Boston – Day-By-Day America

New York: The New Battleground

The British had abandoned Boston. New York was the new battleground. Americans fortified the town and the surrounding shores, and prepared for the British to come — which they did. And when they came, they came in force. Warships, troop transport ships, and supply ships arrived by dozens in New York harbor, carrying not only British soldiers but also German mercenaries (generally known as Hessians). With each new ship, the odds against the Americans increased. But it seems that many of the American soldiers were quite confident that they would win.

Why? I don’t know. The British and Hessians outnumbered them; they had better equipment, better training, and more experience. They had a powerful navy, while the Americans had a tiny one. And they still had plenty of supporters in America.

But the American soldiers were still confident — some of them too confident, it seems to me. One of them wrote, “We fear not Tory George, & his War-worn Army! — We fear them not”, and added that he had never been “so full of Certainty that we shall prevail” — even though at the time he could see the impressive British fleet from the door of his rented room.

Maybe it was because of their victory at Boston that they were so confident. Maybe it was because they were convinced of the righteousness of their cause, and that justice and Providence were on their side, so there was no way the enemy could win. Maybe it was because they were now fighting for their independence.

Whatever the reason, they were in for a rude awakening during that summer of 1776 at New York…

The Brig “Washington” and Her Flag

Ever heard of a brig (that’s a kind of ship, also known as a brigantine) named the Washington? Probably not, but she was historic, in a small way: she was the first American warship captured by the British in the Revolutionary War, and she gave King George III a chance to look at a rebel flag.

Commanded by Captain Sion Martindale, the Washington set sail on November 23, 1775, and captured at least one ship with supplies bound for the British troops in Boston. But then the crew refused to work. One of their grievances was that they didn’t have enough clothing. What exactly they were lacking, I’m not sure, but in the late fall in the North Atlantic, proper clothing is something you can’t very well do without. At any rate, once they were supplied with the clothes they needed, “the whole Crew to a man gave three Cheers & declard their readiness to go to Sea next morning.”

They set sail again on December 3, and were run down the very next evening by the British ship Fowey, commanded by Captain George Montagu. The Fowey fired a few cannon as a warning, and the Americans gave up — which was probably a wise thing to do, since they were outgunned and outmanned. The odds against them were increased when another British ship, the Lively, showed up later that night.

“Our doors are open still…”

Soldiers were going to and from the camps around Boston; people were leaving Boston, often without being able to take much with them; and all of them needed a place to stay the night or get a meal while they were traveling. John and Abigail Adams’ house was along the road in nearby Braintree, Massachusetts, and many people — total strangers — stopped there for a few minutes, or hours, or days. John was in Philadelphia as a member of the Continental Congress; Abigail was managing the household and taking care of her young children, but still she willingly did what she could for the people who came to her door. Their house was a “Scene of confusion”, she wrote:

Soldiers comeing in for lodging, for Breakfast, for Supper, for Drink &c. &c. Sometimes refugees from Boston tierd and fatigued, seek an assilum for a Day or Night, a week—you can hardly imagine how we live.
“Yet to the Houseless child of want
our doors are open still.
And tho our portions are but scant
We give them with good will.”

Abigail Adams certainly was not the only one who helped out the soldiers and refugees who needed it. Many people gave a meal, a drink of water, a place to spend the night, and so on. It pays to remember that women played just as important a role in the Revolution as men did, and that soldiers were not the only heroes.

Notes

The word “assilum” was a misspelling of “asylum”, meaning a place to stay.

The verse that Abigail Adams quoted in her letter was adapted from The Hermit, a poem by Oliver Goldsmith, in which a hermit invites a traveler to stay the night with him:

Here to the houseless child of want
My door is open still;
And though my portion is but scant,
I give it with good will.

Source

“Abigail Adams to John Adams, 24 May 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0136. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 1, December 1761 – May 1776, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 204–206.]

You can view images of the actual letter on the Massachusetts Historical Society website.

Skirmish, Fire, and Slaughter at Noddle’s Island

OK, it wasn’t really as bad as it sounds. Not many people were hurt in the skirmish, the only things burnt were some hay and a house or two, and the only things slaughtered were livestock.

The water around Noddle’s and Hog (or Hogg) Islands was shallow enough that the Americans were able to walk there from the shore in order to destroy supplies that would have been used by the British.

Noddle’s Island, in Boston Harbor, was the scene of one of many skirmishes and confrontations over supplies while the British were besieged in Boston. The British were continually trying to get food for themselves and their horses, as well as firewood, and several times the New Englanders tried to either stop them in the process, or to destroy the supplies before the British could get them. The latter is what happened in this case. American soldiers went to Noddle’s Island, in Boston Harbor, to destroy what they could before the British could get it, and the British Marines went to stop them. British Lieutenant John Barker, stationed in Boston, recorded the fight in his diary the next day:

Yesterday afternoon about 40 of the Rebels came to Noddles Island expecting to meet with hay to destroy: they set two houses on fire and began killing the Cows and Horses, which the Adml. [Admiral] seeing immediately dispatched the Marines from the Men of War to drive the Rebels away, and at the same time sent some Boats and an armed Schooner round the Island to intercept them; the Rebels as soon as they saw this scour’d off as fast as they cou’d and escaped by wading up to their necks; one was killed in the flight; after this there was a constant firing at each other from the opposite sides of the water, but I believe without any mischief [meaning that nobody was hurt]; there was also firing at and from the Schooner and boats, which continued all night and part of this morning. I fancy we are the greatest sufferers for some time in the night the schooner run aground within 60 yards of their shore, and after a cannonade a considerable time on both sides, having no chance of saving the Schooner as the tide was going out, they were obliged to set her on fire and quit [i.e., leave] her without being able to save a single article…
From The British in Boston: Being a Diary of Lieutenant John Barker of the King’s Own Regiment from November 15, 1774 to May 31, 1776, pp. 50-51.

Notes

Noddle’s Island is no longer an island; the water around it has been filled up, and the island is now part of Boston.

The full map can be viewed on the Library of Congress website at https://lccn.loc.gov/gm71002447