FEINBERG/WHITMAN       Box 36      Folder 4             LITERARY FILE       
  
Prose    "Brooklyniana: Retreat from Brooklyn - Prison ship" (undated). (DCN3) A MS. draft.997
Brooklyniana: Retreat from Brooklyn: Prison Ship. A.MS.
(2p. 15 1/2 x 20, 24 x 20 cm.)

Written in ink on a sheet with the top half cut off and another 
full sheet, 184 and 237 words:

Below the slope north of Fort Greene, [Park], lay moored, through
[the seven years of] most of [the] that contest, the black Prison Ships that receuved 
so many representatives from all the Old Thirteen States;
and in whose fœtid air died nearly twelve thousand of those nameless 
patriots, every one of whom might have had his release and 
good pay by turning and serving the British king.--Brooklyn is the 
keeper of the most heroic remains of the spirit of '76 --[these days].--
Hardly an acre of our soil, from the Wallabout to Gowanus, and back
to Prospect Hill and Bedford, and beyond Bedford, but is great
ground, and will be more thought, of ages, hence than it is now.--
Suffering is as endearing as triumph, or more enduring than triumph.--  Here was our defeat at the 
most serious battle in some respects ever fought within the limits of these States.-
Over 3000 American Troops were shot, bayonetted, drowned, suffocated in the mud, or other-
                                                        (over)998
wise lost. - - Upon our hills stood Washington himself, newly arrived
from the east, watching the progress of the day, surrounded /
                                                  7
by his officers, moving from one eminence to another, lifting his
glass perpetually to his eyes, at one time wringing his hands, and unable to 
restrain the tears that ran [in brooks] down his cheeks as he saw or
learned the terrible slaughter of the young men confided to him by
their parents[-]--the Maryland and Delaware regiments, containing the
flower of the bravery and promise of those states.--The stairs of 
what is now the Fulton ferry, with its luxurious accomodations so
familiar to our daily and hourly passage, supported the feet of the 
Chief in by far the most important two or three hours of his life --
most important for himself, and this great nation, and even the
world.--Upon their rough platform[s], very different then from now, 
Washington still held out, sleepless and dauntless, drizzling in
the southwest wind and foggy day=break of the 30th of August,1776,
receiving intelligence and sending orders, and personally superintending 
the embarcation of his haggard and disheartened army.--In
what is now Fulton avenue, near Duffield street, parts of the different 
brigades marched and countermarched the whole of the wet
night, round the old Dutch church, built in the middle of the road,
which ran on both sides of it.--It was the central rendezvous duringBrooklyniana: Retreat from Brooklyn: 2
the gloomy and rainy two days and nights that preceded the retreat. -- That masterly retreat was the surmounted [?] crisis that saved the7

by his officers, moving from one eminence to another, lifting
his glass perpetually to his eyes, at one time wringing his hands, and
unable to restrain the tears that ran [in brooks] down
his cheeks as he saw or learned the terrible
slaughter of the young men confided to him by their
parents[;] - the Maryland and Delaware regiments, containing
the flower of the bravery and promise of those states.
The stairs of what is now the Fulton ferry, with
its luxurious accommodations so familiar to our daily
and hourly passage, supported the feet of the Chief
in by far the most important two or three hours
of his life - most important for himself, and this
great nation, and even the world.– Upon their rough
platform[s,] very different then from now. Washington
still held out, sleepless and dauntless, drizzling
in the southwest wind and foggy day- break of
the 30th of August, 1776, receiving intelligence and
sending orders, and personally superintending the embarcation
of his haggard and disheartened army.– In what
is now Fulton avenue, near Duffield street, parts
of the different brigades marched and countermarched
the whole of the wet night, round the old Dutch
church, built in the middle of the road, which
ran both sides of it.– It was the central rendezvous 
during the gloomy and rainy two days and nights that
preceded the retreat.— That masterly retreat
was the [????ted] crisis that saved theBelow the
slope north of Fort Greene, [Park] lay moored, through
most of [the] [the seven years of] that contest, the black Prison
Ships that received so many representatives from 
all the Old Thirteen States; and in whose fœtid air
died nearly twelve thousand of those nameless patriots,
every one of whom might have had his release and
good pay by turning and serving the British King.—
Brooklyn is the keeper of the most heroic remains
of the spirit of [those days.] '76 . – –  Hardly an acre of our
soil, from the Wallabout  to Gowanus, and back to
Prospect Hill and Bedford, and beyond Bedford, but is 
great ground, and will be more thought of ages hence
than it is now.— Suffering is as endearing as triumph, or more endearing than triumph.
Here was our defeat at the most serious battle in some respects
ever fought within the limits of these States.— Over 3000
American troops were shot, bayonetted, drowned, suffocated in the mud, or otherwise
lost.— Upon our hills stood Washington himself, newly
arrived from the east, watching the progress of the day, surrounded