Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution, Part 69

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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The White Plains, the place which appeared to have been designated by both the great opposing powers, as if by mutual consent, for that on which the great questions then pending between Great Britain and the united States of America were to be determined by the arbitrament of Arms, the County-seat of the ; ancient County of Westchester, is situated on the upper extremity of a fine plain, about twenty-six miles from the City of New York. At the time of which we write, the Village was composed of a con- siderable number of comfortable dwellings, scattered along the sides of two or three roads which converged at that place, two Taverns, a Presbyterian Meeting- house and a Wesleyan Methodi-t Chapel, and the Court-house of the County, within which, probably, all the County-oflices were, also, sheltered. About three quarters of a mile westward from the principal roadway of the unpretentious little Village. flowed the small stream which was, then, as it is, now, called " The Bronx-river," forming the western boundary of the plain referred to, and separating it from "The " Manor of Philipseborough ; " to the Northwest and Northeast of the Village, respectively, were bold and sometimes abrupt elevations, united by less elevated ground with a gradual deseeut toward the Village, the whole forming the northern boundary of " the " White Plains," below; and beyond those flanking elevations and that intervening high ground, to the distant from the northern extremity of it, in the Town of Northcastle, was the high and rocky ground which is, now, so well known, in history, as that to which the American Army swung back, after the action on Chatterton's-hill.3

! " You are misinformed as to the quantity of Provisions we have lost. " When General Lee rounded, he was obliged to leave eighty or ninety ; subsequent occupation of the ground, which has been described in the text, " barrels of Provisions, of all kinds, for want of Wagons."-Lieutenant- by the main Army, was followed by the constru tion of a line of works, on the high ground, on the rear of that temporary line, the last named of which was abandoned on Saturday, the twenty-siall of De Power & colonel Tench Tilghinan to Willum Duer, "HEAD-QUARTERS, WHILE- " PLAINS, October 27, 1776.")

Bancroft, in his History of the United States, (original edition, ix., 17); the same, centenary edition, v., 413,) said " sixty of sevendy larreis of " Provisions" were lost. We have heard of no other loss, except that of General Lee's Baggage and Wine.

2 Colonel R. H. Harrison to the Continental Congress, "HEAP-QUAR- " TERS, WHITE-PLAINS, 25 October, 1776."

3 Our own knowledge of the ground, us it was, more than thirty years ago, forms the groundwork of this description ; and we have been fa. vored, further, in our work of describing the topography of that vicinity, with the assistance of our valued friend of many years, Hon. Lewis C. Platt, formerly Surrogate of the County, and with that of our not less esteemed friend, llon. J. O. nykman, Justice of the Supreme Court, both

of whom are old residents of the Village, and perfectly familiar with the ground.

A Very much more haportance has been recently attached to this evi- dently temporary hne of defense iban it was enutb ! to enjoy. It was probildy throwh up by the : mall b. ty of Militia who ha l occupied that position as a god of the Scores which had been av emulated of the place, while the main Army occupied the Heights of Harlem ; but the

5 This description of the line of defences occupied by the American Army, at the White I'ht na, was originally prepared, more than thirty years ago, with great care, frem every authority which was they known to ne ared frote information derived from :zed people who have since passed away ; and the present ownership of the several properties over which the line extended bas leon ascertainrd and communicated to e- by Hon. Lewis C. Platt and Hon. J. O. Dykman, to whom we have already grille- fully referred.

6 . I now snatch an opportunity ty the l'est of informing you that

* * 26-We Have bort a moveinz our Toul- to the top of the Hill th s " Day."-(Das II How's Diary. Det der Of, 1756.")

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

the Brigades commanded respectively, by Generale ington, in person, was composed, nominally, of about George Clinton, Joka Morin Scott, and Samuel II.

twenty-five thou- il. four hundred, and dog men, of l'arsons, the two former having been posted near the : whom about twelve thousand and fifty were sick, Purchase,' and the latter at the head of King-street, near Rye pond .? on independent commands, or on furlongh; leaving only about thirteen thousand, four hundred, rank and file, present and fit for duty." The supply of Pro- visions, as the reader has been already informed," was exceedingly scanty ; " the Medicine-che-t was ahnost destitute of both instruments and drugs ; R and Clothing was a luxury in which very few could com- fortably indulge themselves." The troops, as we have already stated," were dispirited and, often, disaffected ;

On the twenty-seventh of October, the small force which had been left in Fort Independence, when General Heath's Division was moved from near Kingsbridge to the White Plains, was ordered to re- move the Cannon and Stores front that post to Fort Washington ; to burn the several Barracks which had been erected, there, with so much dithenlty and at $0 great an expense; and, " with all possible dispatch," to move, by way of the Albiny post-road, as far as Dobbs's-ferry, to the White Plains; + and, on the fol- lowing day, without having removed the Cannon, three hundred stand of Small-arms, five tons of Bar- iron, and "a great quantity of Spears, Shot, Shells, " etc., too numerous to mention," which were within or hear the Fort, and all of which were recklessly abandoned, that small command, numbering not more than four hundred effective men," joined the main body of the Division,' on the left of the line, at the White Plains. The enemy, who had occupied the en- tire lower portion of Westchester-county, since the American forces had been concentrated at the Plains, occupied the position, on the evening of the day on which Colonel Lasher had abandoned it.9

At the time of which we write, judging from The General Returns of the Army, dated on the third of November, the Army commanded by General Wash-

" General MeDongal's Brigade, of which the Maryland Regulars is " a part, having laidin the woods for three nights," [preceding the day of the action on Chatterton's hill, that is to say, on the nights of the birenty- fifth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-serouth of October, ] "two miles from this " place, and to the right of the main benly, as a covering party, was or- "dered to advance along the road, about a mile, near a place called the " Mile-stone, and there take post, which was Recordingly done." ( Letter , a Gentleman in delis, datei . Wane-Praxe, October 29, 1776,' reprinted in Force's American . Archives. V., ii., 1291.)

1 4. 1 pin so closely confined to my just, on the left of the whole, as not " to have been a quartet mile West from this for four days past. Near "three thousand of the enemy, yesterday amt the evening before, tiled "off to the left, and were seen advancing to wards King's street and the " Purchase road. . . . Our lives were manuel all night, in con- "sequence of this; and a most horrid night it was to lay in cold . . . I have mely time to mig that famu with theted " bealde, though in no better Iniging than a soldier' tent, with our old " friend General Scott." (General George Clinton to John Mckesson,

2. On the subrevening," [Aber 23 ].C. Tyler's, Huntington's, and " Throup's Regiments, of General Parson's Brigade and of our General's " Division, moved, and took post at the head of King street, near Rye-

" pond."Memoirs of General Month, 75. 7.) 3 Vide pages 251, ante.

General Heath to Colonel Licher, " WHITE PLAINS, October 27, 1756:". Georeal Greene to General Medin. " Your LER, October 27, 1750 ;" Men- oirs of General Health, 72, N.

& General Greene to figueral Washington, " FORT LEE, October 29, "1776."

Colonel Lasher to General Heath, " Case AT KING'S BRIDGE, October " 26, 177 ;. "

T Meaning of General Health, 79, 50. " Colonel Lasher to General Heath, " CAMP AT KING'S Batoar, October " 26, 1774."

" The General Returns of the Army, dated on the third of Novender, six days after the action on Chatterton's.hill, showed an aggregate of twenty -five thousand, two hundred, and seventeen, "rank and file." including the Matrosses of ten Companies of Artillery and excluding. of course, the Commissioned officers, the stall, and the Non-comthis- sioned Officers of the Army. Adding to these, those who had been killed and missing during the period which had intervened between the tinte of which we write and the finte of the Returns referred to, in which occurred the action on Chatterton's-hill on all the other military operations in the vicinity of the White Plains ; atl it will be seen that, when the Army ocenpied the high grounds, to the north- word of that Villige, excluding the Sick, those who were on Con .- mands, and those who were absent, on Fimlunghe, the efective force was only thirteen thon-and, four hundred, and four, ' rank and file." 10 Vide pages 245, 240, aute.

11 " His." [Geweld Washington's, ] " apprehensions are exceedingly " great lest the Army should saffer munch for want of weresary enpfdi:s "of Provisions, especially in the article of Flour. From the best in- "telligence he is able to obtain, there is not more, in Camp and at "the several places where it has been deposited, thay will serve the " Army longer than four or five days, provided the utmost care and "economy were used in issuing it ont: but from the waste and eut- " bezzlement, for want of proper attention to it, as is reported to him, " it is not probable that it will last so long " -- (C lenel Robert H. Har- rison, Secretary of General Washington, to Colonel Joseph Trumbull, Com- missary-general of Provisions " WHITE PLAINS, November 1. 1750.") " We want Medicine, unch : none can be had, here. Our sick have " [heen] " and are suffering extremely."-(Colon I Smalhead to the Coun- cil of Sujety of Maryland, " Pintarse's Havekis, October, 175.")

"I wrote a hasty letter, some time ago, requesting from the state "of New York, that they would allow me the remainder of the "stock of Medicines purchased for the use of the State, of which they " were so good as to allow me one-half, early in the Summer, for the " use of the Army. The demand for Me-licines is very great ; and we " cannot procure a sufficiency, at any rate." -(Doctor John Margen, Medicul Director of the lomg, to John Jay, " MARTI-CASTLE, October 28, "1776.")

A letter from Doctor John Pine, of the Maryland Line, to James Tilghman, of Annapolis, dated, "CAMP AT WHITE - PLAINS, November 7. "I77," contains a detailed statement of the entire destination of the Army, and of the e won quent was rings of the sick and wandel.

13" Ti.e Rebel Atmy are in so wr .tel .- In condicion, is toch ching and "Accontrements, that I believe to Nation ever saw sach a set of tatterde- "malions. There are tow Coats among them but what are out at " elbows ; and in a whole Regiment there is scarce a pair of Breeches. "Judge, then, how they must be pinched by a Winter Campaign."- Les- ter from an thiery of the Sorty fourth ligament to his friend in Loadon, " NEW- Youk, October 30, 1776," reprinted in Forco's American Archives, V., ii., 1203, 1294.)

" We are requested by the Generals of ont Stato to inform you of the "absolute necessity our troops are in for want of Clothing."- Cheers D. With, Robert Harper, and Levis Graham to the President of the New York Contrition, " White Basis, October 24. 1776."

" The Colotel and Major Birber came hvir, last evening ; and the "Regiment is now within a few miles of this place, marching with "cheerfulness; Int great part of the men furre] barefooted atl bare. legged." (Richard Stockton to AIbrum Clark, "SARATOGA, October 28 ** 1776.")

14 Vide Inges 223, 224, unte.

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

the term of service of very many of them had nearly "and properly disciplined -- obling fulto the fan,og expired ; ' and, very largely, that short term da- match .. discord, which, on mor . that one ma- er re vir all the good judgment and determination of who very much shorter by shameful de sertions .? There was no harmony of sentiment, no common feeling of | the Commander-in-chief was master, to prevent a patriotismi, no sympathy with each other as fellow- serious outbreak.5 countrymen engaged in a common cause, in any por- tion of the Army. The Eastern troops were stigma- tized as, generally, nothing else than a ma-s of speculating poltroons, for which, very often, there was abundant reason ; " and they, reciprocated the ill- feeling of those from the Middle and Southern States, by branding them as " Aristocrats" and " Mac- caronis "-the former of the two sabrignet> in allusion to the distinctions of rank which were maintained among those troops, so different from the practice of the New Englanders; the latter, in contemptuous reference to the Regiments, from the Middle and Southern States, who were uniformed, well-equipped,

1 Many of the troops were enlisted to serve only until the first of December ; and the terms of service of the greater portion of the re- mainder would expire on the last day of December, casting .- General Wahington to the President of the Congress, " HEADQUARTERS, AT COLONEL " Moknis's House, 18 September, 1776;" etc.)

& General Washington to the Olivers and Subliers of the Pennsylvania de. socurtion, " HEAD-QUARTERS, NEW-YORK, 8 August, 1776;" the same to the President of the Congress, " NEW-YORK, 2 September, 174;" General Schuyler to Gomoral Gates, " SARATOGA, October 30, 1776;" etc.

3 The following is a specimen of a multitude of stich testimonials of the speculative propensities of the New England troops, in the Army of the Revolution, and of their too frequent dishonesty in their oper- ations, which are accessible to every one. Every careful Budeut cu com- mand many such evilences ; but this, written by the Commissary-gen- eral of Provisions of the Continental Army, himself a Connecticut- man, to his father, Jonathan Trumbull, who was. they, the Governor of Connecticut, will be sufficient, for the purjawes under consideration.

"NORTH-CASTLE, 4th December, 1776. " HONOURED SIR '

" Enclosed I send you Returus of some of the Regiments of Con- " necticut Militia under command of Major General Wooster, such as " I can get ; though I have called and called again and again for them, " I believe there are but one of them really true, that is Major Brins. " made's, who seems to be the honestest man. The fact is, they can't "make their Weekly and Provision Returns agree ; for this reason, " they have nudle a mimiber of Brevet Officers. They doubt whether " these Officers will be allowed extra rations: to avoidl that, they re- " tara so many more men as to cover the extra rations of those Ofi. "cors, You'll see by adverting to the Returns, that some Companies "have more Officers than Privates, at best ; but not content with That, " wind instead of sending bonne the Officers who have very few men, " almost none, and turning over those few men into other l'on panie. " they add Brevet Offerts, not only to pick the pockets of the pub- "Jick, here, but also, these Brevet Others are to be dismissed from " the Militia Dolls, at hotar ; amt, in a brew times more being called " forth. there will be to Militia left in the State.

" These things I thought it toy dniy to report to you, as the chat- "arter of the State is at stake ; and how the Officers who have done " these things will get along, here, I don't know, as we now make " Weekly Nation Returns as well as Return of the Army, by which " they must be discovered. The consequence is bad to the Others ; how. "ever, they minst take their fate.

" I am sorry to have the character of the State sufler by such conduct " of its Officers.

* *

" I min, honouret sir, your dutiful son,

" Govervonr TRIYtt L.L."

We have seu no evidence that either General Winter or Commis. sary-genend Trumbull took any steps for either the arrest of the of- fenders or a suppression of the offences.

It will be remembered that, on Monday, the twenty- first of October, the Right and Centre of the Royal Army were moved to a position, on the road leading to the White Plains, about two miles to the northward of New Rochelle ; and that Lieutenant-general Hei -- ter, with the Left of the Army, consisting of one Brigade of British and two Brigades of Hessian troops. moved forward and occupied the position which had been thus abandoned.6. It will be remembered, also, that, on the same day, Lieutenant-colonel Rogers, with the Corps of Loyalists known as "The Queen's " Rangers," was detached from the main body of the Army, and pushed forward to take possession of Mamar- oncek, where, on the following night, he and his conunand "were roughly handled," by a party of Americans who had been despatched from the White Plains, for that purpose : ' which led General Howe, on the following day, [ Tuesday, October 22,] to move the Sixth Brigade of British troops, commanded by Brigadier-general Agnew, to sustain that important post." It will be remembered, also, that, on Sunday, the twentieth of October, the Royal Army was strengthened by the addition of a portion of the Six- teenth and the whole of the Seventeenth Regiments of Light Dragoons, the former commanded by Lieu- tenant-colonel Harcourt, an Officer of great merit ; 19 and that, on Tuesday, the twenty-second of October, it was further strengthened by the arrival, at New Rochelle, of Lieutenant-general Knyphausen, with the Second Division of Hessians and the Regiment of Waldeckers.11

Taking counsel of his experience, General Howe ordered Lieutenant-general Heister, with the Left of the Army, to join in the movement ; and, on Thursday, the twenty-fourth, and on Friday, the twenty-fifth, of October, the main body of the Royal Army was moved from the positions on which it had rested, for several days, towards Scarsdale." It moved in two

+ Rod's Life of Jongh Feed, i . 220212: Good er's History of the di mare iran IN lattina, il, 34, 31. 021. 331, 351-555 ; Mar tal & Life of Geo ge

& General Orders, " New-York August 1, 1756; " Gordon's History of the barrieren Revolution, il. 34; etc.

6 Vide page 249, ante.

See, also, General Hore I Lund George Germain, " New-York, 30th "November, 1776;" [Mall'e] History of the Cied War in America, i., 205 : etc.

¡ Ville page = 40, ante. $ Vil- pages 232, 9%), ante. 9 Ville pare 233, ante.

In Vide page 249, ante.

11 Vidle page 233, ante.

1º Information was received, at the White Plains, as early as two o'clock on Thursday afternoon, [ Order2}, ] that the Royal Army had struck ils tenis, on its position near New Rochelle, "early this morning :" apl that it was, then, Paulvancing f're acthat to this phire, along the common ! "road." -(General doorge flint or to John Me Kevon, Secretary to the New- York Comention, " WHITE-PLAINS, October 24, 2 P. M., ET")

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WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

columns, with great caution .; ' and, ou the twenty-fifth of October, when the heads of the columns reached Scarsdale, after their two days' march, they were halted; and the Army encamped in a line which was parallel with the Bronx-river and with the line of march, on the opposite side of that little stream, on which General Lee, with his heavily laden column, was transporting the Baggage and Store- of the Amer- ican Army, to the White Plain -?- in many places, the two were not more than a mile distant from each other ; and, in one place, if not in others, the toiling Americans were directly within sight of their powerful enemy.

The object of General Howe, in halting at Sears- dale. with his Right within four miles of the Ameri. can lines, at the White Plains, and of remaining en- camped at that place, without making a movement, of any kind, during nearly three days, was not under- ! Americans, if more than one attack on them were to stood by those, in Europe, who were inclined to con- be made, the last one of the series should be that on that portion of the American Arnty which, then, occupied the entrenched Camp, at the White Plains, a conclusion in which he would have been entirely sustained by every intelligent soldier, of that period, in Europe or in America. demin his conduct, as Commander-in-chief of the Army, before the Parliament and the country ; and the evidently studied silence, on that subject, which the General maintained, was not calculated to quiet. nor even to lessen. the fault-findings of those who were his political and personal enemies. But, what-

In his letter to the President of the Congress, dated " HEND-QUARTERS, " WHITE.PLAINS, 25 October, 1776," Colonel Robert II. Harrison, General Washington's Secretary, stated that "about two o'clock this afternoon, "intelligence was brought to lead-quarters, that three or four detach- "inents of the enemy were of their march, and bal advanced within "about four miles of This place. It has been fully confirmed, since, by "a variety of persons, who have been out to reconnaitre."

If General Clinton did not make a mistake in the date of his letter. of whal we have no evidence, the movement of the Royal Army was com- merced on Thursday. [ October 24 ;] and the letter of Colonel Harrison clearly indicated that it had already reached Scarsdale, within four miles of the l'lains, before the movement was known at lead-quarters, at two o'clock in the afternoon of the following day. [1 vidny, October 25.]

The failure of General Washington to obtain information of the move- ments of the king's troms, of which so many instances have been seen, was nowhere more evident than in the instance now midler considera- tiun- one of the reasonalde results of the outrages to which the inhalut- a ats had been subjected, by both the Congresses and the Committees, on the one land, and by the onrestrained thieves, among both the Officers and the Privates of the Army whom General Washington commanded. on the other.

1 " Geberal Howe thought it necessary to provee I with great circun- "spection. The progress was slow : the march of the Army, close ; the " encomments, compact and well guarded with artillery ; and de most "sollerthe caution used, in every aspect."-Jaweed Register for 1735 : History of Europe, *1.7.)

" The British continued moving up, but with great caution, their rear "scarcely advancing, when they came to encamp again, much further "than where the advance had moved frota."-Memoirs of Major-you- ernt Heath, 76.)

" The caution of the English General was increased by the evidence- "of enterprise in his wolver-ary. His object seems to have been to avoid " skirmishine, and to ifritiz ot a general perion, if that could be effected " noder favorable circumstances ; if not, he knew well the approaching " dissolution of the American Army, and calculated, not without reasoni. " to derive from that event nearly all the advantages of a virtory, lle " proceeded, therefore, slowly. His marches were in close opter ; his " encampments compact, and well guarded with artillery; and the ut- " most cirenunspeetan was used, not to expose any part which might be "vulnerable."- Marshall's Aufauf George Washington, ii., 50l.)

Goveral Hour to Lord George Micromine, " New York, 30 November, "1776; " Gauthier's Ihm of the Operations, etc .; Gordon's History of the American Revolution, it., 340 ; etc.

ever mity have been thought and said of his failtre to cross the Brottx and to attack the heavily laden col- uma commanded by General Lee, the maxims of mil- itary science, at that time, forbade a movement towards the White Plains, then, leaving his left flank and | his rear exposed to the three Divisions commandled, respectively, by Generals Lee, Spencer, and Lin- coln.3 There was a possibility that the separation of those three Divisions from the main body of the Army might have enabled him to attack the Ameri- cans, en detail, and to overcome thent more completely than if they had been in one body ; but he had excel- lent evidence of the vigilance and the enterprise of those who were nearest to him ; and his ruling prin- ciple, to avoid an unnecessary exposure of his men, evidently led him to the safe conclusion that, in such a series of undertakings ou the divided forces of the

Notwithstanding the silence of General Howe, concerning his purpose in moving his command to Scarsdale, instead of to the White Plains, there is rea- son for supposing that it was done for the purpose of cutting off the column commanded by General Lee, before it could join the main body ; that preparations for the movenient, on the following morning, were made on the afternoon and evening of the day of the arrival of the Royal Army, at Scarsdale; and that it was prevented by the withdrawal of the column which it was intended to attack, from its designated route, into a road which was further westward, so that, when the time came for the attack, General Lee, by a forced march, during the night, was several miles nearer to the main body of the Army, and entirely beyond the reach of General Howe.'

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Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution, Part 69

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