The Battle of Long Island—also remembered as the Battle of Brooklyn—was fought on August 27, 1776, and stands as the first major engagement of the American Revolutionary War after the Declaration of Independence. George Washington’s Continental Army was outmaneuvered and defeated by a superior British force under General William Howe, yet the campaign’s most consequential chapter was not the defeat itself but the strategic retreat that saved roughly 9,000 soldiers. For students of Native & Indigenous history, the battle is inseparable from a larger question that defined the war: whose land was being contested, and what did the conflict mean for the sovereign nations—the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Lenape (Delaware), the Stockbridge-Munsee, and dozens of others—whose homelands surrounded New York Harbor and Long Island?
Historical Context: The Fight for New York and the Nations Who Lived There
In the summer of 1776, New York was not merely a strategic port—it was the heart of a region that had been home to Lenape and Munsee peoples for millennia. Long Island itself, called Paumanok (“the island that pays tribute”) by its original inhabitants, was the ancestral territory of the Montaukett, Shinnecock, Unkechaug, and Setauket peoples. Brooklyn’s Gowanus, Canarsie, and Maspeth place names survive today as linguistic artifacts of the Canarsee and Rockaway bands who cultivated these lands long before European contact.
The British campaign to seize New York aimed to isolate New England from the other colonies—but it also placed Indigenous nations in an impossible position. As detailed in historical accounts of first contact between Europeans and Native Americans, most Native nations initially pursued neutrality, weighing treaty obligations, trade relationships, and the grim reality that whoever won would claim their homelands.
The Battle: Winner, Date, and Tactical Summary
On August 27, 1776, Howe landed roughly 20,000 British and Hessian troops at Gravesend Bay on Long Island. Washington had positioned about 9,000 Continentals along the Heights of Guan—a ridge of wooded hills—believing the passes could be held. Howe’s flanking maneuver through the unguarded Jamaica Pass shattered that assumption. Colonial General John Sullivan was captured; the Americans suffered roughly 1,000–1,200 casualties versus fewer than 400 British losses.
Washington, rather than surrendering, executed one of the war’s most audacious withdrawals. On the night of August 29–30, 1776, under cover of darkness and a providential fog, he moved his entire remaining force across the East River to Manhattan. Howe, expecting surrender, did not press the attack—a delay that preserved the Continental Army and arguably saved the Revolution itself.
Native Presence in the New York Campaign
Though no large Native force fought at Long Island, Indigenous individuals and nations were directly caught in the campaign’s path. The Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican and Wappinger peoples of the Hudson Valley had already allied with the Patriot cause by 1775, supplying scouts and warriors who served in Washington’s army. Meanwhile, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy—the Six Nations of Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora—formally maintained neutrality until the Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1777), after which the Confederacy fractured.
Diplomacy, Treaties, and the Cost to Indigenous Nations
The Revolution’s diplomatic dimension was inseparable from the Indigenous confederacy model that influenced American political thought. The Haudenosaunee’s Great Law of Peace, the covenant chain of treaties, and the Longhouse’s deliberative structure inspired colonists even as those same colonists later dispossessed their allies. The Treaty of Paris (1783) ended the war without consulting a single Native nation, effectively transferring Indigenous lands to the new United States. For tribes that had fought for the British like the Mohawk under Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea), the aftermath meant displacement to Canada and land loss across New York.
Material Culture of the Revolutionary Era
Indigenous material culture from this period—including wampum belts, iron tomahawks traded by Europeans, and woolen trade cloth—remains vitally important to understanding the era. The sacred function of wampum in treaty diplomacy demonstrates how Native nations conducted international relations on sovereign terms, using shell-beaded records as binding legal and spiritual documents.
Historical Context & Key Cultural Takeaways
Key takeaways from the Battle of Long Island and its Indigenous context:
- Date & Outcome: Fought August 27, 1776; British victory under General Howe; Washington’s army saved by evacuation.
- Indigenous Homelands: Long Island was Montaukett, Shinnecock, Unkechaug, and Canarsee territory; Manhattan was Lenape homeland.
- Native Alliances: Oneida and Stockbridge-Munsee supported the Patriots; Mohawk and most Haudenosaunee eventually sided with Britain.
- Scholarly Consensus: Native involvement in the Revolution was driven by sovereignty, not ideology—each nation chose alliances to preserve land and autonomy.
- Legacy: The Treaty of Paris (1783) excluded Native nations, setting the stage for the dispossession culminating in the Proclamation of 1763’s unfulfilled promises.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the Battle of Long Island?
The British won decisively. General William Howe’s forces defeated General George Washington’s Continental Army on August 27, 1776. However, Washington’s nighttime evacuation across the East River prevented the destruction of his army.
What was the Native American role in the Battle of Long Island?
No organized Native force fought in the battle itself, but the campaign occurred in the heart of Lenape, Montaukett, and Shinnecock homelands. Stockbridge-Munsee and Oneida scouts served with Washington’s army in the broader New York campaign, while most Haudenosaunee nations attempted to remain neutral.
How did the Battle of Long Island affect Indigenous nations?
The battle accelerated Native displacement in the region. After the Revolution, the Treaty of Paris (1783) transferred Indigenous lands without Native consent, and Haudenosaunee nations—especially those allied with Britain—lost vast territories across New York and Pennsylvania.
Why is the Battle of Long Island also called the Battle of Brooklyn?
The battle takes its alternate name from its location on Long Island within the boundaries of modern Brooklyn. The battlefield, now partially preserved as the Battle Pass in Prospect Park and the surrounding area, is the focus of ongoing archaeological and historical preservation efforts.
Where can artifacts and records from this era be studied?
The New-York Historical Society, the Brooklyn Historical Society, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the Fort Ticonderoga Museum hold collections relating to the Revolutionary era and Indigenous material culture. Repatriation of Native artifacts and remains continues under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA, 1990).
Conclusion: A Revolution on Contested Ground
The Battle of Long Island was a tactical British triumph and an American strategic survival. But viewed through the lens of Native & Indigenous history, it reveals a deeper truth: the Revolution was fought on land that had been Native for millennia, between powers that rarely consulted its original peoples. Washington’s retreat across the East River preserved an army—and set the stage for a republic that would expand across Indigenous homelands for the next century. Understanding Long Island therefore means understanding not only the soldiers who fled through the fog, but the Lenape, Montaukett, and Shinnecock nations whose world was forever transformed by the conflict unfolding around them.
