USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 71
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Colonel Brooks, sheltered by a stone wall, and sup- " tos, who was posted on the extreme left of the American line, not far ported by the Regiment of Marylanders commanded by Colonel Smallwood-the latter. the remains of that
No am has pretended that the Adjutant-general of the Army was on Chatterton's-hill, on that eveniful Monday ; but he must have been there, fine body of " Maccaronies," so called by the New . if Colonel Carrington is correct, since it was he who accused Colonel Englanders, whose gallant conduct, at the Battle of Long Island, had won the admiration and sorrow of " It is a notable fact that, notwithstanding all which has been written, in these latter days, of the great services of that Company, of which con- temporary writers were entirely silent, the name of the Officer who was in actual command, on Chatterton's-hill, was not mentioned by any one, of that period, who wrote concerning the Battle. General Washington, and which has been generally honored in history-on the extreme right, confront- ing Colonel Rall and his Brigade, who were resting on their arms, on the summit of the adjacent hill, "There is a tradition that, a short time before the date under considera- tion, Captain Hamilton was in the City of New-York, then in possession of the King's Army ; and there is, certainly, written evidence, over his own signature, that he was in the same City, on the sixth of November, eight days after the Battle: it is possible, therefore, that, because the command was not in the official commander, on the occasion utdler con- sideration, the name of the actual commander was nost regarded as worthy of being recorded. further to the southward. On the left of the Mary- landers, was posted the Delaware Regiment, proud of its name of "The Blue Hen's Chickens," whom Colonel Haslet commanded : the remainder of Gen- eral MeDougal's Brigade, composed of the First Regi- ment of the New York Line, formerly commanded by 6 ". I saw their General Officers, on horseback, assemble in Council." -Colonel Hamlet to General Casar Rodney, " November 12, 1776.") Colonel MeDougal, at that time, by one of its Captains, whose name was not recorded ; the Third Regiment of the same Line, commanded by Colonel Rudolphus Ritzema; and the Regiment of the Connecticut Line, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb, occupy- ing the left of the very feeble line" -- with the excep- tion of the Regiment commanded by Colonel Brooks, no portion of that force was composed of Militia : all, except that Regiment, were Continental troops.' The
1 Lieutenant colonel Tilghman to William, Iner, "HEADQUARTERS " WHITE PLAINS, October 20, 1776 ;" the same to his father, & WHITE- " PLAINS, 31 October, 1176 ;" Colonel Robert H. Harrison to Cop- may 1 Trumbull, "WHITE-PLAINS, November 2, 1976;" Colonel Has! to Gol- eral Casar Roda+", " November 12, 1756" ; etc.
: Colonel Modlit to General Caesar Rodney. "November 12, 1110."
3 Colonel Haslet to General Cesar Rodney, " November 12, 1756;" Captain Hull's unpolished Memoir of his Rerobutiomiry Services, muted in Campbell's Revolutionary Sorciers and Died Life of Gewend Willums Hull, by his daughter, 54, 55; rts.
+Colonel Carrington, (Battles of the American Berolutim, 240, ) was at some pains to introduce Colonel Morris Graham, of the New York Mili- tia, and to place his name where it would appear among those of Color nels commanding Regiments who had occupied and defende! Chatterton's-
hinself unworthy of any such authorial favor ; aud, besides, Colonel Carrington could have vasily ascertained that Colonel Graham's colui- mud was a portion of the Brigade connuanded by General George Clin- from two miles from Chatterton'shill. Graham of cowardice, on which Colonel Carrington has based bis favor to the bashful New-Yorker.
: There is, evidently, considerable exaggeration in what was written of that cannonade, by "a Gentleman in the Army, " in his letter, already resorted to, dated " CAMP NEAR THE MILLS, ABOUT THREE MILES NORTH " DE THE WHITE PLAINS, November 1, 155G ; " but we make room for it. " The scene was grand and solemn : all the adjacent hills smoked, as " though on fire, and bellowed sul trembled with a perpetual cannonaude "ntel aire of fell pieces, movitz, aml mothus. The air groaned '. with streams of cannon and musket-shot ; the air an! hills smoked and "echoed, torritaly, with the lasting of shells ; the forest and walls were " knocked down, and torn to pieces; and men's legs, arms, and bodies "mingled with canyon : ud grape shot, all round ne. I was in the ar- "tion, and under as good advantages as any one man, to observe all that " passed, att write these particulars of the action from my own observa- "tion."
A very near cornretion, by marriage, of our own family, then living where what was, lately, Hall's Tavern, at Hall's-corners, now known as Flisforl, on the road leading from the White Plains to Tarrytown, toll us, many years ago, that le heard that severe cannonade, and saw the smoke occasioned by it, and very clearly remembered it : and, as may be reasonably supposed, under such circumstances, he regarded it as some- thing more than ordinarily terrible.
What we have said concerning the extent of time thus ocenpied by the Hessian Artilleri-ts, in their ranuonade of the Americans, was authorized boy Colonel Hustet, in his letter to General Rodney, ulready referred to ; by Campbell's Revolutionary Sereines and Civil Life of General William Hill. Mit ; etc.
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standard military maxim, of that period, which re- quired the immediate removal of everything which might, petits, mandar a Anker the year of a coluium, no matter how in-ignuicant it might other- ) wise be; and, undoubtedly, with the concurrence of the impromptu Council, of which mention has been made, General Howe determined to dislodge the Americans who had occupied Chatterton's-hill, before he proceeded further, in his movement against the main body of the American Army, then within its line of entrenchments, and awaiting his evidently in- tended assault. With that purpose in view, the main body of the Royal Army was ordered to rest on its arms, on the Plain, within a mile, and in open sight, from the American lines; orders were issued for a Battalion of Hessians to pass over the Bronx-river,1 supported by the Second Brigade of British troops, The appearance of the Royal Army, as the main body was thus halted, with detachments moving towards the Broux, for the proposed assault on Chat- terton's-lrill, was thus described by an eye-witness, himself an Officer among the Americans who were, then, awaiting the assault on their position : " Its ap- " pearance was truly magnificent. A bright autumnal "sun shed its full listre on their polished arms; and " the rich array of dress and military equipage gave an "imposing grandeur to the scene, as they advanced, in " all the pourp and circumstances of War, to give us " battle;"" and, with the main bodies of the two armies, each resting on its arms, auxious spectators of the -cone,' the Battalion of Hessians which had been designated for the forlorn-hope, in the proposed as- sault, and the British Regiments who had been de- tached for its support, moved, steadily, toward the composed of the Fifth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-fifth, ; Bronx, in front of the hill, on their mission of deatlı.
and Forty-ninth Regiments of Foot, commanded by Brigadier-general Leslie; and by the Brigade of Hes- sians, composed of Linsing's, Mingerode's, Len- gereek's, and Kochler's Regiments of Grenadiers and his own Regiment of Chasseurs, commanded by Colo- nel Donop-the last mentioned Brigade to be taken from the right of the Army, where it had been posted -for the purpose of assaulting the position on Chat- terton's-hill, in front ; and Colonel Rall was ordered to move the Brigade which he commanded, on a charge, on the right of the Americans, simultane- ously with the movement of the Hessian forlorn-hope and its supporting parties, on their front .?
1 General Howe to Lord George Germaine, "NEW-YORK, 30 November, " 1776."
General Howe did not state which particular Battalion of llessinns was thusendoyed ; and we have not found, in any of the contemporary authorities, anything which throws any light on the subject.
Bancroft, who has enjoyed unusual opportunities for acquiring informa- tion on the subject of the German mercenaries, has said, (History of the United States, orignal edition, ix., 151 ; centenary olition, v., 941,) that that forlorn-hope was composed of the Lossberg Battalion ; but if, as he has conceded on another page, that battalion was a portion of the Frigade commanded by Colonel Hall, it was, already on the western bank of the Bronx, and in position ; and it is not to be supposed that it would have been withdrawn from that important position to the eastern bank of the river, by way of the ford, and then moved to the western bank, again, at a place where the depth of water made the passage much more difficult, as & forlorn-bioqqe ; winte it could have net, das such a forlorn-hope, bad that been desit: 1, Ly shuply marching up the Mill-lane, and climbing up. the side of the bill, without the unnecessary labor and risk of passing and ie passing the river.
That Battalion of Hensions who formed the forlorn-hope continues to be, to us, a subject on which we need and seek for further information, especially since it was definitely and very reasonably stated in The Limmal Register for 1776, (History of Europe, *175,) that it was one of the Bat- talions of the Brigale commanded by Colonel Donop ; in which The History of the Hur in America, Edit. Dublin, 1779. (i., 195), concurred, both of which statements ure in entire harmony with our own conclus- ions, en thit subject, at the present time.
" General Home to Lord George Germaine, " NEW-YORK, 30 November, ". ילדו"
The Regiments of which the Second Brigade was composed were named in General Howe's despatch to Lord Germaine, above mentioned, and inthe Return of the Killed, Wounded, etc., of the Brigade, in the ac- tion : those of which the Brigade commanded by Colonel Donop was composed may be seen in the same Return, as well as in the Report of the distribution of the Aring, made by General Howe.
It is probable that the little river, where the as- sanlting party attempted to pass it, was deeper than elsewhere, above or below that place, as it has been, during the entire period of our personal knowledge of the locality ; and the Hessian forlorn-hope, conse- quently, found "some difficulty in passing" the stream;3 but it struggled successfully, and evidently reached the opposite bank without having sustained any loss, the Twenty-eighth aud Thirty-fifth Regiments of British Foot, followed by the Fifth and Forty- ninth Regiments of the same arm of the service, and, subsequently, by the Brigade of Hessians commanded by Colonel Dontop." finding " a place most practica- "ble" -- probably " the ford," where the fugitive New Englanders and their Hessian pursuers had passed the river, carlier in the morning, was the more prac- tieable place referred to "-hastening forward, in the
3 Captain William Dull, quoted in The R. rolutionary Services and Cicit Life of General William Hill, by his daughter, 51.
Concerning the same sut ject, General Henth, who was on the opposite extremity of the line of the main body, wrote, (Memoirs, 78,) "The sun "shone bright ; their arms glittered ; and, perhaps, troops were never "shown to more advantage, than these now appeared."
General Have to Lord George formamine, "NEW-YORK, 30 November, "1776;" [Hall'] History of the Ciel War in America, i., 208, 200 ; Gor- don's Hilary of He American Revolution, B., 311 ; Stedman's History of the American Was, i., 215 ; etc
> General Hoare to Ised George Germaine, "New-YORK, 30 November, "1776." See, also, The Annual Brister for 1756, Mastory of Europe, *173; His. fry of the War in Invries, Edit. Dublin : 1779, i., 196, etc. G General Hours to Lord George Germaine, "NEW-YORK, 30 November, "1776."
See, also, The fannel liegister for 1776, History of Europe, *173 ; etc. It is very į robable that it was that acculental separition of the Regi- ments composing the support of the Hessian forlorn-hope, and the conse- quent assault on the Americans in three distinct movements, which led Captain Hull, (in Campbell's Revolutionary Services and Civil Ity of General Willbon Hull, 55, to suppose the assault had been originally ordered to be nudle, in that mmnner.
" In what manter the as anfing party crossed the Bronx-river bas been made the subject of the speculation- of several modern writers, led and, probably, Inspired byy the un crupulos John C. Hamilton, ( History of the Republic of the Failed State, i., 13.) who said the Hessian forlorn-hop . " refused to w.wie the tangled stream ; and a teny orary bridge wits begun" awl, finally, completed,-of which bridge, ho related several incidents,
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order in which we have named them, for the support of the shivering, half-drowned Germans, who were undoubtedly waiting, on the western bank of the stream, for their co-operation.
When the movement of the assaulting party, toward the ford, was seen from the summit of the hill, Colone! Haslet applied to General Me Dougal for the two field- pieces, in order that a fire might be opened ou the advancing column; but General MeDougal spared only one of the two guns; and that was so poorly appointed that the Colonel was obliged, personally, to assist in dragging it along the rear of his Regiment, to the place where he desired to post it. While it was being thus slowly dragged along the rear of the line of Americans, it is said that a shot from the Hes- sian guns struck its carriage, scattering the shot, etc., and leaving a wad of tow blazing in the middle of the debris. With the exception of a single man, who "was prevailed upon to tread ont the blaze and col- "lect the shot," " all the Artillery-men tled," leaving Colonel Haslet and the field-piece entirely unsup- ported ; but it appears that some of these later fugi- tives returned ; made a couple of discharges on the enemy; and then retired, " with the field-piece," not to be seen again, until after they were securely quar-
of each of which his father's Company of Artillery aud his father were, invariably, the principal subjects.
Such a speculation would require little reflection, in order to show its improbability to any one; but Lossing, (Field book of the Wirelution, original edition, ii., 822; ) Irving, * (Life of George Washington, ii., 202 ;) and others having followed that leader, and repeated his errors. But
General lowe's despatch to Lord George Germaine left to tools for doubting, and clearly indicated that the troops forded the streani ; san thier's Plan of the Operations, etc., (the British official Mapy charly in dicated that the Royal troops crossed the river at " The Ford, " desiguated on the Magy The Flow of the Country from Frog's Pointto Cotoa River, (General Washington's Map, ) did the same, also designating the " Ford ;" The travel Register for 1976, (History of Europe, 178, 5) clearly under- stood the river was fordul; stedman, in his History of the American War, (i., ele) said, " A part of our left wing passed the ford, which was "entirely under command of our cation ; " sergeant Laml of the Welsh Fusilvers, in his Journal of Verwereners during the late bereich B: ", ipage Isi, i said the entire assaulting party, whom he described, in do it, " marched down and crossed the ford; " Factor Andrews, in his History of the War, (ii., 215,) stated the assaulting party " marched down " to the ford, and crossed it ; " tienetal Birath, an eye witness of the movement, stated, in his Memoirs, grage 7%, ) that "a part of the Left col- "nin, composed of British and Hestens, forded the river," etc ; ; Chief justice Marshall, in his Lực ( Gary Washington, in, 201, with General Washingboy. paper- bi fore bird, . brarly knew nothing of any bridge, constructed by the Royal Army ; and Doctor Sparks, also with the papers of fieberal Washington before him, in his Life of Grey. Hoelangton, (page Uni) after having described all the troops who had 1 been ordered to make the assault, said, " they forted the Bronx, and " Formed in good order on the other side ; " and we prefer to follow our own convictions, that no bridge was constructed by the Royal Army, on that version, especially since these well-considered convictions are amply sustained by such unquestionable authorities.
With the story of the bridge, etter similarly groundless stories for which that phantom brugu had afforded tontaation, notwithstanding the effect with which they have been related by their inventor, also van- ish as the reader will shortly ore.
* Mr. Irving, atilorquently, explained to us, personally, how he had fallen into the error ; and requested us to pay no respect to the erroneous statrinents, vontamed in his work, roncerning them. 28
tered, with the main body of the Army, within the lims, on the other side of the river. :
The Twenty-eighth and Thirty-titth Heziment- were the first portion of the supporting party who succeeded in crossing the river ; ' and they moved from the ford, along the road which has more recently been known as " The Mill-lane," extending between the base of Chatterton's-hill and the bank of the Broux, until they had reached a point which was opposite to the right of the American line, on the top of the hill, 1 when they faced to the left and, with the shivering Hessians on their front, they climbed np the steep and rugged hill-side, in good order and with the great- est steadiness, " the fire of the Hessian Artillerists, ou the opposite side of the river, at least that portion of it which was directed against the American right, having been suspended, in order that they might not be exposed to unnecessary danger. 3
On that portion of the American line which was exposed to that assault, on its front, as well as to the movement of the Hessian Brigade commanded by Col- onel Rall, who had been ordered to charge on its right flank, simultaneously with the movement on its front,
1 Colonel Haslet to General Casar Rodney, " November 12, 175."
Among the creations of John C. Hamilton's very able: but very un. sorupnlons poru was one, based on the story of the bridge which we have already noticed, courerving the Artillery Company of which his father, Alexander Hamilton, was the Captain, and what he assumed to have been the wonderful services of that Company, ou the occasion now under notice.
As we have already stated, (ride page 263, aute.) there are very grave doubts concerning Captain Hamilton's presence, with the Company, on Chatterton's-hill, on the eventful day of the Battle ; and it is of ques- tionable 'propriety, therefore, to identify him with the shorternings of his comnavl, so graphically portrayed by Colonel Haslet, in his letter to General Rodney, to which we have referred, in the text -- boricom- ings which were certainly such as reflected nothing else than disgrace on both the body of the Company and the Officer who was in com- mand, ou that occasion, whomsoever he may have been.
Generals Washington, lowe, Cornwallis, Robertson, and Heath, and Captains Harris and Hall, all of whom witnessed the action and de- scribnel it, and Gordon, Steduran, Marshall, and Sparks, all of them Standard historiao-, whose advantages for acquiring accurate informa- tion were in nowis neglected, were uniformly and rightly silent on the subject of the alleged services of Captain Hamilton's Company of Artillery ; while the adverse testimony of Colonel Baster, which we I have stated in the text, supported, in a great measure by that of Car- tain Hull, the lafter concerning the other of the two pieces and those who manned it, on the extreme left of the line, (Campbell's The five- "lutionary Series and Bird life of General Wiliam Jul, 1.) leaves nothing, comrerning that Campany, on that occasion. in which the admirer- of Alexander Hamilton can refer, with any pleasure, the pre. tensions of his son, to which we have referred, to the contrary not- with-tending.
" Gewend Here to Lord George Germaine, " New York, 30 November, "1776;" The Domea Register for 1776, History of Europe, 175% ; History of the War in America, Fdit. Dublin : 1779. i .. 101; etc.
3 Gauthier's Plan of the Operations of the King's Army, etc.
General lesth, an , ye- witness, said, that, after they had " findled the "river," they "marched along, under the cover of the hill, until they "had gained sufficient ground to the left of the Americans, when, by "Ining to the lett," etc .- (Memoire, T.S.)
A General Howe to Lord George Germaine, " NEW-YORK, 30 November, "1776:" The Annual Register for 1776, History of Europe, 17 .* ; etc. General lrath, who witnessed the movement, stid that, "hy faring "to the left, their column became a line, parallel with the Americans. "when They briskly ascended the hill. . . . - (M. m. irs, 7%.) 5 Memoire of General Heath, 78, 79.
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were posted, as we have already stated, the Regiment of - Massachusetts Militia commanded by Colon I Brooks, sheltered behind a stone wall and supported by there- mains of the Maryland Regiment rounamled by Col- onel Smallwood, ' and, probably, by the Thief Regi- , fined to the simultaneous assaults on the front and
ment of New Yorkers commanded by Calonel Ritze-' ma ;2 and, against these, the two assaulting parties simultaneously directed their overwhelming power. There was no Artillery to hurl destruction on either of the assailants: since, by that time, the Delaware Regiment, immediately on their left, was confronted by the Fifth and Forty-ninth Regiments, who had also crossed the river and were climbing the hill-side, "zealous to distinguish themselves," there was no support for the hard-pressed " Maccaronis " aml their New York comrades : and nothing else than their own resolute wills and their strong arms and their not generally trusty and always ill-supplied muskets were there, to support those less than eleven hundred Offi. cers and Privates in their approaching struggle with two well-disciplined. well-armed, well-commanded British Regiments, besides the Hessian forlorn-hope, on their front, and three equally well-disciplined, well-armed, and well-commanded Hessian Regiments, on their right flank.
It is recorded that the Regiment of Militia, com- manded by Colonel Brooks, notwithstanding the shel- ter afforded by the stone wall, " fied iu confusion, "without more than a random, scattering fire; "3 leaving the Marylanders and New-Yorkers, alone and unsupported ; and it also recorded that these last- named Regiment: advanced to the brow of the hill, meeting their assailants, and throwing on them, while they were elimbing the hill-side, an effective, plung- ing fire, compelling them to fall back. ' But the retreat of the Militia, to whom appears to have been assigned the part of holding Colonel Rall in check, having entirely exposed the right flank of the two Regiments to the charge of his Brigade, while the three Regiments of British and Hessian troops who were climbing up the eastern face of the hill, not- withstanding the check which they had sustained, were rallied and renewed their assault on the front of the position, the conflict was too unequal to be long- sustained; aml, notwithstanding the stubborn bravery which was necessary to sustain it; with such great odds against the Americans, during the long period! of not less than a quarter of an hour, 5 the two brave
Regiments were compelled to " give way " 6_they fell back, fighting as they went, as brave men would be likely to do, under such circumstances.
But the action on Chatterton's-hill was not con- right flanks of the Americans who ocenpied it. Very closely after the Twenty-eighth and Thirty-fifth, the Fifth and Forty-ninth Regiments also forded the Bronx ; and moved to the positions which had been assigned to them, respectively ; and climbed up the side of the hill; " and assaulted the position which was oeeupied by " The Blue Hen's Chickens "-the Regiment of Delaware troops, commanded by Colonel Haslet-" formen worthy of their steel." That Regi- ment numbered very few, if any more, than three hun - dred tighting Officers and Privates ; > and yet, singie- handed-the two Regiments on its right were already engaged, with assailants on both their front and Hank ; and the First New York Regiment and the Regi- ment of Connectient troops, the latter commanded by Colonel Charles Webb, were also employed in oppos- ing Colonel Donop's Brigade of Hessians, who were "ascending the height, with the greatest alacrity and "in the best of order " -- that single regiment bravely sustained the attack, until after the Regiments which had covered its right had given way, when " part of " the first three Companies of the Regiment also re- "treated, in disorder," with considerable loss." The left of the Regiment, however, with the greater nunt- ber of its Officers, notwithstanding the retreat of the Regiments on its right and that of its own three Com- panies had exposed its right to the combined assaults of, at least, the Hessian Battalion who had been the forlorn-hope and two of the British Regiments and Colonel Rall's entire Brigade, while two other British Regiments were on its front, fell back only far enough to occupy " a fence, on the top of the hill," a position which it continued to ocenpy and defend, successfully. until the two Regiments which covered its left had also given way, when, it, also, "retired," the last of the Americans who remained on the hill, and that resohite force, small as it was, who held back the sue- cessful assailants, then eager to become pursuers, and covered the retreat of those who, then, remained of the defenders of Chatterton's-hill.W
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