USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume II > Part 57
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General Howe landed his troops at Staten Island on July 2 and 3, encamping them in such a manner as to command all the approaches. On the morning of the 12th Lord Howe arrived, with more ships, in time to witness an experiment initiated by his brother with the consent of the admiral in command of the fleet. It was a beautiful day, with a fine breeze from the south, and about half-past three in the afternoon a slight movement was observed among the enemy's vessels; two noble war-ships, the Phoenix (40) and the Rose (20), with their tenders, and "every stitch" of canvas spread to the favoring gale, moved with rapidly increasing headway up the North River. Quickly was the alarm given at the batteries on both sides of the river, and a warm reception seemed probable. Immediately every gun that could be brought to bear on the moving targets was blazing away. Particularly active was the battery at Paulus Hook. The ships poured in broadsides with great impartiality as to New Jersey and New-York; while their bulwarks, lined with sand-bags, protected the few sailors visible from the American riflemen who tried to pick them off. Being skilfully piloted, the British ships passed safely up-stream and were soon out of sight. A report of casualties com- prised six American artillerymen-three killed by the premature discharge of a piece through carelessness of a gunner, and three by the enemy's fire, which did but little other damage.1 The object of this dash was soon developed - to cut off the communications of the city with the upper Hudson; to encourage the loyalists supposed to be awaiting them in the rural districts; to destroy two vessels then building near Poughkeepsie; and, incidentally, to replenish the larder by a little judicious foraging. In nearly all of these well-meant schemes they were thwarted, principally by the vigilance and pluck
1 " (Friday, 12th July.) A few more ships came in through the Narrows, and it was reported that the great fleet from England began to arrive. In the afternoon about 3 o'clock there was unexpectedly a sharp firing. Two Men-of-War with some Ten- ders came up. They fired from all the batteries but did little execution. The wind and tide being in their favor, the ships sailed fast up the North river, and soon were out of sight. When they came this side of Trinity Church, they began to fire smartly. The balls and bullets went through
several houses between here and Greenwich. Six men were killed. The six were put this evening into one grave on the Bowling Green. The smoke of the firing drew over our street like a cloud: and the air was filled with the smell of the powder. This affair caused a great fright in the city. Women and children, and some with their bun- dles came from the lower parts, and walked to the Bowery which was lined with people." Pas- tor Schaukirk.
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of the militia recently called out for such an emergency under com- mand of Brigadier-General George Clinton.
Lord Howe now tried his hand as a "peace commissioner," but found it difficult to treat with a power which, although yet undevel- oped, insisted on ceremony and diplomatic usage. His messenger was unable to deliver his credentials-addressed as they were to "George Washington, Esq." Another attempt was hardly more suc- cessful, although the British envoy, Colonel Patterson, was received by Washington "with great pomp, by a guard, conducted to Captain Kennedy's house where he saw a great Court and gentlemen well-dressed."1 His propositions were submitted to Congress, as a matter of cour- tesy; but, as Professor Smyth says of this episode of the olive- branch, "darkness and tempest still dwelt on the face of the waters, and there was no rest- ing place for him who bore it." There was no diminution of war measures. Congress authorized the general-in-chief to utilize the troops in the "flying camp" of instruction at Amboy and those at Ticonderoga for his operations at New-York, and made an abortive effort to bribe the Hessian contingent by offering bounties of land and other privileges to such officers and soldiers as should enter the American service. It is not remarkable that such a bid for desertion should prove a sort of boomerang, and that Lieu- tenant-Colonel Zedwitz of a New-York regiment, who had undertaken the task of translating the bulletin into German (for distribution in the Hessian camp), should attempt to sell the news to Governor Tryon; failing in this, Zedwitz was arrested, tried, and cashiered.
With a view to prevent the enemy's ships from repeating the ex- ploit of the Rose and Phoenix in the North River, an attempt was made to obstruct the channel with chevaux-de-frise of a fashion devised by General Putnam.2 Notwithstanding this, and a gallant
1 Letters of Col. Stephen Kemble, Deputy Adjt .- Gen., British Army. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll.
2 " We are preparing Chevaux-de-frise at which we made great despatch by the help of ships which are to be sunk; a scheme of mine, which you may be assured is very simple, a plan of which I send you. The two ships' sterns lie
toward each other, about 70 feet apart. Three large logs which reach from ship to ship, are fas- tened to them. The two ships and logs stop the river 280 feet. The ships are to be sunk, and when hauled down on one side, they must inevita- bly stop the river if the enemy will let us sink them." Putnam to Gates, July 26, 1776.
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ยท and ingenious attempt to destroy those vessels by fire-rafts, the two men-of-war (minus one of their tenders) returned (August 17) by the same route, managing to avoid the obstructions, and although fre- quently hulled by the fire from the shore-batteries, rejoined the British fleet with the loss of only one man.
The American defenses on Long Island consisted of three small fortresses and two redoubts connected by field intrenchments and protected by abatis and other entanglements. The line extended from the Wallabout Bay across the neck of land (now the heart of Brooklyn) to Gowanus marsh, and faced a little south of east. On the extreme right of this line stood Fort Box, its guns covering the approaches from Gravesend and Flatbush; an eighth of a mile to the left was the largest work, Fort Greene,1 mounting six guns and com- manding the main road to Jamaica and Flatbush; on the same line, but on the north side of this road (near the corner of De Kalb and Hudson avenues), was planted the "Oblong Redoubt"; one quarter of a mile further north, Fort Putnam, with three pieces, guarded the Newtown, Bushwick, and Flatbush roads, and on the extreme left the remaining redoubt, with rifle-pits covering its northern flank, marked the beginning of the swamp ending in the " Wallabocht." The right flank of these intrenchments was further strengthened by a battery of four guns on Cobble Hill, an elevation about a half-mile due west and in rear of Fort Box ; the only approach to this battery was a lane leading up from Red Hook, which, together with Governor's Island, stood sentinel-wise over the Buttermilk Channel.
The works on Red Hook were armed with four eighteen-pounders; on Governor's Island with four thirty-twos and four eighteens. About one mile to the west of Fort Putnam stood a large work called Fort Stirling, near the edge of the bluff now known as the Heights; it had been thrown up early in the spring of 1776, and mounted eight guns. These works were constructed under the supervision of General Greene, who had also been placed in command of the troops assigned to defend them. This force consisted of six regiments of the Conti- mental Line and two of the Long Island militia; to these were added, subsequently, Atlee's Pennsylvania rifles, Smallwood's Maryland, and Haslet's Delaware regiments. A contemporary description will aid us in comprehending the situation : " From the point of land which forms the east side of the Narrows, runs a ridge of hills about N. E., in length about five or six miles covered with a thick wood which ter- minates in a small rising land near Jamaica: through these hills are three passes only ; one near the Narrows, one on the road called the Flatbush road and one called the Bedford road, being a cross road
1 This work was situated on or near the line of Pacific street, a short distance above Bond. Memoirs L. I. Hist. Soc., III, p. 69.
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NEW-YORK DURING THE REVOLUTION
from Bedford to Flatbush which lies on the Southerly side of these hills ; these passes are through the mountains or hills, easily defen- sible, being very narrow and the lands high and mountainous on each side. These are the only roads which can be passed from the south side the hill to our lines, except a road leading around the easterly end of the hills to Jamaica."1 Finally, on August 23, Washington advised Con- gress that he had been obliged to assign General Sullivan to the command of Long Island on account of the severe illness of General Greene.
Mars having unsuccessfully tried the olive-branch, now proceeded to wield a more familiar instrument. Its power, brilliantly displayed in sight of the city, is concisely set forth by a British naval . officer who was present, commanding H. M. S. Rainbow. He says: "General Howe had now the satisfaction of finding himself at the head of full twenty-four thousand fine troops, most completely furnished and appointed, commanded by COLONEL STEPHEN KEMBLE. the ablest and the best officers in the world, and having a more numerous artillery than ever before was sent from England. Four- hundred transports were anchored abreast of Staten Island, to carry them to any place the General might choose to attempt; and thirty- seven sail of men-of-war attended as a protection and an escort, if it should be wanted."2
General Howe commenced operations against Long Island by land- ing, August 22, fifteen thousand men, including British and auxil-
2 "Journal Sir George Collier, R. N." (Mem. L. I. Hist. Soc., II, 407.) General Clinton says Howe had "24.464 effectives fit for duty, a total of 26,980, officers not included, who when added amounted to 31,625 men."
"List of the Forces under. Gen Howe at New- York. 1776." From Beatson's "Naval and Mili- tary Memoirs of Great Britain," VI, 44.
Dragoons, 16th and 17th regiments.
Foot Guards. 1,105
Infantry, 23 regiments (10 cos. each) 14,234 42d or Royal Highlanders 1,168
71st or Frazer's Battalion 1,298
Artillery, 6 companies.
Marines, 2 battalions. 1,172
Hessians, infantry 12,579
1 General Parsons to John Adams. ORDER OF BATTLE, BRITISH ARMY, Staten Island, August 1, 1776. His Excellency, General HowE, Commander-in-chief. First Line, Lieut .- General CLINTON : 1st Brig., Major-Gen. Pigot, 4. 27, 45, 15 Rgts. ; 2d Brig., Brig .- Gen. Agnew, 5, 35, 49, 28 Rgts. ; 5th Brig., Brig .- Gen. Smith, 22, 54, 63, 43 Rgts. ; 6th Brig., Major-Gen. Robertson, 23, 57, 64, 44 Rgts. (in order from left to right). Second Line, Lieut .- Gen. Earl PERCY : 3d Brig., Major- 984 Gen. Jones, 10, 38, 52, 37 Rgts. ; 4th Brig., Major- Gen. Grant, 17, 46, 55, 40 Regts. ; 7th Brig., Brig .- Gen. Sir W. Erskine, 71st Rgt. and 17th Drags. Corps de Reserve, Lieut .- Gen. Earl CORNWALLIS: Major-Gen. Vaughan, 4 Battalions Grenadiers. 33 486 and 44 Rgts. ; Brig .- Gen. Leslie, 4 Batts. Light In- fantry ; Brig .- Gen. Matthews, Detacht. Foot Guards. Artillery, Brig .- Gen. CLEAVELAND. Beat- .. artillery 588 son's "Naval and Military Memoirs," London, 1804.
33,614
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
iary troops, under Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis, on the beach at Gravesend.' The debarkation was completed, without oppo- sition, by noon of that day. The British advanced toward the Amer- ican outposts, and after some skirmishing and "feeling " Sullivan's lines they retired to positions in front, the Americans "burning wheat and such other property as might be of immediate benefit to the British troops." Six regiments were sent to General Sullivan's aid, and arrangements were made to further reinforce him as soon as it should be certain that Long Island was to be the main point of attack. Much to Washington's surprise, the British remained quietly in their positions, in front of the "Red Lion " and Flatbush, for several days.
Either as an incident of no special import or else because the gen- eral-in-chief was doubtful of Sullivan's capacity, General Putnam (Sullivan's senior) was sent over on the 24th, and he immediately as- sumed command.2
The American forces, by the night of the 26th, had been swelled by detachments from New-York island to a total of seven thousand men ready for duty. Of these two thousand eight hundred were in the advanced line, as follows : Hitchcock's Rhode Island, Little's Mas- sachusetts, Johnston's New Jersey, and Knowlton's Connecticut regi- ments occupied the Flatbush pass; on the Red Lion road, on the right, Hand's Pennsylvania riflemen, Atlee's Pennsylvania infantry, some New-York troops, and a detachment of Pennsylvanians under Major Burd; at the Bedford pass, on the road to Flatbush, Wyllis's and Chester's Connecticut regiments were stationed ; while, further to the left, Colonel Miles with his Pennsylvania regiment occupied the woods. All these troops seem to have been posted with refer- ence to an attack from the south and southeast rather than from any other quarter. One of the most important approaches, the Jamaica- Bedford road, was protected only by patrols during the day, at the dis- cretion of the commanding officer in the vicinity.
On the British side, an additional force of nearly five thousand Hes- sians, under General De Heister, landed at Gravesend on the 25th, in- creasing Howe's forces on Long Island to a total strength of twenty thousand men. De Heister relieved Cornwallis in front of Flatbush.
1 In 1782, among the loyalist organizations pre- sumably recruited from New-York city and vicin- ity, and incorporated with the British forces serv- ing in America, were the following: Simcoe's 1st American Regiment, or " Queen's Rangers " ; Raw- don's 2d American Regiment, or "Volunteers of Ireland "; Turnbull's 3d American Regiment, or "New-York Volunteers": Brown's "Prince of Wales" American Regiment; Robinson's "Loyal American Regiment"; and "De Lancey's Bri- gade" (three regiments). "New-York Continental
Line" (Asa Bird Gardiner), Magazine American History, VII.
2 "On General Greene's being sick, Sullivan took the command, who was totally unacquainted with the ground or country. Some movements being made which the general did not approve entirely, and finding a great force going to Long Island, he sent over Putnam, who had been over occasionally; this gave some disgust, so that Put- nam was directed to soothe and soften as much as possible." Sedgwick's " Life of Livingston."
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NEW-YORK DURING THE REVOLUTION
The day before the battle, Washington, accompained by Putnam and Sullivan, made a personal inspection of the Long Island lines, and reiterated his former instructions to Putnam touching the details of the defense : that a general officer of the day should be constantly on duty; that all the approaches should be vigilantly watched; that the oldest troops should be placed in the outer line and the raw militia behind the permanent intrenchments. The general spent the entire day on the island and then returned to the city. At the same mo- ment Sir William Howe was completing his arrange- ments to attack the Americans. Notwithstanding his enemy's weakness in numbers, and the contempt of their soldierly qualities which it had been the fashion to express in British circles, General Howe paid them the compliment of as elaborate a plan of battle as if he were confronted by the most seasoned soldiers of Europe. He divided his force into three parts. General Grant, with two brigades, was to open the ball by way of the Gowanus road, and Gen- eral De Heister, with the Hessians, was directed to threaten the American center, in front of Flatbush. At nine o'clock the same night Clinton, Cornwallis and Percy, with the remainder of the army, the light dragoons, light infantry, brigades of foot, the Guards, and the royal artillery reserve,-in all about nine thousand strong,-under the immediate eye of the AN OFFICER OF THE SEVENTEENTH LIGHT DRAGOONS. 1 commanding general, began to move by a circuitous route to the Jamaica pass. The time required for these movements was nicely calculated, and signals were agreed upon so that the most complete cooperation of the three columns might be assured.
At two o'clock on the morning of the 27th the drowsy American outposts in front of the Red Lion Tavern, where the road forked to the Narrows, were startled by shots in their front; simultaneously, the advanced pickets fell back, on the run, before a force of unknown strength. In the confusion the reserve was forced back some dis- tance until rallied by the officer of the day, General Parsons. Gen- eral Lord Stirling, with Smallwood's, Haslet's, and Kichline's regi- ments, and those of Huntington and Atlee, in all about sixteen hundred men, soon arrived and took position on a high point overlooking the little bridge north of the hill known as the "Blockje Bergh,"2 which the enemy had by that time (4 A. M.) gained. Here, for four long hours, Stirling, assisted by Parsons, withstood General Grant's seven thou-
1 This regiment was raised in 1759, and formed the advance of Howe's flanking column on Long Island, August 27, 1776. One of its officers then
was Captain Oliver De Lancey, who eventually became its colonel. Its motto was " death or glory." 2 Near Third Avenue and 23d street, Brooklyn.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
sand veterans, joining them in a brisk musketry fire and an unequal but spirited artillery duel.' The conduct of the Americans, in this their first test in open field, was excellent. A reliable witness testi- fies that Stirling "drew up his men in line, and offered them [the Brit- ish] battle in true English taste. The British then advanced within about two hundred yards of us, and began a heavy fire from their cannon and mortars; for both the Balls and Shells flew very fast, now and then taking off a head. Our men stood it amazingly well."? The enemy formed two lines extending from the Blockje Bergh on their left to the southwestern slope of what is now Greenwood Cemetery. Grant did not press his opponent heavily, as he awaited the signal to do so from the flanking column under General Howe; nevertheless he suffered severely from Carpenter's guns and the precision of the American riflemen. Some of the best fighting of the day was done by Atlee, on Stirling's left, on a cleared Hirling hill in the northwest section of Green- wood (near Battle Hill), from which the enemy was driven with the loss of twelve killed and an officer and four men wounded. At 8 A. M. there came a lull in the fight at this point, and an opportunity to note the casualties. In the mean while the re- mainder of the American army had been quietly listening to the rattle of small arms and the booming of field-pieces on the lower road. The Hessians in front of Flatbush, beyond a slight demonstration early in the morning, were remarkably inactive; the skirmish-lines, however, observing each other closely. Hand's riflemen, relieved from picket only an hour before Grant's attack, had been recalled from camp and posted on Prospect Hill overlooking the main Flatbush pass. At about nine o'clock General Sullivan rode out from his station at the inner line to reconnoiter at the Flatbush pass. It seemed as if the enemy's main attack would be by the Gowanus road, and he again reinforced Lord Stirling, little thinking that at that very moment the wolf had entered the fold.
At three o'clock the same morning the advance-guard of Howe's flanking column, guided by willing Tories, came stealing across the fields in front of the Half-way House on the road leading from Jamaica
1 Between two guns under Captain Carpenter of Providence, R. I., and a British battery. 2 President (then Lieutenant) Stiles's Diary, Mem. L. I. Hist. Soc., II.
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NEW-YORK DURING THE REVOLUTION
to Bedford and Brooklyn. So skilfully had their approach been con- ducted that five American officers, sent out from Putnam's headquar- ters as a patrol to watch that road, were caught napping and with their horses were captured. While the prisoners refused, although threatened with instant death, to disclose the position of their army, it was soon evident that the road to Bedford was not picketed and was open to further investigation.
After a brief halt for refreshment, the British advance pushed on to Bedford. It is almost inconceivable that nine thousand men, horse, foot, and field artillery, could have reached the rear of so compact a force as that of Putnam without meeting with a single hostile person except the patrol. The only American force near the left of their line was Miles's regiment, in the woods more than a mile south of the Jamaica road, with which it does not appear to have been connected by pickets or videttes.1
When the Hessians reopened fire at Flatbush, Miles became uneasy, and taking one battalion of his regiment, without orders, began to scout toward the Jamaica road. This he came in sight of, two miles east of Bedford, just as Howe's train was passing. Space does not admit of more than a passing reference to what followed. It was no longer a question as to who was the victor; rather how complete was to be his triumph. Deploying into the woods and facing to the south- west, part of Howe's flanking column pressed forward, while, simulta- neously, De Heister forced the Flatbush pass; between them they corralled the unfortunate Sullivan, who, with four hundred men, lingered too long in De Heister's front; the rest, with the exception of Stirling's men, fled in disorder to the fortifications. Cornwallis, with a couple of regiments, continued on down the road toward Stir- ling's rear. That officer, now almost surrounded, made a tremendous effort to save his command. He turned to meet Cornwallis, and after a very hot and extremely gallant combat, in which the Marylanders particularly distinguished themselves, with Cornwallis, De Heister, and Grant closing in on three sides and an almost impassable marsh on the other, he finally surrendered with a handful of his men to the Hessian commander. Parsons had remained in the woods where he had been posted early in the morning by Stirling, and claimed to have received no orders to retire; his detachment was subsequently dis- covered by the enemy's flanking parties, but managed to escape under cover of the darkness. The enemy, after an attempt to penetrate the intrenchments, withdrew to their camps.
1 "For our lines to the left were, for want of Videttes, left open for at least four miles where we constantly scouted by day, which, beside Mount- ing a guard of one hundred men and an advance party of subaltern and thirty to the left of us,
was hard duty for our regiment: during the night of the 26th we were alarmed three different times and stood to our arms." Lieut .- Colonel Brod- head, of Miles's regiment.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
The casualties (killed, wounded, and missing) reported on the British side comprised eighteen officers and three hundred and thirty-one enlisted men;1 of the Americans, according to the most reliable au- thority, they "did not much exceed one thousand. About eight hun- dred, including ninety-one officers, were taken prisoners; not more than six officers and about fifty privates were killed ; and less than sixteen officers and one hundred and fifty privates wounded."2 It is certain, also, that no more eloquent tribute can be paid those Amer- ican troops who had a fair chance to meet the enemy on the 27th than the fact, now well established, that "the British and Hes-
SULLIVAN'S POSITION NEAR FLATBUSH PASS, BROOKLYN.
sians suffered a loss in killed and wounded equal to that inflicted upon the Americans."3
The day after the battle was utilized by both sides in repairing damages, and by the patriots in reinforcing their lines; by the follow- ing day (the 29th) fresh detachments had arrived, so that by evening they were stronger in numbers than ever - with an effective force of nine thousand five hundred men. Notwithstanding the rain, which fell incessantly for forty-eight hours, the pickets kept up a spiteful fusillade, and the British began to use the spade in an unmistakable attempt to reach the American fortifications by regular approaches. A brief reflection convinced Washington that, with the enemy's pre- ponderance in men and artillery, it was only a matter of hours before the British would possess his works, even without the aid of their ships, which, so far, had been prevented from coming up to the city by unfavorable winds. The proposition to retreat to New-York was
1 Killed, 5 officers and 56 men ; wounded, 12 officers and 245 men ; missing, 1 officer and 30 men. (Colonel Stephen Kemble's Memoirs, N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll.) General Howe, however,
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