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THE REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF
FORT NUMBER EIGHT -
de
DITt Lee (Ft: Constitution
JERSEY
N E W
HUDSON
Spayten Duyvi
. 1.
183
ForEL Wash
JE Hash.Av.
Tetard's Hall
NTOO!
Tri
Bloomingdale Road
Boulevard ColumbiaT University ---
BLOOMINGDA
ISLAND
finan's Budpe
West'n Br.
High
Fi No. 4, or Independente
sich Mit
Ft No. 7
FL No.5
McComb's Dom Br.
16th Av.
McGowan
to William's Bridge
M CREEK
HARLEM
Morrisani
Fordham
ER
R
Delancey's Mulls
X
N
C
B
HARLEM RIVER AND VICINITY DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1775 -1783
1/4
1
1/2
Scale
in miles
OMI
I S LAND
Island Hulith's
U N
T
West Chester
1
Hunt's Point
to Throp'& Neck
to East Chester
Sunk
RIVER
Ships
Creek
County Nizz
L. No:
Rington
C.
RX Charles
PAPARINAM
Bridge
Airush'm Ave.
to New York
MANHATTAN
RIVER
HARLEM
Pass
HARLE
3ª Av
HORN HOOK
Buchanan'
HELL GA
Island
CATE
LONG
C
2
Brothers
WESTCHESTER
LONG ISLAND SOUND
Red
Laurel Hill
King's
to Albana
King
196
Montresor's Island
THE
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY
OF
Fort Number Eight
ON
MORRIS HEIGHTS, NEW YORK CITY
BY
JOHN CHRISTOPHER SCHWAB
PRIVATELY PRINTED 1897 NEW HAVEN, CONN.
THE TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR PRESS.
THE MANOR OF FORDHAM
AND
THE ARCHER FAMILY.
The Manor of Fordham, consisting of 1, 253 acres, was part of the Indian lands known as Kekeshick or Keskeskick, bor- dering on the Harlem River, and was owned by the sachems Feequemeck, Rechgawar and Packanmans, who conveyed it- the first sale of land by the Indians in Westchester County- to the Dutch West India Company ("de Hollandsche Westin- dische Compagnie ") in 1639, thirteen years after the settle- ment of New Amsterdam.1
Adriaen Van der Donck, the first lawyer who came to New Netherland, owned Fordham and Yonkers as Patroon, by pur- chase from the company on August 3, 1646.ª He built his house on the present Van Cortlandt Parade Ground, and also a saw-mill in the so-called "Saw-Mill" or "Saw Kill Val- ley," and died in 1665. Yonkers is named after him (Jonk- heer).3 His widow, Mary, married Hugh O'Neale of Mary- land, and deeded part of the manor to her brother-in-law, Elias Doughty, on October 30, 1666, some weeks after Gover- nor Nichols had confirmed Hugh and Mary's title to their land, Van der Donck's purchase having been made under the Dutch regime before 1664. One part of the manor she · sold to John Archer on March 1, 1667, and another part, described as eighty acres upland and thirty meadow land, to the same Archer on September 18, 1667.4
On application to the English government, letters patent were issued to John Archer on November 13, 1671. He was to pay a customary annual quit rent, to consist of twenty bushels of good pears. The document describes the tract of land as lying to the eastward of Harlem River "where ye new dorp or village is erected known by the name of Ford- ham."5
The Archer family was of English origin, the name going back to the time of the Crusades. Fulbert l'Archer is men- tioned as having emigrated to England with William the Con- queror. Some six hundred years later John Archer pushed . on from Warwickshire to the new world, settling in Westches- ter County about 1654. Having purchased the Manor of Fordham, he became its "landheer," and evidently made full use of the authority granted him, for when in 1673 the Dutch dominion over New York was for a short time restored, the inhabitants of Fordham petitioned the government for relief from the harsh treatment of their lord."
A few years later, in November, 1676, John Archer got into difficulties of another kind, and mortgaged his land to the wealthy Mynheer Cornelius Steenwyck to secure a loan of 24,000 guilders seawant. The loan was not paid, and John Archer forfeited the manor to Steenwyck, or rather to his widow, on October 16, 1685.8 She married again, and with her second husband, Dominie Henricus Selyns, conveyed the land on January 10, 1694, to Colonel Nicholas Bayard, Cap- tain Isaac Vermilyee, Jacob Rockloysen and John Harpendick, overseers of the Dutch Reformed Church, which was fully organized in Fordham by the Collegiate Dutch Church of New York (which still exists) on May 11, 1696, and built a church north of the present road to Fordham Landing on the land of Mr. Moses Devoe-the Dutch Presbyterians (Dutch Reformed) were most numerous in Westchester County at the time.9
Half a century later, in December, 1753, this church was authorized to and did sell one hundred and eight acres of its land to Daniel Seacord (or Sicard) of Yonkers, who twelve years later, on October 14, 1766, sold seventy acres of the tract, which included the present site of Fort Number Eight, to Benjamin Archer for {630.10 Thus part of the property of the original John Archer passed back to his grandson Benjamin, who built the family homestead, known later as "Colonel DeLancey's Headquarters," a hundred yards north of Mr. G. L. Dashwood's place (the Berkeley Oval).11
This Benjamin Archer, Senior, and his wife Esther deeded half their property to their son Benjamin, Junior, on February 13, 1769, for £330. They left two sons, the above Benjamin
-5-
Junior and John, and two daughters, Sarah and Rachel. The former married Jacob Collard, the latter James Crawford-of the latter four only James Crawford could write his name. Being provided with husbands or otherwise, the two sisters and John deeded their share of their father's property on April 12, 1786, to their eldest brother Benjamin.12 In 1807 (Decem- ber 12) this Benjamin Archer, Junior, died, and directed in his will that his land should be divided between his two sons, William and Samuel D., when the latter came of age, which was accordingly done in 1817. The third son and the daugh- ters received legacies of money and some feather beds. The older brother again increased his talents by acquiring Samuel D.'s land on October 29, 1835.13 His home was east of the Croton Aqueduct opposite the entrance to Mr. Mali's place. On March 17, 1857, he sold 7 and 951/1000 acres of it through Mr. James Punnett to Catherine Elizabeth, wife of the late Mr. Gustav Schwab.14 The Archer family moved to near New Rochelle, where they still are to be found.
To return to the earlier history of the Archers : As was the case in many American families when the Revolution broke out, the Archers were divided in their allegiance to King George and to the American cause. Caleb and Gabriel Archer signed the declaration to support the King at the White Plains Convention of April 13, 1775.16 Among the other signers were Levi Devoe and such familiar names as Purdy and Valen- tine. In the following year the Loyalist Declaration of Octo- ber 16, 1776, was signed by John Archer. He was in good company, for with him were the Rev. Dr. S. Auchmuty and Rev. Charles Inglis of Trinity Church, later Bishop of Nova Scotia, Samuel Bayard, Colonel William Bayard, Henry Bre- voort, James Des Brosses, Alexander Leslie, headmaster of King's College (now Columbia University), Frederic Rhine- lander, Leonard Lispenard and Augt Van Cortlandt.16 The Archer we are particularly interested in, however, namely Benjamin Junior, joined the "rebel" army as a private in a company organized in West Farms and the Manor of Fordham under the command of Captain Nicholas Berrian, a neighbor of the Archer family. Archer had signed with others the petition to form it as a company of militia on September 5, 1775. The lieutenants were Gilbert Taylor and Daniel Devoe ; the ensign,
-6-
Benjamin Valentine. Among the other privates we find Peter Bussing, James Archer and some Devoes. Presumably this same James Archer appears in 1778 as ensign in Colonel Samuel Drake's Third (North or Manor of Van Cortlandt) Regiment, and a year later as Second Lieutenant.17 Other Archers, Anthony, Basal and Mathious, were enrolled in a Yonkers Company September 15, 1775. It is noticeable that they all could write their names on the enlistment rolls, and did not put their mark as so many did.18
To properly understand the history of the Revolution in New York, one must bear in mind that most of the respectable and conservative families in and about the city sided with the English. Their devotion to the Church of England, their love of law and order, and their conservative attachment to the old régime, under which they had prospered, were decisive.19 To such Loyalists the destruction of King George's statue on Bowling Green on July 9, 1776," like the Boston Tea Party, were acts of mob violence and vandalism. Peter Elting writes to Richard Varick on June 13, 1776 :"1 "We had some grand Toory Rides in the City this week . . Several of them were handled Verry Roughly Being caried trugh the streets on Rails, there Cloaths Tore from there becks and their Bodies pritty well Mingled with the dust."
One of the most prominent American families that remained loyalist were the DeLanceys. Oliver DeLancey, the brother of Lieutenant Governor James DeLancey, was the senior loyal- ist officer in the American Revolution. Born in New York in 1717, he died in England in 1785. He was the Colonel of a New York regiment under Abercrombie, and in 1776 was made a brigadier-general in the British army. In 1777 he was attainted of treason, and his estates were confiscated by the State of New York.2ª
His son Oliver and nephew James were both in the British army. Oliver DeLancey, the son, gained a high position. In 1776 he busied himself enlisting loyalists. In July, 1778, he was made a major, and in 1781 a lieutenant-colonel, succeeding Major Andrée as Adjutant-General in that year, and, as such, he signed the orders to evacuate New York in March, 1783. He died in Edinburgh in 1822.23
The nephew, James DeLancey, organized and commanded
-7-
the famous "Cow-Boys," a corps belonging to the loyalist regiment of his uncle Oliver, with headquarters at Morrisania, which foraged in the neighborhood for the British garrison in New York. He was taken prisoner by the Americans in 1777, and spent a while in the Hartford goal. At the end of the war his estates were confiscated, and he retired to Nova Scotia with many other Tories, where he died in 1800.24
These troops under Colonel James DeLancey played a prom- inent part in the incessant skirmishes in southern Westchester County (as we shall see). Another regiment of loyalists we shall hear of was the First American Regiment, better known as the "Queen's Rangers," which had been raised by Robert Rogers, a Tory of New Hampshire.25 These "Rangers" were recruited largely from the neighborhood of New York, and were put under the command of Colonel J. G. Simcoe by General Howe on October 15, 1777. After the war, like the other loyalist troops, they were transported to Nova Scotia.26
-8-
NEW YORK AND THE REVOLUTION.
The city of New York at the outbreak of the Revolution had a population of about 25,000, who lived in the closely built up southern part of Manhattan Island about Fort George (on the site of the present battery), and south of the line passing through Reade Street to the East River and Catherine Street.27 At the corner of Pearl and Broad Streets stood the famous tavern of Samuel Fraunces, the Delmonico of that time, originally noted for his excellent pickles and preserves, and later as steward of the Presidential mansion.28 The Swamp Church (corner of Franklin and North William Streets), whose pastor at a later time was Dr. John Christopher Kunze, was standing at the time." The Provincial Secre- tary's office stood on the western corner of Bowling Green and Whitehall Street, on the site of the present office of Oelrichs and Company.30
Westchester County, which at the time was bounded on the south by the Long Island Sound and the Harlem River, is described as "in general rough but fertile, and therefore the farmers run principally on grazing."31 Hence, too, the Brit- ish troops found on the farms a convenient supply of food, to which they were constantly helping themselves during the war, 1776-1783, much to the injury of the inhabitants of that section as we shall see.82 King's Bridge, the first, and, until Dykeman's (now Farmers') Bridge was built, the only bridge connecting Manhattan Island with the main land, was built and given its name at the end of the 17th century. The first structure was of wood, a little east of its present location (per- haps on the site of the present foot-bridge).38 In 1704 a toll of three pence was charged for passing the bridge with a horse. To avoid this and similar charges a new bridge was built on the site of the present Farmers' Bridge by Jacob Dykeman and Johannes Vermilyea, and was named after the former."
As to the roads in use at the time of the Revolution, there is necessarily great uncertainty, owing to the divergence of the maps." A comparison of them, however, gives the follow- ing probable result as to the main highways :
From McGowan's Pass (107th Street) and Bloomingdale
-9 --
1
(119th Street) a road led through Manhattanville (near the present St. Mary's Church), between the present lines of Amsterdam Avenue and the Boulevard, toward Fort Washing- ton (183d Street and Fort Washington Avenue), passing the house of Colonel Roger Morris (later the Jumel house) on the right,36 and further on the Blue Bell Tavern, probably on the left. 37 From Fort Washington the road descended toward Inwood between the heights on which Fort Washing- ton and, further north, Fort Tryon, were built on the left, and Laurel Hill on the right, on the northern end of which was the redoubt known later as Fort George (194th Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and the Boulevard). At Inwood, in the neighborhood of the present Presbyterian church, the road turned to the east, passed near the "Century House, "88 and skirted the Harlem River till it reached King's Bridge. From there it circled to the right, much as it does now, and turned northward along the east bank of the Mosholu Creek toward the Van Cortlandt house, and on to Yonkers or Phil- lipsburg, as it is generally called, and eventually led to Albany.
A branch of this road crossed the Harlem River over Dyke- man's (now Farmers') Bridge, and followed roughly the present line of the road up the steep hill, past the present Dutch church, through Fordham village and Delancey's Mills on the Bronx River (Bronxdale) to Westchester, and finally led to Connecticut. From this road another led to the south from near the present Dutch church along the line of what was later the MacComb's Dam Road near the English Fort Number Eight, and the houses of Benjamin Archer (north of the Berkeley Oval) and Colonel Richard Morris, (in the present garden of his grandson, Lewis G. Morris), to Morrisania (now Mott Haven), and the house of Lewis Morris (still standing near the Third Avenue Bridge), from near which a ferry (established in 1667) crossed to Harlem and a road led north- eastward to Westchester.
March 17, 1776, the British forces had been starved out of Boston by the American troops which surrounded them, and, evacuating that town,39 they set sail for Halifax, and thence later for New York, where, as we know, they met with better success than in Boston, and maintained themselves till the end of the war.
-10-
Little had been done to put the city into a state of defence, though Abraham Varick writes on March 28, 1775 :" "we are and will be so well fortified as to give them a scrag they will not Relish very well." Peter Elting in a letter dated September 12, 1776,41 was much nearer the truth when he wrote "the town appears to me to be in a Bad state of de- fence."
As early as January, 1776, General Charles Lee had written to General Washington,42 to offer to collect volunteers in New England with which to protect New York-he foresaw it would soon be attacked, -and to annoy the Tories, especially on Long Island, where they were numerous. It was useless to apply to the Congress. By Washington's authority Lee at once collected troops in New England, and started for New Vork from New Haven in the middle of January, 1776, report- ing to Washington" that Colonel Waterbury had raised a regiment of seven hundred men. The approach of these troops frightened the Colonial authorities in New York, who begged Lee to desist, as they did not wish to provoke hostil- ities." But Lee continued the movement toward New York by way of Rye, New Rochelle and East Chester,4 and by February, 1776, some New England troops had arrived in New Vork ;" "Cornel Water Berry whit about 1,000 men . . . also 500 minet men from New England." "On the 4 Instant in the morning arived General Clinton . . the same day arived Generel Lee Whit 300 men it is imbosseble to Describ the convusen that this city was in on account of the Regelers Being Com." On February 7, 1776, General Sterling arrived with 1,000 men from New Jersey.
So far no attempt had been made to fortify New York. General Lee at once drew up plans for fortifications about Hell Gate,47 and barricades on the streets, especially one on Broadway, two hundred yards north of Bowling Green, 48 and for strong redoubts about King's Bridge, which he as well as Generals Heath and Greene thought of the utmost import- ance." Many of the cannon were taken from Fort George (the Battery) and carried to King's Bridge, but were found useless. There was a great lack of men to build these fortifi- cations-only 1,700 men composed the garrison of New York on February 29, 1776,50 the terms of enlistment of most of
-11-
them were about to expire, and the Congress seemed unable or unwilling to help matters.
General Heath found works being erected in and about New York on his arrival at the end of March, 1776-the Westches- ter minute men had been building redoubts to command Hell Gate. Soon after, Generals Putnam and Sullivan arrived, and on April 13, Generals Washington and Gates, followed by General Greene with his brigade. The construction of works was hurried on, as it was correctly surmised that the British would soon turn their attention to New York.61 Little, however, was accomplished before the arrival of the British in July, when Fort Washington was hastily erected.
On June 3, 1776, the tardy Congress, which had been warned by General Lee four months before, realized that New York would be the next point of attack, and decided to reinforce the city with 13,800 militia troops from Pennsylvania, Dela- ware and Maryland. 52 These soon began to arrive, the Pennsylvania troops under General Thomas Mifflin, who is described as a "bustler " by Major Alexander Graydon, his Aide.13 Of these Pennsylvania troops the Third battalion was commanded by Colonel John Shee. Later, in September, 1776, he was on furlough, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cadwal- lader took command.54 The Fifth Pennsylvania battalion was commanded by Colonel Robert Magaw, whom we shall meet again as the commandant of Fort Washington (55). A non-commissioned officer in this battalion, Christopher Weiser, Sergeant in Captain Peter Dickey's Company, interests us. After the war he resided in Buffalo township, Union County, Pennsylvania (in 1792).58 These raw and undiscipined troops were mostly recruited from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland under officers chiefly from Philadel- phia. They reached New York, June 20 to 25, 1776,57 and were drilled hard during the hot summer about their head- quarters at Fort Washington, which they were building ; occasionally short marches were made into Westchester County, presumably to replenish their larder.58 We learn from Gray- don's Memoirs" that of seventy-three of the Pennsylvania troops, forty-five were natives, twenty were from Ireland, four from England and two from Scotland. General Heath tells us :60 "They had the appearance of fine troops."
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Beside the Pennsylvania troops under General Mifflin, two Massachusetts regiments reached New York during July and August, 1776. One, under Colonel John Glover, left Boston on July 20 and reached New York August 9; the other, as we learn from David How's Diary, left Boston July 18 and reached New York August 27, 1776.61
Six Connecticut regiments arrived in New York about the same time, one of which joined Mifflin's command. They are described in a contemporary Connecticut newspaper as "an exceeding fine Body of Men, well equipped and disciplined."62
General Charles Lee, in writing to Edmund Burke in 1774, also mentioned the soldierly bearing of the New England militia, a recent development, he thinks. 63 This did not prevent the soldiers from other sections looking down upon those from New England, traces of which feeling are frequent. 64
New York itself furnished, of course, its quota of defenders. Peter Elting writes on July 30, 1776 :66 "Verry few of the inhabitents Remain in town that are not ingaged in the Ser- vice." John Varick in a letter dated June 25, 177666 claims that one quarter of the citizens have turned out as volunteers or by draught. All males between sixteen and sixty years old were subject to the draft. 67 Colonel Lasser figures as the colonel of the First New York Independent Foot Company.68 Colonel Drake's Westchester Minute Men-one hundred and eleven privates, nineteen commissioned, and twenty non- commissioned officers-were also on hand to help strengthen the city's defences. 69
The strongest of these fortifications in and about the city was Fort Washington," which was built under the direc- tion of Colonel Rufus Putnam by the above Pennsylvania troops on their arrival, and was intended, together with Fort Lee (or Constitution) on the opposite shore of the river, to command the Hudson and prevent the British ascending and cutting off the Americans' connection with New England." The work of building the fort proceeded slowly, for by August 18, 1776, no cannon were mounted there." Graydon, whose battalion served under Colonel Cadwallader, complains that the fort's position was a weak one. It had no water, no ditch, and there was higher ground near by.73
Other American fortifications built at this time were earth-
-13-
works-later called Fort Tryon-on the northern end of the ridge on which Fort Washington was situated (between 195th and 198th Streets), and overlooking Inwood." On Laurel Hill, overlooking the Harlem River, was also erected a redoubt, later called Fort George by the British." The earthworks were still extant in 1890, but have now been effaced by a resort called "Fort George Park." Below on the King's Bridge Road a strong four-gun battery was built." On the northern end of the ridge on Manhattan Island was built Cock Hill Fort, and a series of redoubts, numbered one, two and three, on the slope north of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, on the site of the old Indian fortress Nipinicksen.77
At the suggestion of Generals Heath and Greene, and under the direction of Colonel Rufus Putnam, the chief engineer of the American army, Fort Independence was built by two battalions of Pennsylvania troops and some militia. It is still standing on the site of Mr. W. O. Giles' house (once the residence of Mr. D. L. Turner), west of Sedgwick Avenue and near the entrance to Van Cortlandt Park. Some cannon still remain there.78 It is noticeable that the then owner of the place, General Richard Montgomery, was not paid for his land, and his executor in 1788 petitioned for reimbursement.79
To insure Fort Washington's control of the Hudson, obstructions were placed in the river between that fort and Fort Lee. But to no purpose ; for when the British arrived, two of their ships with three tenders forced their way up the river on July 12, 1776, to Tappan Bay, exchanging shots with the American forts.80 Three months before two English men-of-war had appeared in New York harbor, but had kept out of range of the American guns. 61
The British fleet, in fact, had been sighted on June 25, 1776, had anchored at Sandy Hook on June 28 and 29, and debarked their troops on Staten Island on July 2 and 3.82 General Howe, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, arrived some days later in the man-of-war "Eagle" (which ship we shall meet again), and established himself on Staten Island on July 12.88
Sir William Howe was born August 10, 1729, and served under General Wolfe at Quebec in 1759. He distinguished himself in this New York campaign-he was made a Knight of
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the Bath-returned to England before the end of the war, and died July 12, 1814.84
In the campaign before us General Howe commanded the 16th and 17th Regiments of Dragoons, 1, 105 footguards, twenty-three regiments of ten companies each, the 42d or Royal Highlanders, the 7Ist or Frazer's Battalion, six com- panies of artillery, six battalions of marines, and the Hessian infantry and artillery which arrived later, a total force of 33,614.85 Opposed to them in and about New York were General Washington's troops, numbering perhaps 23,000 men.88
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