Cattle and Kidnappers – Staten Island in the Spring of 1776

Cattle

The 65-acre Cortelyou farm and homestead at Fresh Kills Road (now Arthur Kill Road) near the intersection of present-day Cortelyou Avenue. Jasper F. Cropsey
Painting courtesy of the Staten Island Historical Society (Richmondtown)

The First Continental Congress had inflicted a severe boycott on Staten Island, in which most of the Islanders protested and attempted to thwart by smuggling their produce and livestock to the lucrative markets in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  The leading protesters were also the most prominent of Loyalist families who had profited from these local markets and the British markets overseas.  Christopher Billopp, one of the largest landowners, his father-in-law, Benjamin Seaman, the Richmond County Jurist, Richard Connor, member of the Moravian Church and eventual Captain of the Third Brigade of Billopp’s Loyalist Militia, Aaron Cortelyou, another member of the Moravian Church (and a future spy for the British), John Journeay, the county clerk, Paul Michaeu and Richard Lawrence, the master carpenter of Staten Island’s shipyards were the most outspoken against this boycott.

When General Charles Lee inadequately fortified Staten Island in February in preparation of a British invasion, he proceeded to attempt to have all of the livestock rounded up and transported off of the Island to New Jersey. General Livingston and Col. Heard then arrived with roughly 1,000 militia on the Island to secure the livestock over a four-day period in mid-February 1776.

Staten Islanders were so enraged at the soldiers’ appearance on the Island, they began to harass and threaten the soldiers with death. Col. Heard had had enough. He arrested four prominent Loyalists: Richard Connor, Isaac Decker, Abraham Harris and Minah Burger and sent them to Elizabethtown, New Jersey, to await trial. All four were eventually acquitted.

Sunset on a River Inlet, Jasper F. Cropsey

Lord Sterling was then sent by Washington to continue shoring up New York’s defenses, including what had been unfinished by General Lee on Staten Island. General Stirling began surveiling the Loyalist residents and made one an example by arresting John James Boyd for expressing his Loyalist sympathies.

Plan of The Narrows, shewing the channel, shoal, depth of water, and the several battery’s proposed on each side to prevent an enemy’s sailing up to New York. [1776 Continental Forces]

By April 1776, the Island was still not properly fortified, prompting the new General in charge of New York’s defenses, Israel Putnam, to send three companies of Virginia and Maryland riflemen to the Watering Place, in an attempt to block the British Navy from procuring water for its ships. The soldiers continued to harass and insult the Loyalist Islanders, including Captain Alexander MacDonald’s wife–the soldiers rummaged through her house and pillaged her farm. Other farmers homesteads were ransacked of their produce, livestock and woodlands.

George Washington, upon finally arriving in New York and taking command of the fortifications, had all of the heights of Staten Island secured with signal stations. He again ordered “the Removal of the Stock of Cattle and Horses” to prevent the enemy from obtaining these important supplies:

New York July the 3d 1776

Sir

“Since I had the honor of addressing you and on the same day, several Ships more arrived within the Hook, making the number that came in then a hundred & Ten, and there remains no doubt of the whole of the Fleet from Hallifax being now here.

Yesterday evening fifty of them came up the Bay, and Anchored on the Staten Island side. their views I cannot precisely determine, but am extremely apprehensive as part of ’em only came, that they mean to surround the Island and secure the Stock upon It. I had consulted with a Committee of the Provincial Congress upon the Subject before the arrival of the Fleet and they appointed a person to superintend the business and to drive the Stock off. I also wrote Brigr Genl Herd and directed him to the measure, lest It might be neglected, but am fearfull It has not been affected.

. . .

Esteeming It of Infinite advantage to prevent the Enemy from getting fresh provisions and Horses for their Waggons, Artillery &c. I gave orders to a party of our men on Staten Island since writing Genl Herd to drive the Stock off, without waiting for the assistance or direction of the Committees there, lest their slow mode of transacting business might produce too much delay and have sent this morning to know what they have done. I am this Minute informed by a Gentleman that the Committee of Eliza. Town sent their Company of Light Horse on Monday to effect It, and that some of their Militia was to give their aid yesterday—he adds that he was credibly told last night by part of the Militia coming to this place that yesterday they saw a good deal of Stock driving off the Island & crossing to the Jerseys. If the business is not executed before now, It will be impossible to do It. I have the Honor to be with Sentiments of the greatest Esteem Sir Your Most Obedt Servt”

Go: Washington

Looking Oceanward from Todt Hill, Jasper F. Cropsey. Painting courtesy Staten Island Museum

Kidnappers

Sources: Phillip Papas, “Richmond County, Staten Island” in Joseph S. Tiedemann and Eugene R. Fingerhut, ed., The Other New York: The American Revolution Beyond New York City, 1763-1787 (Albany, NY, 2005)

“From George Washington to John Hancock, 3 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0127. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 191–194.]

William Alexander’s (Lord Stirling) Raid of Staten Island, January 14-15, 1780

Gen. Lord Stirling / engraved by G.R. Hall. William L. Clements Library

The third important attempt to invade the island was made during this winter which is known as the hard winter of 1779-80. The American forces were quartered in New Jersey for the winter, but poorly clothed, provisioned and armed. General Washington, in his quarters at Morristown, planned this expedition, and left its direction to General Stirling. From their peculiar exposure and sufferings at the moment, the commander-in-chief, perhaps, suggested this attack, to divert the minds of his discontented men from their numerous and fearful forebodings.

Head Qrs Morristown 13th Jan. 1780.

My Lord,

Herewith Inclosed are your Lordships discretionary Instructions—In addition to what you read in the morning, & in consequence of Genl Irvines information respecting the state of the Ice between York, long, & Staten Islands I have inserted a clause by which you will see that if things continue in the condition he represents I would have your Lordship turn your thoughts to the practicability of compelling a surrender of the enemy if they should even resort to their Forts.

I am sorry Colo. Hazen made that March in one day, which was intended for two—To counteract this wd it not be well for Genl Irvines detachment to assume an appearance of returning to Camp?

The Men which will reinforce you in Sleds tomorrow, had better be met at Springfield by your Orders, & a careful person to conduct them at once to the place of rendezvous. the Detachment will consist of abt 400 Men & may join Genl Irvines brigade if you have nothing better in view for them.

You know I presume that 40,000 Cartridges have been sent to Genl Irvine for the use of the Troops on the Expedition.

If Colo. Stewarts Detachment should be ready earlier than I expect tomorrow I will direct him to Halt at quibbletown (under pretence of takg in forage there) till a proper hour arrives for him to proceed.6 I mention this that you may know how to meet him with orders in case you have not seen him since yesterday. & fixed your plan with him—In haste I am Yr Lordships most obt Servt

[George Washington]

The American army was then encamped on the hills back of Morristown, the encampment extending several miles into the country. Their canvas tents afforded but a miserable security from the rain, sleet and snow. On the 3d of January came one of the most tremendous snow storms ever remembered. Some of their sheltering hovels and tents were blown down or torn to pieces, and the soldiers became like sheep under the snow, which fell to a depth of from four to six feet. So obstructed were the roads as to prevent the usual receipt of supplies, and for ten days each man had but two pounds of meat and some even were entirely destitute. But why continue the details of the condition of the American army during that hard winter? They are matters of general history. We have given enough to show that it was under the most disheartening circumstances that the plan of invading Staten Island was conceived and set in operation.

In a letter from General Stirling to George Washington, Lord Stirling explains his doubt for a successful plan of attack:

13 January 1780
from Genl Irvines quarters [Crane’s Mill, N.J.]

Sir,

After a full consultation with General Irvine Col. Hazen and Colonel Stewart, and hearing the result of their intelligence and observations—I am of opinion that an attempt to surprise the enemy on Staten Island would have very little probability of success. They are as much upon their guard as they can be—They have patroles at every accessible place; and for this purpose make use of all the Militia as well as their own horse and foot. The difficulties too of getting upon the Island appear to be greater than was imagined; and the roads will no doubt be rendered very bad by the drifting of the snow as the wind has been pretty high to day. Col. Stewart will give your Excellency a detail of particulars by which you will be the better able to judge whether it will be eligible to continue the original plan to change it for another or defer the execution to a more favourable opportunity—The roads a few days hence may be more practicable and the enemy fatigued by their continual guards and patroles may relax in their vigilance.

It has been suggested that relinquishng the idea of a surprise a descent may be made upon the Island in hopes of bringing the enemy to a surrender, as it is said they are very short of provisions and have no covering in their works—But our intelligence is not so explicite on these heads as might be wished. It is a question whether their huts are not near enough to their works to be effectually under their protection; and on this plan we must expect that our own troops will suffer greatly from the severity of the weather which is at this time excessive.

If any thing is attempted under our present information, I should think our whole force ought to be collected at one point and that the detachments now preparing ought to join the others here.

I shall make every preparation with the troops here and shall be ready to do whatever Your Excellency shall direct—I request the favour of hearing from you as early as possible tomorrow.

My opinion is that if any thing is done it must be by force and in open daylight. Very respectfully Yr obt

stirling,

Source: Morris’s Memorial History of Staten Island

General Stirling was dispatched with a body of the [2,500] troops to attack the outposts of the enemy on Staten Island. They proceeded in [100] sleighs, and crossing the river on the ice at Elizabethtown point, took up their line of march toward the present site of Port Richmond. The bridge of ice was sufficient to allow the passage of any force across the kills, and it was supposed that the same obstruction would prevent the movement of reinforcements to the enemy by means of their shipping in the bay. The detachment under Stirling numbered about two thousand five hundred men.

When a little east of Port Richmond the column divided, part marching onward toward New Brighton, where the British post had been erected on the hills, and the other wing proceeding up Mill lane, the present Columbia street of West New Brighton, and approached the mill which stood at the head of the pond. The night of the 14th, on which they made this long passage from camp to the designed scene of action was a starry night, bright and clear, but so intensely cold that about one third of the men were more or less wounded by the biting frost. The intent was to surprise Skinner’s brigade of new recruits, but it was soon discovered that their designs had been anticipated by the enemy, information having reached them through the kind offices of their tory friends. A surprise was now out of the question, and as the works of the enemy were well situated and apparently strong, and the means of receiving reinforcements from New York not obstructed as had been expected, it was deemed unadvisable to make an assault.

“The attempt made by the rebels upon Staten Island January 15th 1780.” http://quod.lib.umich.edu/w/wcl1ic/x-1628/wcl001718. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed: October 30, 2019. Henry Clinton Papers

The troops spent the day of the 15th of January and the following night on the island, in snow waist deep, protecting themselves as well as they could from the inclement weather by making huge fires of the cordwood which they found piled up where they halted. The British during the day sent a boat to New York, which returned at evening with reinforcements. On the morning of the 16th Stirling withdrew his detachment to Elizabethtown. The official report of Stirling concludes with the following statements:

“The retreat was effected in good order, and with very little loss. A party of the enemy’s horse charged our rear guard under Major Edwards, but was immediately repulsed. The major had three men killed. Some few of the men were frost bitten, and though we took all the pains in our power to have all those unable to march transported in sleighs, yet I imagine a very few may have been left behind.”

Immediately after crossing, a party was detached under Lieutenant-Colonel Willett, to Decker’s house. The corps there had been alarmed and barely made its escape. The house as a garrison place, and 8 or 9 small vessels were burned. A considerable quantity of blankets and other stores were found.”

While the troops were upon the island, a number of persons from this side [Elizabethtown] took advantage of the occasion to pass upon the island, and plunder the people there in the most shameful and merciless manner. Many of them were stopped on their return, and their booty taken from them. In addition to which, I have sent an order for publication, requiring those who had eluded the search to restore the articles in their possession, and exhorting the good people at large, to assist in detecting them. All the soldiery on recrossing the ice, were searched, and the little plunder they had taken from them, and their names noted, that they may be brought to punishment. The articles recovered are, and will be deposited with the Revd. Mr. Caldwell, who is exerting himself in the affair, to be returned to the owners. I am happy to inform your Excellency, that a very inconsiderable part indeed, of the troops, dishonored themselves, by participating in these enormities.”

Additional light is thrown upon the affair by the following extract from a letter from an officer on board the British brig “Hawk,” lying off Staten Island at the time.

“On the 15th inst. at Day break, the Alarm was given, that the Rebels were on Staten Island, an Express was sent on board from Gen. [Thomas] Sterling [no relation to William Alexander] to prepare for Action; we immediately got a Spring on our Cable and cleared Ship, the Rebels appeared on the Hill over the Ferry, and brought a Field Piece to bear upon us, which we perceiving, fired our bow Gun twice at them, the second shot roused them from a Meal they were making of broiled Beef Stakes; their Fire from the Field Piece was well directed, but the Shot fell short of us some Yards. A large Party of Rebels came down to burn the Houses and Forage, we fired on them, shot one Man’s Arm off; he bled to death and now lays in the snow; our Firing made them retreat as fast as possible up the Hill to their main Body (which by the Information of two Prisoners and a Deserter that we had on board, consisted of 4,000 Foot, 200 Horse, 6 Brass Field Pieces 6 Pounders, and a Number of Artillery Men) Gen. Skinner sent a Letter on board, thanking us for the Service we did. ‘Tis certain that the ‘Hawk’ prevented the Forage, the Tavern, and all the Houses in that Neighborhood from being burnt. A Number of Men, Women and Children came on board for Refuge with their Goods and Effects.”

Another British account contains so much that will be read with interest that it is presented here. Proper allowances must be made for the partisan coloring in these statements of interested persons at the time: “On Friday Night the 14th inst. a large Detachment from the Rebel Army, consisting, it is supposed, of between 3 and 4000 Men, with 6 Pieces of Cannon, and 2 Howitzers, moved suddenly from the neighborhood of Morristown, and being (as it is reported) transported in Sleighs over the Ice, reached Staten-Island before Day break in the Morning of the 15th, bending their March towards Decker’s-Ferry. Colonel [von]Buskirk commanding the 4th Battalion of Brigadier-General Skinner’s Brigade posted there, having received Intelligence of their Approach, judged it proper to retire towards Ryerson’s Ferry, not being in Force sufficient to oppose so considerable a corps. The Rebels pursued their March, and before Noon took Post upon the Heights, near the Redoubts, constructed at the North End of the Island: from their Position, cutting off the Communication between the Corps hutted there, and the Troops at Richmond[town] and the Flag Staff [present-day Fort Wadsworth]: they remained in this Situation till early in the Morning of the 16th, when they were observed retiring from Staten Island, without attempting any Thing; they burnt Decker’s House, and a very few small Vessels frozen in by the Ice at that Place. A small Detachment which harassed their Rear, made a few Prisoners; and several Deserters came to the different Posts during their Stay on the Island.

 View Near Elizabethtown, N. J., oil painting by Régis François Gignoux, 1847, Honolulu Museum of Art

“They committed many Excesses, in plundering and distressing the Inhabitants. “Sixteen Prisoners have been already sent to New York; and it is imagined there are others not yet arrived from Staten Island.” It may be noted in passing that the ice soon after became more solid, and there was a bridge across the bay from the island to New York, over which loaded sleighs and other heavy burdens were drawn. A paper of February 7 has the item that eighty six loaded sleighs passed over on the ice the day before. The most intense frost, accompanied by great falls of snow began about the middle of December, and shut up navigation to the port of New York from the sea for many weeks. The severity of the weather increased to such an extent that about the middle of January all communication with New York city by water was cut off, and new means opened by the ice. The passage of the North river from the city was about the 19th of January practicable for the heaviest cannon, a circumstance previously unknown in the memory of man. Soon after provisions were transported in sleighs, and detachments of cavalry marched from New York to Staten Island upon the ice. The East river was also blocked up for many days. In this state of their communications the British on New York island were apprehensive of an attack from the army of Washington, and set on foot a project for putting the loyal expressions of the inhabitants to a test by raising about forty companies of troops among them. This gave them good courage and they actually began to hope that the Americans would make an attack, so well prepared did they feel to resist it. It was not until the 20th of February that the frost abated so as to allow the waters surrounding New York to become navigable.

General Stirling summed up the results of the attack and the subsequent retreat back into New Jersey:

Eliz. Town [N.J.] Jany 16. 1780

Sir,

I have the honor to inform your Excellency that early on yesterday morning the corps under my command crossed the sound at DeHarts point and proceeded towards the Watering place. The enemy having received previous intellegence of our movements a surprise was out of the question; and as their works were well situated and appeared otherwise strong an assault was deemed unadviseable, as it would probably have cost us more than we could have gained by success—We found too contrary to our expectation that the communication between the Island and New York was open.  Immediately on our arrival in front of the enemy’s works, they sent off a boat to the city; and in the evening several vessels came down from thence to the Island. As from this circumstance there was no hope of reducing them for want of provision or fuel and a reinforcement might have rendered our continuance dangerous we determined to march off this morning—The retreat was effected in good order and with very little loss. A party of the enemy’s horse charged our rear guard under Major Edwards, but was immediately repulsed. The Major had three men killed, killed one of the light horsemen and took his horse—some of the men were frost-bitten, and though we took all the pains in our power to have all those unable to march transported in slays, yet I imagine a very few may have been Left behind. We took a few prisoners and had a few deserters from the enemy.

Immediately after crossing a party was detached under Lt Colonel Willet to Deckers house. The corps there had been alarmed and barely made its escape—The house (as a garrison place) and eight or nine small vessels near it were burnt.  A considerable quantity of blankets, and other stores were found.

While the troops were upon the Island a number of persons from this side took advantage of the occasion to pass upon the Island and plunder the people there in the most shameful and merciless manner. Many of them were stopped on their return & their booty taken from them; in addition to which I have sent an order for publication requiring those who had eluded the search to restore the articles in their possession and exhorting the good people at large to assist in detecting them. All the soldiery, on recrossing the ice were searched, and the little plunder they had taken from them; and their names noted, that they may be brought to punishment. The articles recovered are and will be deposited with The Reverend Mr Caldwell (who is exerting himself in the affair) to be returned to the owners.  I am happy to inform your Excellency that a very inconsiderable part indeed of the troops dishonored themselves by participating in these enormities.

The officers and men in general showed a good disposition and I only regret there was no opportunity of turning it to advantage. I have the honor to be yr Excellency’s Most Obedt & hume se⟨rt⟩

Stirling,

______________________
SOURCES: History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York from its discovery to the present time, Richard M. Bayles (New York: L.E. Preston & Co. 1887).

Morris’s memorial history of Staten Island, New York, Ira K. Morris (New York: Memorial Publishing Co. 1898)

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-24-02-0133

1. For Stirling’s orders for this raid, see GW to Stirling, 13 Jan. (first letter), source note.

2. As early as 13 Jan., it was known in New York City that the Continental army was planning to attack Staten Island. New York printer Hugh Gaine wrote in his journal entry for 13 Jan.: “Whispers that the Rebels meditate an Attack in Staten Island” (Ford, Journals of Hugh Gaine, 2:75). British brigadier general Thomas Stirling, commanding on Staten Island, was alerted by five deserters from Major General Stirling’s command (see Baurmeister, Revolution in America, 338).

3. Stirling was mistaken in his belief that reinforcements could reach Staten Island from New York City; futile British efforts to cross troops to the island apparently deceived him into thinking they could make the crossing. In his report to Gen. Henry Clinton for 15 and 16 Jan., Lt. Gen. Wilhelm von Knyphausen, temporary commander of the royal forces in the New York City area, stated: “Every attempt was made to send Reinforcements from New York, upon the Evening of the 15th and before day break in the morning of the 16th but it was found impracticable; the Ice having totally obstructed the Navigation, and a similar exertion from Dennys’s Ferry [Long Island, N.Y.], was attended with little better success” (Knyphausen’s report, 1 Jan.–24 Feb. 1780, MiU-C: Clinton Papers). Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe, whose Queen’s Rangers were stationed on the island, later wrote that “General Kniphausen, on the first signal of Staten Island being attacked, embarked troops to support it. The enemy in the dark of the evening saw these vessels, (which, whether the passage could be effected or not, were wisely directed to be kept plying off and on,) but they did not wait to see if they could reach the island, which in fact the drifting ice prevented, but immediately determining to retreat, they effected it the next morning” (Simcoe, Operations of the Queen’s Rangers, 128).

4. This sentence does not appear on the copy sent to Huntington. GW corrected this omission in a brief note sent the same day (see the source note to GW to Huntington, 18 Jan. [second letter]). Maj. Carl Leopold Baurmeister, aide-de-camp to Knyphausen, reported that the Americans left “twenty stragglers and as many deserters” behind on the island (Baurmeister, Revolution in America, 338). Simcoe claimed that the Americans lost “many men by desertion, and many British soldiers, who had enlisted with them to free themselves from imprisonment, embraced the opportunity of being in a country they were acquainted with, to return to their old companions. The Queen’s Rangers obtained a great many recruits” (Simcoe, Operations of the Queen’s Rangers, 128).

5. Loyalist and militia cavalry officer Isaac Decker later filed a memorial with the British government stating that Stirling’s soldiers had burned the rigging of his sloop, plundered his house, stripped his wife of her clothes, taken all his crops, and burned his fences (Coldham, American Loyalist Claims, 120).

6. Stirling’s order, signed by his aide-de-camp William Barber and dated this date at Elizabeth, N.J., reads: “By an order of the 14th instant, all officers, soldiers, militia men, and followers of the army, were positively prohibited from plundering or insulting the inhabitants of Staten-Island; notwithstanding which many of the inhabitants of this State took the advantage of the opportunity, while the army kept the enemy within their works, and acted in open violation thereof; Major General Lord Stirling therefore positively requires, that all persons possessed of any articles of plunder, taken on the Island, do immediately deliver the same to Doctor Caldwell, at Springfield, to the end that they may be returned to the proper owners, otherwise they will be proceeded against with military severity.—The very few of the soldiery who were guilty of the same misconduct have been already compelled to restore what they had taken, and will be most severely punished. All the good people of this state who know any persons within the above description, are desired to give immediate information thereof.

“The Major General thanks the officers and men for the good disposition shewn in this excursion; particularly for the good order so conspicuous on retiring from the Island; he is only sorry circumstances did not permit him to avail himself more effectually of their services” (New-Jersey Journal [Chatham], 18 Jan.). For James Caldwell’s efforts to have this plunder returned, see Caldwell to GW, 19 Jan.; see also GW to Caldwell, 21 Jan., and GW to Moses Hazen, 21 Jan. (second letter).

7. Hamilton wrote this paragraph after the closing and Stirling’s signature and marked it for inclusion at this point.

8. On 15 Jan., Brig. Gen. Thomas Stirling wrote to Knyphausen with his account of his opposition to the American expedition. Brigadier Stirling explained that “Being informed at half an hour after seven in the morning by Lieut.-Colonel Buskirk that the enemy had crossed upon the ice from Elizabeth Town with artillery and that he had abandoned Deckers House in consequence of orders I had previously given him if they came with cannon, it not being tenable, and that he was retiring slowly towards the redoubts, I immediately ordered 300 men with 2 three-pounders to occupy the heights on our right in front of the redoubts, and repaired myself there to reconnoitre the enemy, ordering at same time 20 light dragoons to observe their motions. On their approach the rebels fired three shot from two field-pieces planted behind Deckers House. I observed them advancing in two columns, one towards the Clove by Housmans, the other by Deckers near Freshwater Pond, the two columns coming nearly at same time on each side of the pond and took possession of the woody heights in front of the centre and left-had redoubts and extending all along them to near the mouth of the Clove, while another body of them, about 600 men with 2 field-pieces, was sent to mask the troops at the flagstaff and the road to Richmond, and a body of 200 formed in front upon our right. Finding my numbers not sufficient to meet them on the field, I was forced to content myself with occupying the grounds near to and in front of the redoubts and making the best disposition I could to receive them should they offer to attack us. An armed brig which lay off the watering place was of essential service to us in covering our left flank and protecting our hay and wood magazines. About 12 o’clock the rebels began to light fires and continued in that position the whole evening and night without any alteration or attempt upon any of our advanced parties. A little after daybreak I was informed a column of the enemy was advancing on our right; upon viewing them I found it consisted of about 150 men, who upon the approach of a small party I carried with me began to retire, and in half an hour after the enemy were discovered going off by Deckers Ferry. A party of 200 men were ordered immediately to follow them and 20 light dragoons. Lieutenant Stewart of the provincial light horse who commanded them and Cornet Tucker of the 17th [Light Dragoons] made a gallant charge on their rear and took a serjeant and four men prisoners, but our foot not being able to keep pace with them nothing more could be done, the rebels having broke up the bridge at Deckers Mills so soon as they crossed, and by ten this morning were all off the island. They burnt Deckers House and five woodboats that lay on the ice. We have taken a serjeant and sixteen men prisoners; by them I learn great numbers of the rebels were frostbit and sent off during the night in sleighs” (Davies, Documents of the American Revolution, 18:34–35).

Simcoe, who believed that the time for the attack had been “well chosen” by the American generals, later wrote that Major General Stirling’s march to the Watering Place “cut off General [Thomas] Stirling’s communication with the Volunteers of Ireland [stationed at the Flagstaff] and the Queen’s Rangers [at Richmond]. Lt. Col. Simcoe occupied the high grounds near Richmond with small parties of cavalry, and the infantry were sedulously employed in what might strengthen that post. … all the cattle in the neighbourhood were brought into the precincts of the garrison, as were the sledges, harness and horses, and the most cheerful and determined appearance of resolution ran through the whole corps. About midday, many deserters came in from the rebel army; by them a perfect knowledge of the enemy’s force was gained.” Simcoe intended to launch an attack on Major General Stirling’s rear but was unable to prevail upon the Staten Island Loyalist militia to take the place of the Rangers in the Richmond redoubts. Upon learning of the retreat of Major General Stirling’s battalions, Simcoe “immediately pursued them with the flank companies and Huzzars; and was overtaken by an order from General [Thomas] Stirling to effect the same purpose; but the enemy had passed to the Jersey shore before he could come up with them. While the troops in the enemy’s front, on their arrival at the heights opposite to the British redoubts [at the Watering Place], halted for the rear to close up, they were permitted to make fires, which increased the power of the frost, and rendered them totally unable to proceed, and the severity of the night affecting the whole of them, many lost their limbs, and several their lives.” Simcoe asserted that the “vast mounds of snow drifted before the redoubts” deterred Major General Stirling from attacking at the Watering Place (Simcoe, Operations of the Queen’s Rangers, 121–28; see also Baurmeister, Revolution in America, 338).

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).

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.

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.

General Skinner’s Headquarters, Port Richmond, Staten Island, N.Y.

NOTE: The text below is in the public domain.  There was no author attached to it.  I do not claim authorship of it.

Pelton House

The house sits on a bluff on Staten Island and overlooks the Kill Van Kull and a series of boatyards along the shore, a few blocks west of Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Buses, trucks, and cars rumble by on Richmond Terrace below, and travelers have no inkling that the future King William IV of England was a guest in that house during the American Revolution. Few even suspect that Staten Island was occupied territory for the entire course of that war for national independence. As a young Naval officer in the war, the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV, was a guest at the Cruser-Pelton House. Major John Andre also spent time there. The soldier, poet, spy was hanged for conspiring with Benedict Arnold only a week after writing his last will and testament on Staten Island. The Cruser-Pelton House, as it is known locally, or Kreuzer-Pelton, as the New York City Landmarks Commission spells it, served as the commanding headquarters of Brigadier General Cortlandt Skinner’s brigade of American Loyalists beginning in 1777.

Pelton House (late 19th C.) (NYPL)

The Island had already been occupied for a year by
then and the house used by British army engineers, along with a second Cruser house nearby. The house is marked on a military map drawn by the engineers during the British occupation, as well as on one drawn by French engineers for the Americans. The Revolution saw a great shift in population between the area of Elizabeth Town, New Jersey and Staten Island, as loyalists fled New Jersey for nearby Staten Island and patriots went in the other direction. The North Shore of Staten Island, occupied by the British, and the area opposite in New Jersey, occupied by the Americans, was known as “the Lines,” meaning the enemy lines. Skinner had already raised six battalions of New Jersey Volunteers by 1777 when he took up personal headquarters in the Cruser-Pelton House. From the house, Skinner planned raids into New Jersey and defended against raids from the rebels in New Jersey. His main responsibility was intelligence gathering for the secret service and he seems to have been good at his job. The house commands the high ground and any approach along the north shore by American forces from New Jersey would have been spotted from there.

Skinner had advance knowledge of every rebel raid except one. He narrowly escaped capture in August 1777 when rebels invaded the North Shore from Elizabeth Point and marched to the county seat at Richmond Town, where they took Skinner’s subalterns, Col. Barton and Lt. Col. Lawrence, and some 30 other prisoners. On one of many raids conducted by Lord Sterling, who led 2000 soldiers across the Kill in 1779, Skinner was ready for them and after a short, but furious battle in Port Richmond, in which the Dutch Church was burned, the Americans were driven back.

Pelton House photo (c) Nick Matranga

There is a local tradition of another skirmish being fought at Cruser Cove itself just below the Cruser-Pelton House. Skinner himself was supposed to have been wounded at this encounter. The house is composed of three parts: a fieldstone cottage on the west built in 1722 by Cornelius Van Santvoord, minister of the Port Richmond Dutch Reformed Church; a larger, steep-roofed rough-cut stone central section built around 1770 by Cornelius Cruser, a farmer, landowner, and son of the Voorlezer of the Dutch church; and a two-story brick extension added in 1836 for Daniel Pelton, an abolitionist, who moved there from Manhattan. When Daniel Pelton built the brick extension, it replaced an earlier east wing similar to the original stone cottage.

Rev. Cornelius Van Santvoord was the son-in-law of John Staats, who was the son of the original holder of the royal land patent granted in 1677, Pieter Jansen Staats, known as Peter Johnson. The next patent west was granted in 1677 to Gerrit Croesen (later Cruser), Peter Johnson’s brother-in-law. A farm on the Croesen Patent belonged to the Dutch Voorlezer, Hendrick Cruser, who was the patentee’s son and Cornelius Cruser’s father. In 1751, Cornelius Cruser bought the farm next door to his father’s farm and the property included the Van Santvoord house. Islanders had no choice in the matter of giving up their homes to the conquerors and it is questionable that Cornelius Cruser was a loyalist, since his son Abraham was a major on the American side. But Cornelius’s son John Cruser married Mary Tooker, daughter of a New Jersey loyalist, Jacob Tooker, who lived on Staten Island in the war years and then went into exile in Nova Scotia. John Cruser and Mary Tooker did not go into exile with her family and inherited the farm on his father’s death in 1786. Mary Tooker Cruser’s mother’s family included the notorious Col. Cornelius Hatfield and his gang of Tory irregulars who terrorized his hometown, Elizabeth, New Jersey from the Staten Island base. Hatfield hung a New Jersey man at Bergen Point in full view of the Cruser-Pelton house. Skinner, who could have looked out his window and watched the execution across the narrow Kill Van Kull, had directed Hatfield to do as he wished with the man. Hatfield was later tried for murder in Elizabeth Town, but was acquitted and went to Nova Scotia.

Pelton House photo (c) Nick Matranga

The house is located in Livingston, which was something of an abolitionist stronghold in the day. Near neighbors and social acquaintances of Pelton were abolitionists Francis George Shaw, father of Robert Gould Shaw, who commanded black troops in the Civil War, George William Curtis, and Sydney Howard Gay. Daniel Pelton’s reputation as an abolitionist, along with a trap door leading to an underground space the family called “the dungeon,” led to the tradition that the house was used in the Underground Railroad before the Civil War.

  The Cruser-Pelton House is a private residence not open to the public.