Tag: Long Island

The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Terror in the Ramapos

While there were many Revolutionary-era outlaws, Claudius Smith and the Cowboys of the Ramapos stand apart. Their story has long been exaggerated and romanticized through local legends, but the true account of their actions is far more violent. Smith and his band—comprised of his children, outlaws, deserters, Native Americans, and local Tories—terrorized the Whigs of […]

by Charles Dewey
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Maintaining Normalcy in British-Occupied Brookhaven, Eastern Long Island, New York

In August 1776, the Crown’s disciplined forces easily displaced the unprepared Continental resistance in the Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn. It was a decisive British victory, and the surviving Patriots retreated westward across the East River and onto York Island. By September, the British army firmly occupied Long Island […]

by Matthew M. Montelione
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Patriots Against Loyalists on Eastern Long Island, 1775–1776

In 1775, within weeks of the violent clashes at Lexington and Concord, Patriots throughout the colonies established Committees of Observation to thwart Loyalists from assisting the anticipated British war effort. In the township of Brookhaven in Suffolk County on eastern Long Island, New York, the Committee of Observation was spearheaded by William Floyd, a wealthy […]

by Matthew M. Montelione
The War Years (1775-1783) Posted on

Abraham Woodhull: The Spy Named Samuel Culper

Abraham Woodhull, spy for General George Washington, nearly got himself hanged on one of his first missions.   It was in October 1778, when Woodhull toured British-held New York City and its environs, observing Crown military activities.  At one point he neared an encampment of Loyalist soldiers commanded by General William Tryon.  Woodhull was probably preparing […]

by Michael Schellhammer