A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 37

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 37

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When the Revolutionary War was over Rogers went to England and died there in obscurity, so much so that the date of his passing away is not known. He was a man of considerable literary ability, wrote at least one tragedy which is known to bibliographers, and his other works contain many brilliant descriptive passages. Altogether he deserved a better fate; and possibly, had he only dis- played some stability of moral character, that fate might have been his. The "Queen's Rangers" served little, if at all, on Long Island, and it is even doubtful whether Long Island was much represented in its ranks after the campaign around Harlem ; but his leader- ship carried the command through many a daring exploit until the termination of hos- tilities.

We read of several other Tory commands being raised on Long Island,-notably a corps of guides, or more properly spies, gathered together and officered by Colonel Macpher- son ; and, according to Field, "a company of more abandoned wretches, it is probable, was not created by the disorders of a period so prolific of inhuman and bloodthirsty men." Such commands always crop up along the edge as it were of regular arniies and find their uses, ignoble though they be. They can hardly be regarded as combatants, however, and ought to be considered as land pirates, being quite as ready for the sake of plunder to turn against those along with whom they march as against the enemy in front or in rear. In a place like America, then a refuge

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THE BRITISH OCCUPATION.

place for men who had failed in their own native land, or who had fled from the majesty of their native laws, there were thousands on either side of the conflict whose purpose was simply personal adventure or opportunities for plunder or the chance of getting food and raiment, which necessities their own mis- fortune or misdoings denied their procuring in any other way. That is the story of everv war,-the scum which the reign of the sword brings to the front when the reign of jus- tice is interrupted.

Having thus discussed in a general way the military array on both sides which the island furnished the combatants in that mem- orable conflict,-a conflict in which Wash- ington and his confreres were fighting for the cause of popular liberty in Great Britain just as much as in the United States,-we may now turn to see how the triumph of the British arms and the stay of British troops affected the residents of the island. To sum it up briefly, it might be said that the pre- vailing sentiment, outside of the enthusiastic on both sides, was that of "a plague on both your houses." In Suffolk county there was continued sullen opposition to British rule, in Queens and Kings the change was more vo- ciferously welcomed, but the entire island was under military rule, military law, and all classes felt the restraint and the irksomeness. Even those loyal, or disposed to be loyal, to the Crown had to submit to the officiousness, the bumptiousness, the dogmatism, the licen- tiousness, the oathis, the drinking, the total contempt, often, of all regard to public decency which so frequently disgraced the royal of- ficers, while the soldiers under these officers not only copied the vices of their superiors, but, as opportunity offered, plundered friend and foe with equal equanimity. Such con- duct was at times sternly repressed when the perpetrators were caught, and the officer in command was of finer clay than his fellows, but in proportion to the number of complaints such exhibitions of military justice were few and far between.

But outside of the village of Brooklyn, Long Island was the home of farmers, en- gaged in raising produce of some sort or other, and the presence of armed men on either side, the constant condition of excite- ment, the surprise parties which performed their daring feats for the Continentals, the constant surveillance of the military forces of the Crown, all gradually became more irk- some as the years of the occupation passed on and the military necessities of the situa- tion caused the grip, as it were, of the Crown on the island to remain unrelaxed, if not to become tighter as the prospects of Continental success became clearer and more pronounced. Even supposing that the majority of the islanders were enthusiastic Tories, which they certainly were not, they could hardly have been more severely used had they been pro- nounced Whigs. They were in fact neither regraded as King's men or Continentals ; with- out the need of careful watching by the party in power. Their loyalty to Britain was praised in dispatches to London, but a sharp watch was kept by the military leaders on all their doings. Possibly a sigh of relief went up when the war was declared over and the farmers were permitted to till their fields in peace, although, in view of their losses and in spite of the active part which so many of their best sons took in the conflict in the right side, it seemed like adding to the gen- eral misery for the Legislature of New York on May 6, 1784, after the British had re- tired forever, to impose a fine of £37,000 on Long Island "as a compensation to the other parts of the State for not having been in condition to take an active part in the war against the enemy."

In describing the British occupation the Hon. Silas Wood wrote: "From 1776 to 1783 the island was occupied by British troops. They traversed it from one end to the other and were stationed at different places during the war. The whole country within the Brit- ish lines was subject to martial law, the ad- ministration of justice was suspended, the

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

army was a sanctuary for crime and robbery, and the grossest offences were atoned by en- listment. * * Those who remained at home were harassed and plundered of their property, and the inhabitants generally were subject to the orders, and their property to the disposal, of British officers. They com- pelled them to do all kinds of personal serv- ices, to work at their forts, to go with their teams in foraging parties and to transport their cannon, ammunition, provisions and baggage from place to place as they changed their quarters; and to go and come on the order of every petty officer who had the charge of the most trifling business.

"During the whole war the inhabitants of the island, especially those of Suffolk county, were perpetually exposed to the grossest in- sult and abuse. They had no property of a movable kind that they could, properly speak- ing, call their own; they were. oftentimes de- prived of the stock necessary to the manage- ment of their farms; and were deterred from producing more than a bare subsistence by the apprehension that a surplus would be wrested from them either by the military. authority of the purveyor or the ruffian hand of the plunderer. The officers seized and occupied the best rooms in the houses of the inhab- itants; they compelled them to furnish blan- kets and fuel for the soldiers and hay and grain for their horses; they took away their cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry, and seized, without ceremony and without any compen- sation, whatever they desired to gratify their wants or wishes."

After detailing some of the pecuniary losses suffered, the writer continues: "Be- sides these violations of the rights of person and property the British officers did many acts of barbarity for which there could be no apology. They made garrisons, storehouses or stables of places of public worship in sev- eral towns, and particularly of such as be- longed to the Presbyterians. * * In * the fall of 1782, about the time that the pro- visional articles of the treaty of peace were

signed in Europe, Colonel Thompson (since Count Rumford), who commanded the troops then stationed at Huntington, without any assignable cause except that of filling his own pockets by furnishing him with a pre- tended claim on the British treasury, caused a fort to be erected; and, without any pos- sible motive except to gratify a malignant dis- position by vexing the people, he placed it in the centre of the public burying ground, in defiance of a remonstrance of the trustees of the town against the sacrilege of disturbing the ashes and destroying the monuments of the dead."

Colonel Benjamin Thompson, so unpleas- antly pilloried in the above extract, was com- missioned Lieutenant Colonel of the King's Dragoons, which body of troops he raised February 24, 1782; and so far as actually known his warlike operations were confined to Long Island, with Huntington as his head- quarters. He was born in Woburn, Massachu- setts, March 26, 1753, and but for silly jeal- ousy on the part of some officers of the New Hampshire militia when he received his ap- pointment as Major, would have become one of the leaders of the Continental forces. That same opposition prevented Washington from giving him a commission, and, tired of in- activity and of being regarded with sus- picion as a Tory, he left the country. Re- turning in 1781, he actively engaged in the military life of the time, and received his Brit- ish commission. Before hostilities closed he returned to England and henceforth his life was passed away from his native land. He died in France in 1814, with a deserved world-wide reputation as a scientist and phil- . anthropist. It is one of the regrettable fea- tures of the Revolution that such men should by the necessity of things be forced into exile.

The greatest evil, morally as well as in all other respects, was that of billeting, al- though in that matter the Long Isanders were not one whit worse off than were people in any country where, even in time of peace,

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THE BRITISH OCCUPATION.

billeting was part of the military system. Even in England, in the days when the peo- ple-the masses-were regarded as mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, much more than they were even in 1776, the billet- ing of soldiers was an evil which elicited con- stant grumbling and sometimes even incited a riot. In Long Island, among the Tory sec- tion of the population, the practice was thor- oughly disliked, and where possible every effort was made to get rid of that special development of the fruits of victory excepting in the case of a few ultra Tories, who re- garded it with a feeling of awe and venera- tion, believing the troops were in their midst representing the highest of all earthly att- thority. But if the practice caused much dis- content among the ordinary classes of Tories it was received with detestation by the avowed Whigs, and with sullenness by that seemingly large part of the population which was neither Whig nor Tory, and only desired to be permitted to make their way through the world in peace. In connection with this phase of the occupation, Henry Ondendonk, Jr., wrote:

During the summer British troops were off the island on active service; or, if a few remained here, they abode under tents ; but in winter they were hutted on the sunny side of a hill, or else distributed in farmers' houses. A British officer, accompanied by a justice of the peace or some prominent Loyal- ist, as a guide, rode around the country, and from actual inspection decided how many sol- diers each house could receive, and this num- ber was chalked on the door. The only noti- fication was: "Madam, we have come to take a billet on your house." If a house had but one fireplace it was passed by, as the soldiers were not intended to form part of a family. A double house for the officers, or single house with a kitchen for privates, was just the thing. The soldiers were quartered in the kitchen, and the inner door nailed up so that the soldiers could not intrude on the household. They, however, often became in- timate with the family and sometimes inter- married. The Hessians were more sociable

than the English soldiers, and often made little baskets and other toys for the children, taught them German and amused them in various ways; sometimes corrupting them by their vile language and manners. Any mis- conduct of the soldiers might be reported to their commanding officers, who usually did justice ; but some offenses could not be proven, such as night-stealing or damage done the house or to other property. As the soldiers received their pay in coin they were flush, and paid liberally for what they bought, such as vegetables, milk, or what they could not draw with their rations. These soldiers were a safeguard against robbers and whale- boat men. Some liad their wives with them, who acted as washerwomen, and sometimes in meaner capacities.

From a perusal of the orderly book of General Delancey, it appears that he used every means to protect the persons and prop- erty of the inhabitants of Long Island from the outrages of British soldiers. They were not allowed to go more than half a mile from camp at daytime (and for this purpose roll was called several times during the day), nor leave it under any pretex after sundown with- out a pass; but now and then they would slip out and rob. On the IIth of June, 1788, Mr. John Willett, of Flushing, was assaulted at his own house, at II o'clock at night, by per- sons unknown but supposed to be soldiers from having bayonets and red clothes, who threatened his life and to burn his house. The general offered a reward of $10 to the person who should first make the discovery to Major Waller; and a like reward for the discovery of the person who robbed Mr. Wil- lett on the 9th of June of two sheep, a calf and some poultry, as he was determined to inflict exemplary punishment and put a stop to practices so dishonorable to the King's service. Again, March 9, 1778, Mrs. Hazard, of Newtown, having complained that the sol- diers of the guard pulled down and burnt up her fence, that was near the guardhouse, the general at once issued an order to the of- ficer that he should hold him answerable there- after for any damage done the fences. So, too, if a soldier milked the farmers' cows, he should be punished without mercy ; nor should he go in the hayfield and gather up new mown grass to make his bed of. Gen- erally the farmers were honestly paid for whatever they sold. For instance, April 23.

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1778, they were notified to call on Mr. Ochi !- tree, deputy commissary of forage at Flush- ing, with proper certificates and get payment for their hay.

To adduce one notable case. When Cap- tain Lambert Suydam was in hiding from the British, some time after the battle of Brook- lyn, and, having lost his troop, was seemingly employed as one of the Continental spies, he frequently visited, by stealth, his own

mitted to return to his home on parole. Says T. W. Field, who evidently regarded Suy- dam as a sort of opera-bouffe hero:

The dangers he had undergone had not, however, tamed his valiant spirit to that de- gree which permitted him to suffer without resentment the indignities and outrages daily perpetrated by British soldiers on his neigh- bors. One morning an unwonted clamor in his barnyard aroused the Captain from his slumbers, and, creeping to the window of his

Acim fick

BEDFORD CORNERS 1N 1776.

home at Bedford. A squad of soldiers was billeted in the house during that period and such visits were naturally enough attended by great danger. Indeed the redoubtable Captain had many narrow escapes from cap- ture, and, of course, an ignominous death ; and on one notable occasion, but for the ap- peals of Mrs. Suydam and the tender-heart- edness of the Sergeant in command of the troops, his career would have had a tragic and a summary end. After a year of this sort of life Suydam made his peace with the British, took the required oath and was per-

bedroom, he became assured in a short time that the marauders were at some nefarious work among his cattle. The dim light of early morning was rendered still more ob- scure by a fog, which, however, did not pre- vent him from observing unusual objects mov- ing in the cattle yard. The irate trooper was not deterred from the protection of his prop- erty by the hazard of his own delicate po- sition as a prisoner on parole, for there was little disposition in his reckless soul to sub- mit to outrages upon his person or his goods. Reckless of the consequences, lie seized his musket, already loaded with a heavy charge of buckshot, and fired it in the direction of

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the sound which attracted his attention. The groans and screams of agony which ensued sufficiently indicated the effect of the shot ; and when, a few minutes subsequently, the morning light broke through the mist, it was discovered that three British soldiers, who had slaughtered one of the Captain's cows and were then engaged in removing the skin, had all been wounded by the shot! As soon as information of the occurrence reached the adjacent camp a squad of soldiers was sent to carry away the wounded men, one of whom soon after died. No notice of the affair was ever taken by the British authorities, nor was Captain Suydam ever molested. There was always underlying in the character of most of the British officers, when its influence was not deadened by the paralyzing effect of what they deemed duty to the King, a great liking for fair play, which kept them silent to severe measures taken by the Whigs for the protec- tion of their property.

In spite, however, of the hardships of billeting, the nefarious doings of marauders under the guise of Whigs or Tories, the necessary incidents inseparable from a state of war, the loose morals of the soldiery and the evils always and everywhere attendant upon military occupation, it must be said that Long Island in reality prospered in many ma- terial ways during the occupation. It was not the policy of the British authorities to stifle whatever loyal sentiments prevailed, and whenever a "rebel" wislied to make his peace the matter was easily accomplished. Then it was from Long Island and Staten Island 15

that the army calculated to draw their sup- plies, and as a natural result agriculture was sedulously protected in all cases except those where an ultra Whig farmer was concerned. The transit of produce from the island was placed under strict regulations, although it seems to us not more strict than was neces- sary under the circumstances. It may be said that the British strove to promote the wide- spread sentiment in favor of the Crown which certainly existed, and they succeeded to a marked degree in Kings and Queens counties. Suffolk county, on the other hand, continued to be mainly Continental, although the farmers seemed to be as willing to raise corn for King George as for George Wash- ington. Even Suffolk county, had the occu- pation lasted long enough and had victory rewarded the invading forces, would have gradually settled down to view the situa- tion with equanimity. But the spirit of lib- erty was abroad. Its influence was win- ning its way even among the Tories of Long Island, and by the time the conflict was over they quietly accepted the changes, and it was not long after the close of hostilities before the entire island welcomed the results of the Revolution and took place with the rest of the State in the forward march of the new nation, recognizing, as has since been recog- nized by British historical writers and think- ers, that the "ragged Continentals" were not alone fighting for liberty in America but also for its progress throughout the world.

CHAPTER XIX.

SOME LONG ISLAND LOYALISTS-RICHARD HEWLETT-JOHN RAPALYE -MAYOR MATHEWS-GOVERNOR COLDEN-COLONEL AXTELL-LINDLEY MURRAY AND OTHERS.

OW that the passage of over a cen- tury has softened many of the sen- timents inspired by the Revolution- ary struggles and has put in the background the errors, mistakes, hardships, cruelties, sufferings, amenities, estrange- ments, hates, lies, exaggerations and ex- travagances of thought, word, deed and action which characterized the struggle, we see more clearly than aught else the sacri- fices made on both sides and the magnitude of the result attained-a grand star of liberty, illuminating morning and evening, day after day, the horizon of all the nations. The grass has long waved over the graves of those who took part in the contest on either side, and their children have followed them; the per- sonal element in the struggle, has long since disappeared and we can review the events of 1776 and the years which followed until peace was proclaimed with the calmness and impar- tiality due to the consideration of an histori- cal epoch. The age of polemics, of person- ality, of sophism, of simple assertion, has gone, and we must guide our study by the hard logic of facts; and that logic impels us to say that the Loyalists on Long Island were just as sin- cere in their convictions, as devoted in their loyalty, as willing to suffer for their senti- ments, as honest in their views, as were those who espoused the cause of the young nation. That they were wrong, that they were virtually trying to break a spoke in the wheel of human

progress, does not militate against their loyalty, their honesty, their patriotism even. They took an erroneous view and suffered; went down with the wreck of that ship of state to whose stanchness they trusted their all; but we have no reason in this year of grace to think un- . kindly of them, and, solely because of their views, to stigmatize them as "reptiles" and 'thieves" and "traitors" and all manner of evil names such as were commonly applied to Tor- ies a century ago or so.

Even British historians have come to look upon our glorious Revolution with different eyes than formerly. Bryce has said somewhere words to the effect that George Washington was in reality fighting the cause of liberty in Great Britain as much as in America ; and one has only to read the chapter in Green's "His- tory of the English People" (chapter II, vol. 4), to see how that grand historic student re- joiced in the significances of the movement for liberty under Washington and understood the healthful influence its success exerted over the British Empire. In these circumstances it is but honest for us to devote a chapter in this work to recalling the lives and deeds of a few of those who were conspicuous in their oppo- sition on Long Island to the success of the new condition of things.

In all such lists a prominent position must be given to Captain Richard Hewlett, one of the most singular characters which the story of the Revolution brings under our notice.

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SOME LONG ISLAND LOYALISTS.

He was recognized as a Tory of the Tories, and while the struggle lasted was probably more hated by the local Continentals, the Whigs, than any other one of their opponents. Certainly he gave them abundant cause for this, and as we read the story of his career from 1775 until 1783 we can fully understand the reasons for the order, once issued by General Chas. Lee, that Hewlett "should have no terms offered to him, but must be secured without ceremony." Richard Hewlett was born at Hempstead in 1712. He took part in the French War of 1757-9, and was at the capture of Fort Frontenac in command of a company. To that campaign Queens county had fur- nished 290 men, and in the war Hewlett had among his comrades such men as General Woodhull, and many other well-known Long Island men. But most of the veterans of that brave army remained loyal to Britain when the time came to make a declaration, and they formed the main strength of the force which Hewlett gathered together to fight for King George. He was an indefatigable plotter and as outspoken in his denunciation of the Whigs as the Whigs were of him. Like most of the Tories in the early days of the movement for independence, he affected to despise the pa- triots ; probably he honestly did despise them, and when, before the battle of Brooklyn, the Provincial Congress tried to whip Long Isl- and into line for the new cause, he suffered many indignities at the hands of those on whom he would have heaped indignity had cir- cumstances been reversed. When the island was practically under martial law he defied the powers that inflicted it and stood out in open rebellion. He gathered arms and supplies, se- creting them in safe places for the conflict which he saw was surely approaching, and trained his men unceasingly. There was no hiding of sentiment on his part, and when he told his old comrade, Major Williams, who had espoused the Continental cause and had command of a battalion in the work of sup- pressing the local Tories, that had he met that body "we should have warmed their

sides," Williams believed it, and so far as we can see was devoutly thankful that the meet- ing did not take place.

Into the details of these repressive meas- ures we need not here enter, having dwelt upon them in another chapter ; but from the Patriot standpoint they were amply justified by the attitude of the Long Island Loyalists, and the dread of a conspiracy which existed, and which was seen to be well founded when the facts be- came known of a deep-laid plot among them to destroy the young nation by a grand coup. Into this conspiracy, which had for its main object the capture of General Washington, Hewlett was a prime mover. He was in fact the leading medium of communication between the quarter deck of the frigate Asia, on which Governor Tryon often held his court, and the Long Island Loyalists, and he was almost con- stantly passing between that vessel and the island. We have been unable to discover what part, if any, Hewlett took in the battle of Long Island; but we may be sure he was not far away from its scene, at any rate ; and when the sun went down on that eventful day in August he found himself in the changed position he had for so many months desired, so far as his Whig neighbors were concerned. He became the hunter, they the hunted ; behind him was power, behind them was the grim shadow of defeat, a cause that appeared hopeless, seem- ingly ruined lives and abandoned homesteads. Probably no one was more astounded than Hewlett at the pertinacity with which, even in the face of repeated defeat, the Continentals carried on the struggle.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 37

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188