The Battle of Brooklyn at 250

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, the largest battle of the Revolutionary War was fought right here in Brooklyn. Just six weeks after the colonists had declared independence in Philadelphia, British troops moved to crush our young republic before it really got started.

George Washington was looking to hold New York City with 10,000 inexperienced troops, short on gunpowder, and spread across multiple defensive lines across Long Island. British Generals Clinton and Cornwallis landed over 20,000 well-trained British and Hessian troops on Staten Island, and then slipped through a poorly-defended Jamaica Pass overnight.

The result was a rout: the Continental Army’s lines collapsed, and over 1,000 men were lost. But thanks to the sacrifice of brave soldiers, especially hundreds from the Connecticut and Maryland Regiments (led by William Alexander, aka Lord Stirling, for whom M.S. 51 is named), Washington and his troops were able to retreat across the east river, up through Manhattan, and then eventually across to New Jersey. Although they lost New York City (which was under British rule for most of the Revolutionary War), the Continental Army survived to fight another day, and eventually win the war seven long years later.

The battle was re-enacted in Prospect Park on Saturday, followed by a ceremony honoring the Maryland 400 at the Old Stone House (where the story of the battle is on permanent display). On Sunday, we observed the anniversary on Battle Hill inside Greenwood Ceremony.

If you missed the celebrations, don’t worry! There’s an exhibit at the Center for Brooklyn History through the end of the year. And Greenwood Cemetery now has a wonderful new visitor center called The Green-House at 25th Street and 5th Avenue, which is well worth visiting.

There’s also an important pop-up exhibit through November at the Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park, on“Black People and the Battle of Brooklyn. Black New Yorkers served as soldiers on both sides, built American forts, and maintained British ships. Some fought at Battle Pass itself, which is now inside Prospect Park.

Many of the Black soldiers who fought on the British side during the war were enslaved Africans, largely recruited from Southern states, although slavery was still legal here at the time, who were promised their freedom. When the war ended, in the Treaty of Paris negotiations, Americans wanted the formerly enslaved people who’d worked for the British returned to their enslavers; the British refused and instead evacuated roughly 3,000 Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia rather than hand them back. Some had been Brooklynites.

The Lefferts House itself, originally located in central Brooklyn, was part of both battles for freedom, for the young American republic, and against slavery. The Lefferts family enslaved people on a 300-acre plantation covering much of what’s now central Brooklyn. In 1776 British troops burned their farmhouse, and it was rebuilt afterward by the very people the family enslaved. Descendants of the enslaved Lefferts household later helped found Weeksville, one of the first free Black communities in the country. And a Lefferts heir who later became a U.S. congressman voted against ending slavery dozens of times. So the same house carries both the founding-liberty story and its direct contradiction, under one roof, in our beloved park.

Two hundred and fifty years later, it’s worth reflecting on what we can learn from the sacrifice of the Maryland 400 and the Connecticut Regiment, from Washington’s resilient leadership, and from the slaves contesting what independence would actually mean, and whose freedom must be fought for.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, too much of the official commemoration of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding has been marred by Trump’s zero-sum approach to our history. In addition to emphasizing cage matches on the White House lawn – emphasizing violence, rather than the ideas worth fighting for – he has worked hard to demonize and exclude stories like those being told at Lefferts House.

But on Sunday, in the commemoration on Battle Hill in Greenwood Cemetery, new Brooklyn Borough Historian Asad Dandia invited us to view America 250 as a conversation – one that always involved dispute and disagreement, where questions of freedom and equality were always debated – and to make sure we continue that conversation. If you’re looking for some thoughtful approaches as part of your commemoration, I recommend the conversation that Brian Stevenson had with Ezra Klein earlier this summer. Or, as always, Jill Lepore’s brilliant book, These Truths.

For me, the Battle of Brooklyn commemoration also always marks the end of summer – so it has me reflecting on the remarkable summer we’ve had in New York City, beginning with the Knicks victory, and moving through the World Cup games. I believe that “these truths” we celebrated on July 4th – political equality, natural rights, democratic self-governance – and the virtues that we honor today – resilience, grit, diversity – are alive and well in New York City.

We’ll keep fighting against would-be kings and authoritarians. We’ll keep insisting on building a nation that brings people together to fight for freedom, regardless of where they come from – a creedal, immigrant nation, rather than a blood-and-soil one. We’ll keep pushing to live up to our values, and looking with clear eyes at the ways we fall short.

And we’ll keep honoring the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in that pursuit.

I’m excited to bring that spirit to Congress, to fight alongside colleagues for those beautiful ideals of Philadelphia, with the resilience of the Maryland 400 (most of whom died in Brooklyn and whose graves were never recovered), with the insistence of enslaved Africans whose descendants continue to be such a central part of this city, and in the spirit of the diverse, immigrant city we’ve been lucky to celebrate this summer.

Happy Battle of Brooklyn @ 250 Day.