Battlefield Atlas
American Revolution · 1776 Locked

Long Island (Brooklyn), 27-30 August 1776

The Battle of Long Island, or Battle of Brooklyn, fought on 27 August 1776, was the first large battle after the Declaration of Independence and among the largest of the war. Some 20,000 British and Hessian troops under General William Howe landed at Gravesend Bay and, on Henry Clinton's plan, marched by night through the unguarded Jamaica Pass to turn the American forward line on the wooded Heights of Guan. While Grant pinned Stirling on the Gowanus road and von Heister's Hessians stormed the Flatbush pass, Clinton's column came in behind Sullivan's men, and the line collapsed. A costly stand by Maryland troops at the Vechte-Cortelyou house let much of Stirling's command escape across Gowanus Creek. Howe chose to besiege the Brooklyn works rather than storm them, and on the night of 29-30 August Washington ferried about 9,000 men across the East River to Manhattan, saving the army.

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Old Stone House
Old Stone House — Jim Alfano — CC BY-SA 4.0

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 22-25 August 1776

    Landing at Gravesend Bay

    After weeks of build-up on Staten Island, General William Howe moves onto Long Island. On 22 August, covered by warships, flatboats carry about 15,000 British troops with some 40 guns across the Narrows to the beaches of Gravesend Bay near Denyse's ferry (the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution's figures). Colonel Edward Hand's Pennsylvania riflemen, too few to resist, fall back toward the wooded ridge to the north, burning crops as they go, and Lord Cornwallis pushes an advance guard up to the village of Flatbush. On the 25th about 4,300 Hessians under Lt. Gen. Leopold Philip von Heister follow, bringing the force on Long Island to roughly 20,000. Washington, unsure whether this is the main attack or a feint against Manhattan, keeps much of his army in the city and reinforces Brooklyn, where Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam takes command on the 24th. Landing beaches and camps are shown approximately.

  2. Evening, 26 August

    The Heights of Guan

    The Americans hold two lines. Behind them, the fortified line runs about a mile and a half from the Gowanus marshes to Wallabout Bay: Fort Box, Fort Greene, the Oblong Redoubt, Fort Putnam and a redoubt on the left, linked by entrenchments. Some two miles in front, a wooded ridge, the Heights of Guan, is crossed by four roads, the passes. By Henry Stiles's account fewer than 3,000 men hold more than five miles of it: Hand's Pennsylvania riflemen on the Gowanus road near the Red Lion Inn (relieved there that night), Maj. Gen. John Sullivan with the regiments of Henshaw, Johnston and Wyllys at the Flatbush pass, and Colonel Samuel Miles's Pennsylvania riflemen near the Bedford pass and the woods beyond. A letter of the time put about 800 men at each of three passes. The fourth, the Jamaica Pass at Howard's inn, is watched only by a patrol of five mounted officers. Facing them, Grant's division is near the Narrows, von Heister's Hessians are at Flatbush, and the main British army is camped at Flatlands.

  3. 26 August, 9 PM - 27 August, dawn

    The night march through Jamaica Pass

    On a plan drawn up by Sir Henry Clinton, about 10,000 men (Mount Vernon) march east from Flatlands at about 9 PM, leaving their campfires burning: Clinton's light infantry and dragoons in front, then Lord Percy's main body with the Guards and grenadiers, then Cornwallis's reserve and the 71st, with some two dozen field guns (fourteen with the leading divisions and ten with Percy, by Stiles). The Encyclopedia of the American Revolution has Clinton's column at about 4,000, with Howe following at midnight with 6,000 more. They follow back roads past New Lots, crossing the fields toward the Bushwick hills. At about 2 AM the column reaches Howard's Half-Way House and captures the five-officer patrol, and the innkeeper William Howard is pressed into guiding the army. The pass is secured at daybreak. On the American right, Grant's column comes up the shore road; its scouts are fired on near the Red Lion at about 11 PM, and at about 2 AM (the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution's times; Stiles says midnight) the Pennsylvania picket under Major Edward Burd, which had just relieved Hand's riflemen, is overrun and Burd captured. Putnam is told at about 3 AM and sends Lord Stirling forward.

  4. 27 August, dawn - about 9 AM

    Grant's feint and the cannonade at Flatbush

    Stirling brings Smallwood's Marylanders and Haslet's Delaware regiment, with Parsons and Huntington's Connecticut men following, and meets Atlee's Pennsylvanians falling back about half a mile from the Red Lion. He forms a line across the shore road from the marshes to the hills at the western edge of today's Green-Wood Cemetery, roughly between 18th and 20th Streets, with Kichline's riflemen and two field guns. Grant forms about 600 yards off and keeps up artillery fire and skirmishing, under orders to hold the Americans in place rather than break them. On the American left, Atlee and Parsons take and hold a hill, today's Battle Hill, against repeated attacks; a 2013 marker credits about 300 men of Huntington's 17th Connecticut, and accounts differ on which British or Hessian troops attacked it. At Flatbush von Heister cannonades the redoubt at the Valley Grove pass. Meanwhile Clinton's column marches west along the Jamaica road and reaches Bedford at about 8:30 by Stiles's account (9 AM in the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution), behind the American left. Placements on Stirling's line follow Stiles's description and are approximate.

  5. About 9 AM - noon

    The signal guns: Sullivan's line collapses

    At about 9 AM Howe fires two signal guns at Bedford, and the attacks begin together. Hessian grenadiers and jaegers under Colonel Carl von Donop storm the Valley Grove redoubt and the pass, today's Battle Pass in Prospect Park, while British light infantry and dragoons from Bedford come in behind Sullivan's men. Caught between them, the Americans in the woods break; some are bayoneted, many surrender, and others run west across the ground of today's Long Meadow toward the Brooklyn lines. Miles's riflemen, farther east, are cut off and most are captured. Sullivan is taken in a cornfield. Cornwallis, with the reserve, marches west from Bedford toward the Gowanus road to get behind Stirling. By noon the center of the American forward line has ceased to exist. Unit tracks in the woods are schematic.

  6. Late morning, 27 August

    Stirling and the Maryland 400

    Stirling, still holding Grant, learns at about 11 that Cornwallis is behind him at the Vechte farm, astride his road back to the lines. He orders most of his men to cross the marsh and Freeke's mill pond west of the farm, about 80 yards of water rising with the tide, to Gowanus Creek, while he and about 250 to 400 Marylanders under Major Mordecai Gist attack Cornwallis at the stone farmhouse (the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution says about 250; the Maryland Monument honors 'the Four Hundred'). They charge repeatedly, five times by one account, before they are overwhelmed; Gist and a handful reach the lines. Watching from the Cobble Hill fort, Washington is said to have exclaimed (in the words carved on the Maryland Monument), 'Good God! What brave fellows I must this day lose.' The time bought lets most of Stirling's men reach the works. Stirling himself surrenders to von Heister rather than to Grant. Huntington's and Atlee's men on the hill are left behind and many are taken. The pond and marsh outlines are conjectural.

  7. 27-29 August

    Behind the works

    By early afternoon the survivors are inside the Brooklyn lines. Howe's officers urge an immediate assault, but Howe overrules them, halts and settles down to regular siege approaches. Washington crosses reinforcements over from Manhattan; about 9,000 men are now penned in Brooklyn with the East River at their backs. A cold rain on the 28th soaks the men in the trenches and their powder. With a British fleet waiting for a wind to enter the East River behind him, Washington's council of war on the afternoon of the 29th decides to leave Long Island. Siege positions are approximate.

  8. Night of 29-30 August

    The evacuation across the East River

    Under orders that hide the purpose from most of the army, boats are gathered on both shores and, from about 8 PM, regiments march quietly to the Brooklyn ferry. Colonel John Glover's Marblehead men and Colonel Israel Hutchinson's Massachusetts regiment, fishermen and sailors, row them across, first against a northeast wind that only rowboats could beat, and then, after about 11, with the wind shifted to the southwest so sailboats could also cross. Thomas Mifflin's covering force, including Haslet's Delawares and what is left of Smallwood's Marylanders, holds the works; at about 2 AM a mistaken order sends it to the ferry and it has to return to lines left empty for nearly an hour. A British patrol finds the forward works empty at about 4 AM. At dawn, with the rear guard still at the ferry, a heavy fog settles over the river. By about 7 AM 9,000 to 10,000 men are across, losing only three stragglers and a few heavy guns stuck in the mud, and Washington is among the last to leave; Benjamin Tallmadge, stepping into one of the last boats, thought he saw him on the ferry stairs. Positions are approximate.

Forces

About 20,000 British and Hessian troops faced about 9,000 to 10,000 Americans on Long Island, fewer than 3,000 of them on the forward ridge. Army totals are fairly secure. Column and unit figures vary between accounts.

British and Hessian army (Howe, Clinton, Cornwallis, von Heister)

On Long Island (present)About 15,000 landed on 22 August with some 40 guns and about 4,300 Hessians followed on the 25th (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution); the Fort Hamilton panel says more than 20,000. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com); The Battle of Brooklyn panel, Fort Hamilton (HMdb 21613)about 20,000 (19,000-20,000+)
Flanking column (Clinton, Percy, Cornwallis, Howe)Mount Vernon and the American Battlefield Trust ('a 10,000-man division under Clinton') give about 10,000; the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution has about 4,000 under Clinton with 6,000 more under Howe following; the Howard's Inn marker says about 14,000. Stiles lists fourteen field-pieces with the leading divisions and ten with Percy's. Mary Stockwell, Mount Vernon Digital Encyclopedia; American Battlefield Trust, Lost Battlefield; Howard's Inn - Evergreen Cemetery (HMdb 30061); Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com)about 10,000 (4,000-14,000)
Grant's column (Gowanus road)About 5,000 including two Loyalist companies (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution); the 1919 Altar to Liberty says 6,000; the Brooklyn Public Library says roughly 7,000. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com); Altar to Liberty (HMdb 13268); Brooklyn Public Libraryabout 5,000 (5,000-7,000)

Continental Army (Washington, Putnam, Sullivan, Stirling)

On Long IslandAbout 9,000 (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution; Fort Hamilton panel); the American Battlefield Trust gives about 10,000. Many regiments were weakened by camp fever. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com); American Battlefield Trust, Brooklynabout 9,000 (9,000-10,000)
On the forward ridge (Heights of Guan)Stiles: 'scarcely twenty-five hundred in all' over more than five miles; the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: about 3,000. A letter of the time put about 800 at each of three passes. Stiles, A History of the City of Brooklyn (1867); Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com)about 2,500-3,000
Stirling's command (Gowanus road)About 1,600 (Revolutionary War Journal; the Brooklyn Public Library for Battle Hill); about 2,000 (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution; the 1919 Altar to Liberty). Revolutionary War Journal; Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com)about 1,600-2,000
Evacuated 29-30 AugustAbout 9,000 (Fulton Landing marker; Mount Vernon); almost 10,000 (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution; Ellis). Evacuation Site - Fulton Landing (HMdb 30757); Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Evacuationabout 9,000-10,000

Casualties

British and Hessian losses were about 400 by their own returns. American losses were roughly 1,000 to 2,000, most of them prisoners, but the counts differ widely, from Washington's 700 to 1,000 to British claims of 3,300 or more. The evacuation itself cost almost nothing. Certainty: fair.

British and Hessian army (Howe, Clinton, Cornwallis, von Heister)

Killed (British)Howe's return as given in the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution has 61 killed; the American Battlefield Trust gives 64. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com); American Battlefield Trust, Brooklyn61-64
Wounded (British)267 in Howe's return per the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution; 293 per the American Battlefield Trust. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com); American Battlefield Trust, Brooklyn267-293
Captured or missing (British)Both sources give 31. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com); American Battlefield Trust, Brooklyn31
Hessian lossesReported separately and usually left out of the British totals (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution). Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com)2 killed, 26 wounded
Total casualtiesThe American Battlefield Trust totals 388 British; adding the Hessian figures gives about 416. The Encyclopedia says fewer than 400 by British accounting. American Battlefield Trust, Brooklyn; Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com)about 390-420 (388-416)

Continental Army (Washington, Putnam, Sullivan, Stirling)

Killed and taken (Washington's estimate)Washington to Hancock, 31 August 1776: 'from 700 to a Thousand, killed & taken'; he later settled on about 800, more than three-quarters of them captured (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution). Washington to Hancock, 31 August 1776 (Founders Online); Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com)700-1,000
CapturedModern authorities cited by the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution put prisoners at about 900; the American Battlefield Trust gives 1,079 missing or captured. Generals Sullivan and Stirling were among them. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com); American Battlefield Trust, Brooklynabout 900-1,079
Killed and woundedAbout 200 killed or wounded by the modern estimate in the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution; the American Battlefield Trust gives 300 killed and 800 wounded. British claims of 3,300-4,000 total American losses are judged exaggerated. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com); American Battlefield Trust, Brooklynabout 200-1,100
Maryland regiment (Smallwood's)The American Battlefield Trust's figure for the 1st Maryland; of about 250 men held back with Gist for the attacks on the Vechte house, only Gist and eight others (nine in all) reached the lines (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution; Revolutionary War Journal). The National Park Service gives 'a few dozen' survivors and 256 dead. American Battlefield Trust, Brooklyn; Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (Encyclopedia.com)256 killed or captured
Evacuation of 29-30 AugustNearly the whole force crossed without loss; three men who stayed behind to plunder were taken (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution; Ellis). Many of those captured on the 27th later died as prisoners; a marker says upwards of 200 of Huntington's regiment alone. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Evacuation; Huntington's Regiment marker (HMdb 309952)3 stragglers

Equipment and ships

Heavy guns left in Brooklyn (American)Five heavy cannon sank in the mud and were abandoned in the evacuation (Encyclopedia of the American Revolution); Washington wrote of 'a few heavy pieces' left because their wheels sank in the wet ground. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution: Evacuation; Washington to Hancock, 31 August 1776 (Founders Online)about 5

Then and now: how the ground has changed

The farms, woods, marshes and villages of 1776 are now dense city. The wooded Heights of Guan survive only in Green-Wood Cemetery and Prospect Park, the Gowanus marsh has become the Gowanus Canal and filled streets, and every Brooklyn fort is gone. The Old Stone House is a 1930s reconstruction.

The interactive map can show the period landscape (3 shapes: Gowanus marsh and Freeke's (Brouwer's) mill pond, 1776 (approximate), Gowanus Creek, 1776 course (approximate), Wooded ridge of the Heights of Guan, 1776 (approximate)) under the units. Open the map.

Weapons

British and Hessian army (Howe, Clinton, Cornwallis, von Heister)

Short Land Pattern musket ("Brown Bess")

Short Land Pattern musket ("Brown Bess")

Smoothbore flintlock musket · 1768–1790s pattern

At Long Island: The standard musket of the British regulars in Clinton's, Grant's and Cornwallis's columns.

The British infantryman's musket for most of the 18th century. Accuracy beyond about 100 yards was poor, so the tactics were volleys at close range followed by the bayonet, which the Brown Bess was built to carry.

Caliber
.75 (ball about .69)
Effective range
about 50–100 yd against a formed line
Rate of fire
3 rounds a minute, drilled
Photo: Tower (British Ordnance) · Public domain
Socket bayonet

Socket bayonet

Edged weapon (musket attachment) · c. 1690s-1860s

At Long Island: Hessian grenadiers and British light infantry used the bayonet on Sullivan's men in the woods near the Flatbush pass.

The socket bayonet slipped over the outside of the musket barrel and locked in place, turning every musket into a short pike without blocking the muzzle. It made the pike obsolete and let infantry defend themselves against cavalry and finish an assault at close quarters. For a century and a half, a determined bayonet charge often decided fights that musketry could not.

Length
Triangular blade, about 17 in on the Brown Bess
Use
Fitted over the muzzle so the musket could still be fired
Photo: Rama · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr
Light 6-pounder field gun

Light 6-pounder field gun

Smoothbore muzzle-loading cannon · 18th century

At Long Island: Clinton's column brought fourteen field guns through the Jamaica Pass, and von Heister's guns shelled the redoubt at the Valley Grove pass.

The workhorse of 18th-century field artillery: light enough to move with infantry, heavy enough to break up an attack. At close range the gunners switched to canister, a tin can of musket balls that turned the gun into a giant shotgun.

Shot
6 lb iron round shot, or canister
Range
round shot to about 1,200 yd; canister about 300 yd
Crew
about 6–8 men
Photo: Photojunkie · Public domain

Continental Army (Washington, Putnam, Sullivan, Stirling)

American long rifle

American long rifle

Rifled flintlock (Pennsylvania / "Kentucky" rifle) · about 1730–1840

At Long Island: Hand's, Miles's and Kichline's Pennsylvania riflemen picketed the passes; rifles were slow to load and carried no bayonet, a handicap in the woods once the Hessians closed.

Made by German-American gunsmiths in Pennsylvania for hunting on the frontier. The spiral rifling and a greased patch around the ball made it far more accurate than a musket, but slow to load and too delicate for a bayonet, so riflemen fought as skirmishers and sharpshooters rather than in the line.

Caliber
typically .45–.54
Effective range
200–300 yd in skilled hands
Rate of fire
about 1 round a minute
Photo: Long rifle of William Clark · Missouri Historical Society · Public domain
Short Land Pattern musket ("Brown Bess")

Short Land Pattern musket ("Brown Bess")

Smoothbore flintlock musket · 1768–1790s pattern

At Long Island: Many Continental and state regiments in 1776 carried British-pattern muskets and colonial copies.

The British infantryman's musket for most of the 18th century. Accuracy beyond about 100 yards was poor, so the tactics were volleys at close range followed by the bayonet, which the Brown Bess was built to carry.

Caliber
.75 (ball about .69)
Effective range
about 50–100 yd against a formed line
Rate of fire
3 rounds a minute, drilled
Photo: Tower (British Ordnance) · Public domain
Light 6-pounder field gun

Light 6-pounder field gun

Smoothbore muzzle-loading cannon · 18th century

At Long Island: Two field guns under Captain Carpenter supported Stirling's line on the Gowanus road.

The workhorse of 18th-century field artillery: light enough to move with infantry, heavy enough to break up an attack. At close range the gunners switched to canister, a tin can of musket balls that turned the gun into a giant shotgun.

Shot
6 lb iron round shot, or canister
Range
round shot to about 1,200 yd; canister about 300 yd
Crew
about 6–8 men
Photo: Photojunkie · Public domain

Paintings and photographs

Old Stone House
Old Stone House The Old Stone House, a 1933 reconstruction using some original materials of the Vechte–Cortelyou house, where Stirling and the Marylanders fought on 27 August 1776. Jim Alfano — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Retreat from Long Island
Retreat from Long Island An 1856 engraving of the night evacuation across the East River, 29–30 August 1776. Library of Congress — public domain · source
The Battle Pass
The Battle Pass A nineteenth-century print of the Battle Pass in what is now Prospect Park, where the Hessians stormed the Flatbush road. New York Public Library — public domain · source

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: August 27–30.

Accuracy score: 64/100 (moderate)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Long Island (Brooklyn), 27-30 August 1776. No U.S. Army staff ride handbook covers Long Island. Positions are anchored on the Historical Marker Database: the Old Stone House, Battle Pass, Battle Hill (Altar to Liberty, Huntington's Regiment), the Red Lion Inn, Howard's Inn at the Jamaica Pass, the Maryland Monument, Fort Hamilton, Ponkiesberg (Cobble Hill), Fort Stirling and the Fulton Landing evacuation site, with the Brooklyn forts located from the New York State Military Museum (Fort Box, Fort Greene, Oblong Redoubt, Fort Putnam) and the Journal of the American Revolution (What Were the Brooklyn Line of Forts in 1776?). The course of the battle follows the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (battle and evacuation), Henry R. Stiles, A History of the City of Brooklyn (1867; dispositions and Clinton's march, Stirling's line and the Flatbush pass), Henry P. Johnston, The Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn (Long Island Historical Society, 1878), Mary Stockwell for Mount Vernon, the American Battlefield Trust, Washington's letter to Hancock of 31 August 1776 (Founders Online), Joseph J. Ellis via the Museum of the American Revolution, Benjamin Tallmadge's memoir (American Battlefield Trust primary source), and the Revolutionary War Journal on the Gowanus fight. The Vechte-Cortelyou house's original site is from Brooklyn Genealogy; Gowanus marsh and mill history from the EPA Gowanus Canal history and the Tide Mill Institute. Stirling's and Sullivan's positions follow Stiles's descriptions; the Bedford Pass site, the siege lines, the mill pond and the march routes between the named points are approximate or conjectural. Strengths and times differ between accounts.

Where the positions come from

Further reading