250 and Counting

Category: New York History

  • June 27, 1775: The Northern Department

    Cover art for June 27, 1775: Portrait of Philip Schuyler, Mirror-image copy of a portrait of Philip Schuyler. Painted by Jacob H. Lazarus (1822-91) from a miniature painted by John Trumbull.

    “Schuyler” is one of those names in New York history that pops up quite frequently, partly because they were a prominent family. But it’s also one of those names that you may suddenly realize you’ve heard many times. “Schermerhorn” is another one (no kidding).

    So is “Burr,” for that matter, as in Aaron and family. Several Burrs are buried very close to the Long Island town where I grew up. I have childhood memories of passing a cemetery in Smithtown and seeing BURR on a few of the tombstones. It wasn’t until later that I learned it was the same family.

    As far as the Schuylers, they were originally from the Albany area but after his father died he was raised in the New Rochelle area. Most of his military experience derived from fighting on the side of the British in the French and Indian War. Later in his life he lived on his estate in Saratoga, just north of Albany. He spent some time as a member of Congress and is also known for being Alexander Hamilton’s father-in-law.

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  • June 26, 1775: George Washington Visits New York City

    Cover art for June 26, 1775: “A south west view of the city of New York” drawn by British officer Captain Thomas Howdell and engraved by P. Canot. Specific date not known but believed to be during the early years of the war.

    In 1775, New York didn’t have a Times Square, nor a Statue of Liberty, nor even a Brooklyn Bridge. Bagels hadn’t made it to the new world, and pizza wasn’t a thing yet.

    So why did George Washington feel it necessary to stop in New York City on his way to Boston?

    Short answer: he knew that some of the locals were nervous about his taking command of the army.

    Longer answer: oh no, you don’t. You’re going to have to listen to Mike tell you.

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  • June 6, 1775: A Disarming Guy in New York City

    Cover art for June 6, 1775: portrait of Marinus Willett, ca. 1791 by Ralph Earl. Image donated to Wikimedia Commons by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

    We’ve mentioned the Willett family in prior episodes. They were a prominent family at the east end of Long Island, and in what we’d now call the Queens portion of New York City, at a time when there wasn’t a whole lot of much else between the two. There are some landmarks around Long Island that have the Willet (the other ‘t’ dropped off somewhere in history) name attached to them; in fact when I was young I lived quite close to one of the roads named after that family.

    (Spider Robinson fans please note: it’s less than a mile from where I think Callahan’s Saloon is located.)

    Marinus Willett made a name for himself early on; first in the French and Indian War and then again during the American Revolution. In between, he attended college. He was so ambitious that he managed to distinguish himself after the Revolution as well, but I’ll let Mike tell you about that.

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  • May 21, 1775: David Woods

    Cover art for May 21, 1775: Map of Washington County, NY (detail), circa 1814.

    Like so many people who lived in upstate New York in the Revolutionary era, David Woods was an immigrant from Ireland when he came over with his family in 1775.

    New York was unusual compared to the other colonies in that the overwhelming percentage of the population was immigrants; as a result it became a bit of an enclave for people from the UK and the Netherlands, so Woods blended in well.

    As a result, we believe that although he wasn’t a politician for very long, he did a solid job, which doesn’t always stand out from the bigger picture.

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  • May 18, 1775: 18th Century Spin Doctors

    Cover art for May 18, 1775: Fort Ticonderoga in 2009.

    People seem to have an inherent need to excuse their own unfortunate behaviors. One of the most common is to point to someone else breaking a rule and making it about them.

    Or, in the case of most of the battles of the early American Revolution, the colonists seemed always to be the aggressor, making their actions strictly an act of self-preservation.

    But what happens when you’ve captured all their horses? Tune in!

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  • May 12, 1775: The Taking of Fort Crown Point

    Cover art for May 12, 1775: Photo of the ruins of Fort Crown Point, taken by Daniel Horowitz in 2020, via WIkimedia Commons.

    A fort was built at Crown Point in 1730 by the French. The British attacked it twice before the French finally destroyed it in 1759.

    That same year the British began building a new fort for defending against the French.

    In 1773 it was partially destroyed in a fire. Since nobody had seriously threatened the area in thirteen years, the British didn’t really care and chose to keep a skeleton staff of nine soldiers there.

    So what made it such an important target to the Green Mountain Boys? Mike’s got the answer to that question.

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  • May 10, 1775: The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

    Cover art for May 10, 1775: "Capture of Fort Ticonderoga" by Alonzo Chappel, 1858

    Mike has done a pretty good job of covering the basic story in today’s episode, so I thought I’d spend a minute with you on the cover art.

    This image, which had to be cropped to fit the parameters of podcast art, is called a “conjectural work”, because it was created many years later based on accounts of people who were there. I’ve also seen the phrase “idealized depiction,” but I think “conjectural work” is more value-neutral.

    The original artist was named Alonzo Chappel, and he created this image in 1858, 78 years after the original event. It was converted to an engraving by Thomas Philbrown. And I know all this because it’s part of the New York Public Library’s Digital Collection.

    How accurate is it to actual events? It may be pretty close, since there are several different images available, each depicting all the same people in similar poses (though one appears to be flipped from the others, so that everyone is facing the other way). So I think there’s a pretty high degree of confidence that it looked a lot like this.

    Enjoy.

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  • May 9, 1775: Jacob J. Brown

    Art for May 9, 1775: portrait of Jacob Jennings Brown by James Herring, ca. 1835.

    When it comes to the War of 1812, Baltimore and the Fort McHenry get to eat for free for a long time, because they get most of the good stories: the star-spangled banner and Francis Scott Key, the battle at North Point, the Shot Tower being briefly the highest structure in America, and so on.

    But there was a lot of fighting going on elsewhere, particularly in upstate New York, around the Great Lakes area, and General Jacob Brown was in the thick of it. He was a nationally-recognized war hero back in the day, but nowadays he’s largely forgotten. And more’s the pity.

    Listen in on a brief review of General Brown’s life.

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  • April 25, 1775: Benedict Arnold Wasn’t All Bad

    Cover art for April 25, 1775: Benedict Arnold engraving by Henry Bryan Hall after John Trumbull, published 1879.

    Benedict Arnold was a pretty smart guy who chose the wrong friends…and, as we’ll discover later on, the wrong enemies as well.

    But for the time being, here’s a peek into some of Arnold’s activities when he was still on our side in both body and spirit.

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  • April 23, 1775: Boston Needs a Few Good Men

    Cover art for April 2,3, 1775: detail from a page of the 11/17/1774 Holt's Journal.

    I (Claude) suppose that I should note that for a few days last week I sounded a little odd. You’re not wrong; I was not in my usual recording space and not using my usual recording equipment; what’s more I was plagued by allergies and sounded a little rough on top of the funky acoustics. I hope it didn’t bug you too much.

    Anyway.

    Today, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress takes the time to organize its militiamen into a decent army. Meanwhile in New York, word gets out about Lexington and Concord, and people in that colony have a big decision to make.

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