This large glacial granite rock is named for Colonel John Glover (1732-1797), who on Oct. 18, 1776, led a brigade of 843 Americans against British General William Howe (1720-1814) and 4,000 British soldiers in the Battle on Pell's Point. Born on Nov. 5, 1732, in Salem, Massachusetts, Glover moved to Marblehead for a career in the fishing industry, whose markets reached France, Spain, and the West Indies. In 1759, he joined the Third Military Foot Company in Marblehead as an ensign, and the following year he joined local Whigs opposed to Britain's transgressions against the colonies. After the Boston Massacre of 1770, Glover and fellow Whigs gained control of the Tory town government and joined anti-British committees that sought to limit and subvert British rule, including by prohibiting trade with England. In May 1775, he became colonel of the Marblehead Militia, which became the 14th Massachusetts Continental Regiment, and raised about 500 fishermen and sailors, including men who were Spanish, Native American, Jewish, and African American. In June 1775, he led his troops from Marblehead to the American camp at Cambridge, helping obstruct the British army in Boston. On Sept. 13, 1776, he safeguarded the evacuation of New York City through Harlem, across the King's Bridge, and into the Bronx and White Plains as General Howe and a British fleet threatened General Washington's position. After spying the fleet off Pell's Point, at present-day Rodman's Neck, Glover on Oct. 18, 1776, commanded a brigade of four regiments along Split Rock Road behind stone walls marking property lines, then led 40 men in a direct attack on the British. After an exchange of fire in which two Americans were killed, he retreated north along the path with the British in pursuit, and British forces soon struck the other three Continental regiments and retreated to Pell's Point. Only 12 Americans were killed, while between 800 and 1,000 British soldiers were killed or wounded, enabling General Washington to position and hold his forces in White Plains before moving south. Glover's Marbleheaders, drawing on their experience as sailors, were also essential in Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on Dec. 25, 1776, for the Battle of Trenton. Promoted to brigadier general on February 23, 1777, Glover returned to Massachusetts after the war, was elected to the state legislature in 1788 and 1789, and died at Marblehead on Jan. 30, 1797.
