Commitment at the Battle of Long Island

Commitment at the Battle of Long Island

Committed: The Continental Army was determined to fight for their freedom.

At the same time as Continental Army forces were unsuccessfully trying to take Quebec from the British, other Continental Army forces had surrounded the British in Boston. After nearly a year of being surrounded and at risk of having supplies from the sea cut off, the British retreated to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada, on March 17, 1776. Here, they rebuilt their forces. George Washington knew that the British were not finished and that they would return. He knew that New York’s harbor would be their target as it would be a perfect base for their navy. His army built up defenses of New York’s harbor and waited for the British attack with 19,000 soldiers.

June 28, 1776

George Washington received news that the British fleet had set sail from Halifax on June 9 and were heading toward New York. A day later, Patriot troops based on Staten Island spotted the British fleet. Soon, there were 45 British ships anchored in the Lower New York Bay causing panic across New York. This fleet soon grew to 130 ships.

July 2, 1776

British soldiers landed on Staten Island. The Patriot soldiers stationed there retreated.

July 6, 1776

News reached New York that the Continental Congress had voted for independence..

July 9, 1776

George Washington sent some of his soldiers to the center of Manhattan to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

On July 4, 1776, the 13 Colonies declared they were free and independent states. The document that announced this was called the Declaration of Independence.

Negotiation

With a huge force building, the British tried to negotiate with George Washington. The British Commander, General William Howe, sent a letter to George Washington. The letter did not recognize his rank of General, therefore, Washington did not accept it. Washington’s officer responded to the British that there was no person of that name in the Continental Army. However, a face-to-face meeting between Washington and a British Colonel was arranged. The British Colonel, believing that the Patriots were not up for the fight, offered pardons, which meant forgiveness for what the British perceived as treason. Washington responded: “Those who have committed no fault want no pardon.”

British ships and soldiers continued to arrive in New York until the British fleet was made up of over 400 ships and 32,000 soldiers. Unsure of whether the British would attack Long Island or Manhattan, but knowing the attack was coming soon, Washington split his army across the two. On August 22, 1776, 20,000 British troops landed on Long Island. Washington was informed of the landing but wrongly told that the troops numbered no more than 9,000. Thinking that the British were trying to trick him into believing that the main invasion was to be Manhattan, Washington only sent 1,500 more soldiers to Long Island. The Patriots had a total force on the island of 6,000 soldiers, but the British had landed 20,000. A further 10,000 British soldiers were used to surprise the Patriots.

August 27, 1776

At nine o’clock in the morning of August 27, the British soldiers in front of the Patriots attacked.
At the same time, and to the surprise of the Patriots, the British soldiers who had gone through Jamaica Pass attacked them from behind. The Patriot soldiers were surrounded and many were either killed or captured.

The remaining Patriot soldiers had no choice but to retreat to Brooklyn Heights, except for an extremely brave group of Maryland soldiers. They numbered no more than 270 and were up against more than 2,000 British soldiers with cannons.

Despite this disadvantage, the Maryland soldiers attacked the British. This attack allowed the other Patriot troops to escape to Brooklyn Heights. Less than a dozen of the Maryland soldiers survived. But their deaths saved many more – a remarkable act of bravery and selflessness.

George Washington looking on is reported to have said, “Good God, what brave fellows I must this day lose.” Washington and his Continental Army on Brooklyn Heights were surrounded by the British. The British believed that they were trapped. However, the Patriots were able to call on all of their boats and under nightfall were able to evacuate their remaining army of 9,000 soldiers without any more loss of life to York Island – which we now know to be Manhattan.

Paul Revere

1

Paul Revere was from a family of the name “Rivoire.” The Rivoire family, of Riauchaud, France enjoyed a wealthy lifestyle in the early 1700s. They lived in a large stone house and owned acres of vineyards. However, they were Huguenots (Protestants). In France at that time, Protestants were thrown in prison or driven from the country. Their churches were closed. The Rivoires, like other French Protestants, practiced their faith in secret. They prayed for religious freedom, but things only got worse.

In 1715, they sent their 13-year-old son, Apollos, to Boston. His uncle was able to arrange passage for him on an English ship. The family desired for their descendants to have freedom to practice their faith openly, to marry in their own faith, and to raise their children as free citizens in the new world. So Apollos Rivoire served a seven-year apprenticeship with Mr. Coney, a silversmith, in Boston, learning his craft to prepare to set out on his own. Once his seven years were complete, Rivoire became a master silversmith with his own shop. He married Deborah Hitchbourn, and he changed his name to make it easier for his customers to pronounce. Apollos Rivoire became Paul Revere, and this was the name he gave to his firstborn son on January 1, 1735. Young Paul Revere loved hearing stories of his father’s past. Young Paul loved to hear of the many castles in France, but his father told him, “None of these things mean anything if you cannot be free!”

2

Young Paul Revere attended North Writing School. His schoolmaster, a man named Zachariah Hicks, was very strict. This school was a “free” public school, but the parents had to pay five shillings for each child to attend. This money was for “firing,” which was buying wood for the stove to heat the classroom in the cold winters. School was held year-round; there were no summer breaks. The only holidays were Sundays and election days. They studied reading, grammar, spelling, and some math. Five years of education was the limit. Then most boys became apprentices in various crafts by the age of thirteen. Only the children of rich families went on to further schooling to prepare for college.

While still young, Revere listened as his father and his father’s friends argued angrily about the British government’s unfair taxes on the colonies. They attended West Street Church and listened to Reverend Jonathan Mayhew preach in a strong voice, “It is the duty of oppressed people to rebel against the king!” Most people of Boston agreed with Reverend Mayhew but were shocked to hear his sermons. To speak these ideas aloud was treason, which meant a direct betrayal of the king! Yet he spoke up boldly, and nobody stopped him. Soon others began to speak their minds as well. Some years later, John Adams called Reverend Mayhew’s sermons “the opening gun of the Revolution.”

3

The British government passed one harsh law after another against the colonies. When Revere was thirteen, he was apprenticed to his father. He began with simple jobs: sweeping the floors and sifting out silver dust and collecting it. Silver was so valuable that they could not afford to lose even its dust. Revere’s other job was to keep the brick furnace stoked, which meant keeping the fire very hot for working with silver. The silversmith would mold the soft, melted silver into something useful, like a cup or a fork, or a spoon. As the silver cooled, it became hard. If the piece wasn’t finished, it had to be heated again. Sometimes the silver had to be reheated dozens of times before the object had its final shape. Then it might be engraved. Every bit of work was done by hand. There were no machines as there are today. Young Revere learned to use the silversmith’s tools; most important were the hammers, used for beating silver into shape. Sharp tools were also used to cut designs into silver. Revere worked from sunrise to sunset, six days a week, every day except for Sunday when all businesses closed. On Sundays, the Reveres went to church and spent a family day at home.

4

Boston was settled by Puritans in the mid-1600s. The Puritan churches were plain and simple, and so were their services. They did not celebrate many holidays. The Puritans did not even celebrate Christmas. But the Episcopal churches did decorate for Christmas. Paul Revere and his friends liked to visit Christ Church, also called “Old North Church,” on Salem Street every Christmas. Revere was fascinated by the tall steeple of Christ Church. Eight huge bells hung on its steeple. The smallest of these bells weighed 620 pounds. The largest bell weighed 1,545 pounds! Paul Revere loved the sound of these bells. When he was 15, he formed a bell-ringing club with six of his friends. A thick rope hung from each bell. The ringer had to reach high up on the rope, grab it, and pull down as hard as he could. Then he would let go of the rope. The hardest part of ringing the bells was making them play a song. But they learned, and Christ Church paid them a few shillings a week to play. Revere liked being high up on the steeple; he could see all of Boston Harbor. And this steeple could be seen from most of Boston.

5

In April 1775, when British troops were about to attack the city, Paul Revere would remember this steeple. He told his fellow patriot, Robert Newman, to go up to the Old North Church steeple and watch. Up there, he’d be able to see which way the British were coming. Then, as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, Paul Revere told Newman to, “Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch of the Old North Church tower as a signal light – One if by land. Two if by sea. And I, on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm!” And when the signal came – two lanterns – Revere set out on horseback to spread the word, “The British are coming! Take arms!” If not for Paul Revere’s brave plan that night, the British might have taken some of America’s proud patriots.

6

In Paul Revere’s adult years, he became an excellent mapmaker. Revere was still most gifted as a silversmith and was regarded as the finest silversmith America has ever known. He was a courageous and bold patriot in the American Revolution and a leading citizen of early America. Paul Revere was 83 years old when he died in 1818. That morning, the bells in the Old North Church tolled 83 times to honor one of America’s true Sons of Liberty.