[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 7:
The Post at Ramapo
Brigadier-General George Clinton of New Windsor was tough, stubborn and opinionated, intolerant, irascible and petulant, but decisive and dependable, quick to sense danger, quick to react; a man who could be as obstinate as the obstinate militiamen whom he continually had to goad into action to fight for the cause. Thirty-seven, Ulster-born, he knew the Highland country very well, if for no other reason than that he was a son of the surveyor of the Cheesecock Patent.
Just before he withdrew from Paramus, he put it cogently: "Being sensible of the Importance of the Passes of the Highlands, the security of them shall always be my first object, from which I will not suffer myself for any other Consideration however specious to be diverted."
Clinton's Clove command encompassed a much broader area extending across all of southern Orange than merely the corridor where Huntington and Tyler had been stationed. More than half of his force was at Tappan and Closter, fifteen miles to the east. During his twenty-three days in command, Clinton's letters, like Huntington's before him, carried the general heading of "Ramepough", a name generously applied to the lower Clove and the adjoining locale of northern Jersey. Other letters of early January indicate his presence at Galloway's tavern in the Clove at Southfields and at Suffern's, where courts-martial were also held; while another of January 9, sent from Wallkill, was addressed to him "at Mr. Sidman's", where his father had lodged thirty-eight years before during the Cheesecock survey, which could suggest its use - at least, for a while - as Clinton's Ramapo headquarters.
The lack of barracks in which to shelter the troops and the weather too cold to permit the use of tents, compelled him to quarter the men in buildings scattered across a six-mile area.
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