Battle of Long Island 1776
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 27 August 1776 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1776 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | United States | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Revolutionary War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of Great Britain, United Kingdom, United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 40.6650, -73.9810 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at and near the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn. The British defeated the Continental Army and gained access to the strategically important Port of New York, which they held for the rest of the war. It was the first major battle to take place after the United States declared its independence on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia. It was the largest battle of the Revolutionary War in terms of both troop deployment and combat.
After defeating the British in the siege of Boston on March 17, Continental Army commander-in-chief George Washington relocated his army to defend the port city of New York, located at the southern end of Manhattan Island. Washington understood the city's harbor would provide an excellent base for the Royal Navy, so he established defenses there and waited for the British to attack. In July, the British, under the command of General William Howe, landed a few miles across the harbor on the sparsely populated Staten Island, where they were reinforced by a fleet of ships in Lower New York Bay over the next month and a half, bringing their total force to 32,000 troops.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Long Island (revision 1380284495), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the American Revolutionary War
- Battles of Lexington and Concord 1775
- Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 1775
- Siege of Boston 1775
- Siege of Fort St. Jean 1775
- Siege of Savage's Old Fields 1775
- Ambush of Geary 1776
- Battle of Block Island 1776
- Battle of Fort Washington 1776
- Battle of Harlem Heights 1776
- Battle of Iron Works Hill 1776
All 190 battles of the American Revolutionary War →
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