When the Capital of New York Burned: The Terror of 1777

Reenactment of the attack on Kingston.

Terrorism has been a grim feature of our time, but the tactic is far from new. The Revolutionary War, like every war, was marked by wanton violence. One of the cruelest incidents came in October 1777 when the British attacked the city of Kingston, the state’s first capital.

A majority of the population of the venerable Hudson Valley village still spoke Dutch. The state had just ratified its constitution there and country lawyer George Clinton had been sworn in as its first governor on July 30.

By that time, an invasion led by British General John Burgoyne had forced the Americans from Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. The redcoats and their Hessian allies were moving south toward Albany. Their goal was to gain control of the Champlain-Hudson corridor and split the colonies.

General John Burgoyne

The legislators warily tracked the movements of the approaching enemy. Late in the summer, the British suffered a sharp defeat just inside the New York border near Bennington, Vermont, and Burgoyne’s progress slowed. The British commander in New York City, General William Howe, instead of coming to the aid of the northern force, sailed south to attack Philadelphia. He told his subordinate, Sir Henry Clinton, to help Burgoyne if possible. The cautious Clinton at first did nothing.

Howe outmaneuvered George Washington, and captured the Philadelphia on September 26. A week earlier, a patriot Army under Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold had stopped Burgoyne’s force near the village of Saratoga. Burgoyne dug in to await either relief from the south or a diversion by Clinton.

It wasn’t until early October that Henry Clinton finally sailed up the river to aid Burgoyne’s stalled force. He tricked the American commander, Israel Putnam, with a feint toward the east, then captured two American forts on the west bank of the Hudson Highlands. By October 13, the entire river was defenseless.

Clinton had returned to the New York City, leaving his subordinate, General John Vaughan, to proceed up the river with a fleet of thirty warships and 1,600 soldiers.

“We are hellishly frightened,” New York legislator Gouverneur Morris wrote from Kingston. The legislators hurried home to protect their families. Kingston residents began to flee. On Wednesday, October 15, General Vaughan’s forces anchored a few miles south of Kingston.

On the morning of October 16, 1777, the British ships opened fire on American defenders along the shore. The patriots shot back but could only mount a token resistance before retreating. The British infantrymen landed.

Landing reenactment.

General Vaughan ordered his men to climb toward the village, which stood on high ground three miles inland. On the way, they encountered a Tory who told Vaughan that on October 7, Burgoyne had made a desperate attempt at an end-run around the American forces in his path. The battle ended in a resounding British defeat. Burgoyne was retreating northward with heavy losses.

If it was true, it meant there was no more reason to create a diversion. But without official word, Vaughan could not be sure of the intelligence.

Angry and frustrated, the British commander ordered his men to burn the entire village of Kingston. The soldiers rushed through the town, torching one building after another. “In a very short time,” a patriot newspaper reported, “that pleasant and wealthy town was reduced to ashes.”

Kingston was a prosperous town, with stores, taverns and a prominent academy of higher learning. All were set aflame, along with residences and barns, the town church and the courthouse. The troops blew up some stored gunpowder. They looted what goods they could carry. Three hours after coming ashore, they were back on their ships. Four thousand civilians were left homeless.

One of the houses that survived the burning

Vaughan would claim that his rampage had been touched off by patriots firing on his men from the houses. The story is unlikely — the town was largely deserted before the enemy arrived. The British general more likely acted out of resentment and contempt for the upstart colonists. He had labeled Kingston a “nursery for almost every Villain in the Country.” His motive was clear: to punish and terrorize the rebels.

By October 23, Vaughan knew for certain that the worst had happened — six days earlier Burgoyne had surrendered his entire army to General Gates, a defeat that would go down as a crucial turning point of the Revolutionary War.

The British made no gains in the Hudson Valley that summer, but the Americans took note of their vulnerabilities. They shifted their defenses farther north to West Point, which became the key patriot bastion on the river.

Deprived of shelter and food stores, the inhabitants of Kingston suffered through the winter of 1777-78. Most of the stone structures, although gutted, were eventually rebuilt — many are still standing today.

General Gates wrote to Vaughan to ask, “Is it thus your King’s General thinks to make Converts to the Royal Cause?” He was pointing out a fact that often seems to elude those who resort to terror. The tactic often backfires, instilling in its victims’ anger and determination rather than fear and timidity. Terrorism rarely works.

Thanks for sharing with others. Read about Benedict Arnold’s role in the Battle of Saratoga in my upcoming book: GOD SAVE BENEDICT ARNOLD: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man. Click HERE to preorder the book.