The Hudson River from ocean to source

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By EDGAR MAYHEW BACON

THe Hudson River from Ocean
to Source

Historical — Legendary — Picturesque

8°. With over loo Illustrations.

Chronicles of Tarrytown and
Sleepy Hollo\v

iG"". With 23 full-page Illustrations.
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

Ne-w "VorK London

The "Half-Moon" on the Hudson — 1609
From a painting by L. W. Seavey

poO/ {(()^!, [\o "nooM-lIiiH" ^jdV

The

Hudson

River

From
Ocean to
Sou rce

Historical— l.cgcii(hv-\ — l^iiiiircsqiic

By

Edgar Mayhew Bacon

Author of " Chronicles ofTarrytown," etc.

With TOO Illustrations, and with Sectional Map
of the Hudson River

G. P. Putnam's Sons

New York and London
Xlbe ikiiichcrbocker press

1902

CONGRESS,

"'**'0 CtlPlte Rlckived}

'^■^<^. B fQ^?,

COPY B.

COPYPIGHT, lgo2

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

Published, November, igo2

Ubc INnichcibochcr iprcss, iRcw ji'orft

Preface

IN treatino^ of the histor}' and traditions, the men
and the manners of the valley of the Hudson
Ri\-er, the author has undertaken to ])resent in
one coherent work the gist of many volumes and to
add such hitherto un])ul)lished material as he has l)een
able to discover.

From the nature of this boc^k it has not been i^os-
sible to make the historical narrati\'e continuous, but
in treating of separate localities the main events con-
nected with each ha\'e l)een grou])ed, the method of
arrangement l)eing to])ical rather than consecutive. A
reference to the index may in many cases dis])el an
impression that some im])ortant event or i)erson has
been neglected or forgotten l^ecause its ]dace in a
chronological sccjuence has of necessity been disre-
garded.

In commencing the story with the arriwal of TTenry
Hudson, the claims of Verrazani and other early na\-i-
gators have been ignored, not because history disowns
them, but for the reason that the record of the river,
so far as it is clearlv written, commences with the Half
Moon and the first Dutch settlers.

In collecting and ]:»roducing illustrations for this
work great care has been taken to illustrate the text
and not merely to make a ])icture-book, but the beauty

iv Preface

as well as the fitness of the many engravings with
which it has 1)een embellished is a source of satisfac-
tion to both the author and the publishers, who pre-
sent them without misgiving.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge with hearty apprecia-
tion the courtesy of many friends who have aided the
writer in his search for material. Among others, Mr.
M. H. Bright, the Directors of the Lenox Library, and
Mr. Joel Benton have the author's sincere acknowledg-
ment for memoranda and the use of rare ])ictures. To
Mr. Francis Whiting Halsey, especially, he is indebted
for a manuscript journal of a voyage up the Hudson in
the year 1769. This, it is believed, has never before
been printed.

TJic Hudson River is offered to the ]iu])lic with a con-
sciousness of the vastness of the suljject and the im])os-
sibility of treating it exhaustively in a single volume.

The author \w\\\ ask his archaological readers kindly
to bear in mind that for no town in the land vv^ould the
antiquaries be found in accord concerning all points of
local history. Whoever writes the history (jf a single
village, whether on the Hudson or elsewhere, must ex-
pect the honest criticism of some who do not agree
with his conclusions. He can only claim to have
made a careful study of the very interesting records
of the communities of the Hudson River Valley, and
may hope that his narrative and conclusions ma>'
be found in substantial accord with the accepted
authorities.

Contents

I — Introductory ....
II — Two Cities on One Site .
Ill — New Buildings and Old .
IV— Festivals and Pageants .
V — Along the Manhattan Shore
VI — On the Jersey Shore

VII Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley

VIII— The Passing of the White Wings .

IX Fulton and the Hudson River Steamhoat

X — Riverside to In wood
XI — The Island and the River in 1776
XII -Forts Washington and Lee
XIII ^From Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkers
XIV— Spectres of the Tappan Zee .
XV — In the Land of Irving .
XVI— Literary Associations of the Hudson
XVII— Around Haverstraw Bay
XVIII— The Storming of Stony Point
XIX — At the Gate of the Highlands

19
30
41
54
65
87
100
118

139
160
181

193
211
226
246
289
304
313

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

XX — The Spirit of '76 326

XXI — A Voyage up the ItIudson in 1769 . 344

XXII — Among the Hills 357

XXIII — West Point 370

XXIV — The Fisher's Reach .... 389

XXV- FiSHKILL TO POUGHKEEPSIE . . . 416

XXVI — Sports and Industries .... 430

XXVII — RoNDouT and Kingston .... 443

XXVIII- -Saugerties and its Neighbours . -471

XXIX -The Catskill Region ... 486

XXX — Nantucket Quakers and Dutch

Fighters . . . » . . 503

XXXI -An Old Dutch Tchvn . . . .51^

XXXII Above Tide-Water .... 55°

Index 573

llustrations

The " Half Moon" oti the Hudson, rdog

Frojitispiccc

From the paiiUiw^ by L. W. SciiTcy.

Land i II g of Hudson

Portrait of Hudson

Early \^icu' of Wcchawkcn .

The Month of Spuytoi Dnyvil Creek in Early Days

Earliest Map of the City

A Bit of Old Neiv York

Before the Day of Skyscrapers

The House that icas Built for Washington

The Staten Lsland Ferry and Barge Office (about
nS33)

Peaks of the Manhattan Range

The City that Hides Majihattan .

TJie Barge Office and the Bay

Cover noCs Island from Battery Park

A Tow Going out to Sea

Pae^c

3
5

7

10

15

20
21

2g

33
36

37
40

43
53

Illustrations

Tlie Narrows, New York Bay
A' CIV York Harbour from one of the Skyscrapers
Brick Schooner and SJiad Fishers, off Fort Lee
A Fleet Thronged the River .

I^'roni an old print.

The Sybils Cave, Hoboken .
The Elysian Fields, Hoboken

From an old print.

An Early Yicw (about nS^o) of Haverstraw

From an old print.

The Ubiquitous Trig ....

From a draiving by the author.

Spreading the ]]liite Wings .

From a draiving by the antlior.

Palisades from the ]^ellow Rocks, Tap pan Zc

From a drawing by the author.

Departure of the '^Clermont'' on her First Voyage

'' Car of Neptune,"' 1808 ....

" Paragon,'' 181 1 .....

" Richmond," 181 j .....

The " North America" and " Albany,'^ 1 82^-1 82g

The Modern Flying Dutcliman

Riverside Drive, Manhattan

The Apthrope Mansion, Bloomingdale .

Grant's Tomb, Riverside Drive

The Notable Buildings on Harlem Heights, ivherc
tJic Battle was Fought in 1776

Burnham's Mansion House, Bloomingdale Road
about i8jj

Illustrations

Barnard College, on tJic Site of the Battlefield of
Harlem HeigJits ....

Under the Palisades ....
The Old Philipse House and Mill, Tarrytown
Erected about 16S4

The Flying DutcJunan ....

Hook Mountain, from Xyoek

Tappaji Zee and the Tarrytoion Light .

]\'ashtngton House at Tappan

High Taur — Point-no-Point and /larerstraw

From a lirai^'iiig by the author.

Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Holloic
Lookout at Old Quarry, Tarrytoicn

From (( draionn::, by the oiitlior.

Idleudld Glen

The River and Catskill Mor^ntaiiis, from the Lawn
of the ^Lnltgonlery House, Larrytoion .

From a draionit^ by W. 7. Wilson.

The Verplanck Mansion at Fishkill Landing
Under cliff — TJu^ Home of the Poet .]h->rris .

From an old print.

The River Road, near Coldeuham

Where the Brooks }h^t -Pilewild .

View South from Sing Sing, about iS4(S

Croton and Verplanck\s Point and Anthony's Nose

from Hill back of Sing Sing .
High Taur and the Short Clove — Haverstraw

IX

Page

i6i

213
216
218
220
221

239

2^1
263

26y

275
283
2gi

297
299

Illustrations

Stony Point and H arc rst raze, jyoiu W-rplanck's
Point

Bird^s-Eyc View of tJic Hudson from a Peak in tJic
Highlands ......

Draivii by W. 7. Wilson.

WJicrc tJic Jurisdiction of the Goblin Ceases .
Near Fort Montgomery ....

Storm King, from near Storm King Station .
Broken Xeck (I^reakneck) Hill
Cro' Xest from Cold spring ....
On the Face of Ihdl Hill ....
'M// Old-Fashioned Loaf of Sugar ^'

I''roiii a draicing by llic .inllh'r.

]]\\st Point. After the Painting by Robert IlV/r

Ifcre piiblislicJ by courtesy oj the Lenox Library.

West Point in i/So .....

From an ohi print.

Looking out of the Highlands, from Coldspring

PollopeVs Islatui

Murderer's (Moodna) Creek—By the Butter Hill
Across the Hudson from Cornwall

h^roni a ilraieinii bv \V. 'J. ]Vi!.'<oii.

Ncivburgh as Seen from Ftshkill and Coldspring
Road

The Cantilever Bridge at Poughkccpsie .

Tomkins's Cove ......

Ice-boat Fleet near Hyde Park

Page

307

314

323
333
341
347
359
363
367

373
380

3^7
391
399
403

4og

419
423

433

Illustrations

the Slihirt L'iilU\th>n.
sum).

Mciidiiii^ Wis at (larn'soii .
Mooiiliglit 0)1 llic Hudson
River Sccjic, Catskill .

"J. 11'. C'cisilcar, /'Vjy. J^'rom
Lenox Library. (By pernii:

River Scejie near Kingston .

From a ilraieiiiL:, by the author.

Donni the River, from Loicer Red Hook
The Montgomery House at Annandale .
Woodland Brook near Catskill ....

L'roiii the paiiilnii^ by A. H. Durand, i)i the Leimx
Library. (By penuis.'siou) .

A Glimpse of tJie Catskills, from Saugerties .
Viezv of Hudson City and the Catskill Mountains .

L'roii: an ohl print.

Winter 'I\eiliglit, near Albany ....

From a paintine l\v (i. .1. Bont^hton in Lenox Library.
(By permi.s.sion.)

T/a// Rensselaer Manor-House, lydj

Plan of Albany, i6gj .

Schuyler Mansion, iy6o

Seal of Albany

Along the River beloiv Troy .

Looking doivn River, near Troy

On the Hudson above Troy .

From an ohl print.

Congress Spring in 1820
The Rapids below Glens Falls

Page

437
445
453

465

475
481
487

497
5(^5

517

525
532
540
543
550
552
555

559
566

xii Illustrations

On the River between Glens [''alls and Sandy Hill

I'l-oni a draicnii^ by \V . 7. Wilson.

Page

The Bridge at (ilens Falls . . . . . j6q

A Logjam on the Upper Hudson . . . jyo

Sectional Map of the Hudson River

In separate pocket

THE HUDSON RIVER FROM OCEAN TO
SOURCE

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_..„.^ 1

The Hudson River

Chapter I

Introductory

IN a document that for nearly two centuries and a
half has lain safely tucked away among the royal
archives of The Hague, there is what the directors
of the West India Company called " a brief and clear
account of the situation of New Netherland."

"This district or country [we read], which is
right fruitful and salubrious, was first discovered and
found in the year 1609, by the Netherlanders, as its
name implies, at their own cost, by means of one Hen-
drick Hudson, skipper and merchant, in the ship Halve
Macnc sailing in the service of the incorporated East
India Company; for the natives or Indians, on his
first coming there, regarded the ship with mighty won-

2 The Hudson River

der and looked upon it as a sea monster, declaring that
such a ship or people had never before been there."

In writing a book upon the Hudson River, it is hardly
possible to avoid a repetition of historic statements
already more or less familiar to the reader. The vov-
age of Henry Hudson, English navigator in the service
of the Dutch East India Company, to find a passage
through polar seas to the shores of farthest Ind; the
happy accident which led him into the mouth of the
river that was afterwards to bear his name and to per-
petuate his memory; and the wonder of the Indians
of Manhattan when the Half Moon anchored at last,
are the details of a more than thrice-told tale.

There is no doubt that in Hudson's mind the " Groot
Ri\'iere" he had found was the long-sought passage to
open seas beyond. With Columbus, Verrazani, Cabot,
and a host of others who have followed an ignis fatuiis
through widening zones, the object of their expecta-
tions "a furlong still before,"' the skipper of the Half
Moon looked for a speedy realisation of his dreams. It
was not until the "green, pleasant shores" of Man-
hattan were far astern, and the lessening tides and
fresher volume of the river confronted him with un-
answerable argument, that his faith began to waver.
Yes, even then, we read, his heart was sore at finding
the head of navigation in the river, near the present
site of Albany. He dispatched his mate with a boat's
crew, to make sure of the disappointing fact, and not
till this expedition returned, after a journey of eight or

Introductory

PORTRAIT OF HUDSON

nine leagues, did he finally abandon the enterprise in
that direction and prepare to descend the river.

Hudson ascended the
stream in eleven days. He
recorded his impressions
and adventures, especially
with regard to the Indians,
in a report which he fortu-
nately succeeded in forward-
ing to his employers in
Holland, w^iile he himself,
after re-crossing the Atlan-
tic, was forcibly detained in
England.

We shall have occasion in the course of this work to
refer again to this initial voyage up the river.

In the year following Hudson's discovery, the Holland
merchants, acting on the principle that one should not
refuse a penny because it happens not to be a ])ound,
conceived the idea that while waiting to open a new
wa}' to China and Japan it might be profitable to secure
an exclusive grant to trade in the country that was
thrust upon them. A chronicle of thj time relates that

in that year, 1610, they sent a ship thither and obtained after-
wards, from the High and I\hghty Lords States-General, a grant
to resort and trade exclusively in these parts, to which end they
likewise, in the year 161 5, l)uilt on the North River, about the
Island Manhattans, a redoubt or little fort, wherein was left a
small garrison, some people usually remaining there to carry on
trade with the natives or Indians. This was continued and

6 The Hudson River

maintained until their High Mightinesses did, in the year 1622,
include this country of New Netherland in the charter of the
West India Company.

It was much easier for Henry Hudson to sail past
the lower end of Manhattan Island in 1609 than it is
now for the historian to follow his example. The as-
sociations of ten generations, the hardships and the
triumphs of early settlers, the pageants, the frivolities,
the disasters, and the achievement of an almost un-
paralleled history, cluster here. Yet to write of these
things fully would be to compile an encyclopedic his-
tory of New York City, which is b\' no means our
present purpose, and if the reader questions the omis-
sion of this or that detail from the succeeding pages of
this narrative, we can only plead the limitations of
time and space.

The river at the time of Hudson's voyage must have
presented a scene of strange and solemn beauty. The
sweeping verdure of a nearly unbroken forest on the
one bank, and precipitous, wild, pine-clad rocks on the
other, bordered a land of mysterious possibilities and
unguessed extent. Early writers have noticed par-
ticularly the prevalent abundance of the wild grapes
that in their season filled the air with spicv perfume.
Yet the forests were not uninhabited, for from every
covert, every little cove or bay along the shores, the
canoes of the Indians put out to intercept or at least
to approach the "yacht" of the voyager. The names
of tribes and sub-tribes have in large part been pre-

i r

Introductory 9

served in local names, some of which are in familiar use
until this day.

The Indian name for the Palisades is said to have
been Weh-awk-en; awk, the middle s^dlable, meaning
"rocks that resemble trees." If this is the correct
etymology and apidication of the name, we may won-
der how it happened to slip its moorings and drop down
with the tide to the present Weehawken, where it has
remained since the Dutch first gained possession of the
banks of the lower Hudson. An etymology, like a
horse, may be a vain thing for safety and carries our
faith on many a break-neck journey into the land of
speculation.

There is, however, for those who have sufficient
patience and enthusiasm, a delightful study in those
old Indian names that cover the Hudson and its tribu-
tarv waters with |)oly syllabic strangeness. The Rev.
Charles E. AUison says of the Algonquin tongue,
in which these names had their birth, that it "was
agglutinative. The wild men of the rapid water settle-
ment strung words together in an extended compound. "

In their language the region now known as West-
chester County became Laaphawachking, which meant
the place w^here beads are strung. The Hudson had
several names, one of the most familiar being Shatemuc.
The junction of the Spuyten Duyvil creek with the
Hudson was called Shoraskappock. A brook at Dobbs
Ferry was the Wisquaqua, and another the Wecquash-
queck. The Nepperhan River sought the Hudson—

TO

The Hudson River

and still does so — at the place that was once called
Nappeckamack, and is now Yonkers. Another Yon-
kers stream was Amackassin. The name of the Nep-
perhan seems to have been spelled with variations by
the none-too-careful Dutch orthographers ; its mean-
ing was "rapid water." Shorackhappock was the
bluff on the north side of Spuyten Duyvil creek, near

THE MOUTH OF SPUYTEN DUYVIL CKEEK IN EARLY DAYS

its mouth, where a Mohegan "castle" is said to have
stood, the latter being called Nipnichsen. The Spuyten
Duyvil water was named Papuinemen. The Indians,
themselves loaded with the unpronounceable name of
Meckquaskich, called a river between hills, that ran
near AHpconc (shady place), now Tarry town, Pocan-
tico or Pockhantes. Besightsick was Sunnyside brook,
Ossin-ing — "stone upon stone," appropriate prophecy
of present State buildings — was Sing Sing at a later
day, though very recently the inhabitants have again
restored the Indian name.

Sackhoes was the site of Peekskill and Senasqua of
Croton Point meadow. Kitchawan signified a swift

Introductory 1 1

and strong current and was the niime by which the
Croton River was known to the red men who hunted
game on its banks or drew the fish from its waters.

It is to the credit of the Dutch settlers that they
obtained their lands from the Indians by purchase. It
is a threadbare stor}' that Peter Minuit bought the
island of Manhattan for a sum al)out equivalent to
twenty-four dollars; taking into account the relative
values of land and money at that time and place, the
|)urchase may be regarded as equitable.

The oldest Indian deed to Westchester property that
is now^ preserved is that covering a tract included in
the town of Kingsbridge. All of the great manors and
patroonships along the river were acquired by pur-
chase and afterwards confirmed by grants.

The earliest settlements on the Hudson River were,
naturally, those surrotmding the several forts that
afforded protection from the neighbouring savages.
Albany claims the first of these, a palisaded enclosure
antedating even that upon Manhattan Island. At the
extreme ends of the navigable river, nearly a fortnight
apart in ordinary weather and absolutely shut off from
communication after the winter ice and snow appeared,
they became each the centre of dependent communi-
ties. The settlements from New Amsterdam, or Man-
hattan, extended northward to Kitchawan, and those
of Rensselaerwyk (or Albany) included th(^ more
southerly posts of Kingston, Esopus, and Rondout.
While it is true that other posts sprang up between,

12 The Hudson River

yet the greater part of the river shore was for many
years practically untouched by the whites.

In relation to the purchase of Manhattan there is
one old document, written in 1634, that concludes
with a burst that has the ring of prophecy: " Further,
not only were the above named forts enlarged and re-
newed, but the said company purchased from the In-
dians, who were the indubitable owners thereof, the
island of Manhattes, situated at the entrance of said
river, and there laid the foundations of a city.'' Who-
ever the forgotten framer of that paragraph, he
wrote, as his contemporaries builded, better than he
knew.

Noting the orthography of the name Manhattes, as
given above, it is interesting to find that there are
forty- two spellings of the word used in old manuscripts.

In that abounding wilderness which bordered what
has become the main artery of the Empire State, the
forests not only afforded a shelter for a large Indian
population, but a hiding-place for numberless wild ani-
mals, among which an old document of the year 1645
includes

lions, but they are few; bears, of which there are many; elks,
a great number of deer, some of which are entirely v/hite and
others wholly black, but the latter are very rare. The Indians
say that the white deer have a great retinue of other deer by
which they are highly esteemed, beloved, and honoured, and that
it is quite contrary with those that are black. There are, be-
sides, divers other wild animals in the interior, but these are un-
known to Christians.

Introductory 13

After the account here quoted of the black and white
deer, we are inchned to wonder whether it was know-
ledge or invention that failed. Certainly one may be
more indulgent to the flocks of flamingoes with which
Campbell brightened his picttn^e of the Wyoming
valley.

Allusion has been made to the primitive settlements
that sprang up in the neighbourhood of the principal
forts. Near the bouweries of New Amsterdam and
those of Rensselaerwyk, there were others where the
fields of rye, wheat, maize, and barley began to grow
in the forest clearings, and these in time centred about
the orchards and gardens of manor lords whose state
and power were baronial.

A very early and shockingly mendacious map, a very
geographical nightmare, that is preserved in Holland,
scatters a number of place names, without a clue to
distance, along the Mauritius (now Hudson) River.
Albany is discoverable under one of its several aliases, as
Nassou. Kinderhook — spelled Kinderhoeck — is about
where it should be, and Hinnieboeck suggests Rhine-
beck. Esopus has unaccountably slipped down the
river, and is surrounded by forests belonging to the
Waronawanka Indians. Then we find Blinkersbergh
and Vischershoeck (or letters to that effect) in the
country of the Pachami. Finally the familiar bend of
"Havestro" and "Tappans" is reached, after which
another half a dozen miles lands the bewildered voy-
ager in the Manhattes.

14 The Hudson River

It is not important that this erratic stream is in the
main as fabulous as that which flowed through the
caverns of Xanadu, or that the map-maker has hmned
another, not less marvellous (which may be the Mis-
sissippi or the Yukon, for anything that we know to
the contrary) , that parallels it a few miles to the west-
ward. What is really important is that some one who
constructed a map less than a decade after the dis-
covery of the river should have known the names of
Nassau, Kinderhook, Esopus, and Tappan, and should
have placed them in their approximate order on the
shores of a river making a line of cleavage through the
wilderness.

Those little settlements were the nuclei from which
cultivation spread into the forest lands. Year after
year the corn and the wheat followed the receding pine
and chestnut; year after year the "herbes" and the
simples attended the broader crops; and flowers that
bloomed for the delight of the eye and the comfort of
the soul lifted their faces within the walls of the home
acre.

Industr}^ and thrift were the genii that achieved
these things in time, but industry and thrift v^^ere not
enough to keep the new plantations from being some-
times reabsorbed by the surrounding wilderness.
There were periods of unrest among the forest dwellers,
and the pitiful stories of massacre and ruin were mtil-
tipHed.

One Siebout Claessen, house carpenter, burgher, and

Introductory

15

inhabitant of New Netherland, in a jn-otest or petition,
most respectfully represents that he,

having married Susanna Janss, at the time widow of Aert
Teunissen, her previous husband, who had entered into a con-
tract with Director Kieft to lease a certain boniverie named Hobo-
g/n'n, situate in Pavonia on the west side of the North River, . . .
fenced the lands, cleared the fields, and erected a suitable brew
house which is yet standing there, and brought thither eight and
twenty head of large cattle, etc. . . . together with many of
his own fruit trees. And thus considerable value was added to
the bouwerie . . . tmtil the year 1643, when the cruel, un-
natural, and very destructive war broke out, and his twenty-
eight large catile and horses were killed . . . dwelling house,
barns, and stacks of seed burnt, the brew house alone remaining.

Another sufferer points out that the piles of ashes
from the burnt houses, barns, barracks, and other build-
ings more than sufficiently demon-
strated the ordinary care that was
bestowed upon the countr\^ — God
help it !— particularly during the
war. " We respectfully request
3'our honours to institute a rigid
inquiry into this matter ; how many
first-class bouweries and ])lanta-
tions were abandoned in the war
b}' our Dutch and English, whose
houses were burnt as has been stated."

It may well be believed that, except within the stock-
ades at Manhattan or under the protection of the fort
at Rensselaerw}'k, few ornamental gardens were per-

EARLIEST MAI' OF

THE crrY

i6 The Hudson River

manently established until after the animosity of the
Indians became a thing of the past.

In one old paper has been preserved a striking picture
of colonial hardships:

The season came for driving out the cattle, which obHged
many to desire peace. On the other hand, the Indians seeing
also that it was time to plant maize, were not less solicitous for a
cessation of hostilities; so, after some negotiation, peace was
concluded in May, A 1643, rather in consequence of the impor-
tunity of some, than of the opinion entertained by others, that
it would be durable.

The Indians kept still after this peace, associating daily with
our people; yea, even the greatest chiefs came to visit the Di-
rector. Meanwhile Pacham, a crafty man, ran through all the
villages urging the Indians to a general massacre. Thereupon it
happened that certain Indians called Wappingers, dwelling six-
teen leagues up the river, with whom we never had the least
trouble, seized a boat coming from Fort Orange, wherein were
only two men, and full four hundred beavers. This great booty
stimulated others to follow the example ; so that they seized two
boats more, intending to overhaul the fourth also; from which
they were driven, with loss of six Indians. Nine Christians, in-
cluding two women, were murdered in these two barks; one
woman and two children, remaining prisoners. The rest of the
Indians, as soon as their maize was ripe, followed this example;
and through seml)lance of selling beavers, killed an old man and
woman, leaving another man with five wounds, who, however,
fled to the fort, in a boat, with a little child in his arms, which, in
the first outbreak, had lost father and mother, and now grand-
father and grandmother; being thus twice rescued, through
God's merciful blessing, from the hands of the Indians; first,
when two years old. Nothing was now heard but murders;
most of which were committed under pretence of coming to put
Christians on their guard.

Finally, the Indians took the field and attacked the bou-
weries at Pavonia. Two ships of war and a privateer were here

Introductory 17

at the time, and saved considerable cattle and grain. Probably
it was not possible to prevent the destruction of four bouweries
on Pavonia which were burnt ; not by open violence, but l)y
stealthy creeping through the bush with fire in hand, and in this
way igniting the roofs which are all either of reed or straw; one
covered with plank was preserved at the time.

Whoever will wade through the mass of Dutch docu-
ments brought to the light of da}^ through the industry
of John Romeyn Brodhead may find an old paper
called "A Representation of the New Netherlands, etc."
It is a report written for their High Mightinesses, the
States-General, forty years after the discovery of the
Hudson. In it there is a statement that

all fruits which will grow in Netherland will also thrive in
New Netherland, without requiring as much care as must be
given in the former. All garden fruits succeed likewise very
well there, but are drier, sweeter, and better flavoured than in
Netherland. As a proof of this we may properly instance melons
and citrons or watermelons, which readily grow, in New Nether-
land, in the fields, if the briars and weeds be only kept from
them, whereas in Netherland they rec|uire particular attention
in gardens.

The same optimistic writer says in regard to the
varieties of grapes to be found in New Netherland :

Some are white, some blue, some very fleshy and fit only to
make raisins of; some again juicy, some very large, others on the
contrary small; their juice is very pleasant and some of it white
like French or Rhenish wines ; that of others again very deep red,
like Tent; some even paler. The vines run up far into the trees
and are shaded by their leaves so that the grapes are slow in
ripening and a little sour, but were cultivation and knowledge
applied here doubtless as fine wines could be made here as in any
other wine-growing countries.

1 8 The Hudson River

Either this writer, or another of his tribe, was over-
joyed to report that " indigo silvestris grows spontane-
ously here without any human aid or cultivation."
Experiments with this plant were made in the extensive
gardens of Rensselaerwyk and promised great things.
We find added to that report a statement that madder
would " undoubtedly ' ' thrive well ; " even better than in
Zealand in regard to the land and other circumstances."

O, those old gardens and plantations, in which were
planted wheat and apple trees, madder and indigo and
great expectations; that yielded now a crop of fruit
and now a har\est of disappointment! Those early
comers into the American Wonderland planted more
than their gardens by the shores of Hudson's River.
The succeeding pages will be in part a record of their
struggle and their achievement.

Chapter II

Two Cities on One Site

THERE are two wonderful cities at the mouth of
the Hudson River. One is insistent, ahnost
overwhehning in its presentation of present-
day achievement. Its sky-hne is a boldlv serrated
ridge of stupendous masonry, softened here and there
by the smoke from a hundred thousand chimnevs.
Its* shore -hne is broken into leagues of wharves that
harbour an almost unbroken fleet of vessels. From a
thousand miles of streets the aur? ')f its multitudinous
life seems to rise, and the hum ■ traffic and the

murmur of its striving never ceases

On the river the scene changes ii oat not in

character. The boats cross and recross t.^ch other's
courses like mammoth shuttles, w^eaving a pattern of
a marvellous ta]:)estry, and the e\-e is bewildered in
tr\'ing to follow their intricate paths or wearies with
their imresting procession.

Hidden by this metropolis of to-day, of which the
eye takes cognisance, there is a quaint little city, vis-
ible only to the imagination, contracted, unalterable,
and peopled with ghosts.

20 The Hudson River

It is the city of the Knickerbockers, where the apo-
cryphal burghers that Irving created were supposed to
have puffed lazih* upon their long pipes till the smoke
obscured Communipaw, on the opposite shore. It is
the city that hid behind palisades for fear of Indian
neighbours; that fretted and prospered under Dutch
and English governors; that in j^lace of stock exchanges
and produce exchanges raised live stock and farm
produce: the little city that entertained the first re-
presentative Congress in the Colonies and inaugurated
the first President of the new Republic.

Fort Amsterdam, at first a very rude affair of logs,
but no doubt a sufficient defence against the simple
weapons of the savages, was remodelled and rebuilt
almost as many times as the little city had new govern-
ors. For this reason the earlier descriptions and pict-

A BIT OF OLD NEW YORK

Two Cities on One Site

21

ures of this miniature outpost in the wilderness did
not agree. What was at first designated a fort was, in
fact, nothing more than a stockade or i)aHsade, enclos-
ing not only the official buildings but private dwellings
of the settlers. For many years the church in which
the early Dutch domines exhorted their flocks fostered
its s];)iritual courage behind that tem])oral bulwark,
and no doubt the many-breeked worshippers slei)t
more comfortably in the knowledge that the hewn tim-
ber of their fence was strong, and the matchlocks of
the guard ready for all comers.

The names by which the fort was known, judging by
the old records, changed almost as frequently as its
size or dimensions. From Amsterdam it was altered
by the English to James, and then by the Dutch again
to William Hendrick, finally returning to James. At

iV 01-- SKVSCRAl'EKS

22 The Hudson River

the time of the War for American Independence it had
become Fort George.

A detailed description of the fort was given by Gov-
ernor Dongan (EngHsh) about 1685. He says:

At New York there is a fortification of four Bastions built
formerly against the Indians of dry stone & earth with Sods as a
Breastwork well and pleasantly situated for the defence of the
Harbor on a point made by Hudsons River on the one side and
by the sound on the other. It has Thirty nine Guns, two Mortar-
pieces, thirty Barils of Powder five hundred Ball some Bomb
Shells and Grenados, small arms for three hundred men, one
flanker, the face of the Xorth Bastion «& three points of Bastions
& a Courtin has been done & are rebuilt by mee with Lime and
Mortar and all the rest of the Fort Pinnd and Rough Cast with
Lime since my coming here.

And the most of the Guns I found dismounted and some of
them continue to bee soe which I hope to have mounted soe soon
as the mills can sawe.

I am forced to renew all the batterys with three inch plank &
have spoke for new planks for the purpose.

. . . The Ground that the fort stands upon & that be-
longs to it contains in quantity about two acres or thereabouts,
about which I have instead of Palisados put a fence of Pales
which is more lasting.

To this he adds a word about the human wall, upon
which more reliance was to be placed than in rotten
planks and dismantled guns.

In this country there is a Woman yet ahve from whose Loyns
there are upward of three hundred and sixty persons now living.
The men that are here have generally strong and lusty bodies.

In the face of such a statement as the foregoing the
historian is dumb, willing in future to look without
question at any extravagance in census enumeration.

Two Cities on One Site 23

Old Ca])tain John Buckhout, of Sleepy Hollow, who
with his wife Sarah could count two hundred and
fort\- children and grandchildren, — a statement graven
large upon his tombstone, — has long been thought to
hold the record as an ancestor, but his claim vanishes,
his merits are insignificant, beside the " Woman yet
alive" of Governor Dongan's report.

The Albany fort was described by Dongan as being
made of pine trees fifteen feet high, and fitted with
batteries, etc., yet all very rotten, and he strongly
recommends the substitution of masonry for timber at
this important post.

From Dutch to English, then back again from Eng-
lish to Dutch, and finalh' once more into English hands,
the embryo metropolis passed: but one looks in vain
for records of carnage or of heroism. The transfers
were made apparently without undue excitement on
either side. A report to the Dutch Lords relates how
one of these events came about.

High and Mighty Lords.

One Andries ^Hchielsen, having been placed by Captain
Binckes, the Commander of a squadron of four ships and one
sloop-of-war, on board a prize of about fifty tons burthen, taken
by the aforesaid Commander near Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean
Islands, to bring her here, was forced, by leakage and insecurity
of the ship, to run through the Channel, where he had the mis-
fortune to be captured by the English of Bevesier. He pre-
sented himself to-day before our Board, and verbally reported
that, after the abovenamed Captain Binckes, reinforced by Cap-
tain Cornelius Evertsen's squadron had, together, burnt in the
River of Virginia five English ships laden with tobacco, and

24 The Hudson River

captured six others, without having been able to effect anything
further there, they had sailed for New Xetherland, and became
masters of the principal fortress situate on the Island Manhates,
on the 9th of August ultimo; that also, before his departure on
the nineteenth ditto, when he was dispatched with letters hither,
he had heard that they had reduced another fort, situate some
thirty leagues inland. The English had, some days before his
departure, been removed elsewhere in four ships, viz., three be-
longing to this Board and one of Zealand, the remainder staid at
anchor before the Island Manates.

Only by a resolute exercise of the imagination can
we expunge from our vision the artificial canons and
mesas that have arisen at the bidding of the architect,
and restore again even the modest town that the his-
torian vSmith pictured in 1757.

What a century and a half have wrought of change
and growth may best be appreciated by reading the
description he wrote when Domine Ritzemer dispensed
unadulterated Calvinism to his flock, when the Dutch
farmers " in the small village of Harlem, pleasanth^ situ-
ated" on the north-western part of New York Island,
cultivated ]iroduce for the cit}^ markets, and the oyster
beds within view of the Battery afforded one of the
principal sources of food for the poorer people.

At that date, almost midway in its history (if we
reckon history by years), New York is described as a
city of

about two thousand five hundred buildings. It is a mile in
length, and not above half that in breadth. Such is its figure,
its centre of business and the situation of the houses, that the
mean cartage from one point to another does not exceed above

Two Cities on One Site 25

one quarter oj a mile, than leliicli Jiothiiig can be more advaiitai^eons
to a tradiiii:, city.

It is thought to Ije as healthy a spot as any in the world.
The east and south parts, in general, are low, but the rest is
situated on a dry, elevated soil. The streets are irregular, but
being paved with round ])ebbles, are clean and lined with well
built brick houses, many of which are covered with tiled roofs.

Upon the southwest point stands the fort, which is a square
with four bastions. Within the walls is the house in which
our governors usually reside; and opposite to it brick barracks,
built, formerly, for the independent companies. The Governor's
house is in height three stories and fronts to the west; having
from the second story a fine prospect of the bay and the Jersey
shore. There was formerly a chapel, but this was burned down
in the negro conspiracy of the spring of 1741- According to
Governor Burnet's observations this fort stands in the latitude
of 40° 43' N.

The following description, by a foreign writer of that
day, gives a vivid picture of the social life of New York
when fashion still lingered around the Bowling Green :

The first society of New York associate together in a style of
elegance and splendor little inferior to Europeans. Their houses
are furnished with everything that is useful, agreeable, or orna-
mental; and many of them are fitted up in the tasteful magni-
ficence of modern luxury. Many have elegant equipages. The
dress of the gentlemen is plain, elegant, and fashionable, and
corresponds in every respect with the English costume. The
ladies in general seem more partial to the light, various, and
dashing drapery of the Parisian belles, than to the elegant and
becoming attire of our London beauties, who improve upon the
French fashions. The winter is passed in a round of entertain-
ments and amusements. The servants are mostly negroes or
mulattoes ; some free and others slaves. Marriages are conducted
in the most splendid style, and form a most important part of
the winter's entertainments. For three days after the marriage
ceremony the newly married couple see company in great state.

26 The Hudson River

It is a sort of levee. Sometimes the night concludes with a con-
cert and ball.

Of all the comings and goings, the arrivals and the
departures that form the kaleidoscopic story of old
New York, and are associated particularly with the
Battery, none has been more significant than the
evacuation and embarkation of the British forces in
1783. For two years the peace negotiations had been
going forward, and since Yorktown nothing decisive
had occurred. When at last, in March, the news
reached America that Great Britain had acknowledged
the absolute independence of the American States,
there was a mighty thanksgiving that reached from
the general commanding the army to the poorest pri-
vate in the ranks, and included all classes of citizens,
save those whose hearts were with the cause of royalty.

New York, which had been in British hands since
1776, had been the stronghold and base of operations
for their cause. During that time it had been almost
abandoned and had again filled up; it had suffered
hardship and endured privation ; a fire had devastated
a large part of its stores and dwellings; the people
were heartily tired of war even when gilded by the
gaiety of a garrison city.

Now at last the negotiations had been brought to a
termination satisfactory to the Continental sym-
pathisers, and Washington, having disbanded most of
his army, waited up the river for the beaten foe to
depart.

Two Cities on One Site 27

Washington met Carleton at the Lix'ingston house/m
Dobbs Ferry, and received his assurance of a speedy
departtu-e, but it seemed as though the garrison was
very loath to leave the ground it had occupied so long,
and delay after delay occurred. There was a shortage
of transports, owing probabh' to the fact that a great
manv loyaHsts wished to leave the city, incited either
by fear or disgust.

Washington moved first from Newl:)urgh to West
Point, then, leisurely, down the river till he reached
McGowan's Pass, within the present Central Park,
where he waited with the little force retained for
the formal occupancy of the city. General Henry
Knox, who was with the Commander-in-chief, was
there to take a conspicuous part in the ceremonious
entrance.

When the American troops, having marched through
the length of New York, halted in Broadway, near
Wall Street, and two companies were sent forward to
take formal possession of the fort, with instruction to
hoist the American flag and fire a salute of thirteen
guns, many of the boats full of retiring British troops
were still near the Battery wah. The shores were
crowded with citizens, assembled to witness the em-
barkation. It has been remarked as a noteworthy
fact that there seems to have been no disturbance, no
taunts or jeers, such as might naturahy have been ex-
pected on the ])art of such a mixed assembly of spec-
tators. On the contrary, everything was orderly and.

28 The Hudson River

to use a phrase unhappily somewhat obsolete, "was
conducted with propriety."

The British ships hung in the offing and received
their barges as they came up; then, without further
ceremony, sailed away and took with them the last
shadowy vestige of royal claim to the land where they
had struggled so long for supremacy.

There is one bit of comedy associated with the British
evacuation of New York. The retiring garrison, either
with the connivance of their officers or as a piece of un-
authorised waggery, left their flag flying in front of the
fort. When the Americans, in accordance with orders,
tried to pull it down to hoist the American colours in its
place, they found that it had been securely nailed to
the pole, the halliards cut, and the staff well slushed
with grease.

It was a dilemma awkward on one side as it was
amusing on the other. We may imagine the departing
soldiers waiting a short distance from the shore to
watch the frantic efforts of their successors to exchange
the flags.

A flag was fastened to a stick by the Americans, and
while this makeshift was flying several guns of the sa-
lute were actually fired, but the British ensign was
still waving overhead, and the American's pot of oint-
ment was polluted by this very obtrusive fly.

At the nick of time there came a young soldier, John
Van Arsdale by name, late of the Continental army,
and it was his good fortune to succeed where others

Two Cities on One Site

29

had failed. Disdaining to attempt to seale the greased
pole unaided, as others had done, he called for a ham-
mer and nails. With pieces of board he fixed cross-
pieces to the flagpole, making a ladder by which he
ascended and finally tore down the obnoxious bunting.

THE HOUSE THAT WAS BUILT FOR WASHINGTON

Chapter III

New Buildings and Old

'&"

AT the end of the eighteenth century there were
a large number of historic houses clustering
about the old fort. The names of some of the
most notable New Yorkers were associated with them,
and the reign of social leaders long celebrated for
courtly and unstinted hospitality gave distinction to
a neighbourhood now occupied by steamship offices
and noisy with a jargon of foreign tongues.

It was here that was situated the great house built
for the first President of the United States and his suc-
cessors. It was never occupied by Washington, as
before its completion he had removed with the govern-
ment to Philadelphia; but it became the residence of
Governor George Clinton, and after him of John Jay,
whose wife led the beauty and fashion of the little
metropolis. Several weddings of note were performed
at this old mansion, which in its day was the most
magnificent in the city.

Mrs. Lamb says:

The newspapers in November, 1796, chronicle a marriage
and reception of this character at the governor's mansion as fol-

30

New Buildings and Old 3^

lows: " Married on the 3d at his Excellency's John Jay, Governor,
Government House, John Livingston, of the Manor of Livingston,
to Mrs. Catharine Ridley, daughter of the late Governor William
Livingston." The bride was Mrs. Jay's accomplished and pi-
quant sister, Kitty Livingston, who in 1787 became the wife of
Matthew Ridley, of Baltimore, and after brief wedded happiness
was left a widow.

The fort and batter}^ that, to the discomfiture of all
good Continentals, were held by the British troops, and
which, to the immense satisfaction of the elect, they
evacuated in 1783, were in large part within the hne of
the present elevated railway, and never very far be-
yond it. The extension of the Battery Park to the
south and west of the ancient water-front has finally
resulted in a symmetrical wall that coincides with the
front of Castle Garden, though the earlier pictures of
that famous landmark represent it as an isolated
structure. Even as late as 1852 boats could approach
it on three sides.

The ground once occupied by the old fort now holds
the new Custom House. At the lower end of Broad-
way is a group of splendid buildings, among them the
Standard Oil, Welles, Bowhng Green, Columbia, etc.
Opposite the Green, at what is now No. i Broadway,
was a lot belonging at one time to i\rent Schuyler,
brother of Peter Schuyler, the first Mayor of Albany.
It afterwards came into the possession of Archibald
Kennedy, who built a house with a handsome broad
front and spacious rooms. Next door to the Ken-
nedy house was that of John Watts, whose daughter

32 The Hudson River

Kenned}^ married. These two mansions were connected
by a bridge and staircase. The grounds ran down to
the water's edge, and were laid out after the approved
EngHsh fashion of the day, with stately terraces and
parterres of flowers. Kennedy was the son of the Hon.
Archibald Kennedy, Receiver General under British
rule, and he afterwards became by inheritance the
eleventh Earl of Cassalis. His son, born in the old
house at No. i, was afterwards Marquis of Ailsa.

The Kennedy house was famous for the magnificence
of the entertainments given there. A parlor fifty feet
long, with a banqueting hall of equal size and grand
appointments, made this old mansion one of the
notable ones of the Colony.

Afterwards the Washington Hotel occupied the place
of the Kennedy house, and now the Field Btiilding,
erected by C3TUS W. Field, lifts its bulk on that historic
site.

Before the War for Independence Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor James de Lancey owned a large and handsome
house on Broadway. This was another of the well-
known homes of New York, where the wealth and
fashion of the day used to enjoy a hospitality that was
princely, and the fame of which was not confined to
one side of the Atlantic. It was the favourite meeting-
place for British officers during the war, and was the
scene of the great ball given on May 7, 1789, in h(jnour
of Washington's Inauguration.

John Peter de Lancey sold the property to a

New Buildings and Old 35

syndicate composed of Philii) Li\'ingst()n, Gulian Ver-
planck, Ivloses Rogers, and others, in trust for sub-
scribers to the "Tontine hotel and assembly room."
The price paid was six thousand pounds, New York
currency. This compan}' pulled down the de Lancey
house and built in its stead the City Hotel, that long
occupied a large place in New York's local history. It
was for years the only large hotel in the city and was
the scene of many brilliant social events. In 1849 it
made place for a row of stores, which in turn disa])-
peared when the present Boreel Building took their
place.

Old Jan Jansen Damen had, in 1646, a farmhouse in
the waggon road between Pine and Cedar Streets. It
was a little back from Broadway, and is described as
an exceedingly comfortable stone house. This was
then outside of the cit>-. It was at this house that
Governor Kieft spent much of his time, and Stuyvesant
became a frequent guest. Now the Equitable Building
covers the place where Damen sat on his stocp and
enjoyed his garden and listened to the hum of bees in
the apple blossoms, — covers house, garden, orchard,
and all, to the extent of nearly an acre of grotmd.

The old Middle Dutch Church in time disappeared
from Nassau Street, as even churches do in New York,
and on the i8th of October, 1882, the Mutual Life In-
surance Company purchased the site for six hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.

There is not one of the great buildings that tower

36 The Hudson River

even above the ordinar}- chimneys of the cit}', and chal-
lenge the eye of the traveller upon the river, that has
not sunk its foundations deep into the associations of an
historic past. Beneath and within the looming walls
are traditions and memories; the tragedies, the ro-
mances, and the comedies of that older day.

Every year, the "tale of bricks is doubled" in Man-
hattan, and the huge buildings that stretch from the
Battery northward multiply. In all that vast collec-
tion of iron and masonry there are a few individual
masses that are symmetrical, but these are lost in the
great aggregation. Separate structures have been shot
into the air as though impelled by some terrific volcanic
agency, but there is no hint of any idea of relationship
between them; they suggest rather the accidental
huddlins: of more or less unrelated and even incon-

New Buildino-s and Old

n

gruous elements. The saw-tooth sky-hne thus pro-
duced does not add an element of beauty to the aspect
of the city as seen from the ri\'er: on the contrary, the
ragged, irregular procession of domes, pyramids, cones,
spires, and bricks-on-end give an impression of wealth,
power, aggressiveness, — of almost an^-thing under
heaven except taste and relationship. In all this mon-
ster collection of buildings there is no suggestion of any
community of interest. Every sky-scraper proclaims,
as far as it can be seen, that it does not recognise any
other sky-scraper except as a possible rival to l3e over-
topped by the addition of several more stories or a
cupola or two.

It will seem to many peo]:)le like heresy to afhrm that
New York from any point of view lacks beauty ; but it
is sometimes a melancholv dutv to cherish a heresv.

38 The Hudson River

or even, upon occasion, to proclaim it. As a matter of
opinion we hold that there are in the world several
cities containing a fraction of the population and enter-
prise and wealth of New York that are much more im-
pressive in a perspective view. There are cities, and
even small towns, that present themselves to the im-
agination as units and are in their degree satisfying to
that sane something within us that demands balance
and proportion in art. They are at once comprehen-
sive and comprehensil^le. But Manhattan is without
a plan. Each building is a unit, sufficient unto itself,
and the city is chaos.

It is aside from the purpose of this book, and more
fitting for a philosophical treatise, to suggest that there
is something in the life and activit}" of the metropolis
that conforms to its architectural sky-line.

But mere size is impressive in its way, after all.
The eye sweeps that line of jagged towers and dizzy
pinnacles in search of food to satisfy the craving for
the marvellous which is perhaps no more a modern
than it was an ancient failing.

We own to a feeling of exultation when we discover
that the Park Row Building (that looks like the London
Tower elongated) is three hundred and eight}- — or is it
ninety? — feet high, and that the Manhattan Life does
not touch it by forty feet or more, though this in turn
overtops the Cable, St. Paul, American Surety, Tract
Society, World, Empire, Gillender, and all other three-
hundred-footers, as they do such trumpery affairs as

New Building's and Old 39

•&

the Produce Exchange, Bowling Green, Equitable, etc.
There is old Trinit>' spire, that we used to think was in
danger of tearing the silver lining from the clouds with
its heavenward-pointing ti]x How dwarfed and in-
significant it seems now among all its tall worldlx'
neighbours! And yet, with the rush of a thousand
thronging associations, how the eye seeks and dwells
upon it, recognising in it a significance deeper and
stronger than is suggested by all the iron mills and
stone quarries of the land.

However we may take exception to the superficial
outline of the lower city, it would hardly be possible
for one not born blind to be insensible to the glorious
wealth of colour that commonly compensates for all
other defects. What hues of cream and rose are there,
with strong Venetian tones to balance dark masses of
slaty blue; what gleams of yellow, and amber lights,
and tints of green! Here a dome of gold and there a
cloud of opalescent steam, catch the sunlight; and
hundreds of smoke-jets soften and blend the warm,
rich shades that meet and melt in purple mystery.

But best of all is the marvellous transformation
when night comes, and the chimneys are down, and
the sky-line fades away. There are no drawbacks or
incongruities then ; but the corruscation of uncounted
lights — flashing galaxies, not of stars, but of constella-
tions and firmaments of stars — render the scene one of
indescribable beauty. Below the zone of white bril-
liants there is that other, of coloured shore lights.

40

The Hudson River

fountains of emerald and ruby that overflow and paint
the unresting wave-rims with serpentine hieroglyphs.

There are few displays of illumination in the world
that will compare with that which New York exhibits
every night, and whoever has not seen it from the river
has missed one of the delights of life.

A tour of the west shore of Manhattan Island natu-
rally commences at the Barge Office, at the extreme
lower end of the city. This was built by the city for
the use of the Emigration Commissioners, when Castle
Garden, which had been previously leased as a landing
station for immigrants, was resigned. The Barge Of-
fice was first used for the reception of cabin passengers
from ocean vessels, then became our immigrant station,
and is now used by the customs inspectors.

Hi

I II

111 i> iHiiimiiii

THK BARGE OFFICE AND THE BAY

Chapter IV

Festivals and Pageants

CASTLE GARDEN was formerly called Castle
Clinton. The site was granted by the Cor-
])oration of New York City to the United
States Government in May, 1807, and a fortification
was built soon afterwards, but owing to bad engineer-
ing the foundations of the structure were not strong
enough to support the weight even of what at that day
was considered as heavy ordnance, and in March, 1822,
the fort and ground were reconveyed to the city.

For many years the building was used for the recep-
tion of distinguished strangers, for fetes and festivals,
concerts, operas, and public meetings of various kinds.
Here the annual fairs of the American Institute were
held until the year 1855, when the Commissioners of
Emigration secured the premises by lease as a landing-
place for immigrants.

Within a few years the long-familiar spectacle of a
motley throng of poor foreigners, clad in strange garbs,
and speaking more tongues than Babel ever knew, has
become a thing of the i)ast. The last change in the
varied history of Castle Garden was its conversion into
a great free aquarium, where every day thousands of
visitors find their recreation.

41

42

The Hudson River

Of all the various tides in the affairs of this notable
fort (whose aspect and name have been warlike, but
whose record has all been suggestive of the piping
times of peace), none has led more im.mediately to
fortune, as well as fame, than Jenn}^ Lind's first con-
cert on September ii, 1850. An account of this event
was published in the New York Herald of the following
morning with this commencement:

The long-looked-for event has come off. Jenny Lind has
sung in Castle Garden to an audience of five thousand persons.
. . . Never did a mortal in this city, or perhaps any other,
receive such homage as the sovereign of song received from the
sovereign people.

Among the advertisements of the day preceding the
concert the following notice appeared:

CASTLE GARDEN.— FIRST
APPEARANCE OF MLLE.
JENNY LIND, on Wednesday eve- Overtiire— "Crusaders." (First

ning, September n, 1850. time in America) Benedict.

Trio Conccrtante for Voice and two
PROGRAMME. Flutes. . . . (Camp of Silesia)

Meyerbeer.
Composed expressly for M'llc Jenny
Lind.

M'lle Jenny Lind.

Flutes — Messrs. Kyle and Siede.

Aria Buffa — "Largo al factotum."

(Barbiere) Ros.sini.

Sig. Belletti.
Swedish Melody — "Herdsman's
Song" (known as the Echo Song)
Sung by M'lle Jenny Lind.
Greeting to America — Prize Com-
position, by Bayard Taylor, Esq.
Benedict — Composed expressly for
this occasion.
M'lle Jenny Lind.
Conductor — Mr. Benedict.

Overture — "Oberon." C. M. V.

Weber.

Aria — ' ' Sorgete. ' '

(Maometto secondo) Rossini.

Sung by Sig. Belletti.
Scena and Cavatina — "Casta Diva. ' '

(Norma) Bellini.

^I'lle Jenny Lind.

Grand Duet for two Piano Fortes.

Thalberg.

Messrs. Benedict and Hoffman.

Duet — "Per Piacer."

(II Turco in Italia) Rossini.

M'lle Jenny Lind and Sig. Belletti.

Festivals and Pageants 45

Great excitement was caused by the auction sale of
a choice of seats, Mr. Genin, the hatter, securing the
first place on the opening night for what was then con-
sidered the very large sum of S225. A contemporary
report pictures the scene at the Garden :

At four o'clock Jenny Lind arrived at the Garden, in order to
pass quietly and unobserved through the crowd. She dressed
there instead of at the hotel. At five o'clock the gates were
thrown open, and from that time until eight o'clock there was a
continuous tide of human beings passing into the capacious
building. The numljcrs from the country were very consider-
able. They were from New Haven, Newport, Albany, Newark
and various other cities; and when all were seated, it was indeed
a splendid sight. The ladies' dresses were very magnificent, and
such as the great mass of women in no other country in the world
can afford to wear. The fair sex were not as numerous as might
be expected, the gentlemen outnumbering them considerably;
but those who were present seemed to enjoy the concert in the
highest degree. It is very probable that many ladies were kept
away for the first night by the fear of being crushed; but when
they find that their apprehensions were groundless, they will
doubtless take the Castle by storm to-morrow night.

The river, we read, was thronged with boats that
stayed throughout the performance, and in many cases
were manned and occu]:)ied by those to whom the news-
papers of the time referred as "the rougher element."

Jenny Lind's .share of the proceeds from the first
concert was in the neighbomdiood of ten thousand
dollars, an enormous sum for a singer of that day to re-
ceive for a single performance. It added greatly to the
popular appreciation of the "Casta Diva" that she
bestowed this sum upon various charitable and public

46 The Hudson River

institutions in New York City. In the bestowment of
the largest sum, three thousand dollars, upon the (then
volunteer) fire department fund, may perhaps be de-
tected the fine advertising instinct of her manager, Mr.
P. T. Barnum.

Many notable pageants and many distinguished
names are associated with Castle Garden. Here, more
than once, the people of the city have welcomed a cele-
brated guest with all the enthusiasm that in later days
we have seen evinced for an Am.erican or a German
admiral.

The accounts given of the landing of Lafayette and
his reception at Castle Garden, in August, 1824, show
how far from being a new thing it is for the average
Manhattanite to express his feehngs vehemently when
a reception is in progress. The 15th was Sunday, and
the visitor was escorted from his ship to the Vice-
President's house. Staten Island. But on Monday New
York went mad. xA.ll business was suspended; the
people were thronging every point of vantage, even the
housetops, and the streets were filled with an expectant
multitude.

The animated scenes attending his landing at Castle Garden,
upon a carpeted stairway, under a magnificent arch, richly decor-
ated with flags and wreaths of laurel, while groups of escorting
vessels, alive with ladies and gentlemen, and adorned in the most
fanciful manner, circled about; and the prolonged shouts of hosts
of people, and the roar of cannon echoed far away over the
waters, together with the parade in Broadway, the reception at
City Hall, the speeches, the banquet, and the illumination — are

Festivals and Pageants 47

all more familiar to the public of to-day than many other features
of the historic visit. Lafayette spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday in shaking hands and sight-seeing in New York, and on
Friday, August 20, left for Providence and Boston.

New York had occupied itself in the interval between
General Lafayette's departure for Boston and his re-
turn in preparing for a celebration that should make
all previous celebrations pale their ineffectual fires. It
was to take place at Castle Garden on the 14th of Sep-
tember, and was under the immediate supervision of
Generals Mapes, Morton, Fleming, and Benedict, and
Colonel W. H. Maxwell, Colonel King, Mr. Colden, and
Mr. Lynch. The sedate Evening Post even broke into
expressions of rapture at the result.

We hazard nothing [it affirmed] in saying that it was the
most magnificent fete given under cover in the world. ... It
was a festival that realises all that we read of in the Persian tales
or Arabian Nights, which dazzled the eye and bewildered the
imagination, and which produced so many powerful combina-
tions, by magnificent preparations, as to set description almost
at defiance. We never saw ladies more brilliantly dressed —
everything that fashion and elegance could devise was used on
the occasion. Their head-dresses were principally of flowers,
with ornamented combs, and some with plumes of ostrich
feathers. White and black lace dresses over satin were mostly
worn, with a profusion of steel ornaments and neck chains of gold
and silver, suspended to which were beautiful gold and silver
badge medals, bearing a likeness of Lafayette, manufactured for
the occasion. The gentlemen had suspended from the button-
holes of their coats a similar likeness, and, with the ladies, had
the same stamped on their gloves. A belt or sash, with a likeness
of the general, and entwined with a chaplet of roses, also formed
part of the dress of the ladies. Foreigners who were present

48 The Hudson River

admitted they had never seen anything equal to this fete in the
several countries from which they came — the blaze of light and
beauty, the decorations of the military officers, the combination
of rich colours which met the eye at every glance, the brilliant
circle of fashion in the galleries, everything in the range of sight
being inexpressibly beautiful, and doing great credit and honour
to the managers and all engaged in this novel spectacle. The
guests numbered several thousand, but there was abundant
room for the dancing, which commenced at an early hour, and
was kept up until about three o'clock in the morning.

Lafayette proceeded up the Hudson almost imme-
diately, making but few stops on his way to Albany.
One of these pauses was at Hudson, where a great re-
ce]:)tion was given in his honour. To have met and
conversed with the celebrated visitor was an honour
which many a budding beauty of that day treasured
till threescore and ten one, indeed, long past four-
score, told the present writer of her life-long regret
that she had allowed the denial of a new gown to stand
in the way of her going, and described the costumes of
her friends, which included white gloves with the por-
trait of Lafayette painted upon the backs.

The year following Lafayette's visit brought another
event to be written large in the chronicles of Castle
Garden.

One of the brightest of the spectacular dis])lays that
New York witnessed in the first half of the nineteenth
century was that connected with the completion of
the Erie Canal, 1825. A fleet as large as had ever as-
sembled before the city up to that time thronged the
river, and the vessels were decorated with bunting and

Festivals and Pa;^ cants 49

streamers till it seemed as if they conld hold no more.
This gorgeous concourse of vessels formed a circle about
the canal-boat — the first canal-boat— from Lake Erie.
In circumference this marine pageant is said to have
measured three miles and to have preserved a solemnity
of deportment r|uite in contrast to that noisy hilarity
that distinguished the fleet which at a later day sailed
down to assist at the unveiling of the statue of Liberty,
upon Bedloe's Island.

Upon the canal-boat that formed the centre of the
circle on the earlier occasion here described was a keg
with gilded hoops, filled to the bunghole with water
from Lake Erie. With all the dignity which the occa-
sion demanded and the manners of the day prescribed,
De Witt Clinton, who was present with his wife and
retinue, poured the water overboard to mingle with
that of the Atlantic Ocean. It was a prett}" bit of sym-
bolism, possible to people bred to the formalities of a
somewhat artificial life, and no doubt carried out with
becoming gravity. Medals were then distributed to
the honoured guests of the occasion, after which we
may surmise that dignity unbent and a somewhat more
rampant Americanism reigned. We are told that a
lad}^ who was present wrote at a late hour that night;

We met all the world and his wife; military heroes, noble
statesmen, artificial and natural characters, the audacious, the
clownish, the polished and refined; but we were squeezed to
death and heartily tired.

Fifty-one gold medals were struck in commemora-

50 The Hudson River

tion of this event, and were sent in red morocco
cases to monarchs and celebrated subjects all over the
world.

Among the latest and in many respects unequalled
among the naval parades in the history of the world
was that which swept majestically past the Battery
and Castle Garden on the fourth day of the Columbian
celebration in October, 1892. There were four nations
represented in the parade, and they sent each a
contingent of warships that when massed together
formed a fleet the like of which perhaps has never been
seen.

One of the best descriptions of this magnificent dis-
play was that ]:)ublished in the Magazine of American
History for November of that year:

The advance giiard of the marine procession was a broad line
of some twenty-one tugs, stretching hah' across the mile- wide
Hudson with an almost perfect alignment, as if a file of soldiers
on parade; they were manned by white-uniformed volunteers.
Among the craft that followed the saucy-looking tugs, was con-
spicuous the torpedo boat Cnshing, on which was Commander
Kane, and tiny steam yachts darted back and forth like winged
birds, apparently distributing orders for the chief — a singular
contrast to the Indian canoes that for centuries monopolized
these waters. They bore the aides of the commander, among
whom were General S. V. R. Cruger, James W. Beekman, Wood-
bury Kane, Archibald Rogers, Irving Grinnell, and many other
well-known gentlemen. The great steamer Howard Carroll,
bearing a host of notables — a burden of eminence not easily de-
scribed— seemed to parade all by herself in lordly grandeur.
Then came three large steamers sailing abreast, the Sam Sloan,
Matteawan, and Mohawk, on which was the Committee of One

Festivals and Pageants 51

Hundred and their invited guests. An interval of open water
was given for the gigantic war vessels of America, Spain, Italy,
and France, a column of stately men-of-war, the chief attraction
in the pageant. They moved in three Indian tiles, the foreigners
flanked by the white-hulled vessels of America. On their decks
and bridges and in their lookouts were drawn up the various
crews, looking like statues at a distance, so impassively did tlicy
hold their respective stations. Our flagship Philadelphia, of the
White Squadron, was on the right, with her high white hull, and
her two yellow smokestacks. The trim despatch vessel Dolphin
followed in her wake, and the long, low, dynamite projector
VesHvins, looking like a torpedo boat enlarged, brought up the
rear. The place of honor in the centre was given to the French
flagship Arcthiisc, the largest of the foreign contingent, with her
triple row of portholes and towering masts, effective for display,
and behind her came her mate, the rakish white Hnzzard. The
Italian flagship, Baitsaii, is a big, black, stately ship of modern
type, which was regarded on all sides with special admiration.
The little Spanish cruiser Infanta Isabel proudly carried the colors
of Columbus. On the left was the United States monitor Mian-
tononioli, our coast defender, which looks very much like a floating
derrick, and bears promise of deadly work if it should be called
into use. She was followed by the graceful Atlanta, one of our
earliest group of steel vessels, and the little yacht-like Blake.

Behind this majestic craft came the immense flotilla of mer-
chant vessels, steamers, yachts, excursion boats, and fire-boats
that lent spectacular interest to the scene by spouting great
streams of water into the air as they sailed — streams that have
force enough to knock down brick walls.

From the start to the finish tliere was no place where the
pageant made such an impressive display as between the shores
of the incomparable Hudson. It was a picture of the civilization
of the nineteenth century, too vast for a painter and inexpressible
in words. From the vessels in the procession the spectacle was
even more remarkable. Xo other city in the world has such a
stretch of water-front as New York, and the space was all taken.
The tops of the tall buildings were crowded wnth spectators, also
the masts of vessels at anchor, the roofs of cars and boats, and

52 The Hudson River

every foot of shore along the whole route. Staten Island and
New Jersey were not beholden to New York for a view, but occu-
pied their own roofs and side-hills. Riverside Park, which is
three miles long, afforded a continuous bluff that was thoroughly
appreciated by thousands and thousands of sight-seers, while the
handsome mansions on the park drive were generously thrown
oj)en to invited guests. When the war-ships came in front of
Grant's tomb they anchored while the great procession of civic
boats passed by, and at every masthead floated the American
ensign with all the colors of other nations, denoting that the
foreign vessels were taking part in a ceremonial that was Amer-
ican and national. The vessel which closed the procession was
the Wiiuoose, restraining her speed like a greyhound in leash. It
was altogether a great display, and one of which New York may
ever be justly proud. "The queen of the western waves sat by
her waters in glory and in light all day, proud of the past and
hopeful of the future. "

Space fails in which to print even a Hst of the nota-
ble water parades that have passed Manhattan Island.
How many were the thousands of people that risked
annihilation to catch even a glimpse of the warships
that had made history under the guns of Spanish forts
and aided in the destruction of the Spanish nav}^
Through what heat of sun, or bitterness of wind, or
cheerless, driving rain, have not the population of New
York stood, hour after hour, to see a fleet of marine
monsters, with bunting streaming and yards manned,
sweep by in glorious procession!

As a race we appreciate spectacles: we love the
gleam of metal, the concourse of people, the rolling of
drums, and the fanfare of trumpets. We love a parade,
and we fall into paroxysms of patriotism when a hero
appears. We have only one limit: we do not wish our

Festivals and Pageants 53

enthusiasms to be remembered against us. When wc
tell a hero that he is a demigod and can have the
Presidency of the United States for the asking, we
resent being taken too seriously.

"-^^""^^m

A TOW GOING OUT TO SEA

Chapter V

Along the Manhattan Shore

IT may not be a generally appreciated fact that
Manhattan Island is the very home of modesty.
From the earliest times the habit of New York
has been rather to do things than to talk about them
after they are done. The shore-line that stretches
northward from the Battery has been the scene of
exploits enough to inspire a volume of epics or to make
the lasting reputation of a dozen ordinary cities.

The traditions of the ri\'er shore are marked usually
by a simple directness that suggests the Chronicles of
the Hebrews. They fill here and there a few lines of
an old journal, or are parenthetically referred to in
some manual of obsolete events. So and so did such
and such a deed, and there was an end of it.

We have a sample of such tales in the following vera-
cious narrative: Previous to 1812, a riverman, or
some one connected with one of the markets along-
shore, was impressed by the captain of a British vessel.
The people of the neighbourhood, roused by this high-
handed proceeding, seized a boat belonging to the said
captain, broke it up, and burned it. They then coni-

54

Along the Manhattan Shore 57

pelled the captain to release his prisoner. From that
da\' Shanghai-ing fell into disrepute along the North
River.

At Cruger's Dock occurred one of the deeds which in
any other city under the stm would have been cele-
brated in song and woven into stor}', but which in Xew
York was allowed to go almost unrecorded. Out of
some dusty pile of records one draws the scanty ac-
count of the arrival of Captain Haviland, on the 13th
of January, 1768, with a supply of stamps, and of the
gathering at the dock that evening of a company of
armed men, who captured the stamps and burned
them.

That is all. If it had been Boston, and a cargo of
tea, how sonorously the deed would have been ex-
ploited !

At the foot of West loth Street — or near it — was
the old State prison, which at least one boarding-
house-keeper in the vicinity advertised as an attrac-
tion. One of the early morning sights of the city is
that of the market at West Street, near Gansevoort
and Little West Tenth. This is one of the survivals
from the old days of river boats and farm trucking, and
is a part of the story of the Hudson.

In the years 1780-85, the Vauxhall Gardens, at the
North River end of Warren Street, were at the height
of their vogue. There were other places of resort that
at a later date monopolised the fashionable throng;
notably Columbia, not far from the Battery, on

58 The Hudson River

Broadway, and Mt. Vernon, about where Leonard
Street is now. The Vauxhall Gardens of that early
day must not be confounded with the theatre of the
same name which was the favourite resort of a later
generation. Five blocks farther up the shore from
Vauxhall, just at the end of a hill that figured in the
plans of the fortifications of 1776-77, was a foundry.

One of the most prominent buildings from the ri\^er
a century ago was the hospital that stood near Duane
Street and Broadway, upon an eminence that was
considerable then, but has since been "graded" tih un-
discoverable. Between the hospital and the river stood
a chapel, and to the south of that, on the double square
between Murray and Barclay Streets, the old college
buildings. There was nothing then to hide St. Paul's
Church from those who w^ent up or down in the sloops
and schooners that thronged the river, and above all else
in the city old Trinity loomed, a magnificent landmark.

Old Paulus Hook Ferry, at the foot of Cortlandt
Street, was often spelled Powles Hook on old maps.
In 1780 the Hudson froze from shore to shore, and was
measured over the ice at this point, proving to be two
thousand yards wide. Fifteen years afterwards the
records tell us that "Powles Hook Ferry was leased
for Two hundred and Fifty Pounds per annum. " Only
a few years later all of the public wharves and slips,
piers and docks, around the city sold for one year for
$42,750. Colonel John Stevens, in 181 1, ran his steam
ferry-boat from this point.

Alonir the Manhattan Shore 59

't>

It would not be possible to write even a meagre
account of the Manhattan shore and neglect Anneke
Jans Bogardus and her farm. That farm, which ex-
tended from where Warren Street is to abo\'e Des-
brosses Street, was granted as a Bouwerie to Roeloff
Jansen, who had been employed by the Patroon Van
Rensselaer, up the river. His widow was considered
a ver}^ desirable match, and no dotibt had many
suitors, but she conveyed her goodly inheritance,
along with her buxom person, to the grave and rever-
end Domine Everardus Bogardus, stated minister of
the Dutch Church.

What a ])air they were! he with his austere bearing,
his ministerial garb, and theological bent ; she sprightly
and not too unworldly. It must have been an inter-
esting sight when Madame Bogardus danced and the
Domine paid the piper. He was a loyal gentleman
and knew what his position demanded. We read that
when some jealous dame declared that Anneke had
coquettishly shown more of her clocked stocking than
propriety demanded, her reverend husband promptly
brought suit for slander, and received damages. It
appears, indeed, that Bogardus was something of a
fighter, and figured as plaintift' or defendant in several
law-suits.

But to return to the farm : e\'ery one who knows his
New York at all knows what years of litigation over
the inheritance of part of that property ha\-e made it
one of the most famous pieces of real estate in the

6o

The Hudson River

world, and its mistress as well known as Queen Anne
or Pocahontas. And wherever the name of Anneke
Jans is mentioned, and the now fabulously valuable
property becomes a subject of conversation, the tall
spire of old Trinity begins to rise upon the mental
vision like a finger of warning against all profane
claimants.

i— .

lA

_1.^

I

— ^^

1

NEW YORK HARHOUR FROM ONE OF THE SKY-SCRAPERS

Those who knew this part of the shore a generation
ago knew Lispenard's swamp, that was in reality a
salt meadow until comparatively recent years. It lay
on both sides of the present Canal Street, and when
New York was young was a favourite resort for all the
amateur sportsmen of the neighbourhood. The Ocean
Steamship Company's piers now occupy a part of that
shore, and bales and boxes and barrels of Savannah
freight, cotton, and naval stores are spread in ap-
parent confusion where the wild duck used to fly among

Aloni;' the Manhattan Shore 6i

the pools, and the swamp-wren built her nest in the
rushes.

Along the river shore above Lispenard's swam]), or
meadow, and reaching inland nearly to the old Boston
and Albany Road (that is, the Bowery) was that de-
lightful suburl) known as Greenwich Village. Along
the shore northward from old Vauxhall and Harrison's
Brewery the old maps show the " Road to Greenwich."
Its first name was Sa]3okanican, which the Dutch
changed to the Bossen Bouwerie. Where White Star
and Cunard steamers now come to their wharves, the
pleasant grassy slopes reached down to the water's
edge, and nothing more ])retentious than one of the
"yachts" of some up-river |)otentate ever sent a ripple
to that strand.

Through the Bouwerie ran the Manetta brook, that
famous water that, in spite of burying and cul verting
and filling in, has been the dread of architects and
builders down to the present day. Washington
Square was within the village boundaries when Wash-
ington Square was nothing but a marsh where the
crack of a duck-gun might occasionally have been
heard.

"Admiral" Peter Warren (who was only Captain
Warren at that time) built a house somewhere about
1744 in Greenwich. That house afterwards became,
and was for many years, the residence of Abraham Van
Ness, Esq. Around it clustered other fine houses:
there came the Bayards and the de Lanceys and James

62 The Hudson River

Jauncev, and there the fashionables of their time were
accustomed to turn for a drive into the country.

Thomas A. Janvier, who made a dehghtful study of
old Greenwich Village, says of its inhabitants:

Very proper and elegant people were all of these, and — their
seats being at a convenient distance from the city — their elegant
friends living in New York found pleasure in making Greenwich
an objective point when taking the air of fine afternoons. And
even when visiting was out of the question, a turn through
Greenwich to the Monument was a favorite expedition among
the gentle-folk of a century or so ago.

Until about the year 1767, access to this region was only by
the Greenwich Road, close upon the line of the present Greenwich
Street and directly upon the water-side.

Greenwich Lane was called also Monument Lane and Obelisk
Lane : for the reason that at its northern extremity, a little north
of the present Eighth Avenue and Fifteenth Street, was a monu-
ment in honor of General Wolfe. After the erection of this me-
morial to the hero of Quebec the drive of good society was out
the Post Road to the Greenwich turning; thence across to the
Obelisk; thence by the Great Kill Road (the present Gansevoort
Street) over to the Hudson; and so homeward by the river-side
while the sun was sinking in golden glory behind the Jersey hills.
Or the drive could be extended a little by going out the Post
Road as far as Love Lane, and thence south by the Southampton,
Warren, or Fitzroy Road to the Great Kill Road, and so by the
water-side back to town.

Chelsea was a village that lay principally between
what is now Seventh Avenue and the river, in the
neighbourhood of Twenty-second and Twenty-third
Streets. The land had originally been part of a farm
or bouwerie belonging to Jacob and Teunis Somerin-
dyke, but was purchased in 1750 by an English veteran

Along- the Manhattan Shore 63

named Thomas Clarke. Afterwards his widow built a
handsome house, and subsequently Bishop Moore, Presi-
dent of Columbia College, purchased and made it his
home. This property was given by President Moore
to his son, Clement C. Moore, whose name is forever
enshrined in the hearts of New Yorkers as the author
of TJic Night before Christinas.

But popular appreciation had not yet reached far
enough to restrain the predatory bands of boys and
men who enjo}'ed the fruits of nocturnal forays upon
the garden and orchards of Chelsea, so in a fit of des-
peration the owner sought counsel and concluded to
survey his land and la}^ it out in building lots.

There was some question whether merchants doing
business in New York could be induced to travel so far
night and morning, but the rapid-transit problem was
solved b}^ the establishment of the Knickerbocker line
of stages, run by Palmer & Peters, whose stables stood
where the Grand Opera House does now. The par-
tition of the estate into village lots went forward
rapidly, and fortunes were made by men who saw a
little way into the future and speculated on the rise in
realty. After a time Chelsea had its own stores,
schools, and offices, a church, a theological seminary,
and a fire com]:)any, and the value of the Moore estate
is reckoned by millions of dollars.

The Glass House farm, extending from Thirt_\'-fifth
Street northward, was so named from an unsuccessful
attempt to make glass there at an early day. This

64 * The Hudson River

farm was purchased just after the Revokition by Rem
Rapelje, a descendant of the Rapeljes who became
locally famous as the parents of the first white child
born in Manhattan. Mr. Rapelje was at one time a
wine merchant, and the cellars of the house at the farm
were well stocked with port and Madeira, and a pipe of
good wine was always on tap for visitors. Perhaps,
after all, the name of " Glass House" was no misnomer.
At that time the farm was three miles and a half from
the city:- it is now practically downtown. Nothing
could more strikingly illustrate the vastness of the
change that has taken place on Manhattan Island in a
little more than a century.

Chapter VI

On the Jersey Shore

OPPOSITE the Battery the ancient settlement
of Communipaw forms the western gateway
of the river. It was the last stronghold of
Dutch manners and customs that the descendants of
the earliest settlers managed to hold for years against
the ever-encroaching spirit of the age; and it is hinted
that even now, however modern their thoughts may be
in da V time, the true sons of Communipaw always
dream in Dutch. But the rumble and roar of the
Philadelphia and Reading cars that find a terminus
here interfere sadly with dreaming.

Yet what a land of Nod it was when Diedrich
Knickerbocker discovered — or did he invent — it?

Among favoured places, the renowned village of Communipaw
was ever held by the historian of New Amsterdam in especial
veneration. Here the intrepid crew of the Gocdc Vroniv first cast
the seeds of empire. Hence proceeded the expedition under
Olofife the Dreamer, to found the city of New Amsterdam, vul-
garly called New- York, which, inheriting the genius of its
founder, has ever been a city of dreams and speculations. Com-
munipaw, therefore, may truly be called the parent of New-
York, though, on comparing the lowly village with the great
flaunting city which it has engendered, one is forcibly reminded
' 65

66

The Hudson River

of a squat little hen that has unwittingly hatched out a long-
legged turkey.

It is a mirror also of New Amsterdam, as it was before the
conquest. Everything bears the stamp of the days of OloflEe
the Dreamer, Walter the Doubter, and the other worthies of the
golden age; the same gable-fronted houses, surmounted with
weathercocks, the same knee-buckles and shoe-buckles, and
close quilled caps, and linsey-woolsey petticoats, and multi-
farious breeches. In a word, Communipaw is a little Dutch
Herculaneum, or Pompeii, where the relics of the classic days of
the New Netherlands are preserved in their pristine state, with
the exception that they have never been buried.

iRICK SCHOONER AND SHAD FISHERS,
OFK FORT LEE

The secret of all this wonderful conservation is simple. At
the time that New Amsterdam was subjugated by the Yankees
and their British allies, as Spain was, in ancient days, by the
Saracens, a great dispersion took place among the inhabitants.
One resolute band determined never to bend their necks to the
yoke of the invaders, and, led by Garret Van Home, a gigantic
Dutchman, the Pelaye of the New Netherlands, crossed the bay,
and buried themselves among the marshes of Communipaw, as

On the Jersey Shore 67

did the Spaniards of yore among the Asturian mountains. Here
they cut off all communication with the captured citv, forbade
the English language to be spoken in their community, kept
themselves free from foreign marriage and intermixture, and
have thus remained the pure Dutch seed of the Manhattoes, with
which the city may be repeopled, whenever it is effectually
delivered f.^om the Yankees.

The citadel erected by Garret Van Home exists to this day in
possession of his descendants, and is known by the lordlv ap-
pellation of the House of the Four Chimneys, from having a
chimney perched like a turret at every corner. Here are to be
seen articles of furniture which came over with the first settlers
from Holland; ancient chests of drawers, and massive clothes-
presses, quaintly carved, and waxed and polished until they
shine like mirrors. Here are old black-letter volumes with brass
clasps, printed of yore in Ley den, and handed down from genera-
tion to generation, but never read. Also old parchment deeds in
Dutch and English, bearing the seals of the early governors of the
province.

In this house the primitive Dutch holydays of Paas and
Pinxter are faithfully kept up, and New Year celebrated with
cookies and cherry bounce; nor is the festival of the good vSt.
Nicholas forgotten; when all the cliildren are sure to hang up
their stockings, and to have them filled according to their deserts;
though it is said the good Saint is occasionally perplexed, in his
nocturnal visits, which chimney to descend. A tradition exists
concerning this mansion, which, however dubious it may seem,
is treasured up wdth good faith by the inhabitants. It is said
that at the founding of it St. Nicholas took it under his protec-
tion, and the Dutch Dominie of the place, who was a kind of
soothsayer, predicted that as long as these four chimneys stood
Communipaw would flourish. Now it came to pass that some
years since, during the great mania for land speculation, a Yankee
speculator found his way into Communipaw ; bewildered the
old burghers with a project to erect their village into a great
sea-port; made a lithographic map, in which their oyster beds
were transformed into docks and quays, their cabbage-gardens
laid out in town lots and squares, and the House of the Four

68 The Hudson River

Chimneys metamorphosed into a great bank, with granite pil-
lars, which was to enrich the whole neighbourhood with paper
money.

Fortunately at this juncture there rose a high wind, which
shook the venerable pile to its foundation, toppled down one of
the chimneys, and blew off a weathercock, the Lord knows
whither. The community took the alarm, they drove the land
speculator from their shores, and since that day not a Yankee
has dared to show his face in Communipaw.

Among all the gruesome legends of the west shore
of the river none is more famous than that of the
"Guests from Gibbet Island."

Yan Yost Vanderscamp, the scapegrace nephew of
the innkeeper of Communipaw, disappeared with old
Pluto, his uncle's negro servant, and reappeared years
afterwards — "a rough, burly bully ruffian, with fiery
whiskers, a copper nose, a scar across his face, and a
great Flaunderish beaver slouched on one side of his
head." With him was Pluto, grown grizzled, blind of
an eye, and more devilish in appearance than before.

According to his own account the prodigal had se-
cured the fatted calf in his travels and had brought it
home with him. He had bags full of money and ships
in every sea. He and a company of roystering com-
panions he had brought with him made a pandemonium
of the Wild Goose, as the inn was named, and
shocked the respectable burghers of Communipaw
beyond measure.

At intervals the swaggering crew^ would disappear,
to return, more riotous than ever, and set the village
once more by the ears:

On the Jersey Shore 69

The mystery of all these proceedings gradually dawned upon
the tardy intellects of Communipaw. These were the times
of the notorious Captain Kidd, when the American harbours
were the resorts of piratical adventurers of all kinds, who, under
pretext of mercantile voyages, scoured the West Indies, made
plundering descents upon the Spanish Main, visited even the re-
mote Indian Seas, and then came to dispose of their booty, have
their revels, and fit out new expeditions, in the English colonies.
. . . At length the attention of the British government was
called to these piratical enterprises, that were becoming so fre-
quent and outrageous. Vigorous measures were taken to check
and punish them. Several of the most noted freebooters were
caught and executed, and three of Vanderscamp's chosen com-
rades, the most riotous swashbucklers of the Wild Goose, were
hanged in chains on Gibbet Island, in full sight of their favourite
resort. As to Vanderscamp himself, he and his man Pluto again
disappeared, and it was hoped by the people of Communipaw
that he had fallen in some foreign brawl, or been swung on some
foreign gallows. . . . This perfect calm was doomed at
length to be ruffled. The fiery persecution of the ])irates gradu-
ally subsided. Justice was satisfied with the examples that had
been made, and there was no more talk of Kidd, and the other
heroes of like Kidnev.

On a calm summer evening, a boat, somewhat heavily laden,
was seen pulling into Communipaw. What was the surprise and
disquiet of the inhabitants, to see Van Yost Vanderscamp seated
at the helm, and his man Pluto tugging at the oar. Vander-
scamp, however, was apparently an altered man. He brought
home with him a wife, who seemed to be a shrew, and to have
the upper hand of him. He no longer was the swaggering, bully
ruffian, but affected the regular merchant, and talked of retiring
from business, and settling down quietly, to pass the rest of his
days in his native place.

The Wild Goose mansion was again opened, but with dim-
inished splendour, and no riot. It is true, Vanderscamp had fre-
quent nautical visitors, and the sound of revelry was occasionally
overheard in his house; but everything seemed to be done under
the rose; and old Pluto was the onlv servant that officiated at

/O

The Hudson River

these orgies. The visitors, indeed, were by no means of the
turbulent stamp of their predecessors; but quiet, mysterious
traders, full of nods, and winks, and hieroglyphic signs, with
whom, to use their cant phrase, "everything was smug." Their
ships came to anchor at night, in the lower bay ; and, on a private
signal, Vanderscamp would launch his boat, and, accompanied
solely by his man Pluto, would make them mysterious visits.
Sometimes boats pulled in at night, in front of the Wild Goose,
and various articles of merchandise were landed in the dark, and
spirited away, nobody knew whither. One of the more curious
of the inhabitants kept watch, and caught a glimpse of the
features of some of these night visitors, by the casual glance of a
lantern, and declared that he recognized more than one of the
freebooting frequenters of the Wild Goose, in former times:
from whence he concluded that Vanderscamp was at his old
game, and that this mysterious merchandise was nothing more
nor less than piratical plunder. The more charitable opinion,
however, was, that Vanderscamp and his comrades, having been
driven from their old line of business, by the "oppressions of
government," had resorted to smuggling to make both ends
meet.

It happened late one night, that Yan Yost Vanderscamp was
returning across the broad bay, in his light skiff, rowed by his
man Pluto. He had been carousing on board of a vessel, newly
arrived, and was somewhat obfuscated in intellect, by the liquid
he had imbibed. It was a still, sultry night; a heavy mass of
lurid clouds was rising in the west, with the low muttering of
distant thunder. Vanderscamp called on Pluto to pull lustily,
that they might get home before the gathering storm. The old
negro made no reply, but shaped his course so as to skirt the
rocky shores of Gibbet Island. A faint creaking overhead
caused Vanderscamp to cast up his eyes, when, to his horror, he
beheld the bodies of his three pot companions and brothers in
iniquity, dangling in the moonlight, their rags fluttering, and
their chains creaking, as they were slowly swung backward and
forward by the rising breeze.

"What do you mean, you blockhead," cried Vanderscamp,
"by pulling so close to the island? "

On the Jersey Shore 71

" I tliought you 'd be glad to see your old friends once more, "
growled the negro; ' ' you were never afraid of a living man, what
do vou fear from the dead? "

"Who 's afraid?" hiccupped Vanderscamp, partly heated by
liquor, partly nettled by the jeer of the negro; "who 's afraid?
Hang me, but I would be glad to see them once more, alive or
dead, at the Wild Goose. Come, my lads in the wind," con-
tinued he, taking a draught, and flourishing the bottle above his
head, " here 's fair weather to you in the other world; and if vou
should be walking the rounds to-night, odds fish, but I '11 be
happy if you will drop in to supper.

The storm burst over the voyagers, while they were yet far
from shore. The rain fell in torrents, the thunder crashed and
pealed, and the lightning kept up an incessant blaze. It was
stark midnight before they landed at Communipaw.

Dripping and shivering, Vanderscamp crawled homeward.
He was completely sobered by the storm; the water soaked
from without having diluted and cooled the liquor within. Ar-
rived at the Wild Goose, he knocked timidly and dubiously at
the door, for he dreaded the reception he was to experience from
his wife. He had reason to do so. She met him at the threshold,
in a precious ill-hvimour.

"Is this a time," said she, "to keep people out of their beds,
and to bring home company, to turn the house upside down?"

"Company?" said Vanderscamp meekly, ''I have brought no
company with me, wife."

"No, indeed! they have got here before you, but by your in-
vitation; and a blessed looking company they are, truly."

Vanderscamp's knees smote together. ' ' For the love of
Heaven, where are they, wife?"

" Where? — why in the blue room, up stairs, making themselves
as much at home as if the house were their own.' '

Vanderscamp made a desperate effort, scrambled up to the
room, and threw open the door. Sure enough, there at a table on
which burned a light as blue as brimstone, sat the three guests
from Gibbet Island, with halters round their necks, and l)oljbing
their cups together, as if they were hobnobbing, and trolling the
old Dutch freebooter's glee, since translated into English;

72 The Hudson River

For three merry lads be we,

And three merry lads be we;

I on the land, and thou on the sand,

And Jack on the gallows tree.

Vanderscamp saw and heard no more. Starting back with
horror, he missed his footing on the landing-place, and fell from
the top of the stairs to the bottom. He was taken up speechless,
and either from the fall or the fright, he was buried in the yard of
the little Dutch Church at Bergen, on the following Sunday.

To an earlier generation Jersey City was known as
Paulus, Powles, or Pauws Hook. It was important as
the w^estern end of the Paulus Hook Ferry, that was
one of the chief means of communication between New
Jersey and Manhattan Island. The Cortlandt Street
Ferrv still crosses the same water, but the multitude
that it transports each day would populate a good-
sized citv; the several railroads making this their ter-
minal station forming one of the principal arteries of
New York life.

In the days of the Revolution Paulus Hook w^as con-
sidered an important strategic point, and was gar-
risoned by the British from 1776 till 1779, when Major
Henry Lee, who had a share in the famous Cow Chase
of Andre's " epic strain," fell upon it with his veterans.
There was a sudden night attack, a garrison surprised
and defeated, and in the early dawn a number of British
dead in the fort and the American flag fl}'ing over it.

Between Jersey City and Hoboken there used to be
a marsh or bay, not now in evidence. Hobock was an
Indian village, which appears in at least one Dutch

On the Jersey Shore 'jT)

record, ah-eady cited, as Hoboquin. Ahiiost its first
appearance in history is as the scene of murders and
massacres, of arson and pillage. But the atrocity was
not all upon the side of the Indians. In 1643, after a
long feud, marked by excesses on both sides, a body of
the Dutch, reinforced by Mohawk Indians, crossed the

l-L

A FLEET THRONGED THE RIVER
(From ID! old print)

river at night and murdered a hundred men, women,
and children at the promontory called Castle Point.
There is no record that suggests any palliation for this
crime, which is ])robably the blackest one that stains
the annals of New Netherland.

Hoboken should be celebrated wherever steam navi-
gation has helped to solve the problem of tra\'el. Here
it was that John Stevens lived ; indeed at one time the

74 The Hudson River

Stevens family owned nearly all of the land in that
neighbourhood, and founded the city of Hoboken in
1804. John Stevens — Colonel Stevens — built the
steamship Phccnix, the first vessel depending entirely
upon steam propulsion to cross the Atlantic. The first
steamer that crossed the ocean was the Savannah,
built at Corlear's Hook, New York City; but she relied
partly upon sail power.

A century ago the woods of Weehawken were the
scene of one of the most significant and famous private
encounters that have ever been recorded. Not only
did the participants hold exalted positions in the poli-
tical and social world, l^ut at least one of them had
connected his name indissolubly with the history of his
country and the record of her progress.

At the time of the celebrated Burr-Hamilton duel the
former had just been defeated in his candidacy for
the governorship of New York. As a consequence of
the intense political excitement, both parties indulged
more or less in acrimonious speeches.

General Alexander Hamilton was the reputed author
of statements derogatory to the character of his oppo-
nent. The matter was taken up and made much of by
some of Hamilton's enemies, and finally led to the
writing of a letter by Burr, as follows :

New York, June 18, 1804.

Sir:—

I send for your perusal a letter signed Charles D. Cooper,
which, though apparently pubhshed some time ago, has but very

On the Jersey Shore 75

recently come to my knowledge. Mr. A''an Ness, who does me
the favour to deliver this, will ])oint out to you that clause of the
letter to which 1 particularly request your attention.

You must perceive, sir, the necessity of a prompt and un-
qualified acknowledgment or denial of the use of any expression
which would warrant the assertion of Dr. Cooper.
I have the honor to be

Your obedient servant,

A. Burr.
Gen. Hamilton.

To this peremptory communication General Hamil-
ton replied at some length on June 20th, sa^-ing in sub-
stance that he considered the charge too vague to ad-
mit of either denial or acknowledgment.

" I have become convinced," he wrote, " that I could
not, without manifest impropriety, make the avowal
or disavowal which you seem to think necessary."
There follows a somewhat pedantic examination of the
grammatical distinction between the terms "despicable"
and " more despicable " used in Dr. Cooper's letter, and
concludes in the following words :

I deem it inadmissible on principle, to consent to be interro-
gated as to the justness of the inferences which may be drawn by
others from whatever I have said of a political opponent in the
course of a fifteen years' competition.

I stand ready to avow or disavow promptly and explicitly any
precise or definite opinion which I may be charged with having
declared of any gentleman. More than this cannot fitly be ex-
pected of me.

I trust, on more reflection, that you will see the matter in the
same light with me. If not I can only regret the circumstance
and must abide the consequences. The pul)lication of Dr.
Cooper was never seen by me till after the receipt of your letter.

76 The Hudson River

Burr found neither " sincerity nor dehcacy " in Ham-
ilton's letter. He particularly objected to the charge
being treated "as a matter of syntax," and again in-
sisted upon a definite avowal or denial of Dr. Cooper's
statements. It was not until the receipt of this letter
that Hamilton saw his friend, Mr. Pendleton, and
placed the correspondence before him. He told Pen-
dleton that he considered the letter from Burr rude and
offensive, and that he had expressed that opinion to
Van Ness.

The latter gentleman was a strong partisan, a warm
personal friend of Burr's and a bitter political enemy
of Hamilton's. His antipathies were pronounced, and
his language w^ould be considered in this day of greater
restraint as intemperate. There can be no doubt that
his inclination, if not his efforts, was adverse to a
peaceful solution of the difficulty.

The correspondence culminated, as might naturally
be expected, in a challenge delivered by Mr. Van Ness
in Ijehalf of his princi|xd in the affair.

From the Lijc of Aaron Burr, by Samuel Lorenze
Knapp, published in 1835, we may quote a brief ac-
count. The ])articulars of what then took place will
appear from the following statement, as agreed upon
and corrected by the seconds of the parties:

Colonel Burr arrived first on the ground, as had been pre-
viously agreed. When General Hamilton arrived, the parties
exchanged salutations and the seconds proceeded to make their
arrangements. They measured the distance, ten full paces, and

On the Jersey Shore Tj

cast lots for the choice of positions, as also to determine by whom
the word should be given, both of which fell upon the second of
General Hamilton (Mr. Pendleton). The gentleman who was to
give the word then explained to the parties the rules which were
to govern them in firing, which were as follows: The parties being
placed at their stations, shall present and fire when they please.
If one fire before the other the opposite second shall say, one, two,
three, fire or lose his fire. He then asked if they were prepared.
Being answered in the affirmative he gave the word present, as
had been agreed on, and both parties presented and fired in
succession. The intervening time is not expressed, as the sec-
onds do not precisely agree on that point. The fire of Colonel
Burr took efifect and General Hamilton almost instantly fell.
Colonel Burr then advanced towards General Hamilton with a
manner and gesture that appeared to General Hamilton's friends
expressive of regret, but, without speaking, turned about and
withdrew, being urged from the field by his friend, as has been
subsequently stated, with a view to prevent his being recognised
by the surgeon and bargemen who were then approaching. No
further communication took place between the principals and
the barge that carried Colonel Burr immediately returned to the
City. We conceive it proper to add that the conduct of the
parties in this interview was perfectly proper, as suited the occa-
sion.

After a short time spent at his own house in New
York Burr travelled south, and was met by crowds of
enthusiastic adherents, who made his journey almost a
royal progress. But far different was the feeling in the
North, where the friends of Hamilton predominated.
In New York Colonel Burr was execrated as a mur-
derer, the encounter ha\'ing resulted fatally for Hamil-
ton, and the grand jury indicted the victor. But the
case was never brought to trial. At the following ses-
sion of Congress, Burr calmly took his place as the

/S The Hudson River

presiding officer of the Senate, dehvering at the con-
clusion a speech long remembered for its eloquence.
The subsequent trial of Aaron Burr for conspiracy
against the Government of the United States, and the
intrigue that led up to it, while of extraordinary in-
terest to the student of American history, has no place
in the present volume.

A monument erected to mark the spot of the duel
was almost entirely chipped away by relic hunters,
and finally removed to make room for the road that
now runs directly over its site. This was near the edge
of the river, below the cliffs. There is now upon a
more elevated situation a monument surmounted by
a bust of Hamilton, and enclosed by a raihng to pre-
serve it from the destructive attentions of sightseers.

Weehawken has other and pleasanter associations.
Not far to the south was the pleasure ground known
as the Elysian Fields, where for a while fashion — not
then as fastidious as afterwards — found a delightful
retreat.

There, on a warm summer afternoon [wrote Lossing], or on a
moonlit evening, might be seen scores of both sexes strolling upon
the soft grass, or sitting upon the green sward, recalling to mem-
ory many beautiful sketches of life in the earlier periods of the
world, given in the volumes of the old poets.

Castle Point, the promontory from which the Dutch
drove the Indians mercilessly into the river, was at the
southern end of the Elysian Fields, and underneath it
there used to be a grotto called the Sibyl's Cave, which

On the Jersey Shore

79

cnntaincd a sj^riiig of clear water that was in great re-
pute.

But there was a mysteriDus tragedy connected with
the Elysian Fields, and the gifted pen of Edgar Allan
Poe has given it lasting celebrity. Briefly the story
ma\' be epitomised
here. Mary Rog-
ers was a beautiful
girl employed by a
well-known tobac-
co dealer in New-
York. Her admir-
ers were man\",
so that the store
where she worked
became a popular
resort for the
young men of the
town. Suddenly
she disappeared,
and after a while
it began to be whis-
pered that she had
been foully dealt
with. The news-
papers took up the

matter, and the fate of Mary Rogers became the lead-
ing toipic of the dav. Clue after clue was followed,
and all led to the conclusion that a murder had been

V

HE SYBIL S CAVE, IlUliUKEN

8o The Hudson River

committed, and that the scene of the atrocity was the
Elysian Fields. But there the poHce and the papers
aHke stopped, baffled. Then Poe, changing the scene
from the Hudson to the Seine, and hiding the name of
Mary Rogers under a transparent French equivalent,
wrote one of his most marvellous tales, the Mystery of
Marie Roget. One by one he took up the clues; with
an astuteness that seemed almost inspired he worked
out the history of the murder. Every one at that day
read the story, and to the popular mind the Mystery
of Marie Roget fully elucidated the grewsome fate of
Mary Rogers. There was a story current, impossible
now to verify, that fifteen or twenty years afterwards, a
sailor, dying in a hospital, confessed to the murder,
giving details which substantially agreed with Poe's
narrative.

All the river front has changed, almost beyond recog-
nition. A large part of it at Weehawken is taken up
with coal and oil depots and the West Shore terminals.
A trolley line connects with the Forty-second Street
Ferry and carries the passengers to the top of the bluff
and beyond. But there are still, between this point
and Fort Lee, unoccupied and wooded acres lying back
of the shore along the heights that are still among the
finest points of ^4ew in the neighbourhood of New York.

More than half a century ago Fitz-Greene Halleck
wrote, in praise of this locality:

Weehawken ! In thy mountain scenery yet
All we adore of nature in her wild

On the Jersey Shore 8i

And frolic hour of infancy, is met;
And never has a summer's morning smiled
Upon a lovelier scene, than the full eye
Of the enthusiast revels in, when high

Amid thy forest solitudes, he climbs
O'er crags, that proudly tower above the deep,
And knows the sense of danger which sublimes
The breathless moment — when his daring step
Is on the verge of the cliff, and he can hear
The low dash of tlie wave with startled ear.

In such an hour he turns, and on his view.
Ocean and earth and heaven burst before him,
Clouds slumbering at his feet and the clear blue
Of summer's sky in beauty bending o'er him —
The city bright below: and far away,
Sparkling in golden light, his own romantic bay.

Stevens, as elsewhere noted, bnilt and operated the
first steam ferryboats that were ever used, and they
ran Ijetween Manhattan Island and Hoboken.

One cannot realise the primitive Hoboken of that
day in the place of many wharves, where the ocean
liners lie at their piers, or move niajesticalh' out into
the stream. Among the |:)rincipal steamers that make
a landing at Hoboken are those of the North German
Lloyd, Hamburg, and Wilson lines. The river front is
uniriviting — a region of coal-sheds, of depots, and
elaborate complications of rails.

Between Hoboken and Fort Lee are the points that
Benson J. Lossing described as "the little villages of
Pleasant Valley, Bull's Ferry, and Weehawk." Bull's
Ferrv, now Shadvside, is distant from Fort Lee about

6

82 The Hudson River

three miles. It was for many years a favourite resort
for working-men from New York, and pictures made
along that shore thirty years ago show an inviting pros-
])ect of green slopes and wooded cliffs. At ])resent
the favourite objective point of the crowds that cross
the river to escape the rigours of a " dry Sunday ' ' in the
metropolis are the gro\'es and public houses of Fort
Lee.

But Shady side may claim a more romantic celebrity.
There was in 1 7S0 a blockhouse near the ferry, and for a
time it was garrisoned by a British picket, whose duty
it was to protect the loyalists of the neighbourhood. A
numl3er of cattle and horses belonging to Americans
had strayed on to Bergen's Neck, and offered a tempt-
ing bait for Tory marauders from Paulus Hook.

From his headquarters near the Ramapo Hills,
Washington dispatched Wayne — "Mad Anthony," as
his contemporaries sometimes called him — to attack
the blockhouse and drive away the British garrison,
and also to secure the cattle for their owners. Light-
Horse Harr}' Lee was dispatched on the latter mission,
while Wayne made the attack upon the blockhouse with
three Pennsylvania companies and four light ])ieces of
cannon. But the attack was unavailing, the post prov-
ing too strong for the artillery of the besiegers, and the
Americans were repulsed with a loss of sixty men.

General Wayne succeeded in destroying some boats
and capturing a number of cattle, with which he re-
turned to the American lines.

\t,.

^

^,^/

■^.. '

^^^."^

On the Jersey Shore 85

This affair might have been forgotten as one of the
minor incidents of the war, without anv particular
significance or relation to other events, had not one of
the accomplished }'oung officers in his Majestv's serv-
ice conceived the idea of making it the subject of a
ballad. The officer was the ill-fated Major Andre,
whose name is for ever associated with the attem]3t of
Arnold to betray West Point into the hands of the
enemy. In his ballad, which he called the Coiv Chase,
Andre gave free rein to his satirical humour. As the
poem contains seventy-one stanzas, the reader will
excuse its full insertion in this place. But here is a
sample of it :

All in a cloud of dust were seen

The sheep, the horse, the goat,
The gentle heifer, ass obscene.

The yearling and the shoate.

And packhorses with fowls came by

Befeathered on each side.
Like Pegasus, the horse that I

And other poets ride.

Sublime upon his stirrups rose

The mighty Lee behind
And drove the terror smitten cows

Like chaff before the wind.

And so on, ad infinitum. It is not always clean nor
abounding in good taste, nor even clever, except with
a variety of wit that suggests the barrack room and
the stables, but it contained one remarkable verse,
that had a touch of prophecy in it. The verses were

86 The Hudson River

published in Rivingtojfs Gazette, the last one being
as follows:

And now I 've closed my epic strain

I tremble as I show it,
Lest this same warrior-drover, Wayne,

Should ever catch the poet.

On the day that that appeared in print Major Andre
was arrested as a spy, and the commander of the guard
that accompanied him to the scaffold was General
Wavne.

Chapter VII

Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley

THE original patentees of the lands along the
Hudson lived at first in a way that seems to
have been a curious compromise between
primitive frontier conditions and feudal dignity. Pa-
troons and Manor Lords ruled over uncounted acres of
wilderness, upon which a sparse and widely scattered
tenantry cleared land, raised corn and large families,
and took daily chances of Indian massacre.

To the reply made by Secretary Van Tienhoven to a
remonstrance of the colonists, in 1650, we are indebted
for light upon the relations between the patentees and
their tenants.

'T is moreover, to be borne in mind that the Patroon of the
Colonie Rensselaerwyk causes all his tenants to sign, that thev
will not appeal to the IManhattans. in direct contravention of
the exceptions, by which the colonists are bound to render to the
director and council at the Manhattans an annual report both of
the colony and the administration of Justice. . . . 'T would
be a very strange thing if the officers of the country could not
banish anybody from it, whilst the authorities of the Colonie
Rensselaerwyk, who are subordinate to the company, absolutely
banish whomsoever they please, for the welfare of the Colonie:

87

88 The Hudson River

and they do not allow any person to reside there except at their
pleasure and upon certain conditions.

The colonists of lower degree held their land only
upon a rent lease, beaver pelts being accepted instead
of money, which was a very scarce commodity. So
little money was there in the country, indeed, that a
short time previous to the writing of the report just
cited, a law had been passed which legalised the use of
the Indian currency — wampum.

The title of Patroon conveys to most modern minds
an idea of somewhat exalted rank. We are accustomed
to point to those colonial princelings as though they
had brought to the New World the inestimable advan-
tages of blue blood along with the favour of the sover-
eign Lords of Holland. But history shows that land
patents were never supposed to imply either birth,
breeding, or previous rank of any kind on the part of
the recipient. Patroonships, like houses, lands, ships,
or peltries, were in the market to be purchased for
money. Exactly the requirements insisted upon by
the company may be learned from the following ex-
cerpt from a bill of "Freedoms and Exemptions,"
granted by the West India Company in 1640:

All good inhabitants of the Netherlands and all others in-
clined to plant any Colonies in New Netherland shall be at liberty
to send three or four persons in the Company's ships going
thither, to examine the circumstances there, on condition that
they swear to the articles, as well as the officers and seamen, as
far as they relate to them, and pay for board and passage out and
home, to wit, those who eat in the master's cabin, fifteen stivers

Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley 89

per day, and those who go and eat in the orlop, shall have their
board and passage gratis, and in case of an attack, offensive or
defensive, they shall be obliged to lend a hand with the others,
on condition of receiving, should any of the enemy's ships be
overcome, their share of the booty pro rata, each according to
his quality, to wit: the Colonists eating out of the Cabin shall be
rated with the seamen, and those eating in the cabin with the
Company's servants who board there and have the lowest rate of
pay.

In the selection of lands, those who shall have first notified
and presented themselves to the Company, whether Patroons or
private Colonists, shall be preferred to others who may follow.

In case any one be deceived in selecting ground, or should
the place by him chosen afterwards not please him, he will, upon
previous representation to the Governor and Council then be at
liberty to select another situation.

For Patroons and Feudatories of New Netherland, shall be
acknowledged all such as shall ship hence, and plant there a
Colonic of fifty souls, above fifteen years of age, within the space
of three years after having made a declaration and given notice
thereof, to some Chamber of the Company here or to the Gover-
nor or Council there; namely, one-third part within the year,
and so forth, from year to vear, until the number be completed,
on pain of losing, through notorious neglect, the obtained Free-
doms and cattle. But they shall be warned that the Company
reserves the Island Manhattes to itself.

All Patroons and Feudatories shall, on requesting it, be
granted Venia Testandi, or the power to dispose of, or bec[ueath,
his fief by Will.

For Masters or Colonists, shall be acknowledged, those who
will remove to New Netherland with five souls above fifteen
years; to all such, our Governor there shall grant in property
one hundred morgens, Rhineland measure, of land, contiguous
one to the other, wherever they please to select.

And the Patroons, of themselves or by their agents, at the
places where they will plant their Colonies, shall have the privi-
lege to extend the latter one mile (consisting of, or estimated at,
1600 Rhineland perches) along the coast, bay or a navigable

90 The Hudson River

river, and two contiguous miles landward in ; it being well under-
stood, that no two Patroonships shall be selected on both sides of
a river or bay, right opposite to each other; and that the Com-
pany retains to itself the property of the lands lying between the
limits of the Colonies, to dispose thereof hereafter according to
its pleasure ; and that the Patroons and Colonists shall be obliged
to give each other an outlet and issue, (uytteweeghen ende
uyttewateren) at the nearest place and at the smallest expense;
and in case of disagreement, it shall be settled in the presence and
by the decision of the Governor for the time being.

The Patroons shall forever possess all the lands situate within
their limits, together with the produce, superficies, minerals,
rivers and fountains thereof, with high, low and middle jurisdic-
tion, hunting, fishing, fowling and milling, the lands remaining
allodial, but the jurisdiction as of a perpetual hereditary fief,
devolvable by death as well to females as to males, and fealty
and homage for which is to be rendered to the Company, on each
of such occasions, with a pair of iron gauntlets, redeemable by
twentv guilders within a year and six weeks, at the Assembly of
the XIX., here, or before the Governor there; with this under-
standing, that in case of division of said fief or jurisdiction, be it
high, middle or low, the parts shall be and remain of the same
nature as was originally conferred on the whole, and fealty and
homage must be rendered for each part thereof by a pair of iron
gauntlets, redeemable by twenty guilders, as aforesaid.

There is in the provisions of this act a survival of
customs fostered under a mediaeval feudatory system,
— customs that seem strangely out of place in the new
land. Another clause provides that:

Should any Patroon, in course of time, happen to prosper in
his Colonic to such a degree as to be able to found one or more
towns, he shall have authority to appoint ofificers and magis-
trates there, and make use of the title of his Colonic, according
to the pleasure and the quality of the persons, all saving the Com-
pany's regalia.

A further explanation of the terms upon which

Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley 91

Patroons and their colonists lived together is furnished
in a report of the Committee of the States-General :

Whereas it is found that greater pains have generally been
taken to promote the fur trade than the agriculture and poi^ula-
tion of the country, the supreme court there, shall, in conse-
quence, above all things, provide that cattle be not exported,
but be as much as possible retained and reared there : also that a
good quantity of grain be kept in store to be furnished and sold
at a reasonable price to newly arrived immegrants, who are to be
assisted and favoured in every manner, and be located on good
lands, suitable for cultivation, taking care therein that they shall
dwell as close and as compact together as possible on such lands
and places as shall be considered best and most suitable for
homestead, bouwerie, plantation and security: the Patroons of
Colonies remaining at liberty to improve their own lands as they
think proper, they being also obliged to settle the colonists in the
form of villages.

The lower Philipse patent, in 1779, embraced a large
part of Westchester Coimty, though Philipse was not
a Patroon. North of his extensive territory, more
particular!}^ defined in another chapter, lay the manor
of Cortlandt, reaching as far as Anthony's Nose. On
the north of Van Cortlandt Philipse again appears; the
Highland Patent, as it was called, taking in nearly all
of Putnam Coimty and reaching to Fishkill creek.
Rondout came next, including the land between Fish-
kill and Wappinger's creek. The Schuylers ruled
where Poughkeepsie now is, and Falconer's purchase
lay to the north. Above Falconer's was the Henry
Beekman tract, that had Esopus as its northern bound-
ary, and above that the Schuyler name again appears.

92 The Hudson River

The manor of Livingston, from Rhinebeck /to Catskill
Station, lay next to Rensselaerwyk, that reached as
far as Troy.

It will be noticed that nearly all of the land chosen
by the earliest colonists was upon the east bank of
the river, where the alluring valleys and rolling hills
afforded a chance for husbandry, while the more for-
bidding cliffs and headlands of the western shore re-
mained for the most part unsettled, except at a few
favourable points. But above the Highlands the
physical conditions of the shores commence gradually
to change, and the narrowing stream affords a less
formidable line of division. The Van Rensselaer pat-
ent was the first to cover both sides of the Hudson.

The C[uestion is often raised whether the men who
colonised the Hudson shores were to any extent edu-
cated or cultivated persons. Curiosity on such a point
is natural, considering how many of the families now
socially prominent in New York trace descent from
them.

Let us in the first place remember that the scholarly
men and those whose lives are passed amidst luxurious
surroundings seldom make colonists. To strike into
the wilderness for anything more than a dash of ad-
venture usually indicates that one has more to gain
than to lose, and that his habit is active rather than
contemplative. If noble families are represented in
any colony, it is apt to be through their needy cadets,
and the}' will usuall}- be found in company with those

Haiiy Settlers of the Hudson X'alley 95

who possess the advantage of energy and are un-
hampered by the obhgations of pedigree.

Oloffe Stevanson Van Cortlandt was in the mihtary
service of Holland, and l^ecame afterwards commissary
of cargoes for the West India Comi)any. His descent
is said to be from a n()l)le Russian family. Su])se(|uentl\'
to his employment by the company, which occupied
ten years, he amassed a fortune as a brewer. He mar-
ried a wealth}' wife, and became, by purchase, the
proprietor of the \^an Cortlandt Manor on the river.

Van Cortlandt 's neighbour, Philipse, began life (ac-
cording to Chief-Justice John Jay) as a carpenter.
The ex|)crts in heraldry have also accommodated him
with noble ancestors — this time of Bohemian blood.
By shrewdness and energy he won a fortune, and be-
came not onh' one of the most influential, l^ut also the
wealthiest man in the colon v.

These able men were sufficiently distinguished by
their own remarka]:)le qualities, and it is difficult to
comprehend the persistent effort to decorate them with
superfluous pedigrees. The Schuylers appear to have
been of gentle blood, and Robert Livingston, the
father of all the Livingstons, was the son of the Rev.
John Livingston, a Scotch dissenting minister, who
was banished to Holland for contmnac}- in 1663. The
remainder of the colonists, from Patroons to tenants,
seem to have been of that race that has always fur-
nished the best colonisers in the world, and they have
left a record of pluck and persistence that is part of the

96 The Hudson River

heritage of the country they settled and of the national
character they helped to mould.

The first of the Van Rensselaers was a man of
prominence and wealth in Holland, but he was not a
resident u])on his American estate.

The later comers, of whom Li\'ingston was a shining
example, were three quarters of a century behind the
first, and enjoyed their manorial rights under new
patents or confirmations of old ones, granted by the
English Crown. We find Charles II. in the }-ear 1660
appointing a " Councill of Forraigne Plantacions" with
power to investigate all questions of government or
trade relating to the colonies, and to recommend
measures beneficial to all parties, but particularly to
the Crown. Four A^ears afterwards Stuyvesant sur-
rendered New Amsterdam to the commander of the
British fleet.

For the enlightenment of his masters, the States-
General, and incidentally for the instruction of pos-
terity, the careful Secretary Van Tienhoven in 1650
wrote a re])ort that contained a section relating to the
conveyance of farmers and handicraftsmen, the charges
and responsibilities for which were assumed by the
Patroon or land patentee.

A large fly boat of 200 lasts, which would be chartered for
the voyage out for fl. 6000.

A vessel of 200 lasts would probably carry over 250 persons
exclusive of the ships crew: they would re<iuire for food, for the
voyage at least 30 guilders, fl. 7500.

Every 250 farmers would require a superintendant.

Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley 97

A clergyman, or in his place provisionally, a comforter of the
sick, who could also act as schoolmaster.

A surgeon, provided with medicines.

A blacksmith who is conversent with the treatment of horses
and cattle.

Three or four house carpenters who can lay brick.

One cooper.

One wheelwright.

Other tradesmen such as tailors and shoemakers, follow with
tinie.

A necessary supply of the munitions of war, for the de-
fence of the Colonists, in case of misunderstanding with the
natives.

In a colony the necessary stock for beginning was
provided to each tenant by the landlord. This stock-
ing included one ]:>air of draught cattle, two cows, and
one or two sows. " If in the course of time, with God's
blessing, the stock multiph-, the bouweries can be fully
stocked with necessary cattle, and new bouweries set
off with the remainder, as is the practice in Rensselaer's
Colonic and other places, and so on, dc novo, so as to
lay out no money for stock."

The houses used at first by those who settled the new
lands were rude affairs, often consisting of nothing
more than a pit, dug cellar fashion, encased, and floored
with timber, and roofed with spars covered with bark
and sod. Not only did the poorer settlers use such
homes, we are informed, but even the "wealthy and
principal men" commenced to live in that fashion,
doing so for the twofold reason that they might lose no
time from the planting and cultivation of necessary

98 The Hudson River

crops, and that the poorer colonists might be encouraged
by their example.

More substantial dwellings followed those first prim-
itive makeshifts that at the most could not be expected
to last above four or five years.

Reference has already been made to the troubles —
or, as Van Tienhoven calls them, " misunderstandings"
— with Indian neighbours. Particular instances of
such tmfortunate encounters have their place in the
narratives of individual settlements, and will be touched
upon more fully in other chapters of this book.

It is suggestive of recent South African history that
the tenant farmers were referred to in some of the old
documents as boors or boers. To us of to-day the
name is associated with sweltering velts and beleaguered
kopps and laagers of waggons bristling with guns.
Perhaps the best way for us to comprehend the Boer
of the seventeenth century, with his energy, pluck,
thrift, and courage, is by studying his kinsman of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to whose uncon-
querable obstinacy the attention of the world has for
several years been directed. Instead of a Transvaal
farm, substitute a Hudson River bouwerie. Let the
colonist trek with family and household goods and
gods to the pleasant, well-watered lands of Schuyler or
Van Rensselaer. He carries a match-lock gun, heavy
as a weaver's beam, easy to handle as a small cannon,
and taking probably not more than five minutes to
load and fire. His garments are of a quaint cut, and

Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley 99

he has a cherubic breadth of feature, if we are to trust
the painters. He is unlettered, practical, not too nice
in manners and far from fanciful regarding either this
life or the next. He has accepted Calvinism, but does
not allow it to disturb him; wherein he differs essen-
tially from his New England neighbour, who wears his
creed as an ascetic would wear a hair shirt, to the
discomfort of himself and the annoyance of his neigh-
l)ours.

The Hudson River Boer worked out his salvation
with infinite difficulty and toil, though fear and trem-
bling were foreign to his disposition. He hewed his
home out of the wilderness, endured hardshi]) with as
little complaint as any colonist in the world has ever
made, and he has furnished the backbone and sinew of
many a hardy fight. His blood, "transmitted free,"
has reddened many a battle-field and consecrated many
a victory.

Is the Boer capable of self-development, of high
achievement, of ultimate success? It may be that the
answer lies in the history of the men who settled the
valley of the Hudson.
L.cfC.

Chapter VIII

The Passing of the White Wings

IF one who knew the Hudson in his youth should
return after half a century of absence, possibly
the change which would strike him most forcibly
would be in the character of the shipping.

Turning his eyes away from the tall buildings, he
would expect to discover in the river itself some realisa-
tion of old memories; but in spite of familiar shore
lines and well-known contours, the aspect of the
stream would be strange and new.

He would perhaps be bewildered, while he could not
fail to be impressed, by the spectacular display of
steam craft of every description, from the smallest
launch that darts shoreward from the side of some
trim yacht or imposing war vessel, to the ocean liners
that move majestically from their piers and succeed in
preserving an imposing dignity of demeanour in spite of
the hustling, bustling, rowdy tugs to whose escort
they have been committed. The ubiquitous tug is
the irreclaimable tough of rivers and harbours: a
swaggering, swearing, cock-sure rufhan, who respects
neither age nor rank. It will tackle an Olympia with

THE rilinriTOUS TUG
(From a draining iy the author)

The Passing of the White Wings 103

as little ceremony as it would take hold of a Yucatan
tramp or a Duluth whaleback, and would swing out an
ocean gre>'hound with a saug frotd that smacks of lesc
majcste.

The tugboat acts upon the assumption that he has
an unexpired lease upon all rivers, and to avoid "en-
tangling alliances," other boats by common consent
give him the widest possible berth. We say "he" ad-
visedh'. All vessels are feminine except this cockerel
of the brackish w^aters.

The ferryboats — floating towns that hurl themselves
from side to side of the river, transporting poptdations
— are the w^onderful i:)rogen}" of the little steam ferry-
boat that Col. John Stevens set afloat between New
York and Hoboken in 181 1.

Now the huge arks pass and repass, some to the point
most nearly opposite, others crossing their course dia-
gonallv, bound for a distant slip, and all engaged in
what would seem to be a leviathan performance of Sir
Roger de Coverley.

The freighters find their way among the throng,
some light and riding high, with the rusty red of their
under hulls dropping sanguinary reflections on the
waves; others ploughing deep. They carry a sordid,
toil-worn air, as if to impress one with the fact that
they have been buffeted by strange seas and moored
beside unclean wharves imder the equator.

Among them all is a barkentine, working her way
through the press. One look is enough to identify her.

I04 The Hudson River

The long wooden stock of the anchor that is catted at
her bow proclaims that she is from Nova Scotia or
some of its English neighbours. By her course she is
probably bound to Rockland Lake for ice.

Beyond an overdecked river side-wheeler that sends
a tidal wave to port and starboard as she goes, and sets
all the river rocking, there is the trim, black hull of a
foreign man-of-war at anchor. She has just arrived,
and her spars for the present seem to be converted
to laundry uses. A little farther upstream some
private yachts glitter with clean paint and resplendent
brass.

Everywhere there is life, motion, the expression of
strength, — but where is the picture that memory re-
calls of the old Hudson? Here is power, but at the
expense of the romance, the poetry, may we say the
l^eauty and grace of an earlier day.

What naval spectacle or pageant can compare with
the flight of the white wings that once were spread
through all the sunUt reaches of the river, enchanted
argosies that bore about them, if not the scent of san-
dal wood and musky odour of spice islands, at least an
undefined suggestion of remote wharves and unex-
plored hamlets?

From Burnet's Key and the old Albany Wharf and
the market dock and fifty points and piers along the
river shore they put out with whatever wind Provi-
dence might send, be it favourable or unfavourable,
for far-off villages along the Tappan Zee and Haver-

The Passing of the White Wings 105

straw Bay, and even beyond the Highlands as far as
the navigable water flowed.

The names of the old Hudson River captains of sail-
ing craft are not all forgotten. Many an old resident
will recall Thomas Brown, Charles and Isaac Depew,
the Requas, the Lyons, James B. and John L. Travis,
Vermilye, Storm, Conkling, Farrington, and others.

Harvey P. Farrington is, at the time of this writing, a
hale octogenarian, who graduated from a schooner into
the steamboat ranks, from captain became owner, and
is now, at a time of life when most men willingly retire
from active business, to be found every day during
business hours at one of the prominent city banks, of
which he is a director.

Samuel Requa, — "Captain Sam," — who with his
father vised to own and run sailing vessels, and who
afterwards took to steamboating, is now an honoured
and substantial citizen of Tarry town.

"Commodore" Vanderbilt once sailed a boat regu-
larly between New York and Peekskill.

Before the days of the railroad, and even for a num-
ber of years after that destroyer of pristine conditions
had been established, there was hardly a village on the
Hudson that did not own a fleet of from five or six to
fifty or sixty sail. Even now nearly half of the old
men in many a town along shore answer to the title of
captain, the explanation in each case being that " He
used to follow the river. " Even the phrase has an old-
time sound. Once it was an acknowledged and even

io6 The Hudson River

a proud profession to "follow the river." He who
made the best runs and carried the biggest freights
without loss of either deckload or time was counted a
man among his fellow-men.

There are a few of them left, — grizzled, keen-eyed,
hard-fisted, broad shouldered, — a race by themselves,
unhappily passing away, — the men who followed the
river. They were in many cases the sons and grand-
sons of sires who had browned in the sun and wind and
shed the blood from their cracked fingers on the frozen
sails and sheets of their craft long before Fort Wash-
ington had a name or Newburgh was anything more
than a place that shipped excellent butter.

They carried peltries and flour from Rensselaerwyk
and Esopus, and ran the dreaded gauntlet of the High-
lands, saying their prayers in Dutch when the awful
shadow of the phantom ship crossed their bows in the
moonlight under Point no Point. From generation to
generation they transmitted the legends and the secrets
of boatcraf t that no mere landsman can ever know and
— never one among them all had the wit or the skill to
put pen to paper and set it down for our delectation
and his own enduring fame.

In ancient days it became necessary at times to re-
strain the adventurous skippers by legislative act, or
by an order of the New Amsterdam Court, which
amounted to the same thing. In one of the old docu-
ments which throw a flood of light upon the early man-
ners and customs we read that:

The Passing of the White Wings 107

Whereas divers Skippers and Sloop captains have requested
leave to sail to Esopus and Willemstadt with their vessels,
whereby this city would be almost wholly stripped of craft, and
the citizens greatly weakened, to prevent which those of the
Court of this city are ordered to summon all skippers and sloop
captains of this city before them, and to instruct them that no
more than two sloops shall go at one time, by lot or rotation, to
Willemstadt and Esopus and one sloop to the South river; nor
shall they take any passengers with them from here without a
pass; for such is found necessary for the better security of this
city. Done Fort Willem Hendrick, as above.

Fort Willem Hendrick was the name by which the
Dutch called their stronghold on Manhattan after its
recapture from the English. In a year, as we have seen,
the Government was again in English hands, but
there seems to have been no lack of honest apprecia-
tion of the solid Dutch qualities of thrift and industry
on the part of their new rulers.

Between the Dutch and English navigators there
was almost ceaseless trouble arising from the rival
claims to the river and the jealousy of those who
figured prospective honours and patroonships as the
result of Indian trade.

An amusing record of a Dutch attem.pt to put a stop
to English trading is given in the following words:

7 November 1633. Jacob Jacobson Elkins, of Amsterdam
merchant, aged about 42 yeares, sworn before William Merricke,
doctor of lawes, surrogate to the righte worth Sir Henry Marten,
Knight judge of his Majesties highe court off the Admiralltye.

To the first interreye, hee sayeth, that within the time in-
terrogate William Colbery, David Moregead, and John de la
Barr, of London Merchants, att their owne proper costs and

io8 The Hudson River

chardges did freighte. victuall and sett forth the interrogate
shippe, the Wilham of London (whereof WiUiam Trevorre was
master) and did lade diverse goodes abord her, with intent, that
she sould goe to Hutsons river in New England, within the
dominions of the Kingh of England, to trade and trucke away
such goods, as she carryed to the natives of those countries, for
beaver skinnes and other skinnes and furrs; the premisses hee
knoweth to bee true, for that he was factor for the said mer-
chants in that voyage.

To the second hee sayeth, that the said shippe, the William
arrived att the forte, called ^lanhatton, also Amsterdam, in the
said Hutsons river, uppon the twelvth daye of Aprill, last past;
and sayeth, that the entrance of the said river is in the latitude
of fourtie degrees and a halfe or thereaboutes, and in longitude
aboud one and fortie degrees and a halfe. And after theire ar-
rivall neere that forte, this deponente sente the Chirurgeon of
the said shippe on shoare to the said forte, to intreate the Gover-
nor to come abord the said shippe the William. Where uppon
the said Governor bad the chirurgeon to comannde the master
of the said shippe; and this axiadate beinge the factor to come
on shoare to the fort, where the said Governor and others were
sittinge in counsell together. And the said Governor demanded
his deponente, wherefore hee was come thither, and what his
business was. And this deponente replyed: to trade with the
natives there, as hee had formerly done, for beaver and otter
skinnes, and other skinnes and furrs. And then the said Gover-
nor asked him for his commission, whereunto this deponente
answered, that he was not bound to shewe it, for that he was then
within the King of Englands dominions, and for that he was a
servante to the subjectes of the said kinge; and desired of them
to see what Commission they had, to plante there, within the
King of Englands dominions. And he tould the said Governor,
if he would not give him his good will soe to doe, hee would goe
upp the said river without it, although it cost him his life.
Whereuppon the Governor commannded all the companye of the
said shippe to come on shoare. And in the presence of them all,
the said Governor commannded, that the Prince of Orange his
fiagge should bee putt upp in the forte, and three peeces of

<4^'

SrKEADING THE WHITE WINGS
(From a drawing by the author)

109

The Passing of the White Wings 1 1 1

ordnance to bee shott off for the honor of the said Prince. And
then this deponente commanded the gunner of the said shippe
the William, to goe abord and putt upp the englishe flagge, and
to shoote of three peeces of ordnance for the honor of the King
of England. And then the said Governor badd this deponente,
take heede, that it did not cost him his necke, or his (: the said
Governors). And after the premisses this deponente and the
companye of the William wente upp the said river to trade, and
comminge neere the forte, called Orange, the Governor of that
forte would not suffer theire shallopp to come to the shoare, to
trade there. Whereuppon this deponente wente a mile belowe
that forte, and there sett upp a tent, and carried all theire goodes
on shoare, and was in trade with the Salvages. And the Dutch
sett up a tent by the said englishe tent, to hinder theire trade
as much as they could. And then there came souldiers from
both the said dutch forts with musketts, halfe pikes, swords and
other weapons, and beat some Indians, which came to trade with
this deponente, and commannded this exaidate and companye to
departe from thence, sayinge that that land was theirs, they
havinge boughte it of the Salvages. And then the Dutch pulled
downe the tente of the Englishe, and sente theire goodes abord,
some in a shalloppe, belonginge to the William, and some in a
boate, belonginge to the Dutch; and then the Dutch weighed the
anchors of the William, and carrying them abord her. And
afterwardes the said shippe goinge downe the said river againe
when she came to Manhatton forte, this deponente beinge there
on shoare. The Governor commannded him to sende all the
beaver and other skinnes on shoare to the fort, which this de-
ponente and companye had gott in trucke with the salvages;
which this deponente refusinge to doe, the Governor then de-
manded a particular of all the skinnes that were abord the said
shippe.

The principal Towns within this Government [wrote Gover-
nor Dongan to the home government], are Xew York and
Albany and Kingston at Esopus. xVU the rest are country
villages, the Buildings in New York and Albany are generally
of Stone and brick. In the country the houses are mostly
new built, having two or three rooms on a floor. The Dutch are

112 The Hudson River

great improvers of land. New York and Albany live wholly
upon trade with the Indians, England and West Indies. The
returns for England are generally Beaver Peltry, Oile and
Tobacco when we can have it. To the West Indies wee send
Flower, Bread, Pease Pork and sometimes Horses: the return
from thence for the most part is Rumm, which pays the king
a considerable Excise, and some Molasses which serves the
people to make drink and pays noe custom.

There are about nine or ten three Mast Vessels of about
eighty or a Hundred tons burthen, two or three ketches and Barks
of about forty Tun ; and about twenty Sloops of about twenty
or five and twenty Tun belonging to the Government — All of
which Trade for England Holland and the West Indies, except
five or six sloops that use the river Trade to Albany and that
way.

In 1694 there belonged to the city of New Amster-
dam sixty ships, twenty-five sloops, and forty boats.
But neither then nor at any time in its history did the
number of sail owned on the island begin to indicate
the extent of its river trade, or the size of the fleet at
its wharves.

Through two centuries the river traffic under sail in-
creased, with few setbacks. Of course the War for
Independence interfered for a while with trade and
travel, but they were resumed as soon as the country
was once more at peace. Almost the last to disappear
when steam superseded sail propulsion were the boats
that carried the least perishable kinds of farm produce.
But now, except for an occasional Haverstraw brick
schooner, or a pleasure boat from Nyack or Piermont,
there is hardly a sail to be seen on a summer day from
Paulus Hook to Croton.

The Passing' of the White Wings 113

Yes, we acknowledge the |)rogress, the utiht>', the
convenience; but the picture of another Hudson,
radiant in the noontide, hke a pkiin of l:)urnished silver
between its purple hills, is present to the mind's eye.
It is sparkling with sails, white and glistening as pearls
upon a baldric. A hundred are in sight, and a hundred

^ALISADES FROM THE YELLOW ROCKS, TAPPAN ZEE

{From a drawing 6y the author^

and a hundred more stretch in endless procession to
the shallows of the upper ri\'er. They feed the imagi-
nation and satisfy the sense of beauty as the mechanical
inventions of the marine steamfitter can never do.

In the name of sentiment we deplore the passing of
the white wings.

It is said that the old rivermen measured the river

114 The Hudson River

by "reaches," counting fourteen of these between New
York and the head of navigation. The first extended
past the long wall of the PaHsades, the " Great Chip
rock" of the old deeds. The second reach included
the Tappan Zee, and took the voyager as far as Haver-
straw, which gave name to the third. Beyond the
Haverstraw was Seylmaker's Reach, then Hoge's, next
Vorsen, which included the hazardous passage of the
Highlands. After that was Fisher's Reach, to Esopus,
and Claverack next, with Bacerack, Playsier, Vaste,
and Hunters succeeding each other as far as Kinder-
hook.

In an earlier — shall we say simpler? — time, the lines
of social demarkation were more closely drawn than
even at the present day, and the divinity that hedged
the matrons and maidens of the upper class frequently
stipulated for private conveyance. In one instance
(that came to the writer at first hand, by personal
narration) a careful father, living at Hudson, had his
vessel repainted and renovated throughout, that his
daughter might visit New York in a style befitting her
social station. The voyage took nearly a week, and
was remembered as one of the experiences of life for
threescore years and ten.

Among the narratives of ri\'er travel a hundred years
ago, none has been preserved that gives a more graphic
or delightful picture of old scenes and customs than
that contained in one of Washington Irving 's letters.
He is referring to a vovage made in 1800.

The Passing of the White Wings 115

I\Iy first voyage up the Hudson was made in early boyhood,
in the good old times before steamboats and railroads had anni-
hilated time and space, and driven all poetry and romance out
of travel. A voyage to Albany then, was equal to a voyage to
Europe at present, and took almost as much time. We enjoyed
the beauties of the river in those days; the features of nature
were not all jumbled together, nor the towns and villages huddled
one into the other by railroad speed as they are now.

I was to make the voyage under the protection of a relative
of mature age; one experienced in the river. His first care was
to look out for a favorite sloop and captain, in wdiich there was
great choice.

The constant voyaging in the river craft by the best families
of New York and Albany, made the merits of captains and sloops
matters of notoriety and discussion in both cities. The captains
were mediums of communication between separated friends and
families. On the arrival of one of them at either place he had
messages to deliver and commissions to execute which took him
from house to house. Some of the ladies of the family had,
perad venture, made a voyage on board of his sloop, and ex-
perienced from him that protecting care which is always remem-
bered with gratitude by female passengers. In this way the
captains of Albany sloops were personages of more note in the
community than captains of European packets or steamships at
the present day. A sloop was at length chosen ; but she had yet
to complete her freight and secure a sufficient number of passen-
gers. Days were consumed in " drumming up " a cargo. This
was a tormenting delay to me who was about to make my first
voyage, and who, boy-like, had packed up my trunk on the first
mention of the expedition. How often that trunk had to he un-
packed and repacked before w^e sailed!

At length the sloop actually got under w^ay. As she worked
slowly out of the dock into the stream, there was a great ex-
change of last words between friends on board and friends on
shore, and much waving of handkerchiefs when the sloop was
out of hearing.

Our captain was a worthy man, native of Albany, of one of
the old Dutch stocks. His crew was composed of blacks, reared

ii6 The Hudson River

in the family and belonging to him; for negro slavery still
existed in the State. All his communications with them were
in Dutch. They were obedient to his orders, though they occa-
sionally had much previous discussion of the wisdom of them,
and were sometimes positive in maintaining an opposite opinion.
This was especially the case with an old grey-headed negro, who
had sailed with the captain's father when the captain was a mere
boy, and who was very crabbed and conceited on points of sea-
manship. I observed that the captain generally let him have
his own way.

What a time of intense delight was that first sail through
the Highlands. I sat on the deck as we slowly tided along at the
foot of those stern mountains, and gazed with wonder and ad-
miration at cliffs impending far above me, crowned with forests,
with eagles saiHng and screaming around them; or listened to
the unseen stream dashing down precipices; or beheld rock, and,
tree, and cloud, and sky reflected in the glassy stream of the
river. And then how solemn and thrilling the scene as we an-
chored at night at the foot of these mountains, clothed with
overhanging forests; and everything grew dark and mysterious;
and I heard the plaintive note of the whip-poor-will from the
mountain-side, or was startled now and then by the sudden leap
and heavy splash of the sturgeon.

In 1840 N. P. Willis wrote:

The passage through the Highlands at West Point still bears
the old name of Wey Gat or Wind-gate ; and one of the prettiest
moving dioramas conceivable, is the working through the gorge
of the myriad sailing craft of the river. The sloops which ply
the Hudson, by the way, are remarkable for their picturesque
beauty, and for the enormous quantity of sail they carry on in all
weathers, and nothing is more beautiful than the little fleets of
from six to a dozen,] all scudding or tacking together, like so
many white sea birds on the wing. Up they come, with a dash-
ing breeze, under Anthony's Nose, and the sugar loaf, and giving
the rocky toe of West Point a wide berth, all down helm and
round into the bay: when — just as the peak of Crow Nest slides

The Passing' of the White Wings 117

its shadow over the mainsail — slap comes the wind aback and
the whole fleet is in a flutter. The channel is narrow and ser-
pentine, the wind baffling, and small room to beat : but the craft
are worked merrily and well ; and dodging about as if to escape
some invisible imp of the air they gain point after point till at
last they get the Dunderbarrck behind them and fall once more
into the regular current of the wind.

There ha\'e been not a few of the old river captains
whose activity led them into new fields when forced
to abandon the occupation of their earlier days.

Some of them may be found in directors' chairs in
transportation companies and financial institutions.
It took a large amount of hard horse sense to run a
river schooner successfully in the old days of frequent
crises and sharp competition, and the man who could
cope with the shippers and the market men, keep the
weather gage of rivals and more than hold his own
with wind and tide, was very apt to be a valuable man
in any active business.

In most cases it was the old schooner and sloop
skippers that became captains of steam craft, and
afterw^ards were frequently counted among the mag-
nates of the river.

Many of the older river steamboats bear the names
of men who 'Tollowed the river, man and boy" for
many years, and were better known at most of the
landing places than the Governor of the State or the
member of Assembly from the district.

Chapter IX

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat

ROBERT FULTON, whose name is indissolubly
connected with the history of navigation and
no less intimately associated with the story
of the Hudson River, was born in America before the
War for Independence.

According to the most approved precedents, he
showed in early boyhood a promise of inventive ability,
in combination with a taste for art; the latter culti-
vated under the direction of the noted painter, Benja-
min West. While in London, engaged in his chosen
work, he became interested in canals and wrote a trea-
tise on Canal Navigation. This was published, the au-
thor at the same time ol:)taining patents on a double
inclined plane designed to take the place of locks in
small canals.

This work, done by Fulton while sojourning in Eng-
land, found its way across the ocean and attracted the
attention of Albert Gallatin and others, who were the
means of introducing the inventor and his ideas to
the notice of Congress, which led to a fuller exposition
of his views, prepared at the request of that body. Later

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 119

we find him advocatini^, if he did not suggest, the Erie
Canal scheme, upon which he re])orted, as one of the
commissioners. Among his various inventions were a
mill for sawing marble, a machine for flax-spinning, a
dredging machine, several types of canal-boats, a sub-
marine torpedo, and a boat designed to act in conjunc-
tion w^ith it. The plans for the last invention were
carried out in France. Fulton actually submerged his
craft at a depth of twenty feet, and stayed under water
in her for four hours and a half. He carried a supply of
air compressed in a copper globe, and propelled the
boat by means of a hand-engine. ,

We have seen that Bushnell, in 1776, invented a
torpedo and submarine boat to act in conjunction with
it, — contrivances in which Israel Putnam seems to have
placed great confidence, — but he never succeeded in
making them practicable. Fulton, on the contrary,
did blow up a vessel provided for the purpose, and
demonstrated the destructi\'e value of his work.

Fulton never claimed to be the first to propose steam
navigation. Experiments in the same direction seem
to have been made in 1690, or even earlier. The names
of Blasco de Gary (Spanish), Papin, Jonathan Hulls,
William Henry, Count d'Auxiron, M. Perier, Marquis
de Jouffroy, James Rumsey, Nathan Read, John Fitch,
and several others are in line before we reach that of
Robert Fulton. His one peculiar title to pre-eminence
was in the fact that he succeeded.

Rumsey came very near to success. He not only

I20 The Hudson River

completed a steamboat that was capable of moving
through the water at a very moderate rate of speed,
but he actually ran his steamer as a public carrier on
the Delaware all through the summer of 1790. Fitch
sailed a scrczv steamer on the old collect pond in New
York before the Clermont was built ; but both Rumsey
and Fitch died before their tasks were accomplished.
Then there were Ormsbee, Morey, and others, busy
with experiments. The thing was so evidently in the
air that it would have been almost a miracle if a busy
brain like Fulton's had not caught the infection.

When Fulton took up the problem of steam navi-
gation he was fortunate in having as his coadjutor one
of the remarkable men of his time. The Honourable
Robert R. Livingston was one of the committee that
drafted the Declaration of Independence, he was a
member of the committee that framed the first con-
stitution of New York, was the first Chancellor of the
State and forever to be remembered as having ad-
ministered the oath of office to the first President of
the United States.

Livingston, who had himself experimented with steam
navigation, fell in with Fulton when he was in France
as American Minister. They became acquainted about
1802, and were soon mutually engrossed in the plans
for a steamboat which was made under Fulton's im-
mediate supervision. In the following year the con-
trivance was completed. It had been built at their
joint expense, but we do not find that then or after-

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 121

wards Livingston was practically engaged in the ac-
tual labour of invention or construction. His connection
seems rather to have been that of a business partner or
backer.

Preparations for a trial of their boat in the Seine
were interrupted by the collapse of the contrivance,
which broke in two and sunk in the river. Fulton
succeeded, however, in raising the wreck, and, having
repaired the hull, proceeded to demonstrate his theory.
The trial was pronounced a success and the partners
agreed to construct a larger boat on the Hudson River.
For this enterprise Livingston was to supply the funds.

The engine was ordered from Messrs. Boulton and
Watt, of Birmingham. It was built from specifications
furnished by Fulton, but so greatly was the work de-
layed that it arrived in New York subsequently to the
inventors' return in 1806.

A bill was passed by the Legislature, similar to one
previously obtained b}' Livingston, renewing an ex-
clusive privilege granted him before his departure for
France. This act gave the associates the sole right to
navigate the waters of New York State by steam for
twenty years, an allowance of two years being made
for the completion of the first steamboat.

The actual outlay for the boat exceeded the esti-
mated cost, and it was found necessary to raise money
by subscription. Among the subscribers was Robert
Lenox, who, according to one account, put down a
hundred dollars, but would not allow his name to be

122 The Hudson River

used because he did not wish to have it connected with
such a preposterous scheme.

The vessel was built at the shipyard of Charles Brown,
on the East River, and not, as some writers have
claimed, in the North Bay, near the Livingston manor-
house of Clermont, at Tivoli. Xor can we find any
warrant for the tradition that the plans for the boat
were made at Clermont, though very possibly they
may have been altered or perfected there.

Fulton's plans w^ere said to have been marvels of
careful detail, and we know that the engines for the
steamboat were ordered in England before he had
returned to America. We must, therefore, suppose
that the plans were mainly worked out in .France,
w^here most of the preliminary experimenting had
been done.

The steamer was named the Clcrinont, in compli-
ment to Livingston. It was one hundred and thirty
feet long, sixteen feet wide, and four feet deep, of one
hundred and sixty tons measurement. The engine had
a steam cylinder twenty-four inches in diameter, with
a four-foot stroke. The boiler was twenty b}' seven
by eight feet, and the wheels measured fifteen feet in
diameter. This singular craft carried a smoke-stack
that was very tall in comparison w4th the size of the
boat and her paddle-w^heels were unco\'ered. Alto-
gether, she was something of a monstrosity, as com-
pared with the river boats of to-day.

A contemporaneous account of the trial trip of the

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 125

CIcnuoiit, in the summer of 1807, makes interesting
reading.

d Nothing could exceed the surprise and admiration of all who
....nessed the experiment. The minds of the most incredulous
were changed in a few minutes. Before the boat had made the
progress of a quarter of a mile, the greatest unbeliever must
have been converted. The man who, while he looked on the
expensive machine, thanked his stars that he had more wisdom
than to waste his money on such idle schemes, changed the
expression of his features as the boat moved from the wharf and
gained her speed; his complacent smile gradually stiffened into
an expression of wonder. The jeers of the ignorant, who had
neither sense nor feeling enough to suppress their contemptuous
ridicule and rude jokes, were silenced for a moment by a vulgar
astonishment, which deprived them of the power of utterance,
till the triumph of genius extorted from the incredulous multi- j
tude which crowded the shores, shouts and acclamations of /
congratvilation and applause. ^^-l

Fulton, in a letter to the American Citizen, in sen-
tences that show a stern repression of the pride that
must ha\'e made his nerves dance, speaks of the achieve-
ment of his cherished plans. He states, briefly, that
he has returned from Albany, and modestly mentions
his hope that "such boats may be rendered of great
importance to my country." He then proceeds to the
statement of facts regarding his voyage.

rl left New Yoi-k on ^Monday at one o'clock, and arrived at
Clermont, the seat of Chancellor Livingston, at one o'clock on
Tuesday — time, twenty-four hours: distance, one hundred and
ten miles. On Wednesday, I departed from the Chancellor's at
nine in the morning, and arrived at Albany at five in the
afternoon — distance, forty miles; time, eight hours. The sum
is one hundred and fifty miles in thirty-two hours, equal to near
five miles an hour.

126 The Hudson River

On Thursday, at nine o'clock in the morning, I left Albany,
and arrived at the Chancellor's at six in the evening: I started
from thence at seven, and arrived at New York at four in the
afternoon — time, thirty hours; space run through, one hundred
and fifty miles; equal to five miles an hour. Throughout mv
whole way, both going and returning, the wind was ahead; no
advantage could be derived from my sails: the whole has, there-
fore, been performed by the power of the steam-engine.
1 am sir, your obedient servant, '

Robert Fulton.

One frightened spectator of Fulton's experiment
described the contrivance as " the Devil in a sawmill ' ' —
a not inapt comparison. The invited guests who stood
upon the deck of the first of all successful steamboats
as it snorted and puffed and clattered on its way up the
river, must have been prepared for any emergency.
We can imagine the more timorous ardently wishing
themselves on shore again, £ind feeling that they had
indeed taken their lives in their hands.

The use of fat pine wood for fuel made a particularly
impressive spectacle when night overtook the voyagers,
for the sparks flew in a ceaseless stream and warranted the
statement that " It was a monster, moving on the river,
defying wind and tide, and breathing flames and smoke. ' '

Such wa s the progenitor of all the steam-craft in the
world, and this the death-warrant to the fleets of sails
that used to gladden the bosom of the Hudson. True,
the execution of the warrant was delayed for more than
half a century, or rather was accomplished by insensible
degrees, so that no definite date can be assigned to it —
but accomplished it finally is.

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 127

When the saiHng vessels had resigned their jxissen-
ger service, as well as much of the freight traffic, to the
new-fangled fire-eaters that infested the ri\-er, a class
of boats developed that never had their like on earth
before and probably ne\'er will again. They came by
the scores, monopolising the business until the advent
of the railwav. They were built for speed and were

" CAR OF NEPTUNE," lSo8

barbaric in their gorgeous display of gingerbread and
gold. The taste and temperament — in a word, the
personality — of the average American citizen of ante-
bellum times was made concrete in the Hudson River
steamboat. It somehow suggested the man who might
buy an onyx mantel-piece for the satisfaction of putting
his feet on it. Those great, resplendent, costly, com-
fortless, tasteless vessels, overloaded with ornament
and magnificently vulgar, were the pride of the towns
from which they hailed, and each boat had its retinue
of eager partisans, always ready to engage in a wordy

128

The Hudson River

warfare concerning the respective merits of their
favourite and its rivals.

The first seven steamboats built to run upon the
Hudson were the Clcnnont, Xortli River, Car of Nep-
tune, Hope, Perseverance, Paragon, and Richmond. Of
these, one was completed in 1807, two in 1808 and 1809,
respectively, three in 181 1, and one in 18 13. At first,

" PARAGON," iS]

the rates of fare were such as to be prohibitive to any
but travellers of means, though the accommodations
were hardly such as would be considered "palatial"
by the tourist of latter days.

The advertisement of distances, time, and charges,
was as follows:

From New York to Newburg S3. Time 14 hours

" Poughkeepsie 4. " 17

" Esopus 5. " 20

" " " " Hudson 51. " 30 "

" " Albany 7. " 36

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 129

In an advertisement, ])ublished in 1808, the time-
table for the boat is sui)plemented by the following
caution :

As the time at which the boat may arrive at the different
places above mentioned may vary an hour, more or less, accord-
ing to the advantage or disadvantage of wind and tide, those who
wish to come on board will see the necessity of being on the
spot an hour before the time. Persons wishing to come on

-^ '~~^^^

"RICHMOND," 1S13

board from any landing other than these here specified can
calculate the time the boat will pass and be ready on her arrival.
Innkeepers or boatmen who bring passengers on board or take
them ashore from any part of the river will be allowed one
shilling for each person.

All passengers other than those regularly shipped at
the stated landing-places were required to pay at the
rate of one dollar for every twenty miles, and half a
dollar for each meal taken on board. Baggage was al-
lowed free, if below sixty pounds in w^eight, and freight
was carried at the rate of three cents a pound.

Some of the old river boats had an interesting his-
torv. One, called the New World, that used to run

130 The Hudson River

between New York and Albany, was cut up and taken to
San Francisco, and, having been put together again, ran
between that city and Sacramento as El Capitan. The
Sivallow made a disastrous ending on the rocks in the
forties, another found her final resting-place at Pier-
mont, while Kingston was for years a tying-up place
for decrepid hulls that once throbbed and trembled
under the stress of over-taxed boilers and engines in
the frequent mad races for supremacy on the river.

When Vanderbilt's steamer, Westchester, was running
and trying to monopolise business (in 1832) an associa-
tion was formed to build and run a ri\'al boat in the
interest of farmers and shippers. Subscribers were
found all along the ri\^er and the famous Water Witch
came into being. Then commenced a rivalry so in-
tense that the rate of fare dropped to twelve-and-a-
half cents from New York to Peekskill. The war ended
b}" the purchase of a controlling interest in the new
boat by the " Commodore" and the restoration of high
rates.

Thomas Stanton built the Trojan at West Troy, and,
afterwards, several other steamboats, the two best
known being the Anjieiiia and the Daniel Drew, which
was his last. The Dreiv was chartered to take the
Prince of Wales and his suite to Albany, at the time
that the Prince (now Edward VII.) made his memor-
able visit to America.

A well-known river steamboat, the General Jackson,
exi^loded her boilers on the trip from Peekskill to New

„ jii. It mm . *,

4'k

ML

,i •>:

t»|!

jl, i-

'3''iiii''''"i'

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 133

York. The accident occurred off Grassy Point and
resulted in the death of several persons. Jacob Van-
derbilt, a brother of the Commodore, was her captain.
One of the noted rivalries of the time we are writing of
occurred between the steamboats Kosciiisco and Tele-
graph. It was a never-ending trial of speed between
the two boats, and became so exciting that they some-
times omitted to stop for passengers. On one occasion
fifty people were left behind at Peekskill, cherishing
emotions that were probably unfit for publication.
The Kosciusco was finally defeated by her rival.

We ask about the Reindeer, — that exploded and
burned at Maiden in 1852, — the Alexis, the Henry Clay;
and the answer is a melancholy reminiscence. The case
of the last-named boat was one of the peculiarly dread-
ful tragedies that the history of steamboating presents.
In 1852, this po])ular boat, while making her regular
run and crowded with passengers, was discovered to be
on fire. She was headed for the shore at Riverdale and
ran hard aground near the wharf. But while from the
bow of the boat it was only a step to the shore, yet
the stern floated in deep water, and the majority of
the passengers w^ere imprisoned by the flames in that
part of the boat. A wild panic ensued. The heli)less
people, without means of escape and maddened l)v the
intense heat, leaped into the river and literally fought
w^ith each other in their eagerness to reach the shore,
pulHng each other, in many instances, under the waves,
so that the strong went down with the weak. The

134 The Hudson River

victims were numbered by scores, and for days the
river shore was thronged by the relatives and friends
of missing passengers, trying to identify the bodies
that the tide washed ashore. This disaster had a sad
Ijre-eminence and pkmged the whole State in gloom.
A graphic picture of steamboat travel on the Hudson
was presented by the lively pen of N. P. Willis, in 1840.

With most persons [he wrote], to mention the Pahsades is
only to recall the confusion of a steamer's deck, just off from
the wharf, with a freight of seven or eight hundred souls hoping
to "take tea" in Albany. The scene is one of inextricable con-
fusion, and it is not till the twenty miles of the Palisades are
well passed that the bewildered passenger knows rightly whether
his wife, child, or baggage, whichever may be his tender care, is
not being left behind at the rate of fifteen miles in the hour.

I have often flung my valise into the corner, and, sure that
the whole of my person and personal effects was vmder way,
watched the maniform embarrassments and troubles that beset
the uninitiated voyager upon the Hudson. Fifteen minutes
before the starting of the boat, there is not a passenger aboard:
"time is money," and the American, counting it as part of the
expense, determines to pay only "on demand." He arrives
on the narrow pier at the same instant with seven hundred men,
ladies, and children, besides lapdogs, crammed baskets, uncut
novels, and baggage for the whole. No commissioner in the
world would guarantee to get all this freight on board in the
given time, and yet it is done, to the daily astonishment of news-
paper hawkers, orange women, and penny-a-liners watching for
dreadful accidents.

The plank is drawn in, the wheels begin to paw like foaming
steeds impatient to be off, the bell rings as if it were letting
down the steps of the last hackney-coach, and away darts the
boat, like half a town suddenly slipping off and taking a walk
on the water. The "hands" (who follow their nomenclature
literally, and have neither eyes nor bowels) trip up all the little
children and astonished maids in coiling up the hawser: the

Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 137

black head-waiter rings a hand-bell as if he were crazy, exhorting
"Them passengers as has n't settled to step to the Cap'n's office
and settle," and angry people who have lost sight of their port-
manteaus and selfish people who will )wt get up to let the young
gentleman see if his penny trumpet is under them, play a real-
life farce better than Keeley or Liston.

A painted notice and a very fat black woman in the doorway
inform the gentleman who has not seen his wife since the boat
started, and is not at all sure that she is on board, that "No
gentleman is permitted to enter the ladies' cabin," and spite of
his dreadful uncertainty, he is obliged to trust to the dark Hebe
to find her, among three hundred ladies, by description, and
amuses all the listeners with his inventory of her dress features
and general appearance. The negress disappears, is called
twenty ways in twenty seconds, and an hour afterwards the
patient husband sees the faithless messenger pass with a glass
of lemonade, having utterly forgotten him and the lady in the
black bonnet and gray eyes, who may be, for ought he knows
to the contrary, wringing her hands at this moment on the
wharf at New York.

By this time the young ladies are tired of looking at the Pali-
sades, and have taken out their novels, the old gentlemen are
poring over their damp newspapers, and the captain has received
his fourteen hundred or two thousand dollars, locked up his
office, and gone to smoke with the black funnel and the engineer.
The broad waters of the Tappan Zee open before the flying cut-
water; those who have never been up the river before think of
poor Andre as they pass Tappan and Tarry town, and those who
love gentle worth and true genius begin to look out for Sleepy
Hollow and the house of Washington Irving. It is a ciuiet little
spot, buried in trees and marked with an old Dutch vane.
May his latter days, when they shall come, find there the rever-
ence and repose which are his due!

Still the old order changes. As the white wings made
way before the steamboat of Fulton's time and that in
turn retired to give precedence to the swashbuckling
river-craft of half a centurv ago, so these, too, have

138 The Hudson River

disappeared, and now the traveller finds great floating
hotels, run to maintain, in comfort and fidelity to
schedule time, a successful rivalry with the modern
railroad service. Their appointments are no longer
barbaric, their accommodations no longer uncomfort-
able, their voyages no longer invitations to disaster
and sudden death. By day, they sweep by the base
of the echoing hihs or into the open river reaches with
a dignity of presence and a majesty of motion that
fit well with their surroundings; and, by night, the
inquisitive eye of the almost omniscient search-light
explores the secrets of the sleeping shores. But it dis-
covers no one ready to stand amazed at this or any
other marvel, as the villagers and boatmen did when
Fulton directed the little Clermont up the stream a
century ago, and filled the night with corruscations of
fat pine sparks, and the quiet sleepy hamlets with the
rattle and splash of his primitive engine.

Chapter X

Riverside to Inwood

RIVERSIDE PARK has been called "the mere
aggrandisement of a road." In a sense that
is true and yet the aggrandisement of such
a road in such a way suggests the embellishment of a
book by extra illustration, till the original volume
appreciates in value beyond computation.

From 7 2d Street to 130th Street, between Eleventh
and Twelfth Avenues — the latter near the river level
— Riverside Drive winds over hill and dale for three
miles. There are few roads in the world that can com-
pare with it. Every turn is a revelation of natural
beauty and every hillock is crowned with some historic
association.

This is not a single road, but a "cluster of ample
ways" for pleasure riding and driving, with number-
less nooks " that a bee might choose to dream in," and
sudden revelations of the river at points where natural
advantages have been seized with consummate art.

x\cross to Fort Lee, along the sheer wall of the Pali-
sades, or down past the busy shipping to w^here Bar-
tholdi's statue lifts her unwearied ann, the outlook

139

140 The Hudson River

is a panoramic displa}^ of exquisite charm. There is
nothing that seems trivial in all the prospect: in all
that comes within the range of the eye the " large be-
nignities" of sky and river conspire to delight it.

The changing hues of colour, the evanescent shadows
playing across the distant hills, the long lanes of wind-
drift vanishing in perspective, present not one picture,
but a never-ending succession of them.

Near the southern end of Riverside Drive used to
be a place of resort known as Elm Park.

Mr. Benson J. Lossing describes it as a camp-ground
for recruits during the Civil War, " once the seat of the
Apthorpe family." The Apthorpe mansion stood at
the corner of 9 1 st Street and Columbus Avenue. Wash-
ington had his headquarters here for a very brief time.
The de Lancey house, the property of General Oliver
de Lancey, stood at about 86th Street. In the winter
of 1777, while the owner was absent, a party of young
men came down from Tarrytown, bent on retaliation
for the burning of the Van Tassel house, not far from
there. They were led by Martlings and others, and
succeeded in passing the British lines and setting fire
to the de Lancey mansion. The ladies escaped in their
night dresses, as those of the Van Tassel farmhouse
had done a short time before.

Ri\-erside looks down at one point into the hollow
that was known in the old times as Marritje David's
Vly, now 127th Street. It keeps its watch above the
turmoil of the waters and the travel upon their bosom,

Riverside to Inwood 143

and wears proudh' its own record of Revolutionary
happenings.

The trees that crown this ridge and sentinel its slopes
gi\'e an impression of venerable antic[uity, and it is
difficult to receive without a grain of allowance the
record that tells how, during the severe winter of 1779-
80, when the island was under martial law, General
Robertson stripped the land of its trees for fuel.

At the north end of Riverside is the restaurant where
Jones's Claremont Hotel stood, half a century ago.
The older dwelling that it rejDlaced was the residence
of Doctor Post, who gave it the name of Claremont.
Viscount Courtenay, afterwards Earl of Devon, lived
there at one time, previous to the War of 181 2. Joseph
Buonaparte, ex-king of Spain, when in exile, also made
Claremont his residence for a while, and Francis Jones
Jackson, the British minister, lived there during his
term of office. The spot has many historic associations
to enhance its natural attractiveness, but a far decider
significance was added when, in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of Claremont was selected the site for the
Grant mausoleum, that, apart from its pretensions
to architectural excellence, attracts attention by its
magnetic appeal to one of the noblest of human senti-
ments.

The tomb of General Grant is on Riverside Drive at
123d Street, and is a conspicuous landmark, as seen
from the river. With a superficial area of 8100 square
feet and an extreme height of 150 feet, fashioned in

144

The Hudson River

white granite from Maine, this mausoleum takes rank
among the most cek^brated commemorative buildings
in the world. The circular cupola, surrounded by
columns and surmounted by a conical cap or dome,
rests upon a massive cube of masonry, relieved by
entablature, frieze, and columns of pure Ionic design
and entered through a portico of noble proportions.

This is not the place to describe the interior of this
remarkable tomb, with its impressive chamber and the
crypt wherein lies the dust of General Grant in a sar-
coi)hagus of red porph}^r>'. The tomb was built with the
contributions of 90,000 subscriptions to a fund that
aggregated $600,000, and the corner-stone was laid by
President Hamson in April, 1892.

The late Chinese statesman, Li Hung Chang, was an
early subscriber to the monument fund and presented
a gingko tree, which is growing at the north side of the
tomb. Upon it a bronze tablet bears this inscription:

This tree is planted at the side of the tomb of General U. S.
Grant, ex- President of the United States of America, for the
purpose of commemorating his greatness, by Li Hung Chang,
Guardian of the Prince, Grand Secretary of State, Earl of the
First Order Yang Hu, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni-
potentiary of China, Vice-President of the Board of Censors.
Kwang Hsu, 23d year, 4th moon, May, 1897.

Some distance to the south of Grant's tomb, at 89th-
90th Streets is the new soldiers' and sailors' monu-
ment.

Back of Riverside, upon the ridge now known as
Cathedral Heights, the magnificent cathedral of St.

Riverside to Inwood 147

John the Divine is now (1902) Ijeing erected on a site
co^'ering three city blocks, from iioth to 113th Streets.
The corner-stone was laid in 1892, and possibly most of
the present generation of men will have passed away
before the entire work is completed. The cost will a|)-
proximate six millions of dollars.

Cathedral Heights is at the southern end of Morn-
ingside Heights, a region that has been fitly charac-
terised by Mr. Seth Low as "the Acropolis of the New
World." Crowning the Heights, among the most con-
spicuous landmarks of the Hudson, are the buildings
of Columbia University. These, when all com])leted,
will number fifteen, central among which is the unique
Low Memorial Library. It is one of the purest ex-
amples of classic Greek architecture in America. In
form, its describes a Maltese cross, surmounted by a
dome of noble proportions, Ijcneath which is the al-
ready famous rotunda that constitutes the central
feature of the building. A statue of Pallas Athene
stands at the doorway, within the ample colonnade,
to reach which one must cross the broad, paved espla-
nade and mount a wide flight of stairs — for the
architects wisely put this building on a grade far
enough above that of the street to add to its impres-
sive beauty.

The other buildings of the University group that are
already completed are the Engineering Building, Scher-
merhorn, Fayerweather, and Havemeyer Halls, and
part of University Hall.

148 The Hudson River

Columbia College was first of all the old King's
College, founded by Royal charter in the time of
George II. After the independence of the colonies
was won, " King's" became " Columbia." The present
site is the latest, and it is hoped the last, of several
homes that have been familiar to successive genera-
tions of Columbia alumuce.

The buildings of Columbia University are upon the
ground made memorable in American history by what
has been called the Battle of Harlem Heights, to which
particular reference is made in another chapter. On
the Broadway side of the Engineering Building there
is a bronze tablet commemorating this action, which
took place on the i6th of September, 1776.

Near Columbia, only separated by Broadway, is
Barnard College, for women, which is a department of
the University. This is at 119th Street. At 120th
is the Teachers College, founded in 1886 by Miss Grace
Dodge. This also is now a part of Columbia.

One of the most notable structures along the ridge
is that of St. Luke's Hospital, opposite the Cathedral
grounds, at 113th Street.

Back from the river and hidden, except at one or
two points, where a transverse \^alley crosses the main
ridge of the island at i6ist Street, stands the historic
Jumel mansion, as it is usually called. The name is
that of the first husband of Madame Aaron Burr, who
owned the house at one time. It was built in 1758
by Colonel Roger Morris, once Washington's com-

H^'

i

Riverside to Inwood 151

panion in arms, when they were both aides to General
Braddock. Mar}- PhiH])se, for whose hand it is said
that Washington was a suitor, married Morris and
Hved in this old house. In 1776, when the Americans
were retreating after the Battle of Long Island, Wash-
ington made his headquarters there. Captain Nathan
Hale received his instructions at that old house and
started from there on his fatal mission. There Wash-
ington again came, this time as a guest, with his cabi-
net, in 1790. Under its roof, Madame Jumel, having
obtained her divorce from Burr, died in poverty.

It has a strange, full history, that severe, prim old
colonial mansion that one may catch a passing glimpse
of from the river.

Besides the buildings of a public character that have
been enumerated here, and others w^hich are omitted
for lack of space, there are numberless private resi-
dences, some of them quite palatial in extent, that
crown the heights or are scattered along the slopes of
the shore.

Immediately above Riverside Park is the former
village known to its residents as Manhattanville. A
steel viaduct spans the Manhattan Valley and connects
Riverside Drive with the Harlem Speedway. At Man--
hattanville, on 128th Street, near St. Nicholas Avenue,
is the celebrated convent school, under the charge of the
sisters of the Sacred Heart. The buildings, of brown
stone, large enough for the accommodation of several
hundred scholars, are situated in the middle of a wooded

152 The Hudson River

park. Here the pu^jils are not confined to those of one
creed, though uniformity in dress among the inmates
of the school is rec[uired.

Overlooking Manhattanville is the old Lawrence
homestead, built by John B. Lawrence more than a
century ago. Lawrence vStreet, in the vicinity, per-
petuates his name. Between the Watkins and Brad-
hurst houses, a short distance below 148th Street,
Alexander Hamilton built his celebrated country seat,
the Grange. This was not erected until after the Revo-
lution. Here the statesman and soldier passed the last
years of his busy and brilliant career, surrounded by
his friends, but not entirely free from the animosities
of political life — enmities that finall}^ culminated in the
fatal encounter between himself and Aaron Burr.

The thirteen elm trees planted Ijy Hamilton near his
house, to celebrate the thirteen original states of the
union, were saved from destruction some years ago by
Orlando Potter, who paid $140,000 for the ground
upon which thc}^ stood.

Dr. Samuel Brad hurst built a house north of the
Grange, not far from the site of the noted Watkins
house on St. Xichokis Avenue. These old homes were
celebrated for the fine and courtly hospitality which
mingled freedom with conventionality and reconciled
convival manners with the strict social requirements of
the ancicn regime.

The three or four dwellings last noticed lay along
the line of the Bloomingdale road and covered ground

Riverside to Inwood 155

made memorable as the scene of Revolutionary con-
flict.

The valley in which Manhattan ville lies extends
from the Hudson to the East River, and was once
known as the Harlem Cove and still earlier as the
Hollow Way. Fortifications were erected upon its
sides in 181 2.

Just above the steamboat landing at 15 2d Street is
Trinity Cemetery, traversed by the Boulevard Lafay-
ette. North of this is the cluster of residences that
occupies Audubon Park, where the famous naturalist
once had his home. A little above is the building of
the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, between the Kingsbridge
road and the Hudson and nine miles from the City
Hall.

Now we approach the section known as Washington
Heights, a region of park-like aspect, traversed by
delightful avenues, shaded by fine trees, and dotted
with residences, with here and there some institution
of a public character.

Nearly midway along the river front, at 175th Street,
is Fort Washington, where once stood the fortress that,
with its garrison of 3000 men, was captured by the Brit-
ish in November, 1776. A small redoubt, also taken
at that time, occupied the point that juts into the
river at this place. The sites of both the fort and re-
doubt have been set aside as a public park. The
point, which is now known as Fort Washington Point,
was formerly called Jeft'rey's Hook, and has been

156 The Hudson River

familiar to generations of river men as marking the
deepest part of the stream.

It has seemed advisable to give a separate chapter
to the military associations of Forts Washington and
Lee. Among the most recent of notable transfers of
Hudson River property was the sale of a tract of one
hundred and sixty city blocks at Mount Washing-
ton in January, 1902. This was formerly a part of
the estate of Lucius B Chittenden, well known as a
Broadway merchant, who died about thirty years ago.
The last owner was Mrs. Chittenden, a widow, living in
England. This land lies from about 189th to 197th
Streets.

Among those who have made a home in this part of
Manhattan in modern times, few have reached the
eminence attained by the celebrated lawyer, Charles
O'Connor, of whom Judge Charles P. Daly said: '"He
has filled a place in the juris] )rudence of this Stiite
greater than that of any lawyer who has ever lived
in it."

We are nearing the end of Manhattan Island. The
wooded, inviting knoll of Inwood rises above the haunted
waters of Spuyten Duy vil creek, itself the home of many
a spirit, if it l)e true that ghosts walk. The Indians
long ago gave it a name of unpronounceable gutturals,
and sowed its rocky soil with arrow-heads and tradi-
tions. Along the ridges and through the woods where
they disputed titles with their neighbours, the bears
and the catamounts, generations of white men have

Riverside to Inwood 159

come with their feuds and friendships, their loves and
their hates, and ha\-e also passed away. From the
great city, less and less distant every year, the rumble
and the roar of approaching activity warn the dweller
among green lawns and trees that the days of his
seclusion are numbered.

Chapter XI

The Island and the River in 1776

BRITISH plans to gain possession of New York
in order to command the entrance of the
Hudson, were reported to Congress in Octo-
ber, 1775. Inquiries, it was said, had been made by
Englishmen high in authority as to the feasibility of
erecting forts in the Highlands, thus controlling the
navigation of the river. x\lbany was also included in
these designs for keeping open communication be-
tween Quebec and the lower provinces.

vSuch reports, whether well or ill founded, had the
desirable effect of inciting the Continental leaders to
measures for the protection of the river and its shores.
The military importance of the Hudson in the impend-
ing struggle could not be overestimated, and although
the scene of conflict shifted from Canada to the Caro-
linas, and the fields of Pennsylvania and New Jersey
were de\'astated, yet from first to last the great river
was the key to the continent for which both sides con-
tended.

On suspicion that New York City was the destina-
tion of the fleet preparing to sail under command of

160

The Island and the River in 1776 103

Sir Henry Clinton, from Boston, General Lee urged
Washington to i^ermit him to recruit for its defence a
force of Connecticut troops. The commander ap-
proved this plan, Ijut doubted apparentl}' whether his
authority was sufficient to warrant such an exercise
of power. John Adams, being near at hand at the
time, was consulted, and strongly endorsed the pro-
posed measure, considering as a sufficient warrant the
extraordinary authority with which Washington had
recently been invested by Congress.

Lee w^as thereupon commissioned to raise volunteers
in Connecticut, secure military aid from New ycrse^^
disarm the Tories in the neighbourhood of New York,
and to put the city and river in a condition for defence
against the contemplated attack of the British. After
some difficult}' he succeeded in accom|;)lishing the
greater part of this task, and proceeded to take pos-
session of New York. But the first movement in that
direction brought a hornet's nest buzzing about his
ears. Clearly the citizens dreaded nothing so much as
being defended.

The merchants and householders saw in the im-
petuous and often impolitic Lee and his hastily gath-
ered levies of raw troops a menace to their well being
much greater than they discovered in the ships of his
Majesty that were in the harbour. That staunch
patriot, Pierre Van Cortlandt, Chairman of the Com-
mittee of Safety, addressed a letter to General Lee,
protesting that the city was not capable of acting

i64 The Hudson River

hostilely against the British ships, as it lacked both
military works and munitions. He urged the ad-
visability of doing nothing to provoke attack and more
than hinted that his correspondent's room would just
then be greatly preferred to his company.

We, therefore [continued the letter], ardently wish to remain
in peace for a little time, and doubt not we have assigned suffi-
cient reasons for avoiding at present, a dilemma, in which the
entrance of a large body of troops into the city, will almost
certainly involve us. Should you have such an entrance in
design, we beg at least the troops may halt on the western
confines of Connecticut, till we have been honoured by you
with such an explanation on this important subject, as you
may conceive your duty may permit you to enter upon with us,
the grounds of which, you may easily see, ought to be kept an
entire secret.

General Lee's reply was intended to be reassuring.
He disclaimed any intention of provoking strife or com-
mencing hostilities, but he threw in such lurid hints of
funeral pyres and the like that New York merchants
were panic-stricken.

On the 4th of February, 1776, Lee arrived in New
York on the same day that the squadron from Bos-
ton, with Sir Henry Clinton in command, arrived in
the harbour. Such a coincidence threw the already
agitated city into a ferment. An exodus of the more
timid inhabitants commenced, and even through the
succeeding hours of darkness it is said " were there carts
going and boats loading, and women and children
crying, and distressed voices heard in the roads in the
dead of night. ' '

The Island and the River in 1776 165

But nothing came of Clinton's visit. He protested
that he had simply called to pay his respects in a
friendly way to Governor Tryon, a proceeding that
Lee reported as " the most whimsical piece of civility
I ever heard of. ' '

The British fleet sailed south and the inhabitants
of New York, relieved from their fears for the time,
began to settle down to quiet. An agreement was
reached, between the Committee of Safety and Lee, as
to the nature and sco])e of the defence to be attempted.
They are best explained in the latter 's own words:

The Congress committees, a certain number of the committees
of safety, and your humble servant [writes he to Washington],
have had two conferences. The result is such as will agreeably
surprise you. It is in the first place agreed, and justly, that to
fortify the town against shipping is impracticable; but we are
to fortify lodgments on some commanding part of the city for
two thousand men. We are to erect enclosed batteries on both
sides of the water, near Hell Gate, which will answer the double
purpose of securing the town against piracies through the Sound,
and secure our communication with Long Island, now become a
more important point than ever; as it is determined to form a
strong fortified camp of three thousand men, on the island, im-
mediately opposite to New York. The pass in the Highlands is
to be made as respectable as possible, and guarded by a bat-
talion. In short, I think the plan judicious and complete.

Kingsbridge, at the upper end of the island, con-
necting it with the mainland, he considered most im-
portant, and intended to make preparations for its
defence.

But while most of his plans were still in the air Con-
gress ordered the energetic ofhcer to another command

1 66 The Hudson River

and he bewailed the fact that upon his withdrawal
the "provincial Congress and the inhabitants in gen-
eral will relapse into their former hysterics."

The unfavourable impression left by subsequent acts
of this energetic but not too well balanced officer may
blind us to the really excellent service he accomplished.
His own valuation of that service was not excessive.
The threats of Governor Tryon, the carpings of Tory
residents, and the pleas of the timid were all disregarded,
while with an energy and foresight highly creditable,
he placed the city in such a condition of defence as was
then possible. The peremptory measures adopted to put
an end to supplying the enemy's fleet with provisions
were efi^ectual; Sir Henry Clinton, evidently discour-
aged by the military demonstration in the city, with-
drew without attempting to strike a blow, and time
was secured for the Americans to do what the British
had planned to do; that is, to fortify the highlands
of the river.

It is interesting to contemplate what might have
been the course of American history if Clinton's fleet,
upon its arrival from Boston, had not found General
Lee and his volunteer forces in New York.

On the departure of General Lee, Lord Stirling,
Brigadier-Genenil, remained in temporary command of
New York; but the Commander-in-chief, anticipating
an attack in force, dispatched Heath and Sullivan to
the city with reinforcements, ordered forward a body
of three thousand Connecticut troops, and placed

The Island and the River in 1776 167

General Israel Putnam in authority. This veteran
officer entered the city on April 4, 1776, just three
months before the signing of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Following in their general outline the
plans made by his predecessor, Putnam continued the
construction of defences on the East River and imder-
took also to close the Hudson by erecting several bat-
teries along shore and placing obstructions in the
channel.

Washington arrived on the 14th of the month, his
appearance being the signal for rejoicing on the part of
the majority of those who remained in the city. At
that time the total armed force numbered about 10,000
men, several regiments having been withdrawn bv
.Congress, for Canadian service. In May Colonel Rufus
Putnam was dispatched to the Highkuids, "to put the
defences there in a fit and proper posture."

Towards the end of June the long-expected fleet of
the British began to make its ai;)pearance. Forty
vessels from Halifax, bringing the troops that had re-
cently occupied Boston, and accompanied by trans-
ports with newly arrived Highlanders, led the armada,
which was soon augmented by other men-of-war and
troop-ships, till the number reached one hundred and
thirty. The frigate Greyhound brought the commander,
of the British forces. General Howe, somewhat in ad-
vance of the rest of the fleet.

Colonel James Clinton, who had command of the
posts in the Highlands, was immediately notified of

1 68 The Hudson River

the arrival of this menacing force of the enemy and
directed to make all possible preparation for its recep-
tion if a passage of the river should be attempted.
About this time Clinton was also in receipt of several
letters from committees in Cornwall and Newburgh,
informing him of the presence of certain active Royalists
who were forming a conspiracy to cooperate with the
British troops upon their arrival.

But not even the ])resence of a powerful enemy on
the one side and dangerous neighbours on the other
could dampen the ardour with which the Colonial party
in New York greeted the news that the instrument
which proclaimed the independence of the American
Colonies had been signed at Philadelphia. For several
days the patriots celebrated the great event, incident-
ally pulling down the leaden statue of George III.,
which, in a spasm of loyalty, they had erected only a
short time before.

Putnam was not idle: his defences were rapidly
growing. The forts commanding the North River
about this time included the Grand Battery, at the
southern extremity of the island; Fort George, im-
mediately north of it ; White Hall Battery, on the left
of the Grand Battery ; Oyster Battery, behind General
Washington's headquarters; Grenadier Battery, " Near
the Brew House on the North River"; Jersey Battery,
at the left of the one last named; Bayard Hill Redoubt,
on Bayard's Hill, now Grand Street; Spencer's, on a
hill where General Spencer's brigade was encamped;

The Island and the River in 1776 169

and Waterbury's Battery, on a wharf below Spencer's
hill, and Bedlam's Redoubt, on a hill near the Jews'
burying-ground.

In addition to these works Putnam was completing
his ]jlans for the destruction of the British fleet and the
obstruction of the Hudson River. Earh^ in July he
wrote to General Gates, commanding the Northern
department, as follows:

The enemy's fleet now lies in the bay very safe, close under
Staten Island. Their troops possess no land here but the
Island. Is it not very strange, that those invincible troops,
who were to destroy and lay waste all this country with their
fleets and army, are so fond of islands and peninsulas, and dare
not put their feet on the main? But, I hope, by the blessing of
God and good friends we shall pay them a visit on their island.
For that end, we are preparing fourteen fire-ships to go into
their fleet, some of which are ready charged and fitted to sail
and I hope soon to have them all fixed. We are preparing clie-
vaux-de-frisc, at which we make great dispatch by the help of
ships, which are to be sunk; a scheme of mine which you may
be assured is very simple, a plan of which I send you. The two
ships' sterns lie towards each other, about seventy feet apart.
Three large logs, which reach from ship to ship, are fastened to
them. The two ships and logs stop the river two hundred and
eighty feet. The ships are to be sunk, and, when hauled down
on one side, the picks will be raised to a proper height, and they
must inevitably stop the river if the enemy will let us sink
them.

These well-laid plans miscarried. The fire-ships did
not accomplish what had been anticipated and a sub-
marine engine, prepared by " an ingenious Connecticut
man" failed to explode at the desired time and place.
Its interior clockwork being badly timed, it merely

I/O The Hudson River

"blew up a vast column of water" without doing any
damage to the enemy's vessels. It had, however, the
effect of astonishing the British and affording General
Putnam great amusement.

More than that, before the obstructions were in
place in the channel two British war-ships left their
anchorage and, taking advantage of a brisk breeze,
sailed past the forts and ascended the river. They
were fired upon by the shore batteries and replied
sharply with a broadside, but did not linger or turn
back. Where they were bound, whether to land troops
at some point on the mainland, to attack the forts in
the Highlands, or to harass the inhabitants of the
villages along the river, could only be conjectured.

Washington sent a message to General Mifflin, at
High Bridge, tu'ging him to be alert, and an express
also warned the New York convention, sitting at White
Plains.

George Clinton was at New Windsor above the
Highlands, and his brother, James, at Fort Constitu-
tion. They were first warned of the British approach
by the captains of two river sloops who had seen the
exchange of fire between the frigates and the forts and
had fled from the scene of danger as fast as possible.
The following day Washington's messenger arrived,
only to find that his orders had been anticipated and
that the most energetic measures for the defence of the
river were already under way.

The arrival of Lord Howe, Admiral of the British

The Island and the River in 1776 171

fleet, filled with consternation those whose sym])athies
were enlisted with the American cause. It was un-
derstood that affairs were approaching a crisis and
that the long anticipated attack would no longer be
deferred.

Lord Howe's proclamation, offering ])ardon to those
who had deviated from their allegiance to the Crown,
seemed to indicate a pacific purpose. It was followed
almost immediately b}' an attempt to negotiate with
General Washington, with a view to the restoration of
peace, but these measures, as the student of history
knows, were unsuccessful.

Ha\'ing cnlled attention to the means by which the
Americans endeavoured to protect the city and ri\'er
from the British encroachment during the spring and
summer of 1776, we may now proceed to describe
briefly the disposition of the opposing forces after the
disastrous battle of Long Island, in September of that
year, and especially to indicate the ground upon which
was fought the important engagement of Harlem
Heights.

After Washington's remarkable retreat w^th his
beaten anny across the East River, the city of New
York was in a turmoil. On the part of some of the
troops there were threats of reducing it to ashes, while
others protested vehemently against such drastic meas-
ures. Acting upon the theory that the enem}^ wouh?
follow his recent successes by further aggression, the
Commander-in-chief ordered that all of the sick and

172 The Hudson River

wounded should be removed to Orange, in New Jersey,
while surplus stores and baggage were to be trans-
ported to Dobbs Ferry. Desertions were the scandal
of the day. Two thirds of the Connecticut troops were
smitten with an irresistible attack of nostalgia, that
nothing but a sight of their own firesides could remedy-
Still the indefatigable Putnam continued to construct
forts and plan chevaiix-dc-frise. Fort Constitution, op-
posite Fort Washington, was commenced, and a strong
detachment of troops stationed there.

It was evident to Washington and his officers that
the plan of the British was to

enclose us on the island of New York, by taking posts in
our rear, while the shipping secures the front, and thus, by
cutting off our communication with the country, oblige us to
tight them on their own terms or surrender at discretion; or by
a briUiant stroke endeavour to cut this army to pieces and
secure the collection of arms and stores, which, they well know,
we shall not soon be able to replace.

On the 7 th of September the question of the abandon-
ment of the city was discussed and the council of war
finally decided upon a partial withdrawal.

Putnam, who had been strongly in favour of evacua-
tion, was to be left in the city with five thousand
soldiers, while Heath was to keep the upper part of the
island with nine thousand, opposing the attempts of
the enemy to land. A third division, under command
of Generals Greene and Spencer, was stationed near
Turtle and Kipp's bays, on the East River. Accord-
ing to several authorities Washington had his head-

The Island and the River in 1776 173

quarters in the old Apthorpe mansion, a short distance
out of the city, on the Hudson Ri\'er side.

Congress having left the decision relating to the
evacuation of New York entirely to the Commander-
in-chief, and nearly all of his officers determining, upon
a second council being held, that retreat was a necessity,
preparations were rapidly made to complete the with-
drawal of the Continental forces.

The attack of the British, concentrated upon the
forces under Greene and Spencer, on the 15th, pre-
cipitated the movement. The Connecticut levies at
Kipp's Bay and Turtle Bay fled, making hardly any
resistance. The presence and almost frantic opposi-
tion of Washington himself did not serve to check the
panic into which they were thrown.

An express was immediately dispatched to Putnam^
ordering him to retreat. He called in his pickets and
guards and abandoned the city, leaving most of his
stores and the heavy guns to fall into the hands of the
foe. The day was sultry and torrid and the little army
encumbered with women and children, besides a hetero-
geneous assortment of baggage. The strength of the
men w^as overtaxed and the morale of the command
low, but the commanding officer was as full of fire and
courage as ever, and pulled his army through by the
sheer force of his own personality.

Colonel Humphreys, acting at the time as a volun-
teer with Putnam, has left the following account of
him :

1/4 The Hudson River

I had frequent opportunities that day of beholding him, for
the purpose of issuing orders and encouraging the troops, flying
on his horse covered with foam, wherever his presence was most
necessary. Without his extraordinary exertions, the guards
must have been inevitably lost, and it is probable the entire
corps would have Ijeen cut in pieces.

When we were not far from Bloomingdale, an aide-de-camp
came to him at full speed, to inform him that a column of British
infantry was descending upon our right. Our rear was soon
fired upon, and the colonel of our regiment, whose order was
just communicated for the front to file off to the left, was
killed upon the spot. With no other loss, we joined the army
after dark upon the heights of Harlem.

From Bayard Hill Fort, which was on what is now
Grand Street, the Hne of retreat was, according to the
best evidence, across country to the neighbourhood of
Greenwich village, and then by way of the road that
was afterwards called the Abingdon-Fitz-Roy road
to the neighbourhood of Forty-second or Forty-third
Street. From that point the direction was toward
Harlem Heights.

An incident of the march is thus told by Irving:

Tradition gives a circumstance which favoured Putnam's re-
treat. The British generals, in passing by Murray Hill, the
country residence of a patriot of that name, who was of the
Society of Friends, made a halt to seek some refreshment.
The proprietor of the house was absent; but his wife set cake
and wine before them m al)undance. So grateful were these
refreshments in the heat of the day, that they lingered over
their wine, quaffing and laughing, and bantering their patriotic
hostess about the ludicrous panic and discomfiture of her country-
men. In the meantime, before they were roused from their
regale, Putnam and his forces had nearly passed by, within a
mile of them.

The Island and the River in 1776 175

Washington's retirement from his i)revious head-
quarters to the Jumel mansion in Richmond Hill
occurred on the evening of the 14th, before the British
had gained possession of the lower end of the island.

The enemy's line extended from Horcn's Hook on
the East River across the island to about 91st Street
on the North River. The vanguard was commanded
by General Leslie, whose most advanced picket posts
did not go above 95th Street. The main body of the
Americans was resting upon Harlem Heights, their
pickets about 13 2d Street.

On the morning of the i6th, before daylight. Colonel
Thomas Knowlton, of Bunker Hill fame, was directed
by Washington to advance with a reconnoitring party
of Rangers, to determine the position and strength of
the enemy. It is not known whether he started from
the right of our pickets or from a point farther to the
east; nor is the question important. Professor Henr}*
P. Johnston, whose study of the action on Harlem
Heights has been exhaustive, says in this connection :

It is enough to know that when we hear of tliem [the Rangers]
a Httle later, they were at the most important point on the
enemy's front. We hnd them stirring up their pickets on the
left, that left which rested, as we have seen, somewhere on
the Bloomingdale Road, not far above Apthorpe's (91st Street),
between which and our pickets at the Hollow Way (Manhat-
tanville) intervened the wooded and rolling ground of the two
farms on Morningside Heights.

That wooded and rolling ground covered the enem}^
and concealed his possible movements on the western

176 The Hudson River

or North River side of the island. That was the
reason for dispatching Knowlton and his Rangers.

At 1 06th Street, west of the Boulevard, upon a
knoll, stood the stone farmhouse of Nicholas Jones.
The reconnoitring party reached this place about sun-
rise and appear to have used it as a cover, advancing
cautioush^ in the manner that many of the American
recruits had learned in Indian warfare.

They had barely passed the farmhouse when they
were discovered by the British pickets and a sharp
skirmish ensued. The Rangers were composed of Con-
necticut men, and they still smarted under the taunts
of cowardice that must have been their portion after
the panic and retreat of the 15th. The honour of Con-
necticut was smirched and the Rangers, picked men,
were eager to remove that stain.

But the odds against them were too great, and after
holding their ground valiantly for a while, losing about
ten men, they fell back, the line of their retreat being
along the old Bloomingdale road "As it was subse-
quently extended through Manhattanville to the Kings-
bridge road above."

Close to where Columbia University and Barnard
College now stand the British light troops pushed
the Rangers till they reached the site of Grant's tomb,
where they halted. Beyond that point the ground
was probably more open and the pursuers could get a
view of General Greene's force; but they sent after the
retreating Connecticut men a message that made their

The Island and the River in 1776 177

very ears tingle. The bugle rang out the notes of the
fox-chase, a call which to the men of that day needed
no interpreter. As the trees and rocks echoed back those
derisive notes it seemed as if the cup of humiliation had
1 )een drained to its dregs.

How many of the King's trooj^s joined in that ])ur-
suit is not definitely known. At the first sound of the
firing the Second and Third Battalions of Light In-
fantr}', with the Forty-second Highlanders, began to
move up; and it is probable that Knowlton and his
Rangers did not retire till these reinforcements com-
menced to appear upon the scene.

Washington, on the other hand, put Spencer's and
Putnam's men in readiness along the line of 147th
Street, where they seem to have been immediatelv
engaged in throwing up earthworks. It is doubtful if
General Putnam could have rested for half an hour in
any position without leaving something in the nature
of a redoubt to mark the spot.

Adjutant-General Reed, who joined Knowlton be-
fore the retreat, reported the affair to Washington, ask-
ing for reinforcements. The Commander-in-chief was
then upon the brow overlooking Manhattan ville (the
" Hollow Way ' ') from the north. He then, we are told,
" conceived the project, not of driving the light in-
fantry back to their camp, but of entrapping them in
the Hollow Way."

The plan was to make a feint in front of the enemy
and induce him to advance into the vallev bv the

178 The Hudson River

prospect perhaps of another "fox-chase," while a
flanking movement, led by Knowlton and his Rangers,
reinforced by Major Leitch with a detachment of
Virginians, was arranged to close upon the British rear.

The feigned attack, however, developed into some-
thing more than was anticipated and in the skirmish
that ensued the position of the light infantry was
changed so that when Knowlton and Leitch, ignorant
of the new disposition of the troops, closed with their
foe, they engaged him upon the flank instead of the
rear. The place where this flank attack occurred has
been located at 123d Street, east of the Boulevai'd.

The Connecticut men, then and throughout the day,
retrieved their honour, fighting like veterans, and for
the first time driving the seasoned troops of the King
before them. It must have been a novel sensation for
both parties. But both the Rangers and the Virginians,
their companions and equals in courage that day, lost
their commanders early in the action.

Colonel Knowlton and Major Leitch were mortally
hurt, within ten minutes of each other, the former
being shot through the head and surviving only a short
time after being carried from the field.

The firing brought up Leslie's reserves and Wash-
ington again reinforced his soldiers. From a skirmish,
a " mere affair of outposts," the action rapidly assumed
the proportion of a battle. By noon Putnam, Knox,
and Reed, with other American officers, were very
actively engaged and reinforcements of Highlanders

The Island and die River in 1776 179

and Hessians were l^eing hurried to the rehef of their
distressed companions in arms.

The Hessians, according to the report of one of their
own officers, fought till they had no ammunition left
and the Highlanders had fired away their last shot,
but still the Americans showed no sign of flinching.
General Greene's Connecticut men encountered the foe
on the hill where the Lawrence mansion afterwards
stood and gave an excellent account of themselves.
Other detachments were engaged in various parts of
a held that embraced woodland, hill, and valley. The
centre of the battle was in a buckwheat field that ap-
pears to have been midway between Columbia Uni\'er-
sity and Grant's tomb. The main engagement lasted
from eleven o'clock till about half-past two, and was
participated in l:)y more than four thousand out of the
eight thousand men comprising the American army,
while a superior body of British opposed them.

The American forces were completely victorious,
finally chasing the King's troops down a hill and being
recalled with difficulty by order of the Commander-m-
chief.

This necessarily brief account of the famous battle
of Harlem Heights has followed what seems to be the
most rational exposition of the perplexing and fre-
quently contradictory records that have reached us.
It is greatly to be regretted that for many years no
effort was made to fix beyond question the scene of
this important engagement. That it was important

I So The Hudson River

a glance at the correspondence of the time will show.
The Americans, recently disheartened by defeat, found
their confidence restored and the British had received
a wholesome check that influenced many a subsequent
plan.

Chapter XII

Forts Washington and Lee

FOR a month after the battle of Harlem Heights
the Americans held possession of the northern
end of the island, with the works they had
erected there.

There were three main lines in the Heights. The
first was at 147th Street, the second, with four redoubts,
along 153d to 155th Street, and the third, incomplete
and with no redoubts, was at i6ist Street.

Mount Washington, as it was then called, was sub-
stantially fortified, the defences there covering several
acres between what are now i8ist and i86th Streets.
The armament of this citadel consisted of thirty-two
pieces of heavy ordnance. Besides these fortifications
the neighbouring heights from Manhattanville to
Kingsbridge were the sites of several earthworks, the
whole constituting a formidable system, to assail which,
after the disastrous attempt of September i6th, the
British commander naturally hesitated.

At the point known as Jeffrey's Hook, that juts into
the river at the base of Mount Washington, a redoubt
had been built to cover the famous structure of sunken

1 82 The Hudson River

vessels and floating bombs that General Putnam had
bestowed so much labour and ingenuity upon. One
needs only to insj^ect the river, or even a good map
of it, to be convinced that if a reasonable hope of con-
trolling navigation from any point below the High-
lands could be entertained, this was the place. The
river between Forts Washington and Lee is narrow and
is commanded upon both banks by high hills.

But the stream is swift and deep, as well as narrow,
and the task of obstructing it was by no means as light
a one as at first glance it might appear. Then, too, the
necessity of retaining possession of the shores in order
to make the blockade effectual would demand the
presence of a large force. The whole of Washington's
army was not too large for this work, yet it would have
been manifesth' absurd to contemplate the retention
of the army for such a purpose.

It has been shown that the policy which led to an
effort to hold this natural gateway after the retirement
of the Americans from the city was strongly urged by
Congress; nor must we forget, in criticising the military
judgment of Washington, that an almost irresistible
pressure was brought to bear upon him in this matter
by the civil authorities as well as by the counsel of his
own officers.

The security of the Hudson [says Irving], was at this time an
object of great solicitude with Congress, and much reHance was
placed on Putnam's obstructions at Fort Washington. Four
galleys, mounted with heavy guns and swivels, were stationed

Forts Washington and Lee 183

at the chcvaitx-dc-fn'sc, and two new ships were at hand, which,
filled with stones, were to be sunk where they would block up
the channel. A sloop was also at anchor, having on board a
machine, invented by a Mr. Bushnell, for submarine explosion,
with which to blow up the men-of-war; a favourite scheme
with General Putnam. The obstructions were so commanded
by batteries on each shore that it was thought no hostile ship
would be able to pass.

On the 9th of October, however, the Roebuck and
Phoenix, each of forty-four guns, and the Tartar, of
twenty guns, which had l^een lying for some time oppo-
site Bloomingdale, got under way with their three ten-
ders, at 8 o'clock in the morning, and came standing
up the river with an easy southern breeze. At their
approach, the galleys and the two ships intended to
be sunk got under way with all haste, as did a schooner
laden with rum, sugar, and other supplies for the
American army, and the sloop with Bushnell's sub-
marine machine.

The Roebuck, PJiaiiix, and Tartar broke through the
vaunted barriers as through a cobweb. Seven batteries
kept a constant lire upon them, yet a gentleman was
observed walking th? deck of the second shij) as coolly
as if nothing were the matter. Washington, indeed,
in a letter to Schuyler, says, "They passed without
any kind of damage or interruption; but Lord Howe
reports to the Admiralty that they suffered much in
their masts and rigging and that a lieutenant, two
midshipmen, and six men were killed and eighteen
wounded. ' '

1 84 The Hudson River

The attempt to complete the obstructions occupied,
it would seem, a considerable portion of Washington's
attention in the weeks that intervened between the
battle of Harlem Heights and that of White Plains.
He ordered that two hulks which lay — as hulks still
lie — in Spuyten Duyvil creek, be ballasted and sunk,
and that others that had grounded near Yonkers be
brought down and consigned to a similar use.

A council of officers, called by the commander, dis-
cussed the question of attempting to retain the posi-
tion occupied by the American army upon Manhattan
Island, and it was decided — with only the voice of
General Clinton raised in dissent — to abandon all the
works with the exception of Fort Washington. This
fort was to be retained as long as possible in com-
pliance with the resolution passed by Congress.

A garrison that was large if measured by the loss its
subtraction occasioned the little army, but absurdly
inadequate for the work expected of it, was left under
command of Colonel Magaw, to whom Washington
gave a solemn injunction to defend it to the last ex-
tremity. It was at this time that the name of Fort
Constitution was changed to Fort Lee, and the com-
mand of that post given to General Greene.

The series of moves by which Washington foiled
Howe's attempt to get in his rear and the resulting
battle of White Plains are not part of the story of
the river and must not be dwelt upon here. At the
time when the assault upon Chatterton's hill was about

Forts Washington and Lee 185

to be made the distant thundering of cannon in the
neighbourhood of Manhattan startled the contestants.
Two of the enemy's war-ships had anchored at Bur-
dett's Feny, a short distance below the forts, with the
evident purpose of cutting communication between
the island and the mainland, by stopping the ferr3\
At the same time British troops appeared on Harlem
plains. When the lines in that direction w^ere manned
by Americans from the forts, the vessels opened fire,
attempting to dislodge them, but an eighteen-pound
gun on the Manhattan side and two on the Jersey shore
returned their fire and hulled them repeatedly, so that
they were glad to drop down the river.

On the night of the 4th of November and for three
daA'S afterwards the British army was moving from
White Plains to Dobbs Ferry, with what ultimate
object could only be a matter of anxious conjecture to
the American leader. Washington wrote to General
William Livingston :

They have gone towards the North River and King's Bridge.
Some suppose they are going into winter quarters, and will sit
down in New York without doing more than investing Fort
Washington. I cannot subscribe wholly to this opinion myself.
That they will invest Fort Washington, is a matter of which
there can be no doubt ; and I think there is a strong probability
that General Howe will detach a part of his force to make an
incursion into the Jerseys, provided he is going to New York.
He must attempt something on account of his reputation, for
what has he done as yet, with his great army?

While still in doubt as to the meaning of the manoeu-
vre, Washington received news of the peril of the

1 86 The Hudson River

garrison on Manhattan. Threatened by Lord Perc}^ with
a large body of troops at the south, and by Knyphausen
between the Fort and Kingsbridge, Colonel Magaw
and his command were in a serious position. As
though to add a feature of discouragement to the
situation by proving the futility of attempting to
control the river, a frigate and two transports broke
through the chcvaux-dc-jrise with supplies for Howe's
army at Dobbs Ferry.

Washington wrote to Greene, upon the receipt of
these tidings:

If we cannot prevent vessels from passing up the river, and the
enemv are possessed of all the surrounding country, what val-
uable purpose can it answer to hold a post from which the
expected benefit cannot be had? I am, therefore, inchned to
think, that it will not be prudent to hazard the men and stores
at Mount Washington; but, as you are on the spot, I leave it
to vou to give such orders as to evacuating Mount Washington
as you may judge best, and so far revoking the orders given to
Colonel Magaw, to defend it to the last.

Further instructions were sent to Greene, directing
the removal of superfluous stores, etc., anticipating an
attack upon Fort Lee upon the Jersey side. But
Greene could not admit the wisdom of abandoning
Magaw's position. In this connection Irving says:

He did not consider the fort in immediate danger. Colonel
Magaw thought it would take the enemy until the end of Decem-
ber to carry it. In the meantime the garrison could at any
time be brought off and even the stores removed, should matters
grow desperate.

Forts Washini^ton and Lee 187

From his camp at Northcastle, to which he had
removed after White Plains, Washington made a
hurried march to PeekskiU, on November loth. After
making a mihtary visit to the Highland posts, recon-
noitring in company with Generals Heath, Clinton,
and others, and directing the disposition of the various
bodies of troops, he crossed the Hudson below Stony
Point with a force which was to find its way to Hack-
ensack by a pass in the Ramapo Mountains.

The commander took a more direct route to Fort Lee.
Arriving there on the 13th, he found that Fort Wash-
ington, which was the immediate object of his solici-
tude, instead of being evacuated had on the contrary
been reinforced by General Greene, who had made the
most of the discretionary clause in his chief's letter.
Both Greene and Magaw believed that the Fort might
be successfull}^ defended.

Why Washington, who acknowledged that the use-
lessness of this post had been demonstrated and whose
judgment required its evacuation, permitted the repre-
sentations of his officers to outweigh his own saner
conclusions has never been explained. For several
days he remained in the neighbourhood, awaiting
developments.

Upon the 15th, two months to a day after the hurried
evacuation of New York by Putnam's hard-pressed
columns, Howe sent Magaw a summons to surrender.
The latter answered in somewhat stilted butunequi\'ocal
English that, " Actuated by the most glorious cause

1 88 The Hudson River

that mankind e\'er fought in, I am determined to defend
this post to the very last extremity."

Greene, across the river, dispatched a rider to
Washington with tlie intelligence of Magaw's peril;
and sent reinforcements to the Colonel, who was now
menaced on three sides by the enemy.

It was nightfall [says Irving] when Washington arrived at
Fort Lee. Greene and Putnam were over at the besieged fort-
ress. He threw himself into a boat and had partly crossed the
river, when he met those generals returning. They informed
him of the garrison's having been reinforced and assured him
that it was in high spirits and capable of making a good defence.
It was with difficulty, however, that they could prevail on him
to return with them to the Jersey shore, for he was excessively
excited.

Less discreet historians than Irving have not hesi-
tated to say that the Father of his Country on that
occasion expressed his excitement in language of much
greater vigour than is countenanced by polite custom.
In other words, this is believed to have been one of the
rare occasions upon which Washington swore. And
certainly, if there was ever an excuse for profane in-
vective, he could plead it at that time. Besides Magaw
there w^ere Cadwalader, Rawlings, Baxter, and other
officers of merit at the beleaguered fort, together with a
force of about two thousand picked men, the flower of
the army ; while opposed to them was an overwhelming
force of British regulars and German hirelings, bred to
the trade of war.

Lossing has given an anecdote that does not seem

Forts Washington and Lee 189

to have any substantial basis of fact, but is offered here
at its worth:

The chief crossed the river with Generals Putnam, Greene,
and Mercer, and made his way stealthily to the house of Roger
Morris, in which he had had his headquarters a few weeks before.
From the Morris house, a mile south of Mount Washington, the
chief made a hurried survey of the field of operations when a
young, small, and very pretty vivandierc, the wife of a Pennsyl-
vania soldier, who had followed the chief Hke a guardian angel,
from the river, came up reverently and touched him on the arm
and whispered in his ear. AVashington immediately ordered
his companions into the saddle and they galloped back to their
boats. Fifteen minutes later a British regiment which had
been creeping stealthily like a serpent up the rocky acclivity,
appeared at the mansion.

This story has a strongly apocrA^phal flavour.

From Fort Lee the Chief saw the greater part of the
attack upon Fort Washington and his spirits were
alternately raised and depressed by the varying for-
tunes of the fray. The battle commenced about noon,
with General Kn3^phausen's division attacking from the
north, General Mathew advancing from the Harlem
Ri\^er and Lord Percy trying to force the lines gallantly
held by Colonel Cadwalader, two miles and a half south
of the fort.

Much of the action was hidden from the watcher
across the river by intervening hills and woods, but the
gallant defence made by Cadwalader s eight hundred
Pennsylvanians against double their number of English
and Hessians was in open view. Eagerly the Chief
directed his glass to that quarter.

iQO The Hudson River

Nothing [says Irving] encouraged him more than the gallant
style in which Cadwalader with an inferior force maintained his
position. When he saw him, however, assailed in flank, the line
broken and his troops, overpowered by numbers, retreating to
the fort, he gave up the game as lost. The worst sight of all
was to behold his men cut down and bayoneted by the Hessians
while begging quarter. It is said so completely to have over-
come him that he wept "with the tenderness of a child."

By the hands of a daring messenger Washington
managed to get a note to Magaw, telling him that if
he could hold out till night, he would then endeavour
to bring off the garrison. The messenger was one
Captain Gooch, of Boston, whose intrepidity reminds
one of some mighty deed from the sagas. General
Heath is authority for the following account of his
adventure :

He ran down to the river, jumped into a small boat, pushed
over the river, landed under the bank, ran up to the fort and
delivered the message, came out, ran and jumped over the
broken ground, dodging the Hessians, some of whom struck
at him with their pieces and others attempted to thrust him
with their bayonets; escaping through them, he got to his boat
and returned to Fort Lee.

But Magaw found it impossible to hold out. Already
the summons to surrender had been made, and found
him surrounded by troops that had been driven in from
all sides by the overwhelming force of the enem\\ The
fortress was so filled with men that movement was
difficult and further defence impossible. Fort Wash-
ington was therefore surrendered.

Thus ended the American occupancy of Manhattan

Forts Washington and Lee 191

Island. Washington's own reflections upon the closing
scene, given in a letter to his brother Augustine, will
throw much light upon the difficulties that beset him,
and his frame of mind regarding an action against which
his better judgment rebelled.

This is a most unfortunate affair and has given me great
mortification; as we have lost, not onlv two thousand men,
that were there, but a good deal of artillerv, and some of the best
arms we had. And what adds to my mortification is, that this
post, after the last ships went past it, was held contrary to my
wishes and opinion, as I conceived it to be a hazardous one: but
it having been determined on by a full council of general officers,
and a resolution of Congress having been received, strongly
expressive of their desire that the channel of the river which we
had been labouring to stop for a long time at that place, might
be obstructed, if possible; and knowing that this could notice
done, unless there were batteries to protect the obstructions, I
did not care to give an absolute order for withdrawing the garri-
son, till I could get around and see the sittiation of things; and
then it became too late, as the. place was invested. Upon the
passing of the last ships, I had given it as my opinion to General
Greene, under whose care it was, that it would be best to evacu-
ate the place; but, as the order was discretionary, and his
opinion differed from mine, it was unhappily delayed too long,
to my great grief.

The abandonment of Fort Lee was of course a fore-
gone conclusion as soon as the enemy was in possession
of Fort Washington. This movement was hastened
by the appearance on the west side of the river of six
thousand British troops tmder Lord Cornwallis. These
crossed on a rainy night and established themselves
under the line of the Palisades, five or six miles north
of Fort Lee. Extending thence with the evident

192 The Hudson River

intention of forming a line which should separate the
garrison of Fort Lee from the remainder of the Ameri-
can army, their manoeuvre was anticipated by Wash-
ington's rapid retreat to the Hackensack.

Artillery, baggage, tents, and camp equipage were
abandoned. Even camp kettles, we are told, were on
the fires when the British made their uncontested
entrance into Fort Lee.

Chapter XIII

From S|)in'ten Duyvil to Yonkers

WHILE we have been deploring the passing
of the white wings, Anthony Van Corlaer,
— half trumpeter, half myth, — has delayed
his drowning in the wild waters of Papuinemen, w^ait-
ing for an audience. He deserves a Wagner, w^ho might
do him justice. Anthony the Trumpeter was dispatched
on a warlike mission to the Patroon Van Rensselaer,
when he came to the stream that forms the upper
boundary of Manhattan Island. Warned not to cross,
he still persisted in advancing, intending to gain the
other shore by swimming. " Spuyt den Du3^vil!"he
shouted, " I will reach Shoraskappock. " But his chal-
lenge to the Duyvil was unfortunately his last recorded
utterance, as at that moment his Satanic Majesty, in
the form of an enormous moss bunker, took him at his
word and tried conclusions then and there.

That was the end of Anthony the Trumpeter, but
the phrase that he is supposed to have originated is
repeated about a thousand times a day by trainmen
on the railroad, wdio have no idea of invoking Satanic
interference with their duties.

193

194 The Hudson River

An amusing story is told of a good but somewhat
dull woman who asked a neighbour for an explanation
of the strange name that she heard shouted into the
car where she was seated. The neighbour, who was
none other than Mr. Benson G. Lossing, related the
substance of the legend given here. As he proceeded
his listener became more and more interested. An
expression of pity and sympathy overflowed her eyes.
" Did the poor man leave a family?" she finally asked.

Upon the height behind Spuyten Duyvil there is the
place of an old redoubt that occupied about the position
of the Indian stronghold of Nipnichsen. A little way
up the stream the Manor Lord, Frederick Filipse,
purchased a ferry right and afterwards erected a bridge
with a toll gate between the island and the main shore.

Near the mouth of the creek occurred, in the early
fifties, one of the most dreadful of the steamboat dis-
asters of which the history of the Hudson presents not
a few: it was the burning of the Henry Clay, which is
more fully noticed in another chapter.

The earliest historic account that associates the
white discoverers with Spuyten Duyvil dtaes Sep-
tember, 1609. Henry Hudson, or his scribe. Master
Juet, records a fight which he had at this place with
some Indians who came out in their canoes and attacked
the Half Moon with arrows. The yacht of the discov-
erer was at the time anchored at the mouth of the creek.

Here was the gathering place for the Indians w^ho
menaced Manhattan in colonial days. Here nearly a

From Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkers 195

thousand braves came together and threatened to
destroy New Amsterdam, during Governor Stuyve-
sant's absence in the South. The frightened burghers
of the little city took to the forts like rabbits to their
burrows, for they had tasted the tender mercies of the
Mohawks and other redskin neighbours.

During the Revolution, Spuyten Duyvil was regarded
as an important point and the heights were fortified.
The road which ran about the base of the hill was the
scene of many a wild foray and the echoing hillsides
resounded with the shouts of marauding cattle thieves
and the lowing of frightened herds, urged towards the
lines by their reckless drivers.

Now the mouth of the creek is shut by a drawbridge
and the northern shore is a place of division between
the passenger and freight trains of the New York
Central Railroad, the former swinging inland to take
the course by way of Kingsbridge, along the Harlem,
and the latter still following the original line of the
road, by the river shore.

At the distance of two or three miles above Spuyten
Duyvil appears the extensive front of the Mount St.
Yincent Academy. There is a slight incongruity in
the view, that at once attracts the attention of a
stranger; for the foreground is occupied by a stone
"castle" that is so dwarfed by the red brick edifice
behind it as to appear almost like a toy house. But
the castle has a history of its own and presents the
first if not the chief claim to notice.

196 The Hudson River

Edwin Forrest, for years the foremost figure upon
the stage in America, built that castle for his home and
brought his bride, who had been the beautiful Miss
Sinclair, there in 1838. There he enjoyed six years
of something as nearly approaching calm and happiness
as one born under his turbulent star could ever hope
to attain. Within those blue granite walls he enter-
tained bountifully and indulged his vehement passion
for historic study. Then, in 1844, he went abroad,
taking his wife with him. Out of the quiet eddy where
he had found rest for six years he pushed into the
turmoil of life, never to return. Domestic troubles in
a short time overwhelmed him and his rancorous
quarrel with Macready commenced, that culminated
in the famous Astor Place riots in New York. The
celebrated Forrest divorce suit followed, ending in the
complete separation of the actor from his wife.

Not caring to live again at Fort Hill, as he called
his castle, he sold it to the sisters of the Convent of St.
Vincent, who were under the direction of Mother
Superior Mary Angela Hughes. The school was opened
in 1859, though subsequently much enlarged.

Although Fort Hill looks diminutive under the im-
posing wall of the Mount St. Vincent Academy, yet
the tallest tower is said to be seventy feet in height.

From the Jersey shore, nearly opposite, the wall of
the Palisades rises, one of the strange and imposing
features with which nature sometimes surprises the
geologist and puzzles the artist.

From Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkcrs 197

Fascinating, if not beautiful in general outline,
wonderful in detail and often exquisite in colour, the
great mass of weather-beaten rock seems to rise out
of the very bosom of the river. Deep at its base runs
the swift current of the channel and in its crowning
belt of trees the clouds drift.

Here and there in the wall are deep rifts cut by little
torrents that have been industriously mining their way
for centuries past. Taking advantage of these ravines,
companies of trees swarm u]3 the sloi)es with flaunting
banners of green that in the autumn change to royal
hues of Tyrian splendour.

The Palisades are seen to best advantage w^hen the
sun strikes them in the morning or the long shadows
clothe them with tender mysterious tints at nightfall.

In one respect our enjoyment of this feature of the
river is greater to-day than in former years, because
of the abatement, by law, of an abuse. Notice what
Professor Archibald Geikie, the celebrated Scotch
geologist, wrote thirt)^ years ago:

Hardly is the traveller out of New York than he notices tliat
every natural rock, islet, or surface of any kind that will hold
paint is disfigured with advertisements in huge letters. Tlie
ice- worn bosses of gneiss which, rising out of the Hudson, would
in themselves be such attractive ol)jects in the landscape, are
rendered hideous by being the groundwork on which some kind
of tobacco, or tooth wash, or stove polish, is recommended to
the notice of the multitude.

In this particular a great change for the better has
taken place along the river. The advertising fiend is

198 The Hudson River

no longer permitted to disfigure natural scenery with
his profane brush. But the advertising man was not
the only vandal, nor the last.

The Palisades range in height from two hundred and
fifty or less up to five hundred feet. The latter
elevation is near the northern extremity, opposite
Hastings. Taylorsville, just above Fort Lee. is two
hundred and sixty feet above the tide.

Opposite Spuyten Duyvil is the pleasant residence
village of Englewood, across from Riverdale is the pro-
jection known as Clinton Point, and opposite Ludlow
is Huyler's Landing. The place where Hudson is said
to have anchored on the 13th September, 1609, is
nearly due west from Dudley's Grove, at theuj^per end
of Yonkers.

One of the mutilated landmarks that used to be the
pride of those who lived near the banks of the lower
Hudson was the jutting shoulder of rock known as
Indian Head, nearly the highest point of the Palisades.
It was one of those peculiarly striking features in nature
that persistently claim and invariably receive the con-
sideration due to eminence. No one seeing the rugged
beauty of Indian Head could forget it or refuse to credit
any remarkable or romantic legend that chanced to at-
tach itself there. It took its place, without question,
in every sketch or photograph of that part of the river
as naturally as King Edward would assume in England
the chief place at any of^cial function at which he
chanced to be present. There is a divine right apper-

From Spiiyten Duy\il to Yonkcrs 201

taining to headlands and other remarkable landscape
features, as to kings.

But one day a contractor saw something more in
Indian Head than any poet or artist had ever seen.
He discerned a fortune in it, — a fortune in gravel.
Now to crush a headland — especially a headland with
associations and legends belonging to it, — into fine frag-
ments, for road-beds, may seem to a certain class of
sentimental people to be rather dreadful. It did seem
dreadful; but it took the people who really cared so
long to wake up to the dreadfulness of what was being
done, and so much longer to discover a way to stop
it, that before thev could do anything Indian Head was
gravel.

However, the people succeeded, though apparently
with some difficulty, in saving the rest of the Palisades.
The blasting and crushing processes which were at
once an offence to the ear, the eye, and the aesthetic
sensibilities of all good people, were finally interfered
with effectually and the stone-crushers remo\'ed to
other fields.

Years ago that craggy point was a favourite lookout
station for the red men. For how many hundreds
of years they had used it, no one can ever know, but
if the story related to the author b}' one who lived in
the vicinity and had a curious love for Indian lore can
be accepted as true, then the immemorial years must
have rounded almost into millenniums between the time
of the first outlook on that grey old crag and the last.

202 The Hudson River

The ston- is this: That there was a well-defined path
worn in the rock and leading to the very highest point,
and there, deeply indented, were three hollows, such
as would be made by the knees and hand of one who
was kneeling and bent a little forward. The narrator
claimed that he fell naturally into that attitude in
order to get a steady and restful position and that he
noticed that his knees and palm fitted into the depress-
ions. It is possible that the gentleman may have been
in error in his conclusions, but that lonely vidette,
waiting through uncounted centuries for the appear-
ance of the ship of destiny that must at last arrive
with the forerunner of the white conquerors, appeals
strongly to the imagination.

The old Dutch voyagers had a name for the Pali-
sades: " Verdrietegh Hoeck," — grievous point, because
it took so long to pass, and perhaps for another reason:
no riverman likes to be becalmed under the cliffs. He
may be lying motionless with no breath of air to stir
a sail; when suddenly — slap! comes a " knock-down "
over the crest, hitting the sails before it touches the
water, and the vessel goes down before she can get
headway. Verdrietegh Hoeck is a grievous place to
be caught.

It was in front of Nappeckamack (that is now Yon-
kers), that the Half Moon made her second stoj) after
leaving the mouth of the river. It was on the 12th of
September, 1609. The weather, we are told, was
" Faire and hot. ' ' Master Juet's Journal goes on to say :

From Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkers 203

In the afternoon, at two of the clocke, wee weighed, the winde
being variable, between the north and northwest. So we turned
into the river two leagues, and anchored. This morning at our
first rode in the River, there came eight-and-twentie canoes full
of men, women and children to betray vs: but wee saw theire
intent and suffered none of them to come abord of us. At
twelue of the clocke they departed; they brought with them
oysters and beanes, whereof wee bought some. Thev have great
tobacco pipes of yellow copper, and Pots of Earth to dresse
their meate in.

The early history of Yonkers commences with
Adriaen Van der Donk, a lawyer from Holland who
came to America in 1641 as sheriff for the Patroon
Van Rensselaer, at Albany. Van der Donk was a
man of some property (which he increased by mar-
riage) and a good deal of ability. His ambition to
become himself a Patroon was finally gratified by the
grant of the lower Weckquaskeek region, extending
from Spuyten DuA^vil on the south to a brook nearh'
three miles above the present railroad station. The
Company, or the Company's Director, was under some
obligations to Van der Donk, it is said, for advances
of money; and land grants have been convenient for
discharging obligations of that sort in all ages of the
world.

The deed named the tract so acquired " Nepper-
haem" ; but the names by which it was popularly
known to the Dutchmen of that day were " Coin Donk, "
or the '■ Colony of Donk," and " De Jonkheer's," or the
"Young Lord's," which has been corrupted into Yon-
kers. This grant became a manor in 1652 and Van der

204 The Hudson River

Donk was its Lord for three years, though perhaps he
never hved there. He became involved in a quarrel
with Stuvvesant and went to Holland with a remon-
strance, but was beaten b}^ the doughty Governor.
He left no impression upon the land over which he
was Lord for so short a time. Between 1681 and 1686
Vredryk or Frederick Flypse or Filipse became Lord
of a manor that was really lordly, a domain to put to
shame many a princeling's patrimony. His various
Indian and other purchases, confirmed by grants,
finally included all that tract of land lying between
the Croton River and Spuyten Duyvil creek, — from
Ritchaw^an to Papuinemen. When his first wife died,
in 1690 or '91, he married the daughter of Oloff Van
Cortlandt and widow of John Dervall, who brought
him a fortune of considerable extent to add to the
eighty thousand guilders which made him already the
richest man in the Colonies. All of his estates were
confirmed to him in 1693.

He was actually Lord of the Manor, with baronial
power. From 1693 till his death in 1702 his country
residence was probably at Tarrytown, in the stone
house — called "Castle Filipse" — that he built there,
and that has been going slowly but surely to decay up
to this year of grace, 1902, because of a lack of public
spirit or sentiment, or whatever the emotion may be
that moves men to the preservation of historic land-
marks.

The Philips manor-house at Yonkers, though not

From Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkers 207

so old as the "castle" at Tarrytown, is a much more
pretentious dwelling. It became the home of the
descendants of the first Sir Frederick. It was there
that the wedding of the beautiful Mary Philipse took
place. Tradition has coupled Washington's name
with hers, as that of a suitor, but there is certainly no
evidence that he ever proposed marriage to her. As
already stated, she married his former companion in
arms, Roger Morris, the builder of the old "Jumel"
mansion. The marriage, w^hich took place in January,
1758, was a magnificent affair, long remembered
throughout the country-side. x\mong the traditions
that have grown about the event is one to the eftect
that in the midst of the festivities an Indian sooth-
sayer made an oracular statement that filled the bride's
heart with apprehension. Stcinding in the doorway,
he delivered himself in this wise: "Your possessions
shall pass away when the eagle shall despoil the lion."
If the reader wishes to take a grain of salt with that
Indian no objection will be made.

All of the central portion of the present city of
Yonkers was purchased in 181 3 by Lemuel Wells.
This estate, having the Nepperhan River running
through the middle of it and including, among other
buildings, the Philips manor-house, had previously
been acquired by Cornelius P. Low. from the Com-
missioners of Forfeiture. Mr. Wells bought it at
public auction for the sum of $56,000. At that date
there were less than a dozen houses, including mills,

2o8 The Hudson River

on the entire estate of 320 acres. It was not till after
the death of Mr. Wells, in 1842, that the site of Yonkers
began to be built upon. The operation of the Hudson
River Railroad, commencing in 1849, created a lively
demand for property in that convenient locality, and
the subsequent growth of the place has been rapid.
But it is essentially a new town. Its civic history is
nearly all condensed into a little more than half a
century.

Modern Yonkers, some one has said, is the child of
the railroad. As lately as 1841, it was, according to
the Rev. Doctor David Cole, an insignificant hamlet.
In 1876 it was thus described:

A few miles north of Spuyten Duyvil is the large village of
Yonkers. Thirty years ago a church, a few indifferent houses,
a single sloop at a small wharf, and the gray walls and roof of a
venerable structure, which you may see stretching among the
trees parallel with the river, comprised the whole borough. That
building is the Philipse Manor house, now occupied for municipal
purposes by the public authorities of Yonkers.

The cit}^ of Van der Donk and Philipse is now a
thri\-ing one, much given to factories and the enjoy-
ment of a busy local life; but to the outsider its chief
attraction centres about the names of a few eminent
people who have made it their home.

Foremost among these appears the name of one who
for years was looked upon as the natural leader of one
of the great pohtical parties of the land; a disciple of
Martin Van Buren; one who had received the highest

From Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkers 209

honour in the gift of the people of the State and had
been a candidate for the chief magistracy of the nation.
Samuel Jones Tilden was an American of the Americans.
Born in an old-fashioned house in Columbia County,
N. Y., in which four generations of his family had lived,
he passed the declining years of his busy and influential
life within the walls of "Graystone," his substantial
and costly home at Yonkers.

His house is situated to the north of the city on an
elevated plateau and is massive and ample rather than
ornate. Its granite walls and Mansard roof, rising
from the surrounding verdure, do not easily pass un-
noticed in the general view.

But if we accord to Mr. Tilden the first niche in the
local temple of fame, we would not leave him to soli-
tude. Somewhere there would be a statue to Frederick
Swartwout Cozzens, wine merchant and author, and
the friend of most of the "Knickerbocker" authors.
His Sparroivgrass Papers, originally published in Pitt-
nanis Magazine, take rank among the classic works
of American humour. The author of Nothing to Wear
is also claimed proudly by Yonkers, and so are Doctor
Wendell Prime, Mr. T. Astley Atkins, Doctor Armitage,
and a score of other widely known people.^

Along the river shore the towns and villages are
devouring the rural scenery and replacing its natural
charm with a more lively human interest: but still

' Since the above went to press :\Ir. William Allen Butler, the author
of Notliing io Wear, has passed away. His death occurred at Yonkers
on September 9th, 1902.

2IO The Hudson River

between the httle centres of po])ulation there are fra-
grant miles of tree-shaded banks where the violets and
anemones nod in the spring and the scarlet spires of the
cardinal flower hide in August by the watercourses.

Half a century ago Alfred B. Street wrote a charac-
teristic description of the woodland scenery which in
his day formed so striking a feature of the Hudson,
and which even now in many places challenges the
admiration of the observer.

Here the Spruce thrusts in
Its bristhng plume, tipped with its pale green points
The scallop'd beech leaf and the birch's, cut
Into fine ragged edges, interlace:
While here and there, through clefts, the laurel lifts
Its snowy chalices, half brimmed with dew.

Chapter XIV

Spectres of the Tappan Zee

THE httle sea that expands between Haverstraw
and the Palisades is a rare cruising place for
ghosts and goblins. There is not a shadowy
hall that rounds Piermont or tacks across from the
Slaperig Hafen to the Hoeck but is freighted deep
with legends.

How briefly told, yet how suggestive, is the melan-
choly history of Ramxbout Van Dam, the unresting
oarsman that some witchery compels to never-ending
labour upon the tides of the Tappan Zee ! He was one
of those uneasy Dutch blades that counted neither dis-
tance nor labour as of any moment w^hen a pleasure
was in view. There had been some notice or rumour
of a frolic at Kakiat, a secluded hamlet hidden away
among the hills of Rockland County, and Van Dam on
hearing the news rowed from his home at Spuyten
Duyvil the whole length of the Tappan Zee and the
Palisades to boot in order to be there.

Most modern yotmgsters would be conscious of some
slight fatigue after such a ])ull, but not so delicate
were the Dutchmen of that earlv dav. Rambout

212 The Hudson River

danced and drank, drank and danced as though he
had had no exercise for a week. It was a Saturday
night, and midnight came and passed before he knew
it. But when he started for home sohcitous companions
w^arned him against the peril of sabbath-breaking; for
upon all matters of religious observance the Nether-
landers were exceedingly punctilious. A young man
might play what pranks he would with every pretty
girl in the county, and make his potations of apple-
jack both deep and frequent, but it would outrage the
sentiment of the community if he broke the Sabbath.

But Rambout was skin-full of recklessness, and dis-
regarding every warning, he pulled off, " swearing that
he would not land till he had reached vSpuyten Duyvil."
According to the best authorities he has not landed
there yet. Whethei living or dead, none can say, but
doomed to a perpetual journey across the river he un-
doubtedly is, for many a boat-man on the river has
heard the sound of his oars, and more than one damsel,
being rowed o' moonlit nights on the river, has clung
in terror to her swain, as she fancied she saw in the
distance the shadowy form of Rambout Van Dam.

There is another haunting shape that occasionally
troubles these waters ; it is that of the Storm-ship that
makes mysterious journeys, never heeding shoal or head-
land, tacking when the wind is fair and running free in
the teeth of a gale, with never a concession to any
weather that mortals give heed to. Into the moon-
light she comes suddenly, from some unknown quarter

THE TLYINC, DUTCHMAN

Spectres of the Tappan Zee 2 1 5

and as siiddenl>', while the eye is fixed u])()n her, van-
ishes completely as a bubble that floats for a moment
where a wa\'e has broken, and then, in a twinkling, is
dissipated.

There have been people who have really doul)ted
the existence of the i)hantom ship and class it with
fabulous monsters, Brocken spectres, and the like : but
these are not people who have navigated the waters
of the Tappan Zee at night.

Two hundred years ago the Storm-ship was first seen
passing New Amsterdam, going up the stream against
a strong ebb tide. She was flying Dutch colours and
her sails bellied with a w4nd that certainly was not
apparent to those who gazed at her, wide-eyed and
whispering, from the fort. In spite of the trade
regulations that forbade the passing of any vessel up
the river without a permit, regardless of signals or
challenge, the stranger sailed on. Then a gun was
fired from the battery, but her hull did not stop the
ball, nor did the ball check her course.

She passed on, weathered the point of Jeffrey's Hook,
crossed the long stretch of the Grievous Hook, and sailed
out of sight under some of the headlands of the Tappan
Zee. From that day to this no one has seen this un-
substantial stranger sail down the river, past Manhat-
tan, and out to sea. But many a time the rivermen
have encountered her and with a muttered invocation
to St. Nicholas have shortened sail, knowing that a
storm was soon to come.

2i6 The Hudson River

For some reason the Tappan Zee seems to have been
the favourite cruising-ground for this barometric craft
since her first adoption of the Hudson; and even to-
day, when least expected, her strange, tall poop and
swelling sides sometimes are seen as she rounds the
tedious shoulder of Point-no-Point, or steals along
shore under the shadow of Kingsland's Point. Some

Hi>OK MOUNTAIN FROM NYACK

believe that she runs for anchorage into the mouth of
the Pocantico, and others that she hides near the pine-
shaded banks of the Hafenje, but no one has ever seen
her at rest. She is always flying swiftly before a wind
that mortals cannot feel.

There is the memory of another craft, more sub-
stantial than the phantom shi]), and more successful
in attaining a port than Rambout's boat, that made
the passage of the river between Wolfert's Roost and

Spectres of the Tappan Zee 217

the Rockland shore in 1776. Its occupant was the
dashing soldier and arrant lover, Aaron Burr.

When the American forces were near White Plains
Burr was seized with a desire to spend an evening with
the fascinating widow Provost, — Theodosia Provost, —
who then lived a dozen miles back towards the Ramapo
Hills on the other side of the Hudson.

Riding at full speed along Petticoat Lane, which is
the old road between White Plains and Tarry town,
attended by several of his devoted troopers, Bun-
reached the willow-shaded little bay near Sunnyside,
w^hile the night was still 3'oung. A boat was waiting
for him, and, leaving his escort, he embarked, horse and
all, and was ferried as rapidly and as silentl}^ as possible
to the Rockland shore, where he remounted. A ride
of a dozen rough miles, at night, through a country
picketed by the enemy, should be enough to try the
mettle of an ordinary lover. But Aaron Burr was no
ordinary lover, which is perhaps the reason why in his
generation his enemies were seldom found among the
gentler sex. History discreetly neglects to furnish the
details of the courtship that we know ultimately re-
sulted in the winning of Theodosia 's hand and heart.

By daybreak horse and rider were back within the
American lines and no one but the troopers, the ferry-
man, and the widow knew of that wild trip.

There are two channels in this part of the river, one
near the eastern and the other close to the western
shore; between are flats of comparatively shoal water,

2i8 The Hudson River

where formerly some of the older maps showed a small
island, that was probably nothing more than a sand-
bar. One of the familiar features of the shoals is that
of the numerous shad poles that mark the fishing-
grounds.

Less important now than formerly are the oyster-
beds that were once a feature of this part of the river.
In the days when the Indians inhabited the shores of

TAPPAN ZEE AND THE TARRYTOWN LIGHT

the Hudson these were among their principal sources
of subsistence, as evidenced by the extensive shell-
heaps that still mark the site of many of their villages
or camps.

The water of the Tappan Zee is brackish, about half
sea water and half fresh. The width from Tarry town
to Nyack is between three and a half and four miles, and
communication between the two shores is kept up dur-
ing the greater part of the year by ferry. Occasionally

Spectres of the Tappan Zee 219

the whole expanse is a splendid deck of ice, over which
skaters and sometimes sleighs cross. There have been
some perilous episodes connected with the breaking of
the ice and more than one exciting race for life.

Years ago a whale, perhaps in search of the North-
west passage, blundered into the river, it is said, and
there is even a tradition that he grounded on the flats
and had to wait for a tide to float him off. Of course
the boatmen were greatly excited and projected expe-
ditions to meet and capture the monster, but it is not
recorded that any one got near enough to seriously
interfere with his departure.

Piermont, above the northern extremity of the "ice-
worn bosses of gneiss," is a village that was created
when the Erie Railway built the mile-long pier that
still projects into the river at this point. It is chiefly
interesting because of its proximity to the village of
Tappan, where Major Andre w^as executed. The house,
that was long pointed out as the headquarters at Tap-
pan, has been allowed to fall to decay. Quite recently,
within a few 3'ears, the entire front of this building
fell out. Most readers will remember the fate of the
stone that Mr. Field erected as a memorial of the his-
toric association of Tappan. Some rampant patriot,
with more zeal than propriety, applied an explosive
and destroyed it.

The place where Nyack stands was once a part of the
Philipse manor. This town, though of comparatively
recent origin, is the principal one in Rockland County,

220 The Hudson River

and numbers among its inhabitants many of the repre-
sentatives of old county famihes. The river front is
here more accessible to the people of the town than are
the shores of villages and cities on the eastern side to
the people there. On the Nyack side there is no railroad
running close to the river, forming a barrier that is

WASHINGTON HOUSE AT TAPPAN

not usually either safe or pleasant to cross. On the
east bank the poorer dwellings and the coal and lumber
yards are near the river, while on the west the grounds
of handsome residences slope to the water's edge.

One of the results of the difference just noted is that
there is quite a fleet of pleasure boats belonging to
Nyack and a flourishing boat club there, while Tarry-
town must be content to enjoy its river prospect from

Spectres of the Tappan Zee 221

a distance, as most of its well-to-do inhabitants dwell
upon the hills.

The sweep of the Hudson River from Haverstraw
Bay to the Tappan Zee is around the curving base of
that deceptive headland known as Point-no-Point, or
Rockland Point. As its name implies, it is at best the
bluntest of points. It juts into the current, a segment

'".^-^

HIGH TAUR — I'OINT-NO-1'OINT AND HAVERSTRAW

(/>

dra'cuing by the author)

of a huge circle, just above the palisaded front of Hook
Mountain, and just below the venerable crest of old
Taur. Back of No-Point, over the brow of the hills,
in a basin to which they are the titanic rim, lies Rock-
land Lake, and day after day the ice-cars pass and re-
pass the crest on their way between the ice-houses on
the lake side and those on the river shore. A headland
that used to be eagerly looked for by the passengers

222 The Hudson River

on the river boats, and was pointed out by every river-
man, who viewed it with the pride of conscious pro-
prietorship, No-Point satisfied the cultivated sense of
the artist and impressed the untutored wayfarer with
its perfection.

It is safe to say that not even the Hudson River
affords a more perfect combination of form and colour
in landscape than this used to present. The traveller
from other lands carried away, among his pleasantest
impressions, the memory of its beautiful sweep of out-
line and the blending of lush summer foliage into the
silver grey of weather-beaten rocks, or the rich chrom-
atic harmony of its autumn dress. Now there is a
dust-cloud hanging over a scene of increasing desola-
tion. Acres of broken rock and bare soil scar the cliff
and make it an offence to the eye. The selfishness of
those who are robbing the State of one of its most
charming and beatitiful possessions should arouse
universal antagonism. The explanation of this van-
dalism can be given in one word, — gravel. In one
scale are beauty, sentiment, the delight of the eye,
the restful, health-conserving qualities inherent in a
harmonious landscape; in the other — gravel. Gravel
is a marketable commodity. Gravel pays. Gravel
fills the pockets of the contractor, and must be secured
for that purpose without regard to sentiment or local
pride. The story of the Palisades over again? Yes,
and worse; for while every one concedes the unic[ue
character of the great monotonous rock wall — " the

Spectres of the Tappan Zee 223

ice-worn bosses of gneiss," as Professor Geikie called
it — that stretches its long, parallel lines of base and
crest above the river, opposite Yonkers, it is a ques-
tion if any artist ever greath' admired its parallelism.
The rectangular structure was tolerable only because
of the robes of colour that clothed it in the ruddy sun-
lit morning and the purple-mantled evening. But the
people of Yonkers and its vicinity love the Palisades,
and were aroused to effective action against the van-
dalism that has attem^pted their demolition.

In the case of No-Point the offence is greater, if pos-
sible, because the harm done is greater, and the loss
more irreparable. Without seeking to condone the
wrong done at the Palisades, it may be pointed out
that in the course of years the foliage, springing up in
the fissures and valleys that have been made, will cover
the site of the blasting. But this palliative can never
be applied to the conduct of those who are denuding
the headland of No-Point. Its curving contours, from
any point of view, are so nearly perfect that it is in-
conceivable that the work now going on can result in
anything but permanent injury. No one can tell how
long this outrage is to continue if the people of the
State do not take measures to protect themselves ; but
as there seems to be no limit to the gravel market, it
is reasonable to suppose that a future generation may
find a low and barren stone heap on the site of this
ancient landmark. The offence to the eye, to the
artistic sense, to our innate love for beauty, is not the

224 The Hudson River

only nor the greatest wrong done by the defacement
of Point-no-Point. The offence to the ear, the injury
done to the nervous system is a ground on which to
base pubhc action. A population of several thousand
people in several towns and villages on the east bank
of the river is continually disturbed by the heavy
blasting, that is like the discharge of great parks of
artillery. Curiously, the jarring and the noise are
much more severely apparent to the people of Ossin-
ing, Croton, Scarborough, and Tarrytown than at
Nyack or New City, or Haverstraw. Even as far away
as Tarrytown, which is eight or ten miles distant across
the river, windows are shaken, and the sick often seri-
ously disturbed by the heavy detonations, while at
Ossining, more nearly opposite the Point, invalids and
the aged are particularly distressed by the rattling and
shaking, the shock and the uproar.

It is time that there should be a general under-
standing of the rights of the ]xiblic in such matters.
Already, in numberless ways, the right of public pro-
tection is admitted. In the erection of buildings, the
establishment of unsavoury enterprises, the storage of
dangerous explosives, or the traffic in infected goods,
the right of communal defence against individual ag-
gression is enforced. The property-holder is enjoined
that he must hold his property subject to the well-
being of the community. Why has not the commu-
nity a right to the pleasure of the eye and the rest of
the ear and the peace of the nerves, as well as to

Spectres of the Tappan Zee 225

immunit}^ from noxious odours and unwholesome
vapours? Do we not admit that diseases of the nerves
are among the most prevalent, the most varied, the
most stubborn, and the most dangerous of any with
which medical science has to cope?

There is no reason why the population of the towns
upon the Hudson should sit down supinely. If the
aesthetic basis is asserted by a community, it will be
recognised by the law. Let people understand that a
landscape is a public possession, that beauty in nature,
the curve of hill and colour of foliage, is educational,
and that the loss of these things is a serious one to
them and to their children.

Chapter XV

In the Land of Irving

ONE of the first settlers on PhiUpse's ]mtent was
a Swede named Jeremiah Dobbs, who took
up land at the i:)lace variously spelled, in
old records, Wacquesquick, Wisquaqua, and Weeck-
quaesguck. Algonc[uin names, after passing through
various phonetic arrangements, have a varied anthog-
raphy. The name here c[uoted is translated to mean
the Place of the Bark Kettle. What the tradition
may ha\^e been that associated such a name with the
little brook that enters the river here, and afterwards
applied it to quite an extensive territory, no antiquary
has discovered.

Dobbs had a shanty on Willow Point and eked out
his modest living by ferrying chance passengers over
the river in his ]:)eriauger, or dugout. His name was
easier to pronounce than Weeckquaesguck, and being,
moreover, associated with a ferry, it was perpetuated
as a place name, while that of the bark kettle fell into
disuse.

But Dobbs is a thorn-in-the-side to the residents
near his ferry, who have made several very serious

226

In the Land of Ir\ing- 227

efforts to have the Legislature authorise the use of a
more euphonious name. Several public meetings ha\'e
been held at different times to agitate the question
and not a few have been the alternatives suggested.
Mr. Van Brugh Livingston, who owned much land
thereabouts and was a prominent citizen, tried to have
his own name applied to the village ; not a few persons
were in favour of adopting that of Paulding, one of
the captors of Andre, and some one suggested Van
Wart. The last ]}ro])osition was met by a gravely
advanced argument in favour of dro]^ping the Van
from the last name and sim])ly calling the place " Wart-
on-the-Hudson." For a short time, Greenburgh was
accepted as a compromise, and Dol:)bs Ferry became
Greenburgh to the ])Ost-office authorities, but as a
cjuiet after-thought the old name was finally restored.

There are at this place numerous shell-heaps, and
other indications that at one time the Indian popula-
tion was a large one, but there is no record of any par-
ticular event connected with its history till the dark
days of 1776, when its situation in relation to the
Palisades brought it for a time into prominence. From
no nearer point above Spuyten Duyvil could a landing-
place upon the opposite side of the river be secured,
owing to the precipitous cliffs. For this reason we find
that the dispatches of both the British and American
commanders bear frequent references to Dobbs Ferry.

After the battle of White Plains the British force
encamped here for eight days. From here. Lord Corn-

228 The Hudson River

wallis crossed the river into New Jersey. Here are
the remains of several redoubts and a fort, though
there was no land engagement at Dobbs Ferry.

When Arnold arranged his first interview, relative
to the betrayal of West Point, with Andre, he was to
meet him at Dobbs Ferry, but as the name seems to
have applied equally to the eastern and western land-
ings, it is uncertain which side of the river was indi-
cated. We know that the plan miscarried, and the
treacherous American general was so closely pursued
by a British gunboat that he narrowly escaped cap-
ture. After the condemnation of Andre, General
Greene met Sir Henry Clinton at Dobbs Ferry to dis-
cuss the possibility of ameliorating his sentence. Here,
in 1777, General Lincoln's division of the Continental
army camped for a short time.

In front of an interesting old house at Dobbs Ferry,
in 1894, a monument was erected by the New York
State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution,
The inscription upon it reads:

Washington's Headquarters.

Here, Ji-ilv 6, 1781, the French aUies, under Rochambeau,
joined the American army.

Here, August 14, 1781, Washington planned the Yorktown
campaign, which brought to a triumphant end the War for
American independence.

Here, May 6, 1783, Washington and Sir Guy Carleton ar-
ranged for the evacuation of American soil by the British.

And opposite this point May 8, 1 783, a British sloop-of-war fired
seventeen guns in honour of the American Commander-in-chief,
the first salute by Great Britain to the United States of America.

In the Land of Irving 229

111 1861, Lossing wrote:

The Livingston mansion, owned l)y Stephen Archer, a Quaker,
is preserved in its original form. Under its roof in past times
many distinguished men have been sheltered; Washington had
his headcjuarters there toward the close of the Revolution and
there in November, 1783, Washington, George Clinton, .
and Sir Guy Carleton . . . met to confer, etc., etc.

Both of the statements quoted above are mislead-
ing. The hotise referred to is not the Livingston family
seat, but was acc(uired l^y Mr. Van Brugh Li\-ingston
about 1823. If any part of it was standing during
the War for Independence, it was the small rear ]:)or-
tion. One authorit}' states that the interview between
Washington and Carleton took place on board of a
British vessel in the river, but this seems strikingly
im|3rol;)al3le.

On the water, near Dobbs Ferry, in 1781, there was a
sharp engagement between some British and American
guard-boats. Almost immediately following this skir-
mish two gunboats ascended the river from New York,
with the evident intention of cutting out the vessels
congregated near the ferry, but they were discovered
and driven away by shot from the shore l:)atteries.

Dobbs Ferry was in the heart of that debatable
region known as the neutral ground, the inhabitants
of which were so harried and impo\^erished that, ac-
cording to a record left by a traveller of that time,
they seemed almost without hope or ambition ; silent,
apathetic, regarding every man as a possible foe.

230 The Hudson River

To-day the place is a collection of attractive countr}"-
seats, and its inhabitants, like those of most of the
river towns within thirty-five miles of New York, are
largely de]_^endent upon the city for their social enter-
tainment and business life.

In the neighbourhood of Dobbs Ferry, a little way
to the north, is the comparatively new station of
Ardsley-on-the-Hudson, where is a fashionable and
attractive inn, or club-house, with all the modern
allurements of golf course, etc. The establishment
takes its name from that of Cyrus W. Field's former
estate, upon a portion of which it is built. Mr. Field
will be remembered, when his eminence as a factor in
the financial world may be forgotten, as the man
whose energy and persistence in the face of obstacles
succeeded in laying the first Atlantic cable. His home
was in what some one has called the great millionaire
belt of the east shore of the Hudson. For mile upon
mile the prospect along shore is that of magnificent
residences and highly developed grounds.

Although it is no part of our purpose to fill these
pages with a descriptive list of the mansions that mul-
tiply till they suggest a celestial comparison, yet we
think that no American will quarrel with us for making
one exception. There is a white-walled house that
overlooks the river between Irvington and Tarrytown.
It is a noticeable landmark, in its outlines suggesting
the gothic dignity of some ecclesiastical edifice by the
Thames, rather than a dwelling on the Hudson. An

In the Land of Irving 231

older house, inckided within its walls, was built in
1840 by General William Paulding, the brother of
James K. Paulding. But its chief interest is in the
fact that it is the property and residence of Miss Helen
Gould. No one has ever numbered the charities that
have flowed from Lyndhurst since Miss Gould, of
whom we love to think as a typical American woman,
became the mistress of its pleasant acres. Her home
is palatial, but it was not considered too good to be
the resting-place for convalescent soldiers, broken
dowm by a Cuban campaign; her conservatories are
remarkable even in this neighbourhood of millionaires,
but they are not too fine to be open wdth a welcome to
the poorest child that seeks admission.

Lyndhtu-st means a forest of linden trees, but its
park-like lawns are shaded by nearly all of the orna-
mental trees that will thrive in our latitude, and it
has naturally become one of the show-places of a
region of parks.

Lyndhurst lies between Irvington, which is, perhaps,
the choicest residence section of the river shore, in
some respects, and Tarry town. The early history of
the latter place has been already touched upon in the
reference made to the Manor Lord, Filipse, who built
his strong house near the Pocantico in 1683 or 1684,
and soon afterwards erected the stone church which
became work! famous as the Old Dutch Church of
Sleepy Hollow, now the oldest church building in use
in Xew York State.

2.^.2

The Hudson River

The Revolutionary history of Tarrytown is in the
main that of all other hamlets within the neutral ter-
ritory. It was overridden and pillaged, property and
life were never safe for an hour, and famine, sickness,
and terror were the portion of most of the inhabitants.
The British threatened to destroy stores near the vil-
lage and made one or two attempts to do so, landing
in force upon at least one occasion. General Lincoln
marched through on his way to Kingsbridge; Colonel
Luddington commanded five hundred militia here;
"Light-Horse Harry" Lee had a brush with some of
Dunop's Yagers, — we might go on indefinitely wath
such details, none of them particularly important.
Here Van Courtlandt's river guard made a rendezvous,
and the yeomen of the neighbourhood tried to guard
the crosswavs and peppered the British boats when
thev ventured near the shore. On one memorable
night, fire-ships ascending the river attacked and drove
awav a number of British vessels that had anchored
off the Tarrvtown shore, and set fire to one of the
tenders.

On Sunday, the 15th of July, 1781, two sloops were
going down the Hudson, loaded with powder and arms
for the American army, when several British war-ships
with their tenders were discovered approaching from
an opposite direction. In order to avoid an embar-
rassing meeting, the supply vessels put into Tarry-
town; but the enemy, who were looking for just such
game, were not to be eluded, and pursued them so

In the Land of Ininij;- 235

closely that in a short time the\' were cornered beyond
any apparent possibility of escape. The troops in the
neighbourhood at that time consisted of a sergeant's
guard of French infantry and a troop of dragoons com-
manded by Colonel Sheldon, whose regiment lay at
Dobbs Ferry. These soldiers, dismounting, worked
with great spirit in assisting to unload the stores from
the sloops, but were soon subjected to a galling fire
from the British frigates. Under cover of this can-
nonading, two gunboats and four barges crept in to
destroy the sloo]is; but the Americans on board,
though greatly inferior in number, had no idea of aban-
doning their task. Captain Hurlburt, of the 2d Regi-
ment of Dragoons, commanded twelve intrepid men,
armed only with swords and pistols, who resisted till
the last possible moment, l:iut were driven awa}' by
the overwhelming attack of the British. But the in-
trepid commander rallied his force once more and,
aided by the fire of the French infantry and dismounted
dragoons, returned to the sloops by swimming, and
succeeded in extinguishing the flames kindled by their
foes.

This heroic feat was second to none in daring, as we
must realise when we consider the nature of the cargo
contained by the supply vessels, and the immediate
risk of explosion incurred.

The British were driven away and failed in their
purpose, but the brave Hurlburt received injuries from
which he never recovered, dvine from the eftects of

236 The Hudson River

them about two }'ears later. This action, hardly no-
ticed in general history, should at least be chronicled
among important minor actions of the war, and the
name of Hurlburt be honoured with those of Gushing
or Hobson.

The most notable of all historic events connected
with this part of the river was the capture of Major
John Andre at Tarrytown, in September, 1780. Fresh
from his interview with the traitorous Arnold, within
the American lines, Andre was escaping on horseback,
in disguise, to Xew York, when stopped by the three
American militiamen, John Paulding, David Williams,
and Isaac Van Wart. The details of that ca]:)ture
ha\'e been worn threadbare by constant repetition, and
the merit of captors and captive have been discussed
with hardly abated warmth for a century and more.
We will not enter into that controversy. At a point
near the present highway, probably about an eighth
of a mile to the east of it, the trio of scouts were
apparently waiting for something to turn up. when
they heard the sound of a horse's hoofs and inter-
cepted the rider. Forcing him to dismount, they drew
him into the bushes and under a tree somewhat to the
east of the present road, searched him, finall}' discov-
ering the criminating papers in his boot.

Whether Paulding really exclaimed, " My God, he
is a spy, ' ' or whether the question of ransom was ever
seriously discussed, are matters that will probablv
never be settled. What is important is that the men

In the Land of Irving- 237

who captured Andre did not conclude any bargain for
ransom, but actually held their prisoner till they had
turned him over to some one who had official author-
itv to hold him, and that they were honoured by the
Commander-in-chief of the army and by Congress as
the saviours of the State.

The dispatching of Andre to Washington, tmder
guard, and the sad termination of the life of the active
and popular young Englishman, belong to one of the
most familiar narratives of American history.

Among the legends that are famous wherever the
English tongue is familiar, or its literature known, that
of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow has been
read. To attempt to retell a story so intimately asso-
ciated with the fame of Washington Irving, savours
of effrontery, and we can only regret that the length
of the legend, as accepted, forbids its insertion here.

Among the famous men whose homes were, for a
longer or shorter period, at Tarrytown, Commodore
Matthew Galbraith Perry, to whom the world owes
the opening of Japan to Western influences, must not
be forgotten. His house was to the north of the
estate of Mr. William Aspinwall, now owned b>' Mr.
William Rockefeller. Not far away was the cottage in
which Captain Alexander Slidell Mackenzie resided,
after the distressing episode on the brig Soiucrs, when he
caused the son of the Secretary of the Navy to be hanged
from the A-ard-arm for mutin\-. General James Watson
Webb was also for vears a resident of Tarrvtown, his

^38

The Hudson River

estate being afterwards purchased by General John C.
Fremont^the Pathfinder.

«OKOUT AT OLD QUARRY — TAKKYTi IWN
(From a drawing by the authoy)

Those whose memories include the stirring days of
the Civil War will recollect how% in 1863, at the time

In the Land of Irving 239

of the dreadful "draft riots" in New York, a demon-
stration of sympathy with the rioters was suggested
by some of the inhabitants of what was then known
as Beekmantown, and how a gunboat, anchored within
range, produced a change of heart in the most turl)u-
lent. At that time a company of roughs from farther
down the ri\-er were marching upon Tarr}^town, with
the intention of doing mischief to the cok)ured ])or-
tion of the i;)0])ulation. The latter, badly frightened,
swarmed over the hills, taking refuge in the woods
back of the village. But the rioters never reached the
town. A brave minister of the place, the Rev. Abel
T. Stewart, accompanied by one or two companions,
went unarmed to meet that mob of several hundred
bloodthirsty ruffians, and succeeded l)y his fearless
resolution and j^ersuasive eloc[uence in turning them
from their purpose.

One cannot visit Sleepy Hollow or explore the l)anks
of the Pocantico as it seeks the Hudson without being
conscious that Washington Irving stretched his scep-
tre over these hills and valleys. From the gables of
Sunn}'side to the belfry of the Old Dutch Church, from
"Tommy Dean's" store to Carl's mill, his domain ex-
tended, and is still his inalienable territory, let who
will pay the taxes!

The associations which led him back to Tarrytown
after years of w^andering were formed in boyhood.
The Pauldings, connected with his family by mar-
riage, lived near a pleasant bay, just south of the

240 The Hudson River

present station, and it was while visiting them that he
made an early acquaintance with the characters and
scenes that engaged his pen in later years.

James Kirke Paulding, his senior by several years,
was his guide and friend, if not philosopher; and it is
not improbable that the people of the neighbourhood,
who have conjured for half a century by Geoffrey
Crayon's name, must thank that engaging youngster
for their titular saint.

It is hard for us to realise, looking at the cultivated
"grounds," the "improved" residences, and innumer-
able smooth lawns, what those two boys found as they
rambled with guns or rods over the hills, or pushed
their boat into the bays along the river shore. The
Pocantico and its tributary streams then teemed with
trout. The quail piped in every cornfield, and the
grouse whirred from every invaded thicket. One
little distant church folded the entire rural flock on
Sabbath days. Revolutionary veterans, in the prime
of life, fought their battles o\'er at the tavern or the
store. The market boat that sailed at stated inter-
vals for New York, wind and weather permitting, tied
up near the Paulding house, and the farm waggons
lumbered down with their produce to the landing. A
century has made mighty changes.

Years afterward, Washington Irving wrote:

To me the Hudson is full of storied associations, connected
as it is with some of the happiest portions of my Hfe. Each
striking feature brings to mind some early adventure or enjoy-

In the Land of Irving- 241

ment, some favourite companion who shared it with me, some
fair object, perchance, of youthful admiration, who, hkc a star,
may have beamed her allotted time and passed away.

There is something dehghtfully youthful and pas-
toral in that last touch. We catch a glimpse of other
boyish i:)astimes than gunning or fishing or dreaming
in a boat under the willows near Mr. Oliver Ferris 's
house, — the Sunnyside of future years. The "beam-
ing" objects of youthful admiration, met at the church
or down by the mill-pond between services, or perhaps
at the market-boat landing, gave, we cannot doubt, a
l)eculiar zest to life, a particular delight to memory.
The granddaughters of those girls of long ago must,
some of them at least, be with us still. I wonder if
there are preserved pleasant traditions of those inno-
cent flirtations. I would like to know how the slower
country beaux regarded the encroachments of those
two city bo^'^s.

One of the resorts well known to all the fishermen
on the Tappan Zee was the Hafenje, or little harbour,
a i^leasant bay that indented the shore to the north of
the "Yellow Rocks." In later days the old Dutch
name became corrupted to "Hobbinger." It can
hardly be doubted that the youthful companions wet
their lines in its quiet water or beached their boat under
the pines and hemlocks that bordered it. What is left
of the Hafenje now is a shallow cove between the rail-
road track and the dam behind which General Watson
Webb confined its tributary brook. John C. Fremont

242 The Hudson River

afterward bought that property, and the pond and
cove are locally known by his name. From an old
sketch written l:)y Paulding and published in 1828 in
one of the then fashionable annuals, we get a glimpse
of the local oddities, the characters, whose originality
appealed so strongly to Irving, and of landmarks that
have been obliterated. He describes "the little mar-
ket town on the river, from whence the boats plied
weekly to New York with produce," as a "pestilent
little place [in 1793] for running races, pitching quoits,
and wrestling for gin-slings," but adds:

I must do it credit to say that it is now [1S28] a very orderly
town, sober and quiet, save when Parson Mathias, who calls
himself a Son of Thunder, is praying in secret so as to be heard
across the river. It so happened that of all the days in the
year, this was the very day [one Tuesday in November] a rumour
had got into the town that I myself, the veritable writer of this
true story, had been poisoned by a dish of souchong tea.
There was not a stroke of work done in the village that day.
The shoemaker abandoned his awl, the hatter his bowstring, the
tailor his goose, and the forge of the blacksmith was cool from
dawn till nightfall. Silent was the sonorous harmony of the big
spinning wheel, silent the village song, and silent the fiddle of
Master Timothy Canty, who passed his livelong time in playing
tuneful measures and catching bugs and butterflies.

It may not be out of place to let the careful Duyck-
inck supply the grain of salt with which he warns us
that Paulding should be enjoyed:

In almost all the writings of Paulding there is occasionally
infused a dash of his peculiar vein of humorous satire and keen
sarcastic irony. . . . It is sometimes somewhat difficult to
decide when he is jesting and when he is in earnest. This is on

In the Land of Irvine: 243

&

the whole a great disadvantage in an age when irony is seldom
resorted to.

With this timely caution ])Osted in the path of Htera-
ture, we must be dull indeed if we do not suspect that
perhaps the voice of the Rev. Mathias did not reach
altogether across the river, — let us say half-way over
— or that the wrestling for gin-slings was overesti-
mated. But must we give up Tim Canty bodily?
That would be almost as hard as to admit that Ichabod
Crane had no actual prototype.

Around his garret were disposed a number of unframed pic-
tures, painted on glass, as in the olden time, representing the
four seasons, the old King of Prussia, and Prince Ferdinand of
Brunswick, . . . the beautiful Constantia Phillips, and
divers others. . . . The whole village poured into the garret
to gaze at these cltcfs d\vitvrcs, and it is my confirmed opinion
. that neither the gallery of Florence, Dresden, nor the
Louvre was ever visited bv so many real amateurs.

There can be little doubt that, under the guidance
of this lively companion, Washington Irving became
familiar with what in the literary jargon of to-day is
called local colour, used afterwards so lavishly upon
the canvas whereon Ichabod and Katrina and Brom
the Devil are painted with a master hand.

We may suppose that the seed which was to come
to fruition in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was planted
in those youthful days and germinated during the
twenty years' interval. The vivid impressions made
by new and picturesque surroundings upon the im-
pressionable mind of the lad of fifteen years of age

244 The Hudson River

were destined to affect the life and the fame of an
American author in whose work, perhaps, as much as
in that of any other, there is evidence of permanency.
By his own confession, Irving was but an indifferent
sportsman. His nephew teUs us that he explored the
recesses of Sleepy Hollow with a gun in 1798, but we
know that the best spoils of those expeditions were not
to be found in his game-bag.

Clarence Cook, writing, in 1887, of his school days
at Tarry town, more than half a century ago, gives a
pleasing picture not only of the place that still retained
enough of simplicity to stamp its image upon his
memory " as a sleepy neighbourhood, where dreaming
was more the fashion than doing," but of its historic
and legendary associations.

Considering how dead the village was, so far as active inter-
ests were concerned, we were fortunate as schoolboys in having
anything to quicken our minds in the history and associations of
the region. We became strongly interested in the legendary
gossip of the time of the Revolution, much of which centred
about Andre; his capture on our side of the river, and his trial
and execution at Tappan, directly opposite us, on the other side
of the broad Tappan Zee. The tree under which Andre's captors
were sitting, playing cards, when he came up — for so the story ran
— still stood in the field by the roadside; although, between the
relic-hunters and the lightning, it had come, when I knew it. to
present a rather forlorn appearance. Mr. Irving made good dra-
matic use of this tree in his Legend of Sleepy Hollozu, but it is
likelv enough he had not seen it when he wrote the story. . . .
While I was at school at Tarry town, Mr. Irving was Hving on
his little Sabine farm of Wolfert's Roost, which afterward was
so widely known as Sunny side. The place, which originally con-
tained ten acres, afterward increased first to fifteen and finally

In the Land of Irving 245

to eighteen acres, lay on the river-bank a few miles below the
village, in a neighbourhood vaguely known as " Dearman's."
There was no distinct settlement at this point in my time, but in
1854, the place, having secreted enough population to warrant
it, was set off from Tarrytown and incorporated as a village, to
which, out of compliment to Mr. Irving, the name of Irvington
was given. . . . Mr. Irving had never been a man of means,
and at the time I speak of his early fame as a writer had almost
died away. Had I been at school in any other place than Tarry-
town, I suspect I should have heard very little about him. But
our schoolmaster had named his school the Irving Institute, and
had persuaded Mr. Irving, out of his abounding good nature and
hking for young folks, to visit the school occasionally at "com-
mencement" time and give out the prizes. This, of course,
made it necessary to keep us acquainted with Irving's writings,
and there were some of us who found this no ungrateful task.
TJic History of Xcw York and The Sketch Book we knew by heart.
Mr. Irving first heard the story of the headless horseman from
his brother-in-law, Mr. Van Wart, in Birmingham, at the time
of his visit to England in 1819. The two homesick friends fell
to talking about old times and scenes, and among the stories
that Mr. Van Wart recalled was this one, which so tickled Ir-
ving's fancy that he sat down at once — such was his happy, off-
hand way — and rapidly sketched the outline of his story, which
he afterward finished in London and sent home to America, to
be published, with other stories, as the sixth number of The
Sketch Book.

Chapter XVI

The Literary Associations of the Hudson

NO review of the literary associations of the
Hudson would be complete that did not
have written large at the very head of it
the name of Washington Irving. We might copy a
fashion much in vogue among art publishers of a
generation ago and style our picture Irving and his
Friends; for it is certain that the names that pre-
sent themselves most prominently in this connection
are those of his intimate associates.

Irving may almost be said to have discovered the
Hudson. He found a stream that was wonderful in
beauty and already rich in material for history, but
the beauty was uncelebrated and the history unre-
corded. It is princii)ally to his pen that we owe the
romantic interest of "the river that he loved and
glorified."

His own acquaintance with the Hudson began dur-
ing the impressional)le years of boyhood, when, in com-
pany with his madcap associate, James K. Paulding, he
explored the bays and coves along the Tappan Zee, and
haunted the woods that covered its shores, drawing

246

Literary Associations of the Hudson 247

his boat into the shade of the willows that hung over
the little brook at the place that has since become

IDLEWII.I) GLEN

one of the im]3ortant literary landmarks of the world.
There, with a book, under the trees, he mav have

248 The Hudson River

dreamed that enchanting mythology of the Wizard
Sachem and Woh'ert's Roost, that formed the legend-
ary background for the quaint crow-step gables and
clustering ivy of Sunnyside. Irving loved the allure-
ments of nature; they were the inducements held out
with invitations to his friends. "Come and see me."
he wrote, years afterward, from Sunnyside, " and I
will give you a book and a tree."

A whimsical picture he drew of his first reading of
Scott's Lady of the Lake, while he was at the Hoffmans'
home on the Hudson in 18 10: " Seated leaning against
a rock, with a wild-cherry tree over my head, reading
Scott's Lady of the Lake ; the busy ant hurrying over
the page — crickets skipping into my bosom — ^wind
rustling among the top branches of the trees. Broad
masses of shade darken the Hudson and cast the oppo-
site shore in black."

With the eminent lawyer, Josiah Ogden Hoffman,
he read law after Brockholst Livingston, in whose
office he began his studies, had been called to the bench
of the Supreme Court. At Mr. Hoffman's house he
soon became an intimate and most welcome visitor and
at times an inmate, for he had a rare faculty for win-
ning hearts.

It was during this early period that he lost his own
heart to Matilda Hoffman, the daughter of his friend.
Of more than ordinary beauty, fineness of character,
and sweetness of disposition, that winsome girl of long
ago will be remembered wherever Irving 's life is read,

Literary Associations of the Hudson 249

her name linked with his in one of the world's i)athetic
love stories. Under all the humour and the gaiety
that marked his work and intercourse with friends
during his long life, he hid the troubling memory of
her loss. Miss Hoffman's death occurred in 1809,
when she was but eighteen years old and he twenty-
six. From that time till, in 1859, his own dust was
laid to rest in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, he w^as
never knowm to mention her name, even to his most
intimate friends; but, after his death, his literary
executor found a paper relating the story of his pas-
sion and lifelong attachment to her memory, together
with her miniature and a braid of her hair. The fidel-
it\' of half a century is not less an evidence of his worth
than a tribute to hers.

At Kinderhook, at the historic home of Judge Wil-
liam P. Van Ness, where Martin Van Buren after-
w^ards lived, Irving spent the tw^o months immediatelv
succeeding his bereavement. It has been shown by
a gentleman to whom Kinderhook owes much for
the presentation of matters of local interest, that
there is a strong probability at least, that the origi-
nal of the immortal character of Ichabod Crane was
met and studied by Irving while at the Van Ness
house.

A tragic interest is connected with the name of
Irving 's host at Kinderhook. It will be remembered
that he was Aaron Burr's second in the duel that
resulted in Alexander Hamilton's death, though he

250 The Hudson River

apparently did not share the odium that attached to
his principal's name.

Another of Irving 's early hamits on the Hudson was
the Philipse house in the Highlands. There Paulding,
Renwick, and the Kembles — Peter and Gouverneur —
met, along with Henry Brevoort, whose acquaintance
Irving had made while travelling on the St. Lawrence
with Mr. Hoffman. The two young men soon formed
a friendship which was destined to be lifelong.

Of a visit to the Highlands during the year 18 12,
just before the commencement of hostiUties between
America and Great Britain, Irving wrote to Brevoort
as follows:

hi August I sallied off for the residence of the Highland chief-
tain, whither I was accompanied by James Renwick. We passed
a few days very pleasantly there, during which time Renwick
took a variety of sketches of the surrounding scenery. From

the Captain's I proceeded to the country-seat of John R. L ,

where I remained for a week in complete fairy-land. His seat
is spacious and elegant, with fine grounds around it, and the
neighbourhood is very gay and hospitable. I dined twice at
the Chancellor's and once at old Mrs. Montgomery's. Our own
household was numerous and charming. In addition to the
ladies of the family there were Miss McEvers and Ahss Hay-
ward. Had you but seen me, happy rogue, up to my ears in "an
ocean of peacock's feathers," or rather like a " strawberry smoth-
ered in cream "! The mode of living at the Manor is exactly
after my own heart. You have every variety of rural amuse-
ment within your reach, and are left to yourself to occupy your
time as you please. We made several charming excursions, and
you may suppose how delightful they were, through such beauti-
ful scenery, with such fine women to accompany you. They
surpassed even our Sunday morning rambles among the groves

Literary Associations of the Hudson 251

on the banks of the Hudson, when you and the divine H

were so tender and sentimental, and you displayed your horse-
manship so gallantly by leaping over a three-barred gate.

THE RIVER AND
CATSKILL MOUNTAINS
FROM THE LAWN OF

THE MONTGOMERY HOUSE — BARRVTOWN
{From a drawiftg; hy 11'. f. Wilson)

It may Ije remembered that James P.enwick, at
nineteen years of age, succeeded Doctor Kemp as Pro-
fessor of Natural History at Columbia College. Irving
was highly tickled and, jumping from one extreme to

252 The Hudson River

the other, addressed him sometimes with exaggerated
deference and at others as "my worthy lad."

The name of Gouverneur Kemble at once suggests
Cockloft Hall, of which he was, by inheritance, the
owner. It was near Newark. There the " Lads of
Kilkenny" used to hold their informal meetings, as
partly told in the Salmagundi papers. Peter Irving and
Henry Ogden were both members of that convivial
nine, and long afterwards the former alluded in a let-
ter to " the procession in the Chinese saloon, in which
we made poor Dick McCall a knight; and I, as the
senior of our order, dubbed him by some fatality on
the seat of honour instead of the shoulder."

There was a sort of general family connection ])e-
tween several of those companions. Kemble 's sister,
Gertrude, was afterwards the wife of James K. Pauld-
ing, while the Paulding and Irving families were also
allied by marriage.

Paulding was by birth a Dutchess County boy, of
Dutch ancestry, whose first widely known work was
done in conjunction with Washington Irving, in the
Salmagundi papers. In the course of a long life he
wrote voluminously, both in prose and verse, though
little of his work is familiar to the general reader of
to-day. He had a dry and caustic humour, little un-
derstood or appreciated by the more serious critics
of his day. Novels, histories, fables and allegories,
poems and satirical comments upon most of the public
questions of the moment flowed from his almost too

Literary Associations of the Hudson 253

facile pen. Having filled various honourable offices in
his native State, he was appointed Secretary of the
Navy during the Van Buren administration. His
home, near Hyde Park, where he passed in retirement
the final years of a busy life, is described in another
chapter. In the effervescent period of Cockloft Hall
and Salmagundi, his familiar nickname was Billy Tay-
lor, from a song that he was fond of singing upon fes-
tive occasions.

Closely connected with Irving, in that circle of
writers that we are wont to group under the general
title of Knickerbocker, were, among others, Fitz-
Greene Halleck, Charles Fenno Hoffman, Jose])h
Rodman Drake, Nathaniel Parker Willis, General
George P. Morris, Frederick Swartwout Cozzens, the
brothers Duyckinck, and Gulian Crommelin Verplanck.
These were all associated either by residence or
by virtue of some particular work with the Hudson
River.

Charles Fenno Hoffman was one of the most distin-
guished of the coterie. He shared with Morris the
leadership among American lyric writers, and filled a
large place in the earlier anthologies. Of such as he
it was that Walter Savage Landor wrote: "We often
hear that such and such things ' are not worth an old
song.' Alas, how few things are! "

No song in our language is more perfect, after its
kind, than Hoffman's famous Sparkling and Bright,
that for twenty years w^as literally on every one 's lips :

254 The Hudson River

. . . in liquid light

Does the wine our goblets gleam in,
With hue as red as the rosy bed

Which a bee would choose to dream in.

He sang of the Hudson in an exalted strain, in verse
that may sound formal and, perhaps, a little pedantic
to our modern ears ; but the fashions change in fifty or
sixty years, and it is certain that he celebrated her
beauties as only a lover could. At West Point, during
his early life, Hoffman wrote a poem called Moonlight
on the Hudson, from which a brief c|uotation may be
admitted here :

What though no cloister grey nor ivied column

Along these cliffs their sombre ruins rear?
What though no frowning tower nor temple solemn
Of despots tell and superstition here —

What though that mouldering fort's fast crumbling walls
Did ne'er enclose a baron's bannered halls.

Its sinking arches once gave back as proud
An echo to the war-blown clarion's peal,
As gallant hearts its battlements did crowd,
As ever beat beneath a vest of steel,

When herald's trump on knighthood's haughtiest day
Called forth chivalric host to battle fray.

For here amid these woods did he keep court,

Before whose mighty soul the common crowd
Of heroes, who alone for fame have fought.

Are like the patriarch's sheaves to Heaven's chosen bowed-
He who his country's eagle taught to soar,
And fired those stars which shine o'er every shore.

Literary Associations of the Hudson 255

And sights and sounds at which the world have wonder"d

Within these wild ravines have had their birth ;
Young Freedom's cannon from these glens have thunder'd
And sent their startling echoes o'er the earth ;
And not a verdant glade nor mountain hoary
But treasures up within the glorious story.

And vet not rich in high-soul'd memories only.

Is everv moon-kiss'd headland round me gleaming,
Each cavern'd glen and leafy valley lonely,

And silver torrent o'er the bald rock streaming:
But such soft fancies here may breathe around
As make Vaucluse and Clarens hallow'd ground.

There was something more than the ordinary' ties of
friendship to bind Irving and Hoffman. He was one
of that nearer circle to which Matilda l^elonged, though
at the time of her death he was liut four }'ears old.
On one occasion Irving speaks of him in a letter as
"little Charles." In early l^oyhood he was crippled
for life by being crushed between a river steamboat
and the wharf, an accident that may have driven him
to more diligent stud\% by depriving him of many of
the active sports of boyhood. He was sent to the
old Poughkeepsie Academy, then a somewhat famous
school, but ran away because of alleged harsh treat-
ment, and prepared for college under private tuition.
He entered Columbia at the early age of fifteen, leav-
ing, however, before graduation.

Having studied law with Mr. Hermanns Bleecker of
Albany, he was admitted to the bar when he attained
his majority. But after a short time he abandoned
the i^rofession of the law for the more alluring pursuit

256 The Hudson River

of literature, finding in the new field a congenial em-
ployment for powers which, if not great, were at least
of a high order. A tour of the West, undertaken in
search of health, furnished material for numerous con-
tributions to The American and other magazines; and
these were afterwards collected into one or two
volumes. The Romance of Greyslaer followed after
a few years, and several books of prose and verse, pub-
lished at intervals, added to the writer's reputation.

Some time before the publication of Greyslaer., Mr.
Hoffman commenced the afterwards widely known
Knickerbocker Magazine, and was also connected at
difi'erent times with TJie Mirror, The Literary World,
and The New York American Magazine. This editorial
work threw him into agreeable relations with some of
the most brilliant and celebrated men of his day. His
familiar associates included William Cullen Bryant,
Chancellor Kent, Lewis Gaylord Clarke, Colonel Wil-
liam Leete Stone, and a score of others, some of whose
names have a prominent place in this chapter. The
honourary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon
him by Columbia College, his companions upon that
occasion being Bryant and Halleck.

We may be permitted one further quotation from
this representative Hudson River poet. It is from a
short poem called Indian Summer, written in 1828:

Light as love's smiles, the silvery mist at morn
Floats in loose flakes along the limpid river;

The blue bird's notes upon the soft breeze borne.
As high in air he carols, faintly quiver;

Literary Associations of the Hudson 257

The weeping birch, hke banners idly waving,
Bends to the stream, its spicy branches laving;

Beaded with dew, the witch elm's tassels shiver;
The timid rabbit from the furze is peeping,
And from the springy spray the squirrel 's gaily leaping.

In 1850, while occupying a government position at
Washington, Hoffman was stricken with mental dis-
order, from which he did not recover. He lived in
retirement thirty-four years, outliving his companions
and his fame.

Fitz-Greene Halleck, whose name is on our roster
next to that of Paulding, was a Connecticut boy. His
first visit to New York was made in 1808, and was an
event to which the metropolis may point with pride,
for no native-born son of Manhattan, with the blood
of all the Dams and Bilts and Blinkers in his veins,
ever became more intimately associated with the city.
His celebrated friendship for Joseph Rodman Drake, —
a memory embalmed in the exquisite tribute of verse
that he paid at the latter 's death — commenced in 181 3,
when the future author of Marco Bozzaris had been
two years away from his Connecticut skies. Their
joint production were the papers signed " Croaker and
Co.," published in the Evening Post in 18 19. That
same year, Halleck wrote the long poem, Fanny, in
which occur the lines on Weehawken, which will be
found in another chapter. Almost at the ver)' end of
his long life, the poet wrote from Fort Lee, on the
Hudson, to Lewis Gaylord Clarke:

258 The Hudson River

I hope thou wilt not banish hence

These few and fading flowers of mine,

But let their theme be their defence —

The love, the joy, the frankincense
And fragrance of Langsyne.

Drake's claim to association with the Hudson River
rests on his beautiful and imaginative creation, The
Culprit Fay, which was composed among the High-
lands in the same year that saw the production of the
" Croaker" papers and of Fanny. The story goes that
while walking with some friends, one of them remarked
to the poet that, without the introduction of human
characters it would be next to impossible to write a
purely imaginative fairy poem. Drake accepted this
as a challenge, and in a very short time submitted to
his associates the manuscript of the work upon which
rests his principal title to fame.

The scheme or plot of TJic Culprit Fay is familiar.
A fairy has stained his wings and lost the light of his
torch by falling in love with a mortal maid. The de-
cree of the King is that he must wash the stain away
with a drop of water, caught in a colen-bell from the
spray scattered on the river by the leap of a sturgeon.
The torch must be relighted by a spark from a meteor.
Some of the descriptions are exquisite, as in the lines:

Onward still he held his way.

Till he came where the column of moonshine lay.

And saw beneath the surface dim

The brown-back'd sturgeon slowly swim;

Around him were the goblin train —

Literary Associations of the Hudson 259

But he scull'd with all his might and main,

And follow'd wherever the sturgeon led,

Till he saw him upward point his head ;

Then he dropp'd his paddle blade.

And held his colen-goblet up

To catch the drop in its crimson cup.

With sweeping tail and cjuivering fin,

Through the wave the stvirgeon Hew,
And, like the heaven-shot javelin,

He sprung above the waters blue.
Instant as the star-fall light,

He plunged him in the deep again,
But left an arch of silver bright,

The rainbow of the moony main.
It was a strange and lovely sight

To see the puny gobhn there;
He seem'd an angel form of light,

With azure wing and sunny hair,
Throned on a cloud of purple fair.

Circled with blue and edged with white.
And sitting at the fall of even

Beneath the bow of summer heaven.

A moment, and its lustre fell;

But ere it met the billow blue,
He caught within his crimson bell

A droplet of its sparkling dew —
Joy to thee. Fay! thy task is done;
Thy wings are pure, for the gem is won.
Cheerily ply thy dripping oar,
And haste away to the elfin shore.

It was once the fashion among admirers of Drake's
dainty work to ])lace the author upon a somewhat
dizzy pedestal. More than one has compared the
hvely trochaic tetrameter that concludes The Culprit

26o The Hudson River

Fay with Milton's U allegro, which was unquestionably
its inspiration. This is Drake's:

Ouphe and goblin, imp and sprite,

Elf of eve and starry Fay,
Ye that love the moon's soft light

Hither — hither wend your way:
Twine ye in a jocund ring.

Sing and trip it merrily,
Hand to hand and wing to wing,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

Now turn to Milton and read

Haste thee, nymph, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,
Quips and cranks and wanton wiles.
Nods and becks and wreathed smiles,
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,
And love to live in dimple sleek :
Sport that wrinkled care derides.
And Laughter holding both his sides.
Come, and trip it as you go
On the light fantastic toe.

I die wild was the home of N. P. WilHs, that versa-
tile worker, idler, flaneur, poet, city dandy, and coun-
try gentleman, who made no deep impression by his
literarv labours, but is nevertheless vividly remem-
bered when many a man of greater power is forgotten.
General James Grant Wilson wTote, in 1886, in a remi-
niscent vein, of a visit to the scene of the poet's retire-
ment at Cornwall, where he was trying to recuperate
the strength of which he had been, from his youth up,
somewhat of a spendthrift:

Literary Associations of the Hudson 261

It was on a sunny summer's mornini^ in the month of Sep-
tember [wrote Wilson] that we landed from a steamer at the
wharf known as Cornwall's Landing. We then wended our wav
to a picturesque, many-gabled, gothic structure, nestled among
luxurious evergreens, admirably situated in the plateau north
of the Highlands, and within sound, under favourable conditions
of the weather, of the evening gun at West Point.

A tall and elegant figure, with rosy cheeks and a luxuriance of
clustering hair, which upwards of sixty winters had failed to
whiten, enters with the easy grace of a man of the world, and
we see before us our friend the master of the mansion.

We sally forth to see his loved domain, and to look at the
extensive and varied views commanded by his coign of vantage.

Around us we see the Storm King and other wooded moun-
tains, towering to a height of nearly two thousand feet: the
whole river, — here expanded into a broad bay, on whose bosom
the white-sailed sloops and schooners are idly floating with the
flood tide: and on the opposite shore vallevs and hillsides,
sprinkled with country-seats ; from aniong which our companion
points out the ancestral home of the veneral)le Gulian C. Ver-
planck, and the summer residences of other mutual New York
friends.

Seated on the grey rocks, Mr. Willis described his first visit to
the site on which his beautiful home stands:

"It was one of the roughest pieces of uncultivated land that
I ever looked at; Ijut it had capabilities. I saw trees, knolls,
rocks, and this ravine, musical with water-falls, and looking to
the south a noble, wild prospect, as Sam Johnson would have
said. I passed over the rough and rocky fifty acres with the
owner, who looked his astonishment as well as expressed it, that
a New Yorker should have any use for his unimproved property.
He said, 'What on earth can you do with it" it is only an idle
wild.' I did not tell him, but I bought it and you see what I
have done with it, and that I was indebted to my Dutch prede-
cessor for a very pretty and appropriate name."

Irving, Halleck, and numerous other friends of Wil-
Hs visited him at Idlewild, and on one occasion, when

262 The Hudson River

he had been there with Mr. and Mrs. Moses H. Grin-
nell, his neighbours at Sunnyside, Washington Irving
expressed the opinion that the poet's cough was hkely
to prolong his hfe by making him more careful of his
health. "I do not think his lungs are affected," was
the cheerful diagnosis.

The reference made by General Wilson to the dis-
tant view^ from Idlewild of Gulian C. Verplanck's home
suggests the strong contrast between these Highland
neighbours. Bryant says of Verplanck:

As a young man he took no part in the Cockloft and other
froUcs of his friends Irving, Paulding, and Kemble; but on the
contrary, he was held up by the elder men of the period as an
example of steady, studious, and spotless youth.

Mr. Verplanck was born in Wall Street, New York,
in 1786. His grandmother was a daughter of Daniel
Crommelin of Amsterdam, and by her the boy, mother-
less from infancy, was reared. He graduated at Col-
umbia College when only fifteen years of age, and
studied law with Edward Livingston, being finally
admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years,
by Chief- Justice (afterwards Chancellor) Kent.

Mr. Verplanck was one of those earnest men, of many
activities and tireless energy, who undertake seemingly
incongruous tasks without hesitation and perform them
wdth credit. Such as he are not plentiful in any gener-
ation. His first public appearance, we are told, was as
a Fourth of July orator. A year or two later we find

263

Literary Associations of the Hudson 265

him in trou1)lc with Mayor De Witt Chnton, then writ-
ing ])ohtical articles, satires aimed at the Mavor and
his friends, and afterwards contributing to Irving 's
magazine, TJic Analcctic. He was elected to the As-
sembly by the "Bucktail" party, and while still a
member of that body wrote a book on the Uses of the
Evidences of Revealed Religion, and was chosen to fill
a professorshi]) in the General Theological Seminary.
Several years later. New York elected him to Congress,
and his voice was heard on ]:)ublic cjuestions with no
uncertain sound. After his retirement from ])olitical
life, he gave himself devotedly to literary pursuits, and
was for half a century one of the best known writers
of the city.

Space would fail should we attempt to tell of his
occupations or recount his honours. He was Regent
of the University of the State of New York ; member,
and afterwards Warden, of the Vestry of Trinity
Church; President of the Century Clul:); President of
the Board of Emigration; and chairman of various
charitable bodies. To the task of editing the edition
of Shakespeare that bears his name, he added that of
making a strenuous and successful fight for the exten-
sion of the copyright law^ from twenty-eight to forty-
eight years.

An entertaining anecdote of Verjdanck's reception
of Irving 's Knickerbocker well illustrates the temper of
his mind. In 181 8, during an address before the New
York Historical vSociety, he took occasion to deprecate

266 The Hudson River

the injustice done to the Dutch character by Knicker-
bocker :

It is painful [he said] to see a mind as admirable for its exquis-
ite perception of the beautiful as it is for its quick sense of the
ridiculous wasting the riches of its fancy on an ungrateful theme,
and its exuberant humour in a coarse caricature.

Commenting on this, Irving wrote to his brother,
Ebenezer :

I have seen what Verplanck says of my work. ... He
is one of the honestest men I know of in speaking his opinion.
. . . I am sure he wishes me well . . . but were I his
bitterest enemy, such an opinion have I of his integrity of mind,
that I would refer any one to him for an honest account of me,
sooner than to almost any one else.

Mr. Verplanck 's ancestral home was at FishkilJ-on-
the-Hudson. There his last years were spent under
the roof that his grandfather erected; and there he
died, a sober-minded man of many gifts. His friends
included nearly all of the literary men of his day, and
no citizen was more honoured.

George P. Morris, the " Dear Morris" of so many of
Willis's " hurrygraphs" and letters from various places,
belongs particularly to the Hudson. Near the village
of Coldspring, his " summer seat" (as it used to be the
fashion to call one's country home), commanded a
noble view of the Highlands, and was the goal of many
a pilgrimage. "America's best lyric poet," as Benson
J. Lossing calls him, was in intimate relations with
most American men of letters in his day. His long

Literary Associations of the Hudson 269

association with TJic Home Joitnial, together with the
wide |)0|)ularity of his songs, made Morris's name a
household word where\^er our somewhat embr>'onic
literature found its way.

One of the best descriptive stanzas by a Hudson
River poet was inspired by Morris's memory of his
home in the Highlands:

Where Hudson's wave o'er silvery sands

Winds through the hills afar,
Old cro'nest like a monarch stands,

Crowned with a single star.

One needs only to consult Griswold's Poets of Amer-
ica, the best anthology of half a century ago, to api^re-
ciate the fact that, with few exceptions, sweetness
rather than strength characterised even the best of the
work of our native poets ; while in prose the names of
Prescott, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Irving stood like
towers upon a flowery plain.

A man greatly valued by his literary cotemporaries
and hand in glove with the leading spirits of the Knick-
erbocker school was that delightful humourist, Fred-
erick Swartw^out Cozzens, author of the Sparron'grass
Papers. He was younger than Irving and Halleck, of
the generation to w^hich Willis and Hoffman belonged ;
a New Yorker by birth and a wine merchant b\' occu-
pation.

The Sparrowgrass Papers, which w^ere exaggerated
accounts of his experiences at his country home,
Chestnut Cottage, in Yonkers, were published first

270 The Hudson River

in Pittnains MontJily, and were immediately appre-
ciated as the work of a true humovirist. Cozzens pub-
lished a number of fugitive pieces, both in prose and
verse, and was the writer of several books, but he will
be remembered as the author of the Sparrowgrass
Papers.

His fame was not merely local. Thackeray, who
loved a humourist with fraternal affection, was his
friend and correspondent. Halleck, writing to General
Wilson in 1867, says: " I have long more than fancied,
I have felt, that Mr. Cozzens, in that department of
genius to which Mr. Irving 's Knickerbocker belongs, is
the best, or among the best writers of our time in any
language." This was apropos of the work called The
Sayings of Doctor Bushwacker, which, in spite of Hal-
leck's eulogium, is hardly known to a generation of
readers that still cherishes Knickerbocker as one of the
bright examples of American genius.

We cannot long dwell with the Knickerbocker group
without coming in close contact with the patient col-
lector of every printed scrap of American writing.
Evart Augustus Duyckinck, compiler, with the assist-
ance of his brother, of the monumental cyclopedia
that bears his name, was the preserver of many a local
reputation. There are numberless early American au-
thors who were only rescued from drowning in the sea
of oblivion by being forcibly dragged into Duyckinck s
literary life-boat. He had out a drag-net that seemed
not to have missed even the smallest fry; but he was

Literary Associations of the Hudson 271

not the less appreciative of the merits of the abler men
of successive generations, and was in close friendshi])
with nearly all those of his own time. Mr. Du>-ck-
inck's biographer writes of him as " a scholar of sin-
gularlv pure and stainless character." He also was a
lawyer as well as a student and man of letters, and
was a " Hudson-Riverite " by virtue of long residence.
His grave lies in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, at Tarry-
town, a short distance to the north-west of Washington
Irving 's plot.

For a number of years subsequent to 1847, Mr.
Duyckinck conducted The Literary World. There was,
however, an intermission of one year in his editorial
labours, during which Hoffman was in charge of the
paper. The Literary World was established by Duyck-
inck and his brother, and was considered by the ]]»oet
Dana to be the best journal of its kind ever published
in America. One of the bibliographer's associates and
warm admirers was William Allen Butler, the author
of Nothing to Wear, who pronounced an eulogy upon
his memory at a meeting of the New York Historical
Society in 1879. Mr. Butler, himself a member of the
bar, was of a well-known Hudson River family. His
father was Benjamin F. Butler of Albany, in whose
office Martin Van Buren studied law.

The pages of Duyckinck, Griswold, and other edi-
tors disclose names once fragrant, but now withered
as the handful of pressed rose petals that flutter out,
leaving a faint, ghostly impression and a fleeting, musky

272 The Hudson River

perfume. There, for instance, we find reference to James
Gordon Brooks, who was born in 1801, at Claverack, in
Columbia County. He studied law at Poughkeepsie
and passed most of his life at Albany, where he de-
voted much of his time to literary labour. It is said
of him that, "half a century ago the now-forgotten
singer's name was one of the brightest poetical names
of the dcLY, and alwa^'s mentioned along with those of
Bryant, Dana, Halleck, Percivale, Pierpont, Pinckney,
Sprague, and Woodworth. " Leggett, in his Biographies
of American Poets, included Brooks and excluded
Dana.

Another early poet, once of considerable celebrity,
but long since forgotten, w^as Henry Pickering. He
was born in the latter part of the eighteenth century at
Newburgh, in the house which is now known as Wash-
ington's Headciuarters. His own description of that
house may be appropriately quoted here :

Square and rough-hewn, and solid is the mass.
And ancient, if aught ancient here appear.
Beside yon rock-ribb'd hills: but many a year

Hath into dim oblivion swept, alas!

Since bright in arms, tlie. worthies of the land
Were here assembled. Let me reverent tread;
For now, meseems, the spirits of the dead

Are slowly gathering round, while I am fann'd

By gales unearthly. Ay, they hover near —
Patriots and Heroes — the august and great —
The founders of a young and mighty state.

Whose grandeur who shall tell? With holy fear,

While tears unbidden my dim eyes sufftise,

I mark them one by one, and marvelling muse.

Literary Associations of the Hudson 273

I gaze, but they have vanish'd; and the eve,
Free now to roam from where I take my stand,
Dwells on the hoary pile, let no rash hand
Attempt its desecration: for though I
Beneath the sod shall sleep, and memory's sigh
Be there for ever stifled in this breast, —
Yet all who boast them of a land so blest,
Whose pilgrim feet may some day hither hie, —
Shall melt, alike, and kindle at the thought

That these rude walls have echoed to the sound
Of the great Patriot's voice' that even the ground
I tread was trodden too by him who fought
To make us free; and whose unsullied name.
Still, like the sun, illustrious shines the same.

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, of Irving 's generation, was
a nati\'e of the \'er}- Dutch town of Albany, though of
EngHsh ancestry. His books cover a wide field of
travel, history, and scientific research, but it was par-
ticularly in the field of ethnology that he excelled, and
his monumental works relating to the history, mode
of life, and traditions of various Indian tribes have
given him a permanent place among great American
investigators. But we cannot accord to Schoolcraft
any prominent place in the literary associations of the
Hudson, for his work was mainly the result of thirty
years of sojourn and study among the redskins upon
the frontier.

John Romeyn Brodhead, the patient comj^iler of the
ten great tomes that contain transcripts of all discov-
erable documents relating to the early history of New
York, was bom in Saugerties. He ransacked the lib-
raries of The Hague and of London, scenting an old
18

2/4 The Hudson River

document with the unerring sense of a true bookworm,
and coming home at last laden with wonderful spoil.
To his stupendous work we have been indebted for
many of the facts contained in the early pages of this
volume.

When a great impulse was given to botanical study
by the group of scientists, of which Linnaeus was the
most distinguished member, the New World became a
fruitful field for original research. John Bartram of
Philadelphia, Mark Catesby in the Carolinas, John
Clayton in Virginia, John Logan in Pennsylvania, and
near a dozen others dug the fields, delved among the
rocks, and ex])lored the forests in search of the un-
classed flora of America. At the same time, New
York ];)resented her champion in the person of the dis-
tinguished citizen, Cadwallader Colden. He lived near
Newburgh in the early half of the eighteenth century,
devoting himself assiduously to the study of botany.
At his place, which he named Coldenham, he spent the
delightful leisure years of a life that had known, and
was destined to know, many activities. There he col-
lected, cultivated, and classified plants, assisted by his
daughter, of whom Peter Collinson wrote to Linuceus
that she was "perhaps the first lady who has so per-
fectly studied your system. She deserves to be cele-
brated."

Cadwallader Colden, whose full name was afterwards
shared by his no less famous grandson, was a success-
ful physician of Philadelphia from 1708 to 1718, when

Literary Associations of the Hudson 277

he remo\-ed to Xew York. After filHng several piibhc
offices, among them that of Sur\'eyor-General, he was
appointed Lieutenant-Governor in 1761, and, as the
poHtical Hves of his immediate su|_)eriors were usually
brief, he became, by virtue of his experience and great
ability, practically the chief executive of the State for
fifteen years. He was the author of several books, the
most important one being a History of the Five Nations
of Cajiada. He did not survive the Revolution, his
death occurring a short time after the battle of Har-
lem Heights. He died in Long Island at the age of
seventy-eight years.

A century later, another celel)rity among nature
students lived near the shore of the river, not many
miles from Coldenham. Many an elderly man will
remember with pleasure and no small degree of grati-
tude America's first landscape-gardener, — first in emi-
nence if not in time, — Andrew Jackson Downing. He
had two qualities that are not always combined in one
individual, namely, artistic sensibility and practical
sense. The latter enabled him to make the former
effective. Before his day we are led to believe that in
the laying out of rural estates, grotesque and chaotic
arrangement of natural material was the rule rather
than the exception. Mr. Downing not only possessed
taste and sense, but he managed to impart them to
others, and in the exercise of his chosen profession
became widely and favourably known, especially to
residents of the Hudson Ri\'er towns.

278 The Hudson River

His books were .4 Treatise on the TJieory and Prac-
tice of Landscape Gardening and Fruit and Fruit Trees
of America, both of them widely read. He was for
some time the editor of The Horticultiiralist, pubhshed
in Allianv. Mr. Downing was one of those who met
death on the steamer Henry Clay, that was burned at
Riverdale in 1852.

From 1830 to 1842, while the Knickerbocker au-
thors w^ere stiU many of them in the hey-day of their
powers, and a new generation of writers were just com-
mencing to be heard, Dr. George W. Bethune w^as the
pastor of the Reformed Church at Rhinebeck. He
will be remembered as a scholarly man of sweet, rare
character. His contributions to Christian hymnology
possibly constitute his chief claim to remembrance,
though he devoted nearly twenty years of his life to
public speaking and writing. While James K. Polk
was President, Doctor Bethune was offered the ap-
pointment to the chair of Moral Philosophy at West
Point, which he felt obliged to decline, as he also did
the chancellorship of New York University, to which
he was chosen as the successor of Mr. Frelinghuysen.
He lived just long enough to make a stirring address
at the great Union meeting, held in New York on the
20th of April, 1 86 1, departing soon after that to Italy,
where he died.

The name of Alfred B. Street belongs to the Hud-
son. He was born at Poughkeepsie, passed many
years of his life in Albany, was descended from an old

Literary Associations of the Hiulson 279

Hudson River family, — the Livingstons, — and did not
neglect to celel:)rate with his ])en the wilder ])eauties
of his native region. Street's poems, particularh"
those dealing with the sterner asj^ects of nature, ga\'e
him an earh' rank among the liest American ijoets. In
his day, among both poets and |)ainters, there was a
painstaking fashion of presenting minutiae. Breadth
of effect was apt to be sacrificed to delicacy of detail.
He wrote as artists of his day painted; every leaf on
every last twig was described with conscientious care.
His almost ])assionate love for nature was retained
through the cares and acti\'ities of professional life,
and the influence of the wild, rugged scenery amidst
which several years of his boyhood were passed never
deserted him. He loved to sing of "sweet forest
odours" that

Have their birth

From the clothed boughs and teeming eartli ;

"Where pine-cones dropp'd, leaves piled and dead,
Long tufts of grass, and stars of fern.
With many a wild flower's fairv urn,

A thick, elastic carpet spread;
Here, with its mossy pall, the trunk.
Resolving into soil, is sunk;
There, wrench 'd but lately from its throne,

By some fierce whirlwind circling past.
Its huge roots mass'd with earth and stone,

One of the woodland kings is cast.

Street wrote many biographies and descri])tive
works. The Indian Pass, alreadv referred to, and

28o The Hudson River

Pictures in the Adiroudacks were published in 1869. He
was for many years State Librarian, dying in 1881,

Among all the writers to whom our pen has pointed
(veering madly as a weathercock on a March day or a
needle amidst a hundred electric points), none has a
stronger claim to Hudson River celebrity than Susan
and Anna B. Warner. While others have lived upon
one bank or the other of the river, they have spent
their lives almost in the midst of it, on an island in
the \'ery wonderland of the Highlands.

Henry Warner, a member of the New York bar,
removed to Constitution Island with his family before
the middle of the nineteenth century. An old house,
occupied as headc[uarters during the Revolution, was
added to and partly rebuilt by him, and is still the
residence of his surviving daughter, Miss Anna B.
Warner.

Susan Warner, to quote the words of Evert Duyck-
inck, "made a sudden step into eminence as a writer,
by the publication, in 1849, of TJie Wide, Wide World,
a novel in two volumes. It is a story of American
domestic life, WTitten in an easy and somewhat diffuse
style." The Wide, Wide World was soon followed by
Queechy, and this by a theological work called The
Laiv and the Testimony. Her earlier writings were
published over the pen name of Elizabeth Wetherell.
Duyckinck did not tell the half when he said that Miss
Warner made a sudden step into eminence by the pub-
lication of her first novel. During the first ten years

Literary Associations of the Hudson 281

over one hundred thousand copies were sold of the
American edition, a record which, bearing in mind the
Hmited pubHc of the day, was noteworthy, and it has
remained in steady demand during the half century
since its first issue. Some hundreds of thousands of
copies were sold in European editions, which brought
to the writer fame, if not wealth.

The sisters frequently worked together. The
younger, who had chosen Amy Lathrop as her lit-
erary title, made her Ijow to the reading public with
a novel called Dollars and Cents; ])ut she was asso-
ciated with the elder Miss Warner in the production of
The Hills of the Shateniuc, the title being one of the
Indian names for the Hudson River. Some of the
most successful and delightful of Miss Anna Warner's
books have been written for juvenile readers.

But there has been a work, self-imposed and long
continued, in which the world of publishers and readers
have had no part, that give to the Warner sisters an
almost pre-eminent claim to recognition in this chap-
ter. It is probable for nearly a generation not a class
has gone out from West Point that has not in some
measure been moulded by the influence of these gifted
women. Year after year it was their custom to wel-
come a group of cadets from the National Academy
for religious instruction every Sunday afternoon, a
favoured few remaining sometimes to partake of their
hospitality.

It is safe to say that there is hardlv an officer in the

282 The Hudson River

regular army of the United States to-da>' to whom
the name of the two sisters is not famihar, and the
impression of their work has gone wherever the flag
has gone.

When Miss Susan Warner died, in 1885, the Gov-
ernment, upon special application of the cadets, per-
mitted her burial in the military cemetery at the
Point, — an honour, it is said, never granted to any
other woman. Miss Anna Warner still carries on
the work that her sister laid down nearly eighteen
years ago.

How they come crowding, the names of those who
belong, if not under the very central dome of our Hall
of Fame, at least within its ample corridors! There,
for instance, are the Primes: the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel
Scudder Prime, the father of many well-known sons
and author of several hardly remembered books, was
Principal of the Female Academy at Sing Sing in 1830,
and afterwards continued the same occupation at
Poughkeepsie. Samuel Irengeus, afterwards the editor
of the Nciv York Observer, was associated with him in
his educational work. Edward D. was also of the
Observer; and William C, at one time connected with
the Journal of Commerce, is widely known as one of
the most entertaining writers of travel in foreign lands
that America has produced.

All the world knows that Henry Ward Beecher made
his summer home at Peekskill. His great personality
makes him a national figure, to whom it is impossible

Literary Associations of the Hudson 285

to assign merely local limits; Init the writer likes to
recall a walk over one of the rough Highland roads,
while, beside him, leading his horse by the reins, the
great orator forgot his greatness to talk in a wdse,
sweet way of wayside things.

Mrs. Fremont — Jessie Benton Fremont — used to live
just above Tarry town, and the house that was General
Fremont's had formerly been the home of James Wat-
son Webb, the well-known journalist.

Benson J. Lossing, himself, next to Irving, the ablest
and most delightful chronicler the Hudson has had,
was a resident of Poughkeepsie. His work. The Hud-
sou, was first published serially in an English periodi-
cal, being brought out in book form in America just
after the Civil War.

The neighbourhood of Storm King seems to have
been particularly attractive to literary workers. A
mile or two south of Idlewild, in her delightful cottage
of Cherry Croft, Mrs. Amelia E. Barr evolves the books
that have made her the friend of most of the girls in
America. Her workroom is in the tow^er that com-
mands a \-iew that an eagle might envy, — a view of
river and hill, farmland and town, — that melts at last
in a horizon that is sixty miles distant. Next door
to Cherry Croft is Julian Hawthorne's summer home,
and nearer the foot of the hill lives Dr. Lyman Abbott,
at whose house, it need hardly be suggested, Hamilton
Wright Mabie is a familiar visitor. Mr. Mabie is him-
self a Hudson River man, in his youth a resident of

286 The Hudson River

Tarrytown, where his earliest Hterary aspirations were
fostered by congenial associates. Of the little coterie
whose comradeship has not been without an influence
u]:)on his subsec[uent career, no name is more promi-
nently suggested than that of Marshal H. Bright, the
able editor of CJiristiau Work.

John Burroughs has what Bradford Torrey would
call a ramljler's lease, that covers half the country
al:)ove the Highlands. He can vie w4th old "Sherd"
Minnerly, w^ho "knew all the fish in the river by their
Christian names," in that he is intimate with all the
feathered creatiu'es that nest on the shores. His own
stated residence is a properly constituted country
home, where he raises the best Niagara grapes that
come into the market; but, to satisfy the cravings of
a born woodsman, he has built for retiring a less pre-
tentious nest, which he calls Slabsides, a little "city
where nobody lives," and the number of those who
find it are few.

Stephen Henry Thayer, long a resident of Tarry-
town, has given us, in many a sweet transcript, the
voices of the woods and waters of Sleepy Hollow. His
hues upon the Nyack behs, heard at evening on the
opposite shore of the Tappan Zee, are peculiarly ten-
der in sentiment :

The lurking shadows, dim and mute,
Fall vaguely on the dusky river ;

Vexed breezes play a phantom lute,

Athwart the waves that curl and quiver:

Literary Associations of the Hudson 287

And hedged against an amber light,

The lone hills cling, in vain endeavor,
To touch the curtained clouds of night.

That, weird-hke, form and fade for ever.

Then break upon the blessed calm. —
Deep, dying melodies of even. —

Those Nyack bells; like some sweet psalm
Thev float along the fields of heaven.

Now laden with a nameless Ijalm.

Now musical with song thou art ;
I tune thee l:)y an inward charm.

And make thee minstrel of my heart.

O bells of Xyack, faintly toll

Across the starry-lighted sea,
Thv murmurs thrill a thirsty soul,

xVnd wing a heavenly hymn to me.

There is not space to mention all. We have with
us as this is written, Doctor David Cole, at Yonkers, a
veteran in educational work, in pulpit work, in histori-
cal work ; Joel Benton at Poughkeepsie ; Harrold Van
Santvoord at Kinderhook. We remember that E. P.
Roe, when he was " Driven Back to Eden," found the
delectable mountains of that blessed country al )0\'e the
Highlands, with John Burroughs established as a sort
of titular angel to show him the glories of the land.

General Adam Badeau, the biographer of General
Grant, was a Tarrytownian by birth, and in his }'outh
edited a lively little pai)er called the Pocantico Gazette,

288 The Hudson River

which was devoted mainly to local matters. The Rev.
Charles Rockwell, who signed himself " Dutch Domine
of the Catskills," i)u1)lished, about thirty years ago, a
very charming book relating to that region, to which
we are indebted for valuable material.

From mouth to source, from the last stone of the
Battery to the first spring that wells in Indian Pass,
the Hudson is replete with literary associations, and
these crowding memories enrich it beyond measure.
Already it begins to take rank among the storied rivers
of the world, and the Thames and the Seine, the Rhine
and the Nile admit it to their fellowship.

Chapter XVII
Around Haverstraw Bay

WITH many a pleasant point and bay, the
river shore used to stretch between
Tarrytown and Ossining, but now that
undulating line has been almost straightened by the
tracks of the New York Central road. The station
at Scarborough is an isolated building, an outpost
for the village that lies eastward over the hill. In the
distance one sees a massive group of low, marble
buildings, the melancholy residence of convicts, — it is
the State prison at Sing Sing.

It is natural, but unfortunate, that the fair fame of one
of the most attractive of Hudson River towns should
for years have been damaged by such an ogre squatting
at its very gates. Nor is it surprising that there has
been a resolute and recently successful effort to change
the name of the village from Sing Sing to Ossining.

Ossining is a corruption of Ossin-sing, an Indian
name, which, according to Schoolcraft, signified "sing-
ing stones." The brook which ran through the jilace
was "Sint vSink," and the village, according to the old
maps. " Sink Sink."

289

290 The Hudson River

The land here rises ahiiost abruptly from the river,
reaching with the first half mile an altitude of three
hundred feet above tide level. The plateau above is
the residence portion of the place and very attractive.
Long ago, when New York was still a British posses-
sion and Sing Sing a ])art of the mammoth estate that
owned the sway of the Philipse family, silver and cop-
per were sought in the neighbourhood. A mine was
worked where the prison now stands, the shaft having
been within a few yards of the north wall. Not far
away, at the mouth of the kill that finds its wa}- to
the Hudson, through a deep gore, from the plateau
above, the smelting furnace was erected. There the
ore was reduced, the precious metal being shipped to
England. The Revolution put a stop to the opera-
tions of the mine, which seems never to ha\'e been
reopened. At the time of its abandonment, the length
of the works is said to have reached one hundred and
twenty feet.

According to Bolton, the historian of Westchester
County, Colonel James, who was superintending the
mine, had command of a regiment stationed at Sing
Sing in 1774. At the commencement of hostilities it
was ordered to Boston. According to certificates
signed and sworn to by several reputable citizens, the
mine was a very rich one and was worked with energy
to the last; but modern attempts to re\-ive the silver
dream have not been successful.

Immediatelv after the Revolution, according to an-

Around Havcrstraw Bay 293

other author! t_\', there were only three dwehing-houses
in Sing Sing. Moses Ward had a stone house that was
also a fort, about where the intersection of Main
Street and the Croton aqueduct occurs. There were
even in his day numerous Indians in the neighbour-
hood, but they seem to have been generally peaceful
fishermen. Many of them, it is said, found their lodg-
ing in what used to be known as the Great Kill cave,
near the brook already referred to.

Years ago. Sing Sing was the terminal station for
the stages that ran on the Bedford Pike. Hachaliah
Bailey of Somers, who had a stage route between New
York and Danbury, Conn,, made the Bedford Pike
line a connecting link between the latter place and his
steamboat, the John Jay, that touched at the Sing
Sing wharf. This satisfied the popular conception of
rapid transit, before the days of the railroads.

Ossining has long been noted for its excellent schools.
One or two military academies and a girls' seminary
have had for many years a more than local reputation.

The northern boundary of the village is the Croton
River, important as a tributary to the lower Hudson,
but still more so as the sole source of the water supply
of New York City for more than a generation.

The Indians called the stream Kitchawan, and so it
is named in the old land grants. The mouth of the
stream is crossed by a drawbridge belonging to the
railroad. Not far above is the reser\^oir from which
the "old" Croton aqueduct carries the water to the

294 The Hudson River

citv. Its capacity is 100,000,000 gallons a day, but
this supply was found to be inadec[uate for the rapidly
growing city, and a new aqueduct, commenced in 1884
and finished in 1890, was constructed to the east of the
earlier one. This has a capacity three times as great
as the first, and taps the numerous lakes of a water-
shed embracing between three and four hundred square
miles.

Above the ba}^ into which the Croton enters is the
old house of the Van Cortlandts, for we have now
passed from the domain of Philipse to that of his
neighbour and brother-in-law. From a paper pul3-
hshed by Benson J. Lossing in Harper's Monthly, about
ten years after his Hudson appeared in book form, we
quote the following description of the Van Cortlandt
manor-house :

Up the narrowing bay at the east, below Croton Point and
beyond the line of the Hudson River Railroad, may be seen,
near its head, a quaint old mansion.

The water, once deep, now rapidly changing into salt meadow
land, is Croton Bay, in which Henry Hudson anchored his little
exploring vessel. The mansion is the Van Cortlandts' manor-
house, one of the most ancient and interesting, in its association
of its class upon the Hudson. Recent [1876] discoveries, while
repairing it, of loopholes for musketry near the floor of the dining-
room clearly show that it originally composed a fort, which was
probably built by Governor Dongan. John Van Cortlandt en-
larged it to its present dimensions in the early years of Queen
Anne's reign. . . .

Over the main entrance to the manor-house hangs the strong
bow of Croton, the Sachem whose name has been given to the
Kitchawan River and Bav, and within the mansion are interest-

Around Haxerstraw l>ay 295

ing mementoes of the country from which and the famil\- from
wliom the \'an Cortlandts came, — the Dukes of Courkmd, in
Russia.

The \^an Cortlandt house has a ghost that wanders
at tinies through the rooms with a sound of rusthng
silks, and another that treads heavily through the
halls.

But even earlier than the building of the manor-
house, Chief Croton, the Sachem who rided the ])oint
and neighbomdiood of the stream that l)ears his name,
haunted the S])ot with his warriors. An Indian fort
had been Ijuilt where the manor-house afterwards stood,
and there the chief made his last stand against the
fierce enemies that swept down on one of their forays
from the north. Encompassed and o\'erwhelmed,
amid showers of arrows and surrounded by the smoke
and flames of his burning ]3alisades, he fought with
desperate valour, as one by one his com])anions fell;
till at length, he stood alone and wounded; then, as
his foes rushed forward, he fell headlong into the l:)laz-
ing fire. But again and again, it is said, he has a])-
peared in great crises, urging men to coin"ageous deeds.

The Kitchawans, or Kitchawonks, had an imj^ortant
village on the neck connecting the point with the main-
land. The oyster beds in the ^dcinity were es])ecially
valued by them, and were, no doubt, the object of
frequent disputes. The Indian name of the point was
Senasqua. An early settler on the point was one
Teller, and the land became known to rivermen as

296 The Hudson River

Teller's; but after a while this man died, and his wife,
Sarah, surviving him by some years, the neighbours,
with easy formality, dubbed it Sarah's Point. Then
the Cortlandt name was attached to it; and after that.
Doctor Underbill, having built his handsome Italian
villa and established his famous grapery there, stood
god-father to the locality. Somewhere in the course
of its history the name of old Chief Croton was attached
to it, and is gradually superseding all the others. From
the Underbill vineyards have gone out unnumbered
thousands of bottles of sweet Catawba wine.

At the old ferry-house at Croton, a party of New
York yeomen, under the command of Captain Daniel
Williams, were surprised and captured in 1782 by a
party of British cavalry.

But there was one incident in the history of this
place that seems to have been the small pivot upon
which the great structure of America's future swung.
From Haverstraw, on the other side of the river, on
the twenty-second of September, 1780, Major Andre
saw the war-ship Vulture drop down the river to
escape a galling fire from Teller's Point. Fresh from
his interview with Arnold, the British spy was anxious
to return to New York by the only safe way, — the way
by which he had come. His uneasiness at the depart-
ure of the Vulture from her anchorage ma}^ be im-
agined. Once on board of her, all danger of detection
and capture would have flown, and the details of
Arnold's treacherous plan would in all human proba-

Around Haxerstraw Bay

297

bilit\' have been worked out successfully. But there
was a guard at Teller's Point, and the Vulture made
an admirable target. That was all; yet it certainly
cost Andre his life and Arnold his reward — and ])os-
sibly cost King George a kingdom.

Early on the twenty-first, Arnold had, in expecta-
tion of his meetine, left the Robinson house, his head-

«j^!«./^:.»rir

CROTON A\n VFRPLANCK S POIXTS AND ANTHONY
OF SING SING

NOSE — FROM

quarters, and proceeded to Verplanck's Point; from
thence he went to the house of Joshua Hett Smith, on
the opposite side of the river.

When he crossed over to Stony Point [to quote Judge Dyk-
man's admirable account], he dispatched an officer in his own
barge up the river to Peekskill creek, and thence up Canopus
creek to Continental Village, with orders to bring down a row-

298 The Hudson River

boat from that place, and directed Major Kerse, the (juarter-
master at Stony Point, to send the boat, the moment it should
arrive, to a certain place in Haverstraw creek (now called Aline-
secongo creek), which I assume to have been Colonel Hays's
dock. . . . After receiving intelligence of the arrival of the
boat, Arnold induced two of Smith's tenants ... to row
Smith in the boat to the Vitltnrc that night and directed them
to muffle their oars with sheepskin. There was an old lane
leading from Smith's house to Colonel Hays's landing, through
which they doubtless passed to find the boat.

. The landing [of Andre, from the V';(/////-r] was made at
a dock used as a shipping place for wood and stone. A portion
of this dock still remains. There is an old stone house three
hundred feet north of the dock and an abandoned stone quarry
north of the house, and the landing place is therefore easily
found. There was a road leading up from the dock to the Long
Clove road and traces of that old disused way are yet distinctly
visible. Upon that way below the Long Clove road there is a
small plateau, comparatively level, encircled by firs, where the
interview between Arnold and Andre probably took place.

Andre, finding the Vulture gone, hid at the house of
Smith till near the close of the day, when he and his
host started for King's Ferry, on the Stony Point side.
From there they crossed to Verplanck's Point, and
Andre went on to his doom.

The present aspect of Haverstraw is not one to whet
expectation for a great historic event. The chief in-
dustry is the making of bricks, and the ];)art of the
population most in evidence from the river shore is
such as busy l^rick-yards naturally gather; but there
are, nevertheless, pleasant country-seats in the neigh-
bourhood, and, beyond the range of the brick-yards,
dwellers of another sort have their homes. The view

Around Havcrstraw Bay 301

from the Haverstraw hills — or, one should say, views,
for there is a panorama of them — are of unique
beauty. The swelling shoulder of Point-no-Point is
below, and, still more to the south, the venerable
figure of High Taur. Croton and Sing Sing lie opposite,
and;' northward, the buttressed gates of the Highlands.

There is a legend of High Taur that runs something
in this wise: Amasis, one of the magi, long ago found
his way to America and took to himself a native wife,
by whom he had one child. On the summit of High
Taur he built an altar, refusing the sun worship of the
Indians; but they were enraged, and set upon and
would have killed him had not a miracle saved him.
An earthquake swallowed his enemies, and incident-
ally opened the present channel through which the
Hudson flows.

Another story follows : A band of German colonists
settled here two centuries or more ago, men who knew
how to extract metal from the rocks. Their leader, a
nobleman, Hugo by name, refused to follow the cus-
tom of the old country, which decreed that the forge
fires should be extinguished once in seven years. The
belief used to ol)tain that a salamander grew in the
fire, and if allowed to remain unmolested for more
than seven years would develop his perfect form and
be able to issue from the flames and work incalculable
mischief among men. But Hugo laughed at the super-
stitious murmurings of his men, till one day he and
they saw the dreadful monster take shape, — the shape

302 The Hudson River

of a serpent or dragon, — with darting tongue and blaz-
ing eves, and body and tail that seemed like metal at
a white heat.

Hugo's wife saved her husband and extinguished
the fire with holy water, but lost her own life in doing
so. Then seven years more, and his only son was
snatched away. Again seven years, and Hugo, upon
the summit of High Taur, was shown the treasures of
the earth which he might win, only at the peril of his
soul, but his daughter's prayer and touch saved him.
There, in the depths, the salamander glowed, but his
spell was powerless.

Then appeared in the mountain a knightly man,
between whom and the daughter of Hugo there sprang
uv a pure passion. She in her innocence would have
ex]:)ressed her love for him, but he repelled her gently,
saying: "When you sle^^t, I came and put a crown of
gems on vour head; that was because I was in the
power of the earth S]:)irit. Then I had power only o\'er
tlie element of fire, that either consumes or hardens to
Stone, but now water and life are mine. Behold!
wear these, for you are worthy." Then he touched
the tears that fell from the girl's eyes and the}' turned
into lilies in his hands, and he placed them upon her
brow. He told her that, having left heaven for love
of man, passing through the ordeal of the fire, he
was liberated by her mother's act and took a child's
form. He rehearsed his trials, his love for her, the
danger he encountered of becoming again an earth

Around Haverstraw Bay 303

spirit. While they con\-ersed, Hugo and his followers
burst upon them. ^Misunderstanding his daughter's
agitation, the old man in a rage ordered his followers
to seize the stranger and fling him into the furnace.

What the girl saw, when this inhuman decree had
been obeyed, was a form clad in robes of sih'er float
from the furnace and drift upward into the night. It
is said that that sight brought peace to her soul and
serenity to her countenance, which is hardh' less
strange than all the other incidents of this marvellous
tale.

Chapter XVIII

The Storming of Stony Point

BETWEEN Croton Point and Peekskill, above
the railway station, are scattered pleasant
residences. A few miles to the north is the
little village of Cruger's; then, just above Montrose's
Point, back of the bay that forms the south shore of
Verplanck's Point, is the historic ground where Baron
Steuben laboured to lick the raw material of '76 into
serviceable battalions.

The history of Verplanck's Point is intimately con-
nected with that of Stony Point, on the opposite side
of the river. The storming and reduction of Stony
Point by the American army under General Wayne
occurred on the night of the 15th of July, 1779. It
w^as one of the brilliant achievements of the Revolu-
tion, and, indeed, in some respects, can hardly be
excelled by any action in our history.

The British had retired from Philadelphia; Wash-
ington's army had passed through the trying experi-
ence of Valley Forge, and Monmouth had been fought.
Now the old struggle for supremacy on the Hudson
was renewed. Sir Henry Clinton had captured the

304

The Storming;- of Stony Point 305

American ]:)Osts at Stony Point and Vcrplanck's Point,
opposite; while Washington still held the important
fortresses in the Highlands.

Clinton "s attack was made on the first of June. The
American force at Stony Point consisted of six hundred
men, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson,
while at Vcrplanck's, Lieutenant-Colonel Webster had
a detachment of about the same numerical strength.
They yielded to the combined land and water attack
of a greatly superior foe, who proceeded, after the re-
duction of the forts, to increase their armament and
man them with strong garrisons. Washington at once
saw not only the military disadvantage of having his
outposts in the hands of the enemy, but realised also
hoW' bad an effect such a condition of affairs would
produce upon the sentiment of the country. He dis-
cussed the possibility of dislodging the invaders. An
amusing and characteristic (and possibly true) anec-
dote records a conversation sujjposed to have taken
])lace between the Commander and General Wayne on
this topic. A'^ked whether he thought he could storm
Stony Point, the impetuous Wayne — -"Mad Anthony"
— replied :

" I '11 storm hell, if you'll make the plans, sir!"
Washington looked at him meditatively for a mo-
ment, and then replied quietly:

"Better try Stony Point first, General."
Try Stony Point they did. That "Gibraltar" of
the Highlands, to use Washington Irving 's phrase,

3o6 The Hudson River

presented an obstacle worthy of the mettle of the best
troops in the world. Two hundred feet in height, with
bold, rocky sides descending precipitously to the shore,
and surrounded on the landward side by a marsh, this
fortress could only be won by the same soldierly quali-
ties that had made the British masters of it forty-five
days earher.

The utmost secrecy was preserved in preparing for
the enteri^rise. Not more than half a dozen officers
knew of the movement on foot. The main army of
the Americans was encamped about ten miles back
of West Point, within reach either of the Jerseys or
the Hudson. A strong detachment occupied West
Point, Constitution Island, and that neighbourhood,
and two Connecticut brigades were on the east side of
the river. Washington's headquarters at this time
were at New Windsor.

The column destined for the attack upon Stony
Point marched from Sandy Beach, fourteen miles
above, at noon of the fifteenth. The soldiers num-
bered twelve hundred light infantry. Their march
was over bad roads and rocky hills and through heavy
swamps. They halted after nightfall at the house of
a man named Springsteel, a mile and a half from the
British position, and here the final arrangements for
the attack were completed.

General Wayne's disposition of the troops before
Stony Point was as follows: The column on the right,
to be led by Wayne himself, consisted of the regiments

The Storming of Stony Point 309

of Meigs and Febiger, and a detachment commanded
by Major Hull: Butler's regiment constituted the left
column; and Major Murfee was ordered forward in
the centre to engage the attention of the British garri-
son by a feint. Two bodies of \'olunteers, led by Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Fleury and Major Posey on the right,
and Major Stewart on the left, served as i)ioneers to
precede the main body of the assailants; and in the
van of each com])any of ]:)ioneers was " a forlorn hope"
of twenty men, led l)y Lieutenants Gibbon and Knox.
It was their work to remove the obstructions in the
wa}' of the troops.

It was nearh' midnight when the advance com-
menced. Absolute silence was enjoined, and like
spectres the two storming parties faded from each
other's sight in the gloom. The marshes were over-
flowed with two feet of water, and through this the
men followed their officers, eager and alert, for the
object of the expedition was no longer a secret to any
one.

Xot a musket was loaded, exce])t in Murfee 's com-
mand, for the attack was to be made entirely with the
bayonet. What greater evidence could be offered of
the value of three arduous years in transforming into
stern, reliant soldiers the raw miaterial of 1776?

The almost perpendicular wall that confronted them
after the passage of the morass was to be scaled before
the British works, dimly silhouetted against the night
skv, could be attacked. Between the summit and the

3IO The Hudson River

base, several lines of abatis were to be encountered.
To right and left the attacking wings ascended, while
Murfee and his men kept a straight course for the
centre of the works. Suddenly a shot rang out ; a sen-
tinel had discovered the invaders. With a cheer the
Carolinians replied, waking a thousand echoes by their
volley, and drawing in return the concentrated fire of
the garrison. In a few minutes the roar of cannon
joined with the rattle of musketry, and the devoted
centre was the object of the British attentions, while
the real attacking parties, giving no indication of their
approach, were pushing eagerly forward.

An officer saw one of his men step aside and com-
mence to load his musket. Ordering him to desist,
he was met with the surly c|uestion, " How am I going
to fight if I don't load?" Seeing that the fellow was
obstinate and refused to obey, the officer ran him
through with his sword. This was done in accord-
ance with general orders given before the attack com-
menced, and was necessary under the circumstances,
as it probably prevented a premature betra}^al of the
attack.

But when at last the discovery was made, the storm-
ing parties found themselves the targets for a hail of
bullets. The top of the hill was a volcano of " villain-
ous saltpetre" and men in the American ranks began
to drop. Colonel Hay fell, wounded in the thigh ; Cap-
tain Selden received a wound in the side; seventeen
out of twentv men in the advance fell, either killed or

The Storming of Stony Point 311

injured. Wayne received a flesh wound in the head,
and called u])on two of his officers to carry him into
the works, for he thought that he was mortally wounded
and wished to die at the head of his troops.

Still not a shot came from the grim, eager, unde-
viating ranks of the Americans in re])ly to the rever-
berating volleys of the enem}% but thc}^ entered the
works with the bayonet and they subdued the garrison
at close quarters.

Then the silence was broken. A cheer rang out, — a
cheer that reached the ears of the men on the British
war-shi])s in the river, satisfying those good servants
of King George that their own side had succeeded in
repulsing their assailants. Xot till the guns of the
fort were turned upon them by the Americans were
they convinced of their error.

Verplanck s Point was not taken from the enem\',
and Washington soon abandoned Stony Point; but
the value of Wa}'ne's brilliant deed was permanent, as
it not only inspired the patriots throughout the countrv
with renewed confidence, but won them increased re-
spect from their foes.

An interesting letter, written just after the battle
of Stony Point by one who particiijated in that mem-
orable action, was contributed to TJic Magazine of
American History, several years ago, by the Hon.
James W. Gerard. It was addressed to Doctor Daniel
Sheldon, and dated July i, 1779. From its graphic
pages we may be permitted to quote Ijriefly :

312 The Hudson River

Perhaps you have heard of the prowess of our troops at Kings-
ferry, it may be from vague reports and hearsay. The morning
of the 16'^'^ inst, General Wayne with a party of infantry attacked
the enemy's works at Stony Point — the garrison consisted of
about six hundred men — it being the dead of night they were
not discovered until they had got within about sixteen rods of
the works, the alarm was instantly given, but such was the dex-
terity of our men that they gained some part of the enemy's
works before their picket guard. Our men were distinguished
by having white paper in their hats and by these words The
Fort is our own. The fire for a few minutes was verv fierce
from them, Ijut our people never fired a gun until they had
gained the Fort — most of the enemy were killed with Bayonets
after our people were in the works — we had nine men killed, and
about thirty or forty wounded.

Tlie enemy's loss was sixty killed and forty wounded — 447
rank and file marched out of the fort the next morning with
twentv-four commissioned officers. Docf Auchmuty of New
York was their surgeon — some few men made their escape in
boats to the other side the River, others in attempting to swim
were drowned — S. C. M. Johnson commanded the Britons. Gen-
eral Wayne's party tis said consisted of about 4200 men. There
were five deserters from us in the fort, three of which they
hanged with little ceremony — 10 pieces of cannon, a large num-
ber of small arms, with military stores of all kinds fell into our
hands. Sunday we should have attacked the fort on this side
the River, but General Clinton's arrival at Croton Bridge with
a large force prevented it. It must otherwise have fallen into
our hands soon.

Your Friend and Brother

Richard Sill.

Chapter XIX
At the Gate of the Highlands

JOHN PEAK, some time before 1685, Hved on a
creek, or "kill," that has been ever afterwards
called b}' his name. It was on the land
claimed by Chief Sirham, sachem of the Sachus
Indians, and became afterwards part of the broad
manor of Cortlandt. Three hundred acres were
bought in the }'ear above mentioned, for the value of
three hundred guilders in sea-want. The grounds of
the New York State cam]3 for military instruction
occupy part of that purchase.

The pleasant village of Peekskill has a memorable
history, associated as it was during the War for Inde-
pendence with important military movements. From
its position, so near the lower gate of the Highlands,
it was destined to be ridden over by both of the oppos-
ing armies. We have spoken elsewhere of some of the
more noteworthy occurrences of Revolutionary days,
as they presented themselves in sequence with other
events. Fort Independence occupied the point above,
the stores and barracks that the British burned were
near by, Washington once had his headc[uarters here

314

The Hudson River

for a short time, and here old Israel Putnam com-
manded in 1777. Paulding, one of the captors of

BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF THE HUDSON FROM A PEAK IN THE HICHLANDS
(Drawn by 11'. C. H'llson)

Andre, was born in Peekskill and was buried there in
181 8. Andre himself stopped at the Wayside Inn on
the day following his memorable interview with Arnold.

At the Gate of the Highlands 315

Washington made a flyinj^^ \'isit to Peekskill after the
battle of White Plains to reconnoitre; Lee came here
while tardily and reluctantly obeying Washington's
orders to advance into New Jersey. General Heath
was then in conmiand of the post and had received
positive orders from Washington to retain all the
troops then w^ith him. General Lee, as Heath's senior
in rank, ordered that two of the latter 's regiments at
Continental Village should accompany his own troops
across the river. Heath instantly refused to give the
necessary directions, exclaiming, " I have received posi-
tive written orders to the contrary."

Lee replied that he would then give the orders him-
self, to which Heath could not do otherwise than to
assent. "That makes all the difference," he said.
"You are my senior; but I will not myself break
those orders." He then showed Lee General Washing-
ton's letter of instructions, upon which his visitor made
some comment to the effect that being upon the ground
he would feel at liberty to act according to his own
judgment in the matter. He attempted then to give
the order through Heath's adjutant, but the latter w^as
sternly forbidden by his chief to have any part in the
affair. "Sir," said he to Lee, "if you come to this
post and mean to issue orders here w^hich w411 break
the positive ones I have received, I pray you to do it
yourself and through your own deputy Adjutant-Gen-
eral, who is present, and not draw me or any of my
family in as partners in the guilt."

3i6 The Hudson River

To appreciate this scene one must pictm-e the con-
testants. Heath, bald and very corpulent, but sol-
dierly and alert; "a man one could not see without
loving," was said of him; Lee, on the other hand, not
unpleasing as to feature or figure, but slovenly in his
dress and consumed with a sense of his own importance.
George Clinton, General and Governor of New York,
was present.

Heath resolutely demanded and received from Lee
a certificate that he had assumed command of the
post. Then, when the comedy was all played, and
his wayward will satisfied, the usurper of authority
changed his mind and recalled the regiments he had
ordered out.

"The erratic Lee," as some one has called him,
crossed the Hudson with his army on the 2nd and 3rd
of December, to the great relief of the commander of
the post.

When the French allies, under Rochambeau, marched
north after the winter of 1782, they were received by
their American brothers-in-arms at Verplanck's Point
and conducted to their encampment south of Peeks-
kill. Seeing the steadiness and discipline of the lines
extending from the ferry to headquarters, the French
commander exclaimed ui admiration: "You have
formed an alliance with the King of Prussia! These
troops are Prussians!"

The house at which Washington stopped at one
time during the war, and where not a few of the

At the Gate of the Highlands 3^7

notable figures of Revolutionary story were entertained
from time to time, was that Ixiilt In- the Hon. Pierre
Van Cortlandt in 1773. This must not be confounded
with the manor-house at Croton, to which reference
has already been made. A year after the building of
the Peekskill house, Van Cortlandt seems to have been
living in the older one at the Point, for it was there
that Governor Tryon visited him in 1774, to secure, if
possible, his interest for the King's cause in the ap-
proaching contest.

In 1775, Phili]), the son of General Van Cortlandt,
accepted a commission in the Continental army, an act
which incurred the enmity of the Royalists against the
whole family and led to f)itter persecutions.

The Peekskill house was the one occupied by Mrs.
Beekman during the war. On one occasion she faced
a party of Tories, led by Colonel Fanning, and shar])ly
rebuked them for calling her father "an old rebel."
"I am the daughter of Pierre Van Cortlandt," she
exclaimed, " and it becomes not such as you to call m}^
father a rebel." So she turned them out of the house.

The little hamlet of Continental Village, on Canopus
creek, just above Peekskill, was the place where the
stores for the American army in the Highlands were
accumulated. Gallows Hill, the place where Palmer
the spy was executed, is a little north of a highway
that intersects the Albany Post road, or Broadway,
from the east ; near the southern side of that hill was
the house to which Andre was taken after his capture.

3i8 The Hudson River

John Paulding, the captor, hved for a number of
years after the e\'ent which made him famous on a
farm on the Crom-pond road, about three miles east of
Peekskill. A number of tales concerning him are cur-
rent, for one of which we have space. He was atten-
tive to a young woman named Teed whose brother
was a lo}^alist. Upon one of his frequent \'isits to the
homic of his lady-love, he was set upon by a number
of Tories and forced to seek refuge in a barn, from
which he fired upon his assailants, wounding some of
them. Young Teed was one of the party and con-
ducted a parley with the beleaguered lover, who finally
agreed to surrender himself. He was handed over to
the British officer near by and taken a prisoner to the
vSugar House, on Liberty Street, New York. From
that dreadful prison he managed to escape, and through
the aid of a negress, who disguised him in the green
coat of a Hessian soldier, he finally reached the Ameri-
can lines. A few days later, while wearing the same
conspicuous garment, he assisted in capturing ]\Iajor
Andre at Tarry town.

After the foregoing cursory glance at Peekskilbs his-
toric past, which we reluctantly leave, we must make
an equalh' rapid stu'vey of more recent days. - Of the
man}^ eminent men that the inhabitants of the town
have delighted to honour, there are several that we
may not be forgi\'en for omitting. One of these is
Henry Ward Beecher, whose summer home was a
short distance east of the village. Senator Chauncey

At the Gate of the Highlands 3^9

M. Depew was born in this |)lace. and has enUvened a
thousand dinner- tables with his more or less apocry-
phal recollections of it. Then there is the long roster
of those who went out to battle for the Re])ublic on
Southern 1 lattle-fields in the dark days of the Civil
War. To name an\', when we ha\'e not room for all,
would be to make a distinction that their patriotism
neither suggests nor warrants.

In 1882, the Governor of Xew York, Alonzo B. Cor-
nell, sent a committee of officers of the National Guard
to select a site for a mihtary camp of instruction. The
choice finally rested upon the plateau to the north of
Annsville creek, which comprised ninety-seven acres
belonging to the estate of John McCoy. This was
purchased, with an additional tract for a rifle-range.
Here, at an elevation of a hundred feet above the
river, all arrangements were made for the convenience
of a permanent camp. A reser\'oir was formed by
damming a brook, and the water distributed in jnpes
through the grounds, while facilities for cooking on a
large scale have also l:)een perfected. Here, summer
after summer, the \'arious regiments of the National
Guard have succeeded each other in encampments
that have come to be a feature of the service.

The point known as Roa Hook was the site of Fort
Independence. A hotel occupied the s]:)ot in the forties
and some of the steamboats made it a stopping place;
but the working of valuable gravel pits gradually un-
dermined the bluff' on which it stood.

320 The Hudson River

Peekskill looks out upon the Dunderberg and Bear
Mountain. Verplanck's Point stretches to the south,
and northward is the deep, narrow channel of the
Highlands. Irving compared Peekskill Bay with Lake
Como; it would be difficult in any part of the world
to find a spot the natural features of which conspire to
form a scene of more exquisite loveliness. From the
lighthouse at Stony Point to that on lona Island the
grand sweep of the opi^osite shore appeals to the imagi-
nation, producing a sense of delight. The trains that
creep about the base of the Dunderberg are pigmy affairs ;
the swift current that flows through the Horse Race
and into Seylmaker's Reach catches broken reflections
of the towering masses above them, and all the contriv-
ances of man — his wharves, his boats, and his villages
— cannot impair the invincible majesty of nature.

Some years ago there was a coffer-dam and pumping
station at the foot of the Dunderberg, and the story
that is connected with them is one of several of a simi-
lar character that the river can boast. Some one of
the skippers of the numerous river craft came to an
anchor near the foot of the mountain, but found, when
he wished to resume his course, that his anchor's
flukes were caught in something heavy that could not
be detached from the bottom without great effort.
However, yielding to the persuasion of the windlass,
the obstacle, whatever it was, after a while began to
come slowly to the surface, with many an tmeasy tug.
The skipper's curiosity was great, and richly w^as it

At the Gate of the Highlands 321

rewarded, for, with one supreme effort, the crew raised
to the surface and into the vessel — a small cannon !

It might have been taken as a natural inference
that the rusty weapon belonged to some British vessel
of war, or was a trophy of American valour; but not
so did the wiseacres decide. It was gravely j^ro-
nounced to be a relic of Captain Kidd!

Then a speculator worked up the idea and inter-
ested a number of people of the class that the j)roverb
mentions as being soon parted from their money, and
a company was formed with $22,000 capital to explore
for the wealth that everybody at once knew must be
lying there. People talked of the auger that had
bored through the deck of the sunken ship and brought
up silver with it. To be sure, no one had seen the
silver, but the auger was probably not denied to any
seeker after conviction. The work went on merrily
for some time, but after a while funds ran low and
faith began to waver, and the pumping station no
longer pumped. Well, after all, was it any more silly
than to be duped into subscribing to a compan}^ that
engaged to make gold out of sea-water?

From the veracious chronicle of the adventures of
that delightful son of Manhattan, Dolph Heyliger, as
told by Washington Irving, we get an invaluable
treasure of goblin lore. The Dunderberg is particu-
larly mentioned as being the haunt of unearthly creat-
ures whose instinct for mischief was calculated to
keep the toiling sons of the river in perpetual disquiet.

322 The Hudson River

It is certain that strange things have been seen in these high-
lands in storms. The captains of the river craft talk of a little
bulbous-bottomed Dutch goblin, in trunk-hose and sugar-loafed
hat, with a speaking-trumpet in his hand, which they say keeps
about the Dunderberg. They declare that they have heard
him, in stormy weather, in the midst of the turmoil, giving
orders in Low Dutch for the piping up of a fresh gust of wind,
or the rattling off of another thunder-clap. That sometimes he
has been seen surrounded by a crew of little imps in broad
breeches and short doublets; tumbling hcad-over-heels in the
rack and mist, and playing a thousand gambols in the air; or
buzzing like a swarm of flies about Antony's Nose; and that,
at such times, the hurry scurry of the storm was always greatest.
One time a sloop, in passing by the Dunderberg, was over-
taken by a thunder gust, that came scouring round the mount-
ain, and seemed to burst just over the vessel. Though tight
and well ballasted, she laboured dreadfully, and the water came
over the gunwale. All the crew were amazed when it was dis-
covered that there was a little white sugar-loaf hat on the
mast-head, known at once to be the hat of the Heer of the
Dunderberg. Nobody, however, dared to climb to the mast-
head and get rid of this terrible hat. The sloop continued labour-
ing and rocking, as if she would have rolled her mast overboard,
and seemed in continued danger either of upsetting or of running
on shore. In this way she drove quite through the highlands,
until she had passed Pollopol's Island, where, it is said, the
jurisdiction of the Dunderberg potentate ceases. No sooner had
she passed this bourn, than the little hat spun up into the air
like a top, whirled up all the clouds into a vortex, and hurried
them back to the summit of the Dunderberg; while the sloop
righted herself, and sailed on as ciuietly as if in a mill-pond.
Nothing saved her from utter wreck but the fortunate circum-
stance of having a horse-shoe nailed against the mast— a wise
precaution against evil spirits, since adopted by all the Dutch
captains that navigate this haunted river.

There is another story told of this foul-weather urchin by
Skipper Daniel Ouselsticker of Fishkill, who was never known
to tell a lie. He declared that, in a severe squall, he saw him

At the Gate of the Highlands 325

seated astride of his bowsprit, riding the sloop ashore, full butt
against Antony's Nose, and that he was exorcised by Dominie
Van Gieson, of Esopus, who happened to be on board, and who
sang the hymn of St. Nicholas; whereupon the goblin threw
himself up in the air like a ball and went off in a whirlwind,
carrying away with him the nightcap of the Dominie's wife;
which was discovered the next Sunday morning hanging on the
weathercock of Esopus church steeple, at least forty miles ofif!
Several events of this kind having taken place, the regular skip-
pers of the river, for a long time, did not venture to pass the
Dunderberg without lowering their peaks, out of homage to the
Heer of the mountain ; and it was observed that all such as paid
this tribute of respect were suffered to pass unmolested.

Chapter XX
The Spirit of '76

THE mihtary and na^•al operations along the
Hudson and its shores during the War for
Independence cannot be exhaustively dis-
cussed in a work that of necessity covers so wide a
field as the present volume. At the most, w^e may
only hope to indicate, by the selection of several in-
cidents, the character of the iuA-asion and the spirit of
those who opposed it.

Tor}'ism, it may be said in passing, was not entirely
confined to the cities, yet it had its strongholds there,
and the general tem]3er of the country people seems to
have inclined towards the Continental cause.

Before the battle of Long Island, in .\ugust, 1776,
the New York Con\'ention sent delegates to stir up the
veomanr\' along the river. As the enemy's ships w^ere
at anchor near Tarrytown, powder and ball w^ere sent
to that place. Colonel Hammond, of local celebrity,
w^as actively engaged in organising the militia for
defence; Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt, of the Croton
manor of that name, was an active and efficient guard-
ian of the east shore of the Tappan Zee ; while Colonel

326

The Spirit of '76 327

Hay kept guard with his regiment over the western
shore, from Nyaek to the Highlands, the centre of his
operations being at Haverstraw.

The yeomen on both sides of the river patrohed the
shores even as they guarded the highwa3's, and tradi-
tion asserts that wives and daughters stood beside the
men as they shouldered the flint-lock guns and handled
powder-horns and bullet-pouches. Whenever the foe
might ap])car, rustic marksmen were ready to re-enact
Lexington and Concord.

The British war-ships, shifting ground occasionally
with the tide, or to avoid the galling attentions of the
sharjvshooters, that annoyed them like so many wasps,
were not holding their ground in the Tappan Zee and
Haverstraw^ Bay from ain}^ holida\' motive. Their
boats were out constantlv making soundings, locating
shoals, determining the course of the channel, and pre-
paring charts for the service of the flotilla. The Tories
alongshore w^ere suspected of furnishing both provis-
ions and information.

A tender beat u]3 from Ha\^erstraw Bay nearh^ to
Fort Montgomery in the Highlands, when General
Clinton greeted the unwelcome visitor with a ball from
a 32-pounder, that had the effect of sending her about
in short order.

But soundings and observations had been com-
pleted, and the chart of the river was sufflcientlv ac-
curate to enable the war-shi]3s to move up without
other peril than that encountered from the American

?,2S The Hudson River

guns. They therefore advanced to within six miles of
Fort Montgomery. George CHnton anticipated an
effort to shp by him at night, and gain the defence-
less reaches of the river above the Highlands, where
the enemy might not only ravage the country, but
destroy the little fleet that was then being built at
Poughkeepsie. He therefore placed a guard at a point
nearly midway between the vessels and the fort, with
material at hand for a mammoth signal fire, and simi-
lar piles of combustibles were placed at intervals all
through the Highlands, except at the fort. In case of
activity on the part of the fleet, its every movement
would be illuminated.

As a further safeguard, fire-rafts were brought down
from Poughkeepsie and held in readiness, like hounds
in leash, ready to be let loose at the favourable moment.
" They were to be lashed together," we read, " between
old sloops filled with combustibles and sent down with
a strong wind and tide, to drive upon the ships."

Besides these preparations, an effective barrier was
to be made by stretching a huge iron chain across the
river in an oblique direction, from Fort Montgomery
to Anthony's Nose.

Van Cortlandt and others were busy at this time in
organising the river guard, a fleet of whale-boats,
manned by patriotic rivermen, and stationed in the
bays and coves of the Tappan Zee and Haverstraw.
This organisation afterwards did yeoman's service,
reconnoitring, acting as despatch bearers, cutting oft'

The vSpirit of "76 329

intelligence and supplies destined for the enemy's
ships, and more than once engaging in close conflict
with the King's marines. Oar galleys, mounting light
guns in their bows, were also put in commission.

There are a few brighter lights in the dark picture
of that time. The PJiccnix and Rose, the British war-
vessels that had ascended the river, were attacked at
their anchorage in the Tappan Zee by a fleet of six
"row galleys," and a spirited fight kept up for two
hours. The galleys " hulled the ships repeatedl}', but
sustained great damage in return."

This exjjloit was soon followed by another that is
worthy the tribute of enduring verse. The story has
been graphically told by Irving in his Life of Washing-
ton:

Two of the fire-ships recently constructed went up the Hud-
son to attempt the destruction of the ships which had so long
been domineering over its waters. One succeeded in grapphng
the Phccnix, and would soon have set her in flames, but in the
darkness got to leeward, and was cast loose without effecting
any damage. The other, in making for the Rose, fell foul of one
of the tenders, grappled and burnt her. The enterprise was
conducted with spirit, and though it failed of its main object,
had an important effect. The commanders of the sliips deter-
mined to abandon those waters, where their boats were fired
upon by the very yeomanry whenever they attempted to land;
and where their ships were in danger from midnight incendiaries,
while riding at anchor. Taking advantage of a brisk wind and
favoring tide, they made all sail early on the morning of the
18th of August and stood down the river, keeping close under
the eastern shore, where they supposed the guns from Mount
Washington could not be brought to bear upon them. Not-
withstanding this precaution, the Phoenix was thrice hulled by

330 The Hudson River

shots from the fort, and one of the tenders once. The Rose,
also, was hulled once by a shot from Burdett's Ferry. The men
on board were kept close, to avoid being picked off by a party
of riflemen posted on the river bank. The ships fired grape-
shot as they passed, but without effecting any injury. Unfor-
tunately, a passage had been left open in the obstructions on
which General Putnam had calculated so sanguinely; it was to
have been closed in the course of a day or two. Through this
they made their way, guided by a deserter; which alone, in
Putnam's opinion, saved them from being checked in their
career, and utterly destroyed by the batteries.

We have noticed these actions particularly, because
they were among the very first marine engagements
recorded in our national history.

Only a few months after the excitement caused by
this "eruption of the Phoenix and the Rose into the
quiet waters of the Hudson ' ' had begun to subside in a
measure, we find the war-ships again brushing past
the American defences at Fort Washington. The new
vessels designed for obstruction, the sloop with Bush-
nell's submarine engine on board, a schooner, and sev-
eral scows were driven ashore, captured, or sunk. The
galleys made strenuous efforts to escape, some by
darting into convenient bays and others by trusting to
their speed and ability to sail over shallows where the
British must have grounded. But two of them ran
ashore, and the crew took to the boat and made for
land with aU possible speed, their vessels falling into
the hands of the British.

All was hurry and alarm at Spuyten Du>^vil, Yon-
kers, and other places along the lower river shores,

The Spirit of '76 331

and fleet craft carried the news and spread the con-
sternation from Manhattan to the Highlands. The
thrill of anticipation again disturbed the garrisons of
the Highland forts, and swift messengers were sent to
Fishkill, where the Provincial Congress was sitting,
presided over by Peter R. Livingston. The Commit-
tee of Safety, at their wit's end, wTote an appealing
letter to Washington, detailing the dangers and pic-
turing the inadequacy of the American force in the
Highlands, and pra^'ing him to send reinforcements
thither.

Among the budgets of advice and the plans for de-
fence that poured in at that time, one letter, written
by John Jay, member of the secret committee for the
defence of the Hudson, to Gouverneur Morris, chair-
man of another committee, is worth quoting. He sa>'s :

Had I been vested with absolute power in this State, I have
often said, and still think, that I would last spring have deso-
lated all Long Island, Staten Island, the city and county of New
York, and all that part of the county of Westchester which lies
below the mountains. I would then have stationed the main
body of the army in the mountains on the east, and eight or
ten thousand men in the Highlands on the west side of the river.
I would have directed the river at Fort Montgomery, which is
nearly at the southern extremity of the mountains, to be so
shallowed as to afford only depth sufficient for an Albany sloop,
and all the southern passes and defiles in the mountains to be
strongly fortified. Nor do I think the shallowing of the river a
romantic scheme. Rocky mountains rise immediately from the
shores. The breadth is not very great, though the depth is.
But what cannot eight or ten thousand men, well worked, effect?
According to this plan of defence, the State would be absolutely

33^ The Hudson River

impregnable against all the world, on the sea side, and would
have nothing to fear except from the way of the lake. Should
the enemy gain the river, even below the mountains, I think I
foresee that a retreat would become necessary, and I can't for-
bear wishing that a desire of saving a few acres may not lead
us into difficulties.

Mr. Ja}^ at the same time applied for leave of ab-
sence, stating as a reason his solicitude for the welfare
of his aged parents, whom he desired to remove to a
place of safety.

When, after the winter of 1776-77, the river was
again free from ice so as to be navigable, General
Howe sent a squadron of war-vessels, with troops, to
destroy or capture American stores, one of the princi-
pal depots for which was at Peekskill. General Mc-
Dougall was, during the absence of General Heath, in
command there, and, learning of the approach of the
British, he undertook to remove most of the supplies
to a place of greater security. The enemy landed
five hundred men, with four field-pieces, at Lents
Cove, on the southern side of Peekskill Bay. McDou-
gall, w^hose command numbered less than three hun-
dred, retreated, having set fire to his barracks and
store-houses. He fell back about two miles on the
road to Continental Village, where the stores had been
sent, and occupied a strong post that Washington had
noted in his reconnoissance after the battle of White
Plains in the previous autumn.

Colonel Willett hastened to McDougall's relief from
Fort Constitution, and after a sharp skirmish the

NEAR FORT MONTGOMERY

333

The Spirit of '76 335

British decamped, returning down the river without
having acconi])hshed the object of the expedition.

This affair aroused new anxiet\' for the Highland
passes and their defence. General George Clinton,
who had command of the Highland forts, ordered out
the militia of Westchester, Orange, and Dutchess
counties. He also strengthened the chain previously
extended across the ri\'er from Fort Montgomery.
General McDougall. still in command at Peekskill, re-
ceived instructions from Washington to co-operate
with Clinton in ] cutting the fortifications in as perfect
condition as possible for defence. Clinton was di-
rected to put as large a force as he could spare on the
mountains west of the ri\'er.

General Greene was ordered to the Highlands to
inspect the forts and re]3ort u])on the ])ossi1)ility of
attacks b\- water or land. He was accom])anied by
General Knox, and, with McDougall, Clinton, and
Wa}'ne, made the rec[uired examination. These five
generals recommended that the heavy chain and cables
stretched across the river be com|.deted and made
effective.

Arnold was now offered the general command of the
Hudson, but declined. Putnam, who was named in
his place, hastened to the Highlands, and entered with
alacrit}' into the completion of Clinton's defences.

It was while at Verplanck's Point that Putnam had
that famous brief correspondence with Sir Henry
Clinton regarding a spy taken within the American

2)^6 The Hudson River

lines. A vessel of war, proceeding with haste from
New York, landed a flag of truce at Verplanck's Point
with a message from the British general, claiming the
spv, Edmund Palmer, as a lieutenant in the King's
service. Putnam did not waste words in writing his
reply :

Headquarters, 7^^ Aug. 1777.
Edmund Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was taken as
a spy lurking within our lines. He has been tried as a spy, con-
demned as a spy and shall be executed as a spy; and the flag
is ordered to depart immediately.

Israel Putnam.
p s. — He has, accordingly, been executed.

That the temper of the country was such as to give
great satisfaction to the leaders at this time may be
gathered from Clinton's own words: "I never knew
the mihtia to come out with greater alacrity." But
he adds, in the same connection, " as a great many of
them have harvests in the field, I fear it wiU be diffi-
cult to detain them long, unless the enemy will make
some movements that indicate a design of coming this
way suddenly, and so obvious as to be believed by the
militia."

With Burgoyne trying to force his way to Albany
from the north, and Clinton planning to co-operate
with him by way of the Hudson, the general anxiety
regarding the Highlands increased as the season ad-
vanced. The forts, by autumn, were feebly garri-
soned. On the 2Qth of September, Putnam, from his

The Spirit of '76 3^7

headquarters at Peekskill, wrote to General George
CUnton as follows:

I have received intelligence on which I can fully depend, that
the enemy had received a reinforcement at New York last
Thursday, of about three thousand British and foreign troops,
that General Clinton has called in guides who belong about
Croton River; has ordered hard bread to be baked; that the
troops are called from Paulus Hook to Kings Bridge, and that
the whole troops are now under marching orders.

I think it highly probable the designs of the enemy are against
the posts of the Highlands or of some part of the counties of
Westchester or Dutchess. . . . The ships are drawn up in
the river and I believe nothing prevents them from paying us
an immediate visit but a contrary wind.

Clinton, absent from his military post w^hile attend-
ing to his civil duties as Governor, received this urgent
letter at Kingston, and at once hastened to the High-
lands, collecting all the militia that he could, more
effectual!}' to man the defences.

Irving has given the following descri]:)tion of the
forts at that time:

We have spoken of his (Clinton's) Highland citadel of Fort
Montgomery, and of the obstructions of chain, boom, and chc-
vaux-de-frise between it and the opposite promontory of An-
thony's Nose. Fort Clinton had subsequently been erected
within rifle shot of Fort [Montgomery, to occupv ground which
commanded it. A deep ravine and stream, called Peploep's
Kill, intervened between the two forts, across which there was
a bridge. The governor had his headquarters in Fort Mont-
gomery, which was the northern and largest fort, but its works
were unfinished. His brother James had charge of Fort Clinton,
which was complete. The whole force to garrison the associate
forts did not exceed six hundred men, chiefly militia, but they

338 The Hudson River

had the veteran Colonel Lamb, of the artillery, with them, who
had served in Canada, and a company of his artillerists was dis-
tributed in the two forts.

Early in October, Sir Henry Clinton sailed up the
Hudson with a fleet carrying three or four thousand
British troops and Tories. The object of the expedi-
tion was to take the forts, Montgomery and Clinton,
opposite Anthony's Nose. There were American
stores there, that had been collected in the neighbour-
hood, and the destruction of these was the ostensible
object of the expedition; but it is almost certain that
the idea of relieving Burgoyne by a diversion carried
greater weight.

A body of troops was landed at Tarry town, marched
a short distance into the country, returned, and re-
embarked. This ruse had the desired effect of deceiv-
ing General Putnam at Peekskill. On the next day,
the fifth, Clinton landed in force at Verplanck's Point,
below Peekskill, thus strengthening the impression
already created that Fort Independence and the east-
ern shore of the river were to be the scene of his attack.

Almost immediately, however, the greater part of
the troops were ferried across in barges from Ver-
planck's to the opposite shore, and while a body of
Tories on shore and the war-ships in the river kept up
the pretence of attacking Fort Independence, Clinton
hurried the main body of his command, by a circuitous
route, over the hill passes back of the Dunderberg,
towards Forts Montgomery and Clinton. General Put-

The Spirit of '76 339

nam was completch' outwitted and e\'en sent to the
Governor, General George CHnton, for reinforcements.
But that active officer was not deceived. He had
despatched scouts to the southern extremity of the
Highlands, and they soon returned with the intelli-
gence that the enemy were crossing to Stony Point in
large numbers. He therefore made ready with all the
haste possible to receive the unwelcome visitors, and
in his turn sent to Putnam for aid. But, through the
treachery of the messenger, his appeal did not reach its
destination.

Dividing his force, vSir Henry Clinton sent Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Campbell, with nine hundred men, to take
a circuitous course by the western side of Bear Hill
and a])proach Fort Montgomery from the north or
north-west — that is to say, in the rear. Sir Henry pro-
ceeded towards the river from the point of division,
which was between the Dunderberg and Bear Hill.
He then intended to advance along a neck of land lying
between the river and vSinipink Pond ar.d fall upon
Fort Clinton.

A reconnoitring party sent out by the Governor
fell in with Sir Henry's ad\'ance-guard, and opened the
day's fighting, falling back towards the fort after a
sharp skirmish.

Campbell, advancing along the Bear Hill ravine, was
met by a sudden outburst of cannon and musketry,
against which for a time his men could make no head-
way. Filing off into the woods they attempted to

340 The Hudson River

surround their assailants, and finally succeeded in
driving them into the fort.

The resistance at both of the forts was obstinate.
The garrisons were insufficient to man the works, but
even after the enemy, by sheer force of numbers, had
effected an entrance, the defenders refused to surren-
der and literally fought their way out, many of them
escaping by the woods and down the precipitous rocks.
Two hundred and fifty were either slain or captured
by the British.

Putnam did not suspect the true direction of the
British advance till the reverberations of the battle,
thundering along the cliffs of the Highlands, revealed
the true state of affairs.

The escape of the brothers George and James Clin-
ton was almost marvellous. The Governor leaped down
the rocks to the riverside, a breakneck proceeding, but
accomplished without injury, and crossed the river in
a boat, to join Putnam on the other side. His brother,
though wounded, " slid down a precipice, one hundred
feet high, and escaped to the woods."

The American frigates and galleys stationed above,
finding it impossible to escape the advance of the Brit-
ish ships or withstand their fire, were consigned to de-
struction, and one after another went up in flames.
Then the victorious enemy proceeded to destroy the
chcvaux-de-frise and clear the river. Proceeding
through the passage thus made, Sir James Wallace and
General Vaughn advanced to Kingston, then the State

The Spirit of "76 343

capital; but this is another story, and will find its
place in another chapter.

The main object of Sir Henry Clinton's attack, which
was to create a diversion in favour of General Bur-
goyne, w^as a complete failure, as that officer, in the
course of ten days, yielded to the harassing attentions
of his foes.

Chapter XXI
A Voyage up the Hudson in 1769

A HITHERTO unpublished account of a voyage
up the Hudson in 1769 is here presented. It
is taken from a manuscript journal, written
by the proprietor of the great tract of land in the in-
terior of New York State, that was known to the old
map-makers as the Smith patent:

With a View to survey a large Tract of Land then lately pur-
chased from the Indians I departed from BurHngton for Otego
May 3d, 1769, in company with Rich'd Wells, now of Philadel-
phia, and the Surveyors Joseph Biddle Junr. & WiUiam Ridg-
way, as also John Hicks. May 5th. In the Morning we ar-
rived at Paulus Hook Ferry, went over and dined at Burns's
Tavern in New York & this we deemed an indifferent House,
here we saw the Govr. Sir Henry Moore and other noted men,
in the Afternoon we took passage in a sloop, Richd. Scoonhoven,
Skipper, for Albany, had fine weather and found it extremely
agreeable Sailing with the country Seats of the Citizens on the
Right Hand, the high Lands of Bergen on the Left and the Nar-
rows abaft. We sailed about 13 or 14 Miles Sz then came to
Anchor for the Night, the great Rains just before we set out
had caused the Water of the North River to taste almost fresh
at this Place. The Bergen Shore is high and Rocky & the East-
ern Side diversified with Hill and Gully.

6th. These Albany Sloops contain very convenient Cabins.
We eat from a regular Table accommodated with Plates, Knives

344

A Voyage up the Hudson in 1769 345

& Forks & enjoyed our Tea in the Afternoon, we had laid in
some Provision at N. York & the Capt. some more so that we
lived very well, our Commander is very jocose & good company.
About 7 ocloc w^e passed Spite the Devil (why so called I know
not) or Harlem River which divides the Manhattan Island from
the Connecticut, the Entrance here appears to be narrow,
bounded on each side with high Land, Kings Bridge said to be
about a Mile from this Entrance but not in Sight. The Bergen
Coast continues to be lined with lofty Rocks, thinly overspread
with Cedars, Spruce & wShrubs. Nearly opposite to Tappan we
took a Turn on Shore to a Part of Col. Philips's Manor, from
the Hills of which are beautiful Prospects. All the Country on
both sides of the River from the City is hilly. The ^lanor of

Philipsburg according to our Information, extends about

Miles on the River and about 6 Aliles back and is joined above
by the Manor of Cortland, this ]\Iorng. the Sloop passed by Col.
Philips's Mansion House and Gardens situate in a pleasant Val-
ley between Highlands, the country hereabout excels ours by far
in fine Prospects and the Trees & Vegetables appear to be as
forward almost as those at Burlington when we left it, but I
conceive that our countrymen excel the People here in cultiva-
tion— hardly any Houses appear on the Bergen Side from
Paulus Hook to the Line of Orange County. The Tenant for
Life here tells me he pays to Col. Philips only £-j , per Annum
for about 200 acres of Land & thinks it an extravagant Rent
because on his demise or Sale his Son or Vendee is obliged to
pay to the Landlord one Third of the Value of the Farm for a
Renewal of the Lease. The Skipper gave here 5 coppers for a
Quart of Milk & Mr. Wells bought Ten small Rock Fish for 1 2
coppers. The Freight of a Bushel of Wheat from Albany to N.
York according to our Skipper is Four Pence, of a Barrel of
Flour one Shilling and of a Hogshead of Flour 7/6 and he thinks
they have the same rates from Kaatskill. In the Night we ran
ground among the Highlands about 50 Miles from N. York be-
tween Orange and Duchess Counties. The Highlands here are
not so lofty as I expected and the River at this place appears
to be about Half a Mile wide.

7th Our Company went on Shore up the Rocks to a miserable

346 The Hudson River

Farm and House in Orange & left with the Farmer a Direction
for Otego (the Name of a Creek of the River Susquehannah
whereon & in the Vicinity we afterwards formed a Settlement)
as he and a few of his Neighbours seemed desirous to seek new
Habitations, he pays Seven Pounds a Year Rent for about loo
acres including Rocks and Mountains — Hudson's River is strait
to the Highlands, but thro them very crooked, many Straw-
berries are to be seen about the Banks & stony Fields. Mar-
tiler's Rock stands in a part of the River w^hich is exceeding
deep wnth a bold Shore encircled on either Hand by aspiring
Mountains & thro them there is a View^ of a fine Country above,
here it is chiefly that the sudden Flaws sometimes take the
River Vessels for which Reason they have upright Masts for the
more expeditious lowering of the Sails on any sudden Occasion
— beyond the above Rock lies Pollaples Island — but a few Wheat
and Rye Fields appear along the East Side of the River from
N. York hither and a very few Fields are ploughed as if intended
for Indian Corn, the Lands seem proper for Sheep or perhaps
(if the severity of our Winters will admit) for Vineyards. On
the W^est Side among the Highlands are only a few Houses
seated in the small Vallies between the Mountains. From the
streights between Butter Hill and Broken Neck Hill & below
them there is a distant Prospect of the Kaatskill Mounts, to the
N. W. Murderers Creek which runs by the Butter Hill divides
the Counties of Orange and Ulster, there are a few Houses at
the Mouth of the Creek. The soil in these Parts is broken,
stony and few places proper for the Plow. What grain we saw
growing was but indifferent. About one ocloc we passed by the
Town of New Windsor on the Left, seeming at a Distance to
consist of about 50 Houses Stores and Out houses placed with-
out anv regular Order, here end the Highlands. This Town has
some Trade and probably hereafter may be a place of Conse-
quence as the fine Country of Goshen is said to lie back about
1 2 or more Miles. On the East Side of the River a little above
Windsor is the Fish Kill & Landing whence the Sloops carry the
Produce of that Side for Market. The North River is here
thought to be near Two Miles wide and the General Range of
the Highlands by the Compass as taken on the N. Side by our

A Voyage up the Hudson in 1769 349

Surveyors is W. S. \V. & E. N. E. We took a Turn on Shore
at Denton's ^Mill called 60 Miles from X. York and walked above
Two Miles down the River to Newbury a small scattered Village
& to Denton's Ferry, we found excellent Cyder at both. The
New England men cross here & hereabouts almost daily for
Susquehannah, their Rout is from hence to the Minisink's ac-
counted only 40 Miles distant, & we are told that 700 of their
Men are to be in that Country by the first of June next, A sen-
sible Woman informed Us that Two Men of her Neighbourhood
have been several Times across to those Parts of Susquehannah
which lie in York Government & here the people say our Rout
by Albany is above 100 Miles out of the Way, this is since found
to be true, yet that Rout is used because it is the only Waggon
Road to Lake Otsego. The Lands near Hudsons River now
appear less Hilly tho not level, & a few Settlements are visible
here and there, the Houses & Improvements not extraordinary.
Denton's Mill above mentioned has a remarkable large Fall of
Water forming a beautiful Cascade, we saw several other Cas-
cades and Rills — divers LimeKills and much Lime Stone on each
Shore hereaway & some Appearance of Meadow Land of which
we have hitherto seen very little. Lime Stone, it is said, may be
found on either Side of the River from the Highlands to Sopus.
We have the pleasure of seeing sundry Sloops & Shallops passing
back and forwards with the Produce of the Country and Returns,
in the Evening we sailed thro' a remarkable Undulation of the
Water for a Mile or Two which tossed the Sloop about much and
made several passengers sick, the more observable as the Pas-
sage before and and after was quite smooth & little Wind stirring
at the Time, We anchored between Two high Shores bespread
with Spruce, Chestnut Oaks and other Trees, very like the tower-
ing Banks of Bergen.

8th. There is a high Road from New York to Albany on
both sides of the River, but that on the East side is most fre-
quented; both Roads have a View now and then of the River.
Poughkeepsing the County Town of Duchess stands above the
FishKill a little beyond the rough Water already noted. We
passed the Town in the Night. Slate Stone Rocks on the West
Shore at and below Little Sopus from whence N. York has of

350 The Hudson River

late been supplied: they reckon Little Sopus Island to be Half-
Way between N. York and Albany, the Weather yesterday
and to day very warm but the Mornings and Evenings are cool.
Our Skipper says there are at Albany 31 Sloops all larger than
this, which carry from 400 to 500 Barrels of Flour each, trading
constantly from thence to York & that they make Eleven or 1 2
Trips a year each. The general Course of Hudson's River as
taken by compass is N. & by E. and S. and by W. in some Places
North North and South. Between the Highlands and Kaats-
kill both these Mountains are in view at the same Time. At
Two ocloc we arrived off the Walkill, there are 2 or 3 Houses at
the Mouth of the Creek & a Trade carried on in Six or Seven
sloops. Kingston the County Town of Ulster stands about Two
Miles distant but not visible from the Water (this Town has
been since burnt by the British Gen. Vaughan) The Kaatskill
Mountains to the N. W. appear to be very near tho they are at
a considerable Distance. The Country on both Sides continues
still hilly and rugged and what Wheat is growing, looks much
thrown out and gullied — more Houses & Improvements shew
themselves along the Sopus Shore and Opposite being an old
settled Country — our Vessel came to Anchor a little above the
Walkill about 60 Miles from Albany. We went on shore to Two
stone Farm Houses on Beekman Manor in the County of Duch-
ess, the Men were absent & the Women and children could
speak no other Language than Low Dutch, our Skipper was
Interpreter. One of these Tenants for Life or a very Long
Term or for Lives (uncertain which) pays 20 Bushels of Wheat
in Kind for 97 Acres of cleared Land & Liberty to get Wood for
necessary Uses anv where in the Manor — 12 Eggs sold here for
six pence, Butter i4d per pound and 2 shad cost 6d. One
Woman was very neat & the Iron Hoops of her Pails scowered
bright, the Houses are mean. We saw one Piece of good Meadow
which is scarce here away, the Wheat was very much thrown
out, the Aspect of the Farms rough and hilly like all the rest and
the Soil a stiff clay. One Woman had Twelve good counte-
nanced Boys and Girls all clad in Homespun both Linen and
Woolen, here was a Two wheeled Plow drawn by 3 horses abreast,
a Scythe with a short, crooked Handle and a Kind of Hook both

A Voyage up the Hudson in 1769 351

used to cut down Grain, for the Sickle is not much known in
Albany County or in this Part of Duchess.

9th We arose in the Morng. opposite to a large Brick House
on the East Side belonging to Mr. Livingston's Father to Robert
R. Livingston the Judge, in the Lower Manor of Livingston.
Albany County now on either Hand, & sloping Hills here and
there covered with Grain like all the rest we we have seen, much
thrown out by the Frost of last Winter. Landing on the West
Shore we found a Number of People fishing with a Sein, they
caught plenty of Shad and Herring and use Canoes altogether
having long, neat and strong Ropes made by the People them-
selves of Elm Bark. Here we saw the first Indian a Mohicon
named Hans clad in no other Garment than a shattered Blanket,
he lives near the KaatsKill & had a Scunk Skin for his Tobacco
Pouch, the Tavern of this Place is most wretched — Trees are
out in Leaf, Cattle and Sheep, nothing different from ours, are
now feeding on the Grass which seems to be nearly as forward
as with us when we left Burlington, the Trees quite as forward
& the White Pine is common. One Shad taken with the rest had
a Lamprey Eel about 7 Inches long fastened to his Back, I was
informed hereby a person concerned in measuring it that the
Distance from KaatsKill Landing to Schoharie is 32^ Miles
reckoned to Capt. Eckerson's House, a good Waggon Road and
Produce brot. down daily from thence to Cherry Valley half a
Day's Journey, that People are now laying out a New Road
from SopusKill to Schoharie which is supposed to be about 32^-
Miles, Sopus Creek is about 11 Miles below KatsKill Creek and
a Mile below where we now landed, they say that 7 or 8 Sloops
belong to Sopus — the Fish are the same in Hudsons River above
the salt Water as in the Delaware — the Skipper bought a Parcel
of Fish here cheap, these Fishermen draw their Nets oftener
than ours not stopping between the Draughts. At 3 ocloc we
passed by the German Camp a small Village so called having
Two Churches, situated on the East Side of the River, upon a
rising Ground which shews the Place to Advantage, some Dis-
tance further on the same Side of the River we sailed by the
Upper Manor House of Livingston, a Quantity of low cripple
Land may be seen on the opposite Side & this reaches 4 miles

352 The Hudson River

to the KaatsKill called 36 Miles from Albany off the ]\Iouth of
this Creek we have a View of the large House built by John
Dyer the Person who made the Road from hence to Schoharie
at the Expensce of ;£4oo, if common Report may be credited —
Two Sloops belong to KaatsKill, a little beyond the Mouth
whereof lies the large Island of Vastic — there is a House on the
North Side of the Creek and another with several Saw Mills on
the South Side but no Town as we expected. Sloops go no fur-
ther than Dyer about Half a Mile up the Creek, the Lands on
both Sides of KaatsKill belong to Vanberger, Van Vecthe, Salis-
bury, Dubois & a Man in York, their Lands, as our Skipper
says, extend up the Creek 12 Miles to Barber the English Gentle-
man his Settlement, the Creek runs thro the KaatsKill Mounts,
said hereabouts to be at the Distance of 12 or 14 Miles from the
North River but there are Falls above which obstruct the Navi-
gation (these particular Enquiries were made because this was
supposed to be the nearest Port to our newly purchased Terri-
tory.) We landed in the Evening on the KaatsKill Shore 4
Miles above the Creek but could gain no satisfactory Intelli-
gence only that the Dutchess of Gordon and her Husband Col.
Staats Long Morris were just gone from Dyer's House for Cherry
Valley & Susquehanna with Two Waggons, they went by the
Way of Freehold at the Foot of the Mountains on this Side and
so over them to Schoharie guessed to be about 3 2^ Miles as was
said before.

loth. We passed by Sunday Islands whereof Scutters Island
affords a good low Bottom fit for Meadow and some of it is
improved. Bear's Island said to be the Beginning of the Manor
of Renslaerwic which extends on both Sides of the River, the
Lords of Manors are called by the common People Patroons,
Bearen Island or Bears Island just mentioned is reputed to be
12 Miles below Albany — Cojemans Houses with Two Grist Mills
& Two Saw Mills stand a little above on the West Side and
opposite is an Island of about Two Acres covered with young
Button Wood Trees which Island, our Skipper says, has arisen
there to his Knowledge within 16 years and since he has navi-
gated the River — more low, bottom Land is discovered as we
pass up, generally covered with Trees being cleared might be

A Voyage up the Hudson in 1769 353

made good Meadow by Banking an Improvement to whicli the
Inhabitants are altogether Strangers, the upper End of Scotoc's
Island is a fine cleared Bottom not in Grass but partly in Wheat
& partly in Tilth, however there was one rich Meadow improved,
wc saw the the first Batteaux a few Miles below Albany, Canoes
being the Common Craft. One Staat's House is prettily fixed
on a rising Ground in a low Island, the City of Albany being 3
miles a Head we discovered for the first Time a Spot of Meadow
Ground, ploughed and sowed with Peas in the Broad Cast Way,
the Uplands are now covered with Pitch Pine & are sandy and
barren as the Desarts of N. Jersey, as we approach the Town
the Houses multiply on each shore and we observe a person in the
Act of Sowing Peas upon a fruitful Meadow on an Island to the
right. The Hudson near Albany seems to be about Half a Mile
over. Henry Cuyler's Brick House on the East Side about a
mile below the Town looks well & we descry the King's stables
a long wooden Building on the left & on the same side Philip
Schuyler's Grand House with whom at present resides Col.
Bradstreet (since deceased & Schuyler is now a Major Gen. in
the Service of the United States) Col. John Van Renslaer has
a good House on the East Side. At Half after 10 oCloc we
arrived at Albany estimated to be 164 Miles by Water from N.
York and by Land 157. In the afternoon we viewed the Town
which contains according to several Gentlemen residing here,
about 500 Dwelling Houses besides Stores and Out Houses.
The Streets are irregular and badly laid out, some paved others
not, Two or Three are broad the rest narrow & not straight,
most of the Buildings are pyramidically shaped like the old
Dutch Houses in N. York, we found Cartwright's a good Tavern
tho his charges were exorbitant & it is justly remarked by Kahn
the Swedish Traveller in America that the Townsmen of Albany
in general sustained the character of being close, mercenary and
avaricious — they deem it 60 miles from Albany to Cherry Valley
— We did not note any extraordinary Edifices in the Town nor is
there a single Building facing Albany on the other Side of the
River. The Fort is in a ruinous neglected Condition and no-
thing now to be seen of Fort Orange erected by the Dutch but
part of the Fosse or Ditch which surrounded it. The Barracks

354 The Hudson River

are built of Wood and of ordinary Workmanship the same
may be said of the King's Store Houses. The Court House is
large and the Jail under it, one miserable Woman is now in it
for cutting the Throat of her Child about 5 years old. There
are 4 Houses of Worship for different Denominations and a
public Library which we did not visit, most of the Houses are
built of Brick or faced with Brick. The Inhabitants generally
speak both Dutch and English & some do not understand the
latter. The Shore and the Wharves 3 in Number abounded in
Lumber. Stephen VanRenslaer the Patron or Lord of the
Manor of Renslaerwick his House stands a little above the Town
he is a young man (since deceased) — the Site of the Town is
hilly and the Soil clay but round the place it is a mere Sand
bearing pine Trees chiefly of the Pitch Pine, some Lime or Linden
Trees as well as other Trees are planted before the Doors as at
N. York and indeed Albany has in other Respects much the
Aspect of that City, the Houses are for the most Part covered
with Shingles made of White Pine, some few with red or black
Tiles. In one of the Streets there is a Sign of the Jersey Shoe
Ware House being supplied in Part with Shoes by Henry Guest
of N. Brunswick, there is a Town Cloc which strikes regularly.
We saw some Indians here & found the Weather very warm and
sultry.

nth Having hired an open Waggon the Company quitted
Albany early in the Morng. intending for Schenectady by way
of Cahoe's Falls, the Fare of the Waggon with Two Horses was
2op. It is called 7 miles from the City to the Mouth of the
Mohawk's River & from thence to the Cahoes 5 Miles, from the
Cahoes to Schenectady 1 6 Miles from Albany to Schenectady in
a Direct Line along the usual Road 1 7 Miles (there are now Mile
Stones set up) The Patroons House at the North End of Albany
is a large handsome Mansion with a good Garden & Wheat
Field that reaches down to the North River, the Road leads
along the Bank for about 6 or 7 miles from Albany and the rich
Bottom on each side of the River is near Half a Mile broad con-
sisting of a black Mould very level & low, proper for the best
Sort of Meadow, but here sown with Wheat and Peas both
which look well, some of the Peas are up and some are now sow-

A Voyage up the Hudson in 1769 355

ing, very little Indian corn is raised in these Parts & that not
planted in Furrows & Rows but at random, one Field excepted,
they plant three or 4 Feet apart in the Hills & the same Ground
every year, the Land back of this fertile Space is covered with
the Pitch and White Pine chiefly and yet not bad Land, and
along the Alohawks River also this rich flat Ground extends
from a Quarter to Half a Mile wide, but somewhat narrower on
the upper parts of that River. This Stream at the Cahocs is
reckoned to be about a Quarter of a Mile in Breadth & the Falls
extend quite across, the Heighth of the Fall is conjectured by
Mr. Wells & the Two Surveyors to be 60 Feet or upwards but I
have seen a Copper plate that calls it 75, tho' upon ocular view
it appears less, the Fall is almost perpendicular, the whole Body
of the River brawling over a Slate Rock, the Banks of the River
consist of this Rock intermixed with a crumbling stone and are
perhaps 30 feet higher than the Bed of the River, the whole
looks as white as cream except in the middle where the black
Rock projects a little and the w\ater breaks into many small
Rills, We descended down to the Shore by a dangerous passage
and ascended by the same after examining every Thing below
particularlv some heavy Stones and other Indications of a Cop-
per Mine being not far off, upon quitting this Spot we directed
our Course for Schenectady & passed some excellent Farms and
likewise some poor barren Pine Land yet we saw choice Ground
bearing the Jersey or Pitch Pine a Thing to me heretofore un-
known, the Course from the Cahoes to Schenectady was nearly
West, about six Miles below that Town we are told that the
rich Bottoms sell at £t,s or ^^40 p Acre while the Upland will
only fetch £t, or thereabouts, they hardly ever plow their Up-
land the Indian Corn in the Rich Lands is said to produce from
40 to 60 Bushels an Acre altho every Year planted in the same
Earth. By the Information reed. Stephen Van Renslaers
Manor extends on each Side of the North River 12 Miles below
Albany and 12 above by 48 Miles across East & West. Along
the Road the Trees are out in full Leaf and the Grass in the
Vales several Inches high, Clover and Timothy common to the
Country, they use wheeled Plows mostly with 3 Horses abreast
& plow and harrow sometimes on a full Trot, a Boy sitting on

356 The Hudson River

one Horse, the Timber in these Parts besides the Two sorts of
Pine consists of Blac & White Oak, White and brown Aspen
large and small Bilberry, Maple red Oak Hazel Bushes, Ash and
Gum together with Butternut and Shellbark Hiccory in plenty,
Elm and others, the Woods abound in Strawberries, and we
find the Apple Trees, Bilberries, Cherries and some others in
Blossom as are the wild Plums which are very common here.
We were informed by Dr. Stringer at Albany that the Owners
of Hardenberghs or the great Patent sell their Lands in Fee at
7/6 per Acre.

Chapter XXII

Among the Hills

A POET was abroad when the Highland hills were
named. Dunderberg, first, — what a sonorous
mouthful it is! — is equal to all the creatures
of history and the creations of romance that can ever
be added to it. Cro' Nest has a unique suggestion of
untamed crags and the sweep of wdngs through cling-
ing masses of cloud. Storm King is not quite so good;
it is artificial, and one needs hardly to be told that
Willis invented the name to take the place of Boter-
berg, or Butter Hill, so called by the Dutch because it
was thought to resemble a huge pat of butter. Then
there is Beacon Hill, reminiscent of the fires that
blazed to tell the cotmtry for miles around that the
war was over; and Bull Hill, that has been latinised
into Mount Taurus. There used to be a wild bull that
terrorised the country back of that hill for many a day,
till at last a strong hunting party undertook to hunt
him down and slay him. Forced to flee before his
pursuers, he made one final, mad rush for the very
crest of the hill and plunged out into space, to leave
his magnificent body a broken and shapeless mass on

357

358 The Hudson River

the rocks below and his name as a legacy to the moun-
tain he used to haunt. Sugar-Loaf was so called for
the obvious reason that it is, in form, simply an old-
fashioned loaf of sugar, of brobdignagian proportions.
What Bear Mountain owes its name to we confess that
we are unable to say, but it is probable that some
early hunter's exploit, or perhaps the prevalence of the
tribe of bruin, suggested it.

There is one more of the principal elevations of the
Highlands to mention. Mr. Charles M. Skinner, in his
delightful Myths and Legends, calls it " the aquiline
promontory that abuts on the Hudson opposite Dun-
derberg." There is at its base an opening that, from
a distance, resembles nothing so much as an ant-hill
entrance, and from near at hand suggests the den of
some fabulous monster that issues, with basilisk eye,
and flame and smoke, from the bowels of the earth.
Really it is a fair compromise between these two ex-
treme estimates, being nothing more nor less than a
railway tunnel. The origin of the name of this hill is
not a matter of doubt, since it has been satisfactorily
explained by the grand arbiter of Hudson River names
and legends.

It was not named after the redoubtable saint of the
same name, as one might naturally suppose, but was
called in honour of that Dutchman of parts, Anthony
Van Corlaer, the trumpeter:

It must be known then that the nose of Anthony the
trumpeter was of a very lusty size, strutting boldly from his

Amono- the Hills 361

^5

countenance like a mountain of Golconda, being sumptuously
bedecked with rubies and other precious stones — the true regaha
of a king of good fellows, which jolly Bacchus grants to all who
bouse it heartily at the flagon. Now thus it happened, that
bright and early in the morning, the good Anthony, having
washed his burly visage, was leaning over the quarter rail of
the galley (of Stuyvesant's yacht, in the Highlands), contem-
plating the glassy wave below. Just at this moment the illus-
trious sun, breaking in all his splendour from behind a high
bluff of the Highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams
full upon the refulgent nose of the sounder of brass — the reflec-
tion of which shot straightway down hissing hot, into the water,
and killed a mighty sturgeon that was sporting beside the vessel.
This huge monster being with infinite labour hoisted on board,
furnished a luxurious repast to all on board, being accounted of
excellent flavor, except about the wound, where it smacked a
little of brimstone — and this, on my veracity, was the first time
that sturgeon was ever eaten in these parts by Christian people.
When this astonishing miracle came to be known to Peter Stuy-
vesant, and that he tasted of the unknown fish, he, as may well
be supposed, marvelled exceedingly ; and as a monument thereof,
he gave the name of Anthony's Nose to a stout promontory in
that neighbourhood, and it has continued to be called Anthony's
Nose ever since.

As an offset to the foregoing, we ma}^ quote from
Dolph Heyliger's adventures the unequalled descrip-
tion of Highland scenery and a gathering stomi:

In the second day of the voyage they came to the highlands.
It was the latter part of a calm, sultry day, that they floated
gently with the tide between these stern mountains. There
was that perfect quiet which prevails over nature in the languor
of summer heat; the turning of a plank, or the accidental fall-
ing of an oar on deck, was echoed from the mountain-side and
reverberated along the shores; and if by chance the captain
gave a shout of command, there were airy tongues which mocked
it from everv cliff.

362 The Hudson River

Dolph gazed about him in mute delight and wonder at these
scenes of nature's magnificence. To the left the Dunderberg
reared its woody precipices, height over height, forest over
forest, away into the deep summer sky. To the right strutted
forth the bold promontory of Antony's Nose, with a solitary
eagle wheeling about it, while beyond, mountain succeeded
to mountain, until they seemed to lock their arms together, and
confine this mighty river in their embraces. There was a feeling
of quiet luxury in gazing at the broad, green bosoms here and
there scooped out among the precipices ; or at woodlands high
in air, nodding over the edge of some beetling bluff, and their
foliage all transparent in the yellow sunshine.

In the midst of his admiration, Dolph remarked a pile of
bright, snowy clouds, peering above the western heights. It
was succeeded by another and another, each seemingly pushing
onwards its predecessor, and towering, with dazzling briUiancy,
in the deep-blue atmosphere; and now muttering peals of
thunder were faintly heard rolling behind the mountains. The
river, hitherto still and glassy, reflecting pictures of the sky and
land, now showed a dark ripple at a distance, as the breeze came
creeping up it. The fish-hawks wheeled and screamed, and
sought their nests on the high, dry trees; the crows flew clam-
orously to the crevices of the rocks, and all nature seemed con-
scious of the approaching thunder-gust.

The clouds now rolled in volumes over the mountain-tops;
their summits still bright and snowy, but the lower parts of an
inky blackness. The rain began to patter down in broad and
scattered drops; the wind freshened and curled up the waves;
at length it seemed as if the bellying clouds were torn open by
the mountain-tops, and complete torrents of rain came rattling
down. The lightning leaped from cloud to cloud, and streamed
quivering against the rocks, splitting and rending the stoutest
forest trees. The thunder burst in tremendous explosions; the
peals were echoed from mountain to mountain; they crashed
upon Dunderberg, and rolled up the long defile of the highlands,
each headland making a new echo, until old Bull Hill seemed
to bellow back the storm.

For a time the scudding rack and mist, and the sheeted rain,

f

■ >

f

i

•>i

iHH

,;

1

1

m

niv

m
1

Among the Hills 365

almost hid the landscape from the sight. There was a fearful
gloom, illumined still more fearfully by the streams of lightning
which glittered among the rain-drops. Never had Dolph beheld
such an absolute warring of the elements; it seemed as if the
storm was tearing and rending its way through this mountain
dehle, and had brought all the artillery of heaven into action.

The vessel was hurried on by the increasing wind, until she
came to where the river makes a sudden bend, the only one in
the whole course of its majestic career. Just as they turned the
point, a violent flaw of wind came sweeping down a mountain
gully, bending the forest before it, and, in a moment, lashing up
the river into white froth and foam. The captain saw the
danger, and cried out to lower the sail. Before the order could
be obeyed, the flaw struck the sloop and threw her on her beam
end. This must have been the bend at West Point. Every-
thing now was fright and confusion: the flapping of the sails,
the whistling and rushing of the wind, the bawling of the cap-
tain and crew, the shrieking of the passengers, all mingled with
the rolling and bellowing of the thunder. In the midst of the
uproar the sloop righted; at the same time the mainsail shifted,
the boom came sweeping the quarter-deck, and Dolph, who was
gazing unguardedly at the clouds, found himself, in a moment,
floundering in the river.

In the year 1697 the northern boundary of Van
Cortlandt's manor was defined as running

unto the north side of a high hill called Anthony's Nose, to a
cedar tree which marks the southernmost bound of the land now
in the tenure of .Mr. Adolphe Philipse; and from the red cedar
tree another due easterly line running into the woods twenty
English miles.

The "land in the tenure of Mr. Adolphe PhiHpse,"
was the tract known as the Philipse patent in the High-
lands. Its northern boundary was the southern line
of the Beekman patent, " beginning at the north side

366 The Hudson River

of the Highlands." Adolphe PhiHpse was the son of
the lord of the lower manor of Philipsburg, who died
in 1702. From him the property descended to his
nephew Frederick, who, in 1751, died, leaving the
Highland patent to his children, Philip, Susannah,
Mary, and Margaret. Margaret died, her share going
to the survivors. The first thing these heirs did was
to take legal steps to bar the entail imposed by their
father. Susannah, who married Beverly Robinson,
conveyed her share to William Livingston, who recon-
veyed it to her husband. It was in his possession up
to the time of the Revolution, but was confiscated
after the war. The mansion in which Colonel Robin-
son and his wife lived was known as the Beverly house.
It stood at the foot of the Sugar- Loaf Mountain until
1892, when it w^as destroyed by fire. In this house
Arnold had his headquarters. There, with Hamilton
and Lafayette, just arrived to announce to the Com-
mander of West Point that Washington w^as about to
visit him, the traitor received the despatch announcing
Andre's capture, and it was here that Washington had
the affecting interview with the frantic Mrs. Arnold.

Mary Phili|_)se, who, if her admirers did not (and her
portraits did) belie her, was a singularly beautiful
woman, was the youngest of Frederick Philips 's sur-
viving heirs. She it was who married Roger Morris,
at the old Philipse house at Yonkers, and went to live
in the brave new mansion that her husband built for
her on Richmond Hill. Time, the juggler, sent Morris

■#1

O -r

o

Among the Hills 369

a fugitive to the Beverly house in the Highlands, while
Washington made his headquarters at the house on
Richmond Hill, and finally sent Robinson and Morris,
with all who belonged to them, overseas in exile.

The third share of the Patent, whieh went to Philip
Philipse, was left by him to his sons, of whom only
one, Frederick, survived. His daughter, Mary, mar-
ried Samuel Gouverneur. By them the major part of
the estate was sold, only the portion embracing Bull
Hill remaining in possession of their heirs.

Chapter XXIII
West Point

THE Military Academy at West Point is so much
an object of national pride to-day, that it is
a Httle hard to realise the difficulty that at-
tended its establishment, or the discouraging apathy
with which those who saw the necessity of such an
institution had to contend. Washington, among other
paternal responsibilities, must father the MiHtary
Academy, for the plan was his, though its accomplish-
ment was not immediately realised.

Indeed, though Washington, in his annual message
in 1793, strongly advised the founding of an academy,
the necessity for which had been so forcibly demon-
strated during the war, when his trained officers were
often chosen from among the ranks of foreign soldiers
of fortune, yet the recommendation had little or no
effect for several \^ears. Congress displayed its accus-
tomed dilatory spirit. It is true that some inadequate
provision for the instruction of a corps of cadets was
made during the following year, and spasmodic re-
vivals of the plan occurred at several subsequent dates
during the years 1798, 1800, and 1801. The Academy

West Point 37i

may properly be said to have begun its existence in
1802; yet from that date till 181 1 it lived "at a poor,
dying rate," part of the time under the tacit opjjtosi-
tion of the Secretary of War, till at the expiration of
that i^eriod, though the country was then on the eve
of a second war with England, there were actually no
cadets at West Point.

Not till hostilities had commenced did our dilatory
legislators wake to the necessity of prompt and de-
cisive measures for placing the Military Academy on
a broad and strong foundation. The number of cadets
was fixed, by an act passed in 181 2, at two hundred
and fifty, while the cor]:)S of teachers was increased.
Candidates were for the first time examined for admis-
sion to the Academy. Provision was also made for
the maintenance of the establishment and the projjer
instruction of the cadets in all branches of military
science. To Major Thayer, appointed Superintendent
in 1 8 1 7 , the Academy owes more than to any one man
for the ground j^lan of its s\'stem of work and the first
great impulse towards its present efficiency. He was
Superintendent for sixteen years, during which time
570 cadets were graduated, — men who were soon to
test the value of their instruction and training under
the skies of Mexico, where, in two campaigns, accord-
ing to General Scott's tribute, "we conquered a great
country and peace without the loss of a single battle
or skirmish."

In no war that has occurred within the knowledge

372 The Hudson River

of man has such a display of mihtary skill been ex-
hibited by the leaders on both sides, through a series of
operations of such magnitude and extending over so
long a period of time, as made the American Civil War
for ever memorable. We cannot forget that the list of
those who won distinction in that deplorable but un-
avoidable strife, in the Confederate as well as the Fed-
eral armies, was mainly from the roster of West Point
graduates. McClellan and Jackson, Burnside and
Beauregard, Hooker and Pemberton, Sherman and
Johnston, Grant and Lee, — the list rolls on. In blue
and grey, for conscience sake, they fought a good fight,
and fought it better because the old Academy with its
training was behind them.

The mihtary post at West Point formerly was dis-
tinct from the Academy, and, until 1842, was some-
times under separate command; but at that time
Congress very wisely put an end to contentions arising
from a conflict of rank and authority between the Com-
mander of the post and the Superintendent of the
Academy, by providing that the latter should also
command the post.

While the requirements for examination, both for
admission and graduation, have increased, and the
training has become more thorough and proportion-
ately severe with each decade of the history of "the
Point," the superstructure has been reared, as we have
already suggested, on the foundation laid by Major
Thayer. From the first, the tendency of the Academy

West Point 375

has been towards a spirit of democracy. Mere birth
counts for less here than perhaps in any other uni-
versity in the world, except our Naval Academy. It
is an article of faith among army men that West Point
graduates gentlemen, and yet it is conceded that not
fifty per cent, of the cadets are born of distinguished or
wealthy parents. The majority of the fathers of West
Pointers are wage-earners; but their sons, almost
without exception, go out after five years of training
the finest types of physical manhood that the race has
produced, with cultivated minds and poHshed manners,
and a splendid sense of honour. Take a man who can
ride, dance, fight, speak the truth in his own and sev-
eral other languages, and pass a stiff college examina-
tion, and 3'ou have the kind of man that West Point
is turning out b\^ the scores every year.

While the standards of physical, mental, and moral
excellence have been rigorously upheld at the Acad-
emv, and the instruction and drill have advanced with
the progress of the world in science, many of the
buildings erected at an earlier day, and still in use, have
become antiquated and insufficient. There are more
than a hundred and sixty buildings of all sorts. Among
the older ones are the north wing of the quadrangle,
built previous to 1851, and containing most of the
cadet quarters; the cadet mess-hall, erected in 1850,
of native granite; and the quaint riding-hall, with its
arched roof, that dates from 1855; while the Adminis-
tration and Academic buildings are more modern.

376 The Hudson River

The former is usually known as headquarters, contain-
ing the offices of Superintendent, Adjutant, Quarter-
master, etc. Opposite is the Academic building,
erected in 1891-95. It is, like the other, of granite,
and cost in round figures $500,000. It forms the
south side of the quadrangle, of which the cadet quar-
ters constitute the north and west sides.

The Cha]3el lies to the north of the Administration
and Academic buildings. It was built in 1836, and is
decorated within with flags, cannon, and other tro-
phies. Tablets honouring the memory of Washington's
generals are placed upon the walls, one alone being
remarkable from the fact that the name is erased, leav-
ing only the dates of birth and death. It is that for-
merly inscribed with the name of Benedict Arnold,
who tried to betray West Point to the British enemy.
Above the altar is a picture representing War and
Peace, ])ainted iDy Professor Wier, who at one time
was instructor in drawing at the Academy.

The Librar}^ a comparativeh' new and well-equipped
building, is the repository for some forty-five thousand
volumes. Of this collection, Mr. H. Irving Hancock,
in his recent book on West Point, says: " The a\'erage
annual appropriation of Congress is $3000 — an amount
decidedh^ inadequate to the maintenance of the library
of the foremost military academy in the world."

Our space is insufficient for the mention of all the
structures devoted to the use of the national school,
or even for a description of the notable statues and

West Point z-]-]

monuments that adorn the grounds. But not to be
passed over without notice is the classic structure of
purest Greek design, in pink granite, that stands on
the edge of the plain overlooking the river. It is the
Memorial Hall, provided for in the will of General
CuUum, and cost above $2 50.000. It is a museum of
war trophies and memorials, besides containing the
large and beautiful Assembly Hall and the Thayer
Hall, fitted with a stage and all the accessories of a w^ell-
a])pointed theatre.

The conditions of good work ha\'e grown more ex-
acting with every year, till the Academy has been
cramped for the lack of modern facilities and equip-
ment. The barracks have been overcrowded and in-
sufficiently furnished with such conveniences as light,
water, and heat. The cavalry and artillery drill-room
and grounds have proved inadequate to the needs of
the school ; the lecture-rooms and laboratories are too
small, and are constantly overcrowded, and all of the
scientific departments are cramped.

To meet the demands that have so obvioush^ grown
out of the real needs of the institution. Congress, dur-
ing May, 1902, voted in confirmation of a bill calling
for the appropriation of five million dollars to be
expended principalh' in new buildings and topograph-
ical improvements at West Point. The additions when
completed will include an extension of the barracks, a
new academic building, a power-house, officers' mess
hall, chapel, cavalry and artillery barracks and stables,

37^ The Hudson River

additions to several of the buildings now in use, and
an enlargement of the plain for purposes of cavalry
and artillery drill. But it has been wisely considered
inadvisable to destroy the old buildings now in use or
make any radical changes in their structure or arrange-
ment. They are the witnesses of a hundred years,
connected with the names of the nation's heroes, and
rich with the traditions of successive generations of
brave men. In spite of the fact, or it may be because
of the fact, that we are not a soldier people, the senti-
ment of the nation centres at West Point more really
than even at the White House or the Capitol. Per-
haps no nation on earth has ever seen a case parallel
to that of the United States, that has gone through
most of its history without a standing army worthy
of mention, yet has persistently trained men (as few
men have ever been trained elsewhere) in all the sci-
ence of war and the practice of manly exercises, to find
them in the hour of national stress the nucleus of an
army of unexcelled strength. Within the confines of
the Military i\cademy at West Point the United States
has concentrated its standing army. Because the
knowledge of this fact appeals to our imagination, and
also for another reason, that the Academy is the con-
crete symbol of that altar of patriotism upon which so
great a treasure of blood has been ofi^ered, it has be-
come to us a place of sacred associations.

We have seen how both of the contending parties in
the Revolution recognised the military importance of

West Point 379

the Highlands. The contest for the possession of
Forts CUnton and Montgomery was iUustrative of the
desire of the British to wrest the control of this natural
gateway of the river from the Americans, and the
resolution of Washington and his generals to main-
tain, as long as ])ossible, a supremacy upon which so
much depended. It is not too much to say that the
loss of the Highlands of the Hudson would probably
have meant the downfall of the Continental cause.
Never but once during that long struggle for freedom
did the patriot army temporarily lose this point of
vantage: that was when, after the reduction of the
forts by Sir Henry Clinton in October, 1777, the
chcvaux-dc-frisc and other obstructions were cleared
away, the Americans hastily evacuated Forts Inde-
pendence and Constitution, and the British fleet sailed
up the river as far as Kingston. It was a destructive
progress, but without lasting results, as the surrender
of Burgoyne, on the 17th of that month, rendered
abortive the plan to co-operate with him from the
south.

At the time of this reverse to the American arms.
Fort Putnam was not yet completed, and West Point,
as we know it, cannot be said to have existed. The
four defences already mentioned were all that had
then been erected. Fort Constitution was on the
island opposite West Point, from which place one of
Putnam's numerous chains was stretched. Its insu-
lar character can hardly be recognised to-day, as the

38o

The Hudson River

marshes between it and the eastern shore of the river
have gradually filled up and now appear as meadow-
land. The old house, about which the home of the
Warner sisters was built in the course of years, was of
colonial date and was used at one time as headquarters
by the commander of the American forces in the
Highlands.

WEST POINT IN 1780
(Front an old print)

When Arnold was in command of West Point, he
made his home in the old "Beverly" house, to which
we have had occasion to refer. Beverly Robinson was
serving in the British army, with the rank of Colonel;
and the State of New York had confiscated his prop-
erty. The overtures made to Arnold, the negotia-
tions that led to the ruin of Major Andre, the sad story
of the downfall of a man who had proved himself a
brave soldier and a competent General, are surely the
most familiar details of the War for Independence. Yet,

West Point 381

in sj)ite of repetition, the dramatic incidents of that
September morning that saw the confusion of the trait-
or's plans can never stale. What impulse of chance or
Providence led Washington, with Knox and Lafayette,
to change his i)lan of breakfasting with Arnold, baffles
conjecture. We onh' know^ that the General and his
aides turned aside to inspect some fortifications and
sent a note to apprise Arnold of the fact, and that in
that \'erv hour Colonel Jameson s fatuous letter, in-
forming him of Andre's capture, was delivered to him
as he sat at the breakfast table with his wife.

The mine had exploded beneath Arnold's feet; yet in this
awful moment he gave an evidence of that quickness of mind
which had won laurels for him when in the path of duty. Con-
trolling the dismay which must have smitten him to the heart,
he beckoned Mrs. Arnold from the breakfast table, signifying a
wish to speak with her in private. When alone with her in her
room up-stairs, he announced in hurried words that he was a
ruined man and must instantly fly for his life! Overcome by
the shock, she fell senseless to the floor. Without pausing to
aid her, he hurried down-stairs, sent the messenger to her assist-
ance, probably to keep him from an interview with the other
officers; returned to the breakfast-room and informed his guests
that he must haste to West Point to prepare for the reception
of the commander-in-chief; and, mounting the horse of the
messenger, wiiich stood saddled at the door, galloped down by
what is still called Arnold's Path, to the landing-place, where
his six-oared barge was moored. Throwing himself into it, he
ordered his men to pull out into the middle of the river, and
then made down with all speed.

Another hour revealed the treachery, but the traitor
was out of reach.

382 The Hudson River

The landing where Arnold kept his barge in readi-
ness for such an emergency as he was finally compelled
to face was where a jutting promontory makes out
into the river above Anthony's Nose.

The Catholic Institute, formerly a hotel, that forms
a conspicuous landmark south of the Point, has been
the resting-place for many a distinguished visitor in
years gone by. About 1850, Willis wrote to his
friend and partner, Morris, as follows:

Within a stone's throw from the portico of the hotel, upon a
knoll half hidden with trees, stands one of the most beautiful
structures, of its kind, in this country — a stone church, of Eng-
lish rural architecture, built by the painter, Robert Weir. The
story of its construction is a touching poem. When Mr. Weir
received ten thousand dollars from the government for liis pict-
ure on the panel of the Capitol, he invested it, untouched, for
the benefit of his three children. On the death of these children
— all three — soon after, the money reverted to him, but he had
a feeling which forbade him to use it. Struck with the favour-
ableness of this knoll under the mountains as a site for a place
of worship, much needed by the village nearby, he applied for it
to Mr. Cozzens, on whose property it stood, and who at once
made a free gift of it for the purpose. The painter's taste and
heart were set to work, and with the money left him by his child-
ren and contributions from General Scott and others, he erected
this simple and beautiful structure, as a memorial of hallowed
utility. Its bell for evening service sounded a few minutes ago
— the tone selected, apparently, with the taste which governed
all, and making sweet music among the mountains that look
down upon it.

Willis is so quotable that another excerpt from an-
other letter to his "Dear Morris" may be forgiven.

West Point 383

This time he is writing of " the grey- tailed l^ird of war"
of his section of the nineteenth century :

Speaking of grey coats, I understand, at the Point, that this
classic uniform of the miHtary Academy is to be changed to a
blue frock. It will be a sensible and embellishing alteration,
and the cadets will look more like reasoning adults and less like
plover in pantaloons — but what is to become of all the tender
memories, "thick as leaves in Vallambrosa," which are con-
nected with that uniform only? What belle of other days ever
comes back to the Point without looking out upon the Parade
from the windows of the hotel and indulging in a dreamy recall
of the losing of her heart, pro tciii., on her first summer tour, to
one of those grey-tailed birds of war? A flirtation with a grey-
coat at the Point is in every pretty woman's history, from
Maine to Florida. Suppress those tapering swallow-tails!
Whv, it would be a moulting of the feathers of first loves, which
will make a cold shiver throughout the Union. I doubt whether
the blue frock, with its similarity to the coats of common mor-
tals, will ever acquire the same mystic irresistibleness which
has belonged to that uniform of grey. The blue may be ad-
mired, but the pepper-and-salt of other days will be perpetuated
in poems.

Upon the rising ground near Fort Chnton, a memor-
able fete, attended by the civil and military officers of
high rank in the United States, occurred in 1785. The
occasion was the birth of the Dauphin of France, and
Washington presided over an assemblage that was
bright with the beauty of what Griswold called "the
Republican court." With whatever of splendour the
resources or the taste of the time could accomplish,
the celebration took place, for the gratitude of the
lately liberated country towards France was still keen
and the desire to do honour to the heir to her throne,

384 The Hudson River

though somewhat at variance with the sentiment of
a democratic declaration, was yet strong and spontan-
eous. Who, at that time of rejoicing and congratula-
tions, could anticipate the horror and mystery that
would afterwards surround the fate of this ro\-al
infant ? History has related the imprisonment of the
Dauphin, after the downfall of his ill-fated house, has
told of the cruelty of the brutish Simon, and has re-
corded the prince's death from a scrofulous affection
induced by the filth and malnutrition which made his
lot more to be pitied than that of the meanest peasant
in the land. History, however, asserts this denoue-
ment with less assurance since the publication, half a
century ago, of the story of the Rev. Eleazer Williams.
In 1850, a strong claim w^as advanced that Mr. Williams,
of Green Bay, Wisconsin, an adopted member of an
Indian tribe and afterwards a missionary among that
people, was none other than Louis XVII.. long thought
to be dead. There was a curious succession of evid-
ences, sufficient to convince many astute men, in
support of this claim, which Mr. Williams himself be-
lieved, though he made no attempt to take advantage
of his supposed birthright. Our limited space will not
permit the discussion of this interesting subject, which
the reader will find amply set forth in periodicals of
the years 1850-52.

Fort Putnam is one of the most celebrated and, in
some respects, the most attractive of the military re-
mains of the Revolutionary period at the Point. It

West Point 385

was built upon a spur six hundred feet above the level
of the river, and so situated that it commands an
extensive view of the water and of the Highlands on
both sides. It is somewhat back of the Point, and,
though long since disused by troops, its parapets and
several of its ancient casemates are still preserved.

"The spot where Kosciusko dreamed" is still a
place where the young man may see visions not less
exalted than those of the liberty-loving Pole. Among
the mementos of many battle-fields, the trophies of
man}' victories, and reminders of the fame of captains
whose lives were gloriously spent for the salvation of
the State, the feet of those who in their turn shall lead
now tread the daily round of discipline.

Before West Point the river is a lake, across which
a miniature ferry-boat plies from Garrison's, upon the
eastern shore. From that inconsiderable elevation no
inlet or outlet to the placid and beautiful sheet of
water is visible. It was here, in a time long past, that
Fanny Kemble loved to row her boat, mooring it in
some attractive little cove along shore when the heat
became burdensome. A brook that flows into the bay
north of Garrison's was a favourite haunt of hers, and
the cascade that for years had been known as Indian
Falls was afterwards rechristened Fanny Kemble 's
Bath. Only a short distance from this stream and
almost directly east of Constitution Island is the
house owned by Clara Louise Kellogg. Beyond Cold-
spring, with its smoking foundry and wharf, at the

386 The Hudson River

very foot of Bull Hill is Morris's Undercliff. Opposite,
old Cro'nest lifts its rugged brow fourteen hundred feet
in air. Above them still are Storm King, upon the
west, and Breakneck on the east shore, making the
upper gate of the Highlands. In that curious jour-
nal of a voyage up the Hudson in 1769 which we have
the good fortune to publish in this volume, the reader
will notice that the name " Broken Neck Hill" appears,
and a glance at the camel-like profile of the mountain
in question will go far toward convincing one that the
later name, "Breakneck," is a corruption of a title
that was really descriptive. The name Breakneck
might be applied with equal propriety to any of the
steep-sided promontories along the rock-wall of the
Highlands.

Uninteresting in many respects as Coldspring is to
those not immediately concerned in foundry work, it
has contributed its share to national military strength,
having been for years engaged in the production of
ordnance for the United States army and navy.

Chapter XXIV

The Fisher's Reach

IT is as difficult now to get beyond the Highlands as
it was in 1777. Instead of the chevaux-dc-frise,
chains, and fortresses with which Sir Henry Clin-
ton had to contend, we are stayed by the no less im-
perative challenge of natural beauty, at once majestic
and imique; while the imagination carries by assault
the heights that are buttressed with historic associa-
tions and garrisoned with legions of romantic fancies.
We hear in the thunder that reverberates from crag
to crag the echo of long silent artillery; we see in the
mists of morning the smoke of British guns, and under
the downright rays of noon seem to distinguish the
entrenchments of patriotic levies. But when night
falls the mysterious significance of nature asserts a
sway that is stronger than embattled arms and older
than history. Then the passions and the conquests of
man are forgotten and the abiding mystery of imme-
morial hills possesses the soul. The pen of Irving has
fixed on an inimitable page the subtle charm of a
nio^ht in the Hio^hlands:

390 The Hudson River

The moon had just raised her silver horns above the round
back of old Bull Hill, and lit up the grey rocks and shagged
forests, and glittered on the waving bosom of the river. The
night-dew was falling, and the late gloomy mountains began to
soften and put on a grey, aerial tint in the dewy light. The
hunters stirred the fire, and threw on fresh fuel to qualify the
damp of the night -air. Thev ^hen prepared a bed of branches
and dry leaves under a ledge of rocks for Dolph ; while Antony
Vander Heyden, wrapping himself in a huge coat of skins,
stretched himself before the fire. It was some time, however,
before Dolph could close his eyes. He lay contemplating the
strange scene before him: the wild woods and rocks around;
the fire throwing fitful gleams on the faces of the sleeping sav-
ages; and the Heer Antony, too, who so singularly, yet vaguely,
reminded him of the nightly visitant to the haunted house.
Now and then he heard the cry of some animal from the forest ;
or the hooting of the owl; or the notes of the whippoorwill,
which seemed to abound among these solitudes ; or the splash of
a sturgeon leaping out of the river and falling back full-length
on its placid surface.

It is said to have been an old custom among the
river skippers to christen new hands by sousing them
in the current when near Pollopel's Island, and this
was done ostensibly because it was supposed to make
the victim immune against the goblins that were well
known to haunt every available spot on the river
shore, but especially the tree-shaded, bush-grown rock
that guards the northern Highland gate. It may be
imagined that besides affording protection to the
apprentice, the ducking also gratified the love for horse-
play that has always distinguished sailors of every
degree, and for that reason did not fall into disuse till
the popular belief in goblins was well-nigh obsolete.

The Fisher's Reach 393

Pollopel's has long been considered as a haunted
spot, especially infested by the evil s])irits that in time
of storm fly with the storm through the Highlands.
In this particular it resembles the Duyvel's Dans
Kamer. Crtiger's Island, on the contrary, enjoys the
distinction of never having been visited by death, even
down to the present day.

Above the Highlands, on the western shore of the
river, the northern slope of vStorm King declines into
a bluff that is broken by numerous ravines, each at
some time the bed of a watercourse. It is here that
the village of Cornwall, with its many literary asso-
ciations, pursues the quiet and orderly tenor of life.
It w^as a secluded and almost unknown hamlet till it
secured for the trumpeter of its delights a poet and a
nature lover.

At Idlewild, now part of Cornwall, the poet settled
down to a life of busy idleness. He had been driven
back to Eden, to borrow Mr. Roe's phrase, and he pro-
posed to make the most of it. He superintended the
laying-out of paths, the building of roads and dams;
he cultivated the acquaintance of trees and wild
flowers, protected the birds, and evinced a kindly fel-
lowship for the frogs. To many of those who have
read Willis's work, no part of it seems more satisfac-
tory than the chatty, personal chronicle of nature
happenings, the unforced record of his surroundings,
as they appeared in the old Home Jotirual. It is
difficult to estimate our indebtedness to him for his

394 The Hudson River

example of appreciation in a field where most of
his countrymen were stolidly tmappreciative.

Bryant went into the woods with uncovered head
and found them cathedrals. His trees were all gothic
columns, that ranged themselves in dim, churchly
aisles. Autumn was a holy festival, and a pool in the
woods was a sort of stoup of holy water. Drake went
into the woods to find a background for a fairv tale.
But Willis bought a glen with a brook in it, built his
dams and bridges, delighted to note that his chestnut
fence-posts sprouted, scraped acquaintance with feath-
ered or furry neighbours, and loved his hemlock trees
as though they had been human friends. To a genera-
tion whose eyes had not been educated to see, and who
generally understood that the country was designed by
Providence as the place in which to raise corn and
potatoes, his letters were a revelation. They were the
better for being reportorial rather than philosophical.

If, from some dust}^ shelf corner, you take down a
copy of Out-Doors at Idlcwild, blow the dust of years
from it, and settle yourself to read, you may presently
say, " Burroughs would have done this better, or Brad-
ford Torrey that." Very possibly. Please to recol-
lect that Willis did it first.

To-day every man — lawyer, physician, clergyman,
hack, storekeeper, or clerk — finds his way at least once
a year into the country, where he follows his patron
prophet, who has pointed out what he should enjoy
and appreciate. The beauties of nature are now as

The Fisher's Reach 395

com|)letcly labelled as the trees in Central Park, but
half a century ago the man who could write those old
letters to the Home Journal was a discoverer. Those
who attempted at first to follow him went in patent-
leather boots; they scrambled in broadcloth over the
rocks, and knocked silk hats against the branches ; but
it was a beginning.

The enchanted glen that has been famous for half a
century, under the name of Idlewild, has escaped with
marvellous strange fortune the destroying influences
that have assailed so many Meccas. The house which
the poet owned is to-day unaltered in any essential
feature. The i)resent holder of its title-deeds deserves
the gratitude of those who have frequent occasion to
deplore the demolition of local shrines. He has mine.

My cottage at Idlewild [wrote Willis] is a pretty type of the
two lives they live who are wise — the life in full view, which the
world thinks all, and the life out of sight, of which the world
knows nothing. You see its front porch from the thronged
thoroughfares of the Hudson, but the grove Ijehind it overhangs
a deep down glen, tracked but by my own tangled paths, and
the wild torrent which by turns they avoid and follow.

That description, which might have been written yes-
terday, has been applicable for nearly fifty years.
Other hands trim the lawns and repair the drives;
other eyes enjoy the beauty of the successive years of
growth and development, but the place is still "Wil-
lis's Idlewild," as though its earlier tenant

— held in mortmain still his old estate.

39^ The Hudson River

The drives are probably better kept and the lawns
better groomed than they were in the early fifties, and
the shade trees are taller and more dense ; but one step
aside over the edge of the wooded declivity instantly
translates the pilgrim into a "land of faery," where
the hand of man has not interfered except with the
consummate art that conceals art.

From the commencement of the descent the sound
of the stream far below comes up through the rustling
foliage. The tops of the trees that grow along the
bottom of the glen are below the level of the eye, and
the crowding companies of birch and hemlock, chest-
nut and maple, swarm the hillside.

The glen of Idlewild [Willis said] is but a morning's ramble
in extent — a kind of Trenton Falls for one — but its stream, fall-
ing over a hundred feet within one's own gate, and sometimes a
cataract that would bring down a lumber sloop or raft; it has
varieties of charm that will at least occupy what loving I have
time for.

Step by step in a zigzag course the visitor gets
toward that stream that is "sometimes a cataract,"
and, with every moment the remoteness from human
life increases. If it was ever true that " Idlewild is
getting fast peopled with the viewless crowd that will
make haunted ground of it," the gentle ghosts must
have departed with him for whom they first appeared.
I could imagine Willis there — Willis and the Irishman
who wielded axe and spade at his command; but the
people he had conjured into the glen are all gone —

The Fisher's Reach 397

astral bodies and all. However, expectation looked
for the obese old toad that used to sit in the middle of
the path and moved reluctantly at a stranger's ap-
proach, and peered over to see whether the great
freshet of 1853 had left any discernible marks on the
tree tmnks, and hoped with every tread to hear the
whirr of frightened quail.

No one — not Willis or any other — could do justice
to the beauty of the stream that is the chief charm of
the glen. To a])preciate its hurryings and haltings, its
cascades and pools, its encompassing boulders and
bridging tree trunks, one must see and hear it. Far
off, in a world that is out of sight, on that level a hun-
dred feet or so above the stream, there are people. A
hundred miles could not make their remoteness more
complete. The trees are full of singing and calling
birds, the banks covered with ferns and wild flowers;
the solitude is that of a beautiful wilderness.

What Idlewild was in its prehistoric days we may
conjecture from a letter written by its master in Feb-
ruary, 1854:

We were fortunate enough to identify yesterday a mysterious
inmate of Idlewild, who lias been the subject of a great deal
of discussion. . . . Summer before last the ox-drag
turned up ... a spirited bust, carved in grey rock.
The crown of the head was broken off, but the lower part
of the face remained, and the neck and shoulders and the
fold of drapery across the breast were still complete. The
design was that of a head turned aside with a look of aroused
attention, and to me it seemed exceedingly expressive and well
conceived.

398 The Hudson River

He goes on to relate how this reHc gradually was de-
graded into a mere hat-rack, until our friend Copway,
the Ojibbeway Chief

. stopped surprised before the nameless bust on the
hat-stand. " What! " he said; "you have an Indian god there? "
He looked a httle closer, as I told him how we had found it.
" It is the god of the winds and the birds," he continued — " Mesa-
ba-wa-sin."

Mesa-ba-wa-sin still presides in spirit and fact over
the glen, and his altars are everywhere. The wood-
thrush and the vireo sing his praises still, and the wake
robins are proxies for his redskin worshippers.

There is a pathetic side to the Idlewild days. In
many of the cheery, entertaining letters, and increas-
ingly toward the last, there is an acknowledgment of
illness. The man who wrote them was nearing the
end of life, and he knew it. A consumptive, whose
work and pleasure alike were frequently interrupted
by the setbacks peculiar to that disease; prevented
by weakness from participation in man}^ of the activ-
ities of life ; feeling the ground slipping from under his
feet month by month, WilHs uttered no note of de-
spondency or alarm. He was like a swimmer striking
out for a receding shore and singing till the water over-
whelmed him.

It is meet that there should be an indissoluble con-
nection in the thoughts of readers between his name
and that of the little spot of earth that he loved so well
and where his last days were spent.

The Fisher's Reach 401

The stream into which Idlewild brook flows and
which itself meanders between banks that are a per-
petual temptation to the artist, finally finds its way
to the Hudson under the trestles of a railroad bridge.
That is Moodna. Moodua, or Murderer's Creek. The
last and least attracti\'e name is, of course, the one on
which a tradition depends — the story of the compas-
sion of a red man, the steadfast loyalty of a woman,
and the lust for blood that has seemed at times an
uncontrollable instinct with the Indian.

A family named Murdoch lived near the mouth of
the stream and frequently welcomed to their cabin an
Indian called Naoman, who showed great friendliness
towards them. In some wa\' Murdoch had incurred
the hatred of the men of Naoman 's tribe, who resolved
to kill the whole family. The faithful friend managed
to impart this news, at the same time obtaining a
promise that his action should never be betrayed.

Murdoch and his family stole away at night and
took a boat to escape through the Highlands, but
when passing Pollopel's Island a canoe put out and
gave chase. Murdoch with his rifle succeeded in kill-
ing several of the occupants of the canoe, but was fin-
ally overcome, and he, with his wife and children, were
carried in triumph to the Indian village. The chief
demanded of the wife of Murdoch the name of the
one who had warned them, threatening her husband
and children with instant death if she withheld it;
but the heroic woman refused to answer. Then

402 The Hudson River

Naoman stepped forward and acknowledged that he
was the guilty one. He was immediately struck down,
and the savages, rendered furious by the sight of
blood, rushed upon the captives and slew them every
one, casting their bodies into the creek.

A small company of German Palatines, by the fav-
our of Queen Anne and under the escort of Governor
Lovelace, crossed the ocean in 1709 and settled where
is now the city of Newburgh. Directed by their pas-
tor, the able and beloved Kocherthall, they formed a
colony which struggled for nearly forty years against
the hardships incident to frontier life and the en-
croachments of incoming neighbours. At last they
abandoned the homes they had made, being greatly
dissatisfied, and a majority of them migrated to Penn-
sylvania. Incidentally it may be observed that, in
spite of their many noble and sterling qualities, the
Palatines seem to have been uncomfortable neigh-
bours, difficult to please and prone to nourish a sense
of injury. The attempt to colonise them in the New
Forest in England was a failure, the Newburgh ex-
periment was a failure, the settlements at East and
West Camps, hereafter to be noticed, were scenes of
bewailing and protests against the bad faith of those
who had taken them, a band of homeless, penniless
exiles, and had spent many thousands of pounds for
their transportation and maintenance. For that in-
vestment they certainly seemed unwilling to make
return.

The Fisher's Reach 405

The few who remained in Newburgh after the ex-
odus of their brethren seem to have been immediately
in\-olved in a dispute with their new neighbours, the
subject being the possession of the church building.
This discussion terminated with the death of the Pala-
tine leader, who was crushed by a falling door.

Among the peculiar features of Newburgh 's history
is the fact that the "rude forefathers" of that hamlet
were not generall\' Dutchmen. To the German settle-
ment were soon added English, Irish, and Huguenot
pioneers.

Though not equal in antiquity to the towns near the
mouth of the river, or yet higher up. in the neighbour-
hood of Albany, Newburgh enjoys the distinction of
being the oldest settlement in Orange County. It was
shortly followed b}' the planting of New Windsor, two
miles below, that for some time was Newburgh s rival
in size and importance.

What the Orange County metropolis lacks in earh^
history is more than made up by the importance of
later events. It is to the story of Washington and the
Revolution what Camelot was to the i\rthurian legends.
Here, during the long, gloomy months that preceded
the dawn of American independence, the great chief of
the Continental army fought and won his greatest
battles — fought the growing and just indignation of
that army against a dilatory and ungrateful Congress,
fought the spectres of want and care, fought the fool-
ish, fond enthusiasm of his own generals when they

4o6 The Hudson River

clamoured to make him king. In the whole great
round of national history there is no incident so heroic
as Washington's refusal of the crown that was offered
him in the old Hasbrouck house at Newburgh.

From almost the very beginning of the war, both
the British and patriot leaders saw the necessity for
controlling the river at Newburgh. It was, after the
reduction of Fort Washington and the subsequent
eruption of British war-vessels into the waters south
of the Highlands, the only available ferry for the Amer-
ican troops that were hurried now east, now west, to
relieve New England and New Jersey or Pennsylvania
in turn, and compensate by their rapidity of move-
ment for the pitiful inadequacy of every division of
Washington's army. With that communication bro-
ken, that army must have been almost hopelessly
crippled.

The American military force in the Revolution
consisted of three distinct grades or classes of sol-
diers: the regulars, known as continentals; the levies,
drafted either from militia regiments or from the
people; and the militia. The continentals were long-
term men, always under arms, commanded by the
chief of the army — in a word, professional soldiers.
The levies were drawn for a short term, but could be
called upon for service outside of their own State as
well as in it. They were an inconvenient, not to say
exasperating compromise between civilians and sol-
diers, at critical times nearly always reaching the limit

The Fisher's Reach 407

of their enhstment and going cahiily away home,
leaving their commander imi^otent for offence or de-
fence. This seemed to happen whene\'er a body of
levies had been licked into something resembling sol-
dierly shape. As for the militia, its members could
only be called upon for three months' consecutive serv-
ice outside of the State in which they were enlisted.
They were called out and disbanded as the exigencies
of war demanded, and were nearly as a])t to leave a
cannon in a ditch as a plough in a furrow. But they
were frequently good, serviceable soldiers in spite of
the miserable system under which they served, and
they sprang, armed, from the soil whenever a pressing
occasion presented itself. It was the militia and the
levies that enabled the commanding general to throw
reinforcements into the scale of battle when his little
army of regulars was hard ])ressed. The\' were to the
British always an unknown riuantity, and set calcula-
tions at naught. When Gates needed a larger force
of men to oppose to Burgoyne, Clinton sent him the
farmer-soldiers of Ulster County — men of mingled
Dutch and German blood — to complete the auxiliary
force.

On the sole occasion upon which the war-shi])s of
the British penetrated the Highlands and for a short
time controlled the whole of the navigable i:)art of the
Hudson in 1777, their commander held in his hands
the destiny of America.

Had Sir Henrv Clinton succeeded in establishine a

4o8 The Hudson River

conjunction with Burgo}'ne, or in hemming Gates be-
tween the force he had brought to bay at Saratoga and
the victorious army from the south, the wisest general-
ship and the most hardy valour would hardly have
sufficed to save the American cause.

Even with the foregone defeat of Burgoyne, Clinton
must have retired with deep regret, for he could not
have been l3lind to the supreme importance of retain-
ing the mastery that had been won by his expedition
against the forts. From a military standpoint, that
expedition, though brilliant in execution, was product-
ive of no permanent results. Yet it would have been
worth almost an\' effort or sacrifice to have held the
river. Granting the numerical superiority of the
Americans on shore, it does not seem impossible that
a man of greater genius than Sir Henr}^ Clinton might
haA^e maintained an effectual blockade with his fleet
U]3on the river.

Upon the military road of which the Newburgh
ferry was so important a feature, not only troops, but
waggon-trains and artillery were continually being
moved. Most of the material for carr}^ing on the war
came through New England, her ports being the only
ones then available and was transported by way of
Fishkill and Newburgh, and so back of the Highlands
on the west shore, and southward.

When, on the 4th of April, 1782, Washington finally
established his headquarters in the famous old house
that Jonathan Hasbrouck built in 1750, the battle of

The Fisher's Reach

41

Yorktown had been fought and the tidings of the sur-
render of Corn\\-anis had been received bv Lord North
" as a bullet in his heart." Rochambeau was now left
in command in New Jersey, and the chief settled him-
self with the army at Newburgh for those last weary
months of waiting for the definite estaljlishment of
peace. Should the enemy again become actively en-
gaged, the importance of retaining control of the Hud-
son would not be less than formerl}'.

The Commander was accompanied by his wife and
military family, and lived at Newburgh till the latter
part of the succeeding year. The old house, which is
in an excellent state of preservation and is used as a
repository for military relics, is upon a little plateau
commanding a comj^rehensive view of the river, par-
ticularh^ where it flows between the towering hills that
form the northern gatewa}' of the Highlands.

The cottage has six rooms, besides the hall and
kitchen. From the small i)iazza or "stoop" u]:»on the
east, the entrance is into a large room, to which six
other doors furnish ingress, while the one small window
affords a subdued light. There is, on the south side
of this room, a noble fireplace, where an ox might have
been roasted whole. The visitor, standing upon the
hearth, can see the sky through the chimne\'-to]:). The
walls of the house are of stone, two feet thick, and
the hewn rafters are of savoury cedar.

Knox, Greene, Wayne, Hamilton, Steuben, Morris —
how the ghosts gather about that old table and train

412 The Hudson River

their soldier wit to gallantr}^ while the wife of their
chief presides over the tea urn, or gravely discuss,
after her retirement, the matters that have pre-emi-
nency in American history. It was while living at
Newburgh that Washington narrowly esca]3ed capture
by an envoy of Sir Henry Clinton — at least, so the
legend runs. A man named Ettrick lived with his
daughter in a secluded valley to the south of head-
quarters ; a place known as the Vale of Avoca. It was
at the head of a long, narrow bay, but though only a
short distance, as the bird flies, from the Hasbrouck
cottage, it could only be reached by the road after
making a detour of nearly two miles. Here the chief
was in the habit of going upon occasion, and Ettrick
had planned to seize him with the aid of several con-
federates and take him out into the river before the
alarm could be given. Fortunately, Ettrick s daugh-
ter betrayed her father's plan and preserved the tenor
of history.

The condition of the army so soon to be disbanded
moved Washington to expressions of emotion that
sovmd strange coming from one whose reserve and self-
control were proverbial. His letter to the Secretary
of War, wrung from him by his deej) sense of the
injury sustained by the army through the neglect of
Congress, was, from such a pen as his, an epistle of
singular intensity.

Under present circumstances, when I see a number of men
goaded by a thousand stings of reflections on the past and an-

The Fisher's Reach 4^3

ticipations of the future about to ])e turned on the world, forced
by penury and by what they call the ingratitude of the public,
involved in debt, without one farthing to carry them home,
after spending the flower of their days, and many of them their
patrimonies, in establishing the freedom of their country, and
suffering everything this side death — I repeat it — when I con-
sider these irritating circumstances, without one thing to soothe
their feelings or dispel their prospects, I can not avoid appre-
hending that a train of evils will follow of a very serious and
distressing nature. . . . You may rely upon it the patriot-
ism and long-suffering of this army is well-nigh exhausted, and
there never was so great a spirit of discontent as at present.

But however \-ehement his protest on l^ehalf of his
long-suffering soldiers, to them his counsels were tem-
perate and charged with lofty dignity. To them he
defended the rulers, and pledged his own w^ord that
right should be done.

When the paper, drawn up and signed by officers
who had stood at his side through the darkest of the
conflict, informed this man of kingly nature that they
w^ould have him king in name and fact, grief and in-
dignation contended for mastery in his breast.

It is with a mixture of surprise and astonishment [so his
answer ran] I have read the sentiments you have submitted for
mv perusal. Be assured, sir, no occurrences in the course of the
war have given me more painful sensations than your informa-
tion of there being such ideas existing in the army as you
have expressed, and which I must view with abhorrence and
reprehend with severity. I am much at a loss to conceive
what part of my conduct could have given encouragement
to an address which to me seems Ijig with the greatest mis-
chief that can befall my country. If I am not deceived in
the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to
whom your schemes are more disagreeable. Let me conjure

414 The Hudson River

you, then, as you have regard for your country, for yourself, or
posterity, or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your
mind.

Having, with infinite pains, kept in check the grow-
ing discontent of the soldiers on the one side, and the
ill-considered adulation of his officers on the other,
Washington at last reached the day when the order
disbanding the army must be given. It was issued on
the loth of April, 1783, in these terms:

The commander-in-chief orders the cessation of hostilities
between the United States of America and the King of Great
Britain to be publicly read to-morrow at 12 o'clock at the new
building, and the proclamation which will be communicated
herewith to be read to-morrow evening at the head of every
regiment and corps of the army. After which the chaplains
with the several brigades will render thanks to Almighty God
for all His mercies, particularly for His overruling the wrath of
men to His own glory, and causing the rage of war to cease
among the nations.

After noble admonitions addressed to the reason and
consciences of the men who had followed him so long,
the General proclaimed a day of jubilee and ordered
for every man an extra ration of grog. The last act
was an illumination on a gigantic scale, the watch-
fires on prominent hills blazing from huge stacks of
timber to announce the welcome tidings of peace to a
country that had trembled so long at the tramp of
armies and the roar of cannon.

Newburgh is a State repository for relics pertaining
to the Revolution, the war of 181 2, and other national
conflicts. The house that was so long used as head-

The Fisher's Reach 4^5

quarters by Washington is the centre of a little ])ark
that is open at all times to the ])u])lic. The old Senate
House at Kingston is similarly preserved, and it is
becoming yearly more and more a matter of local
pride in the various ri\'er towns to guard the reminders
of an historic past.

Xot onl\' is the feeling towards the preservation of
old buildings increasing, but thoughtful people are
alive to the necessity for vigorous action to protect
prominent natural landmarks. To sto]) the destruc-
tion being wrought by the d}'namite of the contractor
and save the Palisades from ultimate exodus through
the jaws of the stone-crusher, the Interstate Park Com-
mission was formed. After a great deal of hard work
and no little application of faith and patience, an ap-
propriation of four hundred thousand dollars was
secured from the State of New York and fifty thousand
from the State of New Jersey, and the result was
the establishment of the Palisades Park, which is in
charge of the Commission. Back of the Commission is
the American Scenic and Historic Preservation So-
ciety, organised first as a local New York association,
but now national in its scope. Either directly, or
through auxiliary societies, it has become the custodian
of public parks founded to preserve historic sites.

Thirty-three acres at Ston}' Point, covering the field
of Wayne's gallant exploit, were purchased by New
York State and delivered to the guardianship of the
Society for improvement and preservation.

Chapter XXV

Fishkill to Poughkeepsie

FROM Brinkerhoff's historical sketch of Fishkill
we learn that here was made the first ]:)ur-
chase of land in Dutchess County. The
buyers were Francis Rombout and Gulian VerPlanck,
and the date of the transfer of their property from the
Wappinger Indians was August, 1683. "Gulian Ver-
Planck died before the English patent was granted by
Governor Dongan ; Stephanus Van Cortlandt was then
joined in it with Rombout, and Jacobus Kipp sub-
stituted as the representative of the children of Gulian
VerPlanck." The tract contained seventy-six thou-
sand acres in Fishkill and nine thousand more within
the limits of the present town of Poughkeepsie.

The position of Fishkill in relation to Newburgh and
the ferry brought it into prominence during the War
for Independence. Hither flocked many refugees from
New York and Long Island, and the place became
naturally a repository for military stores. Here, at
the VerPlanck house. Baron Steuben had his head-
quarters; the Legislature held its sessions here before
going to Kingston. Here Lafayette lay ill of a fever,

416

Fishkill to Poughkcepsie 417

here Enoch Crosby was su]3posed to have been con-
fined in the cliurch, here Washington came, making the
old Brinkerhoff house his resting-place.

Back of Fishkill rises a ridge of lofty hills, still cov-
ered with forests in many places, the highest point
recently made accessible by the construction of an
"incline" railway that is nearly perpendicular. From
the summit the view is unsurpassed in extent and
\-ariety by any in New York State. From Beacon Hill
the huge watch-fires, lighted to give warning of the
approach of the enemy or to celebrate the advent of
peace, could be seen from the peaks of the Catskills,
the rugged tops of the Highlands, the hills of West-
chester, or the far-away elevations of Massachusetts
and New Hampshire.

On a level plateau at the base of the hills the en-
campment of the American army was at one time
situated; and fortified works, manned by detach-
ments from the camp, were placed upon hills that
commanded the approach. Here, after the battle of
White Plains, were brought the wounded soldiers,
many of whom lie in unidentified graves near the spot.
According to the writer c(uoted above, "Upon one of
the hills rising out of this mountain passway very
distinct lines of earthworks are still apparent. ' '

Fishkill Landing, Matteawan (so named from an
Indian sub-tribe), and Fishkill village are here grouped,
as they are in reality, under one name. Along with
Re\^olutionary story there is a later flavour of the

41 S The Hudson River

delightful conser\'ative life of old country families, with
traditions of wholesome living and hospitalitv to bal-
ance the inborn thrift of a race whose forebears wrested
their acres with pain and sweat of brow from the
abounding wilderness.

Modern Fishkill is generally known as a place where
brick-makers nourish a perennial strike and where hat
factories abound. It is stated with authorit}^ however,
that the idea of associating bricks with hats did not
originate in Fishkill.

Carthage lies about four miles to the north of Fish-
kill Landing. It was formerly known as Low Point,
to distinguish it from the High Point — New Hamburg
— two miles above. The latter village lies at the
mouth of Wappenger's (or Wappingi's) Creek, so named
from the Indians who once owned the land on the
east shore from this vicinity south to the island of
Manhattan.

From this point is the best view of that projection
upon the western shore that has borne from early
colonial times the significant name of den DnyvcVs
Dans Kauicr — the Devil's Dance Chamber. It is a
rock, half an acre in extent (an island by courtesy),
where formerly the Indians held their pow-wows.
Here, with wild, savage ceremonies, the imaginative
sons of the forest invoked their evil spirit. Under the
lead of their medicine-men they worked themselves
to a frenzy with violent dances and chanted invoca-
tions. According to the belief of the Dutch skippers.

Fishkill to Poughkeepsie 421

the devil appeared here to his \'otaries and set them
on when any ])articularly atrocious deed was to be
accomplished. The crew of Peter Stuyvesant, on pass-
ing this place in ascending the river, were " horribly
frightened by roystering devils," if we may believe the
sober narrative of Knickerbocker. The traditions re-
lating to this miniature island commenced when Hen-
drick Hudson made his voyage of discovery, and have
reached quite to the present day, for there are many
young men — not to mention maidens — who would
hesitate long before venturing to spend the lonely
hours of night in a solitary vigil on the Dans Kamer.

For some reason not >'et fathomed the spectre of
Kidd rises where\'er there is a remarkable rock or cove
on the river bank. Kidd's Rock appears on " Kings-
land's" Point at Tarry town, and again in the High-
lands. A futile attempt to discover a portion of his
treasure in a sunken wreck off the foot of the Dunder-
berg has already been alluded to, and the Dans Kamer
has been the scene of one or more similar endeavours
to possess the Spanish gold pieces with which he was
supposed to have recklessly planted the shores near
which he ma}^ have sailed.

But it is necessary to put away the childish things
of superstition and credulity before entering a city
long devoted to the work of disseminating knowledge.
Men that the nation has delighted to honour passed
their schooldays at the old Poughkeepsie Collegiate
School, that received its charter in 1836. It afterwards

422 The Hudson River

became the Riverview Academy, the change of name
corresponding with the removal from College Hill, the
old site, to Riverview. The Eastman College, devoted
to the work of preparing young men for business, has
also been long established and is widely known; but
to a great many thousands of educated women all over
the world Poughkeepsie means " Vassar. "

When Matthew Vassar conceived the idea of doing
something of public value with his wealth, he hit at
first u]3on the plan of erecting a monument. It should
be a thing to look and wonder at, something to com-
memorate the most important event in the historv of
the river, namely, its discovery. He would build a
monument to Henry Htidson. Some one suggested
Pollopel's Island as the proper location for such a
work, and Mr. Vassar, full of the project, announced
it in the local papers. To his disappointment no one
so much as spoke of it. and he then resolved to give
to the world a greater and worthier monument than
he at first imagined. So the first college in the world
to be devoted exclusively to the higher education of
women was founded. It solved in the only practical
wa}' a question that had been fruitlessly discussed for
years. Through all the ages there had been exception-
ally favoured women who had been specially trained,
in the way that men were trained, and had left such
records of intellectual achievement that the world gen-
erally regarded them as peculiar creatures, excessively
endowed. There was alwavs, in the minds of the ma-

Fishkill to PouL;"hkecpsie 423

jority even of educated men, a doubt whether the
whole fa]:)nc of social life would not go to pieces if
women were granted equal intellectual ad\'antages with
men, even supposing their brains could stand the strain.
To meet such objections the only effectual reph^ must
come in the way of an object-lesson, and this lesson
Vassar College has furnished.

It is situated two miles east of the city, on an ele-
vation of several hundred feet, though it is not seen

TOMPKINS COVE

from the river. To offer here a mere catalogue of its
extensive buildings, or such a meagre list of its advan-
tages as our space permits, would serve no jmrpose.
Its fame has gone out through all the world, and the
lessons it has taught have not all been included in its
regular curriculum of studies.

Matthew Vassar was born in England in 1792 and
was brought to America when four years old. He was

424 The Hudson River

consequently sixty-nine years of age when Vassar Col-
lege was incorporated in 1861.

At the old Huguenot village of New Paltz, on the
opposite side of the river from Poughkeepsie, is situ-
ated the State Normal School, and here recently a
number of young women from Cuba have been prepar-
ing for educational work in their own lately liberated
land.

Perhaps no writer who has lived on the Hudson has
linked so really a generation that has passed with the
men of to-day as John Bigelow, — author, editor, man
of affairs, representative of his countrymen both at
home and abroad. Mr. Bigelow, born in 181 7, had
taken an active part in the world's work and had
made a reputation in letters before many of the men
now before the public had seen the light. He was a
partner of William Cullen Bryant in the ownership of
the New York Evening Post in 1849, ^^^d was its man-
aging editor till called by Lincoln in 1861 to represent
the United States in France. He was afterwards Sec-
retary of State for New York and filled other important
offices. A member of the Chamber of Commerce, the
biographer of Bryant and of Franklin, trustee under
Samuel J. Tilden's will of several million dollars for the
proposed New York Public Library, and the editor of
Tilden's speeches, Mr. Bigelow 's stor}^ is one of many
and varied activities, and his personality has attracted
the friendship of the most distinguished men of his
times. He began his life at Maiden, N. Y., and

Fishkill to Poughkeepsie 425

finally retired to his delightful home near the shore of
the Hudson.

There is an Indian legend connected with the name
of Poughkeepsie, which is said to be derived from
the Mohegan word apo-kccp-sinck — " a safe and pleas-
ant harbour. ' ' Between the rocky bluffs called Slange
Klippe and Call Rock, the Fall Kill flowed into a bay
near which was formed the earliest nucleus of the vil-
lage. The hidian legend, giving a plausible genesis
to the name apo-kccp-sinck, is to the effect that a
Pequod warrior, being captured by some Delawares
and condemned to torture, was offered his liberty if
he would renounce his own tribe and become a mem-
ber of theirs. He rejected the proposition

and was bound to a tree for sacrifice, when a shriek from a
thicket startled the executioners. A young girl leaped before
them and implored his life. She was a captive Pequod, with
the turtle on her bosom, and the young chief was her affianced.
The Delawares consulted, when suddenly the war-whoop of
some fierce Hurons made them snatch their arms for defence.
The maiden severed the thongs that bound her lover, but in the
deadly conflict that ensued they were separated, and a Huron
chief carried off the captive as a trophy. Her affianced con-
ceived a bold design for her rescue, and proceeded immediately
to execute it. In the character of a wizard he entered the
Huron camp. The maiden was sick, and her captor employed
the wizard to prolong her life until he should satisfy his revenge
upon Uncas, her uncle, the great chief of the Mohegans. They
eluded the vigilance of the Hurons, fled at night, with swift feet,
towards the Hudson, and in the darkness shot out upon its
bosom, in a light canoe, followed by bloodthirsty pursuers. The
strong arm of the young Pequod paddled his beloved one
safely to a deep, rocky nook near the mouth of the Winnakee,

426 The Hudson River

concealed her there, and with a few friendly Delawares, whom he
had secured by a shout, he fought, conquered, and drove off the
Huron warriors. The sheltered nook where the maiden lay was
a safe harbour for her and the brave Pequod, and his friends joy-
fully confirmed its title of Apo-kcep-Siiick.

Should there be any so skejjtical as to question this
ingenious tale, he must l:)e allowed to cherish his douljt
unchallenged, for, unfortunately, there are no docu-
ments by which it may be verified.

It was a long time afterwards, quite near the close
of the seventeenth century, that the Dutch settled
Poughkeepsie. They not only discovered the little
safe harbour, but contrived more than twenty ways to
spell it, ultimately choosing the most difficult. Near
the spot where the Indians were supposed to have
landed, Baltus Van Kleeck built a stone house in the
year 1705. This house stood till after the Revolution,
and was used by the Legislature of New York after the
burning of Kingston. About 1835 it was torn down.

Poughkeepsie was incorporated as a city in 1854. It
early became the centre for the trade of Dutchess
County, which, it must be confessed, was at first but
meagre; but it was also connected by the Dutchess
turninke with Sharon, Conn., and thence with Litch-
field, and over this line the stages and market waggons
travelled with profitable frequency.

Mr. Joel Benton, long a resident of Poughkeepsie,

has written concerning its early history :

In colonial days few were the people here; but they were a
bright and stirring handful. It seems as if every man counted

Fishkill to Poughkeepsic 427

as ten. ... I suppose it need not now be counted strange
that the strong mixture of Dutch and EngHsh settlers, with a
few Huguenots, which finally made Dutchess County, were not
a little divided between Tory and Whig inclinations. Around
Poughkeepsie, and in its allied towns stretching between the
Hudson River and the Connecticut line, there was much strife.
Gov. George Clinton in his day ruled in the midst of much
tumult and turbulence; but he held the reins with vigour, in
spite of kidnappers or critics. When the British burned King-
ston he prorogued the Legislature to Poughkeepsie, which still
served as a "safe harbour." As the Revolution progressed, the
Tory faction was weakened, either by suppression or surrender.

It was in the Poughkeepsie Court House that, by one vote,
after a Homeric l)attle, the colony of New York consented to
become a part of the American Republic, which consent was
practically necessary to its existence. . . . Poughkeepsie
honoured, in May, 1824, the arrival of Lafayette. . . .
Daniel Webster has spoken in her Court House; and Henry
Clay, in 1844, when a presidential candidate, stopped for a
reception. And it is said that, by a mere accident, she just
missed contributing a name to the list of Presidents of tlie
United States. The omitted candidate was Nathaniel P. Tal-
madge. He could have had the Vice-Presidency, so the story
goes, in 1840; but would not take it. If he had accepted it he
would have gone into history, not merely as United States Sena-
tor from New York and afterwards Governor of Wisconsin Terri-
torv, but as President in John Tyler's place.

In 1S44, the New York State fair was held here, somewhere
east of what is now Hooker Avenue. It was an occasion thought
important enough then to be pictured and reported in the
London Illustrated Xacs. Two years after, the telegraph wires
were put up in this city, before they had yet reached the city
of New York. Considering the fact that Professor S. F. B.
Morse, the telegraph inventor, had his residence here, this inci-
dent was not wholly inappropriate.

Professor Morse's home was called Locust Grove, and
lay a couple of miles to the south of the city. It

428 The Hudson River

should not be forgotten that before he had made his
great reputation as an inventor he was widely known
as an artist. To him the American Academy of De-
sign owed its first impulse. It is said that his summer
home at Locust Grove was connected by telegraphic
wires with all prominent points upon the American
continent.

Not far below Locust Grove is the famous ferry
where for many years the Milton horse-boat plied to
and fro across the river. At the eastern end of the
ferry, in the old war times, dwelt the blacksmith and
jack-of-all-trades, Theophilus Anthony. There, at his
forge, he worked over the mammoth chain that was
used to obstruct the river at Fort Montgomery. He
gave what assistance he could to the patriot army, and
it may well be believed that a strong and willing arm
and a good forge found plenty of occupation; but
retribution came when Vaughan's ships passed up the
river with the torch. The smithy and mill were among
the first places to be laid in ashes, and the smith him-
self was carried a captive to the most detestable prison-
ship that history has made a record of — the filthy and
disease-saturated Jersey. Past the middle of the nine-
teenth century the horse-boats at Milton and Coxsac-
kie ran, the only survivors of an obsolete class.

North of Poughkee]3sie the river is spanned by the
fragile-looking cantilever bridge, that was commenced
in 1873, but abandoned and the work not again re-
sumed till 1886. Three years later it was completed

Fishkill to Poughkeepsie 429

by the Union Bridge Comi)any. The bridge is over
tweh'e thousand feet long — about two and a half miles
— and at the centre is one hundred and sixty-five feet
clear above the river. Its cost was over three million
dollars. The purpose for which the Poughkeepsie
Bridge was built, it was understood, was to place Penn-
sylvania coal in New England by a direct route, and it
was owned and controlled by the Philadelphia & Read-
ing Railroad. This arrangement, it was thought,
would preclude the possibility of dictation of prices by
any intermediate company. But the original purpose
was defeated, if not lost sight of, when the ownership
of the bridge was acquired by another company.

For seven years past the river at Poughkeepsie has
been the scene of one of the ga^'cst and most popular
of all the great annual features of college athletics.
There the regatta of the Intercollegiate Rowing Asso-
ciation is held every June, and over one of the finest
straightaway courses in the world the eager crews
from six great universities contend for the champion-
ship. The crowds of spectators generally cross the
river to Highland Station, where observation trains on
the West Shore Road are in waiting to receive them.

Chapter XXVI

Sports and Industries

A BRIEF commentary on riparian pastimes and
industries seems to be necessary to complete
the story of the river. A reference, at least,
to these matters will be permitted, if not demanded,
by the reader. One recalls in this connection the fam-
ous delivery of a well-known critic concerning a popu-
lar book: " If you like this sort of a book, this is the
sort of a book you like." If one cares for ice-boating,
fishing, and kindred occupations, this is the sort of a
subject that he cares for; but, realising that the con-
verse is also true, we frankly re-echo the advice given
by Mrs. vStowe, in the preface to a chapter on New
England theology, " If the reader is not interested in
the subject of this chapter, he is invited to skij^^ it."

We have already spoken of the intercollegiate races
that for nearly a decade have enlivened the waters
about Poughkeepsie and have drawn each year a mul-
titude of enthusiastic spectators. But it is not only
at summer time that the waters offer a field for exciting
contests of strength or skill. The upper reaches of the
river become in winter the theatre of sports that recall

430

Sports and Industries 43 1

the tales that are told of the vigorous generation in-
habiting that region in old eolonial days.

We have read how, in the time of Volckert Douw —
recorder, mayor, vice-president of the first Provincial
Congress, judge, Indian commissioner, and what not —
the ice on the vixev in front of his house at Wolven-
hoek was the race-course upon which the speed of rival
horses was matched in many an exciting contest.
There the great and fashionable world of x\lbany and
Kingston, we may suppose, entered into that exhilarat-
ing pastime with a zest that belonged to a simpler phase
of life. It is a trite reflection that the fathers enjoyed
their pleasures more heartily, having fewer to enjoy.

There is a story told of a dinner given by Douw
to Red Jacket, the Indian chief, at which were present
not only a number of his fellow-redskins, but a few
prominent white men, with General Schuyler at their
head. There was plenty of good cheer, the peace pipe
circulated, and it may be that something more ex-
hilarating was not lacking, for after awhile the Gen-
eral and his host became engaged in an eager discussion
upon the relative merits of two horses, one the mount
upon which Schuyler had ridden from Albany and the
other a famous race-horse, Sturgeon, that was the pride
of Douw's stable. Of course, the Indian guests pricked
up their ears, for an Indian, drunk or sober, loves
nothing so well as a horse-race. There seem to have
been obstacles enough in the way of a race at that
moment. It was night and the sky was overcast, while

432 The Hudson River

from recent rain the ice was in a sloppy condition. But
neither white nor red men were incHned to stand at
obstacles. At a hint from one of the disputants, red-
skin and negro servants in a crowd made for the river,
where in a short time they marked and cleared a
course across and down stream, lighting the way with
torches and lanterns. Peter Van Loan, the overseer,
was master of ceremonies, and King Charles, a famous
jockey in his day, rode Sturgeon. The bets were
large, Schuyler having backed his own horse heavily,
and the excitement was intense as the contestants went
flying down the course between the rows of flaring
lights and shouting spectators. When old Sturgeon
came in first, we may hope that Douw concealed his
satisfaction and Schuyler his chagrin, since both were
true-blue sportsmen of the old school, who could take
good or ill fortune and give no sign.

After a century and a half we find that the old spirit
has not died out. Still the ice-decked river is the
scene of many a winter carnival. Horses of famous
pedigrees, sharp-shod and with nerves tingling in an
atmosphere like an electric bath, have literally flung
distance to the winds over those crystal courses, where,
in summer, the boats tack lazily from shore to shore.

Even more exciting than the horse-races are the con-
tests of ice-boats, for which the upper Hudson, espe-
cially in the neighbourhood of Tivoli and Hyde Park, is
famous. An ice-boat is to an ordinary boat what the
Empire State Express is to a way freight. It does not

Sports and Industries 433

sail, it flies, reminding one of the Chinaman's famous de-
scri] )tion of his first toboggan shde, — ' ' Phwt ! ! ! Walkee
back two mik^e." At a speed of something approach-
ing a mile a minute, a zero temperature is very much

ICE-BOAT FLEET NEAR HYDE PARK

like a keen-edged sword; it will certainly suggest "a
dividing asunder of the joints and marrow," unless the
sailor on that perilous plain has taken the precaution
to swathe himself in as many garments as one of
Knickerbocker's beswaddled Dutchmen, and is equipped
with a circulatory system that can bid defiance to a
nipping air.

434 The Hudson River

Not infrequently wreck and disaster add a spice of
uncertainty to the ice-boatman's career. There is a
fair percentage of danger to be encountered, sufficient
to insure the sportsman against any risk of ennui.
Sometimes an air-hole, invisible half a mile away, is
an imminent condition in thirty seconds ; sometimes an
unmanageable craft crosses a racer's bows, or a sudden
squall keels her over. The crew of a boat that is
going at a rate of speed that would put the cannon-
ball flight of a wild duck to shame may escape with
life and limb the shock of arrested motion, but that
will be because the ways of Providence are past find-
ing out.

It is a matter of course (but no less a subject for
congratulation) that the passion for skating has not
yet died out. The army of those who every year glide
and stumble, stagger and pirouette on the frozen face
of the waters still must be reckoned by the thousands.
Nor can we imagine it otherwise as long as the Hudson
valley is largely inhabited by descendants of those who
brought to the new countr}^ the tastes and habits that
had been fostered for generations in the sturdy little
land of dykes and canals.

Another form of winter sport, that frequently
assumes the careful gravity of business, is ice fishing.
There are still a number of sportsmen as well as pro-
fessional fishermen, though not as many as formerly,
who engage in this occujoation. The solitary fisherman
sets his lines through holes in the ice, fixing to each one

Sports and Industries 435

a tell-tale, sometimes in the form of a flag, that ])y a
simple mechanical arrangement indicates when a fish
has been hooked. With a sled to carry his parapher-
nalia and a cube of frozen salt pork for his luncheon,
such a fisherman may skate ten or twelve miles to find
a favourable ground, and the fewer his com]:)anions the
more he is to be congratulated. But usually the pro-
fessionals are gregarious in their habits, which is neces-
sary from the methods they employ. A long fissure,
cut at right angles with the current of the river, admits
the insertion of a weighted net, the upper edge of
which is secured to transverse sticks above the open-
ing. Such fishing is serious business and not likely to
conduce to levity. The lines of the net freeze rigid as
steel rods, the icy water soaks the thickest gloves till
they are sodden and cold, the very fish that are drawn
out of that dark and mysterious current under the ice
are congealed — stiff as stakes — the moment they are
exposed to the atmosphere, and to handle them is like
handling pieces of ice. In the face of these discom-
forts the winter fisherman, slapping his legs to restore
lost circulation, moving stiffly because of the rheumat-
ism contracted last year, or nursing the cracked and
bleeding fingers that were frozen last week, is as cheer-
ful a citizen as circumstances will permit; but it is a
far cry from the frozen river as he sees it, a field of
labour and a scene of drudgery, to the glittering, joy-
ous plain that the well clad and nourished ice-boatman
beholds.

43^ The Hudson River

As every one knows, the most imj)ortant fisheries on
the Hudson are those where the shad is taken. There
has long been a rivah-y between Hudson River and
Chesapeake shad, New York and Maryland each claim-
ing precedence, and finally agreeing only upon one
point — that lieside those two there are no others.
From the mouth of the river almost to the head of
navigation, as soon as winter closes, the boats of the
fishermen |)ut out to set the shad poles and get ah in
readiness for the approaching season. From the vicin-
ity of Fort Lee, Piermont, Croton, Poughkeepsie, and
many another favourable point, they range themselves
" in order serviceable " and wait the advent of the van-
guard of that unnumbered host that about the ist of
April begins to move towards the headwaters of the
river. The first "run" sends a quiver of excitement
through the communities of fishers, and the news is
telegraphed from New York to Albany. The news-
papers herald the coming of the shad and the market-
men display them with pride and expatiate upon their
merits. At that time a multitude of the passengers re-
turning from the Jersey shore to Manhattan by w^ay
of the upper ferries may be seen carrying mysterious
newspaper packages, that emit a fishy odour. These
are generally heads of families who have learned the
advantage of buying their shad as they come fresh
from the nets.

The schools of fish ascend the river to spawn and are
in prime condition during their upward migration, re-

Sports and Industries 437

turning in a few weeks so ]:)oor and thin that a prover-
bial synonym for leanness and poverty is " the last run
of shad."

The Fish Commissioners have a shad station at Cats-
kill where the weio^ht and size of the fish taken, the

MENDING NETS AT GARRISON

preponderance of the roe over buck shad, and all other
data for statistical reports are carefully noted. Mr.
A. N. Cheney, State Fish Culturalist, wrote, in 1895,
that:

It is extremely doul^tful, under the present law, and present
manner of fishing the river, if the Hudson can be considered a
self-sustaining shad river. The demand upon it grows with in-
crease of population and improved facilities for shipping shad to
a distance. It is not alone among the people living along the
river that the shad find a market, but hundreds of miles of rail-
ways act as distributing agents and take shad where formerly
thev w^ere unknown. Since 1S82. the United States Fish Com-
mission has made large contributions of shad fry and eggs to the
Hudson, and these contributions have been important factors in
keeping the supply up to the present figures.

The "contributions" of shad fry for restocking the

438 The Hudson River

river, from all sources, have in fifteen years aggregated
probably not less than a hundred million.

Years ago the shad used to run up the river to
Baker's Falls, nearly fifty miles above Troy, and the
farmers came from distant points to camp at the
Falls and catch the fish to salt down. But the build-
ing of the Troy dam put a stop to that industry.

The statistics for a recent year, published by the
State Fish Commissioners, show that in three thousand
five hundred nets over a million shad were caught.
During the two months or less that the shad season
lasts the fishing stations are scenes of picturesque ac-
tivity, retaining, perhaps, more suggestion of the old
distinctive ri\'er life than anything else that we can
witness to-day. The toiling groups of roughly clad
rivermen, handling and shipping the fish, the midget
fieets of clustering boats, and the endless labour of
spreading, drying, and repairing the nets, are details
of a quaint and fascinating picture. The greatest
number of nets operated are at Alpine and Fort Lee
on the Jersey shore, and at Nyack and Ossining in
New York.

The striped bass, while caught for market, is more
of a fish for sportsmen, for he takes only live bait and
makes a fight that will cause an angler's blood to leap.
This fish is to be found as far as the brackish water runs.
In the lower part of the river for many years the prac-
tice of fishing for bass in the spring fell into disuse.
Only when the water began to be cold in the autumn

Sports and Industries 439

did Piscator, equipped with rod and reel and store of
shrimp or "shedder," seek some fortunate spot, by
bearings which may have been transmitted from an
earher generation, there to make long casts and in-
dulge in large anticipations. But a few years ago
some one recollected that in the old days the best time
to fish for bass was in the spring. Two or three fish
of phenomenal size rewarded the anglers who were
hardv enough to brave public opinion, and from that
day the striped bass has had a troubled life.

Long ago the Indians found the bays and shallows
of the river prolific breeding-grounds for oysters, and
some of the tribes are said to have used the bivalves as
one of their chief means of sustenance. Their frequent
shell heaps, some of them not yet obliterated, bear
witness to the favour in which this epicurean morsel
was held by the aborigines. During the early years of
New York's history, the poorer people depended
largely upon the plentiful oyster supply as one of the
cheapest varieties of food they could obtain, but now
the supply is at best meagre and the oyster industry
decadent. Within comparatively recent times it was
a common sight to see little fleets of boats, their occu-
pants wielding the long, ungainly rakes with which
their spoil was detached from the river-bed and brought
aboard; but that spectacle is growing 3^early less
familiar.

The giant of the upper ri\^er for many years was the
sturgeon, a monster of uncouth appearance, whose

440 The Hudson River

coarse flesh, if properly cooked, is not unpalatable.
This fish is not extinct, though not nearly as plentiful
as formerl}', when its consumption at the vState capital
ga\-e it the popular name of Albany beef. The stur-
geon attains a length of five or six and (exce]jtionallv)
eight feet, while the weight of a single specimen is said
sometimes to exceed four hundred and fifty pounds.
When sturgeon were more plentiful than now, they
were caught for the oil, that has been esteemed equal
to the best sperm. The leap of the sturgeon, immor-
talised by Drake in TJic Culprit Fay, was a frequent
sight a generation ago, and it was worth a day's jour-
ney to see that quivering bulk ])ierce the surface, a
living projectile, and, descril)ing a parabola of eight
or ten feet, fling a rainbow arch of spra)^ into the
sunlight.

The herring have also frequented the waters of the
Hudson at intervals, and perch, white-fish, snappers
(young bluefish), and a multitude of the smaller fry,
are familiar to every American boy who is in training
for the Presidency.

Within the past fifteen years the Fish Commissioners
have put thousands of salmon and other fry in the
river, and occasionally fine specimens of varieties thus
introduced have been taken, while it is expected that
the future will more than justify the outlay, but in
general it is acknowledged that this great volume of
water flowing seaward with slow gradations from the
freshness of a mountain stream to the saltness of the

Sports and Industries 441

ocean is no longer a fisherman's river. One can
hardly believe that the schools of fish have been de-
pleted by the industry of the fisheiTnen. By the
ordinary process of multiplication, if unchecked by
other untoward influences, the supply of fish in such a
river must ahva}'s be in excess of the number caught
with hook and line. But there are other pernicious
influences, among them the pollution which results
from sewage in the vicinity of large towns. There can
be little doubt that fish are poisoned by the fouling of
the element in which they live. It may be too that
the constant accretion of cinders and ashes upon the
bed of the channels has ]3revented the development of
those forms of life upon which the fish depend for food.
That this view is not entirely fanciful the reader will
readily see if he will take paper and pencil, and with
such data as he may have at hand calculate the num-
ber of steamers that have dumped their ashpans in the
river in the ]3ast threescore years. A million tons
would fall far short of the probable deposit.

The restocking of the waters will only be an efficient
remedy in places where the fry will not be subject to
the disadvantages we have suggested and others of
equal importance. It is well known that man}% if not
all, of the fish that frequent the Hudson, or any large
river, run into the smaller streams to spawn. The
practical closing of many such streams by means of
dams, where no fish-ways are provided, must of neces-
sity militate greath' against the natural increase.

442 The Hudson River

Under favourable conditions this increase would be
enormous. A single female tomcod, for instance, will
produce fifty thousand eggs or more. Two hundred
and eighty-eight thousand such eggs would just fill a
quart measure. But in order to secure the develop-
ment of even a small percentage of all this embryonic
life it is necessary to have undisturbed, fairly pure, and
abundant water.

At the hatcheries of the State Commission it has
been found that the shad fry, if they are to be raised
at all, must never be handled even with the nets that
may be used in the rearing of young trout or salmon.
The ideal pond for hatching purposes is one that has
been dry for months, so that all life in it is destroyed,
and then filled by seepage, thus excluding enemies that
would otherwise destroy the adolescent shadlings. It
will be readily seen that the natural conditions of the
Hudson and its tributaries at the present day are not
conducive to the increase of delicate fish.

Chapter XXVII

Rondout and Kingston

THE name Rondout signifies a fort or earthwork;
it was first applied to the Dutch post near
Esopus River, and afterwards to the settled
land in the neighbourhood. The word Esopus, it is
said, was derived from seepus, a river, and was first
given to the Indians dwelling upon the banks of the
river that afterwards bore that name. The Indians
whose settlements extended through Ulster and Greene
counties belonged to the Mingua nation, that Leather-
stocking was fond of referring to as Mingos. The
Minnesinks, one of the largest clans, were originally
dwellers on a minnis, or island, in the upper waters of
the Delaware. The Mohegan Indians lived upon the
upper shore of the Hudson. Northward of Esopus, on
the west shore, the land was claimed by the Mohawks,
who ruled the forests as far north as Champlain and
through the valley of the Mohawk River. The}^ were
to the more peaceable tribes of the south as a hawk
is to a heron, being fierce, revengeful, and cruel almost
beyond conception. Their occasional forays into the

444 The Hudson River

lands of their neighbours were events to be anticipated
with dread and remembered with horror.

Hidden under a modern post-office designation w^e
frequently find half a dozen earlier place-names, as the
geologist discovers in a river-bed successive deposits.
"I am surprised to find," said a gentleman of an en-
quiring mind, "that Esopus had at one time a larger
trade than Albany; yet I do not find Esopus on my
map or on the time-table. Where w^as it?" Esopus
has disappeared from the map, as have Wiltwyck,
Atkarkarton, and Rondout, but all these old names,
that are folded down and put away, like old garments
in camphor and lavender, are covered by the corporate
body of Kingston.

Two hundred and fifty years of eventful history be-
long to this very Dutch borough, where Ten Broeks and
Van Gaasbeeks, Schoonmakers and Swartwouts, sat
under the spiritual ministrations of Domine Blom, or
joined w^ith that excellent and valiant divine in driving
away the Indian invaders that occasionally swooped
down on the almost defenceless settlement. But truth
compels the admission that the first notable proprietor
of land at Kingston (or Atkarkarton) was not a Dutch-
man. This is on the authority of the Rev. I. Mega-
polensis, the third stated minister of the Collegiate
Dutch Church of New^ York, who, in 1657, wrote:

Thomas Chambers and a few others removed to Atkarkarton
or Esopus, an exceedingly beautiful land, in 1652, and began the
actual settlement of Ulster County; it was also known among
the savages as " the pleasant land."

Ron do lit and Kinoston 44

fc.-

This Thomas Chambers, for services rendered the
country during Indian troubles, was rewarded in the
time of Governor Lovelace by having his house (near
Kingston) erected into the Manor of Foxhall. This
grant was confirmed by Dongan in 1686. The name
of Foxhall subsequently disappeared.

The Dutch church of Kingston had a settled pastor
as early as 1660, in which year Doniine Hermanns
Blom commenced his labours. His salary was j^ayable
in wheat, and his accounts for the same are still pre-
served in the county records. The name Wiltwyck
signified the Indian (or wild) district, yet even then
the little church, worshipping in a rude building of
logs, had a membership of sixteen souls. Two other
edifices succeeded each other on the ground where the
first one stood, and from the tower of the last the Hol-
land bell, imported in 1794 from Amsterdam, used
formerly to ring three times a day to notify the good
people of their meal hours. In those far-off days
sober and respectable people did things in an orderly
and customary way. It required unheard-of temerity
to break away from the honoured traditions of a
neighbourhood, and breakfast, dine, or sup at unheard-
of hours. The church sanctioned the established order
and lent its bell for the promotion of sobriety and
regular habits. A writer in 1826 notes a modern in-
novation when he says that "at present the town
clock regulates the kitchen."

A custom observed among the fathers of the church

448 The Hudson River

deserves to be kept in remembrance, like a quaint
Dutch picture. Between the sounding of the first and
last bell for church service the grey-haired sexton
hobbled from door to door, carrying an ivory-headed
cane, with which he rapped loudly three times and
cried, "Church time!" For this he was paid by each
householder a yearly fee of two shillings.

Notices of all kinds, whether of funerals, weddings,
or christenings, were given to the sexton, who took
them to the clerk ; and the latter, having a bamboo rod
with a split end kej^t for that very purpose, stuck the
paper in the slit and jjassed it up to the domine, who
was perched overhead in a half-globe pulpit, canopied
by a sounding board. "The minister wore (out of the
pulpit) a black silk mantle, cocked hat, and a neck-
band with linen cambrick bcffy on his breast; for
cravats were then uncanonical/'

The first psalm, we are informed, "used to be set
with moveable figures, suspended on three sides of the
pulpit, so that all, as they entered, might prepare for
the lofty notes. " At the end of the service the deacons
took the contribution bags, which were fixed on the
ends of poles, and made their rounds to collect the
coppers of the congregation. It is a significant fact
that besides the bag there was an alarm bell on the
end of each pole, as though to notify the soundest
sleepers that the sermon had come to an end. Tokens,
stamped by the church and redeemable at stated times,
were received instead of money, which was a scarce

Rondout and Kinc^ston 449

t>-

commodity at a time when the government stiU legal-
ised the payment of "seawant" or wampum for debts.
At the communion table church members always wore
black, and invariably stood to receive the sacrament.

The Kingston church is ] particularly worthy of notice
from the fact that it occupied a unique position, being
an inde])endent church as late as 1808. For a century
and a half it had rejected the jurisdiction of the Gen-
eral Synod of the Dutch Church in America. The
ministers had been called from Europe, and an indi-
vidual charter was granted in 17 19 by the British
Crown.

Besides these Dutch and Huguenot settlers, it is said
that a few Irish found their way into Kingston at an
early day; however that may be, we know that not the
least energetic and successful of her citizens to-day
ma\^ boast of forbears that may have hung their
shields in Tara's halls.

In Dr. Miller "s History of Nciv York, published in
London in 1695, there were shown the plans of three
places on the Hudson River. New Amsterdam was
the first of these in importance ; Albany (Fort Orange) ,
the second; and Kingston, third. This same order is
preserved to-day. It is a fact to remember that, in
expressing her choice for a site for the national capital,
New York voted in favour of Kingston.

Ulster County, formed in 1683, lay between Moodna
or Murderer's Creek on the south, and Sawyer's, the
line dividing: from Greene Count\', on the north. It

450 The Hudson River

borders the west bank of the river and embraced at
that time all of the important settlements between the
Highlands and vSaugerties. The trading post of Ron-
dout, one of the very earliest to be established, ante-
dated the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth
by six years. The Indian name, Ponckhockie, is still
retained to designate a section of the town.

The Rondout and Esopus settlers were driven away
by the Indians prior to 1640, about which time a new
attempt to colonise was made. In 1655, there was
another exodus of the whites, and then Governor
Stuyvesant came in person from New York and staked
out ground for a new village, leaving twenty-four sol-
diers to protect the place. The land chosen was a free
gift from the Indians to the "Grand Sachem . . .
to grease his feet, as he had undertaken so long and
painful a journey."

New Indian troubles arose, owing to a supply of
fire-water that some red men received in payment for
husking corn for the before-mentioned Thomas Cham-
bers in 1659. One of the recipients, during the revel
which followed, fired a gun. A party of white men,
who were possibly not too sober themselves, construed
the discharge of the firearm to mean the commence-
ment of an attack, upon which they fired upon a party
of the Indians, killing several of them. In retaliation
the lately peaceable redskins took thirteen prisoners,
and, soon gathering a force of five hundred warriors,
surrounded the fort, so that no one durst leave it for

Rondout and Kingston 45'

three weeks. Cro|)s were burned, cattle slaughtered,
and houses destroyed. Finally, a number of ca])tives
were put to death by torture. This brought the Gov-
ernor again to Kingston, liut the Indians disj^ersed
before his arrival. A truce was secured, through the
intervention of other Indians, and two prisoners were
finally restored.

Then, possessed by a fatuous confidence that the
enemy had experienced a change of heart, the ]3eople
of Wiltwyck (Kingston) "left the gates of their fort
0])en day and night." In the summer of 1663, they
paid dearly for their temerity. In June of that year,
having come to the fort in great numbers, under pre-
tence of trading, the Indians made a sudden attack
while most of the men were outside of the walls.
Thomas Chambers, whose foolish bestowal of brandy
had brought on the original trouble, aided by the mili-
tant valour of the Dutch domine, led his companions
in such a desperate fight that they succeeded in driv-
ing the invaders from the fort, but not before eighteen
of the whites had been killed. Forty- two prisoners
were carried away by the savages, and all of the newly
established farms and bouweries were destroyed.

This foray led to a war which did not end till the
Ulster Indians were nearly destroyed. The expedi-
tion which concluded the war was led by a man named
Krygier, a burgomaster in New Amsterdam. A treaty
was made by Stuyvesant with the remnant of the
tribe, by the terms of which they abandoned the river

452 The Hudson River

settlements to the Dutch, retaining permission to trade
at Rondout " provided but three canoes came at a
time, preceded by a flag of truce."

New Paltz was settled by the Huguenots in 1677.
Some people of this faith had come to Kingston in
1660 and settled there. Among them was a man
named Louis Dubois, whose wife, Catherine, had been
one of those captured by the savages. Word came to
Dubois by a friendly Indian that the prisoners had
been taken to a certain place that he could guide the
white men to. He directed them to follow Rondout
Creek to the Wall kill and to leave that for a third
stream, where the encampment of their enemies would
be found. The statement that the Indians intended
putting their prisoners to death urged the rescuers to
greater haste if possible. Dubois and his companions,
guided by the savage, pushed through the wilderness
for a distance of twenty-six miles, and though they
were burdened with the heav}^ arms of the period,
besides knapsacks and provisions, we do not read that
they paused till they were in the neighbourhood of the
encampment.

While they were stealing up, making a reconnoissance
previous to the attack, Dubois suddenly came across
an Indian, who was slain by his sword before he could
alami his companions. The attac^k was delayed until
evening, but the dogs, running at large, betrayed them.
The Indians recognised them as "white man's dogs,"
and fled in consternation, having evidently had enough

Rondout and Kinoston

453

of Wiltwyck fighting qualities. Dulxjis saw his wife
fleeing along with the savages and lustily shouted her

RIVhR SCENE CATSKILL

(7. ir. Casi/car, 1859. From the Stuart Collection, Lenox Library)

name, whereu]3on she and her companions turned back
and were welcomed with great joy by their rescuers.

The discovery had been made none too soon. Cath-
erine Dubois had already been placed on a funeral
]^yre of wood, preparator}* to being burned, and had

454 The Hudson River

evidenced her Christian fortitude by singing hvmns
that pleased her cai^tors so that they demanded a
repetition of them. It was no new thing for them to
hear a warrior sing his death- song in the face of his
enemies, but for a woman to show such courage may
have excited their admiration, and the strange sweet-
ness of the unusual melodies she sang no doubt arrested
their attention.

It was the knowledge gained upon this expedition,
so the story goes, that led the Huguenots to settle upon
the banks of the Wallkill, for which they obtained a
deed from the Indians in consideration of fortv kettles,
the same number of adzes and shirts, seven hundred
strings of beads, four quarter-casks of wine, and other
goods. This tract, twelve miles in extent, reached
from the Hudson River back to the Shawangunk
Moim tains.

There is an interesting tradition to the effect that
the hymn sang by Mrs. Dubois on the occasion just
mentioned was the 137th in the Dutch collection, which
is translated thus:

By Babel's stream the captives sate
And wept for Zion's hapless fate;
Useless their harps on willows hung
While foes required a sacred song.

The village of New Paltz is a delightful reminiscence,
a legacy of old habitations and simple customs, be-
queathed by generations of God-fearing folk to our
restless time as a salutary reminder of pristine peace

Rondout and Kingston 455

and contentment. But about the c^ld Huguenot vil-
lage, especially since the establishment of the vState
Normal School, there has grown a modern town, with
modern houses and modern wa}^s.

We admiie the sagacity of the French exiles who
discovered and appreciated the rare desiraljihty of the
Wallkill valle\-. It is still a region of dairy farms and
vine^'ards — a land flowing with milk and honey, a land
of corn and wine. Old Louis Dubois and his com-
patriots were the fathers of a race that still retain many
of the distinguishing characteristics of the exiles who
for conscience ' sake sought in the wilderness their ])ro-
mised land of liljerty. It is said that so fine and free
from animosity and greed has been the life of the
people of New Paltz that i)revious to 1873 no lawyer
ever found a permanent residence there.

Johannes Nevius and others, in a report to the
States-General in 1663, spoke feelingly of

the deplorable massacre and slaughter of the good people of the
beautiful and fruitful country of Esopus, recently committed by
the barbarians after the premature and, for this state, in this
conjuncture of time, wholly unpractical reduction of the mili-
tary force of this province, which was notoriously and very ur-
gently required to be completed and reinforced.

Among the stories of the early settlers of Ulster
County are many harrowing ones of captivity, with an
occasional thrilling account of escape or rescue, but in
general there is a dreadful sameness in the details.
Now it is a Dutch family, now a Huguenot one —

456 The Hudson River

Lefever, Dubois, Schoonmaker, Osterhout, from Wilt-
wyck or from Murderer's Creek, or the settlements that
lay between. Down to the time of the Revolution the
out-settlements of this region were much exposed to
Indian attack. According to one of the numerous
local legends of Ulster County, two men, Andresen and
Osterhout, were taken by the Indians, but when within
a single day's march of Niagara Andresen managed at
night to work one of his arms free and subsequently
removed his bonds. Then, with necessary stealthiness
and caution, he succeeded in freeing his companion,
and falling iipon the sleeping Indians thev killed all
except two squaws, who escaped. Providing them-
selves with the arms and provisions of their late capt-
ors, they undertook the return journey of four or five
hundred miles through the woods. Their lives were
barely sa\-ed by the game they managed to shoot on
the way, for weakened by hunger as well as by fatigue,
at the end of seventeen days they staggered into their
homes, weak but rejoicing at their almost miraculous
escape. This occurred in 1776.

The inauguration of George CHnton, the first Gov-
ernor of the vState of New York, was i^roclaimed at
Kingston, then the capital of the State, the election
having taken place on the 30th of July, 1777. Onlv
a little more than two months previous to that event,
the convention which had drafted the constitution of
the new State, adjourned, leaving power in the hands
of a Committee of Safety. The Fourth Provincial Con-

Rondout and Kingston 457

gress, which met at White Plains, Westchester County,
on the 9th of July, 1776, then accepting the Declara-
tion of Independence, adjourned to Fishkill and sul)-
sec[uently to Kingston. The centennial celebration of
Clinton's inauguration, held on July 30, 1877, at King-
ston, was necessarily a celebration also of the vener-
able house in which the deliberations oi John Jay and
his associates had l)een held. The previous year, 1876,
had been the l^i-centennial anniversary of the building
of what has been known niodernly as the Old vSenate
House. This building, that has so deep an historic
interest, is long and low, constructed of stone and sup-
plemented at a late period of its history by a "linto,"
or lean-to. It was erected in 1676 by Wessel Ten
Broeck, a West])halian, who, emigrating to America at
an early age, was elected ScJioppcr at Esopus and was
a commissioner chosen to sujjerintend the settlement
of the Nieuw Dorp, including the villages of Hurley
and Marbletown.

Ten Broeck 's wife was a daughter of the Rev. Laur-
entius \^an Gaasbeek, by whom he had eight children,
who are supposed to be the ancestors of all the Ten
Broecks in the country. The well-known Knicker-
bocker explanation of the derivation of the name of
Ten Broeck was not relished by the descendants of that
forceful ancestor.

Wessel's wife's name would make a telling title for
a Dutch story or poem. Jacomyntie — how it suggests
flax-white hair neath' c[uoiffed under a muslin cap, a

45^ The Hudson River

well-lilled, trim stomacher laced to the top, quilted
]_)etticoats with a neat vision of blue or red yarn stock-
ings showing between it and the polished shoe-buckles.
We seem to know that as Jacomyntie Ten Broeck stood
in the doorway of that goodly stone house, there was
in her roimd and ])leasant face a consciousness of well-
stocked larders and fruitful orchards, of cream in the
dairy and butter in the crocks, and oily koeks on the
ample sheh'cs of the i)antry.

At a later day the old house, then one hundred and
one years old, sheltered a notal:)le company. There
Robert R. Livingston, Pierre Van Cortlandt, Gou-
verneur Morris, Colonel De Witt, Gansevoort, Scott,
Ten Broeck, and others met to deliberate about the
form of government to be adopted by New York State.
There John Jay presented the draft of the constitution
that was afterwards adopted at the old Bogardus Inn,
at the corner of Maiden Lane and Fair Street in New
York City.

We quote from an article by Miss Margaret Win-
slow, published in the New York Observer in 1883:

Here, from time to time, have come the great men whom
Kingston has either received or sent forth into ptibhc hfe. Here
General Armstrong, the boy hero of the Revolution, father-in-
law of William B. Astor and ex-Secretary of War, lived in 1S04,
previous to his departure as Minister to the French Court, leav-
ing a small marble fireplace, the first ever seen in Kingston, as
a memorial of his residence; and here, last spring. General
Arthur, the Republican candidate for Vice-President, bowed his
tall head to escape collision with the time-honoured and smoke-
begrimed rafters; and here we — the honoured Drs. Van Sant-

Rondout and Kingston 459

voord and Hoes, with the host and the writer — sat and (hseussed
the history of Kingston; its first and seeond Indian wars, 1659
and 1661, and the l)urning of the fort, 1663 ; Stuyvesant's treaty
of peace, 1661, at which ]:)eriod the wily savages ceded him
the land on which the city now stands, "to grease his feet" in
return for the compliment of his visit, on which occasion the
renowned warrior changed the Dutch name of Esopus, or Groote
Esopus, variously stated to be derived from the Latin falailist
and from a soft place, to Wiltwyck, or Wild man's village. The
Dutch regained the town after its capture along with the Swedish
possessions east of the Hudson in 1664, holding it, however, only
for a very short time, as said one of my informants, adding
thereto much of the intermediate history till its consolidation
with Rondout and Wilbur into a city in 1872, and the building
of the splendid new City Hall and Arniory, the latter onlv just
completed.

There are many other buildings and several localities of special
interest to those who love the mild anticjuities of our brand-new
country — the Academy, founded in 1774, in which De Witt Clin-
ton and Thomas De Witt, Edward Livingston, Stephen Van Rens-
selaer, and Abram Van Vechten received their early education;
the stone Court House, built in 1S18 upon the site of a much
older one; and the First Dutch Church, organised August, 1659,
by Rev. Harmanus Blom, sent from Holland as a candidate, and
ordained by the Classis of Amsterdam, 1660. The fac-similes of
signatures of the fifteen successors of Blom, carefully gathered
l)y the venerable Dr. Hoes, and shown me at the close of our
pleasant evening conversation, are sufficient guarantee that, from
the first, Esopus — Wiltwyck — Kingston has been in the care of
that blessed people "whose God is the Lord."

William Beekman, from whom have sprung all who
bear that respected name in the annals of New York,
was Sheriff of Kingston up to the departure of Gov-
ernor Lovelace from the colony, when he returned to
New York. His son Henry lived in Kingston, where
he became Judge of Ulster County and a member of

46o The Hudson River

the Pro\4ncial Legislature. His daughter was the wife
of Robert R. Livingston, and the mother of the distin-
guished chancellor of that name, as well as of Janet,
the wife of General Montgomery. The old Senate
House was at one time occupied by Chancellor Living-
ston and by General Armstrong, the " boy hero of the
Revolution," who was afterwards United States Sena-
tor and Secretary of War.

Governor Clinton married Cornelia Tappen of King-
ston, and their son was educated there. John Jay sat
as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the
State of New York during the first term of that court
at Kingston. Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh, a mem-
ber of the Colonial Assembly, was a familiar character
in Kingston, and on one occasion entertained Mrs.
Washington, with Governor and Mrs. Clinton, at his
home in Rosendale. He was a descendant of the i)ro-
prietor of the great Hardenbergh Patent. The list of
w^ell-knovvn men who have been associated with the
history of this old town is a long and honourable one.

Memorable in the annals of the Hudson, the de-
struction of Kingston b>' fire occurred in the eventful
year 1777. It was after the reduction of Forts Mont-
gomery and Clinton, or the one occasion upon which
the British forces penetrated the gateway of the High-
lands into the upper river. The cJicvcaii-dc-jrisc and
other obstructions had been removed, the American
shipping had gone up in a magnificent conflagration,
and the way seemed at last open for the ships and sol-

Rondout and Kinirstoii 461

fc>-

diers of George III. to take possession of the region
above West Point, either to ereate a diversion in favour
of Burgoyne, then face to face with Gates near Sara-
toga, or to co-operate with him according to agreement.

Sir Henry Chnton did not proceed in person with the
expedition up the ri\'er, but left the command to Gen-
eral Vaughan and Sir James Wallace, who were ac-
companied bv a considerable number of troops, with
a squadron of the lighter vessels of war.

Putnam, near Fishkill, whither he had retreated,
concerted immediately with Governor Clinton, who had
escaped to New Windsor, to move northward with
their hastily assembled forces to intercept and check
the advance of the enemy. There is an admiral^le
ring of courage in the note written at this time to the
Council of Safety by Clinton: " I am persuaded, if the
militia will join me, we can save the country from
destruction and defeat the enemy's design of assisting
the northern army."

A new and definite evidence of this design had been
strangely received by the Governor about the time of
the penning of those words. The arrest of two per-
sons coming from the direction of Fort Montgomery
led to important developments. One of the twain,
seeming to swallow something, was given an emetic,
upon which a silver bullet was produced, but, being
more nimble than his captors, he succeeded in dispos-
ing of the morsel again in the same manner as before.
He refused so energetically to be dosed a second time

462 The Hudson River

that the Governor threatened to have him hanged and
his body cut open. He then 34elded, and the buUet,
again dehvered, was found to enclose a paper bearing
a note from Sir Henry Chnton to General Burgoyne:
" Here we are (Fort Montgomery — Oct. 8th) and no-
thing between us and Gates. I sincerely ho]5e this little
success of ours will facilitate your operations." The
resolute postman did not escape the penalty of his mis-
sion ; he was tried as a spy and sentenced to be hanged.

The Governor ])ressed forward with what force he
could hastily get together to protect Kingston if pos-
sible, as that was then the seat of the State Legislature.
He saw here and there at villages and hamlets, and
even single residences on the river shore, marauding
parties of British at work, their motions being marked
by flames and depredation, but he could not move
rapidly enough to intercept them.

When General Vaughan and his force landed from
their vessels, a little body of about a hundred and fifty
militia opposed them at Kingston, but these valiant
defenders were soon overcome and put to flight. The
invaders then marched to the village, whence the people
and officials had for the most part fled at their ap-
proach, and set fire to it at a number of points, having
sacked it. A great quantity of stores collected there
and nearly all of the princii;)al dwellings and public
buildings were consumed.

An entertaining story is told by Lossing of the
fright of some Dutchmen who were working in the

Rondout and Kingston 463

flats near Rondout and did not know of the ap-
]iroach of the British till one of Vaughan's two attack-
ing columns was actually upon them. They fled for
their lives across the shallow water and into the fields
on the other side, whence the labourers had very re-
cently made their esca|)e, leaving their farming im]:)le-
ments on the ground. One of the Dutchmen, in
running ]:)lindl\' forward, stepped u])on the teeth of a
rake, whereupon, according to the time-honoured cus-
tom of rakes when their teeth are stepped on. the
handle sprang up and rapped him on the head. That
was too much for overwrought ner\'es. Thinking that
the enemy had overtaken him, the fugitive fell upon
his knees, shouting, " I gifs up — I gifs up! Hurrah for
King Shorge ! ' '

According to an estimate made by Sharpe, there
stood in Kingston, after the conflagration, the stone
walls of above forty of the strongly built Dutch houses,
though the woodwork was entirely consumed. Among
this number was the old Senate House, the roof and
interior of which were absolutely destroyed, though the
walls were uninjured. In common with several other
fire- washed shells of the same class, it was afterwards
repaired and occupied. The Hasbrouck mansion was
similarly preserved, as were also the old academy
building, the vSchoonmaker mansion, and the Beekman
house.

It has been stated that Vaughan with great reluct-
ance gave the order to burn the church deciding to do

4^4 The Hudson River

it only as a matter of military duty. Whether this
is or is not true, there is no doubt that to most Ameri-
cans the burning of Kingston has always seemed a
wanton act of barbarity on the part of troops flushed
with recent victory and unrestrained by authority.
The smoke and flame spread consternation among the
inhabitants of other villages, and fugitives from the
destroyed town sought asylum among the hills and in
remote places. The spectacle of Kingston burning
must have moved with rage and pity the stout hearts
of Putnam and Clinton, on opposite sides of the river,
witnesses to a calamity they were powerless to avert.

Clinton had used the utmost dispatch, but was two
hours too late to interpose an effort to save the town.
It is recorded that he had the spy, he of the silver
bullet, brought forward and hanged to the liml:) of an
apple tree in sight of Kingston, an act which we can
hardly conceive to have afforded any satisfaction to
one of his disposition and character.

At Rhinebeck, Tivoli, and elsewhere the destruction
was repeated on a smaller scale. Here a mansion and
there a barn or a hay-rick added a flame to the general
conflagration. The intention of the enemy was evi-
dentl}^ to advance to Albany, which seemed doomed
to share the fate of Kingston, and there to effect that
conjunction with Burgo}^ne which was the object of the
expedition.

But Burg03me was in no condition to co-operate with
any armv. The diversion had come too late. Almost

Rondout an(

Kin^^ston

465

simultaneoush' with the mo\-ements of CHnton and his
subordinates on the Hudson, the forces of Burgoyne
and Gates were in mortal conflict, and the decisive
victory of the latter put a sudden end to Vaughan s
advance. The State Legislature, in session at Kings-

"^^^^^^^^i^^^, ^'

RIVER SCENE NEAR KINGSTON
{From a drawing by the author)

ton when the British approached, hastily dispersed,
to reassemble afterwards at Albany.

Kingston, the modern town, was incorporated in the
year 1805. Its growth at first was slow. From the
third place on the river in point of population, it had
been struck down at a blow, its trade ruined, its Iniild-
ings destroyed, its prestige gone. To rcco\'er from
such a crushing injury it was necessary that it should
possess or develop some signal superiority in natural

466 The Hudson River

or artificial facilities for manufacture, agriculture, or
trade. There were, unchanged, the same natural ad-
vantages of situation that had, in the earlier years of
its settlement, made it more desirable than neighbour-
ing villages. The deep mouth of the creek, sheltered
yet accessible, furnished one of the most convenient
harbours for the river boats, and the fertile and pleas-
ant lands were inviting to the farmer. But farmers
do not make villages, and facilities for the landing of
boats do not make trade. The Indian traffic in pelt-
ries, which in the first centur\' of its growth had been
so important an item of its commercial life, naturally
flowed from the interior with the stream. Then, too,
in a primitive age, the course of a river is the course
of a highway. Men followed the water from point to
point rather than traverse unbroken wilderness, so that
the first roads were surveyed by the hand that laid the
beds of the water-courses. Between New York and
Albany there were but two or three tributary streams
that were of such size or were the natural outlets of so
desirable a country as that which flowed l^y Wiltwyck.
The benefit derived from this position was not abated
till Kingston's position was an assured one, when it con-
tinued naturally to hold its place as a distributing and
shipping centre, even after the Indian trade had died
away and other highways had subtracted much from
the original importance of the creek.

When Kingston tried to rise from her own ashes the
conditions were all changed. Thirty-five years after

Rondout and Kingston 467

its incorporation and sixty-three after the great fire,
the total population of Kingston and Rondout to-
gether did not much exceed fifty-five hundred souls.
In the succeeding thirty years, however, the popula-
tion had increased fourfold, while the population of
Ulster Count}' in the same ]3eriod had doubled. This
increase was in |)art due to the development of cer-
tain industries, ])articularly the trade in bluestone and
flagging, which amounts to millions of dollars every
year. The terminus of the Delaware and Hudson
Canal, the city finds itself again possessed of the unique
advantages that the creek presented at an earlier and
more primiti\'e stage of its histor}'. Coal, lime, ce-
ment, stone and gravel, and agricultural products now
make the business of its wharves and warehouses,
where formerh' the skins of bear and beaver and the
product of scattered mills formed the sta]:)les of trade.
The shipments of old ma\' ha\'e been calculated by
thousands of ])ounds annually; those of to-day are
estimated at millions of tons. The hills that face Ron-
dout Creek are honeycombed with galleries from wliich
cement is obtained. The ciuarries for bluestone and
flagging extend for nearly ninety miles through the
region of countr\' for which the canal furnishes the
outlet. Besides this, several railroads either touch at
this place or make it a terminal station, and a fleet of
steamboats equal in number to a combination of all
others that ply upon the upper river give the front of
the city a metropolitan aspect. Of course, on the

468 The Hudson River

principle that nothing succeeds hke success, the growth
of population and of business due to foundries and
machine shops has been considerable.

Commercial Kingston has nearly swallowed the
C[uaint, historic town that used to sit comfortabh^ on
the site of old Wiltwyck. Gradually it has absorbed
its neighbours, Rondout being the last to be digested.
There is a ferry from Rhinebeck on the east shore of
the river. The city has twenty-four churches, several
daily newspapers, four national banks, and excellent
schools and seminaries. Altogether, it is phenomen-
alh' active for a Hudson River town.

In going forward from older times to more modern
days, we have been obliged to omit mention of many
people and events. But one name tempts a return for
one brief jmragraph. John Vanderlyn, the celebrated
painter, was born in Kingston late in the eighteenth
century. He was first apprenticed to a waggon-painter,
and the genius that was in him developed in spite of
this prosaic occupation. For several years he struggled
>to reconcile his vocation with his avocation, to possess
his soul while laying smooth panels of coach varnish
and striping wheels. At length one day that meddler
with many fortunes. Colonel Aaron Burr, strayed into
the Kingston tavern, and while waiting there saw some
of Vanderlyn 's work. He called for the artist, and the
result of that interview was that the young man ceased
to paint waggons and went to Europe to learn to paint
pictures. In 1808, at the Louvre, he received a gold

Rondout and Kingston 469

medal offered I)}' Xapoleon for the Ijest composition of
the }-ear. His subject was Mariiis on the Ruins of
Carthage. Nearly forty >-ears later he ]:)ainted the
Landing of Columbus, which is in the Ca]ntol at Wash-
ington, but even then his power had l)egun to decline,
and the work is considered quite inferior to some of his
earlier productions.

Eight years later the painter died in po\'ertv in
Kingston, and his remains were laid in the old Wilt-
w^yck cemetery.

Allusion has been made to the Huguenots who
founded New Paltz. At first their national language
and form of worshi]) distinguished them from their
Dutch neighbours, but gradually, in the course of sev-
eral generations, both of these distinguishing ])eculiar-
ities were forgotten and the descendants of Dubois,
Hasbrouck, Lefever, Bevier, Crispell, and then* com-
panions could not be distinguished except by name
from those of Ten Broeck, Van Gaasbeek, or Blom.
A descendant of Dubois became one of the prominent
ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church, and others
of Huguenot lineage have followed his example.

In 1883, Mr. Frederick Edward Westbrook, a de-
scendant of Wessel Ten Broeck, published a history of
the old Senate House, his own residence, and in it is
contained the following interesting reference to the
Huguenot settlers:

The region selected by the Huguenots for their future abode
was like their own delightful France. It wanted the culture and

470 The Hudson River

improvements of the former, but the picturesque and the sub-
lime in nature appeared on every side. Running streams, verd-
ant lawns, hills, and woods charmed the eye. Toward the east
the charming prospect was bounded by the noble and ever-roll-
ing Hudson. The lofty Catskills delighted their vision while at
Kingston, where they remained about fifteen years before leav-
ing for New Paltz, about 1683, where they remained as their
final resting-place. The Shawangunk and the Fishkill range of
mountains gave additional beauty to the scene. The Rosendale
begins its course far in the interior, and, uniting with the Wall-
kill, then rapidly passes on till it unites with the Hudson. So
with the Esopus Creek; its source is among the mountains of
the Delaware, whence it rushes furiously onward until it reaches
Marbletown ; from thence it runs northerly until it mingles with
the Hudson at Saugerties, Ulster County. About twenty fami-
lies remained at Kingston. The Dutch and French Huguenots
followed these noble streams. Their descendants now enjoy the
rich and glorious patrimony secured by the industry, frugahty,
and piety of their ancestors.

A copy of their treaty with the Indians exists, and was exe-
cuted May 26, 1677. They were three days on their journey
from Kingston to New Paltz. Soon, however, they selected a
more elevated site upon the banks of the beautiful Wallkill,
where the ancient village now stands. Kingston was then their
only trading village.

The French church, of which Louis DuBois was the first elder,
was established in 1683. For fifty years the language they used
was French; subsequently for seventy years succeeded by the
Low Dutch; since the beginning of the nineteenth century Eng-
lish has been their church vernacular.

Rev. Mr. Dalhe, from New York, visited New Paltz, January
26, 1683, and occasionally conducted services for them. Their
then house of worship was a stone edifice, where thev worshipped
eighty years, when it was demolished. . . . The Huguenots
finally, by intermarriages and intercourse with the Dutch,
adopted their language, manners, and customs, and finally gave
up their French church and accepted and joined with the Re-
formed Dutch denomination, and worshipped with the Dutch in
the same church edifice.

Chapter XXVIII

Saugerties and its Neighbours

IN old descriptions of county boundaries the hmits
of Ulster are set at Murderer's Creek on the south,
and Sawyer's Creek on the north. The Sawyer's
Creek, or Sawkill of local maps, was the scene of an
unaccountable activity on the ]:>art of a man whose
name, antecedents, residence, mode of life, and fate
are all unknown, yet from whom a ]3opulous town
derives its appellation. The "Little Sawyer," who
established himself on the bank of a stream some ten
miles above Kingston and antedated the earliest set-
tlers whose names are recorded, has been referred to
in old accounts as de Zaagertje and his mill as Zaar-
gertje's, of which Saugerties is a simple corruption.

What the object of the sawyer's coming was, for
whom his logs were sawn, or where they were shipped,
are questions to which no answers have been suggested.
The Indians, in a transaction the record of which was
officially preserved, acknowledged definitely that they
had sold and conveyed to this mysterious man a tract
of several thousand acres of land on the l^anks of the

471

4/2 The Hudson River

stream, but he was never known to have had the pur-
chase confirmed by royal grant.

In course of time this region, well watered, fertile,
and abounding in game, attracted settlers. The pleas-
ant meadows that bordered the mouth of Esopus
Creek drew, first of all, Cornelius Lambertsen Brink,
who built a stone house at the junction of the Platte-
kill and Esopus Creek, in witness whereof the house
stands to this day. There are also descendants of the
pioneer Brink, in the seventh and eighth generations,
whose filial piety keeps his memory green. Brink had
been a prisoner among the Indians after the horrible
Esopus massacre in 1663 ; but, with twenty- two fellow-
captives, he managed to escape from the hands of the
savages. A few other hardy Dutch frontiersmen took
up land between the great Hardenbergh patent and
the river. A large holding to the north of Saugerties
was known as Fullerton's tract, upon which afterwards
the West Camp of the Palatines was established. This
at that time was included in the county of Albany, of
which the southern boundary was then Esopus Creek.

North of Saugerties were fruitful plantations of
maize, cultivated by the Indians, from which, at a
time when the savages had assumed a hostile attitude,
some white men took a quantity of corn. But it may
be said that the people of Saugerties generally escaped
broils with their redskin neighbours. As early as
1 61 8, a treaty was made between one Eelkins, com-
mander of the trading-post at Albany, and the repre-

Saugerties and its Neighbours 473

sentatives of the Five Nations, b>- which the latter
pledged themselves to friendship for the white men,
and it is stated that that treaty was never broken.

The Indians that harassed Kingston and other set-
tlements, tomahawking the men and carrying away
women and children, were of the Esopus and Catskill
tribes, who finally allied themselves with the Mohegans
against their greatly dreaded enemy, the Mohawks.
We read of the subjugation of the Mohegans and their
aUies by the Mohawks and the estabHshment of their
overlordship or suzerainty, and we can understand
how the latter compelled the adversaries of the Dutch
to surrender prisoners that they had taken.

Near the beginning of the eighteenth century, at the
same time that a purchase (elsewhere referred to) was
made of Judge Livingston for the Palatines, the Fuller-
ton tract was also secured on the west shore, and what
was known as West Camj) was established.

It is not possible to overestimate the value of the
faithful and conscientious, though often obstinate and
discontented, Germans upon the life of the community
that was then in its earh' formative stage. The com-
bination of this stock with that of the Dutch and the
Huguenot exiles that came to Kingston and afterwards
settled the banks of the Wallkill resulted in a "blend"
of unusual excellence. The amalgamation seems to
have been very complete in course of time, as we note
that the Huguenots adopted both the language and
form of worship of the Dutch, while one of the most

474 The Hudson River

successful and widel}^ known ministers of the Dutch
Church in that region was of Palatine parentage, and
came m time to be known as "the Dutch Domine."
Immediately upon settling, the Palatines established
schools and churches. The first school was com-
menced within three months after the arrival of the
emigrants at West Camp. This alone should for ever
set at rest the common notion that they were illiterate
peasants. Poor they were certainly, the victims of
persecution that seemed to follow them even from
their own land in the lower Palatinate, on the Rhine,
across the seas, at first to England and afterwards to
America. The statesmen of Qtieen Anne's time an-
ticipated that the labour of the Palatines would at
least repay the outlay necessary for their transport and
maintenance. The i:)lan was to employ them in get-
ting out timbers for the royal navy, particularly masts
and spars; and the j^roduction of pitch, turpentine,
resin, etc., or what are known as naval stores.

The first years of the settlement were years of hard-
ship and suffering and great discontent. The people
believed that the establishment of the camps upon the
Hudson was a breach of faith, they having understood
that they were to have lands elsewhere. Fortv thou-
sand dollars had been expended in the experiment by
the British government, and a hundred and thirty
thousand more from Governor Hunter's private pocket;
but at length the whole scheme of colonisation was
acknowledred to be a failure, and the colonists were

Saugerties and its Neighbours 475

permitted to mcn'e where they pleased or to buy the
lands upon which they were settled.

The settlement was made in 1 7 1 o-i i . In the French
and Indian War which soon followed, the Enghsh found
no more ready volunteers than the Palatines, who had
old scores to wipe out. This same warlike spirit was
again shown, when in sui:)port of the Continental cause,

LinW.N lllE RIVER FROM LOWER RED HOOK

this time in o])])Osition to the English, their descend-
ants filled not only the ranks of the Ulster regiments,
but ];)rovided not a few of the military officers. Gen-
eral Herkimer was the most distinguished soldier of
Palatine descent. Under such leaders as Captain John
Conrad Weiser and Captain Hartman Winedecker, the
yeomen of Saugerties and \'icinity made a good record.
Oiie of the early ministers of the German exiles was
Josiah Kocherthal, a man of scholarly attainments and
a poetic temperament. His epitaph in the cemetery at

47^ The Hudson River

West Camp (Newton) is given in translation by Ben-
jamin Myer Brink, in his History of Saugerties, as
follows :

Know traveller, under this stone rests, beside his Sibylla
Charlotte, a real traveller, of the High Dutch in North America
their Joshua, and a pure Lutheran preacher of the same on the
east and west side of the Hudson River. His first arrival was
with Lord Lovelace in 1709, the first of January. His second
with Col. Hunter, 17 10, the fourteenth of June. The journey of
his soul to Heaven on St. John's day 17 19, interrupted his return
to England. Do you wish to know more ? Seek in Melancthon's
Fatherland who was Kocherthal, who Harschias, who Winchen-
bach ?

Through vSatigerties and along that shore of the river,
in the eighteenth century, a tri-weekl}^ mail from New
York to Albany was carried by a post-rider on horse-
back, and this mail, we may suppose, was never burden-
some enough to distress his horse.

But now we ma}^ turn our attention again for a while
to the eastern shore of the stream. We find ourselves
in what may be known as the land of the Livingstons.
Mr. Ellis H. Roberts points out that

in the assembly of 1759, consisting of twenty-seven members, no
less than four Livingstons sat: Philip for New York, WiUiam for
the Manor, and Robert and Henry for Dutchess. By alHance
by marriage with the Schuylers and the Jays, and by its wealth,
the Livingston family held a pre-eminence rarely equalled in
this country.

To write fidly the local history of Tivoli, Hyde Park,
and the neighbouring region would be to undertake the
extensive chronicle of that prominent family. The

Saugerties and its Neighbours 477

name of Livingston is intimately eonnccted with the
story of New York State and ])artieularh' with its
great river. Robert Livingston, the immediate pro-
genitor of the American branch of the family, was of
Scotch parentage. He settled first in Albany, where
he was emplo}'ed as secretary b>^ the Commissioners of
Indian Affairs, acquiring several lots of land from the
Indians. In 1710, he had his various purchases and
grants consolidated into an estate of something more
than a hundred and fift\' thousand acres, which w^as
seciu-ed by a patent that was burdened w4th the stipu-
lation that for the enjoyment of this wilderness he
should pa\' an annual rent amounting in value to about
three and a half dollars. Nothing now remains of
the old manor-house which he erected at the mouth of
Roeleff Jansen's Kill, or Ancram Creek.

Six thousand acres of Robert Livingston's land was
bought the same year that the grant w^as dated by the
government for the use of the unfortunate Palatines.

Early in the eighteenth century, the tenants of the
Livingston Manor w^ere allow^ed one representative,
elected by the freeholders, in the colonial Legislature,
and in 17 16 the lord of the Manor was chosen for that
office. When the old proprietor died, he was suc-
ceeded by his son, Robert R., in the ownership of the
lower part of the Manor. There he built a fine man-
sion, w^hich he named Clermont. This w^as Judge
Livingston, the father of that Robert R. w4io was Chan-
cellor of the State of New York. The latter was born

47^ The Hudson River

in old Clermont, but soon after his marriage built for
himself a mansion a short distance to the south of his
father's house. Both of these dwellings were burned
by the British under General Vaughan in 1777. The
commodious dwelling that the Chancellor built upon
the ruins of his former home is the one u]3on which has
centred all the sacredness of family traditions, as it
was here that he closed his busy career in 18 13.

We have elsewhere referred to his connection with
Robert Fulton in the production of the first successful
steamboat. Fulton married a niece of Livingston's,
whose own wife was the daughter of that John Stevens
who owned most of the site of Hoboken, and sister of
the second John Stevens, the builder of the first ocean-
going steamer. The atmosphere in which he lived
seems to have been surcharged with the spirit of in-
vention. The origin of the fallacious tradition that
the Clermont steamer was built near Tivoli may be
found in a story mentioned by Lossing, to the effect
that Nesbit, the Englishman whose experiments were
encouraged by Livingston in 1797, did build an un-
successful steamboat in De Koven's Bay, just below
Upper Red Hook landing.

It was at De Koven's Bay that the British landed
when they burned old Clermont. They made a demon-
stration at the house of John Swift Livingston, another
descendant of the original proprietor, but were met
with such jovial hospitality that they were pleased to
forego the burning. It was a case where the cellar

Saugcrties and its Neighbours 479

sa\'ed the huusc, for, \vc are told, the master pHed his
guests with wine and other refreshment till the\- de-
parted in high good humour.

At Annandale, nearly midway between Tivoli and
Barry town, is another notable spot, once the residence
of General Richard Montgomery. His birthplace was
Dublin, Ireland; and at Dublin College he was edu-
cated, afterwards entering the British army. When
his regiment, the 17th, was ordered for service in en-
forcing the Stamp Act in America, Montgomery,
among others, resigned his commission. In 1772, or
the early part of 1773, he came to New York, purchas-
ing a farm near Kingsbridge, but that same year he
married a daughter of Judge Livingston and removed
to Rhinebeck. The letters which passed between
Montgomery and his prosiiective father-in-law are in
the stilted st\-le of a bygone day. Among other
delightful bits of rhetoric the suitor w^'ites :

I have ventured at last to request, Sir. that you will consent
to a union which to me has the most ])romising appearance of
happiness, from the lady's uncommon merit and amiable worth.
Nor will it be an inconsiderable addition to be favoured by such
respectable characters with the title of son, should I be so fort-
unate as to deserve it. And if to contribute to the happiness
of a beloved daughter can claim any share with tender parents,
I hope hereafter to have some title to your esteem.

The answer was propitious and, it may be said,
equally elegant in diction, and the marriage between
the future General and his beloved Janet took place in
Julv, 1773. In 1775, he was chosen one of the Council

48o The Hudson River

of Fifty from Dutchess County, and afterwards, upon
the appointment of PhiHp Schuyler as Major-General,
he was tendered the rank of Brigadier-General. His
young wife was nearly overcome with emotion when
he brought her the news of this appointment, but,
quickly recovering herself, she with her own hands
placed a ribbon cockade upon his hat and gave him
such encouragement as a brave wife, who loves her
husband's honour more than her own hapi^iness, may
give. The parting between these married lovers took
place at Saratoga. It was marked by deep feeling and
a no less strong self-control. Then the young soldier
turned his face towards Canada, and his wife saw him
no more.

We know how General Schuyler's resignation, on
account of ill-health, raised Montgomery to chief com-
mand at Isle aux Noix. He had a difficult task in
dealing with discontent and even instibordination
among his troops, but his progress through Canada
was triumphant, and he went to the attack of Quebec
with a feeling that he " had courted fortune and found
her kind."

With his half-starved and half-naked little army, in
the bitter cold of a Canadian winter morning, before
the dawn, on the 31st December, 1775, Montgomery
arranged his forces for the attack. Through the dark-
ness and the falling snow he urged his benumbed sol-
diers, till he received the wound that proved mortal.
When his body was afterwards identified among a

FROM

THE L A WN

THE MONTCOMElf^Y HOUSE
AT ANNANDALE

481

Scumcrties and its Neighbours 4^3

'fe

number of others, the British eommander had it l^uricd
within the walls of the city with military honours. By
his will, made at Crown Point during the preceding
August, and found a few days after his death by Bene-
dict Arnold and Donald Campbell, Montgomery's
estate on the Hudson was given to his wife, Janet.

After forty-three years the body of General Mont-
gomery was delivered, through the courtesy of Sir
John Sherbrooke, to Colonel Lewis Livingston, and,
escorted by the Adjutant-General, with Colonel Van
Rensselaer and a detachment of cavalry, it was brought
to Albany and lay in state in the Capitol. The im-
pressive ceremonies held there extended over the
Fourth of July. Two days later commenced a funeral
progress without parallel in the history of New York.
Placed in a magnificent coffin and accompanied by a
suitable military escort, the remains of the hero of
Quebec were taken aboard the steamer Richmond, '
which had been temporarih^ converted into a funeral
catafalc[ue. The sombre spectacle made a dee]) im-
pression upon the thousands of people who witnessed
the departure. The villages along the course of this
mournful procession paid every possible mark of re-
spect and grief, and at some places the melancholy
rei^ort of minute guns announced the passing of the
steamer.

But more imj^ressive than the beat of mufifled drums
or the salute of the cannon, more significant than the
emblems of mourning, more sad than the tears of a

484 The Hudson River

multitude, was the presence of one woman, past the
prime of Hfe, with hair whitened by nearh* half a cent-
ur}' of widow^hood. At her own request, Mrs. Mont-
gomer}' was left alone upon the ]:)iazza of her home,
"Montgomery Place." There, un watched, she coidd
witness the pomp and ceremony of that melanchoh^
progress that, w4iile it could not fail to gratify her
pride, yet renewed the anguish of her loss and brought
the scalding tears to her aged eyes. The steamboat
stopped before her house and the troops stood under
arms as the distant strains of the dead-march came
up from the river.

At last the final honours to Montgomery were paid
in New York City, and on the 8th of July, 181 8, his
remains were interred under the monument in St.
Paul's Churchyard.

We have, in a former chapter, made reference to
Hyde Park as the scene of James Kirke Paulding's re-
tirement, and no account of the river written fiftv
years ago could have omitted to mention the beauties
of his country home, " Placentia," and the fame of the
author and jniblic servant who lived there. But who
recollects to-day in whose administration Paulding was
Secretary of State — or was it war? — and what library
in active circulation to-day would be cumbered by
keeping his once-popular books on its shelves ? James
K. Paulding is to most Americans a scarcely remem-
bered name, recalled only because of his association
with Washington Irving in some youthful literary

Saugerties and its Neighbours 4^S

ventures. His pleasant home at Hyde Park was re-
ehristened b_\' a subseciuent owner, as though to em-
phasise the vanity of popular reputation. An in(|uiry
about the last scene of his earthly sojourn elicits from
one whose leisure, if not elegant, is at least obvious,
such a re])ly :

Paulding's house? What Paulding? Th' feller that used to
be barkeeper at the hotel? Well, then, I don't know who you
mean: I guess he ain't lived round here none fer quite a spell.

Chapter XXIX

The Catskill Region

THE greater portion of that part of Greene
County bordering upon the ri\'er was. in
early times, held by a few proprietors. In
accordance with the instructions of the Company, the
lands were jjurchased from the Indian owners, being
afterwards in nearly all instances confirmed by royal
grants. The same method of procedure was followed
along the shores of the lower part of the river.

A little to the south of Catskill, a dozen or more
yoemen settled with their families —numbering, slaves
and all, seventy or more souls — upon land which was
then, and has ever since been called the imhogt. This
was included in the Loverage patent. Beekman's, al-
ready alluded to, was in Kiskatom, adjoining Greene s.
The land where the village of Catskill stands was in-
cluded in Lindsay's patent.

Silvester Salsbury and Martin G. Bergen, in 1677,
purchased a large tract of land from the Indians. Sals-
bury was a British captain, who had charge of the fort
at Albany in the time of Governor Nicoll. A patent
for this land was not obtained till 1688, when Salsbury

486

The Catskill Region

487

was no longer living; but his widow held his ])ortion
of the estate, which la}' on Catskill Creek. Neither of
the original patentees lived upon the land thus ac-

\V(;<)I)LAND KROOK NEAR CATSKILL
{From the painting by A. B. Durand, in the Lenox Library. By pe

quired, but continued residents of Albany; their sons,
however, moved into the Catskill wilderness.

Francis Salsbury, in 1705, built upon his portion of

4^3 The Hudson River

the domain a stone house that was a sufficient protec-
tion against the arms or military science of the redskins
and also proof against the ravages of two centuries.
For many years this dwelling enjoyed the distinction
of being the largest house between Newburgh and Al-
bany. The Van Bergen mansion, though equally en-
during, was somewhat altered architecturally a number
of years ago. It was built of brick, being a unique
example of the use of this material in old Catskill.

Benjamin Dubois had a wooden house, probably a
roomy log-cabin, near the mouth of the creek; and
others of the prominent men of the settlement were
similarly housed. Among the names of the older
Catskill families are Van Ordens, Van Vechtens, Over-
baghs, Abeels, Oothoudts, Schunemans, Wynkoops,
Fieros, Webers, Plancks, Newkirks — a mingling of
Dutch and German ap]3ellations still to be found in the
Catskill directory.

There is a tradition that, on Wanton Island, near
Catskill, a fierce battle was once fought between the
Mohawks and the river Indians. The former claimed
the right to name a sachem for their neighbours, or,
in other words, the}^ tried to enforce the right of over-
lordship, which the others resisted. After a day of
hard fighting, according to Indian methods, the Mohe-
gans succeeded in dri\4ng their enemies from the field.
The Mohawks then retreated to another island, where
they built fires and pretended to encamp. But, having
spread their blankets upon poles near the fire, so that

The Catskill Region 489

c^

thev shotild resemble men seated there, they retired to
the forest and waited in ambush till the Mohegans
a})] reared to complete their \-ictory. The latter, steal-
ing u]) in the dead of night, tomahawk in hand, fell
ui)on the unsusi)eeting blankets with great fury. While
thus exposed in the glare of the firelight, and no doubt
thrown into confusion ])y the ruse that had du|jed
them, they fell a read)' ])re}' to the arrows of the crafty
Mohawks. In another narrative of this battle (one, it
must be confessed, more in keeping with probabilities) ,
no mention is made of the strategy of the blankets and
cam]3-fire. It is stated that the Mohawks, finding the
Mohegans' ]:)osition on the island imjjregnable, retired
to the mainland, pretending to he beaten, and that the
others foolishly followed them, to their own destruc-
tion. The result of this battle was a treaty, l)y the
terms of which the Mohawks were to choose a king for
the Mohegans, and the}' were ])ledged to reverence him
and call him by the honourable title of " Uncle."

Van Rensselaer's agent coveted and laid claim to the
region about Catskill, but his pretensions were set at
naught by Governor Kieft, who granted the land to
Cornelius Antonissen Van vSlyck of Bruckelin. This
was in 1644; but, in 1649, Van Rensselaer, who paid
little regard to what was done b}^ the Go\'ernor of New
Amsterdam, asserted his rights by ])urchasing of the
Indians their pro]:ierty in the disputed territory. In
1650, the Dutch West India Company denied the valid-
ity of the purchase made b\' Van Slechtenhorst, \"an

490 The Hudson River

Rensselaer's agent, and Stuyvesant declared the title
void, ordering that the purchase money be restored,
\'et making a condition that if those holding such
lands would, within six weeks, petition the Director
and Council, they might have their holdings confirmed.
Of course, this was a crafty effort on the Governor's
part to make the too independent patroon of Renssel-
aerswyck own the authority of the Company's Director
at Manhattan. Grants free from dependence upon the
Patroon were subsequently given by the powers at
Amsterdam.

William Leete Stone, editor at one time of the New
York Couinicycial Advertiser, wrote regarding the settle-
ment of Catskill, that

its Dutch founders, with characteristic prudence, placed it en-
tirely out of sight from the river, probably to render themselves
secure from bombardment by a foreign fleet and from invasion
from the armies of the Yankees, which formerly much annoyed
our primitive settlements.

The Indians from whom the lands of the early set-
tlers were purchased disappeared entirely from the
scene. Their sachem, Mahak-Neminaw, seems to have
been a poor sort of a chief, drunken and beggarly. He
had a share in the earlier transactions for the transfer
of his tribe's patrimony, but when the final sale, which
left his people without a habitation on earth, was
made, he was not present, and his fellovz-tribesmen stip-
ulated that when he appeared he was to receive, as his
share of the price, two pieces of duffels and six cans of

The Catskill Region 491

rum. Where these eadier inhal:)itants, whose wigwams
occupied the terrace that l)eeame the site of old Cats-
kill, betook themselves, is not recorded. The sub-
sequent Indian troubles, which this ])lace shared with
other river towns, were due to conflict with other
tribes.

The most tragic stories of Indian atrocities are of
Revolutionary date. The fierce Mohawks, acting as
allies with the British, and aided l^y Tories who were
scattered throughout the countr\', swoojjcd down upon
solitary farmhouses and ca])tured the inmates, taking
them by arduous forest ways to Canada, where a re-
ward was paid for each ])risoner. It seems almost in-
credible that a party of twenty or more redskins, with
possibly several white men, would undertake a toil-
some journey of hundreds of miles, on foot, through a
wilderness, where hunger often assailed them, for the
sake of one or two miserable farmer ca])ti\'es, usually
boys or old men. Yet such Vv^as the fact.

One of the best known of local stones is that of the
cajjtivity of the Abeels — David Abeel and Anthony his
son. These people lived in a house about three miles
back of Catskill. The father, who was old, had l)cen
an Indian trader and understood the Mohawk tongue.
When seated at their noonday meal one Sunday, the
family was surprised by the sudden entrance of a num-
ber of Indians, led by a white man, painted and dis-
guised, but recognised by the sharp eyes of the old
Indian trader, who thoughtlessly called him by name.

492 The Hudson River

"Since you know who I am," said this man, who was
a Tory neighbour of the Abeels, "you will have to
come too." It was not at first the intention of the
marauders to take the old man, who was thought too
feeble to sustain the fatigue of the long march.

In honour of the holy day both David and Anthony
had on their best clothes and finery, and it grieved the
thrifty soul of a daughter, who was present, that the
sih'er shoe- and knee-buckles that were the pride of
the family should fall into the hands of the enemy, so
while the palaver was going on she hid under the table,
and, detaching these valuable trinkets, slipped them
into her bosom.

Torn from his family, David Abeel made heroic
efforts to keep up with his captors, knowing that
should he fail to do so he would be put out of the way
without hesitation. When the savages learned that he
could converse with them in their own language, and
had been among their j^eople as a trader, they treated
him with consideration. The son was compelled to
run the gauntlet, that is, to make what speed he could
between two armed files of Indians, whose blows he
might esca]3e by dodging. His father warned him that
the yoimg men would try to get in his way and impede
him. Remembering this caution, he struck the first
one who interfered so hard a blow that the Indian fell
sprawling among his companions and in the confusion
Anthony completed his run without injurv.

About the same time Captain Jeremiah Snyder and

The Catskill Region 493

his son Elias, of Saugcrties, were taken b)' Tories and
Indians whik^ ])loughing in a field. The}' atteni])ted
to escape by running, ])iit were captured, and Ca])tain
Snyder wounded l)y a l)low from a tomahaw4<. These
captives were conducted ])y the same general route as
that generally taken by marauding bands from Canada
— by way of the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Genesee
rivers. They were closely guarded by day, and at
night a rope, ])assed around the arms of each and se-
curely tied behind, was stretched to l)egs on either side,
an Indian sleeping upon each ro]3e. The stor}' of the
captivity of these men is a romance, but too long for
insertion here. The Snyders and Abeels met in Can-
ada, and afterw^ards succeeded in making their escape
together, subsequently returning to their homes.

The capture of the boy Schermerhorn, known as the
'Tvow Dutch Prisoner," was attended with the horror
of murder and arson. The old i;)eo|)le with whom he
lived, Mr. Stro]:)e and his wife, were tomahawked, and
the house rifled of all of \-alue that it contained before
it was finall_\- fired. Like the Snyders and Abeels,
Schermerhorn finally returned to his home, but not till
he had endured almost inconcei\'al)le hardships as a
captive, and had afterwards been forced to fight in the
British armv. Upon his enlistment a bounty of forty
Si^anish dollars (the customary sum) w^as paid to the
Indian who had captured him.

A bounty was paid by the British for scalps, and
women and children as well as men furnished these

494 The Hudson River

horrible trophies, which were to the savages a source
of income.

Most of the inhabitants of Catskill were ardent
"Whigs," as they were called, and the wrath of their
scattered Tory neighbours was roused against them. It
is recorded that one sixth of the male population of
Catskill were in the patriot army, some serving near
home and others offering their lives on distant battle-
fields.

A man of great influence at that day was Domine
Schuneman, whose pastorate of forty years had en-
deared him to the i^eople to such an extent that he was
their leader in things temporal as well as spiritual.
Mr. Schuneman was not of HoUandish descent, but had
sprung from the German peasant blood of the Palatin-
ate settlement. He, however, was a minister of the
Dutch Church, and had been in Holland to complete
at Leyden the theological education commenced under
Domine Theodorus Frielinghuysen at Albany. His
pastorate included Coxsackie as well as Catskill, an
arrangement frequently made between neighbouring
villages at that day, when congregations were small
and ministers few. Schuneman was a strong supporter
of the colonial cause, and there is no doubt that to his
great influence was due much of the intense patriotism
of his neighl)ours.

In common with other great men, the Catskill
Domine was the subject of many anecdotes, some of
them amusing. There is a story told of an entry

The Catskill Rei'ion 495

't>

made in his minute-book, as fohows: "Attended the

funeral of ; sold my gray mare; all flesh is

grass."

When he went abroad to complete his studies he was
engaged to the youngest daughter of the wealthy |)ro-
prietor, Martin Van Bergen. On his return he was so
pitted with smallpox that she did not know him, but
love was strong enough to overlook the disfigurement
and the course of their true love ran smooth. After
old Martin's death, the Domine became by inheritance
a rich man, and built a splendid house, where he passed
the remainder of his days. His funeral was in the
good old Dutch manner, a medley of grief and junket-
ing, of piety and punch. Each comer, man or woman,
was met at the outset with a glass of rum, and, after a
service in Dutch and a long procession on foot (the
coffin upon an open bier leading the way), the assem-
bled company returned to the house and, amid clouds
of tobacco smoke and deep potations, discussed the
merits of the departed pastor and the merits of the
last horse sale.

One of the traditionary stories of Catskill is told in
Barber and Howe's Collections, the author, William
Leete Stone, having perhaps added a touch of imag-
ination to the original version of the tale. At an old
stone house standing at Cairo, about ten miles to the
northward of Catskill, there lived in the early part of
the eighteenth century a young man of arbitrary, pas-
sionate disposition; one whose passions often rose

49^ The Hudson River

beyond control. A young woman, one of the " re-
demptioners" or white bond-servants of the time, ran
away from the service of this man. He pursued her
on horseback, and, finally overtaking her, tied her to
the tail of his horse, which became frightened and
dashed madly among the rocks and stones till the poor
victim was killed and her body terribly mutilated.
The man was tried for murder and found guilty, but
through the influence of his family he escaped punish-
ment, or, rather, the court decreed that he should be
hanged when he attained the age of ninety-nine 3^ears.
In addition to this sentence, he was to present himself
annually to the judges when the court was in session,
and wear always a cord about his neck as a memorial
of his crime. He lived for many years, and continued
each year to fulfil the conditions of his sentence.
People talked of the silken cord that he wore, and he
was shunned and solitary in his life, while spectres of
various sorts gathered around his isolated dwelling.
Sometimes a female figure would appear alone, then a
terrific white horse followed by a ghastlv thing in tat-
tered clothes, and again a wraith in a winding-sheet —
altogether the neighbourhood of the house became un-
canny. The Revolutionary war came and found the
criminal an old man; his ninety-ninth year, that had
been selected in what seems like grim ijleasantry as
the date of his execution, came, and he lived on. When
over a hundred years of age he fell quietly asleep,
and who shall doubt that the crime of his youth was

*

The Catskill Region 499

expiated by three quarters of a century of punish-
ment.

The details of this story have no doubt been col-
oured, but there is a foundation in fact. The man in
question did tie a servant to a rope, to make her return
to his home, from which she had escaped; but he tied
the other end of the rope to his own body and was him-
self dragged to the ground w^hen the horse ran awa}'.
He gave himself up to the authorities, who, it is said,
acquitted him and let him go free.

The history of Catskill has shown an industrial de-
cline during some years of the past century. The
town had a great deal of trade, particularly with West-
ern New York and Northern Pennsylvania, but the
building of the Erie Canal and the establishment of
the railroads u]3on the o])posite sides of the river
served successiveh' to rob it of its advantages of posi-
tion for trade.

, Back of Catskill village, a dozen or more miles away,
rise the most imj^ressive peaks on the outer wall of
the movmtain range that gives it its name. Not as
lofty as many of the famous chains that are celebrated
by travellers, the Catskills have a rare beauty of their
own and are fully worthy of the admiration of the
artist or the poet. Irving says:

Of all the scenery of the Hudson, the Kaatskill ^Mountains had
the most witching effect on my boyish imagination. Never
shall I forget the effect upon me of the first view of them pre-
dominating over a wide extent of country, part wild, woody, and

500 The Hudson River

rugged; part softened away into all the graces of cultivation.
As we slowly floated along, 1 lay on the deck and watched them
through a long summer's day; undergoing a thousand muta-
tions under the magical effects of atmosphere ; sometimes seem-
ing to approach, at other times to recede; now almost melting
into hazv distance, now burnished by the setting sun, until, in
the evening, they printed themselves against the glowing sky in
the deep purple of an Italian landscape.

As Kingston cherishes in her hall of fame the name
of John Vanderlyn, artist, so Catskill points with pride
to Thomas Cole, who, though of English birth, yet for
many years, and indeed to the close of his life, lived
and worked near that ])lace. He is best known by the
Voyage of Life, which at the time of its exhibition was
considered. |:)erhaps, the most remarkable painting pro-
duced in America. Cole had a deeply re\^erent spirit,
evinced no less in the works of his brush than in the
poems b}^ which he lo\'ed to express his strong appre-
ciation of nature,

Slowly unfolding to the enraptured gaze
Her thousand charms.

Here we may go aside for a short excursion into
those enchanted hills where dwelt the old squaw who
"made the new moons, and cut u]) the old ones into
stars. " Her factory for making clouds is still in opera-
tion as she sends them off, "flake after flake, to float
in the air and give light smnmer showers," or "black
thunder-storms and drenching rains, to swell the
streams and sweep everything away."

In the days of William Kieft, Governor of New

The Catskill Region 501

Amsterdam, he, in com]:)any with Adrian Vander Donck
and others, met the chiefs of the Mohawks in confer-
ence and noticed the metahic histre of certain ])igments
used by the savages in personal adornment. They
procured some of this metal and Johannes de la Mon-
tague put it in a crucible. When assayed it produced
gold, to the great delight of the Governor and his
friends, who managed, upon the arrangement of peace,
to send an exj^edition in search of the source of treas-
ure. The result of the expedition was a bucketful of
ore that yielded |)leasing results w^hen put to the cruci-
ble's test. The rest of the story may be told in Irving 's
words :

William Kieft now dispatched a confidential agent, one Arent
Corsen, to convey a sackful of the precious ore to Holland. Cor-
sen embarked at New Haven in a British vessel bound to Eng-
land, whence he was to cross to Rotterdam. The ship set sail
about Christmas, but never reached port. All on board perished.

In 1647, when the redoubtable Petrus Stuyvesant took com-
mand of the New Netherlands, William Kicft embarked on his
return to Flolland, provided with further specimens of the Cats-
kill Mountain ore, from which he doubtless indulged golden an-
ticipations. A similar fate attended him with that which had
befallen his agent. The ship in which he had embarked was cast
away, and he and his treasure were swallowed up in the waves.

Here closes the golden legend of the Catskills, but another one
of a similar import succeeds. In 1679, about two years after the
shipwreck of Wilhelmus Kieft, there was again a rumour of the
precious metals in these mountains. Mynheer Brant Arent Van
Slechtenhorst, agent of the Patroon of Rensselaerswyck, had pur-
chased, in behalf of the Patroon, a tract of the Catskill lands,
and leased it out in farms. A Dutch lass, in the household of
one of the farmers, found one day a glittering substance, which,

502 The Hudson River

on being examined, was pronounced silver ore. Brant Van
Slechtenhorst forthwith sent his son from Rensselaerswyck to
explore the mountains in quest of the supposed mines. The
young man put up in the farmer's house, which had recently
been erected on the margin of a mountain stream. Scarcely was
he housed when a furious storm burst forth on the mountains.
The thunders rolled, the lightnings flashed, the rain came down
in cataracts; tlie stream was suddenly swollen to a furious tor-
rent thirty feet deep; the farmhouse and all its contents were
swept away, and it was only by dint of excellent swimming that
young Slechtenhorst saved his own life and the lives of his
horses. Shortly after this a feud broke out between Peter Stuy-
vesant and the Patroon of Rensselaerswyck, on account of the
right and title to the Catskill Mountains, in the course of which
the elder Slechtenhorst was taken captive by the potentate of
the New Netherlands, and thrown into prison at New Amsterdam.
We have met with no record of any further attempt to get at
the treasures of the Catskills. Adventurers may have been dis-
couraged bv the ill-luck which appeared to attend all who
meddled with them, as if they were under the guardian keep of
the same spirits or goblins who once haunted the mountains and
ruled over the weather. That gold and silver ore was actually
procured from these mountains in days of yore we have histori-
cal evidence to prove ; and the recorded word of Adrian Van der
Donk, a man of weight, who was an eye-witness. If gold and
silver were once to be found there, they must be there at present.
It remains to be seen, in these gold-hunting days, whether the
quest will be renewed; and some daring adventurer, with a true
Calif ornian spirit, will penetrate the mysteries of these mount-
ains, and open a golden region on the l.iorders of the Hudson.

Chapter XXX

Nantucket Quakers and Dutch Fighters

TO celebrate the city of Hudson, judicial seat of
Columl)ia County, requires the pen of Knick-
erbocker. To the modern mind its reason for
being seems as deliciousl\ a1:)surd as anything in the
inconsecjuent adventures of Alice in Wonderland.

A little company of sturdy New England men, from
Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Providence, de-
cided in 1784 that they would found a city. The
humour of the proposition lay in the fact that, being
mighty in the handling of the harpoon and seasoned
with the salt of many seas, they proposed to establish,
one hundred and fifteen miles inland from New York,
a city devoted to whaling and kindred industries.

There is no suggestion that these grave humourists
ever dreamed of finding whales in the Hudson, though
there is a tradition that one mighty cetacean went in
search of his ancient antagonists, or for some other
reason ascended the waters of the river till he stranded
on the Hudson Flats, to the great consternation of the
regular navigators from Coxsackie to vSaugerties.

There is one strong argument to ad\^ance in favour

504 The Hudson River

of the sanity of the proprietors of Hudson. Their ])lan
succeeded. From old Cla\'erack Landing, as the place
was at first known, whalers were disi)atched and re-
turned reeking with unsavour}' si)erm. Other vessels
brought their merchandise from the ends of the earth
to this harbour, so secure against any wind that ever
troubled the ocean.

A year after its settlement, Hudson was incorporated
as a city. Its growth was i)henomenal, onl}' excelled,
it is said, by that of Baltimore, and the ])roprietors
Avaxed wealthy. For the large region of Columbia
Count}' it became at once the distriliuting centre for
all manner of merchandise, and after a while manu-
factures were established and prospered. The names
of the ] )ro]3rictors were all familiar along the southern
Massachusetts shore. Their leader was Thomas Jen-
kins of Nantucket; while Marshal Jenkins of Martha's
Vineyard, with others of the same surname, ap])ear
prominently in earl\- records. Biblical names seemed
to abound in the family of Thomas. We find Seth,
Lemuel, and Benjamin in the second generation; the
first named figuring as ma}'or. Marshal Jenkins was
the grandfather of Major- General William Jenkins
Worth, whose feats of arms in Mexico made him a
po|3ular hero and whose dust reposes under the gran-
ite monument erected to him on Fifth Avenue, New
York.

In speculating upon the motives which induced the
"thirty New Englanders, mostly Quakers," to choose

Nantucket Quakers and Dutch Fighters 507

this site for their city, it is tUfficult to behevc that mere
prudence or a commercial s])irit impelled them. It is
true that after the troublesome exi)erienees of the war,
when their vessels had been captured and destroyed
and their liberties menaced by the British enemv, they
must have exi)erienced great satisfaction in hnding so
safe a retreat ; 1 )ut it is also to Ijc believed that to eves
accustomed to the unmitigated sand and unrelieved
levels of Cape Cod, the green and fertile billows of the
landscape that lies between the river and the " Katz-
bergs" must ha\-e been like a vision of Paradise.

Hudson has attracted se\^eral artists of repute — in-
deed, has been the birth] )lace of more than one of the
school that it was the fashion a few years ago to refer
to slightingl}^ as "Hudson River." Chin-ch and Gif-.
ford lead the list of those who have been honoured
among American painters.

The first steamboat owned in Hudson was the Legis-
lature, l)uilt elsewhere, but purchased l)y a Hudson firm
in 1828 for towing puq^oses. Before that date all of
the traffic had depended upon sail propulsion. One
can hardly realise to-day how considerable that trade
was ; for while Hudson is still a place of many factories
and some business acti\'it\\ it no longer holds the
prominent rank it once did among the ri\^er towns.

Claverack Creek enters the river a short distance
north of the old city. Its name is deri\^ed from Klauver
Rack, which is the Dutch for Clover Reach. Athens, a
thriving little town that was first named Lunenberg and

5o8 The Hudson River

afterwards Esperanza, is opposite Hudson and con-
nected Dv ferr\' to its more opulent vis-a-vis.

The high hill to the south of Hudson is Mount Merino,
and nearer at hand, within the city. Prospect Hill
affords an outlook that embraces at once the Catskills,
the Green Mountains, the Luzerne range, and the Hud-
son Highlands. The whole neighbourhood of this
maritime city of the inland w^aters is hilly and excep-
tionally beautiful, while the quiet, tree-shaded streets
are marked by a sedate New England air. The family
names in the directory are mainly those that have been
familiar since the founders brouglit with them the
energy, the conscience, and the thrift that built the
town. There is to-da}^ a conservatism that distin-
guishes the manners and public acts of the inhabitants
of this pleasant city; it is, perhaps, a reminiscence of
Quaker habits of thought and speech. We ma}" only
conjecture how rudely this spirit must at times be
shocked by the unguarded humour of aliens. A
hundred and fifteen years ago the Gazette of Hudson
published, in Ma^^ the following news item: "Robert
White was married to Betsie Harris on Tuesday, May
I St. Who was brought sick on Wednesday, delivered
of three children on Thursday, who all died on Fridav
and w^ere buried on Saturday." And still the local
authorities are uncertain whether this astonishing state-
ment may be classed as a piece of reprehensible pleas-
antry or a dispensation of Providence. It will at least
interest the student to learn that at such an early

Nantucket Quakers and Dutch Fighters 509

period in its civic histor}', Hudson enjo}-ed the then
rare distinction of ]uibHshing a Gazette devoted to local
affairs.

A few miles south of Hudson, at Linlithgo, is the
point where Hudson anchored the Halj-Moou, and,
u])on the 17 th of September, sent his boats ex|)loring
among the islands and shoals of the u])per reaches. In
an opposite direction is Kinderhook (KtJidcr's Hoeck),
where the numerous progeny of the first settler so
swarmed about the water's edge when the trading
boats went l)y that the skippers could think of no
more appro] ')riate name than this. The present village
is not on the ri\'er shore, but is reached from Stu}'\'e-
sant landing. The Kinderhook Creek, a jncturesque
little stream, finds its way to the Hudson at Columbia-
\'ille, about midw^ay Ijetween Stu)'\^esant and the
county seat.

At Kinderhook, in his country seat, Lindenwald,
Martin Van Buren kept open house for his |)olitical
friends. The house was liuilt Ijy Judge William P.
Van Ness, the intimate associate of Aaron Burr and
his second in the duel which resulted in the death of
Alexander Hamilton. Washington Irving was a guest
at Lindenwald during one period of which we ha\'e
record, and not improbal:)l}' at other times. He is
said to ha\'e niade there the acquaintance of the
school-teacher, Jesse Merwin, who is credited with be-
ing the original of the character of Ichabod Crane
in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Referring to this,

5IO The Hudson River

Mr. Harrold Van Santvoord, the author of Half
Holidays, wrote, in 1898:

After the Skctch-Book was published it was feared that the
caricature of Ichabod Crane would occasion strained relations
between the honest schoolmaster and his friend. It was in a
spirit of playful humour, such as that in which Butler burlesqued
his host, Sir Samuel Luke, that Irving caricatured Jesse Merwin,
and the pedagogue seemed to enjoy the grotesque humour of the
portraiture as much as the author himself. In proof of his
affection he named one of his sons after his early friend, who is
still living, a prosperous farmer in Illinois. The remains of
Merwin repose in the village cemetery, not far from the burial
plot of Martin Van Buren. A few years ago the plain slab with
its simple inscription, at the head of the grave, was replaced by
a neat monument, and residents of the village take pride in
exhibiting to strangers the grave of Ichabod Crane.

Coxsackie station, on the east side of the river, com-
municates by ferry with the village of that name upon
the opposite bank. The Iroquois Indians called that
part of the shore by the descriptive name of Cut Banks
(Kiixakcc), because along there the current made a
marked depression. The older portion of the town lies
well back from the water, having been built along the
line of the post-road.

Schodack means a place of fire, or fire-plain. Before
there was any settlement at this point the site was so
called because there was the ancient i)lace for the
council fires of the Mohegans. Opposite Schodack are
the considerable towns of New Baltimore andCoe}^mans.

One of the most attractive of rural towns is Castle-
ton, a place of pleasant houses and shaded streets, of

Nantucket Quakers and Dutch Fighters 511

thrift)' gardens and trim orchards, with its main thor-
oughfare running nearly ])arallel with the ri\-er, Ijut a
short distance awa}-. Near by are those chffs where
the eternal fires of the redskins burned, and where
ruled chief Aepgin, who sold his land, "from Beerin
Island to Smack's Island," to the representative of
the Patroon Van Rensselaer.

Beerin, Beam, or Bear Island, as it has been vari-
ously called, is a little above Castleton and near the
west bank of the stream. It is from various causes one
of the best known of the many islands that diversify
the river from Coxsackie north to the head of nav-
igation. It enjoys the distinction of being the birth-
place of the first white child born to any of the earl}'
settlers upon the Hudson, and was also the fortified
place that was so great a bone of contention between
the powers of the lower and those of the upper ri\'er.

Ir\'ing, in one of his maddest moods, with a refresh-
ing disregard for historical accuracy, told the story
of Beam Island, "showing the rise of the great Van
Rensselaer dynasty and the first seeds of the Helder-
berg war." Regardless of the fact that the first Van
Rensselaer is not known to have \'isited in person his
lordly estate in the New World, the author of Knicker-
bocker describes his coming and appearance. It was
in the time of Walter the Doubter:

Now so it happened that one day as that most dubious of
governors and his burgermeesters were smoking and pondering
over the affairs of the province, they were roused by the report

512 The Hudson River

of a cannon. Sallying forth, they beheld a strange vessel at
anchor in the bay. It was unquestionably of Dutch build,
broad-bottomed and high poo]jed, and bore the flag of their High
Mightinesses at the mast-head.

After a while a boat put off for land, and a stranger stepped
on shore, a lofty, lordly kind of man, tall and dry, with a meagre
face, furnished with huge moustaches. He was clad in Flemish
doublet and hose, and an insufferably tall hat, with a cocktail
feather. Such was the patroon Killian Van Renselaer, who had
come out from Holland to found a colony or patroonship on a
great tract of wild land, granted to him by their High Mighti-
nesses, the Lords States General, in the upper regions of the
Hudson.

Killian Van Rensselaer was a nine davs' wonder in New Am-
sterdam; for he carried a high head, looked down upon the
portly, short-legged burgomasters, and owned no allegiance to
the governor himself; boasting that he held his patroonship
directly from the Lords States General.

He did not tarry long (in the httle city that he actu-
ally never visited, and where he would have disdained
to Ijeat up recruits for his colony, which the reader
knows actually antedated that of New Amsterdam),
but pushed on up the river, from whence reports of his
doings were brought to the ears of the jealous Governor.

At length tidings came that the patroon of Rensselaerswyk
had extended his usurpations along the river, beyond the limits
granted him by their High Mightinesses: that he had even seized
upon a rocky island in the Hudson, commonly known by the
name of Beam or Bear's Island, where he was erecting a fortress
to be called by the lofty name of Rensselaerstein.

Wouter Van Twiller was roused by this intelligence. After
consulting with his burgomasters, he dispatched a letter to the
patroon of Rensselaerswyk, demanding by what right he had
seized upon this island, which lay beyond the bounds of his pa-
troonship. The answer of Killian Van Rensselaer was in his own

Nantucket Quakers and Dutch Fighters 513

lordly style, ''By ii.\ipcii rccht .' " that is to say, by the right
of arms, or, in common parlance, by club-law. This answer
plunged the worthy Wouter into one of the deepest doubts he
encountered in the whole course of his administration ; but while
he doubted, the lordly Killian went on to complete his sturdy
little castellum of Rensselaerstein. This done, he garrisoned it
with a number of his tenants from the Helderberg, a mountain
region, famous for the hardest heads and hardest fists in the
province. Nicholas Koorn, his faithful scjuire, accustomed to
strut at his heels, wear his cast-off clothes, and imitate his lofty
bearing, was estal)lished in this i^ost as wacht meester. His duty
it was to keep an eve on the river, and oblige every vessel that
passed, unless on the service of their High Mightinesses, the
Lords States General of Holland, to strike its flag, lower its
peak, and pay toll to the lord of Rensselaerstein.

William Kicft — "William the Testy" — succeeded
Walter the Doubter, and still the affair of Beam Island
was tmsettled, that is to say, unsettled to an}' liking
but that of the ]:)atroon. The irritable soul of the Gov-
ernor, we are informed, winced at the ver}' name of
Rensselaerstein.

Now it came to pass, that on a fine sunny day the Company's
yacht, the Halj-Moon, having been on one of its stated visits to
Fort Aurania, was quietly tiding it down the Hudson; the com-
mander. Go vert Lockerman, a veteran Dutch skipper of few
words but great bottom, was seated on the high poop, rjuietly
smoking his pipe, under the shadow of the proud flag of Orange,
when, on arriving abreast of Beam Island, he was saluted by a

stentorian voice from the shore, " Lower thy flag, and be d d

to thee!"

Go vert Lockerman, without taking his pipe out of his mouth,
turned up his eye from under his broad-brimmed hat to see who
hailed him thus discourteously. There, on the ramparts of the
fort, stood Nicholas Koorn, armed to the teeth, flourishing a

SH The Hudson River

brass-hilted sword, while a steeple-crowned hat and cock's tail-
feather, formerly worn by Killian Van Rensselaer himself, gave
an inexpressible loftiness to his demeanour.

Go vert Lockerman eyed the warrior from top to toe, but was
not to be dismayed. Taking the pipe slowly out of his mouth,
"To whom should I lower my flag?" demanded he.

"To the high and mighty Killian Van Rensselaer, the lord of
Rensselaerstein ! " was the reply.

" I lower it to none but the Prince of Orange, and mv masters,
the Lords States General." So saying he resumed his pipe, and
smoked with an air of dogged determination.

Bang! went a gun from the fortress; the l)all cut both sail and
rigging. Govert Lockerman said nothing, but smoked the more
doggedly.

Bang! went another gun, the shot whistling close astern.

"Fire and Ije d d," cried Govert Lockerman, cramming a

new charge of tobacco in his pipe and smoking with still increas-
ing vehemence.

Bang! went a third gun. The shot passed over his head,
tearing a hole in the "princely flag of Orange." This was the
hardest trial of all for the pride and patience of Govert Locker-
man: he maintained a smothered, though swelling silence, but
his smothered rage might be perceived by the short, vehement
puffs of smoke he emitted from his pipe as he slowly floated out
of shot and out of sight of Beam Island. In fact, he never gave
vent to his passion until he got fairly among the Highlands of
the Hudson; when he let fly a whole voUev of Dutch oaths,
which are said to linger to this very dav aniong the echoes of the
Dunderberg, and to give particular effect to the thunderstorms
in that neighbourhood.

How William the Testy took the news of this out-
rage, how he sent Lockerman back on a mission that
failed because the honest envoy coidd not understand
certain cabalistic signs made by the commander of the
fort (which consisted of weaving all the fingers of the
right hand, the while the thumb pointed to the nose),

Nantucket Quakers and Dutch Fighters 515

and how the whole c[uarrel hiially simmered down and
died out, are told in the same racy fashion, and the
narrative is altogether more vivid and more easy to
remember and belie\-e than many a sol:)er page of
history.

The sober page of history relates that the Dutch
built their first fort on the Hudson in 16 14 u])on an
island at the mouth of Norman's Kill, and named the
island Kasteel, or Castle, from which Castleton derives
its name. An actual altercation between the Director
at New Amsterdam and the patroon's agent at Rens-
selaerswyckfurnished the basis for Irving's lively sketch.

The low l:)ar that for many years impeded na\-igation
in the neighbourhood of Castleton, together with num-
erous other flats and obstructions, led to the construc-
tion, by the Government, in 1868, of dykes to protect
the channel, which has been deepened by dredging as
far as the State dam at Troy.

Near Castleton flows the delightful stream known as
Mourdener's Kill, or Creek. Its legend is a dreadful
story of Indian cruelty. A girl, captured by the sav-
ages, was tied by them to a horse, that was then lashed
into frenzy and dashed awa\', dragging the \'ictim till
life had lon^ been extinct.

Chapter XXXI

An Old Dutch Town

LEAVING out of our reckoning the Frenchmen
who are supposed to have built a " castle" on
the site about the year 1540, Albany is one of
the oldest settlements made by white men in America.
Its only rivals in age are Jamestown and one or two
of the Spanish towns of the far south. The genesis of
its history will be found in the little trading station
called Fort Orange, which was established in 16 14.
The hardiness of the pioneers who gained this foothold
in the remote wilderness may only be estimated when
we recall the fact that the nearest neighbours of their
own blood were more than three thousand miles dis-
tant and that the ocean lay between.

The story of the tenure of that outpost may best be
told in the words of a petition

of the Patroon and Co-directors of the Colonic called Renssel-
aers-Wyck, situate along the North river in New Netherland, to
the effect that the Freedoms which were granted to whomsoever
should plant any Colonies in New Netherland being drawn up
and made public in print in the year 1630, by the Assembly of
the Nineteen of the bicorporated West India Company; Kiliaen

516

An Old Dutch Town 519

van Rensselaer did, in the same year 1650, purcliase from the
owners and proprietors, and them paid for a certain ])arccl of
land, extending up the river South and North off from Fort
Orange unto a little besouth of Moeneminnes Castle; and tlic
land called Semesseeck lying on the East l)ank opposite Castle
Island, up unto the aforesaid fort. Item, from Petanoch the
millstream North unto Negagonse, in extent about three leagues,
with all the timber, appendices and dependencies thereof. And,
accordingly, being entered into possession of said lands, he had
there, at his great cost, established a considerable Colonic and
from time to time so improved it that a village or hamlet was
founded there, first called de Fuyck, afterwards Beverswyck and
now Willemstadt, whereabouts the aforesaid Fort Orange was
formerly built. That said Rensselaer and afterwards the Peti-
tioners, had also exercised there High, Middle and Low juris-
diction, and accordingly appointed the necessary officers and
Magistrates and enjoyed all the Freedoms, Rights and Privileges
which were granted by said Company and you. High and Mighty,
to him Rensselaer and other Patroons of Colonies; that after-
wards, the aforementioned West India Company's Director had
indeed disquieted the Petitioners in the possession of the afore-
said hamlet or village, leaving in the meanwhile the Petitioners
only in the possession of the remainder of their aforesaid Colonic.

That in the year 1664, New Netherland and consequentlv the
Colonic aforesaid fell and remained in the hands of his Majesty
the King of Great Britain, when the name of Albany was given
to the aforesaid Fort Orange which is situate in the Petitioners'
aforesaid Colonic Rensselaerswyck, with said Colonic and other
lands lying thereabout, until they were again recovered by their
High Mightinesses' glorious arms.

The first patroon of Rensselaerswyck has been the
William the Conqueror of Dutch New York. All
ancient families trace their descent from him, and poor
indeed is the upstart who cannot claim him for an
ancestor.

520 The Hudson River

In the days when that "great, armed, mercantile
monopoly," as Mrs. Laml^ called the West India Com-
])any, was exploring and ex|:)loiting distant countries,
was making alliances with something of the assump-
tion of independent sovereignty, and commissioning its
admirals for foreign conc[uest, a member of its govern-
ing body, one of the all-|)owerful Nineteen, was Kiliaen
Van Rensselaer.

He was a pem'l merchant, wealthy and well born, who
sent over se\^eral of his own ships with agents to select
territory for him. Three tracts of land were chosen,
one in Delaware, one in New Jersey (at Pavonia), and
the third in the immediate neighbourhood of Fort
Orange.

The last-named tract became in time the site of sev-
eral thriving cities and villages, among which Albany,
Troy, and Lansingburg are the most important. Under
the act of 1629, styled a "Charter of Freedoms and
exemptions," Van Rensselaer secured his title as pa-
troon and proceeded to send colonists to settle his land.
Previous to that time the settlers had been traders, but
not colonists.

The earh^ history of Beverwyck, or Albany, does not
furnish us with any of the thrilling stories of Indian
cruelty and Dutch retaliation that we read in the
chronicles of New Amsterdam. While the settlers near
the mouth of the river suffered from the arrow and the
tomahawk, their brethren a hundred and forty miles
to the north were serenely planting, building, and rais-

An Old Dutch Town 521

ing families. The scriptural injunction to be fruitful
and multiply was not neglected, and as every child was
expected to set out a sa]jling to mark its birthday, in
course of time the town became a vernal bower.

There was something very modern in the way that
Van Rensselaer built uj) his domain. While other
colonies were either maintaining an ai)athetic silence or
else comi3laining bitterly of the hardships of their lot
and the difficult}^ of sustaining life without aid from
the company or government that i)lanted them, the
long reports of the great advantages and rich fertility
of Rensselaerswyck stirred the imagination of many a
seventeenth-century Boer. Other shi])s might bring
]3ro\4sions and encouragement for those alread}' on the
ground, but those of our patroon brought colonists,
with implements for the farm, the forest, and the mill.
The documents that have been preser\'ed would i)ut to
shame most modern advertisers.

Of course, the growth of the up-ri\'er colon)' could
not be effected without rousing the jealous opposition
of the Company's director at New Amsterdam. The
patroon 's director, Van vSlechtenhorst, if he did not
exceed the original patent, at least stretched it to its
uttermost limit. The fortification of Beam Island,
undertaken with a view to controlling the commerce of
the river, called forth a most energetic protest from
Stuy^'esant. With singleness of purpose he gave his
undivided attention to reducing this "government
within a government," and finally succeeded in tem-

522 The Hudson River

porarily separating the village of Beverwyck from the
manor of Rensselaerswyck. But though the Company
had backed the Go\'ernor in his action, the States-
General, before whom the matter was finally brought,
decided that Fort Orange stood within the limits of the
patroon's estate, while the corporation did not own a
foot of land in that part of the country.

The second patroon, also a non-resident, was Johan-
nes Van Rensselaer, whose half-brother, Jan Baptist,
succeeded Van vSlechtenhorst as agent. Johannes vis-
ited his possessions on one or two occasions, but re-
turned to Holland. It was not till the third proprietor
of this princely estate came to his own that the people
of Rensselaersw}xk enjoyed the novelty of ha\4ng their
landlord make his home among them.

There is not space to go into the genealogical records
of this great family, or to note the marriages by which
it became allied with all of the leading men of the
colony. The Van Cortlandts, Schuylers, Livingstons,
Nicollses,Wattses, and others were thus connected, and
formed an aristocracy about which cluster the tradi-
tions of a day that is dead. Writing of the pomp and
circumstance attending the mo\xments of the Van
Rensselaer chief, Mrs. Lamb, the historian, says:

To many of the present generation a simple sketch of the style
of life of these old feudal chieftains would read like a veritable
romance. Upon the Van Rensselaer manor there were at one
period several thousand tenants, and their gatherings were simi-
lar to those of the old Scottish clans. When a lord of the manor
died, these people swarmed about the manor-house to do honour

An Old Dutch Town 523

at the funeral. They regarded the head of the family with rev-
erence, a feeling shared by the whole country. The manor-
house was well peopled with negro slaves. The manor always
had its representative in the assembly; and whenever it was
announced in New York that the patroon was coming to the
city by land, the day he was expected crowds would turn out to
see him drive through Broadway with his coach and four as if
he were a prince of the blood. An actual glimpse of the Van
Rensselaer estate, in its old-time grandeur, would unfold as much
to astonish the progressive New Yorkers of to-day as the
patroons of colonial memory would be lost in wonder and
amazement could they but be with us long enough to cross the
Brooklyn Bridge!

The great Van Rensselaer manor-house, long con-
sidered the most ])alatial dwelling in the New World,
and noted for the princely character of its entertain-
ments, was built by Stephen, the fourth patroon. His
wife was Catherine, the daughter of Philip Livingston,
signer of the Declaration of Independence. Their
son, born in New York City, was the fifth and last
patroon, known in later life as General Stephen Van
Rensselaer. He was not only a lordly gentleman, liv-
ing according to all the traditions of his house, but was
also a thorough republican, enlisted heart and soul in
the cause of American liberty. No man in the country
staked more for conscience sake than he, for he willingly
relinquished the power and pomp that had been the
vital atmosphere of his house for generations, to accept
the doctrine of the equality of man.

During the War of 181 2 the last patroon received
at the hands of Governor Tompkins, his political

524 The Hudson River

adversary, a commission to command a large body of
militia. He stipulated that his assistant in command
should he Solomon Van Rensselaer, the son of his uncle
Kilian, and at that time Adjutant-General of the State.
This Solomon had proved himself upon several occasions
to be a brave and dashing soldier ; but the most enter-
taining of all the stories told of his adventures is the
one that describes his marriage to his cousin, Harriet
Van Rensselaer.

For some reason, long forgotten, the prospective
bridegroom had failed to win the favour of his aunt,
the young lady's mother, who emphatically refused
her consent to the marriage. vShe was not one whose
will was lightly disregarded in her household. Mis-
tress Harriet, we may well believe, was in despair and
would, no doubt, have wept her pretty eyes out if she
had not received secret comfort and encouragement
from her father, who was proud of his handsome and
valiant nephew, and promised to assist the lovers in
spite of maternal opposition.

Having formed this insurrectionary resolve, but
doubting, evidently, his ability to cope openly with a
power to which he was no stranger. Van Rensselaer set
about accomplishing his ]iurpose without unnecessary
publicity. One autumn day, while Madame his wife
was enjoymg her after-dinner nap in the library, he
gathered the young people and their witnesses in an
adjoining room and smuggled in the minister to marry
them. The deep and regular respirations from the

An Old Dutch Town 525

library were an immediate assurance of safety, so with-
out dela}' or noise the \'ows were made and the cus-
tomary blessing pronounced. But just as the knot was
firmly tied and the arch-conspirator was gleefully shak-
ing hands with the domine, while the bride, half fright-
ened, was clinging to the bridegroom and receix'ing the

VAN RENSSELAER MANOR-HOUSE, 1765

congratulations of the witnesses, the sounds from the
library suddenly ceased. Madame Van Rensselaer was
waking. It is not difficult to be l)rave before or after
a crisis. The thing that is really hard is to display
moral heroism at the \'ery moment of sur|)rise or dan-
ger. Tf Van Rensselaer had had time to consider this
he would, no doubt, have stayed and faced the situa-
tion, but as it was, no one ])aused to consider. Out of
a back window they fled, the bride and the bridegroom,
the witnesses and the domine — even Van Rensselaer

5^6 The Hudson River

perc himself. In a panic they escaped, Hke boys from
an orchard when they hear the gardener coming, and
never halted till they were out of sight from that side
of the house; then the domine tried to look dignified
again, the witnesses smoothed down their ruffled ])lum-
age, the uncle slapped his nephew and new-made son-
in-law on the l:)ack and swore that never had there been
such a wedding in Albany before, while the bride did
not know whether to laugh or cry.

The generations of the Van Rensselaers have lured
us on, to the neglect of the little city that was incor-
porated in 1686, after the claims laid by the patroon
had been finally settled by formal sale of his feudal
rights to Governor Dongan. Phili]) Schuyler, the head
of another ancient family, was the first mayor of the
future capital of New York. Under the Dongan char-
ter the limits of the city were included in an area of
one mile upon the river and three and a half miles
westward. It was not only the centre of social life and
the metropolis of trade, but also the home of religious
authority. When the Dutch church was organised
there in 1640, it was the only one on the northern part
of the river that had a regular ministry, and until after
1700 there was no settled domine north of Esopus
except the pastors at Albany and Schenectady.

The early ministers at Albany were Domines Mega-
polensis, Schaats, Dellius, Lydius, Van Driessen, Van
vSchie, Frelinghuysen, Westerloo, and Johnson. Mega-
polensis, "the pious and well learned," was the first

An Old Dutch Town

527

domine located in Al])any. He arrived in 1642, and
the church that was erected for his use stood l)ack of
the fort on what is still called Church Street. The use
of this building was discontinued in 1656, when the
congregation moved to another edifice, occu])\-ing the
intersection of State Street and Broadway. This
house was occupied till 1806, when it was torn down,
its bells, furniture, and some of the materials being
used in a new edifice.

Early in the eighteenth century the Dutch church
owned all of the city west of Broadwa>' and south of
Beaver Street. It was then and for long afterwards
known as the Pasture; indeed, the name is not un-
heard to-day, even as the leather district in Manhattan
is still called the Swamp. The streets that intersect
the Pasture bear the names of the old Dutch domines,
Westerloo, Lydius, etc.

When one stands upon some eminence — as the tower
of the Capitol — and looks out over the city at its num-
erous churches and imposing cathedrals, he wonders
whether Domine Megapolensis would be able to dis-
cover amid all those labyrinths of brick and stone the
place where he expounded in Low Dutch the ])rincii)les
of Cahdnism to a congregation of hardy pioneers.

The houses of the olden time, a few of which have
been spared for the instruction of the present genera-
tion, were part dwelling, part store; for the founders
of our proudest families were never ashamed of the
means by w^hich they won their wealth, and it was

528 The Hudson River

customary for a merchant to coui)le under one roof his
residence and ]:)lace of business. The lofts were then
commonly storehouses, and furs formed the largest
and most valuable portion of their contents. Let us
see who these men of strong character and abundant
common-sense were in the old days, when honest men
were not afraid or ashamed to be "in trade." A list
of the freeholders of Albany for the year 1701 includes
the names of Philip and David Schuyler, Wessel Ten
Broeck, Albert Rijckman, Gerrit Teunise, Johannes
Glen, Harmensen, Robert Livingston, Henry Van Dvke,
Van Ness, Van Sh^k, Van Epps, Van Allen, Van Voorst,
Philipse, and about two hundred and fiftv others. It
should be a matter for congratulation that back of the
proudest aristocracy of New York we find "the nobil-
ity of labour, the long pedigree of toil." Mrs. Grant,
the " American Lady," whose memoirs are classic, says:
" The very idea of being ashamed of anything that was
neither vicious nor indecent never entered the head of
an Albanian."

Theirs must have been an almost ideally peaceable
life, neither too laborious nor given up to repose, but
preserving always the happy medium. They culti-
vated their gardens — paas hloomtjcs and cabbages, no
doubt, cheek by jowl, like the parlour and the counting-
house. The wilderness around Pearl and Jonkers and
Handlers Streets blossomed with May roses and tulips,
and the vernal procession swept up to the gates of win-
ter, like an army with banners; though at the very

An Old Dutch Town 529

doors of the settlers the wolf, aetnal as well as meta-
phorieal, was ready to howl when the snow l)cgan to fly,
and the deer came from the forest to browse im])ar-
tiallv u])on tulijjs and cabljages, and any intermission
in the dail_\' fight against the encroaching wilderness
meant a backsliding into original cussedness.

One fact should be recorded to the everlasting credit
of the Albanians of a centur\' and a half ago. They
had a court-house, it is true, — a room upon the second
floor of a house within the fort, — but Vander Donck,
the first and at th^it time the only law)'er of the ])laee,
was not permitted to practice, as there -was no one to
o Pilose hi in. The Schepeii heard and decided, without
haste or delay, upon the few cases that were brought
before him, ruling by a code as simple and effectual as
that of Solomon.

From the pages of Dol])h He}diger we may borrow
a vi\4d i)icture of the Albany of that day :

On their arrival at All)any, the sight of Dolph's companion
seemed to cause universal satisfaction. Many were the greetings
at the river-side, and the salutations in the streets; the dogs
bounded before him; the bovs whooped as he passed; everv-
body seemed to know Antony Vander Hey den. Dolph followed
on in silence, admiring the neatness of tliis worth v l)urgh; for in
those days Albany was in all its glory, and inhabited almost ex-
clusively by the descendants of the original Dutch settlers, not
having as yet been discovered and colonised by the restless
people of New England. Everything was quiet and orderly;
everything was conducted calmly and leisurely; no hurry, no
bustle, no struggling and scrambling for existence. The grass
grew about the unpaved streets, and relieved the eye by its
refreshing verdure. Tall sycamores or pendent willows shaded

530 The Hudson River

the houses, with caterpillars swinging, in long silken strings, from
their branches; or moths, fluttering about like coxcombs, in joy
at their gay transformation. The houses were built in the old
Dutch style, with the gable-ends towards the street. The thrifty
housewife was seated on a bench before her door, in close-crimped
cap, bright-flowered gown, and white apron, busily employed in
knitting. The husband smoked his pipe on the opposite bench;
and the little pet negro girl, seated on the step at her mistress's
feet, was industriously plying her needle. The swallows sported
about the eaves, or skimmed along the streets, and brought back
some rich bootv for their clamorous young; and the little house-
keeping wren flew in and out of a Liliputian house, or an old
hat nailed against the wall. The cows were coming home, low-
ing through the streets, to be milked at their owner's door; and
if, perchance, there were any loiterers, some negro urchin, with
a long goad, was gently urging them homewards.

In Gorham A. Worth's Rccollcctwjis of Albany, pub-
hshed first in 1 849, there is a description of an old Albany
house, that of Balthazar Lydius, who died about the
beginning of the nineteenth century:

This old gentleman, if tradition may be relied upon, was some-
thing of a lion in his day. He was unusually tall, raw-boned,
and of a most forbidding aspect — singular in his habits and
eccentric in his character — but independent, honest, and gruff as
a bear. He occupied, at the commencement of the present
[nineteenth] century, the old and somewhat mysterious-looking
mansion then standing at the southeast corner of North Pearl
and State streets, and was, of course, next door ncii^hboiir. in an
easterly line, to the old elm tree on the eorner. Its position
admitted tieo front gables, and two front gables it had ; thus rival-
ing, if not excelling, in architectural dignity the celebrated man-
sion of the Vander Heyden family. ()ne front rested on Pearl,
the other on State. Each had its full complement of outside
decorative adjuncts — namelv, long spouts for the eaves, little
benches at the door, iron figures on the wall, and a rooster on the
gable head.

An Old Dutch Town 531

In a footnote the editor adds this j^recious bit of
information regarding this house :

It is said to liave been imported from Holland, bricks, wood-
work, tiles, and ornamental irons, with whicli it was profusely
adorned, expressly for the use of the Rev. Gideon Schaets, who
came over in 1652. It is said that the materials arrived simul-
taneously with the pulpit and the old church bell in 1657. It is
supposed to have been the oldest brick building in America at
the time it was demolished in 1833 to make room for the present
Apothecary's Hall. . . . The Pearl Street door is said to
have been used only for the egress of the dead. The orgies of a
Dutch funeral are fast receding from the memory of the living.
Few remain who have witnessed them. The records of the
church show the expenses of the funerals of church paupers two
hundred years ago in rum, beer, tobacco, pipes, etc.

Mr. Worth mentions Lydius Street as having been
named for the venerable gentleman he described, but
the editor corrects him:

The street was named in honour of Rev. John Lydius (ancestor
of Balthazar), who preached here from 1 700 to i 709. It was the
camp ground of the British armies in the Frencli and Indian
wars. The ancient church pasture, which came into the posses-
sion of the Dutch Church in 1668, was laid out into lots in 1791,
and sold at auction. The streets were named after the domines
or ministers of that church. Beginning with Lydius Street on
the north, then Westerlo, Bassett, Nucella, and Johnson run-
ning parallel with it. Among those running north and south
were Dellius (pronounced Dallius and now so written), from Rev.
Godfrey Dell, who came over in 1683; Frelinghuysen and Van
Schee.

The reference to the " funeral orgies " of the Albanian
Dutch is not fanciful. The dood-fcst, or dead feast,
was an established custom. Every burgher kept in his

5.

The Hudson River

cellar a cask of wine, spiced, for that particular occa-
sion when, he having gone the way of all flesh, his
friends and neidibours should assemble to sustain their

JF

'x^i^j:xj^o^>s;i^^^^iacm .

PI, AN OF ALBANY, l6o5

grief with feasting and drinking. The table was loaded
with such delicacies as oily-kocks, dood-kocks, rollctjcs
and bollctjcs, Jwofdkaas and ivorst, with many another
toothsome concoction, while wine and beer flowed
plentifully. And the women, who occupied a separate

An Old Dutch Town 533

chamber from their men folk, sii)i)ed their burnt wine
and discussed the viands and their neighbours. If any
one went home sol)er from a dood-jcst it was not con-
sidered a mark of special \'irtue.

But there w^ere li\-elier festivals than those incident
to the taking-off of honest and considerate burghers.
Many an odd custom marked the keei)ing of such holi-
days as Kecstijd (Christmas), Nicmvjaarsdag, Paasch-
dag (Easter), and Pinxtcrfccst. Christmas, to be sure,
was not held in great esteem, for New Year's day was
the occasion upon which St. Nicholas and his A'rouw,
Molly Grietje, visited the faithful.

About the fireplaces of the old All^an}- houses, on
New^ Year's eve, the children stood a-row and sang the
time-honoured verses :

Santa Klaus, goedt heilig man!
Knopyebest van Amsterdam,
Van Amsterdam aan Spanje,
Van Spanje aan Orange,
En brang deze kindjes eenige graps.

The old custom of making New Year's calls has con-
tinued down to our own day, dying hard after more
than two centuries of use.

Pinxter was the negroes' festival, and celebrated by
the slaves under the leadership of the " Pinxter King'
with W'ildest mummeries. They paraded in grotesque
costumes through the streets, varying their mareh with
tmeouth dances and accompanying them with their own
songs. The last of these parades took place in 1822.

534 The Hudson River

It is hard to get away from the thread of homely
yet dehghtful Hfe that winds in and out between the
landmarks of Albany's history and the biographies of
her many eminent men. We listen to the eloquence of
Jay or Livingston, but with an ear open to catch the
crooning of a cradle-song, somewhere within a gable-
ended dwelling, over whose sanded floor some Schuy-
ler, or Beekman, or Van Dyke has taken his first
tottering steps in infancy.

How many a small morsel of Dutch humanity, nest-
ling his flaxen poll on his mother's arm, has closed his
blue eyes to the music of

Trip a trop a troontjes,

De varkens in de boontjes,

De koetjes in de klaver,

De paarden in de haver,

De eenjes in de waterplas,

De kalf in de lang gras,

So groot mijn kleine poppet je was.

Varkens are pigs; boontjes, as every one must know, is
the Dutch equivalent for bean vines; and koetjes for
cow^s. Klaver needs translation no more than lang
gras, or kalf. Paarden are horses, eenjes, ducks; a
haver is an oat-field; and, of course, a waterplas is
a pond — and then, " So great my little poppet was," a
conclusion illogical but dear. What a lullaby that was
commencing :

Sleep, baby, sleep,

In the fields runs a sheep,

A sheep with four white feet.

An Old Dutch Town 535

Only the baby of Satigerties or Kingston or Allxmy
would have ruminated over the broader vowels of

Slaap, kindje, slaap,

Daar buiten loopt een schaap;

Een schaap met vier witte voetjes.

To this day the English-speaking mother talks to
her little one about his "footies." Is it possibly an
echo of " voetjes"? But listen to the stamp and swag-
ger and hustle that is compressed into four lines here :

Daar komt liij ! lien snoeshaan geweldig gestampen !
Een beest hij gebruUen! Een mansheeld gezwollen;
Een openlijk bloodard! Het maakt neen vershil;
Het ware Jan van Spanje zonder zijn bril.

To the industry of Mr. Benjamin Myer Brink, the
historian of Saugerties, is due the collection of about
thirty of the ballads and folk-songs of the Dutch fore-
fathers of Hudson River folks from which wc ha\'e
borrowed the above verses and w^ould gladly appro-
priate more if we had si)ace. There are songs for
nearly all the simple occasions of life, — some for the
cradle, some for the churn-dasher, others for the social
gathering. Catches, riddles, and homilies follow in all
their quaint orthography. They should have a sep-
arate volume, with music and illuminations.

Old Albany was the fountain-head of the Knicker-
bocker race, though they who spell it in this corru])t
way do but deny the original, which was Knickker-
bakker ; that is to sa}^ a baker of knickers, or marbles.
Some have claimed that knicknacks, such as oily-koeks,

536 The Hudson River

dood-kocks, and niciiivjaarskocks, rather than the trifl-
ing knickcr, stood sponsor to that Dutchest of titles, and
that the first Knickerbocker of eminence was Volckert
Jan Pietersen Van Amsterdam, whose name was too
long for even the patience of his neighbours, who
shortened it to Baas — that is to say. Boss. If this
etymology be correct, Boss Knickkerbakker Volckert
Jan Pietersen Van Amsterdam seems to be entitled to
a monument or other memorial, broad enough to bear
the full inscri|_)tion of his name.

An ancient Albany tradition is that of the witch who
visited his shop on New Year's eve and demanded of
Baas Jan a dozen New Year's cookies. She threw a
piece of wampum or seawant on the counter, and
watched the baker sharply as he counted out twelve
of the cakes.

"Thirteen," she said. "I want thirteen; here are
only twelve."

" You said a dozen, and twelve are a dozen," shouted
Baas.

" I tell you, I want one more!" screamed the hag.

Baas pointed to the door. " Go to the Duyvel and
get the thirteenth!" he yelled, growing purple in the
face with rage.

The witch went away, threatening the baker with
dire calamity, and her words were not empty ones, as
the event proved, for from that time Baas and his poor
wife Maritje knew no peace. For a year everything
went wrong. The chimney fell in, the neighbours fell

An Old Dutch Town 537

out, the trade fell off. It was a l)ad season and the
rotund haker and his wife shrank pereeptiblv.

Then Xew \'ear's eve eanie again, and while Baas
stood Ijehind his counter and thought gloomily of his
changed condition, suddenly the hag stood before him
once more.

"I want a dozen New Year's cookies," she said.

One look Baas gave her, then silently counted out
thirteen of the fragrant cakes.

"I see that you have learned your lesson," said the
witch. "Rememljer then that henceforth thirteen
shall be a baker's dozen, and all will prosper with you."

The idea that this transaction should be considered
in any wa\' tyi)ical of the union of the thirteen States
that was to come is held b>' many Albanians to be
naught but superstitious nonsense.

For \'ery man\' A^ears Albany was altogether a trad-
ing city. Its inhabitants took what measures they
could to prevent the intrusion of aliens, and, in order
to secure the cream of the traffic in ])eltries, the mer-
chants sent runners into the wilderness to intercept
Indians who might carr)' their goods to other markets.
They owned a fleet of x'cssels, u])on which all, or nearly
all, of the carrying trade of the city was done. They
ha\-e been charged with unfairness and craft in their
dealings with the savages, but this animadversion
seems to be aljundantly refuted by the fact that the
Indians were not only at peace but very friendl}' with
the Albanians through the troubled years when other

53^ The Hudson River

colonists lived in daily terror of the torch and the
tomahawk.

Money was scarce, and the use of seawant was legal-
ised. Six white beads or three black ones were accepted
as the equivalent of one penny {stuyver). A beaver-
skin had also a recognised standard value in exchange,
and beaver-skins were used in payment of debts, rents,
etc.

Two of the principal streets of modern Albany, State
Street and Broadway, were known in the English
colonial time as King and Court Streets, and in Dutch
days as Jonker (Young Gentleman) and Handelaer
Streets. A part of Broadway used to be called North
Market, and, still earlier, Brewers Street.

At first merchandise used to be conveyed to the ves-
sels in skiffs and afterwards wharves were built for the
convenience of shippers.

At the time of the Revolution three or four Albany
men stand out prominently in national annals. Ganse-
voort. President of the Convention that adopted the
first constitution of the State, lived in the old home-
stead of the Gansevoort family that stood upon the
ground afterwards occupied by Stanwix Hall. Philip
Schuyler, Philip Livingston, and George Clinton were
the leaders of the party that secured New York State
to the Union. The latter, as we have already noted,
was not only the first Governor of the State, but was
also an officer of ability and courage, whose service in
the Continental army was of untold value. Philip Liv-

An Old Dutch Town 539

ingston was one o( the signers of the Declaration of
Inde]:)endence. Phili]) vSchu>-ler, the son of an old and
honoured race, was a man not only of intense ])atriot-
ism and splendid personal character, but of rare al:)iht>\

The great influence which General vSchuyler ])os-
sessed with the Indians, though often neutralised l)y
the Johnsons, yet in a great measure pacified and kept
in check the Mohawks during the Revolution. To him
was given the task of watching Governor Tr_\'on on the
south, the British and Indian force under Colonel Guy
Johnson at the west, and the enemy that menaced the
northern frontier. He led the advance upon Quebec
until forced by illness to resign his command to the
unfortunate Montgomery. His was the la])our of ])ro-
visioning the posts upon Lake Champlain. In fact,
there was hardly a man in the American arm}% with the
exception of the Commander-in-chief, upon whom
rested so many and varied responsibilities, and who
could so combine skill, forethought, and energy with
an almost boundless patience.

To meet the army of Burgoyne, which, in 1777, ad-
vanced from Canada to effect a union with Sir Henry
Clinton, Schuyler used not only the means at hand,
but ]3ledged his pri\'ate fortune for the equipment of
his forces. He made the ])reparations that enabled
Gates to win a signal victory over Burgoyne at Sara-
toga, yet retired without complaint and permitted one
who constantly tried to undermine him to enjoy the
honours of that victory.

540

The Hudson River

vSchuyler's ];)ro])erty had been destroyed and his
house at Schuylers\'ille burned by Burgoyne, A'et after
the latter "s fall, when he had been brought a j^risoner
to Albany, it was at the Schuyler house that he found
entertainment for himself and his family ; and it is said
that the noble hosi)itality of his host moved himi to

SCHUYLER MANSION, lyOO

tears. Baroness Reidesel and Lady Harriet Ackland
were among those who accom]3anied the vanquished
British General, and the former has left on record an
eulogium tipon the character and generosity of her
entertainer.

There have been three Schuyler houses that have
lasted until the present day to puzzle the searcher after
landmarks. The home of General Philip Schuyler has

An Old Dutch Town 541

been thus clcscril)ed by P'rederic G. Alathcr in an article
written for the Magazine of America u History in 1884:

The Albany of the Revolution was still a stockaded city. To
the northward were "the flats/' to the southward were "the
pastures," where the city herdsmen cared for the cattle and
drove them home at night. At a distance of half a mile from
the stockade, and just l)eyond the pastures, stood the mansion
of General Schuyler. It wa.s of honest brick througliout, and
not, like most of the city houses, a wooden structure with a ven-
eered front of l)ricks " brouglit from Holland." To-day tlie walls
and the oaken window-sills sliow no reason why they miglit not
last for centuries to come, unless the onward march of business
shall demand the destruction of the relic. So long as it lasts, the
Scluiyler mansion stands as a link between the past and the
present.

An effort to capture General Schuyler at his home
was made at one time l:»y a band of Tories and Indians,
who siuToundcd the house and forced an entrance 1)e-
fore the inmates could effect their esca]:)e. When the
latter had reached the upi)er floor, Mrs. Schu}der dis-
covered that her infant, Catherine, had l)een left in a
room upon the lower floor and would ha\'e returned
for it if the General had not forcibly detained her. The
savages and their allies were now in the house, ]:)illag-
ing the dining-room of the rich plate it contained.

Unobserved in the turmoil, Margaret, one of General
Schuyler's daughters, slipped away and rescued the
infant, though she narrowly missed death from a toma-
hawk thrown by one of the Indians as she was ascend-
ing the stairs. A Tor}', taking her for one of the
servants, called out, " Wench, where is vour master?" —

542 The Hudson River

"Gone to alarm the town," was the ready answer.
Schuyler, hearing this, acted upon the hint, and, put-
ting his head out of a window, called as though to a
large body of men, to surround the house and capture
the rascals ; u]ion which the in\'aders fled, but, unfor-
tmiately, took the plate with them.

Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler,
and was counted by the General as one of his dearest
friends. When Aaron Burr came first to practise in
Albany he was befriended by Schuyler, to whom,
through Hamilton, he was destined to deal one of the
gravest blows he could endure.

Among the chief of those interested in the construc-
tion of the great waterway which we moderns know as
the Erie Canal, but which to the wiseacres and wits of
that day was familiar as Clinton's Ditch, Schuyler
made, in company with Clinton and one or two others,
a long horseback journey over the course now followed
by the canal.

The names of those that Albany delights to honour
are legion. We have mentioned but a few of them, and
those with a brevity for which the sco])e and variety
of the subject-matter of this book must be the excuse.

After the Revolution, in 1797, Albany was made the
permanent State capital of New York, and its import-
ance from a political point of view drew to it many
men of ability and reputation ; but its growth in popu-
lation was not rapid until after the advent of the steam-
boat and the completion of the Erie Canal, which has

An Old Dutch Town 543

its terminus at the nortliern end (jf the cit_\'. During
the years 1797 and 1848 two wide-s])read fires did a
great deal of daniage.

The city has four or five miles of water-front, and for
several hundred feet back from the river the ground is
low and nearly level, so that
when the water rises by reason /1\^^

of an ice- dam or from some Xj
other cause, it frequently m \p '~ _
o\"erflows the lower streets, d ^'^ i J^^
and in former }^ears wrought [j|'j ,7^
great ha\'Oc at times. There
are still living those who can

SEAT. OK Al.RANY

recall how% during one spring

freshet, a schooner floated in from the river and was
found, when the waters had subsided, high and dry on
State Street.

As a curious anti-climax to the feudal system under
which the ])eople of Rensselaerwyk lived ])rior to the
War for Independence, there occurred in the earl\' half
of the nineteenth century an agitation known as the
anti-rent war, that stirred Alban\' and the surrounding
countr}^ for man}' years.

This trouble was the result of a persistent effort on
the i^art of the heirs of the Van Rensselaer estate to
collect rents which they claimed as their due u]Jon pro-
perty formerly a part of that domain. The tenants as
persistently resisted, denying the claim. When the
sheriff and his posse attempted to enforce an order in

544 The Hudson River

favour of the kmdlords a riot ensued. This experience
was several times repeated, and the mihtia was called
into service to quell what bid fair to be an insurrection.
In man}' respects this trouble formed a parallel to those
disturbances that have marked the relations of land-
lord and tenant in Ireland. In a mock-heroic poem of
ninety-three cantos, written after the style of Hudi-
bras, and published anonymously in 1855, H. R. School-
craft a]:)otheosised the heroes of the anti-rent war, and
pictures, among other things, the tarring and feather-
ing of the sheriff.

The anti-rent trouble was finally settled, in 1852, by
the State, which issued titles in fee simple to those in
actual possession of the disputed property.

Other feuds marked the middle period in Albany's
history, the transition stage between a somewhat over-
grown village and the cit>- of a hundred thousand in-
habitants. For instance, there was the great battle on
State Street, in which the |)rinci])al actors were John
Ta\der and General Solomon Van Rensselaer, a num-
ber of lesser combatants participating. The fray oc-
curred in 1807, and was occasioned by some caustic
resolutions presented at a RepubHcan meeting and
aimed at General Van Rensselaer and his fellow Fed-
eralists. Mr. Elisha Jenkins was the secretar}' of the
meeting, and as he walked the next dav on State Street
the angry General overtook and caned him. Later in
the day the Governor and the General met, almost in
front of the former's house, and the ci\-il officer took

An Old Dutch Town 545

the other severeh* to task for his assault upon Mr.
Jenkins. In a moment the two irate partisans had
squared off for an encounter in which e\'ery one with-
in sight or hearing seems to have taken a hand. Dr.
Cooper and Mr. Frank Bloodgood, l)oth connections of
the Governor, were in the thick of the fracas, the last-
named dealing a blow from behind that com|)letely
felled Van Rensselaer. Even Tayler's daughter, Mrs.
Cooper, was numbered among the combatants. When
the opposing forces were at last separated, the i;)arties
began to think of legal redress for the hurts they had
received, and a number of lawsuits was the outcome
of the matter. It is interesting to note how im]:)ar-
tially the arbitrators in the case — Simeon de Witt,
James Kane, and John Van Schaick — chstributed the
damages for assault :

Jenkins against Van Rensselaer $2500

Van Rensselaer against Tayler 300

Van Rensselaer against Cooper 500

Van Rensselaer against Bloodgood 3700

From which it appears that the General, who com-
menced the affray, had his wounds salved to the ex-
tent of two thousand dollars, net.

A perpetual warfare was waged, something over half
a century ago, between the juvenile portion of the
community residing on the hill (Arbor Hill being par-
ticularly meant) and those who li\'ed under the hill.
They had no dealings with each other except for war-
like encounters, and woe to any urchin who was found
35

54^ The Hudson River

alone by those of the opposing camp. How this deep
and long-continued animosity commenced history does
not relate, but many an old Albanian will recollect the
encounters that took place between the "hillers" and
their adversaries, and recall, perhaps, the names of
leaders more famous in their generation than any
Schuyler or Clinton who ever guided the councils of
the State.

Mr. Gorham A. Worth, already quoted in this chap-
ter, has given a list of the men who seemed to him most
prominent in the city at that time. They were George
Clinton ; John Tayler, who was Lieutenant-Governor of
the State and acting in Governor Tompkins's place after
the latter's election to the Vice- Presidency; Ambrose
Spenser, Attorney-General and Judge of the Supreme
Court; James Kent; Chancellor Lansing; Abraham
Van Vechten; John V. Henry; John Woodworth;
Thomas Tillotson, Secretary of State in 1801-07 ; Abra-
ham G. Lansing; Elisha Jenkins, a merchant, of the
Hudson family of that name; Edmond Charles Genet;
and Solomon Southwick, editor of the Albany Register.
This, it will be understood, is only a very partial list
of the Albany celebrities of the time, yet it furnishes
a clue to the character and standing of the men who
constituted the better element of society at the State
capital two generations ago.

We have spoken of the level strip of low land bor-
dering the river for several miles. Back of this rise,
almost abruptly, four hills, separated by ravines and

An Old Dutch Town 547

attaining a height of from two to three hundred feet.
Prospect Hill is the highest of these. There are many
narrow streets, paved as of old with col)l)lestones, to
remind us of a former day; but there are also some
noble thoroughfares, chief among them being State
Street, which is accounted one of the broadest streets in
the country, and was, until quite recently, only second
to Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

The chief object that challenges the attention from
State Street, and, indeed, the principal attraction of
Albany to strangers, is, of course, the Capitol. Its
architectural beauty and commanding position con-
spire to render it one of the most imposing buildings in
the world. The effect of the steep approach is aug-
mented by the pyramidal tiers of steps, up which a
regiment might pass with tmbroken ranks. The struc-
ture is of Maine granite, built in the style of the French
renaissance, and is surmounted by a tower and dome,
from which the eye may sweep over sixty miles of
country to rest u])on the blue profiles of the Catskills,
or follow the windings of the river, or return to trace
the streets that are spread like a map at our feet.

There is the City Hall, that was built in 1882, carry-
ing in the spirit of its architectural design a suggestion
of the Hollandish origin of the city. There are the two
cathedrals — one to the north and the other southward
— and numerous churches that testify to the religious
sentiment still animating the descendants and succes-
sors of those who nodded to the preaching of Domine

548 The Hudson River

Megapolensis. There are the four libraries, the num-
erous educational institutions, the Dudley Observatory
that was opened with such a flourish of trumpets in
1856, the numerous houses of a public character, and
the residences of prominent citizens of the past and
the present. On the outskirts of the town hangs a
cloud of smoke from its blast-furnaces and factories,
and at its wharves are the great lumber yards that con-
tribute to its industry.

The Capitol was commenced in 1881 and completed
at a cost to the State of twenty-one million dollars, and
is of such noble proportions that its mere bulk alone is
impressive. The main structure is three hundred by
four hundred feet on the floor plan, with walls that
rise one hundred and eight feet from water-table to
cornice. It contains chambers ample for all the de-
partments and business of the government, besides
housing the magnificent State Library, with its one
hundred and fifty thousand volumes and its collection
of priceless manuscripts and documents relative to the
history of the State.

In these few notes u])on the history and the legends
of a fascinating old city we have hardly opened the
subject. The records are so full and rich, the tradi-
tions so abundant and so varied, that it is with deep
regret and the sense of a pleasant task left uncom-
pleted that the chronicler closes this chapter.

Albany has, within comparatively a short time,
taken a new start, and in public improvements and new

An Old Dutch Town 549

buildings, as well as in a marked increase in business,
gives evidence of having commenced with the new
century a new epoch in its life. Among the causes
suggested for the rapid increase in ])opulation is an
improved water supply. New life has been infused
into a formerly inacti\'e chamber of commerce, and
whereas a few years ago business enter])rise was in
many quarters somewhat conspicuous by its al^sence,
now there is e\'idence of more stirring activity. The
first change in Albany's life occurred when the New
England element came in and began to mingle with
the Dutch and " the dogs began to bark in broken Eng-
lish." The second period ended with the appearance
of the river steamboat; the third seems to have given
place to a fourth, the cause or causes yet unknown.

Chapter XXXII

Above Tide- Water

TROY and the Trojans were primarily of New
England origin, and this difference in blood
has perhaps been the cause of not a little of
the lack of affiliation between the city that rests on
Mount Ida and Mount Olympus and its neighbour of
Dutch descent, six miles to the south.

ALONG THE RIVER BELOW TROY

Troy is the capital of Rensselaer County, the head of
tide- water in the Hudson, the site of the State dam
and of various manufacturing concerns. It is a busy
place and owes much of its prosperity to the Erie,
Hudson, and Champlain canals. Its shipping is con-
siderable, and, with the neighbouring towns of Cohoes,
Lansingburg, etc., its pojjulation reaches about the
figure at which the census fixes that of Albany.

Its first proprietor was one Vander Heyden, who re-

Above Tide-Water 551

ceived it from the Patroon Van Rensselaer in 1720.
About 1787 the site of the future eity was laid out in
town lots. At West Tro)— or Watcr^dlet— ui 181 3,
the United States Government purchased ground upon
which was established an arsenal, near the present east
bank of the Erie Canal. Sex'cral widely known educa-
tional establishments add interest to a city that is not
devoid of beauty, though lacking the charm of man>-
a Hudson River town.

For man}' )-ears the Poestenkill and Wynant's Kill,
which enter the river at this place, ha^^e furnished a
great deal of the water-i)ower for the local mills. The
largest of the Hudson's tributaries, the Mohawk, adds
Its volume to our river a few miles above Troy.

The course of the Hudson above tide-water may be
briefly outlined here. Its north branch rises in Indian
Pass, at the foot of Mount McInt>Te, in the Adiron-
dacks; and the east branch has its source in the
lake called "Tear of the Clouds," above which rises
Mount Tahawas, fifty -four hundred feet in height.
The stream takes in, first, the Boreas River and the
Schroon, and fifteen miles north of Saratoga recei^•es
the water of the Sacandaga. South of that the Batten-
kill is added to it, and, between the Battenkill and the
Mohawk, the Walloomsac. It will be noticed that
these streams, with two exceptions, have Indian names,
and this recalls the prophecy of a dying chief, who,
while chanting his death-song, surrounded bv his
enemies, foretold the disappearance of his race, but

552 The Hudson River

promised that the streams should retain the Indian
names, to keep his people in remembrance for ever.

In his admiral^le Reminiscences of Saratoga, Mr.
William L. Stone quotes the " Interesting narrative of
a visit to the ' High Rock Spring ' in 1789, a httle more
than twenty years after Sir William Johnson's visit
. . . taken down from the lips of Mrs. Dwight, by

:^k

LOOKING DOWN RIVER, NEAR TROY

her son, the Hon. Theodore Dwight." This account of
the condition of Saratoga and the route thither is so
graphic that our onh^ apology in making the following
excerpts is that we cannot quote it entire:

Our party originally consisted of five, three gentlemen and
two ladies, who travelled with two gigs (then called chairs) and
a saddle-horse.

From Hartford, where I resided, our party proceeded west-
ward, and some idea of the fashions may be formed from the
dress of one of the ladies, who wore a black beaver with a sugar-
loaf crown eight or nine inches high, called a steeple-crown,
wound round with black and red tassels. Habits having gone
out of fashion, the dress was of London smoke broadcloth, but-
toned down in front, and at the side with twenty-four gilt but-
tons, about the size of a half dollar. Large waists and stays
were the fashion and the shoes were extremely sharp-toed and
high-heeled, ornamented with large paste buckles at the instep.

Above Tide-Water 553

. . . We hardly met any one on this j)art of the way, except
an old man with a long, white beard, who looked like a palmer
on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and his wife, who was as
ugly as one of Shakespeare's old crones. . . . After three
days we reached Hudson, where a gentleman who had come to
attend a l)all joined our party, sending a message home for
clothes; and, although he did not receive them and had only his
dancing dress, persisted in proceeding with us. He mounted his
horse therefore in a suit of white broadcloth, with powdered
hair, small clothes, and white silk stockings.

Cotild an>-thing l^e more delightful than this instan-
taneous photograi)h of a beau of a hundred and thir-
teen years ago, whose abounding spirits and love of
adventure were not to be held in check l)y such trifles
as white broadcloth, ])owdered hair, and silk small-
clothes? But to continue:

While at Hudson it was determined to go directly to Saratoga,
the efihcacy of the water being much celebrated as well as the
curious round and hollow rock from which it flowed. Hudson
was a flourishing village, although it had been settled but about
seven years, by people from Xantucket and Rhode Island.

In the afternoon the prospect of a storm made us hasten our
gait and we tarried over night at an old Dutch house, which, not-
withstanding the uncouth aspect of a fireplace without jambs,
was a welcome retreat from the weather. Early in the morning
we proceeded and reached Albany at breakfast-time. The old
Dutch church, with its pointed roof and great window of painted
glass, stood at that time at the foot of State Street.

At Troy, where we took tea, there were only a dozen houses,
the place having been settled only three years before by people
from Killingworth, Saybrook, and other towns in Connecticut.
Lansingburg was an older and more considerable town, contain-
ing more than a hundred houses, and inhabited principally by
emigrants from the same State. The tavern was a very good
one, but the inhabitants were so hospitable to our party that the

554 The Hudson River

time was spent almost entirely in private houses. After a delay
of two nights and a day we proceeded on our journey. Crossing
the Hudson to Waterford by a ferry, we went back as far as the
Mohawk to see the Cohoes falls, of which we had a fine view from
the northern bank, riding along the brow of the precipice in
going and returning.

On the road to the Mohawk we met a party of some of the
most respectable citizens of Albany — among whom was the pa-
troon Van Rensselaer — in a common country waggon without a
cover, with straw under their feet and wooden chairs for seats.
Two gentlemen on horseback, in their company, finding that we
were going to Saratoga, offered to accompany us to the scene
of the battle of Behmus Heights, and thither we proceeded after
visiting Cohoes.

We dined in the house which was General Burgoyne's head-
quarters in 1777 and one of the females who attended us was
there during the battle.

Mr. Stone, in a footnote, corrects this statement,
averring that General Burgoyne's headquarters were
"on high ground, the present [1875] farm of Mr. Wil-
bur." But the account of Mrs. Dwight is circumstan-
tial.

She [the woman referred to] informed us of many particulars,
and showed us a spot upon the fioor, which was stained with the
blood of General Frazer, who, she added, when brought in mor-
tally wounded, was laid upon the very table at which we were
seated. During the funeral, she also stated, the American
troops, who had got into the rear of the British on the opposite
side of the river, and had been firing over the house, on discover-
ing the cause of the procession up the steep hill, where Frazer
had requested to be interred, not only ceased firing, but played
a dead march in complement to his memory.

On leaving the battleground for Saratoga Lake . . . the
country we had to pass over, after leaving the Hudson, was very
uninviting and almost uninhabited. The road lay through a

Above Tide-Water 557

forest and was formed of logs [The road cut by General
Schuyler in 1783.] We travelled till late in the afternoon
before we reached a house, to which we had been directed for
our lodging. It stood in a solitary place in an opening of
the dark forest, and had so comfortless an appearance that,
without approaching to take a nearer view, or alighting, we
determined to proceed farther. . . . One of the gentlemen
rode up to take a nearer view. Standing u]) in his saddle,
he peeped into a square hole which served as a window, but
had no glass or shutter, and found the floor the bare earth,
with scarcely any furniture to be seen. Nothing remained
but to proceed and make our way to the Spring as fast
as possible, for we knew of no human habitation nearer. We
were for a time extremely dispirited, until the gentleman who
had joined us at Hudson came forward (still in his ball dress)
and endeavoured to encourage us, saying that if we would but
trust to his guidance he doubted not that he should be able to
conduct us safely and speedily to a more comfortable habitation.
This raised our hopes, and we followed him cheerfully, though
the day was now at its close and the forest seemed thicker and
darker than before. When the last light had disappeared, and
we found ourselves in the deepest gloom, our guide confessed
that he had encouraged us to keep us from despair, and as to
any knowledge of the road, he had never been there before in
his life.

One would give much to have seen this cheerful
"gentleman from Hudson" at that moment:

He . . . dismounted, tied his horse behind our chair, and
taking the bridle of our own began, to lead him on, groping his
way as well as he was able, stepping into one mud hole after
another, without regard to his silk stockings, sometimes up to
his beauish knee buckles. At length one of the gentlemen de-
clared that a sound which we had heard for some time at a dis-
tance could not be the howl of a wolf, but must be the barking
of a wolf dog, and indicated that the habitation of his master was
not very far off, proposing at the same time to go in search of

55S The Hudson River

it. . . . We found our way to a log house, containing but
one room and destitute of everything except hospitable inhab-
itants . . . there was no lamp or candles, light being
supplied by pine knots stuck in crevices in the walls. The conver-
sation of the family proved that wild beasts were very numerous
and bold in the surrounding forests and that they sometimes,
when hungry, approached the house. . . . On reaching the
springs at Saratoga we found but three habitations and those but
poor log houses, on the high bank of the meadow, where is now
the eastern side of the street on the ridge near the Round Rock.
This was the only spring then visited. The log cabins were
almost full of strangers, among whom were several ladies and
gentlemen from Albany, and we found it almost impossible
to obtain accommodations even for two nights. . . . The
neighbourhood of the Spring, like all the country we had seen
for many miles, was a perfect forest.

The earliest advertising that Saratoga Springs seems
to have received was through those recruits from differ-
ent parts of the country who, having been called to-
gether to dispute the advance of Burgoyne and his
army, became, when again dispersed to their homes,
the pro]:)agandists of exaggerated tales of the wonder-
ful fertility of the region.

The Saratoga Springs of modern ken, having de-
veloped in three quarters of a century to one of the
greatest watering-places on earth, with all the attrac-
tions that wealth and fashion can add to great natural
advantages, cannot be described in such a work as this.
The tale of its splendoin* is bewildering, the roll of those
who have added to its gaiety, overwhelming. A list
of those who have lodged in its great hostelries, or
drank of its waters, would, perhaps, include a majority

Above Tide-Water

559

of the famous people who have hved during the past
half -century.

The peculiar virtues of the waters of Saratoga were
long known to the Indians, who, in 1767, revealed
them as a mark of special fricndshi]) to Sir William

CONGRESS SPRING IN 182O

Johnson. Johnson, wounded at the battle of Lake
George, twelve years before, was subject to recurring
attacks of illness due to that injury. The Mohawks,
who held him in greater esteem probabl}' than any
other white man ever won from them, carried him
through the forest to the " High Rock," and with sol-
emn ceremonies laid him in the healing pool. His
letter to his friend, General Philip Schuyler, is interest-
ing:

j\Iy Dear Schuyler [he wrote], I have just returned from a
visit to a most amazing Spring, which has almost effected my
cure; and I have sent to Doctor Stringer, of New York, to come
up and analyse it.

56o The Hudson River

The fact seems to have been that vSir WilHam, having
reached the spring on a litter, carried on the shoulders of
his Mohawk friends, was so far restored that he accom-
plished part of his return journey to Schenectady on foot.

In 1783, General vSchuyler, who had not forgotten
the letter of his quondam friend, though the sad events
of the war had cut him off from intimacy with the
Johnsons, made a road through the woods from his
estate at Schuylersville to the spring, and, taking his
family there, encamped for several weeks.

The same year, General Washington, being distracted
by the long idleness of his waiting at Newburgh, under-
took a brief tour of the northern and western part of
the State, to study particularly the topography of the
country and its battle-fields. During that tour he vis-
ited the springs in company with Governor Clinton and
Alexander Hamilton. An amusing anecdote is pre-
served of one Tom Conner, who was standing by his
cabin door, axe in hand, when Washington and his
party rode by. Reining his horse, the chief court-
eously asked to be directed to the High Rock. Having
given the required direction, Tom went on with his
wood-chop]jing, and was presently surprised by the
return of the party, when Washington asked for fur-
ther directions. Tom looked at him but a moment and
then burst forth, " I tell you, turn back and take the
first right-hand path into the woods and stick to it.
Any darned fool would know the way." What the
Father of his Country replied has not been recorded.

Above Tide-Water 561

Repeated reference has been made to the battle of
Saratoga, and its great importance in relation to
American history can hardh^ be overestimated. It
should not be forgotten that Sir Edward Creasy, the
English military writer, has numbered this among the
fifteen decisive battles of the world.

Burgoyne started from Canada towards Albany with
a reasonable expectation of uniting his forces with those
of Clinton and keeping open a direct line of communi-
cation from New York to the St. Lawrence. But he
was harassed by the New Hampshire levies and checked
at every step of the way by the obstructions that the
forethought and activity of Schuyler had reared. The
American army, organised b\^ Schuyler and transfeiTcd
to Gates for reasons political, had been reinforced by two
brigades from the Highlands, besides a force of artillerv
and Morgan's efficient corjjs of riflemen, sent hv Wash-
ington. Gates's army numbered about ten thousand
men, many of them niihtia or levies. It must not be un-
derstood, however, that the New York or Connecticut
troops of this description were necessarily raw recruits.
On the contrary, it was one of the ];)eculiarities of the
American army that its numbers alternately swelled
and dwindled as occasion demanded. In two vears'
time both the militia and the levies may have been
called out on several occasions under the stress of cir-
cumstances, returning to their farms and villages in
the intervals between active campaigns.

While Gates was being thus reinforced, General

36

562 The Hudson River

vSchuyler, having retired to Albany, was receiving
deputations of Indian chiefs and exerting his great
influence to secure their services as scouts, thus materi-
ally aiding the forces in the field. One is compelled to
admire the greatness of soul of this man, who refused
to permit the cavalier treatment accorded him by
Gates, or the apparent neglect of higher powers, to
interrupt the efficiency of his service or chill the ardour
of his patriotism.

Burgoyne, having gathered in what forces he could
from Skenesborough and other posts, reached the Hud-
son and constructed a bridge by which to cross from
the east to the west bank of the river. Meanwhile, a
lookout upon Willard's Mountain, on the east shore,
watched his movements and reported them to the
American commander. We have some hints of the
gloomy anticipation with which the British com-
mander found himself face to face with the American
army. He knew that the posts in his rear had been
retaken by the Americans. The defeat of St. Leger at
Fort Schuyler had been disheartening; now the fre-
quent desertions from his army depleted his force of
fighting men.

On the 13 th and 14th of September he crossed the
river on his bridge of boats, landing upon the plain
near the mouth of Fishkill Creek, afterwards Schuyler-
ville, about five miles north of the American position.

The arrangement of the opposing forces on the 19th
was similar, each resting — right and left respectively —

Above Tide-Water 563

upon the river, whence the Hnes stretched at right
angles with the stream and parallel to each other, west-
ward, across the hills. Burgc)>-ne's left wing, on the
flats near the river, consisted of the artillery. The
General-in-chief commanded the centre and right in
person.

The American right, opposite the British artlller^-
and extending over the low hills and flats near the
ri^'er, was under the immediate command of General
Gates. The left, that included Livingston's, Van
Cortlandt s, Hale's, Scannel's, and Cillev's regiments,
the Connecticut militia, and Morgan's famous sharp-
shooters, was on the heights three quarters of a mile
from the river, under command of the impetuous Bene-
dict Arnold.

Arnold, together with Thaddeus Kosciusco, the
Polish engineer, had selected Bemis Heights as the
theatre of battle and laid out fortifications there.

Having, on the i8th, advanced slowly to within two
miles of General Gates's position, Burgoyne rested
over night and prepared for an attack ui)on the morn-
ing of the 19th. The plan, in brief, was to inake a
demonstration with Canadians and Indians threaten-
mg the American centre, while the grenadiers and
light infantry, under Frazer, on the left of Gates's
position, and the British left-wing, under Philips and
Reidesel, were to move simultaneously and b}' a cir-
cuitous route to gain the American rear. Burgo}-ne
himself was with the British right.

564 The Hudson River

Gates received advice of the advance of the enemy
upon his left, but made no movement in resj^onse to
repeated appeals, until about noon Arnold succeeded
in getting permission to order Morgan and Dearborn
out. Arnold in person followed this party with an-
other detachment and was soon engaged with General
Frazer's superior force. Gates refused the reinforce-
ments applied for by Arnold, and the latter, finding
Frazer's position too strong for him, by a sudden move-
ment attempted to flank his adversary, with the result
that he soon found himself in conflict with the main
line of the British advance.

Unperturbed by the numbers opposed to him, he
attacked with his inferior force, advancing so impetu-
ously that he nearly broke the British line and com-
]3elled Philips and Reidesel to hasten to the supi)ort of
Burgoyne.

Grudgingh^ reinforcements were then given to Ar-
nold, and he continued for four hours a spirited action
with the whole of the British right, though his force
at no time exceeded three thousand, or, as some have
said, twenty-five hundred men. Both Reidesel and
Burgoyne afterwards described this battle as having
been fought with great obstinacy and valour, the fire
having been unusually fierce and well sustained.

Burgo3me, though he could claim no decisive advan-
tage, having indeed been repulsed and thwarted by the
Americans, yet remained in possession of his ground
and proceeded to strengthen his position. His situa-

Above Tide-Water 565

tion was sufficiently grave. From almost every
quarter came discouraging news, the one exception
being the arri\'al of a messenger with a dispatch from
Sir Henr}' Clinton, informing him of the projected ex-
pedition up the Hudson and proposed co-operation
with the northern arm>\ In rei^l}' to this communica-
tion Burgoyne urged Clinton to hasten, and ])romised
to endeavour to wait for him until the 12 th of October.
But, either made impatient by the desertions that
were rapidly reducing his army, or rendered bold by
the apparent disinclination of the superior American
force to oppose him, or swayed from his purpose by
the councils of his officers, he determined, upon the
7th of October, "to make a grand movement on the
left of the American camj), to discover whether he
could force a jxassage, should it be necessary to ad-
vance, or dislodge it from its position, should he have
to retreat."

Hidden b}' the intervening forest, with fifteen
hundred picked troops formed within a mile of the
American left, the British commander dispatched a
reconnoitring part}' to gain the rear of Gates's position
and feign an attack to cover the actual assault. But
through the watchfulness of the Americans this ])lan
resulted in a complete failure. A counter-plan of at-
tack was arranged l)y which Morgan, with his riflemen,
was to win the hills on Burgoyne 's right, while the
New York and New Hampshire troops, under General
Poor, with a part of Learned 's brigade, were to make

^66

The Hudson River

a vigorous attack ujDon the Hessian artillery and grena-
diers on the left.

The New Yorkers, with their New Hampshire com-
rades, did magnificent work that day. The Hessian
gunners, serving their artillery with the precision and

THE RAPIDS BELOW GLENS FALLS

effectiveness of well-trained veterans, were amazed to
see the Americans advance without hesitation in the
face of a rain of grape-shot. The grenadiers, unused
to meeting opponents who could stand before them,
found it impossible to meet this impetuous onslaught.
The guns were taken and retaken, both sides fighting
stubbornly, till at last the Americans drove their

Above Tide-Water 567

opponents from the ])osition, turning upon them their
own artillery. Xo doubt a great deal of the valour and
determination shown by the attaeking ]iart\' was due
to the presence of Arnold, who, though without a
command, owing to a recent ([uarrel with General
Gates, yet took the lead to which his position as rank-
ing officer in the field entitled him, and displaved such
mad courage that one historian at least has gravely
charged him with being intoxicated upon that occa-
sion. In this connection, Irving very justly remarks
that "Arnold needed only his own irritated pride and
the smell of gunpowder to rouse him to acts of mad-
ness."

While this action was in progress, in another part of
the field General Frazer was trying to make a stand
against Morgan and his sharpshooters, but received at
last a mortal w^ound. His corps fell 1:)ack in confusion.

Overcome at all points, Burgoyne made an effort to
save his camix This and a subsequent effort to cross
the ri\'er in the face of an American battery on the
eastern shore, were ec[ually unsuccessful. He made
repeated efforts to withdraw, only to find that the way
was completely blocked in every direction, and at
length, upon the 17th of October, articles of cajjitula-
tion were signed and the great battle was finished. It
was a strange coincidence that brought to Burgoyne 's
camp, between the agreement for ca])itulation and the
signing of the articles, news from Sir Henry Clinton,
announcing that he had reduced the forts in the

568

The Hudson River

Highlands and was advancing to the relief of the van-
quished army.

The course of the river for a number of miles above
Saratoga is a succession of falls and rapids of great
natural beaut}% though now often concealed or dis-
figured by a multitude of mills. It is hard to realise
that Fort Edward, for example, has hidden away, be-
neath the evidences of modern industry and thrift, an
early history that is full of romance and derring-do.

ON THE RIVER BETWEEN GLENS FALLS AND SANDY HILL
(From a draixjing hy W. G. M'ilso)!)

First of all, it was granted to Domine Dellius of
Albany, who transferred his title to his successor in
the church, John Lydius, the latter building there a
trading house. Then a fort was erected on the spot,
and in honour of the Lieutenant-Governor of New
York it was named Nicholson. Next it was rebuilt and
called Fort Lyman by one of Sir William Johnson's
subordinates, but the commander soon rechristened it
Edward. It was a place of great importance during

Above Tide-Water

569

the French and Indian wars, and was at that time the
scene of the well-known ex])loit of Israel Putnam, when
he stood upon the roof of the powder magazine and
fought, single-handed, the fire that consumed the
structure next to it. Here, too, it was that the mur-

idc;e at glens falls

der of Jennie McCrea, by some of Burgoyne's Indian
allies, gave Gates a telling argument, with which not
a few wavering partisans w^ere turned against the
British cause.

With Fort Edw^ard, as with nearly all of the upper
river towns, the possession of one of the most magnifi-

570

The Hudson River

cent water-powers in the world has decided the direc-
tion of its activity.

Glens Falls, eighteen miles above Saratoga, was once
known as Wing's Falls, and long before that the In-
dians gave it a name of their own. As usual, the

::U::^-----

Indians' name was the only one of the three that was
neither stupid nor commonplace. They called it Che-
pon-Uic, which, being interpreted, means " a hard place
to get around."

Wing was simply the name of an unimaginative
white man who used to own the Falls, and knew no

Above Tide-Water

5/1

better name for them than his own. The transfer of
name from Wing to Glen was the price of a dinner at
the ta\-ern. Glen i)aid for the dinner, and then posted
all the roads around with handbills announcing the
change of title. The place is now a busy town of
about ten thousand inhabitants, or about one third of
the total population of Warren County. It also has a
water-power of great value, and, besides the features
of natural beauty which even the ubiquitous mills can-
not entirely conceal, it has a notal^le aggregation and
variety of " works. " Here are the marble works, where
the black marble, native to the place, is prepared for
market; the gun works, sewing-machine works, lime
works, and a legion more. But if the average citizen
was to be suddenly asked to name the staple product
of Glens Falls and neighbouring river towns, he would
be apt to answer, "wood-pulp." Wood-])ul]) is turn-
ing a great many factory wheels to-day, as it is feeding
a great many thousand printing-presses, and it has
made the paper mills of the upper Hudson the scene
of a great industry.

It is time "this tale should have an ending." Al-
ready it has run beyond the limits that the author
assigned for his work; yet he leaves it with reluctance,
conscious most of all of its many omissions.

Index

Abbott, Rev. Lyman, D.D., 2S5

Abeel, Anthony, 491-492

Abecl. David, 491-492

Al)L'cl family, 491-492

Abintjdon-Fitz-Roy Road, 174

Academy Building, Kingston, 463

Ackland, Lady Harriet, 530

Act regvilating navigation, i 2 i

Adams, John, 163

Adirondacks, 551

Advertisement of steamboats, 12.S-
129

Aepgin, Chief, 5 i i

Ailsa, Marquis of (Kennedy), 7,2

Albany, 2, 13, 4S, 111-112, 125-
126, 272-273, 278, 336, 344
340. 350-354. 356. 405, 43'. 436
444, 449- 464-466, 472, 476-477
483, 486-488, 494, 516, 519, 520
526-529, 530, 541-542, 544, 546-
550. 553-554, 55'*^- 561-562
beef, 440; Dutch, 531; festi-
vals, 533; fort, II, 23; houses,
ST,T,\ post road, 317; sloops
115; wharf, 104

Alexis, steamboat, 133

Algonquin tongue, 9

Alipconc, 10

Allison, Rev. Charles E., 9

Alpine, 438

Amackassin Brook, 10

Amasis, 301

America, 407

American, Academy, 428: army
179, 184, 192, 232, 317, 331, 380
406, 461-462; camp, 565; citi-
zen, the, 125; Civil WaV, 372
colonies, 68; colours, 28; de-
fences, 330; independence, 26
405, 523; Institute Fairs, 41

Republic, 427; Scenic and His-
toric Preservation Society, 415;

seamen, 54; stores, 332, 338;

Surety Building, t,^\ troops, 554,

563-565; vessels, 340
Americans, 28
Amsterdam, 2 1, .108, 446
Ancram Creek, 477
Andre, Major John, 72, 85, 86, 219,

228, 236-237, 244, 296-297, 314,

317-318, 380
Andresen, his captivity, 456
Annandale, 479
Anthony, Theophilus, 426
Anthony's Nose, 91, 116, 322, 325,

328, 337-33''^. 358. 361-362, 365,

382
Apothecarx's Hal'. Albany, s?,
Apthorpe Niansion, 140, 175
Arbor Hill, Albany, 545
Archer, Ste])hen. 229
Ardsley-on -the- Hudson. 230
■\riiienia, stc-amboat, 130
Armitage, D. D., 209
Armstrong, Oencral, 458, 460
Arnold, General Benedict, 85, 228,

296-298, 314, 3.35-336,380.463-

464. 483. 567
Arnold, Mrs., 366
Arthur, General Chester A., 458
Aspinwall, William, 237
Assembly of Nineteen, the, 516,

520
Astor, William B., 458
Astor Place Riots, 196
Athens, ^07
Atkarkarton, 444
Atkins, T. Astley, 209
Atlanta, warship, 51
Atlantic cable, 230
Auchmut}', Doctor. 312
Audubon Park, 155

574

Index

B

Baas, Jan, 536-537

Baccrack Reach, 114

Badeau, General Adam, 2S7

Bailey. Hachaliah, 293

Baker's dozen, its origin, 536

Baker's F'alls, 438

Ball, Washington's inauguration,

Baltimore, 504

Barber and Howe's Collections, 495

Barclay Street and college build-
ings,' 58

Barge Office, New York, 40

Barnard College, 14S, 176

Barnum, P. T., and Jenny Lind, 46

Barr, Mrs. Amelia E., 2S5

Barrytown, 479

Bartholdi Statue of Liberty, 139

Bartram, John, 274

Bassett Street, Albany, 531

Battenkill, 551

Battery, the, 24, 26-27, 31, 36, 50,
54, 57- 65, 288

Battle of Behmus (Bemis) Heights,

554. 563
Battle of Harlem Heights, 277
Battle of Lake George, 559
Battle of Long Island. 151, 326
Battle of White Plains, 332
Bausan, Italian warship, 51
Baxter, 188

Bayard family and residence, 61
Bayard Hill, 168; Redoubt, 168,

T. ^74

Beacon Hill, 357, 417

Bear Island (Beam), 352, 51 1-5 14,

521
Bear Mountain, 319, 339, 358
Beaviregard, 372
Beaver Street, Albany, 527
Bedford Pike, 293
Bedlam's Redoubt, 169
Bedloe's Island, 49
Beecher, Rev. Henrv Ward, 282,

318
Beekman, 534
Beekman, Henry, 91, 459
Beekman, James W., 50
Beekman. Mrs., 317
Beekman House, 463
Beekman Manor, 350
Beekman Patent, 365, 486
Beekmantown, 239
Belletti, Signor, 42
Benedict, 42
Benedict, Israel, 47

Benton, Joel, 287, 426

Bergen, 344. 345, 341,

Bergen, Martin G., 486

Bergen Dutch Chiux-h, 72

Bergen Neck, 82

Besightsick, 10

Bethune, Rev. Geo. W., D.D., 278

Beverly House, 366, 369, 380

Beversier, 23

Beverwyck, 519, 520

Bevier, 469

Biddle, Joseph, Jr., 344

Bigelow, John, 424

Bill of Freedoms, etc., 88

Binckes, Captain, 23

lUakc, British warship, 51

Bleecker, Hermanns, 255

Blinkcrsbergh, 13

Blockhouse at Shadyside, 82

Blom, Domine Hermanns, 444, 447,

459. 469

Bloodgood, Frank, 545

Bloomingdale, 174; road, 1^2, 175-
176

Boers in America, 98, gt)

Bogardus, Anneke Jans, 59; Dom-
ine Everardus, 59

Bogardus Inn, 458

Bolton, Rev. Robert, 290

Boreas River, 551

Boreel Building, New York, 35

Bossen Bouwerie, 61

Boston, 167, 290

Boston and Albany Road, 61

Boston Tea Party, 57

Boulevard, the, 176, 178

Boulevard, Lafayette, 155

Boulton and Watt, 121

Bouwerie, Roeloff jansen's, 59

Bowery, 61

Bowling Green, 25, 31

BowHng Green Building, 39

Braddock, General, 151

Bradhurst, Dr. Samuel, 152

Bradstreet, Colonel, 3^3

Breakneck Hill, 386

Brevoort, Henry, 250

Brewers Street, Albany, 538

Brewhouse on North River, 168

Bright, Marshal H., 286

Brink, Benjamin Meyer, 476, 535

Brink, Cornelius L., 472

Brinkcrhoff's History of Fishkill,
416

BrinkerhofT's house, 417

British, army, 531; artillery, 563;
cause, 569; ensign, 28; fleet,
169, 329. 379. 406, 407; force.

Index

575

British army — Continitcd

53q; garrison, 72; GovcTninrnt,
60,474; officers, 32: ])lans, lOo
ships, 28, 54, 64,' 170, 228, 232
235; troops, 31, 168, 176, 185
188, igi, 227, 554

Broadway, Albany, 527, 538

Broadway, New York, 27, t,^, 46
5S. 317- 523

Brodhead, John Romeyn, 17, 273

Broken Neck Ilih, 346, 386

Brooks, James Gordon, 272

_Brown, Charles, i 22

Brown, Thomas, 10:;

Bryant, William ("ullcn, 2^6, 262,
272, 394, 424

Buckhout, t"a])lain |(ilui, 23

Bucklail i)arl\-, 265"

Buildings in New York, 24, 31, 52,
35. 3S, 39

Bull Hill, 357, 362, 360, 386, 300

Bull's Ferry, Si

Buonaparte, Jose]3h, 14 ^

Burdett's Ferry, 1S5, 330

Burgoyne, 336, 338^ 343, 379- 407,
408, 460, 462, 464, 530, 554, 55,s,

56.1-565, 567. 569
Burlington, 344
Burnet, Governor, 25
Burnet's Key, 104
Burnside, General, 372
Burr, Aaron, 74-7S,' 148, 152, 217,

249, 468, 509, 542
Burroughs, John, 286, 289, 394
Bushnell, inventor, 119, 183', 330
Butler, Benjamin F., 277
Butler, Colonel, 309
Butler, Samuel, 510
Butler, William Allen, 271
Butter Hill (Butter Alt.), 346, 357

(\il)le Building, New York, ^8

C'al.cit, John, 2

Caclwalader, Colonel, 188-190

Cahoes, 355

Cairo, 495

Call Rock, 425

Campbell, 13, 339

Campbell, Donald. 4S3

Canada, 160, t,7,^. 4S0, 491, 49:;, 561

Canal Street and Lispenard's

swamp, 60
Canals, treatise by Fulton, 118
Canopus Creek, 297, 317
Canty, Master Tim, 242, 243
Cape Cod, 507

Capitol at Washington. 469

Car of Xcptiiuc. steamboat, 128

Caribbean Islands, 23

Carleton, Sir Guy, 27, 220, 288

Carl's Mill, 230

Carolina troojjs, 310

Carolinas, 160

Carthage, 416

Cartwright's ta\'ern, 353

Cassalis, Earl of, 32

Casta Diva, 42, 45

Castle Clinton, 41

Castle Filipse, 206

Castle Garden, 31, 40-42, 45-48,
50

Castle Island, :; u;

Castle Point, 73, 78

Castleton, 510, :; i 5

Catesby, Mark, "274

Cathedral Heii,dits. 144, 147

Cathedral of St. J-.lin ihr Divine,

144. 147
Catskill Creek, 48 7
Catskill Mcnmtaiiis, 417, .|-o, 400,

502, ^o&, S47
Catskill Station, 02
Catskill Village, 437, 473, 486, 488-

^ 4S9, 491, 494-495, 499, 500
Cedar Street and Damen's farm, 5:^
Central Park and MeGowan's Pass,

,27

Chamber of Comnirree. 424
Chaml)ers, Thomas, 444, 447, 4^0,

451
Chamjjlain Canal, :^i;o
Chancellor of New 'York, Living-
ston, 120
Charles II., 96

Charter of Freedoms, etc-., 520
Chatterton's Hill, 184
Chelsea village, 62, 63
Cheney, A. N., 437
Chepontuc, 570
Cherry Valley, 352, 353
Cherrycroft, 285
Chesapeake shad, 436
Chittenden, Lucius B., and widow

156
Church, Frederick E., 507
Church notices, 44S
Church Street, Albany, 527
Church tokens, 448
Cilley's regiment at Saratoga, ^62
City Hall, Albany, 547 ' ^ •
City Hall, site ofde Lancey house,

Civil War, the, 319
Claessen, Siebout, 14

5/6

Index

Clarcmont Hotel, 14,^

Clarke, Lewis (iaylord, 256-257

Clarke, Thomas, 63

Classis of Amsterdam, 459

Clavcrack, 272, 504

Claverack Creek, 507

Claverack Reaeh, 114

Clay, Henry, 427

Clayton, John, 274

Clermont, J22, 125, 471s

Clcrmonl, steamer, 120, 122, 125,
T2S, 15S

Clinton, Colonel James, 167-168,
1 70. ,i.>7. 340; be Witt, 49, 265,
459; Governor George, 30, 170,
184, 187, 312, 316, 327-328, 335-
.337. 339. 340, 407. 427. 456, 460-
461, 464-465, 53S, 542, 546, 560;
Mrs. George, 460; Sir Henry,
163-166, 228, 304, 335, 338, 339,
343, 379. 3S<), 407-40S, 412, 439,
461, 467-46S

Clinton Point, ujS

Cockloft Hall, 252, 253

Coeymans, 510

Cohoes, 550, 554

Cojemans House, 352

Colljcrg, William, 107

Colden, Cadwallader, 47. 274

Coldenham, 274, 277

Coldspring, 266, 3S5, 3.S6

Cole, Rev. David, D.D., 208, 287

Cole, Thomas, 500

Collect Pond, 1^20

Collegiate Church, 444

Collinson, Peter, 274

Coin Donk, 203

Colonial Assembly, 460

Colonial Legislature, 477

Colonial Party, 168

Colonies, go, 96

Colonists, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95

Cokimbia College, 63, 251, 256, 262

Columbia County, 272, 503-504

Columbia Garden, 57

Columbia University, 147, 14^^. 176.
179

Columbian Celebration, 1892, 50

Columbiaville, 509

Columbus, 2, 5

Commissioners of Emigration, 41

Commissioners of Indian Affairs,

Committee of 100, 50-51
Committee of Safety, 331, 456
Committee of States-General, 91
Communipaw, 20, 65-69,71
Company's rules for patents, 89, 90

Company's ships, 88

Congress, 377, 405, 412; United

States Senate and Burr, 77
Conkling, Captain, 105
Connecticut, 344, 427
Connecticut troops, 166, 172-173

176, 178-179
Connor, Tom, 560
Constitution Island, 306, 3S5
Constitution of New York, 120
Continental army, 228, 405, 538
Continental cause, 379, 475
Continental village, 297, 317, 332
Convent of the Sacred Heart, 151
Cooper, Charles D., 74-76
Cooper, Doctor, 545
Copway, Ojibbeway Chief, 31)8
Corlear's Hook, 74
Cornell, Alonzo B., 319
Cornwall, 168, 260-261, 393
Cornwallis, General Lord, 190, 227-

228, 41 I
Corporation of New York City, 41
Corsen, Arcnt, 501
Cortlandt Manor, 91, 313, 326, 345
Cortlandt Street Ferry, 58, 72
Council of Fifty, 480
Council of Safety, 460
Courtenay, Viscount, 143
Cow Chase, the, 72, 85
Coxsackie, 494, 503, 510, 511
Coxsackie boats, 428
Cozzens, Frcdk. Swartwout, 209,

253. 269
Cozzens's hotel at West Pomt, 382
Crane, Ichabod, 243, 2 4(), 509, 510
Creasey, Sir Edward, 561
Crispell, 469
Crommelin, Daniel, 262
Crom-Pond road, 318
Cro' Nest, 116, 357
Crosby, Enoch, 417
Crotoh, 112, 224, 436
Croton Aqueduct, 293
Croton Bridge, 312
Croton, Chief, 295-296
Croton Manor-house, 317
Croton Point, 10, 301, 304
Croton River, 11, 206, 21)3, 2()4, 337
Crown Point, 483
Cruger, General S. Y. R., 50
Cruger's, 304
Cruger's Dock, 57
Cruger's Island, 393
Cullum, General, 377
CuUum Memorial Hall, 377
Culprit Fay, The, 258, 440
Cunard steamers, 61

Index

577

cashing, torpedo-boat, 50
Custom House. 3 I
Cut Banks, 510
Cuyler, Henry, 353

Dallie, Rev. Mr., 470

Daly, jud-e t^has. P.. 156

Damen, jan Jansen, 35'

Dan bury, 293

Dan id /)rezi.\ steamboat ,130

Dauphin of Franee, 383-584

D'Auxiron, i iq

Deaf and Dumb Asylum, i:^c;

Dearborn, Colonel, 564 ' '^

Declaration of Independence n

167, 457. 523
De Fuyck, 519
De Gary, Blasco, 119
De Jouffroy, Marquis, iiq
De Koven's Bav, 478
De La Barr. 107
De Lancey, Lieutenant-dovenK

James, 32
De Lancev, John Peter, ^ 5:;
De Lancey, General Oliver,' i'40
De Lancey family residence, 61
Delaware and Hudson Canal, 467
Delaware Indians, 42^
Delaware River, 3.=; ' . 44S. 47o. 4q 5
.520 ' •

Delaware, steamer. 120
Dell (Dellius), Rev. Godfrev s-fi

568
Delhus Street. Albany, =; 5 r
Denton's Ferrv, 349 ' ' ' "
Denton's Mill,'349
Depew, Charles, 105
Depew, Chauncev M., 318, ^rg
Depew, Isaac, 105
Dervall, John, 206
Desbrosses Street, ^^g
De Witt, Simeon, 54=;

5^-4.'^0

DeWitt, Thomas, 4,0-4.
Dobbs, Jeremiah, 226-220 '30 ^i
Dobbs Ferry. 9, 27, 172, i 8^'. ,'86
Dodge, Miss Grace, 148
Dolphin, dispatch boat, =;
Domines, Dutch, 21, 474
Dongan, Governor, 22-23, ir

294, 416, 447, 526
Dood Fest (Deadfeast), C31. =133
Don w , Vol kert , 4 3 1 , 4 3 2' ■
Downing, Andrew l'., 277-078
Drake, Joseph Rodman. 255, 257

259, 394, 440
Duane Street, New York, c8

Dublin, 478; College, 47S
Dubois, Benjamin, "498
Dubois, Catherine, 452-4:54
Dubois, Louis, 352, 452-453

456, 469, 470 '

Dudley Observatorv, Albanv
Dudley's grove, 198
Duel. Burr-Hamilton, 78
Dunderljarrck, 117
I Dunderberg, the, 220-0^0
.1.3«-330, 357-35<^. ,^62, 421
Dutch Church. S9. 72- \lba,,
526. 553; Kingston, 447. 44
450. 474
Dutch domines, 21, 474
Dutch East India Comi)any. o
Dutch improvers of land. I'l i
Dutch Lords, 23
Dutch possessions. 9
Dutch record of Hoboken, 72--^
Dutch settlers. 11 ' ' ~"'

Dutch West India Comp;
Dutchess CouiUv, 357,'

3,s°' 416. 426-42 7. "4S0
Duyckinck. A. E.. 242.

271, 280
Diiyx-el's Dans Kamer,

421
Dwight, Hon. Thecxlorc
Dwight, Mrs., 554
Dyer, John, -^^'2
Dykman, Judge, 297

E

548

i25.
5 '4

4 So
340,

Earl of De\-on, 143
East Cam]), 402
East India Comjiany, t
Eastman College. 422
East River, 15^, ',67. ,7
(Brown's shipyard), i
Eckerson, Capta'in, 35
Eelkins, commander
post, 472

Eighth A\-enue and W
ment, 62

El Capitan. steamboat

Elkins, Jacob [acob.sen

Elm Park, 140

Elysian Fields. 78-80

Emigration Commission!

Empire Building, New ^

Empire State, 12

E^nglewood, 198

Equital)le Building. New
39

Erie Canal, 48, 1 19, 499,

Erie Lake, 49

>f tni

.be M,

r30
107

■rs, 40
ork. -.,

• York
.542, 5

5/8

Index

Esopus, II, 13, 14, 01. 106, 107,
III, 114, 325, 443. 444, 450, 455.
457. 459. 473. 526

Esopus Creek, 470, 472

Esopus Massacre, 472

Esperanza, 508

Ettrick, his attempt to kidnap
Washington ,412

Ei'cnhig Post, New York, and La-
fayette fete, 47

Evertsen, Captain Cornelius, 23

Fair Street, New York, 45S

Falconer's purchase, 91

Fall Kill, 425

Fanning, Colonel, 317

Farrington, Harvey P., 105

Febiger, Colonel, 30Q

Federalists of Albany, 544

Ferris, Oliver, 241

Feudatories, Sg

Field Building, New York, 32

Field, Cyrus W., ^^2. 230

Fiero, 4S8

Filipse, Frederick. 104, 206, 231

Fish Commission, 437. 438, 440,

442
Fish hatcheries, 440, 442
Fisher's Reach, 114
Fishkill, 226, 322, 346, 349, 408,

416-418, 457, 470
Fishkill Creek, 91, 562
Fitch, John, 119, 120
Fitzroy Road. 62
Five Nations, the, 473
Fleming, General, and Lafayette,

, 47

Fleury, Lieutenant-Colonel, 301)
Fort, Amsterdam, 20, 21; Clinton,
3.37-339. 3S3. 460; Constitu-
tion, 170, 172, 1,^2, 379; Ed-
ward, 568-569; George, 22, 168;
Ilill, i()6; Independence, 313,
319. 33&, 379; Lee, S0-S2, 139,
156, 182, 184, 186-189, 190, 192,
198, 257,436,438; Lyman, 56S;
Montgomery, 328, 335, 337-339,
379, 428, 460, 461-462; Nichol-
son, 568; Orange, 6, iii, 353,
516,519,520,522; Oranier, 513;
Putnam, 379, 384; Schmder, 562 ;
Washington, 106, 155-156, 172,
181-182, 184-185, 187, 189, 190,
330,416; Willem Hendrick, 107
Fortifications and Governor Don-
gan, 22

Forty-second Street Ferry, New

York, 80
Fourth Provincial Congress, 456,

457
Franklin, Benjamin, 424
Frazer, General, 554, 563, 564, 567
Freehold, 352

Frclinghuysen, Chancellor, 2 78
Frelinghuysen, Rev. Theodorus,

494. 526, 531
Fremont, General John C, 238,

241, 285
Fremont, Jessie Benton, 285
French and Indian Wars, 475, 569
French Church at New Paltz, 470
FuUerton's tract, 472, 473
Fulton, Robert, 118-122!^ 125-126,

478
Fur trade and agriculture, 91

Gallatin, Albert, 118
GaUows Hill, 317
Gansevoort, 45S, 53S
Gansevoort famih', 538
Gansevoort Street, New York, 57,

62
Garrisons, 3S5
Gates, General Horatio, 169, 407,

408, 460, 465, 53(), 561, 562-565,

567, 569
Gazelle, of Hudson, 508-509
Geikie, Professor Archibald, 197,

223
Genera! y'aeL-si>)i, the, steamboat,

130
General Synod of Dutch Chiu-ch,

449
Genesee River, 493
Genet, Edmond Charles, 546
George III., 297, 461
Gei'ard, Hon. James W., 311
German camp, 351
German exiles, 474
Giljbet Island, 69, 70-71
Gibbon, Lieutenant, ^09
Gififord, S. R., 507
Gillender Building, New York, 38
Glass House farm, 63, 64
Glen, Johannes, 528
Glens Falls, 570-571
Goede Vroviw, the, 65
Gooch, Captain, 190
Gordon, Duchess of, 352
Goshen, 346
Gould, Miss Helen, 231
Gou^•crneln^ Samuel, 369

Index

579

Governors, Dutch and Ensjlish
Grand Battery, the, 168 "
Grand Ojjera House, 63
Grange, the, 152
Grant, General U. S., 372
Grant, Mr.s., an American ladv
Grant's Tomb, 52, 145 144 i'

179
Grassy Point, 133
Graystone, 209
Great Britain and American Iik

pendence, 26
Great Chip Rock, 1 14
Great Kill Road, 62
Green Mountains, 50S
Greenburgh, 227

Greene, General Nathanael, rj
173. 176, 179. 1S4. 186. 1.S7 I,'-
189, 190, 228, 33:^. 41 ,
Greene County, 443. 44,,. 4S6
Greene s Patent, 486
Greenwich Road. 61, 62
Greenwich Village, 6r, 62 1-4
Grenadier Battery. i6'8 ' '
Greyhound. British frigate, 167
Grievous Hook, 215
Grinnell, Irving, 50
Grinnell, Moses H.. 262
Griswold, Rufus W., 269, 271, -?
Groot Esopus, 459 ' ' ■^"

Groot Riviere, 2
Guadaloupe, 23
Guest, Henry, 354
Guests from'Gibbet Island 68

H

Ilackensack, 192
Hafenje, 216, 241
Hague, The, i
Hale, Captain Nathan, 151
Hale's regiment at Saratoga 56:;
Hall Moon. 2, 194. 2or, ^og, SM
Hahfax, 167 ' '

Halleck, Fitz-Grcene, 80, 255, 2:^6

257, 261, 269, 270 ^' ' '

Halve Maene, i

Hamburg-American steamships Sr
Hamilton, General Alexander, 74-

77. 152, 249, 366, 411, 509, "542,

500
Hammond, Colonel James 226
Hancock. H. Irving '376
Handlers Street. Albany, ^28 c,8
Hardenbergh. Colonel Johannes

460
Hardenbergh's Patent. 3^ :.6o

372 ■ ■ • '

569 Harlem, 24; battle of, ,48 j-,
,^7-^^'75. 179. i<S4: C.ive.' i^z
Heights, 174-17^; Riv,.,- /So
195. 344; Speedwav, ici

ilarmensen, 528

Harrison's brewery, 6r

Harschias, 476

Hartford. 552

IIasbrouckhou.se, 406. 412,463
Ha.stings, 198

Haverstraw (Ilavestro), 13. 2,,

224, 296, 298, 301, 327-3^8
HavenstrawBav, 104-ios i , . 00,

Haviland. Captain, 57

Ilawthornc, }ulian, 285

Hawthorne. Nathanieh 269

Hay. Colonel. 310. 326. 327

Hays's landing. 298

Hay ward. Miss, 250

Heath, General, x66, 172, ,89. iqo
315-316.332

Hebrews, ^^4

Helderberg war, i^i i

Henry ( 7aV. steamboat, 133 104

Henry, John V.. 546 " " '

Henry. William, rig

Flerkimer. General. 475

Hessian artillery, 566

Hessians, 179, nSg"

Hc3-liger, Dolph. 321, 361-362, 390.

Hicks, John, 344
High Bridge, "170

g?-ti^^"f^ Spring. 552, 559, 560
Highland forts, 33:;
Highland Patent.' 91
Highland Station, 429
Highlanders, 167, 177-1 7,^
Highlands, 92. 105-106, 114, 1,6
160, 170, 256, 266, 286, 301 313'

317.327-328,331.335.350.3^7-
^f • ^^J- 365-366, 369, 379, 380,
J84-3S6, 389. 390, 393, 401, 406-
408, 411. 417, 449, 460, 508, S14,
561, 568

Hinnieboeck, i 3

Hoboken (HoluKiuin), 15, 7^ -^
74. <Si ■ ■ '•"

Hoes. Rev. Dr.. 459
Hoffman, Charles 'Fenno, 253-257
269 .. - •

Hoffman, Josiah Ogdcn, 248, 250
Hoffman, Matilda, 248-249
Hoffman, vocalist, 42
Hoge's Reach, 114
Holland, 5. 13. 501, 512
Hollow Way, the, 155, 157, 177

58o

Index

Hook (Hoeck) Mountain, 211, 221
Hooker, General Joseph, 372
Hooker's Aventie. Poughkeepsie,

427
Hope, steamboat, 12S
Horse Race, the, 320
Howard i'arroll. steamboat, 50
Howe, A(hniral Richard, 170, 171,

183
Howe, General William, 167, 184,

185. 187. U^
Hudson Canal, 550-551
Hudson, city of, 48, 503-504, 507-

509. 553

Hudson, Henr}-, i, 2, 5. 6, i()4, igN,
2Q4, 421-422, 50Q

Hudson (Hudson's) River, q, 11,
13, 18, 19, 48, 51. 57-58, 87, 92,
100, 108, 118, 121, 155, 160, 167,
i6g. 182, ig4, 197-198, 210, 217,
221, 232, 240, 246, 249, 250-251,
266, 278, 281, 285, 2S8, 290, 304,
306, 326, 329. 330-331, 336, 338,
344, 346, 353, 358, 379, 395, 401,
407, 424-425, 427, 432, 436-437,
440-443, 449- 434. 459. 47°' 474.
483, 499, 502-503, 509, 5 1 1-5 15,

554. 571
Hudson steamboats, 126
Hughes, Mother vSuperior Mary

Angela, 196
Huguenots, 427, 452, 454, 469, 470,

473
Hulls, Jonathan, 119
Humphreys, Colonel, 173
Hunter, Colonel, 476
Hunter, Governor, 474
Hunters Reach, 1 14
HurH)urt. Colonel, 2 :;5-2 :;6
Hurley, 456
Huron Indians, 425
Huyler's Landing, 198
Hiizzard, French warship, 51
Hyde Park, 253, 432, 476, 484-485

Idlewild, 260, 285, 393, 395-397'

401
Ind, farthest, 2
Indian Head, 98, 201
Indian lands, 489, 490
Indian Pass, 288, 551
Indian seas and Captain Kidd, 69
Indian troubles, 450, 491
Indian wars, 459
Indians, 2

Indigo silvestris, 18

hifaiiia Isabel, Spanish warship, 51

Intercollegiate Rowing Association,
429

Interstate Park Commissioners, 415

In wood, 156

lona Island, 320

Irorjuois Indians, 510

Irving, Ebenezer, 266

Irving Institute, the, 245

Irving, Peter, 252

Irving, Washington, 20, 114, 137,
i88\ 237, 239, 240, 243-246, 250-
253, 255, 261, 262, 266, 269, 305,
321, 329, 337, 389, 484, 499, 501,
509, 511, 567

Irvington, 231, 245

Jackson, Francis Jones, 143

J ackson . ' ' Stonewall , " 372

James, Colonel, 290

Jamestown, 516

Jans, Anneke, 60

Jansen, Roeloff, 59

Janss, Susanna (Claessen) , 15

Janvier, Thomas A., 62

Japan, 5

Jauncey, James, 61, 62

Jay, Johm 3°- 3^- 95- 33^- 33^, 457"

45S, 460, 533
Jay family, 476
Jenkins, Benjamin, 504
Jenkins, Elisha, 544-546
Jenkins, Lemuel, 504
Jenkins, Marshal, 504
Jenkins, Seth, 504
Jenkins, Thomas, 504
Jersey Battery, 168
Jersey City, 72
Jersey, prison-ship, 428
John Jay, steainboat, 291
Johnson, Colonel Gtiy, 539
Johnson, General Joseph, 372
Johnson, Lieutenant-Colonel, 305
Johnson, Rev., 526
Johnson, S. C. M., 312
Johnson, Sir William, 552, 558-

559. 560 .
Johnson family, 539, 560
Johnston, Professor Henry P., 175
Johnston Street, Albany, 531
Jones, Nicholas, 176
Juet, Master, 194
Jiimel, 151
jumel mansion, 151, 175, 207

Index

581

K

Kaatskill, 345. 346. .i5o-35i- 5°?
Kaatskill (Kaatsbcrgs) Mountains,

346,350.351-352,409
Kahn, the Swedish traveller, 353
Kakiat, 21 1

Kane, Commander, U.S.N., 50
Kane, James, 545
Kane, Woodbury, 50
Kasteel, 515

Kellogg, Clara Louise, 3S5
Kemble, Fanny, 3S5
Kemble, Gertrude, 252
Kemble, Gouverneur, 250, 252, 262
Kemble, Peter, 250
Kemp, Professor, 251
Kennedy, Archibald. 31. 32
Kennedy house, t,2
Kent, Chancellor, 256, 262
Kent, James, 546
Kerse, Major, Quartermaster at

Stony Point, 2q8
Kidd, Captain William, 69, 321,

421
Kidd's Rock, 421
Kieft, William, 15. 35. 4S9, 500,

501. 513
Kindcrhook (Kinderhoeck) . 13. 14,

249, 2S7. 509
Kinderhook Creek, 509
Kinderhook Reach. 114
King Charles, jockey. 432
King, Colonel. 47
King Street, Albany. 52S
King's College, 14S
Kingsbridge, 11. 165, iSi. 1S5. 186.

195' 232, 337, 345'. 479
Kingsbridge Road. 155, 176
Kingsbridge Ferry, 298, 312
Kingsland's Point, 216
Kingston. 11. in. 130, 337. 340.

350, 379, 416, 426-427, 431, 433-

434. 447. 44^). 451-452, 456-460,

462, 464-469, 470. 473, 500, 535
Kingston Church, 449
Kipp. Jacobus, 416
Kipp's Bay, 172, 173
Kiskatom. 486
Kitchawan River. 10, 11. 206. 293.

294, 295
Klauver Rack. 507
Knapp, Samuel Laurens, 76
Knickerbocker , 5 3 5-5 3 6
Knickerbocker, Diedrich. 65, 253.

265, 266, 270. 421, 43:;. 502, s".

535- 53(^
Knickerbocker authors, 209

Knickerbocker stage line, 63

Knickerbockers, 20

Knowlton, Colonel Thomas, 175—

178
Knox, General llenrv, 27, 178, 335,

382. 411
Knox, Lieutenant, 309
Knyphausen, General, 186, 189
Kocherthall, Rev. Josiiih, 402, 475-

476
Kocherthall, Sibylla Charlotte. 476
Koorn, Nicholas, 513
Kosciusko, Thaddeus, 385
Kosciiisco. steaml)oat, 133
Krvgier, Burgomaster, 451

Laaphawaehking, 9

Lafayette. Marquis de, 46, 47. 48,

366. 382, 416, 427
Lake Champlain, 539
Lamb, Colonel of Artillery, 338
Lamb, Mrs. Mather J., 30, 520, 522
Land patents, 88
Landor, Walter Savage, 253
Lands, 89

Lansing, Abraham, 54()
Lansing, Chancellor, 546
Lansinglnxrg, 520, 550. 553
Lathrop. Amy. 281
Lawrence. John B., 152
Lawrence mansion. 179
Leatherstocking, 443
Lee, General Charles. 163, 164, 165,

315- 316
Lee, Major Henry. 72, 82. 232
Lee. General Robert E., 372
Lefever family, 456. 468
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The. 243,

509
Legislature of New York, the, 426
Legislature, steamboat. 507
Leitch, Major, 178
Lenox, Robert. 121
Leonard Street. 58
Leslie, General, 175, 178
Leyden, 494
Liberty Statue, 49
Liberty Street, New York, 31S
Li Ilung Chang. 144
Lincoln, General. 228, 232
Lind, Jenny, 42, 45
Lindsay's patent, 486
Linlithgo. 50()
Linna-us, 274
Lisjjenard Swamp, 60, 61
Litchfield, 426

^82

Index

Literary World, the, 271

" Little Sawver," the, 471

Little West Tenth Street, 57

Livingston, Broekholst, 248; Chan-
celfor Robert R., 1 20-121, 125,
460, 476—478; Colonel Lewis,
483; Edward, 262, 459; family,
279, 476—477, 522; General Wil-
liam ,31,185; i I enry ,47''; house ,
27, 229; Janet. 460; John, 31,
95; John R., 250; Jiihn Swift,
478; Judge Robert R., 351, 458,
473,4*77,471); Kitty, 31; manor,
92, 122, 351, 476-477; Peter R.,
331; Phihp, 35, 476. 5-.b 53^^-
539; Robert, 95-<)6, 477- 527-
533; Upper Manor house, 351;
Van Brugh, 226, 229; William,
366, 476

Livingston's regiment at Saratoga,
563

Lockerman, Go vert. 513-514

Locust Grove. 427-428

Logan. John. 274

Long Clove Road, the, 298

Long Island, 331. 416

Long Island, battle of. 171

Lords States-General. 5. 512-514

Lossing, Benson J.. 78. 81. 140, 188,
193, '266, 285."294i 462, 478

Louvre, the, 468

Love Lane, 62

Lovelace, Governor, 402, 447, 459,
476

Loverage Patent, 486

Low, Cornelius P., 207

Low, Seth. 147

Low Memorial Lil)rary, 147

Low Point, 418

Luddington, Colonel. 232

Ludlow, 198

Luke, Sir Samuel. 510

Lundenwald, 509

Lunenburg, 507

Luzerne Mountains, 508

Lydiiis, Balthazar. 530. 531

Lvdius, Domine Jf)hn, 226, 531,
568

Lydius Street, 227, 531

Lynch, Mrs.. 47

Lyndhvirst. 231

Lyon family. 105

M

Mal)ie. Hamilton W.. 2S5
Mackenzie, Alex. Slidell."2

Macready, 196

Magaw, Colonel Robert, 184, 186,
187, 188, 190

I\[agazinc of American History, 50

Mahak-Ncminaw, 490

Maiden Lane, New York, 458

Maiden, N. Y., 133, 424

Manetta Brook, 61

Manhattan (Manhattans, Manhat-
ton, Manhattes, Manhates, etc.),
2, 5, II, 12, 13, 15, 24, 36, 38, 40,
52, 72, 87, 89, 108, III, 156, 184,
185, 193, 194, 215, 331, 345

Manhattan, 418, 436, 490

Manhattan, first white child born,
64

Manhattan Life' Insurance Com-
pany Building, 38

Manhattan shore, 59

Manhattan the home of mf)desty,
54, 64. 81

Manhattanville. 151, 152, 155, 175,
176

Manor Lords, 87

Manor of Foxhall, 447

Manorial rights granted. 96

Ma]ies, General. 47

Marbletown, 457, 470

Marie Roget (Marv Rogers). 80

Market Dock, 104'

Marriages in New York, 25

Marritje, Davids Vly, 140

Martha's Vineyard, 503

Martilcr's Rock, 346

Martin, Sir Henry, 107

Martlings, Abraham. 140

Maryland, 436

Mather, Frederick G., 541

Mathew, General, 189

Mathias, Parson, 242, 243

Matteawan, 41 7

Matteaivan, steamer, 50

Mauritius, 13

Maxwell, Col. W. H., 47

McCall. Dick, 252

McClellan, General Geo. B., 372

McCoy, John, 319

McCrea, Jennie, 569

McDougall, General, 332, 335

McEvers, Miss, 250

McGowan's Pass, 27

Mcckquaskich, 10

Megapolensis, Rev. J., 444, 526-
.S27. 548

Meigs, Colonel, 309

Mercer, General, 189

Merrick, William, 107

Merwin, Jesse, 509-510

Index

5«3

4SS,

Mesabawasin, 30S
Mexico, 371

Miantono)}ioIi, monitor. 51
Michielscn. Andrirs. j^
Middle Dutch (diuivh,':;;
Mitllin, (loncral Thomas, i
MihLarv Acadrmv, the ' t.-.
„ 378. 383 ■ ■ ■

Mihtia, the, 335
M i Iton , horse- 1 )oa t , t li e , 428
Minesecongo Creek, jgS
Mingua. 443

Minnerl3^ " Sherd," 2S6
Minnesinks, 443
Minuit, Peter, "i i
Moeneminncs Castle, i;io
Mohawk Indians, 73. 44:;, 47

491- 501. 530. 55'). 5f>o
Mohawk River, 355, 443. 1^51. --_^
il/o//aa'^', steamerVso
Mohegan Castle, 10^
Mohegan Indians, 425. 44;;, 4-.

488-489, ^10
Molly Grietjc. 533
Monmouth, 304
Montague, Johannes de la, 501
Montgomery, General Richard, 460,
479. 480, 483, 4S6, 539; Mrs.
Janet, 250, 479, 483, 484; estate,
4S3; house, 484
Montrose Point, 304
Monument Lane, 62
Moodna (Murderer's) Creek, :;46,

401, 449- 456, 471, 515
Moore, Clement C. 63^
Moore, Governor Sir Henry, :!44
Moore, President of Columbia, 65
Moregead, 107
Mnrcy, inventor, 120
Morgan's Rifles, 561, 156 5-1^65, 567
Morningside Heights, "175 ' ' ' '
Morris, Colonel "Roger, ' 1 48 , 151,

189, 207, 366, 369"
Morris, Colonel Staats Long, 7,^2
Morris, General George P '"^r-
266, 269 ■' '■■"

Morris, Gouverneur, 331, 458
Morris, Robert, 411
Morris, William P., 382
Morse, Professor Samuel F. B
Morton, General, 47
Mount Ida, 550
Mount Mclntyre, 551
Mount Olympus, 550
Mount St. Vincent, 165, 196
Mount Tahawas, 551
Mount Taurus, 357
Mcnmt Vernon, 8

427

66,

96,

Mount Washington, 156, r8i 1S6

189, 329
Murdock familv, 401
Murfee, Major,' ^o() 310
Murray Hill, 174
Murray Strei't. 58
Mutual Life Insiiranee Huildin<r ^c

Nantucket, 503, 553
Naoman, Indian," 401
Napoleon, 469
Nappeckamack, 10, 202
Nassau, or Nassou, 14
Nassau Street, New York
National Academv, the 2
Natnmal Guard, the, ^k,
Naval Academv, the, ^75
Navigators. Ihitch and

107
Negogouse. =; k;
Ncpperhan, 9, 10, 207
Nesbitt, inventor. 478
Netherlands. 17, 88
Nevius. Johannes. 455
New Amsterdam, iT. 65
106, 112. 195. 440. 4:;,".
^ .512, 515, 520
New Amsterdam Bouweri
New Baltimore, 510
Newliurgh, 27. 106, 168. :
349. 402. 405-406, 408.
414. 416. 488, 560
New City. 224
New England, 406, 408, 4:
New Forest, 402
New Hamburg, 418
New Hami)shin>, 565-566
New Haven, 50 r
New Jersey. 52, 72, 160, i

315, 406. 41 1, 415, 420
Newkirk family, 4,S8
New Netherlands, 1.6. 15
66. 73, 88, 89. 502. 5 lo'
New Paltz. 452. 454, 46,;,
Newton, 476
New Windsor, 170. 306

461

Ncic World, steaml:)oat, 1

New Year's customs. 5 5 :;

New York, City, 22, 26," 2

T,?<. 40, 46, 47, 48, 51,5

59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 7

82, 92, 103, 105. I T I ,
125, I 26, 160, 171. T72.

23g, 273, 290, 291, 2()3,
337- 349- 350. 353-354-

6,?. 2 28,

470
3-1^'.

7. 28,
2. 54.
4. 77.

37.

57.

.So,

' '4.

. 185,

, ^;;6,

45«-

584

Index

New York, City — Continued

459, 466, 470, 476, 4S4. 503-504
523, 561 ; Historical Society, 265
271; Public Library, 424; State
415, 417, 427, 436, 449, 45S, 499
526, 528; State Camp, 313; Statt
Fair, 427; troops, 565, 566

Niagara, 456

NichoU, Governor, 4S6

Nichols family, 522

Nieuw Dorp, 457

Nipnichsen, 10, 194

Norman's Kill, 5 15

North Bav. 122"

North Castle, 1S7

North German Lloyd boats. Si

North, Lord, 41 1

North Market Street, Albanv. 5 38

North Pearl Street, Albany,' ^jo

North River, the, 5, i5,'5 7."'i6S
174, 176, 185, 346, 35-2. 516

Xorth River, steamboat, i 2S

Nucella Street, Albany, 531

Nvack, 112, 218. 210.
"327. 438

224.

Oath of of'tlee adminisleri'i

Washington, 120
Obelisk Lane (Greenwicli) , 62
Ocean Steamshiji Com])any ]

60
O'Connor, Charles, 156
Ogden, Ilenrv, 252
Old Dutch Church, Sleri.y lb.

23, 239
Oloflfe the Dreamer, 65, 69
Oothoudts, 4S8
Orange Coitnty, 345. 34(1, 405
Orange, N. [.. 1 72
Order dislumding Washing

army, 4 1 4
Ormsl)ec, 120

Ossining, 10, 224. 289, 2(13, 43
Osterhout family, 4:^6
Otego, 344, 346'
Otsego. 349

Ouselstickcr, Ski])per, ^,22
Overbaghs, 488
Oyster Battery, 168

Paas and Pinxter, 6;
Pacham, Pachami. 1

Palatinate, 474

;1 t<

Palatines, 402, 472-475, 477, 494
Palisades, 9. 114, 139. 191, 196,
197, 19S, 201, 211, 223. 415; Park,

415
Palmer & Peters's stages, 63
Palmer, Lieutenant Edmund, the

spy- 317- 33^
Papin, inventor, 119
Papuinemen, 10, 193, 194, 206
Paragon, steamboat, 128
Park Row Building, 38
Pasture, the Albany, 527
Patentees, 87
Patroons, 87, 89, 90, 91, 06, 352;

of Rensselaerswyck, 501
Patroons' ships, 88, 90, 107
Paulding family, the, 239
Paulding, General William. 231
Paulding, James Kirke, 231, 240.

242. 246, 250, 252, 262, 484-4S5
Paulding, John, 236, 314, 318
Paulus Hook, 82, 112, 337
Paulus Hook Ferry, 58, 72, 344-

^ 345

Pavonia, i:^, 16, 17. :;20

Peak, John, 313

Pearl vStreet.\\lbany, 528, 531

Peekskill, 10. 105. 'iS^ 2S2, 304.

338 ' " ' ' ''
Peekskill Bay, ^-o. SS2
Peekskill Creek, 207
Pembertnn, Gent'ral, 372
Pendleton. Hamilton's st'cond, 76,

77

Pennsylvania, 60. 402. 406, 409

Pennsylvania soldiers, 82, i8q

Pe])loei)'s Kill, 337

Peijuod, Indians, 42;; lo\-cr, 425-
426

Privy, Lord. 186. tS<)

I'cricr, in\Tnlor. 1 1 ij

Perry. Commander M;itllie\v C.al-
braith, 237

Perseverance, steamltoat. 128

Petanoch, 5 19

Philadelphia. 304

Philadelphia and Keading terminal,
65, 429

Philadelphia, removal of Govern-
inent to. 30

Philadelphia, steam.ship, 51

Philips, 528; Constantia, 243; Fred-
erick, 366; General, at Saratoga,
563; manor-house. 206, 207, 208,
219; Margaret, 366; Mary, 151,
207, 366, 369; Philip, 366, 369;
Siisannah, 366;

Incl

ex

58:

Philipse, 95, 20S; Adolphus, ,^65-
366; family, 290; Ikhisc at Yon-
kers, 366; house in Ilii^^'hlands,
25O' 345; patent (lower), 91;
(upper), 365

Philipsbursj, 366

I'luviiix, ship of war, 1S3, 329, 3^0

I'lhvnix, steamboat, 79

I'iekering, Henry, 272

Piermtint, 112, J30, 211, 219, 436

Pine Street and Danien's farm, 35

Placentia, 484

Place of the Bark Kettle, 226

Planck family, 488

Playsier Reach, 114

Pleasant Valley, 81

Plymouth and' the Pilcrriins, 450

Pocantico, 10, 216, 231, 239, 240

Pockhantes, 10

Poe, Edgar Allen, 7(;, 80

Poestenkill, 55 i

Point-no-Poin't, 106, 216, 221, 22(;,

Polk, James K,, 278

Polopel's Island, 322, 346, 3(;o, 31) ^,

401, 422
Ponckhockie, 450
Poor, General, 563
Posey, Major, 301;
Post Road, at (ireenwieli, 62
Potter, Orlando, 152
Poughkeepsie, ()i, 278, 28:^, 328,

416-422, 424-428, 430, 436
Poughkeepsie Academy, 25::;
Poughkeepsie Bridge, 428-429
Poughkeepsie Collegiate School,

421
Poughkeepsing, 349
Prescott, 269
Prime, Edward D., 2S2
Prime, Nathaniel Scudder, 282
Prime, Samuel Iren;eus, 282
Prime, Rev. Wendell, D.I)., 209
Prime, William C, 282
Prince of Orange, 514
Prince of Wales's visit to America,

130
Produce Exchange Building, T,i)
Prospect Hill, Albany, 547'
Prospect Hill, Hudson, '508
Providence, R. I., 503
Provincial Congress, 331,431
Provincial Legislature, 460
Provost, Theodosia, 217
Putnam Cotmty, 91
Putnam, Colonel Rufus, 167
Putnam, General Israel, i 19, 168,

169, 170, 172, 173, 174, !77, 178,

182, 1S3, 187, 188, 1S9, 314, 330,
3,i5' 3.16, 338, -^^(j, ^40, 57,;, 4()i_
464. 5^5^
I'ltlnatu's Moiitli/y, 270

Q

Ouebcc, 480, ^ i^i)
Queen Anne, 402, 474

R

Ramapo Hills, 82, 217
Rangers, Knowlton's, 17c 170 ,77
178 .'/•//.

Rapelje, Rem, O4

Rawlings, 188

Read, Nathan, 1 19

Red Jacket, 431

Reed, Adjutant-General, 177, 178

Reidesel, Baron de, 5 ft 3-:; (14 '

Reindeer, steamboat , 1 :; :;'

Remonstrance of colonists, 87

Rensselaer County, t:;o

Rensselaers\v\-cl<, ij, i ^. 1:;, iS,

106,352, 354, 4 ()0 , T O 2 , :; 1 6 , :^ I 1; ,

543- 521-522
Rensselaerswyck, Patrooii of, 87, 92
Rensselaerstein, 5 I 2-5 1 4
Renwick, James, 250, 251
Requa, Captain Samuel, 10^
Revolution, the, 72, 277, 280, 2(;o,

378, 406, 414, 426, 427, 459, 4q,s,'

496, 538, 542
Rhinebeck, 13, 02, 278, 464, 467,

47')
Rh.xU' Islan.l, ^^^
Richmond Hill,' 174, ^r,h ^o„
Kicluu.md Hill, sleanil-.'.at, 128

4S3
Ridgway, William, 344
Ridley, Mrs. Catherine, 3:
Ridley, Matthew, 31
Rijckman, Albert, 528
Ritzemer, Domine, 24
River craft and jiassengers, j i :;;
Riverdale, 133, 198
Riverside Park and I)ri\-e, ^2, i ^(;,

140, 143. 144. i.Si

Riverview Academy, llie, 422
Riviiigton's Gazette, 86
Roa Hook, 319
Roberts, Elfis H., 476
Robinson, Beverly, 366, 36(), 380
Robinson hotise, the, 297
Rochambeau, 2 28, 316, 411
Rockefeller, William, 237
Rockland Countv, N. Y., 219

586

Index

Rockland Lake, 104, 221

Rockland Point. 221

Rockwell, Rev. Charles, 2SS

Roe, Rev. E. P., 393

R(H^hiick, British warship, 183

Roeleff jansen's Kill, 477

Rollers, Archibald, 50

Rogers, Mary (Marie Roget) , 79, 80

Rogers, Moses, 35

Rombout, Francis, 4 1 6

Rondout, II, 91, 443-444, 450, 452,

45Q' 463. 467-468
Rondout Creek, 467
Rose, Briti.sh warship, 329, 330
Rosendalc Creek, 470
Rotterdam, ^01
Round Rock, 558
Royalists, 168"^^
Rumsey, James, 119, 120

S

Sacandaga River. 551

Sachus Indians, 313

Sackhoes, 10

Salislnn^y, 352

Salisl)ury, Francis, 487

Salisbury, Silvester, 486

Salmagundi Papers, the, 252, 2:^3

Sam Sli'un. steamboat, 50 '

Sandy Beach. 306

Sapokanican, 61

Sarah's Point, 296

Saratoga, 408, 460, 539, 551-554,

558-559. 568, 570
Saratoga Lake, 554
Saugerties, 273, 450, 470-472, 475-
. 476, 5o,v 535
Sm'tiuiiali, steamer, 74
Sawyer's Creek, 449. 470
Sayi)!gsof Doctor Miisln.Hickcr. The,

270
Scannell's regiment at Saratoga

563
Scarborough, 224, 289
Schaets, Rev. Gideon. 526, 531
Schenectady, 3 54-:; 5 5
Schermerhorn, boy prisoner, 49^
Schodack, 510 '
Schoharie, 351-352
Schoolcraft", "llenrv Rowe, 273, 2S9,

544
Schoonmaker, 444, 4:; 6
Schoonmaker house \at Kingston

463
Schroon, R., 551
Schuneman, 488, 494
Schuyler, 534

Schuyler, Arent, 31
Schuyler, Catherine, 541
Schuyler, David, 528
Scluiyler, Elizabeth, 542
Schuyler family, 91, 95, 476, 522
Schuyler, General Philip, 353, 431-

432, 480, 526, 528, 538-539, 540-

541. 547, 559, 560, 562
Schuyler house, 530
Schtiyler houses, 530
Schuvler, Margaret, 541
Schuyler, Mrs. Phili]i, 541
Schuyler, Peter, 3 i
Sehuylersvillc, 530, 560, 562
Scotoc Island, 353
Scott, 458

Scott, General Wintield, ^71, 382
Scutters Island, 352
Seawant (wampum), 44(), 538
Seine, river, the, 80, 121
Selden, Captain, 310
Semesseeck, 519
Senas(|ua, 10, 295
Senate hou.se at Kingston, 415, 457,

460, 463, 469
Senati', United States, i)residcd

over by Burr, 78
Seylmaker's Reach, 114, 320
Shad fisheries, 436-438
Shadyside, 8r, 82
Shanghai-ing, 57
Sharon, Conn., 426
Shateinuc, 9

Shawangunk Mountains, 4=^4, 470
Sheldon, Colonel. 235
Sheldon, Doct(jr Daniel. 311
vSherbrooke, Sir John, 483
Sherman, General Tecumseh, 372
Shoraskappock, 9, 10
Sibyl's Cave, 78

Siede at Jenny Lind concert, 42
Sill, Richard, 312
Sinclair, Miss, 195
Sing Sing, 10, 289, 290, 293, 301
Sirham, Sachem, 313
Skenesborough, 562
Skelcli-Book,^TIie. 245
Skinner, Charles M.,358
Slaange Klij)]K', 425
Slaperig Hafi'U, 2 i i
Sleepy Hollow, 23, 137, 239, 243,

244, 286
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, 249, 271
Sloops on the Hudson, 116
Smack's Island, 511
Smith, historian of New York, 24
Smith, Joshua Hett, 297, 298
Smith Patent, the, 344

Index

587

Snyder, Elias, 493

Snyder, Captain Jeremiah, 492-403

Somerindyke, Jacob and Tennis, 62

Soiners, brig, 237

Sons of American Revolution, 228

Sopus, 340, 351

Sopus Kill, 351

Southampton Road, 62

South River, 107

Southwick, Solomon, 546

Spanish forts and navy, 51

Spanish Main and Captain Kidd, Ch)

Sparrowgrass Papers, The, 269, 270

Spencer, Ambrose, 546

Spencer, General, 168, 172, 173,

177 ^
Spencer's Hill, 160
Spencer's Redoubt, 168
Springsteel house, 306
Spuyten Duyvil, 0. 10, 156, 1S4,

194, 195, 198, 206, 208, 211, 212,

227, 330, 345
Stamp Act, the, 479
Stanton, Thomas, 130
Stanwix Hall, 538
State Capitol, 547, 548
State Legislature, 462, 465
State Library, 548
State Normal School, 424, 455
State Prison, 57
State Records, 348
State Street, Albany, 527, 530, 53S,

343-544. 547. 553
Statem Island, 46, 52, i6(), 331
States-General, the, 17. 9O, 455, 522
Sterhng, Lord, BriL^adier-General,

166
Steuben, Baron, 304, 411, 416
Stevens, Colonel John, 58, 73, 74,

81, 103, 478
Stevens family, 74
Stewart, Rev. Abel T., 239
Stewart, Major, 309
St. Lawrence River, 561
St. Leger, 562
St. Luke's Hospital, 148
St. Nicholas, 533
Stone, William L., 552, 554
Stone, Colonel William Lecte, 256,

490. 495
Stony Point, 1S7, 297,298,304-306,

311, 312, 320, 339, 415
Storm, Captain Jacob, 105
Storm King, 261, 285, 357, 3S6, 393
Storm-ship, the, 215
Stowe, Mrs. H. B., 430
St. Paul Building, New York, 38
St. Paul's Church, 58, 484

Street, Alfred B., 2 to, 2 78, 279
Streets of Albany, 527, 538
Stringer, Doctor, 356, ^^i)
Stro])e family, 493
Stuyvesant, Peter, 35, ()6, kj^, 206,

361, 421, 450, 451, 45c;, 4(;0, 302,

521
Stuyvesant Village, 509
Sugar Loaf, 116, 338, 366
Sugar House Prison, 318
Sullivan, General, 166
Sunday Islands, 352
Sunnyside, 239, 241, 244, 248, 262
Supreme Court, New York, 466
Susquehannah River, the, 346, 349,

352, 493
Sii'alloiv, steamljoat, 130
Swartwovit family, 444

Talmadge, Nallianiel P., 427

Ta])])an, 14, 218, 210, 345

Ta])]ian. Cornelia, 4O0

Tapjians, 13

Ta]>pan Zee, 104, 1 14, 137, 2 1 1 , 2 13,
216, 217, 221, 241, 244, 246, 286,
326, T,2^. 320

Tarrytown, 10, 103. 137, 140, 206,
207, 217, 218, 220, 224, 231, 232,
236, 237, 230, 244, 243, 271, 285,
286, 280, 318, 326, 338, 421

Tartar, ship of war, 183

Taylor, Bayard, 42

Taylor, John, 544-546

Taylorsville, i()8

Teachers College, 148

Tear of the Clouds, 551

Teed, Royalist family, 31S

Telegraph, steamboat, 133

Teller, Sarah, 295, 296

Teller's Point, 297

Tenants and patentees, 87

T#n Broeck, jacomyntie, 457-458

Ten Broeck, Wessel, 437-438, 469,
528

Ten Broeck family, 444

Teunise, Gerrit, 528

Teunissen, Aert, 15

Thackeray, William M., 270

Thayer Hall, 377

Thayer, Major Sylvanus, 371, 372

Thayer, Stephen Henry, 286

Tild'en, Samuel J., 209, 424

Tillotson, Thomas, 546

Tivoli, 432, 464, 476-479

Tivoli and the Clermont, 122

588

Index

Tompkins, Governor Daniel D.,

523. 546
Tontine Hotel, 35
Torrey, Bradford, 286, 304
Tory marauders, 82
Tract Society Building, New York,

38
Travis, James B., 105
Travis, John L., 105
Trevorre, William, 108
Tril)Utaries to the Hudson, 551
Trojan, steamboat, 130
Trinity Cemetery, 155
Trinity Church, 39, 58, 60
Troy, 92, 438, 520, 550, 551, 553
Troy dam, 438
Tryon, Governor William, 165, 166,

317- 539
Tugboats. 100
Ttirtle Bav, 172, 173
Tyler, John, 4 ^^7

U

Ulster County, 346, 350, 407, 443-
444, 440, 455-45^'' 450. 4^'/' 470-

47 ■
Ulster Indians. 451
Ulster regiments, 475
Uncas, 42=^
Undercliff, 3S6
Underhill, Doctor, 206
Union Bridge Comi)any, 421)
United States, 53
United States Government, 41, 78,

551
United States slandmg armv, 37'"^
Upper Red Hock, 478

Vale of Avoea, 41 2

Valley Forge, 304

1 'ainoosc, 52

Van Allen", 528

Van Amsterdam, Jan I'eter, 536

Van Arsdale, John, 28

Van Bergen house, 488

Van Bergen, Martin, 495

Van Buren, Martin, 208, 240, 277,

500, 510
Van Corlaer, Anthony, i()3, 358
Van Cortlandt family, 295, 522
Van Cortlandt house, 294-295
Van Cortlandt, John, 294
Van Cortlandt Manor, 95, 365
Van Cortlandt, Oloff, 95, 206
Van Cortlandt, Phili]), 317

Van Cortlandt. Pierre. 163, 232,

317, 326. 45^"^

Van Cortlandt regmient at Sara-
toga, 563

Van Cortlandt, Stephen, 416

Van Dam, Rambout, 211-212

Vanderbilt, Commodore, 105

Vanderbilt, Jacob, 133

Vander Donck, Adrian, 203, 206,
208, 501, 502, 529

Vander Heyden. Antony, 390.529,

55°

Vander Heyden tamily, 530

Vanderlyn, John, 468, 500

Vanders'camp, Jan Jost, 68-72

Van Driessen, 526

Van D\^ke, Henry, 528. 534

Van Epps, 528

Van GaasVjeek family, 444

Van Gaasbeek.Laurentius. 457, 469

Van Gieson, Domine, 325

Van Home, Garret, 66-67

Van Kleeck, Baltus, 426

Van Loan, Peter, 432

Van Ness, Abraham, 61

Van Ness, Judge William I'.. 75-76,
249, 500. 528

Van Orden, 488

Van Rensselaer, 193, 202; Cath-
erine, 523; Colonel John, 353,
483; colony, 97: estate, 523,
543; familv, 526; Harriet, 524;
jail Baptist, 522; Johannes, 522;
"kilian, 489, 490, 511-514, 519-
521. 524, 550: Madame, 524-525;
manor-house, 523 ; Patent, 92, 96;
Patroon, 554; Solomon, 524, 544-
545: Stephen. 59, 354, 450- 522,

523
Van Sanlvoord, Dcetdr, 458-459
Van Santv(jord, llarrol.l. 287, 510
Van Schaick, Jcjhn, 545
Van Schie, 526, 53 i
Van Slechtenhorst. 48(), 501-502,

521-522
Van Slyek, Cornelius Antonissen,

489
Van Slyk, 528
Van Tassel farmhouse. 140
Van Tienhoven. Seeretarv,87,96,98
Van Twiller (Walter the' D.ml.ter),

66, 511-513
Van Vechten, Abraham. 546
Van Vechten (Veethi-). "352, 459,

488
Van Voorst, 528
Van Wart, Isaac, 236, 245
Vassar College, 422-424

Index

589

Vassar, Matthew, 422-423
Vastf Reach, i 14
Vastic Island, 352
Vatii^hn, (rcneral, 340, 350,

460, 4(13, 405, 477
Vauxhall ( rardeiis, 57, 58, 61
Verdriete.i^h ll(.eek,'202
\\Tmilye, Ca]itain, 105
\\Tl)hinc'k, (lulian, 35, 253,

2b2. 260, 41b
Verplanck house, 416
Verpkmck's Pomt, 207, 20S,

305, 311, 316, 320, 335, 33O.
Verrazani, 2

I'csm'iits, dynamite boat, 51
Yice-Presidi'nt's house at St

Islan.k 46
\"ir,>,nnian lrc)(i|)S, 17S
Vi.schershoeck, 13
Yorsen Reach ,114
Voyage up tlie Hudson, W. Ir\

1 15
\'iilturc, the, 2q6-2()S

42S,

^.04.
33S

W

Walkin, 350, 452, 454-455, 470
WaU vStreet on evacuation of

York, 27
Wallace, Sir James, 340, 461
Walloonsac River, 5 5 1
Walter the Doubter "(Yan Twil

66, 511, 512, 513
Wanton Island, 48S
Wappinger Indians, 16, 416
Waj^pinger's Creek, gi, 41S
War for Independence, 22, 32,

22g, 313, 326, 380, 543
War with England, 371; of i

War vessels, 5 i
Ward, Moses, 2Q1
Waronawanka Indians, 13
Warner, Anna B., 280-282
Warner, Henry, 280
Warner, Susan, 280-282
Warner Sisters, 380
Warren, Admiral Peter, 61
Warren Street, New York,

Yauxhall, 57, 59
Warren County, 571
Warren Road, 62
Washington, Avigustine, iqi
Washington, General George,
27, 32, 82, 120, 163, 167, 170,
177, 178, 182, 183, 184, 18:^,
187, 18S, IQO, igl, lg2, 228, .
2 :;7, ;o5, :;o6, ;i i , ;i ;, ;i 5,

• 473
New

1 12,

812.

82,
41 I.

427; Lieut enant-

.S3I. .^v>2, 335, 366, 36g, 370, 375,

37g, 381, 405-406, 408, 412, 414,

417, 560-561
Washington head(iuarters. 140, 151,

168, 172, 173, 228, 272, 414, 415
Washington Heights, 155
Washington Hotel, 32
Washington, house built for, ^o
Washington, Martha, 460
Washington S(|uare, 61
Water] lurv Batterv, ifnj
Waterforci, 554
Watervliet, ■5'5 1
Water 11 '//(/; Vsteamlioat, i :;o
Watts fannlv, -^22
Watts, jolni, 31
Wayne,' "General Antlionx

86, 304-306, 311, 312, 33

415
Wayside Inn, :; 1 4
Webl>, (leneral lanu-s Wats..

241. -^^5
Weber. 488
Webster, Danic

Colonel, 305
Wecquash(|ueck, g, 202, 226
Weehawken, 0, 74, 78. 80, 8r
Weh-awk-en, g

Weiser, Cai)tain John Conrad, 475
Wells, Lemuel, 207, 208
Wells, Richard, 344
West, Benjamin. 118
Westbrook, F. E.. 4(10
West Camp. 402. 472-474, 476
Westerlo<,, l),,mine, s^O
Westerloo Street, 527, 531
West India Comjiany, i'.'6. 88, 516,

519 .

West Indies, 112; and Ca])tain

Kidd, 6g
Westchester County, g, 1 1 , g i , 33 i ,

?<M- 417- 457
Wcstrlu-stcr. steamboat, 130
West Point, 27, 85. 116. '281, 305,

365-166, 371-372, 375, 370, 380-

382, 384-385, 460
West Shore Road, 42g; Terminal,

80
West Street Market, 57
West Tenth Street, 57
West Trov, 551
WetherelL Elizabeth, 280
Weygat, 116
White House, the, 378
White Plains, 170, 187, 217, 315,

417. 457
White Plains battle, 184, 227
White, Robert, 168

590

Index

White Star Wharves, 6i

Whitehall Battery, 508

Wier. Robert, 376, 3S2

Wilbur, 45q; farm at Saratoga, 554

Wild Goose Inn, 68, 6g, 70,71

Willard's Mountain, 562

Willem Hendrick, fort, 21

Willemstadt, 107, 519

Willett, Colonel, 332

William the Testy, 514

Williams, David, 236

Williams, Captain Daniel, 296

Williams, Rev. Eleazer, 384

Willis, Nathaniel P., 116, 134, 253,

259, 266, 269, 357, 382, 393-398
Willow Point, 226
Wilson Steamship Line, Si
Wilson, General James Grant. 260-

262, 270
Wiltwyck. 444, 447- 451- 453. 456.

459, 466, 468
Wiltwyck Cemetery, 469
Winchenback, 476
Winedecker, Captain Hartman, 475
Wing's Falls, 570-571
Winnakee, 425

I. 546

Win slow, Margaret, 458

Wisquaqua, 9

Wolfert's Roost, 216, 244, 248

Wolvenhoek, 431

Woodworth, John, 546

World Building, New York, 38

Worth, General William Jenkins

504
Worth. Gorham A., 5
Wynant's Kill, 551
Wynkoop, 48S
Wyoming Valley (Campbell's poem)

13

Yonkers, 10, 184, 188, 202, 20

208, 223, 230
Yonkers Street, Albany, 528, 538
Yorktown, 26, 411

Zaargertje, 471
Zealand, 18, 24