Page 78 July 30, 2021 DAN’S PAPERS danspapers.com
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Our Amazing History:
The Bridgehampton Militia
BY DAN RATTINER
And so he ordered numerous militias
As to attack the fort and overwhelm the redcoats
relations between the American
there. It was a long trek, and when
Bridgehampton got there, they found
the Vermont Green Mountain Boys had
already won the day. So the Bridgehampton
Militia’s orders changed. Now they
were to take the British prisoners down
the Hudson to parade them before the
next Continental Congress in Philadelphia,
which they did.
In August 1776, the Bridgehampton
militia was called again to fight in the
Battle of Long Island. Washington had
asked several dozen militias to build
breastworks and hold a line that ran eastwest
across the center of Brooklyn. Here,
with this ragtag army of 4,000, Washington
hoped to defeat 32,000 redcoats
already readying themselves on Staten
Island. The Bridgehampton Militia’s assignment
was the very eastern end of this
line near Jamaica. Their job was to not
only hold the line but also to herd nearby
livestock further east so the British
couldn’t get them. Doing this, the militia
moved further east, thus opening a small
gap in Washington’s line at the Jamaica
Plain. When the attack came, the bulk of
the British Army marched through this
gap and circled west to attack the rest of
the American line from the rear. Washington,
accepting defeat, ordered an
immediate evacuation to Manhattan, accomplished
7.31 - 8.31
colonies and their British masters
went sour in the 1760s, many towns in
the colonies formed militias to prepare
themselves for the conflict expected to
come. Bridgehampton, Southampton,
Sag Harbor and East Hampton each
formed militias, often numbering less
than 100 young men each. They had no
common uniforms and carried a variety
of armaments. But when together to fight
for freedom, they’d muster as 200 in a
field off the Montauk Road in Bridgehampton,
so for convenience sake were
considered the Bridgehampton Militia.
In May 1775, a year before the Declaration
of Independence was ratified, the
Continental Congress in Philadelphia
ordered the 200-man Bridgehampton
Militia to fight the British at Fort Ticonderoga
across from Lake Champlain.
Commander in Chief George Washington
feared the British would send a force
down to New York City from Ticonderoga.
VINTAGE ENGRAVING SHOWING THE
ASSAULT OF STONY POINT DURING
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION ON JULY
16, 1779. THE BATTLE OF STONY POINT
WAS AN AMERICAN VICTORY OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
EXPOSED
THE ART OF STEPHEN HAWKEY
OPENING RECEPTION | SATURDAY, JULY 31 | 7-9 PM
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by boats ferrying the soldiers
in a deep fog across the East River.
Long Island thus fell to the British and
nearly all the young men in the Bridgehampton
Militia went home and soon
left their families, escaping by boat to
Connecticut where they were beyond the
British grasp.
The Bridgehampton militia was activated
once again in 1813 when the British,
again at war with America, tried to
set fire to Sag Harbor. The British men-owar,
anchored offshore for a week, finally
sent boatloads of redcoats to Long Wharf
at night to burn the ships there before
moving up Main Street. The Bridgehampton
Militia had evacuated many of
the women and children to Bridgehampton
ahead of time and the Sag Harbor
Militia, firing a cannon accurately from
atop Turkey Hill on High Street, drove
the British off. The redcoats left in confusion,
never to return.
DUNCAN1890
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