On this day 250 years ago in New York, 84 British transport vessels — 75 flatboats plus some galleys and bateaux — protected by cannon fire from five warships and artillery on Long Island, brought 13,000 British and Hessian troops ashore at Kip’s Bay on the east side of Manhattan. The untrained militia and new Continental recruits from Connecticut manning the lines at Kip’s Bay fled reportedly without firing any shots and certainly without inflicting any casualties on the British invaders. The panic of the militia infected Continental Army troops ordered south to reinforce the lines and they also began to flee north despite valiant efforts by most of their officers including General Washington himself to make the men stand. The rout from Kip’s Bay was a debacle for the Continental Army and thousands of American soldiers in New York City avoided capture primarily because the British commander Gen. William Howe ordered his troops to halt on the high ground of the Inclenberg estate less than a half mile west of Kip’s Bay until all the troops were landed rather than proceeding a little more than a mile further to the Hudson River where they would have been able to trap the Americans in the city. The landing started at 11:00 am but Howe did not order his troops to move out to occupy New York City and the rest of Manhattan and to attack Washington’s men until 5:00 pm
Gen. Howe made his headquarters at the Inclenberg mansion of Mary Lindley Murray. Mrs. Murray and her daughters Susannah and Beulah served Howe and the British officers Madeira and cake when they arrived at her house and according to legend, Mrs. Murray, a well known Patriot, entertained Howe to give the Continental Army to escape New York City.
Although Gen. Washington and his generals and aides bemoaned the cowardice of the troops throwing down their arms and refusing orders to stand firm in order to flee to safety, there were several acts of heroism during the Battle of Kip’s Bay. Although most of his men abandoned him, Col. William Douglas held his ground until the last minute escaping just before the British could reach him. Washington was within 80 yards of advancing Hessians before his aides pulled him to safety. Maj . Gen. Israel Putnam skillfully managed the retreat of all of his 3500 men from New York City on a country lane on the west side of Manhattan avoiding capture by British troops on a parallel road only a few hundred yards away. One ironic incident from from the retreat is that Putnam’s aide was able to persuade a young captain to withdraw his artillery battery from Fort Bunker Hill only by pointing out that Gen. Washington’s orders to retreat from New York countermanded Brig. Gen. Knox’s orders to stand and fight. So Maj. Aaron Burr saved Capt. Alexander Hamilton’s life many years before he took it in a duel.
Although most of the Americans fled the British, some stood their ground. Col. Douglas lost several men in the battle, indicating that some of his untrained troops did not flee. A small force under Brig. Gen. Samuel Parson fought until overwhelmed by the British advance. Col. John Glover’s regiment marched into the battle and fought. The remnant of the Maryland Regiment that had lost so many men heroically at the Battle of Brooklyn in the previous month defended McGowan’s Pass under the command of Col. William Smallwood and stopped the British advance. The rearguard of Putnam’s retreating column was attacked by the British and turned to fight losing many men including their colonel. Some 50 Americans were killed fighting for American liberty on Manhattan 250 years ago, and more than 350 men were captured by the British (and probably half of them would die from British brutality and neglect in captivity) and the British lost at least 12 men killed or wounded in the battle indicating that all the Americans did not turn heels and flee.
As with many battles, the American casualties at Kip’s Bay have been recorded by history as numbers rather than as names, but Col. Glover wrote that Privates Wormsted Trefey of Marblehead and Benjamin Rawden of Lynn from his regiment were killed. We should honor all the American casualties of the Battle of Kip’s Bay whether or not their names are remembered in the history books.
Kip’s Bay has been filled in now but it stretched from 32nd Street to 38th Street on the East River and Manhattan and is marked by an historical marker on the boardwalk at the end of 35th Street. It is a nice walk up the steep hill from their to the markers for the site of Mrs. Murray’s Inclenberg mansion on Park Avenue in what is now known as the Murray Hill neighborhood. There is a marker that mentions the fighting during the Revolution at McGowan’s Pass in Central Park, but there is little detail on Smallwood’s stand in this battle on the sign. The sites of Gen. Parson’s stand and Washington’s near-capture near present-day New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and the site of Alexander’s battery at Fort Bunker Hill (enclosed by Centre, Broome, Mott and Grand Streets) in lower Manhattan are not apparently marked.
O’Donnell, Indispensables at 251-56; Schecter at 182-93; https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hamilton-takes-command-74722445/; https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/kips-bay-landing-battle/; https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/battle-of-kip-s-bay; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=106376; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=42792; https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=133907; https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/battle-of-kip-s-bay; https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.centralparknyc.org/media/documents/SelfGuided_Tours_FortLandscape_2024.pdf; https://museum.dmna.ny.gov/forts/bunker-hill
[post script — I stumbled across the names of one of the men who died in Manhattan in the retreat from the British occupation of New York. It is surprising how little I can find on Col. Jabez (or Jabaz) Thompson of Connecticut, and most of what I can find erroneously indicates that he died on Long Island, but it is clear that he actually was killed on Manhattan commanding the rear guard of Gen. Putnam’s men as they retreated to northern Manhattan from the city on this date. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161986460/jabez-thompson]
