Sandy Hook Lighthouse in 1778 by Park Historian Tom Hoffman THE BRITISH ARMY USES SANDY HOOK TO ESCAPE TO NEW YORK One of the most important events that took place at Sandy Hook during the Revolution was the embarkation of the British Army during the first week in July, 1778. After evacuating Philadelphia, marching across New Jersey, and fighting the Battle of Monmouth near Freehold, N.J., the British Army, commanded by General Henry Clinton, encamped on the Navesink Highlands while a pontoon bridge was constructed so that the army could cross an inlet then separating the Hook from the mainland. The Army, consisting of about 12,000 British and Hessian soldiers, marched down off the Navesink Highlands and over the pontoon bridge, and then up Sandy Hook toward its northern end. Here the army rendezvoused with the British Navy on the bayside. The embarkation consisted of many British Navy barges, longboats and yawls, which ferried all the troops artillery, baggage, and equipment out to waiting transports for the trip to New York City. One of the soldiers taking part in the embarkation was Hessian Lieutenant John Charles Philip von Krafft, who wrote this interesting account in his journal: “Sunday, July 5, 1778: At 5am we marched forth about – English miles in the neighborhood of – where we soon marched up to the water, for we had left camp by the left flank. Some companies of the Body Regiment and also the first two files of the Body Company of our regiment had already embarked in long boats. Many of these boats were also used for the transportation of animals which wee tied to them so as to swim behind. Therefore we went back again and to the right across a pontoon bridge made of boats covered with boards, across which all the Engineer regiments had marched also. We had to follow them to the little island of Sandy Hook upon which stands the lighthouse for the ships. We had difficult marching through the sand almost as far as the lighthouse, which is situated at the extreme [north] end of the island. Here we immediately went into the long boats, having, however, to wade through water up to our knees, because it was high tide. From the pontoon bridge to this place was a distance of – English miles, the time of our arrival, after 11am. Our ship, which we and the Body Company had to get to by means of two long boats for each, was three-masted, without guns and named - It lay at quite a distance [from shore]. We had to row nearly an hour and a half before we reached it and we made a great noise there because there were no provisions on board and no one knew whereto get any. Someone was sent to other ships for provisions [for us]. There is yet to be mentioned that, when we were crossing the pontoon bridge, I was greatly surprised that the Rebels did not take advantage of the disorder in our arrangement and crossing since we were without cannons and even our muskets were unloaded, according to orders received the night before. They would have succeeded since we were too confident. During a monentary detention near the water I dug up some fine large clams on the beach, a thing I had learned from the English and I immediately ate them with ravenous appetite owning to my hunger. Before we crossed the pontoon bridge all unnecessary horses were turned loose and chased back into the country.” Another Hessian officer, Captain Johann Ewald’s Sandy Hook experience during the embarkation included some interesting comments about the lighthouse and life on Sandy Hook: “the 4th. [July] For several days now we enjoyed a little rest instead of the enemy. On the other hand, we were so severely pestered by insects of all kinds in these uninhabited mountains that I did not know whether I would not rather skirmish with the enemy than spend one day longer here. We were so terribly bitten at night by the mosquitoes and other kinds of vermin that we could not open our eyes for the swelling in our faces. Many men were made almost unrecognizable, and our bodies looked like those of people who have been suddenly attacked by measles or smallpox… A packet boat arrived from England, having encountered the French fleet of twenty-four warships, which had fired at the boat. It really was high time that we had left Philadelphia. The 5th [July] At daybreak the army marched to its embarkation places. The corps under General Knyphausen was embarked about noon, several miles above Sandy Hook. The corps under Lord Cornwallis, which included the Jager Corps, marched through the impassable mountains and woods. About ten o’clock in the forenoon we crossed the channel which separates Sandy Hook from the mainland, where a pontoon bridge was built which was covered by two row galleys. The entire corps under Lord Cornwallis camped along the seashore on this sandy and deserted island. The deep white sand, out of which grew short fir bushes, served us as the softest bed. We slept here as peacefully as young children, because we were separated from the enemy on all sides by navigable water. The lighthouse on this island, so famous in America, can guide the skippers who sail from Europe to America at a very great distance. It is built of the most beautiful squared stones, some thirty feet wide in the square, and is about two hundred feet high. Since the Americans constantly threaten to destroy it, the lighthouse has been fortified with a stone breastwork in which loopholes were constructed. In the tower itself portholes for cannon have been cut on all four sides, four of which are placed on the first floor for defense. The army furnished one captain, one officer, and fifty men for the guard, who were relieved each month but had to be on the alert, because the American privateers attempt a surprise attack nearly every month.” ALMOST YORKTOWN AT SANDY HOOK? Captain Ewald mentioned that a French Fleet arrived near Philadelphia just as the British Army was evacuating the city in June, 1778, after almost a year’s occupation. Just after the British fleet embarked its army from Sandy Hook and back to New York City, the French Fleet arrived off the south end of Sandy Hook. For several days the French contemplated a way to sail over the sand bar off Sandy Hook, while General Washington’s American army hovered nearby in Elizabethtown (today the city of Elizabeth, N.J.). A small British fleet waited on the north side of the Hook for what might have been the climatic land and sea battle of the war, but it was not to be. Much to the disappointment of General Washington and his troops, the French could not find American pilots able to show them how to cross the shallow sand bar east of Sandy Hook. The French fleet departed for an ill-fated battle with the British in Rhode Island. Historians ever since have wondered if the Revolutionary War would have been shortened or ended if the French Fleet, with a French army aboard, had arrived and attacked as the weary and underfed British army was attempting its evacuation off Sandy Hook.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 05:54:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015