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DENYSE'S FERRY THE SCENE OF THE FIRST RESISTANCE TO BRITISH ARMS IN THE MIDDLE STATES A stirring scene was enacted at Denyse's Ferry on the 22d of August, 1776, when a fleet of British vessels arranged themselves a half-mile distance from the Long Island shore. Across on Staten Island thousands of Hessians marched to the water's edge to embark, and twice as many British soldiers followed them. A signal gun roared out, and simultaneously hundreds of oars tossed up the water, and the great vessels prepared to come closer to the shore. Ships' boats advanced, spitting flame into every thicket and toward every point where Patriots might be concealed. At Denyse's Ferry, which is now Fort Hamilton, there were three houses, the dwelling of Denyse DENYSE, that of Adrian BENNET, and the house of Simon CORTELYOU, violent Loyalist. A ball fired from one of the British ships passed through BENNET's kitchen; another tore away part of a fence in front of the house of Denyse Denyse; but the house of Simon Cortelyou, where a woman is supposed to have waved a red petticoat as a signal for the British to land, remained unscathed. Up on the bluff near the landing at Denyse's Ferry a tiny battery spit at the boats of the advancing horde. Soon the shore was dense with the landing troops, and Long Island paralyzed, knowing not where to turn. The country people dwelling on the plain bordering Gravesend Bay had the choice of placing themselves under the protection of unwelcome invaders or of abandoning their farms. Most of the neighborhood in the vicinity of Denyse's Ferry were Loyalists, who hailed the coming of the troops as their natural protectors. 15,000 strong the British came, Bringing fear to the inhabitants and spreading their forces like a pestilence over Long Island. "Thus," it is recorded, "commenced the first resistance to British arms in the Midd1e States, on the spot where Fort Hamilton now stands." Robert E. LEE, when he was stationed at Fort Hamilton, was a vestryman at old St. John's Church, and "Stonewall" JACKSON was baptized in this church. It is said he was a rigid keeper of the Sabbath, never travelling on that day nor attending to any details. of business. He attended church morning and evening, and taught in the Sabbath school. Boughton Homestead Return to INDEX..Rambles of Brooklyn Return to BROOKLYN Info Main Page