The Yale expositor., 1913-08-07
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this was set aside by the assembly as being Part
of the Denizen of His Majeste's Fort at New
York for the Benefit and Accommodation of His
Majestie's Governors and Commanders in Chlef
for the Timc Being" After this it became known
in familiar parlance Governors Island. but not
all at once in legal documents.
In its early history it furnished examples of
rapine and graft which put TO shame the efforts
of the present day One of the early governors,
Lord Cornbury, cousin of Queen Anne, comes
down to us as being universally detested prin-
cipaly for his questionable dealings in regard TO
this piece Of land which the people at large were
already beginning to cherish for its beauty and
utility.
In ITO the island served, in fact If not in name,
as the first quarantine post of the province and
in that same year shiploads of "Palatines.' re-
ligious refugees, were housed there, the proper
est place for their sickness and poverty said
Queen Anne. who financed them parsimoniously.
One of these immigrants Peter Zenger, the
first citizen to vindicate publicly the freedom OF
the press and personal liberty.
Nutten Island Governors made part Of
the city of New York by the Montgomery char
ter (1730) and an act of March I, 1888, included
it in the county. 1t was in 1855 that 1t first full
filed its manifest destiny a military post
From 1855 to 1873 there were several royal regi
ments of England living there These were the
Royal Americans, His Majesty's SiXty-first Reg-
ment of Foot under Lord Loudoun, and His Ma
jestys Twenty-second and Forty-fourth Regiments
historian referred to in the private library of Col
one Fitz-Clarence, Earl Of Munster who commit
ted suicide GS42) and In the English army rec
ords 1754-1S42. These regiments are in name eX-
listing today and the leader of the band who
played at the garden party of the Army Relief
society is a lineal descendant Of one of the
officers.
In 1866 the first fertilization was built, in 1776
Strong Castle" was erected General Putnam
writing at this time to the president Of congress
speaks Of it as a very important post Wash
ngton wrote OF Its strong works" the New York
Gazette referred TO the thousand Continental men
stationed there; Lord Stirling considered it bet
ter guarded than any other post" The brothers
Howe stayed there until the evacuation of New
York
After the battle of Long Island and the British
victory August q, 1776, the Liberty" boys came
back under cover of the darkness and right under
the noses of the victorious enemy secured NUM-
tons and food
Tradition says that Governor Clinton loaned
the island once for a course G7S45)
In 1894 a ferry was established which took pas
sengers at threepence a head. The one in use
averages 10000 passengers a month.
That year congress appropriated $3,727.52 for
the islands defenses In 1896 the works were
dignifed as forts and about this date Knox re
ports "On Governors Island one FASHIONED square
commanding two low batteries quite finished
Between 1894 and 1906 than $4,000 was
expended on the works
In 1898 the faculty and students of Columbia
college, repeating their patriotic work in Harlem
came down to Governors Island with pickaxes
and shovels to help erect breastworks when one
of the French aroused local fears and
inspired the call for harbor defense. In 1880 II
ceded by the State of New York to the
United States, and in 1921 the Federal military
headquarters were transferred there.