Hundreds of Brooklynites march up to the top of Battle Hill to lay wreaths on the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers. (Photo: Jack Delaney)
By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com
In Prospect Park, over 300 reenactors charged across the Long Meadow in a cloud of musket smoke. In Red Hook, an Army veteran recounted how a local fort prevented British warships from reaching the East River as her audience sprawled in the grass. And in Green-Wood Cemetery, hundreds of Brooklynites marched up to Battle Hill — the highest point in the borough — and laid wreaths to memorialize fallen soldiers.
Every year, residents, parks, and nonprofits mark the anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn, which took place from August 27–29 in 1776 (though some argue it technically began earlier, on August 22). But for this year’s semiquincentennial, they pulled out all the stops.
Some Brief History
The Battle of Brooklyn was the first and largest battle of the Revolutionary War — and while it ended as a stinging defeat for the still-nascent American army, it was one that allowed their cause to live on.
George Washington, then a general, had gathered his forces in Manhattan by the time that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4. Shortly after, the British arrived to parlay, but the talks unraveled. (It didn’t help that the negotiators refused to recognize Washington’s military rank, instead referring to him as “George Washington, Esq.”)
More tense weeks of preparation followed. The central question facing Washington and his troops was where the British would attack. Originally stationed in Staten Island, the Redcoats shifted 10,000 units — roughly half of their numbers — across the waters to Long Island on August 22. But Washington still worried that his enemy might launch an assault on Manhattan, and even in Brooklyn there were at least three potential routes of attack: up along the west coast of Gowanus (or Guan Heights), into the hills of what would later become Prospect Park, or through the eastern access point of Jamaica Pass.
It was all three, as it turned out, but the last option proved to be the Americans’ downfall. British intel correctly determined that Jamaica Pass wasn’t properly fortified, and Redcoats flooded down modern-day Atlantic Avenue as they looked to flank Washington’s soldiers in Gowanus.
A contingent of 300-odd men from Connecticut held Battle Hill in Green-Wood Cemetery for hours, buying time before they were overtaken. Meanwhile, the British army’s middle column, made up of Hessian mercenaries and conscripted Scottish Highlanders, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with mostly ragged and undisciplined American fighters amid many the same trees that thousands of Brooklynites run past in the park every morning.
Ultimately, it took the heroics of a regiment from Maryland — the Maryland 400 — to fend the British off long enough for the rest of Washington’s army to escape across the Gowanus Canal to Brooklyn Heights. On the night of August 27, penned in, the American forces fled across the river to Manhattan without any casualties and survived to fight another day.
That escape might not have been possible if it wasn’t for Fort Defiance, an overlooked part of Red Hook’s history that community members are hoping to bring back into the limelight.
At a panel discussion organized by the local nonprofit Portside at Valentino Park on Saturday night — as an ominously large crow cawed insistently from a nearby railing, and a pair of corgis frolicked in the salty surf — Captain Kristen Rouse stressed just how critical Fort Defiance was to the Battle of Brooklyn.
The fort was one of five structures hastily built ahead of the British attack, the others being Fort Box (present-day Carroll Park), Fort Greene (by Barclays Center), Fort Putnam (today’s Fort Greene Park), and Fort Stirling (the Promenade).
Although it was built in only a few days, the four cannons at Fort Defiance miraculously prevented the British navy’s sleek new model of warships from creeping up the coast to shell Brooklyn Heights from the water. That was essential: as Washington’s second-in-command Charles Lee observed, New York City was so dominated by waterways that “whoever commands the sea must command the town.”
“Whatever day they came up — the 22nd, the 24th, the 27th, or the 29th — they never came further than Fort Defiance,” noted Rouse.
Left, Borough Historian Asad Dandia in Greenwood Cemetery; right, veteran Kristen Rouse in Red Hook.
“The Meaning of Freedom”
Each event — whether the reenactment at Prospect Park, which last happened 50 years ago, or a day of activities at the Center for Brooklyn History in Brooklyn Heights — emphasized the fluid nature of historical memory, and the need to continually reevaluate the meaning of one of Brooklyn’s most impactful contributions to American lore.
Sunday brought a carnival-like commemoration of the Battle of Brooklyn at Green-Wood Cemetery, with dozens of stalls tended by history buffs. In the newly-renovated atrium across the street, a costumed singer performed a tune from the perspective of Martha Washington; back on the lawn, members of the Living History Company explained the role of Black soldiers and the intricacies of 1776-era military garb.
But the main attraction was the march up to Battle Hill, where local politicians offered their two cents on the confrontation’s legacy.
“Six weeks ago, the [Founding Fathers] wrote those aspirational words about equality, about natural rights, about instituting government to make it possible,” said Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for the 10th Congressional District. “Then six weeks later, when it might have been snuffed out, thanks to the bravery of the Maryland 400, thanks to the resilience and strategy of the troops, the young republic survived — and as a result, we have that experiment ongoing.”
Yet Lander acknowledged that many Brooklynites at the time, including women and enslaved people, may have been conflicted about joining a rebellion driven by propertied men. “How do we love that history and honor its vision and values,” he added, “but be open to critique and improvement?”
Asad Dandia, the official Brooklyn Borough Historian, hit similar notes in his keynote speech. “They say that the Declaration of Independence was signed in ink in Philadelphia, but it was signed in blood in Brooklyn,” he said, drawing cheers.
But Dandia returned to Lander’s meditation on the uneasy foundations of the Revolution.
“They probably didn’t all agree about the meaning of freedom, and they certainly did not enjoy it equally,” he said. “But they came here, every single one of them, believing in its possibility, and that is precisely why we remember them.”
If you’re interested in learning more about the Battle of Brooklyn, make sure to check out the Old Stone House’s online audio tour, narrated by actor John Turturro!
