Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution, Part 64

Author: Dawson, Henry B. (Henry Barton), 1821-1889. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Morrisania, New York City : [s.n.]
Number of Pages: 592

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In General Home to Lord George Germaine. " NEW YORK, 30 November "1776;" Sauthier's Plan of the Operations of the King's Army under the Command of General Sir William Hore K. B . in New Yorkand Bust Ner- Jersey ; ! Plan of the Country frotas Frog's Point to Craton River shutting the positions, etc. ; Annual Register for 1176 ; History of Europe, *ITT ; Gordon's History of the American Revolution, il., 339 ; Marshall's Life of George Washington, il., 500 ; etc.

Reference may properly be made, in this place, to the two Maps, named among the authorities referred to, in this instance-one of thein drawn

* There are some reasons for supposing that those two Reginients con- stituted the force left, under volenel Lasher, for the protection of Fort Independence, when the Division was moved to the White Platins.

Heights

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A PLAN of the COUNTRY

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from FROGSPOINT CROTON RIVER

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shewing the Positions of the American and British Armies from the 12th of

October 1776 until the ENGAGEMENT on the WHITE PLAINSon the 28 !!

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Drawn by S. Lewis from the Original Surveys made by order of~ General Washington , and published in 1801 Reproduced, in 1885, to illustrate Dawson's Westchester County . New York, during the American Revolution The 1743.

239

WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

constructed and hy whom occupied. we are unable to cate with certainty, ahhough we suspect that the Massachusetts Militia, commandel by General Lit- coln, and the two Brigades of General Spencer's Di- vision, commanded, respectively, by Generals Fel- Fows and Wadsworth, who had been moved from the Heights of Harlem to Kingsbridge, on the seventeenth of October, were the artificers who constructed and the soldiers who occupied that very greatly important line of hastily constructed earthworks.

There had not been much haste displayed in the American Army, in changing its position on the Heights of Harlem, made really strong by the outlay of immense labor, notwithstanding the enemy had completely turned its left flank, occupied a position on its rear, and with the veriest mite of an effort was capable of throwing a strong force across its entire rear, of seizing every line of communication and every strong position, and of forming such a line of offensive operations, covered, on either flank, by the ships off Tarrytown and the fleet off' Throgg's-neck, which the Americans, in their generally unknown weakness and poverty of supplies, could scarcely have hoped to overcome. But General Washington had a lingering suspicion that the movement of the enemy to Throgg's-neck was only a feint; that he remained in that unseemly position only to await the proper time when he could quickly embark again, and drop down to Morrisania, on one tide; and that

by Claude Joseph Sauthier, a celebrated Engineer in the service of the King, and puldished by William Faden, in London, in 1777 ; the other, drawn by tho Engineers of the American Army for, and preserved by, General Washington, and engraved, from the original manuscript, for tho illustration of the original edition of Chief justice Marshall's Life of George Washington, published in Philadelphia, iu 1:04.

As both of these Mapa were originally official, one British and the other American ; as both were published from the respective manus cripts, a= nearly as possible in fur-simile ; and as both are historical authorities of the highest character, they will be frequently referred to, in our nar- rative of the Military Operations in Westchester-county; and, in order that our readers may also enjoy the benefits to be derived from a use of tham, while reading the story of Westchester-county's revolutionary history, the Publishers have re produced them, ar onr request, as tuearly in exact fac-simile of the original publications, as possible. Sauthier's Map will be found opposite page 227 of this work, ante; and General ' Washington's Map will be found opposite this page of the same.

We may be permitted, however, to call the reader's attention to a sin- gular error which was made in lettering the British Map. Where " Phil- "ipsburgh, " [ Philipsborough,] or Yonker, should have been designated the word "Wepperham "-intended for . Sepertian," the name of the stream, popularly known as the " Sawmill-river, " at the mouth of which Philipsborough, of Youkors, stood-has been err neously inverted ; and, Instead of designating Tarrytown, not "Terrytown," as situated miles whore the Pocantico, on which the upper Manorhouse of the Manor of Philipsborough yet statuls, that noted village ought to Imve been desig- nated beloir that stream- indeed, the Pocantico is inade to appear as if it were the Neperhan, or Sawmill-river ; and Dolde's-ferry and Tarrytown aro consequently crowded up, into the imni liate vicinity of the Croton. river, although they are several miles below that stream ; and a !! the other leterring of the Map is similarly forcei to the northward, unduly, in order that it may be mnale to correspond with the river- villages.

Probably misted by the errors referred to, in the official Map, the bean- tiful Map of the same Mihtary. Operations, which illustrates spalinan's History of the American Har, has repeated the mistakes, in all their og liness ; and the first edition of Lossing's Field-bank of the Revolution per- petuated the unwelcome errors.

cantion was necessary.1 Besides that caution, in the Commander-in-chief, there was a great scarcity of the means for transporting the Stores and Baggage to another and distant position ; ? and, with commenda-

Colonel Harrison to General Houth, " HEADQUARTERS, October 12, "1776 ; " Colonel Grayson to the same, " HRAD-QUARTERS, October 13, "IMG;" the same to Governor Trumbull, " HEADQUARTERS, HARLEM " HEnurs, October 15, 1776;" etc.

On the morning of the eighteenth of October, while the enemy was seen in motion to the eastward of Throng's neck, when that fact was communicated to General Washington, by General Heath, the latter was ordered to return to hiscommand, which had been ported with its right at Valentine's and its left at Fort Independence, and to have it " formed, " ready for netion, immediately, and to take such a position as might ap- " par best calculated to oppose the enemy, should they attempt to land "another body of troops on Morrisania, which he thought not improba- " ble ; " and General Heath " immediately obeyed the Order." (Memoirs of General Heath, 72.)

2 That scarcity will be evident to the reader of General Orders of the seveniteenth of October, in which " some Reginments " are ordered " to " move towards them," [the enemy, ] in which Orders were also included for the government of those Regiments, in the transportation of their Tents and Baggage.

See, also, Quartermaster-general Mifflin to William Duer, "MOUNT WASHE- "INGTON, October 20, 1776."

Gordon, when describing the movement from Harlem Heights, mid, "The movement was attended with much difficulty, for want of Wag- " gons and Artillery horses. When a part was forwarded, the other was "fetched on. This was the general way of removing the Camp-equip- " page and other appendages of the Army. The few Teams which were "at hand, were in no wise equal to the service ; and their dehciency "could be made up only by the bodily later of the men." (History of the American Revolution, ii., 339, 340.)

It would be useful, were some one to ascertain and to inform the world of historical literature, just why there was such a remarkable scarcity of Teame, in such an old-settled agricultural community as occupied the lower Towns of Westchester county, in the Autumn of 1776, especially of those Teams which were required by the Atuerican Army, by whom that portion of the Comity had been occupied, during several weeks preceding the date of the retreat from Harlem Heights. There would be some curious revelations of the inefficiency of the Quarter-master-general's Department ; but there would, also, be some very much more carious revelations of thefts ot horses, by the Officers of the Army, not for their present purposes, but for their use, in the future, after their retirement from the service. Vide General Orders, October 31, 1776.

The farmers of Westchester-county were robbed, indiscriminately, not only by the cang-followers and the privates of the Army, but by the Officers, including Field-officers; * and, in that work of plunder, the records are singularly ample in their evidence that the plauderers were almost exclusively men and Officers of the Massachusetts and Connecticut Lines.t At a later period thau that which is now under consideration, even & Major-general of the Continental Army was confederate with similar thieves ; and gave orders on the Paymastery of the Army for

* The Committee of Safety to the President of the Continental Congress, "IN COMMITTEE OF SAFETY FOR THE STATE OF NEW YORK, FISHKILL, " November 28, 1776 ;" Deposition of John Martine, " 13 November, 1776;" Deposition of Marmaduke Foster, "13 November, 1996 ;"' Petition of Pache Oakley, "2 December, 1776 ;" Deposition of Pulman Paysley, "2 Deceni- " ber, 1776;" Deposition of Ebenezer Burrill, "2 December, 1776;" Jour. nol of the Committe . of Safety, " Monday morning, 2 December, 1776 ;" the Committee of Safety to Gew rul Houth, " Is COMMITTEE OF SAFETY FOR " THE STATE OF NEW YORK, FISHKILL, December 3, 1776 ; " Petitim of Iuhabitan's of Westchester-county, " WESTCHESTER-COUNTY, December 23, "176;" etc.

¡ The Regiment of Massachusetts Artificers, commanded by Colonel Brewer, and the Regiment of Connecticut troops, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb, were especially notorious, as thieves.

Seo, General Order for securing Sergeant Tripp and others, "PEEKSKILL, "11 December, 176;" Minutes of Court Martial for trunk of Major Austin, "PHILIPSBURG, November 12, 1776;" Commandment of Captain Phirus Ford to the Duchess county Jail, " BY THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY OF THE "STATE OF New YORK, FISHKILL, January the 1st, 177";" etc.

240

WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

ble prudence, a removal of Head-quarters from the | have already spited.' he has been condemned for h .:- strong position which they, then, occupied, & # hot attempted until every possible preparation for a sue- cessful removal of them had been duly made. Every portion of the Army was so disposed, however, that all could be concentrated around Head-quarters, in a short time, should such a movement become neces- "sary, although the enemy was, also, properly and effectively guarded; and, although there was no ap- pearance of haste, in anything which was done, there was, also, abundant evidence that the Commander-in- chief, no longer given away to despondeney, was en- tirely mindful of the great responsibility which, then, rested on him.

While all these anxieties had prevailed throughout the American Army, and while all these precautions were being taken by General Washington, General Howe and the main body of the Royal Army had been quietly encamped on Throgg's-neck. With the exception of a scattering fire across the marsh which separated the Neck from the mainland, which seems to have done no material damage,1 there does not appear to have been any offensive movement what- ever; 2 and there is very little reason for supposing that the entire period of the stay of the Army, at that place, was not duly occupied in the transportation of Stores and Provisions and means for Transportation and what must have been regarded as necessary rein- forcements.3

It is not an uncommon occurrence for those who are without information, during a War, to condemn what they regard as the tardiness, sometimes as the crimi- nal tardiness, of a commanding General, in the move- ment of his command on some enterprise on which the faultfinders have rested large, very often unduly large, expectations ; and General Howe has not es- caped from that very common condemnation. As we

payment of the transportation of the plunder, from the scenes of the thefta to the homes of the thieves aml of their accessories, of high or low degree, in the neighboring State of Connecticut."

1 Memoirs of General Heath, 70, 71.

" Judge Jones, in his remarkably accurate History of New York during the Rerolutionary War, (i., 122,) said of General Howe's occupation of Throgg's neck, "here a whole fortnight was spent in doing nothing " (plundering the inhabitants and stealing their horses excepto)." We incline to the belief. however, that General Hove had to community. tion with the nganland sunticient to chable him to seize horses; and there could not have been much opportunity for plunder, by the troops, unless on the Neck, for the saute controlling reason.

The Judge was also evidently in error as to the period of General Howe's ocenpation of the Nect -- he landed, there, on the twoitth of Oc- tober, and he movel from it, on the eighteenth of the same month, which can hardly bo said, with propriety, to have been " a whele forluight."

3 General Howe to Lord George Gerisine, " NEW-YORK, 30 November, " 1776."

* General George Clinton to Lieutenant colonel Hamilton, " POUGHKEEP- "str., 28 December, 1:77."

It is a singular fact that the Major-general referred to in the Note, also inspired the destrin tion of the White Plains, in which Major Andin abo first plundered those whoer houses he destroyed. (Testimony of Song. it Churchill an! Tilley How, on the trial of Mejor Justin, as to the robbery, and Major Andtin's Defence Ingore the same Court, as to the original author of the devistation.)

ing lengden 1 because he orcupied Thrusdem kin. stead of's one more favorable point, on the mainiatt : ! but, as we have also shown, whatever of censure thesr may have been dne for having this blundered in ocen- pying that isolated Neck, if there was any blunder in the case, it belonged to Admiral Lord Howe instead of to the General, his brother. General Howe has been condemned, also, because of his long stay on Throgy's- neck, without having attempted to move from that position, in any direction whatever, but surely no one would have desired him to move into an enemy's country, in the face of an active military force of that enemy, without a Commissariat, without the neces- sary military Stores which would become necessary in his conduct of the proposed movement into that ene- Iny's country, and without the slightest pretense to the necessary means for trausporting even his Officer.' baggage, of all of which the first and second detach- ments had taken comparatively little to the Neck, and of all of which the subsequent and main supplies were held back by adverse winds, which prevented the vessels which bore them from passing through Ilell-gate." In addition to the delays in moving the Commissariat, the military Stores, and the Horses and. Waggons of the Quarter-master-general's Depart- ment," to which reference has been made, some delay was also experienced in moving three Battalions of Hessians, from Staten-island, for the reinforcement of the main body, on the Neck ; & and thus, in Gen- eral Howe's own words, " Four or five days had been "unavoidably taken up in landing at Frog's-Neck, "instead of going, at once, to Pell's point, which " would have been an imprudent measure, as it could

4 Vide page 231, ante.

G [Hall's] History of the Civil War in . America, i., 203 ; Stedman's History of the American War, i., 210, 211 ; Gordon's History of the American Ie- olution, ii., 337 ; Adolphus's History of England, Ed. London : 1505, ii., 379 ; Sparks's Life of fleurys Washington, 194; Irving's Life of George Washington, il., 345 ; etc.

S General Have to Lord George Germaine, "NEW-YORK, 30 November, "ITT6;" General Hur's Speech before a Committee of the House of Com- mans, April 29, 17TO ; Anmund Register for 1976 ; History of Europe, 1G *; elc.

The adverse wiers, which prevented the supplies, etc. from towing Hell gate, were referred to by General Home in his letter to Lord Grange the. maine, "New-York, 20 November, 1776 ;" and in those of Lienten i' . but Tench. Tilghinan to William Duer, "HEAD-QUARTERS, HARLEM HEIGHTS, " October IT, ITT6;" Gewalt Washington to the Continental Congress, "HARLEM HISHITS, October 18, 1776 ;" etc.

:" He transported Carriages with him from England ; and whatever " more 1 : wanted were procured on Long Island and Staten Island," (Galloway's Reply to the Observations of Lieutenant-general Sir William Howe, 9.)

8 In his despatch to Lord George Germaine, " NEW-YORK. 20 Novom- " beer, 1776," General Howe stated that. "three Battalions of lessiaus " were drawn from Staten Island ; " but in his Speech before a Committee of the House of Commons, April 29, 1779, when his condnet, as Command- er-in-chief of the King's forces in North America, was under considera- tion, he stated, without contradiction, that the reinforcement consisted of " the Second Division of Hessians." We have preferred the former statement ; because there was, then, only one Brigade of Hessiaus on Staten Island; and because the " Second Division of lessiaus," under General Knyphansen, had not, theu, reached America.

2.41

WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

" not have been excented without much unnecessary " risk." 1

Having at length, completely effected his occupa- tion of Throgg's-neck and completely provided for his probable needs, General Howe determined to open his operations in Westchester-county, without further delay ; and, at one o'clock in the morning of Friday, the eighteenth of October, the van of the Royal Army, consisting of the Light Infantry and Grena- diers of the British Regiments and a portion, at least, if not all, of the German Chasseurs, was re-embarked, in flat boats, on the western side of the Neck ; and, having passed around the Point of Throgg's-neck, was landed on Pell's, or, as it was sometimes called; Rodman's, neck, on the opposite side of Hutchinson's- river, in the Town of Eastchester." The main body of the Army crossed over to the castern side of the Neck; and, during the day, that, also, with all its various appointments and stores and supplies, was carried over to P'ell's-neck.3

It does not appear that the movement of the van of the Royal Army was seen by the Americans, through the darkness of the very early morning, notwithstanding one of the best of the Brigades in the American service, that of General James Clin- ton, then commanded by Colonel Glover of Marble- head, had been posted, as a guard, in front of Pell's- neck, the place of its debarkation; and not until daylight had revealed the similar movement of the main body of the Army, was there any suspicion, among the Americans, anywhere, that such a move- ment was imminent-indeed, the van had landed and moved up toward the main-land, a full mile and a half, before either of the movements was discovered.4

The movement of the main body, in upwards of two hundred boats, formed into four grand divisions and covered by . the smaller armed vessels of the Fleet, was discovered, "early in the morning," by Colonel Glover himself ; by whom, after he had sent Major Lce, the Brigade-Major, as an express to Gen- eral Lee, whose Quarters were three miles away from that place, the entire Brigade which he commanded, was called to arms, and moved down the Neck, to oppose the landing of the enemy and to hold him in check, until reinforcements should be seut or other Orders be received.

General Harry's Speech before a Committee of the House of Commons, April 20, 1776.

Admiral Lord Howe to Mr. Stephens, Secretary of the . hilmiraity," . Ex. I.K., "OFF NEW-YORK, November 23, 1776 ;" General Hove to Lord George Germaine " NEW-YORK, November 30, 1776; " Lushington's Life of Lord Harris, &1; Gordon's History of the American Revolution, il., 33%.

Extract of a letter from Mit Square, [evidently written by General Glo- ver, ] dated October 2, 1776, in The Freemm's Journal and Neve Hampshire Gazette, Vol. I. No. 27, PolisMOUTH, Tuesday, November 26, 1776. 26

Although the full strength of the Regimeut- com- manded, respectively, by Colonel Shop nl, Red. Baldwin, and Glover-the latter, at that time, com. manded by Captain Curtis-was less than eight hun- dred effective men,5 the brave fisherman who tempo- rarily commanded the Brigade pushed forward toward the place where the enemy's Light Infantry and Grenadiers and Chasseurs had landed, and where the main body was about to land, although the rough and broken ground over which the Brigade was moved compelled him to leave, on his route, the three field-pieces which he had taken from his encamp- ment. He had not marched more than half the dis-

" The following, from the General Returns of the Army, will serve to show the strength of that little detachment, both before and after the spirited little affair which is now niler notice :

September 21, 1776.

Regiments.

Com. Officers

Staff.

Non-com.

Fit for Duty.

Sick, present.

Sick, absent.

On Command.

Furlonghed.

rank and file.

Colonel Shepard's*

265

1 614

Colonel Rend's

5 .

225

147

Colonel Glover's

170.

431

138

361

14 '148

813 442!

543

1:44

October 5, 1776.

Regiments.

Coma. (ficere.

Staff.

Non-com.

Fit for Duty.

Sick, present.

Sick absent.

On Command.

Farlonghed.

rank and file.

Colonel Shepard's*

204

102

200

513

Colonel Read's .

2.2

226

136

1:21.

196

Colonel Baldwin's

234 122

3-1

Colonel Glovers .

3 . 35

179

30.

1 11

17 164 8.13 390 56 : 541

1 1833

November 2, 1776.

Regimenta.

Com. Officers.

Staff.

Non-com.

Fit for Duty.

Sick, present.

Sick, absent.

On Commaml.

Furloughed.

nink and file.

Colonel Shepard'ss

Colonel Werd's

232 120

125

0 . 442

Colonel Glover's

1-4:0

131 833 235 34

1 1808

501

Colonel Baldwin's

212, 13

1×

1 503

Coloa-l Ballwin'

As the Regiment really commanded by Colonel Shepaint was often alluded to as " Late Learned's," this explanation becours necessary, in order to enable the reader to understand the subject, correctly.

Total,

== 100

* This Regiment was formerly commanded by Colonel Learned, umler 3 Admirol Lord House to Mr. Stephens, Secretary of the Admiralty, " EAGLE, whois William Shepard was Lieutenant colonel ; but, at the particular " OFF NEW-YORK, November 23, 1776:" General Howe to Lord George : request of General Washington, (Letter dated " HEADQUARTERS, HEIGHTS Germaine. "New York, November 30, 1776;" David How's Diary, October 18, 1776: [Hall's] History of the Civil War in America, i., 205 ; Memoirs of General Houth, 72; Gordon's History of the American Revolu- turn, h., BI- ; Stedman's History of the American War, i., 211 ; etc. "OF Handry, September 30, 175%") the latter was promoted to the Col- oneley and the comprend of the Regiment, by a vote of the Continental Congress, on the second of October, 1776. (Journal of the Continental Congress, " Wednesday, October 2, 1776.")

242

WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

tance, however, before his further progre -- wa- ar- rested by the unexpected appearance on Le fort, of the advance-guard of the enemy's van, the main body of whom, as we have already stated, had been pushed forward, at an early hour, to occupy the landing-place and, if necessary, to eover the descent of the main body; and who, in the absence of any opposing force of the Americans, had evidently sent out a strong detachment of its force, to see what was to be seen and to take advantage of any favorable circumstances which should be presented, in a move- ment over the Neck, toward the main-land.

With admirable skill and with a deliberate cool- ness which would have done honor to a soldier of larger pretensions, Colouel Glover threw forward a Captain, with forty men, to feel of that advanced party of the enemy and, if possible, to ma-k the at- tempt to dispose of the main-body of his Brigade, in ambuseade, for the further obstruction of the enemy's advance towards the main-land, which was, also, a part of the Colonel's improvised plan of operations. The plan which was thus admirably devised, on the spur of the moment, by Colonel Glover, was quite as admirably and quite as successfully executed by the soldiers of his command-Colonel Read and his Regiment were concealed behind a stoue wall, ou the left side of the road; Colonel Shepard's Regiment was concealed behind "a fine double stone wall." on the opposite side of the road, and in the rear of Colonel Read's command; Colonel Baldwin and his Regiment were similarly posted, on the right and in the rear of Colonel Shepard's command; and Captain Curtis, with Colonel Glover's own Regiment, was similarly posted where the field-pieces had been left, some distance in the rear; the Captain and his com- mand who had been thrown out, in front, having, meanwhile, evidently held the enemy's advance in check and successfully masked the very important. movements of the Brigade, on their rear.

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Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution, Part 64

Author: Dawson, Henry B. (Henry Barton), 1821-1889. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Morrisania, New York City : [s.n.] Number of Pages: 592

Author: Dawson, Henry B. (Henry Barton), 1821-1889. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Morrisania, New York City : [s.n.]
Number of Pages: 592