American Minute with Bill Federer
Battle of Brooklyn Heights & Providential Fog that allowed Washington's Army to Escape!
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King George III's British army
was forced to
evacuate Boston.
They headed to
New York.
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General George Washington
responded by moving American troops to
Long Island,
New York
and
fortifying Brooklyn Heights.
Enthusiasm was high as
Washington's ranks swelled
to nearly 20,000.
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Before long,
hundreds of British ships filled New York's harbor,
carrying 32,000 troops.
It was
one of the largest invasion forces
in history to that date.
The thousands of
wooden masts of the British ships
were described as looking like a
forest of trees.
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Washington
wrote to his younger brother John Augustine Washington, May 31, 1776:
"We expect
a very bloody Summer of it at New York
... We are not either in Men, or Arms, prepared for it ...
If our cause is
just,
as I do most
religiously believe it to be,
the same
Providence
which has in many instances appear'd for us, will still go on to afford its aid."
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In
Congress,
May 1776,
General William Livingston
made a resolution which passed without dissent:
"We earnestly recommend that Friday, the 17th day of May be observed by the colonies as a
day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer,
that we may with united hearts
confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions
... and by a sincere
repentance
... appease God's righteous displeasure,
and through the
merits and mediation of Jesus Christ
obtain His pardon and forgiveness."
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In New York,
General Washington
ordered his troops, May 15, 1776:
"The
Continental Congress
having ordered Friday the 17th ... to be observed as a
Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer,
humbly to supplicate the mercy of
Almighty God,
that it would please Him to
pardon all our manifold sins
and transgressions, and to
prosper the arms of the United Colonies,
and finally establish the peace and freedom of America upon a solid and lasting foundation;
The General commands
all officers and soldiers to pay strict obedience to the orders of the Continental Congress;
that, by their unfeigned and
pious observance of their religious duties,
they may incline the
Lord and Giver of victory to prosper our arms."
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On July 9, 1776, messengers from Philadelphia arrived in
New York
and delivered to
General Washington
a copy of the
Declaration of Independence.
Washington
had it
read out loud
to his troops.
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The
Declaration
mentioned God four times:
"Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God ..."
"All Men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights ..."
"Appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the World
for the Rectitude of our Intentions ..."
"With a firm Reliance on the Protection of
divine Providence."
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Citizens of New York
pulled down the gilded statue of the "tyrant" King George and melted it into musket balls.
King's College suspended all classes and later changed its name to
Columbia College.
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Anxious preparations were being made for the
Battle of Brooklyn Heights (Long Island).
It was the first major battle after America had officially
declared its independence.
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At the last minute,
British General Howe
sent a
delegation
to meet with
Washington.
They offered the Americans
a pardon if they would surrender.
Washington
replied: "Those who have committed no fault want no pardon."
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Washington
expected the British to attack from the sea, similar to what they did at the
Battle of Bunker Hill.
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Instead,
British General Henry Clinton
discovered a way to
attack Washington's army from behind.
Clinton
secretly landed
10,000 British troops
several miles away from the American position. He was met by
three loyalists
who wanted to betray the American cause.
They led the
British
toward
Jamaica Pass.
Stopping at a tavern, the British officer,
General William Howe,
threatened to put a bullet through the head of the tavern keeper if he did not show them the old Indian path through the hills.
As
British troops marched silently in the dark,
the
five American militia officers
stationed to protect the pass
mistook the British troops for Americans,
and thus were tragically captured.
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Marching all night long, they made a
surprise attack
on the
Continental Army from behind
on the morning of AUGUST 27, 1776.
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An estimated
3,000 Americans were killed
or wounded compared to
only 392 British casualties.
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As
General Washington
watched 400 soldiers of the
First Maryland Regiment
charge six times directly into the British lines, allowing the rest of the Continental Army to find cover, he exclaimed:
"Good God, what brave fellows I have lost this day."
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The
Battle of Brooklyn Heights
was the
largest battle of the entire Revolutionary War.
In fact, it was the
largest battle ever fought in North America to that date.
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British General Howe
had
trapped the American troops on Brooklyn Heights
with their backs against the sea.
That night,
Washington
made the desperate decision to
evacuate his entire army
by
ferrying it across the East River
to Manhattan Island.
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The sea was boisterous where the British ships were, but
providentially calm in the East River
allowing
Colonel John Glover
and his Massachusetts sailors and fishermen to row the American army across.
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The next morning, as the sun began to rise,
half of the America troops were still in danger,
but a "miraculously" thick
fog
lingered blocking the evacuation from being seen by the British.
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Major Ben Tallmadge,
Washington's Chief of Intelligence, wrote:
"As the
dawn
of the next day approached,
those of us who remained in the trenches
became
very anxious
for our own safety,
and when the
dawn appeared
there were several regiments still on duty ...
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... At this time a
very dense fog
began to rise off the river, and it seemed to settle in a peculiar manner
over both encampments.
I recollect this peculiar
providential occurrence
perfectly well, and so very dense was the atmosphere that I could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance ...
We tarried until the sun had risen, but the
fog
remained as dense as ever."
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The
troops continued to evacuate Brooklyn Heights,
with
General Washington
being the
last man
to leave on the
last boat.
Historians consider this daring nighttime retreat as
one of Washington's greatest military feats.
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Had the Americans not been able to evacuate,
they would have been captured and
Washington
would have been hung.
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America would have continued as just
another colony in Britain's expanding global empire,
along with India, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Australia.
As it happened, though, after the evacuation from Brooklyn Heights,
the British never again had an opportunity to capture the entire American army at one time.
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Washington
wrote later, August 20, 1778:
"Undergoing the strangest vicissitudes that perhaps ever attended any one contest since the creation ... the
Hand of Providence
has been so
conspicuous
in all this - the course of the war - that
he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith ...
But it will be time enough for me to turn
Preacher
when my present appointment ceases."
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Generations later,
America
faced a threat from the
National Socialist Workers Party.
In an election address in
Brooklyn, New York,
November 1, 1940,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
referred to
democracy
in the sense of people ruling themselves:
"Those forces hate
democracy
and
Christianity
as two phases of
the same civilization.
They oppose
democracy
because it is
Christian.
They oppose
Christianity
because it preaches
democracy ..."
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FDR
concluded his
Brooklyn
address:
"We are a nation of many nationalities, many races, many religions
bound together
by a single unity, the unity of
freedom and equality
...
Whoever seeks to set
one nationality against another,
seeks to degrade
all nationalities.
Whoever seeks to set
one race against another
seeks to enslave
all races
...
So-called
racial and religious voting blocs
are the
creation of designing politicians
who profess to be able to deliver them on Election Day ...
But every American citizen ... will scorn such unpatriotic politicians.
The vote of Americans
will be
American -
and
only American."
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
[email protected]
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