General George Washington’s campaign to defend New York against an overwhelming British force involved a series of battles that would become the largest in America’s War for Independence. The Long Island engagement on August 27, 1776 was a catastrophe for the Americans. Thousands of American troops were defeated then trapped in Brooklyn. The movement of Independence declared just weeks prior was nearly crushed in its infancy. Yet God providentially intervened. Unlike modern retellings of our nation’s story that omit that perspective, the historical record bears witness to the “Battlefield Faith” of the American patriots.

The British Return

After his retreat from Boston to Nova Scotia on March 17, 1776, General William Howe made plans to return to America with his brother, Admiral Richard Howe, along with a massive British Armada crammed with troops and artillery with their sights set on New York. During the summer, their warships kept coming over the horizon, anchoring in the outer New York harbor off Sandy Hook and Staten Island until by the end of August there were 400 of them. Their masts looked like a floating forest. On board were more than 32,000 soldiers and marines, including British regulars, Scottish Highlanders, and thousands of Hessian mercenaries.

General George Washington anticipated their move, hastily constructing fortifications around New York. However, the combined British force was far greater than the estimated 20,000 that Washington had at his command, only about half of whom were fit for battle. By contrast, the Howe brothers commanded the largest Expeditionary force ever assembled by the British Empire to that point in history.

Independence and Dependence

On July 2, the same day that the Continental Congress officially voted in favor of Richard Henry Lee’s motion to sever ties with Great Britain and “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States,” British troops began to disembark on Staten Island, welcomed by a cheering crowd of loyalists. Intelligence of the growing threat and looming battle prompted General Washington to issue these General Orders:

“The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this Army. … Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions…”

Washington challenged his men to fight courageously while acknowledging that victory ultimately rested “in the hands” of Almighty God.

On July 9, Washington ordered his troops to gather at 6:00 p.m. and hear the Declaration of Independence read aloud. When the reading was concluded, a chaplain stepped forward and recited Psalm 80:3, “Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” The Scripture choice was appropriate. Psalm 80 is a national prayer for God’s restoration during a time of invasion and distress. As thousands of Continental soldiers stood listening on the New York Common with the greatest military force Britain had ever sent to America gathering just across the harbor, the ancient prayer of Israel became, in many respects, America’s prayer as well.

Washington in his General Orders for that day had declared: “The General hopes this important Event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer, and soldier, to act with Fidelity and Courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of his Country depends (under God) solely on the success of our arms…” He understood that the Declaration, with its lofty ideals, must necessarily be purchased by men willing to fight and die for a cause aided by Almighty God.

The Empire Strikes Back

Just weeks after Independence was declared, the British made their move. On August 22, 4,000 British troops led by Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Charles Cornwallis landed unopposed on Long Island at Gravesend Bay. Within hours over 15,000 troops came ashore alongside 40 pieces of artillery, 1,500 Germans, and 120 cavalrymen. Hundreds of loyalists swarmed the beach to greet them as liberators. Two additional Hessian brigades of more than 4,000 men joined them, bringing the force total to more than 20,000 on Long Island. 

Washington only had 4,500 men stationed in Brooklyn and along the Heights of Guan, mainly in a constellation of 10 forts and batteries. With news of the British landing, scouts underestimated reports of British troop strength to Washington. Consequently, he only sent an additional 1,500 reinforcements, bringing the total to roughly 6,000. The only strategic advantage enjoyed by the Americans was the heavily wooded high ground along the Heights of Guan, which ran west to east above the Long Island plain. 

With a reserve force remaining in fortifications in Brooklyn, defensive positions were established at the four main passes across these heights to defend against British attack. General William Alexander, known as “Lord Stirling,” and his scarlet clad Marylanders, together with Colonel John Haslet’s first Delaware regiment, the well-trained boys in blue, were to hold the American right at Gowanus pass with a collected force of 1,600 men. General John Suillivan commanded another 1,500 men at the Flatbush pass, anchoring the American center. Colonel Samuel Miles and his Pennsylvania rifle regiment were to hold the Bedford pass to the east on the American left with around 500 men.

However, miles farther to the east there was a fourth route over the wooded heights, which was the Jamaica pass. This area was patrolled by a mere five mounted American militia officers. Loyalist farmers informed British General Clinton of the American weakness, which the British exploited. On the evening of August 26, Clinton led 10,000 British troops on a covert night march through the Jamaica pass. The mission was successful and the British had gained the American rear undiscovered.

On the morning of August 27, British forces under General James Grant and Hessian General Leopold de Heister launched a diversionary frontal attack on Lord Stirling and General Sullivan’s forces on the right and center. British General Cornwallis’s superior force quickly routed Colonel Miles and the Pennsylvanians on the left. However, the Americans were holding their own on the right and center until General Howe sounded the cannon for the trap to close.

Soon American forces were being attacked from both the front and the rear. The lines began to collapse. Some men froze, shot down where they stood. Others scattered and ran, pelted by whining musket balls and chased by howling Hessians and Highlanders. General Sullivan was soon captured. Lord Stirling, down to less than 1,000 men, began a fighting retreat. Maryland Major Mordecai Gist recounts: “Surrounded on all sides by at least 20,000 men… The result was a bloodbath as the Hessians and British Highlanders methodically gave no quarter or mercy.” By noon, the American Revolution, just 52 days old, appeared to be dying on a Brooklyn battlefield.

Maryland 400

George Washington ordered the remaining Americans to retreat but they were trapped. Someone had to stand between the attacking British and the fleeing Americans. Someone had to buy them time. The task fell to Lord Stirling, who ordered half his remaining 1,000 men to retreat but selected 400 to fight a rear-guard action. 

Military history occasionally records those rare moments when a commander knowingly sacrifices a few in order to save the many. While rest of the American army was flying to the rear, Stirling’s brave Maryland men, reinforced by a handful of Delaware Continentals, marched toward enemy fire. Their mission was to thwart the British forward advance on the Gowanus Road and cover the retreat of their comrades. There, Cornwallis and his 2,000 Highlanders occupied a two story farmhouse, known as the “Old Stone House.”

With fixed bayonets and drums beating, the Marylanders advanced on Cornwallis. British muskets felled Stirling’s men by the dozen, yet the American line continued forward. Fierce hand-to-hand fighting erupted around the stone house and its surrounding fields. Unable to dislodge the defenders, Stirling’s survivors withdrew, re-formed their ranks, and prepared to attack again. One officer reported that Stirling “fought like a wolf” and “animated our young soldiers with almost invincible resolution.”

Lord Stirling later reported to Washington that his men attacked the British position “five or six times,” each assault buying precious moments for more men to continue their withdrawal. Fighting to the last handful of men, Stirling refused to surrender his sword to Cornwallis, but grudgingly surrendered to Hessian General de Heister.

By the time the fighting ended, nearly 256 Maryland soldiers had been killed. Fully 100 more were captured, wiping out the vast majority. Fewer than 12 managed to make it back to camp. Little wonder that Washington, watching from Cobble Hill, had famously cried out: “Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose!”

Aftermath

By evening, total American losses were estimated 1,000 dead and wounded and over a 1,000 captured. British losses were under 400 killed and wounded. Yet the American army survived in part because of the brave Maryland 400. Their sacrifice recalls the words of Jesus: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). They chose to face death so that others might live.

For the British, total victory was within reach. Sir Henry Clinton was ready to lead the final assault on the shattered Americans, pinned down with their backs to the East River. Yet General Howe ordered a halt to the attack, perhaps haunted by the memory of Bunker Hill. Facing another entrenched American position, Howe opted instead to lay siege to American defensive positions. Against the desires his subordinates for a quick coup-de-grace, Howe settled in to wait for the inevitable: Washington’s surrender. He reasoned that the results would be the same with less loss of life.

Providence Intervenes

On August 28, Heaven intervened. A nor’easter blew in with torrential rain. The storm’s powerful winds made it impossible for the British ships to sail up the East River to completely trap the Americans. Washington summoned another thousand troops from Manhattan to join him in Brooklyn, which included General Thomas Mifflin and Colonel John Glover, both of whom would play a critical role in what happened next.

Upon arrival, Mifflin rode out to inspect the perimeter of the American encampment, detecting that British siege works had advanced to only 600 yards away. Washington immediately ordered his officers to commandeer every single boat available and to bring them to the Brooklyn landing. John Glover and his Marblehead “web-footed” regiment, fishermen and merchant seamen of the Massachusetts North Shore, were put in charge of the covert operation to evacuate the men across the East River to Manhattan.

On the night of August 29, American regiments were ordered toward the Brookly ferry landing. At 11:00 p.m. the retreat began. With strict silence, the troops boarded the boats. John Glover’s Marblehead men took care to muffle their oars to minimize the noise so as not to alert British sentries. With loaded boats weighed down with men until they were only inches above the water, they slipped away into the darkness. Glover and his intrepid Marblehead men proved to be indispensable.

Yet with dawn fast approaching, Washington’s anxiety grew. The retreat was moving far too slowly. Yet just before sunrise on the morning of August 30, Heaven yet again intervened. An impenetrable fog rolled in from the river, blanketing the remainder of the evacuation. It came at the precise moment needed. Celebrated historian David McCullough writes: “Incredibly, yet again, circumstances — fate, luck, Providence, the hand of God, as would be said so often — intervened.”

Major Benjamin Tallmadge, son of a respected Congregational minister, described this remarkable act of divine Providence: “As the dawn of the next day approached… a very dense fog began to rise, and it seemed to settle in a peculiar manner over both encampments. I recollect this peculiar providential occurrence perfectly well; and so very dense was the atmosphere that I could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance.”

This providential fog settled over both the British and American lines. It was as if God himself had drawn a thick curtain across the water and the land, concealing the Americans and their retreat but also preventing the British from discovering it. Years later, Tallmadge was still struck by God’s intervention on their behalf: “In the history of warfare I do not recollect a more fortunate retreat. After all, the providential appearance of the fog saved a part of our army from being captured, and certainly myself, among others who formed the rear guard.”

George Washington oversaw the evacuation to the very end, refusing to leave until every one of his men had escaped. Finally, at around 7:00 in the morning, Washington stepped onto one of the last boats for the journey across to Manhattan. Incredibly, the remaining 9,000 men were successfully evacuated, not a single life was lost. With this improbable crossing, the Continental Army escaped destruction.

What happened in Brooklyn was nothing short of a miracle. It reinforced a conviction that Washington expressed to fellow Founder John Adams before the campaign even began — that the American cause ultimately depended upon “the protection of a kind Providence.” That conviction would be proven repeatedly in the days ahead, but never more dramatically than with the fog-covered retreat across the East River, where an army — and with it the hopes of a new nation — survived.