Noddle's Island Revisited

The plaque at this forlorn site tells us that on May 27, 1775 nearby was fought the Battle of Chelsea Creek.  It is also known as the Battle of Noddle's Island, on which now sits Logan Airport.  Colonel John Stark, who later proved pivotal at Bunker Hill and Bennington, according to the sign, "successfully engaged the British regulars in driving livestock from Hog and Noddle Islands."

We see Chelsea Creek (shown on certain maps as Chelsea River).  The plaque, at the far right of the image, tells us we are in the area of the engagement by Stark, and calls this "the Colonies' first victory of the American Revolution," including affording it the status of the first naval engagement of the war.

 A minor escapade involving foraging and the successful downing of one vessel continues in the public imagination as a military victory.

The Fractured United States

     The Battle of King Mountain, fought October 7, 1780, was one of the key battles of the Revolution, in that it severely damaged the ability of Cornwallis to execute upon his strategy to secure the Carolinas.  He had maintained confidence that he could still raise support from Loyalist elements.  He was wrong.  Here is a view of the battle monument on top of the "mountain."

     The battle was a bitter and brutal affair in South Carolina. Among its distinguishing features was that it was a battle fought between Americans--Loyalists and Patriots. The only "regular army" officer was Major Patrick Ferguson, leader of the Loyalist forces. 

     Currently, we are in the midst of another civil war, being fought in the media and in the voting booths.  Without physical casualties, it is nonetheless an exceedingly destructive war.  It has become a fight to the death.  There is no political discourse.  There are positions.  There are no arguments.  There is shoutdown and protest.  What we were in 1780 we are now in 2014.  People should go to King's Mountain and think about things.

The Battle of Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre)

The Battle of Wyoming on July 3, 1778  exemplified the brutality of the war and the involvement of Native Americans in the conflict.  A string of American forts along the Susquehanna River served the settlers in the Wyoming Valley, but became the subject of bitter action following the British defeats at Oriskany and Fort Stanwix in 1777.  Loyalists, British regulars and Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, Tuscarora and Seneca warriors, in a 700-man force led by Connecticut native Colonel John Butler raided the valley. Colonel Nathan Denison and Colonel Zebulon Butler commanded the Americans.   A combined British and Native American force defeated the Americans.

On July 4, the British demanded surrender of Forty Fort.  Initially signing terms of surrender, Denison later violated them and returned to fighting, only to lose.  Among the legacies of the battle was the rage that helped fuel General John Sullivan's campaign of devastation of Indian villages in the region in 1779.  Here is the scene today, of Forty Fort, lost on this day.

Battle of Monmouth Anniversary

Today, June 28, 2014, marks the 236th anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth, in New Jersey.  I have noted Monmouth in a couple of prior posts.  Today we look at the spot, marked by this sign, on Perrine Hill where General George Washington rallied and reformed Continental forces in view of General Charles Lee's retreat.

General Henry Clinton was moving the British forces from Philadelphia to Sandy Point to depart for New York.  Washington paralleled his movements to the north across New Jersey, and sought what he hoped would be a dispositive encounter with Clinton.  They came together at Monmouth.  A long battle, it resulted in the Americans retaining the field and Clinton continuing his withdrawal--in short, a draw, though often hailed as an American victory.

Putting all that aside, this is my favorite spot on the battlefield, because we are standing in the place where Washington took charge and regained control of the troop.  We can see him on his horse moving back and forth here, and we can see what he saw as he looked out over the battlefield.  It is one of those places that remains close to how it was then, and transports us across time to see and feel (and, on a hot day like today, especially) gain a sense of place.

Place, Things and Gaspee Point

I have focused often in this blog on the tangible pull of place, and the emotions and associations we make when physically standing on the site of an historic event.  Sometimes it is an artifact in a removed location that can have a comparable, if not the same, effect.

The Tribune Building in Chicago is a well-recognized Gothic structure.  At ground level, the building integrates stones, bricks and other components of famous sites.  On a recent visit, I noticed this:

Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island was the site of an attack on a British customs ship on June 10, 1772 as it was seeking to enforce the unpopular British customs laws with regard to the packet boat Hannah.  After the Gaspee ran aground.  The Gaspee's captain, Lieutenant William Dudingston, was wounded and captured.  For William R. Staples' 1845 account titled Documentary History of the Destruction of the Gaspee, click here.

So while it is not the same as standing on the bank of Narragansett Bay and imagining the scene unfolding, nonetheless, the observant Chicagoan passing by can touch this rock and have a "one step removed" experience from this critical event that became part of the mosaic of the Revolutionary War.

The Economic Revolution

On July 10, 1778, following the Battle of Monmouth, on route to Paramus, New Jersey, part of the Continental army camped at Paterson. Washington's then secretary, James McHenry, recounts how he, Washington, Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton made their way to the falls and had lunch.  As McHenry later related, "with the assistance of a little spirit we composed some excellent grog.  Then we chatted away a very cheerful half hour--and then took our leave of the . . . meek falls of Pasaic [sic]--less noisy and boisterous than those of Niagara, or the more gentle Cohoes or the waters of the Mohawk."

Hamilton, impressed with the industrial potential of the falls and the area, later formed the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures in 1791 as a forerunner of today's public-private partnership.  A statute of Hamilton looking towards the Falls is seen here.

The Battle of Spanktown

I have written previously of the confusion of history with regard to various Revolutionary War events. Another prime example of this is Spanktown.  This colonial village, now know as Rahway, was certainly the scene of action, but exactly what action, and specifically where things occurred, is not particularly clear, at least to me.

A marker stands on Route 27 at Rahway River Park, proclaiming the area was the scene of an action in "January 1777:"

Specifically, the plaque tells us: "In January, 1777, a sharp fight took place here between the British and Gen. Maxwell’s men." David Munn, in his list of Revolutionary War skirmishes and battles, lists a foraging raid on January 5, 177 (confirmed in Howard Peckham's The Toll of Independence) and another Spanktown attack by New Jersey militia on January 8.  Peckham notes a January 16 attack "near Bonhamtown." The Federal Writers Project's History of Metuchen refers to a "famous raid on Spanktown (Rahway), during which American troops captured a thousand bushels of salt from the British garrison," occurring on January 6, and then refers to a series of skirmishes occurring that began in March.  Munn also lists at least two other Spanktown incidents in March. The Crossroads of the American Revolution website, www.revolutionarynj.org, states that "the Battle of Spanktown was fought on St. Georges Avenue in the vicinity of Robinson’s Branch and the North Branch of the Rahway River. The battle lasted twelve hours with the rebels getting the best of the British, who lost almost one hundred men." It puts the date simply as "early 1777." A New York Times article appearing on February 21, 1897 refers t the February 23 action and claims "the British dead numbered 500," clearly an implausible figure, being double the British killed at Bunker Hill; such a count would have made this battle among the costliest of the entire war.

One of the Spanktown battles might well be the Battle of Punk Hill, so called, between Bonhamtown, Metuchen and Amboy, d, on March 8, involving American General William Maxwell and significant British forces, that might have turned into a more serious engagement.

On the other hand, the main battle, so-called Battle of Rahway by some, occurred in Spanktown on February 23, purportedly lasted 12 hours, and was part of the foraging efforts of the British.  Maxwell interrupted a foraging raid by British Colonel Charles Mawhood and pursued the British back to Amboy.

A hot dog truck is regularly parked next to the sign; I have been to the park twice and both times, the vendor was there.  At least we know today what is happening on the spot.