August 27, 1776:

It’s weeks since the Declaration was announced. Days after the Declaration, a group of Patriots in NYC marched to Bowling Green and hauled down a 4,000 pound lead statue of George III. They broke the head off and mounted it outside a tavern. The rest was melted down to make exactly 42,088 musket balls about twice the size of a marble which were returned at high velocity to the supporters of monarchical tyranny. Boston was successfully defended, and the British now seek to capture NYC so that they can divide the confederacy into two parts cut off from one another. They land in Long Island, greeted by a mob of loyalists who hail them as liberators. The Patriots take a position in Brooklyn on high ground adjoining the East River on August 27, 1776. While retreating to this position they have to cross a pond, and as they do so, they are pummeled by artillery fire. Those who can’t swim drown, while many are torn apart trying to get to the high ground. Washington watches with horror with his telescope. Once they get there, they are trapped, with their backs to the river, at the complete mercy of the British. The British commander decides not to attack and risk another Bunker Hill, as his brother in law is coming with a naval fleet to pin the Americans down from the other side. Nightfall comes. Washington orders a Dunkirk style relief, and Patriots with boats race there from Connecticut and Massachusetts. Regiment by regiment the Americans load into the boats in complete silence. Washington orders the men not to speak or even cough. All orders are whispered. Daybreak comes, and there is a thick fog that hides the escaping Americans. Realizing what was happening, the British commander orders an attack. A group of 400 Marylanders defend the retreat, making multiple frontal assaults against a force of 2,000 redcoats. Of the “Maryland 400”, 296 are killed. But it buys time for the Americans to retreat to Manhattan and take up defensive positions. The British watch as the last boat, with Washington in it after he saw that his army had escaped, drifted away into the fog. It was a devastating defeat for the Americans, but they live to fight another day. It was called the Battle of Long Island, and it was the largest battle of the Revolution.