Philip Van Cortlandt

A portrait of Philip Van Cortlandt done after his retirement from congress.

Quick Facts

Significance:

Philip Van Cortlandt was a commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution serving in multiple major campaigns throughout.

Place of Birth:

Manhattan, New York County (Manhattan), British Colony of New York

Date of Birth:

August 21, 1749

Place of Death:

Cortlandt Manor, Westchester County, New York, USA

Date of Death:

November 5, 1831

Place of Burial:

Peekskill, New York, USA

Cemetery Name:

Van Cortlandtville Cemetery

Philip Van Cortlandt came from one of the long-established wealthy Dutch families which held a large patroonship, or estate, in the lower Hudson Valley (today Van Cortlandt Manor is an historic site near Croton-on-Hudson, NY). He began his military career as a major of the provincial militia raised on his father’s estate, but the family was very pro-Rebel and with the outbreak of war with England, he accepted a commission as Lieutenant Colonel of the 4th New York Regiment in 1775. While a camp fever would largely keep Van Cortlandt out of action until the end of 1776, things were about to change.

Near the end of 1776, he received a commission as Colonel of the 2nd New York Regiment. As both commander of his regiment and with independent commands, Van Cortlandt would participate in the Battles of Saratoga in 1777, the Valley Forge encampment in 1777-1778, the Clinton-Sullivan Expedition in 1779, the brutal winter encampment at Morristown in 1779-1780 and the siege of Yorktown in 1781. He would have the privilege of watching two British armies surrender to the Americans at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. He was made a Brevet (temporary) Brigadier General in 1783. Van Cortlandt was also no stranger to the Mohawk Valley.

In August of 1777, the 2nd New York Regiment was sent to Albany to reinforce Gen. Benedict Arnold’s relief column heading to raise the siege of Ft. Schulyer (Stanwix). Leaving Albany, the regiment had not advanced far when they received word from Arnold that the siege was ended.

Perhaps due to the less isolated nature of his regiment’s participation in the second Battle of Saratoga (AKA the Battle of Bemis Heights), Col. Van Cortlandt is much less detailed in his account of the fight. As part of General Enoch Poor’s Brigade, the 2nd New York attacked the center and left of the advance British lines, which included the battalion of British Grenadiers. Due to the ferocity of the American attack and the sheer weight of numbers, Poor’s Brigade overwhelmed the British lines and left the commander of the Grenadiers, Major Acland, wounded through both legs and destined to become a prisoner. The British force fled pell-mell back to their fortifications in the main British camp. This leads to Van Cortlandt’s most interesting comment concerning the fight. He claims the Americans were intermixed with the British during their retreat and would have entered the fortifications (referred to as “their Battery”) the same time as the British if not for the actions of General Benedict Arnold. It is clear throughout his “Memoirs” that Van Cortlandt was no admirer of Arnold and his comments below put “The Hero of Saratoga” in a slightly different light. The disastrous outcome of the battle for the British led to their retreat and eventual surrender on October 17, 1777:

“The Enemy did not attempt any further movement until the 7th day of October when they advanced and was met by our army and a very severe Ingagement took place (.) I being yet with Poor’s Brigade and advancing the Enemy retiring towards their Battery as the Hessians were towards theirs. General Arnold now in the field and in sight of their nine gun Battery sent his Aid to the right ordering Gen. Poor to bring his men into better order as we were pursuing this order arrested our progress and prevented our taken the British Battery in less than ten minutes as we should have Intered it almost as the British, as Morgan did that of the Hessians which Arnold discovered after Sending the above order to Gen. Poor…he now rode as fast as he could to counteract his own orders as he could hurrying on the left and entered the Hessian Battery where he was wounded-finding it too late after the British had gained their battery and rallied after their panick and could again fire their Cannon at us, which they could not do when they were running before us (.) The next morning our Brigade was order’d out at daybreak and found the Enemy was gone from the battery and had retired towards their left…The following night they retreated to Saratoga where they surrendered a few days afterwards…”

Van Cortlandt also had a brush with death brought about by Joseph Brant. In the spring of 1779, the 2nd New York was pursuing Brant’s raiders on the frontiers of the Hudson River Valley. Noting an officer stopped near a pine tree, Brant ordered one of his men armed with a rifle to shoot the officer. Van Cortlandt later reported that the rifle ball lodged in the tree two inches from his head. It wouldn’t be until the 1790’s that the two men met and learned each other’s identity. During an interlude in the action, Van Cortland served as a member of the court-martial board that was judging Benedict Arnold in December 1779. Arnold was being court-martialed for alleged misconduct while he commanded at Philadelphia. A majority of the board voted against the court-martial. Van Cortland, however, voted for it and recommended that Arnold be dismissed from the army.

In 1781, the 4th New York Regiment at Fort Schuyler (Stanwix) was incorporated into the 2nd New York Regiment. Van Cortlandt took command of the fort to allow the former commander of the post to take leave. Van Cortlandt would leave before the devastating flooding and fire in the spring, but returned to supervise the removal of cannon, hardware, and anything else still useable from the fort’s ruins. In June, Van Cortlandt oversaw the preparations for building a new fort near Fort Herkimer to replace Fort Stanwix. This project was eventually abandoned.

After the war, Van Cortlandt entered politics. He served as a representative of Westchester County during the state convention for ratification of the federal constitution in 1788. In a break with his father, who was Lieutenant Governor of the state, Van Cortlandt voted for ratification. He then served in the New York Assembly from 1788 to 1790, in the New York Senate from 1791 to 1793 and in the United States Congress from 1793 to 1809. In 1824, at the age of 80, he met with the Marquis de Lafayette on the latter’s return to the United States, traveling with him on part of Lafayette’s journey through New York. Van Cortlandt died a bachelor on November 5, 1831, at the age of 82 and is buried in the Van Cortlandtville Cemetery near Peekskill, NY.