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It may be The Battle of Long Island to England and the rest of America—including Queens—but from Bath Beach, where the Brits landed 20,000 troops, to East New York, where they executed the nifty turn that outflanked the rebels, it's known as the Battle of Brooklyn—if it's known at all. This weekend "Brookland" (as it was known) offers a series of events that promise to show how "the Kinges Countie" became anything but—including a reenactment of the battle itself, redcoats and all, in Green-Wood Cemetery.
See the nearly insuperable barriers to British Advance (artist's rendition at left, yes, that's supposedly in Brooklyn somewhere) known as the "wooded Hills of Guana," the name being an early form of "Gowanus," not to be confused with the wooded hills of Guano, which are elsewhere. A hint as to the location of the famed hills of Guana: if you live in a place in Brooklyn or Queens with a "hill" or "slope" in the name, you live there.
The battle is one of the stranger ones in world history: Washington, facing a larger, better-trained army backed by the largest and most powerful navy in the world, decides to fight them on an island. He occupies the heights, which are pierced by three roads, and fortifies two of them—probably presuming that no one would go all the way to Queens to get to Manhattan. Guess which road the British take. Later Robert Moses would follow the lead of the Evil Empire and tried to put the Interboro Parkway on part of the British route. Washington was surrounded and nearly got his entire army destroyed, but in the end, except for the Robert Moses interlude, it all turned out pretty well.
Reservations may be needed for these events: Friday—a walk in Prospect Park (where much of the fighting took place) leaves from Grand Army Plaza at 6 p.m.; Saturday—the Old Stone House, which is where American soldiers fought the British, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and there will be a commemoration at 1 p.m. in Prospect Park at the Maryland Memorial; Sunday—the reenactment at Green-Wood from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For further details see The Brooklyn Paper and here are photos from last year.
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George Washington was totally full of shit. He was a rich snob who couldn't win a battle if he was given nuclear weapons and a fully equipped airforce. He was also a shitty president.
Whoa...that's harsh. Georgie wuz great at Valley Forge. He even treated the troops to lattes at the nearby Plymouth Meeting Mall.
Did someone piss in your cornflakes this morning?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbRom1Rz8OA
Except it didn't quite turn out so well. But for a simple surrender to the Brits you'd all now be drinking hot tea and living it up like the lords riding around in rolls royces and Aston martins.
Is it true that Benedict Arnold DJ'ed the whole thing, or was it DJ Nathan Hale? Seriously though dude, I'm too drunk to fucking care.
most books I've read refer to it as the Battle of Brooklyn - and my Jersey grown, Queens residing self always refers to it thusly.
thanks for the heads up on the events - I just wish I wasn't going to be out of town. :(
the battle of brooklyn is facinating. Your writing made it confusing. Pls try harder.
Hoorah for a Bath Beach shout out, at least, if a bit confusing explanation of the battle itself... we don't get much notice out here below 86th Street. :P
Washington left easternmost road unguarded because the Continental Army was already spread too thin across Long Island -- way to Monday morning quarterback the Revolution.
Yes the telling of the battle doesn't really sell it. You left out that while the British Navy was moored near the Verrazano Narrows and their soldiers dug in for battle in Gowanus, one of those very rare dense fogs over New York Harbor that night helped allow Washington to evacuate all his remaining troops to Manhattan by small boats across the East River from essentially DUMBO. They then fled up Manhattan island and crossed the Hudson where the George Washington Bridge is today to the station at Fort Lee. They would regroup in New England, and later come back to drive the British out of New York. But if not for that fog, GW and his entire army could possibly have been lost in that early battle and it's doubtful the US would have been able to recover.
I believe the British evacuated New York and were not driven out by the great General. In fact he waited for them to depart before he entered lower Manhattan. The date was November 25,1783 and the day was celebrated for years after the war.
See I told you that Washington was stupid. Why would he use boats from DUMBO rather than walking up a few steps and cross over using the bridge instead?
The bridge was being recobbled and the DOT recommended water taxis?
Anyone who listens to the DOT's recommendations deserves to loose their teeth.