Nathaniel Woodhull was an army officer member of New York Colonial Assembly from 1768-1775. He was the president of the New York Provincial Congress.
Background
Woodhull, Nathaniel was born on December 30, 1722, in Mastic, Long Island, New York, United States. He was the son of Nathaniel and Sarah Smith Woodhull. His family had been prominent in New York affairs since the mid-seventeenth century.
Career
Nathaniel Woodhull early entered military service, however, and by 1758 had the rank of major. He served under General Abercromby in the campaign against Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and under General Bradstreet at the reduction of Fort Frontenac (Kingston). In 1760, as colonel of the 3rd Regiment of New York Provincials, he took part in the invasion of Canada directed by General Amherst. His journal of this expedition was published in the Historical Magazine (New York) for September 1861. During the period of peace that followed, Woodhull had time for farming and for participation in the affairs of his local community.
Objections to England's mode of taxing the colonies were voiced formally in the New York Assembly in 1768, and in the election following its dissolution, Suffolk County showed its approval of such objection by choosing Woodhull one of its two representatives in the new Assembly. For six years, 1769-75, he continued there, protesting against what he believed was arbitrary interference by the Crown in colonial affairs. He represented Suffolk also in the convention which chose delegates to the First Continental Congress, and in the New York Provincial Congress which in May 1775 assumed control of the colony and reorganized the militia, putting Suffolk and Queens counties under Woodhull's charge.
In October 1775 he was made brigadier-general. When word came in August 1776 that the British had landed on Long Island and were threatening New York from Brooklyn, he was not in attendance at the Provincial Congress, of which he had been elected president the year before, but was absent on leave at Mastic. He was ordered to Jamaica to command his militia in the removal of stock and other supplies that might be useful to the enemy to the eastern end of the island and in furnishing protection to the inhabitants. With scarcely a hundred militiamen - two regiments ordered to reinforce him failed to arrive--he succeeded in driving a large quantity of stock out of the enemy's reach. The disastrous outcome of the battle of Long Island on August 27, however, cut him off entirely from the rest of the army, and in this desperate situation, he retired to his headquarters at Jamaica to await fresh orders, which he confidently expected. Repeated appeals to the Provincial Congress and to Washington on his behalf met with no practical response. Committees were dispatched to aid him with "advice"; Connecticut was asked to send troops, but none came. There are various versions of his capture near Jamaica by a detachment of British dragoons, but it seems in keeping with his soldierly character to suppose that he did not yield his sword without a fight and that he was wounded in his attempt to escape from his captors. His subsequent ill-treatment which resulted in his death within a few weeks raised him to the rank of hero and martyr.
Achievements
Connections
In 1761, Nathaniel married Ruth Floyd, the sister of William Floyd, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Woodhull.