ABOVE: Erik Weiselberg, Ph.D. presents new research on the Battle of Edgar’s Lane,
6 June 2019, Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library. Sponsored by the Hastings Historical Society.

While the battle itself was of little strategic importance (similar to many other encounters in the region between the lines in Westchester during the Revolutionary War), the encounter is representative of the prolonged, dramatic and crucial role that Westchester County as a whole played in the Revolutionary War, and can serve as a local access point for those interested in understanding the Revolutionary War as a whole.

• An example of the Revolutionary War in Westchester. A bloody skirmish consisting of light infantry and cavalry forces, the Battle of Edgar’s Lane serves as a prototypical example of the type of brutal guerrilla warfare that characterized the military operations in the so-called “Neutral Ground” of Westchester County throughout most of the war.

• An illustrative example of foraging essential to 18th-century warfare. The Battle of Edgar’s Lane resulted in part from the British strategy of using Westchester and New Jersey as grounds for their foraging in order to supply troops deployed elsewhere in their global war against the French; thus, commemorating the event highlights for today’s audience the importance of the region as a contested breadbasket, and situates Hastings within the wider conflict.

• The Battle of Edgar’s Lane was a “sister battle” to the Baylor Massacre, the site of which in River Vale, New Jersey has been developed as an interpretive park. To carry out their foraging in the fall of 1778, the British sent out two parties, one on either side of the Hudson River. On September 27, 1778 Colonel George Baylor’s 3rd Regiment of Continental Dragoons stationed at Old Tappan or Harringtown (present-day River Vale, New Jersey) was surprised and massacred in an event that came to be called the “Baylor Massacre.” On the east side of the river, Hessian patrols went northward, including the one that culminated in the Battle of Edgar’s Lane. Contemporaries saw the Baylor Massacre and the Battle of Edgar’s Lane as linked events: when the General in charge of the Continental Army in Westchester informed General Washington of the success of Lee’s ambush just a few days after the massacre of Baylor’s Dragoons, he added, “This in some measure compensates for poor Baylor.” The memorial at the Baylor Massacre site currently offers parking, walking paths, and interpretive panels; setting up a similar interpretive layout at the site of the “sister battle” in Hastings seems appropriate and desirable.

• Celebrating an American victory. The Americans won decisively at the Battle of Edgar’s Lane. The Americans made a quick assessment of the captured, injured and dead, and quickly left the scene. The commanding officer boasted to his superior, “I assure you sir I have never seen greater bravery displayed than on this occasion, by both foot & horse; I can’t say too much in praise of the whole as they not only showed bravery but good order also,” noting that the efforts of the combined units, “would have done honor to any corps in Europe.”

• A unique victory. British forces could claim victory in many cases of skirmishes and raids in Westchester, but at Edgar’s Lane the Americans earned a decisive victory. The brilliance of the American plan and the resulting boost to American morale derived from the victory at the Battle of Edgar’s Lane makes it one of the most singular, unique and noteworthy events of the Revolutionary War in Westchester, if not in the entire war.

• The battle was particularly ferocious. The remaining twelve mounted Jägers in Mertz’s company were all hacked to pieces. The Continental patrol took eighteen prisoners, leaving behind three whose wounds were so great that, “humanity obliged us to leave them behind.” Hessian officer Johann Ewald noted, “I have never seen a battlefield on a small scale more horrible than the little spot on which this slaughter had taken place. In a space the length of about 150 paces and the width of a country road, we found twenty-one completely mutilated bodies, counting friend and foe, and seven horses. A loss that was regretted by both sides.”

• The local terrain and people shaped the battle’s outcome. The American victory was won partly through the services of local guide Isaac “Uck” Odell, and likely assisted by Peter Post’s deception. The ravine that forced many of the Hessians to break ranks contributed to their lack of preparation when the trap was sprung.

• Notable figures from Revolutionary War history participated in the event. General George Washington masterminded the campaign of 1778, of which the battle was a part. Henry Lee later became famous as Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, for his funeral speech in which he declared George Washington, “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen,” and as the father of Robert E. Lee. Connecticut private Joseph Plumb Martin, famous for his detailed memoir of the war from a common soldier’s perspective, participated in the ambush at the Battle of Edgar’s Lane and many other encounters in Westchester County.

• Westchester (and Hastings) became an international meeting of various peoples. The Battle of Edgar’s Lane was a meeting ground not only of two opposing armies, but of many peoples: Americans from various regions and backgrounds met each other for the first time: Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, as well as Philipse Manor and even Native Americans serving the patriots in the Indian Company. On the other side, Germans from different lands united under the appellation “Hessians” marched alongside each other in service to the British crown; many of these Hessians deserted or returned to America to settle.

• Peter Post’s property became the nucleus of the village of Hastings on Hudson. After the war, Peter Post became a major landowner in the area, purchasing 256 acres from the Committee of Forfeitures. Although Post sold various parts of his lands (including to James Renwick and Washington Irving), it eventually became the center of the village of Hastings-on-Hudson.