Battle of Bull's Ferry

On the heights of the Hudson River Palisades, you are standing near the site of a July 1780 skirmish that became an unlikely piece of literary history. At the time, a small wooden blockhouse stood here, manned by seventy Loyalist militia under the command of Thomas Ward. These men used this fortified outpost to protect British woodcutters and livestock grazing in the area, which provided critical supplies to the British garrison occupying New York City. General Anthony Wayne, a famously aggressive commander in the Continental Army, arrived here with two brigades, artillery, and cavalry on a mission to destroy the post and seize the British cattle. Despite the massive imbalance in numbers, the Loyalist defenders withstood an hour of bombardment and beat back a desperate attempt by American infantry to storm the stockade. The Americans eventually retreated, leaving behind several dead and wounded while the Loyalists remained firmly in control of the position. The battle gained its lasting fame not through military strategy, but through a mocking poem titled The Cow Chace, written by British Major John André. He composed the lengthy, biting satire to ridicule the American defeat and General Wayne's failed attempt to capture the livestock. The poem became a sensation in the British-controlled press in New York, and it remains one of the most well-known pieces of Revolutionary War satire, serving as a humorous postscript to a frustrating day for the Continental Army.