Fowler, Jesse
John M. McDonald interview — 1848-10-17
Jesse Fowler (1761-1851) recounts the route of the British force under Robert Abercrombie that raided Crompond on June 3, 1779. During this raid, British soldiers took livestock belonging to Fowler’s father. He also describes the raid on Crompond conducted by a British force commanded by Colonel Banastre Tarleton on June 24, 1779, and recalls the escape of Major Joseph Strang of the Westchester County Militia.
Manuscript page facsimiles
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Transcription
- Hufeland Index Page 713 -
October 17th Jesse Fowler of Yorktown aged 88: “When Major Abercrombie took Crompond in 1779, he marched from Verplancks Point by the Furnace wood road, making a circuit to avoid observations, and passed my father’s house being all infantry except the officers who were mounted. The soldiers took my father’s cattle (four cows and three horses). They returned the same afternoon going (retiring) about one mile and a half on the Peekskill and Crompond road, and then turning to the left and going south till they came again into the Furnace wood road. Major Strang was pursued nearly a mile north of the Meeting House by Tarleton’s horse in 1779, but escaped. Major Abercrombie’s route was for the most part through the forest – the country through which he advanced being mostly wood.”