Battle
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Military history
On Long Island, British attacks pin the Americans before the heights while a column outflanks their left through Jamaica Pass. Attacked from the rear, the defenders fall back towards Brooklyn; at Gowanus, a rearguard fights to allow the marsh crossing. The British victory does not destroy the Continental Army: during the night of 29–30 August, Washington evacuates it to Manhattan.
On 22 August, about 15,000 British troops land on Long Island and the army then establishes itself near Flatbush. Washington must guard both Manhattan and Brooklyn; the National Park Service figures of 19,000 Americans and more than 32,000 British describe the wider theater, not only those who fought on 27 August.
The Heights of Guan offer several routes between the landing site and the Brooklyn lines. Jamaica Pass, far from the American center, is guarded by only a handful of men in the University of Nottingham account; this weakness makes the main column's movement possible, without allowing every unit to be located with topographical precision.
The main column uses Jamaica Pass while Grant’s and the Hessians’ attacks hold the Americans in place. It emerges behind them. Stirling’s account then describes Howe between his troops and the Brooklyn lines: the marsh crossing becomes the only available escape in his sector.
Fighting around Gowanus and the Old Stone House delays the American retreat, while the Brooklyn lines become a besieged position against the East River. Washington later explains that the council of 29 August feared the communications would be cut and that withdrawal saved men, guns and stores, except for a few heavy pieces made immovable by the mud.
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Military history
The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 6, pp. 177–179 ; lettre, paragraphes sur le retrait et les pertes.
The withdrawal decision, crossing completed on 30 August, heavy guns stuck in the mud and the provisional estimate of American losses.
View ↗HTML lignes 25–30 : Governors Island et les fortifications de Brooklyn Heights, 19 000 Américains étirés contre plus de 32 000 Britanniques, environ 9 000 hommes acculés, feux et silence pendant l’évacuation, brouillard et arrivée à Manhattan vers 7 heures.
Checking the strategic framework, the position against the East River and the evacuation's effect in preserving the American army.
View ↗HTML lignes 27–39 : First Maryland Regiment, débarquement britannique, Jamaica Pass peu défendu, attaque de 9 heures, franchissement de Gowanus Creek, arrière-garde de Stirling, Old Stone House et limites du récit Maryland–Delaware 400.
Documenting the delaying role of the Gowanus fighting and bounding the account of the Maryland and Delaware troops without turning it into a complete order of battle.
View ↗Section “Long Island and New York, August 1776–May 1777”, paragraphes HTML 87–91 : débarquement du 22 août, passes, Jamaica Pass, trois secteurs d’attaque, signal de 9 heures, siège et retrait des 29–30 août.
Reconstructing the British operational sequence and distinguishing the university description of the maneuver from primary evidence on losses.
View ↗Plan Brooklyn, 22–27 août 1776, édition novembre 2020 ; côte, ouvrages, hauteurs, passes et directions de marche. Notice associée pour le total secondaire des pertes britanniques.
Checking visible spatial relationships and diagram legibility without adopting its casualty figures as a primary accounting.
View ↗HTML lignes 13–26 : 15 000 débarqués le 22 août, quatre passes, garde de cinq hommes à Jamaica, mouvement nocturne du 26–27 août, diversions, attaque de 9 heures, Gowanus, siège et évacuation d’environ 9 500 hommes.
Cross-checking the military topography, night movement and retreat chronology; figures not confirmed by institutional sources remain identified as estimates.
View ↗HTML lignes 95–102 : quatre passes, Jamaica jugé trop éloigné, environ 10 000 hommes dans la colonne nocturne, armée repoussée vers Brooklyn Heights, rôle de Glover dans l’évacuation et environ 9 500 hommes traversant l’East River.
Cross-checking the role of the eastern passage and the night crossing; this secondary source is not used to fix the position of every unit.
View ↗The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 6, pp. 159–162 ; lettre et notes 6–9.
Combat against Grant, the crossing of Gowanus, attacks near the Cortelyou house and Stirling’s capture.
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