09/03/2026
The Battle of Long Island!
No, we are not talking about some reality game show starring Amy Fisher. We are talking about the first major battle after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and one of the largest of the Revolutionary War.
It was August 27th, 1776 when Long Island - and yes, the east end of Long Island - became important in our military history. At the Battle of Long Island, which took place in Brooklyn - and letās face it, Brooklyn just ain't Long Island - there were many East Enders who participated in charting the course of the Revolution.
Thatās the easy part. We know men from Southampton participated, we just donāt know much about their stories. Yet many of these names should sound familiar; Pierson, Dayton, Woodhull, Topping, Rogers and Howell, just to name a few.
Thatās just the thing. We donāt know that much about the people who lived here back then. Most people lived their lives without the official notice of the king or his delegates. We do not think they even had birth certificates and death certificates. They did not apply for driverās licenses or get high school diplomas. Not everybody got a good headstone and they did not go in much for statues at the time. The churches kept some records; there were some family bibles. The town recorded deeds and occasionally held a census, but that was mostly on the macro level, nothing like the politically-derived questionnaires of the US Census Bureau today.
According to the July 4th, 1776 census of Southampton Town - they would not have known what was going on in Philadelphia that day - the population was 2,784, with 1,442 of them being women. The Quogue Purchase had been, well, purchased in 1659, so we know that Southampton Town extended all the way to Beaver Dam during the Revolution. Thatās a sizable distance for the population.
In early 1776, the Continental Congress organized four battalions in the New York colony. Colonel Josiah Smith was authorized to raise three companies. A few weeks ago, we introduced you to this Colonel Smith, commanding officer of the 1st Regiment of Minute Men, Suffolk County Militia. The regiment consisted of approximately 306 men.
Josiah was the husband of Susanna Gelston of Southampton, although the couple resided in East Moriches. Susanna was the daughter of Judge Hugh Gelson. Hugh and his brother Samuel, a Presbyterian Minister, were born in Belfast, immigrated to America, and ended up in Southampton.
Where was Canoe Place and Good Ground in all of this? Well, mostly uninhabited. As we know, the Canoe Place Inn was standing there, although not as we know it these days, because it was the major crossroads to the South Fork and between the two bays. The British built their fort on the hill behind the Inn, for the same reasons, but there were not all that many families in the local area to witness it all.
In early August, Colonel Smith received orders from General Greene to march to Brooklyn. There, the regiment entered into battle, where it was said to be the best trained and armed of the battle. The men served as sentries and guards prior to taking an advanced position during the height of the battle. Of the 10,000 colonials involved, 1400 were wounded or captured, 300 killed. The British, on the other hand, had more than 32,000 men on the strongly loyalist Staten Island and approximately 10,000 men in boats off shore - their losses were comparatively minor.
Many of the militia were on short recruitments and their level of training certainly couldnāt compare to that of the British Army, the major power in the world at that time. What they did have was heart. It was reported that our soldiers ābehaved manfullyā and āgained immortal honour.ā
While the fledgling American soldiers already had their hands full, on the night of August 21st, Mother Nature chimed in to add to the fray. At Seven in the evening, a violent storm sprang up. Eye-witnesses described it as āa most terrible storm of wind, rain and lightning.ā The storm interfered with the British plans to attack Long Island, in order to encircle and gain control of Manhattan.
There were storm-related casualties to soldiers and civilians. Three soldiers under the command of Colonial General McDougal were killed by a single bolt of lightning. It was reported that āthe tips of their swords melted off and the coins in their pockets were melted.ā Ten men from another regiment were also killed by a single bolt of lightning.
Major Abner Benedict of the New York troops gave a detailed account, describing a monster cloud that āshot forth fireā from a sky black as ink, and thunder that did not arrive in āpealsā rather in one ālong and continuous crash.ā
Perhaps God was siding then with the British? Divine Right and all that, we suppose.
But then, a couple of days later, God apparently changed His mind, and Washington was able to evacuate 9000 soldiers across the East River under the cover of rain, fog, and darkness. The Miraculous Retreat, they called it.
When the decision was made to retreat on August 30th, our local boys marched to Westchester, before sailing from Mamaroneck, crossing the Sound and landing in Smithtown. The troops later marched to Bridgehampton, where they disbanded. Col. Smith was ultimately arrested and put in the Provost Prison in New York City.
The Battle served to cut eastern Long Island off from most of the colonies. The 13 Colonies, as you may recall were, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia (no West Virginia yet, just regular old Virginia), North and South Carolina and Georgia.
The British took over many of the homes in the area and expected the locals to sign the Oath of Allegiance to the British Crown - because that is what you expect when you turn people out of their own homes. The Colonists didnāt have much with which to defend themselves. It is not as though they could launch a defense from the surrounding seas.
While it was easy enough to cross the Sound to the northern-most colonies, with the British controlling New York City, and General Washington and his troops now being upstate, most of the colonies were not easily accessible to those on Long Island. Fearing for their life, many went off to Connecticut, where they could avoid signing the Oath.
Colonel Smith eventually returned to the East End, but by November, he and his family left for Connecticut to escape the British.
So ended the one time Long Island became important in the Revolutionary War. But that did not end all involvement. There was a spy ring or two. There was Nathan Hale, of course. There were even some small battles - or perhaps just skirmishes - hard to tell with war stories.
Because, it turns out, patriots in Connecticut learned that they could load a small force into a few whaleboats, cross the sound, and create a bit of havoc on Long Island, then row back across before the British could respond effectively. We have told you a couple of these tales.
We will probably tell you more. šŗšø
