LW-04 The Battle of Fort Slongo Multi-cache
LW-04 The Battle of Fort Slongo
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(regular)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Located in Makamah Park Preserve, Fort Salonga, New York
Parking: N 40' 54.993 W 073' 18.686
This cache is a 3 part multi. It is located in the Makamah Park Preserve, a public park located on Makamah Road in Fort Salonga. These are fantastic and beautiful woods with much history. The hunt will take you through open walking trials, up and down some great north shore hills, by a salt marsh, and maybe down the rough of the 11th hole at Crab Meadow Golf Course (safely on the other side of the fence of course). The parking coords given are for the trail head also. If you can’t get a spot there, try parking here at: N 40’ 54.543 W 073’ 18.860 on Rt. 25A. and walking down Makamah Road until you get to this trail entrance: N 40’ 54.796 W 073’ 18.753. Watch the No Parking signs carefully. (There are also more adventurous ways in if you care to find them 
)
The cache hunt is named after the famous “Battle of Fort Slongo”, which began in this area during the Revolutionary War. Sergeant Elijah Churchill received the first ever Badge of Military Merit, (now known as the Purple Heart) the nation's original military decoration in the Revolutionary War, for two daring raids in 1781 one of which was at Fort Slongo on Long Island, New York. It was bestowed upon him by General George Washington.
On October 2nd 1781 Sergeant Churchill took part in a raid, crossing the Long Island Sound from Compo Point in Westport, Connecticut with a force of 100 men from his 2nd Continental Dragoons and from the 5th Connecticut Infantry Regiment. History says they landed here at Crab Meadow, Makamah Park. Their objective was the British outpost at Fort Slongo, near present day Fresh Ponds. Fort Slongo was an embankment forming a hollow 50-foot square, constructed of trees set perpendicularly and filled with earth. It was a notorious rendezvous for Tories and Loyalists, with a usual compliment of 80 - 140 men who frequently raided neighboring farms, seizing stores of produce and cattle. The successful attack resulted in the destruction of a quantity of artillery, small arms and ammunition. During the attack, which was planned by General George Washington, 100 colonists burned the fort, chasing the British into the woods and preventing them from heading south to rescue General Charles Cornwallis, who was trapped at Yorktown, Virginia. Around 1880, the community’s name was changed from Fresh Ponds to Fort Slongo, which became Salonga, when a post office opened. Sergeant Churchill was the only one wounded in the raid which captured 21 prisoners.
The first part of this multi is a round 11 oz. rubbermaid container. It is small in size, so keep watch. It contains the coordinates to part 2. The 2nd part is the same type of container, and it contains the coordinates to part 3. The 3rd part is the main cache, and it is a larger size rubbermaid with a blue lid. The first 2 parts are not too far from the trails. Keep this in mind, and look carefully. The last part could be a decent walk through open woods, but not any major bushwhacking. The distance from the trails depends on how you choose to come. The final caches original contents include Star badges, dinosaur toys, jacks, aliens, crayons, medals, log book and pencil/pen, and many other goodies. There is also a FTF 1st place "Battle of Fort Slongo" ribbon for the fastest cacher. Also, we have released our 4th in a series of travel bugs in this cache. As usual, have fun, enjoy, and watch out for the ghosts of the “Redcoats”…
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Cneg 1:Irel arne n cvyr bs haangheny ebpxf uvqqra va gur onfr bs n snyyra gerr. Jngpu bhg sbe gubeaf.
Cneg 2: Abegu bs gur genvy uvqqra qrrc va gur ubyybj onfr bs n fgnaqvat gerr.
Cneg 3:Ba gur gbc rqtr bs n ovt uvyy va n ebggrq, snyyra gerr.