Battle of Long Island
August 26, 1776 · Brooklyn
Result British victory
American Revolutionary War battle at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn on August 27, 1776. The British defeated the Continental Army and gained the strategically important Port of New York, which they held for the rest of the war. The first major battle after the July 4, 1776 declaration of independence, it was the largest battle of the war by troop deployment and combat.
American
British
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
Charles Cornwallis
military commander
Henry Clinton
Major General, Howe's second in command; led the flanking march around the American left
Leopold Philip von Heister
Lieutenant General, commander of the Hessian troops; commanded the center of the British line
Charles Mawhood
military commander
Francis Smith
military commander
James Grant
military commander
