Fanning the Flames
In 1777, British forces burned most of the city of Kingston to the ground — and added fuel to the colonists’ Revolutionary fervor
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Stockade sights: Buildings in Kingston
Fanning the Flames
In 1777, British forces burned most of the city of Kingston to the ground — and added fuel to the colonists’ Revolutionary fervor
(page 2 of 2)
Stockade sights: Buildings in Kingston’s historic district include (counter-clockwise from top) the 1676 Senate House, one of only a handful to survive the fire; the 1812 Fred J. Johnston House, now a museum; and the Old Dutch Church, built in 1852
Two months later, delegates meeting there ratified a new constitution, turning the colony into New York State. That June, the first statewide elections were held; George Clinton — a distant cousin of Henry, the British general — was chosen as governor. In September the legislators convened in Kingston. (The Senate met at the home of Abraham Van Gaasbeck, which is today known as the Senate House State Historic Site.) Since Kingston was along the route of the northbound British forces, why not wreak a little havoc on the rebellious new government?
But even without the legislature, Kingston was a thorn in the British side. Most of its inhabitants were Dutch, descendants of those who’d settled the town in 1652; its sturdy stone homes were emblematic of its residents’ heritage. The people of the Netherlands had enjoyed “taxation only by consent” since the 15th century. So when the British Parliament began imposing new duties on the American colonists, Kingston was eager to support the revolution. Its farmers became major suppliers of wheat and other staples to the new Continental Army. All this led one British official to pronounce the town a “hotbed of perfidy and sedulous disloyalty to King George the Third.”
After a week of securing the vanquished forts in the Hudson Highlands and reconnoitering further upriver, 1,700 British forces sailed northward on October 14, now under the command of Gen. John Vaughan. His orders were to “proceed up Hudson’s river, to feel for General Burgoyne, to assist his operations, and even join him if that general required it.” Gov. Clinton — who also commanded patriot forces in the region and had barely escaped capture at Fort Montgomery — knew that Kingston would be a target. He ordered earthworks built at Esopus, on the Hudson’s shore near Kingston, and pleaded for the county militia to defend them. “Every man that can fire a Gun should be immediately embodied and employed at those works,” he wrote. Unfortunately, the militia had been so decimated in the recent battles that few men were available.
Thus it was that when the British arrived off Kingston, they were met by token resistance, which was quickly overcome. Gen. Vaughan related the day’s events to his superiors:
“I have the Honor to inform you that on the Evening of the 15th Instant I arrived off Esopus; finding that the Rebels had thrown up Works and had made every Disposition to annoy us, and cut off our Communication, I judged it necessary to attack them, the Wind being at that Time so much against us that we could make no Way. I according landed the Troops, attacked their Batteries, drove them from their Works, spiked and destroyed their Guns. Esopus being a Nursery for almost every Villain in the Country, I judged it necessary to proceed to that Town. On our Approach they were drawn up with Cannon which we took and drove them out of the Place. On our entering the Town they fired from their Houses, which induced me to reduce the Place to Ashes, which I accordingly did, not leaving a house. We found a considerable Quantity of Stores of all kinds, which shared the same Fate.”
The pro-patriot New York Packet put a different spin on the proceedings in an October 23 article: