World-Class Heart Rhythm Care in East Stroudsburg

Millions of Americans have heart rhythm disorders, potentially serious, even deadly conditions that can lead to heart attack and stroke. If you experience any of the following symptoms, it could be a heart arrythmia and it’s time to see a doctor.

• Fluttering in the chest

• Racing heartbeat

• Chest pain

• Shortness of breath

Lehigh Valley Heart and Vascular Institute’s Simon Gringut, MD, offers state-of-the-art care with a focus on minimally invasive procedures wherever possible. Make an appointment by calling 570-424-9970.

LVPG Cardiology–East Stroudsburg

179 Independence Road, East Stroudsburg, Pa.

Simon Gringut, MD Advanced Cardiac Electrophysiology LVHN.org/SAGringut

from Staten Island. New York Bay was narrow here, and the Americans were so close to the enemy they could hear noises coming from the British camp.

The Pennsylvania regiments led by Miles and Brodhead also moved over to Brooklyn. Miles was Brodhead’s commanding officer. “At that time General Washington had 24,000 men in his army, upwards of 7,000 of whom were returned sick and unfit for duty,” Miles said.

On Aug. 22, British ships ferried 15,000 troops from Staten Island to Long Island. They landed at Gravesend Bay, and moved out into a broad plain adjacent to the bay. A wooded ridge ran across the west side of the plain. The Americans had strong positions at three passes in the ridge. Brodhead and Miles placed their troop near the pass at Flatbush.

“I was ordered over with my rifle regiment to watch their motions,” Miles said. “I marched near to the village of Flatbush, where the (Scottish) Highlanders then lay, but they moved the next day to Gen. Howe's camp, and their place was supplied by the Hessians. I lay here within cannon shot of the Hessian camp for four days …”

Minor combat occurred over the next several days. Then, after dark on Aug. 26, British troops staged a night march across the plain. Guided by local Tories, they came to an undefended pass in the ridge. The Americans had strong guards on the other passes in the ridge, but had lacked the troops to post guards at this one. Known as the Jamaica Pass, it was the farthest pass from Gravesend Bay and from Brooklyn.

In the early hours of Aug. 27, thousands of British soldiers marched through the Jamaica Pass and doubled back to place themselves between the American line at Brooklyn and the rebel troops on the ridge. Then they attacked the Americans on the ridge from behind.

At the same time, enemy forces on the plain attacked the Americans from the front. This maneuver trapped hundreds of rebel soldiers–including Sullivan, Miles and Brodhead.

“I was myself entirely cut off from our lines and therefore endeavored to conceal myself, with a few men who would not leave me,” said Miles, who had commanded two Pennsylvania regiments. “I hoped to remain until night, … but about 3 o'clock in the afternoon was discovered by a party of Hessians and obliged to surrender.”

Writing afterwards, Miles said that prior to the battle he had urged his superior officers to fortify the Jamaica Pass, but this hadn’t been done. His regiments were the closest ones to this pass.

“Although Brodhead returned safely to the American camp at Brooklyn, he spent much of the day close to enemy troops.”

He said that on the morning of Aug. 30, he attempted to reach the Jamaica road before British troops came through the pass. “After marching nearly two miles, the whole distance through woods, I arrived within sight of the Jamaica road, and to my great mortification I saw the main body of the enemy in full march between me and our lines,” Miles said.

Miles realized that Brodhead’s men were also cut off. As Brodhead’s commanding officer, he sent an officer on horseback with orders for Brodhead “to push on by the left of the enemy” with his battalion, “and endeavor get into our lines (at Brooklyn) … Happily they succeeded, but had to wade a mill dam by which a few were drowned.”

Miles attempted to take his own battalion back to Brooklyn. “I remained on the ground myself until they had all passed me. The enemy were then within less than 20 yards of us. … By this means I came into the rear instead of the front of my command. We had proceeded but a short distance before we were again engaged with a superior body of the enemy, and here we lost a number of men.” Hessian soldiers eventually captured him.

Although Brodhead returned safely to the American camp at Brooklyn, he spent much of the day close to enemy troops. As he and his men moved through the woods, “we discovered the enemy's horse and foot to the number of four or five thousand in our front.”

At one point, Brodhead wanted his men–some armed with muskets, others with rifles–to provide cover for members in an American artillery unit that was dragging a brass cannon and a howitzer “through a clear field in order to gain a wood a little to the left of our front.”

As the Pennsylvanians attempted to do this, men belonging to a New England regiment ran through their ranks. “In the confusion, many of our men ran with them,” Brodhead said. “I did all in my power to rally the musketry and riflemen, but to no purpose, so that when we came to engage the enemy, I had not 50 men, notwithstanding which, we, after about three rounds, caused the enemy to retire.”

Like Miles, Gen. Sullivan had also favored having a strong guard along the Jamaica Road on the far left of the American position, “but could not persuade others to be of my opinion.” Consequently, British troops met no resistance when they entered the pass and marched around the Americans on the ridge.

Sullivan paid a steep price for this development. On the 27th, “I went to the hill near Flatbush to reconnoiter the enemy, and, with … 400 men, was surrounded by the enemy, who had advanced by the very road I had foretold,” he said later.

Sullivan’s soldiers fought vigorously. Even so, the general said that “after a long and severe engagement, (he) was made prisoner.”

By the time the fighting ended on Long Island, hundreds of Americans had been killed, wounded or captured.

The survivors had been pushed back to Brooklyn, all but trapped along New York Bay and the East River. The British navy had hundreds of ships in the bay near Brooklyn. Had the British been aggressive, the Americans could have been caught in a deadly vice–between the sailors in the bay and the British soldiers on land just east of Brooklyn.

But Gen. Washington outsmarted the British. He had Massachusetts sailors use small boats to ferry his army across the East River to New York during the night of Aug. 29-30. Heavy fog concealed the evacuation. At dawn on Aug. 30, the British realized the rebel army had escaped to New York City.

“We were most agreeably surprised to find that the rebels had entirely abandoned Long Island, and left every thing of bulk and weight behind them,” Ambrose Serle, the secretary of Admiral Richard Howe, wrote in his diary on August 30. “They had constructed forts, redoubts and entrenchments without end. Not a foot of ground was unfortified.”

The British victory demoralized the rebel troops. “Our officers and men in general, considering the confusion, behaved as well as men could do,” Brodhead wrote on Sept. 5 from the American camp north of New York City.

Brodhead also noted that Sullivan faulted Miles for letting enemy troops use the Jamaica Road to get west of the ridge.

Brodhead disagreed. “I understand that Gen. Sullivan has taken the liberty to charge our brave and good Col. Miles, with the ill success of the day, but give me leave to say, that if Gen. Sullivan and the rest of the generals on Long Island, had been as vigilant and prudent,” the battle might have ended differently.

Brodhead added that “the retreat from Long Island … was well conducted.”

September saw Washington’s army evacuate Manhattan Island. In November, Washington shifted 3,000 soldiers across the Hudson River to New Jersey. He soon began a 75-mile retreat across New Jersey to Trenton on the Delaware River.

Gen. Sullivan was released as part of a prisoner exchange in time to play a key role in the American victory at Trenton in late December.

Col. Miles remained a prisoner of war for 21 months before being released in 1778.

In 1779, Col. Brodhead became commandant at Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh.

J ohn L. Moore continues to pursue his lifelong interests in Pennsylvania’s colonial history and archaeology. The Northumberland writer has published 11 non-fiction books about Pennsylvania’s 16th and 17th century. John’s latest book, 1780: Year of Revenge, is currently available in book stores or from the online bookstore Sunbury Press Inc. This book is the 3rd volume in his Revolutionary Pennsylvania Series and tells the story of Indian raids all across the Pennsylvania Frontier — including the Poconos and Minisinks — in the year following General Sullivan’s 1779 invasion of the Iroquios homeland.

Over the years John has participated in archaeological excavations of Native American sites along the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. A professional storyteller, he recently took part in the Heritage Festival at Frances Slocum State Park near Wilkes-Barre. He told the true story of Frances Slocum, a 5-year-old girl who lived as a Native American after being kidnapped by Indians during the American Revolution. The park was named for her.