Transcriber's Note: In quoted passages and in the documents inPartII of this e-book, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, hyphenation,and abbreviations have been retained as they appear in the original.In the remainder of the text, obvious printer errors have beencorrected, but archaic spellings (e.g., "reconnoissance" for"reconnaissance," "aid" for "aide") have been retained.
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THE
CAMPAIGN OF 1776
AROUND
NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.
INCLUDING A NEW AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF
THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND AND THE
LOSS OF NEW YORK,
WITH A
REVIEW OF EVENTS TO THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR,
CONTAINING MAPS, PORTRAITS, AND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
BY
HENRY P. JOHNSTON.
BROOKLYN, N.Y.:
PUBLISHED BY THE LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
1878.
Copyright, 1878,
By HENRY P. JOHNSTON,
For the Society.
S.W. GREEN,
PRINTER AND ELECTROTYPER,
16 and 18 Jacob Street,
New York.
[Enlarge]
NEW YORK and BROOKLYN WITH THEIR ENVIRONS IN 1776.
Compiled by H.P. JOHNSTON.
Steel Engr. F. von Egloffstein, N.Y.
PREFACE.
The site now occupied by the two cities of New York and Brooklyn, andover which they continue to spread, is pre-eminently "Revolutionarysoil." Very few of our historic places are more closely associatedwith the actual scenes of that struggle. As at Boston in 1775, so herein 1776, we had the war at our doors and all about us. In what is nowthe heart of Brooklyn Revolutionary soldiers lay encamped for months,and in the heat of a trying summer surrounded themselves with lines ofworks. What have since been converted into spots of rarebeauty—Greenwood Cemetery and Prospect Park—became, with the groundin their vicinity, a battle-field. New York, which was then taking itsplace as the most flourishing city on the continent, was transformedby the emergency into a fortified military base. Troops quartered inBroad Street and along the North and East rivers, and on the line ofGrand Street permanent camps were established. Forts, redoubts,batteries, and intrenchments encircled the town. The streets werebarricaded, the roads blocked, and efforts made to obstruct thenavigation of both rivers. Where we have stores[Pg iv] and warehouses,Washington fixed alarm and pick