Although there had been several armed clashes with the British prior to July 4, 1776, most famously at Lexington and Concord, and at Ft Ticonderoga, the Army of the United States of America did not fight as such until after the Declaration of Independence. Following a series of humiliating defeats in New England during the spring and summer of 1775, the British began stationing troops in and around New York, determined to put down the growing rebellion by separating New England from the middle Atlantic and Southern colonies.The Americans, suspecting that New York was to be the next battleground, mustered militias and erected fortifications on and around Brooklyn Heights. Following several attempts by the British to negotiate an end to the rebellion, it became clear that the Americans had no intention of retreating on the question of independence and that war was imminent.

June 25, 1776
A British fleet of 130 ships and an army of 9000 arrive in NY Harbor from Halifax, NS.

July 9, 1776
Declaration of Independence is read in NYC.

July, 1776ss
As the American’s build their defenses in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the British attempt to contact George Washington to offer terms and forgiveness. Because the British refuse to address him as “General,” their letters are refused.

July 1776
More British Fleet & More British Army (TK)

July 1776
The British forces that had been blockading Charleston arrive, and soon the largest fleet in history, larger than the Spanish Armada, is anchored off Staten Island.

August 1776
More British Fleet & More British Army (TK)

August 22nd (Thursday)
Using landing craft built with drop-down bows, the British land twenty thousand troops in Brooklyn in four hours.

August 24th (Saturday)
General Howe divides his army, moving a small force of 5000 men under General Grant along the shore of New York Harbor, and the larger force under General Cornwallis inland to some of the small communities in central Brooklyn. Skirmishes break out as small companies of Americans attack the British flanks.

August 25th (Sunday)
The skirmishing continues. Washington joins his army of 9000 men in Brooklyn. He intends to defend the Heights overlooking Manhattan.

August 26 (Monday)
Amidst the continued skirmishing, Howe organizes for his major effort. Grant pushes up from the south while he with the rest of his army begins a forced march through the woods of Brooklyn. They will march all-night along a narrow road through an unguarded pass. His intention is to surround the Americans.

August 27th (Tuesday early morning)
After a fire-fight near the Red Lion Inn in a watermelon patch the evening before, the American commander in Brooklyn, General Israel Putnam, moves some of the forces at Battle Pass, in what is now Prospect Park, south to confront General Grant. The Americans know nothing of the other army in the forest. Facing Grant are two companies from Maryland, two from Delaware, and three from Pennsylvania totaling 1500 men under the leadership of Brigadier General William Alexander, Lord Stirling.

August 27th (Tuesday, mid-morning)
Although having a much larger force, Grant does not attack, except to measure the extent of the American resistance with several small flanking maneuvers. At about 9 AM, everyone in the valley hears the bark of a cannon several miles to the north of Alexander and Grant. It heralds the arrival of the larger British army. Alexander realizes the men in the Gowanus Valley can be surrounded and slaughtered. At the signal, both General Grant and the Hessian mercenaries under General DeHeister facing Battle Pass, begin to move. In the pass General Sullivan’s men are overwhelmed, and many are surrounded and killed in the woods. Alexander begins an orderly retreat.

August 27 (Tuesday, mid-day)
As the remains of Sullivan’s men, and the Pennsylvania and Delaware companies try to escape to Brooklyn Heights across the Gowanus Estuary, General Alexander leads the Marylanders against Cornwallis’s grenadiers at the Vecht House on the Gowanus road. With 400 men against 2000, he attacks the house as many as 5 times, and on two occasions takes it. His actions delay the British, and Howe decides not to attack the Heights that day. Alexander is eventually captured. Many of his men escape, but 256 lie dead on the field. It begins to rain.

August 28th (Wednesday)
Washington is impressed by the success of Alexander ‘saction. With courage, he believes the British can be stopped. The British begin to dig trenches, and 25-pound cannons are hauled up the road to begin the siege. The only reason the British fleet, with its 26 major battle ships, has not sailed up the East River is because the wind is blowing from the north. If they could bring the fleet up, the entire American army could be destroyed. It would very likely be the end of the revolution.

August 29th (Thursday)
Washington accepts the advice of his officers and orders that an escape be organized. Calls go out to Manhattan and all the villages along the river. The British continue to dig their trenches. The rain continues. Late in the day, the wind dies down, the rain stops and a heavy fog blankets the harbor. Bonfires mark the American lines. Secretly and silently, company by company, the Americans are pulled off the line. Only the guardsmen are left to call out their “All’s wells.” One boatman from a Gloucester, Massachusetts company is said to have crossed the mile-wide river 20 times.

August 30 (Friday, morning)
Howe arrives at the now-empty American positions at 8:30. All that remains are four spiked cannon. The British newspapers will later observe that Washington’s escape was a “notable feat.”