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Upwards of 20 Batteaus All in a Body Made a Fine Appearance Coming Down the River, and Must Be Very Mortifying to Those Motionless at a Little Distance”

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Upwards of 20 Batteaus All in a Body Made a Fine Appearance Coming Down the River, and Must Be Very Mortifying to Those Motionless at a Little Distance” “upwards of 20 Batteaus all in a Body made a fine Appearance coming down the River, and must be very mortifying to those Motionless at a little Distance” Water Trails of the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail in the Hudson River Valley in 1781 and 1782 A Historical Overview and Resource Inventory Project Historian Robert A. Selig, Ph.D. Sponsoring Organization Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Project Director Scott Keller Executive Director, Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Ellen von Karajan Executive Director, Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail – USA 2020 The report is in the Public Domain For additions/corrections/suggestions please contact the author at [email protected] For additional copies of this report please contact: Scott Keller Executive Director Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area 625 Broadway - 4th Floor Albany, NY 12207 P: (518)473-3835 [email protected] The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area is managed by the Hudson River Valley Greenway: Hudson River Valley Greenway 625 Broadway - 4th Floor Albany, NY 12207 P: (518)473-3835 [email protected] Removal of artifacts from archaeological and historical sites identified in this survey can be harmful to the historical record of the site and may be illegal. Unauthorized collecting of archaeological artifacts from public land in state or federal ownership is prohibited. For further guidance, contact the New York Department of Historic Resources. 2 Table of Contents 1) Acknowledgements 4 2) Purpose, Goals and Methodology 5 3) The Hudson River Valley in the Campaign of 1781 9 a) Continental Army Movements on the Hudson between West Point and Albany from early March to mid-July 1781 10 b) Concentration of Allied Forces in Greenburgh and early Acquisition of Watercraft 17 c) The role of the Hudson River in the Ambush of Loyalist forces on 3 July 1781 23 d) Naval activity on the Hudson River, 6 July – 16 August 1781 35 e) The crossing at Dobbs Ferry, 18/19 August 1781 46 f) The crossing at King’s Ferry, 20 - 26 August 1781 52 4) The Celebratory Encampment of September 1782 62 a) The Return of the Continental Army 62 b) The Return of the French Army 66 c) The Franco-American Encampment, 17-23 September 1782 70 5) Inventory of Sites and Resources 75 6) A Note on Women and Children in the Continental and French Armies 116 7) A Note on Non-White Soldiers in the Continental and French Armies 124 8) A Note on the Place of Non-White Soldiers in the New York Line Regiments and in the New York Militia 127 9) Conclusion 143 10) Bibliography 144 3 Acknowledgements Watching the First New York Regiment approach Dobbs Ferry in the morning of 13 August 1781, the “upwards of 20 Batteaus all in a Body made a fine Appearance coming down the River, and must be very mortifying to those Motionless at a little Distance”, wrote Sergeant-Major John Hawkins of Moses Hazen’s Canadian Regiment into his diary that day. Those “Mationless at a little distance” were a small flotilla of British naval vessels watching the arrival and debarkation of American forces and their march to the Town of Greenburgh, where Generals Washington and the comte de Rochambeau were assembling an impressive military force for the siege of New York City. The waterway of the Hudson River as the fastest and easiest mode of transportation for large numbers of men and large amounts of material formed an integral component of the campaign planning of General Washington and Rochambeau. It could be used as an avenue of approach for surprise attacks and provide cover and concealment, it could be integrated into the allied or British defensive lines hindering the approach of the enemy, but it could also be an obstacle difficult to cross and re-cross for one’s own thousands of officers and men, their artillery pieces and hundreds of wagons and draft animals. During the War of Independence, the Hudson River fulfilled all of these functions, but never more so than in the summer of 1781. I am grateful to Ms Ellen von Karajan, Executive Director of Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail Association for submitting a grant application to the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area for funds to study, for the first time, the crucial role the Hudson played in 1781, and for administering the grant. Researching and writing of this report would, however, have been impossible without the support of Mr. Scott Keller, Executive Director, Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, whose office approved the application and provided the funding for this study. My thanks go also to the outside readers of the draft whose recommendations were integrated into the final draft. Robert A. Selig, PhD. Holland, MI 49423 19 October 2020 the 239th Anniversary of the Victory at Yorktown 4 Purpose, Goals and Methodology The purpose of the project is to compile an inventory of historical, cultural, and natural sites and resources in the Hudson River Valley between Albany and Fort Washington with a view toward their integration into the federally designated Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail (WaRo). Section 5204 of Public Law 111-11, the Omnibus Public Land Management Bill, signed by President Barack Obama on 30 March 2009, amended the National Trails System Act by establishing WaRo as a National Historic Trail. The legislation defines WaRo as “a corridor of approximately 600 miles following the route taken by the armies of General George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, between Newport, Rhode Island, and Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781 and 1782”.1 This definition takes into consideration the fact that the deployment of allied forces to Yorktown in the summer of 1781 as well as the return of the Continental Army in December 1781, and of French forces in September 1782, occurred in an almost 700-mile long “corridor” that contained a network of interconnected land and water routes, of which the Hudson River was the most important. This report seeks to 1. link multiple heritage sites thematically and geographically through their relationship to the Campaign of 1781, and the reunion of the allied Franco-American armies in September 1782 in the Hudson River Valley. This list includes, but is not limited to, sites such as Bear Mountain State Park, Fort Montgomery State Historic Site, Knox Headquarters State Historic Site, National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, the Old Dutch Church at Sleepy Hollow, Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site, West Point Museum, Van Cortlandt Manor, and Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site. 2. lay the groundwork for encouraging recreational activities in the Hudson River Valley area through a future Revolutionary War-themed Boater’s Guide. 3. stimulate local as well as national and international tourist interest in the War of Independence, in the United States and in France, by promoting the Hudson River Valley as a tourist destination. 4. fill a gap in funding for interpretation by enabling an emphasis on identifying local and minority participation in the early phases of the Yorktown Campaign and their role in the crossing of the Hudson River in August 1781. 5. expand awareness of Hudson River Valley sites with the Google/WAZE Maps feature 1 For the legislative history and text see https://w3r-us.org/w3r-us/legislation-history/ , and here http://w3r-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Final-legislation.pdf . For a delineation of the routes through the State of New York see my The Washington‐Rochambeau Revolutionary Route in the State of New York, 1781‐1782. An Historical and Architectural and Survey (New York, 2001). 5 This report is not meant to provide a history of the American War of Independence in the Hudson River Valley. Neither does it discuss the historical background and reasons for the presence of French forces along the Hudson River in 1781 or address the military and political importance of New York City in the war. These and similar aspects are covered in monograph such as Otto Hufeland’s Westchester County during the American Revolution,2 Barnet Schecter’s, The Battle for New York,3 George C. Daughan’s Revolution on the Hudson,4 and the masterful study by Todd W. Braisted on the “Grand Forage” of 1778.5 Similarly there are numerous studies on the role of the Hudson River in British war plans in 1777 which led to their defeat at Saratoga in October 1777.6 It is also not an inventory of all historic sites or cultural and natural resources on either side of the Hudson. Many of the sites display historical markers and information kiosks erected over year and decades. Listing all of them would go far beyond the scope of this work; markers are therefore only mentioned if they identify a site (such as a house) that is no longer in existence. Besides identifying resources this report focuses on sites with connections to the strategies developed and activities unfolding during the weeks prior to the crossing of the Hudson on multiple locations between 17 and 26 August 1781 following the decision of 14 August 1781 to deploy to Virginia. Inconspicuous disengagement from British forces in and around Greenburgh in Westchester County, a speedy crossing of the Hudson and the march into and across New Jersey constituted the most critical initial phase of the march to Yorktown.7 The concentration of the Continental and French armies followed by the crossing of the Hudson at multiple locations via locally-supplied boats and barges by over 6,000 Franco- American troops (along with horses, supplies, wagons, weaponry, gunpowder, ammunition, and other equipment) represents a major logistical achievement.
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