Washington's Conference with Congress. Preparation for the Defense of New York. Landing of British Troops. close of May, a he left the troops in command of General Putnam, while he hastened a May 23. to Philadelphia to confer with Congress respecting the general defense of the colonies. The wicked bargain of Great Britain with the German princes for their men was now known, and it was believed that New York was the point where the mercenary vultures would probably strike their first blow. To that point the eyes of all America were now turned. Congress authorized a re-enforcement of thirteen thousand eight hundred militia, to be drawn from New England, New York,' and New Jersey, and provided for the establishment of a flying camp of ten thousand men, to be formed of militia from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The latter were to rendezvous at Amboy, and the accomplished General Mercer was appointed to the command. Gen eral Greene took post at Brooklyn, and superintended the b June 7. WASHINGTON'S HEAD-QUARTERS.2 preparation of defenses there. On his return,b Washington went to the upper end of the island, and personally aided in the surveys and the arrangement of the plan of Fort Washington and its outworks. c 1776. General Howe, who went to Halifax from Boston, arrived at Sandy Hook on the twentyninth of June, with ships and transports bearing his recruited army, where he was visited by Governor Tryon. On the eighth of July he landed nine thousand men upon Staten Island, and there awaited the arrival of his brother, Admiral Howe, with English 1 John Morin Scott was appointed to the command of the New York troops, with the commission of a brigadier. 3 2 I was informed by the venerable Anna van Antwerp, about a fortnight before her death, in the antumn of 1851, that Washington made his head-quarters, on first entering the city, at the spacious house (half of which is yet standing at 180 Pearl Street, opposite Cedar Street), delineated in the engraving. The large window, with an arch, toward the right, indicates the center of the original building. It is of brick, stuccoed, and roofed with tiles. There Washington remained until summoned to visit Congress at Philadelphia, toward the last of May. On his return, he went to the Kennedy House, No. 1 Broadway, where he remained until the evacuation in September. 3 The main body of Howe's troops landed near the present quarantine ground, and encamped upon the ills in the vicinity. The fleet had anchored off Vanderventer's point (the telegraph station at the Narrows), and three ships of war and some transports brought the English troops within the Narrows, to the landing-place.(Howe's Dispatch to Lord George Germaine.) Howe made his head-quarters at the Rose and Crown Tavern, upon the road leading from Stapleton to Richmond, near New Dorp. The house is near the forks of the Richmond and Amboy roads, and overlooks the beautiful level country between it and the sea, two miles distant. It is now (1852) the property of Mr. Leonard Parkinson, of Old Town, Staten Island. The house was built by a Huguenot, one of the first settlers upon that part of the island. ROSE AND CROWN. When Howe landed, the great body of the people on the island formed a corps of Loyalists, under Tryon, and some of them were in the battle near Brooklyn. Streets, was a small circular battery. On the west side of Broadway, near Walker, was an irregular work; and the Hospital (on Broadway, fronting Pearl Street), a strong stone building, was fortified. There was also a line of breast-works extending along the East River from the present Dry Dock to Stuyvesant Square; and at Horn's Hook, at the foot of Eighty-ninth Street, was a work called Thompson's Battery, with nine guns. I was informed by the venerable Judge Woodhull, of Franklinville, Long Island (now ninety-eight years of age), that when the lines across the island, from the East River toward the Hudson, were constructed, the merchants and other citizens were pressed into service. It must be remembered that most of the streets here mentioned were not then in existence. Chambers Street up Broadway, Hester Street up the Bowery, and Catharine Street up the East River, were the extreme points to which streets were laid out at the time of the Revolution. Now (1852) the streets and avenues are all opened to Fortiet: Street, and some beyond; and almost a solid mass of edifices cover the island from river to river below Thirty-second Street. Then the Hospital was quite in the fields, and Greenwich was a country village. Mrs. Van Antwerp left the city with her parents when the British took possession, and retired to Tappan, where she was married. They returned to the city after the war, and her husband purchased the lot No. 38 Maiden Lane, where she resided from that time until her death, a period of almost seventy years. Her style of living was that of the Revolution, and all the Plot to destroy Washington. Declaration of Independence read to the Army. Destruction of the King's Statue. regulars and Hessian hirelings. These arrived in the course of a few days, and on the eleventh, Clinton and Parker, with their broken forces, joined them. Another debarkation took place on the twelfth, and there, upon the wooded heights of Staten Island, above Stapleton and Clifton, and upon the English transports, almost thirty thousand men stood ready to fall upon the Republicans.' Already the Declaration of Independence had gone abroad ;' the statue of the king in New York had been pulled down,' and brave men, pledged to the support of the Continental Congress and its measures, were piling fortifications upon every eligible point around the devoted city. 1 A plot, originated by Tryon, to murder the American general officers on the arrival of the British, or at best to capture Washington and deliver him to Sir William Howe, was discovered at this time. It was arranged to blow up the magazine, secure the passes to the city, and at one blow deprive the Republicans of their leaders, and by massacre or capture annihilate the "rebel army." Mayor Hicks was one of the conspirators; and from his secure place on board the Duchess of Gordon, Tryon sent money freely to bribe Americans. Two of Washington's Guard were seduced, but the patriotism of a third was proof against their temptations, and he exposed the plot. Hicks, Gilbert Forbes (a gunsmith on Broadway), and about a dozen others, were immediately arrested, and sent prisoners to Connecticut. It was ascertained that about five hundred persons were concerned in the conspiracy. Thomas Hickey, one of the Guard, was hanged on the twenty-seventh of June, 1776. This was the first military execution in New York.-See Spark's Writings of Washington, iii., 438; Force's American Archives, vi., 1064; Ib., i. (second series), 117; Gaine's New York Mercury. 2 Washington received the Declaration of Independence on the ninth of July, with instructions to have it read to the army. He immediately issued an order for the several brigades, then in and near the city, to be drawn up at six o'clock that evening, to hear it read by their several commanders or their aids. The brigades were formed in hollow squares on their respective parades. The venerable Zachariah Greene (commonly known as Parson Greene," the father-in-law of Mr. Thompson, historian of Long Island), yet (1852) living at Hempstead, at the age of ninety-three years, informed me that he belonged to the brigade, then encamped on the "Common," where the City Hall now stands. The hollow square was formed at about the spot where the Park Fountain now is. He says Washington was within the square, on horseback, and that the Declaration was read in a clear voice by one of his aids. When it was concluded, three hearty cheers were given. Holt's Journal for July 11, 1776, says, "In pursuance of the Declaration of Independence, a general jail delivery took place with respect to debtors." Ten days afterward, the people assembled at the City Hall, at the head of Broad Street, to hear the Declaration read. They then took the British arms from over the seat of justice in the court-room, also the arms wrought in stone in front of the building, and the picture of the king in the council chamber, and destroyed them, by fire, in the street. They also ordered the British arms in all the churches in the city to be destroyed. This order seems not to have been obeyed. Those in Trinity church were taken down and carried to New Brunswick by the Reverend Charles Inglis, at the close of the war, and now hang upon the walls of a Protestant Episcopal church in St. John's. 3 The statue of George the Third was equestrian, made of lead, and gilded. It was the workmanship of Wilton, then a celebrated statuary of London, and was the first equestrian effigy of his majesty yet erected. It was placed upon its pedestal, in the center of the Bowling Green, on the twenty-first of August, 1770. On the same evening when the Declaration of Independence was read to the troops in New York, a large concourse of people assembled, pulled down the statue, broke it in pieces, and sent it to be made into bullets. Ebenezer Hazard, in a letter to Gates, referring to the destruction of the king's statue, said, "His troops will probably have melted majesty fired at them." Some of the soldiers appear to have been engaged in the matter, for on the following morning Washington issued an order for them to desist from such riotous acts in future.* The greater portion of the statue was sent to Litchfield, in Connecticut, and there converted into bullets by two daughters and a son of Governor Wolcott, a Mrs. and Miss Marvin, and a Mrs. Beach. According to an account current of the cartridges made from this statue, found among the papers of Governor Wolcott, it appears that it furnished materials for forty-two thousand bullets. persuasions of her wealthy children could not lure her from that simplicity and the home of her early years of married life. She arose one morning, sat down by her table, leaned her head upon it, and expired like a waning ember, at the age of ninetyfive years. Almost all of the few who knew her half a century ago, had forgotten her. * In a coarse Tory drama, entitled "The Battle of Brooklyn; a farce in two acts, as it was performed on Long Island on Tuesday, the twenty-seventh day of August, 1776, by the representatives of the Tyrants of America assembled, at Philadelphia,” published by Rivington, the destruction of the statue is attributed to Washington. A servant girl of Lady Gates is made to say, concerning the chief, "And more, my lady, did he not order the king's statue to be pulled down, and the head cut off." Mr. Greene described the statue to me as of the natural size, both horse and man. The horse was poised upon his hinder legs. The king had a crown upon his head; his right hand held the bridle-reins, the left rested upon the handle of a sword. The artist omitted stirrups, and the soldiers often said, in allusion to the fact, the tyrant ought to ride a hard-trotting horse, without stirrups." Stephens, in his Travels in Greece, &c. (ii., 33), says, that in the house of a Russian major, at Chioff, he saw a picture representing the destruction of this statue. The major pledged him in the toast, "Success to Liberty throughout the world." Effect of the Declaration. Howe's Letter to Washington. Commission of the Brothers. Preparations for Battle. On the arrival of General Howe at Sandy Hook, the Provincial Congress of New York adjourned to White Plains, and there, on the ninth of July, they reassembled, approved of the Declaration of Independence, and changed the title of the Assembly to Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York. The Declaration, however, offended many influential men, who, though warmly attached to their country, and yearning for a redress of grievances, shuddered at the thought of separation from Great Britain. Some closed their mouths in silence and folded their arms in inaction, while others, like Beverly Robinson, the Delancey's, and men of that character, actively espoused the cause of the king. The patriot army in New York was surrounded by domestic enemies, more to be dreaded than open adversaries, and this fact seemed favorable to the hopes of Howe, that the olive branch would be accepted by the Americans when offered. He soon perceived that much of loyalty was the child of timidity, and when his proclamations were sent abroad, offering peace only on condition of submission, the missiles proved powerless. Although doubtless desiring peace, he was obliged to draw the sword and sever the leashes of the blood-hounds of war. On the twelfth of July, the Rose and Phoenix ships of war, with their decks guarded by sand-bags, sailed up the bay, and passing the American batteries without serious injury, proceeded up the Hudson to Haverstraw Bay, for the double purpose of keeping open a communication with Carleton, who was endeavoring to make his way southward by Lake Champlain, and for furnishing arms to the Tories of West Chester. The vigilant Whigs would not allow their boats to land, and there they remained inactive for three weeks. In the mean while, the belligerent forces were preparing for the inevitable battle. Hulks of vessels were sunk in the channel between Governor's Island3 and the Battery, and chevaux de frise were formed there under the direction of General Putnam, to prevent the passage of the British vessels up the East River. A large body of troops were concentrated at Brooklyn, under General Greene; Sullivan and his little army hastened from the North; two battalions from Pennsylvania and Maryland, under Smallwood, arrived, and the New York and New England militia flocked to the city by hundreds. On the first of August the American army in and around New York numbered about twenty-seven thousand men, 66 1 General Howe, and his brother, the admiral, were appointed by Parliament commissioners to treat for peace with the Americans. They were authorized to extend a free pardon to all who should return to their allegiance; to declare penitent towns or colonies exempt from the penalties of non-intercourse; and to offer rewards to those who should render meritorious services in restoring tranquillity. Howe sent proclamations to this effect ashore at Amboy, addressed to the colonial governors, and designed for general circulation among the people. The General Congress denounced it as a scheme to amuse and disarm the people," and exhorted them to perceive "that the valor alone of their country was to save its liberties."— Journal, ii., 260. At about the same time, Colonel Paterson, the British adjutant general, went to New York with a flag, bearing a letter from General Howe, addressed to George Washington, Esq." This was so addressed because the Briton was unwilling to acknowledge the official character of the "rebel chief." It was a silly movement; Washington penetrated the design, and refused any communication, unless addressed to General Washington. Paterson urged Washington not to be punctilious, pleading the neces sity of waving all ceremony, for Howe came to cause the sheathing of swords, if possible. Washington was inflexible, and said, in reference to the commissioners, that they seemed empowered only to grant pardons; that those who had committed no fault needed no pardon, and that the Americans were only defending their rights as British subjects. Paterson returned, and Howe made no further attempts to correspond with "George Washington, Esq." Congress, by resolution, expressed its approval of the course of the commander-in-chief in this matter. 2 The chief plan of the campaign of 1776 was for Howe to attack New York and ascend the Hudson, while Carleton should come from Canada and form a junction. This would effectually cut off the Eastern States from the rest of the confederacy. Clinton, in the mean while, was to make war in the Southern States, and the American forces being thus divided, might be easily conquered. Their designs miscarried. Clinton was repulsed at Charleston, Carleton was kept at bay, and Howe did not pass the Highlands. 3 The original name of this island was Nutten. The rents of the land being a perquisite of the colonial governors, it was called Governor's Island. It was held as such perquisite until the close of Governor Clinton's administration. General Johnson, of Brooklyn, informed me that Clinton rented it to Dr. Price, who built a house of entertainment there, and laid out a race-course. Owing to the difficulty of taking race-horses to the island, it was abandoned after two or three years, and the course at Harlem was established. Disposition of American Detachments. Kip's Bay. The Kip Family. Bilious fever but at least one fourth of them were unfitted by sickness for active duty. prostrated Greene about the middle of August, and Sullivan was placed in command at Brooklyn. A small detachment was ordered to Governor's Island; another was posted at Paulus' Hook, where Jersey City now stands, and General George Clinton, with a body of New York militia, was ordered to West Chester county to oppose the landing of the British on the shores of the Sound, or, in the event of their landing, to prevent their taking possession of the strong post at King's Bridge. Parson's brigade took post at Kip's Bay,' on the East River, to watch British vessels if they should enter those waters. Such was the position of the two armies immediately antecedent to the battle near Brooklyn, at the close of August, 1776. The family mansion of the Kips, a strong house built of brick imported from Holland, remained near the corner of Second Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, until July, 1850, when it was taken down. A pear-tree near, planted in 1700, bore fruit the present season. The house was built in 1641 by Samuel Kip, who was secretary of the council of New Netherlands, and at the time of its destruction was probably the oldest edifice in the State of New York. The sketch here given is from a painting in possession of the Reverend W. Ingraham Kip, D.D., of Albany, and gives its appearance at the time of the Revolution. The Kip family are among the oldest in this state. 66 KIP'S HOUSE. Ruloff de Kype (anglicized to Kip after the English took possession of New Netherlands) was the first of the name found in history. He was a native of Bretagne, and was a warm partisan of the Guises in the civil wars between Protestants and Papists in the sixteenth century. On the defeat of his party, he fled to the Low Countries. He afterward joined the army of the Duke of Anjou, and fell in battle near Jarnac. He was buried in a church there, where an altar-tomb was erected to his memory bearing his coat of arms.* His son Ruloff became a Protestant, and settled in Amsterdam. His grandson, Henry, (born in 1576) became an active member of the Company of Foreign Countries," which was organized in 1588 for the purpose of exploring a northeast passage to the Indies. In 1635 he came to America with his family, but soon returned to Holland. His sons remained, bought large tracts of land, and were active in public affairs. One of them (Henry) was a member of the first popular Assembly in New Netherlands (see page 783), and married a daughter of De Sille, the attorney general. His brother Jacob bought the land at Kip's Bay, and a third son, Isaac, owned the property which is now the City Hall Park. Nassau Street was called Kip Street. In 1686 one of the family purchased the tract where the village of Rhinebeck, Dutchess county, now stands. It was called "the manor of Kipsburg." A part of this was sold to Henry Beekman, by whose grand-daughter, the mother of Chancellor Livingston, it passed into the Livingston family. At the opening of the Revolution, the Kip family were divided in politics; some held royal commissions, others were stanch Whigs. The proprietors of the Kip's Bay property were strong Whigs, but one of them, Samuel, was induced by Colonel Delancey to take the loyal side. He raised a company of cavalry, principally from his own tenants, joined Delancey, and was active in West Chester county, where, in a skirmish in 1781, he was severely wounded. He lived several years after the war, and suffered great loss of property by confiscation. For several years after the British took possession of York Island, Kip's house was used as head-quarters by officers. There Colonel Williams, of the 80th regiment, was quartered in 1780, and on the day when Andrè left the city to meet Arnold, Williams gave a dinner to Sir Henry Clinton and his staff. Andrè was there and shared in the socialities of the hour. It was his last dinner in New York. Such is well authenticated tradition.-See Holgate's American Genealogies, page 109. *The device was a shield. On one side, occupying a moiety, was a cross. The other moiety was quartered by a strip of gold: above were two griffins, and below an open mailed hand. There were two crests, a game-cock, and a demi-griffin holding a cross: the legend, "Vestigia nulla retrorsum." Landing of the British. General De Heister. CHAPTER XXXI. "In the year seventy-six came the two noble brothers, YANKEE CHRONOLOGY. "There the old-fashioned colonel galloped through the white infernal Powder cloud; And his broad sword was swinging, and his brazen throat was ringing N Thursday morning, the twenty-second of August, 1776, the British troops. under General William Howe landed upon Long Island, in the vicinity of New Utrecht. Four thousand men crossed the ferry from Staten Island, at the Quarantine Ground, to Denyse's strong stone house, where Fort Hamilton now stands, and landed under cover of the guns of the Rainbow, anchored where Fort La Fayette looms up in the center of the Narrows. Some riflemen, under Colonel Edward Hand, posted on the hill above, retired toward Flatbush. An hour afterward, British and Hessian troops poured over the sides of the English ships and transports, and in long rows of boats, directed by Commodore Hotham, five thousand more soldiers landed upon Long Island, in the bow of Gravesend Bay (at a place known as Bath, in front of New Utrecht), under cover of the guns of the Phænix, Rose,' and Greyhound. The chief commanders of the English were Sir Henry Clinton, Earls Cornwallis and Percy, and Generals Grant and Sir Will iam Erskine. Count Donop, who was killed at Red Bank in 1777, landed, with some Hessians, with the first division, and on the a August, twenty-fifth, a the veteran De Heister,' 1776. with Knyphausen, and two Hessian brigades, also landed near New Utrecht. The VIEW AT GRAVESEND BAY.3 whole invading force was about ten thousand men well armed, with forty cannons. Lieutenant-colonel Dalrymple remained to keep Staten Island. The Rose and Phanix, after remaining in Haverstraw Bay three weeks, had passed the American batteries and joined the fleet.-See page 802. 2 Lieutenant-general De Heister was an old man, and warmly attached to his master, the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel. The long voyage of almost fourteen weeks dispirited him, "and," says Sir George Collier, "his patience and tobacco became exhausted." A sniff of land breeze revived him. "He called for Hock, and swallowed large potations to the health of his friends." 3 This view is from the road on the high shore, a little below Fort Hamilton, looking southeast; the house in the center belonged to Simon Cortelyou, a Tory, during the Revolution, and has not been altered. Gravesend Bay is seen beyond the house, and the distant land is Coney Island beach. |