On August 27, 1776, the British army defeated the American rebels in the Battle of Brooklyn. Long Island was then held by the British throughout the remainder of the Revolutionary War. Dozens of British and Hessian regiments were stationed on Long Island, many housed in homes that had been abandoned.
The Hessians had been hired by the British to help fight during the American Revolution. Most of them came from the German state of Hesse-Cassel. There were only two major Hessian encampments in the colonies; one in Newark, New Jersey and the other in Glen Head.
The thoroughfare known as Cedar Swamp Road was built over 300 years ago as a path for horses and carriages. George Washington traveled the road as the commander-in-chief of the rebel army. Just above that road, an encampment of Hessian troops kept an eye on the movements of Washington and his troops.
Some of the Hessians who died there, either in violent skirmishes or during a smallpox outbreak, are buried in unmarked graves in East Hill Cemetery (see below) not far from where they had made camp.
Other Hessian soldiers chose to remain in the new world after America had won its independence. Between casualties and the number of deserters, little over half of the 19,000 Hessians returned home.