The Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn

The Campaign of 1776 around
New York and
by Henry P.
Johnston

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Title: The Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn
Author: Henry P. Johnston
Release Date: July 3, 2007 [EBook #21990]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CAMPAIGN OF 1776 ***

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[Transcriber's Note: In quoted passages and in the documents in
Part II of this e-book, spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, hyphenation,
and abbreviations have been retained as they appear in the original. In
the remainder of the text, obvious printer errors have been corrected,
but archaic spellings (e.g., "reconnoissance" for "reconnaissance," "aid"
for "aide") have been retained.
This book contains a few instances of the letters m and n with macrons,
indicating that the letter is to be doubled. The letter with the macron is
represented here in brackets with an equal sign. For example,
"co[=m]ittee" stands for "committee"; "ca[=n]on" stands for "cannon."]

THE
CAMPAIGN OF 1776
AROUND
NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.
INCLUDING A NEW AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF
THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND AND THE LOSS OF NEW
YORK,
WITH A
REVIEW OF EVENTS TO THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR,
CONTAINING MAPS, PORTRAITS, AND ORIGINAL
DOCUMENTS.

BY
HENRY P. JOHNSTON.
BROOKLYN, N.Y.: PUBLISHED BY THE LONG ISLAND
HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 1878.
COPYRIGHT, 1878, BY HENRY P. JOHNSTON, FOR THE
SOCIETY.
S.W. GREEN, PRINTER AND ELECTROTYPER, 16 and 18 Jacob
Street, NEW YORK.
[Illustration: NEW YORK and BROOKLYN WITH THEIR
ENVIRONS IN 1776.
Compiled by H.P. JOHNSTON.
Steel Engr. F. von Egloffstein, N.Y.]

PREFACE.
The site now occupied by the two cities of New York and Brooklyn,
and over which they continue to spread, is pre-eminently
"Revolutionary soil." Very few of our historic places are more closely
associated with the actual scenes of that struggle. As at Boston in 1775,
so here in 1776, we had the war at our doors and all about us. In what is
now the heart of Brooklyn Revolutionary soldiers lay encamped for
months, and in the heat of a trying summer surrounded themselves with
lines of works. What have since been converted into spots of rare
beauty--Greenwood Cemetery and Prospect Park--became, with the
ground in their vicinity, a battle-field. New York, which was then
taking its place as the most flourishing city on the continent, was
transformed by the emergency into a fortified military base. Troops
quartered in Broad Street and along the North and East rivers, and on
the line of Grand Street permanent camps were established. Forts,
redoubts, batteries, and intrenchments encircled the town. The streets

were barricaded, the roads blocked, and efforts made to obstruct the
navigation of both rivers. Where we have stores and warehouses,
Washington fixed alarm and picket posts; and at points where costly
residences stand, men fought, died, and were buried. In 1776 the cause
had become general; soldiers gathered here from ten of the original
thirteen States, and the contest assumed serious proportions. It was here
around New York and Brooklyn that the War of the Revolution began
in earnest.
The record of what occurred in this vicinity at that interesting period
has much of it been preserved in our standard histories by Gordon,
Marshall, Irving, Hildreth, Lossing, Bancroft, Carrington, and others.
In the present volume it is given as a single connected account, with
many additional particulars which have but recently come to light. This
new material, gathered largely from the descendants of officers and
soldiers who participated in that campaign, is published with other
documents in
Part II. of this work, and is presented as its
principal feature. What importance should be attached to it must be left
to the judgment of the reader.
The writer himself has made use of these documents in filling gaps and
correcting errors. Such documents, for example, as the orders issued by
Generals Greene and Sullivan on Long Island, with the original letters
of Generals Parsons, Scott, and other officers, go far towards clearing
up the hitherto doubtful points in regard to operations on the Brooklyn
side. There is not a little, also, that throws light on the retreat to New
York; while material of value has been unearthed respecting events
which terminated in the capture of the city by the British. Considerable
space has been devoted to the preparations made by both sides for the
campaign, but as the nature of those preparations illustrates