Major General Philemon Dickinson’s Invasion of Staten Island, November 25, 1777

Major General Philemon Dickinson. New York Public Library

On the 25th of November, 1777, General Philemon Dickinson, commanding the New Jersey Militia, suddenly embarked before daylight from Halstead’s Point to Staten Island, with a party of about fourteen hundred militia. He advanced his men in three different detachments by different roads, to rendezvous at a central point a few miles distant, undoubtedly Richmond. Unfortunately it was soon found that General Skinner had been informed of the intended attack, and before three o’clock he had drawn his troops off the Island. General Dickinson, however, made a few little attacks on some straggling parties of the tories and on the detachment of British troops under Major-General John Campbell [at Fort Hill], and he killed some five or six men and took twenty-four prisoners [Three NJ Volunteers were captured:  Lieutenant Jacob Van BuskirkLieutenant Edward Earle and Surgeon John Hammell].

Major General John Campbell: Wikipedia

Immediately after opening fire upon the British, General Dickinson discovered reinforcements and several ships of war approaching the Island. Knowing that he would be overpowered by numbers, he gave orders to retire from the scene, and with the loss of a few men whom the British captured, the Americans made good their escape to the Jersey shore. He lost three men of his command captured, and two wounded. The main object designed by this affair was not accomplished; but General Washington was pleased with the disposal made of the forces by General Dickinson and the manner in which they had been handled.

General Dickinson sums up the results of his invasion in the following letter to Washington:

Elizabeth Town [N.J.] Novemr 28th 1777

Dear Sir

Having obtained the fullest Information, respecting the Strength & Situation, of the Enemy upon Staten Island, & made the necessary Preparations, I called in many Volunteers, whose Numbers, in addition to those who were on Duty at this Post, amounted to about 1400 Men, with this Detachment, I landed Yesterday Morning before Day, upon the Island, from Halsteads Point—The whole Strength of the Enemy, were drawn to this side of the Island, & extended from the Blazing Star, to their former works; Genl Skinner with five Regiments of Greens, were quartered in different Parts, about three hundred Waldeckers with Genl Campbell lay at the Works, in which were light cannon with a company of Artillery, cover’d by a fifty Gun Ship, & a Sloop of War—I landed in three Divisions (having the best Guides) & intended to have march’d bye roads, in order to get in the rear of the Greens, & cut off their Retreat—the Divisions proceeded as far as was intended, (7 Miles) & then met at the appointed Rendezvous, but to my great disappointment, they secured their retreat in the Works, by the most precipitate flight, Genl Skinner, Col: Allen & many other officers having narrowly escaped—We drove in all their Pickets with little opposition, & now & then skirmished a little with them as they fled—I kept my Design as much as possible, not having communicated it, to the Field officers, untill 8, OClock the Evening before, but notwithstanding all my precaution, Mr Skinner recieved the Intelligence at 3, OClock in the Morng which frustrated my Plan—I flatter’d myself, I should have had the Pleasure, of giving your Excellency a good account of the General & his Green Brigade, which undoubtedly would have been the case, had he not unluckily have received the above Information[1]—We made the following Prisoners—vizt two Lieutenants, (one Col: Buskirks Son) one Surgeon, one Commissary, & twenty Privates—Mr Hud of Brunswick among the Numbers—& killed five or six Greens—our loss was, three Men made Prisoners, & two slightly wounded[2]—In justice to both officers & Men, I must inform your Excellency, they behaved well, & wanted nothing but an opportunity, to have done honor to the State they belong to, their Expectations were great, & their Spirits high. I was astonished the Enemy had not collected, & formed upon some advantageous Ground, this I expected would have been the case; & proceeded with caution—They came down in a Body, to play the old Game upon our Rear, this I expected, & was sufficiently prepared for, having thrown up a small Work at Halsteads Point, & placed two Field Pieces in it, from which we kept up a brisk fire, & soon dispersed them—After remaining on the Island Eight hours, & driving them within their Works, we made an easy & secure retreat—not having lost a single Man, Horse, or Boat—By a Flag just come over, I am informed they say, in excuse for their Gallant Behaviour, that we were joined by 2,000 Continental Troops—had it not have been strong tide of Flud, by which means, they might easily have been reinforced from N. York—as General Putnam only intended a Feint there, & their having two Gondola’s, & an armed Sloop, lying in the Sound, I should have remained in Possession of the Island for the Day; those considerations & the Troops being much fatigued, as the Night was very cold, & they obliged to march thro’ much water, determined me to return—which reasons, I hope will mee⟨t your⟩ Excellency’s approbation.

⟨I pr⟩oposed to the Governor, to march most of the Men ⟨from th⟩is Post to the Southern Part of this State, to serve out ⟨th⟩e remainder of their Time, (indeed the whole Force should have marched long ago, but the Council would not consent) if I am not forbid, shall take the Liberty of sending on six hundred of the best Troops early tomorrow Morng which Detachment, I shall accompany—the Weather is very bad, but hope it will clear up this Eveng.

My Indisposition, being much fatigued, & very wet in crossing the river, prevented my giving your Excellency the above Information earlier.

A Fleet consisting of 25 Sail, is just arrived at the Narrows, said to come from England, & to have brought over some of the New raised Irish Regts. I have the honor to be, Your Excellencys most Obt Servt

Philemon Dickinson

The prisoners taken in the raid of General Dickinson, in the preceding November, were still in the possession of the Americans at the commencement of the year 1778, and some had been summarily dealt with. In consequence the following correspondence passed between General Robertson, the commanding officer at New York, and Governor Livingston, of New Jersey:

“New York, January 4, 1778.

“Sir: — I am interrupted in my daily attempts to soften the calamities of prisoners, and reconcile their care with our security, by a general cry of resentment, arising from an information —

“That officers in the King’s service taken on the [27th] of November, and Mr. John Brown, a deputy-commissary, are to be tried in Jersey for high treason; and that Mr. Hill and another prisoner have been hanged.

“Though I am neither authorized to threaten or to sooth, my wish to prevent an increase of horrors, will justify my using the liberty of an old acquaintance, to desire your interposition to put an end to, or prevent measures which, if pursued on one side would tend to prevent every act of humanity on the other, and render every person who exercises this to the King’s enemies, odious to his friends.

“I need not point out to you all the cruel consequences of such a proceedure. I am hopeful you’ll prevent them, and excuse this trouble from. Sir,

“Your most obedient and humble servant,

“James Robertson.

” N. B. At the moment that the cry of murder reached my ears, I was signing orders, that Fell‘s request to have the liberty of the city, and Colonel Reynold to be set free on his parole, should be complied with. I have not recalled the order, because tho’ the evidence be strong, I can’t believe it possible a measure so cruel and impolitic, could be adopted where you bear sway.

“To William Livingston, Esq., &c., &c.”

Immediately upon the receipt of this letter Governor Livingston replied as follows:

William Livingston. Source: Sons of the American Revolution, Inc.; ©Fraunce’s Tavern Museum, New York City

“January 7, 1778.

“Sir: — Having received a letter under your signature, dated the 4th instant, which I have some reason to think you intended for me, I sit down to answer your inquiries concerning certain officers in the service of your King, taken on Staten Island, and one Browne who calls himself a deputy commissary; and also respecting one Iliff and another prisoner, (I suppose you must mean John Agee, he having shared the fate you mention), who have been hanged.

Buskirk, Earl and Hammell, who are, I presume, the officers intended, with the said Browne, were sent to me by General Dickinson as prisoners taken on Staten Island. Finding them all to be subjects of this state, and to have committed treason against it, the Council of Safety committed them to Trenton goal. At the same time I acquainted General Washington, that if he chose to treat the three first who were British officers, as prisoners of war, I doubted not the Council of Safety would be satisfied. General Washington has since informed me that he intends to consider them as such; and they are therefore at his service, whenever the Commissary of Prisoners shall direct concerning them. Browne, I am told, committed several robberies in this state before he took sanctuary on Staten Island, and I should scarcely imagine that he has expiated the guilt of his former crimes by committing the greater one of joining the enemies of his country. However, if General Washington chooses to consider him also a prisoner of war, I shall not interfere in the matter.

‘Hill was executed after a trial by jury for enlisting our subjects, himself being one, as recruits in the British army, and he was apprehended on his way with them to Staten Island. Had he never been subject to this state, he would have forfeited his life as a spy. [John]Magee was one of his company, and had also procured our subjects to enlist in the service of the enemy.

“If these transactions, Sir, should induce you to countenance greater severities toward our people, whom the fortune of war has thrown into your power, than they have already suffered, you will pardon me for thinking that you go farther out of your way to find palliatives for inhumanity, than necessity seems to require; and if this be the cry of murder to which you allude as having reached your ears, I sincerely pity your ears for being so frequently assaulted with the cries of murder much more audible, because less distant, I mean the cries of your prisoners who are constantly perishing in the goals of New York (the coolest and most deliberate kind of murder) from the rigorous manner of their treatment.

“I am with due respect, “Your must humble servant, ”William Livingston.

Sources and Notes:

Morris’s Memorial History of Staten Island, Ira K. Morris, New York: Winthrop Press (1900); History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York from its discovery to the present time, Richard M. Bayles, New York: L.E. Preston (1887); Founders Online

1. British officer Stephen Kemble’s journal entry for 27 Nov. also reported minor skirmishing on that date: “The Rebels Landed upon Staten Island in Force, from one thousand to seventeen hundred; proceeded as far as General Howe’s Head Quarters, but there turned about and fled to their Boats, where they Embarked; the loss of either side is so little worth mentioning that we shall not say what it was” (Kemble Papers, 1:145).

2. These prisoners all served in Gen. Cortlandt Skinner’s Loyalist corps of New Jersey Volunteers. Jacob Van Buskirk (b. 1760) of Bergen County was a lieutenant in the 3d Battalion, commanded by his father, Lt. Col. Abraham Van Buskirk. Van Buskirk returned to his battalion after his exchange. He was promoted to captain in May 1780 and was wounded at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, S.C., in September 1781. Van Buskirk settled in Nova Scotia on British half-pay after the war. Edward Earle (1757–1825), also of Bergen County, was commissioned a lieutenant in the 3d Battalion in November 1776. Earle, whose property was confiscated by the Americans in 1778, was promoted to captain in July 1781, and after the war he settled in New Brunswick, Canada. John Hammell (born c.1755) of Windsor in Middlesex County served as a surgeon in Col. Philip Van Cortlandt’s regiment of New Jersey militia from July 1776 to November 1776, when he deserted and joined Van Buskirk’s 3d Battalion. Hammell also settled in New Brunswick, Canada, after the war, receiving British half-pay to 1801. John Brown (died c.1780), a cooper from New Brunswick, N.J., and a former commissary for the American forces, apparently served as both a deputy commissary and guide for Skinner’s corps. The New Jersey council of safety on 31 Nov. ordered Van Buskirk, Earle, Hammel, and Brown “committed to Trenton Jail for high Treason” (N.J. Council of Safety Minutes, 167). GW recommended against trying the four men for treason, and after a grand jury failed to bring in a bill of indictment against them, the council turned them over to Elias Boudinot as prisoners of war (see William Livingston to GW, 1 Dec., and note 2, GW to Livingston, 11 Dec., and Charles Pettit to Elias Boudinot, 1 Jan. 1778, in NjP: Thorne-Boudinot Collection). “Mr Hud” of New Brunswick, N.J., may be James Hude, Jr., son of the former mayor of New Brunswick, James Hude, Sr.

Simcoe and The Queen’s Rangers, Part 3

The Queen’s Rangers, Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe goes on to state, in his  Military Journal,  obtained a great many recruits, and it is very remarkable that neither that corps nor the Volunteers of Ireland had a single man who deserted from them, while there were such opportunities and apparent reasons to do it. Lieut.-Col. Simcoe, on his return from Elizabethtown Point, where the enemy passed, had information that a party of plunderers had crossed from the Jersies to the other end of the Island. He detached the Hussars in pursuit of them, but they fled, on the Staten Island militia collecting together. The frost still continuing there were many reports and a general expectation that the enemy would again adventure upon the Island, with superior force, with sufficient provisions to attempt some greater purpose, and patroles were constantly made on all the roads by which they could possibly approach, by order of General Sterling.

The Queen’s Rangers had formerly experienced how ready General Sterling was to represent their services, and they now in common with the other troops, had a further proof of his good inclinations, it being inserted in general orders of the 21st of January,

‘Brigadier Gen. Sterling is happy to inform the troops on this Island of his Excellency Gen. Knyphausen’s fullest approbation of their behavior, and the good countenance they showed when the rebels were upon this Island, which the brigadier had reported to the Commander-in-chief; and his Excellency desires his thanks may be given to them.’

On the 25th [of January], Lieut.-Col. Simcoe gave out the following order: ‘That he expects the order relative to officers and soldiers sleeping in their clothes be strictly complied with, such recruits excepted whom the officers commanding companies may judge as yet unequal to the duties of the regiment; if any half-bred soldier disobeys this order, the first officer or non-commissioned who meets with him, will deliver him to the officer on guard to be put on some internal duty. The Lieut.-Col. has particular satisfaction in seeing the General’s approbation of that good countenance which enabled him, on the late inroad of the enemy, to rest perfectly at ease without augmenting the duty of the regiment. He knows its universal spirit, and certain from the fidelity of those on guard, that the garrison cannot be snatched away by surprise, is confident that Richmond redoubts will be too dear for the whole rebel army to purchase.’

Planned Capture of George Washington

Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe formulated a plan to capture “Mr. Washington,” as he called him, by making a secret march from Staten Island to Morristown. While waiting for Sir Henry Clinton’s conclusions, the Hussars were ordered to march to New York, with a convoy, over the ice. Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe goes on to say : “It would seem that the same negligence in Gen. Washington’s quartering in front of his army had attracted the notice of Captain Beckwith, Gen. Knyphausen’s aide-de-camp, and he had formed a plan to carry off that General, for which purpose cavalry were collected at New York, and among others Captain Beckwith obtained the Hussars of the Queen’s Rangers, of whom he had a good opinion. Brig.-Gen. Sterling communicated to Lieut.-Col. Simcoe the purpose for which the cavalry was withdrawn, as it was intended that a general movement from Staten Island should favor the enterprise.

“Since it did not take place on so large a scale as was at first designed, Lieut.-Col. Simcoe received orders ‘to send a party to surprise the enemy’s post at Woodbridge or Rahway, and to give a general alarm’; this party was to cross the ice at one o’clock in the morning, and not to return until nine or ten. Accordingly Lieut.-Col. Simcoe passed the ice with two hundred infantry at one o’clock; Major Armstrong with some infantry, the cavalry and cannon occupying the heights, at the Old Blazing Star [Rossville], to cover their return. The snow prevented all possibility of marching but in the beaten road; there were no posts in Woodbridge.”

Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe then gives a detailed account of his adventures in New Jersey, where they had a warm engagement with the Continental militia. After that he continues: “The party returned to Richmond without further molestation. The Queen’s Rangers lost only one man, already mentioned; a few were wounded, but they bore no proportion to the number whose cloths were struck by the enemy’s bullets, fired at a distance, through intervening thickets, or more probably by those who had not recollection enough to ram down their charges. The enemy’s loss was supposed to be more considerable, as many of them were seen to fall and the whole of the affair being between single men, the Rangers were better marksmen than the Jersey militia. Captain Beckwith had found it impracticable to carry his attempt into execution, from an uncommon fall of rain which, encrusting the top of the snow, cut the fetlocks of his horses and rendered it absolutely impossible for him to succeed. The Hussars soon afterward returned to Staten Island. The ice floating on the 22d of February, the Sound became impassable. The soldiers were permitted to undress themselves at night, and in case of alarm they were directed to accoutre in their shirts, and to form at their posts.

“Lieut.-Col. Simcoe, on his arrival at Staten Island from imprisonment, had applied to the Commander-in-chief to request that he might join the army to the southward. He had also written in the strongest terms to Earl Cornwallis, soliciting his lordship to support his application. ln case his wishes should not take place, he was anxious to be of what service he thought the present situation of the Queen’s Rangers would admit; for this purpose he made application through the proper channel to General Knyphausen for discretionary permission to beat up the enemy’s forts in the Jersies, and to have boats sufficient to transport three hundred infantry and sixty cavalry, to be manned by the Rangers, and to be left totally to his own disposal.

He proposed by this means to countenanced desertion, then so prevalent in Washington’s army, and to keep the whole coast in continued alarm. He had the most minute maps of the country and the best guides, and the Loyalists, without doubt, would have universally joined him. The first enterprise he meant to attempt was to surprise Col. Lee at Burlington. * * * Lee’s corps were excellently mounted and disciplined; he himself was active and enterprising, and had that weight in the Jersies which capacity and power, with a very free use of it, could give to the possessor. The importance it would have been of to the intended system of operations to have seized upon Col. Lee and demolished his corps is best illustrated by remarking that, although Burlington is nearly seventy miles from Staten Island, he was understood to have his pickets eight or ten miles in his front for his security.

“Lieut.-Col. Simcoe’s proposals were approved of by Generals Knyphausen, Sterling and Tryon. Some of their boats were sent to him, and the remainder were in forwardness when, on the 23d of March, 1780, the infantry of the corps received orders to embark for Charlestown, which it did on the 4th of April. Captain Wickham was left with the Hussars in the town of Richmond, and the duty of the redoubts was taken by a party of two subaltern officers and sixty rank and file, from the 82d regiment, under his directions; this detachment was in a few days relieved by the 22d regiment. The Hessian regiment of Ditforth, Queen’s Rangers, Volunteers of Ireland, and Prince of Wales Volunteers, under command of Col. Westerhagen, sailed on the 7th [of April]. The Queen’s Rangers anchored in Stono inlet on the 18th, and camped before Charlestown, (S. C.,) on the 21st.

New Bridge Rebel Outpost Captured and Battle of Springfield

Captain Wickham, of the Hussars, had by no means been idle while at Richmond. The post was such as might have been a temptation to an enterprising enemy; but General Knyphausen, by frequent and well-concerted expeditions, had kept the rebels fully employed in their own cantonments, the Jersies. On one of these attempts, the Hussars of the Rangers were eminently distinguished, as was detailed to Lieut.-Col. Simcoe by Captain Wickham, and by him read to the Commander-in-chief, who was highly satisfied with it. The report mentions, ‘that on the 15th of April, the cavalry on Staten Island, consisting of Cornet Tucker and twenty of the 17th regiment, light dragoons, Capt. Wickham with a troop of forty-five men and Capt. Diemar with his Hussars, forty men, crossed Cole’s ferry, and marched to English neighborhood, where they joined Major DuBuy, with three hundred of the regiment DuBose, and fifty of Colonel Robinson‘s corps. At New Bridge Sergeant McLaughlin, with six of the Rangers in advance, fell in with and either killed or took the whole of a small rebel outpost.

“On the 21st of June the regiment landed at Staten Island, and marched to Richmond redoubts. At midnight Lieut.-Col. Simcoe received orders to proceed instantly to the Jersies, where General Knyphausen, having thrown a bridge of boats over the Sound, near Elizabethtown Point, was encamped. The Hussars of the regiment here joined the corps.”

Then followed an event that formed one of the very blackest pages in English military history — the battle of Springville, N. J., the burning of the village, and the wanton murder of the wife of Pastor Caldwell. The “Queen’s Rangers” took part in it, of course. They returned to Staten Island in the night. On the 10th of July, (1780), Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe joined his regiment and immediately left Staten Island, going over to Long Island. He received this message from Major Andre, then serving as Adjutant-General of the army on Staten Island: “The General assures you that the Rangers shall be pitted against a French regiment the first time he can procure a meeting.” We further quote from Simcoe’s Military Journal:

“The Queen’s Rangers crossed from Long to Staten Island and marched to Richmond redoubts on the 8th of October. * * * The Commander-in-Chief, thinking it proper, in the general orders, to publish the high idea which he entertained of Major Andre, both as a gentleman and an officer, and the sense he entertained of the loss his King and country had met with in his death, Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe, who had considered his execution as a barbarous and ungenerous act of power in the American General, and who had certain and satisfactory intelligence that the French party in general, and M. Fayette in particular, who sat upon his trial, urged Mr. Washington to the unnecessary deed, took the opportunity in his orders to the Queen’s Rangers, the officers and soldiers of which personally knew and esteemed Major Andre, to inform them that, ‘he had given directions that the regiment should immediately be provided with black and white feathers as mourning, for the late Major Andre, an officer whose superior integrity and uncommon ability did honor to his country and to human nature. The Queen’s Rangers will never sully their glory in the field of any undue severity; they will, as they have ever done, consider those to be under their protection who shall be in their power, and will strike with reluctance at their unhappy fellow subjects who, by a system of the barest artifices, have been seduced from their allegiance, and disciplined to revolt. But it is the Lieut.-Col.’s most ardent hope that on the close of some decisive victory, it will be the regiment’s fortune to secure the murderers of Major Andre, for the vengeance due to an injured nation and an insulted army.’

“It was generally supposed about the latter end of October that the enemy meditated some attempt on Staten Island. M. de Fayette was in the neighborhood of Elizabethtown, in force and with boats on travelling carriages. Lieut.-Col. Simcoe by public conversation, the means of spies, and by marching to Billopp’s Point in the dusk of the evening, so as to be discovered from the opposite shore, and then returning by ways which the enemy could not see, had endeavored to attract their notice and possess them with a belief that an inroad into the Jersies was in contemplation. As M. Fayette arrived in the vicinity the very day subsequent to this feint, it was reasonable to believe that his march was in consequence, and that the boats with him were destined to facilitate his passage across the small creeks with which the Jersies are intersected, in case of the British troops making any incursions into that country. Every proper precaution was taken by the troops in Richmond to prevent a surprise.

On the 12th of November official information was sent by the Adjutant General to Lieut.-Col. Simcoe that his post was the object of Fayette’s design, and that it probably would be attacked on that or the ensuing night. He immediately declared in orders: ‘The Lieut -Colonel has received information that M. Fayette, a Frenchman, at the head of some of his majesty’s deluded subjects, has threatened to plant French colors on Richmond redoubts. The Lieut.-Colonel believes this report to be a gasconade; but as the evident ruin of the enemy’s affairs may prompt them to some desperate attempt the Queen’s Rangers will lay in their clothes this night, and have their bayonets in perfect good order.’

“The Highlanders immediately assembled and marched to the redoubt, which, in the distribution of posts, was allotted to them to defend, and displaying their national banner, with which they used to commemorate their saint’s day, fixed it on the ramparts, saying,  ‘No Frenchman or rebel should ever pull that down.’ The Rangers were prepared if an attack should be made on the Watering Place, which appeared to be most probable, to march out and attack any division which might be placed, as had been in Lord Sterling’s attempt, to mass the troops in Richmond. Two field pieces, six pounders, and Captain Aulthause‘s company of riflemen had reinforced them.

“Lieut.-Col. Simcoe made himself acquainted with the landing places and the intervening grounds, in the minutest particular, and he had the Commander-in-Chief’s directions to abandon his post, ‘If the enemy should land in such force as to make, in his opinion, the remaining there attended with risk.’ The defects of Richmond were not sufficiently obvious for such inexperienced men as the rebel generals to seize upon and profit by at once. How far they might attract the instantaneous notice of the scientific French officers, supposed to be acting with them, it was not easy to foresee. Had the enemy been in a situation to have attacked the place by regular approaches, Lieut.-Col. Simcoe would have done his best endeavors to have maintained it; but had any General, at the head of a very superior force on the moment of his appearance, placed twenty or thirty field pieces on two separate eminences which enfiladed the redoubts, and formed a column to penetrate under cover of the cross fire, he had resolved to abandon what he considered in case of such a disposition to be untenable.

“A false alarm, which was give by an armed vessel stationed in Newark Bay, occasioned a considerable movement in the army, and troops from New York embarked to reinforce Staten Island; the post at Richmond was supposed to be the object of an attack. On the first gun being fired, patrols had been made on all sides by the cavalry, and the infantry slept undisturbed, Lieut.-Col. Simcoe apprehending the alarm to be false. The Rangers were very alert on guard, and proud of their regimental character of not giving false alarms, or being surprised; and the sentinel, as Lieut.-Col. Simcoe remarked in orders upon the only omission which ever came under his cognizance, ‘felt a manly pleasure in reflecting that the lives and honor of the regiment were entrusted to his care, and that under his protection his comrades slept in security.’

Surrender at Yorktown

On the 11th of December, 1780, the Queen’s Rangers embarked on an expedition to Virginia, under the command of General [Benedict] Arnold. They were very active in all the movements of the British army and formed a part of the troops commanded by Earl Cornwallis at Yorktown. When it was certain that the entire force under that distinguished general must surrender. Colonel Simcoe, according to his own writing, “sent Lieut. Spencer to his Lordship to request that as his corps consisted of Loyalists, the object of the enemy’s civil persecution, and deserters, if the treaty was not finally concluded, that he would permit him to endeavor to escape with them in some of those boats which General Arnold had built; and that his intention was to cross the Chesapeake and land in Maryland, where, from his knowledge of the inhabitants of the country and other favorable circumstances, he made no doubt of being able to save the greatest part of the corps and carry them into New York. His Lordship was pleased to express himself favorably in regard to the scheme; but said he could not permit it to be undertaken, for that the whole of the army must share one fate. The capitulation was signed on the 19th of October. Earl Cornwallis, on account of Lieut-Col. Simcoe’s dangerous state of health, permitted him to sail for New York on the “Bonetta,” which by an article in the capitulation, was to be left at his disposal, a sea voyage being the only chance, in the opinion of the physicians, by which he could save his life. On board of this vessel sailed as many of the Rangers, and of other corps, deserters from the enemy, as she could possibly hold. They were to be exchanged as prisoners of war, and the remainder of Earl Cornwallis’ army were marched prisoners into the country. Lieut.-Col. Simcoe, on his arrival at New York, was permitted by Sir Henry Clinton to return to England.

“Many of the soldiers, who were prisoners in the country, ‘were seized,’ says Col. Simcoe, ‘as deserters from Mr. Washington’s army. Several enlisted in it to facilitate their escape, and being caught in the attempt, were executed. A greater number got safe to New York, and, had the war continued, there was little doubt but the corps would have been re-assembled in detail. The Rangers were so daring and active in their attempt to escape that, latterly, they were confined in a ‘ goal.’ Captain Whitlock, who commanded them while prisoners in the country, was one of the captains who drew lots with Captain Asgil to suffer for Huddy‘s death.’

Captain Saunders was the last commandant of the Queen’s Rangers in this country. They were, afterwards, both cavalry and infantry enrolled in the British army; but the corps was disbanded at the ensuing of peace, and many of the officers, and most of the soldiers, settled on the lands to which they had a claim in Nova Scotia.

“The following is an extract from ‘the general return of officers and privates surrendered prisoners of war, the 19th of October, 1781, to the allied army under command of General Washington, taken from the original muster rolls’:

“Queen’s Rangers — 1 Lieut. -Colonel, 1 Major, 10 Captains, 15 Lieutenants, 11 cornets, 3 quartermasters, 2 surgeons, 24 sergeants, 5 trumpeters, 248 rank and file — total, 320. ”

John Graves Simcoe, courtesy of the Bibliothèque et Archives Canada

It may be useless now to further recall the character and acts of Colonel Simcoe while serving his king on Staten Island. Let the century that has intervened soften our feelings toward a vanquished foe. When the war ended he was a prisoner and went directly to England where he became a member of Parliament, while holding a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel in the regular army. When Canada was divided into two provinces, Simcoe was appointed Governor of Upper Canada. His headquarters were at York, now called Toronto. It seems that then his chief ambition was to increase the prejudice of the Canadians and Indians against the people of the United States, and the unpleasant, and frequently bitter, feeling existing in that province toward our people to-day, can be traced to the bigotry and vindictiveness of John Graves Simcoe. In 1796 he was appointed Governor of Saint Domingo, and in 1798 he was commissioned a Lieutenant General in the British army. He was sent to join Lord St. Vincent in the expedition to Portugal, and died a few moments after he landed.

Simcoe and The Queen’s Rangers on Staten Island, Part 1

It is certain that no organization in the British army, during the Revolution, became more familiarly known in this section of the country than the “Queen’s Rangers,” which were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe, who may consistently be called [“the Mosby of the Revolution,”–  Morris’s biased opinion] so strongly did those men resemble each other in their service in the field.

Samuel Roukin as Simcoe and Aldis Hodge as Jordan/Akinbode in AMC’s TURN Series

Colonel Simcoe was a son of Captain John Simcoe, of the English navy, who served with distinction in the expedition against Quebec, in Canada, in 1759, and in which he lost his life, at the age of forty-five years. He was a native of Northamptonshire, England.

Colonel Simcoe was a mere child at the time of his father’s death, and he was liberally educated by his mother. At the age of nineteen he obtained an ensign’s commission in the 50th regiment of the British line. He did not embark with his regiment, but landed at Boston on the day of the battle of Bunker Hill. He served for a time, but soon purchased a captain’s commission in the 40th regiment, which he commanded at the battle of Brandywine, where he was wounded, on the 11th of September, 1777.  On the 15th of October following, Captain Simcoe was promoted to Major of the Queen’s Rangers.

The Queen’s Rangers were originally raised in Connecticut and the vicinity of New York, by Colonel Robert Rogers, and their duties were principally those of scouts or light cavalry. They were all Americans, and called in those days, “Loyalists.”  When Major Simcoe joined the regiment it had by hardships and neglect been reduced in numbers; many gentlemen of the Southern colonies, who had joined Lord Dunmore, were appointed to supersede those who were not considered competent for the commissions they had hitherto borne. To these were added some volunteers from the army, the whole consisting of young men, anxious to enter the British service.

The Queen’s Rangers consisted of two companies of dragoons, one of Highlanders, a company of Yagers, two troops of cavalry, one company of artillery, and five companies of light infantry, a large part of one company being native Staten Islanders.  Colonel Robert Rogers, the first commandant, was succeeded by Colonel French, he by Colonel Mawhood, he by Major Weys, he by Major Weymess, and he by Lieut. Colonel Simcoe.

The following served as officers in this regiment during its exploits on Staten Island and vicinity:

Lieutenant-Colonel — John Graves Simcoe.

Majors — Armstrong, Grymes, Ross, Waymess, Weys.

Captains — Aulthause, Agnew,, Beckwith, Blucke, Bronson, Cooke, Diemer, Ewald, Hanson. Hutchinson, Kerr, McCrea, McGill, James, McKay, Moncrieffe, McRae, Murray, Saudford, Saunders, Shank, Shaw, Smyth, Stevenson, Thomas, Whitlock, Wickham and Wreden.

Lieutenants — Allen, Dunlop, Fitzpatrick, Holland, Lawler, McNab, McLeod, Murray, Rynd, Spencer and Wilson.

Surgeons — Kellock and McCauley.

Adjutant — Ormond.

Quartermaster — McGill.

Chaplain — Agnew.

Ensign — Proctor.

Sergeants — Adams, McDonald, McLaughlin, MacPherson, Ritchie and Wright.

Corporals — Burt and Franks.

Cornets — Jones, Merrett, Ficker and Wolsey.

Trumpeters — Barney and French.

Immediately after Colonel Simcoe took command of this regiment, he issued the following advertisement in Rivington’s Royal Gazette, of New York City:

Quoted From: Morris, Ira K. 1898. Morris’s memorial history of Staten Island, New York. New York: Memorial Pub. Co.

*Morris had included some errors in his text.  If you need more up-to-date info on Loyalist units, visit the  Royal Provincial website.

Lookout Place, the British Garrison and Campsite near Richmondtowne, Staten Island


Lookout Place or Fort Hill, formerly known as Crocheron’s Hill was a Revolutionary War British garrison, or earthen mound-fortress, about fifty feet square at the top of what is currently named LaTourette Hill near Historic Richmondtown, Staten Island, New York. The fort overlooked the Old Mill Road, Fresh Kills, or Richmond (Saw Mill) Creek, the Church of St. Andrew (est. 1713) and the town of Richmond, then referred to as Cuckoldstown, in the valley just below the Hill.  The redoubt was constructed in 1776 by British Regulars during the occupation of Richmond County. General William Howe planned his successful capture of New York City while encamped on the Island, along with 30,000 British and Hessian soldiers joining him after the arrival of his brother, Admiral Richard Howe.

The Hill was named after an old Staten Island family that settled the land in the 1700s, and was still in the Crocheron family until 1845.  The Holmes farm was north of the fort.  There is a spring running nearby supplying the town and the encampment with fresh water, and is now locally known as “The Howe Spring,” or “The Hessian Spring.” The hilltop was widely denuded of trees by the British during the war, allowing the soldiers to have unobstructed views of Lower New York Bay and the Arthur Kill.  To the northeast and northwest of the fort was a flat, scrubby plateau, probably used as the British army’s parade ground.  The northeast ramparts were about six feet high with an entrance at the northeast corner. The southwest sides were almost level with the ground, possibly for the placement of artillery.

Plan of fort drawn by Reginald Bolton from History Written With Pick and Shovel

To the northeast of the fort, archeological digs uncovered a deep pit that more than likely served as a magazine (store for ammunition).

Other extensive digs had taken place at the turn of the 19th century, revealing all manner of British accoutrement, from remnants of weaponry to soldier coat buttons, shoe buckles and pottery fragments. Not too far from this pit was found what was eventually revealed to be a camp rubbish heap filled with military debris. Oyster and clam shells were found in abundance, as well as animal bones, window glass, nails and crockery. Other items turned up, including two fine lead pencils, eight bullets, a gun flint and a pair of scissors.

The first British military item found was a  button of the Twenty-second Regiment of Foot (see photo below left). Eight more buttons of the Twenty-second, one of the Forty-second Royal Highlanders and two “R.P.” or Royal Provincials were also found.  More uniform buttons were found from the First American Regiment (see photo below right), Forty-seventh, Thirty-third, Forty-forth and the Thirty-seventh (see photo below center) just below on the bank of the slope.

Line drawing of K. O.R. button found at Crocheron’s Hill

Other military buttons included The King’s Own (4th Regiment of Foot) (see illustration below left), the Forty-sixth and the Fifty-fifth, all of whom engaged in the landing at Gravesend bay, in Brooklyn at the commencement of the Battle of Long Island. One of the more noteworthy military units was Robert Rogers’ newly-organized Queen’s Rangers while encamped at Richmond, named after Charlotte, wife of King George III. It grew to 937 officers and men organized into eleven companies of about thirty men each and an additional five troops of cavalry. Rogers did not prove successful in this command and he left the unit on January 29, 1777.

On October 15, 1777, John Graves Simcoe was given command. Simcoe’s headquarters is believed to have been the Holmes farmhouse just north of the fort. Under his command, he transformed the Queen’s Rangers into one of the most successful British regiments during the war.

The encampment at Crocheron’s Hill is one of the two major camps at Staten Island, the other being Fort Hill, above the Watering Place (another natural spring) on the North shore, primarily used as a hospital and infirmary for the sick and wounded, under the command of Lt. Col. Dalrymple (Hessian soldiers have written about their stay at this hospital), but officers and privates were quartered throughout the Island in private homes, farmhouses and barns for most of the war.  The Church of St Andrew’s glebe (land owned by the Church of England) at the time of the revolution included the cemetery along the Richmond creek and a large track of about 350 acres along the Kill Van Kull near Port Richmond.

Detail of Map. Richmond. Dated 1777[?] Sir Henry Clinton Papers, Clements Library, University of Michigan.

Church of St. Andrew (original structure, except for Steeple). Photo dated 1867 (before two disastrous fires).

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

Grenadier, 40th Regiment of Foot, 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.]

Bedford Corners

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.

 

 

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
Best Front Parlor
300-year-old Mulberry Tree
300-year-old Mulberry Tree
300-year-old Mulberry Tree
2007 Event
2007 Event
2007 Event
2007 Event
2007 Event

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.]

 

Copyrighted material. All Rights Reserved. Nick Matranga @ 2012-2013.

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; 15th Regiment, 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.

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.
_____________
Excerpts from: Frank Moore, Diary of the American Revolution: From Newspapers and Original Documents, Volume 1, C. Scribner, 1860.
______________________________________________________________

The General Howe Map of Staten Island, 1776


The resulting map of Staten Island was ordered by General Howe shortly after the British landed at Staten Island in July of 1776. According to the Staten Island Historian, the map was found in the Duke of Northumberland’s collection in England, and is claimed to have been surveyed without any surveying instruments; hence the inaccurate shape of the Island. It also shows a conflict as to where General Howe’s headquarters were located. The Howe map marks the Bancker house, located near the Decker Ferry in Port Richmond as his headquarters. Legend has it that General Howe was staying at the Rose & Crowne at Newe Dorpe. He may have been using both the Bancker residence and the Tavern at different intervals during his stay on Staten Island. The Taylor and Skinner map, another British map commissioned in 1783 is an extremely accurate depiction of the Island! I have yet to see this map, as it is in the U.K. archives.

A British box sextant (pictured below), late 18th century.

This was used on shore by military and naval officers busily engaged in surveying the colony of British Columbia. Light, portable and easier to transport, it was one of essential the tools for Colonial expansion and mapping. Like a nautical sextant, the box sextant measures angles, but it is smaller, enclosed version placed inside a cylindrical box. Its graduated arc is at half degrees from 0° to 120°. The readings on its vernier were read to single minutes using a magnifying glass. The small removable telescope was used to take long sights, but ordinary observations were usually made through a peephole in the glass. The top (lid) of the cylindrical brass box has been removed to show the knobs that work the sextant. The large knob operates a pinion that engages the toothed, circular segment inside the sextant that mounts the index glass and index arm. The smaller knobs are adjusting screws to eliminate index error and adjust the horizon glass.

The Black Horse Tavern, New Dorpe, Staten Island, N.Y.

Morris’s Memorial History of Staten Island, New York By Ira K. Morris: OLD BLACK HORSE NEW DORP
British Troops were billeted in the Black Horse Tavern (left, drawing @ 1800) during the American Revolution. The picture at right is dated @ 1906. It has been since been demolished.

Morris’s Memorial History of Staten Island,
New York By Ira K. Morris:

General William Howe read the Declaration of Independence to his troops while billeted in this farm-house/Inn, a few days after the 4th of July, 1776. It was demolished in 1854. All that remains is a marker on a stone at the corner of New Dorpe Lane and Richmond Road (The King’s Highway).  Many British Officers participated in raucous and debauched behavior while garrisoned at Staten Island. One particular event one a nearby hillside lead to a duel with one officer being mortally wounded. Many Courts Martial were issued in the ensuing seven-year British occupation.

Bound Brook, N.J. May 2009 (Loyalist reenactment 4th B. N.J. Volunteers)

Reenactment as a Loyalist soldier (an American-born colonist who supported the Crown) with the IV Battalion NJ Volunteers at Bound Brook, New Jersey. The Regimental coat, waistcoat, shirt and trousers were all borrowed thanks to Todd and Sue Braisted and Ray Helge. For more information, please visit: Royal Provincial, the official Loyalist History page authored by historian Todd Braisted.