The Battle of Long Island

Last Update: Monday 01 Jan 0001

In the Battle of Long Island, the first major battle of the American Revolution after the United States declared independence from England, the British overwhelmingly defeated the Continental Army. Both Jedediah Mills (father of Mary Platt Mills) and William Mills (father of William Mills of Erie County) fought in the battle alongside other Mills family members in Captain Nathaniel Platt’s Smithtown Regiment of Minute Men of Suffolk County, under the command of General Nathaniel Woodhull.

— 1876, The British Fleet in the Lower Bay, Harper’s Magazine, public domain image uploaded by member to wikipedia.org. View largest available size.

— Emmet Collection of Manuscripts Etc. Relating to American History. The generals of the American Revolution. Volume 3: William Alexander, Earl of Stirling. Public domain image uploaded by member to wikipedia.org. View largest available size.

The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New York. The British defeated the Americans and gained access to the strategically important Port of New York, which they held for the rest of the war. It was the first major battle to take place after the United States declared its independence on July 4, and in troop deployment and combat, it was the largest battle of the war.
...On August 21, the British landed on the shores of Gravesend Bay in southwest Kings County, across the Narrows from Staten Island and more than a dozen miles south of the established East River crossings to Manhattan. After five days of waiting, the British attacked the American defenses on the Guan Heights. Unknown to the Americans, however, Howe had brought his main army around their rear and attacked their flank soon after. The Americans panicked, resulting in twenty percent losses through casualties and capture, although a stand by 400 Maryland and Delaware troops prevented greater losses. The remainder of the army retreated to the main defenses on Brooklyn Heights. The British dug in for a siege, but on the night of August 29–30, Washington evacuated the entire army to Manhattan without the loss of supplies or a single life. The Continental Army was driven out of Manhattan entirely after several more defeats and was forced to retreat through New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

— Battle of Long Island, wikipedia.org.

— 1899, U.S. Army-Artillery retreat from Long Island. United States New York Long Island, 1899. Akron, Ohio: The Werner Company. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/95507855/. View largest available size.

Several members of the Mills family fought as Minute Men in the Continental Army, and specifically fought in the Battle of Long Island. Based on strikingly similar accounts of each in the published Mills genealogies that make note of it, they each “signed the Association in May 1775” joining “Capt. Nathaniel Platt’s Smithtown company of Col. Josiah Smith’s First Regiment of Suffolk County Minute Men”.

Sergeant Jonas Mills (19 Mar 1753 to 06 May 1811), Jedediah Mills’ brother.

— 1919, Genealogies of Long Island families : a collection of genealogies relating to the following Long Island families: Dickerson, Mitchill, Wickham, Carman, Raynor, Rushmore, Satterly, Hawkins, Arthur Smith, Mills, Howard, Lush, Greene, Compiled by Charles J. Werner, Mainly From Records Left By Benjamin F. Thompson, Historian of Long Island, p110, Logan Utah FamilySearch Library, familysearch.org. Partial transcription. View largest available size.

Corporal Jedediah Mills (04 Nov 1755 to 21 Dec 1828), Mary Platt’s father.

— 01 May 1939, A Documentary history of the family of Mills : descended from George Mills of Hempstead and Jamaica by Lewis D. Cook, p53-54, familysearch.org. Partial transcription.View largest available size.

Jedediah Mills married Elizabeth (Mills) Mills (22 Apr 1763 to [12 or 15] Jul 1826), William Mill’s sister. Jedediah Mills was the father of Mary Platt Mills (30 Jan 1801 to 18 Jun 1881), Jonas Davis Mills’ second wife, step-mother to Edward Mills.

William Mills (27 Aug 1757 to 12 Jun 1837), Elizabeth Mills’ brother.

— 01 May 1939, A Documentary history of the family of Mills : descended from George Mills of Hempstead and Jamaica by Lewis D. Cook, p57, familysearch.org. View largest available size.

William Mills is the father of William Mills of Erie County NY who fought in the War of 1812, the “Second War of Independence”.

Yet another William Mills also fought in the battle.

William Mills (1754 to 19 Oct 1818), who also appears to be from Mills Pond. To distinguish him from William the father of William of Erie County, I will refer to this third William as the son of Jacob Mills (unknown to 20 Oct 1779).

The soldiers’ ages on the day the battle began:

Age	Soldier
23	Sergeant Jonas Mills
24	Corporal Jedediah Mills
19	William Mills of Mills Pond
22	William Mills, son of Jacob

Note that the battle began on the 19th birthday of William Mills of Mills Pond.

To try to make clearer the relationships among the Mills that are the primary subjects of this work, I created the following visual representation:

Note a number of interconnections. Sergeant Jonas and Jedediah were siblings. Their father Jonas was the first cousin of his wife Abigail Mills of New Jersey, whose father Samuel Mills (the junior) was the son of Samuel Mills (the senior) whose brother was Timothy Mills, the Suffolk County Mills progenitor. Elizabeth’s grandfather, Isaac Mills Sr., was her husband Jedediah Mills’ father’s half brother. Elizabeth and William of Mills Pond were siblings, and so that William was the uncle of Edward Mills’ father Jonas Davis and Jonas’ second wife Mary Platt. Jonas Davis and Mary Platt were cousins, as they shared common grandparents Isaac Mills Jr. (19 Feb 1727 to 23 Apr 1783) and Sarah (Phillips) Mills (26 Feb 1731 to 29 Apr 1790), who were themselves first cousins. (Although not shown in the diagram, Sarah Phillips’ parents were George Phillips (1698 to 21 Nov 1771) and Elizabeth (Mills) Phillips (1706 to 19 Apr 1775).) Isaac and Sarah’s son George Phillips Mills (23 Aug 1765 to 18 Mar 1846) was Jonas’ father and Isaac and Sarah’s daughter Elizabeth (Mills) Mills was Mary Platt’s mother. There are a number of other instances of intermarriage throughout the Mills genealogy.

A Documentary History of the Family of Mills also contains an entry, p46, of Joannah Mills (06 Mar 1731 to 05 Oct 1781) who married 01 Sep 1751 Nathaniel Woodhull (05 Jul 1720 to 27 Oct 1804), simply “Nathan” on his tombstone, a Captain in the Continental Army during the Revolution.

— 01 May 1939, A Documentary history of the family of Mills : descended from George Mills of Hempstead and Jamaica by Lewis D. Cook, p46, familysearch.org. View largest available size.

Joanna⁵ b. March 6, 1731, md. Capt. Nathan Woodhull in 1750 and died Oct. 5, 1783 aged 51, leaving Nathan,⁶* Nathaniel,⁶ David,⁶ Sarah,⁶ Phebe⁶, Joanna⁶ and Benjamin⁶. Capt. Woodhull and family lived at Setauket where his children were born.

— 1919, Genealogies of Long Island families : a collection of genealogies relating to the following Long Island families: Dickerson, Mitchill, Wickham, Carman, Raynor, Rushmore, Satterly, Hawkins, Arthur Smith, Mills, Howard, Lush, Greene, Compiled by Charles J. Werner, Mainly From Records Left By Benjamin F. Thompson, Historian of Long Island, p106, Logan Utah FamilySearch Library, familysearch.org. View largest available size.

This Nathan is not to be confused with either Captain Nathaniel Woodhull (28 Jul 1769 to 18 Jan 1802) or that Captain Nathaniel Woodhull’s uncle, Revolutionary War hero General Nathaniel Woodhull (30 Dec 1722, Mastic, Long Island to 20 Sep 1776) who was captured and eventually killed by the British in Jamaica Queens NY during the Battle of Long Island.

General Nathaniel Woodhull (December 30, 1722 – September 20, 1776) was a leader of the New York Provincial Congress and a brigadier general of the New York Militia during the American Revolution.
Woodhull was born on December 30, 1722, in Mastic, Long Island, Province of New York, to Nathaniel Woodhull and Sarah Smith Woodhull. His family had been prominent in New York affairs since the mid seventeenth century.
In 1758 the thirty-six year old Woodhull joined the New York provincial forces, where he held the rank of major. He fought in numerous battles during the French and Indian War. He was at the Battle of Carillon under General Abercromby, and at the Battle of Fort Frontenac under General Bradstreet. In 1760, as colonel of the 3rd Regiment of New York Provincials took part in the invasion of Canada under General Amherst. After the end of hostilities, he returned to farming and community affairs.
In 1761 he married Ruth Floyd, the sister of William Floyd a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Sentiment against England's taxation of the colonies led to Suffolk County electing Woodhull to Province of New York assembly. From 1769 to 1775 he served as a member of the Province of New York assembly for Suffolk County. As such, he spoke against the Crown's colonial policies. He represented Suffolk also in the convention which chose delegates to the First Continental Congress, and in the New York Provincial Congress. In May 1775, the Provincial Congress assumed control of the colony and reorganized the militia. In August, 1775, Woodhull was elected president of the New York Provincial Congress.
In October 1775 he was made brigadier general of the Suffolk and Queen's County militia. In August 1776, on the eve of the Battle of Long Island, Woodhull's militia was detailed to drive livestock east to prevent its falling into British hands. Woodhull's troops had driven 1,400 cattle out onto the Hempstead Plains and with 300 more ready to go. A severe thunderstorm drove the general to take refuge in a tavern run by Increase Carpenter, about two miles east of Jamaica in what is now Hollis. Relief was not forthcoming, and his situation deteriorated.
Woodhull was captured near Jamaica by a detachment of Fraser's Highlanders led by captain Sir James Baird. He was struck with a sword multiple times, injuring his arm and head by a British officer purportedly for not saying, "God save the King", as ordered, saying instead "God save us all". He was taken to a cattle transport, serving as a prison ship in Gravesend Bay. A sympathetic British officer had him transferred to the century-old house built by Nicasius di Sille in the Dutch village of New Utrecht which is now a part of Brooklyn. The house was demolished in 1850 by the owner Baret Wyckoff. It was located in the current vicinity of 84th St. and New Utrecht Ave. His arm was amputated in an effort to save his life, he managed to call for his wife who was at his side when he died on September 20, 1776. He was buried at his family home.

— Nathaniel Woodhull, wikipedia.org.

— The Capture of Nathaniel Woodhull, public domain image uploaded by anonymous member, wikipedia.org. View largest available size.

The killing of General Woodhull was yet another act of British cruelty that further galvanized the Patriots in the cause of independence.

The Woodhull name was widespread on Long Island and can be found in a number of other family genealogies, including the descendants of Timothy Mills. General Nathaniel Woodhull’s name has since been adopted by a number of schools, as well as Adam Smith’s hometown:

Official formation of Woodhull, named after General Nathanial Woodhull was done by an act of Legislature on February 18, 1828. Formerly part of Middletown it took lands from Rathbone, Troupsburge and Addison. Woodhull now includes the hamlets of Hedgesville and Borden.

— Leslie Smith, Woodhull – A Brief History, p1.