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* An invasion from Canada was then expected. Quite a large British force prevailed above the Highlands. He was at Ticonderoga and vicinity, under St. Leger, who have already met detachments, was repulsed at Fort Stanwix in 1777. and at that time were several respecting beacons and alarm posts. From one of them, in possession of the son of Colonel Aaron Burr, I copied the annexed sketch, made by the pen of Lord Stirling, together with the full order of Lord Stirling who died at Albany on the fifteenth of January 1783, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. It is a singular fact that at different periods during the war. Lord Stirling had under his command every brigade of the American army except Colonel William Duer, and became Judge John Duer, of the city of Duer. LL.D.
* The vigorous and effective preparations made by Lord Stirling intimidated St. Leger, and he returned to Canada. Late in the autumn Stirling took the chief command in New Jersey, and the following summer he was again in command at Albany, with a general supervision of military affairs between that place and New York. Among other orders issued by him at those of South Carolina and Georgia. His youngest daughter married the brother of William A. Duer, late president of Columbia College, at New York.—See Life of Lord Stirling, by his grandson, William A.
* He acquired this title because he won riches rapidly by the illicit trade in which the colonists were then engaged. His family vault may now (1852) be seen a few rods from the bank of the East River, in "Jones's Woods," between Seventieth and Seventy-first Streets. On the top is a large marble slab, placed there in memory of the wife of his son David.
**The following is a copy of the order: "Each of the beacons are to be of lhe following dimensions: at bottom, fourteen feet square, to rise in a pyramidal form to about eighteen or twenty feet high, and then to terminate about six feet square, with a stout sapling in the center of about thirty feet high from the ground. In order to erect them, the officer who oversees the execution should proceed thus: he should order the following sized logs to be cut as near the place as possible: twenty logs of fourteen feet long and about one foot diameter; ten logs of about twelve feet long; ten logs of about ten feet long; ten logs of about nine feet long; ten logs of about eight feet long; twenty logs of about seven feet long; twenty logs of about six feet lone. He should then sort his longest logs as to diameter, and place the four longest on the ground, parallel to each other, and about three feet apart from each other. He should then place the four next logs in size across these at right angles, and so proceed till all the logs of fourteen feet be placed. Then he is to go on in the same manner with logs of twelve feet long, and when they are all placed, with those of a lesser size, till the whole are placed, taking care, as he goes on, to fill the vacancies between the logs with old dry split wood or useless dry rails and brush, not too close, and leaving the fifth tier open for firing and air. In the beginning of his work, to place a good stout sapling in the center, with part of its top left, about ten or twelve feet above the whole work. The figure of the beacon will appear thus. [The sketch above given.] The two upper rows of logs should be fastened in their places with good strong wooden plugs or trunnels." These beacons were erected upon hills from the Hudson Highlands through New Jersey by way of Morristown, Pluckemin, and Middlebrook, and upon the Neversink Hills at Sandy Hook. They were to be used as signals denoting the approach of the enemy, for the assembling of the militia at certain points, and to direct the movements of certain Continental battalions.
*** I have before me an old manuscript schedule of Lord Stirling's wardrobe, in which the material and color of each article is given. I print the number as a curious example of the personal provisions of a gentleman of his class at that time, namely: Thirty-one coats, fifty-eight vests, forty-three pairs of breeches, six powdering gowns (used when powdering the hair), two pairs of trowsers, thirty shirts, seventeen handkerchiefs, twenty seven stocks, twenty-seven cravats, eight razor cloths, one hundred and nineteen pairs of hose, six pairs of socks, fifteen night-caps, five pairs of drawers, two pairs of gloves, fourteen pairs of shoes, four pairs of boots; total, four hundred and twelve garments.
Skirmish between Grant and Stirling.—-Storming of the Flatbush Redoubt.—-Descent of Clinton.—Surrender of the Americans.
After two or three rounds Atlee fell back to the left of Stirling, on the top of the hills.
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At this moment Kichline and his riflemen, De Haas and his battalion, and Captain Carpenter, with two field-pieces, arrived. Grant advanced and took post in an orchard, * within one hundred and fifty yards of Stirling, and a severe skirmish ensued. Grant had also two field-pieees, but neither party made much use of their cannons. In that position the belligerents remained, without severe fighting, until eleven o'clock in the forenoon, ** when events on the left wing of the American army changed the whole aspect of affairs.
While Grant and Stirling were thus engaged, De Heis-ter and his Hessians moved from Flatbush, and cannonaded the works at the Flatbush pass, where Sullivan was in command with the regiments of Colonels Williams and Miles.
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In the mean while, Clinton had descended from the wooded hills and attacked the extreme left of the Americans on the plain at Bedford. The firing was understood by De Heister, who immediately ordered Count Donop to storm the redoubt at the pass, while he pressed forward with the main body of the Hessians. A fierce and bloody combat ensued,3 when Sullivan, perceiving the peril of his little army (for Clinton was rapidly gaining his rear), ordered a retreat to the lines at Brooklyn. The opportunity was gone, and on descending the rough slope from Mount Prospect, they were met by Clinton's light infantry and dragoons, who drove them back in confusion upon the Hessian bayonets. Sullivan and his ensnared soldiers fought desperately, hand to hand, with the foe, while driven backward and forward between the full ranks of the assailants. Many broke through the gleaming fence of bayonets and sabers, and
* A few trees of this orchard yet remain in the southwest part of Greenwood Cemetery.
** During the morning the Roebuck frigate approached Red Hook and cannonaded the battery there. This, like the movement of Grant, was intended to divert the Americans from the operations of Clinton on their left.
*** The Hessians fought with desperation, and gave no quarter. They had been told that the Americans would not suffer one of them to live, and their sentiment was total extermination. "Our Hessians and our brave Highlanders gave no quarter," wrote an offieer of the 71st, "and it was a fine sight to see with what alacrity they dispatched the rebels with their bayonets, after we had surrounded them so they could not resist."—Sec Onderdonk's Revolutionary Incidents, ii., 138.
Battle between Stirling and Cornwallis.—Retreat across the Gowanus.—Defeat and Capture of Stirling.
escaped to Fort Putnam, * while their less fortunate companions died upon the field or were made prisoners.
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Among the latter were General Sullivan and several subordinate officers. Those who escaped were followed up to the verge of the American lines, and the pursuing grenadiers were with difficulty restrained from storming Fort Putnam. An easy victory would doubtless have been the result.
Stirling was not aware of the disasters on the left until Cornwallis had marched down the Port or Mill road (9), took position near the ancient dwelling known as "the Cortelyon House," near Gowanus, and fired two guns as a signal for Grant to press forward. That officer immediately attacked the Americans, and in the engagement Colonel Atlee was made a prisoner. Hemmed in by the foe, Stirling saw no opportunity for escape except across the Gowanus Creek, at the dam of the "Yellow Mill," and other places below Brower's Mill.
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To effect this, it was necessary to attack Cornwallis, and while a few—a forlorn hope—should keep him at bay, a large part of the Americans might escape. No time was to be lost, for the tide was rising, and soon the creek would be impassable. Changing his front, and leaving his main body in conflict with Grant, Stirling, at the head of a part of Smallwood's battalion, commanded by Major (afterward General) Gist, fell upon Cornwallis, and blood flowed freely. For twenty minutes the conflict was terrible. Stirling endeavored to drive the earl up the Port road, get between him and Fort Box, and under cover of its guns escape across Brower's dam. He was successful, but while with his handful of brave young men he was keeping the invader in check, a large part of his companions in arms, consisting now chiefly of Haslet's Delawares and a part of Smallwood's Marylanders, reached the creek. Some passed it in safety, but many sunk into silence in the deep mud on its margin or beneath its turbid waters. Stirling was obliged to yield when despoiled of nearly all of his brave men. **** He became a prisoner, and was sent immediately on board theEagle, Lord Howe's flag-ship. Thus ended the battle, when the sun was at meridian; when it disappeared behind the low hills of New Jersey, one third of the five thousand patriots who had contended for victory were lost to their country—dead, wounded, or prisoners. * Soon many of the latter were festering with
* The most sanguinary conflict occurred after the Americans had left the Flatbush pass, and attempted to retreat to the lines at Brooklyn. The place of severest contest, and where Sullivan and his men were made prisoners, was upon the slope between the Flatbush Avenue and the Long Island rail-way, between Bedford and Brooklyn, near "Baker's Tavern" (17), at a little east of the junction of these avenues. The preceding map, compiled from those of the English engineers for Marshall's Life of Washington, will assist the reader in obtaining a proper understanding of the movements of the two armies.
** This house, built of stone, with a brick gable from eaves to peak, is yet (1852) standing upon the eastern side of the road leading from Brooklyn to Gowanus. It was built by Nicholas Vechte in 1699, and was one of the first houses created between Brooklyn and New Utrecht.
*** This is a view of the old mill of the Revolution, as it appeared when I made the sketch in 1850, before it was destroyed. The view is from the west side of Gowanus Creek, looking southeast. In the extreme distance is seen the "Yellow Mill" between which and the one in the foreground so many of the patriots perished.
****Smallwood's regiment was composed chiefly of young men belonging to the most respectable and influential families in Maryland. Two hundred and fifty-nine of them perished in this conflict with Cornwallis's grenadiers near the "Cortelyon House."
* (v) Dispatches of Washington and General Howe; Letter of R. H. Harrison, quoted by Sparks, Washington's Writings, iv., 513; Letters of Haslet and Sullivan, 516, 517; Doer's Life of Lord Stirling, 163; Life and Correspondence of President Reed, i., 218—224; Gordon, ii., 96—101; Marshall, i., 87—91; Sted-man, i., 191-196; Onderdonk, ii.. 127-131. The loss of the Americans is not precisely known. Howe estimated it at 3300; it probably did not exceed 1650, of whom about 1100 were made prisoners. Howe stated his own loss at 367 killed, wounded, and made prisoners.
Capture, Treatment, and Death of General Woodhull.—Preparations to Besiege the Works at Brooklyn.
disease in the loathsome prisons in New York, or in the more loathsome prison-ships at the Wallabout. * General Woodhull was made a prisoner at Jamaica the next day, ** and at the close of summer no man was in arms against the crown in Kings, Queens, and Richmond counties.
The victors encamped in front of the patriot lines, and reposed until the morning of the twenty-eighth,August, 1778when they broke ground within six hundred yards of Fort Putnam, cast up a redoubt (18), and cannonaded the American works. Washington was there, and joyfully perceived the design of Howe to commence regular approaches instead of rapid assaults. This fact was a ray of light in the midst of surrounding gloom. The
* An account of the New York prisons and prison-ships may be found in the Supplement to this work.
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** Nathaniel Woodhull was born at Mastic, Long Island, December 30, 1722. Agriculture was the chief pursuit of his life. He was a major, under Abercrombie, in the attack upon Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and afterward accompanied Bradstreet against Fort Frontenac. He was a colonel, under Amherst, in 1760, and at the close of the campaign he returned home and married Ruth Floyd, He espoused the popular side in the Stamp Act movements, and, possessing the esteem of the people, he was elected, with William Nicoll, a representative of Suffolk county, in the Colonial Assembly in 1769. He represented Suffolk in the first Provincial Congress in 1775, and was elected president of that body.
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** He was appointed a brigadier of militia in August of that year, and in July, 1776, he was summoned home to embody the militia of Suffolk and Queens, to assist in repelling invasion. He was engaged in this serviee when he was made a prisoner,* cruelly wounded by a British officer, and died of his injuries three weeks afterward at New Utrecht. His wife, who was with him in his last moments, conveyed his body to Mastic, and there, in a secluded family cemetery, a short distance from his residence, his remains rest. A marble slab marks his grave, and bears the following inscription:
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** "In memory of General Nathaniel Woodhull, who, wounded and a prisoner, died on the twentieth of September, 1776, in the fifty-fourth year of his age; regretted by all who knew how to value his many private virtues, and that pure zeal for the rights of his country to which he perished. Woodhull's Grave." The mansion of General Woodhull was burned in 1783, and in 1784, the present dwelling on the homestead farm was erected near the spot. It is now (1852) owned by Henry Nicoll, Esq., a great-grandson of General Woodhull.
* In consequence of the tardy movements of others, on whom devolved the duty of furnishing him with a proper force to perform the labors assigned him, General Woodhull (Udell in many old accounts) did not participate in the battle on the twenty-seventh of August He made his head-quarters at Jamaica, and with his inadequate force he scoured the country for miles around, watching the movements of the enemy, and driving large numbers of cattle to Hempstead plains. When he perceived the position of Clinton, near the Jamaica pass, on the morning of the twenty-seventh, he sent urgent messages to the Provincial Congress asking for re-enforcements. It was now too late, for the regiments of Smith and Remsen, of Kings and Queens counties, could not be spared from the lines at Brooklyn.
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* With a soldier's impatience he was obliged to listen to the distant roar of battle, for with a soldier's strict discipline he would not move without orders. When apprised of the disasters of the day, he ordered his little band to fall hack four miles beyond Jamaica, on the morning of the twenty-eighth, while he awaited orders from camp. In the afternoon, he left Jamaica with two companions, to join his soldiers, and while taking refuge from a thunder-storm in the inn of Increase Carpenter, two miles east of Jamaica village, he was made a prisoner by a party of British, under Captain Sir James Baird (whom we met at Savannah, page 732), piloted by some Tories. Tradition says that Baird ordered Woodhull to shout "God save the King!" and because instead he cried "God save us all!" he smote him with his broadsword, and would have killed him on the spot, if Major Delancey, who accompanied Baird, had not interfered. The blow badly wounded the head of the general, and mangled his left arm the whole length. He and his companions were taken to Jamaica, confined until the next morning in the Presbyterian stone church (which stood in the middle of the present Fulton Street, at the head of Union Hall Street. It was demolished in 1832), then taken to the British camp at Brooklyn, and conveyed to a loathsome cattle transport in Gravesend Bay. A Church at Jamaica, humane British officer procured his removal to a house in the village of New Utrecht, where his arm was amputated at the elbow. Woodhull sent for his wife, with a request that she should bring; with her all the money in her possession, and all she could borrow. This was distributed among his fellow-prisoners. His wife arrived in time to attend him in his last moments, for the unskillful amputation resulted in mortification, and he died in the fifty fourth year of his age. I am indebted to Mr. Onderdonk for the sketch of the old Jamaica church. With him 1 visited New Utrecht (1850) to make a drawing of the house wherein General Woodhull died. It had just been demolished, and a modern house placed on its site by the owner, Mr. Barent Wyckoff. To the patriotism and artistic skill of Miss C. Lott, living near, I am indebted for the sketch of that venerated edifice, probably the first house erected in that town. It was of stone, covered with red tiles, and answered the description of a dwelling erected in 1658, by De Sille, the attorney general of the province.—See Doc. Hist, of New York, i., 634. The New House in which Woodhull died. Utrecht church, which stood near, was of octagon form like one at Jamaica. The weather cock from its steeple now graces the barn of Mr. Lott, and the gilt dove from the pulpit sounding-board is perched upon the roof of his well.
Situation of the Two Armies.—Council of War.—Retreat of the Americans to New York.
chief had crossed from New York early in the morning, and had witnessed the destruction of some of his finest troops, without ability to send them aid except at the peril of the safety of the camp or of the city, and his whole army. Ignorant of his real strength, Howe dared not attempt an assault, and Washington had time to conceive and execute measures for the safety of his troops.
The morning of the twenty-eighthAugust 1776dawned drearily. Heavy masses of vapor rolled up from the sea, and at ten o'clock, when the British cannonade commenced, a fine mist was falling. Although half dead with fatigue, the Americans had slumbered little, for it was a night of fearful anxiety to them. At five in the morning, General Mifflin, who had come down from King's Bridge and Fort Washington with the regiments of Shee, Magaw, and Glover, a thousand strong, in obedience to an order sent the day before, crossed the East River, and took post at the Wallabout. The outposts of the patriots were immediately strengthened, and during the rainy day which succeeded there were frequent skirmishes. Rain fell copiously during the afternoon, and that night the Americans, possessing neither tents nor barracks, suffered dreadfully. A heavy fog fell upon the hostile camps at midnight, and all the next dayAugust 29it hung like a funeral pall over that sanguinary battle-field. Toward evening, while Adjutant-general Reed, accompanied by Mifflin and Colonel Grayson, were reconnoitering near Red Hook, a light breeze arose and gently lifted the fog from Staten Island. There they beheld the British fleet lying within the Narrows, and boats passing rapidly from ship to ship, in evident preparation for a movement toward the city. Reed hastened to the camp with the information, and at five o'clock that evening the commander-in-chief held a council of war. * An evacuation of Long Island, and a retreat to New York, was the unanimous resolve of the council. Colonel Glover, whose regiment was composed chiefly of sailors and fishermen from Marblehead and vicinity, ** was ordered to collect and man boats for the purpose, and General M'Dougal was directed to superintend the embarkation. The fog still rested heavily upon the island, the harbor, and the adjacent city, like a shield of the Almighty to cover the patriots from the peril of discovery. Although lying within a few hundred yards of the American lines, the enemy had no suspicion of the movement. ***
At eight o'clock in the evening the patriot regiments were silently paraded, the soldiers ignorant of the intent; but, owing to delay on account of unfavorable wind, and some confusion in orders, it was near midnight when the embarkation commenced at the Ferry Stairs, foot of Fulton Street, Brooklyn. For six hours those fishermen-soldiers plied their muffled oars; and boat after boat, filled with the champions of freedom, touched at the various wharves from Fulton Ferry to Whitehall, and left their precious burdens. At six in the morning, nine thousand men, with their baggage and munitions, except heavy artillery, had crossed. Mifflin, with his Pennsylvania battalions and the remains of the regiments of Smallwood and Haslet, formed the covering party, and Washington and his staff, who had been in the saddle all night, remained until the last company had embarked. **** At dawn
* The council was held in the stone Dutch church (20), which stood near the junction of the present Fulton and Flatbush Avenues. This church was designated in the order for the evening as an alarm post during the night, where they might rendezvous, in the event of the movement being discovered by the British. The officers present at the council were Washington, Putnam, Spencer, Miffin, M'Dougal, Parsons, John Morin Scott, Wadsworth, and Fellows.—See Life, &c., of President Reed, i., 417.
** The uniform of these men, until they were attached to the Continental line, consisted of blue round jackets and trowsers, trimmed with leather buttons. They were about five hundred in number.
*** A late English author complains bitterly of the apathy of the British general on this occasion. He says, his troops "kept digging their trenches on one side, while Washington was smuggling his forces out on the other, and ferrying them over the East River to the city of New York.... The high-feeding English general slept on, and his brother the admiral (Lord Howe), though not so apt to doze, did not move a single ship or boat, and was to all appearance unconscious of what was going on."—Pict. Hist, of the Reign of George the Third, i., 273. Notwithstanding his want of energy on this occasion, General Howe received the honors of knighthood from his king for this victory. The ceremony was performed by Knyp-hansen, Clinton, and Robertson, in November, 1776.
**** In his dispatches to the president of Congress, Washington said that he had scarcely been out of the lines from the twenty-seventh till the morning of the evacuation, and forty-eight hours preceding that had hardly been off his horse and never closed his eyes. Yet a popular English author of our day (see Pict. Hist, of the Reign of George the Third, i., 273) mendaciously says, "Washington kept his person safe in New York."
British first aware of the Retreat.—Condition of the Army.—Disposition of the British Army.
the fog lifted from the city, but remained dark and dreary upon the deserted camp and the serried ranks of the foe, until the last boat left the Long Island shore. Surely, if "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," in the time of Deborah, the wings of the Cherubim of Mercy and Hope were over the Americans on this occasion.
Intelligence of this movement reached the British commander-in-chicf at half past four in the morning. Cautiously Captain Montressor and a small party climbed the embankments of Fort Putnam and were certified of the fact. * It was too late for successful pursuit, for when battalion after battalion were called to arms, and a troop of horsemen sped toward the East River, the last boat was beyond pistol shot; and as the fog rolled away and the sunlight burst upon the scene, the Union flag was waving over the motley host of Continentals and militia marching toward the hills of Rutgers' farm, beyond the present Catharine Street. ** Howe was greatly mortified by the event, for he felt certain that his prey could not escape his meshes.
Although the American army was safe in New York, yet sectional feelings, want of discipline, general insubordination of inferior officers and men, and prevailing immorality, appeared ominous of great evils. Never was the hopeful mind of Washington more clouded with doubts than when he wrote his dispatches to the president of Congress, in the month of September.1776
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Those dispatches and the known perils which menaced the effort for independence led to the establishment of a permanent army. ***
On the evacuation of Long Island, the British took possession of the American works, and, leaving some English and Hessian troops to garrison them, Howe posted the remainder of his army at Bushwick, Newtown, Hell Gate, and Flushing.
Howe made his head-quarters at a house in Newtown (yet standing), now the property of Augustus Bretonnier, and there, on the third of September, he wrote his dispatch, concerning the battle, to British ministry. On the thirtieth,August, 1776Admiral Howe sailed up the bay with his fleet and anchored near Governor's Island, within cannon-shot of the city. During the night, after the battle, a forty-gun ship had passed the batteries and anchored in Turtle Bay, somewhat damaged by round shot from Burnt Mill or Stuyvesant's Point, the site of the Novelty Iron-works. **** Other vessels went around Long Island, and passed into the East River from the Sound, and on the third of September the whole British land force was upon Long Island, except four thousand men left upon Staten Island to awe the patriots of New Jersey. A blow was evidently in preparation for the republican army in the city. Perceiving it, Washington made arrangements for evacuating New York, if necessary. (v)
* Onderdonk (ii., 131) says that a Mrs. Rapelye, living near the ferry, sent her servant to inform the British of the retreat. The negro was arrested by a Hessian guard, who could not understand a word that he uttered. He was detained until morning, when he was taken to head-quarters, and revealed the seeret, but too late.
** A cannonade was opened upon the pursuers from Waterbery's battery, where Catharine Market now stands.
*** See page 225. In his letter of the second of September, Washington evidently foresaw his inability to retain his position in the city of New York. He asked the question, "If we should be obliged to abandon the town, ought it to stand as winter quarters for the enemy?" and added, "If Congress, therefore, should resolve upon the destruction of it, the resolution should be a profound secret, as a knowledge of it will make a capital change in their plans." General Greene and other military men, and John Jay and several leading civilians, were in favor of destroying New York. But Congress, by resolution of the third of September, ordered otherwise, because they hoped to regain it if it should be lost.—See Journal, ii., 321.
**** Washington sent Major Crane of the artillery to annoy her. With two guns, upon the high bank at Forty-sixth Street, he cannonaded her until she was obliged to take shelter in the channel east of Blackwell's Island.
* (v) On the approach of the fleet, the little garrison on Governor's Island and at Red Hook withdrew to New York. One man at Governor's Island lost an arm by a ball from a British ship, just as he was embarking.*
Howe's proposition for a Conference.—Meeting with a Committee of Congress.—Bushnell's "Marine Turtle" or Torpedo.
Lord Howe now offered the olive-branch as a commissioner to treat for peace, not doubting the result of the late battle to be favorable to success.
General Sullivan and Lord Stirling were both prisoners on board his flag-ship, the Eagle.
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The former was paroled, * and sent with a verbal message from Howe to the Continental Congress, proposing an informal conference with persons whom that body might appoint. Impressed with the belief that Lord Howe possessed more ample powers than Parliament expressed in his appointment, Congress consented to a conference, after debating the subject four days. A committee, composed of three members of that body, was appointed, and the conference was heldSept. 11, 1776at the house of Captain Billop, formerly of the British navy, situated upon the high shore of Staten Island, opposite Perth Amboy. ** The event was barren of expected fruit, yet it convinced the Americans
* Both officers were exchanged soon afterward, Sullivan for General Prescott, captured nine months before (see vol. i., page 181), and Lord Stirling for Governor Brown, of Providence Island, who had been captured by Commodore Hopkins. Lord Stirling was exchanged within a month after he was made prisoner.
** The committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge. When they reached Perth Amboy, they found the barge of Lord Howe in waiting for them, with a British officer who was left as a hostage! The meeting was friendly, and Lord Howe, who was personally acquainted with Franklin, freely expressed to that statesman his abhorrence of the war, and his sincere personal desire for peace. * The whole interview was distinguished by courtesy and good feeling. Howe informed the committee that he would not recognize them as members of Congress, but as private gentlemen, and that the independence of the colonies could not be considered for a moment They told him he might call them what he pleased, they were nevertheless representatives of a free and independent people, and would entertain no proposition which did not recognize the independence of the colonies. The gulf between them was evidently impassable, and the conference was soon terminated, for Howe had nothing acceptable to offer. He expressed his regret because of his obligation now to prosecute the war. Franklin assured him that the Americans would endeavor to lessen the pain he might feel on their account by taking good care of themselves. Thus ended the conference. * In the third volume of the collected Writings of John Adams may be found an interesting sketch from the pen of that patriot, describing the events of a night passed in bed with Dr. Franklin at New Brunswick, on the night preceding this conference.
* It was while the Eagle laid near Governor's Island that an attempt was made to destroy her by an "infernal machine," called a "Marine Turtle," invented by a mechanic of Saybrook, Connecticut, named Bushnell. Washington approved of the machine, on examination, and desired General Parsons to select a competent man to attempt the hazardous enterprise. The machine was constructed so as to contain a living man, and to be navigated at will under water. A small magazine of gunpowder, so arranged as to be secured to a ship's bottom, could be carried with it. This magazine was furnished with clockwork, constructed so as to operate a spring and communicate a blow to detonating powder, and ignite the gunpowder of the magazine. The motion of this clock-work was sufficiently slow to allow the submarine operator to escape to a safe distance, after securing the magazine to a ship's bottom. General Parsons selected a daring young man, named Ezra Lee. He entered the water at Whitehall, at midnight on the sixth of September. Washington and a few officers watched anxiously until dawn for a result, but the calm waters of the bay were unruffled, and it was believed that the young man had perished. Just at dawn some barges were seen putting off from Governor's Island toward an object near the Eagle, and suddenly to turn and pull for shore. In a few moments a column of water ascended a few yards from the Eagle, the cables of the British ships were instantly cut, and they went down the Bay with the ebbing tide, in great confusion. Lee had been under the Eagle two hours, trying in vain to penetrate the thick copper on her bottom. He could hear the sentinels above, and when they felt the shock of his "Turtle" striking against the bottom, they expressed a belief that a floating log had passed by. He visited other ships, but their sheathing was too thick to give him success. He came to the surface at dawn, but, attracting the attention of the bargemen at Governor's Island, he descended, and made for Whitehall against a strong current. He came up out of reach of musket shot, was safely landed, and received the congratulations of the commander-in-chief and his officers. Young Lee was afterward employed by Washington in secret service, and was in the battles at Trenton, Brandywine, and Monmouth. He died at Lyme, Connecticut, on the twenty-ninth of October, 1821, aged seventy-two years.
** Richard, Earl Howe, was born in 1725, and was next in age to his brother, the young Lord Howe, who fell at Tieonderoga in 1758 (see vol. i., page 118). He sailed with Lord Anson to the Pacific as midshipman at the age of fourteen years, and had risen to the rank of admiral at twenty. He was appointed rear-admiral in 1770, and, before coming to America, he was promoted to Vice-admiral of the Blue. After the American war, he was made first Lord of the Admiralty. He commanded the English fleet successfully against the French in 1794. His death occurred in 1799, at the age of seventy-four years. In 1774, Lord Howe and his sister endeavored to draw from Franklin the real intentions of the Americans. The philosopher was invited to spend Christmas at the house of the lady, and it was supposed that in the course of indulgence in wine, chess, and other socialities, he would drop the reserve of the statesman and be incautiously communicative. The arts of the lady were unavailing, and they were no wiser on the question when Franklin left than when he came.
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** William Howe, brother of the earl, succeeded General Gage in the chief command of the British forces in America, and assumed his duties at Boston in 1775. He commanded at the attack on Breed's Hill, and from that time until the spring of 1778, he mismanaged military affairs in America. He was then succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton, and with his brother, the admiral, returned to England. He is represented as a good-natured, indolent man—"the most indolent of mortals,' said General Lee, "and never took pains to examine the merits or demerits of the cause in which he was engaged."
Evacuation of the City by the Americans.—Washington's Quarters.—Captain Hale.—Beekman's Green-house.
that Britain had determined upon the absolute submission of the colonies.
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This conviction increased the zeal of the patriots, and planted the standard of resistance firmer than before.
At a council of war held on the seventh,Sept. 1776a majority of officers were in favor of retaining the city; but on the twelfth, another council, with only three dissenting voices (Heath, Spencer, and Clinton), resolved on an evacuation.
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The movement was immediately commenced, under the general superintendence of Colonel Glover. The sick were taken to New Jersey, and the public stores were conveyed to Dobbs's Ferry, twenty miles from the city. The main body of the army moved toward Mount Washington and King's Bridge on the thirteenth, accompanied by a large number of Whigs and their families and effects. * A rear-guard of four thousand men, under Putnam, was left in the city, with orders to follow, if necessary, and on the sixteenth Washington made his head-quarters at the deserted mansion of Colonel Roger Morris, ** on the
* Washington made the house ol Robert Murray, on Murray Hill (see page 788), his quarters on the fourteenth, and on the fifteenth he was at Mott's tavern, now the properly of Mr. Penlz, near One hundred and Forty-third Street and Eighth Avenue. It was at Murray's house that Captain Nathan Hale received his secret instructions for the expedition which cost him his life. *
** This elegant mansion is yet standing and unaltered, upon the high bank of the Harlem River, at One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Street, a little below the High Bridge of the Croton Aqueduct. Its situation is one of the most picturesque on the island, commanding a fine view of the Harlem River and village, Long Island Sound, Flushing, and Astoria, with the green fields of Long Island beyond. Below are seen the plains of
* The commissioners immediately afterward issued a proclamation similar in character to the one sent out in July. This proclamation, following the disasters upon Long Island, had great effect, and many timid Americans availed themselves of the supposed advantages of compliance. In the city of New York more than nine hundred persons, by petition to the commissioners, dated sixteenth of October, declared their allegiance to the British government. To counteract this, in a degree, Congress, on the twenty-first, provided an oath of allegiance to the American government.
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** Anxious to know the exact condition and intentions of the British on Long Island, Washington called a council of officers, when it was determined to send a spy into their camp. Colonel Knowlton, who commanded a choice regiment called Congress's Own, was directed to select a competent man from his corps. Captain Nathan Hale, of Coventry, Connecticut, volunteered for the service, and, bearing instructions from Washington to the commanders of all-American armed vessels to convey him whithersoever he might desire to go, he crossed the Sound to Huntington (some say to Oyster Bay), and made his way to the British camp at Brooklyn and vicinity. There he made sketches and notes, and, unsuspected, returned to Huntington with valuable information. There he was recognized and exposed (tradition says by a Tory relative), and was taken immediately to Howe's head quarters at Beekman's house, at Turtle Bay. He was confined in the green house of the garden during the night of the twenty-first of September, and the next morning, without even the form of a regular trial, was delivered to Cunningham, the brutal provost marshal, to be executed as a spy. He was treated with great inhumanity by that monster. The services of a clergyman and the use of a Bible were denied him, and even the letters which he had been permitted by Howe to write to his mother and sisters during the night, were destroyed. He was hanged upon an apple-tree in Rutgers' Orchard, near the present intersection of East Broadway and Market Streets. His last words were, "I only regret that I have but one life to give to my country!" His body was buried beneath the gibbet-tree. The name of this youthful patriot martyr appears luminous upon the pages of our country's history, and the grateful citizens of his native town have erected a handsome monument to his memory there. I made the above sketch of the green-house a few days before it fell, with all the glories of the beautiful garden of the Beekman mansion, at the touch of the street commissioner, in July, 1852. Its locality is now in the center of Fifty-second Street, a little east of First Avenue. It was erected, with the mansion delineated on page 817, in 1764. I am indebted to the Honorable James W. Beekman, the present owner of the grounds, for a copy of a curious document preserved among the family papers. It is a memorandum, kept by the gardener of James Beekman (the original proprietor); during the war, showing the time that several British officers, in succession, made the house their head-quarters. The following is a copy, with the heading by the pen of Beekman: "At the undermentioned time my country seat was occupied by the following generals" [the gardener's report]: "General Howe commenced fifteenth of September, 1776—seven and a half months. Commissary Loring the first of May, 1777—one year and five months. General Clinton the twentieth of October, 1778—three years and six months. General Robison [Robertson] May the first, 1782—eleven and a half months. Mr. Beekman the sixteenth of April, 1783—two months. General Carleton the sixteenth of June, 1783, to the evacuation, is five months—in the whole, is seven years one and a half months."—For Hale's capture and death, see Onderdonk's Revolutionary Incidents, ii" 48, 53
Preparation to invade New York.—Revolutionary Fortifications on the north part of the Island.
heights of Harlem River, about ten miles from the city. Every muscle and implement was now put in vigorous action, and before the British had taken possession of the city the Americans were quite strongly intrenched. *
Howe now prepared to invade the island and take possession of the city of New York. Large detachments were sent in boats from Hallet's Point to occupy Buchanan's and Moutressor's (now Ward's and Randall's) Islands, at the mouth of the Harlem River, and early on Sunday morning the fifteenth.
Sir Henry Clinton, with four thousand men, crossed the river in flat bottomed boats from the mouth of Newtown Creek, and landed at Kip's Bay (foot of Thirty-fourth
* At Turtle Bay, Horn's Hook, Fort Washington and the heights in the vicinity, on the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, and near King's Bridge, traces of these fortifications may yet be seen. *
* The Americans cast up a redoubt at Turtle Bay, on the East River, between Forty-fourth and Forty sixth Streets; a breastwork at the Shot Tower, Fifty-fourth Street; another at the foot of Seventy-fourth Street; a third at the foot of Eighty-fifth, near Hell Gate Ferry; and a strong work called Thompson's Battery, upon Horn's Ilook (now a beautifully shaded grassy point), at Eighty-ninth Street. This redoubt commanded the mouth of Harlem River and the narrow channel at Hell Gate. They also built a small work upon Snake Hill (now Mount Morris, in Mount Morris Square), near Harlem, and a line of breastworks near the Harlem River, extending from One hundred and Thirty-sixth Street to Bussing's Point, near M'Comb's Dam. Upon each aide of "Harlem Cove," at Manhattanville, a battery was constructed (One hundred and Thirty-first and One hundred and Thirty-third Streets), and along the central hills whereon the Convent of the Sacred Heart stands with a line of works extending to One hundred and Fiftieth Street. These were small batteries, without connecting breast-works, and overlooked Harlem River. From near "The Grange" (the country residence of General Hamilton, yet standing), in the vicinity of One hundred and Fifty-first Street, was a line of intrenchments, with three batteries and abatis extending to the Hudson, a distance ot almost a mile. The batteries of this line were upon three eminences. Almost upon the line of One hundred and Sixty-first and One hundred and Sixty-second Streets, was another line, with three batteries and abatis. These formed the "double lines of intrenchments," mentioned in the histories. The quite prominent outlines of a redoubt on the lofty bank of the Harlem River, at the foot of One hundred and Fifty-sixth Street, were pointed out to me by Henry O'Reilly, Esq., who resides near. From this redoubt, down the steep hill to the cove where Colonel Stirling landed (see page 827), the old road is yet (1852) open and passable. From Colonel Morris's (Madame Jumel's) house was a line of shallow intrenchments to the North River, with a single battery upon the eminence above the residence of the late Mr. Audobon the ornithologist, a little north of Trinity Cemetery. Upon the high west bank of the Harlem, yet rough and wooded, were two breast works. These the British afterward strengthened, and called it Fort George. This was between One hundred and Ninety-second and One hundred and Ninety-sixth Streets. On the King's Bridge road below, at Two hundred and Sixth Street, a strong four-gun battery was erected.