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H I S T () H Y

Wkstchesteu County

^K^V YOKK

From Its Earliest Settlement to iiik Year 1900

FREDERIC SHONNARD

WW. SPOONEH

<s^

ARMS OF .JONAS niiONCK

THE NEW YOKK HISTORY COMPANY

11; FIFTH AVENUE

NEW YORK

1900

8U;3;U

Two tufiEs Receivfo

NOV 26 1900

tojiyngM Hrtf)
No.CL'.A.'..fc.»

SECOND COPY

Oellirmd to

ORDER DIVISION
NOV 27 1900

CopyriRlit

The New York History Cniiipany

T.Hin

THE WINTHUOP PltESS
NEW YORK

EDITOR'S PHEFA(^E

HE pre] )arii lory work for this History was l)('j>uu liy llic
editor several years ai;ti aloiii;- tlie lines of i-eseaicii and
of tlie collection and systematizing; of nialerials. Tlie
identification of .Mr. Sjiooner with the enterprise dates
from a later period, hnt in its relative imjiortance is not to be esti-
mati'd by its dnration. To him the credit of the antlioi'ship of the
History is uudividedly dne. The editor's personal shai-e in the joint
iindertakinji' — apart from the selection of the ])lan of the work and
the procnrement and arrangement of materials — has been mostly
that of sn])ervision; or, more ]iro](erly expressed, of such co-oiieration
with ^Ir. Spooner as personal knowledge of the snbject and zealous
interest in the project have enabled him to render in the ])arlicnlars
specially of recommendation, contribution, and criticism. This His-
tory is therefore not a work of collaboration, e.vcept in the s(^nse
here ]irecisely indicated. As a literary work it is the exclusive pi'o-
ihictidii (if .Ml-. Sjiooner; and whatever satisfaction the editor may
icasonably — without an excess of comjilacency — take io himself in
view of his own association in the entei'pi-ise, rests in a peculiar
mannei- u])on his appreciation i>{ the conscieutious deNotinn and ai--
cnm]dished ability with which .Mr. Sjiooner has biouyht it lo its jirac-
lical issue.

Althouiih the ])revioiis histories of W'eslidiester Counlw liolton's
and Scharfs, ai-e works (d' i;reat \dlume and information, they are
\\orks of riderence strictly, and as sue h b(doiii; rather to I lie dejtart-
nieiit i>\' histoiical miscellany than to that of bo(dcs adapted foi- i)o]»-
ular i'ea<lin.n. Holton's History is a collection of local chronicles en-
tirely; S( harfs is on the same plan, with a number of ucneral artii les
added. Both represent historical labors of ureat foiniality ami
seriousness, \\iiich ai-e entitled to res])ect and whose aii^re^ate results
l)ossess endui-inj; value for in(iuirinii jiersons. Hut mi'i-e collections
of historical facts — even if com])r(diendin.i; all the (demental facts (d'
a jiiven snbject — do not afford a satisfyinii view of history itscdf.
That can be doiu' oidy by the adiMpiate treatment of facts — by Hie
orderly, disci'eet, and able coiijoiniuii- id' them in a com]irchensive
narration. The t w cut v-tive town histories of Westidiester ('oiiiiiy.

rUKFACE

li(i\\c\('r >'xliiiiistiv('l_y and cxccllcnl 1 v wiittcn, (]ii not ((Piistitutc a liis-
tory <if the county; and for a consecutive understandiui; of the
<ienei-al cimnty liistorv the reader of liolton or Scharf must rcdy upon
his own constructive iuiicnuity — must indeed be liis own liistorian.

Lonii before the work now jiiven to tlie ]inlilic was conceived as a
]iractical project, tlie present editor realized tlie force of tliese consid-
erations and ( lierished not <iuly a ho])e tliat a genuine narrative his-
tory of tlie county Tui^ht some day be juddnced, but an ambition to
become personally instrumental in acliie\ iii;L; so imjiortant a result.
His attention was especially directed to the matter by his observa-
tions diirinii his connectioTi with the schools, from whicli he became
(•(uninced (d' the e.\treni(dy elementary idiaracter of the general
knowlediic of this county's liistory, even in relation to the Kevolution,
whereof, indeed, anytliini;' like a well <-o-ordinate(l undei-standin^ is
most excei)tional aniouii the ]>eo]ile, and (luite incapalde of Ixdni^'
taujiht to the youn,ii because of tlie unsuitability for tliat jiurpose of
all books heretofort" imblished that lieai' on the subject.

In foiniulatinji' the plan for the ])resent work the editor had funda-
menlaily in view a lucid continuous narrative, thoroujih in its treat-
ment of the outlines of the subject and reasonably attenti\'e to local
details without extendini;' to minuteness. These lines have been bd-
lowed Ihi'ouiihout. All exist inii materials, so far as accessible, have
In en utilized, ])ro]ier credit beini; ;Lil\-en to the sources from whicli
borrowinjis have been made. The work conipi-ehends a variety of
new materials, whiidi have been interwoven in the text. Porticms of
the manuscript have been reAisi'd or criticised by jiersons jiarticiilaily
W(dl informed on certain jihases id' the subject; and to all of tjiese
critics the editor extends his thankful aidvnowlediiinents.

Special credit is due to Mr. James L. \Vells for his editoi-ia! super-
vision of the entire work so far as concerns the sections of the oriijinal
county now constituting the Borough of the Bronx, New York City;
and thanks must also be expressed to Mr. Wells for the crest of
Jonas Broiudc (the first settler of Westchester County), intioduced
by his kind permission in the title-])age. It is probably not generally
known that from the Broncdc crest have been derived some of the
essential features of the arms of the State of New York.

" Shon.vaud IIojii:sT]:.\r)."
AUCiTTST, 11)00.

/vfez^J^

CONTENTS

Editor's rrefjuH' iii

("llAl'TKIt I

I'liysiciil Description ot I lie ('(niiity 1

ClIAl'lKK II
Tlif Aboriyiual luhabitauls 17

("llAI'TKR III

DiscoVk-ry and rreliiuinary \'icw .")!

("iiAi-i'in;. I\'
The Earliest Settlers — I>rnn(d<, Anne Ilutrldnsim, 'riirockninr.Dn,
Tornell T.">

("IIAI'I'KK \'

Tlie Kedenbtable Caplain dolin rnderliill Dr. Adrian \'an der
Dimek !>•;

("iiAi'i'i:i; \'l
Iteuininniis ot Sei-ious Sel I lenienl \\'est( iiesler Town. Kye in

("hai'ti:!; \'1I
"The Portion of the North Kidinti on the Main" — l'n)j>Tess of
Settlement and Bejiinniniis (d' I lie .Mamii'ial Estates \'.V2

CiiAriDii \lll
Tlie riiiliiises and tlie \'an Corthindls l.").")

CiiArrKi: IX
Telliani .Manor and New Korlielle Caleb JleatlH-ote and Sears
dale .Manoi'— -( ieneral ( ?bser\al ions on ; he .Manors \'i-'>

( 'llAI'TKI; X

(ieneral Ilistorieal Hex lew lo llie l!et;innin,i:' of the Eii;lile(-ni li
Cenlnry — ('(inii)letion of ilie Work ef Original Sel 'lenient ... . I'.i-"!

('iiAi'ri:u XI
A (I lance a I tlie Hoi-onuh Tow n of Westtdiester 22(>

Vl ajXTENTS

Chapter XII
The Election on the (Jreen ;it Kiistcliester, 17;« 235

CllAl'TlOIl XIII
The Aristocratic I'aiiiilies and Their Intlueuces 25r)

("IIAI'TEH XIV
From the Stainji Act to I he Last Session of the Colonial Assembly 277

<'11A1'TEII XV
Westchester County in i.iiie for Indcjicudence — Events to .Inly
0, 1 77(1 2;t(i

ClIAI'TEU X\'I

The State of New Voik liorn at \Vhite IMains — Events to October
12, 177(i 335

ClIAI'TEU XVII

The Campaign and Battle id' White IMains 357

Chapter XVIII
Fort ^^'ashin}^■ton■s I-'nll — The l)(din(iuencv of (leneral Lee 397

Chai'TER XIX
The Strategic Situation — TIh' Xentral (Jrouud 412

ClIAl'TER XX

Events of 1777 and 177S 425

ClIAl'TER XXI
I'roni .lannai-y. 1779, to September, 17S(1 44t)

Chatter XXII
The Captnre of Andre 4()4

ClIAl'TER XXIII
The West(diester Ojiei-ations of the Allied Armies, 17S1 — End of
the War 4!l7

Chapter XXIV
General Ilislor\ (d t lie Count \('(Hi(lnde<l — I'riuu tlie KeNolulion
to the Completion of tiie Croton A(|ueduct ( 1S42) 52t)

Chai'ter XXV
Cieneral Ilistorv of the Conntv Concluded 573

HISTORY OF WEST(11ESTER COUNTY

CHAPTER I

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTY

HE ("oimty ot Westclit'.ster, as a detiuitely bounded and or-
gauized political unit, was created on the 1st of November,
l(iS3, by the provisions of an act of the first Provincial
Assembly of New York, held under the administration of
the Royal Governor Dongan, which formally marked off the province
into the twelve original counties. By the terms of this act, Westchester
CouutA' was to comprise " East and West Chester, Bronxland, Ford-
ham, and all as far eastward as the province extends,'' and to run
northward along the Hudson Tfiver to the Highlands, its southern
limits being, of course. Long Island Sound and the waters between the
mainland and Manhattan Island or New York County. Of the bound
aries thus described, only the western and northern have continued
unchanged to the present time. The precise location of the eastern
line, constituting the boundary betAveen New Y'ork and Connecticut,
was a matter of serious contention througjiout the early histoi-y of the
county, and, indeed, was not established to the linal satisfaction of
both parties to the dispute until 1880. This long-standing and curious
conti-oversy as to the eastern boundary involved, however, notliing
more than rival claims of colonial jurisdiction, arising from matiiemat-
ical inaccuracies in original calculations of distance, and from pecu-
liar conditions of early settlement along the Sound, which jir(>sented
a mere problem of territorial rectification upon the basis of reciprocal
concessions by the two provinces and subsequently the two common-
wealths concerned; and. accordingly, while leaving a jiortion of the
eastern border line of Westchester County somewhat indeterminable
for two centuries, the issues at stake never affected the integrity of
its aggregate area as allotted at the beginning. On the other hand,
the southern boundary of the old county lias undergone extremely
radical nuiditicatioiis. which are still in progress. Since 1873, by
various legislative acts, large sections of it have been cut away and
transferred to the City of New York, comprising what until r<'cent
Aears were known as the • annexed districts " of the metropolis, now

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

officially si,\h-(l t\w •• Itoiouiili ol' the Jtroiix "" ot the Greater City.
Altlionjiii tile ci.uiity still n-tains its two most populous muuicipali-
ties, Youkois aud .Alouut \'eruou, the New York City liue lias been
pushed ri.L;ht up to their borders, and there is uo i-easonable doubt that
within a few more yeai-s they, too, Mill be absorbed. Already forty-
one and one-half square miles, or 20,500 acres, have been annexed to
the city.

In these pages the story of old Westchester County is to be told;
and whenever the county as a whole is mentioned without specific
indicatidii of the present limits, the reader will uuderstan<l that the
original county, including those portions which have actually passed
under a new political jurisdiction, is meant.

Wesl Chester County, thus considered in its primal extent, is some-
thing more than five
hundred square miles in
area, and lies centrally
distant some one htin-
dred miles from Al-
bany. From its north-
western point, Antho-
ny's Xose, at the en-
trance to the Highlands
of the Hudson, to its
southeastern extremity,
Byram Point, on the
i^ound, it is entirely sur-
rutmded by the waters of
the Hudson River, Simy-
ten Dtiyvil Creek, the
Harlem IJiver, and Long
Island Sound, forming a
shore line more than one
hundred miles in length
illowance is nuide for the

m-^-^

I'ROSPKCT (IK TIIK lUllSOX FROM SI'CYTKX DCVVII..

MIS

— considerably more, indeed, if scrupulo
Avindings of the coast ahuig the Sound

The Hudson Kiver, completing its nan-ow ami lortuous course
through the Highlands at the northern liouiidarv of Westchester
County, runs thence to the sea in an almost due south direction. For
a short distance below Anthony's Nose, however, it continues decid-
edly narrow, until, at the very termination of this portion of its course,
a place called ^'erplanc k's Point, its banks ai)iiroach quite close to-
gether, being only one mile apart. Ileiv was located the famous
King's Ferry (d' the Pevohition, an extreiiielA important line (d' inter-

I'UVSICAI, DKSCUIPTION OF THE COINTY

roiiiiiiunitadou bet wren tlir iialiiot loix-rs ol' ihe East and the West;
and on tlir opposite hank stood ilic fortress of Stony Point, the
scene of Wa.vnc's niidniiilit exploit. Jnst bidow Verplaiud^'s tlie river
suddenly widens, forniiiii; the ina.niiilicenl liaversliaw \\;i\. This, in

4. HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

variations of widtli, the baulcs liaviuj; a luean distaui-c apart of a little
more than a mile.

From Antliony's Nose, the northernmost point of Westchester
County on the Hudson, to the Spuvten Duyvil Creek, the southern-
most, is a distance, as the crow files, of thirty-four miles. The breadth
of the county varies from twenty-five to eight and one-half miles.
Throujihout its entire extent along the liudson the Westchester shore
rises abru])tly from the river edge to elevations seldom less than one
liuiidrcd feet. Nowhere, however, does the Westchester bank ascend
precipitously in the manner, or even at all resembling the manner, of
the Palisade formation on tlie western shore. The acclivity is often
()uitc sharp, but everywhere admits of gradual approach, for both
pedestrians and carriages, to the high ridges. Thus the whole western
border of the county botli affords a splendid view of the entrancing
panorama of the Fludsou, and is perfectly accessible from the railroad,
which runs along the bank of the river. Moreover, beyond the ridges in
the interior the land has a uniform and gentle descent into lovely val-
leys, Avhich permit convenient and rapid travel from all directions.
These physical conditions render the western section of the county one
of the most inviting and favored localities in the world for costly resi-
dences and grand estates; and from the earliest period of European
settlement of this portion of America, the Hudson shore of West-
chester County has been a chosen abode for families of wealth and
distinction. But every other part of the county — at least every part
conveniently reached from the railroads — is also highly esteemed for
select residence purposes; and, indeed, Westchester County through-
out its extent is jjeciiliarly a residential county.

Spuyten J)uyvil Creek and the Harlem River, which separate Man-
hattan Island from the mainland and form a portion of the southern
boundary of the old County of Westchester, are in reality only an arm
of the sea; and though to the superficial observer they may appear
to constitute one of the mouths of the Hudson, they have no such
function, and, indeed, receive none of its How. The two are strictly
to be considered not as a river, but as a strait, connecting the tide
waters of the East River and Sound with those of the North Kiver.
Their length is about eight miles. The Harlem River at its eastern ex-
tremity is divided by Randall's Island into tAVo channels — the south-
ern and principal one comnuinicating with Hellgate, and the northern
one (unnavigable), called the Bronx Kills, passing between the
island and the Westchester shore into Long Island Sound. The
Ilarlem and Spuyten Duyvil waterway presents the remarkable phe-
nomenon of double tides, which vary decidedly in height, time of
occurrence, duration of rise and fall, and swiftness of flow. "The

PHYSICAL DKSt'ltiri'lo.N Ol' TIIK CorNTY 5

ticles ill Ihc llarknii Kivcr," savs (Ifiinal .Idlm Ncwiiiu, in a i-cpori
to the War Departiueiit, -arc cliicllv due id ilic in-opajiaicd Ilfll<>ate
wave. Avliile tlic latter is llic result <\i ilie cuiiracl of tlie Sound and
Sandy Uook tides. The tides in the Hudson Itiver and Spnylen Duyvil
are ]»rodiu-ed by the pntpagation of the sea li(h' tiirougli the Upi)er
and i.ower hays." Tlie mean rise of tlie li(h' in the Harlem is from
tive and one-half to six feet; in the S])iiyten Duyvil ("i-eek it is iJu'ee
and eij;'bt-teuths feet. The mean iiiiih water level in the Hudson
liiver at Spuyteii Duyvil t'reeU is nearly a foot lower and an hour and
forty minutes earlier than in the Harlem, and the mean duration of
the rise of tide in the former is thirty-six minutes shorter than in the
latter. The westei-ly current, from Ilellgarc, is swifter than the east-
erly, from the Hudson. The jdacc of "divide" between the Harlem
I\iver and the S] my ten Duyvil ( 'reck is usually located at Kin<;sbridge.
In early times the Harlem was naviiiable for most (d' its leiiiith. but
owing to artihcial obstructions (notably that of ^lacomb's Daiui.
which were begun in the first part of the present cent iiry. i he ( haniiel
above the present Central Bridge became both shallow ami con-
tracted. The mean natural depth of Si)nyte]i Dnyvil Creidc lias always
been com]iaralively slight. Owing to the importance of this water-
way as a means of short transit for craft plying between the Hudson
Kiver and ports on the Sound and in New England, the United Stales
Government has in our own time dredged a channel, whi( h. from the
Hudson to Hellgate. has a de])th of from twelve to fifteen feet. This
impro\ement, knov\n as tlie Harlem Shi]) ("anal, was ojuMied to com
inerce on the 17th of June, lS9o. The Harlem Kiver and S|iiiyien
Duyvil Creek are crossed at iiresent by thirteen bridges.

Along the Spuyten Dnyvil and Harlem Kiver [loiiion of its water
line, as along the Sound, the ddd i (oiinty of Westchester loses the
comparatively lofty feature whicli ( haraclerizes its Hudson shore,
anil the land is generally Ioav. sinking into marshy tracts in some
localities near the S<mnd. The Westchester coast on the Sound,
stretching from the mouth id' the Harlem River to the mouth of the
liyrani Kiver ( where the Connecticut State line begins i, is broken by
numerous necks and iioints, with corresponding inlets and coves.
Among the more impoi-tant (d' llu' ])rojecting ])oints of laud are Stony
Point I Tort Morris i, Dak Point, P>arreto Pr)int. Hunt's Point, Coi-nell's
Neck (Clason's Point). Throgg's Neck (with Fort Schuyler at its ex-
tremity), Kodman's (I'elham) Xeck, Davenport's Neck, De Lancey
Point, and Kye Neck. S(une of these localities are famous in the his-
tory of the county, ihein-ovince, and the State. The coast indentations
imliide the outlets (d the TSronx Tliver, Westchester Creek, and tlu'
Hut( hinson liiver; Eastchester l?ay, Pelham Bay, De I.ancey Cove and

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

J.aicliiuuiit lliubur, MaiuaruiU'ck Harbor, aud B^raui Harbor. Mucli
of the contraband trade of colonial times was supposed to have found
L-over in the unobserved retreats which the deep inlets of this toast
afforded; and of some of the earlier settlements along the t^ound it is
supposed that they were undertaken quite as much to provide secure
places of rendezvous for commerce ;iiore or less outside the pale of the
law as to iH'oniote the development of the country. In close prox-
imitv to the shore are manv islands, of which the more notable are

THE H.\HI,KM KIVEK I.Ml'KOVK.MK.Nl S (^HVCKMAN S .MLA IX.IWSJ.

those between Pelham Bay and Xew IJochelle, including' City, Hart's,
Hunter's, David's, and Glen Islands.

The New York City limits on the Hudson now reach to the northern
bounds of the hamlet of Mount Saint Vincent, and on the Sound to a
]>oinl about ojiixisite, taking in also Hunter's, Hart, and City Islands.
Of the more than one hundred miles of coast line originally and until
1873 possessed by Westchester County, about thirty have passed to
the city — thi*ee miles on the Hudson, eight on Spuyten Duyvil Creek
and the Harlem Uiver, and the I'emaindtu' on the Sound.

The eastern boundarv of the couutA' is an entireh* arbitrarA- one.

PHYSICAL DKSCIMI'TIOX OF THE COUNTY 7

ill iiu rcsiK'cl lullnwiii-i ualmal liiics df division, (if whicii, indeed,
tJiere are none of a eoutinuous cliavai-ter at this portion of liie eastern
confines of New York Stale. To t lie reader iiiifaniiliar witii I lie jiistory
of the New York and Connecticut honndary dispute, this /.ij^zaj;- line
will appear to liave been traced (|uiie without reference to any sym-
metrical division of territory, hut tor the accoininodation of special
ol)jects ill territ(u-ial adjustment. This is largely true, although the
line, as finally drawn, was rednced as nearly to a simple construction
as could he done consistently with the very dillicnlt circumstances of
the boundary dispnti'.

On the iKU'th the limit fixed for the couiily at the lime of its erec-
tion was the ttoint where the Tlighlands of the Hudson begin. Pur-
suant to this provision the line between \Yestciiester and I'utnam
Counties starts on the Hudson at Anthony's Nose and follows an east-
erly course to the Connecticut boundary.

The surface of the county consists of several ranges of hills, with
valleys stretching between, in wliicli are numerous streams and an
abundance of lakes. None of the jihysical features of Westchester
County (if we except its lovely i)ros|>('ct of the Hudson) are in any
wise r<Miiarkable from the viewpoint of the tourist in (|uest of natural
wonders. On the other hand, its entire surface lu'csents sceiiei-y of
diversified beauty and interest, not the less gratifying to the contem-
plative eye because umhanucably niodest in its pretensions.

The princi]ial chain of hills is the (Uie i losely bordering the Hudson,
already noticed. This is the southern ]ir(dongation of the Highlands.
Its elevations dis])lay a constant diminishing tendency southward.

Another range, likewise extending iKirtli and south, is found near
the Connecticut border. The ^fatteawan .Moiintaiiis enter the noi-th-
western corner of the county, and thence cross the lludson. A high
ridge, called the Stone PHll (the watershed <>{' the c(ninty), passes
from the town of Blount Pleasant on the Hudson eastward tiirougli
the towns of New Castle, Bedford, Poundridge, and Salem into Con-
necticut. In spite of this exce])(ioii. however, the general trend of the
hills is north and south, a fact illustrated by the almost uniformly
southerly course of the more considerable streams, and by the usually
level character of the roails running north and south, as contrasted
with the c(ms]»icuous uneveiiuess of those which extend east and west.
Famous in our county's history are the North Castle or Chaiijiaciua
Hills, above White Plains, into which Washington retired with the
<'ontinental army after the engagement near the latter place (October
2S, 177(1 1, and. mi account of the .strength of the new position thus
gained, ciuupelled tieneral Howe, with his greatly su]teri(u- forc<'. to
return to New 'S'ork. The highest point in Westchester County ( ac-

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COTXTY

cording to the figures of till- i'liitci] States ('o;ist Survey l is Antiionv's
Nose, !)no feet above half tide h-vei.

rilYSICAL DESCKIPTIOX OF TIIK COINIV 9

Of tlio streams of AVestcliestor County the iiaiiics of two, the Croloii
and tlio lironx, have become widely familiar. Tlie former riv<'r is ilie
chief source of tlie water su])ii]y of New Yorlc City; I he latter — wliicii,
by the way, also furnishes water to New York — has nmny historic
and romantic associations, tU^ar to New Yorkers as well as West-
chester people, and its name has been adopted for one of the beautiful
new ])arks of the city, and also for one of the five grand divisions
which constitute the Greater New York.

t^ome half dozen streams of noticeable size find their outlets in the
Hudson. Peekskill Creek gathers its waters from the hills of the
northwestern corner of the county, and flows into the Hudson just
above the village of Peekskill. Furnace ISrook is a small rivulet
which empties into the river several miles farther south. Then comes
the Croton, having its outlet in Croton Buy, as the northeastern por-
tion of the Tappau Sea is called.

The Croton has its sources in Dutchess County — these sources com-
prising three " branches " (the East, Middle, and West), which unite
in the southern \n\vt of Putnam County. In its course through ^Yest-
ciiester County to its mouth, the Croton receives as tributaries the
Mnscoot, Titicns, Cross, and Kisco Rivers. The Muscoot is the outlet
of the celebrated Lake Mahopac in I'utnam County, and the Cross
(also called the Peppenegheck ) of Lake Waccabuc, one of the largest
of the Westchester lakes. The Croton watershed lies almost wholly
in the State of New York, although draining a small ar<'a in Connec-
ticut. It extends abcmt thirty-three miles north and soiiili and eleven
miles east and west, and has an area of 339 square miles above the
present Croton Dam. to Avhich about twenty square miles will be
a<lded when the great new dam, now in process of construction, is
com])leted. This watershed embraces thirty-one lakes and jionds in
Westchester and Putnam Counties, many of which have been utilized
as natural storage basins in connection with the New Y'ork City
water supply by cutting down tlieir outlets and building dams across.
Besides Croton Lake, there are two very large reservoirs in our county
incidental to the Croton system — the Titicns Reservoir near I'urdy's
and the Amawalk lleservoir. The Croton i.ake is l)y far the most ex-
tensive sheet of water in the county. It is formed by a <lam about
five miles east of the mouth of the Croton, and has an ordinary length
of some three and one-half miles. When the new dam is finished the
lengtli of the lake will be in excess of eleven miles. From t he lake t w<.
aciueducts, the " Old " and tlie "New," leail to the city. Th<> former is
thirty-eight ami the latter thirty-three miles long, the distance in each
case beiuii measured to the receiving reservoir. It is the old a(pieduct

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

which crosses the Havh-m River over High Bridge; the uew is carried
underneath the stream.

South of tlie ("roton iliver the next Hudson tributary of interest is
the Sing Sing Kill, which finds its nioutli tlirough a romantic ravine
crossed by the notable Aqueduct Bridge. Next comes the Pocantico
River, entering the Hudson at Tarrytown. The last feeder of the

PHYSICAL DESCUIPTION OF THE CorNTY 11

Hudson lioiii WestL-lu'stt'i- Cimiity, and the last received by il bcfm-e
discliargiug- its waters into the sea, is the Sawmill (or Xepperhaiii
Eiver, at Youlcers. To tliis stream is due the credil for the creation of
a very considerable i»ortion of the manufacturini; imlustries of the
county, and consequently, also, to a i^reat extent, thai for ihc building
up of the City of Yonkers.

Into the Spuyten Duyvil Creek empties Tibbel's I'.rook, a small
runlet which rises in the Town of Youlcers and Hows south, passing
throujih Van Cortlandt Lake (artificial).

The most noteworthy of the streams emptying into the Sound is the
Bronx Kiver, whose outlet is between Hunt's I'oint and Cornell's
Neck. The Bronx lies wholly within Westchester County, having its
headwaters in the hills of the toAvns of Mount IMeasant and New
Castle. It traverses and partially drains the middle section of the
county. This river, with other Avaters which have been artificially
connected with it, afl'ords to New York City a water sui)ply of its own,
quite independent of the Croton s3-stem--a fact, perhaps, not generally
understood. It is dammed at Kensico Station, making a storage
reservoir of 250 acres. A similar dam has been thrown across the
Byram River, and another across the outlet of Little Bye Bond. By
the damming of Little Kye Pond that body of water, witli Bye Bond,
has been converted into a single lake, having an area of 2S(> acres.
The three parts of this system — the Bronx, Byram, and Bye Bond
reservoirs — are, as already stated, connected aiMiticially, ami the
water is delivered into a receiving reservoir at \\'illiams's Bridge
through the so-called Bronx Biver pipe line, a conduit of forty-eight-
iuch cast-iron pipe. The portion of the Bronx watershed draiuerl for
this jmrpose has an area of thirteen and one-third scpiare miles.

Bast of the mouth of the Bronx Biver on the Sound are the outlets
of Westchester and Eastchester Creeks — tidal streams — em])tying,
respectively, into Westchester and Ea.stchester Bays. The Hutciiinson
Biver rises in Scarsdale and tloAVs into Eastchester Bay. The Mania-
roneck Biver has its source near White I'lains aiul Harrison, tinding
its outlet in Mamaroneck Harbor. The B.yram Biver, which enters
the Sound above Bortchester, and at its mouth separates our county
from Connecticut, drains parts of North Castle and Bye. Blind BrooU
empties at Milton, after draining portions of Harrison and Bye.
Most of tlie streams flowing into the Sound afford, by the reflux of the
tidi', an intermitting hydraiilic power.

The MiaTius Biver, rising in North Castle, and Stamford .Mill Kiver,
rising in Boundridge, find their way to the Sound through Connecticut.
Some minor streams in the northern section of the county How into
Putnam Countv.

HISTOUV OF WESTCHESTKK COUNTY

The lakes of AYestclioster, like the hills and streams, boast no fea-
tures of exceptional interest, but are strictly in keeping with the
quiet beauty of the general landscape. The largest, as already men-
tioned, is Crolon Lake, entirely artiticial; and we hav(^ also seen that

several of the natural lakes have been utilized for purposes of water
supph'. Lake Waccabuc, in the Town of Lewisboro, has, since 1S70,
been connected with the Croton system. It covers over two hundred
acres, and is very deep and ])ure. In the Town of Poundridge several

PHYSICAL DKSCKll-llOX VF TlIK CUCNTY 13

poii»ls< have beeu artiliciallv joined tu vnv unullier, loriiiiiii; a hand-
some body of water, called Trinity Lake, a mile aud a (luarter long,
which supplies the City of Staiiifofd, Conn. A dam twenty feet high
has been erected across its outlet. Other lakes of local importance
and intei'est are Peach Lake, on the Putnam County border; Mohegan
and ^lohansic lakes, in Yorktown; Valhalla Lake (through which the
Bron.\ Ikiver flows j, between Mount Pk-asant and North Caslle; Kye
Lake, near the Connecticut line; Byram Lake, in Bedford and North
Castle, the feeder of the Byram River, and Cross Pond (100 acres i in
I'oundridge.

The rocks of Westchester County consist mainly of gneiss aud mica-
schist of many dissimilar varieties, and white crystalline limestone
with thin interlying beds of serpentine, all of ancient origin and
entirely devoid of fossils. Professor Ealph S. Tarr, of Cornell Univer-
sity, in a recent sei'i<^s of jiajiers' on the geology of New York State,
embodying the latest investigations aud conclusions on the subject,
assigns to the southern angle of the State, including Westchester
County, the name of the " (Jneissic PTighbind Pi-ovince." This ]»rov-
ince, he says, is of complex structure, and one in which, in its main
and most typical part, the rocks are very much folded and disturbed
metamorphic strata of ancient date. " These rocks," he continues,
" are reallj' an extension of the highlands of New Jersey, which reach
across the southern angle of New Y'ork, extend northeastward, and
enter Connecticut. Besides thes(^ Archean gneisses theT'c is some
sandstone and a black diabese or trap, which form the Palisades,
besides extensive la.vers of limestone, gneiss, and schist, which extend
across the region occupied by th<* City of New Yoi-k. This whole
series of strata is intricately associated. Except at the very seashore
line, the province is a moderate highland, with rather rough topog-
raphy and with hills rising in some ])laces to an elevation of 1.000 or
1,200 feet above the sea level. Wliei'e there is limestone or sand-
stone in this area, there is usually a lowland, while highlan<ls occnr
where the hard gneiss comes to the surface not immediately at the
seashore. This is extremely well illustrated in Kockland County,
where the gneissic Ramapo Mountains are faced at their southeastern
base by a lowland, a somewhat rolling ]ilain, which, however, is
bounded on its eastern margin by another highland where the trap
of the Palisades rises close by the Hudson River."

In the opinion of I'i'of<»ssor Tarr, this region, with the large Adiron-
dack area, at the beginning of the Paleozoic were mountainous hinds
facing the sea. which stretche<l away to the westwaid. and beneath
which all the rest of the site of New York State was submerged. The

Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, vol. xxviii.

14 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

southwestern lliiilihind mountains extended northward into Now
Eniihmd, and toward the east thev prohahly reached seaward alonji
the present coast line. This mountain ranfje extended southwestward
alonj;' tlie eastern i)art of the sea(i;ast States, and west of it Avas a
i;reat sea in tiie ])resent Mississijipi N'alley. Whether the Adiron-
daclcs and this Ilisilihind mountain range were ever connected, and
wliat was tlie actual extension of tiie two areas, can not be told in the
present state of ucolo.nical knowledge, the record of much of the
early history havinii been hidden beneath the strata of later ages.
However, in very early Paleozoic times the waves of the sea beat at
the western base of the southern Highlands, and these were then at
least separated from the Adirondacdc area, which was at that time an
island in the Paleozoic sea.

Professor James I). Dana, in an inquiry concerning the relations
of the limestone belts of Westchester County, arrives at the conclu-
sinji tliat, \\ith those of New York Island, tliey are ](r(>bably of l.o\\-cr
Silurian age, assigning also to the same age the coniformably asso-
ciated metamorphic rocks. He holds to the view that Westchester
County belongs to the same geologic period as the Green Mountain
region, resembling in its order that portion of the latter which is now
western Connecticut. Other geologists find reason for believing that
the Westchester rocks are older than those of the Green Mountain
area, and belong to an even earlier age than the Lower Silurian. It
is pointed out that the marbles of Vermont and the marbles of West-
chester Countj-, with their associated rocks, are essentially different
from one another, and can hardly, therefore, belong to a common
formation; the Vermont marbles being found in a single belt and
being almost pure carbonates of lime, and of mottled and banded
api)earance, fine grained, with gray siliceous limestones, quartzites,
and slates identified with them; whereas the Westchester marbles
constitute a series of parallel belts and are " coarsely crystalline dolo-
mites (double carbonates of lime and magnesia), generally of uniform
white or whitish color, and have no rocks associated with them that
can re]U'esent the quartzites and argillites of Vermont."

Still another opinion regarding the origin of the rocks of the West-
chester County I'egions is that of Prof. I. S. Newberry, who believes
that they date from the Laurentian age.

The limestone beds are distributed through every geographical sec-
tion of the county. At Sing Sing occur marble deposits — very heavy
beds which have been extensively <|uarried. It was, in fact, largely
for the purpose of employing convict laboi- for the quarrying of the
marble that this ])lace was chosen as the location for the New York

PHYSICAL DlOSCltlP'i'ION OF THE COUNTY

State Penitentiary. Tlie Sing Siug marble, however, altliougli au
admirable building stone for many purposes, is of comparatively
coarse and inferior (luality, beconuug stained iu the course of time
by the action of the sea air on account of the presence of grains of iron
[lyritt'S. ^larblc is also qiiarried at Tuckahoe.

Abundant indications are afforded of extensive and radical glacial
action. " Crotou Point, on the Hudson, and other places in the couuty,
show evidences of glacial moraines. Deep striit and lighter scrati'hes
still remain upon manj' exposed rock surfaces, and others have been
smoothly polished." A prominent feature is the presence iu great
profusion of large granite bowlders, undoubtedly transported by
glaciers from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, with an inter-

EARLY NAVIGATION IX THK HIGHLANDS

mingling of bowlders of conglomerate from the western side of tlu'
Hudson, the latter containing numerous shell fossils. The so-called
•• Cobbling Stone," in the Town of North Salem, is a well-known speci-
men of the glacial bowlders of Westchester. It is a prodigious rock of
red granite, said to be the solitary one of its kind in the county.

The minerals fouinl iu the county, in greater or lesser (juautities,
embrace magnetic iron ore, iron and copper i)yrites, green malachite,
sulphuret of zinc, galena and other lead ores, native silvi-r. serpen-
tine, garnet, beryl, ajiatite, trcmolile, wliile ])yr()xeni', chlorite, black
tourmaline, Silliiuanite, monazite, I'.ruciic cpidoie. and sphene. Rut
Westchester has never been in any sense a seat nf the mining industry
l)roper, as distinguished from the (|uarrying. In early times a silver

16 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTEK COUNTY

luiiic was Ulcerated at Sliij; Siiiji, very uear where the prisun uow
stauds, aud uot tar from the same h)cality an attempt was iiuuh' some
seventy years ago to mine for e-opper. Both of these mining ventures
are of mere curious historical interest, representing ut) actual success-
ful production of a definite cliaracter. In tlie ridges along thi' north-
ern borders of the county considerable deposits of iron ore are found.
It is stated by Mr. Charles E. Culver, in his History of Somers, that
the iron ores of that town hav(% upon assay, " yielded as high as (Jl
per cent." Peat swamps, affording a fuel of good quality, exist in
several parts of the county, notably the Town of Bedford.

There are various mineral springs, as well as other s])riiigs, yielding
water of singularly- pure (piality, the latter being utilized in some
cases with commercial pi-ofit. A well-known mineral spring, for
whose waters medicinal virtues are tdaimed, is the Chappaqua Spring,
three miles east of Sing Sing.

The prevailing soil of Westchester County is the product of disinte-
grations of the primitive rocks, and is of a light and sandy character,
for the most part not uncommonly fertile naturally, although the
methods of scientific farming, which have been pursued from very
early times, have rendere<l it highly productive. It is not generally
adapted to wheat, summer crops succeeding best. Drift deposits and
alluvium occur along the Sound and in some localities elsewhere, with
a consequently richer soil. Agriculture has always been the repre-
sentative occupation, although during the last half century extensive
manufacturing industries have been develo])ed in several localities.

CnAPTET^ TI

TlIK Ar.(H:li;iNAI, IMIAI'.I-I'A.NTS

T Wiis nut uiilil Kid'.t, one liiinilrcd jiikI sc\ciilccii vcai's after
till' discovery nl' ilie New \$)rl(l, that I']uin|ieaii enter-
prise, destined lo lead lo delinile colonization and develop-
ment, was directed fo lliat ])ortion of the Xortli American
continent wliere the nietrtt]Milis of ilie Western hemisphere and the
Empire State of the American Inion have since been erected. The
entire North American mainland, in fact, from Florida to Flndson's
Bay, althongh explored by voyagers of different nationalities within
com]paratively brief periods after the advent of Colnmbus, had been
practically neglected throughout the sixteenth century as a field for
serious purposes of civilized occupation and exploitation. The early
French attempts at settlement in < "anada, in the first half of that cen-
tury, and the colonizing exjjeditions sent by Sir Walt<'r Kaleigh to the
shores of North Carolina, in the second half, were dismal failures, and
in the circumstances could not have resulted diflerently. Vov these
undertakings were largely without reference to intelligent and $ro-
liressive cultivati(ni of such resources as the country might aft'ord,

being incidental, or, at
least, secondary, to the
absoibing conviction
of tlie tinu's that the
riches of India lay
somewhere beyond the
.\merican coast bar-
rier, and would still
y i e 1 d themselves to
bold search. Naturally,
few mi'u of substantial
FROM AN OLD I KiNi. character and decent

antecedents could be jiersuaded to embark as volunteers in such
doubtful entei'prises. The tiist settlers on the Saint I.aurc iicc were
a band of lobbers, swindlers, mnidcrers, and iir(uniscuous rutlians,
released from the prisons of I'rance by the government as a heroic
means of ju'ovidiug colonists for an exiiedilion which could noi be
r.M-ruilcd ri-.:m ilie i.eoid<- at large. TIk' seiilers sent by Sir Walter

18 IIISTOKY OF WESTCIIESTKI! COLNTV

I\aleijj;h under his pateut from Elizabeth iu 1585 for establishiuji eoh)-
nies nortli of the Spanish dominions in Florida Avere. according to
IJanci'oft. a body of " br(>lven-(loA\ ii yciitlemen and libertines, more
fitted to corrujit a reitnblii than to loniid one," with very few mechan-
ics, farmers, or laborers among 1 hem — mere buccaneering adven-
turers, Mho carried hi-e and sword into the land and bad no higher
object before them than to ]ilunder and enslave the natives. It is
true that very early iu the sixteenth century the fishermen of Nor-
mandy and liritanny began to seek the waters of Newfoundland for
the legitimate ends of their vocation, and soon built up a gainful t rade,
which, steadily expanding aiul attracting other votaries, eiii|>loyed
in 1583 more than four liundi-ed European fishing ci-aft. I'.ut this
business was conducted almost exclusively for tiie ])i-ofits of the
fisheries, and althougli the vess(ds devot<'(l to it ranged all along the
Ne\\' England coast, theic was no consecutiM' occuitation of the
cotmtry with a view to its earnest settlement until after the dawn of
the seventeenth century.

Throughout the era of original Anu'rican discoAcry and coast ex-
ploration, the returning mariners bad agreed in describing the re-
gion to the north of the (Julf of Mc^xico and the ('aribbe;ni Sea as
utterly lacking in indications of aecumidated ri(dies, inhabited only by
savage races wlio ])ossessed no gold and sihcr oi- otjiei' \alnable ja-o]'-
erty, enjoyed no civilization, offered no commodities to commerce ex-
cept the ordinary products of the soil and the (diase, and could com-
municate nothing definite respecting more substantial wealth farther
to the west. The ancient civilizations of Mexico, Central America, and
Peru liaving been subverted by the Spaiusli comiuistadores, and their
stores of jtrecious metals largcdy absorbed, it was fondly h.ojied thai
the un]ienetrated wilds of the north might contain new realms with
siuiilar abundant treasures. Narvaez, in 1528, and De Soto, in 15.'>!l, led
finely appointed expeditions from the l^lorida coast into tin' interior
in (|uest of the imagined eldorados — em])i'ises which ])roved absolutely
barren of encouraging results and from A\bich only a few nnserable
surviMirs returned to tell tbe disillusionizing tale (d' dreadful \\ilder-
ness marcdies, ap])alling sufferings, and fruitless victories over
wretched tribes owiung no goods worth carrying aAvay. The iuipress-
ive record of these disastrous failures, iu connection with the uni
foi'uily unfialtering accounts of the lands farther north, deterred all
Enrojiean nations friun like pouipous adveiiturings. The i)overty of
the native inhabitants of North America saved them fnun the swift
fate whi(di overtook tin- rich peo])les of the south, and for a century
pi-eserved them even from intrusion, except of the most fugitive kind.

This fact of their complete poverty is by far the most conspicuotis

ABORIGINAL IXHAblTANTS

awprct of the origiual L-uiiiparativc t(iii(liii<)ii, iu botli ocoiioniiL' and
social iviiards, of the Xortb American Indians, as well as of the his-
tory of their gradual expulsion ami extirpation. Possessing nothing
l)iit laud and the simplest concomitants of primitive existence, they
<lid not present to the European invaders au established and meas-
urably advanced and ailluent orgainzation of society, inviting s])eedy
and comprehensive overthrow and the immediate substitution on a
general scale of the suprenuicy and institutions of the subjugators.
Uisi)ersed through the primeval forests in small conimtmilies, they
did not confront the stranger foe with formidable masses of |(o])ula-
tiou requiring to be dealt with by the summary methods of foi'mal
comiuest; ami skilled in but few industries and arts, which they ju-ac-
ticed lutt acquisitively but only to serve the most necessary ends of
daily life, and maititaining themselves in a decidedly struggling and
adventitious fashion by a rude agriculture and the pursuits of hunt-
ing and tishing, their numbers in the aggregate, following well-known
laws of pojtulation. were, indeed, cimiparatively
few. Vet the same conditions ma<le tiiem the
ruggedest, bravest, and nu>st imlepemlcnt of
races, and utterly unassimilable. Thus, as found
by the Europeans, while because of their poverty
jjrovoking no programme of systematic conquest
and dispossession, they were foredoomed to in-
evitable in-ogressive dislodgement and ultimate
extermination or segregation. Thi' cultivated
and numerous races of Mexico and I'eru, on the
other hand, exciting the cupidity of theS])aniards
by their wealth, were reduced to subjection at a
blow. But though ruthlessly slaughtered by the
most bloody atid cruel conquerors known to the
crimimil annals of history, these more refined
pe(q)le of the south had reserved for them a less
niehmcholy destiny than that of the untutored
children of the wilderness. Their survivors read-
ily gave themselves to the processes of absor])-
tiou, and their descendants to-day are colieirs, in
all degrees of consanguinity, witli tlie |)rogeny of
the despoih'i".

The origin of the native races of America is. in the i>resent stat<' ot
know Icilge. a problem of peculiar dilliculty. Nothing is contributed
toward its solution by any Avritten records now known to exist. None
of the aboriginal inhabitants of either of the Americas left any writ-
ten annals. The ouiuion is held bv some scholars, who favor the the-

BOWS ANI> .\RROW£,

20 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

oi-v ol A^^iatic■ oi-igiii, that when the as yet unpublished treasxires of
aucieut Chinese literature come to be spread before the world detiuite
lifjht may be cast upon the subject. There is a strong- probability that
the civilization of the Aztecs was either of direct Mongolian derivation
or partially a de\elo])nient from early Alonjicdian transplantations.
This view is sustained, lirst, by certain superticial resemblances, and,
second, by various details in old Chinese manuscripts suyyestive of
former intercourse with the shores of Mexico and South America. The
belief that man's initial appearance on this hemisphere was as a wan-
derer from Asia finds plausible supitort in the fact of the very near
apiJroach of the American land mass to Asia at the north, the two be-
ing separated by a narrow strait, while a continuous chain of stepping-
stone islands reaches from coast to coast not far below. Accepting
the Darwinian theory of man's evolution from the lower orders, the
idea of his indigenous growth in America seems to be precluded; for
no traces have been found of the existence at any time of his proximate
ancestors — the higher species of apes, from which alone he could have
come, having no representatives here in the remains of bygone times.

The question of man's relative anticjuity on tlie Western hemisphere
is also a matter of pure speculation. Here again the absence of all
written records prevents any assured historical reckonings backward.
Ancient remains, including those of the Aztecs and their associated
races, the cliff-dwellers of Arizona and the mound-builders of the
Ohio and Mississi})pi valleys, are abundant and highly interesting,
but their time connections are lacking. Yet while the aspects of the
purely historical ]U'ogress of man in the New World are most unsatis-
factory, anthropological stvnlies proper are attended by much more
favorable conditions in the Americas than in Europe. In the Old
^^'orld, occcupied and thickly settled for many historic ages by man
in the various stages of civilized development, most of the vestiges of
prehistoric man have been destroyed by the people; whereas these
still have widespread existence in the New.

In the immediate section of the country to which the County of
Westchester belongs such traces of the ancient inhabitants as have
been found are in no manner reducible to system. There are no ven-
erable monumental ruins, nor are there any of the curious " mounds "
of th(> west. Various sites of villages occupied by the Indians at the
time of the arrival of the Europeans are known, as also of some of their
forts ami burial grounds. Great heaps of oyster and clam shells here
and there on the coast remain as landmarks of their abiding places.
Aside from such features, which belong to ordinary historical associa-
tion rather than to the department of archaeological knowledge, few
noteworthv " finds " liave been made. Several veai"s ago much was

VASK Korxri at

IN\V()ol>.

ABORKJI.XAI. IMIAI'.ITANTS 21

iiuuli' ill the New York Cilv iiewspMiici- jncss ut ccrtMiii cxcavatidiis
by Mr. Alexander C ("lieiiowetb, at liiwoud, on Manliattau Island, a
short distance below 8puyten Dn^vii. .Mr. Chenoweth unearthed a
variety of interesting objects, inclndinn Indian skele-
tons, bearthstones blackened by tire, implements, and
utensils. There can be no doubt that these remains
were from a period untedatini;- (he European discov-
ery. l>ut they possessed no importance licyoml Mint
fact. With all the other traces of the more aiicifiil in-
habitants which have been found in this t;('neral re-
gion, they show that hereabouts Indian ((mdiiions
as known to history did not differ sharply, in tin- way
either of improvement or of degeneration, from those which preceded
the beginning of authentic records.

Verrazano, the French navigator, wlio sailed along the coast of
North America in 1524, entering tlie harbor of New York and ])ossibly
ascemling the riAer a short distance, speaks of the natives whom he
met there as " not differing much " from those with whom he had held
intercourse elsewhere, ■" being dressed out with the feathei's of birds
of various colors." " They came forward toward us," he adds, " with
evident delight, raising loud shouts of admiration and showing us
where we could most securely land witb our boat." In similar words
Henry Hudson describes the savages whom he first took on board his
vessel in the lower Xew York Bay. They came, he says, *' dressed in
maiilh's ut feathers and robes of fui-. I lie women clothed in heiii|i. red
copper tobacco pipes, and other tilings t>\ cojiper did they wear about
their necks." Their attitude was entirely amicable, for they brought
no arms with them. On his voyage up the river to the head of naviga-
tion, Hudson was everywhere received by the Indian chief's of both
banks with friendliness, and he found the various tribes along whose
borders lie passed to iiossess the same general characteristics of ap-
pearance, customs, and disposition.

Kuttenber. the historian of the Hudson Uiver Indians, in his general
classitication of the different tribes distributcMl along the banks, sum-
marizes the situation as follows : At the time of discovery the entire
eastern bank, from an indefinable point north of Albany to the sea, in-
cluding Lcmg Island, was held, under numerous sub-tribal divisions,
by the Mohicans (also written Mahicans and Mohegaiisi. Tlie do-
minion of the Mohicans extended eastward to tlie t'onnecticiil, wIhm-c
they were joined by kindred tribes, and on liic west bank ran as far
down as Catskill, reaching westward to Schenectady. Adjoining
them on the west was the territory of the ^b. hawks, and on the south
their neiuhbors were chieftaincies of the ^Miusis, a toteniic tribe of the

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COINTY

J.ciiiii l>('iiaii('s. The latter cxcicist'd ciintrdl thence to the sea and
westward to tlie 1 >elaware Kiver. Under the early Duteh tiovernnient.
continues Kuttenher, the M(diicans sold a cousMerable i)ortion of their
land on the west side to Van IJensselaer, and admitted the Mohawks
to territorial sovereignty north of the ^lohawk IJiver. The Mohawks
were one of the live tribes of the iireat lro(iuois confederacy, ^\hose
other meuibers were the Oneidas, < )non(la_u'as, Cayiigas, and Senecas.
Thus as early as KloO there were three priiiciiial divisions or nations
of Indians represented on. the Iltulson; the lro(]Uois, Mohicans, and
Lenni Lenapes (or Delawares ) .

This is Tiuttenber's classification. On the other liand, it has been
consi<lered by some writers on the Indians that the Mohicans were
really only a sttbdivision of the Lenni Lenapes, whose dominions, ac-
cordinii to IltHdcewelder, extended from the niontli of tlie Potomac
northeastwardly to the shores of ]\Lissachusetts Bay and the motm
tains of New Hampshire and Vermont, and westwardly to the Alle-
ghenies and Catskills. But whether the ^fcdiicans are to be regarded

TOTEMS OF NEW YORK TRIHKS.

as a separate grand division or as a minor body, the geograpliical
limits of the territory over which they were sprea<l are well defined.

They were called by the Dutch .^laikaus, and by the Freni h mis-
sionaries the " nine nations of ^[ahingans, gathered between Manliat-
tan and the (nn'irons of (Quebec." The tradition which they gave of
their origin has been stated as follows:

Tlif t'cniiitry formerly owned liy tlie Muhheakunniik (Moliican) nation was situated jiartly
in Massachusetts and jiartly in the States of Vermont and New York. The inlialiitants dwelt
chieHy in little towns and villages. Their chief seat was on the Hudson Kiver, now it is
called Albany, which was called Peinpotowwiithut-Muhheeannenw, or the fireplace of the
Muhheakiinuuk nation, where their allies u.sed to come on any business, whether relating- to
the covenant of their friendship or other matters. The etymology of the word Miihheakun-
mik, according- to its original signification, is great water.s or sea, which are constantly in
motion, either ebbing or flowing. Our forefathers assert that they were emigrants from
another country ; that they passed over great waters, where this and the other country was
nearly connected, called Ukhokpeek ; it signifies snake water or water where snakes are
abundant ; and tliat they lived by the side of a great water or sea, whence they derived the
name of the Muhheakiinnuk nation. Mnhheakannenw signifies a man of the Mahheakiuinuk
tribe. Miihlieakuiineyuk is a plural number. As they were coming from the west they found
many great waters, but none of a How and ebb like Muhheakannnk until they came to Hud-
son's River. Then thej' said to one another, this is like Muhheakaiinuk, our nativity. And

ABORIGINAL I.MIA I'.riA. NTS

when they foiinil yiain was very plenty in tluit eonntry, they agreed to kiniUe ii tire there
ami liiiny a kettle whereof they and thiNr eliildren after them might di)i unt their daily
refreshment.'

Tlic ii;!iiie iiiven by tlie .Moliiciins iind ilir Lciiaiics to I lie lliidsoii
Ilivcr was tlu' ^rohicanitiik, or KiviT of the Moliicans, siiiiiifviiiji " tli(?
coustaiitlj' liuwiui; waters." I>y the Iroquois it was called the Oolui-
tatea.

The ^roliicaiis behniiL;ed to tlie liiM'at .MiidiKniin race stock, which
iiiav be said to have embraced all the Indian uatioiis from the Atlantic

TOTKMIC SICN.MTRKS.

to the Mississippi. Its different br.-inclies had a ficiieral similarity of
lan!iiiai;e, and whih^ the separate modihcations were numerous and
extreuie, all the liidians within these boumls understood one another.

The ^lohican power is reii'ai'ded by llultenber as hardly less formid-
able than that of the Iroquois, and lie points out that not withstandiniu;
the boasted stipreuiac^' of the Iro(|unis in war I here is no historical
evidence that the Midiirans wei-e ever hrouylit under subjection to
them or despoiled of any portion of theii- lerrit(H-y. Vet it is uiKpies-
tionable that the Iroquois exactecl and received tribute fmm tiir Lon<;
Island Indians; and this could hardly have hapjiened wiiiiout jtre-
viously (d)tainin!.i thuninion over the Mohicans. On the oilier hand, it
is certain that the ^lohicans never tamely submitted to tlic northern
conquerors. " When the Dutch first nu^t the >r(diicans," says l{ut-
tenber, " they were in conflict with the Mohawks (an Iroquois nation),
and that conflict was nuiinlainrij for nearly three-(|mirters nf a c(»n-

■ Massaehusetts Hist. Soe. Coll., ii.. H'l.

The editor submlttert tile above ti) Mr. Will-
iam Wallace Tiioker for his eritical opiiiinii.
The following is Mr. Tooker's repl.v:

■• This ct.vnioloc.v of Miiliheakunnuk. or Miih-

(,'ive.s the true derivation In hia ' Names lu
Conneetleiit.' p. :U. viz.: 'The Mohegans, or
Miililiel<aiinc'nks. took their trihe name from
Ilie Ai^'onkin maiiiKan. "a wolf."' The mapa
anil reconis prove Oils conelnslvely."

heoanneiiw. is (leeldedly wrijny

Trnmbull

24 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tury, and until the English, wlio were in aliiaiu'e witli both, were able
to effect a permanent settlement."

Although the Mohican name was generic for all the tribes on the
eastern side of the Hudson, it never occurs, at least in the southern
part of Xew York State, in the numerous local land deeds and other
documentary agreements drawn by the settlers with the Indians. The
tribal or chieftaincy name prevailing in the district in question is uni-
formly employed. This finds a good illustration in the affidavit of
King Xiniham, executed October 18, 1780, in which the deponent says
that he is " a Eiver Indian of the Tribe of the \Yappinoes ( Wappin-
gers), which tribe was the ancient inhabitants of the east shores of
Hudson's liiver, from the City (»f New York to about the middle of
Beekman's patent (in the northern part of the ])resent County of
Dutchess ) ; that another tribe of river Indians called the Mayhiccon-
das (Mohicans) were the ancient inhabitants of the remaining east
shore of said river; that these two tribes constitute one nation." There
was, however, an intimate understanding among all the associated
tribes and minor divisions of the Mohicans, which in emergencies was
given very practical manifestation. The Dutch, in their early wars
against the Indians of Westchester County, were perplexed to find
that the Highland tribes, with A^■hom, as they supposed, they were
upon terms of amity, were rendering assistance to their enemies.

The ]\Iohicans of the Hudson should not be confused with the Mo-
hegans under Uncas, the I'equot chief, whose territory, called Molie-
ganick, lay in eastern Connecticut. The latter was a strictly local
New England tribe, and though probably of the same original stock
as the Hudson Kiver Mohican nation, was never identified with it.

The entire country south ol tiie Highlands, that is, Westchester
County and Manhattan Island, was occupied by chieftaincies of the
Wappinger division of the Mohicans. The Wappingers also held do-
minion over a large section of the Highlands, through their sub-
tribes, the Nochpeems. At the east their lands extended Ix^vond the
Connecticut line, being met by those of the Sequins. The latter, hav-
ing jurisdiction thence to the Connecticut Eiver, were, it is believed,
an enlarged family of Wappingers, '' perhajts the original head of the
tribe, from whence its conquests were pushed over the southern part
of the peninsula." The north and south extent of the territory of the
Sequins is said to have been some sixty miles. They first sold their
lands, June 8, 1()38, to the Dutch West India Company, and upon them
was erected the Dutch trading post of " Good Hope: " but ten years
later they executed a deed to the English, embracing "the whole
country to the Moha^^•k country." On Long Island were the Canarsies.
Eockaways, Merricks, Massapeags, Matinecocks, Corchaegs, Man-

ABOKK ; 1 \A 1. I M I A P.ITAXTS

PALISADED VILLAGK.

Iiaiisclls, Sccjitomips, UiiUccliaugs, Sliimic.Dcks, iiiid .\I<.iil;niks. The
prin.ip:il tril)cs on the oilier side of New Vi.rk Bay aud the west bank
of the lliidsoti ( all beloii-inji to the Lena])e or Delaware nation ) were
the Navesinks, Karitans, Ilackinsacks. Aiinackanonks. Tappans, and
Haverstraws.

The Wappinger sub-tribes or chieftaincies of Westdiester Tonnlv.
thanks chietiy to the careful researches of Bolton, are capable of

tol(>rably exact jieoj-raiihical lo.a-
tion and of detailed individual de-
scription. Bolton is followed in the
main by lJutt<'iiber, who, givinj;- due
credit to the former while addinji' tlie
results of his own iuvesti^arions. is
the final authority on the wlnde sub-
ject at the present time. No a])oio-
S'ies need be made for transferrin";- to
these pases, even quite literally.
Kuttenber's classificatiiui of the In-
dians of the county, willi iIh- inci-
dental descriptive particulars.

1. The Keckgawaw.ancs, better known by the jjcneric name nf Manhattans and so desiirnated
by Brodliead and other New York historians. Holt(Ui jjives to this ehieftaini-v the name of
Nappeekamaks, a title whieb, however, docs not a]>pear in the records exeept as tlio name of
their jirineipal villa-je on the site of Yonkers. This village of Xapjieekamak (a name si^niifv-
ing the ■• rapid water .settlement"') was, says Bolton, sitnated at the month of the Xei)perlian iir
Sawmill Uiver. The ea.stle or fort of the Manhattans or Heekgawawanes was on the north-
ern shore of .Spnyten Dnyvil Creek, and was called Xipiniehsen. It was carefnllv protected
by a strong- stockade and comnninded the romantic .scenery of the Papirinemen or Spnvten
Dnyvil and the Mobicanitnk, the jnnetion of whieb two streams was calleil .Shorackappock.
It was opposite this castle that the fight occnrred between Hndson and the Indians as he was
returning down the river. They held Manhattan Island and had thereon tbiee vilhu'cs,
which, however, it is claimed, were occnpied only while they were on hunting and tishiu" ex-
cursions. In Breeden Haedt their name is given as the Heckewackes, and it is said that in
the treaty of 1(543 Oritany, sachem of the Ilackinsacks, declared he was delegated l)v and
for those of Tappaeu, Keckgawawanc. Kicktawanc, and Sintsinc. The tract occnpied hv the
Keckgawawancs on the mainland was called Keekesick, and is described as " lying over against
the Hats of the Island of Manbates." In its northern extent it included the site of the
present City of Yonkers. and on the ejvst it reached to the Bron.v River. Their chiefs were
Kechgawac, for whom they apjiear to have been called, Fecquesmeck and Peckannieiis.
Their first sachem known to the Dutch was Tackerew(l(!;}!)). In KiS'J the namesof (ioharis,
Teattanipieer and Wcaracpuieghier ai)]>ear as the grantors of larnls to Frederick I'bilipse.

2. The Weck(;naesgecks. This chieftaincy is known to have liad, as early as Ki-tl, three
intrenched castles, one of which remained iis late as l()(i.'5, and was tlien garrisoned by eighty
warriors. Their pnnci|)al village w,as where Dobbs Ferry now stands. It is said that the
outlines of it can still be traced by numerous .shell beds. It was called \Veck(piaesgeck, and
its location was at the month of Wicker's Creek (called by the Indians the \Vys(|na<pi.i
or \Veghi|uegbe). Another of their villages was .\Iipconck, the ■' place of the elms," now
Tarrytown. Their territory appears to have extended from Xorwalk on the .Somnl to the
Hudson, and embraced consideral)le portions of the towns of Mount Pleasant, (ireenburgh,

" Note by William Wallace Tooker: This is au incorrect derivation. The uame really signiflee " Trap flshing place."

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

White Plains, and Rye, being- ultimately very largely included in the Manor of Philipsbor-
ough. Their sachem in 1G49 was Ponuiialiowhelbshelen ; in KiCO Ackhough ; in 1663
Souwenaro ; in 1680 Weskora or Weskomcu, and (Joharius, his brother; in 1681 Wessicken-
aiaw, and Conarhanded, liis brother. Tliese chiefs are largely represented in the list of
grantors of lands to the wliites.

3. The .Sint-.Sincs. These Indians were not very numerous. Tlieir most important vil-
lage was Ossing-Sing, the present Sing Sing. They had anotlier village, called Kestaubninck,
between the Sing Sing Creek aud the Kitchawonck or Croton River. Tlieir lands are de-
scribed in tlu^ deed of sale to Philipse, August 2-1, 1685, and were included in his manor

4. The Kitchawangs or Kicktawancs. Tlieir territory ai)parently extended from the Cro-
ton River north to Anthony's Xose. Ketclitawonck was their leadhig village, at the mouth of
the Croton (Kitchtawonck) River. They occupied another, Sackhoes, on the site of Peekskill.
Their castle or fort, wliicli stood at the month of the Croton, is represented as one of the
most formidable and ancient of Indian fortresses south of the Highlands. Its precise location
was at the entrance or neck of Teller's Point (called Senasqua), and west of the cemetery of
the Van Cortlandt family. The traditional sachem was Croton. There was apparently a
division of chieftaincies at one time, Kitchawong figuring as sachem of the village and castle
on the Croton and Sachus of the village of Sackhoes or Peekskill. The lauds of the chief-
taincy were principally included in tlie Manor of Cortlandt, and from them the towns of
Cortlandt, Yorktowii, Somers, North Salem, and Lewisboro have been erected.

5. The Tankitekes. They occupied the country now comprising the towns of Poundridge,
Bedford, and New Castle, in Westchester County, and those of Darien, Stamford, and New

Canaan in Connecticut,
all purchased by Na-
thaniel Turner in 1640
on behalf of the people
of New Haven, and de-
scribed in the deeds as
tracts called Toquams
and Shiphani. Ponus
was sachem of the form-
er and Wasenssue of the
latter. Ponus reserved
portions of Toquams for
the use of himself and
his associates, but with
this exception the entire
possessions of the Tan-
kitekes a])pear to have
passed under a deed to
the whites without metes
or bounds. The chief-
taincy occupies a prom-
inent place in Dutch his-
tory through the action
of Pacham, " a crafty
man," who not only per-
for Director Kieft, but also was very largely instrumental in
O'Callaghan locates the Tankitekes on the eastern side of

.MOUTAK AND PESTLK.

formed discreditable services

bringing on the war of 1645

Tap]ian Bay, and Bolton in the eastern jiortion of Westchester County, from deeds to their

lands. They had villages lieside Wampus Lake in the town of Nortli Castle, near Pleasant-

ville, in the town of Mount Pleasant, and near the present villages of Bedford and Katonali.

6. The Siwanoys, also known as "one of the tribes of the seacoast." This was one of the
largest of the Wappinger subdivisions. They occupied the northern shore of the Sound from
Norwalk twenty-fonr miles to the neighborhood of Ilellgate. How far inland their territory
extended is uncertain, but their deeds of sale covered the manor lands of Morrisania, Scarsdale,
and Pelham, from which New Roehelle, Eastchester, Westchester, New Castle, Mamaro-

ABORIGIXAr> IXll Al'.rr A.N'IS 27

neck, Mini Sfarsilale, ami iiiiitidiis of White Plains and West Farms liavr ln-cii caivcd. Tlicv
]Hi.sscssc(l, besides, |i()rti(ins of the towns of Rye and Hai-rison, and of Stanifoi'd (Conn.), anil
tlu-ie are f;ninn<ls for supposing- that the tract known as 'I'oipiains, assigned to the Taidvitekes,
was jiart of their doniinions. They had a very large villagi' on llu' lianks of Rye Tond
in the to%yn of Hye, and in the southern angle of that town, on tlie lieantifnl hill now known
as Mount Misery, stood one of their eastles. Another of their villages was on Davenixirt's
Xeek. Near the entrance to Pelhain Ncek was one of their hnrying grounds. Two large
nn)unds are [lointed out as the sepulehers of their chiefs, Ann-lloock and Nindiani. In the
town of Westchester they had a castle on what is still called Castle Hill Neck, and a village
near Bear Swamp, of which latter they remained in jiosscssion until KiSit. One of their
Sachems whose nana' has been permanently preserved in Westchester County was Katonah
(1680). Their chief Aun-Hooek, alias Wampage, was prohahly the murderer (if Ann Hutchin-
son. One of their warriors was Mayane (l(i44), "a tierce Indian, who, alone, dared to attack,
with bow and arrow, three Christians armed with guns, one of whom he shot <lead, and whilst
engaged with the other was killed by the third and his head conveyed to Kort Amsterdam. "

In tlu'ir intercourse witli the whites Ifoni I lie hci^inning the ladiijns
disphiyed a bold independence and perfect indifference to the evidences
of snperior and mysterious power and wisdom which every as])ect of
tlieir stran_i;e visitors disclosed. Though greatly astonished at the ad-
vent of the " Half Moon," and perplexed by the white skin, remark-
able dress, and terrible weapons of its crew, they discovered no fear,
and at the first offer of physical violence or duress were prompt and
intrepid in resentment. On his way up the river, at a point i)robably
below Sjiuyten Duyvil, Hudson attempted to detain two of the natives,
but tliey jumped overltoard, and, swimming to shore, called back to
him " in scorn." 1"'(M' this unfriendly demonstration he was attacked
on his return triji, ;i month later, off Spuyten Duyvil. " Whereu])on,"
he says in his journal. " two canoes full of men, with their bows and
arrows, shot at us after our sterne, in recompense wliereof we dis-
charged six muski'ts, and killed two or three of them. Tlien altnve a
hundred of them (■.•inie to a point of land to shoot at us. 'fheic 1 slmi
a falcon ;it them and killed two of them; whereui)on the rest fled into
the woods. Vet tliey manned off another canoe with nine or ten men,
who came to meet us. So I shot a falcon and shot it througli, ami
killed one of tliem. So they went their way." Thus in utter contempt
of the white man's formidable vessel and deadly gun Ihey dared assail
him at the first opiiortunity in revenge lor his olfense against ilieir
rights, r"liiiiiiiig to the attack a second tind third liiiic despite the
havoc thev had suffered.

The entire conduct of the Indians in their sidise(pieiil relaticuis with
the Euroi)eans who settled in the land and griidually absorbed it was
in strict keei)ing with the grim and fearless altitude shown upon this
first occasion. To manifestations of force they opixised all the re-
sistance they could summon, and \\ith the fiercest determination and
most relentless severity administered such reprisals, both general and
individual, as thev were able to inllicl. Their characteristics in these

HISTORY OF WESTCIIESTKU COUNTY

resiH'cts, iiiiil I heir disposition of coiiiidctc uiiteachableness as to
iiiodcratioii and Cliiistian precept, are desrrihed in quaint terms in a
lette]' written in KililS by Doniiue Jonas iiicliaelins, the first pastor in
New Amsterdam. " As to the natives of this country," writes the
fjood domine, " I find tlieni entiridy savage and wild, slrani^ers to all
decency; yea, uncivil and stupid as imsts. jiroticient in all wickedness
and i;i(dlessness; devilish men, who serve nobody but the devil, that

TIIK ri'UCilASK OF MANHATTAN" ISLAM)

is, tlie spirit which, in their laniiuage, they call Manetto, under which
title they com]u-eliend everythin*;' that is subtle and crafty and beyond
human power. They have so much witchcraft, divination, sorcery, and
Avick(Ml tricks thai they can not be held in by any locks or bounds.
They are as thievish and treacherous as they are tall, and in cruelty
they are more inhuman than the i)eople of Barbary and far exceed the
^Vfricans. I have written somethinii' concerninji tliese thinjis to sev-
eral persons elsewhere, not donblinii' that Brother Crol will have
written sufficient to your Ri.nht Bm-ei-end, or to the Lords; as also of

ABORKJIXAL INHABITANTS 29

i!ic base treachei'v and tlic imiidcrs which the Mohicans, at tin* upper
part of tliis liver, against. I'ort ( )ran,i;e, had t-oniiiiifted. . . . I have
as yet been abh^ to discover liardlv a nood jioint, except tliat they do not
speak so jeeringly and so scoffingly of I lie ( lodlike and i;lorions majesty
of tlieir Creator as tlie Africans dare to do; but it is because tliey have
no certain kno\\ledj;e of llim or scarcely any. If we spealv to theni of
God it api)ears to them like a dream, and we are compelled to speak
of Him not under the name of .Manelto, whom they know and serve —
for that would be blasphemous — but under that of some ;.;reat person,
yea of the chiefs Sackienia, by wJiicli name they — living without a
king — call those who have command of nuuiy hundreds among them,
and who, by our people, are called Sackeniakers." In striking con-
trast Willi this stern but undoubtedly just view of the Indian, as a so-
cial iii(li\ idual, is the lofty and magnanimous tribute paid to his char-
acter in its broader aspect by ('adwallader Colden after more than a
century of European occupation of the country and intercourse with
him. In his " History of the Five Indian Nations," published in 1727,
( "oldi'u says : " A poor, barbarous people, under the darkest igno-
rance, and yet a bright and noble genius shines through these dark
(douds. None of the great Ikoinan heroes have discovered as great love
of country, or a greater contempt of death, than these barbarians
have done when life and liberty came in competition. Indeed, I think
our Indians have outdone the Komaiis. . . . They are the fiercest
and most formidable people in North America, and at the same time
as ])olitic and judicious as can well be conceived."

Although exterminating wars were waged between the nutcli and
the Westchester Indians, in which both sides were perfectly rapacious,
it was the general policy of the Dutch to deal with the natives ami-
cably and to attain their great object, the acquirement of the land, by
the forms of purchase, with such incidental concessions of the sub-
stance as might be required by circumstances. The goods given in ex-
change for the lands comprised a variety of useful articles, such as
to(ds, hatchets, kettles, chtth, tirearms, and ammunition, with trin-
kets for ornament and the always indispensable rum. The simplicity
of the natives in their dealings with the whites is the subject of many
entertaining narratives. " The man with the red clothes now distrib-
uted presents of beads, axes, hoes, stockings, and other articles, and
made them understand that he would r<'turn home and come again to
see them, bring them more ])resents, and stay with them awhile, but
should want a little land to sow some seeds, in order to raise herbs to
]iut in their broth. . . . They rejoiced much at seeing each other
again, but the whites laughed at them, seeing that they knew not the
use of the axes, hoes, and the like they had given them, they having

30 HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTER COI-NIY

had lliosc liaiiiiin^ to llicir breasts as oriiaiiu'iits, and the stoi-kings
I hey liad made use of as tobacco pouches. 'I'lie wliites now put liandles
or h(dA('s in tlie I'ornier, and cut trees down before their eyes, and dug
the ground, and sliowcd I hem t lie use of the stoclciugs. Here a gen-
eral iaugliter ensued among the Indians, tliat they iiad remained fur
so hing a time ignorant of tjje use of so valuable imjilements, and had
boine with the weight of such heavy metal hanging to their necks for
sucli a length of time. . . . Familiarity daily increasing between
them and the whites, the latter now proposed to stay with them, ask-
ing for only so much land as the liide of a bullock would cover or en-
i-oinjiass, which liide was brought forward and spread on the ground
before tlH'm. 'i'liat they readily granted this re(|uest; wheretipon the
whites took a knife and beginning at one place on this hide cut it up
into a ro])e not thicker than the finger of a little child, so that by the
time the hide was cut up there was a great lieaj); that this rope was
drawn out to a great distance and llien brought round again, so that
tlie ends might meet; that they cai'efully avoided its breaking, and
that upon the whole it encompassed a large ])iece of land; that they
wei'c surprised at the su])erior wit of the whiles, but did not wish to
(•(Uitend with lliem about a little land, as tliey had enough; that they
and the A\hites li\ed for a long time contente(lly together, although
the whites asked from time to time more land of them, and jiroceeding
higher uj) the ^Mohicanitnk the\' believed they would soon want the
whole country."

The tirsi ]iui(liase of Indian lands in what is now New York State
was that of ^Manhattan Island, which was announced in a letter dated
November 5, KiiMi, from I'. Schaglien, the nu'mbtM' of the States-txcn-
era! of Ibdiand attending the " Assembly of the XIX." of the West
India ("omjiany, to his colleagues in The Ilagtu*. This letter con-
veyed the information that a sliij) had arrived the day before bringing
news from Ihe new settlement, and that "They have bought the
island ^lanliatles from the wild men f(U' the value of sixty guilders "
— $24 of our money. The ac(|uisition of title to the site of what has
liecome the second coinmei-cial entrei>ot of the world for so ridiculous
a sum which, moreovei-, was paid not in money l)ut in goods — is a
familial' theme for m iralizing and didactic writers. Y<'t ther*^ can be
no 1 1 nest ion that the value given the savages reasonably corresponded
to honorable standards of equivalent recompense. The jiarticular land
with which they ]iarted had to them no more worth than an equal area
of the water of the river or the bay, except in the elementary regard
that it was land, where man can abide, and not water, where he can
not al)ide; ^\hile to the Dutch (he sole worth lay in the cliance of its
ultimate de\-elopnient. On Ihe ollici' hand, the value received by the

<>-^^:^ .^ ^^ /^^^

•^^^ ^ iyf^^ -^''Sc^ /w^< 2^<:?^,/??«.^?^p;).3^^

^fv^JV>^ <;^«e^^^,:^ :§^-/r^c^- yvj^^^, Ji.X> g'^'^
■j-i.^^^ S-H^J^ 'sa^iH^

FACSIMILE OF SCHAGEn'S LETTER.

32 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTEU COUNTY

SL'Itli'i-s was au eiuiiu'iillv suhstautial (iiie, e-oiisistiu<; uf possessions
having a in-actioal eeouomic utility beyond auytliing- known to tlieir
pi'ovious existence. " A metal kettle, a spear, a knife, a hatehet, traus-
fiirined tlie whole life of a saA'age. A blanket was to him a whole
wardrobe." M(irc()\t-r, the uioi-al phases of such a bargain ran not
fairly be scrutinized by any fixed conception of the relative values in-
volved. It was i)urely a liargain of friendly exchange for mutual con-
venience and welfare. The Indians did not understand, and coidd
not have been expected to understand, that it meant a formal and
everlasting alienation of their lands; on the other hand, they deemed
that they were covenanting merely to admit the whites peaceably to
rights of joint occupancy. The amount of consideration paid by the
latter has no relevancy to the merits of the transaction, which was
honorable to both jiarties, resting, so far as the Dutch were con-
cerned, upon tile principle of purchase and recompense instead of
seizure and spoliation, and, on the part of the Indians, upon the basis
of amicable instead of hostile disposition.

The ])rincii)le of reciprocal exchange established in the purchase of
^lanliattan Island was adhered to in all the jtrogressive advances
made by tlie whites northward. Westchester County was never a
s(|uatti'r"s paradise. Its lands were not grabbed by inrushing adven-
turers u]ion the Oklahoma plan. De facto occtiijancy did not consti-
tute a sutficient title to ownership on the jiart of the white settlers.
Landed iiroi)rietorshij) was uniformly founded upon deeds of pur-
chase from the original Indian owners. The rivalries between the
Dutcli and English, cidminating in the overthrow of the former by
conquest, were largely occasioned by antagonistic claims to identical
strips of land — claims supjMirted on both sides by Indian deeds of sale.

But the right to buy laud from the Indians was not a. necessary
natural right inhering in any white settler. The government, tipon
the well-known ]»rinciple of the supreme right of discovery, assumed
a fundamental authority in the disposal of lands, and hence arose the
numerous land grants and land patents to specified persons, which
were based, however, under both Dutch and English law, upon pr(^-
vious extinguishment of the Indian title by deeds of sale. It is well
here to more clearly understand the ]irinciples undeT'lying this govern-
mental assumption. They have been thus stated :

Upon the discovery of this continent the great nations of Europe, eager to appropriate as
nmeh of it as possible, and conceiving that tlie character and religion of its inhabitants
att'orded an apology for considering tlieni as a people over wlioni tlic superior genins of
Europe might claim an ascendancy, adopted, as by common consent, this i)rinciple :

That discovery gave title to the government by whose sidijccts, or under whose authority, it
was made, against all other European governments, wliich title might be consummated by
possession. Hence if the country be discovered and possessed by emigrants of an existing

ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 33

and ac'kiiiiwlcflged governnient, tlie possession is deemed taken for the nation, and title must
be derived from the sovereign in whom the power to dispose of vacant territory is vested by
law.

Resulting from this principle was that of the sole right of the discoverer to acquire the
soil from the natives and establish settlements, either by purchase or by conquest. Hence
also the exclusive right can not exist in government and at the same time in private individu-
als ; and hence also

The natives were recognized as rightfnl occupants, but their power to dispose of the soil
at their own will to whomsoever they pleased was denied by the original fundamental prin-
cipb' that discovery gave exclusive title to those who made it.

The ultimate dominion was asserted, and, as a consequence, a power to grant the soil while
yet in the possession of the natives. Hence such dominion was incompatible with an ab.solute
and complete title in the Indians. Conseipiently they had no right to sell to any other than
the governnient of the first discoverer, nor to private citizens without the sanction of that
government. Hence the Indians were to be considered mere occupants to be protected indeed
while in peaceable possession of their lands, but with an incapacity of transferring the abso-
lute title to others.'

In many of the old Indian title deeds various conditional clauses ap-
pear, the savages reserving to themselves certain special rights. For
example, it was at times specified that they should retain the white-
wood trees, from Avhich they constructed their " dugout " canoes.
They always remained on the lands after sale, continuing their former
habits of life until forced by the steady extension of white settlement
to fall back farther into the wilderness. Having no conception of the
priuciph's of civilized law, and no idea of the binding effect of con-
tracts, they seldom realized that the mere act of signing over their
lands to the whites was a iiecessarily permanent release of them. They
were incapable of comjireheudiug any other idea of ownership than ac-
tual ])hysical possession, and in cases where lands were not occupied
promi)tly after sale they assumed tliat no change had transpired, and
thus frequently the same territory would be formally sold two or
three times ((\cr. besides, they considered that it was their natural
right at all times to forcibly seize lands that had been sold, expel the
settlers, and tiien resell them. The boundaries of sub-tribal jurisdic-
tion were necessarily indefinite, and consequently deeds of sale by the
Indians of one locality would frequently cover portions of lands con-
veyed by those of another, which led to much confusion.

The military power of the Indians of Westchester County was de-
stroyed forever as a result of the war of lt)t:J-t.j with the Dutch. But
it was not until after the close of the seventeenth century that the last
vestiges of tlx'ir legal ownershi]) of lan<ls in the county disajipeared.
In succeeding chapters of this History their relation to the progress of
events and to the gradual development of the county during the period
of their organiz<Ml continuance in it will receive due notice, and it is
not necessary in the present connection to anticipate that portion of

'MoiUton'8 Hist, of New York, 301.

34 HISTORY OF \\RSTCHKSTER COUNTY

our iianative. What is kimwii of their ultimate fate as a peojjle may,
howc\cr. a]i)iroiiriately be rehited hen-.

Diiriuy the Dutili wars man}' hundreds of them were slain and some
of their j^rincipal villages were given to the flames. It is estimated
that in a single Indian ronnnuinty (m-ar the present village of Bed-
ford), which was surrounded, attacked, and burned at midnight, more
than five hundred of them perished before the merciless onslaught of
the whites. After the peace of IGio their remaining villages, being
absorbed one hj one in the extensive land purchases and grants, were
by degrees abandoned. The continuance of the Indian on the soil was
entirely incompatible with it.s occupancj- by the white man. The
country, by being converted to the uses of agriculture, became un-
adapted to the pursuits of the natives, as it was (luickly deserted by
the game. The wild animals fled to the forest solitudes, an<l the wild
men followed them, until only small groups, and finally isolated fami-
lies and individuals, remained. The locality called Indian Hill, in the
Town of Yorktown, is still pointed out as the spot where the last lin-
gering band of Indians in WestcJiester County had its abiding place.

The historian of the Town of Eye, the late Rev. Charles W. Baird,
gives the following particulars (typical for the whole county) of tlic
gradual fading awa.A' of the Indians of that locality:

The fullest account of tlie con(litii)n of tlic Indians of Rye is that of Rev. Mr. Mnii-son.
" As to tlie Indians, tlie natives of the conntry," he says, in a letter to the Gospel
Propagation Society in .lannary, 170.S, " they are a decaying ])co])le. We have now in all
this parish twenty families, whereas not many years ago there were several hundred.
I have taken some pains to teach some of them, lint to no purpose, for they seem regardless
of instruction." Long after the settlement of the town there were Indians living within its
hounds, some of tliem quite near tlie village, hut the greater nuraher hack in the wilderness
that still overspread the northern ]iart of Rye. This was the ease in most of the Connecticut
towns, the law ohliging the inhahitaiits to reserve to the natives a sufficient (piantity of plant-
ing ground, and protecting the latter from insult, fraud, and violence. The twenty families
of whom Mr. Muirson speaks were reduced by the year 1720 to four or five families of
Indians, writes Mr. Bridges, " that often abide in this parish, but are frequently removing,
almost every numth or six weeks." After this date we liear little more of Indians at Rye,
except as slaves. Tradition states that in old times a l)and of Indians used to visit Rye once
a year, resorting to the heach, where they had a frolic wliich lasted several days. Another
place which they frequented as late, certainly, as tlie middle of the last century, was a spot on
Grace Church Street, at the corner of the road now called Kirby Avenue. Here a troop of
Indians would come every year and spend the niglit in a " ])ow-wow," during which tlicir
cries and yells would keep the whole neighborhood awake.

Removing, for the most part, northward, the remnants of the West-
chester Indians became merged in the kindred tribes of the Mohican
nation, Avhich stretched to the limits of the Moha^^k country al)o\c
Albany, and followed their destinies. The Jlohicans, though vastly
reduced in numbers and territorial possessions, still retained an or-
ganized e.xistence and some degree of substantial ]»ower until after
the Revolution. Ilavinucoustantl v sustained fi-icndl\- relations with

ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS

POLISHED FLESHER.

HORNBLENDE AXE.

IIAND-MADK VESSEL.

SEMI-LUNAK KNIFE.

A GORGET.

ORXAMK.N 1 ,\I. I'liTTI KV IcllND IN
INDIAN GR.4VE.

CEREMONIAL STONE OF GREEN SLATE.

INDIAN SPECIMENS FROM THE COLLECTION OF MB. .lAMES WOOD.

36 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUXTY

the settlers, it was uaturallv \\ iih tliL* colonists that rlicir sympathies
were enlisted when the strugyle with Great IJritain began. As early
as April, 1774, a message was dispatched by the provincial congress
of Massachusetts to the Mohicans and Wappiugers at their principal
village, Westenhuch, on the western side of the llndson jnst below Co-
hoes Falls, with a letter requesting their cooperation in the impending
conflict. The letter was addressed '' To Captain Solomon Ahkannu-au-
waumnt, chief sachem of the Moheackonuck Indians." Captain Solo-
mon thereupon journeyed to Boston, where, in reply to the communi-
cation from the congress, he delivered the following impressive ad-
dress :

Brothers : Wi' Imvc lu'ard yoii speak liy your letter ; we thank you for it ; we now make
answer.

Brothers ; You remember when you first eaine over the great waters, I was jjreat and you
were very little, very small. I then took you in for a friend, and kept you under my arms,
so that no one might injure you ; since that time we have ever been true friends ; there has
never been any quarrel between us. But now our conditions are changed. You have become
great and tall. Y'ou reach the clouds. Y'on are seen all around the world, and I am become
small, very little. I am not so high as yoni- heel. Now you take care of me, and I look to
you for protection.

Brothers : I am sorry to hear of this great quarrel between you and old England. It ap-
pears that blood must soon be shed to end this quarrel. We never till this day luulerstood
the foundation of this quarrel between you and the ccmntry you came from.

Brothers : Whenever I see your blood running, you will soon find me about to revenge my
brothers' blood. Although I am low and very small, I will grijie hold of your enemy's heel,
that he cannot run so fast and so light as if he had nothing at his heels.

Brothers : You know that I am not so wise as you are, therefore I ask your adWce in what
I am now going to say. I have been thinking, before you come to action, to take a run to the
v/estward, and feel tlie mind of my Indian brethren, the Six Nations, and know how they stand;
whether they are on your side or for your enemies. If 1 find they are against you, I will try
to turn their minds. I think they will listen to me, for they have always looked this way for
advice concerning all important news that comes from the rising of the sun. If they hearken
to me yon will not be afraid of any danger behind you. However their minds are attected
you shall soon know by me. Now I think I can do yon more service in this way than by
marching off immediately to Boston and staying there ; it may be a great while before blood
runs. Now, as I said, you are wiser than I ; I leave this for your consideration, whether I
come down immediately or wait till I hear some blood is spilled.

Brothers : I would not have you think by this that we are falling back from our engage-
ments. We are ready to do anything for your relief and shall be guided by your counsels.

Brothers : One thing I ask of you, if you send for me to fight, that you let me tight in my
own Indian way. I am not used to fight English fashion, therefore you must not expect I
can train like your men. Only point out to me where your enemies keep and that is all that
I shall want to know.

After the battle of Lexington, a year later, the Mohican braves
marched to the theater of war in Massachusetts, arriving in time to
participate in the battle of Bunker Hill. Subsequently, addressing a
council which met at German Flats in this State and held adjourned
sessions at Albany, Captain Solomon pledged anew the support of the
Mohicans to the American cause.

" Depend upon it," he said, " we are true to you and mean to join you. \^Tierever you go
we shall be by your sides. Our bones shall lie with yours. We are determined never to be

ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS 37

at peace with the redcoats while they are at variance witli you. We have one favov to beg.
We shouUl be glad if yon would help us to establish a niiuister amongst us, that when our
ineu are gone to war our women and ehiWren may have tlie advantage of being instructed by
liini. If we are conquered, our lands go witli yoiii's ; but if you are victorious, \\v hojie yo>i
will help us recover our just rights."

For about five years the Mohicans contiinied to serve as volunteers
in the patriot army, " being generally attached," says Washington, in
one of his letters, " to the light corps," and, he adds, conducting them-
selves " with great propriety and lidelity." They were present, and
fought with conspicuous valor, in a number of sanguinary encounters
with the enemy in Westchester County. " At White Plains, in Oc-
tober, 177G," says Ruttenber, " their united war cry, Woach, Woach,
Ha, Ha, Hach, Woach! rang out as when of old they had disputed the
supremacy of the Dutch, and their blood mingled with that of their
chosen allies."

In the spring of 1778, as a portion of the forces detached under
i-afayette to check the depredations of the British ou their retreat
fi-om Philadelphia, they assisted in the routing of the enemy in the
cngagemeut at Barren Hill. In July and August of the same year,
being stationed in Westchester County, they performed highly valu-
al)le services, culminating in their memorable fight, August 81. 1778,
at Cortlandfs Kidge, in the Town of Yonkers. where, according to the
I'.ritish commander, they lost "near forty killed or desperately
wounded," about half their number. In this fight they first attacked
the British from behind the fences, and then fell back among the
recUs, where for some time they defied all efforts made to dislodge
t liem. They were charged by an overwhelming force of cavalry, but
as the horses rode them down " the Indians seized the legs of their
foes and dragged them from their saddles." Their chief, Nimham,
king of the Wappingers, finally counseled his followers to save them-
selves, ailding, however, " As for myself, I am an aged tree; I will die
here." When ridden down by Simcoe he wounded that officer and
was about to pull him from his saddle when shot dead by an orderly.

In 1780 the surviving remnant of the Mohican warriors, some
twenty men, were honorably discharged from the army, and returned
to their homes. It was upon this occasion that Washington wrote
tlie letter above alluded to, which was a communication to congress,
re(|uesting that suitable measures be taken to provide them with
necessary clothing.

With the close of tlie Revolution the history of the IMohicans as a

1 |ih- ends completely, and even their name vanishes. From that

time they are known no longer as Alohicans, but as " Stockbridge In-
dians," from the name of a town in central Xew York, to which they
removed. Leaving their ancient seats at the headwaters of the Hud-

38 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTEK COUNTY

son, they settled in 1783-SS near the Oiieidas. They received a tract
of land six miles S(iuare in Aniiusta (Oneida ( "onnty I and Stockbridge
(Madison County ). This tract they subse<]uently ceded to white pur-
chasers by twelve dil'ierent treaties, executed in the years 1S18. 1822,
1823, 1825, 1820, 1827, 182!», and 1830. Some of them removed in 1818
to the banks of the White lUver, in Indiana, and a lar^e nund)er, in
1821, to lands on the ^Yisc<)nsin and I'ox Txivers, in Wiscdusin. which,
with other New York Indians, they had boui;lit from the Menominees
and Winnebagoes. The Stockbridge tribe numbered 420 souls in
1785 and 138 in 1818.

riiysically the Indians of Westchester County, as of this entire por-
tion (if the country, Avere remarkable specimens of manhood, capable
of marv(dous feats of endurance and free from most of the diseases in-
cident to civilized society. The early European writers testify with-
out exception that there were none among them afflicted with bodily
defornnties. The woukmi delivei-ed tlu'ir young with singular ease,
and immediately after labor were able to i-esume the ordinary duties
of life. The appearance and general physical characteristics of the
Indians are thus descrilx^d by ^'an der Donck :

Tlu'v arc well shaped and stroni;', liavinj; piteh-ldaek and lank hair, as coarse as a horse's
tail, broad shoulders, small waist, Ijrown eyes, and snow-white teeth ; they are of a sallow
eolor, abstemious in food and drink. Water satisfies their thirst; Hesh meat and fish are
prepared alike. They observe no set time for meals. Whenever hunger demands the time
for eating arrives. Whilst hunting they live some days on roasted corn carried about the
person in a bag. . . . Their clothing is most sumptuous. The women ornament them-
selves more than the men. And although the winters are very severe, they go naked until
their thirteenth year ; the lower parts of the girls' bodies alone are covered. All wear
around the waist a girdle made of seawant (shells). They bedeck themselves with hair tied
with small bands. The hair is of a scarlet color and surpassing brilliancy, which is perma-
nent and inetfaceable by rain. The women wear <a petticoat down midway the legs, very
richly ornamented with seawant. They also wrap the naked body in a deerskin, the tips of
which swing with their points. . . . Both go for the most part bareheaded.
Around the neck and arms they wear bracelets of seawant, and some aroimd the waist.
Moccasins are made of elk hides. . . . The men paint their faces of many colors. The
women lay on a black spot only here and there. . . Both are unconnnonly faithful.

Although their society was u))()n the monogamous plan, and none
of the common i((M)]»le took more than one wife, it was not forbidden
the chiefs to follow their inclinations in this respect. " Great and
jiowerful (diiefs," says Van <ler Donck, " frequently have two, three, or
foni- wives, of the neatest and jiandsomest of women, who live tog<'ther
witluiut variance." As the life of th(> Indian was spent in constant
struggle against most severe ((nidilious of existence, sensuality was
(juite foi-eign to his naturi'. This is jiowerfully illustrati'd by th<' al-
most uniformly respectful trealment accorded female jirisoners of
war. As a victor the North American Indian was entirely merciless
and cruel. His adult male ca])ti\es \\-ere nearly always doomed to

AKOUICINAL JXIIABITAXTS 39

(lealli, and if imi slain inminlialely after the battle were reserved fur
slow terture. Hut the women who fell iuto his hands were seldom
violated. Sucii forbearance was of course dictated in no way by sen-
liuieiit. The women, in common with the young children, were re-
garded by the conciuerors merely as accessions to their numbers. Un-
chastitA' was an exceptionally rare thing among the married females;
and in no other jiarticular do the different accounts of the natives
given by the earliest observers agree more markedly than in the state-
ment that both the women and the girls were peculiarly modest in
their demeanor. The Dutch farmers occasionally took Indian women
for their wives, refusing to abaiidnu them for females of their own
country-.

One of the most curious domestic iusiinitions of the Indians of this
region was the sweating bath, "made," says Van der Douck, "of
earth and lined with clay." '• A small door serves as an entrance.
The patient creeps in, seats liimself down, and places heated stones
around the sides. ^Vhenever he hath SAveated a certain time, he
immerses himself suddenly in cold water; from which he derives great
security from all sorts of sickness." Of medical science thej^ knew
nothing, except how to cure Avounds and hurts. They used for many
purposes an oil extracted from the beaver, which also was consid-
ered by the Dutch to possess great virtues. Upon the " medicine
man,'' Avho Avas supposed to effect cures by supernatural poAvers, their
reliance in the more serious cases of sickness Avas mainly placed.

Inured to abstemiousness by the rigors of his lot and but little dis-
posed to sexual gratification, the Indian yet fell an easy victim, and
speedily l>ecame an abject slave, to strong drink. It was not the taste
but tile stimulating properties of the white man's rum Avliich en-
thralled him. Hudson relates that Avhen he first offered the intoxicat-
ing cup to his Indian visitors Avhile at anciKU* in NeAV York Bay, they
one and all refused it after smelling the liquor and touching their
Hl)s to it. But finally one of their number, fearing that offense might
be taken at their rejection of it, made bold to swalloAV it, and ex-
perienced great exhilaration of si)irits in consequence, which led his
comi)anions to folloAV his example, Avith like pleasing effects. Robert
Juet, th(» mate of the " Half ^loon,"' gravely says in his journal : " Our
master and his mate determined to try some of the cheefe men of the
c(uniti-y, Avhetlier they had any treachery in them. So they took them
doAvn into the cabin, and gaA'e them so much Avine and aqua- A'ita' that
they Avere all A'ery merie."' Rum. (ir rather distillcMl licpior of . every

' The namp of Manhattan Island is pcipularly aliaihtanirnk. wliirli. in tlic Delaware lan-
snpposed to eoninieniorate these joyons inebrie- guage. means ' the island where we all became
ties. Heekewelder says: " They ealled it Man- intoxicated.' " Most popular writers have

40 HISTOUV OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

kind, sudii uaiiic to be valued \>y the savages above every other article
that thej- obtained from tiie whites, and it played a very important part
both in proinotinj; intercourse and in ilastenin^ llieir destruction. A
chief ol' the Six Naliims, in a speech delivered before the connuission-
ers <>{ I lie I'nited States at Fort Stanwix, in 1788, said: " Tlu' avidity
of the while people for land and 1 lie thirst of the Indians for spirituous
liquors were equally insatiable; that the white men had seen and
fixed their eyes upon the Indian's good land, and the Indians had seen
and fixed their eyes on the wiiite man's kei;- of rum. And nothing
could divert either of them from their desired object; and therefore
there was no remedy but that the white men must have the land and
the Indians the keg of rum.''

The Indian cliaracter has always been a matter of the most varied
accounts and estimates. While there is no room for disagreement or
misunderstanding about its more prominent separate traits, views
of it in its general aspect are extremely divergent, and extensive as
is the literattire bearing upon this subject there exists no single i)res-
entation of the Indian character in its jjroportions, at least from a
familiar pen, that entirely tills and satisfies the mind. Longfellow's
•' Hiawatha " and Cooper's Indian fictions bring out the romantic and
heroic ]iliases; but no powerful conce])tion of the Indian type, except
in the department of song and story, has yet been given to literattire.

There is one safe starting point, and only one, for a correctly bal-
anced estimate of the Indian. lie was essentially a ]ihysical being.
Believing both in a supreme good deity and an evil spirit, and also in
an existence after death, religion was not, imwever, a predominating
factor and influence in his life and institutions. In tiiis respect he
differed from most aboriginal and peculiar types. Of a stolid, stoical,
and phlegmatic nature, possessing little imagination, he was neither
capable of s])iritual exaltation nor ciiaracteristically subject to sujter-
stitious awe and fear. Idolatrous practices he had none. Among all
the objects of Indian handiwork that have come down to us — at least
su(di as belong to this section of tlie country, — in(duding the remains of
pre-Etiropean peoples, tliere are none that are suggestive of worship.
He appears to have had no fanatic ceremonials except those of the
" medicine man," wliich were extemporized functions for iininediate

ao(.-t'pted this derivation. Tlie subject of tlie Maii.Tliatin, whose oorreot translation is " the

origin of the name Manhattan is dlseusserl at island of the hills." In a private note to the

length, and with profuse citations of autliori- editor of tiiis History he says: " If the deri-

tlea for different derivations— which are ex- ^'ation Heekeweider gives is accurate, Van der

ceedinsly varied — by Mr. William Wallace Donck would not have written: 'In the In-

Tooker. in the " Brooklyn Eaj;le Almanac " for dian languages, which are rich and expressive,

1897. pp. 270-281. Mr. Tooker arrives at the tlicy have no word to express drunkenness,

conclusion that the earliest form of the word I'nmkeii men they call fools.' "
Manhattan, so far as has been discovered, was

AKOKICINAI, IMIAIUTANTS 41

plivsiral ciul.s latlicr lliaii i-i'i;ulajl.\ onlaiiit'd itjrmularicis cxpix'ssive
of a real system of abstractions. Jle was a pure physical barbarian.
I lis coiu'cittions of ](rinci]i]('s of v\ix\\\ and A\roiijj;', of social obi ij^al ions,
and of yood and bad conduct, were limited to experience and customs
having no other relations than to physical well being. Thus there was
neilher sensibility nor grossness in his character, and thus he stood
solitary and aloof fi-om the rest of mankind. .Vll sensitive and imagi-
native races, like those of Mexico, South America, the West Indies,
and the Orient, easily commingle with European conquerors; and the
same is true of strictly gross jtcoidcs, like the heathenish native tribes
of .\ IVica. Sensibility and grossness, like genius and insanity, are, in-
deed, closely allied; where eitlu'r (|ualify is present it affords the fun-
damentals of social communion for cultivated man, but where both are
lacking no possible basis for association exists. In these and like re-
flections may perhaps be found the true key to the character of the
Indian.

As we have indicated, the religion of the Westchester and kindred
Indians did not rise to the dignity of a defined institution. Ry the
term, the Indian religion, we understand only a set of elementary be-
liefs, unaccompanied by an establishment of any kind. The Great
Spirit of the Indians of this locality was called rantantowit, who was
good, all-wise, and all-powerful, and to \vliose ha])py hunting grounds
they hoped to go after death, although t lieii' beliefs also comprehended
llie idea of exclusion from those realms of such Indians as were re-
garded l»y him with displeasure. The Spirit of Evil they calle<l Ilob-
bamocko. The home of Cantantowit tliey located in the southwest.
\\iience came the fair winds; and they accordingly interred their dead
in a sitting position with their faces looking in that direction and their
valuable possessions, including food for the soul's journey, beside
them. The customs and ceremonials attending decease and sepulture
are thus described by Ruttenber :

When death occurred the next of Icin closed the eyes of the deceased. The men made no
noise over the dead, but tlie women made frantic demonstrations of grief, striking tlieir
breasts, tearing their faces, and calling loudly the name of the deceased day and night.
Their loudest lamentations were on the death of their sons and husbands. On such occasions
they cut otf their hair and bound it on the grave in the jiresciu'e of all their relatives, jiainted
their faces pitch black, and in a deerskin jerkin mourned the dead a full year In burying
their dead the body was placed in a sitting posture, and beside it were placed a pot, kettle,
jilattcr, s])oou, and money and provisions for use in the other world. Wood was then placed
around the body, and the whole covered with earth and .stones, outside of which palisades
were erected, fastened in such a niamu'r that the tond) resendded a little liouse. To these
tond)s great respect was paid, and to violate them was deemed an unpardonable ])rovocation.

To review the separate aspects of their social life and economy, in-
cluding their domestic arrangements, their arts and mannfaclnres,
their agriculture, their trade relations with one another, and the like

42 HISTOUV OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

incideutal details, woulil iviiuii-c nnich iiidi-i' si)ace than can be j^iven
iu these pages. Fi»r siuh more minute partiniiars the reader is re-
ferred to the various fdi'uial works im the North American Indian. Ir
will snttice to present some of tlie more prominent outlines.

'i'heir lunises, savs IJuttenber, were, for the most part, built after
one i)lan, differing only in length. They Avere formed by long, slender
hickory saplings set in the ground, in a straight line of two rows, as far
asunder as they intended the width to be, and the rows continuing as
far as they intended the length to be. The poles were then bent to-
ward each other in tlie form of an arch and secured together, giving
the api»earance of a garden arbor. Split poles were then lathed up
the sides and the roof, and over this was bark, lappeil (ui t he ends and
edges, wliich was kept in its place by withes to the lathings. A hole
was left in the roof for smoke to escape, and a single door of entrance
was provided. I'arely exceeding twenty feet in widtli, these houses
were sometimes a hundred and eighty yards long. " In those jihices,"
says Y:\n der Donck, " they crowd a surprising number of persons,
an<l it is surprising to see them out in open day." From sixteen to
eighteen families occupied one house, according to its size.

Of the manufacture of metals they had no knowledge. All their
weapons, implements, and utensils were fashioned from stone, wood,
shells, bone, and other animal substances, and clay. Their most note-
worthy manufactured relics are probably their specimens of pottery.
.Mr. Alexander C. Chenoweth draws some interesting deductions as
to the processes of ]iott(n"y manufacture prevalent in early times from
his examinations of specimens that lie has unearthed. lie says :

Tliey could fasliion eartlieu jars with tasteful decorations, manufacture cloth, and twist
fibers into cords. They had several methods of moldinfj tlieir pottery. One was to make
a mold of hasket work and press the clay inside. In baking, tlie basket work was burned
off, leavintr its imprint to be plainly seen on the outside of the jar. Other forms show that a
coarse cloth or a net was used for the .same purpose. Another method of molding, some-
times emjiloyed, was to twist clay in long rolls and lay it spirally to form a vessel or jar, the
folds being pressed togetlier. Tliis kind of vessel breaks easily along the spiral folds, as the
method does not insure a good union between the layers. Tlie vessels range in size from a
few inches in circuiufereuce to four feet, the depth being iu proportion to the diameter.
The study of the decoration and method emiiloyed reveal tlie iniplemeuts used f-jr that pur-
pose. Tlie imprint of a linger nail is clearly defined on some of the rudest as a decoration.
Others show the imprint of a coarse netting or cloth, while the edge of an escallop shell or
clam shell was often used. Pointed sticks, wedge-shaped sticks, and straws were also com-
mon implements for decorating with. These people twisted libers, from which they made
cloth.

Their numerous weapons, implements, and utensils of stone — in-
cluding mortars and ]K'stles, axes, hatchets, adzes, gouges, chisels,
cutting to(ds, skinning tools, perforators, arrow and spear heads,
scrapers, mauls, hammer-stones, sinkers, pendants, i)ierced tablets,
jiolishers, liipes, and ceremonial stones — of all of which s|»eci!nens

ABOKICIXAL JMIABITANTS

have bed) fouud iu Weslclicsler County, were very well \vi-(m.ulil, and,
considering' the extreme difficulties attendiujjj their fabrication on ac-
count of the entire absence of metal tools, bear high testinn)ny to the
perseverance and ingenuity of the Indians as artihcers. Tiiey liad
great art in dressing skius, using smooth, wedge-shaped stones to i-ub
and woi-lc the pelts into a jiliable shape. They produced tii-e liy raji-
idly turning a wooden stick, htted in a small cavity of anotiier ])iece
of wood, between theii- hands mil 11 ignition was effected. When they
wislied to make one of their more dur-
able canoes they had hist to lell a suit-
able iree, a task which, on account of the
iusuthciency of their tools, I'lMpiired much
labor ami time. Being unable to cut
down a tree with their stone axes, they
resorted to Hre, btirning th(» tree around
its truid< and removing the charred por-
tion with their stone implements. This
was continued until the tree f(dl. Then
they marked the length to be given to
the canoe, and resumed at the proper
jdace the ]»rocess of burning and re-
nio\ing.

Their agriculture was exceedingly
primitive. They raised only one princi-
pal crop — maize, or Indian corn. Quite
extensive fields of this were grown. In
addition, they planted the sieva beau,
the ]iumpkin, and tobacco. For culti-
vating their fields they used only a hoe

made of a clam shell or the shoulder blade of a deer. They
domestic animals to assist them in their agricultural labors and
provide them with manure for the refreshment of their exhausted
lands and with food ])rodncts — no horses, sheep, swine, oxen, or
poultry; and even their dogs Avere mere miserable mongrels, it is
said that they used fish for fertilizing the soil, but this use must
liave been on an extremely limited scale.

The extent and character of the trade relations between the Indians
of the same tribe and those of different tribes can only be inferred
from known facts which render it un(|uestionable that su(di relations
existed. For instance, tobacco, which was in universal use ann)ng
the aborigines of North America, had to be obtained by exchange in
all localities nnadapted by climate and soil to its growth. The cop-
]ier ornaments remai-ked by Hudson on the iiersons (d' the Indians

BELT OF WAMPUM.

Kid no

M HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

whiiiii Ik- met in ^s'ew York Bay must have been wrought out of metal
obtained by barter or capture from distant parts of the country, since
no deposits of native copper exist in this region. Am] Indian relics
of various kinds are constantly found wliicii bear no cDnncction to the
prevailing remains of the locality where discovered, liul on the other
hand are perfectly characteristic of other localities.

For purposes of exchange, as well as for ornament, the Indians
used wampum, a name given to a certain class of cylindrical beads,
usually one-fdurtli of an inch long and drilled lengthwise, which were
chieHy nuinufactured from the shells of the common hard-shell clam
(Venus merceuariaj. The blue or violet portions of the shells furnished
the material for the dark wampum, which was held in much higher
estimation than that made of the white portions, or of the spines of
certain univalves. According to Roger Williams, one of the earliest
New England writers on the Indians, six of the wliiti' beads and
three of the blue were equivalent to an English penny. The author
of an instructive treatise on " Ancient and Aboriginal Trade in Xorth
America"'^ (from which some of the details in the ]u-eceding pages
are taken) says of the Avampum belts, so often mentioned In connec-
tion with the history of the eastern tribes:

They consisted of broad straps of leather, upon which white and bhie wampum-beads were
sewed in rows, being so arranged that by the contrast of the light and dark colors certain
figures were produced. The Indians, it is well known, exchanged these belts at the conclu-
sion of peace, and on other solemn occasions, in order to ratif}' tlie transaction, and to per-
petuate the remembrance of the event. When sharp admonitions or threatening demonstra-
tions were deemed necessary, the wampum belts likewise played a part, and they were even
sent as challenges of war. In these various cases the arrangement of the colors and the
figures of the belts corresjjonded to the object in view : on peaceable occasions the white
color predominated ; if the complications were of a serious character, the dark prevailed ;
and in case of a declaration of war, it is .stated, the belt was entirely of a somber hue, and,
moreover, covered with red paint, while there appeared in the middle the figure of a hatchet
executed in white. The old accounts, however, are not (piite accordant concerning these
details, probably because the different Atlantic tribes followed in this particular their own
taste rather than a general rule. At any rate, however, the wampum belts were considered
as objects of importance, being, as has been stated, the t<jkens by which the memory of
remaikable events was transmitted to posterity. They were employed somewhat in the
manner of the Peruvian guijiu, which tliey also resembled in that particular, that their mean-
ing could not be conveyed without oral comment. At certain times the belts were exhibited,
and their relations to former occurrences explained. This was done by the aged and experi-
enced of the tribe, in the presence of the young men, who made themselves thoroughly
acipiainted with the shajjc, size, and mnrks of the belts, as well as with the events they were
destined to commemorate, in order to be able to transmit these details to others at a future
time. Thus the wani])um l)elts represented the archives of polished nations. Among the
Irocpu>is tribes, who formed the celebrated " league," there was a special keeper of the wam-
pum, whose duty it was to preserve the belts and to interpret their meaning, when required.

The civil institutions of the Mohican Indians were democratic,
showing but slight modifications of the ])urely democratic principle.

* Cliarles Rau, Government Printing Office, 1873.

ABORIGINAL IXIIAHITAXTS 45

" Though this people,'' says ^'all (h-r Dmuk, •• ih) uot make such a ilis-
tinetion between man and man as other nations, yet they have high
and low families, inferior and superior chiefs.'' Their rulers were
called sachems, the title usually remaining hereditarily in the family,
although the people claimed the right of election. It does not appear
that the sachems ever assumed oppressive powers, or, on the other
hand, that rebellions or intrigues against their authority were ever
undertaken to any noticeable extent. The sachem remained with the
tribe at all times, and was assisted in the government by certain coun-
selors or chiefs, elected by the people. There was a chief called a
" hero," Avho was chosen for established courage and prudence in war;
another called an " owl," who was reipiired to have a good memory
and be a fluent speaker, and who sat beside the sachem in council and
proclaimed his orders; and a third called a " runner," who carried mes-
sages and convened councils. The Indian sachems and chiefs of the
Hudson have left no names familiar to the general reader — certainly
none comparable with those of Massasoit, Miantouomoh, Uncas, and
Phili]), of New England, or Powhattan, of Virginia. Even to the local
histurian, indeetl, their names have little importance beyond that at-
taching to them from their connection with notable transfers of land
and witii rivers, lakes, and localities to which they have been applied.

In the geographical nomenclature of Westchester County, as well
as of the whole country from the Athmtic to the Pacific, are preserved
numerous permanent memorials of the vanished aboriginal race. The
fiilluwiug article on the pure or derived Indian names of our county
has been compiled specially for this work. It is not, however, pre-
sented with any claim to minute completeness.

AMERIXDIAXi XAMK.S IX WKSTCHESTER COUNTY.

BV WILLIAM WALLACK TOOKF.R.

The .\iiieiiiuUaii names of localities in Westchester County represent several dialectical
variations of the jjreat Algouquian langnajfe. While some are of the Jloliegan dialect and
akin to those of Connecticut, others partake more of the Delaware or Lenap^ characteristics
as sjiokeu in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Where either of these have been retained uneliaii>,'ed
in their plionetie elements, and without the loss of a syllable or initial letter, the task of
identification and translation of their components lias been comi)aratively easy. Many,
hinvever, that have been handed down collocpiiall)- witliout havini;' been recorded in deed or
record, liave become so altered that even tlie Amerind himself, should lie reapjiear from the
" happy huntini; ground," would be utterly unable to recognize the present sounds of the
terms as part of his native speech. Those of the ])ersonal names bestowed on places are
especially difticiilt to analyze, owing to their construction and the changes alrea<ly noted.
Many of the ])lace names were translated many years ago by .Schoolcraft, Trumbull, and
others, some correctly, and others more often incorrectly. Some of the latter were so erro-
neous that they liave been passed by the writer without notice. The ])reseiit attempts are
based upon the comparative rules of .\lgouipiian nomenclature, and are therefore not the
hasty generalization of misapplied Chippeway root terms so often used by Schoolcraft and

' Ret-enlly adopted by the Bureau of Etlmolog>'.

46 _ HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COT XTY

folldwcd 1>3' (itlifis. Tlif names mostly are descriptive appellations of the localities where
originally bestowed, and as such do not diftcr from those retained in other parts of the coun-
try where the same language was spoken.

Aci/uehotinck. — Var., A<iuea)ii>unci:, Achi/iieelif^eunm. Hutchinson's Creek, Eastchester
Creek, and a locality iu West Farms. The variations of this term are quite numerous.
Delaware, Achwowdnge.u, "high bank." See AijuehniKj, another variant.

AUpkonck. — "A ])lace of elms." This iuteriuetation, given by .Schoolcraft in 1844, is
probably correct. Allowing for the interchange or ])ermutation of / and w, as well as h and
/), occurring iu many dialects, we find its ])arallel in the Otchipwe Anip, Abnaki, anihi, " elm
tree," which with the locative completes the analysis.

Apawqunmmis. — Vav., Apawavuneis, Apairamii, E//awames. Budd's Xeek, in Rye. The
main stem of this name, Appoqua, signifies " to cover; " mis, " the stock or trunk of a tree,"
a generic, hence " the covering tree," ])o.ssihly a descri])tive term for the birch tree, and used
as a personal name.

Appama<ilipogh . — \'ar., Apparaghpoyh. Lands near Verplanck's Point, also a locality east
of Coitlandt. The main stem of this term is the same as that in the previous name, with the
sufHx /)oi((/, "a water-|)lace " or "pond." "The (lodge) covering water-])lace," i.e., a place
where the cat-tail Hag {Ti/plia Uitifolia) was cut. The Hags were used for mats and covering
wigwams.

Aqiiehung. — A locality on the Bronx River. The name of Staten Island is the same,
Acipiehonga, " A \ughh;m]i itv Mutt';" also Hockqueunk, "on high."

Apironnnli. — Rye. It means " an oyster," or " the roasted shell-fish."

Armimck. — See Cohamnng.

Armenperal. — Var., Armenperai. Sprain River. I'robably greatly corrupted. Its mean-
ing has not been ascertained. A district on the Schuylkill River, was called Armeiweruis
(Col. Hist. N. Y., Vol. I., p. o93j, probably the same name, for the )• should be p.

Axkemaen. — A personal name, meaning not ascertained.

Anpelong. — A bold eminence in Bedford. The main stem or root of this term signifies
" to raise up," aspe: Kliot uses it in the form ^sA/JoA^ay, " a height," which applies well to
the locality.

Asitmsowis. — A locality in Pelham ; a personal name probably.

Bis.iiglitick. — Var., Bisightick, a " creek." This jjrobably means " a muddy creek,"
phsigh-luck : Delaware, Assisk-tik.

Be-tHck-qua-pock. — Var., petuqiiapaen (Van der I)onck"s map). This was the " Dumpling
pond," at (ireenwich. Conn. PUuhjua-paug, " a round pond, or water-place." (See Trimi-
bull's Names in Connecticut.)

Canopus. — Name of a chieftain.

Cantetoe. — In this form not a place name, but seemingly from Caniecoy, " to sing and to
dance." Variations, Kante Kante, Cante Cante, etc. It may have been derived, however,
from Focantico, which see.

Ciilonah. — Var., Katimah, Ket-aUmah, " great nu)imtain." .Said to lie the name of a eliief.
Canleloe, by some is said to be a variant of Calimah.

Ci.iqua. — See Ki.ico. It does not mean beaver-dam in its present form.

Coliomong. — Var., Armonck, Comonck, Coh-a-mong (?) Hills, also Byram River, the bound-
ary bi'tween Connecticut and New Y^ork. The termination denotes a fishing-place — amang.
As it was a boundary it may represent a survival of Chauhun-kangamaug, "the boundary
fishing-place." Byram River may have l)een an earlier boundary, and, as such, retained to the
present day.

Cowangotigh. — A locality in West Farms ; a "boundary-place."

, . \ Schoolcraft suggests Kenotin. " the wind."

Croton. — A personal name - , t i\ 1^1 i-i i,- .,1 i 1 "

' I I prefer the Delaware hloUin, "he contends.

Eiiketaupiicuson. — Var., Ekuckefau/iacusoii. "A high ridge in Rye," also applied to Rye
Woods. This name denotes a " place where a stream opens out or widens on both sides,"
i.e., overflows, generally where the stream Mows through low lands.

Gotrahasuasing. — A locality in West Fai-ms. A Delaware form signifying "a place of
briars," or " a place where there is a hedge," comes from the same elements.

Haseco. — See Miossehassaky.

AEOUKilXAI, IXIIABITANTS 47

Honge. — Blind brook. Probably taken from Ac'/uehiinfj.

A'lA-co. — See Ke!:kistkonck.

Kitrhawong. — ^'ar., Kicktawiinr, Kechtawong, Kichtawan (Kus.ti-tchuan). Crotoii River,
denotes "a wild, dashing stream." First suggested by Soliooleraft.

Kek-e.<hirlc. — A locality Ln Yonkers. Ketch-auke, "the ]irinii]ial, or greatest ]ilaee," ])rob-
alily a i>alisaded inclosure.

Kilrhtawan. — Var., Kightowank. A locality in Sing Sing and in Cortlandt. Probably a
variation of Kitckan'ong.

Keski.itkimck. — Var., Kisco, Keskisco, Cisijiia. Originally an Indian village situated on the
hank of a creek. Massachusetts, Kishketiik-ock, " land on the edge of a creek."

Keslaubnuck. — Var., Kastoniuck {Keche-tanppen-auke). " The great encampment." A vil-
lage of the Indians (Van der Donck's map). Schoolcraft was mistaken in deriving Nyack
from this term. Nyack signifies " a point of land," and is the equivalent of the Long Island
Nyack (Kings County) Noyac (Suffolk County).

Kiicigtignock. — Var., Keicightegnack, He-ioeghtiquack. An elbow of the Croton River.
Whipiae-tigii-ack, " land at head of the cove." Compare Wiifuelaquock, the cove at Stoning-
ton. Conn.

Laaphawachking. — Pelham. None of the ccnnponents warrant a translation "as a place of
stringing beads." We would suggest rather "a plowed field or plantation." Lapechwa-
hacking, " land again broken up " for cultivation.

Maminketsuck. — A stream in Pelham. "A strong flowing brook," Manuhketsuck. Karlier
forms might suggest another interpretation.

Mamaroneck. — A river, so named after Mamaronock, a chief who lived at Wh/uaeskeck in
11)14. \'ariations, Moworronnke, Momoronah, etc. {Mohmo' -anock) " he assembles the people."

Manurxiiig. — Aii island. This form denotes a " little island." Minnewits, Miunefords,
etc., was so called after Peter Minuit.

Alyanas. — Var., Meanau, Meanagh, Meahagh, Mehanos, etc., all seem to be simply varia-
tions of the same name — a personal one, " he who gathers together." Mayanne was killed
by Ca])tain Patrick in 1(543.

Meghkeekassin. — Var., Amackassin, Mekhkakhsm, Makakassin. A large rock, noted as a
landniiu-k west of Xeperah. Delaware, Meechek-achxiiiik, "at the big rock."

Mn/iegan. — The late Dr. D. O. Brinton follows Captain Hendrick, a native Mohegan, in
translating the name as "a people of the great w'aters which are constantly ebbing and
Howing." The tribe would naturally reject a term which was fir.st applied by others. I
agree with Schoolcraft and Trmnbnll that it denotes the " wolf nation." All the early mai>s
corroborate it. See Creuxi\is's map of ItJOO, for " Xatio Luporii."

Mentipathe. — A small stream in West Farms. Probably a personal name.

Afio.i.te ?ia.t>:aky. — Var., Haseco. " A great fresh meadow or marshy land. " The sanu'
name occurs in ]iarts of Xew Kugland ; ^[l>xhhasl!uck River, near Providence, R. I.

Mo/iux. — A brook in X'orth Salem. A variant of Cnnoptis (?).

Muck'/unm.t. — A brook in Rye. A variant from Apatvquammis ('?), or perhaps a personal
name from the possessive in s.

^fo.■!hotu. — A brook in Yonkers. This looks like a made-up nanu', or else a greatly cor-
rupted one.

Muscoota. — "A meadow," or a place of rushes, sometimes applied to grassy flats bcudering
rivers.

Miitighticoos. — Var., Maltegticos, Tilicus. A personal name, probably the same as the
.\bnaki MaltegiiessS, "the hare."

Nanlchiestawack. — (Van der Donck's ma]).) Delaware, Natialschitaw-ack, "a place of
safety, i.e., a place to take care of," probably a palisaded inclosure erecte<l for defense.

Nnpjieckamack. — Var., Neperhan, Neppizan, etc. This name has been generally translated
as the " rapid water settlement," which is evidently an error. The same name occurs on
Long Island as liapnhamuck. Both the n and r are intrusive. The suffix, amack or amuck,
di'uotes " a fishing-place " ; the prefix appeh " a trap " ; hence we have appeh-amack, " the trap
fishing-place." Neperhan {npehhan) "a trap, snare, gin," etc. At the locality where the name
was originally bestowed, the Indians probably had a weir for catching fish, and this fact gave
rise to the name of the settlement. On Long Island liapahamuck \ia^ at the mouth of a

48 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

creek called Suf/gamurl.' {m'.iugge-amuctj " the bass flshing-place." Wood's X.E. Prospect,
1034, says: " When they used to tide it in and out to the rivers and creekes with long seanes
or basse nets, which stop in the fish, and the water ebbing from them, they are left on the
dry ground, sometimes two or three thousand at a set." (See Brooklyn Eagle Almanac on
"Some In<lian Kishiiig Stations Upon Long Island," 1895, pp. o4-57.)

Noch Peem. — (Van der Donck.) Var., Noapain, Ochpeen (Map 1688). This name de-
notes " a dwelling place," " an abode," " where we are," etc. Delaware, Achpeen, " a
lodge," " dwelling."

J^ipnichsen. — Indian village and castle near Spuyten Duyvil. The name denotes " a small
pond or water-place."

Unox. — Eldest son of Ponus. Onux {KOnnux) "the stranger."

Ponus. — A chief ; he jjlaces (.something).

Patthunck. — A personal name ; " pounding-mortar."

Pachamill. — (Van der Donck's map.) Name of a tribe taken from the place where they
lived, "at the turning-aside ])lace." Ue Laet says : " Visher's Rack, that is the fisherman's
bend, and here the eastern bank is inhabited by the Pachami, a little beyond where projects a
sandy )ioint." Pachanu, a sachem, takes liis name also from tribe and jdace.

Pami.ikiipkam. — A locality in C'ortlandt. Probably this on exhaustive search will be found
a personal name.

Pasipiaskerk. — (Van der Donck.) Pasiptiashecl; Pashquaahir (Pasqnexh-auke). "Land at
the bursting forth," i. «., "at the outlet of a stream ;" an Indian village at the mouth of a
stream.

Papirinemen. — Spuyten Duyvil Creek ; also place at north end of Manhattan Island. This
name has a verbal termination denoting the act of doing something, a suftix not allowable in
place names. Hence it was probably a personal name denoting " to parcel out," to divide,
to divert, variation, Pewinenieii.

Pechiininakonck. — (Van der Donck.) .\ locality in North .Salem ; probably originally an
Indian village situated on high land. Pachi/uin-ak-onk, " at the land raised or lifted np."

Pepemig/iting. — A river in Bedford. Pepe-mightug, " the chosen-tree," probably a bound-
ary mark originally.

Peppenegkek. — Var., Peppeneghak, a river and pond in Bedford. Probably a boundary
mark like the previous name ; " the chosen stake."

Pockerhfie. — See Tuckahoe (?|.

Piiningoe. — Var., Peningoe. Locality in Rye. Looks like a personal name, meaning not
.ascertained.

Pocantico. — Var., Pokanteco, Puegkanteko, Peckanlico. Tarrytown. Pohki-tuck-ut, "at
the clear creek."

Politicus. — A trail. An abbreviation of Mutightiroos {>).

Pockcotessewake. — A brook in Rye ; also another name for Mamaroneck River. Var.,
PockiiUxseu-ake. Probably the name of some Indian. The chief called Meyhlexewakes seems
to have had a name with a similar termination but different prefix. Pokessake, a grantor on
the Norwalk deed of Ki.'il.

Qiiaroppas. — White Plains, including Scarsdale. Seemingly a personal name.

Qninnnhnny. — Hunt's Point, West Farms, "a long, high place."

Itanachipie. — Bronck's land. iranat7/(/»<', "end, point, or stop." The name has probably
lost a locative. .See Seiiaxqiie.

Nalionanes.i. — A plain east of Rye. Probably so called from an Indian.

RipjMwams. — Var., A'^i/)/iO«'once (Captain John Mason, Hi4.'i). "The plautatio of Rippo-
wams is named Stamforde " (\. H. Rec, Vol. I, p. ()9). This included the territory on both
sides of Mill River. The late J. H. Trunibidl was unable to translate this name. It may
l)e rather presuming to suggest where he failed. We think we can see Nipau-apuchk in the
Delaware, or Nepau-om/isk in the Massachusetts, "a standing or rising up rock." In eollo-
qnial use ompsk is frecjuently abbreviated to ams. See Tuiiuaina.

Sachiis. — Var., Sackhoe.i. Prom the possessive seemingly a ])ersoual name. Colloquial
use changes names fieipientl}', and it may be a variant of the Delaware Sakmik, "mouth of a
stream." Compare Saugus, the Indian name of Lynn, Mass., which has the same derivation.

Sackama Wicker. — " Sachems house," Delaware, Sakama-wik-ing, " at the chief's house."

ABORIGINAL [XHABITANTS 49

Sack'wahunff. — A locality at West Farms. An evident variant of Aquehung.

Shorakapkock. — Sjmyteii Dnyvil Creek, where it joins the Hudson, "as far as the sittinj^-
down place," i.e., where there was a [Kirtage.

Shiiif/nhairossinn. — A locality in Pelhani. A])plied to erratic bowlders or rolling stones.
It probably denotes "a place of flat stones."

Sliii/i/>eiiiia. — Var., C/iappaqua. "A .separated place," i.e., " a jdace of separation." Men-
tioned as a boundary in some conveyances.

Sickhdin. — A locality in Cortlandt. A personal name.

Shippam. — New Rochelle. A personal name, ])rol)al)ly, although Eliot gives us Keechepam,
" shore."

Si(/ghes. — A great bowlder, a landmark mentioned as a boundary. Another name for
Meyhkaekas.iin. From an original Sior/k-e-ompsk-il, "at the hard rock."

Sacu)ii/te Napucke. — A locality in Pelliam. Sakunk-Napi-ock, " at the outlet of a pond or
water-place." Probably used in some conveyance to indicate the line running to this place,
hence a boundary designaticm

Sdjienrdfk. — A liook or Ijend in a stream at West Farms. " Land on a river," or " ex-
tended land ; " the name will bear both interpretations.

Sepackena. — A creek at Tarrytown.

Sachkera/i.-—A locality at West Farms.

Saproiti/hnh. — A creek at West Farms.

Sepparak. — A locality in Cortlandt. The foregoing names are seemingly variations of the
same word, denoting " extended or spread-out land." A search for early forms might change
this opinion. . " ]

Sena.'Kjua. — Croton Point on Hudson, Wanasque, " a point or ending." This name, as well
as Rauiichque, has lost its suttix. On Long Island it occurs in Wanasquattan, " a point of
hills," Wanasquetuck, " the ending creek."

Sint Sini-k. — Sing Sing. Oism-smy, " stone upon stones," belongs to the Chippeway dia-
lect and was suggested by Schoolcraft (.see Proc. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1844, p. 101). He is
also responsible for a niunber of other interpretations frequently quoted. The Delaware
form, .isiii-es-ing, " a stony place," is much better. The same name occurs on Long Island
in tjuecns County. But on the Delaware River is a place called Maetsingsiny (see Col.
Hist. N. Y., Vol. 1, pp. .j90, 596), which seems to be a fuller form of our name and warrant-
ing another interpretation : " Place where stones are gathered together," a heap of stones,
probably.

Snnkapins. — Cornell's Neck. If not a personal name, as I suspect, it may represent an
earlier Sngnpin, "a ground-nut."

Siu-kelionk. — "A black (or dark colored) place," a marsh or meadow. The Hartford
meadows, Connecticut, were called Suck'iang.

Sodkaluck. — A locality in Pelhani. "The mouth of a stream." The same as Smtgaluck
in Connecticut.

■Siiwaiioen. — -A tribe located from Xorwalk, Conn., to Hellgate. They were the Shawon-
anoes, " the Southerners," to tribes farther north.

Tammoesi.^. — Creek near Verplanck's Point. Delaware, Tumvieu-esis, "little wolf," a per-
sonal name.

Tiinrncken. — A locality in Cortlandt. Tarackan, " the crane." The name was derived
from the loud and piercing cry peculiar to the genus, especially to the Grus americana or
\\ hooping Crane, which, says Xuttall, has been "not unaptly compared to the whoo]) or yell
of the savages when rushing to battle." (Trumbull.)

Tfinkilekes. — Xame of tribe living back of Sing Sing. This is probably a term of derision
applied to them by other tribes : " Those of little worth."

Tatomiick. — This name has probably lost a syllable or more. The suffix indicates a " fish-
ing-place." On Long Island j4 rAata-amucA: denotes "a crab fishing-place." Corrupted in
some records to Kalawamac.

Toquam.^. — Var,, Toquamske. This was a boundary mark in some conveyance, or else a
well known landmark ; p'txikipi-ompsk, " at the round-rock."

Tilicus. — .\ lirook flowing north and west across the State line into the Croton River ; also
a village and postoffiee in Connecticut. An abbreviation of Mutightiaioa or MaKelico.i.

50 HISTOKY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Tuckahne. — Hill in Youkfi-s. This appears in Si)utliani])ton, L. I., and elsewhere, and
seems to have been applied to a species of trnffle or snhterranean funons (Pachyma cocoa —
Fries) sometimes called Indian loaf. The tnckaho of Virginia {tockichogh, as Captain John
Smith wrote the name) was the root of the Golden Clnb or Floating Arum (Orantium A(juati-
cmn). " It groweth like a tlag in low, marshy i)laces. In one day a salvage will gather
sufficient for a week. These roots are much the bigness and taste of potatoes." (Strachey. )

Waumainuck. — Delancj's Neck. Var., Waimanuck, " land round about." Some other
place undeistood.

Wiimpiis. — " The Opossum." A |)ersonal name.

Weckijtiaskefk. — Var., Wecliqiioesipieeck, Wiei/uoeshook, Weec(jnoesguck, etc. Schoolcraft's
suggestion, " the place of the bark-kettle," and as re|)eated in various histories, is absolutely
worthless. Tlie name is simply a descriptive ap])ellatiou of the locality where the Indians
lived at the date of settlement. Delaware, Wiquie-aakeek, Mas.saehnsetts, Wehque-askeet,
Chii)pewa, Waiekwa-ashkiki, " end of the marsh or bog."

Weghqueghe. — Var., Wyoquaiiiia. A variant of the foregoing.

Wenneehees. — A locality in Cortlandt. Probably a personal name from the final s, although
early forms, if found, might indicate with a locative an original Wmne-jie-es-et, " at the good-
tasted water-place," i.e., " a spring."

Wishijua. — " The end."

Wixxayek. — Dover. " Yellow-place. '

Waccnhiick. — A lake or pond in Lewi.sboro. Wequa-haug, " end or head of the pond."

CHAPTER III

DISCOVERY AND PKELIMINAKY VIEW

HE allui'iuj; hypotLifsis of the- discovery aud settlement of
poi'tious of this continent by the Northmen far back in the
.Middle Aiics, formerly received with ([uite general consid-
eration, tinds few snpporters at this day among tlie leading-
ant liorities on the early history of America. That the Norse colonized
(ireenland at a very early period is nnhesitatingly admitted, abnndant
proofs of their occujiancy of that country being affor<led by authentic
ruins, especially of churches and baptistries, and collateral testimony
to the fact being furnished by old ecclesiastical annals, Avhi(di seem to
indicate that as early as the eleventh century Greenland belonged
to the jurisdiction of the Catholic bishops of Iceland. It is also con-
ceded to be not impossible that accidental Norse descents from Green-
land upon the continent were made in the centuries that followed.
Hut this is merely an amiable concession to academic conjecture. It
is insisti'd that no reliable Norse remains have ever been found south
of Davis Straits: aud one by one the various relics thought to be of
Norse origin that have been brought forward, in-
cluding certain supposed Runic inscriptions, have
been pronounced incapable of acceptation as such.

Several years ago there Mas found at Inwood.
just below the limits of Westcdiester County, by Mr. inwood stonk.
Alexander C. Chenoweth (whose Indian excavations in the same lo-
cality are noticed in the preceding chapter), a stone curiously marked,
which was the subject of some archjeological discussion at the time.
The markings were claimed to be rude Kunic characters constituting
an insci'ii)tion, out of which one writer, by ingeniously interpolating
missing letters, formed the words Kirkjussynir akta, which translated
are " Sons of the Church tax (or take a census)." " I suppose it to
mean," added this writer, " that representatives of the Church of
Rome had been there to tax, or number the people, and that this stone
was inscribed to commemorate the event."' Thus it is seen that the
general region of which our county forms a \k\v\ has been connected
with the fabled ages of Norse habitation of America — whatever may
be thought of the specific ground for the connection. The Inwood

' An Inscribed Stone, by Cornelia Horsford (Privately printed, Cambridge. 1895), p. 14.

52 HISTOKY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

stone is possiblj- as plausible a specimen of "lliinie" lettei-inn as
other so-called inscribed stones which have been scrutinized and re-
pudiated by archfeologists from time to time. The all-sufficient arjiu-
ment against the Norse theory is that no satisfactory traces of Norse
residence, aside from the doubtful inscriptions, have ever been dis-
covered— no ruins of dwellinf>s or works of any kind, no personal rel-
ics, and no indisputable <;raves, — whereas such a people could not
conceivably have dwelt here without transmitting to us some more
visible tokens of their presence than laboriously carved memorials.

The authentic history of Westchester County begins in the month
of September, 1G09, when Henry lludson, in his little ship the " Half
Jloon," entered the harbor of New York and ascended the great river
which- now bears his name. But there are strong reasons for believing
that Hudson was not the first navigator to appear on our shores, or at
least in their immediate vicinity.

In 1524 Juan Yerrazauo, an Italian in the French service, sailing
northward along the coast, came to anchor at a place apparently out-
side the Narrows. In a letter dated July S, 1524, to Francis I., king
of France, he reports that he " found a very pleasant situation among
some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at its mouth,
forced its way to the sea; to the estuary of the river, any ship heavily
laden might pass with the help of the tide, which rises eight feet. But
as we were riding at anchor in a good berth we would not ventiu-e up
in our vessel, without a knowledge of the mouth; therefore we took
the boat, and entering the river we found a country on its banks well
peopled. . . . We passed up this river about half a league,
when we found it formed a most beautiful lake three leagues in cir-
cuit. . . . All of a sudden, as is wont to happen to navigators, a
violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to return to
our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region which seemed so com-
modious and delightful, and which we supposed must also contain
great riches, as the hills showed many indications of minerals." This
description, although perplexing in some of its statemenis. and there-
fore suggesting caution as to conclusions, reasonably admits of the
belief (allowing for the inaccuracies in detail which nearly always oc-
cur in the reports of the early explorers) that Yerrazauo entered and
inspected the Upper Bay. But it hardly justifies the opinion that he
passed up the river; the '• lake three leagues in circuit" could have
been no other body of water than the Tapper Bay, and the " river " up
which he went " about half a league " to reach it was evidently the
Narrows.

In the following year (1525) Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese sailor
employed by Spain to seek a passage to India, explored the coast,

DISCOVERY AND PKKLIMINATIY VIKW

which, he says, " turns southward twenty leagues to Bay St. Chripsta-
pel in 31)'. I'roni tliat bend made by the hind the coast turns north-
ward, passing said bay thirty leagues to Kio St. Antonio, in 41^, which
is north and south with said bay." Gomez's "Bay St. Chripstapel'"
was uncjiicstionably the Lower New Yorlc Bay, and his "Bio St. Anto-
nio" (so named in honor of the saint on whose day he beheld it) the
Hudson Biver. The latter conclusion is clearly established by his de-
scription of the river as '"north and soutli with said bay," Avhich, taken
in its connections, can not possibly ajjply to any other stream. To have
established the north and south direction of the river he must have
explored it for some distance. It hence becomes an entirely reason-
able inference that in 1525, eighty- four years before Hudson's appear-
ance, the Portuguese Gomez, sailing under a commission from Spain,
entered Westchester County waters. It has even been suggested that
Anthony's Nose, the peak which guards the entrance to the High-
lands, owes its name to this first voyager of the river.^

Aside from tlie records of those early discoveries of ^'errazano and
Gomez, there is much historic-
al evidence indicating that at
least the general coast con-
formation in the latitude of
New York was well under-
stood by European cartograph-
ers and navigators long before

Hudson made his memorable ™i,^

voyr.ge in (lie "Half-Moon." -i - ^^^^^^^^S^ ^ ^-*».^

This is strikingly illustrated
liy Hudson's own statement,
that in se(»king a way to India
in this region he was partly influenced by a hint received from his
friend, Captain John Smith, of Virginia, to the effect that somewhere
almut 40" north there was a strait conducting to the Pacific, similar
lo Magcdlan's Strait. Indeed, it was in studied violation of the in-
structions laid down for him by his employers at his setting out that
he turned his vessel liithei-ward. His instructions were to sail past
Nova /embla and the north coast of Siberia, through the Bering Strait
into till' Pacific, and so southward to the Dutch Indies. The famous

^i^^-ZZZ

THE '* HALF-MOON.'

* Bensou, in liis *' Memoirs." says tliat "tlie promon-
tory in the Hinlilands is called Antonie's Nose, after An-
tonie De Hoogp, sef-retary of the colony of Rensselaer-
wyck." He Rives no authority for the opinion. The
Labadist brothers called it Aiitonis Neus (L. I. Hist. Coll.i
vol. i.. p. XM^), and say that all the Highlands **bear the
names that were originally given to them.'" and this be-

cause it has the form of a man's nose. All the I>iitcli An-
tlionies appear to have claimed it in turn; but what if it
should finally api)ear that it was named by the Spaniards,
who gave the whole river into the charge of Saint Antliony ?
— SaHiiif/ Directions of Ilninj I/mLwii, tulih-il htj ihf Rev.
B. F. Ih: Costa {Alhamj, ISCO).

HISTORY OF WKSTCUESTEK COINTY

" Sailiug Directions " of Ivar IJardseu tliat he toolv witli liim to guide
his course related exclusively to far northern latitudes.

Thus it is likely that neither the honor of the original discovery of
Ihe iludsou IJiver, nor such merit as attaches to the conception of the
availability of this latitude for adventurous quest, belongs to Henry
Hudson. Proper recognition of these historical facts does not, how-
ever, involve any diunuisliing from the uni<iueness and greatness of
his achievement. He found a grand harbor and a mighty and beau-
tiful river, previously uid<nown, or only vaguely known, to the civil-
ized world. He thoroughly explored both, and, returning to Eurojje,
gave accounts of them which produced an immediate ajipreciation of
their importance and sjieedily led to measures for the development of
the country. Judged by its attendant results, Hudson's exploit stan<ls
unrivaled in the history of North American exploration. Xo other
single discovery on the mainland of this continent was so (juickly,
consecutively, and successfully followed by practical enterprise.

Henry Hudson was of English birth and training. Apart frmn this,
and frcuu the facts of his four voyages, which were made in as many
years, nothing is known of him. His first voyage was undertaken in
1G07 for the Muscovy Company, having for its object the discovery of
a northeast route to China along the coast of Spitzbergen. His sec-
ond, in 1008, to a like end, took him to the region of Nova Zembla. It
was on his third, in 1609, still looking for a short way to the Orient,
that he came to these shores. His fourth and last, in ])ursuit of the
same chimera, was in 1010-11, the expense being borne by three Eng-
lish gentlemen. He explored the bay and strait to which his name has
since been given, passed the winter in the southern part of the bay,

and on the 21st of June, 1011, was, with his
son and seven companions, set adrift in an
open boat by his mutinous crew, never to be
lieai'd of more.

When Hudson adventured forth on his
momentous voyage of 1009 he flew from the
mast of his vessel the flag of the new-born
Kepublic of the United Netherlands. Just
at that time the Netherlands were success-
fully concluding the first period of their
gigantic struggle with Spain for independence. It was, indeed, in the
same month that the " Half-^Ioon " sailed from Amsterdam (.\]U'il)
that the twelve years" truce between the Spanish and Dutch was
signed. Everywhere in Europe this was a period of transition. In
England the long reign of Elizabelh had but recently come to its end,
and already, under James 1., the first of the ill-fat(Ml Stuart dynasty, the

THE FLAG OF HOLLAND.

DISCOVERY AND PRELIMINAltY VIKW 55

events were shaping Avhicli were to luliuiuate iu the Coiunionwealth.
In France Henry IV. was still reinnini^ — that Hcnrv of Navarre who
signed the Edict of Nantes, gave peace to the warring factions of the
kingdom, and laid the foundations for the diplomacy of Richelieu and
the power of Louis XIV. In the German Empire the seeds of the ter-
rible ThirtA- Years' ^^'ar were ripening. In Sweden the young Gus-
tavus Adolphus was about to come to the throne. In Russia the dawn
of a new era was being ushered in by the accession of the first sov-
ereign of the house of Romanoff. In the south of Europe, on the other
hand, the glories of long ages of commercial, intellectual, and political
supremacy were fading away : the Italian republics were beginning to
decline, and the might of Spain was tottering to its fall. To this pe-
riod belong many of the world's greatest inventive and philosophical
intellects: Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rubens, Van Dyck, Kepler, Gali-
leo, llarvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood, and Lord
Bacon, who said of the early attempts to utilize the discoveries of
Columbus : " Certainly it is with the kingdoms of the earth as it is in
the kingdom of Heaven : sometimes a grain of mustard seed becomes
a great tree. Who can tell? " And in this grand epoch of mental ac-
tivity and political change a more rational spirit respecting the uses
to be made of America was becoming conspicuously manifest. The
sixteenth century had been wholly Avasted so far as the legitimate de-
velopment of the newly discovered lands beyond the sea was con-
cerned ; but with the first decade of the seventeenth soberly conceived
plans of orderly colonization began to be set on foot. During that dec-
ade the French inaugurated their permanent settlements in Canada,
and the English, under Captain John Smith, at last established an
enduring colony in Virginia — enduring because founded on the secure
basis of mutual self-interest, labor, and economy. Even Spain, with
all her greed for new realms to pillage, had practically abandoned the
futile hope of forcing a gateway to them at the west. It remained for
the Dutch, the most j)ractical-minded people in Europe, to make their
entry into America, in matter-of-fact times and circumstances such as
these, upon a mere quixotic expedition to the far Cathay — almost the
last one, happily, of its grotesque kind.

Hudson's employers in this enterprise were the Dutch East India
Company, a powerful corporation, which had been chartered in 1602
to trade with the East Indies, the southern and eastern coasts of Asia,
and the eastern coast of Africa. The new countries in America, and,
indeed, the entire waters of the Atlantic, were excluded from the field
of its o])erations. The company, during the less than seven years of
its existence, had enjoyed extraordinary success, and its earnings now
represented seventy-five per cent, of profit. In resolving upon a voy-

56 HISTOia OF \vi;sr(Ui:sTEit rulNTY

age for the loug de.siri'd " iioi-lliwcst passage," the coiupaiiy adnpicd
a decidedly conservative phm. There was to be no visionary explora-
tion for a possibly existini; rout«* tliroiiuli the coastline of America, but
a direct enti-ance into Aiclic waters in the region of Nova /(Mnbla. in
the hope that an open sea, or continuons passage, wonid there be
found. Hudson, an l^nglislniiaii, was i-hosen for the undcn'taking be-
cause he was known to be familiar with ilie northern seas — no Dutch
navigator of like experience being available. On the 4tli of April,
ir»09, he sailed from Amstei'dam in the '" Half- .Moon." a vessid of some
eighty tons burden, w itii a crew of twenty Dutch and English sailors.
Pursuant to ids instructions from the company, he set a direct course
for the northeast coast of America, which he reached in the latitude of
Nova 8cotia. Here, however, he abruptly departed from the plans
laid out for him, ttirned southward, passed along the shores of Maine
and Cajie ("od, and proceeded as far as Chesapeake Bay. Returning
northward from that region, he followed the windings of the coastline
until, on tlie 2d day of September, he sighted the Highlands of Nave-
sink. Dropping anchor in the Lower Bay on the 3d, he remained there
ten dajs, meantime exploring with his ship's boat the stirrounding
waters. Although his intercourse with the Indians was friendly, the
men whom he sent out in the boat provoked a conflict with them, in
which one of the exploring party, John Coleman, was killed and two
men were W'Otiuded. On the 12th of September he steered the " Half-
Moon " through the Narrows, anchoring that evening somewhere in
the Upper Bay, probably not far from the lower extremity of Manhat-
tan Island. The next day he began his voyage up the river, and after
making a distance of eleven and one-half miles again came to anchor.
It was at this stage of his journey that he attempted to detain two of
the natives, who, however, jumped overboard, swam to the shore, and
cried ba(dv to him " in scorn." Brodhead, in his " History of New
York," locates the scene of this incident opposite the Indian village of
Nappeckamack, now the City of Yonkers. But from the details given
in the Journal of Hudson's mate, Eobei-t Juet, it ajipears ])robable
that the point of aTuhorage on the loth was not above the conhnes of
Manhattan Island. It is significant that the formidable attack on
Hudson's vessel when he was retui-inng down the river, an attack in
retaliation for his treacherous act upon this occasion, occurred at
Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and ^^as clearly made by Manhattan Island In-
dians, the Indian fortress in that locality being on the southern shore
of the creek. The question, of course, is not important enough to re-
quire any serious discussion, but upon its determination depends the
fixing of the date of Hudson's entrance into Westchester waters —
that is, the date of discovery of our county and of the mainland of

rUSCOVIUtV AND PKELI.MIXAKY VIEW

New York v^lalc To our luiud, after a carcrul study of the records of
the voya!j;e, it scarcely aduiils of doubt that the " Half-Moou's " arrival
above Spuyteii Diiyvil is to be assigned not to the hrst but to the sec-
ond day of its progress up i he stream.'

Leaviug' his auclKuauc below S]niyteu i)uy\il on the inoruing of
the 14th of September,
1609, Hudson travei'sed
on that day the entire
NA'estchester shore, en-
tering the Highlands
befoi^^ nightfall. The
record of the day's sail-
ing is thus given in
Juet's Journal : " In
the morning we sailed
up the river twelve
leagues . . . and came
to a strait between two
points, . . . and it (the
river) trended north
by one league. . . . The
I'iver is a mile broad;
there is very high land
on both sides. Then
Ave went up northwest
a league and a half,
d e e p w a t e r; then
northeast five miles;
1 hen n o r t h w e s t b y
north two leagues and
a half. The lau<l grew
very high and moun-
tainous."' The "strait

between two iMiints," wliere they found the stream " a mile broad,"
was manifestly tliat portion of the river between Verplauck's and
Stony Points. Coutinning his voyage, Hudson sailed until he reached
the site of Albany-, where, finding the river no longer navigable, he was
coiisirain(Hl to turn Itack, emerging from the llighliinds into the West-
chester section about the I'ud of September. Here for the hrst time
since lea\iug the Lower Bay blood was shed. The ship was becalmed

■ n.\LF-MOON LFAVIXG .\MSTKRD.\M.

* Wood, in his account of the Discovery and
Sottiement of Wi-stchestor Counl.v, in Scharfs
History, accepts Brodbead's date; but Dr. Coie,

in bis History of Vonkors in tbc same work
(ii.. 4). reviewing tbe statements in Juefs Jour-
nal, decides upon the 14th of September.

58 HISTOKY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTr

off Stouy Poiut. ill the " strait "' described by Juet, aud the uatives,
animated solely by curiosity, came out in their canoes, some of them
being received on board. The occupant of oue of the cauoes, which
kept " haujiing under the stern," was detected in pilfering from the
cabin windows, having secreted " a pillow and two shirts and two
bandaliers." Whereupon the " mate shot at him, and struck him on
the breast, ami killed him."' The visitors now tied precipitately, those
on board the " Half-Moon " jumping into the water. A boat was low-
ered from the ship to recover the stolen property, and one of the In-
dians in the water liad the temerity to take hold of it, at which " the
cook seized a sword aud cut oft" one of his hands, and he was drowned.''
It is difti'-ult to characterize the shooting of the Indian thief otherwise
than as wanton murder, and this whole episode stands to the serious
discredit of Hudson and his companions. At Spuyten Duyvil the next
day Avas fought the historic encounter with the Indians of that local-
ity, who, harboring bitter resentment because of Hudson's attempted
forcible detention of two of their people on his journey up-stream, now
met him with a fleet of canoes and most valorously gave him battle.
The details of this tight have been given in our chapter on the Indians,
and need not be repeated here. It is noticeable that the only san-
guinary incidents of Hudson's exploration of the river occurred along
the Westchester coast.

Sailing away from the scene of this bloody conflict, the " Half
Moon " passed out of the Narrows on the ith of October, just oue
month and a day after its arrival in the Lower Bay, and proceeded
direct to Europe, reaching the port of Dartmouth, England, on the
7th of November. The English authorities, reluctant to concede to
Holland the right to Hudson's important discoveries, detained the
vessel for several months on the strength of its commander's British
nativity, and though it was ultimately released to its Dutch owners
Hudson himself was not permitted to return to the Netherlands. As
we have seen, he embarked under English patronage the next year
upon another chimerical adventure after the northwestern passage,
aud ended his career in 1(>11 as a miserable castaway on the shores
of Hudson's Bay. The " Half-Moon " was destined for a somewhal
like melancholy fate, being wrecked five years later in the East Indies.

By the delimitations of its charter granted in 1002, the Dutch East
India Company was excluded from all commercial operations in
America: and accordingly no steps were taken by that corporation to
develop the promising country found by Henry Hudson. Rut the
alert and enterprising private traders of Holland were prompt in
seeking to turn the new discoveries to profitable uses. While Hudson
and his ship were held at Dartmouth, that is, during the winter of

DISCOVKriY AND PKKLIMINAUY VIKW

lt»(>'.)-l(t, an jissiM iatidii (»f Dutch merchants was organized with the
object of sending "Ut a vessel to tiiese lands, and for a number of
years voyages were annually made. (Jf the tirst ship thus dispatched
Hudson's mate was placed in command, having under him a portion
of the crew >>( the " Half-Moon." These cai-ly jtrivate nndcrtaUings
were mainly in connection with the fur trade, which otTi-n-d especial
advantages on the shores of the Hudson,
wher<' at that period fur-bearing animals,
notably the beaver and otter, were very nu
merous. So abundant, indeed, was the
beaver in this part of the country that for a
long period of years beaver-skin.s f(jrmed one
of the principal items in every cargo sent t<j
Europe. A representation of the lieaver was
the princii)al feature of the ofticial seal of
New Netherland.

T 1,11.1 ,1 1 . SEAL OK >KW .NtlllKl'.I,A.Nr>.

In lijJJ a memorable voyage was made to
Hudson's liiver by Henry Christiansen and Adrian Block, two Hol-
landers, in a vessel which they owned jointly. They returned with a
goodly cargo of furs, carrying with theiu to the home country two
sons of Indian chiefs, by one of whom Christiansen, several years sub-
sequently, was murdered on a Hudson River island. In 1613, with
two vessels, the " Fortune " and the " Tiger," they came back. Chris-
tiansen, commanding the " Fortune," decided to i)ass the winter on
Manhattan Island, and built several houses of branches and bark.
Upon the spot where his little settlement stood (now 8!l Broadway i
the .Macomb mansion, occupied by Washington for a time while
President, was constructed; and the officers of the Netherlands-Ameri-
can Steamship Fine are now located on the same site. Block's ship,
the •• Tiger," tO(jk tire and was completely destroyed while at her an-
chorage in the harbor. This great misfortune operated, liowever, only
to stimulate the enterj)rise of the resourceful Dutchmen, who forth-
with, in circumstances as unfavorable for such work as can well be
conceived, proceeded to buihl another, which was named the " On-
rust," or '■ Restless." a shallop of sixteen tons" burden, launched in the
spring of l(i]4. With the " Iicstless " Block now entered upon au ex-
ploration almost as important as Hudson's own, and certainly far
more dangerous. Steering it through the East Biver, he came sud-
denly into the fearful current <d' Hellgate, whose existence was pre-
viously unknown to Europeans, and which he navigated safely. Pass-
ing the mouth of the Harlem Biver, he thoroughly exj)lored tlx- West-
chester coast along the Sound and emerged into that majestic body
of land-locked water. To Block belongs the undivided honor of the

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

discovery of Loug Island Sound, whicli had never before been entered
by a European mariner. Indeed, it was assumed up to that time that
the coastline north of the eastern extremity of Long Island was con-
tinuous, and the separation of Long Island from New England is not
indicated on any of the maps of the period. Block sailed through the
Sound to Cape Cod, discovering the CouTiofticut TJiv(>r and the other

PART OF BLOCK S MAP

conspicuous physical features. The name of Block Island, off the
coast of Khode Island, commemorates this truly distinguished dis-
coverer, and his momentous voyage. A highly interesting result of
Block's achievement was a chart of the country, which he ]ire])ared
and published, here reproduced in part. Although the outlines in
certain respects, particularly in the case of Manhattan Island, are ex-
tremely crude, they are surprisingly faithful in the parts representing
his individual res])onsibility. It will be observed that the general

DISCOVERY AND PRELIMINARY VIE^Y 61

trend of tlu' Westchester ooast on the Sound is traced almost exactly.

Keturning to Holland in the fall of 1614, with the " Fortune," hav-
ing left the " llestless " with Christiansen, Block at once became a
beneficiary of an attractive commercial offer which had been pro-
chiinied some moutlis previously by the ytates-CJeueral, or central
government, of the Netherlands. He and his companion Christiansen
were by no means the only seekers of fortune in the splendid realms
made known by the captain of the " Ualf-Moon." Other tiading ex-
peditions had gone there, and interest in the resources of this quarter
was becoming quite active. To further promote such interest, and to
arouse fresh endeavor, the States-General, in March, IGll, issued a
decree offering to grant to any person or number of persons who
should discoYer new lands a charter of exclusive privileges of trade
therewith. Upon Block's return there was pending before the States-
General an application for the coveted charter by a strong organiza-
tion of merchants, which was based upon Hudson's discovery and the
representation that the hopeful organization was prepared to make
to the region in question the number of voyages conditionally required
in the decree. On October 11, 1614, Block submitted to the States-
General, at The Hague, explicit information of his discoveries, and a
charter bearing that date was accordingly granted to him and a num-
ber of individuals associated with him (of Avhom Christiansen was
one), comprising a business society styled the New Netherland Com-
pany. This company had for its formally defined aim the commer-
cial exploitation of the possessions of Holland in the Mew World, to
which collectively the name of New Netherland was now applied. It
was in the same year and month that New England was first so called
by Prince Charles of Wales (afterward Charles 1. 1.

The grant of the States-General establishing the New Netherland
Company, after naming the persons associated in it — these ]1(M'S()us
being the proprietors and skippers of five designated ships, — describes
the region in which its operations are to be carried on as " certain new
lands situate in America, between New France and Virginia, the sea-
coasts whereof lie between forty and forty-five degrees of latitude, and
now called New Netherland."' The range of territorial limits in lati-
tude thus claimed for Holland's dominion on the American coast is
certainly a broad extension of the rights acijuired by the discoveries
of Hudson and Block, and utterly ignores the sovereignty of England
north of the Virginian region proper. On the other hand, the entire
coast to w liicli Holland now set up pretensions had already bei'U not
only comprehensively claimed by Great Britain, but allotted in terms
to the cor])orate ownership and jurisdiction of two English companies.
In KiOd, three vears before tlu' vovasic of Hudson and eiiiht vears be-

62 HTSTOUV OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

fore the tbarteriuij; t)f the Xew Xi-tlu'rlaiul Compauy, the ukl patent
of Sir Walter Ealeigh havin*,' been voided by liis attainder for treason,
James I. issued a new I'atent. ])ai-tif ioiiiiiii Rritisli America, tlien
Icnowu by the sinjile name of N'irjiiuia, into two divisions. The tirst
division, called the First Colony, was fji-anted to the London Company,
and extended finm thirty-fuiir dejirees to thirty-eijiht degrees, with
the right of settlement as far as forty-one degrees in the event that
this company should be the first to found a colony that far north. The
second division, or Second Colony, assigned to the Plymouth Company,
embraced the country from forty-one degrees to forty-hve degrees,
Avith the privilege of acquiring rights southward to thirty-eight de-
grees, likewise conditioned u])oii ]>i-i(irity of colonization. Through-
out the long controversy between England and LLolland touching their
respective territorial rights in America, it was, indeed, the uniform
contention of the English tliat the Dutch were interlopers in the in-
terior, and that the exclusive British title to the coast was beyond
question.

Attached to the charter giAen by the States-General to the New
Netherland Company was Block's " figurative map," already alluded
to. The grant accorded to the company a trade monopoly, which, how-
ever, was only " for four voyages, within the term of three yeai-s, com-
mencing the 1st of Jauuai-y, 1G15, next ensuing, or sooner." During
this three years' period it was not to be " permitted to any other per-
soTi from the TTnited Netherhnids to sail to, navigate, or fre(iuent the
said newly discovered lands, havens, or places," "on pain of confisca-
tion of the vessel and cargo whereAvith infraction hereof shall be at-
tempted, and a fine of 50,000 Netherland ducats for the benefit of the
said discovers or finders."

No obligation to settle the laud was prescribed for the company,
and, indeed, this charter was i)urely a concession to private gain-seek-
ing individuals, involving no projected aims of state policy or colonial
undertaking Avhatever, although wisely bestowed for but a brief pe-
I'iod. Under the strictly commercial reginu> of the New Netherland
Company other voyages were made, all highly successful in material
results, the fur trade Avith the Indians still being the objective. That
the scope of operations of these early Dutch traders comiyreheTided the
entire navigable portion of the Hudson Kiver is sutticiently evidenced
by the fact that two forts Avere erected near the site of Albany, one
called Fort Nassau, on an island in the riA-er, and the other Fort
Orange, on the mainland. It is hence easily conceivable that not in-
frequent landings Avere made by the bartering Dutchmen at the va-
rious Indian villages on our Westchester shore in these first days of
Hudson liiver commerce.

DISCOVERY AND PRELIMINARY VIEW

On the 1st of January, 1618, the charter of the New Netherland
Company expired by time limitation. Application for its renewal was
refused, and from that date until July, 1621, the whole of New Nethei--
hmd was a free field for whomsoever might care to assume the ex-
pense and hazard of enterprises within its borders. This i»eculiar con-
dition was not, however, due to any tla,<>f;ing of interest in their Ameri-
can ])ossessions on the part of the Dutch government, but Avas an in-
cident of a Avell-considered political proj;ramme which Avas kept in
abeyance because of the circumstances of the time, to be launched in
the fullness of events.

The twelve years' truce between Holland and Spain, signed in 1609,
was now drawing to its close. The question of the continuance of
peace or the resumption of war was still a doubtful one, contingent

upon the ultimate disposition of Spain, for the people of the Nether-
lands were resolved in no case to accept anything but absolute inde-
pendence. In the eventuality of war it would become a particularly
important ])art of Dutch jiolicy not merely to provide for the protec-
tion of the new provinces in America and their prospective inhabit-
ants, but to cope with the formidable Spanish maritime poAver in
Americiin waters, and as far as jiossible prey upon the rich commerce
of Spain with that quarter of the globe and even wrest territory from
her there. To tliis end it was more than idle to consider the recharter-
ing of a weak aggregation of skippers and their financial sponsors as
the s(de delegate and upholder of the dignity and strength of the re-
public in the western seas. If hostilities Avere to be reneAved it would
be indispensable to institute an organization in connection with NeAV
Nethcrland poAverful enough to encounter the fleets of Spain on at

64 HISTORY OP WESTCHESTER COTNTY

leasl au L'qual fuotiiii;. A ijci-rccl palleru fur surh an (ii-ganizatimi al-
ready existed in the Dutch East India Companv. The creation of a
West India Company on similar lines to meet the expected need was
the grand scheme of statecraft which caused the States-General to
reject the solicitations of the worthy traders of the New Netherland
Company for a continuatiun of thoir valuable monopoly.

This was, moreover, no newly devised plan. In 1604, two years after
the establishment of the East India Company, and long before the
first appearance of the Dutch flag- on the American coast, the concep-
tion of a AYest India Company was carefully formulated in a paper
drawn up by one William T'sselinx and presented,progTessively,to the
board of burgomasters of Amsterdam, the legislature or " states " of
Holland province, and the States-General of the nation. In this docu-
ment Usselinx proposed the formation of ''a strong financial corpora-
tion, similar to that exploiting the East Indies, for the fitting out of
armed vessels to attack the fleets of Spain and make conquest of her
possessions in the American hemisphere."^ But it was deemed inex-
pedient to samti(m such a venture at the time.

Upon the termination of the twelve years' truce, in the spring of
1621, and the revival of the war between the two countries, the Dutch
statesmen had the details of the unu-h-cherished West Indian Com-
pany enterprise thoroughly matured, and on the 3d of June of that
year the charter of the new corporation, comprising a preamble and
forty-five articles, was duly signed. The subscriptions to its stock,
which A\as required by laAV to be not less than seven millions of florins
(12,800,000), were immediately forthcoming. But although the ex-
istence of the company dated from July 1, 1621, it was some two years
before its charter took complete effect, various disputed points not be-
ing immediately adjustable. Twelve additional articles were subse-
quently incorporated, the whole instrument receiving final approval
on the 21st of June, 1623.

The Dutch West India Company, to whose care the conversion of the
American wilderness into a habitation for civilized man was thus com-
mitted, anil under whose auspices European institutions were first
planted and (U-ganized government was erected and for many years
administered here, was in its basic constitution a most notable body,
partaking of the character of a civil congress so far as that is practi-
cable for an association pursuing essential mercantile ends. It had a
central directorate or exc^cutive board, otficially styled the assiMubly
of the XIX., which was composed of nineteen delegates, eighteen be-
ing elected from five local chambers, and the nineteenth being the

Van Pelt'fl Hist, of the Greater New York. i.

DISCOVKKY AND PKKLIMINAKY VIEW Gi)

(iirect represeutative of " their High Mightinesses, the States-Geueral
ol the Uuited i'lovinces."' The hve local chambers were subordinate
bodies which met independently, embracing shareholders from Am-
sterdam, Zeelaud, the Meuse (.including the cities of Dort, Rotterdam,
and Delft), the >.'orth Quarter (Avhich comprised the cities of North
Holland outside of Amsterdam), and Frieslaud. The controlling in-
tluence in the company was that of the City of Amsterdam, which at
hrst sent eight and later nine delegates to the Assembly of the XIX.
The spheres of trade marked out for and confirmed to the company,
■ to the exclusion of all other inhabitants or associations of merchants
within the botmds of the United Provinces,"' comprehended both the
Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of the two Americas, from the Straits
of Magellan to the extreme north, and, in addition, the African coast
from the Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope.

The rights and powers vested in the corporation fell short of those
of actual independent sovereignty only in the particulars that the
more weighty acts of the companj^, as declarations of war and conclu-
sions of peace, were subject to the approval of the Dutch government,
and that the officers appointed to rule distant countries, and their un-
derliug.s, should be acceptable to the States-General and should take
the oath of fealty to the Netherlands republic. " To protect its com-
merce and dependencies, the company was empowered to erect forts
and fortifications; to administer justice and preserve order; maintain
police and exercise the government generally of its transmarine af-
fairs; declare war and make peace, with the consent of the States-
General, and, with their approbation, appoint a governor or director-
general and all other ofiicers, civil, military, judicial, and executive,
who were bound to swear allegiance to their High Mightinesses, as
well as to the company itself. The director-general and his council
A\ ere invested with all powers, judicial, legislative, and executive, sub-
ject, some supposed, to appeal to Holland, but the will of the com-
pany, expressed in their instructions or declared in their marine or
military ordinances, was to be the law of New Xetherland, excepting
in cases not especially provided for, when the Roman law, the imperial
statutes of Charles V.. the edicts, resolutions, and customs of Patria —
Fatherland — were to be received as the paramount rule of action."'

One of the primary aims in the construction of this mighty corpora-
ti(in being to establish an efficient and aggressive Atlantic maritime
]Hiwer in the struggle with Spain, very precise provisions were made
for that imiiiose. "The States-General engaged to assist them with
a million of guilders, equal to nearly half a million of dollars; and in
case peace should be disturbed, with sixteen vessels of war and foiir-

' De Lancev's Hist, of tlie Manors of Westchester County (Sclmrf, i.. 42).

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

teen yachts, fully armefl and equipped — the former to be at least of
three hundred and the latter of eighty tons" burden; but these vessels
were to be maintained at the expense of the company, which was to
furnish, unconditionally, sixteen ships and fourteen yachts, of like ton-
nage, for the defense of trade and purposes of war, which, with all
merchant vessels, were to be comnmnded by an admiral appointed
and instructed by their High ilightinesses."

And this magnificent programme of naval aggression was no mere
wordy ornamentation woven into the prosaic context of a matter-of-
fact commercial agreement for Mattering effect. The West India Com-
pany, with its ships of war and armed merchantmen, under brilliant
commanders, scoured the Spanish Main, capturing many a richly
freighted bark of the enemy, and, not content with the prizes of the

high seas, it dispatched expedi-
tions to attack the Spanish terri-
torial possessions in the Antilles
and South America, which pro-
ceeded from conquest to conquest.
By its energy and prowess, in the
name of the repxiblic of the United
Netherlands, was begun in the
first half of the seventeenth cen-
tury the work of dismemberment
of the vast Spanish empire in the
New World which now, at the
close of the nineteenth century,
has been so gloriously completed
by the arms of the i-epublic of the
United States. On the South
American mainland Brazil, a
province of Portugal, at that time
tributary to Spain, was conquered
and held for several years as
Dutch territory, and the country known as Dutch Guiana, where the
flag of Holland still floats, also yielded itself to these merchanr lu-inces
of the Netherlands. In addition numerous West India islands were
talcen. A celebrated episode of the company's naval operations during
the war was the capture of the Spanish " Silver Fleet "' (1(128), having
the enormous value of .")f4,(i()0,UU0 in our money. The financial concerns
of the corporation prospered exceedingly as the result of these and
otlier successes. In 1B20 a dividend <if fifty per cent, was declared, and
in 1030 a dividend of twenty-five i)er cent.

As we have seen; the status of the West India Company's organiza-

- /i}

DUTCH WINDMILL.

DISCOVERY AND PliKLIMIXAUY VIEW 67

tion was not exactly settled until 1623, and although it nominally en-
joyed exclusive dominion and trade privileges on the shores of the
Hudson from the 1st of July, 1021, no steps were taken to colonize the
land in the as yet unperfected state of its affairs. Before coming to
the era of formal settlement under its administration it is necessary
to complete our review of what is known of the history of the ante-
cedent years.

It is certain that the separale voyages undertaken hither by various
adventurous men between 1(510 and 1(523 resulted in no settlement of
the country worthy of the name. We find no record of any transpor-
tation of yeomen or families to this locality for the announced object
of making it their abode and developing its resources. Although there
is no doubt respecting the utilization of Manhattan Island in more or
less serious trading connections at an early period, the history of thr
first years of European occupation is involved in a haze of tradition
and myth. From the vague reports given by different voyagers, in-
genious and not ovi-r-s(ru]iu]ous writers constructed fanciful accoiints
of pretended undertakings and exploits in this quarter, which, how-
ever, being presented in sober guise, have had to be subjected to
methodical investigation. All historical scholai's are familiar with
the fanu)us Plantagenet or Argall myth. In KSIS a pamphlet was pub-
lished in England, with the title, " A Description of New Albion," by
one Beauchamp Plantagenet, p]sq., which assunu'd to narrate that in
the year 1613 the English Captain Samuel Argall, returning from
Acadia to Virginia, "landed ar ^Manhattan Isle, in Hudson's River,
where they foun<l four houses built, and a pretended Dutch governor
under the West India Company of Amsterdam," and that this Dutch
lMi])ulation and this Dutch ruler were forced to submit to the tre-
mendous power of Great Britain. The Avhole story is a sheer fabrica-
tion, and so crude as to be almost vulgar. Yet such is the continuing
strength of old i)seudo-historical statement that we still find in com-
pendious historical reference works of generally authentic character
mention of Argall's apocryphal feat of arms — the '' first conquest of
New Netherland by the English," — usually accompanied, albeit, by
the discreet "(?)" conscientiously employed by such faithful com-
pilers in cases of incertitude.

In 1019 occurred the first known visit of an English vessel to the
waters of Westchester (Aiunty and ^lanhattan Island, which merits
passing notice here for an interesting incident attaching to it. Captain
Thomas Dermer, sent by Sir Ferdinand Gorges, of the Plymouth Com-
l>any, to the Island of ]\Ionhegan on the coast of Maine, partly to in-o-
cure a cargo of fish and partly to return the unfortunate Indian slave
Squanto to his home, came sailing through Long Island Sound in his

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

ship's pinnace on a trip to Virginia wbieii lie had decided to make
after dispatching his hulen vessel back to England. Leaving Martha's
"N'ineyard, he shaped his voyage, he narrates, "as the coast led me till
I came to the most westerly part where the coast began to fall away
southerly [the eastern entrance to the Sound]. In my way I discov-
ered land about thirty leagues in length [Long Island], heretofore
taken for main where I feared I had been embayed, but by the help
of an Indian I got to sea again, through many crooked and straight
passages. I let pass many accidents in this journey occasioned by
treachery where Ave were twice compelled to go together by the ears;
once the savages had great advantage of us in a strait, not above a
bow-shot [wide], and where a great multitude of Indians let fly at us

[{ ,<j .^,"="^^^5^^^ :. ,..

HELL GATK (FROM AN OLD PRINT).

frimi the bank; but it pleased God to umke us victors. Near unto this
we found a most dangerous cataract amongst small, rocky islands, oc-
casioned by two unequal tides, the one ebbing and flowing two hours
before the other." An excellent Westchester historian, commenting
upon this description, identifies the place where the Indians '' let fly "
as Throgg's Point (the " dangerous cataract " being, of course, Hell
Gate), and adds the following appropriate remarks : " Such was the
voyage of the first Englislimnn Avho ever sailed through Long Island
Sound, and the first who ever belield the eastern shores of Westchester
County. This was five years after the Dutch skipper Block had sailed
through the same Sound from the Manhattans, and ten years after
Hudson's discovery of the Great Eiver of the Mountains. Very singu-
lar it is that fights with the Indians, both on the Hudson and on the
Sound, and at points nearly ()])posite each other, were the beginning
of civilization in Westchester County, and that the first was witli the
Dutch and the second A\'ith the English, the two races of whites which,
in succession, ruled that county and the Province and State of New
York."i

' De Lancey's Hist, of the Manors (Scharf, i., 40).

DISCOVERY AND PRELIMINARY VIEW 69

Notwithstanding the failure of the old New Netherland Company
organized by Block, Christiansen, and their associates, to get its
charter of monopoly renewed in IGlS, that organization did not pass
out of existence. To the New Xothcrland Company, moreover, belongs
the honorable distinction of liaving made the first tangible proposal
\'nv the actual settlement of the country- — a proposal quite explicit
and manifestly sincere. On h'ebruary 12, 1G20, its directors addressed
to Maurice, Prince of Orange, stadtholder or chief executive of the
Xctherlands, a petition reciting that "there is residing at Leyden a
certain I^nglish ])rea(li('r, versed in the Dutch language, who is well
inclined to pi'oceed thither [to New Netherland] to live, assuring the
jtetitioners that he has the means of inducing over four hundred fami-
lies to ncc()uii)any him thither, both out of this country and England,
judv ided they would be guarded and preserved from all violence on
the part of other potentates, by the authority and under the protec-
tion of your Princely Excellency and the High and Mighty Lords
States-General, in the propagation of the true, pure Christian religion,
in the instruction of the Indians in that country in true doctrine, and
in converting them to the Christian faith, and thus to the mercy of the
Lord, to the greater glory of this country's government, to i^lant there
anew commonwealth. all under tlu^ order and command of your Prince-
ly Excellency and the High and Mighty Lords States-General." The
directors, on their part, offered to the intending emigrants free trans-
portation in the company's vessels and cattle enough to supply each
family, upon the single condition that the government would furnish
twn warships for the protection of the expedition from pirates. This
condition was not complied with, and the scheme fell to the ground.
It is a coincidence, and very presumably no accidental one, that this
oiler was volunteered in the same year that the Pilgrims sailed from
Ibdland in the "Mayflower"' ami landed at Plymouth. Indeed, it is
well known that the original intenrion of the " Mayflower" company
was to proceed to New Netherland, and their landing on the New
laigland coast instead was the result of a change of plan almost at the
last moment. It will hence be observed that it was by the merest cir-
cumstance of fortune that our State of NeAV York did not become the
chosen seat of the Puritan element. Yet Ncav Netherland as originally
settled was just as distinctly a place of refuge for persecuted religious
sectarians as New England, the Walloons who came to New York Bay
being no less pilgrims for reasons of belief llian llie much-sung i)as-
scngers of the " Mayllower."

It should be borne in mind that the confines of New Netherland, as
that territory was understood by the Dutch government, wer(» not
limited to the shores of the Hudson Itiver, New York Bay and its

HISTORY OF "WESTCHESTER COL XTY

estuaries, and Loni; Lslainl Souud. Heuiy lludson, in his voyage of
discovery northward from Cliesapealce Bay in IGOl), had entered and
explored Delaware Bay, and in the years which followed that region
received the occasional attention (tf ships from Holland. It was em-
braced, as a matter of course, in the grant made to the West India
Company. The name North Biver, by which the Hudson is still known
at its mouth, was tirst given to it to distinguish it from the Delaware
Eiver or South IJiver, as that stream was called by the Dutch.

We liave shown, in perhaps greater detail than some of our readers
may think is necessary in the pages of a local history, that the de-
termining consideration in the creation of the West India Company
was the desire of the Netherlands statesmen to provide, in view of the
impending war with Spain, for a strong olfensive and defensive naval
arm in I he Atlantic (^cean; and that the energies of the company were
devoted on a great scale and with signal success to the realization of
this aim. The peaceful colonizing and commercial functions of the
company, on the other hand, were not outlined with any degree of

special formality in the char-

ter, but Avere rather left to the
natural course of events. Upon
this point the document speci-
tied simjily that the company
" Further may promote the
]iopulating of fertile and unin-
luibited regions, and do all that
the advantages of these prov-
inces [the United Nether-
lands], the profit and increase
of commw'ce shall require."
" Brief as is this language,''
aptly says a recent historian,
" there was enough of it to ex-
press the vicious principle un-
derlying colonization as con-
ducted in those days. It was
the advantage of thr.w provinces
that mu.st be held mainly in
view — t hat is, the home
country must receive the main
Ix'uefit from the settlements
wherever made, and commerce must be made profitable. The welfare,
present (U- prospective, of colonies or colonists, was quite a subsidiary
consideration. This accounts for much of the subsequent injustice,

THE SHIP "NEW NETHERLAND.

DISCOVERY AND PRELIMINARY VIEW 71

oppression, and neglect which made life in New Netherland anything
but agreeable, and finally made the people hail the conquest by Eng-
land as a hap])y relief."^

Early in the month of May, 1623, the first shipload of permanent
settlers from Holland came up New York Bay. They were Walloons
— thirty families of them, — from the southern or Belgic provinces of
the Lower Countries, which, having a strongly preponderating pro-
Catholic element, had declined to Join the northern Protestant prov-
inces in the revolt against Spain. These Walloons, stanch Hugue-
nots in religious profession, finding life iutoh'rable in tlieir native
hind, removed, lilvC the sturdy English dissenters, to Holland, and
there giatlly embraced opportunity to obtain jiermanent shelter from
jxTsecution, as well as homes for themse]\ es and tlieir families, in the
new cniintries of America. They were not Hollanders, and ha<l noth-
ing in common with the Dutch e.\cept similarity of religion; thej' did
not even speak the Dutch language, but a French dialect. The ship
which bore them, the " New Net lierland," \^■as a fine vessel for those
(lays, of 2(>() tons burden. It came by way of the Canaries and the
^\'est Indies, and Mas under the protecting escort of an armed yacht,
the "Mackerel." The whole expedition was conimand(^d by Cajitain
Coi'uelius Jacobsen May, in whose honor ("a]>e May. the norihcni pi-o-
UKintory at the eutrance to Delaware P>ay, was named. He was con-
stituted the governor of the colony, with liead(]uarters in Delaware
]>ay. He at once divided the settlers into a number of small parties.
Some were left on ^lanhattan Islaml, and others were (lis])atched to
Long Island (where the familiar local nanu' of the Wallabout still
lireserves the mennu'v of the Walloons), to Staten Island, to Connecti-
cni, to the vicinity of Albany, and to the T>elaware or South l»iver — al-
though the families locating on theDelawaiv returned to the northern
settlements after a brief sojourn. It does not appear I hat any of these
fii-st colonists were placed in Westchester County, or eveu Avithiu the
northern limits of Manhattan Island. Arriving in May, with seeds and
agricultural implements, they Avere able to raise and garner a year's
cro]!, and conse(]uently suffered none of the hardshi]is which iiinde the
lot of the Puritans during their first winter at Plymouth so bitter. Al-
though distributed into little bauds, which might have been easily ex-
terminated by organized attacdc, they sustained, moreover, peaceful
relations with the Indians. Thus from the very start fortune favored
the enterprise of European colonization in New York.

Having in this and the preceding chapter, with tolerable regard for
proportions, as well as attenticm to minuteness in the more important

' Van Pelt's Hist, of tlie Greater New York. i.. \^.

72 HlSTOItY OF WESTCHKSTER COUNTY

matters of detail, outlined the general conditions prevailing pre-
viously to and at the time of discovery, and traced the broader histor-
ical facts preliminary to the settlement of Westchester County, we
shall now, in entering upon the period when that settlement began,
have mainly to do with the exclusive aspects of our county's gradual
development, giving proper notice, however, to the general history and
conditions of the changing times as the narrative progresses.

CHAPTER IV

EARLIEST SETTLERS — BRONCK, ANNE HUTCHINSON, THROCKMORTON,

CORNELL

URING the first fifteen or so years after the begiimiii;;- of the
colonization of New Netherland there was no attempt at
settlement north of the Harlem Ki^er, so far as can be de-
tcrminrd from the records that have come down to us. The
earliest recorded occupation of Westchester laud by an actual white
settler dates from about 1639. At that pei"iod at least one man of
note and substance, Jonas Bronck, laid out a farm and erected a
dwelling above the Harlem. That he had predecessors in that sec-
tion is extremely improbable. The entire Westchester peninsula at
that time was a wilderness, inaccessible from Manhattan Island, ex-
cept by boat.^ The colony proper, as inaugurated by the few families
of Walloons, wlio came over in ir)23, and as subsecnu'utly enlarged by
gradual additions, was at the far southern end of Manhattan Island,
whei-e a fort was built for the general security, and wlu-re alone ex-
isted facilities for trade and social intercourse. To this spot and its
immediate vicinity settlemoit was necessarily coufined for some
years; and tlnnigh by degrees certain enterprising persons took up
lamJs considerably farther north, steadily pushing on to the Harlem,
it is most uiiliki'ly that that stream was crossed for purposes ot habi-
tation by any uuremembered adventurer before the time of Bronck.
Certainly any earlier migration into a region utterly uniidiabited ex-
cept by Indians, and separated by water from all communication witli
the established settlements, would have been an event of some im-
portance, which hardly could have escaped mention. We may there-
fore witli reasonable safety assume that Bronck, the first white resi-
dent in Westchester County of whom history leaves any trace, was

' That is. not conveniently or for practical
purposes accessible otlierwise. At Kingsliridgc,
the place of divide between Spu.vten Duyvii
Creek and the Harlem River— known in the
earliest times as " the fording place "—ven-
turesome persons would occasionally ford the
stream. In the journals of Jasper Dankers and
Peter Sluyter— a narrative of a visit to New
York In 1670— it is related (p. 135) that people
" can go over this creek at dead low water

upon rocks and reefs at the place called Spyt
den duyvel " (the original name of Kings-
bridge). The editor of this History has crossed
there when Ashing, finding the passage reason-
ably safe at '" dead low water." .4t other
times, when the tide was higher but not full,
it was fnrdablc. although dangerous, the ele-
ment of risk being enlarged t\v the rapidity of
tile current.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the first in fact, aud that with his coming, about the year 1G39, the
annals of the civilized occupation of our couuty begin.

The little colony of Walloons landed on Manhattan Island by the
ship " New Netherland '' in the spring of 10:23 was, as we have seen,
only one of several infant colonies planted on the same occasion and
governed by a director of the Dutch West India Company, who had his
hcadiiuarters in Delaware Bay. The tirst director, 0)ruelius Jacob-
sen May, was succeeded at the expiration of a year by William Ver-
hulst, who in 1026 was replaced by Peter Minuit. Previously to
Minuit's ai)p()intment little effort had been made to give a formal
character to the administration of tlie local affairs of New Nether-
laud, although the interests of I lie selth'uieuts were not ueglect(vl.
In 1025 wheeled ■\('liic]es were introduced, aud a large imx)ortaliou of
domestic animals from llolhind w.is made, including horses, cattle,

s\\iue, aud sheep. More-
l ,.v - X over, some new families

' s>«-jr. ■'. s ;^ii,i single people, mostly

Walloons, Avere brought
o\-er.

\Mth the arrival of Peter
-Miuuit, as director-geu-
eral, on IMay 4. liiL'O, The
roucerus of the colony tirst
came under a carefully
ordered scheme of manage-
ment. The settlemeuts in
New Y(uk Bay were now
made the .seat of govern-
lueiit of New Netherland.
The director-geueral A\"as
to exercise the functions of
chief executive, subject to
the advice of a council of,
five members, which, be-
sides acting as a legis-
lative and general admin-
istrative body, Avas to. con-
stitute a tribunal for the
trial of all cases at law
arising, both civil and
criminal. There were two oilier ollicers of importance^' — a secretary
oft he council and a sthout-tiscaal. The latter performed the com-
bined duties of public jtrosecutor, treasurer, and sheriff. There was

KIKtT S MDDE OF FUNISUMKNT.

THE EARLIEST SETTLERS 75

no provision for representative government, although it was custom-
ary in cases of considerable public moment to call in some of the prin-
cipal citizens as advisers, who in such circumstances had an equal
voice w'ith the members of the council. Of this custom the directors
sometimes took advantage in order to place the responsibility for
serious and perhaps questionable acts of policy upon the citizens.
The conduct of Director Kieft in entering upon his course of violent
aggression against the Imlians, which resulted in great devastation in
our county, was given th<' color of popular favor in this manner.

In the early months of Minuit's administration the Island of Man-
hattan was purchased from the Indians " for the value of sixty
guilders," or .|2I. The same ship which carried to Holland the news
of this transaction bore a cargo of valuable peltries (including 7,240
beaver skins) and oak and hickoiy timber. The first year of Minuit's
directorship was also signalized by the dispatching of an embassy
to New England, jiartly with the object of cultivating trade relations
with the Puritan settlers, but mainly in connection with the rival
English and Dutch territorial claims. Thus at the very outset of
systematic government by the Dutch in their new possessions the
controA-ersy with England, destined to be settled thirty-seven years,
later by the stern law of the stronger, came forward as a subject
requiring special attention.

It should not be supposed that the settlement on Manhattan Island
at this early period enjoyed any pretensions as a community. Indeed,
it had scarcely yet risen to true communal dignity. According to
Wassanaer, the white poi^ulation in 1628 was 270. But this number
did not I'epresent any particularly solid organization of people com-
posed of energetic and elfective elements. The settlers up to this
time were almost exclusively refugees from religious persecution,
■who came for the emergent reason that they were witliout h(>mes in
Eui'ope — mostly honest, sturdy people, but poor and unresourceful.
The inducements so far offered by the West India Company were not
sufliciently attractive to draw other classes to their transatlantic
lands, and the natural colonists of the New Xetherland, the yeomen
and linrghers of the United rrovinces, finding no appearance of ad-
vantage to offset the plain risks involved in emigi'ation, were very
reluctant to leave their native country, where conditions of life were
comfortable and profitable much beyond the average degree. This
reluctance was alluded to in the following strong language in a re-
port made to the States-General by the Assembly of the XIX. in 1029:
" The colonizing such wild and uncultivated countries demands more
inliabitants than we can well supply; not so much through lack of
population, in which our provinces abound, as from the fact that all

76 HISTOi:V OF WESTCHESTER (.'OIXTV

/^va.w^\ i„^-^c^ cj,^y^ t7«'-^'^ •-■ ^ n."'^ ■^'"^ "^^ '^-v •'*'-^

^y^w^ V .iJoM »/? >«"-^> A..Aii«. f{t~jrviA A./rfy,', Mc^-ttMyi-'i-" <■•«*" v-A V»4'ffi*^M<»* V^'-^

THE EARLIEST SETTLERS 77

•^u-SJ ?«■ iraiiX'-j Lat^Lf t-t4miU» t'.'WM^ (^C{cnr*-f- W¥in>t^ . i^C, *n'o-<>«m>-> «u>Jv-

CHARTER OF NEW NETHERLAND.

Avbo are inclined to do any sort of worlc here procure enough to eat
without any trouble, and are therefore unwilling to go far from home
on an uncertainty."

It accordingly became a matter of serious consideration for the
company to devise more effective colonizing plans. After careful
deliberation, an elaborate series of provisions to this end Avas drawn
up, entitled " Freedoms and Exemptions granted by the Assembly of
the XIX. of the Privileged West India Company to all such as shall
plant any C(donies in Xew Xetherland," which in June, 1G29, received
the ratification of the States-General. As this document «as the
basis ujion which the celebrated patroonships, including the patroon-
ship of Youkers, were founded, a brief summary of i1 is in order.

Any member of the West India Company who should settle a " col-
onie " (i. e., a plantation or landed proprietorship) in New Netherland
was entitled to become a beneficiary of the Privileges and Exemptions,
but tiiat right was witliheld from all other persons. The whole coun-

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

.>n

try was tlirowu open midn- the offer, exceptiug "the Ishuul of Man-
hattan," wliich was reserved to the company. A coh^nie, within the
meaning of the document, was to be a settlement of " fifty souls, up-
wards of fifteen years old," one-fourth to be sent during the first yeai-
and the remainder before the expiration of the fourth year. Everyone
complying with these conditions was to be acknowledged a patroon of
New Xetherland. The landed limits of the patroonships were exten-
sible sixteen P^nglish miles " along the shore — that is, on one side of
a navigable river, or eight miles on each side of a river — and so far
into the country as the situation of the occupiers will permit";
and the company waived all pecuniary considera-
tion for the land, merelj^ requiring settlement.
Upon the patroons was conferred the right to
" forever possess and enjoy all the lands h'ing
within the aforesaid limits, together with the
fruits, rights, minerals, rivers, and fountains
tliereof; as also the chief command and lower
jurisdiction, fishing^ fowling, and grinding, to the
exclusion of all others, to be holden from the
company as a perpetual inheritance." In case
" anyone should in time prosper so much as to
found one or more cities," he was to " have power
and authority to establish officers and magis-
trates there, and to make use of the title of his
colonie according to his pleastire and the quality
of the persons." The patroons were directed to
furnish their settlers with " proper instructions, in
order that tlicy may be ruled and governed conformably to the rule of
government made or to be made by the Assembly of the XIX., as well
in the political as in the judicial government." i^])ecial privileges of
traffic along the whole American coast from Fhirida to Xewfound-
land were bestowed tipon the patroons, with the proviso that their
returning ships shotild land at Maidiattan Island, and that five per
cent, of the value of the cargo shotild be paid to the company's ofHcers
there. It was even permitted to the patroons to traffic in New Neth-
erland waters, although they were strictly forbidden to receive in ex-
change any article of peltry, "which trade the company reserve to
themselves." Xevertheless they Avere free to engage in the coveted
peltry trade at all places where the Company had no trading station,
on condition that they should " bring all the peltry they can ])rocure "
either to Manhattan Island or direct to the Netherlands, and pay to
the com])any " one guilder for each merchantable beaver and otter
skin." The (•omi)any engaged to exempt the colonists of the patroons

DUTCH PATROON.

THE EARLIEST SETTLERS 19

from all " customs, taxes, excise, imports, or any other contributions
for the space of ten years." In addition to the grants to the patroons,
it was provided that pri^ ate persons, not enjoying the same privileges
as the patroons, who should be inclined to settle in New Netherland,
should be at liberty to take up as much laud as they might be able
properly to improve, and to " enjoy the same in full property." The
principle of recompense to the Indians for the lauds, as a necessary
preliminary to legal ownership, was laid down in the stipulation that
" whoever shall settle any colouit- outside of Manhattan Island shall
be obliged to satisfy the Indiaus for the land they shall settle upon."
The patroous and colonists were ciijoiued "in particular and in the
speediest manner " to " endeavor to tiud out ways and means wliereby
they may support a minister and schoolmaster, that thus the service
of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected
among them." With an eye to possible infringements upon the com-
mercial monopoly of the company, the colonists were prohibited from
making any woolen, linen, or cotton cloth, or weaving any other stuffs,
on pain of banishment. The universal recognition in those times of
the propriety and expediency of employing negro slaves in new coun-
tries found expression in Article XXX. of the instrument, as follows:
" The company will use their endeavors to supply the colonists with
as many blacks as they conveniently can, on the conditions hereafter
to be made; in such manner, however, that they shall not be bound
to do it for a longer time than they shall think proper.""

So far as this new system of " Freedoms and Exemptions " was in-
tended to encourage proprietary enterprises in Xew Xetherland. its
purposes were at once realized. Indeed, even before the tinal ratiti-
cation of the plau, several of the leading shareholders of the com-
pany sent agents across the water to select the choicest domains,
which were duly confirmed to them as patroous soon after the charter
went into effect. Thus Samuel Godyu and Samuel Blommaert,
through their representatives, made purchases of land from the
Indiaus on Delaware Bay, one hundred and twenty-eight miles long
and eight miles broad, and were created patroons in consequence.
The first patroonship erected within the borders of the State of Xew
York was that of Eensselaerswyck, comprising territory on both
banks of the upper Hudson, of wiiich Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, of Am-
sterdam, was the founder. This great tract was subsequently changed
into an English manor, and continued under the proprietorship of a
single hereditary owner until near the middle of the present century.
Another of the early patroons, Michael Pauw, acquired lands on the
west shor(^ of the Xorth River, now occupied by Jersey City and
Ilobokeu, later adding Staten Islaud to liis possessions, and named

80 HISTOIiV OF WKSTCHESTEU COUNTY

the whole district Pavonia. Westchester ( Vuiuty, as au inviting lo-
cality for a patroonship, did not immediately claim notice; but, as we
shall see, it received in due time its share of attention in this regard,
becoming the seat of one of the most noted of all the patroous, Adrian
Van der Donck.

Much discontent arose among the general membership of the \Vest
India Company on account of the land-grabbing operations of the
wealthy directors, which was intensified as time passed by continuing
evidences of the self-seeking and general thriftiness of the patroons.
It was charged that the latter paid little or no heed to the plain spirit
of the charter of Freedoms and Exenifttions, which in creating the
patroons had in view essentially the development of the country
granted to them; and that, instead of settling the land in good faith,
they sought principally the profits of trade, coming into conflict with
the interests of the company. One result of the controversy was the
recall of Minuit, who was supposed to liave shown too mucli partiality
for the patroons and too little zeal for the protection of the company
against their jiersonal enterprises. This liappcned in 1633. The
next director-general was Walter A'an T wilier, A\ho remained in of-
fice until 1638, being dismissed for promiscuous irregularities of con-
duct, both official and personal.

From the pages of De Laet, the historian of the West India Com-
pany, ^ve obtain an interesting statement of the fiscal affairs of New
Netherland to the close of Minuit's directorship — that is, to the end of
the first term of organized government. The total exports of the
Province of New Netherland from its foundation to the beginning of
1683 amounted in value to 454,127 florins. The value of the imports
during the same time was 272,847 florins. Thus for the nine years
the company realized a profit on trade transactions of 181,280 florins,
or about f8,000 annually. This was an exceedingly trifling return
on a capitalization of nearly three millions of dollars, and it is no
wonder that the practical-minded merchants who controlled the com-
pany began to look in a decidedly pessimistic spirit at the whole XeAV
Netherkind undertaking, and as time went by conceived a fix(.'d indif-
ference to the local welfare of such barren and unprofitable settle-
ments. On the other hand, the company was earning magnificent
sums in prize money from its captures of the enemy's merchaiit ships,
and was di'awing handsome revenues from the newly conquered
dominions in i^ontli America and the West Indies. Tlie cont.'mpt in
which New Netherland came to be held bec^ause of its unproductive-
ness is strikingly illustrated by the selections of men to manage its
affairs, ^"an TA\iller, who succeeded ^Minuit, was a mere coarse buf-
foon; and Kieft, who followed \'an Twiller, was a cruel and vulgar

THE EAKIJEST SETTLERS 81

despot, win) from the first regarded lii.s pusilioii as that of sovereign
lord of the country, and proceeded to rule it by his arbitrary- will, dis-
pensing with a council. It is sufficient to contrast these selections of
rulers for New Netherlaud with the choice of Prince Maurice of Nas-
sau for governor of the Province of Brazil, to appreciate the compar-
atively low and scornful estimation placed tipou the North American
realms in the inner councils of the West India Company after due
experience iu their attempted exploitation. According to an explicit
" Keport on the Condition of New Netherland," presented to the
States-deneral iu 1038, the company declared that up to that time it
had suffered a net loss in its New Netherland enterprise; that it was
utterly unable to people the country; and that " nothing now comes
from New Netherland but beaver skins, minks, and other furs."

Closely following the submission of this significant report came a
new dejiarture in policy as to colonization, which had far-reaching ef-
fects, and under Miiicli before long a tide of immigration began to roll
iiiio our section.

Kealizing at last that the splendid scheme of patroonshi])s, or a
landed aristocracy, instittited in l(i29, ai)[)ealed only to a limit<'d class
of ambitious and wealthy men, who could never be relie<l upon to per-
form the tedious and financially hazardous work of settling the cotiu-
iry with a purely agricultural iM)])ulatiou, the 8tates-<ieueral on Sep-
tember 2, l(i3S, at tlie instance of the company, made jcnowu to the
woiid that henceforth the soil of New Netherland would be ojien to
all conu'rs, of whatever position in society, whetlu'r natives of the
home country or inhabitants of other nations not at Avar willi the
Netlierlands. The specific terms attached to this very radical jiropo-
sition were the following:

"All and every the inhabitants of this State, or its allies and
friends," were invited to take up and ctiltivate lands in New Nether-
land, and to engage iu traffic with the people of that region. Per-,
sons taking advantage of the offer of traffic were required to have
tlieir goods conveyed on tlie ships of the West India Company, ])aying
an export duty of ten per cent, on merchandise sent out from the
ports of the Netherlands, and an import duty of fifteen per cent, on
merchandise brought thither from New Netherland. These certainly
were not onerous customs exactions. l{esi)ecting individuals, of
wliaiever nationality, flesiring to acMjuire and cultivate laud, the di-
iimIui- and council w(>re instructed "to accommodate everyone, ac-
cording to his condition and means, with as much land as he can prop-
erly cultivate, either by himself or with his family." The land thus
conceded was to become absolute prixate ])ro]>erty. and to be free
from burdens of every kind until after it had been pastured or cuUi-

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

viilcd lour years; but subsequi'utly To thai pcTiod the owuer was to
pay to the company " the lawful tenths of all fruit, grain, seed, to-
baroo, cotton, and sucli like, as well as of the increase of all sorts of
cattle." Those establishinji themselves in New Xetherland umler this
offer were bound to submit themselves to the regulations and orders
of the company, and to the local laws and courts; but there was no
stipuhition for the renunciation of allegiance to foreign potentates.
Considering the illiberal tendency of international relations prevalent
in the seventeenth century, and the native self-sufficient character of
the Dutcli race, this whole measure is remarkable for its broad and
generous spirit. There Avas no allusion in it to
the subject of religious conformity, and the per-
fect toleration thus implied afforded a strong in-
ducement to persons growing restive under the
narrow institutions of the English colonies. This
element, migrating from Xew England, found
the shores of Westchester County most con-
venient for settlenu'ut, and became one of the
most important and aggressive factors of our
cai-ly ])opiilation.

'I'lie noteworthy measure of 1G3S, whose pro-
visions we have just analyzed, Avas supple-
mented in July, 1(;40, by an act of the States-
(ieu'M'al effecting a tliorough revision of the
charter of Freedoms and Exemptions of 1029.
The i^atroonships wei-c not abrogated, but the
right to be chosen as patroous was no longer
confined to mendjers of the company, and the
in-ivileges and powei-s of the patroons were sub-
jected to considerable modification. The legal
limits of their estates Avere reduced to four English miles along the
shore, although they miglil extend eiglit miles landward in; and the
planting of their "colonies" Avas reiiuired to be completed within
three instead of four years. Trade inivileges along the coast outside
of the Dutch dominions were continued ;is beft)re; but Avithin the ter-
ritory of New Netherland no one Avas ]iermitte<l to comitete with the
ships of the company, excepting that fishing f()r cod and tlie like was
allowed, on condition that the fisherman should sail direct to some
European country with his catch, putting in at a Xethevlauds ])ort to
pay a i)rescribed duty to the company. In this act uuudi greater rela-
tive importance Avas attached to the siibject of free colonists, or colo-
nizers other than ](atroous, than in the origiiial charter of 1020, the
object manifestly being to assure the public that New Netherland Avas

DUTCH t'llCNTUV PEOI'I.K.

THE EARLIEST SETTLERS 83

not a country set apart for lords and o-entlemen, but a Uuul thrown
open in the most comprehensive' way to the common people. Free
colonists were detined to be those who should " remove to New
Netherland with five souls above fifteen years," and all such were, to
be granted by the director-jieneral " one lumdred moriiens (two hun-
dred acres) of land, contiguous one to the other, wherever they please
to select." The colonists were put on precisely the same footing as
the patroons in matters of trade privilege, and, in fact, enjoyed all the
material rights granted to the patroons except those of bearing a title
and administering great landed estates, which, however, were equally
within their reach in case of their ability to comply with the require-
ment for the transportation from the old country and introduction!
into the new of fifty bona fide settlers. The company assumed the
resjtonsibility of providing and maintaining " good and suitable
preachei"s, schoolmasters, and comforters of the sick'; and it ex-
tended to the free colonists, no less than the colonists of the patroons,
exem]ition from all taxes for a certain period. The former clause
regarding negroes A\as renewed in about the same language, as fol-
lows: "The company shall exert itself to provide the patroons and
colonists, on their order, with as many blacks as possible, witliout,
however, being further or longer obligated thereto than shall be
agreeable."

Thus from 1629 to KUO three distinct i)lans for promoting the set-
tlement of New Netherland were formulated and si)read before the
public. Tlie first plan, after being tested for nine years, was found a
<om])h'Ie failure, because based upon the theory that colonization
should naturally and would most effectively proceed from the patron-
age of the rich, who, acquiring as a free gift the honors of title and
the dignities of landed proprietorship, would, it was thought, readily
supi»oi-t those honors and dignities by the substance of an established
vassalage. It was soon found that such a theory Avas quite incapable
of apj)lication to a country as yet undeveloped, and that the sole reli-
able and solid colonization in the conditions which had to be dealt
with would be that pursued on the democratic princii)le and under-
taken in their independent capacity by citizens of average means and
ordinary aims. Tt stands to the credit of the West India Company
and tlie Dutch government that, having discovered their fundamental
eri'oi- of judgment in the first plan of settlement, they lost no time in
framing another, which was made particularly judicious and liberal
in its scope and details, and was as successlul in its workings as the
original scheme had been disappointing.

We have now arrived at the ju-riod indicated at the beginning of
this chapter as that of the appearance of tlie first known settlers

84 HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTKR COUNTY

withiu the original liistoiic borders of our Comity of Wcslcheslfr.
The attention of the Dutch pioneers on Mauliattan Island had early
been directed to this pictures(iu<' and jdcasant region, and it is a
pretty well accei)ted fact that some land purchases were made from
the Westchester Indians antedating 1G39, although tin- records of
these assumed transactions have been lost. The most ancient deed
to Westchester lands which has been ])reserved to the itrescut day
bears date of August 3, 1031), and by its terms the Indians dispose of
a tract called Keskeskeck; the West India Com]iany being the pur-
chasers, through their representative, Ccn-nelius A'au Tienhoven, pro-
vincial secretary to Director Kielt.

In the next year Van Tienhoven was dispatclied by Kieft on similar
important business to this same section; and, Aj^ril 19, bought from
the Hlwanoy Indians all the lands located in the southeastern portion
of Westchester County, running as far eastward in Connt'cticut as the
Xorwalk Kiver. The instructions uuder which he acted directed him
to ])urchase the archipelago, or grou]) of islands, at the luoulh (»f the
Norwalk Elver, together with all the adjoining territory on the main-
land, and "to erect thereon the standard and arms of the High and
IMighty Lords States-* ieneraj ; to take the savages under our protec-
tion, and to prevent effectually any other nation encroaching on our
limits." The ]mrchase of KIIO was in the line of state policy, being
conceived and consummated as a countercheck to the English, who,
having by this tiiue appeared in considerable numbers on the banks of
the Connecticut River, were making active pretensions to the whole
Avestern territory along the Sound and iu the interior, and were thus
seriously menacing the integrity of tiie ! »utch colonial empire.

^^'e may liere a])])ropriately ]iausi' to glance at some ]>ertiiu^nt as-
pects of l>i-i1ish cohniial ]>rogress in New ICngland — asjiects with
which, we shall be bound to grant, those of ci>ntein]i(iiaueons Dutch
deA'elo])iiient in New Xetlicrland do not couqiare o\cr-favorably.

The Pilgrims of the "Maytiower" landed on I'lyiiioutli IJock late in
the month of December, 1()2(), a little more than two yeais before the
original coni]>auy of Walloons came to Xew Yoi-k Day on the shiji
"New Xetherlaml." The first I'ritisli settlement in New England and
the lirst Dutch settlement in New Netlierland wei'i' thus inaugurated
almost simultaneously, the former having a slight ad\an1age as to
time, and the latter a consideiable one in tlu^ ](ossession ot a more
genial climate, a less stubborn soil, and a supefior natural location,
as also in the enjoyment of a more powei-fnl, interested, and liberal
hoiue ])atronage. Erom the ](arent settlement at lM_Mnoutli, the Eng-
lish not only rapidly ad\anced into the whole suiidunding country,
but in the course of a few years sent colonizing ](ai-liesto (piite remote

THE EAULIEST SETTLEUS 85

lociililics; and w licrevrr an Eniilisli advance colony i:,aiiicd a foot-
hold, I here perniaucut and cncryctic settlement was certain very
speedily to follow. As early as 1()33 a ninnbcr of Knjilislinien from
Massachusetts, desiring to invcstiiiate tlic Indi;ui stories of a Itcttcr
soil to the south, came and established themselves in the Connecticut
^'alley. Shortly after^^ard a jiatcnt for this region was obtained
from the British crown by Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brocdi, and otiiers.
In 103() John W'intlirop, son of (iovernor W'inthrop, settled on tiie
Connecticut with a goodly compiiny; and in 1038 TheoY)hilus Eaton,
with the noted IJev. John Davenjiort, led a large band of settlers to
the same locality, planting the New Haven colony. IJliode Island
^as brought undei' settlement also at tluit ]ieriod by Koger Williams
and other dissidents from tiie intolerant religious institulions of
Massachusetts.

Now, the English, in establishing im])ortant and flourishing settle-
ments throughout Connecticut and lihode Island, were, technically
speaking, not in advance of the Dutch. The Dutch were the undis-
jmted tirst discoverers nf the entire Connecticut and Rhode Island
coastline, along which the intrei>id navigator Block sailed in ltll4.
Later, Dutch voyagers returned to those shores and trafticked with
the natives; and finally, in l(i23, when Director May arrived in New
York harbor on his mission of colonization from the West India Com-
pany, he dispatched a number of his Walloon families to the mouth of
the Connecticut Kiver. At the same place the arms of the States-
(ieneral of the Netherlands were formally erected in 1032, and in 1G33
Director-General Van Twiller bought from the Indians a tract of land
called Connittelsock, situated on the western Connecticut bank, on
which tract, at a point sixty miles above the mouth of the stream, a
Dutch fort and trading-house, named (Jood Hope, were built. In-
deed, the English jdoneers of 1(533, proceeding down the Connecticut,
found the Dutch already in possession there.

But the Dutch occupation of the mouth and valley of the Connec-
ticut Ikiver was never otlierwise than merely nominal, a fact which, in
view of the easily conceivable future importance of that quarter in
connection with the maintenance of Dutch territorial claims, is cer-
tainly striking, and characteristically illusirates Dutch deliberation
and inefficiency in colonizing development as contrasted with English
alacrity and llidroughness. Moreover, all the connecting circum-
stances indicate that the establishment by the Dutcli of a fort and
trading-pt)st on the T'onnecticut was not ]ironi])ted by serious designs
of consecutive settlement, bui was a pure extemi>ori/.ation in the in-
terest of ultimate insistence ujxtn lawful ownershiii of that region.
Erom K;:.':!, the year in which ^fanhattan Island was icgularly settled.

86 HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTEU COUNTY

until 1G39, a period of sixteen years, not a single Dutcli colony had
been founded, and probably not a single Duteli family had taken up
its abode, in all the country intervening between the Harlem and the
Connecticut Elvers — a country splendidly wooded and Avatered, with
a highly interesting coast and rich alluvial lands, and vastly im-
portant as an integral and related portion of the dominions of New
Netherland. It may perhaps be replied that the whirlpool of Hell
Gate presented a natural obstacle to convenient intercourse with the
shores of the Sound, and consequently to advantageous settlement in
the entire traus-Harlfiu counfry. But if the Manhattan Island col-
ony had been animated by any noticeable spirit of progress, it would
not have alloAved sixteen years to pass without finding access to this
region, either from the northern extremity of Manhattan Island or
from the Long Island side. The truth is, there was no general devel-
opment by the Dutch even of Manhattan Island during the period in
question. Only its scuithi-rn end was occupied by any regular aggre-
gation of settlers, and this aggregation still existed mainly for the
business of bartering with the Indians and sending to Holland " beav-
er skins, minks, and other furs," the only products which, as declared
in the " lieport of 1G3S on the Condition of New Netherland," were
afforded by the province.

To review the comi)arative situation in 1640, Avbile the English had
steadily and systematically advanced as an earnest and practical col-
onizing people, covering the land from Plymouth Rock to the Sound
with organized settlements which sought the immediate develo])ment
of all its available resources, the Dutch had remained stationary, with
only a single settlement worthj' of consideration. It is true they had
located and occupied a few trading-posts in and around New York
Bay, as well as in distant parts of New Netherland — in Delaware Bay,
on the upper Hudson at Albany, and on the Connecticut Eiver. But
these enterprises represented in no case creditable colonizing en-
deavor.

It has been seen that, in the years 1639 and IGiO, Cornelius \'iiu
Tienlioven, as the representatiA e of Director-General Kieft, purchased
from the Indians, first, a large Westchester tract called Keskeskeck,
and, second, lands covering generally the southeastern section of this
county and extending to the Norwalk Kiver. This was done to fore-
stall English claims to priority of possession, at that time conspicu-
ously in course of preparation. But even in this matter of laud jmr-
chases the Dutch were scarcely aforetime of the alert English. To
the latter, also, the Indians executed a deed of sale, embracing exten-
sive j)ortions of Westchester County, and nearly as ancii'ut as the first
Dutch land deed. On July 1, 1640, Captain Nathaniel Turner, in be-

THE EARLIEST SETTI.EUS 87

half of llif New Haven colony (Quinnipiacke), bought from Pouus,
sagamore of Toquams, ami Wascussue, sagamore of Shippau, lands
running eight miles along the Sound and extending sixteen miles into
the northwestern wilderness. This tract was comprehensively known
by the name of " The Toquams." Ponus prudently reserved for him-
self " the liberty of his corn and pasture lands." It included, in Con-
necticut, the present Town of Stamford, as well as Darien and New
Canaan, and parts of Bedford and Greenwich; and, in Westchester
County, the Towns of I'ouudridge, Bedford, and North Castle, either
in whoh' or in part. On the basis of this purchase, the settlement at
Stamford, Conn., was laid out in 1641. In 1655 the bargain of 1640
was reattirmed by a new agreement with the Indians respecting the
same district. No early settlements in the Westchester sections of
the tract were attempted by the English; but it is an interesting point
to bear in mind that the interior sections of this county bordering on
Connecticut v\ere first bought from the Indians not under Dutch but
under English auspices, and thus that the English fairly share with
the Dutch the title to original sovereignty in Westchester County, so
far as that title can be said to be sustained by the right of mere
purchase.

There was a second English purchase from the Indians in 1640,
which t-onstructively may have included some parts of \Vestchester
County. Mehackem, Narawake, and Pemeate, Indians of Norwalk,
agreed to convey to Daniel Patrick, of Greenwich, all their lands on
the west side of " Norwake IJiver, as far up in the country as an
Indian can goe in a day, from sun risinge to sun settinge," the consid-
eration being " ten fathoms wamimni, three liatchets, three bows, six
glasses, twelve tobacco pipes, three knives, tenn drills, and tenn
needles."

It was a year or two previously to 1640 that Jonas Bronck, gener-
ally regarded as the first white inhabitant of Westchester County,
came across tiie Harlem Kiver to take up land and build a home. He
was not a native Hollander, being, it is supposed, of vSwedish extrac-
tion. But he appears to have made his home in Amsterdam, where
he was married to one Antonia (or Teuntje) Slagboom. While there
is no evidence that he was a man of large wealth, it is abundantly
manifest that he was quite comfortably circumstanced in worldly
goods. I'nquestionably his sole object in emigrating to New Nether-
lanil was to acquire and cultivate land, probably under the liberal
general offer to persons of all nations proclaimed by the States-Gen-
eral in 1638. He was, therefore, one of the first of the new and more
substantial class of men who began to remove hither after the substi-
tution by the West India Company of a broad and democratic plan of

88 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

coloui/aiiiiii fdi- the old rxchisivc scliciiic of special privileges to the
patrooiis. Sailiug from Anisierdain in a ship of the coiiipauy's, with
his wife and family, farmhands and their families, domestic servants,
cattle, and misc(dlane(His lioods, he landed on Manhattan Island; and,
not caring to pnrcliase one i>( the compauj' farms there (the whole
island havinii been expi'essly reserved to the private uses of the West
India Companyl, proceeded to s(dect a tract in the free lands beyond
the Harlem. Here, pursuant to the custom peremptorily required by
Dutch law, he first extinjiuished the Indian title, purchasing;- from
the native chiefs lvanacli(|ua and Taekamuck five litmdred acres
" lyiu<; hetweeu the great kill illarlem River) and tin- AlKiuahtmji' "
(now the ISronx IJiverl. An old "Tracing of I'.ronckslaml " is still
preserved in the ofiice of the secretary of state at Aloany, upon whicdi
the house (i\' Jonas liroiudc Is located. Its site as thus indicaled was
not far from the present dejiot (d' the Harlem Iliver branch of the New
York, New Haven \- Hartford Railroad, at .Moirisania. This dwelling
is described as of " stone," covered with tiles, and had connected with
it a barn, tobacco-house, and two barracks. As the Dutch word for
stone (xtcriij is always ambiguous unless accompanied by a descrip-
tive prefix, it is uncertain what kind of building stone, whether brick
or the native rock of the country, \\as used by Bronck. In view of the
generally provident character of the man, it is a reasomible stipposi-
tion that he brought a supply (d' brick with him from Holland; and
thtis that the first house erected in the county Avas made of that re-
spectable material. To his estate he gave the Scriptural name of
Emmiius. From the inventory of the per.sonal property Avhich he
left at his death, it is (dear that he was a gentleman of cultivation.
His possessions inclmled pictures, a silver-mounted gun, silver cups,
spoons, tankards, bowls, fine bedding, satin, grosgrain stiits, linen
shirts, gloves, nai)kins, tablecloths, and as many as fm-ty books. The
books were largely godly volumes, among them being Calvin's " Insti-
tutes," Luther's "Psalter" and "Complete Catechism," the " Praise
of (Mirist," the " Four Ends of Death," and " Fifty Pictures of Death."
Bromk died in 1(143. The celebrated Everardus Bogardus, the
Dut(di doniine on .Manhattan Island and husband of Anneke Jans,
superintended the inventorying of his estate. His widow married
Arent \'an Corlaer, sheriff of Bensselaerswyck. Jonas Bronck left a
son, Peter, who went with his mother to her new* h()nie,and from whoni
the nunu'i-ous Bronx family of Albany and vicinity is descended. The
Bronck ]iro])erty on the Harlem was sold on July 10, l(>ol, to Jacob
Jans Stall. Om- of its subseciuent owners was Samuel Edsall, a
beaver-maker and man of some note in New York City, Avho had trade
transactions with the Indians, became versed in their laniiuauc and

THE EARLIEST SETTLERS 89

iictiMl ollicinllv as interpreter. He sold it to Captain Richard .Morris,
and it subsequently became a jiart of the Manor of Morrisania.

The Bronx L'iver, first known as lironck's Kiver, or the Bronck
Kiver, was appropriately so called for this pioneer settler on its
banks; and from the stream, in our own day, has been derived the
name given to the whtde great and populous territory which West-
chester County has resigned to the growing municipal needs of the
City of New York. Whatever changes in local designations may
occur in the American metropolis in the progress of time, it is a safe
prediction that the name of the Borough of the Bronx, so happily
clHtsen for the annexed districts, will always endure.

The exami)le of Bronck in boldly venturing over upon the main-
land would doubtless have found many ready followers among the
Dutch already on [Manhattan Island, or those who were now arriving
in constantly increasing numbers from Europe, if the threatening
aspect of the times had not i)laiuly suggested to everybody the inex-
pediency of going into an open country exposed to the attacks of the
Indians. In the summer and fall of 1G41 events occurred which, con-
sidered in connection with the well-known unrelenting character of
Director Kieft, foreshadowed serious trouble with the natives; and
early in the spring of 101:2 a war actually broke forth which, although
at first conducted without special animosity, developed into a most
revengeful and sanguinary struggle, with pitiless and undiscriminat-
ing massacre on botli sides as its distinguishing characteristic. It is
l)robable that, before the preliminaries of this war had so far de-
veloped as to fairly warn the people of the impending peril, various
new Dutch farnis and houses on The Westchester side were added to
the one already occupied by Bronck. Bi' this at it may, it is certain
that settlers from the New England colonies had begun to arrive at
different localities on the Sound. These English settlers, in many re-
gards the most important and interesting of the Westchester pio-
neers, now claim a good share of our notice.

First in point of prominence is to be mentioned the noted Anne
nutchinson, whose name, like that of Bronck, has become lastingly
identified with Westchester County by being conferred upon a river.
Whether she was the first of the immigrants from New England into
Westchester County, can not be deteruiincd with absolute certainty;
but there is no (|ii('stion that slie was among tlie very earliest. In the
summer of lti4li, pei'mission having be<Mi granted her by tlie Dutch
authorities to make her liome in New Net lici'land, she came to t lie dis-
trict now known as Pelliani, and on the side of Hutchinson's Kiver
foundeil a little colony. The coniiiany consisted of her own younger
chihlren, lier son-in-law, .Mr. Collins, his wife and family, and a few

90 HISTORY Ol' WESTCHESTER COUNTY

congenial spirits. In barely a year's time the whole settlement was
swept to destruction, everybody belonging to it being killed by the
Indians, with the sole exception of an eight-year-old daughter of Mrs.
Hutchinson's, who was borne away to captivity. The lady herself
was burned to death in the flames of her cottage.

The tragical fate of Anne Uutchinsou is one of the capital historic
episodes of Westchester annals, because to the personality and career
of this remarkable woman an abiding interest attaches. It is true
that interest in Anne Hutchinson, in the form of special sympathy or
special admiration, may vary according to varying individual capabil-
ities for appreciation of the polemic type of women; but upon one
point there can be no disagreement — she was among the foremost
characters of her times in America, sustaining a conspicuous relation
to early controversialism in the New England settlements, and must
always receive attention from the students of that period.

She was of excellent English birth and connections. Her mother
was the sister of Sir Erasmus Dryden, and she came collaterally from
the same stock to which the poet Dryden and (though more distantly)
the great Jonathan Swift trace their ancestry. Her husband, Mr.
Hutchinson, is described as " a mild, amiable, and estimable man,
possessed of a considerable fortune, and in high standing among his
Puritan contemporaries"; entertaining an unchanging affection for
his wife, and accompanying her through all her wanderings and
trials, until removed by death a short time before her fligln to our
AN'estchester County. Mrs. Hutchinson personally was of spotless
reputation and high and noble aims; benevolent, self-sacrificing; hold-
ing the things of the world in positive contempt; an enthusiast in re-
ligion, independent in her opinions, and fearless in advocacy of them.
With her husband and their children, she left England and came to
Massachusetts Bay in 1636. Settling in Boston, she immediately en-
tered upon a career of religious teaching and proselytizing. " Every
week she gathered around her in her comfortable dwelling a congre-
gation of fifty or eighty women, and urged them to repentance and
good deeds. Soon her meetings were held twice a week; a religious
revival swept over the colony." But, careful not to offend against the
decorum of the church, she confined her formal spiritual labors to
the women, declining to address the men, although many of the latter,
including some of the principal personages, visited her, and came
under her personal and intellectual influence. Among her cordial
friends and supporters were Harry Vane, the young governor of the
colony; Mr. Colton, the favorite preacher; Coddington, the wealthy
citizen; and Captain John Underbill, the hero of the Pequod wars,
who, accepting a commission from the Dutch in their sanguinary

THE EARLIEST SETTLERS 91

struggle with the Indians, was the leader of the celebrated expedi-
tionary force which, in UUi, the year aftiT the nnirdcr of Mrs. Iliilch-
inson, marched into the heart of ^^'estchester County and wreaked
dire vengeance for that and other bloody deeds. To the work of in-
struction she added a large practical philanthropy, assisting the poor
and ministering to the sick.

But it was not long before Mrs. Hutchinson, by the independence of
her opinions, excited the serious displeasure of the rigid Puritan ele-
ment. Her precise doctrinal offense against the established stand-
ards concerned, says a sympathetic writer, " a point so nice and finely
drawn that the modern intellect passes it by in disdain; a difference
so faint that one can scarcely represent it in words. Mrs. Hutchinson
taught that the Holy Spirit was a person and was united with the be-
liever; the Church, that the Spirit descended upon man not as a per-
son. Mrs. Hutchinson taught that justification came from faith, and
not fr(jni works; the Church scarcely ventured to define its own doc-
trine, but contented itself with vague declamation." Although at
fli'st the Hutchinsonians were triumphant, especially in Boston,
where nearly the entire population were on their side, the i^ower of
the church speedily made itself felt. On August 30, 1G37, the first
synod held in America assembled at Cambridge, its object being "to
determine the true doctrines of the church and to discover and de-
nounce the errors of the Hutchinsonians." Eighty-two heresies were
defined and condemned, certain individual offenders were punished
or admonished, and Mrs. Hutchinson's meetings were declared disor-
derly and forbidden. Meantime Vane bad been deposed as governor,
and Winthrop, an unrelenting opponent of innovations, elected in his
stead. In the following November Anne was publicly tried at Cam-
bridge. "Although in a condition of health that might well have
awakened manly sympathy, and that even barbarians have been
known to respect, her enemies slmwed her no compassion. She was
forced to stand up before the judges until she almost fell to the floor
from weakness. Xo food was allowed her dui'ing the trial, and even
the members of the court grew faint from hunger. She was allowed
no counsel; no friend stood at her side; her accusers were also hei-
judges." She was condemned by a unanimous vote, and senlenced
lo be imprisoned during the winter in the house of the iniolerant
Joseph Welde, and to be banished in the spring from the colony.
While in duress pending her exile, she was excommunicated by the
Mrst Church of Boston for " i.-lling a lie." In March, 1G3S. llie
Hutchinson family left Boston and removed to Rhode Island. There
riiey r(>mained until after tin- death of ]\rr. Hutchinson, in lfi42. when
Anne residved to seek another home under tlie Dutch, and came to
what is now Pelham, at that time a complete wilderness.

92 HISTORY or WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Thwe is uo record uf land purrhasi' Iroiii llic Indians by Mix.
Hutehiuson or auj of her party. This is uudoubtediy for the reason
]M.into(l out by Bolton, that tlie wliole cohmy Avas exterminated before
[)iU( hase eould be coinpleted. Indeed, it does not appear that even
the formality of procuriuo; Avritteu license from the Dutch authorities
to settle in the country had yet been observed. The massacre oc-
curred in September of 1(>4;). It is said that an Indian came to Mrs.
Hutchinson's home one moruiuji', professing friendship. Findinji that
the little colony was utterly defenseless, he returned in the evening
with a numerous party, wiiich at once proceed(-d to the business of
slaughter. According to tradition, the leader of the murderous In-
dians was a chief named Wainpage, who subsequently called himself
•• Ann-Iloock," following a friMpient custom among the savages, by
which a warrior or brave assumed the name of his victim. In 1654,
eleven years later, this Wampage, as one of the i^rincipal Indian pro-
prietors of the locality, deeded land to Thomas Pell, over tlu- signa-
ture of •• Anu-Hoock." A portion (d' the peninsula of Pelham Neck
was h)ng known by the names (d' " Annie's Hoeck " and the " ^lanor
of Ann Iloeck's Neck." r.olton, referring to various conjeclures as
to the site of Anne's residence, inclines to tlie opinion that it was
"located on the jirojierty of George A. Prevoost, Es(|., of Pelham,
near the road leading to thi' Neck, on the old Indian Path." The
only one of Mrs. Hutchinson's company spared by the attacking party
was her youngest daughter, quite a small (diild, who, after being held
in captivity four years, was rtdeased through the efforts of the Dutch
governor and restored to her friends; but it is said that she " had
forgotten her native language, and was unwilling to be taken from
the Indians." This girl married a 3Ir. ('(de, of Kingston, in the Nar-
ragansett country, and " lived to a considerable age." One of the
sons of Anne Tlutchinson, who had remained in lioston when ids par-
ents and the younger children left there in l(i3S, became the founder
of an important colonial family, numltering among its members the
Tory governor Hutihinsun, of the Kev(dution; also a grown-up
daughter of Mrs. Hutchinson's married and left descendants in New
England.

In the autumn of l(i42, a few mouths after Anne ITutcliinson's first
appearance on the banks of the llutclunson Kiver, the foundations of
another notable English settlement on the Sound were laid. John
Throckmorton, in behalf of himself and associates (among whom was
])robably his friend, Thomas Cornell), obtained from the Dutch gov-
ernment a license, dated October 2, 1(U2, authorizing settlement
within three Dutch (tw(dve English) miles "of Amsterdam." In
this license it was recited that " whereas ^Ir. Throckmorton, with his

THE EAULIEST SETTLERS 93

associates, solicits to settle with thirtytive lamilies w iiliin the limits
of tlie jurisdictiou of their Hi^h Miiihtiiiesses, to reside there iu i)eace
and <'UJo3- tlie same privileges as our other stilijects, and be favored
with the free exercise of their reliiiion," and there beiin;- no dansier
that injnrv to tlie interests of the West India Company would result
from the proposed settlement, " more so as the Euiilish are to settle
at a distance of three miles from us,"" '• so it is granted." The locality
selected by Throckmorton was Throgg's Xeck (so called from his
name, corrupted into Thro.uinorton), and ap]»arently the colony was
ItCiiim forthwith. By the ensuinii sjn'iui: various im])rovemenls had
been made, and on July 6, 1643, a land-brief, signed by IHrector Kieft,
'• by order of the noble lords, the director and cottncil of New Nether-
land," was granted to "Jan Throckmorton," coniprising "a jnece of
land (being a portion of Vredeland), containing as follows: Along the
East River of New Netherland, extending from the point half a mile,
which i)iece of land aforesaid is surrounded on one side by a little
river, and on the other side by a great kill, which river and kill, on
high water running, meet each other, surrounding the laud." The
term " \'redeland " mentioned in the brief (meaning Free Land or
Land of Peace) was the general name given by the Dutch to this and
ailjaceut territory along the i^ciund, whicli was the chosen i)lace of
refuge for persons tieeing from New I'^ngland for religious reasons.

John Throckmorton, the patentee, emigrated from Worcester
t'ounty, England, to the 3Iassachusetts colony, in 1('(:U. He was iu
Salem as late as 1(!30; but, embracing the Baptist faith, removed soon
afterwaril to lihode Island, where he sustained relations of intimacy
with lloger Williams. It is well known that Williams came to New
Netherland in the winter of l(iI2-43, in onler to obtain passage for
Europe on a Dutch vessel, and it is not improbable that Throckmorton
aci'om]ianied him on his journey to the Dtitch settlements from lihode
Island.

One of Throckmorton's c()m]>atiiots was Thomas Coi'nell, who later
settled and gave his name to ("ornelTs Neck, called by the Indians
Pnaka])ins. He emigrated to ^lassachusetts from Essex, I'^nghind,
about l(i;'>(); ke]it an inn in Boston for a time; went to IJliode Island
in 1(!41; and from there came to the ^'redeland of New Netherland.
On the 2()th of July, 104(), he was granted by the Dutch a patent to a
"certain piece of land lying on the East I{i\er, beginning from the
kill of Broiick's land, east-southeast along the river, extending about
half a Dutch mile from the river to a little ci-eek over tht^ valley
(marsh) which runs back around this land." This patent for Cor-
nell's Neck was issued at about the same lime that the grant to
Adrian ^'an der Donck of what is now Yonkers was made. The

94 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Cornell aud Van der Douck patents Avere the first ones of record to
lands in Westchester County bestowed by Dutch authority subse-
quently to the Throckmorton grant of 1643. It is claimed for Thomas
Cornell, of CornelTs Neck, that hv was the earliest settler in West-
chester County whose descendants have been continuously identified
with the county to the present day. He was the ancestor of Ezra
Cornell, founder of Cornell T'uiversity, aud Alonzo B. Cornell, gov-
ernor of New York. His part in the first settlement of the county
has been traced iu au interesting aud valuable pamphlet from the pen
of (ioveruor Cornell.^ Both Throckmorton aud C(U-uell escaped the
murderous fury of the Indians to which Anne Hutchinson fell a vic-
tim iu the fall of 1(U:>. It is supposed that they were in New Amster-
dam at tlie time \\ilh llicir families, or at all events with some of their
children. Certain it is that tlic inlaiir seitlcment on Throgg's Neck
was not S])ared. (ioveruor \\'iiitliro]i of Massaclnisetts, iu liis "■ His-
tory of New England from Hi'M) to 1040," says: " They [the Indians]
came to ^Irs. Htitchinson in way of friendly neighborhood as they had
been accust(uued, and, taking tlieir opportunity, they killed her and
Mr. Collins, lier son-iulaw, . . . and all her fauuly, and such
of Mr. Throckmortou's and ]\[r. Cornell's families as were at home, in
all sixteen, aud put their cattle into their barns and burned them."
Throi-kiuorton did not return to the Neck to Vive, or at least did not
make that place his permanent abode. In 1052 he disposed definitely
of the whole ]iroperty, conveying it, by virtue of jtermission ]ietitioned
for and obtained from the Dutch director-general, to one Augustine
Hermans. From hiiu are descended, according to Bolton, the Tlirock-
mortons of Middleto^n, N. ,T. Coruell, after j-eceiving the grant to
CornelFs Neck, erecte(l buildiugs there, which he oecuined until
forced for the second time liy hostile Indian manifestations to aban-
don his attempt at residence in the \'redeland. His daughter Sarah
testified in September, ItitJ-j, that he " was at considerable charges in
building, manuring, and planting " on Cornell's Neck, and that after
some years he was " driven off tin* said land by the barbarous violence
of the Indians, who burnt his home and goods and destroyed his
cattle." This daughter, Sarah, was married iu New Amsterdam on
the 1st of September, 1»;43, to Thomas Willett. She inlierited Cor-
nell's Neck from her father, and it remained in the possession of her
descendants — the Willetts, of whom several were men of great prom-
inence in our county — for more than a century. Thomas Cornell,
after being driven away from Cornell's Neck, returned to Rhode Is-
land, where he died in 1655.

* Some Beginnings of Westchester County History. Published for the Westchester County Historical Society, 1890.

THE EARLIEST SETTLERS 95

lu the preceding pages we have consecutively traced the several
known (Efforts at settlement along the southeastern shores of West-
ciicster County, from the time of Jonas Brouck's i^urohase on the
Harlem to that of Thomas Cornell's flight from the ruins of his home
on Cornell's Xeck, covering a period of ten years, more or loss. It is
a meager and discouraging record. By reference to the map, it will
be observed that all these first Westchester settlements were closely
contiguous to one another, and embraced a continuous extent of terri-
tory. Bronck's patent reached to the mouth of the Bronx River, and
was there joined by Cornell's; beyond which, successively, were
Throckmorton's grant and the domain occupied by Anne Hutchinson.
It is also of interest to note that the upper boundary of the four tracts
corresponded almost exactly with the present corporate limits of the
Citv of New York on the Sound.

CHAPTEK V

THE REDOUBTABLE CAPTAIN JOHN UNDERHILL —DR. ADRIAN VAN DER

DONCK

HE troubles of the Dutch with the Indians, to which rrc<iucnt
allusion lias been made, beiian in KUl, as the result of a
revengeful personal act, capitally ilhistrating the vindic-
tiveness of the Indian character. In KlliCi. fifteen years be-
fore, a venerable Indian warrior, accompanied by his nephew, a lad

THE COLLKCT rONU — NEW YORK CITY.

of tender age, came to New Amsterdam with S(uue furs, which he in-
tended to sell at the fort. Passing by the edge of the " Collect,'' a
natural pond in the lower part of Manhattan Island, lie was stopped

CAPTAIN JOHN UNDERHIIiL 97

by three laborers belonging- to the farm of Director Minuit (said to
have been negroes), who, coveting the valnable property which he
bore, slew him and made off with the goods, bnt permitted the boy to
escape. The latter, after the cnstoni of his race in circumstances of
personal grievance, made a vow of vengeance, which in KUl, having
arrived at manhood's estate, he executed in the most deliberate and
cruel manner. He one day entered the shop of Claes Cornelisz Smits,
a wheelwright living near Turtle Bay, in the vicinity of Forty-fifth
street and the East Kiver. The Dutcliman, who knew him well, sus-
pected no harm, and, after setting food before him, Avent to a chest to
get some cloth which the young savage had said he came to purchase.
The other fell upon him from btdund, and struck him dead with an
ax. This terrible deed aroused strong feeling throughout the settle-
ments, and Director Kieft demanded satisfaction of the chief of the
Weckquaesgecks, the tribe to which the offender belonged. An exas-
perating answer was returned, to the effect that the accused had but
avenged a wrong, and that, in the private opinion of the chief, it
would not have been excessive if twenty Chi-istians had been killed
in retaliation. The only recourse now left was to declare war against
tlie savages, and to this end all tlii» heads of families were summoned
to meet on August 29, 1641, " for the consideration of some important
and necessary matters." The assembled citizens selected a council
(if twelve men, who, upon advising togetlier, recommended tliat fur-
ther elVorts be made to have the murderer delivered up to justice. All
endeavors in this line proving unsuccessful, war was declared in the
spring of 1642. Hendrick Van Dyck, an ensign in the company's
service, was placed in command of eighty men, with instructions to
l)roceed against the Weckquaesgecks and '' execute summary ven-
geance upon that tribe with fire and sword."' This party crossed into
our county, and, under the direction of a guide supposed to be experi-
enced and trustworthy, marched through the -noods with the intent
of attacking the Indian village, which then occupied the site of Dobbs
I'erry. But they lost their way, and were obliged to come inglori-
ously back. Shortly afterward a treaty of peace -was signed at
Bronck's house, the Indians engaging to give up the murderer of
Smits, dead or alive. The first period of tlic war Avas thus brought
to an end.

Bnt causes of irritation still existed, which w^ere not done away
with as time passed. The assassin was not surrendered according to
agreement, and the savages continued to commit outrages, which
greatly incensed the not too amiable Dutch director-general. The
next event of importance was an act of aggression against the In-
ilians, quite as barbarous as any ever perpetrated by the latter, which

98 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

has covered Kieft's name with infamy. Early in Februarj', 1643, a
band of Mohawks from the north made a descent upon the Mohican
tribes, for the purpose of levying tribute. Many of the Weck-
quaesgecks and Tappaens, to escape death at the hands of the in-
vaders, fled to the Dutch settlements; and thus large parties of
Indian fugitives belonging in part to a tribe against whom Kieft
cherished bitter resentment were graduallj- congregated within close
proximity to New Amsterdam. The dii'ector, seizing the opportunity
for vengeance thus presented, secretly dispatched a body of soldiers
across the Hudson to Pavonia, which had been selected by most of
the fleeing savages as their headquarters, and on the night between
the 25th and 26th of February these natives were indiscriminately
massacred. " Nearly a hundred," says Bancroft, " perished in the
carnage. Daybreak did not end its horrors; men might be seen,
mangled and helpless, suffering from cold and hunger; children were
tossed into the stream, and as their parents plunged to their rescue
the soldiers prevented their landing, that both child and parent might
drown." Similar scenes were enacted at Corlaer's Hook, where forty
Indians wore slaughtered. In 1886 the renmins of some of these vic-
tims of Kieft's inhumanity and treachery were unearthed by persons
making excavations at Communipaw Avenue and Halliday Street,
Jersey City. A newspaper report published at the time, after recit-
ing the historical facts of the tragedy, gave the following particulars:
"Trenches were dug [by the soldiers] and the bodies thrown into them
indiscriminately. The scene of the butchery is now known as Lafay-
ette, and after nearly two and a half centuries one of the trenches has
been opened. Crowds gathered around the place yesterday while the
excavating was going on, and looked at the skulls and bones. The
number of the bodies can only be determined by means of the skulls,
as the bones are all mixed together, and many of them crumble at the
touch into fine dust." ^

A furious war of revenge was now proclaimed by the savages, a
general alliance of the tribes being effected. Even the Long Island
Indians, who had formerly dwelt on terms of amity with the settlers,
rose against the common white foe. The settlement planted in the
previous year at I\Iasi)eth by the Rev. Francis Doughty, father of
Ellas Doughty, who in 1666 became the purchaser of Van der Donck's
patroonship of Yonkers, was entirely swept away; and another Eng-
lish settlement at C.ravesend. presided over by Lady ]\Ioody fan exile
from Now England, like Anne Hutchinson, on account of religious
belief), was three times fiercely attacked, but, being excellently stock-
aded, successfully resisted the desperate assailants. Historical writ-

1 New York Trihiinr, April 23, 1SS6.

CAPTAIN JOHN UNDERHILL 99

ers upon this gloomy period vie witli each other in vivid descriptions
of its terrors. "The tonialiawk, llic firctirand, and scalpin^i-lcnife,"
says O'Callaghan, " were clutched witli all the ferocity of frenzy, and
the war-whoop rang from the Karitan to the Connecticut.
Every settler on whom they laid liands was nuirdered, women and
children dragged into captivity, and, though the settlements around
Fort Amsterdam extended, at this period, thirty English miles to the
east and twenty-one to the north and south, the enemy burned the
dwellings, desolated the farms and farmhouses, killed the cattle, de-
stroyed the crops of grain, hay, and tobacco, laid waste the country all
around, and drove the settlers, panic-stricken, into Fort Amsterdam."
Roger \Mlliams, who was in New Amsterdam during that eventful
spring writes : " Mine eyes saw the flames of their towns, the frights
and hurries of men, women, and children, and the present removal of
all who could to Holland." Nevertheless, after a few weeks of violent
aggression, the Indians were persuaded to sign another peace, nego-
tiated mainly through the prudent efforts of the patroon David Pie-
tersen de Yries. This treaty included the solemn declaration that
" all injuries committed by the said natives against the Netherland-
ers, or by the Netherlanders against said natives, shall be forgiven
and forgotten forever, reciprocally promising one the other to cause
no trouble the one to the other."

There is no doubt that the Dutch, alarmed for the very existence of
their New Netherland colony, this time most scrupulously observed
the compact entered into; but the Indians, still restless and unsa-
tiated, renewed hostilities with the expiration of the summer season.
In September they attacked and captui'ed two boats descending the
river from Fort Orange, and, resuming their programme of promiscu-
ous slaughter, they soon afterward murdered the New England refu-
gees on the coast of the Sound and burnt their dwellings. It was
consequently resolved by the Dutch to take up arms once more, and,
if possible, administer a crushing blow to the power of their enemy, a
residve which, during the ensuing winter, tliey were enabled by good
fortune to realize, at least to the limit of reasonable expectation.

Kieft first sent a force to scour Staten Island, which, like Van
Dyck's Westchester expedition of 1042, i-eturned without results, no
foe l)eing encountered. A detachment of one hundred and twenty
men was then dispatched by water to the English settlement of
OrccTiwicli, on tlie Sound, it having l)e(Mi reported that a large body
of hostile Indians was encamped in tlie vicinity of that place. Disap-
pointment was also experienced there. After marching all night
A\ithout fiiiding the expected enemy, the tr()0])s came to StamforcT,
where they halted to wait for fresh information. From here a raid

LofC.

100 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

was made on a small Indiau village iprobal)lY lyini;- within West-
chester borders), and some twenty braves were put to death. An
aycd Indian who had been taken jn-isoner nov, volunteered t» lead the
Dutch to one of the stron<iholds of the natives, consisting of three
powerful castles. He kept his promise; but, although the castles
were duly found, they were deserted. Two of them were burned, the
third being reserved for purposes of retreat in case of emergencj-.
Thus the second armed expedition sent into Westchester County ac-
coiiiplislied comparatively little in the way of inflicting the long-de-
sired punishment upon the audacious savages. Numbers of West-
chester Indians (mostly women and children) were captured and sent
to Fort Amsterdam, where, as testified by Dutch official records, they
were treated with malignant cruelty.

The next move was somewhat more successful. A mixed force of
English and Dutch, commanded jointly by Captain John ITnderhill,
the celebrated Indian fighter from Xew England, and Sergeant Peter
Cock, of Fort Amsterdam, proceeded to the neighborhood of Heem-
stede (Ilempstead), Long Island, and attacked two Indian villages.
INIore than a hundred Indians were killed, the Dutch and English loss
being only one killed and three wounded. But as the princij)al
strength of the enemy was known to be in the regions north of the
Harlem TJiver, whence the Avarriors Avho slew the settlers and de-
vastated the fields of Manhattan Island were constantly emerging, it
was deemed indispensable to conduct decisive operations in that
quarter. Captain IJnderhill, whose long exjterience and known dis-
cretion in savage warfare indicated him as the man for the occasion,
was sent to Stamford, with orders to investigate and report upon the
situation. Being trustworthily informed that a very numerous body
of the Indians was assembled at a village at no great distance, and
placing confidence in the representations of a guide Avho claimed to
know the way to the locality, he advised prompt action. Director
Kit'ft, ailojiting his recommendation, plac(>d him in command of one
hundred and thirty armed men, who were immediately transported
on three yndits to Greenwich. This was in the month of Febru-
ary, WU.'

A raging snowstorm jirevented the forward movement of the troops
from Creenwich for the greater part of a day and night. But the
weather l)cing more favorable the next morning, they set out about
daybreak, and, led by (he guide, advanced in a general northwest-
wai-dly direction. It was a toilsome all-day niar^h through deep
snow and oxer mountainous hills ami frequent streams, some of the
latter being scarcely fordable. At eight o'clock in the evening they
halted within a few miles of the village, "which had been carefullv

CAPTAIN JOHN UNDEBHILL 101

arranji^ed for winter quarters, laj- sniifilj' ensconced in a low moun-
tain recess, completely sheltered from the bleak northerly winds, and
consisted of a large number of huts disposed in three streets, each
about eighty paces long." After allowing his men two hours of rest
and slrengthenlng them with abundant refreshments, Uuderhill gave
the word to resume the march. The enterprise, attended by extreme
liardsliips up to this time, was now, in its final stage, favored bj'
peculiarly satisfactory conditions. It was near midnight, the snow
completely deadened the footsteps of the avenging host, and a bril-
liant full moon was shining — " a winter's day could not be brighter."
O'Callaghan, in his " History of New Netherland," gives the follow-
ing account of the resulting conflict:

The Inilians were as iiiiieh on the alert as tlieir enemy. They soon disoovered the Dnteh
troops, who eharged forthwith, surrounding- the oainp, sword in hand. The Indians evineed
on this occasion eonsiderahle boldness, and made a rush onee or twice to break the Dutch
lines and open some way for escape. But in this they failed, leaving one dead and twelve
prisoners in the hands of the assailants, who now kept up such a brisk fire that it was imj)os-
sible for any of the besieged to escape. After a desperate conflict of an hour, one hundred
and eighty Indians lay dead on the snow outside their dwellings. Not one of the survivors
diirst now show his face. They remained under cover, discharging their arrows from behind,
to the great annoyance of the Dutch troops. Underbill, now .seeing no other way to overcome
the obstinate resistance of the foe, gave orders to fire their huts. The order was forthwith
obe3'ed; the wretched inmates endeavoring in every way to escape from the horrid tlames, but
mostly without success. The moment they made their appearance they rushed or were driven
preci|iitatelv back into their burning hovels, preferring to be consumed by tire than to fall l)y
our weapons. In this merciless manner were butchered, as some of the Indians afterward
reported, tive hundred human beings. Others carry the number to .seven hundred; "the
l>ord having collected most of our enemies there to celebrate some pecidiar festival." Of
the whiile party, no more than eight men escaped thi.i terrible slaughter hy Jire and sword. Three
of these were badly wounded. Throughout the entire carnage not one of the sufferers — man,
woman, or child — was heard to utter a shriek or moan.

This battle, if battle it may be called, was by far the most sanguin-
ary ever fought on Westchester soil. At White Plains, the most
considerable Westchester engagement of the Kevolutiou, the com-
bined losses of both sides in killed, wounded, and missing did not
reach four hundred.

The site of the exterminated Indian village has been exactly lo-
cated by Bolton. It was called NanichiestaAvack, and was in the Town
(township) of Bedford, not far from the present Bedford village. It
"occupied the southern spur of Indian Kill, sometimes called the
Indian P^'arm, and Stony Point (or Hill), stretching toward tiie north-
west. There is a most romantic approach to the site of the mountain
fastness by a steep, narrow, beaten track opposite to Stamford cart-
path, as it was formerly denominated, which followed tlir old Indian
trail called the Thoroughfare." The i»ictures(|ue ^lianns Kiver lh)\vs
by the scene. The last ghastly memorials of the slaughter have long
since passed away, but local tradition preseiwes the recollection of

102 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

many iiioimds uuder whicU the bones of the slaiu were interred. They
were i)r()bably laid tliere by friendly hands. Underliill, in the bitter
winter season, with his small and exhausted party, and with no im-
plements for turning the frozen sod, naturally could not tarry to give
burial to five hundred corpses.

Captain John Underbill is an entirely unique figure in early Amer-
ican colonial history, both English and Dutch. Although his name,
when mentioned apart from any specific connection, is usually asso-
ciated with New England, he belongs at least equally to New Nether-
laud and New Yoi'k. Indeed, during more than two-thirds of his
residence in America he lived within the confines of the present State
of New York, where most of his descendants have continued. West-
chester County, by his prowess rescued from the anarchy into which
it had been thrown by the aboriginal barbarians and established on a
secure foundation for practical development, became the home of one
of his sons, Nathaniel Underbill, from whom a large and conspicuous
family of the county has descended.

The captain sprang from the old Underhill stock of Huningham, in
Warwickshire, England. He was born about 1600, and eaidy im-
bibed an ardent love of liberty, civic and religious, by his service as a
soldier under the illustrious Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, in
the Low Countries, where he had for one of his comrades-at-arms the
noted Captain Miles Standish. Coming to New England with Gov-
ernor \\'inthrop, he immediately took a prominent place in the Massa-
chusetts colony, being appointed one of tlic first deputies from Boston
to the General Court, and one of the earliest officers of the Ancient
and Honorable Artillery Company. In the Pequod War (1G3G-37) he
was selected by the governor. Sir Harry ^'ane (who was hiu personal
friend), to command the colonial troops; and, proceeding to the seat
of the disturbances in Connecticut, he fought (May 2G, 1637) the des-
perate and victorious battle of Mystic Hill. In this encounter seven
hundred Pequods were arrayed against him, of whom seven ^yeYe
taken prisoners, seven escaped, and the remainder were killed — a
record almost identical, it will be noted, with that made at the battle
in our Bedford township in 1611. Captain Underhill felt no compunc-
tions of conscience for the dreadful and almost exterminating de-
structiveness of his victories over the Indians. In his narrative of
the Mystic Hill fight, alluding to this feature of tJie subject, he says:
" It may be demanded: V^'hj should you be so furious? Should not
Christians have more mercy and compassion? But I would refer
you to David's war. When a ]H'ople is grown to sucii a height of
blood and sin against God and man, and alLcon federates in the ac-
tion, then He hath no respect to persons, but harrows and saws them,

CAPTAIN JOHN UNDERHILL 303

and puts them to the sword aud the most terriblest death that may be.
Sometimes the Scripture declareth that women and children must
IHTish with their parents; sometimes the ease alters, but we will not
dispute it now. We had suilicieut light from the Word of God I'or
our proceedings."

Esiiousing the religious doctrines and personal cause of Anne
LIutchiuson, Captain Underhill sull'ered persecution in common with
the other Hutchinsonians, and in the fall of 1637, only a few months
after his triumphant return from the wars, was disfranchised and
forced to leave Massachusetts. He went to England the next year,
and published a curious book, entitled " News from America; or, A
Now and Experimental Discoverie of New England: Containing a
true relation of their warlike proceedings there, two years last past,
with a figure of the Indian Fort, or Palizado. By Capt. John Under-
hill, a commander in the warres there." Eeturulng to America, he
settled in New Hampshire. Later, he lived in Stamford, Conn., and
was a delegate from that toAvn to the General Court at New Haven.
From the time that he accepted his commission from the Dutch in
their wars with the Indians until his death he lived on Long Island.
He first resided at Flushing, aud finally made his home at Oyster Buy,
where he died July 21, 1672. In 1653 he was active in defending the
English colonists of Long Island against the hostilities of the Indians,
and in that year he fought his last battle Avith the savages, at Fort
Neck. In 1665 he was a delegate from the Town of Oyster Bay to the
assembly held at Hempstead under the call of the first English gov-
ernor, Nicolls, by whom he was later appointed under-sheriff of the
North Biding of Yorkshire, or Queens County. In 1667 he was pre-
sented by the Matinecoc Indians with one hundred and fifty acres of
land, to which he gave the name of Kenil worth or Killingworlh. A
portion of this tract is still in the possession of his descendants.

The character and personality of Captain John Underhill have been
variously estimated and pictured. No doubt most of our readers are
familiar with Whittier's poem, which quite idealizes him:

Cxoodly and stately and grave to see,

Into the clearing's space rode he,

With the snn on the liilt of his sword in sheath,

And his silver hnekles anil sjiurs l)en<'ath,

And the settlers welcinned him, one and all,

From swift Quanipcagan to (ionic Kail.

" Tarry with us," tlie settlers cried,
" Thou man of God, as our ruler and guide."
And Cajjlain t'nderliill l)i)wed his head,
" The will of the Lord he done! " he said.
And the morrow heheld liim sitting down
In the ruler's seat in Cocheeo town.

104 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

And he judged therein as a just man should;
His words were wise and liis rule was good ;
He coveted iu)t his neighbor's land,
From the holding of bribes he shook his hand ;
And through the camps of the heathen ran
A wholesome fear of this valiant man.

A niuu of independent and fearless convictions he unquestionably
was, as also of conscientious princiijles. He was not, however, a
typical Puritan hero; and it is not frojn the gentle and reverent muse
of Whittier, which loves to celebrate the grave and stately (but other-
wise mostly disagreeable) forefathers of New England, that a faithful
idea of the Captain John Underbill of history is to be obtained. His
associations during his very brief residence in Massachusetts were
certainly not with the representative men of that rigorous and somber
order, but with the imaginative, ardent, and sprightly natures, whose
presence was felt as a grievous burden upon the theocratic state. He
was grimlj' hated and scornfully expelled from Boston by the Puri-
tans, whom he reciprocally despised. In his book he gives decidedly
unflattering characterizations of Winthrop and others, showing this
animus. Captain Underhill was really a man of high and im])etuous
spirits, fond of adventure, always seeking military emijloyment, lead-
ing a changeful and roving life almost to his last days; yet possessing
earnest motives and substantial traits of character, which made him
a good and respected citizen, an<l enabled him to acciimulate consid-
erable property. But although not a Puritan, his final adoption of
New Netherland as a place of residence was not from any special
liking for the Dutch; in fact, he never was satisfied to live in any of
the distinctive Dutch settlements, and, though much inclined to the
honors and dignities of public position, never held civic ofifice under
the Dutch. During his life on Long Island he made his home among
the English colonists, ami preserved a firm devotion for English in-
terests, Avhich he manifested on several occasions long before the
end of Dutch rule, by holding correspondence with the English au-
thorities concerning the position of affairs on Long Island.

Soon after Captain Underhill's expedition to Bedford the Indian
tribes again sued for peace. " Mamaranack, chief of the Indians re-
siding on the Kicktawanc or Croton Kiver; Mongockonone, Pappeno-
harrow, from the \\'eck(|uaesgecks and Nochpeems, and the Wap-
piugs from Stamford, presented themselves, in a few days, at Fort
Amsterdam; and having ])le(lged themselves that they would not
henceforth commit any injury whatever on the inhabitants of New
Netherland, their cattle and houses, nor show themselves, except in a
canoe, before Fort Amsterdam, should the Dutch be at war with any
of the Manhattan tribes, and having further promised to deliver up

UK. AUKIAN VAX DER DONCK 105

Pachara, the chief of the Taukitekes (who resided iu the rear of Sing
Sinji), peace was concluded between them and the Dutch, wlip prom-
ised, on their part, not to molest them in any way." It appears that
this peace was effected through the interventiou of Underhill, was
unsatisfactory to the Dutch, and proved but a makeshift; for in the
fall of 1G44 the " Eight Men " wrote as follows to the home office of
the West India Company: " A .semblance of peace was attempted to
be patched up last spring with two or three tribes of savages toward
the north by a stranger, whom we, for cause, shall not now name,
without one of the company's servants having been present, while
our principal enemies have been unmolested. This peace hath borne
little fruit for the common advantage and reputation of our lords,
etc., for as soon as the savages had stowed away their mai/e into
holes, they began again to murder our people in various directions.
They rove in parties continually around day and night on the island
of Manhattans, slaying our folks, not a tliousand paces from the fort;
and 'tis now arrived at such a pass that no one dare move a foot to
fetch a stick of firewood without a strong escort."

It was not until the summer of 1045 that a lasting treaty was ar-
ranged. On the 30th of August, says O'Callaghan, a number of chiefs
representing the warring tribes " seated themselves, silent and grave,
in front of Fort Amsterdam, before the director-general and his coun-
cil and the whole commonalty; and there, having religiously smoked
the great calumet, concluded in the presence of the sun and ocean a
solemn and durable peace with the Dutch, which both the contracting
parties reciprocally bound themselves honorably and firmly to main-
tain and observe." It was stipulated that all cases of injury on either
side were to be laid before the respective authorities. No armed
Indian was to come within the line of settlement, and no colonist was
to visit the Indian villages without a native to escort him. Hand-
some presents were made by Kieft to the chiefs, for the purchase of
which, it is said, he was obliged to borrow money from Adrian Van
der Donck, at that time sheriff" of Rensselaerswyck.

The settlement of the lands beyond the Harlem was not, however,
resumed at once. For some time the restoration of the burned farm-
houses and ruined fields of Manhattan Island claimed all the energies
of the Dutch; and the memories of the dreadful experience of the
colonies of Anne Hutchinson and John Throckmorton effectually de-
terred other New Englanders from seeking the Vredeland. In 1()4(),
however, two enterprises of great historic interest were undertaken
within the limits of our county. One of these was the settlement by
Thomas Cornell on Cornell's Neck, whose details we have already
narrated. The other was the creation of " Colen Donck," or Donck's

lOG

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

sold
Van

and
del*

colony, embracing the country from Spuyten Duyvil Creek northward
along tlie Hudson as far as a little stream called the Amackassin, and
reaching inland to the Bronx Kiver, under a patent granted by the
Dutch authorities to Adrian Van der Donck.

The exact date of Van der Donck's grant is unknown, and the
record of his purchase of the territory from the Indians has not been
preserved. The tract constituted a portion of the so-called Keskes-
keck region, bought from the natives for the West India Company by
Secretary Van Tienhoven, " in consideration of a certain lot of mei*-
chandise," under date of August 3, 1639. That Van der Donck made
substantial recompense to the original owners of the soil is legally
established by testimony taken in IGGG before Richard Nicolls, the
first English governor of Isew York, in which it is stated that

the Indian proprietors concerned
" acknowledged to have
received satisfaction of
Donck."

Adrian Van der Donck
tieman by birth, being a native of
Breda, Holland. He was educated at
the University of Leyden, and studied
and practiced law,becoming ulrln-squv
juris. In 1611 he accompanied Kiliaen
Van Rensselaer to New Netherland,
and was installed as schout-fiscaal,or
sheriff, of the patroonship of Rens-
selaerswyck. In this post he con-
tinued until the death of the patroon, in 1616. Meantime he had
manifested a strong inclination to establish a " colonic '' of his own,
at Katskill; but as such a proceeding by a sworn officer of an already
existing patroonship would have been violative of the company's reg-
ulations, he was forced to abandon the project. On October 22, 1645,
he married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Francis Doughty, of Long Is-
land. Earlier in the same year he loaned money to Director Kieft, a
transaction which i)robably helped to pave the way for the prompt
bestowal upon him of landed rights upon the termination of his offi-
cial connection with Rensselaerswyck.

In the Dutch grant to Van der Donck, the territory of which he
was made patroon was called Nepperhaem, from the Indian name of
the stream, the Nepperhan, which empties into the Hudson at Yonk-
ers, where stood at that period, and for perhaps a quarter of a century
later, the native A'illage of Nappeckamack (the " Rapid Water Settle-
ment "). The whole extensive patroonship, styled at first Colen

OLD DUTCH HOUSE.

DR. ADRIAN VAN DER DONCK 107

Donck, soon came to be known also as " De Jonkheer's land," or " De
Jonkheer's," meaning the estate of the jonkheer, or young lord or
gentleman, as Van der Donck was called. Hence is derived IIh' name
Yonkers, applied from the earliest days of English rule to that entire
district, and later conferred upon the township, the village, and
Uic city. To the possibilities of this inngniticcnt but as yet utterly wild
property' Van der Donck gave a portion of his attention dining the
three years following the procurement of his patent. In on<' of his
papers he states that before 1G49 he built a sawmill on the estate, be-
sides laying out a farm and plantation; and that, having chosen
Spuyten Duyvil as his place of residence, he had begun to build there
and to place the soil under cultivation. His sawmill was located at
the mouth of the Nepperhan liiver, and from its presence that stream
was called by the Dutch " De Zaag Kill,'' whence comes its present
popular name of the Sawmill River. Van der Donck's plantation, " a
flat, with some convenient meadows about it,'' was located about a
mile above Kingsbridge, near where the Van Cortlandt mansion now
stands. " On the flat just behind the present grove of locusts, north
of the old mill, he built his bouAverie, or farmhouse, wdth his planting
field on the plain, extending to the southerly end of Vault Hill."
It is not probable that Van der Donck lived for any considerable time
upon his lands in our county. He was a man of prominence in Fort
Amsterdam, A\as its first lawyer, and soon became busied with its
local affairs in a public-spirited manner, which led to his embroilment
in contentions with the ruling authoi-ities, and, in that connection, to
his departure for Europe and protracted absence there.

In the spring of 1649 he was selected a member of the advisory
council of the " Nine Men," a body chosen by the popular voice to
assist in the general government. In this capacity he at once took
strong ground against the tyrannical conduct of the new director,
Stuyvesant, and, in behalf of the Nine, drew up a memorial, or re-
monstrance, reciting the abuses under which the people of New Neth-
erland suffered. Stuyvesant at first treated this action of his coun-
cilors with arbitrary vindictiveness, and caused Van der Donck to be
arrested and imprisoned. After his release, continuing his coui'sc of
active protest against misgovernment and oppression, he prcpaicd a
second and more elaborate memorial, and, with two others, was dis-
patched to Holland by the commonalty to lay the whole subject be-
fore the States-General. In this mission he had thf moral support of
the vice-director under Stuyvesant, Van Diiicklagen, who wrote a
letter to the States-General promotive of his objects. But upon arriv-
ing in the mother country he found himself opposed by the powerful
influences of the company, which not only succeeded in defeating the

108 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

priucipal reforms that lu> sought to secure, but eventually directed
against biui the persecution of the governuieut, and prevented him, to
his great inconvenience and loss, from returning to New Netherlaud
for fully four years. Yet ^"an der Donck's earnest and commendable
efforts for the public weal were not wholly without result. An act
was passed separating the local functions of the principal settlement
on Manhattan Island from the general affairs of the province. By
this measure the settlement formerly known as Fort Amsterdam be-
came an incoi-porated Dutch city, with the name of Ncav Amsterdam ;
and thus to the labors of Yan der Donck the first municipal organiza-
tion of what is now the City of Xew York is directly traceable. In
addition, a final modification of the Charter of Freedoms and Exemp-
tions was effected (May 24, 1(J50), introducing various improvements
in its detailed provisions. He even procured the adoption of an order
recalling Stuyvesant, which, however, in view of the critical position
of political affairs (a war witli England being threatened) was never
executed.

While in Holland Yan der Donck was not forgetful of the interests
of his colony, but in good faith strove to fulfill the obligations which
he had assumed in acquiring the proprietorship of so extensive a
domain. On March 11, 1650, in conjunction with his two associate
delegates, he entered into a contract " to charter a suitalde flyboat of
two hundred lasts, and therein go to sea on the 1st of June next, and
convey to New Netherland the number of two hundred passengers, of
whom one hundred are to be farmers and farm servants, and the re-
maining one hundred such as the Amsterdam Chamber is accustomed
to send over, conversant with agriculture, and to furnish them with
supplies for the voyage." In making this contract (which, on ac-
count of circumstances, was never carried out), Yan der Donck un-
doubtedly had in view the locating of at least a portion of the two
hundred emigrants on his own lands. Pursuant to his perfectly serious
intentions respecting his estate in this county, he obtained from the
States-General, on the 26th of April, 1652, the right to dispose by will,
as patroon, " of the Colonic Nepperhaera, by him called Colon Donck,
situate in New Netherland." From this time for more than a year
he was constantly occupied in seeking to overcome the obstacles put
in the way of his departure for America by his enemies of the West
India Company. He evidently regarded the securing of this patent
as the final step preparatory to the systejnatic colonization and de-
velopment of Colen Donck; for immediately after its issuance he em-
barked his private goods, Avith a varied assortment of supplies for the
colony, on board a vessel lying at anchor in the Texel. But upon ap-
plying to the States-General, on the 13th of May, for a formal permit

DR. ADRIAN VAN DER DONCK

109

to i-cturn, be was refused. On the 24:th, renewing- his application, he
stated that " proposing to depart b\- your High Mightinesses' consent,
witli liis wife, mother, sister, brotlier, servants, and maids," lie liad
" in that design jjacked and shipped all his implements and goods";
hut be understood " that the Ilonorahle Directors [of the West India
( 'om]>any] at Amsterdam had forbidden all skippers to receive him, or
his, even though exhibiting .your lligli Mightinesses' express orders
and consent," " by which he must, without any form of procedure or
aTiything resembling thereto, remain separated from his Avife, mother,
sister, brother, servants, maids,
family connections, from two
good friends, from his merchan-
dise-, his own necessary goods,
furniture, and from his real estate
in Xt'W Netherland." These and
other strenuous representations
])roving unavailing, he was at last
compelled to dispatch his family
and ctfects, remaining himself in
Holland to await the more favor-
able dis]iosition of the authorities.
lIcsigTiing himself to the situa-
tion, lie now tui'ued his attention
to literary labors, wliich resulted
in the composition of a most valu-
able work on the Diitch provinces
in Anu'rica. We reproduce here
a facsimile of the title page of
this interesting book, Avhich,
translated, is as follows: "De-
scription of New Xetherland (as

B li <? c H R A' V I N c r.

NIEUVV- NEDERLANT

( <!5i)clpch (|ct tcgciitDOO^Diglj m ^tact is ) '

Begrijpende de Nature, Aerc, gelcgcntheyt en vrucht-
bacrhcyt van hetfelvc Lane jmitigadersdc proffijtchjckc cn-

dcgeivcnftctocvjllen.diealdacr loconderhoutdcrMcofcbcn, (foo

uy [ bicr fdven ais van buyten ingebra;hc ) gcvondcn wordea.

A X. s M E t> E

Dcmanrctc m ottglutniTrtc rpgcnfcliappcn

• DaiiOc nsUDcn ofcc ^aturcilrn UanomllanDc,

Cnut

Een byfooder verhael vanden wonderbjcken AerC

endc bet Wcefea der B E Vt R S ,

Daer Noch By Cevoecht Is

<PtnT>ifrour0 oba Oc ffclcgmtficpt dan Nieuw Ncdcrlandc ,
mffrtin) ccti Ncderlaadts pjiriot , cntif cm

Nieuw Nederlindcr.
"Btfchmen doer

A D R I A E N vander D O N C
Bcyder Rechtcn Doftoor, die tcghcnwoop*

digh noch in Nieuw Ncderlaotis,

t-A t M s T I I, D A M,

SSpEven Nicuwenhot, Ootthucrhoopcr ; fflooiitiiDtop c

Bu|lantitmiSij)!5f-to(rIi/ Aw.u i6(f

TITLE r.\(;E OF VAX PER DONTk's BOOK.

It is Today), Comprising the Nature, Character, Situation, and Fer-
tility of the Said Country; Together with the Advantageous and
Desirable Circumstances (both of Their Own Production and as
Rrought by External Causes) for the Support of the People Which
IM'cvail There; as Also the INfanners and Peculiar Qualities of the
Wild ifen or Natives of the Land. And a Separate Account of the
Wonderful Character and Habits of the Reavers; to Which is .\ddid
a C(mversation on the Condition of New* Netherland between a
Netlierland Patriot and a New Netherlander, Described by Adriaen
Van der Donck, Doctor in Roth Laws, Who at present is stilf
in New Netherland. At Amsterdam, by Evert Nieuwenhof, Rook-
sr-ller, Ttesiding on the Russia fa street or square!, at the [sign of

110 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the] Writing-book. Anno 1655." The book was probably first pub-
lished in 1653, the copy from which the above translation is made
being of a later edition. It was Van der Donck's intention to enlarge
upon his facts by consulting the papers on file in the director-general's
office at New Amsterdam, to which end he obtained the necessary
permit from the company. But upon his return to America, which
occurred in the summer of 1653, Stuyvesant, who still harbored re-
sentment against him, denied him that privilege.

"Van der Donck's book, despite its formidable title, is a volume of
but modest pretensions, clearly written for the sole object of spread-
ing information about the country. Considering the meagerness of
general knowledge at that time respecting the several parts of the
broad territory called Ncav Netherland, and remembering that the
writer peculiarly lacked documentary facilities in its preparation, it
is a remarkably good account of the AAhole region. Especially in
those parts of it where he is able to speak from the results of personal
observation or investigation, he is highly instructive, and is thor-
oughly entitled to be accepted as an authority. His description of
the Indians, though quite succinct, ranks with the very best of the
early accounts of native North American characteristics, customs,
and institutions. While he makes frequent allusion to his residence
at Eensselaerswyck, there is no special mention of that part of the
country where his own patroonship was located — our County of West-
chester,— a circumstance which may reasonably be taken to indicate
that he never had made it his habitation for any length of time.

Some of the statements which appear in Van der Donck's pages
belong to the decidedly curious annals of early American conditions.
For example, he relates that in the month of March, 1647, " two
whales, of common size, swam up the (Hudson) river forty (Dutch)
miles, from which place one of them returned and stranded about
twelve miles from the sea, near which place four others also stranded
the same year. The other ran farther up the river and grounded
near the great Chahoes Falls, about forty-three miles from the sea.
This fish was tolerably fat, for, although the citizens of Rens.selaers-
wyck broiled out a great quantity of train oil, still the w^hole river (the
current being rapid) Avas oily for three Aveeks, and covered with
grease." His accounts of the native animals of the country, excellent
ifor the most part, become amusing in places where he relies not upon
his individual knowledge but upon vague stories told him by the
Indian hunters of strange creatures in the interior. Thus, he makes
New Netherland the habitat of the fabled unicorn. "I have been
frequently told by the Mohawk Indians," says he, " that far in the
interior parts of the country there were animals, which were seldom

VAX DER DOXCK S MAP OF NKW NETIIERLAND.

112 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

seen, of the size and form of horses, with chjven hoofs, haviug one
horn in the forehead from a foot and a half to two feet in length, and
that because of their fleetness and strength thev were seldom oausrht
or ensnared. I have never seen any certain token or siyn of such
animals, but that such creatures exist in the country is supported by
the concurrent declarations of the Indian hunters. There are Chris-
tians who say that they have seen the skins of this species of animal,
hut without the horns." He also speaks of '' a bird of prey which lias
a head like the head of a large cat " — probably a reference to the cat-
owl. His remarks about the beaver, based upon personal study and
knowledge, are singularly interesting. The deer, he informs us, " are
incredibly numerous in this country. Although the Indians through-
out the year, and every year (but mostly in the fall), kill many thou-
sands, and the wolves, after the fawns are cast and while they are
young, also destroy many, still the land altounds with them every-
where, and their numbers appear to remain undiminished."

Being finally granted leave to go back to New Netherland, \'an der
Donck ajjjdied to the West India Company for permission to i)ractice
his profession of lawyer in the province. But the company', careful
in conceding substantial favors to a man who had caused it so much
trouble, allowed him only to give advice in the line of his i)rofes-
sion, forbidding him to plead, on the novel ground that, " as there was
no other lawyer in the colony, there would be none to oppose him."
After his return to New Amsterdam he did not figure prominently in
public affairs. He died in 1655, leaving, it is supposed, several chil-
dren, whose names, however, as well as all facts of their subsequent
lives and traces of their descendants, are unknown.

Van der Donck's Colen Donck was the onlj' patroonship ever
erected in Westchester County, and was the first of the great landed
estates which, during the seventeenth century, were parceled out in
this section to gentlemen of birth and means, and various enterprising
and far-seeing individuals. All who had preceded him above the
Harlem were ordinary settlers, who merely sought farms and honu'-
steads, without any aristocratic pretensions or aspirations. During
the nine years which intervened between his death and the end of
the Dutch regime, the general condition of the province was too un-
satisfactory to Justify any similar ambitious endeavor in the direction
of extensive land ownership above the Harlem. The Indians were
still restless and inclined to harass individual settlers. Indeed, in
in:")."), the year of Van der Donck's death, a general massacre of set-
tlers by the Indians occurred, and the people in the outlying localities
again crowded into Fort Amsterdam for protection. It was not until
after the beginning of the English government that ])rivate land hold-
ings in Westchester County at all comparable to Van der Donck's

DR. ADRIAN VAN DER DONCK 113

were acquircil. lie was the oiilv Duhli •;ciil Iciiiau — for Bronck be-
louj^cd sti'ictlj' to the burglicr class — tlirou^hout tbo forty-one years
of Diitcii rule who, nndor the Charter of l-'reedoiiis and Exemptions,
an instrument frameil exjtressly to create a landed aristocracy in
America, formally sought to establish a fief in this county. It is
noticeable, however, that most of the estate which he owned passed
before many years — although not unlil (he Dutch period was ended —
into the hands of one of his fellow count ryiiicu, Frederick Phiiipse, in
whose family it continued for a century. .Moreover, almost the entire
Hudson short' of Westchester County was originally acquiicd and
tenaciously lield by Dutch, and not by English, private proprietors.

The tract of Nepperhaem, or Colen Donck, was devised by Van der
Douck, in his will, to his widow. This lady subsequently married
Hugh O'Xeale, of Patuxeut, .Md., and resided with her husband in
that ju-ovince. Apjiarently, iiotliing whatevei- was done by O'Neale
and his wife in the wa\ of contiuuiug the improvements begun by
Van der Donck; and, for all (hat we know to the contrary, the estate
remained in a wholly w ild and neglected cdndition for some ten years.
Put in KKiti the (>"Xeales, desiring to uu)re perfectly establish their
legal title, Willi a view to realizing from the lands, obtained from the
Indians who had (U-iginally sold the tract to \'an der Donck formal
acknowledgment of such sale, and also of their having received from
him full satisfaction; and tliei-eu]ioii a new and confirmatory patent
for Nepperhaem was issued by (io$'ruo]' Xicolls. This is dated "at
I$rt James, New York, on the Island of Manhattan," October S, KJGti.
It describes the property in the following words: *' A certain tract
of laml within this govei-nment, u]ion the main, bounded to the noi-th
wards by a rivulet called by the Indians ^fackassin, so running south-
ward to Nepperhaem, from thence to the kill Shorakkapock [f>])uyten
Duvvil], and then to Paperinemen | the locality of Kingsbridge],
which is the southernmost bounds; then ro go across the country to
the eastward by that Avhich is cnnimnuly Unown by the name of
Proiudc's, his river ami laud, which said ti-act ii.itli heretofore been
pui'cliased of the Indian projirietors by Adriaen \'an der Douck, de-
ceased.'' The English patent was bestowed iipon O'Neale and his
wife jointly. They at once proceeded to sell the lands in fee to dif-
ferent private persons. Notic(> of the resulting sales must be de-
ferred to the pi'oper chronologiral ]peiiod iu our narrative. It may
be noted here, however, that the princi])al i)ur<hasers of \'au der
Donck's lands were John Ai'i hei- and I're(leri<k IMiilipse, who later
became the lords, respectively, <d' the ]\[amirs of I'ordham ami Phil-
ipseburgh, the former lying wimlly, and the latter ])artly, within
the borders of tlu' old pati'oonshii).

CHAPTER VI

BEGINNINGS OF SERIOUS SETTLEMENT WESTCHESTER TOWN, RYE

HE destruction by the Indians of the early Englisli settle-
ments in the A'redeland on the Sound was foJlowd by a
loufj- period of almost eomjdete abstention from further
colonizing enterprises in that portion of Westchester
County. It is trvie that after the detinite conclusion of peace be-
tween the Dutch and the Indians in 10i5, both the Dutch govern-
ment of New Netherland and the English government of Connec-
ticut began gradually to give serious attention to llie (piestion of
the boundary between their rival jurisdictions, and that the result-
ing conflict of interests touching the ownershiji of those lands gave
rise to practical measures on both sides. It will be remembered
that the Dutch authorities, while permitting Throckinorton and his
associates to settle on Throgg's Neck, and later granting CornelPs
Neck to Thomas Cornell, simply received these refugees from New
England as jjersons coming to take ui) their abodes under the pro-
tection of their gov<'rnment and subject to its laws. Indeed, the
formal acts of the Dutch director in issuing licenses to the English
colonists are sulifich'nt evidences of the merely individual character
of the first English selllements on the Sound. But while willing to
accommodate separate immigrants from New England with homes,
the Dutch had always regarded the presence of tlie English on the
banks of the Connecticut Kiver, and their steady advance westward
in an organized way, with apprehension and resentment. To secure
the Dutch title to oriiiinal and exclnsive sovereignty over the whole
country, Kieft made laud purchases from the Indians, in 1(>31) and
1040, extending as far east as the Norwalk archipelago, purchases
which, however, were matched by similnr early deeds granted by the
natives to the Englisli to much of territory in tlie eastern ]iart of
Westchester County. After the close of the Dutch and Indian wars,
the territorial dispute steadily grew in importance, although it was
a number of years before the Dutch found any special cause for
coiiil)laint on the score of actual English encroachment.

On .hdy 14, 1049, Director Stuyvesant, repi'esenting the West
India Company, conlirnied the former Indian deeds of sale by pur-
chasing from the sachems Megtegichkama, Oteyochgue, and Wegta-

SETTLEMENT OF WESTCHESTER TOWN 115

kockkcii tlic wliole country " bi'twixt tlic Nortli and East Rivers."
The hoiuuliu-ies of this tract, wliicli in the record of the transaction
is called Weckquaesgeck, are not very distinctly defined; but the in-
tent of the purchase was evidently incidental to the general Dutch
jiolicy of showing a perfect title to the country. At all events, a
very large part of Westchester County Mas embraced in the sale,
the recompense given to the Indians consisting of " six fathom cloth
for jackets, six fathom seawant [wampum], six kettles, six axes, six
addices, ten knives, ten harrow-teeth, ten corals or beads, ton bells,
one gun, two lbs. lead, two lbs. powder, and two cloth coats."

The English of Connecticut, on the other hand, do not seem to
have attached any peculiar jKilitical ^alue to fudian land purchases.
There is no record of any punhase of Indian lands extending into
Westchester County on the i)art of the government of Connecticut.
The authorities of that colony were evidently satisfied to leave the
westward extension of lOnglish ]iossessions to the individual enter-
prise of the settlers, meantime ludding themselves in readiness to
sup]iort su(di enterprise by their sanction, and regarding all the land
occujiied by their advancing people as English soil, without refer-
ence to the counterclaims of the Dutch.

The purchase made by Nathaniel Turner, for the citizens of New
Haven, in KUO, of territory reaching considerably to the west of the
present eastern boundary of our county, was confirmed to the inhab-
itants of Stamford on August 11, l(i5.5, by the Indian chief Pomis and
Dnox, his eldest son. The tract bought in 1040 ran to a distance
sixteen miles north of the Sound. By tlie wording of the new deed of
10;"),^, its bounds extended " sixteen miles north of the toAvn ))lot of
Stamford, and two miles still further north for the pasture of their
[the settlers'] cattle; also eight miles east and west." The Indian
owners, upon this occasion, received as satisfaction four coats of
English cloth. No settlement of the region was begun during the
continuance of Dutch rule in New Netherland, and thus the matter
did not come prominently to the notice of Directcn* Stuyvesaut.

Hut in the preceding year a private English purchase from the
Indians was made of a district lying nearer the Dutch settlements
and within the limits of the already well-established jurisdiction of
the New Amsterdam authorities, which became a matter of acute
irritation. On the 14tli of November, 1()54, Thomas Tell, of Fairtield,
Conn., bought from the sachems Mamiuepoe and Anu-Uoock (alias
Wampage), and five other Indians, '• all that tract of land called West
Chester, wliich is bounded on the east by a brook, called Cedar Tree
Brook or Gravelly Brook, and so running northward as the said brook
runs into the woods about eight Hnglish miles, thence west to

IIG HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Bi-oiu-k"s liivcr to a icitaiu bt'iid iu the said river, Llieuce
hv marked trees soutli niifil it reaches the tide Avaters of the Sound,

toi^etlier wit Ii all the islands Ivini;- before tliat tract." This
is tlu' earliest legal recitrd we have of the application of the name
Westchester to any section of our county; although there is reason
for Ixdieving that for several years previously this locality on the
Sound liad been so called by the people of Connecticut, and that some
squatters had already made their way thither.' The bounds of INdl's
purchase overlapped the old Dutch Vredelaud and encroached upon
the grants formerly made in that region to Throckmorton and Cor-
nell. Indeed, after the English took jxissession of New Netherland,
the Town of Westchester set up a claim to the whole of Throgg's Neck,
and Pell brought suit to recover Cornell's Neck from Thomas Cor-
nell's heir; but as it was a part of the English policy to confirm all
legitimate Dutch land grants, both these pretensions were disal-
loAved. Westchester, as originally so styled, covered a much gr(>atei'
extent of country than the township of that name, (iravelly IJrook,
named in the conveyance from the Indians as its eastern boundary
line, is a creek flowing into th(> Sound in the Township of New
Roclielle; so that the territory at first called Westchester included,
besides Westchester toAvnship projter, the townships (or ])orti()ns of
them) of Pelliam, Eastchester, and New Koidielle. It is an interest-
ing fact that the first of these four townships to be settled was the
oTie most remote from Connecticut and near(\st the seat of Dutch
authority; which lends color to the sti-ong suspicion that the migra-
tion of the English (o this ([uarter was under the secret direction, or
at the connivance, of the government of Connecticut, which sought
to extend settlement as far as ])ossil)le into the disjiuted border terri-
tory. Later, as roll's purchase became sub-divided, se[iarate local
names were given to its several parts, the name of Westchester being
retained for that portion only Avhere the original settlements had
been established. Thus it canie that the company making the first
considerable sub-purchase within the Pell tract conferred the name
of Eastchester upon their lands, which immediately adjoined West-
chester town at the east. The settlers in Westchester were not ex-
terminated or driven away, like those on Hutchinson's Eiver and
Throgg's and Cornell's Necks; and, though interfered with by the
Dutch, held their ground ])ernianeutly. Westchester Avas therefoi'e
the earliest enduring English settlement A\^est of Connecticut. This

> In IfinO tho OutoU Oovornor Stuyvesant then rpsklent tliero vvpre survivors of Tlirock-

complainprt to the New Englanrt eommissioners morton's settlement of 1642-3, since Throekmor-

of tlie Knglisli eneroacliments upon " Oost- ton and his eolonists had the express sanction

dorp ■■ -as Wi'stchfster was called by the of the Dutch government,
nutch. It is hardly likely that the English

SETTLEMENT OF WESTCIIESTEK TOWN 117

was rcint'uiln'i'cd when, in KiS."), under Eui;lisli rule, llu' creel ion of
rciiuliirly orguuized ((Hinties was nndeitalcen ; and accor<lin_nly (lie
name ^^'est(•liestel■ was s(deeted as the one must suitable for tin'
county next above Manliattan Island.

It is certain that Eunlisli settlci-s had heiiun to arrive in West-
cliesler before the execution of I'eH's i\('r<\ from the Indians (Novem-
ber li, l()54j; for ou the 5th of November, KJai, nine days before that
execution, it was resolved at a meeting of the director-general and
council of New Netherlaiid that " Whereas a few English are begin-
ning a settlement at no great distance from our outposts, ou lauds
long since bought and i^aid for, near \'redelaud," an interdict be
sent to them, forbidding them to procet^d farther, and commanding
them to abandon that sjjot. I'ell, in the law suit which he brought
in UJ()5 against the heir of Thomas Cornell to recover Cornell's Neck,
stated that in buying the Westidiester tract he had license from the
governor and council of Counecticut, " who took notice of this laud
to be under their government,"' and "ordered magistratical power
to be exercised at Westchester." The colonial records of Connect-
icut show that such license was in fact granted to him in lti(58. This
sanction, issued nine years after his original purchase, was i)robably
])roi'uri'd by him with a view to a second and confii'matory purchase.
Whether the first settlers came to Westchester as the result of any
direct instigation on the part of the Connecticut officials can not be
determined; but it is probable that the latter were fully cognizant of
theiT- enterprise, and promoted it by some sort of encouragement.
Certainly the Westchester pit)neers made no false pretenses, and
sought no favors from the Dnti h, but boldly announced themselves
as I'^nglish c(donists. One of their tii-st acts was lo nail to a tree the
arms of the Parliament of I'^ngland.

Stuyvesant permitted the winter of l(')54-55 to pass without offering
(o disturb the intruders in the enjoyment of llie lands they had so
unceremoniously seized. But in Ajiril he dispatched an officer, Claes
\an Elslaudt, with a writ commanding Thomas Pell, or whomsoever
else it nught concern, to cease from trespassing, and to leave the
l)rennses. \'an l^Mslaiidt, u])on arriving at the lOnglish set I lenient,
was luet by eight or nine anued men, lo whose coiumander he de
livered the writ. The latter said: "I can not understand Dutch.
Why did not the tiscaal, or sheriff, send English ? When he sends
Englisii, theu I will answer. We expect the detei'mi nation on tiie
boundaries the next vessel. Time will tell whether we shall be under
l>ut(h government or the Parliament; until then we remain here
under the Commonwealth of England." Notwithstanding this de-
fiant behavior, tlie Dutch director- gen era I was reluctant to act severe-

118 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

\y in the matter, and ucnrly a year elapsed before the next proceed-
ings were taken, whieli were based ifuite as niueh upon considerations
affecting tlae cliaractei- of llic English settlement as upon the desire
to vindicate Dutch territorial rights. The director and council, by
a resolution adojjted March G, tt>5(j, declared that the English at
Westchester were guilty' of '' encouraging and sheltering the fugi-
tives from this province," and also of keeping up a constant corre-
spondence with the savage enemies of the Dutch. On these grounds,
and also to defend the rights of the Dutch against territorial usurpa-
tions, an expedition, commanded by Captains De Koninck and New-
ton and Attorney-General Van Tienhoven, was sent secretly to West-
chester. On the 14th of March this party made its descent upon the
village, and, finding the Englisli drawn up under arms, prepared for
resistance, overpowered them, and apprehended twenty-three of their
number, some of whom were fugitives from New Amsterdam and
the others bona lide English colonists. All the captives were con-
veyed to Manhattan Island, where the Dutch runaways were con-
fined in prison and the English settlers placed under civil arrest and
lodged in the City Hall. The next day Attorney-General Van Tien-
hoven formally presented his case against the prisoners. In his argu-
ment he alleged as one of the principal grievances against the people
of Westchester that thej' were guilty of the offense of " luring and
accommodating our runaway inhabitants, vagrants, and thieves, and
others who, for their bad conduct, tind there a refuge." He de-
manded the complete exjiulsion of the English from the province.
This denuind was sustained by the director and council, with the
proviso, however, that the settlers should be allowed six weeks'
time for the removal of their goods and chattels. At this stage the
prisoners came forward with a decidedly submissive proposition.
The}' agreed that, if iiermitted to continue on their lands, they wouhl
subject themselves to the government and laws of New Netherland,
only requesting the privilege of choosing their own ofTicers for the
enforceuK'ut of their local laws. This jx^ition was granted by Stuy-
vesant, on condition that their choice of magistrates should be sub-
ject to the approval of the director and coiincil, selections to be made
from a double list of names sent in by the settlers. Under this
amicable arrangement. Pell's settlement at AN'estchester (called by
the Dutch Oostdorp), while r(>taining its existence, was brought under
the recoguizi'd sovereignty of New Netherland, in which position it
remained until the Englisli conquest.

The history of this first organized community in Westchester
County is fortunately traceable throughout its early years. On
March 23, 1656, the citizens submitted to Director Stuyvesant their

SETTLEMENT OP WESTCHESTER TOWN 119

nominations of magistrates, the persons reconiniciKlcd lur (hese of-
fifcs being Lientenant Tlioinas Wheeler, Tlioiuas jS'ewiiiaii, Joliii
Lord, Josiali Liilbert, William Ward, and Nicholas Bayley. From
this list the director appointed Thomas AVheeler, Thomas Newman,
and John Lord. Annually thereafter double nominations wave uiade,
and tlu'ee magistrates were regularly chosen. There is no indication
in the records of New Netherland of any willful acts of insubordina-
tiou hj the settlers, or of any further delinquencies by them in the
Avay of harboring bad characters. The Dutch authorities, on their
part, manifested a moderate and considerate disposition in their
supervisorj- government of the place. At the end of 165G Stuyvesant
sent three of his subordinates to Westchester, to administer the oath
of office to the newly ajapointed )nagistrates and the oath of alle-
giance to the other inhabitants. But the latter objected to the form
of oath, and would j^romise obedience to the law only, provided it was
conformable to the law of God; and allegiance only " so long as they
remained in the province.'' This modified form of oath was gener-
ously consented to. Later (January 3, 1657), Stuyvesant sent to the
colonists, at their solicitation, twelve muskets, twelve pounds of pow-
der, twelve pounds of lead, two bundles of matches, and a writing-
book for the magistrates. At that time the pojmlation of AVest-
Chester consisted of twenty-five men and ten to twelve women.

The Dutch commissioners dispatched by Stuyvesant to Westches-
ter in 1C56 left an interesting journal of their transactions and ob-
servations there. The following entry sho\\ s that the colonists were
typical New Englandcrs in practicing the forms of religious worship:

31 December. — After dinner Cornelius Van Ruy ven went to see their mode of « orsliij), as
they had, as yet, no preaeher. There I found a gathering of about fifteen men and ten or twelve
women. Mr. Baly said the prayer, after which one Robert Ka.ssett read from a printed book
a sermon composed by an English clergyman in England. After the reading Mr. Baly gave
out another prayer and sang a psalm, and tliey all separated.

The writing-book for the magistrates j)rovided, with other neces-
sary articles, by Governor Stuyvesant, was at once put (o use; and
from that time forward the records of the town were systematically
kept. All the originals are still preserved in excellent condition.
The identical magistrates" book of 1657, with many others of the
ancient records of AA'estchester, and also of \Vest Faruis, are now in
the possession of a private gentleman in New York City.

In accepting and quietly submitting to Dutch rule, the English
were merely obeying the dictates of ordinary jirudence. Their hearts
continued loyal to the government of Connecticut, and they patiently
awaited the time when, in the natural course of events, that govern-
ment should extend its jurisdiction to their locality. After seven
and one-half years definite action was taken by Connecticut. At a

120 HISTORY OF WES'L'OHESTEK COUNTY

rouii of tlie general assciiildv, lidd ai Hartford, October 9, 1602, au
order was issued to the effect that "tins assembly doth hereby de-
clare and inform the inhabitanls of Westchester that the plantation
is included in ye bounds of our rharter, granted to this colony of
Connecticut." The Westchester iieo[il(? were accordingly notified to
send deputies to the next assembly, ajipoinled to meet at Hartford
in May, 1003; and also, in mattei-s of k'gal proceedings, to " take
the benefit," in common with the towns of Stamford and Greenwicli,
of a court established at Fairticdd. Iteadily attaching much iiiipor-
tanc<' to the will of Connecticut thus expressed, they abstained from
their usual <ustoiii of nominating magistrates for the next year to
CioveriKU' Stuyvesant. The latter, after some delay, sent to make
in([uiries as to the reason for this omissi<»n; whereat Kichard Mills,
one of llie local otticers, addi-essed to him a nu»ek cominiiMicatiou,
inclosing the notifications from Connecticut and saying: "We
humbly beseech you to undi'rstand that wee, the inhabitants id' this
place, have not plotted nor conspired against your Honor." This
did not satisfy Stuy^'esant, who caused ^Fills to be arresteil and in-
carcerated in ]N'ew Amsterdam. I'rom his place of continement the
unhappy Westchester magistrale wrote several doleful and contrite
letters to the wrathful director. " Ilight Hon. Gov. Lord Peter l^tev-
ensou," said he in one of these missives, " thy dejected prisoner,
Richard Mills, do humbly supplicate for your favor and commisera-
tion towards me, in admitting of me unto your honor's presence,
there to indicate my free and ready mind to satisfy your honor
wherein I am able, for any indignity done unto your lordship in
any way, and if possible to release me or confine me to some more
wholesome XJlace than where I am. [ have been tenderly br( d from
my cradle, and now antient and \\cakl_\,"' etc. The claims of Con-
necticut to Westchester being persisted in, Stuyvesant made a jour-
ney to Boston in the fall of 1003 to seek a permanent understanding
with the New England officials about the delicate subject. But no
conclusion was arrived at, and the AYestchester affair remained in
statu quo until fcu'cibly settled by the triumph of English force before
New Amsterdam in the month of Se])tember, 1001.

The Dutch-English controversy regarding the Westchester tract
was one of the incidental phases of the general boundary dis])ute,
which Stuyvesant, from the very beginning of his arrival in New
Netherland as director-general, had in vain sought to bring to a deci-
sion. In 1650, as the result of overtures made by him for an amicable
adjustment of differences, he held a conference at Hartford with
commis.siouers appointed by the United English Colonies; and on
the 10th of Sei)tember articles of agreement were signed by both

SETTLEMENT OF WESTCHESTER TOWN 121

pai'tics in interest, wliicli proviilcd lliiit tlic ImhiihIs iiixm llic ni:iin
"should beyiu at the west side of (ireenwifli Bay, beiug- about four
miles from Stamford, and so to run a nortlierly line twenty miles up
into the country, and after as it shall be agreed by the two govern-
ments, of the Dutch and of Xew Haven, provided the said line come
not within ten miles of the Hudson Iviver.'"

Itiii these articles, constituting a jn'ovisional treaty, were never
lalilied by the home governments. In l(>r>4 the States-General of
I lie Netherlands instructed their ambassadors in London to negotiate
a boundary line, an undertaking, which, however, they found it im-
possible to accomplish. The English government, when approached
on the subject, assumed a haughty attitude, pretending total ignor-
ance of their High Mightinesses having any colonies in America, and,
moreover, declaring that, as no proposal on the boundary question
had been received from the English colonies in America, it would be
manifestly im^iroper to consider the uLatter in any wise. Subse(iui'nt
attempts to settle this i.ssue were e(|nally unsuccessful. Neverthe-
less, it was always urged by Stuyvesaut that, in the absence of a reg-
uhirly coulirmed treaty, the articles of 1050 imght to be adhered to
in good faith on both sides, as embracing mulual concessions for the
sake of neighborly understanding, which were carefully formulated
at the time and had never been repudiated. It will be admitted by
most impartial minds that this was a reasonable contention. But
the Westchester tract was not the only territory in debate. English
settlement had proceeded rapidly on i.,ong Island, and the onward
movement of citizens of Connecticut in that quarter was quite as in-
consistent with the terms of the articles of ir>.">(l as was the presence of
an organized English colony in the Vredelaud. Thus whatever
course might be suggested by fairness respecting the ultimate Eng-
lish attitude toward Westchestei-, that was only one local issue among
others of very similar nature; and with so much at stake, the policy
of self-interest required a studied resistance to the Dutch claims in
general, even if that involved violation of the spirit of an agreement
made in inchoate conditions which, though in a sense morally bind-
ing, had never been legally perfected. Finally, there was no conceiv-
able risk for the English in any proceedings they chose to take, how-
ever arbitrary or unscrupulous; for in the event of an armed conflict
over the boundary difticulty, the jiowc ifiil Xew England colonies
could easily crush the weak and nu^ager Dutch settlements.

It is not known to what extent, if any, the settlers at Westchester
suff(U-ed from the great and wi(les])read Indian massacn- of 1(555,
which occurred before they had submit le<l themselves to the Dutch
government and consequently before their alTairs became matters

12'2 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

of record at Noav Ainstei'dam. On Lbo 15th of Sopteiiibcr of that
year sixty-four canoes of savages — •' Mohicans, Pachamis, \\ith others
from Esopns, Hackiugsack, Tapi)aan, Stamford, and Onlceway, as
far east as ('onuecticnt, estimated by some to amount to nineteen
hundred in number, from five to eiglit hundred of Avhom were armed,"
— landed suddenly, before daj'break, at Fort Amsterdam. They
came to avenge the recent killing of a squaw I)}' the Dutch for steal-
ing peaches. Stuyvesant, with most of the arme<l force of the set-
tlement, was absent at the time upon an expediti<ni to subdue the
Swedes on the Delaware. A reign of t<»rror followed, lasting for
three days, during which, says O'Callaghau, " the Dutch lost one
hundred people, one hundred and fifty were taken into captivity,
and more than three hundred persons, besides, were deprived of
house, home, clothes, and food." The Westchester people were
probably spared on this occasion. It was a deed of vengeance
agaiust the Dutch, and, as the English pioneers liad up to that time
firmly resisted Dutch authority, the Indians could have had no reason
for interfering with them. The reader will remember that when
Stuyvesant's officer, Van Elslant, came to Westchester with his writ
of dispossession in the spring of the same year, he was met by only
eight or nine armed men; whereas one year later tM'enty -three adult
males were made prisoners by De Koninck's party at that place.
This demonstrates that the progress of the settlement had at least
undergone no retardation in the interval.

Thomas Pell, to whose enterprise was due the foundation of the
first permanent settlement in the County of Westchester, Avas born,
according to Bolton's researches, at Southwyck, in Sussex, England,
about 1608, although he is sometimes styled Thomas Pell of Nor-
folk. He was of aristocratic and distinguished descent, traciug his
ancestry to the ancient Pell family of Waiter Willingsley and Dym-
blesbye, in Lincolnshire. A branch of this Lincolnshire family re-
moved into the County of Norfolk, of which was John Pell, gentle-
man, lord of the Manor of Shouldham Priory and BrookhaJl (died
April 4, 1550). One of his descendants was the Kev. John Pell, of
Southwyck (born about 1553), who married Mary Holland, a lady of
royal blood. Thomas Pell, the purchaser of the Westchester tract,
was their eldest son. As a young man in England he was gentle-
man of the bedchamber to Charles I., and it is supposed that his
sympathies were ah\ays on the side of the royalist cause. It is
uncertain at what period he emigrated to America, but Bolton finds
that as early as 1G30 he was associated with Boger Ludlow, a mem-
ber of the Rev. John Warham's company, who settled first at Dor-
chester, Mass., and later removed to Windsor, Conn. In 1G35, with

SETTLEMENT OF WESTCHESTER TOWN 123

Ludlow au(l U'U families, he coiiimeuoed tlic i»laii(atiou at {■'airfield,
Conn, (called by the Indians Unquowa). In l(i47 he traded to the
Delaware and Virjiinia. Beinj>' summoned in KiiS tc> take the oatli
of allegiance to NeAv Haven, he refused, for llic reason that he had
already subscribed to it in England, "and shnuld nut take it here."
For his contumacious conduct he was fined, and, icfusing to ])ay
the tine, "was again summoned before the authorities, au<l again
amerced."

Thus his early career in Connecticut was attended by circum-
stances which, on their face, were hardly favorable to his subse-
quent selection by the government of that colony as an agent for
carrying out designs that they may have had regarding tlie absorp-
tion of Dutch lands. It is altogether presumable that in buying
the Westchester tract from the Indians in 1654 he acted in a strictly
private capacity, although the settlers who went there may have
been stimulated to do so by the colonial authorities. Pell himself
does not appear to have ever become a resident of Westchester. He
evidently regarded his purchase solely as a real estate speculation,
selling his lands in parcels at first to small ])rivate individuals, and
later to aggregations of enterprising men.

Of the more important of these sales, as of the conversion of much
of his property into a manorial estate called Pelham Manor, due men-
tion will be made farther along in this History. The erection of Pel-
ham Manor by royal patent dated from October fi, 166G, Thomas Pell
becoming its first lord. He married Lucy, widow of Francis Brew-
ster, of New Haven, and died at Fairfield without issue in or about
the month of Heptember, KWiil. He left property, real and personal,
valued at £1,294 14s. 4d., all of which was bequeathed to his ne])hew,
John Pell, of England, who became the second lord of the manor.

For some six years following Pell's acquisition of Westchester in
1654, there were, so far as can be ascertained, no other notable land"
purchases or settlements within our borders. Van der Donck's patent
of the " Yonkers Land," inherited by his Avidow, continued in force;
biit the time had not yet arrived for its sub-division and systematic
settlement. The New Haven Colony's ]mrriiase from Ponus and
other Indians in 1640, confirmed to the ])eoiile of Stamf(U'd in 1655,
which covered the Town of Pe(lf(U'd and other ]iortions of AN'estchester
County, also continued as a mere nominal holding, no efforts being
made to develop it. No new grants of any mentionable importance
were made by the Dutch after that to Van der Donck, and while in-
dividual Dutch farmers were gradually penetrating beyond tlie Har-
lem, they founded no towns or compi'ehensive settlements of which
record survives.

124 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

But M'itli the decade coniiiienciiig in KJGO a general movement of
land purchasers and settlers bei;an, which, steadily continuing and
increasing, brought nearly all the principal eastern and southern
sections under occupation within a comparatively brief period.

The earliest of these new purchasers were Peter Disbrow, John
Coe, and Thomas Stedwell (or Wtudwell), all of Greenwich, Conn.,
who in 1660 and the succeeding years bought from the Indians dis-
tricts now embraced in the Towns of Kye and Harrison. Associated
with them in some of their later purchases was a fourth man, Jolm
Budd;^ but the original transactions were conducted by the three.
Their leader, I'eter Disbrow, says the Kev. Charles W. Baird, the
historian of lije, was " a young, intelligent, self-reliant man,"*
who seems to have enjoyed the thorough confidence and esteem
of his colleagues. On January' 8, KidO, acting by authority from
the Colony of Connecticut, he purchased " from the then native
Indian proprietors a certain true ( of land Ij'ing on the maine be-
tween a certain place then called IJahonaness to the east and to the
West Chester Path to the north, and up to a river then callfd Moa-
(|uanes to the west, that is to say, all the laud lying between the
aforesaid two rivers then called I'euingoe, extending from the said
I'ath to the north and south to the sea nr Sound." This tract, on
I'eningo Neck, extended ovei- the lower part of the present Town of
liye, on the east side of Blind P.rook, reaching as far north as Port
Chester and bounded by a line of marked trees.

Six months later (.Tunc 29, KiliO) the Indian owners, thirteen in
number, conveyed to Disbrow, Coe, and .Stedwell, for the consider-
ation of eight coats, seven shirts, and fifteen fathom of Avampuni,
all of JManussing Island, described as " near unto the main, which
is called in the Indian name Peningo." A third purchase was ef-
fected by Disbrow May 22, 1661, comprising a tract lying between
the Byram IJiver and Blind Brook, " which may contain six or seven
miles from the sea along the liyrani Biver side northward." Other
purchases west of Blind Brook followed, including Budd's Neck and'
the neighboring islands; the West Neck, lying between Stony Brook
and Mamaroneck Biver, and the tract above the Westchester I'ath
and Avest of Blind Brook, or directly north of Budd's Neck. This
last-mentioned tract was "the territory of the present Town of llar-
.rison, a territory owned by the proprietors of Rye, but wrested from
the town some forty years later." Baird describes as follows the

» John Budd was a Quaker, originally from niovod to Rye, and was tlie ancestor of tlie

Southoia, Suffoll< County, N. Y.. and suffered numercnis Horton family of Westcliester Coun-

perseeution there on account of his religious ty. l''.)r these particulars (not uientiipued in

antecedents. One of his daughters married previous histories) we are indebted to Charles

Joseph Horton, also of Southold, who later re- n. Young, Esq., of New Roehelle.

SETTLEMENT OP RYE 125

aggref>a((' liiiidcil in-opcrty represented li\ llic scvci-iil deeds: "The
southeru part of it alone eoniprised Ilic tract of land between Byram
Eivei- and Maniaroneck IJiver, while to the norlh it extended twenty
miles, and to the northwest an iudehnite distance. Tiiese honn
daries inclnded, besides the area now covered by the Towns of Eye
and Harrison, much of the Towns of North Castle and Bedford, in
New York, and of (Jreenwich, in Connecticnt; whilst iji a north-
west direction the territory claimed Avas absolntely Avithoiil a fixed
limit. As the frontier town of Connecticnt, T{ye long cherished ])i-e-
tensions to the whole region as far as the Hudson." The satisfac-
tion given the Indians for all parts of the territory consisted chiefly
of nseful articles, and foi- some of the section the recompense be-
stowed was very considerable according to the standards obtain-
ing in dealings with the Indians in those days. Thns, the value
paid for IJndd's Neck was " eightie jiounds sterling," and for the
Harrison tract twenty ])ounds stei-liug. 'i'iies(> sums certainly con-
ti-ast (|uite inii)Osingly with the value given by the Dntcli in l(i24
for .Maidiattan Island — twenty-four dcdiars.

Lilth' tiuie was lost in laying out a settlement. For this jiurpose
Mannssing Island was selected as the most available spot, and there

a c uiuuity was established which took the name of Hastings. In

Disbrow's deed of May '2'2, KIGl, to the lands between the Byram
Hiver and Blind Brook, mention is made of ''the bounds of Hast-
ings (III the south and sonthwest," wliicli indicates that al tliat
early date the island village had already been inaugurated and
naiiud. The following list of all the inhabitants of Hastings Ithe
second town oi-ganized in Westchester Countyl whose names have
come down to us is taken from Baird: I'eter Disbrow, John Coe,
Thomas Stud well, John Budd, William Odell, Richard VoM'les, !>?aiii-
nel Ailing, Bobeit Hudson, John Brondish, I'-rederick Harminson,
Thomas A])plel)e, riiilij) (ialpin, George Clere, John Jackson, and
Walter Jackson. It will be observed that all these, with one ex-
ception (("lerei, are good Knglish nanu's. This settlement, only one
hour's sail from (irecMwich, was too far removed from New Amster-
dam to excite the jealous notice and protest of Director Sluyvesant,
although it lay c<insidei*ably to the west of the ])rovisional liuuiidai-y
line marked olT in the articles of lt).")(). Its founders ai)pareiit l_\' re-
moNcd there with no other object than to secui-e homes an<l ]ilanta-
tions, holding thcmschcs in readiness, howcNcr, lil<c (hose of West-
chester, to come under the ronnecticut gdverniiicnt in due time The
oldest Hastings town document that has been ])reserved is a decla-
ration of allegiance to "("liarles the Second, our lawful hud and
king," dated July 2<i, ItitiL'. At the same period when the pco]plc of

126 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Westchester Mere iuiunued that their territory belonged to the Col-
ony of Connecticut, and instructed to act accordinoly, lilve notifica-
tion Avas sent io Ilastiuys. Early in 16G3 the townsmen, at a public
meeting, appointed liichard \'owles as constable, who went to Hart-
ford and was duly qualified. John Budd was selected as the first
deputy to the Connc^eticut jieneriil court, which body, on the Sth of
October, 1C()3, designated him as commissioner for the Town of Hast-
ings with " magistraticall power."

The Island of Manussing, only one mile in length, Avas in the course
of two or three years found inadi'quate for the growing requirements
of the colonists, and they began to build up a new settlement on the
mainland. This was probably in 16(54. Meantime other colonists
had joined them, including Thomas and Hachaliah Browne, George
Lane, George Knil'fen, Stephen Sherwood, and Timothy Knap. They
called the neAV village Rye, " presumably," says Baird, " in honor of
Thomas and Hachaliah Browne, the sons of Mr. Thomas Browne, a
gentleman of good family, from Rye, in Sussex County, England,
Avho settled at Cambridge, Mass., in 1632." " The original division
of Rye consisted of ten acres to each individual planter, besides a
jirivilcge in the undivided lands." The general court of Connec-
ticut, on the 11th of May, 1665, ordered " that the villages of Hast-
ings and Rye shall be for the future conjoyned and made one plan-
tation, and that it shall be called by the appellation of Rye." (Jrad-
ually the island was abandoned. The village of Rye became within
a few years a very respectable little settlement. It lay " at the
upper end of the Neck, along the eastern bank of Blind Brook, and
the present Milton road was the village street, on either side of
which the home-lots of the settlers were laid out. . . . The
houses erected were not mere temporary structures, as on INIanus-
sins; Island, but solid buildin"S of wood or stone, some of which
have lasted until our own day. They were long, narrow structures,
entered from the side, and stood with gable end close upon the road,
and huge chimney ])rojecting at the rear. Each dwelling generally
containetl t\A'o rooms on the ground Hoor — a kKchcn and ' l)est room '
—with sleeping apartments in the lofl."

The original Rye purchases of Disbrow and liis associates in ItiCiO
antedate<l by only one year the ]Mirclias(' of I lie adjacent Mamaro-
neck lands, extemling from the Mamavoneck River 1o the limits of
Thomas Pell's Westchester tract. On the 23d of September, 16(11,
the Indian projjrietors, ^^'ai)]>aipiewam and Maliatahan (brothers),
sold to Jolin Richbell, of Oystei' Bay, Long Island, three necks of
land, described as follows in the conveyance: "The Eastermost is
called Mammaranock Neck, and the Westermost is bounded with

richbell's mamaroneck purchase 127

Mr. Pell's purfliase." The three necks later b'-ciuue kuo^\m as the
East, Middle, and West Necks. All the meadows, vivevs, and islands
thereunto belonyiun' were included in the sale; and it was also
specified that Eichbell or his assigns might " fi-eely feed cattle or
cutt timber twenty miles Northward from the marked Trees of the
Necks." As payment, he Avas to deliver to Wapj'iaquewaiii, half
within about a month and the other half in the following spring,
twenty-tAVo coats, one liundred fathom of A^ampum, twelve shirts,
ten pairs of stockings, twenty hands of powder, twelve bars of lead,
two firelocks, fifteen hoes, fifteen hatchets, and tliree kettles. Two
shirts and ten shillings in Avampum were given in part paynu'nt on
the day of the transaction. But IJichbell Avas not permitted to enter
into undislurbe(l possession of Ids fine property. Another English-
man of Oyster Bay, one Thomas Revell, in the folloAving month (Octo-
ber, 16G1) aiipeared on the scene and undertook to buy the identical
lands, or a very considerable portion of them. His negoiiations
were with I lie same Wappaquewam and certain other Indians, to
Avhom he paid, or engaged to pay, more than Eichbell had l)oiind
himself for. Out of his rival claim arose a Avordy legal dispute,
wherein affidavits were filed by various witnesses, one of \\ Ikiui (tes-
tifying in Tvichbell's behalf) Avas Feter DisbroAV, of Manussiug Island.
From the testimony of Wai»paqueAvam it appears that that chief was
overpersuaded by another Indian, Cockoo, to resell the territory to
Bevell, upon the alluring promise that " he should have a cole," " on
Avhich he did it." The bui-deu of the cAidence Avas i)lainly in favor
of Richbell, Avho, in all the legal proceedings that restilted, Iriuinphed
OA'er his ojiponent.

The Indian Cockoo, Avho contributed his good oltices to the assist-
ance of ReAell in this enterprise, Avas none other than the notable
Long Island interiu-eter, Cockonoe, Avho was ,lohn Eliofs first in-
structor in the Indiau language, and Avho Avas a frequent interme-
diary betAveeu English land purchasers and the native oa\ iiers of
the soil. What is knoAvn of the history of tliis very uni(|Ue char-
acter has been embodied in an interesting monograph by Mi-. William
Wallace Tooker,' to Avhoni Ave are indebted for the article on In<lian
local naiiies in the second chapter of this volume.

His name a])i)eai's variously in legal documents as ('nckon, Cokoo,
and Cockoe — all abbreviations of the correct form, Cockinioe. Kliot,
in a letter written in KUfl, descriptiA'e of how he learned the Indian
tongue, relates that he became ac(]uainted while living at Dorchester,
Mass., with a young Long Island Indiau, "taken in the I'equott
warres," Avhom he fonml very ingenious, able to rea<l. and whom

' CoikoiioiMlo-r.i.iii; Islunil. N.w York. ISOG.

128

HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

lie lauglii l(( wi'ilc, •• wliirli he quickly k-arnt." "IK- was the first,"
says Eliot, "that 1 made use of to teach me words and to be my in-
terpreter." And at the end of liis "Indian (irammar." printed at
Cambridge in l(i()!i. Kliot testifies more particularly to the services
rendere(i him by this youtii. "By his Iielp," he says, "I translated
the ("omniandments, tiie Loi-d's Prayer, and many texts of Scripture;
also I compiled both exhortations and prayers by his iieip." Cooko-
noe attended Eliot for some time in his evan!j;elistio expeditious, and
lalci- made his home amony the Eujilish settlers on Long Ishind,
whom he stood ready at all times to assist in their private dealinjis

with the Indians. When

4^ THE i^>

M OR, jjj^j.

,S! The way of training up of oitr ^

<m kno.vlcage of G.A, in ihc ^>'>
knowledge ofdicScdp:unc' ^j.

jW. and in an a'.vliiy to Pfiile.
V-X .

•^ Compofed t>j I. E.

Li^JJ — _ ^

i UiM. 3 14,15. ,^(f <^f,:;:.i;j. QST

-y 'Virflts.,/^ «>;/) n.thcuBtjjsarl'h ^

{^ khpahiiit.ic.imnfh, wihi/i'dti^i'

4^ ytcbAt>b:tihte:<oniclt f§<J.

^iij -5) ^^b witch fiufnnuti^ffi'fn- STi

nut ({vnjiy.to nriiriicit'ipuiti, ^t

Thomas Revell son,i>ht to
i;('t the njijier hand of
b'icldicjl in the ])nrchase
o( lands in the present
Townshi}! of Mamaroneck,
lie accordiniily brouiihr
( 'ockonoe with him from
I.dUi;- Island, and confided
to him full anthority in
the premises, ('ockonoe
made larjie promises to
the native owners in He-
vell's bi-lialf, and readily
induced them to yrant
him jiower of attorney to
sell the lands to Kcxcll.
The u iiderst nndiiii;- was
shrewdly planueil, but
Kichlxdrs claim was too
well establ ished t o be
overcome.

Richbell. unlike IN-ll in
his AYestchester pur(duise,
and l>isbrow" and his com-
panions in their Eye ven-
ture, did not hold himself indeiieudent of the l)ut(di iM-o\'incial admin-
istration. He promptly a])plied to the government at New Amster-
dam for confirmation of his landed rlalits. Perhaps he was actuated
in this step by a i)rudent desire to avoid the legal eomi»licatioiis and
annoyances Avhich the settlers at Westchester had experieuct-d, and
perhaps he sought to strengthen his case against his competitor
Eevell bv the forms of ofiicial recognition. In an elaboratelj- polite

«rt*Bfc-ttl,

FAC-SIMILE OF THE TITLF.-PAfJF OF THE PRIMER OF 1669.,

richbell's mamaroneck purchase 129

(■(iiminmicatioii, (Iatc(I "In New Nctlici-laiids, 2JtIi rH-ccmbci-, KWil,"
and addri'ssed "To the most noldc, jircal, and resitcctf'nl lords, the
Din-ctor-Ueucral and Council iu .New Netherlands," he solicited
" most reverently " that letters patent be .uranted him loi- his tract,
l)romising not only that all i)ersons settlinii- njx'U It should similarly
crave letters jiatent from the Dutch authorities for such jjarcels of
land as they should ac(iuire, but also that he would take care to
"enforce and instruct them of your Honour's iiovernment and \\iii."'
Hy a document signed 3Iay (i, 1002, Director Stuyvesant conipiicii
with his request, stipulating, however, that Kichbell and all ))ei'soMS
associated with him or settling under him should "present llicm-
selves before us to take the oath of fidelity and obedience, and also,
as other inhabitants are used to, procure a land brief of what they
I)ossess."

The bounds of Richbell's patcmt on the Sound ran from " Mr. I'ell's
purchase" at the southwest to the Mamaroneck River at the north-
east. The three necks, constituting its water front, are thus de-
scribed by the historian of the Jfanors of Westchester County:

The Middle Xeelc was sometimes styled the " Great Neek," from its longer extent of
water front, which led to the supposition tliat its area below Westehester Path was {greater
than tliat of the East Neek. Tlie East Xeek extended from Mamaroneek River to a small
stream ealled Pipin's Brook, which divided it from the Great Neek, and is the same wliieh
now (188t)) crosses the Boston Road jnst ea.st of the house of the late Mr. (ieoroe Vander-
burgh. The North Neck extended from the latter stream westward to the nuiuth of a mueh
birjjer brook ealled Cedar or Gravelly Brook, wliieh is the one that bounds the land now
Kelnnjrinr.- to Mr. IMeyer on the west. And the West Neck extended from the latter to
another smaller brook still further to the westward, also termed Stony or Gravelly Brook,
wliieh was the east line of the Manor of I'elham. A heated controversy arose between John
Riehbell and John Pell (second lord of tlie Manor), as to which of the two brooks last named
was the true boundary between them. Pell claiminy- that it was the former and that the West
Neek was his land. After proceedings before (iovernor Lovelace and in the Court of
.\ssizes, the matter was finally settled on the 2'Jd of January, IfiTl, by an agreement prac-
tically dividing the disputed territory between them.

Ikichbell erected a liotise on the East Neck, and resided there. in
the iiiirrior his landed i-iglils, as understood in his deed from the
Indians, extended "twenty miles northward." By letters patent
from (ioveinor Lovelace, issned to him October 10, lOOS, the wlnde
tract was continued to him, "running northward twenty miles into
the woods." This tract embraced the present Towns (jf Mamaroneck,
White I'lains, and Scarsdale, and most of New Castle. I'.ul the en-
terprising men of Rye in 10S8 bought liom the Indians i he While
Plains tract — a ])urchase which gave rise to a ])rolracle(l conienlion
about the ownershij) of that section. The West and Middle Necks
went out of RichbelTs jiossession under nioiigage transactions, the
principal mortgagi'e being Cornelius Steeiiwyck, a wealthy Dutch
merchant of New York. Most of the Middle Neck was subse-iueiitly

130 IIISTOUV OK WESTCHESTER COUNTT

acquired by the rtihiiei- family (still prominent in the Tuwn of ^Mamar-
oneck). Toward the end of the eighteenth century Peter J. Munro
became its principal proprietor, from whom it is called to (his day
Munro's Neck. Upon it is located the widely known and exclusive
summer resort of Larchmont, The East Neck was conveyed by
Richhell, immediately after the procurement of his jiatcnt from Gov-
ernor Lovelace, to his mother-indaw, Margery Parsons, who forth-
with deeded it to her daughter Ann, his wife. By her it A\as sold
in 1697 to Colonel Caleb Heathcote, under whom, Avitli its interior
extension, it was erected into the Manor of Scarsdale. Heathcote's
eldest daughter, Ann, married into the distinguished de Lancey
family. As he left no male heir, Ann de Lancey inherited much of
the manor property, and the de Lanceys. continuing to have their
seat here, gave their name to the locality still called de Lancey's
Neck.

John Eichbell, the original purchaser of all the lauds whose his-
tory has thus been briefly traced, was " an Englishman of a Hamp-
shire family of Southampton or its neighborhood, who were mer-
chants in London, and who had business transactions with the West
Indies or New England." ITe was engaged for a time in commer-
cial enterprises in the British West India Islands of Barbadoes, then
a prominent center of transatlantic trade. In l^.^n he was a mer-
chant in Charlestown, Mass. (near Boston). The next year he en-
tered into a peculiar jirivate uuderstanding with Thomas Mediford,
of Barbadoes, and AVilliam Sliarpe, of Sout]iaiH])ten, England, which
is supposed to have afforded the basis for his purthase, four years
later, of the Mamaroneck tract. The details of the understanding
are not stated in terms in any document that is extant; but its
nature can readily be conjectured from the wording of the " Instruc-
tions " prepared for him by his associates, dated Barbadoes, Septem-
ber 18, 1657. He is advised to inform himself "by sober under-
standing men" respecting the seacoast between Connecticut and
the Dutch settlements, and the islands between Long Island and
the main, ascertaining "Avithin what government it is, and of what
kiude that government is, whether very strict or very remisse."
Having satisfied himself, in these and other particulars, that he
"may with security settle there and without offense to any," he is
advised to " buy some small Plantation," which, among other ad-
vantages, must be " near some navigable Ryver, or at least some
safe port or harbour," and " the way to it neither long nor ditticult."
He is next to obtain an indisputable title to the land, to settle there .
with his family, and to clear and cultivate it. Precise directions
are given him for his agricultural and economic operations, includ-

richbell's mamaroneck purchase 131

ing tbi' I'olldwiug signifioaut ones: " Be sure by the first opportunity
to put au acre or two of hemp seed into the ground, of which you
may in the winter make a quantity of canvass and cordage for your
own use. In the falling and clearing your ground save all your
l)riiKipal timber for pipe stands and clapboard and knee timber."
Lastly, he is instructed to "advise us, or either of us, how affairs
stand with you, what your wants are, and how they may be most
advantageously employed by us, for the life of our business will
consist in the nimble, quiet, and full correspondence with us." There
can be no doubt that all this was with a view to procuring facilities
for contraband traffic. The navigation laws, at that time as through-
out the colonial period, were extremely burdensome, and large profits
were to be made in evading them. Although no direct evidence ex-
ists that the Mamaroneck shores were utilized to this end, we think
it highly probable tliat some illicit trade found its destination there.
It is a fact that EichbelTs lands, unlike those of Thomas IVU and
Disbrow and his associates, were not taken \i]) to any considerable
extent by bona fide colonists for many years. Yet he was a poor
man, always in debt, and could not afford to let his property lie idle.
As late as 1671 a warrant was issued by Governor Lovelace " for ye
fetching Mr. John Richliell to \(n\n [New York City] a prisoner,"
wherein it was recited that " John Itichbi'll, of JIamaroneck," was " a
prisoner under arrest for debt in this city, from wliicli place he hath
absented liiinself contrary to liis engagement." It may hence justly
be remarked that, on the otiu-r hand, lie could hardly have been en-
gaged in any very extensive or remunerative "nimble" business.

T?efore buying the Mamaroneck tract, Richbell had become an in-
habitant of Long Island, residing at Oyster Bay. On the 5th of Sep-
tember, 1660, he purchased Lloyd's Neck, on that island, for which
on December IS. 1665, he obtained a patent from Governor Nicolls.
Tills property he sold one year later for £150. Through his brother,
Eobert Richbell, a member of the English Council of Trade created
by Charles II., he probably received early information of the expe-
dition intended for the conquest of New Netherland from the Dutch.
After the conquest he made his home at Mamaroneck, where he died
July 26, 1681, leaving a widow and three daughters — Elizabeth,
Mary, and Ann. Elizabeth, according to Bolton, became " the sec-
ond wife of Adam Mott, of Ilanistead," and their son, William, was
the ancestor of Dr. Yalentine :Mott, of New York City. Mary Rich-
bell married Captain James Mott, of Mamaroneck. who, in an entry
in tlie town records, alludes to "a certain piece of land laying near
the salt meadow," "in my home lot or field adjoining to my house,"
as being the burial place of John Richbell.

CHAPTER \11

" THE POKTION OF THE NORTH RIDING ON THE MAIn" PROGRESS OF

SETTLEMENT AND BEGINNINGS OF THE MANORIAL ESTATES

N the Gtli of Hepteiiibcr, 1()()4, the CMty of New Am-
sterdam suiTeiidercd to ;ui English fleet whicli had
beeii secretly disiiatchcd an'oss the Atlantic lo take
ttossessiou of the Diilili dominions in America; and
soon attei-ward the fortitied places id' the- Dntch on the Dela-
wai-c and the npper Undson gave in their allegiance to the
new rnlei'S of the land. For man,\ years tiie wliole conrse <>( events
in New Netherland had been steadily tending to this event naiity. As
early as l()5tl, when tlie llarti'oi-d articles of agreement between Stny-
vesant and the comnnssiducrs uj' tlie T'niteil Colonies of New I'hig-
laiid were signed, the l>utcii pi-etensions to teirituriai ownersiii]) on
tlie banks id' the Connecticnt were abandoned, and the lOnglish rights
as far west as Greenwich on the Sound and to within ten miles of the
llndson liiver in the interior were rerogiuzed. At the same time,
sovereignty on Long Island was fni'mally divided with the English,
it being )>ioviileil in the articdes tli;it " upon Long' Island a line ran
from the westernmost part of Oyster i!ay, so, and in a sti-aighl and
direct line, to the sea, shall be the bonnds betwixt the iCnglish and
Dutch there, the easterly part to belong to the English and the west-
I'rnmost part to the Dntch.'" Snbsei|nent (U'veloj)mi'nts wei-e nni-
forndy in the direction of the acipusition by the English of all nn-
settled intermediate territory. While the Dutch not oidy made no
encroa(dnaents njion the sections adjoiinng the English settlements,
but even neglected all systematic orcn]>ation of the undeveloped
country' indisputably belonging to their own sjihere, such as the
regions north of the Harlem Kiver, the English were constantly ex-
tending, by actual seizure and occupation, the limits of their west-
ward (daims. One after another the Dutch gave up to their rivals
every point in dispute. In lti(>:'>. after a strenuous endeavor to re-
tain the Westchester tract, wheie they had preserved the forms of
jurisdiction since the early days of its colonization by TelFs settlers,
tliev resigned this inqiortant vantage ground; and early in 1664,

AFTER TIIK ENGLISH CONQUEST

i:«

forced to an issue on l>i)no Island h\ I lie siiililmrii allihidc ul' ilii>
En.nlisli (owns llicic, llu-y entered into an airani^cnient \t\ w liicii
all conti-ovei-ted matters in that part of their diniinishini;- realms
were deterniined ajireeably to the 157'ilisii interests. Bj' this hitler
transaction the villain's of Newtown, I'liisliinn', .Taniaica, Tlenipstead,
and (Jravesend beeann- English. The arroj^ant general dis|M)sition
of (he English in Oouuectiont u\ the closing period of the Dntch
rnle is described as follows by Stuyvesant in a dispatch to the West
India Conix>auy, dated IS*o\('nd)er 1(1, Hii;.".: "They know no New
Netherland, uor government
of New Xethei-land, except
oidy the Dnlch jdantation
on tile Island of .Manhattan.
"Tis evident and clear that
were ^^■estchester and the
five lOnglish to\\iis on ]>ong
Island snrreiidered by us to
the Colony of Hartford, and
\\iial we have justly pos-
sessed and settled on Long
Island left to ns, it would
not satisfy them, because it
would not be ])ossible to
bring them sxifltieiently to
any fnrtlier arrangement
witii us by commissioners
to be chosen on both sides
by the mediation of a third
party; and as in case of dis-
agreement they assert, in
addition, that they may pos-
sess and occupy, in virtue of
their unlimited patent, the
lands lying vacant and un-
settled on both sides of the Noi"th Ttiver ami elsew here, which would
certainly always cause and ci-eate ne\\' |)re(ensions and dis]iutes, even
though the boundaiy Avere jirovisionallN settled here." The ])atent
here referred to by Stiiyvesant was one granted by Cliaries II. on
(he 23d of AiM-il. \m2. to the Colony of Coniiecticut, wherein the
westward bounds of Connecticut were stated to be " (he Soutli Sea "
— that is, the Pacific Ocean. The southern bounds were likewise
fixed at •' the F!ea " — meaning not the Sound, but the Atlantic Ocean
south of Long Island.

DUTCH COURTSHIP.

IS'! HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

March 23, IGGl fn. s.J, Cliark'S 11. by ruyal pateut vested in his
brother, the Dul^e of York (afterward James II.), the proprietorship
of all of New Xetherland. The sole semblance of justilication of
this act was the venerable claim of England to the North American
mainland, based upon the discovery of the Cabots in the reign of
Henry ^'11., nearly a hundred and seventy years before. At the
time of the gift to the Duke of York, no state of war existed be-
tween England and the Netherlands. Neither was there the plau-
sible excuse of emergency on the ground of any threatening be-
havior of the Dutch in America, or even of dangerous differences
between the provinces of New Netherland and Connecticut; for, as
we have seen, the Dutch had pursued an undeviating course of for-
bearance and submission, and had but recently yielded all for which
their English neighbors contended. It was a deed of spoliation pure
and simple, and as such has been characterized in varying terms of
denunciation by all impartial historians. Four ships of Avar, car-
rying ninety-two guns and about four hundred and lifty land troops,
and commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, appeared before New
Amsterdam at the end of Aiigust, and demanded the surrender of
the city. Stuyvesant desired to resist to the last, but was over-
borne by the Avill of the citizens, and on the 6th of September articles
of capitulation were signed, whicli were extremeh' generous in their
provisions, the Dutch being granted full privilege to continue in the
enjoyment of their lands and otlu-r jjossessions, as well as liberty of
religion and of occupying minor civil offices. Nicolls was installed
as governor of the province, which took the name of New York.

One of the first documents wliicli I he new authorities had to con-
sider Avas a communication from the " iidiabitants of Westchester,"
reciting, under seven different heads, their local grievances against
the Dutch. In this paper no specific remedy was prayed for, and it
appears to have been drawn mei'ely to put on record the real and
supposed injuries that the settlers liad suffered from the New Neth-
erland government, and to attract official attention to their commu-
nity. O'Callaghan shows that in some of its more serious charges
it is distinctly untruthful, suggesting a malignant animus. It con-
cluded with the bitter complaint that, because of the conduct of the
Dutch, the plantation is at " a low estate," that conduct having
operated as " an utter obstruction from the peoi)ling and improv-
ing of a hopefiil country."

The form of tenure under which Ncav Netherland was granted to
the Duke of York by the king Avas defined in the patent as fol-
lows : " To be holden of us, our heirs, and successors, as of our
Manor of Greenwich and our County of Kent, in free and common

AJ^TER THE ENGLISH CONQUEST 1.35

socage, aud not in capltc, uor by kuight service, yielding aud ren-
dering of and for tlie same, yearly and every year, forty beaver
slvins wlieu they sliall be demanded, or within ninety days tliere-
after." This meant simply that there was to be no feudal tenure
of lands under its provisions (all feudal t<'nures having, in fad, been
abolished throughout English dominions by act of Parliament four
years previously), but that the system introduced should be strictly
allodial, patterned, moreover, upon that prevailing in " our Manor
of East Greenwich in the County of Kent," "' the object being to
give to the new possessions in America the most favorable tenure
then known to the English law." The basis of the ancient and
effete feudal system was the complete subjection of the vassal to
his lord, the vassal being bound to perform military and other per-
sonal services aud to be judged at hu\ by his lord, and the lord
guaranteeing him, in consideration of his fealty, sectirity in the pos-
session of his lands and general protection. On the other hand, allo-
dial tenure, or " free and common socage," -was " a free tenure, the
land being a freehold, and the holder a freeman, because he, as well
as the land, was entirely free from all exactions, and from all rents
and services except those specified in his grant. So long as these
last were paid or performed, no lord or other power could deprive
him of his laud, and he could devise it by will, and in case of his
death intestate it could be divided among his sons equally." Thus
in its very origin, English rule in what is now the State of New
York had for its basic principle an absolutely free yeomanry. The
erection of '' manors," presided over bj- so-called " lords," did not
affect in the least this elementary free status; the manors being
only larger estates, and their lords wealthy proprietors with cer-
tain incidental aristocratic functions and dignities which violat('(l in
no manner the principle of perfectly free land tenure^

New York, under this patent from Charles II., assumed at once
the character of a " proprietary province " — that is, a province owned
absolutely by the beneficiary, James, Duke of York, and ruled ex-
clusively by him through his subordinates, subject to the genei-al
laws of England. In this character it continued for nearly Iwniiy-
one years (excepting a little more than one year, when it was again
under Dutch sway by virtue of reconquest), at the end of that time
being merged in the provinces of the crown because of the acces-
sion of James to the throne of England. Kichard Xicolls, the duke's
first governor, after substituting for the old uauu- of New Nether-
land that of New Y'ork, proceeded to rename the various parts of
the province. lie assigned the comprehensive designation of York-
shire to the whole district surrounding Manhattan Island, cumpris-

136 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTEU COUNTY

Ing Long Island, Stalcii Islainl, iind l lir |mcsciiI W'fstclicster ( 'ounly;
and, following the local slvl.- (if old ^()l•kshil'(', in England, he snb-
divlded this district into tlircc so-called " Kidings " — the '" East,"
"West," and "North." The East Jiiding consisted of the present
Suffolk County; the West Kiding, of Staten Island, ilie jiresent Kings
('onnty, and the Town of Newtown, in the present (Queens County;
and the North liidiiig, of the remainder of the present Queens
County, together Avith the Westchester phmtation. The first offi-
cial (as well as popular) name for our county, of mor<^ than nu-re
local ajijdication, was " the jiortion of the North Kidiiig on the main."
But the hong Island jurisdiction extended only to (he Bronx, the
settlements whicli later sprang up west of that sti-eani beini; und<'r
the government of Harlem and New York City until Wesli liester
County came into existence , in 1(JS3.

Goverucu- Nicolls, after ])roc]aimiug the Duke of York as lord pro-
prietor of the province, and exacting recognition of him as such,
which was readily foil hcoming (SI uyvesant, and the leading Dutch
citizeiis generally, suhscriljing to the oath of allegiance), permitted
the former order of things to continue with as littk' interference as
possible. ^\■ith the transfer of sovereignty, however, it became nec-
essary to issue new land ]tatents to existing owners, extinguishing
the condilion in the old deeds thai lands were lield under allegiance
to the Dutch West India Comi>any, and instituting instead the au-
tliority of Ihe new regime. This formality was jirovided for in the
celebrated code known as " The Duke's Laws," adopted by an as-
sembly of delegates from the towns oi' the ](rovin<e held at Hemp-
stead in the summer of l(Ki5. It was prescribed that "all persons
Avhatsoever who may have any grants or ])atents of townships, lands,
or houses, within this goverumeni, shall bring in the said grants or
patents to the said governor and shall have them ]'enew("d by au-
thority from his Boyal Highness, the Duke of York, before the next
Court of Assizes. That every purchaser, etc., shall pay for every
huudi'ed acres as an acknowh^dgnu'ut two shillings and six pence."
The Dutch submitted cheerfully to the regulation, but some oppo-
sition to it was offered b_\' tlie iuluibitants of the English towns of
Long Island, who, conceiving that they belonged to the jurisdiction
of Connecticut, were disinclined to be thus summarily incorporated
under the new-fledged government.

The bonndarj' question which so vexed Stuyvesant was immedi-
ately brought to the serious attention of Nicolls by the Connecticut
officials. He was no sooner well established in ](ossession of the
Dutch province than delegates were sent to him from Connecticut
to congratulate him and arrange a settlement of the boundary line.

AFTER THE ENGLISH CONQUEST 137

He api)ointe(l oonniii.ssi()n('rs to iiicct these delej;ates, and (in the
2Sth of October, 1()G4, it was af^reed that the line should start on
tlie Sound at a point twenty miles east of the Ilndson Kiver aniJ
imrsue a north-iiortliwest course until it intersected the line of
Massachusetts, which at that time was supposed to run across the
continent to the Pacific Ocean. In locating the twenty-mile start-
ing point, Nicolls accepted representations made by the Connecticut
[leople, and it was fixed at tlie mouth of tlie .Mamaroneck Kiver,
which in point of fact, however, is only ten miles from the Hudson.
Accordingly, the boundary between NeAV Vork and Connecticut was
declared to be "a line drawn from tlie east i)oint or side where the
fresh water falls into the salt,' at high-water mark, north-northwest
to the line of iMassnchiisetts." This produced a line strilcing the
east bank of the Hudson just above Crotcm I'oint, and the west bank
at West Point — an arrangement which, when the New York author-
ilies discovered tlie fact, was greatly to their dissatisfaction, and
wliich hiler was rectified on a basis as nearly as convenient adjust-
able to the original twenty-mile understanding. But for tiie time
being, notwithstanding the serious miscalculation of distance, the
division of territory on the Sound appeared equitable enough. It
was unquestionable that eve rything east of (ireenwich belonged to
("(inuecticut, by virtue of long settlement and also of the articles of
l(i.">(l. West of Greenwich there were only three settlements on the
Sound — those at l\.\e and Westchester, and an infant colony at East-
chester, — and all of these had been established exclusively by Con-
necticut people. Wfstchester village, and with it all the ti^'ritory
on the Sound as far as the Mamaronecdc Kiver, was surrendered by
Connecticut to New York, only the Kye ])urchase being retained. As
for the interior, that was wholly unsettled as yet, and there was no
occasion to make any issue conceriung it. Meantime the New York
government was able to contend that it was the oi-iginal intent of
both parties to have the Connecticut line drawn at a distance of
twenty miles from the Hudson; and anything inconsistent with this
in the ])recise terms of the arrangement actually effected was natur-
ally subject to re\'isioii in due time.

Although the village of Westchester had attained to the inijior-
tance of a separate organized community, the settlers there had held

' " Tlif iilnce where the fresh water falls iuto a northerly course, a rock.v reef originally

llie salt " is. says de Laneey, in his History crossed it nearly at right angles, causing the

nf ihe M.innrs, the literal translation of the formation of rapids. It was high enough to

Uidian name Mamaroneik. lie adds: " A short prevent the tide rising over it at high water,

distance above the present bridge between the so that the fresh water of the river always

Towns of Mamaroneck and Uye, where the fell Into the salt water of the harbor, and at

river bends suddenly to the east and then takes low water with a strong rush and sound."

138 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

their lands from tlif beginning untk-r an arrangement with Thomas
Pell, the original Avhite owner of the territory, whereby they were to
pay him " a certain summe of money." Circumstances prevented the
fHlfilhiient of this obligation, and on the KUh of June, 1664, three
months befoi'e the surrender of the province to the English, they
signed a document restoring to him all rights, titles, and claims to
the tract. One of the signers was " John Acer," probably the John
Archer who a few years subsequently became lord of the Manor of
Fordham. The restoration thus made was only temporary, for in
1667 Westchester received a town jjatent.

The proprietary liretensions of Thomas Pell were quite unlimited.
Besides undertaking to hold the Westchester settlers to tlie letter
of their agreement with him, he asserted and attempted to legally
enforce a claim to Cornell's Neck, which in 1646 had been patented
by the Dutch director, Kieft, to Thomas Cornell, and from him had
descended to his eldest daughter, Sarah, the wife of Thomas Willett
and later of Charles Bridges. Shortly after the English govern-
ment of IS'ew York had become established, Pell sought to oust Mrs.
Bridges from the possession of Cornell's Neck, and in consequence
of his arbitrary proceedings she, with her husband, brought suit
to restrain him from interfering with her in the enjoyment of her
inheritance. The action was tried before a jury on the 29th of
September, 1665. It i)rt)ved to be a test case as to the validity of
Dutch grants in the whole territory which had been in dispute be-
tween New Netherland and Connecticut, Pell set up the plea that
the so-called CorneH's Neck was comprehended within the tract that
he had bought from the Indians in 1654; that the governor and
council of Connecticut had taken "notice of this land to be under
their government," and had licensed him to purchase it; and that
any prior Dutch grant ought to be voided, since " where there is no
right there can be no dominion, so no patent could be granted by
the Dutch, they having no rigid." On the other hand, the plaintiffs
alleged " ye articles of surrender, and the King's instructions, where-
in any grant or conveyance from the Dutch is confirmed." The
jury promi^tlj- returned a vei'dict for the plaintiffs, with sixpence
damages; and it was ordered "that the high sheriff or the under-
sheriif of ye North Biding of Yorkshire upon Long Island do put
the i)laintifi's in jjossession of the said land and premises; and all
persons are required to forbear the giving the said plaintiffs or
their assigns any molestation in their peaceable and quiet enjoy-
ment thereof." Under this decision the absolute ownership of Cor-
nell's Neck by the descendants of Thomas Cornell was never sub-
sequently questioned. Mrs. Bridges deeded the Neck to her eldest

PROGRESS OF PURCHASE AND SETTLEMENT

139

son, William Wilk-tt, who on tliL- ir)tli of April, KiCT, procured from
Governor NicoUs a new and more earcfiilly worded patent to it.
The Neck continued in the AVillett family for more than a century
afterward, and, althongh never invested with manorial dij^nity, was
recognized throughout the colonial period as one of the most im-
portant landed estates in Westchester County, the heads of the Wil-
lett family vying in social and public prominence with the Mor-
rises, Philipses, de Lauceys, and Van Cortlandts.

oi-R SAINT Paul's church, eastchester.

But though defeated in his attempt to acquire CoruelTs Neck, Pell
was recognized as the " one only master " of the territory reaching
from the eastern confines of that locality to the Mamaroneck pur-
chase of Thomas Kichbell. We have seen that the title to the West-
chester planiation was reconveyed to him by the settlers on the IGth
of June, ir>(i4; and in the same month another circumstance occurred
indicating that I'ell's aulliority over the whole domain was undis-
puted. On the 24th of June, 1G64, he granted to "James Evarts

140

HISTORY OK WESTCHESTER COUNTY

and Philip IMiiekiK^v, lor tluMns<^]vos and their associates, to the
number of ten faniilit^s," the privih'ue " to settle (h»\vn at Hutch-
inson's, that is, "where the house stood at the mca^lows ami uplands,
to Hutchinson's IJivc^r/' This new English e<»lonv, located just above
Wt'stchester, on the strij) belw'on Thi-o^^'s an<l l*elliani Necks, was
culled Eastchester, or the " Ten I'^anns." All the graut(M's came from
Fairfield, PelTs liome. The oriuina! ten families were soon joined
bj otlu^rs, making (w<*nt.y-six families in all. A curious cov<*nant,
comprising t\\'enty-seven paragraphs, was adoit'cH fur the govern-
ment of the place, in which ]»lain rules for the observance of all
Avere laid down.^ To lM^tt(M' s<^<'ure themselves in the pi)S(^ssi(tn of

^ Inipriniis, that we by lln' ^'nicc <if (lod, sitt
down on the tr:K-k of laud lU'iig belwext
Hiitlu'^son's bi'oo(.'k, whoar the bouse was, un-
leil H c-om unto the river, that rnneth iu at the
head ol" the lueados.

2. That we iudeavor to keepe aud maintayu
christiau love aud sivell honisty.

3. That we faithfully eoussall wliat may be
of lulinnyti iu auy onv "f ns.

4. I'hiiulie tn deallr niic with auotlier in
ehrisllan love.

ft. If auy tri'spas be dun, the trespaed aud
the tresjiaser sluill ehu.se tow of this eouipany.
aud tliHy a thirde man if need be recpiiird. T<i
end the uiater, without auy further trubell.

r.. Thai all and every oue of us, or that
sliall be of us, do paye unto the minester.
aeeordiug to his meadr.

7. That none exceed the qnaiitily uf liflciii
acres, uulil all have that quantily.

s. That every man hath that mradow that,
is most convenient for him.

Ji. That every man build aud inhabit <tu bis
home lot before the next winter.

10. That no man make sale of his lot before
he bath bnilt aud inhabited one yi'ar, and then
ti) render it to the company, or lo a man whom
they approve.

11. That any man may sell part of bis alot-
meut to his nei^^bbor.

12. That uo uuin shall engrosse to himsi-lf by
buying his neighbor's lot for his particular in-
terest, but with respect to sell it if an ap-
Ijroved man come, and that witliout much ad-
vantage, to be judged by the company.

13. That all public altairs, all bridges, high-
ways, or mil;, be carried on jointly, according
to meadow and estates.

14. That provision be endeavoured for educa-
tion of childreu, and then encouragement be
given unto any that shall take pains accord-
ing to our former way of rating.

15. That uo man shall give entertainment to
a foreigner who shall carry himself obnoxious
to the company except ameudment be after
warning given.

IG. That all shall join in guarding of cattle
when the company see it convenient.

17. Tluu ever.\ man make and maintain a
good fence about all his arable land, and iu
due time a man dioscn to view if the coui-
jiany's be good.

IN. That evi-ry iiuni su\v his lainl when most
of I he company sow or plant iu tbtdr fields.

VX That we give new encouragement to Mr.
Brewster each other week, to give us word
nf exhortation, and that when we are settled
we meet together every other weeke. oue hour,
to talk of the best things.

2u. That one man, either of himself, or by
consi'Ut. may give entertainment to strangers
for money.

21. That one day, e\'cr.\' spring, he iui|)ru\cd
for the destroying of rattle snakes.

22. That some, every Lord's day, stay at
home, for safety of our wives and rbildren.

23. That every num get and keep a good lock
to his door as soon as be can.

2t. That a Cfmvenient place be apitointed for
oxen if need require.

25. If any man's meadow or upland be worse
iu quality, that be considered iu quantity.

2G. That every man that bath taken up lottes
shall pay to all publick charg<'S equal with
tliose that got none. That all that hath or
shall take up lots within this track of land
mentioned in tlie premises shall snbserilte to
1 hese articles.
Thomas Sbnte
The mark of

O
Nathaniel Tompkins,
riiilip rinkney.
The mark of X Joseph Joans,
John IToitt,
James Everts,

The mark of X Daniel Godwin,
The mark of X AVilliam Squire,
David Osburn,
John Goding,
Samuel Drake,
John Jackson,

The mark of John Drake, I D
The mark of

X
Nathaniel White,

PROliUKSS OF I'UnCHASE ANU SIOTTLEMBNT

llicir l.-iinis, Ihcy olilaiiicd a fuiilK i- grant Iruni \\n_- liidians in JGGO;
and (in I lie Dili day ol" .March of that year a ]iatent was issued to
llicni by Nicolls, IlinniL;!! ilicir representatives — Philip I'iiiclcney,
-lames Evarts, and \\ illiani liaydeii. They wei-e to have tlie privi-
lege ot eiecling a dejinly constable, bnt in all other matters were to
•• have relation to ye town and conrt of Westchester."" Certain bor-
der lands between them and the Westcheslei- i(eo](le were "to lye in
common between Iheni and ye inhabitants of Westchestei'," a pro-
vision which later gave rise to a good deal of local controversy.
.Mthongh the Eastchester settlement was made by men fresh from
ConiKM licut, its citizens do not appear to have songht at any time
to remain under that colony.

Having parted with all that section of his lands below Hutchin-
son's Kiver, Thomas I'ell next turned bis attention lo the erection of
the remainder into one imposing estate. This was aocomijlished by
letters i)ati'nt procured from Governor Xicolls the Stli of October,
l()(i(l, a document under which the first manor in Westchester County
was organized. The boundaries given it were Hutchinson's Kiver
on the west and Cedar Tree Brook or (Jravelly Brook on the east;
and it was lo include "all the islands in the l?>ound, not already
granted nr otherwise dis|)osed of, lying before that tract,'" and to
"run into the woods about eight English miles in br(>adth."" The
whole was declared to be "an enfranchised toMUship, mauiu', and
jilace by itself,"" and lo b<' entirely free from "the rules, orders, or
directions of any riding, townsliiji or townships, place, or jnrisdic-
liou, either upon the main or upon Long Islaml."" The iiroprietor
was to pay annually to the Duke of York " oni' landi upon the lirst
day of -May, if the same shall be demanded."" The snbse(pieut history
of I'elham .Manor will be traced in due chronological order.

'{'he inhabitants of Westchester village acce])ted rlie gd\crnmenl
of New York without demur. Applying to (iovernor Xicolls for a
town patent, Ihey were informed by him iDecember 2S, \i\i'ut) that
he Would defer issuing it until the whole could be e(|ually dividi'd
into lots according lo each man's assessed valuaiion. Earl.\' in HKiT
il'ebruary i:'>i the desired inslrumeut was granted to them, being the
lirsi of lis kind in our c((unt.\'. The jtiMsous mentioned in the docu-
ment are " dolm *Juiml>,\, dohn I'erris, Nicholas ilayley. William

Willi.'im H:ii<Ii)ii'.s in;iik, 11

The- mark of .Idlin (!ny, I G

.Iciliii .\. rinUin-y.

Till- mark of .Tolin 'i'miiitkins. O

liiiliard Sliiitr.

Thr mark of .Tolni Mulliii.l. I U

Mos.'s U..itto.

Iti.liaril Moadloy,

Till' mark of Hniry .\ Kfowlir,
.Tohn Emory,
Moses Jackson,
John Clrtrko,

This is a true copy aivorilini; iinio Ihi' oris-
inall, transirihi'i! by inc, Uichanl Shuli'. this
23d day of Nov. 'GS.

142 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Betts, and Edmund Waters, as patentees for and on behalf of them-
selves and their associates, ve freeholders and inhabitants of ye said
town." The boundiiries fixed were: At the west, "the Avestern part
of the lands commonly called Brouks Land "; at the south, the Sound,
or East River; and at the east, Ann's Hook, or Pelham Neck. At
the north they extended "into the woods without limitation for
range of cattle." " All ye rights and privileges belonging to a town
within this government " were bestow'ed.

"■ Bronks' land," whose " western part " was indicated as the limit
of Westchester town in the direction of the Hudson Biver, was a
territory of quite uncertain dimensions. Together with the lands
beyond along the Harlem and the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, it was
dotted with the farms of Dutch settlers who had been gradually
coming over from the Manhattan Island side.

On Manhattan Island, from the mouth of the Harlem Biver to
Spuyten Duyvil, the land was well occupied; and at the northeast-
ern extremity of the island a village called Harlem had been built
up. The interests of the settlers on both sides began to demand
that ferry communication be established. As early as 1658 this
need had received attention from the Dutch authorities, an ordinance
having been passed in that year with a vieAV to the inauguration of
a ferry from Harlem to the mainland, and the construction of a sub-
stantial wagon road from Fort Amsterdam to Harlem. Nothing
practical was done by the Dutch in connection with these projected
improvements. But in 1G66 Governor Jsicolls granted to the people
of Harlem a charter pro\ iding for " a ferry to and from the main,"
and authorizing them " at their charge to build one or more boats
for that purpose tit for the transportation of men, horses, and cattle,
for which there will be such a certain allowance given as shall be
adjudged reasonable." A ferry was soon afterward imt in opera-
tion, conducted by Johannes Verveelen, in whom the privilege was
vested for six years. He was required to maintain a tavern for the
accommodation of the public. Special favors Avere extended to him
in consideration of the expense that he Avas under and to encourage
him in his enterprise. He Avas given a small piece of land on the
Bronx side to build a liouse on. The sole right to remove cattle
from one 'shore to the oth(>r belonged to him, and persons 'iwimmiHg
cattle over were obliged to pay him half the fei-riage rate per head.
The " fording place " on Spuyten Duyvil Creek Avas fenced about so
as to prevent its surreptitious use for cattle. Finally, he was ex-
empted from all excise duties on Avine or beer retailed by him for
the space of one year. The ferriage charges, as fixed by lav., were:
For every passenger, tAVo pence silver or six pence wampum; for

PROGRESS OF PURCHASE AND SETTLEMENT 143

every ox or cow bronslit into th:' fcrvyhonl, ciuht ])('iicc oi' twenty-
four stivers Avanipuni; cattle iniilcr a ycai- <ilil, six |)«ii( i- or cioliteen
stivers wanipnm. Goverunient luessaiios between New Vorl< and
Couueetient were free. Each passenger wlioni lie entertained was
to pay " for liis meal, eight pence; every man for his lodging, two
pence a man; every man for his horse shall ]k\} four pence for his
night's hay or grass, or twelve stivers wampum, provided the grass
be in the fence."

The site of the ferry landing on the Manhattan side is located
by Kiker, in his " History of Harlem," at the north of One Hun-
dred and Twenty-third Street, three hundred feet Avest of First Ave-
nue. But the Harlem and Westchester ferry proved nnprotitable,
and in IGG'J was abandoned. This step was partly occasioned, how-
ever, by the growing promise of more favorable conditions over
toward Spnyten Dnyvil, where, on the Westchester side, the foun-
dations of the Town of I'^oi'dham were being laid and an era of
active settlement had set in; and there Yeiweelen obtained a new
ferry franchise, running from the 1st of November, KiGO.

The reader will recall that the whole great tract knoA\n vari-
ously as Nepperhaem, Colen Douck, and the Jonkheer's Laud, or
Yonkers Land, embraced between tlie Hudson and Bronx Kivers. and
extending to above the limits of the present City of Yonkers, granted
by the Dutt-h West India Company as a patroonship to Adrian \'an
der Douck, was inherited after his death, in 1005, by his wife, Mary,
daughter of the Eev. Francis Doughty, of Maspeth, Long Island. She
presently took another husband, Hugh O'Xeale, and removed with
him to his home in Patuxent, Md. After the English conquest and
the issuance of notification to existing land proprietors to renew
their patents, she and her husband journeye<l to New York, and ap-
peared before Governor Nicolls with satisfactory evidence of legal
ownership of this tract. The governor therefore (October S, 1()00|
granted a royal patent to " Hugh O'Neale and Mary his v>ife,"" con-
firming them in its possession, its limits being thus described:
"Bounded to the northwards by a rivulet called by th(> Indians
Macakassin, so running southward to Neperhaem [Yonkers], from
theu'-e to the Kill Shorakkapoch [Spuyten Duyvil] and I lieu to
Pai»rinimen [Kingsbridge], which is the soulhernmost bounds, then
to go across the country to the eastward by that which is com-
monly known by the name of Bronck's his rivei' and laud." As
these limits wer(» the original ones of the ]iatroonship, it follows
that no part of the Yonkers ti-act had been disjjosed of since Yan
der Donck's death, and thai any persons lixiui: upon it ]irevionsly
to October. 1000, were either tenants or mei-e squatters.

144 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

The U"Xc'uk-s lost no tiiiic in divesting tliomselves completely of
the ownership of the properly, which they donbtless considered
troublesome because of its i-emoteness from their Maryland home.
On October 30, KKKi, twenty-two days after the procureuK-nt of the
Nicolls patent, it was conveyed 1o lOlias Douiihty, of Fiushini^, Mrs.
O'Neale's brother — a conveyance which was lurtlier and finally per-
fected May 16, 1667.

The ncAV proprietor very soon be<;aii to receive and accept offers
for portions of the estate. In March and September, 1667, he sold
to John Archer, of Westchester, '• fourscore acres of hind and thirty
acres of meadow," in the vicinity of the i)resent Kingsbridye, " lying
and being betwixt Brothers River and the watering place at the end
of the Island of Manhatans." This was the beginning of a new
manorial estate — tlie seccmd of our country in ijoint of anviquity.
Doughty also sold, July 6, 1668. to NA'illiani Betts and (ieoi'ge Tippett,
his son-in-law (for wliom Tibbet's Brook is named), about two thou-
sand acres, reaching from the Hudson to the I'.roux. witli its south-
ern boundary starting just Ixdow Kingsbridge and abcve Archer's
lands, and its northern ]»assing through \'an ("orthmdt Lake along
tlie nortli si(h' of " Van dei' l)oiick"s j)lauting held." About the same
time I Jiine 7, 166S), for the value of a liorse and to, Douglity con-
veyed to Jose])li Iladden some three liundred and twenty aci-es di-
rectly north of \'an der Donck's planting hehl, lying in uncciual ])arts
on both sides of Tibbet's Brook. In 1670 he sold a tract one mile
scpiarc istill called "'the Alile Sipmre '"i, bordering on the Bi-onx
liiver, to Francis French, Ebene/.er Jones, and Jolin Westcott. And
flually, on tlie 29th of November, 1672, all that remained of the
Yonkers Land was dis])osed of in ('([ual tliirds to 'fhomas DelavaK
Thomas Lewis, and Frederick I'hilipse.

Of these various sales, the rti-st, to Arcliei', and the hist, to I'hilipse
and others, are of special historic interest, each of the two being fol-
loAved by consecutive devf^lopments which will demand particular
attention.

John Archer, the earliest sub-j)ui-cliasei' in the original Van der
Donck tract, was, as already stated, an inhabitant of the Town of
Westchestei'. There is some uncertainty wiu'tlu'r he was of Englisli
or Dxitch origin. According to Bolton he was a descendant of Hum-
phrey Archer of Warwickshire (ir)27-()2), whose ancestor Avas Fulbert
I/Aicher, one of the companions of William the Coiujueror; and from
Humphrey the same authority carefully traces John's descent. Bol-
ton is of the o])inion that he caine with the early Westchester settlers
from I'airtield, ("onn., about 16.")4-r). But the wh(de English i)edigree
for John Arclier which Bolton has so painstakingly constructed is of

FORDHAIVI MANOR

145

at least (lnulil fnl mil Ik '111 icily. Kil<ci-, tlii' hist<ii-i;iii (if llarlciii, states
lliat in the orijiiiial records of tiiat village liis uame occasionally aj)-
pears in connection with For<l]iani and similar matters, and that it
is invariably written "Jan Arccr." It is supposed by l\iker and
others that he came from Amsterdam. Iltillaiid, and that marrying in
this conntry an Englislnvoman, and liviiii; in an Ens;iisli-s])eakin<i'
settlement, he nltimately an.ylicized his original l)nt(h name into
John Archer.

Tlis pnrchase in 1607 from ]>onglity of lands below Kingsbridge
was bnt one step toward the tinal acMpiireiuent of a handsome estate,
comprising (Bolton says) 1,253 acres. All this property, willi (he
exception of the hnudred odd acres sold to him by Donght}-, was
boiiglit from the Indians. There still snr^i\t'S the record of an
Indian deed to him of territory running from Papirinemen down to
a ]iiiiiii on the Harlem, and exiending to tlie rti'ojix. This pnr-

t^':k^^

V M ii

''tis ft* Uv l'^J3Qi^>""V^ jl#'
Iv . 'i' r'T-^''^'?'-; i,**?^-*"-**--,, .i^i^^^^

VIKW OK KINGSBKIDGK.

chase, wliicli mad.e him the sole owner pi-(diably as far south as
High Bridge, was effected on the I'Stli of September, UJtiO, the con-
sideration given by him tit the Indians being " lo coats of Duffels,
one-halfe anchor of Knme, 2 cans of Brandy, wine with several other
small matters to ye value of (iO guilders wamimm." The lands which
he bought from Douglity in liWiT, and otlier adjacent lands which he
possessed, were leased liy liini in iwenty and iweuty fniir acre pai--
cels to su(di persons as would clear and cullivale tliem, and accord-
ingly became occui)ie(l in KiCtS-CiO by a lunuber of former Harlem
residents.

A little settlement sjtrang up which, says Edsall in his "ITislory
of Kingsbridge," was located " on the uidand just across the meadow
from Papirinemen." The i.lace. from l><-ing lu-ar the " foi-diug place,"
was called Fordham. "It !iad the countenance and protection of

' Thi- building shown in the cut w;is Mivouil.s i i.l.iijiil. It was blown down in 18,'>li.

14G HISTORY OF WKSTCIIKSTER COrNTY

tile L;(>\('iii(ir. tu'iiiii ill !i ((iiivcniciit phici' U>v llic rclid' of si ranticrs,
it bciiiii till' road tor piisscii^crs to j^o to and from tlic main, as well
as for nuitnal inti'rt-onrsc with tlic nciiilihorinj; colonv. The villa<;t'
consisted of about a dozoii houses in an extended line aloni;- the base
of Tetard's Hill, crossed at the middle b.v the ' old Westchester Tatli "
llJoston Post l\oad), leadinii' ui> over the hill toward (Vtiinecticut.
\o traces of these old habitations remain." ( M' course the reader
will not confound the Fordham of Toe's Cotta.uc (now a station on
the NeAV York and Harlem Kailroad) with this ancient community
on Spuyten l>u_\\il ( rei'k.

The people settled al INu'dliam and thereabouts on botli shores
felt sorely aii'jirioved al liie divei-sion of eastern travel fidui its nat-
ural rout(> across the wading' jdace to the ferry al Harlem. The
assumjition exercised by the Harlem ferryman and his fellow towns-
men in ftMicinii' in the font so as to ])rotect tlu' ferry monojioly was
mucli resented by them, and they threw down the fence and claimed
the i-iiiht to cross at ]tleasure. I'Mnally, in ItiGD, the controversy was
settled by tlie transfer of the ferry to their locality. John \'er-
veelen was continued in chari^e. ojierated the line until his death,
and was succeeded by his son. Daniel, who was still ferryman at
the time of the erection of the Kini;"s liridiic (1(>!M|. The elder
^'erveelen, u]ion assumiuin his m-w functions, received "tlie Island,
or ni'ck of land, rajiirinemen " for his use. where he was "required
to ]>ro\ide a dwelling house furnished with llii'ee or four ^ood beds
f(U- the eutertainnu'ut of strani^crs; also ])rovisions at all seasons for
them, (heir horses and cattle, with stabling and siallinu; also a suf-
ticient and able boat to transfer passeniicrs and cattle on all occa-
sions. He was charged with one-thiid the exi>ense of a causeway
built ai-ross the meadow from rapiiinemen to l'\)rdham. It is note-
worthy that al)ont the tinu- when the l'(U-dham ferry was ])ut in op-
eration the Albany aiul Boston Post Koads were projected and their
construction begun.

In the contract made with ^'erv(>eh>n for takini; chari;-e of the
ferry, its location was fixed ''at the place commonly called Spuyten
Huyvil, between ^Fauhattan Island ami llie new \illai;(' calleil I'ord-
ham." This name S|>uyten Duyvil, now restricted to tli(> point of
contluenc(> of the Hudson IJixcr and Spuyten I>uyvil Creek, was, says
Hdsall, originally " aiiplieil to a strip on the ^lanhallan island side
of the wadin,n' place, then to the ci'ossinii- itself, and liiially to the
neck, which still retains it." '

' Thei'e lias always boon controvoi's.v as to jort from tlio I!iv. l>r. CuU'. our wi'U known

tlio (Irrlvatlou anil orisinal signlflcance nf tlio Wi'stohoslor auUioril.v on the Duti'li porlotl and

lurions name Snu.vton Dnj-vil. Tlio cilltor of Dulcli names. 'I'lio following is Dr. Colo's

lliis Hlstor.v roiiui'sfoil an opinion on tlio sub ropl.v:

FORDHAM MANOR

147

Tlic \ill;ip' ipf l"uiilli;uii, lilvc thai nf Ihirlcin, liad ils (Irpriidcnce
iilKiii llic iiiiiviii'"s coMi-l of New Voi-k, alllinii-li causes iiiviil\ iii^ less
tliaii £."» coiild be Inrall.v (lisi)(is('(l of tliciT.

.Idliii Ai-clicr was ikiI (nily llic rniinilci' (if I'ni'dhaiii, ImiI rcaiaiiicd
its jiriiicipal man and conti-ollini; s])irit nnlil his (i<-alii. ( »n May 3,
KiOl), he received aMtlioi'ity from (ioveninr l>()V(dacc (o sellie sixtoon
families on (he mainland " m-ai- liie wadiiiii pinco." In the i)eriod
l(!(il)-71 he leased \arions farms alioni I'ordhani In lenarils. IJul Ids
private affaii's, like Ihose of IJicdihell of Mamarnneck, had become in-
volved, and, like Hiclibell, he soniihr ndief b.v morlyafi;ing lands to
the iMilcli merchant, Cornelius Steenwvck. On vSejiteniber 18, 1()«J9,
he execnled to Steenwvek a morti;ai;e for 2,2(10 liiiilders; on Novem-
ber 14, 1(>71, another for 7,(100 i;nilders; and on November 24, 1()7(),
a third for 24,000 <;iiilders, the last mentioned heinii payable in seven
years.

Meanwidie, iiowcver, despite his financial complications. Archer
obtained from (Jovernor Lovelace a ro\al pa(ent consoli(latin<j; his
landed jiossessions into one compleie pro])erly, w hich was appointed
to be "an entire and enfranchised township, manor, and place of
itself." It iminded the handet of I'ordliam, and was styled Ford-
ham .Manor, beinii "k" secon<l in point of time amonj; the six manors
of \\'est(diester ( 'oiinly. Next to the Manor of Morrisaina, which em-
braced all the mainland liirectiy south of it, it was the smallest.
Its northern line beyan not far from (lie preseid Kin^sbri(l^(■, where
the ypuyten Diiyvil Creek bends due south, meryinn into the llar-

3ly Dt'ar Mr, Shoitnard —

Of course till" pi>pular notion of ■' Spuyten
Dii.vvll " comes from nving"s New York (lioolj
VII.. einiptcr vll.), with wliieh \vp arc both
familiar. If .vou have the book at hand, notice
his spcllhif;— " en spljt (leu du.vvll." It is not
" sptiyt." bnt " spljt." I do not know how
nnicli of a Diilcli selioiai' Irving was. but as an
orif^lnal for "in spile of the devil " ills speil-
liiK (■■ spljt "I is correct.

" SjiijI " and " spnyt." In tlie Dutch, are
wholly dilTi-rent wortls. " .*<|)Ijt " Is an emo-
tion, as sorrow, tfi-lcf, displeasure, vexation,
oto. Our ICni;llsh word " spite." with ail its
milder and more Intense tletuilt Ions, meets It
exactly.

" Spuyt " Is very dllTerent. Onr words
"spont." "spit" (F^at.. " sputare "), meaning
to throw out or belcli forth, are Its equiva-
lents.

In till' phrase of which you speak as sug-
gested by some rule, viz.: "point of tlie dev-
Hs," the Word Is confounded with anotlier and
still wholly dllTerent Tentonle root, which Is
neither " spljt " nor " spuyt," but " spit " or
"spits." We have this In our English word

" spit." a siiarp pale or point on wiilcli we im-
pale. We use this Inslruniciil in oni- r-ooking
processes.

The onl.v imitter to be der*ided with our
phrase Is how It was originally spelled. Was
li Spljt den Duyvli, or Spuylen Ifuyvii? If It
were the latter, it meant "Spouting r>evli,"
and could mean nothing else. It might have
been suggested by an euerg<Mie or iioiling
spring In the vicinity. This would turn en-
tirely on :i <iuesthm of fact. Was there sucii a
local si)ringV See a footnote of Dr. Thomas
H. Kdsall, on page 748 of Vol. I. of Scharf's
History, lie suggests that It may have re-
ferred to a strong dasliing of the tides at cer-
tain times upon the l>ar at the entrance to the
strait. We do not know on what historic
fact the name rests, and so we can not know
whether the original root was "spljt" or
"spuyt." of course, Irving's fun decides
nothing. 11 may, however, Inive rested on
some tradition which has not come down tons.

Yours as ever, very cordially.

David Coi.k.
Yonkers, February 26, ISOO.

148

HISTORY UI' WKSTCHESTER COUNTY

Iciii Kivcr; jind its soiitlici'ii stni'tcd froiii a jioint on tlic Uailciu bi'low
Ilijjh Bi'idge. Its eastern boundary was the Bronx. As "acknowl-
edgment and quit rent '" for his manorial ])atent, Arclier was to pay
yearly " twenty bushels of good ]ieas, upon the first day of March,
when it shall be demanded."

The history of Fordhani ^lanor is brief. Already mortgaged in
])art two years before its creation, and again mortgaged for a much
larger amount on the very day after the issuance of the royal patent,
it never recovered from the burden of indebtedness thus laid upon it.
^Moreover, at the end of the fifth year of its existence, it became
pledged beyond the hope of redemption. In Archer's mortgage of
1676 to Steenwyck, all his rights in the manor were transferred to
the latter, conditioned only upon the proviso that if before the 24th

of November, 1683, he should repay the
amount borrowed, at six per cent,
yearly interest, he should re-enter as
])roprietor. The debt was not dis-
charged, and Steenwyck took the wlioh'
estate as his property. By the will of
Cornelius Steenwyck and his wife, ;Mar-
garetta, drawn November 20, 1684, they
devised the manor without any reser-
vations to "the Nether Dutch Eeformed
< '(Migregation within the City of New
^'(lrk.'■ By that congregation it was
])i('sci'ved intact fits lands being leased
to various persons) until 17.")."), when an
act was passed permitting the minister,
elders, and deacons of the church to sell
the lands.

.John Archer, the iiatenlce and lord of the manor, is referred to
in the Avill of the Steeuwycks as '• the late John Archer," and there-
fore must have died some time before No\'ember 20, 1684, the date
Avhich that document bears. " It is said (we quote from Bolton)
that lie suddenly- expired in his coach while journeying from his
manorial residence to New York City, and was interred on Tetard
Hill." lie was a contentious man, being involved in many legal
disputes with liis tenants and neighboring land owners. T^pon one
occasion Hie nuiyor's court in New York, acting ui)on a complaint
from the people of Fordhani that he had undertaken to goxcrn them
by "rigour and force," and had "been at soAeral times the occasion
of sireat troubles betwixt the inhabitants of the said town," ad-

CORNELIUS STKENWYCK.

FORDHAM MANOR 149

moiiislicd liiiii " to Ir'Iuivc liiiiisclf for tlic future civilly and (]ui('tly,
as he Avlll answer for the same at his peril. "' lie held the (dtice of
slieritr of New York City. His son, John, inluriled wliat was left
of his property. To (^note ayain from IJolton, it is said tiiat three
hnndred acres upon which stood the old nianoi'ial residence were,
througli the liberality of Mrs. Steenwyck (wlio survived her hus-
band), exempted from the bequest to the Dutch Church, and con-
tiuued in the possession of the Archers. At all events, mend>ers of
the family continued to I'eside upon tlu'ir anct'stral lands, and in
the ei;;hteenth century Benjamin Archer, a direct descendant of the
first Jidin, o\\ ned in fee a considerable section of the (dd manoi'.
The pi'o,ueny of J(din Archei' in Westchester County at the present
lime are numerous.

Although the settlers in Fordham Manor were brou.yht under the
jurisdiction of Manhattan Island, its lands owed their development
mainly to the activity of men belouginn to the ancient Town of
Westchester; and it is with the history of Westchester town that
this old manorial i)atent will always be associated. Indeed, the
limits of the Town (townshij)) of Westchester as originally created
by the legislature of the State of New York embraced all the ter-
ritory of Fordham and also of Morrlsania Manor. Out of West-
chester township, as thus first established, was subsecpiently (lS4(i)
carved the new Township of West Farms, which included both Ford-
ham and ]Morrisaina Manors; and West Farms was in turn sub-
divided, the lower section of it being erected (IS.").")) into another
township, called Morrisauia, whose bounds coincidecl gi^nerally with
those of the historic Morrisania Manor, having for their northern
limit a line beginning on the Harlem River near tlie High Bridge;
and finally, in 1S72, the Township of Kingsbridge was organized, con-
sisting (if all the former Towushi]) of Yonkers lying south of the south-
erly line of the City of Yonkers. This township included the whole
of the original Maiior of Fordham. The three names — I''ordliani,
West Farms, and .Morrisania — are all of seventeenth cenhiry oiigin;
and the three localities, as individual ])arts of the original Township
of Westchester, came into existence within the same general period
of time. Having given in brief the history of the village an<l Manor
of Fordham, it is proper to notice its neighboring and associated lo-
calities of West Farms and Morrisania before turning our attention
again to other ])oi-tions of the county.

The West lanus tract, like that of the "Ten Farms,"' or East-
chester, never attained to manorial dignity. It was a stri]> abing
the Bronx Bivei-, extending to the vicinity of what is still known
as West Farms village (now a part of the City of New York). By

150 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUxNTY

a deed dated "West Chester, Mareli the 12th, 1GG3," this strip was
sold by nine Indians tt) Edward Jessup and John Kichardson, of
Westchester, who on the 25th ot April, lOGG, were confirmed in its
proprietorsliip by royal letters patent fro)u (iovernor Nicolls, each
being allotted one-half of the whole. Jessup"s lialf, after his death,
came into the possession of Thomas Hunt, of \\estchester, and l\ich-
ardson's was inherited by his three married daugliters, one of whom
was the wife of Gabriel Leggett, progenitor of the \Vest Farms Leg-
getts, and the other the Avife of Joseph Hadley, of the Yonkers. The
whole patent was originally divided into twelve parcels, collectively
styled " The West Farms,'' a name descriptive of its local relation
to Westchester, by whose citizens it was opened up and upon whose
government it depended. Between the West Farms iiatcnt and the
lauds of the Morrises, at the southwest, lay a strip whose owner-
ship was long in controversy, and which hence was called '' the de-
batable ground."

The foundations of the great Morris estate were begun about 1070,
when Captain Kichard Jlorris, an English merchant from Barbadoes,
purchased, in belmlf of himself and his brother Lewis, from Samuel
Edsall, the old Bronxland tract. This was the identical land, con-
sisting of some five hundred acres, which about 1639 was granted
by the Dutch West India Company to Jonas Bronck, the first known
settler in Westchester County. After Bronck's death, it was owned
by his Avidow and her second husband, the noted Arendt van Curler
(or Corlaer), from whom it passed through several proprietors to
Samuel I]dsall, a beaver-nuiker in New Amsterdam. Edsall's pur-
chase was made on the 22d day of October, IGOl, almost immedi-
ately after the conquest of New Netherland by the English; and he
promptly took out a patent for it from Governor Nicolls. The
Nicolls patent describes it as " a certaine tract or parcel of land
formerly in the tenure or occupation of Jonas Bronck's, commonly
calh'd by the Indians hx the uauu' of Bauackque, and by the Eng-
lish Bronck's laud, lying and being on the maine to the east and
over against Harlem town, having a certain small creek or Kill
which ruus between the north east part of it and Little Barnes
Island, near Hellgate, and so goes into the East Biver, and a greater
creek or river which divides it from Manhattan Island, containing
about ."OO acres or 250 margou of bind." It is an interesting his-
torical reminiscence tliat this r.ronxlau.l tract, now the most thickly
populated portion of the old County of Westchester, was not only
the first locality within our borders to be settled under the Dutch,
but was also the object of the first private purchase nmde under
the English.

THE MORRIS PURCHASE 151

TliL' brutlicrs IJlchai'd and Lewis Morris, wIid bcciune owners of
Brouxlaud by purcliasc from Edsall iu ItiTO, were descendi'd from
au ancient Welsh family of Monmouthsiiire. Lewis inherited the
paternal estate of Tintern in tliat county, wlii( h was confiscated by
Charles I. because of his connection witli tlie Parliament party, in
whose service he fought as commander of a troop of horse. For
the loss thus suffered he was later indemnified by ("romwell. Emi-
grating to IJarbadoes, he bougiit u splendid projK'rty on that island.
He took part in the successful English expedition agaiust Jamaica,
having received from CroniAvell the commission of colonel. Adopt-
ing the princiides of the Qualvers, he became a leading member of
that sect, and entertained George Fox upon his visit to Barbadoes
in 1G71.

Bichard Morris, a younger brother of Lewis, fought with him in
support of the rarliameut, being a captain in his regiment. He
followed him to Barbadoes after the Bestoration, and there mar-
ried Sarah I'ole, a wealth}- lad}-. The attention of the brothers was
attracted to New York as a place offering favorable opportunities
for enterprise, and it was decided that Bichard should remove to
that quarter and buy a large landed property. Articdes of agree-
ment were entered into between the brothers, i)roviding that " if
either of them shoidd di<' without issue, the survivor, or issue of
the survivor, if any, should take the estate."' By an instrument
dated August 10, 1G70, Captain Kichard Morris, who is styled " a
merchant of XeA\- York," and Colonel Lewis ^lorris, " a merchant
of Barbadoes," jointly purchased from Edsall the five hundred Bnmx-
land acres. Here Bichard made his home with his young wife and
a number of uegro slaves whom he had brought from the West
Indies. Both Bichard and Sarah Morris died in the fall of 1G72,
leaving an infant son, Lewis Morris the younger.

Information being sent to Colonel Lewis Morris of the decease of
his brother, he came to New Y^ork in 1073 to look after the in-
terests of the estate. Meantime the province had been recaptured
by the Dutch, ami the new governor, Anthony Colve, finding that
"Colonel Morris, being a citizen of Barbadoes, was not, under the
terms of the capitulation, entitled to the same liberal terms as
British subjects of Yirginia or Connecticut," and " also that the in-
fant owned only one-third of the estate and th(» uncle two-thirds,"
resolved upon the confiscation of the latter's two-thirds. Never-
theless, the uncle managed to arrange matters advantageously with
the Dutch officials, and was not only ap])oiuted administrator of
Bichard's estate and guardian of the infant, but was finally " granted
the entire estate, buildings, and materials thereon, nn a valuation to

152 HISTORY OF AA'ESTCIIESTER COUNTY

be made by impartial appraisers for the benefit of the miuor child,
but Colve ' appropriated ' (due regard being had, of course, to the
infant's interests) all the fat cattle, such as oxen, cows, and hogs."

The elder Lewis Morris, having thus brought about a tolerably
satisfactory adjustment of the matter, returned to Harbadoes to
close up his private interests. This accomplislied, he came to New
York again in 1675, with the resolve of making it his permanent
home. During his absence the English had resumed the govern-
ment of the country. On March 25, 107G, Governor .\ndros issued
to him a patent covering not only the original five liundi'cd acres
of Bronck, but some 1,420 adjoining acres in addition. The word-
ing of this important patent, in its description of the propcity, is as
follows: "Whereas, Colonel Lev.is Morris of the Island of Harba-
does, hath long enjoyed, and by patent stands possest, of a certain
plantation and tract of land, lying and being upon the niaine, over
against the town of Harlem, commonly called Bronck's land, the
same containing about live hundred acres or two hundred and Hfty
morgen of land, besides the meadow thereunto annexed or adjoin
ing, called and bounded as in the original Dutch gr<nind brief and
patent of confirmation is set forth; and the said Colonel Morris
having made good improvement upon the said land, and there lying
lands adjacent to him not included in any patent or grants, which
land the said Colonel Morris doth desire for further improvement,
this said land and addition being bounded from his own house over
against Harlem, running up Harlem river to Daniel Turner's land,
and so along his said land northward to John Archer's line [Ford-
ham Manor], and from thence stretching east to the land of John
Bichardson and Thomas Hunt [West Farms patent], and thence
along the Sound about soutlnvt'st, through Bronck's kill to the said
Colonel Morris his house, the additional land containing (accord-
ing to the survey thereof) the quantity of fourteen hundred, and
the whole, one thousand, nini- hundred and twenty acres." In con-
sideration of this grant Colonel Morris was to pay " yearly ami every
year, as a quit-rent to his royal highness, five bushels of good Avinter
wheat." The land of Daniel Turner, mentioned in the patent, was
a narrow strip of about eighty acres extending along the Harlem
Biver just below Fordham Manor. Turner was one of the original
patentees of Harlem, and was one of the first men of that village to
compete with the Westchester ])eople in ac(|uiring lands beyond the
Bronx.

Colonel ]\rorris, to render his title to the whole estate absolutely
invulnerable, took the precaution of olttaining a deed from the In-
dians, dated February 7, 1GS5. Of course this formality Mas not

THE MORRIS PURCHASE 153

necessary as to the portion *>( ilif ]>r(ij(crty wliicli t'orincrl^' belonged
to Edsall, and be bad in view simply to secure liiniself beyond all
possibility of legal disptite in tlie i)ossession of tlie additional lands
granted to him by Audros.

In the same year that the patent for Bi-onxland and its adjacent
territory \Aas issued, Colonel Jlorris bought a very extensive traet
in East Jersey, to which he gave the name of Tinteru and Mon-
mouth, after his ancestral seat in the old country. His New Jer-
sey property amounted to about 3,500 acres. Thus, besides found-
ing one of the principal hereditary domains of Westchester County,
he was among the earliest of large landed proprietors in New Jer-
sey, where also he selected Avhat has since become a very conspicu-
ous and valuable section, lie lived on his JJronxland property until
Ills death, in 1091, occupying a handsome residence, which even in
those early colonial times was a place of liberal hospitality, lie
was a prominent man in the province, sustaining intimate relations
with (iovernor .Vndros and other celebrated official characters, and
from 1(583 to lOyO was a member of (Joveruor Dougau's council. Dur-
ing his lifetime, although possessing abundant means and enjoy-
ing the distinction of aristocratic birth and antecedents, no steps
were taken to erect the estate into a manor. He was twice mar-
ried, but left no descendants, his sole heir being his nephew, Lewis,
the only son of his brother, Kichard. The value of Colonel Morris's
personal property, etc., exclusive of his real estate, as appraised by
Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Nicholas Bayard, John Pell, and William
Kichardsou, was estimated at above £4,000. Among the chattels
enumerated iu the inventory were tlie following:

NEGROES.

22 mail negroes at 20 1 440 0 0

11 women at 1.5 1 1G5 0 0

G lx)vs at 15 1 90 0 0

2 ga'rles iit 12 1 24 0^0

2.5 children at ,5 1 12.5 0 0

844 0 0

In the will of Colonel Morris ajipears this interesting item: ''I
give and bequeathe unto my honored friend, William Penn, my negro
man Yaff, provided said I'enn shall come to dwell iu America." Ke-
ferring to this bequest at a meeting of Friends in Philadeli)hia in
4700, Penn said: "As I am now fairly established here in America,
T may readily obtain the servant by mentioning the affair to my
young friend, Lewis Morris; although a concern hath laid upon my
mind for some time regarding the negroes, and I almost determined
to give my own blacks their freedom. For I feel that the poor cap-

154 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tured Africaus, like otluT human beiu<;s, have natural rights, which
can not be withheld from them without great injustice." Upon the
same occasion Penu spoke of his loug and familiar acquaintance with
Colonel Morris, Avhich intimacy, he said, had its influence in in-
ducing him (Morris), altliough mauj- years older, to become a Friend.
Colonel Morris retained his Quaker convictions to the last, and in
his will provided for the paynu'ut of annuities to the meeting of
Friends at Shrewsbury, N. J., and the meeting in the province of
New York. To his nephew and heir, young Lewis Morris, he refers
in the will with considerable severity, adverting to " his many and
great miscarryages and disobedience toward me and my wife, and
his causeless absenting himself from my house, and adhering to and
advizeing with those of bad life and conversation." This graceless
youth soon 2>roved himscdf, however, eminently deserving of his fine
inheritance. Under him the Bronxland estate was converted into
the Maiu)r of Morrisania iu 1097. He rose to be one of the most
distinguished men of his times in Auu^rica, holding, among other
prominent positions, those of chief-justice of New York and governor
of New Jersey.

CHAPTEIJ VIII

THE PHILIPSES AND THE VAN CORTLANDTS

E have seen that I lie old patrooiiship of Colen Donck, after
beiiifi' conflruR'd by (iovcrnor Nit-oUs iu IGlKi lo ^'all dcr
])oiick"s widow and licr second liiisbaud, llntj;h O'Xcah',
Mas eouvej'ed by them to Mrs. O'Neale's brother, Elias
Doughty, and by him sohl in parcels to a number of pimdiiiscrs.
The southernmost portion was bought b}* John Ardicr, aud, willi
other laud adjoining, was erected, under his proprietorship, into
the Lordsliip and Manor of Fordhiim in KJTl. Nortli of Ardier's
purchase was a tract of about two tliousaud acres, sohl to NN'illiam
Betts and George Tibbetts, which stretched from the Hudson River
to the Bronx, forming a piirallclograui. Othci- purchasei-s Mci'e John
Iladdcu, \\ho bought some three hundred and twenty acres on both
sides of Tippett's Brook just north of the present Van Cortlandt
Lake, and Francis French and associates, \\ho were the original
owners of the "Mile Square" in the present City of Youkers.
Finally, all the remainder of the Yonkers land, aggregating 7,70S
acres, Avas disposed of by Doughty, ISToveniber 29, ir)72, iu equal
thirds, to Thomas Delaval, Thomas Lewis, aud Frederick I'hilipse.

After Archer, none of these purchasers except Philipse requii'e
special mention, all the others having been ordinary farmiug uien,
who, while good citizens aud substantial promoters of the progress
of settlement, left little impress upon the development of the country.
TiblK'tts came from Flushing, Long Island. Betts had lived for a
number of years in Westchester, Avhere he served as one of Stuyve-
sant's magistrates, and later was a patentee of the town under the
English patent. Tibbetts, Iladdeu, and Betts, as settlers outside
the liuiits of Fordham, had various disputes with the authorities of
that place, and especially with Archer, the lord of the manor. Being
summoned to assist in the building of the "causeway" from the
ferry terminal to the firm land, tlipy objected, representing to the
governor that this improvement would be of less value to them than
a bridge across the Bronx on the road to Eastchester, to whose
construction they promised to devote themselves if excused from
contributing to the other work. The governor sagaciously decided
that both enterprises should be carried through, and directed that

156 HISTOItY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Tibbetts, Betts, and Jladdcii should iirst join tlie Foi-dhaiu peuple iu
making the causeway, alter which au equivalent amount of help
should he given by the tt)wnsiiieTi toward the building of tlie Bronx
bridge. Tlie latter structure was completed iu due tinu', bi-ing pro-
vided with a gate on the Eastchester side to prevent the " Hoggs"
from coming over. All tlu* lands north of Archer's line, with tlie
sole exception of the ::\lile Square, were eventually absorbed iu the
great riiilipse purchase; and accordingly by June 12, 1693, the date
on which tlie royal charter for the Manor of I'hilipseburgh was is-
sued, the independent holdings of Huddeii, Belts, and Tibbetts had
beeu completely extinguished. Such of their former proprietors, or
their descendants, who continued to live on the lands, remained not
as OAvners but as tenants of the Philipses. Even the so-called ishind
of Papirinemen^ (now Kingsbridge), where the ferry from Manhattan
Island terminated, became a pai-t of the manorial lauds. The south-
ern section of the old Van der Douck patroonship, embracing the
parcels originally bought from Doughty by Betts, Tibbetts, and Mad-
den, was called the Lower Yonkers, the residue, which embraced
more than three-fourths of the wliole, beiug known as the Tapper
Yonkers.

Frederick Philipse, in his first appearance as a purchaser of lands
in this county, acted only as one of three associates, who combined
to ac(juire all that was left of the Van der ]>onck grant alter the
first sales of it to various persons, each of the three agreeing to take
an equal third of the property. By this arrangement he became
seized in 1G72 of some twenty-nine hundred acres in the Upper
Yonkers — certainly a large proprietorship, very much larger than
either the Archer or the Morris patents. But this was only the
initial venture in a series of laud-buying transactions, at least eight in
number, which continued over a period of fifteen years, and, when
completed, made him .sole owner of the country from Spuyten Duyvil
to the Croton Biver and from the Hudson to the Bronx. He bought
additional lands successively as follows: 1681 (confirmed in 1683),
the Pocantico tract, covering the territory around Tarrytown; 1682
(confirmed in B)84), the Bissightick tract, or Irvington; 1682 (con-
firmed in 1684), the Weekquaesgeck tract, or Dobbs Ferry; 16S4 (con-
firmed in 1684), the Xepperhan tract, stretching from the north line
of the present Yonkers to the extreme northern limits of the manor,
between the Sawmill and Bronx Elvers; 1685, the equal thirds of his

^ In ancieut times tbe Spuytcn I)ti,\vil Creek \\ay was the so-called Island of Papirinemeu,

at Kingsbridge, while identical with Ihe pres- \\'here Verveelen's ferry terminated. It was

out channel, formed at high tide another across the shallow tidcwa.v that the " cause-

(thongh shall(iw) tideway; and the land in- way " was bnilt before the days of the King's

closed between the main channel and this tide- IJridge.

THE PIIILIPSKS AND VAN C'ORTLANDTS 157

associates of KITl', 'I'Ikuikis I>c1;i\;i1 iiml 'riiomas J,c\\ is, in liic rppcr
Youkers tract; 1G8G, liic Sim Sinck liact, or SSius;' Siiii:, wiiicii IiihI
previonslv hccii imicliascd In and coiilirincil to his son, I'liilijt I'liil-
ipse; H'(S7, 111,. •■ Tappan Meadows" iKockland Couiitvi; ami liiially,
at a dale oi- dates now iiideleniiinalc, Imt previously to June 12,
l()it:>, the hohlinjis of I'.etts, Tihhetls, and ITadden in the ivower
YoiiUers tract, toL;etlu'i- A\itli tlie island or tial of I'apiriai'iiien. This
\asl reiiion, whose iii(li\iduai ]>arts iiad liccii srparalelv coiitiniied to
hini as jmrchased. ^\■as vested in him as a whole by (iovernor I'^letclier
on the 12th of June, 1()93. The document is one of (he most elali-
orate of ancient land deeih^. P.esides t outiiinini; him in liie o\\ iier-
shi]), it erects the estate into a manor called rhili|iseliui-;:h or I'liil-
i[)sel)orouiih, and also confers u])oi> I'hilipse the jiriviieuc of hniid-
iiiji a bridge across Spuyten l»iiy\il Creek at l'a])ii-iuemen, on the
liiu' of the then existinii ferry, and authorizes him, in recomiienso
for his expenses in that enterprise, to collect, for his own belaxd', fares
from all persons using- the bridoe.

Althou;L;li aloujn the Hudson the lands of Pliilipse reiiched as far
north as Croton Bay, their limits in the interior were considerably
farihei' south, not being above the headwaters of the Bronx River;
and thus the northern boundary of his i)roperty, as tinally converted
into the Manor of rhilipseburgh, was a southeast line from the mouth
of the Croton to the sources of the Bronx. At its northwest corner
it touched the estate of Stei)hanus Van Cortlandt, the brother of liis
second wife — an estate which also ilCiIlT) became one of the great
manors, called Cortlandt ^lanor, running east from Croton Bay to
the Connecticut line, and including, besides ahuost the whole of tlu-
northern iiart of Westchester County, a tract on the west bank of the
Hudson. \'an Cortlandt's imrchases did not begin until l(i83, about
three years after riiilipse had enter(<l actively npon his land-absorb-
ing operations.

In addition to his various i)ui'chases in this connly, I'liiliiise bought
of white people, in IfiST, tiie Tajijian salt meadows lying ojiposite
Irvington and Dobbs Ferry in the ]tresent County of iiockland, a
comparatively small but liiiely situated tract, which was incorpor-
ated in ilie nuinor grant of Jnnc 12, Hi'.i-"'., and always remained a
part of the hereditary manor.

The ancestors of Frederick l'hili]ise arc said lo lia\cbeen Hussites
of I!(diemia, who, diiven fnmi llieii- home by religious ]tersecution,
I'migi'ated to Friesland, one of the jtrovinces of the Fnited Nether-
lands. There his father, Frederick, mairicd .Margaret i)a<-res, sup-
posed to have becTi a lady >>{ good family from Hie jiarish of Dacre,
in England. The son was born in I'.olsw anl. Friesland. in l(i2<;. and.

158

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

he was engaged in the shivt

according to Bolton, came to New Xcthcrlantl some time previously
to 1(553, in Avhich year he was appointed one of the appraisers of the
house and lot of Augustine Ileermaus, in New Amsterdam, llis sur-
name in Dutch was variously written Flypse, Flypseu, Vlypse, N'lyp-
sen (meaning the sou of Pliilip), which Avas anglicized into IMiilipse
(pronounced Phillips). Wlietlier lie came to this country in the pos-
session of any comfortable amount of means is unknown; but it is
certain that as a young man in New Amsterdam he began life in a
humble capacity, working af the trade of ciiri)»mter. But soon em-
barking in commerce, and develo[)ing great shrewdness and money-
getting ability, his fortunes rapidly improved, lie nuuh^ hirge
])rofits from transactions with the Indians and from the sliipping
business, and, having the tact and address to place himsidf (in good
terms with the government, he enjoyed from an early period valu-
able special favors. From Stiiyvesant h<' received grunts to desir-
able lands on ^Manliattau Island. There is little if any doubt that

trade and also in contrabantl and
piratical traffic. Final-
ly, at the age of thirty-
six, in 1 ()()2, he con-
tracted a very advan-
tageous marriage, es-
] lousing Margaret Har-
denbroek DeViies, the
daughter of Adolf llar-
denbi'oek and widow of
Pi(4ries Tvudoljihus De
Tries, a wealthy New
Amsterdam mere h ant.
This lady proved to be
hardly less energetic
and resourceful than
Philipse himself, and,
retaining the manage-
ment of her own affairs, added uol a little to the growing wealth of
the famih'. She continued the business of her first husband, and
made frequent voyages to and from Holland on the vessels which
she owned, acting as supercargo. In the well-known ''Journal of a
Voyage to New York and Tour in Several of the American Colonies
in lf!79-S0," by Jasper Dnukers and Peter Slnyter (published by the
Long Island Ilistorical Society), the writers, who crossed on one of
her shi])s, make various allusions to her business characteristics,
which, while by no means complimentary, give an exccdh-nt idea of

PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE, YONKEKS.

THE PHILIPSES AND VAN COKTLANDTS loO

her extreme carefulness of lici' private interests. " Tlic I']n,iilisli mate,
who afterward became captain," these nari-afors say, " was very chise,
but was compeHed to be much closer, in orch'r to i)lease JMarii'aret.

It is not to be told Avhat miserable jicuph' .Mar,i;aret ;iiid
Jan (her man) were, and especially their excessive covetctusness.

Margaret and her husband would not have a suitable boat
for the ship built in Falmouth, but it must be done in New
York, where timber was a little cheaper. ... A nirl attempt-
ing to rinse out tlie shii)'s mop let it fall overboard, whereu])on the
captain put the ship immediately to the wind and launched the jolly-
boat, into which tM'o sailors placed themselves at the risU of their
lives in order to recover a miserable swab, which was not worth six
cents. As the Avaves were running high, there was no chance of
getting it, for we could not see it from the shij). Vet the whole
voyage must be delayed, three seamen be sent i-oving at tiie risk
of their lives, and Ave, Avitli all the rest, must work fruitlessly for
an hour and a half, and all that merely to satisfy and phase the
miseiable covetousness of Margaret."

"Within a comparatively few years after liis marriage to .Margaret,
Frederick Philipse liad become by far the wealthiest man in N(w
York. During the IMitcli interregnum, iu 1^74, his jiossessiiuis wei'c
\alued by commissionei's ajjpointed by (iovernor ("ohc at St),(l((0 guil-
ders, an amount which, though large for the times, was small coin-
])ared with the wealth that he ultimately amassed. In KlUll, Mai-
garet having died, he mari-ied foi- his secoml wife Catherina, daughlei-
of (Moff Stevense Van Corllandl and widow of John Dei-vall — an-
other fine alliance from the substantial ])oint of \iew. His cniuinei'-
cial and linancial operatimis continmilly greA\ in niagnit\idi' and
profitableness. He was the largest trader with the I'ive Nations at
Albany, sent ships to both the East and West Indies, imported
slaves from Africa, and, besides enjoying the ])rofits of irregnhir
commerce, shared, as has been with good reason alleged, in the gaius
of ])iratical cruises. All the tiiue he maintained his former judicious
relations with the government. He was a membei' of the governor's

council for twenty years, extending i'v the administration of .\n

dros to that of Bellomont. lie resigned IVom the council in Kl'.tS,
in antici])ation of his removal by the home government in iCngland,
which followed, in fact, not long ;ifter. Tiiis removal was the re-
sult of satisfactory evidence that he was intei-ested in the i)iratical
East Indian trade, having its rendezvous in Madagascar — evidence
upon which a number of New ^■<n•k citiy.ens had based a petition,
l)raying that "Fi-edericl^ Philips, whose gi-eat concerns in illegal
trade are not onlv the subject of ■•oiuinon Cami', but are fully and

160 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

particularly proved by depositions," "be removed from his i)lace in
the c-ounoil." Fie died in 1702. His children, four in inuiiber —
Phili|), Adolplins. Annelje, and Kumbont, — were all by liis tirst wife.
Philip and IJoiiibout died before himself (the latter probaldy in child-
hood), and he accordingly divided the manor between his grandson,
Frederick (Thiliii's son), and his son A(loli)hiis, the former taldng the
section from Dobbs Ferry southward, and the latter the remainder.
Frederick, the grandson, succeeded to the title of lord of the manor;
and his eldest son, Frederick, was not only the third lord, but in-
herited the whole original estate (Adolphus I'hilipse having died
without issue). Under Frederick, the third lord, the manor con-
tinued to exist in its integrity until the devolution, when, in conse-
(juence of his being a Tory partisan, and his removing himself to the
British lines, the Avhole property was confiscated, to be sub-divided
and s(dd in due time by the State commissioners of forfeiture. Annetje
Philipse, the daughter of Frederick, the tirst lord of the nmnor, mar-
ried Philip French, and left descendants who intermarried with prom-
inent patriotic families, including the Brockholsts, Livingstons, and
Jays. The first Frederick Philipse also had an adopted daughter,
Eva (child of his wife Margaret by her first husband), who married
the eminent New York merchant. Jacobus Van C'ortlandt, a brother
of Catherina, the second wife of Frederick rhili])se the' tirst. Jaco-
bns Yan Cortlandt bought fifty acres from his father-in-law in the
Lower Yonkers tract, which formed the nucleus of the historic "S'an
Cortlandt estate in the present Borough of the Bronx (whenci' the
names of Van Cortlan<lt Lake and Van Cortlandt Park).

Frederick Philipse, the original proprietor, with whose history
alone we are concerned in this portion of our narrative, not long
after beginning the systematic upbuihliiig of liis great estate, took
steps toward erecting two residences upon it, one on the banks of
the Nepperhan, not far from the site of Van der Donck's mill, and
the other on the I'ocantico, near Tarrytown, in the present Town of
Mount Pleasant. At what period the Yonkers residence, wlii( li later
became the "Jlanor House" of the Philijiscs, was begiin is a ipies-
tion that has never Ixm'u settled satisfaclorilv, although it lias in-
vohcd some very animated controversy. The date 1(582 was ac-
cei)ted at the time when the " Manor TTouse "' bcH^ame the City ITall
of Yonkers; but it is sturdily maintained by respectable authorities
on the early history of Philipseburgh IManor that the dwelling did
not have its beginning until many years later. The time of the
erection of the I'ocantico house, stjded " Castle Philipse," is like-
wise unknown. Ultimately the " Manor House " at Yonkers became
the principal seat of the family, much excelling the Pocantico house

THE PHILIPSES AND VAN CORTLANDTS 161

in architectural pretensions; but of the two dwellings as originally
built, the latter was undoubtedly the finer, a fact of which suffi-
cient evidence is afforded by the circumstance that it was ilie pre-
ferred habitation of the proprietor after the procurement of the ma-
norial patent. The selection of the Yonkers site for one of the resi-
dences was undoubtedly determined by the existence there of Van
der Donck's mill and the conspicuous natural advantages of the
locality. The other, being intended as the family seat for the dis-
tant northern section of the property, was naturally located on the
most important stream falling into the Hudson in that section, the
Pocantico Eiver.

Opinions differ as to whetlier Philipse had a predecessor on the
Pocantico as on the Nepperhan. Although in the former quarter
his proprietorship was the earliest of legal record, the question
whether private settlers boasting no legal pretensions had not ar-
rived there before his purchase is, of course, a fair one. Bolton finds
no evidence of any such ancient occupancy. The Rev. Dr. David
Cole, in his " History of Yonkers," written in 18S6, discussing the
subject of the two Philip.so houses, makes no allusion to possible
settlements at or near Tarrytown antedating Philipse's appearance,
or to the pre-existence of a mill there, simple' remarking that he
chose the banks of the Pocantico " as a site for a new mill." More-
over, in the same connection, speculating with regard to the period
at which Philipse established himself in his residence on the Po-
cantico, Dr. Cole concludes that it was not until after the death of
his first wife, :Margaret, in 1G90 or 1 091 . Yet in his historical discourse
delivered at the third centennial of the old Dutch Church of Tar-
rytown, October 11, 1897, Dr. Colo, after fixing upon 1083 as the year
when Philipse removed to the Tarrytown dwelling, says that he found
there, at that early date, "a small community already gathered."
Already, he informs us, there was upon the Pocantico " a mill site
like the Van der Donck site of Yonkers," which already had upon
it " a simple dwelling for the miller," upon whose foundations Castle
Philipse Avas built. Continuing, Dr. Cole says that " around were
farmers who brought to the mill their grain to be ground and their
logs to be sawed. They (the Philipses) found the old graveyard, as
old as the settlement, with r(>gard to which T have no difficulty in
accepting Mr. Irving's belief that it had bc^-n started as early as
1645, and that it had in it three graves by 10.50, and fifty by 1075.
and one hundred and eighty by 1700."' According to this changed

» Apropos of thr- question of tlio antiquity of interments, and Ills opinion Is apparently oon-

the graveyard, see the statement by Benjamin curred In by the antlior of Scliarfs nrticle nn

F. Cornell, superintendent of the Sleepy Hol- the Town of Mount Ple.isant. the late Rev.

low Cemetery, In Scharf, li., 293. Mr. Cornell John A. Todd.
adopts the date 1645 as that of the earliest

lO'i HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

vii'W of Dr. C(>k''s, I'arrvtowii and the cuuiilry round about bolouj;-
to the oldest settled localities of the county. Of course the fact of the
])r('sence of a mill before Ihe cominj;- of Philipse would lend color
to the belief that settlers in some numbers had been there and in
that vicinity for a period of years. This much is certain: that a mill',
whether an old one established bj' some enterprisinii' pioneer whose
name is unknown to us, or a new one built by Philii)se, was in
operation on the Pocantico from the time that Castle Philipse was
erected by the proprietor. The Yonkers and Tarrytown mills were
styled by Philipse, respectively, the Lower Mills and the Upper
Mills.

The residence on the Xepperhan at Yonkers was very substan-
tially built, " the bricks, and indeed all the buildinsj- materials,"' says
Mrs. Lamb, " beinji' imported from Holland at what was then es-
teemed a prodigal expenditure. The great massive door, which still
swings in the center of the southern front, was manufactured in
Holland and imported by the first Lady Philipse in one of her own
ships." Only the southern front of the structure was built by the
first Frederick. Here he livc-d for a time with his wife ^largaret; at
least during the summer seasons. Traces of an undergiound pass-
age, ai^parently leading from the ]\fanor House, were recently dis-
covered by some workmen I'ngaged in nmking excavations in Yonk-
ers; and it has been surmised that this was a secret means of exit
for the occupants of the dwelling, connecting probably with a neigh-
boring blockhouse, to be iised in case of an Indian raid. In 1SS2,
two hundi-ed years after the presumed erection of the original build-
ing, the ;\lanor House, renamed Manor Hall, after having been ])ut
in a state of permanent preservation, Avas formally dedicated to tlit>
uses of the City of Yonkers as a munici]jal building.

Castle Philipse, on the Pocantico, was also very substantially built,'
and possessed a feature entirely lacking in the ^lanor House, being
carefully fortified to resist attack. Its walls were pierced with

' Mr. William F. Miunerl.v, well known in iuclios rtooii, t<> tlip s.nmp height as before, and
Tarrytown as a builder, states that in 1S64 he a new jiartition built, fifteen feet long and
was employed to make some alterations in the nine feet high. The remainder of the brieks
old (Pooantieo) Manor House. One was in that came out of the rhimney— for, strange to
taking down the chimney, which was ver.v saj-, there was a remainder, and a large one,
large. In the second story he found that a too— Mr. .Minnerly bought, and with them he
room about four feet siinare had been built in fliled in a new house, twenty-two feet front by
the chimne.v, to be used as a smoke-house for twent.v-eight feet deep and two stories high,
smoking meat. The number of bricks in this and found them amply sufficient for the pur-
chimney was a marvel. They had all been pose. The bricks were so hard that when the
brought from Holland, and landed on the north masons who did the work wished to cut them
sliore of the rocantico, very near the old mill. the.v were obliged to use a hatcliet. In size,
one of the prominent objects on the manor. each bi-ick was an inch and a <iuarter thick.
The portion of the chimney taken down was three and one-h:ilf inches \vidc, and scvi-n
rchiii] will] Itic lii'icks, five feet breast, sixteen inches long. — ^cjiarf, ii., 309.

THE PHIIJPSES AND VAN CORTLANDTS 163

port au(l loop lioK'S for cannon and mnsketrv. The dilVcrcnco be-
tween the two residences in this respect is convincing- proof that dur-
ing- tlie last twenty years of the seventeenth centnry, while llic lower
portion of the connty had become practically secnre against Indian
depredations, tli(> middle section was still deemed somewliat unsafe.
The building- of Castle Philipse was followed <iuiclvly by the advent
of tenants, and in a comparatively few years quite a nund)er of
farming- people had secured homes as far north as Tarrytown and
beyond. The progress made tOAvard the general settlement of tlic
lands of that locality was so encouraging that Philipse deemed him-
self under obligations to provide the people with fiicilities for re-
ligious Avorship. To this worthy deed he was prompted iiy his first
Avife, Margaret; and his second Avife, Catherina, also took a deep in-
terest in the matter. The result was the building of the Dutch
Keformed Church of t^leepy IIoHoav, one of tlie most noted of old
religious edifices in America. From certain circumstances Dr. Cede,
in the centennial address already referred to, feeds justified in ex-
pressing the conviction that the ei'ection of tlie clun-ch Avas com-
menced by Philipse as early as 1084. He points out tlmt its bell
Avas cast to order in 1G85 — " proof positive," he deidares, " that the
building liad already been begun." But according to the oidy au-
thentic records in existence, it Avas not until 1697 that the (dmndi
organization Avas effected and a niinisrer, Rev. Ciuiliam Bertiiolf,
summoned. The tablet over tlie door of Die (Imrch stales that it
Avas built in lODO. but this tablet Avas probably not put up until
Avithin comparatively recent years, and it reiords the accejited date
of the completion of the structure, making no mention of the time
at Avhich it was begun. Phili])se Avas a Avorshipper witliin its walls,
and he Avas buried in a vault beneath it, Avhich was prepared ex-
pressly for his family. His decided preference for tlie Pocantico
house as his ])ermanent place of residence is illustrated by his selec-
tion of the Pocantico instead of the Xepperhan settlement as the
location for the church building.

We have now traced the early hist(n'y of the various original land
patents and grants along the shore line of W'estcln'sler County, ex-
tending from the mouth of the Byram River on the Sound to the
Hudson, with incidental accounts of the i)rincii)al patentees or
grantees and of the settlements established. This embraces all the
exterior jiortions of the county exce]it the section from Crotou Bay
to the Highlands — that is, the present Town of (N>rtlandt.— which, as
we haA-e indicated, Avas bought by Stephanus \';ni Cortlandt in a
series of purchases commencing in ](>s:^, and, with its eastward ex-
tension to the Connecticut line, together Avith a tract on the west

164

HISTORl OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

sido of the Hudson Elver, was erected into the Manor of Cortlandt
in 1697.

Stephanns Van Cortlandt was the eldest of the seven children of
Oloff Stovense Van Cortlandt and Annotjo, sister of Govert Locker-
mans, a very wealthy and distinguished burgher of New Amster-
dam. His father, Oloff, was a man of note in New Amsterdam
and New York for forty years. He came to New Netherland in
1638, with Director Kieft, as a soldier in the service of the Dutch
West India Company. Oloff was a native of the province of Utrecht,
in Holland, possessed a good education, and is supposed to have
been of thoroughly respectable if not gentle descent, although noth-
ing definite is known of his ancestry. After remaining a brief time
in the military service in New Amsterdam, he was appointed by
Kieft to official position, from which he resigned in 1648 to en-
gage in mercantile and browing pursuits, wherein he was very suc-
cessful, soon acquiring a large fortune. He was burgomaster (mayor)

of New Amsterdam al-
g^fy most uninterruptedly

^^^%> -^>^s,jr,-^ \ lish conquest. At the

■ "^ ~ time of the surrender of

the province to Nicolls
he was one of the Dutch
commissioners to nego-
tiate the terms of the
capitulation. Under the
Englisli government he
continued to be a prom-
inent and influential
citizen until his death
(April 4, 1684). He mar-
ried Annetje Locker-
mans on the 26th of
February, 1642, and by
her had seven children,
three sons and four
daughters.^ Of these children Stephanus, the eldest (born May 7,
1643), and Jacobus, the youngest (born -July 7, 16581, were the pro-
genitors of all the Van Cortland Is of subsequent generations; Steph-
anus being the f(tunder of the so-called elder Van Cortlandt branch,

VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE, CROTON.

1 Stephauus, whose history is given in the
text; Maria, man'led Jeromias Van Rensselaer;
Johannes, died a bachelor; Sophia, married
Andries Teller; Catherina, married, first, John

Dervall, and, second. Frederick Philipse the
lirst; ('ornelia, married Brandt Schuyler; and
Jacolins. noticed in the text.

THE I'lULTPSES AND VAN COUTLANDTS 10.3

of CorlluudL Mauov, ami Jacobus (,\\iio married p]va, stepdaughter of
the first Frederick Philipsej the founder of the youuger or Vonkers
branch.

Stephauus, a uative-boru Dutch-Americau, received an excellent
education under the direction of the scholarly Dutch clergymen of
New Amsterdam. He had just become of age when the English
fleet, in 1004, in the name of the British king and of James, Duke
of York, demanded aud received the submission of New Netherland.
His first public employment was therefore under English rule. He
was a member of the original Court of Assizes created by the duke's
laws, and thereafter was constantly engaged in olficial service, hold-
ing practically every position of importance in the province except
that of governor. His career was probably the most conspicuous
and creditable of that of any inhabitant of New York in the seven-
teenth century, and " undoubtedly the first brilliant career that any
native of New York ever ran." In 1077, at the age of thirty-four,
he was appointed mayor of New York, being the first native Amer-
ican to hold that office, in which he continued Avith hardly an in-
terruption until his death. He was, with Philipse, one of the orig-
inal members of the governor's council, and served in that body
without any intermission to the end of his life. At the time of
the Leisler regime, the responsibility for the government of the
province was temporarily committed to him and Philipse by the de-
parting lieutenant-governor, Nicholson, and, although a kinsman of
Leisler's, he firmly resisted the latter"s assumption of authority, an
act which for a time endangered his life, so that he was obliged
to flee from the city. He was later one of the justices of the Supreme
Court of the province, and for several mouths previously' to his death
was its chief justice. " He Avas prominent in all the treaties and
conferences with the Indians as a member of the council, and was
noted for his influence with them. His letters and dispatches to
GoAernor Andros, and to the different boards and ofiicers in Eng-
land charged with the cai'e of the colonies and the management of
their affairs, remain to show his capacity, clear-headedness, and
courage. Equally esteemed and confided in by the governments of
James as duke and king, and by William and JIary in the troublous
times in which he lived, and sustained by all the governors, even
though, as in Bellomont's case, they did not like him personally, no
greater proof could be adduced of his ability, skill, and integrity."
He died on the 25th of November, 1700.

Under date of November 16, 1077, \'an Cortlandt received from
Governor Andros a license authorizing him to acquire such lands
" on the east side of Hudson's Eiver " as " have not yet been pur-

166 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

chased of the ludyau proprietors," " payment whereof to be made
Ijubliely at the Fort or City Ilall.'' He did not begin to avail him-
self of this privilege, however, until six years later, when (August 24,
1G83) he bought from seven Indians, " in consideration of the sum
of twelve pounds and several other merchandises," what is known
as Verplanck's Point (called by the Indians JNIeanagh, whence the
present local name of Meahagh), together with an adjacent tract
running eastward, called Appamapogh. The general situation of
the purchase thus made is described in the deed as follows: " Being
on the east side of the Hudson Kivcr, at the entering in of the
Highlands, just over against llaverstraw."

Earlier in the same year (July 13, 1683) Van Cortlandt purchased
from the Haverstraw Indians a tract of about fifteen hundred acres
on the west side of the Hudson, "directly opposite to the promon-
tory of Anthony's Nose and north of the Dunderberg Mountain,
forming the depression or valley tlirough the upper part of which, in
the Kevolutionary War, Sir Henry ('linton came down and cap-
tured Forts Clinton and Montgomery."

The territory below Verplanck's Point, extending to the mouth of
the Croton Piver, was originally bought from the Indians in part
by one Cornelius Van Bursum, of New York City, and in part by
Governor Hongan. Van Bursum was the first white owner of the
peninsula of Croton I'oint, which in the Indian language was called
by the pleasing name of Benas(]ua, and, before receiving its present
name, had long been known as Teller's Point (also Sarah's Point),
from William and Sarah Teller, who were early settlers ui)on it.
Governor Dongan's lauds (purchased from the Indians in 1GS5) em-
braced all the river shore, exce])tiug Croton Point, from the mouth
of the Croton to Van Coi'tlandt's property, and in the interior reached
to the Cedar Ponds. Both Van Bursum's and Dongan's holdings
were later sold to Van Cortlandt. To him was conveyed also a
tract owned by " Hew MacGregor, (Jentleman, of the City of New
York," lying above Veri)lanck's I'oint.

Thus Stephanus Van Cortlandt became the proprietor of nearly
the whole of Westchester County along the Hudson from Croton
Bay to the Highlands. In the inlerior his bounds, both at the north
and the south, ran due east tAventy miles to the Connecticut border
(which boi-dei' was, by the interprovincial agreenu^nt between Con-
necticut and New York, considered to be at a distance of twenty
miles from the Hudson). But there were two strips of land above
Verplanck's Point of whi(di neitlier A'an Cortlandt nor his heirs ever
obtained the ownershij). One was the so-called Pyke's patent, a
tract called by the Indians Sachus or Sackhoes, embracing about

THE PHILII'SES AND VAX COUTLANDTS 167

I'igliti'cu liuiidi-cd ;u'ivs hctwTcu N'ci-plaiick's and i'ccUskill Crci'U,
ft-liereou a largL' portion of the villaj^c of Pt'ekskill has been built.
Tliis tvacf was boiiyht li-om the Indians, Ajiril 21, KiS.j, by Kichanl
Abi-anisen, Jacob Abrainscu, Tennis Dekey (or DcKay), iSeba, Jacob,
and John Harxse, and soon afterward was patented to them for a
quit-rent of " ten busiiels of <j;ood winter merchantable wheat year-
ly." Tlie name of liyke's patent is Dutch for Kichard's patent, so
called after Kichard Abrainseu, the princii)al patentee, who later
assumed the Enijlish name of Lent. Substantially the whole tract
passed to Hercules Lent, liichard's son, about i7;>(). The second of
the two striiJs on the Hudson which always remained independent
of the Van Cortlandt estate was a three-hundred-acre parcel front-
ing on the inner and upper part of Peekskill Bay, which was deeded.
on April 25, 1G85, to Jacobus DeKay " for the value of four iiun-
dred guilders, seawant," and which ultimately became the projx'rty
of John Krankhyte (ancestor of the Cronkhites). LTpon this stri]) is
the Peekskill State Camp of Military Instruction.

The area of the Van Cortlandt estate in Westchester County, omit-
ting the two Peekskill strips just noticed, was 8(5,203 acres, and,
adding that of the tract on the opposite side of the Hudson, aggre-
gated 87,713 acres. Van Cortlandt, as a man of large business con-
cerns and important official interests in New York, continued to live
in the city, or at least to spend most of his time there, iicdwith-
standing his extensive landed acquisitions and his ultimate design
of procuring for them manorial dignity. I'ut ii was probably as
early as 1083 that the historic mansion of the faunly at the mouth
of the Croton Ei\er, which is still standing in a good stale of |(ri'S(M'-
vatiun, had its beginning. This house was originally intended as a
trading ])lace and a fort, and was built ^\■ith vei-y thicdc stone walls,
]iier(<Ml \\itli loopholes for musketiy, all of which ha\'e been IiIIimI in
savi- one, in \\hat is iioAV the sitling-rooni, A\hicii is i)resci-\ed as a
memento of olden times and of the anti(|uity of tlii' dwelling. Sit-
uated just where the road from Sing Sing to Croton Landing crosses
the wide mouth of the Croton l.'iver, where that stream empties into
the Hudson, it commands a magniticent view of the bi-oad Tajqian
Sea. In foimer times the ferry across the ('rnion Kixci- nmulli,
whi<-h was the only means (d' reaching the country above without
making a wide detour, had its northern terminus near the mansion.
During the first ten years after its construction ilie house was proh
ably occu]iied by the ])roprietor oidy as a tem])oi'ary residence when
visiting his lands: but later it was enlarged and im])roved to i>e-
come suitable for the pnrjiose of a manor house and the accommo-
dation of the nunuMous familv of its weallhv owner. Ft has re-

168 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

mained in the possession of tlie Van Cortlandts continuously since
the time of Stephanus, and has always been used as a habitation by
some member of the family. Near it is the Van Cortlandt burial
ground, a small, square inclosure, where a number of the most emi-
nent descendants of Stephanus, including the noted General and
Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt of the Kevolution, are in-
terred.

Apart from the erection of this dwelling, and of mills for the
benefit of his existing and prospective tenants, Van Cortlandt ac-
complished little in the way of developing his estate. On the 17th of
June, 1697, the whole was established as the Lordship and Mauor of
Cortlandt, by royal letters patent from Governor Fletcher, a quit-
rent of " forty shillings current money " to be paid annually to the
governor " on the feast day of Annunciation of our Blessed Vii'gin
Mary," " in lieu and stead of all other rents, services, dues, duties,
and demands whatsoever." Van Cortlandt died at the early age of
fifty-seven, three years and one-half after the issuance of this manor
grant. Judging from the well-known character of the man, it may
readily be believed, in the words of the historian of the " Manors of
Westchester County," that " had he lived to be seventy-five or eighty
years old, like so very many of his descendants in every generation,
instead of dying at fifty-seven, leaving a large family, mostly minors,
it is probable that he would have left his mauor as flourishing and
as populous in proportion as that of Eensselaerswyck at the same
date." The great distance of Cortlandt Manor from New York City
and its surrounding settlements, as well as its difficulty of access from
the country immediately below on account of the obstruction pre-
sented by the Croton, delayed for many years the occupation of its
lands; and so meagre was its population that it was not until 1734 that
the Manor of Cortlandt availed itself of the privilege conferred in the
grant of sending a representative to the general assembly. The first
settlements were in the neighborhood of Croton and Peekskill. The
Indians continued numerous, though for the most part peaceable,
until an advanced period in the eighteenth century.

Stephanus had fourteen children,^ of whom eleven were living at

^ 1. Joliauues, married Anne Sophia Van (Mary), married, first, Kilaeu Van Uensselaer,
Scliaacli, and left one child, Gertrude, who fourth patroon and lirst manorial lord of Rens-
married Philip VerplaneU, grandson of Abra- selaersw.vcli. 6. Oertrude. died unmarried. 7.
ham Isaacseu Verplanck, the first of that name Philip, married Catherine de Peyster, daughter
in America. 2. Margaret, married Colonel of the first Abraham; from this couple sprang
Samuel Bayard, only son of Nicholas Bayard, the eldest line of Van Cortlandts, now British
the youngest of the three nephews of Gov- subjects. 8. Stephen, married Catalina Staats;
ernor Sttiyvesant. 3. Ann, married Etienne these were the ancestors of the " Van Cort-
(Stephen) de Lancey, founder of the de Laneey landts of Second River " (the Passaic), N. J.,
family of New Yorlt City and Westchester now extinct in the males. 9. Gertrude, mar-
County. 4. Oliver, died a bachelor. 5. Maria ried Colonel Henry Beekman; no Issue. 10.

5
o

170

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the time of the father's death; aud he devised the manor lands to
them in equal shares, excepting that the eldest, Johannes, received,
iu addition to his equal portion, the whole of the peninsula of Ver-
plauck's Point. (This peninsula was so called for Philip Wrplanck,
grandson of Johannes, who inherited it, and iu whose family it con-
tinued until sold to a New York syndicate in the first half of the
present century.) One of the (deven children, Oliver Van Cort-
landt, dying without issue in 1706, bequeathed his share equally
among his brothers and sisters and their heirs. The ten rfuiaiiiing
heirs kept the property intact and undivided until 1730, when a divi-
sion was determined upon, which followed in due course. Cort-
landt Manor remained a separate political division (embracing also,
for purposes of representation in the assembly, the IJyke and the
Krankhjte patents) until divided into townships by the New York
State act of 1788. The original toAvnships carved out of it were
Cortlandt, Y'orktown, Stephentown (now Soniers), Salem (now North
Salem and Lewisboro), and about a third of Poundridge. In area
it was the largest of the six Westchester County manors, consider-
ably exceeding in this respect the Manor of Philipseburgh, which
iu its turn was several times larger than the four other manors (Pel-
ham, Scarsdale, Ford-
ham, and Morrisania)
combined. Its eastern
boundary was fixed
in the governor's
grant at a distance
twenty miles from the
Hudson, and coincid-
ed at the time with
the boundary line be-
tween NeAv York and
( 'onnecticut ; but the
ultimate State line,
as adjusted by com-
promise under the
" Oblong" arrangement, ran somewhat to the east of it; so that the
extreme northeastern j^ortion of the county, as w(dl as a ]>ai't of
the extreme northwestern section, was never included in this manor.
Jacobus Van Cortlandt, younger brother of Stephanns and an-

VAN CORTLANDT MANSION, NEAR KINGSBRIDGK.

Gysbert, died young. 11. Eliz.ibeth, died
young. 12. Eliz.Tbetli, 2d, mnrripd Rev. William
Sldnnor, of Pertli Amljoy. N. .1. 13. Catharine,
married Andrew Jolinston, of New Jersey. 14.
Cornelia, married John Schuyler, of Albany;

those were the progenitors of the Schuylers
descended from Oerieral Philip, who was their
son, aud from iiis brothers and sislers. (The
above is taken from Edward Floyd de Lancey's
History of the Manors.)

THE PHI] IPSKS AND VAN COUTLANDTS 171

ccstor of the so-called Voiikcis brjiiicli of ilic \'aii CoillaiKK laiiiily,
was born ou the 7th of July, 1(>.")S, ami on I lie Tlli <>( .May, 1(I!M,
married Eva Philipse, adopted daiiiihter cd' Hie lirsl I'l-cdcrick I'hil-
ipse. In IG'JK he purehascd from his latln-r-inlaw fifty acres of
choice land in the "Lower Vonkers," a ])ropertY wliich lie increased
to several hundred acres by siibse(]uent ])nrchases. (Mil of this land
was erected the historic \'an Corthindt estate, about a mile above

Kinjisbridge. He left the property to his son, Frederick, w li ar-

ried a daniihter of Augustus Jay (ancestor of Chief Justice John
Jay). Frederick built in ITJrS the tine Van (Jortlandl mansion,
which, together with the then existing residue of the estate, was
purchased by the City of New York in ISSK, the land being con-
verted into a public park (Van Cortlandt I'arki and the mansion
placed in the custody of the Colonial DauK's of the Stale t>{ New
York, anil by them utilized for the puiposes of a historical museum.

Jacobus ^'au Cortlandt, the ancestor of the Yonkers \'an C(»rt
landts, also owned a large estate in the Town of Bedfoni, part of
which descended to Chief Justice John Jay and is still in the jios-
session of the Jay family.

Our narrative, from the period when the acri\(' ac(|nisition of
the lauds of Westchester County began, about tlie time of the Fug-
lish conquest (IGtU), has naturally' followed the course of the pro-
gressive new purchases and occupation running from the seat of the
already settled localities on the Sound westward and northward
along the formerly unpunduised or undevelo]KMl shores of the Har-
lem liiver, Si)uyten Duyvil Creek, and the Hudson. Pursuing this
natural course, our attention has been mainly claimed by the great
laud grants of Morrisauia, Fcu-dham, IMiilipseburgh, and Cortlandt
Manors, extending consecutively from near the mouth of the Bronx
to Anthony's Nose, and covering substantially the whtde of the west-
ern half and northern section of the county. The reader has, of
course, borne in mind that throughout the period we have traversed
in tracing the originial land acquisitions under English rule in the
western division of the county — that is, a period reaching to the end
of the seventeenth century, — the nu)re complete settleuH'Ut of the
already wel]-occu]iied eastern division was steadily ])roceeding, and,
besides resulting in the constant uid)uildiug of the little communities
ou the Sound, was inciik'ntally bringing all [ireviously neglected dis-
tricts of the interior, np to I lie conlims of IMiilipse's and Van Cort-
landt's lands, under detinite i)rivate ownership, and distributing
through them an enterprising and energetic elenn-ut cd' new settlers.
To this onward movement from the east the inhabitants of all the
existing patents from Westchester town to Byram I'oinI contributed;

172 HISTORY OF -WESTCHESTER COUKTY

aud, moreover, the people of the adjoiniug parts of Couuectiout con-
tinued to manifest a hearty interest and to share in the work of oc-
cupation aud development. As will be shown later, much of the
most notable enterprise uudertakeu from the east was by certain
communities of settlers, or by individuals having only comparatively
small personal interests, as distinguished from lai-ge lauded proprie-
tors. Indeed, notwithstandiug the iJreseuce of two quite extensive
aud very solidly founded manor grants on the Sound (Pelham and
Scarsdalc), the general character of the original settlement and suc-
ceeding history of the eastern division of Westchester Couuty differs
totally fi'om that of the western, in that the former represents
mainly the results of communal aud minor individual interest and
activity, while the latter sprang essentially from manorial aspira-
tion, proprietorship, and patronage.

But in recurring to the history of the eastern portions of the
county and of the gradual movement of settlers thence into the
interior, we shall first review the progress of events in the two
large proj^rietary estates of that division: the Pell estate, which,
when last noticed, had been erected into a manor under the lord-
ship of its founder, Thomas Pell; and the estate of John Richbell,
of Mamaroneck, transmitted after his death to his Avife, Ann, and
from her purchased by Caleb Heathcote, who soon afterward pro-
cured its erection into the Manor of Scarsdale. So luany of our im-
mediately preceding pages have been devoted to the origin and early
history of Fordham, Mori-isania, Philipseburgh, and Cortlandt Man-
ors, that similar accounts of the two remaining manors may very
fittingly follow here. This, with some general observations, will
complete what is necessary to be said about the foundations of the
manors of Westchester County.

CHAPTER IX

PELHAM MANOR AND NEW ROCHELLE CALEB HEATHCOTE AND SCAES-

DALE MANOR GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANORS

HOMAS PELL died in the month of September, 1669, three
years after obtaining from Governor Nicolls the manorial
patent for his magnificent estate on the Sound, stretching
from Hutchinson's River to Richbell's Mamaronecli grant.
Leaving no issue, he willed all his possessions, excepting certain
personal bequests, to his nephew, John Pell, then residing in Eng-
land, the only son of his only brother, the Rev. John Pell, D.D.
Doctor Pell, Thomas's brother, was a man of brilliant intellectual
accomplishments, served as ambassador to Switzerland under Crom-
well, and subsequently took or<lors in the Church of England. But
despite his talents he had faults of temperament which prevented
him from advancing in the church, and being of an improvident dis-
position he wasted his property to such a degree that he was com-
mitted to the King's Bench Prison for debt. To his son, John, the
golden inheritance from the rich uncle in America must have been
singularly Avelcome.

John Pell, the successor of Thomas in the '' lordship " of Pelham
ISranor, was born on the 8d of February, 1643. He arrived in Amer-
ica and entered into his propriettu'ship in the summer of 1670. On
the 25th of October, 1687, a new royal patent of Pelham Manor was
issued to him by frovernor Dougan, the reason for this proceeding
being, as stated iu the patent, that he desired " a more full and firmc
grant and confirmation " of his lands. The bounds of the manor as
specified iu the new instrument wove precisely the same as those pre-
scribed in the Nicolls patent to his uncle — Ilutchiuson's River on
the soudi and Cedar Tree or Gravelly Brook on tlic north, willi Ihe
neighboring islands; but the dignifies ntt.Tching to the manorial lord-
ship were somewhat more elaborately defined, and instead of i)ay-
ing to the royal governor as quit-rent " one lamb on the first day of
^fay," as had been required of Thomas Pell, he was to pay "twenty
shillings, good and lawful money of this ]irovince," "on the five and
twontyeth day of the month of March." He married (16S.")) Rachel,
daughter of Philip Pinkney, one of the first ten proprietors of East-

174 HISTOKY OF WKSTCHESTEIi COUNTY

cht'Ster. He rfsidcd ou his cstntc, and seeuis to have taken an active
and influential interest in publir- matters related to Westchester
County, having- been appointed by (governor Andros (August 25, 1(JS8)
the first judge of Westchester ('ounty, and serving as delegate from
our county in the provincial assembly from 1691 to 1695. He died
in 1702. The tradition is that he perished in a gaU' while upon a
pleasure e.vcursion in his yacht off City Island.

The most notable event of John Pell's administration of his manor
was the conveyance by him through the celebrated Jacob Leisler of
six thousand acres as a place of settlement for the Huguenots — a
transaction out of which resulted the erection of the Town of New
Rochelle.

The Edict of Nantes, a decree granting a measure of liberty to the
Proteh'tants of France, promulgated in l.">98 by King Henry IV., was
on tlie 22d of October, 1685, revoked by Louis XI \'., and by that act
of state policy the conditions of life in tlie French kingdom were
made quite intolerable to most ]»ersons of steadfast Protestant faith.
For some years previously to tiie revocation numerous French Prot-
estants had begun to seek homes in foreign lands, especially America;
and after 1085 the emigration grew to large proportions. A great
many of the Huguenots came to New York City. Several of the lead-
ers of the sect abroad enter('<l into correspondence with Leisler
(known to them as a responsihh' merchant and influential citizen
of New York and, moreover, a man of strong liberal principles), with
a view to the pui-chase by him as agent of eligible land for the estab-
lishment of a Huguenot colony. It happened that a number of the
Huguenot immigrants in New York City, looking about them for
suitable phices of residence, had in 168() and 1()87 chosen and secured
from John Pell parcels of land in that portion of Pelham Manor now
occupied by the present City of New Kochelle. From this circum-
stance Leisler, as the constituted agent of the Huguenots, was led to
locate the settlement at that place. He entered into negotiations
with Pell, and on the 20th of September, 1689, "John Pell and
Rachel his wife " conveyed to him, " in consideration of the sum
of sixteen hundred and seventy-five pimnds sterling, current silver
money of this province," ''all I hat tract of land lying and being
within said Manor of Pelham, containing six thousand acres of land,
and also one hundred acres of land more, which the said John I'ell
and Rachel his wife do freely give and grant for the French church
erected, or to be erected, by the inhabitants of the said tract of
land, or by their assignees, being butted and bounded as herein is
after expressed, beginning at the west side of a certain white oak
tree, marked on all four sides, standing at high water mark at the

SETTLEMENT OF NEW ROCHELLE 175

sontli ciul of Hog N(H^k, by shoals, Iiai-houi', .-mil runs iioi-t ln\csfci-ly
tlirongli the great fresh inea(lo\\' lying bclANccn the load ami Ihc
S^ound, and from the north si(h' of the said meadow to run from
thence due north to Brouekes I'iver, which is the west division lini>
between the said John Pell's land and the aforesaid trad, Imunded
on the southeasterly by the Sound and Salt Water, and to run east-
northerly to a certain piece of salt meadow lying at the salt creek
which runneth up to Cedar Tree brook, or Gravelly brook, and is
the bounds to Southern. Bounded on the east by a line that runs
from said meadow northwesterly by marked trees, to a certain black
oak tree standing a little below the road, marked on four sides, and
from thence to run due north four miles and a half, more or less, and
from the north side of the said west line, ending at Broncke's river,
and from thence to run easterly till it meets with the north end of tlie
said eastern most bounds, together with all and singular the islands
and the islets before the said tract of land lying and being in the
sound and salt water," etc. This was an absolute deed of sale of
the ]iropei-ty. The sum ])aid for it, £1,075, was extraordinarily large,
in comparison with the usual amounts given in those times for un-
improved landed property, and is a demonstration of the entirely
substantial character of the st^ttlement of New Bochelle at its \('ry
foundation. In addition to the i)urchase money, " said Jacol) Leisler,
his heirs and assigns," Avere to yield and pay "unto the said John
I'ell, his heirs and assigns, loi-ds of the said ^lanor of I'eiliam, to
the assigns of them or him, or their or either of tliem, as an aclcnowl-
edgnieiit to the lords of the said manor, one fal calf on cvcrii four (iinl
1innH<lh (hiji of June, yearly and every year forever — if demanded."'
This proviso was incorporated conformably \\itli the customs of the
times, which required the vouchsafing of peculiar courtesies to the
lords of manors on the jiart of individuals u])on whom they bestowed
their lands. The ceremony of the presentation of the fat calf was
duly observed for many years, and was always made a festival oc-
casion.

Although the deed of sale specified the Bronx River as the western-
most boumlary of the tract, its bounds as finally established stopped
at Hutchinson's River or creek. The six thousand acres comprised
the wliole northern section of tlie manor, I'ell retaining the southern
portion, a wedge-sha])ed territory, about one-half less in area than the
part conveyed to I.eisler.

Shortly after the consumuiatiou of the i)urchase, Troisier began to
release the lands to the Ilugueiiols, and the place was settled with
reasonable rapidity. It was called New iloclielle in honor of La
Bochelle in France, a comniuniiy lUdininriii ly identified with the

176

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Huguenot cause in the religious wars. From tlie first tlie French
refugees proved themselves most desirable additions to the popu-
lation of our county, and the entire history of New Kochelle is a
gratifying record of progress.

It will be remembered that John Eichbell's original purchase from
the Indians of what is now the Township of Mamaroneck — a purchase
confirmed to him at the time by the Dutch authorities, and later by
the English governor, Lovelace — comprised three necks on the Sound
between the Mamaroneck River and Thomas Pell's lands, and that
the interior extension of the purchase was twenty miles northward
" into the woods." Of the three necks, called the East, Middle, and
West Necks, the first was deeded by Hichbell to his mother-in-law,
Margery Parsons, and by her immediately conveyed to his wife, Ann;
but the latter two were mortgaged and finally lost to Richbell's

estate. These Middle and West
Necks, with their prolongation
into the interior, formed a tri-
angular tract of land owned by
several persons, which lay
wedge-shaped between the
Manor of Pelham, at the south-
west, and what later became
the Manor of Scarsdale, at the
northeast. The East Neck, ter-
minating at the mouth of the
Mamaroneck Iviver, continued
to be the property of Mrs. Rich-
bell until its sale by her to Caleb Heathcote, in 1697. It formed
the nucleus of Scarsdale Manor, erected in 1701. It is of interest,
before coming to the period of Heathcote's proprietorship, to glance
at the origin of the village of Mamaroneck, which we have omitted to
do in our account of Richbell's connection with this section.

Soon after procuring his English patent (1668), John Richbell and
his wife set apart for the purpose of allotments, or house lots, a
strip of land running from llie Mamaroneck River westward along
the harbor shore, and fronting on the old Westchester path. These
lots were eight in number: one he reserved for himself, one he deeded
as a gift to John Basset (1669), and the others he leased or sold.
Among the purchasers was Henry Disbrough, or Disbrow, in 1676,
who the next year erected on his lot the famous Disbrow house.
Travelers along the Boston Post Road may still see, on the western
outskirts of Mamaroneck, a stone chimney, all that remains of this
structure. The ruin is remarkable for its great size, giving an idea

OLD GUION PLACE, NEW ROCIIK.LLE.

SETTLEMENT OP MAMAEONECK

177

of tho enormous fireplaces in use at the time when the house was
built. It is said that the Disbrow house is one of the landmarks
described by James Fenimoro Cooper (who lived in Mamaroneck) in
the " Spy," and that a secret cupboard in the chimney served as a
hiding place for Harvey Birch, the hero of that story. The strip
devoted by Eichbell to the Mamaroneck house lots was called " Eich-
bell's two-mile bounds," from the fact that each lot ran two miles
" northwards into the woods." Such was the beginning of the ven-
erable village of Mamaroneck. For many years, however, only a
very few settlers lived there, and in an instrument drawn as late
as 1707, by " the freeholders of Mamaroneck " in common, the names
of only eight persons appear as signers.

Just before his death John Eichbell was engaged in a controversy
with the townspeople of Eye concerning the ownership of a tract
called by the Indians Quarop-
pas, which had already become
known among the whites as
"the White Plains." This land
was unquestionably embraced
within the limits of Eichbell's
original purchase, described as
running northward twenty
miles into the woods; but in
1(18.3 the people of Eye bought
the .same White Plains district
from the Indians claiming its
pro])ri('torship. At that time
the New York and Connecticut
boundary agreement of 1664

was still in force, whereby the dividing line between the two provinces
started at the mouth of the Mamaroneck Ei\er and ran north-north-
west. Under the then existing boundary division, therefore, Eye
was still a part of Connecticut, and, moreover, the White Plains tract
also fell on the Connecticut side. This circumstance, strengthened
by the incorporating of it within the Eye limits while the old bound-
ary understanding still prevailed, enabled the Eye men to advance
plausible pretensions to it when, very soon afterward (in fact, only
si.x days subsequently), a new boundary line was fixed, beginning at
the mouth of the Byram Eiver, which gave both the White Plains
and Eye to New York. The claim set uj) by Eye to the White
Plains caused Eichbell's title in the upward reaches of his twenty-
mile patent to assume a decidedly cloudy aspect; and to the confu-
sion thus brought about was due the comparatively limited range of

ANCIKXT IiI<r.KO\\ Hi>r

MAMAIioXKK.

178 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the bounds of the Manor of Scarsdale, which otherwise woiihl liave
run twenty miles north from the mouth of the Mamaroneck River,
instead of stopping short at the White Plains.

After Eichbell's death (July 26, 1GS4), his widow continued in
quiet possession of the estate, making no efforts to further develop
or improve it, and, with the exception of a renewed protest against
tbe intrusion of the Eye men iu the White Plains tract, doing nothing
in the way of asserting lier proprietary rights outside of the East
Neck, where, of course, they were unquestioned. In IfiOG she gave
to Caleb Heathcote, of the Town of Westchester, her written consent
to his procuring from the Indians deeds of confirmation of the old
Richbell patent; and in the same year Cioveruor Fletcher granted to
Colonel Heathcote a license authorizing him to buy vacant and un-
appropriated lands in Westchester County and to extinguish the title
of the natives. On December 2.S, 1097, Heathcoie bought from Mrs.
Tkichbell her entire landed estate for £G00, New Yorlc currency. Avail-
ing himself of the rights and privileges thus accpiired, he not only
became the founder and lord of au organized manor, but embarked
iu comprehensive original purchases of the interior lands of West-
chester County, which ultimately gave him, in association with
others, the title to most of the county between the Manors of Cort-
landt on the north, Philipseburgh on the west, Scarsdale on the
south, and the Connecticut line on the east. These latter purchases,
made under Governor Fletcher's license of 1690, were entirely dis-
connected from his manor grant of Scarsdale, and resulted in ex-
tensive new patents, which are known in the history of the county
as the " Three Great Patents of Central Westchester," named re-
spectively the West, Middle, and East Patents, and having an aggre-
gate area of some seventy thousand acres. The history of the Three
Patents belongs, however, with our account of Colonel Heathcote as
one of the great early proprietors, and will receive brief notice after
the story of Scarsdale Manor has been told.

Caleb Heathcote was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England,
in 1065, and was the sixth of the seven sons of Gilbert Heathcote,
gentlenmn, of that place. " The family was an ancient one, the
first of whom there is authoritative mention having been a master
of the Mint under IJichai'd II." His father, Gilbert, was a Round-
head and stanch adherent of the Parliament in the civil wars, serv-
ing creditably in the Parliamentary army. He held the office of
mayoi" of Chesterfield. All of the seven sons became successful
merchants. The eldest, Sir Gilbert, was "Lord Mayor of London,
member of Pai'liament, one of the founders and the first governor of
the Bank of England, knighted by Queen Anne, and created a baronet

COLONEL CALEB HEATHCOTE

179

in 1732 by George II." His descendants have ever since belonged
to the British aristocracy, and his grandson, the third Sir Gilbert,
was raised to the peerage as Baron Aveland. Another son, Samuel,
was the progenitor of the Baronets Ileathcute, of Uarsk'v I'ark,
County of Hampshire.

Caleb came to America about 1691, making his home in New
York and pursuing trade there. It is said tliat his removal (o this
country was occasioned by an unfortunate love affair, his bride-
elect having broken off her engagement with him to marry his
brother Gilbert. He immediately became a prominent man in the
city and province, and served at
various times in a number of im-
portant olHces, among llicm being
those of surveyor-general of His
Majesty's customs for the eastci'ii
district of Noi'th America, judge
of file Court of Admiralty for the
provinces of New Yoi'k, New Jer-
sey, and Connecticut, member of
the governor's council, mayor of
New Ycu'k City, judge of the Court
of Common Pleas of Westchester
County, colonel of the Westchester
County militia, and mayor of the
borough Town of Westchester. It
was from his connection with the
military that he obtained his title
of " Colonel," by which he was
alwavs known. He was niavor
of New York at the same time ^^•^"" "^^^^".cotk.

that his brother Gilbert was Lord ilayor of London. lie was firmly
attached to the Church of England, and probably did more than any
other man of his times to promote its dominance in New York, being
one of the founders of the parish of Trinity Church in New York
City, and the leading person in establishing the parishes of West-
chester, Eastchester, and Rye in Westchester County. As lord of
Scarsdale 3Ianor he caused that manor to be constituted one of the
precincts of tlie parish of Bye, of which he was chosen warden and
vestryman. He is described by a contemporary writer as "a gen-
tleman of rare (|nalities, excellent tein]»iT, and virtuous life and
conversation."

At an early period of his residence in New York, Heathcote began
to take a decided interest in the advantages offered by this couniy,

180 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

and bought property both in the Town of Westchester and East-
chester patent. In 1696, through his inllnence, Westchester was
created a " borouoh (own," patterned in all particulars after the
old English borough towns. It is noteworthy that only two borough
towns were ever established in New York Province, one being West-
chester and the other Schenectady. Westchester's town charter,
dated April 16, 1696, conferred the " municipal privileges of a mayor
and aldermen and assistants, and the additional one of a repre-
sentative of its own in the assembly of the province"; and Colonel
Heathcote was appointed its first mayor. It was in this same year,
as we have seen, that he took the steps which led to the creation of
the Manor of Scarsdale and to the great purchases by him and asso-
ciates of the vacant and unappropriated lands in the central part
of Westchester County which comprised the " Three Patents."

By the terms of Mrs. Richbell's conveyance to him of the Rich-
bell estate in 1697, he succeeded to all of her property rights, both
on the East Neck and in the interior region patented to h(>r hus-
band by Governor LoA^elace, running northward " twenty miles into
the woods." This conveyance did not include, however, the "allot-
ments " previously made to various persons in the " two-mile bounds "
(upon which the foundations of the Village of Mamaroneck had al-
ready been begun); and there was also a small tract of thirty acres
on wliai is now de Lancey's Neck, previously deeded by Mrs. Rich-
bell to James Mott, which Colonel Heathcote did not acquire. With
these exceptions, he became the absolute owner of all the lands in
Westchester County left by John Richbell at his death. Prepara-
tory to his application for a manorial grant, he procured Indian con-
firmations of his title to various portions of thf^ property thus bought;
and he also extended its limits southward to the Eastchester patent
by purchasing from the Indians all the country between the head-
waters of the Hutchinson River and the Bronx, a strip known as the
Fox Meadows.

On the 21st of March. 1701. letters patent for the Manor of Scars-
dale were issued to Caleb Heathcote by LieTitenant-Governor Nanfan.
Its bounds are not very clearly described in that document. Accord-
ing to the spirit of the grant, its northward projection was to be a
distance of twenty miles, as in the original Richbell patent; but
an express proviso ^vas made that no further title should be given
to Heathcote than that ■«'hich he " already hath to y<' lands called
ye White Plains, Avliich is in dispute between ye said Caleb Heath-
cote and some of the inhabitants of the Town of Rye." In point of
fact, Scarsdale Manor was always limited at the north by the White
Plains tract, Heathcote never having been able to legally establish

COLONEL CALEB HBATHCOTE 181

bis ownership of the disputed lauds. The uorthern line of the
mauor followed the Mamaroneok River from its nioutli for about
two iiiilef^, and thence proceeded <o the Brcnix. At the west and
east it was bordered, rt>spectively, b^' the Bronx and the Sound. Ou
the south it was bounded by the wedge-shaped private lands already
mentioned, by the extreme northern corner of the old Pelham Manor
(included in the New Kochelle purchase of the Huguenotsj, and by
the Eastchester patent. The annual quit-rent fixed in the grant
was " five pounds current money of New Yorke, upon the Nativity
of our Lord."

Tlie manor was called Scarsdale by its proprietor after that por-
tion of Derbyshire in England where he was born — a locality known
as " the Hundred of Scarsdale." Although his proprietary interest
in the town lots of Mamaroneck was confined to his personal owner-
ship of two of them, he was always regarded by the settlers there
as the controlling spirit of the place, and he gave much attention to
the promotion of its development and welfare.

Concerning the improvements made by him upon the manor, and
his general administration of it, we quote from the account \\ritten
by his descendant, Edward F. de Lancey:

Colonel lleatlieote established a grist mill on the Maniaroneek River near the original
bridg-e crossed by the " Old Westchester Path," and a sawmill high np on that river, now the
site of the present Mamaroneck Water Works, ujion which site there eontinned to be a mill
of some kind nntil it was bonght two years ago [1S84] to establish those works, lie made
leases at different points thronghont the manor, l)nt did not sell in fee many farms, thongh
always ready and willing to do so, the whole number of the deeds for the latter on record
being only thirteen during the twenty-three years or thereabout which elapsed between his
purchase from ilrs. Richbell and his death. .Some of these farms, however, were of great
extent. He did not establish, as far as now known, any manor courts under his right to do
so. The population was so scant, and the manor, like all others in the comity, being subject
to the jn<licial provisions of the provincial legislative acts, there was really no occasion for
them. He personally attended to all duties and matters connected with his manor and his
tenants, never having appointed any steward of the manor. Papers still in existence show that
his tenants were in the habit of commg to him for aid and coimsel iu their most private affairs,
especially in the settlement of family disputes, and he was often called upon to draw their
wills

Upon the eminence at the head of the [Mamaroneck] Harbor, still called lleatlieote
Hill, he built a large double brick manor house iu the style of that day in England, with all
the accompanying ofiiees and outbuildings, including the American addition of negro
quarters in accordance with the laws, habits, and customs of the period. Here he lived
during the remainder of his life, which terminated on the 'iStli of Pebruary, 1720-1, in his
fifty-sixth year. The house stood till some six or seven years liefore the American Kev(du-
tion, occupied, however, only by tenants after the death of his widow in 173G. 1-ater it was
accidentally destroyed by tire. The present double frame building standing on a iiortion of
the old site was "built in 1792 by the late John Peter de Lancey, a grandson of Colonel
Heathcotc, who had succeeded to the property.

Colonel Ileathcote married IMartha, daughter of tlie distinguished
William Smith (''Tangier" Smith), of Saint George's Manor, Long
Island, who was chief justice and president of the council of the

182

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

province. They had six children, two sons and four daughters, but
both the sons and two of the daughters died in early life. Thus
Caleb Heathcote left no descendants in the male line. One of his
daughters, Anne, married James de Lancey, afterward royal chief
justice and governor of New York, the progenitor of the present
de Lancej's of Westchester County. The other surviving daughter,
Martha, became the wife of Lewis Johnston, of Perth Amboy, N. J.

The descendants of this
branch have never been
identified with our coun-
ty. ^Irs. de Lancey and
Mrs. Johnston inherited
from their father the
Avlinlc (if the manor prop-
erty in equal shares.
Various parcels were
gradually disposed of by
the two heirs, and in 1775
a general partiticm sale
was held, under which
both the de Lancey and
Johnston interests were
divided up among numer-
ous purchasers. Scars-
dale IManor, as it existed before the partition, comprehended the pres-
ent Towns of Mamaroneck and Scarsdale, with a small part of Har-
rison.

The reader will remember that Ileathcote, in addition to buying
the Richbell estate and some adjacent Indian lands, called the Fox
Meadows (the latter being secured in order to extend the limits of
his proposed manor southward to the Eastchester boundary), pro-
cured from Governor Fletcher a license to purchase vacant and un-
appropriated land in Westchester County, and extinguish the title
of the natives. Under this license, dated October 12, 1090, he, with
a number of associates, bought up practically all of the county that
si ill remained in the i)ossession of its aboriginal owners — that is,
all of the previously unpurchased portions bounded on the south by
Harrison's Purchase and Scarsdale Manor (or, rather, Harrison's
Purchase and the disymted White Plains tract), on the east by Con-
necticut, on the north by Cortlandt Manor, and on the west by Phil-
i])seburgh ^lanor. In the aggregate, the purchases thus made em-
bi'aced about seventy thousand acres, or some twelve thousand
seven hundred acres of so-called " improvable land," and they were

•HEATHCOTE HILL.

COLONEL CALEB HEATHCOTE 183

hiruclv ((iiilinned to Heatlicole and his associates iu three patents
issued by Lieutenant-Goveruor >\aiifan, known as the West, ^Miil-
dUs and East Patents. The West I'atent, dated February 14, 1701,
lo JU>bert Walter and nine other patentees, included all of the
large angle between Philipsebuviih and Cortlaudt IManors, and
stretched eastwardly to the Liryani IJiver and the Town of Bed-
ford. It contained five thousand acres of improvable lanti. The
Middle Patent, dated February 17, 1701, to Caleb Heathcol(; and
tAvehe others, extended from the West Patent to the Mianus IJiver,
and had fifteen hundred acres of improvable land. The East Patent,
the largest of the three, embracing sixty-two hundred acres of im-
provable land, was granted on the 20th of March, 1701, to K. Walter
and ten others, and covered much of the northeastern section of the
county.

In the purchases consolidated in these three patents Heathcote was
the original mover, but had the co-operation of several other active
parties, notably Eobert Walter and Joseph Horton. Heathcote, with
a view to protecting his individual interests already acquired in the
deed from Mrs. Kichbell (\Aiiich transferred to him such rights as
she and her husband had previously possessed " northward twenty
miles into the woods"'), had a proviso inserted iu each of the new
patent deeds reserving to himself any lands possibly included in
these purchases whereof he might already be the owner. The first
of the purchases leading up to the three patents was made by him
personally, October 19, IGDO (seven days after the procurement of
his license from Governor Fletcher), from Pathunck, Wampus, Co-
hawney, and five other Indians. This is known as " Wampus's Land
Deed," or the " North Castle Indian Deed," and was " for and iu con-
sideration of 100 pounds good and lawful money of New York."
Among the names of Indian cliiefs participating in the sales of the
northern-central Westchester lands to Ileathcote and his associates
is the familiar one of Katonah. None of the three patents was ever
erected into a manor or developed as any recognized separate do-
main or sphere of settlement. All the lauds comprised in them
were gradually disposed of to incoming individual aggregations of
settlers wishing to enlarge their limits. As an example of this
process, the tract known as the Middle Patent, or Whitefields, was
iu 173S sub-divided, by agreement of the surviving patentees, into
thirteen lots, having a total estimated value of £1,989, upon which,
in 1739, fifteen settlers were living; and in 1765 final settlement with
the individual occupants of the lands (at that time twenty-six in num-
ber) was effected by the proprietors on tlie basis of nine shillings
per acre.

184 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

All the Three Patents were granted in the same j'ear (1701) that
the Manor of iScarsdale was erected. AVith the purchases upon which
this manor and the Three Patents were constructed, the original ac-
quisition of great areas of land in Westchester County by individual
proprietors came to an end, there being, indeed, no more " vacant
and unappropriated " soil to be absorbed. It may therefore be said
that with the beginning o'f the eighteenth century-, but not until then,
the whole of our county had come under definite tenure — a period
of some seventy-five years after the first organized settlement on
Manhattan Island having been required for that eventuality. With
the exception of a few localities of quite restricted area — namely, on
the Sound the Eye, Harrison, Mauiaroneck, New Eochelle, East-
chester, and Westchester tracts and settlements; on the upper Hud-*'
son the Eyke and Kranckhyte patents, upon which the village of
Peekskill lias been built; and in the interior the disputed White
Plains lands, the Bedford tract, and some minor strips bought or oc-
cupied by men from the older settlements on the Sound, — all of West-
chester County, as originally conveyed by the Indians under deeds of
sale to the whites, was parceled out into a small number of great
estates or patents representing imposing single proprietorships, as
distinguished from ordinary homestead lots or moderate tracts taken
up incidentallj' to the progi'ess of bona fide settlement. These great
original proprietorships were, indeed, only nine in number, as fol-
lows: (1) Cortlaudt Manor, the property of Stephanus Van Cortlandt,
which went after his death to his children and was by them pre-
served intact for many years; (2) Philipseburgh Manor, founded by
Frederick Philipse and retained as a whole by the Philipse family
until confiscated in Eevolutionary times; (3) Fordham Manor, estab-
lished by John Archer, subsequently forfeited for mortgage indebted-
ness to Cornells Steenwyck, and by him and his wife willed to the
Nether Dutch Congregation in New York, which continued in sole
ownershij) of it until the middle of the eighteenth century; (4) Morris-
ania Manor, the old " Bronxland," built up into a single estate by
Colonel Lewis Morris, by him devised to his nephew, Lewis Morris
the younger, who had the jjroperty erected into a manor, and whose
descendants continued to own it entire for generations; (5) Pelham
Manor, originally, as established under Tlioiiias Pell, its first lord, an
estate of 9,10(5 acres, but by his nephew John, the second lord, di-
vided into two sections, whereof one (the larger division) was sold to
the Huguenots, and the other was i)reserved as a manor until after
the death of the third lord; ((J) kScarsdale Manor, the estate of
Colonel ("aleb Heathcote, which for the most part remained the prop-
erty of his heirs until sold by partition in 1775; and (7, 8, 9) the

OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANORS 185

Three Great Patents of Central Westchester, granted to Heathcote
and associates on the basis of purchases from the Indians, and by
the patentees gradually subsold, mainly to settlers who in the course
of time occupied the lands. In the nine estates and ])alen1s thus
enumerated were contained, at a rough estimate, about 225,000 of the
300.000 acres belonging to the old County of Westchester.

It will be observed that with the single exception of Pelham the
six manors of the county long retained their territorial integrity.
A small portion of the Manor of I'hilipseburgh, it is true, was trans-
ferred by the Philipses to the younger branch of the Van Cortlandts,
but this was a strictly friendly conveyance, the two families being
closely allied by marriage. Even in the three manors where no second
lord succeeded to exclusive proprietorship — Cortlandt, Fordham, and
Scarsdale — sales of the manorial lands in fee to strangers were ex-
tremely rare, and it was an almost invariable rule that persons set-
tling upon them, as upon Philipseburgh, Morrisania, and Pelliam
Manors (where the ownership devolved upon successive single heirs),
did not acquire possession of the soil which they occupied, but merely
held it as tenants. The disintegration of the manors, and the substi-
tution of small landed proprietorship for tenantry, was therefore a
very slow process. Throughout the colonial period tenant fanning
continued to be the prevailing system of rural economy outside of
the few settlements and tracts which from the start were independ-
ent of the manor grants — a system which, however, did not operate
to the disadvantage of population in the manor lauds. Upon this
point de Laneey, the historian of the manors, says: " It will give a
correct idea of the great extent and thoroughness of the maiioiiai
settlement of Westchester County, as well as the satisfactory nature
of that method of settlement to its inhabitants, although a surprise,
probably, to many readers, when it is stated that in the year ITOO one-
third of the population of the county lived on the two manors of
Cortlandt and Philipseburgh alone. The manors of Fordham, Mor-
risania, Pelham, and Hcarsdale, lying nearer to the City of New
York than these two, and more accessible than either, save only the
lower end of Philipseburgh, were, if anything, much more settled.
It is safe to say that upward of live-eighths of the people of West-
chester County in 17G9 were inhabitants of the six manors.'"

The distinguishing characteristics of the manors demand notice
here, although oiir space does not permit any elaborate treatment of
this particular subject.* First, it should be understood that the
manors, one and all, were only ordinary landed estates, granted to

1 Readers desiring a more detailed account " Origin and History of the Manors," In
are referred to Edward Floyd de Lanccy's Scharfs " History of Westchester County."

186 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

certain English subjects in America wlio, while popularly styled
" lords " of the manors, enjoyed no distinguished rank whatever,
and were in no way elevated titiilarly, by virtue of their manorial
proijrietorships, above the common people. In no case was a mano-
rial grant in Westchester County conferred upon a member of the
British nobility, or even upon an individual boasting the minor rank
of baronet; and in no case, moreover, was such a grant bestowed in
recognition of services to the crown or as a mark of special honor
by the sovereign. Without exce]ition, the proprietors of tlie manors
were perfectly plain, untitled gentlemen. Yet, says de Lancey, " we
often, at this day, see them written of and hear them spoken of as
nobles. 'Lord Philipse ' and 'Lord Pell' are familiar examples of
this ridiculous blunder in Westchester County. No grant of a feudal
manor in England at any time from their first introduction ever car-
ried with it a title, and much less did any grant of a New York
freehold manor ever do so. Both related to land only. Tlie term
Lord of a Manor is a technical one, and means simply the owner, the
possessor of a manor — nothing more. Its use as a title is simply
a mark of intense or ignorant republican proA'incialism. ' Lord ' as
a prefix to a manor owner's name was never used in England nor
in the Province of New York."

The manor was a very ancient institution in England, but by the
statute of quia empiorcs, enacted in 12!)n, the erection of new manors
in tliat kingdom was foi'ever put to an end. The old Englisli man-
ors, founded in the Middle Ages, were of course based upon the feudal
system, involving military service by the fief at the will of his lord,
and, in general, the complete subjectitai of the fief. The whole
feudal system of land 1 enure having been abolished by the statute
of Charles II. in 1G60, and the system of " free and common socage "
(meaning the right to hold land uuvexed by the obligation of feudal
service) having been substituted in its stead. New York, both as a
proprietary province under the Duke of Y'ork and subsequt-ntly as a
royal province, never exhibited any traces of feudality in the mat-
ter of land tenures, but always had an absolutely free yeomanry.
But it was never contemplated that New Y^ork or any of the other
provinces in America should develop a characteristically democratic
organization of government or basis of society. Titled persons were
sent to rule over them, and, particularly in New York, there was a
manifest tendency to render the general aspect of administration and
social life as congenial as possible to people of high birth and ele-
gant breeding. Moreover, there being no provision for the creation
of an American titled aristocracy, it was deemed expedient to offer
some encouragement to men of aristocratic desires, and the institu-

OBSERVATIONS ON THE JVIAJMORS 187

tion of tlie mauor was selected as llie must practicable cuucession
to the aristocratic instinct — a concession which, while carrying with
it no title of nobility, did carry a certain wei<;hty dignity, based
upon the one universally recognized founchilion for all true original
aristocracy — large landed proprietorship, coupled wilh formally con-
stituted authority. The establishment of new mauoi'S in England
was discontinued by the statute of 1-"JU for tlie sole reason that at
that period no crown lands remained out of wliich such additional
manors could be formed, the esscjitial ])relimiuary to a manor being
a land grant by the sovereign to a subject. But in the American
provinces, where extensive unacquired lands were still awaiting ten-
ure, the manor system was capable of wide application at discre-
tion; and in A'ew York and some of the other provinces it was the
policy of the English government from the beginning to encourage
the orgauization of manors. " The charter of Pennsylvania," said
the learned Chief Judge Denio of the Kew York Court of Appeals, in
his opinion in the Kensselaerswyck case, "empowered Penn, the pat-
entee, to erect manors and to alien and grant parts of the lands to
such purchasers as might wish to purchase, 'their heirs and assigns,
to he hdd of tlu said William Pcuii, his heirs and assif/iis, hj such serv-
ices, customs, and rents as should seem fit to said William Penn, etc.,
and not immediafeh/ of the said Kin;/ Charles, his heirs or suceessors,' not-
withstanding the statute of quia einptarcs." Similarly in New York,
the manor grants issued during the time that it remained a propri-
etary province (namely, those to Thonuis Pell in IGtiti and to John
Archer in ICTlj were made by the authority and in the name of the
Duke of York as proprietor, and not of the king. After New York
was changed into a royal province, the nmnor grants were continued
by the authority aud in the name of the king.

The privileges attaching to the manor grants in Westchester
County varied. All of them, however, had one fuudanu'ulal char-
acteristic. Each manor was, in very 2>i'ecise language, appointed to
be a separate and independent organization or jurisdiction, eiitindy
detached from other established ])(ditical divisions. To give the
reader an idea of the formality with which such separation was
made, we reproduce the wording of one of the manor grants u|Hin
this i)oiut, Avhich is a fair siH'ciiiien. In his letters patent to John
Archer for the Mauor of Ford ham, (iovernor Lovelace says: " 1 doe
gi'ant unto ye said John Ardiei-, Ids heirs and assigns, that the house
which he shall erect, together with ye said ]>arc(d of land and pnMu-
i.ses, shall be forever hereafter held, claiuied, reputed and be an
entire and enfranchised township, manor, and place of itself, and shall
always, from time to time and at all times hereafter, have, hold, and

188

HISTORY OF WESTCHKSTER COUNTY

enjoy like and equal pvivilej>es and immunities with any town en-
franchised or manor within this government, and shall in no manner
or way be suhordinaie or belonging unto, have any dependence upon, or in
any wise be tinder the ride, order, or direction of any riding, township, place,
or jurisdiction, either upon the main or Long Island."

Thus, first of all, and as its great essential characteristic, the ma-
norial estate was always made a political entity. As such it was
under the government of its proprietor and his subordinates, who,
however, in all their acts were subject to the general laws of the
land, simply applying those laws as circumstances and conditions

required. According to the
theory of the old English manors,
a so-called " Court Baron " was
an indispensable attachment of
every manor — that is, a court for
the trial of civil cases, over which
the lord or his steward presided,
the jurors being chosen from
a m 0 n g the freehold tenants.
There was also usually a so-
called " Court Leet," which has
been described as " a court of
record having a similar jurisdic-
tion to the old sheriff's ' Tourns '
or migratory courts held by the
shei'iff in the different districts or
* hundreds ' of his county, for the
punishment of minor offenses and
the preservation of the peace,"
which was provided for in order
that the lords of manors " might
administer justice to their tenants at home." In all the West-
chester County manor grants, except Pordham, authority is given
to the grantee to hold " one Court Leet and one Court Baron." This
privilege was not always availed of; for example, we have seen
that in the Slanor of Scarsdale the manorial courts were never or-
ganized. It is worth}' of note in this connection that among the
manor lords of Westchester County were several of the early judges
of the province, including John Pell (second lord of Pelham Manor),
who was the first judge of Westchester County; Caleb Heathcote, of
Scarsdale Manor, who served as county judge for twenty-seven years,
and was also an admiralty judge; Lewis Morris, of Morrisania, one
of the most famous of the royal chief justices; and the second Fred-

GOVERNOR LOVELACK.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANORS 189

erick Phllipse, who was a puisne judoe of tlie Supreme C(»urt. To
this list should be added the name of the celebrated chief justice
and royal aovernor, James de Laocey, who married the eldest daujj^h-
ter of Caleb Heathcote. In addition lo tlieir civil functions, the pro-
prietors of four of the manors (Cortlandt, J'hilipseburoh, Pelham,
and Morrisania) enjoyed the riylit of advowson and church patron-
age, under which they had the power to exercise controlling influ-
ence in church matters within their domains. The prevailing sec-
tarian tendencies of different localiiies in Westchester County during
the colonial era and for many years subsequently were owing mainly
to the particular religious preferences and activities of the respective
manor lords of those localities. In Westchester, Eastchester, and
Rye the Church of England early secured a firm foundation through
the zeal of Colonel Caleb Heathcote, of Scarsdale, who Avas its earnest
supporter. A similar influence, with a similar result, was exercised
in the Yonkers land by the second Frederick Philipse, who had been
educated in England, where he became attached to the Established
Church, and who as proprietor of the lower part of Philipseburgh
Manor founded Saint John's Church at Yonkers, which to this day
maintains the leading position in that community. On the other
hand, at Tarrytown, on the upper part of Philipseburgh Manor, the
Dutch Reformed Church enjoyed supremacy from the beginning, on
account of the patronage accorded it by the first lord and by his
son and successor in that division of the manor, Adolph.

Upon one of the Westchester manors, Cortlandt, was bestowed an
extraordinary privilege: that of being represented in th(> general
assembly of the province by a special member. This privilege
was granted to no other manor of New York, except Rensselaers-
wyck and Livingston, although it was enjoyed also by the two bor-
ough towns, Westchester and Schenectady. But it was provided
that the exercise of the privilege, so far as Cortlandt Manor was
concerned, was not to begin until twenty years after the grant (/. e.,
in 1717). At the expiration of that time, Stephanus Van Cortlandt,
his heirs or assigns, had full authority to "return and send a dis-
creet inhabitant in and of the said manor to be a representative of
the said manor in every assembly," who should " be received into
the house of representatives of asscMubly as n member of the said
house, to have and enjoy such privilege as the other representatives
returned and sent from any other county and manors." Cortlnndi
Manor did not, however, choose a I'epresentative in the assembly
until 1734;, when Philip Verplanck was (dected to sit for it. He
continued to serve in that capacity for thirty-four years, being suc-
ceeded by Piei-re Van Cortlandt, who remained a member of the

190 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

assembly until 1775. Kotwitlistandinji' the exceptional privilege
of representation given to Cortlandt Manor as a manor, the other
manors of Westchester County were equally able to make their influ-
ence felt in that body. In addition to the special members from
Cortlandt Manor and Westchester town, the county as a whole was
entitled to representation by two general delegates. Heathcote,
John Pell, the Philipses, and the Morrises all sat at various times
for the county.

The original purpose of the manor grants being to encourage the
development of the semi-aristocratic system for which they provided,
no onerous charges in the way of special taxation were assessed upon
the manor proprietors. In each grant was incorporated a provision
for the payment of annual " quit-rent" to the provincial goveimment,
but the amount fixed was in every case merely nominal. The vari-
ous quit-rents exacted were, for the Manor of Pelham, as originally
patented to Thomas Pell, " one lamb on the first day of May (if the
lamb shall be demanded) "; for Pelham, as repatented to John Pell,
"twenty shillings, good and lawful money of this province, at the
City of New York, on the five and twentieth day of March"; for
Fordham, " twenty bushels of good peas, upon the first day of March,
when it shall be demanded"; for Philipseburgh, "on the feast day
of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, . . . the an-
nual rent of four pounds twelve shillings current money of our said
province"; for Morrisania, "on the feast day of the Annunciation
of our Blessed Virgin, . . . the annual rent of six shillings";
for Cortlandt, " on the feast day of our Blessed Virgin Mary, the
yearly rent of forty shillings, current money of our said province";
and for Scarsdale, " five pounds current money of New York, upon
the nativity of our Lord." Appended to most of the quit-rent leases
was the significant statement that the prescribed payment was to be
"in lieu of all rents, services, and demands whatever," apparently
inserted to emphasize the well-understood fact that the manor grants
were strictly in the line of public policy, and were in no way intended
to become a source of revenue to the government.

The importance of the manorial proprietorships in Westchester
County, in their relations to its political and social character and
to its eventful history for a hundred years, can not be overestimated.
All the founders of the six manors were men of forceful traits, native
ability, and wide influence. With a single exception,^ they left their
estates, entirely undiminished and unimpaired, either to children or
to immediate kinsmen, who in turn, by their personal characters and

1 John Arelipr, of Fordham. In consequence continued to be a respectable and useful one
of flnancial complications, his manor did not in the country,
remain in his family. Yet the Archer family

OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANORS 191

qualities, as well as by their marital alliauces, solidilied tiie already
substantial foundations which had been laid, and greatly strenf^th-
ened the social position and enlarged the spheres of their families.
To enumerate the marriages contracted during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, in the male and feniah* lines, by the Van Oort-
hiudts, the riiiliiises, the Morrises, the Pells, and the descendants
of Caleb lleathcote, would involve almost a comidete recapitulation
of the more conspicuous and wealthy New York families of the
entire colonial period, besides many prominent families of other
provinces. To the Westchester manorial families belonged some of
the most noted and influential Americans of their times — men of
shining talents, fascinating manners, masterful energy, and splendi<l
achievement; statesmen, orators, judges, and soldiers — who were
among the principal jiopular leaders and civic oHicials of the prov-
ince and who aaoh renown both in the jjublic service and in the field
during the devolution. Alike to the patriot cause and the Tory
faction these families contributed powerful and illustrious support-
ers. As the issues between the colonies and Great Britain became
more closely drawn, and the inevitable struggle approached, the in-
tluences of the representative members of the Westchester families
were thrown partly on one side and partly on the other. The tenants
in each case were controlled largely by the pi'oprietor, and thus an
acute division of sentiment and sympathies was occasioned wliich, in
connection with the unique geographical position of this county in
its relations to the contending forces of the Revolution, caused it
to be torn by constant broils and to be devastated by innumerable
conflicts and depredations. Keraembering that the old manorial
families of Westchi'ster County rested ujion an original foundation
of very recognizable aristocratic dignity, which was made possible
only by monarchical institutions; that the pride of lineage had, at
the time of the Revolution, been nourished for the larger jtart of a
century; and that the disposition of attachment to the king naturally
arising from these conditions had been much strengthened by con-
tinuous intermnrriage with other families of higli sorial ])retensiou
and political conservatism, it seems at this day renuirkable, or at
least a source of peculiar satisfaction, that their preferences and
efforts were, on the whole, rather for the poinilar cause than against
it. Even in the formative period of the Revolution, before passions hail
been stirred by experience and example, and before actual emergency
impelled men to ])ut aside caution, it was distinctly ai)iiaren( that the
Tory i)arty was thi- weaker, both numerically and in ]ioint of leader-
ship; and at a very early period of the war, notwithstanding the
loss of New York Citv to the American armv and the retreat of

192 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Washhiiiton into New Jersey, Toryism became an unwholesome thinjj
throughout much the larger part of Westchester County. The in-
fluence of the Tory landlords, cAen upon their own tenantry, was,
indeed, a constantly- diminishing factor, while that of the patriotic
leaders steadily grew. This could not have been the case if the
weight of sentiment among the principal families of the county had
not been genuinely on the side of American freedom.

CHAPTER X

GENERAL HISTORICAL REVIEW TO THE BEGINNING OP THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY COMPLETION OF THE WORK OF ORIGINAL SETTLEMENT

N tracing to the beginning of the eighteenth century the
history of the great laud purchases and manor erections,
only incidental alhision has been made to tlie general
history of the times during the first few decades which
f(»lloweil the surrender of New Xetherland by the Dutch, and to
the coincident progress of such settlements as were not directly asso-
ciated with the manorial estates. After briefly summarizing the
general history of the province and the county during that period,
we shall complete the account of original local settlement. The
narrative as a whole will then proceed more uniformly and rapidly.

Eichard Nicolls, the first of the English governors, continued in
office until 1G68, when he was succeeded l)_\ I'vaucis Lovelace. Dur-
ing Nicolls's administration, the old Dutch land patents throughout
the province were reissued, bfiug altered oidy so as to provid(> for
allegiance to the Duke of York and the government of England, in-
stead of the Dutch West India Company and the government of the
United Netherlands; the boundary liii«' betw(>en New York and Con-
necticut was provisionally established, although upon a basis soon
to be totally reimdiated; and the code known as "the Duke's Laws,"
for the general government of the province, was adopted. This code
" established a ver}* unmistakable autocracy, making the governor's
will supreme, and leaving neither officers nor measures to ihe choice
of the peojjle."' Among its detailed features were " trial by jury, equal
taxation, tenure of land from the Duke of York, no religio\is estab-
lishment but requirement of some church foiin, freedom of religion
to all professing Christianity, obligatory service in each parish on
Sunday, a recognition of negro slavery under certain restrictions,
and general liability to military duty."

The legitimacy and ])ropriety of owning negro slaves was never
questioned in New York or elsewhere in America in those days.
Bondmen, both black and white, were brought here during the earli-
est period of settlenient by the Dutch ; and witli the arrival of Director

194

HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Kieft, iu 1038, the practice of furnisbing uegroes to all who desired
them had become a thoroughly established one. A distinct article
providing for the furnishing of blacks to settlers Avas incorporated in
the " Freedoms and Exemptions " of the Dutch West India Com-
pany, a series of regulations adojjted to promote colonization. All
the leading English families who came to the province after the con-
quest owned negroes, both as laborers and as house servants. Colonel
Lewis Morris, as has been noticed in another place, possessed at his
death sixty-six negroes, of an aggregate value of £844; and the house-
hold slaves left by the first Frederick Philipse, in 1702, as shown
by an inventory of his estate, numbered fortj'. According to a
census of the year 1703, says a historian of New York City, there was
"hardly a family that did not have from half a dozen to a dozen
or more in their service." This custom of regarding negroes as

absolute property was, moreover, viewed
with entire and unquestioning approval
in the mother country at tliat period. In
a curious docuiiieiit drawn uj) by "the
Committee of the Council of Foreigne
Plantations," about 1(>S3, "certaine prop-
ositions for the better accommodating
the Foreigne Plantations with servants"
are duly formulated. Tliey are prefaced
witli the statement that "it being uni-
versally agreed that people are llie foun-
dations and imi)rovement of ail planta-
tions, and tliat people are encreased prin-
cipally by sending of servants thither, it
is necessary that a settled course be taken
for tlie furnishing them with servants."
" Servants," it is next stated, " are either
blaclvs or whiles,'" and the status of the former is defined as follows:
" Blacks are such as are brought by waye of trade and are sould at
about £20 a hi ad one with anotlier, antl are the ]>rinci})all and most
usefuU appurtenances of a plantation, and are such as are perpetuall
servants." It would be difficult to find in the literature of slavery
under English rule a more accurate and ingenuons definition of the
position of the negro as understood in olden times.

Lovelace, who succeeded Nicolls as governor in 1668, coiuinued his
predecessor's liberal policy toward the Dutch po])ula1ion. and ad-
ministered affairs successfully and smoothly until suddenly forced
to resurrender the province to its original owners in 1673. During
liis incumbency the settlers in our county rapidly increased. He

DUKE OF YORK S SEAL.

GENEKAL HISTORICAL REVIEW TO 1700

195

took an active interest in iniprovini; tlie means of oonnnnnicalion
between the ontlvini; localiUes and New York City. lie slronj^ly
urged upon tlie i)eoi)Ie of Harlem village the necessity of buihling
a good wagon road to the fort, and at an early period of liis govern-
ment (he ferry service at Kingsbridge was inaiignraled. I-'i'om his
time dates the opening of the first regular loute of travel to Con-
necticut, what was later improved into the I'.oslon Posf TJond. " Once
a month, beginning with .January 1, U\~'.], the postman, monntcd npon
a goodly horse, which had to carry him as far as Hartford, collected
the accumulated mail into his saddlebags. At Hartford he to<»k'
another horse, and wended his Avay as best he might tlirongli woods
and swamps, across rivers, and along Indian ti-ails, if he was happy
enough to find such. On his r(>turn, the city coffe(>-house received
his ])r('cious burden, and ujion a broad
table the various missives were displayed
and delivered when paid for." ^ The begin-
ning of these regular trips between New
York and the New England colonies was,
of course, an event of great importance to
all the settlers in the eastern ]>art of West-
chester County, and the road was steadily
developed into a substiuitial llioronghfare
for vehicles.

Louis XIV. of France, liaving deter-
mined to crush the Dutch Ueimblic for in-
terfering with some of his designs of state-
craft, induced Charles TI. of England to
join him in that enterprise. Tlie Nethi'r-
lands, hoMever, o])posed a ])owerful and

eventually successful resistance to the allies, botli on land and sea.
The dykes wvrv ojiened, the Priure of Orange, \\ho had been invested
with supreme authority, brilliantly defended liis country against the
invader at every point, and the French armies were forced to retire.
The Dutch navy, triumi>liing over both th<' French and l]nglish
fleets, in a number of decisive engagements, soon enter((l npon a
course of aggression beyond the seas. A s(|UMdi'iin undei' .\dmirals
Evertsen an<l P.inckes, after making a successful descent in the W<'st
Indies, jjroceeded to New Y'ork, anchoring off Sandy Hook on -Inly
29, 1073. Governor Lovelace was away at the tinu'. ujton business
relating to our county, in connection with the new P.oston Post IJoad.
Some resistance Avas offei'ed, whicli was s]i(^edily ovcrconu', thi' Eng-
lish gari'ison capitulated, and soon Dutch atithority was restored full-

• Van Pelt's Hist, of tlio Greater Now York, I., 67.

GOVERNOR DONGAN.

lf)6 HISTORY OP WESTCHESTER COUNTY

fledged tliroughout the Province of New York. The city was renamed
NeAV Orange, in honor of the prince, and Captain Anthony Colve
was installed as governor. He immediately took measures to put
the city in a capital condition f>f defense. To that end, and for the
general purposes of his government, he caused the estates of the
citizens to be appraised, and taxed them accordingly. It was as
an incident of this proceeding that Frederick Philipse was ascer-
tained to be the wealthiest inhabitant, with a fortune of 80,000 guil-
ders. One of Colve's summary acts was his attempted confiscation
of the i)roperty of the infant Lewis Morris, which he was prevented
from accomplishing by the skillful address of Colonel Morris. The
governor very promptly notified the settlements of the existence of
the new regime, and demanded their obedient submission. One of
the first to receive his attention in this regard was Westchester, or
Oostdorp, whose recalcitrant behavior at the advent of the English
in 1664 will be recalled by the reader. To the citizens of that back-
slidden tOAvn Colve, on August 13, sent notification to appear before
him and his council without delay, " together with their constables'
staves and English flags, and they Avould, if circumstances permitted,
be furnished with the prince's colors in place of the British ensign."
Needless to say, this command was complied with, and the West-
chester men were warned that " in future they should demean them-
selves as loyal subjects." The government of the place was re-
organized on the Dutch plan, with a new set of magistrates and new
local regulations, among which was the requirement that tlie pc^ople
should be of the Reformed Christian religion in uniformity with the
Synod of Dort, or at least well-affectioned thereunto. The village
of Fordhani, also, was constrained to adapt its local affairs to the
new conditions. Colve caused its citizens to nominate to him six
of their number best qualified to act as magistrates, all of whom
should be of the Reformed Christian religion, and at least one-half
men of Dutch nationality. This action as to Fordham, however,
was in part the result of the initiative of the people of the place, who
desired a new status of village government. The secretary of the
province under Colve, it is worthy of mention, was Cornelius Steeu-
wyck, who subsequently became the owner of the Manor of Fordham.
During the Dutch restoration, which lasted fifteen months, New
York province (or the Province of New Orange, as it was styled) did
not revert to the proprietorsliip of the Dutch West India Company,
but was subject direct and solely to the States-General of the Nether-
lands. The great commercial corporation which had settled it and
rule<l it for forty-one years had fallen upon unprosperous times. The
affluent condition of the company during its early career was mainly

GENERAL HISTORICAL REVIEW TO 1700 197

due to its revenues from the prizes of war and from wealtby cap-
tured provinces in the West Indies and South America. These reve-
nues were cut off by the conclusion of yciicc with Spain, and its
affairs bej;au to decline, until " finally its liabilities exceeded its as-
sets by more than five millions of florins. Various schemes were
proposed and tried to save it from bankruptcy or dissolution, but
none availed to ward off disaster. In 1G73 it was practically extinct,
but it was not until 1G74 that it was officially dissolved." Such was
the melancholy end of this ma;j;nificent oriianizatioii, which can\e
to pass in the very year that Dutch authority, after a litful period
of renewal, was terminated forever in New Yorlc.

Early in 1G74, by the Treaty of Westminster, peace was restored
between England and Holland, each party agreeing to return to the
other whatever possessions had been conquered dui'ing the war. On
November 10 of that year New York was peacefully handed over to
the representative of the Duke of York, Edmund Andros, who as-
sumed its government. This new change was attended by no fur-
ther inconvenience to the citizens than the obligation to take the
oath of allegiance to England.

Nothing of importance in the general concerns of the province
after the resumption of English rule requires our notice until 108.3.
In that year two events of great consequence occurred — first, the
division of New York into counties, and, second, the revision of the
New York and Connecticut boundary agreement of 16G4.

On the 17th of October, 1GS3, the first legislative assembly in the
history of NeAV York convened in New York City. It was summoned
by the new governor, Thomas Dongan, who " came with instructions
to allow the people in their various towns to elect reiiresenta fives to
a general assembly, which was to constitute a sort of lower house,
with the governor's council as the upper house of legislation, the
governor acting as the sovereign to approve or veto the bills passed.
The assembly was to meet once in three years at least, and to num-
ber not more than eighteen members." This first New York assem-
bly consisted of fourteen representatives, of whom four were from
Westchester, as follows: Thomas Hunt, Sr., John Palmer, Richard
Ponton, and William Richardson.' The assembly passed an act, ap-
proved by the governor on November 1, from which we quote the per-
tinent portion : " Having taken into consideracon the necessity of
divideing the province into respective countyes for the better govern-
ing and setleing Courts in the same. Bee It Enacted by the Gover-
nour, Councell and Representatives, and by authority of the same.
That the said Province bee divided into twelve Countyes, as fol-

» " civil History of Westchester County," by Rev. William J. Cmiinihig, Scharf, 1., 017.

198 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

lowetli : . . . The Countje of Westchester, to contain West and East
Chester, Bronx Land, Ffordhaju, Anne Hooks Xeck [Pelham 2\eck],
lliclibcH's [de Luncey's Nerk], Miuiford's Island [City Island], and
all the Laud on the Maine to the Eastward of Manhattan's Island,
as fan- as the Government Extends, and the Yonckers Land and
Northwards along Hudson's IJivcr as far as the High Lands." The
other eleven counties named and erected were New York, Kichmond,
Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, and Albany, with
Duke's and Cornwall, the latter two embracing territory noAV belong-
ing to the States of Massachusetts and Maine,' but at that time the
property of the Duke of York. It was also provided that there
should be a high sheriff in each county, and that courts sliould be
established, including town courts, countje courts, a Court of Oyer
and Terminer, and a Court of Chancery, the Supreme Court of the
province consisting of the governor and council. Westchester was
appointed to be the shire town, or county seat, of the county. It
continued as such until after the burning of the courthouse (Febru-
ary 4, 1758), when White Plains was selected. By one of the acts
passed by the assembly of 1G83, entitled " An act for the more orderly
hearing and determining matters of controversy," courts of session
for Westchester County were directed to be held on the tirst Tues-
days of June and December, one at Westchester and the other at
Eastchester; and on the first AVednesday of December a Court of
Oyer and Terminer and General Jail Delivery was to be held. The
County Court of Westchester County did not begin its existence
until 1(588, when John Pell was appointed its tirst judge. The first
high sheriff of the county, Benjamin Collier, was, however, appointed
almost immediately (November 9, 1G83), and in 1684 a county clerk,
John Kider, was appointed. From the beginning, all the principal
officers were appointive, and held their places during the pleasure
of the governor, excepting only representatives in the general as-
sembly, who were chosen by the people.

One of the chief enactments of the assembly of 1G83 was a pro-
posed " Charter of Liberties and Priviledges, granted by his Royal
Highness to the Inhabitants of New York and its dependencies,"'
which, howevei", was disapproved Avhen transmitted to England. In-
deed, before the time for the convening of the second general as-
scMubly arrived, this representative body was abolished altogether,
the Duke of York having mounted the throne as James II. and having
come to the conclusion that it was not expedient for the people of
the province to participate in its government. It was not until 1691,

'Duke's Count.v embraced 'Nautuekot. Mar- Mans Land: and Cornwall County comprised
tha's Vineyard, Elizabeth Island, and No I'cmaquid and adjacent territory in Maine.

GENERAL HtSTOKICAL REVIEW TO 1(00 199

after the accession of William and Mary, that the assembly again
came together, to continue as a ijermauent iustitui ion.

The basis of the New York and ("oniiecticut bniiiidai-y agreement
of October, 1004, as understood by (ioveruor Nicolls and as uni-
formly insisted upon by the New York provincial government, was
a line starting at a pidnl on the Sound twenty nules from tlie Hud-
son Kiver. It was represented tn NiroUs by the ( 'ounecticut com-
missioners thai this point was at the mouth dI' the Mamaroneck
Kiver — a very couvenient iilace, moreover, from the ('ounecticut [)oint
of view, for the line to begin, since it would just take in the Kye
settlement. So the starting ijoint was fixed at the Mamaroneck's
mouth, wheuce the bouudary was to run north-Tiortln\'est until it
should intersect the soul hern line of .Alassachuselts. Here, again,
great injustice was done to New Y'ork; lor iliis north-northwest line
would cut the Iludson below the Highlands, utterly dismeuibering
the Province of New York, and giving to Connecticut all of the river
above the Highlands, inclnding the settlements at Albany and other
places along the stream. Of course such a division, when its true
nature became realized, could not be submitted to. 13ut there was
no immediate occasion for a different adjustment. New Y'ork at that
period was not at all disposed to claim Kye, which, from the be-
ginning, had belonged without question to the jurisdiction of Con-
necticut; and as for the interior, it mattered little for the time being
how far Connecticut's nominal boundary reached, as no settleuuuits
had yet been begun there, and even private proprietary interests on
the part of subjects of New Y'ork (excepting only Richbell's patent)
had not yet come into being. The whole matter was left in abeyance
for nineteen years.

A new boundary, substantially the one now existing, was estab-
lished by articles coniduded between Governor Dougau and council
of New Y'ork and the governor and delegates of Connecticut on the
24th day of November, 1083. Important concessions were made on
both sides. New Y'ork demanded, as the fundauiental thiug, that
the original intention of a twenty-mile distance from the Iludson
should be adhered to; and, moreover, that the boujulary should run
north and south, or parallel to the Hudson, instead of uorth-uorlh-
west — a demand to which Connecticut yielded. On the other hand,
it was conceded to Connecticut that she should retain her older set-
tlements on the Sound, extending as far westward as the liuiits of
the Town of (Jreenwit-lu or the uuiutli of the ISyraui Kiver; but as
this arrangement would cut off from New ^■oI■k a considerable ter^-
ritory along the Sound that rightfully belonged to lun- under the
twenty-mile agreement, the deprivation thus suffered was to be com-

200

HISTORY OP AVESTCHESTER COUNTY

pensated for by assigning to New York an " equivalent tract " (i. e.,
a tract equal in area to the surrendered Sound lands) along the
whole extent of the fundamental north and south boundary.

The divisional line traced in conformity with these mutual con-
cessions is probably the most curious of American State boundaries,
and must be an iuexi)Iicable jjuzzle to all pei'sons not familiar with
the historical facts which we have recited. It has no fewer than
five points of departure. After following the Byram River for a
short distance, it abruptly leaves that stream and ruus in a straight
direction northwest; then, forming a right angle, goes northeast;

then returns again at a right angle to
northwest; and finally, at a very ob-
tuse angle, proceeds in a continuous
course to the Massachusetts boundary.
But liowever eccentric in appearance,
it was constructed with strict refer-
ence to a fair and regular division of
territory under the terms of the com-
promise and the iJeculiar conditions
of existing settlement which made
such a compromise necessary.

Beginning at the mouth of the
Byram Eiver, the line, as thus decided
upon in 1683, ran up that stream as
far as the head of tidewater (about a
mile and a half), where Avas a " wad-
ing-place" crossed by a road, and
where stood a rock known as " The
Great Stone at the Wading-place."
From this point as a natural boundary
mark it went north-northwest to a dis-
tance eight miles from the Sound,
which was deemed to be a reasonable
northward limit for the Connecticut
Sound settlements. From here, making a right angle, the line paral-
leled the general course of the shore of the Sound for twelve miles.
Thus the strip on the Sound set olf to Connecticut formed a parallelo-
gram eight by twelve miles. But as the eastern terniiuatiou of the
twelve-mile line was beyond the twenty-mile distance from the Hud-
son, another north-northwest line was drawn from that termination,
Avhich, after running some eight miles, came to a point distant from
the Hudson the required twenty miles. Here began the straight
line to the Massachusetts border, pursuing a course parallel to the

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VARIOUS BOUNDARY LINES.

GENERAL HISTORICAL REVIEW TO 1700 201

general direction of the Hudson River. Along these latter two sec-
tions of the boundary, the so-called " equivalent tract " or • ( )l)long,"
having an area of Gl,440 acres, was, in recompense for the ^ouiul set-
tlements which Kew York surrendered, i:\kvu from Connecticut and
given to New York; and as llnis rectified (lie whole north and south
boundary line, beginning at the uortlieast corner of the Connecticut
parallelogram, was located some t\\o miles to the eastward of the
basic twenty-mile distance originally agreed upon.

The settlements on the Sound which fell to Connecticut by this
deternunation of the boundary were Hve in number — Greenwich,
Stamford, Darien, New Canaan, and Norwalk. A sixth settlement.
Rye, which had previously belonged to Connecticut, was for the most
part transferred to New York, although a portion of its lauds fell on
the Connecticut side of the line. It was in large measure owing to
the aggressiveness of the Rye settlers, and to the questions arising
out of the territorial claims made by the Town of Rye as the west-
ernmost locality of Connecticut, that the boundary matter was forced
to an issue in 168.3. The Rye people, conceiving that the Connecticut
colony extended all the way to the Hudson River, complained to the
legislature of Connecticut about the purchases or pretensions of
New York citizens along the Hudson wliich came to their notice; and
the Connecticut governor brought the subject to the attention of the
governor of New Y''ork and urged a settlement. And now, under
tlie ne\\- boundary treaty of the U\i) pl"o^ iuces, Rye itself was rudely
sundered from its parent colony and made a part of New York. This
was extremely repugnant to the settlers of Rye, who, indeed,
continued to deem themselves as belonging to Connecticut, and
ultimatelj-, rather than submit to the government of New York, when
that government took certain steps distasteful to tliem, b(ddly re-
volted against its authority and organized the famous "Rye Rebel-
lion." Nor was Rye the only settlement founded by Connecticut
men and governed by Connecticut which, against its will, was incor-
porated in New Y'ork. The histoiy of the Town of Bedfoi-d is almost
as interesting in this respect as that of liye. Previously to l(iS3 the
Bedford settlement had been begun by Stamford men, and for years
after the boundary agreement of that year, Bedford, like Ry(>, was
much disaffected toward New York. It was an active party to
the " Eye Rebellion."

The boundary line fixed by interprovincial agreement on tlu' 24th
of Novendjin", 1G83, was approved by the legislature of Connecticut
on the 8th of May, 1684, and a surveyor was appointed to lay off the
line. This surveyor, with the co-operation of ollicers from New York,
traced the first sections of the boundarv as far as the termination

202 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

of the agreed line parallel to the Soimd. Thus the territory retained
by Connecticut on the Sound was formally marked off without de-
lay; but the "equivalent tract" or "Oblong" to which New York
was entitled was not apportioned ujjou that occasion, although its
approximate width was calculated and indicated by the surveyors.
The new boundary, while accepted by the two provinces, did not re-
ceive ratilication in England, probably because no special attention
was paid to the matter; and the lack of such ratification enabled
Connecticut, after the revolt of Rye and Bedford, to contend that
the whole arrangement was without legal effect, and to insist that
it be passed upon by the king before it could be considered binding.
It was accordingly taken to King William for final decision, who in
March, 1700, confirmed it, ordering live and Bedford to return to
the jurisdiction of New York; and on the 10th of October follow-
ing the two towns were, by the legislature of Connecticut, absolved
from all allegiance to that colony.

So far as the political status of Rye and Bedford was concerned,
this forever ended all doubt on that point; btit the exact location of
the boundaiy line along each of its various sections still continued
a subject of dispute, and, in fact, the controversy did not end tmtil
the present generation. The history of this dispute of two hundred
years' standing may conveniently be completed in the present con-
nection. We quote from the excellent summary of it given in the
Rev. Mr. Baird's " History of Rye ":

After various failures to effect a settlement, New York aiitl Connecticut selected com-
missioners, who met at Rye in April, 1725, and l)egau the work of marking tlie boundary.
They started iit " the Great Stoue at the Wading-place," which had been designated as the
point of beginning forty-one years before. Their survey was extended as far as that of 1084,
to " tlie Duke's Trees," at the northwest angle of the Town of Greenwich, wliere three white
oaks had been marked as the termination of the former survey. Here the work was sus-
pended for want of funds, and it was not resumed until the spring of 1731. The survey was
then completed to the Massachusetts line; the " equivalent tract " or " Oblong " was meas-
ured and " set off to New Y^ork," and the line dividing the Province of New Y'ork from the
Cobmy of Connecticut was designated by monuments at intervals of two miles. " The (ireat
Rock at the Wading-place " may still l)e fomul at the northeastern end of the bridge crossing
the Ryram River. Starting at tliis rock, the boundary line strikes across the King Street
and follows the course of that road for about two miles. At the distance of five miles from
the W^ading-place it crosses Blind Brook near the head of that stream at an angle which
terminates the territory of Rye. The famous " Duke's Trees " are about two miles north of
this point.

The boimdary line laid down in 1731 remained without disturbance until 1855, when the
question arose as to its existing definiteness. On some portions of the line the marks had
disappeared, and along the whole distance the greatest imcertainty existed. Residents near
the l)order refrained from voting in either State, while officers of justice and tax collectors
hesitated to exercise their authority up to any well-defined limit. These circiunstauces were
taken advantage of by those wishing to evade the payment of taxes or the enforcement of the
law. In May, 1855, the General Assembly of Connecticut took steps to have the true position
of the boundary hue ascertained, by means of a new survey and the erection of new monu-
ments. In the following year the New York legislature took similar action, and the com-

GENERAL HISTORICAL REVIEW TO 1700 203

missioneis appointed luider the several acts employed an engineer to niii tlic line. Tin-
commissioners could not agree, however, as to the method of running the line, and nothing
was done. In Ang\ist, 1859, new cmnmissioners were ajipointed on the part of each State,
but, owing to the tenacity with which Connecticut adhered to the claim that a straight line
should be run,' regardless of existing momiuieuts to indicate the original course, no agree-
ment could be reached.

The last step taken in the matter occurred in ISGO. On the 3d of April in that year
the legislature of New York passed an act empowering the eonnnissioners formerly appointed
" to survey and mark with suitable monuments " tlie " line between the two States, as lixed
by the survey of 1731." They were to give due notice of their purpose to the eonnnissioners
of Connecticut, inviting them to join in the duties imposed upon them. But in case of their
refusal or neglect to do so, they were to proceed alone and perform the work assignetl. The
commissioners of New York, acting under these instruciions, held several confereiu^:s with
those of Connecticut, but the latter adhered inflexibly to the prin(riple that the honudary to
be established must be a straight one. The commissioners from New York therefore pursued
the cinirse enjoined upon them. They fixed and marked the boundary line between thi^ two
States, placing monuments along its course, at intervals of one mile, from the Massachusetts
line to the mouth of the Byram Kiver. This work was undertaken on the 8th of June, IStJO,
and was completed in the autumn of that year. On December o, 1879, this line was agreed
to by the legislatures of New Y'ork and Comiecticut, and continued bv congress during the
session of 1880-81.

The oxisteiice of Xew York as a proprietary province, hclongiug to
James, Duke of York, termiuuled iu IGbo, wlieu, Cliarles li. liaviug
(lied without leaving legitimate issue, James, his brother, succeeded
to the sovereignty. This was an event of considerable importance,
not alone for Xew York, but also for the colonies of 2sew England
and New Jersey. New York at once lost its separate status as a
proprietary province, and became, like the New England and New
Jersey possessions of Great Britain, an ordinary j)rovince of the
crown. Governor Dongau, identified with so many conspicuous meas-
ures of change and progress in New York, now t)riginated the
projjosition for uniting the colonies of New Jersey, New York, and
New England under a single government. " By reason of the dif-
ferent proprietorships of the various colonies, no uniform rule of
import or export duties prevailed. An article heavily tax;'d iu New
York might be free iu New Jersey or Connecticut. The customs
at New York suffered greatly, and trade was thrown into much con-
fusion by reason of vessels running over to the New Jersey shore of
the river and there unloading their goods. These were gradually
smuggled into Ncav York, and sold at a price below that of articles
which had honestly passed the custom-house. Dongau, therefore,
urged the expediency of consolidating all (he king's colonies from the
Delaware to and including Oonnecticut and ^lassacliusetts." - De-
spite some local opposition this was done, and in KISS Sir Edmund

» The representatives of Connecticut contend- tliem. On the r)tli.r liaiiil. Ilii> cnnimlsslon-

0(1 for a straight line between the two extreme ers of New YorlJ considered their iiuthorit.v

points, flft.v-three miles apart, because the old limited to "ascertaining" the boiindar.v as

nicinunuMits and marks upon the line were gen- originall.v defined.— Sehnrf, i., 5.

orall.v removed, and the oiiginal line eould not = Van Pelt's Hist, of the Gci'ator New York,

be traced with any certainty by reference to i., SO.

204 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Audros was appointed the first governor of the combined provinces,
with headquarters in Boston. A lieutenant-governor, Colonel Fran-
cis JS'icholsou, was deputized to take chai'ge of the separate affairs
of the Province of ^'ew York. The old governor's council was re-
tained, although nothing was as yet done toward reviving the as-
sembly. Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson's councilors were Anthony
Brockholst, Frederick I'hilipse, Stephauus Van Cortlandt, and Nicho-
las Bayard. Dongan, before being superseded, granted to the City
of New York, in IGSG, its first charter as a corporation, under the
style of " The Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of New
York," the city having two years previously been divided into wards
and made to include the whole of Manhattan Island. This advance
step taken by the city is fairly representative of the general develop-
ment which had fairly begun at that period — a development to which
Westchester County contributed its share.

The reign of James, the last of the Stuart monarchs, was brief.
Three years after he ascended the throne the people of England,
weary of the tyrannj-, corruption, and religious intolerance of his
dynasty, rose against him, and received with open arms the Prot-
estant William, Prince of Orange, Avho, as the husband of Mary, one
of the daughters of James, was eligible to rule over them. It was
a bloodless revolution. In February, 1689, ^Villiam and Mary were
proclaimed king and queen. James, after making a stand in Ireland,
where he fought the disastrous battle of the Boyne, fled to Catholic
France.

The news of the landing of William stirred the American colonies
Ijrofouudly. Aside from their natural preference for a Protestant
king, they apprehended that the dethroned James would enlist in
his cause the power of France, and that they would soon have to
deal with a French invasion. James's officials were accordingly
treated without ceremony. In Boston Governor Andros was, in April,
1689, deposed and cast into prison. In New York Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor Nicholson, having by unguarded behavior and unbecoming lan-
guage provoked popular resentment and distrust, found himself con-
fronted by the determined hostility of the captains of the training
bands, who, in June, compelled him to vacate his office and return
to England. The province was thus left without a head, and the
people were quite unwilling to intrust affairs to the council, com-
posed as it was of the old royal favorites. The training band cap-
tains, assuming temporary authority in the name of the people, called
a convention of delegates from all the counties, which assembled on
June 26, and appointed a committee of safety. By this committee
Jacob Leisler, one of the captains and a prominent member of the

GENERAL HISTORICAL REVIEW TO 1700 205

fommimity, was placed in military ooiumaud of the province, and
the citizens were called upon to come together and choose by popular
election a successor to Steidiaiuis Van Cortlandt in the mayoralty
of the city, which they did accordingly. Finally, in December, by vir-
tue of a letter from their majesties, addressed to " Francis Nicholson,
Esq., Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief in our Province
of New York, and in /n".s absence io stick as for the time heinij take care for
preserving the peace and administering the laws," Leisler, at the direction
of the committee of safety, assumed the functions of lieutenant-siov-
ernor pro tempore, in addition to those of military commander. The
committee, consisting of eight members, now transformed itself, at
Leisler's request, into a gubernatorial council.

This unprecedented and peculiar rc^gime lasted for a litth- more
than a year after Leisler's elevation to the executive office, or nearly
two years from the time of Nicholson's deposition. Born of a pop-
ular uprising, it was in its entire character, spirit, and conduct a
people's government. This was one of the principal charges brought
against it by the opposing aristocratic party, who, however, did not
vouchsafe it so reputable a name, but styled it an organization of
" the rabble." The leading members of Nicholson's council — Bay-
ard, Philipse, and Van Cortlandt — not only lent no countenance to
the training band captains, the committee of safety, or the popularly
chosen lieutenant-governor, but boldly opposed each step in the new
order of things. Bayard, the most active of the three, was arrested
by Leisler's order in January, 3090, tried, and condemned to death for
treason on the ground of his opposition to the king's representative;
but suing for pardon, he received a commutation of his sentence.
Philipse, at the beginning of the troubles, left the city, but returned,
and, conducting himself with tolerable prudence, was not molested.
Van Cortlandt, who was not only one of Nicholson's councilors, but
mayor of New York, at first remained at his post, and after th(> choice
of his successor by the elective process declined to recognize the act
as legal and refused to deliver up his books and seals. At the time
of Bayard's arrest, fearing a like fate, he saved himself by hasty
flight. It is an interesting fact that Leisler was related by marriage
to both Van Cortlandt and Bayard; and Philipse also became of kin
to Leisler's family by marrying Van C^rtlandt's sister. Yet so in-
tense were the passions of the times that these ties of relationship
counted for nothing, and Leisler's own kinsmen were the most bitter
and unrelenting of the enemies who resisted him during the days of
his authority and pursued him to ignominious death after his down-
fall.

Late in 1G90 King William appointed Colonel ITenry Sloughter as

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GENERAL HISTORICAL REVIEW TO 1700

207

his royal governor for New York, with Major Richard Ingoldsby as
lieutenaut-sovernor. Injioldsby was the first to arrive, and demanded
the transfer of the goverunient to himself, a demand witli whieh
Leisler refused to comply, because Ingoldsby was unable 1o show
])ro])er credentials.

This misunderstanding was followed by an nnfoi-tunale attack
upon the royal troops by Leisler's followers, and, although ho dis-
avowed responsibility for the manifestation, it was charged up to
him as one of his offenses. Upon the arrival of Governor Rloughter,
in March, 1691, he was imprisoned, and then, by swift proceedings,
sentenced to die the death of a traitor. On May 17, less than two
months after giving up the reins of government, he was hanged, to-
gether with his son-in-law, Jacob jrilbourne. No appeal of his case
to England was permitted, a melancholy circumstance in view of
the action of Parliament four years later in formally reversing his
attainder of treason after a dispassionate review of all the facts.

The name of Jacob Leisler is conspicuously and honorably iden-
tified with the early history of West-
chester rounty through his i)urchase
and sale to the Huguenots, already no-
tic(Ml, of about two-thirds of the old
^lanor of Pelham, a tract of soiiu' «ix
thousand acres. There is no doubt
th;it in making this purchase and in
disjiosing of the lands to the Frencli
religious refugees he was animated en-
tirely l)y unselfish and sympathetic
considerations. A German Protest-
ant by birth, and, moreover, the son of
a clergyman of the Peformed Ghurch,
he became known in New York as a zealous supporter and promoter
of the Protestant religion. It Avas in consequence of the reputation
which he thus enjoyed that the Ifugui'uots, before emigrating to New
York, ap])lied to him to select and .secure a suitable locality for their
contemplated settlement. As a few individual Huguenots had al-
ready bull I liomes on Pelham Manor, that quarter was already indi-
cated as the one to be chosen. In the original purchase from John
and Kachel Pell, September 20, 1689, "Jacob Leisler, of the City of
New York, merchant," was the sole person interested; and his con-
scientious spirit in the transaction is indicated l)v the significant
l)rovision of the deed that, besides the six thousand acres conveyed
to him, a parcel of one hundr(>d acres should be set ai)art from Pell's
l>roperty as a free gift to the I'rcncli church. Moreover, he gave for

LEISLER S TOMB.

208 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the lands the large sum of " sixteen hundred and seventy-five shillings
sterling, current silver money of this province," paying the entire
amount on the day of purchase — a sum whose comparative magni-
tude will be appreciated when it is remembered that eight years
later Caleb Heathcote, in buying from Mrs. Richbell her title to most
of the present Township of Mamaroneck and other lands (liaving an
aggregate area much larger than the New Rochelle tract), paid for
his acquisition only £600. Leisler rapidly transferred his whole pur-
chase to the Huguenots, and before his executiou they were in full
possession of it.

Smith, in his " History of New York," gives the following inter-
esting item: "Leisler's party was strengthened on the 3d of June,
1689, by the addition of six captains and four hundred men in New
York, and a company of seventy men from Eastchester, who had
all subscribed on that day a solemn declaration to pi-eserve the
l*rotestaut religion and the Port of New York for the Prince of
Orange and the governor whom the prince might appoint as their
protector." The action of the seventy volunteers of our Town of
Eastchester in marching down to New York to give their support
to Leisler is highly significant. The men of Eastchester were dem-
ocrats of democrats in all their antecedents, but at the same time
were godly and sober citizens, who would not have lightly, or for
mere emotional or adventurous reasons, espoused a factional
cause. They evidently believed, most completely and ardently, in
the righteousness and also the sufficiency of the imi^rovised govern-
ment. It is indeed impossible to question the sincere and virtuous
animus of Leisler's followers.

Leisler, raised to authority by the people, fully recognized the
people as the source of power. Notwithstanding the previous aboli-
tion of the ]^^o^•incial assembly, he promptly appealed to the repre-
sentatives of the people when a grave public emergency arose soon
after he became acting governor. In February, 1690, the settlement
of Schenectady was burned and its inhabitants were massacred by
the Indians at the instigation of the French. Leisler at once sum-
moned a general assembly for the purpose of providing means and
supplies for retributive measures. In that body Thomas Browne
was the delegate from Westchester County.

The influence of Leisler as a plain citizen, before by the stress of
events placed in the control of affairs, was uniformly on the side of
the public welfare, of intelligence, and progmss; and the history of
his personal career is that of a vigorous, successful, and honest man,
wlio eminently deserved the position he won. He came to New
York in 1660, while the city was still known as New Amsterdam,

(ilO.NKKAI. IIISTOKICAI. KKVIKW TO 1700 209

being vuv ol' a rumiumy ui liltciMi soldiers toi- tlie re-eut'oiveiiieiit of
the garrison. Afterward lie traded with the Indians and ae(iuired
considerable means. He served under Dongan as one of the com-
missioners of the Admiralty Court. In UWu he was one of the jurors
in a case of witchcraft tried at Brookhaven, Long Island, against
Ralph ITall and his wife, which resuKed iu a((iuittal. As one of the
captains of the training bands he enjoyed (he unusual conlidence of
the citizen soldiers — a confidence which, because of his reputation
in the community, was shared by the public in general when the
necessities of the situation constrained them to assume the tempo-
rary direction of the government. He was, moreover, sustained
throughout his administration by some of the best and most substan-
tial citizens, notwithstanding the opposition and intrigues of the
former governing class; and the persistent continuance of a per-
fectly respectable " Leislerian party " for many years after his trag-
ical end is convincing tribute to the excellence of both his i)rivate
and civic character. Ilis descendants at this day are very numer-
ous, and have representatives in many of the old and highly re-
spectable families of New York and Westchester County. Included
among them are those of the Gouverneur Mori'is and Wilkins
branches of the Morrises of Morrisania. For the pedigree of the
Westchester County descendants of Leisler, we refer our readers to
Bolton's " History of Westchester County," rev. ed., i., 585.

When at last, in March, 1(>91, the government of the province was
resumed by a direct appointee of the king. Colonel Henry Sloughter,
it was ordered that the i)rovincial assembly should be re-establisiied.
No time was lost by Governor Sloughter in bringing this to pass;
and on April 9, 1(>91, the second regidarly constituted assembly of
New York came together, with John Pell, of the :Manor of Pelham,
and Joseph Theale, of the Town of Rye, sitting as representatives
from Westchester County. The assembly "consisted of seventeen
members, but was afterwards increased to twenty-seven.
I'.y tlie act of .May 8, 1099, the representatives were elected by the
freeholders of £40 in value, who were residents of the electoral dis-
trict at least three months prior to the issue of the act. The elections
were held by the sheriff at otu' place in each county, and voting was
rim rorr. The act of November 25, 1751, direct(Hl the sherilT to hold
his court of election near the Presbyterian meeting-house at White
Plains. Previously it had been held in the southern part of the
county, doubtless at Westchester. Cathcdics could neither vote nor
hold oflice, and at one time the Quakers and :Moravians were also
virtually disqnalifieil by tlieii' niiwillingness to take the oath." *

' Seh.irf, 1., 647.

THE

LAWS & ACTS

OF THE
FOR

Their Majefties Province

O F

NEW-YORK

As they were Ena^ed in divers Scffions, the firft of
which began Afrily the 9th, Annoq; Pomini,

1 6^1.

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At 'New'Tork

Printed aiicl'Sold by WiHiim Bradford, Printer. to tTieir MajeftleSj KJr.j

riTLE-l'AGE OF THE EARLIEST VOLUME OF NEW YORK STATUTES.

GENERAL HISTORICAL REVIEW TO 1700 211

ExcL'ptiii.y the rein-esentatives in llie guucrul iissembly, only the
strictly local officers — supervisors, collectors, assessors, and consta-
bles— were elective. Tlie most ini]K(rl;iiil dl' (licse, the supervisors,
date from an early period.

By the " Duke's Laws," promulgated in 1665, the Courts of Sessious levied the taxes
upDU the towus. By an act of the general assenilily, passed Oetoher IS, 1701 (Kith William
III. I, tlie justiees of the peaee, in speeial or general .session, were direeted to levy onc-e a year
the necessary county and town charges and allowauies for their representative in the general
assenddy, to make provi.sion for the poor, and to issue warrants for the election of two
assessors aiul one collector, and for the collection of ta.xes. These duties were transferred
to a lioard of supervisors hy an act of general assemhly passed June 10, 17(),'5 (2d Anne),
entitled " An Act for the better ex)daining and more ert'ectually putting into execution an act
cd' general assemhly made in the third year of the reign of tlu'ir late nuijesties. King William
and (jueen Mary, entith'd An Act for defraying the puhlick and necessary charges thro'ont
this province, and for maintaining the poor and preventing vagabonds." The freeholders
and inliabitants of each town were authorized to choose once each year, on the first Tuesday
of April ( unless otherwise directed), one supervisor, two assessors, and one collector. The
supervisors elected were directed to meet in the county town on the first Tuesday of October,
ascertain the contingent charges of the county and such sums as were imposed hy the laws
of the colony, apportion to each town, manor, liberty, jurisdiction, and precinct their respective
quotas, and to transmit them to the assessors of the different towns, etc., who should appor-
tion them among the inhahitants. The supervisors were authorized to choose annually a
treasni'cr. The court of sessions was thus relieved of that portion of its duties which was
legislative and not judicial. Supervisors had been cho.sen in several of the towns before the
I>assage of the act of 1703 (Eastchester, 1(186; Mamaroneck, 1697; New Koehclle, 1700);
Imt wliat tlieir duties were it is impossible to state."

During the ten years following the arri^ul of the hrst royal gov-
ernor under King William, and the definite erection of representative
government in tiu' province, tlicre was a steady expansion of ])oi)ula-
tion, wealth, and enterprise. Sloughter died onh* two months after
Leisler's execution, and was succeeded as governor the next year by
Benjamin Fletcher, who was superseded in 1(>!18 by the Earl of Bello-
mont, one of tlie best and most conscientious of New York's early
colonial rulcis. I'hilipse and Van Cortlandt, who luid licen sent
into I'etirement by Leisler, were recalled to the council by Sloughtcr,
and both of them thus resumed their old-time ])romiuence. It has
already been recorded how rhiiipse, on account of the notoriety at-
taching to his connection with unlawful Iratlic, was finally forced to
resign from the council. Tliis trattic, while vexatious to liie gov-
ernment othci;ils and iucicasingly demoralizing, was far from being
regarded with general disapprobation by the commercial commu-
nity of New York. Too many were intereste<l in its gains to admit
of sucli hostility, and, indeed, the large private interests concerned in
it were mainly responsible for the extensive proportions to which it
grew in the closing years of the seventeenth century. It was not
confined to the ordinary forms of smuggling — mere surreptitious im-
l)ortations of taxable i:iiio|ie;iii goods. — but included relations of more

' Scharf, 645.

212 UISTOltV OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

or less iiitiuuu-y with the pirates of tlic liii;]i seas. •' Tlie most ap-
proved course usually i>nrsiie(l \\as to load a ship with yoods for
exchange and sale on the Island of Madagascar. Rum costing two
shillings ]>er gallon in New York would fetch fifty to sixty shillings
ill .Madagascar. A pipe of Madeira wine costing nineteen pounds in
New York could be sold for three hundred pounds in that distant
island. Not that just so nuich specii^ would be given for these
articles there. Eut here was the rendezvous of the jnrates, or buc-
caneers, of tlie Indian Ocean, and the goods they offered in exchange
were extremely costly." ^ Probably the princi]ial reason of Governcn-
Fletcher's I'ecall was his tolerance of such intercourse. Bellonu)nt,
who followed him, was charged expressly to deal summarily with it;
and in consequence, Frederick riiilipse found it expedient to teruii-
nate his membership in the council, and so avoid disgraceful expul-
sion. It was as an incident of Bellomont's vigorous policy in this
line that Captain William Kidd, whose name and fame ha\e become
immortal in the legendary annals of piracy, was arrested, tried, and
hanged (May, 1701). Kidd originally appears in the virtuous and
noble character of a pirate hunter. A number of particularly re-
si^ectable and distinguished subscribers (among them King William
and Lord Bellomont, at that time not yet governor), having at heart
the siippression of piracy, equipped a stanch vessel for Kidd, who
was known as a bold and experienced mariner, and sent him forth
to search for these evil men wheresoever they might ply their horrid
vocation, and scourge them froin the seas. As the story runs, he ren-
dered valuable services for a time in this chivalric canse, but later
fell into degenerate ways, and himself became a most desperate cor-
sair. His favorite hannts after returning from his cruises Avere the
inlets and islands of Long Island Sound, where he landed his precious
cargoes, and, according to tradition, buried his gold, silver, and jeAv-
els. It is said that when brought to trial he confided to the autlior-
ities the location of a treasure secreted on Gardiner's Island, and
that it was duly found and ai)propriated by them. From the authen-
ticated accounts of Captain Kidd's frequentings of the coast of the
Sound, it may safely be said that from time to time he must have
steered his bark into some of the numerous places of retreat along
The Westchester shore. This, however, is only a reasonable infer-
ence. There is nothing to show that he ever had a rendezvous Avithin
our waters. In the course of time popular imagination, stimulated
by the fiction of his buried wealth, even ascribed to him expeditions
up the Tludson River as far as the Highlands. Bolton reproduces a
very enterlaining account of an attempt during the present century

> Van PrU's Hist, of tlic GroaU-r New Yorl;. 1., 9S.

COMPLETION OF EARLY LOCAL SETTLEMENT 213

tu luisi- a siiiikcu bark olT Caldwell's l.undiii.n in I lie I lii;hl:Miil.s, sup-
posed to have been Captain Kidd's jn-ivate sliiji. Suiuc .*i:(l,(MI(l was
spent in tlie enterprise' 'I'lie pre-eminence which Captain Ividd lias
always enjoyed in the poi)nlar iniaj;i nation is much out of propor-
tion to liis achievements. His formal ])iratical career was at all
events very brief. It was in October, l(>!)li, that he was dispatched
to hunt down pirates, and at that time he must have had a fairly
honest reputation. Less than live years later he nni his doom on the
.^allows. His exceptional p()i)nlarity as a pirate hen> is doubtless
due to the fanciful stories of his buried treasures, t(» which a certain
substantial foun<lation was supposed to have been <;iven by the un-
earthing of one of them — in all probability tli(> only one — by the au-
thorities.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century .Manhattan Island had
attained a population of nearly six thousand souls, and about one
thousand houses had been erected upon it. Westchester County,
established upon practically the same boundary lines as exist to-day
(considering the county in its original integrity), had acquired the
elements of serious development in all its parts. Practically all its
land had been approi^riated by purchase. Means of convenient com-
munication with New York had been secured, and a bridge across
the Spuyten Duyvil Creek buill. All of the six manorial estates had
been granted by letters patent, and in part settled by tenants, with
here and there the foundations of villages laid. The old settlements
on the Sound had made steady advancement and new settlers had
generally begun to occupj' the non-manorial lands in the interior.
The progress of the Sound settlements and of interior occupation
outside of the manors remains to be glanced at in ordi-r to com]dete
tlie history of the county to the period at which we have arrived.

The Rye settlement, which grew out of i)ur(diases made by citizens
of (Jreenwich, Conn., on the New York side of the I'yram Uiver, be-
ginning in KJIill, flourished from the start, and gradually ex])anded
r)ver ail the adjacent counti-y. Included within the Colony of Con-
necticut by the boundary compact of KitU, there Tievcn- existed any
(|UesIion as to its political status until, under the new boundary ad-
justment of 1688, it was detached from Connecticut and incorporated
in New York. Even during the aggressive Dutch rest(U'alion of
lt>7;>-74, although Mamaroneck was summoned to submit and readily
yielded, no atteniju was made to subdue the peo])le of liye, who,
however, in anticipation (d' (rouble, made ]ire])aration for a sturdy
resistance, and uinied with those of Slaniloril and Cireeiiwich in i)e-
titioniug the general louil lor hel]i. I'nm: the earliesi ]ieiiod of

» Bolton, rev. cd., I., 161.

214 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tile Rye settlemcut, ovou bofure IJye itself had come into being, and
while the founders of the place were still liviug ou Mamissing
Island iu a comiuuuity kuowu as Hastings, the town had rep-
resentation in the Connecticut general court at Hartford, and
received due attention and care from that bodj'. It was probably
due to the i^rivilege of direct representation thus enjoyed, quite as
much as to the circumstance of their Connecticut nativity, that the
Eye people so stoutlj' i^orsisted, long after being legally annexed to
New York, iu holding themselves allegiant to the mother colony, and
so bitterly resented the assumption of authority* over them by an
alien aristocratic government which for a considerable term of years
conceded no representative rights whatever to its inhabitants, and
even after instituting a general assembly granted no immediate rep-
resentation to the indivitlual towns.

In enumerating here the various additional purchases of the Itye
people, it is not necessary to go into minute particularization regard-
ing the several tracts. In lij(i'2 they bought the territory of the
present Town of Harrison — a territory which was subsequently grant-
ed by the provincial government of New York to John Harrison and
others, and on that account became the bone of contention between
the Kye men and the New York authorities, leading to the celebrated
revolt. In 1680 and 1081 occurred what were known as " Will "s
Purchases " from an Indian chief named Lame ^^'ill, or Limping Will,
extending into the present To^^•u of North Castle. And liually, in
1()S3, just before the new boundary articles were concluded, tht- Qua-
roppas, or White I'laius, tract was bought, another purchase destined
to be a source of difficulty because of the claim to previous owner-
ship set up by John KichbcU and later persevered in by his widow
and by her successor in the IJichbell estate. Colonel Caleb Heathcote.

It has been mentioned in our account of the boundary revision of
l(i8;^ that the aggressive attitude of the Town of Eye in its territorial
pretensions as the frontier settlement of Connecticut was one of the
principal causes leading to that revision. " May, 1G82, John Ogden,
of Eye, presented himself before the general court and on behalf of
the people complained that sundry persons, and particularly Fred-
erick Philipse, had been making improvements of lands within their
bounds. Mr. Philipse had been building mills near Hudson Kiver,
encroaching thereby upon the town's territory, which was believed to
extend in a uorthAvesterly direction from the mouth of Mamaroneck
Eiver to the Hudson, and even beyond. The general court gave Mr.
Ogden a letter to the governor of New York, protesting against such
proceedings, and reminding him that by the agreement made in 1GG4
a line running northwest from tlie month of Mamaroneck Eiver to

COMPLETION OF EARLY LOCAL SETTLEMENT 215

the Massachusetts liuc was to be the dividing line beLwccii Con-
necticut and New Yorlc." ' On the I'Sth of November of the follow-
ing year, by tlie new boumliiiy artiiles, live was ccibMl to New York,
and (iovernor Tri'at of ( 'onuccticuf ])ronii)tly noLitied the inliabitants
of tiiis change. The (own, while reluctant to accept the fate ap-
pointed for it, desisted from electing deputies to the general court
of Connecticut, and did not renew that jjractice until the "I'cvolt "
in 1097. Nevertheless, attempts v.-ere made from time to time to
secure some sort of official recognition from Connecticut, reiiresenl-
atives being dispatched to deal with the governor and general court
as to various special matters. A summons from Governor Dongan
of New York, in H\S~->, commanding the Rye settlers to appear before
him and prove their titles to the lauds Avhich they occupied, was
ignored. On the other hand, Rye had the honor of contributing one
of the two rejjresentatives from Westchester County to the earliest
sessions of the New York provincial assembly held after the organiza-
tion of that body on a permanent basis. Joseph Theale, one of the
leading men of Kye, was elected to the New York assembly for
the years 1(>91 to 1094, inclusive, and again for 1097. " For ten
years," says Dr. Baird, "disaffection smoldered, the a\ithority of
the ])rovince was ignored, taxes were paid but irregularly to either
government, and whenever possible matters in controversy were car-
ried \i\) to Hartford, and Hartford magistrates came down to per-
form their functions at Rye. . . . Feuds and dissensions auiong
themselves added to the perplexity of the inhabitants. Some of them,
it would appear, sided with the province in the controversy, and hence,
doubtless, some of the actions for defamation and other ]iroofs of
disturbance which we find on record about this time."'

In 1()95 a tract of land which for more than thirty years had be-
longed to the IJye settlers, "situated abov(»W<'stchest(r Path, between
Blind Brook and Mamaroneck River, and extending as far north as
Rye Pond," was bought by a certain John Harrison from an Indian
who ])rofessed to be " the true oMuer and ])i-o])rietor." After having
been surveyed by order of Governor Fletcher, of New York, this tract,
called "Harrison's Purchase," was patented (June 25, 10901 to Har-
rison and four associates — -William Nicols, Ebenezer Wilson, David
Jamison, and Samuel Haight. In vain did the people of Rye protest
against so unrighteous a proceeding. The land was wholly unim-
proved and unsettled, its rightful prior ownershi|> was claimed by
the Indian from whom Harrison bought it, and, iiioreovei-, the Rye
men, by having contemptuously neglected to avail themselves of
the opportunity extended to them by Dongan in IGSo to ]irove their

• Balrd's Hist, of Rye.

216

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

land titles, had incapacitated themselves from establisliin<i- a supe-
rior title by the records. The issuance of the Harrison patent was
followed, about the end of 1696, by a verdict adverse to Rye ren-
dered in the New York courts in a suit brought by Mrs. Ann Rich-
bell against the Rye people for intrusion on the White Tlains lands.
These two events brought matters to a crisis. Rye seceded from New
York, ai)])lied to be received back into Connecticut, and, meeting
with encouragement, resumed formal connection with the latter guv-

ernment, until by order of
the king compelled to aban-
don it.

Rye's petition to the gen-
eral court of C-onnecticut, in
conjunction witli a similar
one from Bedford, was sub-
mitted on January 19, 1G97,
and was graciously re-
ceived. On the 8th of April
following an overt manifes-
tation against New York's
authority was made at Rye
by Major Sellick, of Stam-
ford, " with about fifty dra-
gones, whom he called his
life-guard, with their arms
presented." The major and
his " dragones " presumed to
interfere with an election
which was being conducted
there by Benjamin Collier,
liigh sheriff of Westchester
County, for representative
in the New York assembly.
Apparently no actiml vio-
lence was done, but the show
of force excited strong feel-
ing in New York, and was
promptly characterized in
very severe terms by the pro-
vincial assembly. Governor
Fletcher issued a proclamation ordering Rye and Bedford to return
to their allegiance, and also entei-ed into communication on the sub-
ject with the governor of Connecticut, from whom, however, he

RYE AND ASSOCIATED TRACTS.

COJirLETIOX OF KAKI.V I.OCAI, SKTTLE.MENT. 217

obtuiui'd uo satisfiu-liuu. lu addiLiun, Fk'Lciier trk'il cniuiliatdry
measures, dispatchiug Colonel Caleb Ileatbcote, oue of the members
of bis council, to Ivve, Avitb instructions to do what be could by means
of his personal inlluence toward settliu<; the troubles, lleatbcote's
report gives a very clear idea of the merits of the controversy, show-
ing that the live settlers bad only themselves to blame for the loss
of the llarrison lands. " 1 asked them,'' says ileatbcote, " why they
did not take out a patent when it was tendered them [by Dongan].
They said they never beard that they could have one. I told them
that their argument might pass with such as knew nothing of the
matter, but that I knew better; for that to my certain knowledge
they might have had a patent had they not rejected it, and that it
was so far from being done in haste or in the dark that there was
not a boy in the whole town, nor almost in the whole county, but
must have heard of it; and that 1 must always be a witness against
them, not only of the many messages they have had from the govern-
ment about it, but likewise from myself. ... I told them as
to the last purchase Avhereiu I was concerned [that of the Eichbell
estates, including the White Plains tract], if that gave them any
dissatislaction, that I would not only (]uit my claim but use my inllu-
ence in getting them any part of it they should desire. Their an-
swer was they valued not that; it was Harrison's patent thai was
their ruin."'

For three years, 1697 to 1699, inclusive, Kye was represented in
the Connecticut general court by regularly elected delegates. Dur-
ing this jicriiKl and for one year longer, the town was designated
otticially by its inhabitants as being " in the County of Fairfield."
New York made no attempt at coer<-ion, but referred the matters at
issue to the king; and in ilarch, 1700, an order of the king in council
was issued, not only approving the boundary agreement of 1683-84,
but directing the revolted towns "forever thereafter to be and re-
main under the government of the Province of New York." This
decision was, as a matter of course, accepted by all parties as final.
Pyc never recovered the Ilarrisdu ]mrcbase, although some of her
iidiabitants bought laud there and Ixcame influential in its alVairs.
Moreover, " tintil the Revohilioii ilie inliahitauts of the i)ur(hase
jiarticiiiated m ith those of Kye in I lie transactioji of town business,
without any other distinction than ihal of having their own olli-
cers for the discharge of local rnnrtions "; ami llairison also I'oinied
"one of the six precincts of the ]>aiisb of Kye, under the semi-eccle-
siastical system that prevaik'd." llarrison Avas settled largely, how-
ever, by Quakers from Long Island. The White Plains dispute was
not determined adversely to Rye. Caleb FTeatlicote, while never in

218 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

legal form reliuquishing bis claim to " the White Phiius," did uot
attempt to enforce it, and, indeed, uniformly treated the Rye people
interested Avitli generous fairness. He consented to the insertion
in the letters patent for his Manor of Scarsdale of a clause expressly
withholding from him any further title to the White Plains than
that which he already possessed. The Kye settlers of White Plains
always retained the lands which they acquired there, and at length,
in 1722, obtained a patent for the whole tract of 4,435 acres. •' White
Plains," says Dr. Baird, '' drew largely on the strength of the com-
munity of Eye. . . . Some branches of nearly all the ancient
families established themselves there, and, indeed, those families
are now represented there more numerously than in the parent set-
tlement."

According to the " Lists of Persons and Estates " kept by the
general court of Connecticut, there were in Eye in 1(]65 twenty-five
" persons," possessed of estates valued at £1,211; in 1GS3, fortj-seven,
worth £2,339; and in 1G99, sixty, worth £3,306. By "persons" in
this connection are probably to be uuderstood heads of families. The
population of Eye, including White Plains, in 1712, as shown by
an enumeration then taken, was 510, the town being, next to W\'st-
chester (which had 572 inhabitants), the most populous in the county.

A celebrated fact in connection with the history of Eye during the
first half of the eighteenth century is the establishment of the ferry
to Oyster Bay, Long Island. This was authorized by royal letters
patent, dated the 18th of July, 1739, to John Budd, Hachaliah Brown,
and Jonathan Brown. The fare fixed for " every person " using the
ferry was one shilling and six pence; and in addition rates of car-
riage for a great variety of articles were specified. For the i)rivi-
lege thus conferred upon them, the patentees paid an annual quit-
rent of two shillings and six pence. The operation of this ferry was
very instrumental in contributing to the growth of population in
the towns of Eye and Harrison, and in the central portions of the
county.

The early history of White Plains has been so frequently referred
to in the course of our narrative that this subject may be dismissed
here with a brief summary. By virtue of the grants to John Eich-
bell, issued both by the Dutch government and the first English
governor, it was long claimed that White Plains (or " the White
Plains," as originally and for many years called) was included in the
Eichbell lands running northward from the Mamaroneck TJiver
" twenty miles into the woods." In<lee(l, for nearly forty years
after the first appearance there of settlers, or intending settlers, the
legal title to this region remained undetermined. On November 22,

COMPLETION OF EAllIA- LOCAL SETTLEMENT 219

1()S,3, six days before the sigiiin<i- of tlic new Ii(Miii<lai-y ail ides hc-
tweci) New Yoi-k and Coniu'eticul, I he ciilcipi'isiiij;- men ol live imr-
cliasrd tlic wliolc tract, known by tlie Indian jianie of (^naronpas,
from liic naiive diitd's wlio at tliat time jn-ofcsscd to own it. Tlius
Kye oaine under tlie goveranient of New York with a very plausible
titk' to tlie White Plains, (^iradually l\ye men began to occiijiy llie
lands — a movement that attracted tiie attention of Mrs. Kiciilicii,
Willi in Hi'.Ki iMouglil an ejeclmenf suit and obtained a favorable ver-
dict, which, ho-\vever, was not enforced. During the lifetime of
Colonel Caleb Heathcote, successor to Mrs. Ivichbell's rights and
lUdjiiietor (d' Scarsdale Manor, nothing was done toward settling
the (luestion of ownership. Heathcote died on the 28th of Febru-
ary, 1721, and soon afterward a<'tiA-e measures were begun by the
White Plains settlers toward securing a patent from the govern-
ment. In this endeavor they were put to considerable vexation
and expense by the authorities. " Three times were they compelle'l
to make surveys of their goodly land, three times required to notify
the owners of adjoining lands that such surveys were about to bt'
made, and all to furnish pretexts for oppressive charges by the
officers of the governor's council." ' The royal patent was finally
grant(Ml on the 13th of ]March, 1722, to Joseph Rudd and others. It
was for ■' All that said tract or parcel of land, situate, lying, and
being in the County of Westchester, commonly known by the name
of the White Plains." Among the names of the settlers at that
jieriod luentioued in the otlicial documents we tind the following:
Daniel Brundage, Joseph Hunt, Joseph Budd, John Hoit, Caleb Hy-
att, Humphrey Underhill, Jose])h I'urdy, (ieorge Lane, Daniel Lane,
Moses Knapp, John Horton, David llorton, Jonathan Lynch, Peter
Hatfield, James Travis, Isaac Covert, Benjamin Brown, John Turner,
David Ogden, and William Yeomans. This list is but a partial one,
being confined to the patentees. " xVt the time this patent was is-
sued," says the author of the chapter on White Plains in Scharf's
History, •' Broadway, w'ith its home-lots, had long been established."
After the procurement of the patent the population increased so rap-
idly that "in 1725 the inhabitants assumed an indeiiendent organ-
ization, elected ofiieers, and proceeded to manage tlu-ir own a Hairs."
In the progress of this History, we have so far followed the move-
ments of settlement and development along closely connecting lines.
It has thus hapi)eued that I lie settlement of the Town of P.edford,
Avhich, under a strictly chronological arrangement, should have re-
ceived notice among the com])aratively early events, has not as yet
been traced, or even referred to, except in the merest incideiit.al
manner.

> " History of White Plains," by Joslah S. Mitchell, Scbarf, 1., 721.

220

HISTORY OF WESTOIIKSTRR COTNTY

Bcdfui-d, as one of the aiu'icnl towns of the county, jjreseuts inii(ine
aspects. It is the only one of tlie first si>ttlenients havin>;' an inland
locafioTi, and the onl\ one whose oiininal history stands (luite ai)art
from that of the remainder of the county, M"ith no associations or
relations binding- it to other Westchester settlements of early orijiin
and respectable importance. In common with Westchester, East-
chester, I'elham, and IJye, it Avas settled by Connecticut people; but,
unlike these communities, it Avas by its isolation in the northern cen-
tral ]iortion of the county removed com})letely from Ncav York en-
vironment and influence. Bedford, at least until within recent times.

MAP OF BEDFORD.

is to be regarded as a jmrely New England village accidentally ab-
sorbed by New York.

\\']ia1 is now the Townsliii) of Bedford Avas a jiortion of the pur-
clia.se made by Nathaniel Turner, for the NeAV Haven colony, July 1,
Ki-lO, of a tract of land eight miles long on the Sound and extending
sixteen miles into the wilderness to the northwest. Ui)on that tract
the village of Stamford Avas begun in KUl; and in 105.") its interior
extension Avas repurchased from the Indians by the people of Stam-
ford. No attempt at settlement on the portion of the tract now
knoAvn as Bedford toAvn Avas made until lOSO. In that year the Town

COMPLETION OF EAKI.Y LOCAL SETTLEMENT 221

(if SI:iiiirni-(] i;i-;iiilc(l lo t wcuty-t \vo Slain f(ii-<l lucii' llic lands kiKiwii
as 1!h' " Hop Oroiinds "" lyin.u- " at tliu north end of Stamford bounds."
Under tliis i^rant tlu' beneficiaries, on the 23d of Deeeniber, IGSO,
bou.yht from Katouah, Koelcaway, ami several other Indians, the
territory in question, 7,(i73 acres, for the value of £4(i ICs. fid. The
pui-cliase thus mach' became known as " Bedfitrd Three .Miles S(iuare."
The whole of the southeastern portion of the present township^
sometliinii more than one-third of the whole township in area — Avas
included in it. Subsequent purchases were added at various times,
the last beinj^- effected on the 2;id of January, 1722, foi- a considera-
tion of £20. The various deeds of sale from the natives durinj;' the
eighty-two years from 1(140 to 1722 W(<re signed, altogether, by thirty-
five Indians.

According to Dr. Raird in his '' History of the Bedfoi-d Church,"
Hie original settlers were nearly all the sons of English Puritans,
founders of the Colony of ^Massachusetts 15ay, and there is no author-
ity for the statement that they came from Bedfordshire, England,
and from that circumstance gave the Town its name. The name
Bedford, says Dr. Baird, was probably bestowed by the general
court of Connecticut, in accordance with the principle adopted many
years before, intending, as they quaintly expressed it. '' tlieicby to
keep and leave to posterity the memorial of several jilaces of note
in our dear native country of England." In March, KJSl, liouse-lots
were laid out, under a rule providing tlial each man's lot be " pro-
liortionable in quantity to what it lacks in (|uality." The other lands
were di\ided on the same principle. The house-lots adjoined one
another on the village street, it being deemed advisable for tlie set-
tlers to live close together as a precaution in case of Indian attack.
-May 12 the genei-al court at Hartford officially recognized the set-
tlement, and recommended that " tliei'e be a suitable loot laid out
for ye first minister of \e |)lace, and a loot for ye ministry to be and
belong to ye ministry forever." This pious injunction was ])r(>nii)ily
obeyed, and as early as December, IfiSl, tln^ town took stejis to jiro-
cure a minister. The general court, on May 1(!, 1()S2, issued an
order to the effect that " T'po71 the ])etition of the ]ieople of llie iIo|>
Cround, this court doth grant them the ]triviledge of a ]ilantation,
and doe oi-dei- that the name of the towue shall hencetorth be calleil
I?edford.'" Jose])li Theale was ap])ointi'<I as the " chiefe niililary
officer for the trainiiiu band," and Abrarn .\inbler as magistiate.

> Rlfliani Amblci-. -Miniliam Amliler. Jnsr|ili itl .Toni's. Tlmnins Cniin.i.vi-r. .Inliri IIdHui's. .Ir..

Tlioalo. Oanlfl WcimI. Klcazcr Slawsnn. John Honjainlii Slovens. John (Jrccn. Sr.. Oavld

Wpseol. .Tnnathaii I'i'lit. .lolin Cniss, Ji>hu Wati'ilmi-y. Sanmol Wcnl. and .lonnlhaii KM-

Miller, Xlclinlas WcbsliT. Kiolianl .\.vri'S. Will- l)orn.
lam Clark, Jouas Set-ly, Joseph Stevens, Dau-

222 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

New ])i()|)iicl()r« were <iia«lnally admitted iipon payin<; forty shillings
each for shares in tlic undivided lands. About the end of the first
year Joshua ^Vebb was received as an inhabitant upon the under-
standing that he would ei'ect and operate a niill. This arrange-
ment was carried out, the mill being built on the Mianus Kiver. All
(he newcomers for very many yeai-s were New England people.

Xotwitlistanding the exclusion of Bedford from ronnecticut by
the provisions of the boundary agreement of 1683-84, Bedford con-
tinued to recognize the sole authority of Connecticut. Her people,
like those of Kye, disregarded the summons of Governor Dongan of
NcAv York in 1685, to take out patents for their lands, although this
omission did not, as in the case of Rye, cause them any ultimate loss
of territory. Frecjuent ai)i)lications were, however, made to the
Connecticut authorities for a town patent: and on May 21, 1697, after
Bedford and Bye had been taken under the jn'otection of that colony,
rliese efforts were finally rewarded. The Connecticut patent for Bed-
ford issued on that date w^as to " John Miller, 8enr., Daniel Simkins,
Zachariali Boberts, Cornelius Seely, Jeremiah Andrews, John AYest-
coate, John Miller, Jtinr., John Holmes, Junr., and the rest of the
present proprietors of Bedford,"' and in it the tract was described
as follows: "All those lands, boadi meadows, swamps and uplands,
within these abuttments, \iz. : Soutlierly on the IkjuuiIs of the town-
shi|) of Stamfiii-d ; Westerly on (lie wilderness; Northerly on the wil-
derness; and easterly on the wilderness, or land not yet laid out.
iM'ery of Avhiili sides is six miles in length, to A\itt: from the east
side AN'csleily, anil trnm I he south side northerly, and is a township
of six miles sipiare, or six nules on every side, which saiil lands have
been by purchase or otherwise', lawfully' obtained of the Hidian na-
tive proprietors.-' Ai)ril 8, 1704, this Connecticut patent was con-
firmed by New York, an annual (piit-rent of £5 b( ing provided for.

By reference to a lua]) of the manors of Westchester Cotmty it will
be observed that the northern section of Bedford I'atent overlaps
Cortlandt ^lanor, taking a quite considerable area from that manor.
On the other hand, Steplianus ^'an Cortlandt's manor grant, dated
June 17, 1697, called for a southern boundary beginning at the mouth
of the Crolon Biver and running due east " twenty English miles " —
that is, in a continuous line from the Hudson Biver to Connecticut.
This interce])tion of the soutlu iii boundary of Cortlandt Manor by
the Bedford I'atent re(|uires ex])lanation.

At tlie (ime when the Cortlandt Mam)r grant was issued the Bed-
fdi-d I'atent for a tract six miles square based upon Stamford bounds
on the south, as conferred by the general court of Connecticut, was
already in existence, having, in fact, been obtained some six weeks

COMPLETION OP EARLY LOCAL SETTLEMENT 223

])icvi(His]y. ('onsequently, says a Bedford historian, " when Van
Coi-tlaiidt's surveyor, AvorkiiiiLi on Ids ' due east ' line, was advaneinji'
tbrougli Bedford, lie was doublless apprised by our settlers that he
was on Connecticut soil. No use to go farther; so he ran his line
around the uorth side of Bedford, leaviui;- her out of the Van Cort-
landt Mauor." ^ Indeed, V.an Coi'tlandt or his heirs, fully acceptlnj;-
the claims of the Bedford people regarding their northern limits,
built along those limits, to indicate the line of separation between
Bedford and the manor, a solid stone wall, much of which still re-
mains. This wall is to-day, says the writer from whom we have
just quoted, " imdoubtedly the most notable landmark in this part
of the county,'' and '' for nearly two miles extends right across the
country, without regard to the lay of the ground, broken only by
two highways, and until lately Avith not even a barway through it."

By the census of 1712 Bedford was given a population of 172.
There are reasons, however, for supposing that this was an under-
enumeration. It is noteworthy that no slaves were then owned in
Bedford, '' the people here being too poor at that early date to in-
dulge in such luxuries."

Early in the eighteenth century Jacobus Van Cortlandt, son of
Oloff Pteveuse Van Cortlandt, and younger brother of Rtephanus
Van Cortlandt, of Cortlandt IManor, became one of the principal
landed proprietors of Bedford. Tliis was the same Jacobus Van
Cortlandt who married Eva, adopted daughter of the first Frederick
Philiitsc, and founded the Van Cortlandt estate of the Little or
Tx)wer Yonkers, above Kingsbridge. He purchased lands of the
Indians and settlers of Bedford as late as 1714, and his landed pos-
sessions in the town ultimately amounted to 5,11.5 acres, which he
bequeathed to his son Frederick Van Cortlandt, of the Lower Yon-
kers, and his three daughters, ^largarct, wife of Abraham de Peyster;
Anne, wife of John Chambers, and ^Vfaiw, wife of Peter Jay. The
whole of the original estate was partitioned in 1743. Frederick Van
Cortlandt receiving 1.424 acres. Abraham de Peyster 1,110 acres,
John Chambers 1,282 acres, and Peter Jay 1,299 acres. Upon the
death of Peter Jay (1782) his share was divided among his sons,
Peter, Frederick, and John (the chief justice"). John Jay subsequently
became the sole proprietor of the Bedford estate, and after his re-
tirement from public life made it his home, dying in the old Jay man-
sion in 1S29. lie was succeeded in the proprietorship by his soti, the
distinguished Judge William Jay, who in turn was succeeded by his
son, the Hon. John Jay.

The great " West, Middle, and East Patents " of central West-

' " lUstory of Bedford," by Joseph Barrett, Scliarf, li., 59G.

224 IIISTOKY OF ^^•I^;ST('HESTEI! COUNTY

Chester, A\lii(li wi- linve alicady described, secured by Caleb Heath-
cote ami otliers from Lientenaiit-Oovernor Xaufau in 1701. were
amonii' the foundations u])on Avliich such i)ortious of the county north
of the White Plains and Harrison tracts as were not included in the
Rye and Bedford Patents and the Philipseburfj;h and Cortlandt Manor
tiranls were setth-d. The West Patent, Icnowu as "Wampus's Laud
T)eed,"'or the "Xorth Castle Indian Deed,"' based upon a purcliasc from
the Indians made by Heathcote in 1()0(>. but not patented until Febru-
ary 14, 1702, was bounded on the east by the Byram River and the
Bedford line, on the north by the Croton River, and at the west took
in all llie wedge-shaped laud between Philipseburjjh and Cortlandt
Manors, forming an acute angle on the Hudson at the Croton's numth.
Its northern b(mudary, howevej', was subsequently removed from the
Croton to tlie southern line of Cortlamlt !>rauor, in order to conform
to the Cortlandt Manor grant. Out of the West Patent was erected
much of the Town of Xorth Castle. The patentees, ten in number,
included men of promiueiu-e and influence in the province, wliose
" intei'est A\'as not that of settlers seeking a honu-. but merely that
of speculators." The lands began to be settled about 171P-20 by
Quaker faruun's from Long Island, who came by way of Harrison's'
purchase, and whose descendants to this day belong to the principal
families of tlmt section of our county, among them the Haights,
Weckses, Carpenters, Suttous, Quimbys, Hunt.s, Birdsalls, Barneses,
and Havilands. In August, 1712, the settlei's petitioned Governor
Bu'iiett to iuc(n"porate their lands into a township, mentioning in
tliat document that tluur number comprised thirty men able to bear
arms. Letters patent were soon afterward issued for the Town of
Xorth Castle. In addition to the lands represented by the West
Patent, Xorth Castle originally embraced a portion of the Middle
Patent and also a separate grant made in 1700 to Ann Bridges, Roger
^lomix'sson, and seven others.^ It cA'en encroached on the bounds
of the East Patent, covering a considerable part of the present Town
of Pf)undridge. The number of settlers increased ra])idly, and we
are informed that at the time of its division by the setting off of
X^ew CastU' '' it was the second town in the county in assessed valu-
ation, ranking next to Westchesler in that respect, and the first in
population." ' Inasmuch as X(uth Castle lay entirely in the interior,
and quite remote from Xew 'S'ork City, its excc^ptional prosperity is

1 This grant lay Ix-twi^ou the West and Miti- Thuniiis ^\'enll:^n, a nieinl>er of the governor's

(lie Patents. Ann Bridges was the wife of council.

Chief .Tustiei' .Tohn Tlrirlges. Roger Monip(^sson - " TTistory of Xew Ca.stle," by Josepli Rar_

^vas chief Jnstice of the province at the time. rett. Seliarf, ii., G15.
One of their associates in the patent was

COMPLETION OF EARLY LOCAL SETTLEMENT 225

a strikhni- ])roof of tlie fact tluit the \vc;illli (if our couuty had its
m-ifiiu exclusively in tlic at;Ticul(ur;il interest.

'I'lie old Town of Salem, now constiluting the Towns of North Salem
and Lewisboro, also has an interesting; e.arly history, on account of
llie inclusion in it of all of the lands of the "Oblong," or "Equiva-
lent Tract." It will be remembered that the Oblong was not laid
off and monumented until 1731. In 1709 twenty-five citizens of
("onnecticut (mostly residents of NorAvalk) obtained from the gov-
ernment of that colony- the grant of what is known as the Eidge-
lield Patent, whose western boundary was the New York State line,
ar that time supposed to be twenty miles from the Hudson. After
the measuring off of the Oblong, the Kidgefield patentees, discov-
ering that a portion of their j^roperty lay in New^ York State, peti-
tioned the New York authorities for a patent for fifty thousand
acres within the Oblong bounds, which was duly granted, June 8,
1731. These patentees were headed by the Eev. Thomas Hawley,
and are described in the document as " inhabitants of ye town of
IJidgefield." These Oblong acres subsequently became the eastern
|i()ition of the original Town of Salem, whereof the western portion
was taken from Cortlandt Manor.

The Town of Poundridge was settled by farming people from Con-
necticut, who began to take up lands within its borders in the latter
jiiirt of the first half of the eighteenth century. The name comes
" from the ancient ' Indian pound,' wliich formerly stood at the foot
of a high ridge a little south of the present locality known as Pound-
ridget where the Indians set their traps for wild game." The first set-
tler is supposed to have been Deacon John Fancher. He came in
1730. In 1741 Joseph Lockwood, James Brown, David Potts, Ebe-
nezer Scofield, and others from Stamford, made a settlement on the
site of the present village. The Lockwood family was long the most
pronunent one in the town. From an early period the settlers of
Poundridge united the handicraft of shoemaking to their rural pur-
suits. They " went to the ' shoe-shops ' in the adjoining towns, re-
ceived their work ciit out, and took it home, each one making the
whole article, whether boot or shoe."^ The decline in the population
of the town since 1850 is largely due to the unprofitableness of this
ancient industiw, consequent upon the use of machinery for the manu-
facture of shoes.

' George Thatcher'Smith, in;Schar£,ii., 5(13.

CHAPTER XI

A GLANCE AT THE BOROUGH TOWN OF WESTCHESTER

IIE earliest eimnicriitioii of the inhabitants of the I'rovince
of New York was made in lGi)8 " by the hij'h sheriffs and
jnstlees of llie peace in eaeli respective oonnty," at the
direction of (lovernor Belbunont. It showed a total pop-
ulation of 1S,0G7, inclndins' 2,170 uej;Toes, of whom 1,003 (917 whites
and 14(5 negroes) Avere in West<-liester Counly. At that date West-
cliester was the lifth in rank anioiii; Ihe ten counties embraced within
the present limits of Xew York Slate, being exceeded by New York,
Suffolk, Kiniis, Queens, and Albany. At the next census, taken in
170o, A\'esTchester's population had increased to 1,94(); in 1712, to
2,815; and in 1723, to l,40'.t. Tlius in the first .piarter of a century
after the coujity as a whole had bci;un to display a general set11e<l
condition the number of i(s inhabifants had increaseil threefold. In
1731 its people were 0,03:;; in 1737, 0,74."); in 1740, 9,235; in 1749,
10,703; in 1750, 13,257; and in 1771 ( tlie last of tlie colonial censuses),
21.745.

Tlie folbiwiu;^ details from (lie census of 1712 show- the distribu-
lion of iio]iulation thiouiilioul tlic \arious civil diAisions then ex-
istinsi':

Westchester

Eastehester

Rye

New Rochelle

Yonkers

l'lulipselj)U'gh

Mamaroneck

Moriisania

Pelliain

Bedford

Cortlandt Manor

Ryke's Patent (Peekskill) .
Scarsdale

572

300

616

304

260

348

172

2,815

The jMirtions of the county styled Yonkers and rhilii)seburuli at
1hat ]>< lied were, res]iectively, th«' lower and upper divisions of I'hil-

THE BOROU<;il lOWX (IK WESTCHESTER 227

ipse'lmr^li Manor, tlu' forincr bciu^ prcsidi'd over by Frederick Phil-
ipse, 2d, and the latter bv Adolpli I'liilipse, his uncle. After the
unele's dt-ath, the whole manor was reunited under Frederick Pliil-
ipse, 2d, and continued as a sinjile political division until after the
Revolution. To the above-named civil divisions of 1712, the only
new ones added durinti' the reniaininji sixty odd years of tln^ colonial
era were White Plains, North Castle, Salem, and Poundridsi'e.

Under this census the ancient Town of Westchester led all the
other localities of the county in population, with 572 inhabitants,
havinji', indeed, a very decided jireponderauce over every community
except Rye, which numbered 516 souls. But it must be borne in
nund that in 1712 Rye as a political division in<duded certainly the
White Plains and Harrison tracts; and probably not a few settlers
dispersed throuoh the interior scM-tions of the county not as yet com-
prehended in definitely named settlements were counted also in the
Hye enunu^ration.

We have referred in \arious connections to the peculiar privilege
bestowed upon the Town of Westchester by its erection in IfiOfi into
a borough, a privilege enjoycnl by only one other community of New
York Province (Schenectady) from the beii'inninu to the end of the
colonial ])erio(l. It was entirely fittinji; that Westchester should be
singled out for this distinction. It was the seat of the earliest or-
uanized and successful Fni^lish settlement in the province north of
the Harlem River, datinii' back to lfi54 (and probably earlier); it
gave its name to the great County of Westchester, and it had always
been a rural commnnity of exceptional respectability and progres-
siveness. Detached from the jurisdiction of Manhattan Island by a
broad river, it occui)ied an isolated position, and its local affairs were
thus incapal>le of being connected ^\i(h those of the island. More-
over, Westchester, with its attached locality of West Farms, was
peculiai-ly justified in ai)i>ealing for sjiecial privileges, in view of the
excejitiomil functions I hat had been conferi-ed ujion the adjacent
luannrial hinds of Morrisania, Fordham, Philipseburgh, and Pelham.
These lauds had been erected into "entire and enfi-anchised towu-
shii)s, manors, and ]daces by themselves,'' for the gi-atification of
wealthy individnal projn-ietors. On the other hand, here Avas a
thriving deniociatic town, whose settlement antedated that of any
of the manorial estates, and which ii\as more important than aTiy of
them in the matter of |io])ulation and develo])ment. It was reason-
able in such circninstaiices to demnnd for it some unusu;il politicfil
advantages.

Westchester received its fii'st town patent froTu Oovernor Nicolls
on ilie ].~)1h of February, KWl. In that instrument " all ye rights and

228 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

]ii-ivilc'^c!s bulonging lu a t(»\\ii wilbiu this jTovcruuK'Ut "" \\(n\' be-
st owud upon (be patentees. In l(i8(> it was <b„>emed advisable by
the inbabiiants to proenre a second patent, wbleli was accordingly
issut'd (Jjinuary (>) by (TO\('rnor Dongan. Under tbis second patent
twelve men' were designated as the " Trustees of the Freeholdei-s
and Comuionaltj- of the Town of Westchester," these trustees being
constituted as "one body corporate and politick." In oider to dis-
l)ose forever of any possible hostile claims lo lands williin their
town limits on the ground of irregularities or defects in the original
inirchases from the Indians, the trustees, on the 2Ttli of IMay, 1<»!)2,
obtained a final deed of sale from four Indians — Maminepoe, Wam-
page (alias Ann Hook), Chrohamanthense, and Mamertekoh — by
which the latter, for the consideration of goods valued at £8 is Gd,
released unconditionally to the " county town of Westchester " what-
ever i^roprietary pretensions they bad to its territory. Also steps
were taken by the trustees to mark off the noi-thern bounds of the
town, where it adjoined " JMr. Pell's purchase." The records of the
town were kept with regularity from 1657. As early as lOTS a bridge
had been built joining Throgg's Neck to the mainland.- The polit-
ical limits of the town were always understood and e.\i)ressed as
extending from the westernmost part of Bronxland to '* ^Ir. Pell's
purchase," and thus Cornell's Neck, West I'^arms, and Morrisania
]\Iaii()r belonged to the i)olitical territorj^ of the town. Indeed, the
|ir(i])rietors of Cornell's Neck I the Willetts), as also the various fam-
ilies co7isti1uiing the settlement of West Farms, were at all times
thoroughly ideiititied with the local concerns of Westchesrer town.

In l(!7(l the good people of Westchester were somewhat exercised
by llie a]i]>earance of a supposed witch amongst them. An oi'der ap-
pears in tlie Assize P.ook, dated July 7, 107(1, for the removal of one
" Katherine Harrison late of Wetbersfield in his Ma*'®® Colony of Con-
necticott widdoAv." In this order it is related that "contrary to ye
consent iS: good liking of ye ToAvne she wouhl settle amongst them &
she being reputed to be a i)erson lyeing und'" ye sujiposiciou of Witch-
craft bath given some cause of ainu-ehension to ye Inbabiiants there."
Accordingly, the constable and ovi-rseers are directed to notify her
to remove out of the precincts " in some short tynie," and also to ad-
monish her to "returne to ye place of her former abode." Subse-
(pienlly, however, Katherine Harrison was fully exonerated.

'William Richnrflson. .Toliii limit. Eilwaril " It is oi'dei-ed that .ve bridge betwixt Throgg's

Wal<'rs. RobfM't Hiiostis, Richai-d I'untoii. Will- Npcke and the To^^■ue be maintainod and up-

ian: Barni'S. .John Bugbie, .Tohn I'.ailey, John licld by a rate to be levied and assissed upon

'i'u<l<ir. .lolin Ferris. Josepli I'almer, and ail persons and estates that are putt in the

Thomas Baxter. county rate belungins to the Township of

- Ill this connection tlie following entry from AVestchester, East Chester excepted."
the towa records, dated .luly 9, KITS, is of interest :

THE BOROUGH TOWN OK WESTCHESTER 229

A fact of curious intorest, illustrating in u striking way tlio active
enterprise which characterized the Town nf Westchester and its
associated districts from the beginning, has been brought to the
attention of the present writer b> the kindness of the Kev. Theodore
A. Leggett, D.D., of Staten Island, a descendant of one of the West
Farms patentees. We have seen that Elizabeth Kichardson, daugh-
ter of Thomas Kichardson, co-patentee with Edward Jessup of West
Farms (16G6), married Gabriel Leggett. Gabriel had a brother, John
Leggett, who also was a landed proprietor in the section embraced
iu the political bounds of Westchester town. John Leggett was a
shipbuilder, and under date of November 30, 1()7G, he executed a
bill of sale reading as foHoAvs: " John Leggett of Westchester, within
the Province of N. Y., sliii)riglit, to Jacob Leysler of N. Y. City, mer-
chant, a good Puick, or ship, Susannah of New York, now laying in
this harbour, and hi/ xdid L((i(i(it hiiiJf in Bfoiicl-'s )-iver near Wc.slclicslcr,
together Avith masts. Lay boat, and other materials." Thus tlie ship-
building industry Avas introduced at the mouth of the Bronx as
early as KiTti (probably earlier) — that is, seven years or nu)re before
the organization of the County of Westchester. This Johu Leggett,
builder of the " Susannah," died in tlie West Indies in 1679. It
is interesting to note that he named as his executor the first Fred-
erick Philipse, with whom he seems to have sustained a business
partuersliip of some kind, and t(» whom he bequeathed the sum of
thirty pounds sterling.

U])on tile organization n{ our county, in 1G83, Westchester was
appointed to be its shire-town, and in legislative acts passed shortly
after tlie regular institution of ])arliauieiitary government in the
pi'ovince this community was tlie object of respectful attention. By
an act passed May H, U\[)',i, "a public and open market" was ap-
pointed to be held every Wednesday at Wesicliester; and it was
enacted that "there shall likewise be held and kept twice yearly
and every year a fair, to which fair it shall and may be likewise lawful
for all and every pi'rson to go and frequent, . . . the first to
be kept at the Town of Westchester in the said county on the second
Tuesday of May and to end on the Friday following, being in all
four days, inclusive, and no longer; and (he second fair to be kept
at Bye in the said county on the second Tuesday in October yearly,
and to end the Friday following," etc.

From the foregoing survey of the lu-ogress of Westchester town
nji to the time of its conversion into a borough, the read(>r will see
liial if had well earned the right to that honor. Tlu> royal charter
constituting it a borough town is a very elaborate document, which
if reproduced entire would occupy some fifteen of our ])ages. It

230 HISTORY OF \\ESTCUESTER COUNTY

bears dulc the lUtli of April, lODG, aud is signed by Governor Ben-
jamin Fletclier. After instancing the previous grants of patents to
tlie town aud describing it witli extreuie aud redundant particularity
(its bounds being specified as the westernmost part of " Brunks laud "
at the west and the westernmost line of " Mr. Pell's pattent " at the
east), the charter provides that the former Town of Westchester
shall in future be styled " the borrough aud town of AVcstchester."
The re4uirement is uiade that the local authorities shall pay an-
nually to the governor of New York, on the 25th day of ^larch, " the
sum of thirty shillings current money of N. York" as quit-rent. It
is directed that the freeholders shall elect annually twelve trustees,
whose duties shall be confined to dis])osiug of any undivided lands
within the town. Next follows the provision that " in the s'' town
corporate there shall be a body politick consisting of a mayor, six
alderuien, aud six assistants, or common council, ... to be
called and known bj' the name of the mayor, aldermen, and
commonalty of the borough aud town of AY. Chester." Colonel
Caleb Ueathcote is api)ointed a.-^ the first major, with " William
Barns, Jno. Stuert, William Willett, Thos. Baxter, Josiah Stuert, and
Jno. Baily, gents.," as aldermen, and '' Israel lioneywell, Kobert LIus-
tis, SanrT Hustis, Sam'l Ferris, Dauiel Turner, and Miles Oakley,
gents.," as assistants. But these offices, after the expiration of the
first year, are declared to be elective, and are to be filled annually by
a majority vote of the freeholders on the first Monday of May. Pro-
vision is made for the contimmnce of the weekly market, and two
yearly fail's (instead of one, as previously provided) are to be held
at Westchester, the first in Maj' an<l the second in October. Ketail
liquor sellers are to be licensed at the discretion of the mayor, the
animal license fee exacted being such sum of money as the licensee
" shall agree for, not exceeding the sum of 20s." Finally the " may-
or, aldermen, and common council •' are authorized " to return and
send one discreet burgess of the s'^ toAvn and borough into every
general assembly hereafter to be summoned or holden within this
our province of N. Y^'ork."

Caleb Ueathcote, as mayor, organized the government of the bor-
ough town on the (5th of June, 1096. In October of that year he pre-
sented the corporation with an official seal. The first representa-
tive in the assembly was Josiah Hunt, who served from 1702 to
1710. The subsequent representatives were Lewis Morris, Sr. (1710-
2S), Gilbert Willett (1728-32), Lewis Morris, Jr. (1732-50), Peter de
Lancey (1750-68), Lewis Morris, 3d (176!)), John de Lancey (1769-72),
aud Isaac AYilkins (1772-75) — all men of distinction, force, and influ-
ential faiuilv connections. The official stvle of "the Borough and

KuniB. 4.S.

f HE

New-York Gazette

Front Sefttntber 26. to Monday Oaobtr j. 1726.

A Liji of tht Nimti of the freferif Kefrtfenmivcs
Eleiledand chafin by the ftverdCttiei Mid CoMttties
in tkisColonyto fcFvctn<Jtti^r^:iifiml>in', '

For the City 4»d Ctnntj of Nc^rYork,

ADolfh PbHipfe, Efq; Spcaketi- '
Stefhtn De Lancij, Ef(j;
Capt. Gerrit fun Hsrnt,
Capt. Anlhony, Rmgrifi,

Tor th* Ctty Mid Con"!} <>f Albany,
Coll. Mjnderl Schaylir, KyerCcrrttJe, Efqi
Capt. Jaeoi Clin,
Capt. Jeremiah Ranjlaer,
Mr. Robtrt Li'jingpoti,. jun.

Fir the County oj UlfVir,
Coll. Ahrahitm Gaasbeck^ Chan bers, ■
Mr. ailbirt Piiwling,

For Dutchcfs County,
Mr. Henry BeekntAii,
Mj*. JthM^n:/ vMK/ecl^

For the Burrdugh ftf fVefichejltrl
Coll. LeWU Morris.

" '^iwthe. County y^-Wefithifiivi '

Coll. mti*$n miuty » ' '■

Wljor Fredrick^ Phtlipfe.

For Queem Cuintf^
Coll. Ifaac Htcks,
Capt. Btnjmmin Hicks.

For Kmgs County,
Coll. Richard StiUwett.
Clpt. Samuel Gerrufe;

For Sufik. County,
Capt. EpenetHi Pl.it,
Mr. Samuel Huichmfin^

For Ricijmond Country
Mr. Richard Mcrnt,
Mr. ')'!'» Le Count.

For Orange County.
Capf. LancaBer Syrru,
Capt. Corntdis H»rtng.

Which Rcprcfchtativej being convened tn
General Afscmbly, onthe l/ih of Sefumb.-r his
Excellency thcOovcrnoui madetho following

Speech to them, *»«.,
«

Ontlemtn ;

THE Choice. which the People' of this
Jnovince h«ve fo lately made of you to
^eprcl'cnt them, gives Mcafrcfh Op-
iioreunity of knowing their Sentiments and In-
«linatiorr,',I.h«in&,ftIway S endeavoiircdto promote
thculnterctttaihfi uunpllef isy^tlity.jhd

■ it will add to my Pleafurc to do it in the manner
which the^thcmrdves (Jtfirc.
" AVhcri-you enquire into the (late of theprc-
ient Revenue, I believe you will find it inluffi-
cicnt toanlwcrthcuCual Expcncc foriheSupport
of the Government. And confidcring the
tiounfhing and Encreafing Condition of the
Colony, It would be toiriDiihonour, as wcUa*
Diiadvantage, to IciFen the Encoumgmient that'
has been given to the ncccfiary Officers ot the
Government. I depend on your Readinefs to
the bed of Kings, who has flicwn, during the
whole courfc of His Reign, Thu tie confl ant Em^
Btoymem of Hts Thoughts, and the moji e.ineji W iihes of
I^ti Heart, tend u holly to t'e Securingto His Subjeat
thftrjuft Rights and Mvnt.iges. You need noc
fear that any of His Servants will dare to abufe
the Confidence repofed in them, when they muft
expcft, that their Neglea of Duty or Abufe of
Fruft, will draw upon them His iuft Difplca-
lure. '

c ^^L^" ^"'^' ''"'^ ^^^ Supply laft provided
rorrhtWhJng the new Apartments in the Fort,
has been imployed with the utmoft Frugality ;
and I hope, that by the fame Management, the
Repairs of the Roof of the Chappel and the
.Barracks, which arc in a Condition entirely
Ruinous, will require no very large Sum, tho'
.ic IS plain, that the Charge of doing it will cn-
;crcale confiderably, if it is delay'd sny longer
; than the next Spring, which Obliges Me to Re-
commend it to your Care at pref.nt.thatProvifion
may be made for fo prcffing and neceflary a
Work.

I <nuft Remind you, that your Agent continues
his Dib'gence in watching over the Interefts of
the Province, tho' he has rcmam'd a long time
without any Allowance; fo generous a Condudl-,
onhis part, will not fail of cngnging you to take
care that his paft Services may not go unrewarded,
and that fo ultful a Perlon may be fixed in your
Service, and a lettled Provilion made for his
Encouragement.

I {hall lay before you my late Conferences
with the Six AW/om, in which I flatter my fclf,
that I have contributed not a little to fix them in
their Duty to His Majclty, their Aftlftion to
this Government, and their juft Apprchcnfions
of the ill Dcfigns of the People of Canada, in
Fortifyingfo near to them at ':;.igara. 1 have lint
a. fit Pcrlon to refidc among the 5rw;.-V this
Winter, -who ism t permuted to Ti-adc, and will
thcreljy ,hav« thoinorc weight and crtdit with.

theait

FROM AN KARI.Y NKWSPAPKK, SHOWING MEMRKR3 OK THE A.SSEMIil.T.

232 HISTOKY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Town of W't'stcliester " was not aljolislunl until 1785, when, by a leg-
islative act, it was changed to " the Township of Westchester."

Westchester borough was the birthphice in our county- of the in-
stitution of the Established Church of England. On this point Mr.
Fordham Morris, in his essay on " The Borough Town of Westches-
ter," takes occasion to correct some mistaken popular impressions.

Some (lie says) liave likened this aiieieiit town to those of Xevv Englaml and Long
Island, while others, zealous nieinliers of the Episeopal Cluireh, have tried to make themselves
and others lielieve that the town was a reproduetion of an Knglish parish of the eighteenth
eentury, siieh as we read of in the Spectator or the tales of Fielding' and Smollett. They
fancy the sipiire in his high-baeked pew, the parson in his wig, gown, and surplice, telling
the congregation its duty to their Maker, and also as to the titlies, the rojal family, the
House of Hanover, and the Protestant succession. Neither is a correct similitude. The
ofKcials, though elected, were subject to the governor s approval, and no rigid rule as to
church membership prevailed as in the New England towns. The town, not the church
wardens and vestry, attended to most of the temporalities, such as highways and bridges, and
though the vestry levied the church rates, the town built and paid for the church, and in
very late colonial times released its interest in the church projierty to the rector, church
wardens, and vestry. Though the church was supported partially by a tax, the schoolmaster
was supported by the borough, but until post-Kevolutionary times the poor were a j)arish
charge. Though an act for settling orthodox nuuisters in the province was passed shortly
after the establishment of the English colonial system (for of course, the English was the
orthodox church in colonial times), those sous of Cromwellian soldiers, Quaker refugees, and
Iudej)endents did not at first take kindly to a State church, and good Parson Bartow
did not eviui wear a surplice. Many of the people were graduall3" won over to mother church,
so far as a student can judge from reading the good minister's letters to the Society in
England, more by his own loving kindness and self-respect rather than any inherent love those
hard-working farmers had for the Church of England. Besides, the Quakers had established
their meeting-house in the town almost as early as the Church of England edifice was erected,
and its graveyard is still to be found, adjoining the Episcojial churchyard, tliough the meeting-
house and those who were moved l)y__tlie Spirit within it h.ave loiig^since departed.

In a previous chajiter, in connection with our account of the foun-
dation of the settlement of ^^'estchester, we have reproduced from
the journal of one of the Dutch commissioners who visited the place
in JG5G a description of the forms of AvorshiiD then in vogue there,
from which it appears that there was no ofticiatiag clergyman, and
that the exercises were cimducted in homely fashion. Not until
1G84 was any formal measure taken to procure a minister. It was
then voted in town meeting (April 2) " that the Justices and Vestry-
men of Westchester, Eastchester, and Yonckers do accept of Mr. War-
ham Mather as our minister for one whole year; and that he shall
have sixty pound, in country produce at moiu'y price, for his salary,
and that he shall be paid every quarter." Apparently the arrange-
ment was not effected, or at least did not endure for long; for in
1G92 the town voted that "there shall be an orthodox minister, as
soon as jiossible may be," and requested ("olonel Caleb Ueathcote, " in
his travels in New England," to procure one.

Septeiuber 21, 1G93, the provincial assembly of New York passed
an ecclesiastical act, under which Westchester County was divided

THE BOROUGH TOWN OF WESTCHESTER 233

into two imi'islios, Westchester aud JJyc, tlie former to iiicliiile the
ToAvus of Westchester, Eastchester, and Yonkers, aud the Manor of
Pelhani, and llie hitter the Towns of Rye, Mainaroneck, and Bedford.
Westchester was required to raise £50 yearly' for the minister's sup-
port, and to elect on the second Tuesday of January ten vestrymen
and two churcli wardens. In lODo the Kev. Warham Mather was
ongaged as the Church of Enghind chn'g^'uian at Westchester. He
was succeeded in 1702 by the Kev. John Barto^-, a missionary of the
Venerable Society for the I'ropagation of the (iospel, newly arrived
from England, who continued to ohiciate until his death, in 172G. He
was a man of excellent learning and high character, aud his letters
(of which nuuierous ones are reproduced by Bolton) are of much in-
terest to students of the early conditions in Westchester County.
The orthodox church at Westchester was formally chartered under
the name of Saint Peter's by Lieutenant-Governor Clai'ke in 1762.

Eastchester, incorporated in the parish of Westchester by the act
of 1693, was made a separate parish in 1700. From early times
Eastchester parish was known as Saint Paul's. To this day the
Westchester and Eastchester Episcopalian churches preserve their
original names of Saint Peter's and Saint Paul's, respectively. The
preseut Saint Peter's Church edifice in Westchester village is en-
tii-ely modern, but Saint Paul's in Eastchester dates from ai)out 1764,
and is one of the most interesting of the old-time structures in our
county.

This is uot the connection, however, in which to relate the church
history- of Westchester County, or even to note with particularity
the local facts of church ami religious concerns in the Town of West-
chester aud its associate<l localities, interesting though those facts
are. We are occupied with tlie general story of Westchester County
on broad lines. It has been lifting to intercept our general narra-
ti\e for a glance at the borough Town of Westchester, whose creation
constitutes one of the essential phases of the general history of the
county. Having discharged this duty in as succinct a manner as
possible, we now proceed with the broader narrative.

The local history of Westchester County from the beginning of
the eighteenth century to the Bevolutiou involves nothing remark-
able, aside from the aspects of the peculiar character from the first
assumed by the county wliicli iiave been described in our account of
the (U'igin au<l erection of tlie great manorial estates. Following
the lines of development naturalh' resulting from its selection as the
seat of wealth^' and influential landed proprietors, Westchester
County very soon took a prominent ])osition on this account, and,
through the powerful aiul distinguished men whose homes aud in-

234 HISTORY OF \AKSTCIIES'rER COUNTY

terests were within its boi-dcrs, cxci'tcd iiii intiuciHc of tlic lirsl iiii-
portaijce, both upon cuiTcnt i)ul)lic alTiiirs and in I he shaping of
issues and conditions wliieli were to lead lo ui-and events. Tlie liis-
lor.v of ^^'esl(•llester County, as a oonnly, diirin;n lliis i)eriod, is one
of steady and reputable growth, but is not specially distinguishable
from that of other rural New York counties. No large towns were
built up, and aside from jiolilical contests nothing of exciting in-
terest or unusual significance transpired lo attract general atten-
tion to the county or to become memorable in a large way. Tlie
liurely inlernal history of Weslchester County for three-(|uarlers of
a ceiidiry following (lie (•om]>ai-ali\'e coniiilcl ion of iis settlement
comprelicnds, indeed, not hing more limn I he ordinary (dii'oiucles of a
(cw scattered communities and of a nnxed laud-owning and farming
po|iulalion, li\ing togellicr in cii'cnmstances of good nndcrsianding
and of jdeasing though (piite une\cntfiil prospei-it_\- and ]>rogi-css. It
is in the general historical associations attacliing to the cai-eers of
i'epres(-n(ative Westchestei' men that tliebi-oad interest of onr coun-
ty's story u]) to 1 he e\cnts antecedent to I he Ke\olut ion is found.

CllAl'TEK XII

THE ELECTION ON THE GREEN AT EASTCHESTER, 1733

iBi/^"' ■■■-.. ■ '■

HE estate of ^lorrisiniin, cstaldislied by ( "olojicl J^-wis Morris,
of the island of Uarbadix-s, upou the fouudatious of the ohl
I )utch Brouxland grant — an estate consisting of nearly two
thousand acres, — was inherited at the colonel's dealh, in
1(J!)1, by his neijhew, Lewis, who at that time had just come of age.
^'onug Lewis Morris as a boy was of a vivacious and somewhat way-
ward disposition, and, tiring of the Innndrum life in the home of his,
um Ic, ii stei-u old Covenanter and rigid (^nakei-, ran away and roiimed
iiltout in the world until his craving for ii more animated existence
liad been pretty well gratihid. He first went to Virginin, ;ui(l then
to -laiiiaica, trying to support himscdf as a (copyist and in other ways,
and finally returned, tractable enough, to his uncle's roof. The old
gentleman ]iot only granted him full j)ar(lon, but i)romptly to(d< an
interest in procuring a suitable wife for him, with the result that, in
November, 1G91, he received the hand of Isabella, daughter of James
(iraham, Esq., attorney-general and one of the ](rincipal men of the
province. Being his uncle's s(de heir, lie inherited not only the Mor-
risania estate, but the large tract of land which ('(donel .Morris had
bought in Monmouth Tounty, N. J. Turning his attention to the
interests of the latter pi-operty, he took up his residence on that
jiortion of it call Tintern. Here, it is said, was established the first
iron mill in this country. He at once took an active part in i)ublic
affairs in New Jersey. In 1092 lie was appointed a judge of the
Court of Common Kight in East Jersey, and he also became a mem-
ber of the council of Governor Hamilton. He did not, however, neg-
lect his proiK'rty in NeAV York. Following the example of other large
land-owners, he had his 'Westchester County estate erected into the
"Loi'dsliip or Manor of Morrisania." This was done by letters patent
granted to him on the Sth of May, l(i!)7, by Covernor Fletcher, where-
in authority was given him and his successors to hold a court leet
and court baron, to exercise jurisdiction over all waifs, estrays,
wrecks, deodands, goods, or felons hap[H'ning and being within the

236 HISTOKY OF WESTCHESTEK COUNTY

luauor limits, and to t'lijoy tlie advowson and right of patronage over
all churches in the manor. It aa^rs a considerable time, however, be
fore the Manor of Morrisania became' lariicly tcnianted. At the census
of 1712 its ])opulation was only sixty-tAAo. This Avas probably due in
part to the preference manifested by its young lord, during the first
years of his proprietorship, for residence and political activity in NeAV
Jersey, and in part to his disinclination during that period to take
any particularly vigorous measures toAvard tenanting its lands. It
Avas not until 1710 that Lewis Morris was first elected to represent
Westchester Borough in the general assembly of New York.

A man of ardent teiuperament, fine talents, high ambitions, and
abundant Avealth, and one of the new-fiedged manorial "lords" of
the province, it A\ould not have been surprising it Morris had from
the beginning of his career associated himself with the ultra-aristo-
cratic party and liad uniformly confined his sympathies and activities
to th(> aristocratic sphere. There were feAV encouragements in those
times for (he development of independent and lofty civic character.
All high positions Avere appointive, depending upon the faA'or of the
royal go\ernor, who was as likely as not to be a man utterly cor-
r-upt, mercenary, and unscrupulous. But from an early period of his
public life, ^Morris disiilayed a bold and aggressive spirit, and an espe-
cial contempt for consequences Avhen, in his judgment, opposition to
the acts of the governors became a matter of duty. The sou of a cap-
tain iu CroniAvell's army, and reared from infancy by an uncle who
had fought Avith distinction on the same side and Avho was charac-
terized by particularly inflexible personal conscientiousness, his birth
and training gave him, moreover, instiucis of vigorous hostility to
arrogaut and sellish despotism. It can not be doubted that this latter
element of his character Avas the cliief contributing influence Avhich
led him, at the zenith of his career, to sacrifice his elevated position
and stake his entire reputation in the cause of righteous resistance
to official tyranny, an act whicli, as Ave shall presently see, was the
occasion of the first grand assertion of the principle of American
liberty.

After the appointment of Jeremiah Basse as governor of New Jer-
sey, in 1698, Morris Avas one of the principal leaders of the party
which refused to acknowledge his authority. lie was in consequence
expelled from the council and fined £50 for contempt. In 1700, when
Hamilton was again made governor of Ncav Jersey, Morris Avas ap-
pointed president of the council. In this po.sition he strongly adA'o-
cated the surrender of the proprietary government of New Jersey to
the crown, persuaded the Ncav Jersey x>i'oprietors to lend their co-
operation to the project, and Avent to England to urge the reform

THE ELECTION OF 1733

237

iijxiii I lie (jiK^'n. Ilis proposals were received with favor, and he was
nominated for the Jioveruorshli) of New Jersey nn(h'r the new ar-
r;nii;enient; but as it was finally decided to appoint a singl(> <fov-
criior for the two provinces of New York and New Jersey, Lord
Cornbnry, a cousin of (^ueen Anne, being chosen for that post, Mor-
ris's appointment was not confirmed. He was, however, placed in
I lie ((iiincil. This was in 1703. As one of Gornbury's councilors he
made an honorable record of uncompromising' antagonism to that
iiKist cori'uitt, tyrannical, and villainous of New York's colonial gov-
ernors. Smith, the Tory historian of New York — certainly not a
]ii'eju(lic('(l authority in this particular connection, — says of Lord
( 'ornbury : '' We never had a governor so universally detested, nor any
who so richly deserved the public
abhorrence. In spite of his noble de-
scent, his behavior was trifling,
mean, and extravagant. It was not
uncommon for him to dress in a
wcman's habit, and then to ]iati'ol
I lie fori in which he lived. Such
Iri'uks of low hiimor exposed him to
I he univevsal contempt of th<' whole
j)eo])lc. Their indignation was kin-
dled by his despotic rule, savage big
otry, insatiable avarice, and injus
lice, iiol only to the public, but even
to his private creditors." In brief,
be ])lun(lered the public treasni'y,
convei'ted subscription funds to his
personal uses, and borrowed sums
riglil and left, which he coolly re-
])udiale(l. After his removal from

the ollice of governor he was arrested and imprisoned for debt in
New York; but by the death of his father, the Karl of Clarendon, he
became a member of the House of Jjords, a dignity which carrh'd
with it exemi^tion from being held for debt, whereof he took advan-
tage to decamp without settling with his creditors. IMorris, as a
member of the council, became at once a thorn in Cornbury's si(k'.
The governor removed liini in 17(14. l!y order of Queen Anne he
was reinstated the next year, only to be again and i)ermanently dis-
nussed by Coi-nburv. He then, as a member of the New Jersey leg-
islature, ])nt himself, witli (lordon and Jennings, at the heail of tiie
liarly that sought to drive Cornbnry from oflh-e. To this end resolu-
lions were passed detailing the evils and infamies of his administra-

CORNBURV IX WOMAN S DRESS.

238 inSTOItV 01' WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tioii, which were sent to En^liiml mid resulted in Cornbury's recall
(1708). Durinj; tlie brief nde of I.oi-d Lovelace, Morris again sat in
the coiuK-il ; but under L()\elace"s siiceessor, Ini;f)l(lsby, he was once
more suspended because of personal unacceptability to tlie executive.

l'"'inaily, in 1710, a governor was sent over witli wlioni Morris was
able to establish the most satisfactory relations, lioth official and
personal — tlie noted (Jeiieral l{obert Hunter. His arrival is memora-
ble ill New York iirovincial ;iiiii;ils because of the great Palatinate
iiiiiiiigration fif whicli it marked (lie beginning. Some three thou-
sand I'alatinatcs — refugees from the Palatine or Pfalz provinces of
Germany, wiiom continual wars and religious persecutions had driven
from their homes — sailed witli Cbivernor Hunter from Plymouth, Eng-
land. The vessels bearing tiieni were separated by terrible siorms at
sea, and hundreds of the immigrants died before port was reached.
These Palatine immigrants and their countrymi-n who followed them
Ave»re distributed mainly among the central and upjier Hudson Piver
counties — Orange, Ulster, and Dutchess — and throughout the Mo-
hawk Valley. But very many of them naturally remained in New
York City, and from there gradually made their way into the sur-
rounding country. Individual Palatine families sought homes from
time to time in Westchester County, but our county was not one of
the chosen places of colonization for these people, and no Palatinate
settlements were established here.

Hunter was an entirely different manner of man from the gover-
nors who preceded him. He boasted no dazzling ancestry. As a
lad he was apprenticed to an apothecary, but left that employment
to enter the army, as a private, without either money or influence.
Possessing marked natural abilities, he soon attracted the attention
of his superiors, and was steadily promoted until he attained the
rank of brigadier-general. He associated and corresponded on terms
of intimacy with the celebrated literary characters of that sparkling
age, and, although not himself a man of great pretensions, had very
excellent parts, especially " a pleasant wit, and was never more
happy in his sallies, as he wrote to his fi-iend Dean Swift, than when
he was most annoyed." Tn Lewis Morris he found a congenial soul.
The two collaborated in the composition of a farce entitled " Andro-
borus," which hit off the peculiarities of some of their opponents in
a lively fashion. Morris was iiromptly installed by Hunter as presi-
dent of the council. Tt was in 1710, the year of Hunter's assumption
of the governorship, that he entered the New York assembly as a
delegate from the borough Town of Westchester, and in that body
he at once became a zealous supporter of the governor. Tn this
chiiiiipionship he strongly ojiposed the jiopular party, which resisted

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THE ELECTION OF 1733 239

the governor's desire for the grantinj!: of supplies in bulk and for a
mimber of years at once, and "insislcd iijxm granting supplit-s of
money only from year to year, and with applications specified, thus
fixing the salaries for governor and other officials only per annum and
by name, so that obnoxious persons were in danger of being left nn-
paiil." The issue was a radical one, and gave rise to strong feeling
on both sides. It is a curious fact that Lewis Morris, whose chief
claim to remembrance is his identification with the great popular
agitation of a later period, whereof, indeed, he was one of the heroes,
was, in this early controversy between the " Court party " and the
people, the mainstay of the former. Moreover, the warmth of his
advocacy of the governor's cause was such that, on account of violent
language in the course of debate, he was expelled from the assem-
bly. He was thereupon re-elected to his seat by his Westchester con-
stituents.

Morris was appointed to the office of chief justice of New York by
Governor ITunter on the 13th of March, 1715. He still continued to
sit for Westchester Borough in the assembly, and did not retire from
that body until 1728. His Westchester County colleagues in the
assembly during his eighteen years of service for the borough from
1710 to 172S were Joseph Budd, Joseph Drake, John Hoite, Josiah
Hunt, Jonathan Odell, Edmund Ward, William Willet, Frederick
Philipse, 2d, and Adolph Philipse. As chief justice he served unin-
terruptedly until August 21, 1733, when, on account of his attitude
in the Van Dam case, he was removed by Governor Cosby, and James
de Lancey, the son-in-law of Caleb Heathcote, of Scarsdale Manor,
was named in his stead.

Tlie affairs of the ProA'incf> of New Y(n'k moved along smoothly
enough, exceptinj:: for the differences between the assembly and th"
executive, from the time of Hunter's appointment as governor, in
1710, until the arrival of Cosby, in .\ugust. 1732. Hunter T\as suc-
ceeded by Williaui Burnet, also a highly polished and amiable man,
with M'hom ^forris sustained relations quite as friendly and agree-
able as with Hunter. Burnet was followed by Colonel John IMout-
gomerie, remembered as the grantor of the Monttromerie Charter of
New York City, who died suddenly on the 1st of .July, 1731, a victim,
as is supposed, of a smallpox epidemic then raging.

.\t the head of ^rontgomerie's council, occupying that position by
virtue of his long service as a councilor, coverimj- a period of twenty-
nine years, was an old and very resyiected New "^'ork mei'chant, Rij)
Y;in T);im. He was, as his name indicates, a thorough Dutchman,
and wiis a ty]ucal representative of the t1irif(y and solid Dutch
trading-class, who, not\\i(hstandiug the English conquest and the

240

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

chanjiC'S bvmiiilit about by it, bad ucver ceased to enjoy the highest
staudiiiji' iu the commuuity and to share in tlie government of the
city and province. A native American (having been born in Albany),
he was an entirely self-made man, modest, honest, and public spirited.
It also stood to his credit that he was the father of a family of fifteen
childi'en.* Ponding the selection of a new governor by the appointive
power in England, Van Dam, in his cai^acity of president of the coun-
cil, became vested Avith the authority of acting chief magistrate.
None of the complicated circumstances attending the like eleva-
tion of the unfortunate Leisler forty years before existed at this time.
The regularity of his official succession was beyond question, no fac-
tional controversy of any sort resulted from it, and, indeed, the whole

public viewed Avith satisfaction the tem-
porary exercise of power by a native cit-
izen of so much respectability.

The citizen-governor continiied to ad-
minister affairs for thirteen months, duly
turning over the office to his chosen suc-
cessor, William Cosby, in the month of
August, 1732. This Cosby was another
Corn1)nry — narrow, vain, avaricious, un-
l principled, contemptible, and tyrannical.
Tie had previously been governor of the
Island of Minorca, using the opportuni-
ties of that position to promote his
private financial interests. After his
apiioiuiment as governor of New York,
while still in England, he had been paid
fees and perquisites amounting to sev-
eral thousand pounds as his due, al-
though he had not yet begun to perform the functions of the place.
From Van Dam's accounts he found, to his great disgust, that the pro
tempore governor had drawn and pocketeil the entire salary belong-
ing to the position during the thirteen mouths of his occupancy of
it. Such ridiculous conduct on the part of a mere acting governor,
who was only a plain, merchandizing citizen and Dutchman, could
not be submitted to by the sensitive Cosby. He demanded that Kip
Van Dam should deliver over to him one-half of the salary thus taken.
Van Dam shrewdly responded tlint he would cheerfully do so if Cosby
Avould, on his part, relinquish half the fees that had been paid him

RIP VAN DAM.

1 One of his sons, Rip Van D.nm, .7r.. iiiar-
riod Jurtith nny.ird, !i grantldaugliter of Sfcpli-
anus Van Cortlandt. Tliis couple had a daugh-
ter, Margaret Van Dam, who married Will-

iam Coclu-oft, of New York Cit.T, whose
lirollier .Tames was tlie aneestor of the present
Coeiiroft famiiy of Sing Sing.

THE ELECTION OK 1733 241

for the same [tcriod. Cosby scornfully rcfuscMl lo Jislcii to so iiiipii-
(Iciil a proposal, and Van Dam stubbornly declined lo accept any
less e(|uitable terms. This unseemly disjiute over a jiallry matler of
salary led to oflicial ]iroceedin|L;s of tlie most jjcciiliar and arhilrary
nature, wliiidi aroused the ])eople to stronjj,- resentment, and out of
wliich was developed a question of ]io])ular light as fumlameidal and
\veit;hty as any that ever came up for decision in c(donial times.

Governor Cosby, still determined to wrino- the money from the ob-
stinate Van Dam, was now compelled to resort to the forms of law
to com])ass tiiat eml. Not content to leave the case to the decision
of the ordinary courts of the i)rovince, he ju'occ'eded to erect a Courl
of Chancery foi' its trial. E(piity courts, of which tlie no^crnoi- was
r.r officio chanccdlor, had always been extremely distasteful to the
people, and beini; constituted liy the exclusiAc act of the executive,
witlii>ut the consent of the leiiislatuT-e, wei-e, according to the best
legal o|iinion, tribunals of at least doubtful authority. The assump-
tion of the powers of chancellor by former governors had given rise
to intense jxijuilai- discontent, and the more intelligent predecessors
of Cosby had shrunk from attempting to exercise them, except quite
sparingly. But Cosby recognized no such scruples of prudence. He
designated three of the Supreme Court judges — Chief Justici- ^forris,
Frederick I'hiliiise, and James de l^ancey — as <'quity judges to act in
the Van Dam prosecution, stopping short only of the extreme meas-
ure of personally sitting at the head of the coui-t as chancellor. Van
Dam's counsid, ^^■illiam Smith "the elder," and James Alexander,
when the cause came up, boldly denied the legality of the court,
maintaining that the governor and council were utterly without
power to organize such a body. To the great astonishment of Judges
l'liili]ise and de Lancey, Chief Justice Morris at once held with
Smith and Alexander, and, on the ground that the Equity Court was
a tribu7ial of irregular creation, delivered a decision in favor of Van
Dam. This, of course, brought matters to a crisis. Cosby, incensed
at tlie act of the chief justice, wrote to him in decidedly discourteous
terms, re(]uesting a copy of his opinion. IMorris, in transmitting the
document to him, accompanied it with a communication couched in
strong but dignified language. "This, sir," he wrote, "is a copy of
the paper 1 read in court. I have no reason to expect that it or
anything that I can say will be at all grateful or have any weight
with your Excellency, after the answer I received to a message T
did myself the hoTior to send you, concerning an ordinance you were
about to make for establishing a Court of l']quity in the Supreme
Court as being in my opinion contrary to law, which T begged might
be delaved till T could be heard on that head. T thought mvself

242

HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTER COUNTY

well ill the <lnry of my oflicc in sending this iue8sa;j,(', aud iiopc I
(jo not flatter nivsclf in tliiiii<in.u- I shall be justified in it bj your
sn])erl(>i-s, as well as mine. The answer yonr EKcellenry was pleased
to send me was, that I need not liive myself any trouble about that
affair, that you would neither receive a visit nor any message from
me, that you would neither ndy upon my integi-ity nor depend on
my judgment, that you thoufiht me a person not at all fit to be trusted
with any concerns relating to the king, that ever since your coming
to the government I had treated you both as to your person and as
the king's representative with slight, rudeness, and impertinence;
that you did not desire to hear or see anything further of me." De-
fending himself against the various charges and intimations made
by the governor, he reminds his excellency that " if judges can be so

intimidated as not to dare to give
any opinion but what is pleasing
to a governor and agreeable to
his private views," the people of
the province must suffer in for-
tune or even life. In relation to
the accusation of inattention or
Avant of politeness, and other
IK'vsonal matters, he adds these
]iointed words: "If a bow awk-
wardly made, or anj^thing of that
kind, or some defect in ceremo-
nial in addressing j'ou, has occa-
sioned that remark, I beg it may
be attributed to want of courtly
education, or to anything else
'} rather than to want of respect to
his Majesty's representative. As
to my integrity, I have given you
no occasion to call it in question.
^^ ^ I have been in office almost

twenty years. My hands were
never soiled with a bribe, iioi- am I conscious to myself that power
or ]»overty hath been able to induce me to be partial in favor of
eithei- of them; and as I have no reason to expect any favor from
you, so 1 am neither afraid nor ashamed to stand the test of the
strictest inquiry you can make concerning my conduct. I have served
the public faithfully and honestly, according to the best of my knowl-
ed're, and I dare and do appeal to it for my justification." Cosby,
without cercmonv, now deinivcd ^lorris of his office bv handing to

^^.^^^VU^ff-

<rrrU.

THK ELECTION OF 1733 243

the yt)uug James de Lancey a notice of his appointment as chief
justice.

.Mt)iTis Avas removed from tlie chief justiceship on the 21st of Au-
i-ust, 1733. Five years previously he had terminated his Umg service
in the New York assembly. Thus, after more than forty years of
connection with public affairs, interrupted only by brief suspen-
sions from office during his early career, he was now retired to pri-
vate life. From the be^iuninfij of Cosby's arbitrary proceedings in
the Van Dam matter, the indignation of the people had been power-
fully stirred. Always opposed to the institution of the Court of Chan-
cery, the extemporization of that tribunal by Cosby for the special
purpose of procuring a judgment in his own favor was an outrage
deeply offensive to their sense of decency and right; and the rude
expulsion of Chief Justice Morris from the bench, because of his un-
willingness to be a party to such a flagrant transaction, was, in
their eyes, a deliberate and insolent attempt at despotic power. Mor-
ris was universally regarded as a victim of official tyranny, and the
people were not slow to find in his personality a rallying point for
the effective expression of their feeling. He was urged to stand as
a candidate for the assembly at the coming election, a demand to
which he willingly acceded, offering himself for the suffrages of the
electors of Westchester County, William Willet, one of the members
for the county, having retired in his favor. The other representa-
tive of the county at that time was Frederick Philipse. Lewis Morris,
Jr., son of the chief justice, had been elected the preceding year to
sit for the Borough of Westchester.

The resulting election, held on the 29th of October, on " the (xreen "
at the Town of Eastchester, was probably the most notable one in
the whole colonial history of Westchester County. The elaborate and
trraphic description of it, published in the first number of the famous
Xew York WnTclji Jnurnnl, November 5, 1733, is undoubtedly familiar
to many of our readers, having been frequently reproduced. This
description gives, however, so interesting a picture of the political
customs of the times, and, in its entirety, is so pertinent to our nar-
rative, that we copy it here withoxit abridgment:

October 29, 1 1^^.
On this day, Lewis Morris, Ksq., late Chief 'tice of this Province, was by a majority
of voices elected a Representative from the Coiinty of Westchester. It was an Election of
great Expectation : the Court and the County's interest 'was exerted*'(as is said) to the
utmost. I shall fjive my readers a particular account of it. Nicholas Cooper, Esq., Ilifjh
Sheriff of the said County, ha\'inf; by papers affixed to the Church of Eastchester and other
public places, ji^ven notice of the D.av and Place of Election, without mentioning any time of
Day when it was to be done, which made the Electors on tlie side of the late Judge very
suspicious that some Fraud was intended — to prevent which about fifty of them ke)>t wntcli
upon and about the Green at Eastchester ftlie Place of Election) from 12 o'clock the night
before till the Morning of the Day. The other Electors, beginning to move on .Sunday

244 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

aftt'iniidii and fveniiig, so as to be at New Rocliellc by Midniglit, their way lav thrmi-jb
Hariison's Purchase, the Inliabitants of whieli provided for their Entcrtaiimient as they
passed each linuse in their way, having a table jdentifidly covered for that Purpose. About
midnight they all met at the lionsc of William Lc Court at New RochcUe, whose house not
being large enough to entertain so great a number, a large fire was made in the street by
which they sat till daylight, at which time they began to move. They were joined on the
hill at the East end of the Town by about seventy horse of the Electors of the lower ])art of
the County; and then proceeded toward the place of Election in the following order, viz:
First rode two trumpeters and three violins; next, four of the princi|)al Freeholders, one of
which carried a banner, on one side of which was affixed in gold capitals " King George " and
on the other in golden capitals "Liberty and Law"; ne.xt followed the Candidate, Lewis
Morris, Esq., then two Colours; and at sun rising they entered upon the fireen at Eastchester,
followed by above three hundred horse of the princi])le Freeholders of the County, a greater
nundier than had ever api)eared for one man since the settlement of that County.

After having rode three times round the (ireeu, they went to the houses of Josejih
Fowler and Mr. Child, who were well prepared for tlieir reception; the late Chief .Justice
was met on his alighting by several (ieutlemen who came there to give their votes for him.
About 11 o'clock appeared the Candidate of the other side, 'William Forster, Esc]., the
schoolmaster, appointed by the Society for Proi)agation of the (Tosjiel, and lately made, by
eonnnission frcmi his Excellency the present (iovernor. Clerk of the Peace and Common
Pleas in that C(mnty; which commission it is said he purchased for the valuable consideration
of one hundred pistoles given the Governor. Next came two ensigns borne by two of the
Freeholders; then followed the Honourable James I)e Laneey, Escp, Chief Justice of the
Province of New York, and the Honourable Frederick Phillipse, Esq., Second Judge of the
said Province and Baron of the Exchequer, attended by about a hundred and seventy horse
of the Freeholders and friends of the said Forster and the two Judges ; they entered the
Green on the East side; and riding twice round it. their word was '^No Land Tax."

As they passed, the second Judge civilly saluted the late Chief Justice by taking otV his
hat, which the late Judge returned in the same manner, some of the late Judge's party crying
out " No Excise," and one of them was heard to say (though not by the Judge), " No
Pretender," upon which Forster, the Candidate, replied, " I will take notice of you." They
after that retired to the house of Mr. Baker, which was prepared to receive and entertain
them. About an hour after, the High Sheriff came to town, finely mounted; the housings
and holster ca])s being scarlet, richly laced with silver. Upon his apjiroach, the Electiu's on
lioth sides went into the (ireen, where they were to elect, and, after having read his Majesty's
writ, bid the Electors proceed to a choice, which they did, and a great majority api)eared for
Mr. Morris, the late Judg(^; upon which a poll was demanded, but by whom is not known to
the relator, though it was said by many to be done l>y the Sheritf himself.

Morris, the Candidate, several times asked the sheriff upon whose side the majority
api)eared, but could get no other rejdy but that a i)oll must be had; and, accordingly, after
about two hours' delay in getting benches, chairs and tables, they began to poll. Soon after,
one of those called Quakers, a man of known worth and estate, came to give bis vote for the
late Judge. Upon this, Forster and the two Fowlers, Moses and William, chosen by him to
be inspectors, questioned his having an estate, and re(piired of the Sheriff to tender him the
book to swear in due form of law, which he refused to do, but offered to take his solenm
affirmation, which lioth by the laws of England and of this Province was indulged to the
people called Quakers, and had always been practiced from the first election of representatives
in tlus Province to this tinu', and never refused, but the Sheriff was deaf to all that could be
alleged on that side; and, notwithstanding that he was told by the late Chief Justice and
James Alexander, Esq., one of his Majesty's Council and Coimcillor at Law, and by William
Smith, E-scj., Councillor at Law, that such a ])rocedure was contrary to law, and a violent
attempt of the liberties of the i)eople, he still ]>ersistcd in refusing the said Quaker to vote,
and in like manner did refuse seven-and-thirty Quakers more — men of known and visible
estates.

This Cooper, now High Sheriff of the said Comity, is said not only to be a stranger in
that County, but not having a foot of land or other visible estate in it, unless very lately
grantc'd, and it is believed lie had not wherewithal to purchase any. The polling bad not
long been continued before Mr. Edward Stephens, a man of a very considerable estate in the

THE ELECTION UK 1733 245

said County, (lid iiprnly, in till' licarinj;' of all tlio FrcclidldiTS tluTc asscnilili'd, c'liai'f;c Williain
Foi'stci', Ksi),, tlu' Candidati' on the otiirr side, with liiMiio- a .lacobite, and in the interest of
the Pretender, and that he shoidd say to Mr. William Willet (a i)erson of good estate and
known intei;rity, who was at that time present and rea<ly to make oath to the truth of
what was said) that true it was that he had not taken the oaths to his Majesty Kinj;- George,
and enjoyed a plaee in the (iovernment under liim whieh gave liim his bri'ad; yet notwith-
standing that, should King James come into England he should think himself oliliged to go
there and tight f(U- him. This was loudly and strongly urged to Forster's faee, who denied
it to be true; and no more was said of it at that time.

About 11 o'clock that night the poll was closed, and it stood thus:

For the Late Cliief Justice 2^1

The Quakers 38

269

For William Forster, Ksij 151

The Difference 118

Total 269

So that the late Chief Justice carried it by a great majority without the Quakers. Upon
closing the poll the other candidate, Forster, and the Sheriff, wished the late Chief Justice
much joy. F^orster said he hoped the late ,Jndge would not think the worse of him for
setting up against liim, to which the Judge replied he believed he \vas put upon it against his
inclinations, but that he was highly blamablc, and who did or should know better for
putting the Sheriff', who was a stranger and ignorant upon such matters, upon making so
violent an attempt upon the liberty of the people, which would expo.sc him to ruin if he were
worth <;;i(),0()(), if the people aggrieved should commence suit against him. The people made
a loud huzza, which the late Chief Judge blamed very iiiueli, as what he thimght not right.
Forster replied he took no notice of what the common people did, since Mr. Morris did not
put them njion the doing of it. The indentures being sealed, the whole body of Klectors
waited on their new Representative to his lodgings with trumpets sounding and violins
playing, and in a little time took their leave of him, and thus ended the Election to the general
sati.sfaction.

Tli(» rallying cries of the two parties, " No Land Tax " and " No
Excise,'" related to a current political issue of some importance. I'hil-
ipse had opposed the levying of quit-rents on his manor, which his
jiartisans tei-nied a " land tax," and instead of it had advocated the
raising of revenue by excise duties. This issue, however, was only
an incidental one in the great contest of 1733. (^uit-rents had always
been exceedingly objectionable to the rural population, and excise
iluties wen- almost e(|u.ally un]H)pular. As the I'hilipse and de Lan-
rcy ]iai-ty chose to take tlieir stand against the so-called laml tax,
the .Morrisites met thiejn by raising the counter issue of no excise.
I'ul ill reality it was a' contest on the sole question of the go\('rSior's
outrageous abuse of authority, and as such it became a ])errecl" test
of the disposition and readiness of the people to shake olf ilic fetters
ol' an odious government and to array themseh'es for free institu-
lioiis. There was no mistaking the true nature of the emergency,
and llie minds (d' the ])eo]ile wei-e not to be confused by the' pre-
tense liial it was an ordinarv struggle over the oiijiosing docti-ines

246 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

of " land tax "" and " excise." All the government influence was ar-
rayed against Morris, and w ith a formality and determination most
conspicuous. The Morris party, on the other hand, stood just as un-
mistakably and resolutely for the principle of popular defiance of op-
pressive government. The electors of the county were conscious that
the verdict which they Avere called ujjon to render would have the
greatest moral Aveight, and would be taken as a crucial test of the
state of public opinion. In these circumstances, emphatic as was
the majority for Morris, the character and composition of his fol-
loAving were even more significant than the mere proportions of his
vote. We are told that his supporters from the lower part of the
county " numbered only about seventy liorse." The remainder came
from far and wide, contributed by every portion of the county except
the borough Town of Westchester, which was a constituency by itself,
and the Manor of Philipseburgh, Avhich, under the influence of its
proprietor, was a unit for his antagonist. From Pelham and New
Rochelle to the remotest parts of the Manor of Cortlandt the word
had gone forth to gather on the Green at Eastchester early on the
morning of Monday, the 29th of October. Even the Quakers, the
strictest of Sabbath observers, joined in the throng which began to
move thither on Sunday morning and afternoon. It was a sponta-
neous assembling of the people to register their votes in a great cause.
On the other hand, the government candidate commanded practically
no support, except that which was directly subordinate to the will
of the powerful landlord Philipse and the influence of Chief Justice
de Lancey. This sujiport was in the aggregate of no mean propor-
tions, but when measured against the sentiment of the untrameled
people of the county it was utterly overborne.

The cry of the Morris party, " No Pretender! " and the altercation
about the supposed Jacobite principles of Forster aftord added illus-
tration of the fundamental character of the contest. At that period
the exiled Stuarts were still scheming to make their way back to
the throne of England. In the minds of the plain people, particularly
in the American colonies, the associations of the degraded dynasty
were entirely those of oppressive rule, licentiousness, corruption, and
religious intolerance. No severer political reproach could attach to
an American subject (especiallj^ if he sought elective office) than the
suspicion of being a Jacobite or sujjporter of the Stuart Pretender.
Hence the alacrity with which that reproach Avas flung at the govern-
ment candidate by the democratic Morrisites. With such an accu-
mulation of aristocratic sins upon him, it was truly an inconvenient
position in which Forster stood when he faced the Westchester yeo-
manry.

THE ELECTION OF 1733

247

Tlic ncwspaixT report of the election reproduced above was writ-
ten by a i)rlnter from New Yorlc, one Jolin Peter Zenger, who liad
gone to Eastchester to witness the struggle, and doubtless intended
his account of it for the columns of the New York Weeklij Gazette,
at that time the only news])aper in the province. The first number
of the Gazrftc appeared on October 1(5, 1725, under the direction of
William Bradford, who was originally a printer in Philadelphia, but
since 1693 had been government printer in New York on a salary
of £40 per annum over and above what he might earn at his craft.
The Gazette, naturally a government organ, had, throughout the Van
Dam controversy, been scrupulously carefxil to print nothing objec-
tionable to the governor and his partisans; and Zenger's strongly
pro-Morris I'eport of the Westchester
County election was therefore quite uu-
adapted for insertion in it. It is said
that Zenger, before returning to New
York, showed his manuscript to a lead-
ing Friend, who, referring to the Quak-
er vote, said: "Send me eight-and-
thirty copies." At all events, he at once
took steps to begin the publication of a
rival newspaper; and a week later the
first issue of the New Y'ork Weekli/ Jour-
nal came from the press. The election
report accompanied the edition proper
as a broadside, or supplement; and, in
addition, appeared the following notable piece of new's:

On Wednt'sdaj', tlie 31st of October, tlie late Chief .Justii/e, but now Representative, lauded
in this city about five o'cloek at the Ferry stairs. On his landing he was saluted by a General
Fire of the guns from the merchant vessels lying in the Roads, and was received by great num-
bers of tlie most considerable Merchants and Inhabitants of the city, and by them with loud
acclamations of the people as he walked in the streets, conducted to the Black Horse Tavern
[northwest corner of .Smith Street, now William, and Garden Street, now Exchange Place],
where a handsome entertainment was prepared for him at the charge of the gentleinen who
received him, and in the middle of one side of the room was fixed a tablet with golden
Capitals, " King George, Liberty and Law."

Indeed, the greatest enthusiasm prevailed among all classes of the
people except those immediately identifieil with the governor's cause,
and the news was hailed with rejoicing in distant ])arts of the coun-
try. The bells of the Middle Dutch Church, on Nassau Street, of
which Kip Van Dam was a member, rang out a jubilant peal, and
the bellringer, to commemorate the event, carved deep in the wooden
wall of the cupola the inscription " L. M. Oct. 31, A.D. 1733," which
could still be deciphered at the time when that ancient edifice was
dismantled, some twenty years ago.

OLD DUTCH CIlURCn, NASSAU STREET.

248 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Zenger's attendanoo as a self-ooiistituted reporter at the election
at Eastchester, and his resulting- establishment of the New York
Wiekli/ Journal, led to a train of remarkable consequences. Like
Leisier, Zeuger was a (ierman by birth — a topical representative of
the early class of alien imniigi-ants who came to America to better
their condition, and readily adajited themselves to the institutions
which they found here, lie came over as a lad in the Palatinate
immigration of 1710, served as an a]i])rcntice at the printing trade
with William Bradford for eight years, and later opened a printing
ollicc (if his own, wliicli was located on Stone Street, near the corner
of W'iiitfhall. Zealously devoted lo the lu-iiiciides of the anti-Cosby
parly, he embarked boldly in his oi>[iosition newsjiaper publishing
venture without weighing and doubtless witliout caring Uw the con-
siderations of caution wliicli naturally sliould have suggested them-
sehes to a ])erson assuming such a resjiousibility in those times of
very limited license for the jiress. He was immediately supported
and encouraged by the foremost leaders of the ijopular party — men
like \'au Dam, ilorris, and the two most eiiiiuent New York lawyers
of the period, James Alexander and William Smith, both of whom
had been ])resent in Morris's belialf at the Westchester County elec-
tion. These and others furnished him. for his paper, numerous able
and aggressive articles u]Kin 1o])ics germane to the absorliing ques-
tion of popular rights, wliicli were printed over iitiiiii< dc iihniif. The
rone of the WcelJji Jniinuil gradually became more direct, personal-
ities were indulged in, and unsjtaring i)oetical eifusiuiis, of very man-
ifestly personal application to the governor and his creatures, were
]U'ovi(led from time to time for a smiling public. Governor Cosby
endured these wicked polemics and exacerbating satires, though not
without much misery of soul, for the s])ace of about a year. Then,
unable longer to restrain his rage, he resolved to crush the atrocious
sheet forever and to visit condign punishment upon its owner.

In lliis undertaking the governor had the cordial assistance of
Chief Justice de Lancey, who a])])lied to the grand jury to find an
indictment against Zenger. But that body, made up from the ranks
of the people, ignored the demand. Next, Cosby caused his council
to send to the general assembly a message on the subject of the
scurrilous publications. The assembly, no more com])laisant than
the grand jury, calmly laid the matter on the table. Finally, in con-
sequence of some new and particularly llagitious publications,, de
Lancey procured from the gi'and jury a jn-esentment against the spe-
cial numbers of the paper containing them, which were accordingly
burned by the hangman. But what was most desired, the indictment
of Zenger, was still refused. Tie was nevertheless arrested on an in-

THE ELECTION OF 1733

249

fdrnintioii for lilicl, and, aftci- laiinuisliiui; in prison several months,
was hi-DUiilil to trial on a charge of printing matter that was " false,
scandalous, and seditions." His connsel, Alexander and Smith, conr-
a;;cously tool; I lie ground that the whole proeeedini;s before de l.,an-
cey were illegal, inasmucli as the new chief justice had l)een ap-
pointed by the nieri' execntive act <d' the governor, withont the con-
sent of the council. De I^ancey met this contention by summarily
disbarring the two lawyers. With their exit from the scene the
entire defense seemed doomed to fall to the ground, as there was no
other surticiently able lawyer in New York to take it up. In this
emergency Andrew Hamilton, of Philadeljjhia, an advocate of con-
summate intellectual qualities
and fascinating ehxiuence, and
the Nestor of the whole colo-
nial bar, was persuade(l to
come to New York and assume
the defense of the unfortunate
printei'. ITamilton admitted
the jiublication of the matters
complained of, but demanded
tliat witnesses be summoned
to prove them libelous. This
was not to the taste of the chief
justice, and was denied on the
princii)Ie that "the greater
the truth, the greater the
libel." Thereupon, accejiting
with good grace the ruling
of the court, Hamilton pro-
ceeded to address a power-
ful plea to the jury as judges
both of the law and the facts.

He urged them, as ]iatriots and freemen, to dismiss all prejudice
from their minds and determine fi-om the facts whether the ac-
cused had not I'eally published the tinitli, or what re|iresented legiti-
mate jiublic opinion, which he had the right to do and which
tliei-e was need of doing under a free government. " I make no
doubt," said he, in i)rophetic words, " but your upright conduct this
day will not only entitle you to the love and esteem of your fellow-
citizens, but every man who prefers freedom to a life of slavery w-ill
l)less and honor you as men who have baflh'd the attempts of tyranny,
and, by an impartial and incorrupt verdict, have laid a noble founda-
tion for securing to ourselves, our posterity, and our neighbors that

ANDREW H.\MILTON.

250 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

to which nature and the laws of our country have given us a right —
the liberty of both exposing and opposing arbitrary power in these
parts of the world, at least by speaking and writing truth." To this
unanswerable argument the jury responded by an almost immedi-
ate verdict of acquittal. Hamilton was hailed by the people with
acclaims even more enthusiastic and flattering than those which had
greeted Morris. He was presented by the common council with the
freedom of the city in a gold box, and ujion his departure for Phila-
delphia a salute was fired in his honor. It was in the month of Au-
gust, 1785, that this crowning victory of the people over their tyran-
nous governor was won — just two years after the humiliation of
Chief Justice Morris.

The Zenger verdict established forever the principle of the liberty
of the press in America. During the long controversy and agitation
which preceded it, the people had familiarized themselves with the
doctrine of resistance to tyrants. " If all governors are to be rever-
enced," said one of the writers in Zenger's Journal, " why not the
Turk and old Muley, or Nero?" It became decidedly the fashion to
exalt the people above their rulers, and to make pungent retorts to
those who urged the old ideas of obedience to authority. In the spirit
of political independence nurtured and matured during that period,
reflective historical writers have recognized one of the earliest foun-
dations of the Amei'ican Revolution. That spirit, as an active force,
underwent a suspension after the realization of its immediate ob-
ject, only to be revived, however, with increased energy, when the
issues antecedent to the Eevolution began to take shape. From that
October day, when the people of AVestchester County gathered in
front of the old Eastchester church to rebuke the presumption of
the royal governor, the ultimate attitude of New York concerning
any question of popular right never could have been in doubt. The
sentiment so emphatically expressed by Westchester County was
most heartily sustained by the people of New York City whenever
the citizens of that municipality had ojjportunity to make their at-
titude felt. The public bodies of the city were uniformly opposed
to Cosby's attempts. In September, 1734, when the agitation arising
out of the \"an Dam mattei', Morris's dismissal, and the course of
the Weekly Journal was at its height, an election for aldermen and
assistants was held, at which only one of the government candi-
dates was successful. As we have seen, the grand jury from first
to last refused to indict Zenger; and the comuion council was equally
refractory when demands were made upon it hj the governor, and at
the happy termination of the Zenger prosecution celebrated the
grand popular victory hy awarding the highest public honors to

THE

New -York Weekly JOURNAL

Conmmng the frejhejl Ad-viccj, Fare.gn, aod, Domcfiick.

MUNDAT November 12, 1733

Mr. Zenger.

INcert the following in your next.
and you'll oblige your FrienJ,

CATO.

Mm temporum fflicitas iJiif-ntiri qua
veils, & qua feiaras dicere lldt.

Tacit.

THE Liberty of the Prefs
is a SubjicT: of the great-
ejt ImportflncCj and in
which every Individual
is as much concern'd as
I'C is in any other Part of Liberty :
Ti.crefjrc it will not be improper to
comiiiunit.ite to the I'ablitk theSenti-
rnrnts of a liic exrellent Writer upon
this Poin'. fuch is the Elegance and
Pcrfpiryiiy of his Writings fuch the
inimitjbL- Fcce of his Ri-.ifjnini, that
it will be difiic'jlt to fay any Thing
new that he has not faid, or not to
fay that much woiTc which he has
faid.

There are tiro Sorts of Monarchies,
an abfolute and a limited one. In the
firfl, the Liberty of the Prefs can never
be maintained, it is inconfiflent with
it •, for \('hat abfolute Monarch would
fuffer any Subjofl to animadvert
On his Actions, when it is in his Pow-
er to declare the Criiiie, and to nomi-
nate the Punifhmcnt > This would
inakc it very dangerous to exercifefuch
a Liberty Bcfidcs the Objefl: againd
wiiich thole Pens niuft be direfled, is

th^^t Sovereign, the tole fupreamMi-
!il r ti f^^ t.''>;'-c being no Law in
thole Monarchies, but the V/Jll of tha
I rince, „ makes it nrceifary for his
Mmiikrs to confult his Plcafure be-
fore any Thmg can be undcTtSUcn :
He IS therefore properly chnrgfdb!-
with the Grievances of his Siibicfls,
and what the Minifter there afts bdir.g
m Obedience to the Prince, he ought
not to incur the Haticd of the People ;
for It would be hard to impute ih.i- 10
him for a Crimea jwhich is theFruit of
his Allegiance, and for refufing which
he might incur the Penalties of Trea-
fon. Bcfides, in an abfolute Monar-
chy, the Will of the Prince being the
Law,a Liberty of the Prefs to complain
of Grievances would be complainn;^
againft the Law, and the Conftitution,
to which they have fubmitted,or have
been obliged to fubmit-, and therefore
in one Scnfe, may bo fai'd to delerve
Punifhment, So that under in abio
lute Monarchy, I fay, fuch a Liberty
is inconfiftent with the Conflitution,
having_ no proper Subjeft in Politics,
on which it mig!it be excrci,'d, and if
cxcrcis'd Would incur a certain Pemkv
But in a limited Monarchy, a- Fng
land IS, our Laws are known, lixed
and edablilhed. 1 hey are the llreigh
Rule and fureOuide to dir'eft theKing,
the Minifters, and other his Subjcas :
And therefore an Offence againft the
Laws is fuch an Offence againfl Ihe
Conftitution as ought to receive a pto
per adequate Punifhment ; the (event

Coiiftfj"

PAGE FROM ZENGER'S JOURNAL.

252 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Zt'Uj;('i''s lawyer. No ulhcr uttiHuk' was to have becu cxiH-ctinl, how-
ever, of New York City, with its largely preponderant element of
tra(lcsi)co]ile and other plain citizens, \a1io were substantially united
in opposition to offensive manifestations of power. P>ut in West-
chester County, dominated to so great an extent by conservative
landlords, the case was widely ditferent. In this county the real
battle was fought and won, determining unmistakably the exist-
ence of a decisive majority against royal oppression among the peo-
ple of the province at large. Nothing is more interesting in con-
nection with the Westchester electoral contest of 1733 than the fact
that the lines of local division upon which it was fought were pre-
cisely the ones that divided the rival Whig and Loyalist factions of
the county when they came to make their trial of sti'ength forty
years later on the issue of co-operation or non-co-operation with the
general cause of the American colonies. At the historic meeting of
the freeholders of ^^'estchester ('ounty held at White Plains on the
11th of April, 1775, the contending parties were again led by the
heads of the Morris and I'hilipse families — Lewis Morris, 3d, grand-
son of the chief justice, and Frederick Philipse, 3d, son of the Judge
I'hilipse of Cosby's Court of Chancery. And the result was the same
as on the first occasion — a com]dete triumph for the Morris pJirty,
representing, as before, the princi]ile of non-obodience to objection-
able government.

Lewis Morris, the deposed chief justice, upon re-entering the as-
sembly became at once the leader of the po]iular forces in that body.
It being decided to send a representati\e to lOngland to inform the
home government of Cosby's ba<l acts, and if possible get him re-
called, Morris was selected to go on that errand. lie made the
journey in 1731, duh' laid the grievances of the colonists before the
privy council, and procured a decision pronouncing the grounds of
his own removal from the chief justiceship inadequate, but received
no further satisfaction. Soon afterward, in 173(>, Cosby died. Morris,
upon his return to America, was very warndy greeted by the people.
Notwithstanding his pronnnent connection with the events whose
history Ave have traced, and in spite of the comparative failure ol
his mission to England, he retained the friendship and appreciation
of inlluential men at the British court, ;ni(l was. in 173S, appointed
colonial governor of New Jersey, a iiosition which he continued to
hold until his death. May 21, 1746. He left his Morrisania property
jointly to his son Lewis and his widow, directing that the whole
should go to the former upon the latter's <leath. His New Jersey
property he bequeathed to another son, Robert Hunter Morris, who
held, at the time of the father's death, the distinguished office of

THE EI.ECTION OF 1733

253

chicr justice of lliat province. Lewis Morris, Sr., represented the
County of Westchester in tlie ]provin(ial assembly until his appoint-
ment as jiovernor of New Jersey, when he resigned, retiring perma-
nently from public life in New York.

Chief Justice Morris gave bis Manor of Morrisania to his eldest
son, Lewis, third of the name, who was known by his contemi)ora-
ries, and is referred to in all historical works, as Lewis Morris, Jr.
lie was the father of Colonel Lewis Morris, the signer of the Declara-
tion of Independence; of the still more noted statesman, Gouverneur
Morris; of Judge Richard ^Alorris, successor to John Jay as chief
justice of the Su])reme Court of New York State; and of (Jeneral
Staats Long Morris, of tlie British army.

Lewis Morris, Ji-., third proprietor and second lord of the Jlorris
estates in AN'estchester County, was
born September 23, 1098. jMost of his
]iolitical career was conteinjioraneous
Avith that of his father, which it closely
re.sembled in its general characteris-
tics. He was a deputy for Westchester
Borough in the general assembly from
1732 to 1750, serving as speaker
in 17:>7. Trevionsly to entering the
assembly he had been a member of
the go\-ernor's council for some years,
but liad been removed from that
body in 1730 because of his deter-
mined opposition to the policies of
Oovernor ^fontgomerie. Tie was, in-
deed, quite as heartily disliked by
!\rontgomerie as his father was by

Cosby, and a]ii)ai'ently for quite similar reasons. In justilication
of his course in the council he wrote a very able letter to the
English government, w liich is a luminous presentation of the par-
tisan dilTerences of the time. ^Vhen the great po])ular issue arose
in 1733 on the Van Dam salary (|nestion he Avas a zealous supi)orter
of his father's cause. Cosby, in liis denunciatoi-y communications to
tlic {.mils of 'rradc I'espectiiig the attitude of Cliief Justice .M(u-ris,
sjK'aks wiiji savage resent meni of the son also, who, he says, lia\ing
"got himself elected an assemblyman for a boi'ough, gave all th<'
opposition he could to the measures the house took to make the gov-
ernment easy." \Vith this wanton behavior of the junior ^lorris,
Cosby continues, the father was well i)leased, "wherein without

PETER FANEUIL.

254 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

flrmbt he bad an eye on the Boston assembly,' whose spirit bej^ins to
(liriuse itself too much amongst the other provinces.'' Durinjj; the
absence of the deposed chief justice in England (1734-36) the son
took his place here in public leadership. After Cosby's death, early
in 173(1, an animated controversy sprang up concerning the legality
of the accession of Clarke, at that time president of the council, to
(lie position of lieutenant-governor, the popular faction declaring his
assumption of power to be irregular. This was the occasion of nu-
merous official letters of complaint by the vinhappy lieutenant-gov-
ernor. He related how Morris and liis son, Van Dam, Smith, and
Alexander had by their long-continued acts '•wrought the people to
a pitch of rebellion." "These are the men," he said, "who declaim
against the king's prerogative, who poison the minds of the people,
who libel the governor and all in authority in weekly printed papers,
and who have endeavored to distress the governor in his just ad-
minislration." TTe went so far as to recommend, as a drastic remedy,
thar the younger Morris and others be sent to England for sedition,
a thing which he regretted he could not venture to do without orders,
because "forbidden by Tlis Majesty's instructions to send any pris-
oners to England without sufficient proof of their crimes to be trans-
mitted with them." They were a. worrisome set, these Morrises, to
royal governors having a fancy for arbitrary power and a strong dis-
taste for popular interference with their executive ease.

The younger Morris was also a judge of the Court of Admiralty,
and at one time a judge of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. He was
twice married, his first wife being Catherine Staats, and his second
Sarah Gouverneur. Like his father, he possessed a positive tempera-
ment, an unbending will, and a rather domineering manner. His
uncompromising disposition in all matters of opinion and feeling
is well illustrated by the celebrated direction given in his will re-
garding the education of his son Gouverneur. " It is my wish," he
says, " that my son Gouverneur shall have the best education that
can be furnished him in England or America, but my express will and
directions are that under no circumstances shall he be sent to the
Colony of Connecticut for that purpose, lest in his youth he should
imbibe that low craft and cunning so incident to the people of that
country, and which are so interwoven in their constitution that they
can not conceal it from the world, though many of them, under the
sanctified garb of religion, have attempted to impose themselves
upon the world as honest men."

lit was durine tlif poiinri of the pvpnts re- nnrt Peter obtained employment with him and

corded in this ehapter that Faneuil Hall. inhorUed his fortune. In 1740 the people of

identified so eonspienousiy with the subseqnent Boston were divided in opinion npon the ques-

.-igitatiiin for Anieriean liberty, was built in „ r. » i »r i *

„ ., . . .^ lion of the erection of a new Central Market

I'.ostou. Peter Faneuil. for whom it was „ ,, ^ , ^.^ , ,,

, ,, . m „ * -NT „ Ha . and much bitter feeling was aroused,

named, was a native of our Town of New "

Uochelle, whence he went to Boston In the Thereupon, Peter Faneuil, actuated by public
year 1720, at the age of eighteen. His uncle spirit, erected Faneuil Hall, and presented It
Andrew was a wealthy merchant of that city, to the city.

CHAPTEK XllI

THE ARISTOCRATIC FAMILIES AND THEIR INFLUENCES

HE great Manor of Pliilipsclmiiili at the death of its founder,
llie fir.si Fiv(lei'u-k riiilijisc, Xovi-nibci' 0, 1702, was divided
hetMeen two heirs, his son, Adolphus or Adolph, and his
i>randson, Fredericli. Adolph took the northern portion,
cxtciidiiii; on (lie soiitli to the present r)obV)S Ferry and bounded on
tlie west bA- the Hudson Eiver, on the north by a line ruuninj;' from
the month of the Croton to the sources of the Bronx, and on the
cast by the Bronx IJiver. Frederiek's share, also reachiuin- from the
Hudson to the Bronx, had for its southern limits Spuyten Duyvil
Creek and the line of Fordham Manor. In this divided condition the
manor remained until the death of Adol])h in 1749, when, as no Issue
survived him, it was consolidated under the sole ow'uership of Fred-
erick. By him the whole manor was transmitted at his death in
17.")1 to his (ddest son, the third I'rederick, who continued in ])os-
session of it until the lievolution.

When the first Frederick Philipse died, the manor had been in ex-
istence only nine years. But he had previously devoted many years
lo tlie purchase of the estate and its si'rfidual preparation for aristo-
cratic iireteusions, had built two mansions, one on the Nepperhan
and one on the Pocautico, had established well-equipped mills, and
had encduraiicd the comino' of tenants by f^ivinjj- them land on the
most liberal terms. After the erection of the manor he Avas active
in various Avays in improving the property and promoting its avail-
ability for permanent settlement. He built across the Spuyten
Duyvil Creek, in 1004, the first bridge connecting the mainland witii
Manhattan Island, Avhich has been known from that day to this as
llie King's Bridge. HaA'ing established his ])ermanent country resi-
dence at Castle Pliili]ise, on tiie present site of Tai'rytown, lu^ built
near there the first clnncli in the Avestern section of the county — the
far-famed Dutch Cliun li of Sleepy HoIIoaa.^ In a communication from

' Sec p. ]G3. AVliiU' tlii' iircsciit History has every personal and local name, of its four f;rcat

l>eeii K.iins tlirousb tile press, there has been lefflsters of inember.s, consistorvmon, baptisms,

published a little book entitled, " First Record „„„ ,„,,,, .|„gos, from lis on.'ani7.ation to the

l!.iok of the f)hl nutdi Church of Sleepy Hoi- „ . , ,

, ,, • , ■ .m- I tv. t^i i r. ond of the elfchteenth einturv. Translated and

Imw. ort'aniziMl in IdOT. and now the First Re- "

|-.,riii,il rinirch of Tarrytown. N. Y. An orig- copied from the oricinnl. and carefully proof-
lual Irauslatiou of ils brief historical matter. read, by Iti-v. Iiavid Cole, li.li.. Vonkers.
anil a n'liroduethm. faithful to the letter of N. Y."

256

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(iovcnior P.ellomont to the Ivords of Trade, Avritten in 1698, it is
stated that at tliat liinc llierc w<'re not more than twenty "poor
faniilit'S " in the w hoh' .Manor of I'liilijischiir^h; but there are strong
reasons for regarding this as an utterly unreliable estimate. Bello-
mont was a governor of reform tendencies, and was partieularly nn-
sjiai'ing in liis denuneiations of the enormous land grants of his
predecessors. He naturally wished to make these grants appear in
as bad a light as jiossible, and so, in writing upon the subject to
his sui)eriors, represente<l that practically nothing had been done
by tlie grantees toward populating their lands. It is unquestion-
able that the tii'st lord of the manor laid substantial foundations for
its develo]unent and transmitted it to liis successors in a condition
of reasonably good preparediu'ss for rapid progress. At tlie census

of 1712, only ten years after Ids death, the
po])ulation of rhilipseburgh Manor was
fiOS — more than one-fifth of the whole
lH)]nilation of the county.

All of the first I'rpderick's children
were the offspring of his first wife, Mar-
garet Hardenbi-ook De Vries. Flis sec-
ond Avifp, CaTlierina, a sister of Stephanas
Yaji Cortlandt and widow of ,Tolin Der-
A'.'ill, survived him many years, dying in
1730. She liveil with her step-^on, Adoljiii,
at Castle rhiii])se, and was uiuversally
beloved for her gentle and jiions (diar-
acter. In th<' records of the Slee])y TI(d-
Inw church she is spoken of as " the
Iiiglit Honorable, (lodfearing, vei-y wise
and iirudoil Lady Calherinc riiili](se.'" l!y her will she left to the
congregation of that cliuicli a chalice hearing lier name, a baptismal
bowl, and a damask cloth.

Both .\dol])h and I'-redericdc, the surviving male heirs of the first
lord, were men of mark and intluence, not only as Westchester County
landlords, but in the geni-ral concerns of the province. Adolph was
his second son and Frederick his grandson — the only child of his
eldest son, Philip, who died ou the Island (d' I'arbadoes in 171)11.

Ad(d]ih I'hilipse was born in New York <'ity, November 15, 1(5(55.
He was reared to mercantile pnr.suits, and according to all accounts
Avas, like his father, a shrewd and successful man of affairs. From
old official documents it ajjpears that he was his father's trusted and
active lieutenant in the conduct of delicate transactions with the
l)irafical skipi>ers of the Indian Ocean. Xot(U-ious as Avero the rela-

GOVERNOR BELLOMONT.

TIIK ATMSTOfUATIC FA^III.IES 257

(i<Mis wliicli I'liili]tsc iiiid nllicrs siisl;iin''il with ihc |pir;il(s, i( was
(if course iidl sale t'oi- llic pii-alc sliijis lo alli'in|ii lo dclivrr tlieir
cariincs at \r\\ \'(H'k. di' ryt'w lo rcii(lc/,\ oils within too close |»r((x-
iiiiitv to that port. It was tlie i iistoiii to dispatch li-oiii New N'ork
\essels to meet lh( III at more or less distant poiuts aloiij;' the coast,
w liich \('ssels, at'ter recei\iini their valuahle merchandise, would
either return to the \icinity of New ^■(lrk and await opjiortunity to
smuiiiile the stulT in, or sail to l'>iirope and disjiose of it llu're. Adolph
was tlie discreet re|)reseiitati\e of tlie house of I'hilipse in llie man-
ajicment of these imiioilant details. In a memorable report of the
liritisli Board id' Trade, October 19, 1()!>S, on the connections sub-
sisting;- between the New York merchants and the pirates, the opera-
tions of the (dever Adoljili in one instance are explicitly described. A
ship or sloop calieil tlie ■• I'rederick," b(d()nf;iuii' to Frederick Pliilipse,
at that time " one of his Majesty's ( 'oiiucii of New York," was, " upon
exjiectalion of a \cssel from Madaj^ascar," sent otit under tlie con-
duct of A(ltd|)h l'hili]ise. This was " upon pretence of a voya.H'e to
\'ir^inia, but really to cruize at sea, in order to meet The said vessel
from ^Iadaiiasc:ir. I'pon meetinii of that vessel ^reat ](aicells of East
India i^oods were b\- direction of the said .Vdolphus I'liilipse taken
out of her, and put aboard the said sloop ' Frederick,' with which, by
his order, she sayled ro Dcdaware Bay an«l lay there ])rivately. He
in ye meanwhile returned in the Mailaiiascar sliiji (having then only
nej;roes on boardi to \ew ^'ork, and after some days came as^ain to
the • I'rederii k " sloop in Delaware Bay. There the said sloo]i deliv-
ered some small |)art of Ivisi India carii'o. and frftm thence, l)y his
direction, s.iyhd with the rest (North about Scotlani!) to IIaniburi;li,
where some seizure having; been made- by Sii- I'aul Kicaut (His ^laj-
esty's Besident Iherei, and the men sent hither (London), they have
eai h (d them severally iiiaile depositions ndatino,' to that matter be-
fore Sir Charles Ilediics, Judye of the Admirality. We observe that
Cornelius -lacobs (the niasteri ajijiears to be the same Capn. Jacobs
who is named to li;i\c traded with the Pirates.'' B(datious with the
pirates on the jiart of Fre<lerick and Adolph I'hilipse beinj; thus
established to the satisfaction of the authorities in England, both
father and sou fell under the (lisfavf)r of the government. Frederick
riiiliiise was forced to give up the seat in the council which he had
held for a score of years; and Adolph, who had been nominated for
membei'ship in that body a short time jireviously by (iovernor Bello-
inont, was pronounced unworthy of such an honor, and his name
was withdi-awn. ISut the disgrace was only a passing (loud. No
judicial pro<-eedings were taken against either of the Philii)ses. The

258

HISTOIIY OP WKSTCHESTEU COUNTY

fiithcr (lied soon after, and the son was jirariouslv f(iriii\rn in <lno
tinu'.

Adoljili I'liilipsf in tliu yc-ar bctoi-c lliis episode of tlie " l'i-edei-ici< "
had become on his oMn acconnt one of the principal land o\\ iieis of
the ])i'ovince. On the ITIh of Jnne, KJ'JT, Governor Flelcher i;ranted
to him a patent (known historically as "The (ireat llij;hland l*atent"i
for the territory immediately above Westchester Connty, rnnninjj,
from the Hudson to the Connecticut line, a distance of some twenty
miles, and extending nortlnvard about twelve miles. Out of the
patent thus conferred Putnam County (then a poition of r)utchess
County) has since been ei-ected. Tlie sole consideration cliarj^cd for
the jirant v\'as a " Yearly Rent of twenty Shillings Currant money of

our said Province," payable u])on the
feast day of the Annunciation of the
Blessed Virgin ^Fary. Adolph Philipse,
al Ids death, left the ITighland Patent,
with .ill his other landed possessif)ns, to
his neohew, the second Frederick, who
divided it ecpially among his three chi!
dren — Frederick (3d), IMary, wife of Iloger
Morris, a colonel iti the British army, and
Susannah, wife of ("<doiud Beverly llobin-
son, also a noted Tory. The whole patent
Avas partitioned off into three parts and
nine lots, each child receiving one-third
](ail and three lots. The lots ai-ipiired by
Colonel Kobinson and Major Morris, says
Blake in his '•History of Putnam Coun-
ty," were confiscated by the legisla-
ture, but the reversionary interest was not affected by this action,
and that interest was purchased of the heirs for fldO.ddO by the
first John Jacob Astor, who ten years aftei'ward received for it fi-om
the State of Xew York .'tf.")()O,()00 in State stock at six per cent.

After the death of his father, Adolph became the head of the
faniilj', a position which he divided with his nephew. Frederick, when
the latter came of age. On the 7th of February, 1705, he was ap-
pointed a member of the governor's council, and in 1718 he was made
one of the commissioners for nmning tlie boundary line between
New York and Connecticut. He was removed from tiie council in
1721, on the representation of Governor Burnet, for opposing the con-
tinuance of the assembly after His Excellency's arrival. In 1722 he
was (dected a member of the assembly fi'om Westchester County,
of which body he was chosen speaker in 172.3. He sat for West-

GOVERNOR BURNF.T.

THE AUISTOCHATIC I'A.MILIKS 259

Chester County until the ch'ctidu of 172(), beinp; then returned as
one of the four members from New York City. lie oecnpied the
speaker's oliair until 1737, when he lost his seat; but at an election
held soon aflci-ward to fill a vacancy from the city he was once
more returned, although, it was charged, only by means of the "most
bar<'faced villany " practiced in his behalf by the sheriff. He was
again chosen speaker in 1739, and I'cmained as such until 1745, when,
at the age of eighty, his legislative careei- was terminated. He died
in 1740. He was never married.

It is llius seen that Adoljjh rhilii)se was one of the most ini])()rtant
public characters of his times, being speaker of the assembly for
eighteen years. ITis retirement as a member for Westchester County
was in the interest of his nephew, Frederick, who promptly took
the seat that he vacated, retaining it without any interruption for
twenty-four years.

In the memories of the pe()])le of Westchester County the name of
Philipse is, from the political point of view, iiientified exclusively
with the idea of ultra devotion to royal authority in the person of
the king's constiluted representative. It is hence an extremely curi-
ous fact that, six years before the i*emoval of Lewis Morris from the
chief justiceship, Adolph Philipse, the senior member of this family,
gave his voice and exercised his official power in exactly the same
cause as that to which Morris became a martyr — the cause of oppo-
sition to the Court of Chancery as an extra-constitutional organiza-
tion, none the less (indeed, all the more) illegal and odious because
finding its sole Avarrant for existence in the governor's prerogative.
In 1727 we find Governor Burnet bitterly complaining to the Lords
of Trade about some " extraordinary resolves '' concerning the Court
of Chancery, " which," he says, " was all done at the suggestion of
their speaker, who had lately lost a cause in chancery." Philipse,
he continues, had "the least reason of any man to disown the Court
of Chancery, for he himself was a member of council when that court
was established by the council and when the Lords of Trade ap-
proved that establishment, and he himself three years ago being cast
in a suit at common law brought it into chancery and obtained some
relief from it." Btirnet intimates that the conduct of Speak(>r Phil-
ipse in this matter was not occasioned by any high sense of principle,
but was merely personal; and certainly Philipse had no cause in (his
connection, or regarding any other question of policy, to make him-
self specially complaisant toward Governor Burnet, who had pro-
cured his dismissal from the council. On the other hand, antago-
nism to the Court of Chancery was emphatically a popular cause,
only less so in degree fbecause of the less emergent circumstances)

260

HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

in IJiinicfs tiiiK^ tluiii in Cosby \s; and whati'Vcr personal niotivus
niav liavc intlucnccd IMiilipse's course, that course could not be sepa-
rated from a.ssociaTion with the popular feeling-. Adolph Philipse,
moreover, was never an intense ](artisan; and his loun-coutlnued
service as speaker of Ihe assembly is sufficient testimony to the
f>eueral fairness and acceptabi]il.\' of his ])(diti(al disposition. lie
ahvays adliei-ed to Ihe simph' rdinious faith in wliicli he had been
broniilit up, that of the Dutcli ileformed ("hurch, althouiih the
('hnrcli of iMiiibuid imi-easinuly clainied the attachment of the rich,
jxiwerfnl, and ambitions; and il occasioned jL;i-ie\'ous rejiret to the
Episcopalians that a man of his pidininence should be so conspicu-

SAINT JOHN S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, YONKEKS.

ously unidentiticd with '•tlie" Churc h. His public character has beeu
summed up in words of un(|ualihed approval by the eminent patriot
and statesman, John Jay. " lie was," says Jay, "a man of superior
talents, well educated, sedate, highly respected, and popular. Except
that he was penurious, I have heard nothing to his disadvantaije."

Frederick Philipse, 2d, co-heir with his uu<de Adolph under the
will of the first lord of the manor, Avas born on the Island of Bar-
badoes in 1G95. His parents wei-e Philip, eldest son of Frederick and
IMargaret Philipse, and ilaria, daughter of Governor Sparks, of Bar-
badoes. Philip Philipse, born in New York City in 1G63, went to

TIIH AKlSldCUATIC FAMILIES 261

Barbadot'S to ivside on an estate of liis ralliei's railed S]irin^ Head.
Frederick was the only child, and was left an oriihan al ilie age of
five. Ilis grandfather, Avho was still living, theren[)on sold the Bar-
badoes in'oi)erty, and the boy was sent to England to be reared by
his mother's people. There he remained nutil his early manhood, en-
joying every educational and social advantage which wealth and dis-
tingnished connections could give. Although from these associa-
tions he derived marked aristocratic predilections, which, in turn,
were inbred in his children, and became the cause of their undoing
in the evil days of the IJevolution, his character, as thus foi'uied, was
that of an accomidished and aunable gentleman, (]uite free from
corrupt and arrogant traits. By his tenants and the public he was
always known as "Lord" Thilipse, and his personality wcdl corres-
ponded to his title. " lie was," says Mrs. Lamb, " polished in his
manners, hospitable, generous, cordial, nuiidy. Ills cultivated Euro-
pean tastes were soon distinguishable in his improvements. The
manor house swelled into thrice its former size, and was beautiful
in innumerable ways. The two entrances on the new eastern
front were ornamented with eight columns and corresponding
pilasters. A broad, velvety lawn appeari'd skirted by garden ter-
races, horse chestnuts, and the old Albany and New York Post
Road, above which rose Locust Hill. To the right and left were
laid out gardens and grounds, in which floui'islied valuable trees and
choice shrubs and howers, and through which, in all directions,
sti'etched graveled walks, bordered with box. To the west the green-
sward sloped gradually toward the river, dotted with tine specimens
of ornamental trees, and was emparked and stockt-d with deer. The
roof of the manor house was surmounted by a heavy line of balus-
trade, foi'uiing a terrace, Avhich commanded an extensive view. The
interior of the new part was elaborately tinished. The walls were
wainscoted, and the ceilings highly ornamented in arabesijue work.
The marble mantels were imported from England, and were curious
specimens of ancient an in the way of carving. The main halls of
the entrance were about foui-teen feet wide, and the sui)erb stair-
cases, with their mahogany handrails ami balusters, were ])ropor-
tionately broad. The city <\stab]ishnii'nt of the family was, in its
interior arrangements, (piite as ])retenlious as the manor house, and
it was whei-e flu courtly aristocracy ol tlie ]n<>\ince were wont to
meet in gay and joyous throng." " It was he," says .Vllison in his
" History of Vonkers," " who enlarged the ^lanor House on the Xep-
perhan in 171."), by extending it lo the noiili, changing its front to
the east, ami gi\ing it its impusiiig array of windows, its too |)or-

202 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

ticocs as now seen, aud its surroumliug balustrade, from which views
of the river and the Palisades are commanded."

About the time of his return to America to claim his inheritance,
young Frederick was married to Joanna, daughter of Lieutenant-
Ciovernor Anthony Brockholst, who also had been tenderly reared in
England. During the first few years of his residence on his estate he
took no part in public life. But from the time of his first election to
the assembly, in 172G, until his death, in 1751, he was constantly in
official position. His career in the assembly was not specially note-
worthy. Despite the rivali-y of the Morrises, who stood for political
views radically opposed to his own, his seat in the assembly seems
never to have been imi^eriled. It was an understood thing in West-
chester County for more than half a century that one of the county
members should always be a i'hilipse. He was appointed by Gover-
nor Montgomerie on June 24, 1731, third judge of the Supreme Court
of the province, and on August 21, 1733, b}' the removal of Morris
from the chief justiceship aud the elevation of de Lancey to that
office, he became second judge, continuing as such until his death,
lie was also, from 1735 until his death, judge of the Court of Com-
mon I'k-as of Westchester County.

in opposing Chief Justice Morris and siding with de Lancey upon
the question of the legality of the Court of Chancery appointed to
try the Van Dam case, Frederick I'hilipse followed the natural bent
of his sympathies. It is related in Governor Cosby's official letter to
the home government concerning Morris's famous decision that Jus-
tice Philipse, in common with Justice de Lancey, heard " with aston-
ishment " the abrupt declaration by the chief justice that the Court
of Chancery was not a legal tribunal; and this no doubt was a quite
faithful representation of his mental attitude on that trying occa-
sion. \Vhatever may be thought of the conduct of the ambitious de
T.aiucy, riiilipse's action was unmistakably ingenuous. It probably
never occurred to him to doubt the peifcct regularity and sutliciency
of a court which had been set over the people at the discretion of
the king's governor and his advisers. Philipse's career on the bench,
exceiiting in this single case, was uneventful and wholly acceptable.
After the Van Dam decision the Supreme Court was dominali'il by
the individuality of de Lancey, as it had previously been by that of
^lorris, and the function of a second judge was not an onerous one.
Judge Philipse is descrilied in an official communication from the
council to the English government as "a very worthy gentleman of
plentiful fortune and good education."

On his manor — or rather his section of the manor, for it was only
during the last two years of his life, after the death of his uncle

THE ARISTOCRATIC FAMILIES 263

iVddliili, I hat he ciijoyt'd possession of tlie whole property — he ruled
Avith nuich appreciiitioii of his proprietary dij;nity and eorresponding
observance of eereniony, but (o the uniform satisfaction of his ten-
ants, rie disjdayed none of the puffed-up characteristics of the par-
venue lord, but was liind, approachable, moderate, and good to the
poor, lie presid<'d in ])erson over the manorial court. Tlie inhab-
itants of the estate, exce])t liis immediate liousehold, continued to
be tenant farmers. He is said to have had fifty family servants, of
whom thirty were whites and twenty' were negro slaves. He was a
devoted member of the Chnrcli of England, and was the founder of
Saint John's Ejiiscopal Church of Yonkers. Bnt it was not until after
his death that that church had its beginning; during his life he was
content at sucli times of the year as he resided in the Manor House
to worship at the family altar, his tenants being under the mis-
sionary care of the Parish of Westchester. The first Church of Eng-
land minister established at Westchester whose duties included visi-
tations of the Yonkers portion of riiilipseburgh Manor was the Rev.
Mr. Bartow. He died in 1726. " As often as he could," says a con-
temporaneous church writer, " he visited Yonkers. A large congre-
gation, chielly of Dutch people, canu' to hear him. There was no
church built here, so they assembled for divine worship at the house
of 'Sir. Joseph Bebits, and sometimes in a barn when emi)ty." That
this unsatisfactory condition of things was i)ermitted by the second
lord to continue throughout his lifetime, although meanwhile he
made the most elaborate expenditures upon his manorial mansion
and grounds, must be set down positively to his discredit. When,
finally, by his will he directed his executors to expend £400 for the
erection of a churcli, he took care to specify that the money should
come out of the rentals from the tenants. He dona*^ed. however, a
farm, with residence and outbuildings, lying east of the Sawmill
TJivci-, as a gleb<> for the minister. The cliunli was promptly built
(1752-53) by his heir.

He died in 1751. He had ten children, of whom only f(Uir — Fred-
erick, Philip, Susanna, and ]\Iary — grew to luatui'ity. Frederick was
the third and last lord of the manor; Philip died in 1708, leaving
three children; and Susanna and Mary, as already noted, mari'ied,
resiiectively, Colonel Beverly Kobinson and Major Roger i\Iorris.
This Mary was the celebrated ilary l'hilii)se for whom George Wash-
ington, according to some of his biographers, formed in his youth a
romantic attachment.

The Manor of Scarsdale, patented to Colonel t'aleb Heathcote in
1701, had only a nominal continuance after his death (1721'). He left
no male heir to take a pcrsoual interest in the development of the

2G4

HISTORY OF WESTCUKSTEK COIXTY

DE LANCET ARMS.

])i-(i|)ci-ty as KiH' dl' Ihc lii'cal lamily (•slat(s >>[ W'cslclicslcr ("oniity,
and I lins Scai-sdalc iic\'ci- ranked wiili i lie nt Iut inanni-s. Il was pre-
served iiitacl, l)(i\ve\'ei-, under the joint inoprietdrslii]! nC Heath-
cole's two dauiiliters, until just l)el'ore llie iJe\dlulion, w lien iis lands
were dis]Mis('d of to various jiersons hy parliliini sale. Its ]U'onress
in pojMilaiion, although vei'v slow at Mrsi, was ultimately alioul the
sauH' as that of the ordinary i-ural sections of the counly. The vil-
laiic of ;\Ianiar()iU'ck, lyiui; within iis iiordi is, hut Jiot lielou^inji' to
the nianin-ial estate, enjoyed sleady hut slow growth as one of the (dd
connnunilies (m tlie Sound.

lleallicote's daughters, Ann and .Martha, niarried, resi)ectivel\,
•lauK s de I.ancey, of New ^■ork City, and Dr. Lewis .Johnston, of
rei-th Anilxty, N. -1. Of these two nu-ii, the latter
re(|uires no s])ecial not ice in our ])aii('s; but de Lan-
cey has uhm-c than (udiiuiry (hums u])on our at-
teiilion. This remarkable man, besides beini;' the
son in law of Heat licole, was a orandson of Stepha-
nus \'au Cortlaudt, the fonmler of A'aii Cortlandt
]\raiior, and 1hei-ef(u-e may be reyardetl as one of
^^'estc•h ester's sons. As the hnsband of Ann Ileatii-
cote he became a lariic Westchester County land
o\\ner. The de l.am'ey family of the c(Uiuty, de-
scended in jtart from him and in part from liis brother I'eter. is one
to which uncommon histiuical interest atla(dies.

His father, Stejdien de l.ancey, a descendant in the Huguenot
branch of an r.ncient and noble I'^rendi house, tied from France after
the re\<ication of the ICdict of Nantes, and in lOStJ arrived in New
York with a capital id' £:!(l(l. Embarking in mercantile i)nrsults, he
soon amassed wealth ami gained a vei'V influential position, not only
in the commercial c(uumunity of NeA\' '\'ori<, but in the government.
He was a meml)er ol' the general assembly for many years, was a
vestryman of Trinity Church in New York, and was noted for his
public-s]iirited interest in the concerns of the city. He was a waian
friend of the llugnenots of New Iiocdndle. In 1700 he married Ann,
secoml daughter of Steidianus \'an Coi'tlandt. .Tanu-s do Lancey,
the future (hief jnstice and govei-nor, was their eldest sou, boi-n in
New ^'ork City, November 27, 17().'>.

James was educated al the Fniversity of Camliridge, lOngland. In
172!) h(> Avas api»oiuted a iiiendier ol' Hie go\-ernor's council, snooeed-
ing John Barberie, who was his nncle by marriage. In 17:51 ho was
niaile an associate justice <d' the Sniu-enu' Court, and in 17:}o, at the
age of thirty, was piomoted to (he chief justicoshii). Whatovor may
liave been the (h'teiani in ng reasons for his su]»i)ort of Cio\crnor Cosby

THE ARISTOCRATIC FA^FTLIES 265

luid jiiiliii^oiiisni of ('lii( r .liislicc .Mollis in tli:' \';in Dam case, lie
imbesitatiiijiiy followed to iis lojiical coiiclusioii I lie course liial lie
adopted \i\u)u Ilia! occasion. Of a \ cry proud nature, lie deeply rt--
seiited the assnniption by t lie other side of siijierior virtue and superior
reiiard for liberty and law. .Morris was a man of positive traits, and
by the exercise of nn(|iiest ioned judicial authority had lirown dicta-
torial in his old aiic Incensed at the attitude of his yoniiiii associate
justices, both of whom were still in their thirties, he did not hesitate
to make known his personal views of their conduct. "On the day
after the \'an Dam decision," writes (Jovernor Cosby to the Duke of
Newcastle, " the (diief justice, coming to court, told those two jndji'es,
op(>nly and publiidy upon the beiudi before a nuinerous audience, thai
I heir reasons for their o]iinion wei'e mean, weak, and futile; that they
were only his assistants, j^iviiii; them to understand that their ojiin-
ions, or rather jiidf^iiieiits, were of no siiiiiification." One can imaiiine
how the haii.ulity spii-it of de Lancey must have chafed under such lan-
siuafje. .Mliiounh tlie (piarrel resulted in the dismissal of .Morris
and his own a]i|>ointuieiit to the vacated oflice, he had to suiter for
two years the humiliation of extreme unpo[mlarity and of utter
failure to c(mi]iel acceptation for his otliciai orders and rulinjis in
the further devcdopments of the controvei-sy. The t;rand jury, de-
siiite his strenuous and i'e])ealed application, refused to indict Zeni;er,
and on the final trial of that an h-lilxder the jury in the case con-
teiii])tuoiisly scorned the urgeiit instructions jiiNcii them by the chief
justice to liud against tli(> accused, and instantly rendered a verdict
of not nuilty aiuid the i-ajiturous a](]daiise of the assembled ]iopiilace.
15uf after the subsidence (d' the passions of that excitinii jierioil, the
real wortii of de Lancey's ( haracter became by dejArees apjireciated.
Stroniiw illed and anil)itious, he was yvt a man of perfect honesty and
o])enness, frt'c from all meanness and low craft and servility to the
SiTcat. To the manliest of jiersonal (pialitics he added brilliant abil-
ities, an extraordinary capacity for ])ublic affairs, and an alTability
and ^race t,{' manner whi( h made him an (diject of i;eneral admira-
tion and affection. Duriiiii the administration of the royal (Jovernor
Cliulou, faliier i>\' Sir Henry ("Jintou, he severed his connections with
the "court party" and was conseiiuently re.yarded with scant favor
by tile executi\'e and his adherents. He \\as app(dnted to the oHice
of lieutenant-governor by the ]u-o]ter authority in lCm;]aiid, biil ('iiii-
loii re\-eniiefull\' wifliludd the commission for six years, dtdivering it
to him only upon the e\(' of his own iternianent retirement. This
liap|icii(d in (>ciober, IT.").'!, when the newly apiminted ^oxcinor. Sir
Danveis ( »sboru, arrived. A very few da\s latei- ( ►sborii committed
suicide, and de i.ancey thus became act inj; ,uo\<'i-iior. lie held tliepo-

26G HISTORY OK WESTCHESTER COUNTY

sitidii uutil 1755, serviiio- so acceptably that when aiidtlici- vacancy
occinTcd in 1757 the lionic government permitt"(l Jiim to pi-acdcally
succeed to the full diiiiiily of liovcrnor, havinii decided to make no
new .appointment to the place durinin his lifetime. Thus de Lancey
was the first native American to serve regularly as governor of the
Province of New York, as his grandfather, Stephanus Van Cortlandt,
was the first to hold the office of mayor of New York City. He died
on the 30th of July, 1700, being at that time both governor and chief
justice of NeAV York.

Governor de Lancey had three sons who grew up — James, Stephen,
and John Peter. James was prominent politically after his father's
(lea 111 until the Kevolution, and then became a Tory; he marrie<l a
(hiugliter of Chief Justice William Allen, of Pennsylvania; two of his
sons \\ere otiicers in the British nulitary and uaval service. Stephen
received from his father as a gift what is now the Town of North
Salem in this county (which came to the elder de Lancey as his
share in the Manor of Cortlandt). It was under his laud sales that
that town was settled. He built a large double dwelling, later con-
verted into the North Salem Academy, where many distinguished
men (including Governor Daniel D. Tompkins and Chancellor Kent)
have been educated. John Peter was the ancestor of the Mamaroueck
de Lanceys. He received a military education in England, and fought
on the British side in the Bevolution, but after the war retired from
the army and returned to America, taking up his residence on the
Heathcote estates on Scarsdale Manor, which he inherited from his
mother, and where he built the dwelling still known as Heathcote
Hill. He married Elizabeth Floyd, daughter of Colonel Kichard
Floyd, of Long Island, and among his children were Bishop William
Heathcote de Lancey, of Western New York, and Susan Augusta de
Lancey, who married James Fenimore Cooper.

A young brother of Governor de Lancey, Peter, was politically
prominent in Westchester County, and left a numerous family, sev-
eral of whom became noted or made advantageous marital alliances.
He lived at West Farms and was known as " Peter of the Mills." He
represented the borough Town of Westchester in the assembly from
1750 to 17()S. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Governor Cadwalla-
der Colden. Among his children were John, who sat in the assembly
for AV'estchester Borough from 1708 to 1775, and was high sheriff" of
the county in 1709-70; James, high sheriff from 1770 to 1777, the
famous colonel of the Westchester Light Horse (British), Avho after
the Kevolution lived and died a refugee in Nova Scotia; and Oliver, of
West Farms, a lieutenant in the British navy, who resigned his com-

By the Honourable
J^MRS DE LANCE

His Majeftfs Lii tttenant-Governor and Commana r in Chiefs in and

over the Province of New-York, and the Territor.
in America.

M, Proclamation.

r, Efq;

'es depending thereon

WIIEREASjit appears, That certain Perfons lefiding on flncar the Eaftern Borders of
this Provirft, have entered irrto a Combination to difpoflefb Rohirt ^M/i^y?cn, jun. Ef^i Proprietor of the
Alamr of LuingJIon^ within this Province, and the Tenant hoidirtg failer him, of the Lands comprifed
within the aid Manor, under Pretence of Title from the Ooverfimeiijof the Mfija.hujitii Bo)'^ a^ alfo cf
anIf>dianPuchafe lately made by (be faidPerions } altho' tib moift rtotdrcus thai ttvr X»id Manor hatli, 'til
very h^i^becn peaceably hcW 'and cnipye^Vy the faid R^Ofrf Livin^bn^ afiii'iws /\nceftur&, for Seventy

Y<ag.b[flp^:~3P^*?St*r< £W?fg»e-rh«wy<i *rit^», miiimrrii Vmii mi VHni ilftmitAnfill. %i^<pon^%^y^ only 't;- cefreei^^j

the faid Government can legally fAid their Claim. Notwiihftanding which clear and nunif* /Right on the Part ol (his Ciovotn-
f-with their former Intrufionson His Mjjefty's Lands wihi the fame, hrft bcg^n tu carry their
punng to corrupt and turn Mr. Livin^?on's own Ttiian againli him, in which they fo far
16 'til within a few Years held Lands as Tenants ijntl>.f and paid their Rtnti to him, now
ptnce of, and fct up a p(elcnded Right againft him, under ;C Government ot the Majjoihujettt
iPurchafe; by which illegal Proceedings, fupportcd wilh drcc, the Courfe of

ment, lire faid Perfons, not contei
Defigns into Execution, by cndc.
fijcceeded, that feveral Perloi
keep PoQeffion of the Landb in D<
Bayt wd the aforementioned Ind

liice fiath.
been obftruiied, the Lives of fev( ^1 of his Majeft^'s Subjei£ls loft, and"private Piopcrty u ringe^ and grc.nly injured. And
Whereas Thirty One of fuch evil inded Perfons, m order to profccute their unjuft Dtfigns,liu the 7th Day ot . !•/«'> laft, armed
and riotoufly ailemblcd themfelve^ : Tadhunui^ at the Houfe of Jonathm Du/bu^ which lland|Bt the Dillancc uf not more than
Eighuen Miles from Hudfon% Riv, , among whom were the faid Jonathan Darbies alfo Johmnn Rtrfft Iloiifuk E^vfity Jcfrph
VanitldfT^ and bis Brother, faid t be Andriet f'an^eldtr, Samuel TayUr, Ebtntxtr T'2)hr, : id J>iJiui 'J. Rf^'e , sno being fo
riotoufly aflembled, were comman* ij to difperfc by the Deputy Sheriff of the County, in thu frefcnce ot one of His Majclty s
Joflices of the Peace, two Conftabl », and other Perfons who came thither with the laid Mcbi \'ti^mgJloR^ to fupprefs the Riot,
and c'ifperfe the Rioters ; four only f whom went off, the others fhutting thcmfcives up in the I t4 Darby's Houfe, in which ^ihcte
were Loop Hole, fired through the une, and before they difpcrfcd, feveral were wounded on hv 1 Sides, one of whom died in about
ao Hour therea.'ier, and another fon j Time after, of the Wounds they then received. IN Ord< therefore to put a Stop as much as
may be to P'occ.-rdingi, the Confc( fences whereof have already been fatal to fome, and wh'ch if not timely prevented, may flill
be produ^ve of the worft EvUs to niers ; and to eftablifh and keep up Peace and a good Und ftanding among the Bofdcrefs, till
thii unhappy Controverfy (ball be i^jiA in a legal Courfe : I HaVE thought fit, with the A -ice of His Majcfty's Council, to
ifliie this Proclamation, Hereby in l3i Maiefty':. Name, ftri*£lly enjoining all His Majcfty's gnoKubjeas in this Province, to fot-
bear and refrain from fee h violent an unjuft Proceedings, as every Inftance of that Nature will Bpuniflicd with the utmoft Rigouf
of the Law. And that the Offcnde before named may be brought tojuftice, the Sheriffs of tfc Counties of Man; zn4 Dauhefs
and all other Officers ihci^ein, are h( fey commanded and required to apprehend the faid Jumthaimparhit^ Jobanntt Kffp, Htndno
Brvfuy "joftph VangtlMry Samuit Ta ir, Ebtntztr Toskr, and Andriti J. R//s, and all -■ ' "

r of their Affociates, who fliali

■ppcar to have been aiding or abctii Uhc faid Offenders in the Riot aforefaid j and them and cvJy of them to keep, or caufe to be

committed, infafc Cuftody, inihe( jinty Goal, until delivered by due Couife of Law: AnJb like Manner, to apprehend and

keep in fafe Cuftody all and every < riPcrfon and Perfons who fball hereafter be guilty of I tb riotous and illegaJ Pra<ilicci.

And all His Majcfty'sSubje^s m t faid Counties of ^/ijny and Z)u/fA,/f» are to give due AiliK kc to the faid Shcnft within their

refpedivc Counties, who ate hereby fipowercdflnd required, if neceffary* to fummon the PulVt, ft whole Power of the County, for
putting the Premifes Iri Execution.

GIVEN under my Han, find Seal at Jrms, at Fort-George, in the City of iftw-Vork, tU Eighth Day «/
June, One Tboufand S k» Hundred and Fifty Sevcn^ in the Thirtieth Tear , ' the Reign of our Sovereign
Lord G^OKGE the i :ond^ ^ the Grace cf GO Dy 0/ Great-Britain, hrAudgonJ IrcUnd, King, Defender
of the Faith, andfofo h.

Ey Kia Honour's Command,

Gtr. Banyar, Dep. Set y

JAMES

)E LAN GEY.

GOD Save the KliNG.

1M:0( I.AMATION SKiNK.I) ItY I>F. LANCEY.

268 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

naission rather than tii;lil a-iaiiisl liis nativi' huid, and, rcturiiiuj; to
this countrj, speiit the remainder of liis life at Westchester.

AiKdlier hrotlier of (ioxcrnor de Lancey, Oliver, was a eonspicnous
figure in puldic life until the end (d' the (-(doniai regime, alliiougli
never connected with Westchester ("on nty. In the Kevolution lie v»as
the British commander of th<> r)e])artment of Long Island, and raised
three regiments, known as " De Lancey's Battalion," of which he
was brigadier-general. His descendants contracted hrilliant mar-
riages with p]nglish fannlies.

Governor de Lancey had two sisters — Susan, who married Admiral
Sir Peter Warren, and Anne, who became the wife of John Watts,
Sr., whose son becanu' county judge of Westchester County.

The de Lancey fandly, as a Avliole, was emphatically pro-British
in the American struggle for independence, and contributed many
brave officers to the armies of the king. In this latter respect the
de Lanceys contrast with the l*hilipses, who, while Tory to the heart's
core, were not fighters, and kept themselves at a safe distance from
the scenes of carnage-. Vet an element of the de Lanceys Ixdongi'd
to the ]jatriot side, and leading members of the family who took ujt
arms for Great Britain became reconciled to the situation after the
recognition of independence, and made themselves acceptable citi-
zens of the republic. The family has always since been honorably
connected with Westchester County.

The Manor of Cortlandt, devised by Stephanus Van Cortlandt at
his death, in 1700, to his eleven surviving children in equal shares
(except that his eldest son, J(diannes, received, in addition to his
equal ])ortion, what is now Verplamdc's Point on the Hudson, a Tract
of some twenty-tive hundred acri^s), remaiTied undivided for many
years. The family was a very united one. The widow of Ste])haiius,
Gertrude Schuyler, outlived her liusband twenty-three years, and it
was tacitly agreed that during her lifetime nothing should be done
toward splitting up the estate. Meanwhile one of the eleven heirs,
Oliver, <lied childless, willing his interest to his brothers and sistcM*.-;.
The manor thenceforth, until its final dismemberment, comprised ten
proprietary interests. Although after the death of Stephanus tlicir
was always a recognized "head" of the \'an Corthiiidt family, there
was never a second ''loi'd" of the manor.

Johannes, the eldest son of Steidianus, died at a comparativcdy
early age, leaving one child, Gertrude, who married Philip \'er-
planck, a descendant of one of tlie early Dutch settlei-s of New Am-
sterdam' and a man of varied abilities. Among his accomplishments

' Abrabmii Isancspn Vcipl.nnf k. or riani'U. He ipImthI;. who h.is (Ipscoiulnnts still livlnj; In tills

was oiip of tho Instigators of tho Diitfli war coiiTit.w The Verplancks of Fisliklll-on-dic-

of retaliation affainst the Uulians (1643-1&43). Hudson belong to another branch of the family.
Verplanck's Point was named tor rhiiip Ver-

THE ARISTOCUATIC FAMILIES

269

\\!is ail expert kiiowlciluc of' siirvcyini;'. lly iirficlcs of n.urot'liiciir cn-
t('r<'(l into by the \';\n ( "(HtliUKlt heirs in Xoxciiilx i-, 1 ToO, Philii)
\'ei-]plaii(k was apiidiiited to sin-\('y ami lav out tlie inaiiof into lliirty
lots. This coiiiinissicm was duly executed, althounJi N'eiidanek's sui'-
\{'y was coutined to the juirtiou of (lie iiiaiioi- iioi-tli of the ('I'otoii
Ki\'et'. The lots wei'e soon aftei->\'af(l conveyed to the several parlies
in interest by jiartition deeds, aiijiraisals of value haviiii; been made
by Daniel and Samuel I'urdy, who were sjiecially s(dected f(n- that
]iurpose. The followinji table shows tlu' number of acres and their
estimate*] value at this time (IT.'io) apportioned for (-acli share:

NAMES. ACRES. VALUES IN NEW YORK

MONEY.

Philip Verplanek' (!,8:}1 £973

Margaret Bayartl= 7,.'i98 948

Stephen de I^anoey' 7,377 999

Phili|) Vail Corthiiult 6,648 975

Steplien Van Cortlaiidt 6,894 972

Jiiliu Mihi^ 7,714 988

fiertnide Keekmaii= 8,062 912

Williaiii Skinner" 8,163 951

Andrew Johnston' 9,023 889

John Sehnyler, Jr. " 7,364 1,018

75,474 £9,625

'Grandson of Jolianiies Van Cortlandt. '' lIiishMinl nf O.iinnlr \':iii ('(irtl.-imlt.

-' Mai-^aret Van Cortlamlt. wife of Colonel " HusIimikI of KlizalH-ili Van enrtlan.li.

S.Miinu'l i;ayanl. Mlnshnnd nf Catherine Van Cortlaniit.

■'Husband of Ann Van Cortlandt. " Husliand "f Cormlia Van Ciirllandt.
* Second husband of Maria Van Cortlandt.

Thus in 17:*>;! all of Wcsltdiester ("onnty north of the ("rotoii Kiver,
atid between that stn am and the Connecticut line, having an ajijire-
liate area of over seveiity-tive thousauil acres, was ap]iraised for the
paltry sum of ."Ji;4S,(l(l(). This territory now imdndes the Towns of
Cortlandt, Yorktown, Somers, ^Xoith Salem, Lewisboro, and a jtorliou
of Poundi'idji*', whose combined taxable value amounts to not a few
millions.

In 1753 the manoi' lands south of the Croton Kiver wei-e di\ided.
The heirs-at-law, eiiteriiiif into eiiioyment of their individual ]ii-o]ier-
ties as iiartitii'iied to them, ni-adiially leased the lands to settlers or
S(dd tlieni in fee. The subsetpieiit history of the whole .i;reat Van
Coitlandt estate, from the ])ro](rietarv point of view, is well repre-
sented by that of the share whi(di fidl to yoiinu Ste])lieii de Lancey,
the son of the ( hief justice — a share, as already lueiil ioiied, embraciufj;
nearly all of the jiresent Town of North Salem. We (|Uote fioui Mr.
lOdward 1"1(M(1 de J^ancey's " History of the .Mamus":

Chief Justice de Lancey in 1744 conveyed them (liis Cortlandt Manor lots), as a gift, to
his .second son, Stephen. .Stephen a few years later began tlieir settlement, and hronj^ht in

THE AKISTOCUVTIC FA^flTJES 271

many fanners and scinie ineuhanies. Tlif wliole tract was laid i)ut into farms, rectangular in
sliape, of two hundred acres each as a rule. These were leasi^d for lou<>- terms of y^'iii's at
low rents, the liighest not being more than tlO and the lowest about £2 or £{i. The rent
rolls and niaj) showed the farms, which were all nund)ered, the tenants' names, and the rent
|iayable by each. It was always understood that the tenants might buy "the soil right," as
I he fee was termed, at any time the parties could agree upon price. In praetiei", however,
tlie tenants did not begin to api>ly for the fee till about the time of the Revolution, and then
hut rarely, .\ftcr that event more were sold to applicants, but many farms continued in the
families of the tenants till late in this century. The last, which had descended to himself
and the widow of a deceased brotlier, the writer sold in 1875, after the expiration of a lease
for ninety-nine years. The same sy.stem of leasing out their lots in farms was carried out by
all tile other owners of the manor lands. Some sold the fee of their lands at an early day to
relatives, wlio thus increased their holdings. Otlier.s retained them.

NotwitlislaiKliiiy- the ooiui)lett^ partition of tlii' estate, tlie "Lord-
ship and Manuour " of Corthiudt, as erected b^' letters palent from
Governor Fletcher in 1697, did not in any respect lose its ori<;inal
identity or the pecnliar privileges bcsto'ved npon it by Thr terms of
that grant. II continned to be a distinct political division, and, in-
deed, was separated from the remainder of Westchester ("ounty in
an even more formal way than any of tlie other manors, since it en-
joyed the exceptional right of sending its own exclusive representa-
tive to the ](rovincial assembly. It was not until 17S8, under the
ri'gime of the State of New York, when Westchester Tonnty was
divided into townshii)s, that Cortlaudt Manor ceast^d to exist.

'i'lic ajiportionment to this manor of a seiiarate assembly repre-
sentative was conditioned iipi'ii the proviso that no such repre-
sentative should be chosen until tlie year 1717. In point of fact, the
manor did not elect its first delegate to the assembly until 1734.
I'liiliii Wrplauck was then chosen. Early in his career in that body
lie brought in a bill directing that "one supervisor, one treasurer,
iwii assessors, and one collector" should be elected annually by the
jteople of the manor, Avhich was passed. In 1750, on account of in-
creasing population, the election of two constables was authorized —
one for the portion of the mani>r near the Hudson Kiver and the
other for the interior sections. In 1708 the number of constables
was increased to three. Ryck's Patent (Peekskilli ac(|nircd in 1770
the privilege of choosing its own local ohicers imleiKMidently of the
manor, although the inhabitants of this settleniein still joined with
the peo])le of the manor in electing the member of assembly. \'er-
]>lanck re]iresented Cortlaudt ^lanor for the reinark;ible |iriiod of
thirty-four years, his success(n- being i'ierre \'an Corthunlt, who
served during the remaimh r of the colonial era.

.\fter the deatii of .lohannes and (»li\cr, the first and second sons
ef Sie|)lianns \'an ('orllamll. I'liilip \'an ("ortlandt, the lliinl son,
became the head of the family. He was born in l(is:>. lie was
a merchant in Xew York, and has been describeil as " a man

272 HlSTOItY OF AVESTCIIESTEK COl'NTY

of clear head, of lioixl aliilitics, ami jmsscsscd of i^i-cat deci-
sion of cliaiacter." I'nuii 17.">(» until his death (174(1) he was a
member of the gubernatorial council. Ilis eldest son. Ste|)lien, died
yoinii;', leavinf>' a soji, riiili|), who succeeded as the next head of tlie
family. But this second l'liili]i, preferrini; a military life, entered the
British ai-niy, in v.iiich he hail a ]ini<x cai-eer, tinhtinii' ajiaiust Amer-
ican freedom in the Kevolulion.' His uncle Pierre (youngest son of the
first rhilip and grandson of Steiihanus) ultimately becanu- the lead-
ing member of tlie ^'an ("oi-tlandt family resident on the manor.

Pierre ^'an Corllandt's is one of the great names of Westolu-ster
County, second, indeed, lo none in all the illustrious an<l noble ar-
ray. This is not the ]dace for a i)ailicular account of his career,
which, in its more distinctive- features, is connected with the events
of the Kevolutionary and snbsecjueut ])eriods. Wlien those events
come to l>e treated we shall see tliat in the almost balanced condition
of sentiment in this country at the time (d' the Bevolution, his was
probably the detei mining influence. Others led the political hosts
for independence, l)Ut \'an Cortlandt's sujjport, calmly and unju-e-
tendingly given, though with all resoluteness and conviction, was
a faci<u- that counted for (|uite as mu( h as the activities of the agita-
tors. Not an old man, and yet arrived at an age of gravity: not a
])olitician in the common sense, but well experienced in ])ublic af-
faii-s and having a i-cpulalion for great judiciousness ami \irtuous
lo\c of truth and right; the head of a family as rejiulable and a;
Iiighly and \\idei,\' connected as any in the jirovince, his exampb
was of inestimable moi-al value to a cause wliicli. in this county
at least, had little need for vehement and aggressive advocates, but
niucli for courageous njiludders from among the dignified ami con-
servative classes of society. His services to the jiali'Iot nioveiiienl
began in the colonial assembly, of whi(di he was a member, and
from that time until after the organization of the government of the
I'luted States he was one of the most earnest, useful, and prominent
promoters of political independence and stable republican institu-
tions. His jirivate life was identified almost exclusively with West-
chester County. Born on the Kith of .January, 1712, he lived on the
manor from boyhood, taking an active i)art at an early age in the
family interests. His father. Philii>. Ixniueatlied to him "all that

' He was the aiieestor of Uie EuKlisli biaucL ters iiiairyiug into the best i;ii;;lisli ami SiiUch

of the Van Corthuiilts— the " ehlest " braneh. families. The presiMit Lonl Klphinstoiii'. one

At the (ernilnation of the war, he went to of the Queen's lords in wailiiiK. is a Kreat-

Ensland to reside, and died at Ilaiishatn. in grandson of Colonel Van Cortlandt. of the

1S14. lie had twenty-three ehildren. twelve of Kn^-lish braneh no niab' ileseendant of tin'

whom reaebed iTiat\irity, the sons all attaiuiug name is livin;;.— 7'/ii' Van Corlldiiill I'limihi- '','/

high rank in the British army and the daugh- J/cs. Pknx E. Van CorllumU, Svlidrf. ii., 42S.

THE AltlSlOClJATIC FAMILIRS 273

my lioiifSi' and I'anu or lolt of land, — bciiij;' tlu- east town lolt li-oni
Teller's Toliit exteudiun all along" Croton Itivev, toii'etlier willi the
I'erry House and ferry thereunto belonniui;." He married -Foanna,
daujihter of (Jilbert Liviniiston and j;randdaui;hter (d' Ivobert, the
tirst lord of Li\nij;ston Manor; and in SeptemluT, 17-11), he made the
manor house his permaueut place of abode. There Avere born all of his
'hihlren, four sons and three dattnliti'is, of aaIioui IMiilip, the distin-
liuished (ieneral I'hilip Van ("ortlandt <i( the Kevidutionary army,
was the eldest. Those Were palmy days for the old manor house, f'ad-
wallader ('olden, writimi to liis wife in 117)'.], said: "I have had a
\ery pleasant ride from I'ishkill to ^'an f'ortlaiidt, where I lodged,
jiassiug' easily through tin' mountains. Vouui;' I'ierre and his rliarm-
iiiii' \\ife keej) ti]* the hosjiitaiity of the house e(]ual to his late father."
His time was lariicly dexoted to cariuii for tlu- interests of the numer-
ous \'aii Cortlaiidi heirs in connection with the manor lands — a very
responsible business, invid\ini: many delicate matters. He died in the
manor house on the 1st of !May, 1.SL4, being aged more than ninety-
three years. He lies buried in the cemetery of the Van Cortlandts.
The following is the inscription on his tomb:

'■ .M;iik tlif perftet iiiiiii and beliold the u]uij;-lit ; for tlie end of that man is peace."

Ill iiH'iuoiy of the Hoiii>ia1ile I'iene Van C'oitlandt, late Lieutenaiit-Oovernor of the
State of New York, and President of tlie Convention tliat formed the C'onstitntion tliereof
dminjj tlie Kevolntionarv war witli Gre.at Britain. He departed this life on the first dav of
May, 1814, in the ninety-fourth year of his age.

He was a jiatriot of tlie first order, zealous to the last for the Liberties of his Country.

A man of exemplary A'irtnes ; kind as a neighbor, fond and indulgent as a Parent — An
honest man, ever tlie friend of the Poor.

Kespeeted and lieloved, the simplieity of his private life was that of an ancient Patri.arch.
lie died a bright witness of that perfect Love which casts out the fear of Death, putting his
trust in the Living (!od, and with full assurance of Salvation in the redeeming love of Jesus
Christ, retaining his recollection to the last and calling upon his .Saviour to take him to
himself.

The •• \'oidvers branch " of the \'an ( 'ortlandt.s, founded by the New
^'ork merchant. Jacobus V;\]i ("orllaudt (a younger sou of Ohdf Stev-
ense \'an Cortlandtl, who married Eva, stepdaughter of the tirst Fred-
eri(di l'hili])se, was thraughout the colonial era a tlourishing race,
-lacobns jiurchased from his fathei -in-law, IMiilipse, in Kiit!), fifty acres,
lo which he later added se\"eral liumlred acres more, lie j)roinptIy
bigan to impro\( his estate. About 1700 he dammed Tiiyjx't's
i'.iook. thus creating the pres<'iit ^'an ("ortlandt Lake; and probably
not long aflerw aril he erecteil below the dam the A'aii Cortlandt mill,
which until as recent a date as issil (when it came into the jiosses-
sion of I he City of New \'orki continued to grind corn for the neighbor-
ing fanners, dacobus in his will bci|uc;ii hcd to his onl\' son, I-^ red-
crick V;\\i Coiilandt, his farm, "sitnale, lying, and being in a place

274 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

L-oiumoiily calkMl ami known bv lli<' name of Little or Lower Vonck-
ers." Frederick (born in 1(>98) niairieil I'raiicina, danjiliter of Au-
,<;nstns and Anna ]\raria (T!a_\ar(li -lay, \\hereby Ids descendants be-
came of kin to Chief Justice John Jay. It was nnder Frederick's pro-
prietorshiii that the Van Cortlandl mansion now in the custody of tlie
Colonial Dames — a dwelling' wliic h rivals the Philipse ]\ranoi- liouse
at Youkers as a specimen of hij;h-class colonial architecture, and,
like the latter, is still in a state of jjerfect preservation — Avas con-
structed.

The Van Coitlaiidt Mansion (wo qiuite from the interesting; (leserij)tive jianiphlet pub-
lished by its present custodians) is liuilt of rubble stone, with briek trininiinj^s about tlie
windows. It is unpretentious in a|)pearanee, }'et possessing; a stateliness all its own, which
grows upon the visitor. It was erected in 1748 by Frederick ^'an Cortlandt — a stone on the
southwest corner bears the date — and possesses within and without many peculiarities of the
last century. . . . The style of architecture of the liouse is essentially Dutch. The old
Dutch builders were thorough masters of their trade, and put up a structure which is as
strong to-day as when New York was a colony. All the windows on the front are surnu)unted
by curious corbels, with faces grave or gay, satyrs or humans, but each different from the
other. Felix Oldboy innocently asked if they were portraits of the Van Cortlandts, and the
owner replied, " Y^es, and that the particularly solemn one was taken after be had spent a
night with the boys." The window sills are wide and solidly b\iilt into tlie thick stone walls,
as was the fashion of the tinu', ;uid vary somewhat in form in tlie second story. Tlic side
hall and the dining-romn, with the rooms above, belong to an addition built a year or two
later than the main house, and the " lean-to " is an addition of this century.

h^rederick Van Cortlandt and his wife, Francina, had six children,
(d' whom Jacobus, the eldest (born March 3, 1727), became the jtro-
]>rietor of the " Little Yonkers " estate after the father's death, in
1750. This Jacobus (third proprietor) anglicized his name to James;
he was the hij^hly respected and prominent Colonel James Van Cort-
lamli of the Kevolution. 'i'honiili an undoubted patriot, and resi-
(h'lit within the British lines, lie was not disturbed by the enemy
in his possessions, and, indeed, so ^reat was the respect in which his
character was held, was able fre(|ueuily to exercise powerful influ-
ence with the British authorities in New York in behalf of his dis-
tressed countrymen. He died in ISOO without issue, whereupon the
"Little Youkers" estate passed to his brother, Anijustus; and after
the death of the latter the principal ])ortion of it (including the man-
sion) was held, until its imrchase by the City of New York, in the
family of his daughter Anna, who married ITenry White, the White
heirs of Augustus assuming (be niinie of Van Cortlandt agreeably
to a recpiirement of his will.

The Manor of Pelham, having been reduced to one-third its original
dimensions in consequence of the sal(> in 16S9 by John Pell (second
lord) of six thousand acres to the Huguenots of New Kochelle, never
subsequently to that time enjoyed very conspicuous rank among the
great original landed estates of Westchester County. Moreover, the

THE ARISTOCRATIC FAMILIES

275

successors of Jolin Poll in its " lordsliii* " tlid not compare in influ-
ence or public activity Avith tbe descemlanls of liie founders of Mor-
risauia, Pliilipseburfi'li, Van Cortlandt, and Scarsdale Manors; and
tbe roll of members of tbe colonial assembly from Westcbester
County durini;' tbe eiiibteentb century does not contain tbe name of
a single Pell. However, tbe manor was preserved as sucb until tbe
deatli of tbe last '' lord," Josepb Pell, in 1776; and tbe Pells in tbeir
various bi'ancbes were always a numerous and respectable family,
contracting advantageous marital alliances in botb tbe male and
female lines. Tbe principal person of tbe Pell name in later colonial
and Revolutionary tiuu-s was Pliilip Pell, a conscientious, able, and
prominent patriot, wbo represented tbe State of New York in the con-
(inental congress of 1788, served as judge-advocnte of tbe American
army, and after tbe war was slieriff of Ibe county, bis son, IMiilip
Pell, Jr., serving for many years as surrogate.

A family of very notable importance in political activity and rei)-
resentative cbaracter for maTij' years — rival-
ing, indeed, tbe Morrises, Pbilipses, de Lan-
ceys, an<l \'an Tortlandts — A\as tlie ancient
Willett family of Cornell's Neck on tbe Sound.
Tbe ])bintation of CorneU's Neck, identical
witb ibe present (lason's Point, was granted
((I Thomas Cornell, a former colonist of Rbode
Island and Massacbusetts, by tbe Dulcb di-
T'ector, Kieft, in 1640. Tbis ■was the third
recorded land grant in point of time witb-
iu tbe borders of what subsequently be-
came Westcbester County, being antedated only by tbe grants to
Jonas Ih'onck of Prouxland and to Jobn Throckmorton and asso-
ciates of Tbrogg's Neck. From Tbomas Cornell tbe estate passed
successi\'ely to bis widoAA', to his two daugbters, Sarab and Re-
becca, and to bis grandsctn, ^^■illiam \\'illett, son of bis eldest
daughter, Sarab, by ber first husband, Tbomas Willett. William
Willett (liorn 1644) in 1()()7 obtained froiu tbe first Englisli governor,
Nicolls, a new patent to Cornell's Neck, lie made bis abode there,
apparently, soon afteiward, and lived in quiet enjoyment of his hand-
some property until bis death, in 1701. lie was one of tbe first alder-
men of tbe borough Town of Westcbester. Having no descendants — in
fact, be never married — be left Cornell's Neck to his younger brother,
tbe noted C(donel Thomas Willett, of I'lusjiing. Tbe latter at once
(March 28, 1701) conveyed it to bis eldest son, William, expressing
auiong bis reasons for Hint a<'t his desii-c for " (be advancement and
jirefernient of ye " said son. The '" adNaiueuieiil and lu'eferment " of

tttktt
1 1 1 1 1

U?. .T« -t. .1. .t. ,»_

PELL ARMS.

276

HtSTOUY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the sfcoud William Wilk'tt transpired immediately; for in the same
year he was elected a delei^ate fnmi Westchester County to the
provincial assembly, in whicli capacity he served almost contin-
uously until his death (1T;«|. This is a circumstance of peculiar
consequence when it is remembered that Cornell's Neck was com-
prised within the limits of I lie l)ni'<)n^li Town of Westchester, which
reiiularlv elected a deputy of its own to the assembly. William
Willett must have been a iiarticularly forceful character to have
commanded the suffrages of I lie couniy for a generation, notwith-
standing his residence in the exceptionally favored borough town.
lie was thoroughly ideutitied with the popular party. We have seen

in a previous chapter
that when the great
issue of the abuse of
the governor's prerog-
ative arose, and a test
of pojiular sentiment
was instituted by
causing the deposed
Chief Justice Morris
to stand for the as-
semldy, William Wil-
lett resigned his seat
in that body to afford
opportunity for the
desired test; and also
that he was one of the
most zealous of ilor-
ris's partisans at the
famous electoral con-
t e s t on the East-
chester (ircen. In addition to his disiiiiguished career in the as-
sembly, he Avas the successor of Caleb lleathcote (1721) as county
judge of Westchester County and colonel of the Westchester County
militia. His eldest son, William Willett, 3d, also sat in the as-
sembly for the count}' (1T3S), and was appointed colonel of the
nnlitia. This third William's brother, (Jilbert Willett, was sherilT
of the county from 1723 to 1727, and represented Westchester Bor-
oiigli in the assembly from 172S lo his death, in 1732. The two
brothers Avere joint iirojirietoi's of Cornell's Neck, which in the next
generation becauu^ the exclusive property of ( iilbert's son, Isaac Wil-
lett, after whose death it was oAvned by his AvidoAV, finally being dis-
tributed amongst various heirs.

OLD DUTCH CHURCH, FORDHAM.

CHAPTER XIV

FROM THE STAMP ACT TO THE LAST SESSION OF THE COLONIAL ASSEMBLY

HE theory nnd ])ii),ctiro of t-olouiiil st'lt-tiovcrnment were of
no sudden development in the I'rovinee of New York. Still
less were they the resuJl of mere observation and imitation
of bold examples set by tht' people of other British colonies
in Aniericii. In the earliest days of English rule, the people of New
York were not only ready for any measure of self-government that
might be granted to them, but were eager and aggressive in demand-
ing the privileges of free men. Under the proprietary rule of that
despotic prince, James, Duke of York, after nearly twenty years of
I'xelusively personal adunnistration through his gubernatorial rep-
resentative, the pro\inee was, in 1(J83, oonci-ded a certain share in
the government hj the erection of a legislative assembly. The very
lirst act i)assed by that body was a proposed " Charter of Liberties
and I'rivileges gianted by his Itoyal Highness to the Inhabitants of
New Y'ork and its dependencies," Avbich was entirely in the line of
lioi)ular i)arti(i])ation in the direction of affairs and i^opular limita-
tion of the functions of the executive. The Duke ot York considered
the manifestations of the assembly of 1683 so inconsistent with liis
notions of essentially prerogative government for the province that
the New York legislature was never again convened while he re-
tained authoritA', either during the remainder of the proprietary pe-
riod (ir during his reign as king of England. The liberty-desiring
pe(i])le of the province harbored no kindly feeling for James as pro-
prietor oi- James as sovereign, and when the news arrived of the
Kevolution of 1688 and the accession under liberal auspices of Will-
iam, Prince of Orange, tliey hailed it with joy, treated James's lieu-
tenant-governor, Nicholson, with scant courtesy, and finally e-xju'lled
him from his post and organized a temporary government of their
own which had all the character and effect of a purely repub-
lican rc'gime, although without the slighrest taint or suspicion
of anar(diy. And this popular government of l(iS9-Dl, while originat-
ing in force, was in no sense a militai-y institution. The chiefs of
the traiuing-ltands, who were responsible for it in the first instance,
immediately sniniiioMed a ]ii>iMilar assembly. A\hich a])])ointed a strict-
ly civil council of safety. Ry the will of (he general governing l)ody

278

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

established with .so iiuich courage vet dccoriini, Jacob Leislor took
tlie i)iiiiciiial charge of affairs. TIi<' wliolc policy of l.t'islcr ami his
associates was that of conscientious re}iubiican rulers, who, it is
true, held the goverunient in trust for the new king of England, but
held it as constituted representatives of the iteople, whos<' will, pend-
ing the detinite expression of the will of the lawful sovereign, they
deemed paramount. In a vital i)ublic emergency, with which they
were quite competent to deal if they had chosen, they preferred to
leave the matter to tlie people, and accordingly called a new legis-
lative assembly. Eegarding the existing government of the City of
New York as unadapted to the changed order of things, they did not,
however, presume to reorganize it by the use of ai)])olntive powers,
but orde'-"d a popular election for the choice of a new mayor and
aldermen. The spirit and transactions of the Leisler period alTord

convincing evidence of
the very early pre-
paredness of the peo-
ple of New York for
political independence,
and also of their per-
fect caijacity for its
orderly and creditable
exercise. There is no b"tter established fact than this in American
colonial history.

After the restitution of the i)rovin(iai assembly as a permanent
parliament by William III. in KiiH, the ])eople ardently availed them-
selves of the resources jirovidtMl by that body for defending snch
rights as they possessed against royal invasion, for harassing arbi-
trary or objectionable governors, and for gradually asserting the
broad principle of Amerit-an liberty. The government of the province
was modeled upon that of England, with important differences. The
assembly corresponded to the house of commons, to which, as a
representative elective body of the peoi)le at large, it bore a perfect
similitude. The council took the place of both the house of lords
and the ministerial cabinet, being in theory partly a higher chamber
and partly a body of executive advisers. It was in })i'actice wholly
subservient to the governor, since its members were appointable and
removable by the home government in England, subject singly to his
recommendation. By the entire absence of a " government of the
day," executive power was concenti'ated in the hands of the governor,
who, unless a man of exceptionally virtuous and moderate character
(which seldom hap]iened), was theref(U'e under strong tem])tation to
regard hims<'lf as a ruler to wht)m uncouimou individual iiuthoritj'

EVENTS FKOJI 1765 TO 1775 279

belonged iu the natural oi-dci- of things. But this condition operated
powerfully to make of llie assciiilily not merely a counterpoise in
the go\eiiim('nt, hut an irrecoiicilahlc antagonistic force. As there
was no established ministry responsible to the assembly and capable
of reversal by it on the merits of administrative acts and policies,
the assembly was not a liigldy organized and nicely related depart-
ment in a carefully adjusted scheme of government, but stood with
great foruuility on an independent footing. The result was that, in-
stead of being a co-operative factor in the business of managing the
province, it held itself in an attitude of confirmed reserve toward
the executive. It was a substantial repetition of the feud between
the parlianu'Ut and the king, with the diii'erence that, while that un-
happy feud iu tlie mother country endured for only a brief compara-
tive period, its simulacrum in New York covered the entire time of
the existence of the province.

To the New York assembly, as to the British house of commons,
was reserved the exclusive right to originate money bills, which,
moreover, were unamendable by the council. This power was early
apitreciated by the people as their great safeguard against effectual
tyranny, and in the case of every governor of unacceptable behavior
t lu'y enforced it with unsparing rigidity. Holding the purse-strings,
they could excei'dingly embarrass the haughtiest governor, and, iu
fact, there Avas a per])etual irritation between the executive and the
legislature on the subject of grants of supplies. Governor after gov-
ernor was sent over from Englaml with express instructions to cor-
lect these exasperating practices, but dismal faihire resulted in every
instance. To such a pitch had the resohite spirit of the colonists
reached after sixty years of representative governnu'ut, that upon the
arrival of the I'Oj'al Governor Osborn, in 1753, he was greeted by the
city corporation with an address in which was expressed the signifi-
cant expectation that he would be as "averse from countenancing
as we from brooking any infringements of our inestimable liberties.''
It hai)]K-ned that Osborn had been particularly directed by the British
go\('rnment to curb the aggressive tendencies of the colonists. He
was a man of peculiarly sensitive soul, and the tise of such terms iu
an (dticial address of welconu' from the capital of the ])rovince over
wliicli lie was to rule greatly disturbed liim. Inquiring of sonu' of
the principal men about the general political conditions, he was
told of the exlreine obstiviacy of the assembly, notably in the mat-
ter of voting supplies — an obstinacy from which it would never re-
ce(h' one ste]), however commanded, ^vlieedjed, or threatened. It was
well established at the time that Governor Osborn's sensational sui-
cide was due to despondency over the gloomy i)rospect thus held

280 HISTORY OF WESTCHKSTER COUNTY

Iirlnrc liiui. A ti'ii^ifiil ei)is{i(lc <>( aiintlicr kind, the " hattk' of
Cioldcii Hill," New York ("ity |.fami:nv 111 and 20, 177(11, rt'snltiiiji in
the .slicddinj; of tlu' lirst blood oT liic Kevolution, is direetly tniee-
able lo I he j^rini policy of the Xc\\ \'oik provincial assembly in re-
lation to money yranls. 'Die assenihl\- had ])ersistently refused to
provide certain, articles, such as beer and cider, for the use of the
British <;arrisou quartered in New NOik City, and this conduct had
j^really incoused tlu' soldiei-y, avIio had borne themselves toward the
poi)ulace of the city with a particularly swagiieriuf; demeanor, be-
sides committing overt acts of serious offensiveuess. Hence arose
extreme bad feeling, terminating in the (!(»lden Hill affair. It was
also as a consequence of tlie assembly's course in the contro\<'rsy
about sup[dies for the troops that the extraordinary act of parlia-
ment suspending the business of the New York assembly on the
ground of insubordination was passed (October, 17<;7). This act was
" for restraining and prohibiting the governor, council, and house
of representatives of the l'ro\ incc of New York, until provision shall
have been made for furnishing the king's troops with all the neces-
saries required by law, from passing or assenting to any act of as-
sembly, vote, or resolution for an^- other purpose.''

Com])ared, however, with the general disposition of the masses of
the pco]ile, the course of the assembly toward the crown and its orti-
cial r(']>res(ntatives was eminently respectful and amiable. The pro-
vincial assembly of New York was always entirely loyal to the king
in its professi(tns, and also in its true spirit; and even to the last
days of its last session, when the clouds of war were about to spread
over the land, was aver.se from being otherwise regarded. It was a
relatively small legislative IxmIv, never having more than thirty mem-
bers; and it uniformly contained a large proportionate element of
gentlemen of wealth, culture, and select social connections, who,
wliile dilTering on jniblic (|uestions, and I'Specially on the great (pu's-
tion of colonial rights, had an abiding respect for the forms of attach-
ment to the crown so long a.s thos( forms Avere not abrogated. In-
dee(], des|)it(> the characteristic stubbornness of the assend)ly toward
the gd\'ernoi-s, it was not wholly unamenable to executive persua-
sion, e\'en upon critical occasions (d' ])opnlar feeling. Concerning the
burning issm' of su]i]>lies for the troo]>s, which \\as coincident with
the Stamp -Vet agitation, it first assumed a, jiositien (d" uncompro-
niising resistaiic<', I'efusiiig to fui-nish not only beer and cider, but
such absidulel_\' necessai-y articles as fuel, lights, beilding;, cooking
utensils, and salt as well. Yet from this radical stand it gradually
recede<l, granting fii'st one it(^m and then another. The m(>asu7'e of
parliament practically extinguishing the New York assembly —

EVENTS Flt("»>r 17G5 TO 1775

281

wliicli \v;is ;iii iicl of (liahnlical tyraiiiiv if ever tlicrc was one — was
iiicl not witli scornful (lotiano*^ but with submission! It is true that
the assembly continued to s>ive snfticient trouble to the <i-overnor,
but it caused quite as much dissatisfaction to the rev(dutionary
s])irils among' the citizens, who could not brook the (liouuht Ihat
the re])i-esentaiive body of the jieople sliould be in the least sub-
servient to I hell' assumed masters. In the vacillatint;,' record of the
assembly i-; certainly to be found the exjdanation (d' the general
imiiression wlii(di has always existed and probably never will be
(|uite removed, that New York was comparatively a conservative and
reluctani (actor in the moA^emeut of iln- thii-(een c(donies lor inde-
]iendence — an impression which is
most unjust, ncvt to be encouraged for
a moment by any historical student
who impartially examines the evi-
dences of the true dis]iosition of the
]ieopie of New 'N'ork l'l-o\i!lce through-
out colonial times.

The several cons]iicuons examples of
this charai-teristic iMi]nilar disposition
whi( h have been noted in the progress
of oni' narrative need not be multi-
plied liere. A few words respecting its
mole imiiorfant special relations are,
however, necessary to a proi»er under-
standing of general conditions before
resuming the thread of the story.

lieutenant - (iovernor Cadwallader
• 'niden, who occujiied the chief magistracy of the i)rovince
most of the time from (h' T.ancey's death until the Kev(d>ition — an
able and widl-intentioned man, but an extremist in the assertion of
the |)i-erogatives of the crown, — very instructively snmmed nji the par-
tisan situation in one of his official rejtorts to the British nunistry.
\\iiting on the 21st of l'\'bruary, 1770, soon after the (iolden Hill con-
tlict, he said: " The jtersons who ai)i)eai' on these occasions are (d' in-
feri(U- raid<, but it is not doubted that they are directed by sonu' ])er-
sons (d' distinction in this place. It is likewise thought they are en-
couragetl by some persons of note in England. They consist (diielly of
dissenteis, who are very numerous, especially in the counti-y, and
ha\«' a great inlluence over- the country members of the assembly.
The most actixc among them are indejieiidents from New Englaml,
or educated there, and of reimblican ju-inciples." On the other hand,
said (iovernoT' ("iddeii, " the fricTuls <d' government ai-e of the ('hurch

CAinVAI.I-ADKli COI.DKN.

for

282 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

of Eujiland, tlio Lntlicians, juid tlie old Dutch congregation, with
several Presbyterians." l-'roni this classitication the great prepon-
derance of aggressive sentiment in the province is a very manifest
fact. The "dissenters" were, indeed, overwhelmingly in the major-,
ity. Even in our County of Westchester, where powerful inllueiices
were arrayed on the side of the Church of England, its adherents did
not compare in numbers witli those of other denominations. Accord-
ing to a list compiled by the Eev. W. S. Coffey, of Mount Vernon, of
the church edifices erected in this county previouslj- to the Revolu-
tion, only seven of those structures belonged to the Church of Eng-
land, while nineteen were built by other congregations, including
"Independents," Friends, Presbyterians, riuguenots, Peformed Dutch,
and Iteformed Protestant, (iovernor Colden's enumeration of the
Lutherans, the old Dutch, and " several Presbyterians " among the
" friends of government '' is merely a recognition that Toryism did
not wholly depend for support upon the aristocratic cliurch. The
Lutherans, or (U'rmans, and the " old Dutch," belonging to an alien
race, deliberate, slow, easily satisfied with moderately free institu-
tions, accustomed by all their traditions to live under authority with-
out very jealously s( lutiiiizing its nature or limiting its bounds, had
ways of thinking (|uite foreign to those of the restless propagandists
of American libei-ty, whom, indeed, they ni'ither understood nor de-
sired to understan<l. It was not a (juarrel of these German and
Dutch aliens; as a rule, they felt <mly a languid interest in it, and
held aloof from it until forced tis choose sides, when, as a rule, f(d-
lowing the conservative instincts of their natures, they preferred the
side of established order to that of i-evolutionary convulsion. Th(^y
really const it ute<l a passive element, and were loyalists nuiinly in
the sense that they were not disturbers of the prevailing conditions.
i\s for the "several Pi-esbyterians " claimed by Govern(U' Colden as
belonging to the anti-revolutionaiy party, his application of that
diminutive numerical to tliem was well chosen. In earlier times the
name " Presbyterians " was generic for all Avho were not of the
"Court"' part}' — that is, for all who arrayed themselves politically
against the " Episcopalian," or arrogant ruling, class — the Chui'ch
of England having been the institution of those who cherished pe-
culiarly Iheii- British breeding and antecedc^nts, lioliiing tliemselves
as a suiiei'ior society amid a mixed citizenshi]) of colonials, and, con-
sistently with such pretensions, forming an always reliable i)ro]) for
the croAvn and the crow n's officers. To be a " Presbyterian " in the
political meaning of the word in K(>w York at that early period
was to be identified with the factious populace, the populace of
i^mith and Alexander, Chief Justice I\Iorris and Peter Zenger, al-

EVENTS FROJI 1765 TO 1775

283

llioiiyli that populace was far too respectably led for ilie desiffua-
tiou ever to have been oue of derisiou. I>ater, the party names Whig
and T<»ry came into vogue. At tlie time when (Jovernor Colden
made the above quoted analysis of popular sentiment in the province
tlie Presbyterian religious sect, like every oilier non-conformist Eug-
lish-S])eaking denomination, was almost solidly against l>ritish op-
pression, with only here and there an iullnential opponent of the
2)opular cause.

Nor did the defenders of tlie crown at all hazards make u]) in
relative influence and abilily what they lacked so distressingly in
numbers. With all their
boasts of superiority, the
Tories of New York have left
few names remarkable for
anything more meritorious
than proud faithfulness to
the British monarchy, which
faithfulness, moreover — as,
for example, in the lamenta-
ble case of our Frederick
Philipse, — was p r o m p t e d
quite as often by miseal-
culating conceptions of the
chances of the war as by
nervous scorn for sordid self-
interest. On the other hand,
the contributions made by
New York to the roll of Rev-
olutionary patriots of the
more ennnent order are im-
l>ressively numerous. From
whatever aspect the state of
political society in New

^'ork cm the eve of the Ikcvoliilioii is viewed, (lie ad\autage was with
I he fi'iends of freedom.

Till' immediate causes of the {{evolution were the enactments of
]i;irliam(Mit for taxing the colonies, the uncomproniising resistance
Willi which these measures wei-e met in America, and the conse-
(|Ueiit resentment of Great Britain, leading to ucav manifestations of
various kinds. The triumi>hant conclusion of the I'^reuch and In-
dian War, by which Canada was wrested from France and made a
jiait of the c(donial empire of England, was an unmixed blessing for
the people of the thirteen colonies. It put an end forever to a con-

KIN(i (JEOlUiF. III.

284 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(lition which had bi'i'ii a standinii iiiciiaci' to their peace and pros-
perity— the existence of a liostih- iiciyiibor at the north. The col-
onists had cheerfnlly borne their part in tlie yreat acliieveineut, and,
if properly appealed to, would ha\e diseharged as cheerfully their
share of the resulting indebtedness. But the British government
had ni'own weary of submittinii' to the cajirices of the cidonial as-
semblies in the matter of money grants, and, in looking to America
after the close of the war for financial assistance on a substantial
scale, resolved to make that necessity the occasion of some decided
changes in the former order of things. The changes determine<l upon
were, in their essential details, startling innovations. The assem-
blies were required to abandon tiieir old i)ractice of limiting, in
amount or as to time, the supplies demanded by the governors, and
to obediently vote them without discussion. They were to vote the
civil list first of all and without question, which meant that all the
royal officers were to be made independent of any disfavor con-
ceived toward them by the popular assemblies; and, as a logical sequel
to this, tenure of office was to be in future at the royal pleasure,
without reference to "good behavior." In order that the operation
of these and other plans might not be interfered with by possibly
conflicting provisions in existing colonial charters, all such charters
were i)ut to an end. The drastic navigation laws, which had always
been a crying grievance, wei'e to be rigidly enforced. Finally, the
colonies were to be taxed directly by parliament, through the me-
dium of stamped paper, whose use was to be obligatory in all mer-
cantile transactions, ami even for marriage licenses. And as a
means for compelling acquiescence in the new regulations a stand-
ing army of ten thousand men \\as to be sent over and (piartered
on the Americans, who were recpiired to pay toward its maintenance
some £100,000 annually, or one-third of the entire cost. There
was a i)retense that the purpose of the tro()])s was to afford protec-
tion to the colonists, btit no one \\as decei\('d ity it.

Early in the year 17(i.~) the Stamp Act was inlidduced in parlia-
ment, and on the 22d of .Alai-ch it receivi'd the signature of the king.
The time ap[(ointed for its taking effect was the 1st of November.
As soon as the neA\s of its passage reached .Vnierica, measures were
set on foot for offering as effective an opposition as possible to its
enforcement. f\tminunications on the subject were exchanged by
the various colonial assemblies; and il was decided to hold a gen-
eral congress of the ((doiiies to discuss the matter and to lake stei)S
for united action. This Ixtdy came togethei- on October 7 in the
assembly (handier (d' the city hall in New York, twenty-eight dele-
gates being in attendance, rejires^nting lune of the thirteen colonies.

EVENTS FUOil 1705 TO 1775 285

Till' dclciiutcs fniiii New ^'oT'k wcic Jolm Ciuiicr, Knbcrl I{. M\iii^-
ston, Philip Livingston, William l^ayard. and Lcunanl Lispenard.
Stronii rcscdntions were adojjlcd, as well as ix'dtioiis to tlie kin<r,
llic lionsc of lords, and tlic house of conimons, for the repeal of
the act. On October 23 the shiji bearini;- New York's eonsif^nment
of the staniiK'd ])a]ier ai-rived in the harbor. This M'as the sijiiial for
jinoressive popular denH)ns( rations, m hieh were so formidable and
were attended by such sicnificant evidences of the determination
of the ])eople to prevent the enforcement of the act and of the sj;en-
eral co-operation of the merchants in that ]iurpose, that the goveru-
meut did not dare attempt its execution. Indeed, the first packages
of stamped ])a])er were, at the request of the citizens, turned over
to the city corporation for " .safe keeinnji," and upon the arrival of a
second shipment from England the vessel bringing it was boarded by
a deputation of the i)eople and the ])ackages were taken ashore and
burned. But the most ])owerful weai)ou used by the inhabitants of
New York against the Stamp Act was the celebrated "Non-Importa-
tion Agreement." This was a(h)pted on the evening of October 31,
]7t')5, by some two hundred New York merchants, at a meeting held
in liurns's coffee house. They pledged themselves to import no goods
from England until the Stamp Act should be repealed. The merchants
of IMiiladelphia ado])ted a like agreement on November 7, and those
of Boston on ]>ecember 1. The conse(iuences were immediately felt
by the shipping public in England, and were so disastrous that pres-
sure was brought to bear u])on ])arliament, which resulted in the
re])eal of the act on h"'ebruary 22, 17(><), less than a year after its pro-
mulgation. The event caused great rejoicing in flie ('ity of Kevv
York. The king's birthday, the -Ith of June, was made the occasion
of a grand celebration, one of whose incidents was the erection of a
liberty pole under the auspices of the Sons of Liberty. This organ-
ization was a secret confraternity of the luoi-e radical element of
the i)eo])le, ■\Aith ramitications throughout tlie colonies. It a[)pears
to have been full tledged at the time of the taking effect of the
Stani]! Act, since the lhoi'o\ighly organized i-esistance to the act Avhich
was oll'ered by the peojile at large was uniformly ti'aceable to its
iiii'iiibeis. The Sous of Liberty were the mainstay of the w liole pop-
uhir ai:italion against I'.ritish o|)|)ression and in favor of American
imlepeiideuce from the time of the ])assage of the Stamp Act until
the champioushi]) of tlieii- cause became tlie business of armies in
the field.

The Staiii]! .\ct rejieal was followed by a year of (|uiet. But in
May, 17<i7, aimlher ]iarliamentary sclieiiie for taxing the colonies
was instituted, which iuijKJsed port duties on uiany articles of com-

286

HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTER COUNTY

moil use, i!icludin<i <;liiss, jiapcr, Iciul, ])aint('rs' colors, and tea. Al-
tliou<>h intense feeling was excited tlirongliout the colonies by the
new law, two years ])nssed by Iiel'ore a systematic jiolicy of effective
opposition was entered n])oii. Then, in the sprinj;- of ITCiU, Uie mer-
chants of New York anain met and formulated a second Non-Impor-
tation Ajireeinent, under which no Eniilish ji'oods, with but few ex-
ceptions, Avere to be purchased so lony- as the duties should remain
in force. Tlie mercantile communities of Philadelphia and Boston
were somewhat tardy in assenting;- to this instrument, but by the
fall they gave in their adhesion. A.gain the British ministry, ap-
palled at the falling off in American trade, was forced to yi(dd, and

in 1770 all the duties objected to, ex-
cept ihat on tea, were annulled.
Meantime New York, while observ-
iiig to the letter the obligations of
the Non-Importation Agreement,
ha<l great cause of complaint against
Boston and Philadelphia, where it
was secretly violated on a large «rale
by tlie merchants. Exasperated at
this lack of faith, the New Yorkers,
after the abrogation of all the taxes
except on tea, retired from the agree-
ment, wliicli thereafter fell to the
ground in the other cities as w'ell.
II was, liow(>ver, generally under-

st 1 that no tea should be import e<l

whilst the tax endured — an under-
standing which, despite the greater
historic fame in that connection en-
joyed by Boston on account of iier
so-called "Tea Party,'' was executed
with ecjiial (lelermination and success in New York. For some
three years practically all I he tea bought in America was from
Englamrs Europc^ui commercial rivals. Finally, in 1778, the Brit-
ish cabinet attempted a master stroke. They rescinded the large
export duty taxed on tea leaving British ports, retaining, however,
the small import duty of three ])ence per pound on American impor-
tations of the article. The Boston Tea Party occurred on the KUh
of December, 1773. Up to that date no tea had arrived at New-
York, but more than a month previously careful aiTangenuMits had
been made by the Sons of Liberty and others to prevent the landing

WILLIAM PITT.

EVENTS KUOiM 1705 TO 1775 287

of any and all the jiackaijes tliat should he hroimlit llici-c Two
tea ships, the "Nancy" and the " J.ondon," canic inlo poi'l tlic next
April. One of (lieui was obliiicd to rcliivn (o ICiinland wKliont de-
liverinji' her ear,ii(>, and (li(> other was hoarded by tlie iSons of Lib-
erty, who, brealcinji- open the chests, tlireAv the tea into the East
IJiver.

The rejection id' tlie tea by JJoston liad already made it niauifest
to (lie kiuo- ami his ministers that no plan for taxing- llie colonies by
direct action of parliament could succeed thronyh the operation of
the ordinary forms of law, and that the time had come to resort to
extremities. Early in 1774 an act knoAVU as the Boston Port Bill was
])assed — a ])nnitive measure, desiii'ni'd to coerce the city by closing-
her port. News of the proceedings reached New York on the 12th
of May. It Avas instantly recocnized that a like fate was undoubtedly
in store for New York, and accordingly a great meeting was held,
under the joint auspices of the Sons of Liberty and the more dig-
nified (dasses of the community, iu"esided over by Isaac Loav, a prom-
inent merchant, a heading member of the Church of England, ami,
although a sympathizer with the cause of liberty, well known for
his comparatively moderate principles. Out of this meeting re-
sulted the formation of the New York " Committee of Correspond-
ence," consisting of fifty-one members, which assumed the direction
of the ])o]iular movement througluMit the province, and Avhence the
measures taken for organizing the country districts in behalf of
American liberties emanated, l^rom the creation of the committee
of corresi)ondence dates the beginning (d' the hist estaljlished means
for bringing the patriotic sentiment of Westchester County into ac-
tive co-operation with that of the American people at large.

In that truly astonishing i)roduction, the late Henry B. Dawson's
"Westchester County During the American Kevolution," ^ a labored
attempt is made to establish the reasonableness of the author's fa-
vorite dogma that the Bevolution A\'as a grie\nus offense to the good
and loyal i)eo])le of our county, and found tilth' or no fa\or among
them, at least in the formative state of things. ^Ir. Dawson i-egards
it as scaiidal(Uisly im[irobable that the lionest, discn'ct, humble, and
virtuous iuiiabitauts of tins strictly rural couuTy, feaiing (!od and
loxing tlK'ii- lawful king, could have had anything in coniumn with
the greedy, smuggling nu-rcliants and uid)lusliing ])olilical dema-

' AlthotiKli this poi'fornmuc'O (if Oawsnn's is lliat worl;. N(itwitlist:nii1lns tin' onorminis

very elaborate', it is reail.v but a fraRinent, labor manifestly expeuded upon 1(, it possesses

terinin.itlnd with the battle of White I'lains. little Interest for the general reader, beinj;

It was undertaken by its author as a eontrlbu- prodlslonsly formal in its style and burdened

tion to Scharfs History, and oeenpies two with excessive redundaueies. It is i>re-emlnent-

liumlred and eiglity pages of the first volume of ly one of the curiosities of historical literature.

288 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

jidjiiics of New York City, who sliiicd )i]i llir iiiiuulity i-chcllion and
l)i'('l)iir('(l woo and havoc for the jxxir, h>yal cniinli-viMan. " Sui-li a
conininnily as that Avhich constitntcil ilic ("ounly of Wcstclicster,'"
says he, "a connnnnity of wcll-sitnatcd, intrlliucnt, and wcll-to-chi
farmers, diligently and discreetly attendini; to its own afiairs, with-
ont the disturbing intlucnces t>( any \ilhijic or county coterie, has
i;i'nerally been distiunnislied for ils riyid conservatism in all its
i-elations; and such a community has always been more inclined to
maiiilaiii those vaiious lonii-conl inued, well-setlled, and ucnerally
satisfactory ndations with more than ordinary tenacity, jirefei'rinji
very often to continue an existiniLi- inconvenience or an inlanj;il)le
wroDfi', to which it had become accustomed, rather than to accept,
in ils stciid, the possibility of an advautaj^e, indetinitely promise<l,
ill an untried and niu'ertain (diannc" This curious theory he sup-
jMiils in his application (d' it to Weslchester County by the sinj;le
lanj;ible statement thai "there is not any known evidence of the
existence, at auj' time, of any material excitement amonjj- these farm-
ers, on any subject." It is of course unjirohtable to discuss either
the ji(-neral proposition of .Mr. Dawson concerninj; the unifoi'm nat-
ural conservatism of inl(dlii;cnt rural communities, or his claim that
this county had always before the Hevolution been exem])f from ])o-
lilical excilement. Tii \iew, Jiowe\'er, of Mr. Dawson's rejuilation
as a minute and entirely well-meaniiin historical writei- — a i-epnta-
tion appreciat(Ml especially by his many sur\ivini;- friends in West-
chester County, — his study of oiii- i;e\dlutionary jieiiod can nut, in
a woi'k on the licnei-al history of the county, i-scape the ])assini;- criti-
cism whi(di its s])irit merits, as, on the other hand, tlie abundant his-
loiical data that we owe to his researches can not esca])e {irateful
recofiuition. It is greatly to be regretted that to an essay jirepared
with so much i)ainstaking he should, on grounds not only the most
unjust ihed but the most trivial, have given a general tendency of
such extreme uuacceptability lo American readers. We have char-
acterized his jierformance as astonishing, and we know of no other
♦itting term to be ap])lied to a cynically i»ro-Tory account by an
.\iiierican historian, more than a cenlury after the Kevolutiouary
War, of the course of that struggle in a county distinguished for
])rompt acceptance and unfaltering and scdf-sacriticing sui>pori of the
issue of liberty under the most ditlicult and menacing cii'cumstaiices
imaginable.

During the ten years from the passage of the Stamii Act, in 17(55,
to the end of the ]irovincial assembly, in ITT.'), the county (including
the Manor of Cortlandt and the borough Town of Westchester) was

EVENTS FKOJi 1705 TO 1775 289

i-c]in'scnl(Ml in llic assembly, for loniicr (H- hiicfVr periods, by Colonel
I'rederick I'hilipse i'M), Peter de Lancey and John, his brother, Judge
.l(din Thomas, riiiliii ^'erl)lan(•k, Pierre Van Cortlandt, Isaac Wil-
kiiis, and Coh)nel Lewis ^Morris (3d). Philipse and Tliomas served
continuously tliroughout that i)eriod, both sitting for the county. Van
Cortlandt succeeded A'erplanck as member from Cortlandt Manor.
Morris was a delegate for only one year. The de Lanceys and Wil-
kins were from Westchester Borough, Wilkins being. assemblyman
(hiring the four closing years (1772-75). James de Lancey, son of
Peter and a nephew of the chief justice, in addition to his duties
as high sheriff of Westchester County, represented a New York City
constituency during the period in question. With the names ot
I'liiliitse, the de Lanceys, Van Cortlandt, ami ^lorris the reader is
already familiar. They will recur prominently in the succeeding
pages. Phili]ise and James de Lancey were stanch op])onents of the
wliide Kevolutionaiy pi-ogi-amme; Van Cortlandt and ^lorris M'ere as
stanch sui)porters of it. tT«din Thomas was judge of the Court of
("onimon Pleas of Westchester County in 1737-39, and again from
17t>5 to 177G. He was a son of the Pev. John Thomas, a missionary
and rector of the Church of England. Judge Thomas was a very
Itroniineiit citizen of Pye, and one of the most consistent and valu-
able advocates of independenc(% dying a niartA'r to the cause in a
]irisnn in X<'w 'S'ork City in 1777. Isaac Wilkins, of Castle Hill
Neck, in the Porough of Westchester, was a brother-in-law of Lewis
and (iouverneur Morris, but was on theojiposite side politically. He
was one of the leaders of the conser\at i\e forces in the last pro-
vincial assembly, and was suspected of being the author of the
noted 'i'oi'v tracts published over the signature of " A. W. Fanner.*'
lie acted as spokesman for the motley adherents of " Creat George,
our King," at the county meeting at White Plains in A]iril, 1775, and
two months later tied to England. After a varii-d career, which com-
prehended a prolonged residence (subsequently to the war) among the
forlorn refugee Loyalists in Nova Scotia, he returned in 17flS to West-
chester and became rector of Saint Peter's Church. In the historic
assembly of 1775, when the issues for and against aggressive re-
sistance to England were sharply drawn, Westclic^ster County's rep-
resentatives were Van Cortlandt, Thomas, I'hili])se, and Wilkins.

it is thus seen tliat, as concerns representation in the assembly,
llie o]i])osing parties of liberty and loyalty w(M'e exactly balanced in
this county. On the one side were Pierre Van C(U-tlandt ami Ju<lge
Thomas; on the other, Frederick Philipse and Isaac Wilkins. Phil-
ipse, of course, had at his back the whole of his great manor. M'ilkins
really i-ejiresenteil the de Lancey interest, which controlled the Bor-

290

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(;iigli of Westchester, where mIso a Tory miiyor, Nathaniel L'liderhill,
fjrandson of tlie " i-edoiibtable " Captain .leini, la-esided. Aoainst
this powerful eoiiser\ative coiiihiiiatioii stood liie .Moirises in tlie ex-
treme soiitliern part of tlie countv, Judj;«' Tliomas, represent iu<>- no
landed estates but the siin]>ie yeomanry of Rye, Harrison's Pur-
chase, and the central sections, and Pierre Xnu Cortlandt, the head

of the great Van Cortlandt family.
The popular side, therefore, comprised
diverse (dements. The IMorrises Avere
known (diietly as an asigressive polit-
ical family, with a well-defined follow-
ing, but hardly adapted to attract the
normally conservative or as yet unde-
cided classes. Thomas represented a
constituency of sturdy settlers, mostly
of New England antecedents and
largely b(donging to zealous religioiis
sects. Van Cortlandt Avas in all re-
spects a match for Philipse and the

de Lanceys, to whatever elevation of

v\AC WII.KINS.

dignity or social importance they pre-
tended; and it was his personalit\'
wiiicli gave to the Kevolut ionary movement in Westchester County
a far different aspect than that of a mere propaganda of agitators.
His supi)ort of the cause stamped it necf-ssarily as one demanding
the most respectful consideration of honest and intelligt'Ut men; for
it was beyond (luestion that his attachnient to it was wholly due to
a (•oncei)tion of its singular righteousness and of liis high duty. He
was no new convert, but had stood for the rights of the colonies from
the beginning. The arts of the tempter and briber had, moreover,
been practiced n])oii him in the P>ritish interest. The late Mrs. Pierre
E. Van Cortlandt, in her historical account of the Van Cortlandt
fauujy, tells bow he nobly rebuked the royal Governor Tryon when
ap|)roached by that personage with corrupt offers:

111 1774 Goveiiior Tryon came to Croton, ostensiljly on a visit of courtesy, l)iiiioiii<r with
liiiii liis wife, Miss Watts, a daugliter of the Hun. John Watts (a kinsman of the \'aii
Coitlaii(tts), and Colonel Fanning, his secretary. They remained for a night at tlie Manor
House, and the next morning Governor Tryon proposed a walk. They all proceeded to one
of the highest points on the estate, and, pausing, Tryon announced to the listening Van Cort-
landt the great favors that would be granted to him if he would espouse the royal cause and
give his adhesion to the king and the parliament. Large grants of land would be added to
his estate, and Tryon hinted that a title might be bestowed. Van Cortlandt answered that
" he was chosen a representative by unanimous approbation of a people who placed coutideuce
ill his integrity to use all his ability for their benetit and the good of his country as a true
patriot, which line of conduct he was determined to pursue." Tryon, finding persuasion and

EVENTS FROM 1765 TO 1775 291

luibi'.s viiin, tuiiu'il to CoUiiu'l Faiuiinn with the hriuf remark, " I tiiul our business here must
terminate, for uothinj; ean be eifeeted in this place " ; and after hasty farewells they embarked
on their sloop and retiuued to New York.

After the appointment of tlic coiniiiit tee of con-espondence by the
iiHH'tiiiL; hehl in New York in Mny, 1774, events moved rapidly for-
ward to a crisis. Boston, liavinu received earlier news of the closin"-
(»f her port, had taken action on the matter two or three days before
New York, and at a imblic meetin<i jiresided over by Samuel Adams
had adopted a resolution appealing; for the united support of the
colonies in a new Non-Importation Ayreemeut. On the afternoon of
Tuesday, the 17th of May, Paul Revere passed through Westchester
County, along the old Boston Post Road, bearing dispatches fiom
tJie Boston citizens to tlieir brethren in New York and Philadelphia.
New York responded immediately with a recommendation for a. new
colonial congress, which was adopted. The people of New York City
on July 1 elected as delegates to that body Philip Livingston, .T(din
Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane, and John Jay.

John Jay, who on this occasion made his first appearance in a high
representative capacity, ^\•as reared from infancy in Westchester
C<ninty and began among us his career as a lawyer. His great-
grandfather, Pierre Ja.\-, a Huguenot of La Rochelle, France, emi-
grated to England during the troublous times of Catholic persecu-
tion, leaving a son, Augustus, who came to New York about l(iS6,
married Anna ^laria Bayard, daughter of Balthazar Bayard, and led
a prosperous life as a merchant. Augustus's son, Peter, after ac-
<|uiring a com]ietency in business pursuits in the city, purchased a
farm in our Town of Rye, where he lived with his numerous family
for the remainder of his days. He is described by Smith, the Tory
historian of New York, as " a gentleman of opulence, character, and
reputation," and by Baird, the historian of Rye, as " a man of sin-
cere and fervent piety, of cheerful temper, warm affections, and
strong good sense." He married IVfary, daughter of Jacobus Van
Cortlandt and gTanddaughter of Oloff Stevense Van Cortlandt and
the first Frederick Philipse. Their eighth child was John Jay, born
in NcAv York City, December 12, 1745. He lived with his parents
throughout his childhood and youth in the homestead at Rye — "a
long, low building, but one room deep and eighty feet wide, having
attained this size to meet the wants of a numerous family." He Avas
educated at King's College Cnow Columbia), taking the bachelor of
arts degree in 17(!4, and, after being admitted to the bar, entered
upon a professional career in which lie soon gained a reptitation as
one of the most brilliant and intellectual men in New York. He

292

HISTORY OF WKSTCIiESTER COIXTY

lodk a Icadini;- jiai-t- in tho public discussion nf (lie (incstinns between
tlie colonies and the mother country, lioldiui; aloof from the radical

and noisy iKiliticians, but enjoying tin- unbound(

)ntideuce and

admiiali(m of the judicious friends of Anu^rican indejiendence. By
the lime matters had beconu' shaped for the in<'vitable, he stood
foremost among the well-balanced and sagacious pati-iots of New

York. In 1774 lie married Sai-ah
"Van Rrngh [a\ingston, danghtei-
of William Livingston. .Vfter the
com]>letion of his illustrious ]>ub-
lic career, he retired to an estate in
the Town of Redford, this conuty,
where he died.^ He was the father
of the eminent and beloved .Tudge
William Jay, of our county bench,
and the grandfather of the late dis-
tinguished statesman, John Jay,
also a prominent Westchester
County character. One of the feat-
ures of the Town of Rye is the cem-
etery of the Jay family, in which
stands a monument to the nuMuory
of the great chief justice.
The committee of correspondence in New York ("ity, soon after its
oi-ganization, opened communication with the rural counties. A sub-
committee of five (John Jay being one of its members) was appointed
on the .'iOth of ]May ''to write a circular letter to the supervisors in
the different counties, acquainting them of the appointment (d' this
committee, and submitting to the consideration of the inhabitants
of the counties whether it could m)t be expedient for them to aj)-
poiut persons to correspond with this committee uixm matters reUv
tiA'e to the purposes for which ihey were appointed." A circular let-
ter was accordingly written, of Miiich thirty cojjies were sent to the
treasurer of Westchester County, A\itli a request to distribute them
among "the supervisors of the several districts." It is not known
whether this was done. At all events, nothing resulted, as no re-
plies from Westchester County appear among the records of the
committee. Rut in July a second circular was .sent, Avhich met with
a different treatment from this count v. It communicated informa-

.\CGUSTUS .JAY.

' Tlio .lay homestead at Bedford, sn.vs Bol-
1o)i. " for four j:encr:itions the resJdonee and
estate of the .7ay family," deseeiided to them

■■ tiom their aiieestor, .Tacobiis Van Corthmdt,
\vh(i pnrehased it of tln^ nidian saehem Ka-

Ini.iiaii. in ITii:!." (Uev. ed., i., 77.1

EVENTS inioM ITC).") TO 1775 2i)3

tiou of (he clcrtion of (k'leyatcs to tlic ;ip]»i-oiicliiiiii' foii^rcss by the
( "ily and Coiuitj^ of New York, and i-iMincstt'd the other i.-ounlics citlifi-
to ai>i)<)int additional dclef^atcs of their own or to signify their will-
ingness that the delegates already cdiosen in the city shonld act for
lliem als(!, on the \niderstanding that whatever nnnd)er of repre-
sentatives sluuild ap]iear from this province at the congress they
wonld be entitled to l)nt one vote. Pnrsnant to this second circnlar
a \\'estchester County convention was called to meet in the conrt-
lioiise at White I'lains, on the 22d of August, various towns and
districts choosing local delegates to represent them. The Towns of
Kye and ^\'estchester held particularly well-attended meetings for
that purpose and adopted rousing resolutions. The Rye delegation
was headed by .Tolni Thomas, Jr., and the Westchester by Colonel
Lew is .Morris. It is noteworthy, however, that both the Kye and West-
chester resolutions, although cx^jressing the views of the two most
radical political leaders in the county, were emphatic in the asser-
tion of loyalty to the king — so far removed from the public mind
was the thought of rebelliori. U])on this point the IJye people said:
"That they think it their greatest happim-ss lo live under the illus-
trious House of Hanover; and that they will steadfastly and uni-
formly bear true and faithful allegiance to His Majesty, King George
ihe Third, under the enjoyment of their constitutional rights and
privileges as fellow-subjeds with those of England.." And the West-
chester citizens declared: " That we do and will bear true allegiance
to His IMajesty, George the Third, King of Great Britain, etc., ac-
cording to the British Constitution."

The county convention at White Plains on August 22, 177-i, was
not a sjK'cially important body, at least from the standjioint of its
jiroct'cdings. The most interesting thing in connection with it is
that its presiding officer was Frederick Philipse, the Tory "lord,"
who, less than a year later, was to lead his tenant clans at the
same j)lace, though in very difl'erent circumstances and emergencies,
in a vain protest against a repetition of the same political action for
wiiich he now stood the chief sponsor. There was no dissident ele-
ment in the convention, and by unanimous consent the live men pre-
viously elected by the people of New York City as delegates to the
general congress were accejited as delegates for the County of West-
chesti'r likewise.

Tlie general congress of the colonies, the first held since the Stamj)
.\ct congress of 17().~), assembled in Philadeljihia on the oth of Se])-
Icmber, 1771, and conlinned in session until October 2<i. It ])roved
in (■\ eiv way wmlhy of the great occasion which called it into being,
and the result of i(s delibeiations was to imunMiselv stimulate diy-

294 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

ciissioii tLii-(juyli()Ut the colonics and to strengthen the resolntion an<l
liope of the jjeople. It prepared and issued a declaration of rij^hts,
advised the adoiition of a third Nonimportation Agreement, and
made provision for the election in each colony of delegates to an-
other congress, which Mas appointed to meet on the 10th of May,
1775.

The citizens of Westchester County, having made a beginning in
the matter of public action on the rising questions of the da\', soon
commenced to display a lixcly interest in their narrower considera-
tion. This interest found exin'cssion in all the varying degrees of
radicalism, moderation, liiiiidity, and protest. The pulilic prints of
the times contain a number of communications from Westchester
County, some of them in the form of avitwals or (lisavo\\als, formally
signed, and some in that of anonymous newspaper articles advocat-
ing one set of opinions or another with more or less zeal and dex-
terity. One of the earliest and uiost notable of these documents is
a communication from IJye, dated September 21, 1771, and jiublislied
October 13 in Eivington's New York Gazetteer. It is an emphatic i>ro-
test against the agitation of the period, as follows:

We, the subscriber.s. Freeholders and Inhaljitants of tlie Town of Rye, in tlie County of
Westchester, being uuich concerned with the unliappy situation of public affairs, think it our
Duty to our King and Country, to Declare that we have not been concerned in any Resolu-
tions entered into or measures taken, with regard to the Disputes at present subsisting with
the Mother Country ; we also testify our dislike to many hot and furious Proceedings, in con-
sequence of said Disputes, which we think are more likely to ruui this once happy Country,
than remove Grievances, it any there are.

We also declare our great Desire and full Resolution to live and die peaceable Subjects
to our Gracious Sovereign, Kiug George the Third, and his Laws.

Then follow eighty-three signatures, headed by Isaac Gidney. Evi-
<lentl\' some local pressure hostile to the Thomas interest was brought
to bear upon the conservative element of the Eye people; and evi-
dently, also, not a few of the signers had been overpersuaded, for in
IJivington's next issue appears a humble disclaimer, signed by fifteen
of them, who say that, after mature deliberation, they are fully con-
vinced that in indorsing the former paper they " acted preposter-
(uisly and without properly adverting to the matter in dispute," and
"• do utterly disclaim every part thereof, except our expressions of
Jioyalty to the King and Obedience to the Constitutional l.aws of
the liealm."

A "Weaver in Harrison's Purchase" writes to Holt's Neio York .lour-
naJ of December 22, 1771, combating tlie sophisms of the Tory pam-
phleteer, "A. W. Farmer"; and letters from correspondents in Cort-
landt Mancu', representing both sides, appear in Rivington's Gazetteer
and Gaines's New York Gazclh during the early months of 1775.

EVENTS FROJt 1765 TO 1775 295

Sonic of this newspaper discussion by Westchester contributors is
couclied in very strong terms. Indeed, tliere is abundant evidence
tliat nowliere in America were stronger passions aroused by the un-
fortunate divisions of tlie period tliau amon<i- the farmers of West-
chester County. When tlie tinal confiict came, botli parties in the
county were ripe for the most bitter persecutions and tlie most re-
venii-eful reprisals, which frequently reco^iiiiizcd ncillicr iK'iiihhorly
considerations nor the sacred ties of blood.

CHAPTER XV

WESTCHESTER COUNTY IN LINE FOK INDEPENDENCE EVENTS TO JULY

9, 1776

HAT was destined to be the last session of the general as-
sembly of the Province of New York convened on the lUth
of January, 1775, in New York City. Althon,i;h the general
aspect of afliiirs had undergone no improvement since the
adjournment of the Philadelphia congress — and, indeed, the tendency
had been toward a further estrangement from Great Britain, espe-
cially through the operation of the " Association " recommended by
the congress, — the state of the public mind was rather that of expec-
tancy than of active revolt. Lexington had not yet been fought, and
there had been no new overt act of any very sensational nature on the
part of the British ministry. It was still the devout hope of good
men that a reconciliation might eventually be accomplished. In these
circuiiistances the conservative leaders of the New York assembly —
among whom .Tames d(^ Laucey, Frederick Philipse, and Isaac Wilkins
were cons])icuoiis — had every advantage througiiout the session, uni-
formly coiuiiianding a majority against the proposals of the radicals.
IJesolutions extending thaid^s to the New York delegates to the Phil-
adelplna congress, commending the New York merchants for their
self-sacriflcing observance of the ''Association," and favoring the elec-
tion of delegates from New York to the next general congress, Aver(!
voted down. On questions involving a division the vote was usually
iifieen to ten, Pierre Van Cortlandt and John Thomas being inva-
riably among the minority. But the house frauu'd and passed a state
of grievances, iJetition to the king, memorial to tlie lords, and rep-
resentation or remonstrance to the commons, to wliicli little or no
exception could reasonably be taken. These papers were resjiectful,
but comiH'ehensive and tirm, and did honor to the leaders of the ma-
jority. The complaint made against the assembly of 1775 was not
on the score of its positive transactions, but of what it refused to do.
It utterly and in the most studied manner ignored the great and
spontaneous manifestations of American sentiment, as expressed in
such organized ageiu-ies of the times as dejiarted from the regular
channels of legislation and official administration. This was felt by
the impatient people as a sore affront. The closing act of the assem-

FROM .TANUAIIV, 1(75, TO JULY 0, 177G 297

111}- was the aiipoiutiiu'iit of a " Standing Comiiiittce of CoiT«'S])on(l-
cnce,'' composed almost exclusively of coustrvatives, whose ftiiictions
were strict ly limited to observing the proceedings of the British par-
liament and administration and commnnicating with the sister colo-
nies thereui)on. Of this committee IMiilipse and Wilkins were made
the members for Westchester County.

The assembly having declined to assume the initiative as to the
election of the provincial delegates to the approaching general con-
gress, tluit duty reverted to the still surviving people's committee in
New York City. The committee decided that the delegates sliould be
chosen this time not by the individual counties in an independent
capacity, but by a provincial convention; and such a convention was
called for the 20th of April, the counties being severally recpiested
to send representatives to it. Circular letters to this end were dis-
patched under date of March IG. There was at that time no com-
mittee existing in Westchester County to take cognizance of the noti-
fication and summon the necessary county conventitm or meeting.
It hence became needful for some private person or persons interested
in the cause to take the lead in the matter. The man for the occasion
liroved to be C(donel Lewis ^lorris, who, since the death of his father, in
1762, had l)een at the head of i he Morris family of Morrisania. Colonel
Monis was born in 172r(, and was graduate(l at Vale in 17J:(!. While
inheriling the political Temi)erament and abilities of his race, he had
as yet taken little part in public affairs, preferring the quiet and un-
ostentatious life of a. country gentleman. Even in the first move-
ment of protest against the policy- of Great Britain organized in this
county, resulting in the White Plains convention of August, 1774, he
had not bi'en specially consjiicuons. But after the refusal of the
assembly to identity itself in any manner with the prevailing senti-
ment, he became profoundly impressed with the importance of imme-
diate and emphatic action by the people in their original capacity. The
occasion now presented was one demanding energy and management.
It was not to be doubted that the powerful conservative party would
exert its influence to the utmost to prevent any radical expi-ession by
Westchester County. There was more than a suspicion that this had
been done deliberately, though insidiously, in 1774, when Frederick
Philipse, the head and front of the conservatives, had been chosen
chairman of the county convention, and that representative body, the
first of its kind to meet in the county, had adjourned without adopt-
ing any aggressive resolutions or apjiointing a committee of corre-
spondence to co-operate with the one in the city, or making any pro-
vision for the calling and assembling of future conventions of the
county. With the issues now more closely <li'awn by the unfriendly

298

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tvttil iidc uf tJiL' provincial asseiiibiy, it was certaiu that Pliilipse, Wil-
Ivius, the de Lanceys, and their friends would assume to again control
the course of Westchester County and to keep it well within the
former moderate bounds.

Principally tlirouj;h the efforts of Colonel Morris, a temporary com-
mittee or caucus for the county Avas imju-ovised, which on the 28th
of March met at White Plains " for the purpose of devising meaus for
taking the sense of the county " relative to the appointment of dele-
gates to the jiroposed
provincial convention.
There were present Col-
o n e 1 L e Av i s Morris,
T h o m as II u u t, and
Abraham Leggett, of
Westchester; Theodo-
sius Bartow, J a m e s
^Villis, and Abraham
Guion, of New Eochelle;
W i 1 1 i a m Sutton, of
Mamaroneck; ( 'aptaiu
Joseph Drake, Benja-
m in D r a k e, Moses
Drake, and S t e p h e u
Ward, of Eastchester;
and James Horton, Jr..
of Rye. A call was
issued for a general
meetiug of freeholders
of the county, to be held
in the court house at
White Plains on Tues-
day, the 11th of April,
a n d communications
were sent to represen-
tative persons in every
locality, requesting
them to give notice to all the freeholders, A\itliout exception, '' as
those who do not appear and vote on that day will be presumed to
acquiesce in the sentiment of the majority of those who vote."

Because of the well-known radical vie^ws of Colonel Morris and
most of his associates, this action ;it once became a subject of general
discussion, causing much disquietude to the opposing faction. Of
course no formal objection to the projected meeting could have been

THE THIRD FREDERICK PHII.IPSK.

FROM .lANiTAUY, ITTH, TO .iiiLY !), ITTn 209

ollVre'd, lor lluit would Luivc been nut merely a L-oiili'S.sioii of wcnk-
ness, but highly inconsistent with the professed motives of the con-
scr\ii1i^'es, who claimed to be quite as much ih'voted as the radicals
(o tlie liberties of the country, differing with Ihem only as to melhods.
The challenge for a test of strength was promi)tly accepted, and steps
Avere taken throughout the county to make as strong an antagoinstic
demonstration as possible at ^^"hite i'lains on the ap])ointed day. This
was made manifest by an address " To the Freeholders and Inhabi-
tants of the County of ^^'('st(■hester," Avhich apjx'ared in Rivington's
New York Gazetteer on the tlth of April, signed "A White Oak,'' it
not being deemed politic by its author or authors to attach any names
to it. It is very significant that, while the White Plains call a|>pealed
only to the freeholders — that is, to the legally qualified voters ex-
clusively,— the counter-address comprehended the " inhabitants " as
well. As a body, the tenant farmers of the Manor of I'hilipseburgh
were not freeholders, but only non-voting "'inhabitants"; and of
course it would never do, in the coming struggle of the factions, to
accept a basis of representation ruling out so considerable an ele-
ment of support for the programme of which the lord of that manor
was the embodiment. The " ^^'hite Oak" address earnestly recom-
mended a full attendance of " the friends of government and our
hapjiy constitution,'" in order that the proposal to appoint delegates
to meet in i)roviucial congress — '' a measure so replete with ruin and
nusery " — might be voted down so far as Westchester County was
concernt'd. They were ui'ged to " Remember the extravagant price
we are now obliged to pay for goods purchased of tlif merchants in
consequence of the Non-Importation Agreement," " and," it was add-
ed, " when the Non-Exportation Agreement takes place, we shall be
in the situation of those who were obliged to make bricks without
straw."

Early on the morning of the llth of April the rival forces began
to gather at White Plains. The supporters of the announced busi-
ness of the day made their headquarters at the tavern kept by Isaac
Oakley, and the "friends of government" at the establishment of
Captain Hatfield. About noon the former party proceeded to the
court house, and, without waiting for the appearance of their friends
of the other side, organized a meeting and elected Colonel Lewis Mor-
ris chairman. Soon after the opposite faction entered in a body,
headed by Colonel Frederick Philipse and Isaac Wilkins, and Mr. Wil-
kius made a brief stalcment to the expectant Morrisifes. He informed
tlicm that, " as they had been unlawfully called together, and for an
unlaw ful jiurpose, they [the friends of government] did not intend
to contest the matter by a poll, wliicli would be tacitlj' acknowdedging

300 HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the authority that liad suniiiioncd them liither; but that they came
only with a design to protest ayainst all such disorderly proceedings,
and to show their detestation of all unlawful committees and con-
gresses." They then, according to the account of their transactions
which their leaders furnished to the press, "declared their deter-
mined resolution to continue steadfast in their allegiance to their
gracious and merciful sovereign, King (Jeorge the Third, to submit
to lawful authority, and to abide by and sui)port the only true repre-
sentatives of the people of the colony, the general assembly. Then,
giving three huz/.as, they returned to Captain Ilatfiidd's, singing as
thej' went, with loyal enthusiasm, the good and animating song of —
" God save great George our King;
Long live our noble King, etc."

The declination of the followers of Thilipse and Wilkins to con-
test the matter by a poll was an unexpected measure of tactics. In
the address signed by " White Oak " the friends of government had
been expressly solicited to rally at White Plains in order to give their
votes on the vital question to be propounded there, and the conse-
(|iiciices of failure to attend and declare their sentiments in (•ontr(d-
liiig numbers had been pictured in vivid words. Notwithstanding the
organization of the meeting by the Morris party, the conservatives
could, of course, have made its ])roceedings conformable to their will
if they liad been in the majority. Their preference to retire with
nothing more than a protest, and convert themselves into a mere
rum]), was an act either of political petulance or studied discretion.
The reasonable conclusion is that they were with good cause appre-
hensive of the result of a vote, and that their experienced leaders de-
cided upon the safer course of a dignified retreat.

The radicals in the court house, being left to themselves, put
through the programme arranged for them with expedition and en-
thusiasm. By a unanimous vot<' it was agreed to unite with the other
counties in sending delegates to the proposed provincial convention,
and eight delegates were accordingly chosen, as follows: Colonel Lewis
Morris and Dr. Robert Graham, of Westchester; Stephen Ward, of
Eastchester; Colonel James Uolmes and Jonathan Tlatt, of Bedford;
John Thomas, Jr., of Eye; and Samuel Drake and Philip Van Cort-
landt, of the Manor of Cortlandt. Resolutions were adopted extend-
ing thanks to " the virtuous minority of the general assembly of
this province, and particularly to John Thomas and Pierre Van Cort-
landt, Es(iuires, two of our representatives, for tlieir firm attachment
to and zeal for, on a late occasion, the preservation of the union of
the colonies and the rights and liberties of America," and also thank-
ing " the delegates who composed the late congress for the essential

TO ALL BRAVE, HEALTl

DISPOSEli

IN THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD, WHO HAl

NOW RAIS;

GENERAL I
liberties' AI

OF THE U]

Againft the hoft

TAKE

TofUtcft

Firtficch.

Ramnur' . Jg7"i

^^^^. ''^^^:^^^^2^ ^^'^^^

'^^^^%?^. ^<^^.±f^^ ^ ^ . '-^vith h,s mufjj]

THAT

different parts of this beautiful continent in the linnnl.rnMi j\
home to L WendH, wxth h.s pockelfp"u'LrofcL"e";"^1'L'"heal

GOD Sit!
REPRESENTING AMERICAN SOLDIERS GOING THROUGH THE

NOW IN POSSESSION 01

BLE BODIED, AND WELL

ING MEN,

INCLINATION TO JOIN THE TROOPS,
DER

MINGTON,
TDEPENTDENCE

D STATES.

foreign enemies,

OTICE,

ting' party gf fc^

«2--^t-^3f c^^z-^ZZ^t-'aC'

courfty, attendance \vill be given bj^

Colonel AafSrTOglleny^tor the purpole of receiving the enrolment of
rvirp. ^

Tvice.

us, namely, a bounty of twelve dollars, an annual and fully fufficicnt
Tiple ration of provifions, together with sixty dollars a year in gold
13- up for himfelf and friends, asall articles proper for his fubtftancc ajid

vc, will have an opportunity of hearing; and feeing in a more particular
jibrace this opportunity of fpcndin^ a few hapjjy years in inewinj; the
able charafter of a foldier, after which , he may, if he pleafes return
with laurels.
ITED STATES.

A FACSIMILE OF THF, ONLY COPY KNOWN TO HAVF, BEF.N PRESERVED,
• RTCAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

KitoM .lAM'Aitv, 1775, TO .niLY 0, 177(; .'}01

services ( liev ll.l \ c relideled lo A lliencjl." Tile meet i lit; I hell ;i<l jdllllieil
\y\i]\ llll-ee clieel'S for the killi;'.

The "friends of j;()\'enmieiil," iifler le;niiii; (hi- ((lurt JKtiise, or-
UJiiiized ill! iiideiieiideiil iiiectinfi' iiiid ^Khipted I he foUowiufj;' dt'Cla-
rjilioii, l(( wiiicii all itreseiif sii;iied (heir iiaiiies:

Wi', tin- iiii(lcrsi}rii((l, frc(li<il(lcrs ruiil iiiliabitants of the ('oiiiity "f Wcstclicstcr, liaviiig
asseiiiMod at tlii' Wliltf Plains In (Miiisifiuciicit of certain advcrtlscniciits, do now dcclaic tliat
we met licic to express onr honest al>liorronee of all nnlawtid eonfjiesses and eoniniittees, and
tliat WI' are deteiinini^d at tlie hazard of oni' lives and |ii(i]>i'rti('S to snpport the kin;; and thf
eonstitntion, anil that we ai'knowled;;e no representatives lint the ^'eneral asseiiilily, to whose
wisdom and inte^'i'lty we snhiuit the ^nardiaiiship of onr rights and lllierties.

There were in all three hundred and t wehc signers In liiis dneii-
nieiil, headed by I'rederick I'hilipse, [satic WilUins, the Ivevs. Samuel
Seai)iiry and laike IJalx-ock, Jnd<;('s Jonathan I'owler and ( 'aleb l*'o\v-
ler, and se\eral olhei' ])roniin('iit ])orsons, includini;- Mayor Natlianiel
Underliill, of tlie i;oron.i;h of Weslcjiester, and !Miili|i j'l 11, of I'elhani
IMaiior.

The palriolic nieeliiiL; al W'iiite I'lains was condnrted wiiii perfect
(lecoriini, and, in spile of the aff<>TC'Ssivt' spoecli of .Mr. Wilkins ajiuinst
"disorderly inoceedinus" and "unlawful roniiiiil lees and congresses,''
Colonel Morris and his tidhcreiits had the jiood taste to refrain from
all \i(denl or \ indict ixc e\|iressions or doinf^s on I iial oc<asion. ,\ Iso in
his pnhli,>lied report ol t he e\cnls of the day Colonel .Morris abstained
from lani;iiaL;e llial could ]iossibly jiive offense, continin^ iiiniseif to
a dispassionate narrative of facts. I!ul llie " friends of i;overiiiiienl "'
Wi-vc not so moderate. They caused an elalxuale stalemeni to be
lii-iuted in I he .New \\>\-k press, tilled \\itii animad\ crsioiis of an ex-
asjM'ratin^ naluie. In I ids slalemeiii, wiiicli a|(iii'are<l in i;i\ in^lon's
p.ijier on the L'dtli of A])ril, the day after the battle of Lexington, it
Wiis cliarjLied that llie nieetin<i held at Ihc court house had, by assiini-
iriii to re]ireseiit I he true sentiiiieiit of Westchester ('ounly, jinposed
n]ioii llie wiirhl and insulted tlie "loyal ("oiiiity ol' Weslchestei' " in
a most barefaced manner"; tliat it was "the ad of i lew individuals
unlawfully assembled," and tliat it was well known tiiat al least two-
thirds of the inhabitants of the county were " fi-ieiids to order and
fiovernment, and op]»osed to committees and all unlawlnl combina
tions." 'i'lie ire of ("(doni'l .Moriis was aroused by such reljeci ions ami
alleviations, and in a cninmiinicat ion to Ihe press piildisiied soon
afterward he rejilied willi j;reat \i;;(»r and cutliiiu satire, also sub-
jectinji the list i>( sinners to a merciless analysis. " I shall pass over,"
said he, "the many iillle embellislmienis willi wiiicli Ihe authf)r's
fancy lias einleavored to decoi-ate his narrative; noi- is it necessary
to call in (Hiesti(»n the reality of that loyal enthusiasm by whicii it

302 niSTOUV OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

wiis siiid tlicsi' i;uo(l pcopk- wrrc iullucuoed; and 1 really wish it
liad hccii the fact, because when inconsistencies and fooleries result
from inebriety or enthusiasni, tliey merit our pity and escape iudis;:-
nation and resent meiit. Much pains, I confess, were on that day
taken to iiial<e teiiiiMnai-y enthusiasts, and Avith other exhilaratinj;
spirit than tlie si)irit of loyalty. To jjive the appearance of difiuity
to these cui'ious and very orderly protestors, the author has been
very mindful to annex everj- man's addition to his name, upon a pre-
sumption perhaps that it would derive weisiht from the title of Mayor,
Esquire, Captain, Lieutenant, Judge, etc. But it is not easy to con-
ceive why the publisher should be less civil to the clergy than to
the gentry or commonalty. Samuel Seabury and Luke Babcock cer-
tainly ought not to have been sent into the world floating on a news-
paper in that plain way. The one is the Kev. Mr. Samuel Seabury,
I'ector of the united parishes of East and West Chester, and one of
the missionaries for propagating the Gospel, and not politicks, in
foreign parts, etc., etc.; the other is the Kev. Mr. Luke Babcock, who
preaches and prays for Colonel Philipse and his tenants at Philipse-
burgh." In his analysis of the signers of the protest he showed that
no fewer than one hundred and seventy of the three hundred and
twelve were persons not possessing the least pretensions to a vote,
many of them being lads under age; while of the one hundred and
forty-two wlio were freidiolders many h(dd lands at the will of Colonel
Philipse. " so that," he concluded, " very few independent freeholders
objected totlie a]ipointment of deputies." Theaccuracy of this analysis
was never challenged; and it thus appears that with all the advant-
ages of prestige enjoyed by the conservative leaders they were able to
muster scarcely a hundred disinterested voters in o]iposition to a po
litical ])rogi-amme ^Aiiicli they had announced to be '' replete witli
ruin and misery." IMoreover, several formal recantations of the pro-
test by ])ersons taIio had signed it followed, showing that, as in the
case of the Bye protestants of the year before, various indixiduals
who lufd been drawn into support of Tory principles were speedily
brought to a realizing sense of the odiousness of their behavior.
Among the recant<'rs was Jonatlian Fowler, one of the judges of
the Court of Common Pleas of the county, \\lio, in a ])ublish(^d card,
declared that "upon inatu.re deliberation and more full knowledge
of the matter" he Inul come to the conclusion tliat the sentiments
expressed in tlie ])rotest Mere "not only injurious to our ])resent
cause, but likewise offensive to our fellow-colonists," and therefore
repudiated and testified his abhorrence of them.

The New York provincial convention f(U' the appointment of dele-
gates to the congress at Pliiladeljiliia met in New York City on the

FKOM JANUARY, 1775, TO .1ULY 9, 1776

303

20th of .Vpril. All the represcutatives for \\'('st(h(sl('i" Coiiiilv se-
lected hy the meetinp; at White Plains were in attcmliince excepting
Jonathan Piatt and Colonel James rTolnies. ,V deleiialion of twelve
men — live from New York Connt.v and (>ne eaeli from Ivin^s, Snffolk,
Orange, Albany, Ulster, Westchester, and Dnti^liess Counties — was
chosen to rejiresent the province. The delegate for Westchester
County was Colonel Lewis Morris. John Jay was re-elected as a dele-
gate for New York City. The convention adjourned on the 22(1.

On tli(> morning of the next day, Sunday, A])ril 23, 1775, the news
of the battle of Lexington Avas received by the people of our county

TIIK NK.WS OF LEXINGTON.

residing along the Boston Post Koad from the express lidcr \\ Im had
b<'en dis])atch;>d to bear it as far as NeA\' York. Spread Ironi nioutli
to mouth thi'oughout tlie county, it cverywhei''- iutcnsitied the pas-
sions wiiich hail been stirred by the local political exents of the pre-
vious few weeks. Already iiiceused at the arrogant bearing of the
conseT'vati\(' jiarty, Mhich had just been freshly illustrated by the
injudicious narrati\i' of the )ii-oce( dings at W'liile I'lains lliat the
leaders of that ])arty had insertetj in the New ^'ol■k newspapers, the
pali'ioiic element was aroused by this alarnnng inteliigem-e to bit-
terness and aggression. Numerous were tJie intei-\ie\\s held with
signers of the jirotest who were sn]i]iosed to be open to persuasion.

304 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

iiinl Willi Jill iiiilividiials of imviduslv unccrlaiii tendencies. A week
later Judjie Jonathan Fowler piiblislied his meek recantation, and
even the bold spirit of Isaac Wilkius, the eloquent leader of the ma-

NEW- YORK, Committee-Chamber,

WEDNESDAY, 26tK April, 3775.

THE CommitteeTiaving taken. Into Conlldera.rioa tha Commotions
occafioned by the fanguinary Meafures purfucd by the Briiitli,
Mmiftry, and that tte Powers with which this Committee is
invefted, reftieft only the AfTocixtion. are unanimoufly of
Opinion, That a new Committee be elefted by the Freeholders
and Freemen of this City and County,, for the prefent unhappy Exigency
of Affairs, as well as to obfervc the Conduft. of all Pcrfons touching the
Affbciation; That the ^aid Committee confift of loo Perfons; that 33 be a
Quorum, and that they difTolvc within a Fortnight next after the End of
the next Seflions of the Continenul Congrefs. And that the Senfe of the
Freeholders and Freemen of this City and County, upon this Subjeft, may
be better procured and afceitained, the Committee are further unanimoufly
of Opinion, That the Polls "be taken on Friday Morning next, at po' Clock,
at the ufual Places of-EIefticnln each Ward, under the Infped\ion of the
two VeArymen of each Ward, and two of this Committee, or any two
of the four J and that at the faid Eledions the Votes of the Freemen and
Freeholder,':, be taken on the following Qucftions, vis. Whether fuch New.
Committee (hall be conftitufed J andiflVa, of whom it (hallconfift. AntI
this Committee is further unanimoufly of Opinion, That at the prefent
alarming Juncture, it is highly advifeable that a Provincial CongrcCs be
immediately fummoned ; and that it be recommended to the Freeholders
and Freemen of this City and County, to choofc at the fame Time that
they vote for the New Committee aforefaid. Twenty Deputies to rcprefcnt
them at the faid Congrefs. And that a Letter be forthwith prepared and
difpatched to all the Counties, rec^uefting them to unite with us in forming
a Provincial Congrefs, and to appoint their Deputies withoutDelay, to meet
at New -York, oa Monday the 22d of May next.

By Order of the Committee.^

ISAAC LOW, Chatrman.

FACSIMILE OK NKW YORK COMMITTEE CIRCULAI! AETEU TIIK BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.

jority in the provincial assembly, yielded ilself lo tlie inevitable.
Against Wilkins jjarticularly severe ainniosKy was cherished. It
was he who, at ^Vhite Plains, had denounced {lie i)atriotlc assem-
blage as disorderly and nnlawful, and common report attributed to

KKOM .lAXTAKY, 1775, TO .TTTIA" 9, 177G 305

liiiii the iiullidi'slii]! (>(' tlic in-olcsliui; '' i!iii'ra(iv(-," widi its oH'i'iisive
assunii)tions and liupiidciit iliaracterizatious. The jiiililic i-cscnt-
iiiciit t()A\ard liiiii Avas so d('(>]», and Avas manifested willi such acliv-
ily, tliat without delay he formed tlie resoliif ion to h-ave tiie country.
Tiiis was annonnced in an open letter addressed to '' My Conntry-
nicii," dated New York, May 3, 1775. The i)recipitation of his fliiiilit
may he judgeil from Ills statement that he li'ft beliind " Cverytiiint;
that is dear to me — my wife, my children, my friends, and my prop-
erty."' He avowed that he was aetnated not by fear or a conscious-
ness of ha\ini; done wroni;, but b^' an unwilliniiness to become in-
volved in the fratricidal strife that was impending;'. " I leave
America, and every endearinf;- connection," he concluded, " because
I \\\\\ not raise my hand a;iiainst my Soverei,nn, nor will I draw my
sword against my Country; when I can conscientiously draw it in
liei' fa\'our, my life shall be chearfully devoted to her service."

In New York City, the center of political aiiitation and manage-
UK ut, the thrillini; news from Lexington evoked more energetic and
a.u^rcssive measures tlian had yet been attem])ted. Although a pro-
vincial con\-eiition had just been lield, and a continental congress was
aliout to meet, it was decided to summon a jii-ovincial congress; and
a call Avas proui|)tly issued Utr such a body to meet in New York City
on the 22(1 of May and "deliberate u])on ami from time to tiun^ to
direct such measures as may be expedient for our common safety."
In the cii'cular sent to the counties the gravity of the situation was
pointed out in strong language, and for the first time the hint of
wai' was gi\-en to the jieojile of the Colony. \\'estchester County re-
sjxinded to this m-w appeal by holdinii a meeting at "White Plains
on the Sth of .May, James Yan Cortlandt, of th(> r5orouiili of West-
chester, occupying the chair. It appointed a jiermanent counly com-
mit tee of ninety jter^ons, twenty of whom were em])owered to act
lor the ccomty, and to that committee was referred the authority to
choose the delegates to the proposed congress. The delegates select-
ed under this provision wei'e Couverneur ^lorris, Dr. TJobert Craham,
Colonel Lewis (iraham, and Colonel James N'an Cortlandt, all of the
Town of Westchester; Ste]ihen Ward and Joseph Drake, of East-
chesler; Major I'liiliji Yan Cortlandt, of Cortlandt ]\LTnor; Colonel
Janu'S Holmes, of ISedfoi-d; John Thomas, Jr., of TJye; David Dayton,
of North Castle; and William Paulding, of Philii)seburgh Manor. It
is noteworthy that anntng the i-esults of this White Plains meeting
two men whose names were destined to rank among the most im-
lioitant in the annals of Westchester County obtained their first en-
trance into iniblic life — Converneur Morris and Jonathan C. Tom])-
kins. The former headed the delegation to the provim'ial congress,

306

HISTOKY OF WKSTCHESTER CDfXPY

niiil the inttcr Avas one nf tlic piiiiciiial iiiciiili''i-s <if lli<- (•niniiiiltee

<if iiiiict.v wliifli was cicalrd lo taUc oliargv of atTaiis in tlir coimty.

< i(MiV('iU('iu- .AJonis was the fniiitli sdii <tf Lewis .Morris, .li., and a

stciihi'otlier of Culuiiel Lewis .Morris. He was horn in T

was "rad-

ualcd at Columbia College in lT(iS, slndicd law under llie preceptor-
slii]) of ^Villianl Sniitli llie youni^er (afterward royal chief justice),
and was admitted to the bar in 1771, when only twenty years old.
He immediately espoused the cause of the anti-<>overnraent pai'ty, al-
thoujih identifying' himself, like Jay, with its more moderate advo-
cates; and it was not until the die had been oast by the introduction
of the Declaration of Independence in the continental congress that
he took a pronounced position in support of radical doctrines. As
a delegate from Westchestei- County to the provincial congress of
1775 and 177G he attracted general attention by his abilities, and

thenceforward his services were con-
stantly employed in behalf of the
nation. His mother was a lady of
strong Loyalist prejudices, and Gou-
vernenr's championship of the Kevo-
luiionary cause was a gn'ar disap-
pointment to lu-r. His sister, Isabella,
married Isaac Wilkins, whose nu'lan-
clioly farewell to his conntiymen has
just been noticed. Couvenieur Mor-
ris, being liis father's youngest son,
did not iulierit any portion of the
IMorrisania estate; but some years
after the conclusion of jyeace with
Creat Britain he purchased from his
brother. General Staats Long Morris,
of the British army, all that portion
of the ancestral ])ro])erty lying east
(if .Mill lirnok. There he n'sidcd during the clnsing years of his life,
and died on the IHth of NoNcmber, ISlli.

.lonalhan G. Tomiddns,' of Scarsdale, llic fatlier of <!nverunr and
N'ice-President Daniel l». Touipkins, was a prnuiincnt West (duster
County figure throughout the Ilevolutiou and for many years after.
His ancestors emigrated from the north of England to .Massachu-

UOIV'EUNKLU MORRIS.

* He was buru Josliu.i Tompkins, hoiiifi so
iiMtiicil for his fatbor. wbo removed to Sears-
dale from Westchfcsier Town. One of the
family's neisthbors in Scarsdale was Captain
.lonalhan Crin'cn. a well-to-do farmer, who,
bi'inc ehildless, and taking a fanr-y to yonns

.Toslnia, adopted him and liad him baptized by
the name of .Touatliaii Griffeu Tompkins. Caji-
lain GrilTeu eonvt\ved to liini a farm of one
iinndrr'd acres. .Tonathau G. Tompkins mar-
ried a daujrhter of Caleb Hyatt, a respeetable
fai-nier in White riains.

FHOM JANUARY, 1775, TO JULY 9, 177G 307

setts, iicsides scrviiiL; on the coiitity ('(111111111 Ice, Ik- was supervisor
for the Manor of Searsdale, and later was a member of tlie committee
of safety, a delegate to two [iro\ iiieial coniiresses, member of the as-
sembly and county judge under flie 8tate governmeut, and one of the
first regents of the State University. He lived lo ihe venerable age
of eighty-seven, dying in 1823.

The second Continental congress began its sessions at I'hiladel-
pliia on tlie 10th of May. Accepting the proceedings at Lexington
and their associated ev(mts as acts of wai-, it imniediat(dy began to
lay i)iaiis for a general armed resistance. Steps were taken for the
creation of an army by the enlisiinciil of V(diinteers, Washington was
ajipointed (•ommander-in-chief, and the preliminary arrangements
were made for meeting the expenses of the struggle.

When the New York jiroviucial congress assembled on the 22d of
May, the ])rograiiiiiie of revolution had already been well marked out.
This provincial body was equal to the emergency, being fully con-
trolled by the patriotic element, although well balanced in its mem-
bership. It entered at once upon the serious business of the hour.
By the election of Peter Van I>rugli Livingston, an extremist, as its
]iresi(liiig ol'licer, it testified its complete readiness for co-operation
wilh the sister c(donies in radical action. Yet it took a firm stand
in insisting upon the local autonomy of the Colony of Xew York, one
(>( its earli(^st acts being the rejection of a resolution providing for
iiii](licit obedience to the continental congress in all matters excejit
tlutse of local ])(dice regulation. On the first (\n\ of the session pro-
vision was made for effective organization in the several counties by
the establishing of committees in sympathy with the general plans
of the friends of liberty. A plan for a continental currency, sub-
mitted and advocated with great ability by Gouverneur Morris, was
recommended to the consideration of the continental congi'ess. Final-
ly, detailed arrangements were adopted for iintting the province in
a state of military defense, for the levying of troops, ami for active
local administration and sujiervision in the interest of assuring full
exercise of authority by the Revolutionary party and repressing dis-
;i flection.

The British garrison in Xew York had given little trouble lo the
iMPimlai-e since the Golden Hill affray of January, 177(1. During its
brief stay in the city after the battle of Lexington it was not re-
iiifoiccd. .\lthougli as yet no armed body of colonists had arisen to
ilirtaleii ili<' British soldiers, it was perfectly understood that the
lieojde, and not llie garrison, were masters of the local situation, and
that at the slightest manifestation of aggression <ui the jiarl of llie
troops sanguinary events A\-ould be |ireci])ilate(|. The P.ritish com-

308 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COl'XTY

uiaadfi- had the good sense to alisiain ri-om aiivlliiiii; of tliat uature,
and, on the other hand, tlie ptipuhice nunh' no atteiiii)t to interfere;
witli liiin. But this forlx-arance was about the only instance of mod-
eration displaj-ed in the City of New Yorlv at that critical time. The
jK'ople, under the leadership of the Sons of Liberty, committed overt
acts which were in the line of open rebellion. A novernnient store-
liotise at Turtle Bay was seized, and about one hundred pieces of
ordnance were carted to Kiuji,sbridge, which, as the point of com-
munication with the mainland, was instantly recognized as a prin-
ci])al strategic position, denmndiug intreuchment. Indeed, as early
as the 4th of May the New York City committee ordered ''that Cap-
tain Sears, Captain Bandall, and Captain Fleming be a committee to
procure i»roper judges to go and vicAV the ground at or near Kings-
bridge, and report to tliis committee, with all convenient spee<l,
whether it will answer for the purposes intended by it." Thus the
very first warlike measure determined upon in this portion of the
country had referi'uce to a locality ui)on the borders of our county.

The supremacj' of the po]iular power in New York was well evi-
denced by the dictatorial authority assumed and successfully en-
forced by the committee of one hundred upon the occasion of the
de])arture of the garrison from the city. This event occurred early
in June, tl:e frigate " Asia " having come into the harboi- with oi-ders
to reiiioNc tlie soldiers to Iioston. The committee gave its coiiseni
to th<' transaction, witli the proxiso, however, that the troops shouhl
carry a\vay Avitli them no other arms than tliose u])on their own
|)ersons. An attempt A^as made to violate the arl)itrary order thus
pi'onniigated, and the first detaclniieiit that issued fioiii the fort was
accompanied b^' several vehicles loaded with stacks of arms. At
the corner nf Broad and Beaver Streets a single citizen, ^larinus \Vil-
left by name, emergecl from the crowd, seized tlie horse of the leading
vehicle by the bridle, and commanded the driver to turn back. .Vn
allei-cation now ensued, several iironiinent genllemen e-vju'essing their
o](ini(ins — among them Gouverneur Morris, wh.o, consistently with
the ]iacitic attitude that he had taken, deprecated ^Villett's act. But
the aggri'ssive faction was reiiresented by well known s]iokesmeii,
haxing behind them o\crwlielming nund)ers of the S(uis of Liberty,
and they gave it to be understood that unless Ihe ai'ms were left in
the city, in obedience to the directions of the committee, Idood would
flow. The judicious British (.Iticer in command yielded to these re])-
resentations, and the citizens were ]K'rmitt(^d to nii]iro])riate the arms.
After that trium]dial ternnnation of the matter, Willett mounted
one of the carts and delivered an imjiassioned address to the meek
soldierv, exhorting them to desist from the unnatural business of

FIIO.M .lANUAIlY, 1775, TO JTILY !), 177(>

:}()9

slicddiiiL; tlic blood ul' tbt-ir bid lii-cii, and prdiuisim; lirulrctioii tu
aiiv oC I heir iiuinbLT who should liaNo (he courage to leave the ranks
and join tlie ])alrio(ic nniltitudc llistoi-y records that one of the
men deserted in resjionse lo this a]i]K'al. In all the i)reliininar3- events
of the ilexdintion there is no nioic di-aniatic episode tliau this ex-
ploit of .Marinus W'illett. It is typical of the whole conrse of th<>
peo](le of ^New York from the earliest period of the troubles with
the mother country — a course of unfaltering' aggression, taking no
thought of consequences. Willett subsequently became an ofUcer in
the Anu'rican army, and, as we shall see, distinguished himself upon

KXPLOIT OF MARINl'S WILLKTT.

a notable occasion in repelling a British expedition near I'eekskill, in
our county.

The continental congress at riiiladelphia, imrsuing the IJevolu
lionary programme which had been inaugurated at the beginiung of
its session, early turned its attention to the subject of preparing the
Province of New York for defensive and offensive oi)erations. In this
connection the fortitication of the passes at Kingsbridge and ai lh<'
entrance to the Highlands, and plans for obstructing the navigation
of the Hudson Kiver in case of necessity, received (diief consideration.
( >i> the li.lth of May a number of resolutions ])ertaining to New \drk
were adopted by I he congre. s, jncluiling I he I'nl low ing:

That a post l)i' iniim(Hati'ly taken ami t'oititiiil at or iiiai' l<iMirsl)ri(lf;c, in tlip Colony of
New York ; and that tlu' ^jround In- chosen witli a partienhir view to prevent the eonininniea-
tion between the City of New York and tlie country from lieing- interrupted liy land.

310 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

That a post be also taken in the Ilinhlands, on each side of Hudson's River, and bat-
teries erected in such a manner as will most ettectually prevent any vessels ])assing tliat may
be sent to liarass the inhabitants on the borders of said river ; and that experienced persons
be immediately sent to examine said river, in order to discover where it will be most advis-
alile and proper to obstruct the navigation.

These resolves, with otlicrs, \vci<' couuiiuuicated to the provincial
congress of New York, with insiructious to keep tliem secret. That
body referred the two matters to separate couimittees, which in due
time rei)orted plans for carrying the recommendations into effect.
The result as to Kingsbridge was the construction of three redoubts,
one of which (on Tetard's llill) was called Fort Independence; and
the first iutrenchments thus established were soon supplemented by
others along the Harlem and t^puyten Duyvil waterway. Fort Wash-
ington, on Manhattan Island, overlooking the Hudson at about the
foot of ISlst Street, was built under the supervision of Colonel Kufus
I'utuam, of Washiugton's sialV, previously to Ihc British occupation
of New York. It was designed to Ik — and was, in fact — the main de-
fensive i>osi1ion guarding New York City below and the open country
above; and Fort Washington and the Kingsbridge defenses were
closely interdependent. In addition to its function as a citadel at the
northern end of ^lanhattan Island, Fort Washington covered the
passage up the Hudson Itiver, to which end Fort Lee, erected about
the same time directly opposite on the New Jersey bank, alst) con-
tributed.

The committee having in charge the matter of advising as to forti-
fying both banks of the Hudson in the neighborhood of the High-
lauds and obstructing the river navigation paved the way for equally
important undertakings in that quarter. Expert commissioners who
were sent to examine the country laid stress in their report upon
the natural military advantages offered by the northwestern section
of Westchester County, which, besides guarding the Highlands, was
the eastern terminus of the King's Ferry route (at that time the
]nin(i]>al means of communication between the Eastern andSouthern
colonit'si, and also afforded an excellent road leading into Connecticut.
The famous chain across tlie Hudson at Anthony's Nose was soon
afterward manufactured, it is said to have cost £70,000, almost
bankrupting the continental treastiry, whereas no com])ensa1ing ben-
efits Mere derived from it. On tw >) occasions it bridce from its own
weight. The ill-fated Forts Clinton and ^Montgomery were con-
structed in the Highlands on the west side of the river, with Fort
Constitution on an island opposite West Point. The erection of Fort
Lafayette at Yerplanck's Point and Fort Independence at Peekskill
(as also of the famous wcu-ks at Stony Point, opposite Yerplanck's)

IKOM lAXT'ARY, 177."), TO JTLY 9. 177<i 311

ltcl(iiii;s til ;i hilci- ]icrin(l. ( )f ilic \;irinus I Jc\ iil ill i(iii;n-y fortresses in
llic Ilii;lil;iiHls and lliar seftinii, ^\■(■sl I'oiiil was huill last.

Ill addilidii to its iiartioiihir recoiiniieiidations respecting Kino's-
liiidiic, llie Ilijililaiids, and the iludsoii, tlie (•(ndinenf al cDngress ad-
\ised New ^Oi'k to iiave its militia i horon^lil y armed and trained,
and piace'l in "eonslanl readiness to act at a moment's warninin' ";
and, as a tinal matter, tJie colony was summoued to enlist and efjnip
three thousand volunteers, who were to serve luilii ilie .31st of De-
cember, 177"), unless sooiu'i' discharged. In response to the demand
for three thousand enlisted men, four regiments were formed, of which
one, though known as the Dutchess County regiment, was composed
to a considerable extent of Westchester County men. Its colonel
was James Holmes, of Bedford, a grandson of one of the original
proprietors of that town, who had served with credit as a captain in
liie French and Indian \s'nr. Although, in addition to accepting this
coiumission. Holmes had been a delegate to the provincial congress,
and soon afterward served with his command in ihe invasion of Can-
ada, he subsequently became one of the disaffected, turned Loyalist,
and was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the corps of Westchester
County IJefugees. Philip Van Cortlandt, son of Pierre \'au Cortlaudt
and a leading member of the provincial congress, was made lieuten-
ant-colonel of the Dutchess County regiment. Three of its ten com
panics were largely from Westchester County.

In the summer of 177.5 the provincial congress ordered a complete
reorganization of the militia of the colony, and required every mem-
ber of that body, between the ages of sixteen and fifty, to provide
liimself with a musket and bayonet, a sword or tomahawk, a cartridge-
iiox to contain twenly-three rounds of cartridges, a knapsack, one
]ioiind of gunpowder, and three pounds of balls. There were no reg-
ulations as to uniform. Cndci- this order AVestchester County thor-
oughly reconstrmled its militia, depo.sing all officers of uusatisfac-
toi-y or doubtful antecedents, and electing stanch patriots in their
stead.

The battle of Hunker Hill, on the 17tli of June, had still farther
wideiii'il the lu'each, which, indeed, now seemed inia]iaiile of being
rhise<l. Three days pre\iously George ^^'ashiugton luid been ap-
pointed by the continental congress commander-in-chief of the .Vmer-
ican armii's. On June 2.") he arrived in New 'N'ork on his way to the
seal of war in ^lassachuset ts, lining been met at Newark by a de])U-
tation of citizens, of whom ( loincineiii- .Morris was one of the prin-
cipal members. I ie stopped over night in the city, and the next morn
iiig continued his joiirnev, being escorted for some distance by thi'

312

HISTORY OK WI'.STCriESTEU COUNTY

local militia. His muU-, of courst', lay through our couut.v, along
the Boston Post Road.

One of the luo.st notewovtliY (Miactnicnts of the provincial congress
of 177") was a series of regulations for preventing and ])unishing un-
acceptable acts and language bj' the Tory element of the province,
riiese regulations were drastic, and, as they were a])plied with par-
licular severity in Westchester County, a somewhat detailed notice
mT ilicm is called for. The measure embodying them was adopted on
the 2(ith of August. It prohibited the furnishing of provisions or
other necessaries, " contrary to the rescdutions of the continental
oi- of this congress," to the ministerial army or navy, as well as com-
municating by correspondence or otherv.'ise to the British military
or naval officers any information prejudicial to the interests or plans
of the colonists. Pei'sons accused of offending against the act in tlief?e
respects were to be brought before the county or city committee, the
])rovincial congress, or the committee of safety, and, if found
guilty, were to be disarmed, to forfeit double the value of the
articles furnished, and to be imprisoned not to
exceed three months. In case of a second of-
fense, the guilty person was to be banished from
the colony for seven years. Continuing, the act
declared that, " although this congress, having
tender regard to the freedom of speech, the
rights of conscience, and personal liberty, so far
as indulgence in these particulars may be con-
sistent with our general security, yet, for the
general safety," it was necessary to sternly pun-
ish abuses of such privileges. Consequently all
persons were prohibited fi-om opposing or deny-
ing ■• tiic authority of the continental lu- this congress, or the commit-
ice of safety, or the committees of the respective counties, cities,
towns, manors, precincts, or districts in this colony" and from "dis-
suading aii_\- person or persons from olicying the recommendations of
the contiuejital or this congress, or the committee of safety, or the
comniitt(>es aforesaid." Susjx'cts were to be tried before the county
committees, and, if convicted, were lo be disarmed for the first offense
and committed to close contiiieiin'iit, at tlieir respective expense, for
llie second. Committees and militia olticers were enjoined to appre-
liciid every person discovered lo be enlisted or in arms against the
libci-ties of the country, and to keej) him in custody until his fate
siiould be determined by the congress; and the estate of every such in-
dividual was to be seized and confiscated.

Very soon after tin- })assage of this measure the zealous local com-
mitteemen in AVestchester County began to take steps for its wide-

PHILIPSK ARMS.

FROM JANUAKV. 1775, TO JULY 9, 1776 ' 313

s|'rc;iii ;ni(l striugenl ciirorcenient. With (he iiuliinni of 1775 coui-
mcTiccd those numerous acts of inforniation, fi-equentlv by ueigbbor
n.uaiiisl neiulibor, and as frequently violative of everv private confi-
dence and decent oblijiation between man and man, which form so
much (d' the history of our county during tiu' Kevolution. In no
other county of the province did sucli abundant and invitim; ma-
terial exist for the exercise of the peculiar activities of tlic patriotic
informer. It is true that Kings, (2ueens, Suffoliv, and Uiclimond
Counti(>s contained a large Loyalist population — perliajis as numer-
ous and important, ]iroi)ortionately, as that of Westchester. Hut with
the capture of New York City in the summer uf 1776 these island
counties came under the complete protection of the British forces,
and their Tory inhabitants were conse([uently exempte<l from the
iu(iuisitorial observation and regulation through a long term of years
which the British sympathizers in West(diest( r County had to suffer.
There is no doubt that many of the individual proceedings in this
connection in our county were fully wai ranted. It should also be
remembered that sucli doings are the inevitable concomitants of
war — especially civil war, — even at the present day and under the
most enlightened and generous govei-nments. Yet the history of this
aspect of the devolution in Westcheslei' County is peculiai'ly dis-
tressing. The proscri])tions were appalling in number, and whatever
individual justice, wisdom, or necessity attached to special cases, the
characteristic spirit of the Kevolutiouaiy authoi'ities was without
([Uestion nu'rciless. A certain satisfaction, though but a melancholy
one, is afforded by the reflection that the British, so far as they had
the power to pursue retribuli\c ])ractices here, were even more vin-
dictive in their spirit and barbarous in its execution. The Americans
at least seldom burned private mansions or devastated estates, which
the Britisji did not fail to do in their raids; and, indeed, th(> West-
chester raids of the British were often exclusively for these precise
purposes. Summary arrests by the British in this county of persons
not in arms, but deemed obnoxious for political reasons, were also
very frequent; and many a Westchester patriot, including some of
the most honored sons of the county, perished miserably in the loath-
sorie dungeons and frightful prison-ships which the English com-
manders maintained for political captives.

The first list of sus^jects for the County of \Vestchester reported
to the provincial congress was headed by the nann- of Colonel Fred-
erick I'liilipse. Anotiu-r conspicucms person denounced on the same
occasion was the Rev. Samuel Seabury, of Eastchester, to w horn Col-
onel Lewis .Morris had sarcastically alluded a few months before as a
missionary for " ]iropagating the Cosjiel, and not politicks, in for-

314 HISTOKY (»F WESTCHESTER COUNTY

ciiiu parts." I'liilip.sr was destiiu'd to a brief re'spitc bclnrc being
summoned to the Kevolutionary bar, but Beabury was soon to ex])e-
rience even harsher treatment than that provided for in tlie sutli-
cieutly aggressive provincial act. This initial list comprised alto-
gether thirty-one persons. So far as their individual cases have been
traced, documentary evidence has been tV)Uud showing that at least
twenty of the number were dul^- convicted and cast into prison. A
specially interesting case was that of Godfrey Hains, of Ifye, de-
nounced by one Eunice Purdy, supposed to have been a revengeful
sweetheart, in an attidavit over her mark. Eunice, being sworn " upon
the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God," alleged that Hains liad used
extremely incendiary language in her hearing against congresses and
committees, and moreover had expressed the heinous wish that men-
of-war would come along the Sound. Hains was arrested, and, after
being examined by the committee at White Plains, was about to be
discharged with the mild sentence that he be disarmed; whereupon
he deliantly admitted that he possessed arms, but would not reveal
their hiding-place. The committee dispatched him to New York,
with a letter describing him as a particularly dangerous man. He
was confined in the City Hall Prison, and after a time was arraigned
before the provincial congress and recommitted to jail. Taking ad-
viuitage of a favorable o])])ort unity he escaped, and then, with sev-
eral associates, he loaded a vessel with provisions and sailed for
Boston, intending to deliver his supplies to General Howe. The
shi]) was wrecked, its cargo was seized by the Revolutionary gov-
ernment, and Hains was again imprisoned, this time in the Ulster
County jail, where a strong guard was jilaced over him, and Avhere,
presumabh-, he languislied long enough for liis Tory ardor to become
cooled.

Hains was supposed to have been concerned in a plot to seize the
distinguished Judge John Thomas, and other pronunent Westchester
patriots, and carry thi'ui captives to the British general at l?oston.
Throughout the fall of 1775 there were whisperings of serious Tory
cons])iracies in Westchester County, which were likely to result at
any time in retaliatory measures of a formidable nature. The arrests
of Tories had in some instances been resisted by companies of their
armed partisans, and in general a spirit of resentment had been
manifested which gave considerable uneasiness to the committee. In
a letter dated White Plains, the 1st of November, and signed by Jona-
than G. Tompkins and others, concerning the rumored plot to abduct
Judge Thomas, the president of the provincial congTess was besought
to take the necessary steps for causing a number of specified persons
to appear before that body and testify. " We would not have troubled

FROAI .TAM AI!V, 177."), TO .]VIA' J», 177<i '^15

the congress," it was iiildcd, "ahdiii apid-cliciidiny the abovc-naiiifd
persons, but tliat we loolc upon ourselves, at present, as too \veal< to
do it without jiveat dannci-."" Kenienibevinii tliat (lie c-ouiniittee had
full poMer to suiumou the militia ollieers to their aid, this is a rather
curious confession. It was particulaiiy feared that British vessels
of war Avould ajjpear on the Westchester shore of the Sound and
land marines to carry out concerted local Tory plans. Stron<i feelinji
had been excited in this county by an order of the committee of
safety for the lieneral impi'essnu'ut of arms — that is, the seiziUM^ of
all fire-pieces belonging to private persons — on the ground that they
were needed for the equipment of the troops. The complaints against
this order were so bitter that it had to be rescinded after a few
sporadic attempts at its enforcement, none of which appear to have
been ventured upon in Westchester County. Unfavorable comment
was also caused by the bringing of some four hundred militiamen
from Connecticut, who were quartered at the northern end of Man-
liattan Island under the command of General Wooster. There was
at the time no enemy in the vicinity of New York, and none expected,
and the necessity of employing troops from another colony in the ab-
sence of any such emergency could not be explained to the satisfac-
tion of the people. There is no evidence that thei'e was fear of an
armed rising in Westchester County, and yet many circumstances
of the htcal situation in the fall of 177.5 indicate a well-founded dis-
tiust of I lie Tory faction.

In tills i)osition of affairs occurred the celebrated Westchester raid
of Captain Isaac Sears, resulting iu the apprehension and removal to
Connecticut of three of the leading men of the Loyalist party — the
Rev. Samuel Seabury, Mayor Nathaniel Underbill, of Westchester
Borough, and Judge .Jouathan Fowler. Seabury and Underbill were
men of undisguised and strong Tory sentiments. Fowler, although
he had signed a recantation of expressed views of a similar char-
acter, was still regarded with a good deal of suspicion. The three
men were leading representatives of the disaffected classes who were
giving so much trouble to the Revolutiouary committee in West-
chester County, and Sears conceived the idea that their simultaneous
arrest by means of a dasliing expedition would exert a wholesome in-
fluence toward the proper regulation of tliat much Tory-ridden region.

(/aptain Isaac Sears was a pictiires(|ue Kevolutionary personage. In
the French and Indian War he was in command of a privateer sloop,
with which, although it carried but fourteen guns, he attacked a
French ship of twenty-four, grappling with it three times but finally
being compelled by a storm to abandon his bold attempt. Later, he
engaged in shipping pursuits in New York of a more or less ques-

316 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tioiKiblc cljanu-ter. At the b(';j,iuiuji<^ of the fStanip Act troubles he
took I lie leadership of the Sons of Liberty iu that city, and through
his many exploits in this connection he came to be poimiarly known
as Kiny iSears. At the time of the Golden Hill couhict between the
citizens and the soldiers, in 1770, he was in the thick of the fray, and,
finding himself confronted at one stage of it by a fierce grenadier
^\it]i a bayonet, with great presence of mind and precision of aim
hurled a ram's horn at the unfortunate man, which struck him full
iu the foreliead and put him hors de coiiihtiL \Mierever there was an
affray Sears was sure to be, always rough and ready and always
victorious. As time sped on to the Kevolution, he sought to give to
his country's cause the benefit also of his co-operation in council, but

received not overmuch encourage-
ment in that line from the aristocratic
and coldly intellectual Jaya, Duanes,
Livingstons, and Morrises. Yet as
the leading man of the democratic
masses he was not to be ignored, and
he not only was connected with the
New York committee from its organi-
zation, but sat in the provincial con-
gi-ess of 1775 as a delegate from the

'1/Vo f^c4ncju

LIBERTY PLACARD. '•''.>• Keslguiug hls membership in

that bodj', he went to New Haven,
CoJin., where, continuing to obsei-ve the march of events iu New York,
he was particularly impressed with the unsuitable spirit of so many
citizens of Westchester County, and concluded that a little vigorous
correction in that quartm- would be entirely ai)ropos.

With sixteen mounted and armed men, described by a New Haven
newspaper of the day as " respectable citizens of this town," Sears
set out ou the 20th of November for the avowed purpose of an ex-
])edition " to East and West Chester, in the Province of New York, to
disarm tlie principal Tories there and secure the persons of Parson
Seal)ury, Judge Fowler, and Lord ruderhill." On the way they were
joined by Captaius Kichards, Silleck, and Mead, with about eighty
men. At Mamaroneck they burned a sloop that had been purchased
by the British governor to convey pro\isious to the man-of-war
''Asia." A detachment of forty men, commauded by Captain Lo-
throp, was sent to Westchester, which without ceremony took Sea-
bury aud Underbill in custody, the main body meantime proceeding
to Eastchester aud securing Judge Fowler. The three prisoners were
dispatched with a guard of twenty to Connecticut. This completed
Sears's business in Westchester County, but he had still another reg-

FROM .TAxrAKY, 1775, TO .n'l.Y It, 177(; ;n7

ulatinj; duty to pwfonii. He liiul louj;- been displeast-il with I lie
editorial coiKhu-t of Kiviniiton's New Yo)-k Gazetteer, and he uow rode
witli liis ri'iiiaininf>: men, a troop of about seveuty-five, down to the
city, " which they entered at noon-day, with bayonets fixed and the
greatest rejjularity, W(Mit down the main streets, and drew up in
close order before tlie printing oflfice of tlie infamous James Tiivin.i;-
toii."' The3' completely wrecked the eslablishment, dem(disliinii Hil-
l)resses and takiui;' away the types; and, having so successfully com-
pleted this final part of their mission, remounted, struck up the tune
of " Yankee Doodle," and amid the cheers of the populace retuiMied
whence they came.

Some incidents of Sears's raid suggest that it was not exclusively'
an enterprise of patriotic enthusiasm, (.'ertain acts of indecorum •
were committed, to characterize them by no harsher term. At Sea-
bury's house they broke open his desk, examined and scattered his
papers, ai)i)ropriated snuie three or four dollars in money, and (piite
offen.sively threatened and insulied jiis daughter. From I'owlei's
residence they carried away a bea\<'i- hat, a silver-mounted liorse-
\\hip, and two silvei' s])oons, besides tlu- sword, gun, and jiistols w liicli
belonged To his olfiiial dignity as mlonel in the militia. They more-
over visited the homes of \arious Tories along the route, where sujj-
))osably they did not uniformly resist taking such articles as wer(^
to tlieir liking. Our nineteenth ceiifury Tory historian, Dawson, iu
his account of this raid, coiunients with un((intr(dle(l and terrible
exciteiiient u]ion every ]ihas<' of it, describing Sears a ; a cowardly,
phiiiili ring iMitliaii of the (lirti<'sl water. aTid liis li-<)o]iers as dialicilical
banditti, and insists that they returned to Connecticut laden wilh
spoils. Of this there is no evidence whatever. Abundant evidence
does exist that they br(mght back with tiiem a large and nniou-i
(•(dlection (d' arms from Westchester l.,oyalists (d' notorious re]iute.
The ex])edition, however lawless and reiirehensible, was a Iidiki fiilr
one in the patriot interest, and iioi an adventure for mere jirivate
plunder, although it can not be (|uestioned that some incidental ])ecu-
lating was done. Compared with the villainous tloings of the Cow-
boy and Skinner bands of subsequent years, it was a quite virtuous
and legitimate enterprise.

As such it was unhesitallngly regarded by Ih,' good peojile of Con-
necticut, who right royally welcomed home the returning regulators.
The guard having the three prisoners in charge had halted at Horse-

' Till' circumstanop. as reeordrtl l).v the vera- iiesseil inniiy iiKiiiiiled IriM.ps K"inK iuln or in

riMus iliroiiiclcr. that they rode into the eity iirnc-ess of ai-lion. Iiut docs not reeall any oeca-

" with liayonc'ts fixed." is powerful evidenee of sic.ii >vIm-ii fixed liayonels were anions llieir

the Brininess of the business upon wliieh they arms.
were lieiit. The editor of this History has wit-

318 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

neck, where on the 27tli of November tliey were joined by the parent
band. 'IMie next day the whole party took up their triumphal march
to New Haven. They were escorted, says the local newspaper from
Avhich we have already' quoted, '' by a number of gentlemen from the
westward, the w^hole making a grand procession. Upon their en-
trance into town they Avere saluted with the discharge of rwo can-
nons, and received by the inhabitants with every mark of approba-
tion and respect. The company divided into two parts, and con-
cluded the day in festivities and innocent mirth. " Captain Sears,"
ingenuously adds this patriotic sheet, " returned in company with
the other gentlemen, and proposes to spend the winter here, unless
publick business should require his presence in New York." It does
not aiq>ear that any such "publick business," so far as Westchester
County was concerned, transpired to interfere with the virtuous cap-
tain's amiable arrangements. He does not again figure, at least to
the knowledge of the present historian, in the concerns of our county.
Judge Fowler and Mayor Uuderhill were released in a day or two,
after signing papers presented to them by the Connecticut officials,
wherein they declared themselves to be heartily sorry for their " in-
considerate conduct," and promised never more to transgress in like
manner. But the Rev. Mr. Seabury Avas not so leniently dealt with. It
was widely believed that he w^as the author of '' A. W. Farmer " tracts,
so peculiarly offensive to the patriotic sentiment of the times; and
however that might be he was undeniably a Tory of the most in-
tractable and odious type. It was remembered with great indigna-
tion against him that he had refused to open the church at East-
chester on the day appointed for the continental fast. Finally, he
was regarded with deep private resentment by Captain Sears, who
.-uspected him of coinidicity in a scheme to seize him (Sears) while
he was passing through Westchester County on a former occasion,
and carry him on board a man-of-war. lie was held in contiiiement
for more than a month, at his own financial charge, his prayers to
the courts for relief being utterly ignored. At length he submitted
an able memorial to the Connecticut legislature, in which he dwelt
upon the flagrant illegality of the whole pi-oceedings in his case, and
that body presently ordered his release. Returning to ^Vestcllester,
he found his affairs there in a sorry plight. The private school upon
which he had mainly de])ended forsuppoi't was completely broken uj).
He was under a heavy burden of debt, his influence in the community
was at an end, and he and his family were obliged to submit to many
discourtesies and insults. During the military campaign of 177(5 he
was obliged to give accommodation in his house to a company of

FROM JANUARY, ITT.l, TO JULY 9, 1776 319

Kcvoliilioiiaiy cavalry, who, says Dawson, coiisiiiiicd or destroyed all
the products of his olebe. The poor Tory cler<iymaii finally, in desper-
ation, fled with his wife and six children to the British lines.

Like Isaac Wilkins, also of the Roi-ongh of Westchester, Seabury
coiitiniKMl a British sympathizer throughout the war; hut after the
Kevolution he returned to America and became bishop of the (Epis-
coi)alian| diocese of (/ouneoticut. WiJkins, after a more protracted
absejicc, came back to Westchester Town, and, taking holy orders,
was made rector of the same parish of Saint Peter's which his com-
patriot t^eabury vacated in 1770. The question of the authorship of
the A. W. Farmer tracts has puzzled many minds; but there is no
reasonable doubt that they were written either by Beabury or by
\Mlkins. They were almost as noted in the polemic literature of
their times as was Tom Paine's " Common Sense." Whatever the
doubts resi>ectiug their authorship, it is certain that the apparent
pseudonym "A. W. Farmer" stood for "A Westchester Farmer";
and both Seabury and Wilkins, though persons of polite character,
were gentlemen farmers. The detestation in which these tracts were
held by the patriotic people is well instanced by a resolution adopted
by the committee of safety of Sufi'olk County, N. Y., February, 1775,
in which it was declared "That all those publications which have
a tendency to divide us, and thereby weaken oiir opposition to meas-
ures talceii to enslave us, ouglit to be treated with tlie utmost con-
teiiipl by every friend to his country; in particular the pamphlet en-
titled .V Friendly Address, &c., and those under the signatur*- of A. W.
Farmer, and many others to the same purpose, which are replete with
the most imjiudent falsehoods an<l the grossest misrepi'esentations;
and that the autliors, printers, and abettors of the above and such
like jiublications ought to be esteemed and treated as traitors to
their country, and enemies to tlie liberties of America." A writer in
Diiirsiiii's f/ixt(iri<-iii' }f(iii(i:iii( (January, ISGS) says: "When copies
(if these pamphlets fell into the h^K^ls of the Whigs they were dis-
jiosed of in such a manner as most emphatically to express detesta-
tion of the anonymous autliors and their sentiments. Sonu'times they
w<M'e ])ublicly burned with imposing formality, sometimes decorated
wit h tar and feathers (from the turkey buzzard, as ' the fittest emblem
^>f tile author's odiousness 'l and nailed to the whipping-post." In
the di'aft of a document claimed to be in Seabury's own writing, he
says that he was the author of a pamphlet entitled " Free Thoughts
on the Proceedings of the Congress at Philadeli>iiia,"" and of other
publications which followed, all signed "A. W. Farmer." Dawson,
however, after a careful study of the whole subject, coucludes that

320

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

llic burden of evideiict' fuvors the opiuuiu that ^VilkiIls was Iheir
author.'

The proviucial couiircss whicli assembled in May, 1775, contiuued
in session, with several brief recesses, uutil tlu^ 4th of November,
when it adjourned sine die. On the 7th of November elections for del-
egates to a second provincial congi-ess were held in a number of the
counties of New York, those in Westchester County occurrinij, as
usual, at White Plains. . The representatives chosen were Colonel
Lewis Graham, Stephen Ward, Colonel Joseph Drake, Robert Gra-
ham, John Thomas, Jr.. "S^'illiam Pauldiui;, Major Ebenezer Lockwood,

Colonel Pierre Van Cortlaudt, and Colniul (iilbert Drake, any three of
whom were authorized to cast the vole (if the (■(tunty. Tlic new body
experienced considerable diflicnlty in procurinji' a quovuin, and did not
enter upon its active business until the Gth of December. Tliis busi-
ness was in continuation of the a,iii;Tessive political and military meas-
ures, harmonizing- with the policies i>{ the continental congress, that
had been instituted by the tirst cDUgress of the province. Like its
predecessoi", the second (■(Uigress adjoui-ne<l temporai'ily several times,
vesting cnniiilc^e adniinistrat i\<' antlmril>-. dni-iug such iiitei-vals.

' See ScUart, i., .■'.13, note.

FROM .TAXfAKY, 177."., Id .HI.V !t, 177(1 321

ill a uciicral coniiiiit tee of safely, nt wliicli I'icn-c N'aii ( 'orl lamll was
cliairiii.iii (or sdiuc luoiiilis. The lasl session of the second provincial
coiinicss was held on the 1:51 li of May, 177(i.

Dui-iiii; its lifetime the ncneral condition of affaii-s steadily j;)'ew
iiioi-e ciitical, events cd' coiiniiandin^ iiii|ioi-tance ti'anspired, and de-
\clo|iinents of jiorteiitons sinniticance to the peo])le of New Yoi-k and
Westchester County i-esulteil. In the early ])art of tliis period the
invasion of Canada l>y the American troojis was brongbt to a disas-
trous <'n(] before the walls of (Quebec,' but the collai)se in that (jnarter
was more tlian compensated for by the surrender of Iioston to Gen-
eral Washington in March. Thereuiion the war, whicli had previously
been localized in New l']nj;]and, was terminated tliere for tlu' time
beinj;. It needed no Iceeu prevision to forecast its course in tlie near
future. New Yorlv City, as the central point of vautage, conimand-
inii a waterway whicli coniidctely divided the rebidlious coloines,
would un(|uestionably be attacked as soon as a sufHcient expedi-
tiomiry force for thi' purpose could be gathered. Any other plan
of camiiaign was unthinkable. New "i'ork Avas the only (juartt'r from
which oU'ensive o](ei-ations could be conducted with eipial facility
against every section of the counliy. With New York in their hands,
the Kritish would hv prepared for any emergency that the strategy
of ^^■ashingtou or the forluiu's of battle might produce. Al)solutely
secure against recapture from the sea, siuce tlie Americans possessed
no tiei't, and almost complet(dy incaiiable of being invested by land,
that city would certainly remain theirs to the last. Even if exten-
sive caiiiijaigns should fail, and pit(died battle after pit(du'd battle
should go against them, with New York as a base tlu\v could still
wage the conflict with gnat advantage of position. Such was tlu'
reasoning which naturally occurred to inttdligeJit men aftei- ilie fall
of Boston, and it was fully sustained by results. If the liritish ha<l
not cai)tnred and held New York, it is in every way historically im-
probable that they could have ma<le even a respectable struggle for

•The l.imeulcil Ooncral Kii-li;iril Mniitt'unHT.v. .i-.iiic LiviTiiistiiii fMiiill.v. Mcnil^'.inM'ry's Kiiit's-

wlinso iIiMtli ill tlii.s oNinMlilioii will nlways bv hriil;;!' hoiisi — or ratlior coltai;'— «'«« !i" <'iitli'<?-

ri'inemliprcil as niie iif Ilii' rapital trajinlifs iif ly mipretcntimis building, a stoi-y ami a half

Ihi' Rcvnhitiiiii, was a rcsuU'iit of our coiiiity. liitiii. His sister was tlie Viscountess of Kane-

aiiil .some of the most iiiiportant associations la^li. ni his will, made at Crown I'oiiit. he

of the War of Indciiendeiici- duster around the says: •' T Kive to my sisliT. Lady Uanelanh,

place where his lioinc stood. It was on the . . . my estate at Kin;rsl>ri<lse. near New

spot now occupied liy llie residince of William York." adding lliat • my dear sister's iarRc

0;;den Oilcs. at KluKslu-idfje— the idcnlical spot family want all I i-an spare lliem." One of the

where Kort Independence was built. About wiincsses of this will w;is the Uev. .Iidin

1772 MontKoniery. after several years of serv- I'ctcr Telard. also of Kint'sliridjic. whose fara-

ice as a captain in tlie liritish army, resigned ily f-'ave its name to Telard's Hill. Uev. Mr.

his imission. pureliaseil this land wllli ion- Tctard was a chaplain in <«ie of the re;.'iriicnl»

sid.-rable more, and cnjiat'cd in acriiultnral belon«iiig to the Canadian cNpedition.
pursuits. In 1773 he married oui' of the aristu-

322 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

l]ie r('t('uti(m of the colonies, and, indeed, it is not likel\' tliat tliey
would have persevereil long in the attempt. In the very act of taking
New York they all but annihilated the American nation at one blow,
missini;- by a mere chance the cajiture of Wasliiuiitou's whole army;
and thereafter for a dreary period the distin^uishine,- phases of the
War of Independence were complete British prestige and almost as
eomplde American confusion, relieved only by masterly retreat,
bi-illianl Iriumpli in a few minor engagements, and heroic forti-
tude. Finally the destruction of Burgoyne's army gave an altered
aspect to the uneijual warfare. But this did not at all reverse condi-
tions. It merely eslablished for tlie Anu-ricans a fighting chance,
and decided I'rance to espouse tiieir cause. The principal element of
the situation remaiiie(1 the jiosscssiou of New York by the British.
That overwiielming disadvantage could only be neutralized by con-
secutive successes in campaigns large and small elsewhere, wliose
net result would be to convince tl:e British statesmen that they coidd
never conquer America. It was ,i (lisad\autage that could not be
eliminated by the reduction of New York itself, which was never at-
tem])led and ])robably never seriously thouglit of. On the other hand,
if New York liad continued .Viucrican, the British would have been
left witliout any assured standing as combatants. They might have
taken the Bevolulionary capital, IMiiladelphia, but that would have
been an utterly ridiculous i)roceeding in vivw of its untenal)ilily as
a ]iriniary base compared with New York. In such an event, or in
any otlu'r except the mastery of New Y'ork, which, with its inev-
itable consequences, seemed to establish the supremacy of Great
Britain beyond the possibility of dispute, the French alliance would
have been a matter of months instead of years.

After the evacuation of New York by its small British garrison, in
.lunc, 1775, the city, although in fact fully controlled by the patriot
]>arty, remained nominally for a brief time under a divided authority.
It is a curious fact that on the same day when Washington arrived
in New York en rmili to the ai'uiy in Massachusetts, the royal Gov-
ernor Tryon retucned there after a short abs(>nce, and that both were
received with every manifestation of popular respect. But before
many Aveeks Governor Tryon perceived that his residence in the
city was perilous. Intimations Avere given him of a plot to seize
his iK'i'son and arraign him before the provincial congress, which
had already begun to take high-handed measures against loj-al Brit-
ish subjects. lie accordingly fled to a ship in the harbor, from which
safe retreat he continued to administer the forms of government
until the retaking of the city.

The removal of the guns in the city to Kingsbridge by the Sons

TMSBL&MO) SK®H^®€)SSn§IB.T.

^/ .^^^.^^^^'^

FROM. .TANUAUY, 177"), TO JULY 9, 177(5 323

of IJbci'ly, jillcr I lie ]ic\\s of T.cx'iii^loii, ^\•:^s, ;is we liavc seen, tli(!
lirsl ()\ei-f (leiiionsli'nlioii by (he lie\ olulioiiiiry eleiiieiil in NcAV York.
Tlie liiiiis liikeii lip al |]int time, and dnvinj; (lie nex( few months, did
ii(>( iiichide, liowever, the fine ordiuiiice of tlie fiivt. Nevertheless
they ina(h' a foi-midable slioA\inj;' as to miiiibei-s, althongli liardly as
lo serviceability. At Kiniisbriduc tliey were divi(b:'d, by tlie ordei' of
(■oin;ress, into three parcels, one jtortion beiu>;' left (here, another
sent to Williams's Bridge, and a (bird to Valentine's Hill, near Kings-
bridge.' " r.efore the close of the year 177")," says Dawson, whose
lads may generally be accepte<l withoni ([nestion, "between iliree
and fonr hnndred cannon, of all calibers, grades, and conditions,
some of them good and serviceable, others less valuable an<l less use-
ful, the greater nnmber honeycombed and A\'ort]dess, unless for old
iron, and all of them nnnionnted and withont carriages, were accu-
mulated in three large gatherings, one of abont fifty gnns being at
• .Tohn Williams's,' the Willi;>.ms's Piridge of the present day, one ' at
or near Kingsbridge,' and the third or larger parcel Avithin two hun-
dred and fifty yards of Isaac Valentine's house, the Valentine's Hill
of that ]teriod as well as this." For a nnmber of months they re-
c( ived no further attentiou, and w'ere even left unguarded. Their
unprotected condition pi'esented an irresistible temy)tation to some
mischievous Tory si)irits, who one night in January, 177(). ])lugged
them with large stones, effectually spiking them. This incident threw
the county into great excitement, and w^as the occasion of numerous
arrests of suspected citizens of the Towns of Westchester, Eastchester,
Mamaroneck, and Youkers. Soon afterward all the guns were accu-
mulated at Valentine's, unspiked, and placed under guard. Subse-
(|uently, during the military administration of the noted and noto-
rious (ieiieral ('harles Lee in New York City, mf)st of the heavy cannon
in I'ort (leorge and ujion the Eattery wei'e, in anticipation of the
ca])ture of the place by the rtritish, removed to Kingsbridge. These
AA'ere abont two hundred altogether, mostly (excellent ]iieces of artil-
lery. The re]ily of frcneral Lee to the persons charged with trans-
]M)i-ting them to Kingsliridge, mIio comjilained to him that they could
not get sufficient horses foi' the work, is somewhat celebrated, "riiain
twenty damned Tories to each gun," said he, "and let them draw
fhein out and be cni-sed. It is a ])ro])er emiiloynn'ul for such villains,
and a ]innishment they deserve for their eternal ]oyalt.y they so much
boast of."

General riiarles Lee, at (he lime second in command of the conti-

' Tills locality sliould not be confimiiiU'd wllli liriilitc i.-s Im-iitcMl. on old iiiaps, liui'd by tlip
Uip omini'tipo of the samo iiamo in tlic present l)rld;;i'. Valentine's Hill In Yonker.s is the spot
City of Ynnkei's. The Valentine's Hill at Kinj,'s- wliere Saint .Toseph's Si'niinary now stands.

324 HISTOKV OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

iiciitiil ai'iiiy, was (lis|iat(']ic<l by Wasliiiiiiton to New York in the latter
]iart of .liiiiuary, 177(1, with iuslriiclioiis to put the place " in the best
postui-e of (iel'eiise the seasou aud cii-ciuustances will admit of."' In
his niai-eh tlifouj^h Westchester Counly lie caused numerous dwell-
inj;s to be eidered and searched for arms, which he appropriated and
bore away with iiim for the good of the cause. Dawsou pathetically
observes that this \\as indeed a lieaAy and melancholy visitation of
fate ui)on the wretched farmers of the Boston I'ost lload, who thus,
only a U'w weeks after being pillaged by the cowardly banditti from
Conneclicnt, \\ere forced to submit to a similar diabolical outrage by
an infamous military dt'spot. J.ee, establishing himself in >i'ew York,
entered upon a very energetic regime. Skilled in military science, he
constructed defenses which would undoubtedly have jiroved of con-
siderable utility if the city had been held to resist a siege. One of
these defenses, a redoubt on Hoern's Hook, al the mouth of the Har-
lem IJiver, commanding tlie llellgate ])ass and also the Long Island
ferry, was erected by Colonel Samuel l>rake"s regiment of Westchester
County minute men, a body of one hundred ;\\\(\ eleven privates and
numerous oHicers. Of this organization it is recordeil in an official
document that it |)ossessed, when summoned into active duty, no
fewer than " four lield officers, two captains, thirteen other commis-
sioned ollicers, and twenty non-commissioned olhcers " — a most ridic-
ulous state of things, about which Dawson makes merry as illustrat-
ing the abominable propensit_\ lo ottice-holiling among the so-called
" frienils of Liberty " in ^Vestchester County, (ii'ueral Lee oi-dere<l a
rigorous reduction of the staff, and directed the eliminated otticers to
"return to their county, in order to comi>leie their corps," which
were as deficient in numbers as the list of tlieii' commanders was
enormous.

I'^idislments in the continental line ^\'ere certaiidy not attended by
attractive conditions. I!y an act of the continental congress, passed
•Tanuary lit, 177(i, four battalions were ordei'cd to be raised for the
defense of the Colony of Xe\\- ^'ork. The committee of safety, in its
instructions to the recruiting otticers charged with eidisting men
uudei- this act, prescribed that the pay of jn-ivates should be .f.j per
month, and that each shouhl receive, as a bounty, a felt hat, a pair
of yarn stockings, a i)air of shoes, and, if they could be procured, a
hunting-shirt and a blanket. On the other hand, the men were to
furnish their own arms, or, if too ])oor to do so, were to be ariued
at the imblic expense, the value of their wea])ons to be deducted from
their ]iay. Concerning this matter of arms, tlie following explicit
statemi-nl was made in a circular letter from the president of the
provim iai congress: "It is exi»ected that each man furnishes him-

FROM lAM AKV. Id.'), lO ,TU1,V 0, 1770 325

self willi ;i uiMxl mm nnd lui yuinM, lumaliawk, knaitsack or liavcr-
sack, and two hills. I!ul those who arc iiol aide to furnish llicni-
s«'lv{'S with tlicsr arms and accontrcnicnts will he sujiiilicd at tlic
public ('X|)('ns(', for the jiavnicnt of \vlii( li small stoiijfaiics will he
made out of t heir mont hl,\- ]ia_\-, til! t lir w licdc arc |iaid for; I Ik mi t hcv
arc to remain the iiropcrl.\ of tlu' men."" Little wonder that tii<' rela-
ti\(' niimhci's of oIlH-crs and Nolnntecr pri\atcs were soniewhal dispro-
portionate.

<»ii the \'Mh of February, 177*!, at a mectinii' in TTarrisoii's I're-
ciiirt, a cavalry force was oriianized, Samuel Trcdwcll bein,i; elected
caplain. This was ihe hc^innin^of the welhknown Westchestf^r Troop
of Horse. About the same time there were various enlistments in
Hk' county for the infantry service. Local zeal for the cause con-
tinued to manifest itself in the ominous forms of informalioii and
arrest, and it was even projioscd by some West(dicster enthusiasts,
who doubtless had acquired thorouiih experience in that particular
line at home, to proceed to other counties where Tories notoriously
abounded and lay upon them the heavy hand of discipline. One W"i\-
liam .Miller, (d' White IMains, in a communication to the committee of
safety, informed thai honorable body that, as many i>\' riic inhabit-
ants of (Queens County \A('re behavini; themselves in a manner preju-
dicial to the American cause, he and other " J"'riends of Jaberty in
tills County" were desirous to <;o thither and "reduce the Enemies
to their Country before they are sujiporled by the Kei^nlar Troops."
Of course no attention was paid to the offer.

in ^larch, 177(5, (ieneral Lee was superseded in command in New
York ( 'ity by ( ieneral Lord Stirlinj;, son of the famous c(donial lawyer,
James Alexander. He was rei)lace(l by (ieneral rutnam, who re-
mained in chartie until Washinsiton's arrival (April 14).

The second provincial couiiress exjiired on the l.">th of May, 177(!,
and the f(dlo\\in<; day was aiii)ointed for the assemblinji, of the third.
No quorum was obtained, however, until the 18th. The delegates
from Westchester Cminty were Colonel I'icrre Van Cortlandt, Colonel
Lewis (Jraham, ("(donel (tilbert Drake, .Major Ebenczer Lockwood,
(iouvcriicur .Morris, N\'illiam I'auidinu, .lonalhau (!. Toni]ikins, Sam-
uel Haviland, and I*eter Fleming'. The third provincial coni;ress was
the last of tlie series to sit in the City of New York, where its sessions
came to an abru]d end on the :?Oth of June, the enemy's lonii-expecled
lleel ha\in^ arrived tiie day before in tJic bay. .Viiioni; tl:c memberH
of this couiiri'ss wcic -Tcdin .|a_\-. -lames Duanc, .F(din .Vlsop, I'liili))
Livingston, and I'rancis Lewis, who also were representatives from
New ^'ork City in the continental coiiyress then siltini; at JMiila-
(lel]i]iia.

32ti HISTORY OF WKS'l'CIIKSTER rOT'XTY

A ll lidiinJi tlu' career of the IhinI cun^i-ess 'if llie l'in\iiii-e of New
"Nnik was exceedingly brief, its i lansacdons were lii,i;lilv iiiiei-esting.
'J'lie I'cader will (ib.serve Hint lis exisleiice coincided willi ilic period
ttf I lie linal deliberations of (he conlineiital congress on the siihjecl
of inde]»endence — a period tlnring wliicli also cnlniinaled ilie slartling
transformation of the sirnggle AvilJi (ireal Britain from a iiriiicipally
M'ordy ciiai-actei-, Mitli luU a sligld jdiysical aspect, into a grim and
gigantic war. On tlie day when lids congress snddenly disitersed
there were riding in the Lower J5ay llie advance vessels (d' a thct of
one hundred and thii-ty sail — ships-of-t lie line, frigates, teridei's, and
ti'ansports — whicdi bore an in\ading army of thirty-three thonsand
men, all of tliem expciiejHcd in the business of lighting and magniti-
cently e(|ui]i]ie(l. The i-epreseidat i\ cs of the patriotic ])eo|)le of New
\'ork, in lcgislali\c liody assendjled at this critical lime, could not
ha\(' failed to be occupied with the most grave and emergent luiblic
business, some of it ver_\ naturally retlecting the i>owerl'ul popular
passions (»f the day.

()ne of th<' tirst acts of the congi-ess was the ap|Miint nient nl' a
committee "to consider of the ways and means to preveni the dan-
gers to which this colony is e.\])osed by ils iidesline enendes." Al-
though the (-(Mnndttee was headed b_\' one of the ]ii-iucipal cousei'va-
tives td' the province, -bdiii Alsop, who soon afterward i-esigiied his
seat in the continental congi-ess on account (d' the Decdaration of
Independence, it bi-ought in a repoi-| i-ecommemlinii stringent meas-
ures against suspected jku'sous. Humors (d' conspii'acics by the Tories
of New \i>yk had long been rife, s(une id rliem resting on umuc sub-
stantial IdUiidatious than suspicion. I n\est igations of \arious al-
lege(l transactions b\' endssaries (d' (io\ei-mii' Tryon's for ])ro\iding
susjiecded individuals with arms and ammunition dis(losed strong
UHU-al e\idem-e in s\ipi)orl of the charges. In the month of dune
t he fann)us '" llickey |ilot "" to poison Washington and ot her .\ meiican
geiu'i-ais was uncart Ik d ; ami pro(d's were foumi w hich resulteil in the
hanging <d' the (dnef jierson accused. In smli circumstances, and in
view (»f t he crisis (d' invasion t hen impending, it is not surprising I hat
the Ihird |)ro\incial congress, although couiprising in its meudiei'-
ship inlhu'utial nnui of singularly calm and judicious tempera-
ment, who had |ir('\iously been noted for nioderati(Ui, was pervaded
by a detrrmination to deal summarilx with all Toi'ies of the dangei'-
oiis iH- iri'(M(mcilable t_\p''. The .\lsop report was followed by an
elaborate series of resolutions concerning su(di (diaractei's, wherein
a nnndtei- of (hem weie indicated by name, wi(h dii-eclious that they
be brought before the congi'ess either by the process of summons
or l)y that (d' arrest. 'I'he sjiecilied persons were divided into two

from',ianuai:y, 177."), to .iuly 9, 1770

327

classes — private individuals and oriicfi'.s of llic ciowii. A special com-
mit (cc of the (■()n<;i-e.ss, kiKiwn as the ("(jiiiiiiitlee to Detect Conspir-
acies, was created to dc;il with all cases. John .lay was made its
cliaiiiiian, and anions its members were (Jonverncnr .Morris and
Lewis (iraham, of WeslcJiester County.

In >\'esicliest('i- County tlie private persons desij;iialfd as "suspi-
cious or (Mjuivocal ■' were i"i-ederiek riiiii|)se, Caleb i\lor,<;an, Xa-
liianicl Umlerhiii, Sannud Merritt, I'eter Corne, I'eter nuj;<;-eford.
•lames llorton, Jr., William Sutton, William I'.arker, Joshua I'ni'dy,
and Absalom Gidney, all of whom were yivcn t Ik^ opporlunitv to
show their resi)ect for the committee throuj;h tlie medjiim of a snm-
mons, but, in default of appearance, were to be; ar-
rested. The committee was directed to inijuire as
to their j;uilt or innocence upon the following- points :
(1) Whether they had afforded aid or sustenance to
I lie r.rilish fleets or armies; (2) whether they bad
been active in dissuading' inhabitants from associat-
ing for the defense of tlie united colonies; (3)
wlietiier they had decried the value of the conti-
nental money and endeavored to prevent its cur-
rency; and (4) whetlier tliey hail been concerned or
actually eTigagcd in any schemes to defeat, retard,
or opjiose I lie measures in I he interest of the united
colonies. All found innocent were to be discliaiged
willi certiticates of character. Those found guilt.\
were, al I he discretion of I he committee, to be im-
prisoned or removed under |)ar(de from their usnal
jdaces of residence, or simi)ly relea.sed under bonds
guaranleeiiig siibse(|nent good behavior. The only
crown ollicials icsiding in Westchester County who
were named in the resolntioiis were SoloTiioii ['"owler
and liicliard Morris, neillier of whoni was found
guilty of iiny offense. Jiichaid .Morris was a brother
of Colomd Lewis Mori-is, the signer of the Declar-
ation of Independence, and a half-brother of Gouverneur Mor-
lis. Me was Judge of the ccdonial Court of .\dmiralty, but his
designation as a ])ossible foe to the Ivevolutionary programme seems
lo li;i\c been w holl\- Undeserved. He resigned bis crown commission,
giving as his reason ilial lie cuiild not conscientiously i-elain il, and
his couni ry-seat at Scaisdale was subse(|iiently burned by I lie I'rilisli
anil his estate ile\aslaled. ()n July .''1, I77(i, less llian two hkiuiIis
after lie was singled out as a possible traitor, he was uiuuiimonsly a])-
pointed by the fourth pi-o\inci;il congress judge of the [[igh Court

CDNl'INKN lAL
SOI.IIIKU.

328 HISTORY OF WESTCIIKSTER COUNTY

lit' Admiralty iiudri- the new provisional <;(ivmiiin'Ut. In 177'J he
liccaiiic ( liief justicf of the New York Stale Supreme Court, suceeed-
iiij; John Jay.

The coniniittee to th-tcct (•(inspii-acics bt'jian its sessions on tiie
i."(tli of June, witii John Jay as its ciiairnian. It sent suniiuonses
to all the Westchester County men named in tiie resolutions. The
liuiils of our spaee do not admit i>( a detailed notice of the action of
the committee concerninf> tin se various cases, none of which, exce]»t-
inj;- that of Frederick IMiilipse, ])ossesses any very im])ortant historic
interest. The history of l'hilii)s<''s case may properly be com]ileted
in tlic present connection.

In the summons sent to him he was ordered to api)ear before the
committee on the 3d of July. He sent the followint;- re]ily:

Philipsboroiigli, July \i, 1776.

Oentlemen : — I was served on Saturday evening last with a pa])er signed by you, in
wliicli you sugg-est tliat you are authorized by the Congress to summon certain persons to
appear before you, wliose conduct liad been represented as inimical to the rights of America,
of wliicli numljer you say I am one.

^Vho it is tliat has made such a representation, or upon what particular facts it is
founded, as you have not stated tliem it is impos.sible for me to imagine ; but, considering my
situation and tlie near and intimate ties and connections which I have in this country, which
can be secured and rendered hap])y to nu^ only by the real and permanent prosperity of
America, I shoukl have lio])ed that suspicions of this harsh nature would not be easily har-
boured. However, as they have been thought of weight sufficient to attract the notice of
the Congress, I can only observe that, conscious of the uprightness of my intentions and the
integrity of my conduct, I would most reailily comply with your summons, but that the situ-
ation of my health is such as woidd render it very unadvisable for me to take a jt)urncy to
New York at this time. I have had the misfortune, gentlemen, of being deprived, totally,
of the sight of my left eye ; and the other is so much att'ected and inflamed as to make me
very cautious how I expose it, for fear of a total loss of sight. This being my real situation,
1 must request the favour of you to excuse my attendance to-morrow ; but you may rest
assured. Gentlemen, that I shall punctually attend, as soon as I can, consistent with my
health, Hattering myself, in the meantime, that, ujion further consideration, yon will think
that my being a friend to the rights and interests of my native country is a fact so strongly
implied as to require no evidence on my part to prove it, until something more substantial
than mere suspicion or vague surmises is proved to the coutrarj'.

I am, flentlemen, your most obedient, humble servant,

Freoeukk PhII.II'SK.

To Leonard Gansevoort, Philip Livingston, Thomas Tredwell, Lewis Graham, (iouver-
neur Morris, Thomas Randall, Esquires.

The terms of this letter, considered ajiait from riiilipse's specilic
excuse for declining to attend, are entertaining to a decree. Sum-
moned by a Ivevolutionary tribunal to ajipear before it and answer
ihe accusation of hostility !(> .\merican liberly, he ret oi^nizes in llie
situation which confronts him no circumstance of /.jravily. lie delays
his reply until the day before the time appointed for his attendance,
ami the ])eremptory command sent lo him b\ the committee he al-
ludes to as "a paper ... in wliidi you suyjicst that you are
authorized," etc. A naive inter]H-elation, indeed, of a stern Kevolu-

FROM .TAXTATtY. ITT.',, TO .TTT.Y 9, 1770 329

tioiKiiy siiiiiiiioiis. I'iiiallv, lie disinisscs tlic iiicdinciiiciit mailer liy
tlalln-iii^ liiiiisclf lliat the roiinuil Ice i-cally will ikiI i-ccjuii-c liis
pn'sciicc al all. The lord of l'liili]iseliiir;Lili .Maiuu- (leemed jiiniself
well wil hill I lie liouiids of ](olii ical saii'acily in ti-eatiiiu I lie coiiiniillee
with sucli exact tlioii;.;]! couiieous reserve. The o\(M](o\\criiiL; licet
and army of (ii'cat I'ritain had just arrived, the provincial coiniicss
was scurryiiiiLi out of New York City, and, indeed, if Frederick IMiili]tsc
liad hoen so oblii^iiif!;- as to journey to the ciiy on that :'>(1 of .inly
conformably to tlie " susjicstion " wliich had been conveyed to him,
he would iiave found no committee tliere to interrojuate him.

It does not ajipear that Pliiliiise was aj;ain summoned or that he
was ever sulijected to any in(]uisit(>rial examination. He was, how-
ever, com]K'lled lo liive his pande to liiiarantee his j;dod behavior.
That summer of 177(i was a most critical period for the palriol in-
tei'ests on the banks of the Hudson, r.iiiish \\arsiii])s were in the
river, anil it was susjx'cted tliat they were Inddinti nit;lit!y coiiimu-
nioati(U\ with the intluential Tories. Washington deemed it e.\]te-
dient to remove I'hilijjse from his manor house on the Ne|iiierhnii to
a (|uarter where his preseiUM' would not be a |)ossibl_\- dist urbiii^ I liinii.
On tlie '.Ith of Auiiust Philipse, l)y Washiui^ton's oider, was taken to
New Kochelie. There, says a histoi-iaii of ^'onkers, " he was (dosely
(•onhiied, under iLiuard, for ideveii ila\s, when he was removed to
Connecliciit anil i;a\'e his paride iliat In- would not ^o beyond t he
limits of .Mid diet o\s n. He was accoiujianied by An^e\iue, his fail lifiil
(•(dored valet, who afterward went w ith Mr. I'hilipse to EnL;laiid, and
siir\i\ed him but one year. They are intti-red in the same church-
yard. Charley I'hilips. son of Anjievine, lived for many years on
tlie banks of the lludsiui, and was sexton of f>aint J(din"s Church
iVonkersi forty-five years. After the Philipse family had left Philipse-
bur^h 11777), Joliii Williams, stewai-d of the manor, had possession
of the manor until its confiscation, in 177'.l." '

l'hilii)se"s undoing; was at every stage the conseiiuence of his o\\ ii
deliberate acts, if he had retnained discreetly within the American
lines until the fortunes of the war were decided, it is highly im]irob-
able that the extremity of confiscating his estates would lia\c iieeii
resorted to; for lie was a man of generally ])riident character, with
absoluti'ly nothing against liim exce]it the conjecture th.at he pre-
ferred the triumph of England. P.iil he was tirml,\ con\inced from
the beginning tiiar the " rebellion " would be crnslied, and he shaped
his cotirse accordingly. After his remo\al to Coiinecticiii he was
granted leave to visit New York City, subject to recall. lie was sum-

' Alisoirs Hist. i)f Youkprs, 91.

330 HISTOltY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

moiK'd back, but did not rdiiic TluU st'tllcd I'verytliiug.' Slioi-tlv
afterwjird the State of N<mv Voik cDiilisi-ak'd Ins property. lie died
at Clicsicr, Eiiiilaud, in ITS"), and was })nried in tiie Cathedral Chnrcli
(if tliat ]daee, where the following tablet to his memory is to be
seen :"

Sacred to the Memory

Frederick Pliilipse, P'fquire, I>atp of the

Province of New Yorlc ; A (ieiitleinan in Whom

tlie Varions focial, domeftic and Kelij;;ious

Virtues were eminently United. Tlie Uniform

Rectitude of His conduct commanded tlie

Efteem of others ; Wliilft the Henevolence of His

Heart and Gentleness of His Manners secured

their Love. Firmly attached to His Sovereign

and the British Constitution, He opposed, at

the Hazard of His life, the late Keliellion in

North America ; and for this Faithful discharge

of His Duty to His King and Country He was

Proscrihed, and His Estate, one of the Largest in

New York, confifcated, by the usur|)ed Legislature

of that Province. When the British Troops were

withdrawn from New York in 178;! He cpiitted

A Province to which He had always been an

Ornament and Benefactor, and came to

England, leaving all His Property behind Him ;

which reverse of Fortune He bore with

that calmness. Fortitude and Hignity

which had distingui.shed Him through

every former stage of Life.

He was born at New York the 12th day of Septeud)er

in the year 1720 ; and Died in this Place the 30th

day of April, in the Year 178.5, Aged O.j Years.

The British government, as a partial recompense to Philipse for
his forfeited American estates, jiaid liiiii a sum eqnal to abont .'*;:>( 10,(10(1
of onr money.

In addition to siiiiiiiioiniiL; (»r arresting the various individiiais
sjK'citied in the resolul inns to \\hi(di we ha\c alluded, the third \no-
vincial congress authorized its committee for the detection of con-
spiracies to summon or a]»[>re]iend all oilier peisons deemed danger-
ous or disalfi'cted, and to use for that jmrposi' not nu'rely detach-
ments of the militia, Init troo]is of the continental line, the latl<'r to
be obtained by ai)plicalion lo I he coiuiiiandei iri-'liief. Also the town
and distiict committees were encouraged to exercise zeal and \ igi-
lance to the same end, and were em})owere(l to summon or arrest,

'A facsimile of this tablet is suspciiili'd in a By its terms lii' pledjied his "faith mikI won!

conspicuous place in the Maimr Hall in of honor" not to bear arms against the rnilcil

Yi^nkers. It has always appeared lo the editor Slatrs, and to return to Connecticut wIh-ii re-

of the present TUstory that this is in rather iuti-lligence to the enemies of the TJiiited

c|uestionable taste. States, and to return to Connecticut when re-

= His pnriile, dated December 23. 17711. was ipiin^d by the governor or General Washinfftim

issued by Governor Trumlnill. of Conneei ir-iii. so to do.

FROM .TANUAKY, 177."), TO JT'l.Y I), 1 77(i

331

u|i(iii llicir iiwii i-('S])(iiisiliilil V ami willidiit wailiiiu' I'nr a(l\icc from
the county coniinittee, everybody wliom tliey reiiardcd willi snf<j)ici()ii.
rcisoiis thus siiiiiiuoiied or arrested by tlie toM n and dislriet com-
mil lees were required to i;ive j^ood security thai they would a]»i)car
before the county committee at its next session, or, in dd'auli of
such security, were to be committed to custody. It will thus be
seen how riyid and detailed were the arrangements, upon the eve
of the breakin<i' out of the war in the ('olony of New York, for com
]icl!inti absolute submission i-verywhere lo the will of the Kevolu-
iionai-,\' authoiities, and for visitin,>j; swift ar.d condiiin ])unishmeni
u]ion all refractory or sullen spirits. It is m'cdless to remark Ihat
I hei'e was no relaxation of this severi' projiramme dui-inii the proni-ess
of the war. Vet the extrenu^ limits of the l('^al processes ])Ut in ojicra-
(ion against the Tories were imprisonment or deportation to olhci-
]iarts of the country, with the added punishment later, in special in-
stances, of confiscation of estates. There was no resend)lance to the
sanguinar}' scenes of the I'^i-cnch K'cxdiulion. IjI'c was unifoiiuly
K'spccted, unless the offense was of a natui-e ]iunishablc ])\ death
under the articles of civilized war.

Some of the common Tory suspects arrested in W'eslchesier County
who were deemed daniierous, and therefore not lit

persons to go at large, were, for the laclc of local

FI.AC OF TUF.
THUtTKF.V COI.OXIKS.

prison facilities, sent to the forts in the Highlands
and put at hard lalior.

The third provincial congress, as the reader no
doubt will remember, was a very short-lived body,
extending only from the 18th of ^lay to the oOth of
June. It was deliberately planned by the eminent
men Avho were its controlling members to bring
its labors promptly to a conclusion, and to have
il superseded by a new congress, freshly elected by the people
upon the great issue of American independence which was
being shajieil foi' ultimate decision at rhiladel[)hia. In an-
licii)ation of the Declaration of hKh'jiemh'Uce, the continental
congress had, as early as the Kith of .May, adopted a preandde
and resoluti(ni declaring it to be absolutely irreconcilable to
reason ami good conscii-nce for the p( o])le of the colonies longci- to
lake the oaths an<l aliirmations necessary for tlie sujijiorl of an,\
government under the crown of Great Britain, and recommending
to the various colonial assemblies and conventions to take measures
for the ado]iliou of " sucli government as shall, in the o]iinion of the
rein-eseiitatives of the peojile, best conduce to the ha]i])iness and
safety of tlieii' const iluents in particular and Ameriia in genei-al."

332 IIISTOKY OF WESTCHESTER COTNTY

Tlic siyiiiticaiicc of tlic iirciiiulilc iiinl rcsnlulioii was fully apju-e-
ciatcd 1)\ the iiin\ iiicial coiniicss of New York, whose leaders
pi'diiipf ly decided rlial the respiuisihililv fur dealiiiii with the issue
of a foiiiial ahi-oiialioii of I he i;(>\'eiiiiiieiil of <!reat r.ritaiii and of
the crealioii of a new form of i;o\ei-nnient shoulil he refciTed lo an
enlirely new con^i-ess to be elected by the people without delay.
( 'onse(|Ueutly 07I the .'>lst of May action was taken suninioninji' the
electors of the various counties to meet at an early (bite and choose
(hdeiLiates to a fonrlh ]u-o\iucial congress. .Meantime steail\ pro;L;ress
was beinn made at I'hiladel])liia toward the detinite consideration
of tli<' subject of American iu<lependeuce, and some of the New \'ork
i-epi-escjitativi's in the coniinental congress conceived a stronii de-
sire for fatejj;orical instructions fi-om home as to that vital ipiestion.
Ou the Sth day of June four of these representatives — William I'loyd,
Henry \'\'isner, l\obei-1 I». I,i\in^ston, and Francis Lewis — sent a let-
ter to the New ^'ork juovincial con.i;i-ess, recjuestinji that smii in-
strnctious be sent them immediately. It was not nntil the lltli that
the latter body com])lied with t)ie request thns made. It then adojited
a series of resolutions wiiose essential piiri)ort was to declare the
congress's unwillinfiness ami incapacity to deal with the matter, and
to commit it for (h^cision to the peo])le at the fortliconnuii election
foi- a ne\\' ]u-o\incial coniiress. The first of tliese resolntions was
an eni])hatic intimation to the d(dejj,ates at Philadelphia that they
possessed as yet no authority- to vote in favor of indejtendence, bein<;'
to the effect that " the <.;((od ])eo]de of this c(dony have not, in the
opinion nl' this congress, aulliori/.ed tliis coniiress oi- the deleyates of
this colony in the continental conj^ress to declare this c(dony to
l>e and continue indejiendent of the crown of (Ireat liritain." The
wiiole matter was submitted in most explicit terms to the electors,
who were earnestly iccommended to vest their representatives in
the soon-to-be (hosen fourth pro\im-ial conji'ress " witli full ])ower
to deliberate and determine on e\cry (|Uestion whatever that may
concerii or affect the interest of this colony, ami to conclude ui)on,
ordain, and execute every act ami measure wliicli to them siiall a])-
pear conducive to tlu' ha]>piness, security, anil welfare of this colony,"
and particularly, " by instructions or otherwise, to inform their said
de|)uties of their sentiments relative to tlie j^reat (juestion of Inde-
pendency and such otiier jioints as they ma\' think iiro]ter."

The resolutions of the lltJi (d' dune wei-e passed by the ]M-o\incial
coiiiiress mainly at the instance of John Jay, who is su])j.osed to
lia\c left his seat in the contin<'ntal couiii'css and become a nuMnber
(d' tile third provincial con,nress of New ^'ork for the express object
of holdiui; the latter body to a judicious course on the subject of

FROM .TAXUAKY, 1775, TO JULY 9, 177G

333

iiHlciH'iidi'iicc |i('ii(liuu jinssililc final ('Hkiis Ioi- rrcoiicilialinn wiili
tilt' iiKitlii'i' rouutry. Tln' rcsnhii inns cniltodicd, so far as it was pos-
sililc for tlii'iii to do, an absoli;lc inolnliition <d' su]i]i('rt of in<l(iicinl
cncc 1)_\- the New York dclciiatcs at I'liiladi'lphiit until liniiicr in
striictioiis should be disiiatclK d t<i Ihcni. No ftirtlicr Inst iiiclioiis
\\('i-(' scut tiji to tlu' lime of Ihc proinnluation of tlic Declaration of
Indcjicndciu-c — the 4th of .Itily. Notwithstanding; this condition of
thiui^s, four of the delciiatcs from New York — William I'loyd, I'hilii)
Ia\iu.t;slon, I'-raucis Lewis, and our Lewis Mortis — had the iif<'at cour-
age to iynore the dissuasions of the (|iialilied re]>reseutatives ol i Ik
people in llieir hcune colony, and simi their names to the immortal
instrument. Of this number, there is no room for doubt that the
sillier contributed by Westchester ("oiiiity was infjexiljly res(dved
npon that line of conduct from the tirsl, and <'ntirely without refer-
ence to instrnotions from Inune. lie did not ninte with I'loyd, Wis-
ner, Kobert 1{. Liviujistoii, atid
Lewis in I heir letter of June S
solicit ini; instructions,but deemed
himself fully (|ualitied as a duly
chosen repi-eseiitative from New
York to act ui>on the measure ac-
cording; to his imiividual jinli;-
nieut. It can scarcely be ijues-
lione(l that his Ixdd attitude, in
which he was joined by the hi.uhly
resjiectiMl I'hilip Livingston, was
iidlnential in persua<liuj; two of
the i-iuners of the communication
of .Line s to in like maniu'r set
duty abo\f cauticMi. I'art icniarly
aiiropos to the fonr conra^eons
(IcU'jiates from New ^'ork, in \ iew
f»f the embarrassinu circuiu-
staiH-es which comjiassi-d them
about, is the niaguiflcent tiihnte
of the Abbe Kavual to the sinners
of the Declaration: "With what

grandeur, with what enthusiasm, should I no! speak of i hose L^eiierous
men who elected this grand edilice by llieir |»alience, their wisdom,
and their couragel Hancock, I'ranklin, lln^ two Adamses were the

greatest actors in the affecting scene; but t hey weii' not 1 1 nly ones.

I'osterity shall know them all. Their honored names shall be irans-
iuitte<l (o it by a hajipier pen tliaii mine. IJrass ami marble shall show

I.l^WIS MOHKIS,

Sij;ner of the Declaration of Independence.

334 HISTOUY OF WESTCIIKSTKU COUNTY

them t(p I lie rcjuolcst jiiics. In Itclioldiii;^ llicia ^;liiill llic fi-iciid of
freedom feel bis lic;iri pnlpilatc witli joy — feel liis eyes lioat in ddi-
i-ious tears. ruder I he bust of (tiie of them lias been written: ' ile
wrested llnmder fiom Heaven, and the sce])ter from tyrants.' Of the
hist woi'ds of this eiHoyy sliall all of I hem partake."

l-c\\ is .Morris, \\'esteliester (\)tinty"s siyiier of the Deelaration, affi'r
completing; the term of ser\iee in tile eontinental eoni:ress for wliicli
lie had been eleeteil, lotirrd from thai body and was succeeded by
his yonniicr brother, ( louxcrnenr. In Jniu', 177<), he was a]iiioinlcd
by the New York jirovincial coniiress briiiadier-iicneral of the mililia
of Westchester ( "on nty, and later he was iiiad(> major-ncm-ral of mili-
tia. .\1\\ ays de Noted to ani'iciiltnral pnrsnits, he resnme(l his faxorile
a\ocalion as soon as jieace was restored. He lived to witness the
complete realization of all the patriotic aims and liovi-rninental ]irin-
cijiles of which he had been one of the earliest and most radical ]iro-
moters, and for which he had made consiiicnons sacritices, dyin^- on
the 22d day of January, 1798, aged seventy-two.

CHAPTEK XVI

THE STATE OF NEW YORK BORN AT WHITE PLAINS-

12, 177G

-EVENTS TO ()( TOHKR

JIIl'v tliii-d ])r(>viiiciiil cdii^i-i'ss, in (liscontiiiu.iiii;- its siKiiifjs
ill >.'c\\- ^'ork ("ity as a (•()iisc(|ii('iic(- of 1li(> siiililin.u of tlic
Britisli flt'i't, ado])te(l a i-csnlutinii w iiicli ]irci\ idnl lor its
i-rassciiibliiiii at Wliifc I'laius, tbt' oouiity-scal oi W'rsl-
clicslci- Coiiiiiv, on Tuesday, llic I'd day of July. Hiil ii did uot
a^ain conic loiiciln'i-, ciliici- on tind day or snbsciiuciitly.

On till' inoinini; of 'I'licsday, llic !llli (d' July, rcin'cscniai ixcs from
a majority of tlu' r(niiili('s of New ^'ol•k appeared in the court house
in Wliite riaius, and ]iidin]tlly organized the foui'th proviucial coii-
yress, eh'clinii General Nathaniel Woodhull as president. From llial
dale until the 27th day of July, \\liile IMaius conrinuod to lie the
scat of the Revolutionary jnovernmeid, which now, for tjie lirsl lime,
liecame the resj^ousible Ji()^•el■nnM'nt of a new commonwealtii. It was
iliere that till' Declaration of liidepi ndence was foi-mally proclaimed,
that liie name of the State of New ^'ol•k was substituted for the au-
cieid designation of the Provinct- of New York, and that the original
steps fiu' the orjianization of the i^tate machinery were taken. To
I lie lastiufj' rejjret of all who hold venerable associaticms dear, the
historic court house where these ever-memorable events transpired
ceased to exist very soon afterAvard, beinii burned by some vandal
soldiers of Wasliiufi'tou's army on the nii;hl of the 5th of November,
177(i. This original ^^'estchester rounty court house, as Ave have
already noted, was built after the destruction by tire ll-'ebrnary 4,
17r)S) of I he court house in West(dii'ster 'I'owii. and was (irsi used
by I he Court of ("onimon Pleas on the 7tli day of November, 17")!),'
The re])resen1atives from Westchester County to the imjiortant body
w hose sessions began within its walls on I lie IM li of July were Colonel
Lewis (IraJiaiii, Cidonel Pierre Van Coi-tiand(, ^laj(U' Ebenezev Lock-

' To III', itohoit Graliuni. who was supervisor
of Wliito riains from 17(;9 to 1775. and coimt.v
jnilirc in 177S, is iiiaini.v dm' tlie croilit of liavint;
W'liiU' riains llxed upon as llio oounl.v-scat.
liavlng llio court liouso building ercptcd, and
having; llir courts removed tiierc from West-
diesler. He gave to the county the site upon

wliieli llie court liouse was eroded. His ef-
t'r>rls were ahi.v secondi'd liy .Tolin Tliomas, of
Itye, who was tlien a member of llic colonial
assembly. Dr. Graliam also, at considerable
expiMise. caused two holds and a country store
(o be built, and thus gave tlie county-seat a
start.— Shh77i's Manual of M'cstchculcr County, 33.

336

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

\V(i(i(l, Williaiu raiihliii^, ''apiaiii -Iniiatliau I'latt, Saiiiucl llavilaiid,
Zcbadiab Mills, Colonel (iillicii Drake, •Toiiathaii (i. Touiiikiiis, (icii-
eial L('\Ais Morris, and (Joincriicin' .Morris, all of whom, the Jouriial
records, were iu attendance on lliai historic morning. John Jay also,
as a de]nil y from New York City, was there.

Tile tirsi business of tlie (lav was the considcT-ation of the i)eclara-

.TONATIIAN G. TOMPKINS.

tion of Independence, an hich was referred to a committee headed by
Jolin Jay. In the afternoon the foHowin^ icjtorl^ was broniibt in and
adoi)ted without a dissentinin voice:

bi C'DHvention of tlie lii'prescntativfs
of till- Stiite of New York, Wliite Plains,
.Tilly 9, UK).
Kesolvrd, iiiiiiiiiiiiously, That the reasons assijjneil by the continental eonoress for declar-
ing the United Colonies free anil indeiiendent States are cogent and conclusive ; and that
while we lament the cruel necessity which has rendered that measure unavoidable, we approve
the same, and will, at the risk of om' lives and fortunes, join the other colonies in supporting it.

EVio.XTs I'KoM .ivLV 0 'I'o ()( "i( )i!i:i: 12, 1771! 337

Resolved, That ii copy of the said Declai'afion and tlio t'mvfjoiiif;' H'sdhifioii \iv si'iit to the
ohairniau of the eoininittee of the Comity of Westchester, witli order to pidjlish the same,
with heat of driiiii, at this phiee, on Thursday next, and to give directions tliat it he pub-
lished, with all convenient speed, in the several districts witliin the said comity ; and that
copies thereof be fortliwith transmitted to the other county conunittccs witliin tlic State of
New York, with order to cause the same to he piiblislicd in the several districts of their
respective counties.

Resolved, That five hundred copies of the Ueehuation of Indepcndenee, witli the two
last-mentioned resolutions of tliis congress for approving- and proclaimini;- the same, be pub-
lished in liandliills and sent to all the county committees in this State.

Resolved, That the deleo'ates of this State, in continental congress, be and tliey are
hereby authorized to consent to and ado|it all such measures as tliey may deem coiidueive to
tlie hapiiiness and welfare of tlie United States of America.

Ou Tliur.s'lay, the lltli (l;iy of -luly, therefore, " with bcnl i>f dnim,"
(lie oflicijil prochmiatioii of the ^reat Declaration on the part of the
I'cpreseiilativi'S of the State of New York was made before the old
court house at ^\'llite I'lains. 'Pliere unfortunately existed at the
time no local newspaper in the county to record the undoubtedly in-
terestiuii' circumstances attending the ijTand event.

On the second day of its sessions at White Plains, the "Conven-
tion of Ikein-esentatives of the State of New York " began to consider
plans for the oroanization of the proposed State government, but
nothing definite was accomplished in that dinn-tion during the con-
tinuance of tlie body at our county-seat. ( )n tlie 27th of -Inly I he con-
vention terminated its sessions at A\'hite I'lains, and from the 2!tth
of July to the 2!>tli of August it sat at Harlem. A committee of thir-
teen, of which -Tcdin Jay \Aas chairman and (Jouverneur Morris was a
luember, was apjiointed on the 1st of August to talce into considera-
tion and report a plan for instituting a form of government. (Mit of
this action resulted the first constitution of the State, which was re-
jiorted on March 12 and adopteil on April 20, 1777. ^leantime, and
until tlie new governmental machinery was started. New York rc-
uiaineil under exclusive legislative and committee goverumeiit. The
State convention, after leaving Harlem, met successively at Fishkill
and Kingston, being dissolved on the 13th of May, 1777. Through-
out the critical period wliith incduded the succi-ssive Ih-itisii occuiia-
lii.ns of Staten Island, Long Islaiul, and ^Manhattan Island, anil the
Westclu ster CNiunty campaign, the convention was indefatigable in
lierforming the maiufold onerous duties that belonged to its si)here.

An interesting and significant resolution adopted by the convention
while in session at our county-seat (July 1.")) Avas the following:

Resolved, unanimously. That it is the opinion of this [convention that if liis Excellency,
(ieneral Wasliington, should think it expedient for the ])reservatiou of tliis State and the
general interest of .Vmeriea to abandon the City of Xew York and witlidraw the troops to
the north side of Kingsbridge, this convention will cheerfully co-operate with him in every
measure that mav be necessary — etc.

338 HISTORY OF WESTOHESTEJl COUNTY

Tlic priiclaiuatidii nf ludepcndciicc was of necessity submitt('(l to
(liiietly, tlioujili with varied imirmuriu^s, by tlie Tory faetioii of
Westcliester Couuty. The hical coniiiiitlees everywhere were sii-
])renie, and manifestations of an unfriendly nntnre, even in the form
of disfavorinij;- remark, were pretty certain lo involve liic (■nli)rit.s
in difliciiity. The name of one bold spirit, who for three weeks perse-
vered in a public attitude of defiance, has come down to us; and be-
fore proceeding with the narrative of the momentous events Avhich
now crowd thick upon us, this interestini; local e])is(id(' sliunld be
recorded.

It is not surprisiuii' that the aii'fi,Tessivc individual was a clerjxy-
man of the Church of Eu.iiland, the IJev. Epenetus Townseud by name,
who since IKifi had oiticiated as n missionary of the Venerable Projia-
ji;ation Society in the I'arisli ul' Salem, lie was a man of ability,
thoufiii not of distinjiiiished talents like Parson Seabury. of West-
chester. For inveterate devotion to the kinii and scorn id' all rebels
he certainly yielded to none in all our County of Westchester. He
relates in one of his letters that as early as the end of the year 1773 he
began to strongly susiiect that "the leaders (d' opposition to govern-
ment in America " were aindng at iude])end<-nce; whereupon he un-
derto(dc to do all that lay in his jxiwer, " liy ]>ri'a(hing, reading the
Homilies against Kelxdlion," ami ihe like, to persuade his ix-ojde
against connlemincing sucdi wicked tendencies. "And blessed be
God," he exclaims, "I have the satisfaction that the Church people
[Episcopalians] in all my iiarishes [Salem, Ridgehidd, and IJidge-
bury] have almost unanimously — there being three or four excej)-
tions — maintaine<l their loyalty from the first.'' In 3Iay, 177(i, he sa,\s
he was called before the "' I{(d»(d ("ommiltee of Cortlandfs ^lanor"
and " invited " to join their association. This he indignantly declined
to do. Next, he was ordei-ed to furnish blankets for the "Rebel s(d-
diers," and, refusing, was sent under guard to the committee, which,
failing to i>ei-suade him on the same i)oint, gave orders to search his
house and appro]»rinte Ihe desired goods; but happily his wife liad
safely seci-eted all they possesse(l. Then he was directed to ]iay "" uji-
wards (;f thirty shillings " to flu- nn)r;ified searcdiing i)arty, r(duse<l to
obey, and was detaine(l under guard until he produced the money.
After that he was esc(U'tcd b( fore the Westchester County comuut-
tee, on complaint made by the Cortlandt ^lanor c(nuuuttee, to be
examined as to his political ]irinciples. These several unpleasant in-
cidents all occiirred in the months of ]May and June, 177(1; and con-
sidering the respectable and rev(M-eiid character of ^fr. Townsend,
together with the circumstance that all but "three oi' four" of the
" Church people '" of his parishes w( re Loyalists, the severity and per-

i:VKN'l-8 I'KOM .11 I, V ;t TO OCTUBKU 12, 1770 339

tiiincilv with whicli lie was (lis(i|iliiic(l arc loi-cililv illiisirali\c nf
the nciicral s]iiiil of llii- times in \\csl(li(stci- ('ouiily.

On ilif Sunday al'Icr the Dcclaial ion of I iKlcitcndcncc Mas ])ro-
claiincd l>y llic aiitliority iif (lie assembled delei;ales (d the Slale of
New Vuik at Wliiie J'laiiis, llie Kcv. Epenetus Townsend, lioldinii
ser\ices as usual in his chiii-eli at Salem, omitled not one jot of
the preseribed formnlai'ies in i-elalion to the Idny- and the royal
family. On the second Sunday he still pin'sued the even tonor of
his duties in this particular; but on the third Sunday, says Bolton,
•• when in the afternoon he was oHiciatinj;-, and had proceeded some
leniith in the service, a coniitaiiy of armed soldiers — said to have be-
lomicd to Colonel Sheldon's i-eiiiment, stationed on Keeler's Hill, op-
])osite — marched into the church with drums beatini;- and fifes play-
iuii, their <iuns loaded and bayonets fixed, as if ii'oin<;' to battle; and as
soon as he comiiienced reailin^;- the collects for the kinti' and i-oyal
family tlie^ rose to their feet, and the oflic"r commanded him upon
the peril of his life to desist. .Mr. Townsend immediately stopped
readinfj', closed his ]irayerbook', descended from the rcii( ling-desk, and
so the matter jjassed over without any accident." On the 21st of Oc-
tober following lie was sent to Fishkill as an enemy of America, and
for six nn)nths was kept on parole at his own expense. In the spring
of 1777, having refused to take the oath of allegiance to the i-e])iiblic,
lie was ]iermiTted to renmve with his " family, apjiarel, and liouse-
hcdd furiiii lire ■■ to the British lines, his property in Salem — a very
•• genteel '" one — being confiscated. In 1779 he was appointed chap-
lain to a Loyalist battalicm, which was ordered to Halifax, and he
sailed with it thither, accompanied by his wife and five children. Ills
slii]i foundered, and he and his whole family perished.

The first vessels of the British exjjedition against New York. \vhi<h
ariived at Sandy Hook on June 20, were gradually joined by the
eniire tlect. The iiuifcd militaiy f(U-ci comprised the army jormerly
(|uariered in Boston (whi(di, after evacuating that place, had been
transported to ilalifaxi. some troo])s from the Southern colonies, a
large ailditioii of fresh iroojis from l']ngland. and some fonrteen
thousaml Hessian mercenaries. In the aggregate there were 3o,Gll
men, of whom 2-1, Kil were in condition for battle. It was by far Ihi'
largest army ever gathered in America during the Bevolntion. It
seemed probable that (oiieral Howe's attack on New York would
not be in the fortii of a naval bombardment of tlie city or of a de-
barkatitin of the army on ^Manhattan Island, but of a movement
thither friuii ]>ong Island, 'i'liei-e Washington had caused defenses
to be fortitied and occupied, whose inner line extended from Oowanus

340 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Creek to Wallabuut Bay. General Howe's orijiiual iutenlion seems
to have been to disembark immediately on Loiij;' Island and move to
bis destination with all possible eneruy. On July 1 the Meet was
brought up to Gravesend Bay (Coney Island), with the evident de-
sign of ell'eeting- a landing the next morning, lint if sueh was the
purpose of the British commander, he promptly abandoned it (being
actuated, it is supposed, by the prudential feeding that it would be
wisest to await the arrival of the bulk of his forces); and, indeed,
it was not until the 22d of August that the landing on Long Island
was made. There Washington was granted a respite of seven Aveeks,
which he availed of by perfecting the Long Island defenses and
making all practical arrangements for concentrating in that quarter
a force cai)able of resisting the invasion. Ilow nearly this j)roved
fatal to the American cause is a theme that the historians of the
Revolution never weary of expatiating upon.

General Howe, in bringing his formidable command to America,
had, at least nominally, a double funrlion to discharge. While he
grasped the sword willi one hand he bore the olive branch in the
other. Before proceeding to sanguinary measures he was to proffer
terms of reconciliation, whi(h were to include gracious ]iar(lon for
all acts of rebi'llioii. i5ut toward the end of peace so devoutly to be
wislied for, he unfortunately was not able to make any jirogress
whatever. One of his tirst acts was to disiiatch an olticer under a
flag of truce with a letter addressed to "'George AVashington, Esq.,"
reminding one of that other historic British im])ertinence, tlu' ofh-
cial <lesignation of the fallen and caiitive I'^mperor Najioleon, after
Waterloo, as " General Bonaparte." Howe's messenger, after ex-
changing the most elegant and amiable courtesies with the Amer-
ican otlicer who came to meet him, stated that he had a letter for a
" 31r. " Washington. The otlii'r informed him that some unaccount-
able nnstake must have l)ei'n made, that there was no pei-son an-
swering to such a name in the whole patriot camp. The missive
was next ])roduced, and still it was disavowed that tlu' specified pri-
vate indi\idual had any known existence. The puzzled iTiessenger
was fain to return to his chief without accom])lishing his laudable
object. This was the last offer lo sjtare tin* erring colonies the fear-
ful chastisenu'ut that had so long lieen threatened.

On the 2d of July the British ships left Gravesend, advanced in
stately ]irocession through the Narrows, di'0])])ed anchor one by one
along the shoi-es of Staten Island, and began to discharge the troojis,
who, gladly remarks Dawson, were " welcomed by the inhabitants of
that beautiful island as their dediverers from the terrible oppression
of the Eevolutionary powers." Not until the 12th of July was any

EVENTS FROM JULY 9 TO OOTOP.KR 12, 1770 341

f'di'innl (lenionstrnlioTi iiyaiiist the Anicrican foe atU'iiii)lc(l. 'I'licn
two vcsst'ls, the " IMidMiix," of forty-fom- .miiis, and the " llosc," of
twenty guns, with three tenders, were dispatelied on an exiiedition
u]i I lie Hudson River. They were fired on by the shore batteries,
witli little or no effect, and responded by droi)]iinn- a number of shells
into the city, which killed three of Washington's soldiers. Anchor-
ing at Spuyten Duyvil Creek, they got a Avarm reception fi-oni the
new batteries which had been planted on Tippet's and Cock's Hills.
They then resumed their voyage up stream as far as Tarrytown,
where the local company of militia, known as the Associated Com-
pany of the upper part of Philipseburgh Manor, showed itself ready
for the emergency. That body turned out, under the command of
Lieutenant Daniel Martling, and guarded the shore during the night
to prevent any possible attempt at landing. But there was no such
endeavor; and, although tlie hostile ships remained opposite Tarry-
town for four days, no clash of arms occurred there. IMeantime the
State convention at White Plains sent supplies of poAvder and ball
to Tarrytown, and also ordered re-enforcements thither. It is very
conjecturable that the purpose of the British warshijis in staying
so long at that spot was to cari'y on communication with the Tories
of Philipseburgh ^[anor and the opposite shore. Washington was con-
cerned about this movement up the Hudson. Keferring to it in a letter
to the convention dated the 14th, he expressed the opinion that the
ships " may have carried up arms and ammunition to be dealt
out to those who may favor their cause, and co-operate witli
them at a fixed time," and urged vigilant action for nii)ping so dan-
gerous a scheme in the bud. He also a])]irehended that troops might
be on board, intended for the seizure of the important Highland de-
files, "in which case the intercourse between the two |.\merican]
armies, both by land and water, will be wholly cut otT, than which
a greater misfortune could hardly befall the province and army."
Steps w'ere accordingly taken to guard against such a catastrophe,
particular attention being direct<'d toward ])rotecting the road which
passed around .Vnt hony's Nose. Solicitude was likewise felt lor Kings-
bridge, a ]ioint of even greater immediate importance. In June Wash-
ington had made a ])ersoiial visit of inspection to Kingsbridge and
vicinity, had found the locality to admit of advantageous fnrtitica-
tion in .seven distinct places, and, " esteeming it a pass of tlie inmost
inijioi-tancc in order to kecji open comuiuiMcat ion willi the country,"
had assigned troojis to ])nsli forward tlie defensive woi'ks deter-
mined iiptiii. On the I'd <il' .Inly (ieneral .Milllin was sent to Kings-
bridge to assume cliarg<', and frnui tliat time foi'ward there was the
utmost activity in and around this spot. The great fear was that

EVENTS FKO\r .TTI.Y i) TO OCTOUKU 12, ITTG 343

tlic liiid^c itself, mill Willi it the I'ariucrs" Bridjio, would bo do-
sti-(i.v((l hv ;i li(i;il cxpcd i I ioii rnuii ilir Hudson IJiver, and that a por-
tion 111 till' Uiiiisli iniii\ WDiild he (■oincidriirlv landed in Westchester
("(Minlv. wliicli wniild li;ne sliiii up \\ 'asliiiij;ton's whole force on
Manhattan Island. I'ut these di-eaded attempts were never niaih,
and even if they had heeii the precantions taken wonhl itmlialdv
liav<' sntlice<l tn counteract them.

It is well known that Cleucral llowo placed not a little dependence
n])on the ho])e of receivini;' active co-operation in the field from the
loyal iidialiitants of the lo\\'er counties of this State, ami in that
ho]»e he A\as encouraiied liy assurances which hi' received from Gov-
ernor Tryon and others upon his arrival. So far as Westchester
County is concerned, no evidence exists that any results to Mistain
him in such an expectation followed the undoubted attempts to stiiu-
nlate Tory couruiic incidental to the dispatch of the " Pho-nix " and
" liose " u]i The Hudson.

Too much praise can not be uiven the New York State coincntioii
for its \ii;(M-ous and well-considered measures at this time of uncer-
tainty rej;ardin,ii the intentions of the enemy. With the situati(Ui
below the Harlem Kiver Washiniitou was competent to <leal in all
its details, l)ut the conxcntion ridieved him of much of the responsi-
bilitj' and distraction that would have been involved in carinji for
the security of the country above. Provisions and other stores havinjf
bi-en accumulated in the neiiihlKU-hood of Peekskill, the convention
ordered their removal to places which would be less exposed to
danger fiom possible Uritish lauding- parties. ^lilitia re-euforce-
nients for I'oi'ts Constitution and Montgomery were provided for.
One-fourth of the entire militia of Westchester, Dutchess, and Orange
Counties was called out, and, in view of the emergency, each militia-
nnin taking the field was granted a bounty of twenty dollars la gen-
erous allowance in the circumstam-es of the time), with continental
l»ay and subsistence. This whole militia force (Westchester County's
( ontingent being under the c<unmand of Cohuiel Thomas Thomas) was
ordered to Pickskill as the strategic ]ioint fiw rejielling the expectt>d
attack on the Highlands. The com-ention i)ledged itself to defray
the expenses of any practicable plans for obstructing the naviga-
lion of the Hudson and annoying the enemy's shi])s. Not having
sullicient ammunition for the militia, it riMjuested Washington to
loan w liat was needed, jiromising to replace it at the earliest opjior-
tiinity. It also advised Washington to use his offices with Governor
Trumbull, of Conncctic\it, for the creation of a cam]> of six thousand
men on the I'.yrani b'ivei-, in the interest of bringing to confusion
anv schemes (d" the I'ritish for seizing the country abov(» Kingsbridge.

344 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Tliis i-('C()iiiiiicii(liiti(iu was (IcciiiL'd by Wasliiiijitnu most cxi'i-llciit, but
iK'Vci- bore any fruits.

On tlu' Kith (if .Tilly tlic " Pbd-nix " and " Rose," witli their tcn(h'rs,
left Tarrytown and sailed up the river ti> near Verplanek's i'oiul.
Finding that their iH-ogress into the Highlands would be prevented
by the batteries of Forts Constitution and Montgomery, they merely
took soundings, received such infoi-niation as could be got from sym-
pathizers on shore, and landed small parties here and there, \vhi(di
committed a feAV minor de]iredations. ]{e1 inning slowly down the
stream, they soon found tliat some tolerably lively adventures liad
been prepared for tlieiii by the alert American commander.

At Tarrytown, on the ith af August, they were boldly engaged by
a number of galleys — the " Washington," " Lady Washington," " Sjiit-
fire,'- "Whiting," "Independence," and " Crane "^ — which Washing-
ton had procured from the governors of Connecticut and IJhode Island,
and dispatched for the purpose of annoying the two warships. One
of the participants on the American side, in an account of this s])irited
encounter, says: " \\e had as hot a fire as, perhaps, was ever known,
for an hour and a half. Our commodore. Colonel Tupper, thought it
ju'udent to give the signal for our little fleet to withdraw, after man-
fully fighting a much superior force for two hours. Never did men
behave with more firm, determined spirits than otir little crews. One
of our tars, being mortally wounded, cried to bis messmate: ' I am
a dying man; revenge my blood, my boys, and carry me alongside
my gun, that I may die there.' We \\'ere so preserved by a gracious
I'rovidence that in all our galleys we had but two men killed and
fourteen wounded, two of whicli are thought dangerous."

An even nuu'e exciting exjierience was reserved for the " riio'iiix,"
" Kose," and their tenders. Two fir<' vessels, constructed by Wash-
ington's orders, approached them at their anchorage on the night of
the Kith of August. The resulting transactions have been pictur-
es(]U(dy described by numerous writers, but with many variations as
to details. The precise location of this affair of the fire-shiijs is im-
possible of determination, so conflicting are the statements on that
p(dnt. The thrilling scene is variously located oif Tarrytov.n, Dobbs
Ferry, Hastings, and Youkers. According to a very circuiiistani ial
account by a princi])al particijiant on the American side — Cajjtain
.losepli I'ass, ap])areiit]y tlie mnigator of one of the fire-ships, — it oc-
curred not in the jtirisdiction of Westcliesler County but in that of
Kockland County, the British vess( Is, h<' says, having taken stations
on the west side of the river, because 'A' the greater deptli of the
^\■atel• tliere, upon receiving an inlimation from some (|uarter that
miscldef was impending. The narrative of Captain I?ass (originally

EVENTS rnoAr .tt'ly 0 to octoret; 12, 1770 345

imlilislici] ill I lie Warci sh )■ Maii<rJii< in 1S20) is so cNpiicil mid in rsscn
(i:il rcs|K(ls so iiil('iliL;ciit tli;it it sci'iiis to us liis sliitciin'iit liuil liii'
I'Vciil li;ins|)in'(l on the \\( si side of tJic ii\cr iiiiisl lie iicccplcd willi-
oiit (incstion. W'i Diiwson, iiflci cxiuniiiiiii; nunnTous oriuiinil iin-
I liofilics, all ciirc rullv cited in liis I'ooliiott's, ^ivcs no su<ij;('slioii of
I his; altlioni;li lie does not spcciJically sa}' that tlu- fnyai;('nicnl or-
(iiiTod on tiic oast bank. Again, the individual prooci'diniis and
piTloi-niaiu-es of tlu' two fiiv-sliips arc strangely confused by dilTeicnl
nanatois, the exact ]iaft borne by one in some accounts being as-
signed to its coni]iniiion in others. I^'uving aside the minuter de-
tails involving discrei>ancies, which after all are not very material —
and, indeed, tht- whok' affair is of no distinct importance in its r(da-
tioii to the progress of general events, although exceedingly interest-
ing as an episode, — we shall confine ourselves to a brief statenient
of the essential facts, about which there are no disagreements.

Tlu^ advisaljility of converting small river craft into fire-ships to
attack the enemy's war vessels received early consideration by the
State convention after the advent of the J'.ritish fleet. The subje<-t
was assigned to a secret committee, whose practical projects were en-
couraged by Washington and also by (ieneral (Jeorge Clinton. After
the ])assage of the "Hose," " Plneiiix," and their tenders U]) the
liver, two fire-ships, or rafts, were fitted out and held in readiness
at Sjiuyten Duyvil Inlet for a favorable opiiorvunity. " The {ire-siii)(s,"
says IJuttenber, whose accotmt is digested from the narrative of Cap-
lain I'.ass, " had been ])reiiare<l with fagots of the most combustible
l^iuds of A\'ood, which had been di]>]>ed in iiielte(l pitch, and with
Imndles of straw cut about a foot long, piriiaicd in the sanKMuaiinef.
Tile fagots and bundles tilled the <leck and hold as far aft as the cabin,
and into this mass of combustible materials was inserted a match,
that might be fired by a jx'rson in the cabin, who would have to
escajie through a door cut in the side of ilie vt'ssel into a whaleboat
that was lasheii to tiic (|uarter of the slooji. Hesides these coinbiis-
libies, there Mere in each vessel ten or twelve barrels of jiitcli. A
(|uaiitity of canvas, amounting to niiiuy yards, was cut into sliijis
about a foot in width, then di]))KNl in s]nrits of turpentine, and iiiing
npon the spars and rigging, extending down to the deck. "

On the niglit of the Kith of August the two tire-siii]>s, comnianded
lsa\s Dawson) by ( "aptains I'osdick and Thomas, but li \ohinleers from
the army, sailed uji the rixcr on the serious business for which they
hail been constructed. They ke])t in midstream, and in the darlv-
IK-ss Were unable to deled the enemy's shi](S, lint located lliein by
the cry of the lookouts, "All's well!" and bore down u]ion them.
• •lie of the tire-ships grappled a tender (or " bombketch," according

346 IIISTOIIV OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

lit I'iissi, iind the (iIIk 1- inadi' I'.-isl Id ilic " I'luniix." Tlic lircs were
liiililrd, ;iiiil iiis!;inlly llic rails were athmic. Tlic tender, or Ixiinh-
kel( li, was liunied to I lie water's ed^c, and tlie •• IMid-nix " seemed
in a fair way of total destrnetion, hut was saved )i\ desjierate exer-
tions. Xe\-ertli(dess slie was fired in several ])laces, and niiicli of her
riiii;in,n- was eiit away so that ihe Ihiincs iiii<;ht not catcii it. .Most
(d' the crew of the tender ])eris]ie(l. and it is sn])])osed that some
mill on I lie " I'lio'iiix " were lost. ( ajitaiii Thoinas and h\-e of his
men \\-ere unahle to escajx' to llieir whalehoat after apid,\in;Li' the
matfli to the eomhnstibles. Tiiey jiiiiiiied into the water and were
drowned. Washinsiton's accoiini of this <larin;n and, indeed, very
brilliant affair is as follows:

The iiifi-lit of the Kitli two (if our fire vessels attemptptl to Imrii the ships of war up tlie
liver. Oue of these bourdeil tlie " Phueni.x," of forty-four f;uiis, aiul was grappled with her
for some miuutes, Imt uuluekily she eleared lior.self. The only damage tlie enemy sustained
was the destrnetion of oue tender. It is agreed on all hands that our people engaged in this
affair behaved with great resolution and intrepidity. One of the eajitains, Thomas, it is to
be feared, perished in the attempt, or in making his eseape by swimming, as he has not been
lieard of. Ilis bravery entitled him to a better fate. Tliongb this enterprise did not
sueeeed to our wishes. I ineline to think it alarmed the enemy greatly; for this morning
(August 18) the " Pluenix " and " Rose," with their two remaining tenders, taking advantage
of a brisk and prosperous gale and favorable tide, quitted their stations and have returned
and joined the rest of tile Heet

Willi the final sailing away of Ihe Uritish shi[is on the iiiornino
of the ISlh of Anjiii^t, the Hudson liiver, from the bay up, was re-
lieved of Ihe enenix, whose eiiliie Heel was uow anchored alonn' the
Stateii Island slmii . li w as neail,\ a month before the much-dreaded
vessels id' war ai^aiii vein nred above I he liattery, and it was not nnl il
the 9tli of October that the cili/.ens of \Vesicliester ("onnly were
throwTi into renewed a|>|>reliensioii b_\ the reappearance of Ihe un-
welcome visitors in I heir (piarlc r.

The transportation <if Ihe iuvadiiij; army from its temporary qiiar-
t( IS on Slaten Island lo Loni; Islanil was beo'iin early on the morn-
iiiLi of the 22d of Annitsl, the landing- beinj; efl'ected at (ira\cseud
without opposition. With the details of the battle of Loiii; Island,
which ])resently followed, our narrali\(' is n(d concerned, and il is
sul'licient for the pnr|)ose of this History to brietly summarize its re-
sults. \\\ iKion on Ihe 2Tth of Anj;iist that disastrous battle ended in
complete \iclory for the Kritish, and \\'ashiniiton, havinii' sustained
a hea\'.\' loss in killed, wounded, and i)risonei's, retired with his
w hole remainiuo force, w liicli, as slij;htly re-enforced the next day, did
nol exceed nine thotisand, behind his inner intreiichinents, stretchinji',
as already notice(l, froiii the (Jowaiiiis to the Wallabout. I'^rontinji'
him was an army of fully twenty thousand, and at any moment the
whole tieinendoiis lirilish fleet miiiht ei'ter the ICast TJiver and cut

EVENTS FROM .TTI-V i» 'I'O OCTOP.EU 12, ITU) 347

olT liis rclicat lo .M;iiili;itl;iii Isl.-iiid. In siicli ;iii cvciil u;ilil v liis iiii-
(•()ii(li(i(niiil siuTciidcr would be bill ;i (|ii('sli(iii of a bvit-f liiiic, and
Willi il the cause of .Vnu'iicaii indcix'iidcucc \\-ould iu all ])robabilily
rccrhc its dcatliblow. The sole problnn loi' W'asliiiijilon io solve
w as (lierefoi-e that of tlu' most expedii ions iiossible escape W il Imul
dclav lie beiiau to make bis arrauincmeuts. ]>y the eveiiiu}; of the
I'lltli all the available craft in the survoundinn waters had been ccd-
lected and bi-ouii'lil to tile liriioklyii end of tlie ferry. The uiiilit was
lorfunately dark, and nol a slii]) of tin' enemy's had yet apjicarcd
in the vicinity, while Howe's army lay before our works in comidele
itinera lire of the desifjii <d' the American general. One by one the
icjiinieiits left their posts and were safely transferred to the New
^'ork side. At dawn the business was still untiuished, but, happily,
a liea\y fof^' obscured river and land. Nevertheless the last boat-
loads had scarcely left the I?ro(d<lyn shore when the Britisli aji-
jx'ared on the scene, and, indei'il, tlieii- arrival was in time to ca])-
tiire some of the strajiglers. It was a narrow escape for the |iati-iot
army fi-om the jaws of cei'tain deslruci ion, made jiossible only by a
combination of circumstances which seems providential. It is told
that tile wife of a Toiy named Kapelje, living near the ferry, as
soon as the retreatinjj,- mox'emeut be<ian after nightfall, disjiatched
a uejii-o with information of it to the I'ritish camp, but that the mes-
scnji'ei-, after safely makinii' liis wa_\' tlii-out;li tlie American lines,
lia<l lli( ill luck to stumble ujion an outpost of Hessian mercenaries,
w ho wci-e unable to undei'stand a word of his lani;ua,ii'e, and, not aj)-
prelicndinti that he was a ]>erson of any inijiortance, did not turn
him over to the I>rilish until moi'iiinti. The battle of I-oni; Island,
althouiih in its immediate i-esull to the Aniericans a terrible defeat,
followed by the abandonment of Lon^ Island and of New "^'ork (Mty
also, was, if thoughtfully rdlected u]M.n, a defeat of jirodiiiioiis ulti-
mate ad\anta!n-e. If 'Washimiton had triunijdu'd in that battle, nv
e\cu if its outcome had been comparatively indecisive, his generals
Would almost certainly lia\'e insisted on standiuL;' their ;L;round, and
in that event he would almost ine\itably have suffered a mlseiabh-
end on Lonii' Island. It was the coni|)leteniss of his defeat alone
which ]ireser\ed the army by h'axinii no course of actiori o|ten ex-
cept immediate rc^treat. .,VltlioUiili the loss of New York ("ily also
was ins(d\('d, that, fi'om the American iioini of \iew, was more a
relief than a catastrophe, ^^'itllout a lleet, \\'asliint:tou ne\ci- could
ha\c held the cit\', which, as ji base absolutely indispensable foi' the
Ib'itish to ac<|iiiie, w<iiild have lieeii taken by them in the end, e\cn
at the cost of rediiciiiL; it to ashes. .\ n attemjit to hold it could have
resulted iu nothing but a futile sacrilice of encM'uies, troops, and

348 HISTORY OF WESTCHKSTEU COUNTY

iiiniicy on ;iii ciKii'iimiis sciilc It was best llial lie slmiild lie rid of it
al once Willi no ni-catci- sacrilicc than lliat iiicni-rcd in tiic briof Long
Island (•anii)ainn and tlic mainly dcl('nsi\c nioNi'int-nts thaf followed
it. He was tlicrvhy released from a most perilnns sit nation and en-
abled to withdraw his army into the interioi-, where it conld recruit
its strength, improNc its discijiline, and lirasp oji])oi'tnnities as they
should be presented in a stmuiile f(n- libert\' whii h everyone knew
must be ]>rotracted and could succee(l only IhroULih endurance.

The tirst encounter ni the Kevolution on the soil of Westidiester
ConutA' occurred on the I'Sth of Aiiii.ust in the vicinity of ^lamai'o-
neck between a jiarty (d' Loyalist recruits led by one William Louns-
i>ni-y and an American force commanded by Cajitain Johu i'^lood,
which was sent in pursuit of them. According; to the records of the
State convention Icr the 2".M h (d' Aujiust, ITKJ, " ^Ir. Tompkins came
into convention and informed that ^fr. I>ounsburv was con\e into
Westchester County with a commission from Oeneral ]b)we to raise
rangers; and that a party of the militia went in pursuit of him, and
were under the necessity of killing him, as he would iKd surrender;
auother was wounded, and four were taken prisoners — all his re-
cruits." The prisoners were Jacob Sclmreman, Bloomer Neilson
I wounded), .Tose])h Turner, and Samuel Haines. T,ouusl)ury had
been on board the " I'ha-nix '" in the North Kiver, and his enlisting or-
ders were found on his person. Ea( h of his recruits was to ri'ceive £3.

On Maidiattan Island Washington was still undis])uled master,
and the British, without any ])recipitancy but with great thorough-
ness, proceeded to brijig him to another reckoning there. Although
the fleet made uo attempt to dis])ose itself around the island for
purposes of co-operation with Howe's land forces until several days
after the battle of Long Island, two of the warships, with a brig, had
on the very day of that battle takcui a station above Throgg's Neck.
This was an ominous move, suggesting an intention to come up
tlirough the East lUver and seize the numerous strategic points of-
fered by the islands and necks of the river and Soun<l. Between
the 8d and 14:th of September a number of the most powerful frigates
of the rte(>t were stationed in the East Kiver, ami what are now Kan-
dall's and Ward's Islan<ls \vere occujued. On the 15th the frigates
took a ])osition at the head of Kip's Bay and opened a terrific fire
upon a selected spot on the shore, umler whose cover eighty-four boat-
loads of soldiers wcic landed wilhont the least resistance. It is true
that Wasliiugton had placed a considerable foi'ce of Connecticut and
.Massai husetts troojjs in that vicinity — eight regiments in all, — but
they beat a hastj' and decidedly discreditable retreat as soon as the
enemy showed himself. With the English army present in force on

EVENTS FKO.M .Il'LV 9 TO OCTOBKIt 12, 177(5

:j4<)

M;iiili;ilt;ui Island, it \\as now iiiipcral i\ cly iicccssarv I'lii- Wasliiiiii-
l(Pii (() willidraw liis whole roininaiKl lo llic ikuM licrii jjorlioii of (lie
islaud, whirli he was forlunatel.v able to do, l'(dlo\\iiiy the IJIooiiiiiii;-
dale IJoad on the west side, and campiiiii on ihc e\cnius>- of the ITith
on Harlem Heights. IIer(» he established his head(|naiters in I lie
lloycr Morris mansion, which aflei-ward became the .Jniiiel mansion,
and is still preserved (One Ilnndred and Sixty-first Street near Saint
.\i<-holas Avenne).

As has already been ri-latt'd, Colonel Koi;cr .Morris, the owner of t iiis
stately residence, married Mary Philipse, for whose hand Washington
liimselt is saiil to have been a snitor. Mary \\as the yonniicst snr-
\i\inii danii'liter of Fre<lerick
riiilipse. tile liiird lord (d' the
manor, and was born on the 3d (d'
July, 1730, nearly two years be-
fore ^\'ashini;ton saw the liiiht.
The romantic story that Washini;-
ton actually sought her in luar-
riajie, and A\as I'efused, does not
rest on any known foundations;
yet there is strong- presumptiM-
evidence that he admired her very
heartily, and that if opportunity
had enabled him to pay diligent
conrt to her he probably wonid
have embraced it. Much as has
been written on this subject, noth-
iu'j; that is authentic, so far as we
have been able to discover, has
been added to Sparks's w<dl-
known reference to it. " While
in N(M\- York in 175(5," says

Sparks, " W'ashiiiiiton was loducd and kindly entertained at the house
of Ml-. lieverly Kobinson, between whom ai'd himself an intimacy
of friendshij) subsisted, which, indeed, conlinurd wilhoui cii.'iniic till
severed b_\- their ()]ii)osite fortunes twenty .vears afterward in tiie
Kevolution. It hai)pened that Miss Mary l'liilii»s(>, a sister of .Mrs.
iiobinson, and a youni; lady of rare accoin|ilisl:ments, ^\•a^ an in
mate in liie family. The charms of the lady made a deep impi'cs-
sion n])on the heart of the \'ii'^inia colonel. He \\('nl to I'.oston, re-
turned, and was ayain welcomed to the liosphality of .Mr. Kobinson.
lie liniicred there till duty called him away; but he was careful to
intrust his secret to a coulidential fi-ieiid, whose letters kei»t him in-

MARY rillLIPSE.

350 HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTER COUNTY

I'oiiiicd ol (■\civ iiiipdriiiiif cNciil. In ;i few iiioiitlis inlcllii;ciHc caiiic
That a rival was in tin- Held, iiinl ilint tlic (•(hisciiucikcs could noi he
answered for if lie dela vrd lo iciifw his visits to New 'S'ork. ^^'heth^■r
(inie, the bustle of eanip, or I In- scenes of war had moderated his
adniiratit)n, or whether lie dcspaii-ed of success, is nol known, lit-
never saw the lady a,uain till she was married to thai same rival,
('aptain Morris, his foriuei associate in arms and one of I'raddock's
aids-de-camp.'' Mary IMiilipse's husband took a ])osilive stand
a.ijainst the patriot cause in the Kevolution, and as a consiMpience
Ills property in America was confiseated. The lady lived to be ninety-
live years old, dyini;- in Kni;land in 1S25. The Ilarlem lleinhls resi-
dence was occupied for a timo after the Kevolution as a tavern, and
was then ptirchased by Ste])hen Jumel. a wealthy frenchman, wiiose
widow became the wife of Aaron Iturr.

On the 16th of Septendx-r occurred the lively encounter of Har-
lem Plains, in Mhicdi the .Vmericans aciiuitted thenis(dves well an<l
for the first time in the open field had the satisfaction of jiutlinu'
their adversaries to fiij;lil. After that no steps of any j^cneia! ini
])ortance were taken on eitliei- side for several weeks. The Ameri-
can army continued to occu])y its stron;i position on Harlem Ilei^lds,
preserviujj;' unimpaired, by way of Kiniisbridjic, its communication
with the country above, and fully pre]iared to move thither in case
of enu'rp:ency. The royal ai'ni_\ made no attempt aiiainst the .Vnier-
ican iulremdiments, but conleiited itsidf with takim;' ]iossession of
the city and throwinii uj) new defenses for its more adeipiale pro-
tection, while <iradually makinn' ready to throw its(df bodily into
^^'ashin,i;ton's rear, an<l thus eilhei- entrap him or force him to i;ive
battle.

After the defeat on Lonu Island, the New York State convention,
then sitiiiiij, at Harlem, deemiini that place iusecurt>, adjourned to
I'ishkill. /.'// roiifc to the i!(m\- seal of Ivevolutionary no\-ei'nment ses-
sions wei'e lield by the commillee of safety at Kinnsbridiif i August
;'>()), at Mr. Odell's house in Philipseburnh .Manor (Auijust 31), and at
.Ml-. Illa.ujic's house at Croton Kiver lAuynst 31). In the wecd^s that
followed the convention ado])le(l a iireat number of measures inci-
dental to the serious silualion. of whicdi many ajiplied sjiecially to
\\'est(dies(ei- Count.v. We can not here attemi)t anythinLi,- moi-e than
a mere allusion to some of the more intei'cstinii of these measui'es.
l'ro\ision \\as made foi- I'iMuoxiui;' all the hoi-ses, cattle, and other
li\cslo(dv fi'om ;\lanhatli!n Island and the exjiosed poi-tions (d' W'est-
cliesler Couidy into the interior; the Westchester <'ounty farmers
were dir<cted to immediately thresh out all tlieii- i^rain, in ordei' to
furnish straw for the army; stores were takeJi from the State maga-

EVENTS FROM JULY 9 TO OCTOBER 12, 1T7(! 351

zincs ill W'cslclicstcr ('(iiiiit,\ ;iiiil sciil In llic m-iiiy; imiitIkiscs of
clotliiii'i' and other iiiatci-ials for llic aniiv were made, ami il was
Di-dcrcd that all the Ixdls should be lakcii li-oiii llic ( liiii'iics, and alf
llic brass kuookers from the doors nl' iionscs, so as lo acciiiimlalc
material for the manufacture of cannon in ( asi- of nerd.

On the same day that the Bi-itish (dTcclcd liicir landing on ^lan-
hattan Island, the 15th of September, (hev sent three of liieir besi
warships, tlie " riiu'nix," "];oebu(d<," and '■'rnrtar," up \\\i- Ndrl h
Kiver as far as iUoomiiiii-dale. There they i-ode at anchoi- until liie
!Mh of ()ct(dier, when they pushed farther u]», easily passing a clirnni.r
ill ji-'ixr that had been constructed Avith mm ii pains jusi above I'oit
\\ asliin^lon. This chcvavx dc frise consisted of a line of sunken ci-afl
sIrelcliiiiL;- across the stream, and it was hoixd that the obstructions
woiihi at least detain the enemy's vessels long- euousih to admit of
their beinj; so destructively played ujton by the Fort Washimiloii
and l'\irt Lee batteries as to compid them to turn Inick. It is line
the batteries did some execution, killing and wdumlinji men on each
sliij); but the obstructions in the river uidortunately bej;an some
distance from the shore, leavin,n' an open s]iace of tolerably deep
water iliidin^h which the expedition i)assed without dilliniity and
with little delay. Tlie warships proceeded as far as Dobbs I'eiry,
and later moved u]) to Tarrytown, where tliev vemaiiied, wlndly in-
arti\'e. throiiuiioul the jieriod of the e\( ntliil military- o|ierations in
W'estchcstei- County. It does not a])pear that they accomplished
anytliiiiii except the seizure of a few river craft c.irryini^- suiiidics to
llie .\meiican army, altlioiiL;li imideiililly ilu \- closed the navi^aiioii
of the lower ri\'er to the .Vmericans and perha]>s diverted to the
Hudson shore of W'estcliester County some troojis that otherwise
\\(mld ha\e been used to streniitheii I he coal ineiital army. It is
the general o]iinion of historical writers that the real ]uii]iose (d' tlie
Urilish commander in seiidini;- them up the stream was to make a
feint and cause the .Americans to fix their attention niton the Hud-
son while he was pri'|iarinii to out Hank \\asliini;ton from the Sound.
The incident ceiiainly did ]iro(liice a \ast deal ol' uneasiness on the
.\iiierican side. We shall recur to this subject in detail later.

While W'ashinnton lay emamiied on the lleiiilits of Harlem, the
whole soiil hern border of \\'<'Sl(liester ( 'ouiily, stretchiui;' from S]my
ten l»uy\il Creek to the Sound, was ])idlecl(cl by a larji'e force under
the ellicieiit command of (Jeneral Heath, with heaihpiarters at Kinus
bridge. The defensive works at Kin^sbriduc and its \icinity, com-
menced in the spi-iiiii, had by arduous laixir been completed, ami
now comprised nine widl fortified and garrisoned |)ositions, ha\ini:
for Iheir central and most powerful point what was called Fort In-

352

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTEU COUNTY

(k'pL'U(k'ine, oil Ti'l aid's 1 1 ill, \\ 1 1 ere t lie taiiii of < iciicial Ki chard .Mont-
gomery then was, and ahoiii w licic the house of NN'illiani 0<;(len Giles
now stands. It " oconpied a most coniniandinii position. ovcrlo(dvin<j;
the Albany road on oik- side and the Bosttm road on the other,"
and "had two bastions at ihc westerly auales." After the battle of
Loni; Island, and ]n'evionsl\ to the oceii]ialion of .Manliattan Island
by the enemy, General I leal h had ado])tcd cvcellcnt ])recautions
ai;aiust a possible landing in Westchester County. Early in Septem-
ber he established a chain of vedettes from Morrisania to Throjig's
Neck, so as to provide for immediate information of any hostile move-
ment that might reqtnre resistance in force. He also began to render
the roads leading from tin

iini)assable to the Britisli art

OLD BLUE BELL TAVP;RN.

villages OH the Harlem and the Sound
rtiiiery by felling trees athwart them
and digging deep pits. His
division Avas increased to ten
thonsand men of all arms
( iiichiding ineffectives), while
about an e(jual number re-
mained with Washington on
.Manhattan Island. This dis-
])osition shows how imjior-
tant was deemed the busi-
ness of guarding against
the contingency of a sudden
attempt to cut olV the re-
treat of the army to the
north. The suggestion of the
liktdiliood of siudi an at-
temi»t was received, as we ha\c noted, on the 27th of August, when
two liritish ships and a brig took a station above Throgg's Neck.
That was, however, only a preliminary movement, and, although men
from the ships were landed on City Island and seized all tlu' catth'
they found there, they quickly retired ui)on the arrival of a regi-
ment sent by General Heath to protect that locality. On the 10th
of Se]>lember, five days before the IJrifish army moved upon Wash-
ington's forces from Kip's P>ay, Montressor's (now Randall's) Island
was taken, and a defaidnuent was placed there, with a large amount
of stores. The island coiniuanded the Morrisania shore, and Colonel
]\Torris's manor house was -within con\cnienl range. Some four hun-
dred of Heath's men were jjosted along the shoris and for a lime
there were fre(iuent interchanges of com]diments between their sen-
tinels and those of the British on the island. Much irritation was
caused on both sides by occasional exchanges of shots between the

EVENTS FlIOM .ni.V 9 TO OCTOBEIt 12, 1T7(! 353

si'iitiii(-ls, (•(iiilri!i-y lo llic I'ciiuliitions of wiir, .nid ;is ji icsiilt tlu'
Uiilisli (•(imiiiiiiikIci- tlii-ciilciicd to cjuuioiiiKlc llic .Morris house. Tlies»!
|ii-ii(ticcs wi'V:' liiiiill.v slopiicd. iuul il is rcliilcd lli;il the o|)])osin<>'
|iickcts were ;irtci-\viu-(l "so civil lo carli oilier lii;il thev used to ox-
tliain;!' tobacco by tlirowiiiii I lie roll across the creek." On the l! It h of
Septeiiibc'r a dariiiii aJleiiipl was made to recajitiire the island. Diirinu
the preceilinii niiiht an exiieditiou of two liiin<lred and fort v men,
loaded on three (latboais, with a I'onrth boat lieariiij; a small cannon,
drojiped down I he I larleni from Kinnsbrid^e. depending; npon t he t ide
to float t hem up on t he island about daybreak. They .-irrived al t he cal-
culated time, with lU) other misad\ "uture I han an unfortunate experi-
ence with an American sentry, who, refusing to b(die\'e that they were
friemis, dis( hai'ucd his jiun at them, theicby ])i<diably alai-miiin- the
enemy. Vet the endeavor would undoublt'dly have succeeded if it
had not been for tlie cowardly Ixdiavior of the troojis on two of the
boats, who at the critical nnmn'ut failed to land. The heroic party
that did land according to ]»roiiranune was easily repulsed and made
to retreat, sustainiuii a loss of fourteen kilh^l and wounded. Amon^
the killed was a very promisinu younji: otiticer, .Major llcnly, whose
death was mu(di lamented.

After this affair of Se])ieml)ei' 24 on Kaudall's Island, the lii'st en
counter of the war aloti^' the soutliern side of Wesichi'sler County,
Ihei-e was ii pei-iod of nearly three we(d<s during which ,-ibs;dnt(dy
no collision worth mentioniniioccurred between the American and
r>ritisli foi-ces, either on ^laidiattan Island t>v in Westchester Connly
or its watei's. (Jeneral Heath was not inactive, however. With keen
foresight, he made a careful inspection, on the :!d <d' (»ct(dier, of ilie
'l\twn of Westcdiester and the a]>iiroa(h to i! fruni the miv,hboriu^
peninsula of Thro^ji's N:'(d< (or Frof^'s Xe(d<, as il was usually called
in those daysi. That jm innsula, ('xtondiny- more than two miles into
the Siniml, was at hii;]i tide a complete island, separated fr<Mu the
maiidand by W'estchest I'r Creek and a marsh, o\cr which were built
a plaidc bridjic and a causeway. At the west<M'u extremity of the
bridge stood a wooden I ide-mill, erected f])robably in the last dec;ideof
the seven I cent h cent uryl, at his own ex ixuise, by Colonel ( 'aleb I b at !i-
cote, first uia_\(U- id' the b(Uoui;h Town of ^^'esl chest er. \\ thai point
also a larii'e (pnintity of cordwood had Iximi ]iiled up, which (ieneral
Heath fiMind to be "as ad va nt aneously situated to cover a jiost de-
fi'udiui; the jiass as if constructed foi" the very |)Ui'pose."" It was a
\aluable stratc'LiU- jiosition — a fi'W men posted there could hold an
army al bay. and, moreover, as the bridge and causeway comniii-
uicaled direct with the X'ilhi^e of \\'esl(diester, it w .as a \er,\- neces-
sary precaution (o have them jiuarded, <iuile irresi)ec(ive of the p<»s-

354 HISTOKY OF ^V•ESTCIIESTEK COUNTY

sibililY lliat Tlirojiji's Neck iniulil jd-ovf to hv the rliuscu liiiidinj;-
place of the now diulv expected im adiiig- host. Accordiugly the jjeu-
eral— "we quote from " lleatli's Mciiioirs " — '"directed Colonel Hand,
immediately on his return to caiiiji, to lix upon one of the best snlial
tern oUticers and twent,v-fiYe picked men of his corps, and assifiii lliciii
to this pass, as their alarm post at all times; and in case the enemy
made a landing- on Frofi's Neck to ilirect this otiticer immediately to
take up the planks of the bridi;!'; to liave everything in readiness to
set tlie mill ou fire, but not to do it unless the tire of the riflemen
should appear insufficient to check the advance of the enemy on the
causeway; to assign another party to the liead of the creek; to re-
enforce both, in case the ciiciny huidcd; and that he should be sup-
ported." Upon the arrangcmcnls llius made Avere to depend, a few
days later, perhaps the very salvation of the American army. Of
the fight which occurred there, Mr. Fordliani Morris, in his " History
of the Town of Westchester," a](])ro]iriately says that il was the
"Lexington of Westchester,"" and lliat it is to be " hoited that the
wealth and patriotism of (lie Town id' ^^ estchester A\ill some da\
caiise an appi'opriate monument to be erecti'd Jiear I lie hrid;^c in
commemoration of the battle of \\'estchester Creek. ""^

Long before the period at w liicli we have now arri\cd the w liole of
the Westchestt'r Counly militia had been ordered into acti\(' s>'rvice.
Some were sent to I'eeksjcill and tlie Iliglibanls, and some wei'e
posted along the Hudson I\i\cr; but most of tliem were attached lo
Ceiieral HeatlTs command a( Kiiigsbridge, and were detaileil to
guard the southern and easteiii shore line. It was, in the aggregate,
a curious armament that Westchester County contributed to the con-
tinental battalions. The State convention, in ordering out these mili-
tiamen, directed that if any of the men Avere without arms they
should bring "a shovel, a pickaxe, or scythe, straightened and li.\<Ml
on a iwle." They were, moreover, to take Avith them all "disarmed
and disaffected (Tory) male inhabitants betAveen sixteen and fifty-
five years of age," avIio Avere (o make themselves useful' as " fatigue
men"; and persons of this descrijition who resisttnl orders were to
be sunnnarily court-martialed. The State convention evidently did
not cherish a high opinion of the efhciency of the farmer soldiery.

1 The mill stood sit the southwpstcrii othI of tolil me lii' .-issisfod in ro-covoriiip: It iiKiny

the stnue bridge wliicL now connects TlirofiK's yeiirs before, .nnd found nnder tin' sliint'le!!

Neck with the inuinland. It was destroyed by then eoverini; it another coyeriuK. iiii'rced In

lire early in December, 1S74. To the last it was many places with bullet holes." .\bout a third

in a good state of preservation for its age, and of a mile from the bridge, on the premises of

was still in use for grinding grain. "The old Mr. Brainerd T. Harrington, grape-shot were

mill," writes a venerable resident of the local- found as late as l,S6li. These evidently were

ily to the present historian, " was sided in some of the missiles tired over by the .\mer-

wilh shingles, and a man living here in 1S49 lean artillery.

EVENTS FKoM iiLv it Ti) ()(r(ii;i:i; 12, 1 TTC) 355

111 :i Idler lo (iciiri-al \\';isliiiiul()ii, dalcd Hi" mill (if Ocldbcr, il.s
I'liiiiiiiil Ice of safety iir.iied hi in lo lal<(' incasni-es of 1 1 is own for yiiard-
iiii; ai^aiiist laii(liiii;s h.v t lie eiieiii.v al all poiiils, addiiit;- (liiit. "no
reliance at all ran be placed on the iiiililia of Westchester ("ouiity."
But tills wa.s no exclusive reliection upon (lie soldierly ((iialities of
the lueii of our coniit.v, Hie i-aw iiii-al militia of all sections naturally
receivinii like ciiticisni. In nunieroiis coiniiiiiiiications written dur-
inii' those ](erilous days Washington wi'ole with a^'ony of soul ahoul
the miserable sul)ject of the militia. "The militia," he said in a
letter to tlie president of Hie continental congress, '' instead of callim;-
forth their utmost efforts to a brave and manly o|)])ositioii, in order
to repair our losses, are dismayed, intractable, and impatient to re-
turn. Great numbers of Hiem have m'one off; in some instances
almost by Avhole regiments, by half ones, and by coni])anies at a
time." And in a letter to his brother he liiive the followiiii; vivid
account of the situation: "The dependence which the conj;-ress have
l)hiced ujioii Hi(> militia has already oreatly injured and, I fear, will
totally ruin our cause. Beini;- subject to no control themselves, they
introduce disorder amoiifi' the troops Avhoni we have attempted to
discijdiue, while the chalice in th<>ir livinji' brings on sickness, and
this causes an ini])atieiice to get home, which spreads universally
and introduces abominable desertions. In short, it is not in the
power (d' \\(U'ds to describe the task I have to ])erforni."

Notwithstar.ding the terrible emergencies \\itli whicii Washing-
ton was confi'onted, his efl'ective force after his escape to the Heights
of Harlem (September 1(>) showed a diminishing tendency. On the
LMst of September the whole army, including General Heath's com-
mand, coni]n'ised (exclusive of officers) about 10,100 men fit for duty;
on the :50th of September, about 15,100; and on the r)tli of October,
about 14,r)00. These, besides embracing a large proportion of crude
militiamen who were an element of weakness, were encumbered by
Ihousaiids (d' sick. On the other hand. General Howe had at his
dis]H)sal for the invasion of \\'esfcliester County, after leaving behind
him ample garrisons, as \\(dl as ail his sick, an arni^' many thousands
hirger — all |irofessionai s(ddi"rs. The contrastiiiii' conditions are thus
|H(wei-fuliy suiiiniari/.ed in the noioiioiis .Tose]di (!ailowa_\'s "Letters
to a Xobleman": "The l!i-ilish ainiy ^\•as commanded by al>le and
experienced othceis; the rebel by men destitute of military skill or
ex]ieii,Mi(e, and, for the mosi par', taken fi-oni mechanic arts or the
1i1oul;]i. Tile first were jiossessed of the best appointments, anil more
ihan tiiey could use; and the other of the wcu'st, and less than they
wanted. The one were ill tended by the ablest surgeons and jdiysi-
ciaiis, healthy and lii.uh-spiriteij ; tin* other were negiecled in Hieir

356 HISTORY OF ^VEs'I('Ill•;sTEl^ county

licallli, tlotliin.u, and ])ay, were sickly, and coustantly nmrniurinfi- and
dissatisfied. And tlic one w ci'c vctcraji troojis, carryinii victory and
(■(MKiucst wlicresoever they wci-c led; the other Avere new raised and
niidiscipiined, a panicstnic]< and defeated enemy w ticrever a(-
lacl<e(l. Sncli is file true conijiarative difference Uetwcen tlie force
sent to suppress anil that which supported the rcliellioM."

CHAPTER XVII

THE CAMPAIGN AND BATTLE OF WHITE PLAINS

KXEKAL HOWE'S (letcniiinjition to move his ;iriiiy into
W'csttlu'ster Coiuity by way of the East River and I.onji
Island Sound was i)erfeetly j;uai'(kMl from Wasliinnlon's
knowh'diic In all the otticial correspondence on the Amer-
ica]) side u\> to rhc day of Howe's landinj; in onr county (Octoltcr 12),
tlici'c ajijicars not the sliyhtest iidclinj;- of the real desiyns of the
Rritish commander. Indeed, during (he days when Howe was makiuff
the Hual preparations for his i;rand coup, American attention was
ahsorlM'd l)y the successful passaiie of the tliree Rritish friualcs (the
" riio'nix," "Roebuck," and "Tartar"! np I he Hudson River past
tlie batteries of the forts and around tlio clicrdii.r dc frisi\ wliicli
was deemed a most calamitous occurreiuc I'rom the time ol' llio
a])]K'arancc of the Rritish expedition in New York waters the greatest
solicit ndc had been felt for the safety of the Avhole Hudson Valley;
and it scciiicd scarcely to admit of doubt that the early mastery of
tile llndsou as fai' as the llinlilands, to be followe(l by proi^ressive
occupation of that most vital iciiion, \\as a necessary fcatui-e of the
comi)reh('nsive scheme for jKnalyzinii all American resistance which
this ]H)\\(iful expedition was manifestly intended to comjjass. Pop-
ular a]>])relii']isiou on this i)oint was stimulated by the action of
the Ibitish commander in dis])at(hin;i ships up the Hudson almost
imnu'diately after his arrival in New Vork Ray. Durinj; tlie pause
after the bitter American defeat on i.on<i Island, all the conditions
seemed to indicate that whatever (ieneral Howe's ])reference mi.i;ht
be in the selectiini of a quarter from \\lii<h to renew his direct oper-
ations aiiainst Wasliinnlon's army, he Avouhl at least not neglect to
sec>ir<' a substantial foiithold ai the essential ])oints alonj;- the lower
Hudson. Hence the Auiei-ican measures tor obsli-uci iii^' the uaviga-
tion of tile river and for ]»roiectinu the IIii;hhnid jias.si's. It is of
course idle to sjieculate as to the probabh' results, in their relations
tit least to the uliiuiate fortunes of ihe wai-. thai would have at-
tended an elfecti\e la ml occupat loll at t his early ]>eriod of the western
part of onr county, or even of the very small section from \'erplanck's

358

HISTOUV OF WKSTCHESTER COUNTY

I'oiiit til Aiillioiiy's Xnsc. Itui il si-ciiis an in-csislihlc cnnrlusinii
lliiit, witli tlu' latter slialcuic siMiioii in the hands nf ilic I'.iitish.
and Mil' vivcr from Kinji's l^'ci-ry In S|Mi\i(Mi Diiyvil Ci'cck jjatrollrd
l)y a (Ictachniciit from tlicir licet, the entire theater of war wmild
iiave lieen rliani;('<l and a jirinie obj'-ct of the Britisli uovernment —
the ])ossession of the llmlsoii Uivcr throughout its (-(nirse and the
fonstMjueut division of the colouieb — would have bt-eu almost com-
pletely realiz<-(l at t)iice. The escape of Washington to New Jersey
would" tlien have been cut (dT, and h(> would have been obliged to
retreat into New England, wiili the single alternative of waging a
defensive local war tin re or proceeding by a round-about noitiiern

route to the middle colonies, where
also he would have been un<ler the
disability of local confinement, with
his lines of eastern communication
closed by the Hudson. Ueiieral
Howe's calculations were not, how
ever, so fai'-reaching; he was en-
grossed with the immediate busi-
ness (d' annihilating the j)atriot
army. He jtrobably felt that the
diversi(m of so large a force as
would be necessary to hold the
^^'estchester bank of the Hudson
, Avould be an unprotitable division

GENERAL HOWE. of his Strength at the time, and

he did not care to risk the losses
likely to result in passing numerous warships and transports around
the cJicraiij- dc /r/sc under the gnus of I-'ort ^^'ashington and I.i'c.

The final decision of Howe to move on (ieneral Washington from
tlie Sound without ]ireliminarily closing the Hudson against him as
far north as the Highlands was indeed a reversal of what was ex-
pected by the best American opinion. Not that it was seriously sup-
jMised Howe's main attack would proceed from the river side of
AN'estchester County. It was not doubted that when he got I'eady to
act he would choose some ]ioint on the Sound for his out tlaidciug
mo\'euu>nt, since that coast was wludly unprotected by .\merican
forts or im])rovised imjx'dinn-uls to navigation, and from its low
i'ornial ion alTorded perfectly satisfactory condiliiuis foi' landing, w I lich
nowhere existed on the ]ii('ci|>ilous shores ol the Hudson. Hut there
"was an appi-ehen.sion on the AmericaTi side which amounted to con-
viction that before making his next mo\enieut in force he would
secure the innigation <>( the Hudson; and upon that ipiartei- .\meri-

CAMrAiGN AAD nAr'rr.i: of white plains ;.io9

(•.•III iillciilioii \v;is fixed willi in iiiixicly wliirli hrcame iiaiiiCul aficr

I lie easy passage of tlic climillr ilc //-/.vr \t\ I lie tlll^cc liostilc slli|is nil

tlic '.till of October.

Ill a series of iioteworl li\ otiicial lei lers ol' i iiat iieiiod, wiiose orii;-
iiials Jiave been placed at the disposal of the editor of the ]ii'eseiit
Ilistoi^v, the wjiole situation from the American jioint of view is
made slrikinnly clear. After tlie removal of the iui<;ratory State
convention from White I'Jains to {''ishkill, that body appointed "u
coiiimitlee of corresiiondence for the [Mirjiose of obtainiiii; intelli-
jicnce from the army""; and the committee,of which William Uner was
till' active spirit, made arraiiiicmeiit with Lieutenant-Colonel Tench
'ril^liiuan, one of Wasliiiii:ton"s aides, for a daily letter from army
lieaihinarters. The resnltinii letters extend from the 22d of September
to the 21st of October. The originals furnished us, thirty-seven in
number, are from the documentary remains of Colonel Tilj^hman
now owned by his descendant, lion. Oswald Tilghman, of Maryland;
and lor the most part are the communications of Dner, on behalf of
the committee, in rejily to Til,i;liman"s notes of information, allhouj;li
a few letters to Til<;hman from other members of the committee, to-
^■ther with copies of some of Tilnhman's notes to the committee, are
tomprehended in tlie collection. The circtimstance that most of the
letters are from Duer, one of the most intelli.i;:'nt and valuable meiu-
bei's of the State convention, and represent in an unstinted way the
icelinsis and ojiinions entertained in State government quarters about
the posture of affairs on the basis of daily news from Washington's
army, adds naturally to the interest of the whol(> correspondence.'

The documents begin with a letter from Dm-r to Tilghman, daleil
" I'Msh-Kills, Sept. 22d, 177(i,"" in which llie latter is informt'd (d' the
a|iiioinInient of the committee and re(|uesled to ac<-e]tt the function
of head(iuarters correspondent. The following are extracts from the
curresiKtudem^e up to the dale of ihe landing of the Uritish army in
our count_\-:

Duel- to Tiijjhniaii, September 25. — I shall comimiiiicate your Letter to the ("ouvention
— to-uiorrow wlio will (I doubt not) be haj)]>y to find that their Attention to the Obstruetion
of Hudson's Hiver meets with General \Vasliin<;ton's appiubation.

Duer to Til^liniaii, Sejiteniber '2(>. — I exjieet daily to hear of (lie Eiieniy's making- some
fjreat Attempt. It is surely their Business if they hope to malii' a ('ampai<;n any wise hon-
orable to theni. Your present station [<ui Harlem Heii^hts] appears to nu" extrenu'ly advan-
taijeous, and 1 have no doubt but you will fjive a f^ood aeeoiint of them should they be hardy
rniMij;!! toattaek your Lines. I should have little an.xietv were I eonvineed of the Suflieiency
nf our Obstruetions in Hudson's Kiver 1 do not think it improbable that the Knemy may
Tuaridi (lart of their l-'oree to the Eastern Part of Lon;.; Island, and endi'avor to transjiort

'The e*irres|Miinleiiee was printed In detail In Interest, whleli. however, not helnp specially
the New York Tinus of April 7. 14, 21. and 2S. piTtlnent to our );eneral narrative, nuist be
1895. n inrluiles niueh subsidiary nuitter of oncillid here.

3G0 HISTORY OK WESTCHESTIOR COUNTY

them ai'ioss tlie Sound, in older to come on the Hear of iiiii- Works. I ihire say however
tliat Precautious will be made here to prevent any Surprise of tliat Kind.

Duer to LiviniTston, Septendjer 27. — I have lieard it reported that near 1011 Sail of tiie
Enemy's ships are gone out of the llook [Sandy Hook]. Is it true? If so, it is far from
improl>al)le that they will go round Long Island into the Sound, and Endeavor to Land in the
Rear of our Army. From many Circumstances I do not think it iniprobalih' they may
attempt to land at Sutton's Neck,' al)ont 10 niih's from Kingsbridge. I Hatter myself we
shall be on o\ir (iuard to prevent any Manoeuvre of this kind.

I expect every Moment to hear of some Attempt at Mount [Fort] VVasliingtou, wh' is
in my opinion the most Important Post in all America as it commands the Communication
betwi.vt the United States. Is it practicalih' for the Enemy to get Possession of the high
Grounds on tlie West Side of the River? If they should succeed in an Attempt of that kind
— the (iarrison in that Post [Fort LccJ would be made very Uneasy. I trust liowever tliat
our Army would never desert .so important a Station witliont making it tlie dearest bought
(iround wh' the Enemy have hitherto got.

Duer to Tilghman, September 28. — Voii observe that if the Passage of the North Kiver
is sufficiently obstructed that our Lines will keep the Enemy from making any Progress in
Front. This is certainly true; but you must recollect that the Sound is, and must ever be,
open; and if they should succeed in Lauding a Body of Men in Westchester Ciumty, they
might by drawing lines to the North River as elfcctnally hem us in, as if we were in New
York, from Sutton's Neck to the North River (if I am not mistaken) is not aliovc Twelve
Miles. ...

I expect that the Vessells wh the Convention of this State have ordered to Mount
[Fort] Washington will be arrived before this letter; no Time I dare say will be lost in
sinking them in the proper Cliaimell, since the Sticcess of our Army depends .so much on this
Measure.

Duer to Tilghman, September 30. — 1 am I'xtremely hajifiy to liear that you are in so
good a Situation fiu' opposing the Enemy should they make an Attempt to force your Lines,
and I should be still more so were the Vessells, we have lately .sent down, properly Sunk.
The Precaution you have taken by breaking up the Roads from the Sound are certainly are
very proper; and will of course tend to impede the Motions of the Enemy should they land
in that (Quarter, wh for my own Part 1 think may be the Case. . .

The late Strong Southerly Wind atforded in my Opinion a Strong Temptation to the
Enemy to try the Strength of our Clie\au de Frise. Probalily they esteem them more
effectual than we do. May this Sentiment prevail till we have completed these Obstructions.

Duer to Tilghman, October 1. — I am happy to tind by your Letter of the 3()th ulto.
that you are upon a Guard against the Enemys Operations of coming upon your Rear; you
may (I think) depend that this will be their Mode of Attack. From the Nature however of
the Grounds I think you will be able to make a Formidable Opposition. They ought not,
must not, shall not get in your Rear. Should they succeed no Event so fatal could ever
bid'all the American Cause.

I am sorry the Ships have been so long detained; but I hope they will be with you
before this arrives. Don't let their Youth or their Reality plead for them, if there is the
least Probability of their rendering the Obstructions in that part of Hudson's River more
effectual. I am convinced upon the Maturest Reflection that a Million of Money would be a
triding Compensation for the Loss of the Navigation of Hudson's River.

Duer to Tilghman, October 2. — I can scarcely describe to you my feelings at this
interesting Period. What, with the Situatiiui of our Enemies in your Quarter, and the
cursed Machinations of our Intcriial3Foes,'_tlic Fatc'of this State bangs on a Single Batth- of

I Tlic nock fit land just below .MaiiKiroiicc-k ;v lilnw :il llir .\iniTl<-.ins or seeking' iiii.v iitlicr

ll.irli.ir. MaiiKironock provcil to In' (lie nlll- nliieoi ih.iii .'i s.-il isfiii'tni-y linsic posilicni. tii

luMlc iioiut on the Sound occ-iipieil by lliv LSrlt- New HoclicMe. wlinicc tlic.v sent a ilctach-

ish ill their Wcstcliester Coiinl.v cniuiiaign— ment to tlie pI.Tce iiiilicated liy luier as tlieir

lliat is. iifler Inndin^' far lielow, .-it 'I'liroK^'s most ;iv:iil.ibl -iKiiKil lanilin^ point for elTect-

Ncck, Ilie.v siowly ndvnnecil. willioiil striking ivc pnrposos ol' si rMlcgy.

CAMPAIGN AXn KATTIJ-: OF WlUTi; PLAINS 361

any liiiiiiii'tamc. 1 am liajiiiy to find you aic sfoiiiinf^; ^'oiir I'laiiUs ami 1 Impc diir best
riiiops will l(e r('a<ly to <;ivi' the Eni-niy a Keicirtioii on their l/andin^^

I hojie to hear in your next that tlie North River is completely olistrneteil.
Tili^hnian to Duer, Oetoher 3. — C'apt. Cook is now up the River eutting I'iMiher for
(lievaux (le Krise, as he is mneh wanted here to sink the old Vessels — the General hejjs that
he may he sent down immediately, we are at a Stand for want of him, for as he has Super-
intended the Matter from the lie<;inning he best knows the pro])erest plaees to be obstrneted.
If the new ships should be found neeessary to our Salvation you need not fear their being
Sacritieed, but (Uir public Money goes fast emnigh without using it wantonly.

Duer to Tilghmau, October 3. — I am glad you have so nearly completed your Defences
in the Front, and hope yon will be expeditious in fortifying your Flanks to the Eastward of
Harlem Hiver. I think that the Enemy must be meditating some (ieneral Attack — but as
Providence has been generally kind to us I hojie they will postpone it till Ei'e, and MifHin
return to Camp.

Robert Benson to Tilghmau, October 5. — Agreeable to your request, our I'ri'sideut [of
the State ccuivention] dispatched a letter to ("apt. Cooke at Poughkeepsie re(piesting him to
repair immediately to Mount [Fort] Washington. He is now at Fisbkill Lamling on liis
Way down X' is to set out in the Morning with a ipiantity of t)ak Plank tVc.

Duer to Tilghmau, October 8. — I cannot account for the Enemys Procrastination unless
it proceeds from some of their Ships being .sent into the Sound round Long Island for the
I'uriiose of making an Attemjit to Land in West Chester County.

I'liev never certainly will make any Attempt but on our Flanks ?

Tilghmau to the committee, October i). — About 8 O'clock this Morning the Kocbuck &
I'lioenix of 44 (iuus each and a Frigate of about 20 fJuns got under way from about Bloom-
ingdale, where they have been laying some time, and stood on with an easy Southerly Breeze
towards our Chevauz de Frise, which we hoped would have given them some Interruption
while our Batteries jilayed upon them. But to our Surprise and Mortification they all ran
through without the least difHc\dty, and without receiving any apparent damage from our
Forts, wliich kept playing (ui them from Ijoth sides of the River. How far they intend up I
dont know, but His Excellency thought to give yon the earliest Information, that you may
put (ieul. Clinton upon his Guard at the Highlau<ls, for they nuiy have troops <rcuu'ealed on
Board with intent to surprise those Forts. If you have any Stores on the Water Side yon
had better have them removed or secured in time. Boards esi)ecially for which we shall be
put to great Streights if the Ci>mmmiicatiiui above should be cut otf. The Enemy have
made no Move on the land Side.

P. S. — Be Pleased to forward this Intelligence up the River and to Albany. The two
new .Ships are put in near Colo. Phillips's. A party of Artillery with \i twelve pounders and
KM) Kitle Men are sent up to endeavor to secure them.

Duer to Tilghman, October 10. — There is no Event wli could have happened that could
have given me more Uneasiness than the Passage of the Enemys Ships u]) the Rivei'. I can-
not persuade myself that there indy design is to cut off the Communication of .Supplies by
U ater to our Army at Kingsbridge: thougli that is an Event which will be highly jireju-
dicial to our Army. They certainly mean to send up a Force (if their Ships have not Soldiers
alrea<Iy on board) so as to take Possessicm of the Passes by Land in the Hylamls. In this
they will be muloubtedly joined by the Villains in Westchester and Dutchess County. It is
therefore of the utmost Conse<pu'nce that a Force should be innnediately detached from the
Main Body of our Army to occupy these Posts. It is impossible for the Convention to draw
out a force wliieh can be depended on from the Counties last mentioned.

By the Influence and Artifices of the Capital Tories of this State the Majority of
Iidiabitants in those Counties are ripe for a Rev(dt; uiany Companies of Men have actually
been enlisted in the Enemys .service, several of whom are now concealed in the Mountains.
From the Frontier Counties little Strength can with Safety be drawn, and that not in Time
to prevent such an attempt of the Enemy. These Matters I have in a few Words suggested
to the Convention (for my Pmsiuess on the Committee I am in is so urgent that I have onlj-
licen a few Minutes in Convention this Day). If they have not wrote to Geul. Washington,
let me eariu-stlv entreat that a Force mav la- innnediatelv sent to the Highlands on this Side.

362 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTKR COUNTY

l)y this Mfiins 3UI1 will not only keep np tlii' Coninmnieation with the Aini\ , Iml 1 vurily
believe prevent a Revolt in Westehester and Dntcliiss Counties.

How are jon of for Flonr, and Salt Provisions ? Will it not lie wise to lay in Ma>^a-
zines in Time in this Qnarter [Fislikill] lest through the Fortune of War our Army should
be obliijed to retreat to the Highlands ?

Tilgbman to tlie committee, October 11. — We have no Intelligence of any Troops,
either Horse or Foot, going round long Island into the Sound.

Duer to Tilghman, October 12. — Notwithstanding the Knemj- had, agreeable to 3'onr
last Advices, sent no Vessells up the Sound, depend upon it they will endeavor to make an
Attack upon your Flanks by uu'ans of Hudson's and the Fast River. Seveial K.xaininations
wh we have taken mention this as their int<'nded Operation: and indeed it is the only luie wh
can give them any Probability of Success. If we nuiy give Credit to Intelligence procur'd
through the Channell of the Tories, Thursday next is fix'd upon for them to make their
Attack, and for their Partisans m this State to Cooperate with them.

You will now have an Anxious Task to watch both the Rivers, and 1 am afraid all your
Vigilance will not be altogether eft'ectual.

Tliire facts stand out very disiiiictly i'voin this (•uiTespiindcnct' —
first, that the protection of the Hudson IJiver w'as the thiuy of fore-
most concern to the Americans, even a tentative intrusion of the
enemy above Fort AVasliin^ton causing tiie direst foicl»odiiij;s of ini-
]>endini; jji-eparations for seizing the Westchester river bank as a
]>rinciiial factor of tlie new British cami)aijin about to be iuau^'U-
rated; second, that tiie superior availability of the Sound sliore of
Westcliester County as a departing point for the main body of Howe's
army was well a])i>reciated, altliouiiii there were but vaijut^ notions
as In Howe's probable intentions in that direction; and lliii-d, that
Howe's slowness in dcNelopinii liis plans was supposed lo indicate
that they were much more elaborati than they eventually proved
to be, and that they contemplated idtimate connecting operations
between river and Sound.

As late as the 11th id' October (the very day before ITowi 's com-
plete disclosure of his piojecti ("olontd Tilghiiiiin, wi-itiiig to the
(•(iinmittee of the State con\enti(iii from the .\meiican camp, wiih
full knowledge of such information as Wasliington himself i)os-
sessed, made this peculiarly mabiproiios statement: "We liave no in-
telligence of any troops, either horse or foot, going nntml Lmni IsIhihI
iiilo Ihc SiiiiikL" Thus up to the bist moment AVasJiington was not
only (juite (insusi)icious of the impending blow, but apjiarently re-
garded Ihc ]iossibility of a mo\emeid against him from the Sound
as a still remote eventuality, to be considered for the time only in
ndation to the rumored (le](arture of an exjiedition nnmiul Long
Island (that is, around the eastern extremity (d' the island niid thcn<e
through the Sound). W(dl mny it be believed, as several histoi'ical
writers aver, that the intelligence brought to WashiTigton on the
murning of October VI that the whole British army was sailing u])
the East IJiver and disembarking on Throgg's Neck, completely sur-

3(M HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

jiiiscd hiiu. W'c arc told liy J>a\\S(tii thai hv " appi'm-s In liavc tiivcu
\yi\y to (l('xi)air iji view of his powcrlessness, and to have hcconif di'-
s|)(iiidcMt,"' and dial llic record of Ins otticial acts for tlic day is
rciuarl<alilc cliictly I'or siu^nlar \;\(k of the active proceediiii;s nat-
urally to hare been expected froin tiic coniniauder-iii-chicf in such
an cinerti'euey.

It is true that, conli'asled with the conditions which would have
obtained if Ilowe had been in i)ossession of the Hudson sinuilta-
neously with opening his cani])aij;ii from the Sound, the situation
created by his sudilen descent on Throii^i^'s Xeclc was not without an
element of hope. At least, one Hank of the American army re-
mained (|uite iiiiim]ieriled, which alt'orded scope for thwai'tinj;' the
desi,i;ns of the enemy upon the other by tlu' resources of defensive
li'enei'alship. l!ut aside from tiiat single comfortini:;' aspect, tiie out-
look was alarming in an extreme dei;ree. Washiniiton, intreni lied
on (he Ileijihts of Harlem — that is, in the northwestern jiortion of
.Manliattan Island, — with New York Vity below him in the hands
of the British, and Howe niakiuiH ready to fall upon him on his tiank,
had but three possible courses of action — first, to remain in that posi-
tion and underiio a siej^c, which could have resulted in nothing; but
early capitulation, as he would have had no sources from which to
ilraw sujjplies; second, to reti'eat at once across the Hudson Kivei'
into New Jersey under I he jirotection of Fort Washiuiiton and I'ort
Lee, a iirogranime not to be t!ioii,L;ht of even if il could lia\i' been
carried otit successfully, since it would have involved aliandoniuy
the whole country northward, inidndinii the Iliiihiands and conse-
(piently the river to its source; or third, to seek a new defensive
]iosition at the north, where he could tioht the enemy under t(der-
ably advantageous geograiilii( a) conditions, backi'd by the West-
chester hills and finally by the Highlands, with the King's Ferry
route to New Jeisey and l'hila(leii)iiia ojien. Of these three ])ossible
courses, one was eipiivalent to ruin and another to disgrace, while
the third and only feasible one was hedged about by a variety of
strangely doubtful and dil'licult circumstances. In tlie first place,
^\■asllington was under ( \cry disadvantage of uniireiiaredness for
such a movement. He was even nni>rei)ared in judgment, so unex-
])ectedly did the necessity of considering the matter present its(df.
Tt was by no means i»lain to him at first just what ullimale (dtject
Howe's appearance on Tiirogg's Neck imiiorted, or whether il rejire-
sented all or even the essential part of the T'.iilish scheme. .\ too
](reci])il ate retirement to the north on ^^'asllington's jiart would have
had the asi>ect and all the ill moral elTect of a cowardly retreat;
whereas just on this occasion il was nn)st im)>ortant for him to gain

CAMPAIGN AND BATTLIO OF WHITK I'LAINS 365

s.iiiic in-rs(iiic. I'iiKill.v, wlicii tlicrc wiis no niislnkin^- llic fuel tliat
Howe's sole aim was lo oiitMaiik liiiii, he riiiiiid liiniscIC lcii-il)l\- ciu-
liari-asscd in niaiiliiiii; lo a new position by (iciicicnl larililics in
llic way of foams ami wagons I'oi- (lie I i-ans|)oi-(alion of his
liiins and ha.iiiia.-io. Indcod, it was nol nnlil liio iMMJi of (».i(dioi- —
oiiiht days aftt-r the laiidiiiu of tlu- Hiilisli on WCslclicsIci- soil — lliaf,
iia\inu at last evacuated his intrenchinenls on llai-lem lleiuhls,
W'ashiniilon hai! so Car moved up his rear as to make his liead(piai-
lei-s at Kin.ushridiie. .Mcveover, he had to jd-ovide for tiie hiiihlv
probable enieriicncy of battle aloni; the route, or a* least of sei-ious
interferences with the ])ro<iTess and inte.nrity of his c(dumn. To this
end it was necessary to protect himself by a series of intrenched
camps at intervals all alon^- tiie line id' march, liis destination beiny
White Plains, ]irea|)pointed by certain circumstances which will be
set fortli later. .AleaTitinie the royal army, as the aii-j^ressor, had but
to inarch with reasonable ex])edition to White Plains — the natural
destination f(u- Howe as for Wasliiii<;ton, because, in Howe's case, of
its central location, and the excellent roads leading thither from the
Sound, and the circumstance that all the otlu-r roads of the county
couverued there, — and Wasliin<iton would be coni])lete]y liemmed in.
In the linht of all that f(dlowed, tlu' one vital (piestion at the outset
id' this campaiiiu was, A\'ho should tiisl airixc at and i)ossess Winle
riains'.' and the advantage was decidedly witli Ifowe, because lie
was not liaiii|>ired by any of the physical ditliculfies that beset Wash
iiiuloii. Such were the elements of the starlliiiL;' Westchester silna
t ion w hose details we shall now trace with as much bre\'it \' as is con-
sistent with (dearness.

About daybreak on the nuirning of Saturday, October 12. 177(>, — a
very foiigy nu)rnin<i, — many boatloads of l>ritish Iroojis, led by <!en-
eral Howe in ])ei'son, embarked at Ki]>*s Pay, ^fanhatlan Island, ])ro-
ceeded throuiih llelljuale and up the Sound, iind landed, umler the
Willis of I he frinate " ( 'arysfort," on Throu^Li's I'oiul, wliei'e I'ort S( buy
lei- now stands. A second large detachiiieni, conxcNcil by " fort \ two
sail," was deposited al liie sanu' ]ilace in (he al'lernoon; and for se\-
eral days afterwaid I here was a coittinucuis ti-ansporlalion thither of
soldiers and all inaiiiier of army ajjiiointnients. Neither the roiiii
nor any part <d' ilu Neck was occn]>iiMl by Ane'rican troops, but ai
Westchester caiisewa.N and also at the head of the creek", the only lo-
i-alilies affording jiassage to the niaiidand, the picked lillemen posted
about a weid'C previously, through the liaii]i,\' foresight i\\' (leiieral
lleatli, still stood guard. As soon as the jiresence of the invader on
llie Neck became known to them, the men at the bridge ri|i]ied n|i
iis plani<iiig; and when the tirsi rei-oiiiioitering part\' id' redcoats

366 HISTOKl OF WESTCHESTEU COUNTY

;i])ln-<iiiclHMl they liiivc tliciii tlic (•(mtciits of their iimskcls. The ciiciuy
beat a hasty aud disorderly retreat; and, althouiili the defenders of
the bridge were oidy twenty-five against many thonsauds, juid the
])ossession of tliat pass was of sni)reine importance to (ieneral Ifowe,
no serious attempt was made to secnre it. lie ho\ve\('r ordered a
breastwork erected, facing I lie siniclure. For tlie rest, he scni out
detacliments to ex])lore the unknown and mysterious land upon which
ill' iiad debarked, who, retui'uing, gave him the disheartening infor-
mal iou that it was an island, with only one possible crossing-point
to the main, a fording-place, where also a party of rebels with ritles of
]>articularly deadly (juality (lisi)uted the way. In such circumstances
Howe was powerless, at least pending the conveyance of intelligence
to the American cani]t, which, of coiirse, resulted in the dis]iatching
of re-enforcements. (Jeneral Ileath "immediately ordered Colonel
Prescott, the hero of Bunki-r Ilill, with his regiment, and Cajitain-
Lieutenant Bryant, of the artillery, with a three-pounder, to re-
enforce the riflemen at Westchester causeway, and Colonel (iraham,
of the New York line, with his regiment, and Lieutenant .Inckson, ni
the artillery, with a si.K-pounder, to re-enforce at the head of the
creek; all of which was promjitly done." These forces, insigniticant
though they were in comparison with what Howe could have hiiileil
against them, proved sufficient. He did not care to take the hazard
of forcing either pass; and from the 12th to the 18th i,( ()ct(dier he
remained ridiculously i)enned up on Throgg's Neck by a conlcmiilihle
few of the starveling continentals who up to that nudancholy hour
had fled terror-stricken before his ferocious grenadiers. Indeed, his
whole lu-ogramme of entering West(diester County by way of Tlirogg's
Neck had to be abandoned finally; and he was obliged, after six days'
delay, to ])ut his army on boats and ship it across Eastchester T?ay to
I'elham (or Kodman"s) I'oint, a locality not cut off from the main by
creeks aud nmrshes and strategic passes.

The responsibility for the selection of Throgg's Neck as the I'.rit-
ish landing jdace has been (diarged to the commander id' the
licet. Admiral Lord Howe, General Howe's brother; and in ex-
](laiiation of the choice of that locality it has beiMi urged that a
ilii-ect landing on Pcdl's Neck would have been an imprudent meas-
ure because of the shallowness of the water at the latter place,
])reventing the co-o]ieration o\' any vessel of sufficient battery
to cover the landing. F.ut whatever share of the responsibility
may be shifted to Admiral Howe, General Howe at least offered
no objection to Throgg's Ne(dc, and indeed he subsequently justi-
fied its selection. " I'onr or five days," h<' said in a speeidi before
an investigating committee of the House of Commons in 1779, " had

CAMPAKJN AM> lIATTLi: (IK WlIITi: l'I>AINS 367

70 HEATIi's MEMOIRS. [Oct. 1776.

1 1 th. — There was a coniiderable movement among
the Britifti boats below. This afternoon, Gen.
Wafhington's pleafure-boat, coming down the river
■with a trelh breeze, and a topfail hoifled, was lui>-
pofed, by the artilierills at Mount Wafhington, to be
one of the Britifh tenders running down. A 12
pounder was difcharged at her, which was fo exaclly
pointed, as unfortunately to kill three Americans,
who were much laniented. The fame day, feveral of
Gen. Lincoln's regiments arrived, two of which were
■pofted on the North River.

lath. — Early in the morning, 80 or 90 Britifh
boats, full of men, ftood up the found, from Montre-
fors llland, Long-lfland, &c. 'Ihe troops landed
at Frog's Neck, and their advance pulhed towards
the caufeway and bridge, at Walt Chefler mill.
Col. Hand's riflemen took up the planks of the
bridge, as had been direded, and commenced a fir-
ing with their rifles. The Britifh moved towards
the head of the creek, but found h«re aifo the Amer-
icans in pofiefTion of the pafs. Our General imme-
diately (as he had afTuxed Col. Hand he would do)
ordered Col. Prefcott, the hero of Bunker Hill, with
his regiment, and Capt. Lieut. Bryant of the artil-
lery, with a 3 pounder, to reinforce the riflemen at
Weil-Chefler caufeway ; and Col. Graham of the
New-Ycrk.tine, with his regiment, and Lieut. Jack-
ion of the artillery, with a 6 poundor, to reinforce
at the head of the creek ; all of which was promptly
done, to the check and difappointment of the en-
cmy. The Britifh encamped on the neck. The
riflemen and Yagers kept up a fcattcring popping
at each other acrofs the marih ; and the i^'mcricans
on their fiJe, and the Britifh 6n ihe other, threw up
a work at the end of the caufeway. Capt. Bryant,
now and then, when there was an object, falutcd the
Britifh with a ficid-piece.

PAGK KKOM IIKATU'S MK.MOIKS.

368

HISTORY OF \Vi:STClli:STi;U COUNTY

hccii iiiiavoidiilily talicii ii|i in laiidinii at I'roii's Neck, inslcail of
going at once to Pell's roini, wliicli would have been an iniiniidciit
measure, as it oonld iiol ha\c been executed without much iiuiieces-
sary risk." It is ditlicult to conceive what great risk woidd have
been involved in the latter ]iroceeding, since there was no American
I'.osf at the point of Pelham Xec k on the 12th of October, or, for that
matter, on tlie ISth of October either — the final landing of the
British there on the latter date being accomplished Avithont the
sJiglitest interference on the part of the Americans, and indeed with-
out being known to them until the advance ])artY of the invaders
suddenly showed themscdxcs to the American ])ic]cets a fall mile and
a half above the point. But even granting the force of the sju'cial
objection to Pelham Neck as an original landing place, one marvels
why 'riirogg's Xtck should ha\'e been regarded as the only altei'ua-
tive sjjot. Surely there was adeipiate depth td water at ]ioiuts
farther up the Sound (.Man!aron(<k llai-bor, for instancei; and (U-n-
eral Howe's sole object being to oulllank A>'ashington, it would have
been rather an advantage than a disadvanljige for him lo disem
bark at a comparativcdy northernly locality. In whatever aspicl liie
'I'hrogg's Neck landing is viewed, it is hard for the dispassionate mind
to regard it otherwise than as a prodigious strategic blunder.'

During the six days of Howe's supine occui)ation of Throgg's Neidc,
Washington's headiiuartei's were continued at Harlem Heights,
where also, in conjunction willi the Kingsbridge dependency, the

' A glance at the map shows that Throgg's
Nc'fk, in a purel.v gcographiral sense (not tak-
ing Into ai'oonnt either its practical insular
diaracter or the fact, which mtist have ttccn
known to Howe, tliat the adjacent conntry was
well guarded by tlie Americans and its roads
!iad largely l>een rendered Iniitassabli'l, was
about the most unfavorable i)Iaee that e^iuld
have been hit upon for initiating a movement
to set the royal army down in Washington's
rear. U is, indeed, on a due-east line, some-
what south of the Heights of Harlem and
Ivingsbridge; so that upon Howe's arrival at
Throgg's Neck Washington was actually in ad-
vance of him along the one open line of n)ove-
meiil. The roinplaeency of Washington In re-
maining In his Harlem Heights and Klngs-
bridg<' position until after Howe had pushed
h.irthward to roll's Neck, although six days
liad elapsed meanwhile, is of itsiOf plain dem-
onstration that Howe blundered cgregiously In
his choice of ground so far as his intention of
oultlanklng the patriot general was concerned.
The civilian Duer, of the State convention, in
his correspondence with Washington's head-
quarters, shows a perfect grasp of the elements
of the situation. In a letter to Tilghman, Oc-

tolMT 14. he writes:

•■ Thi y IMh' enemy] could not. I think, have

blundered e effectually than by Landing on

the Neck of I,:iiid they are now on. I should
think a small Number of Men with I''leld
I'ieces would sntfice to prevent their penetrat-
ing further into the Country from that (}\iar-

ti'r. Yon say that you think moi f tbi' Kne-

my's Troops are nnjvcd up the Sound. I think
they will endeavor to Land the Main Rody
of Ibi'lr Army near Itye and endeavor to sur-
round our Troops from the Sound to the North
Itiver." .Vnd the next day, writing to I{oI)ert
Harrison. Washington's secreiai-y. be says;

"I . . . am hapiiy to fiml ,\'ni hax'e got the
i*;nemy in so desirable a Silu.-itlon.

" There appears to nie an aclu;il l-'.-ilalil.T al
lending all their Measures. One would liave
mil ni'ally iuiagined from the Tralho's they have
;iMioug ttiem. who are capable of giving llieni
I In- iii'isl MiiiMli- l>escriptlon of Ihe Oi-ounds in
llie Coiuily of Westchester. Ilinl they woulii
have landed mm.-h farther lo iln' lOaslward
rnorlhwardl. Had they pnzzi'd Ihelr Imaglna
tions to iliscovcr tlie worse IM.-n-e I hey <*ould
in)t hav<' succeeded better 1li;iii Ihey li.'ive
done."

CAMI'AICX AND BATTLK Ol' WlllTi; PLAINS 3(39

niiiiii body of (lie Aiuciicaii iiiiuy rciii;iiiic(l. Tlic ;ii>]>;ii-cnl cniiriisioii
ni iiiiiul wliirli lif cxiKTiciR-c'd uimui bcinji iiii|n-is<tl uT Howe's lautl-
iiiii \\;is not of loiii; diiralion; and indeed Ids eneri;cl ic <|nalilies as a
coniinandei- were ))rohal)ly ueNcr displa.scd willi ^realei- of more
judicions altenlinn lo detail than tlii-(>ni;iionl liie pei-iod of llie Hi-it-
isli i^cneral's inacli\ity on the Sound. On liie evening of the llMh
he i-o(h' o\cr lo Westchester vilhi^e and personally inspected liie sit-
nalion, IxToiiiinii satislied tlial it threatened no ininie<liale daii.uir
and liial liis plain duty, pending a further disclosure of the enemy's
intentions, A\as to streni^then his defensive position in every way.
At a loss to understaml why Tliroji<>"s Neolv should liave been se-
lected if the r.ritisli purp(tse was to (piickly ])us]i into his rear and
enlia]! him, he inclined to the ()])iiiion tliat Howe's final object was
to ino\<' on his works at Kiniisbrid^e, and tliat to tliat end he would
])reseiilly be su])ported by a second expedition, to be landed lower
down, |(r(d)ably at ^forrisania. On the other hand, he was l)y no
means unmindful <d' Hie contingency that the <;Tander project niijiht
be meditated; but he was convinced tliat so lonii iis Howe stayed on
Throiiji's Xe( li he could afford to wait for actualities. His contidence
in his ability to re])el a mere movement against Kinjisbridjie is well
rellected in the followinii' extract from a letter written from head-
(|uaiiers on the l.'^th of October by Lieutenant-roloncd 'ril^hmaii to
llie committee of correspondence of the State convention:

Tlic Oroiiiids li-adiiif; from Fniijs I'oiiit towards our Post at Kiiigsbridge are as dcfrnsililr
as tlii'V I'aii be wislud, tlie Hoads are all lined witli Stone fences and the adjacent fields
divide<l ott' with Stone likewise, which will make it ini])ossil)le for them to advance their
.\rtillerv and Aninninition Wagn-ons by any otiier Iloute than the <;reat Roads, and I think
if they are well lined with Troops, we may make a eonsiilerable slannhter if not discomfit
tliem totally. Onr UiHe Men have directions to attend particularly to taking- down their
llor.ses, which if done, will impede their March ett'eetnally. Onr Troops are in good Spirits
.and sei'm inclined and determined to dis])nte every Inch of Ground. Our Front ix now so
trcll scciiretl that ice can spare a consltlcrahle A^umher of our tiest Troops from hcjicc if thetf arc
wante'l.

If we are forced from this ])ost we must make the best Retreat we can, but I think this
(iround should not be given n|) but upon the last K.xtremity.'

The cheerful remark in tliis letter that the commander-in clnef had
mailers so well in hand as to be able to s])aie a considerable ninnber
id' his best troops for i)urposes other than his own defense aiiainst
IIoAve received ]n'actical ap])licatioii im the same day by the send-

* This lettci* of 'I'ili^liuinu's was replied to on ■ I a|»ipro\e nnn-h of selling; al a d<';ir I*rje)>

the Mill, hy Williaui Oner, rrom the eilatlon.'t ever.v font of Oroiinil; hut If the Kueru.v slmulil.

made in previniis pai^es from the I uier Tilffh- by tlieir Manoeuvrrs. eontl-ive to encircle our

mail eorrespondeuce. the reader will doubtless .\riny, and as I before Observed Occupy these

have been impressed with the perspicacity of Mounts [the niglilaiidsl. while llieir Vessells

liner's views of the luilllary siluation: and the obstruct Ihe Navinjillon of Hudson's Ulver and

f'lllowliis eommenl made by him In his letter tlii> Sound, there will have no Oeeasiou to haz-

of llic> Nth, upon one of TilKhnian's optimistic ;vrd a lialtle. Wants of Supjily would, I fear,

ixpiesslous. is a further Instance of his discrc- make us fall au inglorious Racrince."
lion:

370

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

iui; nir (if Colonel Tasli's i-i'j;iuiciil of New llaiiipshii-c iiiilitia to I'ish-
kill " for the assistance of the eoinniittee of safely in holdinj; the dis-
affecte(l ill check." Ry n'curi'iiiii to the consecutive extracts from
the Duer-Tiljihnian correspondence printed on jip . :i~>[):W2, it will
be seen that Duer, on the 12th of October, communicated to Wash-
ington's head(iuartei-s information (or supposed information! which
the t^tate convention, by " several examinations " of Tories had ob-
tained, of a concerted pUxn for a grand British movement upon both
lianks of the American army "by means of Hudson's and the East
lliver," in which enterprise "their partisans in this State'' wi-re to
co-operate — ''Thursday next" (the ITth of October) beinj; hxed foi-
the united unih-rtakiny. In almost every h'tter written by Dner to
Tiljilunan during the eventful mouth from the 22d of September to
the 21st of October, mention is made with much particularity and
in the bitterest terms of the very numerous Tory conspiracies then
rife.' Mi>reover, Washington was constantly ai)i)i'eliending conspir-
ators and suspects, and no one had a keener appreciation than he
of tlie need of strict measures against the se(lith)us Tories. The de-
tachment of a whole regiment from his ami}' for the h)cal purposes
of the committee of safety in such critical circumstances as prevailed
on the loth of October is a peculiarly interesting incident. Wash-
ington seems also to have been considerably imj)ressed by Oner's in-
telligence of a general British plan for the 17th of October. The pre
diction was evidently treasured up at liead(|uarters, for Tilghman,
writing to Duer on tlu^ 15th, remaiks: "The information you fur-
nish concerning the intended operations on Thuisday next deser\e
our highest thanks; it may be false, if it is, there is no harm done, but
we shall be better prejtared for them if true. It will elTectually pre-
vent surju-ise, the most fatal thing that can befall an Army." And
on tlie ITtli he takes occasion to remind !iis coi-respondent that "the
17th October is c(»me and nearly passed without the ])r(Mlicted

A Discovery of .Tusticc b.iiiK two or tlirco of tlio Villains
you li.ivp appichoiuii'd. They will cortalnly
come under the Denomination of Spies." Octo-
l)er 8, lie says: " I am sorry to tell you (for
tiiG Credit of tills State) tiiat tlie Committee
I l)eIonff to malic daily fresh Discoveries of the
infernal Practices of our Kneniics to e.xcite In-
surrectious aiiionffsr the Inhabitants of this
State. To-morrow (tnc Company actually en-
listed in the Enemy's Service will be niarcii'd
to l^iiiiadelphia. there to be confined in jail
till the Establishment of our Courts enables us
to hang the Rinff-leaders." And on October 10
(see p. 361) he goes so far as to declare that
unless vigorous nie;isures are instantly taiien
a revolt will surely supervene In Westchester
and Dutchess Counties.

' September 'JS. he writes that
was made sometime ago of a Hattalion of
Uangi'rs, which was raising in Westchester
('iiuiily to be commanded Iiy Major Rogers,
wiio Is for (hat Purpose connnissioned b.y Lord
Howe"; also of the discovery of a company
enlisting in Dutchess Couiit.v, whose mnster-
ridl containeti fifty-seven names. " Twenty-five
of wlioni we lia\e already aiiprehenili'd." Oc-
tober ]. he reports that thirty-two of the latter
organization have been taken into custody,
and. alluding to other conspirators, says: " I
hope Matters may be so managed that two or
three of I lie principal Misoreants who have
bi'en taken may be hanged as Spies." October
3, n'ferring to the Tory conspirators captured
by WMshington, be exclaims: "In the Name

CAMPAICX AND BATTLK OF WIHI'i; PLAINS 371

lilow." Eviili'iilly iMicr's propliccy lor Ihc ITtli was one of (lie
various coujitininii tliiuiis wliicli iutiucmcd Washington (o snsjiccL
lliat Ilowr-'s niovcnicnt to Tlii-ojii;"s Xcck was hnt a ]iavt of tlic
enemy's ]ilan, and accovdiniily to allow a lull wee k lo jta'^s 1)\ with
out inau^ui-alin^- any new jilan of Ids own.

On the morning of the loth Washington issned a stirring address
to the army, probably as chai-acteristic a s])eciinen of his writiiijis
of this natnre as his cai'eer affords: "As the enemy seem miw to
be endi'a\'orinii' to strike some stroke before the close of the cam-
paii^in," said he, "the (ieneral most eariu'stly conjui-es botli ollicei-s
and men, if they have any love for their country an<l concei-n for
its liberties and regard to the safety of their parents, wives, childi-en,
and counti-ymen, that they \\ill act with bravery and spirit beconnn^
ilie cause in which they ai-e eni;a,i;cd; and to encourage and animate
I heni so to do, there is every adxantai^c of iiround and situation, so
that if we do not con(pi'r it must be our omii faults. ITow much bet-
ter will it be to die liouorabl,\', tiL;htiuii in the field, than to return
liouu' covered with shame and disgrace, even if the crnelty of the
iiiemy shiaild allow you to i-etnrnl A brave and i^allant behavior
for a few days, and patience under some little hardshijis, may save
our country and enable us to ^o into wintei' ([uarters with safety and
honor. ■■

(ieiieial W'ashiuuion lost no time in streniithenin^' Heath's com-
mand, which made the foice above KiuLisbriiliic the nmjor ])art of
the Anu'rican army; and troo])S were posted at all important jniints
so as to check any possible advam-e of the enemy. On the 14th ilajor-
(!enei-al Charles L<'e arrived from the t^onth, and was assi^iu'd by
Washinjiton to the chief command in ^Vestchester County — an assi^n-
UH-nt not to take effi'ct, however, "until h<' could make himself ae-
<|uainted with the ]»ost, its circumstances, ami arraniicnu-nts of duly,"
Cem-ral Heath in the inti'rim retaining the anlhoi-ity which he had
administered so conscieni iousl\ ,iud ably. At thai jieriod I.ee was
still lieneially estimate<l at his own enormous valuation of himself;
and it is amnsiiiin- to note in the ])nblic and pi-i\a1e correspondence
of the lime the satisfact imi with w hich the cominu of this littlest of
little souls, nntst vile of nntri)lots, and nmst heiinnis ami des])icable
of willin.ii' thouiih im]»otent traitois was hailed on account of his
supposed majestic jicnius and scientific (pmlilications for the

l*ri<li', primp, and eiiriiiii.staiice of glorioii.s war.

"I bet; my Affectionate Comidinu'iits to (ienl. Lee," wrote the im-
pressionable but, as we have seen, eniiueutly sensible Dner, in one
of his letters lOctober 15), "whom I sincerely con^i'atulate on his
arrival in Camji — jcirtly on account of himself, as he will have it in

372 HISTOUV OK WESTCHKSTEll COUNTY

Ills jtower to reap a fresh llarvest ui Laurels, and iiiurt' ou accuimt
()(■ I Ills Country wh looks up to him as one of the brave Apostles of
licr dearest Kights." Ix^e's machinations to supplant Wasinni;t()n
in I lie supreme command were in course of develojiment at this juaiotl,
and the gloomy outlook for the American cause, Avith the appalling
record of recent disaster, gave buoyancy to his selfish expectations.
His ])articipation in the campaign that followed is best remembered
for his sneers and gibes at his commander, Avhich passed from mouth
(o mouth of his cliciue, liotli in the army and in congress. His re-
mai-k that Washington was conducting the war mainly with the
jtickax and the sjiade was circulated with particular enjoyment.
Finally, when AVashington departed to New Jersey after the battle
of White IMains, Lee, left in command in Westchester (N)unty, took
a course of almost open insubordination.

It was not until the Kith of October that any official decision was
arrived at looking to abandonment of the Harlem Heights and Kings-
l)ri(lgc position, and even then tiie action taken was only in the f(U'ui
of a icsolve upon a proposition i>( ]Mdi(y. A council of war was hehl
at the headquarters of General Lee, the officers in att(Mi(lance. be-
sides the commander-in-chief, being iMajor-lienerals Lee, Putnam,
Heath, Spencer, and Sullivan, lirigadier-Generals Lord Stirling,
MifHin, IMcDougal, Parsons, Nixon, Wadsworth, Scott, Fellows,
George Clinton, ami Lincoln, and Colonel Knox, commanding the
artillery — to whom Washington, after conveying such information
as he jiossessed res])ecting the conjcctui'cd ]inrpose of the enemy t
surround the army, put the following iiuestion: "Whether (it hav-
ing a]>](eare(l that the obstruction-^ in the North IJiver ha\(' proved
insutticient, ami that the enemy's anIioIc force is now in our rear, at
]''i'og's I'oint) it is now deemed ])ossible, in our pn.'init sititdtiaii, to
prevent the enemy from cutting off the couimunication with the coun-
try and comi(elli7ig us to fight them, at all disadvantages, or sur-
render prisoners at discretion?" The asseud)led officers, with the
single exception of General George Clinton, replied tliat ''it is not
possible to ])revent the comnniuicaliim from being cut off; and that
one of the conseciuences mentioned in the ciuestion must cei-fainly
follow." This of course implied a ]iraetically unanimous conclu-
sion on the part of Washington's generals that the " preseTit situa-
tion " should be given up. At the same time the expeiliency of re-
taining possession of Fort Washington was considered, and all the
general officers, most of them iTifluem-ed (h)ubtless by the desire of
congress that this stronghold should be held as long as possible,
favored the policy — although Washington's judgment was against it.

Preparations were now bi'gun, though with no special haste, for

CAMPAIGN A.ND RATlLi: OF WIIITK TI.AINS 373

scciu'iiiii the wit li(lr;i Will of llic anny. Oidcrs wiTc j;ivc'n tVir i)ut-
tiiif;' tlic roiuls Icadiiiji to the ikivIIi, on tlic west siilo of the Broux
lJi\'(-r, in ji'ood coiidilioii. W'asliinyton tlioronfihly familiarized hiiii-
seir with the nature of the country above, and in thai eonneetion,
on the l(!th, carefully examiued the ground adjaeent lo Pelhani Neck,
wliicli i)roved to be the next static in the progress of the enemy. At
tins early (hite considerable bodies of troops were advanced as far
northward as Valentine's Hill and the Mile Square, both in the
])i-esent City of Yonkers; and during the subse(|uent few days de-
tachments were gradually sent forward to establish a line of tem-
|ioiaiy intrenched camps on the high grounds bordering the Avest
hank of the Bronx all the way to White Plains.' Besides, Washing-
tiui was not unmindful of the chance of danger from the Hudson
Kiver. On the ir)ili two regiments of Massachusetts nnlitia were
sent up to Tarrytown to watch the British ships of war lying oppo-
site that place and o])])ose any attemjjt to land men from them; and,
notwithstanding the previous failure of the chi'i-uii.r- dc frisv at Fort
\\'ashiiigton to bar the navigation of the river, and the large expense
incident to an attem]tted completion of that barrier, the work upon
it was energetically continued. " We are sinking the Ships as fast
as possible," wrote Tilglniian to Duer on the 17th; ''200 Men are
daily em])loyed, but they taUe an immense Quantity of Stone for the
purpose."

Altluuigh tlie ultimate necessity of quitting Manhattan Island and
Kingsbridge was not (h'cided on until the lOtli, an<l the beginning
of tile formal movement was delayed several days longer, the objec-
tive i>oiiil in tlie coming northw'ard march of the army was well in-
dicated by circumstances beforehand. It lia]ipened that tlw ]irin
lipal magazine of provisi(ms had been accumulated at tlie village of
While Plains, a ])lace not too far removed from the Harlem Heights
liead(|uarlers ami yet at a snthcient distance in the interior to be
deemed safe. Moreoxcr, there was a considi'rable magazine at Kye
on the Sound — a decided! \ unsafe locality in view of liie complete
co!iti-ol (d that coast by the Britisli tied; and the removal of the
IJye stores to ^\']lite IMains as the most available s]iot of safety was
liierefore a inanirest necessity as soon as the gen<'ial silnalion be-
came menacing. .\nd tinally White IMains commande<l the whole
couidr_\ below, and (Mpially i he countr\' above, since all th<' roads
ceiilered liiefe; while directly in its rear rose the range of North

'In iiiiisl historical rofprcnoos to W.isliinKloii's Dawson's rpniarljs on tills point (Snliarf. I.. IL'".

iiiari'li tliroiiKli Wcsli'licstpr County tlio linpri'S- nntr) sorni. to our mind, to i'8ta)>Ilsli ln'.vonil

slon Is Kiv<Mi that tlic intrenched camps alon^ question th:it those defensive works were pre-

Iln' lironx were constructed by detachments jiarcd in advance by pioneers detailed for the

fr the army during its actual |iro);rcss. But spci'hil iiur|)ose.

374

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

("astlc liills, where llic ai'iii.v cmilil In- iiirdc secure ii.nainst almost
any possible at lael< in case ii sliniild Ite necessary to fall back farther.
These varions comlilions p<isiii\ely indicated White I'lains as the
essential point for Washin^lun to reacli — even before his actual
movement was inaugurated. 'Hie stores at W'iiile Plains were umler
file ii'uar-d of a militia force of some ;>()() men.

Before proceedinjj; farther in our narrali\c, we tliink it indispensa-
ble to briefly point out the true ch.iracier of W'ashinjilon's nnjve-
ment from Harlem IIeij;lits ami Kiniisliridiic to AVhite Plains. It
is i^crn'rally characterized by loose and hasty writers — and not in-
fre(|Uently by more carefu] ones — as a rctrcnl. This is a straTii;e inis-
conceplion of its nature. It was m)t a retreat in any ]U'o](er or ad-
missibh' sc^nse nf tlie term, but really a delil)erate countermove for
position, fearless and almost a.i;iii'essi\-e in its fundamentals. So far
from reli-eatini; ujion the appearance of Ins foe at 'J'iiro^^'s \e(d<,
A\'ashinj;ton did not even retire. He cahnly held his orijiinal posi-

ON THK MAItCIl Til WIIITK ri..\IN.S.

tion for days, and, in fact, until ib)we liimself went forward. Then,
it Ix'iuii apjiarent tli.-it How c w;is marching to tlank him, he pr<uui)tly
took measTires to counlerflanl< Howe, and executed them with the
most admiralile judi;nieut and L;r<'at dispatch and success in view
of his circumstances. Kenarded strictly in its ultimate com])lexion,
Washin;;lon's mo\-emeut to White Plains M'as indeed the reverse
of a retreat or ictireuuMit. H' his object had been simply to retire
beyond his enemy's reacli, lie would not ]ia\ c sto](])ed at \Mrit(- Plains,
a coiiiparativ(dy exjiosed locality, but A\duld have yone at once to
the North Castle hills, Avhich were ]iractically impregnable with the
force he had. But with tliose liills at his back to resort to in case
of need, he Mas salished to offer l)attle at White Plains, liecause,
with the conditions (if ullimate posilion fa\drable to him, he deemed
it exjiedicnt to tirst ti^lit a battle that he had a fair chance to win.
rhcntually it was Howe and not A\'asliiiiiiton who declined ihe j^cn-
eral battle at W^hite Plains, which Washiniiloii, by all his prelim-
inary ojierations, had accejited in ad\ance. We now return to the
enemy at Throgg's Neck.

CAJIPAKiN \ND RATTLIO OP WHITE PLAINS 375

Tlic ISlli III' Ocldhcf \\;is llic (lay cliosi'ii by General Howe for ex-
|Kisiii<i liis flirt her iiilciitioiis. I'p to tliat lime lie had iieitiier done
nor attempted anytliinj; but the transportation of his army, with its
artillery, equipments, and stores, from New York City to Throj;jji's
Necdv. After fiiidinj;-, njion ins arrival tJiere on the 12th, that his
progress from tJie Xeck to the mainland was disimted by a de-
termined force of Aniciieans, he refrained from all pretensions to
yroiind lieyond Ids little island, but caused earthworks to be con-
structed, and during' the succeeding- days " the scattering fire across
the marsh continued, and now and then a man was killed." That
was iill. Finally, at one o'clock on the morninj; of the ISth, he em-
barked a portion of his forces on flatboats and had them rowed
over to IVdhain's or Rodman's Point, on the opjiosite side of East-
(diester Hay. They were successfully landed in the darkness. This
was a ]>reliminary movement to secure the i;round for his main body,
wliich lie put in motion at daylight; and simultaneously he caused
an embrasure to be opened in his earthwork facing \V'estch ester
causeway, so as to <x\\v the Americans the impression that he was
prepariufi' to force his way over under a canmmade. The Americans
readily concluded tliat such was his object; and strong re-enforce-
ments were speedily sent forward by (ieneral Heath, who soon after-
ward came to the sjtot in jx'rson to direct the ojierations. Washing-
ton himself presently arrived on the scene; and the course taken by
him is of much interest in connection with what our readers already
ktiow about his strong and persevering sus])icioii that Howe's design
would eventually prove to be a direct advance on Kingsbridge, with
tile sii](]tort of a coo])erating ex])cdilion from the quarter of ^lor-
risaiiia. Washington, says Heath in his ".Memoirs," "ordered him
(llcallii to return immediately and have his division formed ready
for action, and to take siuh a position as might appear best calcu-
lated to oppoS(^ the enemy should they attemjit to land another body
of tro()]»s on M(U'risania, wliicii he tliouglit not iiii]iiol)able."

Having distracted tlie attention of the Anu>ricans by his ])reteiided
]daii of crossing the marsh from Throgg's Neck, Howe disjiatched
liis iii.iin hddy as rapidly as possible to Pell's Point on boats, an<l
the transfer was conqileted with proniiitness and in entire safety.
Mtaiiwliilc the ]u-eseuce of the British vanguard, which had been
feri-ied ()\ci in llie iiiglil, became known to the Aniericaii force sta-
tioned on the mck abo\'e, resulting in a series of li\-e]y eiieounlers.
This American force consisted of the excellent brigade of Ceiieral
•lanii's ( 'linlnii, which, at t lie time, was commanded by ( "(liiuiel ( ilover.
It eiiifnaced four regiments, Sliei)ard's, Read's, and P.aldwiii's, in ad-
dition to (iloxcr's (the hist being under the temjiorary command of

;^76 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(';i]il;iiii Ciiitis). Its total sli-cnutli upon lliis occasion \\as about
7."i(l, and it was (Minippcd witli tliivi' ticld pieces, wliicli, however, were
nol hronglit into action because of tlie uiieveiiness of tlie ui-onnd and
ilie nalnre of tlie tactics eni])bived. 'I'lic tad llial liie American
general bad the discretion to place so relatively lunnerons and effec-
ti\'e a body on I'cH's Xeck, des])ite bis linnerinn: belief I bat Ibe
eiieiii\"s plans ditl not conlcnipl.ite any movement tiii;lH-r, is our
amony many exceedinj;ly practical and convincing,' demonsti-ations
of the tboronjibness and intellii;ence with which the patriot forces
were dis])osed from the very bciiinnin^ of the Westchester cami)aii;n.
Colonel (!lo\( r was made aware of the presence of the eiieni\' by
the sudden apj)roacli of his advance iiuard. He imniedialely threw
forward a captain and forty men to meet them, and in the pause
which followed ambuscadid Ins i-ejiiinents behind stone walls. He
then ])ersonally to(d< command of the forty men and mai-clied them
to A\ithin lifty yards at' the place whei'e the foe had come to a stand-
still. I>otli sides ii()A\ tire<l, several rounds beiu^;' exchanjied. Four
of the lliitish ]iarty were seen to fall, and of the Americans t\\<i were
killed and a number wounded. The British wei-e soon re-enforced and
charged the Americans, who reti'eated in ;.;(tod order, leadinu their
pursuers up to where the first ambuscade<l retiiment irolonel Kead's)
lay. The concealed men rose from behind tlie stone wall and tired
with su(d! elfect that the ad\ancini: cmIuiiih br(d<e and tied witboiit
the ceremon.\' of a rejily. After a delay ot about an hour and a half
the enemy again came forward along the roadway, " with what were
sui)posed," says Dawson, " l<i have Ik en 4,000 men, streugtbened with
seven ])ieces of ai'tillery." ('(domd Read and his command, still oc-
culting their original ])osition. not oidy renewed the attack but
bT'a\('ly "maintained their ground until they had thrown se\'en well-
directed volleys into the closed T'anks " of the vastly su]jerior enemy,
liually i-eti-eating across fields and taking uj) a new ])osition in su]i-
|ioi-t of ('obiuel Sbejiard's i-egiiiieiit, which was concealed some dis-
tance farther along the i-oad. Here the previous ])rocee(ling was re-
peated, seAcnteeu v(dleys being tire(l by the Americans before they
were dislodged. Next the IJritish came u|>ou the third line of am-
buscade, under the command of Colomd Uaidwin; but here the o])iio-
sition (dfered by the Americans was not prolonged, the nature of
the ground |iermit I ing the British artillery to be effectively em-
ployed. The three I'egiments, having well jierformed the duties whi(di
fell to them, then retired across Ilulcliiiisoii's Kivei and u]i a slo]>e
of gi-onnd to where the fourth, commanded b\ ("ajitaiii ('urtis, was
stationed, with the three ti(dd-]iieces. This emled the tighting, al-
though the British cannon continued to belch thunderouslv at the

CAMPAIGN AND BATTI.K OF WIIITI'; PLAINS 377

disaiiiiciiriiiii (•(•iit'mciitiils. Tho brigadi', reports Colonel (ilover,
"afler tinlitinj;- all <la.v, wilhout victuals or drink," fell back at dark
to a jilace llircc miles in tlie rear, \vli(>re they bivonacked, and "lay
as a i)ic(|uet all niiilit, tlie iieavens over ns and the earth nnder us,
wliicii was all we had, having lelt all o>ir bajigage at the old en-
caiiii>nienl we left in the niorninii." ICarly the next day they joined
the American command (inartered in the .Mile Scjuare in the Town
of ^'(iidcers.

This interestinii' action, or rather series of actions, occurred on
I'elliam soil. It served a two-fold purpose — first, to euga.nc and re-
tard the van of the invadin«i' army for an entire day; and second,
lo iii\'e the British "general a wjudesome (d)ject-lesson of the inettle-
someiies of the AmeiMcan troo]is and of the well-judged manner iu
wliicji 1 hey liiid been posted to haiass his advanc(\ Dawson, after
carefnl examination of all the known facts, concludes that the num-
ber of the enemy actually engaged by (Hover and his men could not
have been less than 4,(100; while The two regiments of TJead and
She])ard, which sustained ju-actically the entire attack of this army,
could not have exceeded 400 rank and tile. The American losses,
according to ofticial returns, were six men killed and Colonel Shepard
and tw(dve men wounded. The enemy's forces comjn-ised both Brit-
ish regiments and (Jerman merceuaiy cdiasseurs. The losses to the
British regiments (as shown by the returns) were three men killed
and two otiicers and twenty men wounded. As for the mercenaries,
no olhcial returns of their losses have been published. Regarding
this ])oint we shall permit ourselves to quote at length the observa-
tions (d' Dawson, n]ton whose facts we have fre(]uently di-awn, though
usually (and we admit quite deliberately) without reproducing the
singularly precise and diligent concatenations of statement and re-
lated considerations wher(»with he surrounds them.

Tlie reports (lie says) of the o]ieratioiis and the casualties of those [iiierceiiary] troojis were
made to the several sovereifjii jirinees, electors, etc., of whom these troojis were, resjiectively,
siilijects ; and, except in some few instances, when individual enterjirise has unearthed some
of them, the text of those reports and much of the ofticial corrcs]iondeiiee remain in their
original repositories, unopened and seemiutrly uncared for.

The reports of deserters, and other unofticial reports, made the total losses, lioth Hritish
and (ierinan, from eif/ht /nniilreil lo a lliousaiid men : and it is difficult to make one lielieve
that four hundred Americans, familiar from their childhood with the use of tireai'ins, sheltered
hy ample defenses, fnuii which they couM fire deliherately and with their pieces rested on the
tops of their defenses, could have possibly tired volley after volley into a larn-e body of men,
massed in a closely eompaeteil column and cooped up in a narrow country roadway, without
having intlicted as extended a damage on those who received their fire as deserter after de-
serter, to the number of more than half a dozi'u, on ditt'ercnt days, without any connection
with each other, severally and sejiaiately declared had been intlicted on the enemy's advance
oil the occasion now nnder consideration.

Eight hundred to a thousand ]Mit hnrs dr ftmilxit in a running

378 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTKK COUNTY

iniisl^ctry tij^lit hv Cniii- liuiidrcd contiiiciitals, wliusf total casualties
were liiil iiiiH'tcciiI That was noble worlv indeed — it was inayniti-
ceiil, and also it was war. Jint it beconu's our virtnoiis duty as an
lionoialde historian to decently eantion the nnwai-v I'eader here.
Dawson's exirenie coniiiassionate feeling- for the miserable Tories cd'
Westchester ("onnty ]irocnres natnrally from his majiTiaiumous pen
a |)roi>erl\- i-es])ectfnl recejition of the llriHsli forces sent to their
relief by a gracious soxcreij^n; and in this jiarticnlar he goes so far
in several places as to exjiress impatiem-e at the tradnctions of (jeii-
eral Howe as a military commander wliidi so characterize the writ-
inu,s of .\merican ](aiiisan ci'itics.' On the other hand, i>awson no-
where (list-overs an\- fa\(>iable conceit of the mission of the nu*rce-
naries, \\lii(li for an^ht that can be detected to the contrary he may
even regard in the conventional fashion as mere infatnons bntchery
bnsiness for pay. It hence occnrs to ns that while every way in-
capable (d' wT'onj^inii the British troops by conjectures or stispicions
of battletield losses disadvautap,eous to their prowess or to the in-
tegrity of their (dlicial i-e]>orts, he has no sn(di sci'n]inlons concern
for the fail- fame of the hii-(ding arm of the army, and indeed is quite
indifferent how mercilessly the Hessians are peppered in the pages
of history. At least we can not otherwise account for his conclu-
sion that the loss suffered by the mer<-enaries, compared with that
of their British comrades-in-arms (who equally' were " massed in a
closely com])acted column and cooped up in a narrow country road-
way "), was in the ratio of thirty or forty to one. For ourselves, we
lirndy dislxdieve that there was any such slaughter of Hessians in
llie .Manor (let it therefore never be called the shamblesi of I'elham
as Dawson ijiclines to think.

The gallant behavior of ('olon(d Clover ami his men was made the
subject of very com]dimentary observations in general orders issued
by Washington; and (Jeneral Lee, to whose command they belonged,
l>aid a visit to them in their camp and " pnblickly i-eturned his thanks
for their noble-spirited and soldier-like conduct during the battle."

After (he retreat of this (d)structing Ameri(-an brigade, (Jeneral
Howe, without encountering any further ojqjosition, moved a por-
tion of his army forward to New Kochelle, and by degrees during
the next few days brought all his foi-ces u]i to that point, also re-
ceiving additional li-oops from New York Citv.' On the 21st of Oc-

■ Every triio .\morioan slionld lio mo.st prn- tinil Suiilii.-i KiIiiianso(.'(,'c.— .Vnrrodrr ami Cril-

foiimlly Knilofiil tU.nt this Incoiiipctent general icnl Ili.itori/ of Amirica, vi.. 291.

was placed at tlie lie,a<l of the Bi-Itish army, ' An ex|ie(lition of R.OOO mereenarh'S. enm-

not for his own merits, lint lieeause of his con- mandeil hy I.ientenant-(ieneral Knyphansen.

ne<-tion with royally through his Rrandmother's \vas landi'd on the 22d at Myers's Tulnt (now

frailly. His inotliiT was the issne of George I. navciiporfs Necki. ni-ar New Kochelle. This

CAMPAIGN ANT) RATTI^F, OF WHITE I'r>.VT.\S 379

tohci- lie iul\;iiicc(l liis ritilit iind cciilcr lo ;i siliuilidii iihoiil two miles
fjirtlici- iiortli, (III llic load to White IMaius — bis left contiiHiiiij'- at
New ii'ochelle. Also on I lie :21st lie detiulied a Loyalist cotiis known
as the (Queen's IJaiiuns, conmiaHded by l.ieiiten:iiit( "(ilonel Kom-rs,
to oe('ii]iy Maiiiaroiieck, whicli was successfully accomplished, tbe
Amci-icaii ]iost at that place abaudoiiiiin it aiii>areiitly wilhonl any
attempt at defense. Thus as early as the 2Isl (Icm-ial Howe was
encamped with bis whole army in a sjdeiidid strategic position on
the i^oiind, with a tine road bcloir him leading all tbe way to White
Plains. This roa<l, moreovci', was (juite unobstructed by the Ameri-
cans, who were well content to keep at a respectful distance, on tbe
western side of the Itronx IJiver. And furtbei-, at (bat identical
time, tbe Kevolutionary army was stretched in a tbin line from the
southern jiart of W^estcbester County to its <lestinatiou at Wbite
Plains, toilsomely stru.u;^linj; to compb-te its nuineurer befoi-e tbe
enemy should be ready to foil it. Yet Howe, with bis accustonu'd
leisure, remained in this station for three days, after which be oc-
cupied two days in advancini;- a few miles to Scarsdale, Avbere be
spent three days more; and durini; tbe period of eight days be never
undertook any strategic opo^ratiun or even struck any incidental
blow at the onwanl moving column of Anu'iicans. Here we shall
leave him, to return to the animated and interesting progress of
events on the American side.

After the advance of tbe British on the IStli from Throgg's Neck
to Pell's Neck, and thence to New Iiocbelle, Washington put forth
his utmost exertions toward marching liis army as quickly as pos-
sible to tbe north. The enterprise, aside from tbe extreme funda-
mental hazard attending it on account of tbe expected appearance
of Howe at any monn^nt athwart tbe line of march, was beset with
embarrassing physical dilliculties. The facilities for the transpor-
tation of tlie cannon and impedimenta of all kinds were distress-
ingly limited. There Avas an extreme scarcity of teams and wagons,
and tlie work of transi»ortation bad to be iierfornied mostly by the
soldiers. "The baggage and artillery," says (lordon, " wei-e carried
or drawn off by band. When a part was forwarded, the other was
fetcluMl on. This was the general way of removing the cam]) equi-
]iag<' and other apjiendages of tbe army." Everything not abs(dutely
needful was left behind, togetbei- A\ith much that could not well be
sjiared. The food su]i]dy of tbe army, for example, was dangerously
low — .so low I hat on the L'btli Tilghman wrote in (he following ])ress-

oxpfditiou Kiiiletl fn»iii i;iit;!.i tui in slxty-flvo vantape nf Its oo-opcrjitlon tliat GoiH-ral Howe

vcssrls on the 27lli of July, lull did not roach so long delayed his movement from New York

New York City until the ISth of Oetober. It City to Throcu's Neek, and from the latter

was possibly du<' to a desire to have the ad- place forward.

380

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

iii!^- terms (<i the Slate (•onventioii: •■ r]Hiii a Survey (if nur Stores
we liiid we are not so fully stocked as we could wish, i'loui- is what
is iiiosi likely to he wanted. ITis KxcelleTicy therefore calls upon
youi- Coiivenliou in the most ])ressinj; manner, and he;L;s you will set
every I^ni^im- al woik to send down every Barr(d you can ]irocur<'
towai'ds the Army." Yet at tile last some ei>;hty or ninety harnds
(d' iiro\isions had io he left at Kiniisbridiic for lack of nnans to
transport tliem.

r>y the 2OII1 all of Washington's troops on ]\ranliattan Island (with
the exce](tion of the garrison of l''ort \Vashinj;toni had been trans-
ferred to \\'est( hester County, and he now to(dv up his head(iuarters
at l\ini;sl>ridi;('. The most advanced Ameiican ])ost on the 2()th was
a]>]>arently that of (Jeneral l.ord Stilling', who, accoi-diuii' to a j)rivate

letter of that date, written from
the "Camp of Vonkers " by the
noted General C.old Selleck Silli-
nian to his wife, lay "with a. larjie
force of troojts and three fi(dd-i(ieces
about six or seven miles north-
east " of Yonkers, " on the road
from NeA\' TIo(dielle to the North
lUver, at the distance of about two
or three miles from the seashore."
Thi're was at this time no fcsrce
whatever at White Plains but the
militia i^uai-d of oOO, already no-
ticed. ( )n the morninii' of the l2(tth
\\ashini;lon dispatched ('olontd llu
fus Putnam, an able engineer and
very trustworthy officer,' to reoon-
noiter the country in I he \iciiiity
of the enemy. ( 'olomd I'utnam proceeded to within two or three
miles of White I'lains. I'''rom his observations of the easy accessi-
bility of tliat place to the enemy, he l»ecame ])rofouudl.y convinced
(d' the immediate necessitA' of having it occu]iied by a respectable
body of men, so as to secure its larjie and vitally important mai;a7,ine
of provisions against attack. Keturninii- Avitli all haste to head-
(|uarters, he snbmittcMl the facts to the conunander-in-chi(d'. who yave
him a letter to Lord Stirlinji', or(b'rini; that ncueial to march forth-
with to White Plains with all his command. Putnam reached
Stirlinii's cam]) at two ()"(hi(l< the r(diowiu<i- morninii' (()ctob<'r 21).
The l)i-ij;ade was in UKdion before daybreak, and by nine o'cdock it

'It was iinrtcr the sii|MTvisicin nf Ccilciiii'l I'litn.'im IIi.Tt tlif fiirtitii-nl Ions of Tort Wasliiiigtun
wore constnietot).

GENKRAL I.OKD STIKI.ING.

CAMPAIGN AND BATTLl': OF WllITIs I'L.MNS 381

luul iiri-ivcd ;il While Tliiiiis. At thai liiiic, it will lie rciiicinlici'cd,
the (lilaloiy Cciicial Ilnwc had advaiiccil (udy slii;iitly above New

Kochcllr.

The 21st was a day of urcat and Iriiiiriii activity. Siipiilciuciii iiii,'
liis ])roiiipt action id' the niiilit before upon llie receipt (d' ("(donel
I'nfnani's repoi-l, Washington directed (ieneral llealh, tiien al
Kin^sbrid.uc, to brealc caiii]*, " if ])ossible, at eii;lit o'clocl^ this luorn-
injiv' 'iixl take his division sjjeedily to Wliite I'lains. He was iiini-
s(df in the saddh- at an early Imnr, and ro(h> to ^\'llite IMains on a
tonr of insitectioii. While there he issned a number (d' iniporlaii!
orders, inidinlinj; one to the ol1ic(-r coniniaiidin^' at Maiiiaroneck,
whom lie instructi'd to make the best stand jjossible if attacked, little
thinkiuii', says Dawsou, "that at that very time the (dlicer whom
lie was tims addresslui;- had shown himself to be only a (()ntem]iti-
ble i)olti-o(in." The marchinii order liiven Heath in the niorn-
ini;- was executed by that faitlifnl ;;cnei-al as i)ronii)tly as i»ossible;
but the UK>vement of his division, distributed alont; tiie sonlhern
border of Westchester County, which had to be consolidated, willi
numerous jmdiminary details to be attended to, could not be accom-
jdished so suddenly. Instead of niovini; at eijiht oVdock in the nu>rn-
iuj;', Heath did not lict started iinti.1 four in the afternoon. But once
on the way, he i)erforiued tlie maneuver with remarkable rai)idity,
arriviui; in While I'lains at four o'ldock in the morninji (October 22|,
only twelve liours after his dejiartui'e from Kinjj;sbrid.nc. It was
praciically a forced march, for the iimnediate jiurixise oi liirowinj;'
a strong' body into White IMains — Stirlinji's siniile brigade beinu-
manifestly insuHicient to hold the i)lace if a serious movement by the
enemy should be suddenly nunle thither; and nattirally the men
were not encumbered with ba,ii,i;ai;e, or obliiied to draw lieavy loads
after them, as was the case with the troops that followed. Vei the
division made the march in ])erfect order, takiu!.;' its liiilil ami liea\y
artillery, and was so ari-ani;('d that in case of atfaclv disposi-
tion for battle could be effected instantly. Th<' withdrawal of Heath's
division from Kiui;sbridi;e left the whole southei-n line <d' Westcliester
County denuded (tf defenders, excejit tliat a garrison of (iOO, under
Colonel Lash(>r, was s]iared f(u- I'orl Independence (Ui Tetai'd's Hill;
but eAcn this \\as only a tem])orary measure, for, as we shall see.
Colonel Lasher's small command was withdrawn from that station
a few days later and joined the army al \\'hile I'lains.

Since the I'elhani affair of the ISih, there had been aiisoliitely
n(. encoun.ter between the Americans and I'.rilish, even al their oul-

lyiii^- ])osts, b(dh sides liavin.u I ii eni;rossed with the business of

securing position. I'.ut on the ni;4hl of the 21st a well-planned and

382 HISTORY OF WESTCIIKSTKK COUNTY

rc;iS(Uiiil)ly successful ihisli a\;is made 1),\ au Aiiici'icau I'm-cc — siu-
nulai-ly cnuu^uli from the very cxtrciMc of the Auiericau positiou, al
Wliite riaius, ajiainst the very extreiue of the British itosition, al
Mauiaroueclc. We have seen that (luriui; the 21st ^lauiarcsiieclc was
occujiicd by a Britisli detachnieiit, tlu' (iueeu's Kauf'ers, iiuder Lieu-
(enaut-Cdionel IJoucrs, wliile ou the luoruiui; of tiiat day the Auieri-
cau Geueral Stirliuj;- occujiied \N'hite Plains. The (Queen's Kaiiiicrs
was an exceediuj^ly select \)n(\y ol American Loyalists, reciuiled iu
New York and Connecticut, and euihraced not a few yonui; uien of
AVestchester County Tory fauiilies. l-atei- iu the war they weic coui-
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Siuicoc, whose memoir of them, en-
titled "Journal of the Op(>rations of the Queen's Kaniiers," is an in-
terestiiiii' Kevolutiouary authoiity. They were " discijjliued not for
parade, but for active service. They were never to march in slow
time; were directed to fire with jirecisiou and steadiness; to wield
the bayonet with force and elTect; to (lis])eise and rally with rapidity.
In slioit, ill the instructions for the management of the corps, its
coniuiauder seems to have antici]>ated tlie more modci'u tactics of
the I'rench army." The seudinn of this body to Mamai'oueck — the
home, by the way, of the distiuiiuished Tory family of t\i' Laucey —
was the first enterprise of tlu^ I'ritisli comuiauder a]>art froiu his
main forward moveuu'ut since his laudiuu in AN'estchester County,
and undoubtedly was intended as a couiiiliuieutary recoiiuitiou of
tile s]iii-ited Tor\' volunleei-s. (ieuei'al ^^'aslliuJ^tou, ujxni i'ecei\iii!4-
iuteniiicuce of the unopjtosed cai)t ui-e of .Mamaroueck by the Kaniici's,
deci<led to juive them a dift'ciciit iiii])! essiou of the (juality of IJevo-
lutioiiary troo])s than they had dei-i\'ed from theiT' entry there.
Ai^i-ecably to his o!-ders, (Seueral Lord Stirlinj.;', comuiaudiuL;' at
"White Plains, dispatched Colonel Haslet, with f>00 Delaware troo])s,
aiul Majoi- rjreen. with I.IO A'ii-^iuiaus, to attack the Itauiicrs duriu;n'
the uiLiht. It was hojK-d to sui'jjrise and cai)ture the whole cor])S
of the enemy, Avhich was only 450 stronji'; and this would undoubtedly
liaA'e been done had it not been foi- tlu' foresight of Colonel Po^ci-s
in exteudiui; his picket lines beyond expectation, and the bluuderiuj;-
of the American guides, who "undertook to alter the first disi)osi-
tion "■ of the attacking ])arty. A sur])rise was thus prevented, and
a hand to hand tight ensued iu the darkness, the Kangers, insjiired
by the great courage and address of their colonel, defending them-
seh'es excelleutly. TIu' ^\mei'icaus were tiually forced to retire, sus-
taining a loss of three or four killed and about fifteen wounded, but
bearing with them thirty-six prisoners and a quantity of captured
arms aiid blankets. The number of the Loyalists killed and wounded
is unknown, but according to .Vmerican reports was large, twenty-

CAMPAIGN AND BATTLIO OI' WlilTK PLAINS 383

five dead beiug counted in one orcliard. *' All i>f ixitli sides," says
Mr. Kdwurd F. do Laiiccy in his " llisloiy of .Maiiianmcck," " wore
buried just over (ho (o]i of the ridge almost diT'octiy uortli of the
Ileatlicote Hill lionso, in the angle formed by the jirosoiit farm lano
Mud tho oast fonco of tho hold next to the ridgo. Thoro thoir graves
lie togother, frii'iid and foe, but all Americans. My father told me
when he was a boy their green graves were distinctly visible. The
late Stei»]ien Hall, a. boy of seventeen or eighteen at the time, said
that they were buried the morning after the tight, and that he sav,-
nine laid in uiw large grave." General Howe promptly re-enforced
the sliatleretl IJangers with the brigade of (Jeneral Agnew.

On the 21st AN'ashingtou adxanced his head(|uarters from Kings-
bridge a distance of about four miles to Valentine's Hill, a i»romi-
nent ridge in the i)res<'nt City of Yonkers, ui>on whose bi-ow Saint
•losejih's Seminarv stands. From tliis ])l:ice a number of ilocunumls
in connection witii the movement tlien in progress are dated, and
here occui-red an episode of sentimental interest, ^'alentine's Hill
was so called from the family of farmers who had tilled it for about
tliree-ipuirters of a century as tenants of the Manor of riiilipseburgh.
The farmhouse, though having no residential ])retensious, was the
mosi substiuitial dwelling in tliat iinnuvliate locality, and was used
by Washington for headquarters pur])oses while directing opei"a-
lions Irom the hill, although the N'alentine family was not dis-
Inrbcd in its occupancy. One of the family at that time was lOliza-
bei h \ iilentine, a young child, who died in 1S.")4. It was freipiently
leliited by her that one morning ^Vashiugton, liefoi'e beginning tlu^
business of the day, surrounded by nuunbers of his ofHcial family
in the sitting room of the dwelling — she being present, — read from
ilie nible the singularly ajipropriate text (Joshua xxii., 2): ''The
i.oid (iod ol(!o(ls, llu' i^ord (iod of (iods, He knoweth, and Israel lie
shall know ; il it be in rebellion, or if in transgressicm against the
koi'd (save us not this dayl," ami u]pon this sentiment deli\cred an
iniiiressive prayer.

The following item ajipears in "Washington's Accounts with the
I'niled States," under date of Oct(d)er 22, 177(1: "To Ex|)^ at \alen-
line's, .Mile Scpiarc — 2n T)olP."

Il lias been claimed that while in the vicinity of ^'onkers, Wasli-
iiiLjlon .-nailed himself of the lios])italit ies of tlie .Manor llonse of
the I'hilipses, and the southwest room of the second stoi-y is said to
have been his bedchamber. In our opinion, it is not ]iossible that
Washington was enlerlained at the Manor llonsi' either daring
lhe](eriod nndei- consideration or subse(|uently. Ainiil (he consum-
ing anxieties and incessant labors incident to the great military

384 HISTORY OF WESTCHKSTER COUNTY

operation iu wliitli he was cujiaged, In- wuuld liaidlv liavc turnftl
aside to accept tlie cold coui-tesics of a Tory family resident at a poiiil
somewhat distant from the line of march. IJesides, Wasiiinnlou's
appearance as a finest at the Manor House a! that time wouhi have
been a ratiier indelicate act. On the Dth of AiiLiust, oidy ten weeks
before, he had caused the removal (d' Frederick i'hilipse, the head
of the family, to New Kocbelle, and from there had ordered him to
a still more remote ])lace of (h'tention. I'inally, a letter written by
^^'ashin^ton from N'aleutiue's Hill to Mrs. Thilipse at this i)recise
juncture is conclusive evidence that he could not have been a visitor
under her roof. IMrs. Phili])se had written to him in not too amiable
terms about seizures of cattle belonjiinji to her family which had
been made for the American army. His reply, dated "Headquarters
at Mr. \'a]entine's, 22 Oct., 1T7<!," is couched in strictl}' ceremonious
lan*;uane. " The misfortunes of war," he says, " and the unhappy
circumstances frequently attendant thereon to indi\iduals, are more
to he hinniilctl tlidii araidciJ, but it is the duty of every one to alleviate
these as much as jiossible. Far be it from me to add to tlu' dis-
tresses of a lady who 1 am Imt too sensible must already have suffered
much nni'asiness, if not inconveinence, on account of (Nd. Phillips'
absence." He adds that the seizures complained of were made not
at his instance, but at that of the Btate convention; and the only
satisfaction lie affords her is the observation that as it was n<d meant
by the coii\cntion to de])ri\(' families of theii- necessary stock, he
"would not withhold" his consent to her retaiinu!.;' such parts of
her stock as might be necessary to that purjiose. Hi view of this
corres])ondeuce, and the connecting circumstances, the idea thai
Washington could have ])aid even a jjassing visit to the ^lanor House
during his ]u-ogTess to White Plains is not to be entertained. Fred-
erick Phili])se, as our readers know, never returned to his home on
the Ne])i)erhan, and the residence was jM'vmanently abandoned by
his family in 1777, afterwai-d being in tlie custody of a steward.
Again, from the fall of 177(! to the summer <d' 17S1. Washington cer-
tainly never spent a night in the lower |)art of Westchester County.
Hence the traditions which associate him with the last hospitalities
of the Philipses at the Manor House have not the slightest likely
foundation. It is unquestionable, however, that on more than one
occasi(m during the Kevolution he was the guest of the patriotic
Colonel James Van Cortlatidt at the old A'an Cortlandt mansion in
the " Little Yonkers."

The old Valentine house, from which Washington's Yonkers dis-
patches were dated, Avas torn down many yeai-s ago. Headquarters
were continued on Valentine's Hill during the 21st and 22(1, and on

CAMl'AKJX AM) I'.ATTM: OF AVIIITK TI.AINS

385

tile -o(l were miMi\<Ml lo "llic plain near the cross-i-oails " at W'liiic
Plains, (he cxacuat ion of Ilic coiinlry bflow liavinii by i iial time bct'ii
siillicicntly acconiplished to jn.stiry Wasliini;t(iu in stationini; hiin-
scir a( I lie terniiiiation of the route.

On tlie 22(1 liie continncd inactivity of the Uritisli, willi tiic pleas-
ing;' ncMS of tlu' Anioriean raid on tlio LoyaliKt lianiicrs at Maniaro
neck, liad a stininlatinj;- cll'ccl on llic whole army, to wliicli ^^■asll-
inj^ton's pei'sonal ]tresence, everywhere encouragiiiji the men and
sn])ei'intendini:; the work, contributed. There was now a. continuous
column of mo\inii' troops all the w';\y from N'alentiu-e's Hill to White
I'laiiis. A jiortion (d' the sick had been ]n-e\iousl\ sent across the

1 .1 I M I 1 M I: I I I il -I , \\ I I I 1 I I'l \ 1 \^ i W A-sHI Nl, I I i\ S II 1 \ I

Hudson to I'ort Lee, but a laiuc number of these unfoi'tunates re-
mained, who were L;i\('n a ])osition in the adxance, bein.u dispatched
I'arly on tlic 22d and reaching \Vhilc I'lains the next mornini;. Dui'-
ini: the luiiiil of the 22d (ieiieral Sulli\an's division comi)leted the
nianli, and IVum then until the close .)f the 2(;ih the weary and be-
dra^ijled battalions ke])t steadily tiliuL; into ilie ^Vhite IMains camp,
tieneral bee's di\ision had the honoi' of briniiinj;' u]i the rear; an<l
the time occupied on the march by this body, commanded by an
ollicer (){ undoubted capacity (\\hale\'er may be said i>( him other-
wise!, ma\ be taken as a fail- indication of the extrenu' laboriousiiess
of the arm.\"s ]iro,i>'ress. (leneral bee's command |iresumably stai-led
from the lowei- ](arf of the county on the 22d, or at an\' rate not later
than the morninu ii( the 2.'')d ; it reached Tuckahoe early on the 24th,

386 HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTER COUNTY

ami on tlie2()tli arrived in Wliitc Plains — more than tliree days being
reijuired to cover a lesser distance tlian the division of (ieneral lleatli,
in light marching order, had traversed in twelve hours. Lee, how-
ever, upon reacliing the section where the British were encam])e(l
(l^carsdale), was apprehensive of attack, and by a forced night marcli
left the Tuckahoe Koad and gained the Dobbs Ferry road, by which
he proceeded the rest of the wny. There was no pursuit of the army
by the British forces remaining in New York City; and even Colonel
Lashers little command of a few hundred men, which Washington
had left at Fort Independence as a guard for Kingsbridge, safely
joined the main bt)dy at White Plains after being summoned 1o do
so on the 27th. ^

On the morning of the 2Sth of October, wlien IToAve moved np from
Scarsdale to attack Washington, the only American force remain-
ing south of White Plains was tlu' garrison at Fort Washington on
^fanliattan Island, retained tlierc. against the judgment of the com
mander-in-chief, in deference lo the ojiinions of his subordinates and
the wish of congress. It may be said, we think without the possi-
bility of mistake, that for fully six days after General Howe's ])as-
sage to Pell's Neck on the 18th it was abun<lantly in his power, with
the forces at his disposal and from the positions successively occii
]>ied by him, to cut the Kevidul ionary army in t\\'ain by an easy tlank
movement; and that, without speculating at all as to the probable
maximum results of such a movement executed at any time in tlial
jieriod, its minimum results coulil not ha\'e failed to be eithi'r the
destruction or capture of a very considerable section of our army.
Yet in face of the tremen<lous ])eril to which the army in its very
integi-ity Mas exi)ose(l. not the minutest i)ortion of it suffered harm
at Howe's liauds; and, indeed, if any single American soldier was
kille(l, oi' M'ouuded, or made jirisoner on the march from Kingsbridge
lo White Plains as the conse(|uence of aggrt'ssiou by the enemy, the
fact is beyond our sources of iTifonnal ion. Aside from the engage-
ment in Pelham on the ISth and the affair at the outlying Brit-
ish ]»ost of Mamaroneck on the m()rning of the 22d, both brought on
by the enterijrise of the Ameii( ans. there Mere two or three skir-
mishes of some interest along tlie line of march — which likewise
wei'e jirecipitated by the Ani(>i-icans. On the 2;>d a scouting ])arty
sent out by Colonel Clover alt.-icked a i)arty of Hessians, killing

' L.nslior cvadiated KlnssliridKi^ oarly on tlio tlio work (if dlsmantliriR Port IiKlciioiulcnoe

nioniliij; of the 2Sth, first burning the liar- and the redoubts, and tore down Kind's Bridge

raeks. and went to White Plains by way of the and the Free Bridge. General Knyphausen,

Alltaiiy Post Road. After his departure. Gen- with a foree of mereenar.v troops from New

er;il Gre<'ne eanie over from Fort Washlnglon. Iloehelle, oeeupied the abandoned ground on

retuctved lo that plaee all the materials and the evening of the 29th.
supplies which had been left behind, completed

GAMrArOX AND BATTLIO OF WIllTK PLAINS 387

lv\cl\c iniiKinii lliciii ;i licld iitliccn and ca]!! lU'iiii; tlii-cc, with a loss
(if liul one man; and on llic 24tli a (Ictaclnir'Ul Ironi (Sciicral Lcf's
(livisidu crossed I lie I'.roux and at WanTs Tavcni, near 'riickaliuc,
fell u|ioii 2."iO Hessians, slew ten of tlieiii, and bore away two into
diiiaiice. ('{'lie Hessians, it seems, Avere sin.milaily iiiarl<ed for de-
sdnction li.\' the \\a\si(le in this caniiiaiiin, ('\cn eliiiiinatini;' Daw-
son's nin!(hi-ous ]ien.l 'I'lie latter pei-forniance jtrovoked a sliiihl
retaliating blow, a raid lieini; made upon (Jeneral l.ee's colmiin whicdi
resulted in the caiiture of the jicnei'al's wine and some other per-
sonal liaiii^auc, including' that of Cajitain Alexander TTamilton. This
ajijiears to 1ia\c been the only aij^'ressive act of the eneniv. The re-
markable forbearance of The IJritish ;;-eneral was due, as he subse-
i|ii(iitly explained, to his settled ]i(dicy "not wantonly to commit
His ^lajosly's troojts where the object was inadecpiate." lie ab-
horred skirmishes, and he des]»ised snch a mei'cly jiartial issue as
the ca]itnre of a ]iortion of Washington's forces or even the shall<'r-
in^ of the w hoh — for his cautions mind sa^^■ only the miniintim ad-
vantage ,'o be derived by dislurbiny the luoveTuent after its van
had }iasscd him, and refused to believe that the entire object of his
cami>ai,iin wonld f(dlow. He was lookini; for a tji'iiut^l finale, a ])itched
balth' with thousands enjia^cd, to terminate in the rebel general's
hundile a|ppearance before him and his lilitterinji' staff to dcdiver
over Ills sword and surrender the last bleedinii' remnant of his host.
I'^ven in his shoi't advance from above New Ikochelie to Scarsdale,
on the '2'>i]\ and L'tith, it is said tliat he moAcd '• AAith the utmost cir-
cnms]>ection, not to expose any ]iait \\ hicli miiilit be vnlneral)le,"
although tliere was no foe to the east of him, and at the north Wash-
iniilon's main body was occnjiied in bnildinu' its White Plains in-
ireuclinu'Uts, and at the west, over across the fironx River, he conld
see, almost without the aid of his ficdil-nlasses, the troops of (Jeneral
I.ee most painfully and tediously toiliu;;' on, rather in the chai-acter
of beasts of burden tlian of armed nu'n. But the ea]>ital blunder
of Howe was Ills lazy uio\enient in mass. Accordiujii' to his defini-
tion of his object, it was to make a masteT- stroke which would end
the war. Tiiis he mi^lit ha\c attem])ted b\ assailini;' Washington
in his intrenclnnents on Harlem IIeii;hts, which would ha\"e been
I'ooUiai-dy because of the strenijth of the ])osition. His whole pur-
pose in coniint; v\) to Westchester (Vmnty was to surround that posi-
tion from tlie north, and, by thus cuftiui' off Washinsiton's communi-
cations an<l suiiiilies, force him either to surrendcT- ot' to ofl'er l)atlle
in I lie ojieii liehl. Not witlist andiuii' his absurd diseniI>arkation on
Throji^'s Neck, lie could still easily have realized that aim after his
movenn'Ut to INdl's Xi-ck if he had then advanced steadilv to a ecu

388 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tral locality in llic uiipi'r ]iarl of Wcslclicstcr rouiity. iiislcad he
loitered on (lie shores of tlic Sound mil 11 Wasbinytoii had occ\i]>icd
White Plains with a ixiwerfnl body, and then he !j,ranled his ad-
versary time to fortify his new station; so that, when he finally diil
move forAvard to brinfi on the decisive en.u,a^emeut for whii h he was
lon^inii, he was in precis(dy the same rcdative situation as he had
been in before the iiosilion on Harlem lJeiii,hts — attackinL: an in-
trenched camp from l)elo\v, with the whole country above left open.
The effective strength of Wasliinjiton's army as finally concen-
t]-ated at White I'lains was in the neiiihborhood of 13,(MI<». The
actual force which Howe broui>ht a.uainst it is uenerally eslimated
at about the same number or not many thousands ^I'cater — (ieneral
Knyphauseu's entire command of not less than S,()(l(l havini;- been
left at New liochelle. The ijreat advantaije of the British troops in
reyard to (luality, discipline, and eijuipment is too well understood
by the reader to need renewed statement here. < »ii the other hand,
the Aniiricans had a certain advantage from tlic circumstance of
beiui; intrenched, a\ liicdi, however, was by no means of a couiiiiaudin.i;
nature at the time (yf the ai)pearauce of the enemy before him. These
iutren(diments, says Dawson, " had been hastily constructeil, without
the superintendence of experienced engineers. The stony soil pre-
vented the dit(di from beini; made of any ti-oublesome deiith or the
liara]>et of a troublesome hei.uht. The latter was not fraised. Only
w lieic it was least needed — jjrobably because the consi rnclion of it
(dscMhere had been interfered with — was there the sliiililest appear-
ance of an abatis." The works had for their central feature a S(|nare
foit of sods built across the main street or I'ost Koad; from which
I lie ilefenses extended westwardly over the south side of I'urdy's
Hill to a bend of the Bronx River, and eastwardly across the hills
to llorton's Pond (Saint INlary's Lake). Directly across the P.ronx
from the termination of the western liiu' of defenses — that is, in the
leiiilory of the present Town of Greenburiih — rose an elevated
lieijiht called Chattei-ton's Hill, which was to be the scene of the
entire imi)endiny battle. On Hie crest of this hill a breastwork had
been betiun on the juiilit of the I'Tth by some .Massachusetts militia
men, but it A\as not sulticiently ad\anced to proviMif any value, '{'here
were no AnieiicMu wmks oi' troo])s whattM'er west of Chat terton's
Hill. The I'asterly tt'rmination (d' the White I'lains intreiudimenls,
as already said, was at llorton's Pond, and there \\'ere no supple-
meiilal works beyond that jMiinl ; but idf to the east, near llari-ison's
rurchase, the brigades of (ienerals (ieoriic ("linton and .lolni .Alorin
Scott were stationed, and to the northeast, at the head of King

CAMPAIGN AXI) RATTI.E OF WHITR PLAINS 389

Stri'ct, Ileal- live rmid, was ])()Stc(l a brigade coiniiiaiKlcd h\ (iciicral
Saimu'l H. Parsons.

I'ldiii Ill's caiii]! at Scarsdalc, four miles below Wliite Plains, (Jen
eral Ilowe maiclied early on the niorniiii;' of Monday, Oclidjer 2!S,
to tii;li( what b( sii]Piiose(l wonbl be tlie decisive bailie. lie pro-
cei'iled in two iieaxy colnnins, the rij^lit coiiiinandiMi by (ieneral Sir
lleuiw Clinton and the left by (ieneral di' Ileister. Upon ai-rivini;'
at Hart's Corners (now Ilartsdalo) he was met by a body of New
lOiiiiland ti'oojps under ;Majoi'-(>eneral Spencer, whose nnmber Daw-
son carefully calculates at abont 2,(100. '{"his force, which had been
]>ushed forward hy Wasliiujiton to check the enemy's advance, made
only a sorry endeavor, bein,;.;- i)roniptly scattered. In its disix-rsal the
Hessians bore a conspicuous part, but obtained not nuudi substantial
satisfaction for the hard blows they had suffered on previous days,
as the Americans made i^ood their escape — in fact tied in every direc-
lion with the utmost diligence. Yet a noticeable loss was inflicted —
I'L' killed, 24 wounded, and one missina;, a total of 47, or about half
as many as our side lost in th(» well-fou.i;ht eni;ati-einent on Chatter-
Ion's Hill. The famous battle of IJarfs Corners well nu-rits the
more descriptive name — which we borrow with acknowledjinu'nts
from Dawson — of the Kout of the Bashful New Eni;ianders.

Most of the fugitives tied across the P>ronx lUver, whither they
were pursued by the Hessians. This tiillinn circumstance proved
a princii>al factor in determining the scene of the conflict historically
known as the battle of White Plains. The commander of the pur-
suing Hessian force was Colonel L'ahl, a uallant officer — the same
who fell two months later at Trenton. IJalil, in his chase of the New
Knulanders, approached Chatterton's Hill, and observing that that
summit was occupied by an American body, conceived it to be his
duty to turn his attention thither. He accordingly abandoned the
])ursuit, advanced toward the hill (still moving on the west side of
I he lironx), and toid< a station commanding it, whence he opened a
(aniKiiiade of most pompous pretensions, Avhose only present result,
however, was the wounding of one member of the New England
militia regiment ]Kisled on the hill. That catastrophe so agitated
the comrades of the ha]>less man that it is related they "broke and
lied, and were not rallied without much dilliculty." Put the hill was
soon to have slunliei- defenders.

The American troops on ( 'hat leiton's Hill who had engageil the
attention of Cidomd IJahl were ( 'olon(d Haslet's Delaware regi-
ment (which parti<ipated in the raid on the (ineen's KangersI, and a
regiment of .Massachusetts militia commanded by ("(doiiel -bilin
Brooks. It is uiiknown wheliier W'asiiington's origimil plans for de-

390

IIISTOUY OF WHSTCHESTER COUNTY

IciiiliiiLi lii^ ]>(isili<iii Itcliiiid liic While IMaiiis iiiimicliiiiciils coii-
tciuiilatiMl any j)arti(iilai-ly rminal npcialioiis fi-diii ( 'liatlcrion's Ilill.
lint (lurinii JJahl's artillery attack lie sent over a sti-onL: force, com-
niandeil liy (Jeneral ilcl >ouiiall, to occn])y it in conjniiction with the
men already there. This body consisted of tiie 1st i-e^inienl of llie
New ^'ork line, C^doncd l{itzeina"s ;'.d regiment of the same line, Col-
onel Webb's rei;inient of the ( "onnect icnt line, and the snrvivinj; i-em-
nant of Colonel Smaliwood's noble ^Maryland ref>iment which so
distiniiinished itself at the battle (d' Lonti' Island — all well experi-
ence<l and reliable tro()])s; toiictheT- witli a company- of New York

artillery (liavinp: two small
ander irauiilton.

-V

](ieces) coniinandcd by Captain Alex-
united force was about 1,S00 and made a re-
spectable showinj; as its different reiii-
ments tank ui» their positions on the hill.
Durini!,' these preliminaries the main
body of Howe's army, in its two
(•(dumns, continued to ajjproacdi the
American intrenchments, as if to pro-
ceed forthwith to tlie general attack.
But at the distance (d' about a nnle from
"\\'ashiiniton's lines a halt was ordered,
and (ieneral Ilowt' and iiis ])rincii)al
oflicei's held a consultation on horse-
back. They contduded that tlie force on
Chatterton's Hill was a serious menace
to their Hank and that it must lie dis-
lodged before moving on tlie jirincijial
works. Thereupon a number of tlie finest
rei^iments, bolii JJiilisli and Cerman, were ordered to storm the
hill. In addition to IJahJ's battalion, already in action, there were
the 2d brigade of British (comprising the 5th, 2Sth, ;5.")th, and 40th
regiments), a party of liglit dragoons, and the Hessian (irenadiers
under Donop — all commanded by (ieneral Leslie. Artillery was st.a-
tioned at advantageous places, some twenty pieces altogether, and
furiously cannonaded the Americans on the hill. The total numerical
strength of the attacking ]iarty has been variously estimated at from
4,(10(1 to 7,500. All authorities agree that it was overwhelming.

The troops designated for the entei']»rise forded the r.ronx, whose
banks at that time were considerably swollen, and undertook the
assault in three distinct movements.

The 2Sth and o5tli British regiments, with Kahl's Hessians, and
another (Jerman regiment (w hi( li led the assault), attacked the Ameri-
can ])osition in front, where the regiment of Massachusetts militia, the

GKNKRAL MCDOUGAI.L.

OAMTAIGN AND BATTLK OF WHITE PLAINS 391

Maryland icjiiiiicii(, and Kitzi-nia's ;{d New York rc'siment were
pctsted. TIic Massaclnisclls niilitiaiiicn, wlio liad been so skittish
nndcr tlic artillery lii-c, showed llicnisclvcs (M|ually disinc lined (o sns-
tain an infantry shock; and, althon^h slicllcrcd by a stone wall, " lied
in conlnsion, wilhont nioic than a landoni, scattering;' tire," when
liahl's troo[)s, \\lioni it was llieir dnty to ojipose, atlvanccd ii]>on llieni.
On the other hand, the Jiarylanders ami New Yoi-kers awaited nn-
flinehingly the onset of the ot hei' three rej;inien1s (one Hessian and
two T'ritislil, and from the lirow of the hill received Ihem, when within
ranji'e, with a deliberate and effective tire, which caiised them to recoil
in spite of their very snperior nnmbers and adnnrable discipline. But
the desertion of theii- post by the militiamen exposed the l>rave re-
maining defenders of the position to a thudc attack by I{alil's brigade,
which (especially as tlie check administered to the three regiments
was oidy 1em])oraryl i-endered the ground untenable. The Ameri-
cans therefore fcdl back, though in good order, here and there making
a stand at favorable points. The number of the Maryland and New
York troo])S engaged in this (piai-ter and llnis dislodged from it was
about 1,100.

Jleantime the right of the American position, occupied by Colonel
TTaslefs Delaware nien, about 'M)0 strong, was moved on by the .^th
and 49th llrilish regiments. Notwithstanding the notable weakness
of the American force, a most gallant defense was made. It seems
that before the ascent of the assailing ])arty, while the enemy's can-
nonade was still in progress, one of the two li(ddpieces belonging to
Alexander Hamilton's company of New York Artillery was, upon
<'olonel Haslet's a])i)lication to General ^IcDougall, assigned to his
(Haslet's) command. This gun became, however, ])artiall3- disabled
i>y a 1 lessiau cannon-ball, and although several discharges were made
from it, the artillerymen who served it are said to have been remiss
in their duties ami to have retired with it from the action unsea-
sonably. .\t all events, the essential work of defense done at this
point in tlie Anu'rican line was that of the riflemen, and their re-
markable sieadiiH'ss in maintaining their ground was no way due
to artillery supjiort. Even after the 1,100 INlaryland ami New York
troojjs, courageous and stubborn though they were, had completely
abandoned their attempt to hold the center, this heroic Delaware
I)a]Hl ])e]-severed in the fight, finally taking a post behind a fence at
I he to]) of the hill, where, with some fragmentary troops from Mc-
Dongall's 1st New York regiment, it twice repulsed the British
iliarge, in which boiji fooi and hoise jiartook. In fact, the crowning
lionors oi the day were won by the Delaware men; they were the last
of all the American forces on ChattertoTi's Hill to stand against the

392

IIISTOKY OF WKS'ITHES'I F.i; I'OTXTY

GEOKGE WASHINGTON

FitOM THE OIUGINAL CABINET-SIZE I'ORTUAIT BV PEALE, TRESENTED BY JoHN QUINCY ADAMS TO CaRI.O

Giuseppe Guglielmo Botta, author of *' History of the War of American Independence."' PirRcHASED
FROM the Botta Family, with full credentials of authenticity, by Frederic de Peyster, LL.D., a
FORMER President of the New York Historical Society, and presented by his son, Brev.-Ma.i.-Gen.
J. Watts de Peyster, New York, to the United States War Department Library, at Washington, D.C.

CAMPAIGN AND RATTLE OF WIIITK PLAINS 393

cnciiiv, tlicy licl|ii'(l to secure tlu' retreat of the other regiments, ami
wiieii the time came for them to retreat they executed the maneuver
successfiillv.

Tile American left was hnt a trille stroui;cr tiian the ri^ht, con-
sisting of the 1st New York regiment ami Colonel Webb's Connec-
ticut regiment, both skeleton organizations whose nnited nnmbers
were some four Imndred. Against them moved a formidable array —
Itonop's Hessian (irenadiers in three regiments, besides a regiment
of (lei-man chasseurs. The second of Hamilton's tield-]iieces was sta-
tioned in this i)()siti()n, and according to most accouuts of the battli.'
did good execution. But the seasoned mercenary troops came steadily
on u]> the hill, and the two American regiments, like their com-
]iatiio1s at tile other jxduts, were forced to retreat, which they did
in an eiitii-ely creditable manner. A feature of the fighting at the
left of the line was the spirited defense of a portion of the jiosition,
against a force twice as strong as his own, by Ca])tain ^Villiam Hull
(afterward Ueneral Hull, <listingnished in tlie War of 1S12), who
commanded a company of the Connecticut regiment.

It has already been mentioned that a slight intrenchnu'nt was
throwu up (or rather begun) on Chattertou's Hill daring the night of
October 27 Ity l?rooks's jMassachusetts militiamen. Tint this elemen-
tary work did not prove of the least utility to the tUd'enders of the
hill. The action on Chattertou's Hill was not fought by the Ameri-
cans from Ixdnnd iutrenchnuuits like Bunker's Hill, but on gnmud
fully exposed to the onrush of the em-my — or at least affording only
the incidental protection of a sludteriug rock here and there and a
straggling stone fence or two. Before the charge of troops outnum-
bering them by three or four to one — troo])s as skilled and harch'ued
in the bnsiness of war as any that the armed camjis uf Eurojie could
siipjily, and operating under the gaze of their commander and the
A\h(de army — it was humanly imiiossible to Indd snch a jiosition.
EveiTtliing reasonably jjossible was perfoi'med by all com'erned — if
we except the single regimeid of undisci])lined militia: the i)osition
at every point was nobly defended, and in several instances with
signal brilliancy; the retreat, when nothing but retreat remained,
was ])erformed with dignity as wcdl as discretion and without
material loss; and finally the ]innishmen1 visited nixm the foe was
nimdi more consideiable than that inflicted by him. Kegarding the
losses on both sides we acce])t DaA\son's figures, which a]i])eai- to
have been comiiiled with exactitmh'. The British i-eginu-nts lost
."'.."» killed, 120 wounded, and 2 missing, a total of 1.")": the mercenary
regiments 12 killed, (12 wonnded, and 2 missing, a total of 7<! — making
a giami total on the eiiemv's sich- (d" 2."'."). The .\m<'rican losses were 25

394 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COT'NTY

killed, 7}'J w oiuidcd, ;m<l l(i missing — ',}'.', altogi-tlu'i-; lu wiiicli add the
47 lost at llan"s Corners — an Anieritau j^rand total of 140 for the
two tifihts. It is true the returns are soiuewhal (h-feetive for both
sides; but there is no reason for suspeeting that the American nn-
reported losses were disproijortiomitely yreater than I lie enemy's.
The Americans bore oft" all their wounded and their two tield-iiuns,
and, by way of the Dobbs i'^erry road, crossed the bri<Iji'e over the
Bronx River and fell into position for further service, if necessary,
behind the White I'lains intrencjiments. No altcnqit was made to
pursue them.

It is probable that a ydod many of our killed an<l wounded fell
under the artillery fire which preceded the assault. This, althoujiti
not lonj;- continued, was very heavy for the time that it did last.
A i)ai-tici])ant on the American side, writing' over the signature of
" A Gentleman in the Army," has left a truly epic description of it,
whereof we will not de])riv<' our readers, esjiecially as we shall hardly
have another opportunity to oiler them anything so fine about the
spectacular aspects of war in Westchester County.

The scene (he says) was jji-aiirl and solemn. All the adjacent hills smoked as though on
fire, and bellowed and trembled with a jierpetual cannonade and fire of tield-pieces, howitz,
and mortars. The air groaned witli streams of cannon and musket-shot ; the air and hills
smoked and echoed terribly with tlie bursting of shells ; the fences and walls were knocked
down and torn to pieces, and men's legs, arms, and liodies mingled with the cannon and grape-
sliot all around us.

There are differences of opinion about the value of the services
rendered the American regiments by the two field-guns at their dis-
posal. It is said that Alexander Hamilton, visiting Chatterton's Hill
many years after, remarked on this point: "For three successive
discharges the advancing column of British troops was swept from
hill-toit to river," and in the writings of his son, John C Hamilton,
much is made of the artillery phase of the American defense. Daw-
son, whose animus against Hamilton is strong, utterly discredits the
claims for the artillerymen and their young commander, and even
asserts that this arm of the defense was distinctly neglectful of its
duty, comporting itscdf almost as disgracefully as the ^[assacliusef ts
regiment of militia. But this is not a d(>tail of any essential import-
ance. The two guns could not have been of more than minoi- con-
sequence in any case. The aggregate force detached by Washington
to Chattel-ton's Hill was not sti-ong enough, even with the best sup-
])<)r( w liicli a single comjiany of artillery with two small pieces could
lia\(' gh'en it, to retain that station against the tremendous attack-
ing power. The one essential thing is that it was strong enough to
alarm General no^\"e in his progress toward the Ameiican inti'ench-
menls at White Plains, to divert him from the main business of the

CAMPAION AND BATTLE OK WHITE PLAINS 395

daj, and to cause him absolulcly to (lisniciuber bis army for tlic
purely iucideutal purpose of capturing an outlying post.

After expelling the Americans fiom (Miatterton's Hill, the attack-
ing party quietly occupied the ground thus talcen, prepared dinner,
and rested on its arms. To that inert and irresolute attitude the
main body of the royal army also resigned its<'lf. In the often-ciuoted
words (d' Steduian, the English historian of the Kevolution, " the ditti
culty of co-operation between the left and right Avings of our army
was such that it was (d)vious that the latter could no longer ex-
pediently attempt anything against the enemy's main body." That
is, In the storming and occupation of the hill Howe split his forces
into two remotely separated parts, which could not co-operate in a
general advance movement, whilst Washington with his entire body
lay in an advantageous position ready to resist any attempt with
satisfactory nunibeis. Tlie original project of the British comnumder
was suspended for the day, no ofl'er l)eing made to engage the in-
tren(died IJevolutionaries, with the exception of one slight sporadic
effort which is thus described by Heath, against whose division it
was directed :

The right column, com])()setl of British tioojjs, preceded b\- about twenty light horse in
full gall(i|i, and brandishing their swords, a])i)eared on the road leading to the Court House,
■and now direetlv in the front of our general's (Heath's) division. The light horse leaped the
fence of a wheat field at the foot of the liill on which Colonel Malcolm's regiment was posted, of
wliich the liglit liorse were not aware until a shot from Lieutenant Fenno's field-])iece gave
them notice l)v striking in the midst of them, and a horseman pitching from his horse. They
then wliccled short about, galloped out of tlie field as fast as they came in, rode behind a
little liill on the road and faced about. . . . The column came no further nj) the road, liut
wheeled to the left by platoons as they came up, and, passing through a bar or gateway,
directed their heads towards the troops on Chatterton's Hill, now engaged.

This pitiful demonstration was the sole thing undertaken by the
enemy in the While I'lains quarter.

r.ut while there was no battle at White Plains, the whole engage-
ment having transpired on (Miatterton's Hill in the Town of Green-
burgh, the name of the battle of \A'hite Plains, by whicli alone the
event is known in general liistories, is a strictly appropi'iate one;
and indeed it would have been r<'grettable if this exceedingly im-
portant conflict — one of the most important and re])resentative of
(he struggle for independence — had received the mei'ely local desig-
nation of the isolated, incidental, accidentally chosen, and unjiop-
ulated summit where it was fought. The strategic situation was at
M'lnte riains exclusively, which was the place deliberately selected
by Washington days in advance foi- his fliial stand, and fully ai'ce])ted
by Howe as the battle-ground; and u]) lo the moment that Howe
arriv<'d in sighl of tnir lines the attention gi\'eii to riiattertoirs Hill
b\' the .VuM'i-ican comiiiander, e\'en as a localitv of incidental conse-

396 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COr.NTY

(|ii('ii((', was (iC the iiiosl iiifonual nature, no ilcfi'iisivc winks of auy
a\ailal)ilily having' been erected and not a sinjile ])ieee of artillery
jilaiited ii]»()n it. That the aetioii on (Miattcrtoii's Hill proved acci-
dentally in be the u' hole of the duly a]ii)ointed battle of >\'hile Plains,
wdiild ha\(' been no sintable reason for robbing' the latter ]>lace of
I lie honor of the name. Moreover, as rural battlefields are always
named after the most conspicuiuis ami most familiarly known locality
of their vioinaj^e, it would have been a peculiar departure fi-om such
ethics not to dignify this very notable engagement with the name of
the flourishing and widely known village beside which it occurred.

There exists no public memorial, either on Chattei'ton's Hill (tr in
White I'lains village, commemorative of the battle. Upon the ap-
])roach of (he cenlt-nnial anniversary of the day in 187('>, arrangcnu'nts
were made, under the auspices of the Westcdiester Couidy llistoi-ical
Society, for a ]iublic celebratiiui on Chatterton's Hill, to include the
laying of the coi-ner-stone foT' a monument. This latter ceremony
Mas duly ])ei-foruied, but as the weather was exceedingly incdement
the ]iulilic exercises were adjourned to the court house, where a
tilling address was made by the Hon. (Markson N. Potter, at that
tinu' re])resentative in congress from the district. Congress had ]>re-
viously donated lliree IJevolutionary cannon as accessories to the
pr-o]K>se(l monument, and the ])lans for the nu'Tuorial did not con-
teniplale any elabora.te or costly structui'e. Vet the project ended
with the laying of the corner-stone and the speechifying. The futile
attemiit is a decidedly ])aiuful reminiscence for the people of West-
cliesfi-r County, and our i-eaders \\ill willingly spare us any further
I'emai'k njion it than this ](assing mdice of the fact.

CHAPTEli XVlll

FORT WASHINGTON S FALL THE DELINQUENCY OF GENERAL LEE

HE divided Urilisli army, with its ri;ilit rcsriiiti on llir road
f'loni 'While Plains t(» ilaniai-nncck, and its left (in tin'
Ilionx Kivcr and ( 'liattcrtcn's Hill, remained (-(implelely
inactive not only duriuy- the rest of the 2Sth of October,
hilt throiijihonl the jieriod of its continuance liefoi-e Washington's
position. As we have seen, it was deemed inexpedient by (Jeneral
Howe to move on the White Plains intrencbments with iiis forces
thus sepaiated. I!nt it has nevi'r been satisfactorily explained why
that se]Kiiation of his army need have been pi-otracted after the
taking of the hill, or why he mii^ht not have promi)tly reunited
the se\ered i»arts and fonnhf the intended battle on the same aftei'-
noon or the next morning under substantially the orijiinal conditions.
Ti) hold Chatterton's Hill after ha\ inj; secured it, only a small body
<if troops was required, since ^^'ashin^iton, expecting a ti'enei'al as-
sault u])on his intrenchments, would uot have dared weaken his army
for siK li a hazardous ami ])rofitless object as an attenii)ted recap-
ture of a deta<died post. We think the only reasonable deduction
from the known facts is that Howe ,i;rew faint-hearted while facing
^\'ashin•^■ton after his bait; and indeed his persomil explanation of
his conduct iu decliniuf;' a general battli' strongly suii^ests sucdi an
inference. In a letter to Lord (ieorjic (lermaine he accounted for his
failure to attack Washinjiton the uext morning by representing,- that
tile Americans meantime had drawn back their eiicamiuneiit and
sin niithened their lines l)y additional works, which made it neces-
sai-y to defer tin* purposed ajifiression until re-enforcenu'uts could ar-
rive. In otlier words, lie sought counsel of his fears. It is true the
Americans did strenf;tlien their lines to every extent jiossible, thank-
fully takini;' advantage of the resi)ite jii-anted tliem; but when IIowi'
iiiarcjied from Scarsdale he was comiuii •<' assail intremdiments of
entirely uncei-taiu streiiiith, and if willing' to venture ajiainst them
then he could hardly have changed his mind after the lapse of a
few hours from any oilier circumstance than newborn discretion. As
for his assertion thai the Americans had drawn back their encamp
ment by the morning of the 2!ltli, it was entirely erroneous; althoiij;h

398

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

they (lid begin as early as the iiiyiit of the I'Stli to move back their
stores as the first preliminary to their masterly withdrawal into the
imprefjiiable Ileiiihts of North Caslle — an nltimate mov<-ment which
Howe sliduld have foreseen if he had jxissessed a gi'ain of military
sense, and which he must have known would prove moie and more
imminent with every lionr that he frittered away before the White
Plains works.

Duriiifi- the 2!lth and ."{(Ith (Jeiieial Howe continned. with all the
saijacity he conld command, to insjx'ct the rising Amei'icaii iiitrench-
ments and to reflect ui»on the excellent uses to which the rebels were

THE PRISON SHIP.

tlins piitlini; the unexpected opportunity vouchsafed them. On the
aftei'iiiioii of the latter day he was re-enforced by four regiments from
New ^drk City and two from Mamai-oneck, and, thus strengthened,
he resolved to tight the battle on the morning of the olst, ami made
preparations accordingly. Hut a violent rainstinan f(dl, and there
was another and last ]tostponem<'nt. T>(^t\A('en the hours of nightfall
on the :>lst of Octobei' and daybi-eak on the 1st of Novi'udjer, Wash-
ington retired to his new ])osition in the Xorlli Castle hills, about
a nule above his first stand, leaving, howevei-, a tolerably strong
f(U'ce on the lines at White Plains, which held them f(U- a number
of hours on the 1st without suffering disturbance from tlie enemy,
ami then abamhmi'd tliem to a ]iarty of Hessians that came over from
Chatterton's Hill to occupy them. In the inquiry instituted by par-

FORT AA'ASHINGTON'S FALL 399

liamciit coiicci'iiiiiii IIomc's tniiisiictiniis as ('(uniiiiUKlcr of liis
iliijcsty's forces in Aiiicrii'a, one of 11k' witiu-sscs (Ijoi-d ("ornwallis)
was iutcri'o^natcd c-oiiotTuiiii;' tlic failure to storm the woi-ks after
the arrival of the re-enforccnients. He rejdied that it was on ac-
count of the rain. The question was then asked whether, " if the
powder Avas wet on both sides, the attacd^s niij;ht not have been made
by bayonets?" — to which the intelligent witness replied, "I do not
recollect that I said the powder was wet." The siin]ile truth is that
on the very last day when he niiiiht have foui^ht A\'ashin,nton under
not extremely unfavorable conditions, Howe found it impleasant to
do so because of rain, as on the precedinii' days he had foun<l it in-
exjx'dient because of fear. In such an enier.yency as the im])endinfi'
retirement of an inferior adversary to an unassailable position, one
would think that, even if reduced to tlu^ necessity (d' a bayonet ti.ulil,
the attaclvinti' iicueral, uidess blindly indifferent to his re])utation,
should not lia\c hesitated to i)ursue that course rather than suffer
the c.imj)ainn to come to a humiliating' end.

I'indin^ that Washinjiton liad retired, (leneral Howe, ajipareiitly
with some realizinii' sense of his ])revious delin(|uency, and des])ite
the continuance of I he storm and the wretche<l condition u{ the roads,
followed him to the North Castle position on November 1 with a i)or-
tion of his artillery, ami bejian to cannonade the American left, wlii( h
re])lied with vij^or. Little resulted from this ])erformance on eillier
side bui ])owder burniuii'. Washini;ton had alrea<ly taken tiie pre-
cauii< II of jireventiu!.;' any atti'Uipt of the enemy to cut olT ins re-
treat north of the Croton Kiver. As the reader doubtless knows,
that stream, previ(uisly to the diversion of its waters for the uses
of New York (Mty, had a decidedly wide channtd for a considerabh'
distance from its numth; and at the time of Die Kevolution the only
structure afl'ordinji' passa,i;e ovei' it to the north was I'ine's l?ridi;e,
some fi\'e miles east of the Hudson IJiver.' 'IMiere was a feri'v at the
mouth of the Croton, but of course it was essentially imjiortant to
reiain I'ine's Bi-id^c. Washin-iton conse(|uently, on October ."'l, sent
(ieneral Kezin ]>eall, witli three ^[ai\\land reiiiments, to that ])oint;
and ill adililion he ordered (ieneral l.,ord Stirlinii with his brigade
"to keej) ]iace with tiie enemy's left Hank and to ])ush up also to
Croton Ikiver should he jilainly percei\(' that the enemy's route lays
that way." Thus besides Inniuii- gained a situation foi' the army on
the Ileii;lits of NoT'tli Castle from whicdi he could tlci'y any further
attempts of Howe's, he had thoroughly secured his lines of coiu-
munication.

' nowovor, towuril tlio rnd of the war a nillc and a half fioin llic incinili. TliLs was
bridge was thrown across the stream about a known as Coullnontal Bridge.

400 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Howe iiiiulc 111) (ilTci- t(i dispute the ixissessinii of llie cnuutiv alunc
the Nortli (';islle hills, and it does not appear that he even attempted
to reoonnoiter it. But the briiiach' of General A!j;new which was
stationed at Maniaroneek was pushed forward about two miles be-
yond live, in order, if po.ssible, to brinii an Auiericau force at the
Sawpits to an en^ajiement. Failinj;- in this, Aji;new returned to
]\Iamaroneck. Durinp; the passaj^e of the T-oyal troops through Eye,
says Raird, they were warmly fi'reeted by the Loyalists of that place,
"conspicuous amonji' Avhom was the Kev. Mr. Avery, the [E])iscopa-
lianj rector of the parish, wlio had been in correspondence with Gov-
ernor Tryon before the arrival of the British army in New York and
had been very outsjioken in his ])rofessions of sympathy for the Brit-
ish cause." This IJev. Mr. Avery, according to Bolton, was a stepson
of the patriot General I'utnani. He soon had cause to rue his indis-
creet demonstration of entliusiasm. A few days later his horses and
cattle were seized by some vindictive Kevolutionaries. Two days

after that he was founil dead in the neii>hborli 1 of his house. It

has nevt'r been leai-ned how he came to his end. So far as is known,
no marks of violence were found on his body, 'i'lic Toi-y clerjiyman
Seabury, of Westchester, Avritinij to the Bropajiation Society about
his death, mentions the conjecture of some jiersons that he was mur-
dci'cd b,\' the " rebels," but apparently ,iii\cs pi-eference to the oi)inion
that he died from natural causes, su])erinduced by distress of mind
uiiilei' I he ](('i'seculi(ins lo which he was subjected.

Confronled by 1 he di (lieu It conditions of the new situation, ( ieiu'ral
Howe would hardly in any case have ]iersevei'e(l loiiu in his actual
test of W'asliiniiton's too evident strenjith in the location \\liere he
li;id now esiablislied himself. But the suddenness of his retireuK'ut
was almost as puzzlinj; as had been the circumstances of his en-
trance upon the \\'estchester camjiai^n. On the ni;;ht of the -ith
of November he bi-oke u\) his encam]iment, and b\' daybreak of the
."ith he was marching with all his army to Dobbs h'err.N', wliere he
formed a new cam]) on the (Ith.

This move of course im])lied that Howe, abandoninii' liis designs
aj;ainst A\'ashiniiton"s foi'ces at Noith Castle, and also lea\inii- to
his opponent the undisturbed possession of the country above, ha«l
concluded to transfer the scene of at;!j,ressi\-e ojx'rat ions to some other
quarter. Btit it was dillicult to determine just what he had in view.
"The desij^n of this maneuvei-," wiote ^\'asllin^:ton to the ])i'esident
of cou.^ress on the Gth, " is a matter of much conjecture and sitecula-
tion, and can not be accounted for with any dei;ree of certainty."
But there were three ])rinci])al objects that Howe miiiht contem-
plate:— first, to cajjture Forts Washington and Fee, so as to make

PORT WASHINGTON'S FALL 401

his mastery of the h)\VL'r Hudson comiilote; second, to transport his
army to the west bank of the Hudson, and by a march through New
Jersey seize Philadelphia, the Revolutionary capital; or third, to
proceed up the Hudson River along its west bank and take posses-
sion of the Highlands. In the case of an intended capture of Forts
\Yashington and Lee it was manifestly impossible to do anything
more toward retaining those positions than had already been done,
as both of them were well garrisoned and it would have been inju-
dicious to deplete the army for their further protection. But it was
necessary without delay to provide for thwarting the other two pos-
sible objects of Howe. At a council of war held on the 6th it was
unanimously agreed to so distribute the army as to have a portion
of it available for confronting Howe whithersoever he might go —
to retain a part in the encampment at North Castle, to dispatch
another part into New Jersey, and to establish a third part in the
neighborhood of Peekskill as a guard for the Highlands. Conforma-
bly with this decision Washington on the 9th detached 3,000 men
under fJeneral Heath to Peekskill and removed 5,000 to New Jersey
under the temporary charge of fleneral Putnam, intending to assume
this command personally within a few days, and on the 10th he com-
mitted to General Lee the command of the North Castle residue, at
that time about 7,500.

In making this disposition he had two fundamental purposes —
first, to keep Heath's body of .^,000 permanently in the Highlands,
williout drawing upon it in any event for the re-enforcement of the
main operating army; and second, to have Lee remain at North
Castle only for the time being, until Howe's intentions should be de-
veloped. Upon the latter point his directions to Lee were unmis-
takable. He directed that the stores and baggage be removed north
(if tlu- Croton River into General Heath's jurisdiction, and closed
with this injunction: " If the enemy should remove the greater part
of Ihcii- force to the west side of Hudson's River, I have no doubt of
your following with all possible dispatch." We shall see later how
r.ce, in his commander's direst need dui'ing the retreat through New
Jersey, deliberately ignored this instruction and even assumed to
exercise independent authority and to reverse Washington's express
orders to Heath.

On th(> night of the lOtli of Ni>vember Washington, having taken
his departure from the remnant of the army at North Castle, went to
Peekskill, and on the lltli, accoinpnuied by Generals Heath, Stirling,
<!eorge and James Clinton, and Miftlin, began a detailed inspection
of points on both banks of the river above, which was extended the
next morning into the defiles of tlie Highlands. This tour resulted

402 HISTORY OF ^YRSTCHESTER COUNTY

ill the issuance of dctiiiitc iiistiucddiis to Ilcatli. About icii (•"clock
ou the morning of the 12tli he crossed tin- river to eiiibarlc upon bis
ever iiieiiiorabb' winter caiiipaiiiii in New Jersey.

Allusion has been made in a jirevions chapter to the burniiii;- of
the Westchester County court house by some soldiers of Wasiiing-
t<»n's army. That deplorable event occurr(-d on the iiii:ht of the 5tli
of November. It was an entirely wanton and irresp(msible jjerform-
ance. Throughout the Westchester campaign Washington liad been
excessively annoyed by the bad conduct of the lawless element in
his ranks — men who pillaged and set lire to farm houses, and com-
mitted promiscuous outrages. lie repeatedly issued orders to re-
strain such practices, lu general ordei's dated November 2 he said:
"The Ueneral expressly forbids any person or soldier belonging to
the army to set fire to any house or barn, on any pretense, Avithout
a special order from some general oflicer." The burning of the court
house during the night of the 5th was therefore done in defiance of
a recent stringent prohibition by the commander-in-chief. Tiie ciil-
ju'its were a band of ^lasyachusetts troops led by IMajor Jonathan
Williams Austin, and, besides destroying the court house, th( y burnt
the Presbyterian Church and several private dwellings at White
Plains. For this deed Austin was court-martiale<l, dismissed from
the service, and turned over to the State convention for further ]uin-
ishnient. By the direction of that body he was put in jail at Kings-
ton, but managed to escape. Fortunately the county records did
not perish in the flames, having been removed to a place of security
before the occupation of Wliite Plains by the two armies.

This instance of the incidental outrages inflicted upon the people
of our county as a result of the military operations in the caminiign
of ITK! might be enlarged upon by the introduction of local details
of destruction, devastation, violeiue, and plunder almost innumera-
ble. The materials for such local chronicles obtainable from pub-
lished sources and from family i-ecords are so abundant that very
many of our pages might be filled with them; but sucli ininutia' hardly
belong to a general narrative hist(U-y of moderate dimensions, li
is snfticient to say tliat, as in the cases of individual jiersecutions for
political belief, they were ])erpetraled with activity and mercilessness
l)y both si<les — with the iin|ioi'laiit distinction, however, that Avhile
the offenses committed by th'/ American soldiers were the acts of in-
dividuals or small detachiiicnts in (Ictiance of very strict army regu-
lations, the crimes of the invading lroo])s were wh()lly unrestrained
if indeed they were not tacitly licensed. It was well understood, and
the fact is recognized by all historians (not excepting those of strong
British biasi, that the German mercenaries, privates as well as officers,

FORT WASHINGTON'S FALL 403

ill ;icc(']>tiiiii' the ciuploynu^nt of the ]dn<j; of En.nland wero pncoTira<;e(l
lo l)('li('V(' tliat they could curicli thciusolvos in America by pluiideriiif;'
I lie popiilatiou, aud wherever they went their excesses were unlitiiited.
The P.rirish soldiei-y were hardly less scrnpnlous or cruel; and botli
British and (iiM-niaiis robbed, killed, burned, and devastated the land
with little discrimination between Tory and patriot where the object
was the aratification of their own jireed or ])assions. In their vindic-
tive fury a^ainsl the patriots the British went farther than their
(Jerman hirelings. The following, from a letter written from Peeks-
kill, .Tanuaiy 19, 1777, reads like a chapter from the Tliirty Years'
War:

Geiu'ial Howe has diseliaioed all the privates who were prisoners in New York ; one-half
he sent to the world of spirits for want of food. The other he hath sent to warn their eoiin-
trjnien of the danger of falling into his hands, and so eon^ince them, liy oenlar demonstration,
that it is infinitely better to be slain in battle than to be taken prisoners by British brutes,
whose tender mercies are cruelty. But it is not the prisoners alone who felt the effects of Brit-
ish inhumanity. Kvery part of the country thro' which they have march'd has been plundered
and ravaged. No discrimination has been made with respect to Whig or Tory, but all alike
have been involv'd in one common fate. Their march thro' New .lersey has been marked
\vith savage barbarity. But Westchester witnesseth more terrible things. The repositories of
the dead have ever been held sacred by the most barbaroiis and savage nations. B\it here,
not being able to accomplish their accursed purposes upon the living, they wreaked their ven-
geance on the dead. In many ])laees, the graves in the church-yards were opened, and the
bodies of the dead exposed u])on the groiuid for several days. At Morrissania the family vault
was opened, the coffins broken and the bones scattered abroad. At Delancey^s farm the body
of a beautiful young lady, which had l)een buried for two years, was taken out of the ground
and ex])osed for five days in a most indecent manner ; many more instances coidd be men-
tioned, but my hearl .sickens at the recollection of such iidumiauity. Some persons try to
believe that it is only the Hessians who perpetrate these things, but I have good authority
to sa}' that the British vie with, and even exceed the auxiliary troops in licentiousness. After
such treatment can it be possible for any persons seriously to wish for a reconciliation with
fireat Britain ? '

We left (Jeiieral Howe on the fitli of November at Dobbs Ferry,
to whicli jtoint he liad fallen back after abandoning; on the 4th his
p(i.><iii(in before Washiniitoii's lines on the Heights of North Castle.
His object in this move was made ])erfi'ctly ])lain a few days later
by the c(mcentratiou of all his forces for the reduction of Fort Wash-
iiiLiton. But his reasons for so abruptly retiring from in front of
Washington at North Castle, where he seemed to have established
himself \vitli tiie serious intent of attacking him sooner or later,
remained none the less shrouded in mystery; and indeed foi- more
th.iu a huudreil yeai's historical writers, in commenting on this
pliase, were (juite at a loss to reasonably account for his conduct —
aitliou^h the subject was made a jxM-uliaily iii\iting om^ for curious
iuipiii-ers by a remarkable statement of (Jeneral Howe's during the
investigation of his Anu'rican career by the committee of the House
of Commons. "Sir," sai<1 he on that occasion, "an assault upon the

' Frrcmnn'x Joiininl. or ,Vnc Ilnmpshin: Ga:rlti-, February 18, 1777.

404

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

enemy's rijiht, Avhioh Avas opposed to the Llcssian troops, was in-
tended. The committee must liive me credit wlien I assure them
tliat I have |)(i]itieal reasons, and no otliei', for (h-elinin^' to <'Xphiin
wliy tliat assault was not nnuh . I'pon a minute inquiry tliese rea-
sons miii'ht, if nocessai'y, be hrou,nlit out in evidence at tlie bar." The
sujrorested proceedinjis were not taken, and the secret was success-
fully "uarded until 1877, when, in an article in the MfKidZiiic of Amcrl-
cini ll'ishini by Jlr. Edward lloyd de Lancey, supported by docu-
mentary proof, it Avas fully expose(l. The " political reasons "' alluded
to by Oeneral Howe were that he was diverted from the attack on
the American camp to the attack on I'ort AN'ashington hy intelligence

VICINITY OV FORT WASHINGTON.

furnished him by an Auiericau traitor, and thai such a delicate fact
natui-ally could not be sjtreail before a ])arliauieutaiy couimittee.
The name of that traitor was WILLIAM J )EM(J>;T.

Dement was adjutant to Colonel Ma»aw, the comuiandant of Fort
Washinjiton, and on the 2d of November he made his way out of the
fort and conveyed to Earl Percy, the British comnuinder in New
York City, complete plans of its defenses and information about tlu>
arrangement of its aruiament and disposition of the garrison. Tlu'se
were at once communicated by I'ercy to Howe, then lying before
the American works in the North Castle hills, and that general, seeing
in the assured capture of the chief rebel fortress a good excuse for

TOUT WASHINGTON'S FALL iO/S

williilrawiiig from liis li()p('le:>s oninpai.nn in tlic field, faced about
and with a celerity, .skill, and success wliicli liad never characterized
liis opci'ations ^^\) lo thai liour pi'ocecded to liie investment and re-
duction of tlie betrayed stroni;lioId.

Fort ^^'asliingtou, to whicli reference lias so frequently been made
in these pa^es, barred all jirouress by land to and from New York
City, and with its fall Westchester County was completelj' laid open
to the enemy, remaining- in that unhappy state until the signing of
the treaty of peace — a period of seven j'ears. A particular descrip-
tion of it belongs, therefore, to this narrative. We quote from an
article by Jlajor-General George W. Culluiu in the ''Narrative and
Critical I list nry of America":

It was l)uilt l)y Ciilouel Riifii.s Putnam soon after the evacuation of Boston, and occupied
tlie liigli <;Tound at the uorthcin end of Manliattan Island. It was a pentagonal liastioned
earthwork without a keep, having a feehle profile and seareely any ditch. In its vicinity were
hattcries, redonhts, and intrenched lints. These various field fortiticatious, of which Fort
Washington may be considered the citadel, extended north and south over two and one-half
miles and had a circuit of six miles. The three intrenched lines of Harlem Heights, crossing
the island, were to the south : Laurel Hill, with Fort (ieorge at its northern extremity, lay to
the east ; upon the river edge, near Tnl)by Hook, was Fort Tryon, and close to Spuyteu Duy-
vil were some slight works known as Cockhill Fort ; and across the creek, on Tetard's Hill,
Fort Independence. The main communication with these various works was the Albany
Road, crossing the Harlem River at Kingsbridge. This road was obstructed I)}' three lines
of abatis extending from Laurel Hill to the River Ridge.

With Fort Lee, on the opposite side of Ihe river, it constituted the
military domain of (ieneral Nallianiel (Treene. Greene had his head-
i|narters at Fort Lee. In common with most of the other subor-
dinates of General Washington, he stubbornly insisted that it should
he held after the evacuation of Uarleni Heights and Kingsbridge,
and this was the emphatic opinion of congress, which during the
early stages of the war was always meddling with Washington's
]irerogative as commander-in-chief. Greene, in fact, regarded it as im-
pregnable, going so far as to declare that the place could be held
against the whole British army. Wasliiiigtou .stood practicalh* alone
in regarding the attempted retention of the fort as an inexpedient
measure. At the very first council of war on the subject, held a1
Kingsbridge on (he 16th of October, he advised its abandonment,
iioth because he was convinced that in the case of a siege it wotild
he taken, and Ix cause lie foresaw that the whole theater of war would
^noii be shifted from .Manhattan Island and the lower Hudson, in
whicli event its usefulness would be ended. But he was loath to set
ills authnrity against the unanimous Judgment of his officers and
cdugress, and while at every step i)ersonally favoring the with-
iliawal nf the garrison, he finally permitted the fort to be defended.

(»n the (lav of the Chattertoirs Hill engagement (Orrober 2S) Howe

406 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

ordered General Knyipliauscn, ilicn at New Koclielle, to take liis
whole command of nicicciiarics to Kinysbridge, with the exccplioii
of one rejiinient of Wahlccl^crs, which was to Ik^ left at New IJochelle.
This movement was proliahly intended as a preliminary step toward
the general occupation of the lower portion of Westchester County.
Knyphausen eucami)eil at Ivin^shi-idjie on the 2d of Novend)er. By
the 4:th British trooi>s had been stationed in the Mile Scjuare, on
Valentine's Hill, and at West Farnrs, and the New Eochcdle W'al-
deckers were transferred to Williams's Bridge. On tlie (!th, as al-
ready related, Howe, with the main army, was a.t Dobbs Ferry. From
there on the 7th he dispatched his pack of artillery to Kingsbridge,
ami immediately upon its arrival at that place the work of erecting
batteries along the Westchester shore v<as begun. These were
planted in conformity with the secret information about the I'ort
Washington works which the Irailor Demont liad furnished; and it
was always a matter of astonishment to American oflicers in study-
ing the plans of the siege that in every particular the enemy's ar-
rangements were made with the most excellent judgment. Four
separate lines of attack on IMount Washington were idiosen — three
of them proceeding from the Westchester shore. The first and main
one was bj- way of Kiugsbridg(\ the second by boats across the Har-
lem Kiver against Laurel Hill, the third by boats from a point farther
down against the lines of fortifications near the Boger Morris house,
and the fourth from New York (Mty against the southern exposure
of the works.

On the 13th Howe in i)erson airived at Kingsbridge, with ail the
forces that he had had at Dobbs Ferry. On the loth, his plans being
conqdeted, he sent to Colonel Magaw, in command at Fort Washing-
ton, a summons to surrender, signifying that if obliged to carry the
fort by assault he Avould put the garrison to the sword. To this san-
guinary threat Magaw replied tliat it was unworthy of General Howe
and the British nation, at the same time declaring that he intended
to hold out to the last extremity. During the night of the 15th
numerous small boats for the transportation of the attacking troops
from the Westchester side were passed up the Hudson and through
Spuyten Duyvil Oi-eek into the Harlem Eiver. On the IGth the as-
sault was made at everj^ selected point and was crowned with com-
])leti' success, although the enemy's killed and wounded were 458
against but 147 on the American side. The whole garrison, consist-
ing of 2,818 men, including officers, became prisoners of war, and
forly-tliree guns and a large amount of equipnu^nts and stores fell
into the hands of the British.

This was a dreadful blow to Washington, almost a deadlv one in

PELINQrnONCY OF GKNKUAL LKE 407

llic circninslauccs wiiicli «'ii((nn]i:issc(l him. 'I'lic fall of tlic f(irt, so
lai- tioiii bciiii;' a cataistroplu', was a blossiiijj; in disguise. 11 was well
111 have it off liis hands. P.ul the loss of ;{,(H)0 men, at tlu> moment
when he Avas en.i;aiiing in a, new <am])aijin havinj;' for its ])i-(thaldc
object the defense of the capital, willi hnt a mea.yei' force at his dis-
jMisa], which was ia])idl_v molderinn' away in conse(|nence of deser-
(i(ois and tlie expiration of miiiiia terms of service, was about as
disastrous a thing as could betide sliort of his own destruclion. On
tile I'Oth I'^irt Lee was taken by an e.vpedition of '>,()()(), which landed
I he nigjit before o])posite Yonkei's. No I'esistance was attemjited.
and aliheniili I he garrison of 2,000 was ])i'(uui)l ly wilhdrawn, it barcdy
escai)e<l ca])ture. Then began Washington's famous retreat across
\ew Jersey, witli ( 'oinwallis and Kny)diansen in hot ]>ui'suit. It
does not come Axithin tlu^ scope of the present A\ork to follo\\' him in
detail in this moAcment and his snbse(|uent o]ierations. I'nt the
\i'i'y im])ortant aspect of Lee's disobedii-nl, if not traitorous, conduct
in lingering in Westchest( r County desjiite the urgent orders of his
ciiief to join him in Xew Jersey, belongs to the essential lievolu-
tionary annals of our county.

On the 12th of November, upon taking command of the portion of
the army dispatclied to the wvat banlc of the Hudson from the North
Castle camp, Washington had at his back only 5,000 men, of whom
more than half were nnlitia whose periods of enlistment were ex-
pirini;. Indee<l, though he was strengtln^ned eight days later by the
2,1)00 from I'ort Lee, his ranks were so reduced by the departures of
militiamen and other causes that by the time he gained the west
shore of the I)(daAxare on the 8th of December it is doul>tful if he
had more than 3,000 scddii-rs eft'eetive for active purposes. Soon
after arriving in New Jersey he appealed in pressing terms to the
governor of that State, to its legislature, and to congress for fresh
troops. But his main reliance was upon Lee, whom he had left at
North Castle as a purely temporary matter until the principal object
of the enemy should be disclosed, and with definite instructions to
move at once to the other side of the Hudson if it should appear that
Howe's designs were in that quarter.

On the 16th, the day of the capitulation of Fort Washington, the
commander-in-chief wrote to Lee at length upon the subject of the
projicr employment of his time so long as it should be expedient for
him to icmain in Westcjiester County, plainly giving him to nnder-
siand that the North Castle position was no longer of any jiarticular
inipoi-tance, and that for the time being he should devote his energies,
in co-operation with General Heath, toAvard securing the Highland
passes on both sides of the river and erecting worlcs in ailvantageous

408

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

places. To this injunctiou Loo gave not the slightest attention. On
the other hand, in a lettei* written the same clay to Colonel Reed, of
Washington's staff, he expressed directly contrary opinions regard-
ing the position at North Castle, concluding with the observation
that he intended to remain there, and that he wished " not to cede
another inch " to the enemy. Although this vainglorious boast was
made before the receipt of Washington's letter, it indicated a fixed
resolve in his mind to act an indeiieudent part. Indeed, from that
day until his fortunate capture by a troop of British horse, his whole
proceedings were those of a rebellious subordinate, arrogating to
himself authority co-ordinate with that of the chief commander.

After Fort Washington's
fall Lee wrote letters from
North Castle to various per-
sons filled with innuendoes
against Washington on ac-

f^^3^^--'V '^m* count of that disaster. On

k%. ^ life--%^-^--'^L :.^^^t^-. - .\ -i? ■:■ •;--«!/¥ ^j^^ ^tj^^ ^^ jj.-j^| ^j^^ impu-
dence to send to Washington
in person a letter reciting
his " objections '' to moving
from North Castle. Ou the
20tli, when Fort Lee was
abandoned and there re-
mained no doubt that the
British would begin a cam-
paign in New Jersey, Wash-
ington, then at Hacken-
sack, dispatched an express
to Lee ordering him to move. This command was repeated
again and again during the succeeding days (sometimes twice
a day). For five precious days Washington lay at Newark vainly
awaiting the troops from Westchester County, and when he finally
left that i)lace on the 28th his rear had a narrow escape from the ad-
vance guard of the enemy. With his insignificant force he pushed
on to Brunswick, I'rinceton, Trenton, the Delaware, and across that
river without receiving any satisfactory assurance of the ultimate
obedience of Lee. One of Washington's master strokes was the se-
curing in advance of everj^ boat along the Delaware and its tribu-
taries for a distance of seventy miles so as to prevent the enemy from
crossing; but deeming it of transcendant importance to receive Lee's
troops at the earliest practicable moment, he caused a large fleet of

NEW YORK STATE REGIMENTAI, FLAG EMBLEM.

DELINQUENCY OF GENERAL LEE 409

the boats to be kept iu constant readiness for Lee at a point on the
east bank of the stream.

I^e's defiant behavior iu tarrying iu Westchester County Avas ag-
gravated by every circuuislauce of formal pretension and presump-
tion. On the 20tli he wrote the folk)wing astonishing words to Beu-
jamiu liush, a uu'mbcr of congress: "I could say many things — let
nie talk vainly — had 1 the powers 1 could do yoii much good — might
I but dictate one week — but I am sure you will never give any man
the necessary powei- — did none of the congress cvi^r read the Koman
history?" On the 21st, upon receiving Washington's order from
Hackensack, Lee not merely ignored it, but with unparalleled
effrontery directed Oeneral Heath, commanding at reekskill, to de-
tach 2,(100 men from his force and send them to the commander-in-
chief. Heath refused, (luotiug his own exi)licii instructions from
Washington, whereupon Lee (November 2()| wrote: ''The comman-
der-in-chief is now separated from us. I, of course, command on this
side of the water, and for tlie future I must and will be obeyed."
Washington was obliged to notify Lee in a positive communication
that not a man must be taken from Heath. In a letter to Bowdoin,
then at the head (d' the Massachusetts government, Lee characterized
Washington's instructions to him to move fi'om North Castle as
'• absolute insanity," and complacently added that for himself, should
the British move toward his quarter, he would entertain no expecta-
tion of being succored by the " western army '' — implying that there
were now two distinct armies, a western commanded by Washington
and an eastern headed by himself. In a confidential letter of the
24th to Keed he alluded to an enterprise which he wanted to com-
plete before moving, after which, he said, '' I shall fly to you, for to
confess a truth I really think our chief will do better with me than
without me "

Westchester County was at last evacuated by Lee on the 3d and
4th of December. The movement was of course by way of King's
Ferry. Stopping at Peekskill on the way, he endeavored to persuade
and, failing in that, to browbeat Heath into a violation of Washing-
ton's repeated commands. He requested Heath to give him 2,000 of
his troops, and when that was refused, to let him take 1,000. The
latter bluntly declared that not a single soldier should march from
the post by his order. Lee then assumed, as senior in command, to
issue the order himself, but Heath required him to sign a statement
certifying that he did this exclusively upon his own responsibility-.
Lee thereupon detached t\\d of Heath's regiments for his own use,
but the next morning, after sober second thought, he concluded that
Ju^ was ]tlaying Too boM a ])ail, ;nid ordered them baek to Heath's

410 HISTOKY OF WESTCHESTEK COUNTY

(•;nii](. ( )n t lie 4(h, while at Haverstraw, says Haiicioft, he intercepted
8,000 iiicii Avlio had been huri-icd (htAvn for ^^'asllini^tou's indicf bj
(icneral ^chiijler, of the Nortlierii Aiiuy, aud iiu-or])()i'ated them iu
his division. Later lie ordere<l (ieneral lleatli to send him three rejii-
ments whioli iiad come from i'ort Ticouderotja. He marched leis-
urely throujih New Jersey, still takinji' pains to have it understood
that he considered himself an indejiemlent commander. To a com-
mittee of congress he stated that it was not his intention " to join
the army with Washington," and to Heath he wrote, " I am in hopes
of reconciuering the Jerseys." On the 13tli <if December, ten days
after passing the Hudson, he was made prisoner at Baskingridge,
N. J., by some British horsemen, having just completed a letter to
General Uafes, iu which he said: " l-Uitrc nutis, a certaiu great man
is most damnably deficient." His Iroojis, thus happily disencumbered
of him, presently joined AVashingtoii, although not in lime to ])aT'tici-
pate in tlie gloi'i(tus victory of Trenton.

General Lee's occupation of the North Castle position for nearly
a month after the disiiKMnberment of the army was not attended
by events or i)roceediugs of any noteworthy character. But several
matters of some interest in this connection deserve passing notice.

According to Si>arks in his biograi)hy of Lee, the number of troops
left by ^^'asllington in the encaiiiimieut at North Castle was 7,500,
of whom 4,000 were militia about to return to Iheii' homes. It is
quite certaiu that upon Lee's de])artur<' he took with him hardly
more than 3,000. Huleed, the militiamen were c(tnstantly tiling ofl',
glad to escape from tlie service before the rigors of winter should set
iu. It is recorded that the ambitious general, wlio possessed decided
elocutionary gifts, industriously practiced his persuasive powers upon
them, haranguing them i)ublicly on the gravity of the situation and
their scdenin dutj' as Anu-rican ]ia1riots. These imjiassioued a])])eals
w-ere without avail, howe\er. The condition of the men under Lee's
command was deplorable, most of them being without shoes, stock-
ings, blankets, or proper clothing, and this was instanced by him
as an excuse for not leaving the post. But he was no worse off than
Washington in that particidar. When the latter, with his band of
heroes, attacked the Hessians at TrcMiton, the whole line of march
of the little army Avas stained with the bloody footprints of the shoe-
less soldiers.

The records of Lee's transactions whil(» at North Castle show that
not only the whole upper portion of Westchester County, but the
central sections as well, were quite abandoned by the enemy during
that period. Two of Lee's official letters are dated from " Philips-
bourg " (probably Tarrytown). As far south as Dobbs Ferry the

DJOIJNQUENCY OF GlONKltAL I,EE 411

.Viiicricaus appt'ar to lia\c been in iiiulispiilcd coiitiol. On (he 2((tli
of NoA'ciiiber General Sullivan, in a report to Lee, alluded to an ad-
venture which the continental iiuard at Dobbs Ferry had had with a
parly of siippt)sed IJritish horse, which made olT upon beiny- chal-
lenged. Even JIamaroueck was deserted by tiie I'ritisii. Writing'
to IJeed on the 24th of ^'oAeuiber, Lee mentioned a jtroject he had
formed to cut (df Koi^crs's corjis of (Queen's l{au^ers at tiiat place,
together with a trooj) of light horse and a jiait of the Highland
(Scotclii and anotlicr brigade; but ujkhi attempting to cari-y it into
execution he found that these hostile foi-ces had been withdrawn.
But though the (uuuny for the time being occupied none of West-
chester County except the part immediatcdy adjacent to .ManhattaTi
Island, their shi]>s — the " I'luenix," " lvoebu(d<," and ''Tartar" — still
continued in the Hudson Iviver, preventing the use of the Dobbs Ferry
route foi' the transfer of the American troojis to the other side.

AVhilst dallying at XorUi Castle Lee disjiatclied to the lower por-
tion of the county a strong detnchmeul to levy contributions on the
farmers — th(^ first of the jiredatory raids to which the unfortunate
iuiiabitants of Westchester County were so fi-eipiently subjected
throughout the Revolution. On the 22d of Novembei- he issued orders
to General Nixon to proceed with two brigades and a party of light
horse " to I'hillips's house," and, beginning at that place, collect all
the stout, able horses, all the cattle, fat and lean, and all the sheep
and hogs, Avith the exception of such few milk cows and hogs as'
should be necessary to the subsistence of the families, and drive them
up to the camp. Nixon w^as also directed to oblige the people to give
up all their extra blankets and (-overlings, reserving a single one for
eacli pv-rson. To the citizens thus dispossessed, ho\\'ever, certirtcati'S
were given which entitled tliem to reimbursement ujion ai)plication
to I lie iiroper armv authorities.

CHAPTEK XIX

THE STRATEGIC SITUATION — THE NEUTRAL GROUND

ITH (he bi'cakiiiL; ii]) of tlic Xoitli Castle canip aud the de-
parlnre of ]xh', the military sitviation in Westoliester
< 'oiuity assumed a very simple comi)lexion. Only the two
extreme positions, Kin<;sbrid,ije and Peekskill, remained in
the posst'ssion of any considerable bod\' of troo])s.

The former place }»reserved, under P>ritish domination, all the im-
poiiance attached to it w liilc lield by tlie Americans. It was the key
to Xew York fity, A\hicli, unlil the end of the war, continued to be
the principal and indeed only reliable base for thi' British forces in
America. It is true that Newport (K. I.) was taken in the winter of
ITTG, Plii1adel])]iia in the fall of 1777, and vai'ious important Southern
Ijoiuts at latei' pci'iods. Put all these were occupied only by isolated,
temporary, or shifting British commands. New York alone, from
the Ix^iiinninji to the end of its ]iossessiou by the enemy, was hcdd
Avithoul incidental disturbance on the part of the Americans or in-
cidental loss of essential value to the British through the modifying
circumstances of changing e\'ents. Hence Kingsbi-idge was at all
times the primal outlying British post. After the retirement of the
last detachment of the American army in October, 1776, and its seiz-
ure by the enemy, the place was fortified anew, the chief defensive
position on the Westchester side continuing to be the old American
Fort Indeijendence on Tetard's Hill. This fortress, although be-
sieged by Heath in .lanuary, 1777, and several times threatened, never
3'ielded to the Kevolutionary arms. On the other hand, the British
were content to abide at Kingsbridge as their most advanced perma-
nent establishment, never attempting to take a formal stand above
as an added feature of their basic position. Their occupation of
Westchester County beyond Kingsbridge was only for the minor busi-
ness of covering that place, controlling the territory to some extent,
cutting oft' occasional American detachments, and furnishing con-
stant adventurous employment for a few bodies of their troops,
mostly Loyalist rangers. There was never a second British move-
ment in force through Westchester County, although iwo expedi-

THE STRATEGIC SITUATION 413

tions ul' impoi-laucc (Icstiiicd for furcini; the cnti-iiicc to tlic Hijili-
lands were landed in the county. A few days after Lee marched
away from North Casth_^ onr people residiiii; alonii" tlie Round were
thrown into ren(>weii consternation by (lie appearance of a fleet of
some seventy sail, w hicli caiiK- ii]i out of the East Tkiver. But it left
onr shores nndistnrhed. This was tlie expedition to liliode Island,
which Avas the means of securing for the P.ritish a ]U'oloni;ed lodjj,-
ment in tliat quarter. Rhode Island Avas too rciuotc, however, for
any co-operatin;L; land relations with NeA\- York — esiX'cially as dnrinj;'
the British continuance in the former locality the field operations of
the contending armies did not once take a direction east of the Hud-
son Kiver. And like the IJhode Island expedition, the various British
attacks on Connecticut (with one minor exception) proceeded by
water from New York, accomplishing' nothing but local results. Con-
sequently although Westchester County \\as continually exposed to
the enemy at the south, and suffered terribly and without cessation
from his incidental occupation and aggression, it was not simihirly
exposed at the east, and, on account of the choice of other sections
of the country than New England for the formal military campaigns,
was almost wholly exempted, after the experience of 1776, fi'om the
presence of the foe in any pretentious array.

Peekskill A\as no less clearly indicated as the vital post for the
Americans, to be maintained at all hazards, than Kingsbridge was
for the British. Lying just below the Highlands and just above the
point on the Hudson Kiver where its Avaters, previously confined be-
tween closely apitroaching banks, suddenly spread out into a broad
sea, it commanded equally the passes into the mountains, the navi-
gation of the whole upper river, and the communication with the
western shore, and c<>nse(|uently Avith all the middle and southern
States. The lower river, all the Avay from New York Bay to Ver-
planck's Point, Avas controlled absolutely by the British ships, and
on account of its great width, as avoII as of the biu-rier from Avest to
east intei-]posed by the wide expanse of the Croton, was utterly un-
available for American use aftei- the removal of the army from Kings-
bridge and the fall of I'ort Washington. Consequently no ]ioint south
of Peelcskill was to be considered for a moment as a suitable station
for the prin(i](ai .American counleriioise to the enemy's position
beloAV. Other i)oiuts all the way down through the county Avere, of
course, occupied by guards. In this res]ie(l il was at fii'st the .\meri-
can ]Mdic.A' to ])usli doA\n advaTU-e ](osts as ueai- as practicable to the
enemy's sphere, and at no tinu' did the jjati-iots retire their lines to
the northward of Pine's Bridge across the Croton. ^'el I'eekskill,
with tlie country iminedi.-ifely dependent upon it, always i-emained

414

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the seat of the seriitus American establishment for general purposes.
The choice of positions farther down bv Washinj^ton during his sub-
Sf^<|iient visitations (tf Westrhestei- fVmnty niicliKliiiir tliat of Dobbs
Ferry for the united American and Frencli armii-s in 17M; proved in
each case only a temporary expedient.

It can not, however, be said of tlie main Amnrican position at
Pi'eksicill, as of tlie enemy's at Kinjj;sbridjie, that it was one upon
which its possessors could rest in calm and undisturbed confidence
and without reference to uny of the ordinary jtossible developments
of jicneral siratejry. Because of the natural locati(m of New Y(irk
fity, with all its surroundinj; watei-s controlled by the fleet and only

the jKisition at Kiufisbridjre
open to i)racticable attack, the
British could abide there in-
defiTiitfdy without ajtpreheu-
sion of any secret or sudden
American designs. In order to
make a formidable campai^rn
on New York City — which
could proceed only by way of
Kiniishridire, a point not to
he n-aclied except by a lonjr
man li down the T\'estches-
ter County peninsula, and not
to be deliberately assailed
without the previous concen-
tration of all of Washiiiu:toirs
forces — the Americans would
have had to lay bare their
intentions weeks in advance.
How different the situation at rockskill I It could always be surprised
by a river exiK'dition from New York City, with but the briefest possi-
ble foreknowledge on Washington's part. It was a point of supreme
importance, but only one anumg several. He therefore had to dis-
tribute his f(jrces, iincertain where the enemy's next blf)W would fall,
but at all times convinced that he woidd seek sooner or later to push
up the Hudson River. Tlie safety of the Hudson Avas \Vashington"s
greatest concern, and with th<* beginning of each campaign he suf-
fered torments on that subject. There was an incessant marching
and countermarching f)f troops to and from Peekskill, and Washing-
ton himself, exi-ept when during his camjtaign in Pennsylvania,
in the southern part of New Jersey, and finally in Virginia, was
never more than a few days' march distant from the place. Indeed,

'■sGJ

SIR HESRV CLINTON.

THE STRATEGIC SITUATION 415

in several of Lis main movements preliminarily to the unfolding of
the enemy's principal projecr for the impendinj; «ami)ai5j;n, he made
it the cardinal i)r»int of his jiro^ramme to take a central station from
which he could «ith fiiual cdnvenienci- inarch to I'cckskill or to
other threatened points accordinjr to ultimate circumstances. To
the viirilance with which he watched the Hudson, his carefulness in
foi'tifyinji it, ami his pr.imptiiude in counleractinj: British attempts
upon it, the final success of the IJevolution was unquestionably due
as much as to any single factor.

Peekskill itself was never a ReAdlulionary stronglinhl. Tiie village
was the headquarters for the military commander of the district,
which embraced all of The Flighlands. Later, ujjon the comjdetion of
the defenses at West Point, the latter locality enjoyed this distinc-
tion, and Peekskill, with Verplanck's Point, was attached to the West
Point command.

The fortification of the Highlands was begun under the auspices
of the New York convention shortly after the arrival of the British
invading exjM-dition. At the time of Washington's visit to Peek-
skill, in Noveiiiber,177t»,rhe work had made tolerable progress. Wash-
ington, it will be remembered, spent one whole day and part of a
second in reconnoitering this locality and the Highlands above. After
indicating what should be done toward perfecting the defensive posi-
tions, he left his able engineer. Colonel Rufus Putnam, to carry out
his plans under the direction of (Jeneral lb ath. 'ilie situation as
finally developed was in detail briefly as follows:

On the east side of the river, just above Peekskill village, was a
work called Fort Independence.' This was substantially completed
during the winter of 1776-77. There was at that time no other for'
on the ^^■estclleste^ shore, although later Fort Lafayette was built
at the extremity of \"erplanck's Point to protect the King's Ferry
route, and on a hill near Cortlanfltville Fort L<^>okout was con-
structed. Above Peekskill the passes into the Highlands were pro-
tected by detachments of troops, the jtrincijial pa.ss being at IJobin-
s«»n's Bridge. In this vicinity was l«)cated the celebrated rVmtinental
Village, where tle^ stores were stationed and extensive barracks were
erected. From Anthony's Nose to the west .shore the chain designed
to obstruct the navigation was stretche<l. Tliis contrivance, liesidis
being very costly, gave the American engineers a vast ileal of n-ouble.
f)n November 21, 177(), General Heath reported that it had •" twice
broke." Cables were stretched in front of the chain, says Ining,
to break the force of any ship under way before she could strike it.

" Thns Ihprp were two forts of this name In ferred to in the preening pages) baring Ik< ti
Westchester Coonty, the other (freqaently re- at Kingsbridge.

416 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTEK COUNTY

On llii' west side, boiiiunin,<!, at tlic iicitli, was Fort ■Moutuomi-i-y.
'i'liis was located directly ojiposite Anthony's Nose and just above a
liltW^ stream called Poplopeii's freek. On The south side of the creek
was Fort Clinton. These two strongholds, Avith the co-operation of
Fort Independence below and the hel]) of the obstrnctinji- chain, were
deemed adequate to the protection of the river. It was considered
impossible that the enemy would ever attempt to march throujih the
diflicult passes south of Fort Clinton and attack that place and Fort
Montgomery from the rear — although just such a contintiency was
foreseen by Washincton Avhile at Peekskill, and he had recommendcMl
the erection of a southerly fort on the west side. Still farth(»r doAvn,
o])posite Verplanck's Point, rose an eminence called Stony Point.
This place, in common Avith Veri)lanck's Point, was not fortitied at
the beiiinuiug- of the Pevolution; but some time after the building of
Fort Lafayette, on Verplanck's Point, Avorks Avere besiun on Stony
Point, which, before their completion, Avere seized by the British,
who then erected the famous citadel which Anthony Wayne stormed.
Finally, above the chain, on an island o])posite AVest Point, Avas Fort
Constitution, to be depended on as a last resort in case the works
below should prove insuriicient. This fort, like Montiiomery, Clinton,
and Independence, dates from an early i)eriod.

After the ultimate disjiosilion of the tAvo opposing- forces Avas
effected — the Americans at Peekskill and the British at Kingsbridge
— Westchester County assumed at once the character of a Neutral
drdiiinl. AN'herever the term, "the Neutral Cround," occurs in gen-
eral histories of the l\ev(dution, it ai)plics exclusively to Westchester
( "ounty — and to substantially the whole oft lie countj. It is generally
considered that the Neutral Cii'ound ]n-o]ier embraced only the dis-
trict between the Croton Piver at the noi-th and a limit at the south
about identical with the in-esent city line of New York — that north
of the Croton the Americans held undisjtuted sAvay, and in the south-
ern strip adjacent to Kingsbiidge the British were unquestioned
masters. But in truth there was no Neutral (xround proper. Prac-
tically all of Westchester Comity Avas continually exposed to
alternate x^merican and British raids, forages, and ravages, to depre-
dations by bands of irresponsible ruffians not regularly attached to
either army, and to acts of neighborhood aggression and rejirisal
by the patriot upon the Tory inhabitants and vice versa. It is a fact
that several of the most formidable descents by the British in the
history of the Neutral ( iround were ujion American jiosts at or above
the Croton. A memorable exjuditioii was made against an American
force at Poundridge in the summer of 1779; Bedford was burned
upon the same occasion; Crompond, in Yorktown, was successfully

THE NKUTRAT, GROUND 417

iittiickcd; and in ITSl a laruo body of Americans siuardinc; the Crotou,
under llie coniinand of the brave but unfortunate Colonel Greene,
was surpi'lsed and many of them were killed. As late as 17S2 Crom-
|)ond, though well above the Oroton, was deemed a quite exposed
>^ituation. On the other hand, darinii- assaults by the Americans
were frequently undertaken down to the very outposts of Kings-
hridiie, and no part of the county witnessed more animated scenes
than the present Roroufih of the Bronx. The command ())i the lines,
as the projection of the American position below Peekskill was called,
was uniformly intrusted to officers of approved courajje and enter-
inisc. Here Colonel Aaron Burr was for some months in charge,
highly distinguishing himself by his good discipline and efficiency,
'i'he parties which reciprocally served for defense and off(>nse on the
enemy's side comprised several well knoAvn Ixxlies of horse and foot
— notably the Queen's Rangers under Simcoe, de Lancey's corps of
AVest Chester County Befugees, and forces led by Tarleton, Emmerick,
and otiiers. The Americans ^ere locally styled in Westchester
County the I ppir I'miii, and the British the Loiver Party. In addition
lo the regular troo]iers on either side, there were numerous unau-
thorized and wholly illegal bands, orgaiiiz<'d princiiially for private
|iluiider, called l^l-iinirr>< an<l Coirhoi/s, the former being of professed
patriotic and the latter of Tory affiliation. But both Skinners and
Cowboys were largely undiscriiuinaf ing as to the object of their opera-
tions so long as they could derive any kind of private advantage from
them. Washington Irving"s (h^sci'iiition is without doubt familiar to
ail our readers:

Tliis debatable land was overrun by predatory bands from pitlier side ; sacking henroosts,
]ilun(Iering farniliouses, and driving off cattle. Hence arose those two great orders of bor-
der cliivalry, tlie Skinners and Cowboys, famous in the heroic annals of Westclicster County.
The former fonglit, or rather marauded, under the American, the latter under the British
lianner ; but hotli, in tlie hurry of tlieir military ardor, were apt to err on tlie safe side and rob
friend as well as foe. Neitlu'r of them stopped to ask the jjolitics of horse or cow which they
drove into captivity ; nor, when they wrung tlie neck of a rooster, did they trouble their
heads to ascertain wliether he were crowing for congress or King George.

Numerous grajdiic accounts of the awful conditions prevailing in
ihe Neutral (Jround have been printed from the pens of contem-
luirary narrators, both military and civil. " I'rom the Croton to
Kingsliridge," says one writer, "every s])ecies of raiiine and lawless-
ness iirevaiied. Xo one went to his bed but undei- Ihe ap|)rehension
of having his house ]tlundered or burnt, oi- himself or family massa-
cred, before morning." The foilo\\ing picture of the times is from
the'" Itevidutionary Services and Civil Life of ( ieneral William ITull,"
who was an oirn-er on duly in Westchester County during a portion
of tlie war:

418 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

The Cowboys and Skinners ravaged the whole'res'""'" The first, called Refugees, ranged
themselves on the British side. They were employed in plundering cattle and driving them
to the city ; their name is derived from their occupation. The latter, called Skinners, while
])rofessing attachment to the American cause, were devoted to indiscriminate rolibery, mur-
der, and every species of the most hrntal outrage. They seemed, like the savage, to have
learned to enjoy tlie sight of the sufferings they intlieted. Oftentinu'S they left their wretched
victims, from whom they had phuulercd their all, hung up by their arms, and sometimes by
their thumbs, on barn doors, enduring the agony of the wounds that had been inHicted to
wrest from them their pro]ierty. Tiu'se miserable beings were freciuently relieved by our
patrols, who every night .scoured the country from river to river. But, unhapi)ily, the military
force was too small to render the succor so much needed, although l>y its vigilance and the
inflieticm of severe punishment on the offenders, it kept in check, to a certain extent, this law-
less race of men.

The fioui-ps of comparative population in Wcsttlicstcr County be-
fore, (luring-, and after the Eevolution are exceedinf^iy significant. lu
1756 tlie population of the county was 13,257, and at the next census,
in 1771, it was 21,745 — an increase of S,HS in fifteen years. After
1771 no enumeration was taken until 1790, Avhen the total inhabitants
of tlie county Avere 21,003, only 2,258 more tlian nineteen years pre-
viously, before tlie war started. In the ten years from 1790 to ISOO,
on the other hand, the population rose to 27,317, a ^ain of 3,344.
After the peac(^ (1783) special inducements were olfered to settlers
by the confiscation of Toiw estates and the disjiosition of tiiese valua-
ble lands under State auspices at low iirices. Even under such favor-
iui; conditions the population in 171HI, after seven years of peace, was
but slightly larger than in 1771. The decline duriny the IJevolutiou
must have been considerable.

Dr. Timothy Dwitiht, in his " Travels," has left a most circumstan-
tial description of the disconsolate and desohite condition to which
Westchester County was reduced at an early period of the Revolu-
tion. Nothing we could 1io]»e to write could jiossibly ])resent so in-
forming a view of the whole subjict as Dr. Dwight's simple naiTa-
tion; and though it has been frequently qiioted its citation here is
quite indispensable:

In the autumn of 1777 1 resided for some time in this county. The lines of the British
were then in the neighborhood of Kingsbri<lge, and those of the Americans at Byram River.
The unhappv inliabitants were, therefore, exposed to the depredations of both. Often they
were actually plundered, and always were liable to tliis calamity. They feared everybody
whom they saw, and loved nobody. It was a curious fact to a philosopher, and a melancholy
one to hear their conversation. To every (piestion they gave such an answer as would please
the iucpiirer ; or, if they despaired of ])leasing, such a one as would luit provoke him. Fear
was, ajjpareutly, the oidy passion by which they were animated. The ])ower of volition
seemed to have deserted theni. They were not civil, but obsecpiious ; not obliging, but sub-
.servient. They yielded with a kind of apathy, and very ipiietly, what you asked and what
they supposed it impossilde for them to retain. If you treated them kindly they received it
coldly, not as a kindness but as a compensation for injuries done them by others. When you
spoke to them they answered you without either good m- ill nature, and without any appear-
ance of reluctance or hesitation ; l)ut they subjoined neither questions nor remarks of their
own ; proving to your full conviction that tliey felt no interest either in the conversation or

THE NEUTRAL GROUND 419

VDmsflf. Until tlicii- loiiiitoiiauces antl motinns liail lost every trace of animation and I'ccling.
IMie fi'atMies were snuintlied, not into serenity, 1)nt ajiatliy ; and, instead of lieiny settled in
tlie attitude of quiet thinking, strongly indieated tliat all thought beyond what was merely
instinctive had tied their minds for ever.

Their houses, in the meantime, were in a great measure scenes of desolation. Their fur-
niture WIS extensively plundered, or broken to i>ioees. The walls, floors, and windows were
iiijureil both b}' violence and decay, and were not repaired beeaus(> they had not the means to
repair them, and because they wi're exposed to the repetition of tlie same injuries. Their
cattle were gone. Their inelosures were burnt where they were capable of becoming fuel,
and in many cases thrown down where they were not. Their fields were covered with a rank
growth of weeds and wild grass.

Amid all this appearance of desolation, nothing struck my eye more forcibly than the sight of
the high road. Where I had heretofore .seen a continual succession of horses and carriages, life
and bustle— -lending a spriglitliness to all the environing objects, — not a single, scditary trav-
eler was seen from week to week oi' from month to month. The world was motionless and
silent, except when one of these unhappy people ventured upon a rare and lonely excursion
to the house of a neighbor no less unhappy ; or a scouting party, traversing the country in
ipiest of enemies, alarmed the inhabitants with expectations of new injuries and suiferings.
The very tracks of the carriages were gromi over and obliterated ; and where they were dis-
eerniljle resiMiibled the faint impressions of <'hariot wheels said to be left on the pavements
of Hercnlaneuui. The grass was of full height for the scythe ; and strongly realized to
my own mind, for the first time, the proper import of that pietures<iue declaration in the
Song of Deborah : " In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anatb, in the days of Joel, the high-
ways were unoeeupied, and the travelers walked through by-paths. The inhabitants of the
villages ceased ; they ceased in Israel."

The fearful rlepredatioiis in the Neutral Ground were viewed by the
hiiihcr military auihorities on the British side with entire approval,
and on ihe Annrican side, it must be admitted, aeuei'ally without
any acute disapprcdiation. The command of the American troops
"on Hie lines" was always particularly coveted by officers of un-
scruinilous inclinations, because of the opportunities it afforded for
plnndci-iiii;- transactions, which their superiors were pretty certain
nol to discountenance. AVhen Aaron P.urr took command on the
lines, in Januai'y, 1779, his first official duty was to deal with a
•• scouting party,"' which, on the same day, under the lead of his pred-
ecessoi', had gone below for no other purpose than to seize private
pro]ierly; and the principal condition of unsatisfactory discipline
w liicli he had to correct was the extreme fondness of the soldiers for
such " scouring "" enterprises. It is but fair to say, however, that the
-Vnierican commanders on the lines were usually men of good per-
sonal antecedents, and it does not appear that any very notorious
person on our side was ever intrusted with authority in Westchester
(,'onnty. But while the American commanders were well-intentioned
as a rule, they generally allowed their subordinates and men much
license. Burr's stern administration in this particular was excep-
lional. The circumstance of the continued existence during the
Kcvolulion of the quasi-patriot organization of " Skinners," who were
fully as merciless and rapacious as the British '• Towboys," is con-
clusive proof of a studied ilisinclination on the part of the American

420 HISTORY OF AAESTCHESTER COUNTY

officers to speoiallv exert themselves for the protection of the in-
liabitants.

The chief British autliorities in New York have k^ft various docn-
nientarv evidences of their express sanction of the most nnlicensed
practices of their partisans in the Nentral Ground. The spirit by
wlncli tliey were actuated is very candi<lly expressed in a remarkable
letter b.y Governor Tryon, dated '• Kinusbridsie Camp, Nov. 2:}, 1777.""
The American General Sanuiel H. Parsons, commandinji at the time
at Mamaroneck, had written to Governor Tryon cpiite indijinantly
abont the conduct of some British soldiers — entirely unprovoked — in
burninj;' the dwelling of a Westchester County committeeman on
I'liilipseliuriLili ^lanor: also intimating that such outrageous deeds, if

continued, niiglit jirovidce retaliation.
(in\'ei nor Tryon. in liis re]>l,A', said : " 1
lune candor enough to assure you — as
much as 1 abhor evei-y i)rinci])le of in-
huniaiiily or ungenerous coniluct — I
siioiild, wcic I in more aulliorily, burn
every commitleemau's house within my
reacdi, as I deem tliose agents the wicked
instrunieiits of the continued cahimilies
of tliis country; and in order sooner to
purge the country of them, 1 am willing
to L;i\'e t \\cuty-ti\"e dollars for every ac-
tive committeeman who shall be de-
P // F^ AL livered ui) to the King's trooiis."

l^^«/A. U^ro^lrj ,,,,^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ ,„nmuce. Cooper's

" R]iy " (the earliest of its author's
novels of American lifei, is, as its title states, a " Tale of the Neutral
Ground." Cooper's hei-o, who goes in the novel by the name
of Harvey Birch, was a real personage, whose true nanu' was
Enoch Crosby, and who became a respected citizen of our county
after the Kevolutiou, dying at Goldeu's Bridge in 1835. It is widely
known that Cooper was mainly indebted to Chief Justice John Jay
for the facts of Crosby's career whi(di led to the writing of the " Spy,"
but it appears that Jay was in error in supposing that Crosby's o])era-
lions took him occasionally williiii the ISritish lines in New Vork
City. The fact is, he devoted himself (|uite exidusividy to the coun-
try districts. Mr. Joseph Barrett, the well known local historian of
our Town of Bedford, in an address delivered before the AYestchester
County Historical Society in lS7!t, gave a very thorough account of
(Jrosby's life antl patriotic services. The great and permanent in-

THE NEUTRAL GROUND 421

tci'cst of the subject justilics llic loUow in<j,- cxtemlcd ivpioducliuii,
copied lioiii the digest of Mr. Barrett's address in Scliarfs Historj':

Crosby was born in Harwich, Barnstable County, Mass., January 4, 1750, and at the break-
ing out of the Revolution was a shoemaker at Danbury, Conn. He liad previously been a
tanner and currier. He was an ardent patriot, and enlisted before tlie battle of I.exin};ton in
Benedict's com])any, of Waterlmry's regiment, wbicli was attached to tliat branch of the
Canada expedition of August, IT'.J, commanded first liy Schnyb'r and then by Montgonuny.
His term of enlistment expiring, he returned to Danbury after tln^ occupation of Montreal,
and then traveled over Dutchess and Westchester Counties as a peripatetic shoemaker. Thus
lie not only acquired that intimate knowledge of the country that was to jirove so valuable to
the American cause, but also was brought into contact with the Whigs and Tories, the bum-
mers, raiders, Cowbojs, and Skinners who infested the Neutral (iround between the lines of
the ojiposing armies.

His first work as a spy was accidental. Determining to re-enlist, he tramped southward
toward the American forces, through Westchester County-, in .Septendx-r, 177(5, and on the
way met a Tory, who fell into the belief that Crosliy was one of his own stamp. Crosby did
not undeceive him, and, as the stranger had a loose tongue, the joung American was soon put
in information of all the Tory secrets in that part of the country. Having learned so much,
it occurred to him that he ndght as well prosecute the adventure which fortune had ])laced in
bis hands, and asked to be taken to a meeting of Tories, which his companion had told him
was to be held near by, to raise a company for the king's service. He must have played his
part admirably, for he gained audience with all the imj)ortaut royal sympathizi^rs of the
neighborhood, including the secret enemies of the patriots, and laid a most admirable plot for
their discomfiture.

Learning that a meeting of the Tory band was to be held on a certain night, he slipped
away on the ])revions morning and by a forced march across the conntry reached at midniglit
the house of a Mr. Youngs, eight miles from White Plains, whom he knew to be a true Am-
erican. Prevailing on this man to accoin])any him, they aroused Messrs. Jay, Duer, .Sackett,
and Piatt, the connnittee of safety at White Plains, and Crosby gave them the news which
he had gathered with so much daring and adroitness. They ordered out Captain Townsend's
company of mounted rangers, who swept across the conntry under Crosby's lead, surprised
the assendded Tories, and ere daylight dawned had every man of them prisoners and on their
way to White Plains.

The fame of this exploit went everywhere through the American lines. Cro.sby, then a
strapping fellow of twenty-seven years, nearly six feet tall, broad and muscular, talked to
Mr. Jay about re-enlisting, but that sagacious gentleman represented to him that in no
way couhl he do so much for his conntry as by continuing in that line of duty for which this
one achievement .seemed to mark him as specially fitted. " Our greatest danger," said Mr.
Jay to him, "is our secret foes. We know how to guard against our enemies in the field, but we
have no defense against secret enemies, who profess to be friendly to us and plot their trea-
son in midnight cabals. One who can counteract these iuHuences is entitled to more credit
than he who hghts in the ranks." Crosby dennirred at first, but finally accepted the emjdoy-
uu'ut of a spy on the condition that if he slundd die in their service the ci>nimittee would see
that his name was vindicated. With much feeling Mr. Jay and his associates gave him this
solemn assurance, and Crosby consecrated himself to his dangerous and arduous task.

Carrying a pass from the connnittee, which was to be used only in cases of extreme
necessity, and disguised as a traveling cobbler, he set out on his secret mission to discover and
entrap the bands of Tcnies forming under cover. This was in the late fall of 1776. Very
shortly he ajiplied for a shoemaker's job at a farm-house, and discovering that a royalist com-
pany was being enlisted in the vicinage, jirofessed a desire to enli.st, but declined to give liis
name because the roll might fall into the hands of the rebels. He gained the confidence of
the Tory leaders so completely that he was allowed to examine the roll, and was shown an
immense haystack in a meadow near the captain's house, which proved to be a framework
covered with liay and capable of concealing forty or fifty men. A meeting of the company
having been arranged for the next evening, he left his bed in the caj>taiu's house during the
night ])revious, reported to the conmiittee at White Plains, and was back in his bed before

422 HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTER COUNTY

the family were stirring'. Tlie band w:is duly surrounded and captured, Crosliy aniiinf; tlu'ui,
by Townseiid's Rangers, and marelied to confinement in tlie old Duteb C'liuri li at Kisliliill,
where they were examined by the eoinmittee. Hy collusion, Crosby escai)ed from the churcli,
but was compelled to rush past the sentinels in tlie dark. They tired at hiiu, l)ut he escaped
nnhurt.

\'y agreement with the committee he was known as .Tolm Sniitli. Twelve miles northwest
of Alarll)orough he wonned out of a Tory farmer the information that an English cajitain was
liiding in a cave near by, and trying to recruit a company. Repeating his ruse of a <lesiri! to
enlist, the spy discovered that a meeting was to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 1770, at a
barn on Butter Hill. Suggesting to the captain that they had best leave tlie cave separately,
he departed and sent word to the committoc. Crosby arrived at the barn in due time with
the Tories and laid down with them in the hay. Presently be heard a cough outside, the
signal agreed upon, which he answered, and the barn was quickly filled with the rangers.
Colonel Duer, of the committee of safety, had come with them for the express purpose of
protecting Crosby, and, indeed, had given the signal. The English captain was ordered to
call his roll, Init Crosbj' did not respond to his name. Townsend, who was not in the secret,
prodded him out with a bayonet from the liay, and, recognizing the man who had escaped him
at Fishkill, promised to load him with irons. He shackled the spy, took him to his own
quarters, and confined him in an upper room. Hut when Townsend had drunk after dinner
plentifully of wine which the maid, instructed by the committee of safety, had enriched with
a gentle opiate, and was sleeping soundly, she unlocked the door with the key which she took
from Townseiid's pocket, and led Crosby forth to freedom.

By such methods Crosby was instrumental in the capture of man}- Tory bands. He spent
several weeks in the family of a Diitclimaii, near Fishkill, where he was known as Jacob
Brown. He had numerous fictitious names, of which Harvey Birch was one. In December,
1776, he was sent to Bennington, Vt., by orders of the committee. The object of bis journey
was accomplished, for, besides apprehending a number of secret enemies of the country in
that region, he obtained such information as enabled him to surprise a company of them mucli
nearer home. This was at Pawling, Diitcliess County, and, fearing to trust himself again to
the vengeance of Captain Townsend, he arranged with Colonel Morehouse, a Whig of the
neighborliood, to raise a body of volunteers and capture them. When tneir rendezvous was
surrounded, Crosby, he having again made a false enlistment, was dragged out from under a
bed, where he had taken refuge, and comjilained that his leg was so much injured that he
could not walk. The accommodating colonel took him on his horse, and, of course, be soon
got away.

For three years Crosby continued in the employ of the committee of safety, but at last the
Tories, marveling mnch at the detection of their covert undertakings, fixed suspicion iijion
him. A band traced him to the house of his brother-in-law in the Highlands, and lieat liim
until they left him for dead. They were followed by a company of Whigs, who pursued them
to tlie Crotou River, where some were killed and others driven into the stream. It was
months before Crosby recovered, and it was tlu'ii jilain that his days of usefulness as a spy
were past. He joined Captain Philij) \:m Cortlandt's company, and was appointed a sub-
ordinate officer. While on duty at Teller's Point, in the spring of 178t), he decoyed a boat's
crew from a British ship in the stream to the shore by parading on the beach a soldier dressed
in I>afayette's uniform. He had his ambuscade set for them and captured them all. In the
following fall his enlistment expired and be retired to private life. His whole pay from tlie
government was but two hmidred and fifty dollars, so that any remuneration he received
from the eoimnittee of safety must have been very little. In October, 1781, in iiartiiership
with his brother Benjamin, he bought three hundred and seventy-nine acres of the forfeited
Roger Morris estate, near Brewster's. A part of this tract is now covered by the Croton
Reservoir. He erected a frame house on the east branch of the Croton River, a short distance
east of the upper iron bridge at Croton Falls, where he lived a quiet life many years. The
propeity is now owned by Joel B. Piirdy. Later, Crosby bnilt the house now owned by his
granddaughter, Mrs. S. E. Mead, of Golden's Bridge. It stands north of the old liouse. In
this house Crosby passed the later years of Ids life, and died June 25, 183.5. He wjis interred
in the old (iilead burying-ground, near Carmel, Putnam County.

He married the widow of Colonel Beujamin (ireen. Colonel Green was also a soldier of

THE NEUTRAL GROUND 423

the Revolution, und after tlie close of the war settled near tlie present Soniers Centre depot.
After the Colonel's death his widow remained in the house until her marriage with Crosby,
whieli was brouglit al)oMt by Dr. Ebenezer White. In the course of conversation on <ine
occasion, Crosb}- asked the doctor if he would not find a wife for him. The doctor promised
to try and do so. He finally bethought liim of the Widow Gi'een in lier lonely state. The
wndow was ajiparently ()leased with the recommendation of Crosby, as set foi-tli by the doct(»r,
and an intrixluction took place, followed shortly afterward by marriage.

He was justice of the peace neai-ly tliirty years. His exploits became known to the public
through the Astor trials and the [>ublicatu)n and dranuitization of Coojier's novel. When it
was produced at the Lafayette Theater, Laurens Street, New York, he was induced to sit in
a stage box. The crowd rose and clieere<l him with great enthusiasm, to which he responded
with a bow. He was so modest that the world woidd never have known from him of bis serv-
ices to liis country.

From the foregoing biography of Enoch Crosby it is clear that he
fully lucrit.s the cclebritj' couferred on liiiu b}' Tooper. But there
were otlwr spies and guides of the Neutral Oround, unknown to
general fame, whose faithfulness was equally conspicuous and whose
deeds were iiai'dly less mei'itorioiis. Of one of them, Elisha Holmes,
who was born in Hedturd and died there about iy;J8, a most inter-
esting story is told, lldlmcs enjoyed (lie implicit conlidence of VVash-
iiigton, wlio caused hiui to take a command under Sir Henry ("lint(^n
and contKh'd to him occasionalh' informalion about minor udlitary
movemejits, which Holmes communicated to the English in order
to demonstrate the value of his services. His real business was to
send word from New York of everything iiniJortant that he should
be able to find out. Shortly before Tarleton's raid on Poundridge and
Itedford (1770), Holmes sent certain intelligence to Major Tallmadge,
the Auierican comuiaudanl at Hedford, signed " E. H." The latter,
being unfamiliar with the handwriting, forwarded the note to Wash-
ington, who indors((l on it the following comment, "Believe all that
E. H. tells you. — (ieorge AVashington," and returned it. One of the
consequences nf Tarleton's raid was the capture of all the baggage
and personal ])apers of the Aiuericati oHicers at the two places at-
tacked. Washington, wlieii he heard oi' the fact, was so much con-
cerned tliat he wrote as follows to Major Tallmadge:

The loss of your [japers was a most \inlucky accident, and shows liow dangerous it is to
keep papers of any consequence at an advance post. I beg you will taki' care to guard against
the like in future.

The person who is uu)st endangered by the ac(piisition of your letter is one H., who lives
not far from the ISowery, on the Island of New York. I wish you would endeavor to give
him the speediest notice of what has happened. My anxiety on his account is great. If he
is really the man he has been represented to be, be will in all probability fall a sacrifice.

A few days after Tarleton's exix-dition, says the authority from
whom tills story is taken, Elisha Holmes was '•suiMmoned by Sir
Ileiiiy ("litiioii, who, atler a sl<ing several questions in a general waj",
siiildeiily ]>reseuled I he Hole and impiifed if he knew the handwriting,
and who E. il. was. ' It is i^lijah lladden, the spy you hanged yester-

424 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

day at Powles' Hook,' was the quick answer. His coolness and ready
wit saved his life."^

Another ^Yestchester spy of more than common note was Luther
Kiuuicutt, of the vicinity of the present Town of Vomers. Charles
E. Culver, in his History of Somers, relates some incidents of his
career. " Luther Kinuicutt," he says, " was the compeer of Crosby
in his dangerous work, and although it is not known that they worlced
together, the character of the novelist was evidently drawn from
both these men. Kinuicutt frequented the town after the close of
the war, and is remeuibei-ed by some of our old residents as a tall,
straight, spare man, of dark complexion, Iveen, gray eyes, solemn
visage, shiivp-Avitted, and eccentric." Like Crosby, he " used to fre-
quent the iUitish canij) as a peddler of small ndtions."

The Westchester guides of the Eevdiution are justly celebrated.
Prominenl among them were Abraliam l>yckn)an, who came from the
vicinily of iviugsbridge, and after a heroic career fell in the service
of his country just at the close of the struggle; his brother, Michael
Dyckmau; Andrew Corsa, born on the ^lauor of r^oi-dham in 17<>2 and
died at Kordliam in 1S."):2; Cornelius Oakley, of AVliilc Plains; Brom
Boyce, of tlie present Town of Mount IMcasant; Isaac Udell, of Yon-
Icers; and William Davids, of Tarryiown.

1 From .nn address, " Tarlctou's Raid Through ihrstcr County Historical Society In 1878. by
Bedford in 1779," delivered before the West- the Urv. Lea IjUquer, of Hertford.

CHAPTEE XX

EVENTS OF 1777 AN]> 1778

ENEHAl. HEATH, i)l:i«c.l in coi and at Peekskill on the

;t(li of ^'ovembci-, 177(i, liad with liiin on tlic 21st of that
moiitli a force of about 4,000. On the Dth of December be
was ordered to join tlie army in New Jersey with a portiou
of bis trooj)s, and went as far as Jlaclcensaclc, but be was soon sent
back, arriving in I'eekskill on tlie 2od. Tbe winter passed witliout
any Britisb movement being- attempted against bim — on the con-
ti-ary be took tbe aggressive and boldly assailed tbe enemy at Kings-
bridg(^ in a siege cif old Eort Independence and its supporting works
whicli lasted twelve days. On the night of the 17tb of January he
moved down in three divisions — tbe right under General Lincoln
from Tarrytown, tbe center under General Scott from below White;
Plains, and the left under Generals Wooster and Parsons from New
RoclieUe and Eastchester. Tbe attacks on tbe outposts were so suc-
cessful that a report (which Washington prematurely communicated
to congress) gained currency that the fort had surrendered. The
undertaking was very well conducted from first to last, and re-
flected high credit on General Heath. By the ruse of lighting numer-
ous campfires along the Morrisania shore the British were made to
believe that a formidable American force was collecting with the
intent of proceeding against New York City by way of Harlem; and
in alarm they burned the buildings on Montressor's (Randall's!
Island, and abandoned that place. Tbe operations involved but
slight losses, which were abundantly compensated for by the actual
damage done the enemy and by tbe excellent moral effect of so bold
an enterprise as a sequence to the transactions of tbe main army in
New Jersey.

After Washington's magnificent return movement from across the
Delawa7"e, resulting in the battles of Ti"enton aud Princeton, he went
into winter quarters at Morristown (N. J.), and tlie British als<)
brought the campaign to a close. General Howe, who had expected
to make a triumphal march to Philadelphia, returned to New Vork
Gity, where be set up a gay and glittering coui't, of which the Tory

426

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

refugees from Westchester Coniifv were conspicuous members. As
the spring approaclied many \\{-vv the si>eculations indulgi'd on the
American side as to tlie probable intentions of the eueui}'. There
Avere rumors of a formidable invasion from Canada, but it was some
months before these became substantiated bj intelligence of the ex-
pedition of Burgoyne. In this uncertain state of things Washington
manifested a decided conviction that Peekskill was the natural center
for the concentration of troops pending actual developments. In
March he transferred Heath from Peekskill to the command of the
Eastern department, with headquarters at Boston, and soon after-
ward he instructed him to send on to Peekskill eight of the Massa-
(dnisetts battalions, (■x])]aining that at Peekskill "they would be

well ])laced to give sup])ort to
any of the Eastern or Middle
States, or to op])ose the enemy
; should they design to ])enetrate
the country up the Hudson, or to
cover New England should they
in\ade it. Should they move
westward the Eastern and South-
ern troops could easily form a
junctioii, and this, besides, would
oblige the enemy to leave a nuirh
stronger garrison at New York.
l']veii should the enemy pursue
their first plan of an invasion
from Canada, the troo])s at Peeks-
kill would not be badly placed to
re-enforce Ticouderoga and cover
the country around .Mbauy.""

Heath was succeeded at I'eiMvS-
kill by Brigadier-(ieiieral Mc-
Dougall, who had commanded at the engag( uieiit on Chatterton's Hill.
McDcjugall had scai'cely become installed in the post when he was
energetically attacked by the British — their first luove of any im-
portance in the year 1777. Howe, being informed of the existence
of large depots of stores at and near Peekskill, decided to destroy
them, and on the 23d of March, the river having become freed of ice,
sent up Colonel Bird for thai imrjiose with ."OO troojis and four light
field-pieces. Before the arrival of the expedition McDougall, being
informed of its coming, removed a portion of the stoi'es to Forts
Montgomery and Constilution. Bird landed his men and guns at
Lent's Cove, near Peekskill Milage, whereupon ^McDougall, having at

.MAKINCS WII.LKT.

EVENTS OF 1777 AND 1778 427

tlu' liiiu' ouly aboiii li'id incii with him, l)uriil I he biiiTJicks and store-
houses at Peekskill and ictiicd to tho neighborhood of Continental
Vilbii;(' in the nionnlain ])ass. Tlie enemy <]id iioi tliinl< it wise to
follow him to this poijil. MeKoujiall was re-euforeed soon afterward
by a party from Fort Constitution und(»r Lieutenant-Colonel Marinus
Wilier. The next day there was a lively eneonnter l)etween Willet
and the foe near the Van Corllaudt mansion,' which resulted in the
rout of the latter. According- to Irving the British lost nine killed
and four ANounded befon- they were able to escape to their shijiping.
The chief deposits at Continental Village were not touched. Thus
the first attempt on the American position about the Highlands,
although made at a moment when our forces were ill prepared for it,
and having in view only the destruction of stoi'es, was a failure.

In this same month of March, 1777, occurred the capture of the
eminent Judge John Thomas, at his lionu' in the "Rye Woods,'' by
a British ex]ieditionary force sent for that special purpose. Judge
Thomas, one (if the ablest, most zealous, and most influential patriots
in Westcliester County, had always been peculiarly obnoxious to the
British, and a ]U'ice had been placed upon his head. He was taken
on Sunday morning, March 22, conveyed to New York, and cast into
prison, where he died on the 2d of May following. His remains were
interred in Ti'inity Churchyard. A year and a half later his equally
distinguished son. Colonel (afterward Major-Ceneral) Thomas
Thomas, was secni-ed, also at the Thomas home, by a similar party.
This hapix'ued Ndvember i;>, 1778." He was subsequeutly exchanged.
The two ev<'uts illnstrate how well served the Bj'itish were in our
ctMinty by spies, i'otli .Tudge Thomas and his son were exceptionally
cantious in their movements. Upfin the occasion of the son's cap-
ture it was the first time he had slept at his home in many months.

The affair of March at Peekskill greatly agitated the State con-
A'ention, Mhich caused a iiortion of th<' militia of Orange, Dutchess,
and Westchester Counties to be called out, sent to the Highlands, and

' The Van Cortlandt mansion, near Peekskill, sultinsl.T asked ber: ' Are you not the daugh-

was bnill about 1770. In consequence of the ter of that old rebel Pierre Van Cortlandt?"

tirni adhesion of Pierre Van Cortlandt, the She replied: ' I am the daughter of IMerre Van

head of the family, to the patriot cause, the (Cortlandt, but it becomes not such as you to

Manor House at Croton became an unsafe hab- call my father a rebel.' The Tory raised his

itallon. and the Van Cortlandts were obliged ,„,iskel, when she, with great calmness, re-

lo take up their residence in the Peekskill |„.yvcd him for his insolence and hade him be-

Imuse. Cornelia, the second daughter of Pierre g„„^. j,,,^ toward turned awav abashed, and

Van Cortlandt, married GcM-ard C. Bc'ektuan, a ^,^^ remained uninjured.- This house was

.ealous patriot Mrs. Beeknu.n was the hostess ^^^^_^^ ^^^^,j ,^^. ^^.„,^i„^„,„ „, i,i, „,„„„, ,,3,.

deuce when his duties took him to Peekskill, a

at the Peekskill house. The following inci-
dent has been often quoted: " A i)arty of roy- ... . ,
alists. under Colonels Bayard and Fanning, distinction which it shared with ll.c noted
came to the Peekskill house, and, commencing Hirdsall house, in I^eekskiil.
their customary course of treatment, one in- ' See Scharf, ii., 713.

428 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

put to work at varidus diilies — notably the strengtlicuiiij; of the chain.
About the end oi Ajtiil several British transports advanced uj) the
river, but came no fartlier than Dobbs Ferry. In May Wasliinj;ton
disiiatclicd (iciiei-als (Jrei'ue and Knox to I'cekskill, wlui, in con-
junction Willi Generals McDou<iall, George ("lintoii, and Anthony
^^'ayne, luade a careful examination of tlie llinhhuid situation and
submitted a joint rei)ort, in wliicli tlic iin])o]-tance of the chain was
dwelt npon, but it was expressly urucd that there was no need of
additional (bdeuses on the west shore Ixdow I'^ort Clinton. A fatal
recounuendation, as the event proved. Innuediately after the inspec-
tion by llic board of generals, Washington, regarding the Peekskill
commaud as too impoi-tant to l)e ludd by an oHiccr of the minor rank
of brigadier-general, removed McDougall and substituted for hiui
Major-Genera] Putnam, having previously offered the position to
Benedict .\rnold. who deidined it. I*utnam, tliougli brave as a liou,
zealous, and despite his advanced years indefatigable, was not e(|ual
to till' administration of such a post, and the great catastrophe of
October, 1777, was largely dne to his deticiency in the nicer (pialities
of generalship. Under his su[)erintendence the chain received the
most conscientious attention.

The organization of the civil government of the new State of New
York, born at A\'liite I'lains on the 9th day of July, 17TG, was delayed
for many months on account partly of the protracted military opera-
tions and partly of the very methodical proceedings of the gentlemen
who had that important business in charge. On the 1st of August,
1776, the " Convention of IJepresentatives of the State of New York "
appointed a committee of thirteen (our Gouverneur Morris being one
of its members) to prepare a " form of government,'' and that body in
turn delegated the task to John Jay. Mr. Jay set to work conscien-
tiously to draft a State constitution, which, having been apj^roved
by the committee, was reported to the convention (then sitting at
Kishkill) on the 12th of March, 1777. The instrument was adopted by
the convention on the 20th of April following. It pi'ovided for the
election of a governor, senate, and assembly by the people. Al-
though the New York constitution of 1777 is regarded by all authori-
ties as the most satisfactory and judicious measure of government
framed in any State during the Kevolution, it was in certain essen-
tial partictdars (juite conservative, showing |)lainly the continuing
force of liie old c(donial iustitulioiis. It sought to make the senate
a peculiaily stdect body, and to that end prescribed a property qualiti-
cation for voters in the selection of senators. Over both senate and
assembly it placed a third, and nou-idective, body — the "governor's
council," to consist of a number of uuMubers of the senate, who were

EVENTS OF 1777 AXD 1778 429

to l)c cIhiscu 1),v liallot \t\ tlic assembly. All jii(l<;('s and miiuerons
other otificers, uow elective, were made appointive. An earnest en-
deavor was made by (xouverneur IMorris to have a tiaiise inserted in
the constitution providing' for the siradual abolition of slavery; but
the convention declined to institute such an innovation.

The old State convention reserved to itself the authority to ajipoint
the first judges, and desiynated as chief justice our -lolm Jay, who
()l)ened the tirst session of the Su])reme Court at Kingston in Septem-
ber, 1777. He held the office, however, for only two years, beini;- suc-
ceeded on the 23d of October, 177!), by Kichard .\birris, also a son of
\>'est Chester County.^ Chief Justice ^Morris reiuaiiicd at llic head
of the judiciary of the State until 171)0.

At tlie first election held under the const it nt ion, (ieneral George
Clinton was chosen governor. By the provisions of the constitu-
tion the senate had twenty-four members, (diosen from four dis-
tricts only, called the Southern, Middle, Eastern, and Western.
^Yestcheste^ County beloniied to the Southern district. Its first
senators Mere Pierre \'an Cortlandt and General Lewis ^lorris; and
u|ion the oi'i^ainzation of the senate (June 30, 1777) ^'an Coi-tlandt
was elected its presiding officer and also lieuteant-governor of the
State. As (Ieneral Clinton, after his choice as goxcrnor, still con-
tinued to be much occuiiie(l by his command in the tiehl, the actual
duties of the governor.ship were performed for a considerable time by
^'an Cortlandt. lie held tlu^ office of lieutenant-goxcrnor from 1777
to 1795, a i)eriod of eighteen years. I'.y the original apportionment
for the assembly (whi(di continued in tone until 1791), Westchester
County had six representatives in that body out of a total of seventy.
Our county's members of the tirst assenild.s' iidd under the State
gd\cinmcnt were Thaddcus Crane, Samuel Drake, Robert Graham,
Israel Honeywell, Jr., Zi'badiah ]\nils, and Gouverneur ^lorris.

The tirst county judge under the constitution was L(»wis Morris
(appointed by the State convention, .May S, 1777); he was suci-eeded,
February 17, 177S, by IJobert Graham, who served during the re-
mainder of the IJevolution. The first surrogate was Kichard Hatfield
(appointed ilarch 23, 177S); the first sheriff, John Thomas, Jr., (ap-
pointed ^lay S. 1777); the first county clerk, John liartow (a](|>ointed
^lay S, 1777). 'IMiese were the only county officei's of general im])ort-
ance. Of course their functions were of a very limited character in
a count \ \\liei(- scarce anv ><embhince of iiublic oi-der obtained.

' ('liicf Justice Uli'liarrl Morris was a sraiid- iiinpcrty art.lafi'iil to tlio Tonipldiis estate of

son of till' provineial Cliief .Itislice Lewis Mor- I'nN Meiidow.s. in Senrsilale. This property lio

ris. .-nMl a tjrotlier of I^ewis Morris, tlie signer left to liis son-iTi-law. Major William Pojiliam.
of the Declaration of Uiilcpemlenee. He owned

430 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Throujihout the TJovolution, and fov several years subsequently,
tliere was no atteni]it made to reorganize the civil divisions of West
Chester County. Previously to the war these divisions, as repre-
sented in the board of supervisors, were the Manor of Cortlandt,
Kyck's Patent [reekskill], White Plains. Redford, Kye, North Castle,
Westchester Town, Maniaroneck, Poundrid.ue, Phili])sebnrgh ^lanor,
Scarsdale Manor, Eastchester, Salem, Pelham, and New Rochelle.
The board of sn])ervisors had only a nominal existence durinj^ the
Kevolution.

The sprinii of 1777 iilided by A\ilhont the sliiihtest manifestation
by the enemy of their fundamental plans for the coming- campaiiiu.
The rumors of an a])]>roa(diin<i' invasion from Canada became increas-
inf];ly deiinite, but meantime tln^ purposes of the oreat British army
at hand, still comiuanded by General Howe, remained unfathomable.
Washington was still encamped behind stroni;- iutrenchments in New
Jersey, this side of the Delaware, and the British army also con-
tinued on New Jersey soil. At last, in June, Howe began certain
offensive movements, as if intendinji to resume his march to Phila-
delphia. These demonstrations were purely deceptive, to draw Wash-
ington out of his intrenchments and bring him to battle. They occa-
sioned some active skirmishing, but that was all. Seeing that the
])atriot general was not thus to be lured to his ruin, Howe, on the
30th of June, withdrew all his forces to New York, by way of Staten
Island.

Now followed more than t\\o months of anxious suspense for Wash-
ington. Positive news was received about this time of the descent
of Bnrgoyne's splendidly appointed host from Canada. Burgoyne,
of course, would be dealt with by the Northern Army under Schuyler,
assisted by the militia of the section through which he passed; but
what were the intentions of Howe with his large New York com-
mand? Would he co-operate with Burgoyne by ascending the Hud-
son Eiver? If so, would he use all his forces to that end, or only a
portion, employing the remaindt^' for an expedition by sea against
Philadelphia or Boston? The more Washington studied the problem,
the more he became convinced that in any event an attempt up the
Hudson would follow. On the other hand, he could not bring his
mind to believe that this would be the only thing undertaken by
Howe. He soon rejected the idea of a possible attack on Boston, and
came to the firm conclusion that Philadelphia Avas the point in view.
In this he was strengthened by a decoy letter, which Howe allowed
to fall into the hands of Putnam at Peekskill, announcing that the
army at N(nv York would be dispatched to take Boston. The ruse
Avas too transparent, and Washington made all his arrangements on

EVENTS OF 1777 AND 1778

431

the tlieory <'f a double desinii on the Ili^hlaiuls and IMiil.idelphia.
His eak'ulations i)i'oved entirely correct.

His first care was to streni^tlien rutuani at Peekskill. lie sent
thither two brijiades, commanded by Parsons and N'arnnm, and later
General Sullivan Avitli his division, also orderinji- (Jenerals (ieorge
Clinton and Putnam to call out more militia; and meantime for-
Avarded troops and artillery to re-enforce the Northern Army. From
his OAvn southern position in New Jersey he fell back to the Clore,
a defile in the Hii;hlands on the Avest side of the river, so as lo be at
hand for the defense of that region. P.ut he did not remain there
loni;-. Sure that Philadelphia would be attacked, he befjan to move
toward the Delaware before Intel licence came of the njipearance of
Howe's fleet off the Cai)es. Then,
after the disappearance of the fieet
for t(Mi or twelve days — a most
s+raniie and perplexing circum-
stance— he apprehended that a
feint miii'lit have been executed to
draw his forces away from the Hiid-
son Kiver and tlius permit an ex-
Dedilion to force its way throuiih
tlie Iliuhlands. Yet he took a po-
sition with his main army near the
ca])itnl, leaviuii' a strou"- body in
])ro.\imity toPeekskill, which coulil
be ordei'cd there in case of neces-
sity. On tlie 10th of August all
uncertainty was ended by the r(^a]i-
pearance of the fleet below Phila-
delphia. From that time uiitil his
retirement to winter quarters at
Valley Foriie. he was enf;a,ned in a
around Pliiladeljdiia. This cani))aiiin iii(iu(h'(l tlie battles of the
Prandywine (September 11), and (Jermantown (October 4), and the
fall of Philadelphia, which Howe entered on the 25th of September.

After Washiuiiton, resolvinii his doubts, marched (dT to Philadel-
phia, Putnam, commandin<; at Peekskill, was let alone by the British
for tAvo months. This did not suit the old fifihter's temperament.
He longed for action, and if the enemy would not come after him.
he saw no reason why he should not <xn after the enemy. He ])lanned
a variety of chimerical attacks — on New York, Lonj; Island, Paulus
Hook (Jersey City), and even Staten Ishind; and doubtless h(> felt
much aijRTieved at the coldness with which Washington viewed his

GENERAL PUTNAM.

treinciidoHS strug^g'le wiih Howe

432 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

aggressive ideas. The latter, before Howe's object was revealed, had
seconded a scheme of Putnam's for a night expedition against Kings-
bridge b}- way of Spujten Duyvil Creek; but after the campaign was
begun he deemed it the height of folly to eiu]»loy the forces at Peek-
skill in any mere diversions.

But the humdrum life of these two months at Peekskill was re-
lieved by one sensational incident, tor which the pages not only of
history but of literature are the richei*. Early in August a spy,
Edmund Palmer by name, was detected furtively collecting informa-
tion as to the forces and condition of the Peekskill post. Putnam
granted him a coui't-martial trial, which resulted in his conviction
and condemnation. Sir Ileury Clinton, whom Howe had left in com-
mand at New York, hastily sent up a ship of war, from which, upon
its arrival at Verplanck's Point, a message was forwarded to Putnam
under a flag of truce, claiming Palmer as a lieutenant in the British
service, and intimating tliat re])risal would be made if harm befell
him. Putnam returned ilie following characteristic reply:

Headquarters, 7tli August, 1777.
Sir : Kdmund Palmer, au officer in the enemy's service, was taken as a spy lurking with-
in the American lines. He has been tried as a spy, eimdemued as a spy, and shall be executed
as a spy ; and the Hag is ordered to depart immediately.

IsRAKL Putnam.
P. S. — He has been aecordinglj' executed.

Palmer was a Tory of Yorktc wn (this county) — one of the offensive
class. He was well connected and had a wife and family. It is said
he was taken into custody by a parly of his patriot neighbors. Bolton
gives a pathetic account of the unavailing a])i>eal made by his wife
to Putnam for mercy.^ He was hanged on a little hill in the northern
part of Cortlandtown, a great assemblage of country people being
gathered to witness the event. The place still bears the name of
CalloAvs Hill.

Another s]>y was executed by Putnam during his Peekskill admin-
istration— one Daniel Strang, who, Avlien arrested, had on his person
a paper drawn by Colonel Rogers, of the QueiMi's Hangers, and dated
" Valentine's Hill, December 30, 177(1," which authorized the bearer
to bring recruits for the British service. Strang also was tried by
court-martial, condemned, and hanged, the sentence receiving Wash-
ington's api)roval. He suffered on a spot now comprised within the
grounds of the Peekskill Academy. His gallows was an oak tree.
The locality has ever since been called Oak Hill, in memory of the
occurrence.

The document found on Strang is of much interest, as showing
the inducements given to Tory recruitiuii' otticers and volunteers.

' Bolton's Hist, of Wefltcliester County, rev. ed., i-, 153.

EVENTS OK 1777 AND 1778 433

so iiiauy of wiidiii were coiitiihiitcd by NN'cslclicstcr County to the
Hritisli cause. Alter reeitinsj that " his Majesty's service makes it
absolutely necessary that recruits should be raised," it continues:
" Tliis is to certify that j\Ir. Daniel Straiit;', or any other licntlenian
w ho may brint; in recruits, shall have commissions accordinj;' to the
number he or they shall briuii in for the Queen's American Kangers.
No nuu-e than forty shillings bounty is to be i^iven to any man, which
is to be apjilied toward purchasini; necessaries; to serve durinjij the
present Kebellion, and no lonucr. Tliey will have their proportion
of all rebel lands, and all jirivileues e(iual to any of his Majesty's
troops. The ofhcers are to be the best jud<j;es in what manner they
will lict their men in, either by jtarties, detachments, or otherwise, as
may seem most advantageous; which men are to be attested before
llic tii-st magistrate within the British lines."

\\'liile Washinnt<in and Flowe wei-e contendinii for the possession
of riiiladclphia, Hurgoyne was cominj;' down from the north, and as
lie progrcsx-d lie w as iietting into difficulties. It was the plan of the
Hritish ministry, as Washington at once suspected when he heard
of the northern invasion, for a co-operating expedition to ascend the
Hudson from New York about the time that Burgoyne should be far
enough advanced in his march to descend it, and thus to effect a
junction. Combined with Howe's simultanectus movement on Phil-
adcJlihia, wliicli drew olT "Washington's army to the west, the ]iroject
was a most admirable one; anil M'ho can doul)t tliat, with Washing-
Ion beaten in I'ennsylvaTiia, and both New York and rhilaileli)hia
in lln' hands of tlie British, the success of the startling eiiterjjrise
would cilhcr iiave ended the l{e\dlution or reduced it to mere insur-
i-ectionary jirojiortions? The ])lan iiad two weak jioints: tirst, due
cousideralion was not given to ihc ariued strength and varied re-
sources of the Americans in the country which r.urgoyne had to
traverse; and second, the co-operating force from New York had an
undertaking far too serious to be eniej'ed upon lightly or witii any
chance of ])rematui'eness. That undertaking was the forcing of a
jiassage ii]t the Hudson Biver, which could be done only by reducing
several forts splendidly situated fof defense and su])ported by a con-
siderable body of troo]is ])osted below for the protection of the numii
tain passes. No one can inspect the ground at IN-ekskill and above
wiiliont a \i\id i-eali/.ation of the severity of the task which the ex-
pediti(ui from New Vork had to perfoiau. ^'ef it was acconii)lislied
w itii perfect ease and slight loss.

Tliis business fell to tlie j.ait of Sir I leniy ( 'linton, upon whom the
command in New ^Ork ha<l devolved when Howe sailed f(»r IMiiladel-
phia. U is said that iSir Henry's reason for delaying the movement

434

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(III I lie lli^lilaiids \\;is llic lU'ccssity of waitinin for re-en forcciiK'iits
frdiii Eiijilaud, which were tliice months on the way. If this is true,
the re-enforeenients came just in tlie nick of tinn- — not, it is true,
lor l>ur_i;()yne's sal\ation, but for a judicious attack in tlie lliyhhiud
quarter. Wlieu Sir Henry was jirepared to move, l?ur<;'oyue was
alicady doomed. (In tlie other liand, if Sir Henry liad moved a nninth
earlier, when lie niii;lit luive been of real service to Bur^oyue, he
would have been confronted by a formidable instead of an insi<;niti-
cant force at Peekskill, and jirobably would have been baflled. His
ri' enforcements could not have been larye — could hardly have been

worth waitiuii for, indeed, — since he
took with him only 8,000 men. It
seems to us that an impcu'tant con-
tributin<;' reason, if not the chief
reason, for his delay was a discreet
resolve to wait until Washinj;ton,
battlinji- ajjaiust sjreat odds around
I'liiladeljiliia, should, by his enier_nent
necessities, summon to his own army
the better part of Putnam's com-
mand at Peekskill, and thus leave
the Hiji'hlands in as Aveak a ccuidition
as possible. The facts are that he did
not move until Washinjiton had been
reduced to such straits as to take to
himself 2,500 of Putnam's best
troops, — but did move shortly after-
ward. At the selected moment Put-
nam had only 1,100 continentals and
400 militiamen at Peekskill, and the
total Harrisons of Forts Clinton and
Montgomery were not in excess of (iOO, mostly New York militia
hastily gathered by Governor George Clinton and his brother, Gen-
eral James Clinton — the former commanding- at Fort Jlontinonu'ry
and the latter at Fort Clinton.

On the 4th of October the expedition up the Hudson ^ot under
way. Its advance consiste<l of two sliii)s-of-war, tlii'ee tenders, and
a large number of flatboats, and a second division lollowed com-
piising one large man-of-war, five topsail vessels, and numerous small
craft. A stop was made at Tarrytown, where troo])s wot'c landed
and marched several miles into the country. P>ut this maneuver,
says Irving, was only a feint to distract attention. At night the nu'U
were re-embarked, and the next morning the whole force of sorae-

GENERAL JAMES CLINTON.

EVENTS OF 1(77 AMI 1778 435

tiling more lliiiii :!,(I00 was set aslioi'c at W'riilaiick's i'oiiit. This
was I lie luoruinji of Ilic Hth of October — one year, lackiuf>' seveu clays,
Iroiii tlie (late of llie lirsl I'ritisli enlerpiise in ^^'est(•lH•st('r ('(Miiily
at 'I'lii-o.^ii's I'dint.

(ieiieral I'm nam, with liis weak (•(Hiiiiiaiul at I'eekskill, of course
could not a(l\aiice to eni;ai;(' such a body. J lis iuiicuuous soul could
not suruiise auy tiuile iu the foe wlio thus in broad dayliiihl had
lauded under his eye, and his \aloro\is instincts rejected all doubt
I hat the kuii^hfly Sir lleury would come strai,i;lit on and fi,i;ht him.
He fidl back to the jiasses, posted himself there, sent to (Governor
Clinton at I'ort Monti>omery for all the soldiers lie could spare, and
awaili'd the convenience of the enemy, Avho meantime sliowed a sur-
prisingly leisurely dis]»osition. There \\as no attack that day, ni<;bt
fell, and I'ntnam looked for the morrow with hopeful expectancy.
l?ut before daybreak Sir Henry transported 2,000 of his force from
\'er]ihinck's Point to the wholly unprotected west shore, leavinu;
1,000 b(diind to keej) u]> the appearance of a meditated movement on
I*utnam. Then, with his main body, he made the circuit of the
Duuderberii, marched without experiencinij' the least detention
Ihrouiih those mountain passes which Washington's board of gen-
eials in .May had reported were so exceedingly difficult that they
would never be attempted, easily ovei'came the small cori)s sent to
(dieck him, and, in two divisions of a thousand men each, fell upon
Forts Clinton and ^lontgonu'ry from the rear. He stormed them with
the bayonet, and though the forts were heroically defended, tlie
.VuH'ricaus prolonging their resistance until twilight, the overi)ower-
ing munbers of the British carried the day. The American killed,
woumled, and missing were 2.^0. The two commanders, with the
remnants of the garrisons, escajied across the river. In the action
Colonel Campbell, heading one of the attacking parties, was killed,
and his command fell to Colomd P>ev(M-ly Kobinson, the Loyalist
son-indaw (d' the third I'rederick I'hili|ise. Fort Independence, on
the Westchester side above Peekskill, did not prove strong enough
to ]u-eveut the jiassage of the warshijjs belonging to the expedition.
Two o]' three of these vessids ran by its batteries and co-opi'rafe<l
with the laud force. CiOA'ernor Clinton was informed somewhat in
advance of the coming of the eniuny through the j)asses, and sent to
I'ntnam for hell), but his messenger never reached the doughty gen-
(■ral. Irving says lie turned traitor and deserted to the enemy.

I'utn.im had been completidy ou(maneu\cred. Although the cross-
ing of a liritish force to the west side had been rejiorled to him, he
sui)])osed this was oidy a detachment, and thought the main body
was still at A'er]i]anck"s I'lu'nt, and Mould come u]ion him in due

436 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

liiiie.^ lie lint niily (lid not rc-enforcc tlic iiurrisoiis, Init appre-
licixlcd nolliiiiu (if tlic tnitli until the liuiis of the forts boomed upou
hiss astounded ears. Added to his coiifusiou as a dujied general was
llie uiortilicatiou of a true soldier, ardent for battle but denied that
])rivile<je by a six'cious antagonist; for his own position was not
assailed. Putnam, when in splenetic humor, was not over nice in
the choice of words; and it can be imagined but not printed with
what dreadful language he must have remarked upon the eventuality.

There was a dis]ilay of fireworks that night in the romantic fast-
nesses of tlie Highlands never eiiualed before or since. Two
American ships and two armed galleys were stationed above the
chain, and when the fate of the forts was decided they were set on
tire to save them from the enemy. When the magazines were reached
they blew up with terrific explosions, which long reverberated among
the mountains.

Continental Village, with its barracks, storehouses, and a number
of loaded wagons, was burned on the Otli by a detachment under
Major-dcneral Tryon. Westchester County below Peekskill was not
included in this visitation, and before the end of Oct(jber Putnam
was back in Peekskill with a force of 6,000. The whole Hudson being
open, the British ascended it and ravaged the country. To this period
belongs the burning of Kingston. Soon, however, came the wonder-
ful tidings of the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga (October 20).
and the invad(n's from below, finding their errand a profitless one and
unable to maintain their jxisition in the Highlands, returned to New
York. Putnam, at Peekskill, resumed his sway over the entire post.
No further attemjit was made against Peekskill or its important
jurisdiction until the summer of 1779, when Verplanck's Point, and
Stony Point op])osit(», were seized — to no other substantial end, how-
ever, than to give the name of Anthony Wayne to immortality.

The very large body with which Putnam resumed his station at
Peekskill Avas obtained from the Northern Army, which, after Bur-
goyne's surrender, had been disintegrated. These troops and many
more, no longer needed at the North, should have been sent to Wasli-
ington, who, after the evacuation of Philadeljihia, continued tlie un-
e(]ual struggle Avith Howe; but the jealousy of (!ates deprived AVash-
iugtou of them, as a year i)reviously the ambition of Lee had pre-

' After landing on Vorplanck's I'oiiil. Sir of llio river, but the state of the atniosiilierc
Hcur.v re-enibarlii'(l a portion of his foree and was sueh that no estimate could be made of
moved the tloot up to reekskill Neck. This was the number. From all the eireumstauoes, Put-
one of his sehemes to mask the proceedings of nam firmly believed that it was only a small
the main body at King's Kerry. All writers detachment lo burn the American storehouses
agree that I'utnam was informed betimes of on that side, and the appearance of a large
the transportation of a part of the Brillsh tire near Stony I'oint shortly afterward cou-
army from Verplanck's Toiut to the west side firmed him in this opinion.

j^ .*- - 1-- 5. *■■■■■ vai,'CS'»»tAA-v-

"m'&-.

/ <^ <^\ !♦.' /»'' v;-

jtiH. .f fii™.u*<^-VV.'<»*

TIIK ATTACK tlX TlIF MKiHI.AXn FORTS.

438 HISTORY OF -^TESTCHESTER COUNTY

vented liis needful re-ent'orcenieiit in New Jersey. Thus at two ci'iti-
riil emergencies in two successive years Westchester County was
made tJie scen(> of a laruc and idle military establishment to j^ratify
the jtersiinal spite <if Wasliin^ton's rivals. (lem'ral I'utiiam, whose
nature was noble and wlio was entirely loyal to his c(uuniaiider,
was not a party to this i)etty and wicked meanness; but he had de-
signs of his own for the good of tlie cause. It was liis dearly clierisheil
object to capture New York, and In- felt that now was the ai>i)ointed
time. At this juncture Alexandei- Hamilton ari-ived at Peekskill on a
mission from \\'asliingt(>n to (!ates, and in the name of his cliief or-
dered Putnam to send on two contiiHnital brigades. He tlieu went to
Albany and int('rviewed (iates. (ietting little satisfaction, however,
from tliat I'gotist and scdiemer, lie sent an express to Putnam to for-
ward another thotisand men to Washington. But upon his return to
Peekskill he found with astonisliment and indignation that Putnam
had not obeyed either of his ordeis, but instea<l was beginning active
operations against New York, and to that end had marched a force
to Tarryto\\n and had formally reconnoitered the enemy almost
as fa]- doAV n as Kingsbridge. Hamilton, under the advice of (Jovernor
riinton, now peremptorily commanded Putnam to dispatch to Wash-
ington all his continental regiments, retaining only his militia forces.
This order was obeyed. Hamilton was greatly enraged against Put-
nam, and advised Washington to make an example of him, saying:
" His blunders and caprices are endless." P.ut Washington was un-
willing to too deeply wound the sensibilities of the (dd general, and
coiilented himself with a mild reprimand. "I can not but say,"' he
wrote, "there has been more (hday in the march of the troops than
I think necessary, and 1 could wisli that in futtire my orders may
be immediately complied with, without arguing upon the propriety
of them. If any accident ensues from obeying them, the fault will
be upon me, not upon you."

During the winter of 1TT7-7S General Putnam and the two (Tin-
tons, with Lieutenant-tTOvernor Pierre Van Cortlandt, John Jay, and
others, reconiU)itered the Highlands with a vitnv to their refortitica-
tioii, and selected West Point as the most eligible place for the prin-
ci]ial works. A beginning was made there before I'utnam's retirement
from the I'eekskill post, which occurred on the KJth of March, 1778.
He was succeeded by McDougall — his immediate predecessor, — now
become a major-general.

At this stage of the war American hopes mounted high. Tin
French alliance was signed in Paris on the (>th of February. Wash-
ington, still at Valley Forge (Pa.), was in position to attack the
Pritish in Philadelphia, and the arrival of a French fleet to co-o])erate

EVENTS OF 1777 AM) 1778 439

witli him ajiainst tliat city was expected montlily. It became im-
practicable for the eueniy to contintie there, and the evacuation of
the phice was decided on. Just previously to the event Howe re-
siiiiied the chief command and was succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton.
The British army moved out i>f IMiiladelpliia on the ISth of June
to make its way by land back to New York. It was pursued by Wash-
ington. On the 28th was fought th'- battle of Monmouth Court House,
where General Lee (who had been exchanged) so comi)orted himself
that he Avas court-martialed and retired to private life. The British
effected their escape to New York, and ^Vashington encamped in New
Jersey to bide the progress of events.

Here, on the 13th of July, he received the welcome intelligence of
the arrival off the coast of A'irgiuia of a French fleet under the Count
d'Estaing. consisting of twelve sliips of the line and six frigates,
and bearing a land force of 4,000. In the restilting correspondence
between the two commanders it was resolved to begin at once joint
operations against New York, and ^A'ashington forthwith broke up
his New Jersey camp, crossed King's Ferry into our county, and de-
scended to White Plains, where he spread his tents about the 20th
day of July. Finm ihis place, whither he had retired from New York
island under such perilous circumstances in the fall of 1776, he wrote
to a friend in Virginia: "After two years' maneuvering and the
strangest vicissitudes, both arnues are brought back to the very point
they set out from, and the olTending party at the beginning is now
reduced to the use of the spade and pickax for defense. The hand
of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be
worse than an infi<l<d that lacks faith, and more than wicked that
has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations."

The army remained at White Plains for about two months. In
September, Washington, as shown by an entry in his accounts with
the Fnited States, recounoitereil " the country about the [White]
ri;iin>. between the Xorrli and East Eivers,*' disbursing for that ptir-
pose out of his private purse the sum of S13.3.

But it was not ordered that the arrangement for the taking of
New York, whose successful execution woulil dnubtless have ter-
minated the wai-, should be carried out. The French fleet sailed up
to Sandy Hook. The British naval force in New York Bay at that
time comprised only six ships of the line, four 50-gun ships, and a
nuiidier of frigates and smaller vessels. D'Estaing, howcvci-, was
iidormcd by pilots that the depth of water on the Sandy Hook bar
was not sufficient to permit the passage of his largest vessels, one
of which carried eighty and another innety gtiiis. ]h' therefore
abandoucHl the enterprise and proceeded to Newport to capture, in

440 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(■((nJiiiicliMii with an cxiicditinii 1ic;m1<m1 \)\ (iciicial Sullivan, (he
liritisli toicc of (i,0(Mt wlii<-li was stationcl there. This plan also
jtetei'cil n'lt. The Urilisli Heel came 11]) the Sonnd to enj;aii(' the
I'lciicii, which went to meet it. Imt an inopiiortnne storm dispersed
tlio ships, and the French commander afterward went to Boston to
retif, leavinu General Snllivan in a daniicroiis situation, from whicli
lie had nmcli dillicnlty in exlricalini; himself. The behavior of the
I'rench in this first test of the jnaclical \alne of the alliance e.\cited
t-reat disgust throiiiihonf the conntrv.

The ilepartnre of the I'^reiich lo Itostoii was followed in Sejileiiiher
by a i;i'eat stir of British |)repara1 ions in New York foi- some nn-
knowii object. Washinj^ton, at While Plains, feared an attack on
the Highlands, which, in the elementary condition (d' the West Point
defenses, were ill prepared for resistance; bnt he e(|nally feared an
expedition aiiainst Boston. In this nncertainty he jiroceeded as he
had done tiie year before while waiting for Howe to unfold his
jirojects. He larc,ely re-enforced the troops at Peekskill and above,
and stationed Tntnam with two brigades near Wi'st Point, mean-
while remo\in^ his own camii from \\'estchester Connty to a ]iosi-
tion farther north on the Connecticut border, from where he conld
move either to Boston or to the Hudson Biver, as the resnlt shonhl
re(]nire. But the new enteri)rise of Sir Henry Clinton pro\ed to ha\i'
only local purposes. He sent an expedition to Little Efi\n' Harbor
iN. J.), which had been used by the Americans as an important base
for privateering operations, and, to c(ner it, threw 5,000 men under
Cornwallis into northern New Jersey and 3,000 under Kny])liausen
into \\'estchester County. "The detatdimeiit on the east side of the
Hudson (we (luote from Irvine's Life of \\'ashiniiton)made a predatory
ami disgraceftil foray from their lines at Kintjsbridge toward the
Americans at White Plains, plundering the inhabitants without dis-
crimination, not only of their provisions and forage, but of the very
clothing on tlieir backs. None were more etticient in this ravage
than a ])arty of about a hundred of Captain Donop's Hessian yagers,
and they were in full maraud between Tarrytown and Dobbs T^erry
wli(>n a detachment of infantry tinder Colonel Richard Butler, and
of cavalry under ilajor Henry i.ee, came upon them by surjirise,
killed ten of them on the s]>ol, caiilured a lieutenant and eighteen
jiri\ates, and would lia\c taken or distroyed the wlude had not the
extreme roughness of the country impeded the action of the cavalry
and enabled the yagers to esca])e by scraiubling uj) hillsides or iilung-
ing into ravines."

It was during the snninier of 177S, and while Washington was still
in camp at White TMaiiis, that the tragical event referred to in our

•^ -S

442 HISTORY OK WESTCHESTER COUNTY

cliaptcr on tin Iinliaiis tiaiisiiiicd. A band of abont sixty so-callfMl
StockbridjL^e Indians (descendants of the Moliican tribe wiiich orijr-
ina11,\' possessed ^\llat is now Weslcliester Comity), nnder tlie com-
mand of tlie Cliief >,'imlunn, ^\as detaclied to tlie sontii from Wasii-
ington's armv. On tlie 2(11 li of Aiinnst tlio Indians attaclied and
drove down to Kingsbridjie a force of tlie enemy under Lientenant-
Colonel ]Onimerick. Dnriiig the next fe\\' days they continued in the
lower ])art of the Town of Yonkers. Here, ou August 31, they were
surrounded and surprised by tlie (Queen's Ifangers under Siincoe, the
( 'iiasseiirs under Emmerick, de Laiicey's 2(1 battalion, and the Legion
Dragoons under Lieuleiiaiit-Coloiicl Tarleton. Forty of their num-
ber, including their cliiet' and his son, were killed or desperately
wounded. This slaughter was one of the most considerable result-
ing from any single encounter on Westchester soil during the Revo-
lution. An extended account of the affair, from which the various
notices in Bolton's and Scharfs Histories are mainly drawn, may
be found in Simcoe's Journal.

Not many other events of local importance happened in West-
chester County during the j'ear 1778. The jirincipal ones were the
burning of Ward's bouse at Tuckahoe, and the " Babcock's House
.\rfair " in Yonkers.

^Var(^s house, which stood on the site of the residence of the late
Judge (iiiford, was the property of Judge Stephen Ward, a very
prominent and respected citizen of the Town of Eastchester. He was
one of the leaders of the patriot party in our count}' before the war, sat
in the assembly in 177S and in the State senate from 1780 to 1783, and
was appointed coiinty judge in 1781. His home, on the Tuckahoe Koad,
was the post for a detachment of Kevolutionary troops dependent
M]ion the " lines " above, and as such it was attacked several times.
Upon one occasion the American force stationed in and around it
was attacked by a strong liritish expedition under Captain Campbell.
The American commander was ready to surrender, when an unlucky
shot was fired from one of the windows, and Captain Campbell fell
dead. JIany Americans were slaughtered in revenge^, and twenty-
seven were taken away prisoners. But the place was again gar-
risoned, and it was then decided by tlie enemy to burn I lie house.
This was done in Xovember, 1778, the sidings, doors, windows, and
shutters lieing first removed. They were transjiorted (o Kingsbridge
and used in building barracks for the British troops.

The ■' Balicock's House Affair " is one of the most interesting Bevo-
liitionary episodes couuected with the history of Yonkers. A strong
ami pleasing element of n nuance a( (aclies (o it. " r>abcock's 1 louse ''
was none odier tliaii the paisoiiagc of Saint Jolin's I lC|)iscopaliaii)

EVENTS OK 1777 ANT) 1 77S 443

( 'liuirli, mill lilt' 1{('\'. l.u]<(' l!iili<(i(l<, IriMii whoin il tnoU ils ii;iiii(>,
was tlie sanio cU'i'iiyniaii who signed the Tory luanifcsto of April,
177."), and wlioni ('(iloncl I^cwis .Moiris sconif'nlly characterized as
'' tlie IJevereiid Mr. I.nke IJalicin l<. wiio i)reaclies and [irays for ('(doiiel
riiilijis and liis Iciiaiits ai i'liilipsburg.-" Lilce his compatriots, the
Kevereiids Saiiuicl Seal)iiry, of Westclu'ster; E])enctus Towiiseii<l, of
Salem; and Ephraim Avery, of Ivye, the Vonkers parson was per-
severing in his (levol ion lo the Britisli cause, and sulTered a<(ordiugly.
Soon after the removal of the lord of the mam)r, ^[r. I'.abcock was
a]i]irehen(led by a Ki'volutioiiary committee, his ])a])i'rs were ex-
amined, and the inlerro^atory was ])ro])(>und('d to him, ••Whether
he considei-ed liims(df bound by his oath of allegiance to the King?"
He replied anii'mati\(dy. and therenjxin was sent to New Haven
under guard, where lie langiiishe(| until I'ebruaiy, 1777. During his
continement his health declined. lieing releasc^d on parole, he re-
turned to the Yoidvcrs ](arsonage, and presently died there, leaving
a youthful widow, who continued to reside in the jiarsouage, where
IMiss A\'illiams. a sister of .Mi's. I'rederick IMiilipse, bore her com-
pany.

Now, these two ladies of the parsonage were either not very fero-
ci(Uis Loyalist partisans, or else held their political i)rim-iples (piite
subordinate to the gentle inclinations of their hearts. The widow
Habcock was wooed by a gallant American officer of the Westchester
lines, Colonel (tist. She at least did not discourage this devotion,
and it has even been surmised that she reci[)rocated it; and the com-
jianion of her loneliness, Miss Williams, apparently regarded the
iiunantic ailair with a kindly interest. The ardent Colonel Gist,
during his occasional warlike employments below tlu' lines, made his
rendezvous at the foot of Wild Boar Hill, oi)posite the parsonage;
and here, with his light corps, he was surprised early one morning
by a formidable force of the enemy. A careful plan had been laid
by Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, of the (Queen's Kangers, to surround
ami cajjture his whole command. In this enterprise Simcoe had the
co-operation of Tarletou, Enimerick, and other able officers. The ac-
companying map shows how the different corps of the enemy were
to have been disjiosed, and actually were disj)osed, with the single
important exception of a detachment that Avas to have been sta-
lioiu'd north of the Xejtperhau liiver foi- ihe ])ur]iose of cutting off
< list's retreat tli.-il way. I'ut oA\-ing to some blunder this line of
retreat was left ojien. The attacking force surprised (iisl's men
according to jirogramme, and gave them a shar]) fire; but th(» latter,
led by the colonel, escajied across the Nepiteihan and were soon be-
yond pursuit. ■•In the meanlime," says a narratiu- of the affair.

444 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

"Mrs. Babcock, liaviiiii stationed licisclf in one of the dormer win-
dows of the i)arsona5it', aided tlieir escajie, wherever they api)eare<l, by
llie wavini; of a white liandkeridiief." Onr salntations to the shade
of tiie li'entle, liracions, and (we (hmht not) beauteous Mrs. Habcork!

Dnrinj; the years 1777 and 177S a vei-y useful " wlialeboat " sei-\i(e
was oi'uanized and de\(do]ied in tlie hanih-ts of onr eounty ah>nj;- the
Sound. The whah'boats, ])ro]){dh'd with oars, " would dart across
the Sound under cover of the ni<>lit, and run into the inlets of the
Loni; Island shore, landing;- near the house of a Tory family, some-
times to plunder and sometimes to take prisoners. Small IJritish
vessels cruising in the Sound were occasionally captured. Market-
sloops, loaded with provisions for the Bi'itish army, were favorite
prey. (Jreat quantities of forajje and other stores belonjiinj;- to the
enemy were destroyed. Tlie wlialeboat service was pursued with
gjreatest activity in 1780 and 1781."^ Thomas Kniffen, of Kye, is
mentioned by Baird as one who was especially enerjietic in this dar-
inj; work. The capture of the liritish iiuardship " Scdiuldham '" (1777)
at the mouth of Eastchester Creek — a very brilliant performance —
was effected by some whaleboatmen from Darien, Conn., who first
seized the market-sloop which jdied regulaidy between Eastidiester
and New ^'ork, and then took her alongside the " Schuldham " on the
I)retense of desiring to S(dl some of their truck; whereu])on a i>arty
of armed men, concealed in the slooi)'s hold, clambered on board
the war-vessel, overpowered the crew, forced them to navigate the
jirize, and ran her into the jxirt of New London.

In this connection a word should be said also about the excellent
services of the "water guards'' in the various conimunitii-s on tlie
Hudson. The constant presence of the enemy's sliips in the riviT
rendered it peculiarly necessary to keep vigilant Avatch on the Ihnl-
sou's banks, and the organization effected for the discharge of the
duties tlius involved came to be very efficient. It was never safe
for a rowboat from a British ship to v(>nture to the shore; and even
the war-vessels themstdves had to keep steadfastly to the nuddle of
the stream, else the wide-awake patriots were likely to improvise
biitteries and open on them with uncomfortable effect. The capture
of Andi'e and tin' conse(|uent foiling (d" Arnold's treason Avas made
|)ossible by no other contributing circumstance so much as the well-
understood vigilant surveillance id' shi]is in the river, and of all hold-
ing communication with them, which was maintained at every point
on the shore.

As during the latter half of the year 1778 the enemy in Ncav York

' Baird's Hist, of Rye (Sclmrf, ii., 078).

MATICH aflh^

Emmerick^ Cor/is the Cavalry of t
rhe- wJwle cojnmcm^£ed 6yZ'^Cc/Sima!&{

ExplaTLc

A. Mar(A^i)flML'/'ajUryofthfRanffersaJid£mrnertcksto^.wAere lAey
Yi.T^yh^soUPkdi/isBruiye^.Ca/U.VredemsdelacAmeni i^ The Moot iy

THE BABCOCK S HOUSE SH,

(HD>CO>< new VOMK

VS JtAN-ffERS

under L ''Col Tarleton,, and /z- a!e^ac^me/^^ /if the yiz^ s

'-ea CoJ /IS of Rebel Light 7roa/ts under Co/ ■ ffist-

•e Hear o/lhe Eyiemy, a/id Tuarched h C . (riat'sCanyt' Jiril ^''Glvalry
'dVimiPosUiaTi^ii'kteA-lfreYfrJi/a-s irere- iniendecLtohaye occu/ueeb-
ioM isimcok's .IOUKNAI,).

EVENTS OF 1777 AND 1778 445

f'ity att('iui)t('(l notliin.n citlii'i- ;i^;iiiist New iMi^land or I lie llii;li-
lands, Wasliiiij^tttn (Ircw tlic aiiiiy (1(>\\ n Iroiii llic iinillicil\ station
wlicrc he had tcniiiorarily jiostcd it, and distributed il in canton-
uicnts cxtcndini;' from Counccticut across Wcstciicstcr Connt.v as far
as Middlcbrook, N. J. This was its situation tlironnihout tlic winter
of 1778-79. All expectation of early assistance from tlie I'l'encii was
now yiven up, d'Estainy's tieet liaviiiti sailed to the West Indies.

CUAPTEU XXI

FROM JANUARY, 1779, TO SEPTEMBER, 1780

KO.M the middle of .lainiiiry to tlic iiiiddlc of .Miirch, ITT'J,
the coininniid "on tlic lines" in ^^'l'8t(•ll('st('l• County was
licld liv I lie xonlliful Coloni'] Aaron Burr; and never in
tlie history of llie Xeutriii (Iround before or after did tliat
distressed region enjoy conditions of order and (luiet in tlie least
comparable to those which obtained during Burr's brief rule, llis
adniinisi ration of the delicate and ditticult duties of the conmiand
in our county constitute^ the most noteworthy cha])ter in his military
career, and even his severest bioiiiai)hers concur in regarding this
])arl of his jniblic record with unmixed admiration.

I'.ui'r was just twenty-one when ai)i)ointed by Washington to the
rank of lieutenant-colonel of the c(uitinental army, receiving his
commission at Peekskill in -July, 1777. ITi' was at the time an aide
on the staff of (ieneral Putnam. He was soon afterward assigned
to a regiment in New Jersey, whei'e he at once set to work to intro-
duce much-needed imi)rovements in discipline and organization.
" Severe drills and vigorous ins])ections,"" says his charming biog-
I'aiiher. Parton, " took the place of formal ones." Finding that many
of the ollicers were hoixdessly iuetlicieni, he ])resently " to(dc the bold
sfe]) of ordering several of them home on the sinqde ground of their
utter uselessness. If any gentleman, he told them, objected to his
dismissal, he, Colomd Burr, held himself ])ersonally res]M)nsilde for
the measure and was ready to afford any satisfaction that might
be desired." Yet he was no nnM-e martinet. All his measures com-
mended themselves to the good sense of his troo])s, who became en-
thusiastically attached to his person. The great executive force
which be thus dis])layed, coupled with his reputation for exceptional
gallantry, led to his sidection as the most available commander in
tlu' Neuti'al (iround at a time Avhen lawlessness and terrorism there
were at their lieight. He entered upon his duties on the Westchester
lines January 13, 177i), succeeding Lieutenant-rolonel Littlefield. The
lowest American posts at that jH'riod extended " from Tarrytown
through White Plains to the Sawpits, or Bye," a distance of fourteen
miles. Colonel Burr made his lieadcpiarters at White Plains.

FROM JANUAKY, 177'.), TO SEPTEMKER, 1780 447

Ou the very nioiniiii; ol his assuniiii^L; loiiiiuaiid, his prcik'crssor left
White Phiius with a hu'i>e party on a characteristic "scouting" ex-
pedition 1o Nt'W Kochelle. This was aii enterprise of ](roiniscnons
|)lnndei', ]nire and sinii)le. 1"he men returned at iiiyht loaded down
with spoils. Colonel Burr, astonished and indijiuant, at once took
ste])S to return the stok'n articles to their owneis. " ^ir," he wrote
to Oeueral McDoujiall, the commander at Peekskill, " till now I nev(>r
wished for arbitrary jjowei'; I could nibhet half a dozen <;-ood Whi^s
with all the venom of an inveterate Tory." lie announced in the
most emphatic manner that he purposed to ])i'otect all the i)eaceable
inhabitants without reference to their jiolitics; that all marauders
would be punished with the utmost severity of military law; and
that '' any otKcer who so much as connived at robbeiw lie would send
up to till' generars quarters with a tile of soldiers the hour the crime
was discovered." Shortly afterward a family named Gedney, livinfj
below liis lines, was plundered at uiu;lit. The Oedneys were Tories,
but of the jiacific descrijition. Within twenty-four hours Burr liad
secured all the culprits and nundi of their loot. He marched them
to Oedney's house, where he made thc^n restore the recovered jirop-
erty, jiay (Jedni-y in money for what had lieen lost or damau'ed, pay
him a further amount as compensation, crave his pardon for their
deeds, and promise iiood behavior for the future; and he also had
each of the robbers tied up and given ten lashes. " All these things,"
says Parton, " were done with the greatest deliberation and exact-
ness, and the efl'ects produced by them were magical. Not another
house was plundered, not another family was abiniied, while Colonel
Burr commanded in the Westchester lines. The mystery and swift-
ness of the detection, the rigor and fairness with which tiie marauders
were treated, overawed the men whom three caiii]iaigns of lawl(>ss
warfare had corrupted, and restored confidenc'' to the people who
had ]»assed their lives in terror." It came to be believed among his
soldi(>rs that Colonel Burr ])ossessed occult jiowei's, and could tell a
thief by simply looking in his face, lie adojited the most tliorongh
svNtem of classification of all the inhabitants, kee]ting secret lists
on which the character of e\erybody within his juiisdictioii was in-
dicated, lie also familiarized himself Avith the country in its physical
fe.it ures, obtaining a minute knowledge of its hidden jilaces. He
I'lilisted the co-operation of the res])ectable Aoung men, whom he-
organized as a corps of horsemen, Avitliout jiay, for the transmission
of intelligence. One of these was (li(> noted .bdiii Dean, who the next
year was a ineinbei- of the memorable expedition of eight \'(diinteers
whicli had for its result the capture of Andre.

In his arrangeineiils for the security of his lines against any pos-

448

HISTORY OF WESTCIIESTEK COUNTY

.sibic attiiclv by the t'licniy, he was (Mjually lircU'SS, efficient, and suc-
cessful. Niiilitly, at unexiH'clcd lioui's and by unexpected routes,
lie rode from post to post, and if lie observed anytliiii;^ not in order
the responsible person Mas held to a strict accountability. In order
to keep the enemy's spies at a distance, he issued and rigidly en-
forced an order that nobody from below should personally pass the
line of posts on any pretext, all who had business above beinji' re-
(juired to first communicate with head(]uarters by some well known
resident of the immediate country, especially designated for that serv-
ice. On the other hand, he always had the most perfect knowledi^e
of everythiu_i>' haiipening below. Only two attem]its were made by

the enemy to surprise the American
•juards Avhile he was in command, and
both were total failures.

Yet Burr's system was not merely
defensive and precautionai'v. ^^'ith-
out risking his men in foolisli spec-
tacular enterprises, he grasped every
opportunity for profitable aggression.
Once, when Governor Tryon marched
through our county with 2,000 men on
an expedition to Oimnecticut, Burr, hav-
ing ]irevious knowli^dge of the move-
ment, sent wnvi] to Pirtnam in Connecti-
cut to iiroceed against him in front,
MJiilc he would fall iiiion his rear. This
Mclllaid i)laii. if it had been carried
out, would jirobably have resulted in
the cajiture of Tryon; but Putnam was
unable to co-operate properly. Burr, however, performed his part
so well that lYyon beat a hasty retreat, leaving most of his cattle and
other plunder behind.

The crowning achievement of l^urr's command was tin- destruction
of a British fort and the capture of nearly all its garrison at de
Laiicey's Mills (West I'arms) — a feat i»erfornied, like Wayne's sloriii-
iiig of Stony I'oiiit, williout tiring a musket. This fort was a block
structure, built by Colonel de Lancey to jirotect his out|H)sts at .Mor-
risania. Burr, resolving to take it, reconnoitered it carefully, noting
every feature of the ground and measuring with his eye the height
of the ]»ort-holes. lie then iire])arcd ladders, canteens filled with iu-
flammables, rolls of jiort-tire, and liaii<l-gi'enades. It was essential
to efTect his work quickly and without noise, as there Avere strong
British forces in the surrounding country, which, if alarmed, would

AAROX BURR.

PROM JANUARY, 1771), TO SEPTEMBER, 1780 449

cut off his retreat. He arrived with his attacking party at two o'clock
lu the moruiug. He sent forward forty men under Captain Black,
who rushed past the sentinels, placed the ladders against the fort,
mounted them, hurled the combustibles (with slow matches attached)
into the port-holes, and then threw the hand-grenades inside. Almosi
instantly the fort was on fire, and every man, except a few who
escaped, surrendered. Not an American suffered injury. When it
is remembered that West P'arms is to the south of Kiugsbridge, where
thousands of the British were encamped, and that there were other
jiosts of the enemy still farther above, the brilliant daring of this
exploit will be well appreciated.

The preceding brief account of Burr's memorable r<^gimo in West-
chester County is digested from Parton, who, in turn, derives his
facts mainly from a most interesting descriptive letter written in
1814 by Samuel Youngs, of our Town of ;Mount Pleasant, to R. V.
Morris. Youngs was a member of Burr's command. He sums up his
narration as follows:

The troops of whom he took command were undisciplined, neglif;ent, and discontented.
Desertions were frequent. In a few days these very men were transformed into l)rave, hon-
est defenders — orderly, contented, and cheerful ; confident in their own courage and loving to
adoration tlieir commander, whom every man considered as his personal friend. It was
thoui;lit a severe punishment, as well as a disgrace, to he sent u]) to the camp, where they
liad nothing to do hut to lounge and to eat their rations. During the whole of his conmiand
there was not a single desertion, not a single death hy sickness, not one made prisoner hy the
enemy ; for Colonel Burr taught us that a soldier, with arms in his hands, ought never, in
any circumstances, to surrender — no matter if he was opposed hy thousands it was his duty
to'fight.

Ivichard Piatt, adjutant-general to Ceneral McDougall at Peeks-
kill, has left the following testimony:

A country which for three years hefore had been a scene of rohhery, cruelty, and nuirder
hecame at once the abode of security and peace. Though his powers were desjjotic tliey were
exercised only for the peace, the security, and the protection of the surrounding country and
its inhabitants.

It was (luring Burr's three months in the Neutral (iround that his
romantic midnight visits to his sweetheart, Mrs. Prevost, at Para-
mus, X. J., occurred — expeditions celebrated in the annals of the
amours of historic persons.

Selecting nights when he knew that he could safely absent himself
fr(uu the lines, he left the headquarters at White Plains in his usual
niiinner, as though going on a tour of the posts, attended by several
of his men, upon whose secrecy he could depend. He rode across
(■(inntiy to Tarrytown, wliere a boat was waiting. His men threw
his liorse, tied its legs together, and placed it in the boat. On the
opiHisite shore the faithful animal was released from its bonds, and
bestriding it P>urr was .soon in the arms of his love. He was back at
liead(|uaiti'rs before dawn. He niade two of these visits.

450 HlSTOn\ OF WKSTCHESTElt COUNTY

Tlic scviTc labors whirli lie iiuixised upon hiiusclf while coiiiiiiaiiil-
iiiii in Wcstclu'ster Coiiuty shatlcrcd his healtli, and on tlic lOth of
March, 177!*, in a letter to ^\'ashin.i;ton, he resigned his conunissiou
in the arjny. The latter accepted it with the observation that he
" not only regretted the loss of a good ollicer, but the cause which
made his resignation necessary." It may be remarked that Wash-
ington and Burr were not congenial souls. The great commander,
while perfectly recognizing young ISurr's abilities, had the penetra-
tion to see his defects as a man; and Burr had little love for Wash-
ingtoTi, and indeed was mixed up in the Conway-Gates cabal against
him, aitiioTigh too youthful an ollicer to play any active part in that
affair. Part on laments Burr's untimely retirement from the Ameri-
can army, and complains of Washington's cold treatment of him.
He declares that Burr's military character was such — especially as
demonstrated by his services in tlie Neutral Ground — that if his lot
had been cast in the armies of I'rance under the eye of Napoleon
he would have become a marslial of tlie Em])ire. In a history of
Westchester County it wou]<l be ungracious to find fault with any
praise of him on soldierly gi'ounds that his most ardeiit eulogists
have penned. lie certainly came to Westchester County as a guar-
dian angel, and was the one shining military character among all
the commanilers on the lines — though thcii- number embraced several
officers of marked attainments. The brevity uf his career here is
the only feature of it to be viewed wit h anything short of enthusiasm.
When he departed, disaster after disaster befell the American posts,
and the reign of terror which had subsisted before he came was
shortly renewed. It was equally unfortunate for him and for Ameri-
can interests in our county that his connuaml covered only the winter
months of 1779, when no general o]ierations were going on. The
next summer occurred the most forniidablc and ])rolonge(l display
of armed force along the lines and above in our county's history.
It can easily be believed that Burr, with his splendid organization
in full flower, would have acquitted himself right gloriously in that
period of activity.

The expedition of (iovernor Tryon above referred to was for tlie
object of destroying the Eevolutionary salt works at Gi-eenwich,
Conn. It was the only continnous march of a (juite considerable
British force through the entire extent of our county along the Sound
that occurred during th.e Revolution. There was some tighting at
Rye and above, where a small American party was i)ut to flight by
the British. The I'etreating Americans passed o\'er Byram Bridge,
taking up its ])lanking to retard the progress of the enemy. But
Tryon got across without being interfered with by Putnam, pro-

FKO.M .lANlAUV, ITT'.I, TO SKI'TK-MBKR, ITSO 451

(•('(■(led lo ( irii'iavicli, and acconiidislicd Mis piir|)()sc. WC Ixdicvc;
Hyraiu Hi'idge Avas nover crossi-d mi ativ oflicr occasion by a British
force iu couuectioii with serious busiin'ss.

Burr's successor iu the chief coiuiuand ou the Hues was IMajor
\VilIiaui Hull. Cousiderini;- the heavy odds brought ai^aiust hiui by
the eueui}' duriug the exciting campaign that followed, he made a
very creditable record.

In the lirst few mouths of 177!) .Sir Henry Clinton confined himself
to ravaging the shores of the Chesapeake Kay. Washington, whose
headquarters were at Middlebrook, was not disturbed by these pr(»-
reedings, well knowing that the British general would soon turn
his attention northward. The work at West Point had now made
tolerably satisfactory progress, but Washington was dissatisfied with
the comi^aratively uni)rotected condition of the river below. He par-
ticularly desired to have the entrance to the narrow part of the
stream, from Ilaverstraw Bay, well guarded — the more so as the
important King's Ferry route from Verplanck's Point to the west
shore was comi^aratively unsafe so long as this entrance remained
unfortified. He therefore began the erection of two forts on the two
lironiontories — ^'eI■planck's Point on the Westchester side, and
Stony Point oi)posite, which, when completed, " would form as it
were the lower gates of the Higldands, miniature Pillars of Hercules,
of wiiicli Stony Point was the (iibraltar." By the end of May the
work on Verplanck's Point, called Fort Lafayette, Avas finished, and
a garrison of seventy men was assigned to it. That on Stony Point,
however, was still in an imhoate condition, and had not yet received
any artillery. The American army was at this time on tlie west side
of the Hudson in the vicinity of the Highlands.

Sir Henry Clinton sailed uj) the Hudson on the 30th of ^lay with
a foi'Hiidald'' expedition. The tleet, uiidei- the command of .\dniiral
Sii' (ieorge C(dlier, embiaced ai»ont seventy vessels, gi-eat and small,
and a hundred and lifty liatboats, and there was a land force of r),0()fl.
'i'iie troops were landed in t\\'o divisions on the )>1st. The iii-incii)al
di\ision, under (Jeneral Vaughan, debarked on the Westchester
("ouiity side, seven or eiglit miles below Ver]danck's Point, and the
otiiei', led I)\- Sir Henry in jum'sou, on the ojjjtosite side of liavei'straw
Bay. s(uue three miles south of Stony Point. Nothing was done for
the time being by Vaughan, e.vcept to get in jxisition to assail Fort
Lafayette. But Stony Point was promptly seized, tiie thirty men
(K-cupied on its untiinshed works decamping without resistance.
Huring the niglit of the ."^Ist the British di'agged artillery U]) its
stee]> sides, with which, at da\bi-eak. Fort Lafayette was cannonach'd;
and at the same time the sliijis in the I'ivcT- (i]iened tire and N'aughan

452 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

l»r('l)aivd to ussault the works. Against svicli overpowering force it
Avas useless to contend, and the garrison surrendered on conditions
guaranteeing the safetj- of tlie men and security of their personal
property. It is an intei'esting reminiscence that ilajor John Andre,
who a year and some months later passed that locality on the errand
that took him to his death, signed the articles of capitulation ou be-
half of the British.

After the capture of the two promontories Sir Henry Clinton com-
pleted the works on Stony Point, fortified them in a powerful man-
ner (especially with reference to the approach from the land side),
and amply garrisoned both forts. Wasliington prudently refrained
from any offensive demonstrations, retiring to the vicinity of West
Point and bending all his energies toward the further development
of the defensive situation there. He ordered all the heavy cannon
at Boston and Providence to be sent to him, and recalled Heath from
Boston. That general arrived at the camp at New Windsor on the
21st of June.

General Sir Heniy Clinton, seeing that he had no Putnam to deal
Avith on this occasion, showed himself suddenly disinclined to engage
in neAV exploits in the Highlands. He withdrew his forces, e.xcept
those necessary to retain the two forts, returned to New York, and
sent out the memorable expedition under Tiwon which devastated
Connecticut. The results obtained Avere so "salutary," as rt'ported
to him, that he determined to extend them by an attack on New
London. As a preparatory measure he went to Throgg's Neck, in-
tending to forward troops thence to Ncav London on transports. But
Avhile Avaiting there the great achieAenn^it of Anthony Wayne at
Stony Point compelled him once more to change his arrangements.'

The storming of Stony Point on the night of tlie l.lth of July was
AAholly planned by Washington. He intrusted the execution of it
to Wayne, who accepted the commission Avitli the greatest alacrity,
signifying his Avilliugness to storm hell itself for Ceneral Washing-

* The followinj; (fiirnishod to tlie editor by Host intelligoiioo of any eolleetion of vessels

the late Dr. Flai;^, of Yonkers, who possessed or boats *ir enibarlcatinn of troops on the oppo-

the original) is a copy of an interesting letter site shore. The enemy are now manoeuvering to

written by AVashington in this interval: tlie Eastward— it may be to divert a part of our

HBADQijARiEiis [New Windsor], .Tiily force that way— then to malie a rapid niove-

12th. 1779. ment back— embark and push up to the forts.

Du Sir: AVe are obliged to give a certain degree of

In mine to you of the 5th I requested you eoinitenance and protection to the counlry

to attend to the movements of the enemy wliich will occasion a detachment of onr force,

on the River below, and for this purpose to and tills makes it the more essential that we

engage the country people as lookouts along shcnilil be upon our watch this way. Your ac-

the River— I could wish yon to have such per- tivity and care I rely upon,

sons on whose fidelity and vigilance you can I am Dr Sir

depend stationed at different points as far Your Obedt. Servant,

down as Fort Lee, that we may have the ear- Go: AA'asuington.

FROM JANUAUY, 1779, TO SEPTEMBER, 1780 453

tou. We borrow the folluwiug (Icscriptioii of Stony Point, as it thon
was, from Irving:

It was a rocky promontory advancing far into the Hudson, wliieli washed three sides of it.
A deep morass, covered at high water, separated it from the mainland, hnt at h>w tide might
be traversed by a narrow causeway and bridge. The promontory was itrowmul by strong
works furnished with lieavy ordnance, commanding the morass and causeway, l^ower down
were two rows of abatis, and tlie shore at the front of tlie hill covild be swept by vessels of
war anchored in the river. The garrison was about 600 strong.

Wasliiuo;ton's instructions to Wayne were to make the assault
about iniclniglit, because, as he explained, the usual time selected for
sucli enterjirises Mas just before dawn, when a more vii;ilant officer
would i»rnbab]y be on guard. Wayne, with 1,400 men, came
down through the Highland defiles on the afternoon of the 15th,
made the circuit of the Duuderberg (around which Sir Henry Clinton
had swept when going to attaclc the American forts), and arrived
within a mile and a half of the Point by eight o'clock in the evening.
Hci'c lie halted unlil Iialf]iast (deven, when he sent forward a negro
nf tlie neiglibiirhdod, accompanied by two men disguised as farmers.
The negro had the entree to the fort, having frequently supplied the
s(ddi(n'S with fruit, and possessed the countersign. By this means
the sentinels \\ere secured and gagged. Before being discovered the
Americans had arrived close to the outer works. Then, heedless of
shot and shell, they made the assaidt in two columns, Avhich ar-
rived in the center of the works almost at the same instant. The
garrison surrendered at discretion. The heroic Wayne, leading one
of lh(^ columns, received a wound on the head, and, thiidcing he was
dying, said: "Carry me into tlie foi't and let me die at the head of
my column.'' In bis I'eport to Washington he used these noble words:
" The humanity of our brave sohliery, who scorned to take tlie lives
of a vanquished foe when calling for mercy, reliects the highest honor
on them and accounts for the few of the enemy killed on the oceasion.''
The enemy's killed were only f!3. It will be recalled that in tlie storm-
ing of I'orts Clinton and ^lontgomery the Americans lost 250 out of
a total no larger than that of the British at Stony Point; and indeed
it is notorious tliat the victors upon the former occasion ruthlessly
bayoneted most of the defenders who failed to escape.

By this glorious exploit Wayne was exalted to the highest pinnacle
of fame, and to the present day the splendor of it has not faded
away. Probably no hero of a single military coup de main was ever
hailed witii greater applause than was showered upon Wayne. Even
the malignant, bacdcbiting (Jeneral Charles Lee wrote to him from
his disgraceful retirement a letter of glowing enthusiasm — although
at tlie trial of l.ee Wayne had been one of the chief witness(>s against
liim. On the other hand, whilst the recollection of this prodigious

454 HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(Iced of valor was still fresh in iiii'ii's iiiinds, Major .Viidic, who
was to be the uext central object (tf sentimental attention, found it
lltlinii to select Wayne, of all American lic'in'i'sil^^ iis the hero of his
lluilibrasian poem, "The Cow Chace." Wayne hapjx-ned to be dis-
tinguished for uncouthness of yenei-al demeanoi- no less than for
liondike daring before the armed foe ami \\()iiian-like tenderness be-
fore the van(]uishe(l. Andre, (lie little curled and pei-fumed drawinji,-
room darlini>', noted this uncoutlmess of the man, which indeed was
the subject of many a smart jest amonii tlie fashionable ladies of New
Yorl<, and discovei-ed no ar'tistic inconviMiience in tittiuj^' the maj;nifi-
cenl con(|ueror of Stony Point to Ins farcical verse. There prob-
ably is no more informini; test of Andre's ri^al parts, alxiut whi(di so
mu( h amusing- hysterical nonsense has been written, than this little
circumstance.

As the fi'uns of the Stony Point fortress bore only on the land side
and northward (there beiujj,' no occasion for the British eni;ineers to
direct them athwart the river, since the Americans could not attack
from below), it was impracticable to reduce the Westchester Fort
Lafayette from the captured ludght. ^Moreover, Washington con-
sidered it unprofitable to rearrange the Stony Point armament, or
even to hold the place, exposed as it was to attack by land and
water. It was estimated that a garrison of 1,500 would be recpiired
for it, which could not be spared from the army. So after trans-
jiorting tlie cannon and stores to West Point, the works were de-
molished.'

The loss of Stony I'oinl caused Sir Ilenrj" Clinton to give up liis
design against New London, and that place was spai'ed until Sep-
tember of 1781, when the traitor Arnold was sent against it and the
Fort Griswold garrison was massaci'ed. Returning from Tln-ogg's
Neck to the Hudson shore of Westchester County, Clinton hastily

' Rolton (rev. ed., i., 161) quotes from an en- wliieli, it was declared, had been broii;^ht up

tertaininff writer, whose historical accuracy, from tlie vessel. The story was believed, a

however, does not very distinctly appear, an stock company was formed to procure the

incident of later years bearing upon the cap- treasures by means of a eoffer-dani around the

ture of Stony Point which is too enjoyable not sunken vessel. For days, weeks, and months

to be inehided in our pages. " Many years ago the engine worked on the coffer-dam. One New

an iron cannon was, by accident, brought up York merchant put .$20,000 into the enterprise,

by an anchor from the bottom of the river at The speculator took large commissions until

that point (Caldwell's Landing). U was sug- the hopes of the stockholders failed and the

gested that it belonged to the pirate ship of wi>rk ci'ased. Nothing may be seen there now

Caiitain Kidd. A speculator caught the idea (l.STIil but the ruins of the works so begun,

and boldly proclaimed, in the face of recorded at the water's edge. At that point a bateau

liistory to the contrary, that Kidd's ship had was sunk by a shot from the " Vulture " while

been sunken at that point with untold treas- conveying the captured Iron cannon from Stony

ures on board. The story went abroad that the Point to West Toint after the victory by

deck had been penetrated t)y a very large Wayni'. The cannon brought u|i by the anchor

auger, which encountered hard substances, and was doubtless one of these."
lis thread was shown with silver tittaehed.

FROM JANUAKY, 1779, TO SEPTEMBER, 1780 455

streiif'theued I'ort Lafayette and again drew his forces up the rivi-r
to that neii^liburliood. Washiniiton meantime had unihTtaken a
separate project for the redmtiuu of Fort Lafayette. lie ordered
Major-Genera] Kobert Howe, with two brigades, to mareh down from
tlie Higlihinds, by way of Peekskill, and besiege the fort. The latter,
in exi'cutiug this command, came near getting into serious ditliculty;
for Clinton by that titiie (July 17) had reached the north side of
the ("rotou, and there was danger that be would throw himself be-
tween Verplauek's Point and Peekskill, and thus cut Ilowe off. But
hai)pily (Jeneral Heath, who with a considerable force had just pre-
viously gone to the rescue of Connecticut, returned by a forced march
to the Hudson and posted troops so as to jtrevent Clinton's advance
at every point. Howe retired from ^'erplanck's Point, and all tlu'
American forces fell baclv to Peelcskill. Clinton retained I'ort Lafay-
ette, and also resumed possession of Stony Point, reconstructed its
works, and fortitied it with a more powerful armament than before.
But Washington still declined to bring his arm^' down from its High-
land jiosition, and Clinton Avas too prudent to undertake anything
formal against West Point. ConsiMiuently there Avas no further em-
ploj'inent for the British general on the Hudson, and indeed his
occupation of Verplanck's and Stony Points, involving two succes-
sive demonstrations with a loss of (!00 men, proved to be an utter
waste of time and energy. In the fall (October 21) he evacuated both
the Points; for having, as it proved, permanently abandoned all
hope of gaining the mastery of the Hudson by force, he deemed it'
an unprofitable expenditure of his resources to retain these isolated
and exposed posts. During the rest of the war the British were
strictly contined to the portion of the river below Verplanck's Point.
In spit<' of the ignominious failure of this tinal endeavor of the
enemy to ojicii tlie Hudson, the attempt was more serious than ap-
pears from a sii])('rticial view of it. It seems to have been Clinton's
princii)a] jdaii for the campaign of 177!> to force Washington down
from the Highlands by a series of aggressions, of which the seizure
of the King's I'crry route was the most important. -\s the capture
of the two Points did not bring about the desired result, hf withdrew
temjiorarily and carried tire and sword into Connecticut, expecting
by this process to entice ^^'asllington from his chosen station. The
latter sent General Heath, with two brigades, to Connecticut; where-
upon Clinton iire])ared to follow up the former raids with a heavier
blow, wliicli was lucvciited by tlie counter-stroke at Stony Point.
After that it looked for a time as thouuli the northern ])art of Wesl-
chesier ('ounly was to be the scen(» id' large military o])eiations.
Wasliington detached K(d)ert Howe to take Fort I.(;ifayette on Ver-

456 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

planck's Point; Clinton, besides re-enforcing that place, threatened
the siuToimding country; and then Washington recalled Heath from
Connecticut hy forced marches. But, as we have seen, the American
tactics were to avoid any general engagement and compel the enemy
to come uj) into the Highlands if he reallj^ desired a regular trial of
strengtli. As this w;is disagreeable to Clinton, his whole plan of
campaign for 1779 went awry.

The British occupation of the fort on X'erplanck's Point lasted
from the 1st of June until the 21st of October, a period of nearly
hve months. Clinton's return in force to the northwestern section
of Westchester County after Wayne's recapture of Stony Point was
made by Avay of the " New Bridge " at the mouth of the Croton River;
and it Avas by the same route that Clinton fell back to Kingsbridge
after being foiled by Heath. By the 20th of July Clinton had re-
tired as far down as Dobbs Ferry. The British garrisons left at Ver-
planck's and Stony Points had a total of about 1,500. From the 20th
of July to the 21st of Octobei', when the posts were evacuated, these
garrisons were wholly inactive. Heath, in his 5Ienu)irs, reports
almost daily desertions from them to the American army. On the
14th of October, he says, fourteen British seamen were taken prison-
ers at Teller's (Croton) Point by Captain Ha-Uet's company of New
York militia.

From the time of tlie landing of Ihe British expedition below Ver-
]>lauck's Point on the 31st of May until the ultimate withdrawal of
Clinton to New York City in the latter part of July, our county suf-
fered much from ravages. The ijrincipal event of this period was
the burning of Bedford by Lieutenant-Colonel Bauastre Tarleton.
who had participated in the massacre of the Stockbridge Indians
in 177l~!. Tins Avas the same Tarleton who became famous by his
sanguinary doings in the South in 17S0 and 17S1.

A body of about ninety American cavalry, under Colonel Elisha
Sheldon, was quartered at Poundridge in and around the house of
Major Ebenezer Lockwood, one of the most noted patriots of West-
chester County,' and in the same locality was a militia force of 120
men, commanded by Jlajor Leavenworth. Tarleton, then encamped
at the Mile Square near Yonkers, was ordered to make a sudden
night march to Poundridge for the double purpose of surprising and

^ EbciU'Zcr LooUt\'ooc1 was thr foremost inon Plo.TS of Wostebostor County. He took .1

Poundridge citizen of liis times. He was for eonspicuous part in tlie locating and building

many years a mcml)er of tlie board of super- of the new county court house. He was coui-

visors, represented the county in tile second, missioned major of Colonel Thomas Thomas's

third, and fourth provincial congresses, in the lu-giment of Westchester County militia in

State convention of 1776-77, and in the assem- 1775, and at various times performed service in

bly during and subsequently to the Ilevolutlon, the Iiel<l.
and in 17!tl was av>pointed llrsi judge of Com-

KKO.M .lAXlAUY, 1770, TO SEPTEMBER, 1780 457

ciipturiii.u these Aiueriraus and seciiriiii; (he jieisdii (if ilajin- l.ock-
wooil, nil whose liead a ]>rice of forty guineas had bceu set. An
Ainericaii s]iy iiaiued Luther Kiunicutt gave notice to Slieldon of
tile intended altarl<, but williout lieing able to say on Avliat day it
wouhl oocuv. 'I'liis timely information enabled Lockwood to escape.
Tarleton chose a very rainy night, and in c(>nse(iuence the Americans
■were not well on their guard. He moved from the .Mile S(iiiare about
half-past eleven on the night of July 1, with a mixed force of horse
and foot carefully picked from four dilt'ereiit regiments. In his offi-
cial report he stated that his numbers Avere about 200, but accord-
ing to American estimates they were some 300. (Joing by Avay of
Redforil, he arrived at Poundridge early on the morning of the 2d.
After driving back a small detachment under Major Benjamin Tall-
niadge, he put the whole of Sheldon's body to rout, capturing the
regimental colors. The Amei'ican losses were estimated at from
eighteen to twenty-five in killed, wounded, and prisoners.^ Tarleton
pursued the fugitives, and after his return biirned Lockwood's house,
maltreated his w\f(', and bui'ued the Poundridge meeting-house. The
small body of militia under Leavenworth now began to harass Tarle-
ton's troopers, and upon the retirement of the latter through Bedford
they were much annoyed by the Aim^'ican rifiemen, who fired at
them from hcuises. To this "inveteracy" of the militia, as he calls
it, Tarleton says his burning of Bedford was owing. " I proposed
to the militia terms," he sjiys, " that if they would not fire shots
from buildings I would not burn. Thej' interpreted my mild pro-
])osal wrong, imputing it to fear. They persisted in firing till the
t(U"ch stopped their progress, after which not a shot was fired." But
according to accounts left by residents of Bedford the burning of
the place was a quite wanton deed. The Presbyterian Church was
destroyed, and indeed the tradition is that only one house was left
standing. Thus the ancient settlement of Bedford was practically
swept nut of existence. Barrett, in his Ilistory of North Castle, says
that many luiuses in that locality were burned by Tarleton on his
way down from Bedford. Certainly there was no inveteracy of
militia at North Castle.

It is curious that the responsibility for Tarleton's deed was by
many of the B(Mlford people charged to Colonel James Holmes, their

' Rnlt(tn frov. t'd.. ii.. 11.^1 relates the follow- whieli hit liis cap and perforated the scalp on

ins ainnsin;: incident; " Jidin Bni-khout, who tin? side of ids head without further Injury,

liappeneil to he in llie rear of Sheldon's regi- ' There.' says the drapoon. ' yon damned rehel.

luent during the retreat, and closely pursued, a little more and I should have hlown your

was accosted in the imperative tone of a Brit- brains out.' * Yes. damn yon,' replied John,

\-^U dragoon: 'Surrender, you damn rebel, or 'and a little more you wouldn't have touched

I'll lilow your brains out! ' John, not heeding nie.' John continued his speed, and escaped

the threat, was saluted with a pistol shot, witlic)\il furthiT injury."

458 rilSTOUY OF WESTCHESTKU COUNTY

recreant townsman. Holmes Avas descended from one of the orijiinal
T?edford proprietors, and the family had ahvavs been a promi-
nent one in the town. He served in the French and Indian War, and,
as related in a previous chapter, was an active patriot partisan at
the bef^inninp; of hostilities between America and Great Britain,
beinfj' a member of the Xew York ])rovincial convention, one of the
commiTtee which made the first inspection of the heights at Kings-
bridge A\ itli a view to their fortitication, and colonel of one t)f the
first four regiments raised in the Province of New York. But on
account of private grievances he resigned his commission in 1777
and retired to his farm at Bedford. Here he soon became known as
one of the disaffected, and in 177S, at the instance of some of his
neighbors, he was arrested by the committee of safety. Esca]iing
from custody, he joined the British in New Y'ork. His name thus
became an odious one in Bedf(U"d, but his connection with the burn-
ing of the village by local report was tinjust to him. He certainly
was not with Tarleton's party. Soon after this event he was seized
while on a visit to Bedford occasioned by the death of his brother,
was thrown into prison, escaped, was again taken, and again es-
ca]ied. Then, his estate having been confiscated, he accepted the
ap]ioiutmeut of lieutenant-colonel of the Westchester County l\efu-
gees in the British service. This was in the summer of 1781. It is
but just to say that Colonel dames Holmes was a type of the un-
fortunate rather than the bloody-minded Westchester County Tories
who ultimately took up arms against their country.

Just previously to his raid on Poundridge and Bedford, Tarleton,
in conjunction with Simcoe's Bangers, siu-cessfully attacked an
American militia force at Ci'ompond, in the present Town of York-
town. This was on the 24th of June. About thirty of the Americans
were killed or taken prisoners, the cai>tiv<'S being conveyed to New
York and incarcerated in the notorious kSugar House. This was the
second raid on Cronipond Avithin a month. A former British party
came there from Verplanck's Point under Colonel Abercrombie,
guided by Caleb Morgan, a Tory of Yorktown, and burned a store-
house and the parsonage. In fact, the country above the Croton
Biver, which u]) to this time had been com])aratively secure against
British incursions, was now pretty generally visited by hostile troops,
and the numerous Tories of Cortlandt Manor were in high feather
coiisef|uently.

To the same general period belongs an attack made by Colonel
Emmerick's men on a continental guard at Tarrytown, which, though
a small affair — in fact only one of a vast number of nnnor occur-
rences unrelated to the main current of events. — is memorable for

Fi:OM .lAXfAKY, ITTil, TO SKPTKMUKU, 17S0

459

the iiicidciil of the inliuiium killiii;; of ^^ergeant Isaac Martlingh.
Martliiigli was a oue-ariiicd man. \Vitli Eiiinifriclc's troop from be-
low t-aiiu^ a certain Xatlianlcl Undcrhill, of tlic vicinity of Vonlccrs,
a Tory, avIio, it is said, iiarbored bitter animosity a<j,ainst Martlingh
bccanst' on one occasion the latter had caused liis arrest. Martliniih
had been to a nearby s])i'in<>- for a i)ail of Avater, and was just about
to re-enter liis house when Underhill approached him from behind
and smote him dead. The act was considered so heinous that it was
commemorated on the dead man's tombstone, which, with its grim
record, is still standing. The inscrii)tion is as follo\\'s: " In ilemory
of Mr. Isaac Martlings, who was Inhuminely slan by Nathaniel Undei"-
hill .May 2(! A D 177!» in the 39th Year [of his agv]." On the same
occasion, according to a local Tarrytown authority, a woman named
Polly or Katriua Buekhout was "killed by a yager rifleman" be-
longing to the Enimerick party. " She imprudently apjteared at the
door of her house with a man's liat on, when two hostile parties
were near each other, and was killed by mistake for an enemy. The
yager fired without orders, and Enimerick made an apology, being
much mortified at the occui-rence."

Another incident of tiie svimmer of 1779 which deserves passing-
mention was a notable running figlit betwt'en Captain Uopkins, of
the Aiiierican Light Horse, and Emmerick, with a much larger body
of British cavalry (about 500 strong). This happened on the borders
of the Town of Greenburgh. Hoi»kins was lying in ambuscade in
the vicinity of Youngs's House, hoping to suiprise a party of the
enemy under Colonel Bearniore, when Emmerick came up. A
spirited encounter followed, in which numbers were killed and
wounded on both sides. According to Bolton, the British killed were
twenty-three. Hopkins conducted himself with great credit in this
engagement, retiring successfully at tlu' end.'

Although most of the fighting in our county during the sumnu'r
and lall of rhis year occurred in the northern and central sections,
as the result of British aggressions, the Americans attemjited oc-
casional counler-st r(dces in the territory of the present l>orough of
the Bron.K, two of which are described by Heath. On the .")lh of

' Tlip Interested render may find detailed par-
tleulars of tlil.i tiRlit. as of numerous other
Kevolutiouary episodes for the Towns of Oreen-
hiirjth and Mount Pleasant, in the " Souvenir
of the Uevolutionary Soldiers' Monument Dedi-
cation at Tarrytown, OetohiM- 1!). ]8!»4 " (com-
piliMl by M. I). Itayniond. editor of the Tarry-
town \niiiii. This little book, although mod-
estly i-lal I liy the compiler to lie chiefly of

*• a personal character." Is invaluable to the
student of the Itivoiutionary anuals of West-

chester County. In the couipllation of the
present History, both the author and editor

have found freijuent -asion to appreciate the

general thorou;;bness. accura<'y. and inlelll-
genee of Mr. Kaynionil's local historical writ-
ings as published In his newspaper and otlier-
wise; and tiiey take satisfaction in aclcnowl-
edging their Indebtedness to his published ar-
ticles for not a few of the facts contained In
lliesc pages.

460 HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTEIl COUNTY

Aii<iiist "about one liuiidrcd liorse, of Sheldon's, Moylan's, and of
the militia, and about forty infantry of Glover's brigade, passed by
de Lancey's Mills to the ncijiliborliood of ^lorrisania, where tliey
took twelve or fourteen prisoners, some stock, etc. The enemy col-
lected and a skirmisli ensued, in which the enemy had a number of
men killed and wounded; our loss, two killed and two wounded."
And on the 3d of October " Lieutenant (Hll, of the dragoons, patrol-
ing in Eastchester, found a superior force in his rear, and no alterna-
tive but to surrender or cut his Avay through them. He chose the
latter and forced his waj', when he found a body of infantry still
behind the horse. These he also charged, and on his i)assing them
his horse was wounded and threw him, when he fell into the enemy's
hands. Two of the lieutenant's party, wl)ich consisted of twenty-
four, were killed, and one taken i>risouer; the rest esca^ied safe to
their regiments."

General Heath resumed his old headquarters at Peekskill on the
24th of October, three da\s after the final evacuation by the British
of the forts at ^'erplauck's and Stony Points. Here, on the 28th of
November, he received from Washington the appointment of com-
mander of all the posts and troops on the Hudson lUver.

About the same time that Sir Henry Clinton definitively aban-
doned his schemes on the Hudson he also withdrew the large com-
mand which, since the winter of 1776, had been in occupation of
Khode Island. One of his reasons for this move, as well as for his
withdrawal of the garrisons from Verplanck's and Stony Points, was
his apprehension that the French fleet of d'Estaing, which had sailed
from the West Indies, would now unite with \^'ashington in a siege
of New York. But d'Estaing stopped at Savannah to assist General
Lincoln in his effort to recover that place, and afterward, the joint
operation having failed disastrously, returned to France. Clinton
next carried his arms southward and besieged and took Charleston.
He was occupied in the South from the beginning of 1780 until June.

The Avinter of 1779-80 was the severest ever known in this part
of the country. Not only the whole North Kiver, but much of New
York Bay, was frozen solid,^ and if the army under Washington
had been in any condition to assume the aggressive New York, with
its relatively small garrison, must probably have succumbed. But
never was Washington's army in a more deplorable plight than dur-
ing that terrible winter. It was encamped in two divisions, one

' tieueral Heath relates In his Memoirs, un- and the Seventh British regiment, came over
del- date of February 7, 17S0, that " A. body from Long Island to Westchester on the lee."
of the enemy's horse, said to be about 300,

FROM JANUARY, 1779, TO SEPTEMBER, 1780 461

luidcr Ileath at Peekskill and in (he Iliglilauds, the other and prin-
cipal part under Washinjitou at Morristown.

The principal event of the winter in Westcliester rounty was Ihe
so-called " Affair at Yoxinjis's House," a considerable and very disas-
trous engagement, in whicli some 250 men were concerned on the
American side and more than twice that number on th(> enemy's.
This house, owned by Joseph Youngs, was situated about four miles
east of Tarrytown and about the same distance northwest of White
Plains, at the iutei'section of an east and west road from Tarrytown
and a north and south road from Unionville; and the locality was
hence called " Tlie Four Corners." As a result of the conflict there
the dwelling was burned, and during the remainder of the war the
place was known as '' The Burnt House." After the I\evolutiou the
Youngs farm was purchased by Isaac Van Wart, one of the cap-
tors of Andre, who built upon it the historic "Van Wart House,"
which subsequently, with the whole property, was owned for many
years by his son, the Kev. Alexander Van Wart. The house Avas in
the present Town of ilount Pleasant, just beyond the Greenburgh
border.

" Youngs's House," being at an im]>ortant cross-roads and on
elevated ground, and having a number of outbuildings attached to it,
which, with The dwelling, afforded accommodation for many men,
Avas a principal station for the American troops quartered " on the
lines " — the lines at that time being maintained as far south as
Dobbs Ferry. Lieutenant-Colonel Thomson, at the period of which
we write, was in chief command on the lines, subordinate, of course,
to Ceneral Heath at Peekskill. His orders were " to move between
Croton River and the White Plains, Hudson's River and Bedford;
never to remain long at any one place, that the enemy might not be
able to learn their manner of doing duty or form a plan for striking
them in any particular situation." During this winter, with 2~>Q men,
he took a position at the Youngs House, and, contrary to instruc-
tions, stopped there so long that the enemy conceived and executed
the precise project that General Heath apprehended. On the night
of February 2, 17S0, " a force of between four and Ave hundred in-
fantry and one hundred horsemen, composed of British, Germans,
and Colonel de Lancey's Tories, set out from Fort Knyphausen (for-
merly Fort WashingtonI, south of S])uyten Duyvil," to attack him,
the whole expedition being ceinnKUided by Colonel Nelson, of the
Guards. 'IMie \\'eathei" was intensely cold, and deep snow covered
the gronnd. The attacking jiarfy arrived about nine o'clock on the
morning of I'ebniai'y .">. Tlinmson's men offered a l)ra\'e resistance,
but were o\erpowere(l liy lllllllliers. The Anieiiciui loss in killed

462 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTKR COUNTY

and wduiidrd was bt-twin-u thirty and forty, about half the tutal
nnuiber being killed on the spot or dying of their wounds. The enemy
acknowledged losses of five killed and eighteen wounded. Lieutenant-
(\)lonel Thomson and six other otticers, with eighty-nine privates,
were taken prisoners. The killed of both sides were buried together.
" 1 Lave ploughed many a furrow over their graves," said the Kev.
Alexander Van Wart.

In consequence of this unfortunate affair, all attempt by the
Americans to hold the country south of the Croton IJiver was aban-
doned, and from that time until the restoration of peace our lines
did not extend below l*ine's Uridge and Bedford. In .Se])tember,
UNO (eiglit months after the Youngs House disaster), when Major
.\u(lr(' was taken at Tarrytown, his captcu'S had to travel a distance
(d' more than ten miles to the nearest American jxist.

Our Westchester County novelist, James Fenimore Cooper, in
" The Spy," locates at tlie " Four Corners " the famous hotel of Betty
Flanagan, a " house of entertainment for man and beast," before
which hung- the sign, " Elizabeth Flanagan, her hotel," written in
red chalk. To Betty Flanagan Cooper accredits the immortal honor
of the invention of "that beverage which is so well known at the
present hour to all the patriots aaIio make a winter's march between
(lie commercial and political cai)itals of this groat State, and which
is distinguished by the name of ' cocdctail." "

About two weeks before the melancholy occurrence at Youngs's
House a party of Americans descended to IMorrisania and at dead
of night attacked the quarters of the British Colonel Hatfield.
This party, says Heatli, was made up of troops from Ilorseneck and
Cireenwich, Conn., about eighty in nunil)er, commanded by Ca])tains
Keeler aTid Lockwood. Several British were killed, the ([uarters
were burned, and Hatfield, three other officers, and eleven men were
taken ju'isouers. Another raid on ^forrisania, on a larger scale and
much more effective, was made in May. It was led by Cajttain Cush-
ing, of the Massachusetts liu(% with one hundred infantry. More
than forty of de Lancey's troojiei-s were killed or made jirisoners.
The object of the expediti(Ui was to caiiture de Lancey himself, but
he was absent. On this occasion Abi'ahani nyckman, the guide, dis-
tinguished himself by ca]ituring Ca]itaiu Ogden in Emuiei'ick's
quarters at the Farmers' Bridge, although a British sentry was
within musket shot at the time.^

At the beginning of ^fay, ITSO, says Bancroft, the total continental
troojis between the ChesajH'ake and Canacbi did not exceed 7,000,
and in the first week of June those with Washington and fit for

' See BoUon, rev. od., li., 525.

FROM JANUARY, 1779, TO SEPTEiMBEK, 1780 463

duty Avcrc only ;>,7(i(), who, moit'OviT, were iiupiiid and almost untVd.
Kuyphausen now invaded New Jersey with a large force, but soon
afterward ^^ir Ifcniy Clinton, retnrninii' from the South, ])ut an end
to that enterprise, which he regarded with dissatisfaction. Onci-
more Washington was reduced to conjecture as to the purposes of
the enemy, and once more he moved U]> toward the Highlands.

On the 10th of July a new Frencdi exi)edition arrive<l on our shores,
tliis time at Newport. The fleet Avas commanded by Admiral de
Ternay. and the land force (5,000) by the Count de Kochambeau, the
instructions of the latter being to act subject to the orders of Wash-
ington as commander-in-chief. Three days later Clinton, at New
York, was re-enforced by the fleet of Admiral Graves, whic h gave him
a naval superiority. lie now decided to attack the French at New-
])ort, and as a preparatory measure (says Irving) marched fi,000 men
to Throgg's Neck in our county, intending to disjiatcli them from
there on transports, ^^'ashing■ton, taking advantage of this great
Aveakening of the British force in New York, and feeling that the
French wi-re able to hold their own, immediately made ready to
proceed against Kingsbridge. By the end of July he had moved all
Ills forces across King's Ferry into Westchester County, and, making
his headquarters in the Birdsall house at Peekskill, was energetically
comitleting his plans. At this Sir Henry, still at Throgg's Neck, re-
considered his New])ort project and returned to iranhattan Island.
It was suppo.sed at the time that his erratic action was occasioned
]iai-tly by the delay in the arrival of his transports. ])artly by Wash-
ington's sudden move, and jiartly by infornuition which he had re-
ceived of the strengthening of the French troops by large bodies of
militia. But the princi])al cause was undoubtedly the change in the
command at West Point, made just at his time, wlii(di seemed to as-
sure him of the ear\y realization by treachery of his long-cherished
dream of getting cf)nti'ol of the Hudson.

CHAl'TEK XXII

THE CAPTURE OF ANDRE ^

NTIL 1778 West I'oiiil was a solitude, thickly covered with
trees and nearly inaccessible. During 1778-79 it was cov-
ered by fortresses, v>ith numerous redoubts, and so con-
u(M-ted as to form a system of defense which was believed
1() be imiiregnable. Here were the stores, provisions, and magazines
and ammunition for the use of the entire American army. It was
tlie key of the military position and stronghold of the Americans.

The British saw that the possession of the valley of the Hudson
on their part would divide and weaken the power of those who were
striving for liberty, that it would obstruct intercourse between the
American forces in Xew England and those in New Jersey and to
the northward, tliat it would open comuiunication between tlie I'rit-
ish forces in New York and Canada, and that tlie capture of the
stoi-es and aminunilion collected there would so criitijlc the Aiiicri-
caiis tliat they would be obliged to give up the contest.

In 1780 a change was needed in the command at West Point. <ieu-
era! Robert Howe, then in comiiuind, was thouglit to be inetticient.
Having knowledge of this fad, (Jeueral Benedict Arnold (who ha<l
for si'Veral months been in traitorous correspondence witli Sir Henry
Clinton, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in America) re
solved to s(dicit the apixiintment to the command to this post in
order that he might make it the subject of barter for British gold.
I'roiii the time when officers Avho stood below him were ])rouiote(l
over him, discontent had rankled in his breast and found exj>ression
in vague threats of revenge, and it is probable that his base crime
was primarily due to this caiise.

On the last day of July, Arnold, who had been on a visit to Connec-
ticut and was now returning to ]'lula(lel})hia, met (leiieral Wasli-
ington on horseback at Yerplanck's Point just as the last division of
the American army was crossing the Hudson from the Avest side
preparatory to the contemplated attack on New York City, and asked

1 The consecutive narrative of Arnolrt's tre.i- wliolc matter— we append inridc'ntal detail!^ and

son and Andre's capture wliicli liere follows is eoninients of our own writing, mainly of local

by Franldin Coueli, Esq., of reeksldll. To Mr. Westel'cster County interest.
Coucli's narrative— a concise account of tlie

THE CjVPTURE of ,\XDUE

465

liiiii ir aiiv place liad hccii assiiiiicd tn him. The (•(iiiiiiiaiKlfr-iii-chicf,
wild was a wanii admirer of Arnold for his skill and bravery in the
northern canipaiiins, re])lied that he was to take eoniniaud of the
left winy of the army. This was the post of honor, bnt still Arnohl
did not seem satisfied, ami Washington, perceiving it, promised to
meet him at his heachjiiarters at th<» Birdsall house, Peekskill, and
converse fnrther on the subject. Fiudini; Arnold\s heart set on West
Point, and having no suspicion of wrong, and believing, as Arnold
claimed, that his wounded U'ft leg unfitted him for service in the
field, Washington complied with his reciuest, and at Peekskill on
Thursday, August 3, 1780, he issued an order giving to him the com-
mand of West Point and its dependencies, in which were included
iioth sides of the Hudson from Fishkill to
the King's Ferry (^'erplauck's Point).

On the next day Arnold established his
head(iuarters at Oolomd Peverly rjobinson's
house, at the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain
on tlie east side of the river nearly opposite
West Point. From this place he coiitinued,
in a disguised hand, and under the name of
(iustavtis, his secret corresi)ondence with
Major John Andre, adjutant-general of the
IJritish army, addres.sing him as ^Ir. John
Anderson, merchant.

Correspondence having done its ]iart. a
l)ersonal meeting was necessary lietween
Arnold and Andre for the com])li'Tioii of the
jilan for the betrayal of ^^'est Point into the
hands of the enemy and the adjustment of the traitor's recompense.

Monday, ^ie])tember 11, at twcdve o'clock noon, near Dobbs Ferry,
was the time and place tixed. On the afternoon of the day before,
Arnold went down the river in his barge to the western landing of
King's I'erry iStony PointI and stayed ovei-night at the house of
Joshua Ilett Smith, about two miles above llaverstraw. Smith had
been introduced by General Howe to General Arnold, and recom-
mended as a man who could be useful iti securing impof^anl news
of the enemy's plans. Early the next morning he started in his barge
for the place of meeting, but was fired upon and pursued by the
P.ritish gunboats stationed near D<d)l)s Ferry. He took refuge at
an American post on the western shore, riMuaineil until night, went
to Joshua Hett Smith's, where his wife ami babe were, tliey having
arrived that day from Philadel]ihia, and returned to his head(|uarters
on the morniu"' of the iL'th. takinu them with him. Learning that

BKNEUICT ARNOLD.

466 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

^^'ilsllillnl^•ll was sdoii to (l(']);irt from his liciKhiUiirtci's al Tapiian
I liocklaiul Coiinlv, X. V.I tor Hartford K'ouii.), to liold a conferciict'
with Count liocliaiiibcaii (the coiiiiiiaiHli'r-iii-chicf of tlic Fri'iifh
allit's, lately arrived), Arnold wrote to Aiidi'c on tiie 15th, aiireeiuii'
to send a jM'rson to meet luni at Dobbs I'errv on the 20th, and to con-
duct him to a place of safety wliere lie could confer with liini.

(Ml the ITtii Arnold and his aide-de-cani]), Colonel Kiidiard ^'arick,
came to I'eekskill, went to Stony Point, there met Washiu<;ton, Mar-
quis de Lafayette, and Alexan<ler Hamilton, conducted them in Ar-
nold's barye across the river to Ver])hinck's Point, and accompanied
them on horseback as far as Peekskill, where they passed the nifi;ht
at the Birdsall house, and the next morninii parted never to meet
ayaiii.

Washin,nton and his suite proceeded n]i the Ci-ompoud Koad, en
route to Hartford by way of Cromjxjnd, Salem, Pidjicbury. and Dan-
bury. Arnold and his aide returned to his head(iuarters at the Kobin
son house.

On the 2(lth Andre left New York, -went by land to Dobbs Ferry,
and in the evenin<i' at seven o'clock went on board the Pritish ship
of war '• Vulture," whicdi had lain some days a little above Teller's
(VrotonI Point in Haverstraw Pay.

Early on the morninii of Se])tend»er 2(1, two residents of ("ortland-
town, Moses Sherwood and John Peterson (a colored man, and a sol-
dier of N'an Cortlandi's reniment of West(diester militia), who wei'e
eniiajicd in niakini; cider at Parrett's farm (now of the Jidm A>'. I-'rost
estate), Croton, saw a bar^e tilled with men from the " ^'ulture "
a])proachin^ the shore. Tliey seized their iiuns, AAhich they had taken
with them to their work, ran to the rivei-, concealed themselves be-
hind some rocks, and as the bariic ap]iroa(died Peterson tired, and
fi'reat confusion ensueil. A second shot from Sherwood coiii]ielle(l
the barue to return to the " \'ulture." The Pritish returned the tire,
with no effect except to alarm the neighborhood.

This occuirence, when told Andre u])on his arri\al, snii'i;este(l to
him a method of notifyini; Arn(dd of his ]iresence on board the " \'ul-
ture." On the morning of the 21st he addressed a letter to Arnold
in his own handwritinii (with which Arncdd \\as familiar), sii^ned by
Oa])tain AndreAV Sutherland and countersii.ine(l by .T. Anderson, sec-
retary. This was the nann^ assumed by Andre in his ])revious coi're-
s])on(lence with Arn<dd. The letter coni])lained of a \iolation of mili-
tary rule in that a boat the day before had been decoyed on shore and
tired u]Kin by armed men concealed, in the bushes. It was sent by the
flat;- of truce to N'erplamdc's Point and delivered to Cidonel James
Livingston, who was then in command of the American forces there.

THE CAl'TUKE OF ANDRE 467

Ai'iKiId rode Ilii'(iiii;h I'cclvskill In \'ciiil;ni(l<"s I'oial nn I lie imii-n-
iuy of the 21st, and Colonel Liviniislon liandi d Iniii Ilic Ictlcr whicli
lie li.ad jnst vcooivcd from Andre. Arnold tiicn rmssetl the river
and went to .Joshua Ilett vSniith's house. I'roui Stony Point he dis-
patched an oflicer in his own barge uji tiie river to Peekskill Creek,
and tlienee to Cauopus Creek, with orders lo ()rin<i' down a row-boat
from that place, and ilirected Major William Kierse, the quarter-
master at Stony Point, to send the boat the moment it should arrive
lo a certain place in l[averstraw Creek.

Near midnight. Smith, in the boat thus obtaiTied, rowed by two of
liis tenants, Joseph and Samuel Colquhonn, with muftled oars, pro-
ceeded on ebb tide to the "Vulture" and brought Andre on shore,
where he found Arnold awaiting him in the darkness amoni; the fir
trees at a lonely unfrequented spot at the foot of the Long Clove
.Mountain south of TTaverstraw village. He hail ridden on horseback
from Smith's house to the place of meeting, attended by one of Smith's
negro servants. Here, in the gloom of night, and until the approach-
ing break of day, the conspirators conferred. The negotiations not
having been completed, they, in the gray of early morn, rode through
llaverstraw to Smith's house, three miles distant, Andre expecting
to return to the " \'ulture" on the next night. Smith, his servant,
and tlie boatmen returned by Avater. Andi-e iiad scai-cely entered the
house when booming (d' caniion was licaid, causing him considerable
uneasiness, and with reason.

The ,\me!icans at Croton had not been idle. They liad sent a
delegation to Coloind Livingston to inform liim that the "^'nlture"
was \\iiliin cannon shot of Tidler's Point, whereupon Li\ingslon sent
a ]iarty witli a four-p(mnd cannon from \'erpianck's I'oiut in the
night. A small breastwork was erected al tlie west end of the ]ioini,
I lie gun ])lanted, and a fire directed upon the '■Vulture,'' whi(di was
returned by si'veral broadsides. The Americans fired with effect,
sliivei'ing some of the spai'S of the vessel, and compelled her to weigh
anchor and droi) dowTi the river. One of the sliots fi-om the "• Vul-
ture" lodged in an oak tree, AA'here it remained foi- more than half
a centur\, \\ hen the oak ti'ee, which had become dei'ayed, was cut
down, the ball i'emo\('d and presented by \\'illiam Cndei'hill to
(ieorge J. Fisher, ^1.1 >., of Sing Sing.

Andre had watched the cannonad.- with anxious eye fi-om an u]iikm'
windoAA- of Smith's Inoise. and after the " \'ultui-e " had been obliged
to shift her anchoi', .\i-nold and Smith, knowing \\'ell that she was
do.sely wat(died (roni both sides of ihc rivei-, became cotninced that
it would be unsafe lit return Andre on board.

After breakfasi tin- ]ilot for the betrayal of West I'oini and its

408 HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTEU COUNTY

(Icliciiilciit posts Avas conipleted, ami the sum that Arnold was to
i'c(M'i\r i'or his villainy aiii'ccd uj)oii.

Iniiiicdialcly upon Andre's rdnrn to New York, thi' I'ore'e under
riiuton and Admiral Sir Ceori;c Rodney was to ascend the river.
The iron chain stretched across (he river at West Point was lo be
weakened by takin^;- a link out of it and substituting- a rope link.
The approach of the Bi-itish was to be announced by signals, and
the American forces were to be so distributed that they could be
easily captured, and at the proper moment Arnold was to surrender
the works witli all t]i(» troops, 3,000 in number.

Andre was furnished by Arnold with plans of the AA'orks and ex-
jdauatory papers, which, at Arnold's request, he placed between his
stockings and his feet, promising in case of accident to destroy them.
Arnold wrote the following pass for Andre, gave it to Smith, and
at leu o'clock departed in his barge for the Robinson house:

Heaflquarters, Rol)inson House,

Seiitembei- 22, 1780.
Permit Mr. .John Aiulersoii to pass the fjiiards to White Plains or behiw, if he ehooscs, lie
heiiiir oil piiblie business by my direotion.

B. AuxoLD, Miij. Gen.

Andre passed a lonely day, and as evening approached he became
impatienl and spoke to Smith about departure. Smith refused to
take him on board the " ^'ulture," much to Andre's surprise and mor-
tificatiou, but offered to cross the river with him to \'erplanck'h
Point and accompany him part of the distance to New York on horse-
back.

On Friday, September 22, at dusk, Andre, Smith, and a negro ser-
vant, with three horses belonging to Smith, crossed the King's Ferry
from Stony Point in a flat-bottomed boat rowed by Cornelius J>ani-
bert, Lambert Lambert, and William Van Wart, Henry Lambert act-
ing as co.xswain. Upon landing at Verplanck's, Smith called the cox-
swain into Welsh's hut near the ferry landing and gave him an eight
dollar continental bill, and then went to Colonel Livingston's tent,
a shoi't distance from the road, ajid talked with him a few minutes,
but declined his invitation to take some li(iuor, and said that he was
going to (ieneral Arnold's headquarters.

They mounted their horses, rode over the old King's Ferry Road
to the New York and Albany Post Road, and from tlience north to
Peekskill, Avhere they took the road leading easterly from Peekskill
to Cromi)ond Corners. When about three miles east of Peekskill on
the Crompond I»oad they were stopped by a military patrol undei'
command of Captain Ebenezer Boyd. This event is best told by
Ciijitain Royd in his testimony on the subsequent trial of Joshua Hett
Smith for treason:

Ar ^/S^ /

THE CAPTUKE OF ANDRE 469

Last Friday, tlie '22d of Septeinber, between ei;nlit aiul iiino o'cloi'k at niglit, the scntrj-
stopped Mr. Smith, another ])ers()n, and a neijro. When the party hailed tlieni they answered
" Friends," The sentry ordered one tj dismount. Mr. Smith readily dismounted and
advanced till he came near the sentrj* and asked wlio eonimanded the party ; the .sentry said
" Captain Boyd " ; upon that I was called f<u- ; Mr. Smith eanie to \m- upon my calling for
hira. I asked him who he was ; he told me his name was Joshua Smith and that he had a
pass from General Arnold to pass all guards. I asked him where he lived ; he told me. I
asked him what time he crossed the ferry ; he said " about dusk." I asked where he was
hound for ; he told me that he intended to go that night as far as Major (Joseph) Strang's.
I told him Strang was not at home, and he sjwke something of going to Colonel Gilbert
Drake's. I told him that he had moved to Salem, and that as to Major Strang's, that his lady
might be in bed and it would inconmiode her much. I then asked to see his ]>ass and he
went into a little ho\ise close b}' there and got a light and I found that he had a pass from
(Jeneral Arnold to pass all guards to White Plains and return on business of importance.

I then asked him to tell me something of his business ; he made answer that he had no
objections to my knowing it ; he told me that he was a brother of (Chief Justice) William
Smith in New York, though very different in principle, and that he was employed by (Jeneral
Arnold to go with that gentleman, meaning the person who was with him, to get intelligence
from the enemy ; that they expected to meet a gentleman at or near White Plains for the
same purpose. I advised Mr. Smith to put up there at one Andreas Miller's, close by where
we were, and to start as soon as it was light.

They went to Miller's house and passed a restless night, Andre
and Smith occupyinji' the same bed. The Miller house was on the
southerly side of Crompoud IJoad in Yorkt.own, about one-third of a
mile east of Lexington Avenue. It has been torn down, but the
i-ellar is still to be seen.

Saturday, September 23, they took an early departure. Passing
tlirough (/rompond Corners, and when at the junction of the Somers-
town Koad, near Strang's or Mead's tavern, they were saluted by a
sentinel in the road and taken to Captain Ebenezer Foot, who was
in charge of a guard there. He examined their passes, and, being
satisfied, they proceeded on their journey eastward about half a mile,
until they reached the road southerly to Pine's Bridge over the
Croton. Taking that road, they proceeded to the house of Isaac
Underbill, where they took breakfast of corn meal mush and milk.

They journeyed no farther together. Smith returned to Peekskill.
and then went to Fishkill, where hi.s family wns, stopping on his way
at the Eobinson house to dine with Arnold and notify him of the
jirogress that Andre had made.

When Andre and Smith parted, it was understood tlmt Andre
was to go to New York by way of White Plains, but, after passing
Pine's Bridge, which was located about half a nnle norfli of the
present bridge, he took the westerh' road leading toward the Hudson
River. Captain Boyd had told Andre to avoid the river road, as
there were many Britisli updu it. He w;is jirobably induced by this
remark to change his plans and take it, hoping thereby to fall in with
friends.

At this time there was a class of men known as Cowboys (mostly,

470

HISTORY OF WICSTCHESTER COUNTY

if iiol w liolly, Anicriciiii rcfuticcs liclon^ing ti> tlic I^iilisli side], who
w !■]■(■ ciijiajied in stcaliiiii and jnirchasing cat lie on Ihc ill-1'atod Neu-
(lal (ironnd and drivinu' them 1o Now York as beef siii)i)ly for the
Uritish army. In order to check tlie prosecution of this practice,
small scouting parties were frequently sent out beyond the American
posts to reconnoiter the country between the posts and those of the
enemy. As the cattle taken from the Cowboys, unless stolen and
reclaimed, were by legislative enactment held to be " prize of war,"
small voliinte<'r jtarties were occasionally formed by the young men
attached to the American cause to watch tlie roads in order to snii-
press the i)ractice Avhicli exposed their stock to depredation.

On the 22d a party of this kind was suggested by one John Yerks
to John i'aulding, both of whom were within the American lines at

Upper or North Salem, West-
chester County. Paulding
agreed to go if a sufficient
number could be induced to
a c c o m p a n y them. This
Yerks assured him could be
easily accomplished, and he
agreed to procure the men
while rankling should obtain
the necessary permit from the
commanding officer. Pauld-
ing Avent to the encampment
at North Salem and obtained
the permit. While thei-e he
saw his friend, Isaac \'an
Wart, whom he iu\iled to accompany him. Xi\n Wart readily
assented and accomjianied Paulding to the place where he had
left Yerks. In the meantime Yerks had enlisted Sergeant John
Dean, Isaac See, James liomer, and Abraham Williams. In the after-
noon they proceeded southward with their muskets over their shoul-
ders. After walking about a mile they met David Williams, who
joined them. The party now- consisted of eight, all of w'hom were
devotedly attached to the American cause, and most, if not all, of
whom had been in the American army. All but Sergeant Dean,*how-
ever, were privates. After walking about fifteen miles, they found
quarters for the night in the barn of John AndrcAvs at Pleasantville.
In the morning they followed the Sawmill Piver Valley to the house
of Captain Jacob Romer, where they obtained breakfast and a basket
well provided for their dinner. They next stopped at Isaac Reed's
and got some milk, and there Paulding borrowed a pack of playing-

THE BEVERLY ROBINSO> HOUSt

THE CAn'lTKIO OF ANDUE 471

cards. 'I'licii llic icirtv wcnl to I)a\i(l"s Hill, w licic Ihcy sc|iaralc(l.
Dean, Koiiicr, ^'(■l•ks, Sec, and Ahraliain Williams rciiiaiiu'd (in the
hill, and I'anldinii, N'aii Wail, and I)a\id Williams ]ii()cc('dcd on (lie
'I'arrylow n IJoad ahont a mile and (nnccalcd I lirmsci\cs in the hnslics
uear a stream, and to tlic sontli of it, on the west side of the road
(wlicrc the monnmcnt erected to I heir memory now stands), ami
commenced playinj; cards. 'I'lic two jiariies were not fai- apart, and
it A\as ajjreed before separatiuj^ thai if cither paity shonid m'cd tlie
aid id' the other, a j;uii shonid he tired.

Dnriiii; the tii'st half honr sevei'al persons whom tliev knew jtassed,
then Van ^^'arl, wlio was standini>' <iuard while I'anldini; and Will-
iams ]ilayed cards, discovered, at abont nim- o'clocdc, on the risin.n'
i;ronn(l directly oiijiosite to whei'e the Tarrytown Academy now
stamls, slow ly ridini; toward them, a man on a bhu 1\ horse. He said
to Williams and ranldinj^, " Here's a horseman comin*;-! We must
slop him." At that, ratildin_n, who was the master spirit of the
jiarty, liot it]), stc]i]ied out into the road, leveled liis musket at tlie
rider, and asked him which way he was ^oiu^. I'auldin^ at this tinu'
woi'e the coat ami cap of a Oerniaii 3a<j;er, green laced with red, and
it is very probable that his appearance deceived Andre, for, instead
(d' jirodncinii' Arn(dd"s ])ass, he said, " Oentlenien, T hojte you Ixdong
lo our pai-ty." " What party? " asked I'auldiuii. " The lower party,"
said Audre. ri)on that Paulding told him that they duJ. Andre an-
sw(>red, " I'm glad to see you. I am an officer in the British service,
out in the country on particular busimss, and I hojje you won't de-
tain me a minute; and to let you know that 1 am a geutleuian "

he then ]inlle(l out his watch, ui)on \\hicli I'anlding told him to dis-
mount, and that llui/ were Americans.

Astonished to find into what hands he had fallen and how he had
betrayed himself, yet pr(uni)tly recovering his composure, he laughed,
declared liimself a continental officer going down to Dobbs I'Vriy to
get information from the enemy, and said, '' My God, a man must do
anything to get along," and then produced his i)ass from Arnold and
handed it to Paulding, who read it. He then disnn)unted and said,
"(Jentlemen, you had better lei me go, or you will bring yourscdves
into trouble."

ranlding then told him that 1k> hoped he would not be offende<l,
as the\ did not mean to take anything from him, that there were a
great many bad ix'ojjle going the I'oad, and I hey did not know but
he might be one, and then asked him if he had any lettei-s about
him; lo which Andre answered "No."

'riii'y then took down llie fence and led him and his liorse into
the woods. Thev told him to take idf his (lollies, whi(di he did, and.

472 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

searching tlieiii, they found uothiny t-xicpt eighty dolhirs in coutiuen-
tal money, Avhich had been given him by Siaith. Paiihling tlien told
liim to take oft liis boots. This he Avas very backward about (h>ing,
bvit when he had done so, Paulding felt of his feet and found the
papers which Arnold had delivered to him in his stockings. Upon
exauiiuiiig these, I'auldiug, who was the only one of the captors who
eonld read, said, " Tins man is a spy." He asked Andre whei'e he
had obtained the papers, and he replied of a stranger at Pine's Bridge.
He was then oi'dered lo dress himself. " While he was doing so,"
^^'il]iams says, " I asked liim how much he would give to let him go;
he said any sum. 1 tlieii asked if he would give up his horse, saddle,
bridle, watch, and one hundred guineas; he said yes. I asked him if
he would not give more, and he said he would give any quantity of
dry goods, or any sum of money, and bring it to any place we might
pitch on so that we might get it." Upon which Paulding answered:
" No, by God, if you would give us ten thousand guineas you shall
not stir one step! "

Andre was then ordered to remount his horse, and was taken by
his captors to Sand's Mills, North Castle, the nearest American jiost,
and delivered with his papers to Lieutenant-Colonel John Jameson,
of the 2d Regiment Light Dragoons, who, in tlie absence of Colonel
Sheldon, commanded the post.

The captors, according to military custom, retained Ids watch,
horse, and bridle, which they sold, and divided Die money received
for them among the party of seven.

Jameson, who was bewildered by the discovery, injudiciously sent
a message by Lieutenant Solomon Allen to General Arnold at the
Robinson house, notifying liim of the capture of Andre. Arnold,
Avho was at breakfast with his wife and aide-de-camp, Jlajor David
S. Franks, when the messenger from Jameson arrived (it being about
9 a.m.), opened the letter, read it carefully, folded it, put it in his
])ocket, finished the remark wlucli was on his lips when the mes-
senger arrived, and excused himself to those at the table, saying that
it was necessary for him to go immediately to West Point, and for
the aides to inform (ieneral ^^'ashington on his arrival, which was
hourly expected, that he would very soon return. His wife, observ-
ing his slight agitation, followed him to tlieir cliand)ers, where all
was quickly revealed to her and she fell into an inlcrunttent state
of swoon and delirium, which lasted several hours.

While upstairs Avith his wife he Avas informed by Major I'ranks
that two aides had arrived, announcing that General Washington
would very soon arrive. He kissed his infant child, sweetly sleeping
in its cradle, and descended the stairs in great confusion. He ordered

THK CAPTURE OF ANBRE 473

a horse to be saddled, uioimted iiiiu, (old Major Franks to inform
(ieneral VVasliiuiilon tliat he had gone to West Point and would
return in an lioui", hurried down the steep road to the river, entered
his barge at r.everly Dock, an<l seating himself in the bow directed
his oarsmen to row to midstream. Tlien ijriniing his pistols, be
ordered them to hurry down the river, stating to them that he had
lo go witli a Hag of truce to tlie "Vulture," and must hasten back

10 meet Washington. He tied a white handkerchief to a cane and
waved it as he passed Colonel Livingston at Verplanck's Point, and
that officer, n-cognizing the barge, alloAved it to pass. In a short
tinu' he was safely on board the '" ^'ulture,'■ where he wrote a letter
to Washington asking protection for Mrs. Arnold an<l proclaiming
Iier innocence and rhat of his aides. He afterward received the price
of his desertion, (),:_U5 pounds sterling, was made a brigadier-general
in the British amuy, and turned his sword against his countrymen.
At the close of the war he went to England, where his treason fol-
lowed him like an avenging Nemesis and brought upon him many
humiliations. In the United States his name became a byword and
reproach to mark the de]Hh of human degradation and villainy. After
years of bitter disappointment, cares, and eiubarrnssments his nerv-
ous system failed liim, sleep became a stranger to his eyes, and at
London, on June 14, ISOl, he died, " unwe]>t, unhonored, and unsung."

Not long after Arnold left the Kobiuson house Washington ar-
rived, and on being infoi*med that Arnold had gone to West Point
1o(dv breakfast at about twelve o'clock and passed over with (ienerals
Lafayetli', Knox, and aides to that post, where he was surpiised not
to find Arnold.

While WasJiinglon was aci'oss the river, Lieutenaut-(^)lonel Jame-
son's second messenger, Captain Jerome Hoogland, with the ca])tured
pajxMs and a letter written on tlie 2ttt]i by Andre at Salem to Wash-
ington, announcing \\ho he was, arri\'ed, and Alexander Hamilton,
lefi at the Kobiuson liouse by AVashington, oi)ened them as his confi-
dential aide. As soon as Washington's boat approache<l the shore
on Ids return from West Point. Hamilton went toward the dock to
meet his chief, whisi)ered a few words to him, and both entered the
house and were closeted together. The plot was then revealed. Ham-

11 toil and Major James IMcHenry, the aide of Lafayette, were hastily
dispatched on horseback by way of Peekskill to Colonel Livingston
at Verplanck's Point to head off Arnold in his escape, if possible, but
on reaching that officer's jjost it was found that Arnold's boat lunl
already passed down the river.

After dinner Washington took Generals Lafayette and Knox into
his confidence, and with choking voice and tears rolling down

474 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

lii.s clu'i'k.s revealed to tlieiii tlie dark lonspirac}'. " Arimld is a
traitor and has tlowii to the Britisli. Whom can we trust now?"
were the words of the great eoninuuKh'r.

At seven o'cdock he wrote to Colonid Jameson to use every pre-
caution to prevent Andre from making liis escape, and to send him
to the Ivobinson ho\ise by sonic ujiiicr i-oad rather than by the more
dangerous route of ("rompond.

Andre, with a strong cavalry escort under command of .Major I5cn-
jamin Talimadge of the 2d Light Dragoons, left South Salem a little
after nndnight on the morning (d' the 2()th by way of Long I'ond
Mountain, North Salem meeting-house, ('^•oton Falls, Lake Maho-
pac, and Ked Mills, where a halt was ma<le at the house of
Major James Cox. When .Vndri' enteretl the house he stej)ped
to a cradle where the infant daughter of the maj(»r was lying, and,
being greeted with a smile from the little one, said, in a tone of deep
melancholy tenderness, "Happy childhoodi We know its peace but
once." After a short stop the cavalcade proceeded b}' the same road
to Shrub Oak Plains, and from thence past the present residences
of Charles P. Widde and Jonathan Currey, down Grey's Hill, and
into the Peekskill Hollow Koad, and fTom thence southerly to the
then public house at the junction of the Albany Post Koad and the
Peekskill Hollow Road (now owned by Gardner Z. Hollman), where
a halt was made for a few minutes. They then proceeded over Gal-
lows Hill, where the spy Edmund Palmer was hanged thi'ee years
before by Putnam, through Continental Village, northerly over the
King's Highway to the road leading westerly to Garri.son's, then
called Nelson's or Mandeville's. On reaching the river road they
went southerly to the Kobinson house, Avhere, after having traveled
about forty miles, they delivered their prisoner about eleven o'clock
on the morning of the 2Gth. In the evening he was taken to Fort
Putnam, West Point, where he was confined until the morning of
the 2Sth, when he was taken, still in charge of ]\Lijor Talimadge. in
a barge down the river to Stony Point, and from thence on horseback
to Ta]ipan, Kockland County, N. V., where the headquarters of the
AmericaTi avnij were located. There, on September 29, he was tried
before a board of fourteen general officers: Major-Generals Stirling,
Lafayette, Kobert Howe, Steuben, and Saint Clair, and Brigadier-
Generals Parsons, James Clinton, Knox, Glover, Patterson, Hand,
Huntington, and Stark, Major-General Greene presiding, and upon
his own free and voluntary confession was unanimously found
guilty of being a spy, and that in their opinion he ought to suffer
death. On October 1 the commander-in-chief approved the findings
of the court and named a time for the execution.

TIIIO CAnTUE OF .VNDUK 475

(Ml I he -d ol < )ct()lMT, t\\cl\c (('clock noun, :i vast coiiconi'sc of pi'o-
ple assi'iiililcd, ii hii'i^c 'IctiU'lnnciit ol tniops ]);ii';nlc(l, and aiiiid a
scene ((f (lc( p lui'lanclioly and iulciisc .i;li>oiii tlic ])r((ccssi()n, led by
the ncMc'i'al and li(dd olliccis ( Wasliin^ton, however, not heinn' pres-
ent), niarclicil to tlie spot where the execution was to take place.
The accoriiidishcd major, dressed in the fnll uniform of a IJritish
oflici'r, walked arm in arm with steady steps between two American
officers, Captains Hun and Jidm Hughes. On the way to the gallows
lie wore a pleasant smile and betrayed no want of fortitude. He
was tlior(Uiglily I'cconciled to his fate, though not the manner of it
(having earnestly requested to be shot instead of hung), and went
lo his death ^\ith great firniness. On his arrival at the gallows he
was led to the wagon under it, raised himself into it, and said to those
near by, " Gentlemen, I pray you to bear Mitness that I meet my
fate as a braAc man." He then took the noose from the hands of the
hangman, removeil his hat and snow-white neckcloth, pushed down
the collar of his shirt, and, opening the noose, put it over his head
and ai'ound his neck, drawing th<' knot close on the right side directly
under his ear. He then took a handkerchief from his pocket and
tied it over his eyes; taking another lie handed it to the hangman,
who pinioned his hands behind him. The wagon was then removed
from under him, leaving him suspended, and he expired instantly.

Dr. James Thacher, of the American army, a spectator, Avriting
of the event in his Journal, says: "The spot Avas consecrated liy the
tears of thousands."

Andre's remains were interred within a few yards of th(> place of
his execution, but in 1821 they were transferred to England and
buried in that saci'ed resting place of her mighty dead in West-
uiiusler Abbey, near a monument erected to his memory.

Major Andre was the pride of the British army, and the valued
and conlidential friend and aide of Sir Henr^' Clinton. He was but
t wenty-uiue years of age, tall, Avell proportioned, genteel, graceful,
anil digiiilied; his countenance Avas mild, expressive, and prepossess-
ing, indicating a man of superior attainments. Hi his profession he
was ambitious, skillful, braA'e, and enterprising. Ilis death Avas
regretted even b_\ his enemies, but there Avas nothing in the execu-
lion that was not consistent Avitli the ruh'S of Avar, and his sacrifice
was necessary for the public safety.

Washington, Avriting to the president of the continental congress
from Die Ifobinson house, September 20, 1780. says: " 1 don't know
the paity who took Andre, but it is said it consisted only of a few
iiiililiameii, who acted in such a manner upon the occasion as does
them the highest honor aTid yiroves them to be men of great virtue.

476

HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTEK COUNTY

They wcil' offered, as I am Informed, a large sum of muiii'v foi- his
release, and as many goods as they would demand, but without effect.
Their conduct gives them a just claim to the thanks of their country^
and I also hope they will be otherwise rewarded. As soon as I shall
know their names I shall take pleasure in transmitting them to
(■oHgr<'Ss."'

Ociober 7, ITSO, ^^'ashing•ton wrote to the president of congress:
" I have now the pleasure to communicate to you the names of the
three persons who captured Andre and who refused to release liim,
notwithstanding the most earnest importunities and assurances of
a liberal reward on his part. Their conduct merits our wannest
esteem, and I beg leave to add that I think the public will do well
to make them a handsome gratuity. They have prevented, in all
probability, our suffering one of the severest strokes that could have
been meditated against us. Their names are John Paulding, David
Williams, Isaac Van Wart."

Congress took action on the recommendation of General Washing-
ton and adopted the following preamble and resolution:

111 Congress, Novemlier 3, 1780. Wliereas, Congress liave received iuforniation tliat .Tolin
Paulding, l)avid Williams, and Isaac Van Wart, tlrree young volunteer nulitianien of the
.State of New York, did on the 2lkl of September List intercept Major John Andre, adjutant-
general of the British arm}', on his return from the American lines in the character of a spy ;
and notwithstanding tlie large bribes offered them for his release, nobly disdaining to sacrifice
tlieir country for the sake of gold, secured and conveyed him to the commanding ofHccr of
their district, whereby the dangerous and traitorous conspiracy of Benedict Arnold was
brought to light, the insidious designs of the enemy bafHed, and the United States rescued
from the impending danger ;

Resolved, Tliat Congress, having a high sense of the virtuous and patriotic conduct of the
said John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart,

In testimony whereof, ordered, That each of them receive annualh' out of the jiublie
treasury two hundred dollars in specie or an equivalent in current money of these States,
during life, and that the Board of War procure for each of them a silver medallion, one side
of which shall be shielded with the inscription " Fidelity," and on the other the following
motto : " Vincit amor patriie," and forward them to the commander-in-chief, who is re()uested
to present the same with a copy of this resolution and the thanks of Congress for their tidelity
and the eminent service they have rendered their country.

Paulding, Williams, and Xan Wart were invited to meet General
Washington at ^'erplanck's Point at his headquarters, on which oc-
casion the medals were presented to them with ceremony, aud they
had the honor of dining with him. The State of New York also gave
a farm to each of the captors.

THE CAPTURE OF ANDUE 477

T(( the f()rt'<>(iiiii;' succinct iiiin-;il i\ c of tlic capliin' of AimIic ;i
variety of particulars of incidental importance and interest i-e(|nire
to be added.

It was by the merest chance that the com[)lot of Sir Henry (Minton
and Henediot Arnold was not brou.^ht to a. successful issm- on the
11th of Se[>teml)er, the time first ap])oiTited for tlie interview of
Arnold and Andre. Arnold came down the river on the afternoon
of the 10th, spent that nijiht at the Smith house near Haverstraw,
and the next day went farther down and waited till niyht at a ])laoe
ojiposite Dobbs Ferry. Andre did not come. Althoui;h the principals
to the transaction were the British commander in New York and th(;
American commander on the Hudson, it was not such an easy mat-
t(^r to brin<;- about a meeting for purposes of treachery on the well-
watched shores of the river. Indeed the whole liistory of this affair
shows that the simple object in view, that of exchanging understand-
ings and substantial equivalents, was beset with great difficulties
and embarrassments. It was an ill-starred enterprise from begin-
ning to end, the only lucky feature connected with it being the final
escape of Arnold from Washington's vengeance.

From the 12th of .Se^jtember, after Arnold's return from his first
attempt to meet Andre, a period of nine days elapsed before tlie sec-
ond and successful endeavor. It is noteworthy that Andre came up
through our county by land as far as Dobbs Ferry, preserving
throughout the journey liis true character of a British officer. At
that time the country between Dobbs Ferry and Kingsbridge was
entirely controlled by the British. Andre was captured at Tarrytown,
just above — so near had he proceeded to a point of absolute safety.

The great enterprise shown by the Americans ou the Westchester
shore in bringing a cannon down from Verplanck's Point and (iring
on the '' Vulture " from Teller's (Croton) Point ])robably liad (piile as
much to do with the ultimate capture of Andre and salvation of
America as any other circumstance, not excepting the formal arrest
by Paulding, ^^'illiams, and Xnu Wart. Originally Arn(dd had no
other intention than to return Andre bj' boat to the " Vulture." If,
during his night conference with Andre, he had foreseen the neces-
sity of sending him back ovei'land, tlirougli numerous American posts
and a wide stri]) of neutral territory pati-olleij by vigilant American
bands, he certainly would have managed to bi'ing the traitorous
transactions to an end befoi'e dayliglit. The aggi'essive conduct of
the Americans with their gun on Teller's Point demonstrated to him
lliat the "Vulture" was very closely watched from the river banks.
.Moreover, the main body of the .Vnierican arm\ was encamped just

478 HISTORY OF WKSTCHESTEK COUNTY

liclow ill 'l':i])iiau, and it was jncsuiiiahlr llial with llic •■ N'ulliirc ''
(whosr iiKivcments duriiiii tlic incvidus days had been ralhcr sensa-
tional) lyinji' at anflioi- in nii<lstri'ani in tiiat inimcdialc ioialitv tiic
unards ai'mj;- the Tivci' wonid lie cxci'ptidnally nnnicrons and inijuisi
tive. Hence the (h'cision ujxtn the fatal retnrn jonrney by laud.

Althon^li Arnold departed from -Tosliiia Ilett Smith's house at
ten o'clo( Ic on the moiiiinii of .September '22, leaviut;' jiasses for Smith
and Andre, it was not iiTilil dusk that the jiair ventured forlii. Audre,
the previous uiiilit, when coniinti ashore from the " N'ulture," had
not removed his uniform, merely takiut;' the precaution of throwiui;
around him a blue <iTeat-coat. But on leaving Smith's house for
his hazardous jouruey he carefully disguised himself, took off his
uniform, aud jjut ou an under-coat belonging to Smith and a dark
great-coat with " a wide cape and buttoned close to the neck." The
sullliciency of his disguise was soon to be put to a startling test. Scarce
had he left the post at Ver])lanck"s Point when he came face to face
with Colonel Webb of onr army, whom he knew perfectly. His heart
gave a great leap. But Webb did not recognize him in the darlvness,
and passed on.

The incidents of .\iidi'e's itinerary from \'er]danck"s I'oint to the
place (>( his capture are sufticieiitly told in ]\Ir. ("ouch's narrative.
The spot where he was halted by Paulding was just beyond a little
stream which still bears the name of Andre's Brook.

There has recently been published (1899) by Mr. William Abbatt,
of Westchester, under the auspices of the IJmpire State Society Sons
of the American Bevolution, a work of eminent literary and artistic
excellence, entitled "The Crisis of the Kevolution; being the Story
of Arnold and Andre, Now for the First Time Collected from All
Sources, and Illustrated with Views of All Places Identified with It."
This is the final authority nixin all the details of the capture of Andre.
The number of the original party is often erroneously stated as seven.
Mr. Abbatt shows that it consisted of eight, whose names are accu-
rately given by Mr. Couch. IMr. Abbatt says that "the jiarty was
actually under the direction of one of their number, who was a vet-
eran," aud that " he alone of the party was not a private " — Sergeant
John Dean. The jiart of Dean in the affair is overlook(Ml, or only
very inadequately referred to, in most accounts of the cajdure of
Andre. As this is a matter of no small interest, and es])ecially de-
serving of attention in a History of Westchester County, a somewhat
particular notice of it is ai>pro]priat,' here.'

> For our afoouiit of Jolin Dean and liis connection witli tlie artair, we are indebted to his descendant, Frof. Bashford
Dean, of Columbia University.

THE CAPTURE OK ANDltB

479

.loliii Dean was a (IcscciKlant of Saiimcl l>caii, an cai-lN lamllidldcr
of .laniaica. I.onu Islaiiil i n!r)(i|. Isaac, one (if tlic (lii-cc sons of Saiii-
iicl, set I led iiMnir piM'sciil Town of (ircciihuriuli ahont IT.KI, and .Jolin
(lioiii in 17.").")) was his ^i-andson. At the a_n(' of twenty .lohn l>can
s('r\('il as ])ii\'at(' in Colonel Holmes's i'e<;'inient in the .MonlLioinely
campaign against Canada; li<' was next on Lony Island nnder Col-
one] rmnaiii, and was at the battle of White I'lains; ])i-oniote(i io
serjicani, he ser\('(l (ITTT-T'.t) in I hi' company of W'eslcheslei- ("onnly
K'anticis comniande(l by his uncle, ("a])laiii (iilbert I>ean.' lie \\a.s
i|nai-terniasler of Colonel < iraham's i'ei;inient (dni-iin; 177S|, and was
in ^'()l^l^s■s house at the tinn- of its attack by Major Hearmore on

THE UNDERHILL HOUSE, WHERE ANDRE TOOK BREAKFAST.

Christmas Eve, .177S. In the followini;- year he acted as i;ui<le on
the lines in the troo]) of ]ii(d<ed horsemen under Aaron iJurr, served
w iti: I he lattei-"s successor. Major Hull, and was with hiui at the time
of his defeat b_\- Coh)iiel Tar let on in .lune, 177!). hi 17N(> he continued
in IJu' udlitia ser\ ice, was in liu' " ^'onn^s's House Affair," and was
next attached Io ('oloiH'l .lauH-sou's reiiinu'Ut, acting as ginde. hi

' Cnptain fUlhi'rt Doan's RaiiKcrs wpic i>r- safety." In a sliort time Dean was at llifhi'ad

i.'ani7,i'il in 1777. hi'iiij: oftiriall.v a I'ljinpaii.v of iif a piilvi'J t ninp iif lioisi' which liiclmlcd Ihf

Ciiliiiifl Krakf's n';;liii('iit. tlu'ii statiiiiii'd near best of the looal militia, and fur his snbiir-

Whilr I'lains. Capl.iln Dran was a son-in-law dinatPS wpro several of the fainims "guides"

nf (•■)liinel D'-ake, I h.id proved himself a of the Neutral Oround. .\s a test of the <-har-

irallant and i ncTinlic ulliccr at tlie liattie of ueter of the troops, it ma.v he noted that the

Whiii' I'ialns and on oilier oeeasions. His emniian.v was relained inlael thri>nk'li three eii-

■ ■'.nipany of Itanners was i)laeed "tinder Ih.' listmeuts (1777-78).
iinniedlate eomniand of the eommlttee of

480 HISTORY OF AVESTCHESTER COUNTY

this <ap;i<ily, under Ciiptiiiii Wriiiht, of the 2d (Niniiectieiit, he took
pai-L ill the fruitless descent of the coiitiiieiital army n](on tlie British
outposts at Kiniisbridtic, and lie was in several brisk skirmishes, iii
one of which he lost liis horse. Duriuy the preceding year he had
been taken a prisoner, but was sliortly paroled by Colouel de Laucey
and secured an exchange.

Abbatt poiuts out that of llie i)arty of militia who guarded the
roads on the memorable day I>eaii was tlie otlicer in command; that
he had dis]iosed the ])arty, himself with tlie greater number of the
party taking their position (Ui a neighboring road where it was ex-
pected a number of Cowboys w(mld more probably jiass. lie further
shows that Dean took charge of tlie prisoner wlien raulding, Will-
iams, and Van Wart brought him to the top of the hill, that Deau
exercised commendable discretion in (hdivering him with the least
jiossible loss of time at Janu son's head(iuarters, and that when the
(piestion of responsibility and reward for the capture was brought
up it was he who reported to Jameson the names of the three captors.

The connection of John Dean with the capture is brought into
greater prominence in the light of recent researches. As a tried
otlicer of (Hlbert Dean's Kangers — a company which, in the Neutral
Ground, Avas as active in the patriot interests as were the Rangers
of Colonel de Lancey in those of the enemy — he was brought in close
relation with the predatory movements of the Tories and British.
It tlius appears possible that in the preparation for the memorable
scouting party Deau had had, as tradition states, definite informa
tion that a Cowboy raid was expected, and that it would pass on t he
i-oad which he afterward selected to guard. It is certain that Dean
had exce])tional opportunities to learn of these movements at head-
(piarters, since his uncle was the captain of the company, and since
the colonel of the regiment, Hammond, Avas also a kinsman. It is
definitely recorded (184G), moreover, by Thomas Deau, the only son
of John Dean, a man of sucli standing in Tarrytown that his care-
ful statement in this matter deserves credence, that the party acted
und(>r general, if not immediate, orders from Jameson. It is well
known that the party went to a detinite locality and jxisted tlieir
guard — although it was found necessary in so doing to s])eud a night
on the road. It is further known that on the return of the i)arty to
North Castle a stop Avas made at the Dean house, Avhich, by the Avay,
is still standing, and tradition states that a fresh horse Avas here
obtained, Andre's having already that dav made the journey from
near ( Jarrisou's.

That John Dean did not figure more prominently in the accounts
of tlie caiituro is due to several reasons. In the first place, he himself

THE CAPTLKE OK AXDUE 481

rcpurU'd to JuiiK'sou tluit i'avildiiin, Williams, and Nan NN'arL were
alone directly responsible for the (•ai)ture; in the seeond place, it
appears that Dean re,i;ardcd the takinii of a spy as of the nature of
hangman's work, with whicdi few people should care to be associated.
It is known, furthermore, that this feeling on his part gave rise to a
disajireenient with the other nicnibers of the party, a cireunistancc
which nia^' in part have made the others the more willing to belittle
Dean's share in the capture. That Dean died (1817) long before the
most, if not all, of the rest may be cited as a tinal reason why he
has not been given the credit he deserves; for some of the statements
— -Dean himself never made any — collected from the survivors date
later than 1830, statements whicli, like those of aged people gener-
ally, are found to vary widely in matters of fact. There have been
two tendencies evident in the accounts which come from the men
themselves: the first is for the captors to rather ignore their asso-
ciation with the remainder of their party, and the second is for the
latter to demand greater recognition than they deserve. From the
first tendency the men were not apt to refer to John Dean, a man
who himself did not want to be associated with the capture of a spy,
and from the second they were most apt to ignore the claims of the
one who might, had he been so disposed, have given them in his
report the credit that they wished.

The fact seems to be that Dean liad a golden opportuiiiiy of ad-
vancing himself, and knowiTigly rejected it, as he did his share of
Andre's effects, which the others divided. As the ranking officer of
the party, and the senior in years of most, if not all, of them, he
might have forwarded his own interests to the degree perhai)s of
securing a captaincy, if he had been so disposed. He might, at least,
have shown that from the time of the capture till the time the pris-
nner was safely delivered to Jameson, the responsibility had been his;
that Andre was not retaken or had not secured his escajM' through
Inihery was due to his care as the commanding officer; that the great
importance of the concealed papers was first really recognized by
him at a time when Andre was pl(>ading for his release and making
pro7nises which Dean, if not the others, hail a very strong suspicion
that the British officer both could and would fulfill. All this is leav-
ing out of account th(» question as to whether tlu^ actual placing of
the captors had been the work of i^(>rgeant Dean. Had he been
disposed to press his claims he could certainly have brought forward
a strong case, none the less so that he Avas a man of considerable
education for iiis day and \\as sui»port<Ml by his excellent record as a
subaltern. And llicie is no doubt that in this event lie could have
counted on the warm sup]ioi't of his fathei', Thomas Dean, long time

482 HisToijy ov westchesteu county

town clcik and justice of tlic iiciicc, toi;ctlicr witli that of his caiilaiu
and colonel.

Tlio docnnients found on Andro's person were all in Arn(d(rs liand-
Axritinji, and in tlie most sjx'citic manner presented the j)articulars
(d' tlie works and fjarrison at West Point. Two or three of them
were abstracts of official American records. One was indorsed " Ke-
marks on West I'oint, a copy to be transmitted to His ICxc(dlency,
(ieneral Washington," and ••■ave exact details of the weakness of
the forts, the ease -with whicdi they could be set on tire, tlH» best
means of aitjjroach, and the like. Another was a " Copy of a ("ouncil
of War, held September G, 17S0," embodyini; the most secret infor-
mation of the licneral militai-y situation froTu the AmericaTi ]ioint of
vicAA'. Thus AriKdd, in his zeal, did not content himstdf witii betray-
ing his OAvn post, but was fain to couniiunicate to the enemy all the
vital intellijience in his jiossession.

As related by Mr. Couch, the ca])tui'inL; party tocdc .Vndi-e to the
nearest American post, in the Town of North Castle, where Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Jameson was in command. This officer, though brave
and honest, seems to have ])ossessed none too much Intel li<i;ence, and,
UKU-eover, was easily li.iod winked b,\- the courtly Andre. He ex-
amined the ]iapers, and sent them by messenger to Washington; but
harboring no suspicion against Arnold, In- not only wrote a letter
to that general describing the capture, but at the same time turned
over the ])rison<'r to Lieutenant Allen, who was to bear the letter,
instructing him to dcdivei' .\ndre to .\rnoldI ISut, very fortunately,
Major Benjamin Tallmadge. who was attached to Jameson's com-
mand, but at the time was absent on duty, soon afterward returned
to the camp; and, being infornu'd by Jameson of what he iuid done,
urgently advised tliat the prisoner be brought back. Jameson con-
sented, but ])eruntted the uu'ssage to go to .Vrnohl. It was next
decided to send the captive (whose real identity was not yet known)
to Lower Salem (now Lewisboro), a ])lace faitlier within the American
lines than North Castle, and therefoi'e more secure, and have him
h(dd there until Washington shouhl be heard from. This was ac-
cordingly done early on tlie moriung of the 2-l:tli, Tallmadge being
in command of the escort; and indeed from that day until Andre
was hung he remained with the prisoner.

Arrived at Lower Salem, the supposed Anderson was installed in
"S(piire'' Gilbert's farmhouse — a dwelling which was torn down
about a quarter of a centui-y ago, unsuccessful efforts having been
made by the late Hon. John Jay to have it ](ermanently preserved
as a Kexdlutionary ridic. Here iJeutenant Joshua Iving (afterward
General King, of Connecticut) was in command. He has left the

THE CArTliaO UF ANDRE 483

(olldwiiiti (Icscriptiou of the ;iiiii(';ii;iii((' ;iinl i-cccpt ion ol I he ]iiisoiicr:
" lie IooUimI soiiicwliat nice a reduced uciit lemaii. His small ( loihes
were nankin, witli lonj; A\iiite to|> hoots, in pai't his nndress niililarv
suit. His coat i)nri)le, with iiold lace, worn somewhat threailhare,
with small Inimmed tarnished heaver on his head. He wore his hair
in a ijiicuc, with Ioiil;', hlack hand, and his clothes somewhat dii'lv.
In this yarb I took charge <)f him. ,\l'ler l)reakrast my l)a7'her came
in to dress me. after -which I requested liiiii lo underi;o the same
ojteration, wliich he did. When the rihhou was taken from his liair
I ohserved it fnll of powder. This circnmstance, witli othei's that
occurred, induied me to believe that I had no (trdinary ]»erson in
ciiartie. He re(|uested jiermission to take a bed, whilst his shii-t and
small clothes ct)uld be washed. I told him that was needless, for
a change was at his service, which he acceiite<L We were close pent
nji in a bed-room with a <iuard at the door and window. There was
a spacious yard bi^fore the door which he desired he might be per-
mitted to walk in with me. I accordingly disposed of my guard
in such a manner as to prevent escape." Andre's mind was ill at
ease, especially when informed that the documents taken from him
had been sent to Washington and not to Arnold. He finally requested
pen and paper, and wrote a letter to Washington disclosing who
he was, giving his version of his adventures and making very brave
observations about his own nice sense of lionoi- aiul his refined
(•once])tion of how so singularly nolile a Ri-itish gentleman should be
treated in the circuntstauci s — representations for which he coutiu-
iied to show special aptitude until the hangman's uoose tightened
about his nei-k. He instructs Washington as to the hitter's appro
jtriate duty in these W(U-(ls: " Tlu- reijuest I have to make to your
KxcelleiK y, and I am conscious I address myself well, is thai in any
I'igor ]ndicy may dictate, a decency of conduct toward me may mark
ilial. though unfortunate, I am branded with nothing dishonorable."
Then he ])roceeds to dis]tlay the loftiness of his nature by this threat :
"I beg the liberty to mention the condition of some gentlemen al
< 'liai'leston, A\lio, being either on paride or iinder ]>rotection, \\cre
engaged in a conspiracy against us. Thougli their sii nation is not
similar, they are objects who may be set in exchange foi- nic, nr arr
ji( rxoiix irjioiii the tridlnirnl I nviirr iiii<ihf aff'cciy

Andre remained under close guard in the (Jilbei't house until sent
foi- by Washington, TIhtc is nothing of s])ecial local Westchester
County interest to add lo .Mr. Conch's further narrative.

The captors of .Major Andre, -lolin Paulding, Daxid ^^'illianls, ami
Isaac \'an Wart, were all Westchester ('ounty farmers" sons born
and bred.

484

HISTORY OK WESTCHESTER COUNTY

John riUiklinj; was Ixini near Tanytuwn, October 1(>, 1758, and at
the time of Andre's capture \\ as ilicrcfore not quite twenty-two years
old. He was descended from early scttlci-s of Pliilipsebui-iih ^faiior.
iris fjrandfather, Joseph Paulding, owned a laru,(' tract of land east
of Tarrytown (where John was boriii. and had four sons, all of whom
were pali'iot soldiers in the i;ev(dntion. John received a connuon
scdiool educatiou, and then worked for farmers in different parts of
our county. He was a magnificent specimen of manhood, over six
feet tall and well proportioned. Esixnisin"; the ])atriot cause like
all of his family, he was enj>'a,n< d in various minor enterprises against

housp: near pkkkskii.i. where capt.\in hoogland stopped with andre.

the enemy in the Neutral Ground. According to Ids own testimony,
he was taken ])i'isoner three times during the war. On the first
occasion he was cajdured at White Plains, and on the second near
Tarrytown, only four days bi'fore the arrest of Andre. The com-
mon report is that while in New York during his second captivity
he exchanged his coat for that of a (Jerman yager. It was this
habiliment that he wore when he lialted Andre, a circumstance to
which the tatter's su]>posilion that the party were friends is thought
to have been due. After the capture of Andre, he says, he was taken
a third time, in a wounded condinon, and " lay in the hospital in
New York, and was discharged on the arrival of the news of peace
there." The farm liiven him bv the State was located in the Town of

THE CArTIItK OI." ANDRE 485

Cortlaiidt, aiul consisted of oue humlrcd and sixty acres and sixteen
roods, bein.ii; tlie confiscated property id' Dr. l'<-tcr Iluggeford, a
Loyalist. He dis])osed of it after some years, and removed to a farm
jiear Lalce ;M(diegan (Yorlctown). wliere lie died on the ISth of Feb-
ruary, ISIS. lie lies buried in the cemetery of Saint Peter's Episcopal
Clnnch' near Teekskill, and over his grave is a monument with an
elaborate inscription, erected " As a memorial sacred to public grati-
tude "" by the corporation of tlie (*ity of New York on the 22d of
November, 1S27. One of Paulding's sons was Iliram Paulding, of the
United States Navy, who was presented with a sword by congress for
services in the War of 1S12, and tluring the Civil War became a
icar-adniiral and was in command of the I'rooklyn Navy Yard.

David Williams was the son of After and Phebe Williams, and
was born in Tarrytown, October 21, 1754. He was the ohlest of the
captors. " I first entered the continental army in the year 1775,"
he says in a public statement, "and continued in the service until
disabh'd by having my feet frozen. I was then obliged to take what
employment I could meet with for my support, chopping, grubbing,
and all such Avork — living about twenty miles from my house and
family." He was a volunteer in Ca.jitain Daniel Martling's Tarrytown
company, served under General Montgomery in the expedition to
Canada, and took an active part in the contests of the Neutral (Jround.
He received from the State, June 10, 17S8, the confiscated farm of
tlie Loyalist Edmund Ward, (d' the Town of Eastchester, a property
of two hundi-ed and fifty-t\\-o and one-half acres. Edmund Wai-d
was the only brother of the well-known patriot, Stephen Ward. Sub-
sequently Williams removed to Liviugstonville, Schoharie County,
N. Y., where he bought a farm of (Jeneral Daniel Shays, and liveil
there until his <leath, August 2, IS;?!. He was a highly respected
citizen, and left sons and daugliters from whom numerous descend-
ants have sjuMing. His bones lie near tlie Old Fort, Schoharie Village,
where a liandsonie monument was erected over them by the State
of New York in 1876.

Isaac \'an Wart, according to Bolton's genealogical records, was
a gi-ands(pn id' .loachim \'an Weert, a Dutchman, who became a set-
tlei' uf Phiiiiisburgh Manor in 1097. The date of Isaac's birth is un-
certain, but he was christened on the 25th of October, 175S. The Van
Warts were a i)atiiotic famil\, i-esiding in the preseid Town of (ireen-

' It Is of lutprcst that ono of the principal th,at he wi.shed Andre to come asliore, was ad-

bonefartors of Saint Peter's Chureii was tlie dressed. Itoblnson presented to the chnreh a

Tory son-ln-lnw nf the third Frederick I'hll- ;.'lelie of two hnndred acres, l.ving In Pntnani

Ipse, Beverly liobinson, who was on the I'onnty. jnst above the WesldiestcT line. This

" Vnltnre " with .\ndre on the night of Sep- farm is now owned by Jndsrc Smith Lent, i>f

teniber 21, 1780. and. Indeed, was the person Sing Slnfr.
to whom Arnold's eonirannieatlon, signifying

486 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COfXTY

burgh; aud Martiuus, the father of Isaac, iierfonned some service in
the war. Isaac Van Wart was granted by the State a farm in Put-
nam County (tlien a part of Dutchess County), but desiring to live
and die in the neighborhood wliere he was brought up, sold it and
bought the old Youngs property, where the " Affair of Youngs's
House ■' occurred, in what is now the Town of Mount Pleasant. He
died ]\Iay 23, 1828. He was an esteemed member of the old Green-
burgli Church of Elmsford, this county, in whose churcliyard his
remains lie, marlced b}' a marble monument elaborately inscribed,
which was dedicated June 11, 1S21J. One of his sons, Rev. Alexander
Yan AVart, delivered the prayer at the dedication of the new Tarry-
town monument to Andre's captors, September 23, 1880.

For nearly forty years after the capture of Jlajor Andre, no ques-
tion was ever raised as to the genuine patriotic characri-r of the ac-
tion of Paulding, Williams, and Yan Wart in taking him into cus-
tody, or as to their entire jiiivate disinterestedness and mdde con-
tempt for gain. But in 1817 Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, then a
representative in congress from Connecticut, saw fit to make a sen-
sational statement bi-fore that body in a speech opposing an applica-
tion by John Paulding for an increase of his pension. Tallmadge
was the officer into whose charge Andre was given, as we have seen.
The following is the substance of his statement, as reported at the
time:

The value of the service he did not deny, but, on the authority of tlie declarations of
Major Andre (made while in the custody of Colonel Tallmadge), he gave it as his opinion that,
if M.ajor Andre could have given to these men the amount they demanded for his release, he
never would have been hung for a spy, nor in captivity on that occasion. Mr. T.'s statement
was minutely circumstantial, and given with expressions of his individual confidence in its cor-
rectness. Among other circumstances, he stated that when Major Andre's boots were taken
off by them it was to search for plunder, and not to detect treason. Tliese persons, indeed,
he said, were of that class of people who passed between both armies, as often in one camp
as the other, and whom, he said, if he had met with them, he should probably have as soon
apprehended as Major Andre, as he had always made it a rule to do with these suspicions
persons. The conclusion to be drawn from the whole of Mr. Tallmadge 's statement, of
which this is a brief abstract, was th.at these persons had brought in Major Andre only be-
cause they probably should get more for his apprehension than for his release.

This remarkable vctsIoti of the matter excited great interest, and
Tallmadge was fiercely attacked in debate, whereupon he

again rose, and stated more circumstantially what had been related to him by Major Andre.
Tire major, he said, told him that the ca])tors took him into the bushes and drew off his boots
in the act of plundering him, aud there, between his stockings and feet, they found the ])ai)crs;
that they asked him what he W(udd give them to let him go; that he offered them his watch
and money, and promised them a considerable sum besides — but that the difficulty was in his
not l)eing able to secure it to them, for they had no idea of trusting to his honor.
Colonel Tallmadge declared that Andre was above all falsehood or duplicity, and felt ready
to die with shame at being in sucli a mean disguise — nay, begged for a military cloak to
cover him.

THE CAT'TTRK OF AXDKE 487

At the time wlicii tliis atliick on the tliicc cnntois was made, all
of thciii were still living. Vau Warl, in an allidavit, declared that
Andre, in tryinj;- to persuade them to acce]»t a bribe, " told them
that if they doubted the fulfillment of his ])r<)mis',' they might conceal
him in some secret place and keep him Ihere until tliey could send
to New York and receive their reward." Williams, some years later,
stated that Andre, after first protfering one hundred guineas, '' offered
us one thousand guineas if Ave would let him go. We again answered
No. The last offer he made us Avas ten thousand guineas and as
many dry goods as we should ask for, and he would give us his order
on Sir Henry (Minton, chief commander of New York, if we would
only consent to h t him escape after the money and dry goods, or any-
thing else we should please to name, should be received. We said
his offers were of no use, we were resolved to do our duty to our
country."

One of the results of the discussion stirred up by Tallmadge's state-
ment was the publication of the following certificate, signed by seven-
teen old and reputable residents of our county (the first name on the
list being that of the veneralile Jonathan G. Tompkinsi:

We, tlie siibscrit)ers, inhabitants of ttie County of Westchester, do certify that during
tlie Revolutionary War we were well acquainted with Isaac Van Wart, David Williams, and
.Tolm Paulding, who arrested Major Andre; and that at no time during the Revolutionary
War was any suspiiion entertained by their neighbors or acquaintances that they or either of
tlieni held any undue iuteroonrse with the enemy. On the contrary, they were universally
esteemed and taken to lie ardent and faithful in the cause of the country. We further cer-
tify that the said Paidding and W illianis are not now resident among us, but that Isaac Van
Wart is a respectable freeholder of the Town of Mount Pleasant; that we are well acquainted
with him; and we do not hesitate to declare our belief that there is not an individual in the
County of Westchester acquainted with Isaac Van \S'art who would hesitate to describe him
as a man whose integrity is as unimpeachable as his veracity is undoubted. In these resiiects
no man in the Coimty of Westchester is his su])erior.

The incident ended in the vindication of the captors to the satis-
faction of everybody. Incidentally various facts illustrative of the
true character of Andre were brought to light.

That he was an accomplished officer and a pleasing young gentle-
man is undoubted; but there is nothing in his career or personality,
so far as known, to justify any positive sentiments to his advantage.
He had a vast deal to say regarding his sensitive honor — that is all
that is positively known on the subject, excepting certain circum-
stances of his behavior which were inconsistent with the sounding
profession. On the 7th of September, Avhile devising ways and means
to meet Arncdd under some phiusible pretext, he wrote to Oolonel
Sheldon, of ilic . American army, a very artfully contrived letter over
his assumed nanu- of John Anderson, soliciting assistance in the
premises on the preten.se that the business was of "so private a

488 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

nature that llic jiiihlic on neither side ran be injured by it."' Sii*
Henry Clinton and Cobjuel Beverly liobinson deemed it incompati-
ble with Andre's position as adjutant-i;cneral of the British army for
him to yo within the Amorican lines at all, especially in disguise,
and counseled him against doinji' so; but Andre had no such fine
scruples — until found out, \\hcn, as related by Tallmailjie, he was
"ready to die with shame." And there exists strong testimony that
this was not Andre's first sneaking venture of the kind. According
to British authority, he had already " been twice to Arnold, had acted
as las valet de chambre, and twice returned safe to New York." '
Moreover, on good evidence it was alleged that during the siege of
Charleston in the early part of ITSO, Andre did spy duty disguised
as a cattle driver." While in Philadelphia with ilowe in the memora-
ble winter of 1777-78, Andre had quarters in the house of Benjamin
Franklin; and it is notorious that upon the evacuation of the city
by the British army he packed nj) and carried away some of the most
valuable of Dr. Franklin's books and other property — conduct con-
trasting with that of the mercenary General Knyphausen, who, in
taking his departure from his quarters in the house of General Cad-
wallader, " sent for the agent of the latter, gave him an inventory
which he had caused his steward to make out on his first taking pos-
session, told him he wonld find everything in proper order, even to
some bottles of wine in the cellar, and paid him the rent for the time
he occupied it." *

But it is hardly necessary to cite such instances as these of Andre's
moral obli(]uity. His behavior after his capture in two vital partic-
ulars is sufficiently illuminating. His letter to Washington from
Salem, seeking to purchase immunity for himself by threatening the
death of others, can not be otherwise regarded than as an act for-
eign to any sense of manly honor whatever; and his denunciation of
his three captors to ^lajor Tallmadge as common brigands was as
infamous a performance if not wholly justified, and as gratuitously
malignant a one if well founded, as ever a professeil elegant gentle-
man was guilty of. These individuals were not Andre's equals; they
were poor unlettered peasant boys, utterly beneath any subsequent
private allusion on his part except that of magnanimity, naturally
due from a superior soul. Knowing full well that they had saved
the very liberties of tlieii- cnunlry, he must have been aware that this
fact was a thing of treuiendous imiiortam-e to them personally; and
if he could have said no good of them he should have whispered

'London Polilical Magazmr, Novciiibir, 1780. - Wliillirnp Sargent's Life of Andre, 228.

^Nih-s's lirginUr, March 1, 1817.

THR CAPTfUR OF ANnilE 489

no evil. Iiislcad lie sonylit to hliisl llicii' rrimlalioiis. It was a
|)ilil'ul (Iccil.

The olijcct of Tallinadjic's attack on tlic caiitors in coiiiircss was
to establish tliat they were not (lisintcrcstcd jiatriots, but ordinary
( liicviiiii advc'uturi'rs of the Neutral (Jround. TJiis was his jirivate
opinion as an American officer, but he of course never would have
(■.\l)rrssed it as a mere unsupported conjecture of his own. II was
bj liivinji' Andre's unfavorable version of the b(diavior and motives
of the captors that he expected to make tlu^ matter appear in a
different liyht from that in which it was generally regarded. There
is not a scintilla of testimony, direct or circumstantial, except
Andre's, to suggest even a suspicion tliat the young men, when they
found that a questionable character liad fallen into their han<ls, were
ruled by S])eculative considerations. They were by the roadside on
guard in the American interest, to do whatever chance might i)ut
in their way as patriotic inhabitants of the Neutral Ground. IJefore
Andre came along several men passed who were known to them
as patriots, and whom they permitted to go about their business
without so much as accosting tliem. Then came Andre, a stranger
on horseback, of doubtful appearance. They intercepted him,
shrewdly interrogated him, and found that he was a man attempting
to ])lay a double jiart. They searched him. In his pockets they found,
besides a valuable watch, what to them was a considerable sum of
money. But this did not content them. They wanted to know
whether he had any hidden papers, and pulled off his boots and stock-
ings. They found papers and at once realized that he was a spy.
Now came the crucial test. He offered them very large bribes — any
amount of money and merchandise, — promises which, from the whole
personality of the man and the vital character of the secret docu-
ments he bore, they must Inne known he could make good. The
cleverness with which they questioned him in the first place shows
(hat they were men of alert perceptions and not dull country hinds.
At least they could not doubt that here was a decidedly promising
chance for a splendid financial speculation, without the least risk.
His ]U'o]iosal that two of them should h(dd him liostage while the
third should go to New York and get the ransom was capable of easy
execution. It was early in the day. All of them were known to
everybody in the neighborhood as loyal Americans, and any one of
them could have gone uniiuestioned to the nearest British post, been
forwarded thence to New York, and returned the same night. Or
two of them could have gone, or even all three, for the wiiole party
was eight in number, (he five original companions of I'aulding, Will-

490

HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

4'u./Z^. ™:>^^-^^ jJ^/'^C^ U ^^^

^/^

^*5^^

^^^.. /^^f,.<JD, a^f^<^^ i!^^<«wO/

<«<«^

THE CArTTRR OF ANDRE

491

PROLOGUE WRITTEN BY ANDUE.

iaiHs, iiiul Van Wart bein<>- ncai'by.' There was a single possible
tlitlicnlty that might have ooonrred to them in this connection: not
one of them had ever visited the British camp except as a prisoner,
or had had any previous experience in the line of exi>erimental trans-
actions. This fact was highly honorable to them; but there is not
the least reason for thinking that it, or any other consideration
except their incorruptible patriotic integrity, was instrumental in
determining their decision.

The simple honesty of these country boys, as wcdl as their freedom

' It Is presumed that Andre was questioned
and searfticd by the three captors only. But
the lihree were slill an integral part o( the
'■xpedition of eight, the other five, at whose
head was Sergeant John l»ean, lii'ing in ambush
b'liiie distance farlhi-r up the road. Tlie two
■ i)uuds. on separating, had intituall.v agreed to
lire m gun In ease either needed helii; and the
lire -were equallj interested with the three
land rice versa) In an.T advantageous results
thai might Issue from the day's doings. After

the three diseovc>red Andre's true character,
and. for themselves, rejected his bribes, they
still had to deal In the matter with their five
associates. Rejoining tliese associates, with
their prisojier. they uniloubledly reported to
them Andre's dazzling offers. That these
offers were not accepted redounds as much to
the credit of Oean, Uomer, Yerks. See, and
Abraham Williams as to that of I'auidlng,
David Williams, and Van Wart.

492

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

r«t»»«*-'- "^ V/'

from all tlit' eliiiruclt'ristics of the common thiuving and violeut
marauders of the Neutral Ground, is evidenced by every other con-
nectin>,f lircumstancc. In posscssiufj; themselves of Andre's money
and valuable personal property they took only lawful prize, and
Washinjiton, whose scrupulous courtesy to the prisoner in all re-
spects was consjiicuDUs. fouml no impropriety in
this conduct, and did not cause them to make resti-
tution. Moreover, the three captors magnanimously
shared the booty with their coTiirades who had no
])art in tlie arrest. All were entirely respectful and
considerate to Andre. They
had to march more than ten
miles to the nearest American
post, but for the whole distance
they jH'rmitted Andre to ride, attendinjj him
on foot; and they offered him refreshment on
the way. And when Andre was delivered
to Jameson the three claimed no reward, and
immediately went to their several homes, so
that Washington, writing to congress three
days latei', did not even know their names,
and a]»i)ai-i'ntly had to send to find them out.
Tallniadgc says that they belonged to an
objectionable class, and that if he, as an
American oflKcer, had fallen in with them
whilst following tlieir adventurous pursuits,
he would have promptly arrested them.
T>ut in view of the known character of these
particulai" young men, and of the recognized
necessity of such expeditions as they en-
gaged in, it is safe to say he would have done
nolliiiig of the sort — or, if he had, would
have been duly reprimanded by his superior officer. On tliis jmiTit an
intelligent writer remarks:

They were branded as " eow-tliieves," etc. Perhaps they were eow-thieve.s; but at that
period the most honorable men, both Wliigs and Tories, living between the lines, were oow-
thieves. Tlie British soldiers and American Tories stole cows from the Whigs; the Whigs
had no remedy but to steal them back again. ... It is evident they were not tliieves
for gain, else would they have taken the price which Andre ottered for his ransom, which was
more than would have sufficed to purchase the whole stock of cows, sheep, and oxen which
belonged to Job when he was in the land of Uz. . . . Every New .Yorker should be
proud that he was born in the State which ])roduced three such men; and tlie fact of their
being boys, and poor bojs, adds very much to the glory of the act. Had this been done by a
Van Cortlandt, a I'liilipse, a Van Rensselaer, or any three of the " Lords of the Manor," on
the Hudson River, the act would have been engraven on the rocks with the point of a diamond.

MAJOR ANDRE.

THE CAPTUKE OE ANDUE 493

Audre lins been i'('i)ivs('utod iis one of llic dailiii^s nf nalurc, an
adorable child of genius. He ■was a poet, a painter, an ainateiir per-
foi-nier, and, most intcroslinii' of all, a lover, l.iit in all he was only
a (labl)hT. lie bchmiis to tiie iarjj;'e class ol' alti-aclivc character's of
every age who are "said to have been" witty, wise, and fasliioncd
for i;i-('at thin.i;s — but liave left Tio taniiibh' evidence of it. 'IMie story
of his love is representative of (he man. lie loved a fair lady, llonora
Sueyd, who loved and married another. That was in 1773. As a
matter of fact she rejected him as early as 1771, and he then entered
the army. There was no reason for her rejection e.\ce]it that it did
not please her to love him back, but did jilease her to love someone
else; for Andre was a pei'son of liood fortune and fanuly, thouiih with-
out title — and llonora did not marry a title. I'or idne hm^Li yeai-s
Andre mourned his lost Honora — his lost Honora who had no love for
him. Once when taken prisoner in (^uuxla by ^Montiiomery, he saved
his hajipily mari'ied llonora's picture, and deemed that ''com])ensation
enough for all his sorrows." What exquisite sensibility for a very
healthy young soldier who coulil convert himsidf into a cartle driver
in case of need; what romantic softness for the mean thief of Dr.
Franklin's books and the cold-blooded negotiator of the most devilish
ti'eason of history! Amlre's jjensive love was much ovei'acted, oi-
else it was a kind of hopeless S(diwiirmerei inconsistent with a natui-e
of any fundamental strength — as in like manner liis protestations
of honor were the mere vaporings of an extremely self-conscious man
given to the abstraction.s more than the substance of virtuous things.
In neither case were his traits those which mark the vigorous mind.

Tile true Andre was a brave and cul1i\ated but not high or anij)le
minded individual, no better and no worse than most of the well-
born, well-educated, and well-favored British youth of his period,
lie had all their usual charming qualities in somewhat more llian
the average degree — but no original parts of any important interest
that very searching inquiry has ever disclosed. Mis sole claim to
distinction — aside from his part in an infamous transaction — is that
he was i)ut To one of the most righteous and exemplary deaths ever
adndnistt red, in a highly dramatic conjunction of circumstances,
connniserated and mourned by great-hearted foeinen whose ruin and
enslavement by the vilest methods he had j)lotted.

The spot where Andre was captured at Tarrytown was not marked
by any i)ublic memorial of the event until lSr>3. For many years
previously sporadic eflorts had been made to arouse interest, but
without substantial result. In the winter of 1S52-53 a "Monument
Association to the Cajdors of ^fajor Ainlre" was organi/-e<l in the
village, the most ]irominenl jiromotirs of tlie movement being Amos

45)4 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

11. ('I;iil< ;iiiil N. ITolinos Oddl. Tlic Incalitv wlici-c llic ciiijliiic oc-
ciiii-cd \v;is iiT tliat liiHc nwiicd by William Taylor, a colored man
and cx-slavc, and he donated sntlicieiil land foi- tlic imrjiosc. The
(•oruer-.ston(» was laid July i, 1S53, with mncli local ceremony, by
Colonel James A. Hamilton, a son of Alexander Hamilton. The re-
sultinj;- monument, consistinj;' of a base and shaft of conventional
pattern, was cut from Sini; Sinj^ marble, material and labor bcini;
the gift of the officials of the State Prison. The inscription was
written by the Hon. James K. Paulding, ex-secretary of the navy
and the intimate friend of Washington Irving. On the 7th of October,
1S53, the monument was dedicateil, Governor Horatio Seymour and
staff, many distinguished guests, and a great concourse of people
being i)resent. Aft<'r an a])])ropriate address by (Jovernor Seymour,
the oration of the day was (bdncred by Henry J. Kaymond, the fa-
mous editor of the New Yoi-k Tiiiicn. This oration, admirable alike
for its well proportioned ticalmcnt of the varied aspects of the theme,
its elevation of fetding and warmth of symi)athy, its beauty yet sim-
]>1 icily (d' diction, is probably the most satisfactory epitome of the
story of Andre in its significant rtdations that is to be found in all
the voluminous literature of the siibject. We (juote a single ehxinent
passage, contrasting the fate of Andre witli fliat of the noble Ameri-
can patriot, Nathan Hale:

From the moment of Andre's arrest lie was treated with iinvarving kindness and con-
sideration. No restraint not essential to the secnritv of his |)erson was for a moment imiiosed ;
not a harsh or nnfeelinn- expression, from officer, soldier, or citizen, ever jjrated on his ears
or chilled the yonthfnl current of his heart. Books, paper, and ink were at his command; he
wrote freely even to the British conniiander-iu-chief ; messages of kindness and relics of re-
membrance to his friends were pronqjtly sent forward; and a sad solemnity, full of tenderness
and of pity, presided at his execution. From all that vast multitude assembled on yonder
heights to see him die arose no word of exultation; no breath of taunt or triumph broke the
sereneness of the surroundinij air; melancholy music gave voice to melancholy thouohts; tears
dimmed the eyes and wet the cheeks of the peasant soldiers by whom he was surrounded;
and so profound was the impress of the scene upon their ])atriot hearts that long succession
of years could not wear it out, nor seal the fountains of sorrow it had iniclosed.

At an earlier stage of the Bevolution, Nathan Hale, captain in the American army,
which he had entered, abandoning brilliant prospects of professional distinction, for the sole
purpose of defending the liberties of his country — gifted, educated, ambitions, — the ecpial of
Anilre in talent, in worth, in amiable manners, and in every manly (piality, and his su])i'ri(ir in
that final test of character^ the motives by which his acts were i)ronipted and his life was
guided, laid aside every consideration ])ersonal to himself and entered upon a service of
infinite hazard to life and honor, because Washington deemed it important to that
sacred cause to which both had been sacredly set apart. Like Andre he was found in
the hostile camp, like him, tluuigh without a trial, he was adjudged a spy, and like
liim he was condemned to death. Aiul here the likeness ends. No const)ling word, no pity-
ing or respectful look, cheered the dark hour of his doom. He was met ^^^th insult at every
turn. The sacred consolations of the minister of (rod were denied him; his Bible was taken
from him; with an excess of barbarity hard to be paralleled in civilized war his dying letters
of farewell to his mother and sister were destroyed in his presence; and, uncheered by sym-
pathy, nuicked by brutal ])ower, and attended only by that sense of duty, incorruptible, un-

THP: CAI'TUItE OK AXDKIO 495

ilitilcci, wliicli liad nili'd his life, finding its fit farewell in the serene and sniilinie regret that
111' " had hnt one life to lose for his eonntry," he went forth to meet tlie great darkness of an
igiioniinious death.

As the eenteuary of Tlie Civptuiv of Andre a|)j>r(>;i(lic(l a widcspirad
iiilcrcst was felt, and it was decided to hold a i;rai)d celebratinri a(
'raiiytowii. With ureal propriety, the nionnnient was lirst remod-
eled. The orifjinal base was retained, bnt a bas-relief, depictin<>- the
capture, was inserted in one of its sides. The iiravestone-like shaft
was removed and a bronze statiie (the j;ift of .Mr. John Anderson,
of Tarrytown). restinfj- upon a neat pedestal, was substituted. This
statue re]iresents Panldinu. The ceremonies, held on the 2'M of Sep-
tember, 18S(), were jjresided over by the Hon. Samuel J. Tilden, of
Voukers, and the oration was by the Hon. Chauncey JI. Depew. It
was one of the most characteristic efforts of that distinguished son
of our county. The ci'owd in attendance was estimated at seventy
thousand. There was an imposing;' procession, General James W.
I lusted, of Peekskill, actiui;- as erand marshal.

The inscrii»tions on the Tarrytown monument are as follows:
l^Inscription on the south side.^
On this Spot,
the 23d day of Sejjtendier, 1780, the Si>y,
Major John Andre,
Adjutant (ieneral of the British Army, was cap-
tured by
John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac Van Wart,
all natives of tliis County.
Historj- has told the rest.
The People of Westchester County have erected tliis INIonumeut, as well to conuneniorate
a great event, as to testify their liigh estimation of tliat Integrity and Patriotism which, re-
jectiug every tem]itatioii, rescued the United .States from most ininiiuent peril, liy liafHingthe
arts of a .Spy, and the plots of a Traitor.

Dedicated October 7th, 18.5,"}.

[^Inscription on the north side of the second pedestal.]
Their coiuluct merits our warmest esteem. They have prevented in all probability our
suffering one of the severest strokes that ccudd have been meditated against us. — If^ashington.

[Inscription on the east, on base of statue.]

This statue,

the gift of John Anderson,

a citizen of Tarrytown,
was placed here Sept. 'IM, 18<S0.
1780—1880.

The inscripTion on .Major .\ii Ire's memorial in West ininslcr .\l)l)(>y
is in these Mords:

Sacred to the memory of Major John .Vndre, wlio, raised by liis merit, at an early period
of life, to the rank of Adjutant-tieueral of tlie Uritish forces in .America, and, employed in an
important but ha/ardous enterprise, fell a sacrifice to his zeal for liis King and CiMintry. on
the 2d of Octi>ber, 1780, aged twenty-nine, universally beloved and esteemed by the army in
wliich lie served, and lamented even by his foes. His gracious .Sovereign, King (Jeorge III.,
has caused this monument to be erected.

496 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

^Vii iiupiclcntious iiKiinuiiciit to (he iiiciiiory of Aiulrc was raised
in 1880 at Tapi)an, ovor the si>ot where his body was l)urie<l, h\ the
late Cvnis W. Field, of our coiuitv. An inscription was engraved
npon it, written by the noted Dean Staidcy, reeitinj;- that tlie stone
was placed there " not to perpetiiate the record of strife, bur in token
of those better feeliniis which have since united two nations, one
in race, one in laufjuajic, and one in reliiiion. with tlic h(i])e that
this frieinlly union will nevci- be bi'okcn."" This nieniorial has had a
troubled history, haviny several times been dynanuted by cranks
and subjecteil to defacements of various kinds. It is hard to cou-
cdude whether the ill taste of Mr. Field in causinji- its erection or
the silly vainhilism of the persons coiiimittinii' these resentful acts
is the more reiirettable.

CHAPTEK XXIII

THE WESTCHESTER OPERATIONS OF THE ALLIED ARMIES, 1781— END

OF THE WAR

FTP:R the pxetiition of Andre (October 2, 1780), the enemy,
.greatly embittered by that act, iiiiiih' many liostile mani-
festations in Westcliester C'onnty. and the Tory inhabitants
and lawless bands showed a correspondingly venomons
and enterprising- disposition. ^lajor Tallniadge returned to the West-
chester lines from Tappan on the 3d. " There," he writes, " my duties
became very arduous, the late events having excited much rage on
the part of the enemy. What with Cowboys, Skinners, and Refugees,
we had as much as we could turn our hands to to keeji from being
waylaid and fired upon from thickets and stony eminences about
Salem, North Castl(\ and White Plains. Indeed, it was not an un-
usual thing to have our sentinels tired oti from pai'ties who would
crawl up in the darkness of night and then disappear.'' But during
this jieriod, and indeed thi'ougliont the winter of 17S0-81, there were
few engagements or surprises in our county on any iuiportant scale.
It was mostly a petty border warfare. The only movement of more
than ordinary conse(|ueiice was a foraging ex]>edition made by the
American (ieneral Stark, the hero of Bennington, with some 2.500
men, to Wiiite Plains ami vi( inity. But he encountered no force of
the foe.

The impetuous Lafayette was anxious before the close of the sea-
sf)ii to ix'i'foini sometliing aggressive which would redound to the
ci'edit of the Ikcvolul innary arms and jn'oduce a moi-al effect to re-
lieve the general gloom caused by the desertion of .\i'nold. lie
fni'ined a project for an attack on Xew York tiirounh Westchester
("ounty. But nothing came of this. The army was in no condition
for that scheme of aggression or aTiy other, and indeed, as too soon
appeared, its officers had all they could do to hold it togetlier. Winter
(piarters were entered about the end of November in camjjs at Morris-
inwn, Pompton, West Point, ami the Iliglilands. The French, under
Kochambeau, remained at Ne\v])o7"t, where, since their arrival in
July, they had lain inactive.

The year 17S1, which was to teiininate ijie ai'med struggle foi' in

498

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

dependence, opened witli an cvciil not less appalliuii in its way than
had been the disasters of the ijreceding year in the 8outh and the
Arnold treason. On the 1st day of January the whole Pennsylvania
line, 2.000 strong, mutinied and marched ofl' from the ^Morristowu
camp toward Philadelphia to seek a redress of grievances. This was
no impulsive, ill-considered action, but well deliberated and care-
fully organized. The troo])S, wearied out by a long course of neg-
lectful treatment — unpaid, imf.Ml. and unclothed. — were grimly
determined to obtain their rights or (piit the service. General Wayne
attempted to quell the mutiny by arbitrary methods, and, confronting

tile men witli ])istols in his hands,
was ready to shoot the leaders if
they refused to obey; wliereupon
he was told that they loved and
honored and a\-ouI(1 <lie for him. but
if he fired he would be killed thai
instant. On the other hand, the
revolting regimi'uts not only dis-
dained seductive inducements con-
veyed to them from Sir Ib-niy
riinton to join his standard, but
seized his <'missaries ainl deliNcred
lliem to Wayne to be dealt with by
iiiililary law. Finally their most
pressing wants were felie\-e(l by
congress. and they returned to their
duty. A smaller mutiny in the
same month by the N'ew Jersey line was summarily ended by hanging
its chief promoters.

Toward the end of January a bold and successful raid was made
by Lieutenaut-Colon(d Hull from the Westchester lines upon de ban-
cey's corps at Morrisania. A number of the British were killed and
fifty were captured, some of their huts were burned, and the ]ioiitoon
bridge across the Harlem River Avns cut away; and in another en-
gagement, M'hich occurred dui'ing the retreat of the Americans, the
Hritish sulfered a further loss of thirty-five. Thacher, in his Military
Journal, speaks of this affair with the greatest praise, saying that it
"is calculated to raise the s]iirils <if our troops and to divert their
minds from the imha]i](y occurrences which have recently taken
place in the camji."

Tlie episode of the mntinies sliows more vividly than can be doni'
by any formal recital of the circumstances of the times Avhat fuudn
nn ntal dilticulties Washington had to contend against in entering

PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT.

OPERATIONS OF 1781 499

Upon his ;iri-nn;4ciiiciils for I lie Licncnil iiiilitai'_v iJi-occcdiuys of 1781.
The (iiHc li;i(l now iiriivcd w licii siniid liiiii;- decisive Tiiiist indispensa-
bly be undertalccn. A lariie and iMM-f'ectly a|i])oiiited French co-
()])ei'ative army was at hand, and additional land forces from France
AAcre sure lo come, to.uctlier witii a powerful lleet. All that was
re(|uii'ed \\as for tlie Amei-icaus to ])ro\'e Ihemselves worliiy of this
assistance by resjx'ctabJA- nialchinj^ it with forces of theii" own;
whereas they ajjpeared aJniost un<'(|ual to the task tt( maintaining;
any ai'my at all! ^loreover, the situation at the South was weekly
becoming- more desperate. In December Clinton sent Arnold to Vir-
•iinia with a large expedition, and in the spring Cornwallis also began
aggressions in that quarter. The Southern emergencies were so ex-
treme that Washington's individual command, wretchedly weak and
neglecled though it was, could not be strengthened or receive any
fostering attention without prejudicing interests at the seat of war.
And finally he was continually importuned to abandon the North
altogether, let befall what might there, and fly to the rescue of his
native State — importunities which Kochambeau, the French general,
seconded by favoring an immediate Southern campaign. In such
circumstances it is Avonderful that Washington was nevertheless able
to have a decent force at the North \o unite with the French Avhen
the hour of action struck. Rut most of all it demands admiration — -
adnuration withotit limits or bounds — that from the very outset of
the year 17S1 up to his masterly movement to Virginia in August,
he never faltered in his plan of an exclusive Northern demonstration
with his French allies as the one vital policy of strategy. It was to
this plan and its steadfast pursuance with every manifestation of
soberest earnestnes-s that Ihe conquest of .\merican liberties at York-
town was UTulividedly diu'. And it is the proud boast of our County
of Westchester that here, on our soil — entirely on our soil — the grand
programme was inaugurated, devehqied, prosecnti'd, and brought to
the threshold of assured success.

At the opening of the spring l^Iarch (Ii ^\■asllington h-fi his head-
quarters at XcAv Windsor on the west side of the Hudson and went
to visit the French general at NcAvport. The result of this inter-
A'iew was indecisive. .Vt that time the fnrthci- iinniediair inimtions
of the Frencli ministry were uncertain. It was not knoAvn at what
l>art of our coast the ex]iected licet wduld arrive, or when. T'pon Iiis
return Washingtoii occniiicd himself with ilie details of iin]ii'(iving
the organization of his arm,\'. meantime gi\ing such atteufion as he
i-onld to the situation at tlie South. Lafayette liad been sent thither
and li.-iij begun the hiilli,-inl work in \'irgini:i which stands so much
(o his credit.

500 HISTOKV OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

On the 13th of May a terribk^ pvciit happfiicd on tlic lines in West-
chester County. Coh)uel Chiistoi)hei' (ircctic, in coniniaud at
Oblenus's P^ord on the Croton River, above Pine's Bi'idge, was sur-
prised by a party of de Lancey's Refugees (suiiposed to have con-
sisted of about one liuudred liorse and two Inindred foot), and was
killed with excessive barbarity, several other officers and many men
perishino with him. tlreene Avas an officer of notable courage, ad-
dress, and proficiency; brilliant, iicnerous, and noble; a f;reat favorite
of Washington's and indeed one of the ornaments of the American
army. A citizen of Rhode Island, he entered the service at the be-
ginning of the war, was with Arnold in Canada, and during the opera-
tions on the Delaware in the fall of 1777 was intrusted by AVashing-
ton with the defense of the vitally important ])ost of Fort fiercer
(Red Rank). Thei-e he was attacked by 1,200 Hessians under Count
Donop, whom he put to rout, inflicting a loss of 400 in Ivilled an<l
wounded. One of the enemy's mortally wounded on that occasion
was DonoiJ himself, whom Greene very tenderly cared for until his
death.

Greene, at his post on the Croton, says General Heath in his
Memoirs, had "practiced the greatest vigilance in guarding this
ford in the night time, taking off the guards after sunrise, appre-
henditig that the enemy would never presume to t-ross the river in
the day time."' Gilbert Totten, a native of that portion of Westchester
County, who was in the enemy's service, informed de Lancey about
Greene's custom of removing the guards at daybreak, and guided
him to the spot. At the time Greene was asleep in the house of Rich-
ardson Davenport, sonu^ distance back from the river. In the same
bedroom with him were Major Flagg (also a gallant oflicer) and a
3'ouug lieutenant, and the men were quartennl in tents around the
dwelling. De Lancey's party crossed the ford unobserved and quickly
surrounded the house. The young lieutenant, aroused by the com-
motion, si)rang to the window and discharged two pistols at the
approaching Refugees. This deed of rashness infuriated the assail-
ants, who, with shouts of "Ivilll Killl No quarter!" rushed for
the house. Greene called on his men to defend themselves, and seized
his swoi'd. But before he could leave the room the door was burst
open, and, single-handed (the lieutenant had already been killed and
Flagg felled by musket-balls fired through the windows), he had no
choice but to sell his life as dearly as possil)le. " His right arm was
almost cut off in two ])laces, his left in one, a severe cut on the left
shoulder, a sword thrust through the abdomen, a bayonet in the right
side, and another through the abdomen, several sword cuts on the
liead, and many in different parts of tlie body."' The dying Major

OPERATIONS OK 1781 50 J

Fla<;.ii Wiis dispatched in like savage manner. Greene, fearfully
mangled, still retained some life, but he was not permitted to breathe
his last in ])eaoe. Fie was placed on a horse and compelled to ride
off with the ruiiliauly victors. After going about three-cpiarters of
ii mile they perceived he could travel no farther, removed him from
his horse, and pitched him into some bushes by the roadside, where
he presently expired. He was buried, with Major Flagg, in the
churchyard at Cronipond.' The American loss in this ghastly affair
in killed. Mounded, and prisoners was about fifty.

Shortly after the middle of May, Washington received definite
intelligence of the French fleet. It was to consist of twenty ships
of the line, with land troops, all commanded by the Count de Grasse,
was to sail from France for the A\'est Indies, and from there was to
proceed to the shores of the United States in July or August. On
the basis of this news Washington and Kochambeau met at Weathers-
field, Conn., on the 22(1 of May, and subscribed to the following un-
derstanding:

The enemy, bj' several detaoliments from New York, lia\'iug reduced their force at tliat
post to less than half the niuiiber which they had at the time of the former conference at Hart-
ford in September last, it is thought advisable to form a junction of the French and American
armies upon the North [Hudson] River as soon as possible, and move down to the vicinity of
New York, to be ready to take advantage of any opportunity which the weakness of the enemy
may afford.

Should the West Indies fleet [de Grasse 's] arrive on the coast, the forces thus combined
may either proceed in operations against New York or may be directed against the enemy in
some other quarter.

It will be observed that this agreement of the two generals was
explicit as to the immediate' operations of the united armies, but
not as to the ultimate destination of the fieet or as to the final joint
objective of armies and fleet. It was decided with all possible dis-
patch to effect a union of Washington's and Kochambeau's forces and
'• move down in the vicinity of New York," there to " take advantage
of any opportunity which the weakness of the enemy may afford."
Rut whither the fleet was to come was not definitely indicated; and
manifestly it was intended that the ultimate campaign of the armies
should be determined by the destination of the fleet — provided, of
course, no decisive operations before New York should result pre-
viously to the fleet's arrival.

Now, there were only two possible destinations for the fleet. One
was Chesapeake Bay, where all the enemy's forces in the South were
concentrating for the reduction of Mrginia; the other was New York,

' The New York Slate hcislature of 1900 yard to the lierm's of this atT.Tlr. A further
made an apiiropriatiuti of $2,000 for the eroe- amount has lii'cn contributed tlirouch the ef-
tinn of a mnnuiiient in the Ciompond cliiireh- forts "f the Sous of tlio Itcvolutlnn.

502 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

where Sir Henry Clinton's coniniiiiKl \\;is located. To which point
would de Grasse come? or, rather, to which point should tiie two
•leuerals advise hini to conic? — for there was, of course, time to com-
municate witii him before his departure from the West Indies, and
that indeed was indispensable.

It will be remembered that in 177S, when the first French expedi-
tion under d'Estaing reached our shores, it proceeded, at \N'ashinj;-
ton's suggestion, to Sandy Hook, with every purpose of entering New
York harbor and joining with the continental army in a siege of
New York; but that d'Estaiug at the last moment abandoned that
plan because of his apprehension that his larger war vessels might
get stranded on the bar. Indeed, there A\as a contirmed dislike in
the French admiralty office of the Sandy Hook bar, which IJocham-
beau appears to have shared in a positive degree. At the Weathers-
field conference he expressed this animus strongly, and, in fact, the
whole bent of his inclination was toward a prompt united naval and
land campaign in the South.

Washington, on the other hand, deemed a New York campaign
of first and supremest importance — not because he considered Ameri-
can interests less needful of his personal employment in the South
than in the North, but for the i^recisely contrary reason that the
proijosed move against New York was the one essential instrumen-
tality by which to relieve the stress at the South. At Weathers-
field he urged this opiniitn with the utmost confidence, and all his
subsequent procedure corresi)onded with his original conviction.
There is n(jlhing to show that at any time he cherished undue hope
of actually capturing Nt'W York — especially in the absence of re-en-
forcements and of assurance that the fleet would co-operate. But
he was for an immediate and perfectly formal New York campaign,
let the fleet come where it might. Perhaps he seriously hoped to
take New York. But the eventuality there did not interest him so
much as the manifest advantage of the strategy. He would make
so formidable a demonstration against New York that Sir Henry
Clinton would either have to lose the city or leave Cornwallis at the
South to his own resoui-ces. In either case there would be an ex-
cellent chance to strike the final blow.

If this was not ^^'asllington's exact mental attitude from start to
finish — clearh' f(»rmnlated at the beginning and never modified by
special conditions later — then his whole course of conduct and ex-
pression was purely accidental, a thing not to be believed of him.
Again and again he was besought to leave the army at the North and
take the command in A'irginia; and uniformly he replied that he
was resolved to continue at the North conforniahlv witli well-matured

OPERATIONS OK 1781

503

plans which, iu their cxccnitiou, would givf X'iininia far girater
rclit'f than his persoual presence could possibly bring to pass. In
July, wiicn his enterjjrise against New Yorlc was iu full {jrogress,
Ikichard Henry i>ee wrote to him pressiugly from Virginia, declar-
ing that the people wei-e ready to make him dictator if be would
show himself there; to which he replied in the following strong
words: " ily preseut i)lan of operation, which 1 have been preparing
with all the zeal and activity iu my power, will, I am morally cer-
tain, with j)roper support, jiroduce one of two things, either the fall
of New York or a withdrawal of the (enemy's) troops from Vir-
ginia." On the 4:th of June, previously to the junction of the Ameri-
can and French armies in ^^'estchester County, he wrote from bis
iiead(iuarters at New Windsor these most signiticant words to the
Count de Kocbambeau: " I could wish that the march of the [French]
troops miglit now be hurried as much as possible. ... I know
of no measure A\'hich \\ill be so likely to afford
relief to the Soutliern States."

Yet it has been claimed by some Idstorical
Avriters that it was Washington's essentia 1
policy to captui'e New York, and that the idea
of the fiiuil move to Virginia originated witli
Rochambeau. This view rests up(ju the e.xceed-
ingly slender foundation that at the Weathers-
tield conference Rochambeau o})posed any co-
operation by the fleet at New York (because, as
already i>ointed out, of French prejudice against

the Sandy Hook bar). But if at ^A'eathersfield Rochambeau conceived
the ^'irginia campaign, it was certainly not a conception based upon
the plan of a formidable prelimimiry New York campaign. With-
out the preliminary New \'ork camiiaign, conducted with the ntnmsr
sagacity, there would liave been no triumpiiant Mrginia campaign.

This digression from the straightforward i)rogress of our narrative
seems necessary to a proi)er understanding of the Weathersfield
agreement of the 22d of ^lay and its relations to subsequent events.
That agreement was decidedly indefinite, except in the one particular
that there should be an immediate movement of the combined armies
on New York; with which priuu' matter settled, W^ashiugton con-
sented to leave de (Jrasse's course \\itli his fleet to his o\\ii discre-
tion. It is not conceivable tliat he, the responsible commander-in-
chief, would have made su(di a concession if he had ludd to the ex-
clusive idea of taking New York.

By a dis])atch vessel sent from Newport to the West Indies in the
latter part of .May, de Grasse was accordingly notified of the decl-

THK ROYAL FLAG OF
FRANCE.

504 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

.sious iT-achcd at tlic Wcathcr^ticld loiilcnmce, aud it was made op-
tional with liim wlietlior to come to New Yorli Harbor or to Chesa-
peake Bay. As we sliall sec, Washiiiiiton remained in absolute un-
certainty regarding the French admiral's intended destination until
after the latter had sailed from the West Indies.

The remainder of ;\lay and the first three weeks of June were em-
ployed in preparations for the junction of the allied armies and the
offensive operations on New York. Kochambeau began his march
from Newport on the 10th of June, leaving at that place a sufficient
garrison, its harbor being still occupied by French ships of war.
Washington assembled his troops from their different encampments
on the west side of tlie Hudson, brought them across King's Ferry,
and on the 20th established liis headquarters at the Van Cortlandt
house north of Peekskill. lie at once proceeded to demonstrate to
the British that the joint movement was not a mere feint or a ven-
ture whose final object was to be approached gradually, but a swift
and deadly undertaking against New York. The promptitude with
which Washington, after arriving at Peekskill, planned and executed
the demonstration on New York, and the fine judgment with which
he arranged his combinations, must have been convincing proof to
Sir Henry Clinton that he would soon be called upon to defend the
city Avith all the resources at his command.

Wasliington had two immediate objects in view — first, to surprise
and, if possible, capture the British position at Kingsbridge; second,
to cut off de Lancey's large body of Refugees at ^lorrisania and any
other troops of the enemy north of the Harlem Kiver. The two
schemes were to be carried out simultaneously and with great secrecy
and rapidity. The Kingsbridge enterprise was to be under the charge
of Ceneral Lincoln, of the American army, who was to drop down
the river under cover of night, reconnoiter the works at the northern
end of ^Manhattan Island, and, if he found them not too strongly de-
fended, attack Kingsbridge. At the same time the Duke de Lauzun,
of the French army, was to conu- down to Morrisania from Connec-
ticut by a forced march and fall upon de Lancey. In the event that
Lincoln should find it imprudent to attack Kingsbridge, he was to
take a station near that place so as to prevent de Lancey from escap-
ing to iManhattan Island. Ami finally Washington and Ivochambean,
with their main bodies, were to descend swiftly down thiougii West-
chester County and be ready for further immediate operations in
force if Kingsbridge should be taken. It was a thorough plan of
instant aggression, well calcuhited to cause Sir Henry Clinton the
greatest concern whether it succeeded or failed. The date selected
for the combined attempt was the 3d of July.

OPERATIONS OF 17S1 505

On the cvt'iiiiiii of tlie 1st of July Geueral IjikhIh, witli >;(l(l men
and several pieces of artillery, left the camp in ilic \iciDity of I'eek-
skill, niarclicd to Teller's (Croton) Point, and jmt liis cxjM'dilion on
hoard of boats, m hicli were rowed with nuilllcd oai-s down the ihnl-
son to the present Lndlow section of the City of Y'onkers. For the
jnirpose of coniM-alnient the flcdilla was drawn (dose to tlic siiore.
(ieneral Lincoln crossed to the Avest bank, and from tiic Palisades
reconnoitered the Manhattan Island forts. To his disajjpointnient
lie discovci'cd lliat a larj^c liody of the enemy was encamjx'd there,
'i'iuis his intended surprise of Ivinij,sbrid<i(' was made imjiract icable.
He returned to his boats and remained in them till hcforc dawn of
the 3d, when he landed his men and i^nns and advanced to a height
opposite Ivingsbridge (the site of the former Fort Indepenvlence) iu
order to support de Lauzuu in his attack on de Lancey. But illduck
attended this attemi)t also. lie was discovered by a strong foraying
party of the enemy, which came across the bridge just about day-
break, and skinnisliing ensued the noise of which alarmed de Lancey
at Morrisania. De Lauzuu had arrived at Williams's Bridge dni-ing
liie night of the 2d, and after giving his men a few hours' rest, was just
preparing to move against de Lancey. But the lattei', apprised of his
danger by the tiring at Kiugsbridge, hastened away and was soon
safe on Manhattan Island.

Meantime Washington, with remarkable celerity, had brought the
main army down from Peekskill. Leaving his tents standing, he
quitted the camp at three o'clock on the morning of the 2d. The
march was made without baggage, so as to execute it in the briefest
possible time. There were only two halts — one at Croton Bridge and
the other beside the Sleepy Hollow Church near Tarrytown. Valen-
tine's Hill (Youkers), four miles above Kingsbridge, was reached by
sunrise of the 3d, and there Washington stopped to await the result
of the movements below. At the same time tlie French army was on
the way from Connecticut.

This well-planned and in all its parts perfectly well-executed demon-
stration failed totally. Its collapse affords striking testimony of the
sound sense of Washington in discouraging proposed expeditions
against >yew York throughout the Kevolution. Such expeditions
were projected repeatedly by his subordinates, but Washington dis-
approved them almost without consideration. He himself, on one
or two occasions jireviously to the attempt of July 3, 1781, made
i-eady to descend upon Kingsbridge, but these offers were only tem-
porary menaces for strategit- j)uri>oses. Washington's career teaches
that when there was any conceivable advantage to be derived from
fighting or from aggressively operating, he was as enterprising and

506 HISTORY OP WESTCHESTER COUNTY

jM^rsislc 111 aloiii; those lines as auy great general of history. It was
agonizing to him to waste away campaign after campaign on the
defensive. From the summer of 1778 to the snmmer of 1781 he never
fought a battle, conducted a siege, or made any aggressive movement
in force which in\()lved active waifare. Yet during all that period
lie had his army drawn up or disjxised in New Jersey, the FTighlands,
oi' \\'estchester County, within easy striking distance of New York;
and, moreover, the recapture of New Y'ork was the grand goal of
the Eevolution. Tie did not attempt it because it would have been
a simply mad thing to do Avith the forces at his disposal. When,
flnallj', with the assistance of the French, he was ready to move on
New York as a formal matter, he arranged a perfect combination
to take Kingsbridge by swift surjirise. This, the first and only
attempt to surprise Kingsbridge, did not come even to the fighting
stage. How mer(dy foolhardy would have been the ordinary ex-
peditions against Kingsbridge which ambitious oificers were con-
tinually planning.

Finding that tlie British at the outposts of New York were not to
be surprised, it remained for. Washington to institute deliberate
operations. The next day (July 4) he retired from Valentine's Hill
to Dobbs Ferry, where he en(am])ed, also marking out a camp for
the French on his left. Kochambeau had advanced as far as North
Castle (seventeen miles distant), where Washington visited him on
the 5th. (^n the ()th the French joined the Americans. The latter
lay in two lines, resting on the Hudson at Dobbs Ferry, covered by
batteries, and extending toward the Nepperhan River; while their
allies wei'c in a single line on the hills farther east, reaching to the
Bronx. The left of the French position was at Chatterton's Hill, the
scene of the battle of October 28, 1776. A very pleasing description
of the united encampment is given by Irving in his Life of Wash-
ington : " It was a lovely country for a summer encampment, bree/y
hills commanding wide prospects, umbrageous valle.ys watered by
bright pastoral streams, the Bronx, the Sprain, and the Nepperhan,
and abounding with never failing springs. The French encamp-
ment made a gallant display- along the Greeuburgh hills. Some of
the oflficers, young men of rank, to whom this was all a service of
romance, took a pride in decorating their tents and forming little
gardens in their vicinity. 'We have a charming position among
rocks and under magnificent tulip trees,' writes one of them, the
Count Dumas. General Washington was an object of their enthu-
siasm. He visited the tents they had so gayly embellished, for, with
all his gravity, he was fond of the company of young men. They
were apprised of his coming, and set out on their camp tables plans

OPERATION'S OK 1781

507

of the batth ol' Trciildii, of ^^'('Sl Toiiit, and otlici sccik s (•(nincicd
willi the war. The L;rcatcsl lianuoiiv in'cvailcd hctwccii the armies.
Till' two conuiiaiKlcrs had their respective lieacUiiiarters iu farui
lioiises, and occasionally, on festive occasions, lonj;- tables were spread
in tile adjacent hams, which were converted into hancinet halls."

In Ikochanibeau's army were many notable officers, the tlower of
the French army. Some of these were the Baron N'ioiiicnij, coiii-
mandinii the Itoiirbonnais. the oldest regiment of I'rance; the Count
de Viomenil, his brother; the Chevalier de Chastelieux; the Count de
Custine and the Dtike de Lauzun, both of whom fell under (he guillo-
tine; Berthier, at the time aide-de-
camp to IJochanibeau and later
one of Napoleon's field marshals;
and the Count de I'^rsen, who dis-
tinguished himself at Yorktown
and during the stormy days of the
I'rench Kevolution A\as conspicu-
ous in his devotion to the royal
family.

Eochambeau's headq uar t ers
were at the old Udell mansion then
owned by a Mr. Bates; and Wash-
ington's were at Joseph Api)leby's,
about half a mile from the Dobbs
I'erry IJoad and the same distance
from the [Sawmill Eiver.

The -Vmerican army at Dobbs
Feri'y was something less than
5,000 strong, and the numbers of
the I'lcnch were about the same.

On the Sth of July Washington reviewed the two armies. One of the
tirst things done was the erection of a battery at Dobbs Ferry to com-
mand the Hudson liiver. For the first two weeks, however, no gen-
eral ])roceedings were attempted.

( >n t lie evening of the 15th of July there was a spirited engagement
with the enemy at Tarrytown, occasioned by an attenii)t of se\'eral
I>rilisli slii])s (d' war to captur(> or desti'oy Amei-ican vessels tliat had
come down the river with ordnance and supplies. This affair is
known as " llie action at Tarrytown," and in comnienioi-ation of it
a liisiorical tablet was ))laced on the Tarrytown railroad station,
•Inly 1.5, 1890. The American vessels, of which there were two ac-
cording to one account, and tlii-ee or four accoi-ding to other land
more probable) statements, were descending from West i'oiut, and

GENERAL HENUY KNOX.

508 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tlicir cargoes were very important. In order to escape the British
ships, which were coiiiin}^ up, they were steered for the dock at
Tarrytown, but they ran aground at a distance of about a hundred
yards from that phice. Tliere being no troops at Tarrytowu, except
a small French guard, Washington hurriedly dispatched tSheldon's
Dragoons from Dobbs Ferry. Sheldon's men, under Captain George
Hurlbut, went to work with a will to unload the stranded craft. The
enemy's warships, having come to anchor not far away, opened a
heavy cannonade, under cover of which two gunboats and four barges
aj^pruached with the object of burning our vessels. Captain llurlbut,
who was on board one of the latter with twelve men, armed only
with pistols and swords, aa aited until the British were alongside and
" gave them a lire, which they returned, and killed one of his men."
The Americans now jumped into the water and swam ashore. After
setting fire to the vessels the British quickly retired under a deadly
musketry attack from the Dragoons and French on the shore. There-
upon Captain Hurlbut, Captain-Lieutenant Miles, Lieutenant Shaylor,
and several others plunged into the river, boarded the burning sloops,
and extinguished the flames., llurlbut received a wound from which
he died two years later. All the contents of the vessels were then
safely landed. Washington deeuu-d the services thus rendered so
valuable and so gallant that in general orders he recited the facts,
adding that the conduct of the three officers " entitles them to the
most distinguished notice and applause of their genei-al," and in his
Diary he remarks upon " the extraordinary spirit and activity " of
the gentlemen concerned.

The next morning (July KJ) the Americans opened an artillery fire
upon the British ships from a battery which had been erected at
Tarrytown. This proved so troublesome that the enemy had to move
out of range. On the 19th they stood down the river to return to
New York. A destructive fire was poured upon them by the Dobbs
Ferry battery. The largest of the ships was set on fire by a bursting
shell, and in consternation a number of the men jumped overboard.
Some of them were drowned, and three or four who reached the shore
were made prisoners.

After these creditable transactions with the enemy's ships, Wash-
ington entered vigorously upon his arrangements for threatening
New York. About this time he crossed with Rochambeau to the other
side of the river, and, accompanied by 150 New Jersey troo])s, very
carefully reconnoitered Manhattan Island and its defenses along the
Hudson. On the 18th two detachments, an American and a French
(the latter commauded by young Dumas), were sent to explore the
country in the lower part of Westchester County. Both proceeded

OPERATIONS OF 1781 509

(() williin miiskct i-inigc of the Kin,nsbri<]<;(' works. This was pre-
paratory to till' famous "grand rccoiinoissaiicc " of Now York on
111.' 22(1^1 nd 23d.

-Inly the 21st, at eight o'clock in the evening, about onc-Iialf the
forces of tlie two armies at the Dobbs Ferry camp were put in mo-
tion and marclied to opposite Kingsbridge, f(dlowing tiie Hudson
Kiver, Sawmill Kiver, and Eastchester roads. " The right, com-
numded by General Heath, was formed by a part of the division of
(Jeneral Lincoln. The legion of Lauzun protected the army upon
the left. There were in all about ."),()()() men, Avith two tield batteries.
The head of the column reached the ridge which commands Kings-
bridge at five o'clock on the morning of the 22(1. Tlie roads were
vei-y ba<l, and the artillery had difticulty in following. Nevertheless,
the two armies marched in perfect order, observing the strictest
silence." The ti'oops wiM'e disposed so as to cover the proceedings of
the two generals, who, with the greatest dtdiberatioii, attended by a
corps of engineers, traversed the country in front of the British posi-
tion from river to Pound, noting every jilace and object that might
be of importance in connection A\ith futui-e opei-ations. Their move-
tiKMits were directed by the Fordhani guide, Andrew Corsa. "He
used to I'elate +hat when the allies, marching from the east near the
Hroiix and passing o\i'r the higli grounds around Moi'i-isania house,
came in sight of the enemy, the fire which the British artillei-y ojiened
ii])nn them from the fortifications at Randall's Island and Snake
Hill, from the batteries at Harlem, and from the ships of war at
anchor in the (Harlem) river, were terrible and incessant; and, obey-
ing the instinct of sidf-jucservation, which became snddcidy pre-
dominant, he urged his horse forward at full speed and rode for safety
behind the old Morrisania Mill. Here he pulled u]), and, looking
back, saw "\^'ashington, Rochambeau, and the other officers riding
calmly along under the fire as though nothing unusual had occurred.
His self-possession now returned, and, ashamed at having given way
to an im])u]se of fear, he at once ]ii'ic]<e(l back with all the rapidity
to \\hich he conld ui'ge his horse, anil i-esunu-d Ins place in the order
of niarcli; wliih- the commanding officers, with good-natured ])eals
of lauglitcr, welcomed him back and commended his courage." '

"This reconnoisancc," says a French wiiter, •'was made with all
tile cai'c imagiTiable. ^^'(■ had Ix'cn ex|)osed to ><i.\' or seven hundred
cannon-shots, whi<-h cost the Americans two men. We had taken
twenty oi' thirty prisoners from (he Fnglish, and killed four or five
men. Sixty horses had also been taken from them. T can not repeat
too often hoAV greatly 1 Ikuc been snrpiised at the .Vmei'ican ai-niy.

• lioliim I rev. I'll. I, ii., .'i;«.

510 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

II is inr«)n(ci\"iil>lc tluii ti ps almost luil^cd, piKirl.v ]iai(l, and com-

|i(isc(l of (lid lucii. negroes, and rhildicii, slimild iiiaicli ('(lually well
on the road and nndcr firr. I iiave shared tliis asronishnicnl with
M. de IJnchaniliean liinis(dl', who continueil to speak of it to ns on the
retnrn march. I liardly need to speak of the (■of)lncss of Oeneral
Washini^ion. It is known; lint this great man is a thonsand times
gi'cater and more noble at the head of his army than at any other
time." 1

This was no sensational parade before the enemy's position to
make a plausible showing of offensive designs, bnt an elaborate.
scientific preparation for a si(>ge. It is said that Washington ami
■Ro(diambean Avere in their saddles twenty-four eonseeutive hours.
Itocliambeau relates an interesting episode:

We had proceeded (he says) to an island, which was separated from the enemy jiostcd on
Long Island, by an arm of the sea, the widtli of which General Washington wislicd to liave
measured. While our engineers performed this geometrical o])i'ratinn, worn out by fatigue,
we slept at the foot of a hedge, under fire from the cannon of the enemy's vessels, who wished
to hinder the work. Awakening first, I called General Washington and remarked to him that
we had forgotten the hour of the tide. We hastened to the causeway of the mill ujion which
we had crossed this little arm of the sea which separated us from the mainland; it was
covered with water. They brought us two little boats, in which we embarked, with the sad-
dles and trappings of the horses; then they sent back two American dragoons, who drew by
the bridle two horses, good swinmiers. These were followed by all the rest, urged on by the
lashes of some dragoons remaining on the other shore, and for whom we sent back the boats.
This maneuver consumed less than an hour, but liajipily our end)arrassmcnt was unnoticed by
the enemy.

The "island" was evidently Tlirogg's Neck, that land of mystery
and confusion for imjietuous generals-in-cliief, where the onrushing
Sir William Howe had experienced infinitely more vexations embar-
rassments at the beginning of his Wc^stchester cam])aign of 1770.

One result of the reconuoissance was the breaking u]) of the post
of de Lancey's Eefugees at IVForrisania. Washington had hoped to
capture this redoubtable partisan and his tronjiers, but. :is on the 8d,
de Lancey eluded the force seut against him.

On the night of the 23d the whole American and I'rench forces
returned to Dobbs Ferry.

There is an abundance of ]iroof that the reconuoissance of New
York was a perfectly sincere proceeding on Washington's ])art, and
that at the time he fully intended to follow it up with a rc^gnlar siege
in the case that the fleet of de Grasse should make its appearance in
New York Eay. Jloreover, he earnestly desired that de Orasse should
come there. Previously to the junction of the armies at Dobbs Ferry
he had written to de Orasse, urging him to steer a straight course
for Sandy IIo(d<; and on July 10, at a conference Avitli Kochambeau.
he expressed himself as follows: "Upon the wh(de, T do not see

^ T.ps l'''r.'inr.Tls ot .\morif]un pmrlant In Oucrro do rTiulppfndpnno drs fitats-T'nis.

OPIMtATIOXS OF 17S1 511

wiiiit iiKirc cjin be (Icmc tluin to ]>rosccut(' (lie ]iliiii ai^irccd ii|miii at
llu' ^^'('illll(•I'sfi(>l(l coiircfciicc, and to iccoiuiiicikI to tlic ("oiiiil (ic
(Jrassc to coiiu' iiuiiuHliatclv to Sandy IIo(d<. am], if i)ossil)lc, |)oss('S.s
the harbor of New York." I'lit lie r<'niaincd in coniijb'lc iinccrtaiiit y
as to di' (Irasso's intentions until tlie nii(b]lc (d' An.unsl. He acoord-
iiiiily stayed in his D()V)bs Ferry encani]inicnl awaiting int(dlifi-enpe.

In this connection he adopted a measure to jii-ocure the sjieediest
|(ossibb' information of the arrival of the fleet if Sandy Hook should
jirove to be the destination of de (Jrasse. On July 21 — the day when
he set out to recounoiter NeAV York — he addressed the followinji' auto-
<;rapli letter (whose oriiiinal is now in the possession of the editor
of this History) to Bri.iiadier-( Jeneral David l'\)rman' at MouTnouth,
X. .1.:

Head Quarters, Uobbs Forry, 21st July, 1781.

Dear .Sir: — Wheu I request your particular Care of the enclosed, it is necessary that I
should inform you in the fullest confidence, and under the strictest injunctions of secresy, that
the Count de (irasse may be shortly expected with liis wliole Heet from the West Indies.
Whether he will first a|)pear off the Hook or the Capes of Virfrinia is uncertain — Yon will be
pleased immediately, upon the receipt of this, to em])loy ])roper persons to keep a look out.
The Moment that a Fleet of heavy Ships is discovered yon will dispatch an express to me,
and as soon as you can ascertain whether they are friends or Foes, another; li they prove to
be the former you will obliije me liy going on board the Admiral and ])resenting the letter
herewith. I have mentioned you to him as a (ientleman in whom he may (ilace the fullest
confidence. That intelligence may be comnumicated from you to me with the utmost dis-
patch you will be pleased to take some of the railiti<a Horse into pay and station them iit such
distances between Monmouth and Dobbs Ferry that they may perform the ride in twelve or
fifteen hours. The Horsemen need not know the particular purpose for which they are sta-
tioned, but they must be ordered never to be a moment absent from their stages except when
upon duty. The expense attending tho.se and the persons who keep a look out I will be an-
swerable for. You will be so good as to give me by the return of this, or in the chain which
you shall establish, the jiresent situation, number, strength, and station of the Enemy's Sliijjs
— and as particular information of this kind miiy be very useful and consequential to nu^ and
to our French Allies — 1 beg you will continue to keep me informed from time to time of any
alterations which take place, either respecting their increase or decrease of nundicrs and
strength, their different positions, and particular stations, within or without the Hook, that
we may lose no advantages or suffer any misfortune for want of perfect information of the
Enemy's strength. Positions, or nu>vements — I am with respect,

Dear Sir

Your most obedient servant,

(!. Washington.

This coniniiinicai ion is slronii ('\i(lcn<-c of ilic entire l;oo(I faitli
of the reconnoissance bemm the (la\' after it was writ ten. lOvery other
known cireumstance demonstrates that \\'ashiuL;toii. in the condi-

' General David Kornian coiumaniicd a liri- aii.l rnjiiycil lli.' ijccnliar curitiilcncr of W.'isli

g.ide in the New Jersey militia. His .vounscr in^ton. ('nloiicl .lonatlian I'orman liad a sisiir

liroiliiT, Colonel .Ton.-illian l-'ornian. was at tin- I-'Ji-annr. wiio inarrieil I'liilip i-'reeni.-m ; aiici in

liead of a rcKlnicnt in tlie .New Jim-sc.v line, and mTIit years Colnnel l'"(irnian's daniilitcr .Mary

nfler tlU' war ln'ianii' the first president of iiecanie the wife of Henry Seymour, of Ullca.

tlie f>rder of tlw Cinclniiali in New .Irrsey. and I lie motlier of (iovernor Ilorallo Seynionr.

Until were nnimatid 1)t the loftiest spirit uf eoloind I'orninii was an anrestor of the editor

patriotism. serviMi throuRhout the Uevolution, ot this History.

512 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tions existiuy at thai time anil lor skiiic days subsequeutly, was quite
serious in menacing New York. 15ut tliose conditions underwent a
cbang(.' in scA'eral radical rciiards.

First, Clinton was re-enforc<'d at New York by 3,000 Hessians from
Europe, while on the other hand Washington received no re-enforce-
ments at Dobbs I'^crry, although he was anxiously expecting some to
arrive from New England. Next, news came from Virginia which
altered the whole complexion of things there. Cornwallis, finding
his position perilous in the interior of thai State, was retreating to
Yorktown, with the intention of intrenching himself there. At this
juncture, should de Grasse enter the Chesapeake instead of New York
Harbor, Cornwallis would he caught between the American fleet and
the Southern American land forces, in which eventuality it would
become highly expedient for Washington and Rochambeau to pro-
ceed quickly to Yorktown. And meantime Clinton at New York
dared not send relief to Cornwallis, but was obliged to look to his own
safety. Thus the first part of Washington's plan, as conceived at
Weathersfleld, was already realized: by beginning a campaign on
New' York he had eased matters in "S'irginia. It remained to be seen
whether the further changes in the situation would justify him in
actually besieging New York or summon him to Virginia for the
annihilation of Cornwallis. The determining thing would be news
from the fleet.

Washington's movements in Westchester County made such an
impression on Sir ITenry Clinton that the latter not only did not re-
enforce Cornwallis, but actually ordered troo])s to be sent to New
York from the South. On July 26 he wrote to Cornwallis to have
three regiments dispatched to New York from the Carolinas, saying:
" I shall jtrobably want them, as inll as the troops i/ou iiitii/ he ahle to
spare me from the Chesapcalr, for such offensive or defensive opera-
tions as may offer in this quarter." The order was countermanded
after the coming of the 3,0(10 Hessians, but it shows how ])i'omptly
the presence of the allied armies in our county bore fi-uit. ^A'ash-
ington Avrote to Lafayette on this ])oint: "I think we h:ne already
effected one part of the plan of cam])aign settled at Weathersfleld —
that is, giving a substantial relief to the Southern States by oblig-
ing the enemy to recall a considerable ])art of their foi-ce from them.
Our views must now be turned toward endeavoring to expel Iheni
totally from those States if we flnd ourselves incompetent to the
siege of New York." T^ut in sjiite of the re-enforcements which
Clinton had received, AN'ashington had no intention of abandoning
New York until the situation should become more clearly defined.
While waiting to hear from the fleet, he wrote to the governors of

OPERATIONS OK ITSl 513

the New Eiii;laiHl States (•(uii|ilainiii,ii "•' lli<ir t'ailiii-c to scml liim
niDi'c ti'oops. " I am iiiiablc," lie said, '" lo a(l\aiic(' willi iirndfuce
licvdiid my iii'csciit jjosition. Wliilc ])crliai(s in llic ^cm-ral itninion
my force is iMjual t(( fiie eouimeiiceiiieiit of oixTatioiis a.Liaiiisi New
York, my oouduot must ajipear, if not lilamalilc, hiiihly mysterious
at least. Our allies, who were made to exi)eet a very considerable
au.nnientatiou of force by this time, instead of seeini;' a prosix-ct of
advancinii' must conjecture uiton i^ood grounds that the cani])ai.>;'n
will waste fi'uitlessly away." This letter certaiidy evidences a very
earnest pui'pose to carry out the New York cani])ai.nn on its merits.

On the 31st of July Washiufiton wrote another letter of ex])licit
instructions to General Forman on the subject of the expected Fren(di
Meet, as follows:

Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry, 31st July, 1781.
Sir: — I have requested Cajit. Dobbs to assemble at Capt. Dennis's in 15askenridge as soon
as possible a Number of Pilots, who are to receive their fnrther instructions from you. Im-
mediately upon tlie appearance of a Fleet near Sandy Hook, if you are satisfied it is the one
we are expecting, you will please to give orders to the Pilots to repair down wheie they may
be at Hand to be improved as occasion and Circumstances shall require.

I am very fearfull that you have met with more Trouble in establishing the Chain of ex-
jiresses than yon expected — as I have not had the Pleasure of hearing from you since your
first Flavor of 2.Sd inst. — and I am informed from N. York that a fleet with part of the Army
of Lord Cornwallis from Viiginia arrived at that Place last Tuesday. My Anxiety to be early
and well informed of the Enemy's movements by Water induces me to wish to hear from you
as often and as speedily as anv material Circumstances renders it nece.s.sary. — I am

Sir
Your most obedient Servant,

G. Washington.

.Vnd aoain on the 5th of Au.yust Washington wrote to I'orman in
terms indicatinii' that he was still lookini;' for de (irasse. " 1 last
ni^ht," he said, " received yours of the 3(1 instant. Uruves's [Uritish]
neet was certainly oil' Hlock Island a few days a<>o. It is supposed he
has taken that ])osition to cover the <2ii"'bec shijis as they pass alont;'.
and at the same time jiive those which may be expected from Virjiinia
an opportunity of making their voyage safely. I am Tiot acipiainted
with the private signals of yi. de (irasse, but I thiidc it may soon be
discovered, upon the appearance of a Fleet, whether they are Friends
or Foes. If the latter, they will immediately send in a light ship, or
one Avill come out to them." In this letter he also exi)ressed a]»i)re-
liension that Forman's expresses from IMonniouth might be inter-
cepted by small parties of the enemy, and dir(>cted that a new and
less exjK.sed route for them be established. It is well known that
Wasliiuiiton, as soon as he decided on the move to \'ii'ginia, took
pains to have certain decoy dis])atches fall into the hands of the
enemy, in order that Clinton should credit him with no other inti'U-
tion than to fall iijutn New York. His care Iti altering the route of

514 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

i'\)riiuiii's expresses so as to jn'ovide for their seriiritv shows how
perfectly serious were his caleiilatious with reference to de Orasse's
])osslble a<lveut at Saudy FIoolc as late as the 5th of AuijusT. Con-
clusive proof on this point is also afforded by the followinji' item in
his "Accounts with the United States," dated Aut;ust, 1781: "To
Cash advan*' Cap Dobbs & other Pilots, to carry them to Monmouth
City to await the arrival of the French Fleet — hourly expected, £1S
13s Id [lawful currency]."

As he relates in his Journal, under date of Au>;ust 1, AA'asJiinnton,
while encamped at Dobbs I'^'rry, made arrangements for bi-in^ing
down to that place from points on the upi)er Iludson some (wo hun-
dred boats, to be used doubtless for transportiuij- a larjje ])art of his
forces throujih the Spuyten Duyvil Creek and landinjf them at p(»ints
on Manhattan Island. '' By this date," he says, " all my boats were
ready, viz.: One hundred new ones at Albany (constructed under
the direction of General Schuyler), and the like numlier at Wap]iing's
Creek, by the (luartermaster-iicni'ral; besides old ones, which have
been repaired."

On the (ith of Auiiust he supjilcmented the tirand reconnoissance
of Ihe '2'2d of July by carefully i-cconiioiterini; tin- country finm 1 »obbs
Ferry to Yonkers. The following; is liis own account of tliis jtroceed-
ms;, extracted from his Journal:

llecoimoitered the roads and eomitry bi'twfeii the North River and the IJronx, from the
Caniji to Philipse's, and found the ground everywhere strong; the hills, fonr in number, run-
ning parallel with eaeh other, with deep ravines between them, oecasioned by the Sawmill
River, the Sprain Branch, and another more easterly.

These hills have very few interstices or breaks in them, but are more prominent in some
places than others. The Sawmill River and the Sprain Branch occasion an entire se]>ara-
tion of the hills above Philipse's from those below, commonly called Valentine's llill.s. A
strong position might be taken with the Sawmill (liy the Widow Babcock's) in front and ou
the left Hank, and this position may be extended from the Sawinill River over the Sprain
Branch.

On Aujiust 11 the anxiously expected messa^-e from de C.rasse
reached Ifocliambeau and W'ashinjiton at Dobbs Ferry. In this im
portant document (broui;]it by the friyate "'Concorde" from the
AN'est Indies to Xewi)ort, and thence forward(Ml to liead(piarters) the
French admiral announced that he would set sail for Chesapeake
Bay on Ihe ;>d of August witli a fleet of twenty-six ships and with
'A,~>{)() land troojjs, but that his orders would not permit him to remain
later than the 15th of October. This announcement, taken in con-
nection with the continuino intellijjence of the advantages offering
in Virginia for (h'cisive operations against Cornwallis, at once settled
all doubt regarding the most profitable employment of the allied
Corces. Without delay Washington resolved to quit his situation
in Westchester County and man h with the greatest practicable ex-

OPERATIONS OF ITSl

515

]pc(liti()ii to iiivcsl ( 'diiiw ;illis iit Vorklowii. .Mcnnl iinc, huwrvci',
lie tunk stcjis to cojitii'ii! Sir Henry Cliiiloii's iiiiiu-cssidii Ilia) liis de-
signs were ii-nllv ;i.naiiist New \'(>rk.

Duriiiji- tlic tlirce weeks whicli IuhI eliijtseil sinre (lie j^rniid iccdii-
iKiissiiiH-e (if New V(irk, il was imt almie ("linlon whn tell mieasiiiess
and ])er|ile.\it y at Washin.ntdn's ap]iareiil hesiial imi. 'I'lie Aiiiericaiis
and I'rencli (henisolves A\-ere at a loss to acconnt for it; for no| a
whisper of tjie real consideratifins wliicdi wero iufiiienciuij the Ameri-
can (iininiander was ]ieriuitted to ^ct abroad. The lettei's of ihe
Abbe IJobin, a priest attat lied to Koihandiean's army, retieet the pre-

THE AMERICAN PEACE COMMISSIONERS.

vailinii' uncertainty and speoulutiou. On the i5th of An_i;usl he
wrote: '• Tliey wiio snjiposed we were to direct our route toward
A'ii-uinia be^in now to ihiid< they were deceived. I'ari of Ihe ai-my
on Ihis I the I'remh] side are preparing; to march down by way ot
Kinj;sbrid,n('; and on tlie other [American] side orders are <iiven to
.net ready to proceed toward Stateii Island and excn Id construct
ovens to bake bread for the troops when camped in that (piai-tei-;
others, ajiain, are ordered toward IMiiladelpida. What are we to
tliiidc? All this seems to me like our theatrical marches where the
concern and jierjilexity of the s]iectators is continually increasinir. I

51G HISTOUY OK WIOSTCHESTER COUNTY

iini in (loiiht whcthci the uiira\clliiij; of the iiuuii'i- will ciiiiiiK-nsate
for the trouble, anxiety, and nneasincss it occasions. . . . It is
said tlic armies Aviil move in a day or two, wiiich will enabli' ns to
determine the better to what qnarter we are to proceed."

There was indeed the iimst flourishing display on Washington's
]>art of resolute and far-e.\l ending ]ire]iarations to besiege New YorU.
Besides beginning to builil evens in the vicinity of Staten Island,
he had a large camp marked out liiere aTid much fuel collected. He
caused the Westchester County i-oads leading down to Kingsbri<lge
to be cleared by pioneers, as if i)reliminary to a march in tliat direc-
tion. He also adopted the familiar ruse of misleading dispatches,
which were intrusted to ingenious scouts, who fell in with parties
of the enemy and after desjierate iireteiided efforts to escape were
taken and reluctantly gave up their valuable papers.

On the 19th of August ^Vashington began the great movement
which was to terminate in the cajiitulation of Lord Cornwallis ai
Yorktown and the utter i)aralysis of (Jreat Britain's armed power
in the American States. All being in readiiu'ss for breaking camji.
he dispatched Hazen's regiment an<l the New Jersey line across the
Hudson at Dobbs Ferry, with orders to make a feint toward Staten
Island, and, drawing up the main body of the American army, he
had it paraded facing New York. Then he had the ti'oojts turned
about and marched with all sjieed up the river mad. by way of
Tarrytowu, Sing Sing, and the new bridge across the Croton, to Ver-
]tla nek's Point. The French followed by the circuitous route of White
IMains, North Castle, Pine's Bridge, and Crompond. "The inhab-
itants (d' the country," says the Abbe Bobin, " were greatly surju'lsed
to see us returning by the same road, so poor, and the Tories, with
a malicious sneer, tlemanded if we were going to rest from our labors."
By the 2Gth both armies had completed their movement across King's'
I'"eri-y. The advance through the eastern part of New Jersey was
made so as to have it appear that Staten Island was menaced. Sir
Henry Clinton suspected nothing of the truth until Washington was
M(dl advanced toward Philad(d])]iia. Everything conjoined to favor
the ultimate object of the cam]iaigu. The fleet of de Grasse, com
prising twenty-eight ships of I lie line with some 4,000 troojis on
board, arrived in Chesapeake Bay on the 30th of August. Washing
ton and Bochambeau, Avith their forces, sat down before Yorktown
in the latter jiart of September. The place surrendered, more than
7.000 British and Hessian troops laying down their arms, on the 19th
of Octobei', just tAvo months after the march from Dobbs Ferry Avas
begun.

Washington's last act liefoi'e -inarching away from Doblis I'erry

K\D (IF Tin; i:i:\()i,i-TioN 517

Wiis lo address to (icucral lli alli, iIjc (■(iniiiiaiidti- at West I'oiiit, an
explicit letter of iiistructious. He ;issi<;iieil to that ofiicei- the coni-
iiiand of all the troops remaiiiini; in the dei)artiiieiit, "consisting of
the Iwo regiments of New llanipsiiire, ten of Massaclniset Is, and five
of Connecticut infantry, the corps of invalids, Sheldon's Legion, the
M Regiment of artillerv," and various bodies of militia. He directed
Heath to have prominently in view at all times the defense of the
Highlands and the Hudson River. Secondarily he was to "cover"
the country l)elo\v, but " without hazarding the safety of the ])osls
in the Highlands." Finally, AVashiugton recommended that the jiosi-
tion of tlie American forces should not be jmslied farther down than
the "north si<le of the Croton," and, consistently with this recom-
mendation, he ordered the demolition of the icdoubt at Dobbs I'erry.

(Jeiieral Heatirs condiicl of tJH' jiost during the winter of ITSd-Sl
was in strict couforiuity \\itli these instructions. His Memoirs con-
tain very few records of unusual hapiieuings for that period. There
A\('re. liowe\'er, some occurrences on the Hues and in the Neutral
(■round that should receive brief mention.

(»n the '2d of Hecember, 17S1, there was a sharp engagement near
.Merrill's 'ra\('rn, at the n]i])er end of King Street, in the Town of
Kye, a ])arty of de i.amcy's ca\alry attac l<ing a detaidnnent of New
York infantry levies which was stationed there, under the commanil
of ('aplaiii Sackett. The I>ritish cavalry, says Baird, were "repulsed
three times with the bayonet, not a shot being fired by the Ameri-
cans," ami he achis: " This is said to have been the most astonishing
feat, on the part of both officers and men, that was enacted during
the wlnde \\ar. (iem-ral Washington often spoke of the affair, and
it was reported all o\-er Eiiro])e, to show the utility of the bayonet
and that a small jtaity of infantry thus armed may successfully resist
a strong body ol' cavalry." After the ihird charge the Americans
fired with good effect, and the incident ended with the discomfiture
of the British.

At the end of January. 1782, an expedition of fifty men left Peelc-
skill foi' West I'arnis, arriving there about midnight. This was one
of the numerous iindertakings to surprise and capture Colonel .lames
de Lancey. and, like all the others, failed to realize that much sought
end. HtiT some )irisoners and horses were taken. The retiring Ameri-
cans icoiiiniaiided by Captain Daniel Williamsi were pursued by
British cavalry, and, in their turn, were surprised the next morning
while (piartered at Orser's, near the Hudson, just below the Croton
River. There was a spiriterl encounter, one of the Americans — the
gallant Cieorge .McChain — being killed and several made prisoners
(among them .T(din ranlding, the cai)tor of Andre).

518 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

111 February (the Ttlij tifty of de Laueey's llurse came up as far as
Chappaqua. From there they went to Wright's Mills, and, falling
in with a detachment of (Jeneral Waterbury's command, killed (tne
and took four prisoners.

In March two successful altaiks were made by the Americans on
de Lancey's camp at Monisauia. The lirst of these expeditions
(March 4) was led by Captain iiunnewell, with a body of volunteer
horse backed by infantry under the command of Major Woodbridge.
The party assaulted the cantonment just before sunrise, taking the
enemy completely by surprise, killing and wounding many, and car-
rying away twenty prisoners. Durlug the retreat Abraham Dyck-
mau, the heroic Kiugsbridge guide, was mortally wounded. On the
2Gth of March there was a similar attack, though on a smaller scale.
The American party consisted of only thirteen mounted volunteers,
at whose head was Michael Dyokman, brother of Abraham. This
insignificant band penetrated to the camp of the Kangers and took
a number of prisoners, with whoui they returned safely to the lines,
twice facing about and putting to flight a party of horsemen that
pursued them. We believe this was the last encounter of the Kevo-
lutiou in Westchester County.

^^iiortly after the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, there being
no further employment for the main American army at the South,
Washingt(m dispatched it back to the Highlands to resume the watch
on the Hudson. During the winter of 1781-82, and the succeeding
spring and summer, it was quartered at Newburgh, West Point, and
New Windsor, on the west bank of the river. Meantime the French
army under Ivochambeau lay in Virginia. De Gra.sse's fleet returned
to the West Indies, wIkm'o in April, 1782, it was totally defeated]
by the British Admiral Kodney, de Grasse himself being made
])i-isoner.

Washington resumed the chief comiuand of the army in the Iligh-
iands at the end of March, 1782, making his headquarters at New-
burgh. Kumors of British desires and preparatory measures for
peace now began to arrive. Sir Henry Clinton was removed from
the command of the British forces in America, his successor. Sir
Guy Carleton, reaching New York on the 6th of May. The next day
he sent to Washington a communication announcing the readiness
of the British ministry to negotiate a peace on the basis of the in-
dependence of America. But the plain interpretation of this letter
was that Great Britain wished to treat with the United States
alone, ignoring France in the matter, and congress was unwilling to
listen to such a suggestion. Moreover, the English government re-
frained from making any off(>r for a cessation of hostilities, and thus

END OF TIIK ItKVOI.lITION

G19

a state of wai' still cxistcil, iiutw it lislandiii^ tiic cniiiplclc inactivity
on botli sides. For several iiioiitiis Carleton (liii;;eiitly cultivated
his auiicahle correspondence with Washin>;ton. Dr. Thacher re-
cords in liis Military Journal that on the iTitii of July the reniment
to which he was attached was sent to occupy the x)()st at Dobbs
Ferry. '' Flafjs are passing; and repassing- from this post to New
York and back every day," he writes under date of Auj«ust 5.

In this uncertain posture uf affairs, and amid the "general regret
excited by the news of the French disasters at sea, Wasliiniiton re-
ceived intimations that Carleton was preparing to dis])a1(di a large
portion of his New York command to the West Indies for the pur-
pose of conquering several of the Frencli ishmds. He thereupon ad-
vised Tiochaudx'an (still in Virgiina) to mai-cli to the Hudson and
iigain effect a junction with the American army in Westchester

JOHN JAY S SNUFFBOX.

<\)unty, so as to nu-nace New York and prevent Carleton from ex-
ecuting that tlesign. Kochambeau willingly agreed to the proposal,
set his ai'uiy in motion, and after a leisuridy march crossed King's
Ferry to \'erplauck's I'oint on the 14th of ►September. Meantime
Washington bad begun serious preparations for threatening New
York. On the 22d of Auiiust, says Heath, the "light infantry of tlie
American army maved down and encamped near reekskill." < »n
the 29th " an order of encampment and battle for the American army
Wits ])ublished."' On the .Slst as many of the army still reiuaining
in the Highlands as c(uild be ciinied in boats "'embarked at their
respective bi-igade landings, and the wlnde of the boats being in
order fell down to Ver])lanck's Point, whei-e the ti-oops disembarked
and encamped. They made a most beautiful appearance when in

520 HISTOKY OV WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tlic boats and iu motion. The remainder of the army marched down
by land."

Tile ceremonies and amenities attendinti' the second junction of the
I'rencii and ,\niei-ican ai-mies in onr county are tluis described by
'I'liaclicr in Ins valnai)le Journal :

SepteiiilxT 14. — Tlie wIkiIo ainiy was paiadoil unclcr arm.<i tliis iiiDrniuo- in order to honor
liis E.Xfellt'iU'Y Count Koclianibt'au on liis arrival from tlu' so\itliwar(l. Tlie troops were all
formed in two lines, e.xtendinj; from the ferry, wliere the C'onnt crossed, to headcpiarters. A
troop of horse met and received him at Kinn's Ferry, and eondneted liim thronj;h tlie line to
General AVashinjjton's (piarters, where, sitting;' on his horse hy the side of his Excellency, the
whole army marched before him and paid the nsnal salnte an<l honors. Onr troo])s were now
in complete nniform, and exhibited every mark of soldierly discipline. Coimt Kochambeau
was most hi{;hly gratified to perceive the very great improvement which the army had made
in appearance since he last reviewed them, and expressed his astonishment at their ra])id ]>rog-
ress in military skill and discipline, lie .said to (ieneral Wa.shington: "Yon mnst have
formed an alliance with the king of Prnssia. These troops are Prussians." Several of the
officers of the French army who have seen troops of the ditt'eront European nations have be-
stowed the highest encominni and applanse on onr army, and declare that they had seen none
superior to the Americans.

The last of the I'rench troops ari'ived on tlu' ISth of September.
Tlie army of lkOchaud)ean made its encaiupuient at and about the
\illaj;(' of Crom](ond,' the Amei-icans remaininji on Verjdanck's
Point. During the continuance of the allies in these positions they
tmdertook no hostile movement against the British, and Sir Ouy
('arieton Avas reciprocally inactive. Jleath records, however, that
on the IGth of September "The enemy made a grand forage near
Valentine's ITill. Sir Guy Carleton was out in person, as was the
young i)rince [William Uenry]. The covering party, it was said, con-
sisted of five or six thousand men." And on our side Washington
took the signiticant proceeding of an extensive reconnoiter in per-
son. Sei)teniber 27, according to Heath, " General Washington, cov-
ered by the Dragoons and light infantry, reconnoitered the grounds
on the east side of the river below the White IMains." Kecord of
this enterprise appears also iu Washington's " Accounts with the
United States." as follows: "September, 1782. — To the Expences
of a Reconnoitre as low as riiilipsburg cS; thence across from Dobbs's
ferry to y'' Sound with a large I'arty of Horse, £32 8s [lawful cur-
rency]."

In that charming book of personal reminiscences, the ^lenioirs
and liecollections of Count Segur, several pages are devote<l to the
im])ressions made upon the poetic temperament of the author during
a sojourn at Kochambeau's camp at ('romi)on(l. The C'onnt Segur

' During the lirst two weeks, liowever, ciuiip on the MMi of September, anil fmnid
Itocbanibeau had his headquarters at reckskill, Itipcliainbeau quartered at " I'iskill " (reek-
whore also most of bis army was apparently skill], whence, " a few da.vs afterward," the
statinuod after its arrival. See, in this eonnec- Krcueh proceeded to ocoup.v another position,
tiiiu, tbo Memoirs of Count Segur (Boston ed., " that of Crampont " [Crompond].
1S25, pp. 27,'i, 276). Count Segur arrived at the

KND OK TlIK UE VOLUTION 521

was one of llic most iirclciit cnl liusiasts lor Aincrican lilicily iiiiioiiii
tlic yoiiiij; Flench nobility. An (illiccr in tiic iirniy, lie iiad repeatedly,
durinii tiie luoiiicss nf the Kevulution, sonjilil ojJiiDilnnily to come
to Aniei-ica and hyhi umlci' Washington, hnt to his intense disp;ust
had been deined Ihal pii vilegc. Finally, in the s|niiii; of ] 7S2, he
Avas coiniuissioned lieiitenant-eoionel in the I'eginienI of I lie Soison-
uais, then with Rochanibeau in Virginia; and he also was intrusted
by his father, tlie niinistei- of war, with disiiat(dR's to (ieneral Kocliani-
beaii and a largi- amount id' gold for the royal trooi)s. l^anding on
tlie coast of ^'irgiuia after a peiilous voyage, he proceeded to lioehani-
beau's camp in our county, where lie arrived on the LMIIh of Seji-
tember. The observations that he made there, and particularly his
remarks upon the personality and character of Washington, are ex-
tremely agreeal)le and instructive; but, being iiuite lengthy, and
having no practical bearing on the course of events, it is not con-
venient to rejn'odiice them in tliis narrative, whicli already threatens
to pass the bounds fixed by the publishers.'

Count S(^gur's disiiatches from the minislrv to Kociuiinhe.iii di-
rected that geiieial to transfer the operations of the l^'i-cncli ainiy
from the United i^tates to the Antilles, and iirejiarations to that end
were so(»n begun. On the 22d of October the French struck tlieir
tents at Crompond and marched across Westchester County on the
route to Ne"wport, wlnmce they sailed on tlie 24tli of r>ece7iiber for
tlie West Indies. An amusing incident of local intei-cst, which oc-
curred just as tlie French were making ready to leave, is thus related
by Segur:

At the moment of our quitting^ the eamp of Crampont fsic), as M. de Hochamheau was jiro-
ceediiig, at the head of our eoliimns, surrounded hy his hrilliaiit staff, an Anu-riean a]iiiiiia('hed
him, tapped him slightly on the shoulder, and, shewin;"- liim a paper he held in his hand, said
to him: " In the name of the law you ai'e my prisoner!" Several young' officers were indig-
nant at this insult ottered to their general, hut he restrained their impatience hy a sign,
smiled, and said to the American: "Take me away with you if you can." "No," replied
tlie American, " I have done my duty, and your Excellency may proceed on your march if you
wish to set justice at defiance; in that case I only ask to be allowed to witlidraw unmolested.
Some soldiers, of the division of Soissonnais, have cut down several trees, and burnt them to
liglit tlieir fires; the owner of them claims an indemnity, and has obtained a warrant against
you, which I come to execute." M. de Rochanibeau, having heard this ex]>lanation, which
was translated to him by one of his aides-<le-camp, called M. de Villemanzy, now a ])eer of
France, and then intendant of the army, appointed him to he his bail, and ordered him to set-
tle this att'air, and to jiay what should be considered fair, if the indemnity he had already of-
fered was not tluniglit sufficient. The American then withdrew; and the general and his
army, who had thus been arrested by a constable, continued their march. A judgment of
arbitration was afterwards pronounced, fixing two thousand francs, that is to say, a sum less
than the general had oft'ered, as the amount of damages due to this unjust proprietor, who had
claimed fifteen thousand, and he was even condemned to pay costs.

' The Marquis de Cliaslellux, one of Rochain- icl.. I.. 172) makes extracts from it. wlilcli we
lieau's principal suborillnatea, has also left a comnii'iiil to our renfifrs.
hlchl.v picturesque description. Bolton (rev.

522 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

II is icti let table tliat our ciitiTtaiiiin^' author t)mits to record the
uauics of the energetic local functionary and the claimant whom he
represented.

On the 24th of Octohei-, two days after the departure of the French,
the American army on \'eridanck's Point maneuvered before the
secretary of war; and on the 2(ith it began to retire to its former
position in tlie Highlands, where it continued until its gradual dis-
bandment the next year.

The preliminary treaty of peace (drawn by John Jay) was signed
at Paris by the representatives of Great Britain, I'^rance, and the
United States, on the 30th of November, 1782. Early in Die spring
of 1783 a cessation of liostllities was proclaimed by both sides in
America. New York was then the only place in the Ignited States
still occui)ied by a British force.

In April Sir Guy Carleton commenced to arrange tlie preliminaries
necessary to be observed before withdrawing liis couimaud. The
chief thing to be provided for was the conveyance of the Tory refu-
gees (Hit of the T'nited States to the British dominion.' As the
refugees were many thousands in number, and all of them claimed
considerate treatment at the hands of the British authorities, this
was not a task capable of being jK'rformed with expedition. Sev-
eral months would indispensably be required for its completion.
Meanwhile, however, Sir Guy Carleton deemed it appropriate to have
a personal meeting with Washington and come to an understand-
ing with him on the general subject of the prospective evacuation.

The meeting between the tAvo commanders, attended by their staffs,
occurred with much eclat on the (!th of May, ceremonials being pro-
longed through the 7th and terminating on the 8th. A belief has
always obtained among the citizens of Dobbs Ferry that this his-
toric event trans])ired iji their village, at the old Van Brugh Liv-
ingston house, i^ossing, in his Field Book of the Revolution, lo-
cated it there, and the statement has been repeated by numerous
other writers, including the author of the article on the Town of

• " S.idness and despair," says Mrs. Lamb, uiurtgagos. and contracts before the evaoua-

" overwhelmed the Loyalists. New York City tion of the city should take place, for they

presented a scene of distress not easily de- were penniless. The oomplieatlons were Insur-

Bcribed. Men who had joined the British army niountable, and nothing was aceonipllshed in

and had exhibited the utmost valor In battle that direction. Angry lamentations filled the

quailed before the inexorable necessity of exile very air. The victims of civil war Inveighed

from their native land. They must leave the against England for abandoning them, and

country or be hanged. Such was the general against their own kindred and country for tiic

belief, for those who had shown no mercy inexorable harshness of their doom. They did

counted on none In return. The conscientious not pause in their w'retchedness to consider

and the unprincipled were alike Involved in what would have been the fate of those who

pecuniary ruin. Seeing that they must aban- had expended or lost fortunes in the cause of

don large estates, many appealed to Carleton liberty if triumph had been with themselves."
for power to collect debts due upon bonds,

END OF TIIR URVOIJITIOX 523

Greeiiburgh in Scharfs History of Westchester ("ouiity. i^ocjil
ti-aditioii also ideiitilicd the Li^■in^■stou iioiise as tlie jilace where
Washiiiiitoii and lioeliaiiibeaii met upon tlie junction of tiie allied
armies in July, 17S1, and where they ijlauned the Yorktown oam-
pai^n upon i-eet'i\inii' tlie news fi'om de Orasse's tieet in Auyusl of
the same yeai'. IJeposiug eontidenee in the aecuraey of the i)ul)lishc<l
statements and prevailiug beliefs regarding the venerable Ikhisc,
some members of the Sons of the Kevolution started a subscript ioTi
in 1893 to erect a monument commemorative of such immortal asso-
ciations. Ample contributions were forthcoming promptly, and the
monument was dedicated on the 14th of June, 1894.* It was a gala
day fill' the village. The oration was delivered by General Stewart
L. Woodford, and the Hon. Chauucey M. Depew and Vice-President
Stevenson were among the conspicuous participants in the exercises.
But since the erection of the Dobbs I'Y'rry monument it has been
established by indisputable evidence that the memorable meeting
of Washington and Carlcton did not occur in the Livingston house
or at Dobbs I'erry, but at Taj^pan (Orangetown) on the opposite sid<'
of the riv(n'.- A conidusi^e arti(de on this point by Mr. Daniel ^'an
Tassel, of Tarrytown, was ])idilis]icd in the Tarrytown Ar<ius for
^larch 23. 189."). The principal testimony cited by Mr. Van Tassel
is a letter from the well-knoAvn Colonel Richard Varick, dated May
18, 178.3, describing the affair with much circumstantiality. Tt is
unnecessary to go into the particulars of the mattei- here, and indeed
we fear that even the brief allusion to it which we have permitted
ourselves may wound the sensibilities of some of our readers. It is
jirojier to add that the originators of the monument at Dobbs Ferry
acted in entire good faith and Avith very praiseworthy motives, upon
grounds deemed suflQcient at the time.

' Tlio inscription on the Dobbs Ferry naonu- l)y Great P.ritaln to the United States of
ment is lis follows: AiTicrk-.i

Washington

ROCHAMBEAn

WAsniNoToN's Headquarters _ . ,

Greeted

June 14, ISn-t

By the

IIiTe. July G. 17S1. the French allies under New York State Society

Uoi-hunibe.TU joluert the American army Sons of the .\nierican Revolution

Uere. August 14. 17S1, Washington planned ''''"' 'I'lims made in the first two paragraphs

tlie Yorktown campaign, which brought to a "' ""' i"«'-ni'tion are shown l,y Mr. Van Tas-

trluniphant end the war for American Inde- "'■'•'" '"^ •;■■<'<•'; ';rf''>'-;<l '" '" '"^ '-■•^'- «" b"

. , J, ,, as incap.-ible of historical demonstration as

the third claim is niislaken.

Her... May .;. 17.S.-,. Washington and Sir (iny , ^he following entry appears In Washlng-
( arleton arrang.d for the evacuation of Amer- ton's " Accounts with the ITnlted States," writ-
lean soil by the Itrltish ,,.„ |„ i,|s „„.n hand: "To Expenditures upon

And opposiie tids point. May S, ITS."!, a Brit- an Uilcrvlew with Sir Guy Carleton at Orange

Ish sloop ofwar fired IT puns in honor of the Tmni exclusive of what was paid by the Con-

Anierlcau coniniander-ln-chlef, the first salute tract," etc., £24 9s.

i<;ni» uf tiih iti:v(ii,L;Tio.\ 525

Tlic iiiacticiil (lulcdiiic of the ((inrci-ciicc at 'I'ajipnii was au agree-
luciil by Sir (iuy Cai-lclon Id iii\i' ii]) I he various ollIl_vill^ posts of
Ni'w ^'orU, ami finally New ^'ork ilsdf, as soon as convenient. The
lirsl steji in iliis (lirection was la]<en on Ihe 1 tlli of .May, wlien (says
('nioiiel N'aricici \\'<'sicliesler County was suiremlered to the State
jioveinnieiit by the willidrawal of the I'.ritisli ^ai-rison fi'otn Moi-ri-
sania. We have not seen this circuinstancc nioiitioncij in any ))ub
lislieil worlv on Westcheslei' ('ounty or formal conl ribul ion to its
liisloi-y.

|{ul tiiouuh tile 1 1th of May Avas Evacuation I>ay for Westchester
Coiinly, it was not until the 2r)th of Xovemher that the I'.ritisli troops
in New ^orU City took their farewell. The deportation of tin- thou-
sands of Tories to Nova Scotia, the West Indies, and (Jreat liritaiu
ta.xed all the shijipin;^ facilities of Sii- <iuy r''arlel((n until that lime.

As the <.;reat da_\' approached, Washiujilon made his ariMUiicmeuts
for taking possession of the city in conjunction with the conslituted
autliorities of the Slate of New York. II(> disjiatcjied from West
I'oint, Ihrough our (.-ounty, a force sulhcient for tin' occupation of
Kingsbriil.v;c and other outlying posts as they should be sniiendered.
And then, attended by his staff ami joined by (iovernor riinton,
Lieulenanl-( io\'erm)r \'an t'ortlamlt, and othei' re]n'eseiitalives of the
Stale go\-ei-nment, lie f(dlowed. The following iliueiary of the dis-
tingnislied ]>arty llii'(uigh ^^'estchestel' ('ounty is fi'om a memoran-
dum wiitteii at Ihe time by Iaeulenant-< Jovernor \'an Corllandt:

I wiiit fioiii I'et'kskill, Tucsflay, Uic 18th of November, in coni|i;iii\ witli liis excellency
Gov. Cliiitdii, Col. Benson, and Col. Campbell; lodfjed tliat ninht witli (icn, | I'liilip] Cort-
landt at Croton River, proceeded and lodged Wednesday ni^lit |l!ltlil at Kdw. Coveii-
liaven's where we mett liis exeelleney Gen. Wasliinfjton and liis Aids. The next niirht |'20tli]
we lodijed with Mr. Fredrriek Van Cortlandt at The | [..ittle] Yonkerx, after havinj; dined
with (Jen. Lewis Morris. Fryday mornin<j [-!■'*'] "'•' rode in company with the Comniandii-
in-Cliief as far ji.s the Widow Day's, at Harlem where we liekl a conncil.'

' Irviiii; says thai after Sir Gii.v Carlotun no- h.v llic I'.rilisli." Fiuin a Westolii'Ster f'ounly

titled Wnsliinjjinn of ttii- time wben the differ- pniiit of vh'W, it would lie pleasing; to believe

ent posts would he vacated. Governor Clinton that our Town of Enstdu'ster was the place

" summoned the members of Ihe St:ite council where these linal oinelal arranjjements were

to convene at Eastcbester on Ibe 21st of No. made. Hut, according' In I/leuteiiant-(!overnor

vember. f<tr (he purpose of eslabllshln^ civil \*!in Corliandt. the nieeiiii;: of Ihe council for

jLioverniiieiM in llie disrriels hilberlo oreupied iti;it pill-pose was held 'HI M:iiili:iMan Island.

CHAPTER XXIV

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY CONTINUED FROM THE REVOLUTION

TO THE COMPLETION OF THE CROTON AQUEDUCT (1842)

N a i)rovi<ins cliaptfr \vi' have briell^' uotici'd the oigauiza-
tion of the State government of New York on the 20th
of April. 1777, when a constitution, framed li.v John Jay,
was adopted by tlie " Convention of Itepresentatives of
tlie State of New York " in session at Kinp^ston.

At tile time of the British invasion of Westchester County, benin-
ninji;- October 12, 177<!, the county records were removed from the
ccmrt house at White IMnius by "riieojdiilus Barton, clerk of I lie
county court, and (h']iosited in a i)lace of safety, where they remained
until the end of the wai-. Wliite Plains, which had been the county
seat since 1759, ceased to be adapted for that piirpose, partly because
of the burninii' of the court house on the nicht of the .5th of Novem-
ber, 177(i, and partly because of the exposed situation of the villafje
between the lines of the two armies. Upon the destruction of the
court house the villai^e of Bedf«u"d was made the seat of the county
^■ov<'rnment, and it was in the Presbyterian meeting-house of Bed-
ford that the tirst county court ort;ani7,ed under the provisions of
the constitution of 1777 held its sessions. That buildinii', in its turn,
was burned by the British otficer Tarleton, when he made his raid
on Poundridoe and Bedford, July 2, 1770. Thereujion the courts
transferred their sittini;s to the meetinij-house in Upper Salem, where
they contimied until 1785. In that year, the church at Bedford hav-
ing; been rebuilt, it was ordered that the courts should resume their
sessions at Bedford. By an act of the legislature passed May 1, 178R,
the sum of £1,S00 was appropriated for the erection of two new
court houses, one at White Plains and the other at Bedford, under
the superintendence of Stephen Ward, Ebenezer Lockwood, Jona-
than O. Tompkins, Ebenezer Purdy, Thomas Thomas. Richard Ilat-
fi(dd, and IJichard Sackett, Ji'. These two structures were completed
in 1787, and thenceforward until 1808 Bedford shared with White
Plains the honor of beinif a "half shire" town. The second White

GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842

527

I'liiiiis courl lioiisc of 17S7' iicciiiiicd the s.iiiic site as llic lirsl, nii
Bniadwav, and coutiiiiUMl in use until IS.")!, wiicn the present fine
l)uil(lin<;' on Kailroad Avenue was finislied. Tiie Hedfoi'd court
house, also erected in 1787, is still in existence, beini;' now used as
a town hall.

After the I\evolution the board of supervisors, which had had but
a meaner menibeiship dui'inj; the war, resumed at once its char-
acter of a representative body of all the organized communities of
the county. The followinfi is a list of the members of the board,
by localities, for the year 1781:

Abel Smith, Precint-t of North Castle.
Thomas Hunt, Roroii<jli Town of Westchester.
Williaiii I'auldiiig, Manor of Philipsobiirgh.
tlonathaii (!. Tompkins, Manor of .Searsdale.
Thaddeiis Crane, Town of Upper Salem.
William Miller, Harrison's Preeinet.
Joseph .Stranf;-, Manor of \'an Cortlandt.
Ebenezer Loekwood, Precinct of Poundridjje.

Gilbert I?udd, Town of Mamaroneek.
Ebenezer S. Hurling, Town of Kasteheslcr.
Daniel Ilorton, Precinct of White Plains.
Israel Honeywell, Yonkers.
John Thomas, Town of Rye.
Philip Pell, Manor of Pel'liam.
Benjamin Stevenson, Town of Xew Koi'he]
\N'illiani Morris, Manor of Morrisania.

Abijah Gilbert, Town of Lower Salem,

In addition to tlie localities represented in iliis list was IJyck's
Patent — the i)resent I'ecd^skill and its vicinity. — which had always
retained an identity distinct from that of the Manor of Cortlandt,
and even previously to the Kevolution had been represented in the
board of sup(>rvisors.

No reconstruction of the civil divisions of the county ha\ ing' as
yet been effected under the State ".overnment, the localities claim-
ini;- and receivinj;- rejtresentation in the board of supervisors after
the Kevolution were only the old established ones of colonial times,
and inch'ed no innovations in the local designations of jiolitical divi-
sions were made until the h^fjislative act of 1788, settinu' ofl" the
county into townships. The eastern portion of Tortlandt INIanor,
however, comiuvhendinp; the " Oblone,- " and considerable territory
to the west, had acquired the local name of Salem, and indeed there
was an " ri)])er '" Salem - and a " Lower " Salem, each of which had
its su|)ervisor. The representative from I lie old confiscated .Afanor

' Much to tlie jrencral repret. the second
iimrt honse at White riains. wliii'li t'ave
place to a more modern structure, together
Willi the adi'ilninc property helouninK to the
c-nniiiy. passc>d into the linnds of private
parties several years ago. and the buildin); was
torn down, carried off. and passed intn tlie
unknown. The remembrance is all of the
historic structure that remains. — Swith'ft ^fnn■
tinl of Wixtrhnilir Cminlii.

* Vpper Salem was also known hn-nlly as
"L)e r.aneey Town," so-called for Stephen

de r..'incey. its principal prnprictor under
the division elTected by the Van Cm-tlandt
heirs, other parts of the manor had their
Ini'al designations In common parlance. Mrs.
Heekman's estate on tlie Hndson was, from Iht
Christian name, styled Oertrndeslinrougli, and
what is now the Town of Snmers was called
tirst Hanover and afterward Stephent<twn (for
Stephen Van Cnrllaudtl. The name Corl-
landttown was applied to the district whiTc
I'hillp Van Cortlandt had his residence.

528

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(il l'liilii)scbin-^l! was still >tvlc(l the suiicrvisor lor the Manor of
l'liili])seburgli ; ;iii(l nlilioinili Tlicre was a separate supervisor for
I lie lower section of iluM iiuiiioi', known as Yonlcers, tliis was no
clianne in the forniei' order of tliin,i;s, since tlie Yonlcers ]inrtion (tf
tlie manor liad liad its own su]tervisor fiMni caily times.

'Che rccoverv of Westcliester Connty from the effects of flie Rev-
olufionary War was an exceediniily sh»w ])rocess. We liave sliown
in a previous cliapter (s."e ]>. 41 S) that tlierc was an increase of only
2,258 in the i)opulation of tlie connty from the time of the last
colonial census, taken in 1771, to that of the lirst federal enumera-
tion, made in 1790, and
Dial I he meaii'erness of
tins Liiowth durinii- nine-
teen years (includiuf^'
seven years of jieace) is
even more significant
when it is rememljered
that many thousand acres
of confiscated lands were
sold after the war by the
State at low prices.

The principal contisca-
liou by I he State of lands
(d' r>i-itisli adherents in
'Westchester ("ounty was
I lial (dJ'liilii)sebnri;li .Manor. The act forfeiiinii the manor was passed
in 1779, whereupon all its lands, e.xtendiTiii from the Spuyteii Duyvil
Creek to the Croton, and from the llmlson to the Bronx, became the
pro])erty of the State of New York. In dne time ])rovisiou was made
l)y the le<^islature to sell to pfi\ate iiersons all the confiscated lands
in the Slate (with t he exce](l ion of cei'tain properties \\hi(di were re
served for j^ifts to })articnlar individuals), and to that end commis-
sioners of forfeiture were ai)]iointed for the four districts into \\hi( li
the State Avas divided — tin' ['Eastern, Western, ^fiddle, and Southern.
General Philip Van Cortlandt, son of Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Van
Gortlandt, was one of the commissioners for the Southern district,
\\ln(h comprehended our county. .Most of the resnitimi sales oc-
curred in 1785, altliouiili a few were inade in 178(i. The following;' is
a list of the purchasers of forfeited lands in the Yonkers jjortion (d' the
mamir, wlii(di we extract from Allison's Ilistorv of Yonkers:

ORKilNAL NEW YORK SI ATE SEAL.

GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842

529

John Lawrence 488

Ward Hnnt ;M:i

Abraham Odell 324

Jacob Post 323

Cornelius P. Low S'iOJ

Isaac Lawrence, Jr 3(18

Bciijaniin Kowler 305

Samuel Lawrence (estimated) 300

Isaac Post 203

Thomas Sherwood 2ilO

Isaac Vermilye 273J

Evert Brown (estimated) 267

Henry Odell 259

Mary Vincent 240

Thomas Valentine 238

.Jacob Vermilye 221

William Crawford 202

John Lamb 202

Robert Johnston. |
Lewis Ogden. ... [

Thomas Barker 189

Isaac Smith. . . f
Thomas Smith, f

Shadrack Taylor 184

John Williams 177

Patience Burnett 173

Peter Forshee 170

Jacob Smith 165

Josejih Oakley 164

John Browne 1.56

Andrew Bostwick l.wj

Total

190

185

ACRES

Kleazer Hart 154

Isiuic Odell 144

Hol)ert Ueid 141

Elisha Barton 135

Dennis Post

Nicholas L'ndeihill.

135

134

Caleb Smith 130

Dennis Lent 128

John Devoe 126

Abiirail .Sherwood 125

Frederick Underbill 125

lion. Richard Morris (estimated) 117

Henry Brown 11.3

Parsonaije Lot 107

Elnathan Taylor 99

Frederick Van Cortlandt (about) 98

Margery Rich 92

Jolm Guerino 89

William Hyatt 89

Mary Valentine 76

Abijali Hammond 69

Jacobus Dyckman 45

David Hunt 41

Abraham Lent 41

Philip Livingston ... 31

Stephen Oaklev 29^

Charles Duryea 29

Stephen Sherwood 24J

Sarah Archer 18J

Mary Merrill 141

"By tlie acts rfspcctiycly of 178(5 and 1792," says Allison, "the
Icjiislaturc first conveyed, and then coiitirnied, the property described
as the Glebe to SainI -Tohn's Chnrch forever. Two acres where the
cliurcli stands, two where Thomas Sherwood, the gardener, lived,
and abont two acres of meadow adjoining tlie Saw ilill Klver and
the road, bein;^ a ])art of the (ilebe land, were reserved and excepted
from ('. P. T>ow"s ])nrchase. .Mr. John Williams, one of I he pur-
chasers, had been the steward of I he l'liili|isebnr!.;]i .Manoi' under
Tolonel I'i'ederick J'hili])se. John (inei'ino w.ns a I'l'eiichin.in. who
ke|)t a tavei'u near Hunt's TJridiic The ])ropei-ty i)Ui-cliase(l of the
commissioners by (\ V. Lo\\', A\'hose name appears in the foreiioin^
list, was the Manor liall ]»ropert_\. Low was a New ^'oi'k merchant.
lie boutiht tlie Manor Ifall jiroiierty and three hundred and twenty
acres of land foi- £14..")2(l. lie ne\('r occupied it, but on .May 12, 17.'^(),
S(dd it to William Constable, also a New York merchant. Vntm the
foi'i'^oini; i-ecord it apjjcars that in 17S.~) 'the Vonkers," as now
bounded, was owned by between sixty and seventy persons, and a

530

HISTORY OF \A^RSTCHESTER COl'NTY

study nl' Ihc old iii:i|i leads to tlic coiiclnsioii that lln' imiiilicr of
houses within the limits of the pi'eseiit city wei-e in 1TS5 between
three seore and four score."

The Mauur House of tlie l'hilij)ses on liie I'ocaiitico Kiver — the
ancient ''Castle I'Mlipse" — in tlie present 'i'own of .Mount IMeasant
was bouiiht of llie couiniissioners, with l,<i(M( acres adjoining, by
Gerard (i. Beeknian, Jr., husband of ("ornelia Van Cortlaudt, that
indomitable patriotic lady (daui;liter of the lieutenant-,n<)vernor) who

YONKERS IN 1784'

was the hostess of the Van Cortlandt liouse near I'eekskil! duriiiii
the Kevolution, and whose stei'u reply to an insolent soldier on a
perilous occasion is celebrated (see p. 427). ^Irs. Iteeiauaii died in
1847 at the asic of ninety-four.

Besi(h'S Philipsebur<;li Manor, various (states of Tories scattered
tliroiiiih the county were confiscated. All of these, howevei', were
projH'rties of but moderate dimensions. Several of them were con-
ferred by the lf>tate upon ])atriotic persons as iiifts. John rauldinj;
and David ^A'illianls, two of the captors of Andre, received forfeited

' From nn eugravini,' in tlic possession of
D. ftloN. Stauffor. of Yonliors. C'opyriglilod,

1S93. by William I'aliiicr East.
s(HTiaI prniiission.

Reproduced by

(;exkkal cocntv iiistoky to 1842 531

I'jiriiis in W'cstclu'Stcr Couiitv — (lie I'niuicr hciii;^ i;i\('ii ilic IkiikIsoiiic
pr(>]i<'i-ly (if I »i-. refer llimijcl'iinl in the Alnnoi- uC ( 'm-i himli, and liie
latter the estat" (if Kdniiind W'ai-d in lOastclieslei-. The fanions
'I'hdnuis I'aine, antlnir of " ("oniiudn v*^ense," was ](resenled witli a
ti'act (if s(Mne llii'ce hninlred acres in rpiier New itdclielie, w hich had
|ireviiinsly beloniicd to one I'ri'deric J)e\-ean. Abonr ISOJ, alier liis
retnrii to America. Paine Toole np liis residence on lliis pid]ier(y,
and lie ]i\('(l there most of his remainiiiL; years ami was hiiried
in a corner of the farm. His bom-s were disinterre(l and taken lo
I'higland by William Cobbett iu ISll). The spot is marked )>y a monii-
meut to liis memory.

The snbdivision of the county into townships was ma<le by an act
of tlie legislature passed .Maridi 7, 17SS. ]'.y this important statute
twenty-one " toAvns " were erected, as follows: Westchester, Morris
ania, Yonkei's, (ireenbiir.iih. ^lonnt Pleasant, East(diester, Pelham,
New Kochelle, Scarsdale. Mamaroueck, White Plains, Harrison, llyv,
North Castle, Bedford, Poundridge, Salem. North Salem, Cortlandt,
Yorktown, and Stephentown.

The Town of NVestchester included all of the original ^Vestchester
and West Farms tracts, with Fordham Manor.

Tlie Town of ^[orrisania coincided with the old ^forrisania ^[anor.
I?nt th(^ existence of Morrisania as a separate town was speedily
brought to an end.' By an act i)assed February 22, IT'.tl, it was
annexed to the Town of Westchestei-. from wliicli it was not again
severed until 1855 (December 7 1.

The three Towns of Yoidcers, (Jreenbnrgh, and .Mount I'leasant were
created out of the Manoi- of Philiiiseburgh. The original bounds of
Voiikers were the same as at present, excejit Ilia) the southern por-
tion of it has recently been annexed to the City of New York, (ireen-
bnrgh has always retained the limits fixed for it by tlie act of 178S.
Its northern boundary, as described in thai measure, was "a line
beginning on the east side of Hudson's Kiver at the southwest cor-
ner of the land lately conveyed by tlie commissioners of forfeiture
for the southern district to Gerard G. Beekmau, Jr., and running
from thence along the southerly and easterly bounds thereof to the
farm of William David, and then along the southerlv and lasterlv

' The iipiiriimniciu of Mnirisania :is one ut the nio.st elidililc plari'. Tbcir is now In tin-

tlip original townsliips (if t!i (int.v was piviba- possossion of ilii- New York Uis(ori<';iI Society

lil.v due to the iiiHuonci" of the Mortis faiiiily. ilii> diaft of a " Moinorial liy Lowis Monls.

Ai the time of the passasrc of Ilic towiisliip of Morrisania." "To his Excellency the Presi-

act of 17SS tile fedeial sovernnient was aliont dent and the ITonoialile the Menibeis of the

to he orjranized. and the (jiiestion of tlie stdec- Conpress of the I'lilted St:ttes of .\tnerica. *

tlon of a site for the national lapital was coniinnnleated in ITII'J. in wliieli ilie special ad-

eoniliig into proininence. Lewis Mi>rris enter- vanlanes of I lie place are reeiied. (For the

tnined a sirouL- ion\lction that Morrisania was text of this memorial see Seharf. I.. 823.)

532 HISTOUY OF WESTCHESTEll COUNTY

bounds of llic siiid fiii'iii of llic sjiid Williiiin l);ivid to llic road lead-
ing to llic White I'lains, and theu easterly aloui; the same road to the
Bronx IJiver." To Mount Pleasant was assij-iied the remainder of
the manor. Out of its territory was constructiMl llie new Town of
Ossininj;- by an act passed May 2, 1845.

The bounds fixed for the Town of Eastrhester were AVestcliester
at the south, tlie Bronx IJiver at the west, Scarsdale at the north,
and the Ihitehiuson ]{iver at the east.

I'elhani was identical willi the former reliiaiii .Manor, compro
hendini; City, Hart, and A](p!ehy's Islands.

New Rochelle, Scarsdale, Mamaroneck, Harrison, Kye, liedford,
and Poundridjie, as organized into towns, retained their former well
established divisional lines.

North Castle was bounded on the north by Mount Pleasant, White
Plains, Harrison, and Connecticut, on the east by Connecticut, Pound-
ridfie, and Bedford, on the north by the Manor of Cortlandt and Bed-
ford, and on the Avest by the Bronx River and Bedford. But in 1791
(March 18) another town, called New Castle, was set off from North
Castle, comprehending the territory west of a line drawn from the
southwest corner of Bedford to the head of the Bronx River.

Salem, North Salem, Cortlandt, Yorktown, and Stejdientown were
towns partitioned from the ]Manor of Cortlandt.

The township named Salem has lonp.' been popularly known as
Lower Salem. By an act of April G, 1800, its name was officially
changed to South Salem, and by a further act, February 13, 1840,
to the present style of Lewisboro. The name of Lewisboro was jiiven
it in honor of John Le^is,^ a liberal benefactor of the jiulilic schools
and donor of tlie ylebe laiuls of Saint John's Protestant Episcopal
Church at Salem. A jiortion of North Sal(>m was annexed to Lewis-
boro A])ril 2(i, 1844.

North Salem included the whole of " north lots " numbers 9 and 10
of the ]\lanor of Coi-tlandt, Avith lot number 8 as far as the Croton
River, which formed its western boundary. To the two Salems fell
the whole of the " Oblonji."

Th(^ Townships of Cortlandt, Yorktown, and Ste])hentowii were con-
structed out of the remaining- i)ortion of Cortlandt ]\Ianor. Yorktown
was so-called in remembrance of the encampment within its borders
of the French army after its return from the successful Viryinia

' Jolin Lewis w.ts dcsci'ijilcd fiorii an «\i\ Frci' Ac.Tdi'iii.v in Ni'W Yuik. :inil in IS-ia gave

Nfw Encland family. His father was a Kev- $in.onO to the snijpurt .)f tlie ecnnninn sehools

ohitliinary soldier, wild removed fi-Din Connecti- in the lowiishi|i now called hy Ills name, lie

eiit to Snulh Salem in ISOS. The son made a died al his I.ewi.slinn. hm n tlie 1st of

large fortnue In niereantile pnrsnits In Ne\\' Oelolter, 1S71.

Yr.rk. lie was ui f ihe founders of the

(3ENERAL COUNTY IIIS'IOKY T( I 1 S-12 533

campaign. Slcpliciilowii — llic picsciit Somers — was named for
Hteplien Van Cortlandt. The prcscnl iiaiiic was adopted April G,
1808, in honor of <'a])lain Kiehard Soineis, the lieio (d' tlie Trijiolitan
war. A part of JS'ew Castle was annexed to Somers in IS Ki.

Of the twenty-one orif^inal towns, Nortli Caslh' was the larjjest,
haviiiii about ;>0,00(l acres; hut after tlie seltiny off from it of New
Castle in JTUl, JJedford, with its 24,7(10 acres, took the first rank,
wlii<li it has always since maintained. The smallest of th(> original
towns were relham i8,2fl() acres), .Mamaroneck (.'1,900 acres], Scars-
dale (3,t»0y acres), and New Kochelh' (5,200 acres).

The first federal census was taken in 1790, Iwo years after the
or<;anization of our <-oun(y into towns. The f(dlowini; were the totals
for the various political divisions then existing:

TOWNS POPULATION TOWNS POPVLATION

North Castle (inoliiiliiig NowCa.stle). . 2,478 Yonkere 1,12.5

Kedford 2,470 Poundridge 1,062

Cortlandt 1,932 North Salem I.O.'jS

Mount Pleasant (iiieluding the present Harrison 1,004

Ossming) 1,924 Rye 98G

Yorktown 1,G09 Eastehester 740

Salem (now Lewishoro) 1,453 New Kochelle 692

Greenhnrgh 1,400 White Plains .50ij

Westchester (including West Farms, ISIaniaroneck 452

Morrisania, and Fordham Manor) l,33f> Scarsdale 281

Stephentown (now Somers) 1,297 Pelham 199

Total 24,003

The towns which led in po]iidation at Ihis [leriod were the ones
iiaving the largest superticial area, and it is also noticeable that the
distribution of population in 1790 was without the slightest refer-
ence lo relative local advantages as those advantages are estimated
at the present time. For example, Bedford, lying in the northern
central part of the county, remote from New York City, ])eopled
exclusively by farmers, and from its natural conditions inca])able of
any development other than agricultural, had nearly as many in-
habitants as Westchester and Yonkers combined, although tlie
united area of Westchester and Yoidcers Avas some 1,500 acres greater
than that of Bedford. Poundridge, smaller than Yonkers, had never
iheless almost as many inhabitants. I.ewisboro was more ])opuloiis
than (Ireenburgh, tliongh not very much exceeding it in size. York-
town had only a hundred fewer inhabitants thaii Eastcdiester, \Yhite
Plains, Scarsdale, and Peliiam together. Still another fact stands
out prominently: the localities whi(di were least exposed to the rav-
ages of the contending forces during the K<'volution were those
showing the most satisfactory conditions of population.

534 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

The purely agricultural charaeter uf Westchester County at the
end of the eighteenth ceiiturj- is perfectly demonstrated by these
census returns. In truth, there was at that time no single village
disjtlaying circumstances of local activity from which the pi'ospect
of any substantial ultimate growth might be deduced. The existence
of the foundations of such thriving communities as Yonkers, Dobbs
I'^a-ry, Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and Peekskill on the Hudson, New
llochelle, Mamaroneck, and l\ye on the Sound, and White Plains and
various other villages in the central sections of the county, is recog-
nizable, with more or less distinctness, at this period; but in eacji
case these foundations were strictly (dement ary, represented by such
instruments of advancing civilization as churches, mills for the grind-
ing of grain, small general stores, and inns for the accommodation
of travelers, with here and there a schoolliouse. The only counner-
cial industry that had been inaugurated was that of transmitting
market produce to New York, in wlii(di a few sloops wore engaged,
both on the Hudson and the Sound. But most of the farmers pre-
ferred to cart their own wares. to the city. " What a sight must have
])resented itself," says a writer in Scharfs History, describing a
somewiiat hitei' ]>eriod, "as over our three great thoroughfares not
only the farmers of the county, but often, as when the river and
Sound were icebound, those of the regions beyond, passed into the
city with theii- heavy loads of produce. There were hours of the day
when the roads, it is said, were fairly blocked by the heavy traffic
u])on them, and eyewitnesses declare that at night even the floors
of the bar and sit ling-rooms of the taverns were si)read over with
the slee])ers tarrying to rest themselves and their teams for a few
hours on the way."

To the national convention at Philadelphia which framed the con-
stitution of the I'nited States Westchester County contributed one
nC its most distinguishe<l and iiifluential members, Gouverneur ^bir-
lis. It is true he sat in that body as a delegate from Pennsylvania,
but, as has Ixn^n aptly observed by one of our local historians, " it is a
ph'nsure to remember that in the person of C.ouverneur ]\[orris, who
was born on A^'estchester soil and who returned again to represent her
in the United States senate, and whose remains are sacredly enshrined
in her bosom, she was jtresent to form that wise and beneficent
instrument." The federal constitution was ratified in this State on
the 2Gth of July, 1788, by a convention which held its sessions at
Poughkeejisie. The delcgat<'S from our county were Thaddeus Crane,
of North Salem; Tiichard Hatfield, of White Plains; Philip Livingston
and Lewis Morris, of Westchester; Lott W. Sarles, of New Castle;
and Philip Van Cortlandt, of Cortlandt. All of them voted affirma-

GENERAL COUNTY IITSTORY TO 1842

535

tively on the (jiKstioii of raliticatiim. In Ihc lasi coninicnlal con-
gress ht'ld under the old eoufederation of the State, that of 1788-89,
Philip Pell, of our counl y, had the honor of being one of the repre-
sentatives from the State of New York.

During the eight years of Washington's administration as presi-
dent the Federalist party usually enjoyed the ])re])on(l('rance in
Westchester County. With the incoming of .Icffcrson, however, the
anti-Federalists, or Jicpublicans, gained the ascendency, which they
transmitted to their jiolitical heirs, the Democrats; and indeed since
the beginning of ils organization the Dcnux ralic party has lost but
two presidential elections in Westchester County (1848 and 181IG).

The congressional district to which this county was ai)i)ortion('d
was represented in the national house of rein-escntatives for sixteen
successive years (1793-1809) by General Phili]> \:\n Cortlandt.' From
1795 until ISOl oiir John Jay was governor of tlie State. In the fall
of 1797 John Adams, then president of the Fnited States, for some
time made Ins ollicial residence in the Ilalsey house in Eastchester,
having come tlieie to escape the yello^\ fever, which was raging in
Philadelphia, the national capital.- One of the JelTei-son ])resideii-
tial electors of the State of New York in 1800 was C/olonel Pierre
Van (Vu'tlandt, a younger brotlier of Pliilip.

In 1791 the repi-esentation of Wt'stchestei' County in the assembly
was reduceil from six members to five, in 1S02 to foui-, and in 1808
to thri'e.

In sucli a work as this, which makes no pretensions exi'ept as a
narrative history of the county, it is impossible to note, ])i'ogres-
sively, the names and services of the various incumlieiits of the many
ofTtices, legislative, judicial, county, and local, elected or appointed
from time to time. Such an exact record does not come within the
scope of a general history. An exhaustive Mainial and Civil List
of Westchester County has recently been published by ilr. Henry

' Philip Van Cortlandt was the oldest son of
Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt.
He was born In tlie City of New York, Sep-
tenilier 1. 1749. and was brought up at the
Manor House on the Ooton. He was
graduated from KhiR's (Columbia* College at
an early age. At the breaking out of the
Revolution. Governor Tryon forwarded him a
major's oommlsslon In the British serviee,
which he destroyed. He was appr)inted
lleutenant-eolonol In the eontinenlMl army, and
remained In netlve duty until the end of the
war, retiring with the rank of brigadier-gen-
eral. He rendered very distinguished services
on many occasions. He was a member of
the military conn which tried General Iteni'-

dlet Arnold for Improper oondnot In 1779-SO.
Alluding to this trial he wrote: " Had all the
c<»urt known .\rnold's former conduct as well
as mysi'lf, he would lia\'e been dismissed from
the serviee." After the war he retired to the
Manor House at Croton. He served as one
of the pommlssionors of forfeiture, and, as
stated above, as representative In congress for
sixteen years, (inally declining a re-election.
He accompanied the Marquis do Lafayette In
his tour of the I'nited Slates In 1S24. and
entertained lilin at the Manor House. He died
NNivember 21. 1S31.

-The Halscy house was <iwncd at that time
by Colonel W. S. Smilb. a soniu-law i.f
I'reshleut Adams.

536

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

T. iSmitb, of ^^ew lloclicllc, to wliicli we refer all of our readers who
may have occasion to obtain specific information on these lines. We
must restrict ourselves in the jiresent pages to incidental notice of
the more conspicuous men who tijiure in the general annals of the
county, and even in this particular we must crave the considerate
in(lul,nence of the reader if our allusions are but jiartial, pleadinj;
for our justilication the necessary limitations of ilie plan of this
History.

From 1802 to ISO! the distiii<j;uisbed .Tobn Watts, Jr., occu]»i<'d the
]Kisitiou of "first judjic '" of our county court, lie was the son of
-Fohii Watts, Sr., and Ann, daufjhter of Stephen de l.ancey. Th(>

father Avas a member of the kind's
council and a stanch adherent of the
crown; his magnificent estate on Man-
hattan Island was confiscated, aTid lie
died, an impoverished exile, in Wales.
The son was the last royal recorder of
I^ew York City (1774-77). After the
organization of the federal government
he was speaker of the Xew York assem-
bly for three years, and served one term
in congress. His last public ottice was
that of judge of Westchester (jounty.
His city house was at No. 3 Broadway,
Kew York, and he had a fine country
residence near New Rochelle, on a sIojjc
overlooking Hunter's Island. Like his
father, he married into the de Lancey
family of our county: his wife was
Jane, daughter of Peter de Lancey, of
" the Mills." He was a man of consum-
mat<' abilities. Possessed of great
weaUh, he diverted a million dollars of a fortune which would have
been his by inheritance to the endowment of the Leake and Watts
Orphan House. He died September 3. 1S3(J, at the age of eighty-
seven. A notable statue of Judge Watts stands in Trinity Clnircli-
yard, New York, erected by his grandson, General J. Watts de
Peyster.

In 1807 Daniel D. Tompkins, a native of our county, son of the
eminent patriot, Jonathan (iriffen Tom])kins, was elected governor
of the State of New York, an office in whicdi he continued to serve
until 1817, when he resigned it to become vice-president of flic
United States. Although he never represented Westchester County

DANll'.I, I) ■I'OMI'KINS.

GENERAL COTT.XTY IITSTOnY TO 1842 537

in oftifial position, liaviiiii rcnioxcd in cai'lx life to New Vork City,
and later resitliu*;; on Staten Island, the memory of (iovcrnoi' Tomp-
kins is held in peculiar affection and honor in Ihc connty of liis
birth. The site of iiis birthplace is marked by a liistorical tabh-t,
placed there by the generosity of the late ( 'liarles Jintler.

Daniel D. Tompkins Avas born June 21, 1774, on the I<'ox Meadows
estate in Scarsdale. lie was the seventh son of Jonathan (i. Tomp-
kins. He was graduated from Columbia College with the first honors
of his class, was admitted to the bar in 171*7, and in ISOl entered
upon his i)nblic career by serving as a delegate from Now York ('ity
to the convention called to revise the constitution of the State. In
1802 he was elected to the assembly, and in 1804 he was chosen a
member of congress, but resigned that otlice to accept an appoint-
ment as justice of the Supreme Court of tlie State. lie resigned the
justiceshij) A\hen electe<l governor. His cai-cei' as chief magistrate
was distinguished especially l)y his great services to tlu^ country
during the War of 1812-15. He Avas elected to tlie vice-presidency,
as the colleague of President Monroe, in 1810. His last ])ublic office
was that of president of the State constituli(»nal convention of 1821.
A resident of Staten Island, he originated tlie ferry from that island
to New York City in 1818. The Staten Island village of Tom]ikins-
ville was named for him. The concluding years of his life were
clouded by aspersions upon his official integrity persistently made
by his jiolitical enemies. Investigation has fully proved that these
accusations were Avithout the slightest iustitication. He died June
11, 1825.

We extrjirt the folloA\ing fi-onj a recent address on the I>if(» and
Services of (ioveruoi' Tomjfkins by the Hon. Hugh Hastings, Historian
of the Stale of New York:

He was fully alive at all times to the daiif;ers which iiienaced this State during the war
[of 1812], and his energy and enterprise were no less surprising than the knowledge which he
displayed, though he had never ac(|uired any experience as a military man, regarding the care,
transportation, equiiiment, and welfare of the troops he sent to the held. ... As soon
as the legislature met in extra session, Novemlier, 181'.i, he expressed himself in favor of a
vigorous prosecution of the war, and, in furtherance of this policy, suggested that the State
should make a loan to the national government. . He raised within sixty days the

sum of ■•?1, 000,000 at his own risk, for the public welfare, when the credit of the nation was
utterly destroyed. Within forty days he had nnistered into service an army of .')0,000 men,
fully organized, armed, and equipped. All in all, he disbur.sed over three millions of dollars
for the .State of New York and the I'nited States during the progress of the war.

In many of his recimmu'udations to the legislature, (Jovernor Tompkins was far ahead of
his time, for instance, at the heginning of the iession of IS 10, he recommended encourage-
ment, hy legal enactment, to domestic manufactures, which had hegun to sj>ring up all over
the country. He created our common school system, and suggested carrying into etVect the
law of 180."), which created the common school fund, whose interest was to he distributed
among the schools of the State. . Om- of his last acts as governor of the State, the

special message which he sent to the legislature February 24, 1817 — the day he resigned as gov-
ernor,— carried the recomniendatiun for the abolition of domestic slavery in the State, to take

538

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

cft'ict fluly 4, 1827. lu aceorclauce with this proposition, the legislature passed aii act on the
31st of March, 1817, and at the prescribed time slavery was wiped off the statute books of
the State of New York.

" Of all the able men who have oeeupied the oluiir of governor of New York State, none
ever sustained the onerous and overwhelming responsibilities with more conscientiousness, or
guarded the destinies of his State and his people with more fidelity. He was more than a
great man; lie was a great jiatriot, a great martyr. He gave his services, his fortune, his
reputation, and his life, that his country sliould maintain its position anu)ng the nations of the
earth, and for the transcendent results he achieved he deserves the imperishable gratitude of his
countrymen."

Ill the same year that Tompkins was elected governor, 1807, oc-
run-cd an ev(Mit of peculiar interest to the pe()])le of Westchester
County residing on the banks of the Hudson Klver. This was the
passage up the stream, on its trial trip to Albany, of Kobert Fulton's
steamboat, the " Clermont." It came almost unheralded on the after-
noon of September 11, and to most beholders must have been an
object quite as astonishing as Hudson's '' Half-iloon " had been to
the Indian aborigines two hundred years before. Although it was
known to specially well informed i)eople that some suri)rising ex-
periments had been made in the waters surrounding New York City
with a vessel proi>elled by steam, the rustic classes had never heard
of the ship.

The " Clermont " i)erformed the voyage to Albany at the speed
of about five miles an liour, making only one stop, at Chancellor Liv-
ingston's seat on the u]i])er
river. The actual running
time from New York to Al-
bany was thirty-two hours,
and from Albany to New
York thirty hours. After tliis
triumphant achievement of
the purpose for which it was
built the " Clermont " made
regular trips to and from Al-
bany as a i)acket boat. In
these first diiys of steam navi-
gation on the Hudson intense
prejudice was harbored
against the " Clermont " by the owners of trading shiojis, who fear<'<l
that the successful operation of steamboats would render their prop-
erty worthless ; and it is recorded that attempts were repeatedly made
to sink or disable her, which caused the legislature to pass an act
prohibiting such practices under serious penalties. It is not im-
probable that some of the market sloops plying between New York
and the Westchester villages were engaged in these reprehensible
enterprises against Fulton's boat. Allison, in his History of

3:;^

THE "CLERMONT.

GENKUAI, COUNTY IHSTOKV TO 1842 539

^'iiiil<ci-s, says tliat as late as 1S23 " no stcanihoal liail cnci- shiwcd
up to take Yoiikers ])assen<itn's aboard," but that some three years
later one John Bashford beyau to row out intending- i)assenfi<'rs to
put them on board the steamers for the coiisiihTalion of eighteen
jteiue per person.

In ISIO, as delerniiued by the federal eeiisus, the ))o]inlation of
Westchester ("ounty was 30,272; but according; to an cnunicralion
made in 11S14 it had declined in the latter year to 2(i,3<)7, a slirinkage
of nearly 4,00(1. This loss is easily accounted for. Our county re-
sjioiided with esjiecial alacrity to the calls of the national and State
fjovernments for troops to serve in the second wai- with iMii^land.
The decdine in population was indeed considerable in almost every
townshi]). The lijiures are so intcrestiini and ]u-esent a record so
honorable tiiat it is very httinn' to set them down in delail licre.

TOWNS POPULATION

1810 1814

Mount Pleasant (inehuling Ossiuing) 3,1 19 2,802

Coitlandt 3,054 2,477

Bedford 2,374 2,287

Westfhester (including West Farms, Morrisauia, and Fordliaui) 1,9()9 1,34.5

Yorktown 1,024 1,175

Creenbnrgh 1,862 1,792

Soniers 1,782 1,783

Lewisboro 1,56G 1,458

North Castle 1,366 1,220

Youkers 1,365 954

New Castle 1,291 1,243

Rye 1,278 1,185

Poundridge 1,249 913

North Salem 1,204 1,033

Harrison 1,119 825

Eastchester 1,039 942

New Rochclle 996 992

White Plains 693 670

Maniaroueek 496 797

Pelham '267 182

Scarsdale 259 292

Total 30,272 26,367

It is observable that durinu' the twenty years from 1700 to ISIO
there was, so far as can be discovered from the census tij;ures, uo
change in the distinjitiisliinii aspect of population iu Westchester
County. A]tlio)iL;h the increases in several of the towns were cou-
sideiable, clearly indicatinii' the rise of liandets, in no case was the
growth larye enouiih to jjromise any extensive development. Of
the l()wnshi]is lyiiiii on the rindson IJiver, Mount I'leasant (then
incjudinjj;- Ossiuinji), Oortlaudt, and (ireenburjih showed the larj^est

540 HISTORY OP WRSTCHESTEU COUNTY

jiiiiiis — 1.1'J.j, 1,122, au(l 402 rcsix'ctively, as agaiust an advanci- of
only 240 in Yonkers.

On the 2(1 of April, 1813, occuitimI the incorporation of Sinu; Sinp,
the first village of Westchester Conuty organized under the State
government. The \Aording of the act of incorporation is as follows:

The district of eouutry in the Town of Mount Pleasant, contained within the following
limits, that is to say : Beginning at the H\ids(in River, where a run of water, between the
lands of Daniel Delavau and Albert Orser, empties into the said Hudson River, nortli of Sing
Sing, from thence eastwardlj on a straiglit line to the house occupied by Charles Yoe, and in-
cluding the said house, thence soutliwardly on a straight line until it intersects the Highland
Turnpike road on the south line of Samuel Rhodie's land, from thence westwardly on the
south line of William Street's land to the Hudson River, and thence northwardly along the
said river to the place of beginning, shall hereafter be known and distinguished by the name of
the Village of Sing Sing.

A curious provision contained in the charter of Sing Sing was a
section empowering the trustees to enact a by-law " prohibiting any
baker or other person within the aforesaid limits from selling any
bread at any higher price or rate than bread of like quality at the
time of siich sale shall be assessed in and for the City of New York
by the corporation of said city, under the penalty of one dollar for
every offense." This Avas occasioned by the high price of breadstuffs
then prevailing, ^^hich afforded temptations to bakers to charge ex-
orbitant rates for their wares.

The first village election of Sing Sing was held on the first Tues-
day of May, 1813, when " seven discreet freeholders " were elected
trustees. Their names are not preserved, all the early records of th(!
village having been destroyed by fire.

In 1813 the celebrated authorization was made to Robert Macomb,
from which resulted the construction of "Macomb's Uam " and the
consequent complete obstruction of the navigation of the Harlem
I\iver, a con<lition wliicli was a sore grievance to propci-ly owners
on the ^^'estchester side. In early times the entire Harlem and
Spuyten Duyvil waterway was navigable, at certain stages of the
tide, for boats of light <lrangli1. " Trior 1o the Revolution," says a
writer' who has giveu much atti-ntion to this subject, "the island
[Manhattan] was circumnavigable in vessels of light draught. Gen-
eral Coi-nwallis pased from the Hudson through Spuyten Duyvil
Ci'eek into Harlem River, and down to Sherman's Creek (end of Tenth
Avenue), with his troops on board light draught boats, and scaled
the heights at what is now Fort Ceorge, during the concerted move-
ment on Fort Washington in the autumn of 1776." No i)ublic in-
terest was felt, however, in preserving this navigable condition. At
the end of the eighteenth century Alexander Macomb, a wealthy

' Mr. Fordham Morris.

CENKltAL COUNTY IIISTOKY To 1842

541

iiKTilunit nf New ^'(>I•k, imrcliascd a laru'c aiiiouiit uf property at
Kiiiiisliridiic and vicinity, and in December, ISOO, he oljtained from
the city antliorities a water grant exteudini;- across Spuvten D\iyvil
Creek just east of the King's Bridge, altiiongh it was specified in the
gi'ant that a passageway fifteen feet wide should be presei'ved for
small boats and craft. Thereupon he erected a four-story gristniill
extending out over the ci-eek, whose jiower was sujtplied by the
alteriuite ebb and flow of the tide against its undershot wheels.'
Alexander was succeeded in his property rights by his son Robert,
who, not satisfied with the supply of water for the mill, procured
a grant to build a dam across the Harlem Kiver from Tiussing's Point,
oi) the Harlem side, to Devoe's Point, ou the Westchester side, "so
as to hold the waters of the river for the benefit of the mill at Kings-
bridge, thus practically making

l^^^^^^x^

^^,

a tidal millpond between the
present site of the Central
Bridge at Seventli Avenue and
old King's Bi-idge. This erec-
tion was known for years as
Macomb's Dam. l>nt it was
re(|uii'ed in the act that Macomb
should so construct the dam as
to iK-rmit boats to pass, and that
he should always have a person
in attendance to alford the de-
sired passage. lie neglected,
however, to conform to this di-
rection, and not only erected his
dam without the specified con-
trivance, but converted tlie lip of
the dam into a permanent bi-idge
and ((dlected tolls from evei-yhndy \\ ho ci-ossed it. The utter obstiuc-
tiou to the navigation of the livei- tlms introduced continned until
ISI'.S, wJKMi, as we shall see, it was forcibly removed by the entei-prise
and courage of a nuiubei- of ciiizeiis of W'eslcliesler. and i lie uii-^cliiev-
ous and nnwai-ranted interference with tlu' natural fnnclion of llie
IlarJcm Hiver as a jinblic watei'way was brought to an end.

Macoiuit's Dam was the only abs(dufe bairier to the progress of
vessels coming nji the llai'leiu iJiver. Uul it had a I'ival in Coles's
Bridge, the site of the jiresent Third Avenue Bridge — which indeed
antedatid it. In ITIMI tjic legislaiuic granted to Lewis .^blrris the
right to construct a bi'idge from liai-lem to Morrisania, wliidi was

' This mill niiialued sLiuding uiilll IS5C. It is .sliuwii in llio cul ou p. l!j.

GENKU.VI. ALK.XANDKR MACOMB.

542 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

to hv provided with ii draw. Tliis privik'^e .Morris a!s>fi^iic'd to Johu
B. Coles, who in 1795 procured a new legislative grant, authorizing
him to build a dam across the llaidcm Kivcr which was to serve the
double purpose of a foundation for a bridge aud a means for furnish-
ing power to grist and otiier mills; but in this grant also it was
sti]iulated tliat tlie free navigation of the river should be preserved
through a suitable opening. Under the provisions of the act of IT'Jo
aud subsequent legislation, Coles not only built the Harlem Bridge,
but constructed a road h'ading from it to West Farms and East-
chester. Coles's Bridge was prt>vided with a draw, wliich, however,
was very narrow. This structure continued in use until about 1855,
wlien it was replaced bv the (old I Tliird Avenue Bridge.

I'reviously to the construction of Coles's Bridge there were two
bridges connecting Manhattan Island with the nuiin land, both being
across Sjuiyten Duyvil Creek — the King's l^ridge, erected in 1()!)4
by I'^rederick Bhilipse, who, witii ins successors, collected tolls from
all using it, and the Farmers' or Dycknuin's Bridge, built some years
before' the Kevolution by public subscription. No tolls were levied
on the Farmers' Bridge, and hence it was popularly known as the
" Free Bridge."

It Avill thus be seen that as early as the middle of the second dec-
ade of tlie nineteenth century tliere were four bridges communi-
cating wilh our county from ^lanhattan Island — one at the village
of Kingsbridge, the second just below, tiie third at the termination
of till' preseut Seventh Avenue, and the fourtli where Tliird Avenue
now crosses.

Tlie incorporation of tlie village of IN-ekskill was authorized by
an act passed April 17, ISltJ. But no stei>s were taken at that time,
or indeed until eleven years later, to carry the provisions <>( the
measure into effect.

The loss t)f population by the county during the War of 1S12 was
speedily recovered. In 1S20 the census returns showed a total popu-
lation of 32,038— a gain of 2,3(U) over that of 1810. ^Mount IMeasant,
with its village of Sing Sing, still led, having 3,(>S4 inhabitants;
Cortlandt was second, with 3,421; Bedford third, with 2,432; West-
chester fourth, with 2,102; aud Oreenburgh fifth, with 2,004. The
pojmlation of Yonkers was 1,580, being exceeded by that of Y(»rk-
town and Somers, in addition to the towns above named.

In the year 1824 this county was the scene of enthusiastic recep-
tions to the immortal Lafayette on his route from New York to
Boston. Lafayette arrived in New York Bay on the 15th of August,
and, landing on Staten Island, was entertained there by our dis-
tinguished son, ex-(iovernor and Vice-President Tompkins. The news

GENEUAI. COXTNTY IIISTOItY TO 1842 543

of his arrival had been brought by express to (fCiicral I'liilip Van
('orthnidt, thou livin<i at tho Manor House on tlie ("mlnn, who at
once set off for the city, " where he ha<l the inexpressible satisfac-
tion of enibraeinj;- his ol<l compatriot, and felt it one of the hajipiest
moments of liis life." On the 20th of Au<;nst Lafayette was escorted
by tiie mayor and corporation of the city to Kin,tisbridi;-e. wiicncc
he continued his journey to Boston.

The principal event in AVestcliester County of the decade lS2ll-.''>()
was the bnildinji' of the State penitentiary at Sinji- Siui;-. P.y an
act passed Mar(di 7, 1824, the construction of a new State jirison
was autliorized in the 1st and 2d senatorial districts, and the Siusjj
Sinn !^'''' ^vas selected on account of its marble quarries — which
afforded a means for the advantaiieous employment of convict labor.
— its accessibility by water, and its salnbi'ity. At tliat time tliere
were only two State prisons in existence, one in New York ("ity
(called Newf>ate) and one in Auburn. "On the 14th of May, 1825,"
says Dr. Fisher, the historian of the Town of Ossinini;-, " one lunidred
convicts from the Auburn prison, under the supervision of Caittain
Elam Lynds, were lan<led on tlie jironnds from a canal boat in which
they were brought. Ojx'rations were at once commenced, and in
May, 1828,' the prison buildin.ys were completed. The main struc-
ture, which was built of hewn stone from the marble (piarries, con-
tained six hundred cells. Bi'fore the roof Avas fairly finished it was
asc( rtained that the accommodations were entii'tdy imidequate, and
therefore a fourth story was added, which increased the number of
cells to eiii'ht Inmdred. In after years two additions were built,
each of one story, so that at the present time there are six stories
and an aiijireyate of twelve hundred cells. These cells are seven
feet in depth, seven in height, and forty-two inches wide, which i;'ives
but one liundi-ed and seventy-one cubic feet of space for each con-
vict."

The institution \\as long officially known as the " Mounl IMcjisant
State Pi'ison." and the sul)stitution of the style of the "Sing Sing
Prison " \\as distasteful to the citizens of the \'illage. In conse-
(|Uencc \arious attcmjits were made to create local senlinieni in
favoi- of changing the \illage name, none of which, howex'er, i-e-
sulled in anything jiractical. It may be remarked in ])assing that
I'esidents on the outskirts of Sing Sing, in t he direction (d' t he iiiglii,\
rejdilable locality of Scarborough, nsuallx' mainfest a decided prel
ereiice to be considered iiihabilants of Scarborough and not of Sing
Sing. This i)referem(' comes mainly, however, from a natural incii

' Tlu' flnnl coiistniiMliiii wm-k was nut. li.iwcvcr. tlnislifd until 1.S30.

544 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

uatiuu tu be- idcntiticd with tlic luore exclusive I'onuuuiiity. Any
serious proposal to cliange tlie name of Siuj;' Sinfj at tlie present day
would doubtless be voted down overwliehiiini;ly by the people.

In the same jear that witnessed the eompletiou of the main work
on the Sinfj; Sin.n' prison buildinjis, the Westchester County alms-
house was opened — also in the Town of Mount Pleasant, at a place
called Knapp's Corners. This interestinj;- event occurred on the 1st
of April, 1828. Previously to that time the poor had been cared for
by the several townships to which they belonj,H'd. Isaac Coutant was
the first keeper of the almshouse, receiving' a salary of ij^BOO per
annum. The institution has .ihvays since been maintained at the
original location.

The village of Peekskill, whose incorporation was autliorized in
ISlfi but was not effected under the original act, received a new
charter from the legislature on the 9th of April, 1827, and shortly
afterward trustees were elected as follows: Samuel Strang, John
Halstead, Philip Clapp, James Birdsall, Ezra Marshall, and Stephen
Brown. Samuel Strang was the first village president.

This village, now so important for its iron-working industry, and
known far and wide as the seat of the New York State Military
Camp, was in early times the settlement of the so-called '' Kyck's
Patent."' The name is said to be " due to Jans Peek, an early Dutch
navigator, who, in following the track of Hendrick Hudson, mistook
the broad estuary at Koa Hook for the proper passage to the north.
Here, it is said, he built a house and remained during the winter.
To the creek was given the name of Jans Peek's Creek, or Peek's Kill,
and from the name of the creek the village received its designation.
In a deed given by the Indians to Jacobus De Kay and others, June
25. 1085, the creek is referred to as being known to the Indians as
John Peake's Creek.'' The original settlement of Peekskill is sup-
posed to have been about a. mile north of the center of the present
village. A visitor to the present village in 1781 described it as con-
sisting of some twenty houses, quite close together. This considera-
ble growth in population of tlie Town of Cortlandt, as evidenced by
the census returns, between 17!)0 and 1S20, was largely contributed
by Peekskill village.

According to the author of the article on the Town of Cortlandt
in Scharfs History, iron industry of Peek><kill dates from 1820,
when Stephen Gregory " commenced the manufacture of plowshares.
. . . At first th<^ manufacture was carried on in an exceedingly
primitive style. The fire whicli melted the iron was brought to the
proper degree of heat by an ordinary blacksmith's bellows, which
was at first operated by his wife, and tlicn, as the business expanded,

GBNEUAL COUNTY IIIS'J'OItY TO 1842 545

by a lidi'sc. l'\ix inm was too lai'i;c to he incltid by (liis siinplc apita-
ratus, and he iisid old stove jilalcs and old jilow castini^s instead."
IIo sold lliv liusiness to his liidtlier, and alter several chaniivs in
jiroprietorsliip Mr. IJenhen II. I'inch Itecaiiie tlii' principal owner,
tiltimately fonndiui; an establislinieiit devoted to the exclnsive niann-
factiire of stoves.

On the 17th of ^lay, 1S2'J, Chief Jnstice John .lay died at his resi
dencc in Bedford in the eiohty-fourth year of his ai^c' Here he
had lived since his retirement from jnihlic life in iSdl. An earnest
laborer in the cause of freedom for tlie nefiroes, ami (he first presi
{l<*nt of the old New York society for the manumission of slaves, his
closing years had been nmrked by much interest in the risiufj move-
ment of tlie times, and two years before his death )h' had had the
yreat satisfaction of witnessini;- the permanent abolition of slavery
in tlie State of New Yorli, accomplished on the 4th of July, 1827,
agreeably to a legislative enactment which had been ]>assed ten
years previously by the recommendation of Governor Toinjikins. He
was buried in the Jay family cemetery in the Town (»f Rye. The
following is the inscription on his tomb:

IN MEMORY OF
JOHN JAY,

Eminent among those who asserted the liberty
and estalilished tlie Indeiiendence

of his coiintrv,

whieh he long served in the most

important offiees,

Legislative, Kxeentive, Judicial, and Diploni.itie,

and distinguislied in tliem all, l)y his

ability, firmness, piitriotism and integi'ity.

He was in his life and in his death

an example of the virtues,

the faith and the hopes

of a Christian.
Born Dee. 12th, 1745,
Died May 17th, 182t).

Chief Jnstice .Tay had two sons, Peter Augustus and >ViHiani.
I'eter Auiiiisliis; .Tay resided for most of his life in New York <'ity.
where he was a jirominent lawyer and citizen, lie liijed various ini-
jKirtant public ]»osilions, was a leading anti-slavery advocate, and
was president of the New York Tlistoric.il Society. In IS21 he was
a delegate from Westchester County to tlie State constitutional con-
vention.

William Jay (born June Ki, 17Si); died October 14. lsr)S| inherited

' The following entry appears In the n<iinl nf liiRliest respeet for the pure and pxnitcd chnr-

ihe Court of Coinuiou I'Icns. of Wcstthoster aoter of the late veiiomble .Tohn Jay. do resolve

Ciinnty. uniler ilati' of May 2i>. 1829: "The court that we will wear erapc upon ihi' li'fl arm for

and memliiTS of llils har. etilcrlalnlns the tlilrly days In token of our respect."

546

IIISTUKY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

from liis father the iKiiiicstciul at Bedford, lit' was one of tlie most
rcsiicctcd Wt'stoht'slcr citiz-ciis of liis times, and for three years {1H20
to 1S23) served as county jndjie. lie also was a conspicuous cham-
pion of the rif;hts of tlie neiiroes. A jjoi'trait of .Tud^c William Jay
hauLis in the court house at ^Vhite riains. lie was tiie fatliir of
rhc \cry eminent Hon. John Jay of onr own times (born June 1'."..
1S17; died May 5, 18!)4), to whoin he left the Bedford estate.

Xeithei' the hjiures of the State census of 1825 nor lliose of tlie
fe(l( ral ccusiis of 1S30 show anv sitinilicaut channes in the distrilm-

-THE JAY CKMK.TKKY, RYE.

-t-

(ion of populalion in the county. In 18.'"> the total inhabitants were
'X\,\?A, and in IS.SO, 3(!,4r)(;. .Mount Pleasant and Cortlandt con-
tinned far in the lead (d' all the (dliei' towns. Yonkers had a popu-
lation of only l,T(i].

No new villai;c was incor]ioi"ited between 1830 and 1840. This
decade is memorable for the ])i-ojection of the first railway enter-
])rise in which AN'estihester County was interested, and the inception
and a]pprnximale comjjletion of tlie iirand Croton A(|ueduct.

The New York ami TlarhMU Kailroad, which traverses the central
sfH'tion of our county on the route to the noi'thern end of its line at
("■haliiaiii, antedates all other rail\\a\s of the countv. Rut, as its

Department of Coiraierce
3. Coast and Geodetic Survey
V/ashinjjton.

Dacaraber 28,1926.

Dr. Herbert Putnam,

Librarian of Congress,
Washii^ton D.C.

Lly dear Dr. Putnam:

I have been looking through
a copy of "The History of V/estchester County,
2Tew York" by Shonnard & Spooner, and I find
a rather serious mistake under an illustration
on page 546. It reads "Jay Cemetery, Rye".

Instead of it being what it says, it is the
monuraont erected to Thomas Paine at Upper ICew
Rochelle. I am positive of my statement

as this monurnant was on my grandfather's
estate and I spent many days there,

I thought you might like to
have this correction and file it with the
history so that those using the books in the
Library may have the benefit of this informa-
tion.

Faithfully yours,

E. Lester Jones.

GENEUAL COtTN'i'V IllSlOKY TO 1842

547

uamt' iudicalcs, it was originally intended to he a line between New
York City and llaileni only, terininatini; at tlie Harlem Kiver. It
wasincorix.rated on tlie LT.Ili (d' April, 1S:}1, with a capital of |H.j(),000,
which in is;{2 was increased to ^^noi 1.(1(1(1, ii bein.y stii)nlaled that
the road should be coin])lete(l to ihc Harlem Kiver in IS:}"). On the
17th of April. IKV2, anothei' company was incorporated, ilic New
York and Albany, whose line was to start at a point on .Manhattan
Island where the present Fourth Avenue ternunates, cross the llai-
lem Ixiver, and jjroceed through the center of Westchester County.
(At that period the Hudson Kiver route was not sei'iously thoujiht
of,* and indeed it was uot chartered until 1S4(;.) Owinj; to the yreat
jihysical difticulties which had to be overcome in buildino- the road
on Maidiattan Island, and the consequent heavy e\])enditures, the
Xew York and Harlem line was not completed by the specified year
(1885);- nevertheless, the lei^islature authorized furtiier increases of
cai)ital. Meantime the Xew York and Albany Company found itself
unable to carry out the provisions of its charter, and in 183S sur-
rendered its rights in Westchester County to the Xew Y'ork and
Harlem Company, which assumed the construction of the bridge
across the river and the building of the road as far as a point on the
southern boundary of IMitnam County. It was not, hi>wevei', until
May, 1840, that the compact between the two com](anies was ap-
prove<I by the legislature. By that time "the caiutal had been
swollen to |l,!)r)0,00(), and still another increase of |1,0()0,0(M» was
needed to carry the road through the county." The railway was
constructed and in oixM-ation to iM.rdliam by October. 1841, but had
not been extended to Wliite Plains until late in 1844, and it was not
until June, 1847, that it was ojx'ued througli to Croton Falls. Thus
from the time when the first charter foi- a railroad to traverse West-
chester County was granted, uTitil the comjdete realization of the
project, a period of fifteen years elapsed. The cost of construction

■ In 1S42 a ouTimiillic iii\ rstigati'il a prdiinsi'il
railway rnntc aloiijr the cast sliorc of tlu' Hud-
son Ulvfr. and brought in a strongl.v .idvorse
report. In tliis doruini'iit it was alleged that
the pli.vsleal difticulties put the proposal bc-
.vond consideration: but the chief argument
presented was as to •* the linpolic.v of locating
a great work of this sort upon a line iniine-
diatel.v adjacent to the Hudson River, irlifrr the
tioveUy ft/ t/i>- eiitfrpri.sr ni>;t/i/ .•.•etiii fo finixlilnli- its rhi*'/
value." (.See Report, etc.. to the New York
board of aldermen. November 21. 1S42.)

-Till' following, from Wiiiianis's "Xew York
.Vnnuai Register for isa.i" (p. inn. is of curious
historical interest:

"Tills road fHarlern Railroad] was eharlered
in the winter of 1S31. with a capital of .$;i50,000.

'I'he work was eomnieneed in the spring itt
1S32. The grade was re(]uired to correspond
witii tlie regulati<ui of the streets, wliich had
rei]uired niueli deep cutting and some liigh
embankment. About four miles of the road
are now in use. upon wlih'li pleasure ears are
eonstantl.v run. f-u- the accommodation of
those who desire to get out of (ho city for n
sitort time. When comideted. tiiere will be a
tunnel of some length through a rock, nt
Yorlivilh'. after which tluTe will be a gradual
(Icsei'ut to Harheni Rivi-r. The work, thus far.
has been vor.v expensive, and will cost, when
completed, at least its whole capital, and
proi>al>ly more. At present hnrse-pouer is used. A
htctnnfitire engine iras prnvitled and used for a short time
ItuI the boiler burst and the eitfliue teas laid aside."

548 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

IVoiii I lie soulli side of tlic llarli'iii KiNcr Ilridyc in Williams's liridii"'
was 138,475 per iiiilc, and li-diii Williams's Bridge to White I'laiiis
111,277 per mile.

It is uotewortliy that the tirst t(de<;raph line thr(Mij;li Westchester
County was erected (1846) under the superinteudenee of Ezra Coniell
(sul)se(pieutly the founder of Cormdl University!, a descendant of
Tliomas Cornell, of Cornell's Neck. Ezra Cornell was, moreover, a
native of this county, havinjj been born at Westchester Landing, lie
was the father of Governor Alonzo B. Cornell.

The begiuniug of the gigantic Croton Acpu'dnct enterprise dates
from about the same time as the chartering of the first Westcliesler
County railroad. On Novendx-r 10, 1832, the joint committee on
tire and water of the New York City common ronncil engageil
Colonel I)e Witt Clinton, a competent engineer, to exannne the
various sources and routes of water suitjily which had been suggested
up to that time, and to make a careful report on the subject. Colonel
Clinton recommended the Croton watershed as the source of supply,
and demonstrated by unansw(>rable facts that no other source a<le-
quate to the ultimate needs of the city was available. This re])ort
marks the beginning, as a serious undertaking, of the jn-oject to
conduct the Croton water to the city.

The history of New York's watci- sujiply is the subject of a iiionii
nu'utal work by Mr. Edward Wegniann (published in 18!Mi|, in which
all the details of the earlier makeshift systems and schemes, and of
the construction of both the old and the lU'W acpu^ducts and tin-
Bronx Kiver conduit, with their associated dams, reservoirs, and other
woi'ks in this county, Putnam, and New York City, are desci-ibed.'
We shall brielly summai'ize this history, so far as its particulars are
ai>ropos to our narrative, down to the period of the comidction t>\' the
tii-st acjuednct, reserving notice of the latei' works for tlie jiroper
chronological sequence.

It is of interest that in July, 1774, a jirojxisal made by Christ(qilier
Colles to erect a reservoir, j)umi) water into it from wells, and con-
vey the water through the several streets of the city in pipes, was
adoi)ted by the authorities of New York; and that land for the pur-
pose of a reservoir on Oi'eat (Jeorge Sti'eet, owned by Augustus ^'an
Cortlandt and Frederick Van Cortlaudt, of the Van Cortlaiidt fam-
ily of our county, was purchased and works were built and ])ut in
oj)erati(Ui. The Eevolutionary War interfered with the devehqiment

' Aiiotlicr work of gic-at antlKirity (cxi-lu- (1S43). .Most of tin- particiilMi-s of the lii-st

slvfly. lir)\v(>v('r, on tlu' old :iiiiK'(l\R't and ante- a<iiU'din-t in our toxt aro digi-strd from Mr.

rodfiit conditionsi Is the " Monioir, (.^tc. of Hip King's " .Momoir."
Croton Aqneduct," compiled by Charles King

GENERAL COUNTY HISTOUY TO 1842 549

of the })liuis 11ms inaugurated. After the Revolution frequeut at-
Icutioii was given to the water problem, but it was not until 179S
tliat tlie necessity of ultimately solving the question by resorting to
tlic streams of Westehester County was foreshadowed. In that ye.ir
a committee of the common council approved a ]iroposal which had
been made by Dr. Joseph Urowu for procuring a supply from the
I>ronx Rixcr, and Mr. Weston, the engineer of the canal companies
i)f llie Stale, was emi)loyed to thoroughly inipiire into the matter.
Dr. Hrown's idau was to dam the Hi'on.x about half a mile below
Williams's I?ridge. Calculating, however, that the elevation of the
Uroiix at tiiat point was not suthcient to admit of drawing the water
lo I lie city by natural fall, he jn-oposed that it should be raised to
the ir(|nisit(' height by i)umi)ing machinery, ilr. Weston fully in-
(loi'sed I lie ISiniix jiroject, but thought that " the Bronx is surticiently
('le\!ilc(l abn\c I lie higlu st parts of the cily to introduce its waters
tlicrcin witlioiil tiic use of machinery." i.Mr. Weston, however,
favored damming the Bronx at a nortliern point.) In addition, with
far scciiii; calculatiori, he advised the conversion of "Little Rye
I'diid " and " I'ig iJye Pond " into resei'voirs by building a dam six
feet high, and tlir conducting of their \\ater in an ojX'U canal to
the llarletii Kivcf, " that stream to be crossed by a cast-iron cylinder
of Two feet diameter, with a descent of eight feet." Tiie common
council, aicepting the Bronx idea, ajipHed to the legislature for au-
thority to carry it into execntion, but at this stage private interest
stejtped in anil thwarted the wliole nnderaking. The artful Aaron
liurr was at that time seeking a banking privilege from the legisla-
ture, and, as an indii'ect means to his end, ])ro])os(>d to organize a
water sii]i])ly company, suited to the needs of tlie city, whose surplus
capital should be employed in banking operations. Moreover, various
eminent citizens, among whom was Alexander Hamilton, were ski^])-
tical as to the practicability of raising the money necessary for the
lironx enterprise as a jjublic policy. The movement ended in tlie
iirgaiiizatioii of the so-called "Manhattan Company," in whic-h the
city vested the s(de right of jirocnring and furnishing an additional
water supply. This company was emjxiwered to draw water from
Westcliester County, btit it contented itself with sinking a large
well in the city and distributing its contents to customers.

The enlightened project of Dr. Brown and ilr. Weston was, indeed,
laid on the shelf for thirty years, during whicli New York, despite
its greatly growing iiojjnlation and wealth, complacently continued to
satisfy itself with water from its own bowels. There were oc<-asional
recurrences to the Bronx concejition, but they had no practical issiu'.
At last, in lS2!t, the community was aroused to action by the aiq»alling

550 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

increase of destructive fires, iiiaiulv owin^ tn the ditticulty of olitaiii-
m<fi water. Diirinj; Ihc ])rece(liii^ vear the tire losses in the city liad
aggre<;ated fGUO,0()0. A coiiiiiiittee of the tire department nia(h' a
searching examination of tlic merits of tlie old jiroposal to utilize the
Bronx water, and suhmitted a favorable report, which was a])i)roved
by the common council; and the latter body, in January, ls:52, api)lied
to the legislature for authority to borrow f2,000,00(», the sum es-
timated as necessary to accom])lish tlie object resolved upon. Hut
the legislature discreetly declined to sanction the raising of such
an amount " until it should he satisfactorily ascertained that the
object in view, both as to the ([uantity and (piality of water, could
be accomplished by the exiK'uditure proposed." A certain aj^pre-
hension was felt that the suijjily obtainable from the Bronx nught
ill time prove insufticient. It was in conse(]U(^nce of this cautions
attitude of the legislature that, as already noticed, Colonel Clinton
was called xipon, in November of the same year, to undertake a final
investigation of the questions Involved. His instructions were " to
proceed and examine the continuation of the route from Chatterton
ITill, near White Plains, .to Oroton Kiver, or such other sources in
that vicinity from which he may sui)p()se that an inexhaustible sup-
ply of pure and wholesome wnter for the City of New York may be
obtained."

In entering upon his very important commission Colonel Clinton
labored under great disadvantages. No survey, even experimental,
of a. direct route from tlie Crotoii had ever been made. Attention
had centered upon the Bronx Kiver as the predestined source of sup-
|)ly, with incidental feeders from the Sawmill and Byrani. The jjublic
mind shrank from such a tremendous and seemingly fantastic pro-
ceeding as the construction of an aqueduct from the far distant
Croton; Avhereas the Bronx, running straight down into the Harlem
liiver, seemed to have been a]ipointed by nature for the exact emer-
gency. Previously to the sending out of Colonel Clinton, the only
thouglit bestoweil upon the Croton in this connection had been with
reference to the possible joining of it to the Bronx by means of an
artificial canal; and surveys had actually been made to that end,
which, however, afforded no satisfaction.

Colonel Clinton's r(])ort was a \'ery able and elalxu'ate document.
Carefully examining the lii-onx ])roject, he estimated that the maxi-
mum (luantity of Avater deliverable to the city from the Bronx Biver
;nid the various feeders that could be availed of in connection with
it would not exceed 12,000,000 gallons ]>er day. He considered that
this (piantity would be sufiicient for a quarter of a century, but pre-
dicted that the cit^' would liave to resort to the Croton eventually;

GENERAL COT'NTY UIS'rOTtY IT) 1 S42 551

jiiid lie licnce concluded tlial it was expedient to lead t lie ("I'uinii
watei' at once directly to the city. " In the ("roton K'iver at I'ine's
liridiLic," said he, " there is never less than l'(l,(IO(l,(l(l(l gallons of water
passinfi' iu every twenly-fonr hours. The river at this jioint is there-
fore ca]table of sni)])lyin.u one million of ])eople, allowing a consnnip-
tion of twenty gallons to each person. This supply can be auj;-
niented by constructing reservoirs, and we have seen . . . that
one reservoir could be constructed which would su|i|i1y more than
7, ()()(», (10(1 of i;allons ])er day within a few miles of I'ine's lirid.iic. l?nt
if it were necessary, moi-e than 7,000 acres could be ](oni!ed, and the
watei- raised from si.\ to sixteen feel; and also oilier supplies <'ould
be obtained, as I have befoi'c stated, in alludinii to the Sharon ("anal
route and the East Kranch of the ("rotou K'i\('r.'' He favored the
conveyinji of the water to New York iu an o]ien canal, and calculated
that the total cost of the work, incdmlinii- the means of distributiiifi'
the water throu-h the city, would not exceed |2,500,000.

It app(»ars, however, that the emidoymeiit of Colonel Olinton by
the common council to recounoiter the Croton Avas only a c(»nces-
sion to the advanced element of the ])ojtulation that demanded the
most comiilete investiiiation of wat(^r supply conditiojis in W'est-
chest<'r County before definite steps should be taken. Simultaneously
with his exploration of the Ci'oton route, i w o other eng,ineers were
sent to make a final impiiry as to the I'ronx and its related sources
of sup])ly; and their rejiort indicates that they were r(died on by the
city officials to brinii f(U-ward conclusive denionstration of the suffi-
ciency of these sotirces. They marked out a route from Macomb's
Dam to the Bronx Kiver, which they declared to be the pro])er one
for the lonf!- desired sui)i>ly, and added: "The Croton cannot be
broui;ht in by this route, and cdiiiiot erer he needed, seeing' that the
quantity which can be obtained at a moderate <-ost through the val-
ley of the Bronx will be sufficient for all city purposes." At the same
time an analysis of the Bronx water was made by ])rominent chemists,
Avhich showed it to be of remarkable ])urity, not more than two
grains of foreign matter being contained in a gallon. This is a fact
of much historic int<'rest in view of the ])resent extreme contamina-
tion of the waters of the Bronx juost of the way below White IMains.

But the common council, in sjjite of its bias in faA'or of the Ui-onx,
was unwilling to risk another a|»peal to the legislature based on a
single exclusive plan, and accordingly sent up a bill calling for the
ajjitointnieut of water commissioners, who should " be imcsled with
full power to examine all the ])lans hitherto ])i'o|tosed. to cause actual
surveys to be made, to have the water tested, to estimate the prob-
able expense, and generally to do whatever in their judgment may

552

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

be necessary to arrive at a right conclusion in the premises." This
bill was passed by the legislature on the 2(;th of IVbruary, 1833,
and the governor apjioiiited as water couiniissioners, for the period
(>r line year, Stephen Allen, 15. M. Hrown, S. Dusenberry, S. Alley,
and William W. Fox.' The commissioneis engaged two engineers,
Mr. Canvass White and .Major Douglass, formerly i)r(d'ess(>r of engi-
neei'iug at West Point, to undertake the requisite surveys, examina-
tions, and estimates. Mr. White being occu])ied otherwise at the
tiiMc, the wlude work Avas i)eifonued by ^Majoi- Douglass, who sub-

THE GREAT FIRE OF 1835 (NEW YORK CITY).

milled his report iu the Novembei' following. "Major Douglass ad-
iicicd unfalteringly to the conviction that the Croton, and the Croloii
only, sliould be looked to and ridied on. Like the IJoman iNIarcius,
. . . who, when the decemvirs and sybils indicated the Anio as
the stream which the gods incrcrrcd for the sup])ly of his aciuedud,
still adhered to the cold, jmre, and abundant springs fi'om the moun-
tains of Tivoli, so ]\Ir. Douglass, disregarding dirticulties real and

'Mr. Fox was .Tt that time the most promiueiit eitizeu of our Village of West Farms.

GENEKAI. COTINTV llISI'()l;v I'o IS 12 553

iiii;i.i;iii;ny, ;iiiii liccdiiii; iiol ;il all I lie olforts still to Oiuisc llic Ili'oiix
III lie iirclcrii'd, held fast to the Crotoii."

Major HoiiLilass (lis])ose(l forever of the IJroiix proposal bv deiiioTi
straliiiii Ilia I il was iiM]iossil)le, bv whatever expedients, to ijrociire
fniiii the Ui-oiix a siijiplv w liicli for any considerable period would
he satisfactorily lai\i;c. Kej^ardinf;- the (piality of the Ootoii water,
he made the followini; interesting statements:

Tlie supplies of the Crotoii iire derived almost exclusively from the elevated regions of
tli« IIip;hlands in Westchester and Putnam Counties, being- furnished hy the ]mresprinf;s which
S(i remarkably characterize the granitic formation of that region. The poiuls and lakes de-
lineated on the map, and spoken of in a foi-mer part of this report, are among the nnnd)cr of
tlicsc springs ; many of them three or four hundred acres in extent, and one as large as a
tlicinsand acres. All these ponds are surrounded by clear upland shores, without any inter-
mixture of marsh ; and the surrounding country, cultivated as it is generally in grazing farms,
presents an aspect of more than ordinary cleanness. The water, as might be expected under
such circumstances, is perfectly soft and clear, much superior in the former res])ect to the
waters of our western lakes, and fully eipial in the latter. The C'roton, fed by such springs,
could scarcelj- be otherwise than pure, and the fact of its purity was strongly verified by the
experience of the l>arty in every stage of the water diiring the .season. Specimens were
taken up both in the high and low state of the river, and have been analyzed h)' Mr. Chilton,
and the results obtained fnlly corroborate these statements. It appears from his rej)ort
annexed that the tpiantity of saline matter, probably the salts of lime and magnesia, does
not exceed two and eight-tenths grains in the gallon; a quantity, he oliserves, .so small that
a considerable (juantity of the water would be necessary to determine the proportions.
About two grains of vegetable uuitter were also suspended in the water, in conseipu^nce of
the rapid current in which it was taken up, and which would of course subside in the
receiving reservoir.

At its next session (May 2, 1834) the h'oislatnre passed an an.
authorizing the reapijoiutnient of water commissioners, and direct-
ing the commissioners to adopt a definite plan " for procuring such
supply of water," with estimates as to the cost, which ]»lan was to
be submitte(l to the electors of New York City for approval (U- re-
ject inn, by majority vote, at their regular city election in the year
is:!r>. Ill I lie case of an aftirmative vote by the peojde, the act pro-
vided ihai a Sinn ihiI exceeding .'if2,r>(l(l,000 should be raised as " Water
Slock (d' I lie Cily of New York,'' bearing five ]ier cent, interest. The
olil cniiiiiiissioners ^\-ere i-ea])pointed by the governor. They made a
thnrougli re-examination of the matter, concluding with the opinion
that "llie whole |('roton| river can be brought to Murray Hill in a
close aiiuediict of masonry, at an exjiense (d' f4,2r)(),000," and that the
revenue accruing from water-rates would " overi>ay the interest on
the cost of the work."' The ](lai! was referred to the jteople of the
city for ratification, and at an election held in Ai)ril, IS.T), tliey ajt-
proved it by a vote of 1 T.:5:?0 to rt,!l(i:{. In December of this year New
York suffered fiDiii a cniitlagraiion wliicli far exceeded anything in
its])revious liishuy. Seventeen couipaci blocks in the business center
of the city were totally destroyed, entailing a loss of more than

554 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

118,000,000. Tliis coiiflajiTatioii is historically known as tiic (iri-at
Fire of 1835.

Tho ooniinissioncrs solcftcd Major Douiilass as their chiof cn-iineiT.
and ou the (Ith of Jnlv, 1S:?.">, tiiat u-ontlenian, witli fifteen assistants,
took the field for preliminary work in onr county. Their first care
was to stake ont the lake to be formed by dammiu<i the Croton, which
it was at first calculated would have an area of 400 acres. Rut it
was nearly two years before construction work was actually bejjun-
I\Iuch trouble was experienced in satisfying the land owners alonp;
the line of tlie proposed a(iueduct, who made vexatious demands,
amonji; them the extraordinary' one (expressed in a memorial to the
lejiislature) that the le^al possession and use of the land should
remain with the oriuinal ])ro]irietors, notwithstandinji- the circum-
stance of its having Ix-en paid for by the city. A measure to con-
ciliate the Westchest(>r Tounty owners was passed by the lejiislature,
but it ji'ave little satisfaction. " The consequence of this discontent
was that the commissioners were unable to make any ])urchase, by
jirivate contract, of lands alonti the line, and were tlierefore coni-
p(dled to resoi't to the vice-chancellor for the aiipointmeiit of com-
missioners to take by appraisement whatever was needed." jMaJor
Douglass was sujierseded as chief enjiineer in 1830 by .Mr. J. B.
Jt'rvis, under wliose ilirection the whole work was carried to com-
pletion. On the 2Gth of April, 1837, bids were opened " for furnish-
inji' the materials and completing- the construction of twenty-three
sections of the Crotou Aqueduct, includinjn the dam in the Crotou,
the aqueduct bridjj;e over Sing Sing Kill, and the necessary excava-
tions and tunneling on the line of about eight and one-half miles
from the Ci'otou to Sing Sing village," three years being allowed
for the fulfillment of these contracts. Apprehension having been
harbored by the citizens of Westchester County that disorder and
malicious destruction of jiroperly would result from the employ-
ment of the thousands of laborers, the contractors were re(piired not
to "give or sell any ardent spirits to their workmen," or to permit
any such s]iirits to be given or sold, or even brought, upon tJie line;
and that any trespasses committed by workmen shouhl be puinshable
by the dismissal of the offenders. The line was divi(h'd into four di-
visions, the first extending from the Croton ten and one-half miles
to below Sing Sing, the second ten miles farther to Hastings, the
third ten miles to Fordham Church, and the fourth ten and one-half
miles to the distributing reservoir in the city.

By the 1st of ]>ecember, 1837, 2,-155 feet of the acpu'duct had been
completed, and during the next year the whole of the work in West-

GENEUAl, COUNTY IIIS'l'OKV To IS 12 555

clicslcr Camily, lliiily-llircc miles in Iciinlli, IkkI cillici- hccii liiiislicd
or ]il;i(('(] iiiidci' cniitract.

'i'lic iiicaiis of crossinii tlic riarlcin KiAcr had I)('coin(' at tins staj^c
tlic iiiosi scvioiis ]H(d)lciii io he dealt willi. At the time of tlic inau-
liir.ation of llic t'lilci-in'iso liicrc was a jiciici-ai disjM>siti(iii on ilic
jiart of tlic ]»co]dc of New York (Miy to regard the llarlciii Kivcr with
l)iit scant considci'ation — as a waterway npon whicdi ])co]de niiyiit
]dy boats to snit an idle or at best piii'cly local convenience, bni
I'oi-cvci' incajtable i>( continuous na\ination for any in-actical uses in
conjunction ^itli the shallow projection of the S])nyten Dnyvil Creek.
.AFaconib's Dam was thoi still in existence, blocking; all i)assaj2,'e be-
yond tlie ])resent Central rti'idiic The old i)lan to brinji the Rroiix
water into New York had been hampered by the fact that the Hroiix
Kivcr did not have a siiflieient elevation at any ]»()int of its lower
course to admit thr()n<ili the jirocess of natural flow of the I'ccep-
lion of its water in New York at a lieijiht suitable for distribution
to the upper sections of the city; and to overconn' this ditliculty it
had been co(dly jirojiosed to build ]mm]iinii' works on the West( hester
side of the Harlem, just above .Macomb's Dam, and, from the jxiwer
affonh'd by tht^ daui, raise the waitinfj stream to a satisfactory height
and so pass it over to Manhattan Island. In IS.T^ ^fajor Douglass
estimated that the total i)ower furnished by 3Iacomb"s Dam would
sufhce to thus raise but 5,000,000 <iallons daily, which, even in the
then existing conditions of the city, would not be enouiih for its safe
sup])ly — an estimate that broui;ht dismay to the Bronx advocates,
and doubtless caused them to most heartily (d)juriiate the fo(dish
Llarlem River, that niis]daced, misshapen, lidicuhuis stream — a mere
spew of Ilelliiate, — worthless for naviiiation, a hindrance to coni-
nierc(>, and now found unqualified to ji-enerate the re(iuired volume
of power.

This circumstance that the Bronx scheme involved, as one of its
essential features, the conversion (d' the Harlem Biver into a mere
producer of water power — and that in ijerjtetuity — strikingly illus-
trates how contemiituously the Harlem and Spuylen Dnyvil water-
way was rated.

When it became certain, in 1884, that the water-supply problem
was to find its solution in a continuous a(]ueduct fi'om tlie Croton —
SU(di a continuous a(iueducl being jiracticable in this case because
of the Croton's sufficiently lofty elevation above tide, — it was ])ro-
posed to carry the a(]ue(luct across the Harlem River by a low
siphon bridge, as the least ex]>ensive work. In that connection no
thought was given to ]iossibIe (d)jections on the score that the con-
struction would iiermanently <dose the waterway against naviga-

556

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

lion. Tlic iiavijiation of the Harlem was already completely ob-
structed by Macomb's Dam, and the addition of a new obstruction
did not in the least trouble the New York public mind.

I5ut in 1838 a bold stroke by the citizens of our Town of West-
chester suddenly compelled the New Yorkers to change their atti-
tude toward the Harlem. On ^Marcli 3 of that year the Westchester

TUK CROTON WATKK CKl.hllKATION, 1842.

landowners held a meetiuij- at Christopher Walton's store, at Ford-

liain ('(irncrs, and appointed a committee to memorialize the h'jj,is-

lalnic aiiuinst tlie prDjHiscd low hiidnc, and also to ascertain the best

method of icmovinu tlie existin<i' obstructions in the Harlem Kiver.

The commitlce, acting on the advice of counsel, decided to proceed

a^ainsl .Macomb's Dam as a nuisance and to clear a passayc-way for

vessels through it. The resultinj; transactions are thus described by

Mr. Fordham IMorris in his History of the Town of Westchester:

Lewis G. Morris, tlien quite a young man, was, by the votes of his associates, intrusted with
tlie leadership of the fight. In order to bring the (juestion, if necessary, within the jurisdic-
tion of the United States courts, it was determined that a vessel laden witli a cargo from a
neighboring State should ascend the river and (U'mand passage way through the opening which
the grant had directed should be kept for vessels, but which Macomb and his successors had
neglected to provide. Mr. Morris therefore built a dock on his place about a mile north of
the present site of High Bridge and chartered a periaiiger, called the " Nonpariel," with a
cargo of coal on board consigned for delivery at Morris Dock. He arrived with his boat at
the dam one evening [September 14, 1838], at full tide, and demanded of Feeks, the toll

GENEUAL COUNTY IIIS'I'OKY TO 1842 557

pitlierer, that the draw or passagf-way l>o optMU-d ; of course Fceks coiilil not <()in])ly. Solium
Mat l)oats wliich had heon provided liad on board a band of one hundred men ; and Fecks
not opening the draw, Mr. Morris witli his men forcibly removed a ])ortion of the dam, so
tliat tlie " Xonpariel " Hoatcd across. From that time a draw was always kept in the bridge,
but for many years the passage was very difficult, the tiile being so strong that it was only
possible to pass at slack water.

'I'lic Icyality of this pcrfnriiiaiicc was siil)sc(|U('iitly sustained bj'
the liii;li(st court of the State, Cliancellor Wahvorl li wi'itiu"; (lie
ojiiuiou. "The Harlem IJiver," he said, "is an arm of llie sea and
a iiul)]ic na\iL;abh' river. It was a public nuisance to obstruct the
naviuation thereof without authority id' law."

At the time of this famous expeclil ion the water coniuiissiuners
had already otlicially adopted the ]dan for a low sijdiou l)rid^<', to
be "built over an embaidunent (d' stone, tillinii uj) the wlnde of the
natural ( hannel, and with oul\ one arc hway on the New \'oi'k side
only eiiihty feet liiiih." The estimates made on the basis of this plan
indicated a cost of but !i<42(i.(IO(l, as against nearly .«;i:'.(;,(MIO b>r the
const met ioii of a hioh bridf^e; so t hat the abandonment of I he adopted
]iroject would nnan an add(Ml ex])ense to the city of more than half
a million (hdlars. Moreoxcr, the oriiiinal calculations of the t(dal
])robable cost of the aipu'duct froui the Crolon had by this time
lieen found to be ridiculously small, and it beiian to be realizeil that
the ultimate a,ii;irej.;ate would ap])ro.\iinate or exceed .f 1(1,0(1(1,(1(10.
The disastrous effects of the financial panic »{ ls:?7 were at that
period beinu felt in their full force. In sn(di circumstances it is highly
iiiil(r(d)able that any chaniie in the ]dan for tlu- aipieiluct bridii'e
would ha\c been made if the peo|)le of Westchester had not com-
pelled it by theii- a.mL;ressive acts. On the:'.d id' .May, ls;>!l, ihe legisla-
ture passed the foUowiu"^ law:

The water commissioners shall construct an aqueduct over tlie lliuleui l!iv<r with arelus
and i>iprs ; the arches in the channel of said river shall lie at least eighty feet span, and not
less than one hundred feet from the usual high water mark of the river to the under side
of the arches at the crown ; or they may carry the water across the river by ji tunnel under
the cliannel of the river, the toj) of wliich shall not be above the present bed of tlu- said
channel.

The " Hij^h Bridiic " was contracted for in .\uuust, is:!'.t. Soon
afterward the works on .Maidiattan Island weic jdaced under con-
tract.

Till' orjoiual water commissioners appointed in Is;',.", ' reiii-ed in
]Mai'(di, 1S40, and were succeeded by Samuel Stevens, lieuJaMiin I*di-d-
sail, John 1>. Ward, and Sanmid H. Childs.

The dam across tlieCi'oton Kivei' was comnience<l in January, isrt,**,
and was com]deted about the eml of 1S40. This dam was formed of

' All the ni'li;liial rduunissioners exiept U. new board. Mr. Hrown was siiccceileil liy
.M. Brown served until tin- appnintmenl ot the Thomas T. Woodruff.

558 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

" hydraulic stouc uiasoury, connected with an eartlien enibauliuieut,"
the enibaulcmeut beinj;' two hundred and lifty feet long, sixty-live
feet high at its extreme height, two Iniiidrcd and fifty feet wide at
the base, and lifty-five feet wide at the top, " protected on its lower
side by a heavy protection wall twenty feet wide at base." On the
night of the Tth of January, 1841, in consequence of a sudden and
great rise in the water of the Croton, the portion of tlie dam com-
prised in the earthen einbankiiiciit gave Avay, and the w liolc couiiti-y
below was flooded. Tiiree bi'idgcs — Tom])kins's Bridge, the bridge
at the Wire Mill, and (Quaker's Uridge — were swept away, and several
nulls and dwelling houses were destroyed; but, so far as was known,
only two residents lost their lives. This was the only serious casualty
that occurred in connection with the building of the Croton A(pie-
duct.

It had been earnestly desired by the jx'ople of New York that tlu'
water should be introduced into the city liy the 4th of July, 1842,
and this wisli was realized. .\t ti\c o'clock on the nuirning of the
22(1 of June, wati'r to the de]ith of eighteen inches was adnntted into
the acpieduct from Crotoii Lake. A boat called the " Croton Maid,"
carrying four i)ersons, was placed in the a(|uc(luit. to l)e floated down
by th(^ stream. The water, with the boat, arrived at the Harlem
Kiver during the night of the 2;^d. On the 27th it was allowed to
enter the receiving reser\'oir at "S'oi'kville, and on the 4tli of July
the (listributing reservoir on Murray Ilill,' both events being obseiNcd
with great cei-emon\'. The ])ublic celebration — the grandest demon
stratidn in the history of the city up to that time — was held (Ui the
14th of October. Near the hea<l of the line, as one of the guards of
honor, marched the Hing Sing (Juaids.

The total cost of the Croton Aqueduct enterprise (reckoning every
item of expense) was neai-ly .1';l2,r)0n,0t10, TTigh T'ridge, as it is at
present, was not completed until 1S48. The quantity of water at
first transmitted through the aqueduct did not exceed 12,000,000 gal-
lons daily. The a(|ueduct was coustruct<'<l to afford a maximnm dis-
charge of 72,000,000 Unit(Ml States gallons every twenty-four hours,
and it was thought utterly impossible that such a su])])ly would be
re(|uir<'d for geiU'rations to come. But within tliirty years even this
amount was found inade(|uate; and by ]»ernntting the water 1o rise
in the aquediu-t to within twelve and one-half inches of the crown
of the arch — thirty-two inches higher than had been originally in-
tended— a daily supply of ;tr),000,000 gallons was forced, which, in
turn, was found so far from meeting requirements that two new sup-

' This was the okl Forty-smiml StrocI roscrvnir. hiiifi sim-r disiisrcl, whnso sitp is to bo
ot'L'upicd by the New York Public Library,

GENERAL COUNTY IIISIOKV T( • ISlli 559

|(lics had to be pnicurcd — lliioii^li the Hi-oux Kiver cuiuluit (1880-85)
and the Nt'W Crolou A(iuc(liict (1884-93).

In tliis cliiijitcr we liavc midci'takcn to follow llic successive events
of ]»rincipal iniiiortance from tlie close of the IJexulution to the coni-
pletion of the Crotoii A(|uediu-t. A .glance at various jiai'ticiilai-s
and asjiects of incidental conse(|uence ami intei-est durinii this ])erio<i
of sixty years is necessary before contiuuinj^ our nai-rative.

\\'e have seen that Hie Villages of Sing Sing and I'eekskiil were
incoi-porated, resjiectivcdy, in 181.'? and 1827. No new Nilhige iiicor-
poratiou was effected after that of I'eekskiil until 18."):j, when .Mount
Veruou was organized. It is a curious fact tliat our lai'ge City of
Yonkei's. whi(di now is unajiju'oached by any otlier niunicii)alily t>(
the county, did not have its beginning as an organized village unlii
1855, and in that respect was preceded by three other communities.

At the termination of the Kevolution what is now the City of
Yonkers at the mouth of the Xepperhan was re])resented by a very
few buildings, most of them widely separated. There were tlie .Manor
1 1 on si' of the lMiili]ises, Saint John's lOjiiscopal Churcii and ])ai-sonage,
I lie immemorial mill, and some scattered farmiiouses. '{"he .Manor
House, with three hundred and twenty acres of land adjacent to it,
as has been noted in the lii'st i)art of this cha])ter, was purchased
from the commissioners of forfeiture in 1785 by C. 1*. Low, a New
York nieichant, for £14,521). Mr. Low conveyed it in 1780 to William
Constable, also a merchant of New York, who in 17!K) sohl it to
Jacob Stout, of New York, for £13,500. :\Ir. Stout s(dd it in 1802 f(U-
IliO.OOO to Joseph Ilowland, of Norwich, ("onn. In 1813 the projierty
was bought at auction by Lemuel Wells, (tf New ^■ork, for .*5(;,(I00,
The estate as owned by ^Ir. Wells fronted on the Hudson both above
and below the inoutli of the Nepperhan, and the .\lbaiiy Post Koad
ran through it. The accomjianying maji of the Wells estate gives
a fair uml'M-stamling of the condition, at the time of Lemuel Wells's
])urc]iase, aiwl imleed througlKUit his ])roprietoisliip, of that portieu
of Yonkers where later the earl.x' \illage began to be built up.
He was a man of abundant wealth ami conservative ideas. " He
(lid not buy," says .\llison, "with the intention of selling his tract
either in large or small plots. He was seldom induced to sell or even
to lease any (d' it. but he was not particularly averse to .settlers and
wonld oU'er now and then to build a house on his property for them
as tenants." "Of the twenty-six buildings of all kinds," he adds,
"including bai'us, sheds, and little slnqis, then (1813| on the three
hundred and twenty acres of land, about twelve could hav(> been
utilized as dw(dlings, live were mill buildings for grimling grain and
plaster and for sawing and fulling, five were barns and sheds, and

560

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

(mo is rc'in-esouted ass ("(iiilaiiiiiiji ' sliops." " On tin' outskirts of the
Wells property tliere were various fanuliouses.

Lemuel Wells died on the lltli of February, 1S42. I)urin<i tlie
nearly thirty ^ears of his proprietorship of the rei)resentative juirtiou
of Yonkers the improvements w liicli he made on his estate were only
of an incidental nature. It was not until 1831 that he built a wharf
IH'rniittinj; steamboats to land, althouyh for some years jireviously

ESTATE OF

LEMUEL WELLS.
Purchased in 1813.

HUDSON

R I V e: R

THK REPRESENTATIVE PORTION OF YONKERS INDER THE PROPRIETOKSIIIP OF LEMUEL WELLS.

these vessels had been nmkin.u landings at Closter (now Alpine) ou
the opposite side of the river. Indeed, it was a frequent occurrence
for Yonkers people desiring to board the steamers to cross over to
Alpine. At the time of the death of iMr. \Yells, says Allison, Yonkers
was " a hamlet of one hundred peoi)le — more or less — and a little
more than a score of houses."

Meanwhile, however, there ha<l Iiccn ,i L;radual accession of valua-
ble citizens in the sections bordninu the manor i)roperty — some of
them land purchasers of substantial means, and others men of en-
terprisinii' traits, all realizinij, tlie natural advantages of the locality
and standinti' ready to iiromote its develnjniient. As early as 1804
p]benezer rSaldwin became a resident, comin*; from Norwich. Ponn.,
at tlie s(tlicitation of ]\Ir. ITowbuid, then the oAvner of the manor

GENERAL CorX'lY IIISTOKY TO 1842 561

ostati", for the purpose of rcliiiildiui; I lie steeple of I lie cliurcli. Mr.
Hiildwin liked the place and remained, snbseciuently takini; an active
part in stinnilatinj; its jiToAvth and bnsiness activity. Many of tlie
most consiiicnons Vonkers people of this day are nninbered anionji
his descendants, or aniouf;' those connected with his family by mar-
riaiie. In 1820 some two hnndred and twenty acres abont oni' mile
north of the Manor Honse were pnrchased by Frederic Shonnard,
son of a Frencli officer, who had served in the body fiuard of Frederick
the Great. At that time Jndiie Aaron Vark, who nnited the fnuctious
of majiistrate, countrj' storekeeper, and ])ostmaster, was the prin-
cipal man in the little community. In 1828 William C. Warinf!,- and
Ilezekiah Nichols be<;an to manufacture bodies for wool hats. This
was the first introduction of the hat industiT — now so important —
in Youkers, and it was also tlie first appearance of the name of
AVai'inji'. The Warinfis Avere from Putnam County. John T. Wnv-
inji came some j'ears later. But our space does not admit of any
attempt to recapitulate the names of the founders of the early
Yonkers.

The Nepperhan River, with its long descent from a high eleva-
tion, and its considerable volume of water even in the dryest sea-
sons, must have been appreciated from the earliest times by men of
discreet peT'ce]itions as a stream atl'ording id(^al coTiditions for the
inauguration of extensive manufacturing industries. Hut through
]iraclically all of its course suitable for mill sites tlie Ne])perhan was
iMiibodied in the Manor House estate, and it was not the jxtlicy of
Lemuel ^Vells to emourage ]ii'ivate luanufactui-ing enterprise on its
banks. In 1S;57 he co-ojiei'ated with Prince W. and Obed Paddock
in Hie conslruction of a dam near the jiresent Elm Street Bridge,
wjucli latei' came to be known as the " fifth water ])ower." But this
did not immediately lead to any important utilization of the water
po\\( r. Meanwhile the abundant power of the lower stream was
used exdusivcd.y for grist and sawmills.

Lemuel Wells left uo children. His heirs were numerous, including
his wi(]ow, three ln'otliers, and theii' children. Tlie estate was jiar-
titioned in 1843. the piincijial representative of tlie heirs being Tx>m-
uel W. Wells, familiarly known in Yonkers (where he lived until
Ids death in ISCil) as "Farmer" Wells. From this event dates the
beginning of the serious develo])iuent of Yonkers. " Bel eased from
the hand that had so long kejd it out of the market, and catching
the s|)irit of ent<'r])rise," says Dr. Tole, "the land «o long unused,
or, wlieic used, dcA'oted to farm ])urposes only, Avas (piickly laid out
in streets and lots, became the scene of busy activity, and Avas soon
dotted with beautiful residences." This change did md transpire at

562

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

once, Imt a new local spiril liciiaii lo obtain. Oiir of i'aiiiicr Wells's
earlii'st tvausartioiis was the sale to .Tolin Copcntt, for $17,."t(MI, of
tile " tii'st waton' i)ower ■■ — that is, the tirst inill-sitc above the uiouth
of the N( pi)evlian. ^\v. ('o]tcntt had previously operated a veneer
mill at West Farms, but lie was (|ui(k to see the promise of superior
o]iportunities at Ynukcis. lu ]SAT> lie turned his purchase to ju-ac-
tical use by convertiiiu tlie Nejiperhan mill into an establishment
for sawinc: mahogany wood. Mr. Wells sold the second water i)ower,
with its mill buiidiui^s, for .1fll,2.~n, to :\[essrs. :\litchel] and Tlutchiu-
son. Amoni;' the new citizens ac(iuired by Yonkers through the ])arti-

tinn (d' the U'elN' estnie was
I'"tlian Flainii', one of the heirs,
who bore an e.xceediniily imjjor-
lant i)art in the bnildiuL; \\\> of the
place.

Thus at the ](eriod at which we
have arrived in (Uir i^cncial narra-
ti\(', V(.idcers, destined to a ]iosi-
timi of unquestioned sii])i-emacy
anion;: tlie nniniiipalit ies of\\'esi-
cliestei- County, was just itrejiar-
in;:' to <MnerL;i' from a primitiN"
condition of abscdute insi^niti-
cance.

Mount N'ernon was still un-
thouinht of. The rei)resenlative
\illau('s for local enter]irise wci-c
Sinj: Sinn and I'eekskill on the
Hudson, and West Farms in tin
southern section (d' the county.
West I'arms had by this tinu' become the most progressive locality
within the ancient Township of West(diester. To its prominence in
this rei^ard it was indebted for the enrploynient id' the walei- ])ower
of the Bronx Iiiver for manufacturin;; uses.

In ISod an ambitious attempt was nuide by a syndicate of New
York capitalists to create a new community in Westchester County,
which it Mas fondly lio])ed would siJi-inj;- at once into a flourishing'
condition. Allen ^\". Hardy and nine associates, attracted by the
beautiful situation of Ver])lanck's Point, and believing' that a village
founded there would s])eedily rival Peekskill, boui;ht the ])roperty
for .f;>(l(),(IO() from its itrojirietor, IMiilij) Verphundv, to whom it had
descended from tlie original Philip Verphun k, grandson of Steiihanus
\'an (Nrrdandt. These gentlemen laid olf the Point into streets and

CORNELICS VANDERBILT.

(;km:i;ai, ((Mnty ihsiokv to isiii 563

avciincs, rcs( rvinii' povtions of it for ])iirks; b>it lot imi-cliiiscrs did
not iiinic;!!', ;ind aflcr a year or two tiic iiiidci-takiiiii- was al>andou('<i
witli licavy i< ss. Tluiciqion .loiiu Henry, fine of' (lie (diicT members
of tiic syiidicatc, ac(]uirc(l sulistantially tJic whole of I lie I'oinI, and
])roceeded to (ii-jianize the brick -making; industry whirii lias since
become so extensive at ^'er])lan(•k's. lie was ioleralil\ successful
from I lie start, and within a few years the brick yanls of \'er]ilanck's
Point vvere yieldinj;- a lariie output and giving employment to niimer
ous workmen.

After the introduction of steamboats the river traflic betwef^n
New York City ami the villages of our county (in common with others
alonjjthe Hudson) jiradnally became very animated, resulting in con-
ditions of keen competition. " Before the construction of the rail-
roads," says one of the contribntoi-s to Scharfs History,' " I'eek-
skill was the depot from which from Westchester County for miles
around, from a larme portion of Putnam County, and even fnun Coii-
necticut, the farmers shiiiped their [iroduce to New York ( "ity. .\pples
and other fruit, butter, potatoes, cattle, sheep, calves, live jiiiis, and
ih-essed pork were the principal articles of shi]un(Mit, and were I'e-
ceiveil in su(di (|uanti1ies as to ix'nr eni])lo\iiient at one time, when this
commerce was at its heiiiht, to six market-sloops, while liiree ]ia-;-
seuficr steamboats also shared in the business."

Tlie early days on tlie river, when it fnrnisliefl almost tlie only aveiuR' of eoniniertc, weru
full of life and bustle. Cornelius Vanderliilt for some years ran a boat between Peekskill
and New York, and ha<l quite a strufjgle for the mastery of the route. In ISIS'i he beijan
operations with the steamlioat " Westchester," having, as he avers in a card to the publie
some time later, no interest in any other boat in the Xorth River. He met with a rival in
the " Water-Witeh," a steamboat which was owned by an association of the peoi)le all alon<;
the river, and farmers back in the country, and which was ilesigned to enable them to resist the
extravaj,'ant charges of steamboat-owners. The rivalry between the " Water-Witch " and
the Commodore's craft waxed so hot that the former finally began to charge only one shilling
(twelve and a half cents) for passage from Xew York to Peekskill. The losses occasioned
by the cutting of rates resnlted in some of the stockliolders in the " Water-Witch " losing
courage, and the wily Commodore was enabled to buy a controlling interest in her. After
that the rivalry ceased. The " Water-Witch " was but (Uie of several boats owned at differ-
ent times by similar associations, all of which brought loss to the stockbolders.

June G, IS.'il. the " (Jeneral Jackson," plying betwiin Peekskill and New York, exploded
on her down trij) off Grassy Point, and all the front ])ortion of the cabin was torn away.
Three |)ersons were killed outright, — the fireman, a little girl of twelve years of age, who had
just tri])ped on board laughing and talking gayly, and William Mitchell, a resident of IVek-
skill. Beverly Katbbone, of Peekskill, was injuied so severely that lie <lied some time after
the accident. Jacob Vanderbilt, brother of Cornelius, was captain of the boat, and escaped
without injury.

-Many other intei-^stiiiL; luirliculai's of ihi' Hudson Ki\"er li'atlic be-
fore the era of railways miiilit be .iilded. I'eekskill had no monopoly
of sloop ])roin'iei.irslii|i. I'roni xaraous ))oints all the way down to

' W, ,T. eumniiiiy. 11.. VM.

564 HISTOIIY OF WESTCHESTEU COUNTY

Yoiikcrs vessels, larjicly or wlmlly (iwucd by the fanners and proiiii-
neut citizens, were sailed to and from New York. The present well-
known Ben Franklin Transjiortatiou Line of Yonkers took its name
from a sloop of fifty-seven tons, launched July i, 1831, Avhich was
for the exclusive service of tlie ])eople of Yonkers and vicinity; and
even the orijiinal '' Ben Franklin " had several predecessors devoted tu
the local interests of Yonkers.

The organic law of the State of Ncav York, as established by the
constitution of 1777, underwent two radical alterations duriu";- the
period of sixty years now under consideration, ronstitutiona! con-
ventions were held in 1801 and 1821, the delegates from Westchester
County to the convention of 1801 being Thomas Ferris, Israel Tloney-
well, Jonathan G. Tompkins, Pierre Van Cortlandt. Jr., and Ebenezer
White, and to that of 1821 Peter A. Jay, Jonathan Ward, and Peter
J. Munro. Both conventions made revisions in the constitution de-
signed to render it more acceptable to the democratic masses —
changes which had the hearly support of the majority of the ])eo])le
of our county. The old property qualification for the suffrage was
practically abolished in 1821.

For the jmrpose of represent a1 ion in tlie State senate, Westchester
County was from 1777 to 1815 associated with New Y''ork, Kings,
Queens, Suffolk, and Tiichmond, in the so-called Southern district.
I'rom 1810 to 1821 the Counties of Dutchess, Putnam, and Ikockhmd
were added to the district, whose name was changed to the 1st. From
1821 to 1840 this county belonged to the 2d senatorial district, em-
bracing also Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster,
Queens, and Suffolk.

Westchestei' County's re]n'esentatives in the assembly, at first six
in numl)er, were reduced succ<'ssively to five, foui-, tliree, and finally
(May 23, 1830) to two. Tlie number was again increased, in 1857,
to three, at which figure it has since remained. The assemblymen
were elected on a general ticket until 1847, when the county was
first divided into assembly districts.

The county judges, district attorney, treasurer, clerk, and sheriff
held their offices by ai)]iointment until the constitution f>f 1840 came
into effect. Since then they liave been elected by popular vote.

The presidential vote of the county from 1828 to 1840, inclusive,
was as follows:

1828.— Andrew Jackson, 3,788 ; John (^lincy A<l;ims, 3,153.

1832— Andrew Jaclison, 3,133 : llcniv Clay, 2,293.

1836. — Martin Van Hiiien, 3,000 ; William H. Hairi.son, 1,749 ; soattcring, 287.

1840 —Martin Van Hnrcn, 4,354 ; William H. Harrison, 4,083.

Till' foundations of the coniiiion school svstem A\'ere laid, aftei' an

CPA'KKAI. ('OrXl'V II1S'|-()|;V 'I'd is.t2

565

cU'iiifiitary fashion, toward the bcyiiiiiiiij; of ihc iiiiicicciilli (x-n-
tiiry. Ill 17!)i> the lejiislafurc passod an act givinj;- annnall.v for five
Tcai's the smn of £1,T.)2 of State money for school pnrposes in W'est-
cliester ("onnty, to which tlie jieople of each town added an anionnt
e<inal to one-half tliat received from the State. Later tlie towns
eaoli contrihnted a snni e(|nal to the State ai)iiropriation. The
moneys Mere distribtited by school commissioners specially sidected.
But the present system of school commissioners dates from the legis-
lative act of 1849.

Ever since colonial times, the peojile of this county liad always
been rated as exceptionally intelligent, with but a small percentage
of illiteracy. The New York news-
papers enjoyed a very considerable
patronage among our citizens before
the Kevohition, and after the begin-
ning of the present century there was
scarcely a farmhouse that did not
receive some newsjiaiier from New
York. There were several early enter-
prises in the line of local newspaper
publication in the Westchester vil-
lages. According to a generally- re-
liable chronicler, a journal called the
Somcrs Miisriiin was })ublis]ied by
Milton F. Cushing in ISIO. and in tlie
same year Kobert Crombie start(Ml at
I'eekskill the Wcstchesfcr (Idzrttc,
wliich, after various changes of name,
tinally became the Peekskill Rrimhli-
i-(iii. Otiier early newspaper ventures
in ^^'est Farms, Sing Sing, White
Plains, Port Chester, ^Niorrisania, etc.,

are recorded by this authority.' The Ettsftrii ^tafc JdiinuiJ, of Whiter
Plains, appears to be the oldest present newsjtaiier of the county
retaining its original name. It was begun in 1845 by Edmund (!.
Southerland.

In 1840 the population of Westchester County was just about
double that attained in 1700. During the half century there hatl
been an average growtli eveiy leu years of slightly more than 4,000.
The original character of the population had not yet been materially
modified. Men engaged in active daily business in New York had
not become regular inhabitants, although there was an increasing
tendency to build country residences in which to spend portions of

' French's " GazettPer of the State of New York " (ISCO), p. 697.

/e-^ c-f^-7(yy<.

Co-a/j^

fj-gyt'

566 IIISTOKY OK WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tilt' yvixr (tr to lend lives of retireiiient after the teniiiuation of eiiii-
ueiit or otherwise siu-cessfiil careers.

The most distinguished citiy.eu of our couuty duriujj, the period
whose history has been traced in the present chai)ter was unviues-
tionably the noble statesman, John Jay. His death in llS2!t at his
liome in Bedford, wliere he spent the last twenty-eiijht years of his
life, has already been noticed. Another of the great Ilevolutionary
fathers, Gouverneur Morris, retired to his ancestral estate in this
county in the fullness of his honors and fame, and was buried in our
soil.

Throughout the devolution (Jouverneur Morris Avas a resident of
Philadelphia, serving the government for a portion of the time as
a member of congress, and later as assistant superintendent of the
finances. His mother meantime had continued to live at Morrisania,
where Gouverneur visited her at the conclusion of the war, after an
absence of seven years. By purchasing the rights of his brother.
General Htaats Long ^lorris, of the British army, he became possessed
of all the Jlorrisania estate east of ^Mill Brook. He did not, however,
abandon his residence in I'hiladelphia. and in 1787 he was elected
a delegate from Pennsylvania to the federal constitutional conven-
tion. He spent the next ten years in Europe, and during the most
violent period of the French IJevoIutiou was the American minister
at Paris. Wliile abroad he was employed in other important diplo-
matic connections. Peturning to this country in 1798, lie establislied
his residence at IMon-isania, where he built a new house. From 1800
to 1803 he served as United States senator from New York. " A
change in parties prevented his re-election, and with the expiration
(d' his term his political life ended. He passed the remainder of his
life at Morrisania. ' An ample fortune, numerous friends, a charm-
ing retreat, and a tranquil home were the elements of his happiness
and tilled uj) the measure of his hopi-s.' "^ The leisure of his closing
years was devoted to study, literary ])uisuits, and the advocacy of

' This citation wuU indicates the tastes and Wliu vice, in all its pomp and power,

toniperament of tlie man. He possessed a very Can treat with jnst iiegioet;

itivahle nature, thongh marlied by great dignity And piety, tliongh eloth'd in rags,

of eliaraeter. Aslied to give his description of Religiously respect.

a gentleman, Gouverneur Morris wrote the

following lines: ,,., . , - ,■ , * i , i . ^

" \\ ho to lus pligliti'd words and trust

'TIs he whose every thought and deed Has ever flrinly stood;

By rule of virtue moves, A,„l, though he'proniised to Ids loss,

Whose generous tongue disdains to speak jjj^. „iakes his promise good.

The thing his heart disproves.

WIio never did a slander forge, \A'liose soul in usury disdains
His neighbor's fame to wound; His treasures to employ,

Xor hearken to a false report Wln»m no reward can ever bribe
Ry malice whispered "round. The guiltless to destroy.

(;km:kai. corN'i'v iiis-i'(ii;v id lS4i

567

uscliil scliciiics ol puli'-liw- iii>licy, cspcciallv iiitciiial iiiiiii-o\ciiiciils.
He was one of tlu' projectors and earnest iiroiiidters of the lOrie Caiuil.
He (lied at .Morrisaiiia on tlie (iiii ol Xoxcmher, ISKi, in tiie sixty-
fiftli year of iiis age. " His remains were liuried win-re SainI Anne's
Ciniieli now stands, the east aisle coverini^ Iheii- oiii;inal restiiiji-
place. Tln-y were afterward transferred to the lainily vault, whi(di
is the lirst one east of the chnrcdi. His wife cansed a marble slab to
be ]ilaced o\'er the iem]iorary tomb, and that still remains."

[Several of the most notable literary characters of the first lialf
century of the republic were identified with Westchester County by
residence.

James Fenitnore roo]K'r, born in New dersey and reared on the
frontiers of New York, married, on the
1st of .lanuary, ISll, Susan Ain;iisla,
danuhter of John I'eter de Lanciy, of
Mamaroneck, and yreat-granddanghter
of Colonel Caleb Heathcote. Cooper
was at that time in his twenty-second
year. The youui;' couple made their
home in ^lamaroniM k, where Coojier
wrote his first novel, "Precaution.""
Coutracting the ac(iuaintance of John
Jay, he obtained from him the sugges-
tion for his second work, " The S^jy." or
"Tale of the Neutral (iround," which
formed the basis of his literary
reputation. Thus the beginnings of
Cooper's fame were incidental exclu-
sively to his residence in Westchester
County.

The gifted Jose]di Hodman Drake, known i'(|iially as the jioel of
the American flag and the ]io(i of the Bron.x, lived in our Town of
West I'^irnis and lies buried in the ancient family cemetery <d' the
Leggetts, Willetts, and Hunts, on Hunt's INdnt. Many of his poems
were written while musing by the side of the i>ron.\. His career
was cut short by consumption at the early age of twenty-tive. He
died on the 21st of »Sei)tember, 1S20. His grave and the siiii]de nninu-
nient which marks it long ago fell into extreme neglect. In the
present march of city imiirovements in the Horongh of the Hronx
till' |)laiis ado])ted for street extensions involve the coni])lete ex-
tinction of the (dd giaxcyard. ICtTorts liave been made by the Society
of American Authors to ](reser\c the sjiut where lirake lies buried
and to ha\e a sulislanlial nioiinnienl raised noon it.

.1. KOI>M.\N DKAKK.

568

HISTORY 01'^ WESTCHESTER COUNTY

The residence of Washington Irving at Sunnyside began in the
yeai- 1S3G. Irving was horn in New Yorlc City, Ajn-il 3, 1783. lie
" first came to Tari-ytown and Slcei)y Hollow when a lad of fonrteen
or fifteen. He spent some of his holidays herf, and formed an attach-
ment for the s]Kit which never left him."' At frequent intervals in
his literary career he visited "i'arrytown, sometimes as a guest of his
nei)he\\', Oscar Irving. In a letter to his sister in 1832 he wrote:
" 1 am un)re and more in the notion of having tliat little cottage
Ix'low Oscar's house, and wish yon to tell him to eTideavor to get
it foi' me." This cottage was a small stone iMitch dwelling, the iden-
tical •' Wolfert's Boost" of his welMcnown sketch, huilt in early
times by a mendier of the Acker family, and at the period of tlie
IJevolution occupied by Jacob Van Tassel as a tenant of Frederick
I'hilipse. Irving piirchased it, witli about fifteen acres of land, in
June, 183;"). During that year and 1830 he had extensive alterations
made, giving the name of iSunnyside to the place as then remodeled.
Over the south entrance he placet! a Dutch tablet, whose translation
is as follows : " Erected in the year ItiStJ.' Keconstructed by AVashing-
ton Irving in the year 1835. Geo. Harvey, Architect." In October,
183(), he nn)ved in.

Ever afterward Sunnyside was his honn\ There he wrote his " Life
of Washington." He was constantly visited by men of distinction.
During the first year of his residence he entertained Prince Louis
Napoleon, afterward Nai)oleon III. Interesting reminiscences of his
Sunnyside years appear in Scharf's Ilistoiw.- He was " a regular
wo.i'shi])per at Christ's Church, Tarry town. . . . Mr. Irving was
rarely absent from his pew at the morning service. . . . He was

^ This ilatt.' was imrcly prosiiinptivc. Tliric
are siifflcieut reasons for believing that the
liouso was not built until nianj .years later.
Irviuf^ always Incliued to the opinion that
Tarrytowu was settled previously to 1650, and
he even eouehuled that some of the graves in
the Sleepy Hollow cemetery went baek to that
year. But Irving was entirely unacquainted
with the early chronology of Westchester
County. His historical studies, confined mostly
to the immediate purposes of bis own profitable
writings on subjects of universal Interest, did
nf)t descend to such local niinutiic. His i)ub-
lisbed writings having reference to Tarrytown
and vicinity are exclusively of the " quaint "
variet.v. In 1835 Holtoii had not yet l.)e-
giin his indefatigable researches into the
earl.v history of AVcst Chester C'ounty: and
indeed Irving, cogitating about the probable
antiquity of his acquisition, must have had no
oth<'r means of calculation than that of tradl-
tii>n, nssist(*d by his gentle imagination. The

original "Wolferl Acker (the supposed builder
()f the house, and the first known Acker in this
<-onnt,vi was certainly not a resident uf I'hil-
ipseburgh Manor until about ICSO. This Wolfcrt
.\eker (or Eckerf was married March 4, IGSO,
to Maritje Sibouts. The record of the mar-
riage, preserved in the register of the old Dutch
(_'liurch of New York, describes him as " a
young man of Mldwout " [Ijong Island], and
adds that both he and his spouse were at the
time " on Frederick Philips land," and were
'■ married on Frederick Philips land." (See
Raymond's " Souvenir of the Revolutionary
Soldiio-s' Monument I>edication at Tarrytown,"
p. 101.) This is conclusive evidence that Acker
could not have built the house at the period
conjectured by Irving. Manifestly Irving's
Sunnyside inscription belongs to the all too
numerous list of ill-authenticated graven his-
torical remembrancers in Westi'hesti'r County.
- ii., ^35-241.

WASH I M.I ON IRVING

^^^£Lx-^:^^^ J^^^^-^^y^^^^^

GENRllAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1812 560

;i (IcvdUl iuul real bclicvci-. . . . He acccplcd freely aiid yladly
the jjTcal trutlis of the Hiblc, and guided liis life by tiiem. His gentle
ways, his siiii])licity and kindness of iiianner, his courtesy to all, and
Ins fre(juent mingling Avith the neiglibors, who made up all sorts and
conditions of men, Avonien, and childii n, made him very poiuilar and
much lovod." Ho died at Sunnyside suddenly and peacefully on I he
I'Sih of Xoveiiiber, IS.V.t. His funeral was an event never to be for-
gotten by the people of Tarrytown. The whole village was in mourn-
ing, and all conditions of men came from far and wide to pay the last
tributes (if honor to the great and good man. He was buried in the
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, beside his mother, wher(> his remains still
re]iose. Ovei' I hem is a ]>erfectly plain stone, inscribeil as follows:

\A'iishingtoii Irving,

Born

April 3, 1783,

Died
Nov. 28, 1859.

The Fordham residence of Edgar Allan Toe, that gloomy and
jMH'uliar but resplendent and immortal genius — our American ^lai-
iowe, — dates from tlie year ]84(i, a period slightly later tiian the one
selected for the termination of the present chapter; yet our mention
of Poe may more appropriately occur here than in a subse(|nent con-
nection.

Poe became a resident of New York City in 1844, having removed
thei'e from Philadelphia. At that tinu' most of his magniticeut tales
had been written, and indeed he wasi at the zenith (d' his fame. Put
those were days of very slight recom])ense, and also of very uncer-
tain employment, for authors not blessed with an ac(|uisitive tem-
jierament and discreet character and habits. Though his genius was
recognized and he had many sincere friends, he did not attain sub-
stantial success in New York Tity. Tt is related that his i)rincii)al
regular employment after coming there was as a writer for the
EvcuiiKi ^firror, on a salary of ten dollars a week. While living in
New York he wrote the " Raven." In the spring of 184t> he removed
to Fordham, renting for a hundred dollars a year a little frame cot-
tage. The house was "pleasantly situated, with cherry trees about
it, but was of the humble descrijttion and contained in all but three
small rooms and a kind of a closet. It was furnished with only the
necessary articles and a few keepsakes, among them presentation
cojiies of the works of Jlrs. Browning, to whom Poe had dedicated his
poems, aTul from whom he had received the kindest acknowledg-
ments." It is said that he jirocured the means to take the Fordham
I'ottage ami maintain existence there for a time from the proceeds
of a libel suit, which vielded him several hundreds of (hdlars.

570

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

With him lie broiij^lit to I'ordliain bis wife \'ir<iiiiia — liis " Annabel
Lee" — and lier niotlier, tlie tender, devoted Airs. <"lciiiiii. \'irj;iiiia
Clenun was his eousin, wlioni he had married in her girlhood. A
professional singer, she liad ruptured a blood vessel some four years
previously, and liad ever since been in declining health. Even while
they were living in l'hiladeli)hia she " could not bear the slightest
exposuie, and needed the utmost care; and all those conveniences
as to ;i](ai-tnients and surroumlings which are so important in the
case of an invalid were almost matters of life and death to her. And
yet the room where she lay f(tr Aveeks [in Philadi'ljdiia], hardly able

to breathe, except as she was
fanned, was a little place witli
the ceiling so low over the nar-
row bed that her head almost
touched it. But no one dared
to speak, Mr. Poe was so sen-
sitive and irritable. ' quick as
steel and flint,' said cme who
knew him in those days. And
he would not allow a word
about the danger of her dying;
the mention of it droAe him
wild." At the time of the re-
moval to I'ordliam sliewas but
a shadow of hei' formei- self,
and was plainly doomed to an
early death. A recent writer
in a New York newspaper re-
lates that in 184(5 he was sent
twice, as a messenger boy, to
the Fordham cottage, to di'-
liver jii-oofs to Toe and wait for the reading of them. "On Dotli
occasions I saw .Mrs. I'oe, then an invalid. On the first visit she
was sitting in the sun on the little ])orch of the cottage, wrajiped
in what appeared to be a counterpane, her husband on on*^
side of her and her mother on the other. At the ne.xt visit shi'
was on a couch covered with a man's overcoat, for the Aveather
was chilly and the house was cold. The recollection of her appear-
ance is still vivid as of a picture of a saint seen long ago in a receding
light. I'robably in full health she was a beautiful girl, but at this
time whatever vital beauty she had was already mystic if not spec-
tral. Iler face Avas thin and Avhite, the kind of pallor that Carlyle
calls ' the herald of the pale repose,' and her large dark eyes were

EDGAR ALLAN POE.

GENEUAL COUNTY TIlSTdftV 'I'd 1842

571

strangely ami \v(>ii(lcriMi;l_\ iil)liiisi\c hy coiilrasl. I rciiiciiibci' that
ilicy affi'clt'd iiic wiili sonicthiu;; like u si'arcliiui; omnipri'seiicc wliilc
i was waitiui;. ... 1 iT'iiiL'iubi'r that while I was wailiug I'oi'
him, liis wife, who liad ppiic iuto another room, coughed once or twice,
;iiid 1 saw him wince at tlii' sound." During his tirst year at I'^jrd-
iiam I'oe also was in (h litate healtii, and probably for mu( h of thai
time he was held in powerful bonds by his besetting sin. lie acconi
plished littk' literary work of importance, and when the winter (jf
1847 came on the family was in great destitution. " xMrs. (<o\e, hear-
ing of this, visited the family, and found tlu^ dying wife with only
sheets and a coverlet ou the bed, wrai)])eil in licr liusbaiid's coat.
She appealed to JMrs. Maria Loni.-'e
Shaw, who immediately rcdieved
the necessities of the family and
raised a subscription of -IfOO.""
Shortly afterward the plain facts
were published in the >»ew York
ne^\s]ia])ers, and further relief was
fortlicoming. The poor little lady
(lied (111 the oOih of January,
1847, and was buried in the
chuitdiyard of tlie old Fordham
Dutcii ("hunli. There her bones
icslcd until 1878, when they were
disinterred by ilr. ^^'illiam Fear-
ing (iili, for tlir [Mll'pnsc nt dc-
]insitiiig lliem beside i'oe's remains
in Haltimore.

The Fordham cottage continued
to be I*oi''s home for the brief
remainder of liis life. Mrs. ('lemm
remained willi liim. and took

loving motherly care of him. His literary productions assignable to
the jieriod (d' his l<'ordham abode are mostly of the hack vari<'ty,
allhongh interspersed among them are siu h gems as ■" .\iinabel Lee,"
" The IJells," the " Cask of Aiuoniillado," the " Homain of Arnheim,"
and •• Fandor's Cottage." Also " l^ureka " and " Flalume " were
written at Fordham. He died at Baltimore ou the 7th of October,
1S4!I, aged thirty-eight.

The T'ee Cottage at Foidliaiii is still i)rest'rved. Originally and
until a c|iiiie recent p<ii(Ml a |>l(it of ground, containing ])erhaps a
• inaiter of an acre, was attached to it. The writer of this History
vividly recalls a visit made to the sptd fifteen years ago, when the

.JAMES K. I'.MI.DIXG.

572 HISTOKY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

iiidimd was yet intact. Soon afterward it was announced in the j
press that the property had passed into new hands, and would prob-
ably be laid out into city lots. Sympathetic souls ])rnteste(l, and '
there were practical endeavors to prevent the inipendinj; desecration, \
which had no result. To-day several " modern " houses, of a distinctly '
indiflerent order of architectui'c, occupy all of the laud except the \
single lot where the cottaj;(' stands. \ye believe that the jiermanent i
preservation of llie cottaj^e has been provided for, and thai it is ,
intended to remove it ulliuiatelj' to a new city })ark in tiic neiiih-
boriiood. I
The late J. Tlioiiias Scharf, iu his History of Westchester ("ounty, j
devotes a separate chapter to the literati ich^ititied by birth, resi- |
denee, or otherwise with our county. Amoni; the names which we i
have not previously mentioned, belonfjing to the first half of the '
nineteenth century, are those of William Lejigett, the able journalist, «
a descendant of Gabriel Le<><.;ett, of West Farms, and a resident of '
New Eochelle, who died in 1839 at the early age of thirty-seven;
Samuel Woodworth. author of the " Old Oaken Bucket," who lived I
at Westchester; and James K. Paulding, the friend of Irving and a '
veiw forcible and esteenied writer, who was of ^Vestchester County *
extraction and received his education in this county.

CHAl'TEK XXV

GENERAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY CONCLUDED

the time of the introdiiclidii of the Croloii watci- into New
Yorlv, the sniiimei' of 1S42, trains were ruuuiug on the New
York and Harlem Kaiiroad as far as Williams's nrid^c.
It took more than two vears lonyer to extend tlie mad to
White Plains, and it was not until June, 1847, that the line was
opened to Croton Falls on the border of Putnam Tounty. The early
ojieralion of this first railway in Westchesiei- County was naturally
conducted in very imperfect fashion, hut its completion thrnui;li tlie
whole extent of the county was an event of sjreat importance, not
only to the people residin<i- alonii' the route, but to those of all other
sections,' stage communication willi ilie \afious statiotis heinu' imme-
diately established from villaiics east and west as the work ]iro-
gressed.

Before the const ruction of this ceiili-al route liad iteeii tinislied, liie
two other ))rinci])al railways that now jiass tiiroujih Westchester
Cotinty had been chartered and [lut on a basis assuring their early
completion.

The New York and Albany divisi(Ui of what is now the Ni'W York
Central and Hudson IJiver Uailroad was originally called the New
York and Hudson River Railroad. In the early years of the New
York and Harlem entei'prise the idea of another line fcdhiwing the
river shore had been scouted as both chiuuMical aiul inexpedient. In
a sober ofiicial report it was declare(l tliai tin- cliief value of a river
route would be its ''novelty," whereas the already chartered road
"leading from the City of New York through the heart of West-
chester County, at nearly e(|ua] distances from the waters <if tlie
Hudson on the one hand and of the East River and Long Island Sound
on the other, and extending from iheiu'e through the ui)iier valley
of the Croton liiver near to ihe eastern border of the State," was
the oidy satisfactory project for bringing tlie whole country as far
as Albany into communication with the coiunu'rcial metroi)olis. It
Avas also argued that the same central rouie would serve the ])urposp
of railwa\- intercourse with New ICnuland. a load fmm P.osinn to

574 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COINTY

Albiiiiy liavini;- iii'c\i(iusl\ hrcn Imilt, w liicli, by the way, was a
grii'Vous thorn in the s^idc of New York, as tliat tlioi-du^lifaic had
operated to divert a heavy volume of tlie Erie ("aual coimiierce to
Boston, ("apitalists were slow to formulate new plans of lailway
development centering in Kew York; hut durinj'' the first half of tlu-
decade lS4(l-.")0 botli the Tliidsou IJiver aud I lie New York and New
Haven undertakiuns hei^an to take sliape.

The New York and Hudson River road was (diartciid liy iIh legis-
lature in May, 1S40, and the com|)any was soon after oruanized, ^Ir.
Jolm I?. .Tervis, tlu' engineer of tlie Croton Aiiueduct, Iteing em
ployed as chief engineer. Work was bejiun towai-d tlie middle of
1847, the entire line beiiiL; ]daced under contract by sections, and tlie
work was prosecuted so dilincutly that by the 2f)tli of Seiiteud)er,
1849, passenjicr travel was commenced between New Yoi-k and Peek-
skill. "The averaiic numbci- of ])ass(Mi^ei-s per day for the tii-st
month tOctober) was 830, and the total number ^U^Oo. ... At
this time it was calculated that tlie land taken for the madway in
Westchester County had cost tlie conqiany, exclusive of agencies and
other charges, $185,1)05.02, and also that the grading had involved
an ex])enditure of not fai' from a million dollars, which was about
1300,000 above flie cost as estimateil by the original let tings in
1847."'

It was a single track road, witli "tunioMts" wlierc iiefdcil. Tliis at oiicf caused tlic New
York and Allianv stages to l)e witlidrawn, and it also competed with the steamboats. The
following .advertisement was published in the Xew York Herald : " Passenger trains will
commence to rnn between Xew York and Peekskill on Saturday, the 29th instant (September,
1849), stopping at the following places and at the rate of fare respectively stated, viz.:
Manhattanville, twelve and one-half cents ; Yonkers, twenty-five cents, etc. Omnibuses will
be provided at the junction of Chambers Street and Hudson Street to convey passengers who
furnish themselves with tickets at the engine-liou.se, at Thirty-first Street, until tlie rails are
laid to that point. Trains will start at S a.m., 12 noon, and 4 p.m. N. 13. — Stockholders
during the present week free of charge." -

Originally the Hudson Ifiver road followed the straight line to the
foot of ^Yest Thirty-hrst Street.

The Xew York and New Haven Kailroad (now tiie New \'oik. New
Haven, and Hartford) was in full operation nine months before tlu-
opening of the Hudson ilixcr routi to Peekskill. This road was liuilt
downward from New liaxcn through the Towns of Kye. Hairisou.
^ramaroneck, New Kixdudle, Pelliam, and Easlchester. to its junction
AA'ith the Ne^^■ York and Harlem at Washingtonvillc, a distance in
our county of 13.0 miles. The first through train from New York to
NeAA' Haven, bearing a ]>arty of stockholders, was run on rhi'islnias

Ucv. W. S. Coffp.v, in SclKirfs Ilistor.v. 1.. 480. = Allison's Hist, .if V..nl;cis. Ifin.

FROM 1842 TO I'.KIO 575

Day, 1S4S, and ilic next dav tlic niad was oiicii^'d for Imsiiirss. " Ii
Mas al first a siiijilc ti-ick road. . . . 'I'lic mum roiis curves on
tlic i-oad were cansi-d by the I'cstrictcd linancial ((indilioii, niakinii'
il ncccssaiy, as far as jiossihic, to axoid cnltinjis anil rniljanlvincnls.
The desire had bei^n to build the i-oad in a snbsianlial and |iernianenl
nianuer, but it Mas found ditticiilt to eoniph'te it in an\ shape.
It is a curious fact tliat when tlic trains fii-st connnenced to run
till' passengers Mere booked as in the old slaii<'-coa(di times, their
ua UK'S beiuy duly rejiorted by the conductors to the coin])any.'"

Thus by tlie dawn of the second half of the nineteenth century
tlie tliree ureat railway roiites which traverse W'esicjiesier County
had been coin]deted and ]iut in successful ojieratimi. The other two
railways now e.xistiuii — the Harlem Hivei- Hranch of the New York,
New ila\'en, and Hartford, and the New \'ork ami rutnani weri' nol
built until many years later. The foi-nier. at tirst called the Harlem
iiiverand I'oit Chester Kailroad, runninj; on its own line from .Morris-
ania to New lloclielle, and thence over the New Haven track to I'orl
('hester, was undertaken in 1ST2. and was frcuu the be^inninii leased
by the New ^'ork, New Haven, and Hartford ( 'om])aiiy. The ])i-esent
New York and Putnam IJailroad al its incejttion (1S71) was ilesi<;iied
to run fr(Uii Hiiili Ki'idi;'e to Brewsters, and theic connect with the
so-called New York and Boston. This i-oad was not tinished until
ISSl. It was long" styled the New York and Ndrthern. Its comidete
de\'elo]iment was effected by the extension of the line from Hi.i;h
Itridjic to the terminus of the Elevated Railway at One llumlred and
I'Mfty-lifth Street, and by the buildiuii' <d' the branch fiom Van Coil-
laudt Station to Yonkers. In common with the New York and Har-
lem, the New York and Putnam is now incorporated in the New-
York Cential and Hudson IJiver system, with which also the New
York, New Haven, and Hartford is cl(»s(dy adiliated; so that all the
steam railways of Westchester County are substantially under one
nianauement.

Aside from the buildinji of the railways, there were not many events
of local impoitance in Westchester County from the comidetion td
the('l'(Jton .\(|Ueduct UTltil IS.IIt.

Two new townshi])s were erected — Ossinini; (lS4r>i and West l-'arnis
(1S4(')I, and the territorial dimensions of four others were somewhat
chanjicd by the anm-xation of a poi'tion of North Salem to Lew isboro
iu 1S44, an<i of a ])ertion of Soniers to New Castle in 184(J.

I'rom 1SI(» until 1S4."( .Mount Pleasant, embracinu- the \illai;e of
Sin<4 Sini;, had been the most poimlotis townshi]i of the county. The
federal enumeration of l^W t;ave it a jtoimlation of 7,.'?<>7. Ii was also
one (d' the larucsi townships in area, and chietly on this ac<onnt its

)76

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

division was (k-tcniiiiKMl upon. ]i_v a legislative act ])as!sc<l May 2,
1X45, the pivsent Township of Ossining was ert-ctetl from it. "The
lueauiu!;- of the term ' Ossinini' ' and its derivation," says Dr. Fisher,
" were given by IMr. Henry M. Schoolcraft in 1844, at the reijuest uf
Oeueral Aaron Ward, member of congress from this district at the
time. We are told that the word ossiii, in the Ohippeway language,
signifies ' a stone *; that ossiiiee or ossiiiccii is the plural for ' stones.'
This etymology was accepted, and in May, 1845, when our town was
taken from Mount Pleasant, it n-ceived the name of ' Ossin-sing.'

In Maich, lS4(i, it was
changed (by dropping the
third s^) and made to read
• ( fssin-ing,' and still later
the liyidien was omitted." '
Including in its limits Sing
Sing Village, Ossining natu-
rally took a |ii-oiiiiufnt jilace
among the towns of tlic
county from the start.

The Town of West Farms
Avas carved out of West-
chester by a law jiasscil
:\lny Kx ISlC). The new
tcjwnshiji coniiireliended all
of the ancient ])atents of
West Farms, Morrisania
Manor, and 1' o r d h a m
^lanor, Westchester Town
retaining only the territory
east of the I'l-onx IJiver.
The three component ]tarts
of W^est Farms Townshi]),
being much more accessible to New York City than Westchester
prt)per, had increased far inoi-e rajiidly in population, and as they
were separated from the ]iareiit town by a broad line of natural
division, the Bronx Kiver, it was esteemed very proper to organize
them into a distinct political unit. West Inarms Village, as has be<ni
noticed in the previous chai)ter, had become a locality of some manu-
facturing importance, on accoimt of tlu utilization of the water of
the Bronx Kiver to turn mill A\beels. Mr. John Topcutt and Mr.
Alexander Smith, nn-n who became conspicuous in founding the
manufacturing industries of Yonkers, originally had tlu'ir mills at

WILLIAM W. SCRUGHAM.

Scharf. ii., 322.

FItO.M 1S42 TO 1!)()()

577

West I';u'iiis. In view ol' I lie riipid ni-owtli wliicli llir 'I'ow iisliip nl"
West Farms ('.Kiirricnccd after the opciiim; of ilic ll;iilcin Railroad,
it was found advisable iu IS.")") to subdivide it and set apart .Morris-
auia as a separate town.

In 184(i a final radical revision was elTcci cd in the State const lint ion
of New York. Judj;('s, district attorneys, and oilier ollicers formerly
ajipointive w(-re made elective. Tlie first county jiidjic elected in
Wcstclicster County was John W. Mills, of White I'lains (1851-5(5);
the first surio-ate, Lewis (\ Piatt, of White I'lains |lS4S-r)(!|; the first
district attorney, William W. Scruiiham,' of ^'onUel•s |184S-51j; the
liist county treasurer, Elisha Horton, of \\iiite IMains (1849-52).

At the State census of 1845 — the last enunu'ration taken liefore
the railways came into operation — \\'estchesrer County had 47,:?I>4
inhabitants, some 1,300 fewer than the niniibcr a\vard<Ml the county
by the federal census of 1840. The greater population of 1840 was
])robably due to the iiicinsion in the census at that time of the numer-
ous workmen employed on the Crotou Aqueduct. As classified by
occu])atio)is in 184."). the adult males of the county included 4, '?(!!(
farmei-s and ajiriculturists, 3(>4 manufacturers, 275 mei'chants, 101
clernynu'u, Ii2 physicians and surgeons, and 42 lawyers. There were
in that year 142 common sclnxds and Ct[) select schools.

With the completion of the raih\ays a <;Teat chanj;e at once trans-
l)ired in local conditions in Westchester County. In the ten years
from 1845 to 1N55 the ])o]iulation rose from 47,."?itl to 80,(")78 — a ,i;;iin of
more than 08 per cent. The following table shows the population by
toAvns in 1845 and 1855, with the valuation of real estate and per-
sonal propert\ iu 1858:

TOWNS

Bedford

POPCI.ATION

1845

2,725

6,738

1,369

3,205

1,039

POPULATION,

1855

3,464
8,468
4,715
6,435
1,271
1,775
1,008

VALt'ATION,
UKAI. KSTATE
* PERSONA I,,

1858
$1,002,170

Curtlandt

Easti-hester

Orccnburgli

Harrison ...

3,110,750

l,400..-)5O

4,53S,(i57

805,110

Lewisboro

Maniaronet'k.

1,541

780

955,427
029,095

Morrisania '

Mount Pleasant

. '. . . . . 2,778
1,495

2,583,80;j

1,846,745

84(>,210

3,077
1,702
3,101
2,415

Farms.

New Roebelle

North Castle

' I'lipniiitlou for 1845 hiclinl.il in Wrsti-ln-st

1,977

. . . 2,010

cr; fur is.-).") in West

1,780,700
794,358

' Mr. Srnigliam also had Ihc limiDr i>f lii'lnti:
tlic first ciUzcn (if Wfstfhi'stLT ronnty cli-ctcd
tu thi' dllici' u£ Justice of the Suineine Court of

the State. He was chosen to that position In
ISSfl. and conilniieil In It niilll his death In

IStjT.

578

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

North Salem .
Ossining ....

I'elhain

Pomidridge. . .

Rye

Scarsclale . , . .
Soiiiers . . . .
Westchester. .
West Farms '
White Plains .

Yonker.s

Yorktown. . . ,

Total .

roruLATiox, roruL.\TiON, kk
1845 185o 4

ALUATION,
AL KSTATK
PERSONAL

1858

1,228

1,528

1,004,177

3,312

5,7o8

1,820,433

486

833

746,750

1,727

1,430

424,508

2,180

3,468

1,997,315

341

445

421,41'i

1,761

1,744

1,366,533

5,052

3,464

2,231,815

12,436

2,229,774

1,155

1,512

942,365

2,517

7,554

4,887,068

2,278

2,346

1,24(!,377

47,394

80,678

40,343,401

Populatiou for 1S45 inolinU'il iuWcstc'

Diii'inji' tlu' ten years the total ]M)i)ulati(iii increased 32,2S4, of wliicU
iuerease 22,4(51 was in the Towns of West Farms i iii(lii(liii;ii Wesl-
Chester), Youkers, Eastchester, aud (ireenburuh — that is, in the
localities broiiiiht within a comparatively short and inexpensive rail-
way ride of New York. In former times, before railways existed, the
local gains in population had invariably been without special refer-
ence to nearness to NeAV York. A journey to the business sections
of the city, even from Morrisania or Fordhanl, then involved a ride by
carriage or stage of protracted duration; and thus foi" persons having
daily business in New York, regular residence in any section of West-
(diester County was out of the question. Indeed, the tendency had
steadily been toward a much larger growth in su(di remote towns
as Sing Sing aud Peekskill than in ilie nearby communities. Now,
liowever, There was a reversal of this ancient order of things, aud
although Sing Sing and Teid^skill, as widl as New Kochelle, Kye, and
all other places througli wliicli tlie lailway lines passed, made
respectable advances. t!ie ])rin(ipal gains were in the section from
which New York could be reached in the briefest time and at the
miniiinim of expense, indicating the immigration of a large class of
former New York residents. This fact is (juite as strikingly evidenced
by the nearly stationary condition of the excltisively agricultural
townships of the northern portions of the county — such as Lewis
boro. North rastl(% North Salem. Potindridge, Somers, and York-
town. I'oundridge, not (utered by any railway lin<', actually lost
some 300 people in the ten ,\ears.

Anuingst the significant local results thus brought to pass, the
most interesting and important, whether considered in its original

VKou 184:i TO I'JUU 579

jis])('cfs (11- ill rcliitioii to its later ilcvelopinciils, was uiKiucslioiiahlv
the touiidatiipii of ilic N'illaiic — now the |ii-<)siK'rou.s and liaiKlsuinc
City — of iMoTinl NCiiion. Inlikc any other considerable coniinnuit y
of Westchester Couuiy. .Mount N'ernon owes its very existence to
I he railroad. ^■ollkers, Tarrytowu, Sin<4- Sinii, I'eekskill. New
Kochelle, .Mainaroueok, Hye, and Port Chester, with White Plains,
Bedford, and various other villai^cs scattered throniih the central
and northern parts of the couuty, existed before the period of rail-
ways, and doubtless would have eujoyed respectable «>rowth if ii<>
railway had ever been built. Rut Jlount Vernon had no such prior
existence. In 1850 there was not even au elementary settlement on
the site of the present city. Its very name belongs as strictly to the
latter half of the nineteenth century as does the name of Irvington.
Larclimont, or any other hamlet exclusively conceived and erected,
within the memory of men still living, on the foundations of extem-
])orized enterprise.

Although the Township of Eastchester, at least at its southern ex-
tremity, Avas one of the earliest settled localities of the county, no
village of any noticeable pretensions or expectations had been estab-
lished within its limits until Mount Vernon sjirang into being. The
hamlet of Eastchester, at the head of sloop navigation where Hutch-
inson's Kiver or Eastchester Creek eini)ties into Eastchester Uay.
has associations as an organized communily scarcely less venerable
I hail those of ^^'(^stchester N'illage. In 1S.")() some ti\-e hundred jieople
were living there and in that vicinity. The total jiopuiation of the
I township in the same year was 1,7(!9. There was also a settlenienr
ji of some size at Tuckahoe, resulting from the opening of marble (|uar-
j; ries there about 1823. and Tuckahoe was consequently one of the
I original stations of the Harlem Railroad.

I' 111 IS.'it) there was organized in New York City au association called
I the "New York Industrial Home Association No. 1,"' eomiinsed mostly
j of tradesmen, eiii])lo\ees, and other p<'rsoiis of small means. Its an-
nounced object was to see what could be done by co-operative action
toward securing homes for its inemlx'rs where they could be relie\ed
from the exorbitant rentals then exacted by landlords in the city;
to which end it was jirojiosed to jmrchase land and build a village
within coiivi'iiieiit distance of New York. One of the fundamental
conditions on which the association was liased was that a iliousan<l
members should be secured, and this object was accoin]ilished in six
nieiiihs" time. N'arieus men of influence in the city lent their hearty
support to the ]iroject — among them Horace (Jreeley, the editor of
the Trihinic. The most active man in the enterprise was Mr. John
Stevens, who Avas appointed purchasing agent.

580 niSTOUY OF westchester county

It is sjiiil lliiit tlic sclectiou of tlK^ site lor the dcsiri'd villajit* was
deteiniiiicd bv a su.n<>esti<)n from fTOUvernexir Morris (sou of the statos-
inau of the same iiamel, who, oommeiitin<i on the exteusive i^rowth
attained by Morrisauia, observed that the next large settlement
should naturally be at a point near the intersection of the New York
and Harlem and the New York and New Haven Railroads. Some
one liundred farms in different parts of Westchester County were
offered to the association, but the location pointed out by Mr. Morris
Avas chosen by unanimous ajireemeut. The laud bou<;ht consisted of
five farms, owu<'d by Colonel John K. Hayward, Sylvanus Purdy,
Andrew I'urdy, and his two sons, John and Ancli-ew Oscar I'ui'dy —
the aggrefiate area of the purchase being about three hundred and
seventy acres. The first check in jtayment for tlie land, f3,400, Avas
dated November 1, ISHO. Among the names originally [)roposed for
the place were Columbia, I*'leet wood, Kising Sun, Stevensville, Jeffer-
sou. Thousaudville, Palestine, New ^Vashiugton, Mouticello. \Vash-
ington, Pafayette, Little New York, Linden, (Hive Pianch, New Am-
sterdam, Enterprise, Ilomesville, Industria, Y'oungfield, and Indus-
try.' The nauK- of Monticello was selected, but, as there was already
a Montictdio in the State of New York, this was soon (dianged to
Monticello City. The jtostal authorities were slill dissatisfied, how-
ever, and on the 10th of January, 1851, the present name of Blount
^'ernon was adopted. On the 12th of November, 1850, the site was
visited by a large number of members of the association and prac-
tically dedicati^l to the uses of the new village, Mr. Greeley uuiking
an address in which he s])oke in complimentary terms of the wisdom
displayed in tlie choice nf locality and predicted rapid growth for
the community about to be established.

In the spring of 1851 the village was laid out into streets and ave-
nues, various contracts for grading were effected, and the distribution
of the one thousand quarter-acre lots among the members was made.
-V de])ot was erc^-tc^d at the exi)ense of the association, and j)resented
to the New Haven ilaihoad Company. In October there was a
jubilee in celebration of the rapid progress attained in the space of
a single year. On the 12th of December the ])resident of the asso-
ciation, ]Mr. Stevens, reported that fifty-six houses had either been
comjileted or were in various stages of construction, and this num-
ber had on the tilli of August, 1852, been increased to three hundred.
" One of the causes of this i-ajdd ])rogress was the reversionary clause
in the deeds given, whicli required the erection within three years
or a forfeiture of tlie land. This ])rovisiou in the deed umloubtedlv

' Smilli's Maniiiil of Wcsli-lii-stcr Cduilty. 216.

FROM 1S42 TO lOUO 681

was uot lt'<;ally biiidinu, hut cITrctcd tlic i»iiriMisc for wliicli flic mom-
hers of the association fi-ccly placed llicinscJvcs luidcr its seeming-
risks. The lots not improved, as so required, were, however, in a
few years relieved from this incumbrance by ndeases freely jiiveii." '

By the fall of 1S53 the settlement of the place had been so satis-
factorily accomplished, and its preparation in oilier respects for or-
ganized fiovernmeut so far advanced, that its i(e(i])le were ready to
consider the question of its incorporation as a viJlap'. This jjhin
was agreed to by a majority vote in December. The lirst election for
village officers was held on the 7th of March, IS'ii, when Stei)hen
Rogart, John I>. lirennan, Joseph S. (iregory, M.l)., Thomas Jones,
and William Saxton were chosen trustees. i>r. (iregory was the
first president of the villag(\ but resigned sooii after his election and
was succeeded by Thomas Jones. A census taken at the time of in-
corporation gave the place 1,370 inhabitants, of \\ Jioni .'((U were pai-
eiits, (i23 children, and the remainder unmarried adults and ajqiren-
tices.

The original settlement of .Mount Vernon was where the i)rincii)al
business jKUtinn of the city now is, on the line of the New Haven
Kailroad, and mainly on the southern side of that line, although a
few houses were built at an early period to the northward of the
railway. Contem])oraneously, however, with the foiindalion of the
\illage ou the New Haven road, another village on the ilarlem road
was inaugurated, called ^\■est Mount Vernou. This also was begun
under the auspices of an association organized on pi'inciples of econ-
omy— the Teutonic Homestead Association, composed, as its name
iiulicates, mostly of (Jermans. The number of the Tentoinc asso-
cialors was five hundred, ami the land whicli iliey bougiit cnusisted
of about one hundred and thirty-one acres. Subseciuently a third
settlement, Central Mount Vernon, was built u^) between liie twn
villages. Central and West Mount \'ernon were incorporated as one
village in lS(i!l, and were consolidated with .M(Uint X'ernoii in 1S7S.
Various other outlying localities gradually came into being. After
a career of about thirty-nine j'ears as a village, Jlount Vernon became
a city in 1892, taking in, of course, all these connecte<l districts.

The fundamental object of the founders of Mount Vernon, to es-
tablish a community of homes, is jterpetuated by the motto of the
otlicial seal of tlu' city, / r/<.v .hicini(liiriuii nuiiiiinii — "A City of
Happy Homes." Itui after serving its original p\ir]»oses the asso-
ciation gradually underwent disorganization, and the ultimate de-
velopment of the jdace was tlie result of ])rivale eiiieiprise, con-

lliv. W. S. Cipniy, in Siliarfs Hislcny, 11.,

582 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

ducted under the ordinary conditions of local proijrpss. On the other
hand, it is undeniable that the ijeculiar character fjiven the com-
munity at the be<;inning operated continuously to attract to it, in
the succeeding- years, citizens of the same general spirit, alms, and
conditions of life as the original associators — men chieHy of moderate
means, but of providence, thrift, foresight, and energetic traits. For
many years few men of large wealth, either inherited t)r self-accjuired,
came to live in Mount \'ernon; but it could not be otherwise than
that substantial and even opulent fortunes should in the course of
time be gained by numerous citizens of a community erected on
such a basis as that of Mount Vernon. Thus from a settlement of
humble home-seekers it steadily grew into a tloui-ishing subni'b, with
a population representing all degrees of individual prosjierity.

Yonkers, when last noticed, had just acquired the essentials of
serious development by the i)artition of the Wells estate, which oc-
curred soon after the death of Lemuel Wells in IS4L'. The village
was not incorporated, however, until 1855. During the thirteen years
there was a steady improvement of the natural mannfacturing facili-
ties afforded by the power of the Nepperhan Kiver, and with the
opening of the Hudson Kiver Railroad in 1849 the population began
to receive large and \aluable accessions from New York (Mty. Some
considerable local im])rovements were introdm-ed. New streets wei'e
opened, a tire company, gaslight company, and library association
were organized, and new (diurches and schocds were built. In 1851
Mr. Kobert P. Getty erected the <!etty House at a cost of between
140,000 and .f50,000, and other i)ublic-spirited citizens were active
in jiromoting the general good. Meantime several m^w settlements
were founded in the Townshij) of Yonkers. In 1852 Elias Johnson,
David B. Fox, and Josei)h B. Fuller, of Troy, N. Y., purchased land
near Spuyten Duyvil inl(4 and had surveys and jdans made for a
village, which it Avas at first intended should be called Fort Inde-
pendence, but received the name of Spuyten Duyvil. Riverdale was
laid out in 1853. To this jieriod also belongs the erection of Edwin
Forrest's famous home, whiih in 185t> was purchased by the sisters
of Saint ^'incent de Paul and took the name of Mount Saint Vincent.
According to Allison, there were in 1852 537 buildings in the Towu
of Yonkei'S, "not in(luding those in the southern ])ortion subse-
quently set off."

The A'illage of Yonkers was incorp(U'ated by an act of the legis-
lature, April 12, 1855. " It extended one mile and seven-tenths along
the ITudson Kiver. Its average breadth was eight-tenths of a mile.
Edward F. Shonnard's farm was on the north and Thomas W. Lud-
low's on the south. The area of the incorporated village was about

>^ i" I'll'l^ Mil I /^^^H<^^^^^>»>''%'-t-"^ s»ow,NcMwoBR^UA.^.NOT^.tVo^NLRP^RTotS^wMu^.

W J S"' S^ rilr.. ^'^ W^^S^^^^^iff' R<lH««l'H*uBuil.DINCSHN0OT«tRlMI'SOVlulNTS «■,

t^iUKJ !"*3'7 I'lf^^Ti^if t>»l'<STO0D mTvltSoMMlROF ^8'^f IMMtolMHI 6(HJ«

'~K li ~~ THlCONSTHUCTIONOfTHtMUMOH SWSR^MVROfiO

!'■ ''1

_SS2 lif age Xb"

YONKERS MAP, 1847.

584 IIISTOUY OF \YESTOHESTER COUNTY

nine hundred acres."" 1'lii' ii()])uhitii>n of the whole townshi]) ;ir lhi«
time was 7,554. I'ive hiiiidred and four votes were cast at the lirst
viUage election, the ofticers chosen beinj; : President, William Kad-
ford; Trustees, William ('. Warinjj-, Jacob Read, Ix^niuel W. Wells.
Thomas (). I'arrinjiton, Keuben \N'. \'an Pelt, and Fiiddiniii S. (iant;
("lerk, William 11. Post; Treasurer, John M. Stillwater; Collector,
Lyman F. Bradley.

The settlement of Mount Vernon uii(]uestionably operated ma-
terially to intercept the natural .growth of New liocdielle after the
openinj; of the New Haven Kailroad. As the first important stopping
place on that road above Fordham, and as a long established, beauti-
fully located, and eminently substantial community. N<'w Kochelie
would naturally have drawn to itself a very considerable element
of the large numbers of New York people who sought homes in
Westchester Tounty after the completion of the railways, had it not
been for the organization of the new village, which offered superior
advantages to most persons of that class. Thus the immediate prog-
ress of New Rochelle was effectually retarded. The growth of the
township in the ten years from 1S45 to 1S55 did not comiiare with
that of West Farms, p]astcbester, Vonkers, or Greenburgh, being only
1,024. TJK' population of the township in 1S30 was 1,274; in 1835,
],2(il; in 1840, 1,81(1; in 1845, 1,077; in 18.50, 2,.548; in 1855, ;5,101.

Nevertheless, the village had long ]iossessed every requirement for
oi'ganized government. .V town hall had been built as early as 1828,
witli money be(iueathed for that purpose by a public-spirited citizen,
William Henderson. In 1854 a cemetery, known as the Heechwood
('emet< ry, was located in New Kochelie by authority granted by the
board of supervisors. The community was inhabited by many peo-
ple of substance and progressiveuess. A village charter was accord-
ingly ajtitlied for, which was conferred by the legislature on the
5th of ( )ctober, 1857. The first meeting of the otticers of New Rochelle
^'illage was held January 21, 1858, when Albert Smith was elected
president of the board of trustees. The original charter of New
Iiochelle continued in effect until April 20, 18(i4, when a new charter
was obtained from the legislature. The village, from its organiza-
tion in 1858, endured until 1890, when the present CMty of New
Rochelle was instituted.

It is noteworthy that the three cities of Westchester County —
Yonkers, Mount Vernon, and New Rochelle — all had theii' birth as
incorporated villages in the decade 1850-00.

In this decade also the Township of Morrisania — now the most
populoxis portion of the ohl County of Westchester — came into being
as a se])arate political division. Ry the act of 1788, which divi(l<>d

FROM 1842 TO 1900 585

the ((iiiiilv into low IIS, .Morrisaiiin was dcsiiiiialcd as a (listinci lown-
sliip, hut slioi'tly afterward it was rcsloi'cd tn its aiicicut jtosilioii
as a portion of flip Town of Westchester, lii lS4t) it becaiiie a pan
of tlie new Township of West I'arins, carvi-d out of Westcliester. Hui
tlie great yroA\tii ol' this neu township in jiopuhilion, conscqnenl
upon the railv.a_\ dcxehipnieut — a growth of some S,()()0 in tlie live
years from IS.IO to IS.")."), — made its subdivision necessarv, and on the
Ttli of Decendicr. IS.")."), the Town of Morrisania was create<l. Its
" nortli Unc lic^an at Harlem Ifiver, near tlie lucseiit A<pn'dnct
liridgc, and cxli iided east to Union Avenue, which was ]iractically
tlie east bounds of the Morrisania .Manor. Its east boundary was
T'nion Avenue, coiitintied to the head of IJnniiay ("reck, and thence
to Harlem Jvills, and its south and west boundaries tlie Harlem Kiver
and Kills." The first supervisiu- of the town was ( iou\'erneui' .Morris,
son of the famotis statesman. Mori-isania N'illajic was incorjiorated
in LS(i4, when the town was divich-d into four wards, in each of w hich
three trustees were elected.

The history of ^^'estchester rounty to IStiO comprehends several
matters of lieneral interest in addition to the facts of development
which have been iiotetl in the juecedins'' pages of this chapter.

In the year 1S4S tin' oriiiinal edition of Bolton's " History of \V<'st-
chester County" was published. (living due consideration to the
conditions under which this work was compiled and to the v<dnme
and variety of its contents, it stands nnapproached by any other early
contribtition to American local history. The uni(|ne value of I lie
first edition of I{(dton is now so well recognized that it has become
a much jirized hook from the collector's ])oint of view. Robert Hol-
ton was born in the City of I'.ath, England, April 17, 1S14, being the
eldest of the fourteen children of the Kev. Kobert Rolton. who, re-
moving to America, became rector of Christ's Church at I'elham,
this county, whence, however, he subse(|nent ly returned to i']ugland.
The son studied medicine in lOnglaud, but did not practice that pro-
fession. In 1830, at the age of thirty-two, he engaged in farming
pursuits at Bronxville in the Town of Eastchester, ami ever after-
ward he was a citizen of mir county. He lived at various limes in
New lioohelle, Tarrytown, liedford, Lewisboro, and i'elham. For
many years he conducted select scho(ds, but later was ordained a
(lergyman in the Episcopal Clinndi and a])i»ointed to the parish of
Saini .lolin's in Lewisboro, his only iliargi'. He died at i'elliani
Priory,' October 11, ISTT. His original researches for his " History
of Westchester Connly " covered a period of some ten years. That

' IVlhain I'riiir.v was an estate purchased b.v a sclioul f..r ynuia: la. lies, ci.mlnii.il liy llio
Ills father. The residenee was eotiverted Into ^Usses Bolt<m.

586 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

was before the publication of the colonial and other historical docu-
ments, .vet bv f>reat perseverance he was able to procure, in manu-
script, nearly all the important original documents bearing- upon
the history of our county. His labors also included " personal visita-
tion of every spot of interest and nearly every person of advanced
age." In addition to his History of the county, he ])ublished a " (iuide
to New Kochelle " and a " History of the Protestant K]Msco]»al Church
in \Vestchester County.'' At the time of his deatli lie had nearly
coinideted a revision of his History of the county, wliicli was issued
under the editorship of his brother, the Kev. ('. W. Bolton, of New
Eochelle, in 1S81.

On the 4th of December, 1851. occurred the first serious railway
accident in the instory of the county. This was of a decidedly sen-
sational nature. An afternoon up train from New York was stopped
by the conductor above Croton to put otf two men who did not pay
their fare, and was run into by an engine without cars, several pas-
sengers suffering iujury. Another up train which followed it — an
express train — was switched off to the west track and halted to
render assistance; whereupon it was run into by a down train, re-
sulting in more casualties. This double accident caused much news-
paper comment.

The Village of Tarrytown was the scene of a notable monument
dedication on the 7th of October, 1853. On the spot where Major
Andre was captured by Paulding, Williams, and Vixu Wart, Sep-
tember 2'.i, 1780, a monument in commemoration of that event was
unveiled with much ceremony, the governor of the State and other
distinguished guests being in attendance. In a previous chapter the
particulars of this event and also of the dedication of the " new "
monument on the same spot in 1880 have been given (si-e p. 493).

The burning of the Hudson River steamboat " Henry Clay " on the
28th of July, 1857, the most terrible disaster of that period, is vividly
remembered by many citizens of Yonkers still living. The "Clay"
was a fast passenger boat plying between New York and Albany,
and had a competitor, the " Armenia," operated by another manage-
ment. It was alleged that the two boats frecpiently raced, especially
on the down trij), and although there was no conclusive evidence that
they were engaged in racing on the day of the disaster, the burinng
of the "Clay" was supposed to have been attributable to tlie care-
lessness engendered in the crew by these efforts for undue speed, very
inflammable material being sometimes thrown into the furnaces, in
addition to the ordiiuiry fuel, to increase the heat of the boilers. The
two vessels came down the river on the afternoon of the fatal day,

FKO.M 1S42 TO 1900 587

tlic " ("lay ■■ liciiiy slij;litly in advance. As slic passed Vonkers, niov-
hiix at a lii,iili speed, snioUe was seen issninj;- from her sides. She was
at (»nce headed for the (hick at Kiverdale, bnt meantime tlie Hames
had bnrst forth and it was necessary to beacli lier with all tlie haste
possible. "Mr. Edwin Forrest, the actor, who lived near, was there,
and soon others came. It was an awful siijlit. The steamer struck
the sh(H-e and ran up so far that the bow hiy across the western rail-
road track. The passeu.a,ers were either pitched into the river by the
sudden stop])ini; of the boat as it struck tlie river bank, or fliey jumped
overboai'd. The bodies were laid alon<j;- the shore. l']i,i;lity or more
were drowned or burned. All (lie bodies were not recovered on the
day of the fire. They washed ashore at irrejiular intervals. This
necessitated holdinti in(|uests tln'ouj^h a jieriod of tw(» weeks. The
coroner was Mr. William 11. Lawrence. The inquests were held at
the Youkers railroad station. The captain of the boat and other
ofticers escaped from the burning' steamer." ' Many of The bodies
were buried in a jdot in Saint -bdin's Cemetery, Yonkers. and over
their inraves a marble column was erected, which still stands, al-
though in a state of decay.

Tlie year IN.jT \vituessed the comjdeiioii and occupation of the
pi'cseut court house of the county at ^^'llite Plains. "The commis-
sioners in I hai-,i;e of the construction of tlie court house and jail wei'C
Siiper\ isors Abraham Hatfiehl, of Weslcliestei-; States IJartoii, of
New IJocludle; Daniel Hunt, of Lewisboro; William ^Marshall, Jr., of
Somers; and (ieori:e C. I'inch, of North Salem. K. (i. llailield was
architect and 1). I. Stagg assistant and suiierintendeiit ; Theodore
lliiiil. biiilder of the court house; Seth Bird, of Tarrytown, builder
of ih" jail. The amount a]ii)ro])riated to coxcr the cost of the builil-
iug was .'jttl^O.OOO. The hall of records was erected, as a wing of tln'
coiii-i house, in ISDt. SujK'rvisors .Moses \\'. Tayloi% of Mount I'leas-
ant ; -Joseph F>. See, of North Castle; Odle Close, of North Salem; an<l
Jacob Kead. of Yonkers, were the commissioners in charge; Edwin
\. (^uick, aichitet t." -

We have already noticed the political changes introiluced liy the

State constitution of 184(3, so far as they affected Westchester County.

The further political history of the county to 1S(»() includes nothing

of iiiiiiortance, aside from the party struggles on the great (luestions

of the times. The presidential votes of Westchester County from

1.*<4S to 1S(K), inclusive, were as follows:

1848 Lewis Cass (Uem.), 2,14G; Zacliary Taylor (Wliig), 4,312; Martin Van Hiir.'ii

(Free Soil), 1,312.

1852.— Franklin Pierce (Dem.), 5,283; WinfieUl Scott (Whig), 4,033; scattering, 61.

' Kroiii the n:irrntivp of an e.ve-wltness. Allison's Hist, of Yonkers, 187.
» Snilili's Manual of Westchester County, 35.

588

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

1850. — James Buchanan ( Dem. ), 4,600; Millard Fillnime ( Whig), 4,450; John C. Fre-
mont (Rep.), 3,641.

186(1. — United vote of Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Hreekinridge, and John Bell, 8,100;
Abraham Lincoln (Rep.), 6,771.

The divided fondition of the Dciiiocratic jiarty in 1848 caused tlie
fdunty, for tlic first time ill its liistory, to f>ive a plurality for the
oi)l)ositiou candidate for president, but this was only a transient
fickleness. The <;enerally conservative character of our poj)ulation is
capitally evidenced by the result in 185fi, \vh<-n the new Kepubliean

WKSTCHESTER COUNTY lOIRT HOISF.

part^', organized on tlie issvie of non-extension of slavery, made its
first appearance, with Jcdin (\ Fremont^ as its candidate. Fremont
received less than thirty ])er cent, of the total vote. In ISliO, despite
the great distractions from wliich the conservative forces suffered,
they still rallied a united vote some 1,300 larger than that cast for
Lincoln.^

^ General Fremont resided at one time nt - It Is of interest to record the names of the

Mount Pleasant, In the house built by General delegates from Westchester Count.v to the
James Watson Webb.— Scharf, i., 599. State conventions held for the purpose of

FKOM 1S42 TO lUOO 589

'I'lic coii^rcssioiKil district t(i wiiicli Westchester ( "(uiiily belonged
Avas ivpicscntcd at Wasliiiij;t(iii by William Nelson, (if I'eekskill, from
1S47 to IS.')!; Jared \'. i'eek, (if live, from IS."):? to IS."); and .b.im 15.
Haskiu, of Westchester, from IS.IT to IStll.

lu 1847 the first division of Westchester County into assembly dis-
tricts was made, two districts beinn created, to which a third was
added in 185S. The late Jud-^e William 11. Kobertson bejian his ]mb-
lic career as a member of the assembly lioni Westchester County iu
1S4!) and 1850. He also served one term as State senator (18.")4-5r)),
and in IS.")!) took liis seat on the county bench, where he continued
until 1808. He was one of the Lincoln presidential electors in 18(i(».

The total po])ulation of Westchester County in ISdO was 99,4!t7 — all'
but reaching; the hundred thousand mark.

So far in our narrative, whilst projjressively noticing the principal
aspects of local chan<;e and (levelo])nient. we have not devoted any
formal attention to the minuter facts of comlitions in the townships
and llieii- numerous localities severally; and as the year 18<I0 is a
convenient one for such a detailed review, we shall now liive the need-
ful s])ace to it, avoiding, howe\cr, uniu-cessary I'ejietitioiis. We shall
here take the townships in al|iliali('l ical oi-dei-, iucliulin^ under each
townshi]) head various pei'tinent paiiiculai-s for the local communi-
ties. 4'he population statistics b\' towns are froiu the fedei-al census
of 1800; most of the othei- facts (iucludin|ii- \ilhn;c ]io]Milations) are
extracted from a Aaluable woi'k published at vSyi-acuse in 1800 — the
"()az<^tteer of the State of New Voik," by J. H. I'rench.

THE TOWNS AND THEIR V1I>LA(;ES IN 1800.

Bedford. — Population, 3,(339. Local ])articiilai's: — 1. Bedford; contaiiied a court liousc
(still iu use in ISOO), two churches, the Bedford AcadiMiiy, a Female Institute, and thirty
houses. 2 Bedford .Station, on the Harlem Kailroad: contaiiu'd ten houses. 3. Katonah;
contained thirty houses. 4. Mount Kisco, a station on the Harlem Kailroad; contained 200
iuhahitauts. .">. Whitlockville, " a station on the Harlem Kailroad near the north horder."

Ctirllaiidl. — Population, 10,074. Local particidars: — 1. Peekskill ; anincorjiorated villaijc;
liopulation, 3. .'538 ; contained ten churches, the Peekskill Academy, four boardinfj schools, a
hank, newspaiier oftiee, six iron foundries (chicHy cnijaged iu the manufacture of stoves and
plows, and K'^ii'S employment to 300 men), two machine slu)ps, two tohacco factories, a pi.stol
and fjuu factory, tannery, and i>iu distillery; connected liy a steam ferry with CaldwcH's
Laudiuff and by a daily steamer and line of sloo])s with New York. 2. Verplanck's Point;
pojiulation, l,4.j(i; contained a church, steamboat landiuf;, and important brick manufai'tories,
whosi' nund)cr in 18,58 was thirty-four, Riviuf; ciuployuM-nt to \,'.i'M men and turniu-; out an-

si'lei-tln« state (iele);atcs to tlu' national con- Stale .onventl liclil at S.vracuse In April.

vcnilnns of (he two parties In tlie historic .ve.'U l.s6(). Wc'sl Chester Connt.v sent Hie fnllowlnK

l>m. Till' Westchester Counl.v dclcKates to the di'lcKates: Kdwaril V. Shonnunl, of Yonkers,

DcnuHiatic State convention were Thomas ami Harvey Khlil. of Weslehester. from the

Smith, (iilhert S. Lyon, and Abraham Hyalt. 1st asscMiihly district: Kdwanl .1. Porter, of

William Uiiilfonl. of Vonker.s. was a contesting New Roihi-lle. and .lohn .7. Claiip. from the

deleirale from the 9th congressional district LM assemhly disi rid ; and odie Close, .if NnrUi

(■■mlnaeinj: Westchester Ccinntyi to the Cliai-les- Salem, and .1. II. I'latt. of Ossliilne. fi i the

ton national convention. To the Ucpubllcan 3(1 assembly district.

590

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

nually from 80,000,000 to 90,000,000 bricks. 3. Ciotoii (formerly called Collaberfj Lan.l-
ing); pojmlatioii, 400; a station on the Hndson River Railroad: contained fonr ehurclics, a
rolling mill, wire mill, and several brickvards. i. Crugers ' (Boscobel ]). o. ); a lan<linf; and
railroad station. ~>. Annsville; a small vill.age, containing a church and wire mill. 0. Ciirt-
landt\'ille; contained a church, idaning mill, and about twenty bouses. 7. Oregon, on the line
of Putnam County; contained a rolling null and wire mill. 8. Crotiin Point; devoted chiefly
to vineyards. 9. Montrose's Point.

EnalcheKter. — Po])ulation, 5,582. Local particulars: — 1. Eastchcstcr; jxiiiulation, 551 ; con-
tained two churches. 2. Mount Vernon; an incorporated village; contained " fo\ir churches and
several private schools." 3. West Mount Vernon (().30 inhabitants), 4. East Mount A'ernon
(275 inhabitants), 5. Waverly, and 6. Washingtonville, are described as " suburban villages,
inhabited ])rincipally by mechanics and men iloing business in New York." 7. Rron.xville; a
railroad staticui; contained a manufactory of carriage a.xles. 8. Tuckahoe;a railroad station
near the marble quarries. 9. Fleetwood, and 10. Jacksonville, places projected by building
associations.

Greenburgh. — Population, 8,929. Local |>articulars: — 1. Hastings; population, 1,1.'!5; a
railroad station and a steamboat landing; C(uitaiued two churches, steam marble works, lime-
kilns, and a limited number of manufactories. 2. Uobljs Ferry;- population, 1,040; a rail-
road station and a landing on the river; contained three churches. 3. Irvington;' population,

SUNNYSIDE, WASHINGTON IRVING'8 HO.ME.

599; a railroad station and a landing on tlie river; contained two ehurclics. 4. Tarrytown ;
population, about 2,()()0; a steand)oat lauding and railroad station; contained four churches
and the Pawling Institute. .5. Hart's Corners (Moruiugville p. o.); a station on the Harlem
Railroad. G. Middlctowu; a settlement below Tarrytown. 7. Hall's Corners; a neighbor-
hood in the nortliern part of the town, and S. Ashford; a settlement three miles below. 9.
Abl)otsford; a locality near Dobbs Ferry. 10. (ireenville; a neighborhood in the southern
part of the tt>wn.

Harrison. — Population, 1,413. Tlie only locality mentioned by French in this town is Pur-
chase (Harrison p. o.), a hamlet in the ncn'tliern part, containing two Friends' meeting houses.

Lewishoro. — Population, 1,885. Local particulars : — 1. Smith Salem ; a scattered village, con-
taining a church and fifteen houses. 2. Cross River; ciuitaiued two churches, several manu-
factories, and twenty houses. 3. Golden's Bridge; a station on the Harlem Railroad. 4.
Vista; a small .settlement. 5. Lewishoro; a postoffice in the southern part.

Mamaroneck. — Population, 1,351. Local particulars: — 1. Mamaroneck; contained two

^ So called for Colonel .John P. Ci-ufjcr. whose
estate, including Oscawami Ishind. was ad-
jacent. " Boscobel " (the original uauiel was
the residence of Staats Morris Uyclvuian.

- So cMll.-d for an early famil.v iiauied Di^bbs,
w Im l<r|it a fciry.

'■ Si> calieil for ^\':^shi^g:t^)n irviiij^. wlinse
lioinestend of Siiiiiiysi<le was a short distance
abiivc. The villajie was formerly called Dear-
iiiairs. or Th-annairs Landing.

FROM 1842 TO 1900 591

churches ami "several mamifaetories, not at present in operation." 2. Oriciita,' ,S.
Washingtonville, 4. Chatsworth, and 5. Hickory Grove, are rlescrihetl as " vilhijjc plats and
prospective villages." 6. Kelloggsville, on the line of New Rochcdle, had an extension tide-
mill.

Aforrisania. — Population, 9,245. Local particulars: — 1. Morrisania; population, 2,.587; a
railroad station; contained Saint Joseph's Ursuline Convent, an academy, and free scliool. 2.
Mott Haven;- population, 843; contained two churches and an extensive inni foundry. :i.
Port Morris; ' prominent for its harbor, sixty feet deej), where it was " proposed to land ves-
sels that draw too much water to enter New York llarhor "; connected with Melrose by a
branch of the Harlem Railroad two and one-half miles long. 4. Wilton, T). Old Morrisania,
(). Kast Morrisania, 7. West Morrisania, 8. South Melrose, 9. East Melrose, 10. Eltoua, 11.
Woodstock, 12. Claremont, and l.'S. High Bridgeville, are described as "suburban village
plats."

Mount Pleasant. — Population, 4,.'')17. Local particulars: — 1. Pleasantville; ' population,
S-jS; contained two churches. 2. Unionville (Nepperhau p. o.); population, 97; a station on
the Harlem Railroad. .'?. Beekniantowu ; population, about 1,.jOO; a suburb of Tarrytown;
contained five churches and the Irving and Tarrytown Institutes. 4. Sleepy Hollow, o. Up-
per Cross Roads, and <!. Lower Cross Roads were hamlets.

New Castle. — Population, 1,817. Local particulars: — 1. Mount Ki.sco; a small village and
railroad on the line of Bedfiud. 2. New Castle; a small scattered village near the Bedford
line. ;?. Chappaqua; a railroad station. 4. Sarlesville; a hamlet near the center of the
town, where the town business was generally transacted.

New Rochelle. — Population, 3,."')19. Local particidars: — 1. New Roehelle; an incorporated
village; (lopnlatiou, about 2,000; contained six churches and .several private schools; a ]iortion
of the village and the hinds surrounding it were " occupied by elegant villas ;ind country resi-
deiu'cs of persons doing business in New York"; the steamboat landing was "half a mile
southwest of the village, on a small island connected with the main land by a stone cause-
way." 2. M'est New Roehelle, .'?. Petersville,"^ and 4. I'pper New Rochelle were scattered
villages, mo.stly inhabited by Germans.

North Castle. — Population, 2,487. Local particulars: — 1. North Castle; contained achurch
and a few houses. 2. Armonk; ' contained three churches, a wixden f.actorv, and twenty
houses. 3. Kensico; " population, 103; contained several manufactories. 4. (Quarter Station;
in the extreme southern part of the town, on the Harlem Railroad.

North Salem. — Population, 1,497. Local particulars: — 1. North Salem; contained two
churches, a pa])er mill, and thirty hou.ses. 2. Salem Center; a handet, the scat of the North
Salem Academy. 3. P\ir<ly's Station; a station on the Harlem Railroad; contained two
churches and a small woolen factory. 4. Croton Falls; a station on the Harlem IJailmad.

Ossining. — Population, 0,760. Local particulars: — 1. Sing Sing; an incorporated village;
population, about .5,300; contained four churches, the Mount Pleasant Academy, a female
seminary, and several other popular female schools. 2. Prospect Hill;" a .scattered settle-
ment on the southern border. 3. Spring Vallej- and 4. Sparta were hamlets.

Pelham. — Population, 1,025. Local particulars: — 1. Pelli;unville; a newly surveyed village
and station on the New Haven Railroad. 2. Prospect Hill; a locality near the center of the
town. 3. Pelh:im Priory; the seat of a young ladies' seminary, "established by the late
Rev. Robert Bolton, and conducted by his daughters."

Pnundridge. — Population, 1,471. Local particulars: — 1. Poimdridge; a small settlement
with two churches. 2. Boretoutown; a handet on the northern corner.

Rye. — Population, 4,447. Local i)articidars: — 1. Rye; jiopulation, about .'iOO; a railroad
station, and contained three churches and a private seniiu:iry. 2. Milton; a handet, with one
church. 3. Ryebeach; " a i)lace of resort during the hot season." 4. Port Chester; jmpula-
tion, l,(i95; a railroad station, containing five churches, several private seminaries, and ex-

' Kornicrly imII.mI M:ini:uoiii.ik I'.piul. Great ' I'mnierly inlU-il Clark's Corners.

Neck, anil ile I,ain cy's Nei-k. ■ fonniiiy laMnl Ni>w .Icrusaleui.

-■ .N'aliiiMl liir .Innlan L. Mtill. priuripal fcmud- « l'(iriiiiTly Mill Siiuaii-.

I'l- of till, ircin works. • I-'orincrly ItnMiins .Mills.

' .^iiiuellnii's calliTl Morrisport. .\auu>il fiir ~ Kuriiieily I-cmir lllll.
Gouverneur Morris, the priu<-ipal owner.

592 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

tensive iiiaiiufactories, which included a foimdry, edge toed factor}', tide gristmill, and a last
and sloe factury. o. King Street; "a fine agricultural district, extending nearly seven miles
north of Port Chester." (5. Glenville; a hamlet on the Byrani River.

Scarsdnle. — Population, 548. Local particidars: — 1. Scarsdale; contained a church and a
few houses. 2. Scarsdale Station; a station on the Harlem Railroad.

Snmeris. — Population, 2,012. Local particulars: — 1. Somers; contained two churches, a
bank, and twenty houses. 2 Croton F'alls; on the line of North Salem; a small village and
station on the Harlem Railroad; had a good water power, '.i. West Somers; a hamlet.

Westchester. — Population, 4,250. Local particulars: — 1. Westchester; population, ahout
1,000. 2. Brouxdale; population, about 400; had an extensive tape factory and a dye and
bleach works. 3. Schuylerville; population, about 300; a .scattered village on Throgg's
Neck. 4. Integrity; near Bronxdale; had a tape factory. 5. Counersville, )i. Waketield, 7.
Centreville, and 8. Uuionport, were " modern villages." Fort Schuyler, at the extremity of
Throgg's Neck, was begun by the United States government in 1833, and was built to ac-
commodate 1,250 men and to mount 318 cannon.

West Farms. — Population, 7,098. Local particulars: — 1. West Farms; a "large village,"
containing four churches, a carpet factory, molding mill, and gristmill. 2. Fordham; a rail-
road station; contained four cliurches and Saint .John's College. ' 2. Tremont,- 3. Cen-
tral Morrisania, 4. Williams's Bridge, and 5. Fairmount, were " modern villages." 6.
Claremont; a small village on the line of Morrisania.

White Plains. — Population, 1,84(5. The only locality mentioned by French is White Plains
village, containing the " old and new comity buildings, three churches, and several private
seminaries," and having a population of about 1,000.

Youkers. — Population, 11,848. Local particulars: — 1. Youkers; an incorporated village;
population in 1859, (5,800; contained nine churches, several private seminaries, two banks,
two newspaper offices, and various manufactories. 2. Spnj'ten Duyvil; the seat of several
large foundries; iulial>ite<l chiefly by operatives. 3. Tuckahoe; a station on the Harlem Rail-
road; Ilodgmau's rubber goods manufactory employed about seventy-five hands. 4. Kings-
bridge. 5. Riverdale; "a group of villas, and a railroad station." (J. South Yonkers ; a post-
office.

York-town. — Population, 2,231. Local particulars: — 1. Crompond (Y^orktown p. o.), 2.
Jefferson Valley, and 3. Shrub Oak, were hamlets. A rolling mill, wire factory, gristmill,
and sawmill had been erected two miles west of Croton dam.

Int('iis(^ l)arlisan fccHiiii cliiiractci-iztMl tlic discussion of political
issues in Westcliestcr County in tlie eli^ctoral campaign of i8(J0. At
that time the leading- newspapers of the county were the Eastern
State JditntaJ, of White Plains, the Ifiiililatitl Diiiioeeat, of Peekskill,
and the Yonkers UerahJ ; and all three were aggressively Democratic.
They took the election of Lincolu Avith Acry bad grace, and indeed
never became entirely reconciled to it or to the prosecution of the
war with the seceding Staters. Such a sjdrit in the County of West-
chester, wliich had always been on the conservative side politically,
was naturally to have been expected. It was a spirit conspicuously
manifest in the editorial conduct of very able newspapers in New
York City, which gave nearly thirty thousand majority against Lin-
colu. The dominant jxditical party of the metropolis had ahvays
been the dominant political ])arty of Westchester County; and
ojiinions which had been insisted on and stood the test of popular

'This institutiiju uf tlic Itoman ('atlmllc -' F.iniuTly Ciiiicr MonisMiii:!. Suulli rordliinii.

Church wns opened for students June 24, 1S41. .Vdnnisx illi', ,iiid .Mmnit Uci]ii'.
and iuvorporated April 10, 1846.

I'-KOM 1S42 TO 1900 roo

"I'l."''" Il"-""i:li ^.11 II,.- .,■,..■„■» „f »]„,,.,,. ,..„„,

.v»..,.,.,i „.„,„, „ „„„ ,,„..,„.„ „,^;: ;,:>.;]:;' - <

not verv swimisly i„ i|„. ,„|„„,i,, Vl„n -m '""""■

K.-o,vM, i„ m. sent,,,,,.,,, .i,,,, „;;,.„,„•'; '^',;: ", ;; ■'-■

when up for re-eli^r-tinn in iQ-:ii +i , ^^ lU'-'ai*. '^uuhc qucnrj_\,

repudiated h m He ", ", 'i^ ' " -^"'^^ Democratic organization

1 uiui. u( i.uj ne^ertlicless, receivino- the sunnort of th,>

K.Tuld.cans and of I,en....rats ^vhu approved his^-our^^^

Xi„ i^Hou r"' 'f ^"' .^^•"^•<^^1 "Pl-'-^t <><■ the i)e,nocnitic

H e' H f ,'in.";' '"' '" '""^^•^"'' "^ « ^^^'-^'"^^ "='»"'■'•' i"

mlV en r^^r ' f'^^' '" ""''"' ^'''' -"tinue<l, deter,ni,H.d,

V SM e ter^r^ ; ■"' T'' ^'' «-^l*'^-t-"' l^.v the representativ. ..

. stche.ster County m tlie fulfillment of his duties. Whil.- ad,]r..ss-

. . the house Mr. Ilaskiu accidentally h, fall f...,„ ,„.. l^vas ^^1^^

■ r -m'T i" ' '•■"'■""■• ''" '"" """^^^"" "f ^•"- I-PH."v nt

• ".MU,.: t ns weapon n,l„ the house, not only in conoivss, hul aninn.-

sn.ustmH.nts and throughout the country, warmest discussions
"< ^^« <1. 1 he explanati.m oivu was preparation for self-,lof,.us,. iu
'" ""P>-<'t-,.ted neighborhood iu Washiu.^ton in whicl, Mr. ilaskin
•■s..l.'d. n. winch unu-h lawlessness prevail,.!. Mauv vears l,av,.
. ss,.d since tins u,cid,-„t, hut, takeu in cuiuertinu with'the TJehelliou
"H, ..nun loll,nv,.d. and the trajiic and .lastardlv s.-.-nes in it, i,
II istral.-s the dau.uers iu puldic lilV ;„ ,1,,. tin,,, ami ilu. unl!in,-hin..-

I ■ ,;ninuat,.m nf th„se ,.ali,.d ,„ nnn,!,- in ,h,. ,Iis,.nssi„ns inn :

loi \ ),, tile strife. •

' Hfv. W. ,S. CoflTo.v In Scliarf, I.. 488.

594 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

The startliusj events which followed the triumph of Lincoln— the
secession of the Southern States, the firiuii' on Sumter, and the presi-
dential proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers to put down the
Rebellion— brought a prompt realization in Westchester County, as
everywhere in the North, of the utter change in conditions which
had come to pass since the presidential election. It was no longer a
question of the supremacy of this party or that, but of the existence
of the federal union. Whilst the views of the Democratic press on
the merits of the tremendous new issues were conservative, the in-
stinctive feeling of the masses of the people, of every party, was
devotion to the constituted government of the nation. Measures
mioht be criticised, "coercion" of the South might be deprecated,
and concessions, even very extreme, for averting an armed conflict
or composing it after precij.itat.'d might be favored by individual

oi>iiiion; but the prevailing spirit amongst
the eight thousand citizens of our county who
voted against IMr. Lincoln Avas one of unques-
tioning loyalty to the government.

The president's proclamation calling for
75,000 militia volunteers was issued on the
loth of April, ISfil. The period of service ,]
specified was three months. New York's
quota Avas 13,280 men. The legislature ini-
mediat(d\ ]iassed an act providing not only
HXKAM PAoi.i,iNG.> f^v fumishing that number from the State

militia to the government, but for the en-
listment of 30,000 volunteers more, to serve for two years; these
30 000 to be " in addition to the present military organization of the
State, and as a part of the militia thereof," and to be "liable at all
times to be turned over to the service of the United States, on the
order of the governor, as a part ..f the militia of the State, upon the
requisition of the president of the United States."

It appears that the first military body dispatched from Westchester
Countv was a companv organized in Yonkers as the result of a call
for a public meeting issued on the Kith of April, the day after the
president's proclamation. This call was signed by two hundred and
fiftv-four citizens. The meeting was held at Farrington Hall on the
evening of the 18th, and a large number of men came forward as
volunteers. The next dav Mr. John T. Waring and Mr. Ethan Flagg .
made inquiries as to the circumstances of the families of the enlisting
men, and found that sixty-five of them would need regular assistance ^

•Hiram PauUling, a,, adimral in the Unit.,! of John Paulding, on. of tho .apto,.s of Andre. ^
States Navy during tho IlidK-Uion, was a sou Set p. 485. ^

FROM 1842 TO 1900 595

(if various ainoiiiits. Mv. Wariuji tlicrcfoiv pU-djivd his word iLuL
this aid should be forthcominii, a pledge which he faithfully kept,
lie was subsc(ineutly reiniburscd by the towu. The eoiupauy left
Youkers ou the 25th of April, and was incorpoi'uted in the West-
chester Chasseurs. Its original officers were: captain, Charles II.
Siiiilh; lieutenant, Gardner S. Ilawes; ensign, Konicyn Hogardus;
orderly sergeant, George Keynolds; sergeants, John C. Goates, Thomas
Hill, and George Andrews; corporals, Edwin Cuniberbeach, ('. Wigo
French, Alfred Bowler, and W. J. Townsend.

Another village which gave an almost instantaneous response to
the president's appeal was Port Chester. It contributed a body
known as Company B of the ITtli Infantry — the " Westchester Chas-
seurs." This company consisted of seventy-eight officers and men.
Its officers were: captain, Nelson B. Bartram; 1st lieutenant, John
Mckers; 2d lieutenant, Charles Ililbert: 1st sergeant, James Fox;
sergeants, Thomas Beal, Louis Xeething, and August Dittman; cor-
porals, William Crothers, John Beal, Josejih Beal, and Kobert .Magee.
The response of the Port Chester company was to the call for two
years' volunteers, and the men left on the 30th of April. Meantime
several patriotic citizens of the place joined in a " Union Defense
Committee." of which James H. Titus, a prominent Kepublican, was
president, and John E. IMarshall, a prominent Democrat, was treas-
urer, having for its object to raise sufficient money to forward the
men to camp and to make weekly payments to such of their families
as required help during their absence.

The 17th Infantry, or Westchester Chasseurs, to which both these
tirst companies of Yonkers and Port Chester (together witu the volun-
teers from Westchester County) belonged, was a Tuixed organization,
including tronjis not only from our county, but fi-om New \'ork,
Kockland. Wayne. Wyounng, and Chenango Counties. The ladies
of Yonkers ])i'eseiited it with seven hundred havelocks. Captain Nel-
son 15. liartram, of Port Chester, ultimately Ix'came its lieutenant-
colonel. " It left for the seat of war June, IStJl, and participated iu
the siege of Yorktowu and battles of Hanover Court House — where
it captured the tirst cannon taken from the enemy by the Army of
the Potomac, — tiroveton (known as the second battle <>{ liiill Kun).
wliere it lost thirteen olticeis and 2.")0 men. killed and wounded, An-
tietain. I'redei-icksburg. and Chancellorsville. It was mustered out
ill tile s]ii-iiig (if ISt;;', after two years" service, was iiiiiiie(iiate!y reoi'-
ganized foi- three years' seivice, and to(d< the tield in September,
being the tirst of the thirty-nine old regiments to re])ort for duty."
The unmber of men lost by tlie regiment at the second Bull Kuii
was aliiiosi half the wliole nimilter who went into the battle.

596 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTEU COUNTY

Mr. Frederifk \\ liiltiikcr, juitlior nf th^- article on llic Civil War
in Scliarf'.s History, after liiviii.n tli" partinilars of the organization
of the Port Chester company (he does not mention the Yonkers com-
pany), says:

The Town of Cortlaiult, almost at the same time, sent out sixt}- men, raised by Mr. Ben-
jamin K. Simpkins. For the want of the money that kept the Port Chester conipany to-
gether, this fine body of young men became lost in the great City of New York, and drifted
into diiferent regiments, so that not a man of the sixty was ever credited to the county, and
not a few of them returned home. Another ])arty of sixteen went otf to A\'hitc Plains, under
the command of Mr. William M. Bleakly, of Verplanek's Point. On the roll of Company A,
27th Regiment, they appear as credited to Elniira, of all places in the world. Mr. Bleakly
afterwards became Captain Bleakly in the '27th, and was discharged in February, 1802. The
company of ^Ir. Joseph J. Chambers is another instance of the same state of affairs; for,
though the men undo\d)tedly haile<l from White Plains, they are likewise credited to Elmira,
their captain being made lieutenant-colonel on the 21st of May. Yorktown also lost a great
number of men in the same way, no mention of them being found in the official records of the
two years' volunteers; and of other towns there is still less trace in any documents by which
official proof can be furnished of the facts. The whole history of the two years' volunteers,
in Westchester Count}', is one of men pressing their services on the government, which seemed
not to want them; and it cost more trouble, in the months of April and May, 18Gl,to get into
the army at all than it afterwards did to get out of the draft.

The 5th Xew York Volnnteers, known as Colonel Duryea's Zonaves,
received a goodly number of Westchester County men, especially from
Yonkers. In this regiment Ralph E. Prime (afterward nominated by
the president to be brevet brigadier-general) was a captain. John
G. Peeue, another well-known citizen of Yonkers (snbse(inently
mayor of the city), was among the first to eidist.

The original demand for two-years' men was soon modified so as
to require a service of three years. Fntm August 10 to November 15,
1801, the J:th XeAV York Cavalry was mustered in, comprehending
three companies (B, C, and V) from Y'onkers. The 5th Independent
Battery, mustered in November 8, 1801, included several privates
from Yonkers, Mount A'eruon, and Peekskill, and in the 1st Kegiment
Mounted Rifles, mustered in all the way from August 31, 1801, to
September 9, 1802, there were volnnteers from Tarrytown, Mount
Pleasant, and Harrison. "This," says ]\Ir. Whittaker, "concludes
the three years' volnnleei's in \\'estcliester County as organizations
of which the records are accessible in an official form," up to the
eidistment of the famous (ith New York Heavy Artillery.

The Otli New York Heavy Artillery was recruited obediently to a
call issued by the i)resident in 1802 for .'^00,000 volunteers for three
years. Governor Moi'gan aiiiMiin((^d a union defense committee' for

'The members of this comniiltci. were: of Peekskill: Gouverneiir llnrris. of Morris-
William H. Robertson, of Katonah; Hezekiali ania; Gouverneur Kenibic, of Cold Spriii?
I>. Robertson, of Bodford; Chaunoey M. Do- (Putnam County): Lewis G. Morris, of Ford-
pew, of Peekskill; Edward F. Slir)nnaid, of ham: Moses G. Leonard, of Rockland Luke
Voiikcrs: .Tohu Jay, of Bedford: .Tames A. (Rockland County); Saxlon Smith, of Saxtoii
lliiniilton, of Dobbs Ferry: Thomas Nelson, Valley (I'ntuam Couiityl; Silas I). Gifford. of

FROM 1842 TO i!)on 597

the 8th senatorial district — tlien cdiiiprisinii- tiic Couiities of West-
chester, Rockhiud, and I'ntnani — wliich ])roceeded to raise the troops
required to make up tlie (juota of the district. "It began its
work by promptly effectiuii' tlie oi-iianization of an infantry regi-
nu'ut of ten full companies of more than one hundred men each,
enlisted to serve for three years, which was desionated by the au-
thorities of the State of New York as the VA'Ah New Voi'k ^'oluIllee^
Infantry, and was named by the committee the Anthony Wayne
Guard." The original line oltioers were:

Coinpiun- A. ( Poelcslvill ) : Captain A. A. Crookston, Licnti'iiants f'iporgc W. Sniitli and
Richard M. (iilleo.

Coniiiany H. (Wliite Plains): Captain E. W. Ander.son, Ivieiitenants Thomas W. Diclc and
Hi)iton R."Platt.

Company C. (West Farms): Captain B. B. Valentine, Lieutenants Jame.'i .Smith aii<l (ieoio-p
C. Kibbe.

Cmnpany D. (Somers): Captain Eward Jones, Lieutenants W. S. Sciilmer and I'latt
Benedict.

Company E. (Port Chester); Captain C. H. Palmer, Lieutenants W. T. Morse and Ford-
ham Morris.

Company F. (Yonkers): Captain f^dniund Y. Morris, Lieutenants .Samuel Ba.ssett and llenrv
A. Chadc.iyne.

Company (i. (Carmel, Putnam County): Cajitain Webster .Suiitli. Lieutenants Steplien
Baker and Charles F. Hazen.

Company H. (Morrisania): Captain H. B. Hall (wounded). Lieutenants David llarmel
(mortally wounded) and (Touverneni- Morris, Jr.

Company L (Sing Sing): Captain Clark Peek, Lieutenants Charles C. Hyatt and J. II.
Asliton.

Company K. (Xyaek, lloekland County): Captain Wilson Defendorf, Lieutenants John
Havidson and Frederic Slionnard, of Yonkers.

The villages mentioned in this list were the places where the
various companies were raised. Absolutely every township of the
county, and probably every hamlet, was represented among the
volunteers. It was distinctively a NN'estchester County regiment.
Yonkers was the head(inarters of the enlisting officers. The regi-
ment was hrst assembled there about the end of August, lS(i2, and
it was mustered into the United States service on tlie Ud of Septem-
ber. Pending (he a]ipointment of held officers, Lewis <i. Morris acted
as jirovisional colonel. The position of colonel was tendered to
Thomas Ardeu. a graduate of West Point, but he declined it. There-
ujion Ca]ttain William Tloiikins ]\Iorris, also a West Point graduate,
was made colonel. He had previously been an officer in active service
in the Army of the I'otomac. Colonel Morris subsequently rose to
the grades of brigadier-general and brevet major-general of TTnited

Morri.sania: Munson I. Lnckwood. of While Christie, of Njaek (Knekland (•.>unlyl: .l"iin I!

IMalns: Robert II. I.uiilow, of Westeliesler: Wanclle. •<( rierinont iltoclilan.l ("..uiityi: .\n-

Jolin W. Mills, of Wliite I'lalns; Cliauneey It. drew K. SufTern. of Haverslraw (Itockland

Weeks, of Carniel (I'ulnani Couiily): .Vliraharu Counlyi: Kilwanl .1. Slratil. of Nanin't (Koek-

B. Conser. of Itookliind lUoekland County): land County), and Daniel Tomklns, of Stony

William Bleaklry, Jr.. of Cortlandt; Aaron L. Colnt (Rockland County).

598 HISTORY OF \A'T<;STCHESTER COUNTY

States volunteers. To General Moms belongs the honor <>f luiving
attained the highest rank awarded to any citizen of Westchester
C(»unty during the War of the Kebellion. The apitointuient of lieu-
teuaut-eolonel of the regiment was given to Captain Kaljyh E. I'rinie,
then of White Plains, now of Yonkers, a gallant officer of the 5th
New York Volunteers. But for various reasons Captain Prime did
not assume this command, and the lieutenant-ccdonelcj' fell to Cap-
tain J. Howard Kitching, of Dobbs Ferrj', an otticer in the 2d New
York Light Artillery. By the promotion of Colonel Morris to the
rank of brigadier-general, Kitching became cok)md of the regiment
(April 11, 1SC3). He was at that time only twenty-five years old.
His services as commander of the regiment were most brilliant. At
the battle of Cedar Creek, August 19, 1801, he received a wound from
which he died at Dobbs Ferry on the 16th of January, 1865. He was
succeeded in the command of the regiment by Lieutenant-Colonel
George C. Kibbe, who was commissioned colonel
March 17, 1865.

Although instituted as an infantry organization,
this regiment took the name of the 6th New York
Heavy Artillery. " Nevertheless, during Its whole
three years of ardu(nis service with the 8th Corps,
with the Army of the Potomac, with the Army of the
•lames, and with Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah,
it continued to serve as infantry. On and after I)e-
GEN. WM. H. MORRIS, ccuiber 26, 1862, the regiment was sent to Harper's
Ferpy- in detachments. . . . After six months or more
of very varied service in the Shenandoah Valley with otlKn- troops,
guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Kailroad, performing skirmishing,
scouting, and general outpost duties, the regiment formally joined
the Army of the Potomac during the Gettysburg campaign, becom-
ing part of French's 3d Corps, which was held in the neighborhood
of Frederick City as a reserve to i^rotect Washington, by the orders
of the war department. The regiment, first with General Morris's
brigade of the 3d Division, 3d Army Corps, then with the reserve ar-
tillery, and afterward with Ayres's division of the 5th Corps, ])artici-
pated in all the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac from Gettys-
burg, in July, 1863, to August 13, 1861, in the siege of Petersburg,
including the Bristol Station, the Mine Run, and the great Grant
campaigns, and lias ])robably the unique record of having served in
battle with every corps of the Army of the Potomac, with Sheridan's
Army in the Shenandoah, and with the Army of the James. . . .
The last time the regiment was under fire was in a brief engagement
at Bermuda Hundred, April 2, 186>.">. The original members were mus-

FROM 1842 TO 1900 599

tered out of the TTnitod States servico Juno 27, ISO"). Tlie renuiiuder,
with a battalion of the KHli New York Artillery, became the con-
solidated (Jth New York Artillery."''

About a year before the tei-nnnation of its period of enlist Tiient
the refi'lment unanimously tendered its services to tlie jioverniiieiit
for another term of three years. This offer was declined on the
ground that the men Avould probably not be needed.

The 6th New York Heavy Artillery is recognized by all writers on
the campaigns and battles of the Civil War as one of the great fight-
ing regiments, it is estimated that during its career of less than
three years the total number of men who fought in its ranks — the
great majority of them from ^\'(>stchesfer County — was fully four
thousand. Its sur\"iving membi'i-s retain to this (\:]y a fraternal or-
ganization, which h«dds annual reunions.

Another regiment to which Westchester County largely contrib-
uted was the lOth New York Cavalry, better known as the Si)rague
Light Cavalry, mustered into the service between June and October,
18t)3. Companies K, L, and M of this (U'gauization consisted mostly
of men hailing from the Towns of Mount Pleasant, Yonkers, (Jreen-
burgh, and AYliite Plains.

No attempt can be made in the present work to embody a com-
plete or even a measurably thorough record of the contributions of
(trganized bodies of men by the different localities of oui- county to
the armies of the United States during the Kebellion. A i)revious
writer on this jdiase of the county's history slates that in entering
upon his undertaking — which specially involved the satisfaction
of local readers — he had it in view to make a complete compilation,
but found that impracticable, "while an iiiconiplete one might give
just offense to men whose names would be unavoidably left out from
latdc of information.'' - In a comprehensive history id' the county con-
fined to reasonable limits it is of course out of the question to in-
troduce a precise record by localities, and none other would meet
the requirements of any formal treatment of the subject.

Several painstaking local historians of the county have carefully
calculated the total enlistments in their respi'ctive townships, a<lding
other e.xact particulars of much interest.

Yorktown, according to the Kev. W. J. Cumming, " sent out approx-
imat(dy 2S1 soldiers." He has been able to identify the regiments
to which 188 of these men were attached: they were nineteen in num-
ber, the 6th New York Heavy Artillery leading with '>(>. It is not
known in what reuiments the remainder of the enlisting men from

■Yonkers In tliv Ki'liclllon. ■ Sdiarf, i., iM.

600 HlSTOnv OP WESTCHESTEll COUNTY

Yorktuwu — coustitutinji a iiiajmity of the whole luiiuher — served.
This is a speciiueu case. In the first months of tlie war it was com-
paratively an easy matter to raise recrnits, but as the struggle pro-
gressed bounties had to be paid and drafts resorted to. *' In accord-
ance with a resolution adopted at a town meeting held on September
23, ISCB. a system of mutual insurance, as it were, against draft, was
established, which providt'd that every person enrolled as liable to
military service who should pay into a c(jmmou fund the sum of |8(l
should be entitled, if drafted, to receive from the town the sum of
1300 to procure a substitute or pay the government for his exenip
tion." Agreeably to this plan the bonds of the town were issued at
various times, according to the quotas required from the town under
diiferi'nt calls. '• The total sum expended in Yorktown for volun-
teers was 187,745, and by the town itself, exclusive of the help re-
ceived by the State, . . . i)fGG,4J:5." ^

ilr. Charles E. (_'ul\cr, the historian of Souiers, gives the names
and dates of culislnient of sixty soldiers from that township, dis-
rributed among seventeen regimeuls. In addition to these, he says,
there were twenty-three substitutes enlisted and twenty-five others
were enlisted frcnn other i)laces for the town. " Every burial place
in the toAvn contains the headstones of some of our soldiers.'" One
of the heroic (U'ad of Soniers was ^lajor P^dward Jones, of the fith
New York Heavy ATtillei-y. who fell at Cedar Creek. The amount
re(|uired to be ]iaid in Somers for what ^Ir. Cumming styles the in-
surance against draft was only f25.- In the Town of Noi'th Salem
Mr. Culver finds thirty-five records of enlistment.^

JNIr. George Thatch<n' Smith, in his contribution to Scharf's His-
tory on the Town of roundridge, presents a variety' of interesting
particulars. At the election of ISdO there were only 328 votes cast
in the township, yet " Ix^fore the close of the war 9-1 residents had
enlisted in the army ami three in the navy,*' there being also ten re-
enlistments; and in addition about thirty-six non-residents were pro-
cured by the supervisors as substitutes. The really remarkable cir-
cumstance is stated that of the ninety-seven residents who went to
the war sixty-one were shoemakers, only twenty-eight being farmers.
A payment of flO sufticed in Poundridge to exempt from draft. The
total indebtedness incuired Ity the to\\nsliip on account of the war
was .135,280.*

In New Castle, says Barrett, the war debt amounted to about
•f 48,000,''^ and in North Castle to .*50,000.« He gives the names of If.l
soldiers (including eleven colored men) from North Casth'.

"Rye," says the able historian of tliat town (tlie late Rev. C. W.

1 Scli.ii'f, II., 4!;2. - Iliid., 11., 477. "Ibid., 11., RIK. ' Ililil.. ii.. 5f>S. ■Ibid., ii., a». '■ Ibid.. 11.. 635.

Fuo.M 1S42 TO 1000

601

Itairdl, " riiriiislicd Cidin llic opciiiini "T I lie Krlicllidii iihoiil 'A'A) men
lur the war. Of these, 12() were residents of ilic town and \v<tc vnlun
tcci-s nndcr ilic fii'st call; L'iS cnlislcd nndcr ( iovcnioi' .Mdryan's proc-
lamalion of Auinnst 13, IS(>2\ one man was (Irallcd; fnity-onc suli-
stitutes were ])i-(»vidcd, and loriN live icciiiiis nhiaiiicd. Tlic town
rcsponilcd pinniiil ly to every call made lor ti(i()|is, eillicr li\' national
i)V by Slate government, and provided honnlilnily lor tlie lamilies
of those who Weill torth 1o sustain the honor of liie country. It is
sn]iposed that in addition to the nnnihers already slated, as many
as fifty persons from the town enlisted in ("onnecticnt regiments."'
I'roiu 1 larrison, accord-
ini;' to -Mr. I'.aird's re-
searches, there were
nlloii'ether KiS eulisi
ments.- ( )nly one of t he
Harrison meudied from
a bullet wound — cer-
tainly a curious and
probably an unparal
leled fact in view of
their considerable nuui
ber.

Thi'(m;L;liout the war.
in spite of Ihe very
hearty resjionses of our
citizens to t]i(» uumer
ons calls for troops, the
majority of the people
of Westchester County

continued in synqjathy with the pre^ailinji political senlinient of New
York City. The three leading- I)enH)cratic newsi)a])ers were so eui-
jihatic in I heir expressions that the ,iirand jury of Westchester County,
in August, IStn, bi'ou^ht in a pi-es(Mitnient ajiainst I hem. The follow-
iuii' is a. i)ortion of this interest iTi,i>- document:

The Yoiikei's Herald, H'uildand Democrat, and Eastern State Journal have, froin the time nf
tlic issue <if the iiiesident's pidclaniatioii, immediately after the tiiiiii; on Kort Sumter, stead-
ily treated tlu' war wliicli lias tolliivved, in the e-xtraets and articles they have putilished, .-is
an unlidly and ])artisau war, unjustly eommeneed and proseeuted hy the a<lministratioii. hi
so lUmig it has evidently heen their purjiose to consolidate a party hy the aid of who.se op-
position and infiuence they mii;ht |irevent enlistments and retard the sneeessful prosecution of
tlie war.

The ijrand jurors therefore invoke the attention of tlie district attorney of this ciuinty to
the prosecution of the editors and ])roi)rietors nameil if hereafter, after this jinhlic notice of
their evil course, they sliould persist in thus coutinuinj; li> fjive aid and ciiniforl to the I'ni'niies
of the i;(>vernment.

' Ibid., 11., 681. » Ibid.. II., 718.

nil. .1A\ 11(J.\U.M1..\1>, BKDFOKl).

602 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

No prosecutions resulted, and indeed the adiiionitioii tlms <iiven
had litth' effect n]i(»n tlie editorial atlitudc of tlic newspapers con-
cerned.

At the election of 1SG2, when Horatio Seymour was chosen "ov-
ernor, Westchester County gave 7,8(;U votes for the Deiiiocralic State
ticket and 5,550 for the liepublican. shdwing a Democratic yain in
plurality of more than a thousand votes since the election of 1S60.

During tlie celebrated draft riots of lSt>3 in New Voi-k City there
Avere various sym])athetic disturl)ances in Westcliester County, which
are recorded witli ]iarticularity by ^fr. Frederick AVhittaker in
Scharfs History. On the lith of July — the second day of the
New York riots — '' crowds visited the enrolling offices of Morrisania
and West Farms, tore up the enrolling lists, destroyed the telegraph
offices at Williams's P.ridge and Melrose, ripped u]) some rails on
the 'Ne^Y Haven and Harlem roads near the Bronx Kiver, liad i>ickets
on both roads as far as Mount ^'ernon to signal when a general at-
tempt to tear up tracks might be safe, but were quieted in Morrisania
and AVest Farms by appeals made by Supervisor Cauldwell and Mr.
Pierre G. Talman." On the 15th " the Hudson River train was
stopped at Youkers, the rails having been torn up betMcen thai
place and the city, so that the Canadian mail had to be taken to
New York on the boat. The citizens of Yonkers formed two com-
panies of Home CJuards to keej) proi)erty and life safe, but there was
no serious disturbance. The arsenal was guarded day and night.
At Tarrytowu a guard was also formed, and procured a cannon to
overawe the mob, so that all was peaceful along the Hudson lliver."
A mob from the marble quarries at Tuckahoe marched to Mount
Vernon, with the avowed purpose of " burning down the houses of
all the Kepublicans in the place.'' They contented themselves, how-
ever, witii noisy demonstrations and stone throwing. On the even-
ing of the 15th a large public meeting was held in the town hall at
Tremont. It was under the auspices mainly of influential citizens
of Democratic antecedents, who, whilst deprecating violence, were
strongly opposed to the draft on grounds of public policy, and hence
were in position to nuike their recommemlations respected by the
excited piq)nlace. Tiie principal speaker was Mr. John B. Haskin.
This meeting w^as instrumental in calming the passions of the time.

The vote of the county for president in 1801 stood: Oeorge B. Mc-
Clellan (Dem.), 9,353; Abraham Lincoln (Kep.l, 7.593. In 1868 the
vote for Horatio Seymour (Dem.) was 11,007, and for Ulysses S.
Grant (Kep.) 9,641.

Between 1800 and 1805 only one new village was incorporated —

FROM 1842 TO 1000 603

lliat of Mdi-risania (1864). A uotabk' event of this period was liie
oi'^aiiizalion of the Woodlawn Ci-nietery in December, 18()3. The
improvement of the grouuds was commenced in A])ril. ISCl, and the
first interment was made January 14, ISfif).

The war interfered seriously w-itb the growth (»f poi>uhition in
Westchester County. In 18(;r) tlie total ]iopnhition was 101, HIT, a
gain of only 1,700 over 18(>0. Tlie \iiiage and Townsiiip of ^■o^iceI•s
had a combined population of 11,04!), being considerably in advance
of tiiat of any other political division of the county except tiie Town
of Morrisania. In 18()5 the total number of people living in the [)or-
tion of the county wJiicli now constitutes the Borough of the Bronx
was about 20,G00.

The Village of White Plains was incorporated by an ad passed
April 3, 186(j. The tirst ofticers of the village were: president, John
Swinburne; clerk, John M. Kowell; trustees, (Jilbort S. Lyon, Kdwanl
Sleath, II. r. Bowell, J. P. Jenkins, J. W. .Mills, and Harvey (Jroot.

In 18<i8 (May 14) Port Chester received a village charter. This
place was originally called Saw Pit. " That very inelegant name,"
says Baird, "had its origin in the fact that a sjiot on Lyon's Point,
now part of the Village of Port Ciicstei-, was occupied in ancient'
times for the building of boats." The present name was adojited in
ls;!7. I'ort Chester's growth has been rajiid, owing to the dcvelo])-
iiicnt of its manufacturing industries, and, witli the exce]ition of
New Kochelle, it is now tlie largest community of Westchester < ounty
on the Sound.

During the decade 18(!0-T(I two men who, with the late .hidgc
liobertson. are probably to be regarded as the most re]iT-esentative
liublic characters of Westchester County birth and anteceilents in
our generation — Chauncey .M. Dcixw and James W. Ilu.sted, — entered
political life. Mr. Depew, born in i'cekskill in 1834. began tlie jirac-
ticeof law in his native village in 18r)!t, and in 18til was electetl mem-
ber of the assembly on the Union Republican ticket from the 3d
assembly district. He was re-elected in 18(12, and in 18(i3 was elected
secretary of state. In 18()7 he was appointed county ch'rk of West-
chester County to fill a vacancy, but declined the office. His career
since then has been one of great prominence and usefulness in varieil
connections; and probably no other .Vmericau of our times has be-
come more widely known or enjoys a higher or more distinguished pop-
ularity. Mr. Husted (b(n-n in Bedford, October 31. 1833) was a class-
mate of ;Mr. Depew's at college, studied law with Edward Wells at
Peekskill, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. Although elected
sclio(d commissioner of the 3d district of Westchester County in 185i»,
it was not until eleven years later that he began his jihenomeual

604

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

career in tlie assembly. Meautinie, however, he held iinporrant ap-
))()intive positions under the State government. " He was first elected
a member of the assembly in 1809, to represent the 3d assembly dis-
trict of this county, and he continued being elected and re-elected
to the latter offlce uj) to and inciudinf- the year of his death [lS'J2j;
serving from ISdK to 1S7S from this county, ISTO-SO from Rockland
("ounty, and again in 1881 and 1883 to 1892 from this county. He

.lAMKS W. HUSTED.

was Speaker of the assembly in the years 1874, "70, '78, ■8(i, '87, and "90.
He had a longer legislative experience than any other man in the his-
tory of the State — tAveuty-two years; he also had the distinction of hav-
ing been speaker more times than any other man."' He was only once
defeated as a candidate for the assembly — in 1882, by John Hoag.
In 1808 John Thompson Hoffman, a native of Westchester County,

' Smith's M.iuual of Wpstchcster County, 77.

FROM 1842 TO 1900 (505

\\;is clcclcd t;t)\ciii()i- (iT llic State. lie A\as a sdii of Dr. A. K. Tlioiiip-
soi), of Sini;- Sinj;', and was born in tliat village on the 10th of Jau-
iiarv, 1S2.S. After conipletinn' his <;enerai education he studied law,
was admitted to the bar, and eniiajicd in tlie jiractiee of law in New
York City. He soon became ]>romiiienl liotli in his jirofession and
in politics. He served two terms as jiovernor, hcinn re-elected in
1S70. H was unfortunate for him that his career in the executive
nl'lice was coincident with the Tweed King exposures, which involved
much criticism of his political afliliations with Tammany. I'pon
the comjiletion of his second term he retired from puhiic life. He
died on the 24(li of March, ISSS.

Eisihteen hundred and seventy was the last census year in winch
West<-iu'ster County retained the bounds establisheil for if nndei-
the orijiinal county act id' 1()S:5. The pojiulatiou in ISTd, by town
slMiis arid \illa!H(^s, was as f(dlows:

TOW.NS POrn.ATION

li.'dford :!,(>i»7

("(.i-tlaiidt 11, 094

Ptfli.skill Village . (),."i(i()

Veii)laiielv Village 1,'>(M

Ka.stelu'ster 7,4!»1

Central Mount Vernon Villai^i 4.">()

East Mount Vernon Villaire . 500

Mount Vernon Village 2, 700

West Mount Vernon Village . 1 .LMIO

(Ireenliurgh " lO.T'.KI

Harrison 7S7

Lcvvisboro . . I,(i01

Maniaroneek. , , . 1,4S;!

Morrisania lO.fiOlt

.Mount I'leasant .5,21(1

Ik'ckniautown Village 2,20(i

New Castle 2,152

New Rorhelle :5,915

New Hoelielle Village . 27!t

North Castle. ' b'.HM!

North Sal.-n. 1,754

Ossining 7. 70S

SingSing Village . . I,(i0()

IVlhani 1,700

I'oundridge 1,194

Kve ".l.->0

I'cut Chester Village . . .'{.707

Soniers I,i21

Westchester <>.015

West Farms !),372

liihuont Village 171

Clairniont " I-jS

Kairinonnt '• iJOS

Kordhani • 2.151

Monterey •■ 1 IS

Mount Kdcn •■ 110

GOG HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

TOWNS POPULATION

West Fiii-ms — Contiinied

Mount Hope Villafje 487

Tremont " 2,()i!5

West Faijus " 1,70]

Williams's

Bridge " 144

Woodstock '■ :!07

White Plains '2,C."!0

Yonkers 18,;!.")7

Yonkers Village \'2,TXi

Yorktown 2,<ja5

Total 131,;U8

The steady growth of Yonkers had \tm<x foreshadowed the couver-
sion of that village iiilo a city, and after the census enumeration of
1870 the important chaugc began to be agitated. The legislative
act creating the City of Yonkers was passed on the 1st of June, 1872,
and received (lovernor Hoffman's signature the same day. By this
measure the whole of the former Township of Yonkers, excepllng
a strip at its southern extremity, was incorporated in the new city.
The southern strip excluded fnmi the city limits extended from
Spuyten Duyvil Creek to a ])oint on the Hudson beginning at "the
northerly line of the laud belonging to the Sisters of Charity, knowt
as Mount Saint Vincent de Paul," which line was continued east-
ward along specified bounds to the Bronx Eiver. The i)ortion of the
ancient territory of Yonkers thus reserved continued, however, to
belong to Yonkers Township until the Kith of December, 1872, w lieu
it was set off by the board of supervisors as a separate township,
receiving the name of the Town of Kingsbridge. The City of Yonkers
has preserved to the present day the exact limits appointed to it
by the act of 1872. It has an area of seventeen and one half square
miles.

At the first election held for city officers, Mr. James C. Courier and
Mr. Robert P. Getty were, respectively, the Democratic and Kt'jiub-
lican candidates. Mr. Courier received a majority.' John F. Bren-
nan, E. L. Soger, Albert Keeler, William MacFarlane, Ethan Flagg,
H. ]>. Garrison, Henry K. Hicks, and Z. H. Brower were chosen alder-
men. " When the city was incorporated," says Allison, " it had no
asphalt avenues and streets, no waterworks to supply water for do-
nu\stic use, for power, and for extinguishing fires, no system of sewers,
no firebells, no electric tire-alarm, and no electric lights. There were
no steam cars running to Getty Square, no street cars." From the

* Mayors nf the City of Yonliors to the prpscnt Snniiu'l Swift; lSS4-8i;. William G. Stahlneckor;

timt-: 1872-74. James C. Coiirtor; lS74-7li, Joseph LSSfi-iio. J. Ilarvpy Boll; lSiro-92, Jiimos Mill-

Masten; 1876-78, William A. Gibson; 1878-80, ward: 1892-94, James H. Weller; 189(5-98, John

Joseph Masteu; 1880-82, Norton P. Otis; 1SS2 84, G. Peene; 1S9S-190O, Leslie Sutherland.

FKOM IS 12 T«) lilOO 607

first the seat of the citv .aovcinmcnt was tlic I'liilii.sc Man(tr House,
whicli in ISHS liad Imh'u iinicliascd by the villa^r fi-nin iis dwiin-,
Judye William W. Woodwurth.

The presidential campaign of 1S72 is ever nicmorahlc as (lie mic
ill which Horace Circeley, the <;i-ea1 editor of the New York Trihiiiic,
rau aj^ainst General Grant. Mr. Greeley was for some twenty years
a citizen of AVestchester County. He was one of ihe laily incomers
from New York City after the o])enini;- of tlie railways. In the siini
mer of 1S50 he lived with Jiis family on the Todd Hailey estate in
the Town of North Salem.* We have seen that durin-;- the same year
he took a very prominent \y.\vi in the steps which led to the settle-
ment of Mount Vernon. In 1851 he i)urchased a farm of seventy-five
acres at Chappaqua in the Town of New Castle. Unlike most other
prominent New Y'orkers who came to Westchester County to live,
Mr. Greeley sought a strictly rural abode without any of the acces-
sories of aristocratic pretension. He wished to he a plain farmer,
and to prosecute agricultural pursuits in a perfectly serious way.
His purposes in moviui;- to Clia])pa(iua were tiius eIo(|U('ntly ex])ressed
in an address delivered before the Indiana Agricultural Society in
1853: "As for me, long tossed on llie stormiest waves nT donliilMl
conflict and arduous endeavor, 1 have begun to feel, since Ihe shades
of forty years fell upon me, the weary, temjx'sr-driveu voyager's long-
ing for land, the wanderer's yearning for tlie liamlel where in child-
hood he nestled by his mother's knee, and was soollied lo slee|i oii
her breast. The sober doM'n-hill of life dis])els many illusions, while
it d('\-eloiis or strengthens within us lli'- attaclniieiil, jierluips long
smothered or o\'erlaid, for * that deai' hut, our home.' .\n(l so I.
in the sober afternoon of life, \\hen its sun, if not high, is still warm,
have bought a fe^v acres of land in the broad, slill (•ountr_\-, and, bear
ing thither my household treasures, ha\c resolved to steal from the
city's labors and anxieties at least one day in each week, wherein
to revive as a farnun" the nuMuories of my childhood's hninble iiome.
And already 1 realize that the exiieiimenl can noi cost so much as
it is worth. Already I find in that day's (|uiet an antidote and a solace
foi" the feverish, festering cares of I lie weeks which eii\ii-on it. . Al-
ready my brook murmurs a sootliing evensong to my burning, thi'(di
biiig brain; and my trees, gently slii'i'ed by the fi'esh breezes, wliisiier
to my spirit something of their own (piiet strenglli and p.ilieni liiisi
ill God. And thus do I faintly n-alize, though but for a brief and
flitting day, the serene joy whicii sliall iri'ailiate the farmer's voca-
tion, wlien a fuller and truer <'du(alion shall have relincd and
chastened liis animal cra\ini;s. and wlun science shall have emloweil

' Stli.nrf, il.. 515.

608 HISTORY OP WESTCHESTElt COUNTY

hiiu with her treasures, rcdcciiiing labor from driulgcrv wliilc (juad-
rii]diiiii its cfHcieiKy, aiid crowiiiu^- with beauty and pleuty our boun-
teuus, beueliceut Earth."

Mr. Greeley was accustomed to come uji to Chappaqua Sattirday
morniuj;-, returuiujj; to the city Sunchiy moruinj;. lie couverted the
place iuto a model farm, aud his celebrated book, " What I Kuow
About Farming," was the result of his experiences in developing his
rhap]>a(iua hind. " It was his custom," says Barrett, in his His-
tory of the Town of New Castle, " always to vote, both at general
and local elections, and it was usual for him to spend the whole day
at the polls when the election was important, discussing public ques-
tions with those who would gather about him for that purpose."
He retired to bis farm toward the close of the presidential canvass,
and there, worn out by his exertions and sorely afflicted by the fatal
illness of his wife, received the news of his crushing defeat. He died
on the 29th of Kovember, 1872, at the residence of Dr. Choate, several
miles distant from his home. The Chappa(iua farm ultimately be-
came the property of his daughter, Gabrielie, now the wife of the
Rev. F. M. Clendenin, of Westchester.

Westchester County gave Greeley 11,112 votes, against 10,228
for General Grant.

The advisability of annexing a portion of >\'estcliester County to
the City of New York began to receive some consideration many years
before the formal annexation movement was inauguiated. As early
as 1N(I4 it was proposed to combine tlie Towns of .Moriisaiiia and West
Farms under a special city charter, but owing to o]>|iositioii on th'-
part of land owners in West Inarms the idea was abandoned. Morris-
ania, however, received in tliat year a village charter, which " con-
ferred upon the trustees nearly all the powers of a city coriioration
without the incidiMital ex])enses; and this act enabled the town au-
thorities to pioneer annexation by proceeding to make such improve-
ments in streets and highways as were demanded by an increasing
jxipulation flowing in from below the Harlem IJiver." Abotit thi'
same time some new cross streets were indicated in the sections
adjacent to the Harlem River, and were numbered in continuation
of the streets below the river — a ])roceeding significant of the general
belief in the early upward expansion of the city.

In an article on the history of the annexation movement, Mr. Will-
iam Cauldwell, one of the fathers of that movement, says:

"The first i)ositive move in the legislature toward annexation was
in the year 1869, when Mr. Cornelius Corson, then a resident of Mount
Vernon, Westchester County, and a close ailherent to what was
known as the Tweed re^gime, having prepared a bill providing for

FROM 1842 TO 1900

609

I he aiiiu'xatioii of the Tdwiis of .Momsiinia, West T'^iniis, W'csttlicstci-,
aud 3Ioimt Voruon to the City of New York, liad notice of such pro-
posed bill jjiven by the late Senator (Jenet. I had tiie honor at the
lime of representinji-, ainonij- otlier localities, the Wcstcliester towns
in the State senate, and rei^ardini^ it as an act of disconrlesy tliat
such a move should have been made without consultation, an(i with-
out the request of my immediate constituents, on the spur of the
moment I arose in my i)hice in tiie senate and mave notice that I
would, at some future time, present a ' bill to jninex the TMty of New
York to the Town of ]\lorrisania.' This sarcasm hit the nail on the
head, and nothinti further was heard of the Corson bill; for soon
thereafter the a<lherents of the Tweed Kini;- not lo (|iian'clini; and
batterin.y each other's heads, and the combination was utterly de-
stroyed." ^

The earliest definite measure lookinj^ to annexation was the action
of the legislature at the
time of the passage of
the Y o n k e r s c i t y
cliai'ter, June 1, 1S72,
in excludiuii from the
territory of the (Mty of
^'onkers all that ])or-
tion (if the old Town of
Yonkers lying- below
Mount Saint Vincent.
This exclusion Avas
(dearly with a view to
reserving the section
thus cut off for subse-
<|uent incorporation in
the City of New York. On December 1(>, 1872, a further stej) in the
same direction was taken by the erection of the excised strip into a
new "town" called Kingsbridge. Meantinu' the annexation enter-
prise had been fairly launched. In the autniim of 1872 some of the
principal property-owners of Morrisania and ^^'est Farms held con-
ferences, which resulted in the preparation of an annexation bill by
Samu(d E. Lyon, a Avell-known lawyer. The bill was introduced in
the as.sembly early in 1873 by \Yilliam Herring, representative from
the 1st district of Westchester County. " The city authorities," says
Mr. Cauldwell, "did not tak(> kindly to the project of annexation,
and the animosity then existing between the department of i)ublic
works and the department of public parks nearly throttled the bill

'The Great North Side (iniblishoil li.v the Ni.rtU Side Board of Trade, 1897), 22.

'm^

.SAINT .JOHN'S COl.I.KGK, KORHIIAM.

610 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

in the legislature. But Goveruor Dix .saved it by iiiakinu known most
emphatically that he would favor uo bill for annexation which did
not give exclusive jurisdiction over the streets, roads, and avenues
of the proposed new district to the department of public parks. This
ended the struggle between the rival departments, so far as the an-
nexation bill was concerned, and it became a law."' It provided for
submitting the annexation question to the decision of the people
of New York City and also of Westchester County at the next en-
suing election, in November, 1S73. Fortunately the momentous issue
was determined by the people on its exact merits, no partisan in-
fluences being thrown against the annexation programme. The city
gave 55,319 votes for annexation and 8,380 against; the towns directly I
concerned — Morrisania, West Farms, and Kingsbridge — cast 4,230
affirmative and 109 negative votes, and in the remainder of West-
chester County the result was 9,023 for and 2,0)43 against. The
formal annexation occurred on the 1st of January, 1874. The area
added to the city was 12,317 acres. The population of the three
annexed towns was in excess of 30,000, and the total assessed value
of the property was about |23, 000,000. In the words of the act,
Morrisania, West I'arius, and Kingsbridge were " annexed to, merged
in, and made part of the City of New York, subject to the same laws,
ordinances, regulations, obligations, and liabilities, and entitled to
the same rights, i)rivileges, francliises, and iinmunities, in every re-
spect, and to the same extent, as if such territoi-y had liecu iucludi'd
within said City of New York at the time of the grant and adojjtion
of the first charter and organization thereof, and iiad so remained
up to the passage of this act."

Morrisania, West Farms, and Kingsbridge, as a portion of the
metropolis, became popularly known as the " Annexed District," a
name which, though always rather distasteful to the residents, clung
to the section until the adoption of the present official style of the
Borough of the Bronx. The territory was organized into two city
wards, the 23d and 24th. Notwithstanding the guarantee of equal
rights, etc., contained in the act, the annexed territory was for many
years regarded more as a suburban locality than as a portion of the
city. It continued under the administrative care of the department
of public parks until 1891, when the law creating a special depart-
ment of public works for the 23d and 24tli wards canu- into o])erati(m.
Up to that time, and until 1895, there was no further annexation '
from our county to NeAv York City, Westchester County still retaining ,
the Township of Westchester.

In 1874 occurred the incorporation of the W' estchester County His- ^
torical Society. This organization has always maintained an active

FKO.M 1812 TO 1900 611

existence. Its aiiiiual meetings are held on Ihe 2Stli of Oi-loUci- tlie
anuiversarv of the batth' of White IMains.

In ISTC) two (listii)j;nisiiod New Yorkers of Westcliester County

antecedents were candidates for ])resi(ient of tlic United Slates

Samuel J. Tilden and I'eter Cooper.

Mr. Tilden several years previously had hcconic n resident of
^'onkers by i)urchasin,ii- from Mv. John T. Warini; the mauniticeiit
(!reyst()ne estate. This continued to be his country home for the
remainder of his life, and he died there on tlie lih of August, ISSfJ.
One of his last imblic appearances was on the occasion of the dedi-
cation of the new monument to the captors of Andre at Tarrytown,
September 23, 1880. He was the presiding (dlicer. His dreystone
estate is now the property of Mv.
Samuel rntermyer, the prominent
New York lawyer. Westchester JF" ^

County gave ^Iv. Tilden, at the elec- W-' nfe

tion of ISK;, 12,050 votes, a majority "^K^ ^i^^- IHit

of 2,47ti over Jlr. Hayes, his princii)al f ^ ^ /^O^

ojiponent. ' ''^^

I'eter Coojici', in his boyhood, lived
in reel<sl<i]l. wliere his father con-

ilucted a small beer brewerv. He ^rst^gufjr- /

went to New York Citv at the age of jm^j^^ '''■' ^

seventeen to seek his fortune, and was /w^ j^ "^ **?!

not subseciuently. to our knowledge, MiW^ .' 1/% '■ •'i'/

connected with our countv.

Six new villages were incorporated
betwi-en 1870 and 1880 — Tarrytown . ^

(1870), Irvington (1872), Dobbs samukl .i. tilden.

Ferry (1873), Mount Kisco (1875),

North Tarrytown (1875|, and Hastings (1870). It is noteworthy that
four of these places belonged to the Town of Greenbui-gh, while a
fifth was located on its borders.

I'opiihttion of Westchester County in 1880:

TOWNS POITLATION

Bedford ."iJSl

Mount Kisco Village 728

Cortlandt 12,6C4

Peekskill Village __ __ C.SO.T

Kastchester fi,?.*}?

Mount Vernon Village 4,R8fi

r,reenl)urgli 8,9.34

Tarrytown A'illage .?,0'_n

Harrison 1,494

Lewisboro 1 ,012

G12 HISTOKY OF WESTCHESTBK COUNTY

TOWNS POPULATION

Maiuaroiieek 1,863

Momit Pleasant 5,io0

Korth Tarrytowii Village 2,684

New Castle 2,297

New Rochelle 5,276

North Castle 1,818

North Salem 1,693

Ossiuiiig 8,769

Sing Sing Village 6,578

Pelliam 2,540

Poundridge 1,034

Rye 6,570

Port Chester Village 3,254

Scarsdale , . 614

Somers 1,630

Westchester 6,789

White Plains 4,094

White Plains Village 2,381

Yonkers City 18,892

Yorktowu 2,481

Total 108,988

Tilt loss of population as compared with 1870 was the consequence
of the transfer of the three Towns of Morrisauia, ^^'est Farms, and
Kinesbridge to the jurisdiction of New York City. The population
of tlii'se three towns in ISSO was 42,898, a growth of about 10,0(10
since 1870.

From 1880 to 1882 the governor of New York was the Hon. Alonzo
B. Cornell, a descendant of Thomas Cornell, the grantee of Cornell's
Neck (10-15), and a son of Ezra Cornell, the founder of Conicll I'lii-
versitv. Governor Cornell has at various times been a resident of
this county.

In the sensational transactions in national i)olitics which began
Avith the nominalion and election of James A. Garfield to the presi-
dency in 1880, Judge ^^'illiam II. IJobertson, of our county, was a
conspicuous figure. The nomination of Garfield by the Kepublicaii
national convention was a comjiromise betA\een the faction which
favored Mr. Blaine and that which, under the leadership of Boscot
Conkling, urged a third term for General Grant. At the Eepublicau
if5tate convention held to select delegates to the national convention
Conkling had overcome all opposition and secured the choice of a
delegation bound by The unit rule. Judge Bobertson, however, with
several other friends of Blaine, undertook to dispute the Conkling
supremacy and break the unit rule. The determined spirit thus
shown by an element of the party in New York was one of the in-
strumentalities which prevented Conkling from forcing Grant's
nomination and led to the selection of Garfield. After Garfield's

FROM 1842 TO 1900

613

inauguration one of his first acts was the appointment of Judge
Robertson as eolleetor of the ])orl of New York. This gave mortal
offense to Mr. Conkliug, and iniiu'lled him to resign his seat in the
United States senate and appeal to his New York constitueuTs for
vindication — a proceeding in wliicli he was joined by his colleague,
Mr. riatt. Hence resulted the bitter feeling whicli first caused a'
lunatic to assassinate the president, and subsequent l.v brougiit the

WILLIAM H. KOISKKTSON.

Democratic party back to pov,;j-. Judge Kobertsou's ])arL in the
political strife of those memorable times has btM^n reviewed willi
great fairness and discrimination in a public address by the Ibni.
Chauncey M. Depew.*

In the year 1880 works for increasing New Y'ork ( 'iiy's watei' supply
from Westchester County were commenced, which are still in prog-
ress; for although the new Crolon A(iueduct was completed in 1891,

• See Smith's Manual of Westchester County, 95.

614 HISTORY OP WESTCHESTER COUNTY

the great dam, wliicli is t<» convert the present CrotDu Lake into a
body ekMeu miles lung, is not yet finished.

Cojuphiiuts about the iusiiffieieury of the old aciuedurt be,n;ui to
be expressed as early as 1875, but tlie city officials were slow to
embark niiou the necessarily elaborate and costly enterprise required
— a new aqueduct from tlu^ Crotou l\i\cr. In 1880, however, the
ancient project to obtain a supply' from the Bronx watershed and
the Rye Ponds Avas revived,, leading to the construction of the so-
called Bronx liiver Conduit from the dam near Kensico Station to
the receiving reservoir at Williams's Bridge. This work was con-
cluded in 1881. The quantity of water thus provided, however,
afforded only incidental relief, and it was recognized that a grand
new aqueduct was indispensable. On the 1st of June, 1883, the legis-
lature authorized the construction of the necessary works, and on
the 21th of June, 1891, the second aqueduct was finished and turned
over to the department of jniblic works of New York City. Since
1888 the building of subsidiary basins and reservoirs in Westchester
and Putnam Counties has been steadily prosecuted. It was originally
proposed to construct the new Croton Dam at Quaker Bridge, but
that plan was abandoned, and in August, 1892, the contract was
awarded for the Ct>rnell Dam, now approaching completion, about
a mile and a half above the (Quaker Bridge site. No fewer than
seven of the townships of Westchester County have made extensive
contributions of land for the purposes of the new works, involving
the extinction of several settlements. On this point a recent writer
says :

"The additional land reciuircd for the construction of theNcwCroton
IkCservoir has been taken from the Towns of Cortlandt, Yorktown,
New Castle, Bedford, Somcrs, Lewisboro, and North Salem, in West-
chester County. coAei-iTig an area of (i, 398. 211 acres. From the To^wn
of Cortlandt, 752.051 acres weie taken; from tlie Town of Yorktown,
1,752.932 acres were taken; from the Town of New Castle, 151.697
acres; from tin- Town of Bedford, 801.Sr.n acres; from the Town of
Lewisboro, 850.23(j acres; from the Town of North Salem, 351.823
acres; from the Town of Somers, 1,925.012 acres, making a total of
0,398.214 acres. Takings, under ]U"ovisions of Clia])ter 490 of the
Laws of 1883, were commenced in the years 1892, 1891, 1895, and 1897.

" Many attractive residence localities in the territory taken will
soon be, if not so already, among the things of the past. What was
known as the Village of Katonah, in the Town of Bedford, has be-
come extinct, and is now only a matter of history; its buildings,
api)raised and sold by order of N(>w York City, have vanished; many
of the frame dwellings and business structures were removed, intact,

FROM 1842 TO 1900 G15

one mile distant soutli to Ihc new settleim-iil wliciv nl<| ivsi<lcnls
of Katonah are establisliini; ii<\\ linmcs and a new rcsidcnl villaj^c,
to be known as New Kalonali. \\lii(lo(k\ illc juid Wood's r>rid<;c,
also in the Town of Bedford, will ])ass ont as did old Kiiloiiali, and
its people will find habitations elsewhere. Tiie thriving locality of
I'urdy Station, or a m'eater part tlierecd', shares the late of K;ii(,nali,
and will lie in peace hereafter as a ].ail of the bed of (he new reser-
voir; Pnrdy Station, within the Township of North Salem, and Pine's
Bridge, in the Town of Yorktown, lying close to the borders of Croton
Lake, attractive and popular as a summer resort, and famous as the
scene of numerous hanl-fiMiglit and exciting p(ditical conventions,
held in the interest of all iiarlies, likewise will be submerged. Croton
Falls, in the Town of North Salem, will contribute a poilion of its
territory, a section lying near and just west of the Harlem Kailroad
station. A tribute has also been laid upon (iolden's Bridge, in the
Town of Lewisboro, and it will reliniiuish a portion of its land, near
the railroad station. The Iluutersville section of the Town of Cort-
landt, well known to sportsmen, as it is famous Cor its excellent trout
brooks; the Quaker Meeting House locality, in the Town of New-
Castle, the Wiremill Jiridge, in the Town of Cortlamlt, and other
localities of historic interest, are among the places That will be ex
tingnished and ' go under with the flood.'

'' To give some idea of the amount of projierty recently acipiircd in
Westchester County for this reservoir, mention is made of the fact
that the distance around said property is sevenlytive miles. Not
only handsome residences and choice building sites, but church
edifices and public school buildings, are among the pro])erty con-
demned. As might be expected, numerous ci'ineteries were found
located within the territory required and taken; at the expense of
the City of New York bodies were removed from these cemeteries
and re-interred elsewhere in accordance with the wishes of relatives
or friends. The old highways on the condemned land, taken by the
city, have been left open for public travel until such time as the city
shall substitute others, which right the city is now endeavoring to
obtain from property-owners.'' ^

The daily delivering capacities of the three a(pieducts leading
through Westchester to New Y'ork City are, according to Wegman:
Old Croton Aqueduct, 9."'),00(»,000 gallons; Bronx Kiv<r Conduil, 28,-
000,000 gallons; New Croton Aqu<'duct, 300,000.000 gallons— total,
42."),tlt)0,00(» gallons. With the completion of (he works now in their
last stages, the supply obtainable by New York City from ilie Croton
watershed will be exhausted, and it will be necessary to seek new

' Smith's Manual of Wostolipster Coiiiit.v. 27.

616

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

supplies from other quarters. Already there is a demand for addi-
tional works. In the early part of lOOO i;reat public interest and
not a little bitter feeling were excited by the action of the city au-
thorities in arranging- with the so-called Ramapo Water Company
for a further supply on the basis of .flO per million gallons. The
Ramapo Company, a private corporation, proposed to bring water to
New York from the west bank of the Hudson River, and had made
preparations toward securing a monopoly of rights in the section
whence it designed to draw its supply. The price which it jiroposed
charging for its water was deemed exorbitant — hence the public
indignation and the present defeat of the ])lan. On the other hand
it is the gi^neral opinion of experts that the city's water iirohlem
ViUl again become serious before many years pass by. According to

a report subuntteil to
Controller Coler in
]\[ay, 1900, embodying
a careful study of the
whole matter, the pres-
ent supply will safely
meet all demands for
five years to come, and
if i)i-oper measures are
taken to curtail the ex-
cessive waste of water
now prevalent, a period
of ten years of abun-
dance can reasonably
be calculated on; but
in either eventmilily
the need of immediate steps to secure new supplies is insisted on.

The local water supply systems of the cities and principal villages
of Westchester County are entirely indejieudent of the New York
City system. To Yonkers belongs the credit of having been the first
community to erect waterworks of any dignified character. The
Yonkers water board was organized in 1873, the year after the in-
corporation of the city, and in IST-i steps were taken which resulted
in damming the Sprain and Grassy Sprain Brooks, the building of
an extremely creditable system of works, and the distribution of a
plentiful supply. E(jually commendable enterprise in this particular
has been displayed by the other leading communities of the county.

The selection of Peekskill as the locality for the New York State
Military Camp was determined on by a military commission, acting
in behalf of the State g()\ ernment, in the spring of 1SS2. The need

SCENE IN PEEKSKILL DURING THE BLIZZ.\RD OF 1SS8.

FROM 1812 TO 1900 617

of establisbiug ;ni iiiimiiil ciicaii^dncnl Cor I lie national guard had
been inipivsscd upon the attention of tlie autUoriticis for several years,
but no detiuite action hud been taken. In March, 18S2, (iovernor
Cornell appointed a commission Avith instructions to make a thorougli
investigation. Mr. James T. S^utton, a public-spirited citizen of Peek-
skill, at once entered into communication witli tiiis body, and also
procured from the owners of the laud on whicii the Htate Camp now
stands an option of purchase for three years. When the commis-
sioners visited reekskill they at once recognized the unequaled ad-
vantages of the site suggested by Mr. Sutton, and on the :50th of
May they leased the ground for three years with the privilege of
purchase. The place was immediatelj- prepared for occupation, and
on the 1st of July the 23d Kegimi'ut arrived and inaugurati'd the
camp. In April, 1885, the legislature appropriated |;i0,000 for the
purchase and improvement of the site, and sliortly afterward the
purchase of the land, consisting of about a hundred acres, was con-
summated. The camp is situated on a plain one hundred feet above
the river, amid scenery of great beauty. The New York Central and
Hudson Kiver Ifailroad has a station at Roa Hook, and during the
camping season brings thousands of visitors to the spot.

An interesting evi-nt of the year 18S2 was the Manor Hall celebra-
tion in tile <-'it3' of Yonkers. We liave already noticed the jiiirchase
of the rhili])se Manor House by tlie municipal authorities in 18(>8,
and its use as the seat of the local government. In 1877, during tli(>
mayoralty of the Hon. William A. (Jibson, resolutions lolTered by
Frederic Shonnard) were adopted by tlie board of aldermen pro-
viding for the appointment of a i)ermanent "conunittee ou history
and historical relics," among whose members A\cre to be four iiromi-
nent private citizens, and giving to this committee certain respon-
sibilities in connection witli matters relating to the ^Faiior Hall build-
ing and its grounds. This action was instrumental in stiiuulaliug
interest in the early history of Y'oukers, and it was decided to hold a
grand celebration of the bicentennial of the founding of the Manor
House. The 18th of October, 1882, was selected as the date for the
important event. The resulting demonstration was the greatest in
the history of Yonkers. The oration was delivered by tlie TJev. Dr.
David Cole.i

In 1883 proceedings were begun on behalf of the City of X( w York
for the acquisition of land for new jiublic jiarks in the " annexed
district," and also in territory at that time still belonging to West-
chester County. Up to that year the city had been very deficient in
l)ark area, not fewer than five cities in the United States exceeding

■ Tlio Soldiers" Monument In front of M.tnor Il.nll w.is dedicated September 17, 1S91.

'fe*5

msf=s

I-*

l^-J^

'^ -.v,

1*^

k«

.^i*

* fi

•A^

^«»s!

..,>^

i-liOM 1842 TO 11100 619

hrv ill I hill rcspt'ot, and many (itlicr small cities almusr (Miualins
licr. Tlic movement foi' localiiiii' new parks on the iioilli side nf
the JJarlem was started by some pnblic spirifod citizens oC thai sec-
tion, and on the 19tli of April, 1888, the le<;islatnre passed an act
anthorizini;- tlie appointment of commissioners to select park lands.
The commissioners appointed were Lntlier R. Marsh, I^)nis Fitz-
o-erald, Waldo Ilutcbins, C. L. Tiffany, (Jeorije W. .AfcLean. Thomas
J. Crombie, and William W. Niles. As tbe outcome of their labors,
three <;reat and three small parks were laid out, as follows: I'elliam
Bay Park, 1,756 acres; Van Cortlandt Park, l,i:U.;jr) acres; Bronx
Park, GGl.OO acTes; Crotona Park, 141.65 acres; Claremont I'arU, :}S.05
acres; Saint Mary's Park, 28.70 acres — total, 3,757.85 acres. Van
Cortlandt Park was constructetl mainly out of the ancient \'an Cort-
landt estate of the Lower Yonkers. The city's purchase included
the historic mansion (erected by Frederick Van Cortlandt in 1748),
which was })hiced in the custoch- of the Colonial Dames of the State
of New Vork, and by them converted into a hisiovical imiseiiin. \'an
Cortlandt Park is now utilized for military reviews. P.roiix Park
and I'elliam l>ay Park are noted for their diversified natural scenery,
and whatever improvements may be made in their grounds in the
course of time, they will doubtless always retain this distinctive
characteristic. Crotona I'ark. at the intersection of Third and Tre-
mont Avenues, is the seat of the fine municipal buildiiiu of (Ik-
P>oroniili of I he Bronx.

No new villa,ii(' was incitrporated in Westchester County between
1880 and 1890. The population of the county in 1890 was 146,772,
distributed as follows:

TOWXS POPULATION

Bedford 3,291

Part of Katouah \'illage 378

" Woiiut Kisco " 632

Cortlandt l.l.l.^O

Peekskill Village !t.t;76

Verplaiiek " 1 ,515

Eastchester 15,442

^loimt Vernon Village 10,830

Greenbuisli 11,013

Dobbs Ferry Village 2,083

Hastings " 1,4(!6

Irvingtnn " 2,2!)!»

Tarrytown " 3..">(i2

Part'of

White Plains " 223

Harrison l,48."i

Lewisboro 1,417

Part of Katonali Village H<>

Maraaroneek 2,38.5

620 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

TOWNS POPULATION

Mount Pleasant 5,847

North Taiiytown Village 3,179

New Castle 2,110

Cliappaqua Village 733

Part of

Mount Kisco " 4G3

New Rochelle 9,037

New llochelle Village 8,217

Nortli Castle 1,475

North Salem 1,730

Ossining 10,058

Sing Sing Village 9,352

Pelham 3,941

City Island 1,206

Po\uulriclge 830

Rye 9,477

Port Chester Village 5,274

Scarsdale G33

Soraers 1,S97

Westchester lO.O-Ji)

Williams's Bridge Village 1,685

White Plains 4,508

Part of White Plains Village 3,819

Yonkers City 32,033

Yorktown 2,378

Total 140,772

The old We.stolie.ster Coimtj Towns of Morrisaiiia, West Farins. aud
Kiugsbi-idj;e, annexed to New York City in 1874, had a population
in IS'.K) of 74,085 according to the federal census, and of 81,255 ac-
cording to the police enumeration.

In 1892 a State census was taken, which gave Westchester County
a total of 147,830, and the three annexed towns a total of 86,757.
Local enumerations in the cities and A'illages of the county were made
in 181(8, whose results will be included at the end of this chapter.

The incorporation of the City of Mount Vernon was effected by
a legislative act passed JMarch 12. 1892. At the first city election,
held in the succeeding Maj', L»r. Edward F. Brush was chosen mayor.'
By the organization of the city the cdd Town of Eastchester was dis-
membered— in fact, divided into two remotely separated ]iavts, with
]Mount Vei'uon lying bet^\ixt them. The lower part of Eastchester
Town has since been annexed to Ncaa- York City. The development of
Alount Vernon in all municipal regards has been extremely rapid and
most creditable during the eight years of its existence as a city. There
is no doubt that its population has more than doubled since its incor-
poration.

* M.iyor Brush served for one term. lie was is Erlwin W. Fiske, who was first elected in ^

succeeded by Kdson Lewis, who served from ]S96. and re-elected in 1S98 and 1900. f

1S94 to 1S96. The present mayor (August, 1900)

FKO.M 1S42 TO 1!K)0

021

lu 18"Jl2 the ("i(y nl' ^'mikcrs still icl.iincil ilir |piiniilive system of
iiiilldaics which in early tinu'S had been eonstnicted to furnish
wateriMiwcr In I lie local industries. These dams, fonninii' sta<;nant
ponds in liie Xeiijieriian Kiver, \vhi( li in I lie suniuier seasini were
quite pestilential, liad eonu^ to be regarded liy (lie genera! public as
a nuisance; yet the city ofticials had been Idatii to assume the i'es]K)n-
sibility of summarily removiui; them. To tlie adnnnisli-ation of
Mayor .Tames 11. Weller (1892-94) belongs the lidunr of instituting
the necessary prnceedings and acconi])lishing tiie wiudesoine work.
Mayor ^^'eller, tinding it inipossiI)lc to deal otherwise with the prob-
lem than summarily, and believing tlie dams to l>e a pid)lic nuisance
which should be abated by arbitrary methods in the absence of other
remedy, caused them to be torn down. It was a courageous act,
similar to the one of the
citizens of Westchester in
forcing open Macomb's
Dam in 1838. In the legal
processes that resulted the

mayor and city govei'u- ^

nuMit were fully sustained
by the courts.

In 1S0."> (June 1) the sec-
ond an<l (u)i to the iireseul
time) last niinexntiou of
^^'est(dH■ster County terri-
tory to New York City was
made. Tins import iint an-
nexation was accomplislied
nrninly at tlie inst.-iuce ot
citizens of the 'i"o\\u nl'
Westcdn^ster, who felt llml
the time had ai-i-i\'ed when
their section (Uight to be
bi'ought within the city

limits and enjoy a measure of attention concs]ii.nding to ilm!
given to tlie districts west of the 15i-onx Itiver. in nddiiion to ihe
whole of Westchester Town, parts of Easlcliester and reliiani (in-
cluding City Islaml) were embraced in the annexation act of 189.') —
"all that te)-rilory (to quote the words of tiie acti c(tnii>rised within
the limits of the Towns ,>( Westdiester, Eastchester, and relhani
which iiiis not i>i-en annexed to the City and County of New York
at the time of the i>assage of this act. which lies sonlhcily of a

rHAUNCEV M. DEI'KW.

622 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

straiglit line drawn from the point where the northerly line of the
City of New York meets the center line of the Bronx Kiver, to the
middle of the channel between Hunter's and Uleu Islands, in Long-
Island Sound, and all that territory lying within tlie incorporated
limits of the Village of Wakefield, which lies northerly of said line,
with the inhabitants and estates therein."

The additional territory thus severed from the County of West-
chester and given to the City of New York comprehended about 14,500
acres, in which were some forty-five villages, islands, and other defi-
nitely named localities. The annexation inchnled the sites of four
of the most ancient settlements of our county — Pel ham Neck, West-
chester, Cornell's Neck (Clason's Point), and Eastchester.

The annexation of June 1, 1895, was really incidental to the
" Greater New York '' project, which, although not yet brought to
its fruition, had passed the stage of agitation and seemed reasonably
certain to be soon carried to a successful issue. The popular refer-
endum on the Greater New York proposition occurred November fi,
1894, the annexation question being submitted not only to the peo-
ple of Westchester, Eastchester, and Pelham Village, but also to
those of the City of Mount Vernon. In these several localities the
vote on the question of consolidation with New York City stood:
Mount Vernon, 873 for and 1,603 against; Eastchester, 374 for and
2fi0 against; Westchester, 620 for and 621 against; Pelham Village,
251 for and 153 against. The large adverse majority in Blount Vernon
caused the advocates of the Greater New York programme to omit
that city from their calculations; but notwithstanding a majority
of one against consolidation in Westchester Town, there was no hesi-
tation in preparing to annex the other three localities interested.
The present City of New York, with its five Boroughs of ^lanhattau,
the Bronx, Richmond, Brocdclyn, and Queens, came into ofiicial ex-
istence on the 1st of January, 1898.

In noticing the changed conditions Avhich wei'e brought to pass in
the former Towns of Morrisania, West Farms, and Kingsbridge after
their annexation to the city in 1874, it has been observed that for
many years their progress was not what had been hoped for by the
more sanguine promoters of the change. This comparatively un-
satisfactory state of things was felt to be largely due to neglect of
their local interests by the general city authorities. It finally be-
came the firm conviction of the public spirited citizens of the " North
Side" that the special concerns of their section ought to be under
the care of a separate department of the city government organized
and administered with exchisive reference to North Side circum-
stances and needs. In 1887 a movement was begun by projierty-

FROM 1842 TO 1900

623

owners' associations in Ix'lialf of such a rcfoini, :iiii| In iss!) a l»ill
was submitted to tli(> legislature which providcil tui- ilic ciTjilinii
of "a department of street improvements of tlie ^'.Ul and iMlli wards
of the City of New York." This measure did not jiass, hut Ihc Stale
senate appointed a committee to mala' an investii;ation and report
as to the necessity of the proposed department. The reasons in favor
of the plan were ascertained to be so stron.u' that in ISilO a law was
enacted creatinij;- the new department, wliich was to be under the
direction of a commissioner elected by the peojile of the two wards.
The act took elTect on the 1st of January, 1S!(1. the fii-st iiicnm-
bent of the position beino; Louis J. ITeintz. He died in IS<»;',, and

V yy, i-f,)///^,-!',,

•■'■'■^M^^j^^r^^i:,

THE POE COTTAGE, FDKDIIAM.

was succeeded by Louis F. Ilaffen. W'ilh (he inan^nralion of the
department of jiublic improvements a new order of ihiiius obtained
in the North Side, and it presently beiian to be realized ili:ii ihe so-
styled "annexed district" was something' more than an oullyin.!;
locality, and was in process of rapid transformalion inio an inle;;ral
part of the metropolis. \Yheu it is considered that ilie portion of
the present Borough of the Bronx west of the Tiiniix Kiver nearly
equals Manhattan Island in aria, while the poriion east of Ihal-
stream exceeds it. the difHculty of the jirobiems (o lie dealt with in
buildinu' up the city on the North Side will be readily appreciated.
With ii'uai'd to the district annexed in 1S74, these lu-iddems have

624 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTKR COUNTY

already been largely solved, and the outcome arrived at, viewed in
its fjrand proi)ortions, is not merely impressive from the circum-
stance of the material results accomplished, but is peculiarly satis-
fying in its esthetic aspects. New York City above the Harlem has
been laid out with pre-eminent good taste, and the greater public
works in that quarter have been characterized by breadth and gen-
erosity of conception and alacrity and thoroughness of execution.
One of the most valuable improvements of the last ten years, ap-
parent to anybodj' who makes a trip out of the city over the Harlem
road, is the depression of the tracks of that railway, so that from
the Harlem Eiver to above Bedford Park it nowhere crosses a public
thoroughfare at grade. ^Magnificent avenues and parkways have been
opened, and there is now in process of construction a grand con-
course and botdevard w hicli, when completed, will be the finest drive-
way in the world.

The most conspicuous public improvement connected with the his-
tory of the North Side is the Harlem Ship Canal, opened to commerce
on the 17th of June, 1S95. After the tearing down of Macomb's Dam
by Lewis G. Morris and his companions in 1838, there was no renewed
attempt by private persons to obstruct the navigation of the Harlem
Kiver. Attention was .given at various times to the question of
dredging a navigable Avaterway through to the Hudson River, sur-
veys were made, and two Harlem Sliip Canal companies, organized
by private capitalists, were incorporated. It was finally deemed ex-
pedient to undertake the work as a public enterprise, and the matter
was brought to the attention of congress, which in 1874 ordered
a. government survey and in 1875 made the first appropriation. The
work was planned by General John Newton, best remembered for
his connection with the clearing of the Hellgate channel. It was
carried to completion under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel
George L. (Jillespie, of the United States army. At the time of the
oi)eniug of the canal, in ISit.l, 550,000 tons of rock had been removed,
102,000 cubic yards of earth excavated, 1,000,000 cubic yards of earth
and mnd dredged, 5,000 cubic yards of retaining walls built, and
2,000,000 tons of dynamite exploded. The canal follows the course
of the Harlem Eiver to near Kingsbridge, where it leaves the natural
waterway and passes through an ojien cut in the " Dycknian
Meadows'" to its junction A\itli SjMiyten Dnyvii Creels. .Vdditinniil
improvements have been jirosecuted since 1895.

Miu h of the credit f(^r the great ])rogTess made during the last
decade in the portion of New York City annexed from Westchester
County is due to the North Side Board of Trade, an oi'ganlzation in-
corporated in 1804 for the pnrposes of "diffusing inforniation as to

!lic many a.lvauta-cs (,r tlic MMiimi as a iiiisiii.ss and .•,.ini,„.nial
cc'uirr, a.s wx'll as a dislnct of Ik.ui.'s; ..f atli-acdii- capiial, mami-
facturinj; iiitcivsts, aud tlcsii-alilf rcsidcnls; of pi-oiiioliiii;- iIh- dcvd-
opiiu'iJt aud patronaiiv of local business ( iitn-piis.-; of advauciu-;
public iniprovcnu'uts; aud of ciicouia-iu,- j.uldic s|.iiii aud a local
couuuuuity feeliug.""

At the first election under tiic (ireater New York diartei-, held iu
1897, Mr. Louis F. IlaftVn, the former efficient conuuissioiier of the

(lepartnu'ut of street improve nts, was chosen president of the

Horouiih of the Bronx. The f.dlowiiij; sti-ikiuo facts of pi-ogress iu
the Boroujih of the I'ron.x are taken from a lei-ent siaieuient by Mr.
Jauu's L. Wells :

"The fact sliouid be realized that in point of population the 2;jd
aud 24tli wards constitute the fourth larji* st city in the State, leav-
iuji New York out, of course, and that, wiiji the rajjid trausit road
to aid in development, it will be but a very few years uutil that
sectiou will lauk second in jioiiulation to the afifjreyation of humanity
on Manhattan Island.

"If the increase of ])opnlation continues pro]iortionately iu only
the .same ratio as in tin recent jiast. the ])opulation of that section
of the cit\ abo\c the Harlem Kiver should iu 1!M() be .•5:{(»,0(l(), in 1920
should be (IC.OJKKl, and iu I'.tMd may reasonably be ex]iected to be
l,3t)(»,(l(l(l; and that this yi-owtli will be attained when the |pro]iosed
rajiid transit road is constructed is beyond (piesliou. .\nd it need
not l)e feared that there is not territoi-y enouiih for such a lar^c ])opu-
lation. With the newly annexed territory the jiortion <>{ the city
above the Ilai-lem Ki\( r is double the size of that below, and if you
can jmt two millions on Manhattan Island, there is surely ample room
for a million and a half in twice as much space.

" In 1S74, when the original 2.">d and 24th wards were annexed to
New York, the total assessed valui' ot the pro(>erty was about ^215,-
000,000. The total assessed value for the year 1S!M; was .fS(;,40r),40r>.
The first laruc incrc ase after 1S71 was iu ISOO, when the valuation'
went u]) to .*44.()00.(I(MI; but from 1S!»0 to 1S;»7 it ran u]) lo .«!tti,OI)t),(»(ll)
— more than doubling; in seven years with the imiMo\e(l transpor-
tati(m facilities, while it re(|uii-e(l sixteen years for doublinii ]U'ior
to the creation of such facilities. In t«'n years, when the rapid transit
road is built, the assessed value of the property in the city limits
mu-th of the Harlem Kiver will be .'«200.000,000."

In \\'estchester County ])ro]ier there has been a steady and (|uile
uniform development duriui; the last deca<le. The most noticeable
feature of this ero^th is, of course, the advance in poimlalioii in
Yonkers, Motint \'eiiion. relham, and New IJochelle, .ilouii the New

626

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

Vnrk ("ily line — an inevitable (■(•neoiiiilanl of the lireat striih-s made
in the annexed terriiniv. A potent factor of the licuera! im])i'ovc-
uieul in tliis section has been tlie introduction of tndley roads, att'ord-
iiij; (jniidv transit and a |iraclicaliy nniversal " transfei- " system. In
1894 the eh^vated railway established a uniform fare of five cents
from the Battery to the end of its sutnirbiin line at Tremont. This
l^'oduced a vast increase in the trans-llarlem tratfic: in lS!t:{, while
the ten-cent fare still i)revaile(l, tlie suburban branch of the elevated
road carried 5,S()7,S4S passenuers, but in 1S!)7, after a brief trial of
the five-cent rate, the number had imreased to 11,145,184. Mean-

YONKKKS MICH SCHOOI..

lime electric cars were beiui; substituted lor horse cars tliroui;hont
the annexed territory, and also in Vonkers, .Mount N'ernon, and New
Ikochelle. In ISlt!) the culniinalinii was reached by establishini; a
single five-cent fare fi'cun \dnkcrs to New KocJKdle by \\:\\ of .Mount
Vernon, and from all these jilaces to the Harlem Kivcr; and in ad
dition the elevated railway instituted a transfer arrangement by
which trolley ])assen'.;<'rs wei'e cai-ried to the liattei'y, oi- (devated
i)assen,ii'ers to ^Nlonnt N'ernon. \'onkers, and New Kochelle. for a total
of eiiiht cents. This remarkable cliea]ieninu' of fare for the lonji' riile
is but an incident <d' general concessions to the public whi(di leave

Fuo.M 1.S42 TO I'JOO (127

iiotliiu.H to be (Icsircd except iiii])i(iveiiieiits in (lie servire ((nimieii-
surate to tlie eiioniious jii'owtli in (lie trolley (mllic.

The (rolle.v is likewise exenisini;- a peculiar (leveloi)ini; iiilliieiice
in the Uutlson lUver municipalities, where (he steepin-ss of (lie ascent
from the railway an<l fi'om the village centers lo many of the resi-
dence localities has always been a hindrance to diversified progress.
Two tn)lley routes uow cross tiie county: one from Void;ers lliroii<;h
Mount Vernon to New Kochelle, the other from Tarrytown through
White I'lains to Mamai-oneck.

Nine new villages have been incorporated during the present
decade: relhani Manor and i.archmont in ISitl, .MamaronecU in
is;)r>, I'elham, North I'elham, and Ai'dsley in lS!l(i, Pleasant ville in
ISUT, and Hronxville and ("roton in 1S!)8.

This volume is issued before the ap])earance of the census returns
of 1900 for Westchester County proper. ' In 1898, however, local enu
merations were made in the villages of tlie couniy, witli the f(dl(iwing
results in the incorporated places:-'

VILLAGES POPULATION

New Roclielle (Town of New Rochelle) 12,297

I'eelvskill (Town of Coitlaiidt) »,4!Hi

Sini;' Siiij;' ( Town of Ossininfj) 8,160

Wliitc Plains (Town of Wliito Plains) 7,;i6:J

Poit Chester (Town of Rye) 7,257

TaiTvtown (Town of GreeiilMiigli) .... 4,074

Xoitli Tarrytown (Town of Monnt Pleasant) 4,011

Maniaroneek (Towns of Maniaroneck and Rye) :5,720

Dolilis Ferry (Town of (!reenl)urgli) 2.S40

Irvinfjton (Town of (irecnbiirgli) "J.!!!:;

Hasting.s (Town of (jreenbnrffli) 1,712

Monnt Kiseo (Towns of Redford and New Castle) 1 ,:174

Croton (Town of Cortlandt) 1 .2 14

Pleasantville (Town of Mount Plea.sant) 1 .l>ll

Larelinuint (Town of Maniaroneek) 711

North I'elhani (Town of IVlhani) Ii'i7

Pelhani Manor (Town of Pelhani) 4;»()

Hronxville (Town of Eastehester) 301

Ardsley (Town of fireeiiburgh) 372

Pelhani (Town of Pelhani) I't-

In the same year tin- estimateil po|inlations of the ( 'ities of ^'oId•cers
and Mount N'eiiion wei'c, respectively. 10,000 ami 1.':'..000. 'i'lnis the
total urban iioimlaiion of Mir county in 1S9S, contained in two cities
and twenty incorporated villages, was about i:>:{,000.

New lioclielle was incoriiorated as a city l)y an ad of t lie legishil ur>'
of 1899, whi(di received liie govemm-'s signature (ui tiie 2Jlli ibiy of
.March. The first city election was Indd Ai)ril 2r>. 1S99, resiiliing in
the (dection of .Mi( liatd J. Dillon I Democrat) as mayoi-. the other city

' Thf ^iVnlnUoii ..r III,- l!.ii"iiKli ...r llii- - I'ruiii SnilUrs Mniunil yf West<'be»ler

l'.niii.\ for I'.WO ^ottiiiali i.s 200.507. (■..iliil.v. 152.

628 HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

ol'liccrs clidst 11 hciiiL; : trciisurcr, -I. Aitliur Iluiitini;iiiii ; iiulicc jiislicc.
John A. Van Zeliu; assessors, Aiiniistiiic Siuitli. 1'. I>. Iliady, iiud II.
W. Tasslpr; aldcnucn at larjic, Henry (". Kucliler, .lacnli llollweys,
John Stephenson, John Kress, and Frank IIoHer; aldciiucii, William
H. Xeil.sou, liobert (". Aniier, J(din (Jrab, Flric X. (Irit'len, II. A.
Siebn^dit, Sr., and Peter Ciiiineen; supervisors, (leoriic II. ('ra\vf(n-d,
Jacob Iv. Wilkins, and relci' Doeiii. The city jiovernnHMil was or-
ganized on the2Sth of Ai>ril lollowiii.u.

G3() ORNERAL INDEX

Hninx, liriic>iii;li ol' i1m\ 2, Si\ '.If). Ilii:!. (121!. (HB. CcirllniHllvlll.-. ur..

li2T; sec also Fordluini MilllDr. KiUKslirid^r. rorlliMidl's Khlu'i-. I'.iiltlcnl. HT. 412.

.MorrisiHiia. 'Wi'slfln'stt'r, and ■\\'i'st l*'arnis. I'nucli. I''t-aiikliii, 4ii4.

Ttnilix Kills. 4. CniiU.v .iiliuilll Ici^ i,( \uo. :m.

nninxland. 87. 142. ISO. I'minly vi'iilliiii iif 1774, 2!i:{; i>t \''^. 300.

Hi-onx rark, GUI. (Hiui li.mscs. 198. 335. 402. 520, 5Si.'

lironx Uivi'i-, 5, 11. Sil. 373. 3SS. 3Sii. .WO. 54'.i. ( ■..wlxi.vs. Tins 417.

550, 551. 553. 502. ,507. i ■lonip'aid. 45S. 4G!1. 501, 510, 520.

linnix Rher ripe I.iiic. 11. his. (;14. c'ninkliiU's. Tlii', 107.

Brniixvillc linrnrpnratrd villatji'l. 500, 027. Cnisliv . Kiiix-Ii. 177. 420.

Hiuld. Jnlin. ..r Kv.-. 12). I'niss rmiil. 13.

Undd's NLTk. 124. I'niss Itivcr. !l.

Burgnyiio's oxpcdition, 433. I'r n liiiini ponitcd vllliift'-l. 400, ,500, 027.

HiUT, Aaron. 419, 446, 549. Cr.il.m .\i|nc(lni-ts, .54S, 013.

livram Lake, 13. ''I'.l !a.v. 9.

Byram Polut, 2. Ci-nlnn F.-ills. 474. .547. .502. 591.

Byram RiviT, 11, 124, 200, 450, Cnili)!! I'liiiii, 15, i:t7, 100. 422, 4,50, 41.7. 477. ,50,5.

Carloton, .Sir Cuy, 518. 522. Criitcm Itivi'r. 9. 107. 3,50, ,399, .500, 5,50, ,552.

rasth' rililipsi-. 100, 102, 530. Cnlvrr, Cliarli-.s V... 10. 424. 000.

fauldwrll. William, 002. 008. ('iinindn«. Willlairi ,1. iKcv.l. 197, 599.

Codar Tivr Brook. 115. 129. 141. llanUvrs. .Jasper. 73. 1.58.

fliappaona. 10, 518, 591. 007. 620. Davenport's Nock. 5. 37S

Chappa.ina Hills. 7. David's Island. 0.

fhattorton's Hill. 388. 389. ffl.3. 395. 506. 550. Davids, Williani, 424.

. Chonnwith. Alexander C, 21. 42. 51. Haws Thnry B.. 2S7. 317, 31S, 323, 324. 3H

Chevaux de frise at
361, 373.

Fort \Vasliinf.'t..n. 351, 3)5. 304. H7:i, 370. 377, 388, 393, 394.
Dean, .lolin. 447. 470, 47.S.

I'hri.stianson. Henry. 59. Deelaratlon of Imlependeneo proclaimed at

Citv Island, 6, 174, 352, 532, 020, 021. Wliite Plains, 336.

Clason's Point. 5. "" 'ir.asse. Comit. 501, 503. 510, 513, 510.

He Kav. .lai'olins, 107

Clinton, De Witt H' nel). 54s, 550. I"' l-aiu-ey. Kdward F.. 0.5. 08. l.'!7. 17,5. ISl, 1,8.,.

Clinton, (ieort'e Kiovernori. 345. 372. 388. 401. 2ii'.i. -.iXi.

"I 134 5''5 "'■ I'^'io-ey. .lanies Ko.vernon. 1.82. 241. 204.

'.'lintun' ileiiiy iSir). 389. 433. 4:19. 451. 454. 40:!. De Lailcey. .lami-s ( I,lentenant-< '..lom-ll. 260.

5j, 5,j, ' 2S9. 442. 401. 402, 500. ,504, 517. 518.

' T'lintim, James ((ii'iierall, 375, 401. 434. 474. De I.aneey. .lolin Peter, 181, 200.

C.bldini.' Stone. The. 15. I'" ''"'"'".v. I'"'"'- »'• 266. 2.8.3.

Cekoo. the Indian interpret.^. 127. !>'' I"ni''<'.v. Steplieii. '200. 269.

C„e. J.d.n. nf live. 124. r><' I.ii"''''.v <'"Vi'. 5.

C.ITey. W. S.. Bev.. 282. 5,81. 593. I"' Laiicey fan)ily. 130, lOS, 204.

Cnlden. Cailwallader. 29, 273, 281. !><> h-uuvy Point. 5.

C(.le. David (Kev.i. 57, 140. 161. 255. 561. 017. Ho I.aneey Town, 527.

Colon Donek. 105. r>e Lancey's Mills. 44S.

Coles's Bridse. 541. Demont. William. 404.

ciilleet ■ri.e. 90. I"'l"'"-' ' 'l'"""'-".v M- ^^- ^22, 590. 603. 613.

Committee on Correspc

ideliee 287 292. 297. "'" Peyster. 168. 22:1. ,5:10.

cimmlttee to Detect Conspiracies. :!27

Dormer. Captain Tliomas. Voyage of tliroUKli

ontinentai Bridilc. 399. 456. I-""!-' I-*'''"'' f*""'"'- ,, , , , ,.,

„ntinental Villaire. 415. 427. 436. Do Vries. _Maruar,-t _Har,l.-.,l,nM-k. 1^.

, ,M,per. J.-'unes FeninH.re. 177'. I'.M.' 462. 567. Disl.n.w. P.-ter. of Uye. 124 12

|. !■ t r 611 Dolilis Ferry ilncorporated vlllanel. occnpallim

c!!'r'n'ell' Uo'nz'o u' 94 612 l>.v Ho^ve's army. 400; Junction of 111,. Amerl.-aii

;•;; ;;;.!!: k!;;:: afii^' -" •^■■•'-- -"- ^: '"""••■■'• "■ "Y"- 5k-

.■„,,„.|l T ,,,s 93 thedepartnr,. for the \orkio«n .-ampaiiin. .51..

,'„r,oll''s N'eck 5 9.'!. 116. 138. 22.8. 275. 622. .■.ooernlm.' the meeting- ,.f Washl„;:(..n and Mr

. ;„ , ,. ,» (inv Carh'ton. 522: the village h. Wai. .590: Ineor-

. „rnwa Ills I'--'l. 3S«_ ,„;,„„„ ,,,. ,,,,„„s references. 3. 25. 156. 100.

Corsa. Andrew. 424. ofl9. ! 351 40'i 410 428. 440. 450. 405. 400. 477, 510.

Corlhindt it..wnshlpi. created a l.iwn l>y the 344. 3S1. 4o.i. no. 4-».
act of 178.S, .5:!2: the town and lis vllla«e.s In 514, 519, 520, 019, o27.

1860. 5.89; popniation at varions periods. 53:i. 5:i9. I>o..;.'an. <:"Vornor 1 160. D3.

542, 577, 5S9, 005, Oil, 619; ,.ther r.fercn.-cs, 170. Dentflily. Kllas. 98. 114.

,^,j ^_j^ D..nk-lass. Major. 552.

"V'„rth,ndt Manor. 157. li'.8. 220. 268. 305. 33,8. 527. Draft Ulots. ■">'. «^-

C„r,land.own. 106. Drake. .lo.seph Uodman, 567.

GENERAL INDEX

Abl)att, Williai]]. 47S.

Afki'i' liousc. Till'. BBS.

Action at Tnrrytown. The. 507.

Alcx.'lniliT. .rallies. 241, 244. 24,S.

.Mipciiiick. 25.

.\llisiili, I'. K. (Itov.). 2r,l. 329, 52S. 53S. 559, 5S2,
5S7. 600.

.Ahiishoiisi'. Tln\ 544.

Ainai-kassin. infi.

.\niiTiiiiliaii names in Wesleliester Ciniut.v. 45.

.\nilie. Major. 454. 4fi4-49fi.

.\iiclre's Brook, 47.S.

■•Annaliel Lee." 570.

Annexation of a portion of .Vortli .Salem to
Lewlslioro. 532; of a portion of New Cnstio to
Somers, 5:!3: of portions of Wostcliester County
to New York City, 608, 621.

.\lin-Hooek. 27. 92. 115.

Antliony's Nose. 2. 4. 8. 5.S. :J10. 341. 415.

Appleby Island. 532.

AiiueiUlets. 9, 11. 548. 613.

Areli;eolo}.'y of Westellester Ciiiily. 20.

Archer. Jolin, 138, 144.

.\rilsley (incorporateil villaj;ci, 627.

Arilolil. Henelliet. 42.S. 464-496.

Astor. John ,7acnli, 258.

Austin. .loiiatlian Williams i.Ma.iori. 402.

Ayery. Kpliraim iKcv.l, 400.

Balieock. Luke lUev.l. 301. 302. 443.

Halicock's House affair. The, 442.

P.airil. C. W. (Rey.l. :«. 124. 202, 215, 218, 221,
400, 444, 517. 601.

Harhailoes, 130, 150.

Barrett, Joseph, 223, 224. 420, 457, 600.

liarretto Point, 5.

Bartow, ,Tohu (Rey.), 233, 263.

Batlles and engagements:— .Slaufihter of In-
dians by Captain John Underbill in Bedford.
101: battle of Colden Hill. 2S0: affair of the Hre-
ships. 34(: attack by the .\iiierican galleys on
the British ships off Tarrylown l.\iigust 4. 17761.
344: battle of Long Island, 346: lirst blood of the
Revolution in Wcstcliester County, 34S; batlle
of Ilai-lem Plains, 350; affair at Randall's Island,
.353: battle of Westchester Creek. 353, 365; en-
gagement at I'elhani (October IS, 1776). 375; at-
tack on the tjneen's Rangers at Mamaroneidv.
382; engagement at Harfs ('orners, 389: battle
of White Plains, 3.S9: fall of Fori Washington.
406: siege of Fort Independence. 425: engage-
ment near Peekskill I March. 17761. 427; fall of

Forts Clinton and .Montgomery. 433: rout of
Donop's yagers. 440; the Ward's Ilonse affair,
442: ambuscade of the Stoekbrldge Indians at
Cortlandt's Ridge. 37. 442: the Babcock's House
affair. 443: Burr's capture of the West Farms
blockhouse, 448; storming of Stony Point, 452:
Tarleton's raid on Poundridge, 456; British at
tacks on Crompond, 45S: Hopkins's light with
Emmerick, 4.59: American descents on Morris- ;
aiiia and Eastchester (17791, 459, 460; the
Yoiings's House affair. 461: American attacks
on Morrisania (earl.v in 17801, 462; Hull's raid on
Morrisania (.Tannary, 1781), 498; the surprise of
(_'olonel Greene on the Croton. 500; the action
at Tarrytown i.liily 15. 1"81|. 507: cngagciucnt
in the Town of Rye il7Slt, 517; the surprise at
Orser's (Januar.v. 17S21, 517; American attacks
on Morrisania (1782), 518.

Bayard. Nicholas. 16.S. 204. 205.

Bedford (township and villagci. iiiehnl d in
Captain Nathaniel Turiu-r's purchase |1640|. 87;
Captain .Tohn rnderhiirs Indi;in tiglM. 101; set-
tlement. 221: a participant in (he Rye Rebellion,
222: John Jay's residence at, 223, 545: burning
of. by Tarleton. 457; the court house at. 526;
created a town by the act of 1788. 532; the town
and its villages in 1860. 589; population .at vari-
ous periods. 226, 539, 542. 577, 589. 605. 611. 619;
various references, 16, 26. 125, 233, ;!05. ;in. 462.
533. 539. 542. 5.S9. 614.

Beekman. Mrs. Gerard G. (Cornelia Van
Cortlandl). 427. 527, 530.

Betts, William, of the Yenkers Land. 144.

Birch, HarM'y. see Crosby, Enoch

Bird. Colonel. Expedition by. .igainst Peek
skill, 426.

Birdsall House. 427.

Rissightiek Tract. Tlie. 156.

Blind Brook. 11. 124.

Block. Adrian. 59.

Bogardus. E\'erai'dus. ss.

Bolton's "Ilisiory of Westchester County,"
585.

Borough Town of Westchester, 229.

Boston Post Road. 146. 195, 291.

Boundaries of Westchester County, 1, 6, 197.

Boudary dispute. The. 120. 132, 136, 199.

Boyce. Brum. 424.

Boyd. Ebenezer (Captain), 468.

Bridges. 5. 7. 55. 157. 213. 228. 399. 541. 542. 552.

llronck. J IS, .S7. 1,50.

GEXEUAL TXDKX (jj{7

Wapi>iiij.-i.r Indians. LM. 40:t: .•r.-iitrd .-, i,,ui, I,,- u„. ;,cf .if 17.SS. Kil: ilio

Will- of 1,S12. 5:«i. .\I.i<-<inil)-s Kani cxpcillllun. 551!; VVvst Karius

Wanl, St,.pl,r„. „r lOasl.-lu.st,-,-. 2'.IS. 30(1, 30r,, s.T „n- fn.,,,. 57'!: an,i..x,.,| to N.-w York City.

'>21: piipnlalliin at varlmis ihtI.kIs, 22(1. 53:), 5::ip.
542. 57.S. 5!i2. ■;il5, 012. fi20: various ri.fiTriicoK I
IK. 29S, 301. 305. 323. 4110. 527. 3!t2,
Wa.shiii-toii. (!,.orj;r. on ih,. patriotic soi-viccs West I-'arms (fornuT townslilp anil vlllaKi-)

iif tlic Mohii-an Iriilians. :;7: pass.-.s tlii-onj,-!. patontfU to ICilwaiil .Iissnp ami .lolin ItMi-iril.

Wi.stol.i.st.T County to ial( ouniauil of th- sou. 1.^0; iniorpofatod in tho Town of W,.«t-

ai-,uy, 312; onlois tin- i-onioval of KioiliTii-k .-'K.sti.r liy tin' ai-- of 17XS. 531 : sol olT as a ti.wu
I'liilipso. 32!i; on tlio tiroslups alTnir. 34U; Wasli- f,.,i„, -Wosti-hi-stiT (lS4r;i.
inj;lou ami .Mary I'hilipso. 34Lt: i-oinarl;s on tin

320. 442

Wai-il's lloiiso allair. 'I'lio. 112
Wafil's Taxcin. 3S7.

.57t>; annr.M'iI to Now

., ,, ., „., . ,., . . 'i"ik City il,s74). i;iO; popiilati.iu at various i.f-

uulttla ,.55: tl„. Wluto I'latus ,-a„,pa>«n. 35!;. HikIs. .57S. 592. COS; various rLfori-m-os to. 212.

.!•«,: aililtvss to ,1„. a,„,y aftor IIowo's ia.nlinsr .,;,;. ^oo. 44S-. 517. 5(12. m, 57fi. 5S5. 597. (»2. 006.

on lluosrirs No,U. :i,l; his hoadiinaftors at \v,.s, I-atont. Tim. 1S3. 224.

tlio \.iii'iilim- liouso. 3S3. at tlio Milioi- Inius.' Wosi Point 415 43S 4B1

iWliito riainsl. :iS5. at tin- Van Coi-tlandt WlialiOioats,' Tlii'-. 444.

Mansion .mil lUnlsall IIouso iI'i'ol<sliilli. 427. Wliitr. Hon'rv 274

at .Tosopli Apiilcliy-s (Dolilis Fon-yl. 507; Wliil,' i laii Address. Tlu-. 2'.'9

ou Howo's rotnrn luovcniout from Whltt'

riaius. 101); di'parturo from Wostclu'stoi

County to Now .lorsoy. 401; Ills consuniinfi anx- WostchostiT

W'liiti' I'laius lto\vuslil[i and vlllajii'i. I'urly
liroprlotary dispntos. 177. 219; sotnoiniMit. 21'i;

County ciinvention of 1774. 293;

ii'ty alioul till' Hudson Hivor ami tin.' Hij; i- ,..iii,.i,< .,f m.,,.,.i. .lu i— c .im ., , .

• ... , . . i.iucus of .Mari-li 2H. Iii5, 29,s: im'i't uks of tn

lands. 411: on tlio strato;.'!!- adv.antaKos of ,.,,..,. ,. . ,, . , ., ,, ,.., ,

,, , , •„ ,.,,. ,. , .... , ,. , '"■'' taolions. April 11. 1775. 29;i; moi'tlni; of

I'l-ckskill. 421.: his rrpniot ot (li'noral Putnam. m.,,. « i— r -..ic .1 , , ,

,„^, . . ,, .. ,„ . , , ,..,, May S. I1..5. .f05; tlio proi-laiua'i f t lo Iiooia-

4.3S; I'Uranips at \\ into I'lains, .lulv. luS. .■»■,,

,„„ ., ' • .. ,--„ , ,. , ,. ration of Indi'pondonco and orit.-iuizallon of tho

439; tlio operations of l,i9 around \ eriiianek s ... , , .. ,. , .,„, ^..i.i'..iii ..1

,, . . .-, ,. • .• . htate of ^l■^v \ ork. 335; straleu'C imiiorlame

Point. 451: Ins i-oinmunii'ations to eon^ress on ..__ „„., , '

the i-aptnre of Andre. 475, 47fi; operations of ■*"■•'• =''•*= *'"■ <•••"•»"•""■ "f WasiiiuKton s

17M in Westeliester County. 501-516: ri uiiois- """•'■•ueiit to. 3i4; the mar.-ii of the A.uerleai.

same of New York. 509; his preparations for ;':"'•:' "'■ ^"^"^ ^'- 3**-- 3^*5: Washin«tou makes

news from ile (irasse's fleet. 511. 513; on the ""' ''^'I'loarters at the Miller house. 3S5; l.at-

aelion at T.arrvtowu. 5flS; m. the physieal [\'' "'; ^'^''^ Washlii^-tou-s n-tiivmeut from. 39S;

features of ,i„. northern part of Voukers. 514; «=''*'""-'"■'■« .■neampinent of .lul.v. 177S. 439;

dilutions to i;eneral Heath on ieaviu!,' for '""'•''' '"■o-l'iuarters. 446; ereetiou of the pri-s-

Y..rkto«„. .-il7; iunetion ..viil, Koehambean-s ^■"' '•""'•' '"""<'■• 5!>7; ineorporatlon of the vll-

:,rn,v at Verplanek's P 1 in 17S2. 519; re- '"--■■ •^"^ population at various periods. 5:!3.

enters Xew Vorii .5''5 ^^^' ^''*' ^'''' '"*''• '''^' '''^^- ^■"''''""' refereliees. 129.

Water Cu-irds Thi 144 ^^^' ■'^- *^' *^^- ''^- ^^^- •''-"• ^^''- ^^- ^'- ^'^•

W.'itts. .iohn.'sr.. 2.;s ■ 596. 597. 599. 612. 620. 627.

\Varts. John. .Ir.. r,.3.;. Whittaker, P, eriek. 59G. m2.

Wavne. Antlmnv KJenerall. 152. 49b. '^^■'''' '■•""'' "'"■ ■"^■

Weatherslield eonferenee. The. 501. Wilkius. Isaae. 2S9. 297. 299. :i01. 304.

\VeekiinaeSKeek Purehase. The. 115. '^^■"'''' I'""lli>'<'-«. -'14.

\Veek.,uaesf.'eek Tra<-t. The. 156. v"'!,".""/" '""■'■ "' ''"'•'""'" ■''■•■'■''• '"• ''''*• '•"'■

Weekiiuaesfieeks. all Indian tribe. 25. :)7. -™- "''■'• -"'•

\VeL,'nninn. Kdward, .54S. n.5. AViilelt. .Marinus. ;;os. 427.

Wells. .lames I... 625. Williams. Al.raham. 470.

Wells Lemuel 559 Williams. Haniel iCaptainl. 517.

W.-slehesler c'lia'ssenrs. The. .595. Williams. l>avld. 470. 476. 485, 4,S7.

Westrhester Countv. Cre.ilion of. 197. Williauis. I{o«er. 93. 99.

Westell, ster County llistoriiiil Soeiety. :59i;.. Willlanis's ItridKe. 323. 406. 505. 592. Ii(i2. I»I6.

i;n A\'ood. .laiiies. 57.

Wesieliesier Creek. .5. II; battle of. :i53. 365. Woodworlli. Samuel. 572.

n-.M,>sl,r /; The. 565. Wrljrhfs Mills. 518.

Westeliester Town. Pell's purehase of. 1654. Yerks. .lohu. 470.

115: iplaint of inhaliitants alionr Duteh op- Youkers itowiislilp. vlllnco. ami ellyl. orlcln

pressiiiii. 131:lir.st town patent. 138.141; the oris,'- "f "»' »•'""'• '"c Hie Phill|ise imrelmse. 156: liie

imil shire town of th unty. 198; seeond towu "'•<•'« "f I'"iederiek IMilllpse. 329; WashliiKti.ii-s

patent, 22!'; witener.ift ease. 22.S: early ship lieadquarters at the Valentine house. 383: Hie

liuildiiiu' indiistry. 229; the Weslehester fair. Haheoek's House alTair. 443; purehasern of fiir-

229: ereeteil into a lioroujrli town. 229: deslR- felted lauds. .528: ereated a lowii by the act of

nated as a parish. 233; resolntlous of 1774. 293; 17S8. 5:U; beginnings ot Hie villace. 559: liinir-

lald of c.iptaiu I.saai- Sears. :;16; battle of poratlou of Hie vllhice. 5.S2; burning of Hie

Westeliester Creek. S53. 365: P.rlHsh outrages. • Henry Clay." 586; the village In ISfi^i. 592: re-

638

GENERAL TXDEX

biidge set oft 606; moorp.rat.ou nf the city. „n„d, 501: ..noa.ni.ment of the Freneh army at

60S; water syste,„, 0 6; the Mauor H.n.se eele- Cvompond (1782,. 520; ereate.l a town bv he a •

bn>t,ou tar; removal of milUlams. ,121; popuh.- „f 17SS, 532; population at various periods 5«

If: !^\h\,?^\J:'"\'-T '■'^^''■■'■■"■'■«- 5«. 98. 2:!3, 170, 269. -132. 458, 469. 4S5. 539. 596. 600. 614
261. 323. 344, 3,3. .■(77. 380. 407, 442, 505. 514, 527, 52S. YounKss House, 459, 461

=46, 597. 599, 601. 602, 612, 626. z^ge,.. .John Peter. 247

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Full text of "History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900"

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