Relive the Revolutionary War!
Nowadays, spying is considered dangerous, but it’s acknowledged worldwide as being not only necessary, but legitimate. Captured spies are sometimes killed, but they also might merely be jailed, or even exchanged.
Not so at the time of the American Revolution. In European (and, therefore, American) society, spies were used, but spying was considered dishonorable by many, and captured spies were generally hanged.
Harlem Heights was where the American army pulled together and dug in after their disgraceful retreat from New York. The position was strong enough that George Washington hoped they would be able to hold it against the enemy,
If the Generality of our Troops would behave with tolerable bravery, but experience to my extreme affliction has convinced me that this is rather to be wished for than expected; However I trust, that there are many who will act like men, and shew themselves worthy of the blessings of Freedom.
On September 16, the day after the retreat, British and Hessian troops began approaching the American fortifications at Harlem Heights. One American soldier described the action the next day:
Continue reading “Harlem Heights: A Small But Important Victory”Around midday on Sunday, September 15, 1776, British and Hessian troops invaded Manhattan Island and sent the American troops running helter-skelter for safety.
First, several British ships anchored close to the island and fiercely bombarded the American fortifications along the shore of Kips Bay. Soon the American troops abandoned their trenches and made a panic-stricken, disorganized retreat — a rout, to use the military phrase. Then the British and Hessians, who had come over in boats from Long Island, landed without opposition and started marching across the island to cut off the retreating Americans.
Continue reading “Kips Bay and the Disastrous Retreat from New York”
How would you like to go underwater in a hand-powered wooden submarine, big enough to hold only one person, to try and blow up an enemy ship? That’s what Sergeant Ezra Lee did near New York City in September 1776, when he tried out an American invention that later became known as the Turtle.
Continue reading “Voyage of the Turtle”
The Battle of Long Island left the American army in extreme danger. They were crowded into their fortifications at Brooklyn; in front of them was the British and Hessian army, and behind them was the East River. The British and Hessians outnumbered them, and they were steadily digging trenches toward the American lines: once they got close enough, they would attack, and they would almost certainly win. To make things worse, many of the men were exhausted, and it was raining steadily.
Continue reading “A Miraculous Retreat from Long Island”
When the British ships Phoenix and Rose got past the American defenses and went up the Hudson River, orders immediately went out among the American forces to prepare fire ships for attacking them.
A fire ship, or fire raft, was a vessel meant for setting enemy ships on fire. It might be made especially for the purpose, or it might just be an old vessel that they could afford to dispose of. It was filled with flammable materials, arranged in such a way that the fire would start quickly and burn well. The idea was to sail it right up against the enemy’s ship, throw out grappling hooks to hold it alongside, start the fire — and then get out of there as fast as possible.
Although it sounds simple, it took a few weeks for the Americans to get everything ready. In the meanwhile, they made a rather unsuccessful attack in galleys. Finally, at about 11:00 or 11:30 p.m. on August 16, 1776, while lying at anchor in the Hudson, the British crews aboard the Phoenix and Rose (and the three smaller vessels — two tenders and one schooner — that accompanied them) saw a few vessels “silently moving up with the tide.” Two of them were fire ships, and the others were galleys (low, flat-built vessels that used oars as well as sails).
Continue reading “American Fire-Ship Attack in the Hudson”
On the morning of August 3, 1776, the crews of the British warships Phoenix and Rose saw six American ships coming up the Hudson River toward them, along with a number of boats. It wasn’t likely that they were coming for a friendly chat, so the British prepared for action. These American ships were actually galleys — low, flat-built vessels that had both oars and sails — and were definitely less formidable than the British ships, but they were still a threat.
Continue reading “British Warships and American Galleys Face Off in the Tappan Zee”Though some American soldiers were devout and dedicated in attending church and so on, it’s not surprising that some were quite the opposite. Philip Vickers Fithian, a Connecticut chaplain who was serving in New York, wrote in his journal on August 11, 1776:
The Lords Day is come once more. But the Sabbath is scarcely known in the Army. Profaned is all religious Exercise. Dreadful is the thought that Man who expect an Engagement every Day with a obstinate, wise, & powerful Enemy, should dare be so ungodly. But the God of this World has blinded the Mind.
It’s worth noting that one reason Fithian considered religious observance important corresponded with what Washington had said to the troops about a month earlier — namely, that they needed the “blessing and protection of Heaven”, and in order to get it, they needed to “live, and act, as becomes a Christian soldier”.
23-year-old American lieutenant Isaac Bangs kept an interesting and informative journal of his service in New York during the spring and summer of 1776, as he and the rest of the army waited and prepared for a British attack. Among other things, he described and critiqued the various church services he attended. Being from New England (specifically, Massachusetts), he was used to the Congregational church, but he wasn’t opposed to attending the meetings of other denominations. (One Saturday, out of curiosity, he even went to the synagogue in New York “to observe the Method of the Jewish Worship”, and wrote about the building and the worship service in detail.) Here are a few of his experiences.
The first time he attended church in New York, he got quite a surprise:
Continue reading “Sunday Adventures of Isaac Bangs”
What do you think about pulling down statues? That and similar things happened during the American Revolution. Sometimes it was done by mobs, sometimes by the civil authorities. In New York City, for example, a mob pulled down a statue of King George III. Symbols of royal authority in government buildings were taken down and destroyed. A tavern in Worcester, Massachusetts, called the King’s Arms, used the royal coat of arms for its sign; the sign was taken down (and I’m guessing that the owner changed the name of the tavern thereafter). Many of these things happened just after the Declaration of Independence, which makes sense.
Continue reading “The Leaden George”
