Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History

09/02/2026

In 1883, Hazard Stevens, Major General Isaac I. Stevens’s son, and Charles Walcott of the 21st Massachusetts returned to the site of the Battle of Chantilly, where they identified the locations where Stevens and Major General Philip Kearny were killed during the fighting September 1, 1862. By the time of their return, the area was farmland owned by Confederate veteran John Ballard and his wife, Mary Reid Ballard. With respect to the fallen generals, the spots where they fell were marked; in Stevens’s case, the spot was marked with a mound of boulders and later a white quartz stone, which can still be seen to this day.

In 1915, Ballard’s son, James W. Ballard, said of his father and this stone, “…an ex-Confederate maimed in that great struggle, with weak hands but with a heart strong in its respect for a brave fallen foeman, planted that stone to mark that spot…with no services other than the reverence one brave man has for another.”

Learn more about the Battle of Chantilly: https://bit.ly/4lNJSOU

08/30/2026

August 30, 1776 — The Army Escapes Across the East River

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, General George Washington accomplished one of the greatest military withdrawals in American history.

Throughout the night, Colonel John Glover’s Marblehead mariners quietly ferried the Continental Army from Brooklyn Heights across the East River to Manhattan. Artillery, wagons, ammunition, and thousands of soldiers were loaded into boats under strict orders for complete silence. Wagon wheels were muffled, no voices were permitted above a whisper, and campfires remained burning along the American lines to convince the British that the army was still in its defenses.

Major General Thomas Mifflin’s Pennsylvania troops held the outer works as the rear guard, prepared to make the final withdrawal once the rest of the army had escaped.

Before dawn, however, a potentially disastrous mistake nearly unraveled the entire operation.

A staff officer mistakenly informed Mifflin that it was his turn to withdraw. Obeying the order, the rear guard abandoned the defensive lines and began marching toward the ferry. When Washington encountered the troops, he immediately realized what had happened.

“Good God, General Mifflin,” he exclaimed, “I am afraid you have ruined us.”

Mifflin explained that he had been ordered to leave. Washington quickly recognized the error and sent the Pennsylvanians back to reoccupy the lines, preserving the deception while the evacuation continued.

Time was running out. Dawn approached before the crossing was complete.

Then fortune intervened.

A thick fog settled over Brooklyn Heights and the East River, concealing the final stages of the evacuation from British observation. Although British patrols began investigating the unusually quiet American lines, they could not see the movement taking place at the ferry.

Only after nearly every soldier had crossed did Washington himself leave the Brooklyn shore, stepping aboard one of the last boats. By about seven o’clock that morning, approximately 9,000 Continental soldiers had safely reached Manhattan.

The British had won a decisive victory at the Battle of Long Island. But they had failed to destroy Washington’s army.

Its survival ensured that the American Revolution would continue.

And that’s the way it was, August 30, 1776.

08/29/2026

: in 1776, the Marblehead Regiment, composed largely of Massachusetts sailors and fishermen, enabled a daring night retreat across the East River amidst a nor'easter, ending the Battle of Long Island but saving the Continental Army.

08/29/2026

The American Revolution is often remembered through the familiar lens of successful campaigns and their contributing commanders: General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, and General Horatio…

08/29/2026

08/29/2026

08/29/2026

This weekend at Big Hole National Battlefield:

08/29/2026

August 29, 1776 — Washington Decides to Save the Army Rather than Fight a Losing Battle

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, General George Washington made one of the most important decisions of the Revolutionary War.

For two days, the Continental Army had been confined behind the defenses at Brooklyn Heights while General William Howe’s forces steadily tightened their siege. The British expected time to finish what the Battle of Long Island had begun.

At 4:00 that afternoon, Washington gathered his senior officers to determine the army’s next course of action.

Major General Thomas Mifflin argued that remaining at Brooklyn invited disaster. With the East River at their backs and the Royal Navy expected to close the escape route at any time, he urged an immediate withdrawal to Manhattan. Mifflin even volunteered for one of the most dangerous assignments of the war—leaving his Pennsylvania troops behind as a rear guard to hold the defenses until the rest of the army had crossed.

The council of war agreed unanimously. The army must retreat.

Washington immediately issued orders, but secrecy was essential. The soldiers were told only to gather their ammunition and baggage and prepare for a night attack against the British. Few knew that the real operation would be a complete evacuation across the East River.

As darkness fell, the movement began. The sick and wounded were quietly taken to the Brooklyn Ferry. Around 11:00 p.m., Colonel John Glover’s Marblehead regiment—experienced sailors and fishermen from Massachusetts—began ferrying Continental soldiers across the river to Manhattan.

If the operation failed, the Continental Army could be trapped against the river and destroyed. If it succeeded, Washington would preserve the army that remained the Revolution’s best hope.

The fate of the American cause now rested on silence, discipline, skilled boatmen, and the cover of night.

And that’s the way it was, August 29, 1776.

08/28/2026

George Washington’s army was on the brink of annihilation. During the early morning hours of August 27, 1776, British General William Howe had quietly slipped 10,000 troops through an unguarded pass and into the rear of the American Army, while it was being pinned down by a feint from Hessian forces in its front. When the Patriots realized they were being flanked and surrounded, many began to panic. Seeing that his men were about to be trapped, General William Alexander, a Scotsman who was called Lord Stirling, ordered them to retreat through the narrow gap still available to them, across a creek. But Stirling didn’t go with them. He stayed behind with a regiment of Maryland Continentals, about 270 men commanded by Major Mordecai Gist. Those men would perform one of the most sacrificial and heroic feats of the Revolutionary War.

As over 2,000 British regulars advanced on the tiny rear guard, supported by artillery, Stirling ordered his men to attack. Against overwhelming odds, the Marylanders charged.

As their comrades hurriedly made their escape, the Marylanders drove headlong into the British lines, stalling their advance. Thrown back, the Maryland men rallied and charged again, fighting desperately to buy time for the rest of the army.

Eventually they were overwhelmed. Of Stirling’s approximately 270 Marylanders, 259 were killed, wounded, or captured. Only about a dozen made it back to the American lines. But Washington’s army was saved from destruction, and a few days later would make a seemingly miraculous escape from Long Island under the cover of fog. Had the army been destroyed on Long Island, the Revolution might have been over.

Because at the time it was believed there were 400 of them, these brave Marylanders, the 1st Maryland Regiment, have gone down in history as “the Maryland 400.” The inscription on the battlefield monument in their honor reads: “In honor of Maryland’s Four Hundred, who on this battlefield August 27, 1776, saved the American army.”

08/28/2026

250 Years Ago Today: The Heroic Charges of the Maryland 400

On August 27, 1776, in Brooklyn, New York, a small contingent of Maryland soldiers showed the world what valor and patriotism looked like. During one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War, the actions of these brave soldiers would earn them the venerated name of the Maryland 400.

https://emergingrevolutionarywar.org/2026/08/27/250-years-ago-today-the-heroic-charges-of-the-maryland-400/