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Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s watercolor of the encampment at Verplanck’s Point (August-October 1782) depicts the Continental Army at its professional best. Wooden bowers, or shades made of tree branches, decorated the long line of soldiers’ tents. Washington’s marquee tent stood on a hill where it “towered, predominant” over the camp, as one eyewitness put it.

For a month, the Continental troops at Verplanck’s Point gathered firewood for the coming winter and drilled for the next campaign. On September 22, the Continental Army demonstrated their fighting readiness for French forces marching from Virginia through the Hudson Highlands. One astonished French officer admired the transformation of an army that had “formerly had no other uniform than a cap, on which was written Liberty.” 

Image: Museum of the American Revolution, Gift of the Landenberger Family Foundation

By December of 1782, Washington had moved his army from Verplanck’s Point to a permanent winter encampment up the Hudson at New Windsor. Amid his usual complaints about how little food, money, and correspondence he had, James Davenport recorded how the army went into its winter quarters. As they had every previous winter of the war, the soldiers maintained a defensive front while building huts. James was a member of the light infantry, units of soldiers who were supposed to be especially active, intelligent, and prepared for the sort of common small engagements and dispersed fighting called skirmishing. His unit remained in their tents on guard in case of a British attack while other soldiers began building the small log cabins that would house them over the cold New York winter. These huts usually had plank roofs, bunk beds, and fireplaces, and by December 13, James and perhaps a dozen other soldiers had finished theirs enough that they could begin living in it.

This handwritten list records the names of the 17 enslaved men and women who left Mount Vernon in search of their freedom with the British in 1781. The list includes 16-year-old Deborah. Lund Washington, General George Washington’s cousin and farm manager, frequently updated General Washington about Mount Vernon during the Revolutionary War, including reports of the British raid on the estate in 1781. Lund Washington’s list of enslaved people who left in 1781 records that seven people were captured and returned to Washington after the British surrender at Yorktown. Deborah escaped. 

Courtesy of Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association

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These pages are from a British Army document called the “Inspection Roll of Negroes,” written in 1783. Deborah’s name is recorded on the left side of the first page near the bottom. The second page records that she was formerly enslaved by George Washington. The “Inspection Roll of Negroes” records the roughly 3,000 formerly enslaved men and women whom the British evacuated from New York City at the end of the Revolutionary War. Most of these people, such as Deborah, settled in Canada with assistance from the British. Deborah is recorded below her husband Harry, who was enslaved to a Loyalist named Lynch. Deborah and Harry boarded the ship “Polly” bound for Port Roseway (now Shelburne) in Nova Scotia, Canada.

ational Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC

These pages are from a British Army document called the “Inspection Roll of Negroes,” written in 1783. London’s name is recorded on the left side of the first page near the top. The second page records that London was formerly enslaved by Robert Pleasants in Virginia. The “Inspection Roll of Negroes” records the roughly 3,000 formerly enslaved men and women whom the British evacuated from New York City at the end of the Revolutionary War. Most of these people, such as London, settled in Canada with assistance from the British. London is recorded as a trumpeter in the American Legion, a Loyalist military unit. London boarded the ship “Elizabeth” bound for Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada.

National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC

Han Yerry was born about 1724 to a Mohawk mother and a German father (he was also known by Han Yerry Doxtader, referring to his part-German ancestry), though he considered himself an Oneida and became chief warrior of the nation’s Wolf Clan. He was “ordinary sized” and “quite a gentleman in his demeanor.” At the outbreak of the war, he mustered Oneida warriors to support the Revolutionary cause. After Oriskany, Han Yerry was part of the Oneida party that travelled to Valley Forge, where he had a personal dinner with George Washington. In 1779, he was one of a number of Oneida and Tuscarora warriors who received officers’ commissions from Congress (he was made a captain). He remained a leader after the war and died around 1794.