The Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn Part 4

The maps in the early London editions of Gordon's and Stedman's histories of the war, each put _five_ fortifications on the line from the Wallabout to Gowa.n.u.s Creek.]

FORT COBBLE HILL.--Pa.s.sing to the remaining works on Long Island, we find a redoubt on the crest of a cone-shaped hill, which stood alone near the intersection of the present Court and Atlantic streets, and which was known by the Dutch inhabitants as _Punkiesberg_. As it does not appear to have been called Cobble Hill before this date, the reasonable inference may be drawn that it was so named by Greene's troops because of its close resemblance to the Cobble Hill which formed one of the fortified points in the siege of Boston, but a short distance from Winter Hill, where Greene's brigade was posted. In the orders of the day, the redoubt is known as "Smith's barbette,"

Captain William Smith, the engineer whom Lee brought with him, having it in charge. The work mounted four guns, and, from its central interior position, could have prevented the enemy from securing a foothold on the peninsula in the rear or flank of the main line in case they effected a landing back of Red Hook or crossed Gowa.n.u.s Creek above. This hill was long since cut away.[44]

[Footnote 44: One of Greene's orders refers to this fort as follows: "_Camp on Long Island, July 19, 1776._--The works on Cobble Hill being greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded for want of men to lay turf, few being acquainted with that service, all those in Colonel Hitchc.o.c.k's and Colonel Little's regiments, that understand that business, are desired to voluntarily turn out every day, and they shall be excused from all other duty, and allowed one half a pint of rum a day." Two guns fired from Cobble Hill were to be the signal that the enemy had landed on Long Island.]

REDOUBT AT THE MILL.--Near the corner of the present Degraw and Bond streets, a small battery or breastwork, in the form of a right angle, mounting one gun, was thrown up to cover the narrow pa.s.sage over a mill-dam which here crossed Gowa.n.u.s Creek. It stood at the extremity of a long low sand-hill, and the dam connected this point with a tongue of land on the opposite side, on which two mills were built, known as the upper or yellow, and lower mills. The upper mill was immediately opposite the redoubt, and it was here that the Port Road came down to the edge of the creek.

RED HOOK--FORT DEFIANCE.--This work, already referred to, was originally a single water battery, mounting four eighteen-pounders, _en barbette_, to prevent the pa.s.sage of s.h.i.+ps east of Governor's Island, as well as to keep the enemy from landing at the southern extremity of the peninsula. Was.h.i.+ngton speaks of it in May as being "a small, but exceedingly strong" fort. Lieutenant Samuel Shaw, of Knox's artillery, who was stationed there most of the summer, states that it was named "Fort Defiance," and subsequently strengthened by additional works, which, from the Hessian map and the Stiles draft, appear to have consisted of a second and larger redoubt connected with the first by an intrenchment or inclosed way.[45] On the 5th of July, Greene wrote to Was.h.i.+ngton that he regarded Red Hook as "a post of vast importance," and proposed stationing a considerable force there permanently, as in that case the commanding officer would be "more industrious to have every thing in readiness, and obstinate in defence" when the attack came; and on the 8th we find the order for "Col. Varnum's regiment to remove their encampment to Red Hook, and do the duty of that post."

[Footnote 45: "Our fort [Defiance] is much strengthened by new works and more troops, and it is in so good a posture of defence, that it would be almost impossible to take it either by attack or surprise. To guard against the latter, each man is every other night on duty."--_Memoir of Samuel Shaw_, p. 17.]

FORT STIRLING.--The first work laid out on Long Island, as we have seen, was Fort Stirling, which, in connection with batteries on the New York side, was designed to command the East River channel. Its exact site has been a point of dispute. Several writers and old inhabitants a.s.sociate the name with the remains of a large fortification which stood at the corner of Henry and Pierrepont streets as late as 1836. It is clear, however, that this was a work erected by the British during the latter part of the Revolution.

General Robertson, acting as Governor of New York in 1780, wrote to Lord Germaine, May 18th, that, among other works thrown up to make New York more secure against an attack by the Americans, "a large square fort is built at Brooklyn Heights."[46] The traveller Smyth, writing in the same year, says, "The town [New York] is entirely commanded by a considerable eminence in Long Island, directly opposite to it, named Brookland Heights, on which a strong regular fort with four bastions has lately been erected by the British troops." This exactly describes the work in question.[47] The corner of Henry and Pierrepont streets, moreover, being a thousand feet back from the river's edge, could not have been selected at that time as the site for a strictly water battery intended for effective resistance. The fort must be looked for nearer the edge of the bluff, and there we find it. Both the Stiles and the Hessian maps place it directly on the bank of the river--the latter, a little north of what was then known as the Bamper House, or at about the intersection of Clark and Columbia streets.[48]

[Footnote 46: _Doc.u.ments, Col. Hist. of New York_, vol. viii., p.

792.]

[Footnote 47: The recollections and incidents preserved by Stiles and Furman go to show that this was not an American-built fort.--_Stiles'

Brooklyn_, vol. i., pp. 314, 315.]

[Footnote 48: A return of the batteries around New York, March 24th, describes Fort Stirling as opposite the "Fly Market" in Maiden Lane [_Force_, Fourth Series, vol. v., p. 480]. Clark, Pineapple, and Orange streets, Brooklyn, can all be called "opposite" Maiden Lane in New York. The Hessian map puts the fort nearest the line of Clark.]

The fort was a strong inclosed work, mounting eight guns. Ward's men broke ground for it about the 1st of March, and continued digging, as their major, Douglas, writes, through "cold, tedious weather," until other troops took their place.[49]

[Footnote 49: The work, which was to be known as the _Citadel_, was in all probability the "redoubte commence," or unfinished fort, indicated on the Hessian map in the rear and to the south of Fort Stirling. The site corresponds with that of the British fort of 1780, corner of Henry and Pierrepont streets, which was then, as it still is, the highest point on Brooklyn Heights, and hence the natural position for a citadel or commanding fortification. Stirling, in his letter to the President of Congress of March 14, says: "The work [Fort Stirling]

first begun on Long Island opposite to this city is almost completed, and the cannon carried over. The grand citadel there will be marked out to-morrow, and will be begun by the inhabitants of King's County and Colonel Ward's Regiment."

The list of batteries, March 24th, contains a note to the effect that a citadel covering five acres, called the _Congress_, was to be built in the rear of Fort Stirling. Major Fish writes, April 9th: "There are _two_ fortifications on Long Island opposite this city, to command the s.h.i.+pping." One of these was Fort Stirling--the other, undoubtedly, the citadel then in process of construction. The latter, though not in as favorable a position for the purpose as the former, could still fire on s.h.i.+ps entering the river.

The position of these two works, taken in connection with Lee's plan of forming an intrenched camp on Long Island, fortified with a chain of redoubts, which, according to one of his letters, were to be three in number, indicates quite clearly that this general intended to hold simply the heights along the river. The facts fail to bear out the supposition that the lines, as finally adopted on Long Island, were of Lee's planning. Work on the citadel was probably discontinued, because his plan was so much enlarged as to make that fortification unavailable.]

Greene's soldiers, whose experience around Boston had made them veterans, at least in the use of the spade, now went to work to throw up these lines. He reminded them early of the importance of the post, and the necessity of preparation and vigilance. "As the security of New York greatly dependeth on this _pa.s.s_," runs his order of May 5th, "while these works are constructing, the general hopes the troops will carefully forward the same as fast as possible;" and this he followed up with the caution that if any soldier left his work without liberty, he should do fatigue duty for a whole week. Orders from headquarters in New York at the same time directed General Greene to report "all extraordinaries" to the commander-in-chief; the officers at Red Hook and Governor's Island to do the same; and the officer commanding the riflemen on Long Island to "constantly report all extraordinaries to General Greene." Although no enemy had yet appeared, every regiment in the army was ordered to mount a picket every evening, to lie on their arms, and be ready to turn out at a moment's notice.

It is possible to follow the troops on Long Island in their routine of camp life all through the tedious summer they were to spend on this ground. Digging was the main thing at first, and they had so much of this that the officers complained of their inability to keep the men in clothes, they wore them out so fast, and they made themselves so begrimed with dirt at the trenches, that the allowance of soap would not clean them; all which moved Greene to write to Was.h.i.+ngton that it would be no more than "a piece of justice to the troops" to allow them a double quant.i.ty of soap. Their encampment, in the rear of the lines, appears to have been a pleasant one. The soldiers lived in bell-shaped tents with board floors, and varied their regulation fare with the produce of the Dutch farms; with the permission of their field-officers they could occasionally cross on a visit to the city.

Their general, however, held them closely to duty, and we find in these early orders the beginnings of that strictness which subsequently made him known, with his other soldierly qualities, as a thorough disciplinarian. No enemy being near them, the men, when put on guard, perhaps relaxed even ordinary vigilance; but they were soon brought up sharply by the general, with the direction that every part of camp duty must be done with as much exactness as if the British were in their front, for bad habits once contracted, they are told, "are difficult to get over, and doing duty in a slovenly manner is both disgraceful and dangerous to officers and men." They were sure of being watched, too, by Lieutenant-Colonel Cornell, of Hitchc.o.c.k's regiment, whose habit of reprimanding the men for every neglect had won for him the t.i.tle of "Old Snarl" throughout the camp;[50] but his subsequent promotion to offices of responsibility showed that in other quarters his particular qualities were appreciated. As the warm season came on, Greene cautioned his soldiers about their health. The "colormen" were to keep the camps clean, and look after the hospitals.

Many soldiers being down with fever in July, the general recommends "the strictest attention to the cookery, and that broiling and frying meat, so destructive to health, be prohibited;" going into the water in the heat of the day is also forbidden. A neglect of these matters at this critical season, Greene continues, "may be attended with dreadful consequences."

[Footnote 50: _Letter from General Greene written at Fort Lee. Mrs.

Williams' Life of Olney._]

Occasionally it was found necessary to give the soldiers a sharp reproof for insulting the inhabitants or trespa.s.sing on their property. When the complaint was brought to Greene that some of his men had been stealing watermelons, he promptly issued an order that such practices must be punished. "A few unprincipled rascals," he said, "may ruin the reputation of a whole corps of virtuous men;" and on another occasion he called upon the soldiers to behave themselves "with that decency and respect that became the character of troops fighting for the preservation of the rights and liberties of America."

Perhaps the offenders found an excuse for their conduct in the Tory character of the complainants; but Greene, though no friend himself to such people, could never accept this as a provocation to justify a breach of military discipline.

The Tory element in the population required other and sterner treatment.[51] It had developed to such an extent in Kings and Queens counties as to require its suppression by the civil and military power combined. The refusal of the majority of the voters in Queens to send delegates to the New York Provincial Convention in 1775 indicated not only a confidence on their part that the Home Government would succeed in crus.h.i.+ng the rebellion, but a secret intention as well to give the British troops upon their arrival all the aid and comfort in their power. As they provided themselves with arms and the British fleet with provisions, the Continental Congress took up the matter, ordered the arrest of the leaders, and dispatched Colonel Heard, of New Jersey, with a regiment of militia to execute the business. Arrests were made, but the complete suppression of the loyalists here was never effected.

[Footnote 51: A history of the Tories on Long Island and in New York--the trouble they gave in the present campaign, and the measures taken for their suppression--properly forms a subject by itself. The scope of the present work admits of but brief allusions to them.

However honest this cla.s.s of the population may have been in taking sides with the British, and whatever sympathy may be expressed for them in their trials, losses, and enforced dispersion during and at the end of the war, there was obviously no course left to the Americans, then in the midst of a deadly struggle, but to treat them as a dangerous and obstructive set. The New York Provincial Congress, in the fall of the year and later, dealt with them unsparingly; and no man wished to see the element rooted out more than John Jay--a fact to be borne in mind by those who condemn Lee and other American officers for attempting to banish the Long Island Tories, as a military precaution, in the early part of the year.]

While Lee was in command he saw no solution of the problem other than to remove the entire Tory population to some other quarter where they could do less mischief in the event of active operations; but Congress, to the regret of Was.h.i.+ngton, could not sanction so radical a method. Greene did his best to root out this element, but we may imagine that it was uncongenial work, and that he took far more interest in the progress of his redoubts than in chasing suspected persons on the island.[52]

[Footnote 52: What General Greene thought of the Tories, and what treatment he proposed in certain cases, appears from a report on the subject signed by Generals Heath, Spencer, Greene, and Stirling, and submitted to Was.h.i.+ngton towards the close of June: "With regard to the disaffected inhabitants who have lately been apprehended," say these officers, "we think that the method at present adopted by the County Committee, of discharging them on their giving bonds as a security for their good behavior, is very improper and ineffectual, and therefore recommend it to your Excellency to apply to the Congress of this province to take some more effectual method of securing the good behavior of those people, and in the mean time that your Excellency will order the officers in whose custody they are to discharge no more of them until the sense of the Congress be had thereon."--_Journals of the N.Y. Prov. Congress_, vol. ii.

On this subject Colonel Huntington wrote to Governor Trumbull, June 6th, as follows: "Long Island has the greatest proportion of Tories, both of its own growth and of advent.i.tious ones, of any part of this colony; from whence some conjecture that the attack is to be made by that way. It is more likely to be so than not. Notwithstanding the vigilance of our outposts, we are sure there is frequent intercourse between the Asia and the sh.o.r.e, and that they have been supplied with fresh meat. New guards have lately been set in suspected places, which I hope will prevent any further communication."--_Force_, 4th Series, vol. vi., p. 725.]

By the 1st of June the works around Brooklyn appear to have so far progressed as to admit of the mounting of some of the cannon, and on the evening of that date the troops were ordered to parade with arms and man the lines. On the 17th the general a.s.signed them to permanent positions as follows:

"Colonel Varnum's regiment is to take Fort Box and the Oblong Redoubt for their alarm-posts--Fort Box, six companies; Oblong Redoubt, two companies. Captain Wolverton's Independent Company[53] to join those in the redoubt, and to receive orders from Colonel Varnum.

Colonel Hitchc.o.c.k's regiment to take Fort Putnam and the fort or redoubt on the left of it for their alarm-posts.

Colonel Little's regiment to take Fort Greene for their alarm-posts."

[Footnote 53: This was a company of New Jersey Minute-men from Ess.e.x County, which had been sent over to Long Island on May 17th.]

To impress his soldiers with his own sense of the great importance of the Long Island front, Greene added the determined words: "In case of an attack, _all these posts are to be defended to the last extremity_." And Colonel Little, who had proved his fitness to command the post a.s.signed him by his cool and soldierly conduct at Bunker Hill, quietly resolved that if the enemy a.s.saulted Fort Greene it should never be surrendered while he was alive.[54]

[Footnote 54: Colonel Little to his son. Doc. No. 9.]

Guards were now stationed at the forts and greater vigilance enjoined about the camp. Even as early as May 25th, when the works were still far from complete, the orders were strict that none but a general officer should be admitted to them without special leave. The lines were to be manned every morning "between day and sunrise," and the troops exercised at parapet firing. The orders of July 1st directed the commanding officers of the regiments "to make a line round each of the forts and fortifications for the troops to begin a fire on the enemy if they attempt to storm the works, and the troops are to be told not to fire sooner than the enemy's arrival at these lines, unless commanded. The line should be about eighty yards from the parapet." The officers of the guards were to be accountable for every thing in the forts, but particularly for the rum lodged there for the use of the men in time of action. Provisions also were to be supplied to each alarm-post "in case of siege," and the water-casks kept constantly full of fresh water. To a.s.sure the effectiveness of the means of defence, one hundred spears were to be placed in Fort Greene, thirty in the works to the right, twenty in the Oblong Redoubt, fifty in Fort Putnam, and twenty to the left of it.

And so the work went on under Greene's eye, and by the middle of summer his troops[55] had inclosed themselves on the Brooklyn peninsula, with lines which, though unfinished, were still of very respectable strength.

[Footnote 55: It is a somewhat singular fact, indicating perhaps the scantiness of our material heretofore, that none of the local accounts of operations on Long Island mention either Hitchc.o.c.k's, Varnum's, or Little's regiments in any connection, whereas these, with Hand's, formed the permanent garrison on that side and threw up the greater part of the works.]

Recrossing the river to New York, we find the other brigades there at work as uninterruptedly as Greene's on Long Island. The many well-known "general orders" issued by the commander-in-chief during this season testify to the great amount of fatigue duty performed by the troops. Was.h.i.+ngton regretted that the necessity for it left so little opportunity for drilling and he urged his officers to make the most of what time they had for this purpose. But his chief anxiety was to have the defences pushed on, and by the middle of June the princ.i.p.al works were completed or well under way. The location and names of these are indicated in the orders and maps of the day.[56]

Beginning on the North River side and continuing around the city, they were as follows:

[Footnote 56: In locating the works in New York City, the writer follows the list of batteries reported March 24th, 1776 (Force, 4th Series, vol. v., p. 480); Putnam's order of May 22d, naming the several works; Knox's artillery returns of June 10th, giving the number of guns in each; and Hills' map of the fortifications, drawn at the close of the war. The first list shows the works as they stood at about the time the Boston troops came down, and which Lee had planned.

There are alterations and additions in Putnam's and Knox's lists, which are to be followed where they differ from the list of March 24th. Although many other works were erected, no names appear to have been attached to them, those only being designated which occupied the most important points and were provided with guns and garrisons.

The Hills map is indispensable in this connection. John Hills, formerly a British engineer, surveyed the city and island of New York as far as Thirty-fourth Street in 1782, and in 1785 made a careful map of the same, which John Lozier, Esq., presented to the Common Council in 1847. This is still preserved, and is consulted at times for official purposes. In addition to giving all the streets, blocks, docks, and squares, Hills added all the works thrown up in and around the city during the Revolution, giving their exact location and shape.

Part of the lines have a confused appearance, but they become clear on referring to the following memorandum on the map: "All the works colored yellow were erected by the Forces of the United States in 1776. Those works colored Orange were erected by Do and repaired by the British Forces. Those works colored Green were erected by the British Forces during the War." In the map of New York accompanying the present work, Hills' "yellow" line has been followed, showing all the American forts. Their location corresponds precisely with that which Putnam gives, so far as he names them; and by projecting the present streets over Hills' plan, it is possible to ascertain where they stood in the plan of our modern city.]

GRENADIER BATTERY.--This was a "beautiful" circular battery, situated on the bank of the North River where it ran out into a well-defined bluff, at the corner of the present Was.h.i.+ngton and Harrison streets.

Captain Abraham Van Dyck's Grenadier Company of New York City Independents built it while Lee and Stirling were in command, and received the thanks of Was.h.i.+ngton in general orders for the skilful manner in which they had executed their work. The fort mounted two twelve-pounders and two mortars. The grenadier company was organized by Stirling a few years before, when he lived in New York, and he watched the construction of the battery with considerable pride. The _Pennsylvania Gazette_ of May 8th, 1776, contains a letter from Captain Van Dyck to Stirling, informing him of the completion of the work, and desiring "the approbation of their former captain." Stirling replied that he had frequently admired the battery, and reflected with "real satisfaction" on the hour when he formed the company.

JERSEY BATTERY.--A short distance below, on the line of Reade Street, just west of Greenwich, stood the Jersey Battery--a five-sided work, mounting two twelve and three thirty-two pounders. A line of intrenchments connected these two batteries, and, extending beyond on either side, made the position a particularly strong one. Their guns had the range of the bank up and down the river, and could enfilade an enemy attempting to land in that vicinity.

McDOUGALL'S AND THE OYSTER BATTERY.--The works next below on the Hudson consisted of two batteries situated on the high ground in the rear and to the south of Trinity Church. The one on the bluff near the church, or on the line of the present Rector Street, a little east of Greenwich, was known under Stirling as McDougall's Battery; but this name does not appear in the return of June 10th, and in its place in the order of the works we have the "Oyster" Battery. It is possible that this was the work a little south of McDougall's, at the intersection of the present Morris and Greenwich streets. Its location is described by Putnam in May as "behind General Was.h.i.+ngton's head-quarters."[57] It mounted two thirty-two-pounders and three twelve-pounders. In March, McDougall's Battery was provided with six guns.

[Footnote 57: WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK.--This reference creates some uncertainty as to the particular house occupied by Was.h.i.+ngton in New York during the first part of the campaign. If the site of the Oyster Battery were known exactly the house could be identified. On the other hand, if headquarters, as generally supposed, were at the Kennedy Mansion, No. 1 Broadway, then the battery should have stood still lower down, at the corner of Battery Place and Greenwich Street; but the Grand Battery terminated there, and Hills'

map shows no distinct battery at that point. Mr. Lossing states ("Field Book of the Rev.," vol. ii., p. 594, n.) that Was.h.i.+ngton, on his first arrival in the city, took up his quarters at 180 Pearl, opposite Cedar Street, his informant being a survivor of the Revolution, and that, on his return from a visit to Philadelphia, June 6th, he went to the Kennedy House. That Was.h.i.+ngton, however, spent the greater part of the summer at the "Mortier House," on Richmond Hill, is well known. He was there on June 22d and probably much earlier, as appears in _Force_, 4th Series, vol. vi., p. 1157, where one Corbie is described as keeping a tavern "to the south-east of General Was.h.i.+ngton's house, to the westward of Bayard's woods, and north of Lispenard's meadows." The house referred to was the Mortier. From Mr.

Lossing's informant, and the reference in the orders of August 8th, which speaks of the "old head-quarters on the Broadway," we may conclude that Was.h.i.+ngton first put up at 180 Pearl Street; that if he then went to the Kennedy House at all, it was but for a short time; that it is more likely, from the position of the batteries, that the house he did occupy was one of the two or three next above it; and that in June he moved his quarters to the Mortier House, where he remained until September 14th, when he went to the Morris Mansion at Harlem Heights. The Kennedy House was Colonel Knox's artillery headquarters during part if not all of the time, his wife being with him there up to July 12th. (_Drake's Life of Knox._)]