ANOTHER GREAT ARTICLE FROM THE CROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY ARCHIVES BY ELISE SASSO: A HERO AMONGST US, JOHN PETERSON, MILITIAMAN

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ANOTHER GREAT ARTICLE FROM THE CROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY ARCHIVES BY ELISE SASSO: A HERO AMONGST US, JOHN PETERSON, MILITIAMAN  

On September 21, 1780 John Peterson a 34-year-old resident of Peekskill of African-American descent and 19-year-old Moses Sherwood were working at the cider mill on Croton Point. (His friends knew John Peterson as Rifle Jack, due to his skill as a marksman, Peterson had been serving his country since the beginning of the Revolution and fought in many local engagements, probably attached to the Van Cortlandt Militia.) They watched with some alarm as the British sloop, the HMS Vulture set out a boat of soldiers who began rowing toward the point. Peterson and Sherwood opened fire on the small boat as soon as it was in range. It quickly returned to the Vulture while the sloop peppered the shore with grape shot.  

That act indicated to the militiamen that the ship was within artillery range. So they rounded up some fellow soldiers and a team of horses and made a dash to Verplanck Point to report to Col. James Livingston at Fort Lafayette what they had seen and done. Livingston agreed to send a cannon back to Croton Point. Some time that night, Major Andre slipped off the boat and made it to shore and arrived at Joshua Smith’s house. By morning of September 22, the cannon had been set up on Tellers Point and at first light they opened fire on the Vulture.  

With wind and tide against her, the hapless sloop was forced to endure a two-hour pounding from the American gun, which severely damaged her rigging. By the time the tide had changed and the sloop was able to drop down river out of range of the cannon, she was too badly damaged to return to pick up Andre. Thus, stranding Major Andre, which led to the uncovering of the Benedict Arnold Conspiracy in 1780. John Peterson and Moses Sherwood lived the rest of their lives in obscurity and poverty. Even though they started the chain of events, which led to Andre’s capture, and the unraveling of Arnold’s plot, their deeds have been little noted except in local history. Andre’s captors, who caught him in Tarrytown, while trying to flee on horseback, received honors and pensions but Peterson fought for decades to get a meager pension. He finally received his in 1840 at age 90. Also, there is a monument at Croton Point. The cannon called The Patriot’s Cannon is permanently mounted in front of the Herrick House in Peekskill, NY.  

E. A. Sasso