Engagement at Split Rock Road
18 OCTOBER 1776
250th ANNIVERSARY
ENGAGEMENT AT SPLIT ROCK ROAD
After his 11th-hour escape from Long Island, GEN George Washington moved into the Harlem Heights of Manhattan Island, which was then a backcountry plateau protected on the north and south by rocky hills and to the west by the Hudson River. The position was strong–a direct attack by MGEN William Howe’s Royal Army on 16 September was repelled. Howe eschewed another frontal assault and on 12 October landed forces on Manhattan’s eastern shore at Throg’s Neck. This landing was also turned back, but it convinced Washington that the Royal Navy’s ability to land troops at will on his flank made Manhattan untenable. On 17 October he began a withdrawal northward to White Plains. The following day Howe made a second landing several miles north at Pell’s Point. From that beach 4000 Hessians and Regulars of the 4th and 16th Regiments of Foot would follow Split Rock Road inland to cut off Washington.
The Americans were caught flat-footed! The only force between Washington and Pell’s Point was COL John Glover’s brigade of four 200-man regiments of Massachusetts fishermen and sailors, effectively Washington’s Marines. Split Rock Road is lined on both sides by stone walls, and Glover positioned COL Joseph Read’s 13th Continentals on the left behind a stone wall near the Split Rock for which the road is named. A bit further, at the crest of Prospect Hill, COL William Shepard’s 3rd Regiment ducked behind walls on the right. And finally, COL Loammi Baldwin’s 26th lay hidden beyond them as an anchor force. Glover next emplaced his field pieces on an adjacent hill and took 40 men down the middle of the road toward the British.
At 50 yards from the British skirmishers Glover’s men stood fast. The first Royal volley was high, and Glover’s men fired until the main British force was but 30 yards distant. When Glover broke the British pursued wildly, thinking it a rout. But Read’s regiment now suddenly rose. Startled Regulars reeled from American volleys that slashed through the Redcoats. When Read’s men fell back His Majesty’s troop regrouped and followed. They were surprised in short order by Shepard’s men, and hot lead whizzed in both directions in the fiercest fighting of the day. Seventeen volleys repelled British advances before Shepard yielded.
Baldwin’s men still lay hidden, now reinforced by those falling back. Again, without warning they rose to fire! The British were assailed in a viscous defense that might have continued thusly, but for the spotting of an enemy flanking force crossing nearby Hutchinson’s Creek. Glover’s brigade withdrew, having inflicted 800-1000 casualties while sustaining only six killed and 13 wounded. Howe’s advance had been stalled sufficiently to allow Washington’s escape.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 25 OCT 26
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Billias, George Athan. General John Glover and His Marblehead Mariners. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1960, pp. 110-25.
Fischer, David Hackett. Washington’s Crossing. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 109-10.
Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005, p. 357.
“Pelham Bay Park.” NYC Parks website. AT: http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/pelham-bay-park/monuments/590, retrieved 26 August 2015.
Site visit. Pelham Bay Park, New York City, NY, 16 October 2015.
Ward, Christopher. The War of the Revolution, Vol 1. New York, NY: MacMillan Co., 1952, pp. 253-59.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: By this date in the war Glover’s brigade of sailors and fishermen had become one of Washington’s favorites. Glover’s mariners had procured and manned the schooners of “Washington’s Navy” prior to the institution of the Continental Navy. In the dead of night at the end of August 1776 Glover had whisked Washington’s Army across the East River from Long Island, saving it from annihilation. Too, Glover’s brigade had earned praise for standing fast in the face of the enemy in several land battles. Promoted to the rank of BGEN in the Continental Army in February 1777, Glover is better known as a naval hero, though his ability to fight on land befits a characterization appropriate even of modern naval forces.
Today New York City’s Pelham Bay Park occupies the site of this battle. Renamed “Glover’s Rock,” the glacial boulder from which the road derived its name now bears a plaque commemorating this fight. Glover is remembered with our Cold War destroyer GLOVER (AGDE-1).
