DeNyse's Warf

DENYSE'S FERRY

 

THE SCENE OF THE FIRST RESISTANCE TO BRITISH ARMS IN THE MIDDLE STATES

 

A stirring scene was enacted at Denyse's Ferry on the 22d

of August, 1776, when a fleet of British vessels arranged

themselves a half-mile distance from the Long Island shore.

Across on Staten Island thousands of Hessians

marched to the water's edge to embark, and twice as many British

soldiers followed them. A signal gun roared out, and simultaneously

hundreds of oars tossed up the water, and the great vessels prepared

to come closer to the shore. Ships' boats advanced, spitting flame

into every thicket and toward every point where Patriots might

be concealed. At Denyse's Ferry, which is

now Fort Hamilton, there were three houses, the dwelling

of Denyse DENYSE, that of Adrian BENNET, and the house of

Simon CORTELYOU, violent Loyalist. A ball fired from one

of the British ships passed through BENNET's kitchen;

another tore away part of a fence in front of the house of

Denyse Denyse; but the house of Simon Cortelyou, where a

woman is supposed to have waved a red petticoat as a signal

for the British to land, remained unscathed. Up on the bluff

near the landing at Denyse's Ferry a tiny battery spit at the

boats of the advancing horde. Soon the shore was dense with

the landing troops, and Long Island paralyzed, knowing not

where to turn. The country people dwelling on the plain bordering

Gravesend Bay had the choice of placing themselves under the

protection of unwelcome invaders or of abandoning their farms.

Most of the neighborhood in the vicinity of Denyse's Ferry were

Loyalists, who hailed the coming of the troops as their natural

protectors. 15,000 strong the British came, Bringing fear to

the inhabitants and spreading their forces like a pestilence over

Long Island. "Thus," it is recorded, "commenced the first resistance

to British arms in the Midd1e States, on the spot where Fort Hamilton

now stands."

 

Robert E. LEE, when he was stationed at Fort Hamilton, was a

vestryman at old St. John's Church, and "Stonewall" JACKSON was

baptized in this church. It is said he was a rigid keeper of the Sabbath,

never travelling on that day nor attending to any details. of business.

He attended church morning and evening, and taught in the Sabbath school.

Done