View from Staten Island 2d July 1777. Archibald Robertson: His Diaries and Sketches in America, 1762-1780.

View from Staten Island 2d July 1777

Archibald Robertson: His Diaries and Sketches in America, 1762-1780.
Spencer Collection, The New York Public Library.

Plan of New York and Staten Islands with part of Long Island, surveyd in the years 1781, & 82.

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA dcu

The Reenactment Unit is The 4th Battalion New Jersey Volunteers (a Loyalist Unit). I participated as a common soldier from 2008 to 2014.

Reenactment of Peace Conference at Christopher Billopp's Bentley Manor (Conference House), Staten Island, September 11, 1776.

The Reenactment Unit is The 4th Battalion New Jersey Volunteers (a Loyalist Unit). I participated as a common soldier from 2008 to 2014.

Todd Braisted, noted Historian of all things Loyalist. For more info, see
Revolutionary War Loyalist history and genealogy

Getting SI signatures to Loyalty Oaths to King George III

A beautiful Loyalist walking the grounds of the Conference House

Me, Native Staten Islander loyal to the King of England

Loyalists troops standing guard

View of Perth Amboy

Frankin, Adams and Rutlege arrive from across the Authur Kill
 to participate in the Peace Conference

The Revolutionary War in Richmond County, New York (Prelude) 1760 to 1774

The somewhat secluded nature of Staten Island in the 17th and 18th centuries afforded its citizens with relative peace and prosperity after the first Dutch settlers battled with the local Indians and struggled to gain a foothold at Oud Dorp (Old Towne).

Early descriptions of the Island paint a landscape as a "lush and fragrant garden" with a good supply of fresh spring water and an abundance of hardwood trees. Dutch yeomen farmers took advantage of the mixture of clay and sandy soil, in addition to the abundance of Oyster beds in and around the many coves and inlets of the Island.

A south west view of the city of New York, in North America = Vue de sud ouest de la ville de New York dans l'Amérique septentrionale. Thomas Howdell 1768.

The sparsely populated Island was divided into Southfield, Northfield, Westfield and Castletown, the latter overlooking Upper New York Bay.

From a publication in London, dated 1760, we abstract the following description of the residents of Staten Island at that time: " Staten Island at its east end has a ferry of three miles to the west end of Long Island; at its west end is a ferry of one mile to Perth-Amboy of East Jersies; it is divided from East Jersies by a creek; is in length about twelve miles, and about six miles broad, and makes one county, called Richmond, which pays scarce one in one and twenty of the provincial tax; it is all in one parish, but several congregations, viz., an English, Dutch, and French congregation; the inhabitants are mostly English; only one considerable village called Cuckold's-town."

1775

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Christopher Billoppe (Morris's Mem.)

Since there were no delegates being sent to the Second Continental Congress in 1775, Richmond became notorious for its Loyalist sympathies. Christopher Billoppe, the wealthiest of the Loyalists, owned Bentley Manor at the extreme southern tip of the Island. The opinion which George Washington had formed of the people of Staten Island, as well as of their immediate neighbors at Amboy, may be learned from the following extract from one of his letters:

"The known disaffection of the people of Amboy, and the treachery of those of

Staten Island, who, after the fairest professions, have shown themselves our
inveterate enemies, have induced me to give directions that all persons of known
enmity and doubtful character should be removed from these places."

Joseph Christopher House. Photo (C) Nick Matranga

The New York Provincial Congress had swayed the merchants and farmers to appoint members to a committee of safety or risk continuing their goods being boycotted by other local towns in New Jersey.

The Committee of Safety included Joseph Christopher (see photo at right), David Latourette, Peter Mersereau and John Tyson along with seven other men.

Since a boycott of all goods being traded with the British was instituted by the Committee, the smuggling of produce, livestock and other goods continued. The British ship James had twice attempted to unload its goods at the port of New York, but was quickly turned away. She ship eventually attempted to disembark its goods at Staten Island with the assistance of three Island residences.

1776

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In June 1776 the ships began to arrive off of Staten Island, and slowly entered the Narrows into Upper New York Bay.  By the beginning of August, an estimated 30,000 ships were anchored in the harbor and directly off of Staten Island. The soldiers disembarked and started to set up camp all over the Island, chopping down the forests for their cabins and fire wood and foraging for cattle and food on the small farms that dotted the Island.  General Howe had explicitly forbade foraging and stealing from the local farmers, but the soldiers served themselves to the generous amounts of apples, peaches and cherries from the numerous orchards along the south shore.

(Above) A View of the Narrows between Long Island and Staten Island, with Our Fleet at Anchor and Lord Howe Coming In. Drawing by Captain Lieutenant Archibald Robertson, Royal Engineers, 1776. (NYPL)

General Howe set up his headquarters near the Decker Ferry on the shore road along the Kill van Kull at the Adrian Bancker house. British troops were billeted in the Rose & Crowne Inn at New Dorpe, where the Olde King's Highway crosses the main road of the town. The Black Horse Tavern nearby was also commandeered for the use of the Officers and their Aides-de-Camp while stationed on the Island.

General Howe set up his headquarters near the Decker Ferry on the shore road along the Kill van Kull at the Adrian Bancker house. British troops were billeted in the Rose & Crowne Inn at New Dorpe, where the Olde King's Highway crosses the main road of the town. The Black Horse Tavern nearby was also commandeered for the use of the Officers and their Aides-de-Camp while stationed on the Island.

A Hessian soldier named Baurmeister recorded a description of the British forces encamped at Staten Island for the 14th and 15th of August. His division had sent 132 soldiers to the Hospital encampment, due to scurvy:

"We found the Eglish troops, which had been driven out of Boston encamped on Staten Island on eight different heights. 

1. At Amboy Ferry, Lieutenant General Clinton with 2 brigades and half of an artillery brigade. 
2. Between Amboy Ferry and the Old Blazing Star (now Rossville), Brigadier General Leslie with 3 brigades and half an artillery brigade.
3.  At the Old Blazing Star, Brigadier General Farrington with 2 brigades and two 12-pounders and also half a troop of light dragoons to carry dispatches. 
4. At the New Blazing Star (at Long Neck, now Travis), Brigadier Generals Smith, Robertson and Agnew with 3 brigades and the other half of light dragoons. 
5. At Musgrower's Lien [?](Lane?), Lieutenant General Percy and Brigadier general Erkine with 2 brigades and four 6-pounders and one officer and twnty-five light dragoons. 
6. At the point opposite Elizabeth town Ferry, Major General Grant with one brigade, two light guns, and fifteen dragoons. 
7. At the Morning Star (the country seat of Henry Holland, on the northern side of the island), Lieutenant General Cornwallis with two and a half brigades, six 12-pounders, four howitzers, and fifteen dragoons. 
8. At Decker's Ferry (now Port Richmond), Major General William James with the 37th and 52nd Regiments and two light guns. 
9. To the right of Decker's Ferry, in a country house close to the shore opposite New Jersey, Major General Vaughan with six grenadier battalions, the 46th Regiment, the rest of the disembarked artillery, the rest of the light dragoons, and General Howe's headquarters. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple was in command if the trenches thrown up on Staten Island, which is fifteen English miles long and five wide."
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From Revolution in America: Confidential Letters and Journals 1776-1784 of Adjutant General Major Baurmeister of the Hessian Forces. Translated and annotated by Bernhard A. Uhlendorf. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1957.

1777

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All images from: ARCHIBALD ROBERTSON: HIS DIARIES AND SKETCHES IN AMERICA, 1762-1780. Spencer Collection, The New York Public Library.
The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

View from Staten Island 2d July 1777.

1778
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Kepp's Bay 17th Augt. 1778 where the troops landed 15th Septr. 1776. Phoenix 44 Capt. H. Parker, Roebuck 44 Hammond. Carisford 28 Fanshaw. Rose 20 Js. Wallace. 12th Augt. 1778.

New York from Brooklyn Heights.

1779

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View from Peaks Kill looking south. . .3 June 1779.

1780

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1781

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View of the North River, looking north toward Fort Washington. 16 October 1781.

British Army at Staten Island, N.Y.

Commander in Chief, General the Honorable Sir William Howe, K. B.

Second in Command, Lieutenant-General Henry Clinton

Third in Command, Right Honorable Lieutenant-General Earl Percy

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1st Brigade. Major-General Pigot; 4th Regiment, Major James Ogilvie; 15^th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Bird; 27th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Maxwell; 45th Regiment, Major Saxton.

2d Brigade. Brigadier-General Agnew; 5th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Wolcot; 28th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Rob. Prescott; 35th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Carr; 49th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Calder, Bart.

3d Brigade. Major-General Jones; 10th Regiment, Major Vatass; 37th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Ambercromby; 38th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. Butler; 52d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mungo Campbell.

4th Brigade. Major-General James Grant; 17th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Mawhood; 40th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel James Grant; 46th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Enoch Markham; 55th Regiment, Captain Luke.

5th Brigade. Brigadier-General Smith; 23d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Campbell; 43d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel George Clarke; 14th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Alvred Clarke; 63d Regiment, Major Francis Sill.

6th Brigade. Brigadier-General Gou. Robertson; 23d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Benj. Bernard; 44th Regiment, Major Feury Hope; 57th Regiment, Lieutenant John Campbell; 64th Regiment, Major Hugh McLeroch.

7th Brigade. Brigadier-General Wm. Erskine, quartermaster general; 17th Light Dragoons, Lieutenant-Colonel Birch; 71st Highlanders, 1st Battalion, Major John MacDowell; 2d Battalion, Major Norman Lamont.

Brigade of Guards. Major-General Matthew; Light Infantry Brigade, Brigadier-General Honorable Alexander Leslie; 1st Battalion Light Infantry, Major Thomas Musgrave; 2d Battalion Light Infantry, Major Straubenzie; 3d Battalion Light Infantry, Major Honorable John Maitland; 4th Battalion Light Infantry, Major John Johnson.

Reserve. Right Honorable Lieutenant-General Earl of Cornwallis; Brigadier-General the Honorable John Vaughan; 33d Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Webster; 42d Regiment (Royal Highland), Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Stirling; 1st Battalion Grenadiers, Lieutenant-Colonel Honorable Henry Monckton; 2d Battalion Grenadiers, Lieutenant-Colonel William Meadows; 3d Battalion Grenadiers, Major Thomas Marsh; 4th Highland Grenadiers, Major Charles Stewart; Royal Artillery and Engineers, Brigadier-General Cleveland.

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Vaughn Dongan (Loyalist Staten Islander)

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Vaughn Dongan, commander of the 3rd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers in Skinner's Loyalist brigade was mortally wounded in a skirmish, midway between the Old Blazing Star Ferry and Prince's Bay. He was taken to a local farm (which I have yet to identify).  It may very well be The Abraham Manee Farmhouse in Prince's Bay, where British redoubts have been discovered nearby.

SIGN THE PETITION URGING HE MAYOR OF NYC TO PURCHASE THE HOMESTEAD!

Lookout Place, the British Garrison at Richmondtowne, Staten Island

Lookout Place or Fort Hill was a Revolutionary War British garrison, or earthen mound-fortress at the top of LaTourette Hill in Historic Richmondtown, Staten Island, New York. The redoubt was constructed in 1776 by British Regulars during the occupation of Richmond County. General William Howe planned his successful capture of New York City while encamped on the Island, along with 30,000 British and Hessian soldiers joining after the arrival of his brother Admiral Richard Howe. The fort overlooked the Old Mill Road, Fresh Kills St. Andrews Church and the town of Richmond, then referred to as Cuckoldstown, in the valley just below LaTourette Hill.

The hilltop was widely denuded of trees by the British during the war, allowing the soldiers to have unobstructed views of Lower New York Bay and the Arthur Kill. Extensive archeological digs have taken place at the turn of the last century, revealing all manner of British accuetrament, from remnants of weaponry to soldier coat buttons, shoe buckles and pottery fragments.

Robert Rogers created a new unit while encamped at Richmondtown called The Queen's Rangers named after Charlotte, wife of King George III. It grew to 937 officers and men organized into eleven companies of about thirty men each and an additional five troops of cavalry.

Rogers did not prove successful in this command and he left the unit on January 29, 1777.  On October 15, 1777, John Graves Simcoe was given command. He turned the Queen's Rangers into one of the most successful British regiments in the war.

The Narrows, the entrance to New York Harbor (c. 1800)

Fountain House and a Flirtatious Loyalist

The Fountain House, built in 1668 and used as Richmond's first courthouse, stood across from The Black Horse Tavern during the American Revolution. Generals Percy and Carleton, along with Captain Montresor (a British Military engineer) often stopped here. A flirtatious young Loyalist, Margaret Moncrieffe resided here with her father, Major Thomas Moncrieffe in the summer of 1776. She was introduced to General Howe and his staff, and was frequently seen cavorting with the best men on the General's staff. She eventually married Captain John Coughlen. It was demolished in 1937.

One of Montresor's maps of Lower Manhattan during the Revolution.

The General Howe Map of Staten Island, 1776

The resulting map of Staten Island was ordered by General Howe shortly after the British landed at Staten Island in July of 1776. According to the Staten Island Historian, the map was found in the Duke of Northumberland's collection in England, and is claimed to have been surveyed without any surveying instruments; hence the inaccurate shape of the Island. It also shows a conflict as to where General Howe's headquarters were located. The Howe map marks the Bancker house, located near the Decker Ferry in Port Richmond as his headquarters. Legend has it that General Howe was staying at the Rose & Crowne at Newe Dorpe. He may have been using both the Bancker residence and the Tavern at different intervals during his stay on Staten Island. The Taylor and Skinner map, another British map commissioned in 1783 is an extremely accurate depiction of the Island! I have yet to see this map, as it is in the U.K. archives.

A British box sextant (pictured below), late 18th century.

This was used on shore by military and naval officers busily engaged in surveying the colony of British Columbia. Light, portable and easier to transport, it was one of essential the tools for Colonial expansion and mapping. Like a nautical sextant, the box sextant measures angles, but it is smaller, enclosed version placed inside a cylindrical box. Its graduated arc is at half degrees from 0° to 120°. The readings on its vernier were read to single minutes using a magnifying glass. The small removable telescope was used to take long sights, but ordinary observations were usually made through a peephole in the glass. The top (lid) of the cylindrical brass box has been removed to show the knobs that work the sextant. The large knob operates a pinion that engages the toothed, circular segment inside the sextant that mounts the index glass and index arm. The smaller knobs are adjusting screws to eliminate index error and adjust the horizon glass.

Old Mill Road, Richmondtown, Staten Island, in Summer (c. 2007)

A large swath of the Greenbelt that has been unaccessible to hikers, naturists and bird-watchers will finally have a bikeway and hiking trail through this densely forested area which is the Lauterette Woods. Richmond Creek and the marshland bird life will finally be viewable from the trail. It will be completed by 2009. See Nick's pictures of the history of Old Mill Road 100 years ago and Old Mill Road today. Actually it is more densely forested now than it has been for the past 200 years (most of the Island was cleared for farming, lumber trade and firewood in the 18th Century.

The Black Horse Tavern, New Dorpe, Staten Island, N.Y.

Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island, New York By Ira K. Morris: "
British Troops were billeted in the Black Horse Tavern (left, drawing @ 1800) during the American Revolution. The picture at right is dated @ 1906. It has been since been demolished.


The Rose and Crown, Richmond, NY Morris's Memorial History of Staten Island,
New York By Ira K. Morris:

Photo (c) Nicholas Matranga

General William Howe read the Declaration of Independence to his troops while billeted in this farm-house/Inn, a few days after the 4th of July, 1776. It was demolished in 1854. All that remains is a marker on a stone at the corner of New Dorpe Lane and Richmond Road (The King's Highway).  Many British Officers participated in raucous and debauched behavior while garrisoned at Staten Island. One particular event one a nearby hillside lead to a duel with one officer being mortally wounded. Many Courts Martial were issued in the ensuing seven-year British occupation.

Lookout Place, the British Garrison on Staten Island

Lookout Place or Fort Hill was a Revolutionary War British garrison, or earthen mound-fortress at the top of LaTourette Hill in Historic Richmondtown, Staten Island, New York. The redoubt was constructed in 1776 by British Regulars during the occupation of Richmond County. General William Howe planned his successful capture of New York City while encamped on the Island, along with 30,000 British and Hessian soldiers joining after the arrival of his brother Admiral Richard Howe. The fort overlooked the Old Mill Road, Fresh Kills St. Andrews Church and the town of Richmond, then referred to as Cuckoldstown, in the valley just below LaTourette Hill.

The hilltop was widely denuded of trees by the British during the war, allowing the soldiers to have unobstructed views of Lower New York Bay and the Arthur Kill. Extensive archeological digs have taken place at the turn of the last century, revealing all manner of British accuetrament, from remnants of weaponry to soldier coat buttons, shoe buckles and pottery fragments.

Robert Rogers created a new unit while encamped at Richmondtown called The Queen's Rangers named after Charlotte, wife of King George III.

Closter Raid, N.J. (Loyalist reenactment 4th B. N.J. Volunteers)

The IV Battalion New Jersey Volunteers were garrisoned on Staten Island for most of the War, but made frequent forays and raids into nearby towns in New Jersey. These photos are from a reenactment of the Raid on Closter, New Jersey, a rebel stronghold.

Bound Brook, N.J. May 2009 (Loyalist reenactment 4th B. N.J. Volunteers)

Reenactment as a Loyalist soldier (an American-born colonist who supported the Crown) with the IV Battalion NJ Volunteers at Bound Brook, New Jersey. The Regimental coat, waistcoat, shirt and trousers were all borrowed thanks to Todd and Sue Braisted and Ray Helge. For more information, please visit: Royal Provincial, the official Loyalist History page authored by historian Todd Braisted.