USA > New York > Kings County > Williamsburgh > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 25
USA > New York > Kings County > Bushwick > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 25
USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 25
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7. About at the junction of Clinton and Atlantic streets, on a very steep conical hill, called Ponkiesbergh, and otherwise known as "Cob- ble Hill," was a fort of three guns. Its trenches ascended spirally to the top, where a platform was laid for the cannon; from which circumstance it derived the nickname of "Corkscrew Fort." It com- manded Fort Stirling, on the Heights, and on that account was made lower by the British during their subsequent occupation, for fear that it might fall into the hands of the Continentals, in which case Fort Stirling would have been untenable.1
I The precise location of this fort cannot now be ascertained. Lossing (Field Book of Rev., ii. 806) and Dawson (Battles of America, i. 144) describe it as being " at the head of the tunnel of the Long Island R. Road, in the vicinity of Boerum and Atlantic streets," which is mauifestly incorrect. Gen. J. G. Swift, under whose superintendence the lines were reconstructed, and Cobble Hill Fort rebuilt during the war of 1812, in a letter to the author, designates the spot as marked (1860) by a little willow-tree on the south side of Atlantic street, near Clinton. The Savings Bank, on the corner of these streets, is also pointed out as the site; and Furman, MS. Notes (Oct., 1835), says that "about 40 years ago, it was currently reported about Kings County, that the spot of ground about 100 feet northeasterly from the corner of Atlantic and Court streets, then in the old Red Hook lane, and near the foot of a fortification then known as Cobble Hill Fort, and afterwards, in the war of 1812, as Fort Swift, was haunted by the spirit of a murdered man." As nearly as we can describe it, Cobble Hill rose from old Red Hook Lane, now swallowed up by Court street, on the block now bounded by that street, Atlantic, Pacific, and Clinton streets, and was nearer to the Court street end of the block. As before stated, this fort was strengthened in 1814, and called Fort Swift. Fort Put- nam was also strengthened and called Fort Greene.
In describing the sites of these fortifications we differ, as will be seen, from Mr. Los- sing ; but we do so with the respect which is due him as having been the first to attempt their precise location. In addition to a better opportunity for extended exami- nation, and with that more intimate acquaintance with the topographical peculiarities of the region, which a local historian may be presumed to have, we have also enjoyed the advice and assistance of Mr. SILAS LUDLAM, the well-known City Surveyor, whose father, Stephen Ludlam, surveyed the old lines when they were comparatively plain, the field- notes of which survey are still in his son's possession. From Mr. Ludlam's extensive col- lection of farm maps, etc., as well as from his long acquaintance with, and recollection of, Brooklyn as it was before brick and mortar had completely changed its features, we have gleaned many facts of great use to us, both in this and other portions of our work.
All Long Island and Brooklyn historians, previous to Mr. Lossing, have been con- tented with rehearsing the statements of Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, who has preserved
253
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
As we have already seen, the whole British naval and military force which had been concentrated in the Bay of New York and on Staten Island before the 13th of July, gave, as yet, no indication of the course or manner of their intended attack. Their movements seemed alternately to indicate an immediate readiness, and then a certain indecision. At this time, also, dispatches were received from England, announcing an important change in the French ministry, and the prospect of a general continental war, in which England would be involved. The conjecture that the tenor of these dis- patches rendered the British commanders exceedingly cautious, and even anxious for a reconciliation, was further strengthened by the arrival, on the of 17th of August, of a flag of truce from the British fleet. It was borne by Lord Drummond, who had already twice vio- lated his parole given to the American general while engaged in similar diplomatic errands, and the conciliatory overtures which he presented were indignantly spurned by Washington, who availed himself of the opportunity to administer his lordship a severe rebuke for his former duplicity.
Washington, meanwhile, lost no time in providing against every
much relative to our Revolutionary period that history will not willingly let die, but whose description and maps of localities are too vague to be entirely satisfactory. The industrious Furman, who possessed the inborn antiquarian spirit of accuracy in details, has preserved, in manuscript, much interesting material relative to these points, which we have very freely drawn upon in the compilation of this history.
That these defences were by no means despicable, is sufficiently evidenced by the fact that some of them were retained and strengthened by the British during their subse- quent occupation of the island. Major Holland, of the British engineers, testified that they were well and solidly made, and according to the rules of fortification, and that they could have been held by a sufficient force for a long time, but that they had not been entirely completed. We also have the following direct testimony of Lieut. Anbury, an experienced British officer, published in his Travels iu North America (vol. ii. 540) : " At a small distance from the town (Brooklyn) are some considerable heights, commanding the city of New York. On these is erected a strong regular fort (now Fort Greene) with four bastions. To describe the works thrown up by the Americans on this Island, would be bestowing more attention on the subject than it deserves, as they actually cover the whole. They are not only on grounds and situations that are extremely advantageous and commanding, but works of great strength, that I am at a loss to account for their so hastily abandoning them, as they were certain by such a step to give up New York. I am induced to believe that Gen. Washington thought the Americans were so panic-struck after the engagement, as our troops pursued them close to their lines, that they would not stand an assault ; and if his lines were carried he was sensible there was no place of retreat, and that his army must inevitably have been destroyed."
254
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
possible contingency of attack. Tories were transferred from New York to the care of Gov. Trumbull, of Connecticut, accompanied with paternal requests for their kind treatment. Measures were taken to quench the rising flame of loyalty in New Jersey ; suspected persons in Kings County, on Long Island, were disarmed, and a committee, as we have already seen, was sent by Congress to enforce the suppression of toryism at every hazard. The public archives were carefully conveyed from New York to the care of Congress, at Philadelphia, the officers' wives in camp were removed from danger, and the most liberal and tender measures for the protection and relief of women and children in the menaced city were suggested by Washington and promptly carried out by Congress. At New Utrecht, Col. Hand, with his corps of Pennsylvania riflemen, was posted on the hill above the present site of Fort Hamilton, in order to serve as a check to, and to give information of, any landing in that quarter.
The rejection of their overtures seems to have decided the British generals in their action. At dawn on the 22d of August, information was received at the American headquarters from Brig .- Gen. William Livingston, then in camp at Elizabeth, N. J., that Lord Howe had landed a large force at Gravesend Bay, on Long Island, and that 20,000 men had gone to take possession of that island, while 15,000 were to attack Bergen, Elizabethtown Point, and Amboy. These reports, although exaggerated, had a substratum of truth, as was evidenced, at sunrise, by the roar of cannon and dense columns of smoke arising from near the Narrows.1
1 The British fleet, after taking position to cover the landing of the troops, shelled the heights and woods on the Long Island shore, in order to drive out any force which might be there concealed. it was this preliminary bombardment which startled the expectant American army, and which may possibly afford an explanation of the follow- ing curious circumstance as related by Judge Furman (MS. Memoranda, viii., p. 396) :
" In the month of August, "76, on the second or third day before the landing of the British troops upon Long Island, an apparent cannonading was heard. So very dis- tinct was this cannonading, and so very regular was it and continuous, that all the inhab- itants of the island residing between the distance of two miles from the city of New York and about thirty-five miles down the island, were satisfied that the British had landed and attacked the American army. Those residing at the west end of the island imme- diately commenced moving their families and driving their cattle towards the interior ; and in such numbers, that my aunt Tyler, then a young girl, and living at her home in New Lots, nine miles from Brooklyn ferry, tells me she was awakened the next morn- ing by the lowing of cattle, and upon arising, she found the roads blocked up with cows, horses, sheep, &c., which had been driven up during the night to escape the plunder
255
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
About nine o'clock A. M. four thousand light infantry, with forty pieces of cannon, crossed over from Staten Island in flat-boats, under the guns of the Rainbow and other men-of-war which lay anchored where Fort Lafayette now rises in the centre of the Nar- rows, and landed at Denise's ferry (now Fort Hamilton) in the town of New Utrecht.1 An hour after the landing of this first division, a second, comprising English and Hessian troops, left the British ships and transports, and in regular rows of boats, under command of Commodore Hotham, passed over and landed in the bend of Gravesend Bay, at a place now known as Bath, in front of New Utrecht. The embarkation of the entire force, comprising 15,000 men, under cover of the Phoenix, Rose, and Greyhound, was safely completed by noon. The main part of the invading army quickly extended itself over the plain bordering on Gravesend Bay ; and the country people, following the dictates of their fears or their con- sciences, either made haste to place themselves under British pro- tection, or abandoned their farms and sought refuge within the American lines.
Col. Hand's riflemen, on the hill overlooking the scene, could, of course, offer no effectual resistance, and setting fire to the wheat and hay stacks, to prevent their falling into the enemy's hands, fell back towards Flatbush, where they took position behind a redoubt between that village and the Brooklyn lines.
Howe established his quarters at New Utrecht, and dispatched Lord Cornwallis, with the reserves, Col. Donop's corps of Hessian yagers and grenadiers, with six field-pieces, to Flatbush, and with instructions not to attack the place if he should find it occupied by the enemy. Taking his position at Gravesend, Cornwallis pushed forward Donop's corps to Flatbush, which the latter reached towards evening, --- the three hundred American riflemen, who had occupied it,
of the British, as they supposed. In the morning, however, it was discovered that the British army had not stirred a foot from their encampment on Staten Island, and that not a single cannon had been fired ! (?) The next day after-as if, indeed, it had been intended by a good Providence as a warning to the people of what was fast approach- ing-the roads between the city of New York and Jamaica, nine miles distant, were covered with the British light horsemen, in their scarlet cloaks."
1 On the farms of Isaac Cortelyou and Adrian Van Brunt, which lay west of the Bath House, i. e. between the Cortelyou road and the Bath road, anciently called De- Bruyn road .- Onderdonk, K. Co., sec. 801.
256
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
retiring before him, " a few cannon-balls being sent after them," to accelerate their steps. Early on the following morning (23d), how- ever, these same riflemen attacked the right wing of the Hessian outposts, but retired on being confronted with a field-piece. On the afternoon of the same day, another attack was made upon the left of the Hessian line, which was driven back upon the main body, south of the village church, where the skirmish raged furiously for over an hour. Under the galling fire of the American sharp-shooters, the Hessians were compelled to seek shelter in some of the houses, cut- ting loop-holes in the walls, from whence they could fire upon their assailants. Finally, the Hessian guns were brought into position, before which the Americans fell back, but not until they had set fire to several dwelling-houses.1 On the 25th, a stronger force of riflemen, with some cannon, opened with ball and grapeshot upon the village, from the edge of the neighboring woods, but their fire was soon silenced by the superior metal and service of the Hessian guns. These foreign troops, who had now been since the 22d con- tinually in the advance, and who were severely harassed by the unremitting activity of their lively foes-a species of fighting for
1 (Gen. Sullivan's account) : "On Friday, 23d, a party of British took possession of Flatbush, which brought on a hot fire from our troops, who are advantageously posted in woods and on every eminence. An advanced party are encamped a little to the N. W. of Flatbush church, and have a battery somewhat west of Jer'h Vanderbilt's, whence they fire briskly on our people, who often approach and discharge rifles within 200 yards of their works. One of our gunners threw a shell into Mr. Axtell's house, where a number of officers were at dinner, but we have not heard what damage it did. " Aug. 23. This afternoon the enemy formed and attempted to pass the wood by Bedford (Flatbush), and a smart fire between them and the riflemen ensued. A num- ber of musketry came up to the assistance of the riflemen, whose fire, with that of the field-pieces, caused a retreat of the enemy. Our men followed to the house of Judge Lefferts (where a number of them had taken lodgings), drove them out, and burned the contiguous buildings. We have driven them half a mile from their former station." Washington disapproved of this wasteful and scattering fire upon the enemy.
Strong, in his Hist. of Flatbush, says the British encamped in a diagonal direction across that village, their tents extending from the little lane over the farms of Hendrick Vanderveer, of J. C. Bergen, of Jacobus Vandeventer, and so on, in a northeasterly line towards the road to New Lots. The main body were posted on the south of the church and west of the main street. They soon gained possession of the intrench- ment erected by the Americans in the north of the village. They also knocked out large port-holes in the stone house of Adrian Hegeman, now occupied by Mrs. Cynthia Lefferts. The house of Lefferts Martense, on the opposite side of the road, built of wood, was also fortified. It fronted south, and in the roof, on the north side, which extended nearly to the ground, they cut holes through which to discharge muskets.
257
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
which their experience in the regular methods of European warfare had totally unfitted them-were allowed to rest from the 24th to the 25th ; but were again alarmed at 2 o'clock on the morning of the 26th, and returned to their position in the front ; against which, on the afternoon of the same day, the Americans made such an impos- ing demonstration, that Cornwallis, in pursuance of previous impera- tive orders from Howe, directed Donop, much to the latter's disgust, to fall back upon the main body at Flatlands.
On the 25th of August, the same day on which General Putnam took command within the American lines, General Von Heister,1 the veteran commander-in-chief of the British auxiliaries, with General Knyphausen, and two full brigades of Hessians, landed at New Utrecht, and advanced on the middle road towards Flatbush,-Lieu- tenant-Colonel Dalrymple being left in charge of the reserves on Staten Island. The invading army on Long Island, which now numbered "upwards of twenty thousand" rank and file,2 was un- equalled for experience, discipline, and materiel of war, and was supported by a fleet in the Bay of New York, numbering over four hundred ships and transports, and by ten ships of the line, twenty frigates, together with bomb-ketches and other small vessels. Op- posed to this splendid army, the Americans had only some eight thousand men, mostly volunteers or militia, without cavalry, with but slender stores of light-artillery, and unsupported by a single vessel.
Meanwhile, on the 23d of August, Gen. Howe issued the follow- ing proclamation to the people of the island :
A PROCLAMATION
By his EXCELLENCY, the HON. WM. HOWE, General and Commander-in- Chief of all His Majesty's forces within the Colonies lying on the At- lantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to West Florida, inclusive, &c., &c.
1 Lossing (Field-Book of Rer., ii. 804) says : "Lieutenant-General De Heister was an old man, and warmly attached to his master, the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel. The long voyage of fourteen weeks dispirited him, 'and,' says Sir George Collier, 'his patience and tobacco became exhausted.' A sniff of land-breeze revived him. 'He called for Hock, and swallowed large potations to the health of his friends.'"
2 Lord Howe's Observations, in Narrative, p. 45.
8 Bancroft, ix. 90, note ; Almond's Debates, xiii. 9, 54, 314.
17
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
Whereas, it is represented that many of the loyal inhabitants of this Island have been compelled by the leaders in rebellion, to take up arms against His Majesty's Government, Notice is hereby given to all persons so forced into rebellion, that on delivering themselves up at said quarters of the Army, they will be received as faithful subjects, have permits peace- ably to return to their respective dwellings, and meet with full protection for their persons and property. All those who choose to take up arms for the restoration of order and good government within this Island, shall be disposed of in the best manner, and have every encouragement that can be expected.
Given under my hand at Head Quarters on Long Island, Aug. 23, 1776. WM. HOWE.
By His Excellency's command, ROB'T MACKENSIE, Sec.
A few persons availed themselves of this offer; but the majority, although by no means averse to British rule, were probably unwil- ling to declare themselves until they were certain which would prove the winning side.
In the city of New York, during the night succeeding the landing, all was confusion and alarm. The camp and its various outposts were the scene of vigilant activity and preparation, for a rumor had spread that vessels had been detached from the British fleet, with the intention of circumnavigating Long Island, and by thus stealing a passage through the Sound and East River, to cut off all communi- cation with the Westchester main. Under the supposition, also, that the enemy would immediately march upon the American lines at Brooklyn, Washington had that same evening sent over six regi- ments to re-enforce those defences ; and early next morning, in the momentary expectation of an attack, he addressed an earnest appeal to the troops at Brooklyn, reanimating their hopes and encouraging them to make a bold stand.1 Cornwallis, meanwhile, was resting
1 The following extract is from the General's Orderly-book, August 23d : "The enemy have now landed on Long Island, and the hour is fast approaching in which the honor and success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding country, will depend. Remember, officers and soldiers, that you are freemen, fighting for the blessings of liberty ; that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men. Remember how your courage and spirit have been despised and traduced by your cruel invaders ; though they have found, by dear expe- rience at Boston, Charlestown, and other places, what a few brave men, contending in
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
almost idly at Flatbush, apparently kept in check by Hand's riflemen, but really in obedience to Howe's imperative orders. His caution may be counted among the several providences which seemed to watch over the American army, and saved it from what might otherwise have been total annihilation. For had he, at this juncture, made one vigorous push, he would, with the force at his command, almost certainly have made himself master of works scarcely in a state of completion, and an enemy poorly organized or prepared to receive him. Gen. Greene, under whose supervision the American defences had been constructed, and who had made himself thoroughly ac- quainted with the whole detail of the army, and with every impor- tant point and pass on the west end of Long Island, had been pros- trated by illness a few days previous. Sullivan, who succeeded him (on the 20th), was faithful and brave, but was personally unknown to the troops under his command, and had but little opportunity to acquaint himself fully with the field of operations. As a conse- quence, when Gen. Washington visited the lines on Long Island on the 24th, he found things at " loose ends." Disorder was percepti- ble in every department-detachments skirmished with the enemy's vanguard, or picked off his sentries, without any orders and with little method-others were little better than marauding parties, who burned the houses of friend and foe alike, and robbed dwellings, barns, and hen-roosts with impunity. Annoyed and alarmed that such a state of things should exist in the face of an approaching army, Washington immediately resolved to place some one in com- mand better fitted, by local knowledge and personal influence, to regulate and harmonize the diverse elements of which the army was composed. Gen. Putnam, whose brave heart had been aching
their own land, and in the best of causes, can do against hirelings and mercenaries. Be cool, but determined ; do not fire at a distance, but wait for orders from your offi- cers. It is the general's express orders, that if any man attempt to skulk, lie down, or retreat without orders, he be instantly shot down as an example. He hopes no such will be found in this army ; but, on the contrary, that every one for himself resolving to conquer or die, and trusting in the smiles of Heaven upon so just a cause, will behave with bravery and resolution. Those who are distinguished for their gallantry and good conduct may depend on being honorably noticed and suitably rewarded ; and if this army will but emulate and imitate their brave countrymen in other parts of America, he has no doubt they will, by a glorious victory, save their country and acquire to themselves immortal honor."
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
for several days to have a hand in the approaching fight, was made quite happy by being appointed to the command on Long Island,' and on the 25th he entered upon its duties, under minute and whole- some instructions from the commander-in-chief. Prominent among these were strict orders for the suppression of the prevailing loose- ness and laxity of morale so evident among the troops. "Shameful it is," said Washington, "to find that those men who have come hither in defence of the rights of mankind, should turn invaders of them, by destroying the substance of their friends. . . . The distinction between a well-regulated army and a mob, is the good discipline and order of the former, and the licentious and disorderly behavior of the latter." Gen. Sullivan, with Brig .- Gen. Lord Stir- ling as his second, was assigned to the command of the troops out- side of the lines at Brooklyn.
This series of works (described, ante, pp. 251, 252), which extended over a mile and a half in length, and mounted twenty large and small cannon, and which was defended by ditches and felled trees, with abatis of sharpened stakes, formed simply the interior or intrenched line of defence of the American army. Its exterior line of defence, at a distance of about two miles from the infrenchments, was that furnished by the natural topographical peculiarities of the country.
In the rear of Brooklyn a series of hills, now known as the Mount Prospect range, extends northeasterly from the Narrows towards the Jamaica road at East New York, and, in broken elevations, con- tinues further on beyond that point. This range was, at that time, thickly covered with woods, pierced, at different points, with roads, all of which offered obvious routes for the British approach to Brooklyn. These were :
1. Martense's Lane, extending along the southern border of the present Greenwood Cemetery, from the old Flatbush and New Utrecht road to the coast road, which ran along Gowanus Bay, on about the line of the present Third avenue.
2. The Flatbush Pass and road, at the junction of the Brooklyn
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