Notes

The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, fought on August 27, 1776, was a defeat for the Continental Army under General George Washington and the beginning of a successful campaign that gave the British control of the strategically important city of New York. In the American Revolutionary War it was the first major battle to take place after the United States declared independence on July 4, 1776. In terms of troop size, it was the largest battle of the entire war.

On August 22, the British landed on the shores of Gravesend Bay in southwest Kings County, across The Narrows from Staten Island, more than a dozen miles south from the East River crossings to Manhattan. After five days of waiting, the British attacked American defenses on the Guan Heights. The British dug in for a siege but, on the night of August 29–30, Washington began evacuating the entire army to Manhattan. Artillery, supplies, and troops were all being evacuated across the river but it was not going as fast as Washington had anticipated and daybreak soon came. A fog had settled in and concealed the evacuation from the British. British patrols noticed that there did not seem to be any American pickets and thus began to search the area. While they were doing this Washington, the last man left, stepped onto the last boat. At 07:00, the last American troops landed in Manhattan. All 9,000 troops had been evacuated without a single life lost.