History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 105

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 105

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" We, the Sub-Committee of Poundridge, in West-Chester County, " beg leave to inform your Houours that we are apprehensive that "there is danger of our prisoners leaving us and going to the Min- "isterial Army, as we are not more than nine or ten miles from the "water, where the Sound is full of the Ministerial ships and tenders. " One of our number is already gone to Long-Island, and numbers are "gone from other places, which are, no doubt, uow with the Minis- "terial Army. There are disaffected persons daily going over to them, " which gives us much trouble. Therefore, we humbly beg your Ilon- "ours would give us some directions concerning them, that they may " be speedily removed at some farther distance. We would also inform "you that for the misdemeanors of one of them and our own safety, we " have been obliged to commit him to gaol at the White Plains.

" These, with all proper respects, from yours to serve, " JOSHUA AMILER, Chairman of Committee.

" TO THE HONOURABLE CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF NEW- YORK."

1 General Heath to General Nixon, " KING'S BRIDGE, October 14, 1776." 2 Vide pages 397, 398, ante.

# Journal of the Committee of Safety, "Monday morning, Octor. 14, "'1776."

+ The Morris family had left Morrisania, at the first appearance of dan-

412

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

with recitals of dangers from the "disaffected" who, singular as it appeared to those local despots, were not inclined to submit, passively, to whatever of insult or of injury those in revolution should be in- clined to impose on them-only in very exceptional instances, however, did that "disaffection" extend beyond a disinclination to approve, in formal words, all which the Congresses had done, while the inclina- tion to approve the Colonial policy of Great Britain was no stronger ; and the general disinclination to leave their homes and their families and to resort to arms, or to render any assistance whatever, which the " disaffected," everywhere, presented, was as pro- ductive of disappointment to the commanders of the Royal Army as it was to General Washington. Neither General Howe nor General Washington understood of what that "disaffection " was gen- erally composcd; and partisan writers and parti- san orators, from that day to this, have delighted to make that " disaffection" something else than it really was, and to invest the " disaffected," as a class, with characteristics and aims to which, unless in exceptional instances, they were strangers. Had the conservative farmers of Westchester-county-and these were not unlike the great bodies of the farmers, in all the Colonies-been permitted to dissent, quietly, from the policies of both the Home Gov- ernment and the Continental Congress, and to have approved, quietly, of the spiritcd opposi- tion to the Colonial policy of the Home Govern- ment and of the almost audacious demands for a redress of the grievances of the Colonies, which were made by the General Assembly of the Colony of New York, as they were certainly and generally inclined to do; and had not the aristocratic and haughty leaders of the revolutionary faction, in New York, attempted to secure uniformity of merely po- litical opinions-and those to be only such opinions as they should dictate, by the methods which charac- terized the bigoted and relentless Clergy, in cases of religious dissent from their Calvinistic Congregation- alisin, in puritannic Massachusetts and Connecticut- as the those high-toned leaders persistently attempted, it is doubtful if " disaffection " would have been heard of, unless in some individual instances, which would have been harmless because of their insignificance; and it is morally certain that, if the love of home and the sense of wrongs inflicted by the Mother Country and the respect for those bearing authority, which everywhere prevailed, had been permitted to exercise the influences which they would have surely exercised, especially if they had been supported by that forbear- ance and by that respect for freedom of conscience, in political affairs, and by those appeals for harmony which every Christian man would have employed and none but civilized savages would have declined to em- ploy, New York, if not the entire Continent, would have appeared, in the Autumn of 1776, as she had ap- peared in the Spring of 1774, before the spirit of fac-

tional strife had blighted the hopes of patriots, united, as one man, regardless of family feuds and ecclesiatical differences and social inequalities, demanding and, if needs be, supporting in arms, the Rights and the honor of the Colony and of the Continent. But that control- ling faction had other ends than those of the country's welfare in view ; and a narrow, bigoted, haughty, and relentless proscription and persecution of those whose political opinions differed from their own, very rea- sonably caused "disaffection " among the victims, without, however, leading them, to any considerable extent,1 to strike, in retaliation-they would have been worthy of all which was heaped on thein, had they endured that proscription and that persecution, with- out becoming " disaffected :" it was honorable that, although " disaffected," they declined to take up arms, even in retaliation or self-defence, when those arms, thus employed, would have been employed against their own country.

There does not appear to have been any movement, which is worthy of especial notice, in either Army, on the fifteenth of October ; but in the General Orders of that day, Colonel Joseph Reed's Regiment was ordered to join the Brigade commanded by General McDougal; and Colonel Hutchinson's Regiment was ordered to join the Brigade commanded by General Clinton. The Regiments commanded, respectively, by Colonels Sargent, Ward, and Chester and by Lieu- tenant-colonel Storrs, were formed into a Brigade, to be commanded by Colonel Sargent; and the Regi- ments commanded, respectively, by Colonels Douglass, Ely, Horscford, and by Majors Rogers and Graves, were, also, formed into a Brigade, to be commanded by General Saltonstall. The scveral Brigades of the Army were formed into Divisions,2 those commanded, respectively, by Brigadier-generals Heard, Beall, and Wcedon were to form the Division to be commanded by Major-general Putnam ; those commanded, respect- ively, by Brigadier-generals Lord Stirling, Wads- worth, and Fellows were to forni the Division to be commanded by Major-general Spencer; those com- manded, respectively, by Brigadier-generals Nixon, McDougal, and James Clinton, the last commanded by Colonel Glover, were to form the Division to be com- manded by Major-general Lee; those commanded, respectively, by Brigadier-generals Parsons, Scott, and George Clinton were to form the Division to be com-

1 The reader has been, already, informed of what General Howe stated on the backwardness of the Colonists, even of those who had claimed to have been loyal, in taking up arms against their own country, (vide pages 388, 401, ante.) We need not repeat the statements.

2 It is a noticeable fact, and one which has seriously perplexed those who have attempted to study the history of that period and, very often, has led them astray, that, until the time uow under notice, the Regiments of the Army were not, generally, arranged into Brigades and Divisions; and that neither Brigadier-generals nor Major-generals had any specified Regiments under their especial command-they com- manded those who were present and on duty, wherever they might hap- pen to be ; and it is hardly to be wondered at, thi t there was so little of order and discipline in the Army : it is rather remarkable there were as inch of them as there appears to have been.

413

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

manded by Major-general Heath ; those commanded, respectively, by Brigadier-generals Saltonstall, Sar- gent, and Hand were to form the Division to be commanded by Major-general Sullivan; and the Massachusetts Militia, then serving with the Army, was to be formed into a Division to be commanded by Major-general Lincoln.1 At the same time, the Gen- eral, in the most pressiug terus, exhorted all Officers commanding Divisions, Brigades, and Regiments, to have their Offieers and the men under their respective commands properly informed of what was expected from them, that no confusion might arise in case they should be suddenly called to action, which, there was no kind of doubt, was near at hand; and he hoped and flattered himself that the only contention would be who should render the most acceptable service to his country and his posterity. He also desired that the Officers would be particularly attentive to the Inens's Arms and ammunition, that there might be no deficiency or application for Cartridges when they were called into the field.2

On Wednesday, the sixteenth of October, General Wa-hington, accompanied by the other Generals, made a careful reconnaissance of the ground at and near Pell's or Rodman's-neck,3 towards which, it is very evident, his attention had been particularly di- rected, as the point towards which the next move- ment of the enemy would probably be directed.4

With all the information, concerning " the enemy's " intention to surround " the American Army, which the General had been able to sccure; with all the knowledge which his personal and careful reeonnais- sance of the country had imparted to him ; and with all the intelligence concerning "the turbulence of " the disaffected in the upper parts of this State," which the Convention had communicated to him, he re-assembled the Council of War which had met and adjourned on the preceding Sunday,5 [October 13;] aud he laid all these matters before it, for its consid- eration.

That very notable Council was assembled at the Head-quarters of General Lee ; and, besides the Com-

mander-in-chief, Major-generals Lee, Putnam, Heath, Spencer, and Sullivan ; Brigadier-generals Lord Stir- ling, Mifflin, McDougal, Parsons, Nixon, Wadsworth, Scott, Fellows, Clinton, and Lincoln; and Colonel Knox, commanding the Artillery, were present-al- though General Greeue was at the Head-quarters of the Army, on Harlem-heights, he was evidently out of humor and was not present.6 After the Command- er-in-ehief had communicated to the assembled Gen- erals those letters from the Convention of tlie State and those " accounts of deserters showing the enemy's "intention to surround " the American Army, to which reference has been made, and after much con- sideration and debate, the following question was stated : " Whether, (it having appeared that the ob- " structions in the North River have proved insuffi- " cient, and that the enemy's whole force is now in " our rear, on Frog Point,) it is now deemed possible, " in our present situation, to prevent the enemy from " cutting off the communication with the country and " compelling us to fight them, at all disadvantages, " or surrender prisoners at discretion ?" With only one dissenting voice, that of General George Clinton, the Council agreed that " it is not possible to prevent " the communication from being cut off; and that " one of the consequences meutioned in the question " must certainly follow." Largely, if not entirely, in deference to the expressed will of the Continental Congress, the Council resolved, however, apparently with entire unanimity, " that Fort Washington be re- " tained as long as possible." ?

6 General Greene to Governor Cooke, "HEAD-QUARTERS, NEW-YORK IS- "LAND, October 16, 1776."

Singular as it would appear to be, were not the propensity for securing all the honor which belongs to them and as much more as is possible, 80 generally prevalent among those who have occupied public places, Gor- don, who was so largely the exponent of General Greene's opinions and pretensions, made the latter take a leading part, in the Council, in op- posing the movement of the Army from Harlem . Heights ; but the official Minutes of the Council clearly show that General Greene was not present, and, therefore, could not have taken auy part iu the proceedings of that body, (Compare the Proceedings of a Council of General Officers at the Head quarters of General Lee, October 16, 1776, with Gordon's History of the American Revolution if .. 338.)

Proceedings of a Council of General Officers held at the Head-quarters of General Lee, October 16, 1776.

Because of evident errors in the copy of that paper which is printed in Force's American Archices, V., ii., 1117, 1118, we have preferred the copy of it, evidently taken from the original manuscript, which appears in Sparks's Writings of George Washington, Ed. Boston : 1834, iv., 155, note.

In his evidently new-born zeal, adverse to the military and personal character of General Charles Lee, Bancroft has exposed his entire ina- bility to understand and correctly describe a military movement, what- ever his capability of understanding and correctly describing a political movement inny be, in what he has written concerning "tho origin of " the retirement of the American Army from New York." ( History of the I'nited States, Edit. Boston : 1866, ix., 175, note ; the sume, centenary edi- tion, v., 440, note. )

lu his attempt to take from General Leo everthing of credit for having united with others, iu advising that "retirement of the Amer "ican Army from New York," which is now under consideration, that venerable and distinguished historian has entirely disregardled the action of that Council of War, in which the Commander-in-chief was officially informed, the first time, of the opinions of the General Officers, concerning the further occupation of the Heights of Harlem by the main body of the American Army, on which opinions the General Orders for

1 Although General Lincoln was considered and uamed, in the General Order now under uotice, as a Major-general, it is probable that that was ouly his rank in the Militia of Massachusetts, since, iu the Conucil of War, which was held ou the following day, [ October 16,] ho was ranked as only a Brigadier-general, aud then only at the lower end of the line of Brigadiers.

General Orders, " HEAD-QUARTERS, HARLEM HEIGHTS, October 15, "1776."

3 Memoirs of General Hleuth, 71.

4 The first reconnaissance which the General made, after the enemy's occupation of Throgg's-ueck, included " the Necks adjacent," so that he was not ignorant of the character of the ground on and uear Pell's- neck ; but, on the morning of the sixteenth-probably because of infor- mation received, ou the preceding day, from some deserters from the fleet, who had been taken to llead-quarters and personally examined by the General, with evideut confidence in their testimony, (General Washing- ton to Governor Trumbull, " HEAD-QUARTERS, HEIGHTS OF HARLEM, Octo- "ber 16, 1776,")-another and more minute examination of the ground was made, as stated in the text.

b Vide page 409, ante.

414

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

The several positions occupied by the different por- tions of the Army, from day to day, have not been noticed, with any degree of particularity, in any of the official documents or publications of that period, as far as we have knowledge ; but it is evident that the command of Major-general Spencer was moved from the exterior lines, on the Heights of Harlem, to which it had been ordered on the preceding Monday, [October 14,]1 and carried into Westchester-county -- the Brigades commanded, respectively, by Brigadier- generals Wadsworth and Fellows were moved to Kingsbridge,2 probably further northward; and the Brigade commanded by Brigadier-general Lord Stir- ling, to which the Regiments commanded, respect- ively, by Colonels Weedon and Reed were added,3 was pushed forward, first, to the Mile Square and, afterwards, to the White Plains.4 A portion, if not the whole, of the Brigade commanded by Colonel Glover was evidently moved to support whatever guard there may have been posted on the outlet from Pell's, or Rodman's, neck ; 5 two Regiments of the Massachu-

that "retirement" were largely based, and from the date of which officially expressed opinions, alone, that of "the origin of the retire- "ment of the American Army from New York " can be accurately ascer- tained.

Surely the historian could not have been sincere when he described the hurried movement of the Regiment commanded by Colonel Small- wood, on the tweltth of October, to oppose the progress of the enemy from Throgg's-neck, as a "retirement of the American Army from New " York ; " and because the weight of his authorities, in support of his fancy, was confined to a single letter, written by the Adjutant-general of the Army to his wife, on the day after the enemy landed on Throgg's- neek, in which that officer said, "The principal part of this Army is "moved off this island"-a movement from the works on Harlem Heights, which was only for the purpose of holding the enemy in check, and that not, by any means, in fact, approaching a movement of "the " principal part of the Army," nor with either an iutimation or a pretense that it was a "retirement of the American Army " from its strong posi- tion-without any other testimony whatever to support it, we are con- strained to attribute the statement under consideration, either to have been an ebullition of his antipathy against General Lee or one of the reasonable results of his ignorance of what was necessary to constitute a "retirement of the American Armuy from New York."

It would have been more creditable to the anthorial reputation of that venerable writer of history, had he read what General Washington in- structed his Secretary to write to the President of the Congress, ou the seventeenth of October, the day after the Council had advised him of the inexpediency of holding the Heights of Harlem, with the main body of the Army, on the subject of the " change of our disposition, to counter- " act the operations of the enemy, declining an attack on our front." Had he read that very simple statement, he would have ascertained that the Commander in chief was not aware, on the seventeenth of October, that any portion of the Army, at that time, had been "taken from "hence," in the sense of a "retirement of the Army ;" that the "change " of the disposition " of the Army had not, then, been made; that that proposed " change of our disposition " was frankly stated to have been " determined" on, in the Council of General Officers, on the preceding day ; and that "General Lee, who arrived on Monday, had strongly "urged the absolute necessity of the measure," not yet executed.

1 Vide page 410, ante.

2 Memoirs of General Heath, 71.

3 General Orders, " HEAD-QUARTERS, HARLEM HEIGHTS, October 17, " 1776."

4 Memoirs of General Heath, 74.

5 The action which occurred on the eighteenth of October, the day after that of which we write, was maintained by the Regiments com- mianded, respectively, by Colonels Shepard, Read, Baldwin, and Glover, all of them belonging to the Brigade commanded by Colonel Glover, in the absence of General James Clinton .- ( Vide pages 417-422. post.)

setts Militia, from the command of Major-general Lincoln, were "sent up the river," [the Hudson-river,] " to watch the motions of the ships," [the Phoenix, the Roebuck, and the Tartar, then lying off Tarrytown,] " and to oppose auy landing of men, that they may attempt ;" 6 while the Head-quarters of that small Division and, probably, the two remaining Regiments, were posted on Valentine's-hill,7 in the Town of Yonkers, one of those ridges which formed, and which still form, a distinguishing feature in the to- pography of Westchester-county ; and, at the time of which we write, the most southerly of those high grounds, extending northerly as far as the White Plains, which were subsequently occupied by detach- ments of the American Army, while the main body of that Army was laboriously and painfully occupied in its famous retreat, with its baggage and stores, from the Heights of Harlem to the high grounds at the last mentioned-place ; 8 and General Heath's Di- vision was posted in a line extending from Fort In- dependence to Valentine's-hill.9 It is said, also, that » line of entrenched encampments was also formed, along the high grounds, on the western side of the Bronx-river, from Valentine's-hill, on the South, to Chatterton's-hill, opposite the White Plains, on the North ; 10 but by which of the Regiments they were

6 General Washington to Governor Trumbull, "HEIGHTS OF HARLEM, "15 October, 1776."

7 Memoirs of General Heath, 73.

E 8 Vide pages 415 ; 426, 427 ; 430 ; etc., post,

9 The two Regiments of Connecticut encamped on the Harlem-river, belonging to General Parson's Brigade, (General Orders, " IlEAD-QUAR- " TERS, HARLEM HEIGHTS, October 15, 1776,") were ordered to pass over the new Bridge and join Colonel Swartwont; aud, with his Regiment, to form a flank guard. Of the Brigade commanded by General Parsons, the Regiments commanded, respectively, by Colonels Prescott and Hunt- ington were ordered to occupy Fort Independence ; Colonel Ward, with his Regiment, was ordered to Fletcher's, to the eastward of Fort Inde- pendence ; the Regiments commanded, respectively, by Colonels Tyler and Wyllys, were ordered to form a Reserve ; and Captain Treadwell, with a three pounder, and Lieutenant Berbeck, with a howitzer, were attached to the Brigade. Of the Brigade commanded by General Scott, the Regiments commanded, respectively, by Colonels Lasher and Mal- colm were ordered to form a Reserve; * Colonel Drake, with his Regi- ment, was ordered to ocenpy the Redoubt, in Bates's cornfield ; Colonel Hardenberg, with his Regiment, was ordered to occupy the Redoubt, on Cannou-hill ; and Lieutenant Fleming and Fenno, each with a three- pounder, were attached to the Brigade. Of General George Clinton's Brigade, the Regiments commanded, respectively, by Colonels Nicolls and Thomas were ordered to form a Reserve ; Colonel Pawling, with his Regiment, was ordered to occupy Valentine's cornfield, with Colonel Graham and his Regiment on his left ; and Captain Bryant, with a three- pounder, and Lientenant Jackson, with a six pounder, were attached to the Brigade. (Division Orders, " KING'S- BRIDGE, October 17, 1776.")

10 General Howe to Lord George Germaine, " NEW-YORK, 30 November "1776 ; " Santhier's Plan of the Operations of the King's Army under the Command of General Sir William Howe K. B , in New-York and East New- Jersey ; A Plan of the Country from Frog's Point to Croton River shewring the positions, ete. ; Annual Register for 1776 : History of Europe, $177 ; Gordon's History of the American Revolution, ii., 339 ; Marshall's Life of George Washington, ii., 500 ; etc.

Reference may properly be made, in this place, to the two Maps, named among the authorities referred to, in this instance-one of them drawn

* There are some reasons for supposing that those two Regiments con- stituted the force left, under Colonel Lasher, for the protection of Fort Independence, when the Division was moved to the White Plains.

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415

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

constructed and by whom occupied, we are unable to state with certainty, although we suspeet that the Massachusetts Militia, commanded by General Lin- coln, and the two Brigades of General Spencer's Di- vision, commanded, respectively, by Generals Fel- lows and Wadsworth, who had been moved from the Heights of Harlem to Kingsbridge, on the seventeenth of October, were the artifieers who construeted and the soldiers who occupied that very greatly important line of hastily constructed earthworks.

There had not been much haste displayed in the American Army, in changing its position on the Heights of Harlem, made really strong by the outlay of immense labor, notwithstanding the enemy had completely turned its left flank, occupied a position on its rear, and with the veriest mite of an effort was capable of throwing a strong foree aeross its entire rear, of seizing every line of communication and every strong position, and of formning such a line of offensive operations, covered, on either flank, by the ships off Tarrytown and the fleet off Throgg's-neek, which the Americans, in their generally unknown weakness and poverty of supplies, could seareely have hoped to overcome. But General Washington had a lingering suspicion that the movement of the enemy to Throgg's-neek was only a feint; that he remained in that unseemly position only to await the proper time when he could quickly embark again, and drop down to Morrisania, on one tide; and that

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 105

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354