August 27 in Military History — On This Day

Battle of Long Island

The largest battle of the entire Revolutionary War. Howe landed 20,000 British and Hessian troops on Long Island in a meticulously planned operation. While an American force held Brooklyn Heights, Howe sent Clinton on a night march through unguarded Jamaica Pass to strike the American left from behind. The encircled American units were destroyed or captured. Only desperate rearguard fighting by Maryland and Delaware troops — 'The Four Hundred' — bought time. On the night of August 29, Washington secretly evacuated 9,000 men across the East River to Manhattan, using every available boat in a thick fog.

Washington's army survived only by luck and a providential fog. The battle exposed fatal weaknesses in American generalship and coordination. The miraculous evacuation — arguably more important than the battle itself — preserved the Continental Army to fight on. Without it, the Revolution might have ended in 1776.

Full battle details →

⚔️📍 Brooklyn, New York1776

Battle of Long Island — Washington's Army Nearly Destroyed

British General Howe outflanked the Continental Army at Brooklyn in the largest battle of the Revolutionary War, killing or capturing over 1,400 Americans. Washington skillfully evacuated his surviving army across the East River to Manhattan under cover of fog.

The Battle of Long Island nearly ended the Revolution in its first year; only Washington's brilliant nighttime evacuation saved the Continental Army to fight another day.

Outcome

British victory; Washington escapes; Revolution survives

Casualties

3,000

Warrenpoint Ambush and the Mountbatten Killing

On a single day the IRA struck two devastating blows. At Narrow Water near Warrenpoint, a double roadside-bomb ambush killed eighteen British soldiers — the Army's worst loss of the Troubles — catching the survivors of the first blast with a second. Hours earlier, a bomb planted on his boat at Mullaghmore had killed Lord Mountbatten, uncle of Prince Philip and a member of the royal family, along with three others.

The double attack of August 27 was one of the IRA's most spectacular days, demonstrating its reach and ruthlessness — striking both the elite Parachute Regiment and the royal family itself — and it hardened British resolve while shocking the world.

Full battle details →