On 250th anniversary of American Revolutionary War, Long Island's first peoples hope planners include their history

Did you know that for much of the American Revolutionary War the British were encamped at Sagtikos Manor, which now stands as a museum along West Montauk Highway in West Bay Shore?

Or that the first peoples of Long Island consisted of five nations — the Montaukett Indian Nation, Setalcott Nation, Matinecock Nation, Shinnecock Nation and Unkechaug Nation — and that Native Americans fought on both sides, with patriots and loyalists, during the Revolutionary War?

And, what about the Culper Spy Ring and its role on Long Island in helping Gen. George Washington and the patriots defeat the British?

On Wednesday, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and a host of historians gathered at Sagtikos Manor to announce the Long Island Semiquincentennial Commission to commemorate the role of Long Island in the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, which began with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The bicounty commission will plan "an observance and commemoration" of the declaration and the eight-year war that ended with the evacuation of the British in 1783.

The festivities will be part of the national celebration of the 250th anniversary.

Revolutionary War's 250th anniversary

Some Island historians want the Nassau and Suffolk commemorations to dig deeper and go beyond a superficial look at the battles between patriots and loyalists.

"I'm hoping this will be more than just the TV version of what happened," Sandi Brewster-Walker, a historian, author and the executive director and governmental affairs officer of the Montaukett Indian Nation, said Wednesday. "But, that this is a good time to discuss the arrival of European settlers and take the opportunity to teach about not only what led to the American Revolution, but the impact of that … that we lost all of our land to the foreign settlers, who gained their freedom from England — but continued to hold us as enslaved or indentured servants, that none of this is taught in Long Island school districts, that students don't learn about the history of Long Island, let alone the history of the marginalized people of Long Island — Native Americans and people of color. Of women. … we need to dig deeper than just patriots fighting the British."

To that end, the president of the Sagtikos Manor Historical Society, Carl Tesoro, said the semiquincentennial celebration provides an opportunity for school districts across Long Island to focus on the deeper history of Long Island's role in the revolution.

"Absolutely," Tesoro said. "You would think we would teach more local history, and more Long Island-centered history, and that this is an opportunity to do so."

Tesoro said few Long Islanders know that British troops under the command of Gen. Sir Henry Clinton set up headquarters at Sagtikos Manor, that it was a focal point of the war — or that George Washington later stayed there as part of his tour of Long Island in 1790.

Teaching 'the real history of Long Island'

"We inevitably have people come to the manor and tell us they've passed by a thousand times and never stopped in to take the tour," Tesoro said. "That they're amazed and what they've learned … How many people understand that on Long Island probably a third of the people were loyalists, another third patriots and another third who just wished the whole thing would just go away? This seems like we have an opportunity to teach all that, to learn more about it."

And what was the role of women during the occupation of Long Island? The role of the infamous Culper Spy Ring, a network of spies organized by Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge that fed Washington and his staff invaluable information on the British during the revolution?

On the eve of the Battle of Long Island, then-Gen. Washington wrote in an address to the Continental Army: "The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property then can call their own; whether their houses and farms are to be pillaged and destroyed, and themselves consigned to a state of wretchedness from which no human efforts will deliver them."

"But," Brewster-Walker said, "the discussion needs to be much bigger than that. And I'm hopeful this commission will keep us at the table to figure out how to do so and not to just use us for a photo op, because too often that happens to people who have been marginalized — and now we have two-plus years to figure out how to really start teaching the real history of Long Island and not just of repeating what was done during the bicentennial celebration in 1976."

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”