242 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

CHAPTER IX.

BROOKLYN DURING THE REVOLUTION

BROOKLYN, at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, was a pleasant but quiet agricultural town, numbering between three and four thousand inhabitants, who were mostly grouped within three or four hamlets or neighborhoods. Near “the Ferry” a few houses were clustered around the old ferry tavern, whose reputation' for excellent dinners made it a favorite resort of British officers and the it young bucks" of New York; but the whole number of dwellings in this portion of the town (now embraced within the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th wards of the city), at that time, scarcely exceeded fifty. Along “the Heights,” whose precipitous banks were crowned with goodly groves of cedar, were a few private residences, among which that of Philip Livingston, Esq., was most conspicuous for size and elegance; while the whole of that now thickly-builded portion of the city, embraced between the East River, Joralemon and Fulton streets, was occupied only by thrifty fruit-orchards, extensive marketgardens, and choice pasture-land. From either side of the ferry, along the shores of the Wallabout to Bushwick, and along the East River to Gowanus, were scattered the substantial farm-houses of old Dutch families. Nearly a mile and a half back from the ferry, and in the middle of the road to Jamaica, stood the ancient stone church, around which was gathered the village proper of Brooklyn.

* We have preferred to call this the “Battle of Brooklyn,”—because that term more completely describes the locale of the battle, which was fought entirely within the limits of the old town, now included in the present city of Brooklyn.