Long Island, 1776
When Huntington patriots learned that the Declaration of
Independence had been approved in the summer of 1776, they read it aloud,
marched in impromptu parades and hanged an effigy of King George III before
burning it to ashes.
That evening, still in a celebratory mood, the local revolutionary committee
drank 13 patriotic toasts -- one for each colony.
This happened not on July 2, when delegates to the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia approved the declaration, or July 4, when they announced their
action to the public.
It was not until July 22, the New York Journal reported, that Huntington, a
sleepy agrarian community that strongly favored creation of a new nation,
received word of the momentous break with England.
When America chose to go its separate way 232 years ago, Long Island was still
somewhat isolated, despite its proximity to New York City, the economic engine
of the 13 colonies. Its first newspaper would not be printed until 1791, and its
first post office would not open until 1793. By the standards of the Internet
age, news spread slowly.
That doesn't mean the Island was a backwater. By the mid-18th century it had a
thriving agricultural economy, serving as the granary and producer of livestock
and timber for New York City. With merchants moving between Long Island and New
York, historians say the Island's residents were attuned to the electrifying
developments taking place all around them.
Simpler, but tense, times
In July 1776, an uneasy calm had settled on the region. It fell between
wintertime raids to Long Island by patriot troops against Loyalists and, in
August, the Battle of Long Island. The 30,000 residents of Brooklyn, Queens
(which included modern-day Nassau) and Suffolk went about their business. They
were farmers, mostly, but also fishermen, sailors, millers and blacksmiths.
The Town of Huntington, which incorporated what is now Babylon, had a population
of 700. Oyster Bay hamlet, founded in 1653, had a population of less than 1,000
and a few stores. "The majority of the area was pretty much agricultural," said
Oyster Bay Town historian John Hammond. But the Island had progressed beyond the
early colonial subsistence level, and farmers sent their surplus to New York and
beyond. Fishermen also sent their catch to the city.
Smugglers worked out of North Shore harbors to avoid English import duties, and
Southold, Setauket and Oyster Bay benefited from shipbuilding.
The early summer lull was short-lived. The hoopla over the Declaration was
followed on Aug. 27 by the disastrous Battle of Long Island, where George
Washington's 9,500 troops were routed in Brooklyn. Many militia units from Long
Island, including the 300-man regiment under Col. Josiah Smith of Moriches and
100 men of the Kings and Queens County regiment under Col. Jeronimus Remsen of
Newtown fought for Washington. Other units mustered in key local Island sites --
the end of the North Fork and Sag Harbor -- to keep British foragers and
occupying troops at bay.
Divided loyalties
After the Continentals fled to Manhattan, the Redcoats occupied Long Island
until the end of the war in 1783, forcing many patriots to flee to Connecticut.
"It was very much neighbor against neighbor," said Hammond.
Patriotic fervor intensified from west to east. Historians say Queens and what
is now southwestern Nassau had the highest percentage of residents who saw no
reason to split with the Crown in all the colonies. Suffolk strongly supported
independence.
"There was an awful lot of agitation for the revolutionary cause here," said
Hammond, who noted that patriots organized as the Sons of Liberty met in Oyster
Bay as early as 1765. But "there were some very mixed feelings" by 1775, with
property owners alternatively voting to support and oppose independence.
Southern Hempstead, like the rest of southwestern Queens, had strong economic
and religious ties to England. In 1775, when Hempstead Loyalists voted to
support George III, patriots in the north broke away in September to form the
Town of North Hempstead.
Angered by Queens' refusal to support the cause, the Continental Congress in
early 1776 ordered Col. Nathaniel Heard to take 500 New Jersey militia and
Continental regulars to Long Island to disarm Loyalists. They moved through
Jamaica, Hempstead, Jericho and Oyster Bay, forcing 500 Tories to sign loyalty
oaths. They arrested 19 Loyalist leaders and forced others to hide in swamps.
The patriots collected weapons, burned houses and killed livestock.
Patriotic Suffolk
There was no need for Congress to worry about the sentiment in Suffolk.
Huntington Town historian Robert Hughes said that, while the delegates were
deliberating in Philadelphia, the Huntington militia "was drilling and training
on the village green in anticipation of some sort of a conflict. The Continental
Congress had sent gunpowder to Huntington, which was stored at the Arsenal."
While most of the growing of grain and raising of cattle, sheep and hogs was
done on small farms on Long Island, there also were several large manors, or
plantations, including Lloyd Neck in Huntington and Sylvester Manor on Shelter
Island.
On Shelter Island in 1776, were 21 households, some with slaves. Four property
owners were independence-advocating delegates to the New York Provincial
Congress, including Thomas Dering, owner of Sylvester Manor. He was the first
Shelter Island resident to sign a document supporting independence in 1775. He
fled to Connecticut to avoid British occupation.
Mac Griswold, director of archival research for the Sylvester Manor Project,
estimates that up to 15 slaves lived on the 600-acre estate. "They would have
been growing livestock, wheat, timber, making cheese for sale in New York and
other places, maybe some brick, cider because there were plenty of orchards,"
she said.
Reflecting the divided passions Islandwide, Huntington's wealthy Lloyd clan was
split over independence. Joseph Lloyd, who had just completed his manor house
that still stands, was a patriot who fled to Connecticut. He became so
despondent over the war and his fortunes that he committed suicide.
'Three cheers' for freedom
But for many Long Islanders in July 1776, the expected hardships of war did
little to quell the euphoria of independence.
William Yarrington of Coram, a militia captain, kept a diary from 1759 to 1776
that is owned by the New-York Historical Society. Stationed in Oysterponds, now
Orient, at the end of the North Fork, he wrote on July 15, 1776: "This day the
declaration of Congress was read of independency and three cheers given. Then
the small arms was fired. Then the cannon was fired too."
by Bill Bleyer, Newsday, Sunday, July 6, 2008
