rooklyn Revolutionary soldiers lay encamped for months,
and in the heat of a trying summer surrounded themselves with lines of
works. What have since been converted into spots of rare
beauty--Greenwood Cemetery and Prospect Park--became, with the ground
in their vicinity, a battle-field. New York, which was then taking its
place as the most flourishing city on the continent, was transformed
by the emergency into a fortified military base. Troops quartered in
Broad Street and along the North and East rivers, and on the line of
Grand Street permanent camps were established. Forts, redoubts,
batteries, and intrenchments encircled the town. The streets were
barricaded, the roads blocked, and efforts made to obstruct the
navigation of both rivers. Where we have stores and warehouses,
Washington fixed alarm and picket posts; and at points where costly
residences stand, men fought, died, and were buried. In 1776 the cause
had become general; soldiers gathered here from ten of the original
thirteen States, and the contest assumed serious proportions. It was
here around New York and Brooklyn that the War of the Revolution began
in earnest.

The record of what occurred in this vicinity at that interesting
period has much of it been preserved in our standard histories by
Gordon, Marshall, Irving, Hildreth, Lossing, Bancroft, Carrington, and
others. In the present volume it is given as a single connected
account, with many additional particulars which have but recently come
to light. This new material, gathered largely from the descendants of
officers and soldiers who participated in that campaign, is published
with other documents in Part II. of this work, and is presented as its
principal feature. What importance should be attached to it must be
left to the judgment of the reader.

The writer himself has made use of these documents in filling gaps and
correcting errors. Such documents, for example, as the orders issued
by Generals Greene and Sullivan on Long Island, with the original
letters of Generals Parsons, Scott, and other officers, go far towards
clearing up the hitherto doubtful points in regard to operations on
the Brooklyn side. There is not a little, also, that throws light on
the retreat to New York; while material of value has been unearthed
respecting events which terminated in the capture of the city by the
British. Considerable space has been devoted to the preparations made
by both sides for the campaign, but a