Relive the Revolutionary War!
Nowadays, spying is considered dangerous, but it’s acknowledged worldwide as being not only necessary, but legitimate. Captured spies are sometimes killed, but they also might merely be jailed, or even exchanged.
Not so at the time of the American Revolution. In European (and, therefore, American) society, spies were used, but spying was considered dishonorable by many, and captured spies were generally hanged.
Around midday on Sunday, September 15, 1776, British and Hessian troops invaded Manhattan Island and sent the American troops running helter-skelter for safety.
First, several British ships anchored close to the island and fiercely bombarded the American fortifications along the shore of Kips Bay. Soon the American troops abandoned their trenches and made a panic-stricken, disorganized retreat — a rout, to use the military phrase. Then the British and Hessians, who had come over in boats from Long Island, landed without opposition and started marching across the island to cut off the retreating Americans.
Continue reading “Kips Bay and the Disastrous Retreat from New York”The British army had Long Island completely in their hands by the end of August. Their next step was to take York Island (that is, Manhattan), where most of the American forces were.
At the northwestern end of Long Island was the channel known as Hell Gate, due to its dangerous currents, eddies, and rocks. Across the channel, on what was known as Horn’s Hook, the rebels had built a fort, with artillery to guard the passage. On September 8, 1776, the British opened up two batteries — artillery emplacements, that is — and started firing at the fort, which answered in kind.
Continue reading “Softening up the Rebel Defenses”
The Battle of Long Island left the American army in extreme danger. They were crowded into their fortifications at Brooklyn; in front of them was the British and Hessian army, and behind them was the East River. The British and Hessians outnumbered them, and they were steadily digging trenches toward the American lines: once they got close enough, they would attack, and they would almost certainly win. To make things worse, many of the men were exhausted, and it was raining steadily.
Continue reading “A Miraculous Retreat from Long Island”
Ever since the combined British and Hessian armies had arrived in New York harbor, the Americans had been watching, waiting, and wondering: when and where would the enemy attack? Those questions were finally answered on Long Island on August 27, 1776. Hundreds of Americans were captured, killed, or wounded; the rest were forced to retreat for their lives, and it looked as though the enemy might finish them off any day. Only a miracle could save them.
Continue reading “Americans Defeated at the Battle of Long Island”
One step closer to battle: the British and Hessian troops moved from Staten Island to Long Island, in preparation for a major attack on the rebels stationed there. As at Staten Island earlier in the month, the Americans didn’t try to stop them from landing — and even if they had, the landing operations were covered by several British warships, including the Carcass and Thunder, which were bomb ketches (vessels made specifically for bombarding targets on shore). As they pulled back from the shore to their main positions a few miles away, however, the Americans did burn some grain, so as to keep it from falling into enemy hands.
Continue reading “Invasion of Long Island”
