The Battle of Setauket (August 22, 1777) was a failed attack during the American Revolutionary War on a fortified Loyalist outpost in Setauket, Long Island, New York, by a force of Continental Army troops from Connecticut under the command of Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons.
In an attempt to repeat the success of the earlier Meigs Raid against Sag Harbor, Parsons' force crossed Long Island Sound to attack the Loyalist position. Alerted by spies to the planned assault, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hewlett strongly fortified the local Presbyterian church, surrounding it with a stockade and earthworks. After Hewlett rejected Parsons' demand to surrender, a brief firefight ensued that did no significant damage. Parsons withdrew and returned to Connecticut.
In 1776 the British had qualified success in the American Revolutionary War. After being forced to abandon Boston, they captured New York City, but were unable to hold New Jersey when General George Washington surprised them at Trenton and Princeton. The British consolidated their hold on New York City and Long Island during the winter months of early 1777, while the Continental Army established a land blockade around the city in New Jersey, southern New York, and southwestern Connecticut.
In the spring of 1777 Lieutenant General William Howe launched raiding expeditions against Continental Army and local militia storage depots near the city. A successful raid against Peekskill, New York in March prompted him to organize a more ambitious expedition to raid a depot in Danbury, Connecticut. This expedition, led by William Tryon, the former royal governor of New York, successfully reached Danbury from a landing point in Westport, Connecticut, on April 26, and destroyed provisions and supplies. The Connecticut militia had mobilized, and over the next two days skirmished with the British as they marched back to their ships, most notably on April 27 at Ridgefield. General Samuel Holden Parsons, leading Connecticut's defenses, decided to organize an act of reprisal.
The raid executed with great success by Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs against Sag Harbor on eastern Long Island prompted Parsons to consider further such actions against other Loyalist positions on the island. On August 16, Parsons, whose brigade was stationed at Peekskill, New York, received orders from Major General Israel Putnam authorizing an expedition against Loyalist targets on Long Island. Parsons immediately ordered Colonel Samuel Blachley Webb to muster his regiment, numbering about 500 men, and march to Fairfield, Connecticut. Parsons followed, reaching Fairfield on August 21.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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