“At Yorktown the British could not retreat,
Bottled up by Washington and the French Fleet,
Cornwallis surrendered and finally we had won!”
That’s how the major fighting of the Revolutionary War ended in October 1781 here on Virginia soil, summarized simply by these lyrics many of us Generation X kids remember from the 1970s “Schoolhouse Rock” classic “Shot Heard ’Round the World,” played between Saturday morning cartoons on ABC.
But in the month following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the war reached a point when it could have ended in a similar fashion far from Virginia’s coastline, with Gen. George Washington bottled up by the British fleet and an opposite historical result.
However, the weather broke the Americans’ way in 1776, just as it did in 1781 with a windstorm thwarting a British escape over the York River in Virginia just before their surrender at Yorktown. In 1776, two different weather shifts worked together to help the Continental Army escape the British by — ironically considering the 1781 turn of events for Lord Cornwallis — crossing a river.
Battle for the Big Apple
In August 1776, the war for independence was focused on what is modern-day New York City, which of course looked very different than today’s tangle of skyscrapers and freeway, a mix of town setting from Dutch settlement, farms and lingering wilderness.
Gen. George Washington had split his Continental Army units between Manhattan Island and Long Island.
“Washington placed General Israel Putnam in charge of Brooklyn Heights and stationed General John Sullivan to the south and Lord Stirling to the southwest on the Heights of Guan,” described historian Mary Stockwell in an article on the Mount Vernon digital encyclopedia. “He posted guards along the main roads leading through the heights, but failed to secure the rarely used Jamaica Pass to the east. This proved to be a costly mistake since General [William] Howe planned to lead 10,000 men through the pass on the evening of August 26 and attack the Americans on Brooklyn Heights from the rear. At the same time, General Leopold Philip Von Heister would launch his Hessians against Sullivan’s troops, while the redcoats of General James Grant would attack Stirling’s position.”
Early on Aug. 27, the British attack began, and the Americans, suffering massive losses, were quickly driven to the western end of Long Island, backed against the East River in Brooklyn Heights. Gen. Stirling was captured after leading a charge of 400 soldiers from Maryland — over 250 were killed — that bought time for others to flee to more defensible positions.
Howe, commander in chief of the British Army in North America at the time, knew that British warships were poised to sail up the East River. He halted the fighting late on Aug. 27 and ordered his troops to build trenches around the Colonials’ position in Brooklyn Heights. The idea was to bottle up Washington and 9,000 of his soldiers with the expectation that he would be forced to surrender, effectively ending the American Revolution.
Washington decided to remove the 9,000 troops from Brooklyn across the East River into Manhattan, a move that could easily end in disaster if the British navy closed off the river and/or Gen. Howe’s forces made a decisive charge as the Colonials were strung out in the escape.
East River escape in nor’easter
But ships of that era were driven by sail guided by wind, which sometimes didn’t cooperate with man’s plans.
“On August 28, the winds shifted, and a nor’easter arrived that prevented the Royal Navy from entering the East River and cutting Washington’s men off,” states a post on American Battlefield Trust exploring weather effects on 18th century warfare. “Then, on the night of August 29, Washington began moving all 9,000 men across the river to Manhattan. The nor’easter wind died down that night and made it easier for the troops to get in small boats at Brooklyn ferry and cross the river.”
Oarsmen worked feverishly through a rainy night to deliver Colonial troops across the East River to relative safety in Manhattan.
“Crewing the evacuee-filled rowboats, barges and canoes were peacetime sailors and fishermen from a recently arrived Massachusetts regiment under Colonel John Glover,” HistoryNet recounts in its “Escape from New York” article. “After muffling the vessels’ oars with cloth, they first transported cannons, ammunition, supplies and horses. Next came the wounded. Then, through the night until just before dawn, they ferried the remaining cold, wet, defeated American soldiers across the river.”
There weren’t enough oarsmen or boats, and not enough time, to move all the soldiers before the sun came up. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Colonial troops remained in Brooklyn as the sun rose, with morning light threatening to fully reveal the ongoing evacuation to Howe and the British.
Enter the fog
But a final meteorological blessing fell upon Washington: Dense fog.
According to American Battlefield Trust: “As the sun began to rise on August 30, a heavy fog descended on Brooklyn, concealing Washington’s troops. The fog hung around for just enough time that the rear guard was able to get in boats to leave Brooklyn.”
The fog, likely caused as cool breezes from the coastal low commonly called a “nor’easter” blew over summer-warmed waters around the New York islands, enabled the final removal of troops to be fully cloaked from the British. Washington was said to be the last of the Colonials to leave Brooklyn, stepping onto the last boat that would cross the East River to Manhattan.
“As the final boats departed Brooklyn, the fog lifted and within a matter of minutes, British troops advanced into the now deserted American lines,” states the American Battlefield Trust account. “Without the weather, it is likely the Americans would not have been successful in their evacuation.”
“As the fog lifted, the British were left bewildered as they realized the Continental Army was gone,” states another account on 1776 History.
The British were the clear winners of the Battle of Long Island and would eventually succeed in their goal to take New York City and its critical harbor and ports in subsequent weeks. They wouldn’t leave until Evacuation Day on Nov. 25, 1783, once the terms of the Treaty of Paris became finalized. Washington rode in triumphantly.
But the dense fog that allowed Washington and his troops to escape a possible Revolutionary War-ending defeat in 1776, often attributed to divine intervention, saved the Colonials’ cause, allowing the Revolutionary War to continue to its conclusion and an American victory in Yorktown, Virginia, five years later.
The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Cardinal News has embarked on a project to tell the little-known stories of Virginia’s role in the march to independence. This project is supported, in part, by a grant from the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission. Find all our stories from this project on the Cardinal 250 page. You can sign up for our monthly 250 newsletter and Kevin Myatt’s weekly weather newsletter below.
