The Manhattan Times

Over 400 turn out for celebration of the Battle of Ft. Washington

by Daniel P. Bader

The commemoration of the 233rd anniversary of the Battle of Ft. Washington was undoubtedly more gentile than the original event in 1776. Over 400 people turned out for an afternoon of old-style games, reenactments and musket fire on the café lawn of Ft. Tryon Park on Sun., Nov. 15.

It was in what is now Ft. Tryon Park and Northern Manhattan where General George Washington and roughly 2,000 American troops were routed by General Lord Howe and his 8,000 strong British and Hessian force at the outset of the Revolutionary War.

At Sunday’s anniversary, actress Erin McGuirk played Margaret Corbin, the heroine of the battle, who in 1776 manned her husband’s cannon after he was injured. McGuirk gave tours of the park, including the 1906 plaque on Margaret Corbin Drive that commemorates Corbin’s heroism in the battle.

Seventh generation blacksmith Bill Fitzgerald demonstrated how the colonists made tools and weapons and historian Barnet Scecter, author of “The Battle for New York”, explained how losing the Battle of Fort Washington helped the Americans win the war. He was joined by historian James Renner who displayed historical photos and maps.

Northern Parks Administrator Jennifer Hoppa said guests were drawn to the event by the stylings of bagpiper Jerry Dixon and by the musket fire from Col. Pawling’s Levies of the Brigade of the American Revolution, which set up a Continental Army campsite on the lawn outside the New Leaf Restaurant and Bar.

Children, outfitted with tri-corned paper hats, played with stilts and wooden rifles and competed in period games like rolling a wooden hoop with a stick.

The event was sponsored by the city’s Department of Parks and the Friends of the Fort Tryon Park Trust.

Children got a taste of what it was like to be American Revolutionaries during a commemoration of the 233rd anniversary of the Battle of Ft. Washington on Sunday.

Musket fire ended the day’s activities.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Michael J. Grillo, watches out for a sneak attack on his father, also named Michael Grillo, who portrays General George Washington.