USA > New York > New York City > The revolutionary history of Fort Number Eight on Morris Heights, New York City > Part 3
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The first batch of Hessian troops started from their home on February 29, 1776 ; among them were Ditfurth's, Donop's, Knyphausen's and Rall's battalions. On March 10 they marched through Bremen, and a week later set sail for England. Some of them reached Sandy Hook on August 17. Another batch marched to Bremen from Cassel and set sail on March 22.198 Some Hessians took part in the battle of Long Island on August 27,194 and were with the English soldiers when they landed on Manhattan Island on September 15, and joined them in the lines north of the city, e. g. Donop's battalion.
The second division of Hessians under Lieutenant General Knyphausen arrived in New York harbor on October 18, 1776, together with a regiment of Waldeck troops, six hundred and seventy strong. 195 These were at once dispatched in many flat-bottomed boats up the East River into the Sound, described as a beautiful sight on a fine day (October 22) by a contem- porary newspaper reporter. There they joined the English troops which had already advanced beyond New Rochelle.198 General Knyphausen lay with his troops near the village of New Rochelle for nearly a week, while the English troops were pressing on to White Plains and engaging the Americans there.
On October 28, the day of the battle of White Plains, General Knyphausen was ordered by General Howe to leave the Waldeck regiment at New Rochelle, and to move with his six battalions of Hessians to King's Bridge. This he did, and took post at Mile Square and Valentine's Hill.197 On November 2 he continued his march to King's Bridge, and, crossing Dykeman's Bridge, encamped on the northern end of Manhattan Island opposite Spuyten Duyvil, the Americans
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retiring before his advance to the shelter of Fort Washington, the barracks about King's Bridge, it will be remembered, hav- ing been burned and the works abandoned a few days before by Colonel Lasher's men. 198
The Waldeck regiment followed Knyphausen, and estab- lished itself on November 4 in the ruins of Fort Indepen- dence.1ºº General Grant on that day marched with the fourth brigade to Mile Square and Valentine's Hill. The sixth brigade also marched to the neighborhood of DeLancey's Mills (Bronxdale). 200
The main army under General Howe at White Plains also joined these forces for the purpose of investing Fort Washing- ton and the entire island of New York. Leaving the American army to itself in North Castle, General Howe retired from White Plains on November 4, and, marching towards the Hudson River, encamped at Dobbs Ferry two days later, where supplies could easily reach him from New York by water.201 This apparently sudden change of plan on Howe's part is most easily explained by supposing that he found it impossible to draw Washington into a general engagement, and preferred to retire and secure New York, where conve- nient winter quarters could be established.20" Stedman says :208 "Convinced that it was part of the enemy's system stu- diously to avoid an action and that their knowledge of the country enabled them to execute this system with an advan- tage, General Howe resolved to cease an ineffectual pursuit and employ himself in the reduction of King's Bridge and Fort Washington."
Some thought wrongly at the time that Howe was retreating before Washington.204 General Heath and General Greene (at Fort Lee) entertained some such notion,205 and even one of the English generals four years later said :206 "The rebels whom we had not thought worth pursuing, now pursued us and ravished the Chester counties." A clergyman in Green- wich, Connecticut, preaching a historical sermon a year later, uses these words :207 "The enemy crossed in their expecta- tions (at White Plains) now despaired of compassing their design, gave over the pursuit and returned with shame."
Some, however, saw the real meaning of the British move- ment, and none more clearly than General Washington himself,
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who, on November 6, reports the unexpected advance toward the Hudson River and King's Bridge to Congress, and expresses his fears that Fort Washington is to be attacked. He expresses the same fear in a letter to Governor Livingston on the following day.208 General Greene, too, early saw the real meaning of the British movement. 209
On November 7, some artillery joined General Knyphausen at King's Bridge under a strong escort, also four battalions of Light Infantry, the remainder of the Chasseurs, and four field pieces. General Greene reports to General Washington from Fort Lee that 1,500 British have taken possession of the slope north of "Spiten Devil," but thinks they cannot penetrate any further.21º The British and Hessians were reconnoiter- ing the approaches to Fort Washington on the same day. The Americans could distinctly see them on the plains south of King's Bridge. The Hessians could also be seen throwing up intrenchments in that neighborhood.211 On November 8 and 9 these Hessians received a drubbing at the hands of a scouting party from the 3d and 5th Pennsylvania battalions stationed at Fort Washington.212
In the meantime the main body of the English lay encamped at Dobbs Ferry, but on November 12, a "varry raw cold day," they broke camp at nine a. m., and marched in two col- umns to Phillipsburg (Yonkers), and pitched their tents near Phillips' manor (still standing and used as a court-house).213 Next day they moved on, and encamped on the "heights of Fordham forming a line with the right to the Brunx, upon the Westchester Road, and the left to the North River." 214 The British army was now ready to begin active preparations to invest Fort Washington. A brigade of Hes- sians had been added to Knyphausen's forces at King's Bridge.215 Thirty flat-boats had also been sent up the North River on the night of November 14, under Captains Wilkinson and Molloy, without being observed from Fort Washington, and were taken through Spuyten Duyvil Creek to the Harlem River and King's Bridge.216
To assist in the coming attack on Fort Washington, a redoubt, called "Number Eight," had been hastily built on the site of the present house of Mrs. Gustav Schwab, and armed with some heavy artillery transported there (presumably
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from New York), and also some field pieces.217 Graydon quotes a friend's description of this redoubt :218 "On the west side of Haerlem River (on Laurel Hill), a body of men was posted to watch the motions of the enemy, who had erected works on the high and commanding ground east of that river, apparently with the design of covering a landing of the troops in that part of the island of New York."
This important redoubt was finished on November 15,219 and in the afternoon of that day General Howe sent Lieuten- ant Colonel Patterson to Fort Washington to demand its surrender of Colonel Magaw, the commander, which he refused. 220
The situation, then, on the eve of the battle, was as follows : Knyphausen's Hessians and the Waldeck regiment were encamped near King's Bridge under Köhlen, Stein, Witgenau, Wissenbach, Huyne, Bienau, Rall and Lossberg. A battery of Hessian artillery was stationed in the flat land, east of the site of the present Inwood school house.221 These forces were to storm the American works from the north. On the east of the Harlem River was Fort Number Eight, which was to assist the First and Second battalions of Light Infantry and two battalions of Guards under General Mathews, and a reserve consisting of the First and Second Grenadiers with the Thirty-third Regiment under Lord Cornwallis, in landing on the opposite shore and storming the redoubts on Laurel Hill. General Mathews' forces had been sent to the neighborhood of Fort Number Eight by way of the Hudson, Spuyten Duyvil Creek and Harlem River in the above-mentioned boats.22? Further south the American works along the west bank of the Harlem were to be carried by the Forty-second Regiment under Colonel Sterling. They were to cross the river about opposite the Roger Morris house.228 From the south Lord Percy with his English and Hessian columns was to carry the two lines of intrenchments across the island and press on to Fort Washington."24 The English man-of-war "Pearl," which conveyed General Howe to this country, was also stationed in the Hudson River, one mile north of Jeffrey's Hook, to assist in the attack and prevent the escape of the garrison.225
Opposed to these British forces were the American garrisons at Fort Washington and the outlying redoubts, in all about
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3,000 men. Of these 1, 200 formed the garrison of Fort Wash- ington itself, of whom two hundred to three hundred had been sent as a reinforcement from Colonel Durkee's regiment by General Greene from Fort Lee on October 21.226 The troops in the fort were chiefly from Pennsylvania and Maryland, and belonged to the Third, Fifth and Sixth Pennsylvania bat- talions.27 Of the Fifth battalion two hundred and two were reported present and fit for duty on November 15, and three absent without leave. Two weeks before the battalion had been twice as large.228
These troops in Fort Washington were under the command of Colonel Robert Magaw, who had been left there on Wash- ington's retiring with his army to White Plains.229 This brave officer, a lawyer by profession, hailed from Pennsyl- vania. He had been made a colonel by the Congress early in 1776 ; soon after he was put in command of the Sixth Penn- sylvania regiment (or battalion). He was made a prisoner in the capture of Fort Washington, remained in prison four years, was finally exchanged in 1780, and retired from the army. He died in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in December, 1789, and is buried there in the Meeting House Cemetery.230
At the end of the same ridge with and north of Fort Wash- ington, and overlooking Inwood, the redoubt which had been built was manned with a small garrison of two hundred and ninety-seven men, mostly from Fort Lee, the rest Maryland militia men, under the command of Colonel Rawlins.281 The redoubt on Cock Hill overlooking Spuyten Duyvil Creek had presumably been abandoned by the Americans on the approach of the Hessians a fortnight before.
Another outpost of Fort Washington was the one on Laurel Hill (later called "Fort George"), a commanding position which was manned by some Pennsylvania militia under Colonel Baxter of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.232 To the south Colonel Cadwallader's forces manned the intrenchments which commanded the approach from that direction.233
From this description of the relative disposition of the American and British troops it is seen how hopeless the con- test necessarily was, and General Washington, as he took in the situation from his point of observation on the Palisades near Fort Lee-he had moved his army into New Jersey from
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North Castle in the meantime, arriving at General Greene's quarters at Fort Lee on November 13, - must have felt a keen regret at having allowed himself to be persuaded by General Greene to leave a garrison in the forts opposite and sacrifice them to certain capture."34 As late as November 8 he still hesitated to leave the garrison in Fort Washington owing to the ineffective obstructions in the Hudson River.236 These he had been attempting since June to construct between Forts Washington and Lee, but to no purpose, for the English ships invariably broke them.230 Those ordered on September 8, 1776, were easily passed on the morning of October 9, by three English ships and their tenders, which "came up the North river By fort Wors'n and run up about fifteen miles and anchored." There they sent their crews ashore at Dobbs Ferry to plunder. Nash tells us in his Journal "they took two of our galleys and a Sloop and a schooner Loaded with rum." "37 Two days later Washington had a narrow escape, for, coming down the Hudson in a barge, a shot from one of these English men-of-war killed three of his crew.238
Doubtless General Washington's attempt to hold Fort Wash- ington was one of the most serious errors he committed during the Revolution ;" while Lord Howe's plan of surrounding that fort and the disposition of his troops was a brilliant manœuvre, and has excited the admiration of writers on the war.240
The chance discovery of a letter dated some years later adds curiously to our knowledge of Howe's plans. It has always seemed strange that Howe should have been apparently so familiar with the disposition of the American troops about Fort Washington and been able to direct his attacks accord- ingly. Graydon threw out the following suggestion :241 "Howe must have had a perfect knowledge of the ground we occupied. This he might have acquired from hundreds in New York ; but he might have been more thoroughly informed of everything desirable to be known from one Dement of Magaw's battalion, who was intelligent in points of duty, and deserted to the enemy a week before the assault. This man was probably an emissary from them ; he was an European, I recollect, and not originally an officer of the corps ; his name, at least, is not among those appointed by the Committee of
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Safety." Graydon describes him as "a coarse, ill-looking man."
This suspicion of Graydon's was confirmed in a strange way by the discovery many years after of the following letter of William Demont (or Dement) to Rev. Dr. Peters of the Church of England, dated January 16, 1792 (now in the possession of Mr. E. F. DeLancey) :242
" Revd Sir
Permit me to trouble you with a Short recital of my Ser- vices in America which I Presume may be Deem'd among the Most Singular of any that will go to upper Canada (he wanted a claim on the English officials in Canada). On the 2d of Novr 1776 I Sacrificed all I was worth in the world to the Service of my King & Country & Joined the then Lord Percy brought in with (me) the Plans of Fort Washington by which Plans that Fortress was taken by his Majesty's Troops the 16 instant. . these Sir are facts well known to every General Officer which was there-and I may with Truth Declare from the time I studied the Interest of my Country & Neglected my own-or in the Language of Cardinal Woolsey had I served my God as I have done my king he would not Thus have Forsaken me."
He then offers a bill for his services24 "for engaging Guides, getting intelligence &c. 456. 9s. 9d. For doing duty as commissary of Prisoners at Philadelphia etc. 266. 13s. 8d."
This remarkable confession is borne out by a closer exami- nation of the contemporary sources, and is accepted by such authorities as Professor H. P. Johnston, Mrs. M. J. Lamb and J. G. Wilson.244 It seems this William Demont (or Dement) had entered Magaw's battalion in Philadelphia as ensign, by the appointment of the Pennsylvania Council of Safety, on January 1, 1776,24" Graydon's statement notwithstanding. On February 29, 1776, this Council or Committee appointed him Adjutant to the Fifth Pennsylvania battalion, which posi- tion he continued to hold while it was stationed at Fort Washington, where he signed the returns for his battalion, for instance on October 7, 1776.24ª His desertion on November 2 is corroborated by his appearing on the rolls as " absent with- out leave " on that day.247 Doubtless he carried the plans of the fort and its outposts, with much additional information, to Lord Percy, who, it will be remembered, had been left on
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Manhattan Island near Harlem, when Lord Howe moved with his troops to Throg's Neck and White Plains. 248
Even granted that Demont or his papers were at once sent to the commander-in-chief, Lord Howe, at White Plains, it is extremely doubtful whether the receipt of the information caused him to suddenly change his plans, withdraw from facing Washington and hasten southward to invest New York, as Mr. E. F. DeLancey and others would have us believe. 249
Such an explanation assumes that Demont deserted, com- municated with Lord Percy, reached the British army at White Plains, and that the latter broke camp and started for Dobbs' Ferry-all in two days. It also overlooks the impor- tant fact that five days before Demont's desertion General Knyphausen had been ordered by General Howe to march from New Rochelle to King's Bridge, and that he reached that place with his Hessians on the day Demont communicated with the English. The relation of these dates ought to leave it beyond question that "although the British commander must have intended to attack Fort Washington, he was doubtless confirmed in his intentions by (the) information received."> 250
An order of General Howe's, dated October 5, 1777, putting this "Captain Dement, Fourier de la Cour," in charge of the Rebel Prisoners as Commissary of Prisoners, confirms another item in the deserter's confession.261 However, his claim that every English general officer knew of his feat cannot be veri- fied. Presumably he, like the above historians, exaggerated the importance of his achievement. Certainly no American officer, except Graydon as mentioned above, knew or suspected his treachery, which, in evil intention at least, rivalled that of Benedict Arnold four years later.252
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ATTACK ON FORT WASHINGTON.363
On Saturday, November 16, 1776, the famous attack on Fort Washington was made from the four directions indicated above. The battle began early in the morning with a cannon- ade on the part of the Hession battery on the plain near the Century House directed at Colonel Rawlins' position on the heights south of Inwood.24 The batteries at Fort Number Eight and those further down the Harlem River joined in this bombardment,"65 directing their fire at Baxter's redoubt on Laurel Hill and at Cadwallader's position near the Roger Morris (the Jumel) house. Graydon, who was himself sta- tioned on the southern lines opposing Lord Percy's advance, describes256 the "tremendous roar of artillery, quickly suc- ceeded by incessant vollies of small arms, which seemed to proceed from the east and north." 267
In fact, the main and most stubborn attack was made from the north about noon by the Hessians advancing from King's Bridge. 258 In the words of General Heath :269 " General Knyphausen, with a heavy column of Hessians, advanced by King's Bridge. They were discovered by the Americans from the high ground north of Fort Washington, as day broke, and cannonaded from the field pieces at this advanced post. The Hessian column divided into two; the right ascending the strong broken ground towards Spitten-Devil Creek ; the left nearer the road, towards the gorge. The first obtained the ground without much difficulty, but the Americans made a most noble opposition against the latter and for a considerable time kept them from ascending the hill, making a terrible slaugh- ter among them ; but the great superiority of the assailants, with an unabating firmness, finally prevailed ; their loss was greater here than any other place."
This is, perhaps, the best contemporary description of the advance of the Hessian and Waldeck troops upon Fort Wash- ington. Bancroft's description is more picturesque but proba- bly imaginary :260 "Excited by the obstinacy of the contest, Rall (the commander of the Hessian right wing) cried out 'Forward, my Grenadiers, every man of you,' his drums beat, his trumpets blew the notes of command, and all who
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escaped the fire from behind rocks and trees shouted 'Hurrah ' and pushed forward without firing."
General Knyphausen's orders for the attack have been pre- served."61 The Jagers and forty Grenadiers under Captain Bornin were to act as skirmishers ; one hundred and sixty men under Colonel Borbeck were to follow. Then were to come the Grenadiers under Köhler and those of Wutgenau (Witgenau), Lossberg, Rall, Knyphausen, Huyne, Bünau and the Waldeck regiment. Orders for the assault were given in detail. The advance was to begin at 5.30 a. m. Colonel Rall commanded the right wing, with Donop commanding the skirmish line, which advanced along the heights overlooking the Hudson River from Spuyten Duyvil Creek, with difficulty crowding back Colonel Rawlins' brave Maryland troops toward Fort Washington,12 where he was joined by General Knyphausen, who had advanced with the left wing along the King's Bridge Road, and forced his way through the woods to within gunshot of Fort Washington.268
The garrison in Fort Number Eight could plainly see the Hessians advancing on Fort Washington from the north, and assisted the movement by vigorously bombarding Colonel Baxter's position opposite."64 To assist still further in the attack from the north, General Mathews, who had been lying with his Second battalion of Guards and his First and Second battalions of Light Infantry under the protection of the guns of Fort Number Eight, advanced to the river's edge, and, crossing in thirty boats to the opposite shore, he landed his troops in Sherman's Creek and immediately advanced with them up the steep slope of Laurel Hill. General Lord Corn- wallis immediately followed with his two battalions of Grena- diers as well as the Thirty-third regiment (the latter had been sent as a reinforcement from King's Bridge). Headed by the light infantry, this body stormed the redoubts on Laurel Hill, but were at first much harassed by the American riflemen hidden behind stones and trees. 265
The following is Graydon's description :200 "The militia under Colonel Baxter, posted on Hartem River (Laurel Hill) were attacked by the British guards and light infantry, who landed on the island of New York, protected by the fire from the work on the heights, on the opposite side of the river
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(Fort Number Eight). A short contest ensued, but our troops, overpowered by numbers, and leaving behind them Colonel Baxter, who was killed by a British officer as he was bravely encouraging his men, retired to the fort (Fort Wash- ington)."
General Heath describes the attack in less detail."67 General Howe's description is also meagre. 266 Lossing says : 269 "Gen- eral Mathews pushed up the wooded heights, drove Baxter's troops from their redoubt (Laurel Hill) and rocky defence and stood victors upon the hills overlooking the open fields around Fort Washington."
Carrington is no more circumstantial :27 "The division of Mathews and Cornwallis, which had been in readiness, landed, although under heavy fire, pushed back the resisting force, and moved over Laurel Hill to take the works (Fort Washing- ton) in the center."
DeLancey describes the attack as follows :271 "Just as the Germans became fully engaged the British regiments of light infantry and guards, four in number, under Brigadier General Mathews, supported by the First and Second Grenadiers and the Thirty-third Foot, under Cornwallis, in thirty boats under cover of a tremendous fire from the British batteries on its Westchester side, crossed Harlem River to Sherman's Creek. Though met with a sharp fire, they instantly ascended the face of Laurel Hill, high, wooded and precipitous, the falling leaves, yet moist with the rain of the preceding day, rendering the footing still more difficult and drove from the battery on its brows and its summit the Pennsylvania troops (the last re- enforcement sent over from Fort Lee) whom Magaw had detailed to defend it. Though defeated and forced to retreat, they made a brave defense, Colonel Baxter, their commander, being killed, sword in hand, at the head of his men."
Johnson, in his Life of Nathaniel Greene,272 describes the attack on Laurel Hill as follows : " A strong column of British troops, commanded by some of Howe's best officers, had been held in reserve on the eastern bank of the Harlem, and so completely masked from view, that when the Americans thought themselves engaged with the whole British force, to their astonishment they were apprised that a formidable and fresh enemy was descending the Harlem, and about to effect a
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landing on the rocky shore which extends northwardly from the post occupied by Colonel Baxter. Pressed before by very superior numbers, this new danger which threatened the rear of both Rawlins and Cadwallader required immediate attention. About one hundred and fifty men dispatched from Cadwal- lader's command, and one hundred from the fort in vain opposed a prompt and resolute resistance to eight hundred picked men, already landed and forcing their way up the hill. But the contest was not bloodless."
An early English history of the war says :273 "The light infantry landed and were exposed both before and after to a very brisk and continual fire from the provincials, who were themselves covered by the rocks and the trees among which they were posted. The former, however, with their usual alertness and activity, extricated themselves by clambering up a very steep and rough mountain, and made way for the landing of the troops without opposition."
Murray, writing in 1780, says :274 "The second (attack) on the east was led by Brigadier-General Matthews, at the head . of the First and Second battalions of Light Infantry and Third battalion of Guards, supported by Lord Cornwallis with the First and Second battalions of Grenadiers and the Thirty- third regiment. These troops crossed the East River in flat boats, and as the enemies' works there extended the breadth of the island, redoubts and batteries were erected on the opposite shore, both to cover the landing of the troops, and to annoy those works which were near the water."
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