USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 8
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1142749
SERVICES AND DEATH OF GENERAL WOODHULL.
35
from the chamber windows. With none killed and only a few slightly wounded, they destroyed the fort, burned a vessel and took fifty-four prisoners and a quan- tity of merchandise, with which they returned. A party of ten or twelve, with Major Talhnadge, visited Coram and burned some four hundred tons of hay. For this exploit Major Tallmadge was commended in a letter by General Washington.
A year later Major Tallmadge sent a party of 150 under Major Trescott to destroy Fort Slongo, in the northwestern part of Smithtown. The force crossed from Saugatuck River in the night, attacked and de- stroyed the fort, which was garrisoned by 140 men, burned the blockhouse, destroyed two iron guns, killed four and wounded two of the enemy, took twenty-one prisoners, one brass field piece and seventy muskets, and returned with none killed and but one seriously wounded.
In 1778 a fort was erected on Lloyd's Neck by the British for the protection of wood cutters and defense against raiders from the mainland. An unsuccessful attack was made on this fort on the 12th of July, 1781, by a force of French under Count de Barras, assisted by American volunteers. In this affair a few of the assailants were wounded and one or two killed.
During the British occupation of Long Island, illicit trade was carried on between the people and in Con- necticut, by means of many ingeniously devised plans.
Previous to the separation of the colonies non-impor- tation associations had existed, and the patriotic colo- nists had accustomed themselves to drinking sage and sassafras tea and wearing homespun. After the sepa- ration no motive of patriotism stood in the way of in- dulgence in the use of British goods, and with the facili- ties which the long stretch of the north coast, with its numerous estuaries, inlets and harbors, and the narrow Sound beyond, afforded for smuggling, it is not surpris- ing that Yankee shrewdness should elude the sleepy vigilance of government officials, and the people of Con- necticut come to be well supplied with goods that had been brought from New York ostensibly to supply the wants of loyal Long Islanders. All the ordinary devices of sinnggling were resorted to, and even collusions were entered into with the so-called piratical whaleboat men, and stores were robbed and the goods taken across the Sound, the owners, of course, sharing the profits of the adventure. In many cases government officials winked at this trade, because it supplied necessaries that were difficult to procure otherwise. In some instances it was believed they were secretly interested in the transac- tions. By reason of the long Sound-coast of Suffolk county, and the secret rebel sympathies of many of its inhabitants, a large share of this trade was done through that county.
The self-sacrificing patriotismn, the meritorious ser- vices, the pure, unselfish life and the tragic death of Gen- real NATHANIEL WOODHULL, together with the fact that
events identified him with all the counties on Long Island, render a brief sketch of him appropriate here. He was born in 1729 at Mastic, in Brookhaven, received a sound education and carly displayed those mental traits that qualified him for public usefulness. In 1753 he entered the army, and in the French and Indian war of 1754-60, held the position of Major. He was at Ticonderoga under General Abercrombie, and was with General Brad- street in the expedition against Fort Frontenac and the reduction of that fortress. He did important service in the expedition from Schenectady to the Oneida's carrying- place in the same summer ; and in 1760, having been promoted to the rank of colonel, he went in command of the 3d regiment of New York troops in the expedi- tion against Canada. On the termination of hostilities he was discharged with the troops of the province, and returned to private life. In 1769 he was made a mem- ber of the Colonial Assembly from Suffolk county, and he continued a member of that body till the dissolution of the Colonial goverment in 1775. He was chosen a delegate to the Provincial Congress in May, 1775 ; and in August of the same year was made president of the Congress, and acted in that capacity till August 10th, 1776. He was, also, in Angust, 1775, appointed briga- dier-general of the militia of Suffolk and Queens coun- ties. On the 10th of August, 1776, he obtained leave of absence from the Provincial Congress. On the 24th, two days previous to the battle of Long Island, he was ordered by the Convention to take command of a foree of militia and " use all possible diligence to prevent the stock and other provisions from falling into the hands of the enemy." He discharged this duty to the best of his ability with his meager force, driving beyond the reach of the enemy all the cattle that could be col- lected, at the same time making known to the Conven- tion his inability to maintain himself with the force at his command. The unfortunate issue of the battle of Long Island, and the impracticability of sending the desired reinforcements, will be remembered. In the hope of sending these, however, and in accordance with his sense of honor and duty, he did not make a final retreat ; but, on the 28th, ordered his troops to a point four miles east of Jamaica, where, in the afternoon, he attempted to join them. A thunder storm arrested him some two miles from this town, at the tavern of Increase Carpenter, and he was overtaken by a party of dragoons and infantry, guided by some tories. WOOD says : " The general immediately gave up his sword in token of surrender. The ruffian who first approached him (said to be a Lieutenant Huzzy), as is reported, ordered him to say 'God save the King.' The general replied 'God save us all'; on which he most cowardly and ernelly assailed the defenseless general with his broadsword, and would have killed him on the spot if he had not been prevented by the inter- ference of an officer of more honor and humanity (said to be Major De Lancey of the dragoons), who arrested
36
GENERAL HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.
his savage violence." He was removed to Jamacia, his wounds were dressed, and with other prisoners he was confined till the next day in a stone church. Ile was then sent to Gravesend, and confined with eighty others, in a vessel that had been used for the transportation of live stock, with no provision for comfort or health. Thence he was removed to a house in New Utrecht. Here it was found his injuries necessitated amputation of his arm. Previous to the operation he sent for his wife, and made arrangements for the alleviation of the suffering of the American prisoners at his own expense. Mortification soon succeeded the operation, and on the 20th of September he died. Wood says of him : " With personal courage he possessed judgment, decision and firmness of character, tempered with conciliating manners, which commanded the respect and obedience of his troops, and at the same time secured their confidence and esteem."
CHAPTER VII.
THE WAR OF 1812-NAVAL OPERATIONS ABOUT LONG ISLAND.
0 N the 18th of June, 1812, a formal declaration of war against Great Britain was made by the United States.
In the latter part of 1812 and early in 1813 British cruisers were stationed on the American coast. From the files of a paper called War, which was pub- lished in New York at the time, it appears that, on the 19th of January, 1813, a British 74, two frigates and a gun brig were stationed off the entrance to New York harbor, and on the 26th it was stated that this fleet had been augmented, and several prizes taken. Commo- dore Lewis, in command of the flotilla in New York harbor, attempted to go down, but was prevented by the ice. It was not till the 20th of March, 1813, that the entire coast of the United States, with the ex- ception of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, was declared in a state of blockade.
In April of that year, it was stated that a British 74 and several privateers were cruising in Long Island Sound, that they had captured a number of coasting vessels, and that " the naval foree now in this harbor is sufficient either to capture or drive them off, but for some unaccountable reason the 'United States' and ' Macedonian' have been suffered to lie upward of three months at the navy yard entirely dismantled ; our enemy when occasion requires can fit out a ship of war in three weeks, or even less time."
In June, 1813, the daring privateer, "Governor Tompkins," of New York, came through the Sound. Off Fisher's Island she was chased by the enemy's squadron cruising there, but escaped.
PRIME relates, that "in June, 1813, while a British
squadron under Commodore Hardy lay in Gardiner's Bay, a launch and two barges with 100 men attempted to surprise Sag Harbor in the night. They landed on the wharf, but, an alarm being quickly given, the guns of a small fort were opened upon them with such effect that they had only time to set fire to a single sloop, and retreated with so much percipitation as to leave a large quantity of guns, swords and other arms behind them. The flames were speedily extinguished, and no other injury sustained."
In September of the same year a flotilla of thirty gun- boats, under Commodore Lewis, passed through Hell Gate to Sands Point, in quest of some armed vessels of the enemy that were cruising in the Sound. The weather was not favorable for close action, and after a few shots at long range the flotilla anchored; a frigate, which had drawn away from its consorts returned, and the enemy's ships retired eastward.
November 16th, 1813, Admiral Warren, commanding the blockading squadron, issued a proclamation in which he declared a blockade of "all that part of Long Island Sound being the sea coast lying within Montauk Point, or the eastern point of Long Island, and the point of land opposite thereto, commonly called Plack Point, situated on the sea coast of the main land; together with all the ports, harbors, creeks, and entrances of the East and North rivers of New York, as well as all the other ports, creeks, and bays along the coast of Long Island and the State of New York," etc.
In 1813, the " Amazon," Captain Conkling, of Hunt- ington ; the "Sally," Captain Akerly, of Cow Harbor ; and the " Arago " and " Juno," Captain Jones, of Brook- haven, were captured in the sound by the British vessels " Acasta " and "Atalanta." During the same year a British fleet entered and remained some time in Gardi- ner's Bay.
In May, 1814, the sloop " Amelia," bound for Rhode Island, laden with rye, pork and flour, was made a prize by a barge from the British ship of war "Bulwark." One of the owners of this sloop was, with two or three other men, suspected of treason. They were tried and acquitted.
In August of the same year a small schooner was chased on shore at Rockaway by the boats of the block- ading squadron, and set on fire. The fire was extin- guished, though those engaged in extinguishing it were several times fired upon.
In 1814 the British vessels " Pomona." and " Dis- patch," arriving off Setauket harbor, sent seven barges into Drown Meadow Bay, where they captured the ves- sels "Two Friends," " Hope," "Herald," and " Mercan- tile," and burned the " Oneida," which were all anchored in the bay.
Boat crews from the blockading squadron entered through Rockaway Inlet, and committed depredations on the inhabitants near the shores of Jamaica Bay; and to protect against such attacks a block-house was erected
37
ROADS AND RAILROADS ON LONG ISLAND.
at the inlet. In the General History of Kings County an aceount is given of the ercetion of defensive works in Brooklyn.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF WAGON ROADS AND RAILROADS ON LONG ISLAND.
A T first, highways were established in the different towns according to the apparent necessities of the dwellers in those towns, without reference to the convenience of the people elsewhere. No thoroughfares were projected till a long time afterward, and the irregularity of the roads was such that guides were necessary, in some places, to conduct strangers from place to place. These roads were often facetiously termed "cow-paths," because of their irregularity, which is still a noticeable feature of the ordinary highways.
In view of the urgent necessity which had eome to be felt for better facilities for travel, the Legislature in 1704 enacted a law, by which three commissioners in each of the counties on the island were appointed to lay out a road four rods in width, from Brooklyn ferry to Easthampton. Twenty years later, by another aet of the Legislature, commissioners were appointed " for better clearing and further laying out of the roads on the island." By action of these commissioners the direct road from Brooklyn to Easthampton was established. This road ran through the center portion of the island, and during many years it was the main thoroughfare between New York and the " east end." As time went on, parallel roads were opened, both north and south, from this, and turnpikes were established between differ- ent localities.
As late as 1764 the first post-ronte was established through the island, and it was ealled " the cireuit." The mail was carried (on horseback) once in two weeks east- ward through the north part of the island, returning along the south shore.
About the year 1847 what has been termed the Plank Road mania began to prevail through the country, and it reached its height about 1850 or 1851. The level surface of Long Island afforded better facilities for the construction of these roads than existed in many regions, and within three or four years after the first was built they had greatly multiplied in all parts of the island, and a new era of travel was thought by some to have dawned. The impracticability of these roads, however, soon became apparent, and here as elsewhere the mania subsided almost as rapidly as it had arisen. The projection of new roads ceased, and those which had been constructed were abandoned or converted into turnpikes and then into common highways. Of the many that came into existence none remain as plank roads.
Long Island has a railroad system that fully meets the wants of its inhabitants and affords ample facilities for pleasure seekers from abroad to visit the seaside resorts along its southern shore. The sole reliance of the roads on the island for support is on local patron- age; none of them are parts of thoroughfares that open into regions beyond, though the Long Island Railroad has established ferries to New London, Conn., to Block Island and to Newport, connecting thus with Boston and the Eastern States. These ferries have not proved very profitable, as they could not be-maintained in the winter, and the route was hiable to other serious objee- tions.
The first railroad constructed on Long Island was that from South ferry in Brooklyn to Jamaiea. This was opened for travel April 18th, 1836. In the same year the Long Island company eommeneed the exten- sion eastward of this road, and in 1837 it was in opera- tion to Ilicksville. In 1841 it reached Suffolk Station, and on the 25th of July, 1844, the first train of ears passed over it to Greenport, a total length of ninety- five miles.
From Hieksville a branch was opened to Syosset in 1854, and an extension completed to Northport in 1868, and thence a road was completed to Port Jefferson in 1872. Branehes were also constructed from Mineola to Hempstead and to Locust Point, and from Jamaica to Far Rockaway.
In 1869 the Sag Ilarbor branch was built, diverging from the main line at Manor Station, passing through the Hamptons and terminating at Sag Harbor. The road from Hunter's Point to Flushing was opened in 1854, and it was subsequently extended to Manhasset. A road was also constructed from Hunter's Point to Whitestone.
On the south side a road was opened from Jamaica to Babylon in the autumn of 1867, and extended to Patchogue in 1868. Branches of this road were also built. A. T. Stewart constructed a road to Garden City, and this was extended to Babylon. Other roads and branches sprang into existence, and a competition arose that was not conducive to the prosperity of the roads.
A consolidation of these roads under the control of the Messrs. Poppenhusen by leases and otherwise was effected. Lavish expenditures were made and much business was, done, but the management was not sue- cessful, and in 1877 Thomas R. Sharp was appointed receiver of the consolidated corporation.
In the latter part of 1880 a controlling interest in the Long Island Railroad passed into the hands of a syndicate of Boston and London capitalists, at the head of which is Austin Corbin, under whose man- agement the road has come.
Within a comparatively recent time several roads for the conveyance of passengers to and from the summer resorts on the south coast of Long Island have come into existence.
38
GENERAL HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.
All of the roads before mentioned, as well as the Brooklyn and Jamaiea Railroad, the Long Beach Rail- road, the Manhattan Beach Railroad, roads to Rock- away Beach and to Woodhaven, and new branches or extensions to Babylon, and to Montauk Point, where an immense hotel is now in course of construction, to conneet with a line of very fast ocean steamers, in- tended to make the European voyage in five days, are now under the control of the Corbin Company. Some of the branch roads have been diseontinned and others extended. The main track is laid with the best steel rails, and the running time of the fast trains will be abont two and a quarter hours.
CHAPTER IX.
TIIE AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES AND DEVELOPMENT OF LONG ISLAND.
W HATEVER may be the general impression of the value and fertility of the lands of Long Island, they do and will command a price far in excess of soils equally fertile but which are not situated near a great market. Easy, cheap and uninterrupted water communication with a center of trade aggregating a population of nearly two millions, will always make Long Island a place of peculiar in- terest to tillers of the soil. The vast and increasing demand of the city of New York for vegetables and fruits of a perishable nature, as well as the peculiar adaptation of the soil for their culture, has already made Kings and a large portion of Queens county one immense garden. Previous histories of the island are nearly silent upon this, the chief business of its in- habitants.
The early settlers of Long Island, eoming as they did chiefly from the New England colonies, naturally followed the same system of tillage and rotation of erops to which they had been accustomed. Probably the first settlers found sufficient eleared land for their purpose ; as, according to early traditions, there was mueh cleared land, or land not covered with timber, besides the great plains. They very soon diseovercd that success depended upon the application of manures. As early as 1653 the first settlers, by the terms of the patent from the Dutch governor for the lands they oeeupied, were required to pay to the government one- tenth of the revenue arising from the ground manured. This tax for the town of Hempstead amounted in 1657 to one hundred sehepels of wheat (the Dutch bushel of three pecks). In 1651 Hempstead produeed from the proceeds of the servants' labor, eorn, beef, pork, butter, tobaeeo and staves, which were exchanged for liquor and merchandise.
Cattle were imported for breeding as early as 1625, and a eow in New York was worth £30. The abund-
ant grass on the plains doubtless turned the attention of the early settlers to the raising of stoek. But as yet there were few or no fences ; so herdsmen were hired by the town to take eare of the cattle from the 11th of May till the 23d of October, when the Indian harvest would be wholly taken in and housed. In 1667 the town of Hempstead hired Abraham Smith to keep the eattle from destroying the corn planted in the plain called " the field," and he was to have one and a half bushels per aere paid him for this service. So import- ant was this office deemed that the conditions of agree- ment were entered at large on the town book. A half hour after sunrise, at the blowing of a horn, the owners of eattle drove them from their several pens into one eommon herd, when they were taken under the eare of the eow-keeper and his dog, and driven on the plains. He was to keep them from going astray, or wandering in the woods, or getting on tilled land ; to water them at some pond at reasonable hours ; to drive them weekly to the south meadows, and then bring them home half an hour before sunset, that they might be milked. For this service (in 1658) the hire was twelve shillings sterling per week in butter, corn and oats. The ealves were cared for by another keeper, who was required to water them twice a day, drive them to the salt meadows onee in two weeks, and put them in an inclosure at night to protect them from the wolves. After a while cow-herds were dispensed with, and it was found necessary to fenee the pasture lands. Thus, Cow Neek in 1669 was feneed from Hempstead Harbor to Great Neek, as the turnpike now runs. Rockaway had, in 1690, a fenee running from the landing aeross to Jamaiea Bay. Each proprietor had the right to put eattle in the pasture ground in proportion to the length of fenee he had made. At that time eattle were sold to butchers in New York, and exported alive to the West Indies. In 1658 cattle were bought on the great plains to be shipped to the colony of Dela- ware. In 1678 the city of New York consumed only four hundred beeves.
Sheep were not introduced until a later date ; in 1643 there were not over sixteen in the whole colony of New York. In 1670 sheep were pastured on the plains, under the eare of a shepherd, who had directions not to let them go over half a mile in the woods, for fear of their being lost or destroyed by wolves. Each pro- prietor had an ear-mark for his own sheep, which was recorded in the town book. In 1737 the New York Gazette says : "Vast losses have been sustained in this eolony, and those adjacent, by the death of cattle for the want of fodder, and many persons have been almost ruined thereby. We hear from Long Island that five thousand head of cattle have been lost this winter, besides sheep and lambs innumerable."
Corn, wheat, rye, oats, flax, wood for fuel, fat cattle and sheep were for nearly two hundred years, or until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the staple pro-
39a
CAPABILITIES AND DEVELOPMENT.
ducts of the island, and the chief source of income. During the Revolutionary war, a tory advised the Brit- tish ministry to land forces destined for the subjugation of the colonies on Long Island ; "for," said he, "it is one hundred and thirty miles long, and is very fertile, abounding in wheat and every other kind of grain, and has innumerable black cattle, sheep, hogs, etc. ; so that in this fertile island the army can subsist without any succor from England. It has a fertile plain twenty- four miles long, with a fertile country about it, and is twenty miles from New York ; and from an encamp- ment on this plain the British army can, in five or six days, invade any of the colonies at pleasure. The spot I advise you to land at is Cow Bay." The suggestion was acted upon. The English army occupied Long Island, with New York city as its headquarters, for nearly seven years; and drew its supplies of fresh and salt hay, oats, straw, wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat and firewood from our island. For an encouragement to farmers to raise plentiful supplies of fresh provisions, vegetables and forage for the army, the British com- mandant forbade all persons from trespassing, or breaking down or destroying fences, or carrying away produce from the owners. In 1780 the requisition on Queens county was for four thousand five hundred cords of wood.
Since the advent of the present century, and within the memory of many now living, radical changes have been made in the system of agriculture, in the crops produced, fertilizers applied, machinery employed, domestic manufactures and manner of living. There are many localities in Suffolk and a few in Queens county, in which, from their peculiarity of position, primitive farming is still followed-that is, corn upon old sod, followed by oats the second year, which is succeeded in the fall by either wheat or rye, with which clover and timothy seed are sown. Then good crops of hay are cut for from three to five years; it is then pastured one or two years, and the same routine repeated.
With the growth of New York and Brooklyn arose the demand for vegetables, milk, hay, straw and such articles of a perishable and bulky nature as cannot be profitably transported long distances. Hence we see that the area necessary for their production has ex- tended, not only eastward, over nearly two counties, but the country for miles around, every harbor which indents the shores of Long Island, as well as near every depot of its railroads, has been put under contribution to supply the demand. Consequent upon this change, the product of cereals is greatly reduced, and stock- raising is mostly abandoned as a source of profit.
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