Battle of Brooklyn exhibit explores conflict that shaped American Revolution with rare maps, artifacts

""There's quotes all throughout this exhibition ... but one of my favorites is from Charles Higgins. It basically says, 'The Declaration [of Independence] was signed in ink in Philadelphia, but it was signed and sealed in blood in Brooklyn.'""

""It was the first time that the British and American forces kind of faced off in battle formation. And while it was a loss for the Continental Army, it was a decisive turning point in the Revolutionary War.""

""Americans who were captured as prisoners of war were largely sent to these hollowed-out warships, these prison ships, where thousands of people were kept below deck in some of the most deplorable, awful, miserable conditions you can imagine.""

""Brooklyn is still a place of farming. Brooklyn is still a place where pigs roam the streets.""

The exhibition, The Battle of Brooklyn: Fought and Remembered, at the Brooklyn Public Library's Center for Brooklyn History, showcases Brooklyn's pivotal role in the Revolutionary War. It features rare maps, paintings, and artifacts from the era. The Battle of Brooklyn was one of the war's bloodiest and marked a significant confrontation between British and American forces. The exhibit also addresses the grim history of prison ships that held captured Americans and the involvement of enslaved labor in the war effort.

Read at Cbsnews