Early Revolutionary War Tensions and Fighting on Long Island

Since the April 19, 1775, fighting between the British and American’s erupted at Lexington and Concord, well before the Declaration of Independence was written and approved by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. Shortly after this document was signed, the British leadership prepared to end the Patriots goal of separating from this empire. Both sides wanted to control New York City, the harbor, and Long Island, but it was not a unified attempt by the Americans. The local Loyalists, Patriots, and Neutrals were almost equally split towards their support for this endeavor to fight for freedom.

Locally, negative Loyalist feelings were felt in Queens, where most of the representatives from this county voted against independence. Some of these Americans were regarded as traitors and many were targeted, arrested, fined, shunned, and had their weapons confiscated. General George Washington supported these actions against the Loyalists and even Quakers were sent to prisons in Connecticut and incarcerated on ships. Whereas Long Island was hit with taxation, many of the Loyalists did not believe that it was wise to break away from the lucrative British business ties with London.

There was 3.2 million Americans in the colonies, with an estimated 513,000 residents who refused to adhere to the fervor of the Patriots, and this could be considered America’s first civil war. Mistrust was widely encountered as leaders like John Jay created investigative committees to determine Loyalist actions against freedom. Rumors and mistrust spread that the British and their loyal populations were conspiring to assassinate Washington and the key officers of the Continental Army.

Washington was fresh off his March 17th, 1776, victory over the Red Coats attempt to lay siege of Boston on March 17, 1776. After the Patriots captured this vital city, the British retreated northward to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to gain additional forces from England, and to eventually sail to take New York City. The British sought this harbor to establish operations to regain control of this part of North America, capture the Hudson River and Valley to drive a wedge between the Patriotic within New England and the Mid-Atlantic colonies. This region was a center of commerce, ship building, trade, farming, and manufacturing that proved to both the British and the Loyalists the immense financial value of this area. Independence fervor was strongly felt in New York City as a huge statue of King George III was torn by a mob of Patriots. This four-thousand-pound statue was sent to Connecticut, where it was melted down to make over 42,000 bullets that was later used against the Red Coats.

The British leadership ordered the notable military brothers of General Sir William Howe and Admiral Lord Richard Howe to Staten Island to gather reinforcements and intelligence to analyze the strength of the Americans. Washington deployed the largest part of his army to be stationed between New York City and Long Island but had no soldiers in Staten Island to deter the British landings. While the Continentals, fought the British, major parts of this army lacked trained soldiers, weapons, equipment, and a navy to oppose the enemy. There were conflicting accounts within Congress over the necessity of risking Washington’s army to fight the British on Long Island and Manhattan. Patriot leadership desperately wanted financial and military aid from the French and Spanish and they were determined to prove that Americans could defeat the British.

During the first moments of warfare after the declaration was signed, Washington was known for his bravery, but he had little experience in leading a large army against an experienced foe, where had no understanding of the British military intentions. For almost this entire war, Washington was consumed with controlling New York City, well after it later fell to the British. The colonists created barriers to prevent the city from falling and Fort Washington was established to halt the British from sailing their ships up the Hudson River. Understood to be impregnable, Washington realized his defensive inabilities on July 12th, when the British ships of the forty-four guns of the Pheonix and the twenty guns of the frigate Rose surprisingly bypassed American forces. Patriots, who included a Captain Alexander Hamilton, fired at these enemy ships that were undeterred by gun and cannon fire. Whereas Hamilton showed his bravery, his cannons, exploded and killed six of his own soldiers and wounded at least four others. Later a valuable aid to Washington and a Founding Father, Hamilton’s inexperience continued to prove that many of the Continentals were inept against the enemy.

Major General Isreal Putnam led the Americans when General Nathanael Greene was sickened as the Patriots feverishly worked to create defensive barriers in Brooklyn. As additional British soldiers landed at Staten, Washington anxiously and unknowingly awaited the actions of the enemy. To prevent bloodshed and to hurt the unity of the Patriots, the Howe’s were authorized by the government to grant pardons to Washington and his soldiers, if they ended this rebellion, but this American general refused, and he stated that he had done “nothing wrong.”

As the British continued to collect reinforcements, the American army was strong only in the written numbers. Out of the 17, 225 Patriot soldiers, only 10,514 were in the field to fight against the enemy, as Washington’s forces were sickened by dysentery from poor water that was used to bathe and drink. These unsanitary conditions led to outbreaks of typhus, typhoid, and malaria, where a rancid smell could be detected at the soldier’s quarters. Within a consistent problem for the Patriots, one regiment of 728 soldiers, only counted on 214 men by its commander to oppose the inevitable Red Coats during the Battle of Long Island. To make matters worse, Washington’s medical staff were poorly trained, unable to care for the soldiers, and increasingly “untrustworthy.”

The problems mounted for Washington when he split his army between Manhattan and Long Island, weakly held strategic lines, failed to detect roads and water routes that led behind their operations. While the professional enemy forces were nearby in Staten Island, Washington was about to fight the largest battle of the war, with a lack of information, and soldiers against an enemy that was three times larger. As Washington waited and guessed, both Howe brothers met on August 21st, to address the final plans to crush the 10,000 soldiers that were dangerously unaware of British intentions. The night before the landings there was a violent storm that misled the notion of a British assault, as the next morning, the skies cleared, and the first waves of Red Coats hit the beaches of Long Island. Although Washington had a small portion of his army on Long Island, he reasoned that as thousands of British continually landed, it was a diversionary attack, where the true assault would be at Manhattan. He was solely mistaken as the British utilized 20,000 soldiers and 14,000 naval personal to handle the armada that was assembled to destroy the Continental Army that was not prepared for an onslaught.

Next week will be the continuation of this story through the Revolutionary War fighting on Long Island