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New York Today: When War Came to Brooklyn
Updated, 8:00 a.m.
Good morning on this wonderful Wednesday.
It’s the 240th anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn.
In 1776, New York was teeming with British sympathizers. And by August, 32,000 British troops had arrived in Brooklyn.
Fierce fighting between the British and Continental armies soon broke out, engulfing an area that encompassed what is today Park Slope, Gravesend Bay, Prospect Heights and a section along the Gowanus Canal.
“It was the single most consequential military event in the whole war,” said Joseph J. Ellis, the author of “Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence.”
(Even though it was a victory for the British.)
Facing defeat, Gen. George Washington decided to shift his troops to Manhattan from Brooklyn.
“A perfect storm had to happen for the evacuation to work,” Mr. Ellis said.
It did.
On the night of Aug. 29, 1776, rain poured down. Then a fog bank rolled in.
Hidden from view, the Continental Army’s troops, horses and cannons floated across the East River, near where the Brooklyn Bridge stands today.
“In this case the big victory is retreat,” said Mr. Ellis, as General Washington and his troops were able to fight another day.
All told, about 3,000 Americans lost their lives during the battle.
And a saying emerged: “The Declaration of Independence that was signed in ink in Philadelphia was signed in blood in South Brooklyn.”
To relive the Battle of Brooklyn, you can take a tour at Brooklyn Bridge Park tonight, join a re-enactment at Green-Wood Cemetery on Sunday or conduct a self-guided tour.
You can also visit a new exhibition about the battle, opening on Friday at the Old Stone House.
Here’s what else is happening:
Weather
This weather means anything but war; it’ll be so peaceful today that you might just want to fall asleep on a park bench.
We’ll have a high near 85 and a sky so perfectly blue it could be a screen saver.
Might as well be walkin’ on the sun.
In the News
• Drug problems on Staten Island, which has been described as “Heroin Island,” have made the borough a target for poaching patients. [New York Times]
• The New York police broke intelligence-gathering rules while targeting Muslims for surveillance after 9/11, according to a report. [New York Times]
• New Yorkers speak out about how they cope with the burden of rent. [New York Times]
• The story behind the people found with a cache of weapons and ammunition in their car at the Holland Tunnel. [New York Times]
• As Rudolph W. Giuliani defends Donald J. Trump, is this the same Giuliani that New York City remembers? [WNYC]
• A group of artists is trying to raise money to save Langston Hughes’s Harlem brownstone. [DNAInfo]
• The “Final Five” — the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s gymnastics team — took New York by storm. [NBC]
• Is the city’s economic boom sustainable? [Crain’s]
• Hundreds of thousands of dead fish were found floating in New Jersey waters. [NBC]
• ... And three fishmongers were arrested after stealing $1 million in eels. [CBS]
• Scoreboard: Yankees sink Mariners, 5-1. Mets rule Cardinals, 7-4.
• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Wednesday Briefing.
Coming Up Today
• Watch the U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament matches during Queens Day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens. 11 a.m. [Free]
• Sample treats and performances from the stars of “Wicked,” “School of Rock” and “Kinky Boots” at Grand Central’s Summer Sendoff. 11:30 a.m. [Free entrance]
• The drag-queen contestants from the coming season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars” hand out ice cream in Union Square. Noon to 6 p.m. [Free]
• A lecture with the author of “Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers,” at the New York Public Library in Midtown Manhattan. 6:30 p.m. [Free]
• A Zumba class at the Willis Avenue Community Garden in the Bronx. 6:30 p.m. [Free]
• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
Commute
• Railroads: L.I.R.R., Metro-North, N.J. Transit, Amtrak
• Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.
• Alternate-side parking: in effect until Labor Day.
• Ferries: Staten Island Ferry, New York Waterway, East River Ferry
• Airports: La Guardia, J.F.K., Newark
And Finally...
Sure, New York has a bloody history.
But let’s not forget that generations of artists have sought out our streets for inspiration and beauty.
Among the many who stayed (or remained) to set up studios:
The painter Frank Stella worked and lived at an old auction house on 13th Street in the East Village (now occupied by the Peridance Capezio Center).
The Greenwich Village studio of the sculpture artist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the founder of the Whitney Museum of Art, is open for tours.
The painter Georgia O’Keeffe and the photographer Alfred Stieglitz lived at what is now the New York Marriott East Side.
The house of the photographer Alice Austen is now a museum on Staten Island, offering exhibitions and photography workshops.
Vaulted ceilings? No way: Here’s what artist studios look like today.
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