St. John's Park
St. John's Park was the name of a 19th-century park, the neighborhood of townhouses around it, in what is now the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City; the square was bounded by Varick Street, Laight Street, Hudson Street and Beach Street, now known for that block as Ericsson Place. Although the name "St. John's Park" is still in use, it is no longer a park and is inaccessible to the public; the land was part of a plantation owned by an early settler to New Netherland and was owned by the English crown, which deeded it to Trinity Church. The church built St. John's Chapel and laid out "Hudson Square", creating New York City's first development of townhouses around a private park. By 1827 the neighborhood had become known as "St. John's Park" and remained fashionable until about 1850. In 1866 it was sold to the Cornelius Vanderbilt's Hudson River Railway Company and became the location of St. John's Park Freight Depot, the railroad's southern terminus; the terminal was demolished in 1927 to allow construction of exits from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Holland Tunnel.
The land on which the square sits was part of Lispernard Meadows, a "swampy wetland" of "upland and salt marsh", part of a larger 62-acre farmstead granted to Dutch immigrant Roeloff Jansen in 1636 by New Amsterdam governor Wouter van Twiller. Jansen died just a year and left the land to his widow, Anneke Jans. A contemporary manuscript describes the earliest development of the land in 1639, stating the "plantation new and consist of cleared land a tobacco house and fenced." Jans's claim was renewed when Peter Stuyvesant granted her a patent in 1654. When Jans died in 1663, her will stipulated that the land should be liquidated, with the proceeds going to the children from her first marriage; the heirs sold the property in March 1670 to Francis Lovelace, the Royal Governor of the colony, but he lost it when the Dutch reclaimed New Amsterdam in 1672. England recaptured the territory in 1674, New York governor Edmund Andros claimed the land for the Duke of York; the parcel was leased to various parties for the next quarter of a century.
In 1700, the land was leased to Trinity Church, which gained title to the land under a 212-acre patent from Queen Anne in 1705. During this time, the land became known as the "Church Farm", as Trinity held it as farmland until 1800, when it began to develop the land as New York's population expanded northwards; the parcel, whose southern boundary at the time was North Moore Street, shows up as a square – one of the oldest in New York City – on the Taylor-Roberts plan of 1787, the Goerck-Mangin plan of 1800, the Bridges Map of 1807, which depicted the city as of 1803. Trinity's development concept was to create an elite square of residences similar to those in the West End of London, Georgian and Greek Revival townhouses around a private park – much as Gramercy Park was to do some years later. Trinity received permission from the city's Common Council to enclose the square – whose southern boundary had moved north to Beach Street – and begin development. To attract buyers, in 1803 Trinity began building St. John's Chapel, designed by John McComb, on the Varick Street side of the square.
It took over 20 years for all the lots to be sold and developed because of the swampy topography, but because the church was only offering 99-year leases, not outright ownership of the lots, with covenants which limited the heights of residences and the materials they were built with. During this period, St. John's Chapel had few parishioners; the 64 lots were sold when Trinity changed its policy and decided to sell lots outright, deeding the exclusive use of the square to the lot owners. The sales had the attached covenant that if the owners failed to properly keep up the square it would be given to the city for public use; the square and park began to attract upscale residents, was continually upgraded, with the addition of gaslight and curbstones, the laying out of streets around the square – which the church laid out and named, but ceded to the city, the construction of a fence around the park in 1866 to which residents received keys, extensive landscaping, including gravel paths and flowerbeds, trees such as catalpas, horse chestnuts and silver birches.
In addition to serving the local residents, the park was used for church events, including annual festivals for children of the parish. During the coldest winters, the park trustees flooded the park to create a large ice skating rink. By 1827, the "ornate and elegant" neighborhood had achieved a fashionable status, with residents from the "first families" of the city such as Hamilton, Schulyer and Tappan, as well as William Paulding, the mayor of New York City from 1924-26. At around the same time the name "St. John's Park", after the church, had begun to be used instead of "Hudson Square"; the square's "polished elegance", "in a class with Washington Square and Grancery Park" only lasted a single generation, from 1825-1850. During this time, one observer called it "the fairest interior portion of the city", the Evening Post in 1847 called it "a spot of Eden lovliness.. It seems as if retiring from the tumult of the noisy town to enjoy its own secret solitude; the decline of St. John's Park began in the late 1840s and early 1850s when many neighborhoods around it and nearby in Lower Manhattan lost their wealthy residents, who began to move uptown.
In particular, when Cornelius Vanderbilt laid railroad tracks for the Hudson River Railroad along the west side of the square in 1851, St. John's Park owners began to leave in large numbers. In 1867, the New York Times wrote about that time: "hen the ir
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal government's official list of districts, buildings and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property; the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one million properties on the National Register, 80,000 are listed individually; the remainder are contributing resources within historic districts. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service, an agency within the United States Department of the Interior, its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate and protect historic sites in the United States.
While National Register listings are symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties. Protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places; the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Historic sites outside the country proper, but associated with the United States are listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, multiple property submissions; the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties: district, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties; some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service.
These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks, National Memorials, some National Monuments. On October 15, 1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices; the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Register's creation, as well as any other historic sites in the National Park system. Approval of the act, amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy; the 1966 act required those agencies to work in conjunction with the SHPO and an independent federal agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, to confront adverse effects of federal activities on historic preservation. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, with director George B.
Hartzog Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law. Ernest Connally was the Office's first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register; the division administered several existing programs, including the Historic Sites Survey and the Historic American Buildings Survey, as well as the new National Register and Historic Preservation Fund. The first official Keeper of the Register was an architectural historian. During the Register's earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small and underfunded. However, funds were still being supplied for the Historic Preservation Fund to provide matching grants-in-aid to listed property owners, first for house museums and institutional buildings, but for commercial structures as well. A few years in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U.
S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two "Assistant Directorates." Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation. From 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs. Jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate, he was described as a skilled administrator, sensitive to the need for the NPS to work with SHPOs, local governments. Although not described in detail in the 1966 act, SHPOs became integral to the process of listing properties on the National Register; the 1980 amendments of the 1966 law further defined the responsibilities of SHPOs concerning the National Register.
Several 1992 amendments of the NHPA added a category to the National Register, known as Traditional Cultural Properties: those properties associated with Native American or Hawaiian groups
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War known as the American War of Independence, was an 18th-century war between Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies which declared independence as the United States of America. After 1765, growing philosophical and political differences strained the relationship between Great Britain and its colonies. Patriot protests against taxation without representation followed the Stamp Act and escalated into boycotts, which culminated in 1773 with the Sons of Liberty destroying a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor. Britain responded by closing Boston Harbor and passing a series of punitive measures against Massachusetts Bay Colony. Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, they established a shadow government which wrested control of the countryside from the Crown. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, establishing committees and conventions that seized power. British attempts to disarm the Massachusetts militia in Concord led to open combat on April 19, 1775.
Militia forces besieged Boston, forcing a British evacuation in March 1776, Congress appointed George Washington to command the Continental Army. Concurrently, the Americans failed decisively in an attempt to invade Quebec and raise insurrection against the British. On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted for independence, issuing its declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe launched a British counter-offensive, capturing New York City and leaving American morale at a low ebb. However, victories at Trenton and Princeton restored American confidence. In 1777, the British launched an invasion from Quebec under John Burgoyne, intending to isolate the New England Colonies. Instead of assisting this effort, Howe took his army on a separate campaign against Philadelphia, Burgoyne was decisively defeated at Saratoga in October 1777. Burgoyne's defeat had drastic consequences. France formally allied with the Americans and entered the war in 1778, Spain joined the war the following year as an ally of France but not as an ally of the United States.
In 1780, the Kingdom of Mysore attacked the British in India, tensions between Great Britain and the Netherlands erupted into open war. In North America, the British mounted a "Southern strategy" led by Charles Cornwallis which hinged upon a Loyalist uprising, but too few came forward. Cornwallis Cowpens, he retreated to Yorktown, intending an evacuation, but a decisive French naval victory deprived him of an escape. A Franco-American army led by the Comte de Rochambeau and Washington besieged Cornwallis' army and, with no sign of relief, he surrendered in October 1781. Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tories in Parliament, the surrender gave them the upper hand. In early 1782, Parliament voted to end all offensive operations in America, but the war continued overseas. Britain scored a major victory over the French navy. On September 3, 1783, the belligerent parties signed the Treaty of Paris in which Great Britain agreed to recognize the sovereignty of the United States and formally end the war.
French involvement had proven decisive. Spain failed in its primary aim of recovering Gibraltar; the Dutch were compelled to cede territory to Great Britain. In India, the war against Mysore and its allies concluded in 1784 without any territorial changes. Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765 to pay for British military troops stationed in the American colonies after the French and Indian War. Parliament had passed legislation to regulate trade, but the Stamp Act introduced a new principle of a direct internal tax. Americans began to question the extent of the British Parliament's power in America, the colonial legislatures argued that they had exclusive right to impose taxes within their jurisdictions. Colonists condemned the tax because their rights as Englishmen protected them from being taxed by a Parliament in which they had no elected representatives. Parliament argued that the colonies were "represented virtually", an idea, criticized throughout the Empire. Parliament did repeal the act in 1766, but it affirmed its right to pass laws that were binding on the colonies.
From 1767, Parliament began passing legislation to raise revenue for the salaries of civil officials, ensuring their loyalty while inadvertently increasing resentment among the colonists, opposition soon became widespread. Enforcing the acts proved difficult; the seizure of the sloop Liberty in 1768 on suspicions of smuggling triggered a riot. In response, British troops occupied Boston, Parliament threatened to extradite colonists to face trial in England. Tensions rose after the murder of Christopher Seider by a customs official in 1770 and escalated into outrage after British troops fired on civilians in the Boston Massacre. In 1772, colonists in Rhode Island burned a customs schooner. Parliament repealed all taxes except the one on tea, passing the Tea Act in 1773, attempting to force colonists to buy East India Company tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly agreeing to Parliamentary supremacy; the landing of the tea was resisted in all colonies, but the governor of Massachusetts permitted British tea ships to remain in Boston Harbor, so the Sons of Liberty destroyed the tea chests in what became known as the "Boston Tea Party".
Parliament passed punitive legislation. It closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for and revoked the Massachusetts Charter, taking upon themselves the right to directly appoint the Massachusetts Governor's Council. Additionally, t
Hudson Square
Hudson Square is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City bounded by Clarkson Street to the north, Canal Street to the south, Varick Street to the east and the Hudson River to the west. To the north of the neighborhood is Greenwich Village, to the south is TriBeCa, to the east are the South Village and SoHo; the area once was known as the Printing District, into the 21st century it remains a center of media-related activity, including in advertising, design and the arts. Within the neighborhood is the landmarked Charlton–King–Vandam Historic District, which contains the largest concentration of Federalist and Greek Revival style row houses built during the first half of the 19th century; the most prominent feature within the neighborhood is the Manhattan entrance to the Holland Tunnel. The tallest structure in the neighborhood is the Dominick condo hotel; when George Washington led the defense of New York against the British in 1776, his headquarters were located at the Mortier House at what is now Charlton and Varick Streets.
One of the earliest known uses of the term "New Yorker" in a published work is found in a letter that he wrote from Lower Manhattan. The neighborhood was home to the first African-American newspaper in the United States, called Freedom's Journal, edited by John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish from March 16, 1827 to March 28, 1829; the newspaper provided international and regional information on current events and contained editorials declaiming against slavery and other injustices. Trinity Wall Street owns substantial commercial real estate in Hudson Square. In July 2018, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to move its New York headquarters and operations to Four Hudson Square in a 99-year development deal. In December of the same year, Google announced that it would construct a $1 billion, 1,700,000-square-foot headquarters across three buildings in Hudson Square, supplementing its existing location at 111 Eighth Avenue in Chelsea, by 2020; the Ear Inn is one of the oldest bars in New York City, said to have been established in 1817, built by George Washington’s aide.
During Prohibition it was a speakeasy. It was known as "The Green Door" to sailors and longshoremen. In 1977, new resident-owners renamed it the Ear Inn, a name chosen to avoid the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's lengthy review of any new sign; the neon "BAR" sign was painted to read EAR, after Ear Magazine, published upstairs. The Holland Tunnel was the longest underwater tunnel in the world at the time of its opening, it opened at midnight on November 13, 1927. It is still a used Hudson River crossing; the New York City Fire Museum is located on 278 Spring Street between Varick Streets. The Paradise Garage was a discotheque notable in the history of modern dance and pop music, as well as LGBT and nightclub cultures located at 84 King Street; the SoHo Playhouse at 15 Vandam Street stands on land, once Richmond Hill, a colonial mansion that served as headquarters for General George Washington and home to Aaron Burr. Purchased from Burr in 1817, the land was developed into federalist-style row houses by fur magnate John Jacob Astor.
15 Van Dam Street was designated at the Huron Club, a popular meeting house and night club for the Democratic Party. The turn of the century brought the Tammany Hall machine to the Huron Club. Prominent regulars included the infamous Mayor Jimmy "Beau James" Walker; the main floor was transformed into a theater in the 1920s, in the 1960s operated as the Village South, home to Playwrights Unit Workshop under the direction of Edward Albee. The playhouse now serves as a 199-seat off-Broadway venue. Steinway & Sons was founded in 1853 by German immigrant Henry Engelhard Steinway in a Manhattan loft on Varick Street. WQXR's concert venue, the Greene Space is located at 44 Charlton Street; the New York City Subway's Spring Street and Houston Street stations serve the neighborhood, as do several bus lines. South Village Media related to Hudson Square at Wikimedia Commons
American Revolution
The American Revolution was a colonial revolt that took place between 1765 and 1783. The American Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies won independence from Great Britain, becoming the United States of America, they defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War in alliance with others. Members of American colonial society argued the position of "no taxation without representation", starting with the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, they rejected the authority of the British Parliament to tax them because they lacked members in that governing body. Protests escalated to the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the burning of the Gaspee in Rhode Island in 1772, followed by the Boston Tea Party in December 1773, during which Patriots destroyed a consignment of taxed tea; the British responded by closing Boston Harbor followed with a series of legislative acts which rescinded Massachusetts Bay Colony's rights of self-government and caused the other colonies to rally behind Massachusetts. In late 1774, the Patriots set up their own alternative government to better coordinate their resistance efforts against Great Britain.
Tensions erupted into battle between Patriot militia and British regulars when the king's army attempted to capture and destroy Colonial military supplies at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. The conflict developed into a global war, during which the Patriots fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War; each of the thirteen colonies formed a Provincial Congress that assumed power from the old colonial governments and suppressed Loyalism, from there they built a Continental Army under the leadership of General George Washington. The Continental Congress determined King George's rule to be tyrannical and infringing the colonists' rights as Englishmen, they declared the colonies free and independent states on July 2, 1776; the Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, they proclaimed that all men are created equal. The Continental Army forced the redcoats out of Boston in March 1776, but that summer the British captured and held New York City and its strategic harbor for the duration of the war.
The Royal Navy blockaded ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but they failed to defeat Washington's forces. The Patriots unsuccessfully attempted to invade Canada during the winter of 1775–76, but captured a British army at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. France now entered the war as an ally of the United States with a large army and navy that threatened Britain itself; the war turned to the American South where the British under the leadership of Charles Cornwallis captured an army at Charleston, South Carolina in early 1780 but failed to enlist enough volunteers from Loyalist civilians to take effective control of the territory. A combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in the fall of 1781 ending the war; the Treaty of Paris was signed September 3, 1783, formally ending the conflict and confirming the new nation's complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of nearly all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada and Spain taking Florida.
Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of the United States Constitution, establishing a strong federal national government that included an executive, a national judiciary, a bicameral Congress that represented states in the Senate and the population in the House of Representatives. The Revolution resulted in the migration of around 60,000 Loyalists to other British territories British North America; as early as 1651, the English government had sought to regulate trade in the American colonies. On October 9, the Navigation Acts were passed pursuant to a mercantilist policy intended to ensure that trade enriched only Great Britain, barring trade with foreign nations; some argue that the economic impact was minimal on the colonists, but the political friction which the acts triggered was more serious, as the merchants most directly affected were most politically active. King Philip's War ended in 1678, much of it was fought without significant assistance from England.
This contributed to the development of a unique identity from that of the British people. In the 1680s, King Charles II determined to bring the New England colonies under a more centralized administration in order to regulate trade more effectively, his efforts were fiercely opposed by the colonists, resulting in the abrogation of their colonial charter by the Crown. Charles' successor James II finalized these efforts in 1686, establishing the Dominion of New England. Dominion rule triggered bitter resentment throughout New England. New Englanders were encouraged, however, by a change of government in England that saw James II abdicate, a populist uprising overthrew Dominion rule on April 18, 1689. Colonial governments reasserted their control in the wake of the revolt, successive governments made no more attempts to restore the Dominion. Subsequent English governments continued in their efforts to tax certain goods, passing acts regulating the trade of wool and molasses; the Molasses Act of 1733 in particular was egregious to the colonists, as a significant part of colonial trade relied on the product.
The taxes damaged the N
John Alsop
John Alsop, Jr. was an American merchant and politician from New York City during the American Revolution. He was a delegate for New York to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776. Alsop was born in 1724 in New Windsor, Orange County in the British Province of New York, he was the son of John Sr. and Abigail Sackett. His father was a lawyer in New Windsor, New York City, where he was interested in real estate, his parents married in 1718 and were the parents of four children, including his younger brother, Richard Alsop. His paternal grandparents were Capt. Richard Alsop and Hannah Underhill, who first settled in New York during the 1650s and served as a major in Oliver Cromwell's army, but after a disagreement with the Lord Protector, he fled to the obscurity of colonial life, his great-grandparents were Captain John Underhill and Elizabeth Feake, the daughter of Lt. Robert Feake and Elizabeth Fones, a descendant of Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, his maternal grandparents were Captain Joseph Sackett and Elizabeth Betts.
His great-grandparents were Capt. Richard Betts and Joanna Chamberlayne; as a young man he entered the mercantile world with his brother Richard. The brothers became merchants in cloth and dry goods, their enterprise prospered, the Alsops, for several generations, became one of the great merchant houses of the city. With the business secure, John became interested in political activities, he was elected by New York County to serve in the Province of New York Assembly. He was one of the civic leaders that incorporated the New York Hospital Association, served as its first governor from 1770 to 1784. In 1757, his brother Richard retired from business and removed to Middletown, Connecticut During the first phases of the American Revolution, the Province of New York Assembly could not reach a conclusion about the Continental Congress; as a result, delegates were selected by the revolutionary committees in each county. In 1774, John Alsop, along with James Duane, John Jay, Philip Livingston, Isaac Low were named by several counties, extending from Long Island to Albany.
When the Congress convened on September 5, John Jay presented their credentials and the Congress accepted. Alsop didn't arrive in Philadelphia until September 14; as the revolution escalated in 1775, Alsop was one of the leaders of the Committee of Sixty which became the provisional government in New York City. He supported the non-importation agreements that he had signed the previous October in the Congress, despite the costs to his business, he was active in efforts to equip and arm them. As the Assembly continued to refuse to recognize the national Congress, he was elected to the alternative revolutionary New York Provincial Congress, they in turn returned him to the second Continental Congress. Alsop favoured reconciliation with Great Britain and so resigned as a delegate to the Congress rather than sign the Declaration of Independence. 1776 was a critical year in the struggle for New York. Alsop began the year in a session of Congress, he made several trips between there and New York, acting as an agent of congress through his business to acquire supplies, powder for the Continental Army.
After General Washington visited Congress in late May, Alsop returned with him to New York in early June. He added efforts to find housing for 8,000 Continental Army troops to his earlier and continuing work on the supply problems; when his home in Newtown was captured by the British in August, he kept working from Manhattan. By September the British had occupied Manhattan as well, ending his effective contributions to the revolution, he escaped to Middletown and remained until the British occupation ended in 1783. After the war he worked to help rebuild the family business, again became active as a civic leader, he was president of New York City's Chamber of Commerce in 1784 and 1785. On June 6, 1766, he married Mary Frogat in New York City, they were the parents of one daughter, born in New York on October 17, 1769 and died in Jamaica, New York on June 5, 1819. Mary Alsop, who married Rufus King on March 30, 1786, they were the parents of John Alsop King, Charles King, James Gore King, Edward King and Frederic Gore King.
Alsop died at his home in Newtown, Queens County, New York on November 22, 1794 and is buried in Trinity Church Cemetery on Manhattan. His considerable fortune was passed to his son-in-law after his death, his nephew, Richard Alsop, was an author who wrote the National and Civil History of Chili, in two volumes, was one of The Hartford Wits known as the Connecticut Wits, who were a group of American writers centered around Yale University and flourished in the 1780s and 1790s. In 1800, Alsop wrote a monody, on the death of Washington, his son Richard Alsop, a partner of W. S. Wetmore, founded the house of Alsop & Co. in Valparaíso, Lima, Peru. Another nephew, Joseph W. Alsop, had a daughter Lucy Alsop, who married Henry Chauncey, of the firm of Alsop & Chauncey, of New York City, who founded the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in 1848, his son, Joseph Wright Alsop, Jr. was the father of Joseph Wright Alsop III, the father of Joseph Wright Alsop IV who married Corinne Douglas Robinson, a niece of Theodore Roosevelt, were the parents of Joseph Wright Alsop V and Stewart Alsop, both American newspaper journa
Horatio Gates
Horatio Lloyd Gates was a retired British soldier who served as an American general during the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battles of Saratoga – a matter of contemporary and historical controversy – and was blamed for the defeat at the Battle of Camden in 1780. Gates has been described as "one of the Revolution's most controversial military figures" because of his role in the Conway Cabal, which attempted to discredit and replace General George Washington. Born in the town of Maldon in Essex, Gates served in the British Army during the War of the Austrian Succession and the French and Indian War. Frustrated by his inability to advance in the army, Gates sold his commission and established a small plantation in Virginia. On Washington's recommendation, the Continental Congress made Gates the Adjutant General of the Continental Army in 1775, he was assigned command of Fort Ticonderoga in 1776 and command of the Northern Department in 1777. Shortly after Gates took charge of the Northern Department, the Continental Army defeated the British at the crucial Battles of Saratoga.
After the battle, some members of Congress considered replacing Washington with Gates, but Washington retained his position as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Gates took command of the Southern Department in 1780, but was removed from command that year after the disastrous Battle of Camden. Gates's military reputation was destroyed by the battle and he did not hold another command for the remainder of the war. Gates retired to his Virginia estate after the war, but decided to free his slaves and move to New York, he was elected to a single term in the New York State Legislature and died in 1806. Horatio Gates was christened on April 30, 1727, in the Parish of St Nicholas, Greenwich borough, in the English county of Kent, his parents were Dorothea Gates. Evidence suggests that Dorothea was the granddaughter of John Hubbock, Sr. postmaster at Fulham, the daughter of John Hubbock, Jr. listed in 1687 sources as a vintner. She had a prior marriage, to Thomas Reeve, whose family was well situated in the royal Customs service.
Dorothea Reeve was housekeeper for the second Duke of Leeds, Peregrine Osborne, which in the social context of England at the time was a patronage plum. Marriage into the Reeve family opened the way for Robert Gates to get into and up through the Customs service. So too, Dorothea Gates's appointment circa 1729 to housekeeper for the third Duke of Bolton provided Horatio Gates with otherwise off-bounds opportunities for education and social advancement. Through Dorothea Gates's associations and energetic networking, young Horace Walpole was enlisted as Horatio's godfather and namesake. In 1745, Horatio Gates obtained a military commission with financial help from his parents, political support from the Duke of Bolton. Gates served with the 20th Foot in Germany during the War of the Austrian Succession, he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia under Edward Cornwallis and was promoted to captain in the 45th Foot the following year. He participated in several engagements against the Mi'kmaq and Acadians the Battle at Chignecto.
He married his wife Elizabeth at St. Paul's Church in 1754. Leaving Nova Scotia, he sold his commission in 1754 and purchased a captaincy in one of the New York Independent Companies. One of his mentors in his early years was Edward Cornwallis, the uncle of Charles Cornwallis, against whom the Americans would fight. Gates served under Cornwallis when the latter was governor of Nova Scotia, developed a relationship with the lieutenant governor, Robert Monckton. During the French and Indian War, Gates served General Edward Braddock in America. In 1755 he accompanied the ill-fated Braddock Expedition in its attempt to control access to the Ohio Valley; this force included other future Revolutionary War leaders such as Thomas Gage, Charles Lee, Daniel Morgan, George Washington. Gates didn't see significant combat, since he was injured early in the action, his experience in the early years of the war was limited to commanding small companies, but he became quite good at military administration. In 1759 he was made brigade major to Brigadier General John Stanwix, a position he continued when General Robert Monckton took over Stanwix's command in 1760.
Gates served under Monckton in the capture of Martinique in 1762. Monckton bestowed on him the honor of bringing news of the success to England, which brought him a promotion to major; the end of the war brought an end to Gates' prospects for advancement, as the army was demobilized and he did not have the financial wherewithal to purchase commissions for higher ranks. In November 1755, Gates married Elizabeth Phillips and had a son, Robert, in 1758. Gates' military career stalled, as advancement in the British army required influence. Frustrated by the British class hierarchy, he sold his major's commission in 1769, came to North America. In 1772 he reestablished contact with George Washington, purchased a modest plantation in Virginia the following year; when the word reached Gates of the outbreak of war in late May 1775, he rushed to Mount Vernon and offered his services to Washington. In June, the Continental Congress began organizing the Continental Army. In accepting command, Washington urged the appointment of Gates as adjutant of the army.
On June 17, 1775, Congress commissioned Gates as a Brigadier General and Adjutant General of the Continental Army. He is considered to be the first Adjutant General of the United States Army. Gates's previou
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