USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume I > Part 20
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But my express will and directions are, that he be never sent for that purpose to the Colony of Connecticut, lest he should imbibe in his youth that low craft and cunning, so incident to the people of that Country, which is so interwoven with their constitution that all their art cannot disguise it from the world though many of them, under the sanctified garb of religion, have endeavored to impose themselves upon the world as honest men." The fact that a man was a Yankee was sufficient to excuse his vagaries of dress, action, or speech. We do not find therefore that any Committee of Correspondence or society of the Sons of Liberty existed within the county. This feeling of apathy was more pronounced in the southern part of the county, with the territory of what is now The Bronx, than in the more northerly sections, such as White Plains, Bedford, Rye, and Mamaroneck, whose original settlers were nearly all from Connecticut.
More populous than other parts of what is now the borough was the section lying contiguous to the Sound: Westchester, West Farms, Throgg's Neck, and Eastchester. Here the preponderating influence was that of the De Lancey family; and as they were almost to a man loyalists this portion of the borough became a hotbed of Toryism. Another element which added to the lack of loyalty to the patriot cause was the influence of the clergy of the Church of England; and from the pulpits of St. Peter's at Westchester, St. Paul's at Eastchester, and St. John's at Yonkers, the doctrine of passive obedience was preached by the rectors, among them Seabury and Babcock, with no less fervor than in the days of Laud and the Star Chamber. On August 20, 1774, a meeting was called at the borough town of Westchester for the purpose of electing delegates to a county convention to be held at White Plains on the twenty-second of the same month, for the purpose of selecting a representative to the General Congress to meet in Philadelphia on September 1st. Henry B. Dawson says that this meeting was controlled by a single master-spirit, Colonel Lewis Morris, who, instead of convening the members for an honest expression of opinion from the freeholders and inhabitants, many of whom were his own tenants, or for the honest promotion of the best interests of the colony, used it "as a preparation for the return of the Morris family to place, authority, and influence in the political affairs of the colony, from which, through the controlling influence of the De Lanceys, it had been, for many years, entirely excluded." The meeting adopted a set of resolutions which, after proclaiming allegiance to the British king, proceeded to criticize the unconstitutional acts of his government, in taxing the colonies without their consent, to sympathize with the distressed people of Boston on account of the closure of their port,
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to call upon the colonies to stand together for unanimous action, and to advise the action of a general congress to take steps for a redress of their grievances. The delegates chosen for the convention at White Plains were James Ferris, Colonel Lewis Morris, and Thomas Hunt.
The convention met at White Plains under the chalrmanship of Colonel Frederick Philipse, a member of the Provincial Assembly, and selected as representatives of the county of Westchester, Isaac Low, Philip Livingston, James Duane, John Alsop, and John Jay, all of whom had already been chosen by the city and the county of New York, to represent it in the Continental Congress. So that officially at least Westchester County was marching side by side with the other sections of the country in their condemnation of the unconstitutional acts of the British Parliament and in a desire for a redress of their grievances. But the majority of the inhabitants were either indifferent or actively hostile to the patriotic actions of the leaders. The loyalist papers teemed with protests from inhabitants of the county and broadsides of a like tenor were also issued. On April 13, 1775, a number of free- holders and inhabitants of the county assembled again at White Plains, for the purpose, it was declared, "of choosing delegates to represent this colony in the next Continental Congress." The delegates were duly chosen by a minority of the convention, the majority refusing to take part in the proceedings, and drawing up a protest, of which the following is an extract, which was signed by over three hundred persons, among whom we find many inhabitants of the borough :
We, the subscribers, freeholders, and inhabitants of the county of Westchester, having assembled at White Plains, in consequence of certain advertisements, do now declare, that we met here to express our honest abhorrence of all unlawful congresses and committees, and that we are determined, at the hazard of our lives and properties, to support the King and Constitution, and that we acknowledge no representatives but the General Assembly, to whose wisdom and integrity we sub- mit the guardianship of our rights and privileges.
The protest was published in Rivington's "Gazetteer." the leading Tory organ, which commented as follows:
The Committee that was chosen, may, with some kind of propriety, be said to represent those particular persons who chose them. But how can they be denom- inated representatives of the County of Westchester, who, in general, abhor Com- mittees and Committeemen, and are determined to take no steps that may have the least tendency to lead them into Rebellion, we cannot conceive ... And we doubt not but the impartial public will consider the matter in this light, and not esteem the act of a few individuals, unlawfully assembled, as the act (which most assuredly it is not) of the very respectable, populous, and loyal county of West- chester.
The author of the protest, and the one who communicated it and the report of the proceedings to the "Gazetteer" was Isaac Wilkins,
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brother-in-law of Colonel Lewis Morris, who was also reputed to be the author of Tory articles signed A. W. F., initials that were taken to stand for "A Westchester Farmer." The news of Concord and Lexington came a few days after the publication of the protest; and Mr. Wilkins, in view of the excitement of the populace over the news, and their indignation at his blatant Toryism, believed that his life was in danger, and so fled the country to England; he was probably the first of the Tories, very garrulous when there was peace, to take to his heels, but thousands of others followed the same track before the war was over. The news from Lexington greatly strengthened the patriot party. On May 8, a Committee of Westchester County was formed, with Gilbert Drake as chairman. On the twenty-third of the same month a Provincial Congress was organized in New York City by delegates from all the counties in the colony and Philip Van Brugh Livingston was elected its president. The importance of fortifying the pass at Kingsbridge was recognized at an early period, and immediately after the arrival of the news of the Concord fight, without any formal order from the Committee of One Hundred, numbers of men were employed in transporting cannon from the city to that point. Though the Provincial Congress appointed a committee to report upon a plan of entrenchments nothing further was done. On May 25, however, the Continental Congress resolved :
First, that a Post be immediately taken and fortified at or near King's Bridge, in the Colony of New York, and that the ground be chosen with a particular view to prevent communication between the City of New York and the country from being interrupted by land; Secondly, that the Militia of New York be armed and trained, and in constant readiness to act at a moment's warning; and that a number of men be immediately embodied ... to prevent any attempts that may be made to gain possession of the City, and to interrupt its intercourse with the country.
These resolutions, with instructions to keep them as secret as pos- sible, reached the Provincial Congress at New York on May 29, and a Committee was accordingly appointed, consisting of Captain Richard Montgomery of Kingsbridge, Henry Glenn, Robert Yates, and Colonels James Van. Cortlandt and James Holmes, the last two of Westchester County, both of whom later became Tories. This committee was in- structed "to view the ground at or near King's Bridge, and report to this Congress whether the ground near King's Bridge will admit of making a fortification there that will be tenable." In June, the Con- tinental Congress took steps to form a Continental army, and appointed George Washington commander-in-chief. New York was to furnish three thousand troops to be divided into four regiments, which later became the New York Line, commanded by McDougal, James Clinton, Wynkoop, and Ritzema, this last commanding the Third Regiment of
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the New York Line at the Battle of Chatterton's Hill, or White Plains, doing his duty well, though a short time after the battle he left the patriots and joined the invading army. Some of the Westchester men enrolled in the Fourth Regiment of Militia, commanded at first by Colonel James Holmes of Bedford, who later turned Tory and became lieutenant-colonel of a battalion of Westchester County refugees in the British Army.
Revolutionary Companies From Bronx Territory-A militia bill was passed in accordance with the recommendations of the Continental Congress, and Westchester County was divided into precincts or beats, each furnishing a company, which companies were formed in three battalions. Each company was to elect its own officers. The first company to perfect its organization was that from the borough-town of Westchester, this on August 24. Later West Farms and Fordham withdrew from the Westchester beat and formed their own company. Eastchester formed another beat and raised its own company; New Rochelle and Pelham Manor formed another beat; and the manor of Philipseburgh was divided into six beats, of which the Yonkers beat was within the borough. The companies above mentioned formed the South Battalion of Westchester County. Its officers were Joseph Drake, colonel ; James Hammond, lieutenant-colonel; Moses Drake, first major ; Jonathan C. Graham, second major; Abraham Emmons, adjutant; and Theophilus Bartow, quarter-master. Among the company officers will be found some of the best-known of the old family names in the borough. Every man between the ages of fifteen and fifty was obliged to provide himself with a good musket and bayonet, a sword or tomahawk, a cartridge box and belts, twenty-three rounds of cartridges, twelve flints and a knapsack, and to keep himself provided with a pound of gun- powder and three pounds of bullets in reserve; he was also required to parade for drill on the first Monday of each month. All these things he had to do at his own expense, under the penalty of fine and imprison- ment. This of course bore very heavily on the poorer classes who had much difficulty in feeding and clothing their families. It is not to be won- dered at that when De Lancey and others came recruiting and offering bounties, clothes, accoutrements, and good pay in current money, and not in depreciated Continental bills, that these men with the fear of fine and imprisonment before their eyes for recalcitrancy in obeying the orders of the Provincial Congress, readily and willingly joined the standards of the anti-American battalions. One of these corps was that of the Queen's Rangers, organized by Colonel Robert Rogers of New Hampshire in 1776 from the so-called loyalists of Connecticut and Westchester County to the number of four hundred. They afterwards
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became reduced in numbers; and in the autumn of 1777, after the battle of Brandywine, Major Simcoe of the British Army, at his own urgent request, was appointed to command them with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He soon made them models of order and discipline. The following advertisement from "Rivington's Royal Gazette" will give some idea of the inducements offered to the loyalists :
All Aspiring Heroes have now an opportunity of distinguishing themselves by joining The Queen's Rangers Hussars commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe.
Any spirited young man will receive every encouragement, be immediately mounted on an elegant horse, and furnished with clothing, and accoutrements, &c., to the amount of forty guineas, by applying to Cornet Spencer, at his quarters, No. 133 Water Street, or his rendezvous, Hewett's Tavern, near the Coffee-house and the Defeat of Brandywine on Golden Hill.
Whoever brings a recruit shall instantly receive two guineas.
Vivant Rex et Regina.
There were two other acts of the Provincial authorities which also bore heavily upon the inhabitants and tended to increase their dis- content. One was an order from the Provincial Congress to all civil and military officers to arrest and confine all persons who did not sign the Association of the colonies, or who denied the rights and orders of the Provincial or Continental congresses, or who expressed sympathy with the royal cause, or who furnished supplies of any kind to the British Fleet or Army. The other act by the Committee of Safety authorized the seizure of guns, powder, bullets, and other munitions of war from any one who had not signed the Association, for the use of the poorly-equipped and ill-supplied troops which the colony was putting in the field for the expedition against Canada. The first act prevented freedom of speech and deprived the inhabitants of their ordinary markets, while placing them at the mercy of every enemy they may have made willing to give information or to throw suspicion upon them; the second deprived them of their personal property with- out compensation or due process of law. As an instance illustrating the diversity of opinion which divided the Provincial Congress, their attempt to show allegiance to both king and Continental Congress, the rather ludicrous dilemma in which the members found themselves at the end of June, 1775, may be cited. Governor Tryon had returned from England and had notified the Provincial Congress that he would land and consult with them on the state of the colony on June 25. Notice was also received that General Washington would arrive in New York on the same day as the governor on his way to take command of
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the American Army round Boston. The Congress wished to do equal honor to both, but were divided in opinion as to who would be received first by the troops. It was at last decided to divide the troops for the reception of the distinguished visitors, but Washington fortunately arrived several hours before the royal governor and thus relieved them of their embarrassment.
These were some of the circumstances that ruled the condition of feeling in the territory of The Bronx at the beginning of the Revolu- tionary era. From the autumn of 1776 to that of 1783, Westchester County was harried more than any other section of the country; and the losses and sufferings of the inhabitants more than repaid them for their lack of patriotism in the face of the struggle of their country. While no great battle took place within the land of the borough the military operations were never-ending and hardly a week passed that did not see some foray or encounter. One of the earliest military per- formances was an expedition from Connecticut under Captain Isaac Sears, or "King" Sears, in November, 1775, for the purpose of regula- ting Westchester County, disarming the loyalists, and seizing the persons of several of the most prominent Tories. The expedition started with sixteen men, but gradually increased to over eighty. On November 22, an advanced guard entered the borough-town of Westchester and seized Mayor Underhill and Rector Samuel Seabury. The rector had rendered himself obnoxious to the patriots by his written articles against the colonists, by his fulminations from the pulpit, and by his having signed the White Plains protest. Captain Lathrop, with his two prisoners, then started over the road to Kingsbridge, but met the main body under Sears coming over the Boston Road. They all returned to Eastchester, where the main body of the raiders had already seized Jonathan Fow- ler, Judge of the Superior Court of Common Pleas. The three prisoners were sent under escort to Horseneck in Connecticut, the present site of Greenwich, while the main body of about seventy-five horsemen re- sumed their march over the Boston Road into the city of New York, where, at noon on November 23, they destroyed the printing establish- ment of James Rivington, the royalist printer and publisher of the obnoxious "Gazetteer." The expedition then returned to Connecticut, carrying with them most of the printing type, which was afterwards melted into bullets. The prisoners were not released until the following January; and when the reverend doctor returned to Westchester he found his school dispersed and his affairs in confusion. Like his friend Wilkins he left the town, going first to Long Island, later to New York City, where he remained as chaplain in the British Army until the end of the war.
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The cannon taken to Kingsbridge on the arrival of the news from Lexington, numbering probably two hundred and fifty all told, were of all sizes, shapes, qualities, and materials; brass, bronze, and iron ; good, bad, and indifferent. They were stored at several places, fifty or more at John Williams's, later Williamsbridge, probably one hundred at Valentine's Hill, others at the northern end of Manhattan. They were not protected or guarded in any way, so that any one who wished to injure them could do so with impunity. On January 17, 1776, most of them were found spiked, while others were choked up with stones, and all of them were in an unserviceable condition. Suspicion fell upon the Tories of Westchester, Eastchester, West Farms, and Yonkers; but an inquiry placed the deed upon John Fowler and William Lounsberry of Mamaroneck, both of whom were imprisoned. The purchase of a quantity of rat-tail files led to their conviction. Jacamiah Allen was employed to unspike the guns at a cost of twenty shillings a gun. This he succeeded in doing, and they were later mounted upon the fortifica- tions built by the Americans. The committee of which Captain Richard Montgomery was the head reported on June 3, 1775, as to the fortifica- tions at Kingsbridge. They recommended that a post of three hundred men be established on Marble Hill, near Hyatt's tavern, Manhattan, and selected sites on Tetard's Hill to the east, and on Tippett's Hill to the west of the bridge for the placing of redoubts when the troops had been properly organized, so that the work could be done by them. Under the command of Major General Charles Lee, who was ordered from Boston to the command of New York, and its environs, work was begun upon the suggested redoubts; but it was not until after the evacuation of Boston by the British on March 17, 1776, and the assump- tion of the command in New York by Washington in person, that any great progress was made upon the fortifications. Early in the month of June Washington visited the neighborhood of Kingsbridge and in- spected the ground. Realizing the importance of the place, he selected seven sites for redoubts, two of which-the Cock Hill fort overlooking the mouth of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and a fort on Marble Hill, after- wards called by the British Fort Prince Charles-were on the island of Manhattan; the remaining five were in the borough. He immediately set. two Pennsylvania regiments to work on the forts, and also various bodies of militia, as they reported for duty; for by this time General Howe had arrived off New York and was threatening the city, so that reinforcements for the Americans were coming in from all directions. In orders of July 2, Washington placed General Mifflin in direct com- mand of the Kingsbridge neighborhood with instructions to complete the works as rapidly as possible, so that work was carried on night and day.
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The Forts at Kingsbridge-The British fleet arrived off New York in July under the command of Admiral Lord Howe and anchored in the Lower Bay. The point of debarkation of the British forces was, of course, a matter of conjecture on the part of the Americans; but Mifflin believed they would land near Yonkers and throw a line of strong entrenchments from the Hudson River to the Harlem, thus shutting the Americans up in New York and preventing their escape by way of Kingsbridge. Therefore while the Howes were attempting to negotiate with Washington for a cessation of hostilities under the instructions of King George, which empowered them to act as commissioners for the purpose, the work of fortifying Kingsbridge went rapidly forward. These posts, which fell into the hands of the British in October and were further strengthened by them, were located as follows:
Numbers One, Two, and Three, to reproduce the British nomencla- ture, were situated on Spuyten Duyvil Neck, on what is said to have been the site of the Indian village of Nipinichsen. Number One was a square, stone redoubt overlooking the Hudson River and the mouth of the creek. It forms the foundation of what is known in the vicinity as the Strang house, originally built by a Mr. Cameron. When the house was built both Indian and Revolutionary relics were unearthed, and some of these were preserved. Number Two was a small circular fort on the crown of Tippett's Hill, and was called "Fort Swartout" by the Americans, in honor of Colonel Abraham Swartout, whose regiment built it, as well as a small battery at the mouth of the creek near the site of the Spuyten Duyvil station of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. This battery, with the Cock Hill fort on Manhattan, was to prevent the enemy from entering the creek in boats. Upon the British map made for General Howe by his engineer, Joseph Claude Sauthier, and also upon the map made for Washington by S. Lewis, Fort Number Two is called "Fort Independence," and the elevation, Tetard's Hill, the land to the northward toward Seton Hos- pital being called the Heights of Fordham. This, notes Jenkins, is an error that has misled historians of the Revolution when describing the events in the vicinity. Number Three was a small stone redoubt 011 the easterly side of Tippett's Hill, which commanded the junction of the Spuyten Duyvil road and the present Riverdale Avenue, as well as the extreme northerly end of Manhattan Island opposite the fort on Marble Hill, called Fort Prince Charles. Between One and Two were two ravelins, and between Two and Three, a curtain which joined the two redoubts. All three of these redoubts were hastily constructed ' by the Americans and abandoned by them when they evacuated this section before the Westchester campaign; the British seized and
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strengthened them before the attack on Fort Washington in the early part of November, 1776. In November, 1778, they had a garrison of one hundred and ten officers and men. They were finally abandoned by the British in the fall of 1779.
The fortification called Number Four by the British was on the eastern side of the valley, between the Boston and Albany roads, both of which it commanded. It was the largest of all the fortifications in ยท the neighborhood, and was a bastioned earthwork, with ravelins to the east and southeast, and was built by the Pennsylvania Line, assisted by the militia, under the direction of Colonel Rufus Putnam, the engineer of Fort Washington. Upon the approach of the Hessians under Knyphausen from New Rochelle, Colonel Lasher, the American commander, destroyed the barracks, October 28, and went to reinforce Colonel Maghaw at Fort Washington. He left in such haste that he was obliged to leave the cannon and three hundred stand of arms behind him. General Knyphausen took possession the next day, and the British held it for three years. On August 16, 1779, they removed the guns; on the seventeenth they demolished the magazine, and on September 12 they abandoned the fort altogether. The house formerly belonged to the late William O. Giles. It is built within the old fort and it is stated that when the cellar was dug eleven cannon and several cannon balls, calthorns, and other military relics were found. Number Four was the largest redoubt in the vicinity and was the true Fort Independence of the Americans. The fort was built upon the farm of Major-General Montgomery, who probably selected the site when examining the section with the committee appointed by the Provincial Congress of 1775. A new street, a continuation of the old Boston Post Road of 1673, passes down the hill from Sedgwick Avenue, con- necting the Boston with the Albany Post Road, and encroaches slightly upon the ramparts of the old fort. Another street, a little west of the street referred to, also led down the hill past the old Montgomery house and is called Fort Independence Street.
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