Maryland 400 : Battle of Long Island : AWI

The third and last of our Long Island scenario’s covers the desperate rear guard fighting and escape of American forces around the Vechte-Cortelyou House, now known as the Old Stone House. There is lots of interesting history around this part of the battle so again I would encourage you to search it out on Wiki. The map below shows the area roughly covered by this part of the battle. Having realised that Howe was in their rear and pushed from the front by Grant, Lord Stirling attempts to escape. With the road to Brooklyn cut he must attempt to cross the Gowanus Creek to get back to the Brooklyn Heights. To facilitate this the 1st Maryland Regiment were ordered to mount a rearguard assault ont he British who were formed up with cannon around the Stone House. Led by the wonderfully named Gen Mordecai Gist the unit later know as the Maryland 400 made several assaults on a much larger British force.

Green square is the location for this third battle.

The house still exists as a museum I believe and I thought is would be interesting to see it in location Ha ha things have change since 1776 ! But there is a monument to the 400 in Prospect Park.

The stone house some years later, sadly I don’t have a suitable stone house 😢

And a famous painting of the combat showing the troops crossing the Gowanus Creek by the Mill whilst in the background the Maryland Regiment buys them time to escape.

Our scenario started with the British in position at the VC house.

The Maryland 400 have been sent forward they will be resilient as veterans and with the support of Gen Gist. Their role is to distract and hold the British whilst the rest escape and they are not allowed to escape off the battlefield.

Other American forces enter from the north and East and must exit over the Gowanus beyond the Mill building , we assumed that down stream of the mill the creek is too deep or muddy to cross. (From this shot the exit direction is to the right)

The 400 open fire at the British defenders

In the distance the British return fire and more Americans come onto the table

The British cannon also opens up

Within a couple of turn the 400 have been whittle down to 300 !

But by now the bulk of the American force is on the table and heading towards the creek

Fierce fighting by the house but the 300 are holding on

A slightly wider shot where you can see the creek off to the right. The British have rolled a double 6 and have gained another regiment of reinforcements to attempt to block the escape

These Americans are led by Lord Stirling and a regiment from Delaware

The Maryland 100 are clinging on

Realising that they must fight their way to safety the Americans open fire to clear a path

Their objective is just in sight beyond the mill

Fighting is continuing close to the house as well

But the British have formed into line preparing to volley fire before the Americans escape

The lead units make a run for it

Only to be turn back by a vicious volley 

RELOAD !

“good god what brave fellows I must this day lose” this is what Washington watching from the Brooklyn heights utter when he saw the Last of the Maryland 400 fall. I am not sure what happened to General Gist, it appears in this game he has been badly wounded.

But the battle is not over the American also receive an additional unit who immediate advance into the battle around the Stone House

Some of the American Minutemen attempt to escape while Lord Stirling rallies the other troops

More volleys  ring out

But the first patriots escape across the creek

The battle for the house where the British are temporarily outnumbered

And the British marines are forced to retreat

A second unit of Minutemen manage to Wade to safety

Both sides are now thinning out

And continuing to fire long range volleys

Eventually Lord Stirling is wounded and his regiment flees, historically he escaped to be captured by a hessian regiment.

A finally volley fro the British but their numbers have been decimated.

When we totalled up the VP awe declared it a draw, two units had escaped but a similar number of Americans had been eliminated. Both sides had lost more than 50% of their force and troops remaining of the battlefield were severely battered.

A really fun game very tough and hard fought, both sides were battered by the end. So the battle for Long Island is over, the Americans are back behind their defences on Brooklyn Heights and rather than face another Bunker Hill Gen Howe decides to pause his advance. Hope you have enjoyed watching as much as we have playing these three battles. We’ll be back with more AWI not too far away.

KBO