Philip Vickers Fithian – Day-By-Day America

Kips Bay and the Disastrous Retreat from New York

Around midday on Sunday, September 15, 1776, British and Hessian troops invaded Manhattan Island and sent the American troops running helter-skelter for safety.

Kips Bay (here spelled “Kep’s”) was the scene of the British-Hessian landing on Manhattan (a.k.a. York Island), which caused a panic-stricken retreat among the defending Americans.

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.

Phoenix and Rose Rejoin the British Fleet

With the Americans trying to block up the channel of the river, and having already been through two attacks by American galleys and fire ships, Captains Parker and Wallace, of His Majesty’s Ships Phoenix and Rose, decided it was time to call it quits; they would leave the Hudson River and head back to friendly territory. At 5:00 in the morning on August 18, 1776, they weighed anchor and set sail down the river, passing through the obstacles that the Americans had sunk in the river. American artillerymen fired at them, and they fired back, but hardly any damage was done. An American chaplain heard the noise and wondered what was going on:

Whew — ! What means this roaring above us? — Crack! Crack! Crack! What can this cracking mean! — It is the upper Battery contending with the Ships coming down the River.
Just a Quarter of an hour before seven in the morning the firing begun. At seven precisely they were abreast of the grand Battery at New-York. They kept over as near Powles Hook as they could, in Order to be as far as possible from the York Batteries. Before they were down so low as the grand Battery at New-York, & then quite down to the Fleet, as they passed by the Fire from Governors Island, & Red-Hook, we had them in perfect View. The Morning is rainy, the Wind at North East & Violent, so that they passed briskly, tho’ the Ebb was quite expended before they were past Red-Hook. For about four Minutes the firing was really tremendous! This was the Time while the Ships were passing between the grand Battery & Governors-Island; they were then sailing in the midst of a perpetual Blaze! — The lower Batteries at New-York; the Batteries over at Powles-Hook; the Gallies which lay between New-York & Governors Island; & all the Cannon on Governors Island, were all, like incessant Thunders, rattling on them! The Phoenix was ahead of the Rose a Mile & a half, or more; & the two Tenders were a Mile behind the Rose; Both the Ships fired briskly, on the Town & Batteries, but without much Effect, as their Pass was so transient. Our Lodging is on the Shore in Range with Governors-Island, at which the Ships fired bitterly, but we saw no Balls come quite ashore, tho’ great Numbers struck the Water between the Island & us. When they were past Red-Hook they clued [i.e., hauled] up their Sails & scudded away proudly to the Fleet under only a Main Top Sail each! Thus the British Navy triumphs: And that Daemon Wallace [captain of the Rose], is, no Doubt, elated with his present Security.
But let the Traitors dare to tread the Land! Let us stand on equal Ground, & we defy even British Prowess.

By 8:00, the ships had rejoined the rest of the British fleet and were safely anchored off Staten Island.

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 God of This World Has Blinded the Mind”

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”.

Sources

The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence, p. 171.
“General Orders, 9 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-05-02-0176. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 5, 16 June 1776 – 12 August 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 245–247.]