To George Washington from Major General William Heath, 10–11 February 1780
From Major General William Heath
Highlands [N.Y.] Feb. 10[–11] 1780
Dear General,
In the following I shall give your Excellency a State of facts relative to the late capture of Lt Colo. Thompson and part of his detachment on the lines of this post, on the 3d Instant.1
Lt Colonel Thompson was at that time at young’s2 near the white plains his detachment consisted of five companies. Cap. Watson of the 3d Regt with his Company was at Young’s house with the Lieutenant Colonel.3 Capt. Roberts of the 15 Reg. and Capt. Stoddard of the 1st Regt were on his right their greatest distance about two miles.4 On his Left were, Capt. Lt Farley of the 9th Regt & Capt. Cooper of the 14th Regt5—their extreme distance rather greater than the Companies on the right. Pickets were advanced from each. On the morning of the 3d Instant about 9 oClock, the Lt Colo. was informed that a body of the Enemy’s Horse were advancing & at that time about 2½ miles distant: apprehending the Enemy to be Horse only he determined to remain where he was and Sent to the Several companie⟨s⟩ to join him. Soon after this, the Enemy attack’d his picket (a Serjeant & 8 men) who fired on the Horse, which checked them—on which the picket attempted to join the body but were overtaken by the Horse One or two of them wounded and the whole taken prisoners. Not long after, the Enemy’s Horse appear’d in Sight of the House. the Lt Colo. had been joined by Capt. Roberts’s Company who formed on the right. the Enemys Horse halted at a distance and discharged their rifles: Soon afte⟨r⟩ the Infantry appeared advancing to the front & right flank of our troops who were now join’d by Captn Lt Farleys Company on the left—Captn Stoddard and Captn Cooper coming up—One on the right, the other on the left. Our Troops preserved their order and did not fire untill Some time after the Enemy began; when they received orders to fire the Enemy immediately Scattered, availing themselves of Trees and the Ground, of which, it must be acknowleged, they very judiciously took the advantage, Springing from one tree & place to another, and constantly gaining Ground—their fire being directed both against the front and flank of our Troops—and, a number being kill’d & wounded they broke, Some retreating up the road, others into the House, from the doors & windows of which they fired on the Enemy. At this time Captain Stoddard, and Capt. Cooper came up. the former gave the Enemy two or three fires, but the distance being great probably did little or no execution.
the Horse at this instant were very active & overtook Several of our men who were making their escape. It is said our troops discovered great bravery & fought well for about fifteen minutes when the Lt Colo. was compell’d to Surrender.
We had 14 men kill’d on the Spot, including Capn Roberts, and 17 wounded, three of which are Since dead. Lt Colo. Thompson of Marshall’s Capt. Watson of Greaton’s, Capn Lt Farley of Wesson’s Lt Burley of Tuppers, Lt Maynard of Greatons Ensign Fowler of Nixon’s & Ensign Bradley of Sheppard’s with 90 Non Commissioned officers & Soldiers were taken prisoners6—9 of whom who were wounded were left by the Enemy at a house Some miles down the road. The Enemy Sat fire to young’s house, & soon retired, leaving two dead and Carrying off their wounded—among whom was a Captn of Grenadiers wounded in the hip and a Lieutenant of the Infantry in the Thigh.7 Our Troops immediately after went on to the Ground and buried the dead—The Enemys force is said to have consisted of about 60 Jäger Horse & 40 of the Refugee,8 and between 400 & 500 Infantry detached from different Corps, including a part or the whole of the Grenadier & Light Infantry Companies of the Guards. Colo. Emmerick was out as a volunteer on foot with his rifle, and was very active. Colo. Norton of the Guards commanded the whole, & Colo. Delancy was with the refugee horse.9
11th By two deserters who left Fort washington a few days Since, I am informed that the Enemy had at that place about 150 Sleighs when they came away. the sleighs were employd in hauling wood. I am just now informed by Colo. Badlam who is on the advanced post, that a body of three hundred of the Enemys horse (probably part of these Militia) and the 7th British Regiment came the last monday10 from Long Island to West Chester on the Ice, where they now are. whether their taking post at west Chester is with offensive or defensive views, is uncertain. probably both. I have written Brigadier General Poor to hold his Brigade in the most perfect readiness for action,11 have patroles on the Ice of Hudsons River against Peeks kill, and from the Guard at Swim’s down towards fort Montgomery.12 Every precaution is in exercise & I trust the Enemy will be disappointed should they attempt to Surprise us. I have the honor to be With the Greatest respect Your Excellency’s Most obedient Servant
W. Heath
LS, DLC:GW; ADfS, MHi: Heath Papers; copy (extract), enclosed in GW to Samuel Huntington, 14 Feb. 1780, DNA:PCC, item 152; copy (extract), DNA:PCC, item 169.
1. For Heath’s earlier report of this engagement, see his letter to GW of 4 February.
2. The farmhouse and tavern of Joseph Youngs (c.1722–1789), a tenant of Philipse Manor, was located four miles east of Tarrytown, N.Y., and four miles northwest of White Plains, New York. Youngs, an active militiaman, apparently was one of the ninety-six men taken prisoner (see n.6 below). Though his house was destroyed in the engagement, Youngs later purchased 152 acres of confiscated Loyalist land in the area, later known as Youngs Corners. Youngs subsequently sold the land to Isaac Van Wart, one of the militiamen who captured Maj. John André in September 1780. Van Wart built a house on the property.
3. Abraham Watson, Jr. (1752–1804) of Cambridge, Mass., served as a surgeon in Col. Thomas Gardner’s Massachusetts Battalion in 1775 before becoming a captain in the 3d Massachusetts Regiment in January 1777. Taken prisoner during this engagement, he was exchanged in December 1780 and left the army in April 1782.
4. Moses Roberts (d. 1780) joined the 15th Massachusetts Regiment as a lieutenant in January 1777 and became a captain in March 1779.
Orringh (Orrange) Stoddard (1742–1824) of Stockbridge, Mass., served as a lieutenant during the Lexington Alarm of April 1775. The next month, he joined Col. John Paterson’s Massachusetts (Continental) regiment and remained with the regiment until it disbanded in December 1775. In January 1777, Stoddard became a captain in the 1st Massachusetts Regiment. He left the army in November 1780.
5. Michael Farley (d. 1780) of Ipswich, Mass., served as a sergeant in the Lexington Alarm of April 1775 and as regimental quartermaster of Col. Samuel Gerrish’s Massachusetts (Continental) regiment from May to December 1775. In January 1776, Farley joined the 26th Continental Regiment as a second lieutenant and regimental quartermaster. He transferred to the 9th Massachusetts Regiment in January 1777 and became the regiment’s captain lieutenant in July 1779. Taken prisoner in this engagement, Farley later received promotion to captain with date of rank of January 1780.
James Cooper (c.1737–1819) of Taunton, Mass., joined the 13th Continental Infantry Regiment as a lieutenant in January 1776. He became a captain in the 14th Massachusetts Regiment in September 1779 and left the army in May 1781.
6. William Burley (1751–1822) of Essex County, Mass., served as a sergeant in Col. John Mansfield’s Massachusetts (Continental) Regiment from May to December 1775. He joined the 11th Massachusetts Regiment as a second lieutenant in November 1776 and received promotion to first lieutenant the following January. He became the regiment’s captain lieutenant in June 1779. Burley was soon exchanged and in October 1780 became a captain. He left the army in January 1781.
John Maynard (1753–1823), in addition to being taken prisoner, was wounded in this fighting. He had also been wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 while serving as an acting ensign in Col. John Nixon’s Massachusetts (Continental) Regiment. In January 1777, he joined the 3d Massachusetts Regiment as an ensign. The following November, Maynard became a lieutenant and regimental quartermaster. He left the army in November 1783.
Stephen Fowler of Dorchester, Mass., served as a sergeant in the Massachusetts militia in 1776. He became an ensign in the 6th Massachusetts Regiment in January 1777. After his captivity, he rejoined his regiment in November 1780. He received a commission as a lieutenant in March 1781 and left the army in April 1782.
Levi Bradley of Southwick, Mass., joined the 4th Massachusetts Regiment as a sergeant in January 1777. He became an ensign in March 1779. Bradley was exchanged in December 1780 and received promotion to lieutenant in 1782. He left the army in November 1782.
A “Return of the kill’d, wounded, &c. of the Detachment late under the Command of Lt Colo. Thompson,” signed by Lt. Col. John Brooks, deputy adjutant general of the Highlands department, and dated 12 Feb., lists the killed, wounded, captured, and missing from each of the four Massachusetts brigades. Brooks reported one officer, one sergeant, and fifteen privates killed; one sergeant and thirteen privates wounded; four privates missing; and seven officers, three sergeants, three corporals, one drummer or fifer, and seventy-four privates taken prisoner (DLC:GW).
A modern estimate based on contemporary sources puts American casualties at thirteen killed, eighteen wounded, and ninety-six captured ( 67).
7. Hessian major Carl Leopold Baurmeister, aide-de-camp to Lt. Gen. Wilhelm von Knyphausen, gave an extended account of this clash in his dispatch of 26 March: “Late in the day of the 2nd of February Lieutenant Colonel [Chapple] Norton with the four flank companies of the British Guards, one hundred Hessian infantry from the Erb Prinz and Prinz Carl Regiments, twenty mounted jägers under Captain Mertz, and forty mounted Refugees under Lieutenant Colonel De Lancey of the militia marched from Kings Bridge to Youngs’ house, a distance of seventeen English miles, where the rebels had an infantry post of two hundred men.
“Very early the following morning the mounted troops allowed themselves to be seen by the rebels, who thought them to be no more than a strong patrol. Hence, about twenty men left the house and posted themselves in a nearby garden, which was fenced in and provided with a barricade on the inside. They did not fire, however, and did not prevent our men from surrounding the house and occupying all the exits. Thereupon the infantry advanced upon the house without platoon fire, forced both the garden and the house, and compelled Lieutenant Colonel Thompson, the commander of the enemy post, to surrender with all his men. The rebels lost forty killed, while others may have burned to death in the house.
“Captain Mertz returned on the 4th of February with some ninety prisoners. Not a single man would have escaped had the dragoons been able to get to the footpaths through the deep snow, which had previously been cleared as far as the several buildings at Philipse’s Manor. Since this surprise, the nearest rebel outpost has been at the Quaker church on King’s Street, where three hundred infantry and twenty dragoons are stationed, the latter patrolling no farther than Dobbs Ferry” ( 341–42).
New York printer Hugh Gaine wrote in his journal for 3 Feb. that the British-German-Loyalist force suffered five killed and fifteen wounded in the fighting (see 2:78). William Smith, royal chief justice of New York, wrote of the engagement in his diary on 4 Feb.: “The Americans on both Sides have great Commendation” ( [1971], 222).
8. Heath is referring to Loyalist colonel James De Lancey’s Westchester County Refugees and Militia.
9. Chapple (Chapel) Norton (1746–1818), third son of Fletcher Norton, first Baron Grantley and a personal friend of the Duke of York, entered the 19th Regiment of Foot as a captain in June 1763. In July 1769, he obtained a major’s commission in the 1st (Royal Scots) Regiment of Foot, and in June 1774, he became a captain and lieutenant colonel in the Coldstream Guards. After his service in America, Norton served many years in Parliament while continuing a distinguished career in the Royal Army. He became regimental major in 1786, a major general in 1787, a lieutenant general in 1797, and a general in 1802. He was appointed colonel of the 81st Regiment of Foot in 1795 and of the 56th Regiment of Foot in 1797.
10. The previous Monday was 7 February.
11. In his letter of 11 Feb. to Brig. Gen. Enoch Poor, commander of the New Hampshire brigade at Danbury, Conn., Heath also suggested that Poor send out “now and then” a detachment of eighty to one hundred men to patrol the vicinity of King Street to “Curb the excursions of the Enemy and cover the Country” (MHi: Heath Papers). King Street ran along the New York-Connecticut border between Wright’s Mill, N.Y., and Saw Pit, New York. Lt. Col. Ezra Badlam’s forward detachment from Heath’s Highland’s command was posted at Wright’s Mills.
12. Swim’s (Swin’s) tavern, located about one-half mile below the western terminus of the Hudson River ferry at Robinson’s Landing, was two miles south of West Point’s Fort Arnold and three miles north of Fort Montgomery. It was situated alongside the direct road running between the two forts.