Our series of articles on the stories behind AMC’s Turn continues with the real Major Hewlett and more!

Richard Hewlett, played by Burn Gorham, is the picture of British military rectitude.

Hes a stickler for military and social rank.

He complains of the disorder and anarchy in America.

Hes essentially decent but a short-sighted snob, easily gulled by the crafty Yankees.

But the historical Richard Hewlett (1729-1789) wasnt an Englishman.

He fought in the French and Indian War as a captain from New York.

Some of his relatives became Patriots when the Revolutionary War began, but Hewlett stayed loyal to the Crown.

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AMCs Turn: The Real Story of Capt.

ButTurnapparently needed a symbol of British military tradition, with an aristocratic accent and an impeccable wig.

Whats the historical basis for those actions, if any?

The church represents the Setauket Presbyterian Church, where the minister starting in 1752 was the Rev.

Benjamin Tallmadge, father of the Continental officer with the same name.

The war disrupted normal churchgoing, and in 1777 Lt. Col. Hewlett took over that building.

Hewlett housed men inside the church and fortified the area around it.

On 22 August 1777 the Continental Army raided Setauket.

Lt. Caleb Brewster, another major character inTurn, was part of that raid.

Bringing along a six-pounder cannon, the Americans fired at the Loyalists fortified positions.

Hewletts men fired back with four swivel guns, which were small cannon mounted on poles.

No one was killed.

One American was wounded.

Despite its small scale, this event has become known as the Battle of Setauket.

One of the Continental raiders, Zechariah Greene, became the minister of the church in 1797.

He wrote the following in its records:

The tombstone of Rev.

They destroyed the pulpit and the whole inside work of the church.

Colonel Richard Hewlett commanded this body of men.

Greene went on to describe the Continental raid in August 1777.

So its interesting to note what Greene didnotsay about Lt. Col. Hewlett and the church.

Greene didnt say that Hewlett had converted the church into a stable.