It’s time to dust off the muskets and ready the cannons — Battle Week is back.
From the DUMBO waterfront to hills of Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn will commemorate the events of August, 1776 — when the Battle of Brooklyn raged.
It was the first real battle of the Revolutionary War, held in and around an old farmhouse, whose replica now sits in a park near Fifth Avenue and Third Street. After attacked by the British, the majority American troops, led by Gen. George Washington, fled to Brooklyn Heights, where they were able to cross safely to Manhattan and escape unharmed while 400 Maryland soldiers bought them time.
It’s a mixed celebration, depending on how you look at it: historians either view is as an embarrassing defeat for Washington, or a daring military move that helped win the war.
Here, at least, we’re all about the latter, as from Aug. 19 to 28, you can mark the 235th anniversary of the battle through nearly a dozen events, including a “Maryland 400” remembrance ceremony at the Old Stone House on Aug. 20; a Gowanus Canal canoe tour of Washington’s escape route on Aug. 24; a reenactment of the escape at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Aug. 27; and, to end the festivities on an explosive note, a commemoration at the Green-Wood on Aug. 28 featuring musketeers in revolutionary garb shooting cannons and muskets. Borough pride will be loud and clear.
Maryland 400 Remembrance Ceremony [meet at Eighth Street and Third Avenue in Park Slope, (718) 499-9482], Aug. 20 at 10 am; Gowanus canoe tour [Second Street and the canal in Gowanus, (718) 768-3195], Aug. 24 at 6 pm; reenactment at Brooklyn Bridge Park [Main Street and Fulton Ferry Landing in DUMBO, (718) 802-0603], Aug. 27 at noon; Battle of Brooklyn Commemoration at Green-Wood Cemetery [500 25th St. at Fifth Avenue in Greenwood Heights, (718) 768-7300], Aug. 28at 12:30 pm. For info, visit www.theoldstonehouse.org.
