Two hundred and fifty years ago, Marylanders were part of a pivotal moment in the American Revolution, one that would become known as the Battle of Brooklyn. On August 27, 1776, thousands of American troops faced the much larger British and Hessian forces on Long Island. As the Continental Army retreated, a group of Maryland soldiers made a stand that bought time for George Washington and the rest of the army to escape. They became known as the Maryland 400.
Among the places associated with their story is the Vechte-Cortelyou House, a Dutch farmhouse in what is now Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, where Maryland troops fought to hold the area around the house as American forces retreated toward the East River. The Marylanders’ resistance came at a cost. Many were killed or captured, but their actions helped slow the British advance and gave thousands of Continental soldiers time to escape Manhattan. George Washington’s army survived to fight another day.
Read More About the Battle of Brooklyn and The Origin of the “Old Line State”
Bringing the Maryland 400 into Your Hands
We’re revisiting stories like this one through Building Communities, our collection of paper models depicting historic places in each county across Maryland (and in this case, beyond).
Our model of the Vechte-Cortelyou House offers a small, hands-on way to connect with a story that can otherwise feel very distant.
Printed on paper and assembled by hand, the model transforms a historic place into something you can hold, study, and build. The Maryland 400 story is part of a much larger history of Maryland’s role in the American Revolution. From the soldiers who fought on battlefields far from home to the communities that supported the revolutionary cause, Marylanders were deeply involved in the struggle that shaped the new nation.
As Maryland continues to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, we’re looking at these stories not simply as events from 1776, but as part of the places and landscapes that still help us understand our past.