Van Vlack and Van Vleck Ancestors in the Revolutionary War

REVOLUTIONARY WAR - As in most wars and conflicts "the heartbreak of a country's revolution or civil war, ...brother against brother or sister or parents or in-laws taking sides. The Van Vlacks were not excepted in the War against the British. Eastern New York was a hot- bed of Tory Loyalists' activity, and Fishkill (Dutchess County) was on the front lines of the Revolution after the British army occupied New York City and controlled the Hudson as far north as West Point.

Fear possessed many families as to the consequences of opposing the King, and they wanted negotiations leading to reconciliation. The mood is reflected in a 'Pledge of Association to the American Cause" taken in Griffin's Tavern, Fishkill, in the summer of 1775. 502 male residents signed; 260 refused to sign.

There were Dutch Van Vlacks who married into English families, some of whom wanted to remain loyal to the King. Such families had to choose, in those days, one way or the other. Many Loyalist relatives were driven from their homes and fled to Canada. As an example, Mary Van Vlack married Obadiah Cooper, a Loyalist who was forced to sell his musket in 1775, to the "Committee of Observation in Fishkill" before fleeing to Canada. It's all history now, but Abraham Van Vlack and his relatives, as well as other family groups, surely must have been touched by this disparaging situation.

Fishkill, Dutchess County, situated just 20 miles north of the front lines at West Point made history in the Revolution. John Jay, President of the first Continental Congress, hastily moved his family in 1776 from Westchester, NY to this haven, as did the New York Provincial Congress. Fishkill was the terminus on the Hudson of a main east-west road (now Rt. 52) that joined the north with the south around British occupied New York City. General Washington called it 'Revolutionary Road', so heavy was the traffic that passed over it. He often stopped at the homes of patriots Col. Dirck Brinckerhoff, Col. Griffin and Capt. Storm along the way. Newburgh, just across the Hudson, was the encampment site of Gen. Washington and the Continental Army after Yorktown surrender, October 1781, to keep watch on the British in New York City until the September 1783 peace treaty.

Dutchess County had seven regiments of infantry militia in the war. Col. Dirck Brinckerhoff commanded the Fishkill Infantry Regiment and Col. Griffin the Upper Hopewell Infantry Regiment."¹

THE LINE: regiments which "...were in the United States service under General Washington. There were also regiments of artillery and an organization of 'Green Mountain Boys' in the line."²

THE LEVIES: "...drafts from the different militia regiments, and from the people direct as well, and which could be called upon to serve outside the State during their entire term."²

THE MILITIA (LAND BOUNTY RIGHTS): "...could only be called out of the State for three months at a time. - ...The military force of a nation"²

"General Knox, first Secretary of War, in his report to Congress of the number of troops furnished by each colony, gave New York credit for but 17,781 men, and this report, copied into our histories, very naturally has ever been accepted as correct. We now find positive proof of the service of 41,633 men [from New York]. (Corrected number is 43,645) as evidenced in the second edition of Robert's "New York in the Revolution."²

¹Abraham Van Vlack's Revolutionary War Pension Papers, Booklet III, Compiled by Walter W. Van Vlack, 1984
²New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, James A. Roberts, 2nd Edition, 1898