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by Charles H. Lewis (Author)
The American Revolutionary War was just a little over one year old, when, shortly after midnight on the 27th of August 1776, the British Army began an attack in force on a small number of picket guards stationed in advance of the right wing of the American Army just south of Brooklyn, New York. Thus began what is generally known as the Battle of Long Island, arguably the largest battle of an extended and sanguinary conflict that was to last six more years. Retreating precipitously, the terrified pickets sent word of the attack to George Washington's main army encamped behind fortified positions about three miles to the north. From there, American General William Alexander (Lord Stirling) was immediately dispatched with the regiments available to him south along the Gowanus Road to meet the British threat. One of those American regiments was Colonel Jedediah Huntington's 17th Continental Regiment, made up of men primarily from eastern Connecticut. Arriving at the scene of action, Lord Stirling sent Colonel Huntington's Regiment, with parts of two other regiments, into the wooded hills inland from the Bay to protect his exposed left flank. In doing so, the general unwittingly sent Huntington's Regiment into oblivion. What happened to the Connecticut men of Huntington's 17th Continental Regiment after they marched off into what was the most isolated and remote part of the battlefield would remain a mystery for the next two and a half centuries. For the first time, herein, the author has been able to piece together the fate of Huntington's Regiment from diaries, Revolutionary War pension records, Connecticut State records, family histories, and town records and histories. While this book tells the story of the regiment as a whole, genealogists will find it of value as it also provides brief biographies of many of the individual soldiers who served in the regiment during 1776. Names and places have been thoroughly indexed. The book is 302 pages in all, with maps, illustrations and photographs of important locations included. There are extensive footnotes, a thorough bibliography, and an appendix which contains important historical documents related to Huntington's Regiment.
