Andrew Wnukowski of Hillside checks his redcoat costume in the glint of a car window. |
About 5,000 British troops came ashore at Closter Dock in Alpine on Nov. 20, 1776, setting the stage for the redcoats to capture Fort Lee from the upstart American revolutionaries later in the day. On Saturday, four "soldiers" with red coats, muskets and goatskin backpacks -- along with a dozen or so intrepid "civilians" -- re-created the climb up the Palisades toward the site named after Gen. Charles Lee, who would be court-martialed two years later for disobeying Gen. George Washington's orders during the Battle of Monmouth.
The 7-mile walking tour from Alpine to Fort Lee Historic Park was part of a Revolutionary weekend commemorating Washington's famous retreat in the face of a British onslaught. At the park, more than 100 men, women and children dressed as loyalists, patriots, Hessians or civilians of the era spent the afternoon entertaining crowds at "The Times That Try Men's Souls." The event, which featured a full day of Revolutionary War reenactments, displays and Colonial-era cooking, concludes today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free, but it costs $5 to park.
Visitors were treated to cannon volleys, military-precision "pay calls" for the soldiers and a demonstration of muskets that included firing and the fixing of 18-inch triangular-shaped steel bayonets. Several children stood wide-eyed listening to a "military leader" explain the gruesome results of each method in combat -- what he described as "the technology of death." But only early risers reached the Kearney House at the Alpine Boat Basin by 8 a.m. for the 3½-hour hike with historical interpreter Eric Nelson, who manages the 18th-century structure. After a leisurely 1½-mile stroll along the Hudson River, the group reached the now-abandoned Closter Dock. The exuberant Nelson, who grew up in Tenafly, encouraged the hikers to imagine themselves as part of British Gen. Charles Cornwallis' 22nd Regiment on that fateful day 231 years ago.
"It's rained on and off all night, and 5,000 of you have been rowed across the river in flatboats, and somehow [the Americans] don't see us this morning," said Nelson, a contributor to the new book "The Revolutionary War in Bergen County." "The journal entries by the few of them who could read or write are fascinating," Nelson said. "They wrote things like, 'A few rebels with muskets could have held us all day.' But the Americans didn't have any guards -- even a few of whom might have prevented the invasion." And so, Nelson recounted, the British marched unchallenged up the Palisades and then across what is now the Palisades Parkway before heading south to Fort Lee. Washington's 2,000 men, Nelson said, received just enough notice to allow them to abandon the fort and fight another day.
Nelson's hikers, meanwhile, managed a moderately difficult climb up the Palisades along the same path once used by the British. They then began walking parallel to the nearby parkway for much of the remainder of the hike. The four redcoat reenactors walked among the hikers for the first 4 miles, offering details on their gear, which included a total of 60 pounds worth of clothing -- mostly wool -- plus food for three to five days and a 10-pound musket. Nelson said he is fond of the combination hikes-history lessons.
"There's nothing better than getting people out there for what we call a 'living history' experience," Nelson said. "I have a feeling there are people living on Closter Dock Road who don't realize that the road used to go all the way to the river." Nelson's enthusiasm has won him repeat customers such as Kyu Woo, a retired South Korean chemistry professor who said he often visits family members in Palisades Park. "I enjoy his tours, because he seems to know everything about the area," Woo said. Friends Gail Thomsen and Laurie Meschke of Bergenfield and Virginia Bohr of Englewood said the early wake-up call was worth it. "You can feel his energy and his interest in explaining what once happened here," Bohr said.