And we still won anyway: How and why America always wins

This is a chapter of a book I wrote a few years ago. During our 250th anniversary celebration I will post more of these uplifting stories.

One of the first large scale battles of our revolution was fought on grounds that would eventually become part of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, now a part of New York City. It happened on August 27 - 28th 1776. Here is how it unfolded and why we should have lost; but won anyway.

When General George Washington’s troops were fighting the best army in the world, there was no way we could have won out over the United Kingdom. They had everything going for them, but we hung on, never quit, escaped certain defeat again and again and in the end won anyway.

Our war for freedom would be a long hard struggle with lots of pain, suffering and death. Fighting the British was serious business. We would see great heights of heroism and sharp depths of betrayal before the hand of God brought us to victory.

After that spring day in April 1775, the world was forced to recognize that we Americans were different than any other people on earth. We were exceptional and were willing to prove our exceptionalism whenever we had to because we intended to win not just make a statement.

Under the leadership of George Washington, we used a siege to force the British to leave Boston. Thereafter, Washington turned his attention to winning control of New York City because of its obvious value for holding the colonies together. He was, however, not the only one to recognize the strategic value of New York. Britain's General William Howe had his eyes on the city as well. He understood the importance of splitting the colonies into two manageable segments and saw an opportunity to capture George Washington at the same time.

Adding the Washington’s problems was the fact that from the very beginning of the rebellion, New York was a Loyalist town. Most prominently among the Loyalist strongholds was Staten Island, a forty-square mile piece of land separated from Brooklyn by little more than twelve miles of ocean. Over the spring and early summer of 1776, the British Army took up residence on Staten Island practically under George Washington’s nose They trained and prepared for what was to be the largest amphibious assault ever attempted by any army to that date.

By the third week of August, after he was informed of their presence by a Loyalist spy, Howe was ready to make his move and capture Washington and his troops in Brooklyn. The movement was a spectacular example of the power and efficiency of the British Army. They loaded supplies, horses and battle hardened British and German troops on a huge flotilla of British Navy ships.

On August 22, 1776, just weeks after the Colonists signed and promulgated the Declaration of Independence, Howe safely landed more than 10,000 troops on the beach of the Gravesend section of Brooklyn. Once he got settled, he turned west toward Washington’s camp. The skillful British General, took his time setting up the battle. He could taste the sweet fruit of victory and the fame of being the hero who crushed the American Revolution. There was no reason for him to believe otherwise.

He had nearly twice the strength of Washington’s force, which consisted of a small number of professional soldiers supported by part time militiamen. From any view of the comparative size and experience of the opposing sides, the British were poised to crush Washington and end our Revolution. Aside from the enormous size of the British Army and their skill and experience, the invaders were led by the best commanders King George III had with orders to achieve a total victory.

By August 28 th Howe had caught up to Washington in modern day Prospect Park. That first clash resulted to a twenty percent casualty rate for our side that saw 400 Patriots from Delaware and Maryland killed. At first glance, their sacrifice looked like a meaningless defeat that would do little to stop what Washington knew was coming.

Nevertheless, those brave men did not give their lives in vain. The battle that took their lives bought precious time for us; yet it appeared even that sacrifice would go for naught.

Washington backed his troops up to the East River which separates Brooklyn from Manhattan. There was nowhere left to go. Then, as if things were not looking dire enough for us, a Loyalist volunteered to lead Howe’s troops through a short cut path unknown to the British. It brought them to a commanding position on Washington’s left flank.

As was the way of war in 1776, General Howe began to prepare for a siege that would starve Washington and his men into submission and end our revolution without further unnecessary loss of life for both sides. Only a miracle could save us.

When he found himself trapped between thousands of General Howe’s veteran troops and the East River, Washington called on his friend Colonel John Glover, a man he knew to be skilled and knowledgeable in seafaring. He asked Glover to help him evacuate his 7,000 troops to safety in Manhattan. The Hand of God Himself changed the dynamics of the coming battle when Glover, a strong Patriot, developed a plan to save Washington and his men.

His plan was to gather up every boat and barge within fifty miles and get them to Washington’s camp. As night fell, Glover had his men, known as the Marblehead Militia, row Washington’s troops across to Manhattan. These were big strong men who were very familiar with the section of the East River that flowed into New York Harbor between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

As they loaded, went to Manhattan, came back, reloaded, and returned to Manhattan some rowers made the trip as many as ten times. While the evacuation was under way a small number of troops were assigned to remain in camp and make noise. This was to fool the British into believing Washington was spending his last night as Commander of the Revolutionary forces preparing to surrender in the morning.

The operation went on all night, but Glover was unable to move all of Washington’s troops. With sunlight streaming down, there were still about 1000 troops that had to be moved to safety. Up to that point, Glover’s success was due to a providential strong wind that stopped the British Navy from sailing up from New York Harbor.

Although the moon was full, the British war ships could not maintain their position and were blown too far away to be of any assistance to Howe. They could not even see the escape taking place, as men, supplies, and horses with burlap wrapped on their hooves, silently made their way to safety in the armada Glover had put together.

Had they been free to sail north the British would have been able to spot what was going on, blast Washington out of the water and bombard him at daybreak. Now, as the sun came up, there was still that problem of moving 1,000 more men to safety to be solved.

Finally, with daylight almost upon them there was still no help for the 1000 Patriots trapped on the Brooklyn side. Sunrise threatened to expose the operation. They were losing their cover. We could not afford to lose any troops let alone about fifteen percent of our fighting force. With nothing else left to do, Washington prayed for Devine help. As he had before and would do many times afterward, he got on his knees and begged The Almighty for help.

Once again God reached down and helped us. He intervened and sent us a fog so thick it cut visibility to five feet. That was just enough to navigate the way back to Manhattan, but not nearly enough for the British Navy to see what was going on. They never fired at the fleeing troops because they never realized what was happening a half mile upriver.

True to his nature and understanding of the responsibilities of command, it is said that General Washington was on one of the last barges making the trip across to Manhattan. He and his remaining troops were saved. They made it to the relative safety of Manhattan without the loss of a single barge load of men or supplies.

In the end only four men were lost when a scouting party sent by Howe discovered what was happening and fired on the last rowboat to leave the Brooklyn shore.

America should have been lost that night less than two months after declaring our independence. The whole impossible dream should have ended in a humiliating surrender. That did not happen. As would become the case over and over, when we should have lost, won anyway as we always would.

Message from Jim Robinson:

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So in reading this it appears in fact we lost the Battle of Brooklyn but were able to escape under cover of darkness to fight another day. Thus declaring it a victory.

Coach, in the game, sometimes our team plays offense, sometimes defense, sometime special teams.

On offense, if we gain more than 11 yards that is good. It is difficult to score a touchdown on every single play. Sometimes a play (unfortunately) results in negative yardage. That is not the end of the game. That is just one play. The goal is to learn from every play of history to never repeat the same error in the future.

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