Phase 5: Retreat from Brooklyn
The Revolutionary War in New York in 1776
Battle at Old Stone House
* * * * *
In their ragged regimentals
Stood the old continentals,
Yielding not,
When the grenadiers were lunging,
And like hail fell the plunging
Cannon-shot;
When the files
Of the isles
From the smoky night encampment, bore the banner of the rampant
Unicorn,
And grummer, grummer, grummer rolled the roll of the drummer,
Through the morn!
Then with eyes to the front all,
And with guns horizontal,
Stood our sires;
...first stanza of The Old Continentals by Guy Humphrey McMaster, 1848.
* * * * *
Phase 5 visits the final battles in Brooklyn and the American army's retreat to Manhattan.
About the 1776 cache series:This series of caches take you through the political intrigues and armed battles in the city of New York during the Revolutionary War in 1776. Each cache Phase consists of a tour of the local area’s Revolutionary sites. You will gather clues that will provide the coordinates for the cache container for that Phase. Containers will vary from ammo cans, plastic containers and magnetic micros limited by the locale – woods, parks and urban street. The larger containers will have memorabilia such as replicas of revolutionary coins, paper money, musket balls, Declaration of Independence on parchment, etc. as well as more traditional cache treasure. Please take one memento only and leave the rest for other cachers. Leave something if you take something but don't stuff the smaller containers.
Click on the bookmark on the upper right side for a list of all 1776 cache phases. Each stands on it’s own. You do not have to follow any particular order although doing so gives a better prospective of the action. Cachers logging finds in all 8 phases will have their names added to the Cacher's Honor Roll in the Phase 8 cache web page. Campaign maps in the photo section provide orientation for each Phase and for the whole City. However, these are not needed to do the cache.
The caches follow much of this companion tour guide and book. For those traveling on foot, it provides public transportation methods for getting around. However, they are not required to find the cache.THE BATTLE FOR NEW YORK: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution by Barnet Schecter.
Start your Phase 5 tour at Minerva on Battle Hill in Greenwood Cemetery. Phase 5 campaign route is about a 5 mile drive from Greenwood to Fulton Ferry where Washington made his miraculous escape to Manhattan across the East River.
A. Minerva on Battle Hill N40 39.432 W73 59.362
Enter Greenwood Cemetery at N40 39.407 W73 59.848. Gate hours are 8am-5pm every day; 7am to 7pm Memorial Day to Labor Day. If you stop and look up at the top of the ornate entrance gate and listen, you might notice a noisy family of feral Monk parrots, tropical birds who have learned to deal with the cold of the north. Drive on to Minerva and walk easily up the hill just northeast of a large Civil War memorial. Note the elevated ground you are standing on that once the Americans were defending. It is the highest point in Brooklyn at 202 feet. You stand on the battleground where 2000 Americans under Stirling struggled against 6000 British and made their best fight of the day but were eventually forced to retreat as well. See the bronze seven foot statue of Minerva the Roman goddess who was born full grown in armor from Zeus’s head. Here with one hand she lays a wreath on an altar while she looks across the harbor and salutes the Statue of Liberty with a wave of her other hand. Through the trees, across the Brooklyn docks and waterfront, you can see Miss Liberty perfectly aligned at 308 degrees true with Minerva’s gaze.
Minerva on Battle Hill quiz- What is the title of the plaque on the northwest side of the base at the bottom? (be careful-there are plaques on all sides)
1. Stirling's Vow
2. Altar to Liberty
3. Declaration of Independence
ENTER A answer (1, 2 or 3) = ________
The American troops under Stirling retreated northward from Battle Hill in Greenwood to the Vechte House known today as the Old Stone House. On the same day August 27, 1776 Americans at Battle Pass in Prospect Park (Phase 4) also fled north down the Porte Road (today’s First Street) towards Gowanus Creek (now called Gowanus Canal).
B. The Battle of Old Stone House N40 40.371 W73 59.073
During the Battle of Brooklyn General Cornwallis and 2000 British and Hessian troops occupied the house and turned it into an artillery position. From the house, they fired on the Americans, who had suffered tremendous loses at Greenwood's Battle Hill and were fleeing for their lives to American forts across the Gowanus Creek. Against this stronghold, 400 of the Maryland Brigade threw themselves in six attacks, regained the house twice but ultimately were repulsed. Nevertheless, it was their valor, witnessed by George Washington and his troops, that hardened the resolve of the American Army. That day nearly three-quarters of the brave Marylanders made the ultimate sacrifice whose valor is honored with the Maryland Monument in Prospect Park visited in Phase 4. The picture shown above is of the miniature model of the battle displayed in the Old Stone House. It is here you can buy many of the revolutionary replicas like the swag I used in the caches.
The Battle of Old Stone House quiz–What is the first name of the general mentioned on the map sign posted on the fence to the left of the entrance gate?
1. George
2. James
3. William
ENTER B answer (1, 2 or 3) = ________
C. Washington Plaque N40 41.374 W73 59.540
Your path here took you over the Gowanus Creek the same route on which the Americans retreated. It is here at an 18th century fort, now a Trader Joe's which looks like a Renaissance palace, that Washington looked south to the Old Stone House and Gowanus Creek and lamented the brave men he was about to lose. He could see that far in part because the fort was built on a conical hill, which has since been leveled.
Washington Plaque quiz- What is the erection date of the building as indicated to the bottom right of the plaque?
1. 1923
2. 1927
3. 1931
ENTER C answer (1, 2 or 3) = ________
D. Brooklyn Heights Promenade N40 41.746 W73 59.872
You are at the end of Montague Street where a bronze plaque marks the approximate site of a house where Washington and his generals agreed to a full retreat. The tablet is on a boulder inside a low gate that surrounds a long flower garden. At the far end is a flagpole flying the American flag. Walk out onto the Promenade for a panoramic view of Manhattan and the East River that Washington and his army were soon to flee across.
Brooklyn Heights Promenade quiz- How many chimneys are mentioned on the plaque?
1. Three
2. Four
3. Five
ENTER D answer (1, 2 or 3) = ________
E. Retreat from Brooklyn N40 42.196 W73 59.701
It is here at the Fulton Ferry Landing that Washington and his troops secretly embarked in the dead of night on August 29, 1776, and escaped the British trap. It was too late for successful pursuit, for when British battalion after battalion was called to arms, and a troop of horsemen sped toward the East River, the last American boat was beyond pistol shot; and as the fog rolled away and the morning sunlight burst upon the scene, the Union flag was waving over the motley host of Continentals and militia marching on the other side. British General Howe was greatly mortified by the event, for he felt certain that his prey could not escape his meshes.
Retreat from Brooklyn quiz- Who assisted Washington as indicated on the tablet mounted on the boulder?
1. Knox.
2. Glover.
3. Stirling.
ENTER E answer (1, 2 or 3) = ________
Cache Container Coordinates:
Enter the number for each of your five answers and add them up:
A______ + B _______ + C _______ + D_______ + E_______
= Total ________
The coordinates for the cache are determined by your total. Not all possible totals are listed. There is only one correct coordinate. Park in a legal spot to avoid possible towing.
If your total is 8, the cache coordinates are: N40 42.274 W73 59.200
If your total is 9, the cache coordinates are N40 42.284 W73 59.248
If your total is 10, the cache coordinates are: N40 42.237 W73 59.444
If your total is 11, the cache coordinates are: N40 42.221 W73 59.388
If your total is 12, the cache coordinates are: N40 42.264 W73 59.311
Congratulations on finding the cache for Phase 5. Step over to the water. Now isn't that a fantastic view?
On the evacuation of Long Island, the British took possession of the American forts and other works, and, leaving some English and Hessian troops to garrison them, General Howe posted the remainder of his army at Bushwick, Newtown, Hell Gate, and Flushing and made his head-quarters at a house in Newtown. His brother Admiral Howe sailed up the bay with his fleet and anchored near Governor’s Island, within cannon-shot of the city. During the night after the battle, a forty-gun ship had passed the batteries and anchored in Turtle Bay. Other vessels went around Long Island, and passed into the East River from the Sound, and on the third of September the whole British land force was upon Long Island, except four thousand men left upon Staten Island to awe the patriots of New Jersey.
A blow was evidently in preparation for the republican army in the city whose fate will be examined in the following Phases.