In the _Post_ of Feb. 10th, an editorial on the battle of Harlem
Heights interested me extremely, as the locality is there described
as though there existed no longer a doubt as to the exact place where
the battle was fought. I am aware that this view is held by many, but
beyond the fact that the present site of Columbia University must
necessarily be nearer the locality where the battle was fought, it has
no greater claim, I believe, to that honor than has Union Square, or
any other locality. I have given no thought to the subject for many
years and I am writing away from home, without a book of reference, but
fortunately I have retained a recollection of the details. I am not
actuated by a spirit of controversy in raising this issue, nor do I
intend to take any further part in discussion. I simply wish to offer a
protest, in consequence of my knowledge that the history of our country
is being constantly perverted and misstated.
There exists no question that the battle of Harlem was fought, either
to the north or the south of the western portion of Harlem flats; that
the Americans occupied certain heights; and that the assault of the
English was made by one body and that the larger portion, from the
plain below along these heights; at the same time a smaller body gained
the top of these heights by ascending a ravine from the Hudson river
bank at some distance from the main line of attack. The whole question
then relates to the locality of Harlem Heights, and at this late date,
in the absence of positive proof, the locality must either continue to
remain in doubt, or must be decided by circumstantial evidence, which
is often the most reliable. Before presenting the evidence on which I
propose to base my argument it will be necessary to make a digression.
Grant’s tomb occupies the site of Mt. Alto, the country place of my
uncle, the late Mr. Bache McEvers, with whom for many years I spent
a portion of every summer. As a boy I became as familiar with every
foot of this neighborhood as I am now with the sidewalk in front
of my Madison Avenue city residence, where I have lived for nearly
fifty years. I generally accompanied my uncle when he took his Sunday
afternoon walks and through his knowledge I became familiar with the
history and traditions of this neighborhood, and of Westchester. On one
occasion, during the summer, I think of 1838, I had pointed out to me
the site of the battle of Harlem Heights, with the ravine on the North
river, or west side, where a portion of the British troops came up to
make the attack, and beyond that the road on Breakneck Hill, to the
east side, down which the English were driven after being routed. The
surrounding country was then under cultivation and divided up in small
fields with scarcely any trees standing, but along the river bank and
on the brow of the heights to the eastward. This locality and ravine
was near the site and possibly forms a portion of the present Trinity
Cemetery. I was also told that the main part of the battle was fought
below, to the south, and I went over the ground about the locality of
the present Convent of the Sacred Heart, which neighborhood was too
hilly to be termed “a rolling country.” From my earliest knowledge in
connection with this battle until recent years, no doubt seems to have
existed as to where the battle was fought and the accepted belief
was the fight took place on the ground I have described. The fact
that the attack was made at distant points and covered quite an area
would explain, I should think, the difficulty and the vague manner
in which the battle is described or located by those who possessed a
contemporaneous knowledge of the locality of the Harlem Heights.
Along the south side of Harlem Commons or Flats, there extended a
precipitous ridge of rock and débris, from the Hudson river at Grant’s
tomb to the East river at Hell gate. At the time of the Revolution
the chief exit from the city of New York to the north, was by way of
McGowan’s Pass, and in addition there were several footpaths to reach
the plain below. I have always heard that the Bloomingdale road was not
extended along the hill by Grant’s tomb and Claremount to the valley
below until many years after the Revolution, and there was only a
private road in addition to the one by McGowan’s Pass, which crossed
this line about the course of the present Third Avenue. When I was a
boy there were two or three footpaths to the west of McGowan’s Pass,
and at no other place was the descent possible save to a goat, or an
active boy. Across the Bloomingdale road in front of my uncle’s gate
and along the top of the hill, there was at that time the remains of
the British line of earthworks, which originally extended along the
crest of this ridge across the island to the East river. The trench
was about two feet deep at that time and I have frequently followed
without difficulty the line well on to McGowan’s Pass. In the war of
1812 this line was fortified for the protection of the city by a series
of blockhouses, one of which still stands. I believe the remains of
the British line of earthworks was undisturbed until the opening of
the streets. McGowan’s Pass was formerly considered as forming part
of the Yorkville Heights, and no part of this line, to the south of
the Harlem Commons, was ever termed Harlem Heights until within recent
years. If the portion of these heights nearest Harlem was always called
the Yorkville Heights, it is inexplicable why the most distant portion
of the line should be in any way associated by name with Harlem. On
the other hand I have often heard the heights on the south side of
the Harlem river termed Harlem Heights, and these extend westward to
the Hudson river bank. The settlement at Harlem with its Commons, or
land in common, and the one at Yorkville represented two distinct
interests, and for one familiar with the circumstances it is difficult
to understand how any confusion, from accident, should exist between
Harlem and Yorkville Heights.
That section of the island to the north of the Harlem Commons, between
the Hudson river and the Boston road, which passed from McGowan’s Pass
to King’s Bridge, and from the northern end of the island to the Point
of Rocks to the south, then situated below the present site of the
convent, included the fortress of Fort Washington and its outworks.
I had at one time in my possession the draft of a letter written by
Mr. George Pollock, a linen merchant of New York, and the father of
the child whose grave is near the Grant tomb. In this letter Pollock
states he purchased after the Revolution a tract of land and cleared
off the primitive forest which still covered this portion of Manhattan
Island, and it is not likely therefore that the buckwheat field existed
in this neighborhood in which it is claimed a part of the battle of
Harlem was fought. Mr. Pollock built here a house, where he lived for
a number of years, until the death of his wife and the loss of his
child from drowning. He then sold the place to Gulian Verplanck, of
Verplanck’s Point. My uncle leased for many years this place from his
cousin, Gulian C. Verplanck, the Shakespearean scholar, and the son of
him who purchased it from Pollock. All this portion of the island, west
of McGowan’s Pass along the river bank to about 65th or 70th street,
was heavily timbered until after the Revolution. To the existence of
this timbered section the portion of the American army left in New York
after the battle and evacuation of Long Island, owed its escape, for
the retreat was made in disorder and the troops were in a demoralized
condition. The sudden flight of the army from the city was rendered
necessary by the English landing in force at Kipp’s Bay, just above the
present Bellevue Hospital, where they met with little resistance from
the portion of the Connecticut troops, and some other colony, I do not
recollect, which were placed there to oppose the landing.
This occasion is adduced as one of the few instances where Washington
lost his temper and swore as an expert in his effort to avert the
flight of his troops, who were demoralized from fatigue, loss of sleep,
with probably insufficient food and discouraged after the defeat at
Long Island. The day was an excessively hot one, and Mrs. Robert
Murray, of Murray Hill, whose husband was a Tory, but she in sympathy
with the American cause, invited the British officers to rest during
the heat of the day in her house. She exerted herself to such an extent
to make them comfortable, that just time enough, and no more, was
gained for the retreat of the American army past this point, along the
wooded banks of the Hudson river. The English were so close in pursuit
that Washington, in the rear with a portion of his staff, passed in the
neighborhood of 70th street, through the hall of the old Apthorp House
to the woods in the rear, under the guidance of Col. Aaron Burr, as
those in pursuit entered the front gate. From a military standpoint it
is clear that these troops must necessarily have made their way in the
most expeditious manner to McGowan’s Pass and across the Harlem flats
to gain protection within their own lines below Fort Washington, and
that no halt was likely made unless to hold McGowan’s Pass for a short
time to protect the rear end stragglers. And yet a memorial tablet,
I am informed, has been placed on one of the buildings of Columbia
University to commemorate the halt of these troops along the brow of
a continuous declivity, from fifty to one hundred feet in height, as
it was at that time; there to await the attack of a victorious and
superior force, after all possibility of retreat as a body was cut off,
and with a certainty that these troops were without a commissariat! If
it were possible to assign any rational reason or purpose, under the
circumstances why the American troops should hold any portion of this
untenable line, it is certain that no body of troops, under the most
perfect state of discipline, would have risked the fortune of a battle
in this place, without artillery and with a precipice in their rear.
There is no evidence that additional troops were landed on Harlem flats
from either the Hudson or the East river, and it would be absurd to
suppose that the English deserted an advantageous position in front
of the American forces, in order to go by McGowan’s Pass to the plain
below with the purpose of making an attack by attempting to scale an
almost inaccessible height! An attack by the ravine near this point as
claimed, I know from my own knowledge of the locality would have been
impossible, unless the troops to make the attack were landed at the
ravine from boats. They could not have passed, before the railroad was
built, along this shore for any distance on either side of the ravine.
When I was a boy this point was a noted place for fishing, as the water
was deep, with a steep bank, so that it was difficult for anyone to
pass except at low tide and the passage was then further obstructed by
a number of boulders or rocks.
I have never seen the diary of Lieut. Sam. Richards, of a Connecticut
regiment, from which you quote, but the Point of Rocks in front of the
convent was then held by a Connecticut brigade, under Gen. Parsons,
if my memory serves me, and a portion of this brigade we have stated
was at Kipp’s Bay, where the English landed. It would then seem that
this portion of the army from New York had followed the course which,
I claim, the whole army must have followed by retreating within their
own lines, to the north of Harlem Commons.
The following portion of Lieut. Richards’s diary, as quoted by you,
will I think show that the attack on the American line of entrenchments
was to the north of the Harlem flats, and by the ravine near Trinity
Cemetery, as stated:—“We then marched [from what point?] and took
possession of the Heights of Harlem and immediately flung up lines for
our defence.... We were employed the succeeding night in throwing up a
slight entrenchment on the brow of the hill at Harlem Heights in full
expectation of being attacked by the enemy in the morning. When the sun
arose I saw the enemy in the plain below us, at the distance of about a
mile, forming in a line. By account afterwards, their number was said
to exceed twenty thousand, and they indeed made a brilliant display
by the reflection of the sun’s rays on their arms. The sharp action
which took place that day under Col. Knowlton is so well detailed by
the historian I need not repeat it. The enemy sent a detachment of
about five thousand along the bank of the North river, which our people
attacked with spirit and about in equal numbers and drove them back
to their main body.... The next day I had a mournful duty assigned to
me—the command of a covering party over the fatigue men who buried the
dead which had fallen in the action the previous day. I placed myself
and party on a small eminence so as to see the men at their work, and
to discover the enemy should they approach to interrupt them.” If the
battle was fought above on the “University Heights,” it might be asked
on what _small eminence_ did Lieut. Richards take his position, and by
what route did his men reach the plain below to bury the dead?
To the south and southeast of the high land on which Fort Washington
was situated, there were a number of step-like hills, with more or less
of a level or plateau space between them, and these extended around
towards the Harlem river. I recollect distinctly seeing the remains of
old earthworks at different points, and the line was to the north and
somewhat above the Point of Rocks. In connection with the defense of
the Point of Rocks, the Connecticut troops were entrenched on one of
these eminences, and if Lieut. Richards was with his command he must
first have seen the advance of the enemy in line directly across the
plain at the distance he states and at the foot of McGowan’s Pass. From
the same side as McGowan’s Pass, the view would have been a limited one
with all the timber removed about the foot of the Pass and there is no
portion along the heights, in the neighborhood of the University, from
which the front of the line of the British troops could have been seen
while forming, moreover the distance would have been much less than
that stated by Lieut. Richards.
The main attack was an extended one along the line of entrenchments,
including the Point of Rocks, on what I believe was termed the Harlem
Heights at the time the battle was fought. In consequence of the
extended line and the varied fortune of the day, it has never been
known at what spot Col. Knowlton lost his life. The British troops were
very severely handled and failed to gain a foothold on any of these
eminences, from which they could not have been dislodged and everything
south of the ravine would then have been captured. There exists no
authority for supposing that any portion of the battle was fought on
the plain below, but from Lieut. Richards’s diary, as quoted by you, it
would seem the dead were buried there under his supervision, but the
spot is unknown.
To the north of Manhattanville and for some distance beyond the ravine
at Trinity Cemetery, the water was shallow with a shelving beach, along
which the British troops could have passed at any state of the tide.
It is however doubtful that five thousand men ascended the ravine,
because, before a foothold could have been gained, it is said that a
bugle call was sounded as though for a fox hunt, which at once brought
upon the enemy an overpowering number of Americans. While it lasted
this fight at the top of the ravine was doubtless the best contested
hand-to-hand struggle of the Revolution. It is probable that before the
whole number of the English reached the top they were divided so that
those ascending were driven back to the west, and the portion already
on top who were not killed, were driven down on the east side. As I
have understood the plan of the battle, the object of those attacking
by the ravine was a flank movement to finally get in the rear of
the earthworks towards the southeast where the Americans were being
assaulted from the plain below, and but for the arrogance of the enemy
in giving timely notice of their presence in this quarter, which would
have been unexpected, the result would have been a brilliant one for
the English.
When I first heard of the battle of Harlem and talked to the old
people I met, relics of the battle were to be found in almost every
small farmer’s house in the neighborhood. From my recollection more
particularly of some sword hilts and portions of sword blades which
were found on this spot I am led to believe that the clubbed musket of
the American soldier at close quarters, played an important part in the
struggle.
In conclusion let me state that nowhere on Manhattan Island, to my
knowledge, beyond the limit of the city, have there been found the
remains of so many English and Hessian soldiers, as shown by buttons,
cross-belt buckles, bayonets and portions of other arms, as have
been excavated from time to time in the neighborhood of the Trinity
Cemetery. There could have been no fight at this point unless it was at
the battle of Harlem, while the neighborhood about Columbia University,
where it is claimed the battle was fought, has been particularly free
from all such evidence.