Today we honor Brooklyn, site of one of the more important battles of 1776.
Sure, the Continental Army lost, but the subsequent retreat preserved Washington's army to fight another day. Here's what happened.
On August 29, the entire Army was trapped with its back to the water on the precipice of what is now Brooklyn Heights. Washington called for boats, and under cover of night - and what was later called a "providential" fog - the entire corp of 9000 men snuck across the East River, back to New York, right from under the nose of the British.
It was the revolution's Dunkirk.
