FORTIFYING NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.
New York City, in 1776, lay at the end of Manhattan Island, in shape
somewhat like an arrow-head, with its point turned towards the sea and
its barbs extended at uneven lengths along the East and Hudson rivers.
It occupied no more space than is now included within the five lower
and smallest of its twenty-four wards. Excepting a limited district
laid out on the east side, in part as far as Grand street, the entire
town stood below the line of the present Chambers street, and covered
an area less than one mile square. Then, as now, Broadway was its
principal thoroughfare. Shaded with rows of trees, and lined mainly
with residences, churches, and public-houses, it stretched something
more than a mile to the grounds of the old City Hospital, near Duane
street. Its starting-point was the Battery at the end of the island,
but not the Battery of to-day; for, under the system of "harbor
encroachments," the latter has more than trebled in size, and is
changed both in its shape and its uses. The city defences at that time
occupied the site. Here at the foot of Broadway old Fort George had
been erected upon the base of the older Fort Amsterdam, to guard the
entrance to the rivers, and with its outworks was the only protection
against an attack by sea. It was a square bastioned affair, with walls
of stone, each face eighty feet in length, and within it stood
magazines, barracks, and, until destroyed by fire, the mansion of the
colonial governors. For additional security, about the time of the
French war, an extensive stone battery, with merlons of cedar joists,
had been built just below the fort along the water's edge, enclosing
the point from river to river, and pierced for ninety-one pieces of
cannon.[9]
[Footnote 9: The site of Fort George is now covered in part by the
buildings at the west corner of the Bowling Green block, where the
steamship companies have their offices. South and west of this point
the Battery is almost entirely made-land. (Compare Ratzer's map of
1767 with the maps recently compiled by the New York Dock Department.)
As to other old defences of the city, Wm. Smith, the historian,
writing about 1766, says: "During the late war a line of palisadoes
was run from Hudson's to the East River, at the other end of the city
[near the line of Chambers street], with block-houses at small
distances. The greater part of these still remain as a monument of our
folly, which cost the province about £8000."]
At this period, the city represented a growth of one hundred and sixty
years. Give it a population of twenty-five thousand souls[10]--more
rather than less--and line its streets with four thousand buildings,
and we have its census statistics approximately. The linear
characteristics of the old town are still sharply preserved. Upon the
west side, the principal streets running to the North River--Chambers,
Warren, Murray, Barclay, Vesey, Dey, and Cortlandt--retain their names
and location; but the water-line was then marked by Greenwich street.
The present crowded section to the west of it, including Washington
and West streets and the docks, is built on new ground, made within
the century. Behind Trinity Church, and as far down as the Battery,
the shore rose to a very considerable bluff. Necessarily, much the
greater part of the city then lay east of Broadway. The irregular
streets to be found on this side are relics of both the Dutch and
English foundation; of their buildings, however, as they stood in
1776, scarcely one remains at the present time. New streets have been
built on the East River as well as on the North, materially changing
the water boundary of this part of the island. Front and South streets
had no existence at that date. On the line of Wall street, the city
has nearly doubled in width since the Revolution.
[Footnote 10: The last census before the Revolution was taken in 1771,
when the population of the city and county of New York was returned at
21,863. (Doc. Hist. of N.Y., Vol. I.) At the time of the war alarm, in
1775, this total must have risen to full 25,000. Philadelphia's
population was somewhat larger; Boston's, less.]
Before its contraction, and in view of its convenience and protection
from storms, the East River was the harbor proper of New York. Most of
the docks were on that side, and just above Catherine street lay the
ship-yards, where at times, in colonial days, an eight-hundred-ton
West Indiaman might be seen upon the stocks.
What is now the City Hall Park was called in 1776 "the Fields," or
"The Common." The site of the City Hall was occupied by the House of
Correction; the present Hall of Records was the town jail, and the
structure then on a line with them at the corner of Broadway was the
"Bridewell." The City Hall of that day stood in Wall street, on the
site of the present Custom-House, and King's, now Columbia, College in
the square bounded by Murray, Barclay, Church, and West Broadway.
Queen, now Pearl, was the principal business street; fashion was to be
found in the vicinity of the Battery, and Broad and Dock streets; the
Vauxhall Gardens were at the foot of Reade; and to pass out of town,
one would have to turn off Broadway into Chatham street, which
extended through Park Row, and keep on to the Bowery.
John Adams has left us a brief description of New York, as he saw it
when passing through to the first Congress at Philadelphia in 1774, in
company with Cushing, Paine, and Samuel Adams. His diary runs:
"_Saturday, Aug. 20._--Lodged at Cock's, at Kingsbridge, a pretty
place.... Breakfasted at Day's [127th street], and arrived in the city
of New York at ten o'clock, at Hull's, a tavern, the sign the Bunch of
Grapes. We rode by several very elegant country-seats before we came
to the city.... After dinner, Mr. McDougall and Mr. Platt came, and
walked with us to every part of the city. First we went to the fort,
where we saw the ruins of that magnificent building, the Governor's
house [burned Dec. 29, 1773]. From the Parade, before the fort, you
have a fine prospect of Hudson River, and of the East River, or the
Sound, and of the harbor; of Long Island, beyond the Sound River, and
of New Jersey beyond Hudson's River. The walk round this fort is very
pleasant, though the fortifications are not strong. Between the fort
and the city is a beautiful ellipsis of land [Bowling Green], railed
in with solid iron, in the centre of which is a statue of his majesty
on horseback, very large, of solid lead gilded with gold, standing on
a pedestal of marble, very high. We then walked up the Broad Way, a
fine street, very wide, and in a right line from one end to the other
of the city. In this route we saw the old Church and the new Church
[Trinity]. The new is a very magnificent building--cost twenty
thousand pounds, York currency. The prison is a large and a handsome
stone building; there are two sets of barracks. We saw the New York
College, which is also a large stone building. A new hospital is
building, of stone. We then walked down to a shipyard. Then we walked
round through another street, which is the principal street of
business. Saw the several markets. After this we went to the
coffee-house, which was full of gentlemen; read the newspapers,
etc.... The streets of this town are vastly more regular and elegant
than those in Boston, and the houses are more grand, as well as neat.
They are almost all painted, brick buildings and all."
Other glimpses we get from English sources. The traveler Smyth, while
visiting this city during the British occupation, has this to say:[11]
"Nothing can be more delightful than the situation of New York,
commanding a variety of the most charming prospects that can be
conceived. It is built chiefly upon the East River, which is the best
and safest harbour, and is only something more than half a mile wide.
The North River is better than two miles over to Powles Hook, which is
a strong work opposite to New York, but is exposed to the driving of
the ice in winter, whereby ships are prevented from lying therein
during that season of the year. The land on the North River side is
high and bold, but on the East River it gradually descends in a
beautiful declivity to the water's edge.... Amongst the multitude of
elegant seats upon this island, there are three or four uncommonly
beautiful, viz., Governor Elliot's, Judge Jones's, Squire Morris's,
and Mr. Bateman's. And opposite, upon the Continent, just above
Hell-gates, there is a villa named Morrisania, which is inferior to no
place in the world for the beauties, grandeur, and extent of
perspective, and the elegance of its situation." Eddis, who had been
compelled to leave Maryland on account of his loyal sentiments, was
hardly less impressed with the city's appearance when he stopped here
on his way to England in 1777. "The capital of this province," he
wrote, August 16th, "is situated on the southern extremity of the
island; on one side runs the North, and on the other the East River,
on the latter of which, on account of the harbour, the city is
principally built. In several streets, trees are regularly planted,
which afford a grateful shelter during the intense heat of the summer.
The buildings are generally of brick, and many are erected in a style
of elegance.... Previous to the commencement of this unhappy war, New
York was a flourishing, populous, and beautiful town....
Notwithstanding the late devastation [fire of 1776], there are still
many elegant edifices remaining, which would reflect credit on any
metropolis in Europe."[12]
[Footnote 11: "A Tour in the United States," etc. By J.F.D. Smyth.
London, 1784.]
[Footnote 12: "Letters from America, 1769-1777." By Wm. Eddis.
London.]
Beyond the limits of the city, Manhattan Island retained much of its
primitive appearance. Roads, farms, country-seats, interspersed it,
but not thickly; and as yet the salient features were hills, marshes,
patches of rocky land, streams, and woods. Just upon the outskirts,
midway between the rivers, at about the corner of Grand and Centre
Streets, the ground rose to a commanding elevation on the farm of
William Bayard, which overlooked the city and the island above a
distance of more than three miles. Further east, a little north of the
intersection of Grand and Division Streets, stood another hill,
somewhat lower, where Judge Jones lived, from which opened an
extensive view of the East River and harbor. On the west side, on this
line, the surface sank from Bayard's mount into a spreading marsh as
far as the Hudson, and over which now run portions of Canal and Grand
and their cross streets. Where we have the Tombs and surrounding
blocks, stood the "Fresh Water" lake or "Collect," several fathoms
deep, with high sloping banks on the north and west, and on whose
surface were made the earliest experiments in steam navigation in
1796.
One nearly central highway, known as the King's Bridge or Post Road,
ran the entire length of the island. Where it left the city at Chatham
Square, it was properly the Bowerie or Bowery Lane. Continuing along
the present street by this name, it fell off into the line of Fourth
Avenue as far as Fourteenth Street, crossed Union Square diagonally to
Broadway, and kept the course of the latter to Madison Square at
Twenty-third Street. Crossing this square, also diagonally, the road
stretched along between Fourth and Second Avenues to Fifty-third
Street, passed east of Second Avenue, and then turning westerly
entered Central Park at Ninety-second Street. Leaving the Park at a
hollow in the hills known as "McGowan's Pass," just above the house of
Andrew McGowan, on the line of One Hundred and Seventh Street, west of
Fifth Avenue, it followed Harlem Lane to the end of the island. Here,
on the other side of King's Bridge, then "a small wooden bridge,"[13]
the highway diverged easterly to New England and northerly to Albany.
[Footnote 13: "King's Bridge, which joins the northern extremity of
this island to the continent, is only a small wooden bridge, and the
country around is mountainous, rocky, broken, and disagreeable, but
very strong."--_Smyth's Tour, etc._, vol. ii., p. 376.]
This portion of the island above the city was known as its "Out-ward,"
and had been divided at an early date into three divisions, under the
names of the Bowery, Harlem, and Bloomingdale divisions. Each
contained points of settlement. The Bowery section included that part
of the city laid out near Fresh Water Pond and around Chatham Square
below Grand Street, and the stretch of country above beyond the line
of Twenty-third Street. In this division were to be found some of the
notable residences and country-seats of that day. James De Lancey's
large estate extended from the Bowery to the East River, and from
Division nearly to the line of Houston Street. The Rutgers' Mansion
stood attractively on the slopes of the river bank about the line of
Montgomery Street, and above De Lancey's, on the Bowery, were the De
Peysters, Dyckmans, and Stuyvesants.
The Harlem division of the Out-ward, with which are associated some of
the most interesting events of 1776, included what is now known as
Harlem, with the island above it as far as King's Bridge. Dutch
farmers had settled here a hundred years before the Revolution. As
early as 1658, the Director-General and Council of New Netherland gave
notice that "for the further promotion of Agriculture, for the
security of this Island, and the cattle pasturing thereon, as well as
for the greater recreation and amusement of this city of Amsterdam in
New Netherland, they have resolved to form a New Village or Settlement
at the end of the Island, and about the lands of Jochem Pietersen,
deceased, and those which adjoin thereto." The first settlers were to
receive lots to cultivate, be furnished with a guard of soldiers, and
allowed a ferry across the Harlem River, for "the better and greater
promotion of neighborly correspondence with the English of the
North."[14] In 1776, the division was interspersed with houses and
fields, especially in the stretch of plains or flat land just above
One Hundred and Tenth Street, and from the East River to the line of
Ninth Avenue. The church and centre of the village were on the east
side, in the vicinity of One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, and the
old road by which they were reached from the city branched off from
the main highway at McGowan's Pass.
[Footnote 14: _Laws and Ordinances of New Netherlands._]
Bloomingdale was a scattered settlement, containing nearly all the
houses to be found along the Bloomingdale Road, but the name appears
to have identified principally the upper section beyond Fiftieth
Street. Here lived the Apthorpes at Ninety-second Street; the
Strikers, Joneses, and Hogelands above; and, lower down, the
Somerindykes and Harsens. As fixed by law, at that time, this road
started from the King's Bridge Road, at the house of John Horn, now
the corner of Twenty-third Street and Fifth Avenue, and followed the
line of the present Broadway and the recent Bloomingdale Road to the
farm of Adrian Hogeland, at One Hundred and Eighth Street.[15] Nearly
on a line with Hogeland, but considerably east of him, lived Benjamin
Vandewater; and these two were the most northerly residents in the
division.
[Footnote 15: The caption to the act in the case passed 1751, and
remaining unchanged in 1773, reads: "_An Act for mending and keeping
in Repair the publick Road or Highway, from the House of John Horne,
in the Bowry Division of the Out-ward of the City of New York, through
the Bloomendale Division in the said ward, to the house of Adrian
Hoogelandt._"]
Still another suburb of the city was the village of Greenwich,
overlooking the Hudson on the west side, in the vicinity of Fourteenth
Street, to which the Greenwich Road, now Greenwich Street, led along
the river bank in nearly a straight line. The road above continued
further east about as far as Forty-fifth Street, and there connected,
by a lane running south-westerly, with the Bloomingdale Road at
Forty-third Street. Among the country-seats in this village were those
of the Jeaunceys, Bayards, and Clarkes; and above, at Thirty-third
Street and Ninth Avenue, stood the ample and conspicuous residence of
John Morin Scott, one of the leading lawyers of the city, and a
powerful supporter of the American cause.
Across the East River, the "Sister City" of Brooklyn in 1776 was as
yet invisible from New York. A clump of low buildings at the old
ferry, and an occasional manor-seat, were the only signs of life
apparent on that side. Columbia Heights, whose modern blocks and row
of wharves and bonded stores suggest commercial activity alone, caught
the eye a century ago as "a noble bluff," crowned with fields and
woods, and meeting the water at its base with a shining beach. The
parish or village proper was the merest cluster of houses, nestled in
the vicinity of the old Dutch church, which stood in the middle of the
road a little below Bridge Street. The road was the King's highway,
and it ran from Fulton Ferry--where we have had a ferry for two
hundred and forty years at least--along the line of Fulton Street, and
on through Jamaica to the eastern end of Long Island. Besides the
settlements that had grown up at these two points--the church and the
ferry, which were nearly a mile and a half apart--a village centre was
to be found at Bedford, further up the highway, another in the
vicinity of the Wallabout, and still another, called Gowanus, along
the branch road skirting the bay. These all stood within the present
municipal limits of Brooklyn.
As it had been for more than a century before, the population on the
Long Island side was largely Dutch at the time of the Revolution. The
first-comers, in 1636 and after, introduced themselves to the soil and
the red man as the Van Schows, the Cornelissens, the Manjes, and the
like--good Walloon patronimics--and the Dutch heritage is still
preserved in the names of old families, and even more permanently in
the name of the place itself; for the word Brooklyn is but the English
corruption of Breukelen, the ancient Holland village[16] of which our
modern city appears to have been the namesake. Smyth, the English
traveler, makes the general statement towards the close of the
Revolution, that two thirds of the inhabitants of Long Island,
especially those on the west end, were of Dutch extraction, who
continued "to make use of their customs and language in preference to
English," which, however, they also understood. "The people of King's
County [Brooklyn]," he says, "are almost entirely Dutch. In Queen's
County, four fifths of the people are so likewise, but the other
fifth, and all Suffolk County, are English as they call themselves,
being from English ancestors, and using no other language." Major
Baurmeister, one of the officers of the Hessian division which
participated in the battle of Long Island, leaves us something more
than statistics in the case. He appears to have noted every thing with
lively appreciation. To a friend in Germany, for instance, we find him
writing as follows: "The happiness of the inhabitants, whose ancestors
were all Dutch, must have been great; genuine kindness and real
abundance is everywhere; any thing worthless or going to ruin is
nowhere to be perceived. The inhabited regions resemble the
Westphalian peasant districts; upon separate farms the finest houses
are built, which are planned and completed in the most elegant
fashion. The furniture in them is in the best taste, nothing like
which is to be seen with us, and besides so clean and neat, that
altogether it surpasses every description. The female sex is
universally beautiful and delicately reared, and is finely dressed in
the latest European fashion, particularly in India laces, white cotton
and silk gauzes; not one of these women but would consider driving a
double team the easiest of work. They drive and ride out alone, having
only a negro riding behind to accompany them. Near every
dwelling-house negroes (their slaves) are settled, who cultivate the
most fertile land, pasture the cattle, and do all the menial
work."[17] That the English element, however, had crept in to a
considerable extent around Brooklyn at this time, is a matter of
record.
[Footnote 16: The Hon. Henry C. Murphy, who visited this place in
1859, says of it: "The town lies in the midst of a marshy district,
and hence its name; for Breukelen--pronounced Brurkeler--means marsh
land." "There are some curious points of coincidence," continues Mr.
Murphy, "both as regards the name and situation of the Dutch Breukelen
and our Brooklyn. The name with us was originally applied exclusively
to the hamlet which grew up along the main road now embraced within
Fulton Avenue, and between Smith Street and Jackson Street; and we
must, therefore, not confound it with the settlements at the
Waalebought, Gowanus, and the Ferry, now Fulton Ferry, which were
entirely distinct, and were not embraced within the general name of
Brooklyn, until after the organization of the township of that name by
the British Colonial Government. Those of our citizens who remember
the lands on Fulton Avenue near Nevins Street and De Kalb Avenue
before the changes which were produced by the filling-in of those
streets, will recollect that their original character was marshy and
springy, being in fact the bed of the valley which received the drain
of the hills extending on either side of it from the Waalebought to
Gowanus Bay. This would lead to the conclusion that the name was given
on account of the locality; but though we have very imperfect accounts
as to who were the first settlers of Brooklyn proper, still, reasoning
from analogy in the cases of New Utrecht and New Amersfoort, we cannot
probably err in supposing that Brooklyn owes its name to the
circumstance that its first settlers wished to preserve in it a
memento of their homes in Fatherland. After the English conquest,
there was a continual struggle between the Dutch and English
orthography.... Thus it is spelled Breucklyn, Breuckland, Brucklyn,
Broucklyn, Brookland, Brookline, and several other ways. At the end of
the last century it settled down into the present Brooklyn. In this
form it still retains sufficiently its original signification of the
_marsh_ or _brook land_."--_Stiles' History of Brooklyn_, vol. i.,
App. 4.]
[Footnote 17: Part II., Document 33. On the other hand, some later
English descriptions are not as pleasant; but the wretchedness the
writers saw during the war was what the war had caused.]
The topography of this section of Long Island was peculiar, presenting
strong contrasts of high and low land. Originally, and indeed within
the memory of citizens still living, that part of Brooklyn lying
south and west of the line of Nevins Street was practically a
peninsula, with the Wallabout Bay or present Navy Yard on one side of
the neck, and on the other, a mile across, the extensive Gowanus creek
and marsh, over which now run Second, Third, and Fourth Avenues. The
creek set in from the bay where the Gowanus Canal is retained, and
rendered the marsh impassable at high-water as far as the line of
Baltic Street. Blocks of buildings now stand on the site of mills that
were once worked by the ebb and flow of the tides. The lower part of
what is known as South Brooklyn was largely swamp land in 1776. Here
the peninsula terminated in a nearly isolated triangular piece of
ground jutting out into the harbor, called Red Hook, which figured
prominently in the military operations. From this projection to the
furthest point on the Wallabout was a distance of three miles, and the
scenery along the bank presented a varied and attractive appearance to
the resident of New York. The "heights" rose conspicuously in all the
beauty of their natural outline; lower down the shore might be seen a
quaint Dutch mill or two; on the bluffs opposite the Battery, the
mansions of Philip and Robert Livingston were prominent; and not far
from where the archway crosses Montague Street stood the Remsen and,
nearer the ferry, the Colden and Middagh residences. From every point
of view the perspective was rural and inviting.[18]
[Footnote 18: In describing some of the characteristic features of
Long Island, Smyth, the traveler already quoted, mentions what seemed
to him "two very extraordinary places." "The first," he says, "is a
very dangerous and dreadful strait or passage, called _Hell-Gates_,
between the East River and the Sound; where the two tides meeting
cause a horrible whirlpool, the vortex of which is called the Pot, and
drawing in and swallowing up every thing that approaches near it,
dashes them to pieces upon the rocks at the bottom.... Before the late
war, a top-sail vessel was seldom ever known to pass through
Hell-Gates; but since the commencement of it, fleets of transports,
with frigates for their convoy, have frequently ventured and
accomplished it; the Niger, indeed, a very fine frigate of thirty-two
guns, generally struck on some hidden rock, every time she attempted
this passage. But what is still more extraordinary, that daring
veteran, Sir James Wallace, to the astonishment of every person who
ever saw or heard of it, carried his Majesty's ship, the Experiment,
of fifty guns, safe through Hell-Gates, from the east end of the Sound
to New York; when the French fleet under D'Estaing lay off Sandy Hook,
and blocked up the harbor and city of New York, some ships of the line
being also sent by D'Estaing round the east end of Long Island to
cruise in the Sound for the same purpose, so that the Experiment must
inevitably have fallen into their hands, had it not been for this bold
and successful attempt of her gallant commander." The other spot was
Hempstead Plains, which presented the "singular phenomenon," for
America, of having no trees.]
Vastly changed to-day is all this region, which was now to be
disturbed by the din and havoc of war. Its picturesqueness long since
disappeared. Upon Manhattan Island, the city's push "uptown"-ward has
been like the cut of a drawing knife, a remorseless process of
levelling and "filling-in." Forty times in population and twenty in
area has it expanded beyond the growth of 1776. Brooklyn is a new
creation. Would its phlegmatic denizen of colonial times recognize the
site of his farms or his mills? Even the good Whig ferryman, Waldron,
might be at a loss to make out his bearings, for the green banks of
the East River have vanished, and its points become confused. The
extent of its contraction he could learn from the builders of the
bridge, who have set the New York pier eight hundred feet out from the
high-water mark of 1776, and the Brooklyn pier two hundred or more,
narrowing the stream at that point to a strait of but sixteen hundred
feet in width.
* * * * *
The first active steps looking to the occupation of New York were
taken by the Americans early in January of this year. Reports had
reached Washington's headquarters that the British were fitting out
an expedition by sea, whose destination was kept a profound secret. In
Boston, rumors were afloat that it was bound for Halifax or Rhode
Island. In reality it was the expedition with which Sir Henry Clinton
was to sail to North Carolina, and there meet Cornwallis, from
England, to carry out the southern diversion. Ignorant of the British
plans, and suspecting that Clinton might suddenly appear at New York,
Washington on the 4th of January called the attention of Congress to
the movement, and suggested that it would be "consistent with
prudence" to have some New Jersey troops thrown into the city to
prevent the "almost irremediable" evil which would follow its
occupation by the enemy. Two days later, General Charles Lee, holding
rank in the American army next to Washington, pressed a plan of his
own, to the effect that he be sent himself by the commander-in-chief
to secure New York, and that the troops for the purpose (there being
none to spare from the force around Boston) be hastily raised in
Connecticut. This was approved at headquarters, and on the 8th inst.
Lee received instructions as follows:
"Having undoubted intelligence of the fitting out of a fleet
at Boston, and of the embarkation of troops from thence,
which, from the season of the year and other circumstances,
must be destined for a southern expedition; and having such
information as I can rely on, that the inhabitants, or a
great part of them, on Long Island in the colony of New
York, are not only inimical to the rights and liberties of
America, but by their conduct and public professions have
discovered a disposition to aid and assist in the reduction
of that colony to ministerial tyranny; and as it is a matter
of the utmost importance to prevent the enemy from taking
possession of the City of New York and the North River, as
they will thereby command the country, and the communication
with Canada--it is of too much consequence to hazard such a
post at so alarming a crisis....
"You will therefore, with such volunteers as are willing to
join you, and can be expeditiously raised, repair to the
City of New York, and calling upon the commanding officer of
the forces of New Jersey for such assistance as he can
afford, and you shall require, you are to put that city into
the best posture of defence which the season and
circumstances will admit, disarming all such persons upon
Long Island and elsewhere (and if necessary otherwise
securing them), whose conduct and declarations have rendered
them justly suspected of designs unfriendly to the views of
Congress.... I am persuaded I need not recommend dispatch in
the prosecution of this business. The importance of it alone
is a sufficient incitement."[19]
[Footnote 19: Washington had some misgivings as to his authority to
assume military control of New York, and he sought the advice of John
Adams, who was then at Watertown. The latter replied without
hesitation that under his commission as commander-in-chief he had full
authority. To President Hancock, Washington wrote: "I hope the
Congress will approve of my conduct in sending General Lee upon this
expedition. I am sure I mean it well, as experience teaches us that it
is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves, than it is
to dislodge them after they have got possession."]
Washington wrote at the same time to Governor Trumbull, of
Connecticut, Colonel Lord Stirling, of New Jersey, and the New York
Committee of Safety, urging them to give Gen. Lee all the assistance
in their power.
Lee, who had been an officer in the British army, serving at one time
under Burgoyne in Portugal, had already established a reputation for
himself in Washington's camp as a military authority, and enjoyed the
full confidence of the commander-in-chief, despite certain
eccentricities of manner and an over-confidence in his own judgment
and experience. The defects and weaknesses of his character, which
eventually brought him into disgrace as a soldier, were not as yet
displayed or understood. At the present time he was eager to be of
essential service to the colonies, and he entered into the New York
project with spirit. In Connecticut the governor promptly seconded his
efforts, by calling out two regiments of volunteers to serve for six
weeks under the general, and appointed Colonels David Waterbury, of
Stamford, and Andrew Ward, of Guilford, to their command. By the 20th,
Lee found himself ready to proceed; but while on his way, near
Stamford, he received a communication from the Committee of Safety at
New York, representing that the rumors of his coming had created great
alarm in the city, and earnestly requesting him to halt his troops on
the Connecticut border, until his object were better known to the
committee. Here was something of a dilemma, and it may be asked how it
should have arisen. Why, indeed, was it necessary to organize a force
outside of New York to secure it? Was not this the time for the city
to prepare for her defence, and welcome assistance from whatever
quarter offered? The answer is to be found in the exceptional
political temperament of New York at this time. Her population
contained a large and powerful loyalist element, which hoped, with the
assistance of the three or four British men-of-war then in the harbor,
to be able to give the place, at the proper moment, into the hands of
the king's troops. Only a short time before, Governor Tryon had
informed Howe that it only needed the presence of a small force to
secure it, and develop a strong loyal support among the inhabitants of
both the city and colony. The patriotic party had abated none of its
zeal, but it recognized the danger of precipitating matters, and
accordingly pursued what appeared to colonists elsewhere to be a
temporizing and timid policy, but which proved the wisest course in
the end. The city was at the mercy of the men-of-war. Any attempt to
seize it could be answered with a bombardment. The situation required
prudent management; above all, it required delay on the part of the
Americans until they were ready for a decisive step. That the
Committee of Safety was thoroughly true to the country, no one can
doubt a moment after reading their daily proceedings. In their letter
to Lee they say: "This committee and the Congress whose place we fill
in their recess, are, we flatter ourselves, as unanimously zealous in
the cause of America as any representative body on the continent: so
truly zealous, that both the one and the other will cheerfully devote
this city to sacrifice for advancing that great and important cause."
But knowing the state of affairs in their midst better than others,
they urged caution instead of haste in bringing the war to New York.
In this case, they informed Lee that no works had been erected in the
city, that they had but little powder, that they were sending out
ships for more without molestation from the men-of-war, their object
being kept secret, and that a general alarm then in the dead of
winter, driving women and children into the country, would work great
distress. "For these reasons," continue the committee, "we conceive
that a just regard to the public cause, and our duty to take a prudent
care of this city, dictate the impropriety of provoking hostilities at
present, and the necessity of saving appearances with the ships of war
till at least the month of March. Though we have been unfortunate in
our disappointments with respect to some of our adventures, yet be
assured, sir, we have not been idle. Our intrenching tools are almost
completed to a sufficient number; we are forming a magazine of
provisions for five thousand men for a month in a place of safety, and
at a convenient distance from this city; we have provided ourselves
with six good brass field-pieces; have directed carriages to be made
for our other artillery, and are raising a company of artillery for
the defence of the colony on the Continental establishment. These
things, when accomplished, with other smaller matters, and with the
arrival of some gunpowder, the prospect of which is not unpromising,
will enable us to face our enemies with some countenance." Lee, with
due consideration, replied to the committee that he should comply with
their request about the troops, and do nothing that could endanger the
city.
It was not until the 4th of February that the general entered New
York. On the same day Clinton arrived in the harbor from Boston, with
his southern expedition, but only to make a brief stay. The coming of
these officers threw the city into great excitement. Many of the
inhabitants expected an immediate collision, and began to leave the
place. One Garish Harsin, writing from New York to William Radclift at
Rhyn Beck, sums up in a single sentence the effect of the harbor
news:[20] "It is impossible to describe the confusion the place was in
on account of the regulars being come." And when rumors magnified
Clinton's two or three transports into a British fleet of nineteen
sail, Harsin informs his friend that the people were taking themselves
out of town "as if it were the Last Day." Pastor Shewkirk, of the
Moravian Church, in his interesting diary[21] of passing events, tells
us that "the inhabitants began now to move away in a surprising
manner," and that "the whole aspect of things grew frightful, and
increased so from day to day." To add to the discomfort and suffering
of the people, the weather was very cold, and the rivers full of ice.
[Footnote 20: "New York in the Revolution." Published by the New York
Mercantile Library Association.]
[Footnote 21: Part II., Document 37.]
The Committee of Safety, in their anxiety as to the effect of Lee's
occupation of the city, had already written to the Continental
Congress on the subject, and that body at once sent up a committee,
consisting of Messrs. Harrison, Lynch, and Allen, to advise with Lee
and the New York Committee. The latter accepted the situation,
consented to the entry of the troops into town, and at a conference
with Lee and the Congress Committee on the 6th, agreed to the
immediate prosecution of defensive measures.
Upon his arrival, the general sent his engineer, Captain William
Smith, "an excellent, intelligent, active officer," to survey and
report upon the salient points of the position, especially around Hell
Gate and on Long Island. Lee and Stirling also went over the ground
several times. As a result of these inspections, the general became
convinced that to attempt a complete defence of the city would be
impracticable, because the ample sea-room afforded by the harbor and
rivers gave the enemy every advantage, enabling them, with their
powerful fleet, to threaten an attack in front and flank. Lee saw this
at once, and reported his views to Washington, February 19th. "What to
do with the city," he wrote, "I own, puzzles me. It is so encircled
with deep navigable waters, that whoever commands the sea must command
the town;" and to the New York Committee he said that it would be
impossible to make the place absolutely secure. In view of this, he
proposed to construct a system of defences that should have an
alternative object, namely, that in case they should prove inadequate
for the city's protection, they should at least be sufficient to
prevent the enemy from securing a permanent foothold in it.
Under this plan, the line of the East River required the principal
attention, as here it seemed possible to offer the best resistance to
British attempts upon the city. First, to cut off the enemy's
communication between the Sound and the river, it was proposed to
blockade the passage at Hell Gate by a fort on Horn's Hook, at the
foot of East Eighty-eighth Street, as well as by works opposite, on
the present Hallet's Point. A further object of these forts was to
secure safe transit between Long Island and New York. In the next
place, batteries were planned for both sides of the river at its
entrance into the harbor, where the city was chiefly exposed. On the
New York side, a battery was located at the foot of Catherine Street
at the intersection of Cherry, and where the river was narrowest. This
was called Waterbury's Battery. To cover its fire a stronger work was
ordered to be built on Rutgers' "first hill," just above, which was
named Badlam's Redoubt, after Captain Badlam, then acting as Lee's
chief artillery officer. Lower down a battery was sunk in a cellar on
Ten Eyck's wharf, Coenties Slip, a short distance below Wall Street,
and called Coenties Battery. These three, with part of the Grand
Battery and Fort George, included all the works planned by Lee to
guard the East River from the New York side.
In connection with these, works were laid out on the bank opposite on
Long Island, the importance of which was apparent. Not only was the
site well adapted for guns to sweep the channel and prevent the
enemy's ships from remaining in the river long enough to do the city
serious damage, but it also commanded the city, so as to make it
untenable by the British should they succeed in occupying it. This
bluff, "Columbia Heights," was in fact the key to the entire
situation. Lee considered its possession and security of "greater
importance" than New York; and to hold it he proposed establishing
there an intrenched camp[22] for three or four thousand men,
fortified by "a chain of redoubts mutually supporting each other." Of
these redoubts, one was located on the edge of the bluff opposite the
Coenties Battery, and stood on the line of Columbia Street, at about
the foot of the present Clark Street. This came to be known as Fort
Stirling. In its rear, near the corner of Henry and Pierrepont
streets, it was proposed to erect a large citadel; but this, although
begun, was never completed.[23] Lee's scheme of defence did not
include the fortifying of either Red Hook or Governor's Island.
[Footnote 22: Lee wrote to Washington, February 19th: "I wait for some
more force to prepare a post or retrenched encampment on Long Island,
opposite to the city, for 3000 men. This is, I think, a capital
object; for, should the enemy take possession of New York, when Long
Island is in our hands, they will find it almost impossible to
subsist."]
[Footnote 23: The location and strength of Fort Stirling, the citadel,
and the other works on Long Island, are noted more in detail further
along in this chapter.]
The East River thus provided for, attention was paid to the city and
the North River side. Lee examined Fort George and the Grand Battery,
but gave it as his opinion that neither of them could be held under
the concentrated fire of large ships. He advised, accordingly, that
the northern face of the fort be torn down, and a traverse built
across Broadway above it at the Bowling Green, from which the interior
of the work could be raked, should the enemy attempt to land and hold
it. As the North River was "so extremely wide and deep," the general
regarded the obstruction of its passage to the ships as out of the
question. Batteries, however, could be erected at various points along
the west side where it rose to a ridge, and the power of the ships to
injure the town very considerably diminished. All the streets leading
up from the water were ordered to be barricaded to prevent the enemy
from coming up on the flanks; forts were to be erected on Jones',
Bayard's, and Lispenard's hills, north of the town, covering the
approach by land from that direction; the roads obstructed to
artillery; and redoubts, redans, and flêches thrown up at defensible
points throughout the entire island, as far as King's Bridge.[24] "I
must observe," said Lee to the Committee of Safety, "that New York,
from its circumstances, can with difficulty be made a regular tenable
fortification; but it may be made a most advantageous field of
battle--so advantageous, indeed, that, if our people behave with
common spirit, and the commanders are men of discretion, it must cost
the enemy many thousands of men to get possession of it."
[Footnote 24: "_Feb. 23d, 1776._--... General Lee is taking every
necessary step to fortify and defend this city. The men-of-war are
gone out of our harbor; the Phoenix is at the Hook; the Asia lays
near Beedlow's Island; so that we are now in a state of perfect peace
and security, was it not for our apprehensions of future danger. To
see the vast number of houses shut up, one would think the city almost
evacuated. Women and children are scarcely to be seen in the streets.
Troops are daily coming in; they break open and quarter themselves in
any houses they find shut up. Necessity knows no law."--_Letter from
F. Rhinelander. "Life of Peter Van Schaack._"]
To construct these extensive works Lee could muster, two weeks after
his arrival, but seventeen hundred men. Waterbury's Connecticut
regiment was first on the ground; the First New Jersey Continentals,
as yet incomplete, under Colonel the Earl of Stirling, soon followed;
and from Westchester County, New York, came two hundred minute-men
under Colonel Samuel Drake. Dutchess County sent down Colonels
Swartwout and Van Ness with about three hundred more; and on the 24th
Colonel Ward arrived with his Connecticut regiment, six hundred
strong, which had rendezvoused at Fairfield. Stirling's regiment was
quartered principally in the lower barracks at the Battery;
Waterbury's at the upper, on the site of the new Court House; Ward's
was sent to Long Island; and Drake's minute-men were posted at Horn's
Hook, opposite Hell Gate, where they began work on the first battery
marked out for the defence of New York City during the Revolution.
[Illustration: [signature: John Lasher]
COLONEL FIRST NEW YORK CITY BATTALION 1775-1776.
Steel Engr. F. von Egloffstein N.Y.]
But Lee's stay at this point was to be brief. The Continental Congress
appointed him to the command of the newly created Department of the
South, and on the 7th of March he left New York in charge of Lord
Stirling, who, a month before, had been promoted by Congress to the
rank of brigadier-general. This officer's energy was conspicuous. His
predecessor had already found him "a great acquisition," and he pushed
on the defences of the city as rapidly as his resources would permit.
The force under his immediate command, according to the returns of the
13th, amounted to a total of two thousand four hundred and twenty-two
officers and men,[25] besides the city independent companies under
Colonels John Lasher and William Heyer, and local militia,[26] who
swelled the number to about four thousand. On the 14th, Washington
wrote to Stirling that the enemy appeared to be on the point of
evacuating Boston, and that it was more than probable they would sail
southward. "I am of opinion," he wrote, "that New York is their place
of destination. It is an object worthy of their attention, and it is
the place that we must use every endeavor to keep from them. For,
should they get that town, and the command of the North River, they
can stop the intercourse between the Northern and Southern
colonies, upon which depends the safety of America. My feelings upon
this subject are so strong, that I would not wish to give the enemy a
chance of succeeding at your place.... The plan of defence formed by
General Lee is, from what little I know of the place, a very judicious
one. I hope, nay, I dare say, it is carrying into execution with
spirit and industry. You may judge of the enemy's keeping so long
possession of the town of Boston against an army superior in numbers,
and animated with the noble spirit of liberty; I say, you may judge by
that how much easier it is to keep an enemy from forming a lodgment in
a place, than it will be to dispossess them when they get themselves
fortified." Stirling immediately sent urgent appeals for troops in
every direction. He ordered over the Third New Jersey Continental
Regiment under Colonel Dayton, and wrote for three hundred picked men
from each of the six nearest counties of that State. Ward's and
Waterbury's regiments, which were impatient to return home to attend
to their spring farming, were many of them induced to remain two weeks
beyond their term of enlistment until Governor Trumbull could supply
their places with troops under Colonels Silliman and Talcott. Congress
also ordered forward five or six Pennsylvania regiments. Meanwhile the
New York Committee of Safety co-operated zealously with the military
authorities.[27] At Stirling's request they voted to call out all the
male inhabitants of the city, black and white, capable of doing
"fatigue duty," to work on the fortifications--the blacks to work
every day, the whites every other day;[28] and the same orders were
conveyed to the committee of King's County, where the inhabitants were
directed to report to Colonel Ward, with spades, hoes and pickaxes. To
troops needing quarters the committee turned over the empty houses in
the city, or those that were "least liable to be injured;" coarse
sheets were ordered for the straw beds in the barracks; the upper
story of the "Bridewell" was converted into a laboratory or armory for
repairing guns and making cartridges; and all necessary details
provided for as far as possible. In case of an alarm, the troops were
to parade immediately at the Battery, in the Common, and in front of
Trinity Church. To annoy expected British men-of-war, the committee
despatched Major William Malcolm, of the Second city battalion, to
dismantle the Sandy Hook Light, which the major effected in a thorough
manner, breaking what glasses he could not move, and carrying off the
oil. On Long Island, a guard of King's County troopers was posted at
the Narrows, and another at Rockaway, to report the approach of ships;
and in the city, cannon were mounted in the batteries as fast as they
were completed. On the 20th, Stirling could report that everybody
turned to "with great spirit and industry," and that the work went on
"amazingly well."
[Footnote 25: Privates present fit for duty: Stirling's regiment, 407;
Waterbury's, 457; Ward's, 489; Drake's, 104; Swartwout's, 186; Van
Ness', 110; Captain Ledyard's company, N.Y., 64.]
[Footnote 26: In the chapter on "The Two Armies," some further account
is given of the troops furnished during the campaign by New York and
the Brooklyn villages.]
[Footnote 27: The committee humored Governor Tryon, however, with a
few civilities as late as April 4th, when they provided his fleet with
"the following articles, viz.: 1300 lbs. beef for the 'Asia'; 1000
lbs. beef for the 'Phoenix,' with 18_s._ worth vegetables; 2 qrs.
beef, 1 doz. dishes, 2 doz. plates, 1 doz. spoons, 2 mugs, 2 barrels
ale, for the packet; 6 barrels of beer, 2 quarters of beef for the
governor's ship, 'Duchess of Gordon.'"--_Journal of the Provincial
Congress._]
[Footnote 28: Stirling's orders, March 13th, 1776: "It is intended to
employ one half of the inhabitants every other day, changing, at the
works for the defence of this city; and the whole of the slaves every
day, until this place is put in a proper posture of defence. The Town
Major is immediately to disperse these orders."--_Force_, 4th series,
vol. v., p. 219.
The citizens were divided off into reliefs or "beats." In the "N.Y.
Hist. Manuscripts," vol. i., p. 267, may be found the "Amount of
officers and Privates of ye 22d Beat at work 17 March"--59 men
under Captain Benj. Egbert. Negroes belonging to the 22d Beat--"Pomp,
Cæsar, Peter, Sam, Jo, Cubitt, Simms, John, Cato," etc., 11 in all.]
On the same date Brigadier-General Thompson, of Pennsylvania, reported
at New York, and held the command until the arrival, a few days later,
of Brigadier-General Heath, of Massachusetts, who in turn was
relieved, April 4th, by Major-General Putnam.
* * * * *
Affairs at Boston now reached a crisis. The siege, which the
provincial troops had so successfully maintained for ten months,
terminated to their own unbounded credit and the secret mortification
of the enemy. On the 17th of March the city was evacuated by the
British, and immediately occupied by the Americans--an event that had
been foreseen and provided for at a council of war held on the 13th,
at General Ward's headquarters in Roxbury. The commander-in-chief
there stated that every indication pointed to an early departure of
the enemy from Boston, with the probability that they were destined
for New York, and he questioned whether it was not advisable to send a
part of the army to that point without delay. The council coincided in
this opinion, and on the following day the rifle regiment under
Lieutenant-Colonel Hand, and the three companies of Virginia riflemen,
under Captain Stephenson, were put on the march southward. These were
followed on the 18th by five regiments under Brigadier-General Heath,
who had been ordered to march by way of Providence, Norwich, New
London, and the Sound. As the enemy's transports lingered around
Boston for several days, no more troops were sent southward until the
29th, when six regiments were ordered on, under Brigadier-General
Sullivan. On the same date Major-General Putnam received orders to
proceed to New York, assume command, and continue the work of
fortifying the city upon the plan adopted by General Lee. On the 1st
of April, Brigadier-General Greene's brigade moved in the same
direction, and was followed in a day or two by General Spencer's. Five
regiments remained at Boston, under Major-General Ward.
Waiting until all the troops were on the march, Washington, on April
4th, himself set out from Cambridge for New York. Crowned with his
first honors as the deliverer of Boston, he was greeted on his route
with respectful admiration and enthusiasm. He had come to New England
comparatively unknown--"a Mr. Washington, of Virginia;" he left it
secure in the affections and pride of its people. Expecting him at
Providence the next day, the 5th, General Greene, who had been delayed
at that place, ordered two regiments of his brigade--Hitchcock's Rhode
Island and Little's Massachusetts--to appear in their best form and
escort the general into the city. The minuteness of Greene's
directions on the occasion furnishes us with the material for a
picture of the personal appearance of the early Continental soldier
when on parade. As preserved among the papers of the Massachusetts
colonel, the order runs as follows:
"_Providence April 4, 1776._--Colo. Hitchcock's and
Colo. Little's regiments are to turn out to-morrow
morning to escort his Excellency into town, to parade at 8
o'clock, both officers & men dressed in uniform, & none to
turn out except those dressed in uniform, & those of the
non-commissioned officers & soldiers that turn out to be
washed, both face & hands, clean, their beards shaved, their
hair combed & powdered, & their arms cleaned. The General
hopes that both officers & soldiers will exert themselves
for the honour of the regiment & brigade to which they
belong. He wishes to pay the honours to the Commander in
Chief in as decent & respectable a manner as possible."[29]
[Footnote 29: MS. Order Book of Colonel Moses Little.]
Governor Cooke, of Rhode Island, was not less attentive, and in
addition to calling out "the several companies of cadets, of
grenadiers, and light infantry" in Providence to meet the
commander-in-chief, he had a house prepared for his reception and the
accommodation of his suite, which, besides his officers, included Lady
Washington and Mr. and Mrs. Custis.[30] Passing on to New London,
where he hurried the embarkation of the troops, Washington kept on
along the shore road, reached New Haven on the 11th, and on the 13th
arrived at the city of New York. Putnam had come ten days earlier.
Owing to insufficient transportation and slow sailing on the Sound, it
was April 24th before the last of the soldiers reported on the ground.
[Footnote 30: R.I. Hist. Coll. Vol. VI.]
* * * * *
The new military base in this vicinity was thus fairly established,
and the commander-in-chief, after personally inspecting the position,
urged on the work of defence. As the regiments on their arrival had
been quartered at haphazard in the city, he first arranged the army
into five brigades, with the view of putting them into suitable and
permanent camps. To the command of these he assigned Heath, Spencer,
Sullivan, Greene, and Stirling, in the order of their rank. The
twenty-five battalions which made up the force at this date numbered
together not quite ten thousand men.
But hardly were the orders for this new arrangement issued before
events required its modification. Our affairs proving to be in a bad
way in the direction of Canada, it became necessary to despatch
General Sullivan with six regiments to the northward, and on the 29th
of April the troops in New York were formed anew into four brigades,
and assigned to their respective camps. Heath's first brigade was
posted on the Hudson, just without the city above the Canal Street
marsh and about Richmond Hill; Spencer's second, on the East River,
around the Rutgers' farm and Jones' Hill; and Stirling's fourth, in
the centre, near Bayard's Hill and the Bowery Road; while Greene's
third brigade was assigned to "the ground marked out upon Long
Island." But one work now lay before these soldiers, namely, to put
New York and its vicinity in a complete state of defence in the
shortest possible time. Howe and his Boston army, it was now known,
had gone to Halifax instead of sailing for New York; but he could
still reach, and, with reinforcements from England, attack the city
before the Americans were ready to receive him. The situation,
accordingly, admitted of no delays, and digging was made the order of
the day. No one could have anticipated, however, that preparations
were to be continued full four months longer before active campaigning
opened.
This interval of fortifying is not without its interest; and we may
cross, first, with Greene to Long Island, to note what further was
done towards securing that "capital" point in the general system of
defence.
* * * * *
From the orders of April 24th and 25th it would appear that it was
Washington's original intention to give the Brooklyn command, not to
Greene, but to Sullivan. The latter was assigned to the Third Brigade
before going to Canada, and on the 25th the encampment of this brigade
was ordered to be marked out "upon Long Island." The fact that
Sullivan was senior to Greene in rank, and was entitled, as between
the two, to the honor and responsibility of the separate command, was
doubtless the ground of his assignment in this case. But a greater
responsibility was reserved for Sullivan in Canada, and Greene was
sent to Long Island. Owing to bad weather, it was the 3d or 4th of
May before the latter crossed with troops. He took with him his old
brigade, consisting of Colonel Edward Hand's Pennsylvania Riflemen,
his two favorite Rhode Island regiments under Colonels James Mitchell
Varnum and Daniel Hitchcock, and Colonel Moses Little's regiment from
Massachusetts. These ranked as the First, Ninth, Eleventh, and Twelfth
of the Continental Establishment, and were as well armed and under as
good discipline as any troops in Washington's army. Hand's regiment,
numbering four hundred and seventy officers and men, was already on
Long Island, having come from Boston in advance of the brigades, and
was engaged in scouting and patrol duty at the Narrows and along the
coast. Varnum's, Hitchcock's, and Little's, having an average strength
of three hundred and eighty each, were the only troops around
Brooklyn.[31] The Long Island militia were not as yet in the field,
and the small company of Brooklyn troopers under Captain Waldron and
Lieutenant Boerum, which had patrolled the coast during the early
spring, do not appear on duty again until late in the season.
[Footnote 31: Ward's, we have seen, was the first regiment stationed
on Long Island. It was there from February 24th until about the end of
March. The _N.Y. Packet_ of February 29th, 1776, says: "Saturday last
Col. Ward's regiment arrived here from Connecticut, and embarked in
boats and landed on Nassau [Long] Island." Lee gave orders that a
Pennsylvania battalion, supposed to be on its way to New York, should
encamp from the Wallabout to Gowanus, but no Pennsylvania troops are
included in Stirling's return, and certainly none were on Long Island
until Hand's riflemen came from Boston. It is probable that Colonel
Chas. Webb's Connecticut Continentals relieved Ward, as Captain Hale
writes that it had been there three weeks, sometime before May 20th.
Greene's brigade were the next troops to cross over.]
It now remained for these regiments to go on fortifying the
water-front of this site to keep the ships out of the river, and, in
addition, to secure themselves against an attack by land. What Lee's
plan was in reference to Columbia Heights has already been seen. Here
he proposed to establish a camp with Fort Stirling and the Citadel
among its defences, the former of which had been nearly completed and
the latter begun by Ward's regiment and the inhabitants. In
consequence, however, of a move made by General Putnam soon after his
arrival, it had evidently become necessary to enlarge this plan.
Governor's Island, just off the edge of which were moored the British
men-of-war, had not been occupied by either Lee or Stirling; but it
lay within cannon-shot of the Battery and Columbia Heights, and an
enemy once lodged there could work us mischief. General Putnam noticed
its position, and he had not been here three days before he wrote,
April 7th, to the President of Congress: "After getting the works [in
New York] in such forwardness as will be prudent to leave, I propose
immediately to take possession of Governor's Island, which I think a
very important post. Should the enemy arrive here, and get post there,
it will not be possible to save the city, nor could we dislodge them
without great loss."[32] On the very next night he carried out his
proposal, as appears from the following account of the manoeuvre
preserved among the papers of Colonel G. Selleck Silliman, of
Fairfield, Connecticut, who had recently come down to relieve the
troops under Ward and Waterbury:
[Footnote 32: _Force_, Fourth Series, vol. v., p. 811.]
"_Tuesday Morning, 9th April._--Last Evening Draughts were made from a
Number of Regiments here, mine among the Rest, to the Amount of 1,000
Men. With these and a proper Number of Officers Genl Putnam at
Candle lighting embarked on Board of a Number of Vessels with a large
Number of intrenching Tools and went directly on the Island a little
below the City called Nutten [Governor's] Island where they have been
intrenching all Night and are now at work, and have got a good Breast
Work there raised which will cover them from the fire of the Ships;
and it is directly in the Way of the Ship coming up to the Town. The
Asia has fallen down out of Gun Shot from this Place and it deprives
the Ships of the only Watering Place they have here without going down
toward the Hook."[33] There was something of the Bunker Hill flavor
about this move, and it was Prescott's Bunker Hill regiment that was
first stationed[34] on the Island, which subsequently became one of
the strongest posts of the position. At the same time another party
occupied Red Hook,[35] on Long Island, which commanded the channel
between the Hook and Governor's Island.
[Footnote 33: MS. letter from Colonel Silliman to his wife, in
possession of Mrs. O.P. Hubbard, New York City.]
[Footnote 34: General Orders, April 16th, 1776: ... "Colonel
Prescott's Regiment is to encamp on Governour's Island as soon as the
weather clears. They are to give every assistance in their power to
the works erecting thereon."...]
[Footnote 35: "Monday night 1000 Continental troops stationed here
went over and took possession of Governor's Island and began to
fortify it; the same night a regiment went over to Red Hook and
fortified that place likewise." _New York Packet, April 11, 1776._]
The occupation by Putnam of these two points, which was clearly
necessary for a more effective defence of the East River, required, or
at least resulted in, the modification of Lee's plan, and the adoption
of a new line on Long Island. It was now decided to hold the Brooklyn
peninsula with a chain of works thrown up across the neck from
Wallabout Bay to the Gowanus Marsh; and it was in this vicinity that
the encampment for Greene's brigade was marked out by Mifflin, the
quartermaster-general, and afterwards approved by Washington.[36] By
the fortunate recovery of the daily orders issued by General Greene on
Long Island, and also of original sketches of the site, it has become
possible to fix the location of this line and the names of the works
with almost entire accuracy.
[Footnote 36: General Orders, April 25th, 1776: "The encampment of the
Third Brigade to be marked out in like manner, upon Long Island, on
Saturday morning. The chief engineers, with the quartermasters, etc.,
from each regiment, to assist the quartermaster-general in that
service. As soon as the general has approved of the encampments marked
out, the troops will be ordered to encamp...."]
To defend the approach between the bay and marsh, the engineers laid
out three principal forts and two redoubts, with breastworks
connecting them. The site occupied was a favorable one. On the left
rose the high ground, now known as Fort Greene Place or Washington
Park, one hundred feet above the sea-level; and on the right, between
the main road and the marsh, were lower elevations on lands then owned
by Rutgert Van Brunt and Johannes Debevoise. The flanks were thus well
adapted for defence, and they were near enough each other to command
the ground between them. Two of the works were erected on the right of
the road, and received the names of Fort Greene and Fort Box; three
were on the left, and were known as the Oblong Redoubt, Fort Putnam,
and the redoubt "on its left." In view of the fact that local
historians heretofore have put but three fortifications on this line,
where, it is now well established, there were five, a more particular
description of them becomes necessary. Extending from right to left,
they were laid out as follows:[37]
[Footnote 37: Consult map accompanying this work, entitled "Plan of
the Battle of Long Island, and of the Brooklyn Defences in 1776;" also
the note in regard to it under the title "Maps," in Part II.]
FORT BOX.--It has been supposed that the fort by this name occupied an
independent site south-west of the main line, with the object of
defending Gowanus Creek where it was crossed by a mill-dam. That it
stood, however, on the right of the line is beyond question. Thus the
letter of a spectator of the battle[38] says: "Our lines fronted the
east. On the left, near the lowest part of the above-described bay
[Wallabout], was Fort Putnam, near the middle Fort Greene, and towards
the creek Fort Box." In his order of June 1st, General Greene directs
five companies to take post "upon the right in Fort Box;" and on
August 16th a fatigue party is detailed "to form the necessary lines
from Fort Box to Fort Putnam," clearly indicating that the two were on
the same continuous line. To confirm the correctness of this locality,
we have the fort and its name distinctly indicated on the outline map
sketched by President Stiles, of Yale College, in his Diary of
Revolutionary Events. By reference to the fac-simile of the sketch
here presented, it will be seen that although there are errors in the
drawing, the relative position of the principal works is preserved,
and the site of Fort Box finally determined. It stands nearest Gowanus
Creek, and on the right of the other forts. The work appears to have
been of a diamond shape, and was situated on or near the line of
Pacific Street, a short distance above Bond.[39]
[Footnote 38: "Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society," vol.
ii., p. 494. "Battle of Long Island." By Thomas W. Field.]
[Footnote 39: As the British demolished all the Brooklyn works very
soon after their capture, it would be difficult to fix the exact site
of some of them, but for data which have been preserved. That they
were destroyed is certain. Baurmeister, the Hessian major, states that
Howe directed the Hessian division to level the "Brocklands-Leinen,"
but recalled the order when General De Heister represented that "this
could not be done by soldiers without compensation, especially as it
would be the work of four weeks." According to tradition, the
inhabitants levelled them by Howe's orders. General Robertson
testified in 1779 that "there were no vestiges of the lines soon after
they were taken." Cornwallis on the same occasion said that, being
detached to Newtown after the battle, he had "no opportunity of going
to Brooklyn till the lines were nearly demolished." But with the
assistance of Lieutenant Ratzer's accurate topographical map of New
York and Brooklyn of 1766-7, the Hessian map published in vol. ii. of
the Society's _Memoirs_, the plan of the lines thrown up in the 1812
war, and other documents, the forts of 1776 can readily be located.
Ratzer's map shows all the elevations where works would naturally be
put; and the Hessian map, which is a reduction of Ratzer's, adds the
works. The accuracy of the latter, which heretofore could not be
proved, is now established by the fact that the position of the forts
corresponds to the location assigned them relatively in Greene's
orders. There can be little doubt that this map was made from actual
surveys soon after the battle, and that the shape as well as the site
of the works and lines is preserved in it. Another guide is the 1812
line as marked out by Lieutenant Gadsden, of the Engineer Corps. A
copy of the original plan of this line, furnished by the War
Department, shows a close correspondence with the Hessian draft. The
same points are fortified in each case. Fort "Fireman" of 1812
occupies the site, or very nearly the site, of Fort Box; Fort
"Masonic," that of Fort Greene; Redoubt "Cummings," that of the Oblong
Redoubt; and "Fort Greene," that of Fort Putnam. The site of the
"redoubt on the left" was inclosed, in 1812, in the outer intrenchment
which was carried around the brow of the hill. Although the British
obliterated all marks of the Brooklyn defences of 1776, we thus find
nature and the records enabling us to re-establish them to-day.]
[Illustration: SKETCH OF THE BROOKLYN WORKS IN 1776.
FACSIMILE FROM THE STILES DIARY
Yale College Library.
_"From one who was stationed at Red Hook all last Summer together with
a Map of the ground, I learn our Fortifications there were as I here
draw them out on the Peninsula around Brooklyn Church." Dr. Stiles,
March 21, 1777._
_J. Bien Photo. Lith. N.Y._]