HISTORIC KINGSBRIDGE 161 



abandoned the fort, leaving behind the cannon and three hundred 

 stand of arms. The British held the fort until September, 1779, 

 when their troops were withdrawn to the south. The site of Fort 

 Independence is now occupied by the residence of the late William 

 0. Giles, Esq., on Giles Place near Fort Independence Street ; when 

 the cellar was dug there were unearthed eleven cannon, several 

 cannon balls, calthorns and other military relics. 



Number Five, lately restored and marked by a flag-pole, was 

 a square redoubt of about seventy feet, north of the Claflin stables, 

 of the old Tetard farm, and commanded the Farmer's Bridge. It 

 was occupied by the British from 1777 to September 18, 1779. 

 Its remains can be seen east of Sedgwick Avenue at the southwest 

 corner of the Jerome Park reservoir. When the excavations for 

 the reservoir were begun, there were unearthed cannon-balls, 

 bayonets, swords, buttons and other relics, including several skele- 

 tons. In the summer of 1910, Messrs. Reginald P. Bolton, Edward 

 Hagaman Hall, and W. L. Calver excavated the ground within the 

 old redoubt and found the remains of brick fire places and regi- 

 mental buttons of privates of the 13th Pennsylvania regiment and 

 of the following British infantry regiments : 4th, 10th, 17th, 26th, 

 28th, 44th, 52d, 54th, 57th, 64th and 71st Highlanders, and also 

 an officer's button of the 17th British. 



Number Six, also called by the British the "King's Battery," 

 was situated a short distance west of the present road to High- 

 bridge, on the grounds of the Bailey estate on Fordham Heights, 

 adjoining the Kingsbridge Road, now occupied by the Roman 

 Catholic Orphan Asylum. The remains of the fort were about 380 

 feet northeast of the Bailey mansion. In excavating for the 

 foundations of the Asylum buildings, it was necessary to destroy 

 the old redoubt. Several relics of the British occupation were un- 

 earthed, among them some coins bearing the imprint of George II., 

 the oldest yet found within the Borough. 



Number Seven, no trace of which remains, stood on the Oswald 

 Cammann estate at Cammann Place and Fordham Road. 



Number Eight, which was located on Fordham Heights on the 

 grounds of the present New York University, commanded the Har- 

 lem River, the American outwork on Laurel Hill (Fort George), 

 the Kingsbridge Road from Harlem, and the northern outworks 

 of Fort Washington at Inwood, afterwards called Fort Tryon. It 

 was maintained by the British about three years longer than the 



