People of the Revolution: General Abraham Ten Broeck

On both the field of battle and the home front, no New Yorker did more to secure our nation’s independence than General Abraham Ten Broeck of Albany and Guilderland.

As commanding general of the Albany County Militia, which then ran from Dutchess County to the Canadian border, Ten Broeck was responsible for protecting the vital northern and western boundaries from British and Native American invasion throughout the eight years of the war.

In the critical summers of 1776 and 1777, he helped organize and deploy thousands of soldiers to meet the overwhelming British forces intent on capturing Albany and severing the Colonies in two. At Saratoga, Ten Broeck personally led 3,000 Albany men onto the field of battle, following Benedict Arnold’s courageous charge and breaking the British and Hessian lines.

On the home front, Ten Broeck acted as the de facto Patroon of the vast Rensselaerwyck Manor, serving in place of his infant nephew Stephen Van Rensselaer. As acting Patroon, he organized the delivery of vast amounts of supplies and provisions from the Manor to help feed the thousands of soldiers gathering at Saratoga. He later helped provision General Washington’s Army at Valley Forge and in the Hudson Valley.

In peacetime, Ten Broeck was one of Albany’s most active and successful merchants and served several terms as the city’s mayor. His landholdings included a country seat on the Normanskill, where he developed a series of grist, saw, and clothing mills in the French’s Hollow neighborhood.

Ten Broeck was instrumental in recruiting other Albany merchants to establish country seats and burgeoning manufacturing operations near his Guilderland properties. He also helped efforts that led to the establishment of the Town of Guilderland in 1803.