The American Revolution in 1778

The American Revolution in 1778. .

"These are the times that try men's souls" , Thomas Paine, American Crisis

On September 30, 1778, near this very spot, 350 Continental soldiers successfully attacked a column of 100 British-allied Hessian soldiers. This dramatic engagement, now known as the Battle of Edgar's Lane, was one of the rare victories that took place in Westchester during the Revolutionary War., In September 1778, George Washington's Continental Army was in its third year of what would be an eight-year War of Independence. Washington was sending light infantry units into Westchester to probe enemy defenses and to stop the foraging raids being conducted by British troops., How did we get to this point? King George III had been taxing the American colonies relentlessly and the Patriot movement had risen up in revolt. Westchester's own Thomas Paine eloquently spoke out against "taxation without representation" and British rule. The American Revolution had begun in 1775 and George Washington was named commander-in-chief of the newly formed Continental Army. The Americans issued their Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776., Not all American colonists opposed the British. The Patriots were opposed by Loyalists, colonists who supported King George's rule. New York City had become a Loyalist refuge after British forces invaded the city in August 1776. Hessian soldiers fighting for the British occupied the northern reaches of Manhattan and by 1778 began foraging raids in Westchester, stealing crops, property, and livestock., In June 1778, 15,000 troops under the command of British General Sir Henry Clinton abandoned Philadelphia and also made their way north to New York City. The war had become a stalemate, with much of Westchester as contested territory. As September 30, dawned, American soldiers secretly moved to a position south of Tarrytown with a battle plan to stop the Hessian patrols coming north from Yonkers. The two opposing forces clashed, right here on Broadway., [Captions:] , Pulling Down the Statue of George III at Bowling Green, William Walcutt, 1857 , Painting of a jubilant crowd in New York City tearing down a statue of King George after hearing Washington read the newly signed Declaration of Independence. The statue was carted to a Connecticut foundry, where the lead was melted and made into bullets and musket balls for the Continental Army by Patriot women., ① The Battle of Cortlandt's Ridge (The Stockbridge Massacre) , Sachem Daniel Nimham, the leader of the Wappinger Mahican Indians of the Munsee Nation, joined the Continental Army with his Indian Company militia unit (also known as the Stockbridge Indians) at the beginning of the war. Nimham pledged "Wherever your armies will go, there we will go … we will fall where you fall, and lay our bones by yours." On August 31, 1778, Nimham and his men were ambushed by British troops in what is now Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Nimham was killed and most of his men were chased down and massacred., ② Landing at Paulus Hook , On September 22, 1778, 6,000 well-trained British troops from Long Island, Staten Island, and New York City landed at the British post in Paulus Hook, New Jersey (now Jersey City) to form the army that British General Clinton sent north to raid New Jersey farms and towns for food. Days before the Battle of Edgar's Lane, they committed the Baylor Massacre., ③ The Baylor Massacre , Just three days before the Battle of Edgar's Lane, 600 British soldiers attacked Colonel George Baylor's 3rd Continental Dragoons in a surprise raid on their camp in Old Tappan, New Jersey. Sixty-nine American soldiers were killed, including some as they were attempting to surrender, and 80 horses were slaughtered. News of the massacre spread quickly., Harvest Raids and Reprisals of 1778 , Map of the foraging routes of the British in New Jersey and the Hessians in Westchester as they searched for food to supply their troops and horses., An Indian of the Stockbridge Tribe, 1778 , Sketch of a Stockbridge Indian, with firearm, hatchet, and bow, done by Hessian Captain Johann Ewald., [Timeline:] , 1775 , Battles of Lexington and Concord: April 19, 1775, 1776 , Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776 , Battle of Long Island: August 27, 1776 , Battle of White Plains: October 28, 1776 , Battle of Fort Washington and the fall of New York: November 16, 1776, 1777-78 , Battle of Saratoga: October 17, 1777 , Continentals camp at Valley Forge: December 1777-June 1778 , British evacuate Philadelphia, evacuate to New York: June 18, 1776 , Battle of Monmouth: June 28, 1778 , British begin Grand Forage at Paulus Hook: September 22, 1778 , Battle of Edgar's Lane: September 30, 1778