Trail in NJ and NY Lead to Great Views, Great Food, and Great History!

New Jersey and New York Trail

The Trail Changes

The rocks of Pennsylvania slowly dissipated in New York and New Jersey.  In their place came a repeated course of ascent 200-300ft/60-90M to a plateau, often very rocky and fairly short, followed by a quick decent and a walk across a forest floor to another ascent.  These ascents to the plateaus were usually without view; however, there were several where the view was stunning or incredibly significant.  

High Point Monument – Placed to honor WW1 veterans from NJ

Yes, we climbed to the top of the monument!

This trail also crossed multiple ruined homesteads, evidenced by dozens of rock walls outlining property lines.  

Rock walls noting property lines

We also crossed old canals, roadways, a major revolutionary war battlefield, a war memorial tower, and even walked through a zoo and a series of “trail side museums”.   On top of that, the trail has its own MTA stop on a line that goes into NYC.  The NY/NJ trail had much to show us.  

Next stop – NYC

The Trail Challenges

The ascents were not overly long, usually no more than 200-300ft/60-90M, but were challenging with many 10-20ft/6-9M vertical climbs or rock scrambles. The plateaus are often rock ridges, which reflect the sun during the midday’s heat and are very slick with any precipitation.  

Ma Wampus does her Spiderman imitation

Rebar ladder was a nice touch

Temperatures soared during this section with a 107F/41C reading one day on Ma Wampus’ thermometer.  For the most part, the temps stayed in the low 90sF/32C, but with the many ascents we worked up a major sweat each and every day.  I would often wring out my shorts at the end of the day and hang them to dry out overnight, which was rarely successful. 

Deli Blazing

A major bonus in hiking this section is a common practice: Deli Blazing.  Hikers call the white hash marks, painted on the trees and rocks we follow, blazes.  Through this section, one can hit a deli pretty much everyday, sometimes more than one, as they are often located very near the trail.  This placement allows the hikers to carry less food, so they have lighter packs.  The main benefit, of course, is that the delis are really good.  New Yorkers are funny about their delis. Bread is super fresh, and top tier meats and fresh veggies are standard.  If not, the place will soon be out of business. 

The Lumberjack – Omelet, Ham, Sausage, Bacon, Hash Browns Sandwich….

Great History

There was so much history here, it was hard to narrow it down to a couple of stories.  For this week’s section we’ll visit a battle and a riot.  The battlefield was right on the trail.  The riot was in New York City, which is a short train ride from the trail.  NYC is a storyteller’s dream.  You can pick one block, anywhere, and find an incredible story.  This particular NYC story had a personal touch that I wanted to share.  

A Little Independence

Ruins of Fort Montgomery

Fort Montgomery 1777.  Hugh Morrison is assigned to his father, a surgeon’s mate in the fort’s hospital.  This practice was commonplace in the American militia at the time, with family members often serving side by side.  Hugh did not have any medical experience, so he did a lot of orderly type duties.  

The Battle Lines

Militia – Farmers turned soldiers

The Americans held Ft. Montgomery and Ft. Clinton, overlooking the Hudson River.  They really did not have enough troops to fully man either fort, which are a few hundred yards from each other.  Further, all troops were militia, about 700 in number, recruited generally for short periods of time who would return to their day job afterwards.  The Americans placed a large chain across the river with links the size of a man’s torso with the thickness of a man’s wrist, guarded by a few gunships.   

Chain link in the old chain

On the British side, the force is led by General Clinton, as part of a larger strategy to encircle the Americans and seal them off from their allies.  The British forces consist of a few warships and 2100 troops, many of them being professional soldiers in his majesty’s service.  These men are highly trained and generally regarded by the world’s militaries as some of the, if not the, world’s best soldiers.

Hugh Hears

In the following days, Hugh heard stories of the approaching British troops. He would hear of the British request for the surrender of the forts and the American cheeky retort that we would be happy to accept the British surrender.  

On the night of October 7, Hugh would have first heard British ships opening fire on the American gunboats.  A short time later, one can hear gunfire from the Montgomery redoubts (reinforced areas within the fort) and the Clinton fort, which quickly increased in intensity.  Sometime during this, a bullet strikes an opening in the field hospital and hits Hugh in the head.  Fortunately, the wound is not serious and Hugh’s father manages to patch him up quickly.  

Hugh Sees

A cheer goes up from one of the redoubts followed by screaming.  Hugh’s father figures this out without looking and orders Hugh to escape to the river.  Hugh bolts out the door.  Hugh could see British regular soldiers expertly using their bayonets to carve their way through the hapless American forces, who are mostly in full rout.  Men tried to surrender while others continued fighting, a recipe for disaster and a sure way for mercy denied.  It certainly was here.  

Hugh joined the run down to the river, a steep 120ft/36M drop to the cold water below.  British General Clinton had foreseen this issue and had ordered regulars to close the loop. The American gunships saw the danger on the hill and began targeting the British troops to aid in the escape of the American militia.  So, as Hugh makes his way through the smoke, the men screaming for aid, and the roar of cannon, the very ground on which he runs shakes, seemingly with the fear that he and his fellows are experiencing.  

Hugh jumps into the freezing waters of the mighty Hudson.  He is not a strong swimmer, and his head aches miserably, so makes his way to the chain for support.  Hugh swims the breadth of the river using the chain while the British ships, just a few yards from him, continue their bombardment.  Hugh successfully escapes and survives the war.  At the time of this battle, Hugh is 8 years old.  

NYC Is A Riot!  

NYC 13 July 1863.  New York announces a military draft.  Poor New Yorkers, mainly Irish, will be heavily affected.  While wealthier New Yorkers can afford to pay $300, a fortune in 1863, for a substitute, this is well outside what most can afford.  Further, the war goal has recently been altered from unification to include freeing the slaves.  Black Americans are not subject to the draft, as they were not citizens; further, these Black Americans are in direct competition for wages with poor immigrants from Ireland.  The Irish feel the draft sends them to die on a Virginia battlefield to free a people who are their competition in the labor pool.  

The Irish first began attacking police officers and government buildings.  NYC officials responded with a mix of solutions, none of which were successful.  The riot grew citywide and turned very ugly.  Black Americans were indiscriminately killed, a Black orphanage was burned to the ground, and property destruction became commonplace.  This riot is one of the most destructive and lethal in US history.  The NYC officials contacted Washington for assistance.  Lincoln sent in seasoned troops who had just won the battle of Gettysburg.  

The riot had several heroes.  One of them was one Captain Henry Putnam of the 12th Regiment US Army sent to NYC after Gettysburg, where his regiment had suffered 50% casualties.   Putnam is called up from his garrison post and given an assignment to rescue some other soldiers besieged by rioters and recover the body of another soldier killed by the mob.

Soldier Given an Assignment

On his way to the site, the mob, hundreds strong, intercept Putnam and his company.  The mob started with their normal tactics:  throwing bricks and taking some pot shots,  with a backdrop of burning buildings and men hanging from lamp posts.  Responses from other police and local militia units had varied from trying to appease rioters to pulling truncheons, but the end was generally the same – the unit retreated to the jeering of the crowd.  The rioters watched to see what this new government group would say or do, and it would be something many of the rioters had never seen before.  Putnam ordered his men into rank file and then gave the order to “Fire”.  

The rioters melted away in the face of this naked violence.  They retreated to a series of fortified houses along the street and began sniping.  Putnam ordered his men forward with bayonets fixed.  Few rioters survived in the first house, and those in the remaining houses began to flee.  Putnam advised the women non-combatants in those houses to inform their menfolk that future sniping would be answered with artillery.  He later proved he was not bluffing on this issue.  

Putnam rescued the soldiers and finally arrived at the place where the soldier had been killed.  He sent for a local livery man to get a cart.  The man refused to help because of the mob.  Putnam promised to protect the man; furthermore, Putnam let the man know that if he failed to provide the assistance immediately, he would have him shot.  The man got the cart.  

The march back was uneventful.  Reports state that the mere sight of these troops could dissolve mob action.  

Civilian Response

While police institutions and government buildings are the primary targets of the mob, so is anything associated with the Republicans.  One such institution is the New York Times, which is very pro Lincoln, the war, and abolition.  

Knowing this to be a basic fact, Leonard Jerome, one of the main financiers of the New York Times, uses his contacts within the government to obtain weapons with which to defend his building and his staff.  Leonard then manned one of the weapons, a gatling gun, and basically dared the mob to do their worst and he would do likewise.  The mob demurred.

Leonard sunk much of his fortune into the paper and had a lot to lose here.  He was raising three girls, one of which was Jennie Jerome.  Jennie would later in life marry Lord Randolph Churchill.  Together they would have two sons: John and Winston.  Yes, that Winston Churchill.  

Winston Churchill’s grandfather wielded a gatling gun during to New York City riots, arguably defending the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech.  It seems the apple does not fall far from the tree.