On this day 250 years ago in New York, the Continental Army was beginning its evacuation of New York City. By dawn, the Marblehead Regiment commanded by Col. John Glover successfully completed another night time evacuation of American forces by boat, this time carrying about 500 sick and wounded Continentals across the Hudson to New Jersey. Other supplies, ordnance and provisions were being transported north out of the city on wagons to American fortifications on upper Manhattan and Westchester County where Washington was redeploying the bulk of his forces. Washington moved his headquarters from the Richmond Hill mansion just north of the city to Loyalist Roger Morris’s mansion on the northern end of Manhattan. But 3500 Continental soldiers remained in the city. Not expecting it to be the landing place for the British invasion, Washington had ordered three regiments of untrained Connecticut militia plus a regiment of new Connecticut recruits commanded by Col. William Douglas that included 15-year old Pvt. Joseph Plumb Martin to man the lines at Kip Bay on the East River. Martin recorded in his diary that the “[so-]called ‘lines’ . . . were nothing more than a ditch dug along the bank of the river with the dirt thrown out towards the water”.

Nothing remains of the Richmond Hill mansion that stood near Sixth Avenue and Spring Street in Manhattan, but Roger Morris’s home is the oldest remaining home in Manhattan and is preserved as a city park known as the Morris-Jumel Mansion. Unfortunately, the house is not open for daily tours because of an ongoing roof replacement, but it will be hosting special events on September 16, 19 and 24, 2026.

Sources: Schecter at 181-82; O’Donnell, Indispensables at 250-251; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=163867; https://morrisjumel.org/