USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. II > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
On the 25th the commander-in-chief wrote to Major-general Putnam : that it was with no small degree of concern that he perceived yesterday a scattering, unmeaning, and wasteful fire, froin our people at the enemy. No one good consequence can attend such irregularities, but several bad ones will inevitably fol- low. He says, fear prevents deserters approaching, and mentions other evils, which must forever continue to operate, whilst every soldier considers himself at liberty to fire when, and at what, he
. Mr. Wood has shewn us that in the seventeenth century, the inhabitants of Long Island were bo.d asserters of the liberties and rights of Englishmen: but he passes over the necessity which the conduct of many imposed upon the whigs of the eighteenth century-of sending General Heard, with the New Jersey militia, to disarin thein, as enemies to the freedom of America.
From the very important tables of Mr. Wood, I extract notices of the population of Long Island, at different periods. In 1731, it was 17,820. In 1771-27,731. In 1785 -- 30,863. In 1790-36.949. In 1800-42,167. In 1810-48,752. In 1320-56,978. In 1776, the population of the west end was tory.
The population of Long Island, compared to that of the city of New York, was,' in 1731, two to one; the island having 17,820, and the city 8,623; but in 1810, it was reversed ; the city had 96,378. and the island 45,752.
The proportion of population of Long Island to the province and state of New York, at different periods, stands thus. In 1731, it was one to three. In 1771- one to six. In 1736-one to seven. In 1790-one to nine. In 1800-one lo four- teen. In 1810-one to nineteen. In 1820-one to twenty-four. Thus its relative importance decreasing from being one third to being one twenty-fourth, in eighty- nine years.
62
NATHANIEL WOODHULL.
pleases. He instructs him in the mode of placing his guards, and appointing the duty of his brigadiers and field officers. He com- plains of the men burning and plundering houses. He directs that the wood next to Red Hook should be well attended to.
On the 26th Washington was at the lines on Long Island, and returned to the city in the evening.
In the meantime, on the 25th of August, or soon after landing, Woodhull, acting as general of militia, approaching the south- west end of the island to drive off the horses and cattle, fell into the hands of the enemy. He was so barbarously treated, after surrender, that he died of his wounds shortly afterward.
Nathaniel Woodhull was born at Mistic, Long Island, Decem- ber 30th, 1722. He was, in early life, a colonel in the provincial army, under both Abercrombie, and Amherst. He was the coad- jutor of Schuyler and Clinton, in the New York Provincial Con- gress. He was early in the revolutionary war appointed a Gene- ral, and ordered by the convention of New York to secure all the cattle on the west end of the island, and drive to the north and the east. With the aid of his brigade of militia he remained near Jamaica with from seventy to one hundred militia ; and not being joined by more, nor receiving orders from the convention, he re- mained at his post until the 2Sth August, when he ordered the few men who were with him to retreat. He slowly followed, until he was made prisoner by a party of the enemy. He immediately sur- rendered his sword to the officer in command.
" The ruffian who first approached him,* (said to be a Major Baird, of the 71st) ordered him to say God save the King; the General replied, "God save us all ;" on which he most cowardly and cruelly assailed the defenceless General with his broad sword, and would have killed him upon the spot if he had not been prevented by the interference of an officer of more honour and humanity. The General was badly wounded in the head, and one of his arms was mangled from the shoulder to the wrist. He was taken to Jamaica, where his wounds were dressed, and, with other prisoners, was confined there till the next day. He was then conveyed to Gravesend, and with about eighty other prisoners, (of which number Colonel Robert Troup, of New York, was one,) was confined on board a vessel which had been employed to transport live stock for the use of the army, and was without accommoda- tions for health or comfort. The General was released from the vessel on the remonstrance of an officer who had more humanity than his superiours, and removed to a house near the church in
" I quote the words of Mr. Thompson, in his History of Long Island, Appen- dix, pp. 509, 510.
-
63
NATHANIEL WOODHULL.
New Utrecht, where he was permitted to receive some attendance and medical assistance. A cut in the joint of the elbow rendered an amputation of the arm necessary. As soon as this was resolved on, the General sent for his wife, with a request that she should bring with her all the money she had in her possession, and all she could procure ; which being complied with, he had it distributed an ong the American prisoners, to alleviate their sufferings-thus furnishing a lesson of humanity to his enemies, and closing a use- ful life by an act of charity. He then suffered the amputation, which soon issued in a mortification, which terminated his life Sep- tember 20th, 1776, in the fifty-fourth year of his age.
" It is proper here to state, that the late Chief Justice Marshall, in the Biography of Washington, while narrating the disposition of the American forces immediately prior to the battle of Long Island, fought on the morning of the 27th of August, 1776, makes the fol- lowing remark : The convention of New York hud ordered General Woodhull, with the militia of Long Island, to take post on the high ground as near the enemy as possible ; but he remained at Jamaica, and seemed scarcely to suppose himself under the control of the regu- lar officer commanding on the island."
A letter from Chief Justice Marshall, dated February 21st, 1S34, addressed to John L. Lawrence, Esq., shows the origin of his mistake and mis-statement. It is as follows :
" Judge Edwards did me the favour to deliver yesterday evening your letter of the 13th, with the documents to which it refers. It is to me matter for deep concern and self-reproach that the Biographer of Washington should, from whatever cause, have mis-stated the part performed by any individual in the war of our revolution. Accuracy of detail ought to have been, and was, among my primary objects. If in any instance I have failed to attain this object, the failure is the more lamented, if its consequence be the imputation of blame where praise was merited.
" The evidence with which you have furnished me, demonstrate that the small body of militia assembled near Jamaica, Long Island, in August, 1776, was not called out for the purpose of direct co- operation with the troops in Brooklyn, and was not placed by the convention under the officer commanding at that post. It is appa- rent that their particular object, after the British had landed on Long Island, was, to intercept the supplies they might draw from the country. It is apparent, also, that General Woodhull joined them only a day or two before the battle ; and there is every reason to believe that he executed with intelligence and vigour the duty confided to him. I had supposed that the order to march to the western part of Queen's County directed an approach to the enemy, and that the heights alluded to, were between Jamaica and Brook-
:
. 64
BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.
lyn. But I have not the papers which I read at the time from the publications then in my possession. I only recollect the impres- sion they made, that General Woodhull was called into the field for the purpose of aiding the operations from Brooklyn ; and that General Washington, knowing the existence of this corps, had a right to count upon it in some slight degree, as guarding the road leading from Jamaica. In this I was mistaken ; and in this the mistake of which you complain originated.
" I think, however, you misconstrue it ; no allusion is made to the number of the militia under his command, nor to any jealousy of the military officer commanding at Brooklyn ; nor is it hinted that the convention had placed him under that officer. I rather infer that it appeared to me to be an additional example of the many inconveniences arising, in the early part of the war, from the disposition of the civil authorities to manage affairs belonging to the military department.
" I wish much that I had possessed the information you have now given me. The whole statement would most probably have been omitted, the fact not being connected with the battle ; or, if introduced, have been essentially varied."
'The army of General Howe spread over the flat country. The Germans, with De Heister, advanced to beyond Flatbush, and an English column was pushed on the Bedford road. General Grant advanced by the lower road along the bay. The main army, under Clinton, Percy and Howe, marched back, or south-west of Ja- maica, and unopposed gained the interval between the hills and the American lines.
The letter of Lord Stirling to General Washington, on the 29th of August, tells the event until he surrendered. This gentleman claimed to inherit the dignity of an earl, from the circumstance that his father's cousin, who was Earl of Stirling, died without male issue. Ge- neral Lord Stirling was in early life known as Mr. William Alex- ander, and served as an officer in the war of 1756. In 1775, he was appointed to the command of the first continental regiment that was raised in New Jersey, and had the distinction of receiv- ing one of the first votes of thanks granted by congress. It was for the successful results of a daring enterprise projected by him, and accomplished by his embarking with a detachment of his regiment from Elizabethtown, and proceeding in three small un- arined vessels to the outside of Sandy Hook, (while the Asia inan-of-war, with her tender, lay in the bay of New York,) and capturing a transport ship of three hundred tons, armed with six guns, and freighted with stores for the British army. We shall hereafter see what share he had in the subsequent events of the war. He was ever the firm friend of Washington. The following is
:
65
BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.
Lord Stirling's account, addressed to Washington, of the unfor- tunate battle of Long Island :
" I have now an opportunity of informing you of what has hap- pened to me since I had last the pleasure of seeing you. About three o'clock in the morning of the 27th, I was called up and in- formed by General Putnam, that the enemy were advancing by the road from Flatbush to the Red Lion, and he ordered me to march with the two regiments nearest at hand to meet them. These hap- pened to be Haslet's and Smallwood's, with which I accordingly marched, and was on the road to the Narrows just as the daylight began to appear. We proceeded to within about half a mile of the Red Lion, and there met Colonel Atlee, with his regiment, who informed me that the enemy were in sight; indeed I then saw their front between us and the Red Lion. I desired Colonel At- lee to place his regiment on the left of the road, and to wait their coming up, while I went to form the two regiments I had brought with me along a ridge from the road up to a piece of wood on the top of the hill. This was done instantly, on very advantageous ground.
" Our opponents advanced, and were fired upon by Atlee's regi- ment, who, after two or three rounds retreated to the wood on my left, and there formed. By this time, Kichline's riflemen arrived ; part of them I placed along a hedge under the front of the hill, and the rest in the front of the wood. The troops opposed to me were two brigades of four regiments each, under the command of Gene- ral Grant; who advanced their light troops to within one hundred and fifty yards of our right front, and took possession of an orchard there, and some hedges, which extended towards our left. This brought on an exchange of fire between those troops and our rifle- men, which continued for about two hours, and then ceased by those light troops retiring to their main body. In the mean time, Captain Carpenter brought up two field-pieces, which were placed on the side of the hill, so as to command the road and the only ap- proach for some hundred yards. On the part of General Grant there were two field-pieces. One howitzer advanced to within three hundred yards of the front of our right, and a like detach- ment of artillery to the front of our left. On a rising ground, at about six hundred yard's distance, one of their brigades formed in two lines opposite to our right, and the other extended in one line to the top of the hills, in the front of our left.
"In this position we stood cannonading each other till near eleven o'clock, when I found that General Howe, with the main body of the army was between me and our lines, and I saw that the only chance of escaping being all made prisoners, was to pass the creek near the Yellow Mills ; and, in order to reuder this the more practicable, I found it absolutely necessary to attack a body of VOL. II. 9
66
BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.
troops, commanded by Lord Cornwallis, posted at the house near the Upper Mills. This I instantly did, with about half of Small- wood's regiment, first ordering all the other troops to make the best of their way through the creek. We continued the attack a con- siderable time, the men having been rallied, and the attack renewed five or six several times, and we were on the point of driving Lord Cornwallis from his station ; but large reinforcements arriving ren- dered it impossible to do more than to provide for safety. I en- deavoured to get in between that house and Fort Box, but, on at- tempting it, I found a considerable body of troops in my front, and several in pursuit of me on the right and left, and a constant firing on me. I immediately turned the point of a hill, which covered me from their fire, and I was soon out of the reach of my pursuers. I soon found that it would be in vain to attempt to make my escape, and therefore went to surrender myself to General de Heister, commander-in-chief of the Hessians."
From the letters of R. H. Harrison, the evening of the 27th, we learn that General Washington was then on Long Island, and expected a general attack ; but Howe had witnessed the affair of Bunker Hill, and gave time for the subsequent manœuvres.
.
General Sullivan says, in his letters: "I was uneasy about a road, through which I had often foretold that the enemy would come, but could not persuade others to be of my opinion. I went to the hill near Flatbush to reconnoitre, and with a picket of four hundred men was surrounded by the enemy, who had advanced by the very road I had foretold, and which I had paid horsemen fifty dollars for patrolling by night, while I had the command, as I had no foot for the purpose.
" What resistance I made with these four hundred men against the British army, I leave to the officers who were with me to de- clare. Let it suffice for me to say, that the opposition of the small party lasted from half past nine to twelve o'clock."
From these several accounts it would appear, that no individual officer had the command in the engagement. Lord Stirling com- manded the detachment on the right, which was opposed by the British General Grant. The regiment under Colonel Hand, sta- tioned on the heights near Flatbush, was commanded by General Sullivan, rather by accident than in consequence of any direct order. Williams's and Miles's regiments at the left, posted on the road leading from Flatbush to Bedford, had no other commander than their respective colonels.
The number of American troops, who took part in the action, is estimated by Colonel Haslet at five thousand. This estimate is probably very near the truth. When the detachments retreated from Long Island, there were nine thousand in the whole. Thir- teen hundred of these had gone over to Brooklyn after the engage-
1
1
-
BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. 67
ment ; consequently before their arrival, the number on the island was seven thousand seven hundred. Add to these about eleven hundred prisoners and killed, and it makes the amount eight thou- sand eight hundred on the day of the action. Of this number, it is not probable, that General Putnam would weaken his camp by sending out more than five thousand, retaining only three thousand eight hundred for the defence of his lines. It appears, moreover, that the whole force beyond the lines, except three regiments, was on the right, under Lord Stirling; whence it is evident, that the main attack was expected in that quarter, where in reality the ene- my designed no more than a feint.
General Howe, in his official despatch, reported that " many were suffocated and drowned in the marsh," and this has been re- peated by historians. Colonel Haslet, who crossed the marsh, speaks of one man only as having been drowned. Another officer, who gave a very consistent account of this part of the action, which was published at the time, said : " We forced the advanced party, which first attacked us, to give way, through which opening we got a passage down to the side of a marsh, seldom before waded over, which we passed, and then swam a narrow river, all the time exposed to the fire of the enemy." Here is nothing said about any man being lost in the marsh ; and it is at least problematical, whether any person, except the man mentioned by Colonel Haslet, was either drowned or suffocated, says Mr. Sparks,* in opposition to the English account.t
* Writings of Washington, Vol. IV. Appendix, p. 519.
t How easy it is, half a century after, to point out what ought to have been done, and what would have been the results. The troops that had been thrown on Long Island were known by the commander-in-chief to be insufficient to oppose the main force of Gen. Howe; and when he had found that that was the point by which the British intended their attack upon the city, which was before doubtful, he would certainly have withdrawn the troops from New York-a situation which was obnoxious to the evils attendant upon the movements of an enemy who com- manded all the communications between them and the main land. Or, perhaps, by reinforcements from the city, he might have rendered Brooklyn as famous as Bun- ker Hill, although he must have ultimately abandoned the ground, as Prescott and Stark did that memorable spot.
As the affair stood, after the 27th, the council called to determine on the further resistance at Brooklyn, or a retreat, determined on the latter. for the following rea- sons :- The loss sustained on the 27th; the injury sustained to arms and amummi- tion, by the heavy rains of the subsequent days : the certainty that the enemy could and would get up the East River, and cut off the communication with New York : the inadequate force for the defence of the lines; the knowledge that the ships of the enemy were in Flushing Bay, and could transport a part of the English force across Kingsbridge. Any one of these reasons were sufficient, and the council were unanimous for retreat. The manner of it, has been ever considered as one of the most brilliant proofs of Washington's talents for command. In the face of a superionr and triumphant enemy, he withdrew a dispirited and nndisciplined host, and without loss, crossed an arm of the sea -- for such it is between New York and Brooklyn-which was commanded by the enemy's navy.
The situation of General Washington, at New York, after the retreat from Long Island, is such as to make every feeling American binsh for those who were daily
.
63
BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.
By the orders of General Washington, on the 27th, Shee's and Magaw's regiments were ordered from near Fort Washington to Brooklyn. Capt. Graydon, who was of Shee's, gives in his " Me- moir of a Life"* the feelings of one who tells only what he experi- enced, and gains our confidence for every word he pens:
" Being forthwith put in motion, we proceeded with the utmost speed, and reached the city in the afternoon ; but by this time the conflict was over, and the firing had ceased. Here, therefore, we were quartered for the night, under orders to be in readiness to cross the East River by break of day in the morning. Giover's regiment was also moved to this place, and was under similar or- ders for Long Island. Few particulars of the day's combat were yet known, though it was pretty well ascertained that we had been handled severely, and lost a considerable number of officers and men ; but what proportion had been killed, or were prisoners, was merely conjecture. New York was at this time a scene of tumult and confusion, and it might be added, of dismay.
" The circumstance, however, did not deprive me of my appe- tite, and the inclination for a good supper, which I had not for some months enjoyed ; and therefore, as soon as our men were dis- missed to their quarters, which was not until dark, Mr, Forrest and myself set out in pursuit of this object. But some of the publick houses were full, others had no eatables in them, and we began to fear that this little enjoyment we had promised ourselves, was not to be obtained, and that we should be obliged to go to bed supper- less. After trying the best looking inns to no purpose, we essaved those of more humble appearance, and at length entered one, that was kept by a middle aged matronly lady. We asked if she could give us supper ; she gave us the common answer-that there was nothing in the house. We were now about to give the matter up, and had retired'beyond the door with somewhat of a disconsolate air, perhaps, when the good woman seemed touched with compas- sion for us. She had probably sons of her own ; or if not, she was of that sex which, Ledyard tells us, is ever prone to acts of kind- ness and humanity. She called us back, and told us that she be- lieved she could make out to give us a lobster. At this we bright- ened up, assuring her, as we really thought, that nothing could be better; and being shown into a small, snug apartment, we called
deserting him, and glory in the firmness of the few, and the heroism of the man who never faltered in his course, and fought the battles of his country with some- thing worse than the shadow of an army to support him. His whole force, before the affair of Brooklyn, was inadequate to oppose the enemy : there he lost near 2,000; every day diminished the remainder by the desertion of militia. Whole regiments marched off. and those who remained were insubordinate and mutinous, ready to run at the sight of an enemy.
* Page 142.
69
BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND.
for a pint of wine. We now thought ourselves, instead of out- · casts, favourites of fortune, as, upon comparing notes with our brother officers, next day, we found we had reason ; since scarcely any of them had been able to procure a mouthful.
" On the next day, early in the forenoon, we were transported to Long Island ; marched down to the entrenchments at Brooklyn, and posted on their left extremity, extending to the Wallabout. The arrival of our two battalions, (Shee's and Magaw's, which al- ways acted together,) with that of Glover, had the effect I have always found to be produced by a body of men under arms, having the appearance of discipline. Although, owing to the dysentery which had prevailed in our camp, our number was so reduced that the two regiments could not have amounted to more than eight hundred men, making in the whole, when joined with Glover's, about twelve or thirteen hundred ; yet it was evident that this small reinforcement inspired no inconsiderable degree of confidence. The faces that had been saddened by the disasters of yesterday, as- sumed a gleam of animation on our approach, accompanied with a murmur of approbation in the spectators, occasionally greeting each other with the remark, that these were the lads that might do some- thing. Why it should be so, I know not ; but the mind instinc- tively attaches an idea of prowess to the silence, steadiness, and regularity of a military assemblage ; and a hundred well dressed, well armed, and well disciplined grenadiers, are more formidable in appearance, than a disjointed, disorderly multitude of a thousand. Our regiments, to be sure, could not arrogate such perfection ; but that they were distinguished in our young army, may be inferred from an official letter from General Washington, wherein he states that ' they had been trained with more than common attention.' To sustain the duty now imposed upon us, required both strength of body and of mind. The spot at which we were posted, was low and unfavourable for defence. There was a fraised ditch in its front, but it gave little promise of security, as it was evidently commanded by the ground occupied by the enemy, who entirely enclosed the whole of our position, at the distance of but a few hundred paces. It was evident, also, that they were constructing batteries, which would have rendered our particular situation ex- tremely ineligible, to say the least of it. In addition to this dis- comfort, we were annoyed by a continual rain, which, though never very heavy, was never less than a searching drizzle, and often what might with propriety be called a smart shower. We had no tents to screen us from its pitiless pelting ; nor, if we had had them, would it have comported with the incessant vigilance required, to have availed ourselves of them, as, in fact, it might be said, that we lay upon our arms during the whole of our stay upon the island. In the article of food, we were little better off. We had,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.