John Glover: Sailor, Soldier, Patriot

John Glover, the Continental officer who led the Americans at the Battle of Pell's Point near St. Paul's Church in October 1776.

With seamanship, leadership and grit, John Glover helped save the independence movement from possible disaster in 1776.

Merchant and militia colonel

• Born in Salem, Massachusetts, on November 7, 1732; after his father's early death he moved with his mother and three brothers to Marblehead.
• Self-made: inheriting nothing, he became one of the port's wealthiest and most influential ship owners and merchants.
• Politics: he rose to command the town militia and, as Britain curbed New England's rights, became a radical Whig openly calling for independence.
• The Marbleheaders: he raised a 500-man regiment of militia and seamen — soldiers "bred to the sea," Washington called them — including Spanish, Native American, Jewish and African American men, one of the first integrated units in the service.

1776

• Brooklyn: on August 29, Glover's men evacuated Washington's 9,000 troops, with horses and artillery, from Brooklyn to Manhattan in one night, against the tide, unseen and unheard by British warships nearby — saving the cause from collapse.
• Kip's Bay: with a skeleton brigade of 800, he stopped the Continentals' panicked retreat.
• Pell's Point: on October 14 he was sent to Pelham Bay to slow a likely amphibious landing by General William Howe that could cut off Washington's retreat to White Plains.

The Battle of Pell's Point

On the morning of October 18, Glover watched British ships land 4,000 Hessian and British troops; he had four small Massachusetts Continental regiments.

• The trap: expecting the enemy on Split Rock Road, he posted three regiments behind successive stone walls — Colonel Joseph Reed's in front, Colonel William Shepherd's behind and to the right, Colonel Loammi Baldwin's behind Shepherd's.
• The tactic: Reed's men rose, fired as the Redcoats came in range, and fell back to the next wall; twice more the regiments repeated it, slowing the advance.
• The withdrawal: facing a flanking move under General Cornwallis, Glover pulled back across Hutchinson Creek to his own regiment and cannon. The sides traded artillery fire the rest of the day, and instead of advancing, the Anglo-Hessian force stayed put for three days, using St. Paul's Church as a hospital.

The delay covered Washington's retreat to White Plains, where Glover then fought.

Across the Delaware

After serving with General Charles Lee until late December, Glover's brigade crossed the Hudson and rejoined Washington in New Jersey. On the night of December 25, 1776, the Marbleheaders ferried 2,400 troops, with horses, artillery and wagons, across the ice-choked Delaware; fought at Trenton; and brought the army and nearly 1,000 Hessian prisoners back across — all the same day.

Later years

• Brigadier general from February 1777, he commanded a brigade under Horatio Gates at Saratoga, where he fell ill, probably with malaria. Though his health never recovered, he stayed on: escorting the Convention Army of surrendered British troops, commanding posts in the Hudson Highlands, and serving at the trial and execution of Major John André.
• Retired on July 22, 1782, he was a Federalist delegate to Massachusetts's convention to ratify the Constitution, a town selectman, and a state representative.
• He died of a liver infection in 1794, at 62, perhaps linked to his long illness. He is remembered in Marblehead, in Brooklyn, and around St. Paul's.

Sources

Based on "John Glover: Sailor, Soldier, Patriot," St. Paul's Church National Historic Site, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.