Hearts of Oak (New York militia)

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The Hearts of Oak (originally, "The Corsicans") were a volunteer militia in the British colony of New York, formed c. 1775 in New York City. Among its members were students at King's College (now Columbia University) such as Nicholas Fish, Robert Troup, and perhaps most famously, Alexander Hamilton. The company would drill in the graveyard of nearby St. Paul's Chapel before classes in uniforms they designed themselves, consisting of short green tight-fitting jackets, a round leather hat with a cockade and the phrase "Liberty or Death" on the band, and a badge of red tin hearts on their jackets with the words "God and Our Right". In August of 1775 the Hearts of Oak participated in a successful raid, while under fire from the HMS Asia, to seize cannon from the Battery, thereby becoming an artillery unit thereafter. In 1776 Hamilton was given a commission as a Captain by the revolutionary government of the colony with instructions to raise the New York Provincial Company of Artillery (today the Regular Army's 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery) and the mission to protect Manhattan Island. The Hearts of Oak formed its core.

New York in the American Revolutionary War

Pre-war: Sons of Liberty 1775: Invasion of Canada – Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 1776: New York and New Jersey campaign – Battle of Long Island – New York Prison Ships Begin – Landing at Kip's Bay – Battle of Harlem Heights – Great Fire of New York – Execution of Nathan Hale – Battle of Valcour Island – Battle of Pell's Point – Battle of White Plains – Battle of Fort Washington 1777: Meigs Raid – Saratoga campaign – Battle of Ticonderoga – Battle of Hubbardton – Battle of Fort Ann – Battle of Oriskany – Battle of Saratoga – Battle of Freeman's Farm – Battle of Bemis Heights 1778: Setauket Spy Ring Launched – Battle of Cobleskill – West Point established – Cherry Valley massacre 1779: Battle of Stony Point – Sullivan Expedition – Battle of Newtown 1780: First Purple Heart – André Capture Reveals Traitor Benedict Arnold 1781: HMS Culloden Runs Aground at Montauk – Washington Calls Off Invasion of New York to Support Yorktown 1782: Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh – Newburgh letter – 1783: Newburgh conspiracy – British Evacuate New York – Washington's Farewell to His Officers