Simeon Goff, Saving the Continental Army

In October of 1776 Simeon Goff, my wife's fourth great grandfather, was three months into a five month stint in a Massachusetts militia.  That militia was now formally attached to the nascent continental army. During a lull in action, Simeon was finally able to get some rest after the terrible battles for Long Island and New York. In the lull, Nathan Hale had been hanged by the British, and the Continental army was in disarray. This is the story of Simeon Goff and the Continental Army in the battle for Westchester County. General Washington now had a force of about 31,000 men, but it is thought only about half were battle ready. The sicknesses that engulfed the camp in spring and summer never seemed to subside, eating into the utility of the ranks. With the onset of the autumn, the falling colorful leaves were but a fleeting indicator of a more peaceful, tranquil way of life for Simeon and other members of the Continental Army. Simeon Goff would play a roll with his Massachusetts regiment in saving the Continental Army from extinction. 

Depiction of Battle of Pell's Point, Oct 1776

Life in camp was anything but tranquil, it could be downright deadly. Much of the disease was due to poor sanitation, a stalwart of the armies in its early years, and quite frankly a lack of full appreciation of what good sanitary efforts can accomplish. I am sure Simeon's 4th great granddaughter would be appalled at the lack of proper sanitation at the war camps. A surgeon from Delaware, serving with a regiment at the time, provides our 21st century levels of cleanliness a look into the camp life when he wrote: “excrementitious matter was scattered indiscriminately throughout the camp….Many died melting as it were, and running off by the bowels"(Atkinson, 432). Part of the problem was lack of medical care to be provided by surgeons or nurses. Low pay meant few wished to take on a life near the front lines and live in a squalid type quality.  Not as if the doctors would be much help, they probably would bleed the patient to only make matters worse.

John Glover

 

Sickness was only part of the problem. Morale was another. Those that were healthy were not on good behavior. There was theft, robbery, insubordination, desertion, and even mutiny. A company could not sufficiently train without seeing their tents and personal belongings being raided (Atkinson, 432-433). When the soldiers came upon communities, the behavior was no less egregious causing citizens to bolt their doors. This behavior made Washington comment that his troops were “‘infinitely more formidable to the poor farmers & inhabitants’ than to the British" (Atkinson, 433). John Adams would write that he was ashamed of the age in which he lived. Of course, Washington tended to blame the whole of the matter on the lack of a good continental army, and his having to depend on the malicious militias for so much of the fighting. This was noted in a fourteen page monograph to John Hancock. He wanted a permanent army and not one where the enlistments would end within a few months, just as he was about to soon experience as 1776 was drawing to a close with less than three months left to the new year.  Simeon was one of the soldiers who would have his enlistment end on 1 December. He wanted soldiers to be properly compensated with goods, land and ample cash bounties. He would write: “Something is due to the man who puts his life in his hand, hazards his health, & forsakes the sweets of domestic enjoyment.” (Atkinson, 433)

For three weeks there had been a lull in battle, but as the sun began to peak over the horizon, at day break on October 9 the quiet morning was broken by the sounds of heavy artillery on the Hudson River. The battle of White Plains had begun. The battle would last for several days with each side committing errors, Washington reorganizing the units and their commanders during battle, and each side wondering what would be next. For the common soldier, the issue was supplies and food. As 13,000 colonial men marched out of Manhattan they had few beasts of burden to assist in moving food and material, and even artillery. As Atkinson notes (p 440) few provisions were able to be had this October in the countryside of White Plains and New York. This led soldiers and the many camp followers to plunder, showing that the misbehavior experienced in the downtime continued. Men need food and regardless of a full-time army, or part time militia, an army marches on its stomach.

 

Glover Rock at Pell's Point

Regardless of how much food they would have had, men still had to fight. Simeon’s regiment was part of four Massachusetts regiments that would be led by Col John Glover in what is known as the battle of Pell’s Point, or Pelham Point. This battle was part of the large White Plains, and Westchester County engagements. On 18 October 13,000 British forces landed in moonlight at Pell’s Point (See Atkinson, pp 440-443). This British contingent, was unopposed and uncontested as it began to move inland finding unused artillery batteries. Pell’s Point is little mentioned in the literature, but Abbatt, in his 1910 work claims the battle was of significant consequence to the Continental Army at a critical juncture in time (p 267). Recall that the army was retreating after its losses at Long Island and New York, and the British were hoping to put an end to the rebellion. Col. Glover, however, noticed through his field glasses, as the sun was rising, that the British were landing. He took his force of 750 men to meet the British. The nearest American General was three miles distant, and Glover sent a courier to make him aware of the situation. Yet, time did not allow for General Lee to be present. Glover needed to act quick. Like so much in war, Glover’s quickly devised plan was based on subterfuge. He had most of his contingent hide behind a stone wall, while about 40 skirmishers drew the British closer and closer until they were basically at the wall where the Continentals then engaged them in combat. Glover, in the lone account of the engagement, says that “We kept our post under cover of stone wall till they came within fifty yards of us [when we] rose up and gave them the whole charge of the battalion, they halted and returned the fire with showers of musketry and cannon balls” (Abbatt, 271).

Being overwhelmed the Continental soldiers retreated and formed new lines further back. One of the retreats was by the regiment to which Simeon Goff was attached, led by Colonel Read.  In this instance, as a drummer Simeon would have pounded out the retreat signal, for his company. Yet, with 750 against 13,000 the odds favored the British and there was yet another retreat. As the sun was setting, the enemy found themselves tired and discouraged. This small group of Americans inflicted heavy losses on the British. Let me pick up from the work of Abbatt (p 273):

The results of Glover’s all day fight were of the greatest importance, far beyond the loss, heavy though it was, inflicted on the enemy. It secured, first, one day more for Washington’s force to reach White Plains, and second, Howe stunned by the unexpected and heavy loss, encamped for several days after, near New Rochelle. All the while Washington was assembling at White Plains, where he was to fight, October 28th and for the invaluable ten days respite he received he was entirely indebted to the plain matter-of-fact man of Marblehead [Glover], who...says “However, I did the best I could.”

Hence the action at Pell's Point provided sufficient time for the remainder of the Continentals to gather and fight another day, or in this case ten days later. This action was, as Jim Lovell would say, a successful failure,  Many sources note that Pell's Point was an American loss that saved Washington's army. Simeon Goff was a part of the encounter that saved the Continental army from extinction. It was not simply in the delay it caused the British forces, but that the battle helped to change the whole American psyche as to what was possible.  After all, a small group of men held at bay 13,000 men from the best army in the world.

Simeon Goff grave marker

An army runs on its stomach, and in their quest for provisions, the larger group of combatants pilfered food as it made its way north to White Plains. Atkinson notes that, as the battle moved into November, the rebels continued to scourge White Plains--stealing livestock, furniture, and farm implements. (Atkinson, 448) Massachusetts troops were said to be heated with liquor, burned much of some towns, including a church , taverns (probably after confiscating the liquor), and even barns full of hay. It does not appear to be a regiment in which Simeon served, since the commander, Major Jonathan Williams Austin, a Harvard man who had studied law with John Adams, was court-martialed for “wanton, barbarous conduct” ending his service. Washington would simply say of the affair: “cowardly wretches.” (Atkinson, 448)

Yet, the mistakes by Howe, such as waiting due to his losses at Pell’s Point, did not feel much like a huge victory for the American forces. There were complaints about the command of the British still being of better judgement than the American force commanded by George Washington. Once again, Washington had misread the terrain, but he tried to offset his misjudgments, and again would undertake brilliant retreats when necessary. But, the most important thing was that the despondency so infectious after New York and Long Island was being replaced by what Atkinson (448) would refer to “an unaccountable buoyancy could still be found in the rebel ranks despite the perpetual retreat. ‘The army are no ways disheartened,’ a young military lieutenant named Samuel Shaw wrote his parents near Boston. ‘We seem pretty generally to believe we shall beat them at last.’” Washington, who had Simeon Goff and the other men under his command retreat, came to realize that he had mastered the methods of proper and timely retreat, bedeviling British General Howe. This led to a change in attitude which would affect the war. Nonetheless, the battle for White Plains would continue to rage well into November.

 

Map of White Plains, Westchester County

A large contingent of American forces would be captured after finally surrendering during a long battle and having been surrounded by the British forces for days. It was perhaps Washington’s lowest point, with other Generals now questioning his capabilities, as can be summed by a few words he wrote to his brother: “I am wearied almost to death by the retrograde motion of things.” (Atkinson, p 460) The destruction of another large American force was kept from capture by another one of Washington’s masterful retreats.

However, the surprise is that with how most everything had gone so bad for the American forces during the New York campaign, and how over-matched they were by the British in terms of men, training, and leadership, the American armies were still not defeated. Lt Shaw would write in a letter home: “I firmly believe that if heaven had not something very great in store for America, we should ‘ere this have been a ruined people.” (Atkinson, 462) So, once again the army retreated. Some lacking shoes, bodies wrapped in blankets, and this rabble of an army looked for shelter in barns, sheds and a few lucky ones would find a house. The fall campaign was now ending, and with it the service of Simeon Goff. Simeon would receive a discharge on Dec 1, 1776.

Simeon Goff Pension

With this discharge, partially through a retreat across New Jersey in the last days of November, Simeon would break off and undergo a long trek back to Rehoboth in the Massachusetts colony. Simeon would have experience of loss and depredation, but also the knowledge that he, and his regiment had fought hard and well. Simeon was part of the 750 men at Pell’s Point who, according to Abbatt, had saved the whole army from destruction, and what otherwise would to the idea of independence for the fledgling nation, then only in its fourth month of existence.

Simeon would not be with his regiment when it took part in what is perhaps the most iconic movement of the war--the Christmas day movement across the Delaware River to attack on the encamped Hessian forces at Trenton. What I find most remarkable about Simeon’s service during this trying time is that he did not have to serve at all. For five months and 21 days he was away from home, put up with hardship, illness, and loss of friends. During this, his second tour of duty in the war, he served as a substitute for a man named Joseph Pierce. As Simeon walked home from New Jersey, in a counter move to the flow to the army movement, I also wonder if he realized what his regiment had accomplished at Pell's Point?  I also wonder, as he returned home if he thought he had fought his last battle for Independence?  It turn out he would serve briefly in 1777 and again in 1778.

Sources:

Abbatt, William, 1910, “The Battle for Pell’s Point or Pelham, October 18, 1776” Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, vol 9.  

History.com

Historyis fun.org

Atkinson, Rick, 2019, The British Are Coming, Henry Holt & Co. NY NY