They Also Served
The Homefront Patriots
from
The Other Revolutionaries
by
Stefan Bielinski
On September 8, 1778, twenty-three Albany men aged fifty
to fifty five inscribed a memorandum exempting them from military
service on their promise to turn out to repel enemy invasion,
incursions, or insurrections. They elected aging slooper Cornelis
Van Santvoort as their captain and David
Groesbeek and Marte Mynderse
as lieutenants. Over the next months, the names of additional
middle-aged city men were added to the list of Albany's "Associated
Exempts." Earlier that year, the state legislature had created
that category of patriotism for those too old for active soldiering
but who could be entrusted with the role of a home guard. At the
same time, these artisans and shopkeepers could continue supporting
their families and sustaining the war effort in their most productive
capacities.
That enactment extended the commitment to liberty to more than thirty of
the community's households. The establishment of a home guard also helped
ease fears that the city might be left unprotected while its young men were
away - a condition previously unknown in Albany history. While each of the
"Associators" was awarded a land bounty right in
conjunction with the first regiment of the Albany County militia, these
men were not required to march against either British or Tories. In fact,
their wartime experience of not actually fighting but still serving the
American cause represented a typical city scenario. Albany people on the
homefront played key and critical roles in the success of the three
American Revolutions. They were involved in setting up and running new
governments at the local, state, and national levels; supplying and sustaining
the war effort; and in finding new ways to accomplish these tasks in a wartime
environment with their community was located in the center of a major theater
of military operations. Overall, homefront patriots were more representative
of Albany's householders and far outnumbered the community's actual soldiers.
The older men known as "Associated Exempts" accounted for about five percent
of the city's householders and were part of a broadly based community effort
that made outstanding contributions to the revolutionary cause. This chapter
will consider their specific roles in the winning of independence and the
establishment of new political and economic orders.
Throughout its history, Albany had been a place of opportunity
for those who could contribute. As the community economy evolved
over the past century, many new people settled in - more than
offsetting the departure of traditional people who no longer were
able to survive in an economic climate that had become more complex
than simply exporting forest and farm products. By the eve of
independence, a new Albany society had emerged. Those who remained
- the core community group or Albany's new mainliners, survived
based on their specific production and repair skills and on business
and human service talents. Those who left - failing crafts and
business people and most of the younger sons of traditional families,
represented an overflow group that could not be absorbed within
the new city economy. This evolution first manifested itself during
the last colonial war when virtually the only Albany city people
to actually fight against the French were the officer sons of
elite families, a few foreign immigrants, and even fewer younger
sons of marginal families who were not pressed into the wartime
production and service activities. Most of Albany's mainline men
were needed to supply and support the British and provincial armies.
With a dramatic increase in immigration and in-migration and the
first influx of European manufactured goods during the third quarter
of the eighteenth-century, the mature
colonial community of 1775 was best represented by the merchant
who accepted farm and forest products as payment for an always
short supply but much in demand range of imported items; the shopkeeper
- often a one-time craftsman, who could repair and modify metal,
wood, cloth, and leather items - and provide domestic copies of
European imports; and the transporters, food brokers, and other
providers who embodied what had become a significant service economy.
At the center of these economic networks and at the top of the
opportunity pyramid were the officers of the city and county government.
These city fathers were accustomed to mobilizing and utilizing
Albany's diverse community resources. During the 1770s, the community's
assets were brought to bear in the war on the homefront and would
prove vital to the winning of the three revolutions in the years
that followed.
To be continued . . .!
The Other Revolutionaries table
of contents
notes
This excerpt is taken from a draft chapter last
revised in February 1998. It focuses on people who came to Albany
during the Revolutionary war." It is presented here to provide
a broader perspective on its subject. Consider this essay to be
in-progress!
Rosters are printed in CP 4:10, 209,
241. "An Act for Regulating the Militia," passed April 3, 1778,
Laws of the State of New York (Poughkeepsie, 1783), chapter 33.
Skipper Cornelis Van Santvoort (6721) had volunteered to served
in the expedition against Canada in 1746 and had tried in vain
for a regular commission in the revolutionary army. His Kingston
property was damaged by the British in 1777. David Groesbeck;
Marte Myndertse;
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first posted: 10/30/02