CHAPTER V

FIGHTING BEGINS IN THE COUNTY

1776

Roads from New York into Westchester County. The British arrive. Battles of Long Island and Harlem Plains. Washington falls back on Fort Washington. Forts erected on Westchester side of Harlem River.  The first submarine and its end.  Washington's undisciplined army, discouraged by the defeat at Brooklyn is faced by the British veterans of the army and navy. The British attempt to cut off Washington by landing a force at Throgg's Neck. Skirmish at Westchester causeway. British checked. Remain six days. Pass over to Pell's Point. Again checked by Glover's Brigade.  Washington begins his retreat to White Plains.  Col. Rufus Putnam's reconnaissance. Washington reaches White Plains on October 21, 1776.  Orders attack on Rogers at Mamaroneck. 

     NEW YORK CITY proper at that time did not extend much above the present Chambers Street, and from it ran Bowery Lane into the "Road to Boston and Albany" at about 17th Street and Broadway.  Here it was called Bloomingdale Road and further up King's Bridge Road. This continued on over the Harlem River across the present Kingsbridge, just beyond which it divided, one branch continuing north, became the "Post Road to Albany" and the other going east, the "Post Road to Boston" the latter crossing the Bronx over "William's" bridge through Eastchester and over the Hutchinson River to the State line. Just before the King's Bridge Road from New

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[Fold Out Map Showing Area Between October 12 - 24, 1776]

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York reached "King's" bridge, a road branched from it to the east passing over another bridge, called "Dyckman's" later "Farmer's" bridge, beyond which it again divided, one branch going south to Morrisania and one east crossing the Bronx River at Delancey's Mill continuing through Westchester Village to Throg's Neck. All this territory and all these Roads were open to the British forces who then were on their ships in the harbor and on Staten Island. The obvious point of landing the British forces, if they intended to attack New York City, was the lower end of the present Borough of Brooklyn, to which Washington had sent General Greene for the purpose of fortifying the high grounds in that vicinity. 

     On August 22nd the British landed and on the 27th the Battle of Long Island was fought, followed by the American retreat over the East River and the fortunate escape of their army to the Harlem Heights. On September 17th the Battle of Harlem Plains was fought, the success of which, served in a measure to restore the confidence of the army, which had been badly shattered by the hasty retreat from Brooklyn. At this time Washington's headquarters were at the Roger Morris House, now known as the Jumel Mansion, overlooking the Harlem River at 162nd Street, where he remained until October 21st.  His army was spread over the upper end of Manhattan Island between the present 145th Street and Kingsbridge, at that time some eight miles above the City of New York.  At the lower end were three lines of earthworks facing the British general Earl Percy and north of him was the plateau now known as Washington Heights. This was about four miles long and averaged about three-quarters of a mile in width, with a circumference of about ten miles; on three sides this plateau was protected by steep and

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rough declivities leading down to the Harlem and Hudson Rivers. On its highest point Fort Washington had been built covering between three and four acres but was not provided with shelters nor a well, so that it could not stand a siege. At various points around the main fort were a number of minor works. In Port Washington was a great quantity of almost irreplaceable stores.

     While the position of the fort was strong, it was exposed on the Hudson River side, to attacks from the guns of the British men-of-war and on the north and east by artillery from the Westchester hills on which Washington had ordered the construction of eight forts some months before, 1 most of which however were still unfinished; the cannon for these, had been painfully restored after being spiked by the tories in the January previous, lay close by at the Valentine House. 1 These forts began at Spuyten Duyvil in the Town of Yonkers and extended around the Westchester side of the Harlem River as far as the present University Heights. 2  The strongest, named Fort Independence, and afterward Number Four by the British, was located between the old Boston and the Albany Post Roads on the west side of the present Giles Avenue about one thousand feet north of where it intersects Sedgwick Avenue, just within the old line of Yonkers.  The four below were in the Town of West Farms. Two others in this chain, one a small one, called the Negro Fort because it was garrisoned by a company of Negroes, was on the south side of the old Boston Post Road about a quarter of a mile west of the Valentine House and a stronger one on the hill in the lower end of the present Woodlawn Cemetery commanded the road passing over
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  1  Washington's Writings, Vol. IV, 420.

  2  Edsall's History of Kingsbridge.

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Williamsbridge.  1  The two last named were begun early in October and not completed until the British had landed behind the Americans on October 12th.

     Opposite Fort Washington, on the Jersey side of the Hudson, was Fort Lee and between them a number of hulks, loaded with stone had been sunk in the river to prevent the enemy's ships from passing. But the British sailed by the forts through the unblocked spaces near the shore, although fired on by the batteries, quickly demonstrating the failure of the obstruction. 

     On one of these occasions, on October 9, 1776, they drove some American boats which had come down the river with supplies, as far as Dobbs Ferry where they captured a schooner and sank a sloop

which had on board the machine invented by and under the direction of a Mr. Bushnell, intended to blow up the British ships. This machine was worked under water. It conveyed a magazine of powder which was to be fixed under the keel of the ship, then freed from the machine, and left with clockwork going, which was to produce fire when the machine had got out of the way. Mr. Bushnell had great confidence in its success, and had made several experiments which seemed to give him countenance, but its fate was truly a contrast to its design.  2

     The above is a description of the first submarine. It was built near the inventor's home at Stonington, Connecticut and brought down Long Island Sound to New Rochelle.  From here it was carried overland to the Hudson and taken to New York. After several unsuccessful attempts to blow up one of the large British ships in that
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  1  Heath, 67.                    2  Heath, 69. 

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harbor, it was brought back to Dobbs Ferry where its career ended. It marked the beginning of a method of naval warfare that was rejected a few years later as "unfair" by the commanding officers of the navies of both England and France, when Robert Fulton tried to sell them one he had invented. In its modern form, the destructive power of this engine of war has been terribly demonstrated. Its earliest prototype was destroyed in Westchester County. 1

     The period between the retreat from Long Island on August 27th, and the Battle of White Plains on October 28th was one of almost despairing anxiety to the commander-in-chief and one, during which the fate of the army under him, hung in the balance every day. His feelings are reflected in the appeal to his men made in general orders. 

     As the enemy seems now to be endeavoring to strike some stroke before the close of the campaign, the General most earnestly conjures both officers and men, if they have any love for their country and concern for its liberties, and regard to the safety of their parents, wives, children and countrymen, that they act with bravery and spirit becoming the cause in which they are engaged; and to animate them so to do, there is every advantage of ground and situation, so that if we do not conquer it must be our own fault. How much better will it be to die honorably, fighting in the field, than to return home covered with shame and disgrace, even if the cruelty of the enemy should allow you to return. A brave and gallant behavior for a few days, and patience under some little hardships, may save our country and enable us to go into winter quarters with safety and honor. 2
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  1  Life of Gen. O.H. Parsons. 

  2  Washington's General Orders, Oct. 13, 1776. 

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he had sent two vessels up the Hudson as far as Verplanck's Point, which did not return for three weeks, and on August 27th two others sailed up the Sound as far as Pell's Point and City Island. 1

     On August 28, I776 Colonel Joseph Drake writes to the State Convention from New Rochelle:

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of videttes from Throg's Neck to Morrisania to whom the following order, minutely detailing their duties, had been given by General Heath;

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from which the rear of the American army could be quickly reached.

     A small party of British did land at Randall's Island, just opposite Morrisania. An attempt to surprise and capture them was made on September 22nd, but failed due to a faulty arrangement and resulted in the loss of 14 killed and wounded, among the former being Major Thomas Henley, an aide of General Heath's, who begged to be permitted to accompany the expedition as a volunteer.  1 

     .The point most available for the landing of a large body of British was Throg's Neck, which projects about two miles into Long Island Sound and from which a road led directly to King's Bridge.  At the village of Westchester this road ran over a causeway, which had been the dam for Heathcote's Mill on the westerly side of Westchester Creek.  It had two openings one for the overflow and another which formed the sluiceway from the millpond, both of which were planked over, the whole forming a bridge which it was necessary to cross, in order to reach the road leading to King's Bridge. The importance of this point was recognized by General Heath and Colonel Hand when they visited the neighborhood on October 3rd; they found a great pile of cordwood on the westerly side of the causeway parallel to the creek, which seemed as if designed to form a protection to the twenty riflemen whom they posted there with orders to defend the causeway and to take up the planks over the openings if the enemy approached. Further east, about where the Pelham Parkway now crosses the creek, there was a fording place, at which another force was placed to prevent the enemy from reaching the road which led to Eastchester. 
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  1  Heath, 64-6.

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The command of the men at the woodpile was given to Major William S. Smith, who afterward married the daughter of President John Adams and lived for some time at the Halsey house in Eastchester. He had been wounded at Harlem Heights and was convalescing at Westchester, when he asked for the command of the riflemen at the mill.  1 

     On the afternoon of the 11th, Washington visited and approved the preparations made for a defense and suggested strengthening them in the event of a British landing, little knowing that at the very moment the latter were preparing to leave Kips Bay for that purpose.

     The morning of the 12th was warm and a heavy fog concealed the water from those on land. It was sometime after sunrise that the fog lifted, revealing to the astonished gaze of the few boatmen at the water's edge, a double line of barges and a man-of-war between them and Old Ferry Point opposite, crowded with red-coated soldiers, horses and artillery, while as the fog rose, still others appeared as far south as Hell-gate. Alarms were immediately sent to the detachments stationed at the causeway and ford who at once prepared to dispute the enemy's passage.

     As the fog lifted, the British landed four thousand men in a cove near the present C. P. Huntington place where the road ran to the water's edge, who at once formed into regiments which marched over the Throg's Neck Road, toward the causeway, a strong detachment filing off at the Pelham Road and continuing on toward the road that led to Eastchester over the ford.  The rapidity of their movements, showed that
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  1  Incidents in Westchester Preceding the Battle of White Plains, F.W. Jackson, p. 14.

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they had been planned with a knowledge of the lay of the land. The diary of General Howe's adjutant general, Col. Stephen Kemble, 1  records that Isaac Wilkins, the former member of Assembly from Westchester had been consulted before the expedition was undertaken and indicates the probable source of their information. 

     The unopposed progress up to this point, had increased the confidence of the British. They rapidly marched down the hill to the causeway only to find that the planks had been removed from the bridges and to be met by a volley from the twenty-five riflemen concealed behind the innocent looking piles of cordwood on the other side of the creek. This unexpected attack threw the front ranks into confusion and compelled the whole body to retreat to the top of the hill. Here they built a substantial earth work from which they began a fire against the American position, some of their shots falling into the Village of Westchester. It is said that one of them cracked the bell in the tower of St. Peter's Church, while others wounded a number of the inhabitants who had gathered there for protection.

     The detachment which had gone up to occupy the Eastchester Road also found the ford guarded by a body of Americans, who offered such a determined resistance to their passage that they also were compelled to retreat to the high ground.

     As soon as Heath heard of the British landing, he reinforced both points and before evening between fifteen and eighteen hundred men with artillery were opposed to the British, whose numbers by that time had been increased by a large number of men and guns brought up from Hell-gate in forty-two vessels, including nine ships of war.
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  1  Kemble's Journal, I, 92. 

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     The detention for several hours, of four thousand British provided with ample artillery, by twenty-five Americans behind piles of loose cordwood, demonstrates not only the bravery of these riflemen, but the weakness of the British command. The possession of the road to King's Bridge would not necessarily have meant the destruction of the American army at once, but the probability of its escape was remote, and success for the British would have ended the war. The distance from the Westchester causeway to King's Bridge is only about four miles, and Washington's army was hardly nearer to it.  Even if the latter had succeeded in crossing the Harlem River in advance of the enemy, he could not successfully have defended himself against Lord Percy in his rear and General Howe on his flank. In the wild and rocky country, traversed by narrow and widely separated roads, such a march, for which he was totally unprepared, could only have ended in disaster. It is true that a large part of the American army confronted Howe at this point, and that the surface of the country with its multitude of stone walls, which lined the roads and divided the fields furnished an excellent protection to riflemen against an invading force. But this was the only available defense of the Americans.

     Even if it appeared to Howe that a movement toward King's Bridge might not be successful, there still remained the alternative which he adopted after six days of useless delay, of moving over to Pell's Point, about three miles further north--where at this time there were no American troops--then rapidly crossing to the Bronx and beyond at Eastchester and obstructing the passage of the Americans there. Instead he remained at Westchester, where he used the Ferris house, still standing in the Country Club

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     Washington was well aware of the danger to which he was exposed and had advocated the total evacuation of Manhattan Island, 1  but the council of General officers whom at that time he was required to consult, decided to hold the position, influenced no doubt by the wish of Congress expressed in a resolution passed on October 1I, 1776 that: 

     . . .  by every art and by whatever expense, to obstruct effectually the navigation of the river between Fort Washington and Mount Constitution (Fort Lee).

The landing of a large force of the enemy on Throg's Neck had justified Washington's view and it now became necessary to retreat quickly over the only line open, before it was obstructed by the enemy. Three British men-of-war, the Phoenix, Roebuck and Tartar had passed through the obstructions below and were at Tarrytown ready to land men and arms and to encourage the tory element to rise against the Americans.

     On the morning of October I6th, Washington accompanied by his generals, made a reconnaissance of Pell's Point, to which, as deserters from the British army had informed him, Howe intended to move his forces. On his return to headquarters, he calIed a council of war, before which he laid the question:

Whether, (it having appeared that the obstructions in the North River have proved insufficient, and that the enemys whole force is now in our rear, on Frogs' Point,) it is now
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  1  Washington's Writings, IV, 155. 

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deemed possible, in our present situation, to prevent the enemy from cutting off the communication with the country and compelling us to fight them, at all disadvantages, or surrender prisoners at discretion? 1 

with only a single dissenting voice the Council decided that:

     --it is not possible to prevent the communication from being cut off; and that one of the consequences mentioned in the question must certainly follow.

but in deference to Congress agreed:  "that Fort Washington be retained as long as possible."

     The next day, the 17th, orders were issued for the retreat, and the American van was just beginning to leave King's Bridge, when Howe's army landed at Pell's Point on the 18th. 

     General Heath had command of the American troops in Westchester County up to the arrival of General Charles Lee on October I4th and was requested to retain the direction until Lee could familiarize himself with his new surroundings.  The command consisted of three brigades, under Brigadier Generals Nixon, McDougal and James Clinton; in the absence of the latter, his brigade was commanded by Colonel John Glover. Lee's headquarters were at Valentine's Hill with Nixon's brigade.

     In anticipation of a possible landing of the enemy at Pell's Neck, Glover had, on the 16th or 17th of October, been sent to guard the roads leading from that point to the rear of the Americans. He encamped near the Boston Post Road a little north of the village of Eastchester.

     A day later Washington's army began its laborious
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  1  Washington's Writings, IV, 155.

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retreat through the hills west of the Bronx. In the absence of a sufficient number of wagons and horses, its progress was exceedingly slow. The columns were strung out on the narrow farm roads between the high hills, and were encumbered by baggage wagons and the artillery, much of which had to be moved forward in relays, the wagons after a day's journey depositing their loads in the care of guards, who threw up light protecting works, until they were moved forward by the next relay.  The progress was so slow that Washington himself did not reach Valentine's Hill, less than a half day's march from Pelham Neck, until the 21st, three days after Howe had landed at that place. An attack on the American army in the confusion incident to such a movement, could only have ended in a rout and the only force that stood between it and such a catastrophe were the 1100 men fit for duty, of the four small regiments, that constituted Glover's brigade. The location of the latter's camp was well chosen between the Old Boston Post Road and Columbus Avenue in the present city of Mt. Vernon.  The Boston Post Road at that time ran along the edge of the marsh and made a sharp bend at that point, still plainly visible, which carried it some 600 to 700 feet north of its present location, and from it rose the steep hill which still exists. This not only commanded the Post Road, which was the only road from New Rochelle, for several thousand feet, but also the bridge over the Hutchinson River, while it was within cannon shot of Secor's Hill and Wolf's Lane, which was the only road from Pell's Point. The salt marsh and Hutchinson River made the highways the only means of approach by an enemy.  Behind him Columbus Avenue, then known as the Road from Eastchester to White Plains, provided him with a

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means of retreat to the main army which was moving north a few miles to the West.

     At one o'clock on the morning of the eighteenth of October, General Howe began the movement of his army from Westchester. The van of the British force consisting of Light Infrantry, Grenadiers and Some German Jâgers embarked on the south side Throg's Neck on flatboats and moved around the point into Eastchester Bay, while the main body was ferried across Hutchinson's River, landing near the Shore Road that still exists.

     A very excellent manuscript map, made at the time by Charles Blaskowitz, a British engineer, entitled "A Survey of Frog's Neck and the Rout of the British Army to the 24th of October 1776 under Command of His Excellency The Honorable William Howe General and Commander in Chief of His Majestys Forces &c &c &c" is in the Library of Congress and gives in detail and with remarkable accuracy a sketch of the country, the location of the camps and the movements of the British army from October 12th to October 24th. It is probably the earliest war map of this area on either side and is far superior to the map of Sauthier published in London in 1777, which shows the landing of the British at the outer end of Pell's Neck that has been used by all the writers on this period. Sauthier's is a general map and was not intended to give exact detail, but its glaring errors, even in a large way, makes its use excusable only in the absence of any other. It shows no roads in the town of Pelham and only one in Westchester. 

     The Blaskowitz map shows all the roads as they existed at the time both in the town of Westchester where Howe landed on the 12th as well as those in Pelham to which he transferred his army on the 18th. In Westchester he

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shows Pelham Road leading to a point on the shore of Eastchester Bay opposite to the present Shore Road and he shows the latter nearly as it is today with the "Split- Rock Road" branching from it. It delineates Pell's Point quite correctly but without any road--showing the marsh just as it is today and the place where the small boats effected the "Landing of the 18th October 1776" at the present Shore Road. All the roads shown on the Blaskowitz map exist today.

     General Howe in his Dispatch of Lord Germaine, November 30, 1776, says: 1  "On the 18th several corps reembarked in flat-boats and passing around Frogs Neck landed at Pells Point at the mouth of the Hutchinson River; after which the main body crossed the mouth of that river to the same place. "  The point of landing involves the location of the ensuing battle. To have landed at the outer end of Pell's Point, as shown on the Sauthier map, would have required an unnecessary march of a mile and a half over a country without roads and the passage of the men, baggage and cannon through a marsh which was and is today, clearly visible from the water. Upon landing, the British at once sent forward a small force which proceeded about one and a half miles before it met the Americans in a preliminary skirmish.

     For the details of the development of the battle there is practically but one contemporary authority and that is the letter of the commanding officer on the American side, Col. Glover, dated Mile Square October 22, 1776, to an unknown correspondent which was published in a number of newspapers of the day. This, together with some memoranda in the diary of President Stiles, afterward president of Yale College, who was a chaplain in the army,
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  1  Force, 5th Series, III, 921.

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the dispatch of General Howe, already quoted and the Blaskowitz map is substantially all the contemporary information available. Nearly all the historians treat the matter very briefly with the exception of H.B. Dawson in his Westchester County, New York, During the Revolution, originally written for Scharf's History of Westchester County, and William Abbatt in The Battle of Pell's Point.

     Both writers base the location of the battle on Sauthier's incorrect map. Mr. Abbatt in locating the first clash, intimates that the estimate of distances made by Colonel Glover was faulty. Accepting the landing place shown on the above map would compel the British column to pass through tide marshes that still exist and are shown on the map accompanying Mr. Abbatt's book. Stone walls, which played so important a part in the battle are not generally built on marshes or salt-meadows where there are no stones to build them with. Even today the salt-meadows extend over the whole of this territory except where the roads have been raised above them and the first upland begins several hundred feet west of the Harlem River Branch Road on the Split Rock Road.  The maps of the United States Geological Survey show the topography with great accuracy and detail and a comparison of the ground with these maps today, will show that the original topography, except the filled-in highways, still exists.

     With this description of the positions of the opposing forces it is easy to follow the account of the battle in Colonel Glover's letter: 

     You no doubt heard the enemy landed all their army on Frog's Point the 11th instant, leaving only twelve hundred

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men in York, and there remained until the 18th which was Friday. I arose early in the morning and went on the hill with my glass, and discovered a number of ships in the Sound under way; in a very short time saw the boats, upwards of two hundred sail, all manned and formed in four grand divisions. I immediately sent off Major Lee express to General Lee, who was about three miles distant, and without waiting his orders, turned out the brigade I have the honour to command, and very luckily for us I did, as it turned out afterwards, the enemy having stole a march one and a half miles on us. I marched down to oppose their landing with about seven hundred and fifty men and three field pieces, but had not gone more than half the distance before I met their advanced guard, about thirty men; upon which I detached a Captains' guard of forty men to meet them, while I could dispose of the main body to  advantage. This plan succeeded very well, as you will hereafter see. The enemy had the advantage of us, being posted on an eminence which commanded the ground we had to march over. However, I did the best I could and disposed of my little party to the best of my Judgment: Colonel Reed's on the left of the road Colonel Shepherd's in the rear and to the right of him, Colonel Baldwin's to the rear and on the right of Shepherd's, my own regiment commanded by Captain Courtes (Colonel Johonnot being sick, and Major Lee being Brigade-Major) bringing up the rear with the three field-pieces of artillery.  Thus disposed of I rode forward . . . to the advance guard, and ordered them to advance, who did, within fifty yards, and received their fire without the loss of a man; we returned it, and fell four of them, and kept the ground until we exchanged five rounds. Their body being much larger than mine, and having two men killed and several wounded, which weakened my party, the enemy pushed forward not more than thirty yards distant, I ordered a retreat which was masterly well done by the Captain that commanded the party.

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The enemy gave a shout and advanced; Colonel Reed's, laying under cover of a stone wall undiscovered till they came within thirty yards, then rose up and gave them the whole charge; the enemy broke, and retreated for the main body to come up.  In this situation we remained for about an hour and a half, when they appeared about four thousand, with seven pieces of artillery; they now advance, keeping up a constant fire of artillery; we kept our post under cover of the stone wall before mentioned till they came within fifty yards of us, rose up and gave them the whole charge of the battalion; they halted and returned the fire with showers of musketry and cannon balls. We exchanged seven rounds at this post, retreated, and formed in the rear of Colonel Shepherd and on his left; they then shouted and pushed on till they came on Shepherd, posted behind a fine double stone wall; he rose up and fired by grand divisions, by which he kept up a constant fire, and maintained his part until he exchanged seventeen rounds with them, and caused them to retreat several times, once in particular so far that a soldier of Colonel Shepherd's leaped over the wall and took a hat and canteen off a Captain that lay dead on the ground they retreated from.

     However, their body being so much larger than ours, we were, for the preservation of the men, forced to retreat, and formed in the rear of Baldwins regiment; they then came up to Baldwin's, but the ground being much in their favor, we could do but little before we retreated to the bottom of the hill, and had to pass through a run of water, (the bridge I had taken up before) and then marched up a hill the opposite side of the creek where I left my artillery; the ground being rough and much broken I was afraid to risk it over.  The enemy halted, and played away their artillery at us, and we at them, till night, without any damage on our side, and but very little on theirs.  At dark we came off, and marched about three miles, leading to Dobb's Ferry, after fighting all

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     As before pointed out, Glover had encamped with his brigade consisting of four regiments numbering together a little more than 1100 men on the slope of the hill between the old Boston Post Road and Columbus Avenue in Mt. Vernon.  The "hill" from which he watched the landing of the enemy with his "glass" was at the eastern end of his camp at what is now known as McClellan Avenue.  It overlooks the valley of Hutchinson River and with a glass on a clear October morning Eastchester Bay and the Sound beyond was easily visible. Glover says:

     I marched down to oppose their landing with about 750 men and three field pieces but had not gone more than half the distance before I met their advanced guard, about thirty men; the enemy had the advantage of us, being posted on an eminence.

The only "eminence" between Prospect Hill proper and Pell's Point is about 800 yards north of the Harlem River Branch Road.  It is about one and a half miles from the point of the British landing, is about "half the distance" between the American camp, corresponds with the place indicated on the Blaskowitz map and agrees with Glover's estimates of distances. In view of these corroborating authorities it seems safe to assume that this point was the location of the first clash between the advanced guards of both sides and it therefore indicates the far-
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  1  Force, 5th Series, Vol. II, pp. 1188-9. 

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thest point reached by the Americans in their advance toward the British on Pell's Point. The boulder on the road between Bartow and City Island, which has been named "Glover's Rock" and carries a tablet commemorating the battle, is about one and a half miles from the nearest point where there was any fighting and about a mile east of the Shore Road, over which the British marched to their first attack on the Americans, a mile further on.

     Glover sent a captain and forty men forward to within fifty yards of the British advance guard on the "eminence."  While this small body held the enemy, Glover disposed his regiments behind stone fences on the upper or "left" side of the road.  The course of the battle can be easily followed from this point in Glover's straightforward narrative. Colonel Reed was probably posted near the Split Rock and Colonel Shepherd near the top of Prospect Hill; up to this point the Americans being on the easterly and uphill side of the road were at an advantage, as the land slopes rapidly to the west. This continued until the top of the hill was reached, but when Colonel Shepherd was forced to fall back on Colonel Baldwin, who was on lower ground the conditions were reversed and the Americans retreated down Secor's hill over Wolf's Lane to the Boston Post Road and through Hutchinson's Creek up the hill to their morning camp, where they had left the rest of their artillery.  The British did not follow them down the hill but both sides kept up an artillery fire without doing much damage. After dark the Americans marched about "3 miles leading to Dobb's Ferry" over the present Columbus Avenue to the present village of Tuckahoe.

     If, as this description and the British contemporary map indicates, the battle was fought between the "emi-

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hence" on the Split Rock Road and the top of Prospect Hill at its junction with the present Boston (Turnpike) Road, the designation of "the Battle of PelFs Point" is not strictly correct and a better place for a memorial of this action would be the "Split Rock" itself, which was probably spattered with the bullets from both sides at the height of .the fight.

     Colonel Glover reports that he had eight men killed and thirteen wounded.  General Howe in his "Dispatch to Lord Germaine" reports that "three soldiers were killed and twenty wounded." As his reports relate to British soldiers only, it indicates that by far the greater part of the attacking force were Hessians, whose reports of casualties were made direct to their own governments and have not been published. President Stiles, in his diary, estimates the enemies' loss at 140 to 150, while others place it as high as 800 or 1000.  The American force that took active part in the fight was between four and five hundred and such a body firing from behind stone fences with their muskets resting on them at fifty yards must have caused severe losses to the 4000 that were crowded in the narrow  road below them.

     The retreat of Glover over the Bronx on the night of the 18th, left the eastern part of the county open to the British. This river, easily fordable at many places and only a few yards wide, was not a serious obstacle to the forward movement of an army and as none of General Lee's troops, who was in the advance at that time, were north of Valentine's Hill, a prompt pursuit over Ward's Bridge near the village of Tuckahoe three miles above the American position, would have placed the British army astride the former's line of retreat, probably without a contest. Instead, Howe kept his army idly encamped

along the Boston Post Road from Eastchester village to New Rochelle. Here he was reinforced by two regiments of dragoons on the 20th, when he extended his centre about two miles toward White Plains over the present North Avenue; and early the next day, sent the "Queen's Rangers," a tory regiment under Colonel Robert Rogers to Mamaroneck, from whence the Americans posted there quickly retreated, "not for want of numbers, but for the want of a good officer to lead them." 

     While Howe was thus leisurely arranging his forces, the American army was laboriously continuing its progress northward over what was an unknown country to the officers in command. Washington had no maps, nor did he or any of the officers of his staff possess any knowledge of the country. At the suggestion of a committee of the New York Provincial Congress, he had directed that the army stores be taken to White Plains on information that he had no means of verifying. In this utter darkness, he ordered his chief engineer Colonel Rufus Putnam, on the 19th, to make a reconnaissance of the territory through which he was sending his army, as well as the location of White Plains, its destination.  Putnam's report provided his chief with the first knowledge on the subject, and incidentally gives a picture of the conditions prevailing in that part of the county through which he passed:

October 19th 1776----The British landed on Pell's point and Some Skirmishing took place in the afternoon between part of Glover's Brigade & Some advance parties of the enemy neer East Chester.--the next morning by order of the general I Set out from Kingsbridge to reconnoiter there Position &c  I Set out in company with Colo Reed the adjutent general & a

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foot guard of about 20 men. When we arrived on the highths of East Chester we Saw a Small body of British neer the church, but we could obtain no intiligence, the Houses were diserted--

     Colo Reed now told me he must return to attend issuing general ordors.  I observed that we had made no discovery yet of any consequence, that if he went back I wished him to take the guard back for I chose to go alone--

     I then disguised my apperance as an officer as far as I could, and Set out on the road to White plains, however I did not then Know where White plains was, nor where the road I had taken would carry me. I had gon about 1 1/2 mile, when a road turned off to the right, I followed it perhaps 1/2 a mile & came to a house, wher I lerned from the woman that this road led to New-Rochell that the British were there & that they had a guard at a house in Sight. on this information I turned & pursued my rout toward White plains (the houses on the way all deserted) until I came with 3 or 4 mile of the place, here I discovered a house a little ahead with men about it by my glass I found they were not British Soldiers, however I approached with caution. I called for Some oats for my horse, Set down and heard there chat  Some little time, when I found they were friends of America & then I began to make the necessary enquieries--& on the whol I found that the main body of the Brittish lay neer New Rochelle.  from thence to White plains about nine mile, good road & in general level open country that at White Plains was a large quantity of Stores, with only about three hundred melitia to guard them, that the British had a detachment at Maniarneck only Six miles from White plains & from White plains only five mile to the North River, where lay five or Six of the enimies Ships & Slops, tenders &c---

     having made these discoveries I Set out on my return, the road from Wards acros the Brunx was my intended rout unless I found the Brittish there, which happly they were not, but I Saw Americans on the highths west of the Brunx who

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had arrived there after I passed up--I found it to be Lord Sterlings Division. it was now after Sunset. I gave My Lord a short accout of my discoveries took Some refreshment & Set off For head quarters, by way of Philips, at the mouth of the Sawmill river, a road I had never traveled, among tory inhabitence & in the night. I dare not enquire the way, but providence conducted me .I arrived at head Quarter neer Kings-bridge (a distance of about 10 mile) about nine oClock at night.  I found the General alone. I reported to him the discoveries I had made, with a Sketch of the country, he complained very fealingly of the Gentlemen from New York from whome he had never been able to obtain a plan of the country--that from there information he had ordored the stores to White plains as a place of Securety . .  .

     I had but a Short time to refresh myself and & Horse when I received a Letter from the General with ordors to proceed immediately to Lord Sterlings and I arrived at his qarter about two o Clock in the morning.

     Oct 21st I776 Lord Sterling Division Marched before daylight & we arrived at White Plains about 9 Clock A.M.--and thus was the American army saved (by an interposeing providence) from a probabal total destruction.  1

     The roads followed by Putnam, were the King's bridge Road from King's bridge to the Old Boston Post Road, through the village of Eastchester to just beyond Columbus Avenue, where at the time the Post Road made a sharp bend to the right, towards New Rochelle. This he followed as far as he dared, then returned to Columbus Avenue which he followed until it ran into the White Plains Road at the present Tuckahoe, up which he went probably as far as Scarsdale to the Varian or Morris House. He then turned back, went as far as the Ward--later the Gifford House -- and took the road going west at
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  1 Memoirs of Rufus Putnam, pp. 61- 3.

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that point to the bridge over the Bronx which he crossed to Stirling's headquarters which was on the hill opposite.  From here he took the Tuckahoe Road to the Sawmill River Road down which he went to Philipse's (Yonkers) and down the Albany Post Road (Broadway) to Kings-bridge, Washington's headquarters. On the 20th he returned to Stirling's camp and with him reached White Plains on the following day.

     The "interposeing Providence" that saved Washington's army, consisted of Colonel Hand's riflemen at the Westchester causeway and Glover's regiments on Pelham Heights, made effective by the dilatory strategy of the British general.

     On the 21st, the morning following the receipt of the report made by Colonel Putnam, Washington rode to White Plains where Lord Stirling's division had arrived before him and personally examined the ground and the important stores which had been collected there guarded by Graham's militia regiment of less than 300 men. On this same day at four o'clock in the afternoon the last American division under General Heath left the vicinity of King's Bridge, leaving Colonel Lasher with 600 men in charge of the barracks, and the stores that were left, at the evacuated camp.  Heath marched all night, passing Valentine's Hill at eight in the evening, and reaching Chatterton Hill at four in the following morning. On the 23rd Washington established his headquarters at White Plains the location of which is described by General Heath 1  as "on the plain near the cross roads"; this agrees with the statement of J.M. McDonald, 2  who in

  1  Heath, p. 75.

  2  McDonald's "Operations in 1776 before the Battle of White Plains."  MSS. in New York Historical Society.

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the forties, collected much valuable material relating to the history of Westchester County at this period at first hand from aged people who lived during the Revolution and their children. He described it as being "on Broadway near the Presbyterian Church." It probably remained here until shortly before the enemy appeared on the 28th, when it was removed to the Miller House, still standing in North Castle. 

     While at White Plains Washington was informed that the regiment of loyalists, recruited in the vicinity and commanded by the renegade Colonel Robert Rogers was encamped at Heathcote Hill in Mamaroneck.  Lord Stirling at once ordered Colonel Haslet and Major Green with seven hundred and fifty men to attempt a surprise attack on the Rangers during the following night. Unfortunately the attack was made when the sentries were being changed and the surprise was not entirely successful, but the Rangers were "very roughly handled" as one of their historians admits, quite a number being killed and wounded. As a result of the raid the Americans brought back "a pair of colours, sixty stand of arms and a variety of plunder," besides thirty-one prisoners, every one of whom was a "native of this government." The thirty-one names given in Force's American Archives, when obvious errors in spelling are corrected, confirmed the truth of the above statement. Among them was that of Frederick Davoue 1  of New Rochelle, who had acted as guide for the rangers; he was the owner of the farm of three hundred and twenty-four acres, which was later seized by the Commissioners of Forfeiture and presented by the State of New York to Thomas Paine for his services to the country. The stone homestead that stood on this
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  1  Devoe, Genealogy, p. 118.

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farm was destroyed by fire, but was replaced by Paine after the war by a cottage, which, slightly altered and moved from its original site, is still standing. The locality in addition to its interest as the home of the celebrated unbeliever, has a religious interest as well, having been the scene in the year 1771 of the earliest conversion to Methodism in New Rochelle. Davoue (now spelled Devoe) and his wife were  Presbyterians, who occasionally held meetings at their home. At one of these gatherings Joseph Pilmore, who afterward became a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, but was then riding on a Methodist circuit, was present and asked permission to make an address, which was granted. The wife of Devoe who was lying sick in an adjoining room, was so impressed by his words, that she became a convert to Methodism, dying in that faith a few days later.