Elijah: Celebrating Northport’s African American Revolutionary War hero

The following is an excerpt from the upcoming lecture “Living on Common Ground: A New Look at Northport and East Northport’s Black History,” written by independent historian (and Northport High School graduate) Ceylan Swenson. Swenson’s lecture highlights the stories of African American patriots, preachers, teachers and families from the 1660s to the 1960s, and their continuing legacies in Northport and East Northport. You can learn more about the lecture at the end of this piece.

The name Scudder has long been synonymous with Northport’s Revolutionary War history. For many years, the title of ‘hero’ has rested solely on Lieutenant Henry Scudder, who is notable for his contributions to the Battle of Fort Slongo. But there is another man who played a heroic role in the Huntington resistance to British occupation and could have claimed the surname Scudder, had he wanted it.

This year – when the 100th anniversary of Black History Month and the 250th anniversary of American independence intersect – is the perfect time to highlight the stories of African Americans who fought for our country’s independence while being denied their freedom.

Elijah was born and enslaved around 1750 on a large property on the northwest side of Waterside Avenue and Route 25A, part of an area then called Red Hook. The property was owned by a branch of the Scudder family, one of Huntington’s founding families and its largest landholders. By the time Elijah was born, three generations of his family had been enslaved on the Red Hook property, first by Timothy Scudder, then by his son John. 

In Elijah’s lifetime, Northport’s downtown was not by the harbor, but in Red Hook along Route 25A. Given the position of the Scudder homestead near the road that connected so many Long Island towns, Elijah would have been in close proximity to messengers and travelers bringing news of the discontent with British rule growing across the colonies.

 In 1770, Elijah was sold to Mary Carll Platt, who owned a tavern/inn on the corner of Route 25A and Park Avenue in Huntington; from that central vantage point, he watched events of the American Revolution unfold around him. 

Residents of the Town of Huntington largely supported American independence from the British in July 1776. Unfortunately, in September of that year, General George Washington lost the Battle of Long Island, leading to the British military occupation of the island, and the establishment of army headquarters in Huntington. Locals were forced to provide food, shelter and other resources to British and Hessian soldiers, but they did their best to resist the occupying forces. For some this meant escaping to Connecticut and assisting in raids on the British on Long Island. For others who stayed, resistance meant disrupting soldiers' daily lives, spying on them or armed confrontation. 

On a night in 1779, British or Hessian troops attacked Platt’s Tavern, possibly in an attempted robbery. The commotion woke Elijah and two other men, and all three began fighting the soldiers. During the encounter, Elijah wounded a soldier with a hatchet, and saved the life of his enslaver’s son, Gilbert Platt. The soldiers were eventually run out of the house or killed. However, Elijah did not make it out of the skirmish unscathed; he miraculously survived a gunshot to the head. While retellings of this story specify that the bullet exited his body, we do not know how he was affected by such a traumatic injury. Elijah’s story is significant not only for his extraordinary survival, but because we have so few records of African American experiences in Huntington during the Revolution.

Little is known of Elijah’s life after his participation in this skirmish, except that he was well enough to play the fiddle at local parties. There is one other significant event that Elijah may have witnessed, if not participated in himself, in the years after the war. In 1790, President George Washington stopped in Huntington while on a tour of Long Island. Upon arriving in town, he was greeted by a throng of people, particularly veterans, and he spoke to people in the crowd. He then dined in Platt’s Tavern with a number of guests. Given that Elijah was still alive and enslaved by the Platts at this time, it is not unreasonable to imagine that he may have participated in the preparation or serving of the meal, and could have had the opportunity to tell the President his story.

Despite his loyalty and service, Elijah was not given his freedom in 1793 when Mary died. Instead, he became the property of the man whose life he had saved, Gilbert Platt. Elijah died in 1810, and was buried in the Platt family plot in the Old Burying Ground on Huntington’s Main Street. He did not live to see New York State fully abolish slavery in 1827, but he did witness the State Assembly pass its first gradual emancipation law allowing children of enslaved mothers born after July 4, 1799 to be freed after age 25 for women, and 28 for men.

While Elijah’s contribution to resistance during the Revolution is recorded, and gained contemporary attention through the efforts of the late local historian Rex Metcalf, Elijah’s heroism has not been commemorated in the public landscape and is therefore mostly unknown to Northporters. A historical marker was erected where the Platt Tavern once stood, but it commemorates George Washington’s dinner. We no longer have the Scudder farmhouse, which was torn down to build a TD Bank in 2008 despite the efforts of local historian Henry Tobin to save the building. So the next time you pass the corner of Waterside Avenue and Fort Salonga Road, think of Elijah, who was born on that site, and thank him for playing a part in the fight that shaped our nation despite being denied his own freedom. 

You can learn more about enslavement in Northport, and about Northport’s African American veterans, at the Northport Public Library on March 7 at 2pm when Ceylan Swenson will give her lecture, “Living on Common Ground: A New Look at Northport and East Northport’s Black History.” Secure your free ticket here.