British Invasion of New Haven

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By: Lucas Hoffman




British Invasion of New Haven
In 1779 the American Revolutionary War had reached its fourth year. The former thirteen colonies of Great Britain were rebelling against the empire. Fighting was taking place throughout the colonies. On July 5th, a British force of around three thousand soldiers and marines landed in New Haven, Connecticut. The expeditionary force was under command of British General William Tryon. The goal was to disrupt the rebellion taking place in the Connecticut colony. One who had opposed the British since the start of the revolution was Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr, a young officer under George Washington had been forced by illness to retire his command in earlier in the spring of 1779. He was living in Lichfield County, attending law school at the time of Tryon’s raid. George Washington knew that New Haven was a vital port city to the colonies, so he kept in close contact with Ezra Stiles, then president of Yale College.

The British invasion was led by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton. The goal of the British armada was to draw General Washington’s forces onto suitable terrain for the British forces. The colonist forces were poorly organized, but Washington had the bulk of his forces fighting in New York. This would allow British forces to confront Washington’s force, and overwhelm them. The British raid soon proved to be a failure.
“Meanwhile, on the East Haven side of the harbor, General Tryon, with the 23rd Royal Regiment, Landgrave’s Hessian Regiment, and “The King’s Americans”, a Tory regiment had landed at Lighthouse Point near Black Rock Fort at approximately the same time. The plan had been for both forces to march hastily toward New Haven and meet on the Green by noon. Lieutenant Pierpont was commanding the Fort, manned with only 19 local militia. They fired at the British and Hessians on the beach until the fort ran out of ammunition; then they spiked their cannon and dislodged them. Tryon sent out two patrols, one to capture the militia at Black Rock Fort and the other to disperse the forces gathering at Beacon Hill, closer to New Haven. An angry and vengeful Tryon was called to New Haven to confer with Garth. As he and his troops marched to the city, they burned buildings, killed patriot citizens, and became drunk on plentiful local rum. Local residents infiltrated the ranks of the inebriated British troops as the afternoon progressed. By nightfall, the British troops, drunk, and demoralized by the constant sniper fire and ungentlemanly harassment of the militia, welcomed the opportunity to return to their ships, but not before taking about 40 prisoners and setting fire to the barracks at Black Rock Fort.” (http://connecticutsar.org/battle-of-new-haven/)

Yale President Ezra Stiles was opposed to British rule as well, therefore putting Yale in the position of a separatist institution. Ezra Stiles, who kept a detailed diary and mapped the movement of British troops, kept in close contact with the lead general of the continental army, George Washington. In the letter Ezra Stiles gives the read out on the enemy force, and his own. Stiles goes into detail about the artillery available for the militia, and the invasion route of the British marines. Stiles drew out an entire map of the city of New Haven and the water ways that lead into its harbor. The map still exists today and is available on the Beinecke Library of Yale University’s website. The map shows the direct route in which the British marched through New Haven, and Westville.

During the British invasion of New Haven they occupied much of the city. Landing in the harbor and marching into Westville, they burnt vital parts of the city down. A colonist who had opposed the British for the majority of the war was Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr believed strongly in the colony’s independence from Great Britain. By 1779 he had fallen ill and had not been in service for quite some time. At this time, Burr had decided to resign his service, and moved to what is now West Point, New York. Hearing about the invasion he took arms in Connecticut. It was here that Aaron Burr would prove to be a devote defender in the Connecticut colony, specifically New Haven. Aaron Burr traveled to New Haven to tend to his niece, whom had fallen ill. 
         
Aaron Burr realized soon that the British forces were headed towards a key bridge in Westville, Connecticut. Alongside Captains Hillhouse and Bradly, “the artillery crossed the fields to meet them… The main body crossed the bridge, the rest the folding river. Then on the enemy rising the hill on this and taking the road to the town… we gave them hearty fire and took a number of prisoners; on the other side we took a number”. Burr and the resistance had little effect on the British forces. Soon they were overwhelmed and Burr was forced to retreat to New York. As the British marched on they burnt parts of the city to the ground. Much of the city’s gun powder mills which proved to be a vital logistic to the colony’s war effort in Westville were plundered and destroyed.

The Invasion of New Haven had been bloody. Many colonists and British soldiers alike were killed. Tryon reported losses of 26 killed, 90 wounded, and 32 missing. Historian Charles Hervey Townshend compiled a list of 23 Americans killed, 15 wounded, and 12 captured in the New Haven raid. A contemporary news account reported 27 killed and 19 wounded. Though these casualties do not look high in today’s standards of warfare, it proved to be a reason for colonists in other colonies to take arms against the British. Many afterword saw Aaron Burr as a hero.


                                                                       





Works Cited:
Stiles, Ezra. "The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles." The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles II. https://archive.org/details/diaryezrastiles02stiluoft.

"BATTLE OF NEW HAVEN." The Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. http://connecticutsar.org/battle-of-new-haven/.

 https://archive.org/stream/britishinvasiono00towniala#page/44/mode/2up
Townshend, Charles H. The British Invasion of New Haven, Connecticut. New Haven, CT: Tuttle ,Morehouse and Taylor Printers, 1879.


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