The English were already familiar with Brooklyn, having taken it from the Dutch in 1664 when it was a part of the colony of New Netherland and the city of New Amsterdam. Alexander Graydon, a 24-year-old captain who found himself in charge of an ad hoc regiment sent to defend Brooklyn, across the river from Manhattan, reported he was able to recruit only 40 privates and 21 Indians in a tedious process marked by “endless care, fatigue and endless pain.” For the most part those recruited lacked discipline and equipment. John Adams, the Massachusetts-born member of the Continental Congress who had nominated Washing ton to command the Continental Army, called the city “a kind of key to the whole continent.” Washington himself wrote of the forthcoming campaign, “It is a matter of the utmost importance to prevent the enemy from taking possession of the City of New York and the North River, as they will thereby command the country and the communication with Canada.” In early July, when the British attack seemed imminent, Washington rallied the soldiers in his general orders: “The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army….We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.”īut the army destined to face the British in New York comprised largely raw, untrained and untested troops. The Americans were equally aware of New York’s strategic importance. Once he’d secured New York, Howe intended to move additional troops south from Canada to “pacify” restive New England. Capturing it would ensure British control of the harbor and the Hudson and East rivers, and it would geographically split the rebellious colonies. Howe and his senior commanders believed they would face a weak and disorganized army in the city, where they had more Loyalist support than they’d had in Boston. With the heights virtually unassailable and his own artillery outranged and unable to hit the American guns, Howe made his decision: He would evacuate his troops from Boston, regroup and resupply them in the safe harbor of British-held Halifax, Nova Scotia, then hit the rebels where they appeared their weakest-in the city of New York.įrom the British point of view, taking New York made per fect sense. Their position on the heights enabled Washington to command both the city of Boston and its harbor. The Americans had captured the guns the previous spring from the British at Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York and hauled them to Massachusetts by boat and drawn sledge. On the night of March 4 Washington directed the emplacement of artillery and several thousand troops atop Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston. His men were on short rations, and privation gripped the populace. The only access to the city for supplies and reinforcements was by sea, and rebel warships and privateers prowling the approaches to Boston made life difficult for Howe’s resupply vessels. His forces had been trapped in Boston for nearly a year, besieged first by American militiamen and then by General George Washington’s nascent Continental Army. In the spring of 1776 Lieutenant General William Howe, commander in chief of the British army in North America, faced a difficult decision. Washington nearly lost the war in Brooklyn, but thanks to a clever evacuation behind a veil of fog, he ultimately bested the British.