Nicholas – Page 2 – The Revolutionary War on Staten Island

May 31, 2017August 8, 2017

British Army Landing at Staten Island

With the Halifax fleet collected at Sandy Hook, General Howe decided to begin his initial operations. The first object was to obtain a foothold on Staten Island. That place was large enough for the British Army to secure itself, was mostly rural, and the population was very conservative and pro-British. It was largely undefended. There were four companies of militia, but again, these were mostly Tory, and could be expected not to fight.


ROYAL NAVY SHIPS IN THE STATEN ISLAND OPERATIONS, 1-4 JULY 1776 Vice Admiral of the Blue Molyneaux Shuldham, Chatham
Name	Rate	Class	Guns	Men	Tons	Commander
Asia	3rd	Ship of the line	64	500	1364	Captain George Vandeput
Chatham	4th	50 gun ship	50	370	1067	Captain John Raynor Vadm Molyneux Shuldham
Centurion	4th	50 gun ship	50	350	1044	Captain Richard Brathwaite
Phoenix	5th	Frigate	44	280	842	Captain Hyde Parker, Jr.
Greyhound	6th	Frigate	28	200	617	Captain Archibald Dickson
Rose	6th	Frigate	20	160	449	Captain James Wallace
Swan		Sloop	14	125	300	Commander James Ayscough
Senegal		Sloop	14	125	292	Commander Roger Curtis
Tryal		Schooner				Lieutenant John Brown

The morning of 1 July dawned foggy, with the wind at the southeast, and was warm, with the air temperature at 78° at noon.[1] HM Sloop Swan, at Sandy Hook, reported the day as being foggy with light winds. At 1600 Vice Admiral Shuldham made the signal to sail and the fleet got underway.[2] The fleet got underway with a thunder storm and hard rain playing upon the decks. At 1900 the fleet anchored in Gravesend Bay.[3] Left behind at Sandy Hook were Swan, the Mercury packet and four transports.[4]

The Americans, seeing the British move and knowing that a landing was imminent, invented a charming story of a landing on Long Island. According to the New-York Journal, 1000 of the British troops landed on Long Island on the west side, but were confronted by 1000 rifle-men. After a time the British retreated, gave the riflemen three huzzas, which was returned by the Americans with the Indian war whoop.[5] There was however, no landing on 1 July.

There was an American detachment on Staten Island under Captain Ephraim Manning. Manning’s job was to assist in collecting the stock on the island and evacuate the cattle, pigs and sheep and goats to New Jersey.[6]

The next day was much like the one before: warm[7] with light breezes in the morning, followed by a windy afternoon with rain squalls and lightening.[8] Between 0400[9] and 0700 the fleet got underway with a division of transports.[10] The British soon ran into difficulties. The Senegal got through The Narrows but the wind tapered off and the ebb tide came on. She drifted to the northwest. At 1200 Senegal bore down to the fleet with the division of transports.[11] According to Greyhound, at 1000 the fleet began to pass through The Narrows. The city of New York was visible in the distance through intermittent rain. About 1300 the ebb tide “made out strong against us.” Greyhound anchored near Staten Island. Part of the fleet was now south of The Narrows and part north of that passage.[12] Rose reported that she passed The Narrows at 1130 and anchored off the northern point of Staten Island, along with the Phoenix and Greyhound. Rose’s log states that “the Tide of Ebb making strong the Fleet could not get through the Narrows.”[13] Phoenix anchored in The Narrows about 1200, with no further comment.[14]

In the afternoon HM Frigate Phoenix made the signal for the fleet to get underway. Phoenix, HM Frigates Rose and Greyhound, HM Sloop Senegal, three armed vessels and a division of transports got under way, to pass through The Narrows between Staten Island and Long Island.[15] A witness aboard the Chatham reported that “the signal was made for the whole fleet to weigh, when the Chatham, passing through the centre, was cheered by every ship. I do not remember seeing a more pleasing sight, which the fineness of the day greatly contributed to, more particularly as we expected we were immediately going to the attack of New York . . .”[16]

With the fleet coming up to The Narrows the flood tide came to. The Centurion manned and armed her flatboats and sent them off to the various transports to land the troops. The boats returned at 2230.[17] Senegal reported that the transports got under way at 1700. At 2000 she anchored off the northeast point of Staten Island and began to land the troops aboard, a task that was completed at 2200. The transports had still not passed The Narrows.[18] Greyhound sailed at 1630, moving closer into the shore. At 1900 she began landing the troops aboard.[19] Rose sailed at 1600 and ran in close to the watering place. At 2100 she made out the Admiral’s signal to land the Grenadiers and Light Infantry. This was done by 2200 and Rose moved further out away from the shore.[20]

Captain Manning’s small party was aware of this activity. Manning consulted his officers and they unanimously agreed it was time to depart Staten Island, because “the Inhabitants being unfriendly & the Enemy so near & my Party so small.” By 1500 the American troops had left Staten Island. Manning reported to Washington that “they were surrounding the Island with their Shipping, & not long after we crossd the Ferry there came up two Armd Vessels, which I did (with the Assistance of an Officer of the Train & one three Pounder) my Endeavour to drive back & in some measure Effected.”[21]

The following is a letter from Captain Manning to Gen. George Washington apprising him of the situation:

From Captain Ephraim Manning

Wednesday 8 oClock A.M.

[3 July 1776]

May it please your Excellency

Last Night about 12 oClock I recd your Excellencies Orders to give my Assistance in taking the Stock of[f] Staten Island—beg leave to inform your Ex[c]ellency, that by the Advice of all my Officers, I left the Island Yesterday about 3 oClock P.M. the Inhabitants being unfreindly & amp; the Enemy so near & my Party so small, had I staid any longer we must have fallen into their Hands, as they were surrounding the Island with their Shipping, & not long after we crossd the Ferry there came up two Armd Vessels, which I did (with the Assistance of an Officer of the Train & one three Pounder) my Endeavour to drive back & in some masure Effected.

I am now About 5 Mile up in the Jersey side, (my Men being very much fatigued) where I wait your Excellency’s Commands. As their is a large Number landed & continually landing, beg leave to hint to your Excellency, whither a larger Party then I have at present under my Command, will not be necessary. I am with the greatest Respect your Excellencies Most Obedt hume Servt

Ephraim Man[ning]

The American reaction to the events of 2 July was muted. The New York papers reported that some of the British fleet seemed to be coming up in the morning and. By night, some forty-five sail were above The Narrows, all anchored near or nearby the Watering Place on Staten Island. The British fired about fifty shots, perhaps to cover the landings, although no British ships report firing. The Americans could “plainly” see the British troops ashore.22 Another observer simply noted “The Evening before last, & last Evening, they came up thro’ the narrow the greatest part of the Fleet, near 100 sail – & came to under Staten Island.[23]

The morning of 3 July brought much better weather, although cooler. Dr. Moffat, aboard the Swan noted the temperature as 68°.[24] The day was windy but clear.[25] At 0830 the fleet got under way and passed through The Narrows. In the afternoon Centurion manned her boats and began landing the troops from the transports.[26] An observer on the Chatham reported that “the Phoenix, Rose and Senegal . . . [led] the fleet through the Narrows, but the wind dying away obliged us again to anchor. At four o’clock the signal was once more made to weigh, and the fleet boats manned; at six we passed the Narrows amidst a very unsuccessful fire from the rebels, having killed but very few; at seven we landed the army or Staten Island without opposition, when two or three hundred men of the enemy surrendered themselves prisoners of war to the first division of grenadiers.[27] According to the Chatham’s log “the rebels kept a Constant firing of Small Arms from Long Island at the Shipping as they passed by . . .”[28]

26th June 1776. Archibald Robertson: his diaries and sketches in America, 1762-1780.

The landing operation went on all day.[29] The Americans kept up the small arms fire as the British fleet passed through The Narrows. By afternoon the Americans had gotten a 12-pound gun emplaced on Long Island and began a steady fire on the shipping coming through The Narrows.[30] To cover the landing of the troops the Phoenix moved closer to shore and fired “Several shott at a party of Rebels onshore,”[31]

The British threw out small armed vessels, tenders and such, into the narrow waterways around the island, both to cut off the retreat of any American troops, and to prevent interference with the landings by American reinforcements. Joseph Trumbull noted that they “have sent their Tenders, to lye all around the Island, to cover them, & seem to be preparing to form an Encampment there . . .” He further noted that “Staten Island are mostly Tory’s- they were ordered to send off their stock, but they found means to delay & delay, so that, we had but Just got off the fat Cattle, when the Enemy, as they wished, came on, & prevented our taking off the Lean.”[32] Commenting on this Ensign Caleb Clap stated that “after the Ships hove in sight, our People on Stratton Island drove of about 400 Head of Cattle; soon after that the enemy Landed, and is Reported that took about 30 of our Men.”[33]

The British did not occupy the whole island, merely securing the strong points. The New York Journal reported “It was apprehended they intended to penetrate into the interior parts of the island, or to some of the neighbouring towns, but it does not appear they they have yet attempted it, or done any thing on shore, except taking up a little bridge on the causeway between the Landing and the Highlands, at the Ferry.”[34] Joseph Trumbull reported that the enemy “seem to be preparing to form an Encampment there -I expect they will encamp & secure themselves there, & wait the Arrival, of the Hessians Cossacks Tartars, & & & then Attack us – possibly they will attack us sooner, we should wish it.”[35]

The advance of the British led to a panic of sorts in New York City. Observer Joseph Trumbull reported that “the day before yesterday we expected an imediate attack, & prepared for it, but were disappointed; it has almost Cleared the City of the Women and Children – many have all along tho’t here, that they would not come here, but now they scamper off, very fast.”[36]

The day’s action was not over after nightfall. Eight British boats attempted to land on Long Island during the night. Joseph Trumbull reports the result: “8 of their Boats endeavoured to Land some men last Night, on Long Island, below the Narrows, but our People Ambushed them, killed some of their men took 4 prisoners & drove them back. We have now a Battery at the highland, of the Narrows on Long Island Side & several Guns playing on the Ships & transports passing several transports have turned back below again – these things Enspirit our People the Militia Especially – a finer Set of Men & better Armed I never saw, than the Militia of N Jersey. . .”[37]

Detail from a painting illustrating British Flat-bottomed boat. The men in Blue Uniforms are the Hessians.

The Americans prepared for action on 4 July. The entire army turned out before dawn and manned their lines.[38] Asia, stationed near The Narrows, took parts of Long Island under fire in the afternoon, firing on the newly established battery.[39] The local newspaper published an account of this action: “The Asia brought up the Rear of the Fleet, and in the Narrows was fired at from a small Battery on Long-Island, Which complement was returned by about 40 Twentyfour Pounders, one of which lodged in the Wall of the House of Mr. Bennet, but did no Hurt to the Family; and three Shot had near done much Mischief to the House and Family of Mr. Dennise Dennise, one of them narrowly missing the Kitchen, wherein was a Number of the Family; a Second struck the Barn, and the Third destroyed much of the Fence of the Garden opposite the Front Door of the Mansion House.” Aside from wrecking houses and garden fences Asia did no damage.[40]

British shipping continued to pass up The Narrows, to bring up more transports to complete the occupation of Staten Island. A group of twenty went up at 1000 including the Chatham, and another group at 1900.[41]

The chain of small craft that the British had placed around the island proved vulnerable. On the early morning of 4 July an armed sloop of fourteen guns was off Elizabethtown, New Jersey.42 This was the schooner George. With other schooners she was patrolling the area known as The Sound.[43] She was taken under fire by two 12-pounder guns placed on the shore and “a great Number of her men killed by grape shot, & bored thro & thro – & finally Set on fire, She is yet on fire & the flames & smoke in sight she is totally destroyed -A House full of their Officers, has likewise been shot thro’ -& they driven over the Kills for shelter.”[44] Another observer says “we attack’d a sloop of the enemies mounting eight Carriage Guns – She lay up a small river, which divides Staten Island from the main call’d the Kills. We placed two 9 pounders on Bergen Point – and soon forced the crew to quit her – by the shrieks, some of them must have been kill’d or wounded – the sloop quite disabled.”[45] A third report states that “A Sloop of 12 Six Pounders, belonging to the Fleet from Halifax, laying in the Kills, near Mr. Decker’s Ferry, was almost torn to Pieces last Wednesday Morning, by a Party . . . from the opposite shore, with two 18 Pounders. The crew soon abandoned the Sloop, and we suppose she is rendered entirely unfit for any further Service.”[46] George was not destroyed however, but did have one man killed, her captain,[47] and four wounded.[48] Another report indicates one man was killed and eight or nine wounded.[49] She was hauled in to the dock,[50] Later in the day ten cannon were sent to Elizabethtown “in order to prevent their Landing and Pilleging that Town.”[51]

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1 NDAR, “Diary of Dr. Thomas Moffat,” V, 921-923

2 NDAR, “Journal of H,M. Sloop Swan, Captain James Ayscough,” V, 921; “Journal of H.M.S. Asia, Captain George Vandeput,” V, 920-921; “Journal of H.M.S. Rose, Captain James Wallace,” V, 895-896

3NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Rose, Captain James Wallace,” V, 895-896

4 NDAR, “Journal of H,M. Sloop Swan, Captain James Ayscough,” V, 921

5 NDAR, “New-York Journal, Thursday, July 4, 1776,” V, 918-919

6 NDAR, “Captain Ephraim Manning to George Washington,” 5:894-895

7 NDAR, “Diary of Dr. Thomas Moffat,” V, 921-923

8 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Asia, Captain George Vandeput,” V, 920-921; “Journal of H.M.S. Centurion, Captain Richard Brathwaite,” V, 920

9 NDAR, “Journal of H.M. Sloop Senegal, Captain Roger Curtis,” V, 896-897

10NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Greyhound, Captain Archibald Dickson,” V, 896

11 NDAR, “Journal of H.M. Sloop Senegal, Captain Roger Curtis,” V, 896-897

12NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Greyhound, Captain Archibald Dickson,” V, 896

13NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Rose, Captain James Wallace,” V, 895-896

14NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Phoenix, Captain Hyde Parker, Jr.,” V, 895

15NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Centurion, Captain Richard Brathwaite,” V, 920

16 NDAR, “Journal of Bartholomew James,” V, 919-920

17NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Centurion, Captain Richard Brathwaite,” V, 920

18 NDAR, “Journal of H.M. Sloop Senegal, Captain Roger Curtis,” V, 896-897

19 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Greyhound, Captain Archibald Dickson,” V, 896

20 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Rose, Captain James Wallace,” V, 895-896

21 NDAR, “Captain Ephraim Manning to George Washington,” 5:894-895

22 NDAR, “New-York Journal, Thursday, July 4, 1776,” V, 918-919

23 NDAR,”Joseph Trumbull to Jeremiah Wadsworth,” V, 917-918

24NDAR, “Diary of Dr. Thomas Moffat,” V, 921-922

25 NDAR, “Journal of H.M. Sloop Swan, Captain James Ayscough,” V, 921

26NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Centurion, Captain Richard Brathwaite,” V, 920

27NDAR, “Journal of Bartholomew James,” V, 919-920

28 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Chatham, Captain John Raynor,” V, 897

29 NDAR, “Journal of H.M. Sloop Senegal, Captain Roger Curtis,” V, 896-897; “Journal of H.M.S. Greyhound, Captain Archibald Dickson,” V, 896; “Journal of H.M.S. Phoenix, Captain Hyde Parker, Jr.,” V, 895

30 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Chatham, Captain John Raynor,” V, 897

31 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Phoenix, Captain Hyde Parker, Jr.,” V, 895

32 NDAR, “Joseph Trumbull to Jeremiah Wadsworth,” V, 917-918

33 NDAR, “Diary of Ensign Caleb Clap,” 5:894

34NDAR, “New-York Journal, Thursday, July 4, 1776,” V, 018-919

35 NDAR, “Joseph Trumbull to Jeremiah Wadsworth,” V, 917-918

36 NDAR, “Joseph Trumbull to Jeremiah Wadsworth,” V, 917-918

37 NDAR, “Joseph Trumbull to Jeremiah Wadsworth,” V, 917-918

38 NDAR, “Diary of Ensign Caleb Clap,” V, 917

39 NDAR, “Journal of H.M.S. Asia, Captain Geoirge Vandeput,” V, 920-921

40 NDAR, “New-York Gazette, Monday, July 8, 1776,” V, 973-974

41 NDAR, “Diary of Ensign Caleb Clap,” V, 917

42 NDAR, “Joseph Trumbull to Jeremiah Wadsworth,” V, 917-918

43 NDAR, “Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Kemble,” V, 937

44 NDAR, “Joseph Trumbull to Jeremiah Wadsworth,” V, 917-918

45 NDAR, “Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Blancley Webb,” V, 917

46NDAR, “New-York Gazette, Monday, July 8, 1776,” V, 973-974

47 NDAR, “The Examination of James MacFarlan a soldier belonging to the 55th Regiment, Colo. Medie-,” V, 936-937; “Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Kemble,” V, 937

48 NDAR, “Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Kemble,” V, 937

49 NDAR, “Examination of Ebenezer Colefox, Sailor, deserter from the Enemy’s Fleet,” V, 974-975

50 NDAR, “Journal of Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Kemble,” V, 937

51 NDAR, “Diary of Ensign Caleb Clap,” V, 917

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Chronology taken from website American War Of Independence At Sea

May 31, 2017June 1, 2017

British Voices of the Landing at Staten Island, July to August 1776

July 2. Ensign (acting Lieutenant) Henry Stirke, Light Infantry Company, 10th Regiment of Foot, 1st Battalion of Light Infantry:

“[1776, July] 2d… Made our Landing on Staten Island, at 8O’Clock at night, without a Shot being fired; as the Rebels abandoned it, on the appearance of the Troops. This night we lay upon our Arms.” Stirke, p. 156.

July 3. Captain William Bamford, 40th Regiment of Foot:

“3 [July, 1776.] W. this morning the first line of our Army landed on Staten Island. We work’d higher up the River & about 11 at night most of our Army was landed.” Bamford, p. 301

Corporal Thomas Sullivan, 49th Regiment of Foot:

“July 3d…After our landing, we were informed that the Enemy were landing on the back or S.W. part of the Island. Our Regiment i.e. 49th, was ordered to march from the Landing place through the Island, to the New blazing Star, at the Ferry of which place; the Rebels was reported to be landing. But they desisted, upon hearing that our Army were marching towards the Ferry. There were 3 Companies of Light-Infantry before us there; and the whole remained there that night.” Sullivan, p. 45.

July 4. Bamford:

“4th. [July, 1776.] the Troops march’d to their several cantonments round the Island. 40 Quartered on the road between Richmond & Amboy… much firing this morning of great Guns, very hot day” Bamford, p. 301.

Sullivan:

“July 4th. Our Regiment was relieved at the Ferry by the 5th.Regiment; and we were put into Cantoonments, a mile backward from the New blazing Star. The whole Army landed upon that Island, and were distributed about it; and there were strong -Parties- sent to the -Old-blazing Star, and Decker’s Ferries.” Sullivan, p. 45.

General Orders:

“Head Quarters Mr. Bankers. Staten Island 4th. July 1776…Officers to have as little baggage on Shore as possible, as the Brigades are liable to change their ground on the shortest notice.” Howe Orderly Book. [General Orders are generally read in the evening for execution the following day. SR.]

July 5. Captain William Bamford of the 40th Regiment of Foot landed on Staten Island from on board the “Spy” on July 3 1776:

“5 [July, 1776.] F. dull mg X cleard hot day” Bamford, p. 301.

July 7. Bamford:

“7. [July, 1776.] Su. very hot day got a small port mantua from on board. Piquet Gd” Bamford, p.302.

July 8. Bamford:

“8. [July, 1776.] M. hot mg brisk wd N. W.” Bamford, p.302.

July 14. Ambrose Serle:

“Sunday, 14th July. An excessive hard Rain, prevented going on Shore this Day…” Serle, p.31.

July 19. Ambrose Serle:

“Friday, 19th. July…Walked on Shore in the Evening; but the Heat and Dust made the excursion rather unpleasant.” Serle, p. 38.

July 22. Ambrose Serle:

“Monday, 22nd. July…A very hot and sultry Day, which rendered the Ship our best Retreat. On the Shore, which is near a Mile distant, I heard that the Weather was extremely close and uncomfortable.” Serle, p. 40.

July 25-28. Ambrose Serle:

“Thursday, 25th. July…The Day was very warm, the Thermomr. being at 80°.” Serle, p. 45.

“Sunday, 28th. [July, 1776.]…No divine Service this morning, the heat being excessive. No Air, and The Thermometer at 94 Degrees.” Serle, p. 49.

August 2. Ambrose Serle:

“Friday, 2d. August…The Heat was very great to-day. The Therm. gave 94° in the Sun, and 83°in the shade.” Serle, p. 53.”

August 5. Bamford:

“5. [August, 1776.] M. hot Mg S. E.” Bamford, p. 307.

Captain Francis, Lord Rawdon to Francis, tenth Earl of Huntingdon, at St. James’s Place, London:

“1776. Aug. 5. Staten Island, near New York. – We are just arrived here, my dearest Lord, after a very pleasant passage. Your letter of April 4th met me as soon as I set foot on shore. The company my letter from Virginia found you in, is certainly the pleasantest in the world.Though I have neither a yellow damask drawing-room nor Constantia Cape [Perhaps Constantia wine?], I cultivate the acquaintance in a tent with Madeira, and after all-there is but little difference.” HMC, Rawdon-Hastings, III, p. 179.

Lieutenant John Peebles, Grenadier Company, 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot:

“Monday morning 5th. Augt. [Near the watering place, Staten Island.] prepared to land. first boat about 11, being a good dist from the shore & a strong wind & tide, it was late in the afternoon before we all got ashore, march’d in the eveng to Quarters in the country Peoples houses about 2 or 3 mile. few of the army Encamp’d almost the whole lodged in the farmers houses & barns Landed the whole coy in good health after being above sixteen weeks on board of ship…” Peebles, p. 54.

Captain John Peebles, 1778. Miniature in the S.U.S.M.

[The informative John Peebles unfortunately did not keep his diary during the summer and autumn of 1776 while serving as Adjutant to the 4th Grenadier Battalion, but opened it again after the disbandment of this corps. Entries from his Orderly Book kept during this period are however noted below. SR.]

August 6. Bamford:

“6. [August, 1776.] Tu. hot Mg brisk wd S. W.” Bamford, p. 307.

August 7. Bamford:

“7 [August, 1776.] W. very hor foggy Mg XII clear &very hot S. W. X Exceeding hot, little wd S. XII pleasnt breeze E. Some heavy rain this Evg.” Bamford, p. 307.

Ambrose Serle, Secretary to Admiral Richard Howe:

“Wednesday, 7th August. [Staten Island.]…“Went on Shore in the Evening, and walked up to the new Incampments.’ Tis a hard unpleasant Life this of a Soldier’s, which is passed in a little paltry Tent which will neither keep out Wind, Rain, or Vermin, and which seems to have little other Solace on this dusty Island than the association of multitudes in the same Condition. The Ship is a House or a Palace compared with the Accommodations of the military.” Serle, p. 56.

Image of a typical encampment (not Staten Island; possibly southeast England)

[Serle was a civilian, unused to his surroundings. He was conscious of many things that military men seldom noted, including the swarms of mosquitoes, the din of insects and frogs, and after the battle of Long Island, the odor of unburied corpses in the woods. SR.]

Bamford:

“8. [August, 1776.] Th. dull close Mg very sultry & calm” Bamford, p. 307.

August 9. Bamford:

“9 [August, 1776.] F. close hot day wd variable” Bamford, p. 307.

Ambrose Serle:

“Friday, 9th. of August. Nothing material occurred this Day, wch was extremely warm.” Serle, p.60.

General Orders:

“Head Quarters Staten Island. August 1776…“The Regiments lately joined the Army under the Command of Lieut. Genl. Clinton, will as soon as possible remove their heavy baggage and Women to the Transports allotted to them for that purpose, of which they will make a report to the Adjutant General.” Howe Orderly Book.

August 10. Bamford:

“10. Sa. hot day p. m. II pleasant wd E.” Bamford, p.307.

August 11. Bamford:

“11. Su. close dull some showers, S. much Lightning Thunder & Rain this Evg” Bamford, p. 308.

August 12. Bamford:

“12 M. cloudy Mg cool W.” Bamford, p. 308.

42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, Regimental Orders:

“The 7 Companys to Embark on board the Brilliant Thames Glasgow & Houston. The Officers are to carry nothing with them but their Tents bedding & a Portmanteau.” Peebles Orderly Book.

August 13 – 16. Bamford:

“13. [August, 1776.] Tu. very bright Mg little wd W.14. hot Mg little wd E…15. Th. rain’d all last nt very wet Mg E.X ceased to rain, cloudy. several drissling showers this day. The Hessians landing to Encamp.16. F. close cloudy Mg heavy showers…” Bamford, p. 308.

Ambrose Serle:

“Friday, 13th August…This has been the most sultry Day I have ever felt.” Serle, p. 63.

August 15. Ambrose Serle:

“Thursday, 15th. August.The Chaplain [O’Beirne] and myself took a Ride almost to the full Length of Staten Island opposite to Amboy in New Jersey, which was about half a mile distant. It was a charming cool Day, having rained in the morning, and the Sun being defended by Clouds, which rendered the Scenes, beautiful as they were in themselves, doubly delightful…”Serle, p. 65.

August 17. Bamford:

“17. [August, 1776.] Sa. a good deal of rain last nt showers this mg N. W. IX soaking rain” p. 309.

4th Battalion Grenadiers (42nd & 71st) Battalion Orders:

“The Officers to send their heavy Baggage on board of ship tomorrow morng by the Provisn Waggons” Peebles Orderly Book.

August 18. Bamford:

“18 [August, 1776.] Su. heavy rain all last Nt very wet Mg N. E…” Bamford, p. 310.

August 19. Bamford:

“19 [August, 1776.] M[onday]. wet last nt wet mg X [10o’clock] ceas’d raining aftn pleasant. A comy of ye Hessian Troops encamp’d close by our Quarters, we remov’d” Bamford, p. 309.

Ensign Thomas Glyn, Brigade of Guards:

“Brigade Orders August 19th [1776.] When the Brigade disembarks two Gils of Rum to be delivered for each mans Canteen which must be filled with Water, Each Man to disembark with a Blanket & Haversack in which he is to carry one Shirt one pair of Socks and Three Days Provisions a careful Man to be left on board each Ship to take care of the Knapsacks. The Articles of War to be read to the Men by an Officer of each Ship.” Glyn, p. 7.

August 20. Bamford:

“Memdms… 20th [August, 1776.] The Troops march’d from their several cantonments & Encampmts & embark’d on board their ships.”

“Remarks… 20 [August, 1776.] Tu[esday]. This mg at IV The 8 Comps of the 40th Regt march’d from their cantonments to the Landing place & embark’d on board ye Wm & Mary.” Bamford, p. 309-10.

[The format of Bamford’s diary is that he makes a daily memorandum and at the end of each week adds any remarks. SR.]

Glyn:

“Dacres [Decker’s] Ferry Staten Island August 20th…The Army will land in four Divisions…the 2d Division to consist of the 1st. 2d. and third Brigades of British, under the Command of Majr General Robertson, Major General Pigot & Major General Jones……when the Troops land they are to carry nothing with them but their Arms Ammunition Blankets and 3 days Provisions.” Glyn, p. 7.

Sullivan:

“Aug.- 20th. Our Brigade was relieved at their Cantoonments about the New blazing Star, by a detachment of the Hessians, under the command of Colonel Dalrymple of said Corps. The troops at Amboy and old blazing Star Ferries, were also relieved by other Detachments of the same Troops. We marched from our Cantoonments aforesaid to the landing place at Prince’s Bay, where the whole Army Embarked. Each Regiment (except the Highlanders and Guards)[*] had but one Transport; on board of which was all their Camp Equipage and other Necessaries.” Sullivan, p. 47.

[*Due to being large Corps. SR.]

August 21. Bamford:

“Memdms… 21 [August, 1776.] W[ednesday]. Rain last nt pleasant mg little wind”

“Remarks… 21. [August, 1776.] The embarkation was finish’d & the order of Landing given out.” Bamford, p. 309-10.

Long Island. The British under Howe crossed from Staten Island to Long Island on August 22.

August 22. Bamford:

“Remarks… 22. [August, 1776.] The Army landed on Long Island about IX [9 o’clock] this Mg without opposition the Lt Infantry push’d into the Country & got as far as flat Bush about 6 miles from the landing Place” Bamford, p. 310.

Sullivan:

“Aug. 22d. After our being on board ship a day & two nights,waiting for the weather, which was wet, to clear up; the whole Army got ready for landing on Long-Island… And the whole Army landed then in abody, without opposition, on the South-East end of Long-Island, at a place called Gravesend, near the Narras.” Sullivan, p. 48.

Glyn:

“August 22d The Army landed on Long Island without Opposition from the Rebels. we marched to New Utrecht” Glyn, p. 8.

Baurmeister:

“General Howe took quarters at Gravesend, one English mile from the place of debarkation, and there the entire English infantry encamped without tents. All the grenadiers, the jägers, the Scottish Highlanders, and the light dragoons, however, moved further inland,through New Utrecht to Flatbush.” Baurmeister, p. 36.

General Orders:

“Head Quarters New Utrecht Long Island 22nd. August 1776…Each Regiment is to send early to morrow for their Tents, Camp kettles & Knapsacks. The Qr. Mastr. General will endeavour to furnish Waggons to convey them from the Waterside, & it is hoped that Officer swill bring as little Baggage on Shore as possible, & for some time make use of Soldiers tents, or fly Tents.” Howe Orderly Book.

Captain William Haslewood, 63rd Regiment of Foot:

“The Troops without opposition landed on Long Island.- 21st.[sic – 22nd] August. marched a few Miles up the Country and encamped in Soldiers Tents.” Haslewood, p. 55.

Lieutenant Martin Hunter, Light Infantry Company, 52nd Regiment of Foot, summarized the period since the first landing on Staten Island:

“…The fleet sailed for New York with the army on board, arrived at Staten Island, and disembarked without any opposition; encamped, and continued in barns for about six weeks, waiting the arrival of some regiments from England. The army embarked in flat-bottomed boats, and landed in Long Island, near to Flat Bush, and encamped. The enemy were in great force, and strongly entrenched at Brooklyn, on the point opposite to New York. We remained encamped at Flat Bush and Newtown for four days…” Hunter, p. 16.

August 23. Bamford:

“Memdms… 23 [August, 1776.] F. pleasant Mg Landing Artillery, Stores, & ca…” Bamford, p. 310.

August 24. Bamford:

“Memdms… 24 [August, 1776.] Sa. Warm Mg some rain last Nt” Bamford, p. 310.

General Orders:

“Head Quarters New Utrecht, on Long Island 24th Augst. 1776…Those Corps that have landed more Tents than they have present occasion for are to Embark them again immediately. The Light Infantry are not to have Tents as they may expect to be in constant motion.” Howe Orderly Book.

August 25. Bamford:

“Memdms… 25. [August, 1776.] Su. very heavy rain lastnt dull Mg W…” Bamford, p. 310.

August 26. Bamford:

“Memdms… 26. [August, 1776.] M. Much Lightning & Thunder last nt.gloomy day. March’d from ye Ferry Cantonmts about IX this Eveg” Bamford, p.310.

General Orders:

“Head Quarters Long Island 26th August 1776…After Orders 5 O’Clock…The Army will strike their Tents and land their Baggage, at 8O’Clock this night, to form at the head of their respective Encampments, and there wait for further orders. The Men to carry their Canteens, Camp Kettles, Provisions & necessarys with them. No more than two Waggons can be allowed to each Regt. for their Tents & Baggage.” Howe Orderly Book.

Hunter:

“We marched on the night of the 26th August 1776; made a circuitous route to get in the rear of enemy, that were encamped in our front about a mile, on very stony ground. We left our tents standing to deceive the enemy…” Hunter, p. 16.

August 27. Battle of Long Island. Bamford:

“Memdms. 27. [August, 1776.] Tu. fine mg…” Bamford, p. 310.

Captain the Honourable William Leslie, 17th Regiment of Foot, to his parents:

“Bedford Long Island Sept. 2nd 1776…On 22nd August the whole army except 3,000 Hessians who were left to defend Staten Island made a descent upon Long Island in Flat Boats & landed on the South Side without opposition, encamped at Denises,Gravesend, Utrecht, &.” “On the 26th our Brigade (viz the 4th) commanded by Major Gen. Grant & the Brigade on our Right (the 6th) commanded by B. Gen. Agnew received Orders to be in readiness to march at night in one Division, we marched at ten o’clock from Denises…”

“The Day after their Retreat we had orders to march to the ground weare now encamped upon, near the Village of Bedford: It is now afortnight we have lain upon the ground wrapt in our Blankets, and thank God who supports us when we stand most in need, I have never enjoyed better health in my Life. My whole stock consists of two shirts 2 pr of shoes, 2 Handkerchiefs half of which I use, the other half I carry inmy Blanket, like a Pedlar’s Pack.” Cohen, p. 60-63. [Leslie suggests that the camp and the kit he describes had prevailed for a ‘fortnight,’ or since about September 20, two days before the landing on Long Island. SR.]

August 28. Bamford:

Memdms… 28. [August, 1776.] W. very pleasant Mg aftnrain” Bamford, p. 310.

August 29. Bamford:

“29. [August, 1776.] Th. gloomy Mg” Bamford, p. 311.

August 30. Glyn:

“August 30th We marched from Bedford, took possession of the Forts evacuated by the Enemy, returned to Bedford, struck Tents, laid on our Arms on New Town Heights all Night.” Glyn, p. 8.

August 31. A letter from an unknown Officer with the initials “R. G.” in the papers of the Earl of Huntingdon:

1776. Aug. 31. Long Island. -“I am writing in my tent almost full of water owing to a very heavy thunderstorm. I have not my large tent with me, and therefore have not been able to pull off my clothes this week or ten days, but I was never better in my life. It is not very trifling what the whole army undergoes from want of carriages and fresh provisions. They are likewise very much worked by marches, and, what is worse, there is dreadful want of water in this part of the island. I never saw an army better inclined to make all things easy to the general and more zealous to the cause.” HMC, Rawdon-Hastings, III, p. 180-81.

July 25, 2016August 23, 2019

From the Journal of Samuel Blachley Webb (1753-1807), aide-de-camp to George Washington

George Washington’s aide-de-camp receives dispatches of the British anchoring off of Staten Island and writes of the activity in and around Sandy Hook and New York Bay. These dates coincide with the dates of British soldier Archibald Robertson‘s diary, and is a wonderful contrast of the belligerents and their contrasting observations of the impending confrontation between the Americans and the British Empire’s powerful Army and Navy.

1939.503 Samuel B. Webb by Artist/Maker: Charles Willson Peale

Date: 1779, 1790 Medium: Watercolor on ivory, gold

From: New-York Historical Society

June 28th—This Morning we hear our Cruizers off the back of Long or Nassau Island, have retaken four prizes-which the Greyhound Man of War had a few days before taken-The sailors inform that General Howe was on board the Greyhound and had arrived at Sandy-Hook; that 130 sail of transports, &c., were to sail from there for this place the 9t!t Inst If this be true, we may hourly look for their arrival.*

Agreeable to yesterday’s Orders, Thomas Hicky was hang’d in presence of most of the Army-besides great numbers of others-spectators-he seemed much more penitent than he was at first.**

Saturday, 29th June—This morning at 9 o’Clock, we discovered our Signals hoisted on Staten Island, signifying the appearance of a fleet At 2 oClock P. M. an express arrived, informing a fleet of more than one Hundred Square rig’d vessels, had arrived and anchored in the Hook—This is the fleet which we forced to evacuate Boston ; & went to Halifax last March— where they have been waiting for reinforcements, and have now arrived here with a view of puting their Cursed plans into Execution. But Heaven we hope and trust will frustrate their cruel designs—a warm and Bloody Campaign is the least we may expect ; may God grant us victory and success over them, is our most fervent prayer. Expresses are this day gone to Connecticut, the Jerseys, &c, to hurry on the Militia.

July 1st—By express from Long Island, we are in formed that the whole fleet weighed Anchor and came from Sandy Hook, over under the Long Island shore, and anchored ab’. half a mile from the shore—which leads us to think they mean a descent upon the Island this Night. A reinforcement of 500 men were sent over at 9 oClock this Evening to reinforce the troops on Long Island under General Green—We have also received Intelligence that our Cruisers on the back of Long Island, have taken and carried in one of the enemie’s fleet laden with Intrenching Tools.

N. Y. July 2nd—At 9 oClock this morning the whole Army was under Arms at their several Alarm Posts, occasioned by five large Men of War coursing up thro: the narrows—We supposed them coursing on to attack our Forts—never did I see Men more chearfull; they seem to wish the enemies approach—they came up to the watering place, about five miles above the narrows, and came too—their tenders took three or four of our small Craft plying between this and the Jersey Shore-At 6 oClock P. M. about 50 of the fleet followed and anchored with”the others–Orders that the whole Army lie on their Arms-and be at their Alarm Posts before the Dawning of the Day. A Warm Campaign, in all probability, will soon ensue, relying on the Justice of our Cause, and puting our Confidence in the Supreme being, at the same time exerting our every Nerve, we trust the design of our enemies will be frustrated.

July 2nd [3rd]—This day Arrived in Camp, Brigadier General Mercer, from Virginia, being appointed and ordered here by the Honl Continental Congress[1] likewise General Herd with the Militia from New Jersey[2] by order of his Excellency Genl Washington.

Thursday, July 4th—Last night-or rather at daylight this morning-we attack’d a sloop of the enemies mounting eight Carriage Guns-She lay up a small river, which divides Staten Island from the main -call’d the Kills. We placed two 9 pounders on Bergen Point-and soon forced the crew to quit her by the shrieks, some of them must have been kill’d or wounded-the sloop quite disabled.

N. Y. July 7th—By several Deserters from the fleet and Army on Staten Island, we learn that the number of the enemy is abt. 10,000; that they hourly look for Lord Howe from England with a fleet, on board of which is 15 or 20,000 men ; that they propose only to act on the defensive ’till the arrival of this fleet, when they mean to open a warm and Bloody Campaign, and expect to carry all before them-but trust they will be disappointed.

N. York, July 9th, 1776—Agreeable to this day’s orders, the Declaration of Independence was read at the Head of each Brigade; and was received by three Huzzas from the Troops-every one seeming highly pleased that we were separated from a King who was endeavouring to enslave his once loyal subjects.[3] God Grant us success in this our new character.

July 10th, 1776—Last night the Statue of George the third was tumbled down and beheaded-the troops having long had an inclination so to do, tho’t this time of publishing a Declaration of Independence, to be a favorable opportunity-for which they received the Check in this day’s orders.[4]

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*These prizes were taken by the armed sloop Schuyler, and one other cruiser, Howe arrived on the 25th.

**Thomas Hickey, a member of the General’s guard, was implicated in the “conspiracy,” and on trial was convicted of having enlisted into the British service and engaged others. He was sentenced to be hung. “The unhappy fate of Thomas Hickey, executed this day for Mutiny, Sedition and Treachery, the General hopes will be a warning to enry soldier in the army to avoid those crimes and all others, so disgraceful to the character of a soldier, and pernicious to hit country, whose pay he receives and bread he eats. And in order to avoid those crimes, the most certain method is to keep out of temptation of them, and particularly to avoid lewd women, who, by the dying confession of the poor criminal, first led him to practices which ended in an untimely and ignominious death”-Orderly Book, 28 June, 1776.

[1] Hugh Mercer. He was sent to command the operations in New Jersey.

[2] Nathaniel Heard. He had just been sent to Staten Island to drive off the stock.

[3] “The Honr: the Continental Congress, impressed by the dictates of duty, policy and necessity, having been pleued to dissolve the Connection which subsisted between this country and Great Britain, and to declare the United Colonies of North America free and independent STATES : The several brigades are to be drawn up this evening on their respective parades, at six o’clock, when the declaration of Congress, showing the grounds and reasons of this measure, is to be read with an audible voice.”

“The General hopes this important event will serve u a fresh incentive to every officer and soldier, to act with Fidelity and Courage, u knowing that now the peace and safety of this country depends (under God) solely on the success of our Arms: and that be is now in the service of a State, possessed of sufficient power to reward his merit, and advance him to the highest Honors of a free Country.”-Orderly Book, 9 July,1776.

[4] “Though the General doubts not the persons who pulled down and mutilated the Statue in the Broadway lut night were actuated by zeal iu the public cause, yet it has much the appearance of a riot and want of order in the army, that be disapproves the manner and directs that in future these things shall be avoided by the soldiery, and left to be executed by the proper authority.”-Orderly Book, 10 July, 1776.

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All quotes from: Commager, Henry S., and Richard B. Morris. The Spirit of ‘seventy-Six: The Story of the American Revolution As Told by Participants. New York: Harper & Row, 1967. Print.

July 8, 2016August 22, 2019

The Mersereaus (Washington’s notorious Spys) from Staten Island

Patriot/Rebel Joshua Mersereau was born at Northfield, Staten Island, New York, June 8, 1759, and was living in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, when he entered the service in August, 1775, as a recruiting officer for the New York State troops for Capt Jacob Chessman’s Company, under Gen Montgomery, and served till the following November. In December 1775, he was under Lord Stirling in an expedition to Long island for seven or eight days. From April to July 1, 1776, he served under Capt Otho Williams in Maj Steven’s Corps of Virginia Riflemen.

He was then employed by Gen Washington in obtaining information of the enemy’s movements (spy); he was in the battles of Trenton and Princeton; the remainder of the winter he purchased horses for Generals Mifflin and Lafayette and, in May 1777, was engaged in guarding baggage under Lord Stirling.

From October 14, 1777 to April 28, 1779, he was Assistant Commissary of Prisoners under his father, Joshua Mersereau, who was Deputy Commissary of Prisoners, and Gen Mifflin Quartermaster General.

In the winter of 1780, he was guide to Col Heson’s Division, in Lord Stirling’s expedition to Staten Island and was in an engagement at a blockhouse. The following February, he was under Capt James Patton when he captured Col Jones. In the summer of 1780, he was under Capt John Story in an attempt to capture a British Colonel. In the fall of 1780, he was engaged on the lines near Elizabethtown.

In the spring of 1781, he was under Col Marsh at Rahway. In the summer of 1781, he aided in the defence of Brunswick. In May, 1782, he was engaged as carpenter and seaman on the ship “South Carolina” under Capt John Joiner and, on December 21, 1782, they were in battle with and captured by the British ships “Diomede”, “Austrich” and “Quebec”. He was wounded in the leg and confined on a prison ship “Scorpion” in New York, until paroled the last of January and remained on parole until the ratification of the Treaty of Peace.

He was allowed pension (Sur. File No. 7,224) on an application executed June 5, 1840, while a resident of Lindley, Steuben County, New York. In 1855, he lived in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, with his son James G., and he died January 20, 1857.

Judge Joshua Daniel Mersereau IV. Painting found in the Tioga Co. Historical Society Wellsboro, PA.. Second floor.

Joshua Daniel’s father, Joshua Mersereau III was born at Staten Island, New York, September 26, 1738, and died in Union, New York, June 10, 1804. He was educated at Kings College (now Columbia), and practiced law in New York City.

Before the Revolution, with his brother John, he conducted a leading tavern on Staten Island, which bore the brilliant title of the ‘Blazing Star.’ He and his brother ran the first line of stage coaches between New York and Philadelphia. John introduced the first post coach into the country from England.

When the revolution broke out the stages belonging to the brothers were stopped and the horses turned over to the American service for the army. Joshua assisted in raising a company for the Quebec expedition in the autumn of 1775. An edict issued from the British headquarters proclaimed John Mersereau a “Rebel,” and set a price of five hundred guineas on his head, dead or alive.

When the British seized New York city the judge came near being made prisoner. He was so radical an advocate of the American cause that the red coats formed a plan to capture him in his hotel. The judge foiled them.

When the war commenced their stages stopped running; and when New York and Stated Island fell into the hands of the British, they lost their property on the Island, which was burnt; and Judge Mersereau narrowly escaped falling into the enemy’s hands, a company having been dispatched to take him at his own house; his zeal in the American cause having been early known to them. John Mersereau turned his horses, which had been employed in the stage line, into the American service, and made an offer of himself to Washington, who often employed him on difficult expeditions, and as a spy. Esquire John La Grange’s father was employed often in the same capacity.

He was a member of the provincial assembly of New York state which met at Kinston and Poughkeepsie during 1777-86, representing Richmond county.

He was also deputy commissary of prisoners, General Boudinot being his superior officer, with headquarters at Rutland, Massachusetts, and afterward at Elizabethtown, New Jersey. His service was continuous in various capacities throughout the war. His name appears in the Staten Island records of transfers of land from 1762 to 178?, and then with other soldiers he received a grant of land for his service in the western part of the state. After the war he removed with his family to Tioga county, New York, where he was one of the earliest judges.

Judge Mersereau was appointed commissary throughout the war. He was much about the person of General Washington. The judge, with his brother, were the principal instruments in preventing the British army from crossing the Delaware river in their pursuit of Washington. Washington had crossed the Delaware about the first of December, either to escape from the enemy, who had followed him through New Jersey, or to go into winter quarters. After crossing the river, he took every precaution to move all the boats across the river, and to burn all the materials on the Jersey side, not carried over, which might be laid hold of by the enemy to construct rafts.

Gen. Washington was asked by Judge Mersereau whether he was sure he had removed out of the way all that could be employed to transport the enemy across. Washington replied he thought he had. Judge Mersereau begged the privilege of recrossing and making search. He and his brother went back and searched the opposite shore, and found below the surface of the water two Durham boats which had been timely sunk by a royalist who lived near. They raised them up, bailed out the water, and floated them over to the Pennsylvania side. When the British army came up to the Delaware shore they found no possible means of crossing, and were obliged to return back, and pursue, at this time, our army no further.

The below letter was sent to Gen. George Washington from Joshua Mesereau:

To George Washington from Joshua Mersereau, 31 August 1778

From Joshua Mersereau

Boston August 31—1778

I have Just recpd a letter from Col. Boudinot, informing me that great offence has been given, for my sending so many of the Convention officers on Parole to the enemy—and taking considerable sums of money from them for that favour.1

The latter I do deny—the former I had Authority for, or at least, Such as would Justify my Conduct, hoping To release our officers.

so soon as the Prisnors Taken by The Count De Estang, are secur’d and Provided for—and the Officers Prisnors of war, With The remaind⟨er⟩ of the 71 Rt in this State are Sent away—I propose Wating on your Excelency to remov⟨e⟩ any Doubts, or Charge tha[t]s been brought against me—if I have Err’d it’s for Want of Judgment, I have not let one man go in Without Genl Heaths approbation. I always made it a rule to consult him first—as to the mony beg the favour, of knowing the names of the Complainants, as I am confident that there is not an officer of the Convention, can say that they have given me one Single Farthing—Capt. Vigars Made me a presant of 2 pare of Pistols, tho I never Got but 3 of them one being lost.2

four weeks ago part of the 71 Rt 129 men & 84 Women and Children I sent to Providence, on their Way to new Port, agreeable to Col. Boudinots orders—they were order’d back by Genl Sulivan, and not permitted to go—I apply’d to Genl Heath for permittion to Send them by New London, New Haven or some other Rout to New York—Who refer’d me to Your Excelency for Directions, Which I shall Chearfully execute.3

I am hiring a Prisson Ship here, for the reception of the Count De Estangs Prisnors and about 40 taken by Capt. Skimer Who Was kill’d in the engagement4—5 prises ariv’d this Day—a fleet is Said to be off here some say it’s an English fleet others that it’s a French Fleet, others that they are prises5—the German officers beg the favour of staying here till the privates go in also—if they are not Exchang’d Soon; there must be Chimneys built in the barn, Where the Germains and 53 Rt are kept; as it Will be too Cold Without fire in Winter, and bad building Chimneys then beg the favour of your Excelency’s or Col. Baty’ Direction in this case, as there is no room in the Barracks for those men, I hav⟨e⟩ been oblidg’d to make many Shifts, for Want of instrutions, it having been SoDifficult to get them; in this, out of the Way place—many letters have miscarrie’d others 6 & 8 wee⟨ks⟩ before I recpd them. I have the Honor To be your Excelency’s most Obedt Hum: Servt

Joshua Mersereau

P.s. please to Direct to the Care of Genl Heath.

Another letter written by Alexander Hamilton to Joshua Mersereau is dated October 24, 1780:

By intelligence just received from New York, we have reason to believe the enemy have some attempt in view by way of Staten Island, the execution of which will probably take place on thursday [sic] evening; if so the troops from New York will probably be past upon Staten Island thursday morning. The General wishes you to have [one] trusty person over on the island, to ascertain, whether any troops do come from New York and whether there are any movements more than common among the enemy on the Island. . . .6

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ALS, NN: Emmet Collection.

1. Elias Boudinot’s letter to Mersereau of 27 Aug. has not been identified. For more on the complaint, see Mersereau’s reply to Boudinot of 2 Sept. (NjP: Stimson-Boudinot Collection).

2. Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1755–1828) was commissioned an ensign in the British 29th Regiment in December 1769 and promoted to lieutenant in January 1772 and to captain in February 1776.

3. Mersereau announced in a letter to Maj. Gen. William Heath of 27 July that he was starting to send the 71st Regiment prisoners and that, in accordance with Heath’s suggestion, he had written to inform Maj. Gen. John Sullivan. Mersereau’s letter to Heath of 5 Aug. indicates that Sullivan had disapproved the movement, and Heath’s letter to Mersereau of 12 Aug. suggested that Mersereau consult Elias Boudinot about what to do with the prisoners (all MHi: Heath Papers). Mersereau’s request to send the prisoners to New York and Heath’s reply have not been identified. For a summary, see also Mersereau to Boudinot, 31 Aug. (NjP: Stimson-Boudinot Collection). GW referred this inquiry to Commissary of Prisoners John Beatty in a letter of 26 September.

4. The Continental Journal, and Weekly Advertiser (Boston) of 3 Sept. reported the arrival on 31 Aug. of “the Continental Brigantine of war, General Gates, whose late commander Capt. John Skimmer of this town fell on the 3d of August, in an action with a Brigantine of 12 guns from St. John’s, bound to Dominica.”

5. Mersereau was referring to a report that on 30 Aug. “almost 20 Sail of Ships, many of them large, were seen off Plymouth Harbour, standing to the Northward” (Boston Gazette, and Country Journal, 31 Aug.).

6. Hamilton Papers, 2:488 Columbia University Press (1961).

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Information obtained and can be found at: The Roll Family Windmill

Genealogy of the Roll and Allied Families

July 7, 2016August 2, 2017

Archibald Robertson, lieutenant-general, Royal Engineers.1745-1813 From: his diaries and sketches in America, 1762-1780.

Archibald Robertson‘s Diaries and Sketches are an extraordinary eye-witness account of the Revolutionary War. He had accompanied Gen. Howe for most of the engagements from 1776 to 1778, and upon arriving at New York in the summer of 1776, described the landscape and troop movements in and around Staten Island. The following excerpts start with the British fleet approaching Sandy Hook and anchoring off the coast of Staten Island in late June and includes the preparations for what would be the Battle of Long Island in August

Major Archibald Robertson of Lawers 1782 by George Romney The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida

[June] 29th at 6 in the morning discovered land the heights call’d the Neversinks close by sandy hook the Entrance intoNew York Bay, and all the Fleet got safe to an Anchor at 3o’clock behind the Hook. Have had very calm weather for 10 Days past with light Breezes from the East. Dth a fair wind but lay still. Wrote my Brother and nclos’d the 2d of Exchange for £200 Sterling drawn by Captain S: in his favour.

July 1st within 20 Minutes of 5 afternoon the Admiral made the signal to get under way, and in an hour all the Fleet were under sail for the Narrows with a fair wind. Came to an Anchor about 2 miles off Gravesend on Long Island, about 8 o’clock, and went with Captain [John] M[ontreso]r immediately on board the Admiral. There was orders for the troops to be ready to embark at 4 next morning, but after a long Consultation of General Officers it was agreed not to be proper, considering the country we had to march thro’ and the Difficulty of keeping up our Communication with the Ships, etc., etc.

[July] 2nd Weigh’d Anchor at 10 morning and stood for the Narrows, the Tide just on the turn against us and a light Breeze. At 11 The tide turn’d and becoming allmost Calm and the wind ahead the Transports fell into great Confusion all dropping upon one another without steerage way which obliged us to come to an Anchor. Some of the ships with in 7 or 800 Yards of Long Island. We observed a good many of the Rebels in Motion on shore. They fired musquetry at the nearest Ships without effect. About 12 the ships nearest were ordered to drop down with the Tide, lucky for us the Rebels had no Cannon here or we must have suffered a good deal.

The Phoenix, Grayhound and Rose men of war got about 4 or 5 miles ahead and brought too. About 4 past one the Phoenix made the signal for preparing to land. It rain’d smartly, and the ist division of Transports got under way with the first of the flood Tide, and about 9 we got up to the Watering Place on Staaten Island where the 3 men of war had hauled close inshore, the General on board the Greyhound, and the Grenadiers and Light Infantry under Earl Percy. Generals Robertson and Leslie landed immediately without opposition, the inhabitants wellcoming them ashore. They lay near the landing Place all night.

July 3d about 6 morning landed with the General. Part of the ist Brigade landed, and all the Troops ashore, about 2300, march’d along the North side of the Island by Deckers Ferry, and part advanced to Elizabeth Ferry, Richmond, etc. In the Evening some more troops were landed. The Admiral got up, but few of the transports, to the Watering Place. 4 Grasshoppers were brought to Deckers Ferry.

July 4th Last night the Rebels brought two pieces of Cannon to Deckers’s Ferry, one 12 and one 9 pounder, and Early in the morng fired on the George Sloop and kill’d and wounded 5 men, but the sloop drove them off with the loss of one man and some wounded. The General would not allow the Grass hoppers to be fired. This day we brought up 2 12 -pounders and 2 Royal Howitzers near Deckers Ferry. The Rebels fired from a field piece at our Transports coming up the Narrows. The Asia return’d the fire and drove them off. All the troops landed. This night a Sloop came in from Shrewsberry in the Jerseys with 66 men in Arms to join the Army under Mr. Morris formerly an Officer in the 47th Regiment. Landed the entrenching tools with the Cannon.

The Emerald Arrived with a Ship loaded with Provisions from the Loyalists at New York. Several People came in, in Boats from Long Island and the town, most horridly persecuted by the Rebels.

[July] 5th nothing Extraordinary but reconnoitring the Enemy’s works they began to throw up opposite Elizabeth- town Ferry the 3d, which we found very slight and ill constructed. This day pitch’d my tent. A party of 50 Sailors of the Asia brought off some Cattle from the point at the Kills.

6th reconnoitered our post at Richmond, the Quarters of the Grenadiers. Staid all night, saw the Militia review’d, supposed to be 700 and a troop of light Horse.

7th return’d to head Quarters. The Rebels last Evening fired a good many Musquet shot across the water at Decker’s Ferry without Effect. Some People come in from long Island and 3 Rifflemen with 5 Riffle Guns, an English, Scotch and Irishman.

The Militia mounted a Guard on the General of 12 Light Horse.

8th Wrote to Lord Townsend, Lord Cathcart, and Henry, to go by the same Pacquet with my letter of 30th Ultmo. This Evening the Rebels fired musquetry at Decker’s Ferry, but dispersed on a gun or two being fired.

9th This morning at 5 we had a working Party of 100 men to cut Fascines at Deckers Ferry to begin a Post which we marked out there for the security of the inhabitants when we leave this Island. This afternoon went to Richmond with Mr. Sproul, to mark out an intended work upon a height near the Town.

10th After looking over and Considering the ground well found some Alterations in the scheme would be necessary. Return’d to Head Quarters. I believe no work is to be made at Richmond.

13th the 1st and 5th Brigades embarked, the Grenadiers took the Quarters of the 1st from Richmond, and the Forreigners encamp’d where the 5th were.

18th this morning the Phoenix and Rose men of war with two tenders came down to the Fleet after having pass’d the fire of all their Batterys in which the Rose had two men wounded. The Night of the 16th they were attack’ d by two fire Ships, the Rose’s Tender was burnt and the Phoenix narrowly escaped.

22nd Landed on Long Island Gravesend Bay.

26th Ordered to attend General Clinton, I join’d him at 8 in the Evening at flatlands, at 9 we march’d, with all the Grenadiers, Light Infantry, 33d, 71st Regiments and 17th Light dragoons in order to turn the left flank of the Rebel army who were in possession of the high Grounds of Brooklyn, that extend all the way most to Jamaica.

27th at daybreak we pass’d these heights without any op position, about 5 miles East of Bedford and continued our march towards Bedford and Brooklyn. When we came near to Bedford the Rebels began to fire from the Woods on our left which continued for some distance as we march’d on to Brooklyn. Ordered to stop the Light Companies of the 23d I join’d them and obliged to remain, my Communication with the General being cut off. About 9 o’clock the Rebels gave way very fast and in their retreat, across a marsh and mill dam, received a heavy fire from our Grenadiers tho’ distant. The Light Horse could not act for a swamp that was in front. At the same time General Clinton went from Flatlands. General Grant march’d from Dinnys’s with 2 Brigades to turn the Rebels right Flank and Count Dunhop march’d in the Centre from Flat Bush. General Grant in his march had several smart Skirmishes. A Battalion of our Grenadiers and the 71st were sent on towards General Grant and about 2 in the Afternoon they had a very smart Skirmish in the woods with the Rebels who were trying to get to the water side to escape. The Hessians likewise fell in with the flying Partys and they were drove from every Quarter. We lost some Good Officers, about 60 men kill’d and about 300 wounded, the Rebel loss was very considerable upwards of 3000 kill’d wounded and Prisoners. Amongst the latter General Sulivan and Lord Stirling. They had about 12,000 men on the heights. Great Numbers got across the creek into their Works on Brooklyn heights, we were in Possession of very good Ground within 600 Yards of them, and by some mistake in orders had very near Evacuated this ground. In the evening we retired a little. The whole of this days Manoeuvre was well plann’d and Executed, only more of the Rebels might have been cut off had we push’d on from Brooklyn sooner towards General Grant.

[August] 28th this night with a party of 400 men I opened ground opposite their Works and form’d a kind of Paralel or place of Arms 650 Yards Distant. This day Sir William Erskine with the 71st Regiment and Light Dragoons went to Jamaica, they took a General Woodall Prisoner.

29th Party 300 employ’d in making a Boyau and Party employ’d in making fascines to raise Batterys.

30th perceived by Day Break that the Rebels had evacuated all their works on long Island and retreated to New York Island in the night. We immediately took Possession of them with the Piquets, and in the Evening were relieved by 100 Hessians. General Clinton went On towards Newton with 2 Battalions Light Infantry and 1 Battalion Hessian Grenadiers.

31st All the Army began to move towards Newton but5000 Hessians under General Heister left at Brooklyn heights, 2 Brigades with General Grant at Bedford. General Clinton was this morning at Hell Gate and Lord Cornwallis encamp’d on the heights near Newton. At 2 o’clock the General with the rest of the Army Arrived at Newton which was head Quarters. We pass’d through a Pleasant Country.Reported that the Rebels were firing on one Another and evacuating the Town.

September 1st reconnoitred the shore opposite Hell gate where the Rebels have a Work round Walton’s house, call’d Horn Hook, the water or East River about 500 Yards across here. General Sulivan sent over to New York about negociations.

2nd sent early to General Clinton about placing mortars to drive the Rebels from their work at Walton’s house. Nothing done. Reported General Sulivan is gone to Philadelphia.

3d this Night the Rose man of war came up the East River with 20 flat Boats. She Anchored under Blackwells Island. Received Several Shot in coming past the Batterys. A Picquet sent
to take Possession of Blackwells Island for her Protection.4th Evening Captain Moncrief and I were ordered to raise two Batterys at Hell gate against Walton’s House, one of 3 24-Pounders and one 3 12-Pounders, a working party of 300men. We began to work at l/2 past nine and by 5 next morning
they were completed within 2 hours work of 60 men. This Evening a Party was sent to raise a Breast Work on Blackwell’s Island, but the Piquets were withdrawn and the Rose went down to Bush wick Point.
_______________________________________________________
All Entries quoted from: Robertson, Archibald. 1971. Archibald Robertson: his diaries and sketches in America, 1762-1780. [New York]: New York Public Library.

July 7, 2016February 9, 2017

Cartridge Box badge depicting crown and “26” of the British 26th Regiment of Foot, War of the Revolution.

Object Number:

INV.5631.1 New-York Historical Society

Cartridge Box badge depicting crown and “26” of the British 26th Regiment of Foot, War of the Revolution. 1760-1783

“In the autumn of 1775, when Montgomery captured St. John’s, the garrison included part of this regiment, who were confined at Ticonderoga, where this Badge was found. In 1776, these prisoners were exchanged adn camped on Staten Island. The regiment was disbanded in 1779.”

July 7, 2016February 9, 2017

Shoe Buckle Military artifacts excavated from the British Revolutionary War fort and campsite at Richmond, Staten Island

Shoe Buckle Military artifacts excavated from the British Revolutionary War fort and campsite at Richmond, Staten Island; including brass scabbard points and scabbard hooks, a silver wire tassel from an officer’s uniform, a bronze officer’s shoe buckle impressed with a floral decorative design, an inscribed bronze shoe buckle, rectangular bronze belt plates with inscriptions, and a cartridge box badge cast in open work brass, with a design of the British crown cast above a circular body.

July 7, 2016February 9, 2017

British Army buttons were found at Fort Richmond in Staten Island. The buttons were worn on the uniforms of privates.

1963.25.1-10. New-York Historical Society

Date:

1770-1783

Medium:

Pewter

Dimensions:

largest: 7/8 in. ( 2.2 cm )

Marks:

stamped: (1-2), on front: “USA” (Continental Army) stamped: (3), on front: “1/C.R.” (1st Connecticut Regiment; coat button) stamped: (4), on front: “3” (3rd Connecticut Regiment; dolphin next to number; coat) stamped: (5), on front: “MASS/VI” (6th Mass

Description:

Pewter military buttons; solid pewter disks with the emblem, number, or symbol of their regiment on front; one button has crossed swords and another has a skull and crossbones below its regiment number; one button has its number flanked on the left by two C’s forming a dolphin; another has its number enclosed inside a small circle in center, with an emblem along the bottom edge.

Gallery Label:

These buttons were excavated by the Field Exploration Committee at Revolutionary War sites in New York. The Continental Army buttons were found near the Revolutionary barracks at West Point, and the British Army buttons were found at Fort Richmond in Staten Island. The buttons were worn on the uniforms of privates.

May 24, 2015August 8, 2017

Plan of New York and Staten Islands with part of Long Island, surveyd in the years 1781, & 82.

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA dcu

May 7, 2015August 23, 2019

The Reenactment Unit is The 4th Battalion New Jersey Volunteers (a Loyalist Unit). I participated as a common soldier from 2008 to 2014.

Reenactment of Peace Conference at Christopher Billopp’s Bentley Manor (Conference House), Staten Island, September 11, 1776.

The Reenactment Unit is The 4th Battalion New Jersey Volunteers (a Loyalist Unit). I participated as a common soldier from 2008 to 2014.

Todd Braisted, noted Historian of all things Loyalist. For more info, see
Revolutionary War Loyalist history and genealogy

Getting SI signatures to Loyalty Oaths to King George III

A beautiful Loyalist walking the grounds of the Conference House

Me, Native Staten Islander loyal to the King of England

Loyalists troops standing guard

View of Perth Amboy

Frankin, Adams and Rutlege arrive from across the Authur Kill
to participate in the Peace Conference

Front Parlor for Dining

Best Front Parlor

300-year-old Mulberry Tree

2007 Event

October 24, 2013August 23, 2019

The Revolutionary War in Richmond County, New York (Prelude) 1760 to 1774

A south west view of the city of New York, in North America = Vue de sud ouest de la ville de New York dans l’Amérique septentrionale. Thomas Howdell 1768. NYPL.

The somewhat secluded nature of Staten Island in the 17th and 18th centuries afforded its citizens with relative peace and prosperity after the first Dutch settlers battled with the local Indians and struggled to gain a foothold at Oud Dorp (Old Towne).

Early descriptions of the Island paint a landscape as a “lush and fragrant garden” with a good supply of fresh spring water and an abundance of hardwood trees. Dutch yeomen farmers took advantage of the mixture of clay and sandy soil, in addition to the abundance of Oyster beds in and around the many coves and inlets of the Island.The sparsely populated Island was divided into Southfield, Northfield, Westfield and Castletown, the latter overlooking Upper New York Bay.

From a publication in London, dated 1760, we abstract the following description of the residents of Staten Island at that time: ” Staten Island at its east end has a ferry of three miles to the west end of Long Island; at its west end is a ferry of one mile to Perth-Amboy of East Jersies; it is divided from East Jersies by a creek; is in length about twelve miles, and about six miles broad, and makes one county, called Richmond, which pays scarce one in one and twenty of the provincial tax; it is all in one parish, but several congregations, viz., an English, Dutch, and French congregation; the inhabitants are mostly English; only one considerable village called Cuckold’s-town.”

1775

Since there were no delegates being sent to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, Richmond became notorious for its Loyalist sympathies. Christopher Billoppe, the wealthiest of the Loyalists, owned Bentley Manor at the extreme southern tip of the Island. The opinion which George Washington had formed of the people of Staten Island, as well as of their immediate neighbors at Amboy, may be learned from the following extract from one of his letters:

“The known disaffection of the people of Amboy, and the treachery of those of Staten Island, who, after the fairest professions, have shown themselves our inveterate enemies, have induced me to give directions that all persons of known enmity and doubtful character should be removed from these places”

photo: Nick Matranga

The New York Provincial Congress had swayed the merchants and farmers to appoint members to a committee of safety or risk continuing their goods being boycotted by other local towns in New Jersey.

The Committee of Safety included Joseph Christopher, David Latourette, Peter Mersereau and John Tyson along with seven other men.

Since a boycott of all goods being traded with the British was instituted by the Committee, the smuggling of produce, livestock and other goods continued. The British ship James had twice attempted to unload its goods at the port of New York, but was quickly turned away. She ship eventually attempted to disembark its goods at Staten Island with the assistance of three Island residences.

In June 1776 the ships began to arrive off of Staten Island, and slowly entered the Narrows into Upper New York Bay. By the beginning of August, an estimated 30,000 ships were anchored in the harbor and directly off of Staten Island. The soldiers disembarked and started to set up camp all over the Island, chopping down the forests for their cabins and fire wood and foraging for cattle and food on the small farms that dotted the Island. General Howe had explicitly forbade foraging and stealing from the local farmers, but the soldiers served themselves to the generous amounts of apples, peaches and cherries from the numerous orchards along the south shore.

A View of the Narrows between Long Island and Staten Island, with Our Fleet at Anchor and Lord Howe Coming In. Drawing by Captain Lieutenant Archibald Robertson, Royal Engineers, 1776. NYPL.

General Howe set up his headquarters near the Decker Ferry on the shore road along the Kill van Kull at the Adrian Bancker house. British troops were billeted in the Rose & Crowne Inn at New Dorpe, where the Olde King’s Highway crosses the main road of the town. The Black Horse Tavern nearby was also commandeered for the use of the Officers and their Aides-de-Camp while stationed on the Island.

A Hessian soldier named Baurmeister recorded a description of the British forces encamped at Staten Island for the 14th and 15th of August. His division had sent 132 soldiers to the Hospital encampment, due to scurvy:

“We found the Eglish troops, which had been driven out of Boston encamped on Staten Island on eight different heights.

At Amboy Ferry, Lieutenant General Clinton with two brigades and half of an artillery brigade.

Between Amboy Ferry and the Old Blazing Star (now Rossville), Brigadier General Leslie with three brigades and half an artillery brigade.

At the Old Blazing Star, Brigadier General Farrington with two brigades and two 12-pounders and also half a troop of light dragoons to carry dispatches.

At the New Blazing Star (at Long Neck, now Travis), Brigadier Generals Smith, Robertson and Agnew with three brigades and the other half of light dragoons.

At Musgrower’s Lien [?](Lane?), Lieutenant General Percy and Brigadier general Erkine with two brigades and four 6-pounders and one officer and twnty-five light dragoons.

At the point opposite Elizabeth town Ferry, Major General Grant with one brigade, two light guns, and fifteen dragoons.

At the Morning Star (the country seat of Henry Holland, on the northern side of the island), Lieutenant General Cornwallis with two and a half brigades, six 12-pounders, four howitzers, and fifteen dragoons.

At Decker’s Ferry (now Port Richmond), Major General William James with the 37th and 52nd Regiments and two light guns.

To the right of Decker’s Ferry, in a country house close to the shore opposite New Jersey, Major General Vaughan with six grenadier battalions, the 46th Regiment, the rest of the disembarked artillery, the rest of the light dragoons, and General Howe’s headquarters.

Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple was in command if the trenches thrown up on Staten Island, which is fifteen English miles long and five wide.”
_______________________
Quoted From: Revolution in America: Confidential Letters and Journals 1776-1784 of Adjutant General Major Baurmeister of the Hessian Forces. Translated and annotated by Bernhard A. Uhlendorf. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1957.

All images from: Archibald Robertson: His Diaries and Sketches, 1762-1780. Spencer Collection, The New York Public Library.
The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

October 24, 2013February 4, 2024

Richard St George Mansergh-St George written by Nicholas Matranga

In August of 1919, an archaeological dig on Cocheran’s Hill found a button of the King’s Own, or Fourth Foot regiment (see painting below) which unit was a part of the amphibious landing at Gravesend Bay in summer of 1776.

An officer of the 4th Regiment of Foot c. 1776-1780 by Thomas Gainsborough, National Gallery, Victoria, Australia

Colonel Richard St George Mansergh (born 1757) (the name of ‘St George’ following ‘Mansergh’ was assumed on inheriting his maternal uncle’s property, Richard St George Mansergh-St George) was a British Army officer and magistrate of County Cork, Ireland.

Family

His maternal grandfather was Sir Richard St George, whose grandfather was Sir George St George of Carrickdrumrusk and was ancestor of the Barons St George. His two brothers were Oliver and George. Richard was the ancestor of the St Georges of Woodsgift in County Kilkenny. The St Georges were originally from Cambridgeshire, England, who were granted lands in the Headford area by the Cromwellian Commissioners in 1666, much of it formerly held by the Catholic Skerrett family. Their ownership of lands was extensive in the counties of Galway, Roscommon, Limerick and Queen’s county (county Laois) confirmed by a patent dated October 26, 1666. The family bore a coat of arms blazoned Argent a Chief Azure overall a Lion rampant Gules crowned Or. Gallowshill in Carrick-on-Shannon, Hatley Manor and Holywell are the ancestral family manor houses.

Education

He was educated at Westminster School before entering Middle Temple in 1769. Admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1771, he graduated with a BA in 1775.[1] He was friends with the painter Henry Fuseli and the poet Anna Seward and has been reputed to have been a very accomplished artist, lampooning the political figures and events of the day in sketches and watercolors.

In 1771, he inherited his uncle’s estate and added ‘St. George’ to the end of his surname.

Early military career

Portrait of Richard Mansergh St George c.1791 by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Tate Gallery, London

He began his military career in late 1775 by purchasing a cornet’s commission in the 8th (The King’s RoyalIrish) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons. After serving three months, he retired, but had signed up again by obtaining a position as an Ensign in the 4th Regiment of Foot at the outbreak of war in America.

His regiment joined General William Howe in the Battle of Long Island in 1776, and at Fort Washington.

While at Staten Island, he eventually purchased a lieutenancy in the 52nd Regiment of Foot in December 1776.

1776 Commission. 52nd Regiment of Foot. John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. Colonial Williamsburg.

After lay-waying in Nova Scotia in early 1777, he participated in the Philadelphia campaign of 1777, seeing action at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of Germantown where he was wounded. He was shot in the head and trepanned (a portion of his skull was removed) and fitted with a silver plate to cover the hole, requiring St. George to wear a black silken cap for the remainder of his life. Xavier della Gatta’s painting of the Battle of Germantown depicts a fellow private, Corporal George Peacock, carrying the wounded St. George on his back from the battle (see illustration below). Mansergh-St George recounted:

“a most infernal fire of cannon and musket–smoak–incessant shouting–incline to the right! Incline to the Left!–halt!–charge!…the balls ploughing up the ground. The trees cracking over ones head, The branches riven by the artillery. The leaves falling as in autumn by grapeshot.”

He returned to New York in June 1778. He was eventually promoted to captain in the 44th Regiment of Foot in 1778. By the end of the war he was serving as an aid to Sir Henry Clinton. He exchanged that commission for the same rank in the 100th Regiment of Foot on 4 May 1785, only to finally retire from the regulars on 18 May.

The Battle of Germantown by Xavier della 1782,

Return to Ireland after the American war

Portrait of Mrs. St. George and Child c.1791 by George Romney, August Heckscher Collection, Heckscher Museum, New York

After being mustered out in May 1785, he returned to Ireland from America and married Anne Stepney of Durrow, County Laois (then Queen’s County) in 1788, and within three years they had two sons, Richard James and Stepney St George. Mansergh St George was an active, local magistrate appalled by the poverty that he found on his estates in County Cork and County Galway. His response to this was an Account of the State of Affairs in and About Headford, County Galway, which laments the condition of the Irish peasantry, and whilst considering establishing a linen industry to improve matters, doubts the willingness or the ability of his tenants to make the enterprise work. Mansergh St George’s wife had died in 1791, leaving her husband a widower with two infant children, and he wished to have a portrait painted of himself (see illustration at right below) as a monument to his grief for her. The eventual result of the commission is the full-length portrait by Hugh Douglas Hamilton now in the National Gallery of Ireland, in which Mansergh St George, in his Irish Light Horse Militia uniform, leans in an attitude of grief against a classical tomb inscribed Non Immemor.

Irish rebellion of 1798

By the late 1780s, the vast mountainous tract of land between Cork and Tipperary was overseen by the only active magistrate, which was Col St George himself. The local peasants had been indiscriminately cutting down trees for pike handles on the estates, as the gentry looked on in terror for fear of insurrection by their own tenants. The Colonel had written a confidential letter to the Castle describing “a gentleman about a quarter of a mile from this passively observed the people cutting down fifty of his trees in Daylight in view of his house.”

Portrait of Richard Mansergh St George c.179 by Hugh Douglas Hamilton, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

St George had been dining with the Earl of Mountcashel’s at Moor Park, and freely expressing his views about his detestation of treason and rebellion. It is plausible that a servant may have reported these discussions to the assassins, so as they may have been ready and laying in wait for the Colonel. On 12 February 1798, at the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 thirty republicans from North Cork and South Tipperary attacked the house of Jasper Uniacke, Esq, the Colonel’s tenant and administrator, and according to the Hibernian Chronicle “demanded that St. George Mansergh, who was then in the house, should be sent out to them; this being refused, they rushed in to seize him, on which he shot one of them dead, which so exasperated the rest, that with pitchforks, and other weapons,” was “barbarously murdered” along with his servant with a rusty scythe. The newspaper article continues to describe the murder: “And to add to their inhumanity, they wounded Mrs. Uniacke, while in the act of saving her husband, so that she lies dangerously ill.” She survived and identified the assailants, John Haye and Timothy Hickey, at their trial in 1798: both men were found guilty and executed at Araglin.[2]

Footnotes

[1]Venn, J.; Venn, J. A., eds. (1922–1958). “Mansergh (post Mansergh-St George), Richard St George”. Alumni Cantabrigienses (10 vols) (online ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[2]Annual Register …for the year 1789, 1800, pp. 32-3.

References

An account of Galway [Headford] by Richard-St.George-Mansergh St. George; with a note by Sir B. Boothby (inked over by R. St. George). Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Library. MS 1749/1,2.

Anna Seward, “Epistle to Colonel St George, Written April 1783” from The Poetical Works of Anna Seward; with Extracts from her Literary Correspondence. Scott, Walter, ed. Three Volumes, Vol. II. (John Ballantyne, Edinburgh, 1810).

John Burke, A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronage of the British Empire, 4th edition Vol.II, London, Henry and Colburn and Richard Bentley 1832 p. 387.

Thomas Pakenham, The Year of Liberty: the story of the great Irish Rebellion of 1798 (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1969).

Martin Hunter, The Journal of Gen. Sir Martin Hunter and Some Letters of His Wife, Lady Hunter Put Together by Their Daughter, Miss A. Hunter, and by Their Dear Friend, Miss Bell, and Caused to be Printed by Their Grandson, James Hunter. (Edinburgh: The Edinburgh Press, 1894).

“The True Briton,” The Times, p. 3 (16 February 1798).

The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 68, p. 161 (February 1798).

The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 68, p. 346 (April 1798).

Martin Myrone, “Gothic Romance and the Quixotic Hero:A Pageant for Henry Fuseli in 1783”

Martin Myrone, “Bodybuilding: reforming masculinities in British art 1750-1810”

Gregory Urwin, “Solving a Mystery: Redcoat Images, No. 83 (Revisited) Ensign Richard St George Mansergh St George, 4th Regiment of Foot, 1776”

Richard St. George, “The Actions at Brandywine and Paoli Described by a British Officer,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 29, 368 (Philadelphia, 1905).

Commission image credit:

Great Britain. Army and Howe, William Howe, Viscount, 1729-1814, “Richard St. George Mansergh St. George military commission, 1776 December 23,” John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, accessed May 11, 2015, http://rocklib.omeka.net/items/show/446. [William H. Howe, Richard St George Mansergh, 1776. Archival material. British military commission issued in America, signed by Gen. Howe, appointing Richard St. George, Mansergh St George Gent, to the rank of Lieutenant, 52d Regiment of Foot, headquartered in New York.]

October 23, 2013June 24, 2019

British Army at Staten Island, N.Y.

Commander in Chief, General the Honorable Sir William Howe, K. B.

Second in Command, Lieutenant-General Henry Clinton

Third in Command, Right Honorable Lieutenant-General Earl Percy

___________________________________________________________________

1st Brigade. Major-General Pigot (pictured at left); 4th Regiment, Major James Ogilvie; 15^thRegiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Bird; 27th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Maxwell; 45th Regiment, Major Saxton.

2d Brigade. Brigadier-General Agnew; 5th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Wolcot; 28th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Rob. Prescott; 35th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Carr; 49th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Calder, Bart.

3d Brigade. Major-General Jones; 10th Regiment, Major Vatass; 37th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Ambercromby; 38th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. Butler; 52d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mungo Campbell.

4th Brigade. Major-General James Grant (picture at left); 17th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mawhood; 40th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel James Grant; 46th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Enoch Markham; 55th Regiment, Captain Luke.

5th Brigade. Brigadier-General Smith; 23d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Campbell; 43d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel George Clarke; 14th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Alvred Clarke; 63d Regiment, Major Francis Sill.

6th Brigade. Brigadier-General Gou. Robertson; 23d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Benj. Bernard; 44th Regiment, Major Feury Hope; 57th Regiment, Lieutenant John Campbell; 64th Regiment, Major Hugh McLeroch.

7th Brigade. Brigadier-General Wm. Erskine (picture at left), quartermaster general; 17th Light Dragoons, Lieutenant-Colonel Birch; 71st Highlanders, 1st Battalion, Major John MacDowell; 2d Battalion, Major Norman Lamont.

Brigade of Guards. Major-General Matthew; Light Infantry Brigade, Brigadier-General Honorable Alexander Leslie;

1st Battalion Light Infantry, Major Thomas Musgrave;

2d Battalion Light Infantry, Major Straubenzie;

3d Battalion Light Infantry, Major Honorable John Maitland;

4th Battalion Light Infantry, Major John Johnson.

Reserve. Right Honorable Lieutenant-General Earl of Cornwallis (picture at left); Brigadier-General the Honorable John Vaughan; 33d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Webster; 42d Regiment (Royal Highland), Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Stirling;

1st Battalion Grenadiers, Lieutenant-Colonel Honorable Henry Monckton;

2d Battalion Grenadiers, Lieutenant-Colonel William Meadows;

3d Battalion Grenadiers, Major Thomas Marsh;

4th Highland Grenadiers, Major Charles Stewart;

Royal Artillery and Engineers, Brigadier-General Cleveland.

February 24, 2011June 24, 2019

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Vaughn Dongan (Loyalist Staten Islander)

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Vaughn Dongan, commander of the 3rd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers in Skinner’s Loyalist brigade was mortally wounded in a skirmish, midway between the Old Blazing Star Ferry and Prince’s Bay. He was taken to a local farm (which I have yet to identify). It may very well be The Abraham Manee Farmhouse in Prince’s Bay, where British redoubts have been discovered nearby.

Lt.-Col. Edward Dongan. Circa 1773. A copy of this painting is in the home of Dr. John R. Dungan of Hastings. The sitter is almost certainly Edward Dongan, in the style of 1771-72, possibly 1760s, but he was married in 1773, a more likely date of painting. This is one of a pair of portraits removed from the Dongan Manor, 1882 and presented to the New-York Historical Society’s collection in 1882. The New-York Historical Society, Digital Collections.

Edward Vaughan Dongan was born January 3, 1749. After his father’s death, he went with his mother to live in Elizabeth. He was brought up a lawyer and lived at New Brunswick, N. J., where he married a daughter of Squire La Grange, a lawyer of that place. On the outbreak of the revolution, he made himself obnoxious on account of his adherence to royalty and was driven from his home before the British landed in New York. His father-in-law and family were in sympathy with him, and their estate was afterward forfeited.

Lt. Col. Edward Vaughan Dongan, along with Major Robert Drummond of the 3rd Battalion New Jersey Volunteers, had participated in Loyalist Foraging Raids into the New Jersey countryside from the Winter and early Spring of 1777. They successfully captured prisoners and livestock in one Foraging Raid into New Jersey from Staten Island on August 19, 1777.

Dongan was in command of a body of loyal troops and was posted at the Morning Star at the time of Sullivan’s raid on Staten Island, August 22, 1777. In this engagement, he received a wound from the effects of which he died in the hospital in New York city on the first of September.

August 23.—Yesterday morning, before daybreak, a body of rebels, under the command of Messrs Sullivan, Smallwood, Sullivan’s decent and^e Bourg, landed in two divisions upon the west end on Staton Island. By the acknowledgment of some of their officers, now prisoners here, their number was at least two thousand. One division of them soon fell in with a part of the New Jersey volunteers, which brigade was posted, in small detachments, along the side of the island, from Decker’s ferry to the point opposite Perth Amboy, a distance of fifteen miles. The rebels, greatly superior in numbers, had the fortune with success to engage the detachments that were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Laurence, and LieutenantColonel Barton, who were both made prisoners, with several other officers, and a considerable number of men. They then marched down to Decker’s ferry, where they burned about thirty-five tons of hay and set fire to a barn. As soon as the alarm had reached head-quarters, Brigadier-General Campbell marched with the 52d British and 3d battalions of Waldeck, leaving a regiment of Anspach to guard the camp and redoubts. Upon the approach of the regular troops, the rebels instantly marched off with all speed. In the mean time Brigadier-General Skinner had collected those of his corps which had been dislodged from their stations, and detached Major Tympany, with twenty-five men, to gain information of the route which the enemy had taken. The major came up with a number of them at the house of Doctor Parker, which they were plundering. He attacked them immediately, killed several, and took the rest prisoners; among the killed was Mr. Small wood’s brigadier-major.

It was now known that the rebels on this side had gone off towards Richmond; they were eagerly pursued, and on the road beyond that village an account was received from Lieutenant-Colonel Dongan, that his post had been attacked by the second division of the enemy, and obliged to retire, (which they did with very little loss,) towards Lieutenant-Colonel Allen, who had himself very seasonably retired, and taken post on a height near Prince’s Bay, where Lieutenant-Colonel Dongan had joined him. A large body of the rebels had twice made a show of attacking them, but finally declined it, and marched off towards the Old Blazing Star. Those two gallant officers soon determined to pursue them, and now gave information to Brigadier-General Skinner that they were on the way and requested orders which were immediately despatched to them, to proceed, and at all events to attack the enemy as soon as possible, informing them at the same time, that their brother volunteers from the right were coming up with all speed to join them, and that the regular troops, with General Campbell, were at hand to support them. These orders were executed with equal spirit and success. Notwithstanding a great disparity of numbers, these new troops attacked the rear of the enemy, consisting of Smallwood’s and other corps that are foremost in reputation among the rebels, with an intrepidity and perseverance that would have done honor to veterans. A considerable number of the enemy were killed, and about three hundred taken prisoners, including twenty-one officers, viz., one lieutenant colonel, three majors, two captains, ten lieutenants, three ensigns, one surgeon, and one officer wounded. By this time, General Campbell had got up one piece of cannon with a detachment of the artillery. That piece was soon followed by two or three more, and a well-directed fire of round and grape shot had a great effect on the rebel boats, and on those of their people who had got over to the Jersey shore. Our loss, in the whole affair, is five killed, seven wounded, and eighty-four missing. Among the wounded were Lieutenant-Colonel Dongan1 and Major Barnes, both officers of distinguished bravery.

The rebels, by this attempt, have, indeed, got a good deal of plunder, chiefly from the inhabitants, of which they may possibly be ready to boast, for they have often boasted of exploits which honest men would deem a disgrace; and they have reason on this occasion to blush for their conduct.

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Vaughan Dongan died of his wounds soon after the action. He was the commandant of the third battalion of New Jersey Volunteers; the youngest son of Walter Dongan, Esq., late of Staten Island; was bred to the law, and supported a most amiable character. He was in his twenty-ninth year and left a young distressed widow to lament the death of an affectionate husband. Their only child died a few hours before him.

—Gaine’s Mercury.

‘Gaine’s Mercury, September 1. * In New Jersey.

His only child, which with its mother had suffered great exposure on the day referred to, died on the same day, and was buried in the same grave with him. His widow afterward went with her family to reside at Farmington, Hackney, England.
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Excerpts from: Frank Moore, Diary of the American Revolution: From Newspapers and Original Documents, Volume 1, C. Scribner, 1860.
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Author: Nicholas

British Army Landing at Staten Island

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From the Journal of Samuel Blachley Webb (1753-1807), aide-de-camp to George Washington

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Cartridge Box badge depicting crown and “26” of the British 26th Regiment of Foot, War of the Revolution.

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Shoe Buckle Military artifacts excavated from the British Revolutionary War fort and campsite at Richmond, Staten Island

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British Army buttons were found at Fort Richmond in Staten Island. The buttons were worn on the uniforms of privates.

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Plan of New York and Staten Islands with part of Long Island, surveyd in the years 1781, & 82.

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The Reenactment Unit is The 4th Battalion New Jersey Volunteers (a Loyalist Unit). I participated as a common soldier from 2008 to 2014.

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1775

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Family

Education

Early military career

Return to Ireland after the American war

Irish rebellion of 1798

Footnotes

References

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British Army at Staten Island, N.Y.

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Lieutenant Colonel Edward Vaughn Dongan (Loyalist Staten Islander)

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