27 August in military history: Battle of Long Island, 1776

Quick answer

On 27 August 1776 General Sir William Howe's British and Hessian army defeated the Americans on Long Island, in what is now Brooklyn. During the night a column of about 10,000 men, with Howe marching in it, went round the American left through the Jamaica Pass, and in the morning it fell on the Americans from behind. On the American right, Lord Stirling led half of a Maryland battalion against Lord Cornwallis's troops at a house near the Upper Mills while the rest of his men escaped across Gowanus Creek, renewing the attack, he wrote, "five or six several times". Two nights later George Washington took his army across the East River to Manhattan.

The Battle of Long Island, 1776: Washington's narrow escape

27 August 1776 · 250 years ago

The Battle of Long Island, fought on 27 August 1776 near Brooklyn, was the largest battle of the American Revolution and a clear British victory. General William Howe outflanked Washington's army through a lightly guarded pass and drove it back to its defenses.

Read the full story of The Battle of Long Island, 1776: Washington's narrow escape ›

Battle of Lutter, 1626: Tilly breaks the King of Denmark

27 August 1626 · 400 years ago

At Lutter, south of Salzgitter, King Christian IV of Denmark led a Danish and German army against Count Tilly's Catholic League troops in the Thirty Years' War. The Danes were routed with heavy losses, ending Christian's hopes of winning more German land.

Read the full story of Battle of Lutter, 1626: Tilly breaks the King of Denmark ›

Also on this day

1813: On the second day of the Battle of Dresden, Napoleon's army attacked the allied army that had come down from Bohemia, and the allies then resolved to fall back towards Bohemia. That army brought together Austrian, Russian and Prussian troops under the chief command of Prince Schwarzenberg. The historian F. Loraine Petre calls it one of Napoleon's most remarkable, though almost his last, great victories. The same day a cannon shot struck General Moreau, the Frenchman who had joined the allies, close to Tsar Alexander, and both his legs had to be amputated, write Viscount Cathcart, the British ambassador, and Petre.¹

Frequently asked questions

Who won the Battle of Long Island?

The British and Hessian army of General Sir William Howe. It defeated the Americans on 27 August 1776, but two nights later Washington took his army across the East River to Manhattan.

Is the Battle of Long Island the same as the Battle of Brooklyn?

Yes. It was fought in what is now Brooklyn, and the National Park Service and the American Battlefield Trust also call it the Battle of Brooklyn.

Who were the Maryland 400?

The men who stayed with Lord Stirling and attacked Cornwallis's troops at a house near the Upper Mills while the rest escaped across Gowanus Creek. Stirling wrote that he took about half of Smallwood's Maryland regiment; the National Park Service puts them at about 400 Marylanders and Delawareans. How many died is disputed: the NPS gives 256 dead, while Henry P. Johnston argues that the proportion killed was small.

How did the British get behind the American lines?

A column of about 10,000 men marched by night through the Jamaica Pass, where the British captured an American patrol of officers and found the pass unoccupied. In the morning it reached Bedford, in the rear of the American left.

How did Washington escape from Long Island?

After a council of war on 29 August, the troops left the lines that night and were ferried to Manhattan while Washington supervised at the ferry. A dense fog rose at dawn and covered the last regiments.

Sources

Viscount Cathcart, dispatch dated Toplitz, 1 September 1813, The London Gazette, no. 16778, 23 September 1813, pp. 1883 and 1885-1886

F. Loraine Petre, “Napoleon’s Last Campaign in Germany, 1813”, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1912, pp. 191-193, 197, 217, 223 and 227, via Internet Archive

Sir Charles Stewart, dispatch from Zehista dated 27 August 1813, The London Gazette Extraordinary, no. 16777, 21 September 1813, p. 1879 (a memorandum in no. 16778, p. 1886, corrects the date to 26 August)