Brooklyn Wonders, Part 4: Fulton Landing

In Brooklyn an event from the Revolutionary War has taken on different meaning, or, in Brooklyn the perspective is different.

What gets usually treated as a footnote, most likely due to the overwhelming defeat of Washington, and goes by the title of the "Battle of Long Island", but is remembered more fondly in Brooklyn as the "Battle of Brooklyn", mainly due to the area under question is entirely enclosed within the County of Kings borders.

This "battle" took place in August of 1776, around the time things were starting to heat up. The British had around 20,000 troops marching through the forest and mountains of Brooklyn (if they saw it today...sheesh), trying to either 1) capture Washington's Continental Army of only 9,000 and force them to surrender, and hopefully work a way out of this minor rebellion with money and diplomacy; or, if that didn't work, 2) obliterate them, and definitely force an end to this damn rebellion.

Somehow Washington was able to keep up a faster pace (less men?) and stayed ahead of the British. When it seemed like the next day was gearing up for an imminent battle, with the mustering British just beyond the closest ridge, Washington decided to risk it, and contacted as many of the private fishermen he could he find. They turned out to be sympathetic to his aims, and ferried all 9,000 troops across the East River to the eastern shore of Manhattan to regroup and fight some other day. The maneuver took the entire night, and when the sun rose the next morning, Washington and the Continental Army had given up their holdings in Brooklyn, but were poised not to surrender.

The British had to work on a new strategy. The Revolutionary War almost ended before it had a chance to really start. Fulton Landing is the spot where the CA troops slipped across the river through the dark and fog that August night. Here's a view from the point nowadays.

If you turn around from that spot you can see, still standing if somewhat dilapidated, the old Fulton Landing Building, but I'm not sure what went on there...possibly a market for the fisherman, possibly a ferrying point to points west...I could probably look it up. Here it is.

So much history in this place...

A gentleman in we met in Rotterdam (he was naturally Dutch) gave us his perspective one evening: "Europe is old, but not really old. India and China are really old. The States are new, but not that new, compared with Australia, and even the countries like Italy and Germany. Granted, those places have long and storied histories, but the countries are rather new. Europe on the whole is like the younger old thing, while the States is the oldest new thing."