USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 68
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
" The Queen's Raheer-, subsequently so widely known, Irul been raised in Conne, tient as ! the vicinity of New York, for the hitres which these Dame implied; and, at the time of which we write, they were con- Handled by Lieutenant colonel Robert Rogers, who had so much distin- grisbed himself as a partisen, on the frontier-, during the War with France. They were: "all Americans, and all Loyalists. "-(Simncov's Journal of the operations of the same's fingers, Is.)
253
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
including, among the trophies of their bravery, "a On the twenty-second of October, General Howe strengthened his outpost, at Mamaroneck, which Col- onel Haslet had so rudely assaulted, during the pre- " pair of Color-, sixty stand of Arms, and a variety of " plunder." " among the latter of which were "a good "many Blankets."? On the side of the Americans, ; ceding night, by moving the Sixth Brigade of Brit- "three or four were left, dead, andd. ahunt fifteen were ish troops, commanded by Brigadier-general Agnew, to that place ; 5 and, on the same day, Lieutenant- general Knyphausen, with the Second Division of the Hessians and the Regiment of Walleckers, number- ing eight thousand men, who had arrived at New York, on the eighteenth," landed on Myers-point, now known as Davenport's-neck, near New Rochelle,? to which place they had been taken, from the City of New York, on the flatboats of the Army." " wounded, among the latter, Major Green, of the "Second Virginia Regiment, wounded in the shoul- " der, and Captain Pope, who acted as Major, and " behaved with great bravery, wounded in the leg."3 General Lord Stirling is said to have been " so highly " pleased with the success of the expedition, that he "thanked Colonel Haslet and his command, pub- "liely, on the parade." '
families of whom they were probably members. As many of them appear to have been of Westchester-county origin, we uppend the list, corrected as far as we have been able to correct it :
*Joseph Dran, *Stephen Law,
*Jonathan Anstin, Francis Basley,
*Elijah Carle,
James Sharp, Solomon Parent,
Jonathan Eildy,
* Stephen Travis,
*Janres Cannady, t *Moses Travis, Abrahama Frown, *Elnathan Appleby, Jedediah Invis,
Jeremiah Wood, Reuben Stivers,
Janes Melson, ["Nelson ?]
Noah Brown,
William Washburn.
Colonel Hustet to General Rodney, "WHITE-PLAINS, October 28, 1776." 2 Lientement-colonel Tilghman to his father, " VALENTINE'S. HILL, 4 MILES "rRoy Kivisitar, 22 October, 1776."
3 Colonel Hodet to General Hodate", "WHITE PLAINS, October 24, 1750."
+ Those who shall desire to barn more of this atfair are referred to General Washington's letter to Governor Trumbull, "CAMP ON VALEN- "TINK's-Hut, October 20, 1776; " the same, to the Continental Congress, "HEAD-QUARTERS, WHITE-PRAISA, 25 October, 1776 ;" Estruct of a Weiter fran Furt Les, date? " Det her 22" in The Philadelphia Evening T'est, Vol. II., No. 276, " Partanenants, Saturday, October 26, 17:6;" Detract of a letter from a General Ogiver, datert " MOUNT WASHINGTON. "October 23, 1776," in The Bomaglomis Jerond, No. 1799, " PHUNDEL "Fritt, Wednesday, October 30, 1776," and in Forer's Lacion Archives, V., i., 1203 ; Aboom Click to Cobre! Fenton, " ELIZABETHTOWN, October "25, 1776;" Extract from a letter published by the c'estimente Congress, in The Pensylvania Jerne, No. 1770, " PHILADELPHIA, Wednesday, ". November 6, 1756;" General Hace (. Lord George Germanine, " NEM- " YORK, 30 November, 1776;" [Malej History of the Full Waria_Imericc, i., 20; Gordon's History of the American Revolution, i., 39; Memoirs of
Falton, in his Hi Nog of The bestrenovada, (original edition, i., 311 ; second edition, i., 490) presid te tienend .Heath's mention of this attair (except the dite, which the latter La! .. . portig state 1) the singular in- formation that it occurred on " the day previous to the battle ar White " Plains," [Detaber 27. ] and that the command of the Americans was held by Colonel Smallwood, of the Maryland Line of the Continental Army.
Bancroft, in his History of the front States, (original ofitaly, 18., 1% ; centenary elition, v. 12,) regarded the Rangers os only "a picket of "Rogers's Regimet of Rangers," notwithstanding General Howe had describygd it, dohnitely, as a detachment of the entire " Corps of Han- "zere," not a portion of it, only, which fuel been sent forward. " to take possession of Mamaroneck ;" and no one, of either Army, con-
* Those who are this designated (*) ware, probably, of Westchester- county families.
Flames Cannady was one of the Bedford Company who had served throughout the Campaign of 1275, under Colonel James Hohnes, (rile page lol, ante.)
As all intercourse between the City of New York and the Army, which wits so exceedingly important, depended on the King's troops and Navy being mas- ters of the Sound, armed vessels were stationed, at short distances from each other, from Hell-gate to New Rochelle ; and every possible assistance was af- forded by Admiral Lord Howe, to facilitate the movements of the Army commanded by his brother. Indeed, in the words of one of the best-informed writers of the history of those operations of the King's Navy, himself an Officer of the Army and a personal witness of what he described, "a vigor "and exertion, unequalled in any former expedi- "tion, prevailed through all classes in the Navy, "extinguishing jealousies, and banishing all those "ideas of pre-eminence and rank that sometimes sub- "sist between the Fleet and the Army; and which
sidered it as only a picket, or it would not have been mentioned in the despatches of both the Generals conunanding nor have found a place on either of the official Maps of the Campaign.
5 General Home to Lord George Germain, " NEW-YORK, November 30 "1776;" [Hall's] History of the Civil War in America, i., 205 ; Santhier's Plan of the Operations of the King's Trong ; A Plan of the Country from Frog's Printto Croton River ; etc
6 .: NEW-YORK, October 21, 1776. On Friday sixty-five sail of vessels, " under couvoy of the Diamond and Ambasade, with the second divis- "ion of the Hessians and one thousand Wablockers, under the connuand " of the Generals Knyphansen and Schitz, and a number of recruits for "the British troops. in all about eight thousand effective men, arrived "off sandy Hook. They sallei from Plymouth Sound, the 27th of July. " In the feet are several virtuallers and vessels laden with draught- " horses for the train and baggage of the Army." (The New York Gin- 2.1, and Weekly Mercury, No. 1304, NEW-York, Monday, October 21,
See, also, Load George Getting to Graeca? Hors, " WarenALL, " June, 1776."
i General Hover to Find Gange Creatine, "NEW York. November 30, "1776;" [Huit's History of do Ciril Har in ton rire, i., 216 ; Santhier's Plan of the Operations af to Kuga Tomy ; Gordon's History of the Imer- ban Risvolution, ii, 52; Plan of the Country from Frais Hvid to Content Biter ; etc.
Bolton, in his History of Westchester county, (original edition, i., 419 ; second edition, i., lissy and General Kuyphanten landal on Myers point, or Davenport's neck, "ten days previous to the Battle of White Plains." [October 15.] the day on which he had reached Sandy hook ; and in the Best of the two editions, he cited, as his authority, Stedman's History of the Tourista War, in which there is not the slightest mention of the date of the delarkation of the Division, beyond the fact that it was after the twenty-first of October, seven days before the action on Chatterton's- hill.
: Admiral Lord Howe to Mr. Stephens, Secretary to the Admiraliy, "EAGLE, ULF NEW- YORK, November 23, 1776."
*Jolitt Angevine, *Inseldı Carle, Walter Brown, Gilbert Mier, *Frederic Devoe, David Lawrence, *James Angevine, John Churlick,
" David Travis, John Worden, *Elijah Bartow,
Jacob Cadwell Burr,
254
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
"have too often fatally contributed to national " dishonor." 1
During the following night, [ Tuesday, October 29] the Division of the American Army which was cull- manded by Major-general Sullivan reached the White Plains,2 and, probably, occupied a position in the proposed new line of the Army, on the right of that already occupied by the Division counnanded by Major-general Heath ; although we have not found any information, on that subject, among the con- temporary authorities.3
While General Sullivan and his command were thus moving towards the White Plains, a raid was made from the Regiment which occupied the en. trenehed Camp at Mile-Square, in which a Corporal and two Privates, with the approval of the Colonel, " went out to see what they could pick up," and sne- ceeded in bringing in "a number of fat Cattle," with- out pretending, however, that they had belonged to the King's Army ; ' and, on the afternoon of the following day, [ Wednesday, October 23,] the same small party went out, again, but in a different direction-"going "directly to the rear of the Hessian Camp," [near Fast Chester,] " they went into a house where they " washed for the Officers, and were bringing off three " tubs of Shirts, when the man of the house informed "the Camp." The marauders were, of course, com- pelled to retreat; but, meeting some of their com- rades,-probably the party referred to in the following paragraph,-they rallicd, drove back their Hessian pursuers, killed the Major who commanded the latter -from whom they took his Commission and ten guineas, in money-and a number of others, and cap- tured three prisoners,5 evidently securing to them- selves, also, very great credit.
1 [Hall's] History of the Civil War in America, i., 2016.
2 Memoirs of General Houth, 55.
3 It is one of the singular portions of the history of that eventful Cam- paign, that the only mention which we have found, concerning General Sullivan's services, as Major-general commanding one of the great l'ivisions of the American Army, in Westchester county, is that merely hnwidental remark, by General Heath, to which we have referred. There appears, also, in the manuscript papers of General Sullivan, which we hive carefully examined, personally, next to nothing on the subject ; there is nothing in the carefully-prepared Moir of him, by his faithful biographer, Hon. Thomas C. Amery, which throws the faint- est light on the subject ; and Mr. Ampry, whoa it is ver privileg . to tonaber among our oldest and dearest personal friends, is entirely an- Able to afford the slightest information.
In view of the fact that he was placed in command of a great Di- vision of the Army, while older and more pretention< Major-generals were left in less important positions, it cannot be preten-leel that that silence was produced by any want of respect for either his military character or his military services.
A Esteart of a letter from " CAMP AT MILE SQUARE IN EASTCHESTER," dated "23 October, 1776," published in The Forman's Journal of Jen- Hampshire terrette, Volume 1., Number 25, PoursabeTH, Tuesday, So- vember 12, 1776.
& Ibid.
In Lieutenant colonel Teuch Tilghman's letter to William Duer, dated ' HEADQUARTERS, WHITE.PLAINS, October 23, 1576," the narrative was differently told, giving the entire credit for the fusignificant affair In General Lee, as was usually done, in such cases, mont stating that it ve ! curred on the evening of the twenty-second ; and an Estreet of a letter from Head quarters, published, officially, by the Congress, "October 25, of the letter and that of the affair which is order notice.
During the same day, [ Wednesday, October 23.] Colonel filover, communaling the Palace show Brigadier general Jame - Clinton :1 . -the same who had distinguished then!", Ive- on ih- preceding Friday-sent out a party, mostly composed of men belonging to his own Regiment, to see what was to be seen and do what they could do. It is said that that Scouting-party met a body of the enemy and attacked it, killing, as has been already stated, twelve Hessians-one of them a Field-officer, on horseback-and taking three prisoners, besides the hore of the Officer who was killed; with the loss of one man, of Colonel Baldwin's Regiment, who was mortally wounded.4
On the same day, [ Wednesday, October 23,] the Head-quarters of the Army were established "on the "Plain, near the cross-roads," at the White Plains."
During the entire period succeeding the determina- tion to move the main body of the American Army ¡ from the Heights of Harlem to the White Plains, there were the most active preparations to secure a successful retreat, throughout every portion of the Army. It is said the Mortars, some of the Cannon, a portion of General Washington's Baggage, and some of the Sick had been taken to the western side of the Hudson-river, before that determination was made; $ on the morning of the twenty-second, the Sick who had not been sent over the Hudson-river, were sent
". 1776," aml copied into The Pennsylvania Journal, No. . 1770, PHILA- DELPHIN, Wednesday, November 6, 1776, stated that the affair oc- curred on Wednesday, the twenty-third of October, as stated in the text ; that the supporting party belonged to Colonel Hand's Regiment of Rifle- men, instead of to Colonel Glover's Regiment ; that the Americans baried ten of the Hessians, on the field! ; and that the only loss sustained by the Americans was "one lad wounded, supposed mortally." A better from a Gentleman in the Way, dated " CAMP NEAR THE MILLS, ABOUT "THREE MILE. NORTH OF THE WHITE PLAINS, November 1, 1776," pub- lished in Force's American lichtere, V., iii., 173, stated that " our people "Imried thirteen Hessians left dlead on the field ; " that " one wounded "Lientehatit was taken ; " that, "although we laul not one man killed " on the ground," we hadl "six or eight wounded, Int one, it is thought, "mortally ;" wiel that the Major's Commission was found on the groml ; " bat whether it belonged to any of the slain or to some Officer " who might be wouldled and carried off, they could not de tertuice."
6 Colonel Glover's letter, dabol " Mitg.Syevnt., October 22, * 1776." published in The Format's Journal and Non-Hampshire Gazette, Vol. 1., No. 27, 19RT-Morin, Tuesday, November 26, 1576.
: Instor spark-, in the Writings of things. We Region, iv., Me, nte ; Manner of them & Houth. To.
Compare, als, Live masterdlol Taghiand the New York Convention, " HEADQUARTERS, VALENTINE" Huta, October 22, 1776," with the same to Willnot Door, " HEADQUARTERS, WHITE PLAINS, October 23, 1776." Extract of a better from Fat Les, dated "Untober 20, 1776," published in The Peanagiemdia Journed, No. 109, FILADELFIA, Wednesday, Uc- tober 30, 1776.
See. alen, Go val Washington to Gommel Groupe, "WHITE PLAINS, "November i, 150;" feral Washington to General Ler, " PEEKSKILL, "November 12, 176 ; " etc.
* The structure of this letter clearly indicates that it was written ly instalments-that it was commenced on the twenty-cconi, and received additions on the next day, on the succeeding sunday, and after the en- gazenten on Chatterton's hill, which occured on the following Ma-
This is stated in explanation of the seeming discrepancy in the date
265
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
to the White Plains, reaching that place on the fol- Having morning: ' and the Commander-in-chief " was "almost the whole time on horseback, '; his Corre- -pondence' and even the Orderly-books of the Army' clearly indicated that his personal supervision of the entire movement and of all which pertained to it was unstintingly given: varied his duties by throwing a party of his commandl. over the Bronx, during the night of Wednesday, the twenty-third of October, in order to beat up the out- posts of the enemy ; and one of these, near Want's Tavern. between Tuckahoe and Scarsdale, and occu- pied by two hundred and fifty Hessians, was success- fully attacked, early in the following morning, It is not now known when General Lee and his Division commenced its laborious march, towards the White Plains ; ' but it " was attended with much dif- " faculty, for want of Wagons and Artillery-horses. "The Baggage and Artillery," it was said,6 "were "carried or drawn off by hand. When a part was " forwarded, the other was fetched on. This was the "general way of removing the Camp-equipage aud 1 "other appemlages of the Army. The few Teams " which were at hand, were no wise equal to the ser- [Thursday, October 24,] ten of the number having been killed, and two taken prisoners; 7 and it has been stated that, reciprocally, a dash was made on the rear of the slowly moving column, somewhere in the line of march, in which, among other Insses, General Lee and Captain Alexander Hamilton, the latter of the New York State Artillery, lost their Baggage. The column reached the White Plains, however, on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of October, with very lit- tle loss of either Store, or Troops." The movement "vice ; and their deficiency could be made up ouly | of eight thousand men, with a train of one hundred " by the bodily labor of the men." Sometimes, the , and fifty Wagons, which " filled the road for four toiling column was in open view of the enemy, and , " miles," and with Artillery,10 under such peculiar at no considerable distance from him; and it is not ,cirenmstances, with such a scarcity of the means for explained why he did not disturb it, which he did ; transportation, and in the face-often, within half a not, although he could have easily done so, and have captured the greater number of the Cannon, Wag- 7 Editorial in a Hartford newspaper, October 28, copied in The Free- rund's Journal and New Hampshire fazer2, Volume I. Number 24, PORTSMOUTH, Tuesday, November 8, 1776 ; Me moire of General Heath. 76. d Hon. James A. Hamilton, of Dobb-',-ferry, in a conversation with us, many years ago, told us that his father, Captain Alexander Hamilton, lost his Baggage, on the march of General Lee's command from Marlen Heights to the White Plains; and The Midilleses Journal and Evening Advertiser, No. 1200, LONDON : From Saturday, December 21, to Tuesday, December 24, 1776, contains a letter from Westchester, dated November 10, 1736, and carried to England by the Forrey, in which it was stated, " Upon landing at New-Rochelle, we found the church full of Salt.s our "troops advance to this place where we took General Lee's luggage." ons. Horses, etc., which the American Army pos- sessed. Surely the little tree-fringed Bronx did not offer any serious obstruction : surely the entrenched Camps behind which the heavily laden column was slowly marching, and which were abandoned when the column reached them, those who had occupied them falling in and increasing the strength of the moving force, did not intimidate him : rather let it be supposed that General Howe's well-settled, well- supported policy of exposing his men, in assaults on entrenchments, only when the objects to be attained
In the same number of the same newspaper, another letter "from an " Orfirer in Goa, Honre's Army, in the Froriace of Nor York," dated "Nov. 11, 1776," is printed, in which it is said, "A little beyond West by such assaults were adequate to the loss of men, in . "Chester some of our people found a pipe of wine, directed for General such assaults-" not wantonly to commit His Majes- " Ice, and nitte puncheons of rum, which the General ordered to be "staved, lestthe soldier- should get ilrunk." "ty's troops, where the object was inadequate," was 9 Memoirs of General Heath, 76; Stedman's History of the American Mar. 1., 212 : Marshall's Life of George Washington, ii., 502. his own description of it-controlled him, as it had done in Brooklyn, while the King's Army was on Long Island. It appears, however, that General Lee
Colonel John Glover, in the letter from which we have learned so much of this Campaign, and who was with General Les, stated. evidently erroneously, that the column did not reach the White Plains until ten o'clock on Monday morning, the twenty eighth of October, after having marched during the whole of the preceding night. (Quiont three's let. ter, dated " MILF-SQUARE, October 22, 17," patdishedin The Freemen's Trelay, November 28, With In the Life jena Gordet a det . Jenny, dated, " CAMI NEAR THE MILES, ABOUT THREE NUNS & KIN OF "THE WHITE PLAINS, November 1, 1776," reprinted in Force's . burian Archives, V., ili., 471-171, stated that " General Le renche t the Plains. " and marched out, westward, between the main body of the Army and "the river," [that is, he occupied the right of the line, between formerel Sell en's command and the Front-fire.] " This was on the Sith atal " 26th of October, " the author of the letter added. The official Plan of the Contaten from Frog's Point to C'eston River and Sauthier's Planet die Giper dions, etc., each stated that the column was not in motion after the tranty-wreath of Thetober.
There is abundant evidence, within Colonel Glover's own letter, that he was in error, two days, in this particular statement.
to Colonel filover's later, dated " Max Square, October 22, IT." $
* That Salt is said to have been owned by the State of New York. It Was very valuable ; and the loss of it was also noticed in the American reconts of that period.
I How's Dinry, October 22 and 23, 1776.
Sparks's Writings of George Washington, iv. 321.
" The twenty-second of betover afforded the only letter in his job- Bi-led correspondentes, between the fittest th of Det they did the sixth of November : and ligue sparks, who conduent his bridage through the Press, stated, In explanation, " the nasettled state of the Army, "for several days succeeding the date of this letter," [that of the sixth of Nuember, | "allowed very little leisure to the Commamuler-in-chief "for writing."-(Writings of George Washington, iv., 135, note. 1
4 In the pitdishe I tardedly-books of the Army, there does not appear a ringte entry, not even of a larol- and Countrysign, between the eight. eenth and twenty- fifth of (letabler.
" It must have lowen as early as the twenty second, since the column had reached Ward'. Bridge, now Parkakor. early on the morning of the twenty-fourth, (Members of General Hooth, 76 ;) It was still on its march, on the twenty-nith, "Conad R. H. Harrison to the Continent it Congres, " HeAded VETERS, WHITE PLAINS, A tember, 1776; "Fait dil not join the main body of the Army, ut thy White Plains, until the twenty-ixthi, (Memoirs of General Health, 75:) possibly, but nutil the twenty-eighth. (General Colorer's letter, date) " MILE-SQUARE, October (24. 1276.")
& Gordon's History of the American Revolution, il. 331, 240.
256
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
mile and in open sight-of an active, powerful, well- supplied, and well-disciplin. / autor.
1
The site of the encampinent which the Anurican Aregnerpied was on the high grounds, northwest- the, if with any, loss, whathas wie : f continues to reflect, the highest honor of lush the General in command and the men whom he com- manded. The entire Army, except the troops who | previously constructed along the northerly line of the had been left on Mount Washington and at Kings- bridge-about fourteen hundred at the former, and six hnilred at the latter-was, then, concentrated at the White Plains," awaiting and preparing for the great events which were rapidly approaching. we bal northeastward from the ViBage, and the lower gronds between them ; with covering positions, on either flank. A temporary line of works had been | road which extended from the Meeting-house of the Presbyterian-church, past the house of Jacob, Purdy, to the Bronx-river 4-that road which connected the White Plains with Dobbs's-ferry ; but the entrench- ments which were thrown up for the defence of the Army, occupied a line from the Bronx-river, at a point which was nearly opposite to the resilence of the late William Roberts, on the right ; over the summit of the hill which is to the northward of the Harlem Railroad Station, then owned by Squire Jacob Purdy, more recently by his son, Jacob, and now by numer- ous owners, eastward, over properties more re- eently owned by the younger Jacob Purdy, Daniel Dusenberry, and Alexander C. Tompkins-those of Jacob Purdy being now owned by numerous per- sons; those of Daniel Dusenberry, by his children; and those of Alexander C. Tompkins, by his widow -to the Post-road, which was the principal street of the Village. Occupying the Post-road was a strong earthwork, some small remains of which, bearing an old howitzer, en barbette, may still be seen, opposite to the residence of Mrs. Tompkins, already referred to ; and, eastward from that central earthwork, up the gradual slope, over properties recently owned by Leonard Miller, John Fisher, the widow of James Fisher, and Henry Willetts-those of Leonard Miller being now owned by his two sons; those of John Fisher, by numerous persons; and those of Henry Willetts, hy Charles Deutermann-to what was then known as Horton's-pond, now known as "St. Mary's " Lake," of which mention has been already made.5 The right flank of the line was covered by the Bri- gades commanded, respectively, by Generals McDon- northward of the Village, and not more than a mile , gal and Land Stirling; and its left was covered by
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.