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Grateful for a peaceful 4th of July

Posted Tuesday, July 10th 2007, 4:00 AM  I think on Bronx Nabe by someone?

A gray stone on E. Tremont is a historical marker.

Everyone had talked about the inconvenience of the Fourth of July falling on a Wednesday, that the holiday would be ruined without a couple days off around it. But that was the least of it.

Not only did it fall in the middle of the week, but it came in a week of worry after two terrorist attacks in England and Scotland failed to wreak mass destruction and loss of life, but succeeded in frightening and frustrating people.

As we were getting ready to celebrate Independence Day, once again there was debate over how much freedom we'd be willing to give up to be safe.

One New York congressman, Pete King (R-Long Island), called for more domestic spying; law enforcement officials said there would be more checkpoints, and some security experts advocated more cameras watching the public.

You couldn't help but feel a little scared and a little upset with yourself for feeling scared.

And the weather - too dreary for the beach.

So I stopped near Lehman High School to look at Westchester Creek to remind myself of people who faced fear and their courage to overcome it against tremendous odds.

Outside the White Castle on E. Tremont and Westchester Aves. a gray stone marred by graffiti marks the site of "A critical Revolutionary War battle won by keeping British troops from crossing the Westchester Creek Bridge." The ignoble monument doesn't say that 25 American riflemen held off 4,000 Redcoats.

The narrow, murky waterway even now has the feel of a simpler time. It is a mix of industry - the Fred M. Schildwachter & Sons Inc. fuel oil company has been there forever - with commercial vessels passing slowly. And colorful houseboats are moored there.

One denizen, George Chevallier, a history buff, became enthralled by the creek's story and studied the battle, using research from the Bronx historian, Lloyd Ultan. Chevallier dreams of doing a documentary on it.

"It's not as celebrated as other battles because Washington was not there during it," said Chevallier. "But he visited the woodpile the day before."

In the weeks and months after the Declaration of Independence was signed, war raged in New York City. And though the battle at Westchester Creek is not as famous as the Battle of Brooklyn, it is seen by historians as a crucial moment because the small band of riflemen delayed the British so Washington could flee the city with his army over the King's Bridge on the other side of the Bronx and up to White Plains.

Imagine the terror of farmers and mariners in Throgs Neck when fog lifted one morning and ships filled with Redcoats appeared, a line of vessels as far south as Hell Gate on the East River.

Four thousand soldiers landed there because the shoreline was best suited for such a huge contingent with horses and artillery and there was a road that led directly to King's Bridge.

At what is now Westchester Square, the road ran over a causeway that had been the dam for a mill on the bank of Westchester Creek. Planks formed a bridge the British needed to cross to reach King's Bridge.

There was a huge pile of cordwood next to the creek and a day earlier the 25 riflemen from Delaware were posted there with orders to defend the causeway and to take up the planks if the enemy approached. Washington approved the plan. They had no clue the British were coming the next day.

Imagine the terror felt by the 25 riflemen as the thousands of Redcoats marched down a hill toward the causeway. But the planks had been removed, stopping them cold, and the riflemen unleashed a volley of gunfire from behind the piles of cordwood on the other side of the creek.

The surprise attack confused the front line and the troops retreated to the top of the hill.

As soon as word spread of the British invasion in the Bronx, more than 1,500 American reinforcements were sent. The British also had more troops that were brought up from Hell Gate.

The distance from the Westchester Creek to King's Bridge was only 3 or 4 miles and the Americans' holding off the 4,000 British for a few hours proved pivotal, according to historians.

"The possession of the road to King's Bridge would not necessarily have meant the destruction of the American army at once, but the probability of its escape was remote, and success for the British would have ended the war," according to a historian quoted on the Historic Pelham Web site.

In the months ahead, if we are still grappling with fear, it might help to think of those 25 men along a creek in the Bronx who helped make possible all our Fourth of July holidays.