 9, was now bound for New York. The following day, sentries stationed on Staten Island signaled that British ships had come into view, and within hours forty-five vessels had dropped anchor in Lower New York Bay. Sighting the fleet threw the city's population into panic, triggering alarms and sending soldiers scrambling to their positions. British forces began going ashore on Staten Island on July 2. Continental soldiers stationed there fired a token volley before retreating, while the local militia promptly switched allegiance to the British. Within less than a week, Richard Howe, brother to the general, commanded a fleet of 130 ships anchored off Staten Island.

News arrived in New York on July 6 that

Aftermath

Trapped on Brooklyn Heights with the East River behind them, Washington's Continental Army faced a worsening predicament as British forces spent the day digging trenches that crept steadily nearer American lines. This tactic meant the British would avoid the kind of open-field assault they had been forced into at Boston the prior year. Even in this dangerous spot, Washington called for 1,200 additional men to cross from Manhattan into Brooklyn on August 28. Two Pennsylvania regiments and Colonel John Glover's Marblehead, Massachusetts regiment answered the call and moved troops forward. Thomas Mifflin, now leading the