II. “Amicus Reipublicae” to John Mercereau, 17 May 1780
II
“Amicus Reipublicae” to John Mercereau
Staten Island 17th May 1780
The 22d Regiment & Simcoe’s Cavalry occuppy ⟨the⟩ Redoubts at Richmond. The 82d Regt is Stationed at the Flag-Staff—at The Watering Place is the 57th British & 1 Hessian Regiment, Barton’s Battalion of about 120 Men & Stewart’s Horse abt 20 in Number,1 Buskirk’s extend from Freelands to Crusee’s.2 The Recruits obtained by desertion from your Army, when the River was frozen,3 are seperated from the Rest & incorporated by themselves—they constitute an additional Company & are commanded by the Cols Son—One Company of Hussars, new levied, are Quartered About the Provision Store, which Compy consists of 70 Men, 50 of whom are detached & Sent to New York to embark for Canada, being deserters from the Convention Army, they are ordered to be reinstated in their respective Corps to which they belong.
Works—Two Redoubts at the Flag-Staff, which can act in Conjunction, the principal is situated on the Bank near the declivity & the other on Cherry Hill nearly West containing a Small Valley between them Four Batteries adjacent to these Works on the Bank 2 of 3 & 2 of 2 Guns all eighteen Pounders. On the opposite Shore is ⟨also⟩ a Redoubt, but cant Say much concern’g it to be relied on—Three Redoubts at the Glebe, of which the Center is the principal containing 4 Guns, apparently 12 Pounders & a Magazine of Ammunition The others have two each4—No Quantity of Provisions kept on the Island, but are occasionally Supp⟨lied⟩ from the City.
Amicus Reipublicae
ALS, DLC:GW. GW docketed the letter: “Through Mersereau.”
Abraham Bancker (1760–1832), of Staten Island, wrote intelligence reports under the pseudonym Amicus Reipublicae. He had attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) from 1774 to 1776. During the war he may have resided at times in New York City. Bancker fled that city and returned to Staten Island when Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold went over to the British in September 1780. His espionage activities apparently remained unknown to the British authorities, and Bancker held office during the British occupation of the island, serving as county clerk of Richmond County from 1781 to 1784. After the war, he served as sheriff, as a member of the New York board of regents, and in the New York legislature from 1788 to 1790. He unsuccessfully applied to GW for a federal appointment (see Bancker to GW, 10 Sept. 1789, in 4:8–10).
1. William Stewart (c.1751–1820), a New Jersey Loyalist, became the commander of the Staten Island Troop of Expresses and Guides with the rank of lieutenant when Gen. William Howe raised the unit in July 1777. When Gen. Henry Clinton converted the unit to the Staten Island Troop of Horse in November 1778, he named Stewart lieutenant-commandant. Stewart retained command when the unit joined the King’s American Dragoons in July 1781. He was promoted to captain in May 1782, with his rank back-dated to February 1781. Stewart went on half pay and moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick, after the war.
2. The prominent Cruser family resided in what later became known as the Pelton House in West New Brighton, Staten Island. Wilhelmus Freeland owned land near the island’s Silver Lake, located about one mile southeast of West New Brighton.
3. For the Continental army’s raid on Staten Island in January 1780, see GW’s first letter to Stirling of 13 Jan. 1780, and the enclosure to that document; and Stirling to GW, 16 Jan., and the notes to that document.
4. In 1718, Ellis Duxbury donated to St. Andrew’s church his 200-acre farm located on the northeast tip of Staten Island in the present-day neighborhood of St. George. The land, near the eighteenth-century Watering Place, became known as The Glebe. For these three redoubts defending the Watering Place, see Recommendations for Attack on Staten Island, c.12 Jan., n.2, enclosed in Nathanael Greene to GW, 12 January.