✦ History

Part of American Revolutionary War

Battle of Long Island

August 27, 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.

On the map Contemporaries

American

British

United States
Great Britain
Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
George Washington Henry Knox military commander Israel Putnam military commander John Sullivan military commander William Alexander military commander
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

Strength and losses

Strength
10,00011,000
Casualties
2,000
Killed
300
Wounded
800
Missing
1,079
Guns lost
6
Strength
20,00025,000
Casualties
320
Killed
64
Wounded
293
Missing
31

Units

Continental Army Aaron Burr Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Ogden Abraham Buford Alexander Hamilton General Alexander McDougall Major General Anthony Wayne Artemas Ward Major General Arthur St. Clair Benjamin Lincoln Major General Casimir Pulaski General Christopher Greene Colonel Daniel Morgan General Edward Hand George Clinton George Mathews Green Clay Henry Dearborn General Henry Knox Major General Henry Lee III Horatio Gates Hugh Mercer Brigadier General Israel Putnam General James Clinton Major General James McHenry James Monroe Major James Wilkinson James Winchester James Wood Jean François Hamtramck Colonel Johann de Kalb Major General John Armstrong Jr. General John Brooks Colonel John Francis Mercer Colonel John Glover John Hardin Colonel John Hoskins Stone John Marshall John Stark Major General John Sullivan Major General John Thomas Major General Joseph Bloomfield Joseph Warren Major General Josiah Harmar Josiah Tattnall (politician) Lachlan McIntosh Brigadier General Levin Winder Marquis de Lafayette Morgan Lewis Nathan Hale Colonel Nathanael Greene Major General Peleg Wadsworth General Peter Gansevoort Major General Philip Schuyler General Pierse Long Colonel Richard Butler Robert Magaw Colonel Samuel Smith Seth Warner Colonel Tadeusz Kościuszko Lieutenant General Thomas Knowlton Timothy Pickering General William Barton William Bradford William Darke William Eaton General William Maxwell Brigadier General William Moultrie Major General William Prescott Colonel William Sanford Pennington Major William Whipple William Woodford Brigadier General Benedict Arnold 1775–1780 Charles Lee 1775–1780 George Washington 1775–1783 James Moore Brigadier General · 1775–1777 William Alexander 1775–present 14th Continental Regiment 1st Maryland Regiment
British main army in North America

Related events 1 degree away • 2 degrees away

 
Declaration of Independence
 
Battle of Long Island
 
Battle of Trenton

Also involved 1