Jamaica (Brookland), New York

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Jamaica (Brookland), New York

JAMAICA (BROOKLAND), NEW YORK. 28 August 1776. The American defeat at Long Island on 27 August resulted in the isolation of a militia force of barely one hundred men under Brigadier General Nathaniel Woodhull, who had been posted on the eastern end of the island with the mission of protecting the inhabitants and driving cattle out of the enemy's reach. Woodhull moved to his headquarters at Jamaica, where he awaited orders and reinforcements. On the night of 28 August, Sir William Erskine led elements of the Seventeenth Light Dragoons and the Seventy-first Highlanders—about 700 troops—in an operation that surprised Woodhull and many of his men at Carpenter's House, Jamaica. Woodhull died as a result of ill treatment in captivity, and through his death became a hero and martyr to the Revolutionary cause.

SEE ALSO Woodhull, Nathaniel.

                             revised by Barn et Schecter