The
1st Maryland Regiment (specifically the “Maryland 400”) undertook a critical rearguard mission during the
Battle of Long Island (Brooklyn) on
August 27, 1776 [
00:00:01].
-
The Objective: After British forces executed a surprise flanking march through the unguarded Jamaica Pass [
00:09:19], the Continental Army was surrounded and cut off [
00:00:21]. The mission of the 1st Maryland Regiment was to launch a counterattack against the fortified British position at the
Old Stone House [
00:15:48] and hold the line at all costs [
00:00:31].
-
The Strategic Goal: Buy enough time for thousands of retreating American troops to escape across the treacherous mud and salt marshes of
Gowanus Creek back into the primary defensive fortifications at Brooklyn Heights [
00:14:29].
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The Action: Led by
General William Alexander (Lord Stirling) and
Major Mordecai Gist [
00:15:38], fewer than 400 Maryland soldiers charged into concentrated British artillery and musket fire multiple times [
00:16:16], holding off 2,000 veteran British and Hessian regulars for roughly an hour [
00:18:07].
-
The Cost & Outcome:
-
Over
256 Marylanders were killed and more than 100 captured [
00:19:20], leaving fewer than a dozen able to return directly to camp [
00:19:37].
-
The sacrifice succeeded, delaying the British advance long enough for Washington’s army to reorganize and ultimately execute their midnight evacuation across the East River to Manhattan [
00:21:12], saving the Continental Army and the Revolution from early destruction [
00:23:28].
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