We have a belated #harbordefensehappybirthday to celebrate!
Today, we honor Continental (U.S.) Army Major General William Alexander, Lord Stirling who was born (most likely) on (Wed) December 4th, 1726 in New York City.
By all accounts, he was quite intelligent and well educated. He was the son of Scottish immigrants who fled Scotland after the Jacobite Rebellion. There was ancestral royal blood in the family, and he sought and held a highly controversial title of Lord Stirling. He lived a life befitting the title - and racked up the bill to go with it. Living in New Jersey and deeply in debt by the time the Revolutionary War broke out, the conflict provided a timely interruption to offload his monetary problems.
He became a Colonel in the New Jersey Militia, using his personal funds to outfit the 1st NJ Regiment; he was promoted to Brigadier General in March, 1776.
At the Battle of Long Island in August, the Patriots were quickly outflanked by the Redcoats. Seeing the disaster unfold, Stirling organized troops from Maryland into a well-executed, collapsing rear-guard action that allowed the majority of the American Army to escape. Scattering his men at the very end, he himself remained to be captured. The action was so successful, even the British acknowledged his gallantry.
Released in a prisoner exchange, Stirling was decisively engaged at Trenton that December. He was defeated at Short Hills, NJ in June of 1777, but won at Brandywine and Germantown, both in Pennsylvania. That winter, by accident, he was able to expose, and stop, a planned coup by General Horatio Gates to take command from George Washington. He’s forever part of New Jersey’s legacy for his part in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse on June 28th, 1778. The fight was savage and he took heavy casualties, but his troops held their ground.
By 1781, Stirling was assigned to command the forces in the northern frontier as the Continentals moved south to Yorktown. With the war all but over, Stirling, in poor health, died on active duty on January 15th, 1783, age 56. He was buried in famed Trinity Church in New York City.
However, his legacy of service would not be allowed to end there. With War Department General Order No. 194 on December 27th, 1904, he became the namesake to “Battery Alexander,” a two-gun 12-inch caliber disappearing battery at Fort Hancock, NJ. Construction began in 1898, and it was accelerated for the outbreak of the Spanish American War. Completion and transfer to the Coast Artillery was in July, 1899.
Battery Alexander is unique, as it is the two northern emplacements of what is called “9-Gun Battery” at Ft. Hancock. A total of six 12-inch guns and three 10-inch guns were emplaced there between 1896 and 1902. Battery Alexander’s guns face due north, and cover the west into Sandy Hook and Raritan Bay, as well as the approaches to the harbor from the southeast. The Battery enjoyed an exceptionally long service life of 43 years. The guns were finally salvaged for a scrap drive in early 1943. During the Cold War, the vacant emplacement was used as ammunition storage for 90-mm Anti-Aircraft guns until the Nike missiles came online in 1954.
Today, the Battery is in poor shape, with trees and vegetation growing through the concrete. The National Park Service has classified Battery Alexander as a “ruin,” meaning it will never, ever be restored or even preserved.
Although the emplacement may be vanishing, the incredible legacy of General William Alexander, Lord Stirling, the Battery that carries his name, and the service of the US Army Coast Artillerymen that manned it across four decades is in the safest of hands, here.
🇺🇲🇺🇲 ** Please Like & Follow "Sandy Hook History" on Facebook & Instagram for more amazing maritime and military histories of the Garden State and New York Harbor as well as a review of the 80th Anniversary of the Battle Of The Atlantic and World War 2** 🇺🇲🇺🇲
#visitmonmouth #newjerseybuzz #thejournalnj #locallivingnj #journeythroughjersey #centraljerseyexists #discovernj #yesnj #newjerseyhistory #newjerseyforyou #sandyhookbeach #sandyhooknj #sandyhookhistory #forthancockhistory #forthancock #williamalexander #williamalexanderlordstirling #revolutionarywar #majorgeneral #continentalarmy #battleofmonmouth #monmouthcountyhistory #newjerseyhistory #namesake #whatsinaname #12inch #americanrevolution #scottishlord #americanrevolutionarywar
