Historic Pelham: More on British and Hessian Casualties During the Battle of Pelham

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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.