Battle Pass: Where Long Island Was Lost
New York
This narrow gap in the ridge separating Flatbush from Brooklyn and Gowanus was the hinge point of the Battle of Long Island on August twenty-seventh, seventeen seventy-six, the largest battle of the American Revolution.
American forces barricaded the pass and posted men to hold it. But British General William Howe sent ten thousand troops on an overnight march around the American left flank, catching the defenders by surprise from the rear. Soldiers trapped at this pass found themselves caught between British forces in front and behind. About three hundred Americans were killed and more than a thousand captured.
The rout might have ended the revolution entirely, but George Washington managed to evacuate the remnant of his army across the East River to Manhattan under cover of fog and darkness on the night of August twenty-ninth. The escape bought the Continental Army time to fight another day. Prospect Park now occupies the ground where this desperate stand was made.
