History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals., Part 10

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co.
Number of Pages: 703

USA > New York > Queens County > History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals. > Part 10

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CHAPTER IX.

THE WAR OF 1812-PRIVATEERING-THE FORTIFICATION OF LONG ISLAND.

N the 18th of June 1812 a formal declaration of war against Great Britain was made by the United States. Allusion has elsewhere been made to the causes which led to this war, in which, as in the case of the French wars, Long Island was not the theater of active hostilities.

In the latter part of 1812 and early in 1813 British cruisers were stationed on the American coast. From the files of a paper called War, which was published in New York at the time, it appears that on the 19th of January 1813 a British 74, two frigates and a gun brig were stationed off the entrance to New York harbor, and on the 26th it was stated that this fleet had been aug- mented, and several prizes taken. Commodore Lewis, in command of the flotilla in New York harbor, attempted to go down, but was prevented by the ice. It was not till the 20th of March 1813 that the entire coast of the United States, with the exception of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, was declared in a state of blockade.

In April of that year, it was stated that a British 74 and several privateers were cruising in Long Island

GENERAL HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

Sound, that they had captured a number of coasting ves- sels, and that "the naval force now in this harbor is sufficient either to capture or drive them off, but for some unaccountable reason the 'United States' and ' Macedonian' have been suffered to lie upward of three months at the navy yard entirely dismantled; our enemy when occasion requires can fit out a ship of war in three weeks, or even less time."

In June 1813 the daring privateer "Governor Tomp- kins," of New York, came through the sound. Off Fisher's Island she was chased by the enemy's squadion cruising there, but escaped.

Prime relates that "in June 1813, while a British squadron under Commodore Hardy lay in Gardiner's Bay, a launch and two barges with 100 men attempted to surprise Sag Harbor in the night. They landed on the wharf, but, an alarm being quickly given, the guns of a small fort were opened upon them with such effect that they had only time to set fire to a single sloop, and retreated with so much precipitation as to leave a large quantity of guns, swords, and other arms behind them. The flames were speedily extinguished, and no other in- jury sustained."

In September of the same year a flotilla of thirty gun- boats, under Commodore Lewis, passed through Hell Gate to Sands Point in quest of some armed vessels of the enemy that were cruising in the sound. The weather was not favorable for close action, and after a few shots at long range the flotilla anchored; a frigate which had drawn away from its consorts returned, and the enemy's ships retired eastward.

November 16th 1813 Admiral Warren, commanding the blockading squadron, issued a proclamation in which he declared a blockade of " all that part of Long Island Sound being the sea coast lying within Montaug Point, or the eastern point of Long Island, and the point of offered their services. Stiles says: "The rich and the land opposite thereto, commonly called Plack Point, sit- uate on the sea coast of the main land; together with all the ports, harbors, creeks, and entrances of the East and North rivers of New York, as well as all the other ports, creeks, and bays along the coast of Long Island and the State of New York," etc.

.In 1813 the " Amazon," Captain Conklin, of Hunting- ton, the "Sally," Captain Akerly, of Cow Harbor, and the " Arago " and " Juno," Captain Jones, of Brookhaven, were captured in the sound by the British vessels "Acas- ta" and "Atalanta." During the same year a British fleet entered and remained some time in Gardiner's Bay.

In May 1814 the sloop " Amelia," bound for Rhode Island, laden with rye, pork, and flour, was made a prize by a barge from the British ship of war " Bulwark." One of the owners of this sloop was, with two or three other men, suspected of treason. They were tried and acquit- ted.

In August of the same year a small schooner was chased on shore at Rockaway by the boats of the blockading squadron, and set on fire. The fire was extinguished, though those engaged in extinguishing it were several times fired upon.

In 1814 the British vessels "Pomona" and "Dispatch," arriving off Setauket harbor, sent seven barges into Drown Meadow Bay, where they captured the vessels " Two Friends," "Hope," Herald," and " Mercantile," and burned the "Oneida," which were all anchored in the bay.

It was believed that New York, which was then as now the commercial metropolis of the nation, would become a point of attack, and that the western end of Long Isl- and might become, as it had been in the Revolution, the theater of active hostilities. In view of this danger the citizen soldiery organized and prepared for possible emer- gencies; but beyond this the island did not become the scene of active warlike preparations till the summer of 1814. A large British fleet was then concentrating near the Bermuda Islands, and in view of the possibility that this might be the objective point it was deemed exped- Tient to take such measures as would prevent a repetition of the disaster of August 1776. By a letter received from John Lyon Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, by Jonathan Thompson, collector of internal revenue of New York, the fact became known and was communi- cated to Governor Tompkins that such an attack was in- tended. The people aroused from the lethargy into which they had been lulled by their hope of a favorable termination of the pending negotiations for peace. A committee of defense which had been constituted recom- mended measures for the protection of Brooklyn against attack by land, and issued an address calling on the citi- zens to organize and enroll for resistance to hostile attacks, and to aid, by voluntary contributions of labor and material, in the construction of defensive works at Brooklyn and elsewhere. The response to this appeal was made with alacrity. Citizens and associations, with- out distinction of party and social condition, at once

poor proffered their services, and mingled their labors on the same works in the purest spirit of patriotic emulation. Those who from any cause were unable to give their personal labor to the common cause voluntarily and liberally contributed of their means for the employment of substitutes, while many both gave and worked. Even the women and schoolboys caught the inspiration of the hour and contributed their quota of labor upon the works, and the people of the interior towns in the neigh- boring states of Connecticut and New Jersey hastened to proffer their assistance in averting what was felt to be a common national danger."

In addition to the labor of the different military or- ganizations the members of different societies and trades in various localities came in bodies and labored on these works. The tanners and curriers, the plumbers, the students of medicine, wire factory operators, founders, journeymen cabinet makers, fire companies, exempts members of churches, under the lead of their pastors, carpenters, parties of citizens in bodies from various lo- calities, large parties of Irishmen, colored people both from New York and Long Island, freemasons in a body, and even at one time a party of some two hundred ladies

FORTIFICATIONS OF 1814-EARLY HIGHWAYS.

came in a procession and performed a few hours' labor.

At one time the committee of defense announced their want of several thousand fascines, and stated that patterns were left at Creed's tavern in Jamaica, and at Bloom's in Newtown. The answer to this appeal was the bringing to Fort Greene of a hundred and twenty loads of fascines, averaging twenty-five bundles to a load, by the citizens of Jamaica, headed by the Rev. Mr. Schoonmaker. " Mr. Eigenbrodt, the principal of the academy at Ja- maica, with his pupils, aided in cutting these fascines." The works were commenced on the 9th of August 1814 and completed early in September. They were at once occupied by a large force from different localities, in- cluding a brigade of Long Island militia, 1,750 strong, under command of General Jeremiah Johnson, of Brook- lyn, subsequently well known as an antiquarian and his- torian.

In addition to these, fortifications were erected along the coast below Brooklyn. A block-house was located one-half or three-fourths of a mile north from Fort Ham- ilton, near the shore of the bay, on land then owned by Mr. Barkuloo. On the site of Fort Hamilton was an earthwork, and on that of Fort Lafayette was a log fort. A block-house was located on the shore of New Utrecht Bay, about midway between Fort Hamilton and Bath, near the residence of the late Barney Williams. From the fact of this block-house having been located there the place was long known as the "gun field." This block-house stood several years after the termination of the war. About one-fourth of a mile southeast from Bath, also on the shore of New Utrecht Bay, stood another block-house, on land owned by the late Egbert Benson and now the property of his heirs. In August 1776 the forces of General Howe were landed in the vicinity of where these last two block-houses stood, and they were probably erected in view of a possible attempt to land troops here during this war. Each was armed with a large barbette gun. They were built in the fashion of block-houses of those tintes, with a projection of some feet, twelve or fifteen feet above the ground, from which assailants could be fired on through loopholes from directly overhead. At Rockaway inlet another block- house was erected during the war. Boat's crews from the blockading squadron had entered through this inlet and committed depredations on the inhab- itants near the shore of Jamaica Bay, and to prevent a repetition of such attacks this block-house was built. Several regiments of militia were encamped in and about the works in the vicinity of Bath and Fort Hamilton during the continuance of hostil- ities.

It is not known that any hostile vessels came within Sandy Hook. The storm of war was averted, and Long Island was not made the scene of such strife as desolated it in 1776. Peace was concluded early in 1815, and the joy of the people here was testified by illuminations, bonfires, etc.

CHAPTER X.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF WAGON ROADS AND RAILROADS ON LONG ISLAND.

T first highways were established in the differ- ent towns according to the apparent necessi- ties of the people in those towns, without reference to the convenience of the people elsewhere. No thoroughfares were projected till a long time afterward, and the irregularity of the roads was such that guides were necessary in some cases to conduct strangers from place to place. These roads were often facetiously termed cow paths because of their irregularity, which is still a notable fea- ture of the ordinary highways.

In view of the urgent necessity which had come to be felt for better facilities for travel the Legislature in 1704 enacted a law by which three commissioners in each of the counties on the island were appointed to lay out a road four rods in width from Brooklyn ferry to East- hampton. Twenty years later by another act of the Legislature commissioners were appointed "for better clearing and further laying out the roads on the island." By the action of these commissioners the direct road from Brooklyn to Easthampton was established. This road ran through the center portion of the island, and during many years it was the main thoroughfare between New York and the " east end." As time went on parallel roads were opened both north and south from this, and turnpikes were established between different localities.

As late as 1764 the first post route was established through the island, and it was called the circuit. The mail was carried (on horseback) once in two weeks east- ward through the north part of the island, returning along the south shore.

About the year 1847 what has been termed the Plank Roadia began to prevail through the country and it reached its height about 1850 or 1851. The level sur- face of Long Island afforded better facilities for the con- struction of these roads than existed in many regions, and within three or four years after the first was built they had greatly multiplied in all parts of the island and a new era of travel was thought by some to have dawned. The impracticability of these roads, however, soon be- came apparent, and here as elsewhere the mania sub- sided almost as rapidly as it had arisen. The projection of new roads ceased and those which had been con- structed were abandoned or converted into turnpikes and then into common highways. Of the many that came into existence none remain as plank roads.

Long Island has a railroad system which fully meets the wants of its inhabitants and affords ample facilities for pleasure seekers from abroad to visit the seaside resorts along its southern shorc. The sole reliance of the roads on the island for support is"on local patron-

GENERAL HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

age; none of them are parts of thoroughfares that open into regions beyond.

The first railroad constructed on Long Island was that from South ferry in Brooklyn to Jamaica. This was opened for travel April 18th 1836. In the same year the Long Island company commenced the extension east- ward of this road, and in August 1837 it was in opera- tion to Hicksville. In 1841 it reached Suffolk Station, and on the 25th of July 1844 the first train of cars passed over it to Greenport, a total length of ninety-five miles.

From Hicksville a branch was opened to Syosset in 1854, and an extension completed to Northport in 1868, and thence a road was completed to Port Jefferson in 1872. Branches were also constructed from Mineola to Hempstead and to Locust Point and from Jamaica to Far Rockaway.

In 1869 the Sag Harbor branch was built, diverging from the main line at Manor Station, passing through the Hamptons and terminating at Sag Harbor. The road from Hunter's Point to Flushing was opened in 1854 and it was subsequently extended to Manhasset. A road was also constructed from Hunter's Point to Whitestone.

On the south side a road was opened from Jamaica to Babylon in the autumn of 1867 and extended to Patchogue in 1868. Branches of this road were also built. A. T. Stewart constructed a road to Garden City and this was extended to Babylon. Other roads and branches sprang into existence and a competition arose that was not con- ducive to the prosperity of the roads.

A consolidation of these roads under the control of the Messrs. Poppenhusen by leases and otherwise was effected. Lavish expenditures were made and much business was done, but the management was not success- ful, and in 1877 Thomas R. Sharp was appointed receiver of the consolidated corporation.

In the latter part of 1880 a controlling interest in the Long Island Railroad passed into the hands of a syndi- cate of Boston capitalists, at the head of which is Austin Corbin, under whose management the road has come.

Within a comparatively recent time several roads for the conveyance of passengers to and from the summer resorts on the south coast of Long Island have come into existence.

CHAPTER XI.

THE AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES AND DEVELOPMENT OF LONG ISLAND.

HATEVER may be the general impression of the value and fertility of the lands of Long Island, they do and will command a price far in excess of soils equally fertile but which are not situated near a great market. Easy, cheap and uninterrupted water communication with a center of trade aggregating a population of nearly two millions will always make

Long Island a place of peculiar interest to tillers of the soil. The vast and increasing demand of the city of New York for vegetables and fruits of a perishable na- ture, as well as the peculiar adaptation of the soil for their culture, has already made Kings and a large portion of Queens county one inimense garden. Previous his- tories of the island are nearly silent upon this the chief business of its inhabitants.

The early settlers of Long Island, coming as they did chiefly from the New England colonies, naturally followed the same system of tillage and rotation of crops to which they had been accustomed. . Probably the first settlers found sufficient cleared land for their purpose; as, ac- cording to early traditions, there was much cleared land, or land not covered with timber, besides the great plains. They very soon discovered that success depended upon the application of manures. As early as 1653 the first settlers, by the terms of the patent from the Dutch governor for the lands they occupied, were required to pay to the government one-tenth of the revenue arising from the ground manured. This tax for the town of Hempstead amounted in 1657 to one hundred schepels of wheat (the Dutch bushel of three pecks). In 1651 Hempstead produced from the proceeds of the servants labor corn, beef, pork, butter, tobacco and staves, which were exchanged for liquor and merchandise.

Cattle were imported for breeding as early as 1625, and a cow in New York was worth £30. The abundant grass on the plains, doubtless, turned the attention of the early settlers to the raising of stock, But as yet there were few or no fences; so herdsmen were hired by the town to take care of the cattle from the 11th of May till the 23d of October, when the Indian harvest would be wholly taken in and housed. In 1667 the town of Hemp- stead hired Abraham Smith to keep the cattle from destroying the corn planted in the plain called "the field," and he was to have one and a half bushels per acre paid him for this service. So important was this office deemed that the conditions of agreement were entered at large on the town book. A half hour after sunrise, at the blowing of a horn, the owners of cattle drove them from their several pens into one common herd, when they were taken under the care of the cow- keeper and his dog, and driven on the plains. He was to keep them from going astray, or wandering in the woods, or getting on tilled land; to water them at some pond at reasonable hours; to drive them weekly to the south meadows, and then bring them home half an hour before sunset that they might be milked. For this ser- vice (in 1658) the hire was twelve shillings sterling per week in butter, corn and oats. The calves were cared for by another keeper, who was required to water them twice a day, drive them to the salt meadows once in two weeks, and put them in an inclosure at night to protect them from the wolves. After a while cowherds were dispensed with, and it was found necessary to fence the pasture lands. Thus Cow Neck in 1669 was fenced from Hempstead Harbor to Great Neck, as the turnpike now runs. Rockaway had in 1690 a fence running from

AGRICULTURE ON THE ISLAND.

the landing across to Jamaica Bay. Each proprietor had the right to put cattle in the pasture ground in propor- tion to the length of fence he had made. At that time cattle were sold to butchers in New York, and exported alive to the West Indies. In 1658 cattle were bought on the great plains to be shipped to the colony of Delaware. In 1678 the city of New York consumed only four hun- dred beeves.

Sheep were not introduced until a later date; in 1643 there were not over sixteen in the whole colony of New York. In 1670 sheep were pastured on the plains, under the care of a shepherd, who had directions not to let them go over half a mile in the woods, for fear of their being lost or destroyed by wolves. Each proprietor had an ear mark for his own sheep, which was recorded in the town book. In 1737 the New York Gazette says: " Vast losses have been sustained in this colony and those adjacent by the death of cattle for the want of fodder, and many persons have been almost ruined thereby. We hear from Long Island that five thousand head of cattle have been lost this winter, besides sheep and lambs innumerable."

Corn, wheat, rye, oats, flax, wood for fuel, fat cattle and sheep were for nearly two hundred years, or until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the staple products of the island, and the chief source of income. During the Revolutionary war a tory advised a British minister to land the forces destined for the subjugation of the colonies on Long Island; " for," said he, "it is one hundred and thirty miles long, and is very fertile, abounding in wheat and every other kind of grain, and has innumerable black cattle, sheep, hogs etc .; so that in this fertile island the army can subsist without any succor from England. It has a fertile plain twenty-four miles long, with a fertile country about it, and is twenty miles from New York; and from an encampment on this plain the British army can in five or six days invade any of the colonies at pleasure. The spot I advise you to land is at Cow Bay." The suggestion was acted upon. The English army occupied Long Island, with New York city as its headquarters, for nearly seven years; and drew its supplies of fresh and salt hay, oats, straw, wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat and firewood from our island. For an encouragement to farmers to raise plenti- ful supplies of fresh provisions, vegetables and forage for the army, the British commandant forbade all per- sons from tresspassing, or breaking down or destroying fences, or carrying away produce from the owners. In 1780 the requisition on Queens county was for four thousand five hundred cords of wood.

Since the advent of the present century, and within the memory of many now living, radical changes have been made in the system of agriculture, in the crops produced, fertilizers applied, machinery employed, do- mestic manufactures and manner of living. There are many localities in Suffolk and a few in Queens county in which, from their peculiarity of position, primitive farming is still followed-that is, corn upon old sod, followed by oats the second year, which is succeeded in

the fall by either wheat or rye with which clover and timothy seed are sown. Then good crops of hay are cut for from three to five years; it is then pastured one or two years, and the same routine repeated

With the growth of New York and Brooklyn grew the demand for vegetables, milk, hay, straw and such articles of a perishable and bulky nature as cannot be profitably transported long distances. Hence we see that the area necessary for their production has extended, not only eastward over nearly two counties, but the country for miles around every harbor which indents the shores of Long Island, as well as near every depot of its railroads, has been put under contribution to supply the demand. Consequent upon this change the product of cereals is greatly reduced, and stock-raising is entirely abandoned as a source of profit.

Nearly all the produce raised within twenty-five miles of New York is carted in with teams by the proprietors in the night. The largest part is sold at wholesale to dealers or middle-men, between midnight and daylight, chiefly in the vicinity of Washington market, which until recently was the center of the retail as well as the whole- sale trade. Three years ago, in consequence of the great throng of market wagons, which for years had greatly im- peded business in the lower part of the city, a market was established in the vicinity of West Twelfth street and Tenth avenue. Those who do not sell at wholesale re- main until daylight, when the retail trade begins. The grocers then come for their daily supply. Produce sent by water or rail is consigned to commission dealers.

Twenty five years ago all the milk supplied by Long Island was produced within so small a distance from the city that it was taken in in wagons. Market garden- ing becoming more profitable, the area of milk produc- tion was gradually extended eastward along the lines of railroad, until at the present time it has assumed im- mense proportions. Swill milk is still produced largely in the suburbs of Brooklyn; but that industry is by com- mon consent ruled out as an agricultural pursuit.

The selling of hay was the first innovation upon the old system of stock raising as a source of income. The old theory that unless the hay and corn were fed upon the land its fertility would be reduced was soon exploded; and the wisdom of the new enterprise was demonstrated by the fact that the returns from the sale of hay were so much greater than from the sale of stock that the farmer could afford to buy stable manure, street sweepings, lime and ashes from the city to apply to his land. The benefits of liberal expenditures for these fertilizers in market gardening are still more apparent. Guano and artificial or manufactured fertilizers have been largely used with good results; but after being applied for a series of years their efficacy is so diminished that they are generally abandoned, and the more bulky articles named are resumed.

On the margins of creeks along the south side of the island are immense shell banks left by the Indians; these clam or quahaug shells have been burnt and the lime used profitably. The fish called menhaden, however, has been

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History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals., Part 10

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co. Number of Pages: 703

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell and Co.
Number of Pages: 703