The Battle of Kingsbridge, and the Stockbridge Indian Massacre, Part Four ©

 

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The road home

Estimates of the Stockbridge battle dead vary widely, some saying 17, others 37, some as many as 48 dead.  In part the confusion is because there was no certain tally of the number of warrior-soldiers in Ninham’s command, some sources say 60, others just 44 men.  This is in line with the average Patriot militia company of the American Revolutionary War, which typically enlisted between 50 to 90 men.  Also, while some members of the Stockbridge Indian Company died on the battlefield, and were easy to count, others died after fleeing the immediate battlefield, dying of their wounds with their remains not discovered in the thick woods until later, or refused quarter and being cut down out of hand, far from the main battlefield.  Some of the wounded survived the battle only to die of their wound’s days or weeks after the battle, none of these were counted among the battle dead.  Generally the higher estimates are probably the most accurate. 

 

“Several of the rebel Light Infantry and nineteen Indians were killed on the field refusing quarter, and many are supposed to have perished in the woods of their wounds.  Ninham’s son was killed...”  A Genuine account of the late affair at Kingsbridge.

 

“Refusing quarter”, this is an old term meaning to refuse to surrender.  From this phrase, one would think that the surrounded Stockbridge warriors and American light infantrymen chose to fight to the death rather than surrender.  However, in the brutal style of warfare favored by commanders like Lt. Col. Banastre, “Bloody Ban”, Tarleton, who commanded British Legion cavalry at Kingsbridge, surrender was not frequently offered, instead the cavalry cut down all those who tried to surrender.  Often “Refusing quarter”, meant simply that surrender was not offered and the cavalry killed all they could ride down, this was also known as “Tarleton’s Quarter”.

 

“Tarleton’s Quarter”, and the British Cavalry’s tendency to not taking prisoners was evident after the Battle of Kingsbridge, when some survivors of the Stockbridge Company ran down a ridge and across a small bridge over Tippet’s Brook, half a mile distant from the main battlefield.  Once on the other side, a few of them hid among the rocks and bushes of the western bank.  According to Bolton, “The cavalry being unable to scale the rocks, called upon the fugitives to surrender, promising them as a condition for so doing life and protection.  Upon this three ventured to throw themselves upon the mercy of the British Soldiers, and were immediately drawn out by the bridge and there cut to pieces”.  Because of this, well into the 19^th century, this bridge was known as the “Indian Bridge”.  Four of the fleeing Stockbridge, those who didn’t try to surrender, were able to hide in the rocks and later escape back to the American lines, beyond the Croton.

 

Daniel Ninham called out to his people to fly “...that he himself was old and would die there...” Lt. Colonel Simcoe’s account.

  

Outnumbered five to one, surrounded and ridden down by cavalry, cavalry that was not inclined to accept surrender from foot soldiers, especially when the foot soldiers were Native Americans; the Stockbridge, according to Lt. Col. Simcoe, “fought most gallantly”.

 

The Stockbridge pulled more than one cavalryman from their horses and Daniel Ninham even wounded Lt. Col, Simcoe, before being cut down by cavalryman Edward Wright, Simcoe’s Huzzar orderly.

 

According to Captain Johann Ewald, “The Indians as well as the Americans defended themselves like brave men against all sides...however, most of the enemy were killed, partly shot dead, partly cut down by the cavalry.  No Indians, especially, received quarter, including their chief called Nimham and his son, save a few”.

 

“...the Indians were killed, or desperately wounded...” Lt. Colonel Simcoe’s account.

 

According to Thomas DeVoe’s account, from The Magazine of American History with Notes and Queries, the wounded from the battle were carried to the houses of Frederick and Daniel Devoe, to have their wounds dressed and to be cared for, including “one poor Indian...having one side of his head or face cleaved down by a sabre cut almost to the chin;  here [at Daniel DeVoe’s house] he was nursed several weeks, when he was able to get away to some of his comrades north, where he finally got well, but with a face frightfully disfigured”.

 

For us Moderns, unaware of the damage sword strikes can cause, to read of an individual surviving a severe sabre cut to the face seems positively unlikely; especially given the time, the lack of antibiotics, and a lack of modern medicine. 

 

However, it is interesting to note that both period and modern doctors note that wounds caused by edged weapons, even on the head and face heal quickly and generally without problems.  As an example, the skull in the sidebar, is from a young French cavalryman, who died during 1812, and whose body, was found in a mass grave in Kaliningrad in 2006.  He’d survived a heavy sword cut to the face, which had sheared off part of his upper jaw below his nose, breaking all his front teeth and cleaving his right lower jaw in two.  Incredibly he survived anywhere from six weeks to three months, before eventually succumbing to starvation, hypothermia, typhus, or some combination of the three, during Napolean’s Retreat from Russia.

 

Many of the Stockbridge died on the battlefield, according to Thomas DeVoes account, “Others were afterwards found maimed; the old Chief Ninham, was so badly wounded that he must have soon after died; yet before his death he was able to crawl down the hill to a running brook, towards Jesse Husted’s house”.  Daniel Ninham’s body was found after the battle, when someone followed the house dogs towards the creek, to discover Ninham’s nearly devoured remains, along with the mutilated bodies of two or three more of the fallen Stockbridge.  They were buried in the ‘Indian Field’ and large stones placed on their graves, initially not as a monument, but to prevent the local dogs from digging up and further desecrating their bodies.

 

A month after the battle, the four remaining Stockbridge in service with the Continental Army, were released from service and returned to their families.  This battle wiped out an entire generation of warriors, severely weakening the Stockbridge tribe; eventually causing them lose control over their homeland unscrupulous land speculators, and were forced west, first to central New York state and the lands of the Oneida, were they formed New Stockbridge, and finally, starting in 1818, when New York State began pressuring all Native Americans to leave the state, all the way to Wisconsin, where they are today.

 

And this ends our sad chapter on The Battle of Kingsbridge, and the Stockbridge Indian Massacre, a defeat for the Patriots, a compte disaster for the Stockbridge.

 

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Sources

 

Bolton, Robert, Rev.; The Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester, Vol II, [Chas. F. Roper, New York, 1888], page 623, https://dn790000.ca.archive.org/0/items/historyofseveral22bolt/historyofseveral22bolt.pdf, accessed August 31, 2026

 

Ewald, Johann, Captain; “A Diary of the American War: A Hession Journal”, edited and translated by Joseph P. Tustin, [Yale University, New Haven, CN, 1979], https://lindsaylegion.com/reference/library/books/1775/Ewalds%20Diary%20of%20the%20American%20War.pdf, accessed August 15, 2026

 

Hauptman, Laurence M.; “The Road to Kingsbridge: Daniel Nimham and the Stockbridge Indian Company in the American Revolution”, American Indian Magazine, Fall 2017 / Vol. 18 No. 3, https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/road-kingsbridge-daniel-nimham-and-stockbridge-indian-company-american-revolution, accessed August 22, 2026

 

National Park Service; “The Stockbridge Militia and the Battle of Van Cortlandt’s Woods”, https://www.nps.gov/mava/learn/historyculture/the-stockbridge-militia-and-the-battle-of-van-cortlandt-s-woods.htm, accessed August 12, 2026

 

New York City Cemetery Project; “Stockbridge Indian Burial Ground”, March 1, 2022, https://nycemetery.wordpress.com/tag/native-american-cemeteries/, accessed August 12, 2026

 

Rees, John U; “ ‘On command with Nimham Indian Capt.’: Jabez Pottage, Indigenous Connecticut Soldier”, https://www.academia.edu/143455426/_On_command_with_Nimham_Indian_Capt_Jabez_Pottage_Indigenous_Connecticut_Soldier_?auto=download, accessed August 31, 2026

 

Rees, John U; “Richard Walling, ‘Patriots Blood The Indian Company of 1778’ ”, https://www.academia.edu/125746909/Richard_Walling_Patriots_Blood_The_Indian_Company_of_1778_, accessed August 31, 2026

 

Rees, John U; “ ‘The bones of those who have been killed in the war’: Biography of Jehoiakim Mtohksin, Stockbridge War Chief”, https://www.academia.edu/125518736/_The_bones_of_those_who_have_been_killed_in_the_war_Biography_of_Jehoiakim_Mtohksin_Stockbridge_War_Chief_, accessed August 31, 2026

 

Rindfleisch, Bryan; “The Stockbridge-Mohican Community, 1775-1783”, February 3, 2016, February 3, 2016, https://allthingsliberty.com/2016/02/the-stockbridge-mohican-community-1775-1783/, accessed August 15, 2026

 

The Magazine of American History with Notes and Queries, Volume V, “The Massacre of the Stockbridge Indians 1778”, [A.S. Barnes and Co., New York and Chicago, 1880], page 185 to 195, https://books.google.com/books?id=EFkbYbpRHDcC&pg=PA195&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed August 22, 2026

 

Vergano, Dan; “A French Soldier Died After A Saber Wound In 1812. Scientists Have Now Rebuilt His Face”, Buzzfeed, January 21, 2019, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/danvergano/war-of-1812-soldier-face-reconstruction, accessed September 4, 2026