In the fall of 1776, members of Rye’s Purdy family found themselves on opposite sides of the Revolutionary War.
Jacob Purdy — whose White Plains home later served as George Washington’s headquarters — supported the Patriot cause, along with two of his brothers. Three other brothers, however, joined the British. The family split right down the middle.
White Plains and Rye are separate towns today, but during the Revolutionary Era, the town of Rye covered a much larger stretch of southern Westchester. As local historian Lear Beyer explained, “Rye back then included what we now know as Rye, Port Chester, Harrison, Purchase, and White Plains. The Battle of White Plains took place in the middle of a tightly connected world of farms, churches, and extended families.”
The Purdys were one of Rye’s leading families. Established in the area since the 1600s, they were deeply connected to both the Anglican Church and the British colonial order. Joshua Purdy, Jacob’s cousin, was among the town’s largest landowners and served as co-warden of Grace Church (now Christ’s Church). As the push for independence grew, those connections made choosing sides especially complicated.
The Purdys were not unusual.
“Most families were divided,” Beyer said. “The American Revolution was more than a war between Americans and British soldiers. Here in Rye, it became a civil war, pitting neighbors, church members, and even relatives against one another.”
Beyer estimates most residents descended from a small number of founding families. After researching more than 1,000 individuals, he concluded, “I have not come across a family that was all Patriots. Most were divided.”
The leading clans — the Purdys, Browns, Merritts, Carpenters, Havilands, Parks, and others — had lived side by side for generations and were often connected through marriage. But the war challenged them.
The Purdy household was a perfect example. Jacob Purdy supported the Patriot cause and later opened his home to Washington as military headquarters, while several relatives remained loyal to the Crown. After the war, several Loyalist members of the Purdy family left for Nova Scotia, part of a larger wave of Loyalist migration from the region.
But their opposing viewpoints — along with those of others — were already visible before major fighting reached Westchester. In April 1775, hundreds of residents gathered in White Plains to discuss the growing crisis with Britain. The meeting quickly fell apart when Loyalist leader Isaac Wilkins led about 300 people out of the room to declare their loyalty to King George III. Roughly 200 remained in support of the Patriot cause.
By the time the Battle of White Plains was fought in October 1776, tensions were firmly in place.
“The battle didn’t create the rift,” Beyer said, “it revealed it.”
Just days earlier, the Skirmish of Heathcote Hill in Mamaroneck showed how local the conflict had become.
“What was most noteworthy was that it was American Patriot soldiers fighting American Loyalist soldiers,” Beyer said. “Not a single British soldier participated in the skirmish.”
As armies moved through Westchester County, residents were pulled into the conflict in many ways. Though they did not serve in combat or participate in town meetings, sisters, mothers, and wives also took sides — feeding soldiers, sheltering troops, passing along intelligence, and supporting one cause or the other. Daily life and war became inseparable.
After the war ended, the divisions lingered. Many Loyalists left for Nova Scotia or other parts of the British Empire. Those who stayed often kept quiet about their wartime loyalties.
“It was definitely a stigma to be a Loyalist around here,” Beyer said. “I don’t think people wanted to talk about it.”
Because Patriot families generally remained in place while many Loyalists left or lost property, the social structure of Rye changed after the war. No longer were large clans like the Purdys or the Merritts living near one another; instead, separated by loyalties, they were now also separated by distance, and many of the families never reunited.
