laststandonzombieisland

This is a great portrayal, and take special notice of the uniforms, which became the first US Army standard, and the green-banner of the Regiment. However, remember this was late August, so you can imagine how hot these troopies are.

At the Battle of Long Island, the actions of the Delaware Regiment kept the American defeat from becoming a total, possibly war-ending, disaster. Indeed, the soldiers from tiny Delaware, fighting alongside the 1st Maryland Regiment, may well have prevented the capture of the majority of Washington’s army, an event that might have ended the colonial rebellion then and there.

The 1st Delaware Regiment was a relatively new force, raised in eight companies on 9 December 1775 for one year of voluntary service with the continental army under the command of Colonel John Haslet– an Irishman who had served as a Captain of militia during the French and Indian War and knew his business.

The unit was noteworthy from the start as the best uniformed and equipped regiment of the Continental Army. Their blue jackets with red facings and white waistcoat and breeches would later become the uniform for all the Continental troops.

During the Battle of Long Island, the Delaware and Maryland troops were positioned on the right of Washington’s line, defending the most direct route from the British landing site in south Brooklyn to the American fortifications in Brooklyn Heights.

Though they faced the fiercest fighting of the day, they held their ground, allowing the remainder of Washington’s army to retreat to the safety of the fortifications. When they in turn were outflanked and forced to retreat, the Delaware Regiment conducted an orderly retreat through marshland and across the Gowanus Creek carrying off with them 23 prisoners. Two nights later, Washington entrusted his Delaware and Maryland soldiers to be the rear guard as he secretly withdrew his army from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

The regiment, some 321 strong, would later survive the hard winter at Valley Forge then see action at the Trenton and Princeton (where Haslet was killed), Brandywine, Germantown and Guilford Court House. The regiment was furloughed on 17 January 1783 at Christiana Bridge, Delaware and disbanded on 15 November 1783. The unit would be reformed for the War of 1812, Civil War (where it covered itself with glory at Antietam and Gettysburg and later as part of the famed Gibraltar Brigade), WWI (Meuse-Argonne) and WWII (fighting in the Solomons).

Today, the 198th Signal Battalion, Delaware Army National Guard, perpetuates the proud lineage of the Delaware Regiment.