At just 24 years old, Lt. William Wilmot of the 3rd Marylanders describes his experience in John Sullivan’s raid of Staten Island at the end of August, 1777.
Major John Stewart was in the rear guard with about 150 Continentals holding off the Loyalist forces, while about 1,000 men (along with plundered items from farms and British prisoners) were attempting to flee Staten Island near Old Blazing Star across the Arthur Kill into New Jersey with only 3 small boats.
Lt. Wilmot jotted down the following description of the battle several weeks later:
“thay came down on us with about 1000 of their herows, and attacked us with about 500 of their new troopes and hesions [Hessians] expecting I believe that thay should not receive one fire from us but to their grate surprise thay received many as we had to spair and had we had as many more thay should have been welcome to them, thay maid two or three attempts to rush on us, but we kept up such a blaze on them, that thay were repulsed every time, and not withstanding we was shure that we must very soon fall into their handes.”
Evidently, Lt. Wilmot was in danger of being captured by the Crown Forces, but surreptitiously slipped through Loyalist hands:
“. . . then I thought it hard times but even in that situation found myself determined never to surrender and could doo nothing else was obleaged to run and strive to conceal myself which I did effectually, in a barn in sum hay which was up in the ruff of the Barnl the reason thay never serched the barn that i was in was that one of their wounded got in the barn immediately after the action. . .
Private in the 3rd Maryland Regiment (1776-1777). SOURCE: The American Revolution, 1775-1783. Paintings by Jean Leffel, based upon illustrations of H. A. Ogden and Lt. Charles M. Lefferts. Photolithos printed Zurich, Switzerland. Historical descriptions by Harry W. Barker, Jr.
I laying on the hay where I suffered much for want of water and devotedly praying for the dark shades of knight to appear that i might convay myself safe to the River shore, but to my greate surprise i found that the howr that i prayed for, brought with it to my door a band of my most inviterate enemies, as a guarde to that part of the Iland to pick up, what of the free born sons of liberty thay might finde trying to make their escape from that horrid hole.”
“I finding the knight fair spent was determined at last to try as I had done before, and if thay sholde see me before i got of the joists to jump down amongst them and run out by them if i could. Hearing them all still below, I caim down the wall & seeing them all lay still, walked out of the door, turned the corner as quick as I could, hearing noboddey hail me maid the best of my way down to the river on my hands and knees, which I thought the safest way.”
“Finding no centenal in my way thought it best to return again and get a rail from the barn that I might convay my self safe across the River, which was neer a mile wide, and bring my clothes with me, which i did and got safe the second time to the Shore, whair I intended to strip of my clothes, but before I had got my hunting shurt, wast coat and boddy shirt of, I heard a pattroleling Partie that was close after me. I then ran doun into the water and a soon as i had got a little distance from the Shore strip’d of my clothes and steared for the niest point of woods, on the opesit shore, whare I arrived with the loss of my gun and bayonet, cartuch box on the Iland; and on my passage hat, a linning wast coat shoes and the Silver spoon that I had got on the Iland. I had no knapsack with me or i must have lost it with the others. I was very onwell for sum time after, but thank God i am well at preasent…”
Replica of “Cowpens” flag. This flag has been associated with the 3rd Maryland. 13-star flag was adopted on June 14, 1777, by the Continental Congress.
Lt. Wilmot, having luckily escaped to New Jersey, then describes Captain Stewart’s unfortunate surrender to the Crown Forces:
“When we see them running back from our fire there was such a houraw or hussaw from the one end of our little line to the other that thay could hear us quight across the river, but what grieved me after seeing that it was not the lot of many of us to fall and our ammunition being expended, that such brave men were obliged to surrender them selves Prisioners to a dasterley, new band of Murderrers, natives of the land [Loyalists], when our ammunition was all spent Major Sturd [Steward] took a whight hankerchief and stuck it on the point of his Sword, and then ordered the men to retreet whilste he went over to their [the British] ground, and surrendered, for he had never gave them an inch before he found that he had nothing left to keep them of[f] with.”
Lt. Wilmot was promoted to Captain in October of 1777.
The Captain was killed in a British ambush at Johns Island, South Carolina, on 4 November 1782; hence, being the last casualty of the Revolutionary War.
General Sullivan’s Descent Upon The British On Staten Island—The Escape Of William Wilmot.” Maryland Historical Magazine, 6, no.2 (June 1911) p. 141-142
Patrick O’Donnell, Washington’s Immortals, The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2016), 137-140
British Fort built in June 1776 replacing rebel redoubts. Image courtesy National Archives and Records Administration.
At a strategic high point overlooking the Narrows (the entrance to Upper New York Bay) stood many previous forts built by the Dutch and the British. Crown Forces occupied the Island for the remainder of the war, improving on the fort in July 1779 and throughout the revolution, until evacuating New York City in 1783.
These paintings were created at the turn of the last century, but they may give us a glimpse of what the Island’s rural and farming communities looked like at the beginning of the British occupation starting in 1776.
Dongan Hill by Julian Onderdonk (1906)
You will notice that in 1906, the Island was still sparsely populated on the south shore, dotted with farmhouses separated by wide pastures and fruit orchards. These are the remnants of the long-gone 18th century agricultural base which sustained Staten Island and its population well into the 19th century.
Marshes on Staten Island by Julian Onderdonk
Hay, made from the salt grass that grew abundantly in the marshes, and fish, clams and oysters which thrived in the estuaries had almost completely disappeared by the time these pictures were painted.
View Of Staten Island By Jasper Francis CropseyJasper Francis Cropsey (1823-1900); The Narrows from Staten Island; 1868; oil on canvas; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Acquisition in memory of Richard Fargo Brown, Trustee, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 1961-1972; 1972.189Looking Oceanward from Todt Hill Medium: Oil on canvas Dates: 1895 Staten Island Museum
Taylor-Skinner. A MAP of NEW YORK, & STATEN ISLDS; And part of LONG ISLAND : Surveyed by Order of His Excellency General Sir Henry Clinton K.B. Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Forces &ca. &ca. &ca. 1781. Courtesy of the British Library CollectionBlaskowitz. Campaign headquarters map showing military features and events in the New York area from June to November 1776. Courtesy of the Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map CollectionFacsimile of the unpublished British head quarters coloured manuscript map of New York & environs, 1782. Courtesy of the New York Public Library
Christopher House, Historic Richmondtown (photo by Nicholas Matranga)
Winter-Spring 1775-1776
Before proceeding farther let us review the social and political
condition of Staten Island at the commencement of hostilities. The
geographical position of the place gave positive direction to the
political sentiments of its inhabitants. Commanding the approach to the metropolis of the province, whoever possessed it took advantage of its natural facilities in a military point of view. The Dutch laid a fort on the heights of the Narrows (now Fort Wadsworth), during their control; the English enlarged and strengthened it; the State of New York increased its importance during the war of 1812, and the National Government, purchasing it in 1861, has from time to time added to its importance, until it is now one of the strongest points of defense in the whole country.
Whoever, then, possessed this important point, before the Revolution, to a certain extent possessed and controlled the Island and the metropolis. “Whilst the English held the government of the province, the people naturally imbibed English sentiments; freedom of opinion on political subjects, so far as the nature and character of the government was concerned, was not tolerated. It is not to be wondered at, then, that a people who, for more than a century” had been taught to believe that it was little short of treason to doubt the divine origin of monarchy, and especially of the English monarchy, should be conscientiously opposed to a change which was calculated to overturn all their most cherished institutions. More than half of the population of the Island, at the dawn of the Revolution, were either of English birth or descent; and many entertained the idea that the rebellion could not by any possibility succeed. Many indeed who favored rebellion hoped against hope.
A great majority of the early Dutch settlers were in favor of independence, and those of French descent were about equally divided
on the question. Quite a number of the French having settled here
before the conquest of the province by the English, had intermarried
with the Dutch, who were then the dominant class, and had imbibed
Dutch opinions, manners and customs, and had even fallen into the use of the Dutch language. In some of the families bearing French
names, and of French descent, at the present day, are to be found
family records, such as they are, written in the Dutch language.
In February, 1775, Richmond County was represented in the Colonial Assembly by Christopher Billopp and Benjamin Seaman, and
when, on the 23d of the same month, a motion was before the house” that the sense of this House be taken, on the Necessity of appointing Delegates for this Colony, to meet the Delegates for the other Colonies on this Continent, in General Congress, on the 10th day of May next,” these representatives of Richmond voted in the negative.
The character of Staten Island was now pretty thoroughly established. The people of Elizabethtown had been eagerly watching and waiting to see wliat movemeut would here be made. The stand which the Islanders would take was no longer in doubt, and the Committee of Observation of Elizabethtown on February 13th, 1775, issued the following interdict:
“Whereas the inhabitants of Staten Island have manifested an
unfriendly disposition towards the liberties of America, and among
other things have neglected to join in the General Association proposed by the Continental Congress, and entered into by most of the
Townships in America, and in no instance have acceded thereto. The
Committee of Observation for this Town, taking the same into con-
sideration, are of opinion that the inhabitants of their District ought,
and by the aforesaid Association are bound, to break of all trade, commerce, dealings, and intercourse whatsoever with the inhabitants of said Island, until they shall join in the General Association aforesaid; and do Resolve that all trade, commerce, dealings, and intercourse whatsoever be suspended accordingly, which suspension is hereby notified and recommended to the inhabitants of this District to be by them universally observed and adopted.
“GEOEGE ROSS, Clerk.”
During the active movements of the British and Colonial armies in the East [Boston], all was excitement on Staten Island. The arrival of the mail-coach at Richmond Town was each day greeted by hundreds of people, and the news from the seat of war created animated controversies that resulted in hand-to-hand combats.
The population of the Island consisted of about three thousand people, including men, women, children, and [free and enslaved African Americans]. The men were about evenly divided in their support of the English government, and families soon became disunited and at enmity over the vital issues of the day. The first movement, however, that resulted in open disloyalty to the King; was the partial organization of two military companies which offered their services to General Washington.
Before the General’s answer could be received, the British army arrived [July-August 1776], With all its pomp and glitter, and the inexperienced natives were so terrified that they thought it wiser to be on the stronger side, and so consented to be mustered into the King’s service.
This was a stinging blow to the patriots who were anxious that Staten Island should be in possession of the Colonial army, and they called a secret meeting at Smoking Point (Rossville) for the purpose of recruiting citizen soldiers who were opposed to the oppression of the parent government. But the leaders were betrayed and the meeting prohibited.
________________
Quoted From: Morris, I. K. (1898). Morris’s memorial history of Staten Island, New York. New York: Memorial Pub. Co.
Above photo by Nicholas Matranga. All rights reserved.
Plan general des operations de l’Armée Britanique contre les rebelles dans l’Amerique depuis l’arrivée des troupes hessoises le 12 du mois d’aoust 1776 jusqu’à la fin de l’année 1779.
A map of New York Island, part of Long Island and East New Jersey and the Battle of Long Island, fought on 27 August 1776 between the army of the United States, commanded by General George Washington (1732-99) and the British army, commanded by William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe (1729-1814) resulting in a British victory.
1755 Map of the Watering Place. British Troop positions on Staten Island (prior to French and Indian War). Courtesy the British Library
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.]
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 Buskirk, Lieutenant 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:
“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.
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)
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).
The Hessian Troops (from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel) what is now part of Germany had arrived at Staten Island on August 12, 1776. A Hessian soldier, Major Carl Leopold Baurmeister recalled in his journal that the Hessian troops had camped on the Island on the 14th and 15th of August. He noted that 132 soldiers were hospitalized on the Island, possibly from scurvy. He recalls:
“We found the English troops, which had been driven out of Boston encamped on Staten Island on 8 different heights. 1) At Amboy Ferry, Lieutenant General Clinton with 2 brigades and half of an artillery brigade. 2) Between Amboy Ferry and the Old Blazing Star (present-day Rossville) Brigadier General Leslie with 3 brigades and half an artillery brigade. 3) At the Old Blazing Star, Brigadier General Farrington with 2 brigades and 2 twelve-pounders and also half a troop of light dragoons to carry dispatches. 4) At the New Blazing Star, Brigadier Generals Smith, Robertson and Agnew with 3 brigades and the other half of the troops of light dragoons. 5) At Musgrove’s [Lein], Lieutenant General Percy and Brigadier General Erphine with 2 brigades and four 6-pounders and one officer and 25 light dragoons. 6) At the Morning Star (at the foot of present-day Clove Road) Lieutenant General Cornwallis with 2 1/2 brigades, six 12-pounders, 4 howitzers, and 15 dragoons. 7) At Decker’s Ferry (now Port Richmond) Major General William Jones with the 37th and 52nd regiment and light guns. 8) To the right of Decker’s Ferry in a country house [Kruzer-Pelton House] close to the shore opposite New Jersey, Major General Vaughan with 6 grenadier battalions, the 46th regiment and the rest of the disembarked artillery, the rest of the light dragoons, and General Howe’s headquarters.” [1]
1783 Hessen-Kassel army – Fusilier Regiment von Knyphausen – officer and private
Baurmeister reports that 500 Staten Island militia and “the disloyal inhabitants of Staten Island had their arms taken from them, and the militia were assigned stations in case of an attack from Jersey.”
On the 12th of October, Baurmeister recorded in his journal that
“Colonel von Lossberg’s brigade, excepting the Regiment von Trambach, embarked on thirteen transports at Staten Island and remained on board ship until the 17th.
These troops had scarcely vacated the island, leaving only the trenches occupied, when the rebels crossed over at [Perth] Amboy and Elizabethtown. They made the roads to Richmond unsafe burned some houses, set fire to the old camps, and captured some patrol which Lieutenant Dalrymple had needlessly sent from the trench to the said village. Lieutenant Clewe and eight men of von Triimbach’s Regiment were among those captured. The Lieutenant got away, but the eight soldiers were taken to Philadelphia, where they were well treated and promised great rewards if they would enlist in the rebel army.”
Approximately 6,000 Hesse-Cassel troops participated in the assault on Fort Washington in upper Manhattan, which ultimately resulted in the Americans surrendering to the German Commander in Chief Knyphausen.
For 1777, the diary of Captain Johann Ewald records:
“During the night of the [June] 28th and early morning of the 29th the greater part of the army crossed over Prince’s Bay to Staten Island. The rear guard under Lord Cornwallis, consisting of the jagers, the light infantry, and both Highland regiments, crossed the bay toward evening on the 30th. The entire army took up camp from Billop’s Ferry to Richmond.
The 1st of July. Today all the officers of the army were notified that they could sell their horses to the Hessian mounted jagers and to the artillery park for ten guineas apiece, since no one up to the grade of colonel would be permitted to take a horse with him on the imminent expedition. By this order, the mounted jagers received their mounts in the nicest manner in the space of two days. After this order I proceeded at once to the headquarters to report that I was still completely incapable of doing my service on foot because of my hard fall on my right leg, whereupon I was permitted to take a horse with me.
On the 3d of July it was ordered that the following corps and regiments would hold themselves ready for embarkation:
The Jäger Corps, which now consisted of three Hessian, one Anspach, and one mounted company, each being made up of 173 men.
Two battalions of light infantry.
Two battalions of English grenadiers and the English Guards.
The three Hessian grenadier battalions, von Linsing, Lengerke, and Minnigerode.
[Number 5 is missing.]
The English Guards.
The Queen’s Rangers, and Ferguson’s sharpshooters, which had recently arrived from England.
Five English brigades.
Two Hessian brigades.
A part of the heavy artillery.
The two light dragoon regiments.
The 71st Scottish Regiment. Note: Is already counted as the 5th Brigade.
In all, these troops amounted to about fifteen thousand men, and the generals accompanying them, besides General Howe, were LordCornwallis, Grant, Grey, Agnew, Knyphausen, and Stirn. Today the recall of General von Heister came from Hesse, and General von Knyphausen received the command of the Hessian troops. From the 4th up to the 9th, this entire army was embarked with everything that was necessary for the expedition at Decker’s Ferry, Cole’sFerry, Simonsen’s Ferry, and Reisen’s Ferry on Staten Island.
Since the wind was constantly easterly, the fleet remained at anchor between Long Island and Staten Island in the vicinity of Denys’s Ferry up to the 19th. But on the morning of the 20th, about nine o’clock, a light wind arose, whereupon the fleet weighed anchor and put to sea on the same day.[2]
Hessian re-enactors
Sources: [1] Revolution in America: Confidential Letters and Journals 1776-1784 of Adjutant General Major Baurmeister of the Hessian Forces, trans. Bernhard A. Uhlendorf, Rutgers University Press (New Brunswick, New Jersey 1957)
[2] Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal, Captain Johann Ewald, Field Jäger Corps trans. and ed. Joseph P. Tustin, Yale University Press (New Haven and London, 1979)
We have compiled from the works of Colonel Simcoe his own accounts of his service on Staten Island, keeping strictly to his own language, believing that, as a historical record, it would be unjust to the original writer as well as the reader of today to cause a change in either form or phrase. We quote from Simcoe’s Military Journal:
“On the 9th of October, 1778, [the Queen’s Rangers being at Oyster Bay, Long Island], it was hinted to Lieut. Col. Simcoe to hold his corps in readiness for embarkation. On the 19th it marched for that purpose; the cavalry to Jericho, where they were to remain under the command of Lieut.-Col. Fulton, and the infantry to Jamaica, which proceeded to Yellow-hook, and embarked on the 24th. Earl Cornwallis commanded this expedition, consisting of the 7th, 23d, 22d, 33d, 57th regiments, Rangers, and Volunteers of Ireland, commanded by Lord Rawdon; it was supposed to be intended for Jamaica, at that time presumed to be threatened with an invasion from M. d’Estaing. On intelligence being received that his designs were pointed elsewhere, the troops were re-landed, and were ordered to continue in readiness to embark at the shortest notice. The Queen’s Rangers marched to Richmond, on Staten Island. They relieved a regiment which had been very sickly while there. Lieut.-Col. Simcoe immediately ordered their huts to be destroyed, and encamped his corps. Signals, in case of alarm, were established on the Island by General Patterson, who commanded there.
Royal Provincials
“Two days were lost by a misunderstanding of the General’s order, the Hussars of the Queen’s Rangers only being sent to Jericho, without Captain Sanford’s troop, which was not merely necessary in regard to numbers, but particularly wished for, as it was known that Captain Sanford, when quartermaster of the guards, had frequently been on foraging parties in the country he was to pass through. On the 25th of October, by eight o’clock at night, the detachment, which had been detailed, marched to Billopp’s Point, where they were to embark. That the enterprise might be effectually concealed, Lieut.-Col. Simcoe described a man, as a rebel spy, to be on the Island, and endeavoring to escape to New Jersey. A great reward was offered for taking him, and the militia of the Island were watching all the places where it was possible for any man to go from, in order to apprehend him. The batteaux and boats, which were appointed to be at Billopp’s Point, so as to pass the whole over by twelve o’clock at night, did not arrive until three o’clock in the morning. No time was lost; the infantry of the Queen’s Rangers landed; they ambuscaded every avenue of the town [Perth Amboy]; the cavalry followed as soon as possible. As soon as it was formed, Lieut.-Col. Simcoe called together the officers; he told them of his plan, “that he meant to burn the boats at Van Vacter’s bridge, and crossing the Raritan, at Hillsborough, to return by the road to Brunswick and making a circuit to avoid that place as soon as he came near it, to discover himself when beyond it, on the heights where the General Redoubts stood while the British troops were cantoned there, and where the Queen’s Rangers afterwards had been encamped; and to entice the militia, if possible, to follow him into an ambuscade in which the infantry would lay for them at South River bridge.
“Major Armstrong was instructed to re-embark, as soon as the cavalry marched, and to land on the opposite side of the Raritan, at South Amboy; he was then, with the utmost despatch and silence, to proceed to South River bridge, six miles from South Amboy, where he was to ambuscade himself, without passing the bridge or taking it up. A smaller creek falls into this river on South Amboy side. Into the peninsula formed by these streams Lieut.-Col. Simcoe hoped to allure some Jersey militia.”
Here follows a detailed account of the raid into New Jersey, in the vicinity of Morristown, then the headquarters of the Continental army. Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe was badly wounded and captured. He was taken to the military prison at Burlington, N. J., where he was afterward joined by Colonel Christopher Billopp, the commander of the Staten Island militia. Major Armstrong assumed command of the Queen’s Rangers. The account continues:
“At South River the cavalry joined Major Armstrong; he had perfectly succeeded in arriving at his post undiscovered, and, ambuscading himself, had taken several prisoners. He marched back to South Amboy, and re-embarked without opposition, exchanging some of the bad horses of the corps for better ones which he had taken with the prisoners. The alarm through the country was general. Wayne was detached from Washington’s camp m the highlands, with the light troops, and marched fourteen miles that night and thirty the next day. Colonel Lee was in Monmouth County, as it was said fell back toward the Delaware. The Queen’s Rangers returned to Richmond that evening, the cavalry had marched upwards of eighty miles, without halting or refreshment, and the infantry thirty.
Soldiers’ Huts (depicted are similar huts that were built at Inwood, Manhattan)
“In the distribution of quarters for the remaining winter, Richmond was allotted to the Queen’s Rangers. The post was in the centre of Staten Island, and consisted of three bad redoubts, so constructed, at various times and in such a manner as to be of little mutual assistance. The spaces between these redoubts had been occupied by the huts of the troops, wretchedly made of mud. These Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe had thrown down, and his purpose was to build ranges of log houses, which might join the redoubts, and being loop-holed, might become a very defensible curtain. Major Armstrong followed the plan, and set the regiment about its execution, in parties adapted to the different purposes of felling the timber, sawing it, and making shingles for the roofings. In the beginning of December the regiment was ordered to embark; which order was, soon after, countermanded.
“On the last day of December Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe returned to Staten Island from his imprisonment. He was mortified to find the expedition, under the Commander-in-Chief, had failed; especially, as, upon his landing at the Island, he received a letter from Major Andre, Adjutant-General, saying, ‘If this meets you a free man, prepare your regiment for embarkation, and hasten to New York yourself.’
”He joined the corps at Richmond. Major Armstrong had been indefatigable in getting the regiment hutted in a manner which rendered their post comfortable and defensible, and they soon found the advantage of their very extraordinary labor. The day which Lieut.-Col. Simcoe passed the Sound was the last on which it became navigable for a considerable time, the frost setting in with most unusual inclemency, and, by the 10th of January, the communication with New York was totally shut up by floating ice; and General Sterling was reduced to the necessity of restraining the troops to half allowance of provisions, but with every precaution to impress the inhabitants and soldiers with the belief that this restriction was precautionary against the possibility of the communication being closed for several weeks; and care was taken to investigate what resources of fresh provisions might be obtained from the Island.
“The Sound, which divided Staten Island from the Jersies, being totally frozen over and capable of bearing cannon, information was received that several of the rebel Generals had been openly measuring the thickness of the ice, and it was universally rumored that an attack was soon to take place upon Staten Island. General Sterling commanded there, and he was with the main body at the watering place, the heights of which [Pavilion Hill] were occupied by several redoubts. Colonel Lord Rawdon, with the Volunteers of Ireland, was quartered near a redoubt at the foot of the Narrows; and Lieut.-Col. Simcoe, with the Queen’s Rangers, at Richmond —the whole force on the Island being one thousand eight hundred effective men.
“On the 15th of January, early in the morning, the rebel detachment of near three thousand men, under the command of the person styled Lord Stirling, crossed the ice and entered Staten Island. Lord Stirling marched immediately towards the landing place, and by his position cut off General Sterling’s communication with the Volunteers of Ireland and the Queen’s Rangers. Lieut.-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. There were three pieces of cannon (a nine and two six-pounders), mounted on platforms, without embrasures, in the redoubts. These were pointed at the eminences, where it was expected the enemy would first appear, and where the stones were collected in heaps, so that a round shot, if it struck among them, might have the effect of grape. If batteries, or any cannon, should be opened against Richmond, it was obvious these guns must be dismounted; they were, therefore, not intended to be exposed to such accidents; but the redoubt on the right [now a burying ground on a hill] was meant, on the first appearance of assault, to be abandoned, and its area filled with abatis which were provided, and its gate left open and exposed to the fire of the cannon of the other redoubts placed at their respective gates, of the two regimental field pieces, and of the musketry from the doors, windows and loop-holes of the barracks. The officers’ barracks, which were within the triangular area formed by those of the soldiers and the redoubts, were intended to be taken down, and the logs of which they were composed were to be heaped within a hut, and to form a traverse on a part exposed to the enemy. The rear of the works were secured by their position on the edge of the hill from any possibility of attack, and some of the huts, which ran below the surface of it, were in perfect safety from any shot whatsoever, and nearly so from shells, against the splinters of which their logs were very respectable traverses.
400-pound canon used by the British to repel an attack by the Americans (Cutting Family gift to Conference House). Stolen in 1972.
“There was a gun boat, which was frozen up in the creek, at the foot of Richmond Hill. This gun was elevated so as to fire a single round of grape shot; some swivels also were brought into the redoubts. Spike nails, of which there were a quantity for the barrack purposes, were driven through boards, ready to be concealed under the snow in places which were most accessible; all the cattle in the neighborhood were brought in 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, and one of them affirmed that he overheard some of their principal officers say, ‘That it was not worth while to attack Richmond where they were sure of obstinate resistance, and which must fall of itself whenever the main body was taken.’
“Lieut. Col. Simcoe was anxious to communicate with Lord Rawdon, and to obtain any intelligence or orders his lordship might have for him. He sent his adjutant, Lieut. Ormond, with directions to get some of the militia to convey a letter for that purpose by the sea shore [South Beach]. Some scattering parties of the enemy had been that way, on which account Lieut. Ormond could get no one to venture; he therefore went himself, and putting on colored clothes that he might not be distinguished, in case of any small parties lying in ambuscade, he got safely to the flag staff, [now Fort Wadsworth] and returned without discovery. The rebels making no attempt in the daytime upon the redoubts, where General Sterling was, led Lieut.-Col. Simcoe to conclude that they waited for cannon or more forces, and meant to storm them at night or the next morning; for, though no person could hold more cheaply than he thought himself authorized to do, those men on whom the enemy had conferred the office and title of Generals, it appeared totally unreasonable that having so well chosen the moment of invading the Island, they had no determined point to carry, or had neglected the proper means to ensure its success. On these ideas, he desired Colonel Billopp, (who commanded the militia of Staten Island), to get them to assemble to garrison Richmond; but neither entreaties, the full explanation of the advantage such a conduct would be of, nor the personal example of Col. Billopp, had any effect; not a man could be prevailed upon to enter the garrison. They assembled to drink at various public houses, and to hear the news, or were busy in providing for the temporary security of their cattle and effects; and these were not disaffected persons, but men who were obnoxious to the rebel governors, many of them refugees from the Jersies, some who had every reason to expect death, if the enemy succeeded, and all the total destruction of their property,
‘Lieut. -Col. Simcoe was therefore obliged to lay aside his intentions, which were to march with his cavalry, carrying muskets, with as many infantry as he could justify the taking from Richmond, with his field pieces in sledges, together with the swivels fixed upon blocks, and to get near the enemy undiscovered, and to make as great an alarm and as much impression as possible upon their rear, whensoever they attempted to storm the British redoubts. All the roads between Richmond and the headquarters, [New Dorp], led through narrow passes and below the chain of hills; these, where they had been beaten only, were passable, the ground being covered with several feet of snow, so that no patroles were made during the night, which would have been useless and dangerous; and the cavalry were assembled within the redoubts; the night was remarkably cold. A person from the Jersies brought the report of the country, that Washington was expected the next day at Elizabethtown, and that straw, &c., was sent to Staten Island. He went back again, commissioned by Lieut. Col. Simcoe, to observe what stores were in Elizabethtown, and particularly to remake what air-holes were in the ice on the Sound between the mouth of Richmond Creek and Elizabethtown, as it was intended, if nothing material intervened before the next night, to send Captain Stevenson with a detachment to burn Elizabethtown, and to give an alarm in the Jerseys.
“The intelligence which this zealous and trustworthy loyalist brought was very probable. The making a winter campaigning in America had always appeared to Lieut. Col. Simcoe a matter of great facility, and by frequently ruminating upon it, he was alive to the advantages which would attend Mr. Washington in its prosecution. He would without hesitation have abandoned the post at Richmond, and joined Lord Rawdon, or GJeneral Sterling, taking on himself all consequences, had it not appeared to him that the possession of Richmond would insure to Mr. Washington a safe retreat, even should the ice become impassable, and would probably inculcate on him the propriety of his seriously attempting to keep Staten Island at this very critical period, when the Commander-in-Chief was absent with the greatest part of the army, and the troops in New York, under General Knyphausen, were probably not in a capacity to quit it and take the field; particularly as in that case the nominal militia, whose members were so well displayed, as sufficient to garrison it, must form-the greater part have melted away in their attendance on the army, to whose various departments they in general belonged.
“Mr. Washington might without difficulty have assembled from the smaller creeks, and even from the Delaware and Hudson’s river, a multitude of boats, which, while the snow was upon the ground. might be conveyed overland to the Staten Island Sound; and with these, added to those which attended the army, he might transport his troops or form bridges, securing all approaches to them from the water by batteries constructed on the Jersey shore, while by other attacks and preparations he certainly could have thrown great difficulties in the way of General Knyphausen and the British army in the three Islands.
“Lieut.-Col. Simcoe, reasoning on the possibility of these events, waited to be guided by circumstances. If General Sterling could hold out, and was neither overwhelmed by number, or reduced by famine, which was most to be dreaded, it was obvious Richmond would be safe. If matters happened other- wise, he was perfectly certain, from Lord Rawdon’s character, that he should receive some directions from him, who would never remain in an untenable pose, with the certainty (if being made prisoner; and at all events Lieut.-Col. Simcoe determined, in case General Sterling should be defeated, and that he should receive no orders, he would attempt to escape; for since the rebels liad shown a total defect in every private and Benedict Arnold. public principle of honor, when they violated the convention with General Burgoyne’s army, he and the officers of the Queen’s Rangers had determined in no situation to surrender, where by escaping, if it should be but a mile into the country, the corps could disband itself individually, and separately attempt to rejoin the British armies; proper inducements being held out to the soldiers, and great aid being reasonably to be expected from the loyal inhabitants, scattered throughout every colony, and in very great numbers.
“This, which had been his common conversation and steady resolution, in case of any fortunate events, was now determined on by Lieut.-Col. Simcoe; his ideas were to forerun all intelligence and to attempt to surprise Col. Lee, at Burlington, and then to escape to the back countries. For this purpose he had sledges which could carry a hundred men, and he had no doubt of soon increasing them in the Jersies to a number sufficient to convey the whole corps. The attempt was less dangerous in itself and less injurious, if it failed, to the community than the certainty of being destroyed by heavy artillery, of ultimately surrendering, of moldering in prison and becoming lost to all future service to their king and country.
“There was no corps between General Washington’s army and that of Lincoln’s hastening into Charlestown but Lee’s. When once in possession of his horses there was but little doubt in the minds of Lieut. -Col. Simcoe and the officers to which he communicated his ideas, but that he should effect his retreat into the back parts of Pennsylvania, join his friends there, probably release the Convention army, and not impossibly join the Commander-in-Chief in Carolina, all of these ideas, it was with great surprise and pleasure that Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe understood the enemy were retreating from the Island. He immediately pursued them with the flank companies of Hussars, and was overtaken by an order from General Sterling 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, 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. There were vast mounds of snow drifted before the redoubts, which Lord Stirling gave as his reason for not attempting them; and General Knyphausen, on the first signal of Staten Island being attacked, embarked troops to support it. The enemy in the dark of the evening saw there 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, losing 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.”
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.
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’:
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.
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:
The old “Cucklestowne Inn” stood for a century and a half in Richmond, on or a few feet to the north-west of the present residence of Mr. Willard Barton[demolished]. Throughout the war it was occupied by British officers, among whom was Major John André, the spy, who afterward became the victim of General Benedict Arnold. It was in this old building that Major André. then a captain in the Twenty-sixth Regiment of Foot, wrote his will. Probably on account of the destruction of the Richmond Court House, the document was recorded and probated in New York. It reads as follows:
“The following is my last Will and Testament and I appoint as
Executors thereto Mary Louisa André my Mother, David André my
Uncle, Andrew Giradot my Uncle, John André my Uncle.
“To each of the above Executors I give Fifty Pounds. — I give to
Mary Hannah André my Sister Seven Hundred Pounds. — I give to
Ann Marguerite André my Sister Seven Hundred Pounds. — I give to
Louisa Katharine André my Sister Seven Hundred Pounds. — I give
to William Lewis André my Brother Seven Hundred Pounds. — But
the condition on which I give the above mentioned Sums to my afore-
said Sisters and Brothers are that each of them shall pay to Mary
Louisa André my Mother the sum of Ten pounds yearly during her
life.— I give to Walter Ewer Jun’r of Dyers Court Aldermanbury
One Hundred Pounds. — I give to John Ewer Jun’r of Lincoln’s Inn
One Hundred Pounds. — I desire a Ring value Fifty Pounds be given
to my Friend Peter Boissier of the Eleventh Dragoons. — I desire that
Walter Ewer Jun’r of Dyers Court Aldermanbury have the Inspec-
tion of my papers, Letters, Manuscripts, I mean that he have the
first Inspection of them with Liberty to destroy or detain whatever he
thinks proper, and I desire my Watch be given to him. And I lastly
give and bequeath my Brother John Lewis André the residue of all
my Effects whatsoever. — Witness my Hand and Seal
Staten Island in the province of N. York, N. America the 7th June 1777.
“John André Cap’t in the 26th Reg’t of Foot [L.S.]
” N.B.—The Currency alluded to in this Will is Sterling Money of Great Britain. — I desire nothing more than my wearing Apparel be sold by public Auction,
J. A.
“City and Province )
of New York. ) ss.
“Be it Remembered that on the Ninth day of October in the Year
of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty personally came
and appeared before me Gary Ludlow, Surrogate for the City and
Province aforesaid, Henry White and William Seaton both of the
City and Province aforesaid Esquires who being severally duly sworn
did declare that they were well acquainted with the handwriting of
John André formerly Captain in the twenty-sixth Regiment of Foot
and since Adjutant General Deceased that they have frequently seen
him write, And that they verily believe that the before written Instrument purporting to be the last Will and Testament of the said John André, bearing date the seventh Day of June One thousand seven hundred and Seventy Seven with the Subscriptions thereto are all of his the said John André’s own proper hand Writing and further saith not. Cary Ludlow, Surr.”
According to the dates, it will be seen that the will was admitted
to probate just a week after the execution of its maker at Tappan, on
the 2d of October, 1780.
Major André’s death was one of the saddest incidents of the war.
The decision, though just, was painful — painful to Washington — to the Board — to the officers of the American army — but more painful, if possible, to Sir Henry Clinton and the companions of André in arms.
Efforts, and such as did honor to Clinton, were made to reverse the doom of André. Intimations were given from Washington, that upon one condition — the surrender of Arnold — André might be released; but to this Clinton thought he could not in honor yield — while in the scale of affection, André would have outweighed a thousand traitors like Arnold.
Quoted From: Morris, Ira K. 2010. Morris’s memorial history of Staten Island, New York. New York: Memorial Pub. Co.
Christopher House, Historic Richmondtown (photo by Nicholas Matranga)
Major André’s death was one of the saddest incidents of the war.
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