In an earlier post, I talked about the origins of setting The Patriot Spy during the Battle of Long Island. Several times while writing the book, I revisited the neighborhoods involved in the battle. Some of these were neighborhoods I had lived in long ago, like Park Slope and Flatbush - both in the heart of Brooklyn.
On one of my return trips, I went to the place I believed was the site of the pivotal point of the battle – the forlorn hope attack by the brave Marylanders and their brothers in arms from Delaware (who are actually depicted on the cover of The Patriot Spy). It was a gray autumn day. We drove to the intersection of 3rd Avenue and 8th Street in Park Slope – the spot where I thought the fallen 300 from the engagement had been laid to rest.
There, in front of an auto repair shop, I stood looking at an old building across the street. Surrounded by scaffolding, it was clearly in the process of being demolished. A large, burly guy with a thick gold necklace saw me standing there and came out of the repair shop.
“Can I help you?” He asked, more as a challenge than a question, with a thick Brooklyn accent.
“I’m looking for a marker,” I replied. One of the sourcebooks I used indicated the existence of a small marker on the side of a building.
“A marker? Marker for whad?” He asked with a really puzzled look.
“Almost three hundred Americans died here and are buried in a mass grave,” I answered.
“Died? When? How? Who done it?” He looked stunned and puzzled, and this being Brooklyn, likely thought this had something to do with the mob.
“There was a great battle here in 1776. Almost three hundred patriots were killed fighting the British and are supposed to be buried near here.”
He nodded his head knowingly. “Oh yeah, well, I ain’t never seen no marker, but it wuz probably on dat building.”
I looked across the street at the building, now wrapped in scaffolding and plywood, surrounded by a chain-link fence. I decided my search was over.
I share this story to draw readers' attention to a recent article in the New York Times about a Brooklyn historian named Bob Furman. Furman is working to identify, preserve, and properly commemorate important sites on the battlefield. The article is worth reading because it highlights the difficulties of maintaining a sense of history amid urban growth.
Gowanus Canal
More than a hundred years ago, a growing city’s demand for residential and industrial land overwhelmed the area. It’s hard to believe that this densely developed part of New York was once filled with beautiful farms, fields, orchards, and woods. It’s also hard to believe that brave and gallant men once fought desperately for their lives and their new nation on these busy streets. Let's hope Furman and his team at the Brooklyn Preservation Council succeed in reclaiming some of this sacred ground. Sadly, most remnants of the Revolutionary War battle and the terrain where it was fought are now gone.
