LONG ISLAND, August, 27, 1776.
Sketched from a large Plan of the Battle of Long Island and of the Brooklyn defences, Aug. 27, 1776, compiled by Henry P. Johnston, which accompanies his Campaign of 1776, and is based, as he says, on Ratzer's map of Brooklyn (1767-68) and the United States coast survey. Before daylight on the morning of the 27th, the British advance under General Grant disturbed the American pickets at the Red Lion, which is near the westerly angle of the present Greenwood Cemetery area, marked on the plan with a dotted line. As the day wore on, the conflict pressed between the British at P and Q and the Americans under Stirling and Parsons at O and N,—Smallwood's Marylanders holding the extreme right on the water, and Huntington's Connecticut regiment on the extreme left. Johnston (p. 165) says Stirling's position was between 18th and 20th streets of the modern Brooklyn, and not as Sparks's map places him, near the Narrows. Meanwhile, a British column at 9 o'clock the previous evening had begun to move from Flatlands, and at 3 the next morning captured an American patrol at B, and at 6 the British column (marching in this order,—Clinton, Cornwallis, Percy, Howe) neared the American advance under Miles at C, who retired; and at 9 A. M. the British column was at Bedford and threw out a force to M, which began to attack the American outposts of D (Miles), E (Wyley), and F (Chester), forcing them to retire upon Sullivan, who commanded the forces of Johnston (H), Hitchcock (J), and Little (G), with pickets at K,—all within or near the present limits of Prospect Park, shown by the dotted line. Threatened by the British flanking column as well as by the Hessians in front, approaching from Flatbush under Heister with the commands of Von Stirn (S), Von Mirbach (T), and Donop (U), the Americans, after the capture of Sullivan himself, retreated as best they could across the creek and got within the lines. The column of the British advancing from Bedford threw out a force under Vaughan towards L to menace Fort Putnam and that part of the American works, while Cornwallis advancing towards R had a conflict there round the Cortelyou house at 11.30 A. M. with Stirling, who was trying to check this rear attack of the British, while such of his troops as could be controlled retreated from N and O, and, passing the marsh, crossed the creek (half a dozen or so being drowned), and reached dry land near some redoubts within the American line of defence. The point A represents the position of the present City Hall of Brooklyn. Stirling, meanwhile, with Smallwood's Marylanders in danger of being crushed between Cornwallis and Grant, and foiled in the attempt to reach Fort Box, retreated towards Flatbush, but encountered in that direction Gen. Heister's Hessians, and gave himself up to that officer.
T. W. Field in his monograph, the Battle of Long Island, gives a large plan showing the relations of the modern streets to the old landmarks, and marking "the natural defensible line, as nearly as it could be authenticated by documentary and traditionary evidence." Field adds that "the routes of the British were generally over country roads long since abandoned, and now covered with buildings; but their localities were accurately surveyed by the author before their traces were lost." Field also says (p. 145) that the American works were at once levelled by the British, and new ones were erected on interior lines. (Cf. G. W. Greene's General Greene, i. 159.) These latter lines are shown, as well as the earlier American works, in a Map of Brooklyn at the time of the Revolution, drawn by Gen. Jeremiah Johnson (Valentine's Manual, 1858). A rude map by J. Ewing, made Sept., 1776, is given in fac-simile in Johnston's Campaign of 1776 (Documents, p. 50) and in 2d ser. Penna. Archives, x. 194. Dr. Stiles made a rough plan in his diary, which he based upon a map of the ground and upon the information given him by one who was at Red Hook at the time. It is given in fac-simile by Johnston (p. 70).
The plan in Carrington's Battles (p. 214) is extended enough to illustrate the movements after the British occupation of New York; that in H. R. Stiles's Brooklyn (vol. i. 250) is an eclectic one, made with care, and his text attempts to identify the position of the lines and forts in relation to present landmarks. Gordon acknowledges receiving from Greene a map improved by that general (Hist. Mag., xiii. 25).
There are other plans in Marshall's Washington (large and small atlas); Sparks's Washington, iv. 68, repeated in Duer's Stirling (p. 162); Guizot's Washington; Samuel Ward's lecture on the battle, 1839; J. T. Bailey's Hist. Sketch of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, 1840); W. L. Stone's New York City, p. 246; Henry Onderdonk, Jr.'s Queens County, and Suffolk and Kings Counties; Ridpath's United States; Lossing's Field-Book, ii. 806, 809, 810; Lowell's Hessians; Harper's Monthly, Aug., 1876. Ratzer's map of Brooklyn is reproduced in Stiles's Brooklyn (i. 63), with a view of the same date (p. 217). Cf. map in Valentine's N. Y. Manual (1856). Cf. the bibliography of Long Island in Amer. Bibliopolist, Oct., 1872, and in Furman's Antiquities of Long Island, App.
Sullivan's letter is in effect a defence of himself,[761] and other letters from participants and observers are preserved,[762] as well as journals of actors on the field,[763] and other personal recitals,[764] and narratives in the public press.[765] On the British side we have Howe's despatch[766] of Sept. 3, with the comments and inquiry which it elicited,[767] and the report and journals of Sir George Collier, in command of the fleet.[768] In addition we have a number of personal experiences and accounts of eye-witnesses,[769] as well as statements from the German participants.[770]
The circumstances of the battle and retreat have occasioned some controversy, in which Bancroft has been criticised by the grandsons of Gen. Greene[771] and Joseph Reed.[772]
Respecting the armies on both sides and their losses, there is ground for dispute. It is claimed that the British had about double the numbers of the Americans, and the losses of killed and wounded were about equal on both sides, though the Americans also lost heavily in prisoners.[773] But on this point see the preceding chapter.
Without enumerating at length the treatment of the general histories,[774] and the biographies of participants,[775] the battle of Long Island has had much special local[776] and monographic treatment, particularly at the hands of Field, Johnston, Dawson, and Carrington.[777] On the English side we have contemporary and later examples of historical treatment.[778] It was the first substantial victory for the royal arms, and had little of the disheartening influence which the forcing of the redoubt at Bunker Hill had brought with it. The effect was correspondingly inspiriting to the Tories in America and to the government party in England.[779]