Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Friday, October 26, 2018

The Ghostly Gunship That Sails Off the Shores of Pelham


Pelham was desolate; almost ghostly.  Warring armies battled across the region and left little standing in their wakes.  The Revolutionary War fought between American Patriots and their British oppressors was underway.  The so-called "Neutral Ground" of the Manor of Pelham, in those days, was nearly ground zero in the midst of the conflict.

 Not a soul then could be found in Pelham.  All had fled or had learned to spend their days and nights in hiding to avoid the brutal sadism of rogue "Cowboys" and "Skinners" who scoured the region looting, burning homes, and torturing residents.

 Off the shores of Pelham large British naval ships prowled the waters.  Occasionally American patriots known as "whaleboatmen" would pilot long rowboats with small cannons among the massive naval vessels firing at them and their crews with tiny cannons and small muskets, worrying the naval gunboats like pesky mosquitoes that often were swatted away with massive cannonades and hails of musket fire from the decks of the large ships.  Occasionally, though, the mosquitoes drew blood.

 On one such occasion, the winter evening was particularly dark and biting.  Even worse, a thick fog shrouded the waters and the mainland of the Manor of Pelham.  Not far from Locust Point on today's Throggs Neck, near the southern tip of City Island, a hulking British naval vessel rested on the black water silently.  With no moon and thick fog the black night hung thickly.  It was nearly impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face.  Moreover, the soupy fog seemed to muffle noises across the water, distorting the sounds of lapping water until the sounds became almost unearthly.

 American Patriots on the mainland knew the hulking gunship skulked off their shores.  Word had spread quickly among the Patriots even as the ship previously had departed New York City and made its way to the Sound  Americans were hiding along the shore.  Other courageous Patriots dragged a long whaleboat fitted with a small cannon into the inky black waters and slipped silently into the dark fog, headed in the direction of the massive gunboat.

 The entire region at the time was in the midst of the famed "wood famine" of 1777.  For more than a century settlers had leveled forests for farmland and chopped every tree in sight for firewood.  Matters only worsened as the two warring armies battled and camped throughout the region felling what few trees remained.

 On that dark, foggy night during the war, the crew of the British gunship skulking off the shores of Pelham was low on wood.  They needed wood for cooking and warmth.  They also knew that their local garrison always needed firewood.  Their captain was concerned enough to detail his men to proceed ashore to scrounge for wood despite the wood famine.  Knowing wood would be hard to come by and assuming neither man nor beast would be afoot on such a black, biting, and foggy night, the Captain foolishly detailed nearly all his crew to head ashore for wood.

 The large group of British sailors slithered off their mother ship under cover of fog and darkness and made their way by small boats to Locust Point on Throggs Neck, clearly up to no good.  They muffled their oars with rags wrapped around the oarlocks and remained silent as they eased ashore.   

 As the British navy men left their mother ship, thinking they were undetected, they could not see that a group of armed Patriot whaleboatmen also were skulking silently in their long boat only yards away from the British ship, hidden in the inky blackness of the foggy night.  The Patriots heard their enemies depart the ship and formed their own plan.

 The whaleboatmen waited silently in the fog and darkness until the British sailors seemed long gone.  Remaining deathly silent, they maneuvered their whaleboat alongside the British vessel and scaled it, springing onto the deck with boarding axes and muskets to the shock of the guard left aboard to protect the vessel.  The surprise was so complete that not a shot was fired.  The guard was quickly tied and stowed below while the Americans prepared to sail their massive prize into the night and northward to Connecticut.

 Slowly the Americans got the great ship underway.  They knew the waters off the Manor of Pelham like the backs of their hands.  They steered the Leviathan northeast and slowly made their way around City Island into the inky black night.  Had any been left behind, they might have been able to see the dark hulk of the giant vessel slithering slowly into the fog ahead until the black night enveloped it completely as it disappeared.

 Once the British ship disappeared into the foggy night, neither it nor its Patriot crew were ever seen again.  Its disappearance was complete.  It vanished without a trace.  No word ever was heard from any of the brave whaleboatmen who steered the vessel into the maw of darkness that terrible night.

 Since that terrible night, according to veteran sailors on Long Island Sound, on dark foggy nights, a ghostly British naval vessel may be seen gliding along the water with a crew of specters dressed in 18th century sailing garb staring silently with ghostly eyes from the rails of the deck.  Though the ship seems luminescent, there are no lights aboard.  It glides silently with utterly no sound.  Indeed, some say that as the ship passes in the fog, the waters of the Sound grow eerily quiet and even the wind seems to pause as the ghostly Patriot sailors continue to make their silent getaway with their British prize for all eternity.  As one account published in 1897 put it:

 "'Day after day, day after day, and still no tidings of the captured ship, until the heart was weary, and the eye was dim with watching. At last the skipper of a coaster gave the somewhat startling report:  'While lying-to off New London, in a fearful gale, he saw a small war-ship approach, apparently of English build, with every stitch of canvas set, even to her royal studding-sails. She heeded neither bar, shoal, nor rock, but kept steadily on her course, until nearly abreast of him, when sail after sail and mast after mast began to vanish, until nothing but the hull of the vessel with her open ports, through which the guns were projecting, was visible. Slowly and silently [p. 72 / p. 73] the outlines of the ship became less and less clearly defined, until nothing of the majestic vessel was left.' 'What this vision of another world portended nobody ever knew, but even to our own time many old salts are willing to swear that often, before the most terrific storms, when their vessels were compelled to lay-to under reefed topsails, they have distinctly seen an old-fashioned war-ship, under a cloud of canvas, approach near to them, and then gradually vanish into air. Some go so far as to say they could see the crew on her deck, and plainly recognized the knee-breeches and cocked hats of the last century. But, be this as it may, the vessel or crew, so far as I am able to learn, never reached port in this world, and was probably lost in one of the severe spring gales, so prevalent in this latitude at that season.' 


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Below are transcriptions of references on which today's Historic Pelham article is based.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"THE WOOD FAMINE. 

 IT was March -- cold, cheerless, windy March. The roads were in that terrible condition between mud and frost that makes driving at this time of the year in the fair county of Westchester unpleasant, not to say almost impracticable. The sun of spring had scarcely yet caressed the southern slopes into a shade of green, while many a snowdrift still bade defiance to its power on the northern side of fences and hills. 

 The day itself was no exception to the characteristic weather of the month; the thermometer was just above the freezing-point and the sun was obscured by heavy, dark masses of cloud, while gusts of wind sighed [p. 65 / p. 66] in the trees and around the chimneys, making it anything but tempting to leave the cozy fireside and face the raw atmosphere outside. Still, I had been in the house so long, that I began to suffer from ennui, and resolved to take a ride, bad as the roads were, as far as Pelham, to visit an old gentleman, long a friend of the family, and hear him talk of his boyhood's days. 

 After a long, slow jouncing, mud-splashing ride, I arrived at the house of my old friend, and while I am sitting with my feet upon the andirons before the crackling hickory fire of the library in his comfortable old-fashioned mansion, sipping a glass or two of his choice wine, allow me to describe my host. 

 He is a grand-looking man of fully eighty-seven years, with fine features, and though he has now lost the straightness and suppleness of early manhood, and his eyesight is rapidly failing, in other respects his age sits [p. 66 / p. 67] lightly upon him.* [Footnote Transcribed Below at End of This Page.] But what is more remarkable is that his intellect is as clear and keen as though he were still in the prime of life, and he retains a quickness of perception that many a young man might envy. 

 As the cheery fire begins to have a soothing effect upon us and the discomforts of my boisterous ride commence to wear away, our conversation turns from the events of the day, back to that land of mist and fable called the past. There is nothing around us to jar upon our dream-land; the glowing hickory logs, the bright-polished fire-dogs, the low ceilings of the old homestead, and the old gentleman himself, as he sat there in his great easy chair, all seemed to belong to the epoch of which we were talking. 

 I remember admiring some fine trees that I could see through a window, upon an island in the bay, a short distance off. 

 'Yes,' said the old gentleman, 

 * Died about 1890. [This is the Footnote.] [p. 67 / p. 68] 

 'those trees have not been disturbed since the wood-famine of 1777.' 

 Upon my asking the particulars of that event, he continued: 'I well remember hearing my father speak about it some eighty years ago. The winter of 1777 was an intensely cold one, and the British troops posted in the city, as well as the town-people, suffered much for want of fuel, as the country was in such a disordered state that the farmers of the surrounding districts did not bring in the usual supply. Towards the close of the season the fuel became so scarce that something had to be done, as the entire population were brought to such a strait that much suffering and inconvenience was occasioned, and the price of even the poorest wood was something appalling. 

 'Under these circumstances, the commander of the post thought it advisable, as soon as the Sound opened, to send a small war-vessel a short way to the eastward to procure a load of [p. 68 / p. 69] cord wood for the use of the garrison. The point selected for cutting the wood was this same island at which we are now looking. Accordingly, the little sloop-of-war left port upon her not very nautical or romantic mission; and, doubtless, much to the disgust of her officers and crew, took a couple of large scows in tow, and proceeded slowly up the Sound. On through Hell Gate and past many a quiet farmhouse she sped, now sending her men aloft to set her royals, and now training her guns upon some imaginary enemy on shore. The sun set, and the stars twinkled in the frosty sky, but the wind was light and the progress slow. Several watches were set and relieved ere she rounded Throggs Neck, and the sun of a chill March morning was just rising when she anchored as near the island as her draught of water would allow. 

 'The expedition of the wood foragers had, however, not been kept as quiet as prudence and military caution [p. 69 / p. 70] ought to have suggested, for, in some unknown manner, the news had been spread abroad throughout the county of Westchester that a British man-of-war with a crew of wood-choppers was about to ascend the Sound, to give the city a supply of fuel. The movements of the ship had been eagerly watched from the shores as she passed along, and word carried to several irregular bodies of colonial troops and other persons favorable to the cause of the revolted provinces. So that a large body of armed men were secreted in the bushes of the main-land near the island when the English sloop-of-war anchored and prepared to land her party. 

 'Very foolishly, the captain sent nearly all his men ashore to chop and carry the wood, reserving only barely enough to attend to mooring the vessel, little thinking an enemy was in the vicinity. The colonists watched all these proceedings carefully, and saw that their chance had come. [p. 70 / p. 71] 

 Rushing to their boats they crossed the narrow channel, and boarded the ship before the wood party had time to observer their movements, or to give the slightest aid to their few companions left in charge. The resistance was necessarily feeble, and the ship's company was soon overpowered and compelled to yield the vessel to their captors, who no sooner got possession than they began to train their guns upon the wood-choppers, now deeply interested but helpless spectators of their proceedings. 

 'Although for the present masters of the situation, it was far too dangerous for the visitors to let the ship remain where she was. It was determined that the best plan would be to run her into some eastern port, and there fit her out as a colonial cruiser: so a sufficient crew was selected from among the most daring and best sailors in the neighborhood, and, under the command of a master of a coasting-vessels, the man-of-war again [p. 71 / p. 72] crossed her yards, shook out her canvas, and pointed her prow seaward. Out into the gray mists of the Sound she sped, every stitch of canvas drawing. Slowly, slowly she sank from the view of the watchers on shore behind the eastern horizon, and never by mortal eye was ship or crew seen again. 

 'Day after day, day after day, and still no tidings of the captured ship, until the heart was weary, and the eye was dim with watching. At last the skipper of a coaster gave the somewhat startling report: 'While lying-to off New London, in a fearful gale, he saw a small war-ship approach, apparently of English build, with every stitch of canvas set, even to her royal studding-sails. She heeded neither bar, shoal, nor rock, but kept steadily on her course, until nearly abreast of him, when sail after sail and mast after mast began to vanish, until nothing but the hull of the vessel with her open ports, through which the guns were projecting, was visible. Slowly and silently [p. 72 / p. 73] the outlines of the ship became less and less clearly defined, until nothing of the majestic vessel was left.' 

 'What this vision of another world portended nobody ever knew, but even to our own time many old salts are willing to swear that often, before the most terrific storms, when their vessels were compelled to lay-to under reefed topsails, they have distinctly seen an old-fashioned war-ship, under a cloud of canvas, approach near to them, and then gradually vanish into air. Some go so far as to say they could see the crew on her deck, and plainly recognized the knee-breeches and cocked hats of the last century. But, be this as it may, the vessel or crew, so far as I am able to learn, never reached port in this world, and was probably lost in one of the severe spring gales, so prevalent in this latitude at that season.' 

 And now the old gentleman ceased speaking, took a sip of wine, and indicated that his story had concluded, [p. 73 / p. 74] though he soon informed me that this was far from being the only tale he could relate of the olden time, and the exciting doings of the people now silent, and, except by him and a few tradition-hunters, forgotten." 

 Source:  Pryer, Charles, Reminiscences of an Old Westchester Homestead, pp. 65-74 (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons The Knickerbocker Press 1897).

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Below is a local newspaper article published in 1959 recounting the tale of the Patriot Ghost Ship that sails off the shores of Pelham.  The transcription of the text is followed by a citation and link to its source.

 "GHOST SHIP:  Did you know The Bronx had a mysterious 'Flying Dutchman' all its own.  Neither did I until I read John McNamara's account in 'Alarm,' publication of the Edgewater Park Volunteer Fire Co.  It seems that during the Revolutionary War a group of British soldiers came ashore to Locust Pt. from a sloop, leaving only a few sailors aboard.  American patrols sighted the vessel, rowed out silently, captured the vessel and set sail around City Island for Connecticut.  Alas, they disappeared in the fog and never again were heard of, though veteran schoonermen do say that on foggy nights you can see an old-fashioned sloop sailing up and down Long Island Sound.  The crew, dressed in 18th century clothes stares silently from the rails." 

 Source:  Gumpert, Bert, The Bronx Bandwagon . . . GHOST SHIP, N.Y. Post, Aug. 12, 1959, p. 13, col. 1.

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I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for more than fifteen years.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see: 

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts & Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XV, Issue 40, Oct. 13, 2006, p. 10, col. 1.

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 






Thu., Oct. 26, 2017:  The Cow Rustler Ghosts of Pelham Road.

Tue., Oct. 25, 2016:  The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.



Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

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posted by Blake A. Bell @ 5:06 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 01, 2018

Pelham Had "Whaleboatmen" Nearly 250 Years Ago, But They Were Not What You Might Think


They were "whaleboatmen."  They were among the bravest ever to grace the region once known as the Manor of Pelham.

Let your imagination soar!  The term "whaleboatmen" evokes thoughts of whales, harpoons, courage, small boats, and Long Island Sound.  Imagine heroes who embraced the risk of death.  They were whaleboatmen! 

 Yet, such heroes chased no whales in Pelham waters.  Instead, they chased true Leviathans.  Such heroes used long rowboats that remotely resembled real whaleboats to annoy monumentally-large, British Navy ships that deigned to ply Pelham waters during the Revolutionary War.  Occasionally, like mosquitoes, the pesky little Patriots who became known as "whaleboatmen" sucked British blood.

 Today's Historic Pelham Blog article tells a story of such whaleboatmen.  It is a story told before in these Historic Pelham digital pages.  See:

 Tue., Oct. 10, 2006:  Yet Another Account of the Capture of the British Ship Schuldham Off Pelham Shores During the Revolutionary War.

 Fri., Jul. 14, 2006:  Capture of the British Ship Schuldham in Pelham Waters During the Revolutionary War 

 Tue., Aug. 29, 2006:  Another Brief Account of the Capture of the British Ship Schuldham in Pelham Waters During the Revolutionary War. 

The story of the capture of the Schuldham in February 1777 is only a tiny part of the incredible story of Pelham during the Revolutionary War.  Preparations already are underway throughout Westchester County for the upcoming 250th anniversary of American Independence and the War for freedom from British tyranny.  Work by "Revolutionary Westchester 250" is well underway to ensure that celebrations of the 250th anniversary beginning in 2025 and 2026 will be spectacular.  

 The Town of Pelham played critical and repeated roles in the history of the Revolutionary War.  Though most students of Pelham history think only of the "Battle of Pelham" on October 18, 1776 when they think of Pelham's role in the war, Pelham's contributions and the stories that can be told of the war that raged across Pelham for years are much broader and more important than a single battle.  Pelham was within the Ground-Zero of "no man's land" -- the so-called "neutral ground" between the lines of the two warring armies.  The British controlled New York City and north including much of today's Bronx.  Americans controlled northern Westchester and south to a line north of the Croton River stretching roughly from Peekskill to Connecticut and down to Long Island Sound.  Pelham and other nearby communities, of course, sat right in the middle of this no-man's land.  

 British Loyalists and sympathizers in the region supported the "Cowboys" (or "Cow Boys"), a rampaging group of marauders led by two men hated by all Patriots:  Major Andreas Emerick and the detestable Colonel James DeLancey.  The Cowboys were so-named because the group rampaged across Pelham and the region and stole cattle to be taken to the British market to support British and German troops.  The Cowboys terrorized Pelham and the entire neutral ground, stealing cash and valuables and burning local homesteads including, it is believed, the old 17th century John Pell homestead that once stood near today's Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum.

 Rival marauders known as "Skinners" were organized, supposedly in support of the Americans and to oppose the Cowboys.  In reality, however, the Skinners similarly terrorized and robbed nearly all who tried to remain within the neutral ground without regard to whether they were Loyalists or Patriots.  Both Cowboys and Skinners were documented to torture, murder, and rob many victims in the region.  Things became so terrible that local residents organized Ranger Corps, the principal purpose of which was to protect local residents from both Cowboys and Skinners.  In 1975, Pelham Town Historian Susan Cochran Swanson wrote:

 "Although Westchester was called the 'Neutral Ground', it was neutral only in the sense that the inhabitants were liable to attack by Cow Boys or Skinners, British or American soldiers.  Some people left their farms and moved to other areas until the end of the war.  Most buried their valuables and tried to hide the few horses and cows they had managed to keep in the woods.  Few men of fighting age dared to sleep at home for fear of capture and imprisonment.  Women, children and old people stayed on to protect their property.  Almost every family had a secret retreat in which to hide during a raid or attack.

 "Out of this chaos, where families often sacrificed greatly for the principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, many true heroes emerged.  Local men, for example, organized Ranger Corps to protect the county from Cow Boy and Skinner raids.  Trained by volunteer French and German officers in the art of saber fighting from horseback, they became a real match for the British trained Cow Boys of Morrisania."

 Source: Swanson, Susan Cochran, Between the Lines:  Stories of Westchester County, New York During the American Revolution, pp. 3-4 (Pelham, NY:  The Junior League of Pelham, 1975) (Copyright Susan Cochran Swanson).

 Pelham also was in the cross-hairs of the British and Germans during the War because of its strategic location and its (then) lengthy shoreline on Long Island Sound.  The passageway between the East River that extended alongside Manhattan and Long Island Sound was strategically important to the defense and safety of New York City which was held by the British.  Pelham's shores stood nearly at that passageway that threaded between Throggs Neck on the mainland and the Great Neck / Kings Point region of Long Island.  Thus, the British kept a substantial naval presence in the waters off the shores of Pelham and southern Westchester County for most of the war, constantly harassing local shipping.  The British also stationed troops on local islands like today's City Island (then part of the Town of Pelham).  Although there was naval activity throughout Long Island Sound off the shores of both northern Westchester and southern Westchester, such activity was very concentrated near the shores of Pelham and the strategically-important island known today as City Island.  Hence, today's story of the American capture of the British ship Schuldham in Pelham waters.  

 Indeed, among the countless stories of heroism and patriotism in Pelham during the Revolutionary War is the story of the capture of the Schuldham in February, 1777.  During 1777, Americans throughout our new nation were inspired by the gallant exploits of a group of American Patriots who captured a massive British gunboat serving as a guard-ship off the shores of City Island in the Manor of Pelham.  A small group of Patriots reportedly from Darien, Connecticut successfully executed a daring capture of the Schuldham, a British guard-ship that patrolled near Hell Gate and the "entrance" from Long Island Sound to the East River route to New York City.   

 An account of the event was published in 1886.  It said: 

 "It was near City Island that a daring and successful enterprise was accomplished by a few of the Americans in the year 1777, being no less than the capture of a British gun-boat used as a guard-ship, and stationed at the mouth of East Chester Creek. The particulars, as related by one of the party engaged in the capture to an aged citizen of Pelham, now in his ninety-second year, and by him communicated to the writer, are as follows: 

 'The guardship 'Schuldham' was one of several vessels stationed by the British along the shores of the Sound, through whose instrumentality most of the hardships complained of by the Americans, such as those referred to in the petition by Benjamin Palmer, were inflicted. The officers and crews of these vessels often treated the inhabitants of the towns and villages along the shore with great severity. They were consequently regarded with no friendly feelings by the oppressed people, and plans for their capture were frequently discussed. 

 'A party of whale-boatmen from Darien, Connecticut, were fortunate enough to carry enough such a design into execution. They conveyed their boat by hand across the Neck, and took possession of the market sloop which plied regularly between East Chester and New York. From the master of this sloop they ascertained that on his weekly passages to the city he was sometimes hailed from the guardship, and requested to sell them fresh provisions, such as eggs, chickens, vegetables, &c., for which, to insure their delivery, he was liberally paid. These Connecticut whale-boatmen, to the number of ten or twelve, armed, concealed themselves in the hold of the sloop. Their leader, however, remained on deck, and forced the owner to lay his craft alongside the sloop, as if for the purpose of furnishing the usual supplies. It was early in the morning, before daylight, and the moment the two vessels touched, the boatmen rushed up from below, boarded the British vessel, and took the crew prisoners before they were fairly awake. They then compelled some of the prisoners to help navigate the vessel, and making sail on the prize, ran her into the port of New London.'"

Source:  See Lindsley, Charles E., Pelham [Chapter XVII] in HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK, INCLUDING MORRISANIA, KINGS BRIDGE, AND WEST FARMS, WHICH HAVE BEEN ANNEXED TO NEW YORK CITY, Vol I, p. 705 (Scharf, Thomas, ed., Philadelphia: L.E. Preston & Co. 1886).  See also Weigold, Marilyn, THE LONG ISLAND SOUND - A HISTORY OF ITS PEOPLE, PLACES, AND ENVIRONMENT, p. 26 (NY and London: New York University Press 2004); Mullaly, John, NEW PARKS BEYOND THE HARLEM WITH THIRTY ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAP DESCRIPTIONS OF SCENERY NEARLY 4,000 ACRES OF FREE PLAYGROUND FOR THE PEOPLE, p. 88 (NY, NY: Record & Guide 1887).

 This brief account published in 1886 relates the capture of the British gunboat, but does little to reveal the true nature of the violent encounter and the amazing courage of the Americans involved.  A more recent account based on interviews with the whaleboatmen involved in the courageous exploit contained in the famed McDonald Papers published in 1923 by the Westchester County Historical Society tells the story of the capture of the Schuldham in greater detail.  

 In 1975, Pelham Town Historian Susan Cochran Swanson published a book entitled Between the Lines:  Stories of Westchester County, New York During the American Revolution (Pelham, NY:  The Junior League of Pelham, 1975) (Copyright Susan Cochran Swanson).  In it she included a chapter with a brief but exciting account of the capture of the Schuldham.  Her account is quoted below.

"Yankee Whaleboatmen Capture British Gunboat
February, 1777

 Whaleboatmen of Westchester County and Connecticut villages along Long Island Sound usually went out in groups of two or three boats.  Each boat carried eight to ten oarsmen, a helmsman and a man to handle a swivel gun on the bow.  Commissioned by the Governors of New York and Connecticut, the whaleboatmen were really rowboat privateers preying on Tory farms and sloops headed for the British food markets in New York.

 The most famous whaleboat exploit was the capture in February, 1777, by Major Samuel Lockwood's crew of about twenty men, of the ten-gun British guardship Schuldham, anchored near Minneford Island (City Island) in Eastchester Bay.  It is retold here from the stories of two of the crew, Isaac Quintard and John Dibble, and the widow of another crew member, Andrew Mead.

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 Early on a cold February afternoon in 1777 Major Samuel Lockwood of Stamford, Connecticut, stood in the bow of his whaleboat straining to spot familiar landmarks along the shore.  His upraised hand signaled silence to the men rowing soundlessly behind him.

 'Good!  This thick mist is a perfect cover,' he thought.  Slowly the whaleboat slipped around the north end of Hunter's Island and moved into Pelham Bay at the head of Pell's Point in Long Island Sound.  The two whaleboats behind slowly edged toward the beach and slid softly into the mud.  Wordlessly the men pulled their long whaleboats into the tall marsh grass that hid them completely from view.

 Isaac Quintard stretched his legs.  It felt good to walk again after hours of rowing.  At the Major's signal he hurried over to join the crew.

 'I'm calling off our original plan to take the Fort at White Stone Ferry,' Major Lockwood announced.

 'Why, Sir?' Andrew Mead spoke up.  A good man when action was involved, he had been looking forward to attacking the fort.

 'I received some news from Fade Donaldson last night, in New Rochelle,' continued the Major.  'There's a brig and another armed vessel tied up alongside the fort now.  It's too risky. 1  [Footnote 1, below.]  Besides, I've got a better idea.  How would you like a real prize this time . . . something more than just intercepting a few chickens or pigs bound for his Majesty's soup kettles in New York . . . something that would put some real silver in your palms?'

 'Aye, that's what we need!!' Isaac exclaimed.

 'Fade tells me that a Tory market sloop called the Little Stanton plies between East Chester and New York.  She sells fresh vegetables and poultry to the Schuldham, that guardship off Minneford Island.  The Little Stanton is due back in a couple of hours.'

 'We haven't taken a Tory prize all day,' said Andrew Mead.  'Perhaps the Captain of the Little Stanton would like a holiday in Connecticut -- in jail!'

 'I've got a better idea,' said Lockwood.  'Johnson, you and your crew stay here on Pell's Point and keep watch.  DeForest, you and I and our crews will carry out boats across Pell's Neck to Eastchester Bay.  The master of the Little Stanton doesn't know it yet, but we are going to borrow his sloop and use it as bait to catch us a nice fat fish!'

 'You don't mean we are going to try to take the Schuldham?' exclaimed John Dibble.

 'Why not?' broke in Andrew Mead.  'If we can catch the crew while they are still asleep, I bet we could do it!'  

 'Are you willing to give it a try?' asked Major Lockwood.

 'You bet!' cried the men.

 'We'll give those British sailors a taste of real Yankee fighting!' 

 Leaving Johnson and his crew to keep watch, Lockwood, DeForest and their men hoisted their whaleboat on their shoulders and set off.  When they reached the other side of the narrow neck of land, they stopped an peered cautiously through the tall marsh grass.  Through the mist they could just see the dim outline of the Schuldham.

 They launched their boats and hugging the shore to keep out of sight, rowed from Eastchester Bay into the narrow Hutchinson River.  Then, hiding the boats in the marsh, Lockwood and his men waited an hour, shivering.  A small sloop sailed into Eastchester Bay.  It was the Little Stanton.  

 With the precision of long practice the whaleboatmen swung into action.  Pulling alongside the sloop, Lockwood leaped on board, pointed his pistol at the Tory captain's head and said 'We'd like to borrow your sloop for the night, Captain.  If you don't give us any trouble, neither you nor your boat will be harmed.'  The Captain gave in without a struggle.

 The whaleboats escorted the Little Stanton back to their secluded cove.  There they spent the night waiting for the tide to turn.  About five o'clock in the morning, Captain DeForest roused the men.

 'Let's go, boys!  Time to catch our prize.  Ten dollars to the first man to board the Schuldham and five dollars to the second.  If we succeed there will be dollars aplenty for all of us!'  The crew hid down in the hold along with the sloop's 300 barrels of salt and twelve ten-gallon kegs of brandy.  With the Tory captain at the helm and Lockwood at the bow, the Little Stanton sailed down Eastchester Bay under a light breeze from the west.

 Suddenly out of the grey dawn loomed the Schuldham.  She was completely encased in a net that reached ten feet up from the water to act as protection against small rebel boats.  She resembled a shrouded ghost in the morning fog.  The man on watch was real enough however, and wide awake.

 'What ship is that?' he called.

 'The Little Stanton,' answered Major Lockwood.

 'The rebel boats are out tonight and I want to lie under your stern lee for safety.'  2.  [Footnote 2 is below]

 Just at that moment, the bowsprit of the little boat rammed the Schuldham's netting.  The whaleboatmen swarmed up out of the hold.  Andrew Mead leaped to the bow and slashed at the netting with his cutlass.  The sentry fired his musket at Andrew.  Only grazed, Andrew fired back, but missed.

 'Leave your muskets, men.  Use your boarding axes.  Follow me,' Major Lockwood yelled.  The men rushed forward.  Andrew Mead climbed the netting, hooked his boarding ax over the railing and pulled himself on board thus earning the ten dollar reward.

 'Lock the hatches!  Keep the marines below,' shouted Andrew to the men following him over the rail.  But they weren't fast enough.

 A British officer burst through the nearest hatch yelling, 'Kill him!  Kill him!'  Mead came face to face with the British Captain Roney with a pistol in each of his hands.  Mead lunged at Roney with his boarding axe, wounding him severely in the chest and side, but the Scotsman fired his pistols wounding Mead in each shoulder.  As the other whaleboatmen guarded the hatches, Andrew Mead, now barely able to support himself, called on the Captain to surrender.  The Captain, lying on the deck replied, 'If I must, I must!' and surrendered.

 The battle was over.  But not one of the whaleboatmen knew how to man the stern topsail of the enormous Schuldham!  And so a bargain was struck with two British crewmen:  their freedom in exchange for their sailing knowledge.

 'Even so,' Andrew Mead said later, 'we sailed that vessel very slowly and very awkwardly, like an old woman, all the way home!'  4.  [Footnote 4 is below]

 Triumphantly the Schuldham entered Stamford harbor.  Isaac Quintard took Andrew Mead to his father's house to recover and Captain Roney went to Isaac's aunt's, the Widow Hubbard's house nearby.  The two men became quite friendly during their recuperation.

 'Mead, aren't you well yet?  I have almost recovered.'  5.  [Footnote 5 is below]  Captain Roney would say to tease Andrew.  Suddenly, just when he seemed almost well, Captain Roney hemorrhaged fatally.  He was mourned by Andrew Mead who lived on to have many more adventures as a whaleboatman.  But not one of them ever equaled the day he helped capture the Schuldham!

 Footnotes:

 1.  McDonald, John, The McDonald Papers, MSS, Huguenot-Thomas Paine Historical Assoc., New Rochelle, N.Y., 1844, 586.
2.  McDonald, op. cit., 613.
3.  McDonald, op. cit., 71.
4.  Ibid. 
5.  Ibid."

 Source:  Swanson, Susan Cochran, Between the Lines:  Stories of Westchester County, New York During the American Revolution, pp. 23-28 (Pelham, NY:  The Junior League of Pelham, 1975) (Copyright Susan Cochran Swanson).

 The story of the capture of the Schuldham in Pelham waters early in the Revolutionary War is only a tiny part of the history of the region during the tumult of the war.  Yet, it is among the most thrilling exploits during that terrible time.

Detail from 1776 Map by Charles Blaskowitz Showing Area Where the
Schuldham Was Captured in February 1777.   Source: Blaskowitz,
Majesty's forces, &ca, &ca, &ca. (1776) (Library of Congress Geography
and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA; Digital Id g3802t
ar115200; Library of Congress Catalog Number gm71000648).
NOTE: Click to Enlarge Image.

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posted by Blake A. Bell @ 4:43 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 04, 2018

More on British and Hessian Casualties During the Battle of Pelham


For more than a century, controversy has raged over the number of casualties that occurred during the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.  Indeed, I have written about this issue a couple of times.  See, e.g.:

 Mon., Apr. 25, 2016:  Extract of December 3, 1776 Letter Addressing Battle of Pelham Casualties on October 18, 1776.

 Fri., Oct. 24, 2014:  October 21, 1776 Report to the New-York Convention Regarding the Battle of Pelham.

 Wed., Feb. 17, 2010:  British Report on Killed, Wounded and Missing Soldiers During the Period the Battle of Pelham Was Fought on October 18, 1776.

 The British landed that day on the western side of today's Rodman's Neck, then known as Pell's Point and Pelham Neck.  They marched across the neck to today's Shore Road and marched northeastward on that road to its intersection with Split Rock Road which, at that time was roughly where the driveway entrance to the clubhouse of today's Pelham Bay and Split Rock Golf Courses complex in Pelham Bay Park.  

 The Split Rock Road at that time extended from Shore Road across today's Split Rock Golf Course and I-95 and what remains of Split Rock Road in Pelham Manor.  There the road wound past the top of Prospect Hill and joined with the pathway and wagon trail we know today as Wolfs Lane until that roadway joined the Old Boston Post Road, known today as Colonial Avenue within the Town of Pelham.  

 The Battle of Pelham began early in the day in the midst of today's Split Rock Golf Course.  Colonel John Glover deployed roughly 450 Americans to meet more than 4,000 British and Hessian troops.  He deployed three regiments of troops "en echelon."  This is a military formation in which each unit is positioned successively to the left or right of the rear unit to form an oblique or "step-like" line.  He had each success line to deploy hidden from view behind stone fences that crossed the small fields along the roadway.  

 After brief skirmishing by advance guards of the two sides, the Battle of Pelham began when "about 4,000" British and Hessian troops with seven pieces of artillery advanced on the Americans.  Glover and his men remained under the cover of the stone walls until the enemy troops were within fifty yards.  Then, according to Glover, the Americans "rose up and gave them the whole charge of the battalion."  The British returned the fire "with showers of musketry and cannon balls" until the two sides had exchanged seven rounds.  Colonel Glover and Colonel Joseph Read's Regiment then retreated to the rear of men led by Colonel William Shepard. 

 The British and Hessians shouted and advanced, thinking the Americans were on the run.  Instead, Col. Shepard and his men rose from "behind a fine double wall" and began firing until he and his men had exchanged seventeen rounds with the British and Hessians "and caused them to retreat several times."

 Colonel Glover, together with Read's and Shepard's regiments, pulled back behind a regiment led by Colonel Loammi Baldwin also hidden behind a stone wall and repeated the process, exchanging more rounds with the British and Hessians.  By this time, the movements of the American troops as each line pulled back behind another had moved the American force to an area near the top of Prospect Hill.  

 The Americans spotted a British flanking maneuver in the distance and feared that the enemy might get to their rear and cut off their planned escape across the Hutchinson River at the shallow point where today's Colonial Avenue crosses that stream.  The Americans began a fighting retreat, continuing to slow the advance of the British and Hessian troops until the Americans reached Colonial Avenue and crossed the Hutchinson River.  There American artillery on a hill deployed to protect the retreating troops.  

 When the British and Hessians reached Colonial Avenue, they stopped and set up camp along both sides of the road with the camp stretching nearly to today's New Rochelle boundary.  They also deployed artillery and exchanged cannonades with the American artillery to little effect for much of the night.

 Only about 450 Americans had delayed some 4,000 British and Hessian troops for a day as George Washington and the bulk of the American army struggled to escape from upper Manhattan to White Plains.  The ferocity with which the Americans embraced their duty may best be exemplified by the later testimony of Sir Henry Clinton, a British commander, who later testified he thought they were facing 14,000 American troops during the Battle of Pelham!

 Yet, the toll resulting from the battle may have been surprisingly light.  Deserters suggested that hundreds of British and Hessian troops died in the battle with some estimates as high as seven hundred casualties.  This seems an exaggeration.  Though the records are admittedly confused and, at least in the case of Hessian casualties missing, it can only be said with some degree of certainty that Col. Glover recorded that he had "eight men killed and thirteen wounded" (although official returns list only six dead Americans).  The British, in turn, reported a total of only about two dozen casualties.

 No firm casualty figures have ever been uncovered for the Hessian troops that fought in the Battle of Pelham.  Interestingly, historians seem always to have assumed that such records are lost or missing.  It is at least possible that there were no Hessian deaths during the Battle of Pelham, though there is evidence of a few Hessian deaths shortly after the battle, likely being wounded men who later died.

 David Osborn, Site Manager of St. Paul's Church National Historic Site, has performed extensive research to determine that the incomplete church building was used as a field hospital by Hessian troops after the Battle of Pelham.  An open sand pit in the rear of the church, now marked with a stone at the rear of the church cemetery, was used as a burial site for Hessian troops who died in the church.  David Osborn has reviewed Hessian records and concluded that the remains of five Hessian privates likely were interred there after the Battle of Pelham although there appear to be no records of whether the men died of sickness or battle wounds.  He has written:

 "Following the engagement, wounded and sick Hessian soldiers were moved into the half completed extant St. Paul's Church, which was transformed into a field hospital.  Construction of the stone and brick church had begun in 1763.  A contemporary account of the half completed church during the Hessian occupation reported that there was 'no floor, the sleepers are not even down, but along the sides of the building are seen large pieces of timber upon which the sick are sitting or reclining.'  An open sand pit at the rear of the yard was being used to make mortar, soon became a burial site for the Hessian men who died in the church.

 "Hessian records indicate the likely identity of five of those casualties.  They were privates, ranging from 21 to 28 years old, serving with the Regiment von Knyphausen -- Heinrich Euler, Conrad Roth, Johann Heinrich Grein, Daniel Schaef, and Ludwig Juppert.  The men were not students, landowners, or skilled craftsmen -- all of those categories were barred from service in the Hessian expeditionary force to protect the more productive elements of society from the perils of warfare.  In 1776, the Hessians usually also barred a family's only son from foreign service.  Most likely, the five Hessians were second or third sons of rural farm families of modest means."

 Source:  Osborn, David, The Hessians (Oct. 2007) (prepared for St. Paul's Church National Historic Site web site made available by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior).  

 Occasionally during the early 20th century, unidentified human remains were found in the area of Pelham where the battle was fought, although no determinations were made that the remains reflected victims of the battle.  See, e.g., Fri., May 19, 2006: Possible Remains of a Soldier Killed in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Found in 1921.  It remains possible, to this day, that others who lost their lives during the Battle of Pelham lie in hallowed Pelham ground.

 Though admittedly counter-intuitive since the Hessians reportedly led the advance against the Americans during the Battle of Pelham, the possibility that the Hessians suffered few or no casualties during the battle must be considered.  Arguably, there is a little indirect evidence to suggest such a possibility, however remote.

 Not long after the Battle of Pelham, British Commanding General Sir William Howe issued a letter to Lord George Germaine dated December 3, 1776.  In it he provided a "Return of commissioned and non-commissioned officers, rank and file, killed, wounded and missing, belonging to the army under the command of his Excellency the Hon. Gen. Howe, in several actions, &c. with the rebels, from the 17th of Sept. to the 16th of Nov. 1776, inclusive, specifying the different periods, and the corps the casualties have happened in."

 An extract of his letter appears below as it appeared in a British newspaper published on January 4, 1777.  The letter also may be found in other British newspapers of the day as well as in the following publication available online:  "America: Operations of the Army Under Gen. Howe" in The Scots Magazine MDCCLXXVI, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 646 (Edinburgh, Scotland: A. Murray and J. Cochran, Printers 1776).

 The letter breaks down casualties during the period September 17 through October 18, 1776 and October 19 through October 28.  For the latter period, Howe's letter provides a summary that includes both British and Hessian casualties.  For the former period (during which the Battle of Pelham occurred), Howe's letter reports only British casualties but no Hessian casualties.  This might be read to suggest that there were no Hessian casualties.

 Of course, it must be acknowledged that evidence suggests the Hessians may have taken the brunt of the American firing and that Howe had reasons to minimize -- and, perhaps, to avoid reporting Hessian casualties.  Truth be told, we likely will never know with any degree of certainty precisely how many Hessians were killed and wounded during the Battle of Pelham and, thus, the total number of casualties that resulted from the fight.  Nearly all evidence, however, suggests that the total number of casualties was surprisingly light and likely barelylittle more than three dozen killed and wounded among all the participants despite reports from deserters suggesting hundreds lost their lives.


*          *          *           *          *

 "Extract of a Letter from Gen. Sir William Howe to Lord George Germaine.
Dated New York, Dec. 3, 1776.

 I have the honor to inclose to your Lordship a return of ordnance and stores taken from the enemy since the landing of his Majesty's troops at Frogs Neck in West Chester county, from the 12th of Oct. to the 20th of Nov.  Those in the commissary and quartermaster General's branches are also very considerable, but as it has not been in their power hitherto to ascertain them, the reports must therefore be deferred to the next opportunity.  I also inclose a return of prisoners taken during the campaign.

 Return of commissioned and non-commissioned officers, rank and file, killed, wounded and missing, belonging to the army under the command of his Excellency the Hon. Gen. Howe, in several actions, &c. with the rebels, from the 17th of Sept. to the 16th of Nov. 1776, inclusive, specifying the different periods, and the corps the casualties have happened in.

 Head Quarters, New-York, Dec. 1, 1776.

 In the action at Pelham Manor, Oct. 18, and in previous skirmishes, from Sept. 17, inclusive.

 BRITISH.  17th regiment of light dragoons, 1 drummer missing; 1st battalion of light infantry, 1 serjeant, 2 rank and file killed; 1 field-officer, 1 captain, 1 subaltern, 3 serjeants, 1 drummer or trumpeter, 23 rank and file, wounded; 2 rank and file missing; 2d ditto grenadiers, 2 rank and file wounded; 4th regiment, 1 rank and file missing; 27th, 1 rank and file wounded; 28th, 1 rank and file wounded; 38th, 1 rank and file wounded; 55th, 1 rank and file wounded; 57th, 1 rank and file wounded; 71st, 5 rank and file killed, 7 rank and file wounded; royal artillery, 1 serjeant, 3 rank and file killed.  Total; 2 serjants.  11 rank and file killed; 1 field-officer, 1 captain, 1 subaltern, 3 serjeants, 1 drummer or trumpeter, 40 rank and file wounded; 1 drummer, 3 rank and file missing.

 Names of the officers killed and wounded, &c.

 1st battalion of light infantry, Capt. Evelyn of the 4th regiment, mortally wounded, and since dead; Lieut. Col. Musgrave, of the 40th regiment, wounded; Lieut. Archibald Rutherford of the 22d regiment, wounded.  N. B. The serjeant and 3 rank and file of the royal artillery, returned killed, were drowned in East River by the oversetting of a boat the 12th of October.

 In the action the 28th of October, in passing the Brunx river, and in previous skirmishes, from the 19th of Oct.

 BRITISH.  16th regiment of light dragoons, 1 serjeant, 2 rank and file, 1 horse wounded, 1 rank and file missing; 17th ditto, 1 rank and file, 5 horses killed; 1 subaltern, 4 rank and file, 3 horses wounded; brigade of guards, 1 rank . . . [Page 1 / Page 2] and file killed, 2 rank and file missing; 3d battalion of light infantry, 1 rank and file killed, 1 subaltern, 3 rank and file wounded; 5th regiment, 1 rank and file killed, 1 field-officer, 1 rank and file wounded; 10th ditto, 1 rank and file killed, 1 rank and file wounded; 28th ditto, 1 captain, 8 rank and file killed, 1 subaltern, 4 serjeants, 53 rank and file wounded; 35th ditto, 1 field-officer, 1 subaltern, 15 rank and file killed, 2 captains, 1 subaltern, 6 serjeants, 31 rank and file wounded, 2 rank and file missing; 37th ditto, 3 rank and file killed, 2 rank and file wounded; 45th ditto, 1 drumer, 1 rank and file missing; 49th ditto, 1 captain, 1 subaltern, 1 serjeant, 5 rank and file killed, 1 subaltern, 2 serjeants, 17 rank and file wounded; 71st ditto, a rank and file missing; New-York company, 1 rank and file wounded; Queen's Rangers, 20 rank and file killed, 1 subaltern, 8 rank and file wounded, 28 rank and file missing; royal artillery, 1 rank and file killed, 1 serjeant, 1 rank and file wounded.  Total, 1 field-officer, 2 captains, 2 subalterns, 1 serjeant, 57 rank and file, 5 horses killed, 1 field-officer, 2 captains, 6 subalterns, 14 serjeants, 123 rank and file, 4 horses wounded, 1 drummer, 36 rank and file missing.

 HESSIAN CORPS, &c.  Chasseurs, 4 rank and file killed, 1 subaltern, 9 rank and file wounded, 20 rank and file missing; grenadier battalion of Linsing, 1 captain, 2 rank and file wounded; grenadier battalion of Block, 1 rank and file wounded; hereditary Prince's, 2 rank and file wounded; Losberg's, 6 rank and file killed, 1 serjeant, 39 rank and file wounded; Knyphausen, 2 rank and file wounded; Raille's, 2 rank and file, 1 horse killed, 1 subaltern, 3 rank and file wounded; Trumback's, 8 rank and file missing; artillery, 1 rank and file wounded; 3d reg. of Waldeck, 13 rank and file missing.  Total, 12 rank and file, 1 horse killed, 1 captain, 2 subalterns, 1 serjeant, 59 rank and file wounded, 23 rank and file missing.

 Names of the Officers wounded.

 Chasseurs, Lieut. de Rau wounded; grenadier battalion of Linsing, Capt. de Wefterhagen wounded; regiment of Raille, Lieut. Muhlhausen wounded.  N. B. The 8 rank and file of the Hessian regiment of Trumback, returned missing were taken prisoners on State-island, the 15th of Oct. . . ."

 Source:  Extract of a Letter from Gen. Sir William Howe to Lord George Germaine -- Dated New York, Dec. 3, 1776, The Ipswich Journal [Ipswich, Suffolk, England], Jan. 4, 1777, No. 1987, p. 1, col. 4 & p. 2, col. 1.

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I have written extensively about the Battle of Pelham fought on October 18, 1776.  See, for example, the following 60 previous articles many of which, like today's, document research regarding the battle:  


Bell, Blake A., The Battle of Pelham:  October 18, 1776, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 41, Oct. 15, 2004, p. 10, col. 1.  

Bell, Blake, History of the Village of Pelham:  Revolutionary War, HistoricPelham.com Archive (visited Dec. 18, 2015).  

Mon., Feb. 28, 2005: 

Mon., Apr. 18, 2005:  Restored Battle of Pelham Memorial Plaque Is Unveiled at Glover Field.  

Fri., May 27, 2005:  1776, A New Book By Pulitzer Prize Winner David McCullough, Touches on the Battle of Pelham.  

Thu., Jul. 14, 2005:  Pelham's 1926 Pageant Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Pelham.  

Wed., Oct. 26, 2005:  Remnants of the Battlefield on Which the Battle of Pelham Was Fought on October 18, 1776.  

Fri., May 19, 2006:  Possible Remains of a Soldier Killed in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Found in 1921.  

Fri., Aug. 11, 2006:  Article by William Abbatt on the Battle of Pelham Published in 1910.  

Thu., Sep. 21, 2006:  A Paper Addressing the Battle of Pelham, Among Other Things, Presented in 1903.  

Mon., Oct. 30, 2006:  Brief Biographical Data About Sir Thomas Musgrave, British Lieutenant Colonel Wounded at the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Wed., Nov. 1, 2006:  Two British Military Unit Histories that Note Participation in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Tue., Jan. 16, 2007:  Brief Biography of British Officer Who Served During the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Thu., Jan. 18, 2007:  Three More British Military Unit Histories that Note Participation in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Wed., Jan. 24, 2007:  An Account of the October 18, 1776 Battle of Pelham and the "Grand Review" that Followed It, Published in 1897.

Fri., Feb. 09, 2007:  Extract of October 23, 1776 Letter Describing British Troops in Eastchester After the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.  

Mon., Feb. 12, 2007:  Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site Opens New Exhibition:  "Overlooked Hero:  John Glover and the American Revolution."  

Mon., Jul. 16, 2007:  Mention of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 in Revolutionary War Diary of David How.  

Tue., Jul. 17, 2007:  Mention of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 in Writings of Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Aide-de-Camp to British General Clinton.  

Wed., Jul. 18, 2007:  Another British Military Unit History that Notes Participation in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.  

Tue., Aug. 7, 2007:  An Account of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Contained in the McDonald Papers Published in 1926.  

Wed., Aug. 8, 2007:  A Description of an Eyewitness Account of the Interior of St. Paul's Church in Eastchester During the Revolutionary War.  

Thu., Sep. 6, 2007:  Information About St. Paul's Church, the Battle of Pelham and Other Revolutionary War Events Near Pelham Contained in an Account Published in 1940.  

Mon., Oct. 8, 2007:  American Troops Who Guarded Pelham's Shores in October 1776.  

Fri., Oct. 12, 2007:  Images of The Lord Howe Chestnut that Once Stood in the Manor of Pelham.  

Fri., Oct. 27, 2006:  Orders Issued by British Major General The Honourable William Howe While Encamped in Pelham After the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Thu., Jan. 22, 2009:  Another Brief Biography of Sir Thomas Musgrave, a British Officer Wounded at the Battle of Pelham on October 18 1776.  

Fri., Mar. 27, 2009:  Remains of 53 Individuals Thought to Be Revolutionary War Combatants Reinterred at St. Paul's Church on October 17, 1908.

Wed., Feb. 17, 2010:  British Report on Killed, Wounded and Missing Soldiers During the Period the Battle of Pelham Was Fought on October 18, 1776.  

Fri., Apr. 23, 2010:  Charles Blaskowitz, Surveyor Who Created Important Map Reflecting the Battle of Pelham.  


Thu., Feb. 06, 2014:  A Description of the Revolutionary War Battle of Pelham Published in 1926 for the Sesquicentennial Celebration.

Mon., May 19, 2014:  Biography of British Officer Who Fought in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Wed., Jun. 04, 2014:  An Account of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Presented and Published in 1894.

Thu., Jun. 19, 2014:  Account of the Revolutionary War Battle of Westchester Creek, Leading Up to the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Mon., Jun. 23, 2014:  Excerpt of Memoir of American Officer Who, Though Wounded, Tore up the Planks of the Causeway During the Battle of Westchester and Joined His Comrades for the Battle of White Plains in October, 1776.

Wed., Jun. 25, 2014:  Image of Sir Thomas Musgrave, a British Officer Wounded During the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Fri., Jun. 27, 2014:  Newly-Published Account Concludes Colonel William Shepard Was Wounded During the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Mon., Jun. 30, 2014:  A British Lieutenant in the Twelfth Foot Who Fought at the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Wed., Sep. 17, 2014:  References to the Battle of Pelham in 18th Century Diary of Ezra Stiles, President of Yale College.

Fri., Sep. 19, 2014:  Abel Deveau, An American Skirmisher on Rodman's Neck as British and Germans Landed Before the Battle of Pelham.

 Fri., Oct. 17, 2014:  First-Hand Diary Account of Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Mon., Oct. 20, 2014:  American Diary Account of Events Before, During, and After the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776.

Tue., Oct. 21, 2014:  November 1, 1776 Letter Describing the Battle of Pelham and Events Before and After the Battle.

Fri., Oct. 24, 2014:  October 21, 1776 Report to the New-York Convention Regarding the Battle of Pelham.

Wed., Dec. 17, 2014:  Installation of the First Memorial Tablet on Glover's Rock on October 18, 1901.

Wed., Feb. 18, 2015:  Young American Hero James Swinnerton, Badly Wounded in the Battle of Pelham.

Wed., Feb. 25, 2015:  Where Were the Stone Walls Used by American Troops During the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776?

Mon., Apr. 27, 2015:  Obituary of British Officer Who Participated in the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 as a Young Man.

Mon., May 18, 2015:  Cannonball Fired in The Battle of Pelham Found on Plymouth Street in Pelham Manor.

Tue., Sep. 08, 2015:  Pelham Manor Resident Makes Revolutionary War Discovery.

Fri., Dec. 18, 2015:  Brief Report on the Battle of Pelham Fought October 18, 1776 Prepared Five Days Afterward.

Fri., Feb. 19, 2016:  The 600-Year Old "Lord Howe Chestnut" Tree that Once Stood in Pelham.

Mon., Mar. 07, 2016:  Does Pelham Have a Connection to the Painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware" by Emanuel Leutze?

Thu., Mar. 24, 2016:  An Account of the Battle of Pelham on October 18, 1776 Published in The McDonald Papers. 

Mon., Apr. 25, 2016:  Extract of December 3, 1776 Letter Addressing Battle of Pelham Casualties on October 18, 1776.

Wed., May 25, 2016:  Did the Pell Homestead Known as "The Shrubbery" Serve as General Howe's Headquarters After the Battle of Pelham?

Fri., Jul. 01, 2016:  Evidence the Battle of Pelham May Have Begun at Glover's Rock After All.

Fri., Jul. 22, 2016:  Extract of November 1, 1776 Letter Describing the Battle of Pelham.

Thu., Oct. 19, 2017:  Another 18th Century Account of the October 1776 British Campaign that Included the Battle of Pelham.

Fri., Mar. 09, 2018:  More on the 1926 Pageant Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Pelham.

 Tue., Apr. 03, 2018:  British Propaganda Downplayed the Battle of Pelham to British Readers in 1776.
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