Huntington War Manuscripts

During the Revolutionary War, the occupying British army forced Huntington residents to take oaths of allegiance to the Crown. If a man refused to take the oath, he and his family could be turned off their property, losing everything. The British established a headquarters in Huntington and used Long Island as a supply depot for the occupying forces in Manhattan. Crops and livestock were taken, horses and oxen were commandeered, and residents were forced to provide food, housing and labor. Residents resisted as best they could. Men who had fled to Connecticut conducted raids across the Sound, aided by patriots who remained on Long Island. British troops were harassed. In 1781, American and French forces attacked Fort Franklin on Lloyd’s Neck, but were repulsed.
During the Civil War, records in the Town Clerk’s archives show the town was required to send 263 volunteers into the field or submit to the draft. In response to the correspondence received by the Town on August 1862, numerous Town meetings were scheduled to secure money to pay bounties to volunteers and provide for their families while in the service. The 127th Infantry Division, known as the National Volunteers or Monitors, was principally recruited on Long Island and in New York City (including Huntington), where it was mustered into the U. S. service for three years, Sept. 8, 1862, and left two days later for Washington. It served during the siege of Suffolk in the spring of 1863 in Hughston's (3d) brigade, Gurney's division, and in June was engaged in minor affairs at Diascund bridge and at Nine-mile Ordinary, VA.