162 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX 



other posts, and it served to protect Colonel De Lancey's canton- 

 ment from the American attacks. It also guarded the pontoon 

 bridge over the Harlem River and served as an alarm post to the 

 garrisons at the northern end of Manhattan. But the Americans 

 did not heed the presence of the fort, and made many raids on 

 De Lancey's corps. When the Hessians arrived in Kingsbridge in 

 November, 1776, work was begun upon the redoubt, and by the 

 fifteenth of the month it was ready for use. The following day an 

 attack upon Fort Washington was begun by Fort Number Eight, 

 which resulted in the fall of the former. The British now strength- 

 ened Number Eight and maintained it thruout the war. Health 

 writes in his Memoirs: "On the 20th of October, 1782, the enemy 

 were demolishing their works at Number Eight, Morrisania." In 

 1857 the late Justus H. Schwab built his residence on the site of 

 the old redoubt. When the old fort was dug up many relics were 

 unearthed and carefully preserved. Among these were cannon- 

 balls, grape-shot, English coins, uniform buttons, bridle ornaments, 

 pike tips, and military paraphernalia. The buttons indicate that 

 the fort was occupied by the following British regiments, or de- 

 tachments of them: 8th, 17th, 33d (Lord Cornwallis), 37th (Eng- 

 lish Muskateers), 38th, 45th, 74th, and 76th (Scotch). The Schwab 

 mansion, as well as the entire Schwab estate was acquired in 1907 

 by the New York University. 



In October, 1776, after the Battle of Pell's Point the American 

 troops were withdrawn from Kingsbridge and the forts fell into 

 the hands of the British. In 1779, the scene of hostilities was 

 shifted to the south, and many of the British troops were with- 

 drawn. By the middle of September of that year all the redoubts, 

 with the exception of Number Eight, which was maintained till 

 the end of the war as a base for operations of De Lancey's corps, 

 were demolished, and the guns and stores removed to Manhattan. 

 None of these redoubts was occupied by either side again, except 

 Fort Independence, which was occupied for a few days by General 

 Lincoln and the Marquis de Chastellux during the grand reconnais- 

 sance of the allied armies in the summer of 1781, but it was not 

 restored or fortified. 



Interwoven with the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx is the 

 story of General Richard Montgomery, who had a farm here, and 

 who upon his death, was lauded both in the Continental Congress 

 and in the British Parliament. 



