Finding the Maryland 400

Most of the first-hand accounts that we have from the Battle of Brooklyn end on the afternoon of August 27, when the Americans were able to retreat to their encampment in Brooklyn. The fighting had paused, but the danger had not receded, and the British still loomed close by. The only chance the Americans had was to retreat across the East River back to Manhattan.

The only Marylander who left a description of the retreat was Samuel Smith, captain of the 8th Company. When Smith and his men arrived at the American lines, they were stationed outside a small American outpost. As Smith recounted,

About midnight, one of the Corporals informed me that he had been up and down the [encampment], and not a man was to be seen. In consequence of which I sent my two Lieutenants…[who] reported that all the troops had gone, where they knew not…I presumed that we had been left as a forlorn hope [to cover the retreat]. Continue reading →

By the afternoon of August 27, 1776, the Battle of Brooklyn had rapidly become a life or death struggle for the American army. After distracting the American forces with an auxiliary diversion that morning, the British sprung their trap. The night before the battle, Generals Howe and Clinton had led 10,000 troops to the rear of the Americans in a flanking maneuver. After the Americans had fought off the British diversion to their front, the 10,000 British descended upon the Continental troops from the north. According to one American soldier, the Americans were entirely unaware of the presence of the large force to their rear, until “the main body of their army, by a route we never dreamed of, had entirely surrounded us, and drove within the lines, or scattered in the woods, all our men, except the Delaware and Maryland battalions, who were standing at bay with double their number.

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The Marylanders were called to battle before sunrise on August 27, 1776. Lord Stirling, the temporary commander of the Maryland troops, was awoken at around three o’clock in the morning and given the news that the British had begun their advance. During the night, the British had surprised the American guard posted near the Red Lion Inn, and in the confusion, a number of Americans had been taken captive. General Israel Putnam ordered Stirling to take the two regiments “nearest at hand” and engage the British on the road near the Red Lion Inn. Continue reading →

After the British landed on Long Island they advanced to within three miles of the American lines, and then they stopped. On August 23, 1776, the tension grew in New York as the American leadership tried to determine the enemy’s next move. The standoff that began on August 22 reinforced the Americans’ belief that the British were using Long Island as a diversion, and the main attack would come to Manhattan.  General William Heath of Massachusetts captured the Continue reading →

On August 22, 1776, the British began setting the stage for battle by landing troops on Long Island. The Continental Army had been present in varying numbers on Long Island for nearly four months, since General Nathanael Greene was ordered to encamp there on May 1, and with the arrival of additional Hessian troops to aid the British on August 25, only five days remained until the forces would finally clash at the Battle of Long Island on August 27.

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