Return J. Meigs, Sr.

This is a big local history day and in the true American enterprise spirit, I've borrow liberally from other folks who wrote about our event.  Seems that the British had the upper hand on Long Island after the 1776 battles (all defeats).  The British Navy used our local harbors on the east end of long island as very safe havens with Sag Harbor, right across the bay from where this is written, being a primary port of call.

Sag Harbor was a garrisoned up on the hill with a fort where the old cemetery and whaling museum now stand. It had been occupied by British troops after the August 1776 Battle of Long Island, and they had established a strong defensive position on Meeting House Hill,


Meeting House Hill, Sag Harbor

 overlooking the town, which was well-situated for providing supplies to the Royal Navy, which used Gardiner's Bay as an anchorage while patrolling the eastern end of Long Island Sound.

While the main body of British troops were "up island", General Parsons, the Continental Army commander, gave command for an expedition to Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs. According to Parsons' report to General Washington, they assembled a force totalling 234 men at New Haven from several regiments, and rowed in 13 whaleboats from New Haven to Guilford on May 21. Rough seas and high winds prevented them from crossing for two days; when they finally left Guilford on the afternoon of May 23, they were accompanied on the crossing by two armed sloops and one that was unarmed.

Only 170 made the crossing to the vicinity of Southold, New York, where they arrived around 6 pm. Meigs confirmed that most of the British forces in the area had been ordered to march to New York City, and that only the small force of Loyalists was left at Sag Harbor. He had his men portage 11 of the whaleboats across the North Fork to the bay, and launched those boats with 130 men to cross the bay to Sag Harbor. By midnight they had crossed the bay and landed about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the harbor. Meigs formed his men up and marched to the harbor, arriving about 2 am.

To interrupt this tale, there is a very narrow stretch of land on the north shore, some 300 feet wide, that divides Long Island Sound from Peconic Bay on which Sag Harbor rests some 4-5 miles row away. That is the stretch of land portaged (where the raiders had to h

This spot looks just like it did...I'll post a picture later.

aul their boats overland) and after that, it is a fairly deep estuary that empties into Peconic Bay.  The main road crosses there and you can see it plainly with a small historical marker noting the event...Meigs passed through here...and it is a sign in dis-repair as the area floods out in storms and things have kinda run down.



Col Return J. Meigs



Meigs divided his force in two. One detachment stormed the earthworks, while the other went to the harbor, where they destroyed British boats and collected provisions.The land attack was conducted in silence with fixed bayonets and only one shot was said to have been fired. A harbored British schooner opened fire on the attackers as they burned the boats, but sources are unclear if the schooner itself was taken and destroyed. Twelve boats were destroyed, and the raiders took 53 prisoners at the earth works and another 37 at the wharf, suffering no casualties in the process. The prisoners were taken back to Connecticut.

What is fun about all this is there is very little "to-do" about it locally. It was, at the time, a huge victory and the first since the New York Heights disasters.

I'm going out to the markers and take a couple pictures this noon so you can see for yourself.