ICYMI: Revolutionary War Heroes And Black Slaves Could Be Buried Under Brooklyn School Site: Officials

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — The possibility that beneath a plot of land in Gowanus lies the mass grave of Revolutionary War heroes and black slaves should be investigated further before a school is built on the site, a group of officials said Thursday.

The site, near the corner of Ninth Street and Third Avenue, is set to become a 180-seat pre-school that the city's School Construction Authority has hoped to open in 2018.

The state has already commissioned a preliminary dig at the site, which found no human remains. But records such as an old diary, along with Revolutionary War history, suggest that digging deeper could yield pieces of history.

"I support building more schools to alleviate school overcrowding," State Sen. Jesse Hamilton said outside of the site Thursday afternoon. "But we cannot have a school built on a foundation of ignorance. We cannot ask our children to understand history if we do not. I call on the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to honor the slaves and the veterans of this site. Honor their memory. Honor their contributions to out history."

The area around the plot of land was the site of the 1776 "Battle of Brooklyn," during which 400 soldiers from Maryland held off British soldiers long enough for George Washington to escape to Manhattan. The British are said to have buried the bodies of the "Maryland 400" in a mass grave near the site.

It's unclear exactly where their bodies are buried.

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported on a diary of a 19th-century slave-owner who lived near the site. In the diary, he described the death of a young slave, whom he buried on his land.

"The critical thing at this point is to make sure the work done at this site is done comprehensively, fairly, very carefully and very thoroughly," Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon said. "This is a site that demands the most attention that we could possibly give to it."

Brooklyln Borough President Eric Adams and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez also support efforts to have the state do a closer dig.

The Times reported that the state is asking for more information from the firm that conducted the first dig before deciding what to do moving forward.

Should remains be found, state and federal law would dictate what happens with them.

"If, for instance, remains from the Battle of Brooklyn are found, we'd get the Veteran's Administration involved, we'd get the Department of the Army involved, and they already have been involved," John Lonergan, the post commander at the New York American Legion post next door, said.

"There's something that's going to have to be done. I can't tell you what that would be."

Photos via Marc Torrence, Patch staff