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** Redoubts and batteries were constructed at eligible points along the East River to Harlem, and along the Hudson to King's Bridge; also upon Governor's Island, Red Hook, Brooklyn Heights, and Paulus's Hook. * Fort George with its dependencies, on the site of ancient Fort Amsterdam, was the principal military work upon the island. It had, when Washington came into the city, two twelve-pounders and four thirty-two-pounders, though capable of mounting sixty cannons. Connected with it was the Grand Battery, with thirteen thirty-two pounders, one twenty-four, three eighteen's, two two's, and one brass and three iron mortars. This was enlarged after the British took possession, to a capacity for ninety-four guns. This work was in the vicinity of the present flag-staff upon the Battery. A little eastward of it, at the South Ferry landing, was the Whitehall Battery, with two thirty-two pounders. From this point to Corlaer's Ilook, along the East River, several works were constructed. There was a battery of five guns upon Tenyck's Wharf, at Coenties Slip, and upon Brooklyn Heights opposite, Fort Stirling, a battery with eight guns, was constructed. It was between the present Hicks and Clinton Streets, a little northeastward of Pierrepont Street. At Old Coffee-house, Fly, Burling's, Beekman's, and Peek Slips, and at the Exchange, foot of Broad Street, breast-works were thrown up. There was also a barrier with two guns across Broadway, just above the Bowling Green. At "the ship-yards," on the site of the present Catharine Market, was an irregular work, called Waterbery's Battery, having seven guns. A larger work was on Rutgers' first hill (a little eastward of the Jews' burying-ground), at the intersection of Market and Madison Streets. It was called Badlam's Battery, and mounted eight guns. Another small work, of horse-shoe form, was on a high bank near the water, in Pike Street, between Cherry and Monroe Streets, with a breast work on the water's edge. Here General Spencer was encamped, and this was called Spencer's Redoubt. It had two twelve-pounders. On Rutgers' second hill, between Henry and Madison, Clinton and Monroe Streets, was a star redoubt, embrasured for twelve guns. This was connected by an irregular line of works, extending to a strong battery called Crown Point, at Corlaer's Hook, situated upon the site of the present Allaire Works. Eastward of this, upon Burnt Mill Point, was a battery, on the site of the Novelty Iron Works. From Crown Point was a line of intrenchments extending to a strong redoubt, of circular form, mounting eight heavy pieces, and called Fort Pitt. It was upon the brow of a hill at the intersection of Grand and Pitt Streets. From Fort Pin a series of strong works extended nearly on a line with the present Grand and Broome Streets, to Broadway, and thence, diverging to the northwest, terminated in a redoubt on the brow of a hill, on the borders of a marsh near the intersection of Thompson and Spring Streets, Within this line, upon an eminence called Bayard's Mount, was the largest of all the works, except Fort George and the Grand Battery. This was called Independent Battery, and the Americans named the eminence Bunker Hill. This name was retained until the Collect or Fresh Water Pond, which covered many acres in the vicinity of the Halls of Justice, was filled by digging down the hills around it.
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** The battery on Bunker Hill was upon the space included within the intersections of Center, Mott, Mulberry, Grand, and Broome Streets; and for a long time after the hill was digged down, the brick lining of a well, constructed within the works, stood up like a huge chimney. This battery had nine eight-pounders, four three's, and six royal cohorns and mortars. The first work on the Hudson, after leaving Fort George, was the Oyster Battery in the rear of No. 1 Broadway. It had two thirty-two pounders and three twelve's. Southwest of Trinity Independent Batteky. church, on the high river bank, was a Battery of four guns. West of Greenwich Street ("Greenwich road"), near the water, between Reade and Duane Streets, was the Jersey Battery, with five guns. Along the high river bank a breast-work extended almost to the Vauxhall (see page 788) at the corner of Warren and Greenwich Streets. On Greenwich, between Franklin and North Moore Streets, was the "Air-furnace" and "Brew-house." The former was fortified, and from it a line of intrenchments extended northeast, to the north part of the present St. John's Park, overlooking Lispenard's Meadows. On the river bank, in front of the "Brew-house," was a circular work called the Grenadier's Battery, with three twelve pounders and two mortars From it a line of breast-works extended along the river to Hubert Street. From that point, close along the west side of Greenwich Street, was a line of breast-works, extending to Desbrosses Street. Where Watt Street crosses Greenwich was another small breastwork; at the foot of King Street was another; and from the foot of Clarkson to Barrow was another. Upon the high ground known until within a few years as Richmond Hill, there was quite an extensive line of fortifications, which commanded the river, and the Greenwich and Broadway roads. This line commenced near the junction of Spring and M'Dougal Streets, and, sweeping around near Houston and Hammersley, ended at Variek, near King Street. On the west side of Broadway, near Houston Street, was an eminence on which works were erected; and directly east of them, between Broadway and the Bowery, were four small breast-works, a few rods apart. East of the Bowery, at the intersection of Forsyth and Delancey Streets, was a small circular battery. On the west side of Broadway, near Walker, was an irregular work; and the Hospital on Broadway, fronting Pearl Street), a strong stone building, was fortified. There was also a line of breast-works extending along the East River from the present Dry Dock to Stuyvesant Square; and at Horn's Hook, at the foot of Eighty-ninth Street, was a work ealled Thompson's Battery, with nine guns. I was informed by the venerable Judge Woodhull, of Franklinville, Long Island (now ninety-eight years of age), that when the lines across the island, from the East River toward the Hudson, were constructed, the merchants and other citizens were, pressed into service. It must be remembered that most of the streets here mentioned were not then in existence. Chambers Street up Broadway, Hester Street up the Bowery, and Catharine Street up the East River, were the extreme points to which streets were laid out at the time of the Revolution. Now (1852) the streets and avenues are all opened to Fortieth Street, and some beyond and almost a solid mass of edifices cover the island from river to river below Thirty-second Street. Then the Hospital was quite in the fields, and Greenwich was a country village.
Washington's Conference with Congress.—Preparation for the Defense of New York.—Landing of British Troops.
close of May,May 23he left the troops in command of General Putnam, while he hastened to Philadelphia to confer with Congress respecting the general defense of the colonies.
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The wicked bargain of Great Britain with the German princes for their men was now known, and it was believed that New York was the point where the mercenary vultures would probably strike their first blow. To that point the eyes of all America were now turned. Congress authorized a re-enforcement of thirteen thousand eight hundred militia, to be drawn from New England, New York, * and New Jersey, and provided for the establishment of a flying camp of ten thousand men, to be formed of militia from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The latter were to rendezvous at Amboy, and the accomplished General Mercer was appointed to the command. General Greene took post at Brooklyn, and Superintended the preparation of defenses there. On his return,June 7Washington went to the upper end of the island, and personally aided in the surveys and the arrangement of the plan of Fort Washington and its outworks.
General Howe, who went to Halifax from Boston, arrived at Sandy Hook on the twenty-ninth of June,1776with ships and transports bearing his recruited army, where he was visited by Governor Tryon.
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On the eighth of July he landed nine thousand men upon Staten Island, *** and there awaited the arrival of his brother, Admiral Howe, with English
* John Morin Scott was appointed to the command of the New York troops, with the commission of a brigadier.
** I was informed by the venerable Anna van Antwerp, * about a fortnight before her death, in the autumn of 1851, that Washington made his head-quarters, on first entering the city, at the spacious house (half of which is yet standing at 180 Pearl Street, opposite Cedar Street), delineated in the engraving. The large window, with an arch, toward the right, indicates the center of the original building. It is of brick, stuccoed, and roofed with tiles. There Washington remained until summoned to visit Congress at Philadelphia, toward the last of May. On his return, he went to the Kennedy House, No. 1 Broadway, where he remained until the evacuation in September.
*** The main body of Howe's troops landed near the present quarantine ground, and encamped upon the hills in the vicinity. The fleet had anchored off Vanderventer's point (the telegraph station at the Narrows), and three ships of war and some transports brought the English troops within the Narrows, to the landing-place.—(Howe's Dispatch to Lord George Germaine.) Howe made his head-quarters at the Rose and Crown Tavern, upon the road leading from Stapleton to Richmond, near New Dorp. The house is near the forks of the Richmond and Amboy roads, and overlooks the beautiful level country between it and the sea, two miles distant. It is now (1852) the property of Mr. Leonard Parkinson, of Old Town, Staten Island. The house was built by a Huguenot, one of the first settlers upon that part of the island. When Howe landed, the great body of the people on the island formed a corps of Loyalists, under Tryon, and some of them were in the battle near Brooklyn.
* Mrs. Van Antwerp left the city with her parents when the British took possession, and retired to Tappan, where she was married. They returned to the city after the war, and her husband purchased the lot No. 38 Maiden Lane, where she resided from that time until her death, a period of almost seventy years. Her style of living was that of the Revolution, and all the persuasions of her wealthy children could not lure her from that simplicity and the home of her early years of married life. She arose one morning, sat down by her table, leaned her head upon it, and expired like a waning ember, at the age of ninety-five years. Almost all of the few who knew her half a century ago, had forgotten her.
Plot to destroy Washington.—Declaration of Independence read to the Army.—Destruction of the King's Statue.
regulars and Hessian hirelings. These arrived in the course of a few days, and on the eleventh, Clinton and Parker, with their broken forces, joined them. Another debarkation took place on the twelfth, and there, upon the wooded heights of Staten Island, above Stapleton and Clifton, and upon the English transports, almost thirty thousand men stood ready to fall upon the republicans. * Already the Declaration of Independence had gone abroad; ** the statue of the king in New York had been pulled down, *** and brave men, pledged to the support of the Continental Congress and its measures, were piling fortifications upon every eligible point around the devoted city.
* A plot, originated by Tryon, to murder the American general officers on the arrival of the British, or at best to capture Washington and deliver him to Sir William Howe, was discovered at this time. It was arranged to blow up the magazine, secure the passes to the city, and at one blow deprive the Republicans of their leaders, and by massacre or capture annihilate the "rebel army." Mayor Hicks was one of the conspirators; and from his secure place on board the Duchess of Gordon, Tryon sent money freely to bribe Americans. Two of Washington's Guard were seduced, but the patriotism of a third was proof against their temptations, and he exposed the plot. Hicks, Gilbert Forbes (a gunsmith on Broadway), and about a dozen others, were immediately arrested, and sent prisoners to Connecticut. It was ascertained that about five hundred persons were concerned in the conspiracy. Thomas Hickey, one of the Guard, was hanged on the twenty-seventh of June, 1776. This was the first military execution In New York.—See Spark's Writings of Washington, iii., 438; Force's American Archives, vi., 1064; lb., i. (second series), 117; Game's New York Mercury.
** Washington received the Declaration of Independence on the ninth of July, with instructions to have it read to the army. He immediately issued an order for the several brigades, then in and near the city, to be drawn up at six o'clock that evening, to hear it read by their several commanders or their aids. The brigades were formed in hollow squares on their respective parades. The venerable Zachariah Greene (commonly known as "Parson Greene," the father-in-law of Mr. Thompson, historian of Long Island), yet (1852) living at Hempstead, at the age of ninety-three years, informed me that he belonged to the brigade, then encamped on the "Common," where the City Hall now stands. The hollow square was formed at about the spot where the Park Fountain now is. He says Washington was within the square, on horseback, and that the Declaration was read In a clear voice by one of his aids. When it was concluded, three hearty cheers were given. Holt's Journal for July 11, 1776, says, "In pursuance of the Declaration of Independence, a general jail delivery took place with respect to debtors." Ten days afterward, the people assembled at the City Hall, at the head of Broad Street, to hear the Declaration read. They then took the British arms from over the seat of justice in the court-room, also the arms wrought in stone in front of the building, and the picture of the king in the council chamber, and destroyed them, by fire, in the street. They also ordered the British arms in all the churches in the city to be destroyed. This order seems not to have been obeyed. Those in Trinity church were taken down and carried to New Brunswick by the Reverend Charles Inglis, at the close of the war, and now hang upon the walls of a Protestant Episcopal church in St. John's.
*** The statue of George the Third was equestrian, made of lead, and gilded. It was the workmanship of Wilton, then a celebrated statuary of London, and was the first equestrian effigy of his majesty yet erected. It was placed upon its pedestal, in the center of the Bowling Green, on the twenty-first of August, 1770. On the same evening when the Declaration of Independence was read to the troops in New York, a large concourse of people assembled, pulled down the statue, broke it in pieces, and sent it to be made into bullets. Ebenezer Hazard, in a letter to Gates, referring to the destruction of the king's statue, said, "His troops will probably have melted majesty fired at them." Some of the soldiers appear to have been engaged in the matter, for on the following morning Washington issued an order for them to desist from such riotous acts in future. * The greater portion of the statue was sent to Litchfield, in Connecticut, and there converted into bullets by two daughters and a son of Governor Wolcott, a Mrs. and Miss Marvin, and a Mrs. Beach. According to an account current of the cartridges made from this statue, found among the papers of Governor Wolcott, it appears that it furnished materials for forty-two thousand bullets.
* In a coarse Tory drama, entitled "The Battle of Brooklyn; a farce in two acts, as it was performed on Long Island on Tuesday, the twenty-seventh day of August, 1776, by the representatives of the Tyrants of America assembled, at Philadelphia," published by Rivington, the destruction of the statue is attributed to Washington. A servant girl of Lady Gates is made to say, concerning the chief, "And more, my lady, did he not order the king's statue to be pulled down, and the head cut oft'." Mr. Greene described the statue to me as of the natural size, both horse and man. The horse was poised upon his hinder legs. The king had a crown upon his head; his right hand held the bridle-reins, the left rested upon the handle of a sword. The artist omitted stirrups, and the soldiers often said, in allusion to the fact, "the tyrant ought to ride a hard-trotting horse, without stirrups." Stephens, in his Travels in Greece, &e. (ii., 33), says, that in the house of a Russian major, at Chioff he saw a picture representing the destruction of this statue. The major pledged him in the toast, "Success to Liberty throughout the world."
Effect of the Declaration.—Howe's Letter to Washington.—Commission of the Brothers.—Preparations for Battle.
On the arrival of General Howe at Sandy Hook, the Provincial Congress of New York adjourned to White Plains, and there, on the ninth of July, they reassembled, approved of the Declaration of Independence, and changed the title of the Assembly toConvention of the Representatives of the State of New York.The Declaration, however, offended many influential men, who, though warmly attached to their country, and yearning for a redress of grievances, shuddered at the thought of separation from Great Britain. Some closed their mouths in silence and folded their arms in inaction, while others, like Beverly Robinson, the Delancey's, and men of that character, actively espoused the cause of the king. The patriot army in New York was surrounded by domestic enemies, more to be dreaded than open adversaries, and this fact seemed favorable to the hopes of Howe, that the olive branch would be accepted by the Americans when offered. * He soon perceived that much of loyalty was the child of timidity, and when his proclamations were sent abroad, offering peace only on condition of submission, the missiles proved powerless. Although doubtless desiring peace, he was obliged to draw the sword and sever the leashes of the blood-hounds of war.
On the twelfth of July, the Rose and Phonix ships of war, with their decks guarded by sand-bags, sailed up the bay, and passing the American batteries without serious injury, proceeded up the Hudson to Haverstraw Bay, for the double purpose of keeping open a communication with Carleton, who was endeavoring to make his way southward by Lake Champlain, ** and for furnishing arms to the Tories of West Chester. The vigilant Whigs would not allow their boats to land, and there they remained inactive for three weeks. In the mean while, the belligerent forces were preparing for the inevitable battle. Hulks of vessels were sunk in the channel between Governor's Island *** and the Battery, andchevaux de frisewere formed there under the direction of General Putnam, to prevent the passage of the British vessels up the East River. A large body of troops were concentrated at Brooklyn, under General Greene; Sullivan and his little army hastened from the North; two battalions from Pennsylvania and Maryland, under Smallwood, arrived, and the New York and New England militia flocked to the city by hundreds. On the first of August the American army in and around New York numbered about twenty-seven thousand men,
* General Howe, ami his brother, the admiral, were appointed by Parliament commissioners to treat for peace with the Americans. They were authorized to extend a free pardon to all who should return to their allegiance; to declare penitent towns or colonies exempt from the penalties of non-intercourse; and to offer rewards to those who should render meritorious services in restoring tranquillity. Howe sent proclamations to this effect ashore at Amboy, addressed to the colonial governors, and designed for general circulation among the people. The General Congress denounced it as a scheme to "amuse and disarm the people," and exhorted them to perceive "that the valor alone of their country was to save its liberties." Journal, ii., 260. At about the same time, Colonel Paterson, the British adjutant general, went to New York with a flag, bearing a letter from General Howe, addressed to "George Washington, Esq." this was so addressed because the Briton was unwilling to acknowledge the official character of the "rebel chief." It was a silly movement; Washington penetrated the design, and refused any communication, unless addressed to General Washington. Paterson urged Washington not to be punctilious, pleading the necessity of waving all ceremony, for Howe came to cause the sheathing of swords, it possible. Washington was inflexible, and said, in reference to the commissioners, that they seemed empowered only to grant pardons; that those who had committed no fault needed no pardon, and that the Americans were only defending their rights as British subjects. Paterson returned, and Howe made no further attempts to correspond with "George Washington, Esq." Congress, by resolution, expressed its approval of the course of the commander-in-chief in this matter.
** The chief plan of the campaign of 1776 was for Howe to attack New York and ascend the Hudson, while Carleton should come from Canada and form a junction. This would effectually cut off the Eastern States from the rest of the confederacy. Clinton, in the mean while, was to make war in the Southern States, and the American forces being thus divided, might be easily conquered. Their designs miscarried. Clinton was repulsed at Charleston, Carleton was kept at bay, and Howe did not pass the Highlands.
*** The original name of this island was Nutten. The rents of the land being a perquisite of the colonial governors, it was called Governor's Island. It was held as such perquisite until the close of Governor Clinton's administration. General Johnson, of Brooklyn, informed me that Clinton rented it to Dr. Price, who built a house of entertainment there, and laid out a race-course. Owing to the difficulty of taking race-horses to the island, it was abandoned after two or three years, and the course at Harlem was established.
Disposition of American Detachments.—Kip's Bay.—The Kip Family.
but at least one fourth of them were unfitted by sickness for active duty. Bilious fever prostrated Greene about the middle of August, and Sullivan was placed in command at Brooklyn. A small detachment was ordered to Governor's Island; another was posted at Paulus' Hook, where Jersey City now stands, and General George Clinton, with a body of New York militia, was ordered to West Chester county to oppose the landing of the British on the shores of the Sound, or, in the event of their landing, to prevent their taking possession of the strong post at King's Bridge. Parson's brigade took post at Kip's Bay, * on the East River to watch British vessels if they should enter those waters. Such was the position of the two armies immediately antecedent to the battle near Brooklyn, at the close of August, 1776.
* The family mansion of the Kips, a strong house built of brick imported from Holland, remained near the corner of Second Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, until July, 1850, when it was taken down. A pear-tree near, planted in 1700, bore fruit the present season. The house was built in 1641 by Samuel Kip, who was secretary of the council of New Netherlands, and at the time of its destruction was probably the oldest edifice in the State of New York. The sketch here given is from a painting in possession of the Reverend W. Ingraham Kip, D.D., of Albany, and gives its appearance at the time of the Revolution. The Kip family are among the oldest in this state. Ruloff de Kype (anglicized to Kip after the English took possession of New Netherlands) was the first of the name found in history. He was a native of Bretagne, and was a warm partisan of the Guises in the civil wars between Protestants and Papists in the sixteenth century. On the defeat of his party, he fled to the Low Countries. He afterward joined the army of the Duke of Anjou, and fell in battle near Jarnac. He was buried in a church there, where an altar-tomb was erected to his memory bearing his coat of arms. * His son Ruloff became a Protestant, and settled in Amsterdam. His grandson, Henry, (born in 1576) became an active member of the "Company of Foreign Countries," whieh was organized in 1588 for the purpose of exploring a northeast passage to the Indies. In 1635 he eame to America with his family, but soon returned to Holland. His sons remained, bought large tracts of land, and were active in publie affairs. One of them (Henry) was a member of the first popular Assembly in New Netherlands (see page 783), and married a daughter of De Sille, the attorney general. His brother Jacob bought the land at Kip's Bay, and a third son, Isaac, owned the property which is now the City Hall Park. Nassau Street was called Kip Street. In 1686 one of the family purchased the tract where the village of Rhinebeck, Dutchess county, now stands. It was called "the manor of Kipsburg." A part of this was sold to Henry Beekman, by whose grand-daughter, the mother of Chancellor Livingston, it passed into the Livingston family. At the opening of the Revolution, the Kip family were divided in polities; some held royal commissions, others were stanch Whigs. The proprietors of the Kip's Bay property were strong Whigs, but one of them, Samuel, was induced by Colonel Delancey to take the loyal side. He raised a company of cavalry, principally from his own tenants, joined Delancey, and was active in West Chester county, where, in a skirmish in 1781, he was severely wounded. He lived several years after the war, and suffered great loss of property by confiscation. For several years after the British took possession of York Island, Kip's house was used as head-quarters by officers. There Colonel Williams, of the 80th regiment, was quartered in 1780, and on the day when Andre left the city to meet Arnold, Williams gave a dinner to Sir Henry Clinton and his staff. André was there and shared in the socialities of the hour. It was his last dinner in New York. Such is well authenticated tradition.—See Holgate's American Genealogies, page 109.
* The device was a shield. On one side, occupying a moiety, was a cross. The other moiety was quartered by a strip of gold; above were two griffins, and below an open mailed hand. There were two crests, a game-cock, and a demi-griffin holding a cross: the legend, "Vestigia nulla retrorsum."
Landing of the British.—General De Heister.
"In the year seventy-six came the two noble brothers.
With an army and fleet fit to conquer a world;
And Cornwallis, and Rawdon, and Tarleton, and others—
And murder and rapine on our country were hurl'd."
Yankee Chronology.
"There the old-fashioned colonel galloped through the white infernal
Powder cloud;
And his broad sword was swinging, and his brazen throat was ringing
Trumpet loud:
There the blue bullets flew,
And the trooper jackets redden at the touch of the leaden
Rifle breath;
And rounder, rounder, rounder, roared the iron six-pounder,
Hurling Death!"
Knickerbocker Magazine.
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N Thursday morning, the twenty-second of August, 1776, the British troops under General William Howe landed upon Long Island, in the vicinity of New Utrecht. Four thousand men crossed the ferry from Staten Island, at the Quarantine Ground, to Denyse's strong stone house, where Fort Hamilton now stands, and landed under cover of the guns of the Rainbow, anchored where Fort La Fayette looms up in the center of the Narrows. Some riflemen, under Colonel Edward Hand, posted on the hill above, retired toward Flatbush. An hour afterward, British and Hessian troops poured over the sides of the English ships and transports, and in long rows of boats, directed by Commodore Hotham, five thousand more soldiers landed upon Long Island, in the bow of Gravesend Bay (at a place known as Bath, in front of New Utrecht), under cover of the guns of thePhonix, Rose, * and Greyhound.
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The chief commanders of the English were Sir Henry Clinton, Earls Cornwallis and Percy, and Generals Grant and Sir William Erskine. Count Donop, who was killed at Red Bank in 1777, landed, with some Hessians, with the first division, and on the twenty-fifth,August, 1776the veteran De Heister, ** with Knyphausen, and two Hessian brigades, also landed near New Utrecht. The whole invading force was about ten thousand men well armed, with forty cannons. Lieutenant-colonel Dalrymple remained to keep Staten Island.
* The Rose and Phoenix, after remaining in Haverstraw Bay three weeks, had passed the American batteries and joined the fleet.—See page 802.
** Lieutenant-general De Heister was an old man, and warmly attached to his master, the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel. The long voyage of almost fourteen weeks dispirited him, "and," says Sir George Collier, "his patience and tobacco became exhausted." A sniff of land breeze revived him. "He called for Hock, and swallowed large potations to the health of his friends."
*** This view is from the road on the high shore, a little below Fort Hamilton, looking southeast; the house in the center belonged to Simon Cortelyou, a Tory, during the Revolution, and has not been altered. Gravesend Bay is seen beyond the house, and the distant land is Coney Island beach.
Alarm in New York.—General Putnam.—General John Morin Scott
When this movement of the enemy was known in New York, alarm and confusion prevailed. * Re-enforcements were sent to General Sullivan, then encamped at Brooklyn, and the next day the veteran General Putnam ** was ordered thither by Washington, to take the supreme command there. The military works on Long Island had been constructed under the immediate direction of General Greene, who made himself acquainted with every important point between Hell Gate and the Narrows. Unfortunately, he fell sick, and none knew so well as he the importance of certain passes in the rear of Brooklyn. The chief fortifications were within the limits of the present city, *** while at the passes alluded to
* Many Whig families left the city, and for seven long years of exile they endured privations with heroic fortitude. * Many of their houses were destroyed by fire, and others were ruined by military occupants.
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** Israel Putnam was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on the seventh of January, 1718. He was a vigorous, athletic lad, and in 1739 we find him cultivating land in Pomfret, Connecticut. He was appointed to the command of the first troops raised in Connecticut for the French and Indian war in 1755, in which capacity the reader has met him several times in these volumes. He returned to his farm after the peace, where he remained until he heard of the affair at Lexington. At the head of Connecticut troops, he distinguished himself in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was one of the four major generals appointed by Congress in 1775. His services during the war are mentioned in many portions of this work, and we will not repeat them here. His last military services were performed at West Point and vicinity in 1779, where he was chiefly engaged in strengthening the fortifications. Paralysis of one side impaired the activity of his body, but his mind retained its powers until his death. He lived in retirement after the war, and died at Brooklyn, Windham county, Connecticut, on the twenty-ninth of May, 1790, aged seventy-two years. His remains repose beneath a marble slab in the grave-yard south of the village, upon which is an appropriate inscription.
*** Over all the sites of Revolutionary fortifications, near Brooklyn, the modern city is rapidly spreading. Streets and avenues reticulate the whole area, and it is difficult now to identify the consecrated places.
* I have before me a manuscript letter, written by a daughter of General John Morin Seott, from Elizabethtown, three days after the landing of the British on Long Island, whieh exhibits the alarms and privations to which wealthy families, who had left the city, were subjected. After mentioning their hourly expectation of the landing of the British at Elizabethtown Point, she says: "We have our coach standing before our door every night, and the horses harnessed ready to make our escape, if we have time. We have hardly any clothes to wear: only a second change." Warned by Governor Livingston to leave Elizabethtown, the family of General Scott fled at night to Springfield, in the midst of a terrible thunder-storm. The writer continues: "We were obliged to stop on the road and stay all night, and all the lodging we could get was a dirty bed on the floor. How hard it seems for us, that have always been used to living comfortable!... Papa, with his brigade, has gone over to Long Island, whieh makes us very uneasy. Poor New York! I long to have the hattle over, and yet I dread the consequences." This letter is in the possession of her grandson, Charles S. M'Knight, Esq., of New York.
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* John Morin Scott was an early opponent of British oppression, the coadjutor of Sears, Lamb, Willett, and others. He was a descendant of the baronial family of Scott of Ancram, Teviotdale, Scotland, and was born in New York in 1730. He graduated at Yale College in 1746. He adopted the profession of the law, married Helena Rutgers, of New York, and made that city his field of active usefulness. With William Livingston, of New Jersey, his voice and pen boldly advocated extreme measures, and, because of his ultra Whig principles, the timid ones defeated his election to the General Congress in 1774. He was one of the most active and influential members of the General Committee of New York in 1775, and was a member of the Provincial Congress that year. On the ninth of June, 1776, he was commissioned a brigadier, which office he held until March, 1777. He was with his brigade in the battle of Long Island, and was one of the Council of War called by Washington to decide whether lo fight longer or retreat. He was afterward with General Heath in the lower part of West Chester, but left the service in March, 1777, when he was appointed secretary of the State of New York. He was a member of the General Congress in 1782 and 1783. In 1784 he was elected an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He died on the fourteenth of September of the same year, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. His remains lie in Trinity church-yard with those of his ancestors, close by the railing on Broadway, north of the great entrance-door to the church. I am indebted to John Morin Scott, Esq., of Philadelphia, a grandson of the general, for the materials of this brief sketch.
** This monument is erected to the memory of the Honorable Israel Putnam, Esq., major general in the armies of the United States of America; who was born at Salem, in the Province of Massachusetts, on the seventh day of January, 1718, and died at Brooklyn, in the State of Connecticut, on the twenty-ninth day of May, A.D. 1700. Passenger, if thou art a soldier, go not away till thou hast dropped a tear over the dust of a Hero, who, ever tenderly attentive to the lives and happiness of his men, dared to lead where any one dared to follow. If thou art a patriot, remember with gratitude how much thou and thy country owe to the disinterested and gallant exertions of the patriot who sleeps beneath this marble. If thou art an honest, generous and worthy man, render a sincere and cheerful tribute of respect to a man whose generosity was singular; whose honesty was proverbial; and who, with a slender education, with small advantages, and with powerful friends, raised himself to universal esteem, and to offices of eminent distinction by personal worth, and hy the diligent services of a useful life."
The "Passes."—Miles and Woodhull.—Fortifications near Brooklyn.
breast-works were cast up. These rows to the Jamaica road, at the present East New York, and in broken elevations further on. There were several roads traversing the flat country in the rear of these hills.
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These Colonel Miles, of Pennsylvania, was directed to reconnoiter with his regiment, to watch and report upon the progress of the enemy. To Sullivan was intrusted command of the troops without the lines, assisted by Brigadier-general passes were in a range of hills extending from the Nar—Lord Stirling; General Woodhull (late president of the Provincial Congress), now in arms, was commissioned to deprive the invaders of provisions by removing the live stock to the plains of Hempstead.
The invading army prepared for marching soon after the debarkation. The Hessians, under De Heister, formed the center or main body; the English, under General Grant, composed the left wing, which rested
* By a careful comparison of maps, military plans, and other authorities, with maps of the modern city, I have endeavored to locate the various works. I am satisfied that there will be found no material errors in the statement.
* The first work erected, after fortifying Red Hook and constructing Fort Stirling, on Brooklyn Heights (see page 799), was a redoubt called Fort Putnam, upon a wooded hill near the Wallabout, now known as Fort Greene and Washington Square. This was a redoubt with five guns; and when the trees were felled, it commanded the East River, and the roads approaching Brooklyn from the interior. An intrenchment extended from Fort Putnam northwesterly down the hill to a spring now(1852,) in a tanning yard, with a pump in it, near the intersection of Portland Street and Flushing Avenue. This spring was then on the verge of the Wallabout. From the western side of the fort an intrenehment extended in zigzag course across the Flatbush road, near the junction of Flatbush Avenue and Power Street, to Freek's mill-pond, at the head of Gowanus Creek, near the junction of Second Avenue and Carroll Street. Near the intersection of Nevins and Dean Streets, about half way between Fort Putnam and the mill pond, on the land of Debevoise and Vanbrunt, a redoubt was constructed with five guns, and called Fort Greene.
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* A little eastward of Fort Putnam, near the Jamaica road, was a small redoubt; and upon the slope of Bergen Hill (also ealled Boerums's Hill), opposite Brower's mill, was a small redoubt with four guns. It stood between Smith Street and First Avenue, not far from the termination of Hoyt Street, at Carroll. This is supposed to be Box Fort. It was afterward strengthened by the British while a detachment lay encamped on Bergen Hill. Last year (1851) a friend of the writer picked up arrow heads, and buttons marked "42" (42d Highlanders), on the site of this redoubt. At the head of the tunnel of the Long Island rail way, in the vicinity of Boerum and Atlantic Streets, was a high, conical hill, called Ponkiesbergh and Cobble Hill. A redoubt for three cannons was constructed on the top of this hill, and, from the circumstance that an intrenchment extended spirally from summit to base, it was called Cork-screw Fort.—(See Onderdonk's Revolutionary Incidents of Long Island, ii" 118.) This redoubt remained until 1812, when it was strengthened and ealled Fort Swift. Fort Putnam was strengthened at the same time, and called Fort Greene. The banks then raised on those of the fort of the Revolution were very prominent until the present year (1852), when diluted patriotism and bad taste allowed them to be leveled so as to give the face of Washington Square a smooth appearance. To the eye of a true American there is more beauty in a single mound consecrated by patriotism than in a score of graveled walks trodden by the gay and thoughtless. These several fortifications, with other localities and events mentioned in the account of the battle, will be better understood by reference to the accompanying map, which is a reduced copy of one carefully prepared by Henry Onderdonk, Jr., and published in his valuable collection of Revolutionary Incidents of Long Island. Mr. Onderdonk has thoroughly explored the ground we are considering; and to him, as a cicerone, when visiting the field of conflict, I am much indebted for a knowledge of the various localities.
* Explanation of the Plan.—Figure 1, Gravesend beach, where the British landed; 2, Denyse's (Fort Hamilton); 3, Martense's Lane, along the southern boundary of Greenwood Cemetery, extending from Third Avenue, at the lower end of Gowanus Bay, to the Flatbush and New Utrecht road; 4, Red Lion tavern; 5, Grant's forces; 6, Stirling's forces; 7, Stirling's last encounter; 8, Cortelyou's house; 9, Port or Mill road; 10, Flatbush pass; 11, Americans retreating across the creek; 12, Party of Americans covering the retreat; 13, Box Fort; 1-1, Brower's mill; 15, Fort Greene, near the mill-pond; 16, Cork-screw Fort; 17, Baker's tavern, near the junction of Fulton and Flatbush Avenues; 18, British redoubt, cast up after the battle; 19, Fort Putnam, now Fort Greene; 20, Stone church, where Washington held a council of war; 21, Fort Stirling; 22, The ferry, foot of Fulton Street; 23, Fort at Red Hook; 24, Corlaer's Hook; 25, Battery, foot of Catharine Street; 20, Panlus' Hook; 27, Governor's Island; 28, The Narrows; 29, Vandeventer's Point; 30, Shoemaker's Bridge, near New Lots. Bennet's Cove is near figure 4, where, it is said, three thousand British troops landed on the morning of the twenty-seventh of August, the day of the battle, a a, track of the left wing of the British army, under the immediate command of General Howe, from Flatlands, by way of the present East New York (Howard's half-way house) to Brooklyn. While in possession of New York and vicinity, the British so strengthened Fort Stirling, on Brooklyn Heights, that it assumed the character of a regular fortification, with four bastions, similar to Fort George, in New York. They also east up a line of intrenchments along the brow of the hill from the Heights to the present Navy Yard.
March of the British.—Advantage gained.—Advance of Grant toward Gowanus.
on New York Bay; and the right wing, designed for the principal performance in the drama about to be opened, was composed of choice battalions, under the command of Clinton, Cornwallis, and Percy, accompanied by Howe, the commander-in-chief. While Grant and De Heister were diverting the Americans on the left and center, the right was to make a circuitous march by the way of Flatlands, to secure the roads and passes between that village and Jamaica, and to gain the American left, if possible. This division, under the general command of Clinton, moved from Flatlands on the evening of the twenty-sixth,August, 1776and, guided by a Tory, passed the narrow causeway, over a marsh near the scattered village of New Lots, * called Shoemaker's Bridge. At two o'clock in the morning they gained the high wooded hills within half a mile of the present village of East New York, unobserved by Colonel Miles and the American patroles, except some subaltern officers on horseback, whom they captured. Informed that the Jamaica road was unguarded, Clinton hastened to secure the pass, and before daylight that important post and the Bedford pass ** were in his possession, and yet General Sullivan was ignorant of the departure of the enemy from Flatlands. Expecting an attack upon his right, in the vicinity of Gowanus, all his vigilance seems to have been turned in that direction, and he did not send fresh scouts in the direction of Jamaica. The advantage thus gained by Clinton decided the fortunes of the day.
While the British right wing was gaining this vantage ground, General Grant, with the left, composed of two brigades, one regiment, and a battalion of New York Loyalists raised by Tryon, made a forward movement toward Brooklyn, along the coast road, *** by way of Martense's Lane—"the road from Flatbush to the Red Lion" (4) mentioned by Lord Stirling. The guard at the lower pass (3) gave the alarm, and at three o'clock in the morningAugust 27Putnam detached Lord Stirling, **** with Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland regiments, commanded by Atlee, Haslet, and Smallwood, to oppose Grant. The militia guard at Martense's Lane were driven back by Grant to the hills of Greenwood Cemetery, a little north of Sylvan Water, where they were rallied by Parsons, and maintained a conflict until the arrival of Stirling (v) at daybreak, with fifteen hundred men.
* New Lots village is about a mile south of the rail-way station at East New York, upon the same plain. The morass at Shoemaker's Bridge (30 on map, page 806) is now only a wet swale, with a small sluggish stream, and presents none of the difficulties of passage of former days. It is said that at the time in question a single regiment might have kept the whole British force at bay at Shoemaker's Bridge.
** There were four important passes through the hills which should have been well guarded, namely, at Martense's Lane (3), on the southern border of Greenwood Cemetery; the Flatbush pass, at the junction of the present Brooklyn and Flatbush turnpike and the Coney Island Plank road; the Bedford pass, about half a mile northward of the junction of the Flatbush and Bedford roads; and the Jamaica pass, a short distance from East New York, on the road to Williamsburgh, just at the entrance to the Cemetery of the Evergreens. At East New York, "Howard's half-way house" of the Revolution is yet standing, though mueh altered. William Howard, a son of the Whig tavern-keeper, is yet (1852) living there, at the age of ninety. He told me that he remembers well seeing the British approaching from New Lots, and then taking his father a prisoner and compelling him to show them the Jamaica pass, and the best route over the hills east of it, to the open country toward Brooklyn. We sat in the room in which he was born eighty-nine years before.
*** It must be remembered that the present road along the verge of the high bank from Yellow Hook to Gowanus did not exist. The "coast road" was on the slopes further inland, and terminated at Martense's Lane.
**** Lord Stirling was in the English House of Commons on the seeond of February, 1775, when this same General Grant declared in debate that the Americans "could not fight," and that he would undertake to march from one end of the Continent to the other with five thousand men."—Duer's Life of Lord Stirling, 162; Par. Reg., i., 135.
* (v) William Alexander, earl of Stirling, was born in the eity of New York in 1726. His father, James Alexander, was a native of Scotland, and took refuge in America in 1716, after an active espousal of the ling took position upon the slopes a little northwest of "Battle Hill," in Greenwood, and Atlee ambuscaded in the woods on the left of Martense's Lane, near the Firemen's Monucause of the pretender, in the rebellion the previous year. His mother was the widow of David Provoost, better known in the city of New York, a little more than a century ago, as "Ready-money Provoost."* Young Alexander joined the army during a portion of the French and Indian war, and was aid-de-camp and secretary to General Shirley. He accompanied that officer to England in 1755, and while there he made the acquaintance of some of the leading statesmen of the time. By the advice of many of them, he instituted legal proceedings to obtain the title of Earl of Stirling, to which his father was heir presumptive when he left Scotland" Although he did not obtain a legal recognition of the title, his right to it was generally conceded, and from that time he was addressed as Earl of Stirling. He returned to America in 1761, and soon afterward married the daughter of Philip Livingston (the second lord of the manor), a sister of Governor Livingston, of New Jersey, and built a fine mansion (yet standing) at Baskenridge, in that state. He was a member of the Provincial Council of New Jersey for several years. In 1775, the Provincial Convention of New Jersey appointed him colonel of the first regiment of militia, and in March, 1776. the Continental Congress gave him the commission of brigadier. Lee left him in command at New York in April. He was conspicuous in the battle near Brooklyn in August, and in February ensuing Congress appointed him a major general. He performed varied and active service until the summer of 1781, when he was ordered to the command of the Northern army, his head-quarters at Albany.