A period letter dispatch from Lt. Col. Benjamin Tupper to Gen. George Washington, dated June 21, 1776, reporting an artillery bombardment against the Sandy Hook lighthouse

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Tupper to Washington, June 21, 1776

1776-06-21

The dispatch that gave the war on the Hook its most-quoted sentence. Lt. Col. Benjamin Tupper reports to General Washington that his two field-pieces have fired on the Sandy Hook tower "the greater part of two hours" at four hundred yards' range with nine- and six-pound shot — and that the tower's walls are "so firm I could make no Impression." Washington kept the letter. The Continental Congress considered a follow-up demolition and declined it as too expensive.

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Item record

Title: Tupper to Washington, June 21, 1776
Date: 1776-06-21
Source: Placeholder — stand-in for the Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
Contributor: Placeholder — stand-in for the Washington Papers, Library of Congress
Rights: Placeholder — replace before publishing
Slug: light-and-war-tupper-dispatch

Verification: placeholder item — metadata and image will be replaced with archival material before publication.

Cite this item

Tupper to Washington, June 21, 1776 (1776-06-21). Placeholder — stand-in for the Washington Papers, Library of Congress. The Highlands History Project, https://history.abovethehook.com/archive/light-and-war-tupper-dispatch/.