Recently
in my reading I ran across the following: “Evelyn [Pierpont] the son of James,
like a true patriot, espoused the cause of the Colonies and as Lieutenant
commanded a field piece at Beacon Hill, at the time of the British invasion of
New Haven.” Because of my Pierpont connections, I decided to do some further
research about what this referred to.
There
is a book (*1) which contains a lot of detail about this. Some of the portions
of this book include:
Although New
Haven, as a seaport town, did not obtain the strategic importance of Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston during the Revolutionary War, it did
participate in the action and eventually fell victim to the ravages and spoliation
of war.
New Haven had not
been attacked during the early phase of the war, but on July 5, 1779, when the
town was planning to celebrate the third anniversary of independence, the
British launched a full invasion. (New Haven was celebrating the anniversary a
day after the actual declaration of independence so as not to break the
Sabbath.) As 48 vessels under the command of Sir George Collier containing
about 3,000 British, Hessian, and Tory soldiers sailed up the Sound and
anchored off West Haven in the early hours of the morning, a cannon sounded the
first alarm.
About 1,500 troops
… came ashore at West Haven, and another contingent of troops … came ashore at
East Haven. [The former] landed with little resistance, … giving [the latter]
time to land near Lighthouse Point and capture Black Rock Fort and Beacon Hill.
Another
book (*2) gives some further details:
Our artillery at
the bridge (Allingtown), was well served by Captain Phineas Bradley, and prevented
the enemy passing the causeway and so into town that way.
[On the East Haven
side], he was molested by the fort on Black Rock, three miles from town, under
the command of Lieut. Bishop, and by a field piece under the command of the gallant
Lieut. Pierpont. The fort was at length evacuated and the enemy reached Beacon
Hill in the afternoon.
The
British lost about 72 men during the various skirmishes and the colonists numbered
their lost and wounded at about 40. However, the British decided not to burn
the town as there were still many Tories living there and they did not want to
destroy the houses of their friends.
A
third source (*3) gave some further details on the unit which had been called
to defend New Haven. It noted that:
[T]he artillery,
increased to ninety men, was under Capt. Phineas Bradley, and was divided
between the town, East and West Haven, their stations being the townplat, the
fort and West Bridge.
Finally,
a fourth source (*4) contains a list of the officers and men of what was known
as Captain Bradley’s Company of Matrosses (Artillery). The top three officers
in this military unit were Captain Phineas Bradley, 1st Lieutenant
Daniel Bishop, and 2nd Lieutenant Evelyn Pierpont.
Imagine
that this small band of only 90 men trying to hold off an invasion force of
3000! While the odds were definitely stacked against them, they battled valiantly
and managed to kill more of the British than they lost themselves. Truly, they
believed in what they were fighting for.
Naturally,
also of interest to me are the relationship of these men to myself. Beside the
obvious connection to a Pierpont, there are other names in the roster that also
appear in my family tree and who were residents of colonial New Haven.
Phineas
Bradley (1745-1797) is my 3rd cousin, seven times removed. His
mother was Martha Sherman, and our common ancestor is John Sherman.
Daniel
Bishop (1746-1813) is not a direct relation, but he is the great*5 uncle of my Aunt
Babs [Barbara Bishop] Pierpont.
Evelyn
Pierpont (1755-1810) is my first cousin, seven times removed. His grandfather
was the Rev. James Pierpont of New Haven. He was given the name Evelyn as that
was a common Pierpont family name from England at the time.
There
are several other names among the non-officers of this company who are part of
my family tree, including the below. But I do not have sufficient time to do
the investigation to determine if/how these men are related to me.
Barnes:
Levi
Bradley:
Isaac, Elihu, Enos
Gillet:
Benjamin
Hotchkiss:
Amos, Jonah
Hemingway:
Abraham, Jared
Hickox:
Darius
Luddington:
Jesse, Samuel, Isaac, Elam
Merriman:
Marcus, James
Molthrop:
Elihu, David, Reuman
Pardee:
Moses, Levi, Abijah, Joseph, Levit, Chandler, John
Trowbridge:
David, Samuel
Tuttle:
Josiah
Notes:
*1 –
New Haven: From Puritanism to the Age of Terrorism, Michael Sletcher, 2004
(available on Amazon.com)
*2 –
An Outline History of New Haven, Henry Howe, 1884
*3 –
The Connecticut Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly, Volume 4, 1898
*4 –
The Record of Connecticut Men in the Military and Naval Service During the War
of the Revolution, 1775-1783, Henry P. Johnston
Are you an SAR member?
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, none of the men of Bradley's Artillery were my direct ancestors. My ancestors had been in New Haven 100 years before, but by this time had mostly moved inland to places like Waterbury. So while many of them did serve during the Revolutionary War, it was not in defense of New Haven. I have chosen not to become an SAR member, nor a mamber of the Mayflower Society, because while I am qualified for both I would rather spend my time and effort in other ways than trying to gather the necessary documented "proof" that both these organizations require. Both of them have millions of individuals who are eligible such as myself but I have better things to do than expend effort to hang a piece of paper on my wall.
ReplyDelete