History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 108

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 108

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It is said, with some degree of probability, that, on the morning of the twentieth of October, the second day after the enemy occupied Pell's-neck, General Washington employed Colonel Rufus Putnam, an Officer and an Engineer in whom much confidence

Journal or New-Hampshire Gazette, Vol. I., No. 25, PORTSMOUTH, Tuesday, November 12, 1776, whence it was re-printed hy Frank Moore, in his Diary of the American Revolution, i., 326, 327 ; General Howe's despatch to Lord George Germaine, dated "NEW- YORK, 30 November, 1776," contained the official report of the skirmish ; Captain Hall, in his History of the Civil War in America, (i., 205,) made mention of it, stating, also, that the Light Infantry lost "ahout thirty killed and wounded," without making the slightest allusion to either the Grenadiers or the German troops ; Stedman, in his History of the American War, (i., 211, 212,) described the skirmish, very briefly, stating "thirty-two were killed and wounded on "the side of the English," without alluding to that of any of the other troops ; Judge Jones, in his Ilistory of New York during the Revolutionary War, (i., 122,) made only a general reference to it, among a number of skirmishes iu Westchester-county, and his Editor, de Lancey, made no mention of it ; Gordon, in his History of the American Revolution, (ii., 339,) gave a singularly inaccurate description, making General Lee the com- mander, in person, without naming Colonel Glover, in any way ; Genera 1 Heath, in his Memoirs, (72, 73,) mentioned it with some particularity, hut without alluding to Colonel Glover, in connection with it ; Judge Marshall, in his Life of George Washington, (ii., 499,) briefly alluded to it ; Ramsay, in his History of the American Revolution, (Edit. London : 1791, i, 308, 309,) gave the personal command to General Lee, without allud- ing to Colonel Glover ; Mrs. Warren, in her Rise and Progress of the American Revolution, (i., 327,) grouped all the operations of the Armies, while en route to the White Plains, without making special mention of either ; Adolphus, in his History of England, (Second edition, ii., 380,) made honorable mention of Colonel Glover and of the engagement ; Ser- geant Lamb, of the Royal Welsh Fusileers, in his Journal of Occurrences during the late American War, (Edit Dublin : 1809; 127,) made honorable meution of it, giving the personal command to General Lee ; Paul Allen, iu his History of the American Revolution, (i., 511, 512,) also gave the connuand to General Lee, requiring, however, the " whole force of the " British, in solid columns," to overcome the handful of Americans ; Morse, in his Annals of the American Revolution, (Edit. llartford : 1821, 262,) mentioned it, incidentally, giving the personal command to General Lee ; Ramsay, in his Life of George ll'ashington, (Sixth edition, 46,) did no more thau to casually allude to the entire series of affairs, withont particularly mentioning either of them ; Dunlap, in his History of New York, (ii., 80,) did the same, honorably mentioning all, without selecting either, for special praise ; Lossing, in his Pictorial Field-book of the Revo- lution, (original editiou, ni .. $20,) found room for no more than two lines of description of this gallant affair, which was a part of his subject : although he had devoted eight pagcs to Christopher Columbus and four- teen to Sir Walter Raleigh, Cuptain John Smith, and Pocahontas, which, certainly, had no connection with that subject, the American Revolu- tion ; and, in those two lines, he committed a singularly important error ; Irving, in his Life of George Washington, (Edit. 1856, ii., 385, 386,) gave an excellent little notice of it ; Bancroft, in his History of the United States, (original edition, ix., 177, and in the same, centenary edition, v., 441,) while he had been singularly profuse in what had no bearing whatever on the history of the United States, dismissed the subject in less than four lines ; Dawson, in his Battles of the I'nited States, (i., 177,) made only an incidental allusion to it, instead of appropriating a Chapter of his work to that special subject, as he should have done ; Colonel Carrington, in his Battles of the American Revolution, (235,) made honorable mention of the affair ; the local historian, Bolton, in his History of Westchester- county, (original edition; i., 153, and in the same work, second edition, i., 245,) probably alluded to this engagement, when in each instance, he devoted two lines and a half to the subject, in the course of which, how- ever, in each instance, the reader was gravely informed that the Royal Army was, at that time, "under Lord Howe," the Admiral commanding the Fleet. In other parts of his work, (original edition, i., {46-548 ; second edition, ii., 73, 74,) he presented copies of what General Heath and two of the letter-writers had written on the subject, without a single additional word, where something of description of localities, if nothing else, would have been more than ordinarily useful. The Annual Register for 1776 : History of Europe, $176; Murray, in his Impartial History of the War in America, (Edit. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, sine anno, ii., 175) ; The History of the War in America, (Ed. Duhlin : 1779, ii., 193) ;

* Thus printed.

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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

was justly reposed, to make a personal reconnaissance of the enemy's strength and position.1 It is said that, in the discharge of that service, Colonel Putnam was accompanied by Adjutant-general Reed and a guard of twenty men. It is said, also, that, from the heights of Eastchester, they saw a small body of the enemy, near the Church, in that village, but conld learn nothing from the inhabitants, as the houses were all deserted. The Adjutant-general is said to have left Colonel Putnam, at that place, to attend to other dutics ; and that the latter requested him to take back the guard, as he thought he could succeed better, in what he had to do, by himself. It is said, also, that Colonel Putnamı then disguised himself, and set out for the White Plains, a place which he had never visited; nor did he know the road which led to it. Immediately afterwards, hc came to a road which turned off, to the right, aud which he followed, a short distance and until he came to a house, where a woman informed him that the road he was then on led to New Rochelle ; that the enemy was there; and that the latter had posted a guard, at a house, then in sight. Returning to the roadway from which he had diverged, he continued his journey towards the White Plains, and had ap- proached " within three or four miles of that place,"? when he saw a house, with men about it, only a short distance from him. Before he advanced, he carefully examined the men, with his field-glass ; and having ascertained that the house was a Tavern and that the men were not British soldiers, he went for- ward; called for some oats for his horse; and, sitting

d' Aubertenil, in his Essais historiques et politiques sur la Révolution de l' Amérique Septentrionale, (Edit. a Bruxelles : 1782, ii., 38) ; Andrews, in his History of the War with America, France, Spain, and Holland, (Edit. london : 1786, il., 243-245) ; Soulés, in his Histoire des Troubles de l' Amerique Anglaise, (Edit. Paris : 1787, i., 342-345) ; Chas and Lebrun, in their Histoire politique et philosophique de la Revolution de [ Amerique Sep- tentrionale, (Edit. Paris : An ix., 183) ; Colonel Ihumphreys, in his Essay on the Life of Major-general Israel Putnam, (Edit. Boston : 1818, 126, 127) ; Pitkin, in his Political and Civil History of the United States, (Ed. New Haven : 1828, i., 379) ; Sparks, in his Life of George Washington, (Edit. Boston : 18-12, 194) ; Lossing, in his Seventeen hundred and seventy- six, (Edit. New York : 1847, 207) ; Hildreth, in his History of the United States of America, (First Series, iii., 154) ; Hamilton, in his History of the Republic of the United States of America, (i., 129, 130)-where the enemy is made to force himself over the causeway leading from Throgg's-neck to the village of Westchester ; Greene, in The Life of Nathanael Greene, (Edit. New York : 1867, i., 236-238) ; Ridpath, in his Popular History of the United States of America, (Edit. New York : 1880, 313) ; although all of them made mention ot the movement of the Royal Army from Throgg's neck, made no mention whatever, of this spirited and impor- tant skirmish.

Disregarding those who made no mention of Colonel Glover and his brave comumand, the reader will find in the character and number of those who did recognize and describe the achievements of those brave nien, on that eighteenth of October, sufficient evidence of the great importance which those achievements possessed and the great influence which they secured, both in America and in Europe, both of which are our sufficient warrant for devoting hoth labor and space, in our pres- entation of them to our readers, in as complete and as accurate a form as possible.

1 Memoir of Colonel Rufus Putnam, in Hildreth's Biographical and His- torical Memoirs of the Early Settlers of Ohio, 61-63.

" Probably between the present villages of Tuckahoe and Scarsdale, near the line of the Harlem Railroad.

quietly down, listened to the conversation of the as- sembled countrymen, whom he discovered to be Whigs. From thesc, Colonel Putnam ascertaincd that a large body of the Royal Army was lying near New Rochelle, which was about eleven miles distant from the White Plains, with good roads and an open, level country between the two places ; and that at the Plains, was a large quantity of American Stores, guarded by ouly about three hundred Militia. He ascertained, also, that a detachment of the enemy was posted near Mamaroneck, only seven miles dis- tant from the White Plains; while, on the other side, was the Hudson-river, on which were half a dozeu armed vessels of the King's Fleet, within seven miles from the same place; and he understood, at once, that the principal Magazine of Provisions for the American Army, which Gencral Washington had ordered to be brought to the White Plains, for the greater security of it, was enclosed, on three sides, by the King's forces, and was withiu easy striking distance from either of those three positions. Colonel Putnam waited no longer, at the Tavern, and proceeded no further, on the road towards the White Plains ; but, turning his horse towards the Bronx-river, westward from Ward's Taveru,3 where he then was, over Ward's Bridge, he hastened back to Head-quarters, " with his "all-important discoveries." It appears that Colonel Putnam and the Adjutant-general liad passed over the same ground, in the morning; and the former was surprised, therefore, when he approached the high ground, westward from the Bronx-river, to see that it was occupied by armed men ; but he ascer- tained with his field-glass that they were Americans ; and when he reached the encampment, he found it was the Brigade commanded by Brigadier-general Lord Stirling, of Major-general Spencer's Division, who had been pushed forward, iu advance of the main Army, during that day, to occupy that very im- portant pass and to fortify it.4

After Colonel Putnam had refreshed himself and his horse at the Head-quarters of the Brigade-as Lord Stirling was a bon virant and an extravagant liver, the weary Colonel was, undoubtedly, well-refreshed-he set out for Head-quarters, by way of Yonkers, a road on which he had not previously traveled ; and as it was dark, and because the country over which he was to pass was largely inhabited by those who were un- friendly to the Americaus, rendering it hazardous for him to make inquiries, his journey was peculiarly dangerous. It is said, however, that he reached Head-quarters, iu safety, about nine o'clock ; that he was rceeived by General Washington, who heard his verbal Report aud examined the sketch ofthe country which he made for the illustration of the Report and

3 The position of that noted Tavern may he ascertained by a reference to the Plan of the Country from Frog's Point to Croton River, opposite page 415, ante : if we are correctly informed, the property is now owned and occupied by llon. Silas D. Gifford, recently County Judge of Westchester- county.

4 Vide page 414, ante.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

to show the relative positions of the several bodies of the King's forces and the Magazine, at the White Plains ; that the General was surprised that the Army was so greatly imperiled, " complaining, very feelingly, " of the gentlemen of New York, from whom he had "never been able to obtain a plan of the country, "and saying that it was by their advice he had or- "dered the Stores to the White Plains, as a place of " safety ;" that General Greene and General George Clinton were called in, to vouch for the accuracy of the sketch ; that Colonel Putnam "was charged with " a letter to Brigadier-general Lord Stirling, and " ordered immediately to his Camp, which he reach- " ed, by the same route, about two o'clock ;" that, " before daylight, the Brigade was in motion, in full " march for the White Plains, where it arrived, about "nine o'clock, on the morning of the twenty-first of "October ;" and that "thus was the American Army "saved by an interposition of Providence, from a " probably total destruction."

While these various movements were in pro- gress, and while his attention to the great events which were passing immediately before him must have been close and constant, General Washington's interest in the future was not neglected. He deter- mined, therefore, to establish a Magazine of Pro- visions, to the northward of the Highlands and "remote from the North River;" and the Quarter- master-general of the Army was instructed to ascer- tain the opinions of William Duer and Robert R. Livingston, on the subject ; and, in the mean time, the former of the two, who was never absent when any opportunity for making money was presented, was ordered by the Quartermaster-general to purchase, without the slightest limitation of prices or any check whatever, as to qualitiesor quantities or places or times of delivery, thirty thousand bushels of Grain, one- half of it to be Corn and the other half to be Oats, one thousand tons of Hay, and five hundred tons of Rye- straw-as Robert R. Livingston was to be consulted concerning the places where all these should be deliv- ered, it is very clear that the Quartermaster general intended that large liberty, in the expenditure of the public monies, which he had authorized, should be ex- ercised within the Manor of Livingston, where that family and its adherents would enjoy the benefits to be derived from that questionable source, instead of ex- pending those monies within those other portions of the State where the dominant party possessed no in- terest, although the former was perfectly secure from loss and the latter, very largely, were exposed to the inroads of the enemy. Instructions were also given, also without limitation, for the purchase of Horses and Oxen ; and if they could not be purchased, the lucky agent was authorized to hire them, " at the most rea- "sonable rates." 1 It was for the purpose of making

such opportunities as these, that the dominant faction had revolted; and in such hands as those of William Duer and the Livingstons, such opportunities never failed to be made useful, always to themselves and sometimes to the State and the Country.

There was ample reason, however, for the anxiety of General Washington, concerning Provisions for the supply of the Army, since, at the time when he ordered the establishment of a Magazine, in the up- per part of Duchess-county, there were not more than fifteen hundred barrels of Flour and two hundred barrels of Pork, at Kingsbridge and on the Heights of Harlem ; and there were very few live Cattle, of any kind, collected, at any place within the neighbor- hood of the Army. As the enemy had the control of the navigation on the Hudson-river, as well as of that on the Sound, there could not be any transportation of the much-needed supplies, by water; and the great scarcity of teams, growing more and more evident, day by day, rendered the prospect of a transportation, by land-carriage, of what would become necessary for the maintenance of the Army, exceedingly discouraging, especially since the enemy had indicated his intention to cut off the lines of communication by land, as well as those by water. The General was necessarily led, therefore, to concentrate whatever of supplies he had, at the White Plains; to request and entreat that ev- ery possible exertion should be made to have large quantities of Provisions carried to the interior parts of the country, out of the reach of the enemy, and with the utmost expedition ; and to inform the Com- missary-general of the Army that a failure to effect these would, he feared, he was certain, be productive of the fatal consequences attending on mutiny and plunder, adding, significantly, "indeed, the latter " will be authorized by necessity." 2

With such testimony as this, and there is an abun- dance of other testimony which is even stronger in its terms, the honest historian of these events finds great difficulty in reconciling the facts with the per- sistent assertion that the War of the Revolution was originated by the great body of the Colonists arising, en masse, for the protection of their several prop- erties and homes and families from outrages threat- ened or inflicted by a foreign tyrant ; that it was con- ducted by that same great body of people, through agencies of its own appointment and under its con- trol, always unselfishly and with nothing else than the common weal in view ; and that the willing hands and the patriotic hearts of the entire body of the peo- ple were in accord with the patriotism of the Army which it had created, which it was sustaining with all which it possessed, and on which, alone, all its hopes for security, for happiness, for prosperity, and for peace, were rested. Surely, where mutiny and plundering were officially threatened in default of

1 Quartermaster-general Mifflin to William Duer, "MOUNT WASHINGTON, " October 20, 1776."

2 General Washington to Colonel Joseph Trumbull, Commissary-general of Provisions, " HEAD-QUARTERS, KING'S BRIDGE, October 20, 1776."

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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

contributions, forced coutributions, demanded and expected, there could not have been much sympathy between the Army and the body of the people ; and, surcly, in that condition of the popular feeling, the Army can scarcely be said, in truth, to have been fighting for the cause of the country, at large, but, on the contrary, as Armies have always fought, at the expense of the body of the people, of the working-becs ofthe hive, for the promotion, only, of the private ends and the private aims aud the private iuterests of an individual or of a family or of a factiou or of a party, neither of them a producer nor anything else than a cumbrance and a burden on those who have labored.

It will be seen, from General Washington's auxiety concerning his supplies and concerning the lines of communication between the Army and the country, and from other evidence, that he was becoming con- vinced that the enemy intended to take New Rochelle for the base of his proposed operations, and, from that place, by way of the White Plains, to form his com- mand, in a line, to the Hudson-river,1 at Tarrytown- a plan of operations, as we have already stated,2 which was formed, after due consideration, before General Howe had left the City of New York, as will have been seen in the disposition of the Phoenix, the Roebuck, and the Tartar, off Tarrytown, to cover the objective point, the right of the proposed uew line, of the Army,3 and in the selection of Mill's-creek, or New Rochelle-harbor, as the base of his opera- tions, the left of the proposed line,4 aud, because of that new-born conviction, as early as noon, on the

twentieth of October, the entire military force, except the Regiments which were intended to garrison Fort Washington, was drawn into Westchester-couuty ; ev- ery height and pass and advantageous ground, be- tween New Rochelle and the Hudson-river, was occu- pied by an American force sufficiently strong to hold it, temporarily ;5 the Head-quarters of the Army were removed from Harlem Heights to Kingsbridge;6 and, although there are no direct testimonics on the sub- ject, it is very evident that, at least as carly as the close of the twentieth of October, the proper disposi- tions for the movement of the main body of the Army -the garrison of Fort Washington aud a guard at the barracks, at Fort Independence, only excepted-to the high grounds, to the northward and eastward of the White Plains, had, also, been entirely completed.

On the twentieth of October, Lieutenant-colonel Harcourt, with the greater portion of the Sixteenth Regiment of Light Dragoons-the other portion of the Regiment having embarked on a transport which had not come into port-and the whole of the Seven- teenth Regiment of Light Dragoons, joined General Howe; and, on the next day, [October 21, 1776,] thus strengtheued, the Right and Center of the Royal Ar- my were moved to a position, about two miles to the northward of New Rochelle, on the road to the White Plains, Lieutenant-gencral Heister occupying the ground which had been thus abandoned, with one Brigade of British and two Brigades of Hessiaus, constituting the Left of the Army ;7 and, early in the morning of that day, the Queen's Rangers, a Corps of Loyalists commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Rogers, were detached and puslied forward, to take possession of Mamaroneck,8 the last-named of which places was

1 See, also, General Washington, through his Secretary, to the President of the Continental Congress, "KING'S BRIDGE, October 20, 1776, half-after one " o'clock, P. M."

Vide page 231, ante.

3 Vide page 229, 230, ante.

We are not insensible that Bancroft, (History of the United States, origi- nal edition, ix. 177; centenary edition, 1876, v., 441, ) said it was as early as his fifth day on Throgg's-neck, that General Howe "gave up the hope of " getting directly in Washington's rear ; " and that, in consequence of that disappointment and at that time, " he resolved to strike at White " Plains." Little credit is given to General Howe and the very able Officers whom he commanded, by any one who can really suppose they would open a Campaign, or even a series of important movements, without having, previously, formed a plan, as carefully and as intelligently con- structed as possible, for the general guidance of the operations of the Army ; and if from nothing else, the selection of Tarrytown and New Rochelle-harbor, as the two extremes of the proposed line, while the Army was yet unknown on Throgg's-neck, might have indicated to a less ex- perienced reader than the venerable ex-Secretary of War, that the pro- posed line from New Rochelle, by way of the White Plains, to Tarry- town, was vastly more, in the military operations of the Royal Army, than a sudden inspiration which sprung up to cheer the disappointed General, when, on the sixteenth of October, the latter is alleged to have given up all hope of getting iu the rear of the Americans-tho whole of it a finely constructed creation of the venerable historian's peculiarly lively and poetical imagination.

There is an abundance of testimony showing that General Howe's original purpose was to take Tarrytown and New Rochelle, as the extremes of his proposed lines ; and, because the venerable historian did not ap- pear to have been governed by it, preferring, rather, to pay deference to a phantom of his own creation, it must have been that he did not under- stand it. Whatever it may have been which inspired the historian, however, what he wrote, on the subject under notice, is not historical, although it bears the name of History.

+ Vide page 231, note 7, aute. 38

5 General Washington, through his Secretary, to the Congress, "KINO'S " BRIDGE, October 20, 1776, half-after one o'clock, P.M."

6 Sparks, ( Writings of George Washington, iv., 152, note,) said, " Ilead- "quarters remained at Haerlem Heights, as appears by the Orderly Book, " till the twenty-first ;" and the Orderly Book of both the twentieth and the twenty-first of October gives weight to his statement. But, becauso the entire military force, except the garrison of Fort Washington, had been moved into Westchester-county as early as noon, on the twentieth ; because General Greene had found Head quarters, " near King's Bridgo," on the evening of the nineteenth, (Letter to the Continental Congress, " CAMP AT FORT LEE, (LATELY FORT CONSTITUTION,) October 20, 1776 ;") because Lieutenant-colonel Tench Tilghman, one of the General's Aids, had addressed a letter to William Duer, dated "HEAD-QUARTERS, KING'S " BRIDOE, October 20, 1776 ; " becauso Colonel Harrison, the General's Secretary, had addressed a letter to the President of the Continental Con- gress, dated " KING'S BRIDOE, October 20, 1776, half-after one o'clock, "P.M. ; " and becanso General Washington, himself, had addressed a letter to Colonel Joseph Trumbull, Commissary-general of Provisions, dated, " HEAD-QUARTERS, KING'S BRIDGE, October 20, 1776," we prefer to consider the Orderly Book-which was in evident disorder, from the eighteenth until the twenty-third (only a single entry appearing in it, during that long interval)-and, necessarily, Doctor Sparks, to have been in error ; and that lead-quarters were really at or very near to Kings- bridge, as early as the afternoon of the nineteenth.

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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 108

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