After George Washington forced the British to evacuate Boston, he marched his army to New York City to defend that city from an expected British attack. Washington had 20,000 men whose main characteristic was indiscipline. It should have been obvious that these soldiers could not stand up to the British and Hessians in a pitched battle. But there was reason to be confident that in a fortified position like Bunker Hill, the Americans would fight well. Before the British arrived, news of the Declaration of Independence caused a spike in patriotic fervor exemplified by the pulling down of a statue of King George III, but there was also a large number of Loyalists in the area. These colonists were gladdened to see the British fleet under Admiral Richard Howe arrive in New York harbor. Eventually the British fleet reached 400 ships, giving Howe complete control of the harbor as well as the Hudson and East Rivers. Howe’s brother William commanded the British army with able subordinates like Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis.
Despite the show of strength by the British, Washington divided his army between Manhattan and Long Island. This was a foolish division of forces in the face of a superior enemy. He put 1/3 of his force on Long Island under the command of his best general, Nathanael Greene. Unfortunately, Greene became ill and was replaced by the hero of Bunker Hill, Israel Putnam. Putnam was a charismatic leader but was a big step down from Greene.
On August 22, Howe landed 20,000 men on Long Island. This was after Howe had attempted to negotiate peace with Washington by offering him and his men pardons. The negotiation got off to a bad start when Howe refused to address Washington as a general. Needless to say, Washington was not interested. Howe did not launch an immediate attack on August 22, an attack which almost surely would have routed the Continentals. The Americans were placed on a low ridge blocking several roads leading to the main position on Brooklyn Heights. There the Continentals had fortifications that would reenact the Battle of Bunker Hill, except this time it would be a victory. Or so went the very optimistic plan. On August 27, Howe finally decided that Washington was not going to give in without a fight. British and Hessian units marched on the passes defended by Continentals. Astoundingly, Loyalist farmers informed the British that a pass to the east was undefended. Well, technically defended by five militia officers. Howe send a flanking column to march into the rear of the American forces on the ridge causing a panicky retreat. The only bright spot was the rearguard effort by 400 Marylanders, called the “Maryland 400”. The unit suffered more than 50% casualties, but did give some of the Continentals the time to retreat to Brooklyn Heights.
Howe’s subordinates urged him to immediately assault the heights, advice that would surely have resulted in a complete victory that might have ended the Revolution that day. Howe’s excuse was he needed to be cautious and avoid losses like he had suffered at Bunker Hill. The British reluctance to assault colonists behind fortifications was an ongoing psychological result of that battle. The British settled into a siege of the heights. Incredibly, after seeing the power of the British and disregarding the fact that the island was dominated by the Royal Navy, Washington sent over more troops to reinforce Brooklyn Heights! This should have been an act of adding to the number of Continentals that would be bagged by the British. Thankfully, Washington was blessed by having William Howe, a man who was squeamish about crushing the revolution, as his foe.
After watching the British gradually advance their siege works closer to the heights for a couple of days, Washington finally realized he was in an untenable position. He ordered the evacuation of his force on the night of August 29, 1776. Luckily, he had just the men to pull this off. Col. John Glover’s regiment from Marblehead, Massachusetts ,which consisted of fishermen and sailors, was ideal for an evacuation by boats. Under the cover of darkness and with strict noise discipline, the evacuation took place under the noses of the British. A regiment from Pennsylvania led by Thomas Mifflin was given the job of manning the trenches until they escaped last. At one point, they received orders to join the retreat. Upon marching to the evacuation point, they were met by an agitated Washington demanding to know why they weren’t still on guard. The confusion was cleared up and they returned to the abandoned trenches with the British none the wiser. They eventually brought up the rear. As would happen again in the crossing of the Delaware (also done by the Marbleheaders), the evacuation was not competed before sunrise. However, in what was taken as God’s intervention, a fog kept the boats hidden from the British. All 9,000 Americans were safely transported to Manhattan without a loss.
The “American Dunkirk” was one of several examples of how lucky Washington was as a general. Luck overcame the fact that he was not a great general. A great leader, yes. And he was blessed with opponents who lacked a killer instinct. Thank goodness for that because the Revolution should have ended in failure at several key moments. One of those was on August 29/30, 1776.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/brooklyn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Long_Island
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