The British fleet began arriving in late June under Richard Howe and anchored near Staten Island. These troops began landing on the island on July 2 and were met with limited resistance. The Colonial soldiers fired a few shots and fled and the militia gave up and switched sides. Around Washington things were better. On July 6 his men were read the Declaration of Independence and a mob then proceeded to tear down the statue of King George III and cut off its head. The head was impaled on a pike and placed outside of a tavern and the body was melted down to make musket balls.
On July 13 two British ships sailed into the harbor and towards the Hudson River to try to cut off Colonial supplies and to stiffen the Loyalists in the area. The ships sailed past the Colonial batteries taking no casualties. Howe then decided to try to open negotiations with Washington and sent a letter addressed to George Washington Esq. under a flag of truce. With the letter not recognizing Washington’s rank he refused to accept it. Howe tried again adding an etc. after Esq with the same result. Eventually a meeting between the two adjutants was set up and Howe communicated that he had the power to pardon the rebels. Washington, feeling his cause was worthy, did not accept.
In all of this time more British power was arriving and by the beginning of August over 400 ships and 30,000 British and Hessian troops were on Staten Island. Facing a force that large Washington was not sure where they would attack: Manhattan or Long Island so he divided his army to guard both. Washington commanded in Manhattan and Nathanael Greene assumed command on Long Island. Greene fell ill though and John Sullivan assumed command.
On August 22 4,000 British soldiers under Henry Clinton and William Cornwallis landed unopposed on Long Island near Gravesend Bay. By noon that number swelled to 15,000 and by the end of the day Clinton had pushed inland 6 miles to near Flatbush. Washington was alerted to the landing but was told the number of British soldiers was about 9,000 which led him to believe that this was a feint and that the real attack would come against him in Manhattan. He did move 1,500 more soldiers to Long Island increasing the Colonial numbers to around 6,000 and he placed Israel Putnam in command.
British number swelled to near 20,000 when the fighting began. Colonial marksmen began to take potshots at the British picking off some men. The goal was to draw the British to Brooklyn Heights and via Guan Heights where the Colonials were dug in and could potentially inflict heavy losses on the British. 3 roads could be used by the British, the Gowanus Road, the Flatbush Road and the Bedford Road and the Colonials guarded each. There was another road though, the Jamacia Road and it was guarded by a handful of militia. Loyalists found this out and informed Clinton. He proposed to keep the Colonials busy with a diversion while his main body used a nightmarch along the Jamacia Road to turn the Colonial flank. The movement began on August 26.
10,000 men marched along the Jamacia Road leaving their burning campfires to deceive the Colonists. The militia guarding the road was captured without a shot being fired. The movement continued until 9 AM when Clinton fired two cannon as a signal that he was in position. With those shots being fired the Hessians began to move against the main Colonial defense. There had been sporadic firing along that line all night alerting Putnam that something was up, but he believed the British were coming down the Gowanus Road.
The British diversionary assault along the main line took possession of what became known as Battle Hill. The Colonists under Lord Stirling moved them off of the hill in the heaviest fighting of the battle. Near what is known as Battle Pass hit Sullivan’s men hard. Sullivan had sent reinforcements to Battle Hill believing that was the main attack and Sullivan was hit by both the Hessians and Clinton. His men inflicted heavy losses on the British but were forced to pull back to avoid capture. Many captured Colonists were bayoneted by the Hessians and Sullivan himself was captured.
Washington arrived in Brookyln around 9 AM now realizing that this was the main attack. Stirling was still holding but was eventually overwhelmed after 4 hours. To cover his retreat about 270 Marylanders were placed as a rear guard and made desperate attacks against the British to slow them down. Only about 12 of the “Maryland 400” made it back to Colonial lines. The Colonists now formed up along Brooklyn Heights waiting for Howe to attack. Howe chose not to. He believed that Washington was trapped and a siege would produce far fewer casualties. It could be that Bunker Hill was still in his mind. He may have also believed he was doing the gentlemanly thing in allowing Washington to surrender with his honor. In any case his men began digging in.
Washington was trapped but was not cut off from Manhattan. Reinforcements from Manhattan arrived on August 28. It began to rain that night and Washington ordered his artillery to bombard the British. At the same time he directed that every flat-bottomed boat or sloop was sent to Brooklyn. The evacuation began on August 29. Wheels were muffled and the soldiers were forbidden from talking. The evacuation was slow and proceeded into the next morning but fog helped to hide it and by 7 AM 9,000 Colonial soldiers were safely in Manhattan. Howe was stunned when he found out.
Howe’s men would remain inactive for the next month until a move was made to capture Manhattan. Howe would control Manhattan after Kyp’s Bay and would defeat Washington again to White Plains and Fort Washington. The British would control New York City for the rest of the war while Washington fled into New Jersey.
The Battle of Long Island showed that the Colonial army had a lot of catching up to do. Washington himself was out generaled and his men had not proven themselves against their foes. In the largest battle ever fought on the North American continent up until that point the British lost about 350 men and the Colonists lost about 1,300 with around 1,000 of them being captured. These men were kept on prison ships in the harbor and were starved. More than half succumbed to smallpox and other diseases before the war was over.
Much of the battlefield has been lost to modern progress. The terrain was for the most part destroyed when Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery were created. The Old Stone House still exists and the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument can be found in Fort Greene Park.
