William Pinckney: A Militia Lieutenant, His Family and the Revolution at St. Paul's

William Pinckney, buried at St. Paul's Church National Historic Site, stands for the men of leading local families who served the Revolution as militia officers rather than in the Continental Army. His wartime path also shows how tangled loyalties were around St. Paul's.

A militia family

Descended from one of Eastchester's founders, Pinckney was born in 1736 into a comfortable family in the town, about 20 miles north of New York City. His uncle, also William Pinckney, was for many years captain of the local militia company. A militia commission was a traditional way for young men of notable families to serve, lead and build their standing. Monthly drills on the village green before St. Paul's were more social and political than military — festive gatherings — though companies trained harder when war approached.

1775–1776

In 1775, when fighting in Massachusetts turned the political crisis into war, William was 39. That September the county's militia was reorganized in earnest, and he was chosen ensign, one of the company's five officers, with his older brother Thomas as first lieutenant. In spring 1776, as the British prepared to invade New York, William became first lieutenant.

Why not the Continental Army? Some mostly younger local men volunteered for Washington's new national army, which could send them far from home into perhaps greater danger. William was 40 and he and his wife, Freelove, were raising 11 children. The militia also meant fighting beside neighbours, under officers they chose — and with major fighting about to begin in New York, it carried no taint of avoiding danger.

That spring Continental General Charles Lee called up the company to prepare New York's defences, and the Westchester men built works at Hell Gate, where the Harlem River meets the East River near today's Triborough Bridge. By summer most accounts place the Westchester militia in lower Manhattan under Major General Israel Putnam at the Battle of Brooklyn in late August — the largest land battle of the war.

The neutral ground

From 1777 to 1782 Westchester militia units patrolled the "neutral ground," the no man's land between the British and American armies, often overwhelmed by British and Loyalist raids from Manhattan; Pinckney may have taken part. A 19th-century local history says he came to side with the Crown while Freelove stayed loyal to the Revolution — plausible, since loyalties shifted and split families. More likely he kept neutral to protect his family, a prudent course in 1780, when the British held strong positions around Eastchester. Unlike many landowners, the Pinckneys never left their farm. It did not save them: in early April 1780, British troops shot and killed their son Henry at the family home.

Rebuilding

After the war Pinckney helped rebuild the town, serving as commissioner and overseer of roads from the late 1780s into the early 1800s. The 1790 census counted ten people in his household. In 1800 his estate was worth about $3,500, among the wealthiest in town. In 1787 the family's gift of 23 shillings — one of the largest in the parish — secured a double pew immediately to the right of the pulpit, restored in 1942 and still seen by visitors. He served on the vestry in the mid-1790s.

The original 1787 pew plan of St. Paul's; the Pinckney family's large pew is directly to the right of the pulpit. NPS.

He died in 1802 and was buried behind the church; Freelove outlived him by 20 years and lies nearby. In the early 20th century his descendants used his militia service to join the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution.

Sources

• National Park Service, St. Paul's Church National Historic Site, "Military Service and Family Concerns Reflected through Revolutionary War Lieutenant Buried at St. Paul's." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/military-service-and-family-concerns-reflected-through-revolutionary-war-lieutenant-buried-at-st-paul-s.htm