Mike Parker: Shots before ‘The Shot Heard ‘Round the World’

When people remember the beginning of the American Revolution, they usually think of the “shot heard ‘round the world,” fired in 1775 in Concord, Massachusetts, or the bloody battle at Bunker Hill.

But America’s path to independence really began in August of 1776 with the Battle of Brooklyn, the first military engagement following the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.

Fighting raged through areas Brooklynites travel every day. Significant battlefields included Gravesend Bay, and today’s Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park, Fort Greene Park, and Fulton Ferry Landing. The Old Stone House was the site of the largest battle of the Revolutionary War in terms of both troop deployment and combat.

The British defeated the Continental Army under Commander-in-Chief George Washington and gained access to the strategically important Port of New York. The British held that port for the rest of the war.

The Battle of Brooklyn was the first major battle after the colonies declared their independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. After defeating the British in the siege of Boston on March 17, 1776, George Washington relocated his army to defend the port city of New York, located at the southern end of Manhattan Island. Washington understood that the city’s harbor would provide an excellent base for the Royal Navy. Washington established defenses there and waited for the British to attack.

In July, the British, under the command of General William Howe, landed a few miles across the harbor on the sparsely populated Staten Island. Over the next month and a half, the British reinforced their forces with a fleet of ships in Lower New York Bay, bringing their total to 32,000 troops.

Washington knew the difficulty of holding the city with the British fleet in control of the entrance to the harbor at the Narrows, so he moved the bulk of his forces to Manhattan, believing it would be the first target.

On August 21, the British landed on the shores of Gravesend Bay. After five days of waiting, the British attacked the American defenses on Guard Heights. What the Continental Army did not know was that Howe had brought his main army around the Continental rear and attacked their flank.

The Americans panicked, resulting in 20 percent losses through casualties and capture. A courageous stand by 400 Maryland and Delaware troops prevented greater losses. Realizing the dire American position, American General William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, led a regiment of 400 Maryland soldiers against 2,000 British troops commanded by General Charles Cornwallis at the Old Stone House.

The Marylanders fell back, regrouped, and attacked again, but their losses eventually became too great to continue, and Lord Stirling finally surrendered. Cornwallis later said Lord Stirling “fought like a wolf.” The remainder of the army retreated to the main defenses on Brooklyn Heights.

The British dug in for a siege, but on the night of August 29–30, Washington evacuated his entire army to Manhattan without the loss of supplies or a single life. After several more defeats, the Continental Army was driven out of Manhattan and forced to retreat through New Jersey into Pennsylvania.

The outcome of the Battle of Brooklyn was a victory for the British, who killed or captured 1,000 Americans and proceeded to occupy Brooklyn and Manhattan for seven years.

However, the British failed to capture Washington and his army, which withdrew across the East River to fight again and, eventually, win the war.

Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.