Reeanctment of the
Battle of Brooklyn, 1776

Sunday August 19th

by Continental Charley

The Weekend O' Fun Continues The reeanctment of the Battle of Brooklyn, 1776 in the park was great. Cousin Jim and I ran into Igor, Jason, and Frank from the club, and even Norbert Brunhuber, who will be playing Napoleon to my Kutuzov at Jodiecon Borodino 2002, who was up with his wife and parents from NJ. There were about 600 costumed reenactors, and thousands of spectators. Brits included regulars, Tories in green, grenediers in high headress, highlanders with kilts and pipes, a fife and drum band, light infantry, and engineers. US units included Smallwood's Marylanders, Delaware, 2nd New York and another NY regt, a cannon with crew up on a small hill, and the US Army's Old Guard demonstration unit, who do Washington's Bodyguard. Politicians and veterans made speeches, including a Brit diplomat who thanked so many Americans for coming out to celebrate a British victory! After getting his laugh, he remarked warmly on the subsequent US/British Alliance, and noted that we were standing in the capital of the Free World (obviously yet another reference to...BROOKLYN. Good chap). There was a good narrator who gave a tense description as if at a football game, and a wide fenced off meadow for the boys to play in. Very nice, indeed. Skirmish, line, and volley fire! One American casualty was recovered by a hero who was cheered. Then someone realized that they'd left his hat between the lines, and another incredibly brave hero went out to recover it. What a man! After the speeches which began the event at the reviewing stand, the units paraded and were introduced, then the Army unit did a nice tactical demonstration of 18th century battalion evolutions. The battle itself was fun, and Cousin Jim was there taking two or three rolls of photos. Then we broke so the crowd could follow from the Long Meadow to the Stone House for the famous heroic and desperate attack of the Marylanders against the whole British army, so the rest of Sullivan's force could (and historically did) escape through the swamp at Gowanus (now the Gowanus Canal) back to General Washington at the lines at Fort Cobble Hill (near my house, at Atlantic Avenue and Court St). We broke during the "retreat," and stopped off at nearby Metro Wargamers clubhouse for sodas and a pit stop. There we picked up a few errant souls who were unaware, and brought them along. Then on to the Stone house, with the red flag of the Marylanders waving after they took it, and then lost it to the Brits. The most memorable historical quote about the largest ARW battle of all in 1776 was something like: "Our freedom was proclaimed underlined in the Declaration of Independence, and soon after baptized in blood in Brooklyn." GET THAT, EVERYONE--IN BROOKLYN!!! BROOK-LYN!!! HUZZAH!!! A fine revival of the old historical tradition honoring the event saw excellent weather, with only a bit of humidity. I fanned myself with one of the wood and paper fans distributed to memorialize the day, and looked over a listing of other events happening this month. Local TV news coverage was in evidence that evening at my place, as Cousin Jim and I recovered from a long day of standing in my Air Conditioning with sherbet and soda. Now it’s Sunday, with a planned brunch at noon and a game of THUNDER'S EDGE AT 2 pm. All local friends are welcome. Hope your day was as much fun. Back to Veteran Campaigner September 2001 Table of Contents Back to Veteran Campaigner List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Pete Panzeri. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com