Following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, was the Battle of Long Island.

History Channel is showing a series on the American Revolution. Last night I caught the part that covered from the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the Battle of Long Island.

I learned some things they didn’t teach us in History class, like following General Washington’s defeat and retreat, his popularity was way down and people were questioning his leadership. He apparently made a lot of mistakes that lead to the defeat at Long Island and the American revolutionist were seriously considering getting a new man to lead their army.

What saved his army and allowed them to retreat from that lost battle was a fog. What luck. I have found that good luck has played an important part in America’s history (Like General Sam Houston finding the Mexican army, which had his greatly outnumbered, asleep at San Jacinto).

Back to America, fortunately for America, General Washington finally came through and we won our Independence from Britain.

When you look at New York City, it is hard to imagine that that place was once wooded and that a battle took place there.

And an interesting side note. On September 11, 1776, Washington rejects the British terms of surrender.

I hated history in grade school (They concentrated on names and dates and made it boring), but as I get older, I find history very interesting.