White House: The Story of America: The Battle of Brooklyn

There is no year in American history more fabled than 1776. But what happened in the second half of that year is probably the most dramatic roller coaster of historical events of the whole Revolution. It's almost impossible to exaggerate the depths to which the fate of Washington and the Continental Army sank that August, or to overstate the triumphant reversal that followed the crossing of the Delaware and the stunning victory at Trenton. But first, we need to know what led up to these events. Of course, the war broke out at Lexington and Concord in April of 1775, and 2 months later came the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston.

The British technically won that battle, but the terrible price they paid in blood and lives was one they never would forget. And it was their memory of this that accounts for much that followed, and that would cause them to hesitate when they ought to have pushed forward with everything they had, as we shall see. In March of 1776, Washington and his Continental Army finally chased the British out of Boston. But Washington knew they would regroup and eventually come to New York. And that's exactly what they did.

But Washington got there many months before to create the defenses, the fortifications and batteries and breastworks that would be necessary whenever the British did show up. But there was one major problem. New York was a city surrounded by water. It still is. By its vast harbor and by the East River and by the Hudson River and the Long Island Sound.

And the British had the greatest navy in the world, giving them an insurmountable advantage.

The British ships finally appeared over the Atlantic horizon at the end of June, and there seemed to be no end to them. Their sheer numbers were astonishing, meant to strike fear into the hearts of the Americans, which they did. The British knew they could take no chances and must so overwhelm the Americans with the number and force of their warships and troops, that the Americans would quickly see they couldn't win and would wisely agree to peace terms as soon as possible. Then it could all be treated as a family quarrel, and the bitter rift between the mother country and her disobedient children could soon be healed. This, at any rate, was the idea of General William Howe and his brother Admiral Richard Howe, who'd been deputized by King George not only to win the war, but to bring about peace as soon as possible.

Suddenly, it was not a disagreement between King George's British subjects, but between two independent nations. But the Howes still believed they could convince the Americans to give up their silly idea of independence. And so their ships kept coming over the horizon, anchoring in outer New York Harbor off Sandy Hook and Staten Island until by the end of August there were 400 of them. And the number of troops was 32,000, far more than the roughly 20,000 that Washington had. There were even 8,000 mercenary troops from Germany known as Hessians.

Washington knew the British would eventually make their move, but he had no idea where they would strike. Would it be on Long Island and Brooklyn, or would they strike at the southern end of Manhattan where the city of New York itself was located? Since he had no idea, he hedged his bets by doing what everyone said you should never do, and he split his army between between the two places.

As it happened, the British struck first on Long Island in southern Brooklyn. Washington thought this might just be a feint to lure his troops there while most of Howe's forces would then attack Manhattan. But Washington was quite mistaken. General Howe landed 22,000 troops on Long Island. In planning their defense, Washington and his generals decided to defend Brooklyn from what was called the Guan Heights, a ridgeline of several miles running east to west.

There were four passes through the Guan Heights. The Americans posted troops defending three of them. But the fourth pass, called the Jamaica Pass, which was many miles to the east, they left to the patrol of 5 men on horseback. It was precisely there that General Howe chose to strike. Howe and his men then did exactly what they'd hoped to do, marching westward undetected until they were behind Washington's troops.

The Americans suddenly found themselves fighting one British force in front and this larger British force from behind. Because the Americans' backs were against the East River, there was no possibility of escaping. But for some reason, Howe ordered his generals to stop. But why? If they'd only kept going, they would have defeated the largest part of Washington's army that day and would have been able to end the rebellion—the entire rebellion—once and for all.

There was no need to throw the best of his British troops into a second buzzsaw of destruction and death as at Bunker Hill. No, the British would tighten the noose bit by bit until Washington realized it was over and surrendered. The results would be the same, and dramatically fewer British lives would be lost. And the next morning, a nor'easter blew in with torrential rains. The storm's powerful winds made it impossible for the British ships to sail up the East River to completely trap the Americans, as they had expected to do.

But the winds also made it impossible for the Americans to get across the East River if they had wished to do so. But they didn't. They chose to stay where they were and to continue to fight. In fact, Washington summoned another 1,000 troops from Manhattan to join him in the fighting in Brooklyn. Among them was General Thomas Mifflin, who, once he'd come over to Brooklyn, decided to inspect the perimeter of the American encampment.

When he did so, he observed that the British siege works had advanced considerably. They were only 600 yards away. Washington sent an express rider to order his officers to seize every single boat available up the East River toward the Long Island Sound and up the Harlem River toward the Hudson, and to bring them to the ferry landing in Brooklyn with the utmost urgency. But no one must know about the retreat. The troops would be told to prepare for a night attack.

They were told nothing of the retreat. Because if the British caught wind of what was actually happening somehow, they would strike immediately with everything they had, and it would all be over. So that night of August 29th, as soon as it was dark enough, the American officers began moving their regiments one by one toward the ferry landing. It would take many hours to move 9,000 men across a mile-wide churning body of water in the dark. But the northeastern wind that had been blowing blowing for 2 days was still blowing, and it was impossible to cross.

2 Hours later, as if on cue, the wind changed, and at 11 PM on the night of the 29th, the retreat began. And in perfect darkness and silence, the troops got into the boats and were rowed across the Channel. The Massachusetts Marblehead Regiment of Captain Glover, most of whom were professional fishermen and sailors, were indispensable in this. In fact, without them, it would have been perfectly impossible. But as dawn was approaching, Washington saw that everything was moving far too slowly for them to succeed.

Many regiments had not even left their lines yet to begin the march to the ferry. And once the sun began to rise, the British would see what they had been blind to all night and would instantly send in their troops.

Even worse, they would finally send their ships up the East River now that the winds were again favorable. They would attack the Americans like sitting ducks. But before sunrise, just as the light of dawn began to to make things visible, something extraordinary happened. A strange fog settled over the British and American lines. It was so thick that it was absolutely opaque.

Benjamin Tallmadge, a 22-year-old from Connecticut, remembered it: "I could scarcely discern a man at 6 yards distance." The fog so veiled everything that even now that the sun rose, the actions of the Americans continued to be perfectly hidden from the British. When all of them had finally arrived safely in Manhattan, the fog lifted. The moment that it did, the British, of course, saw everything and were astonished. The army they knew to be inescapably trapped had escaped after all. The British hustled to the ferry landing and They fired their musketry and cannon across the East River.

But it was all in vain. The Americans had succeeded in pulling off a spectacular retreat, one that no one on the British side had even imagined. And because of their success in doing so, Washington's army was intact. And the war that should have been over was not over. And the noble cause of independence and liberty was still alive, so that somehow George Washington and the Continental Army would continue to fight.