THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY REVIEW A Journal of Regional Studies The Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College is supported by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Publisher Thomas S. Wermuth, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Marist College Editors Christopher Pryslopski, Program Director, Hudson River Valley Institute, Marist College Reed Sparling, Writer, Scenic Hudson Editorial Board The Hudson River Valley Review Myra Young Armstead, Professor of History, (ISSN 1546-3486) is published twice Bard College a year by the Hudson River Valley COL Lance Betros, Professor and Head, Institute at Marist College. Department of History, U.S. Military James M. Johnson, Executive Director Academy at West Point Kim Bridgford, Professor of English, Research Assistants West Chester University Poetry Center Gabrielle Albino and Conference Gail Goldsmith Michael Groth, Professor of History, Wells College Hudson River Valley Institute Susan Ingalls Lewis, Associate Professor of History, Advisory Board State University of New York at New Paltz Peter Bienstock, Chair Sarah Olson, Superintendent, Roosevelt- Barnabas McHenry, Vice Chair Vanderbilt National Historic Sites Margaret R. Brinckerhoff Dr. Frank Bumpus Roger Panetta, Professor of History, Frank J. Doherty Fordham University BG (Ret) Patrick J. Garvey H. Daniel Peck, Professor of English, Shirley M. Handel Vassar College Maureen Kangas Robyn L. Rosen, Associate Professor of History, Alex Reese Marist College Robert E. Tompkins Sr. Denise Doring VanBuren David Schuyler, Professor of American Studies, Franklin & Marshall College Business Manager Thomas S. Wermuth, Vice President for Academic Andrew Villani Affairs, Marist College, Chair Art Director David Woolner, Associate Professor of History Richard Deon & Political Science, Marist College; Senior Fellow, Roosevelt Institute, Hyde Park Copyright ©2011 by the Hudson River Valley Institute Tel: 845-575-3052 Post: The Hudson River Valley Review Fax: 845-575-3176 c/o Hudson River Valley Institute E-mail: [email protected] Marist College, 3399 North Road, Web: www.hudsonrivervalley.org Poughkeepsie, NY 12601-1387 Subscription: The annual subscription rate is $20 a year (2 issues), $35 for two years (4 issues). A one-year institutional subscription is $30. Subscribers are urged to inform us promptly of a change of address. The Hudson River Valley Review does not assume responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by the authors. ii From the Editors It’s been eight years since The Hudson River Valley Review has devoted an issue to the American Revolution, arguably the most pivotal event ever to occur in the region. Since there has been a wealth of intriguing new scholarship about the war’s impact on the valley, the time seems ripe to revisit the topic. The articles in this issue illustrate that no one living in the Hudson Valley between 1775 and 1783 escaped the Revolution. Every aspect of life—governance, the economy, even neighborly relations—was thrown into chaos by the conflict. Indeed, all that was certain was uncertainty. It held sway over everyone, from the privates in George Washington’s Continental Army to the drafters of New York’s Constitution to the farmers tending the region’s fertile fields. Perhaps most important, this issue adds a strong human dimension to the history of the war, giving names to many of the people who fought its battles or suffered on the homefront. Some, like Israel Putnam and Beverley Robinson, already are well known. But many others have been too long forgotten. Patriot or Loyalist, hero or scoundrel, they finally get their due in these pages. On the Cover: Soissonnais Regiment, July 16, 1781, by David R. Wagner, from The Hudson River Valley Institute’s Dr. Frank T. Bumpus Collection iii This issue of The Hudson River Valley Review has been generously underwritten by the following: Peter Bienstock Shawangunk Valley Conservancy Conservation • Preservation • Education Brinckerhoff and Neuville, Inc. www.brinckerhoffinsurance.com www.chenergygroup.com iv The mission of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Program is to recognize, preserve, protect, and interpret the nationally significant cultural and natural resources of the Hudson River Valley for the benefit of the Nation. For more information visit www.hudsonrivervalley.com • Browse itineraries or build your own • Search 90 Heritage Sites • Upcoming events & celebrations To contact the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area: Mark Castiglione, Acting Director Capitol Building, Room 254 Albany, NY 12224 Phone: 518-473-3835 v Contributors Michael Diaz has worked at numerous historic sites and museums in the Hudson River Valley. He received his B.A. in History from Marist College and his M.A. in Public History from SUNY Albany. He now teaches at Indiana State University. Frank J. Doherty is a retired Dutchess County businessman. He and his wife pur- chased the Buck farm, onetime home to Pearl Buck, in 1972 and his interest in the history of the home and the area began his literary career. He recently published his tenth volume on the 18th-century settlers of the Beekman Patent, from which many of the Loyalists on the prison ships came. Thomas O’Keefe is a business lawyer who practices in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York. His military experience consists of being drafted out of Cornell Law School to serve in the artillery in Vietnam with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, the 1st Cavalry Division and the 25th Division. Mr. O’Keefe’s home in Connecticut is adjacent to one of the Redding encampments, which sparked his interest in this subject. William Sullivan teaches at Northwestern Regional High School in Winsted, Connecticut, and Tunxis Community College in Farmington, Connecticut. His articles on labor history have appeared in Connecticut History. Gaye Wilson is a historian at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. The author of several publications and conference presentations, her current research focuses on the image of Thomas Jefferson as preserved in his life portraits and how these images reflect his personal and political ambitions. vi The Hudson River Valley Review THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY REVIEW Vol. 28, No. 1, Autumn 2011 “Can you on such principles think of quitting a Country?” Family, Faith, Law, Property, and the Loyalists of the Hudson Valley During the American Revolution, Michael Diaz ........................................................ 3 New York’s Committees in the American Revolution, Colin Williams ................... 31 Soldier of ’76: The Revolutionary War Service of a Connecticut Private in the Campaign for New York, William Sullivan .....................................................77 Revolutionary War Fleet Prisons at Esopus, Frank Doherty ................................... 103 Revolutionary Road: Incident on Gallows Hill, Thomas C. O’Keefe .................... 125 Recording History: The Thomas Sully Portrait of Thomas Jefferson, Gaye Wilson ............................................................................................................. 149 Regional History Forum New Windsor Cantonment and the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor .........166 James Renwick Jr.’s Main Building at Vassar College Turns 150 ............................173 Regional Writing Eleanor Roosevelt and the Rooster: Heart of the Great Depression, Kateri Kosek .............................................................................................................. 177 Book Reviews Imperial Entanglements: Iroquois Change and Persistence on the Frontiers of Empire, Gail D. MacLeitch .................................................................................. 179 George Washington’s Westchester Gamble: The Encampment on the Hudson & the Trapping of Cornwallis, Richard Borkow .......................................................181 Columbia Rising: Civil Life on the Upper Hudson from the Revolution to the Age of Jackson, John L. Brooke .................................................................... 184 Artemisia’s Wolf, Djelloul Marbrook ........................................................................ 187 New & Noteworthy ................................................................................................. 189 COURTESY OF BOSCOBEL HOUSE AND GARDENS, GARRISON, NY & DS BLANEY States Dyckman 2 The Hudson River Valley Review “Can you on such principles think of quitting a Country?” Family, Faith, Law, Property, and the Loyalists of the Hudson Valley During the American Revolution Michael Diaz Much has been said of the importance of New York’s Hudson Valley during the war of the American Revolution. As both a natural invasion corridor and the nexus of the Continental Army’s primary supply routes, the American and British commands spent much of the war vying for control of the region. However, these campaigns were waged primarily by people from outside the colony, be they gar- risoning New England rebels or invading British troops. To native New Yorkers, the battle for control of the Hudson Valley merely accented a far more local and personal struggle. As the Revolution swept through the colonies, long-standing political divisions in New York merged into the greater conflict between rebellion and loyalty to the crown. The result was the creation of a relatively large, diverse, and powerful Loyalist