Date & Time
Following General George Washington’s defeat at the Battle of Long Island, the East End found itself cut off from other, so-called “Patriot” sympathizers who supported the war with Britain. Confronted with the arrival of British and Hessian military forces, Southampton’s inhabitants were encouraged to flee across the Long Island Sound to Connecticut. Many did, but many did not have the resources to abandon their homes and livelihoods, and stayed in Southampton, where many patriots were forced to sign an Oath of Allegiance to the crown. Joseph Vermaelen, President of the Long Island Chapter of the National Society Sons of the American Revolution, will examine a current controversy surrounding the NSDAR’s Policy of disqualifying Long Island’s Patriots from their membership based on the Oath of Allegiance many of their ancestors were forced to sign.