The Battle of Brooklyn

Danielle, Sienna and I paid a visit to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens on the Fourth of July. It had an unintended consequence of actually celebrating Independence Day (exact date of the Declaration of Independence may vary) in an almost suitable fashion.

The Botanical Gardens sits adjacent to one of the Revolutionary War's pivotal battle sites Prospect Park - this is a hidden facet of Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley Region that I actually enjoy, there are a lot of revolutionary war hot spots. The battle has a couple of different names: the Battle of Long Island - another hidden fact of Brooklyn is that Brooklynites hate being reminded they are part of Long Island - or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights.

From a historical aspect it's a pretty important battle. It was the first major battle fought after America's heave hoe to United Kingdom ownership.*

Important moment in U.S. History. Imagine you are some farmer - clothes barely clinging to your body as you travel up from someplace like Pennsylvania, armed only with a musket that has equal chance of blowing up in your hand as it does firing at your enemy. A regularly meal if more of a dream than a fact, yet you aren't going to give up until the English have left the area.

You hunker down with the Continental Army, next to the arrogant Bostonians and the equally dour boys from Maryland. There isn't enough food and it is so dark you can't see your own hand. It is okay that you don't get along since everyone is fighting for freedom together and the New Yorkers, despite being English sympathizers are on your side, having torn down a statue of King George III.

It is so dark and you start hearing whispers and rumors. Whispers of a giant enemy army and rumors that it is near.

What's that on the horizon? The mast of an English ship. And another. And another. And...are those Hessian mercenaries? Hold on, there is a humor that Washington doesn't have nearly as many men as we should only if we hold New York we'll certainly...what's that? We're going to retreat.

We're going to retreat?

Retreat.

That's right. America the strong. America the bold. America the beautiful. America-don't-back-down-and-take-any-crap...we lost our first major battle in out history.

Yes. That is what I was thinking about while I was resting on a bench in the botanical gardens. Some poor guy from Pennsylvania came up to join a cause and his first experience was being routed. Life is like that sometimes. You take a chance and lose - then you learn and you lose less - then suddenly you don't lose anymore and you have a lot of victories.

That poor guy who got routed - if he showed up today I'm sure it would be a combination of satisfaction and horror at what he helped create. Maybe that's why we're interesting sometimes - beauty of gardens covering up the horror of where blood was shed. Or maybe we're just covering up a loss with some pretty roses.

Wayne

* Some historians say the Siege of Boston qualifies as the first battle. You can always count on historians to disagree on these major points.