In a letter to George Washington in January 1776, John Adams declared that New York “is the Nexus of the Northern and Southern colonies, a Kind of Key to the whole Continent, as it is a Passage to Canada, to the Great Lakes and to all the Indian Nations. No Effort to secure it ought to be omitted.”
Not coincidentally, two of the most consequential battles of the American Revolution occurred in New York. One of them, in New York City, resulted in a rout of the Continental Army by the Royal Army and Navy. The other, in Saratoga, New York, gave the rebels a decisive victory. Paradoxically, both outcomes were essential to securing American independence.
In March 1776, General Washington brought some 19,000 Continental Army soldiers to New York City. Aware, no doubt, that they had been inadequately trained and he had limited supplies to build fortifications, Washington told his brother he expected “a very bloody summer in New York… and I am sorry to say that we are not, either in men or arms, prepared for it.”
On July 9, after the Declaration of Independence was read to the troops, they tore down a statue of King George III at Bowling Green.
Meanwhile, Admiral Richard Howe, his brother, General William Howe, 32,000 British and Hessian troops and a flotilla of warships, the largest expeditionary force in the 18th century, arrived in New York. Their assignment: establish a North American base of operations for the Royal Navy; control the Hudson River; capture and occupy the city, which was dubbed “Tory town” because of the large number of loyalists among its citizens; and cut off New England from the rest of the colonies.
Things did not go well for the rebels. And General Washington made several tactical and strategic blunders. Convinced that the British landing, which made Staten Island, albeit temporarily, the second largest city in North America, was a feint to disguise an attack on Manhattan, Washington split his already outnumbered forces between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Most important, following the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn Heights (also known as the Battle of Long Island), in which the Continental Army lost more than a thousand troops, he found himself without an escape route.
Determined to avoid excessive casualties of British troops and convinced that Washington had no alternative to surrender, General Howe halted his assault on the rebels. Had he pressed his advantage, the American Revolution might have ended shortly after it began.
On August 29 and 30, Fate smiled on the Continental Army. Washington rounded up all available boats in the area. He placed some of them on the Manhattan side of the East River to persuade General Howe that he was bringing reinforcements to Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Colonel John Glover and his regiment of Massachusetts mariners organized an evacuation of troops, horses, and equipment from Brooklyn. Fog kept the Brits in the dark and strong winds blowing from the northeast kept Admiral Howe’s warships out of the East River throughout the night. The operation occurred without a single loss of life.
By the end of October, the Continental Army had been expelled from New York. British forces occupied the city for the next seven years. With a declaration of martial law; looting of properties owned by supporters of independence; an influx of Loyalists from other colonies and runaway slaves seeking emancipation; a lucrative black market in sales of goods and services to the British military; and workers coping with runaway inflation, the city remained a hub of rumor, espionage, and intrigue.
That said, New York City would serve as the nation’s capital, under the Articles of the Confederation and the U.S. Constitution, from 1785-1790, and host the swearing in of President George Washington.
In the summer of 1777, the British Army made another attempt to control the Hudson River Valley, sever New England from the middle and southern colonies, and end the rebellion. The initiative involved a three-pronged attack, converging on Albany. One army, commanded by Lieutenant General John Burgoyne, headed south from Canada. A second, led by Brevet Brigadier General Barry St. Leger, marched east from Lake Ontario. A third, under the direction of General Sir Henry Clinton, was expected to arrive from New York City.
A playwright, politician and something of a dandy, Burgoyne had placed bets in London that he would return victorious within a year. Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga (to great acclaim) and occupied Fort Edward, but his momentum stalled with a defeat at Fort Bennington.
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Burgoyne’s allies began to melt away, Clinton’s army never arrived, and St. Leger turned back after failing to capture Fort Stanwix. Nonetheless, Burgoyne pushed ahead, slowed down, critics subsequently alleged, by 30 carriages of fine clothes and champagne.”
When the Battle of Saratoga began, the rebel army commanded by General Horatio Gates had been augmented by the arrival of patriot militia and reinforcements sent by General Washington, outnumbered the British forces by 2-1, and benefited from defensive fortifications with 22 cannons behind them, designed by Polish engineer Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Burgoyne surrendered on October 7.
The Battle of Saratoga scrambled reputations on both sides. Burgoyne returned to England and never received another command. Gates became so popular that a plot developed, perhaps with his knowledge, to make him Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Major General Benedict Arnold, who believed he had not been given the credit he deserved for the victory at Saratoga, became a spy for the British.
Most important, of course, the Battle of Saratoga was hailed as a pivotal moment in the War for Independence. The Continental Congress declared a national day “for solemn Thanksgiving and praise,” the first official announcement by the new nation using that terminology. Friends and foes noted, as one British officer put it, “that the courage and obstinacy” of the Americans demonstrated “they are not the contemptible enemy we had hitherto imagined them.”
Saratoga helped convince the French government and King Louis XVI, who were eager to humble England, their perennial rival, and enhance France’s influence in the Caribbean, to sign a Treaty of Alliance with America. Four years later, the French Navy would help secure victory for the Continental Army in the Battle of Yorktown. Less well known is the substantial impact of Spain’s participation in what had become a global conflict. Spanish soldiers fought against the English along the Gulf Coast; engaged the Royal Navy in the Atlantic; laid siege to Gibraltar; and in 1779 sent an armada to invade England.
Historians, alas, have been unable to verify claims that a British band played “The World Turned Upside Down” when Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in 1781. It seems reasonable to assume, however, that Cornwallis, who had led a successful flanking maneuver during the Battle of Long Island, would have agreed wholeheartedly, if unhappily, with the song’s assessment.
Glenn C. Altschuler is The Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: The American Revolution in a New York minute
Reporting by By Glenn C. Altschuler, Special to the USA TODAY Network / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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By Glenn C. Altschuler, Special to the USA TODAY Network | USA TODAY Network
