August 26: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 26, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1876, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “A hundred years have wrought a marvelous change in Brooklyn. Its four thousand inhabitants of 1776 have multiplied to half a million; the march of improvement has swept onward past ‘Brooklyn Church’ and ‘Bedford Four Corners,’ and Bushwick and Gowanus, and a great city, with solid phalanges of stately warehouses and a magnificent array of private residences, crowns the site where then clustered the fifty dwellings around ‘the Ferry’ with its quaint old tavern, the substantial Dutch farmhouses which dotted the shores of the Wallabout and the East River, and the miles of thrifty fruit orchards, choice market gardens, pasture and woodlands, and hill and dale, which stretched inward from the water front … The three or four hamlets or neighborhoods comprising the old town, and all of which are embraced in the present city, were settled principally by Hollanders or their descendants, engaged in the peaceful and quiet pursuit of agriculture. The wave of Revolutionary sentiment rolled over the community, but it created scarce a ripple on the phlegmatic placidity of the Dutch inhabitants. If they were disturbed at all it was by the fear of pecuniary loss and personal inconvenience. No thrill of patriotism animated their breasts, and though their farms and hillsides were destined to become the theater of the first essay of the new nation in behalf of its recently asserted independence, they relaxed naught of their outward seeming of indifference to the approach of the coming storm; or if they moved at all it was more frequently in support of what seemed the stronger and therefore the more likely to be the winning side, than in defense of their rights. Indeed, had the future of Kings County depended solely upon the efforts of her own citizens, Kings County would have had no future.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1895, the Eagle published the following letter: “In the vacant lot between Seventh and Eighth streets, bounded east by Third Avenue, lie the remains of 256 brave Maryland soldiers, who were killed by the British and Hessians at the Cortelyou house, corner of Fifth avenue and Third street, during the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776. Over a century has elapsed since the bloody but glorious day, when the bodies of those devoted men were borne back and laid to rest forever, far from their homes and kindred. No stone marks the spot, to guide the patriotic pilgrim to where he can lay a loving tribute of grateful admiration on their graves. No public recognition of the devotion and sacrifice of those heroic youths has ever been made by the people who live on the soil they died to defend. Decoration days have come and gone, when the graves of our known and unknown loyal dead are decorated with flags and flowers. But these men’s remains are not indicated even by the semblance of graves and no flags or flowers have ever been placed over them, because their resting place is unknown to thousands who daily pass that place made sacred by those patriots’ blood. Tomorrow morning a delegation of Marylanders 256 strong will come to Brooklyn, landing at the Annex wharf and proceeding to Prospect park will there unveil and dedicate a monument to the memory of the men who died in defense of Brooklyn. We are a patriotic and we are not an ungrateful people. Is it expecting too much to ask to have Old Glory hung out tomorrow from every house in Brooklyn. — Loomis S. Langdon, Colonel United States Army, Chairman Parade Committee, Brooklyn, August 26, 1895.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1917, the Eagle reported, “The Battle of Long Island is to be celebrated today at the bandstand in Prospect Park by the citizens of Brooklyn. The Kings County Historical Society will have charge of the meeting, having made all the arrangements. President Charles A. Ditmas of the society will preside. Dr. James Sullivan, the state historian, will deliver an historical address, and Gerhard M. Dahl will deliver a patriotic address calling upon the citizens to do their utmost to win this great war just as our ancestors did in the Revolution. The Rev. Charles William Roeder of the historic Flatlands Dutch Reformed Church will invoke the divine blessing. Dr. Giovanni E. Conterno will direct his celebrated military band in patriotic and classical selections, among which will be a descriptive fantasia written by him for the occasion, and entitled, ‘The Battle of Long Island.’ Over 1,200 especially invited guests are expected to be present.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1926, the Eagle reported, “The most severe fighting during the Battle of Long Island, 150 years ago tomorrow, took place between Lord Stirling’s raw revolutionary forces and the trained British troops which had surrounded him. Part of the action resolved itself around the Cortelyou House, later known as the Old Stone House. Its location was the junction of the present-day 5th Ave. and 3rd St. Today, after years of neglect, the remnants of the historic house are buried under many feet of earth and debris.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Maureen Tucker (the Velvet Underground), who was born in 1944; former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, who was born in 1945; Songwriters Hall of Famer Valerie Simpson, who was born in 1946; “Joker” star Brett Cullen, who was born in 1956; composer and bandleader Branford Marsalis, who was born in 1960; “Life Goes On” star Chris Burke, who was born in 1965; Garbage singer Shirley Manson, who was born in 1966; “Mike & Molly” star Melissa McCarthy, who was born in 1970; “Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin, who was born in 1980; “Star Trek” star Chris Pine, who was born in 1980; writer and comedian John Mulaney, who was born in 1982; 2012 American League Cy Young winner David Price, who was born in 1985; former Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden, who was born in 1989; cross-country skier and Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins, who was born in 1991; and “Akeelah and the Bee” star Keke Palmer, who was born in 1993.