Rev250-078 Washington Arrives in NYC

You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. Hello, and thanks for joining Revolution 250. This is where we remember events that took place exactly 250 years ago this week. It's a short bonus episode from the American Revolution podcast to remember these important 250th anniversaries from the Revolutionary War. This week we remember General George Washington's arrival in New York City on April 13, 1776. Grownups, if there's a child in your life who is interested in, curious about, or fascinated by people in places from history, then my podcast, The Past and the Curious, might just be a hit in your home. From the invention of microscopes to world traveling dogs to fashions of the 1890s, Goldrush Ghost Towns, and audiences going wild for walking competitions, we've got a little bit of it all. Hosted by Children's Author and Museum Educator, Mick Sullivan. That's me. The show is fun, funny, engaging, honest, and beloved by kids and parents alike. Find The Past and the Curious at all the usual podcast places. The British had evacuated Boston in mid-March after the Continental Army established an artillery battery on Dorchester Heights with a position that could destroy the British Army and Navy. Now when the British left, General Washington wasn't sure what they would do next. He kept his army in and around Boston, fearing that the British might simply land a few miles away and attack his army from a different direction. He had received intelligence that the enemy was headed for Halifax, but he worried that this might be false information. Over the next several weeks, in late March or early April, as Washington became increasingly confident that General Howell really was leaving Massachusetts for Halifax, he shipped more and more of the Continental Army to New York. Washington expected that New York City would become a target. The Royal Government of New York and several regiments of regulars had been forced out of the city, but they remained in New York Harbor aboard ships. Washington had sent General Charles Lee to New York in January to set up defenses in the city. Lee remained for a while, but then got redeployed to Charleston, South Carolina, where the Continental Sphered another British attack. As soon as General Lee left, General William Alexander, also known as Lord Sterling, took command. Sterling was born and raised in New York and had settled in New Jersey as an adult. He had a Scottish claim to a noble title, hence the title that he used Lord Sterling, although the British House of Lords had refused to accept his claim to that title. Sterling's command was short-lived. On March 21st, Sterling had to turn over his command to General William Thompson, who had been appointed as a brigadier on the same day as Sterling, but who was designated as being more senior to him. The Irish-born Thompson was a veteran of the French and Indian War and had lived in Pennsylvania for some time. He had commanded a Pennsylvania rifle company at the Siege of Boston. A week later, General William Heath arrived for Boston to take command from Thompson. Heath had been one of the original brigadiers, which Congress had appointed back in June of 1775. He had been a militia officer in Massachusetts and had been a general in the Massachusetts Provincial Army. Heath had seen some action at the very end of the British retreat from Concord and had distinguished himself during the Siege of Boston. But once again, Heath's command only lasted about a week before Major General Israel Putnam arrived from New York. Putnam of course had been very active during the Siege of Boston, but even General Putnam's command lasted for just over a week until General Washington himself arrived to assume command on April 13th. We think of the sprawling metropolis of New York City today, and it's hard to imagine the area in 1776. The entire region had a population of around 25,000, smaller than Philadelphia at the time. New York City was really only the very lower tip of Manhattan Island, which at the time was called York Island. Most of what is north of what we knew today as Canal Street was just farmland and largely unpopulated forest. Across the East River, what we today call Brooklyn, was mostly just a few large country estates. The actual village of Brooklyn was a few miles inland and consisted of less than a dozen houses and an old Dutch church. There were no bridges, only fairies to cross the Hudson or East Rivers. By the time Washington arrived in the city, much of the population had already left. The Tories had no interest in ending up refugees, having to abandon all their property and run for their lives. The most had packed up in left town before it became a problem. Many others simply did not want to be in a war zone. Before long, the civilian population would drop to only around 4,000 people. The British found New York to be a more desirable place to put the army, not only because it had a larger Tory population in the surrounding area, but because it would be impossible for anyone to hold the city without controlling the waterways around it. New York Harbor could serve as a shelter for dozens of large naval vessels, and the Hudson and East Rivers were large enough to accommodate the largest ships of the line, moving well upriver. Without having any navy, Washington realized he needed to do something to prevent the British Navy from surrounding the island and just landing wherever they wanted. Washington followed the basic plans that Charles Lee had initiated months earlier, but Lee had already told Washington that they had no realistic chance of holding New York City. Because the British controlled the seas, they could easily land wherever they wanted and just overwhelm any resistance. The best the Patriots could hope for was to force the British to attack in trench positions and pay a terrible price to take the land, much like they did at Bunker Hill. But there were no guarantees that General Howe would fall for that a second time. Lee and the generals that succeeded him built a series of defensive embankments throughout the city. They also established Fort Washington and Fort Constitution, which was later named Fort Lee, on the Hudson River north of town. Fort Washington sat on the New York side, and Fort Constitution sat on the New Jersey side. The idea that any enemy ship trying to move up the Hudson River would have to pass through an artillery barrage from both sides of the river. Lee also established Fort Putnam on the east side of the East River to deter any enemy ships from trying to move up in that direction. The British might try a direct assault on Manhattan, but the other likely line of attack would be to land on Long Island, move overland into Brooklyn, and then attempt an assault across the East River supported by the Navy. To prevent that sort of attack, the Continentals established a line of defense along the Gowanus Heights, a hilly region in the middle of the area of Brooklyn and Long Island. This provided the best natural line of defense. The Continentals were deploying much of their army along this line, especially guarding the passes through the Heights to block any British advance from that direction. After Lee's departure, Washington left Putnam with the primary responsibility for setting up defenses in the city, and he put General Nathaniel Green in charge of defenses on Long Island.