Mollie Sneden - A Tory During The Revolutionary War

A Tory During The Revolutionary War

With the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, communities were split by political factions. Except for Mollie and Robert's son John, nicknamed "The Patriot," the Snedens were branded as Tories, or British sympathizers. All but John were forbidden to operate the ferry during the war. It has been suggested by the historian Howard Durie that they were, in fact, all Tories. According to this suggestion, the Snedens avoided having their land confiscated by having one family member espouse patriotism. Such an action would also have allowed the ferry to remain operational and in Sneden control.

A story credits Mollie Sneden with saving a British soldier during this period:

The story goes that a British soldier was pursued down the gully by some patriots; she hid him in her house in a large chest on which she set pans of cream to rise, and when the patriots arrived she misinformed them; they were tired and asked for refreshment, and she offered them all the milk she had, but told them not to disturb the pans of cream which she had just set out. In the evening she is said to have ferried the soldier across the river.

Through proximity and possible communication with Dobbs Ferry, Mollie Sneden would have been aware of the tremendous activity of 6,000 men across the river, when General Cornwallis prepared to embark on a night crossing of the Hudson in late November of 1776. The British and Hessians, commanded by Cornwallis, were ferried in row galleys and landing craft from Dobbs Ferry, New York to Closter, New Jersey, closing in on George Washington and the badly outnumbered Continental Army. After this experience, heady for British sympathizers, she would have known in 1781 through gossip and John's ferry connection that General George Washington had established headquarters in Dobbs Ferry. Here he was to plan with Marshal Rochambeau the Yorktown campaign which would bring the Revolutionary War to an end. After the British surrendered, at the nadir of Tory experience, she would have witnessed the first naval 17 gun salute to General Washington fired from the British Warship, H.M.S. Perseverance, which was anchored offshore in the Hudson River.