Field, Thomas W. The Battle of Long Island, with connected preceding Events, and the subsequent American Retreat. Introductory Narrative, with Authentic Documents (Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, vol. II.). Brooklyn, N. Y.: Published by the Society, 1869. First Edition. [9071]
Green pebble cloth, titles in gilt to spine, 9 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches, corner tips frayed, top page edge gilt. xiii., ix., 549 pp., some small pencil notations, this copy lacks the two battle plans but has three plates; the volume is a bit shaken. Good. Hardcover.
The main sections are Revolutionary Measures Resisted; Expeditions against the Loyalists of Queens County; Partisan Warfare and Loyalist Leaders; The Invasion; The Battles of Flatbush, Gowanus and Brooklyn; The Siege of Brooklyn; The Retreat; General Nathaniel Woodhull; Documents [over 200 pp. of reproduced documents]; List of Documents; Index; List of Illustrations.
Thomas Warren Field (1820-1881), b. Onondaga Hill, NY; d. Williamsburgh, NY. Field was something of jack-of-all-trades, beginning his career as a school teacher; he moved to New York City in 1844 and was at different times an engineer, a florist, a surveyor, and teacher. In 1849 he became principal of Public School no. 18 in Brooklyn, and in 1854 became a member of the Board of Education, a post he held for 21 years. From 1873 until his death he was the superintendent of public instruction in Brooklyn. Savvy real estate investments in the Brooklyn area produced the wealth that allowed him to devote his time to his botanical and literary interests. He wrote or edited books on Pear Culture, the American Revolution, a History of Brooklyn, &c. and his collection of books on the American Indian enabled him to produce An Essay Towards an Indian Bibliography, later expanded (with the help of his friend Joseph Sabin, into a Catalogue of the same, a work of 2,663 annotated entries. - see entry in DAB.