Battle of Pell's Point (Pelham)
A pivotal conflict for the Colonials in the American Revolution.
Led by Colonel John Glover and his regiment from Marblehead, Massachusetts, a small group of Continental soldiers managed to fight off the British at Pelham, New York.
John Glover was a wealthy merchant and shipowner in Marblehead, MA, prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. A leading member of the Marblehead committee of correspondence, in 1775 he formed a local militia to defend the area. Made up of sailing men, his unit also trained as infantrymen and later became known as the "amphibious regiment." Soon after taking formal command of the Continental Army on July 3, 1775, General George Washington placed Glover in command of equipping and manning armed merchant ships for the defense of the colonies, thus forming our first deep water force, known as "George Washington's Navy." Following the British evacuation of Boston March 17, 1776, Glover was ordered to New York to assist the troops on Long Island.
After the Battle of Harlem Heights on September 16, 1776, Washington's beleagured army marches through Westchester. The 13,000 men of the Continental army began to move north of New York City towards White Plains. On October 12,1776, the British Commander, Lord Percy, landed ships of British soldiers at Throggs Neck on the Long Island Sound. Knyphausen's Hessians soon joined Percy's men, which included the Fourth and Sixteenth of Foot.
Colonel Glover, acting as a Brigadier, and his brigade of four "skeleton companies," included Glover's Regiment, the 13th; Shepard's (late Learned's), the 3d; and Loammi Baldwin's, the 26th. The whole comprised only 843 men, all from Massachusetts. The British and Hessian forces combined were estimated at around 4,000, outnumbering the Colonial forces nearly 5 to 1.
In a letter to a friend in New Hampshire, Glover writes, ""I went on the hill with my glass, and discovered a number of ships in the Sound under way (and) the (small) boats, upwards of two hundred, all manned (filled with troops)." Glover was awaiting orders from Gen. William Lee, but they never arrived.
On the morning of October 18, 1776, Glover was anxious to do something before the British overwhelmed him and his small brigade. On the Split Rock Road, between Pelham and City Island, the British troops marched in columns with their muskets held high. An unnamed American Captain and his forty men fired the first shots as they faced the party of advancing invaders, of about the same strength. Having thus put his three regiments in ambush, Glover rode to the front and ordered the advance guard to push forward--which they did, receiving the enemy's fire without loss, though only fifty yards distant. Their return fire was better aimed, and brought down four of the opponents. At that short range five rounds are exchanged. Several of Glover's men were wounded and two were killed in action. Glover then gave the order to fall back.
At about thirty yards, the solid wall of redcoats offers a mark difficult to miss. Capt. Joseph Read's 13th Massachusetts regiment, comprised of some two hundred men, level over the wall their heavy "Tower" muskets, light fowling pieces and long squirrel rifles, and a tremendous volley bursts forth, right into the eyes of the enemy. A heavy cloud of smoke hides all for a moment--the moment when Read and his men listen for the command which shall bring the disciplined ranks up to the wall, and over with a rush, following their deadly bayonets.
When the smoke clears, the enemy's dead and wounded line the road, the rest of the British column falling back quickly. However, nearly an hour and a half later, British reinforcements and artillery quickly arrive. The Continentals volleyed round after round, wounding and killing many of the Hessian mercinaries. After nearly a half hour of hard fighting, the British force halted and exchanged cannon fire with Glover's artillery until dark. Afternightfall, Glover formed up his regiments and marched 3 miles to Dobb's Ferry and from their rejoined the Continental army. Continental casualties were 8 men with 13 wounded. Many of the British soldiers used St. Paul's Church in Eastchester as a military hospital. There is a mass grave for Hessian soldiers in the church's cemetery. Overall, an important skirmish in the American Revolution where the odds of victory were not in favor of the Colonials.
Sources:
Abbatt, William. The Battle of Pell's Point (or Pelham) October 18, 1776. Being the Story of a Stubborn Fight. New York: William Abbatt. 1901.
Bell, Blake. HistoricPelham.com.
National Park Service - St. Paul's Church. http://home.nps.gov/sapa/historyculture/index.htm
