On 27 August 1776, in the first major battle fought after the Declaration of Independence, General Sir William Howe's British and Hessian army routed the American forces on Long Island, in what is now Brooklyn. A British column marched by night through the barely guarded Jamaica Pass and fell on the Americans from behind while the Hessians attacked from the front. A rear guard of about 400 Maryland and Delaware soldiers under Lord Stirling charged again and again to hold the British back, and most of the army reached the lines on Brooklyn Heights. Two nights later George Washington evacuated it across the East River to Manhattan.
The fight for New York
After leaving Boston in March 1776, Howe moved to take New York City, under the guns of a British fleet that controlled the surrounding waters. Washington, not knowing where the blow would fall, split his army between Manhattan and the fortified lines on Brooklyn Heights across the East River. On 22 August Howe's army, which Britannica puts at almost 30,000 British regulars and Hessians, began landing on the south shore of Long Island. The Americans built up their strength there to about 9,000 men, but their commander, Major General Nathanael Greene, fell ill and was replaced by Major General Israel Putnam.1
About 6,500 Americans held the main fortifications, and the rest were pushed forward to block the three roads leading to the Heights. Further east, the road through the Jamaica Pass was barely defended.2
Through the Jamaica Pass
After midnight on 27 August Howe's left and center columns advanced on the American outposts, drawing Putnam's attention. Meanwhile a column of several thousand men under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis marched through the Jamaica Pass. At about nine in the morning it struck the Americans from the rear while the Hessians attacked from the front. Surprised and outnumbered, American units broke for the main defenses, and several regiments were overwhelmed in desperate rearguard fights.3
The Maryland 400
On the American right, General William Alexander, who styled himself Lord Stirling, commanded the 1st Maryland and 1st Delaware Regiments. As the British closed around them, the only way out lay across Gowanus Creek, a marshy stretch about eighty yards wide under heavy fire. Stirling sent most of his men across and stayed with about 400 Marylanders and Delawareans as a rear guard. According to the National Park Service, they charged the British posted in and around the Old Stone House with bayonets, fell back, regrouped and charged again, three times in all.4
The NPS records 256 of them killed near the house and more than 100 captured, many of whom died as prisoners; only a few dozen got back to the American lines. Stirling himself surrendered to a party of Hessians. Both Britannica and the NPS credit the stand with letting many Americans escape to Brooklyn Heights. The NPS calls the force, more fairly, the Maryland and Delaware 400.5
Escape across the East River
Howe did not storm the Brooklyn lines at once but halted for two days to prepare a regular assault. When a storm drove the British warships downriver, Washington took his chance, and on the night of 29 August the bulk of the army crossed to Manhattan in boats; according to eyewitnesses he was the last to leave Brooklyn. Britannica gives American losses as 300 dead, 650 to 800 wounded and 1,100 captured, against 64 British and German dead and 314 wounded, missing or captured.6
The escape lifted American morale, but after further defeats Washington had to retreat into New Jersey, and the British held New York for the rest of the war. Our full article on the Battle of Long Island tells the story in more detail, and the fall of Fort Washington continues it.7
Also on this day
- 1626: Battle of Lutter. At Lutter, south of Salzgitter, King Christian IV of Denmark led a Danish and German army against Count Tilly's Catholic League troops in the Thirty Years' War.
