There is something almost quaint about the conventions of civility among gentlemen of the officer class in 18th century warfare. There was nothing civil about the abduction of non combatants, the looting of private property, or the treatment of enlisted prisoners by both sides during the American Revolution.
During Sullivan's Raid on Staten Island on August 22, 1777, American soldiers, often with the encouragement and direct participation of their officers, indulged in plundering civilian as well as military property on a large scale.
It would be strange if they confined themselves to non-human property and did not carry off some of the slaves owned by Staten Islanders and loyalist refugees, although I have found no conclusive evidence that they did so. It would also be strange if they did not indulge in rape, and there is circumstantial evidence, at least, for one high profile instance of sexual violence by American soldiers during the raid.
Lieutenant Colonel Edward Vaughn Dongan, a native Staten Islander and commander of the 3rd Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers in Skinner's loyalist brigade, fought against a force of New Jersey Continentals and militia under Col. Matthias Ogden of the 1st NJ. Dongan's wife Francis (Lagrange) and their toddler Walter Townley Dongan were also on the Island. One early 20th century source says that Mrs Dongan and her son were at headquarters that morning, and if this refers to her husband's command then she was in the path of Ogden's men. If she was at home, it may have been either of Sullivan's Brigades. and if as this account states she had to flee over three miles before reaching a boat that conveyed her to New York, it is more likely that she met up with Sullivan's men than those in Ogden's sector.
In any case, she and her son were directly in harm's way. The Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society Vol 9 (1916) provide the following account with a brief, evocative quotation from an unnamed British source;
"She fled with her baby and only child, Walter Townley, age 18 months, 'through marshes and ditches and mire frequently up to her knees,' [emphasis mine, Ed.] under a heavy American fire, for over three miles, until she reached a boat by which she was conveyed to New York. The baby died by the results of these hardships, on the same day as his father [ August 23rd, 1777] and was buried in the same grave."
.Frances Dongan made a widow's claim for support at the close of the war:
Memorial of Frances Dongan 3 Widow Determin d y
Frances Dongan-the Claimant-sworn. 6 * of Decr J 7 8 4- 8 "- f D "
Is a Native of America. Was Born at Brunswick. 4 Her Husband resided at Her Husband Rahaway. She was married in 1773. When the rebellion began he followed the a Loyalist & kill d profession of an Attorney which he had followed five or six Y rs . The Rebels knew he was a Loyalist & therefore treated him very ill. They took him out of his Bed. Believes he refused to take the Oaths or sign any Association paper &c. He join'd the King s Army when Sir W m Howe came into the Jerseys. Col 1 Dongan s Commission not produced. He was then made Lieut* of the 3 d Batt n of New Jersey Volunteers. He died in 1777 & was killed in Action 5 the Claimant s father will produce the Will. He made the Will the 23 d of Aug* the Day on which he died. She had only one Child who died the same Day that M r Dongan died. She receives Bounty 40 a Y r . a n Allowance of 40 a Y r which she has rec d from the 5 th of Jan? 1784.
This summary does not appear to be the full record of her testimony - presumably she related how she fled under fire through those marshes and ditches - but at least two modern websites claim that she was pursued and sexually assaulted as well.
The Online Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies, generally considered an excellent resource for documentation of loyalists both military and civilian during the Revolutionary War, has this to say about what happened to Frances Dongan;
"These encounters rarely targeted the dependents, but there were the exceptions. One tragic incident occurred during Sullivan's attack on Staten Island on 22 August 1777.
The garrison, composed to a great degree of New Jersey Volunteers, was engaged all over the island. The third battalion of this corps of six was retreating towards some old rebel works, led by their twenty eight year old commander, Lt. Col. Edward Vaughan DONGAN.
His wife and children, not thinking themselves in danger, did not flee with the corps. When Sullivan's attack broke down into a plundering expedition, some Continentals made Mrs. DONGAN an object of their desire, chasing her through woods and swamps, her three year old child at her side.
At the same time she was being abused, her husband was shot and mortally wounded in a counterattack elsewhere on the island. He would die three days later."
Possibly the source for this assertion was the September 1st edition of the loyalist New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, but I have not been able to locate the full article to confirm that it contains more than a mention of Col. Dongan's burial with his child.
The other source, published on a United Empire Loyalist website, is much more detailed but offers no further documentation for the claim of rape, and efforts to contact the writer have not been answered in time for this post;
"When husband's battalion was retreating from Sullivan's rebel soldiers, Frances and her son remained behind. The advancing patriot army, however, was intent on more than just a military victory. Plunder and rape were also on their minds. Frances Dongan took her three year-old son by the hand and fled into the nearby woods. The rebels chased her through the trees and swamps. She did not escape. Rebels raped Frances before the eyes of her young son.
Having taken their pleasure, the rebels abandoned Frances and her son in the woods. She eventually made her way back to the New Jersey Volunteers' base only to discover that her husband was dying. Edward had been shot, Frances had been raped, but their young son had been wounded as well. He had witnessed a horrible attack on his mother and was then exposed to the elements as they had tried to hide in the swamp. It was all too much for the toddler. He died three days after the assaults on his parents. Within hours of hearing of his son's death, Edward Dongan breathed his last.
As Frances saw to the burial of her loved ones at New York City's Trinity Church, a newspaper recorded that Edward Dongan "a young Gentleman of uncommon Merit, both as a Man and a Soldier, is since dead of his Wounds. His Loss is greatly regretted, and his Memory will ever be dear to all those who had the Pleasure of his Acquaintance."
Rape has always been a fact of war, and the American Revolution was no exception. Lord Rawdon, while with the British forces on Staten Island the previous year, wrote a notorious and oft-quoted letter to his uncle back in Britain;
"The fair nymphs of this isle are in wonderful tribulation, as the fresh meat our men have got here has made them as riotous as satyrs. A girl cannot step into the bushes to pluck a rose without running the most imminent risk of being ravished, and they are so little accustomed to these vigorous methods that they don't bear them with the proper resignation, and of consequence we have most entertaining courts-martial ever day."
Rawdon went on in this vein to relate what he evidently considered to be humorous anecdotes involving two cases of gang rape by British soldiers.
By the standards of the late 18th century, coercive, forcible intercourse was not sufficient for a charge of rape to result in conviction. Women were expected to resist but were believed by men to be weakened by their appetites, and if they failed to fend of unwanted advances it was often considered consent. Charges were very difficult to prove and there were very few convictions for rape. In all of the 18th century, the Massachusetts Superior Court heard just 12 charges of rape (although there were more for lesser charges of assault, lewdness, or adultery). North Carolina did not convict a single white male of rape during this period. Nonetheless, unwanted sexual intercourse was surely not as rare an occurance as these statistics might make it appear.
In Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, Sharon Block's broad 2006 study of rape in British North America between 1700-1820 and its economic, racial and sexual hierarchies, Block describes how rape by British soldiers became a powerful propaganda tool for the American cause;
"Rape resonated as a means to disgrace and dismiss the British imperial system by transforming attacks on individual bodies into attacks on the body politic. As American soldiers fought for their own rights as independant men, rape stories rallied supporters around the moral and political condemnation of the British Empire."
Washington himself gave orders on the eve of his surprise attack on Princeton on plundering and the treatment of women and children, and sought to make the distinction between Americans fighting for liberty and the predations of the invader;
"His Excellency General Washington strictly forbids all the officers and soldiers of the Continental army, of the militia and all recruiting parties, plundering any person whatsoever, whether Tories or others. The effects of such persons will be applied to public uses in a regular manner, and it is expected that humanity and tenderness to women and children will distinguish brave Americans, contending for liberty, from infamous mercenary ravagers, whether British or Hessians."
Nonetheless, rapes were perpetrated by American soldiers, particularly in the contested areas of "The Neutral Ground, between the lines in the vicinity of New York and where former neighbors fought each other in what was effectively a civil war. On Staten Island, plundering was widespread during Sullivan's expedition, and it certainly was not limited to legitimate military spoils. There is no reason to discount out of hand the possibility that some of these soldiers would resort to rape as well.
Until further evidence comes to light, it is difficult to say with certainly what happened to Francis Dongan and her child on that terrible day. It is quite possible that she endured rape that day along with the subsequent deaths of her husband and child. It may be that the loyalist press made use of the propaganda opportunity presented by her situation to rally support to crush the rebellion.
Whatever befell Francis Dongan, she and her father left North America in 1783 and sought compensation for their material losses as loyalists to the Crown. There could be no redress for any losses in body and soul.