[Editor's Note: Richard J. Koke authored a series of five articles that appeared in Volumes 19 -23 of the OCHS Journal between 1990 and 1994. These articles will be presented in multiple sections over the next few years.]
Part II:
War in the Clove
Chapter 2:
The Continentals Arrive
The immediate order for the military occupation of Smith's Clove came from Peekskill on November 13, when a council-of-war called by Heath unanimously agreed that four hundred men should be sent to the entrance of the Highlands west of the river to take post "at or near Sidman's Bridge across Ramepough," and that the 10th Continental Infantry, Colonel John Tylor, and the 17th Continental Infantry, Colonel Jedediah Huntington, be detached from Parsons' brigade and assigned the undertaking. Huntington, senior in rank, was given command.
Heath passed on Washington's instructions: that Huntington was to camp at the Clove and cover his troops "with all possible dispatch" in log houses if timber was available, and turn his attention to the fortification of the pass. Lieutenant Thomas Machin, and engineer would be sent to assist him. Heath concluded: "Your own and good judgement and knowledge of discipline renders it needless for me to say anything on that head, being confident that you will see that good order is kept. You will take particular care that as soon as the men get covering, the tents are collected and stored."
As the colonels were to find out, even getting to the Clove was a problem. Joined by Captain John Bryant's artillery company, the two regiments sailed downstream to King's Ferry on the Orange shore near Haverstraw; but to New Englanders it was as if they were heading into an unknown land. They were informed the Clove was fifteen miles distant, then twenty, and the exactlocation of the bridge seemed to move like a jack-in-the-lantern; and it was with difficulty Huntington was able to convince the country people along the road they were not lost as their route was entirely different from that taken only days before by Washington's soldiers on their way to New Jersey.
Colonel Ann Hawkes Hay of the Haverstraw militia, a "hearty friend to our cause," according to Huntington, was of great help in arranging transport for the tents and baggage and provisioning for the soldiers, and finally volunteered himself to guide the regiments to the bridge. At Haverstraw on the fourteenth, Huntington also conferred with Lieutenant Machin, a capable Staffordshire-born engineer who promised to be at Sidman's in two days. Expectations were that the regiments would reach the bridge by nightfall on the fifteenth.
The line of march from Haverstraw was by way of the highway that ran to the Kakiat crossroads, then west and south to John Suffern's tavern at the Point of the Mountain, and into the Clove to the bridge across the river in the westernmost part of the Precinct of Haverstraw where they took post. The bridge location was at the present crossing of the river by Route 59.
Writing to Heath from Haverstraw on the fourteenth while his troops were on the march, Huntington, half-facetiously and almost with a tone of regret, remarked that "If I must depart from the British army, it is some consolation to me that I may come as a barrier to the frontiers against the Indians; but to be serious (you may forgive the digression) I will do the best to answer your expectations."
Part I
Introduction
Clove and Precinct
The Clove Road
The Clove Taverns
Clove Taverns II
Part II
Prelude to War
The Continentals Arrive
Blocking the Clove
In the Midst of Tories
Offensive from the Highlands
The Militia Take Over
The Post at Ramapo
The Reluctant Militia
Holding the Line
An Embarrassing Situation
To Galloway's and Back
The Scotsman's Regiment
September Raid
Prelude for Disaster
Clinton Takes the Highlands
Sidman's Bridge: The Last Holdout
Part III
Introduction
Summer, 1778
A Cogent Appraisal
Villains and Robbers
Part IV
Introduction
Aaron Burr's Ride
March to the Clove
The Barren Clove
Bracing for Attack
Among the Rocks and Rattlesnakes
The Present Interesting Occasion
A Waiting Game
Redeployment
The Continental Road
The Taphouse Keeper's Daughter
The Indian Fighters Appear
March to Morristown
Part V
Introduction
A Fruitless Excursion
Summer at the Clove
A Frenchman's Journey
Pompton Mutiny: Blood in the Snow
Blockhouse in the Clove
The Allies at New Antrim
The Intercepted Messenger
A Questionable Story
What Really Happened
Perils of A Post Rider
New Yorkers at the Clove
Congress' Own Regiment
The Last Garrison
A Man of Passion
Homeless Canadians
The Last March
Part VI
Introduction
The Post at Sidman's Bridge
Marking the Site