British Redoubt at the Old Burying Ground

After the British occupation of Long Island in September 1776, enemy forces constructed a series of earthen fortifications along the coast of Long Island Sound. The most significant of these British forts or “redoubts” was located at the top of the Old Burying Ground in Sag Harbor. The village was strategically important to enemy occupation because of its natural deep-water harbor and its newly constructed Long Wharf, which facilitated the transportation of food and other supplies to New York City where the majority of British forces were stationed.

The Museum engaged professionals in Ground Penetrating Radar, LIDAR technology, photogrammetry and other non-invasive techniques to study and record evidence of the British redoubt that occupied the Old Burying Ground during the Revolutionary War. The redoubt was the scene of the Battle of Sag Harbor, a “whaleboat raid” led by Lt. Col. Return Jonathan Meigs, whose “special forces” rowed from Connecticut in the night of May 23, 1777, took the fort in the early hours of May 24, burned enemy’s ships and supplies, and returned to the mainland with 90 prisoners.