The American Revolution at sea: Shelter Island letter surfaces recounting battles

It was a letter, like so many in the 18th century, of Islanders writing back home to a relative, expressing interest in family members, including, “Since I left ye Island, It gives me the utmost Happiness to hear you are all comfortable more particular to hear Dear Fanny is so well,” and “I now send you a jug of molasses &  small ditto of gin, Rum I am in hopes will be cheaper soon.”

The survival of the letter, dated Jan. 4, 1783, is one of its most remarkable features, according to Gary Gosen, proprietor of Manhattan’s Gosen Rare Books & Old Paper. Mr. Gosen has brought the letter to light and is offering it for sale. (For more information, contact Mr. Gosen at [email protected].)

“Normally, a letter like this would be immediately thrown into the fire after being read,” Mr. Gosen said last week, and not because of references to Dear Fanny. It’s because of passages later mentioning precise information on battles at sea during the Revolutionary War, information presenting an immediate danger to writer and recipient alike.

Mr. Gosen said that if agents of the Crown had gotten their hands on this letter, sent by Nicoll Fosdick from New London, Conn. to his brother Thomas Updike Fosdick, both men would have had a quick date with a British hangman.

The brothers were officers in the nascent American Navy, and privateers, defined as commanders of privately owned and armed vessels commissioned by a state, targeting vessels of commerce commanded by the enemy. As Mr. Gosen emailed the Reporter, “In his letter to Captain Thomas Updike Fosdick, Captain Nicoll Fosdick recounts the latest maritime news at the start of 1783, mentioning, ‘[W]e have been very Successful here Lately in our Arrivals Viz. Capt Hinsnan in the Marquis, Capt. Perkins in the Hancock. Both from the West Indies.’

In a postscript, Captain Nicoll Fosdick tells his brother, ‘P.S. Capt. Wattles Brought an Acc[oun]t of the Ship Cato that Nath[anie]l Richards went in being Drove on Shore at the Fly in Holland by a Dutch Ship Drifting fowl of her as She Lay at Anchor the Day She Arrived & Lost her whole Cargo, but no lives Lost. Uncle Mumford was a Large Freighter in Said Ship but had part of his Interest Insured.’”

This passage shows the extent of the American Navy’s reach during the revolutionary War, with accounts of action off the Netherlands.

In an account by Mr. Gosen, he notes that Captain Thomas Updike Fosdick, 1754–1811, served in the militia company of Captain Nathan Hale (yes, that Nathan Hale) of Coventry, and participated in that unit’s exploits prior to Hale’s execution in late 1776.

“In August 1776, a week before the Battle of Fort Washington, Thomas Fosdick drew a commendation from General George Washington for attempting to drive a fire-ship deep into the British forces assembling for the Battle of Fort Washington,” Mr. Gosen wrote. “Thomas Updike Fosdick was taken prisoner in that battle and later paroled. As the war moved south, Fosdick returned to garrison duty guarding New London and was part of the 1781 fighting there that ended with the burning of the town.”

Mr. Gosen has done significant research and unearthed evidence that Captain Nicoll Fosdick was, indeed, a privateer. He’s found a sworn affidavit in the National Archives dated 1833 that, Mr. Gosen says in a note to the Reporter, “One Peter Vaill filed an application for his Revolutionary War Pension and Land Benefits. In his application he stated: ‘In the month of October 1780 I enlisted at New London as a marine for a cruise in the Privateer Randolph commanded by Captain Nicoll Fosdick …’ Vaill’s application gives an account of the engagements and prizes taken from the British during his voyage to the West Indies, establishing Captain Nicoll Fosdick as a successful privateer commander.”

It’s said that bravery is marching toward the sound of gunfire for a good cause; that’s exactly what Thomas Fosdick did after hearing reports of the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, traveling from the Island to Massachusetts to enlist.

He rose to the rank of major and was the adjutant to Brigadier General John Glover, fighting in many of the battles of the War Of Independence.

In a Reporter story from July 2019, Karen Kiaer, historian of the Shelter Island Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and Joyce Bowditch-Bausman, the DAR’s honorary regent, spoke of how, during the Revolution when neighbors could be friend or foe, Shelter Island had surprisingly uniform support for independence from the British.

According to Ms. Kiaer, the Island paid a dear price for their rebellion. In a 2010 issue of the DAR’s magazine, “American Portals,” there’s an account of Islanders’ commitment to the Revolution.

After George Washington’s defeat in August 1776 at the Battle of Long Island, more than 1,000 revolutionary soldiers were captured. Those prisoners of war were kept in hastily built prisons, as well as on board prison ships anchored off the East End, and, according to historical accounts, kept in deplorable conditions, with overcrowding, hunger, and disease rampant.

Some of those 1,000 patriots were from Shelter Island, and some are buried here.