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New  York  Society 


REPORT 

( )  F    BOARD    OF    M A  N  A  G  E  R  S . 


December  3,   1903 


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To  the  New  York  Society, 

Sons  of  the  Revolution: 

The  Board  of  Managers,  in  accordance  with  the  duty  devolved  upon  it 
by  Section  X  of  the  By-Laws,  makes  this  its  report  for  the  year  1902-3. 

Eight  meetings  of  the  Board  have  been  held,  at  which  there  has  been  an 
average  attendance  of  twelve. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  year  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant  was  re-elected 

Historian.     Rev.  Dr.  F.  Landon  Humphreys,  Assistant  Chaplain  and  Major 

John  B.  Holland,  Marshal. 

Messrs.  Marcius  D.  Raymond, 
Howard  R.  Bayne, 
Townsend  Wandell. 
Asa  C.  Warren,  and 
James  William  Beekman, 

were  appointed  an  Historical  Committee,  and 

Philip  Livingston, 
William  Bunker, 
Frederick  S.  Woodruff, 
Paul  Gibert  Thebaud,  and 
Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford,  Stewards. 

The  wisdom  of  these  appointments  has  been  abundantly  demonstrated. 

The  Society  has  been  edified  and  delighted  with  the  high  class  of  papers 
read  at  its  stated  meetings,  enjoyable  gatherings  where  the  social  features  of 
the  organization  are  most  charmingly  accentuated. 

On  January  17th  of  this  year  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-sixth  anni- 
versary of  the  Battle  of  Kings  Bridge,  the  Hon.  George  C.  Holt,  now 
Judge  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  delivered  a  most  scholarly 
address  on  "  The  Secret  Obstacles  in  Washington's  Career." 

Professor  Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  Registrar  of  the  Society  was  listened 
to  with  the  closest  attention  at  the  April  meeting,  held  in  honor  of  the  one 
hundred  and  twenty-eighth  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  as  he 
read  a  paper  on  "  The  Men  of  the  Revolution  as  Constitution  Makers,'' 
illustrated  with  stereopticon  views. 

He  was  good  enough  to  favor  us  again  on  the  one  hundred  and  twentieth 
anniversary  of  the  Evacuation  of  New  York  by  the  British,  by  giving  a  most 


enjoyable  and  instructive  history  of  "  Colonel  Benjamin  Tallmadge  and  his 
special  services  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution."  This  made  a  fitting  prelimi- 
nary to  the  reception  tendered  his  distinguished  grandson,  who,  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  Society,  combining  the  courtly  dignity  of  a  gentleman  of  the 
old  school  with  a  wonderfully  genial  and  kindly  manner,  has  won  the  affec- 
tionate regard  of  the  entire  membership,  and  who  has  with  rare  ability,  far- 
sightedness, sound  judgment,  and  unswerving  devotion  to  its  best  interests, 
piloted  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  through  the  many  difficulties  that  have 
attended  its  establishment  as  the  foremost  of  the  Patriotic  Societies. 

Tributes  were  paid  to  the  President  by  Mr.  John  C.  Tomlinson,  Rev. 
Charles  E.  Brugler,  Mr.  Frederic  J.  de  Peyster,  Governor-General  of  the 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  and  Colonel  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  and  congratula- 
tions innumerable  were  offered  to  Mr.  Tallmadge  on  the  recovery  of  his 
eyesight  by  the  many  members  of  the  Society  present. 

The  Stewards  have  a  part  in  every  meeting,  but  their  best  efforts  are  put 
forth  in  preparation  for  and  management  of  the  Annual  Banquet  on  Wash- 
ington's birthday. 

The  last  banquet  was  more  than  usually  successful  and  Delmonico's  Ball 
Room  was  crowded  to  its  limit  with  the  members  of  the  Society  and  their 
guests,  notwithstanding  the  increased  cost  of  the  dinner  made  necessary  by 
the  expense  of  the  Souvenir,  a  reproduction  in  miniature  of  a  MacMonies' 
statue  of  Nathan  Hale.  After  all  expenses  had  been  met,  the  Stewards 
returned  to  the  Society's  Treasury  more  than  two  hundred  dollars  of  the 
amount  appropriated  to  their  use. 

The  speeches  at  the  banquet  were  especially  notable.  Dr.  Thomas 
Edward  Green,  the  Chaplain-General,  electrified  the  audience  with  his 
eloquent  tribute  to  General  Washington.  Dr.  Hamilton  W.  Mabie  earned 
anew  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  best  after-dinner  speakers  in  New  York, 
taking  for  his  subject  "  Then  and  Now,"  and  Colonel  George  E.  Pomeroy 
gave  an  interesting  account  of  Washington's  Influence  in  the  founding  of 
the  Great  State  of  Ohio. 

The  small  attendance  of  the  members  at  Saint  Paul's  Chapel  last  year  in- 
dicated the  wisdom  of  generally  using  an  uptown  church  for  the  Annual 
Service.     The  Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  Fifth  Avenue  and  37th  Street, 


was  therefore  selected,  and  on  February  22d  the  Society  gathered  there  in 
large  numbers  and  listened  to  an  eloquent  sermon  by  the  Pastor,  Reverend 
Dr.  William  Rogers  Richards  on  "  Honor  to  Whom  Honor  is  Due." 

The  service,  as  usual,  was  in  charge  of  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant  and  his  very 
efficient  Aisle  Committee,  consisting  of 

William  Philips  Baker,  Samuel  Ver  Planck  Hoffman, 
James  Franklin  Barker,  M.D.,       S.  Vernon  Mann, 

Birney  Blackwell,  Philip  Rhinelander, 

Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown,  Arthur  S.  Schermerhorn, 

William  Bunker,  Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 

Banyer  Clarkson,  Charles  Hitchcock  Sherrill, 

Robert  Grier  Cooke,  Louis  Gross  Smith, 

Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Clarence  Storm, 

Alanson  Trask  Enos,  William  Gordon  Ver  Planck, 

William  B.  Osgood  Field,  Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff, 

With  Major  John  B.  Holland,  as  Marshal,  and 

William  Graves  Bates,  Horace  Clark  Du  Val, 

James  Wray  Cleveland,  De  Witt  Clinton  Falls, 

Albert  Delafield,  Francis  Laurens  Vinton  Hoppin, 

George  Elsworth  Dunscombe,       Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 
William  Moore  Stilwell,  Jr.,  as  Aides. 

The  presence  of  a  Guard  of  Honor  from  the  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery 
added  to  the  patriotic  character  of  the  service. 
Delegations  were  also  present  from: 

The  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

The  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion, 

The  Aztec  Club  of  1847, 

The  Society  of  Colonial  Wars, 

The  Society  of  the  War  of  1812, 

The  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 

The  Daughters  of  the  Revolution, 

The  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  and 

The  Colonial  Dames  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

Later  in  the  year  on  May  10th,  Mr.  Olyphant  with  practically  the   same 
assistance,  on  behalf  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  took  charge  of  the  Church 


Service  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution  held  in  connection  with  their 
Triennial  Convention.  This  was  in  return  for  special  courtesies  extended 
to  our  own  General  Convention  in  Denver. 

The  Membership  Committee, 

Charles  Isham,  Chairman; 
James  Betts  Lockwood,  Jared  Weed  Bell, 

Henry  Douglas  Parmelee,  Frederic  E.  Underhill, 

Silas  Wodell,  William  E.  Van  Wyck, 

Wyllys  Terry,  Charles  Palmer  Robinson, 

Landreth  H.  King,  Frank  H.  Lord,  Secretary, 

have  been  exceedingly  faithful  and  painstaking  in  the  discharge  of  its  duties. 
We  record,  with  regret  the  recent  death  of  Mr.  Lockwood,  an  old  and  tried 
member  of  the  Society. 

Seventy-nine  members  have  been  elected  during  the  year. 

Twenty  have  resigned. 

Twenty-two  have  been  dropped  for  non-payment  of  dues. 

Five  have  been  transferred  to  other  Societies. 

Thirty-five  have  joined  the  great  majority. 

The  Necrological  list  is  contained  in  the  Historian's  report.  The  other 
lists  are  appended  to  this  report. 

The  Society's  library  has  been  benefited  by  many  gifts  of  books  and 
pamphlets,  a  list  of  which  is  attached. 

It  would  be  gratifying  if  every  member  would  show  an  active  interest  in 
increasing  the  library  which  is  consulted  constantly  by  members  and  others 
desiring  information  about  the  period  of  the  Revolution. 

The  Essay  Committee  does  its  work  quietly  but  efficiently  and  the  thanks 
of  the  Society  are  due  to 

Rev.  Charles  Edward  Brugler,  Chairman  ; 
Major  Henry  Waters,  Charles  R.  Huntington  and 

William  Herrick  Griffith,  Richard  Henry  Greene. 

The  Essay  Competition  for  the  medals  offered  by  the  Society  to  the  High 
Schools  and  Colleges,  resulted  in  an  award  for  the  High  Schools  of  the 
gold   medal   to   Arthur   A.    Allen,  of   Buffalo    Central    High    School ;    the 


silver  medal  to  Louis  C.  Audette,  of  Jamestown  High  School ;  the  bronze 
medal  to  Bennett  Davis,  of  Masten  Park  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

And  for  the  colleges,  the  gold  medal  to  Henry  C.  Moses,  Jr.,  of  College 
of  the  City  of  New  York;  the  silver  medal  to  Leonhard  Felix  Fuld,  of 
Columbia  University  ;  the  bronze  medal  to  Abraham  Rockmore,  of  College 
of  the  City  of  New  York. 

The  subject  for  the  Colleges  was  :  "  The  Indebtedness  of  Europe  to  the 
American  Revolution."  That  for  the  High  Schools:  "The  Burgoyne  Cam- 
paign.'' 

The  Board  has  now  offered  a  gold  medal  for  a  play  to  be  written  by  a 
student  of  Columbia  University  founded  upon  Columbia's  part  in  the  War 
of  the  Revolution.  This  offer  is  coupled  with  the  condition  that  the  play 
be  sufficiently  meritorious  for  approval  and  adoption  by  the  "  Kings  Crown  " 
for  performance  at  the  Annual  'Varsity  Show  at  Columbia. 

A  Supplemental  Year  Book,  the  first  published  by  the  Society  since 
1899,  containing  as  many  of  the  recent  addresses  delivered  before  the 
Society  as  could  be  obtained,  has  been  issued  and  distributed  to  the 
members  and  principal  libraries  of  the  country. 

Not  the  least  of  the  achievements  of  the  Society  during  the  year  has 
been  the  reduction  of  the  mortgage  on  the  Society's  property  on  55th 
street.  The  Society  is  indebted  to  Mr.  James  R.  Hay  for  his  excellent  care 
of  this  property,  for  which  he  makes  no  charge.  This  amounts  to  a  contri- 
bution from  Mr.  Hay  of  about  $220  per  annum. 

The  wisdom  of  the  purchase  is  indicated  by  the  quotations  and  sales  of 
other  similar  property  in  the  neighborhood  which  show  a  value  of  not  far 
from  $90,000  for  our  lots. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  with  Messrs.  Annin  &  Co.  for  the  manu- 
facture of  miniature  copies  in  silk  of  the  Society's  standard.  These  small 
flags  will  prove  very  useful  for  decorative  purposes.  Orders  for  them  may 
be  obtained  from  the  Secretary. 

The  Society  has  been  the  recipient  of  many  courteous  invitations  from 
sister  Societies  and  has  been  represented  at  banquets  given  by  the  Societies 
of  Colonial  Wars,  Order  of  Foreign  Wars,  War  of  1812,  Friendly  Sons  of 
Saint  Patrick  and  Mayflower  Descendants,  also  at  the  250th  Anniversary  of 


the  Establishment  of  Municipal  Government  in  New  Amsterdam ;  the 
Church  Service  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society,  and  the  unveiling  of  a  window 
in  St. Marks  Chapel  in  the  Bowery  in  memory  of  Peter  Stuyvesant,  given  by 
the  Daughters  of  Holland  Dames. 

Delegates  attended  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Connecticut  Society,  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  at  the  Nathan  Hale  School  House,  at  East  Haddam, 
given  by  this  Society  to  the  Connecticut  Society  in  1900. 

By  invitation  the  Society  took  part  on  June  27th,  in  the  Dedication  of  a 
Monument  erected  at  Freehold,  N.  J.,  to  commemorate  the  Battle  of  Mon- 
mouth, and  in  the  unveiling  on  September  8,  1903,  of  the  Monument  erected 
by  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  to  commemorate  the  Battle  of  Lake  George 
in  1755. 

This  battle  had  a  special  interest  for  our  Society  on  account  of  its  in- 
fluence on  the  Colonists  in  demonstrating  the  military  possibilities  of  the 
Provincial  forces  in  combat  with  old  world  regulars. 

The  laying  of  the  corner  stone  for  the  New  York  Historical  Society's 
new  building  on  November  17th  was  an  occasion  of  interest  to  us  and  our 
flags  and  banners  with  those  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  by  special 
request,  decorated  the  hall  where  the  exercises  were  held. 

Invitations  have  also  been  received  for  the  Thirty-seventh  Annual  En- 
campment and  Reunion  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, celebration  of  Flag  Day  by  the  Colorado  Sons  and  Daughters  of  the 
Revolution,  the  banquet  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion on  the  anniversary  of  the  Evacuation  of  Boston  by  the  British  forces  ; 
the  banquet  ol  the  Virginia  Society  of  Sons  of  the  Revolution  on  Wash- 
ington's birthday,  the  District  of  Columbia  Society's  Church  Service  on 
Washington's  birthday,  and  smoker  on  the  following  evening,  various 
entertainments  given  by  the  Pennsylvania  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and 
many  others  too  numerous  to  mention. 

The  Chapters,  of  which  we  have  six  in  this  State,  are  all  doing  efficient 
work. 

The  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  held  its  Annual  Banquet  at  the  Hotel 
Ten  Eyck  in  Albany  on  January  15th,  and  listened  to  Army  Reminiscences 
by  Major  Hoppin,  U.  S.  A.  on  October  the  Twenty -second. 

6 


The  William  Floyd  Chapter  held  a  commemorative  service  in  the  State 
Street  Methodist  Church  in  Troy  on  February  22d,  when  a  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Reverend  Andrew  Gillies  on  "  The  Personality  of  the 
Revolution." 

It  also  held  a  smoker  at  the  Troy  Club,  having  for  its  guests  the  members 
of  other  patriotic  societies  in  Troy  and  Albany,  on  May  25th.  An  address 
was  delivered  on  the  life  and  services  of  Brigadier-General  Hazen,  U.  S.  A., 
who  died  in  Troy  in  1804. 

The  Records  of  over  150  revolutionary  soldiers  resident  in  Rensselaer 
County  have  been  obtained  from  the  Court  Records  of  the  Old  Common 
Pleas  and  the  Surrogate  Court  and  tabulated  and  filed  in  the  Archives  of 
the  Chapter. 

Pictures  have  been  taken  of  the  old  breast-works  erected  by  order  of 
General  Schuyler  in  1777  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk  by  Kosciusko  and 
also  of  the  headquarters  occupied  by  General  Schuyler  on  Van  Schaick's  or 
Haver's  Island  during  the  summer  of  that  year,  for  the  purpose  of  preserv- 
ing the  same  in  the  records  of  the  Chapter. 

The  Chapter  owns  the  only  oil  painting  of  Colonel  Albert  Pawling  the 
first  mayor  of  Troy  which  it  obtained  from  the  Bird  family  of  Buffalo,  and 
it  is  now  trying  to  obtain  the  original  oil  painting  of  General  Burgoyne 
owned  by  a  family  in  Troy. 

The  Chapter  has  acquired  a  number  of  historical  works  for  its  library 
and  is  now  arranging  to  co-operate  with  the  Hoosick  Historical  Society  to 
obtain  aid  from  the  State  to  properly  mark  the  battle-ground  of  what  is 
called  the  "  Battle  of  Bennington,"  which  battle  was  fought  entirely  within 
the  confines  of  the  County  of  Rensselaer  at  a  place  called  Walloomscoick. 

The  Treasury  contains  considerably  over  $200,  and  tire  Chapter  is  there- 
fore in  good  financial  condition. 

The  Buffalo  Association  has  had  several  social  meetings  at  which  interest- 
ing papers  have  been  read  by  Mr.  Henry  R.  Howland  on  "  The  Old  Caneadea 
Council  House  and  its  Last  Council  Fire,"  by  Frank  R.  Severance  on  "The 
Back  of  the  Revolution,"  and  by  Hon.  Hugh  Hastings,  State  Historian,  on 
"  Sir  William  Johnson." 

The  Buffalo  Association  has  had  the  honor  on  several  occasions  of  acting 


for  the  Societ}'  in  the  distribution  of  prizes  for  essay  contests,  the  Buffalo 
High  Schools  having  been  fortunate  in  securing  a  large  proportion  of  the 
medals  offered  by  the  Society. 

The  Association  has  also  been  active  in  the  erection  of  memorial  tablets, 
working  in  connection  with  the  Niagara  Frontier  Landmark  Association. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  at  Utica  is  expending  its  energies  on  the 
acquirement  of  portraits  of  important  characters  in  the  Revolution.  It  has 
already  secured  a  portrait  of  Baron  Steuben  and  another  of  Colonel  Ben- 
jamin Walker,  his  aide-de-camp,  which  are  placed  temporarily  in  the  Oneida 
Historical  Building. 

This  Chapter  is  also  making  an  effort  to  mark  the  graves  of  Revolution- 
ary heroes  in  Oneida  County,  using  the  markers  provided  by  the  Sons  of 
the  Revolution. 

It  held  a  banquet  on  Washington's  Birthday  at  the  home  of  its  Regent, 
Mr.  Thomas  R.  Proctor.  Interesting  addresses  were  made  by  General 
Darling,  Rev.  Dr.  N.  L.  Andrews,  President  of  Colgate  University;  Hon. 
Henry  J.  Cookinham,  Right  Rev.  Charles  T.  Olmstead,  D.D.,  Bishop  Co- 
adjutor of  the  Diocese  of  Central  New  York,  and  Edmund  Wetmore. 

The  Jamestown  Chapter  has  done  most  important  work  in  the  decora- 
tion of  the  graves  ot  Revolutionary  Soldiers  which  it  has  been  diligently 
seeking  out  throughout  the  County.  This  work  has  created  a  new  interest 
in  the  Society  throughout  the  entire  region. 

In  June  a  banquet  was  held  in  commemoration  of  the  successful  expedi- 
tion under  Colonel  Brodhead  from  Fort  Pitt  against  the  hostile  Iroquois  who 
occupied  the  headwaters  of  the  Allegheny  and  Genesee  rivers.  This 
expedition  was  organized  by  General  Washington  to  co-operate  with  General 
Sullivan's  expedition  up  the  Susquehanna. 

Jamestown,  from  which  the  Chapter  takes  its  name,  is  located  near 
where  an  Indian  village  was  destroyed  on  this  expedition. 

The  Chapter  is  in  a  very  flourishing  condition. 

By  frequent  correspondence  and  interchange  of  notices  of  the  monthly 
meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  the  Society  keeps  in  close  touch  with 
all  of  the  State  Societies  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

Occasionally  members  of  other  societies  meet  with  our  own  Board  of 

8 


Managers,  and  the  Regent  of  every  Chapter  is  always  invited  and  warmly 
welcomed  when  he  can  make  it  convenient  to  be  present. 

The  Society  was  fortunate  enough  to  secure  some  interesting  relics  from 
the  Old  Hall  of  Records  when  it  was  pulled  down  to  make  room  for  the  de- 
mands of  the  modern  city,  among  other  things,  a  piece  of  the  lintel  over 
the  door  of  the  dungeon  where  Ethan  Allen  was  said  to  have  been  confined. 

The  manufacturer  of  the  Nathan  Hale  statuette,  Mr.  C.  B.  Wilkinson 
has  presented  the  Society  a  copy  in  bronze.     The  Society  of  Colonial  Wars 
has  given  us  a  bronze  medal  struck  in  honor  of  the  celebration  of  Lake 
George. 

The  attendance  of  the  Society's  meetings  has  been  larger  than  ever  this 
year,  showing  a  gratifying  interest  among  the  members.  The  growing 
necrology  indicates,  however,  the  necessity  of  replenishing  our  ranks.  We 
are  glad  to  welcome  all  worthy  descendants  of  Patriot  lines,  but  we  should 
especially  see  to  it  that  every  son  among  us  follows  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
father  and  becomes  enrolled  as  a  Son  of  the  Revolution,  as  soon  as  he  attains 
manhood. 

The  detail  work  of  the  Secretary's  office  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that 
there  have  been  written  more  than  seventeen  hundred  letters  ;  that  more 
than  thirteen  hundred  notices  of  Board  and  Committee  meetings  have  been 
sent  out  and  more  than  thirty-two  thousand  notices  and  other  enclosures 
to  members,  requiring  the  addressing  of  upwards  of  twenty  thousand 
envelopes. 

For  the  Board  of  Managers, 

MORRIS  PATTERSON  FERRIS, 

December  3D,  1903.  Secretary. 


APPENDIX. 


Members  Admitted. 


Charles  Witford  Reynolds,  Petersburg,  N.  Y. 

Waldo  Putnam  Russell,  New  York  City. 

John  J.  Phelps,  New  York  City. 

Henry  Hedden  Whitehead,  New  York  City. 

James  Burtus  Van  Woert,  New  York  City. 

Charles  Merritt,  Jr.,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

George  Watson  Haines,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Benjamin  Rush  Lummis,  New  York  City. 

George  Sullivan  Sweet,  New  York  City. 

Thomas  Little,  New  York  City. 

William  Ferguson  Leggett,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Paul  Fitz-Gerald,  Newark,  N.  J. 

Louis  Victor  Urmy,  New  York  City. 

Lewis  Parsons  Cook,  New  York  City. 

Frederick  Wells  Haines,  Flushing,  L.  I. 

Percy  Van  Duzer  Gott,  New  York  City. 

John  I.  Brooks,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

Herman  Clarence  Fisher,  New  York  City. 

Israel  Newton  Terry,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

John  Riley  Livermore,  New  York  City. 

William  Rogers  Richards,  D.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Shepherd  Knapp,  Rev.,  New  York  City. 

Austin  Flint,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Webster  Cummings  Estes,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

Samuel  Hobbs  Ragland,  New  York  City. 

Lucius  Tuttle  Rossiter,  New  York  City. 

John  Erskine  Ward,  Pine  Bush,  N.  Y. 

Frederick  Douglas  Underwood,  New  York  City. 

Frederick  Tollington  Leigh,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

John  Edward  Carpenter,  White  Plains,  N.  Y. 

William  James  Ackerley,  Jr.,  White  Plains,  N.  Y. 


10 


Smith  Wooley  Conklin,  Patchogue,  N.  Y. 

George  Farnham  Fish,  New  York  City. 

Edwin  Wesley  Hammer,  East  Orange,  N.  J. 

Edward  Bronson  King,  New  Brighton,  N.  Y. 

William  Gifford  Reynolds,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Harold  Maturin  Livingston,  Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y. 

William  Stiger  Richards,  New  York  City. 

James  Spafford  Gilbert,  New  York  City. 

Frederick  Welchman  Pope,  New  York  City. 

Frank  Walker  Hadley,  New  York  City. 

Clark  Williams,  New  York  City. 

Thomas  George  Hall,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y. 

Edwin  Augustus  McAlpin,  Ossining,  N.  Y. 

Benjamin  Brandreth  McAlpin,  New  York  City. 

Aaron  Ogden  Fitz- Gerald,  Newark,  N.  J. 

John  Driscoll  Fitz-Gerald,  Newark,  N.  J. 

Laurence  La  Tourette  Driggs,  New  York  City. 

Charles  Samuel  Hall,  Binghamton,  N.  Y. 

Belmar  Clarence  Harlow  Shepley,  U.  S.  N.,  New  York  City. 

Alonzo  Coggeshall  Wall,  Scranton,  Pa. 

Guy  Phelps  Dodge,  New  York  City. 

Gibson  Tenney  Williams,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Henry  Brooks  Knight,  Goshen,  N.  Y. 

Alfred  Hayes,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

Wessel  Ten  Broeck  Van  Orden,  New  Baltimore,  N.  Y. 

Henry  Clay  Duryea,  Goshen,  N.  Y. 

Roswell  Carpenter  Coleman,  Newburgh,  N.  Y. 

Edwin  Jay  Dikeman,  Goshen,  N.  Y. 

Abram  Vedder  Brower,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Abram  Giles  Brower,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Augustus  Lord  Hyde,  New  York  City. 

Henry  St.  John  Hyde,  New  York  City. 

Prentice  Strong,  New  York  City. 

William  Bradley  Frear,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Henry  Gilbert  Woodruff,  St.  George,  S.  I. 

Charles  G.  Elliott,  Goshen,  N.  Y. 

Henry  Harmon  Noble,  Essex,  N.  Y. 

Charles  Edwin  Potts,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Preston  Lea  Talley,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


ii 


Robert  Field  McChain,  Flatbush,  N.  Y. 
M.  Angelo  Heath,  New  York  City. 
Edgar  Ketchum  Betts,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
George  Wallace  Rand,  New  York  City. 
John  Howard  Rand,  West  Chester,  N.  Y. 
Roswell  Wilcox  Chamberlain,  Chester,  N.  Y. 
John  Howard  Carpenter,  New  York  City. 
Howard  Marshall,  New  York  City. 

Delinquents. 
Anson  C.  Bangs, 
James  R.  Burton, 

Robert  A.  Center,  address  unknown, 
Henry  W.  Downe, 

Henry  Wolcott  Gilbert,  address  unknown, 
Manning  Hasbrouck, 
Frank  Holman, 
Raymond  N.  Hyde, 
William  V.  Judson, 
Edwin  D.  Merriam, 
William  H.  Paddock, 
Charles  G.  Palmer, 
William  E.  Pentz, 
Henry  E.  Pickford, 
William  J.  Pinckney, 
Alexander  F.  Popham, 
Henry  M.  Robertson, 
Cyrus  M.  Strong, 
Herbert  H.  True, 
Francis  P.  Webb,  address  unknown, 
Fred  D.  Weed, 
John  Powell  Wilson,  M.D. 

Transfers. 

Frank  A.  McCullough,  M.  D.,  to  Colorado  Society, 
Francis  A.  Winter,  M.  D.,  U.  S.  A.,  to  Missouri  Society, 
Louis  J.  Sands,  to  Massachusetts  Society, 
Rev.  Charles  W.  Stocking,  D.  D.,  to  Indiana  Society, 
Charles  Van  E.  Gallup,  to  Massachusetts  Society. 

12 


Resignations. 


Gustavus  Edward  Rollins. 
Frederick  E.  Haight. 
Frank  Clarence  Loveland. 
Franklin  D.  Bowen. 
William  S.  Thomas,  M.  D. 
Henry  J.  Warren. 
Warren  F.  Rollins. 
George  T.  Goldthwaite. 
James  M.  Gray. 
Henry  G.  Hanchett,  M.  D. 
Edward  J.  Willis. 
Charles  R.  Denyse. 
August  F.  Babcock. 
William  A.  Mitchell,  M.  D. 
William  S.  Johnson. 
John  Wells  King. 
John  McG.  Woodbury,  M.  D. 
John  I.  Howe,  Jr. 
Thomas  Jewett  Hallowell. 
E.  C.  Miller. 


List  of  Books  and  Pamphlets  Received. 

title.  donor. 

Report     of     American     Numismatic     and 

Archaeological  Society  of  New  York 

City,  1903.  J.  Kensett  Olyphant. 

Holland  Society,  Year  Book,  1903,  Theodore  M.  Banta. 

Proceedings  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of 

Revolution,  1902-3,  Ethan  Allen  Weaver. 

Address  on  Flags  and  Banners,  Ethan  Allen  Weaver. 

Sketch  of  Captain  Gustavus  Conyngham,  Ethan  Allen  Weaver. 
Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution,  Ethan  Allen  Weaver. 
Iowa   Society,   Sons   of    Revolution,   Year 

Book,  1903.  Edward  Seymour  Hammatt. 

Rhode  Island  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Year  Book.  Wm.  G.  Ward,  Jr. 

13 


Report  of  Canadian  Archives,  1902, 
Report  of  Official  Exercises  in  the  Celebra- 
tion of  the   1220!  Anniversary  of  the 
Signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, 
Copy  of  Monroe  Calendar, 
Bound    Copy    of    the   Publications    of    the 
California  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, 
Report  of  the  Department  of  Parks, 
Mary  Mattoon  and  Her  Hero  of  the  Revo- 
lution, 
Ecclesiastical  Records  of  the  State  of  New 

York, 
Massachusetts  Soldiers  and   Sailors  of  the 

Revolution,  Vols.  X  and  XI, 
Report  of  the  Aztec  Club  of  1847, 
Register  of   the    Order   of   Founders    and 

Patriots, 
Register,Military  order  Loyal  Legion,  State 

of  Ohio, 
New  York  State  Library  Bulletin,  Nos.    57 

and  58, 
High  School  Report,  No.  9. 
College    Department  Report    No.  4,    two 

vols., 
Missouri  Society,  Menu  Cards,  etc., 
Register,  Washington  Society,  Sons  of  the 

American  Revolution, 
Memorial  of  William  Allen  Butler, 
Historical  Military  Powder  Horn, 
An    American    Sea    Captain    of    Colonial 

Times, 
William  Herman  Wilhelm, 
Charles  Frederick  Tiffany  Beale, 
West  Virginia  Society  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Year  Book,  1902, 
Army  List  and  Directory,  1903, 
History  of  the  Schenck  Family, 


George  F.  O'Halloran. 


Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin. 
Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin. 


Holdridge  O.  Collins. 
Hon.  William  R.  Wilcox. 

H.  L.  Bridgman. 

Hon.  Hugh  Hastings. 

William  M.  Olin. 
Macrae  Sykes. 

Robert  B.  Cone, 

W.  R.  Thrall, 

Melvin  Dewey, 
Melvin  Dewey, 

Melvin  Dewey, 
Henry  Cadle, 

Walter  B.  Beals. 
Hon.  George  C.  Holt. 
Frank  Bird  Smith, 

Frank  Bird  Smith, 
Frank  Bird  Smith, 
Frank  Bird  Smith. 

Frank  Clay  Cox, 

Col.  A   D.  Schenck,  U.  S.  A., 

Col.  A.  D.  Schenck,  U.  S.  A., 


14 


Matthew  Thornton  of  New   Hampshire,  a 
Patriot  of  the  American  Revolution, 
Public  Papers  of  George  Clinton,  Vols,  i, 

2,  3,  4,  5,  6, 
Bulletin  of  Bureau  of  Rolls  and  Library, 
Documentary   History  of  the  Constitution 

of  the  United  States,  Vols,  i,  2,  and  3, 
Makers  of  the  American  Republic, 
Register,  Society  of   Colonial   Wars,    1902, 

Ohio  Society, 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  General  Register, 
Council  of  Appointment,  Vol.  1-2-3-4, 
State  Commission  in  Lunacy,  10th  Annual 

Report, 
Memorial  of  Col.  Benjamin  Tallmadge, 
Continental  Album  of  Yorktown  and  Rich- 
mond, 
Bishop  Potter's  address  at  the  Centennial  of 

Washington's  Inauguration, 
Copy  of  Magna  Charta, 
Reproduction  of  Col.  Shepard's  Certificate 

of  Membership  in  the  Cincinnati, 
Manual  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society. 
Year  Book   of    the   Pennsylvania   Society, 

1903, 
Bulletins  N.   Y.   Public  Library    Circulars 

and   Notices  from  the  various  State 

Societies  of  the  Loyal  Legion. 

ALSO   THE    FOLLOWING   PICTURES  : 

The    Defensores   of    the    Liberty    of    two 

worlds,  Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Arms  and  Great  Seal  of  the  United  States,      Smith  E.  Lane. 


Charles  T.  Adams, 

Hon.  Hugh  Hastings, 
Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin, 

Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin, 
E.  B.  Treat. 

Charles  T.  Greeve. 
Walter  L.  Suydam. 
Hon.  Hugh  Hastings. 

Hon.  Goodwin  Brown. 
Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 
Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 
Barr  Ferree. 

Barr  Ferree. 


[L6046] 


15 


New  York  Society 


REPORTS 


OF      BOARD     OF     MANAGERS 
AND      HISTORIAN. 


December  3,    1904. 


To  the  New  York  Society, 

Sons  of  the  Revolution  : 

The  Board  of  Managers  places  before  you  the  record  of  another  year. 

The  saddest  record  is  that  which  chronicles  the  taking  away  of  one  who, 
leading  the  Society  almost  from  its  birth,  has  guided  it  skillfully  to  the  first 
place  in  numbers,  work  accomplished  and  wealth  among  patriotic  Societies. 

The  failing  eyesight  of  Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  our  beloved  President, 
was  long  a  source  of  worriment  to  him.  It  deprived  him  of  the  ability  to  move 
about  with  freedom,  and  for  several  years,  being  unable  to  read  even  the  news- 
papers, he  was  relegated  to  the  large  fund  of  information  stored  away  in  his 
mind  and  made  available  by  his  marvellous  memory. 

He  was  very  patient  under  his  great  affliction.  Surrendering  all  other 
active  interests,  his  devotion  to  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution"  was  if  anything 
increased,  and  while  he  was  with  difficulty  persuaded  at  the  last  two  elections 
to  remain  at  its  head,  he  loved  it  as  his  child  and  was  ever  ready  to  assist  the 
management  with  helpful  suggestions. 

A  series  of  operations  a  year  ago  on  his  remaining  eye  (he  lost  his  other 
many  years  ago)  was  so  successful  that  for  a  time  he  saw  almost  as  well  as 
ever.  No  incident  connected  with  his  recovery  gave  him  more  pleasure  than  the 
reception  tendered  him  by  the  Society  on  the  anniversary  of  Evacuation  Day, 
1903.  He  was  able  to  look  upon  the  faces  of  old  friends  once  more  and  saw 
for  the  first  time  many  whose  voices  had  become  familiar  to  him  at  the  Society's 
meetings.  The  warm  greetings  he  received  found  a  reciprocal  response  and 
were  often  referred  to  by  him  with  pleasure. 

That  was  the  last  meeting  of  the  Society  Mr.  Tallmadge  attended,  although 
he  was  able  to  be  present  with  the  Board  several  times. 

His  death  on  the  20th  of  June  was  a  great  loss  to  the  Society.  He  loved  us 
and  we  loved  him. 

His  funeral,  attended  by  a  goodly  number  of  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution," 
took  place  at  "St.  Marks  in  the  Bowerie,"  on  June  23rd,  1904.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Morgan  Dix,  assisted  by  Rev.  Dr.  George  S.  Baker,  Rev.  Dr.  F.  Landon  Hum- 
phreys, conducted  the  service.  The  pall  bearers  were  Edmund  Wetmore,  John 
Hone,  Robert  Olyphant,  James  William   Beekman,   Morris   Patterson   Ferris, 


Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  Charles  R.  Henderson,  Dallas  Bache  Pratt,  Asa  Bird 
Gardiner  and  William  Warner  Hoppin,  all  of  whom  had  served  in  the  Board 
of  Managers  with  Mr.  Tallmadge. 

Committees  have  been  appointed  by  the  Board  to  erect  a  monument  to  our 
late  President  in  the  Vanderpool  plot,  where  he  lies  buried  in  Litchfield,  Con- 
necticut, and  to  place  a  window  in  "St.  Marks  in  the  Bowerie"  to  his  memory. 
Both  of  these  projects  are  well  under  way. 

Expressions  of  profound  sorrow  and  sympathy  with  the  New  York  Society 
have  been  received  from  many  sister  Societies  "Sons  of  the  Revolution,"  and 
from  many  historical  and  patriotic  organizations. 

The  New  York  Society  has  been  called  upon  to  tender  its  sympathy  in  turn 
to  the  District  of  Columbia  Society  upon  the  death  of  its  distinguished  Presi- 
dent, Rear  Admiral  Henry  C.  Taylor,  on  the  26th  day  of  July,  1904. 

The  minutes  of  the  earliest  meetings  of  the  Society  and  of  the  Board  of 
Managers  record  Mr.  Tallmadge's  keen  interest  in  the  possession  of  a  house 
by  the  Society,  and  Fraunces'  Tavern  was  the  first  aspiration. 

The  difficulties  in  procuring  a  perfect  title  made  other  plans  necessary. 

It  was  to  Mr.  Tallmadge's  impassioned  appeal  to  the  Board  of  Managers 
at  the  May  meeting  in  1901  that  we  owe  the  acquirement  of  our  55th  Street 
property.  The  site  was  not  historic,  but  it  gave  promise  of  a  home  and  was  a 
most  excellent  investment.  Later  there  seemed  a  possibility  of  purchasing  the 
Morris,  or  Jumel  Mansion,  which  had  some  associations  with  Washington,  but 
efforts  made  by  a  Committee  at  Mr.  Tallmadge's  solicitation,  proved  futile  on 
account  of  the  high  price  demanded  by  the  owner,  the  City  having  been  induced 
to  condemn  the  property  for  Park  purposes. 

At  the  March  meeting  of  the  Board,  Mr.  Tallmadge  made  a  final  appeal  for 
Fraunces'  Tavern.  Mr.  Thompson,  who  was  then  appointed  to  ascertain  the 
feasibility  of  its  purchase,  reported  favorably  at  the  next  meeting,  and  a  Com- 
mittee consisting  of  Messrs.  Tallmadge,  Olyphant,  Montgomery,  Thompson  and 
Ferris  was  promptly  appointed  to  negotiate  with  the  owners.  An  offer  was 
made  and  accepted  and  Mr.  Tallmadge  on  his  deathbed  was  able  to  affix  his 
name  to  the  contract  for  the  purchase  of  Fraunces'  Tavern,  his  last  official  act. 
An  act  of  incalculable  gratification  to  him  and  a  fitting  climax  to  his  labors  for 
the  Society. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  John  L.  Cadwalader  and  of  his  firm,  the 
Society  not  only  has  in  its  possession  this  original  contract,  but  also  the  deeds 
on  parchment  of  the  property  from  the  de  Lancey  ownership  in  1762  through 
the  holdings  of  Oliver  de  Lancey,  Samuel  Fraunces,  George  Powers,  Nicholas 
Romayne,  and  John  S.  Moore,  to  that  of  Thomas  Gardner  in  1801. 

A  most  unusual  collection  of  Parchment  deeds. 


2 


The  action  of  the  Board  in  making  this  purchase  was  most  enthusiastically 
approved  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  Society  in  June,  1904. 

A  Committee  consisting  of 

Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  William  H.  Ford, 

John  T.  Terry,  Chairman,  Eugene  K.  Austin, 

Edmund  Wetmore,  David  Cromwell, 

Dallas  B.  Pratt,  Walter  P.  Warren, 

Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  Albert  L.  Smalley, 

Clark  Williams,  Arthur  M.  Hatch,  Treasurer, 

Jeremiah  Richards,  Joseph  T.  Low, 

Marcius  D.  Raymond,  Clarence  Storm, 

William  Piatt  Rudd,  Richard  H.  Greene, 

Frederick  W.  Seward,  Frederic  E.  Underhill, 

Samuel  P.  Avery,  Charles  E.  Brugler, 

A.  Coolidge  Warren,  Charles  B,  Wheeler, 

William  Bunker,  Willis  E.  Ford, 

was  appointed  to  raise  money  for  the  completion  of  the  purchase,  but  the  death 
of  Mr.  Tallmadge  and  the  heat  of  summer  seemed  to  paralyze  the  work  and 
only  about  $4,500  has  been  subscribed  by  sixty-nine  persons. 

The  title  to  the  property  was  taken  on  the  29th  day  of  July,  1904,  money 
being  borrowed  on  both  Fraunces'  Tavern  and  55th  Street  to  accomplish  it. 

A  few  of  the  subscribers  to  the  fund  gathered  in  the  Long  Room  on  Novem- 
ber 25th  to  celebrate  Evacuation  Day;  Mr.  Morris  K.  Jesup,  President  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  founded  there  in  1768,  was  present  as  a  guest,  and 
rejoiced  with  us  over  the  ownership  of  the  Tavern  by  our  Society. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  with  the  tenants  so  that  hereafter  the  United 
States  Flag  and  the  Society's  Standard  will  hang  side  by  side  from  the  windows 
of  the  Historic  Long  Room ;  a  large  United  States  Flag  floating  from  the  top 
of  the  building. 

Mr.  Tallmadge's  affection  for  the  Society  was  further  shown  in  the  very 
generous  provision  made  for  it  in  his  will. 

Besides  his  valuable  library,  he  bequeathed  many  relics. 

A  partial  inventory  discloses  the  following  among  these  treasures: 

The  Library,  some  1,500  to  2,000  volumes,  including  a  very  valuable  col- 
lection of  Shakespeareana. 

The  celebrated  Fischer  Collection  of  "Shakespeare  Houses"  which  were 
exhibited  in  London  in  1723. 

(All  this  matter  pertaining  to  Shakespeare  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Tall- 
madge at  the  Burton  sale  in  i860.) 


The  celebrated  Tea  Caddy  made  from  the  Mulberry  Tree,  once  the  prop- 
erty of  Garrick. 

The  magnificent  Gold  Repeater  presented  by  Napoleon  to  Thalma. 

The  original  Death  Mask  of  Cromwell. 

The  Yale  College  Certificate  and  all  the  Continental  Commissions  of  Col- 
onel Benjamin  Tallmadge. 

Several  Washington  letters. 

A  number  of  valuable  Autograph  letters. 

The  Sharpless  Portrait  of  Washington,  which  was  presented  to  Colonel 
Tallmadge  by  Washington. 

The  Large  Gold  Repeater  carried  by  Colonel  Tallmadge  at  the  execution  of 
Andre. 

Revolutionary  Orderly  Book  of  Colonel  Tallmadge. 

The  original  Mss.  of  the  Memoirs  now  being  printed. 

A  pair  of  Spurs,  Sword,  and  other  personal  relics  of  Colonel  Tallmadge. 

General  George  Clinton's  Sword. 

The  Large  Loving  Cup  presented  to  Mr.  Tallmadge  by  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  on  February  2.2,  1902. 

He  also  devised  to  the  Society  the  House  and  Lot  No.  23  Gramercy  Park 
for  its  occupancy  and  use  as  a  museum.  It  was  in  the  judgment  of  the  Board 
inadvisable  to  accept  this  devise,  coupled  as  it  was  with  conditions  and  limita- 
tions, and  it  was  rejected. 

Mr.  Tallmadge's  sister  and  residuary  legatee,  Mrs.  Mary  S.  Seymour, 
mindful  of  Mr.  Tallmadge's  wish  to  benefit  the  Society  and  of  his  desire  that 
the  Society  should  own  Fraunces'  Tavern,  after  the  devise  had  been  rejected, 
most  generously  came  to  the  rescue  and  conveyed  the  property  No.  23  Gramercy 
Park  to  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  freed  from  the  conditions  in  the  will,  with 
the  request  only  that  it  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  used  in  liquidating  the  debt  in- 
curred in  the  purchase  of  Fraunces'  Tavern,  and  that  Fraunces'  Tavern  should 
be  made  a  memorial  to  her  brother,  who  would  himself  have  made  it  such  had 
he  lived  to  change  his  will. 

In  commemoration  of  the  long  and  faithful  service  rendered  by  Mr.  Tall- 
madge to  the  Society  and  of  his  very  generous  and  noble  gifts  the  Board  of 
Managers  has  set  apart  January  24th,  Mr.  Tallmadge's  birthday,  for  special 
honor  to  his  memory,  to  be  known  as  "Tallmadge  Day."  The  Society  will 
meet  hereafter  on  this  day  instead  of  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Kings- 
bridge. 

Another  legacy  may  be  mentioned  here,  the  first  ever  received  by  the  So- 
ciety, the  sum  of  $500,  which  came  under  the  will  of  Mr.  Jacob  Cox  Parsons, 
an  old  and  valued  member,  who  died  early  in  the  year. 


The  large  increase  in  the  Real  Estate  owned  by  the  Society  has  made 
desirable  the  careful  supervision  of  a  Committee,  and  the  Board  has  appointed 
Messrs.  Olyphant,  Henderson,  Ferris  and  Hatch  as  such  Committee.  To  this 
Committee  has  also  been  referred  the  very  important  question  of  the  handling  of 
Fraunces'  Tavern,  both  in  its  restoration  and  occupation. 

Since  its  purchase  Mr.  James  R.  Hay,  of  the  Society,  has  generously  taken 
charge  of  the  55th  Street  property  without  compensation.  Hereafter  he  will 
receive  a  commission. 

In  the  latter  part  of  December,  1903,  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America  re- 
quested the  assistance  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  procuring  from  the 
Board  of  Park  Commissioners  the  custody  of  the  Jumel  or  Morris  Mansion. 
They  asked  this  upon  the  ground  that  they  were  the  first  Society  of  women 
formed  for  patriotic  purposes  after  the  organization  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, although  wisely  assuming  an  essentially  different  name,  and  that  their  early 
efforts  to  purchase  the  property  had  been  unsuccessful,  as  had  been  those  of  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution  on  account  of  the  determination  of  the  Sons  and  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution  to  compel  the  City  to  pay  a  high  price  for  the 
property  to  the  then  owner,  a  member  of  the  latter,  and  whose  husband  had  been 
a  member  of  the  former  Society. 

The  Board  of  Managers  voted  to  approve  the  application  and  rendered 
such  assistance  to  the  Dames  as  was  feasible,  deeming  their  organization  the 
one  best  fitted  to  develop  the  property  on  historic  lines  and  to  make  it  a  monu- 
ment to  Washington  rather  than  a  free  club  house  for  the  Sons  and  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution. 

By  authorization  of  the  Board  of  Managers  a  most  sumptuous  reprint  of 
the  Memoirs  of  Col.  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  prepared  by  himself  for  the  benefit 
of  his  family,  with  notes  by  Prof.  Johnston,  Registrar  of  the  Society,  and 
beautifully  illustrated,  has  been  published.  Three  hundred  and  fifty  copies  only 
have  been  printed.  In  response  to  the  first  circular  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  copies  were  subscribed  for.  The  price  has  now  been  raised  to  $10  in  order 
to  meet  a  greater  expense  of  publication  than  was  at  first  contemplated. 

During  the  year  copies  of  Stuart's  Washington,  suitably  framed  and  in- 
scribed have  been  presented  to  Public  School  No.  186,  145th  Street  and  Amster- 
dam Avenue,  New  York  City,  Rev.  Charles  E.  Brugler  making  the  presenta- 
tion on  behalf  of  the  Society,  and  to  the  Essex,  New  York  High  School,  the 
presentation  being  in  charge  of  Mr.  Henry  Harmon  Noble. 

Dr.  Charlton  T.  Lewis,  representing  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company, 
early  last  fall  requested  the  co-operation  of  trie  Society  in  the  dedication  of  a 
tablet  to  be  erected  on  the  site  of  the  old  Peter  Livingston  Sugar  House  in 
Liberty  Street,  used  as  a  prison  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 


Dr.  Lewis'  death  soon  after  caused  a  postponement,  but  Mr.  Robert  A. 
Grannis  has  assured  the  Board  that  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  in- 
tends to  carry  out  the  project  and  the  dedication  will  undoubtedly  take  place 
during  the  coming  year. 

The  Annual  Church  Service  this  year  was  held  at  St.  Thomas'  Church, 
Fifth  Avenue  and  53rd  Street.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  Ernest 
M.  Stires,  and  was  a  most  eloquent  tribute  to  the  Manhood  of  Washington. 

A  very  large  attendance  of  the  Society  and  the  friends  of  the  members  was 
efficiently  handled  by  the  Aisle  Committee  under  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant  and 
the  Marshals  under  Major  John  Butterfield  Holland.  The  Veteran  Corps  of 
Artillery  acted  as  Guard  of  Honor.  There  was  the  usual  representation  of 
affiliated  Societies. 

The  Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 

The  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion, 

The  Aztec  Club  of  1847, 

The  Society  of  Colonial  Wars, 

The  Society  of  the  War  of  1812, 

The  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 

The  Daughters  of  the  Revolution, 

The  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  and 

The  Colonial  Dames  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

The  Annual  Banquet  on  Washington's  Birthday  taxed  the  capacity  of 
Delmonico's  ball-room  to  the  utmost  and  was  a  brilliant  success. 

The  toasts  were : 

"George  Washington,  1776- 1904," 

Responded  to  by  Hon.  Charlton  T.  Lewis ; 

"Sailors  of  the  Revolution," 

Responded  to  by  Captain  Casper  F.  Goodrich,  U.  S.  N., 
Commandant,  Navy  Yard,  Portsmouth,  N.  H. ; 
"The  Day  We  Celebrate,  What  it  Commemorates  and  its  Influence," 

Responded  to  by  John  Canfield  Tomlinson,  Esq. 

Mr.  Tallmadge  was  not  able  to  preside,  although  he  had  prepared  the 
list  of  toasts  and  invited  the  speakers,  and  his  genial,  cordial,  whole-souled 
and  eloquent  greeting  was  missed. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  dinner  was  the  presentation  of  the  Cocked 
Hat,  the  badge  of  office,  to  Rev.  Dr.  F.  Landon  Humphreys,  who  acted  as 
Toast  Master. 

Headed  by  the  Stewards  bearing  the  beautiful  Silk  Flags  and  Banners  of 
the  Society  with  large  baskets  of  flowers  following,  presented  by  the  Colonial 


Dames  of  America,  the  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  the 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  the  Cocked  Hat  was  carried  on  its  cushion  to 
the  dais  by  Gen.  Francis  E.  Pinto,  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  War  and  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion,  and  John  L.  Hill,  whose  fathers  were  soldiers  in  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  are  the  only  living  "Sons"  on  the  Society's 
rolls.    The  speech  of  presentation  was  made  by  Mr.  Hill. 

The  Souvenirs  for  the  banquet  were  engravings  of  Lafayette  and  Steuben, 
and  by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Avery  there  was  added  to  the  menu  card  an 
engraving  of  the  medal  designed  by  Dupre,  presented  to  John  Paul  Jones  by 
Congress  in  1787.    A  sketch  of  John  Paul  Jones'  life  was  added. 

In  addition  to  the  speakers  of  the  evening,  there  were  seated  at  the  Guest 
table  Mr.  George  W.  Olney,  representing  the  Rhode  Island  Cincinnati ;  Hon. 
James  Fitz-Gerald,  President  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick ;  Mr.  William 
G.  Davies,  representing  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars ;  Mr.  Robert  Webb  Mor- 
gan, representing  the  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars ;  Mr.  Oliver  Hazard 
Perry,  representing  the  Society  of  the  War  of  1812 ;  Mr.  Barr  Ferree,  repre- 
senting the  Pennsylvania  Society  in  New  York ;  Mr.  Henry  L.  Bogert,  repre- 
senting the  Holland  Society;  Rev.  Dr.  Roderick  Terry,  President  of  the  May- 
flower Society ;  Gen.  J.  Fred  Pierson,  representing  the  Military  Order,  Loyal 
Legion ;  Mr.  Charles  B.  Whittlesey,  representing  the  Connecticut  Society,  Sons 
of  the  Revolution ;  Mr.  Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  President  of  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society ;  Hon.  Smith  Ely,  Mr.  Robert  H.  Kelby,  Prof.  Henry  P.  John- 
ston, Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  Esq.,  John  L.  Hill,  Esq.,  and  General 
Francis  E.  Pinto. 

Of  those  who  contributed  to  the  success  of  this  banquet  three  have  joined 
"the  great  majority" — Mr.  Tallmadge,  Mr.  Avery  and  Dr.  Lewis. 

The  work  of  the  Essay  Committee  has  been  most  painstaking  and  thor- 
ough as  usual.  It  is  no  small  task  to  read  through  the  numerous  essays  sub- 
mitted, and  many  of  them  must  be  read  again  and  again.  The  Committee, 
consisting  of 

Rev.  Charles  Edward  Brugler,       Richard  Henry  Greene, 
Charles  R.  Huntington,  Dr.  James  F.  Barker,  and 

Frank  W.  Thomas, 

found  none  of  the  High  School  Essays  of  sufficient  merit  to  earn  the  first  prize, 
but  awarded  the  other  medals  as  follows : 

To  the  Colleges : 

First  Prize,  Samuel  G.  Nissenson, 
College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 


Second  Prize,  Abraham  Rockmore, 

College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 
Third  Prize,  Jacob  Salwyn  Schapiro, 

College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

To  the  High  Schools : 

Second  Prize,  Franklin  R.  Brown, 

Buffalo  Central  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Third  Prize,  Reginald  H.  Burdick, 

Syracuse  High  School,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

The  Society  has  been  the  recipient  of  many  courteous  invitations  for 
banquets  and  other  functions,  at  most  of  which  it  has  been  represented. 

Annual  Dinner  of  the  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery,  Military  Order  of  the 
War  of  1812,  January  8,  1904. 

Pennsylvania  Society,  December  12,  1903,  at  Waldorf-Astoria. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  January  12,  1904,  at  Delmonico's. 

Pilgrims  of  the  United  States,  January  29,  1904,  Delmonico's. 

Miltary  Order  of  Foreign  Wars,  New  York  Commandery,  February  8, 
1904,  at  Metropolitan  Club. 

Buffalo  Association,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  at  the  home  of  John  W.  Crafts, 
February  18,  1904. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  Colorado,  February  22,  1904. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  State  of  Massachusetts,  February  22,  1904. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  State  of  Pennsylvania,  February  22,  1904. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  State  of  Missouri,  February  22,  1904. 

Buffalo  Association,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  at  home  of  Joseph  T.  Cook, 
March  31,  1904. 

Friendly  Sons  of  Saint  Patrick,  March  17,  1904,  at  Delmonico's. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  State  of  Kentucky,  April  5,  1904. 

Military  Order  of  Loyal  Legion  of  the  United  States,  Commandery  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  May  4,  1904,  at  Delmonico's. 

New  York  Historical  Society,  November  22,  1904,  at  Delmonico's. 

Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  November  30,  1904,  at  Hotel  Astor. 

There  have  been  ten  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  during  the  year, 
with  an  average  attendance  of  twelve. 

The  Board  has  been  much  gratified  to  have  present  at  several  of  its  meet- 
ings, Regents  of  the  Chapters. 

The  Chapters  are  all  doing  good  work. 


The  Buffalo  Association  reports  four  meetings  at  which  papers  on  His- 
torical subjects  have  been  read.  This  Chapter  has  done  much  to  stimulate 
interest  among  the  public  schools  of  Buffalo  in  our  Essay  Competition. 

The  Buffalo  High  Schools  take  very  many  of  the  Essay  Medals. 

The  William  Floyd  Chapter  held  a  Church  Service  on  February  21st,  com- 
memorative of  the  birthday  of  George  Washington,  and  on  the  following  day 
held  its  annual  meeting  for  the  election  of  officers.  Papers  were  read  by  Dr. 
R.  F.  Benson  and  Frank  W.  Thomas. 

On  the  28th  of  May  a  Clambake  was  held  in  the  Revolutionary  Breast- 
works located  at  Peobles  Island.  The  Chapter  entertained  many  distinguished 
guests,  including  the  officers  from  the  United  States  Arsenal  at  Watervliet. 
General  Lloyd  and  staff  of  the  Third  Brigade,  N.  Y.  N.  G.,  and  Colonel  Lester 
and  staff  of  the  2nd  Regiment,  N.  Y.  N.  G.  Mr.  Thomas  read  a  paper  on  the 
Breastworks  of  Haver  Island. 

On  the  25th  of  June  the  Regent  of  the  Chapter,  Col.  Walter  P.  Warren, 
entertained  the  members  at  his  house,  Frank  W.  Thomas,  Dr.  R.  F.  Benson 
and  E.  W.  Douglas  discussing  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  and  Col.  Arthur 
MacArthur  giving  a  history  of  the  Van  Rensselaer  family. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  at  Utica,  confines  its  celebrations  to  the  ob- 
servance of  Washington's  Birthday. 

Its  annual  meeting  in  the  afternoon  was  followed  by  a  banquet  and  a 
public  meeting  in  the  evening,  at  which  an  address  was  delivered  by  Dr.  Wm. 
Mechlenberg  Polk  on  "Oriskany  and  Kings  Mountain,"  and  a  portrait  of 
Baron  and  Major  General  Frederick  William  Steuben  was  presented  to  the 
Oneida  Historical  Society  by  the  Chapter. 

The  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  met  with  a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  John 
De  Witt  Peltz  in  the  month  of  May,  1904.  Mr.  Peltz  was  Vice-Regent  at  the 
time  of  his  death  and  had  been  active  in  the  work  of  the  Chapter  since  its 
formation. 

The  Jamestown  Chapter  has  done  most  excellent  work  in  marking  the 
graves  of  '  Revolutionary  Soldiers  within  its  jurisdiction,  using  the  bronze 
marker  prepared  by  the  General  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  The  Chapter 
proposes  to  continue  this  work  until  all  of  the  graves  of  Soldiers  of  the  Revo- 
lution in  its  vicinity  are  so  marked. 

The  Chapter  celebrated  Washington's  birthday  with  a  banquet. 

The  appointments  of  the  Board  of  Managers  have  followed  the  lines  of 
previous  years,  recognizing  efficient  service. 

Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant  was  made  Historian  for  the  ninth  consecutive  term, 
and  Dr.  Humphreys  was  chosen  Assistant  Chaplain. 

The  Stewards  were  re-appointed,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Thebaud,  who 
declined  to  accept  a  reappointment,  and  was  replaced  by  Mr.  Clarence  Storm. 

9 


The  Historical  Committee  remained  unchanged  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Asa 
Coolidge  Warren,  one  of  its  number,  on  the  twenty-second  of  November,  1904. 
Mr.  Warren  had  previously  served  two  years  on  the  Board  of  Managers,  one 
year  as  Treasurer  and  two  years  as  Registrar. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Tallmadge  was  soon  followed  by  that  of  Samuel  P.  Avery, 
who  was  serving  his  fifth  year  on  the  Board,  having  declined  a  nomination  for 
the  Vice-Presidency.  He  was  a  most  valuable  friend  and  adviser,  and  his 
death  has  caused  a  vacancy  which  cannot  well  be  filled.  His  interest  in  the 
Society  was  strong  and  his  gifts  constant  and  liberal. 

The  Membership  Committee  has  met  eight  times  and  has  carefully  scrutin- 
ized and  investigated  the  applicants  and  applications  for  membership. 

The  work  of  this  Committee  is  thorough,  as  it  should  be,  not  with  the 
wish  to  add  to  the  difficulty  of  admission  to  the  Society,  but  with  a  view  to 
maintaining  our  membership  upon  the  high  plane  that  was  early  established. 

The  application  blanks  themselves  have  been  made  more  complete. 

In  the  report  of  last  year  it  was  suggested  that  members  of  the  Society 
should  bring  in  their  Sons.  The  Board  of  Managers  has  set  a  good  example. 
There  have  been  admitted  this  year,  John  Adams  Dix,  Robert  Morrison  Oly- 
phant,  Jr.,  Frederic  Hart  Wilson,  M.  D.,  and  James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 
Jr.    More  are  promised  for  next  year. 

The  Society  has  had  the  pleasure  during  the  year  of  listening  to  three 
very  interesting  papers. 

The  first,  on  January  16th,  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Kingsbridge, 
by  Miss  Mary  V.  Worstell,  on  Nathaniel  Greene,  Man  and  Patriot,  illustrated 
by  stereopticon  views,  was  none  the  less  interesting  as  being  the  first  paper 
read  before  the  Society  by  a  woman.  Miss  Worstell's  lecture  was  excellent  and 
well  delivered,  and  the  pictures  admirably  selected. 

April  19th,  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-ninth  Anniversary  of  the  Battle 
of  Lexington  was  celebrated  by  a  large  gathering  at  Delmonico's.  Mr.  Clarence 
W.  Bowen  delivered  an  address  (illustrated)  on  "Unpublished  Papers  of  Baron 
Von  Closen,  Aide  to  Count  Rochambeau." 

The  Hon.  Hugh  Hastings  gave,  as  usual,  great  pleasure,  when  on  Novem- 
ber 25th,  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-first  Anniversary  of  the  Evacuation  of 
New  York  by  the  British  Troops,  he  read  an  able  paper,  prepared  at  Mr. 
Tallmadge's  special  request,  on  "The  Day  We  Celebrate." 

These  Historical  meetings  are  a  great  source  of  entertainment  and  pleasure 
to  the  members  of  the  Society  and  are  always  well  attended. 

The  report  of  the  Treasurer  shows  the  financial  condition  of  the  Society 
to  be  prosperous.     This  report  is,  of  course,  founded  on  established  figures. 

10 


If,  however,  we  may  estimate  the  value  of  the  real  estate  by  the  returns  upon 
it,  and  by  the  judgment  of  reliable  experts  we  may  conclude  that  our  Fifty- 
fifth  Street  property  would  probably  bring  $90,000,  and  No.  23  Gramercy  Park, 
$60,000.     Fraunces'  Tavern  is  priceless. 

The  membership  of  the  Society  has  fallen  behind  the  numbers  of  last 
year,  and  the  suggestion  of  the  report  of  1903  is  repeated  that  we  should  all 
see  to  it  that  our  sons  are  made  members  as  fast  as  they  come  of  age. 

Eighty-one  members  have  been  elected,  thirty  have  resigned,  twelve  have 
been  dropped  for  non-payment  of  dues,  seven  have  been  transferred  to  other 
State  Societies,  and  forty-three  have  joined  the  great  majority. 

A  list  of  the  more  important  Committees  is  appended. 

Many  gifts  have  been  received  during  the  year  and  gratefully  acknowl- 
edged, a  list  of  which  is  appended. 

The  Secretary's  office  has  made  its  small  contribution  to  the  United  States 
Mails  with  1,500  letters,  2,124  Board  and  Committee  notices,  and  in  addition 
over  26,000  envelopes  addressed  and  containing  46,000  enclosures  have  been 
sent  out,  and  2,200  Supplemental  Year  Books. 

There  are  on  hand  addressed  and  in  process  about  ten  thousand  five  hun- 
dred stamped  envelopes ;  seven  thousand  two  cent  stamps  and  about  five  dollars' 
worth  of  stamps  of  other  denominations. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  with  Annin  &  Co.,  flag  makers,  to  supply  the 
members  of  the  Society  with  miniature  silk  Standards  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution.   Orders  may  be  obtained  from  the  Secretary. 

December  3rd,  1904. 

For  the  Board  of  Managers, 

Morris  Patterson  Ferris, 

Secretary. 


11 


Minute  of  the  Board  of  Managers  on  the  Death  of  Frederick  Samuel 
Tallmadge,  President  of  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution"  in 

the  State  of  New  York. 

The  Board  of  Managers  of  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution"  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  deeply  regretting  the  death  of  the  late  President  of  the  Society,  Mr. 
Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge,  enter  this  tribute  to  his  memory  in  their  minutes : 

Mr.  Tallmadge  identified  himself  with  the  Society  of  the  "Sons  of  the 
Revolution"  in  the  State  of  New  York  at  its  very  inception.  His  interest  in  its 
purposes  and  plans  and  faith  in  its  possible  happy  influence  in  the  community 
as  a  patriotic  institution  moved  him  to  appear  as  one  of  its  original  incorpora- 
tors and  thereafter  to  enter  actively  into  its  life  and  further  its  good  fortunes 
to  the  day  of  his  death.  His  title  to  the  honor  of  being  a  founder  and  his 
claim  to  membership  in  the  Society,  rested  on  his  descent  from  a  distinguished 
Revolutionary  ancestry.  The  names  of  two  of  his  forbears  on  his  paternal  side 
are  conspicuously  associated  with  both  the  civil  and  military  events  of  Seventy- 
six.  His  great-grandfather,  Colonel  William  Floyd,  of  Long  Island,  was  one 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  his  grandfather  was 
Colonel  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  of  the  second  Continental  Light  Dragoons,  whose 
services  in  the  field  were  varied,  important  and  continuous  for  seven  years. 
The  Board  expresses  its  gratification  that  the  first  volume  of  its  Revolutionary 
publications  is  a  reprint  of  the  rare  and  valuable  "Memoirs"  of  this  well  known 
officer  and  friend  of  Washington.  Mr.  Tallmadge's  father  was  Frederick 
Augustus  Tallmadge,  who  for  many  years  was  identified  with  the  public  ser- 
vice of  this  City,  State  and  Nation,  as  Recorder,  Judge,  and  Representative  in 
Congress. 

President  Tallmadge  was  born  in  New  York  City,  January  24,  1824;  grad- 
uated from  Columbia  University  in  1845,  ne  entered  the  legal  profession  and 
was  long  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Tracy,  Tallmadge  &  Noyes.  As  a 
member  of  many  clubs  and  societies,  the  Century,  Union,  Metropolitan  and 
Players  Clubs,  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  the  New  England  Society, 
the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati  and 
Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812,  his  acquaintance  and  associations  in  the 
community  were  large.  He  died  June  20th,  1904.  at  his  residence,  No.  20  West 
17th  Street,  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age,  surviving  his  wife,  Julia  Louise 
Belden.  who  died  in  t8qi,  leaving  no  issue.  Of  his  family,  one  sister  remains, 
Mary  Floyd,  widow  of  the  late  Judge  Edward  W.  Seymour,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Connecticut. 

12 


The  funeral  services  of  the  deceased  took  place  at  St.  Marks  Episcopal 
Church,  June  23rd,  1904,  when  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morgan  Dix,  Chaplain  of  the 
"Sons  of  the  Revolution,"  conducted  the  services. 

The  Board  of  Managers  recall  with  grateful  feelings  and  a  saddened 
pleasure  the  twenty  years  of  spontaneous  and  faithful  services  rendered  by 
President  Tallmadge  to  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution."  To  no  Society  was  he 
more  devoted.  For  this  one  his  attachment  seemed  to  grow  in  his  later  years 
into  a  personal  affection.  He  filled  the  duties  of  his  office,  to  which  he  had  so 
often  been  re-elected  with  gratifying  unanimity,  with  promptness,  dignity  and 
efficiency.  He  was  present  to  preside  over  nearly  every  meeting  and  Banquet 
of  the  Society  and  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Society's  Memorials ;  and  on  these, 
as  on  all  occasions,  he  never  failed  to  inculcate  the  impressive  lessons  of  the 
Revolution  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Society.  His  noble 
bequest  to  our  treasures  and  resources  was  the  final  and  natural  expression  of 
his  hopes,  his  best  wishes  and  love  for  the  "Sons." 

The  Board  of  Managers  are  keenly  susceptible  of  the  loss  of  President  Tall- 
madge as  their  Chairman ;  his  personality,  counsel  and  unfailing  interest  in  the 
management  of  the  Society's  affairs  won  their  esteem  and  regard,  and  in  his 
death  they  became  a  memory  to  be  cherished. 


Minute  of  the  Board  of  Managers  on  the  Death  of  Samuel  Putnam 

Avery,  Member  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  "Sons 

of  the  Revolution"  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

Samuel  P.  Avery,  art  connoisseur  and  litterateur,  was  born  in  New  York, 
March  17,  1822.  He  was  educated  at  the  public  schools  and  early  displayed  a 
taste  for  art.  He  started  his  life  work  as  a  letter  engraver  with  a  bank-note 
company,  but  soon  took  up  engraving  on  wood,  being  employed  by  Harper 
Bros,  and  other  publishing  houses.  Mr.  Avery  varied  his  labors  by  compiling, 
illustrating  and  publishing  books.  He  manifested  a  great  interest  in  an  Ameri- 
can School  of  Art,  and  materially  assisted  its  growth.  In  1876  he  was  ap- 
pointed Commissioner  in  Charge  of  American  Fine  Art  Department  at  the 
Paris  Exhibition  by  Secretary  of  State  Wm.  H.  Seward.  On  his  return  to 
New  York  the  following  year  he  commenced  to  deal  in  art  works,  with  which 
business  he  was  connected  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  He  was  also  identi- 
fied with  the  general  progress  of  art  throughout  the  United  States.  His  fre- 
quent visits  abroad  put  him  on  intimate  relations  with  celebrated  European 
artists,  and  he  was  able  to  place  many  of  their  finest  productions  in  American 
galleries.     In  1887  ne  retired  from  active  business  and  devoted  himself  to  the 

13 


various  organizations  with  which  he  was  connected.  Mr.  Avery  was  Secretary 
of  the  Art  Committee  of  the  Union  League,  which  called  the  meeting  which 
resulted  in  the  foundation  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  in  1870,  of 
which  he  later  became  trustee  and  chairman  of  the  Art  Committee.  The 
Avery  Architectural  Library  at  Columbia  College  was  founded  by  him  in 
memory  of  his  son,  Henry  Ogden  Avery.  Mr.  Avery  was  the  author  of  the 
articles  on  "Progress  of  the  Fine  Arts  in  New  York  during  Fifty  Years,"  in 
Lossing's  History  of  New  York.  He  was  trustee  of  the  Lenox,  Astor  and 
Tilden  Libraries,  and  was  one  of  the  committee  for  the  erection  of  the  Bartholdi 
Statue. 

He  was  President  of  the  Grolier  Club,  a  Gentleman  of  the  Council  of  the 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars  and  was  prominent  in  very  many  other  clubs  and 
societies.  Mr.  Avery  became  a  life  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in 
1894.  In  1900  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Managers  and  re- 
mained a  member  until  his  death.  During  all  that  time  no  member  was  more 
faithful  in  his  attendance  at  meetings.  He  was  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency last  year,  but  could  not  be  persuaded  to  accept.  He  always  took  a  great 
interest  in  the  work  of  the  Society,  and  his  gifts  were  many  and  valuable,  and 
unostentatiously  made. 

Mr.  Avery  left  a  widow,  Mary  Ogden  Avery,  who  has  joined  in  many  of 
his  benefactions,  and  one  son,  Samuel  Putnam  Avery,  Jr.,  also  a  member  of  the 
Society. 

The  Board  of  Managers  records  its  deep  sorrow  and  the  sorrow  of  every 
member  of  the  board  in  the  loss  of  a  valued  counselor,  sincere  friend,  noble, 
unselfish  and  patriotic  citizen. 


M 


Members  Admitted. 

George  Albert  Wingate,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

William  Watt  Smith,  New  York  City. 

William  Chauncey  Crosby,  New  York  City. 

John  Day  Talley,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

George  Schermerhorn  Seward,  New  York  City. 

Charles  Whittingham  Fash,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Alexander  DuBois  Schenck,  Lt.  Col.  U.  S.  A.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Henry  Edwin  Cleveland,  New  York  City. 

George  H.  Squire,  New  York  City. 

William  Osborn  Remsen,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 

Frank  Howard  Douglass,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

John  Sinclair  Roberts,  New  York  City. 

Herbert  Julius  Pease,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Wadsworth  Leach  Goodier,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Elliott  Lockwood  Brown,  New  York  City. 

James  Albert  Hawkins,  New  York  City. 

John  Adams  Dix,  New  York  City. 

Richard  H.  Clarke,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

Andrew  Anderson,  M.  D.,  St.  Augustine,  Fla. 

George  Herbert  Lesley,  Spuyten  Duyvil,  N.  Y. 

William  Wyx  Seeley,  New  York  City. 

James  Shepard  Dennis,  Rev.,  New  York  City. 

Frederick  William  Bliss,  New  York  City. 

Cort  Roadside  Hincken,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Walter  Farley  Roberts,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Herman  Isaiah  Johnson,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Horatio  Seymour,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Samuel  Raynor,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

Charles  Cowing  Zacharie,  White  Plains,  N.  Y. 

Thomas  Porter  Goodrich,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Paul  Manning  Goodrich,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Warren  Curry  Rowley,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Henry  Waite  Rowley,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Marshall  Winslow  Greene,  New  York  City. 

John  Winthrop  Comey,  New  York  City. 

15 


Joseph  Douglass  Mead,  White  Plains,  N.  Y. 
Edwin  Stanley  Bender,  Glens  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Walter  Channing  Burbank,  New  York  City. 
James  Bartlett  Whiton,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Emerson  Howe,  New  York  City. 
Francis  Craft,  Rev.,  East  Stroudsburg,  Pa. 
Welles  Catlin  Waring,  West  New  Brighton,  N.  Y. 
Charles  Henry  Sheldon,  New  York  City. 
Edmund  Howard-Martin,  New  York  City. 
Lewis  Leland  Pierce,  New  York  City. 
Charles  Woodruff  Halsey,  New  York  City. 
Lewis  Frederick  Pilcher,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 
Chester  Griswold,  New  York  City. 
LeGrand  Cannon  Griswold,  New  York  City. 
Max  De  Motte  Marsellus,  Essex  Falls,  N.  J. 
George  MacDuffie  Shoemaker,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Robert  Morrison  Olyphant,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 
Frederic  Hart  Wilson,  M.  D.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Horace  Chester  Moses,  New  York  City. 
Daniel  Lewis  Van  Antwerp,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
James  Clark  McGuire,  New  York  City. 
Louis  Hollenbeck  Soule,  New  York  City. 
Richard  Lewis  Howell,  Rev.,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Beverley  Randolph  Robinson,  New  York  City. 
John  Howard  Abeel,  New  York  City. 
David  Bowdoin  Plumer,  Briarcliff  Manor,  N.  Y. 
Herbert  Latham  Fordham,  New  York  City. 
Richard  Fitch  Hall,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Gano  Sillick  Dunn,  New  York  City. 
Harris  Ashton  Dunn,  New  York  City. 
Alexander  Noel  Blakeman,  Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y. 
John  Selby  Primrose,  New  York  City. 
Joseph  Bridgham,  Providence,  R.  I. 
Edward  C.  Miller,  New  York  City. 
Frank  Holman,  New  York  City. 
Horatio  H.  Gates,  New  York  City. 
Chester  Guild  Cutter,  New  York  City. 
Champe  Seabury  Andrews,  New  York  City. 
James  Dudley  Perkins,  New  York  City. 
Charles  Spencer  Holcombe,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


16 


Lebbeus  Harding  Rogers,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  Jr.,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Charles  Norris,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Lucius  Noyes  Palmer,  New  York  City. 

Elbridge  Romeyn  Hills,  Lieut.  Col.,  U.  S.  A.,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Edward  Pearsons  Newton,  Rev.,  New  York  City. 


Resignations. 


Dr.  Austin  Flint, 
Capt.  Charles  F.  Crain, 
Warren  P.  King, 
D wight  Samuel  Richardson, 
William  W.  Childs, 
Garret  Brodhead, 
Edwin  C.  Larned, 
Jacob  Washburn. 
Chauncey  P.  Williams, 
Charles  Albert  Spear, 
Alfred  S.  Brown, 
Clayton  E.  Bailey, 
Dr.  H.  C.  Baum. 
Edward  B.  Brooks, 
George  G.  Brooks, 


George  C.  Kobbe, 
Major  Harry  O.  Perley, 
James  B.  Ryer, 
Murray  H.  Strong, 
Henry  Y.  Wemple,  Jr. 
Augustus  Pruyn, 
Frank  A.  Babcock, 
J.  Oliver  Williams, 
Charles  Davis, 
Cole  L.  Harwood, 
George  H.  Stover, 
Everett  V.  Abbot, 
John  H.  Swartwout, 
William  C.  Briggs, 
Rov  Irvine  Stearns. 


Delinquents. 


Dr.  Ezra  A.  Bartlett, 
Frederick  A.  Boutelle, 
Herman  C.  Brewster, 
Murray  O.  Giles, 
Rufus  Hatch, 
Livingston  S.  Kasson, 


Dr.  Albert  G.  Root, 
Roscoe  C.  Sanford, 
John  H.  Swartwout, 
Edward  A.  Tobey, 
Frank  J.  Wilkins, 
Robert  D.  Williams. 


17 


Transfers. 

W.  D.  Griswold  Smith,  to  Missouri  Society, 

Rev.  Alvah  G.  Fessenden,  to  California  Society, 

J.  M.  Whittemore,  to  Connecticut  Society, 

Brig.-General  Charles  L.  Cooper,  to  Colorado  Society, 

Lieut.-Com.  W.  J.  Sears,  to  Pennsylvania  Society, 

Brig.-General  William  F.  Spurgin,  to  District  of  Columbia  Society, 

Clarence  G.  DeGraw,  to  Colorado  Society. 


List  of  Pictures,  Books  and  Pamphlets  Received. 


titles. 

Engraving  of  Paul  Jones, 

Grolier  Club   Catalogue  of   Engraved   Por- 
traits of  Washington, 

Artotype  of  Emanuel  Leutze's  Painting  of 
the  Battle  of  Monmouth, 

Flatbush  Past  and  Present, 

Missouri  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution,  Reg- 
ister 1901-1903, 

Washington's  Farewell  to  His  Officers, 

Historical  Register   and  Dictionary  of  the 
United  States  Army,  2  vols., 

Key  to  Lady  Washington's  Reception, 

Record  of  Captain  John  Hall, 

Decennial  Report,  Connecticut  Sons  of  Rev- 
olution, 

Washington    Society,    Sons    of   Revolution, 
Year  Book, 

St.     Nicholas     Society,     Constitution,     By- 
Laws  and  list  of  members,  1904, 

Union  League  Club  Book,  1904, 

The  Orderly  Book,  Kept  by  Jeremiah  Fogg, 
siege  of  Boston,  1775- 1776, 


DONOR. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Mrs.  Anna  Howe  Booth. 
Stephen  W.  Giles. 

Henry  Cadle. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Hon.  Thomas  C.  Piatt. 
Charles  R.  Huntington. 
H.  M.  LaMont. 

Charles  B.  Whittlesey. 

Wm.  R.  Redfield. 

Charles  Isham. 
Henry  W.  Hayden. 

Howland   Pell. 


18 


TITLES. 
Hero  of  Carillon   or  Fort   Ticonderoga,   in 

1777, 
The  Year's  Doings  of  the  Daughters  of  the 

Revolution,  State  of  New  York, 

Historical  Sketch  of  Major  General  Joseph 
Spencer, 

Bulletin  of  the  Society  of  Mayflower  De- 
scendants in  the  State  of  New  York, 

Memoirs  of  General  William  Heath, 

The  City  Club  of  New  York,  Constitution, 
etc., 

The  Hamilton  Club,  By-Laws,  list  of  officers, 
etc., 

Union  Club  List  for  1904, 

Pennsylvania  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Annual 
Proceedings,  1903- 1904, 

32nd  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Fair- 
mount  Park  Art  Association, 

Park  Commissioners'  Report,  1903, 

Plolland  Society  Year  Book,  1904, 

Massachusetts   Soldiers  and  Sailors  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  Vol.  12, 

Still's    Life    of    Major    General    Anthony 
Wayne, 

New  York  Genealogical  and  Biographical, 
Record,  Vol.  XXXV.,  No.  4, 

District  of  Columbia  Society,  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,  1904, 

Report  of  Canadian  Archives,  1903, 

Proceedings  of  Annual  Meeting  of  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Revolution,  1904, 

Piece  of  Charter  Oak, 

Piece  of  Bark  from  Hamilton  Trees,  Con- 
vent Avenue  and  142nd  Street, 

An  Episode  of  the  Sullivan  Campaign  and 
its  Sequel, 

The    Fac-Simile   of    General    Washington's 
Commission, 

Collection  of  Valuable  Americana  gathered 
by  the  late  Moses  Polock, 


DONOR. 

Howland  Pell. 


Mrs.    D.    Phoenix    Ingraham. 


Charles  B.  Whittlesey. 

Linus  E.  Fuller. 
William  Abbatt. 

City  Club. 

Hamilton  Club. 
Franklin  Bartlett. 

Ethan  Allen  Weaver. 

Leslie  W.   Miller. 
William  R.  Willcox. 
Henry  L.   Bogert. 

Wra.  M.  Olin. 


N.  Y.  Gen.  &  Biog.  Society. 

Charles  L.  Gurley. 
Geo.   F.  O'Halloran. 

Mrs.   D.   Phoenix   Ingraham. 
Thomas  H.  Morrison. 

Miss  Buttolph. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 


19 


TITLES. 

Engraved  Portraits  of  Gen.  Washington, 
Tuckerman's  Life  of  Gen.  Philip  Schuyler, 
The    Storming    of    Stony    Point,    by    Prof. 

Henry  P.  Johnston, 
The  Character  of  Washington,  by  Timothy 

Dwight,  D.D., 
Lake  George  in  History,  by  Elizabeth  Eg- 

gleston  Seelye, 
Commemorative  Oration  on  Major  General 
Alexander  Hamilton,  by  Dr.  John  M. 
Mason, 
The  Stone  Records  of  Croton,  by  Emily  S. 

Gilman, 
The  Capture  of  Ticonderoga,  by  Hon.  L.  E. 

Chittenden, 
Catalogue  of  the  Hampton  L.  Carson  Col- 
lection of  engraved  portraits  of  Jef- 
ferson, Franklin  and  Lafayette, 
Our  National  Flag,  by  Major  General  Schuy- 
ler Hamilton, 
Diary  of  Dr.  Ezra  Green  with  letter   from 

Robert  Hay, 
Catalogue   of    Rare    and    Scarce    American 

History, 
Life  of  Captain  Jeremiah  O'Brien, 
Phil.  Carver,  a  romance  of  the  War  of  1812, 
Catalogue   of   the   Alfred    S.    Manson    Col- 
lection of  American  Portraits, 
Diary  or  Orderly  Book  of  Sergeant  Jona- 
than Burton, 
Documents  and  letters  signed  by, 
George  III  of  England, 
George  IV  of  England, 
Louis  XIV  of  France, 
Louis  XV  of  France, 
Louis  XVI  of  France, 
With  Portraits. 
Military    Papers    of    Daniel    D.    Tompkins, 

Vols.  II  and  III, 
Scharff's  History  of  Westchester  County,  2 
vol.,  20 


DONOR. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 


Samuel  P.  Avery. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 


Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 


Warren  C. 
Warren  C. 
Warren  C. 
Warren  C. 
Warren  C. 
Warren  C. 


Crane. 
Crane. 
Crane. 
Crane. 
Crane. 
Crane. 


Hugh  Hastings. 


OFFICERS. 

President  : 
♦Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge. 

Vice-President  : 
Edmund  Wetmore. 

Secretary  : 
Morris  Patterson  Ferris. 

Treasurer : 
Arthur  Melvin  Hatch. 

Registrar  : 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston. 

Chaplain  : 
Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.D.,  D.C.L. 

Assistant  Chaplain  : 
Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.T.D. 

Historian  : 
Talbot  Olyphant. 

Board  of  Managers  : 
Robert  Olyphant,  Joseph  Tompkins  Low, 

Frederic  A.  Guild,  Philip  Livingston, 

Stiles  Franklin  Stanton,  Alexander  Ramsay  Thompson, 

Charles  R.  Henderson,  Dallas  Bache  Pratt, 

Henry  Applegate  Wilson,  Lewis  Rutherford  Morris,  M.D., 

*Samuel  Putnam  Avery. 

Membership    Committee. 

Morris  P.  Ferris,  Chairman ; 
Silas  Wodell,  William  E.  Van  Wyck, 

Wyllys  Terry,  Charles  Palmer  Robinson, 

Landreth  H.  King,  Rev.  Charles  Edward  Brugler, 

Jared  Weed  Bell,  Richard  Augustus  Wilson, 

Frederic  E.  Underhill,  Frank  H.  Lord,  Secretary. 

15  Deceased. 

21 


Chapters. 

Buffalo  Association,   Charles   B.   Wheeler,   Regent. 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Wm.  Piatt  Rudd,  Regent. 
William  Floyd  Chapter,  Col.  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 
Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Willis  E.  Ford,  Regent. 
Orange  County  Chapter,  Dr.  Fredk.  W.  Seward,  Regent. 
Jamestown  Chapter,  Rev.  Dr.  Alhert  Lucius  Smalley,  Regent. 


Historical  Committee: 

Marcius  D.  Raymond,  Townsend  Wandell, 

Howard  R.  Bayne,  "Asa  C.  Warren, 

James  William  Beekman. 


Philip  Livingston, 
William  Bunker, 


Stewards  : 

Frederick  S.  Woodruff, 
Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford, 
Clarence  Storm. 


Aisle  Committee 


Talbot 

Williams  Phillips  Baker, 
Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown, 
Oliver  Grant  Barton, 
William  Bunker, 
Banyer  Clarkson, 
Robert  Grier  Cooke, 
Henry  Russell  Drowne, 
William  B.  Osgood  Field, 
John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr., 
Francis  Griswold  Landon, 
S.  Vernon  Mann, 
Richard  M.  Montgomery,  Jr 
Charles  King  Morrison, 


Olyphant,    Chairman. 

Edward  Lawrence  Purdy, 
Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford, 
Arthur  Frederic  Schermerhorn, 
Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 
Charles  Hitchcock  Sherrill, 
Louis  Gross  Smith, 
Sydney  Leighton  Smith, 
Prentice  Strong, 
William  Gordon  Ver  Planck, 
Herman  Knickerbocker  Viele, 
Clark  Williams, 
.,  Charles  H.  Woodruff,  Jr., 

Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff. 


"'Deceased. 


22 


Marshal. 
John  Butterfield  Holland. 

Aides. 

William  Graves  Bates,  Devvitt  Clinton  Falls, 

James  Wray  Cleveland,  Francis  Laurens  Vinton  Hoppin, 

Albert  Delafield,  Benjamin  B.  McAlpin, 

Horace  Clark  Du  Val,  Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 

George  Albert  Wingate. 

Essay  Committee: 

Rev.  Charles  Edward  Brugler,  Chairman ; 
Richard  Henry  Greene,  Dr.  James  F.  Barker, 

Charles  R.  Huntington,  Frank  W.  Thomas, 

Fraunces'  Tavern  Committee: 

Robert  Olyphant,  Alexander  R.  Thompson, 

Charles  R.  Henderson,  Morris  Patterson  Ferris. 

Real  Estate  Committee: 

Robert  Olyphant,  Arthur  M.  Hatch, 

Charles  R.  Henderson,  Morris  Patterson  Ferris. 

Publication  Committee: 

*Samuel  Putnam  Avery,  Charles  Isham, 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Morris  Patterson  Ferris. 

Auditors  : 
Clark  Williams,  William  G.  Bates. 

Tallmadge  Estate  and  Monument: 
James  M.  Montgomery. 

Tallmadge  Window  Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Arthur  M.  Hatch, 

Morris  P.   Ferris. 
*  Deceased. 

23 


REPORT 


OF 


HISTORIAN 


25 


In  flDemoriam 


DIED. 

ADMITTED. 

William  Edgar  Findley, 

September  18th, 

1903. 

1892. 

reported  January  4th,  1904. 

Thomas  Jefferson  Van  Alstyne, 

October  20th, 

1903. 

1897. 

reported  May  21st,  1904. 

Edward  Francis  Moody, 

November  27th, 

1903. 

l8&> 

reported  December  24th,  1903. 

Edward  Marsh  Brown, 

December   1st, 

1903. 

1899. 

Henry  Stanton, 

December  5th, 

1903. 

189I. 

reported  October  22nd,  1904. 

John  Henry  Van  Antwerp, 

December  14th, 

1903. 

1893. 

Oren  Milton  Beach, 

December  22nd, 

1903. 

I9OO. 

George  W.  Rand, 

January  19th, 

1904. 

I903. 

Edgar  Underhill, 

January  23rd, 

1904. 

189O. 

Henry  Lyle  Smith,  M.  D., 

February  nth, 

1904. 

I9OO. 

Rodney  Strong  Dennis, 

March  7th, 

1904. 

1897. 

John  Schuyler  Anderson, 

March  17th, 

1904. 

1 89I. 

George  H.  Butler,  M.  D., 

March  28th, 

1904. 

1889. 

Franklin  Harper, 

March  28th, 

1904. 

1887. 

Jesup  Wakeman, 

April  3rd, 

1904. 

1893. 

George  Danforth  Tooker, 

April  10th, 

1904. 

1895. 

Jacob  Cox  Parsons, 

April  15th, 

1904. 

1 89I. 

Frank  Weidner  Sabold, 

April  1 6th, 

1904. 

I9OO. 

Ashbel  Parmelee  Fitch, 

May  3rd, 

1904. 

1893. 

John  De  Witt  Peltz, 

May  7th, 

1904. 

189O. 

George  Clinton  Genet, 

May  9th, 

1904. 

1883. 

Charlton  Thomas  Lewis, 

May  26th, 

1904. 

1896 

Henry  Francis  Barrows, 

May  26th, 

1904. 

1893. 

Walter  Steuben  Carter, 

June  3rd, 

1904. 

1895. 

Daniel  Hazeltine  Post, 

June  3rd, 

1904. 

1894. 

Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge, 

June  20th, 

1904. 

1883. 

Edward  Wilberforce  Lambert,  M.  D., 

July  17th, 

1904. 

1897. 

Ernest  Kempton  Adams, 

July  21st, 

1904. 

I9OO. 

Samuel  Putnam  Avery, 

August  nth, 

1904. 

1894. 

26 


Eugene  V.  N.  Bissell, 

Clinton  Wheeler  Wisner, 

Fred  Alfred  Bentley, 

William  Henry  Collins, 

William  Shrady, 

John  Van  Schaick  Lansing  Pruyn, 

George  Seymour  Conant,  M.  D., 

William  Jay  Fish, 

William  Holt  Averell, 

William  Wotkyns  Seymour,  M.  D., 

Edward  Schermerhorn  Henry, 

John  Rogers  Thayer, 

Asa  Coolidge  Warren, 

Alfred  Cutler  Barnes, 


DIED. 

ADMITTED. 

August  nth, 

1904. 

1889. 

August  2ISt, 

1904. 

1893. 

August  24th, 

1904. 

I902. 

September  7th, 

1904. 

1897. 

September  20th, 

1904. 

1884. 

September  22nd, 

1904. 

1888. 

September  23rd, 

1904. 

1889. 

October  2nd, 

1904. 

1897. 

October  13th, 

1904. 

1895. 

October  18th, 

1904. 

1892. 

October  25th, 

1904. 

I902. 

November  15th, 

1904. 

1896. 

November  22nd, 

1904. 

1883. 

November  28th, 

1904. 

1890. 

Respectfully  Submitted, 

Talbot  Olyphant, 

Historian. 


27 


ft 


New  York  Society 


REPORTS 


OF     BOARD     OF     MANAGERS 
AND      HISTORIAN. 


0 


December  4,    1905. 


To  the  Society  of  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
in  the  State  of  New  York  : 

The  Board  of  Managers  makes  the  following  report  for  the  year  last  past: 

There  have  been  ten  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  during  the  year. 

One  of  the  earliest  resolutions  was  for  the  appointment  of  a  Committee  to 
consider  Amendments  to  the  Constitution  to  provide  additional  Vice-Presidents 
and  members  of  the  Board.  For  the  latter  an  urgent  appeal  was  made  by  the 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  with  the  idea  of  having  a  representative  on  the 
Board  for  each  one  hundred  members. 

Upon  the  favorable  report  of  the  Committee  a  series  of  Amendments  to 
the  Constitution  and  By-Laws  were  approved  by  the  Board  and  presented  to  the 
Society  with  such  approval  at  a  special  meeting  held  on  April  15,  1905.  They 
have  been  notified  to  the  Society  for  consideration  and  action  thereon. 

Early  in  the  year  attention  was  drawn  by  the  Secretary  to  the  fact  that  the 
work  of  the  Society  had  so  increased  in  volume  that  it  demanded  practically 
the  entire  time  of  a  competent  official,  and  asking  that  suitable  compensa- 
tion should  be  made  him.  This  resulted  in  a  resolution  fixing  the  Secre- 
tary's compensation  for  the  year  at  $3,500. 

The  library  of  the  Society  has  been  largely  increased  by  the  liberal  gifts 
of  Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens  and  other  members,  and  the  five  cases  in  the 
office  are  now  filled  with  good  material  relating  to  the  Revolution. 

The  Tallmadge  books  reserved  by  the  Society  have  not  yet  been  moved 
to  the  office. 

Contributions  of  books  and  pamphlets  are  desired  from  members,  bearing 
on  the  Revolutionary  War,  biographies  of  participants,  genealogies  and  books 
on  old  New  York.  General  literature  must  necessarily  be  excluded  as  the 
library  grows. 

A  catalogue  has  been  made,  and  may  be  examined  at  the 
office.  The  number  of  persons  using  the  library  has  been  greater  than  ever 
before  and  the  Secretary  has  been  able  to  render  considerable  assistance  to 
those  making  out  papers,  and  has  been  able  to  develop  some  new  lines  which 
ought  to  give  increased  membership. 

A  few  copies  of  the  Tallmadge  Memoirs  remain  to  be  disposed  of.  The 
price  ($10.00)  has  been  fixed  so  that  the  entire  expense  of  publication  may  be 


covered  when  all  have  been  sold,  the  Society  in  the  meantime  having  advanced 
the  necessary  funds. 

The  first  observance  of  Tallmadge  Day,  on  January  24th,  1905,  was  made 
impressive  by  the  beautiful  tribute  of  the  new  President  to  his  predecessor. 
Remarks  were  also  made  by  Rev.  Mr.  Brugler  and  others. 

An  illustrated  paper  on  Old  New  York  preceded  the  other  exercises. 

Dr.  Albert  Bushnell  Hart,  of  Harvard  University,  read  a  most  interesting 
paper  on  the  Privateers  of  the  Revolution  at  the  April  meeting.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  he  declined  to  allow  the  paper  to  be  published. 

The  Portraits  of  Trumbull  furnished  the  topic  for  the  November  meeting. 
Prof.  John  F.  Weir,  Dean  of  Yale  University  Art  School,  delivering  an  able 
address  illustrated  by  stereopticon  views. 

The  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Society  took  place  as  usual  on  the  anniversary 
of  Washington's  Birthday. 

Eloquent  responses  to  the  toasts  were  made: 

"George  Washington,"  by  Woodrow  Wilson,  LL.  D.,  Litt.  D.,  President  of 
Princeton  University. 

"The  Principles  Established  by  the  Revolution,"  by  James  M.  Beck, 
L.  L.  D. 

"Our  Flag;  Yesterday,  To-day  and  To-morrow,"  by  William  D.  Murphy, 
Esq. 

"The  Army,"  by  Brig.-Gen.  Frederick  Dent  Grant. 

A  stenographic  report  of  these  speeches  was  arranged  for,  but  the  notes 
were  so  faulty  as  to  be  worthless  for  publication. 

The  number  in  attendance  was  larger  than  usual,  although  the  price  per 
plate  was  increased  to  $6.00  to  provide  for  the  valuable  souvenir. 

The  Banquet  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Wetmore,  the  President  of  the 
Society. 

After  the  coffee  had  been  served,  the  Society's  flags  were  brought  in  in 
procession  followed  by  large  baskets  of  flowers  which  were  presented  to  the 
Society  on  behalf  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  the  Colonial  Dames  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution.  The  President 
was  duly  invested  with  the  Cocked  Hat,  the  badge  of  office,  by  General  Francis 
E.  Pinto,  whose  father  was  an  actual  participant  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
and  who  was  himself  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  and  Civil  Wars.  He  has  since 
been  called  to  his  fathers. 

The  souvenir,  planned  for  the  dinner,  was  a  bronze  medal,  having  upon  its 
obverse  the  head  of  our  late  President  and  benefactor,  Frederick  Samuel 
Tallmadge,  and  upon  the  reverse  Fraunces'  Tavern.  The  cutting  of  the  dies 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Victor  D.  Brenner,  an  acknowledged  expert,  now 

2 


residing  in  Pans,  France.  The  dies  for  the  head  of  Mr.  Tallmadge  were 
approved  in  July.  It  was  not  until  the  latter  part  of  June  that  the  Board  of 
Managers  was  able  to  determine  upon  the  picture  of  Fraunces'  Tavern  to  be 
used  on  the  medal.  This  has  made  an  unavoidable  delay  in  the  striking  and 
delivery  of  the  medals.  Those  entitled  to  them  will  be  promptly  notified  when 
they  are  ready. 

An  additional  souvenir  in  the  form  of  a  gun  metal  pocket  match  safe,  with 
the  seal  of  the  Society  stamped  upon  it,  was  given  to  the  diners.  A  limited 
number  of  these  still  on  hand  can  be  purchased  from  the  Secretary. 

The  Board  of  Managers  has  procured  a  supply  of  the  Society's  ribbon, 
the  new  golden  buff  and  blue.  This  can  be  purchased  by  the  members  at  the 
Society's  office. 

Mr.  Smith  E.  Lane,  one  of  our  members,  furnishes  the  following  explana- 
tion of  the  heraldic  reasons  for  using  the  golden  buff  instead  of  the  lighter 
color  heretofore  adopted. 

In  Heraldry  where  the  colors  upon  the  shield  of  arms  are  "or"  (gold) 
and  "azure"  (blue)  and  these  colors  are  employed  in  the  costumes  of  retain- 
ers and  elsewhere,  the  buff  or  drab  is  substituted  for  the  gold.  In  the  same 
manner,  in  the  costumes  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  the  buff  was  used 
for  the  gold  as  the  color  of  the  cloth.  In  silk  for  the  ribbon  and  rosettes  of 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  it  is  possible  to  return  to  the  richer  golden  buff. 
This  change  also  makes  it  possible  to  distinguish  at  a  distance  between  the 
rosettes  and  ribbons  of  our  Society  and  those  of  another  Society  which  has 
endeavored  to  imitate  our  original  rosette  as  nearly  as  possible  without  actual 
reproduction. 

The  topics  for  the  essay  contest  were  for  the  Colleges: 

"The  Stamp  Act — Its  passage  and  repeal  considered  as  factors  in  precipi- 
tating the  Revolution.    Relative  importance  among  the  Causes  of  the  War." 

For  the  High  Schools: 

"General  Montgomery  and  the  attack  on  Quebec." 

To  read  carefully  the  many  essays  offered  is  no  light  task.  It  was  well 
performed  by  the  Committee,  all  very  busy  men. 

The  awards  were  made  in  February  as  follows: 

To  the  Colleges : 

Gold  Medal  to  Louis  Friedlander  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Silver  Medal  to  William  Almon  Wolff,  Jr.,  of  New  York  University. 

Bronze  Medal  to  Abraham  A.  Freedlander  of  Cornell  University. 

In  the  case  of  the  High  Schools  the  presentation  of  the  medals  was  made 
the  occasion  of  a  function  of  the  Chapters. 

The  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  took  charge  of  the  Gold  Medal  awarded 
Miss  Florence  R.  Haines  of  the  Albany  High  School,  and  it  was  presented  by 

3 


the  Regent,  Mr.  Samuel  L.  Munson,  at  the  School  on  June  8th,  a  large  number 
of  the  Chapter  members  being  in  attendance. 

Mr.  Charles  H.  Williams,  Regent  of  the  Buffalo  Association,  officiated  in 
like  manner  in  presenteing  the  Silver  Medal  to  the  winner,  Maurice  D. 
Cooper,  of  the  Buffalo  Central  High  School. 

The  essay  competition  heretofore  has  been  largely  confined  to  the  High 
Schools  in  the  upper  part  of  the  State.  This  year  the  bronze  medal  was  won  by 
a  scholar  of  the  Mt.  Vernon  High  School,  and  the  medal  was  presented  to  Miss 
Florence  E.  Wood,  the  successful  contestant,  by  Mr.  R.  Russell  Requa,  of  the 
Essay  Committee,  in  connection  with  the  School's  Commencement  exercises 
in  June. 

The  work  of  the  Chapters  has  as  usual  been  efficiently  handled. 
The  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  at  Albany  has  had  numerous  meetings 
where  papers  have  been  read. 

In  January,  Rev.  Dr.  William  F.  Whitaker  gave  a  talk  on  Holland,  illus- 
trated with  lantern  slides.  In  April  Rev.  William  Elliot  Griffis,  D.  D.,  Litt.  D., 
recounted  "Sullivan's  Expedition  against  the  Indians"  with  stereopticon  views. 
Prof.  Warren,  of  the  Albany  Boys'  Academy,  gave  a  talk  on  the  campaign 
of  General  Greene  and  the  events  that  led  up  to  and  the  capture  of  Cornwallis 
at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Chapter  at  the  University  Club. 

The  Buffalo  Association  has  also  entertained  its  members  with  historical 
papers. 

The  William ,  Floyd  Chapter  was  entertained  by  Mr.  Edgar  Ketchum 
Betts  on  June  16th  and  has  had  other  meetings. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  held  its  annual  dinner  and  meeting  on  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1905,  addresses  were  made  by  Rev.  Dr.  George  E.  Merrill,  President 
of  Colgate  University,  Col.  William  Cary  Sanger,  Hon.  H.  J.  Cookinham 
and  others. 

The  Board  of  Managers  has  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  at  several  of  its 
meetings  Col.  Walter  P.  Warren,  of  the  William  Floyd  Chapter,  and  Mr. 
Samuel  L.  Munson,  of  the  Philip  Livingston  Chapter. 

No  special  reports  have  been  received  from  the  other  Chapters,  but  their 
correspondence  indicates  a  lively  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Society. 

The  most  important  work  of  the  year  has  been  the  determination  of  the 
form  of  the  restoration  of  Fraunces'  Tavern.  A  most  exhaustive  search  was 
prosecuted  by  the  Secretary  among  old  print  collectors  and  in  the  libraries  to 
discover  some  picture  of  the  Tavern  in  the  time  of  Washington  or  some 
authentic  description  which  would  throw  light  upon  the  subject.  In  the  course 
of  the  investigation,  by  the  kind  permission  of  the  tenants,  the  side  wall  of  a 
room  on  the  fourth  floor  and  southerly  side  of  the  building  was  uncovered 
and  the  exact  line  of  the  old  roof  disclosed,  the  old  bricks  on  the  lower  side 


of  the  diagonal  line  being  met  by  bricks  of  a  larger,  more  modern  type  above. 
The  investigation  further  developed  the  fact,  which  seemed  to  have  been  forgot- 
ten, that  in  the  year  1852  a  very  disastrous  fire  occurred  in  the  tavern  starting  in 
a  paint  shop  where  the  barber  shop  now  is  and  rapidly  reaching  the  top  of  the 
house,  making  it  impossible  for  the  tenants  to  use  the  stairway  in  making  an 
exit  and  some  of  them  lost  their  lives.  The  result  of  this  fire  was  the  demolition 
of  most  of  the  old  wall  on  the  Pearl  Street  side.  The  line  of  the  fire  is  still 
discernible,  making  a  sort  of  ragged  V  which  has  left  a  triangle  including  the 
westerly  corner  of  the  second  and  third  stories,  the  two  westerly  windows  on 
the  second  story  and  one  on  the  third  story  and  on  the  easterly  side  a  part  of 
the  most  easterly  pier.  There  is  much  in  the  second  and  third  stories  of  the 
house  which  has  been  preserved  so  that  restoration  there  may  be  easily  made. 

It  is  an  odd  coincidence  that  in  January  of  this  year  a  fire  was  discovered  in 
the  same  room  where  was  started  the  disastrous  fire  of  1852.  The  promptness 
of  the  tenants  and  the  efficiency  of  the  Fire  Department  confined  it  to  within 
a  few  feet  of  its  origin. 

By  the  partial  destruction  of  a  wooden  partition  there  was  disclosed  a  dan- 
gerous condition,  a  rusty  smoke  pipe  hidden  behind  the  partition  and  in  the 
midst  of  a  large  accumulation  of  rubbish.  The  repairs  made  were  thorough 
and  were  covered  by  the  amount  received  from  the  insurance  companies. 

William  H.  Mersereau,  the  Architect  who  had  charge  of  the  restoration  of 
the  Old  Sleepy  Hollow  Church  at  Tarrytown,  "Sunnyside,"  the  old  home 
of  Washington  Irving,  and  much  other  work  of  a  like  character,  has  been 
selected  to  take  charge  of  Fraunces  Tavern. 

In  January  he  submitted  his  first  report  showing  the  present  condition  of 
the  structure,  measurement,  ground  plans,  etc.  This  was  followed  by  a  sketch 
prepared  to  show  his  ideas  of  the  possibilities.  Finally  in  July  he  presented 
a  proposed  elevation  and  interior  plans  which  met  with  great  commendation 
from  the  Committee  and  the  Board  and  were  adopted  by  the  Board  subject  to 
such  modifications  as  the  Committee  might  later  deem  necessary.  From  the  out- 
set in  dealing  with  the  many  suggestions  presented  for  the  restoration  there  have 
been  two  fixed  propositions  constantly  in  mind;  first,  adherence  to  historic 
accuracy,  and  second,  the  production  of  a  thoroughly  fire-proof  receptacle  for 
the  treasures  of  the  Revolutionary  period  which  might  through  the  generosity  of 
our  members  and  others  ultimately  find  lodgement  there.  Both  of  these  condi- 
tions have  been  well  conserved  in  the  plans  of  the  Architect.  Under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Committee,  a  contract  having  been  made  with  him  for  the  work,  he 
is  now  preparing  more  accurate  detail  drawings. 

The  cost  of  the  restoration,  estimated  by  competent  material  men  and 


mechanics,  including  the  thorough  fire-proofing  of  the  building,  will  be  from 
$30,000  to  $35,000. 

This  amount  ought  to  be  easily  raised  among  our  two  thousand  members. 
Every  member  of  the  Society  ought  to  contribute  at  least  enough  to  purchase  a 
brick  and  identify  himself  with  this  great  work. 

Fraunces  Tavern  is  not  only  the  oldest  building  in  New  York,  having  been 
erected  about  1700,  when  Etienne  de  Lancey  received  the  land  on  which  it 
stands,  then  at  the  edge  of  the  beach  fronting  the  river,  as  the  marriage  portion 
of  his  wife,  Anne,  the  second  daughter  of  Stephanus  van  Cortlandt,  but  the 
association  of  the  building  with  the  founding  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
other  important  events  prior  to  the  Revolution  and  more  than  all  else  its  asso- 
ciation with  Washington  make  it  to  New  York  what  Independence  Hall  is  to 
Philadelphia,  and  Faneuil  Hall  to  Boston. 

There  is  little  to  be  said  about  the  other  real  estate  owned  by  the  Society  be- 
yond the  fact  that  it  is  continually  rising  in  value.  All  is  rented,  and  this  year, 
after  the  payment  of  all  repairs,  interest  on  mortgages,  insurance,  commissions 
on  collections  and  on  rentals,  etc.,  brought  in  a  net  income  of  $7,898.31. 

Eighty  thousand  dollars  was  borrowed  for  the  purchase  of  Fraunces' 
Tavern,  ten  thousand  dollars  was  paid  in  July  and  the  interest  on  $30,000 
of  the  loan  reduced  to  four  per  cent.,  the  new  mortage  tax  law  making  it  im- 
possible to  do  more,  although  the  amount  borrowed  is  only  two-fifths  of  the 
value  of  the  security. 

No.  23  Gramercy  Park,  devised  by  Mr.  Tallmadge,  is  held  at  $60,000, 
a  value  indicated  by  the  prices  paid  for  the  Columbia  University  Club  on  the 
southwesterly  corner  of  Irving  Place  and  20th  Street  and  the  old  Tilden 
property  by  the  National  Arts  Club. 

The  property  is  offered  in  conjunction  with  No.  22  Gramercy  Park  and 
No.  84  Irving  Place,  owned  by  Mrs.  Seymour,  Mr.  Tallmadge's  sister.  The 
entire  plot  having  a  frontage  of  fifty-three  feet  on  Gramercy  Park  with  a 
depth  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  feet  and  an  ell  on  Irving  Place  twenty- 
five  feet  in  width. 

The  Triennial  Meeting  of  the  General  Society  of  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
took  place  in  the  Senate  Chamber  of  the  Old  State  House  at  Annapolis,  Mary- 
land, on  April  19th,  1905,  the  one  hundred  and  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the 
Battle  of  Lexington. 

The  delegates,  who  made  their  headquarters  in  the  New  Willard,  Wash- 
ington, with  a  large  number  of  members  of  the  Society  from  New  York  and 
elsewhere,  were  conveyed  on  a  train  provided  by  the  General  Society.  March- 
ing in  procession  from  the  railroad  station  headed  by  the  flags  and  banner 
of  the  New  York  Society,  the  long  column  was  most  impressive. 

At  the  State  House  the  delegates  were  welcomed  by  Governor  Warfield, 

6 


who  dwelt  upon  the  leave-taking  of  General  Washington  when  he  resigned  his 
Commission  in  the  same  place  where  the  Governor  stood,  December  23rd,  1783. 

After  the  business  of  the  Convention  had  been  transacted,  including  a  re- 
port from  the  General  Treasurer  showing  a  cash  balance  of  $4,193.07  and 
securities  worth  over  $3,100,  and  the  announcement  of  the  General  Society  that 
the  resolution  providing  for  representation  of  the  State  Societies  in  the  Gen- 
eral Society  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  their  members,  the  delegates  and 
other  members  adjourned  to  the  Gubernatorial  Mansion  where  they  were  charm- 
ingly received  by  the  Governor  and  Mrs.  Warfield. 

Following  this  reception  a  lunch  was  served  at  Carvel  Hall. 

At  three  o'clock,  an  exhibition  drill  by  the  Cadets  of  the  U.  S.  Naval 
Academy  tendered  through  the  courtesy  of  Captain  Brownson,  Superintendent, 
was  thoroughly  enjoyed.  The  occasion  was  utilized  for  the  presentation  of  a 
Silver  Cup  to  the  Cadets  by  the  General  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  to  re- 
main in  the  custody  of  the  Academy  and  to  have  inscribed  thereon  each  year 
the  name  of  the  Cadet  most  successful  in  heavy  gun  practice.  The  speech 
of  presentation  was  made  by  the  Rev.  Dean  Lee  of  Kentucky. 

On  Thursday,  April  20th,  an  excursion  was  made  by  trolley  to  Mt. 
Vernon,  and  a  short  address  and  prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Green,  the 
General  Chaplain  at  the  tomb  of  Washington. 

On  the  return  trip  by  special  invitation  of  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of 
the  city,  a  stop  was  made  at  Alexandria.  Under  escort  of  the  authorities, 
Christ  Church,  where  Washington  worshiped,  Braddock  House,  Washington 
Masonic  Lodge  and  other  places  of  interest  were  visited. 

The  banquet  in  the  evening  at  the  New  Willard  was  a  most  successful 
climax.  The  enthusiastic  reception  tendered  the  President  of  the  New  York 
Society  was  particularly  gratifying. 

The  efforts  of  the  New  York  Society  for  the  reduction  of  railroad  rates 
met  with  favor  among  the  delegates  from  a  distance  and  a  promise  of  a 
largely  increased  attendance  at  the  next  convention. 

The  New  York  Society,  in  common  with  all  others  present,  was  in- 
debted to  the  General  Secretary  and  the  Assistant  General  Secretary  for  the 
admirable  manner  in  which  every  detail  of  the  function  was  arranged. 

The  printed  roll  book  of  the  Society  which  has  been  in  use  since  1899, 
by  reason  of  changes  and  additions,  became  finally  unfit  for  use.  A  new  roll 
book  was  authorized  by  the  Board  of  Managers  and  has  been  printed. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  keep  track  of  changes  of  address.  After  a  comparison 
with  the  Treasurer's  book  last  summer  and  a  supposed  adjustment  of  addresses 
there  were  so  many  differences  that  a  notice  was  sent  by  the  Secretary  to 
every  member  recently,  requesting  a  reply,  giving  the  house  and  business  ad- 
dress, and  a  statement  of  preference  for  the  sending  of  notices. 


A  slight  change  has  been  made  in  the  application  blanks  so  as  to  provide 
for  an  additional  generation. 

During  the  year  about  four  hundred  sets  of  application  blanks  have  been 
issued,  and  while  these  have  not  all  borne  fruit  in  additions  to  the  Society's 
membership,  there  are  to-day  very  gratifying  indications  of  large  accessions 
during  the  coming  year. 

There  have  been  admitted  this  year  one  hundred  and  one  new  members. 
After  deducting  the  number  of  those  who  have  died,  resigned,  been  transferred 
to  other  State  Societies  or  have  been  dropped  for  non-payment  of  dues,  the  net 
gain  for  the  year  is  twenty-four,  as  against  a  net  loss  last  year  of  eleven,  out 
of  a  total  of  eighty-one  elected. 

Several  framed  copies  of  Stewart's  Washington  have  been  presented  to 
High  Schools  in  New  York  City  and  elsewhere  in  the  State. 

A  suitable  monument  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Tallmadge  has  been  erected 
in  the  Van  der  Poel  plot  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  where  his  remains  are 
interred. 

Arrangements  have  also  been  made  for  the  dedication  of  a  memorial 
window  to  Mr.  Tallmadge  in  St.  Mark's  Chapel,  on  February  18th,  1906,  when 
the  Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Society  will  be  held  there. 

There  were  many  books  and  Shakespearean  relics  in  the  collection, 
bequeathed  by  Mr.  Tallmadge  to  the  Society,  which  it  was  deemed  inadvisable 
to  retain,  as  they  had  no  bearing  on  the  history  of  the  Revolution.  These 
books  and  models  of  the  houses  of  Shakespeare,  Anne  Hathaway,  etc.,  were 
sold  by  the  Anderson  Auction  Company  on  the  evenings  of  November  2d  and 
3d.  The  sale  produced  a  gross  result  of  $6,284.93,  the  expenses  of  sale  were 
$1,870.60,  leaving  a  balance  of  $4,414.33  for  the  Society,  which  may  be  sup- 
plemented later  by  the  sale  of  a  few  books  which  were  not  offered  at  the 
Anderson  sale. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  Church  Services  the  Society  has  ever  held 
was  held  this  year  in  Grace  Church.  The  flags  and  banner  of  the  Society 
furnished  a  most  beautiful  coloring  against  the  white  background.  The 
Church  was  completely  filled  with  the  members  and  their  guests.  As  usual 
representatives  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  the  Colonial  Dames  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  the  Cincinnati,  Astec 
Club,  War  of  1812,  Colonial  Wars,  Foreign  Wars  and  Loyal  Legion  were  in 
attendance.  The  Society  of  the  War  of  1812  furnished  a  uniformed  escort. 
The  Sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  William  T.  Manning,  D.  D.,  Vicar  of 
St.  Agnes  Chapel,  Trinity  Parish. 

By  resolution  of  the  Board  special  seats  were  set  apart  for  the  use  of  Mrs. 
Edward  W.  Seymour,  Mrs.  Samuel  P.  Avery  and  Mrs.  Jacob  Cox  Parsons  as 
a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  members  who  have  done  so  much  for  the  Society. 

8 


In  the  conduct  of  the  business  of  the  Society  there  have  been  written 
during  the  year  twenty-five  hundred  letters,  in  addition  to  some  nine  hundred  to 
Committees.  Eight  hundred  and  fifty  Board  and  Committee  Notices  have  been 
sent.  Nearly  twenty-two  thousand  notices  of  meetings,  including  forty-four 
thousand  enclosures.    Twenty-five  thousand  envelopes  have  been  addressed. 

It  is  the  practice  of  the  Secretary  to  keep  on  hand  several  sets  of  addressed 
envelopes  to  have  them  ready  for  sending  out  notices  without  delay. 

A  list  of  the  more  important  Committees  is  appended. 

Considerable  progress  has  been  made  in  preparing  indices  of  the  Society's 
records  and  of  a  card  index  of  all  the  members  admitted. 

The  Society  has  been  the  recipient  of  many  courteous  invitations  to  take 
part  in  patriotic  functions  and  dinners.  The  following  is  a  partial  list  of  these, 
at  most  of  which  the  Society  has  been  represented: 

Pennsylvania  Society  of  New  York, 

Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 

New  Hampshire  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Colonial  Order  of  Acorn, 

Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Daughters  of  the  Revolution, 

Military  Order  of  the  War  of  1812, 

Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 

Friendly  Sons  of  Saint  Patrick, 

New  York  Historical  Society, 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars, 

Saint  George's  Society, 

Holland  Society, 

Ohio  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Illinois  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Saint  Andrews  Society. 

Ohio  Society  in  New  York. 

At  our  own  Banquet  we  were  pleased  to  have  with  us  George  W.  Olney, 
Esq.,  representing  the  Society  of  Cincinnati;  M.  J.  Drummond,  Esq.,  of  the 
Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick ;  Edward  Stalker  Sayres,  Esq.,  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,  Pennsylvania ;  Gen.  James  M.  Varnum,  of  the  Society  of  Colonial 
Wars;  Oliver  Hazzard  Perry,  Esq.,  of  the  Society  of  the  War  of  1812;  Hon. 
Daniel  Nash  Morgan,  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Connecticut ;  Marcus  Ben- 
jamin, Ph.D.,  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  District  of  Columbia ;  Col.  William 
G.  Bates,  of  the  Order  of  Foreign  Wars ;  Barr  Ferree,  Esq.,  of  the  Pennsylvania 

9 


Society;  Hon.  Garret  J.  Garretson,  of  the  Holland  Society;  Robert  Frater 
Munro,  Esq.,  of  the  St.  Andrews  Society;  Edward  F.  Darrell,  Esq.,  of  the 
St.  George's  Society;  Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  Esq.,  of  the  N.  Y.  Historical 
Society ;  Fordham  Morris,  Esq.,  of  the  Colonial  Order  of  the  Acorn. 

Information  has  been  received  of  a  legacy  of  $200,  given  by  the  will  of 
Edward  Greene,  a  valued  member  of  the  Society.  By  reason  of  a  contest  over 
his  will,  which  has  now  been  settled,  the  legacy  has  not  yet  been  paid. 

Arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  erection  of  a  tablet  in  the  Historical 
Museum  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York  which  stands  on  the  site 
where  the  American  troops  were  encamped  at  various  times  during  the  Revolu- 
tion and  where  several  skirmishes  took  place.  A  very  beautiful  tablet  designed 
by  Albert  Weinert  is  nearly  ready  to  be  placed  in  position.  Mr.  Weinert  is 
also  at  work  upon  a  tablet  to  be  erected  on  the  grounds  of  the  New  York 
University  to  commemorate  the  old  Revolutionary  Forts  which  were  located 
at  that  point.  This  will  complete  the  series  of  tablets  on  the  College  buildings 
within  the  City  of  New  York. 

For  the  Board  of  Managers, 

Morris  Patterson  Ferris, 

Secretary. 


The  President's  Tribute  to  Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge. 
On  Tallmadge  Day,  January  24,  1905. 

This  evening's  meeting  is  held  in  commemoration  of  the  birthday  of  our 
late  honored  President  and  our  benefactor,  Frederick  S.  Tallmadge. 

His  term  of  service  was  so  long,  his  interest  in  our  welfare  so  deep,  his 
parting  gifts  so  generous,  his  embodiment  of  the  spirit  that  we  aim  to  promote 
so  complete,  that  the  promptings  of  our  own  hearts  lead  us  to  come  together 
in  order  to  give  this  united  expression  of  respect  for  his  character,  and  regret 
for  his  loss,  and  to  pay  the  due  tribute  of  love  and  honor  to  his  memory. 

Others  will  speak  of  Mr.  Tallmadge's  traits  and  acts  as  they  knew  him. 
I  would  say  a  word  concerning  something  that  the  thought  of  his  long  connec- 
tion with  this  Society  suggests,  and  that  is  the  elevating  influence  that  comes 
from  a  sincere  interest  in  the  work  of  an  association,  the  object  of  which  is 
purely  to  promote  the  general  good. 

Mr.  Tallmadge  for  many  years  was  a  successful  lawyer  and  a  man  of 
affairs,  he  had  the  innumerable  calls  upon  his  time  and  energies  that  are  incident 
to  an  active  life  in  this  great  city,  and  that  fill  both  days  and  nights  so  full  of 
matters  of  direct  personal  concern  that  little  time  is  left  for  anything  else.  But 
he  had  the  tastes  of  a  scholar,  a  love  for  his  country's  history,  an  honorable 
pride  in  his  ancestry,  and  all  these  made  his  membership  in  our  Society  a  source 
of  peculiar  interest  and  pleasure  that  increased  as  time  went  by.  As  one  by 
one,  life-long  ties  were  severed  by  death,  and  the  home,  circle  diminished  and 
old  friends  passed  away,  our  meetings,  our  plans,  the  consultations  with  our 
managers,  the  intercourse  with  our  members,  the  hopes  of  our  future,  gave 
employment  for  his  thoughts,  kept  alive  his  enthusiasm  and  saved  him  from 
falling  into  the  loneliness  and  isolation  that  betoken  the  slowly  descending 
shadow  of  old  age.  As  other  objects  of  interest  faded  he  renewed  his  youth 
with  us.  Well  can  we  remember  the  earnestness  and  fire  of  his  speeches  when 
any  subject  vital  to  our  welfare  was  before  us.  His  enthusiasm  was  inspiring. 
His  voice  caught  an  echo  of  the  ringing  tone  that  came  down  to  him  from  the 
continental  trooper.  Of  all  his  associatons  beyond  and  outside  those  of  his 
home  and  his  intimate  friendships,  I  believe  we  were  the  first  in  his  heart  as 
we  were  among  the  last  in  his  thoughts  and  his  remembrance.  And  when  the 
end  came  and  darkness  was  gathering,  like  the  tender  light  of  the  sunset  when 
night  is  softly  falling,  must  the  thought  have  come  to  him  that  we  should  find 

11 


his  unspoken  farewell  in  the  noble  provision  he  had  made  to  enable  us  to  fulfill 
our  cherished  designs. 

And  the  thought  I  would  utter  is  that  the  feeling  aroused  by  such  an 
attachment  as  Mr.  Tallmadge  had  for  our  Society  is  an  ennobling  influence. 
He  never,  for  a  moment,  regarded  his  place  as  a  means  of  personal  distinction 
for  himself,  or  had  a  selfish  thought  concerning  it.  His  feelings  came  purely 
from  sincere  patriotism,  from  belief  in  the  objects  of  the  Society,  from  loyalty 
to  his  fellow  members.  And  whoever  cultivates  that  spirit  will  reap  the  benefit, 
not  only  of  the  good  he  does  to  others,  but  the  good  he  will  receive  himself. 
Most  of  us  lead  laborious  lives,  of  very  necessity  we  must  give  the  best  of  our 
years  and  time  to  private  interests,  but  whoever  bestows  that  share  of  his 
attention  which  he  can  fairly  give  to  the  noble  object  for  which  we  are  united, 
thereby  steps,  for  the  time  being,  out  of  the  dust  of  a  conflict,  where  there  is 
so  much  that  is  selfish  and  sordid,  into  a  clearer  air.  He  cannot  join  in  a  work 
that  is  for  others,  that  is  more  than  money,  more  than  personal  distinction,  and 
not  be  himself  the  better  man  for  it. 

And  as  we  pronounce  our  eulogies  on  one  who  well  exemplified  this  truth — 
we  can  feel  that  the  badge  that  we  bear  on  our  breast  takes  upon  it  a  deeper 
significance — inspires  a  more  constant  purpose  and  confers  a  greater  dignity. 


12 


Members  Admitted. 

Charles  Adriance  Mead,  Upper  Montclair,  N.  J. 

Homer  Phelps  Beach,  New  York  City. 

Wakeman  Fenton  Reynolds,  New  York  City. 

Alfred  Jerome  Brown,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Morris  Ketchum  Jesup,  New  York  City. 

Norman  Henderson,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

Cleveland  Arthur  Dunn,  New  York  City. 

Carl  Reinhold  Werner,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Robert  Burr  Hanford,  New  York  City. 

William  Floyd,  New  York  City. 

Frederick  Gregory  Reynolds,  New  York  City. 

Walter  Vernoy  Reynolds,  New  York  City. 

Louis  Annin  Ames,  New  York  City. 

Frederick  de  Figaniere,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Franklin  Cantor  Haven,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Benjamin  Jerome  Sands,  M.  D.,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 

Thomas  Nast  Fairbanks,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Morris  Douw  Ferris,  New  York  City. 

Joseph  Stuyvesant  Woodhouse,  New  York  City. 

John  Edward  Lounsbery  Davis,  New  York  City. 

William  Henry  Deming,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Joseph  Eliot  Hill,  Flushing,  N.  Y. 

Warren  Rosecrans  Hedden,  New  York  City. 

Walter  Robarts  Gillette,  New  York  City. 

John  Holmes  Johnston,  New  York  City. 

Samuel  Fowler  Phelps,  New  York  City. 

Clarkson  Crosby  Thompson,  New  York  City. 

Harry  Rogers  Forbes,  New  York  City. 

Walter  Buchanan  McCulloch,  East  Greenbush,  N.  Y. 

James  Gilbert  White,  New  York  City. 

Robert  Andrews  Granniss,  New  York  City. 

George  Elliott  Fleming,  New  York  City. 

Walter  Richards  Wheeler,  New  York  City. 

Albert  Jay  Potter,  North  Stamford,  Conn. 

13 


Frank  Kaile  Warren,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Richard  Aldridge  McCurdy,  New  York  City. 

Robert  Andrews  Granniss,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

Zelah  Van  Loan,  New  York  City. 

Phineas  Prouty  Chew,  South  Orange,  N.  J. 

William  Fullerton  White,  New  York  City. 

Faxton  Eugene  Gardiner,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Albert  Cromwell,  New  York  City. 

James  Kent  Mason,  New  York  City. 

Newton  Lloyd  Andrews,  Hamilton,  N.  Y. 

Abram  Dunn  Gillette,  New  York  City. 

Robert  Stewart  Sutliffe,  New  York  City. 

Alfred  Rutgers  Whitney,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

George  Edmund  Van  Guysling,  New  York  City. 

Charles  Longstreet  Poor,  New  York  City. 

Harriman  Neilson  Simons,  New  York  City. 

Charles  Dewar  Simons,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

Edward  Henry  Harriman  Simons,  New  York  City. 

George  Staples  Rice,  New  York  City. 

George  Elmer  Gorham,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Paul  Babcock  Munson,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Samuel  Lyman  Munson,  Jr.,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

William  Albert  Swasey,  New  York  City. 

Edward  Harleston  Simons,  New  York  City. 

Thomas  Darlington,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Frederic  Lathrop  Colver,  Tenafly,  N.  J. 

Allen  Merrill  Rogers,  New  York  City. 

Henry  Smith  Pyle,  Wilmington,  Del. 

Alexander  Dallas  Bache  Pratt,  New  York  City. 

Henry  Kirke  White,  New  York  City. 

John  Edgar  Leaycraft,  New  York  City. 

John  Jay  Reynolds,  New  York  City. 

John  McKeon  Walker,  Alexandria  City,  Va. 

Rt.  Rev.  James  Henry  Darlington,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

John  Robert  MacNeille,  New  York  City. 

John  Abeel  Weekes,  New  York  City. 

John  Hancock  Servoss,  New  York  City. 

Claude  Wesley  Jester,  New  York  City. 

Eugene  Jackson  Koop,  New  York  City. 

Frederick  Randolph  Roberts,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


14 


William  Wellington  Atwood,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Charles  Robert  Spence,  New  York  City. 

John  Van  Derpoel  Wilson,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

John  Hudson  Peck,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

John  Stockton,  Hoboken,  N.  J. 

William  Barker,  Jr.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Irving  Hayne  Barker,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Giraud  Foster,  Lenox,  Mass. 

Daniel  Strang  Horton,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

McPherson  Kennedy,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

Frank  Huron  Hill,  Tenafly,  N.  J. 

Frederick  Myers  Dearborn,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Arthur  de  Vere  Ferguson,  New  York  City. 

Ralph  Wait  Parsons,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

John  Christie  Giles,  Jr.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

John  Reynolds  Totten,  New  York  City. 

Albert  James  Sheldon,  New  York  City, 

George  Howard  Betts,  East  Orange,  N.  J. 

Walter  H.  Lyman,  Mount  Kisco,  N.  Y. 

Richard  Cutts  Shannon,  Brockport,  N.  Y. 

Horace  Joshua  Campbell,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

Joseph  Ferris  Simmons,  New  York  City. 

William  Tod  Helmuth,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Ralph  Peters,  Garden  City,  L.  I, 

David  Seymour  Brown,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

John  Perry  Rodgers,  Weenen,  Natal,  So.  Africa. 

Samuel  Reading  Bertron,  New  York  City. 


Resignations. 

Leonard  Wyeth,  Jr.,  Frank  L.  Montague, 

Kenneth  Robertson,  William  P.  Eddy, 

James  V.  Davis,  Frank  Holman, 

Edward  Elsworth,  Charles  H.  Styles, 

Frank  B.  Field,  J.  Albert  Hawkins, 

John  M.  Crouse,  Edward  B.  Dickinson, 

Walter  F.  Carter,  George  T.  Strong. 
Irving  C.  Bull, 


15 


Transfers. 

Rukard  Hurd,  to  Minnesota  Society, 
Walter  B.  Warren,  to  Massachusetts  Society, 
George  C.  Warren,  to  Massachusetts  Society, 
Julian  V.  Whipple,  to  Colorado  Society, 
Frank  L.  Eldridge,  to  Connecticut  Society, 
Rev.  Dr.  S.  D.  McConnell,  to  Maryland  Society, 
Harry  Francis  Payne,  to  Illinois  Society, 
Albert  L.  Pope,  to  Connecticut  Society. 


List  of  Pictures,  Books  and  Pamphlets  Received. 


titles. 

A  Christmas  Reminder, 

Lafayette  en  Amerique,  2  vols., 

Report  of  Librarian  Cornell  University, 

The  Elwoods, 

Connecticut  Historical  Society  Collec- 
tion, Vol.  X, 

Genesis  and  Revelations  of  Former  So- 
ciety Sons  of  Revolutionary  Sires, 

Gavel  from  Stairway  Timber  from  the 
Morris  Mansion, 

Colonial  Dames  of  America,  1890, 

Catalogue  of  Eightieth  Annual  Exhibi- 
tion, National  Academy  of  Design, 

Account  of  Fraunces  Tavern, 

Vermont  Rolls  of  Soldiers  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  1775-1783, 

Motherland, 

Year  Book,  Society  of  Colonial  Wars, 
District  of  Columbia, 

Archives,  State  of  New  Jersey,  13  vols., 

Menu,  Church  Service,  Prize  Essay,  Mis- 
souri Society,  Sons  of  Rev., 

Proceedings  of  New  Hampshire  Histori-f 
cal  Society,  Part  3,  Vol.  4, 

33rd  Annual  Report  Board  of  Trustees, 
Fairmount  Park  Art  Association, 

Memorial  Minute  of  George  Kilbon  Nash, 


DONOR. 

Aaron  Bancroft. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 
George  W.  Harris. 
Dr.  Charles  S.  Welles. 

Albert  C.  Bates. 

H.  O.  Collins, 

E.  B.  Treat. 

Colonial  Dames  of  America. 

W.  H.  Watrous. 

Mrs.  M.  P.  Ferris. 

Governor  John  G.  McCullock. 
Mrs.  J.  T.  Powers. 

Walter  C.  Clephane. 
Henry  A.  Wilson. 

Henry  Cadle. 

John  C.  Ordway. 

Leslie  W.  Miller. 
Francis  M.  Applegate. 


16 


Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  Charter  and" 

Constitution,  John   J.    Lenehan. 

Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  120th  Anni- 
versary Dinner,  John  J.    Lenehan. 
New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical 

Society,  Register,  Sup.  to  April  No 

1905.  George   A.    Gordon. 

Members  of  Society  of  Cincinnati  in  the 

State  of  New  Jersey  July  4,  1904,       Henry  A.  Wilson. 
Roster    of    North    Carolina    Continental 

Officers,  Marshall  De  L.  Haywood. 

Photos  of  Scenes  of  Triennial  Convention 

in  Washington,  1905,  Townsend  Wandell. 

Life  of  Governor  Tryon,  Marshall  De  L.  Haywood. 

History    of    the    Monument    to    Joseph 

Warren,  R.  H.  W.  Dwight. 

Report  of  Publication  Committee,  1896, 

War  of  1812,  Charles  Isham. 

Roster  of  Corps,  War  of  1812,  1899,  1901, 

1902,  1903,  Charles  Isham. 

Leaflets  in  reference  to  Records  of  North 

Carolina,  Marshall  De  L.  Haywood. 

Colonial  Order,  Year  Book,  1905-6.  C.  W.  Throckmorton. 

Mayflower  Desendants,  Constitution  and 

By-Laws,  1905,  James  A.  Hawes. 

165th  Regiment  New  York  Volunteers, 

2nd  Duryee  Zouaves,  John  A.  Vanderbilt. 

Census  of  Pensioners  of  Revolution  in 

1840,  Frank  W.  Thomas. 

Nev.-  York  State  Historical  Association, 

Report,  Vol.  3  and  4,  R.  O.  Bascom. 

Union  Club  Book,  1905,  Franklin  Bartlett. 

Annual    Proceedings    Pennsylvania    So- 
ciety, Sons  of  Revolution,  1904-5,      Ethan  Allen  Weaver. 
Editorials  and  Resolutions  in   reference 

to  Samuel  P.  Avery,  Samuel  P.  Avery,  Jr. 

George  Clinton  Papers,  Vols.  VII,  VIII,     Hugh  Hastings. 
Massachusetts  Soldiers  and  Sailors  of  the 

Revolutionary  War,  Vol.  XIII.        William  M.  Olin. 
Last  Days  of  Knickerbocker  Life  in  New 

York,  Charles  W.  Dayton. 

17 


City  Club,  Constitution,  By-Laws  and 
House  Rules,  1905, 

Life  and  Letters  of  Major-General  Sam- 
uel Holden  Parsons,  Continental 
Army, 

Spanish  War  Record, 

A  Rebellion  in  the  Colony  of  Virginia, 

Daniel  Claus  Narrative, 

Copy  of  Original  Massachusetts  Muster 
Rolls, 

Addresses  at  the  Tenth  Annual  Banquet, 

The  Second  Capture  of  Louisburg, 

The  Year  Book  for  1905, 

Genealogy  of  the  Cutts  Family  and  the 
Shannon   Genealogy, 

Partial  Genealogy  of  the  Ferris  Family, 

Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  Association  of  New 
York  City, 

Picture  of  Timothy  Warren,  of  Chelms- 
ford, Mass., 

Asa  Warren,  of  Boston,  Mass., 

Picture  of  Mount  Vernon, 

Picture  of  Marietti  Washington, 

Washington  Pitcher, 

New  York  Historical  Society  Medal, 

Numerous  Notices, 

Bulletins, 

Toby,  used  at  Fraunces  Tavern  Lunch,  Dec. 
4,  1883. 


City  Club. 


Charles  S.  Hall. 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Richard  Cutts  Shannon. 
Antonio  Rasines. 

James  Anderson  Hawes. 

Miss  Lillie  E.  Warren. 
Miss  Lillie  E.  Warren. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 
Samuel  P.  Avery. 
Acosta  Nichols. 
Order  Loyal  Legion. 
N.  Y.  Public  Library. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 


From  John  Austin  Stevens. 

Sparks. 

Colonial  Dames  of  America. 

Welles. 


Correspondence  of  the  Revolution,  4  vols.,    Sparks 

Letters  to  Washington,  5  vols., 

History  and  Pedigree,  Washington  Fam- 
ily, 

President  Reed  Life  and  Commissions,  2 
vols., 

Col.  Samuel  B.  Webb  Reminiscence, 

Long  Island  Campaign  of  1776, 

History  of  United  States  Artillery, 

18 


Adj.  Gen'l  U.  S.  Cont. 
Mil.  Sec'y  to  Washington. 
Johnston. 
Birkheimer. 


Sir  John  Burgoyne,  Political  and  Military 
Hist., 

Benedict  Arnold,  Life  of, 

Franklin  in  France, 

Diary  of  Jacob  Hiltzheimer,  1765-1798, 

Historical  Collection,  State  of  New  York, 

Joseph  Brandt,  "Thayandoncqa," 

Trumbull  Papers,  Vols.  Ill  and  IV,  Mass. 
Historical  Society. 

Jefferson  Papers, 

Heath  Papers,  3  vols., 

History  of  Negro  Race  in  America,  2 
vols., 

Beaumarchais  and  his  times, 

Banquet  to  Guests  of  Nation,  1801, 

Lives  of  the  Signers, 

City  of  New  York  in  1789, 

Battle  of  Harlem  Heights, 

Centennial  Oration,  July  4,  1876, 

Saratoga,  Reminiscences, 

Battle  of  Harlem  Plains,  Com.  1876, 

The  Burgoyne  Campaign, 

The  Yorktown  Handbook,  1781-1881, 

History,  New  York  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, 

Nathan  Hale,  1776, 

Historical  Collection,  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 

Financial  History  of  United  States, 

History  of  the  United  States,  4  vols., 

History  of  the  City  of  New  York, 

History  of  the  United  States, 

Peace  Negotiations,  1782- 1783, 

Battle  of  Harlem  Heights, 

Major-General  Philip  Schuyler, 

Major-General  Philip  Schuyler, 
Saratoga  Battle  Ground, 
Benedict  Arnold  at  Saratoga, 
German  Soldiers  at  Newport, 
Siege  of  Newport, 

19 


Fonblanque. 
Isaac  N.  Arnold. 
Hale. 

Howe. 

W.  L.  Stone. 

Mass.  Hist.  Society. 
Mass.  Hist.  Society. 
Mass.  Hist  Society. 

Williams. 

Lomenie. 

Chamber  of  Commerce. 

N.  Dwight. 

T.  E.  V.  Smith. 

Johnston. 

Sheffield. 

Stone. 

N.  Y.  Hist.  Society. 

John  Austin  Stevens. 

John  Austin  Stevens. 

Charles  King. 
Johnston. 

Day. 

Bolles. 
Hildreth. 
Booth. 
Schouler. 
John  Jay. 

Erastus  C.  Benedict. 
Geo.  L.  Schuyler  and 

S.  G.  Bancroft. 
John  Watts  de  Peyster. 
Ellen  H.  Walworth. 
Isaac  N.  Arnold. 
Rosengarten. 
Mrs.  Almy's  Journal. 


Boston  Tea  Party  Centennial, 
John  Cochran,  Letter  to  Society  of  Cin- 
cinnati, 
Centennial  of  Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
Centennial  of  Yorktown  Surrender, 
Centennial  Oration  at  Yorktown, 
Our  French  Visitors  in  Boston,  1881, 
History,  Yorktown  Surrender, 
First  1 1  Peace,  Description  of  Pict^ri, 
The  Braddock  Campaign,  Washington's 

Acct., 
Libels  on  Washington, 
Saratoga  Monument, 
Memoir  of  William  Kelby  Librarian,  N. 

Y.  Hist.  Soc., 
New    Windsor    Centennial,    Washington 

Headquarters, 
Washington  Statue,  N.  Y.  Unveiling, 
Newburg    Headquarters,    Catalogue    of 

Relics, 
Washington  Headquarters,  Cambridge, 
Washington  Monument  Orntion, 
Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
Old    Streets   of    New    York   under   the 

Dutch, 
Henry  White  and  his  family  (Cortlandt 

House) , 
Progress  of  New  York  in  a  Century, 
Battle  of  Harlem  Plains  Ceremonies. 
Numerous     other     pamphlets,     notices, 
scraps  in  relation  to  Fraunces  Tav- 
ern, pictures  and  documents. 


Mass.  Hist  Society. 


Winthrop, 


Scribners. 

George  H.  Moore. 


John  Austin  Stevens. 


Geo   Wm.  Curtis. 


Charles  Deane. 
Robert  Winthrop. 
Ca.  O'Conor. 

J.  W.  Gerard. 

J.  A.  Stevens. 
John  A.  Stevens. 
N.  Y.  Ti;st.  Society. 


20 


OFFICERS. 

President  : 
Edmund  Wetmore,  34  Pine  Street. 

Vice-President  : 
Robert  Olyphant,  21  Cortlandt  Street. 

Secretary : 
Morris  Patterson  Ferris,  146  Broadway. 

Treasurer  : 
Arthur  Melville  Hatch,  96  Broadway. 

Registrar  : 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  17  Lexington  Avenue. 

Chaplain  : 
Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.D.,  D.C.L.,  27  West  25th  Street 

Assistant  Chaplain  : 
Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

Historian  : 
Talbot  Olyphant,  21  Cortlandt  Street. 

Board  of  Managers: 

Charles  R.  Henderson,  24  Nassau  Street. 

Henry  Applegate  Wilson,  141  Broadway. 

Joseph  Tompkins  Low,  34  Pine  Street. 

Philip  Livingston,  992  Fifth  Avenue. 

Alexander  Ramsay  Thompson,  15  Wall  Street. 

Dallas  Bache  Pratt,  52  William  Street. 

Lewis  Rutherford  Morris,  M.  D.,  60  West  58th  Street 

John  Hone,  58  New  Street. 

August  Belmont,  23  Nassau  Street. 

John  Canfield  Tomlinson,  15  Wall  Street. 

Charles  Francis  Roe,  280  Broadway. 

Membership  Committee. 

Silas  Wodell,  149  Broadway,  New  York  City,  and  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 
Wyllys  Terry,  50  Pine  Street,  New  York  City,  and  12  Remsen  Street, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

21 


Landreth  H.  King,  Room  526,  Grand  Central  Station,  New  York  City. 
Frederic  E.  Underhill,  94  Chambers  Street,  New  York  City. 
William  E.  Van  Wyck,  36  Beekman  Street,  New  York  City. 
Charles  Palmer  Robinson,  31  Nassau  Street,  New  York  City. 
Richard  Augustus  Wilson,  499  Monroe  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Robert  Grier  Cooke,  307  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 
Josiah  Culbert  Palmer,  27  William  Street,  New  York  City. 
Rev.  Charles  Edward  Brugler,  Secretary,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 

Chapters. 

Buffalo  Association,  Charles  H.  Williams,  Regent. 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Samuel  Lyman  Munson,  Regent. 
William  Floyd  Chapter,  Col.  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 
Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Frederick  T.  Proctor,  Regent. 
Orange  County  Chapter,  Dr.  Fred'k  W.  Seward,  Regent. 
Jamestown  Chapter,  Rev.  Dr.  Albert  Lucius  Smalley,  Regent. 

Historical  Committee. 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Brugler,  Howard  R.  Bayne, 

Henry  R.  Drowne,  Richard  Henry  Greene, 

Augustus  Floyd. 

Stewards. 
Clarence  Storm,  Chairman,  Herbert  Barry, 

Waldron  P.  Belknap,  John  Adams  Dix, 

William  B.  O.  Field. 

Aisle  Committee. 

Talbot  Olyphant,  Chairman. 
Banyer  Clarkson,  Edward  Lawrence  Purdy, 

Robert  Grier  Cooke,  Arthur  Frederic  Schermerhorn, 

John  Jay  Clarkson,  Jr.,  Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 

Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Henry  Gansevoort  San  ford, 

Joseph  L.  Edmonds,  Sidney  Leighton  Smith, 

Morris  Douw  Ferris,  Prentice  Strong, 

George  Hewlett,  William  Gordon  Ver  Planck, 

Duncan  McRa  Livingston,  Herman  Knickerbocker  Viele, 

S.  Vernon  Mann,  Clark  Williams, 

Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr.,        Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  Jr., 

Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff. 

23 


William  Graves  Bates, 
James  Wray  Cleveland, 
Albert  Delafield, 
Horace  Clark  Du  Val, 


Marcius  D.  Raymond, 
Townsend  Wandell, 


Marshal. 
John  Butterfield  Holland. 

Aides. 

De  Witt  Clinton  Falls, 
Benjamin  Brandreth  McAlpin, 
Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 
Charles  Hitchcock  Sherrill,  Jr. 
George  Albert  Wingate. 

Essay  Committee. 

R.  Russell  Requa, 
William  P.  Rudd, 
Walter  P.  Warren. 


Fraunces'  Tavern  Committee. 


Robert  Olyphant, 
Charles  R.  Henderson, 


Alexander  R.  Thompson, 
Morris  Patterson  Ferris. 


Robert  Olyphant, 
Charles  R.  Henderson, 


Real  Estate  Committee. 


Arthur  M.  Hatch, 
Morris  Patterson  Ferris. 


Publication  Committee. 


♦Samuel  Putnam  Avery, 
James  M.  Montgomery, 


Charles  Isham, 

Morris  Patterson  Ferris. 


Auditors. 

Clark  Williams,  William  G.  Bates. 

Tallmadge  Estate  and  Monument. 
James  M.  Montgomery. 

Tallmadge  Window  Committee. 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Arthur  M.  Hatch, 

Morris  P.  Ferris. 
♦Deceased. 


23 


REPORT 
c 

HISTORIAN 


An  flD£moriam 


DIED. 

ADMITTED. 

John  D.  Parsons,  Jr., 

December  16th, 

1904. 

189O. 

William  Alexander  Tennille, 

January  10th, 

1905. 

1895. 

Joel  Ellis  Fisher, 

January  10th, 

1905. 

1899. 

Henry  Bliss  Pierce, 

January  17th, 

1905. 

1896. 

Richard  Somers  Hayes, 

March  2nd, 

1905. 

1886. 

James  Oliver  Carpenter, 

March  6th, 

1905. 

1892. 

Henry  Norcross  Munn, 

March  9th, 

1905. 

1896. 

Edward  Cromwell  Cockey, 

March  15th, 

1905. 

1894. 

James  Oliver  Arnold, 

March  16th, 

1905. 

189O. 

Henry  Lake  Woodward, 

March  20th, 

1905. 

I90I. 

James  Wisner, 

March  23rd, 

1905. 

I893. 

Thomas  Grier  Evans, 

March  28th, 

1905. 

1885. 

George  Norman  Williamson, 

April  27th, 

1905. 

1892. 

Joseph  Warren  Scott  Dey, 

May  4th, 

1905. 

1892. 

William  Minott  Whitney, 

May  10th, 

1905. 

I895. 

Crowell  Hadden,  Jr., 

May  13th, 

1905. 

1893. 

William  Bedloe  Crosby, 

May  27th, 

1905. 

1884. 

Charles  William  Darling, 

June  22nd, 

1905. 

189O. 

Brig.-Gen'l,  U.  S.  V.,  1863-1865. 

Louis  Joseph  Allen, 

June  29th, 

1905. 

1892. 

Rear-Admiral,  U.  S.  N. 

Selah  Elliott  Strong, 

July  9th, 

1905. 

1898. 

John  Van  Boskerck  Clarkson, 

July  nth, 

1905. 

1885. 

Ludovic  Benet, 

July  1 2th, 

1905. 

189O. 

Francis  Effingham  Pinto, 

July  17th, 

1905. 

1888. 

U.  S.  V.,  Mexican  War. 

Edward  Lyman  Short, 

July  30th, 

1905. 

1887. 

James  Henry  Jenkins, 

August  1 6th, 

1905. 

1894. 

William  Stiger  Richards, 

August  1 6th, 

1905. 

I903. 

Charles  Hathaway  Webb, 

September  3rd, 

1905. 

1892. 

George  Dow  Farrar, 

September  10th, 

1905. 

1893. 

Alexander  DuB.  Schenck, 

September  i6th, 

1905. 

1904. 

Lieut.-Col.,  U.  S.  A. 

26 


Frank  Reynolds, 
James  Lynch  Montgomery, 
Edward  Adams  Treat, 
William  Alexander  Duer, 
Frederic  Henry  Betts, 
Henry  Frank  Weed, 
John  Godfrey  Schumaker, 


DIED. 

ADMITTED. 

October  22nd, 

1905. 

1893. 

October  25th, 

1905. 

189O. 

October  25th, 

'1905. 

1902. 

October  27th, 

1905. 

189O. 

November  nth, 

1905. 

1890. 

November  15th, 

1905. 

189O. 

November  23rd, 

1905. 

1896. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

Talbot  Olyphant, 

Historian. 


■ 


A.  \ 


New  York   Society 


REPORTS 


OK     BOARD     OF     MANAGERS 
AND     HISTORIAN 


December  4,  1906 


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To  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  State  of  New  York  : 

The  Board  of  Managers  submits  the  following  report  for  the  year  ending 
December  4th,  1906: 

There  have  been  ten  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  during  the  year. 

At  the  last  Annual  Meeting  the  Amendments  to  the  Constitution,  provid- 
ing for  additional  Vice-Presidents  and  members  of  the  Board  of  Managers, 
were  adopted;  also  Amendments  to  the  By-Laws  authorizing  the  Board  to 
appoint  an  Assistant  Chaplain  and  to  deal  with  members,  in  arrears,  and  pro- 
viding for  the  retirement  annually  of  either  five  or  six  members  of  the  Board 
of  Managers,  and  the  appointment  of  six  Stewards,  two  to  be  retired  and  two 
appointed  each  year. 

The  proposed  Amendment  of  the  Preamble  to  the  Constitution,  as  to  the 
wording  thereof,  and  the  date  of  the  Annual  Meeting,  together  with  the 
Resolution  that  the  Board  of  Managers  arrange  for  an  excursion  every  Spring, 
for  the  Society,  to  some  point  of  historic  interest,  and  that  preference  be 
given  to  steamboat  transportation,  was  referred  to  a  Special  Committee  of 
five  to  report  on  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Society. 

The  General  Secretary,  Mr.  Montgomery,  reported  that  hereafter,  at  the 
Triennial  Convention,  each  State  Society  will  have  two  delegates  and  one 
additional  delegate  for  each  hundred  members  or  major  portion  thereof,  and  that 
each  delegate  present  at  a  meeting  of  the  General  Society  shall  be  entitled  to 
one  vote.  Under  this  new  rule  the  New  York  Society  will  have  twenty-two 
delegates  instead  of  five. 

The  President  tendered  the  hearty  congratulations  of  the  Society  to  Mr. 
Montgomery  for  the  result  of  his  efforts. 

Since  the  Annual  Meeting  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D., 
has  been  elected  Assistant  Chaplain  and  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  Historian,  and 
an  Executive  Committee  of  three  members  of  the  Board  of  Managers  with 
the  President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  ex-officio,  has  been  instituted  by  the 
Board  to  act  on  all  questions,  relative  to  the  management  of  the  affairs  of 
the  Society,  during  the  interval  between  the  meetings  of  the  Board,  and  to  re- 
port at  each  meeting.  Messrs.  Hone,  Low  and  Bates  were  elected  to  serve  on 
the  Committee. 


The  resignation  of  Mr.  Morris  P.  Ferris  as  Secretary  was  duly  accepted, 
and  it  was  moved  that  a  proper  expression  of  the  Board's  appreciation  be 
prepared  and  sent  to  Mr.  Ferris. 

.Mr.  Henry  Russell  Drowne  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Society  to  fill  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Ferris,  and  Mr.  Louis  B.  Wilson  was 
appointed  Managing  Clerk  of  the  Secretary's  office. 

The  second  celebration  of  Tallmadge  Day  on  January  24th,  1906,  was 
observed  by  the  reading  of  a  paper,  by  Mr.  Francis  W.  Halsey,  on  "The  fight 
for  the  Hudson  Valley  in  the  Revolution,"  illustrated  with  stereopticon  views. 

The  Special  Meeting  on  this  date  was  adjourned  to  the  next  stated  Meeting 
on  April  19th. 

At  the  April  Meeting,  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Lex- 
ington, the  Society  listened  to  an  interesting  lecture  by  Mr.  William  Ordway 
Partridge,  the  sculptor,  on  "Nathan  Hale,  Our  National  Hero." 

This  was  preceded  by  the  Special  Meeting,  and  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee of  five,  appointed  at  the  Annual  Meeting  to  amend  the  Preamble  to  the 
Constitution  and  Section  XV  of  the  By-Laws,  as  to  the  date  of  the  Annual 
Meeting,  was  presented  by  Col.  Asa  Bird  Gardiner  and,  on  motion,  the 
resolutions  were  carried  unanimously. 

The  change  in  the  Preamble  strikes  out  the  word  "formal"  before  the 
word  "Evacuation",  and  also  the  words  "on  the  third  day  of  December,  1783 
as  a  relinquishment  of  territorial  sovereignty." 

The  first  paragraph  of  Section  XV  of  the  By-Laws,  entitled  "Annual  and 
Special  Meetings,"  was  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

"The  Society  shall  hold  an  Annual  Meeting  in  the  City  of  New  York  on 
the  fourth  day  of  December  in  every  year,  the  Anniversary  of  Washington's 
Farewell  to  his  Officers  at  Fraunces'  Tavern,  at  which  a  general  election  of 
Officers  and  Managers,  by  ballot,  shall  take  place,  except  when  such  date 
shall  fall  on  Sunday,  in  which  case  the  meeting  shall  be  held  on  the  following 
day." 

An  amendment  to  the  By-Laws  adding  Section  XXIV  relative  to  Proxies, 
was  presented. 

At  the  November  Meeting,  celebrating  the  Evacuation  of  the  City  of  New 
York  by  the  British  troops,  an  interesting  address  was  delivered  by  Mr. 
Francis  W.  Halsey  on  "The  Indians  of  New  York  and  their  Famous  League". 
A  brief  Special  Meeting  preceded  this  to  act  on  the  amendment  to  the  By- 
Laws,  adding  a  new  Section,  XXIV,  relative  to  proxies. 

The  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Society  took  place  on  February  22,  1906,  the 
Anniversary  of  Washington's  Birthday,  and  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Edmund 
Wetmore,  the  President  of  the  Society. 


The  following  invited  guests  were  present:  Major-General  Frederick 
D.  Grant,  U.  S.  A.,  representing  the  Army ;  Capt.  Joseph  N.  Hemphill,  U.  S.  N., 
the  Navy;  Michael  J.  Drummond,  the  Friendly  Sons  of  Saint  Patrick;  Gen. 
John  T.  Lockman,  the  Saint  Nicholas  Society;  Charles  A.  Schermerhorn, 
Society  of  the  War  of  1812;  Major-General  Charles  F.  Roe,  Society  of 
Colonial  Wars ;  Henry  L.  Bogert,  the  Holland  Society ;  Edward  F.  Darrell,  the 
Saint  George's  Society;  Robert  Frater  Munro,  Saint  Andrew's  Society;  Cort- 
landt  S.  Van  Rensselaer,  Colonial  Order  of  the  Acorn ;  Gen.  Stewart  L.  Wood- 
ford, Order  of  Foreign  Wars ;  Hon.  Bayard  Stockton,  New  Jersey  Society, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution;  Walter  Collyer  Faxon,  Connecticut  Society,  Sons  of 
the  Revolution ;  Lombard  Williams,  Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution ;  Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  New  York  Historical  Society ;  Rev.  Loring  W. 
Batten,  Ph.D.,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  St.  Mark's  Church ;  and  were  escorted  to  the 
table  by  members  of  the  Society. 

The  toasts  were  eloquently  responded  to  as  follows : 

"George  Washington,"  by  Henry  St.  George  Tucker,  Esq.,  of  Lexington, 
Va. 

"Benjamin  Franklin,"  by  Albert  H.  Smyth,  LL.D.,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

"The  South  in  the  Revolution,"  by  Breckenridge  Castleman,  Esq.,  of  Louis- 
ville, Ky. 

After  the  coffee  the  Society's  flags  were  brought  in  with  drum  and  fife 
accompaniment,  followed  by  large  baskets  of  flowers  presented  on  behalf  of  the 
Colonial  Dames  of  America,  the  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  President  was  duly  decorated 
with  the  cocked  hat. 

The  attendance  at  the  Banquet  was  larger  than  ever  before,  438  seats  being 
provided.  The  souvenirs  were  appropriate  to  the  Franklin  Anniversary,  being 
a  silk-covered  box  with  a  portrait  of  Franklin  and  a  miniature  Franklin  Stove 
in  bronze,  bearing  the  seal  of  the  Society. 

The  Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Society,  commemorative  of  the  birth  of 
George  Washington,  was  held  on  Sunday,  February  18,  1906,  at  St.  Mark's 
Church,  Tenth  Street,  near  Second  Avenue,  at  4  P.  M.  It  was  conducted  by 
Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  S.  T.  D.,  D.  C.  L.,  D.  D.,  Oxon.,  Rector  of  Trinity  Church 
and  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  assisted  by  Rev.  Loring  W.  Batten, 
Ph.D.,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  St.  Mark's  Church,  and  Rev.  George  S.  Baker,  D.  D., 
Rev.  Pelham  St.  G.  Bissell,  M.  A.,  A.  K.  G,  Rev.  A.  A.  Brockway,  Rev.  Henry 
Barton  Chapin,  D.  D.,  Rev.  James  S.  Dennis,  Rev.  William  N.  Dunnell,  D.  D., 
Rev.  Edward  Octavus  Flagg,  D.  D.,  Rev.  William  Irvin,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Robert 
Morris  Kemp,  Rev.  James  Tuttle-Smith,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys, 


S.  T.  D.,  Assistant  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  The  sermon  was 
delivered  by  the  Rev.  Loring  W.  Batten,  Rector  of  the  church. 

A  special  feature  was  the  unveiling  of  the  Tallmadge  Memorial  Window, 
erected  in  loving  remembrance  of  our  late  President  and  benefactor,  with  an 
impressive  presentation  address  by  President  Wetmore.  The  church  was  beau- 
tifully decorated  for  the  occasion. 

Representatives  were  present  from  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  the 
Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution 
and  the  Societies  of  the  Cincinnati,  Colonial  Wars,  War  of  1812,  Foreign  Wars, 
Aztec  Club  and  Loyal  Legion ;  and,  as  usual,  the  Society  of  the  War  of  1812 
furnished  a  uniformed  escort. 

The  procession,  thanks  to  the  courtesy  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
assembled  in  their  audience  hall. 

The  Board  of  Managers  empowered  the  Real  Estate  Committee  to  sell 
the  Tallmadge  residence,  23  Gramercy  Park,  for  $55,000,  the  proceeds  to  go 
toward  the  purchase  and  restoration  of  Fraunces'  Tavern,  in  accordance  with 
the  expressed  intention  of  the  Society. 

A  new  and  better  die  was  authorized  to  be  made  for  the  Insignia  of  the 
Society,  which  hereafter  will  be  issued  to  members  at  a  cost  of  $20. 

In  addition  to  the  bronze  medals  for  members,  two  copies  of  the  Tall- 
madge-Fraunces'  Tavern  Medal  were  ordered  struck,  one  in  gold  and  the  other 
in  silver,  the  gold  medal  to  be  appropriately  engraved  on  the  edge  "Presented 
to  Mary  Floyd  Tallmadge  Seymour  by  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  February 
22,  1905,"  and  the  silver  medal  for  the  collection  of  the  Society. 

The  Stewards  were  authorized  to  provide  themselves  with  a  staff  to  be 
used  at  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Society. 

The  Essay  Committee  having  recommended  discontinuing  the  prizes  for 
colleges,  the  money  that  had  been  used  for  this  purpose,  amounting  to  about 
$150,  was  appropriated  for  the  City  History  Club. 

The  proposition  to  place  a  boulder  and  tablet  in  honor  of  Col.  Marinus 
Willett,  of  the  Continental  Army,  in  Washington  Park,  in  the  City  of  Albany, 
was  approved,  and  the  Secretary  authorized  to  send  out  a  request  for  sub- 
scriptions for  this  purpose. 

The  question  of  remedial  legislation  as  to  taxes  on  Fraunces'  Tavern  has 
been  referred  to  a  committee  for  consideration,  with  power  to  prepare  and 
introduce  a  bill  in  the  Legislature  if  advisable. 

The  bill  to  prevent  the  mutilation  of  the  National  Anthem,  the  "Star 
Spangled  Banner,"  was  approved,  and  a  resolution  to  that  effect  duly  adopted 
and  forwarded  to  Senator  Brackett,  who  had  the  matter  in  charge. 

Possession  of  Fraunces'  Tavern  was  obtained  about  May  10,  1906,  and  the 


Real  Estate  Committee  was  authorized  to  proceed  with  the  restoration,  in 
accordance  with  estimates  and  plans  submitted,  at  a  cost  not  to  exceed  $55,000, 
subject  to  such  changes  and  modifications  as  may  be  necessary. 

It  is  proposed  to  send  out  an  appeal  in  the  near  future  to  the  members 
of  the  Society  for  the  raising  of  funds  for  this  worthy  project. 

Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens  proposes  to  write  a  history  of  Fraunces'  Tavern 
for  the  Society. 

A  report  of  the  Real  Estate  Committee  is  herewith  annexed. 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  California  Society  a  memorial  has  been  prepared 
requesting  that  Congress  have  printed  certain  Revolutionary  archives  heretofore 
unpublished. 

It  is  recommended  that  Section  V  of  the  By-Laws  be  changed  to  read  as 
follows : 

"The  Treasurer  shall  collect  and  keep  the  funds  and  securities  of  the 
Society ;  and  as  often  as  those  funds  shall  amount  to  one  hundred  dollars  they 
shall  be  deposited  in  some  bank  in  the  City  of  New  York,  which  shall  be 
designated  by  the  Board  of  Managers,  to  the  credit  of  the  Society  of  the  'Sons 
of  the  Revolution,'  and  such  funds  shall  be  drawn  thence  on  the  check  of  the 
Treasurer  for  the  purposes  of  the  Society  only.  Out  of  these  funds  he  shall 
pay  such  sums  as  may  be  ordered  by  the  Society  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
Board  of  Managers,  or  by  the  Board  of  Managers,  and  shall  perform  such 
other  duties  as  the  Society,  or  Board  of  Managers,  or  his  office,  may  require 
of  him." 

The  resignation  of  Mr.  Alex.  R.  Thompson,  as  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Managers  was  accepted,  and  Mr.  Levi  C.  Weir  was  elected  in  his  place. 

The  work  of  the  Chapters  has  been  most  efficient.  The  Philip  Livingston 
Chapter  at  Albany  held  its  Annual  Meeting  on  January  22,  1906,  and  elected 
officers  for  the  year.  April  19th,  "Lexington  Day,"  was  celebrated  at  the 
University  Club.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Demorest,  President  of  Rutgers  College,  N.  J., 
read  a  most  interesting  paper  on  "The  Colleges  of  the  Revolution,"  and  the 
Hon.  Joseph  I.  Lawson  gave  a  short  address  on  "The  duties  of  American 
Citizens  and  of  Patriotic  Societies."  At  the  Quarterly  Meeting  on  October 
25th  Major  Charles  Jay  Buchanan  and  Capt.  O.  D.  Robinson  read  interesting 
papers. 

The  Buffalo  Association  held  three  business  and  social  meetings  during  the 
year  at  which  lectures  were  delivered  on  patriotic  subjects.  On  January  10th 
a  banquet  was  held  at  the  University  Club,  and  on  Washington's  Birthday  a 
special  service  was  held  at  Trinity  Church.  A  reception  was  given  to  the 
Association  by  its  President,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Williams,  at  his  residence,  to  meet 
one  of  the  staff  of  Admiral  Togo,  who  was  with  the  Admiral  in  the  memorable 


battle  of  Japan  Sea,  and  gave  a  graphic  description  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Russian  fleet.  The  Association  suffered  a  severe  loss  on  March  6th  in  the 
death  of  its  former  President,  Nathaniel  Rochester.  Appropriate  resolutions 
were  adopted  at  a  special  meeting  and  spread  on  the  minutes. 

The  William  Floyd  Chapter  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  held  its  Annual  Meeting  for 
the  election  of  officers  on  May  28,  1906,  at  the  Troy  Club,  where  a  paper  was 
read  on  "The  Clergy  of  the  Episcopal  Church  and  the  American  Revolution," 
by  the  Rev.  Edgar  A.  Enos,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church.  Divine  service 
was  attended  by  the  Chapter  as  a  body  on  Sunday,  February  25th,  at  the  State 
Street  Methodist  Church. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  held  its  Annual  Meeting  and  election  on  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1906. 

The  Orange  County  Chapter  held  its  Annual  Meeting  and  election  on 
June  22,  1906. 

The  Jamestown  Chapter  held  its  Annual  Meeting  in  August  for  the  elec- 
tion of  officers.  The  occasion  was  chosen  as  the  time  for  the  Annual  Banquet 
of  the  Chapter  which  was  given  at  the  Country  Club  at  Lakewood-on-Chau- 
tauqua.  The  Hon.  Obed  Edson,  Historian  of  Chautauqua  County,  delivered 
an  address  upon  the  expedition  of  a  detachment  of  the  "King's  Eighth,"  a 
British  regiment  from  Canada,  which,  with  a  band  of  Indians,  passed  through 
Chautauqua  County  in  July,  1782,  and  destroyed  the  frontier  settlement  of 
Hannastown,  near  Fort  Pitt,  in  Pennsylvania.  The  Chapter  also  took  part  in 
the  celebration  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Benjamin 
Franklin. 

An  interesting  feature  during  the  year  was  the  unveiling,  on  June  4th, 
of  the  tablet  on  the  New  York  University  at  Morris  Heights,  placed  there  to 
commemorate  the  old  Revolutionary  forts. 

The  presentation  address  was  made  by  the  Hon.  Hugh  Hastings,  the 
acceptance  by  the  Rev.  H.  M.  MacCracken,  D.  D.,  L.  L.  D.,  Chancellor  of  the 
University,  and  a  patriotic  address  by  Mr.  John  C.  Tomlinson.  A  large  number 
of  members  were  present,  escorted  by  a  Company  of  the  22d  Regiment, 
N.  G.  N.  Y.,  and  the  71st  Regiment  Band. 

A  delegation  of  our  Society,  on  invitation  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
participated  in  the  ceremonies  in  commemoration  of  the  Revolutionary  hero. 
John  Paul  Jones,  held  at  the  Naval  Academy,  Annapolis,  Maryland,  on  April 
24,  1906. 

Members  were  also  present  at  the  dedication  of  the  Putnam  Cottage,  June 
14,  1906,  on  the  invitation  of  the  ladies  of  Putnam  Hill  Chapter  of  the  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Revolution,  of  Greenwich,  Conn. 

In  accordance  with  a  wish  expressed  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  circulars  were 


sent  out  for  a  day's  excursion  by  steamer  to  West  Point  on  the  13th  of  October, 
19C6,  and  arrangements  made  for  a  most  enjoyable  day,  but  owing  to  the 
limited  number  of  acceptances  the  project  had  to  be  abandoned.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  trip  can  be  attempted  again  at  some  future  time,  as  the  Super- 
intendent at  West  Point  has  expressed  the  desire  that  we  will  come,  and 
assures  us  of  a  hearty  welcome. 

The  topic  selected  by  the  Essay  Committee  was  "History  of  the  Boston 
Port  Bill — Why  passed  by  Parliament  and  its  effect  in  America,"  and  the 
awards  were  made  as  follows : 

Gold  Medal  to  Jeanette  A.   Stern,  Masten   Park  High  School,  Buffalo, 

N.  Y. 

Silver  Medal  to  Sarah  Lurie,  Buffalo  Central  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Bronze  Medal  to  Lawrence  Prescott  Van  Slyke,  Geneva  High  School, 
Geneva,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Charles  H.  Williams,  President  of  the  Buffalo  Association,  made  the 
presentations  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  The  prize  essays  are  printed  in 
full  at  the  close  of  this  report.  The  subject  announced  for  next  year  is  "Robert 
Morris  and  his  Financial  Services  in  the  Revolution." 

There  have  been  admitted  during  the  year,  seventy-seven  new  mem- 
bers. Deducting  those  who  have  died,  resigned,  been  transferred  to  other 
Societies  or  been  dropped  for  non-payment  of  dues,  the  net  gain  for  the  year 
is  three,  and  our  membership  now  comprises  a  grand  total  of  two  thousand 
and  nine. 

The  Society  has  during  the  year  received  courteous  invitations,  from 
Societies,  to  the  following  banquets : 

Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 

Colonial  Wars, 

Colonial  Order  of  the  Acorn, 

Military  Society  War  of  1812, 

Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 

Holland  Society, 

Saint  Nicholas  Society, 

Saint  George's  Society, 

Saint  Andrew's  Society, 

Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick, 

Pennsylvania  Society, 

District  of  Columbia  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  Revolution, 


The  Evacuation  Day  Luncheon  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
Revolution, 

and  to  celebrations  as  follows : 

The  Rhode  Island  Citizens'  Historical  Association  to  the  Exercises  commemo- 
rative of  the  130th  Anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  by 
the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island. 

The  Pennsylvania  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  to  participate  in  a  trip 
to  Revolutionary  Forts  on  the  Delaware  River. 

The  Washington  Headquarters  Association  of  New  York  to  the  City  Celebra- 
tion on  Washington's  Birthday. 

Mr.  Jefferson  M.  Levy  to  the  unveiling  at  the  City  Hall,  New  York,  of  a  large 
replica  of  David  d'Anger's  bust  of  Washington. 

President  of  Marietta  College  to  Ohio  Company  Celebration  at  Marietta,  Ohio. 

President  of  the  Park  Board,  City  of  New  York,  to  unveiling  of  tablet  by  City 
History  Club  at  McGown's  Pass. 

The  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  the  unveiling  of  a  tablet  on 
Castle  Philipse  at  Tarrytown,  New  York. 

The  Daughters  of  the  Revolution  to  the  unveiling  of  a  tablet  at  Sterlington, 
New  York. 

The  Church  Service — Pennsylvania  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
and 

Church  Service  of  the  Loyal  Legion. 

The  Edward  Greene  legacy  of  $200  mentioned  in  last  year's  report  has 
been  duly  paid. 

It  has  been  arranged  to  have  a  Tallmadge  Tablet  placed  on  the  exterior 
of  Fraunces'  Tavern,  which  is  to  be  designed  by  Mr.  Albert  Weinert,  and  in  the 
masonry  behind  will  be  placed  a  copper  box  containing  memorials,  photographs 
and  records  of  the  Society. 

The  Tallmadge-Fraunces'  Tavern  medals,  which  were  authorized  for  the 
Banquet  of  1905,  have  been  received  and  distributed,  as  far  as  possible,  to  those 
who  subscribed  to  the  Banquet  at  that  date.  Those  not  called  for  will  be 
retained  at  the  office  of  the  Society,  where  they  may  be  obtained  by  those  enti- 
tled to  receive  them. 

We  still  have  on  hand  a  limited  number  of  the  Tallmadge  memoirs,  the 
price  of  which  has  been  reduced  by  the  Board  of  Managers  to  $6  a  copy.  As 
only  three  hundred  and  fifty  copies  were  printed  this  will  soon  become  a  scarce 
book.  These  valuable  writings  of  Col.  Benjamin  Tallmadge  of  the  Second 
Regiment  Continental  Dragoons  were  privately  printed  in  1858,  but  have  be- 
come exceedingly  rare.    An  appendix  with  notes  prepared  by  Prof.  Henry  P. 

8 


TALLMADGE       FRAUNCES'    TAVERN    MEDAL, 


Johnston,  Registrar  of  the  Society,  has  been  added,  based  upon  original  material 
in  the  State  Department  at  Washington  and  Tallmadge's  own  unpublished 
letters.  The  work  contains  more  than  twenty  illustrations,  several  in  colors, 
including  the  Sharpless  portrait  of  Washington,  presented  by  him  to  Tallmadge. 

We  have  also  a  limited  supply  of  the  bronze  match  boxes  bearing  the  seal 
of  the  Society,  price  25  cents,  which  can  be  purchased  at  the  Secretary's  office, 
as  also  the  beautiful  Tallmadge-Fraunces'  Tavern  bronze  medal,  price  $3. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  growing  needs  of  the  Society  and  increased  facilities 
we  should  enjoy  when  we  take  up  our  home  in  the  historic  Fraunces'  Tavern 
it  would  seem  desirable  that  a  Library  Committee  be  appointed  with  the  view 
of  increasing  our  library,  who  would  ask  for  contributions  of  new  publications, 
and  solicit  donations  of  old  ones ;  and  that  the  members  of  the  Society  be 
appealed  to  for  duplicates  relating  to  the  Revolutionary  War  and  the  partici- 
pants therein.  A  little  effort  in  this  line  might  secure  many  additions  to  our 
collection  of  historical  literature. 

A  committee  should  also  be  appointed  to  promote  increased  membership, 
and  in  the  near  future  we  should  have  a  House  Committee  who  would  take  into 
consideration  the  furnishing  of  Fraunces'  Tavern  with  appropriate  and  inter- 
esting material  of  historical  interest. 

The  Secretary,  through  the  active  and  efficient  help  of  his  assistant,  Mr. 
Wilson,  hopes  in  the  near  future  to  introduce  a  card  index  of  the  ancestors 
of  our  past  and  present  members,  and  following  this  a  card  index  to  our  library. 

For  the  Board  of  Managers, 

Henry  Russell  Drowne, 

Secretary. 


Fraunces'  Tavern 


The  Real  Estate  Committee,  in  whose  charge  the  restoration  of  Fraunces' 
Tavern  has  been  placed,  have  been  diligent  during  the  past  year  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duties,  making  monthly  reports  of  the  progress  of  their  work 
to  the  Board  of  Managers.  After  further  very  careful  search  during  the  early 
part  of  the  year,  it  developed  that  it  was  impossible  to  discover  any  print  of  the 
Tavern,  as  it  existed  during  the  years  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  print  in 
Valentine's  Manual  of  1854,  was  proven  by  investigation  of  the  old  building 
not  to  have  shown  the  roof  as  it  existed  during  those  years,  and,  therefore, 
following  as  a  basis  Fraunces'  own  description  of  his  house  as  it  was  in  1776, 
contained  in  the  advertisement  for  its  sale,  which  read  as  follows :  "The  Queen's 
Head  Tavern  is  three  stories  high  with  a  tile  and  lead  roof,  has  fourteen  fire- 
places, a  most  excellent  large  kitchen,  fine  dry  cellars,  and  good  and  convenient 
offices,  etc.,"  the  Board  of  Managers  finally  adopted  the  plans  as  submitted 
by  the  Real  Estate  Committee,  prepared  under  the  supervision  of  William  H. 
Mersereau,  Architect,  and  at  a  special  meeting  held  on  June  28,  1906,  directed 
the  Committee  to  proceed  with  the  work,  and  on  the  16th  and  19th  of  the  fol- 
lowing July,  contracts  were  signed  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  including 
the  Architect's  fees,  amounting  to  $54,875.10.  The  work  is  now  proceeding 
as  rapidly  as  possible,  considering  the  intricacy  of  a  restoration  of  this  nature. 
The  Committee  desire,  through  the  Board  of  Managers,  to  call  the  attention 
of  the  Society  to  the  fact  that  the  amount  of  new  work  that  had  to  be  placed 
in  the  course  of  the  restoration  was  caused  by  the  fact  that  twice  this  building 
has  been  almost  destroyed  by  fire,  especially  in  the  year  1854,  after  which  the 
fourth  and  fifth  stories  were  added ;  that  fifteen  years  ago,  when  the  late  tenant 
assumed  possession,  he  tore  out  the  entire  first  story,  barring  only  one  pier 
on  the  Pearl  Street  side,  and  the  old  hewn  oak  beams  of  the  floor  of  the  first 
story  on  the  Broad  Street  side  were  sawed  off  inside,  and  the  entire  floor 
lowered  level  with  the  sidewalk.  The  old  staircase  had  long  since  disappeared ; 
the  one  found  in  the  building  was  constructed  of  junk  vard  refuse, 
and  many  of  the  old  chimneys  with  their  fireplaces  had  been  cut  out.  On  the 
other  hand,  all  the  old  oak  beams  remaining  in  the  house  have  been  preserved, 

10 


including  those  holding  the  floor  of  the  Long  Room  upon  which  Washington 
trod  when  he  took  leave  of  his  officers,  and  those  over  this  room  that  held  the 
ceiling  of  the  same.  Every  brick  and  every  piece  of  lumber  as  far  as  possible 
of  the  original  building,  has  been  left  in  place,  and  with  infinite  trouble,  bricks 
from  Baltimore  to  match  the  originals  on  the  Pearl  Street  side,  and  hand-made 
buff  brick  from  Holland  to  match  those  on  the  Broad  Street  side  have  finally 
been  secured,  and  will  probably  be  in  place  before  this  report  is  issued. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  members  of  the  Society  will  appreciate  the  fact  that 
every  effort  has  been  made  to  restore  the  building  in  every  particular  to,  as 
nearly  as  practical,  its  appearance  during  the  Revolutionary  period,  at  the 
same  time  preserving  in  place  every  bit  of  old  material  possible. 


i  i 


MEMBERS   ADMITTED 

James  Callbreath  Gulick,  2nd,  New  York  City. 
Robert  Matthew  Codd,  Jr.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Perry  Belmont,  New  York  City. 
Franklin  Eugene  Stevens,  Montclair,  N.  J. 
William  Brock  Shoemaker,  New  York  City. 
Charles  Edward  Greenough,  New  York  City. 
Rev.  Laurence  Thomas  Cole,  New  York  City. 
Arthur  Chalmers  Benson,  Brooklyn  N.  Y. 
George  Frederick  Ralph,  Utica,  N.  Y.. 
Clarence  Wilbur  Smith,  New  York  City. 
Alfred  Ethelbert  Smith,  Bronxville,  N.  Y. 
Alexander  Ostrander  Burnham,  New  York  City. 
Clarence  Henry  Eagle,  New  York  City. 
James  Foster  Milliken,  New  York  City. 
Gardner  Cotrell  Leonard,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
John  Veeder  McHarg,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Richard  Cutts  Shannon,  2nd,  Brockport,  N.  Y. 
Frank  Brewster  Highet,  New  York  City. 
John  S.  Jacobus,  New  York  City. 
George  Tuttle  Brokaw,  New  York  City. 
Robert  Willis  Jameson,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
Tom  S.  Wotkyns,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Henry  Rowland,  New  York  City. 
Allan  Hurst  Sutliff,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Arthur  William  Hurd,  M.  D.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Charles  McClellan  Clarke,  Buffalo.  N.  Y. 
William  Milliken  Richards,  New  York  City. 
Samuel  Dwight  Brewster,  New  York  City. 
Charles  W.  Dayton,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 
Augustus  Springer  Brandow,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Henry  Vane  Rutherford,  New  York  City. 
Charles  Jackson  Lynn,  Tenafly,  N.  J. 
Granville  Forbes  Sturgis,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Rufus  George  Shirley,  New  York  City. 

12 


Townsend  Pinkney,  New  York  City. 

Benjamin  Covel  Sparks,  New  York  City. 

George  Washington  Carpenter,  New  York  City. 

Charles  Whitney  Carpenter,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 

Octavus  B.  Libbey,  New  York  City. 

Edgar  G.  Youngs,  New  York  City. 

John  Thomas  McCaffrey,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Arthur  Piatt  Howard,  New  York  City. 

Walter  Sands  Mills,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Thomas  R.  Horton,  New  York  City. 

Ralph  Lincoln  Spencer,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Joseph  H.  Spencer,  Toronto,  Ont. 

Thomas  Alexander  Sperry,  Cranford,  N.  J. 

Joseph  Austin  Sperry,  Cranford,  N.  J. 

Alanson  H.  Scudder,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Joseph  Board,  Chester,  N.  Y. 

Grenville  Phillips  Vernon,  New  York  City. 

David  McCandless  McKell,  Lieutenant,  U.  S.  A.,  Fort  Ethan  Allen,  Vt. 

George  Leal  Genung,  New  York  City. 

Edward  Gurdon  Aldrich,  M.  D.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Clarence  Eugene  Brown,  Sussex,  N.  J. 

Winfield  Urmy,  Tompkinsville,  S.  I. 

Guernsey  Price,  New  York  City. 

Jacob  Frank  Howe,  M.  D.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

William  Henry  Ketchum,  Montclair,  N.  J. 

Walter  Scott  Allerton,  New  York  City. 

George  Peabody  Montgomery,  New  York  City. 

George  Albert  Taylor,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

John  Peter  Failing,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Oren  Milton  Beach,  Jr.,  Rye,  N.  Y. 

Cornelius  Wagstaff  Remsen,  New  York  City. 

William  Walter  Streeter,  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

Plimmon  Henry  Dudley,  C.  E.,  Ph.D.,  New  York  City. 

Herbert  Stanly  Lounsbury,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 

George  Chamberlain  Harding,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

William  Rand,  Jr.,  Rye,  N.  Y. 

Wilford  Seymour  Conrow,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Ray  Everett  Nimmo,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Joseph  Orton  Board,  Chester,  N.  Y. 

13 


Borden  Hicks  Mills,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Murray  Olyphant,  Englewood,  N.  J. 

Charles  Clinton  Marshall,  Milestone  Millnook,  N.  Y. 

Thomas  E.  Satterthwaite,  M.  D.,  transferred  from  the  New  Hampshire  Society. 


RESIGNATIONS 

Herbert  W.  Bowen,  Albert  R.  Parsons, 

Henry  Bright,  John  S.  Pierson, 

George  Mairs  Bull,  Col.  Henry  G.  Sharpe,  U.  S.  A. 

Capt.  James  Robb  Church,  U.  S.  A.  George  G.  Shelton,  M.  D., 

Albert  Crane,  Osgood  Smith, 

Richard  Piatt  Dodge,  Henry  V.  W.  Wickes, 

Frank  N.  Doubleday,  William  H.  Wildey, 

James  W.  Green,  Lewis  S.  Wisner, 

Edward  C.  Miller,  Charles  A.  Whitney, 

Isaac  H.  Odell, 

TRANSFERS 

Charles  S.  Byington,  to  California  Society. 
Albert  J.  Sheldon,  to  Pennsylvania  Society. 
Major  Eugene  L'H.  Swift,  to  California  Society. 


LIST  OF  BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  ETC.,  RECEIVED 

TITLES.  DONOR. 

Holland  Society,  Year  Book,  1905,  Henry  L.  Bogert,  Secretary. 

Saint  Nicholas  Society,  Genealogical  Record,  Charles  Isham,  Secretary. 

New  Hampshire  Historical  Society  Proceed- 
ings, Part  4,  Vol.  4,  John  C.  Ordway,  Secretary. 

New    England    Society,    One    Hundredth 

Anniversary  Celebration,  George  Wilson,  Secretary. 

Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  Roll  1902-1905,  Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  Triennial  Meeting,  Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Pamphlet,  Declaration  of  Democracy,  Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Pamphlet,  Address  at  Fort  Griswold,  Henry  R.  Drowne. 

The  Lute  and  Lays,  Charles  Stuart  Welles,  M.  D. 

Les  Combattants  Francais,  Marcus  Benjamin. 

14 


TITLES. 

Mayflower  Descendants,  Bulletin,  1906, 

New  Jersey  Society,  S.  of  R.  Year  Book, 
1906, 

Pennsylvania  Society,  S.  of  R.  Year  Book, 
1906, 

Address  on  Gen.  Seth  Pomeroy, 

United  States  Club  Register, 

Union  League  Club,  Year  Book,  1906, 

Fencers  Club,  Year  Book,  1906, 

Union  Club,  Year  Book,  1906, 

Massachusetts  Soldiers  and  Sailors  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  Vol.  XIV, 

New  York  Genealogical  and  Biographical 
Society,  Year  Book,  1906, 

Spalding  Memorial, 

Canadian  Archives, 

Library  of  Congress,  Report  1905, 

University  of  the  State  of  New  York  Re- 
port, 

Laws  of  New  York,  Miscellaneous  Corpora- 
tions, 

Bulletin  New  York  Public  Library, 

Calendar  for  April, 

Album,  165  th  Regiment  New  York  Volun- 
teers, 

Reception  de  la  Statue  de  Thomas  Jefferson, 

New  Jersey  Archives,  26th  Vol., 

The  American  Numismatic  and  Archaeologi- 
cal Society  of  New  York  City,  48th 
Annual  Meeting,  1906, 

Edwin  D.  Morgan,  Memoriam. 

Pamphlets  and  old  documents, 

Notices, 

City  History  Club,  Annual  Report, 

Russell  Genealogy, 

Lieut.-Col.  Samuel  Ward,  Memoir, 

Narrative  of  the  Ravages  of  British  and 
Hessians  at  Princeton,  ijj6-ijj7, 


DONOR. 

Linus  E.  Fuller. 

Wm.  Libbey,  Secretary. 

Ethan  Allan  Weaver,  Secretary. 
George  E.  Pomeroy. 
Dockham  Publishing  Company. 


Wm.  M.  Olin. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 
Richard  Cutts  Shannon. 
Hon.  Geo.  F.  O'Halloran. 


Alex.  R.  Thompson. 

Charles  H.  Russell,  Secretary. 

Central  High  School,  Buffalo. 

Miss  Frank  E.  Buttolph. 
Jefferson  M.  Levy. 
Henry  A.  Wilson. 


William  Poillon,  Curator. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Military  Order-Loyal  Legion. 

Mrs.  Datus  C.  Smith,  Secretary. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Howland  Pell. 


15 


MISCELLANEOUS    DONATIONS, 
PICTURES,  RELICS,  PROGRAMMES,  Etc. 


TITLES. 

Painting,  Washington  at  Valley  Forge, 
Picture,  Washington  and  his  Generals, 
Missouri    Society,    S.    of    R.    Programme, 

Essay  and  Menu, 
A  Song  of  New  York, 
Ohio  Society,  S.  of  R.  Menu, 
Cosmos  Club  of  San  Francisco,  Menu, 
California  Society,  S.  of  R.,  Menu, 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  California  Regis- 
ter, 
Colonial  Wars.  Lake  George  Statuette, 
John    Paul    Jones,    Programme    of    Cere- 
monies, 
Washington     Centennial,     Programme     of 

Ceremonies, 
Pew   railing,    North   Dutch   Church,    New 
York,  erected  in  1767, 


DONOR. 

Robert  M.  Olyphant. 
John  Morgan  Howe,  M.  D. 

Henry  Cadle,  Secretary. 

Mrs.  Horace  See. 

Jackson  W.  Sparrow,  Secretary. 

Holdridge  O.  Collins. 

Holdridge  O.  Collins. 
Clarence  Storm. 

Talbot  Olyphant. 

Talbot  Olyphant. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 


16 


OFFICERS 

President  : 

Edmund  Wetmore,  34  Pine  Street. 

First  Vice-President: 

Philip  Livingston,  992  Fifth  Avenue. 

Second  Vice-President  : 

Morris  K.  Jesup,  195  Madison  Avenue. 

Third  Vice-President  : 

Hugh  Hastings,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Secretary : 
Henry  Russell  Drowne,  146  Broadway. 

Treasurer : 

Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  96  Broadway. 

Registrar  : 

Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  17  Lexington  Avenue. 

Chaplain  : 

Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.  D.,  D.  C.  L.,  27  West  25th  Street. 

Assistant  Chaplain: 
Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

Historian  : 
Talbot  Olyphant,  32  Nassau  Street. 

Board  of  Managers: 

Henry  Applegate  Wilson,  240  West  23d  Street. 
Dallas  Bache  Pratt,  52  William  Street. 
Lewis  Rutherfurd  Morris,  M.  D.,  155  West  58th  Street. 
John  Hone,  58  New  Street. 
August  Belmont,  23  Nassau  Street. 
John  Canfield  Tomlinson,  15  Broad  Street. 
Charles  Francis  Roe,  280  Broadway. 
Robert  Olyphant,  17  Battery  Place. 

17 


Clark  Williams,  26  Nassau  Street. 
William  Graves  Bates,  128  Broadway. 
Charles  R.  Henderson,  24  Nassau  Street. 
Samuel  L.  Munson,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Rev.  Charles  E.  Brugler,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 
Joseph  Tompkins  Low,  34  Pine  Street. 
William  W.  Ladd,  Jr.,  20  Nassau  Street. 
Charles  F.  Darling-ton,  206  Broadway. 
Levi  C.  Weir,  59  Broadway. 

Executive  Committee. 

John  Hone,  Chairman,  Joseph  T.  Low, 

William  G.  Bates, 

President.  Secretary  and  Treasurer  ex-officio. 

Chapters. 

Buffalo  Association,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Charles  H.  Williams,  Regent. 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Samuel  L.  Munson,  Regent. 
William  Floyd  Chapter,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 
Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Frederick  T.  Proctor,  Regent. 
Orange  County  Chapter,  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  Roswell  W.  Chamberlain,  Regent. 
Jamestown  Chapter.  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Dr.  William  M.  Bemus,  Regent. 

Stewards. 

Clarence  Storm,  Chairman,  John  C.  Jay,  Jr., 

William  B.  O.  Field.  Charles  H.  Woodruff,  Jr., 

Julien  T.  Davies,  Jr.,  Eugene  K.  Austin. 

Marshall. 
John  Butterfield  Holland. 

Aides. 

James  Wray  Cleveland,  Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 

Albert  Delafield,  Talbot  Root, 

De  Witt  Clinton  Falls,  George  Albert  Wingate. 

Membership  Committee. 

Silas  Wodell.  Chairman,  149  Broadway. 
Wyllys  Terry,  60  Wall  Street. 

Landreth  H.  King,  Room  526,  Grand  Central  Station. 

)8 


Edward  L.  Parris,  239  Broadway, 

George  De  Forest  Barton,  150  Broadway. 

Nathaniel  B.  Hoxie,  5  Nassau  Street. 

Richard  A.  Wilson,  499  Monroe  Street,  Brooklyn. 

Alfred  B.  Robinson,  206  Broadway. 

Dr.  Benjamin  J.  Sands,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 

Caldwell  R.  Blakeman,  107  Front  Street., 

Historical  Committee. 

Howard  R.  Bayne,  Chairman,  David  Cromwell, 

Capt.  John  R.  Totten,  Frank  W.  Jackson,  M.  D. 

Samuel  V.  Hoffman, 

Essay  Committee. 

Marcius  D.  Raymond,  Chairman,  Richard  H.  Greene, 

R.  Russell  Requa,  Rev.  Howard  Duffield. 

Henry  Holt, 

Aisle  Committee. 

Talbot  Olyphant,  Chairman. 

Arthur  Frederick  Schermerhorn,  Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford, 

Banyer  Clarkson,  Charles  Hitchcock  Sherrill, 

John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  Prentice  Strong, 

S.  Vernon  Mann,  Herman  Knickerbocker  Viele, 

Charles  King  Morrison,  Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  Jr., 

Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff,  Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr., 

Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown,  William  Gordon  Ver  Planck, 

Erskine  Hewitt,  Charles  Elliott  Warren, 

Robert  Grier  Cooke,  Edward  Kemp,  Jr., 

Joseph  L.  Edmonds,  Benjamin  Brandreth  McAlpin, 

Edward  Gilbert  Schermerhorn,  George  Hewlett, 

Morris  Douw  Ferris,  Duncan  McRa  Livingston, 

Sidney  Leighton  Smith. 

Real  Estate  Committee. 

Robert  Olyphant,  Chairman,  James  M.  Montgomery, 

Charles  R.  Henderson,  Henry  A.  Wilson, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Arthur  M.  Hatch. 

19 


Publication  Committee. 

♦Samuel  Putnam  Avery,  Charles  Isham, 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

♦Deceased. 

Auditing  Committee. 

Charles  R.  Henderson,  Chairman,  Robert  Olyphant. 

Joseph  T.  Low, 

Tablet  Committee. 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,         Dallas  Bache  Pratt, 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

Alexander  R.  Thompson, 

Excursion  Committee. 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,        John  B.  Holland. 
Clarence  Storm,  William  G.  Bates, 


20 


REPORT 

OF   THE 

HISTORIAN 


Hn  fIDemodam 


Amos  Henry  Cropsey, 

William  Green, 

Morris  Cooper  Foote,  Brigadier-General, 

U.  S.  A.,  retired, 
Thomas  Aldridge  Reynolds. 
Cyrus  Strong, 
John  Benjamin, 

Frank  DeWitt  Ramsey,  Captain,  U.  S.  A. 
James  Servis  Johnson, 
John   Henry  Van   Wyck,   Major,   N.   Y. 

Volunteers,  1 861-1865, 
Andrew     Goodrich     Hammond,     Major, 

U.  S.  A., 
Nathaniel  Rochester,  Major,  N.  G.  N.  Y., 
Augustus  Floyd  Ireland, 
Cyrus  Baker  Kitchen, 
Wilmot  Moses  Smith, 
George  Albert  Halsey, 
Francis  Pharcellus  Church, 
John  Riley  Livermore, 
Henry  Herschel  Adams,  Col.,  N.  G.  Conn., 
Morton  David  Bogue, 
Charles  Augustus  Meigs, 
Joseph  Nelson  Walker, 
Paul    Richard    Brown,    Surgeon, 

U.  S.  A., 
George  Metcalfe  Root,  A.  M., 
Jeremiah  Richards, 
Donald  McLean  Barstow,  M.  D., 
William  Brock  Shoemaker,  B.  A., 
Alfred  Warner  McMurray, 


ADMITTED. 

DIED. 

1896 

March  3rd,  1905. 

189I 

August  31st,  1905. 

eneral, 

1889 

December  6th,  1905, 

I902 

December  8th,  1905. 

1897 

January  5th,  1906. 

1888 

January  13th,  1906. 

.  S.  A. 

189I 

January  18th,  1906. 

189I 

January  24th,  1906. 

Major, 


1899 


January  29th.  1906. 


1892 

February  21st,  1906 

1891 

March  6th,  1906. 

1899 

March  14th,  1906. 

1894 

March  27th.  1906. 

1902 

March  29th,  1906. 

1899 

April  1st,  1906. 

1891 

April  nth,  1906. 

1903 

May  1st,  1906. 

1894 

May  6th,  1906. 

1894 

May  6th,  1906. 

1888 

May  6th,  1906. 

1902 

May  13th,  1906. 

1894 

May  31st,  1906. 

1893 

May  31st,  1906. 

1892 

June  8th,  1906. 

1895 

June  9th,  1906. 

1905 

June  2 1st,  1906. 

1898 

July  23rd.  1906. 

23 


Charles  Palmer  Robinson, 
Henry  Clay  Duryea, 
William  Boyd  Coughtry, 
Abraham  Van  Wyck  Van  Vechten, 
Frederick  Diodati  Thompson, 
Howard  Sumner  Robbins, 
Henry  Douglas  Parmelee, 
George  Turtle  Gould,  Col.,  N.  G.  N.  J., 
William  Winton  Goodrich, 
Charles  Lytle  Lamberton, 
Tared  Kirtland  Myers, 
Philip    Schuyler,    Brig.    Gen'l,    U.    S.    A., 
1861-1865, 

Respectfully  submitted. 


1890  August  13th,  1906. 
1903  August  14th,  1906. 

1892  August  26th,  1906. 
1888  August  28th,  1906. 

1891  October  10th,  1906. 

1893  October  13th,  1906. 
1898  October  25th,  1906. 
1893  October  27th,  1906. 
1893  November  2 1  st,  1906. 
1890  November  25th,  1906. 
1895  November  26,  1906. 

1890  November  29.  1906. 


Talbot  Olyphant, 

Historian. 


24 


THE  PRIZE  ESSAYS 


ON    THE 


History  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill— Why  passed 
by  Parliament  and  its  effect  in  America 


First  Prize :       jeanette  a.  stern, 

Masteu  Park  High  School, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Second  Prize :    sarah  lurie, 

Buffalo  Central  High  School, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Third  Prize  :      Lawrence  prescott  van  slyke, 

Geneva  High  School, 

Geneva,  N.  Y. 


First  Prize  Essay 


I.     Introduction. 

II.  Body. 

i.     The  relation  of  Boston  Port  Bill  to  other  events,  shown  by  giving 
a  brief  outline  of  succession  of  events  from  1765  to  1775. 

2.  Political  situation  and  claims  of  colonists  previous  to  sending  of 

tea. 

3.  The  Boston  Tea  Party. 

a.  Object  of  sending  tea. 

b.  How  received. 

4.  First  intimation  of  punishment  to   Boston. 

5.  The  text  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill. 

6.  Passage  of  bill  through  Parliament. 

7.  Contents  of  Penal  laws. 

8.  Edmund  Burke's  appeal  for  repeal  of  Port  Bill. 

9.  Reception  in  America. 

a.     How  other  colonies  regarded  Boston. 
10.     Result  of  Boston  Port  Bill. 

a.  First  Continental  Congress. 

b.  Second  Continental  Congress. 

III.  Conclusion. 

How  can  this  law  be  justified? 
After  result. 

THE    BOSTON    PORT    BILL 

We  have  always  been  taught  that  the  principles  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion were  of  slow  growth,  starting  with  the  commencement  of  colonization  in 
America;  yet  certain  events  undoubtedly  hastened  the  outbreak,  and  these 
events  fell  thick  and  fast  from   1765  to  1775.     The  course  of  the  American 

27 


colonists  may  be  compared  to  a  long,  toilsome  road  upleading  to  the  Revolu- 
tion, with  here  and  there  steps  which  hastened  the  way  to  the  summit,  and 
shortened  the  distance.  Not  the  smallest  of  these  steps,  nor  the  least  important, 
may  be  represented  by  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  and  close  behind  this  is  that  mark- 
ing the  Boston  Tea  Party. 

A  brief  survey  of  these  successive  steps  may  give  a  better  idea  of  why  the 
Boston  Port  Bill  was  the  last  and  greatest  indignity  and  why,  after  its  passing, 
conciliation  became  impossible.  Possibly  the  first  deviation  from  the  level,  up- 
ward road  was  the  Stamp  Act  passed  in  1765.  Its  repeal  followed  closely  in 
1766,  but  the  Declaratory  Act  more  than  compensated  for  the  repeal.  In  1767, 
duties  were  imposed  on  glass,  paper,  paints  and  tea,  all  of  which  were  subse- 
quently abolished,  (1770)  except  that  on  tea.  This  was  followed  in  1768  by  the 
quartering  of  troops  in  America,  which  led  directly  to  the  Boston  Massacre 
in  1770,  and  the  destruction  of  the  "Gaspee."  In  1773  came  the  attempt  to 
enforce  the  tax  on  tea,  which  was  resisted  by  means  of  the  Boston  Tea  Party. 
In  retaliation,  Parliament  passed  the  Boston  Port  Bill.  This  was  the  final  in- 
dignity. The  people  would  stand  no  more,  and  at  the  Continental  Congress 
of  1774  demanded  the  right  to  levy  all  taxes.  Not  long  after  this,  actual  hostili- 
ties broke  out. 

Since  the  Boston  Port  Bill  was  a  retaliatory  measure  for  the  events  of  the 
Boston  Tea  Party,  an  account  of  the  sending  of  the  tea  is  necessary  for  the 
understanding  of  its  consequences.  The  colonists  of  America  refused  to  pay 
taxes  on  all  articles,  on  the  plea  that  they  were  not  represented  in  Parliament, 
and  thus  were  being  taxed  without  being  represented.  This  England  denied, 
saying  Chester,  Durham  and  Manchester  had  not  been  represented,  and  yet  had 
been  taxed,  and  also  that  they  were  virtually  represented.  Edmund  Burke  re- 
plied that  because  the  English  constitution  was  not  reformed  in  these  cases, 
formed  no  reason  why  America  should  not  be  represented.  To  avoid  the  tax 
on  tea,  the  Americans  smuggled  tea  from  Holland,  and  no  British  force  had 
been  able  to  prevent  it.  At  this  time  intercolonial  committees  of  correspondence 
had  been  formed,  and  matters  were  in  a  very  unsettled  condition  in  America. 
The  colonists  were  in  a  state  of  irritation  against  England ;  yet,  perhaps,  had 
she  ceased  all  methods,  except  by  conciliation,  to  subdue  the  colonists,  the 
decisive  steps  toward  the  Revolution  might  have  been  stayed  for  a  long  time. 

Instead,  George  III,  then  King  of  England,  took  this  inopportune  time  to 
renew  the  question  of  the  tea  tax,  and  thus  raise  an  issue  upon  which  the 
opposition  of  the  colonists  would  be  unanimous  and  tend  to  a  union  for  self- 
defense  and  protection.  England  did  not  seem  to  realize  that  Americans  were 
fighting  for  a  principle  and  not  for  dollars  and  cents.  So  His  Majesty, 
•George  III,  thought  of  an  ingenious  scheme  by  which  the  colonists  could  buy 

28 


English  tea  cheaper,  although  there  was  a  duty  of  three-pence  per  pound  on  it, 
than  they  could  smuggle  it  from  Holland.  The  tea  trade  was  at  this  time 
under  the  control  of  the  East  India  Company,  which  was  considered  then  barely 
solvent,  owing  to  the  stoppage  of  the  American  tea  trade.  England  decided  to 
aid  the  company  and  incidentally  entrap  the  Americans  into  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  principle  of  taxation,  by  allowing  a  drawback  of  all  duties  paid  in 
England  when  the  tea  arrived  from  China.  In  1773  cargoes  of  tea  were 
shipped  to  Charlestown,  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  Boston.  Philadelphia 
sent  her  tea  back.  In  Charlestown  the  tea  was  landed  and  allowed  to  spoil  in  a 
damp  cellar.  Boston  endeavored  to  follow  Philadelphia's  example,  but  the 
Governor  refused  to  write  a  pass  allowing  the  vessel  to  leave  the  harbor. 
Rather  than  have  the  tea  landed,  as  a  last  resource,  when  all  means  of  law 
could  "do  nothing  more  to  save  the  country,"  Boston  Harbor  was  converted  into 
a  teapot  into  which  three  hundred  and  forty-two  chests  of  tea  were  emptied. 
"Had  the  tea  been  landed,"  wrote  Gorden,  "the  union  of  the  colonies  in  oppos- 
ing the  ministerial  scheme  would  have  been  dissolved,  and  it  would  have  been 
extremely  difficult  ever  after  to  have  restored  it." 

This  open  act  of  disobedience  occurred  in  December,  1773.  Early  the  fol- 
lowing year  the  disturbances  in  America  became  the  leading  subject  in  Parlia- 
ment, and  especially  the  proceedings  of  that  "nest  of  locusts,"  Boston,  were  dis- 
cussed. The  King  urged  the  adoption  of  measures  to  command  obedience  to 
the  laws  and  end  disorder.  Lord  North  at  this  time  was  Prime  Minister  of 
England  and  an  obedient  disciple  of  the  King.  At  the  instigation  of  the  King 
he  asked  and  obtained  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  relative  to  the  removal  of  the 
custom-house  officers  from  Boston,  and  the  closing  of  that  port  to  commerce. 
William  Bollan,  an  agent  of  Massachusetts,  begged  to  be  heard  in  defense 
of  that  port,  but  his  motion  was  laid  on  the  table. 

On  March  18th,  1774,  Lord  North  brought  in  the  Boston  Port  Bill.  It 
was  entitled,  "An  Act  to  discontinue,  in  such  manner  and  for  such  time  as- 
are  therein  mentioned,  the  landing  and  discharging,  lading  or  shipping  of  goods, 
wares  and  merchandise,  at  the  town  and  within  the  harbor  of  Boston,  in  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  North  America."  Following  this  the  bound- 
aries of  the  harbor  and  the  time  when  it  would  take  effect,  (June  1st,  1774) 
were  specified;  then  succeeded  ten  articles,  the  substance  of  which  was  as 
follows : 

I.  No  material  shall  be  shipped  from  Boston  to  the  other  colonies  or  else- 
where, under  penalty  of  forfeiture  of  goods  and  boat. 

II.  Any  person  shipping  or  unshipping  such  goods  shall  forfeit  treble  the 
value  thereof. 

29 


III.  If  any  vessel  is  sighted  within  one  league  of  Boston,  any  British 
commissioned  officer  may  compel  it  to  go  to  some  other  port,  and  if  the  order 
be  not  obeyed  within  six  hours,  the  vessel  shall  be  forfeited. 

IV.  This  must  not  be  construed  as  referring  to  His  Majesty's  ships,  and 
supplies  may  come  to  Boston,  if  holding  a  pass,  and  if  searched  at  Marblehead 
in  Salem,  and  if  an  English  officer  accompany  it. 

V.  Any  prosecution  caused  by  these  laws  must  be  made  by  the  King's 
officers,  and  if  any  of  the  King's  officers  shall  either  allow  goods  to  be  shipped 
or  landed,  he  shall  forfeit  the  sum  of  five  hundred  pounds. 

VI.  (This  article  referred  to  the  prosecution  and  the  recovery  of  penal- 
ties). 

VII.  Any  bill  of  lading  made  after  the  first  of  June,  1774,  for  the  Port  of 
Boston,  shall  be  void. 

VIII.  All  the  privileges  of  Boston  will  be  renewed  as  soon  as  the  King 
is  satisfied  that  for  the  future  it  will  obey  the  laws. 

IX.  If  goods  are  shipped  or  landed  at  any  place  not  expressly  mentioned, 
the  same  forfeiture  will  apply. 

X.  These  measures  are  to  be  continued  also  until  Boston  shall  indemnify 
the  East  India  Company  and  the  merchants  of  England. 

The  bill  at  its  first  reading  before  the  House  of  Commons  was  received 
without  any  opposition.  At  its  second  reading  only  one,  George  Bynge,  cried 
"no."  At  its  third  reading,  though  several  opposed  it,  it  was  passed  without 
division,  and  the  journal  declares  "unanimously."  The  same  condition  pre- 
vailed in  the  upper  house,  and  the  King  signed  it  the  day  following  its  success- 
ful passage. 

Several  other  penal  measures  were  passed  at  about  the  same  time,  which, 
conbined  with  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  provoked  the  civil  war  which  followed. 
These  acts,  known  in  America  as  the  Intolerable  Acts,  were  as  follows : 

1.  The  Boston  Port  Bill,  providing  for  the  change  of  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment of  Boston  to  Salem  until  Boston  should  indemnify  England  and  submit 
to  the  King. 

2.  Regulating  Act,  which  annulled  the  charter  of  Massachusetts. 

3.  Administration  of  Justice  Act,  which  provided  for  trial  in  England 
of  English  officers  indicted  in  the  colonies. 

4.  An  Act  removing  all  legal  obstacles  to  the  quartering  of  troops  in 
America. 

3° 


5.  Quebec  Act,  extending  Canada  to  the  land  northwest  of  the  Ohio 
River  and  establishing  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

Parliament  also  decided  not  to  repeal  the  Stamp  Act. 

When  the  "Grand  Penal  Bill"  was  returned  to  the  Commons,  Edmund 
Burke  delivered  that  masterpiece  of  English  literature,  his  "Speech  on  Concili- 
ation with  America."  When  pleading  for  the  repeal  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill, 
Burke  said,  "Independently  of  the  dangerous  precedent  of  suspending  the  rights 
of  the  subject  during  the  King's  pleasure,  this  bill  was  passed  irregularly. 
First,  because  Boston  was  not  allowed  to  defend  itself;  second,  because  she 
alone  suffered,  although  other  towns  were  as  guilty."  He  also  said  that  it  was 
passed  "through  the  back  door  of  Parliament." 

To  enforce  the  Penal  Laws,  General  Gage  was  commissioned  to  supersede 
Governor  Hutchinson,  and  was  sent  with  four  regiments  to  Boston  without 
delay,  in  April.  On  June  first,  he  was  to  enforce  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  and 
since  no  town  could  carry  on  its  business,  in  those  days  of  no  railroads,  without 
its  harbor,  and  since  a  cessation  of  business  means  a  stoppage  of  all  intercourse, 
Gage  was  to  starve  the  town  of  Boston  into  submission.  The  direct  and  imme- 
diate result  was  a  convention  at  Faneuil  Hall,  which  adopted  the  plan  of  send- 
ing a  circular  letter  to  the  colonies  asking  for  encouragement  and  cooperation. 
Each  colony  then  held  a  convention  which  agreed  to  support  Boston,  and  sup- 
plies were  received  overland  from  the  most  distant  colonies.  Copies  of  the 
odious  acts  of  Parliament  were  publicly  burned,  and  the  first  of  June  was  ob- 
served as  a  fast.  Marblehead,  the  new  port  of  entry,  offered  Boston  merchants 
the  use  of  its  wharves  and  all  the  seaports  refused  to  receive  any  gain  from 
Boston's  misfortune.  Throughout  the  country  Boston  was  considered  a  martyr, 
and  a  universal  sympathy  was  shown  for  her. 

As  a  result  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill  the  colonists  began  to  realize  the  neces- 
sity of  some  method  to  obtain  concerted  action,  when  needed.  Through  the 
action  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  of  New  York,  seconded  by  those  of  Virginia, 
a  Continental  Congress  was  proposed,  and  Massachusetts  received  the  honor 
of  appointing  time  and  place.  The  first  Continental  Congress  met  in  September, 
1774,  and  there  adopted  the  Declaration  of  Rights.  Fifty-five  delegates  were 
present,  and  all  the  colonies  except  Georgia  were  represented.  It  was  decided 
to  meet  again  in  May,  1775,  and  at  that  time  troops  and  money  were  raised  for 
war. 

So  by  successive  acts  of  Parliament  war  was  always  brought  nearer,  its 
approach  never  retarded.  Yet  throughout,  the  British  showed  a  lack  of  adapta- 
bility to  understand  the  American  people  and  the  ever-increasing  political  needs 
of  the  people.    By  unofficial  acts  we  know  that  they  were  willing  to  conciliate, 

31 


if  they  could  have  done  so  without  hurting  their  pride,  but  they  would  not  yield 
one  iota  if,  by  so  doing,  they  seemed  to  withdraw  from  a  position  which  they 
had  taken.  In  reviewing  these  five  acts  of  Parliament  we  are  amazed.  It  does 
not  seem  possible  that  England,  which  has  always  stood  for  enlightenment, 
progress  and  freedom,  could  have  passed  these  laws,  so  contradictory  to  every 
principle  she  has  maintained.  She  had  conquered  Canada  from  the  despotic 
rule  of  France,  yet  here  she  was  placing  her  own  colonies  under  a  still  more 
despotic  rule.  She  had  always  been  the  staunchest  defender  of  self-govern- 
ment, yet  by  these  acts  she  opposed,  nay,  even  forbade,  self-government.  How 
can  these  self-contradictions  be  explained?  John  Fiske  has  said,  "only  by 
the  short-sighted  Tory  policy  of  George  III."  But  these  laws  were  as  un- 
successful as  tyrannical,  for  after  the  first  of  June,  1774,  no  recession  was 
possible,  and  all  led  irresistibly  forward  to  the  Revolution,  from  which  evolved 
a  free  people  and  a  glorious  nation,  the  United  States  of  America. 

Jeanette  A.  Stern. 


32 


Second  Prize  Essay 


The  year  1770  marks  the  beginning  of  the  time  often  designated  as  the 
"Crisis"  by  writers  of  American  History;  for  the  years  17701774  wit- 
nessed the  events  which  exhausted  the  forbearance  of  the  American  people  and 
led  directly  to  the  War  of  Independence. 

Lord  North  had  recently  taken  the  place  of  Charles  Townshend  as  Prime 
Minister  of  England.  He  was  willing  to  be  led  by  the  King,  and,  therefore, 
continued  the  work  of  his  predecessor,  which  had  consisted  in  trying  to  make 
the  Americans  acknowledge  that  taxation  did  not  necessarily  mean  representa- 
tion. George  III,  determined  "to  be  King,"  acted  like  a  man  blind-folded. 
He  did  not  foresee  the  ultimate  results,  brought  about  by  trying  to  trample 
upon  the  rights  of  a  liberty-loving  people.  The  Stamp  Act  proceedings  had 
not  been  a  lesson  emphatic  enough  for  the  stubborn  head  of  the  King. 

Samuel  Adams's  humble  petition  to  give  the  colonists  the  rights  granted  to 
them  by  the  Bill  of  Rights  was  received  with  silent  contempt,  or,  to  put  it  in 
the  words  of  the  ardent  patriot,  "was  spurned  by  the  royal  foot."  The  people's 
peaceful  meetings  to  protest  against  the  unjust  measures  were  regarded  as 
declarations  of  rebellion ;  and,  as  a  final  answer  to  the  petition,  troops  were 
sent  to  America  to  subdue  King  George's  seditious  subjects. 

But  he  little  knew  the  temper  of  the  people.  The  love  of  liberty  was  pre- 
dominant in  the  heart  of  the  poorest  as  well  as  the  richest.  To  preserve  their 
rights,  those  people  were  ready  to  give  up  the  luxuries,  and  even  what  would 
be  deemed  the  necessaries  of  life.  They  resolved  not  to  import  from  England 
any  article  upon  which  a  duty  had  been  levied.  Thus  the  English  people 
suffered  by  the  loss  of  trade. 

This  fact  caused  Lord  North  to  think  it  expedient  to  take  off  the  duties  on 
all  articles  previously  taxed,  with  the  exception  of  tea,  upon  which  a  small 
duty  was  left  to  keep  up  the  principle  of  taxation. 

But  the  Americans  were  not  struggling  against  excessive  taxation.  They 
were  struggling  for  the  principle  that  "taxation  without  representation  is 
tyranny."  Although  the  tea  could  be  bought  very  cheaply,  as  the  price  of  the 
tea  sent  to  America  had  been  purposely  lowered,  the  colonists  resolved  not  to 
be  beguiled  by  this,  as  Fiske  calls  it.  "purely  political  trick." 

33 


Ships  laden  with  tea  were  therefore  sent  back  whence  they  came.  This 
determined  refusal  of  the  Americans  to  land  tea  sent  from  any  port  of  Great 
Britain  led  to  one  of  the  most  momentous  events  in  the  history  of  the  world — 
the  Boston  Tea  Party ;  and  this  caused  the  passing  of  the  most  tyrannical  meas- 
ure of  all,  a  measure  which  threatened  the  very  existence  of  Boston,  King 
George's  and  his  friends'  device  for  revenge,  the  Boston  Port  Bill. 

The  Boston  Tea  Party  had  clearly  shown  that  the  American  people  were 
ready  to  fall  back  on  the  laws  of  self-preservation  if  written  law  failed  to 
restore  their  rights  to  them.  But  the  vain,  stubborn  King  and  his  friends  in 
Parliament  did  not  take  the  hint.  When  news  of  the  action  reached  them,  their 
anger  against  the  colonists  was  excited  to  the  highest  degree.  The  most  strin- 
gent measures  were  urged  to  be  taken  to  punish  the  riotous  Bostonians.  One 
member  of  Parliament,  Mr.  Venn,  in  his  wrath  against  the  offenders,  declared 
that  the  town  ought  to  be  knocked  about  their  ears  in  order  to  have  the  nest 
of  locusts  destroyed.  Heedless  of  all  the  arguments  brought  up  by  the  clear- 
sighted members  of  Parliament,  or  of  the  eloquent  speech  of  Burke,  five  unjust 
measures  were  passed  March  31,  1774. 

One  of  them  was  the  Boston  Port  Bill.  This  measure  declared  the  port  of 
Boston  closed  until  indemnity  for  the  tea  was  paid  to  the  East  India  Company. 
It  was  a  most  unreasonable,  tyrannical  measure,  and  as  Burke  declared,  pun- 
ished the  innocent  as  well  as  the  guilty.  The  indemnity  required  was  fair,  but  it 
was  not  the  money  but  the  submission  to  the  King  which  they,  who  once  had 
borne  the  motto,  "Don't  tread  on  me,"  on  their  standard,  resented  to  give. 

When  the  news  of  the  measure  reached  Boston  the  anger  of  the  people 
rcse  to  the  highest  pitch.  England  had  robbed  thousands  of  them  of  their 
employment.  The  bill  was  pronounced  a  cruelty,  a  tyranny,  a  murder.  It  was 
burned  by  the  common  hangman  in  the  public  place  upon  a  scaffold  forty-five 
feet  high.  The  neighboring  towns  of  Dorchester,  Cambridge,  Lynn,  Charles- 
town,  Brookline,  Newton  and  Lexington  sent  committees  to  the  convention 
held  at  Boston  in  Faneuil  Hall,  May  12,  1774.  At  this  meeting,  the  act  was 
denounced  and  the  idea  of  paying  the  indemnity  was  spurned.  The  con- 
vention adopted  a  circular  letter  prepared  by  Samuel  Adams  to  be  sent  to 
the  other  colonies,  asking  for  sympathy  and  cooperation. 

The  first  effect  of  the  unjust  measure  was  that  it  revealed  the  fact  that 
the  colonists  regarded  themselves  as  people  of  one  country  and  that  country 
was  America ;  and,  that  as  it  was  declared  at  a  meeting  in  Virginia,  an  attack 
on  one  colony  was  an  attack  on  all.  The  appeal  which  Boston  had  sent  to  the 
colonies  brought  responses  which  left  no  doubt  that  the  people  were  ready 
to  make  use  of  the  truth  that  in  "Union  there  is  Strength." 

The  enemies  of  America  had  three  objects  in  mind  when  thev  advocated 

34 


the  passage  of  the  bill.  One  was  to  frighten  the  Bostonians  into  submission; 
another  to  warn  the  other  colonies  against  disobedience  to  his  majesty  King 
George  III.  The  third  purpose  was  to  let  the  other  sea-ports  profit  by  Boston's 
misfortune  and  thereby  secure  their  good  will  and  their  approval  of  England's 
measures. 

They  miserably  fooled  themselves.  It  was  from  those  very  sea-ports 
which  could  mostly  profit  by  the  stoppage  of  Boston  commerce,  that  the  unfor- 
tunate city  received  the  most  help  and  the  sincerest  expressions  of  sympathy. 
The  people  showed  their  Christian  spirit.  Salem  averred  that  it  would  be 
lost  to  all  feelings  of  humanity,  were  it  to  raise  its  fortunes  on  the  ruins  of  its 
neighbors.  Marblehead  offered  the  use  of  its  wharves  to  the  Boston  mer- 
chants; Newburyport  went  farther  and  voted  to  cease  all  trade  with  Great 
Britain.  Connecticut,  while  appealing  to  the  Almighty  for  Boston,  at  the  same 
time  gave  a  fresh  supply  to  its  cannon  and  military  stores,  indicating  that  they 
would  be  ready  to  use  physical  force  if  need  be.  From  all  parts  of  the  country 
money  and  supplies  were  sent  to  Boston.  Everywhere  the  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment were  denounced,  and  resolutions  were  passed,  declaring  that  no  obedience 
was  due  to  the  late  measures  of  the  English  government,  and  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  colonies  should  use  their  utmost  diligence  to  learn  the  art  of  using 
arms. 

All  these  uprisings  of  a  people,  who  asked  for  nothing  but  the  rights  be- 
longing to  them  as  British  subjects,  proved  only  futile  attempts  to  force  the 
King  and  his  party  from  the  stand  they  had  taken.  The  five  measures  were 
not  repealed.  The  King  and  his  ministry  had  not  yet  given  up  the  absurd  idea 
that  the  Americans  could  be  frightened  into  submission.  Governor  Hutchinson 
of  Massachusetts,  who  ought  to  have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  character 
of  the  Puritan  stock,  told  the  King  that  the  Americans  could  never  resist  a 
regular  army.  No  wonder  then  that  George  III  smiled  when  he  learned  from 
the  Governor  that  Boston  had  refused  to  comply  with  his  commands. 

An  army,  then,  was  thought  of  as  the  means  for  quieting  those,  as  King 
George  called  them,  rebellious  uprisings.  General  Gage  thought  that  four 
regiments  would  be  enough  to  settle  the  business.  Lord  Sandwich  said  that 
the  Americans  were  a  set  of  undisciplined  cowards  who  would  take  to  their 
heels  at  the  first  sound  of  a  cannon. 

General  Gage  was  commissioned  to  supersede  Governor  Hutchinson,  and, 
together  with  four  regiments,  was  sent  to  Boston  to  close  its  port  July  first, 
and  thus  starve  the  people  into  submission.  Ships  were  sent  to  block  the  port 
and  the  four  regiments  and  a  train  of  artillery  were  encamped  on  the  commons. 

The  colonists  immediately  saw  that  mere  expressions  of  sympathy  would 
not  be  available  and  the  time  for  united  and  decisive  action  had  arrived.     In 

35 


New  York,  the  Sons  of  Libert}-  were  the  first  ones  to  propose  to  bring  the 
people  together  by  calling  for  a  Continental  Congress.  The  members  of  the 
Virginia  Legislature  immediately  took  up  this  proposal,  sitting  in  convention 
at  a  Raleigh  tavern  after  the  Governor  had  dissolved  them  as  a  Legislature, 
and  Massachusetts  was  invited  to  appoint  the  time  and  place  for  the  Congress. 

The  Massachusetts  assembly  met  at  Salem,  June  7,  1774.  Samuel  Adams, 
after  locking  the  door  and  putting  the  key  in  his  pocket,  introduced  his  re- 
solves on  the  Congress.  The  Tory  members,  pretending  to  be  sick,  were 
allowed  to  leave.  They  instantly  informed  Governor  Gage  of  the  proceedings. 
Gage  sent  his  secretary  with  a  writ  dissolving  the  assembly,  but,  finding  the 
door  locked,  he  had  it  read  to  the  people  outside.  The  assembly  passed  the 
resolves,  delegates  to  Congress  were  elected  and  measures  for  the  relief  of 
Boston  were  passed.  All  the  other  colonies  with  the  exception  of  Georgia, 
agreed  to  accept  the  proposal  and  chose  delegates  either  through  their  assem- 
blies or  through  special  conventions. 

The  Continental  Congress  assembled  at  Philadelphia  on  September  5,  1774. 
At  last  the  whole  country  had  united  to  oppose  England's  act  of  oppression. 
After  four  weeks  of  deliberation,  they  agreed  upon  a  declaration  of  rights,  claim- 
ing for  the  people  the  right  to  be  governed  by  the  power  of  the  provincial  assem- 
blies in  all  cases  of  taxation  and  polity.  A  call  was  made  for  the  repeal  of 
eleven  acts  of  Parliament  which  had  deprived  them  of  certain  rights.  An 
association  to  insure  commercial  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain  was 
formed.  Addresses  were  sent  to  the  King,  to  the  English  people  and  to  the 
people  of  British  America.  The  tenth  of  May  was  appointed  for  the  meet- 
ing of  another  Congress,  at  which  the  final  preparations  for  the  struggle  were 
made. 

Such  were  the  direct  results  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill.  It  had  been  passed 
with  the  purpose  of  forcing  a  people  dominated  by  the  spirit  of  liberty,  under 
the  yoke  of  kingly  oppression.  It  had  failed  in  its  purpose.  It  had  aroused 
this  spirit  and  led  the  people  to  actions  by  which  they  completely  broke  the 
bonds  that  tied  them  to  Great  Britain. 

Sarah  Lurie. 


36 


Third  Prize  Essay 


On  the  fourteenth  of  March,  1774,  Lord  North  rose  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  present  the  first  of  the  well-known  "Intolerable  Acts,"  which  were 
intended  by  the  Administration  to  crush  America  to  the  earth.  The  Boston 
Port  Bill  was  designed  by  its  originators  to  punish  Boston  for  its  "Act  of  High 
Treason,"  as  Mansfield  called  the  Boston  Tea  Party,  and  to  force  her  to  obey 
the  "laws"  made  for  her  by  Parliament.  What  the  Port  Bill  really  did  shows 
what  poor  statesmen  most  of  the  ministers  were. 

The  port-act  provided  for  the  closing  of  the  harbor  of  Boston  to  all  com- 
merce until  the  town  should  have  indemnified  the  East  India  Company  for 
their  tea  and  "should  have  otherwise  made  it  appear  to  the  king  that  it  would 
hereafter  show  a  spirit  of  submission."  The  board  of  customs  was  by  the  act 
transferred  to  Marblehead,  and  the  seat  of  government  to  Salem.  The  act  was 
to  go  into  effect  on  the  first  of  June,  1774. 

This  idea  of  stopping  the  commerce  of  Boston  probably  originated  among 
the  American  Tories.  Hutchinson,  in  letters  to  Mauduit  and  Bernard,  written 
in  the  spring  of  1773,  advised  such  an  act.  The  measure  soon  became  a  favor- 
ite with  George  the  Third,  so  that  it  was  pretty  sure  to  become  a  law  sooner  or 
later.  The  king  did  not  have  to  wait  long  for  a  good  reason  to  have  the  bill 
introduced  in  Parliament,  for,  on  January  27.  an  official  report  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  tea  in  Boston  harbor  was  received  by  the  Government.  This 
news  gave  the  desired  opening,  and  not  long  after  the  Port  Bill  was  introduced. 

After  introducing  the  bill,  Lord  North  opened  the  debate  by  urging  every 
man  of  whatever  party  or  rank  to  maintain  British  authority  throughout  the 
empire.  The  bill  was  strongly  defended  by  the  enemies  of  the  colonies,  and 
even  more  powerfully  attacked  by  the  friends  of  the  colonies ;  on  the  side  of 
the  Government  were  the  weaker  minds  in  Parliament,  while,  ranged  against 
the  bill,  were  the  greatest  statesmen  in  England.  "The  town  of  Boston,"  said 
Venn,  one  of  the  most  violent  of  the  enemies  of  the  colonies,  "ought  to  be 
knocked  about  their  ears  and  destroyed.  You  will  never  meet  with  proper 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  this  country  until  you  have  destroyed  that  nest  of 
locusts."  Fox  declared  that  there  was  no  good  plan  that  did  not  embrace  the 
repeal  of  the  taxes.     "The  North  x\mericans,"  said  Rose  Fuller,  "will  look 

37 


upon  this  bill  as  a  foolish  act  of  oppression."  Johnstone,  ex-governor  of  West 
Florida,  predicted  that  the  bill  would  produce  a  confederacy  and  end  in  a 
general  revolt.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this  strong  and  sensible  opposition  to  the  bill, 
no  division  was  necessary,  and  the  vote  entered  on  the  Journal  was  unan- 
imous. 

On  the  twenty-ninth,  the  Port  Bill  was  debated  in  the  House  of  Lords. 
Rockingham,  Richmond,  Camden  and  Shelburne  proved  in  their  speeches  that 
the  measures  proposed  in  the  Port  Bill  were  useless  and  oppressive.  Mansfield 
declared  that  the  sword  was  unsheathed,  that  retreat  was  impossible,  and  that 
a  unanimous  passage  of  the  bill  must  force  submission  in  Boston.  The  House 
went  with  him,  and  no  division  was  taken.  On  the  thirty-first,  the  Boston  Port 
Bill  was  signed  by  the  king  and  became  law  throughout  the  British  Empire. 

The  first  question  that  presents  itself  to  the  mind  of  the  reader,  studying 
the  history  of  this  port-act,  is  how  the  intelligent  representatives  of  a  free  people 
could  thus  trample  under  foot  the  liberties  of  their  fellow-citizens  across  the 
water.  They  thoroughly  believed  that  they  were  in  the  right  in  enslaving  their 
kinsmen  in  the  colonies.  The  ministers  that  guided  the  country  in  its  actions 
were  neither  stupid  nor  wicked.  What,  then,  was  it  that  could  lead  them  to 
transgress  many  of  the  principles,  not  only  of  Saxon  liberty,  but  also  of  brother- 
ly love? 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  causes  of  the  passage  of  the  port-act  was 
the  position  of  the  king.  He  hated  the  colonies  because  they  refused  to 
acknowledge  him  as  their  absolute  ruler;  he  hated  Boston  especially,  because  it 
seemed  to  him  the  leader  in  rebellion  against  his  authority.  This  hatred  he  was 
able  in  some  measure  to  satisfy,  for  at  this  time  he  was  the  central  point  of  the 
government,  and  controlled  everything.  He  had  chosen  a  weak  ministry,  that 
he  might  be  able  to  have  his  own  way.  and  controlled  by  corrupt  means  a  large 
part  of  Parliament.  Therefore,  when  the  Boston  Tea  Party  gave  him  a  chance 
to  punish  Boston,  he  was  able  to  get  the  Port  Bill  through  Parliament  in  spite 
of  all  resistance.  If  the  king  had  not  had  this  power,  the  voice  of  the  wise  and 
great  would  probably  have  prevailed  in  Parliament,  and  the  Port  Bill  would 
never  have  passed  the  House  of  Commons. 

Another  of  the  causes  of  the  passage  of  the  port-act  was  the  mistaken  ideas 
regarding  America  prevalent  in  England,  which  were,  of  course,  most  impor- 
tant when  found  among  the  ministers  and  in  Parliament.  In  the  first  place, 
the  exaggerated  reports  of  the  governors  in  the  colonies  had  led  Parliament 
to  believe  that  the  Americans  were  disloyal,  rebellious  and  lawless.  If  we 
take  this  into  consideration,  we  will  see  that  the  treatment  of  the  colonists 
was  very  much  better  than  their  reputation  in  England  demanded.  In  the 
second  place,  Parliament  failed  to  perceive  the  spirit  of  the  colonists,  their  stead- 

38 


fast  adherence  to  the  principles  of  liberty.  They  could  not  appreciate  the 
high  ideals  of  the  colonists,  who  were  really  more  civilized  than  their  oppress- 
ors. It  was  their  failure  to  appreciate  the  Americans  that  made  Parliament 
think  that  by  the  tea  tax  they  could  be  tricked  into  admitting  the  principle  of 
taxation,  for  they  thought  that  the  colonists  were  more  attached  to  their  pocket- 
books  than  to  their  freedom.  Then  when  the  Boston  Tea  Party  caused  the  utter 
failure  of  the  tea  tax,  they  thought  that  the  boldness  of  the  "Bostoneers"  would 
cause  a  reaction  among  the  other  colonies,  which  would  bring  about  the  isolation 
of  Boston  in  the  struggle  with  England.  Therefore,  the  Boston  Port  Bill  was 
brought  forward,  which,  it  was  expected,  would  effectually  separate  the  rest  of 
America  from  the  little  Town  of  Boston. 

Therefore,  at  this  time  in  English  history  it  was  very  natural  that  England 
should  follow  a  course  of  oppression  towards  her  American  colonies.  As  she 
then  was,  she  could  hardly  have  done  otherwise.  Circumstances  were  so 
ordered  that  she  had  to  help  indirectly  in  bringing  about  the  independence  and 
freedom  of  America. 

Accordingly  the  Boston  Port  Bill  went  forth  on  its  mission  of  war  and 
bloodshed  and  woe ;  for  it  was  the  three  penal  measures  of  which  this  was  the 
first  that  "dissolved  the  moral  connection  between  the  two  countries,  and  began 
the  civil  war."  It  was  destined  to  bring  about  far  greater  results  than  any 
previous  act  of  oppression  on  the  part  of  Parliament,  for  it  was  destined  to 
"make  straight  the  way"  to  revolution  and  independence.  On  the  manner  of 
its  reception  in  America  hung  the  fate  of  liberty  in  the  New  World. 

On  the  tenth  of  May,  only  three  weeks  before  the  day  when  the  act  was  to 
go  into  effect,  the  Boston  Port  Bill  reached  the  brave  little  town  of  Boston. 
As  soon  as  the  act  was  read,  a  meeting  was  called  of  the  committees  of  corres- 
pondence of  Boston  and  eight  of  the  neighboring  towns  to  meet  in  Faneuil 
Hall  on  the  twelfth  of  May.  The  men  that  gathered  there,  knowing  the  im- 
portance of  their  every  action,  met  the  port-act  with  the  courage  of  freedom, 
and  voted  unanimously  that  the  act  was  unjust  and  cruel.  Parliament  had, 
without  just  cause  and  without  a  hearing,  accused,  tried,  and  convicted  Boston 
in  a  case  in  which  Parliament  was  both  complainant  and  judge.  The  committee 
voted  this  as  their  opinion,  refused  to  pay  for  the  tea,  and  sent  out  a  circular 
letter  to  the  other  colonies,  in  which  they  stated  their  case  clearly  and  proposed 
as  a  means  of  resistance  the  general  cessation  of  trade  with  England.  They 
hoped  and  trusted  that  the  continent  would  support  them  in  their  distress,  and 
not  leave  them  unaided  in  their  struggle  for  the  liberties  of  all.  On  the  thir- 
teenth a  large  town  meeting  voted  the  port-act  "repugnant  to  law,  religion,  and 
common  sense."  Measures  were  taken  for  the  support  of  the  laborers,  whose 
means  of  sustenance  were  taken  away  by  the  act.    The  people  bound  themselves 

39 


"to  suffer  in  the  common  cause,"'  and  begged  their  sister  colonies  to  help  them  in 
the  fight.  Such  was  the  attitude  of  Boston,  and  it  determined  that  of  all  the 
thirteen  colonies. 

In  a  very  short  time  after  Boston's  action,  the  port-act  and  Boston's  cir- 
cular letter  were  carried  from  end  to  end  of  the  continent,  bringing  with  them 
the  spirit  of  determined  resistance.  In  some  places  the  act  was  defied  and  cried 
about  the  streets  as  a  murder;  in  others,  it  was  printed  on  black-bordered 
mourning  paper,  or  solemnly  burned  in  the  midst  of  an  assembled  throng.  The 
first  decided  action  was  taken  by  the  Sons  of  Liberty  of  New  York  in  proposing 
in  a  circular  letter  "a  general  congress."  Though  this  idea  of  a  continental 
congress  had  long  been  in  the  minds  of  the  patriots,  New  York  first  gave  it 
form  and  substance.  Pennsylvania  advocated  the  congress  proposed  by  New 
York,  but  refused  to  cease  commerce  with  England.  Rhode  Island,  Maryland, 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  sent  especially  strong  encouragement  to  Boston. 
From  New  England  to  Georgia,  the  Port  Bill  was  read  with  indignation  and  re- 
sentment. 

Throughout  America,  the  first  of  June  was  kept  as  a  day  of  fasting  and 
mourning,  for  on  that  day  the  blockade  of  the  harbor  of  Boston  began.  For 
Boston  it  was  indeed  a  day  of  gloom,  since  the  loss  of  its  commerce  meant  the 
ruin  of  its  citizens.  Those  of  Boston's  inhabitants  who  had  not  laid  up  money 
would  have  starved,  during  the  blockade,  had  it  not  been  for  the  generous  gifts 
sent  from  towns  in  all  parts  of  the  colonies.  Food  and  clothing  were  supplied 
in  abundance,  so  that  Boston,  having  sacrificed  itself  for  the  good  of  the  con- 
tinent, was  richly  rewarded  in  its  time  of  need  by  the  support  of  the  other 
colonies. 

When  Lord  North  introduced  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  he  little  expected  from 
it  such  adverse  results  as  those  above  narrated.  He  sent  it  forth  as  a  means 
of  subduing  the  colonies  by  subduing  their  leader,  Boston.  Instead,  besides 
widening  the  breach  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country,  it  became  in 
America  a  mighty  power  in  drawing  the  colonies  together  into  a  union  capable 
of  effectually  resisting  oppression.  The  concrete  embodiment  of  that  union, 
the  continental  congress  of  T774,  was  the  direct  result  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill. 
It  was  this  congress  and  its  successors  that  made  possible  the  final  glorious 
outcome  of  the  Revolution,  so  that  the  very  measure  designed  to  crush  the 
patriots  helped  materially  the  cause  for  which  they  were  struggling.  The 
Boston  Port  Bill,  therefore,  was  one  of  the  agencies  by  which  Providence 
advanced  the  cause  of  freedom  in  the  New  World  and  in  the  Old,  and  was  one 
of  the  steps  by  which  the  United  States,  the  leader  of  the  nations,  and  the  great 
representative  of  freedom  and  righteousness,  rose  to  life  and  liberty. 

Lawrence  Prescott  Van  Slyke. 
40 


New  York  Society 


REPORTS 

OF   BOARD   OF   MANAGERS 
AND    HISTORIAN 


December  4,    1907 


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New  York  Society 


REPORTS 

OF   BOARD   OF   MANAGERS 
AND   HISTORIAN 


December  4,    1907 


Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers. 


To  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  State  of  New  York  : 

The  Board  of  Managers  submits  the  following  report  for  the  year  ending 
December  4th,  1907. 

Nine  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  have  been  held  during  the  year. 

At  the  last  annual  meeting  December  4th,  1906,  the  President,  Mr. 
Edinund  Wetmore,  called  the  meeting  to  order,  a  prayer  was  offered  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Barton  Chapin,  General  Chaplain  of  the  Society  of  the 
Cincinnati,  and  the  Secretary  read  the  Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers  and 
of  the  Nominating  Committee. 

Messrs.  Josiah  Hedden,  William  H.  Kuper  and  Dr.  Frederick  H.  Wilson 
were  appointed  as  tellers  by  the  Chair. 

The  report  of  the  Treasurer  was  presented  by  Mr.  Arthur  M.  Hatch,  and 
the  report  of  the  Historian  by  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  during  the  reading  of 
which  the  members  rose  and  remained  standing.  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant  read 
the  report  of  the  Real  Estate  Committee. 

The  regular  ticket  for  Officers  and  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Society  was 
duly  elected ,  the  tellers  announcing  that  eight  hundred  and  five  ballots  had 
been  cast. 

Since  the  Annual  Meeting,  the  Rev.  Frank  L,andon  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D., 
has  been  elected  Assistant  Chaplain,  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  Historian,  and 
Messrs.  John  Hone,  Joseph  Tompkins  Low  and  Col.  William  G.  Bates  as 
members  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

Various  committees  have  also  been  appointed  by  the  President,  a  list  of 
which  appears  at  the  close  of  this  report. 

At  a  Special  Meeting  of  the  Society  held  on  January  23rd,  1907,  Section  V 
of  the  By-Daws  was  amended  to  read  as  follows : — 

"  The  Treasurer  shall  collect  and  keep  the  funds  and  securities  of  the 
Society,  and  as  often  as  those  funds  shall  amount  to  one  hundred  dollars, 
they  shall  be  deposited  in  some  bank  in  the  City  of  New  York  which  shall  be 
designated  by  the  Board  of  Managers,  to  the  credit  of  the  Society  of  the 


"Sons  of  the  Revolution,"  and  such  funds  shall  be  drawn  thence  on  the 
check  of  the  Treasurer  for  the  purposes  of  the  Society  only.  Out  of  these 
funds  he  shall  pay  such  sums  as  may  be  ordered  by  the  Society  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  or  by  the  Board  of  Managers,  and 
shall  perform  such  other  duties  as  the  Society,  or  Board  of  Managers,  or  his 
office,  may  require  of  him.  He  shall  keep  a  true  account  of  his  receipts  and 
payments,  and  at  each  Annual  Meeting  render  the  same  to  the  Society,  when 
a  committee  shall  be  appointed  to  audit  his  accounts.  For  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  his  duty,  he  shall  give  such  security  as  the  Society,  or  Board  of 
Managers  in  lieu  of  its  action  thereon,  may  from  time  to  time  require." 

The  following  resolution,  presented  by  Hon.  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  was,  on 
motion  duly  carried  :  Resolved,  that  in  the  opinion  of  this  Society  the  one 
week's  notice  required  to  be  given  by  publication  in  two  daily  newspapers  in 
the  City  of  New  York  of  time  and  place  of  annual  or  special  meetings,  as 
required  by  Section  XV  of  the  By-Laws,  is  a  notice  to  be  inserted  but  once 
in  each  of  two  such  daily  newspapers  at  least  one  week  beforehand,  of  the 
time  and  place  of  the  particular  annual  or  special  meeting. 

A  Stated  Meeting  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Frederick  Samuel 
Tallmadge,  late  President  of  the  Society,  followed  the  Special  Meeting,  and 
was  observed  by  the  reading  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  Albert  Bushnell  Hart, 
Professor  of  History  at  Harvard  University ;  subject :  ' '  New  Light  on  the 
Treason  of  Benedict  Arnold." 

President  Wetmore  read  the  following  telegram  from  John  Austin  Stevens, 
the  founder  of  the  Society,  who  had  just  celebrated  his  eightieth  birthday  : 

"Thanks  to  the  Managers  for  the  congratulations.  Please  convey  to 
the  Society  my  best  wishes  to  each  and  all,  and  my  sympathy  with  them  in 
to-night's  commemoration  of  the  birthday  of  our  old  friend,  President  and 
benefactor,  Mr.  Tallmadge.     In  love  and  comradeship. 

John  Austin  Stevens." 

' '  Sons  of  the  Revolution  : — Thousand  thanks  for  your  kind  remem- 
brance.    I  am  with  you  in  spirit. 

John  Austin  Stevens." 

At  the  meeting  April  19th,  1907,  to  celebrate  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty-second  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  the  members  of  the 
Society  listened  to  a  very  interesting  lecture  by  Mr.  Gherardi  Davis,  on  "Regi- 
mental Colors  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution."  This  was  beautifully  illus- 
trated by  colored  pictures  of  the  banners  used  by  the  American,  French, 
English  and  Germans  during  the  war. 


At  the  close  of  the  lecture,  Hon.  Asa  Bird  Gardiner  related  some  very 
interesting  incidents  and  historical  facts  regarding  the  French  and  Irish 
regiments  which  fought  for  our  cause. 

At  the  Stated  Meeting  held  on  November  25th,  1907,  in  celebration  of 
the  evacuation  of  the  City  of  New  York  by  the  British  troops,  an  illustrated 
address  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Reginald  Pelham  Bolton  on  "Relics  of  the 
Revolution  on  Manhattan  Island." 

The  Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Society,  commemorative  of  the  birth 
of  George  Washington,  was  held  on  Sunday,  February  17th,  1907,  at  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Twelfth  Street,  at  4  p.  m.  It 
was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  S.T.D.,  D.C.L,.,  Oxon.,  Rector  of 
Trinity  Church  and  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  assisted  by  the 
Rev.  George  Alexander,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  the  University  Place  Presbyterian 
Church  ;  the  Rev.  Howard  Duffield,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church;  Rev.  William  Reed  Huntington,  D.D.,  Rev.  Edward  Pearson 
Newton,  Rev.  William  N.  Dunnell,  S.T.D.,  Rev.  George  S.  Baker,  D.D., 
Rev.  Henry  Barton  Chapin,  D.D.,  Ph.D.,  Rev.  James  S.  Dennis,  Rev.  James 
Tuttle-Smith,  D.D.,  Rev.  Edward  B.  Coe,  D.D.,  Rev.  Robert  Morris  Kemp, 
and  Rev.  Frank  L,.  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Assistant  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of 
the  Revolution.  The  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  George  Alexander, 
D.D.,  Pastor  of  the  University  Place  Presbyterian  Church.  The  church  was 
beautifully  decorated  for  this  occasion. 

Representatives  were  present  from  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  the 
Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution, 
and  the  Societies  of  the  Cincinnati,  Colonial  Wars,  War  of  1812,  Foreign 
Wars,  Aztec  Club,  and  Loyal  Legion,  the  Society  of  the  War  of  1812  furnish- 
ing a  uniformed  escort. 

The  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Society  took  place  in  the  large  banquet  hall 
at  Delmonico's  on  February  22nd,  1906,  the  anniversary  of  Washington's 
Birthday,  and  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  the  President 
of  the  Society. 

The  following  invited  guests  were  present:  Major-General  J.  Franklin 
Bell,  U.  S.  A.,  representing  the  Army;  Rear- Admiral  Joseph  B.  Coghlan,  U. 
S.  N.,  the  Navy;  Stephen  Farrelly,  the  Friendly  Sons  of  Saint  Patrick;  Col. 
Dudley  Evans,  the  Society  of  the  War  of  1812;  Col.  Stephen  Henry  Olin,  the 
Society  of  the  Colonial  Wars;  John  R.  Van  Wormer,  the  Holland  Society;  F. 
E.  Grote  Higgens,  the  Saint  George's  Society;  Rev.  David  G.  Wylie,  D.  D. 
the  Saint  Andrew's  Society;  Lieut.  Clinton  E.  Braine,  the  Military  Order  of 
Foreign  Wars;  Russell  Duane,  the  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution; Rev.  Hamilton  Schuyler,  the  New  Jersey  Society  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 


tion;  Walter  L,.  Wakefield,  the  Connecticut  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution; 
Fredric  W.  Huidekoper,  the  District  of  Columbia  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution; Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  the  New  York  Historical  Society;  Rev.  Howard 
Duffield,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church;  Rev.  Richard  L,. 
Howell;  and  all  were  escorted  to  the  table  by  members  of  the  Society. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  Frank  L,.  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Assist- 
ant Chaplain  of  the  Society. 

The  banquet  hall  was  appropriately  and  tastefully  decorated  and  an 
orchestra  was  furnished  for  the  occasion.  After  coffee  had  been  served  the 
Societies  banners  were  brought  in  with  drum  and  fife  accompaniment,  fol- 
lowed by  beautiful  baskets  of  flowers  presented  on  behalf  of  the  Colonial 
Dames  of  America,  the  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  President  was  as  usual  duly  decorated 
with  the  historical  cocked  hat. 

President  Wetmore  made  some  eloquent  and  appropriate  remarks  as  to 
the  occasion  we  were  celebrating,  and  the  toasts  were  responded  to  as 
follows: 

"  George  Washington,"  by  Talcott  Williams,  D.  L.  D.  of  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. 

"  Institutions  as  National  Safeguards,"  by  William  B.  Hornblower,  Esq., 
of  New  York . 

"The  Army,"  by  Major-General  J.  Franklin  Bell,  U.  S.  A.,  Chief  of  the 
General  Staff,  Washington,  D.  C, 

"The  Navy,"  by  Rear-Admiral  Joseph  B.  Coghlan,  U.  S.  N.,  Com- 
mandant of  the  Navy  Yard,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

An  interesting  feature  of  the  occasion  was  the  singing  of  the  "Star 
Spangled  Banner  "  by  Mr.  John  C.  Dempsey,  director  of  the  music  in  St. 
Mark's  Church,  New  York. 

There  were  318  members  and  guests  in  attendance  at  the  Banquet  and  it 
was  generally  admitted  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  enjoyable  that  the 
Society  has  ever  held. 

Among  the  more  important  committees  appointed  were  the  following: 
For  the  raising  of  funds  for  Fraunces  Tavern;  a  Library  Committee  to  have 
charge  of  the  library  and  all  historical  relics  that  are  now  owned,  or  may 
hereafter  come  into  the  possession  of  the  Society,  and  to  arrange  for  their  pres- 
ervation and  exhibition  in  Fraunces  Tavern;  Committee  to  take  charge  of  the 
inaugural  ceremonies  incident  to  the  formal  opening  of  Fraunces  Tavern  on 
December  4,  1907. 

Resolutions  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  were  adopted 
setting  forth  the  desirability  of  having  a  suitable  museum  building  on  the 
grounds  of  Washington's  Headquarters  at  Newburgh,  New  York, 

6 


At  the  solicitation  of  the  General  Historian  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, Mr.  Holdridge  O.  Collins,  resolutions  were  adopted  appealing  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  to  cause  to  be  published  the  records  and  docu- 
ments of  the  several  Continental  Congresses,  and  the  official  correspondence, 
muster  rolls  of  troops,  sailors  and  marines,  orders  and  returns,  and  other  pub- 
lic documents  relating  to  the  War  of  the  Revolution — hitherto  unpublished — 
as  same  are  in  danger  of  being  effaced  by  age,  lost  or  destroyed.  This  was 
also  transmitted  to  each  Senator  and  Representative  from  the  State  of  New 
York,  requesting  their  efforts  to  secure  enactment. 

Steps  were  taken  to  endeavor  to  secure  the  exemption  from  taxation  of 
Fraunces  Tavern,  the  home  of  the  Society. 

Ten  illustrations  were  furnished  to  illustrate  the  History  of  the  General 
and  State  Societies  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  at  the  request  of  the  Gen- 
eral Secretary,  Mr.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery. 

On  June  30th,  1906,  the  members  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  belong- 
ing to  the  Union  Club  of  New  York  City,  formally  presented  to  the  Club,  a 
copy  of  the  Yale  University  portrait  of  George  Washington,  painted  by  Col. 
John  Trumbull  in  1792.  The  reproduction  was  the  work  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Isham,  N.  A.,  and  has  been  placed  in  a  large  panel  in  the  front  reading 
room  of  the  Club  House. 

An  attractive  flag  card  notice  was  issued  to  the  members  stating  the 
holidays  when  the  American  flag  should  be  displayed  and  the  proper  manner 
for  so  doing.     The  days  designated  were  as  follows: 

Lincoln's  Birthday,  February  12th, 

Washington's  Birthday,  February  22nd, 

Battle  of  Lexington,  April  19th, 

Memorial  Day,  May  30th, 

Flag  Day,  June  14th 

Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,    .  June  17th, 

Independence  Day,  July  4th, 

Battle  of  Saratoga,  October  17th, 

Surrender  at  Yorktown,  October  19th, 

Evacuation  Day,  November  25th. 

During  the  year  just  past,  the  Real  Estate  Committee  have  dilligently 
supervised  the  restoration  of  Fraunces  Tavern  along  the  lines  laid  down  in 
their  last  report  to  the  Society.  So  far  as  the  reconstruction  is  concerned,  the 
work  is  done.  How  well  and  how  satisfactorily  it  has  been  accomplished,  is 
for  the  members  to  judge.  Fraunces  Tavern  is  restored,  and  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  day  of  the  reading  of  this  report,  it  will  have  been  dedicated  as  a  per- 
petual monument  to  the  memory  of  Washington  and  his  associates. 


The  Essay  Committee  recommended  sending  out  the  notices  on  the  first 
of  October,  with  the  request  that  the  essays  be  handed  in  by  the  first  of 
March,  and  instead  of  gold,  silver  and  bronze  medals,  for  the  first,  second  and 
third  prizes  respectively,  bronze  medals  were  offered  in  each  case,  with  $50 
for  the  first  and  $25  for  the  second. 

As  a  result  of  these  changes  sixty  nine  essays  were  received,  as  compared 
with  twenty-nine  the  previous  year,  and  forty-three  schools  were  represented. 
The  subject  selected  was  "  Robert  Morris  and  His  Financial  Sendees  in  the 
Revolution,"  and  the  winners  of  the  prizes  were:  first  Otto  J.  Schultes,  of 
the  Buffalo  Central  High  School;  second,  E.  Richmond  Sartwell  of  the  same 
school,  and  third,  Lynn  G.  Goodnough,  of  the  Cornwall-on-Hudson  High 
School. 

The  Society  has  during  the  year  received  courteous  invitations  to  ban- 
quets as  follows: 

Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 

Colonial  Wars. 

Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812. 

Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars. 

Holland  Society. 

Friendty  Sons  of  St.  Patrick. 

Saint  Andrew's  Society. 

Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants. 

The  Evacuation  Day  Luncheon  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  and 
to  celebrations  from: 

President  of  the  Park  Board,  City  of  New  York,  to  celebration  at  Wash- 
ington's Headquarters,  Feb.  22nd,  and  Loan  Collection  of  Revolutionary 
Relics,  May  28th. 

Lafayette  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  Unveiling  of  tablet,  "  Washington  at  Prayer," 
on  the  Sub  Treasury  New  York. 

Colonial  Dames  of  America,  Dedication  of  Memorial  Gates  at  Jamestown 
Island. 

Woman's  Club  of  Richmond,  Ya.,  Reception. 

National  Society  of  Colonial  Dames,  Presentation  of  the  first  church  to 
Association  for  the  Preservation  of  Virginia  Antiquities. 

Virginia  Society  of  Colonial  Dames,  Trip  on  Steamer  Pocahontas  to 
Jamestown. 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  to  Transfer  of  their  Memorial 
Building  to  Association  for  the  Preservation  of  Virginia  Antiquities. 

Joint  Committee  of  Patriotic  Societies;  Reception  in  Commemoration  of 
the  Sendees  of  Patriot  Sons   of  the  City  of  Boston.     Church  Service  of  the 


Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution;  Church  Service  of  the  Military 
Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  New  York. 

The  Society  was  also  asked  to  send  a  representation  to  the  unveiling  of 
tablets  in  the  Hall  of  Fame  at  the  New  York  University,  and  to  unveil  the 
tablet  erected  to  James  Madison.  This  service  was  performed  by  Mr. 
Howard  R.  Bayne,  who  delivered  an  address. 

Resolutions  of  regret  were  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Managers  on  the  death 
of  our  fellow  member,  Charles  R.  Henderson,  and  the  Secretary  was  directed 
to  have  same  suitably  engrossed  and  sent  to  his  family. 

The  recommendation  of  the  Nominating  Committee  was  approved,  that 
they  be  authorized  to  renominate  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents,  if  deemed 
desirable. 

The  work  of  our  Chapters  for  the  year  1907  has  been  most  efficient. 

The  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  at  Albany,  New  York,  held  its  Annual 
Meeting  and  Banquet  at  the  Fort  Orange  Club,  Albany,  on  the  evening  of 
January  22nd,  1907.  Regent  Munson  was  toastmaster  and  speeches  were 
made  by  Governor  Hughes,  Kdmund  Wetmore,  President  of  the  New  York 
Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Mr.  Joseph  A.  Lawton,  Lieutenant  Governor 
Chanler  and  Senator  Alfred  R.  Page. 

The  exercises  attending  the  Dedication  of  the  Memorial  to  Colonel 
Marinus  Willett  in  Washington  Park,  Albany,  N.  Y.  were  held  on  Thursday, 
October  31st,  1907,  at  3  p.m.  The  members  of  the  Chapter  and  their  guests 
marched  to  the  boulder  and  the  tablet  was  unveiled  by  Miss  Amy  T.  Munson, 
daughter  of  the  Regent.  Delegates  were  present  from  the  Board  of 
Managers  of  our  Society,  and  also  from  other  kindred  societies.  Regent 
Munson  conducted  the  ceremonies.  Edgar  C.  Leonard  delivered  an  address, 
giving  a  history  of  the  work  of  the  committees  and  the  difficulties  encountered 
in  their  work,  and  Mayor  Gans  accepted  the  Memorial  on  behalf  of  the  City 
of  Albany.  The  gathering  then  adjourned  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
nearby,  where  the  Rev.  Dr.  Whittaker  made  an  address  on  "The  Honor  of 
Heroism. ' '  At  the  conclusion  of  the  exercises  a  luncheon  was  served  at  the 
Fort  Orange  Club. 

The  Buffalo  Association  held  four  meetings  during  the  }Tear,  at  each  of 
which  meetings  papers  on  patriotic  subjects  were  read.  On  September  18, 
1907,  the  members  met  at  the  Central  High  School  to  award  the  prizes  given 
by  the  "  Essay  Committee,"  of  our  Society. 

The  William  Floyd  Chapter  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  held  its  annual  meeting  in 
January,  1907  at  which  the  annual  election  was  held.  On  this  occasion  the 
flag  of  the  Society  was  presented  to  the  Chapter  by  the  Regent,  Col.  Walter 
P.  Warren,  and  a  speech  was  made  by   Frank  W.  Thomas.     Following  this 

9 


the  Right  Reverend  John  Walsh  delivered  an   address  on  "  Religious  Tolera- 
tion expressed  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 

On  June  17,  1907,  the  members  visited  Van  Schaick  Island,  where  the 
last  council  of  war  was  held  prior  to  the  Battle  of  Saratoga.  Addresses  were 
made  by  Hon.  Hugh  Hastings  and  Mr.  F.  W.  Thomas,  and  resolutions  were 
adopted  appointing  a  committee  to  preserve  this  historic  spot  from  vandalism. 

The  Chapter  has  also  given  three  cups  to  local  companies  of  the  New 
York  State  Militia  as  an  incentive  to  encourage  their  interest  in  military 
matters. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  of  Utica,  N.  Y.,  held  its  annual  banquet  at 
the  Fort  Schuyler  Club  in  Utica  on  February  26,  1907. 

The  Orange  County  Chapter  of  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  will  soon  hold  its  annual 
meeting. 

The  Jamestown  Chapter  presented  a  handsome  silk  American  Flag  to 
Camp  Porter,  of  the  Spanish-American  War.  The  presentation  was  made  by 
Dr.  William  M.  Bemus,  the  Regent,  who  delivered  an  eloquent  address,  at 
the  Armory  of  Company  E,  Sixty-fifth  Regiment,  National  Guard,  State  of 
New  York.  In  accordance  with  its  usual  custom  the  Chapter  also  presented 
two  prizes  to  the  students  of  the  Jamestown  High  School  for  the  best  essays 
on  the  subject  of  "  The  Significance,  Importance  and  Effect  of  the  Settlement 
at  Jamestown,  Virginia." 

The  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  was  moved  to  Fraunces  Tavern 
on  May  1,  1907,  and  the  Board  of  Managers  held  their  first  meeting  there  on 
May  20,  1907. 

The  ground  floor  and  basement  have  been  leased  to  Mr.  Emil  Wester- 
burg,  who  will  run  a  restaurant  on  the  premises,  for  ten  years  from  May  1, 
1907  at  an  annual  rental  of  $4,000.  Arrangements  have  also  been  made  for 
him  to  act  as  superintendent  of  the  building.  All  of  the  floors  above  the  street 
are  to  be  used  by  the  Society. 

On  June  1,  1907,  the  Secretary  was  authorized  to  notify  the  members  that 
the  Society  was  in  possession  of  the  building  and  the  fourth  floor  dining  room 
was  then  opened  to  all  who  had  membership  cards,  which  could  be  had  on 
application. 

An  appropriate  bracket  sign  on  the  corner  of  the  building  has  been 
designed  by  Mr.  Charles  Isham.  In  the  "  Eong  Room  '  an  historical  tablet 
has  been  placed  reading  as  follows: 

"FRAUNCES  TAVERN." 
1719.     Erected. 
1762.     Queen's  Head  Tavern. 
1768.     Chamber  of  Commerce  founded  here. 

10 


Headquarters  of  Committee  of  Fifty-one,  1774. 

December  4,  1783,  This  room  was  the  scene  of  the  "Farewell  of  General 
Washington  to  his  Officers." 

December  4,  1883,  Sons  of  the  Revolution  reorganized  here. 

1904.  The  property  purchased  by  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the 
State  of  New  York. 

December  4,  1907.  Formal  occupation  taken  by  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution. 

A  tablet  commemorative  of  the  purchase  and  reconstruction  of  the  build- 
ing by  the  Real  Estate  Committee  has  been  placed  on  the  fourth  floor. 

The  Tallmadge  Memorial  Tablet,  bearing  his  portrait,  has  been  designed 
by  Mr.  Albert  Weinert,  and  will  be  in  place  to  be  unveiled  on  December  4, 
1907.  Behind  it  in  the  masonry  is  a  copper  box  which  will  contain  memori- 
als, photographs  and  records  of  the  Society,  the  selection  of  which  has  been 
assigned  to  the  General  Secretary,  Mr.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery.  The 
furnishing  of  Fraunces  Tavern  was  referred  to  the  Real  Estate  Committee  to 
which  was  added  Mr.  Charles  Isham. 

The  "  L,ong  Room"  has  been  furnished  with  twenty  mahogany  chairs, 
reproduced  from  one  made  about  1770,  which  belonged  to  Col.  Benjamin 
Tallmadge,  of  the  Revolution,  and  was  presented  to  the  Society  by  Mrs. 
Mary  Floyd  Tallmadge  Seymour,  sister  of  our  late  President,  Frederick  S. 
Tallmadge.  The  long  table  occupying  the  centre  of  the  room  was  constructed 
from  the  original  oak  floor  beams  which  were  obtained  by  the  Society  in  1890 
when  alterations  were  being  made  to  the  building.  A  handsome  green  rug 
covers  the  floor. 

The  museum  room  on  the  third  floor  has  been  filled  with  handsome 
mahogany  show  cases  for  exhibition  purposes.  We  will  be  pleased  to  hear 
from  those  who  have  relics  or  documents  relating  to  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion which  they  desire  to  contribute  to  the  Society's  collection.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  ere  long  the  cases  may  be  filled  with  interesting  and  desirable 
historical  material. 

It  is  proposed  in  the  near  future  to  issue  an  illustrated  historical  pamphlet 
descriptive  of  the  Tavern. 

Permission  has  been  given  the  Society  of  the  War  18 12  to  hold  their 
meetings  in  Fraunces  Tavern,  and  on  our  invitation  the  Daughters  of  the 
Revolution  made  use  of  rooms  in  the  building  on  the  25th  of  November  1907, 
for  their  annual  luncheon,  in  celebration  of  "  Evacuation  Day". 

The  Committee  appointed  to  make  arrangements  for  the  formal  opening 
adopted  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions: 

11 


Wheras,  it  is  proposed  to  take  formal  possession  of  Fraunces  Tavern  on 
December  4,  1907,  the  anniversary  of  Washington's  farewell  to  his  officers, 
and  of  the  organtzing  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

Resolved,  That  the  President  be  requested  to  invite  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  those  whom  he  may  wish  to  designate  to  accompany  him, 
to  declare  that  Fraunces  Tavern,  having  been  acquired  by  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  and  reconstructed,  is  now  a  historical  monument,  and,  as  such,  is 
opened  by  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

Resolved,  That  the  Officers  and  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  request  the  honor  of  the  company  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  with  his  party  at  a  reception  to  be  tendered  to  him  at  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  on  the  afternoon  of  the  da}r  on  which  he  opens  Fraunces  Tavern 
as  aforesaid. 

Resoeved,  That  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  reception  and  collation 
given  to  the  President  at  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  on  December  4,  the 
charge  for  tickets  to  members  will  be  fixed  at  $3.00  each. 

Mr.  Morris  K.  Jesup,  President  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce 
offered  the  use  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  the  Society  for  the  reception 
on  December  4,  1907. 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York  and  the  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York,  were  invited  and  have  expressed 
their  intention  to  be  present  if  possible. 

Committees  to  take  charge  of  the  various  necessary  arrangements  have 
been  duly  appointed. 

There  have  been  admitted  during  the  year  eighty-one  new  members,  and 
the  Society  now  numbers  two  thousand  and  twenty-two,  a  net  gain  of 
thirteen. 

The  Secretary  desires  to  express  his  thanks  to  his  assistant,  Mr.  Louis  B. 
Wilson  for  his  faithful  and  efficient  help  during  the  past  year. 

For  the  Board  of  Managers, 

Henry  Russelx  Drowne, 
Fraunces  Tavern,  New  York  City.  Secretary. 


12 


OFFICERS   1907. 

President  : 
Edmund  Wetmore,  34  Pine  Street. 

First  Vice-President  : 
John  C.  Tomlinson,  15  Broad  Street. 

Second  Vice-President  : 
August  Belmont,  23  Nassau  Street. 

Third  Vice-President  : 
Dallas  B.  Pratt,  52  William  Street. 

Secretary : 
Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Fraunces  Tavern. 

Treasurer : 
Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  96  Broadway. 

Registrar  : 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  17  Lexington  Avenue. 

Chapeain  : 
Rev.  Dr.  Morgan  Dix,  27  West  25th  Street. 

Assistant  Chaplain  : 
Rev.  Frank  I,.  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

Historian  : 
Talbot  Olyphant,  32  Nassau  Street. 

Board  of  Managers  : 
John  Hone,  52  Broadway. 
Charles  Francis  Roe,  280  Broadway. 
Robert  Olyphant,  17  Battery  Place. 
Clark  Williams,  26  Nassau  Street. 
William  Graves  Bates,  128  Broadway. 
Charles  R.  Henderson,  24  Nassau  Street. 

13 


Samuel  L,.  Munson,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Bragler,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 

Joseph  Tompkins  Low,  41  Liberty  Street. 

William  W.  Ladd,  20  Nassau  Street. 

Philip  Livingston,  992  Fifth  Avenue. 

Hugh  Hastings,  31  Chambers  Street. 

Levi  C.  Weir,  59  Broadway. 

Clarence  Storm,  100  Broadway. 

Lorillard  Spencer,  Newport,  R.  I. 

Henry  D.  Babcock,  17  Broad  Street. 

Frederic  W.  Jackson,  Westchester,  N.  Y. 

Chapters. 
Buffalo  Association,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  George  A.  Stringer,  Regent. 

George  W.  Comstock,  Secretary,  124  Lexington  Ave.,  Buffalo,  N.  \ 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Samuel  L-  Munson,  Regent. 

William  A.  Wallace,  Secretary,  199  Lancaster  St.,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
William  Floyd  Chapter,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 

William  Barker,  Jr.,  Secretary,  7  Hawthorne  St.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Henry  J.  Cookinham,  Regent. 

William  L.  Watson,  Secretary,  240  Genesee  St.,  Utica,  N.  Y. 
Orange  County  Chapter,  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  Roswell  W.  Chamberlain,  Regent. 

Edwin  J.  Dikeman,  Secretary,  Goshen,  N.  Y. 
Jamestown  Chapter,  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Dr.  William  M.  Bemus,  Regent. 

Frank  H.  Mott,  Secretary,  Fen  ton  Building,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

Executive  Committee. 
John  Hone,  Chairman,  Joseph  T.  Low, 

William  G.  Bates, 
President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  ex-ofncio. 

Real  Estate  Committee. 

Robert  Olyphant,  Chairman,  James  M.  Montgomery, 

Charles  R.  Henderson,  Henry  A.  Wilson, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Arthur  M.  Hatch, 

Charles  Isham. 

Membership  Committee. 

George  DeForest  Barton,  Chairman,  150  Broadway. 

Silas  Wodell,  149  Broadway. 

Wyllys  Terry,  60  Wall  Street. 

Landreth  H.  King,  Room  517,  Grand  Central  Station. 

14 


Edward  L,.  Parris,  239  Broadway. 

Richard  A.  Wilson,  499  Monroe  St.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Alfred  B.  Robinson,  206  Broadway. 

Caldwell  R.  Blakeman,  107  Front  Street. 

Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown,  18  Wall  Street. 

Talbot  Root,  52  Broadway. 

Historical  Committee. 

Howard  R.  Bayne,  Chairman,  David  Cromwell, 

Capt.  John  R.  Totten,  Frank  W.  Jackson,  M.  D. 

Samuel  V,  Hoffman. 

Essay  Committee. 

Marcins  D.  Raymond,  Chairman,     Rev.  Howard  Duffield,  D.D 
R.  Russell  Requa,  Augustus  Floyd, 

Richard  Henry  Greene. 

Ljbrary  Committee. 

Capt.  John  R.  Totten,  Chairman,     Prof.  Henry  P.  Johnston 

Beverly  Chew. 

Tablet  Committee. 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,    Dallas  Bache  Pratt, 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  Henry  Russell  Drowne, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson. 

Stewards. 

Eugene  K.  Austin,  Chairman,  Rufus  I.  Shea, 

John  C.  Jay,  Jr.,  William  Floyd, 

Charles  H.  Woodruff,  Jr.,  Charles  E.  Warren. 

Marshall. 
John  Butterfield  Holland. 

Aides. 

James  Wray  Cleveland,  Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 

Albert  Delafield,  Talbot  Root, 

DeWitt  Clinton  Falls,  George  Albert  Wingate 

Francis  L,.  V.  Hoppin. 

15 


Annual  Church  Service. 

Aisle  Committee. 
Talbot  Olyphant,  Chat? man. 
Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown,  Charles  King  Morrison, 

Banyer  Clarkson,  Alexander  Dallas  Bache  Pratt, 

Robert  Grier  Cooke,  Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford, 

Joseph  N.  Lord  Edmonds,  Arthur  Frederick  Schermerhorn , 

Morris  Douw  Ferris,  Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 

George  Hewlett,  Charles  Hitchcock  Sherrill, 

John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  Prentice  Strong, 

S.  Vernon  Mann,  Herman  Knickerbocker  Viele, 

Benjamin  Brandreth  McAlpin,  Charles  Elliott  Warren, 

Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr.,      Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  Jr. 

Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff. 

Publication  Committee. 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Charles  Isham, 

Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

Excursion  Committee. 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,         John  B.  Holland, 
Clarence  Storm,  Col.  William  G.  Bates. 

Auditing  Committee. 
Charles  R.  Henderson,  Chairman,  Robert  Olyphant, 

Joseph  T.  Low. 

For  Raising  Funds  for  Fraunces  Tavern. 

Morris  K.  Jesup,  Col.  William  G.  Bates, 

Clarence  Winthrop  Bowen,  Joseph  T.  Low, 

George  C.  Buell,  Charles  H.  Williams, 

Daniel  N.  Crouse,  Frank  E.  Tilford, 

George  C.  Rand,  Henry  B.  Barnes. 

Committee  on  Formal  Opening  of  Fraunces  Tavern. 

Edmund  Wetmore,  Chairman,  Robert  Olyphant, 

John  Hone.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

Henry  Melville. 


16 


MEMBERS  ADMITTED. 

Frank  Demoth  Eaton,  New  York  City. 
James  Rowe  Stewart,  New  York  City. 
Fred  Kingsland  Dodd,  New  York  City. 
Harry  Horton  Benkard,  New  York  City. 
Rev.  Frank  Warfield  Crowder,  New  Brighton,  N.  Y. 
Charles  Lewis  Parmelee,  New  York  City. 
Morris  Miller  Davidson,  Firthcliffe,  N.  Y. 
Frederick  Howard  Wells,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Robert  Leonard  Ide,  New  York  Cit j^ . 
Charles  Cumberson  Boyle,  M.D.,  New  York  City. 
Charles  Percy  Letting,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 
William  Arnold  Bradley,  Pleasantville,  N.  Y. 
Harry  Van  der  Veer  DeHart,  Paterson,  N.  J. 
Nathan  Gross  Bozeman,  M.D.,  New  York  City. 
Oscar  Theodore  Barck,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Peveril  Meigs,  Jr.,  Flushing,  N.  Y. 
Edward  Hyde  Wells,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Charles  Gray  Shaw,  New  York  City. 
Lawrence  Eugene  Sexton,  New  York  City. 
John  Noble  Stearns,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 
George  Woodbury  Bunnell,  Jr.,  Plainfield,  N.  J.- 
Herbert Wallace  Todd,  New  York  City. 
George  Jones  Bailey,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Perry  Curtis  Todd,  New  York  City. 
Raymond  Dart  Whitmore,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Henry  Fletcher,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Louis  Wright  Simpson,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Robert  Hart  Rountree,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Arthur  Howland  Brett,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Frank  Blair  Rathburn,  Utica,  N.  Y. 
Henry  Clay  Colver,  New  York  City. 
Frederick  Melvin  Crossett,  New  York  City. 
Edwin  Van  Deusen  Gazzam,  M.D.,  Utica,  N.  Y. 
Elias  Ogden  Ross,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

17 


Robert  Hal  lam  Thompson,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Arvin  Wood  Harrington,  Jr.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  Berry  Oakley  Baldwin,  Scarborough,  N.  Y. 

William  Henry  Porter,  M.D.,  New  York  City. 

Valentine  Everit  Root,  New  York  City. 

Richards  Kellogg,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Edgar  Hayes  Betts,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  David  Otis  Mears,  D.D.,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Austin  Kent  Muzzey,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Fenimore  Daniel  Beagle,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Morris  Henry  Brown,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

Edwin  Welles  Kellogg,  M.D.,  New  York  City. 

George  Abijah  Mosher,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Robert  Eliot  Foote,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

James  Thomas  Edwards,  Randolph,  N.  Y. 

Robert  Hynson  Van  Court,  New  York  City. 

Horace  Holley  Dall,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Charles  Webb,  New  York  City. 

Charles  Greer,  Rye,  N.  Y. 

Edmond  Brockholst  Walker,  Nyack,  N.  Y. 

Gilbert  Van  Evera  Schenck,  Rensselaer,  N.  Y. 

John  Calvin  Griswold,  New  York  City. 

Norman  Lawrence  Bates,  Oswego,  N.  Y. 

Alain  Campbell  White,  New  York  City. 

Harvey  Klapp  Lines,  Flushing,  N.  Y. 

Francis  Sherman  Bacon,  New  York  City. 

James  Rhodes  Pierson,  New  York  City. 

Emerson  Chamberlin,  Summit,  N.  J. 

Rudolph  Herbert  Fischer,  New  York  City. 

Robert  Weld,  New  York  City. 

J.  Edward  Weld,  New  York  City. 

Sidney  Schieffelin  Schuyler,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

Frank  Brookrleld,  New  York  City. 

Andrew  James  Gilmour,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Gilbert  Wesley  Strong,  Sherman,  N.  Y. 

Schuyler  Brush  Knox,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Benjamin  Richards,  New  York  City. 

Laurence  Alexander  Mack.  New  York  City. 

Lieut.  Sherburne  Whipple  U.  S.  A.,  New  York.'City 

Dudley  Hunt  Walbridge,  New  York  City. 

18 


Frederick  Coffin  Pollard,  New  York  City. 

Rev.  Edwin  Walter  Colloque,  Mohegan,  N.  Y. 

Philip  Louis  Watkins,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Robert  Abraham  Burbank,  New  York  City. 

Chester  Hughes  Kirk,  transferred  from  Pennsylvania  Society. 

Gerardus  Clarkson,  Transferred  from  Pennsylvania  Society. 

Daniel  Ellis  Woodhull,  Transferred  from  New  Jersey  Society. 

RESIGNATIONS. 

Charles  M.  Dennison  Jr.  Worthington  C.  Ford, 

George  W.  Johnston,  Percy  Van  D.  Gott, 

George  S.  Ryer,  Samuel  I.  Perry, 

George  E.  Throop,  William  Skinner, 
Francis  G.  Wood. 

TRANSFERS. 

Charles  J.  Lynn,  to  Indiana  Society. 

Arthur  Mathewson,  M.  D.  to  District  of  Columbia  Society. 

Isaac  H.  Piatt,  M.  D.  to  Pennsylvania  Society. 

Rt.  Rev.  James  H.  Darlington  D.  D.  to  Pennsylvania  Society. 

LIST  OF  BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  ETC.,  RECEIVED 

TITLES  DONOR 

New  York  in  the  Revolution  and  Supple- 
ment, Wm.  W.  Atwood. 

Canadian  Archives,  1905,  Vols.  1,  2,  George  F.  O'Halloran,  Archivist. 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, 

8th  Report,  1904-1905,  Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin. 

Missouri     Society,    S.    of    R.     Register 

1904-1906,  Henry  Cadle,  Secretary. 

James  Mitchell  Varnum,  Sketch  of  Life,     Genl.  James  M.  Varnum. 

Joseph  Bradley  Varnum,  Sketh  of  Life,       Genl.  James  M.  Varnum. 

Colonial  Wars,  Supplement  to  General 

Register,  1906,  Henry  G.  Sanford,  Secretary, 

Halfway  Brook,  in  History,  James  Austin  Holden. 

Massachusetts     Soldiers      and     Sailors, 

Vol.  XV,  Wm.  M.  Olin. 

New  York  State  Historical  Association, 

Vol.  VI,  Robert  O.  Bascom,  Secretary. 

Library  of  Congress  Report,  1902-1903,        Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian. 

19 


TITLES 
Les  Combattants  Francais  de  la  Guerre 
Amerieaine, 

The  Varnums  of  Draycutt, 
Pennsylvania    Society    S.    of   R.    Year 

Book  i 89 i, 
Pennsylvania  Society  S.  of  R.   Register 

1895. 
Massachusetts  Society,  S.  of  R.  Register 

1893. 
New  Jersey  Society,   S.  of  R.   Register 

1892, 
Colonial  Wars,  The  Great  Swamp  Fight 

Monument, 
District  of  Columbia  Society,   S.  of  R., 

Year  Book,  1907, 
"The  First  American  Soldiers", 
New  Jersey  Archives,  Vols.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5, 

10,  18  and  Index, 

Song  "Motherland", 

Union  Club  Book  1907, 

The  Great  Swamp  Fight  Monument, 

Pennsylvania  Archives,  5th  series,  Vols. 

1    to    8    inclusive,    Pennsylvania 

State  Library, 
California  Society,  >S.  of  R.,  Report  1907, 

Colonial  Wars  in  the  State  of  California, 

Report  1907. 
Commemoration  of  the  Fourth  Centenary 

of    the    Discovery    of    America, 

Madrid  Exposition, 

Pennsylvania  Society,  S.  of  R.,  Proceed- 
ings, 1906-1907, 

Department  of  Education,  Report  1905- 
1906  and  Supplement, 

Loyal  Legion,  Announcements, 
Society   of  the  Cincinnati   in   Virginia, 

Pamphlets, 
Colonial  and  Revolution  Events, 
New  York  Historical   Society    Publica- 
tions, 32  Vols. 
St.  Nicholas  Society,  Year  Book  1907, 
Register  for  Secretary's  Office, 


DONOR 

Rufus  I.  Shea. 

Genl.  James  M.  Varnum. 

Talbot  Olyphant. 

Talbot  Olyphant. 

Talbot  Olyphant. 

Talbot  Olyphant. 

Henry  G.  Sanford,  Secretary. 

Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin,  Secretary. 
Spencer  P.  Mead,  L.  L.  B. 

Henry  A.  Wilson. 
Mrs.  Jennie  T.  Powers, 
Franklin  Bartlett,  Secretary. 
William  C.  Greene. 


Thos.  L.  Montgomery,  Librarian. 
Holdridge  O.  Collins. 


Holdridge  O.  Collins. 


Rear   Admiral   Stephen    P.    Luce, 

U.  S.  N. 

Ethan  Allen  Weaver,  Secretary. 

Andrew  S.  Draper,  Commissioner. 
Col.  W.  R.  Smedberg,  Recorder. 

Heth  Lorton. 
Hudson  Riley. 

Clarence  Storm. 

Charles  Isham,  Secretary. 

Unz  &  Co. 


20 


TITLES 


DONOR 


Regimental   Colors  in   the  War  of  the 
Revolution, 

Mead  Family,  Index  to  Genealogy,! 

Report  of  Hearing  on   Bill  to  Preserve 
State  House,  Boston, 

Friendly    Sons    of    St.    Patrick,     123rd 
Anniversary  Dinner, 

Genealogy,  Branch  of  Edward's  Family,     J.  H.  Edwards. 

Society   of  Colonial    Works   Year  Book 

1 906- 1 907,  Henry  G.  Sanford,  Sec'y. 


Gherardi  Davis. 
Spencer  P.  Mead. 

Hazard  Stevens. 

T.  F.  Conway,  Secretary. 


From  John  Austin  Stevens. 


Authors. 


Chamber  of  Commerce  Report ,  1 900- 1 90 1 , 
Minutes  of  the  Common  Council,  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  1675-1776,  8 
Volumes, 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Pro- 
ceedings, 6  Volumes,  1879-1881, 
1894-1895,  1903-1905, 

History  of  Dong  Island,  2  Volumes, 

Calendar  of  Wills, 

Colonial  Records  of  the  New  York 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  1768-1784, 

Centennial  Celebrations  of  the  State  of 
New  York, 

The  Flag  of  the  United  States  and  other 
National  Flags, 

The  Writings  of  George  Washington,  1st 
Edition,  12  Volumes, 

Centennial  Celebration  of  the  Evacuation 
of  New  York,  by  the  British, 

Portrait  Gallery  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce , 

The  Magazine  of  American  History, 
Vols.  1,  2,  3,  4, 

Complete  History  of  the  United  States, 

History  of  New  York  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  2  Volumes, 


Benjamin  F.  Thompson. 
Berthold  Fernow. 

John  Austin  Stevens. 

Allen  C.  Beach. 

Rear  Admiral  George  Henry  Preble, 

U.  S.  N. 

Jared  Sparks. 

John  Austin  Stevens. 

George  W.  Wilson,  Secretary. 


J.  A.  Spencer,  D.  D.,  and  Bensoa 
J.  Dossing,  D.  D.  D. 

Thomas  Jones. 


21 


TITLES 

Memoirs  of  the  Administrations  of  Wash- 
ington and  Adams,  2  Volnmes, 
English  Colonies  in  America, 
Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  3  Volumes, 

Annals    of    Trinity   Church,    Newport, 

R.  I.,  2  Volumes, 
Reunion  of  the  Sons  and   Daughters  of 

Newport,  R.  I. 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution  and  Their 

Times, 

Heroes  of  the  Navy  in  America, 

An  Express  of  '76, 

Margaret  Moncrieffe, 

In  the  Shadow  of  the  Lord, 

In  Old  New  York, 

The  Half  Moon  Series: 
The  Bowery, 

Old  Greenwich, 

Old  Taverns  and  Posting  Inns, 

New   Amsterdam    Family    Names    and 
their  Origin, 

The  Battle  of  Harlem  Heights, 

Old   Wells    and   Water   Courses    of  the 
Island  of  Manhattan, 


DONOR 


George  Gibbs, 

J.  A.  Doyle,  M.  A. 

John  Bigelow. 

George  C.  Mason. 

George  C.  Mason. 

Charles  C.  Coffin. 
Charles  Morris. 
Lindley  M.  Hubbard. 
Charles  Burdett. 
Mrs.  Hugh  Fraser. 
Thomas  A.  Janvier. 

E.  R.  Hewett  and  Mary  A.  Hewett. 
Elizabeth  Bisland. 
Elizabeth  B.  Cutting. 

Berthold  Fernow. 

Wm.  R.  Shepherd,  Ph.  D. 

George    E.    Hill    and    George    E. 
Waring,  Jr. 
American  History  Magazine,  Sept.  1907. 

A  History  of  the  Schnectady  Patent,  Robert  Ezra  Huntington  Terry, 

New  York  as  it  was  During  the  Latter  Part  of  the  18th  Century,  Address  by 

Wm.  Alexander  Duer,  L.  L-  D. 
Catalogues  of  Rare  American  Prints,  Engraved  Portraits  and  Authograph 

Letters. 
William  Smith's,  History  of  New  York. 
Osgood's  American  Colonies. 
De  Peyster's  Influence  of  Library. 
Hale's,  Round  About  Jamestown. 
Brook's,  Conciliation  with  America. 
T.  A.  Emmett's,  Battle  of  Harlem  Heights. 
Neilson's,  Burgoyne's  Campaign. 
Races  and  Immigrants  in  America 


22 


MISCELLANEOUS  DONATIONS, 
PICTURES,    RELICS,    PROGRAMMES,    Etc. 


TITLES 
Copy    of    Miniature    Portrait, •  Captain 

Bezaleel  Howe, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution  and  ^New  York 

Historical    Society,   Programmes, 

Menus,  etc., 
Share  New  York  Historical  Society  Pub- 
lication Stock, 
Photograph  of  Revolutionary  Flag, 
Photograph  of  Painting  by  Philip  Dadd, 

"A  Procession  of  Ancestors, 
Photograph  of  Banquet, 
Photograph     of     George      Washington 

Peachy , 
Bronze    Medallion    of    Washington,    in 

Frame, 

Picture,   Elizabeth    Grace   and   Rachael 

Martin, 
Picture  Israel  Putnam, 
Officials  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

1768-1783. 
Photograph    of    Painting    of  Benjamin 

Franklin, 
Photograph  of  John  Austin  Stevens, 
Pictures     of      Revolutionary     Officers, 

(nine  in  three  frames.) 


DONOR 


Dr.  J.  Morgan  Howe, 


Robert  J  affray. 

Clarence  Storm. 
Gherardi  Davis. 

Charles  Benjamin  Miller. 
George  R.  Lawrence  &  Co. 

Holdridge  O.  Collins. 

John  Hone. 

EdmundJHo  ward-Martin. 
Rev.  Chas.  E.  Brugler, 

John  Austin  Stevens. 

John  Austin  Stevens. 
John  Austin  Stevens. 

John  Austin  Stevens. 


23 


REPORT 

OF    THE 

HISTORIAN 


In  flDemortam 


ADMITTED. 

Alonzo  Coggeshall  Wall,  1903 

Edwin  Stanley  Bender,  1904 

Alfred  Wild  Gardner,  M.  D.  1893 

Samuel  George  Fitzhugh  Towsend,  A. 

B.,  E.  E.  1894 

William  Watt  Smith,  1903 

Francis  Edward  Doughty,   M.  D.,  1900 

Hon.  Ernest  Howard  Crosby,  1894 

James  Albert  Hay  den,  1898 

Gilbert  Ogden  Fowler  Nicoll,  1892 

George  Rutledg  Gibson,  1887 

Mc  Laurin  Jameson  Pickering,  1901 

Hon.  Horatio  Seymour,  C.  E.  !904 

Frank  Sherman  Benson,  1894 

Orson  Desaix  Munn,  1896 

Benjamin  Franklin  Lee,  L.  L.  D.,  1889 

John  Nicholas  Coyne,  1st  Leut.  N.  Y. 

Vols.  1861, 
Lyman  Rhoades, 
Nathaniel  Blossom  Hoxie,  Jr. 
Hon.  James  M.  Varnum,  N.  G.  N.  Y., 

formerly    Paymaster   &    Surrogate, 

N.  Y.  County 
Cort  Roadside  Hincken, 
Henry  DeWitt  Joy,  M.  D. 
Joseph  Edwin  Potter  Lord, 
George  Curtis  Rand, 
Brig.  Gen.  Henry  Stuart  Turrill,  U.  S. 

A.  (Retired) 
Rev.  Albert    Lucius  Smalley,  D.  D. 
Stiles  Franklin  Stanton, 
George  Mandeville  Van  Saun, 


1893 
1892 

1893 


1883 
1904 
1894 
1900 
1894 

1891 
1900 
1890 
1900 


DIED. 

July  17th,  1906. 
December  5th,  1906. 
December  10th,  1906. 

December  nth,  1906. 
December  28th,  1906. 
December  28th,  1906 
January  3rd,  1907. 
January  22nd,  1907. 
January  29th,  1907. 
February  6th.  1907. 
February  20th,  1907. 
February  21st,  1907. 
February  28th,  1907. 
February  28th,  1907. 
March  3rd,  1907. 

March  4th,  1907. 
March  6th,  1907. 
March  23rd,  1907. 


March  26th,  1907. 
April  1 2th,  1907. 
April  15th,  1907. 
May  1st,  1907. 
May  12th,  1907. 

May  24th.  1907. 
June  9th.  1907. 
June  15th,  1907. 
June  30th,  1907. 


27 


Col.  Mason  Whiting  Tyler,   Mass.  Vol. 

1862.  1885 

Richard  Henry  Derby,  M.  D.  1890 

George  Rowland,  C.  E.  1893 

Charles  Hastings  Coon,  1897 

Robert  Barclay  Macpherson,  1902 

Octavus  Bailey  L,ibbey,  1906 

Halsey  Haines  Cheney,  1897 

Richard  L,ounsbury  Purdy,  1895 

John  Lowe  Salter,  1893 

Charles  Rapallo  Henderson,  1894 

Abram  G.  Brower,  M.  D.  1903 

Charles  Joseph  Nourse,  1895 

Charles  Roberts,  1890 

William  Nathan  Belcher,  M.  D.,  1897 


July  2nd,  1907. 
July  4th,  1907. 
July  7th,  1907. 
August  9th,  1907. 
August  28th,  1907. 
August  30th,  1907. 
September  22nd,  1907 
September  25th,  1907. 
October  24th,  1907. 
October  27th,  1907. 
November  8th,  1907. 
November  18th,  1907. 
November  19th,  1907. 
November  20th ,  1907. 


Respectfully  submitted, 

Talbot  Olyphant, 


Historian . 


28 


THE  PRIZE  ESSAYS 


ON 


Robert  Morris  and  His  Financial  Services  in 

the   Revolution 


First  Prize:       otto  j.  schuxtes, 

Buffalo  Central  High  School, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Second  Prize:  E.  Richmond  sartweix, 

Buffalo  Central  High  School, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Third  Prize:     lynn  g.  goodnough, 

Cornwall-on-Hudson  High  School, 

CORNWALL-ON-HUDSON,    N.    Y. 


First   Prize   Essay 


ROBERT  MORRIS  was  born  in  Liverpool,  England,  1734.  When 
thirteen  years  old,  Morris  came  to  America.  Two  years  later  he  was  placed 
with  Charles  Willing  to  receive  a  commercial  education.  At  the  age  of 
twenty  Morris  entered  into  partnership  with  Thomas  Willing,  and  at  the 
opening  of  the  Revolution  was  probably  the  best  known,  most  respected  and 
richest  merchant  in  the  colonies. 

The  financial  services  of  Morris  fall  naturally  into  two  periods,  those 
rendered  before  1781  and  those  rendered  as  Superintendent  of  Finance.  The 
former  are  chiefly  in  the  shape  of  gifts,  loans  and  petty  financial  work 
performed  in  Congress.  The  latter  are  those  services  which  he  rendered  by 
managing  the  American  finances  in  the  last  years  of  the  war. 

Morris,  always  liberal  with  his  wealth  throughout  the  Revolution, 
frequently  gave  valuable  gifts  to  the  cause.  A  few  days  after  the  victory  of 
Trenton,  Morris,  on  his  personal  credit,  borrowed  $50,000  for  Washington, 
thus  preventing  the  army  disbanding.  During  the  period  of  1779-80,  when 
there  were  no  cartridges,  he  gave  the  ballast  of  one  his  ships,  consisting  of 
ninety  tons  of  lead,  to  be  used  in  making  the  needed  cartridges.  At  his  own 
expense,  he  fitted  out  privateers,  and  often  the  spoils  of  war  obtained  by 
them  were  turned  over  to  the  army.  In  a  similar  manner  throughout  the  war 
Morris  donated  monetary  and  other  supplies  pressingly  needed,  in  some  cases 
donating  entire  shiploads  of  clothing,  food  and  arms. 

Not  only,  however,  did  he  aid  his  country  with  gifts,  but  even  before  his 
appointment  as  Superintendent  of  Finance,  he  interested  himself  in  the 
financial  affairs  of  Congress.  Early  in  his  career  in  the  Continental  Congress 
he  had  been  commissioned  to  negotiate  bills  of  exchange  with  himself  as  in- 
dorser.  He  bought  supplies  for  public  use  in  his  own  name,  thus  obtaining 
them  much  cheaper  than  if  purchased  directly  by  the  government.  Being 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Finance,  he  acted  as  agent  for  the 
Committee,  and  advanced  his  personal  credit  to  the  service  of  his  country. 
In  other  ways  he  was  often  called  on  to  manage  the  fiscal  concerns  of  Congress. 

But  chief  of  all  of  Morris'  work  during  this  period  was  the  establishment, 
with  other  patriotic  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  of  a  bank  in  the  year  1780. 
Subscriptions  were  raised  among  the  citizens  to  the  amount  of  ,£315,000, 
Morris  himself  heading  the  list  with  ,£10,000.  The  subscribers  were  obliged 
to  pay  their  subscriptions  when  it  became  necessary   to    fulfill  the  bank's 


3i 


engagements.     The  sole  purpose  of  the  bank  was  to  supply  the  army,  money 
being  borrowed  on  the  bank's  credit  for  this  purpose. 

In  1781,  Robert  Morris  was  appointed  Superintendent  of  Finance.  It 
was  a  time  of  greatest  distress.  The  army  was  without  supplies  and  on  the 
Terge  of  starvation;  the  finances  were  in  a  deplorable  condition;  the  paper 
currency  was  totally  depreciated,  the  treasury  exhausted  and  about  two  and 
one-half  millions  in  arrears,  the  government  credit  almost  destroyed  and  the 
financial  and  commissary  departments  thrown  into  great  confusion  because 
of  former  mismanagement  and  extravagance.  At  such  a  time,  under  such  con- 
ditions, Robert  Morris  was  called  upon  to  manage  the  Department  of  Finance. 

Good  results  were  obtained,  however,  as  soon  as  Morris  took  charge  of 
the  financial  department.  The  affairs  of  the  department  were  placed  in  order; 
economy  took  the  place  of  extravagance  and  this  economy  enabled  supplies 
to  be  more  cheaply  and  exactly  bought  by  means  of  contracts.  Public 
deficiencies  began  to  vanish.  Through  Morris'  exertions  funds  were  provided 
and  engagements  kept.  Military  operations  were  no  longer  detained  by  a 
lack  of  supplies,  because  Morris  pledged  himself  personally,  when  necessity 
demanded,  for  absolutely  necessary  supplies.  Thus  this  citizen  supplied,  to 
some  extent  unaided,  food  and  munitions  to  maintain  an  army. 

One  of  the  first  important  operations  of  Morris  as  Superintendent  of  Finance 
was  the  establishment  of  the  Bank  of  North  America.  Needing  money  badly 
and  being  able  to  borrow  little  directly  on  the  government  credit,  Congress' 
best  means  of  obtaining  funds  was  through  the  medium  of  a  bank.  So, 
through  the  efforts  of  Morris,  the  Bank  of  North  America  was  established  with  a 
capital  of  $300, 000.  Within  six  months  after  the  establishment,  it  had  advanced, 
for  the  use  of  the  government  in  carrying  on  the  war,  the  sum  of  $480,000. 
By  means  of  this  bank,  public  confidence  was  increased,  the  bank  notes 
formed  a  reliable  currency  and  new  vigor  was  given  to  trade,  a  large  amount 
of  money  long  concealed,  but  now  deposited,  being  put  into  circulation. 

General  Green,  during  his  heroic  struggle  in  the  south,  was  greatly 
aided  by  Morris.  The  financier  employed  an  agent  to  accompany  Greene's 
army.  When  Greene  was  in  the  direst  extremity,  the  agent  was  authorized 
to  advance  small  sums  of  money.  While  Morris  desired  to  do  much  more,  he 
could  not,  for  the  reason  that  many  of  the  Southern  States  made  no  requisitions 
to  Congress  whatever.  He  did  all  he  could,  however,  at  one  time  sending 
Greene  ^1,000  in  gold,  at  another  time  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  a  ship's 
cargo.  Often  Greene  drew  notes  on  the  financier,  which  were  always  honored, 
though  Morris  had  sometimes  to  pay  them  from  his  own  pocket.  It  would  not 
be  too  much  to  say  that  Morris  was  one  of  the  chief  means  by  which  Greene 
was  enabled  to  continue  his  wonderful  struggle. 

32 


"In  the  capture  of  Cornwallis  (the  campaign  decisive  of  the  long  and 
doubtful  struggle)  the  energy,  perseverance  and  financial  talents  of  Morris 
united  with  the  wisdom  and  bravery  of  Washington  in  deciding  the  fate  of 
the  Union."  Suddenly  forced  to  change  his  plan  of  action,  Washington 
needed  cannon,  supplies  and  money  to  make  his  campaign  against  Cornwal- 
lis successful.  All  depended  on  these  which  Morris,  was  to  furnish  from  an 
empty  treasury.  But  Morris,  with  the  zeal  of  a  true  patriot,  raised  every 
cent  he  could  command,  Uhing  all  his  ready  wealth,  borrowing  from  his 
friends,  and  pledging  his  own  credit  by  issuing  personal  notes  to  the  amount 
of  $1,400,000.  Had  it  not  been  for  Morris  the  campaign  at  Yorktown  could 
never  have  been  carried  out. 

Though  he  did  not  believe  in  a  paper  currency,  Morris  made  strenuous 
efforts  to  secure  a  reliable  one.  The  depreciation  of  the  paper  issued  by 
Congress  and  the  want  of  a  solid  circulating  medium  were  the  chief  causes  of 
public  and  private  distress.  To  remedy  these  wants,  Congress,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Morris,  made  the  notes  of  the  Bank  of  North  America  a  currency 
with  which  taxes,  duties,  etc.,  might  be  paid.  To  keep  these  notes  from  de- 
preciating in  value,  Morris  established  a  private  bank.  Here,  where  a 
great  amount  of  gold  and  silver  coin  was  displayed,  all  bank  notes  were 
promptly  paid  in  gold  or  silver.  The  effect  of  this  was  to  establish  a  confi- 
dence in  the  notes,  thereby  introducing  a  more  reliable  currency,  than  hither- 
to and  giving  a  new  vigor  to  trade.  Again,  Morris  did  his  utmost  to  raise 
the  value  of  the  Pennsylvania  currencj'-,  for  it  had  been  given  to  Congress  as 
a  fund  from  which  to  purchase  specific  supplies.  To  raise  its  value,  Morris 
sold  bills  of  exchange,  receiving  in  payment  Pennsylvania  paper,  which  he 
paid  out  at  a  lower  rate  of  depreciation.  Finally,  towards  the  last  of  his 
administration,  being  greatly  in  need  of  money,  he  signed  and  put  into  cir~ 
culation  personal  obligations  to  the  amount  of  $581,000. 

The  exertions  of  Robert  Morris  to  establish  a  solid  credit  for  his  country 
were  stupendous.  Though  the  government  credit  was  almost  totally  destroyed 
at  the  time  of  his  appointment  as  Superintendent  of  Finance,  he  nevertheless  set 
about  to  build  it  up.  He  abolished  all  fraud  and  false  dealing.  He  complied 
faithfully  with  every  engagement  he  made,  thereby  restoring  public  confidence 
and  making  contractors  eager  to  sell  supplies  to  the  government,  since  they 
knew  they  would  receive  payment.  He  advanced  his  personal  credit  to  the 
use  of  his  country.  So  high  was  the  credit  which  Morris  tendered  freely  to 
his  country,  that  supplies  were  furnished  without  question  if  he  pledged  him- 
self for  their  payment,  and  the  American  Minister  to  France  said  that  the 
good  consequence  of  the  appointment  of  Robert  Morris  as  Superintendent  of 
Finance  was  evident  with  regard  to  the  rising  credit  of  the  United  States  and 

33 


the  value  of  American  bills.  Thus  one  might  say  that  it  was  not  so  much  the 
credit  of  Congress  as  the  credit  of  the  financier  that  furnished  the  supplies 
throughout  the  last  years  of  the  war. 

But  all  his  efforts  proved  unavailing.  Nearly  the  only  source  of  revenue 
was  the  requisitions  of  the  States.  These  requisitions  were  shamefully  paid. 
A  large  portion  of  Morris'  time  was  spent  in  eloquently  urging,  pleading, 
praying  the  States  to  make  their  required  contributions.  But  all  without  avail. 
Morris,  besides  various  supplies,  received  only  $100,000  from  the  States. 
Without  revenue  the  public  debt  remained  unfunded  and  unpaid.  Finally, 
not  even  enough  revenue  was  obtained  to  furnish  necessary  supplies.  A  five 
percent,  impost  on  imports  and  prizes,  suggested  by  Morris,  failed  because  a 
few  States  would  not  agree  to  it.  In  November,  1784,  having  for  a  time 
carried  on  the  financial  affairs  solely  on  his  own  credit,  Morris  was  forced  to 
resign  his  position. 

For  any  single  one  of  the  services  which  Morris  rendered,  a  country  should 
have  been  filled  with  boundless  gratitude.  For  introducing  currencies  much 
better  than  those  ever  circulated  before,  for  the  establishment  of  two  banks  with 
which  to  bolster  up  the  country's  failing  credit,  for  the  many  times  when  he 
saved  the  country  by  furnishing  supplies  from  his  own  wealth,  preventing  the 
army  disbanding,  for  aiding  Greene's  army,  for  making  possible  the  victory 
at  Yorktown,  for  almost  entirely  on  his  own  credit  supporting  a  costly  war  for 
three  long  years;  for  these  and  other  splendid  services  any  country  should 
have  been  grateful.  For  these,  however,  Morris  was  allowed  to  linger  in  a 
debtor's  prison  and  die,  in  1806,  penniless  and  almost  friendless. 

What  Washington  was  in  the  guidance  of  the  American  armies,  what 
Franklin  was  in  American  diplomacy,  all  that  was  Morris  in  the  management 
of  the  American  finances.  Only  Morris  could  have  done  that  which  Morris 
did.  Only  his  credit  could  supply  the  armies  during  the  last  terrible  years  of 
the  war.  Only  his  talents  could  plan  the  expedients  and  manage  the  finances 
of  a  country  almost  without  revenue  and  yet  engaged  in  an  expensive  war. 
Only  a  man  of  his  type  could  have  given  his  wealth  so  freely  and  so  willingly 
to  aid  his  struggling  country.  And  only  a  man  of  his  character  would  have 
the  endurance,  the  energy,  the  perservance,  the  courage  necessary  to  bear  the 
weight  of  a  Department  of  Finance,  receiving  practically  nothing  and  yet  forced 
to  expend  twenty  million  annually.  Without  Morris,  all  the  physical  force 
of  the  country  would  have  been  unavailing,  and,  as  an  Italian  historian  said: 
"Americans  certainly  owed,  and  still  owe,  as  much  acknowledgment  to  the 
financial  operations  of  Robert  Morris  as  to  the  negotiations  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  or  even  to  the  arms  of  Washington. 

Otto  J.  Schultes. 
34 


Second   Prize  Essay 


The  outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  War  produced  a  social  and  economic 
upheaval  in  the  United  States,  which  like  all  other  violent  changes,  was  the 
source  of  a' number  of  varied  and  contradictory  effects.  While  the  ultimate 
tendency  of  these  changes  was  of  an  advantageous  character,  their  immediate 
effect  was  most  depressing.  The  state  of  mind  of  a  people  released,  suddenly, 
from  the  control  of  a  powerful  government,  and  placed  under  an  authority, 
whose  power  emanated  from  themselves,  was  of  necessity  weak  and  vacillating, 
The  responsibilities  of  government  were  not  fixed  and  the  entire  social  fabric 
was  chaos  and  disorder. 

The  Continental  Congress  was  the  nominal  head  of  the  country,  but  it 
was  practically  powerless.  The  members  derived  their  authority,  unstable  as 
it  was,  from  the  state  assemblies  which  elected  them.  The  assemblies,  far 
from  being  sovereign,  legislative  bodies,  acted  by  means  of  recommendations 
to  the  town  which  disposed  of  them  in  town-meetings.  Thus,  the  real  power 
in  matters  of  political  interest  seated  with  the  individual  in  the  petty  local 
assemblies. 

The  fear  of  unpopularity  and  the  dread  of  an  averse  public  opinion  were 
ever  before  the  men  who  held  the  administrative  and  legislative  offices  of  the  time. 
This  fear  caused  them  to  hesitate  when  action,  however  imperative  or  neces- 
sary, was  contemplated,  which  might  operate  to  prejudice  them  in  the  minds 
of  the  small  local  groups  which  each  of  them  represented. 

This  condition  instead  of  disappearing  grew  more  pernicious  as  the  war 
advanced.  The  much  heralded  benefits  of  freedom  did  not  at  once  materialize. 
The  Utopian  dreams  of  the  rights  of  men,  prompted  by  the  pre-Revolutionary 
debates,  failed  of  their  fulfillment. 

Congress  was  at  the  mercy  of  public  opinion.  It  labored  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  popular  prejudices  as  to  civil  liberty  and  personal  rights,  whicn  had 
developed  in  the  course  of  colonial  existence.  It  was  also  imbued  with  the 
administrative  ideas  which  had  characterized  colonial  government  among 
which  was  the  device  of  doing  the  executive  work  of  the  government,  by  means 
of  committees,  thus  withholding  the  executive  power  from  any  single  man. 

While  this  device  succeeded  in  limiting  the  power  of  the  executive  govern- 
ment, it  lost  a  more  vital  attribute  of  governing  power,  the  sense  of  respons- 
ibility. 

35 


The  effect  of  all  this  was  demoralizing  to  the  whole  executive  depart- 
ment; most  of  all,  however,  it  demoralized  the  department  of  finance.  As  we 
look  back  to-day,  we  wonder  how,  in  the  face  of  these  unfortunate  conditions, 
the  financial  support  for  the  conduct  of  the  war  was  provided.  We  think  of 
the  weakness  and  irresponsibility  of  the  executive  power,  and  we  marvel  that 
the  earnest  patriots  at  the  head  of  the  army,  did  not  give  up  the  struggle  in 
despair.  But,  against  the  background  of  waste,  negligence  and  extravagance 
which  characterized  those  trying  years  of  the  republic,  there  stands  out  one 
man,  a  prudent  merchant,  an  ardent  patriot  who  devoted  all  of  his  intense 
energy,  his  never  failing  resources,  to  the  support  of  the  country,  and  who  by 
his  single  efforts  enabled  the  army  to  remain  in  the  field  when  all  looked  dark 
and  dismal.  To  him  is  due  the  thanks  and  praise  for  the  successful  conduct 
of  the  war.     That  man  was  Robert  Morris. 

Robert  Morris  was  born  in  Liverpool,  England,  January  31,  1734.  He 
was  sent  to  Philadelphia  when  he  was  14  years  of  age.  There  he  later  engaged 
in  the  mercantile  business  with  Thomas  Willing,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution  in  1775  was  a  prominent  and  successful  merchant.  In  that  year 
he  was  elected  to  the  Continental  Congress  by  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly. 

The  trials  of  Congress  in  the  early  part  af  1775  were  greatly  lessened  by 
the  substantial  aid  which  Morris,  as  a  member  of  Congress  and  as  an  American 
merchant,  gave  to  the  government.  He  sent  his  own  ships  on  voyage  the 
object  of  which  was  to  exchange  American  products  for  the  arms  and  ammu- 
nition so  seriously  needed.  He  was  also  employed  by  Congress  as  a  banker, 
buying  and  selling  bills  of  exchange. 

In  the  year  1776  the  aspect  of  the  war  was  very  unpromising.  The  Brit- 
ish army  under  Howe,  despite  the  efforts  of  Washington's  vastly  inferior  force, 
had  penetrated  New  Jersey,  and  there  threatened  Philadelphia,  then  the  seat 
of  Congress.  The  close  proximity  of  the  British  caused  Congress  to  adjourn 
to  Baltimore  where  they  would  be  safe  in  the  event  of  the  capture  of  Phil- 
adelphia. They  left  a  committee  behind,  however,  to  attend  to  affairs  in  that 
city.  This  committee  was  simply  Morris  as,  of  his  two  colleagues,  one  left 
the  city  and  the  other  assumed  no  responsibility.  During  the  December  of 
1776  and  the  January  of  1777,  Morris  was  the  practical  head  of  the  continent. 
He  attended  to  all  of  the  foreign  correspondence,  at  that  time  so  important;  he 
managed  the  marine  affairs,  and  prepared  the  ships  then  belonging  to  the 
government  for  sea,  to  avoid  their  capture;  he  informed  Washington  as  to  the 
supplies  at  his  disposal,  and  forwarded  them  to  the  army.  In  fact  he  carried 
on  all  of  the  work  which  should  have  been  done  by  Congress. 

At  this  time  occurred  the  first  and  perhaps  the  most  important  of  the  three 
crises  of  the  war;  the  attack  on  Trenton.     Congress  was  beyond  the  reach  of 

36 


communication  of  the  army,  and  Washington  relied  entirely  on  the  support  of 
Morris  in  Philadelphia.  The  history  of  this  campaign,  while  it  stamps  Wash- 
ington as  a  great  strategist,  shows  that  the  heart  and  soul  of  Morris  were  in 
the  cause  and  devoted  in  the  ultimate  success.  We  find  him  after  exhaust- 
ing all  the  sources  of  public  credit  to  enable  Washington  to  make  the  famous 
passage  of  the  Delaware  and  the  subsequent  attack,  going  forth,  in  response 
to  Washington's  appeal,  and  pledging  his  own  private  credit  to  the  extent  of 
$50,000,  to  enable  the  army  to  keep  the  field  and  follow  up  the  brilliant 
success. 

During  that  terrible  winter  of  1777-8,  spent  by  Washington  and  his  wretched 
half-clothed  and  starving  army  at  Valley  Forge,  Morris  again  came  forward. 
He  protested  against  the  party  divisions  in  Congress,  and  against  the  system 
of  executive  committees  which  he  maintained  were  productive  of  waste,  negli- 
gence and  extravagance,  when  every  iota  of  strength  should  have  been 
devoted  to  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war.  He  even  personally  visited 
the  army  at  Valley  Forge,  and  encouraged  the  commanders  in  their  efforts  to 
keep  the  rapidly  decreasing  force  together. 

Shortly  before  this  time,  Congress,  lacking  the  power  of  taxation,  had 
issued  paper  money,  or  notes  drawn  on  the  different  states.  As  the  states  had 
no  hard  money  with  which  to  redeem  these  notes,  their  value  rapidly  depreci- 
ated. This  depreciation  continued  until  the  year  1779,  the  Continental  paper 
currency  was  worth  two  cents  on  the  dollar. 

Then  Congress  unable  to  collect  cash,  on  the  paper  money,  saw  the  error 
of  the  system  which  they  had  used.  They  saw  that  the  defective  administra- 
tion of  the  financial  department  resulted  in  the  reckless  expenditure  of  the 
small  sum  of  money  obtained.  These  conclusions  and  the  earnest  solicitations 
of  the  men  at  the  front  of  public  opinion  forced  Congress  to  supersede  the 
board  at  the  head  of  the  department  of  finance  by  one  capable  man. 

At  this  supreme  crisis,  the  whole  country  looked  to  Robert  Morris.  He 
was  regarded  as  the  one  man,  with  the  ability,  experience  and  devotion  to 
undertake  this  important  office.  Congress  therefore  appointed  him  Super- 
intendent of  Finance  with  full  power  over  that  important  department.  He 
assumed  the  duties  of  office  in  June,  1781. 

Morris  had  a  clear  perception  of  the  situation  and  saw  just  what  would  be 
necessary  to  overcome  the  conditions.  He  proposed  that  Congress  levy  an 
import  tax;  that  the  expense  of  the  government  be  retrenched,  and  in  the 
meantime  he  relied  on  European  loans  to  support  the  government  until  these 
other  measures  brought  returns.  The  first  two  were  not  accomplised,  during 
the  war,  and  he  was  forced  to  provide  subsistence  for  the  country  from  the  last. 

37 


When  he  entered  office,  the  sole  resources  at  his  disposal,  were  bills  of 
exchange  upon  the  European  envoys  of  the  United  States,  and  as  the  envoys 
were  unable  to  collect  money,  the  payment  of  these  was  rather  doubtful. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  Washington  proposed  to  attack  the  British  in 
New  York.  This  Morris  opposed  as  too  expensive  an  undertaking.  There- 
upon it  was  decided  to  march  south  and  attack  Cornwallis  in  Virginia. 

The  whole  brunt  of  this  culminating  campaign  of  the  war  fell  upon 
Morris.  It  was  he  that  advanced  the  money  to  pay  Washington's  dissatisfied 
soldiers;  it  was  Morris  that  transported  the  army  that  obtained  supplies  for  the 
combined  French  and  Continental  armies;  it  was  Moms  who  did  everything 
except  direct  the  maneuvers,  and  to  make  this  possible  Morris  raised  upwards 
of  a  million  dollars  on  his  personal  notes.  He  patched  up  the  threadbare 
public  credit  with  his  own  integrity  he  borrowed  from  his  friends  and 
acquaintances,  left  and  right,  to  provide  funds  for  that  last  campaign. 

After  the  battle  of  Yorktown  and  the  practical  close  of  the  war,  Morris 
was  kept  busy  supplying  the  demands  of  the  army  for  pay.  The  disbandment 
of  the  army,  after  three  years  of  mutiny  and  revolt,  was  due  solely  to  Morris, 
who  paid  off  the  soldiers  with  notes  involving  his  own  personal  credit  to  the 
extent  of  $750,000. 

In  1782  Morris  had  founded  the  Bank  of  North  America,  which  assisted 
him  greatly  in  those  trying  years,  after  the  revolution.  The  bank  continued 
in  existence  for  some  time. 

After  leaving  the  public  service,  Robert  Morris  became  involved  in 
speculation  in  the  wild  lands  of  the  United  States.  He  continued  to  speculate 
until  1796  his  finances  became  embarrassed. 

On  the  16th  of  February  1798,  he  was  cast  into  a  debtors'  prison  by  his 
creditors.  It  is  indeed  touching  to  think  of  this  old  man,  grown  grey  in  the 
service  of  his  country,  distressed  in  mind  and  body,  worn  by  the  cares  of  public 
office,  and  private  business,  ekeing  out  a  scanty  existence  in  a  prison  cell. 

He  was  liberated,  however,  in  1801,  and  went  to  live  on  his  wife's 
annuity  of  $1500.     He  died  in  1806. 

Underneath  a  plain  granite  slab  in  a  damp,  dark  corner  of  the  church- 
yard of  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  lies  the  body  of  Robert  Monis,  the 
inscription  on  the  stone  gives  the  information  that  he  was  financier  of  the 
United  States  during  the  Revolution.  But  there  is  another  inscription  graven 
on  the  hearts  of  every  American  citizen  that  does  full  justice  to  a  man  who 
stood  a  tower  of  strength  beside  "The  Father  of  his  Country  ",  through  his 
greatest  trials,  and  that  inscription  is,  "ROBERT  MORRIS,  PATRIOT". 

E.  Richmond  Sartwell, 
38 


Third   Prize   Essay 


Robert  Morris,  the  venerable  father  of  American  finance,  was  born 
January  31st,  1734,  at  Liverpool,  England.  His  father,  who  was  a  Liverpool 
merchant  engaged  extensively  in  the  American  trade,  emigrated  to  America 
when  Robert  was  fourteen  years  old,  settling  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  and  dying  in  1750.  The  father's  estate,  personal  property  of 
which  amounted  to  nearly  $7,000,  was  mostly  willed  to  his  son,  whose 
personal  history  forms  the  topic  hereafter. 

Arriving  in  America,  Robert  was  employed  by  the  Philadelphia  mercantile 
firm  of  the  Willings  until  1754,  when  the  business  house  of  Willing  and 
Morris  was  organized. 

Their  youthful  energy  and  thrift  brought  them  marvelous  success 
throughout  the  thirty  nine  years  of  their  partnership. 

February  27,  1769,  Morris  married  an  accomplished  Philadelphia  belle, 
named  Mary  White,  this  proving  a  happy  and  congenial  union. 

The  first  link  of  the  momentous  chain  of  events,  which  binds  Robert 
Morris  to  all  American  hearts,  was  forged  when  he  signed  the  Non-Importa- 
tion agreement  in  1765.  About  this  time  he  was  one  of  a  committee  of 
citizens  who  forcibly  prevented  the  royal  stamp  distributer  of  Pennsylvania 
from  performing  the  duties  of  his  office.  In  June,  1775,  Morris  was  appointed 
a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Committee  of  Safety,  its  prime  object  being 
the  importation  of  arms  and  ammunition  in  secret.  In  this  capacity  as  a 
committeeman,  he  was  particularly  effective,  owing  to  his  mercantile  connec- 
tions. He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Province  in  October 
of  this  year. 

In  November,  the  Assembly  delegated  him  to  the  Continental  Congress. 
Congress  placed  him  upon  the  Committee  of  Secret  Correspondence  and  the 
Secret  Committee.  And  now,  as  during  the  first  years  of  the  war,  did  Robert 
Morris  render  valuable  services  to  the  American  cause  by  the  junction  of 
his  position  as  a  merchant  and  banker  with  his  public  interests. 

Mr.  Morris  did  not  believe  it  the  opportune  time  for  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  voting  against  it  on  the  second  of  July,  but,  seeing  that  "the 
Rubicon  was  crossed",  he  signed  it  on  August  2nd,  1776. 

59 


The  following  November  witnessed  his  election  to  the  first  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  under  the  new  constitution.  In  Decemcer  of  '76,  General  Howe 
threatened  Philadelphia,  causing  Congress  to  flee  from  the  city.  During  their 
absence,  Morris,  at  the  head  of  a  committee,  superintended  governmental 
affairs  for  two  months. 

After  the  battle  of  Trenton,  December  26,  1776,  the  enlistments  of  fourteen 
hundred  soldiers,  chiefly  eastern  militia,  expired  within  the  month.  In  such 
severe  straits  was  Washington,  that,  not  knowing  how  he  could  fulfill  his 
agreement,  he  promised  each  man  a  bounty  of  ten  dollars  in  specie  provided 
they  remained  in  service  six  weeks  longer.  The  government  being  penniless, 
Washington  appealed  to  Morris  for  aid.  Knowing  not  where  to  apply  for 
funds,  immediately  upon  receipt  of  the  application,  Morris  accosted  a  wealthy 
Quaker  neighbor,  making  known  the  predicament  and  requesting  a  loan. 
"Robert,  what  security  canst  thou  give?",  inquired  the  Friend.  "My  note 
and  my  honor",  replied  Morris.  "Thou  shalt  have  it",  was  the  quick 
response,  and  accordingly  the  sum  changed  hands.  Fifty  thousand  dollars  in 
cash  were  dispatched  by  Mr.  Morris  to  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  enabling 
Washington  to  satisfy  his  soldiers,  and  thus  strengthened,  to  turn  upon  the 
Redcoats  and  win  the  brilliant  victory  at  Princeton,  January  3rd.  1777. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  Congressional  term,  November  first,  1778,  Morris 
was  elected  to  the  State  Assembly,  having  an  important  part  in  the  winter's 
session.  Worrying  newspaper  attacks  combined  with  troublesome  connections 
with  a  dissipated  half-brother  made  the  year  1779  a  trying  one  for  Mr.  Morris 
and  in  the  fall,  owing  to  the  anti-Morris  sentiment,  he  was  not  re-elected  to  the 
Assembly,  the  only  year  of  the  Revolutionary  period  he  was  not  occupied  by 
public  service. 

During  this  time  he  entered  largely  into  privateering,  securing  mammoth 
gains.  An  anecdote  is  related  to  the  effect  that  the  enterprising  merchant 
was  so  accustomed  to  the  success  of  his  privateers,  that,  if  on  a  Sunday  he 
seemed  more  serious  than  usual,  the  conclusion  was  drawn  that  no  prizes  had 
arrived  the  previous  week. 

A  French  traveler,  writing  at  this  time,  estimated  Morris's  wealth  at  one 
and  a  half  or  two  million  dollars;  an  enormous  fortune  for  that  time. 

One  incident  which  commands  our  attention  most  strongly  to  the  colossal 
financial  credit  and  stability  of  Mr.  Morris  is  the  fact  that  while  paper  money 
issued  by  the  government  was  almost  valuless,  his  notes  were  circulated  as 
cash  throughout  the  continent,  acceptable  even  in  payment  of  taxes. 

Morris  was  again  elected  to  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  in  October,  1780, 
taking  a  prominent  part  in  its  affairs.     Throughout  his  public  career  he  was 

40 


conservative  and  moderate  in  his  views.  He  was  an  opponent  of  legal  tender 
laws,  embargoes,  and  the  harsh  treatment  meted  out  to  the  Tories. 

Realizing  the  necessity  of  centralization  for  efficient  administration, 
Congress  wisely  concluded  to  place  the  reins  of  financial  government  in  the 
hands  of  a  single  capable  individual.  Above  all  others,  they  considered 
Morris  necessary  to  the  successful  operation  of  the  financial  system,  so,  on 
February  25th,  1781,  Congress  elected  him  Superintendent  of  Finances,  fixing 
the  salary  at  $6,000  per  year.  After  the  details  were  arranged,  he  accepted, 
resigning  his  seat  in  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  but  agreeing  to  procure 
Pennsylvania's  specific  supplies  required  by  Congress.  September  8th,  he 
accepted  the  office,  Agent  of  Marine,  to  save  expenses  to  the  United  States. 

The  Financier,  as  Morris  was  generally  termed,  had  a  clear  idea  of  what 
was  required,  what  could  and  should  be  done,  and  the  vast  responsibility 
attendant.  He  proposed  three  methods  for  obtaining  means:  first  and 
paramount,  taxation  upon  imports;  second,  he  wished  retrenchment;  and 
third;  he  relied  upon  loans  and  subsidies  from  France.  Two  conditions  were 
favorable  to  Morris,  viz.,  the  Articles  of  Confederation  had  been  adopted  in 
March,  1781,  giving  a  constitutional  regulation  to  the  union,  which  was 
absolutely  essential  to  his  plans;  and  the  wave  of  paper  money,  which  had 
overspread  the  country,  was  just  declared  void  by  Congress. 

Mr.  Morris's  most  distinguished  achievement  in  office,  also  office  which 
places  him  as  the  leader  of  all  public  financial  officers  this  nation  has  ever  had, 
lay  in  providing  means  for  the  greatest  campaign  of  the  war,  the  expedition  which 
captured  the  famed  British  general,  Cornwallis,  and  his  forces.  Washington 
wrote  to  Morris,  requesting  transportation  facilities  at  either  Philadelphia  or 
Baltimore,  to  carry  the  soldiers  down  Chesapeake  Bay;  also  one  month's  pay 
for  the  troops  before  starting  southward;  and  five  hundred  guineas  for  secret 
service.  Do  you  wonder  that  Morris  was  not  sanguine  as  to  success,  when, 
as  the  Board  of  War  said,  "  We  haven't  money  enough  to  send  and  express 
rider  to  the  army."  In  the  discharge  of  his  important  share  of  the  work, 
Morris  displayed  most  astonishing  executive  ability,  affording  an  excellent 
representation  of  the  adage,  "Where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way." 

Upon  his  private  account,  Morris  borrowed  from  the  French  general, 
Rochambeau,  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  hard  money.  This,  with  all  other 
available,  and  the  five  hundred  guineas  for  secret  service,  he  turned  over  to 
Washington.  Some  authorities  state  that  Morris  advanced  $1,400,000  for  the 
equipage  and  maintenance  of  Washington's  army,  which  was  in  time  repaid. 
As  a  result  of  this  campaign,  England  recognized  the  impossibility  of  humbling 
the  invincible  spirit  of  the  colonists,  and  the  war  came  to  be,  upon  her  part, 
purely   defensive.     These   memorable    services,    rendered   by    Morris   to    his 

4i 


country,    should  cause  his  memory  to  be  revered  and  honored  for  all  time 
by  every  true  American  patriot. 

Marshall  says  :  "If  Morris  was  not  entirely  successful,  he  certainly  did 
more  than  could  have  been  believed  possible  and  it  was  due  to  him  that  the 
Yorktown  campaign  was  not  frustrated  by  lack  of  means  of  transportation 
and  subsistence. ' ' 

A  notable  undertaking,  instituted  by  the  Financier,  as  an  aid  to  the 
disordered  finances,  was  the  establishment  in  1781  of  the  Bank  of  North 
America,  the  first  of  its  kind,  subscribing  ,£10,000  himself,  and  inducing 
others  to  swell  the  amount  to  ,£300,000  for  capital.  Other  instances,  than 
these  mentioned,  are  known  where  Morris  braced  the  strained  finances  by 
advancing  money  to  the  government. 

In  1784,  the  Financier  retired  from  office,  after  having  safely  weathered 
the  worst  storm  in  United  States  financial  history. 

Robert  Morris,  as  a  delegate  for  Pennsylvania,  was  one  of  the  influential 
members  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1787.  Washington  offered 
Morris  the  portfolio  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  his  first  cabinet,  but  the 
veteran  financier  refused,  magnanimously  recommending  Alexander  Hamilton 
as  more  competent.  He  was  United  States  senator,  representing  Pennsyl- 
vania, from  1789  to  1795.  This  closed  his  interesting  and  varied  career  as 
a  public  man,  leaving  him  not  half  so  rich,  in  money  as  when  he  commenced 
his  national  duties. 

We  now  reach  the  sad  part  of  our  story,  the  placement  of  Robert  Morris 
in  jail  for  a  mere  pecuniary  debt.  He  became  complicated  in  a  stupendous 
and  chimerical  land  speculation,  known  as  the  scheme  of  the  "North  American 
Land  Company,"  organized  in  1785;  he  being  one  of  the  heaviest  stockholders. 
Washington  advised  against  the  project,  and  Morris's  reply  seems  indicative 
of  his  life's  work,  he  must  "be  either  a  man  or  a  mouse".  The  plan  proved 
an  utter  failure,  leaving  Mr.  Morris  financially  ruined.  To  the  everlasting 
shame  of  the  American  people,  he,  now  an  elderly  man,  was  thrust  into  the 
debtor's  apartment  of  the  Walnut  Street  prison  in  Philadelphia.  To  his 
unjust  country's  will  Morris  meekly  bowed  with  the  nobleness  and  fortitude 
of  a  martyr.  The  Republic  can  never  atone  by  monuments  or  memorials  for 
the  deep  wrong  inflicted  upon  its  benefactor. 

The  following  burning  words  from  Whittier's  poem.  "The  Prisoner  For 
Debt,"  seem  most  applicable  : 

"  What  has  the  gray  haired  prisoner  done  ? 
Has  murder  stained  his  hand  with  gore  ? 
Not  so,  his  crime's  a  fouler  one; 
God  made  the  old  man  poor  ! 

42 


For  this  he  shares  a  felon's  cell, 
The  fittest  type  of  earthly  hell." 

In  1798,  Washington  arrived  in  Philadelphia  to  superintend  his  last 
army.  Unmindful  of  his  brilliant  welcome,  he  hastened  first  to  visit  the 
prison  of  Mr.  Morris.  Robert  was  esteemed  by  Washington  as  his  heart's 
friend  in  sunshine  and  in  gloom.  The  prison  doors  were  finally  unfastened 
in  1802,  and  Morris  regained  his  rightful  freedom  by  the  passage  of  the 
National  Bankrupt  Law. 

The  remaining  years  of  his  life  are  unimportant;  and  in  obscurity,  at 
Philadelphia,  upon  May  the  eighth,  eighteen  hundred  and  six,  passed  to  the 
Great  Beyond,  our  Robert  Morris,  of  whom  the  historian,  Botta,  truthfully 
said:  "Certainly  the  Americans  owed,  and  still  owe,  as  much  acknowledg- 
ment to  the  financial  operations  of  Robert  Morris,  as  to  the  negotiations  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  or  even  the  arms  of  George  Washington". 

LYNN  G.  GOODNOUGH. 


43 


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FRAUNCES'  TAVERN  TABLET 

To  THE  MEMORY  OF  PRESIDENT  FREDERICK  SAMUEL  TaLLMADGE,  THROUGH    WHOSE    INTEREST  AND  MUNIFICENCE 

I  HI.   BUILDING  WAS  SECURED  FOR    PRESERVATION 


Sons  of  the  Revolution 


IN    THE 


STATE    OF   NEW  YORK 


REPORTS 

OF  THE  BOARD  OF  MANAGERS, 
TREASURER    AND     HISTORIAN 


December  4,  1908 


Object  of  the  Society 

CONSTITUTION 
preamble 

Whereas,  it  has  become  evident  from  the  decline  of  proper  celebration  of 
such  National  holidays  as  the  Fourth  of  July,  Washington's  Birthday,  and  the 
like,  that  popular  interest  in  the  events  and  men  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution 
is  less  than  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic ; 

And  Whereas,  this  lack  of  interest  is  to  be  attributed  not  so  much  to 
lapse  of  time  as  to  the  neglect  on  the  part  of  descendants  of  Revolutionary 
heroes  to  perform  their  duty  of  keeping  before  the  public  mind  the  memory 
of  the  services  of  their  ancestors,  and  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  and 
of  the  principles  for  which  they  contended ; 

Therefore,  the  Society  of  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution"  has  been 
instituted,  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  men  who,  in  military,  naval  or 
civil  service,  by  their  acts  or  counsel,  achieved  American  Independence;  to 
promote  and  assist  in  the  proper  celebration  of  the  anniversaries  of  Washing- 
ton's Birthday,  the  Battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  the  Fourth  of  July, 
the  Capitulations  of  Saratoga  and  Yorktown,  the  Evacuation  of  New  York  by 
the  British  Army,  and  other  prominent  events  relating  to  or  connected  with 
the  War  of  the  Revolution;  to  collect  and  secure  for  preservation  the 
manuscript  rolls,  records  and  other  documents  and  memorials  relating  to  that 
War ;  to  inspire  among  the  members  and  their  descendants  the  patriotic  spirit 
of  their  forefathers;  to  inculcate  in  the  community  in  general  sentiments  of 
Nationality  and  respect  for  the  principles  for  which  the  patriots  of  the  Revo- 
lution contended ;  to  assist  in  the  commemorative  celebration  of  other  great  his- 
torical events  of  National  importance,  and  to  promote  social  intercourse  and 
the  feeling  of  fellowship  among  its  members. 


"> 


General  Society 

(Organized  at  Washington,  D.  C,  April  19,  1890.) 

OFFICERS,  1 908-191 1 

General  President, 
Hon.  John  Lee  Carroll,  LL.D., 

Of  the  Maryland   Society. 

General  Vice-President, 

Edmund  Wetmore,  LL.D., 

Of  the   New   York   Society. 

Second  General  Vice-President, 

Wilson  Godfrey  Harvey, 

Of   the   South   Carolina  Society. 

General  Secretary, 
James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

Of  the   New  York   Society. 

Assistant  General  Secretary, 
Prof.  William  Libbey,  D.  Sc, 

Of  the  New  Jersey  Society. 

General  Treasurer, 

Richard  McCall  Cadwalder, 

Of  the    Pennsylvania   Society. 

Assistant  General  Treasurer, 

Henry  Cadle, 

Of   the   Missouri    Society. 

General  Chaplain, 
Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  S.T.D.,  LL.D., 
Chaplain  of  the  United  States  Senate, 
Of  the  Massachusetts   Society. 

General  Registrar, 
Walter  Gilman  Page, 

Of  the  Massachusetts   Society. 

General  Historian, 
Capt.  William  Gordon  McCabe,  LL.D.,  Litt.D., 

Of  the  Virginia  Society. 


Sons  of  the  Revolution 


IN  THE 


State  of  New  York 


Instituted 

Reorganized 

Incorporated 


February  22,  1876. 
December  4,  1883. 
May  3,  1884. 


FOUNDERS 

John  Austin  Stevens, 

John  Cochrane, 

Austin  Huntington, 

George  H.  Potts, 

Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge, 

George  Washington  Wright  Houghton, 

Asa  Bird  Gardiner, 

Thomas  Henry  Edsall, 

Joseph  W.  Drexel, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

James  Duane  Livingston, 

John  Bleecker  Miller, 

Alexander   Ramsay   Thompson. 


OFFICERS,  1908 

President: 
Edmund  Wetmore,  34  Pine  Street. 

First  Vice-President: 
Robert  Olyphant,  17  Battery  Place. 

Second  Vice-President: 
Joseph  Tompkins  Low,  41  Liberty  Street. 

Third  Vice-President: 
William  Graves  Bates,  128  Broadway 

Secretary: 
Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Fraunces  Tavern. 

Treasurer: 
Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  71  Broadway. 

Registrar: 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Chaplain: 
*Rev.  Dr.  Morgan  Dix,  27  West  25th  Street. 

Assistant  Chaplain: 
Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

Historian: 
Talbot  Olyphant,  32  Nassau  Street. 

Board  of  Managers: 

John  Hone,  5  Gramercy  Park.  Clarence  Storm,  100  Broadway. 

Clark  Williams,  293  Madison  Avenue.  Henry  D.  Babcock,  17  Broad  Street. 

Samuel  L.  Munson,  Albany,  N.  Y.  John  C.  Tomlinson,  15  Broad  Street. 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Brugler,  Port  Chester,  N.  Y.     Dallas  Bache  Pratt,  52  William  Street. 
William  W.  Ladd,  20  Nassau  Street.  John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  71  Broadway. 

Philip  Livingston,  992  Fifth  Avenue.  *Franklin  Butler  Lord,  49  Wall  Street. 

Hugh  Hastings,  31  Chambers  Street.  Frederick  D.  Underwood,  50  Church  Street. 

Levi  C.  Weir,  59  Broadway.  Ralph  Peters,  Long  Island  City. 

William  Rand,  Jr.,  63  Wall  Street. 
Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff  has  been  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of 
Franklin  Butler  Lord. 

*  Deceased. 


Chapters  of  the  Society : 

Buffalo  Chapter,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  George  A.  Stringer,  Regent. 

George  W.  Comstock,  Secretary,  124  Lexington  Avenue,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Samuel  L.  Munson,  Regent. 

William  A.  Wallace,  Secretary,  199  Lancaster  Street,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

William  Floyd  Chapter,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 

William  Barker,  Jr.,  Secretary,  7  Hawthorne  Street,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Henry  J.  Cookinham,  Regent. 
♦William  L.  Watson,  Secretary,  240  Genesee  Street,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Orange  County  Chapter,  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  Roswell  W.  Chamberlain,  Regent. 
Edwin  J.  Dikeman,  Secretary,  Goshen,  N.  Y. 

Jamestown  Chapter,  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Dr.  William  M.  Bemus,  Regent. 
Frank  H.  Mott,  Secretary,  Fenton  Building,  Jamestown,  N   Y. 

Executive  Committee: 

John  Hone,  Chairman,  William  G   Bates, 

Joseph  T.  Low, 

President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  ex-officio. 

Real  Estate  Committee: 
Robert  Olyphant,  Chairman,  James  M.  Montgomery, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Henry  A.  Wilson, 

Charles  Isham,  Arthur  M.  Hatch. 

Membership  Committee: 
George  DeForest  Barton,  Chairman,  150  Broadway. 
Silas  Wodell,  149  Broadway. 
Wyllys  Terry,  60  Wall  Street. 

Landreth  H.  King,  Room  517,  Grand  Central  Station. 
Edward  L.  Parris,  239  Broadway. 

Richard  A.  Wilson,  499  Monroe  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Alfred  B.  Robinson,  206  Broadway. 
Caldwell  R.  Blakeman,  58  West  38th  Street. 
Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown,  18  Wall  Street. 
Talbot  Root,  52  Broadway. 

Historical.  Committee: 
Howard  R.  Bayne,  Chairman,  David  Cromwell, 

William  Evans  Rogers,  Frank  W.  Jackson,  M.D., 

Samuel  V.  Hoffman. 

*  Deceased. 

7 


Essay  Committee: 
Marcius  D    Raymond,  Chairman,  Augustus  Floyd, 

R.  Russell  Requa,  Richard  Henry  Greene. 

Library  Committee: 
Capt.  John  R.  Totten,  Chairman,  Prof.  Henry  P.  Johnston; 

Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Museum  Committee: 
Beverly  Chew,  Chairman,  Charles  Isham, 

Clarence  Storm. 

Tablet  Committee: 
James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Dallas  Bache  Pratt, 

Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  Henry  Russell  Drowne, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson. 

Stewards: 

Eugene  K.  Austin,  Chairman,  William  Floyd, 

Charles  H.  Woodruff,  Jr.,  Benjamin  Rush  Lummis, 

Rufus  I.  Shea,  Bryce  Metcalf. 

Marshal: 
John  Butterfield  Holland. 


Albert  Delafield, 
Horace  Clark  Du  Val, 
DeWitt  Clinton  Falls, 
Francis  L.  V.  Hoppin, 


Aides: 


Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 
Talbot  Root, 
John  Noble  Stearns,  Jr. 
George  Albert  Wingate. 


8 


Annual  Church  Service 
Aisle  Committee: 

Talbot  Olyphant,  Chairman, 
Banyer  Clarkson,  Robert  Morrison  Olyphant,  Jr., 

Cullen  Van  Rensselaer  Cogswell,  Murray  Olyphant, 

Robert  Grier  Cooke,  Alexander  Dallas  Bache  Pratt, 

John  Francis  Daniell,  Edward  Lawrence  Purdy, 

Joseph  N.  Lord  Edmonds,  Arthur  Frederick  Schermerhorn, 

Morris  Douw  Ferris,  Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 

Charles  Edward  Greenough,  Charles  Hitchcock  Sherrill, 

George  Hewlett,  Prentice  Strong, 

S.  Vernon  Mann,  Herman  Knickerbocker  Viele, 

Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr.,  Alfred  Rutgers  Whitney,  Jr., 

Charles  King  Morrison,  Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  Jr., 

Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff. 

Publication  Committee: 
James  M.  Montgomery,  Charles  Isham, 

Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

Excursion  Committee: 
James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  John  B.  Holland, 

Clarence  Storm,  Col.  William  G.  Bates. 

Auditing  Committee: 
Philip  Livingston,  John  C.  Jay,  Jr. 

For  Raising  Funds  for  Fraunces  Tavern: 
Clarence  Winthrop  Bowen,  Joseph  T.  Low, 

George  C.  Buell,  Charles  H.  Williams, 

Daniel  N.  Crouse,  Frank  E.  Tilford, 

Col.  William  G.  Bates,  Henry  B.  Barnes. 

Committee  on  Formal  Opening  of  Fraunces  Tavern: 
Edmund  Wetmore,  Chairman,  Robert  Olyphant, 

John  Hone,  James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

Henry  Melville. 


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Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers 


To  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  State  of  New  York  : 

The  Board  of  Managers  submits  the  following  report  for  the  year  ending 
December  4th,  1908 : 

Ten  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  have  been  held  during  the  year. 

At  the  last  Annual  Meeting,  December  4th,  1907,  the  President,  Mr.  Ed- 
mund Wetmore,  called  the  meeting  to  order,  a  prayer  was  offered  by  the 
Rev.  Charles  E.  Brugler,  and  the  Secretary  read  the  report  of  the  Board  of 
Managers  and  of  the  Nominating  Committee. 

The  President  read  the  following  telegram  from  Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens : 
"Congratulations  to  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  They  have  made  history," 
— and  a  letter  from  him,  which  had  been  printed  and  distributed  to  the  mem- 
bers, was  read  by  Mr.  Frederick  S.  Woodruff,  and  on  motion  ordered  spread 
upon  the  Minutes. 

Mr.  Alexander  R.  Thompson  offered  the  following  resolution: 

Resolved,  That  the  Nominating  Committee  be  authorized,  when  in  their 
judgment  the  best  interests  of  the  Society  will  be  promoted  thereby,  to  renomi- 
nate one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  as  Vice-President. 

This  was  amended  and  adopted  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  original  resolution  as  to  the  nomination  of  Vice-Presi- 
dents for  the  Board  of  Managers  at  the  end  of  their  term  shall  continue  to  be 
in  force  as  to  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents. 

Messrs.  William  H.  Kuper,  Frederick  W.  Haines  and  Harvey  K.  Lyons 
were  appointed  as  tellers  by  the  Chair. 

The  report  of  the  Treasurer  was  presented  by  Mr.  Arthur  M.  Hatch,  and 
the  report  of  the  Historian  by  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  during  the  reading  of 
which  the  members  rose  and  remained  standing. 

The  regular  ticket  for  Officers  and  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Society  was 
duly  elected,  the  tellers  announcing  that  eight  hundred  and  twenty-seven  ballots 
had  been  cast. 

Since  the  Annual  Meeting,  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.T.D., 

ii 


has  been  elected  Assistant  Chaplain,  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  Historian,  and 
Messrs.  John  Hone,  Joseph  Tompkins  Low  and  Col.  William  G.  Bates  as 
members  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

Various  committees  have  also  been  appointed  by  the  President,  a  list  of 
which  has  been  printed  with  this  report. 

A  Stated  Meeting  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Frederick  Samuel  Tall- 
madge,  late  President  of  the  Society,  was  held  on  Friday  evening,  January 
24th,  1908,  and  was  observed  by  an  address  made  by  Mr.  Alexander  R.  Thomp- 
son, who  paid  an  appropriate  tribute  to  the  memory  of  President  Tallmadge, 
which  was  followed  by  the  reading  of  a  paper  by  Miss  Mary  V.  Worstell  on 
"The  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,"  illustrated  with  stereopti- 
con  views. 

On  Saturday  evening,  April  18th,  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-third  anni- 
versary of  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  a  Stated  Meeting  was  held,  at  which 
Mr.  Howard  R.  Bayne  read  a  most  interesting  paper  on  "The  Origin  and 
Application  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,"  which  is  printed  in  full  on  pages  55 
to   71. 

At  the  Stated  Meeting  held  November  25th,  to  celebrate  the  Evacuation 
of  the  City  of  New  York  by  the  British  troops,  Mr.  Reginald  Pelham  Bolton 
gave  an  illustrated  address  on  "Fort  Washington." 

The  Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Society,  commemorative  of  the  birth 
of  George  Washington,  was  held  on  Sunday,  February  16th,  1908,  at  Calvary 
Church,  Fourth  Avenue  and  Twenty-first  Street,  at  4  p.  m.  It  was  conducted 
by  the  Rev  Morgan  Dix,  S.T.D.,  D.C.L.,  Oxon.,  late  Rector  of  Trinity 
Church  and  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  J. 
Lewis  Parks,  S.T.D.,  Rector  of  Calvary  Church,  the  Rev.  George  Stuart  Baker, 
D.D.,  Rev.  Pelham  St.  George  Bissell,  Rev.  Albert  Alonzo  Brockway,  M.A., 
Rev.  Charles  Edward  Brugler,  Rev.  Henry  Barton  Chapin,  D.D.,  Ph.D.,  Chap- 
lain of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  Rev.  Edwin  Walter  Colloque,  Rev.  Frank 
Warfield  Crowder,  Rev.  James  Shepard  Dennis,  Rev.  William  Nichols  Dun- 
nell,  S.T.D.,  Rev.  William  Reed  Huntington,  D.D.,  Rev.  William  Irvin,  D.D., 
Rev.  James  Tuttle-Smith,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.T.D., 
Assistant  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  The  sermon  was  delivered 
by  the  Right  Reverend  Thomas  F.  Gailor,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Tennessee.  The 
Church  was  beautifully  decorated  for  this  occasion. 

Representatives  were  present  from  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  the 
Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution, 
and  the  Societies  of  the  Cincinnati,  Colonial  Wars,  War  of  1812,  Foreign 
Wars,  Aztec  Club,  and  Loyal  Legion,  the  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812 
furnishing  a  uniformed  escort. 

12 


The  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Society  took  place  in  the  large  banquet  hall 
at  Delmonico's  on  February  22nd,  1908,  the  anniversary  of  Washington's 
Birthday,  and  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  the  President  of 
the  Society. 

The  following  invited  guests  were  present : 

Lieut.-Col.  H.  H.  Ludlow,  U.  S.  A.,  representing  the  Army ; 
Stephen  Farrelly,  the  Friendly  Sons  of  Saint  Patrick; 
Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  the  Society  of  the  War  of  1812 ; 
John  Francis  Daniell,  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars ; 
F.  E.  Grote  Higgens,  the  Saint  George's  Society ; 
Robert  Frater  Munro,  the  Saint  Andrew's  Society ; 
Henry  A.  Bostwick,  the  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars ; 
Professor  William  Libbey  of  Princeton  University,  the  New  Jersey 

Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
Edward  Hart  Fenn,  the  Connecticut  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  the  New  York  Historical  Society; 
George  Wilson,  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce ; 
Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  F.  Gailor,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Tennessee; 
Rev.  J.  Lewis  Parks,  S.T.D.,  Rector  of  Calvary  Church. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Assistant 
Chaplain  of  the  Society. 

The  banquet  hall  was  appropriately  and  tastefully  decorated  and  an 
orchestra  was  furnished  for  the  occasion.  After  coffee  had  been  served  the 
Society's  banners  were  brought  in  with  drum  and  fife  accompaniment,  fol- 
lowed by  beautiful  baskets  of  flowers  presented  on  behalf  of  the  Colonial 
Dames  of  America,  the  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  President  was  as  usual  duly  decorated 
with  the  historical  cocked  hat. 

President  Wetmore  made  some  eloquent  and  appropriate  remarks  as 
to  the  occasion  we  were  celebrating,  and  the  toasts  were  responded  to  as 
follows : 

"George  Washington,"  by  the  Hon.  John  C.  Spooner,  ex-United  States 
Senator  from  Wisconsin. 

"Lafayette,"  William  Milligan  Sloane,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  History  at 
Columbia  University. 

"Liberty  and  Law,"  Hon.  James  Fitzgerald,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  New  York. 

There  were  two  hundred  and  ninety  members  and  guests  in  attendance 
at  the  Banquet,  which  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  those  present. 

13 


On  May  28th,  1908,  the  Society  participated  in  the  ceremonies  in  New 
York  City  incidental  to  the  removal  of  the  remains  of  Governor  George  Clinton 
from  Washington,  D.  C,  to  Kingston,  N.  Y.  A  large  delegation  of  our  mem- 
bers assembled  at  Fraunces  Tavern  at  9  a.  m.,  and,  accompanied  by  the  Sev- 
enth Regiment  Band,  proceeded  to  Washington  Street,  near  the  Battery,  where 
they  joined  in  the  parade,  escorting  the  remains  to  the  New  York  City  Hall. 

On  October  28th,  1908,  at  8:15  p.  m.,  the  members  of  the  Society  and 
guests  assembled  in  the  large  hall  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
where  exercises  were  held  in  connection  with  the  unveiling  of  the  bronze 
tablet  which  had  been  erected  by  the  Society  in  the  Historical  Museum  of  the 
College.  On  this  occasion  the  presentation  was  made  by  the  President  of  the 
Society,  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  and  the  acceptance  by  John  H.  Finley,  LL.D., 
President  of  the  College.  Addresses  were  also  made  by  Mr.  Edward  M.  Shep- 
ard,  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  Mr.  John  C.  Tomlinson,  of  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution.  Music  was  furnished  by  Professor  Samuel  A.  Bald- 
win, of  the  College  Department  of  Music,  organist,  and  Miss  Maud  Morgan, 
harpist. 

At  the  December  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant 
presented  to  the  Society,  as  his  contribution  to  the  "Long  Room"  of  Fraunces 
Tavern,  an  engrossed  copy,  appropriately  framed,  of  Col.  Benjamin  Tall- 
madge's  account,  taken  from  his  diary,  of  the  Farewell  of  Washington  to  his 
Officers,  December  4th,  1783. 

A  Museum  Committee  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Beverly  Chew,  Chair- 
main,  Charles  Isham,  and  Clarence  Storm. 

Mr.  Louis  B.  Wilson  was  appointed  Curator  of  the  building. 

The  Buffalo  Chapter  of  our  Society  called  attention  to  the  Lake  Champlain 
celebration,  which  is  to  take  place  in  July,  1909,  and  asked  that  the  Society 
take  some  action  to  advance  the  project.  This  was  referred  to  the  Executive 
Committee,  and,  at  the  January  meeting,  the  Committee  recommended  that 
the  Board  of  Managers  memorialize  the  Legislature  with  a  view  to  obtaining 
a  suitable  appropriation  for  the  purpose,  which  was  adopted. 

A  Committee  was  appointed  to  collect  Songs  of  the  Revolution,  consisting 
of  the  Hon.  Hugh  Hastings,  Dr.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  and  Messrs.  Henry 
Russell  Drowne  and  F.  Murray  Olyphant. 

At  the  January  meeting  the  Library  Committee  were  authorized  to  pur- 
chase a  stack  of  mahogany  bookcases,  to  be  designated  as  the  "Founder's 
Case,"  which  would  contain  the  books  donated  to  the  Society  by  Mr.  John 
Austin  Stevens,  and  bear  a  silver  plate  engraved  with  an  appropriate 
inscription. 

14 


At  the  February  meeting  a  design  for  a  tablet  to  the  Committee  in  charge 
of  the  Restoration  of  Fraunces  Tavern  was  adopted,  and  it  was  decided  to 
place  the  tablet  in  the  vestibule,  to  the  left  of  the  entrance. 

On  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Requa,  of  the  Essay  Committee,  it  was 
decided  to  send  letters  of  commendation  to  those  whose  essays  were  deemed 
worthy  of  special  mention,  in  addition  to  the  three  prize  winners. 

Mr.  Philip  Livingston  tendered  as  a  loan  to  the  Society,  for  the  Museum, 
the  gold  watch  which  formerly  belonged  to  Philip  Livingston,  the  Signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  the  same  was  accepted  with  thanks. 

Mr.  Olyphant  announced  the  death  of  Mr.  Franklin  B.  Lord,  one  of  the 
Board  of  Managers,  and  an  appropriate  resolution  of  regret  was  adopted. 

At  the  March  meeting  it  was  decided  to  hold  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
Society  in  Fraunces  Tavern  on  the  afternoon  of  December  4th,  1908,  at 
3 :30  o'clock. 

Attention  having  been  called  to  the  fact  that  guests  are  brought  to  the 
Stated  Meetings  of  the  Society,  on  motion  the  following  was  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  each  member  of  the  Society  be  allowed  the  privilege  of 
bringing  to  the  Stated  Meetings  of  the  Society  one  guest:  Provided,  that 
previous  to  such  meeting  he  purchase  a  guest  ticket  of  the  Treasurer.  Such 
guest  tickets  to  be  sold  for  not  less  than  two  dollars  each,  and  must  bear  the 
name  of  the  guest  so  invited  and  the  member  introducing  him,  and  are  not 
to  be  transferred. 

Furthermore,  That  a  gentleman  shall  not  be  entitled  to  attend  more  than 
one  of  the  Stated  Meetings  during  the  year  as  a  guest  of  any  member. 

On  motion  of  Professor  Henry  P.  Johnston,  the  following  resolutions 
were  adopted  with  regard  to  the  proposed  erection  by  the  State  of  a  State- 
prison  on  the  site  of  Forts  Clinton  and  Montgomery: 

Resolved  by  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  appear  before  the 
Governor  and  Legislative  Committees  at  Albany,  and  protest  against  the  pro- 
posed erection  of  a  prison  on  the  site  of  Forts  Clinton  and  Montgomery,  on 
the  Hudson. 

Resolved,  That  such  committee  be  requested  to  present  the  Revolutionary 
associations  of  the  spot,  where,  in  1777,  American  troops  (under  Governor 
George  Clinton  of  New  York,  and  his  brother,  James  Clinton)  opposed  the 
advance  of  the  British  and  nobly  sacrificed  their  lives  in  defence  of  the  country; 
and  further,  to  urge  that,  in  view  of  the  conspicuous  situation  and  rare  beauty, 
the  selection  of  the  site  as  a  State  Historical  Park  would  be  more  acceptable 
to  the  people  of  our  State  than  its  purchase  for  the  purpose  intended. 

15 


On  behalf  of  the  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  of  the  Society  at  Albany,  the 
following  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
cordially  approve  of  the  action  of  the  Albany  Chapter  in  introducing  a  bill  in 
the  Legislature  providing  for  the  erection,  in  the  Capitol  grounds  at  Albany, 
New  York,  of  a  statue  of  Major-General  Philip  Schuyler,  the  hero  of  Saratoga. 

Mr.  Frederick  S.  Woodruff  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board,  to  fill 
the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Franklin  B.  Lord. 

At  the  April  meeting  the  Board  authorized  the  placing  of  a  tablet  to  John 
Austin  Stevens,  the  founder  of  the  Society,  in  the  "Long  Room,"  with  the  fol- 
lowing inscription: 

"Sons  of  the  Revolution — founded  February  22,  1876, 

by  John  Austin  Stevens. 

New  York  Historical  Society  Library. 

Organized  December  4,  1883,  in  this  room. 

Incorporated  April  29,  1884 — esto  perpetua. 

Erected  by  the  Board  of  Managers." 

A  Committee  consisting  of  Mr.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery  and  Pro- 
fessor Henry  P.  Johnston  was  appointed  to  ascertain  what  portraits  of  Revo- 
lutionary Officers,  additional  to  those  of  Washington  and  Clinton,  should  be 
represented  in  the  "Long  Room"  at  Faunces  Tavern. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  was  held  May  1st  to  take 
action  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Morgan  Dix,  the  Chaplain  of  the  Society. 

The  following  was  unanimously  adopted,  and  ordered  entered  on  the 
Minutes : 

"It  is  with  deep  regret  that  record  is  made  of  the  death,  on  April  29th, 
1908,  of  our  venerable  and  beloved  associate  and  Chaplain,  the  Rev.  Mor- 
gan Dix. 

"Dr.  Dix  has  been  a  member  of  this  Society  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and 
during  the  last  nine  years  filled  the  office  of  Chaplain.  His  hereditary  and 
sincere  patriotism,  his  wise  counsel  and  unfailing  interest  in  the  Society  have 
been  a  constant  encouragement  and  inspiration  in  the  work  in  which  we  have 
been  engaged.  We  here  record  our  sorrow  for  his  loss,  our  appreciation  of 
his  services,  and  our  estimate  of  his  life  and  example  to  his  fellow  country- 
men as  placing  him  among  those  whose  memory  it  is  the  object  of  our  Asso- 
ciation to  perpetuate." 

It  was  unanimously  resolved  that  the  above  minute,  appropriately  en- 
grossed, be  transmitted  to  Mrs.  Dix,  and  the  Board  decided  to  attend  the  funeral 
in  a  body. 

16 


At  the  May  meeting  the  President,  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  presented  th* 
Society  with  a  duplicate  of  the  silver  punch  bowl  which  was  made  by  Paul 
Revere  for  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  on  motion  the  thanks  of  the  Society  were 
tendered  to  President  Wetmore  for  his  generous  gift. 

Mr.  James  E.  Kelly,  the  sculptor,  offered  the  loan  of  his  recently  com- 
pleted bronze  statuette  of  Paul  Revere  about  to  mount  his  horse  on  his  famous 
ride,  which  was  on  motion  accepted  with  thanks. 

At  the  October  meeting  Mr.  Montgomery  announced  that  some  three  hun- 
dred volumes,  from  the  bequest  of  our  late  President,  Frederick  Samuel  Tall- 
madge,  had  been  added  to  the  Library  of  the  Society. 

The  William  Floyd  Chapter  requested  the  co-operation  of  the  Society  in 
their  efforts  to  secure  the  erection  of  a  monument  or  memorial  to  Colonel 
Albert  Pawling  of  the  Revolution,  and  it  is  proposed  to  take  the  matter  in 
hand  at  an  early  date. 

At  the  November  meeting  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant  announced  that  the  Annual 
Church  Service  will  be  held  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Church,  New  York,  on 
Sunday,  February  21st,  1909. 

The  usual  notice  for  essays  to  scholars  of  the  two  upper  grades  of  th* 
High  Schools  in  the  State  of  New  York  was  sent  out  about  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember, offering  $50  and  a  bronze  medal  for  the  first  prize,  $25  and  a  bronze 
medal  for  the  second,  and  a  bronze  medal  for  the  third;  essays  to  be  on  the 
subject:    "The  Story  of  Arnold's  Treason." 

The  change  to  cash  prizes,  instead  of  gold,  silver  and  bronze  medals  for 
the  three  prizes  respectively,  recommended  by  the  Essay  Committee  and 
approved  by  the  Board  of  Managers,  has  had  the  effect  of  greatly  increasing 
the  number  of  essays.  One  hundred  and  seventeen  were  received  this  yea*, 
representing  fifty-six  schools,  compared  with  sixty-nine  last  year  and  twenty- 
nine  the  year  before. 

The  Committee  also  recommended  that  honorable  mention  be  given  to 
those,  other  than  the  prize  winners,  whose  essays  were  particularly  worthy  of 
merit ;  and  in  accordance  with  this  suggestion,  the  following  awards  were  made: 

First  Prize:  G.  Raynolds  Stearns,  Jr.,  Lafayette  High  School,  Buffalo, 
N.  Y. 

Second  Prize :     Alwin  Thaler,  Commercial  High  School,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y, 

Third  Prize :  William  A.  Bird,  IV,  Masten  Park  High  School".  Buffalo, 
N.  Y. 

Honorable  Mention: 

Lingard  Loud,  Lafayette  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Charles  S.  White,  Binghamton  High  School,  Binghamton,  N.  Y. 

John  C.  Post,  East  High  School,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

17 


Edna  Louise  Hall,  Drum  Hill  High  School,  Peekskill,  N.  Y. 
J.  Bowen  Griffith,  Lafayette  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Clifford  Stone  Cooley,  Ithaca  High  School,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
Charles  D.  Isaacson,  Commercial  High  School,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Theodore  W.  Hanigan,  Schenectady  High  School,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
Mary  Hart,  Schenectady  High  School,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
Abraham  J.  Seltzer,  Manual  Training  High  School,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

In  one  school  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  pupils  wrote  essays,  of  which 
only  the  five  best  were  sent  in,  in  accordance  with  our  rule,  as  stated  in  the 
circular,  that  only  five  will  be  received  from  one  school. 

The  Committee  have  recommended  that  the  circulars  be  sent  to  the  pre- 
paratory departments  of  Colleges  and  Normal  Schools,  that  the  number  of 
words  in  each  essay  be  limited  to  not  over  1,700,  and  that  only  the  three  best 
essays  be  received  from  each  school,  which  recommendations  have  been 
approved  by  the  Board  of  Managers. 

The  Society  has  during  the  year  received  courteous  invitations  to  banquets 
of  the 

Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 

Colonial  Wars, 

Military  Society  of  the  War,  of  1812, 

Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 

Holland  Society, 

Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick, 

Saint  Andrew's  Society, 

Massachusetts  Society  Sons  of  Revolution, 

Colonial  Order  of  the  Acorn, 

Saint  George's  Society, 

The  Evacuation  Day  Luncheon  at  Fraunces  Tavern  of  the  Daughters  of 
the  Revolution  of  the  State  of  New  York, 

Nathaniel  Woodhull  Chapter,  D.  A.  R.,  Luncheon, 

Washington  Continental  Guard  Luncheon, 

And  to  celebrations  from : 

President  of  the  Park  Board,  City  of  New  York,  to  Loan  Collection  of 
Revolutionary  Relics,  May  28th,  at  Washington's  Headquarters, 

250th  Anniversary  of  the  Founding  of  the  City  of  Kingston. 

Annual  Meeting  of  the  Connecticut  Society  Sons  of  Revolution,  in  the 
Nathan  Hale  Schoolhouse  at  East  Haddam,  Conn., 

Unveiling  of  Statue  of  Major-General  Anthony  Wayne  at  Valley  Forge 
by  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania, 

18 


Anniversary  Celebration  at  Washington's  Headquarters  at  Rocky  Hill, 
N.  J.,  by  the  Washington  Headquarter's  Association, 

Unveiling  of  Monument  at  New  Paltz,  N.  Y.,  by  the  Huguenot  Memorial 
Association, 

Laying  of  Corner-stone  of  the  Memorial  Arch  in  Stony  Point  Park  by 
the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution  of  the  State  of  New  York, 

125th  Anniversary  of  the  Erection  of  the  New  Utrecht  Liberty  Pole, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Liberty  Pole  Association. 

Flag  Presentation  to  Chinese  Mission,  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, 

Church  Service  of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  New  York. 


Our  Chapters  have  been  active  during  the  year  and  have  done  good 
work. 

The  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  of  Albany,  New  York,  held  its  Annual 
Meeting  on  January  15,  1908.  On  February  22d  the  Chapter  celebrated 
Washington's  Birthday  by  a  reception  and  lecture  at  the  Ten  Eyck  Hotel. 
The  special  guests  of  the  evening  were  the  members  of  Gansevoort  Chap- 
ter, Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  Mr.  William  W.  Ells- 
worth delivered  an  illustrated  address  on  the  "Personal  Washington." 
Ten  meetings  of  the  Executive  Board,  and  quarterly  meetings  of  the  Chap- 
ter were  held  at  the  University  Club,  as  follows:  On  April  21st  in  celebra- 
tion of  the  Battle  of  Lexington;  June  17th,  Bunker  Hill;  and  October  19th, 
Saratoga.  At  the  October  meeting,  Mr.  Frank  W.  Thomas,  of  the  William 
Floyd  Chapter,  read  a  paper  entitled  "Van  Schaick  Island." 

The  Buffalo  Chapter  held  several  meetings  at  the  residences  of  mem- 
bers, where  papers  on  patriotic  subjects  were  read;  and  a  banquet  was 
given  on  the  evening  of  January  3,  1908,  at  the  University  Club.  The  Chap- 
ter also  made  the  presentation  of  the  essay  prizes  of  our  Society,  awarded 
to  pupils  of  the  Lafayette  High  School  and  the  Masten  Park  High  School 
of  Buffalo,  with  appropriate  exercises.  President  Stringer  read  an  instruc- 
tive paper  on  "What  Can  be  Gained  from  an  Active  Study  in  History,"  and 
other  addresses  were  made. 

The  William  Floyd  Chapter  of  Troy,  New  York,  held  its  Annual  Meet- 
ing on  February  22,  1908.  An  address  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  James 
Caird,  Rector  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension,  Troy,  New  York,  on  "Ben- 
jamin Franklin,"  and  this  was  followed  by  a  collation.  One  of  the  most 
important  works  of  the  Chapter  was  the  restoration  of  the  Van  Schaick 

IQ 


burial  plot,  which  contains  the  remains  of  Colonel  John  Gerritse  Van 
Schaick.  This  historic  spot  on  Van  Schaick  Island,  which  was  the  meet- 
ing place  of  General  Schuyler  and  General  Gates,  and  was  a  camp  site  of 
the  Continental  Army,  was  turned  over  to  the  Chapter  by  the  Van  Schaick 
heirs  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  Many  of  Colonel  Van  Schaick's  descen- 
dants and  the  local  Company  of  the  National  Guard  of  the  State  were  pres- 
ent. Mrs.  Ellen  L.  Van  Schaick,  widow  of  Anthony  Gerard  Van  Schaick,  a 
grandson  of  John  Gerritse  Van  Schaick,  had  the  little  cemetery  graded 
and  enclosed  with  a  simple  iron  fence.  Mr.  A.  P.  Van  Schaick  presented 
the  ground,  on  behalf  of  his  mother,  and  also  gave  the  Chapter  a  facsimile 
of  the  original  American  flag.  Mr.  Edgar  K.  Betts,  on  behalf  of  Regent 
Walter  P.  Warren,  who  was  unable  to  be  present  on  account  of  illness, 
accepted  these  generous  gifts ;  and  interesting  historical  addresses  were 
made  by  Mr.  Frank  W.  Thomas  and  the  Rev.  Edgar  A.  Enos,  D.  D.,  rec- 
tor of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Troy,  New  York.  After  these  exercises  refresh- 
ments were  served  at  the  club  house  of  the  Island  Golf  Club.  The  Chap- 
ter is  now  working  on  the  project  of  erecting  a  monument  to  Colonel  Albert 
Pawling,  a  Revolutionary  officer. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  of  Utica,  New  York,  held  its  Annual  Meeting 
during  the  day  of  February  22d,  1908,  and  the  Annual  Banquet  in  the  evening 
at  the  Fort  Schuyler  Club.  Responses  to  toasts  were  made  by  the  Right  Rev. 
Charles  T.  Olmsted,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Central  New  York ;  Lieu- 
tenant W.  G.  Mayer,  Dr.  Willis  E.  Ford  and  Dr.  N.  L.  Andrews. 

The  Chapter  suffered  a  severe  loss  in  the  death  of  its  Secretary,  Mr.  Wil- 
liam L.  Watson.    Mr.  A.  Vedder  Brower  has  been  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

The  Orange  County  Chapter  of  Goshen,  and  the  Jamestown  Chapter  of 
Jamestown,  New  York,  held  their  usual  meetings  and  celebrations. 

During  the  past  year  the  Society's  library  has  received  many  important 
and  valuable  accessions,  as  shown  in  the  list  at  the  end  of  this  report,  and 
our  museum  has  acquired,  both  by  donation  and  loans,  a  number  of  inter- 
esting historical  relics  relating  to  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Fraunces  Tavern  is  being  constantly  visited  by  a  great  many  people, 
and  the  "Long  Room"  and  museum  are  objects  of  especial  interest. 
Arrangements  have  been  made  so  that  these  rooms  are  practically  open  to 
the  public  at  all  times  during  the  day. 

We  call  the  attention  of  our  members  to  the  facilities  and  convenience 
offered  by  the  dining  room  on  the  fourth  floor.  This  room  is  also  used  on 
special  occasions  by  patriotic  and  kindred  societies  for  meetings,  lunches, 
etc. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-five  new  members  have  been  admitted  during 


20 


the  year,  and  the  Society  now  has  on  its  roll  two  thousand  and  eighty-eight, 
being  a  gain  of  sixty-six. 

The  Secretary  desires  to  express  his  thanks  to  Mr.  Louis  B.  Wilson,  the 
Curator,  for  his  assistance  during  the  year. 

For  the  Board  of  Managers, 
Henry  Russell  Drowne, 

Secretary. 

Fraunces  Tavern,  New  York  City. 


21 


REPORT 


OF   THE 


TREASURER 


SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION 

Treasurer's   Report, 


REC?  1PTS. 

Real  Estate— 

Balance  November  18,  1907 $878  43 

Fraunces  Tavern— Rents  and  Return  Premium.  4,033.53 

West  55th  Street— Rents 7,183.80 

Initiations 1,^90.00 

Interest  on  balances  44.01 

Tallmadge  Medals  and  Souvenirs 63.15 

Awnings  . . 1-50 

Tablets— 

Balance  November  18,  1907 $326.95 

Interest  on  balances 10.09 


Paid  at  Unveiling  at  "if orris  Heights $'0  00 

«■     •<         "  *«  College,  City  of  N.Y.  155  00 


General — 

Balance  November  18,  1907 

Dues  — 

Insignia,  Rosettes  and  Ribbon 

Interest  on  balances    

Sales  of  Tallmailge  Memoirs 

Sales  of  Match  Boxes,  $5  75;  Franklin  Stoves, 
$9.75;  Stewards'  Badges,  $6;  Pocket  Book, 
§1.14;  Hale  Statuettes,  $4;  Red  Jacket 
iM  edals,  $6    

Application  Papers 

Year  Books  and  Annual  Reports 

Grave  Marker — Gen.  Goosen  Van  Schaick  

Telephone — Kebate  on  Contract  and  Calls. 

Collections  on  Checks 

Real  Estate— 

Deficiency  supplied  by  other  Funds , 


$337.04 


$165.00 


$99  35 
10,479.36 

769. 1  3 
46.22 
42.15 


32.64 

10  00 

9.50 

5.00 

4.05 

.45 


Real  Estate. 


$13,494.42 


General. 


$172.04 


578.50 


$14,072.92 


11,498.35 


$11,670.39 


E.  &  O.  E.     New  York,  November  18,  1908. 

24 


IN   THE   STATE   OF   NEW  YORK 

November    18,    1 907,    to    November    18,   1908. 


DISBURSEMENTS. 

Real  Estate — 

West  55th  Street— Interest,  $1,425;  Taxes, 
§1194.40;  Insurance,  §68.25;  Agreement  as  to 

Extension,  $15 $2,702.65 

Fraunces  Tavern— Interest,  $1,462.50;  Taxes, 
$484.22;  Insurance,  §153  45;  Janitor,  $6i»0; 
Water,  $31.30;  Title  Guar.  &  Trust  Co,  $2; 
Globe  Wernicke  Co.,  §316;  Wood  Mosaic  Co., 
$35;  E.  A.  Jackson  &  Bro..  §19.20;  B.  H.  Eidel, 
$5.43;  Kimball  Elect.  Co.,  $8.28;  Repairs,  §5.25; 
Cleaning  Tablet  §12.50;  Stern  Bros.,  $4.55; 
Srhmitt  Bros  ,  $7;  C.  W.  Hoffman  Co.,  §9.80; 
John  Wanamaker,  §1.10;  Am.  Wood  Working 
Co.,  §4.50;  Fyricide  Mfg  Co,  §9;  Van  Praag 
Florist  Co., §ln;  Porter  Screen  Mfg.  Co.,  §90.10; 
Chester  Mantel  &  Tile  Co.,  §7.50;  T.  J.  Lock 
&  Son,  §13.60;  C.  Webber,  *2.5<»;  J.  Curran 
Mfg.  Co  ,  818.35;  J.  Dillon's  Sons.  §3.76;  Cassidy 
&  Son  Mfg.  Co. ,  $2.75 ;  Fire  Extinguishers,  $2l).      3,339.^4 

Restoration  of  Fraunces  Tavern 2,730.11 

Loan  Returned,  §5  000;  Interest,  §222 5,222  00 

Storage  and  Insurance,  102  Front  Street 78.52 

General— 

Treasurer — Postage,  Printing,  Auditing,  Clerical, 

Collecting  Dues  and  Sundries 880.61 

Secretary — Printing,  Stamped  Envelopes,  Cura- 
tor, Coal  and  Wood,  Clerical,  Stationery,  Tele- 
phone, Petty  Cash,  Light  and  Power  and  Sun- 
dries    3,915.62 

Appropriations  to  Chapters 538.00 

General  Society  Dues 507  50 

Death  Notices 268  35 

Insignia  Rosettes  and  Ribbon 706. <  5 

Opening  Fraunces  Tavern    880.49 

Stated   Meetings.  $1  769.85;    Banquets,  §126.55; 

Church  Services,  $345.50 2,241.90 

Triennial  Meeting,  §162.60;  George  Clinton  Par- 
ade, §21'.).  17;  Souvenirs,  §33  75 415.52 

Manager's  Report,  §303  75 ;   Storage,  §37 340.75 

Memorial  Wreaths  and  Memorials 120.00 

Rent  of  Safe  Deposit  Kox   10.00 

Prize  Essays,  $75 ;  Medals  and  Postage  and  Print- 
ing, §57.30 132  30 

Grave  Marker,  Gen.  Goosen  Van  Schaick 2.50 

Census  of  1790,  §10;  Steward's  Badge,  $2.75. .    . .  12.75 

Balances — Tablets 

General  Fund 


Real  Estate. 


§14,072.92 


General. 


$14,072.92 


$10,972.34 
172.04 
526.01 


$11,670.39 


ARTHUR  MELVIN  HATCH,  Treasurer. 


25 


SONS    OF    THE    REVOLUTION 


Balance  Sheet, 


ASSETS. 

Real  Estate — 

Nos  146  and  148  "West  55th  Street  (co 

st  1902) 

$62,000.00 
146,014.82 

$80,000.00 
66,014.82 

Reconstruction  Fund  to  date 

Less  Cash  Deficiency  

$208,014.82 
578.50 

$172.04 
526  01 

8,000.00 
600.00 
500.00 
348.00 
642.00 
289  00 
71.40 

209.19 

200.00 

$207,436.32 

General  Fund— 

Balance  Tablet  Subscriptions 

Balance  Cash    

Office  Furniture  and  Fixtures 

Six  Silk  Flags  and  One  Banner 

Tallmadge  Medals 

Tallmadge  Memoirs 

Insignia,  5  @  §11  and  13  @  $18 

Rosettes,  510  @  14  cts  

Insignia  Ribbon,  276  yards  of  wide 
yards  of  narrow  (cost  1905) 

and  33 

Initiations  unpaid,     6  ) 

Dues                  "        50  ^  Estimated... 

11,557.64 

$218,993.96 

E.  &  O.  E.     New  York,  November  18,  1908. 


26 


IN  THE   STATE   OF   NEW  YORK 


November    18,    1908. 


LIABILITIES. 

Real  Estate — 

West  55th  Street— Balance  Mortgage $30,000.00 

Interest 487.50 

Fraunces  Tavern — Balance  Mortgage 30,000.00 

Interest 487.50 


Assets $218,993.96 

Liabilities 60,975.00 

Net  assets $158,018.96 


$60,975.00 


ARTHUR  MELVIN  HATCH,  Treasurer. 


27 


REPORT 


OF   THE 


HISTORIAN 


In    Memoriam 


Henry  Clinton  Carter, 

Samuel  Grey  Courtney  Pinckney,  M.D., 

George  Howe  Vose, 

John  Hollenback  Pumpelly, 

George  Hancock  Servoss,  N.  Y.  Vol.,  1861, 

Richard  Leland  Sweezy, 

Albert  Cromwell, 

Richard  Wisner, 

William  Tibbits  Salter,  Sergeant,  N.  Y.  Vol., 

1861, 
Charles  Wadsworth  Whitney, 
Dudley  Hunt  Walbridge, 
Morris  Ketchum  Jesup, 
Franklin  Butler  Lord, 
Henry  Tomlinson  Warren, 
Thomas  Benjamin  Balch, 
Edward  Du  Bois  Woodhull,  M.D., 
Daniel  Bennett  St.  John  Roosa,  M.  D., 
Richard  Nelson  Young, 
Edwin  Holden  Smith, 
Jeffrey  Amherst  Wisner, 
William  Randall  Heath, 
Hosmer  Buckingham  Parsons, 
George  Starr  Scofield, 

Brig.-Gen.   Alfred   Lacey  Hough,  U.   S.  A., 
Retired, 

The  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  S.T.D.,  D.C.L.,  D.D., 
Oxon., 

James  William  Walsh, 

William  Livingston  Watson,  A.  B., 

Townsend  Wandell, 

Frederic  Wendell  Jackson, 

31 


Admitted. 

1895 
1893 
1897 
1890 
1905 
1900 
1905 
1893 

1890 
1898 
1907 
1904 
1892 
1889 
1894 
1901 
1885 
1895 
1895 
1893 
1894 
1897 
1902 

1891 

1891 
1894 
1900 
1896 
1890 


Died. 

August  19th,  1905. 
September  20th,  1906. 
June  30th,  1907. 
December  6th,  1907. 
December  10th,  1907. 
December  27th,  1907. 
December  31st,  1907. 
January  3rd,  1908. 

January  8th,  1908. 
January  8th,  1908. 
January  19th,  1908. 
January  22nd,  1908. 
January  27th,  1908. 
February  17th,  1908. 
March  7th,  1908. 
March  8th,  1908. 
March  8th,  1908. 
March  10th,  1908. 
March  17th,  1908. 
March  22nd,  1908. 
March  24th,  1908. 
April  14th,  1908. 
April  15th,  1908. 

April  28th,  1908. 

April  29th,  1908. 
June  3rd,  1908. 
June  24th,  1908. 
June  27th,  1908. 
June  28th,  1908. 


Admitted. 

Col.  George  Bliss  Sanford,  U.  S.  A.,  Retired,         1891 

The  Rev.  Israel  Newton  Terry,  D.D.,  1903 

Theodore  Dimon,  Ensign,  U.  S.  V.,  1898,  1902 

Williston  Benedict  Lockwood,  1893 

George  Albert  Ellis,  1899 

James  William  Beekman,  1893 

George  Morris  Popham,  1885 

James  Hedges  Crowell,  1895 

Elihu  Russell  Smith,  1901 

Edward  Malcolm  Watson,  1894 

John  Aycrigg  Hegeman,  1897 

Frank  Squier,  1886 

Henry  Denton  Nicoll,  M.D.,  1888 

George  William  McLanahan,  1891 

Walter  Robarts  Gillette,  M.D.,  1905 

Martin  Hawley  Stafford,  1889 

Edgar  Ketchum  Betts,  1903 

James  Burtus  Van  Woert,  1902 

Clarence  Melville  Hyde,  1892 

William  Henry  Jackson,  1886 


Died. 

July  13th,  1908. 
July  16th,  1908. 
July  19th,  1908. 
July  20th,  1908. 
July  31st,  1908. 
August  7th,  1908. 
August  11th,  1908. 
August  12th,  1908. 
September  11th,  1908. 
September  12th,  1908. 
September  23rd,  1908. 
September  25th,  1908. 
October  26th,  1908. 
November  3rd,  1908. 
November,  7th,  1908. 
November  15th,  1908. 
November  15th,  1908. 
November  21st,  1908. 
November  23d,  1908. 
November  24th,  1908. 


Respectfully  submitted, 


TALBOT   OLYPHANT, 


Historian. 


32 


Fraunces  Tavern   Opening  Ceremonies. 

December  4th,  1907. 

Fraunces  Tavern  Committee: 

Edmund  Wetmore, 

John  Hone, 

Robert  Olyphant, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

Henry  Melville. 

The  Committee  issued  the  following  invitation : 

The  Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in   the   State  of   New   York 

have  the  Honor  to  request  the  Presence  of 

at  the  Ceremonies  attending  the  formal  opening  of  Fraunces  Tavern 
on  the  Broad  Street  at  the  corner  of  Pearl  Street  in  the  City  of 
New  York  on  Wednesday,  the  fourth  day  of  December,  A.D.  One 
Thousand    Nine    Hundred    and    Seven,   at    Three    forty-five    o'clock 

in  the  afternoon. 

The  Officers  of  the  Society  and  the  following  invited  guests  assembled 
at  the  Tavern : 

Major-General  Frederick  D.  Grant,  U.  S.  A. ; 

Rear-Admiral  Caspar  F.  Goodrich,  U.  S.  N. ; 

Brig.-General  Theodore  A.  Bingham ; 

Ex-Governor  John  Lee  Carroll,  General  President,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 

W.  Hall  Harris,  Assistant  General  Secretary,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 

Robert  Frater  Munro,  President,  Saint  Andrew's  Society ; 

Stephen  Farrelly,  President,  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick ; 

Frederic  de  Peyster  Foster,  President,  New  York  Society  Library ; 

J.  Edward  Simmons,  President,  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce ; 

Cornelius  N.  Bliss,  Vice-President,  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce ; 

John  Crosby  Brown,  Vice-President,  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce; 

33 


Seth  Low ;  Vice-President,  New  York  Chamber  of  Commecce ; 
James  G.  Cannon,  Vice-President,  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce ; 
George  Wilson,  Secretary,  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce ; 
Francis  Key  Pendleton,  Vice-President,  Society  of  the  Cincinnati ; 
Rev.  Morgan  Dix,  D.D.,  Commandant,  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery,  consti- 
tuting the  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812; 
Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  President,  New  York  Historical  Society ; 
Ex-Senator  John  C.  Spooner. 

Ogden  G.  Budd,  President,  New  York  Consolidated  Stock  Exchange ; 
Albert  Weinert,  Sculptor ; 
William  H.  Mersereau,  Architect ; 
Charles  Henry  Jones ; 
S.  A.  McGuire,  Builder; 
Rev.  Storrs  O.  Seymour,  D.D. ; 
Walter  Gilman  Page,  General  Registrar; 
Edward  Trenchard; 

John  P.  Sanborn,  Rhode  Island  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
John  Wolf  Jordan,  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
William  Libbey,  New  Jersey  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 

E.  H.  Fenn,  Connecticut  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 

F.  P.  Garrettson,  Rhode  Island  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
H.  W.  Wessels,  Connecticut  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 

E.  G.  Ballord,  Iowa  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
E.  F.  Thompson,  Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
C.  S.  Hammatt,  Florida  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
R.  WT.  Smith,  Maryland  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
Rev.  Henry  E.  Hovey,  New  Hampshire  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution; 
Reginald  Pelham  Bolton ; 
Gherardi  Davis ; 

Frank  H.  Carruthers,  Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution; 
Henry  Oliver  Thompson,  Maryland  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
Copeland  Morton,  Maryland  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
Commander  R.  E.  Peary,  U.  S.  N. ; 

Ethan  Allen  Weaver,  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
Henry  Dexter  Warren,  Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ;  and 
Officers  of  the  New  York  Consolidated  Stock  Exchange : 

E.  R.  Grant,  R.  H.  Reid ; 

C.  H.  Badeau,  Rudd  Huben 

W.  E.  Power,  Valentine  Mott, 

W.  R.  Bogert. 

34 


The  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery,  constituting  the  Military  Society  of  the 
War  of  1812,  of  which  the  following  members  were  present,  acted  as  Guard 
of  Honor : 


Adjutant  Howland  Pell, 
Paymaster  Charles  Isham, 
Surgeon  Malcolm  McLean, 
Commissary  Clarence  H.  Eagle, 
Ordnance  Officer  Paul  G.  Thebaud, 
Sergeant-Major  Bryce  Metcalf, 
Guidon  Sergeant  Norman  G.  Gardiner, 
Quartermaster  John  Du  Fais, 
Corporal  James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 
Corporal  Mortimer  Delano, 
Corporal  Lyman  Rhoades, 
Private  B.  W.  B.  Brown, 


Private  W.  F.  Cushman, 
Private  L.  H.  Dos  Passos, 
Private  G.  B.  Elmendorf, 
Private  Loyal  Farragut, 
Private  F.  T.  L.  Lane, 
Private  Donald  McLean, 
Private  H.  B.  Montgomery, 
Private  Albert  Ross  Parsons, 
Private  Chandler  Smith, 
Private  Rufus  Shirley, 
Private  T.  J.  O.  Rhinelander, 
Private  A.  C.  Zabriskie, 


Private  Oliver  Hazard  Perry. 

Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  the  President  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  called  those  present  to  order,  and  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant, 
Chairman  of  the  Real  Estate  and  Fraunces  Tavern  Restoration  Committee, 
spoke  as  follows : 

"Mr.  President — On  the  16th  day  of  July,  1906,  the  contracts  for  the 
restoration  of  Fraunces  Tavern  were  signed  by  the  Chairman  of  your  Real 
Estate  Committee.  To-day  it  is  my  pleasure  to  turn  over  to  you  the  com- 
pleted building,  in  which  every  arch,  stone,  brick  and  timber  that  it  has  been 
possible  to  preserve  has  been  retained.  The  same  oak  beams  that  supported 
General  Washington  on  the  4th  of  December,  1783,  are  beneath  your  feet;  the 
same  oak  beams  are  over  you  that  were  over  him  on  that  memorable  occasion. 

"I  ask  your  acceptance  of  this  structure  as  a  memorial  worthy  of  Wash- 
ington and  his  associates." 

President  Wetmore  responded: 

"On  behalf  of  your  fellow  members  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  we  cor- 
dially appreciate  the  well  directed  labors  of  your  Committe  through  which  this 
time-honored  building  has  been  so  carefully  and  so  completely  restored.  We 
should  not  have  been  able  to  accomplish  this  work,  except  for' the  munficence 
of  our  former  President,  Mr.  Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  of  this  City;  and  in 
commemoration  of  this  event,  I  will  ask  those  here  to  join  us  in  unveiling  the 
tablet  on  the  outside  of  the  building  that  shall  mark  this  historic  spot,  and  also 
serve  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  Mr.  Tallmadge  as  a  citizen  who  deserves 
well  of  his  country." 

35 


In  the  meantime,  the  members  of  the  Society  assembled  at  the  New  York 
Consolidated  Stock  Exchange,  the  use  of  which  building  had  been  courteously 
extended  by  the  Officers  of  the  Exchange,  and,  preceded  by  the  Seventh  Regi- 
ment Band  and  a  platoon  of  mounted  Police,  marched  to  the  Tavern. 

Immediately  following  the  exercises  in  the  Tavern,  the  Officers  and  guests 
assembled  at  the  Broad  Street  front  of  the  building,  where  the  Bronze  Tablet, 
erected  by  the  Society  in  recognition  of  the  long  services  and  munificent  bequest 
of  its  late  President,  Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  was  unveiled  by  Mr.  James  Mor- 
timer Montgomery. 

The  parade  was  then  formed  by  Col.  John  Butterfield  Holland,  Grand 
Marshal,  and  David  Banks,  Jr.,  John  A.  Barnard,  Harry  H.  Benkard,  Anthony 
J.  Bleecker,  John  F.  Daniell,  Albert  Delafield,  John  A.  Dix,  J.  De  Witt  C.  Falls, 
George  C.  Heilner,  Francis  G.  Landon,  Pierre  F.  Macdonald,  Benjamin  B. 
McAlpin,  Charles  S.  Richards,  Robert  Thorne,  Charles  E.  Warren,  Charles 
H.  Sherrill,  J.  Wray  Cleveland,  George  A.  Wingate,  R.  Kelly  Prentice,  John 
N.  Stearns,  Jr.,  Frederick  T.  Leigh,  Nathaniel  B.  Thurston,  Charles  W.  Furey, 
John  A.  Wilson,  Henry  De  W.  Hamilton,  Horace  C.  Duval,  Arthur  F.  Scher- 
merhorn  and  Clarence  F.  True.     Aides,  in  the  following  order : 

1st — Platoon  of  Mounted  Police,  in  command  of  Inspector  Schmittberger. 

2nd — Seventh  Regiment  Band. 

3rd — Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery,  under  command  of  Adjutant  Howland 
Pell. 

4th — The  following  guests,  in  carriages:  Major-General  Frederick  Dent 
Grant,  U.  S.  A.,  escorted  by  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  President  of  the  Soci- 
ety; Rear-Admiral  Caspar  F.  Goodrich,  U.  S.  N.,  escorted  by  Hon.  John  Lee 
Carroll,  General  President  of  the  Society;  Hon.  W.  Hall  Harris,  Assistant 
General  Secretary  of  the  Society;  Mr.  J.  Edward  Simmons,  President  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  escorted  by  Hon.  Hugh  Hastings. 

5th — Members  of  the  Society. 

On  arriving  at  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery, 
in  their  striking  uniforms,  formed  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  grand  staircase 
while  the  members  of  the  Society  and  guests  passed  through  to  the  hall,  the 
Veteran  Corps  following,  where  an  address  of  welcome  was  made  by  the 
Hon.  J.  Edward  Simmons,  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  who  said: 

"It  is  a  privilege  to  look  into  the  faces  of  the  gentlemen  who  have  founded 
this  great  and  patriotic  organization,  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and  it  is 
fitting  for  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  throw  open  its  doors  and  welcome  you 
to  its  hall.  In  behalf  of  the  Chamber,  and  as  President  of  the  Chamber,  I 
welcome  you  all  on  this  day  which  is  so  interesting  and  important  to  your- 
selves. 

36 


"This  old  organization  has  its  birth  in  the  old  Tavern,  which,  through  your 
efforts  and  labor,  has  been  restored  to  its  pristine  glory  and  importance.  It  is 
a  great  service  to  the  patriotic  citizens  of  New  York  to  have  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  restore  an  old  landmark  which  will  always  be  an  illustration  of 
patriotism. 

"Permit  me,  on  behalf  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  to  again  welcome 
you,  and  to  wish  you  God-speed  in  the  patriotic  purpose  with  which  you  are 
animated." 

Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  President  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, replied : 

"Fellow  members  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  and  our 
honored  guests :  We  have  assembled  to  celebrate  the  restoration  of  that  ancient 
building,  Fraunces  Tavern,  and  its  dedication  as  a  historic  monument  to  serve 
as  a  continual  reminder  of  the  patriotic  times  with  which  it  was  associated 
and  of  the  events  in  our  country's  history  with  which  it  is  connected.  It  is 
particularly  appropriate  that  we  should  hold  our  celebration  in  this  place,  for, 
in  the  days  preceding  the  Revolution,  at  a  time  when  the  British  Parliament 
was  renewing  its  efforts  to  tax  the  Colonies  and  the  Colonies  had  raised  a 
storm  of  protest  throughout  the  land,  the  merchants  of  this  City  assembled  in 
the  "Long  Room"  of  Fraunces  Tavern  in  anxious  deliberation  over  the  crisis 
then  impending,  and  then  and  there,  in  1768,  founded  the  New  York  Chamber 
of  Commerce ;  and  from  that  day  to  this,  in  every  crisis  of  our  country's  his- 
tory, that  organization  has  shown  that,  among  the  liberal  and  enlightened 
business  men  of  our  great  metropolis,  the  spirit  of  commercialism  is  but  the 
hand-maid  of  the  spirit  of  patriotism. 

"But  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  not  the  only  one  of  our  associations 
connected  with  the  early  days  of  Fraunces  Tavern,  for  within  its  sacred  halls 
used  to  meet  the  members  of  patriotic  societies  who  date  their  origin  back 
before  the  days  of  the  Revolution :  the  Saint  Andrew's  Society  and  the 
Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  who  brought  the  heather  of  Scotland  and  the 
shamrock  of  Ireland  to  be  bound  up  with  the  wreaths  of  victory  that  crowned 
our  struggle  for  independence.  There,  too,  many  a  time,  met  the  Sons  of 
Liberty,  those  turbulent  democrats  that  pulled  down  the  statue  of  George  III 
in  the  Bowling  Green,  who  were  the  first  to  demand  a  Continental  Con- 
gress, and  who  led  the  triumphant  crowds  that  greeted  John  Adams  and  his  col- 
leagues when  they  were  on  their  way  to  the  Congress ;  they  were  there  for 
nearly  a  week,  as  guests,  at  the  old  Tavern.  And  then  the  history  of  the 
Tavern  is  a  blank  for  seven  long  years,  when  our  City  was  in  the  possession 
of  a  British  army,  until  one  November  day  the  windows  in  the  "Long  Room" 

37 


rattled  to  the  sound  of  drums  coming  down  Broad  Street,  the  shrill  notes  of 
the  fife,  the  trampling  of  horses,  and  the  shouts  from  the  crowds  on  the  side- 
walks; and,  as  the  last  of  King  George's  Redcoats  pushed  off  from  the  Bat- 
tery, General  Washington  dismounted  at  Fraunces  Tavern  and  re-took  posses- 
sion of  the  City  for  the  United  States  of  America.  When,  a  few  days 
thereafter,  on  the  4th  of  December,  1783,  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  years 
ago  to-day,  in  that  same  "Long  Room" — standing  as  it  now  stands,  and  looking 
as  it  now  looks — he  said  farewell  to  his  assembled  officers  as  one  by  one  they 
came  up  and  took  him  by  the  hand :  their  task  finished,  the  victory  won,  their 
country  free,  the  time  for  separation  came,  the  love  of  comrades  who  have 
gone  together  side  by  side  through  years  of  hardship  and  danger  overcame 
every  other  thought,  and  the  deep  silence  of  their  commander — habitually 
repressed  by  the  weight  of  the  cares  of  the  nation  resting  upon  him — broke 
through  all  restraint,  and  only  a  man's  rare  tears  and  silence  expressed  what 
words  could  not  utter.  As  we  look  upon  a  scene  so  impressive  and  one  that 
touches  our  sympathy  so  closely,  it  almost  seems  as  if  we  could  feel  the  pres- 
ence of  that  majestic  spirit  that  presided  over  the  creation  of  the  Republic, 
and  of  these,  the  companions  of  his  labors,  as  they  grasped  him  by  the  hand. 
If  they  could  return  and  assemble  again  and  respond  to  our  words  of  honor 
for  their  memory  and  of  gratitude  for  their  deeds,  what  would  be  the  message 
that  they  would  give  to  us  ?  Would  it  not  be  never  to  lose  faith  in  our  country, 
and  never  to  lose  faith  in  ourselves?  They,  under  different  conditions  indeed, 
had  to  meet  the  same  difficulties  and  dangers  that  we  have  to  meet  to-day. 
They  had  their  own  weaknesses,  they  made  their  own  mistakes,  and  suffered 
from  them.  They  had  to  struggle  against  the  forces  of  ignorance,  folly,  sel- 
fishness and  weakness,  as  we  are  compelled  to  suffer  and  struggle  to-day. 
They  had  the  temptations  of  poverty,  we  have  the  temptations  of  wealth;  but 
under  both  conditions  the  good  is  really  the  stronger  and  must  prevail.  They 
started  with  a  bankrupt  treasury,  and  re-established  the  nation's  credit  upon 
the  firm  foundation  of  the  nation's  honesty,  and  we,  within  the  past  month, 
have  seen  the  wealth  that  was  feared  as  a  menace  poured  out  as  a  flood  enabling 
the  country  to  successfully  stem  the  torrents  of  National  calamity. 

"As  our  forefathers  prevailed  over  evil  in  their  days,  so  can  we  and  so 
shall  we  prevail  over  it  in  ours.  They  won  for  us  this  free  country,  and  he 
is  not  worthy  of  the  privileges  of  his  citizenship  who  for  a  moment  permits 
himself  to  doubt  that  we  shall  have  the  strength  and  the  virtue  to  preserve  it. 

"The  President  of  the  United  States  has  evinced  great  interest  in  our 
undertaking  and  its  progress,  but  he  was  under  such  pressure  of  public  duties 
as  to  be  unable  to  attend,  and  has  sent  us  this  letter: 

'My  dear  Mr.  Wetmore : — I  wish  I  could  be  present  at  the  celebration  of 
the  restoration  of  Fraunces  Tavern,  for  every  American  must  feel  a  peculiar 

3* 


interest  in  the  anniversary  of  Washington's  farewell  to  his  officers.  It  is  a 
fine  thing  that  we  have  institutions  interested  in  the  commemoration  of  such 
incidents,  for  we  can  base  views  on  problems  of  the  nation's  present,  if  we 
know  something  of  the  nation's  past.  Therefore,  I  congratulate  you  upon 
celebrating  in  a  dignified  and  proper  manner  an  occasion  of  such  patriotic 
interest. 

'With  all  good  wishes  believe  me, 

'Sincerely 

'Theodore  Roosevelt.' 

"The  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Governor  Hughes,  expected  to 
attend,  but  the  pressure  of  his  public  duties  is  such  that  he  has  been  unabla 
to  do  so,  and  has  been  compelled  to  send  his  regrets.  The  Mayor  of  the  City 
could  not  come  this  afternoon  for  the  same  reason,  but  he  has  sent  to  repre- 
sent him  and  the  City  of  New  York  a  member  of  one  of  the  governing  depart- 
ments and  also  a  member  of  our  Society. 1  do  not  need  to  introduce  to  you 

the  Honorable  Hugh  Hastings." 

Mr.  Hastings  responded:  "Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen — While  it  is  a 
matter  of  sincere  regret  that  a  sense  of  devotion  to  official  occupation  has  denied 
us  the  pleasure  of  the  presence  of  our  honored  Mayor  to-day,  it  is  a  cause  for 
true  felicitation  that  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  of  the  State  of  New  York 
and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  City  of  New  York  should  unite  in  fra- 
ternal rejoicings  over  the  restoration  of  an  ancient  structure  whose  entity  is 
inseparably  connected  for  all  time  with  the  names  of  the  moral  giants  of  those 
days  of  abnormal  values,  personal,  political  and  financial ;  it  is  extremely  grati- 
fying to  realize  that  through  the  labors  and  patriotism  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,  Fraunces  Tavern  has  been  saved  from  the  hands  of  the  despoiler 
and  restored  as  one  of  the  hallowed  landmarks  of  this  City. 

"The  Society  is  to  be  congratulated  for  the  public  spirit  shown  by  its  mem- 
bers, and  the  City  itself  is  to  be  congratulated  in  the  preservation  of  an  his- 
toric building  through  the  generosity  and  patriotism  of  private  enterprise." 

President  Wetmore  then  stated: 

"We  have  great  pleasure  in  having  with  us  the  President  General  of  our 
entire  Society,  Governor  John  Lee  Carroll  of  Maryland,  and  I  am  going  to 
ask  him  to  say  a  few  words." 

Governor  Carroll  replied:  "Fellow  Members  and  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
— I  came  here  only  as  a  spectator  and  a  listener,  but  I  do  not  think  I  was  the 
only  one  in  this  room  who  was  delighted  in  listening  to  the  speech  which  has 
just  been  delivered  by  the  President  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  of  New 
York.      In    the    organization    of    this    Society,    we,    who    come    from    other 

39 


States,  which  were  also  Colonies  during  those  dark  and  trying  days  of  our 
history,  have  always  had  our  hearts  and  our  eyes  turned  upon  New  York,  not 
only  because  New  York  was  first  in  population  and  first  in  wealth,  but  first 
in  everything  that  we  desired  to  see  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  progress  of 
this  great  City ;  and  so  we  organized,  first  as  Chapters  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  now  as  one  great  body  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  of  the 
United  States. 

"But,  my  friends,  I  know,  and  you  know  too,  that  wherever  we  go  in  this 
land  of  ours  to  attend  the  Triennial  Meetings  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution, — 
whether  we  go  to  towns  that  are  far  distant  on  the  frontiers  of  this  land,  or 
whether  we  go  to  cities  that  are  nearer  to  us, — we  have  close  and  constant  rela- 
tions with  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution.  We  know  that  it  is  of  no  consequence 
to  foreign  people  who  come  here  to  make  their  living  and  to  prosper  among 
us,  that  it  is  of  no  consequence,  practically,  to  them;  but  we  have  found  that 
with  one  accord  all  lands  and  all  people  are  with  us  whenever  we  praise  or 
talk  of  the  glories  of  the  American  Revolution. 

"It  is  essentially  the  part  of  the  native-born  citizen  to  keep  these  Societies 
up ;  and  while  we  have  hordes  and  hordes  of  people,  sincere  people,  who  come 
here  from  every  land  to  cultivate  our  soil,  to  help  us  build  railways,  and  to 
become  citizens  of  this  vast  nation  of  ours,  we  know  that  it  is  the  gift  of  our 
forefathers.  Those  who  are  born  upon  the  soil  should  take  charge  of  this 
Government,  and  it  is  their  duty  to  instruct  the  foreigner  how  he  is  to  conduct 
himself. 

"There  is  always  liberty,  but  there  is  liberty  without  license ;  there 
are  always  people,  but  there  are  people  who  must  conduct  themselves  properly, 
and  we  hold  no  powers  as  special  police.  I  say  to  you  again,  gentlemen,  that 
there  is  no  part  of  our  land  to-day,  where,  when  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  meet 
— who  trace  back  their  descent  from  the  early  days  of  our  forefathers,  who 
fought  and  died  for  the  freedom  of  our  country — a  man  can  be  found  who 
does  not  do  honor  to  our  cause,  whether  he  be  a  foreigner  or  a  native  citizen. 

"Now,  we  have  not  only  the  foreign  people  who  are  ready  to  become 
enthusiastic  in  our  cause,  but  here  we  are  to-day,  for  the  first  time  assembled 
in  this  venerable  Chamber  of  Commerce, — this  venerable  Chamber  which  has 
always  been  filled  with  men  of  high  purpose  and  high  thinking ;  and  whenever 
there  is  trouble,  national,  political  or  financial,  we  find  assembled  in  this  hall 
the  strong  and  powerful  men  of  this  great  City  of  yours,  who,  whether  they 
have  made  their  fortunes  or  inherited  them,  come  here  to  take  the  part  of 
reasonable  people  and  stand  before  all,  in  defence  of  their  Government  and  their 
rights.     It  is  a  great  honor  to  us,  my  friends,  that  we  are  allowed  to  come  and 

40 


stand  in  this  hall  to-day  and  speak  our  opinions  with  a  feeling  and  an  interest 
which  would  be  seconded  by  every  man  in  this  great  commercial  City. 

"I  thank  you  for  listening  so  patiently  to  me." 

After  the  ceremonies,  the  guests  and  members  of  the  Society  assembled 
on  the  third  floor  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  where  refreshments  were 
served  by  Delmonico,  and  remained  in  social  intercourse  until  7  o'clock  p.  m. 


Committee  in  Charge  of  the  Restoration  of  Fraunces  Tavern 

Robert  Olyphant,  Chairman,         Arthur  M.  Hatch, 
Charles  R.  Henderson,  Henry  Applegate  Wilson, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Charles  Isham, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery. 


41 


Donations 

Books,  Pamphlets,  &c,  Received 

TITLES  DONOR 

New    Jersey    Archives,     1st    Series,    Vols. 

XXVI    and   XXVII,  New  Jersey  Historical  Society. 

New    Jersey    Archives,    2nd    Series,    Vols. 

I,  II  and  III,  New  Jersey  Historical  Society. 

Library  of  Congress  Report,  Herbert    Putnam,    Librarian    of    Con- 

gress. 

Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  Vols.  Herbert    Putnam,    Librarian    of    Con- 

X,  XI  and  XII,  gress. 

Naval  Records  of  the  American  Revolution,  Herbert    Putnam,    Librarian    of    Con- 

1775-1783.  gress. 

Miller  Geneaology,  Charles  F.  Miller. 

Massachusetts   Soldiers  and   Sailors  of  the 

Revolutionary  War,  Vol.   XVI,  William  M.  Olin. 

Regimental  Colors  in  the  War  of  the  Revo- 
lution, Gherardi  Davis. 

Register     Military     Order     of     the     Loyal 

Legion,  Lt.-Col.  John  P.  Nicholson. 

Register  of  the  Commandery  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Lt.-Col.  John  P.  Nicholson. 

Reports  of  the  Valley  Forge   Commission, 

1894,  1896,  1900,  1902,  1904,  1906,  Lt.-Col.  John  P.  Nicholson. 

The  Unknown   Dead   of  the   War  of  1812, 

Address,  Walter  B.  Camp. 

A   Princess  and  Another,  a  story  of  New 

York  Revolutioinary  history,  William  S.  Lyon. 

Life  and  Times  of  Stephen  Higginson,  James  J.  Higginson. 

Genealogy — Hill,  Finch,  Dean,  Austin, 
Pinckney,  Barker,  Rhoades,  Louns- 
bury    and    Smith    Families,  Uriah  Hill,  Jr. 

Daughters    of   the    Cincinnati    Year    Book, 

1908,  Mrs.  James  A.  Glover,  Secretary. 

Society    of    Mayflower    Descendants    Year 

Book,  1907,  Clarence  E.  Leonard,  Secretary. 

Poem,  "Amerekanisches  Nationallied,"  William  F.  H.  Kruger. 

John  Paul  Jones  Commemoration  at  Annap- 
olis, Md.,  April  24,  1906,  J.  Van  Vechten  Olcott. 

43 


TITLES 
Rochambeau,  Dedication  of  Monument  and 
Commemoration,  Washington,  D.   C, 

Boundary  Controversy  between  Pennsylva- 
nia and  Virginia,  and  Minutes  of 
Court, 

Transactions  of  the  Oneida  Historical 
Society,    5    Volumes, 

One  Hundred  Years  of  Trinity  Church, 
Utica, 

District  of  Columbia  Society,  S.  of  R.,  1908, 

Captain  David  Perry,  Biography, 

Remarks  Suggested  by  Three  Autograph 
Letters, 

New  England  Society  Anniversary  Celebra- 
tion, 1907, 

Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  Proceedings, 
1907, 

A  Memorial  in  Behalf  of  the  Architect  of 
our  Federal  Constitution, 

Massachusetts  Society,  S.  of  R.;  President's 

letter,  pamphlet,  picture  of  tablet, 
Michigan  Society,  S.  of  R.,  1896-1908, 
City  Flags  of  Pennsylvania,  Address, 
Sentiment  as  a  National  Asset,  Address, 
Poverty    and     Patriotism     of    the     Neutral 

Grounds,  Historical  Sketch, 
Union  Club,  Year  Book,  1908, 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars  in  the  District  of 

Columbia; 
Dedication  Service,  Cathedral  Grounds, 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars  in  the  District  of 

Columbia; 
Dedication  of  Braddock  Boulder  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C, 
Pennsylvania  Society,  S.  of  R.,  Proceedings, 

1907-1908, 
Holland  Society,  Year  Book,  1906, 
Life  and  Character  of  Stephen  Decatur, 
Register  of  Colonial  Wars  in  Minnesota, 
Sanders  Family  Geneaology, 

Resetting  of  New  Utrecht  Liberty  Pole  at 
New  Utrecht,  N.  Y.,  May  10  ,1899, 

44 


DONOR 
J.  Van  Vechten  Olcott. 

Carnegie  Museum. 

W.  M.  Storrs,  Cor.  Sec'y. 

W.  M.  Storrs,  Cor.  Sec'y. 
Albion  K.  Parris,  Jr.,  Secretary. 
Mrs.  John  F.  Alden. 

James  T.  Edwards. 

George  Wilson,  Secretary. 

Miss  Wandell,  Secretary. 

Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin. 

Frank  H.  Carruthers,  Secretary. 
H.  G.  Post,  Secretary. 
Barr  Ferree. 
Barr  Ferree. 

J.  C.  S.  Hamilton. 
Franklin  Bartlett,  Secretary. 


Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin. 


Lewis  C.  Clephane,  Sec'y. 

Ethan  Allen  Weaver,  Secretary. 

Henry  L.  Bogert,  Secretary. 

John  Somerindyke. 

Charles  P.  Noyes. 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Sanders. 

Hudson  Riley. 


From  John  Austin  Stevens 


TITLES 
Handbook  of  American  Indians,  Part  I, 
The  Quebec  Battlefields, 

The  American  Colonies  in  the  17th  Century, 
Vols.  I,  II  and  III, 

History  of  the  late  Province  of  New  York 
to  1762,  Vols.  I  and  II, 

The  Birth  of  the  Nation,  Jamestown,  1607, 

The  Executive  Departments  of  the  United 
States  at  Washington, 

Conciliation  with  America, 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 

Races  and  Immigrants  in  America, 

Round  About  Jamestown, 

Burgoyne's  Campaign, 

Influence  of  Libraries  and  Social  Progress, 


AUTHORS 
Frederick  Webb  Hodge. 
G.  F.  Matthew. 

Herbert  L.  Osgood,  Ph.D. 

Hon.  William  Smith. 
Mrs.  Roger  A.  Pryor. 

Webster  Elmes. 

Edmund  Burke. 

(William  Hickey.) 

John  R.  Commons. 

J.  E.  Davis. 

Charles  Neilson,  Esq. 

Frederic  de  Peyster. 

Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  M.D. 


The   Battle  of  Harlem  Heights, 

New  York  Historical  Society,  50th  Anniversary,  1854. 

New  York  Historical  Society,  53rd  Anniversary,  1857. 

Collection  of  Engraved  Portraits  of  Washington. 

Collection  of  Engraved  Portraits  of  Officers   in   the   Army   and   Navy  in   the  War  of 
the  Revolution. 

The  Proud  Papers,  Catalogue. 

The  Century  Magazine,  April,  1889.:    Washington's  Inauguration. 

Pamphlets  on  Various  Subjects, 


From  Clarence  Storm 

33  Volumes  of  New  York  Historical  Society  Publications. 


Bequest  of  Frederick  S.  TaMmadge 


TITLES 
Alhambra, 

American  Citizens'  Manual,   1840. 
Aaron  Burr,  Life  of, 
Abraham  Lincoln, 

Andre,  Maj.  John,  Life  and  Career  of, 
Astoria, 

American  Angler's  Guide,  1857. 
Annapolis,  Annals  of, 


AUTHORS 
Washington  Irving. 

J.  Parton. 
Norman  Hapgood. 
Winthrop  Sargent. 
Washington  Irving. 

David  Ridgely. 


45 


TITLES 

American  Scenery, 
America,  First  Impressions. 
Arctic  Explorations,  Vols.  I  and  II, 
American    Institute,    15th    Annual    Report, 
1856. 

American  Gazetteer,  2  Volumes, 

American  Military  and  Naval  Heroes, 

American    Historical    Register,    November, 
1894. 

American  Conflict,  The,  1862-1865, 

Artemus  Ward,  Speech,  1814. 

American  Magazine,  1788. 

Adventures  of  Capt.  Bonneville, 

Banquet  given  by  Cyrus  W.  Field,  1872. 

Block  Island,  History  of, 

Bracebridge  Hall, 

Butterfield,  Genl.  Daniel, 

Battles  of  the  United  States,  Vols.  I  and  II, 

Brainerd  Geneaology, 

Burgoyne,  Sir  John  Fox,  Military  Opinions 

of, 
Bancroft's    History    of    the    United    States, 

Vols.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6, 

Buchanan's  Administration. 

Benjamin  Tallmadge,  Speech,  1809. 

Civil  War  in  America,  Vols.  1,  2,  3, 

Civil  War:  Second  Year, 

Civil  War:  Third  Year, 

California,  Early  Days  in, 

Christopher  Columbus,  Vols.  1,  2,  3, 

Crayon  Miscellany, 

California  and  Its  Resources, 

Charlotte-Augusta,     House    of    Brunswick, 
Memoirs, 

Conquest  of  Peru,  Vol.  1, 

Connecticut,  History  of,  Vol.  1, 

Clay:  Life  and  Times  of  Henry  Clay, 
Vols.  1,  2, 

Clay:  Henry  Clay  Obituary  Address,  1852. 

Congress:  Address  of  Members  to  Constitu- 
ents, 1812. 

46 


AUTHORS 


N.  P.  Willis. 


Elisha  Kent  Kane. 


Jedidiah  Morse. 
Thomas  Wilson. 


Horace  Greeley. 

Washington  Irving. 

Rev.  S.  T.  Livermore,  A.M. 
Washington  Irving. 
Julia  L.  Butterfield. 
Henry  B.  Dawson. 
Rev.  David  D.  Field.,  D.D. 

George  Wrottesley. 
George  Bancroft. 


Benson  J.  Lossing. 
Edward  A.  Pollard. 
Edward  A.  Pollard. 
Stephen  J.  Field. 
Washington  Irving. 
Washington  Irving. 
Ernest  Seyd. 

Thomas  Green. 
William  H.  Prescott. 
G.  H.  Hollister. 

Calvin  Colton. 


TITLES 
Dramas  and  Poems, 
Emott:  Speech  of  James  Emott,  1811. 
Emott:  Speech  of  James  Emott,  1813. 
Eminent  Americans, 
Episcopal  Church  in  Virginia, 
England,  Constitutional  History, 
Ekkoes  from  Kentucky, 
East  Boston,  History, 
Fiske:  Essays,  Vols.   1,  2, 
Farragut  and  Our  Naval  Commanders, 
Franklin:  The  Many  Sided  Franklin, 
Franklin:  The  True  Benjamin  Franklin, 
Fairmount  Park  Report,  1878. 
Federalist  on  the  New  Constitution,  1788, 
Field  Family, 

Field:  David  Dudley  Field, 
Grant  and  His  Campaigns, 
Granada, 

Goldsmith:  Oliver  Goldsmith,  Biography, 
Gerard:  Memorial  of  James  W.  Gerard, 

Great  Exhibition,   Crystal  Palace,  Illustrated, 
Vols.  2,  4. 

Georgian  Plantation,  1838-1839, 
Greenfield  Hill,  A  Poem,  1794, 
Gaston:  Speech  of  William  Gaston,  1814. 
Goodrich:  Recollections  of  a  Life  Time, 
Vols.  1,  2, 

Grant  and  Sherman's  Campaigns, 

Homes  of  American  Statesmen. 

Hubbard,   N.   T.   Hubbard,   Autobiography. 

Home  of  Washington, 

Horse  of  America,  The, 

Hilhouse,  James  Hilhouse,  Memoir, 

Harrison,  Life  and  Times  of  William  Henry 
Harrison, 

Herkimer     County     and     Upper     Mohawk 

Valley, 
Harper,  Speech  of  Robert  G.  Harper,  1814. 
Internal  Taxes,  Repeal  of, 
Judson,  William  Francis  Judson. 

47 


AUTHORS 


Hamilton. 


John  Livingston. 
Francis  L.  Hawks. 
Henry  Hallam. 
Petroleum  V.  Nasby. 
William  H.  Sumner. 
John  Fiske. 
J.  T.  Headley. 
Paul  Leicester  Ford. 
Sydney  George  Fisher. 

Hamilton  Madison  Jay. 
Henry  M.  Field. 
Henry  M.  Field. 
Henry  Coppee,  A.M. 
Washington  Irving. 
Washington  Irving. 
N.  Y.  Bar. 


Frances  Anne  Kemble. 
Timothy  Dwight. 


S.  G.  Goodrich. 
J.  T.  Headley. 


Benson  J.  Lossing. 
William  H.  Herbert. 
Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.D. 


S.  J.  Burr. 


Nathaniel  S.  Benton. 


Griswold. 


TITLES 

Johnson,  Sir  William  Johnson,  Bart., 
Vols.  1,  2, 

Juvenile  Annual,  1869, 

Jefferson,  Joseph   Jefferson  Autobiography. 

Jones,  John  Paul,  Vols.  1,  2, 

Knickerbocker, 

Knickerbocker  Life  in  New  York, 

Kingsley,  Lectures  Delivered  in  America, 

Lewis,  Francis  and  Morgan  Lewis, 

Living  Men  and  Women  of  the  Revolution, 

Lettres  a  un  Ameriquain,  Parts  1,  2. 

Long  Island,  History, 

Long  Island,  History,  Vols.   1,  2,  3, 

Mahomet,  Vols.  1,  2, 

Morris,    Life   of   Gouverneur    Morris, 
Vols.  1,  2,  3, 

Mount  Vernon  and  Its  Associations, 

Metropolitan  Fajr,  U.  S.  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion, 1864. 

Manuals  of  the  Common  Council,  New 
York,  1841-2,  1843-4,  1845-6,  1852, 
1853,  1855,  1856,  1858,  I860,  1863,  1864, 
1865, 

Manual  of  the  Legislature,  New  York,  1863, 
1864,  1865, 

Mexico,    Prescott's    Conquest    of    Mexico, 

Middletown,  Conn.,  Centennial  Address, 

Maclay:  Journal   of  William   Maclay,   1789- 

1791, 
National   Portrait  Gallery  of  Distinguished 

Americans,  Vols.  1,  2,  3, 
New  York,  1827, 

New  York  Historical   Society   Publications, 

1869,  1870,  1871,  1872,  Vols.  2,  3,  4,  5. 
National  Hymns, 

New  York  Historical  Collections, 
New  York,  History  of,  Vol.  2, 
New  York  Politics,  30  Years, 
New  York,  Old    New     York,     Aug.,     Sept., 

Oct.,  Dec,  1889,  Jan.,  1890, 
New  York,  West  End  Plateau, 

48 


AUTHORS 

William  L.  Stone. 
D.  Appleton. 

August  C.  Buell. 
Washington  Irving. 
Abram  C.  Dayton. 
Charles  Kingsley. 
Julia  Delafield. 
Benson  J.  Lossing. 

Benjamin  F.  Thompson. 
Peter  Ross. 
Washington  Irving. 

Jared  Sparks. 
Benson  J.  Lossing. 


D.  T.  Valentine. 

Chauncey  M.  Depew,  Sec'y  of  State. 
William  H.  Prescott. 
David  D.  Field. 

Edgar  S.  Maclay,  A.M.         , 

James  Herring. 
James  Hardie,  A.M. 


Richard  Grant  White. 
John  W.   Barber. 
William  Dunlap. 
Matthew  P.  Breen, 

W.   W.    Pasko, 
Egbert  L.  Viele. 


Titles 

New  York  Annual  Register,  1837, 

New  York,  Topography  and   Hydrology, 

New  York,  Early  Houses,  Part  I, 

New  York,  Old  Streets, 

New  Windsor  Centennial,  1883. 

New  Amsterdam, 

Newport  Illustrated,  1854. 

Names,  Family  and  Christian,  Derivation, 

Poets  of  America, 

Plymouth,  Guide  to, 

Political  Works, 

Pilot,  The, 

Puritan  in  Holland,  England  and  America, 
Vols.  1,  2, 

Potomac  and  Rapidan,  1861-1863, 

Printers  and  Printing  in  New  York, 

Paris  in  America, 

Poets  and  Poetry  of  America, 

Prose  Writers  of  America, 

Potomac,  Seat  of  War,  Map. 

Pickering,  Hon.  Timothy,  Speech,  1814. 

Pitkin,  Speech,  1814. 

Paine:  Robert  Troupe  Paine  Memoir, 

Prairie,  The, 

Quincy,  Josiah,  Oration,  1813. 

Rebellion  Record,  The,  Vols.  1-11,  Supple- 
ment to  1st  Vol , 

Rip  Van  Winkle, 

Rights  of  Man, 

Rural  Affairs,  1858, 

Red  Jacket,  Life  and  Times, 

Romance  of  the  Revolution, 

Revolution:  Diary  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution, Vols.  1,  2, 

Sheridan:  With  Genl.  Sheridan  in  Lee's 
Last    Campain, 

Stockbridge  Church,  Pastors,  In  Memoriam, 
Stryker,  William  Scudder,  Memorial  Meet- 
ing of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati. 


AUTHORS 
Edwin  Williams. 

Egbert  L.  Viele. 

William  S.   Pelletreau,  A.M. 

James  W.  Gerard. 

Professor  A.  Davis. 

William  Arthur,  M.A. 
George  B.  Cheever. 
William  S.  Russell 
Thomas  Paine. 
James  Fenimore  Cooper. 

Douglas  Campbell,  A.  M. 
Alonzo  H.  Quint. 
Charles  R.  Hildeburn. 
Edward  Laboulaye. 
Rufus  W.  Griswold 
Rufus  W.  Griswold. 


His  Parents. 

James  Fenimore  Cooper. 


Frank  Moore. 
Joseph  Jefferson. 
Thomas  Paine. 
J.  J.  Thomas. 
William  L.  Stone. 
G.  G.  Evans. 

Frank  Moore. 

A  Staff  Officer. 
Nathaniel  H.  Eggleston. 


49 


TITLES 


Salmagundi, 


Sherman  and   His  Campaigns, 

Sketchhbook,  The, 

Story  of  the  Great  March  (Sherman's), 

Sketches   of  the  Secession, 

Signers    of    the    Declaration    of    Independ- 
ence, 
Slavery, 
St.  Mark's  Memorial,  1799-1899, 

Scott,  Autobiography  of  Lt.-Gen.   Winfield 
Scott,  Vols.  1,  2. 

Story  of  an  Old  Farm, 

Sherman,  Memoirs  of  Genl.  W.  T.  Sherman, 

2  Vols. 
Slavery,  The  Suppressed  Book,  1857. 

Sumner,  William  H.  Sumner,  Reminiscences. 
Sumner  Family, 

Tribute  to  the  Fair,  Poems, 
Traveller's  Guide,  1840, 
Travels  in  America,  100  Years  Ago, 
Treaty  of  Washington,   Negotiation,  &c, 
Tour  Around  New  York, 
Traveller, 

Trumbull's  Poetical  Works,  Vols.  1,  2, 
Tanney:  Roger  B.  Tanney,  LL.D.,  Memoir, 
Tarrytown,   Revolutionary   Soldiers'   Monu- 
ment Dedication,  1894. 
Thermometer  Record,  1840-1850, 
Trenton  Falls, 

United  States,  Constitution  and  Documents, 
1789-1847, 

Virginia,  Historical  Recollectioins  of, 

Virginia,  Notes  on, 

Washington,  Life  of,  Vols.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5, 

Washington,  George, 

Wolfert's  Roost, 

Williams  College,  Biographical  Annals, 

Williams  College,  History  of, 

Washington  City,  Hand  Book,  1875, 

50 


AUTHORS 

Wm.   Irving,  J.  K  .Paulding  and 
Washington  Irving. 

Col.  S.  M.  Bowman  and  Lt.-Col. 
R.  B.   Irwin. 

Washington  Irving. 

A  Staff  Officer. 

W.  G.  Brownlow. 

Rev.  Chas.  A.  Goodrich. 
William  E.  Channing. 
The  Vestry. 


Andrew  D.  Mellick,  Jr. 


Wm.  H.  Sumner. 

U.  S.  Sanitary  Commission. 

G.  M.  Davison. 

Thomas  Twining. 

Caleb  Cushing. 

Felix  Oldboy. 

Washington  Irving. 

John  Trumbull,  LL.D. 

Saml.  Tyler,  LL.D. 


Delatour. 

N.  Parker  Willis. 

[W.  Hickey.] 
Henry  Howe. 
Thomas  Jefferson 
Washington  Irving. 
Woodrow  Wilson. 
Washington  Irving. 
Rev.  Calvin  Durfee,  D.D. 
Rev.  Calvin  Durfee,  D.D. 
Dr.  B.  Randolph  Keim. 


TITLES 
Washington  Irving,  Life  and  Letters,  Vols. 

1,  2,  3,  4, 
Washington,  The  Home  of, 
Wish-Ton-Wish, 
Wyandotte, 

Washington  Inauguration  Centennial, 
Washington  Centennial  Address, 
Washington,  George, 
Webster,  Daniel, 
White  Mountain  Guide,  1867, 
Webster,   Speech   of  Daniel   Webster,   1814. 


AUTHORS 

Pierre  M.  Irving. 
Benson  J.  Lossing. 
J.  Fenimore  Cooper. 
J.  Fenimore  Cooper. 
Sub.  Com.  on  Army. 
Melville  W.  Fuller,  LL.D. 
Norman  Hapgood. 
Samuel  L.  Knapp. 
Edson  C.  Eastman. 


Miscellaneous  Donations 

Pictures,    Relics,    Programmes,   etc. 


titles 

Relics  from  Fort  Ticondegora, 
Photograph  of  Washington's  Headquarters 

at  Rocky  Hill,  N.  J., 
Souvenirs     Pennsylvania     Society     Dinner, 

1907, 
Engrossed  Extract  from  Tallmadge  Diary, 

framed, 

Copy  of  portrait  of  Washington, 
Copy  of  picture,  Battle  of  Lexington, 
Relics  from  Fort  Ticonderoga, 
Commission    of    First    Lieutenant,   John   J. 

Fonda, 
John    Paul   Jones   Medal   of   the   American 

Numismatic  Society, 

Picture  of  Fraunces  Tavern  and  receipt  of 
Saml.  Fraunces, 

Box  which  belonged  to  Raleigh  Chinn, 
Bank    bill    showing    minute    engraving    of 
Washington, 

Three  early  New  York  State  Commissions, 
Colonial  Currency,  1773-1776, 
Colonial  Currency,  1776, 
Grape-shot  from  Fort  Ticonderoga, 

5i 


DONORS 
Howland  Pell. 

Miss  Kate  E.  McFarlane. 

John  C.  Jay,  Jr. 

Robert  Olyphant. 
Charles  W.  Burrows. 
Charles  W.  Burrows. 
F.  B.  Richards. 

Abram  Wakeman. 

Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

Bryce  Metcalf. 
Joseph  I.  Keefer. 

Oscar  T.  Barck. 
Beverly  Chew. 
Roland  Burbank  Swart. 
George  Washington  Close. 
Glenn  D.  Easton. 


TITLES 
Picture  of  Washington  and  Long  Room, 
Meat  Dish  used  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton, 
Four  tiles  of  Trinity  Church,  Newport, 

Four  pictures  of  residences  of  Revolution- 
ary Officers, 

Statement  of  dinner  to  Washington,  1783, 

John  Paul  Jones,  facsimile  of  Peale  painting, 

Silver  punch  bowl,  copy  of  original  made 
by  Paul  Revere  for  Sons  of  Liberty, 
Souvenir  spoon,  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 

Two  early  insignia  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution, 

Case  for  the  New  York  Historical  Society 
publications, 

Surrender  of  Burgoyne,  Water  Color  copy 
of  Trumbull's  painting  in  the  Capitol 
at  Washington, 

Brick  from  Fort  Frederick,  Lake  Champlain, 
N.  Y., 

Brick     from     Fort     Montgomery,     N.     Y., 

Powder   House, 
Silk  picture  of  Betsy  Ross  making  the  Flag, 
Gilt  Eagle  and  Silk  Flags, 

Copy  of  delineations  on  Gen.  Israel  Put- 
nam's Powder  Horn, 

Photograph  of  Rochambeau  tablet  at  New- 
port, 

Pewter  Mug  dug  up  in  Shakespeare's  gar- 
den, 

Wood  of  Paul  Revere  House, 

Wood  of  Frigate  Constitution, 

Photograph  of  Doorway  of  Fraunces 
Tavern, 

Picture  of  home  of  Asa  Pollard,  the  first 
man  killed  at  Bunker  Hill, 

Table  at  which  the  Society  was  instituted, 
in  the  rooms  of  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society,  cor.  Second  Avenue 
and  11th  Street,  on  February  22nd, 
1876,  by  John  Austin  Stevens  and 
others, 

Foot-warmer  from  old  St.  George's  Church  in 
Beekman  Street, 

52 


DONORS 
W.  L.  Andrews. 
Jed  Frye. 
John  Austin  Stevens. 

John  Austin  Stevens. 
Hugh  Hastings. 
Edward  Trenchard. 

Edmund  Wetmore. 
Miss  Edith  M.  Drowne. 

Clarence  Storm. 

Clarence  Storm. 

Byam  K.  Stevens. 

Miss  Wandell. 

Miss  Wandell. 
Miss  Wandell. 
Miss  Wandell. 

Waldo  Putnam  Russell. 

John  Austin  Stevens. 

Tallmadge  bequest. 
Henry  W.  Lawton. 

Henry  W.  Lawton. 
William  H.  Mersereau 
Frederick  C.  Pollard. 


New  York  Historical  Society. 
N.  W.  Brown. 


Presented  by  Miss  Elizabeth  Root,  of  Geneva,  N.  Y., 
through  Mr.  Beverly  Chew 

Box  made  by  soldier  in  Washington's  Army  at  Valley  Forge. 
Two  sheets  of  Continental  money  containing  32  bills,  1776. 

Diary  of  Lieutenant  Matthew  Gregory,  containing  account  of  surrender  of  York- 
town. 

Commissions  of  Matthew  Gregory,  dated  1777,  1778,  1780,  1783,  1793. 

Poem  entitled  "British  Taxation  in  America." 

Hymns  and  Ode,  "Funeral   Honors  to  the  memory  of  La  Fayette." 

Bill  of  Fare  at  "Public  Festival  in  honor  of  the  completion  of  Bunker  Hill  Monu- 
ment," 1843. 

Badge  to  commemorate  death  of  Genl.  Andrew  Jackson,  June  8,  1845. 

Badge  to  the  memory  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  Feb.  11,  1828. 

Badge  of  Washington  Benevolent  Society. 

Badge  of  the  Army  of  the  Revolution,  dated  July  4,  1776. 


Loaned  by  Chandler  Smith 

Commissions  of  Henry  Burbeck,  Esq.,  as   follows: 

Second  Lieutenant  signed  by  Joseph  Warren,  May  19,  1775. 
First  Lieutenant  signed  by  John  Hancock,  Jan.  3,  1776. 
Captain  signed  by  Henry  Laurens,  Jan.  2,  1778. 
Captain  signed  by  Samuel  Huntington,  April  21,  1780. 
Major  signed  by  George  Washington,  March  19,  1793. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  signed  by  John  Adams,  March  29,  1799. 

Master  Mason's  certificate  of  Henry  Burbeck,  St.  Andrew's  Lodge,  No.  82,  dated 
June  23rd,  1777. 

Certificates  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  representing  membership  of  Henry  Bur- 
beck,   Wm.    H.    Burbeck    and    Chandler  Smith. 

Commission  of  Robert  Ritchie,  First  Lieutenant,  signed  by  Thomas  Jefferson. 


Loaned  by  Philip  Livingston 

Gold  Watch  which  formerly  belonged  to  Philip   Livingston,   the   Signer   of  the   Dec- 
laration of  Independence. 


53 


THE  ORIGIN  AND  APPLICATION 


OF    THE 


Monroe  Doctrine 


BY 


Howard  R.  Bayne 


A  Paper  read  before  the  New  York  Society 
of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
April   1 8th    1908 


THE   ORIGIN  AND  APPLICATION 


OF   THE 


Monroe  Doctrine 


Of  nothing  do  we  hear  so  much  in  the  world  of  diplomacy,  as  the  Monroe 
Doctrine.  It  has  been  criticised  and  ridiculed,  but  not  despised;  denounced, 
but  never  defied;  bombarded  with  the  artillery  of  adverse  argument,  but,  in 
the  practical  administration  of  public  affairs,  universally  respected  and  allowed. 
Behind  it,  stand  the  power  and  majesty  of  the  American  People,  ready  to 
enforce  it  by  war  with  any  nation  manifesting  a  purpose  to  violate  it. 

James  Monroe,  whose  name  is  imperishably  connected  with  this  great 
principle,  was  born  in  the  County  of  Westmoreland,  Virginia,  on  the  28th  day  of 
of  April,  1758.  In  the  same  County  were  born  George  Washington,  James 
Madison,  and  those  brilliant  statesmen  and  soldiers  of  the  Lee  family,  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee,  "Light  Horse"  Harry  Lee,  of  the  elder 
generation,  and  Robert  E.  Lee  of  our  times. 

Upon  this  kindly  soil  James  Monroe,  the  son  of  a  planter  of  good  estate, 
grew  to  manhood,  in  an  atmosphere  of  patriotism  and  public  spirit.  His  boy- 
hood was  passed  amid  the  heated  controversies  over  the  Colony's  relations 
to  the  Mother  Country,  and  the  indignant  protests  against  her  unjust  and 
irritating  policies.  Great  issues,  involving  fundamental  principles  of  social 
order,  arose  in  those  times.    They  gave  a  tone  and  strength  to  men's  minds. 

When,  in  1774,  at  the  age  of  16,  young  Monroe  entered  the  ancient  Col- 
lege of  William  and  Mary,  we  may  suppose  that  the  earnest  spirit  of  the  time, 
and  the  just  opinions  of  the  people  among  whom  he  was  reared,  had  educated 
him  in  the  school  of  patriotism,  far  beyond  the  learning  of  an  uneventful  and 
quiet  boyhood.  John  Marshall  was  one  of  his  classmates,  and,  in  1776,  these 
two  were  the  first  from  the  College  to  join  the  Army  under  Washington  in 
New  York.  Wounded  in  the  Battle  of  Trenton,  serving  through  two  cam- 
paigns, as  an  aide  to  Lord  Stirling,  he  "maintained  in  every  instance,"  said 
Washington,  "the  reputation  of  a  brave,  active  and  sensible  officer."  The  dis- 
placement of  his  regiment,  in  the  difficulties  of  recruiting,  brought  about  his 

57 


retirement  from  active  service  in  the  Continental  Line.  Thereafter,  during 
the  remainder  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  his  services  were  confined  to  the 
defense  of  his  native  State.  Studying  law  under  Jefferson  and  inspired  by 
the  example  of  that  notable  man,  Monroe  fitted  himself  for  public  station. 
He  first  became  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Assembly,  then  a  member  of  the 
Executive  Council,  delegate  to  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation,  member  of 
the  State  Convention  that  adopted  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and, 
under  it,  a  member  of  the  Senate.  In  1784,  Monroe  was  one  of  the  Com- 
missioners to  deliver  to  Congress  Virginia's  royal  gift,  a  deed  to  the  Northwest 
Territory,  now  comprising  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and 
Wisconsin.  He  introduced,  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Assembly,  a  bill  by 
which  that  State  confirmed  the  ordinance  of  1787  prohibiting  slavery  within 
the  limits  of  this  vast  domain.  While  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  he 
was  appointed  Minister  to  the  recently  established  Republic  of  France.  There 
was,  at  that  time,  no  representative  of  any  other  nation  recognized  by  France. 
Monroe  was  the  first  to  be  received.  Upon  his  recall  from  France,  he  was 
elected  Governor  of  Virginia.  He  was  next  sent  by  Jefferson  to  France  on  a 
special  mission  to  negotiate,  along  with  Robert  R.  Livingston,  who  for  two 
years  had  been  the  resident  minister,  for  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  and,  with- 
in a  month  after  his  arrival,  he  and  his  colleague  reported  the  success  of  their 
negotiations.  By  this  stroke  of  diplomacy  the  United  States  acquired,  for  the 
sum  of  $15,000,000  that  vast  territory  from  the  Mississippi  west  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  now  including  the  States  of  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  one-third 
of  Colorado,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  North  Dakota,  South  Dakota, 
Wyoming,  Idaho,  Oregon,  Washington,  and  the  Indian  Territory. 

Then  followed  his  mission  to  England  to  secure  a  treaty  disposing  of  the 
irritating  questions  between  the  two  countries  relating  to  the  impressment  of 
seamen,  blockade  and  search  of  American  vessels.  A  convention  was  agreed 
to,  but  it  did  not  receive  the  approval  of  Jefferson,  who  directed  Monroe  and 
Pinkney  to  re-open  negotiations.  But  the  time  was  not  ripe  and  Monroe  was 
compelled  to  return  home  without  accomplishing  the  purpose  of  his  mission. 
His  disappointment  was  alleviated  by  his  election  a  second  time  to  the  highest 
office  in  the  gift  of  his  fellow  citizens  in  Virginia. 

In  1811,  he  became  a  member  of  Madison's  Cabinet,  as  Secretary  of  State. 
This  was  a  most  trying  period.  The  Wars  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  had  involved 
all  Europe  in  a  series  of  acrimonious  disputes  and  continuous  collisions,  render- 
ing neutrality  on  the  part  of  our  Government  exceedingly  difficult  to  maintain. 
Bonaparte  sedulously  sought  to  involve  us  in  a  war  with  England.  Great  Britain, 
with  equal  persistence,  fomented  open  rupture  with  France.  Madison,  the 
most  pacific  of  Presidents,  bore  with  great  patience  the  insults  and  injustice 

58 


inflicted  by  both  these  powers.  Forced  on  by  public  opinion,  he  advised  Con- 
gress to  declare  war  on  England,  which  was  speedily  done  June  18,  1812. 

In  this  conflict  there  is  little  in  which  Americans  can  take  satisfaction 
beyond  the  operations  of  our  Navy.  But  Monroe's  part  in  the  War  was  most 
energetic,  courageous  and  helpful.  In  addition  to  his  duties  in  the  Department 
of  State,  he  assumed  those  of  Secretary  of  War,  and  from  that  time  a  new 
spirit  was  infused  into  the  prosecution  of  hostilities  from  North  to  far  South. 

The  War  of  1812  had  the  most  remarkable  concomitants  of  any  in  history: 
First,  the  cause  of  war — the  orders  in  council  establishing  embargoes,  etc. — 
was  removed  the  day  before  war  was  actually  declared ;  then,  while  over- 
whelmingly in  favor  of  war,  Congress  refused  to  vote  the  means  to  carry 
it  on ;  next,  its  greatest  battle,  that  of  New  Orleans,  was  fought  after  the 
Treaty  of  Peace  had  been  signed ;  finally,  that  treaty  made  no  mention  of 
the  cause  of  the  war. 

On  March  4th,  1817,  at  the  age  of  59,  Monroe  succeeded  Madison  in  the 
Presidency.  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  a  resident  of  Staten  Island,  was  Vice-Presi- 
dent during  both  terms  of  Monroe.  Among  the  men  of  the  times  were  Jeffer- 
son and  Madison,  ever  friends  and  advisers  of  Monroe ;  John  Adams,  whose 
son,  John  Quincy  Adams,  entered  Monroe's  Cabinet ;  Andrew  Jackson,  the 
hero  of  New  Orleans,  fast  looming  up  into  a  "presidential  possibility" ;  Henry 
Clay,  a  leader  for  several  years  past  in  the  House  of  Representatives ;  Daniel 
Webster,  for  two  terms  a  member  of  Congress,  but  thinking  now  of  retiring 
to  the  emoluments  of  professional  life ;  Thomas  Benton,  emerging  into  promi- 
nence ;  Richard  Rush,  erelong  to  be  Minister  to  England,  and  to  take  honored 
part  in  the  proclamation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine;  John  C.  Calhoun,  now 
become  Secretary  of  State ;  and  William  Wirt,  the  prosecutor  of  Aaron  Burr, 
Attorney-General. 

Monroe's  Administration  marked  the  change  between  the  old  and  the  new 
order  of  things :  the  passing  away  of  the  elder  statesmen,  and  the  coming  on 
of  the  new,  full  of  confidence,  capacity,  vigor,  and  enthusiasm.  Old  questions 
had  been  settled,  or  ceased  to  interest.  New  issues  were  coming  to  the  front 
and  engaging  men's  minds.  The  cessation  of  hostilities  between  Napoleon 
and  the  Allied  Powers  of  Europe,  following  the  end  of  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  our  Government,  furnished  the  opportunity  and  stimulated  the 
pursuit  of  commercial  relations  with  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world.  Ships 
laden  with  foreign  goods  sailed  into  every  American  harbor  and  took  back 
the  products  of  our  farms  and  forests.  The  formation  of  new  States  greatly 
enlarged  commercial  intercourse,  domestic  and  foreign ;  and  our  merchant 
marine,  expanding  with  opportunity  bestowed  by  the  least  shackles  upon  trade, 
brought   wealth   to   American    merchants   and    introduced   the   advent   of   the 

59 


"era  of  good  feeling,"  as  Monroe's  presidential  terms  were  called.  So  that 
when,  after  his  first  term,  the  question  of  his  successor  arose,  the  country  was 
so  heartily  in  favor  of  his  re-nomination  that  he  received  all  the  votes  of  the 
Electoral  College  save  one,  cast  for  John  Quincy  Adams. 

The  chief  subjects  engrossing  Monroe's  attention  while  President  were 
the  defense  of  the  Atlantic  Seaboard,  Internal  Improvements,  the  Seminole 
War,  the  acquistion  of  Florida,  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  resistance  to 
the  interference  of  European  Powers  in  American  affairs,  with  which  we  are 
now  more  directly  concerned. 

His  second  term  began  in  1821.  His  constitutional  advisers  were  John 
Quincy  Adams,  Secretary  of  State ;  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War ;  Wm.  H. 
Crawford  of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  Clay  was  speaker  of  the 
House. 

From  1817  to  1825,  Richard  Rush  was  Minister  to  Great  Britain.  He  was 
the  son  of  the  distinguished  Philadelphian,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  a  signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  a  patriot  of  rare  public  spirit  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  one  of  the  principal  supporters  of  the  new  Federal 
Constitution.  His  son,  Richard,  born  in  1780,  was  graduated  at  Princeton. 
After  holding  the  offices  of  Attorney-General  of  Pennsylvania,  Comptroller  of 
the  Treasury,  Attorney-General  under  Madison,  temporary  Secretary  of  State 
under  Monroe,  he  rendered  his  most  conspicuous  service  as  Minister  to  the 
Court  of  St.  James. 

During  the  period  in  which  we  are  specially  interested,  George  Canning 
was  in  charge  of  the  Foreign  Office  under  Lord  Liverpool,  nominal  head  of 
the  English  Government.  Canning  was  born  in  London  in  1770.  His  father 
had  been  bred  as  a  lawyer,  but,  abandoning  that  profession  for  literature,  was 
hardly  able  to  make  a  decent  livelihood  for  his  wife  and  only  child.  Dis- 
appointed in  his  hopes,  he  died  a  year  after  the  birth  of  his  son. 

Educated  by  a  wealthy  uncle,  at  Eton  and  Oxford,  young  Canning  came 
back  to  London  and,  under  the  patronage  of  Pitt,  entered  Parliament  at  the 
age  of  23  years.  He  began  life  a  Liberal,  in  sympathy  with  Fox  and  Sheridan. 
The  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution,  as  shown  in  the  Reign  of  Terror,  seem 
to  have  turned  him,  in  the  outset  of  his  public  career,  from  the  Whigs  to  the 
conservatism  of  the  Tories. 

In  a  gathering  of  the  greatest  orators  and  statesmen  of  his  time,  he  took 
front  rank.  To  the  natural  advantages  of  a  commanding  figure  and  a  musical 
voice  he  added  great  fluency  and  skill  in  language,  quickness  of  perception 
and  keenness  of  wit.  Many  of  the  reverses  suffered  by  Bonaparte  were  due 
to  Canning,  who  never  ceased  to  withstand  the  principles  and  policies  of 
Napoleon.     Perhaps  to  no  one  man  was  the  downfall  of  that  great  military 

6o 


genius  of  France  more  due  than  to  Canning,  who,  courageous  and  fearless, 
competent  and  unconquerable,  ever  sought  to  encourage  opposition  and  effect 
combination  against  the  merciless  conqueror  of  Europe. 

Much  study  has  been  given  to  the  career  of  the  marvelous  Corsican,  and 
while  it  is  probably  true  that  the  full  mission  of  Bonaparte,  in  all  its  propor- 
tions, yet  remains  undiscovered,  the  career  of  this  remarkable  man  certainly 
quickened  the  sense  of  liberty  in  the  world  and  disseminated  a  clearer  concep- 
tion of  popular  rights  and  governmental  obligations. 

The  growth  of  liberal  ideas  on  these  subjects  among  all  classes  of  Conti- 
nental Europe  was  so  apparent,  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  that  the  monarchs 
of  Russia,  Prussia  and  Austria  felt  the  need  of  co-operation  in  stemming  the 
tide,  and  restoring  the  old  idea  of  the  Divine  Right  to  rule  without  reference 
to  the  will  of  the  people.  And  so,  not  long  after  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  Alex- 
ander, Czar  of  Russia,  induced  Frederick  William,  King  of  Prussia,  and 
Francis,  Emperor  of  Austria,  to  form  a  League  which  Alexander  called  the 
"Holy  Alliance,"  for  the  purpose,  ostensibly,  of  "manifesting  to  the  world  their 
unchangeable  determination  to  adopt  no  other  rule  of  conduct  either  in  the 
government  of  their  respective  countries,  or  in  their  political  relations  with 
other  governments,  than  the  precepts  of  that  holy  religion,  the  precepts  of  jus- 
tice, charity  and  peace."  Nevertheless  these  monarchs  did  not  hesitate  to 
announce  themselves  as  "delegates  of  Providence  to  govern  so  many  branches 
of  the  same  family  and  establish  human  institutions  and  remedy  their  imper- 
fections." 

All  the  other  Christian  Powers  of  Europe  were  invited  to  join  the  Alli- 
ance. England  held  aloof.  The  Kings  of  France,  Spain,  Naples  and  Sardinia 
accepted  the  invitation,  and  so,  in  the  language  of  a  recent  historian,  "the  era 
of  Christian  politics  was  supposed  to  have  opened." 

The  sinister  purpose  of  this  combination  is  denied  by  some  historians  and 
asserted  by  others.  But  all  agree  that  whatever  was  its  original  design,  the  most 
effective  and  frequent  use  to  which  it  was  put  was  to  suppress,  by  united 
effort,  popular  uprisings  and  constitutional  governments  within  the  jurisdiction 
of  each  signatory  monarch. 

In  Monroe's  second  term,  the  Holy  Alliance  was  exercising  its  benevolent 
intervention  in  the  affairs  of  Spain. 

That  people  had  driven  their  monarch  from  the  throne  and  had  estab- 
lished a  constitutional  government.  Of  this  the  Holy  Alliance  did  not  approve 
as  according  with  the  will  of  God,  and  so,  entering  Spain,  they  succeeded  by 
force  of  arms  in  restoring  the  banished  ruler  and  abolishing  the  new  order  of 
things. 

For  many  years  the  Spanish  colonies  in  South  America  had  been  in  revolt, 

61 


but  had  not  been  able  to  make  good  their  independence  by  the  acquiescence  of 

the  Mother  Country.  A  long  warfare,  desultory  and  desolating,  had  been  in 
progress.  The  trade  of  England  had  been  much  impaired  by  it,  and,  aside 
from  the  interruption  of  their  commercial  relations,  the  sympathies  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  had  for  many  years  been  aroused  in  favor  of  the 
revolted  colonies.  Our  Government  had  gone  as  far  as  safe  diplomacy  allowed 
of,  in  acknowledging  a  state  of  war  and  maintaining  a  strict  neutrality  between 
the  combatants.  Public  opinion  throughout  the  country  demanded  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  independence  and  the  establishment  of  diplomatic  relations  with 
the  struggling  Americans.  At  the  instance  of  Monroe,  this  occurred  in  the 
spring  of  1822. 

Events  seemed  so  shaping  themselves  as  to  indicate  that  the  Holy  Alliance 
would  not  content  itself  with  establishing  order  in  Spain,  but  that,  deeming 
this  finally  impossible  without  subduing  her  South  American  subjects,  would 
ultimately  direct  its  energies  to  that  end,  and  by  the  shot  and  shell  of  the 
allied  armies,  sent  over  the  ocean,  insure  peace  under  the  beneficent  doctrine 
of  Divine  Right,  and,  incidentally,  the  overthrow  of  independence  and  liberty 
in  Spanish  America. 

The  legions  of  the  Alliance,  once  firmly  planted  on  South  American  soil, 
might  content  themselves  with  the  professed  purpose  of  intervention  and  sim- 
ply restore  the  colonies,  with  their  spirits  crushed,  to  their  cruel  Mother;  or 
they  might,  under  the  alleged  inspiration  of  Divine  Providence,  divide  up  those 
fair  provinces  among  the  members  of  the  Holy  Alliance  themselves.  It  had 
happened  before,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  that  under  the  direction  of  mani- 
fest destiny  and  a  species  of  benevolent  assimilation,  the  wolf  at  a  convenient 
opportunity  had  eaten  up  the  lamb.  And  the  devotion  of  the  Holy  Alliance  to 
the  will  of  God,  was  so  single  and  so  sheer  that  Canning  in  London,  and 
Monroe  in  Washington,  had  no  great  difficulty  in  seeing  the  Powers  of  Conti- 
nental Europe  erelong  in  full  possession  of  the  Southern  half  of  the  American 
Hemisphere. 

The  contemplation  of  this  result  was  as  displeasing  to  Great  Britain  as 
to  the  United  States.  From  the  English  standpoint,  it  meant  the  weakening 
of  British  influence  by  increasing  her  commercial,  military  and  naval  isolation, 
and  the  magnifying  many  times  the  power  of  the  Allies,  and  their  opportunities 
for  commercial  and  colonial  supremacy  in  the  New  World.  To  the  North 
American  statesmen,  the  introduction  and  prevalence  of  the  principles  and 
practices  of  Continental  Europe,  enforced  by  her  innumerable  phalanxes, 
threatened  the  peace,  prosperity  and  safety  of  the  United  States. 

With  this  interesting  situation  of  the  several  pieces  on  the  chessboard, 
Fate,  the  Master-player,  began  to  move  on  the  game. 

62 


In  August,  1823,  Canning  had  an  eventful  interview  with  Rush,  the 
American  Minister.  He  stated  to  Rush. that  Spain's  recovery  of  her  revolted 
colonies  in  South  America  was  hopeless,  that  recognition  of  their  independence 
was  inevitable,  that  while  England  was  committed  to  the  policy  of  non-inter- 
ference, she  could  not  see,  with  indifference,  the  transfer  of  any  of  the  Spanish 
colonies  to  any  other  Power. 

Under  the  circumstances,  Canning  suggested  that  England  and  the  United 
States  should  unite  in  making  a  declaration  to  the  Holy  Alliance  of  the  dis- 
approbation with  which  they  would  view  any  project  looking  to  the  transfer  of 
any  of  the  Spanish  colonies  to  a  European  Power.  Rush,  in  reply,  expressed  his 
deep  regret  that  he  had  no  authority  to  commit  his  Government  to  such  a 
declaration,  but  he  believed  the  United  States  shared  the  feelings  of  Canning 
on  the  subject,  and  that  his  Government  would  regard  as  highly  unjust  and 
fruitful  of  disastrous  consequences  any  attempt  by  any  European  Power  to 
take  possession  of  the  colonies  by  cession  or  otherwise.  Rush  urged  Canning 
to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  the  colonies,  but  the  latter  replied  he  was 
not  in  position  to  do  so. 

Rush  transmitted  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  Monroe's  Secretary  of  State, 
what  had  occurred  between  himself  and  Canning,  and  asked  for  instructions. 

Later  in  the  same  month  Canning  called  the  attention  of  Rush  to  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Powers  on  Spanish  affairs  shortly  to  occur,  and  stated  that  it  was 
expedient  on  this  account  that  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  should 
promptly  come  to  an  understanding.  Rush  replied  that  though  he  was  still 
without  instructions  on  the  subject,  yet  he  was  so  well  apprized  of  the  general 
views  of  his  government,  that  if  England  would  acknowledge  the  independence 
of  the  colonies,  he  would  assume  the  authority  of  uniting  with  her  in  the 
declaration  suggested  by  Canning.  But  the  Foreign  Secretary  wisely  thought 
that  if  Rush  had  not  the  authority,  his  action  would  be  unavailing,  and  their 
co-operation  embarrassing,  and  perhaps  ridiculous. 

In  the  discussion  Rush  referred  to  the  traditional  policy  of  the  United 
States  in  abstaining  from  meddling  with  European  affairs.  But  Canning 
argued  that  it  was  not  a  European,  but  an  American  question. 

Stating  that  the  United  States  wished  to  see  the  independence  of  the  Span- 
ish provinces  permanently  maintained,  and  would  view  as  unjust  and  improper 
any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Powers  to  encroach  on  that  independence  as 
well  as  any  interference  unsolicited  by  the  provinces  themselves,  and  that  any 
action  by  the  Powers  contrary  to  these  views  would  endanger  the  tranquility 
of  the  world,  Rush  added,  with  remarkable  forecast  of  Monroe's  famous 
declaration:  'The  United  States  could  never  look  with  insensibility  upon 
such  an   exercise  of  European   jurisdiction  over  communities  now  of  right 

63 


exempt  from  it  and  entitled  to  regulate  their  own  concerns  unmolested  from 
abroad." 

By  the  time  Rush  heard  from  his  Government  occurrences  on  the  Conti- 
nent had  relieved  the  apprehension  of  Canning  and  reversed  his  attitude.  But 
his  fateful  suggestion  went  marching  on. 

When  the  interesting  dispatches  of  the  American  Minister  reached  Mon- 
roe, that  wise  and  prudent  President  forthwith  laid  them  before  his  old  friends 
Jefferson  and  Madison,  and  sought  their  counsel  as  to  his  proceedings.  These 
great  statesmen,  called  up  from  the  quiet  pursuits  of  extreme  old  age,  con- 
curred in  advising  that  the  time  was  propitious  for  the  promulgation  of  a  policy 
upon  which  the  foreign  relations  of  our  country  should  forever  rest. 

To  Jefferson,  Monroe  transmitted  dispatches  received  from  Rush  con- 
taining two  letters  from  Canning,  "suggesting,"  wrote  Monroe,  "designs  of 
the  Holy  Alliance  against  the  independence  of  South  America  and  proposing 
a  co-operation  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  in  support  of 
it  against  the  members  of  that  Alliance.  The  project  aims,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, at  a  mere  expression  of  opinion,  somewhat  in  the  abstract,  but  which 
it  is  expected  by  Mr.  Canning  will  have  a  great  political  effect  by  defeating 
combination.  First,  shall  we  entangle  ourselves  at  all  in  European  politics 
and  wars  on  the  side  of  any  power  against  others,  presuming  that  a  concert 
by  agreement  of  the  kind  proposed  may  lead  to  that  result.  Second,  if  the 
case  can  exist  in  which  a  sound  maxim  may  and  ought  to  be  departed  from, 
is  not  the  present  instance  precisely  that  case?  Third,  has  not  the  epoch 
arrived  when  Great  Britain  must  take  her  stand,  either  on  the  side  of  the 
monarchs  of  Europe  or  of  the  United  States,  and  in  consequence,  either  in 
favor  of  Despotism  or  of  Liberty ;  and  may  it  not  be  presumed  that,  aware  of 
that  necessity,  her  Government  has  seized  on  the  present  occurrence  as  that 
which  it  deems  the  most  suitable  to  announce  and  mark  the  commencement 
of  that  career? 

"My  own  impression  is  that  we  ought  to  meet  the  proposal  of  the  British 
Government  and  to  make  it  known  that  we  would  view  an  interference  on 
the  part  of  European  Powers,  and  especially  an  attack  on  the  Colonies,  by 
them,  as  an  attack  on  ourselves,  presuming  that  if  they  succeeded  with  them 
they  would  extend  it  to  us.  I  am  sensible,  however,  of  the  extent  and 
difficulty  of  the  question  and  shall  be  happy  to  have  yours  and  Mr.  Madison's 
opinion  on  it.  I  do  not  wish  to  trouble  either  of  you  with  small  objects, 
but  the  present  one  is  vital,  involving  high  interests,  for  which  we  have  so 
long  and  so  faithfully  and  harmoniously  contended  together.  Be  so  kind  as 
to  inclose  to  him  the  despatches,  with  an  intimation  of  the  motive." 

From  his  beautiful  home  at  Monticello  the  aged  Jefferson  on  October 

24th,  1823,  wrote  Monroe : 

64 


"The  question  presented  by  the  letters  you  have  sent  me  is  the  most 
momentous  which  has  ever  been  offered  to  my  contemplation  since  that  of  Inde- 
pendence. That  made  us  a  nation,  this  sets  the  compass  and  points  the 
course  which  we  are  to  steer  through  the  ocean  of  time  opening  on  us.  And 
never  could  we  embark  on  it  under  circumstances  more  auspicious.  Our 
first  and  fundamental  maxim  should  be  never  to  entangle  ourselves  in  the 
broils  of  Europe.  Our  second,  never  to  suffer  Europe  to  intermeddle  with 
Cis-Atlantic  affairs.  America,  North  and  South,  has  a  set  of  interests  dis- 
tinct from  those  of  Europe,  and  peculiarly  her  own.  While  the  last  is  labor- 
ing to  become  the  domicile  of  despotism,  our  endeavor  should  surely  be,  to 
make  our  Hemisphere  that  of  freedom ;  I  could  honestly,  therefore,  join  in 
the  declaration  proposed,  that  we  aim  not  at  the  acqusition  of  any  of  those 
possessions,  that  we  will  not  stand  in  the  way  of  any  amicable  arrangement 
between  them  and  the  Mother  Country ;  but  that  we  will  oppose,  with  all  our 
means,  the  forcible  interposition  of  any  other  power,  as  auxiliary,  stipendiary, 
or  under  any  other  form  or  pretext,  and  most  especially,  their  transfer  to  any 
power  by  conquest,  cession  or  acquisition  in  any  other  way." 

Thus  fortified  by  the  cordial  endorsement  of  both  Jefferson  and  Madison, 
Monroe  sent  to  Congress  his  celebrated  message  of  December  2nd,  1823. 

After  referring  to  the  important  subjects  claiming  the  attention  of  the 
new  Congress,  the  need  of  devotion  to  duty  and  patriotism,  and  the  value  of 
candid  information  in  dealing  with  the  people,  Monroe  in  this  message  pro- 
ceeds to  relate  the  negotiations  with  the  British  Government,  respecting  the 
boundary  line  between  the  territories  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
on  the  north.  He  then  refers  to  similar  negotiations  with  Russia  as  to  the 
respective  rights  and  interests  of  the  two  nations  on  the  northwest  coast  of 
the  continent. 

In  this  connection  occurs  the  following  announcement: 

"In  the  discussions  to  which  this  interest  has  given  rise  and  in  the 
arrangements  by  which  they  may  terminate,  the  occasion  has  been  judged 
proper  for  asserting,  as  a  principle  in  which  the  rights  and  interests  of  the 
United  States  are  involved,  that  the  American  continents,  by  the  free  and 
independent  condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  maintain,  are  henceforth 
not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  further  colonization  by  any  European 
powers." 

After  noting  the  progress  of  the  Commissioners  of  Arbitration  on  claims 
of  our  citizens  against  Russia,  the  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  under  the 
Treaty  with  Spain,  the  proceedings  to  suppress  the  slave  trade  and  to 
abolish  privateering  in  time  of  war,  the  inauguration  of  diplomatic  rela- 
tions with  the  South  American  Colonies,  the  refusal  of  the  Commander  of 

65 


the  French  Squadron  to  allow  our  Minister  to  Spain  to  land  at  Cadiz,  then 
in  blockade,  the  favorable  condition  of  the  public  finances  which  showed  a 
prospect  of  a  surplus  of  nearly  $9,000,000  on  January  1st,  1824,  the  improve- 
ment in  the  military  and  naval  establishments  and  the  advancement  of  fortifi- 
cations, hostile  demonstrations  by  the  Indians,  the  fever  epidemic  at  Thompson 
Island,  the  suppression  of  piracies  in  the  seas  about  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico, 
the  condition  and  progress  of  the  post  office  department,  the  foreign  trade  and 
the  need  of  additional  protection  by  increasing  the  tariff,  the  value  of  a  canal 
between  the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake  and  the  Ohio  and  other  internal  im- 
provements, the  President  then  proceeded  to  take  up  the  subject  which,  more 
than  any  other,  engrossed  his  attention. 

Introducing  a  reference  to  "The  heroic  struggle  of  the  Greeks"  for 
independence,  for  whose  success  he  expressed  the  most  ardent  wishes,  and 
to  affairs  in  Spain,  Portugal,  and  Great  Britain,  Monroe  proceeded : 

"The  citizens  of  the  United  States  cherish  sentiments  the  most  friendly 
in  favor  of  the  liberty  and  happiness  of  their  fellow-men  on  that  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  In  the  wars  of  the  European  powers  in  matters  relating  to  them- 
selves we  have  never  taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  comport  with  our  policy  so 
to  do.  It  is  only  when  our  rights  are  invaded  or  seriously  menaced  that  we 
resent  injuries  or  make  preparation  for  our  defense.  With  the  movements 
in  this  Hemisphere  we  are  of  necessity  more  immediately  connected,  and  by 
causes  which  must  be  obvious  to  all  enlightened  and  impartial  observers. 
The  political  system  of  the  allied  powers  is  essentially  different  in  this  respect 
from  that  of  America.  This  difference  proceeds  from  that  which  exists  in 
their  respective  Governments,  and  to  the  defense  of  our  own,  which  has  been 
achieved  by  the  loss  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure,  and  matured  by  the  wis- 
dom of  their  most  enlightened  citizens,  and  under  which  we  have  enjoyed  un- 
exampled felicity,  this  whole  nation  is  devoted.  We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor 
and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  between  the  United  States  and  those 
powers,  to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any  attempt  on  their  part  to  extend 
their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  Hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
safety.  With  the  existing  colonies  or  dependencies  of  any  European  power 
we  have  not  interfered  and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the  Governments 
who  have  declared  their  independence  and  maintained  it,  and  whose  indepen- 
dence we  have,  on  great  consideration  and  on  just  principles,  acknowledged,  we 
could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  them  or  con- 
trolling in  any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  European  power  in  any  other 
light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward  the  United 
States.  In  the  war  between  those  new  Governments  and  Spain  we  declared 
our  neutrality  at  the  time  of  their  recognition,  and  to  this  have  adhered,  and 

66 


shall  continue  to  adhere,  provided  no  change  shall  occur  which,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  competent  authorities  of  this  Government,  shall  make  a  correspond- 
ing change  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  indispensable  to  their  security. 

"The  late  events  in  Spain  and  Portugal  show  that  Europe  is  still  unset- 
tled. Of  this  important  fact  no  stronger  proof  can  be  adduced  than  that  the 
allied  powers  should  have  thought  it  proper,  on  any  principle  satisfactory  to 
themselves,  to  have  interposed  by  force  in  the  internal  concerns  of  Spain.  To 
what  extent  such  interposition  may  be  carried,  on  the  same  principle,  is  a 
question  in  which  all  independent  powers  whose  governments  differ  from 
theirs  are  interested,  even  those  most  remote,  and  surely  none  more  so  than 
the  United  States.  Our  policy  in  regard  to  Europe,  which  was  adopted  at 
an  early  stage  of  the  wars  which  have  so  long  agitated  that  quarter  of  the 
globe,  nevertheless  remains  the  same,  which  is  not  to  interfere  in  the  internal 
concerns  of  any  of  its  powers ;  to  consider  the  government  de  facto  as  the 
legitimate  government  for  us ;  to  cultivate  friendly  relations  with  it,  and  to 
preserve  those  relations  by  a  frank,  firm,  and  manly  policy,  meeting  in  all 
instances  the  just  claims  of  every  power,  submitting  to  injuries  from  none. 
But  in  regard  to  these  continents  circumstances  are  eminently  and  conspicu- 
ously different.  It  is  impossible  that  the  allied  powers  should  extend  their 
political  system  to  any  portion  of  either  continent  without  endangering  our 
peace  and  happiness ;  nor  can  anyone  believe  that  our  southern  brethren,  if 
left  to  themselves,  would  adopt  it  of  their  own  accord.  It  is  equally  impossible, 
therefore,  that  we  should  behold  such  interposition  in  any  form  with  indiffer- 
ence. If  we  look  to  the  comparative  strength  and  resources  of  Spain  and 
those  new  Governments,  and  their  distance  from  each  other,  it  must  be 
obvious  that  she  can  never  subdue  them.  It  is  still  the  true  policy  of  the 
United  States  to  leave  the  parties  to  themselves,  in  the  hope  that  other  powers 
will  pursue  the  same  course." 

This  momentous  message  closes  with  a  brief  survey  of  the  actual  state 
of  the  Union,  which  the  President  found  most  encouraging. 

"At  the  first  epoch,"  said  he,  "our  population  did  not  exceed  3,000,000. 
By  the  last  census  it  amounted  to  about  10,000,000,  and,  what  is  more  extra- 
ordinary, it  is  almost  altogether  native,  for  the  immigration  from  other  coun- 
tries has  been  inconsiderable.  At  the  first  epoch  half  the  territory  within  our 
acknowledged  limits  was  uninhabited  and  a  wilderness.  Since  then  new 
territory  has  been  acquired  of  vast  extent,  comprising  within  it  many  rivers, 
particularly  the  Mississippi,  the  navigation  of  which  to  the  ocean  was  of  the 
highest  importance  to  the  original  States.  Over  this  territory  our  population 
has  expanded  in  every  direction,  and  new  States  have  been  established  almost 
equal  in  number  to  those  which  formed  the  first  bond  of  our  Union.     This 

67 


expansion  of  our  population  and  accession  of  new  States  to  our  Union  have 
had  the  happiest  effect  on  all  its  highest  interests." 

An  analysis  of  Monroe's  declaration  demonstrates  that  he  intended  to 
bar  forever  three  policies  from  American  soil. 

First  :  Further  colonization  by  any  European  Power. 

Second:  The  extension  of  the  European  system  of  Government  on  the 
American  continent. 

Third:  The  interposition  of  any  European  Power  in  the  affairs  of  any 
American  Government  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  it,  or  controlling  in 
any  other  manner  its  destiny. 

Our  policy  in  regard  to  Europe  was  declared  by  Monroe  to  have  been 
long  since  adopted,  "not  to  interfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of  any  of  its 
powers." 

The  message  brought  instant  acquiescence  and  universal  satisfaction  to 
every  American  citizen.  It  was  received  with  acclamations  of  delight  in  Span- 
ish America  whose  cause  it  ensured.  It  created  great  excitement  in  London. 
It  met  the  disapproval  of  Canning,  who,  like  the  fearful  Pandora,  looked  with 
consternation  upon  the  evil  genius  he  had  himself  called  up  and  set  loose  in 
the  world  of  diplomacy.  In  Continental  Europe  the  message  was  read  with 
emotions  of  dismay  mingled  with  resentment.  But  nevertheless  the  Holy 
Alliance  quietly  dropped  the  matter  of  putting  down  the  insurrections  in  the 
Spanish  colonies  and  freedom  breathed  freer  and  happier  in  the  world. 

Such  was  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  its  entirety  and  in  its  purity. 

Such  were  the  actors  upon  the  stage  in  the  great  play  that  produced  it. 
Such  were  the  historic  events  that  foreran  it.  And  such  was  the  fateful  occa- 
sion that  called  it  forth  and  made  it  a  pillar  of  American  diplomacy. 

A  few  words  more  upon  the  application  of  the  Doctrine  since  Monroe's 
time. 

It  was  first  afterwards  recognized  as  a  fixed  principle  by  John  Quincy 
Adams  in  his  special  Message  of  December  26,  1825,  to  the  Senate,  nomin- 
ating Richard  C.  Anderson,  of  Kentucky,  and  John  Sergeant,  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  be  envoys  extraordinary  and  ministers  plenipotentiary  to  the  Assembly  of 
American  nations  called  to  meet  at  Panama  and  "deliberate  upon  objects  im- 
portant to  the  welfare  of  all."  In  recommending  the  project,  Adams  said: 
"An  agreement  between  all  the  parties  represented  at  the  meeting  that  each 
will  guard  by  its  own  means  against  the  establishment  of  any  future  European 
colony  within  its  borders  may  be  found  advisable."  But  Congress  failed  to 
grant  the  appropriation  necessary  to  make  the  nominations  effective,  and  the 

68 


gathering  at  Panama,  not  receiving  the  support  and  guidance  of  our  Govern- 
ment, came  to  nothing. 

In  1842  President  Tyler  applied  the  same  principle  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  Emphasizing  the  remoteness  of  them  from  European  jurisdictions 
and  the  special  interest  of  the  United  States  in  these  Islands  in  the  pathway 
of  Pacific  trade,  Tyler  declared  that  their  proximity  to  us  and  our  intercourse 
with  them  could  not  but  create  dissatisfaction  and  decided  remonstrance  on 
our  part  at  any  attempt  by  another  power  to  take  possession  of  these  Islands, 
colonize  them  and  subvert  the  native  government. 

James  K.  Polk,  in  his  first  annual  message,  December  2,  1845,  communi- 
cated to  Congress  at  considerable  length  the  history  and  failure  of  the  nego- 
tiations with  Great  Britain  to  settle  the  northwest  boundary.  Ardent  Ameri- 
cans had  claimed  parallel  of  latitude  54°  40',  as  the  dividing  line,  while  the 
British  insisted  upon  the  parallel  of  49°. 

The  campaign  slogan  of  Polk's  supporters,  "Fifty-four  forty  or  fight," 
had  swept  the  country.  But  the  failure  of  negotiations  pointed  more  to 
"fight"  than  "Fifty-four  forty."  Lately  some  of  the  European  Powers  had 
broached  the  subject  of  a  "Balance  of  power"  in  this  continent.  In  reference 
to  this  and  in  the  face  of  the  difficulty  over  the  boundary  of  the  Oregon  terri- 
tory Polk  said:  "The  United  States,  sincerely  desirous  of  preserving  rela- 
tions of  good  understanding  with  all  nations,  cannot  in  silence  permit  any 
European  interference  on  the  North  American  continent,  and  should  any  such 
interference  be  attempted,  will  be  ready  to  resist  it  at  any  and  all  hazards." 
Referring  specifically  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  he  said:  "This  principle  will 
apply  with  greatly  increased  force  should  any  European  power  attempt  to 
establish  any  new  colony  in  North  America.  In  the  existing  circumstances 
of  the  world  the  present  is  deemed  a  proper  occasion  to  reiterate  and  re- 
affirm the  principle  avowed  by  Mr.  Monroe  and  to  state  my  cordial  con- 
currence in  its  wisdom  and  sound  policy." 

In  a  few  months  the  Oregon  boundary  was  fixed  to  the  satisfaction  of 
Mr.  Polk. 

That  pertinacious  President  applied  the  Doctrine  in  his  message  of 
Dec.  7,  1847,  to  the  territory  of  California,  then  nominally  vested  in  Mexico, 
and  in  the  fullness  of  time  that  incomparable  region  passed  under  the  JEgis 
of  the  Eagle. 

In  his  message  of  April  29,  1848,  Mr.  Polk  recommended  the  applica- 
tion of  the  doctrine  to  the  Peninsula  of  Yucatan,  on  the  ground  that  if  we  did 
not  annex  it,  some  power  in  Europe  would,  but  Congress  esteemed  the  propo- 
sition too  bold.    And  so  Yucatan  is  not  yet  one  of  our  possessions. 

Mr.  Buchanan  in   1860,  referring  to  the  failure  of  Congress  to  adopt 

69 


his  recommendation  as  to  Mexico,  said :  "European  Governments  would 
have  been  deprived  of  all  pretext  to  interfere  in  the  territorial  and  domestic 
concerns  of  Mexico.  We  should  thus  have  been  relieved  from  the  obligation 
of  resisting,  even  by  force  should  this  become  necessary,  any  attempt  by  these 
Governments  to  deprive  our  neighboring  Republic  of  portions  of  her  terri- 
tory, a  duty  from  which  we  could  not  shrink  without  abandoning  the  tradi- 
tional and  established  policy  of  the  American  people." 

When  the  Civil  War  was  taxing  the  utmost  strength  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  no  attention  could  be  given  to  the  occupation  of  Mexico 
during  that  period  by  France,  but  when  once  that  great  conflict  was  over 
and  Andrew  Johnson  required  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops  under 
a  threat  of  serious  consequences,  Louis  Napoleon  withdrew  his  legions  and 
left  the  unfortunate  Maximilian  to  meet  his  sentence  of  death,  and  his  lovely 
Carlotta  to  close  her  unhappy  life  in  the  gloom  of  a  disordered  mind. 

In  his  message  of  May  31,  1870,  President  Grant  said:  "The  doctrine 
promulgated  by  President  Monroe  has  been  adhered  to  by  all  political  parties, 
and  I  now  deem  it  proper  to  assert  the  equally  important  principle  that  here- 
after no  territory  on  this  continent  shall  be  regarded  as  subject  of  transfer  to 
an  European  power."  On  this  account  he  advised  the  annexation  of  San 
Domingo.  But,  as  in  the  case  of  Yucatan,  Congress  would  not  go  to  that 
length. 

The  most  recent  declaration  of  the  doctrine  was  made  by  Mr.  Cleveland 
in  his  message  of  Dec.  17,  1895,  on  the  dispute  between  Great  Britain  and 
Venezuela  as  to  the  boundary  line  of  British  Guiana.  He  had  requested  the 
British  Government  to  submit  the  question  to  arbitration,  but  the  arguments 
of  Mr.  Olney,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  persuasive  powers  of  Mr. 
Bayard,  our  Ambassador,  had  no  effect  on  Lord  Salisbury,  who  resolved  to 
establish  by  force  the  English  view  of  the  line.  Thereupon  Mr.  Cleveland, 
with  unmistakable  earnestness  of  purpose,  asked  Congress  for  an  appropria- 
tion for  the  expenses  of  a  commission  to  report  upon  the  true  boundary. 
"When  such  report  is  made  and  accepted,"  said  the  President,  "it  will,  in  my 
opinion,  be  the  duty  of  the  United  States  to  resist  by  every  means  in  our 
power,  as  a  willful  aggression  upon  its  rights  and  interests,  the  appropriation 
by  Great  Britain  of  any  lands  or  the  exercise  of  governmental  jurisdiction 
over  any  territory  which,  after  investigation,  we  have  determined  of  right 
belongs  to  Venezuela." 

In  justification  of  his  position,  and  replying  to  the  declaration  of  Salis- 
bury that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  not  applicable  to  the  state  of  things  in 
which  we  live  at  the  present  day,  or  at  least  it  had  not  been  accepted  as  part 
of  the  International  Law,  Mr.  Cleveland  said :    "The  doctrine  upon  which  we 

7o 


stand  is  strong  and  sound,  because  its  enforcement  is  important  to  our  peace 
and  safety  as  a  nation,  and  is  essential  to  the  entirety  of  our  free  institutions 
and  the  tranquil  maintenance  of  our  distinctive  form  of  government.  It  was 
intended  to  apply  to  every  stage  of  our  national  life  and  cannot  become  obso- 
lete while  our  Republic  endures.  It  may  not  have  been  admitted  in  so  many 
words  to  the  code  of  International  Law,  but  since  in  international  councils 
every  nation  is  entitled  to  the  rights  belonging  to  it,  if  the  enforcement  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  is  something  we  may  justly  claim,  it  has  its  place  in  the 
Code  of  International  Law  as  certainly  and  as  securely  as  if  it  were  specifi- 
cally mentioned,  and  when  the  United  States  is  a  suitor  before  the  high 
tribunal  that  administers  international  law,  the  question  to  be  determined  is 
whether  or  not  we  present  claims  which  the  justice  of  that  code  of  law  can 
find  to  be  right  and  valid." 

This  trenchant  message  was  received  with  the  greatest  enthusiasm  by  all 
parties  in  Congress  and  $100,000  was  instantly  appropriated  for  the  expenses 
of  the  commission  recommended.  That  commission  was  immediately  appoint- 
ed and  proceeded  speedily  to  discharge  its  duties.  But  the  people  and  the 
press  of  Great  Britain  overwhelmingly  favored  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the 
controversy.  Salisbury  bowed  to  the  popular  will,  and  consented  to  an  arbi- 
tration. The  commission  stopped  its  investigations ;  the  American  people 
were  mollified  and  appeased ;  and  the  war  cloud,  breaking  away,  vanished  in 
a  rainbow  of  peace  and  goodwill. 


7i 


THE  PRIZE  ESSAYS 


ON 


The   Story   of  Arnold's   Treason 


First  Prize:  G.  raynolds  stearns,  Jr., 

Lafayette  High  School, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Second  Prize:  alwin  thaler, 

Commercial  High  School, 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  City. 

Third  Prize:  william  a.  bird,  iv., 

Masten  Park  High  School, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


First  Prize  Essay 


The  life  of  Arnold  is  one  of  the  most  awful,  sad  and  inexplicable  in  history. 
His  early  manhood  was  a  steady  succession  of  stirring  deeds,  whose  very  names 
thrill  us.  Ticonderoga,  St.  Johns,  Maine,  Quebec,  Valcour  Island.  Ridgefield, 
Fort  Schuyler,  and,  last  and  best,  Saratoga,  are  a  few  of  the  evidences  of  his 
bravery  and  great  ability.  To  think  that  the  man  who  could  do  these  things ; 
who  loaned  £1,000  to  Colonel  Lamb  for  raising  troops;  who  gave  hundreds  of 
dollars  toward  the  education  of  the  children  of  his  one  time  friend,  Warren ; 
who  had  a  mother,  sister  and  wife,  each  a  model  in  her  way ;  who  was  adored 
by  his  soldiers ;  and  who  enjoyed  the  great  friendship  and  esteem  of  such  men 
as  Warren,  Livingstone,  Chase,  Schuyler,  and,  above  all,  Washington :  to  think 
that  this  American  gentleman  could  turn  about,  putting  private  injuries  above 
public  duty,  and  sink  to  such  depths  as  did  Arnold,  seems  so  absolutely  incredi- 
ble that  only  the  stubborn  cold  facts  of  history  make  us  believe  them. 

The  Saratoga  monument  with  its  empty  niche,  saying  mutely :  "This  is 
Arnold's  place,  but  he  has  forfeited  it,"  reveals  our  feelings  toward  the  traitor. 

Fate  seems  to  have  had  more  to  do  with  him  than  any  other  man  on  earth. 
From  the  time  he  successfully  marched  his  men  through  the  terrible  wilderness 
of  Maine,  to  his  recovery  after  a  compound  fracture  of  the  thigh,  at  Saratoga, 
his  life  was  an  almost  continuous  record  of  miraculous  escapes,  by  which  he 
was  refused  the  honor  of  death  on  the  battlefield  rather  than  death  years  after- 
ward at  the  end  of  a  dishonored  life.  But  Providence  stepped  in  and  retrieved 
herself  by  bringing  Washington  back  from  Hartford  two  days  earlier  than 
expected,  and  so  in  one  sense  lessening  the  inexpiable  crime. 

Space  forbids  going  into  the  causes  of  his  treason,  since  that  would  necessi- 
tate the  retelling  of  his  whole  life.  From  the  time  of  the  sending  to  Crown 
Point,  of  the  Massachusetts  Committee  to  inquire  into  his  "spirit,  capacity  and 
conduct"  just  after  he  had  captured  St.  Johns,  until  Congress  ordered  him  to 
be  publicly  reprimanded  after  his  venial  crimes  at  Philadelphia,  Congress  itself 
was  trying  just  as  hard  as  it  could  try,  to  ruin  Arnold  and  unintentionally  to 
drive  him  to  do  some  desperate  thing  which  would  require  a  man,  as  brave 
mentally  as  Arnold  was  physically,  to  resist.  It  has  been  truly  said,  "Had 
Washington  possessed  the  power  of  appointing  and  promoting  the  officers  of 
his  army,  from  the  beginning  to  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  Arnold's  treason 


would  never  have  been  committed."  As  it  was  the  proud,  haughty  nature  of 
Arnold  gave  way  to  temptation  and  revenge,  and  he  turned  traitor  to  the 
country  for  which  he  had  given  all  but  his  life.  His  treason  was  unpardonable 
no  matter  what  the  cause.  Washington,  Morris,  and  Schuyler  were  examples 
of  abominable  treatment  by  the  Government,  and  yet  they  never  for  an  instant 
thought  of  treason.  The  time  of  Arnold's  treachery  makes  it  all  the  blacker,  and 
the  betrayal  of  the  trust  of  Washington  was  the  blackest  and  makes  it  indelibly 
contemptible — "This  was  the  most  unkindest  cut  of  all." 

This  narrative  will  begin  where  he  had  already  given  himself  entirely  over 
to  impulse  rather  than  principle,  and  started  on  a  career  which  would  link  his 
name,  wherever  and  whenever  mentioned,  with  the  awful  word  "traitor." 

The  treasonable  correspondence  was  begun  by  the  British,  probably  by 
Colonel  Beverly  Robinson,  in  the  spring  of  1779.  Arnold  signed  his  letters 
"Gustavus."  Sir  Henry  Clinton  entrusted  the  answering  of  the  letters  to  Major 
John  Andre,  who  wrote  over  the  signature  of  "John  Anderson." 

At  Arnold's  special  request,  Washington  gave  him  the  command  of  West 
Point,  the  most  important  military  position  in  the  Colonies.  This  command 
included  all  the  American  forts  in  the  Highlands,  and  here  was  stored,  as  in 
the  safest  place  on  the  continent,  a  large  quantity  of  supplies.  England  greatly 
desired  this  place,  as  its  capture  would  put  a  stop  to  the  projected  co-operation 
of  the  Americans  and  French  against  New  York  City ;  and  it  would  also  sepa- 
rate the  Colonies  and  open  up  a  free  communication  between  New  York  and 
Canada,  their  greatest  wish  since  Burgoyne's  invasion.  Arnold  had  resolved 
to  surrender  West  Point;  and  when,  on  September  18,  Washington  was  on 
his  way  to  Hartford  to  consult  with  Rochambeau,  Arnold  decided  that  the 
time  was  ready  for  the  final  details  and  so  informed  Clinton. 

The  attempt  for  an  interview  on  September  11,  had  failed,  but  on  Septem- 
ber 20,  Andre  embarked  from  New  York  and  that  evening  reached  the  Vulture, 
at  anchor  in  Haverstraw  Bay.  Meanwhile  boats  had  been  filled  with  soldiers 
in  New  York,  ready  to  start  at  the  moment  the  plans  were  completed. 

On  the  night  of  the  21st,  Joshua  Hett  Smith,  with  two  others,  rowed  out 
to  the  Vulture  and  brought  Andre  back  to  a  secluded  point  at  the  foot  of  a 
shadowy  mountain,  called  the  "Long  Clove."  There,  at  midnight,  the  two 
conspirators  met  and  arranged  the  necessary  preliminaries.  But  as  the  dawn  of 
day  drew  near  and  the  conference  was  not  over,  Andre  was  persuaded  to  accom- 
pany Arnold  within  the  American  lines  to  the  house  of  Smith,  where  they 
breakfasted  and  completed  the  negotiations.  Sir  George  Rodney  was  to  com- 
mand a  flotilla,  having  on  board  a  large  land  force,  and  was  to  ascend  the 
Hudson  to  the  Highlands.  The  garrison  at  West  Point  was  to  be  scattered  so 
as  to  destroy  its  efficiency,  and  the  fort  surrendered  by  Arnold  under  pretext 

76 


of  insufficient  force  to  offer  resistance.  Andre  concealed  in  his  boots  plans 
and  statistics  of  the  works.  In  the  evening  he  changed  his  dress  Both  these 
actions  were  against  the  positve  orders  of  Clinton.  Arnold  then — in  case  Andre 
could  not  reach  the  Vulture,  as  the  latter  had  been  cannonaded  and  compelled 
to  drop  down  stream  by  Colonel  Livingston — furnished  him  with  a  horse  and 
also  a  pass  in  the  name  of  John  Anderson.  About  noon  Arnold  returned  to 
his  headquarters,  Robinson  House,  opposite  West  Point.  Andre  set  out  for 
New  York  that  night  by  land.  It  is  not  necessary  to  relate  the  familiar  details 
of  his  capture  and  later  execution.  Let  it  suffice  to  say  that  Andre  was  brought 
to  Lieutenant  Jameson,  Commander  at  New  Castle,  by  his  three  captors.  Jame- 
son immediately  sent  the  papers  found  on  Andre  by  express  to  Washington. 
Jameson  ordered  Andre  to  be  taken  to  Arnold,  but  Major  Tallmadge  remon- 
strated, and  so  the  former  was  kept  a  prisonor  at  Old  Salem;  yet  a  letter  was 
permitted  to  be  sent  to  Arnold,  saying  that  John  Anderson,  though  having  a 
pass,  was  a  prisoner. 

Meanwhile  Washington,  two  days  before  he  was  expected,  was  riding  with 
his  staff  towards  West  Point  to  inspect  the  defenses.  He  sent  a  messenger 
ahead  to  say  that  he  would  breakfast  with  Arnold  the  next  morning,  Septem- 
ber 25.  The  next  morning,  however,  Washington  turned  aside  to  visit  some 
defenses,  and  sent  Colonel  Hamilton  to  request  Mrs.  Arnold  not  to  wait  break- 
fast for  him,  as  he  would  be  late.  In  accordance  with  his  request,  they  all  sat 
down  to  breakfast.  Arnold  was  grave  and  thoughtful,  as  well  he  might  be. 
Washington  had  arrived  two  days  before  he  had  planned,  and  this  was  the  very 
day  on  which  the  post  was  to  be  surrendered.  While  still  at  breakfast,  a  horse- 
man galloped  to  the  door.  It  was  Lieutenant  Allen  with  the  letter  from  Jameson, 
saying  that  John  Anderson  was  a  prisoner  and  his  papers  forwarded  to  Wash- 
ington. Without  a  change  of  countenance,  Arnold  excused  himself  from  the 
table,  ordered  his  horse,  and  going  to  Mrs.  Arnold's  room  sent  for  her.  He 
explained  in  a  few  words  the  circumstances.  She  fell  senseless  at  his  feet ;  but 
he  hurried  out  and  went  again  to  the  dining-room,  where  he  explained  that 
some  of  the  details  for  the  reception  of  Washington  at  West  Point  had  yet  to 
be  finished.  He  then  sprang  on  his  horse  and  dashed  down  a  steep  hill  to  the 
pier.  He  dismounted,  jumped  into  his  barge  and  ordered  the  crew  to  row 
rapidly  for  Teller's  Point.  As  the  boat  passed  Verplanck's  Point,  the  Vulture 
was  sighted.  Arnold  raised  a  white  handkerchief  and,  cocking  his  pistols, 
ordered  the  men  to  row  straight  to  the  vessel.  Arriving  at  the  Vulture,  he 
sprang  on  board  and  was  safe  from  pursuit. 

Washington  arrived  at  the  Robinson  House  an  hour  after  Arnold's  flight. 
He  breakfasted  and  then,  supposing  that  Arnold  was  awaiting  him  at  West 
Point,  proceeded  with  his  staff  across  the  river  to  the  garrison.    Colonel  Lamb 

77 


met  them  and  apologized  for  not  giving  them  fitting  ceremonies,  saying  that 
Arnold  had  not  been  there  in  two  days.  Washington  stayed  and  inspected  the 
fortifications  and  then  went  back  to  the  headquarters.  Here  Hamilton,  who 
had  just  received  the  papers  found  on  Andre,  informed  Washington  of  Arnold's 
treachery.  Some  authorities  say  there  were  tears  streaming  down  Washing- 
ton's cheeks  when  he  called  to  Knox  and  Lafayette  and  briefly  told  them  the 
news.  His  succeeding  calmness  was  terrible.  He  exclaimed,  sadly,  "Whom 
can  we  trust  now  ?"  The  greatest  blow  of  the  Revolution  to  Washington  was 
not  the  idea  of  the  treason,  but  the  fact  that  Arnold  was  the  traitor. 

Washington  at  once  took  every  precaution  to  guard  against  an  attack. 
Hamilton,  who  had  been  ordered  to  ride  with  all  haste  to  Verplanck's  Point 
to  try  to  capture  Arnold,  returned  without  accomplishing  his  mission  but 
brought  with  him  a  letter,  sent  ashore  from  the  Vulture,  from  Arnold  to  Wash- 
ington which  showed  the  innocence  of  Mrs.  Arnold. 

The  same  evening  the  Vulture  set  sail  and  reached  New  York  the  next 
morning.  Arnold  then  informed  Clinton,  the  first  news  that  officer  had  re- 
ceived, of  Andre's  capture. 

Although  no  part  of  the  conditions  on  his  side  had  been  fulfilled.  England 
gave  Arnold  £6,315  in  recompense  for  the  loss  of  his  property  in  America,  the 
rank  of  a  Brigadier-General,  and  an  elegantly  furnished  house  to  live  in,  rent 
free ;  while  a  little  later,  Mrs.  Arnold  was  voted  a  pension  of  £500  per  annum 
and  each  of  the  children  £100. 

No  person  will  ever  be  a  traitor  because  of  the  example  set  by  Benedict 
Arnold.  The  retributions  of  Nemesis  equaled  the  heinousness  of  his  crimes. 
He  was  hated  and  despised  by  every  one,  American  and  English  alike,  even  by 
members  of  his  own  family.  His  life  in  London,  though  merited,  was  incon- 
ceivably, pitiably  miserable.  His  conversation  with  Talleyrand,  his  changing 
his  motto  from  "Mihi  Gloria  Sursum"  to  "Nil  Desperandum"  show  the  horrors 
of  his  mental  suffering.  At  last,  his  iron  constitution  giving  way  under  constant 
remorse  and  repeated  disappointments,  he  died  of  nothing  but  a  broken  heart ; 
and  passed  away  in  his  uniform  of  a  Major-General  of  the  Continental  Army, 
and  wearing  the  epaulettes  and  sword-knot  given  him  by  Washington  as  a 
proof  of  the  latter's  great  friendship  and  appreciation  of  his  valor  and  ability. 
These  Arnold  had  kept  ever  since  his  crime,  and  it  is  said  that  his  last  words 
were,  "Let  me  die  in  my  old  American  uniform,  in  which  I  fought  my  battles. 
God,  forgive  me,  for  ever  having  put  on  another." 

G.  Raynolds  Stearns,  Jr. 


7« 


Second  Prize  Essay 


Benedict  Arnold !  The  mere  name  suggests  a  series  of  momentous  events 
that  made  history  for  our  nation, — events  which,  in  their  gradual  progression, 
earned  for  Arnold  a  temporary  glory  and  everlasting  shame. 

Among  the  shadows  of  these  events  that  flit  across  the  mind  as  the  ear 
catches  the  name  of  Arnold,  appears  a  young  captain  of  guards  who  is  leading 
his  company  from  New  Haven  to  join  the  ranks  of  patriots  at  Cambridge, 
leaving  them  there  to  throw  himself  further  into  the  conflict,  to  begin  his  mili- 
tary career  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point.  The  picture  changes.  Colonel 
Arnold  is  leading  a  resolute  body  of  men  through  the  wilderness  to  Canada, 
urging,  encouraging,  leading  them  on,  showing  himself  courageous,  daring, 
resourceful, — a  commander  of  men.  Bravery,  however,  cannot  make  up  for 
lack  of  numbers  and  retreat  becomes  inevitable.  The  project  has  failed,  yet 
Arnold  and  his  men  are  acclaimed  heroes  by  their  countrymen.  Another 
change,  and  again  we  see  Arnold  adding  fresh  laurels  to  his  fame — when  sud- 
denly there  comes  a  reverse.  Congress  has  unjustly  promoted  others  less 
deserving  than  he ;  the  National  Legislature  has  aroused  the  opposition  of  a 
man  whose  passions  are  stronger  than  himself :  it  is  the  beginning  of  the  end. 
Again  the  picture  changes.  Arnold  is  now  at  Saratoga.  We  see  him  flashing 
along  the  front,  half-crazed  by  anger  over  being  deprived  of  his  command  by 
Gates,  urging  the  men  forward  by  mere  force  of  example — without  a  com- 
mand, yet  commanding  all — turning  a  great  defeat  into  a  greater  victory.  The 
vision  fades,  and  one  of  darker,  more  sinister  aspect  appears.  Arnold's  original 
resentment,  stimulated  by  injustice,  has  grown  to  its  final  stage,  making  this 
the  picture  of  treason. 

The  ugly  spectacle  progresses  rapidly,  the  plans  are  carefully  laid,  the 
traitor  has  prepared  to  deliver  to  the  enemy  his  trust,  his  honor,  and  his  fame ; 
he  is  about  to  succeed  when  his  project  is  discovered.  He  has  escaped  capture, 
but  he  has  not  escaped  infamy  and  shame.  The  heroic  tints  of  the  former 
pictures  have  been  swallowed  up  in  the  blackness  of  the  last;  the  acclamations 
of  his  countrymen  have  turned  into  maledictions  and  curses  ;  his  former  bravery 
is  forgotten  in  his  present  disgrace. 

The  inherent  faults  of  Arnold's  character  may  be  held  largely  responsible 
for  the  treacherous  act  which  marred  his  life;  nevertheless,  a  fair  investigation 

79 


of  the  causes  whch  brought  it  about  shows  clearly  that  no  matter  how  proud, 
how  vengeful,  how  unscrupulous  he  was,  he  would  not  have  acted  as  he  did 
had  not  injustice  aroused  his  passions  and  induced  him  to  seek  revenge.  So 
far  then,  as  bringing  about  his  treason,  Arnold's  enemies  in  Congress  are 
equally  as  culpable  as  he.  He  alone,  however,  actually  committed  the  crime, 
and  posterity,  while  condemning  those  indirectly  responsible,  despises  him  only. 
And  it  is  but  just  that  it  should  do  so,  for  whatever  the  provocation,  treason 
cannot  be  justified.  Had  Arnold  been  born  two  centuries  earlier,  brave,  daring, 
and  thoroughly  unprincipled  as  he  was,  he  would  have  swept  the  Spanish  Main 
or  become  another  Tilly,  commander-in-chief  of  mercenaries ;  as  it  was,  he  was 
neither  as  good  as  his  age  nor  his  cause.  Principle  for  him  did  not  warrant 
the  sacrifice  of  self:  thus  he  became  a  traitor. 

In  1775  Arnold,  who,  though  early  showing  the  distinguishing  marks  of 
an  extraordinary  character,  had  hitherto  lived  the  life  of  a  peaceful  trader, 
was  suddenly  called  forth  by  the  guns  of  Concord  and  Lexington  into  the  real 
sphere  of  his  activity.  With  every  instinct  of  his  fighting  blood  aroused, 
Arnold,  who  was  then  captain  of  a  company  of  militia,  collected  his  men,  forced 
the  faltering  selectmen  of  his  town  to  give  him  ammunition,  and  marched  to 
Cambridge.  This  was  his  opportunity;  here  was  conflict,  strife,  and  a  chance 
to  gain  fame,  and  thus  satisfy  every  fundamental  craving  of  his  nature. 
Accordingly,  as  soon  as  he  reached  Cambridge  he  began  planning  to  distinguish 
himself,  and  immediately  brought  himself  into  notice  by  proposing  to  lead  an 
expedition  to  capture  Ticonderoga.  His  proposal  was  accepted.  He  himself 
was  commissioned  Colonel  and  was  given  full  authority  to  secure  men  and 
supplies.  A  quarrel  that  arose  between  Ethan  Allen  and  Arnold,  upon  the 
latter's  discovery  that  Allen  was  already  on  the  way  with  the  same  point  in 
view,  threatened  disaster,  but  was  settled  in  time  to  insure  the  success  of  the 
expedition.  After  the  fall  of  Ticonderoga  Arnold,  having  meanwhile  pro- 
tested his  grievances  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  was  successful  in  an 
attack  upon  Crown  Point.  His  arrogant  bearing  in  the  dispute  concerning  his 
command  did  not  help  him  and  finally  led  into  further  trouble,  as  a  result  of 
which  he  resigned  his  commission.  Not  long  after  Arnold's  return  to  Cam- 
bridge, Washington  appointed  him  to  lead  an  expedition  through  the  Northern 
wilderness  into  Canada,  for  the  purpose  of  winning  that  vast  territory  for  the 
United  States.  Arnold's  execution  of  this  commission  passed  into  history  as 
a  wonderful  exhibition  of  boldness  and  sagacity  in  the  face  of  extreme  diffi- 
culties, and  served  to  establish  his  fame  as  a  soldier  and  general.  Arnold  again 
distinguished  himself  on  the  retreat  from  Canada,  after  a  withdrawal  had  been 
forced  by  the  superior  numbers  and  position  of  the  enemy. 

At  this  time,  in  the  winter  of  1777,  while  the  country  was  ringing  with 
his  praises,  one  of  the  direct  causes  of  Arnold's  treason  came  into  being. 

80 


Congress,  overlooking  his  just  claims  for  recognition,  appointed  five  Major- 
Generals  without  including  him  in  the  number.  The  effect  of  this  injustice, 
ascribable  as  it  was  merely  to  personal  jealousy  and  party  spirit,  upon  the 
temperament  of  a  man  like  Arnold  may  be  easily  imagined.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  Washington's  intercession,  and  promise  to  see  that  justice  was  done,  was 
the  only  influence  which  kept  him  from  resigning. 

His  grievances,  however,  had  not  as  yet  taken  such  a  hold  upon  him  that 
he  could  not  lay  them  aside  when  there  was  fighting  to  be  done  or  honor  to  be 
gained.  Accordingly,  before  long  he  again  brought  himself  into  prominence, 
this  time  by  gallant  conduct  in  an  engagement  at  Ridgefield,  Connecticut. 
Congress  now  gave  him  the  title  of  Major-General,  but  at  the  same  time  refused 
to  place  him  upon  an  equal  basis  of  seniority  with  those  officers  who  had  been 
previously  promoted.  Thus  all  the  bitterness  of  his  passion  was  again  aroused 
and  the  impending  catastrophe  was  brought  still  nearer.  Arnold's  fall,  how- 
ever, was  preceded  by  a  rise  to  his  greatest  fame  as  a  soldier  and  patriot, 
universal  honor  being  accorded  him  for  his  brilliant  support  of  Gates  in  the 
memorable  struggle  against  Burgoyne.  Not  long  after  his  arrival  in  the  North 
he  succeeded  in  raising  the  siege  of  Fort  Scuyler,  and  a  month  later  was 
fighting  in  the  first  battle  of  Saratoga.  His  success  in  this  contest  aroused  the 
jealousy  of  Gates  and  involved  the  two  generals  in  a  quarrel,  which  ended  with 
Arnold  being  deprived  of  his  command  on  the  eve  of  the  second  battle.  Almost 
maddened  by  his  unjustly  enforced  inactivity  while  needed  at  the  front,  Arnold 
on  the  day  of  the  battle,  all  orders  to  the  contrary,  threw  himself  into  the  midst 
of  the  conflict  and  took  immediate  charge  of  affairs.  Although  he  himself  was 
seriously  wounded  during  the  battle,  the  inspiration  of  his  presence  and  example 
brought  about  an  American  victory  and  Burgoyne's  subsequent  surrender. 

When  again  ready  for  duty,  Arnold  was  placed  in  command  of  Philadel- 
phia which  shortly  before  had  been  evacuated  by  the  British.  The  execution 
of  his  functions  as  military  commander  made  him  highly  unpopular  with  the 
people  of  Philadelphia,  and  brought  on  a  controversy  with  the  State  authori- 
ties which  reached  its  climax  when  the  latter  charged  him  in  Congress  with 
abuse  of  his  powers.  The  report  of  a  Congressional  investigation  committee 
vindicating  Arnold  was  unjustly  laid  aside,  and  the  matter  was  referred  to 
Washington,  who  called  a  court  martial  to  consider  it.  As  a  result  of  their 
investigations  the  charges  as  a  whole  were  dismissed,  but  Arnold  was  found 
guilty  of  imprudent  conduct  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  and  was  sentenced 
to  be  reprimanded  by  the  Commander-in-chief.  Washington  performed  his 
unpleasant  duty  tactfully  and  delicately,  but  Arnold  was  not  the  man  to  take 
the  reprimand  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  given.  Choosing  to  regard  this  act 
the  culmination  of  a  series  of  wrongs  and  injustices  done  him,  he  finally  deter- 
mined upon  revenge  and  treason. 

81 


His  subsequent  marriage  into  a  loyalist  family  on  his  return  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  his  threatened  ruin  due  to  financial  embarrassments,  caused  him 
to  hasten  the  execution  of  his  project.  With  the  intention  of  making  his  treason 
as  useful  as  possible  for  the  English,  he  now  set  himself  to  get  command  of 
West  Point,  a  stronghold  of  the  utmost  strategic  importance,  the  surrender  of 
which  to  the  English  would  have  been  an  invaluable  advantage.  By  making 
use  of  all  his  influence,  he  succeeded  in  gaining  his  end.  Having  thus  a  definite 
basis  to  work  upon,  his  previously  opened  negotiations  with  the  British  com- 
mander soon  became  definite,  and  it  was  finally  agreed  that  Arnold  was  to 
receive  as  payment  for  his  treason  a  Brigadied's  commission  in  the  British 
army,  together  with  a  sum  of  money.  The  final  stage  in  the  tragedy  had  been 
reached. 

While  matter  stood  thus,  a  personal  interview  between  Arnold  and  a 
representative  of  Sir  Henry  Clinton  was  deemed  necessary  to  settle  the  details 
oi  the  affair.  Major  Andre,  an  intimate  friend  of  both  Clinton  and  Arnold, 
was  chosen  for  this  purpose,  and,  after  several  unsuccessful  attempts,  succeeded 
in  meeting  Arnold.  Andre's  attempts  to  return  to  his  own  lines  after  the 
meeting,  his  various  mistakes  ending  in  capture  by  three  American  scouts,  the 
negligence  of  the  American  officers  in  permitting  him  to  warn  Arnold,  the  lat- 
ter's  escape  and  Washington's  discovery  of  his  treachery, — these  incidents  fol- 
lowing each  other  in  rapid  succession, — furnish  the  climax  of  Arnold's  unenvi- 
able career. 

Washington's  presence  secured  the  safety  of  West  Point  and  probably  has- 
tened the  execution  of  Andre,  who,  after  the  failure  of  all  efforts  to  save  him, 
met  death  like  a  brave  and  honorable  man.  Arnold,  in  the  meantime,  was 
being  rewarded  for  his  treason  by  the  gratitude  of  his  new  associates  and  the 
execration  of  his  countrymen.  He  vainly  attempted  to  justify  his  act,  and 
later  on  endeavored  to  demonstrate  the  sincerity  of  his  postion  by  a  malicious 
display  of  cruelty  and  inhumanity  towards  those  unfortunates  who  fell  into 
his  power.  Although  he  was  officially  well  received  in  England  after  the  end 
of  the  war,  his  life  was  made  a  continual  reminder  of  his  disgrace.  Arnold 
lived  for  twenty  years,  continuing  to  show  the  characteristics  which  had 
brought  about  his  downfall,  until,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one,  death  ended  his 
career. 

Arnold's  story  inspires  more  than  the  hatred  and  contempt  due  the  mem- 
ory of  a  traitor ;  it  inspires  charity  and  pity  for  the  shortcomings  of  a  man, — 
a  man  who  labored  under  the  defects  of  character  which  he  was  powerless  to 
control, — a  man  who  could  command  others,  but  not  himself. 

Alwin  Thaler. 
82 


Third  Prize  Essay 


There  are  good  reasons  to  doubt  whether  a  fair  judgment  of  Arnold  can 
be  drawn  from  the  simple  story  of  his  career.  The  tendency  to  reduce  life  to 
a  mathematical  problem,  and  man  to  a  calculating  machine,  has  made  its  im- 
press upon  our  judgment  to  such  an  extent  that  account  of  individual  charac- 
teristics is  perhaps  too  often  lost  sight  of  in  the  administraton  of  what  we 
consider  justice.  Our  old  maxim  that  "all  men  are  created  free  and  equal" 
has  stood  the  durability  test  remarkably  well,  considering  its  evident  falsity; 
since  we  all  know  that  no  two  men  were  ever  created  equal,  and  some  of  us 
doubt  if  any  man  was  ever  born  free. 

An  inheritance  of  turbulent  and  impetuous  spirits  caused  Arnold  to  for- 
sake the  unromantic  calling  of  the  tradesman  for  that  of  the  soldier.  His 
military  career  began  with  a  Colonelcy  in  the  Massachusetts  militia,  in  which 
position  he  aided  Ethan  Allen  at  Ticonderoga.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year  (1775),  he  commanded  in  a  long  expedition  against  Quebec,  showing  rare 
generalship  in  the  arduous  march  through  the  virgin  forest.  For  his  services  in 
this  march  and  the  succeeding  attack,  he  was  rewarded  wtih  the  rank  of 
Brigadier-General. 

In  October,  1776,  in  command  of  a  small  squadron  on  Lake  Champlain,  he 
exhibited  remarkable  skill  in  an  engagement  with  a  greatly  superior  force. 
The  following  spring  Congress  raised  five  of  his  juniors  to  the  rank  of  Major- 
General ;  and  while  he  was  shortly  afterwards  similarly  promoted,  the  five  still 
remained  above  him. 

In  September  of  the  same  year  he  distinguished  hmself  for  gallantry  at 
Freeman's  Farm,*  but  General  Gates  neglected  to  so  much  as  mention  his  name 
in  his  report  of  the  engagement.  This  led  Arnold — somewhat  indiscreetly — 
to  resign  his  command,  but  three  weeks  later  he  took  the  field  without  Gates' 
permission  and  directed  a  division  at  Stillwater.  It  appears  that  his  reward  in 
this  instance  was  somewhat  more  than  he  deserved,  and  was  probably  a  con- 
ciliatory measure ;  for  though  his  personal  courage  was  beyond  impeachment, 
he  was  totally  without  authority,  and  in  direct  disobedience  of  orders. 

Upon  his  appointment  in  June,  1778,  to  the  command  of  Philadelphia,  his 
prodigal  nature  led  him  into  such  financial  straits — followed  by  other  irregu- 
larities in  an  attempt  to  cover-up — that  his  court  martial  was  ordered.     This 

*Some  authorities  deny  his  presence  in  this  engagement,  but  most  of  them  unite  i» 
the  belief  that  I  have  assumed. 

83 


tribunal  sentenced  him  to  a  reprimand,  which  Washington  gave  in  an  almost 
apologetic  tone,  but  it  had  its  effect  on  Arnold's  resentful  nature.  He  was 
already  holding  treasonable  intercourse  with  the  enemy ;  perhaps  the  hopeless- 
ness of  his  financial  condition  had  induced  him  to  take  the  step.  He  now 
sought  and  obtained  command  of  West  Point,  the  most  important  strategic 
point  in  the  United  States. 

This  was  early  in  1780,  less  than  a  year  from  the  beginning  of  the  treas- 
onable correspondence  with  the  British  Major,  Andre.  Begun  through  Arnold's 
wife,  though  without  her  knowledge,  it  was  carried  on  under  the  assumed 
names  of  "Gustavus"  (Arnold)  and  "John  Anderson  (Andre).  Letters  were 
exchanged  for  a  year  and  a  half,  keeping  Clinton  informed  of  the  plans  and 
movements  of  the  American  army.  But  when  Clinton  began  to  perceive  that 
Arnold  contemplated  a  more  extensive  treason,  a  personal  interview  became 
necessary.  Andre  was  chosen  by  both  Arnold  and  Clinton  to  meet  the  Ameri- 
can General,  since  he  was  best  acquainted  with  the  preliminary  correspondence. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  Clinton  had  preserved  such  secrecy  regarding 
the  plot  that  only  one  other  British  officer  was  aware  of  the  proceeding,  Col- 
onel Beverly  Robinson,  a  Tory  leader ;  and  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  Arnold 
had  no  confidants.  As  Robinson  lived  directly  across  the  river  from  the 
Point,  it  was  first  thought  that  an  interview,  ostensibly  upon  some  question  of 
civil  law,  could  be  arranged  wth  him ;  but  Washington,  whose  permission  had 
to  be  obtained,  thought  the  interview  unnecessary,  and  this  necessitated  Andre's 
participation. 

Andre  left  New  York  with  definite  instructions  from  Clinton,  to  wit:  not 
to  go  within  the  American  lines,  to  assume  no  disguise,,  to  accept  no  papers. 
In  each  point,  it  will  be  seen,  he  disobeyed.  An  appointment  was  made  between 
Andre  and  Arnold's  messenger  to  meet  at  Dobbs'  Ferry,  after  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  had  been  made  to  pass  Andre  through  the  lines  as  John  Anderson. 
Andre,  for  once  remembering  his  orders,  did  not  remain  at  the  Ferry,  but  went 
on  board  H.  M.  S.  Vulture,  lying  just  above  Sing  Sing. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  that  these  extensive  preliminary  negotiations  had 
proceeded  without  suspicion.  It  was  a  common  rumor  that  some  vague  "irregu- 
larity" existed  in  the  camp  of  the  General,  and  while  gossip  had  not  yet  hit 
upon  the  truth,  it  caused  Arnold  some  discomfort.  There  was  need  of  a  quick 
adjustment  of  the  last  details,  a  sudden  consummation  of  the  plot.  Added  to 
the  reason  above  stated  were  military  considerations ;  Washington  and  his 
advisers  were  in  consultation :  at  any  moment  the  scheme  might  be  defeated 
by  an  unexpected  move. 

Major  Andre  was  impatient.  He  contrived  to  send  a  pseudo-official  com- 
municaton  to  Arnold,  countersigning  it  "John  Anderson,  Secretary." 

On  the  following  night  came  quietly  alongside  the  Vulture  a  boat,  whose 
owner,  a  certain  Joshua  Hett  Smith,  announced  that  he  was  hired  to  convey 

84 


to  the  shore  Colonel  Beverly  Robinson.  Andre  was  disappointed  at  Arnold's 
not  boarding  the  Vulture,  as  he  had  asked;  here,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a 
chance  to  go  ashore,  in  disobedience  of  Clinton's  mandate,  but  with  little  chance 
of  capture.  Accordingly,  he  concealed  his  uniform  with  a  long  overcoat  and 
was  rowed  to  a  point  on  the  shore  where  Arnold  waited.  This  step  was  taken 
against  the  advice  of  Colonel  Robinson  and  of  the  Captain  of  the  Vulture. 

The  conference  in  the  bushes,  at  the  foot  of  Long  Clove  Mountain,  lasted 
until  the  approach  of  day  made  it  impossible  for  the  boat  to  return  to  the 
Vulture.  This  had  probably  been  foreseen  by  Arnold,  as  he  now  sent  Andre 
to  Smith's  home,  three  miles  distant,  the  family  having  been  sent  away  a  few 
days  before  on  Arnold's  advice.  Arrived  here,  while  in  a  comparatively  safe 
position,  he  was  seized  with  vague  misgivngs,  and  asked  to  be  again  rowed 
to  the  Vulture.  This  the  frightened  Smith  refused  to  do,  which  made  it  neces- 
sary for  Andre  to  return  to  New  York  on  horseback. 

Arnold  supplied  a  paper  to  "permit  Mr.  John  Anderson  to  pass  the  guards 
to  the  White  Plains" ;  in  addition  to  this  Andre  carried  documents  pertaining 
to  the  plot,  and  assumed  a  disguise.  The  journey  was  begun  at  night,  Smith 
accompanying  the  Major  as  far  as  Pine's  Ridge,  on  the  east  side,  they  having 
crossed  at  Verplanck's  Point.  It  was  now  morning.  Andre  had  heard  the 
night  before  that  the  Cowboys,  a  band  of  Tory  marauders,  were  on  or  near 
the  Tarrytown  road,  and  accordingly  he  changed  his  course  from  the  White 
Plains  road  in  order  to  fall  in  with  these  men.  The  scene  that  followed  is 
familiar.  Near  Tarrytown  he  is  stopped  by  three  men,  apparently  of  the  Cow- 
boys. He  hopes  they  are  "of  the  Lower  Party,"  which  they  do  not  deny.  He 
confidently  informs  them  that  he  is  a  British  officer — their  actions  soon  show 
him  his  mistake,  and  he  produces  Arnold's  pass.  But  their  suspicions  are 
aroused;  he  is  searched,  and  the  tell-tale  papers  are  found  in  his  boots.  His 
attempts  at  bribery  fail,  and  he  is  turned  over  to  Col.  Jameson  at  North  Castle. 

Jameson  failed  to  discern  the  import  of  the  event.  He  had,  quite  natu- 
rally, no  thought  of  high  treason  in  his  superior  officer — and  that  suspicion 
would  have  been  the  only  clue  to  a  correct  solution.  He  sent  the  prisoner  to 
Arnold,  together  with  an  account  of  the  circumstances  of  his  capture.  The 
receipt  of  the  message  would  be,  of  course,  a  timely  warning  to  the  traitor  to 
make  good  his  escape. 

But  Major  Tallmadge,  of  Jameson's  regiment,  had  a  little  more  discretion 
than  his  Colonel.  He  urged  that  the  prisoner  be  brought  back,  and  the  mes- 
sage to  Arnold  recalled.  The  first  Jameson  was  persuaded  to  do — the  second 
he  saw  no  reason  for,  and  the  message  went  on  to  its  unwitting  damage. 

Arnold  was  seated  at  breakfast  with  some  members  of  Washington's  staff 
on  the  morning  of  September  25th,  three  days  after  Andre's  departure,  when 
the  news  of  the  unfortunate  spy's  capture  was  delivered  to  him.     He  quietly 

85 


excused  himself,  went  to  another  room  and  informed  his  wife,  and  mounting 
a  horse  at  the  door,  rode  to  where  a  boat  was  moored.  He  was  quickly  rowed, 
under  a  truce-flag,  to  the  Vulture,  safe  from  the  vengeance  of  those  he  had 
betrayed. 

Of  Andre's  end  it  is  necessary  to  speak  but  briefly.  Attempts  were  made 
to  excuse  him  under  the  contention  that  he  had  the  protection  of  a  flag ;  the 
disguise,  and  the  superfluous  pass  of  Arnold,  readily  refuted  this  pretense. 
The  next  argument  was  that  he  was  betrayed  into  a  false  position.  The  ab- 
surdity of  this  contention  defeated  itself  without  the  necessity  of  formal  refu- 
tation. He  had  voluntarily  entered  into  privy  consultation  with  a  traitor,  had 
voluntarily  accepted  treasonable  papers,  had  voluntarily  assumed  disguise,  and 
what  was  alone  sufficient,  had  passed  inside  the  lines  without  claiming  the 
protection  of  a  flag.  His  trial  was  short  but  thorough — it  left  no  ground  for 
doubt,  reasonable  or  fancied,  and  Andre  was  hanged. 

As  to  Arnold,  there  is  no  absolute  judgment  for  him.  It  is  easy  to  pardon 
on  the  grounds  that  treatment  he  received  from  his  country  seemed  unjust, 
and  that  his  peculiarly  perverted  mind  believed  in  treason  against  traitors ; 
some  think  that  Arnold  always  believed  himself  justified — and  is  not  a  man's 
conscience  his  God?  Or,  one  may  condemn  him  as  readily — it  may  be  argued 
that  the  law  against  treason  is  absolute,  and  its  violation  can  never  be  justi- 
fied. For  it  is  well  known  that  laws  are  made  for  the  average  man,  and  will 
seem  unjust  to  some,  but  must  be  observed  by  all  for  the  sake  of  the  common 
good. 

It  was  foreseen  that  the  effect  of  this  treason  would  be  a  general  shaking 
of  faith  on  the  American  side.  The  news  came,  too,  at  a  most  inopportune 
time,  just  after  the  report  of  Gates'  defeat  in  South  Carolina.  Without  the 
courage  that  comes  from  man's  faith  in  his  fellows,  the  States  would  be  di- 
vided, and  the  British  could  pursue  with  comparative  ease  their  plan  of  crush- 
ing separate  States,  thus  accomplishing  the  sundering  of  the  Union,  without 
which  there  was  no  strength  on  the  American  side.  Considering  this  state  of 
affairs,  it  is  indeed  remarkable  that  the  advantage  gained  by  the  English  was 
so  small — the  faith  among  the  States  so  enduring.  So  near  was  the  American 
cause  to  utter  ruin,  so  near  the  American  ideal  to  final  overthrow,  that  its 
ultimate  salvation  without  human  forethought  gives  us  a  satisfying  belief  in 
the  Divine  approval  of  our  principle  that  liberty  is  the  one  God-given  law. 
"For  heathen  heart  that  puts  her  trust 

In  reeking  tube  and  iron  shard, 
All  valiant  dust  that  builds  on  dust 

And  guarding,  calls  not  Thee  to  guard, 
Nor  frantic  boast  and  foolish  word — 
Thy  mercy  on  Thy  people,  Lord !" 

86  William  A.  Bird,  IV. 


Membership    Roll 


*Admitted  during  the  year. 


Abeel,  Alfred  H. 

Abeel,  John  H. 

Abney,  John  R. 

Ackerly,  William   J. 

Ackerly,  William  J.,  Jr. 

Adams,  Charles 

Adams,  Charles  S. 

Adams,  Charles  T. 

Adams,  Daniel  C. 

Adams,  Edward  Dean 
*Adams,  Frederic  E. 

Adams,  Horatio  M. 

Adams,  John  D. 

Adams,  Joseph  H. 
*  Adams,  William  Piatt 

Adriance,  I.  Reynolds 

Adriance,  John  S 

Agens,  Frederick  G. 

Agnew,  Cornelius  R. 

Aitken,  William  B. 

Aldrich,  Edward  Gurdon,  M.  D. 

Aldridge,  Darwin  R. 

Aldridge,  Frederick  T. 
♦Alexander,  Fred  Dayton 

Alexander,  Lawrence  D. 

Alexander,  Welcome  T.,  M.  D. 

Allen,  Frederick  H. 

Allen,  Ira  Alphonso,  M.D.,  Capt.  U.  S. 

Allen,  James    M. 

Allen,  John  P. 

Allen,  Theodore  L. 

Allerton,  Walter  Scott 

Ambrose,  Fred.  M. 

Ames,  Adelbert,  Gen.  U.  S.  A. 

Ames.  Butler,  Col.  U.  S.  A. 

Ames,  Louis  Annin 

Anderson,  Andrew,  M.  D. 

Anderson,  Larz 


Anderson,  Thomas  R. 

Andrews,  Champe  S. 

Andrews,  George  C. 

Andrews,  James  M. 

Andrews,  James  S. 

Andrews,  Professor  Newton  L. 

Angell,  Malcolm  H. 

Annesley,  Richard   L. 

Anthony,  Richard  A. 

Archer,  William  A. 

Arms,  Frank  T.,  Paymaster  U.  S.  N. 

Arnold,  Frank. 

Ashby,  Jay  T. 

Atterbury,  John   T. 

Atterbury,  Rev.  William  W.,  D.  D. 

Atwood,  William  W. 

Austin,  Eugene    K. 

Avery,  Frank  M. 

Avery,  Samuel  P. 

Ayres,  Harry  M.,  M.  D. 

Ayres,  Morgan  W.,  M.  D. 

Babcock,  Frank  Augustus 
Babcock,  Harry  S. 
Babcock,  Henry  D. 
Bacon,  Daniel. 
Bacon,  Francis  Sherman 
Bacon,  Gorham,  M.   D. 
Bacon,  Robert    O. 
Bacon,  William    P.    H. 
Badgley,  Claude  M. 
Bagg,  Egbert 
Bailey,  Edward  H. 
Bailey,  Frank 
Bailey,  George  Jones 
*Bailey,  Joseph  Trowbridge,  3d 
Bailey,  Professor  William  W.,  LL.D. 


87 


Baird,  William   T. 

Baker,  Charles,  Jr. 

Baker,  George  L. 

Baker,  Rev.  George  S.,  D.  D. 

Baker,  William  P. 

Balch,  Collins  L. 

Baldwin,  Rev.  Berry  Oakley 

Baldwin,  Charles  B. 

Baldwin,  Charles   M. 

Baldwin,  Jared  G.,  Jr. 

Baldwin,  Lindsley  P. 

Baldwin,  Simeon 

Baldwin,  Townsend    B. 

Ball,  Samuel    F. 

Bancroft,  Aaron 

Bangs,  Bleecker. 
♦Banker,  Charles  Everett,  M.  D. 

Banks,  Augustine. 

Banks,  David 

Banks,  David,  Jr. 

Banks,  Robert  L. 

Banks,  Warren  S. 

Barber,  Simeon  M. 

Barbour,  William  D. 

Barck,  Oscar  Theodore 

Barker,  Irving  Haynes 

Barker,  James  F.,  M.  D. 

Barker,  William,  Jr 

Barnard,  Horace 

Barnard,  John  A. 

Barnes,  Frank   L. 
♦Barnes,  George  Edward,  M.  D. 

Barnes,  Henry  B. 
♦Barnes,  Henry  B.,  Jr. 

Barnes,  Winthrop  H. 

Barrow,  James  T. 

Barrows,  Charles  C,  M.  D. 

Barrows,  Elliot  T. 

Barrows,  Ira. 

Barry,  Charles    D. 

Barry,  Herbert 

Barstow,  Josiah  W.,   M.   D. 

Bartlett,  Franklin,    Col. 

Bartlett,  George  F.  H.,  M.  D. 

Bartlett,  Willard 

Barton,  George  DeF. 

Barton,  Oliver    G. 

Bartow,  Pierrepont 


Bates,  George  B. 

Bates,  Norman  Lawrence 

Bates,  William  G. 

Bayne,  Howard  R. 

Beach,  Bennett  S.,  M.  D. 

Beach,  Homer  P. 

Beach,  Oren  Milton,  Jr. 

Beagle,  Fenimore  D. 

Beatty,  Alfred    C. 

Beatty,     Robert    C. 

Beatty,  William    G. 

Beckurts,  Charles  L.,  Capt.  U.  S.  A. 

Beemer,  James  G. 

Beers,  Lucius  H. 

Belden,  Charles   D. 

Belden,  William 

Belding,  Milo  M. 

Belding,  Milo  M.,  Jr. 

Belknap,  Dayton  C 

Belknap,  Edwin  S. 

Belknap,  Waldron   P. 

Belknap,  William  C. 
*Bell,  Alfred  D. 

Bell,  George  S. 

Bell,  Jared   W. 

Belmont,  August 

Belmont,  Perry 

Belt,  Henry,  M.  D. 

Bemus,  Morris  N.,  M.  D. 

Bemus,  William    M.,   M.   D. 

Bender,  Harry  H 

Bender,  Matthew,  Jr. 

Benedict,  James  A. 

Benjamin,  Arthur  B. 

Benjamin,  George  P. 

Benkard,  Henry  H. 

Bensel,  Joseph 

Benson,  Arthur  Chalmers 
♦Benson,  Arthur  W. 

Benson,  Russell  F.,  M.  D. 

Bergen,  Francis  H. 

Bergen,  John  W.    H. 

Berry,  Wilton  G.,  Ph.  D. 

Bertron,  Samuel   R. 
*Betts,  Arthur  W. 

Betts,  Edgar  H. 

Betts,  George  H. 


88 


Bctts,  Louis   F.   H. 

Betts,  Samuel   R. 

Bickley,  Lawrence    W. 
♦Bicknell,  George  Augustus 

Bigelow,  Clarence  O. 
♦Bigelow,  Henry  C. 

Billings,  David  L. 

Billings,  Elmer  M. 

Bird,  James 

Bishop,  Louis  F.,  M    D. 

Bissell,  Eugene 

Bissell,  James  D.,  M.  D. 

Bissell,  Rev.  Pelham  St.  G. 

Blackburn,  John  D. 

Blackwell,  Birney 

Blair,  C.  Ledyard 
♦Blagden,  Thomas,  Jr. 

Blakeman,  A.  Noel. 

Blakeman,  Caldwell    R. 

Blandy,  Graham  F. 

Blauvelt,  John   De   W. 

Bleecker,  Anthony  J. 

Bliss,  Frederick  W. 

Bliss,  Leon 

Blodgett,  Frank  J.,  M.  D. 

Bloodgood,  Robert  F. 

Board,  Joseph 

Board,  Joseph  Orton 

Boardman,  Henry  F. 

Boice,  Walter    B. 

Bordwell,  Ernest  R. 

Bordwell,  Lavern 

Bostwick,  Henry  A. 

Bosworth,  Charles 

Bosworth,  William  G. 

Bott,  Joseph  W. 
*Bouck,  Worcester 

Bourne,  Joseph   B. 

Bourne,  William  D. 

Boutelle,  Frank  W. 

Bowen,  Clarence  W. 

Bower,  Irving  H. 

Bowers,  Henry 

Bowers,  John  M. 

Boylan,  John   F. 

Boyle,  Charles  Cumberson 
•   Bozeman,  Nathan  Gross,  M.  D. 
Bradford^  George  L. 


Bradish,  G.  Johnston 

Bradley,  Charles 

Bradley,  Frederick  L. 

Bradley,  John  J.,  Capt.  U.  S.  A. 

Bradley,  William  Arnold 

Bradley,  William    H. 

Braillard,  Walter  H. 

Brandow,  Augustus  Springer 

Brandow,  Frank  H. 
♦Breed,  Nathaniel  P.,  M.  D. 

Breese,  Francis   M 

Brett,  Arthur  H. 

Brereton,  Denny 

Brewer,  John 

Brewster,  Frederic  F. 

Brewster,  Samuel  D. 

Bridge,   Charles  F. 

Bridgham,  Joseph 

Bridgham,  Samuel   W. 

Bridgham,  William  H. 

Bridgman,  Herbert  L. 

Briggs,  George  E. 

Bright,  Louis  V. 

Brightman,  Henry  J. 

Brinsmade,  William  B.,  M.  D. 

Britton,  Charles  P. 

Britton,  Edward  E.,  Col. 

Brockway,  Rev.  Albert  A. 

Brockway,  Horace   H. 

Brokaw,  George  T. 

Brokaw,  Howard   C. 

Brokaw,  Irving 

Brooke,  Robert 

Brookfield,  Frank 

Brookfield,  Henry  M. 

Brooks,  Emerson 

Brooks,  Frederick  H. 

Brooks,  John  I. 
*Broughton,  Henry 

Brower,  Abram  V. 

Brown,  Addison 

Brown,  Benjamin  W.   B. 

Brown,  Clarence  E. 

Brown,  Clarence  S. 

Brown,  David  S.,  Jr. 

Brown,  Edward    F. 

Brown,  Elliott   L. 

Brown,  Elon  R. 


89 


♦Brown,  Frederic  T.,  M.  D. 

Brown,  John  B. 

Brown,  Joseph   R. 

Brown,  Lawrence   E. 

Brown,  Morris  H. 

Brown,  Richard  De   M. 

Brown,  Samuel  W. 

Brown,  Walter  S 

Brown,  William  H. 

Bruff,  William  J. 

Brugler,  Rev.  Charles  E. 

Brumley,  Howard  V. 
♦Bryan,  Eugene 

Bryan,  Foster  A.    K. 
♦Bryant,  W.  Sohier,  M.  D. 

Buell,  George  C. 

Bulkeley,  Alpheus  T. 

Bull,  Charles  S.,  M.  D. 

Bullus,  Albert 

Bunker,  William 

Bunnell,  George  W.,  Jr. 

Bunner,  Rudolph  F. 

Burbank,  Robert  A. 

Burbank,  Walter  C. 

Burch,  Robert 

Burden,  James  A. 

Burgess,  Edward  G. 

Burke,  J.  Stranahan 

Burlingham,  Albert   S. 

Burnham,  Alexander  O. 

Burr,  Joseph  A. 

Burr,  Joseph    B. 

Burrill,  Edward  L. 

Burrill,  Middleton  S. 

Burt,  Stephen  S.,  M.   D. 
♦Bush-Brown,  Henry  K. 

Bussing,  John   S. 

Butler,  Edward  D. 

Butler,  Elliot  L. 

Butler,  Henry   P. 

Buttolph,  Harry  T. 

Cable,  William  A. 
Cadwalader,  John  L.,  LL.  D. 
Cameron,  Winfield  S. 
Camp,  Walter   B. 
Campbell,  Benjamin  H. 
Campbell,  Horace  J. 
Candler,  Duncan  W. 


Candler,  Flamen    B. 

Candler,  Robert  W. 

Cannon,  Henry  W. 

Cape,  Henry 

Capron,  George  T. 
♦Carhart,  Amory  S. 

Carney,  Sydney   H.,    M.    D. 

Carney,  Sydney  H.,  Jr.,  M.  D. 

Carpender,  Charles  J. 
♦Carpender,  Charles  J.,  Jr. 

Carpender,  John  N. 

Carpender,  William 

Carpenter,  Charles  W. 

Carpenter,  Charles  W.,  Jr. 

Carpenter,  George  W. 

Carpenter,  John   E. 

Carpenter,  Reese 

Carr,  Walter  L.,  M.  D. 

Carrington,  Daniel    N. 

Carroll,  Edward 

Carter,  Colin  S.,  D.   D.   S. 

Cary,  William    E. 

Case,  George   Washington 

Case,   George   Warren 

Casey,  Edward  P. 

Chalmers,  Thomas  C,  M.  D. 

Chamberlain,  Roswell  W. 

Chamberlin,  Emerson 

Chambers,  Dexter  B. 
♦Chambers,  Henry  W. 

Chambers,  Hillary  R. 

Chapin,  Rev.  Henry  Barton,  D.D.,  Ph.  D. 

Chapin,  Henry  D.,  M.  D. 

Chapin,  Josiah  D. 

Chapman,  William  A. 

Chapman,  William    F. 

Cheesman,  Timothy  M.,  M.  D. 

Chenery,  Horace 

Chevalier,  George 

Chew,  Beverly 

Chew,  Phineas    P. 

Childs,  Edwards  H. 

Childs,  James   E. 

Chipman,  Richard  H. 

Chittenden,  Richard  P. 

Church,  Alonzo 
♦Church,  Elihu  C. 

Church,  Richard 

Chutkowski,  Thaddeus  K.  de 


90 


Clark,  Cyrus 
Clark,  David   C. 
Clark,  George  C 
Clark,  James   A. 
Clark,  Louis  C. 
Clark,  Seth  H. 
Clarke,  Charles  McC. 
Clarke,  Courtlandt  C. 
Clarke,  Rev.  James  Winslow. 
Clarke,  Richard  H.,  Jr. 
Clarkson,  Ashtpn   C. 
Clarkson,  Banyer 
Clarkson,  Gerardus 
Class,  George  B. 
Class,  Harry  A. 
Class.  Theodore  S 
Clay,  Thomas  S. 
Clearwater,  Alphoi  so    T. 
Cleveland,  Henry  E. 
Cleveland,  J.   Wray. 
Clifford,  Chandler  R. 
Clinton,  Alexander  J. 
Clinton,  George 
Clinton,  Spencer 
Cochran,  George  D.,  M.  D. 
Cockey,  Marston   R. 
Codd,  Robert  M. 
Codd,  Robert  M.,  Jr. 
Coe,  Charles  A. 
Coe,  Edward   B.,   D.    D. 
Coe,  Henry   E. 
Cogswell,  Cullen   V.    R. 
Colby,  Everett 
♦Colding,  Henry  S.,  D.  D.  S. 
Cole,  Rev.  Lawrence  T. 
Cole,  William   M. 
Coleman,  Leighton  P. 
Coles,  Henry    R.    R 
Colfax,  Albert  E. 
Collins,  Charles  F.,  M.  D. 
Collins,  Edwin  P. 
Collins,  Holdridge    O. 
Collins,  Howard   D.,    M.   D. 
Collins,  Louis  D. 
Colloque,  Rev.   Edwin  W. 
Colver,  Frederic  L 
Colver,  Henry  C. 
Colvin,  Verplanck. 


Colwell,  Frederick  L. 

Comey,  John    W. 

Comstock,  George    W. 

Conklin,  Smith   W. 

Conover,  Frank    E. 

Conrow,  Theodore 

Conrow,  Wilford  S. 

Cook,  Ferdinand  H. 

Cook,  Henry   F. 

Cook,  Joseph  T.,  M.  D. 

Cook,  Lewis  P. 

Cook,  Philos  G. 

Cook,  Robert  B.  M. 
♦Cooke,  Frank  S. 

Cooke,  Robert  G. 

Cookinham,  Henry  J. 

Coon,  Charles   E. 

Copp,  William  M.,  Lieut.  U.  S.  A. 

Corey,  Edwin   F. 

Corwin,  Hamilton  S. 

Courtenay,  William 

Coutant,  Richard  B.,  M.  D. 

Coutts,  George  H. 

Cowan,  William    L. 
♦Cowee,  James  C. 
*Cowee,  James  F. 

Cowen,  Sidney   J. 

Coykendall,  Samuel   D. 

Craft,  Rev.  Francis 

Crafts,  John  W. 

Crane,  Alexander  B. 

Crane,  Clarence  A. 

Crane,  Harold  L. 

Crane,  Warren   C. 

Crannell,  Clarke  W. 

Critcher,  Edward    P. 
♦Crittenden,  Walter  H. 

Cromwell,  David 

Cromwell,  David  W. 

Crosby,  Edward   N. 

Crosby,  Henry  A. 

Crosby,  J.  Schuyler,  Col.  U.  S.  A. 

Crosby,  Livingston 

Crosby,  William  C. 

Crossett,  Frederick  M. 

Crouse,  Daniel   N. 

Crowder,  Rev.  Frank  W. 

Crowell,  Charles  E. 


91 


Culbert,  William  L.,  M.  D. 
Culver,  Charles  M.,  M.  D. 
Culver,  George   B. 
Cumming,  James  D 
Cummings,  Charles   H. 
Currier,  John   E 
Currier,  William  L. 
Curry,  Truman  M. 
Curtis,  Edward,   M.   D. 
Curtis,  Frederic  C,  M.  D. 
Cushman,  Norman  F. 
Cutler,  Joseph  W. 
Cutter,  Chester  G. 
Cutter,  Ralph   L. 

Daggett,  Byron  B 
Dall,  Horace  Holley 
Dana,  Charles  L.,  M.  D. 
Daniell,  John    F. 
Darlington,  Charles  F. 
Darlington,  Thomas,  M.  D. 
Darrach,  Bradford 
Dater,  John  G. 
Davenport,  Charles  E. 
Davenport,  William  B. 
♦Davidson,  Frank  E. 
Davidson,  Morris  M. 

Davidson,  SHvanus   M. 

Davies,  Julien  T..  Jr. 

Davies,  William   G 

Davis,  Chester  Wyman 

Davis,  Fellowes. 

Davis,  John  E.  L.,  M.  D. 

Davis,  Joseph. 

Davis,  Richard  H. 

Daw,  George  W. 

Day,  J.   Francis. 

Day,  Nathaniel  B. 

Dayton,  Charles  W. 

Dayton,  Charles  W.,  Jr. 

Dayton,  William  A.,  M.  D. 

Dean,  James   E. 

Dearborn,  Frederick  M.,  M.  D. 

de  Figaniere,   Frederick 
dc  Forest,  Howard 
DeGroff,  Arthur  L. 
DeHart,  Harry  V. 
Delafield,  Albert 


♦Delafield,  John  R. 
Delafield,  Joseph  L. 
Delafield,  Maturin  L.,  Jr. 
Delafield,  Richard 
De   Luce,   Percival 
Demarest,  James 
Deming,  William  H. 
Denman,  Abram  C.  Jr. 
Dennis,  Holmes  V.  M.,  Jr. 
Dennis,  Rev.  James   S. 
Dennison,  Robert   S. 
Denny,  Thomas 
De  Peyster,  Wilson 
Dering,  Sylvester 

De  Russy,  Isaac  D.,  Brig.  Genl.  U.  S.  A. 
Deshler,  James 
Devereux,  Nicholas  E. 
Devereux,  Walter 
De  Wart,  Harry  M. 
Dewey,  Charles  O 
Dewey,  George,  Admiral  U.  S.  N. 
Dewey,  George  E. 
Dewey,  Hiram  S. 

deWindt,  John  P.  H. 

De  Witt,  Andrew  H. 

Dexter,  Stanley  W. 

Dey,  Anthony 

Dey,  Richard  Varick 

Dickerson,  Edward  N. 

Dickinson,  Andrew  G.,  Jr. 

Dickinson,  Charles  C. 

Dickinson,  Dwight,   M.   D. 

Dickinson,  Horace  E. 

Dike,  Norman  S. 

Dikeman,  Edwin  J. 

Dimock,  William  DeW. 

Ditmars,  Edward  W. 

Dix,  John   Adams 

Dodd,  Fred  K. 

Dodge,  Edward  L. 

Dodge,  Guy  Phelps 

Dodge,  Rev.  James  W.  A 
Dodge,  Walter  P. 
Dominick,  Bayard 
Dominick,  George  F. 
Dominick,  Henry  B. 
Dominick,  Marinus  W. 
Doty,  Arthur  L.  G. 
Douglas,  Charles  H. 

92 


Douglas,  Edward  W. 

Douglas,  Harry- 
Douglas,  William   C. 

Douglas,  William  E.,  M.  D. 

Douglas,  William  H. 

Douglass,  Frank   H. 
*Dowling,  J.  Ivimey,  M.  D. 
^Downing,  Augustus  C. 

Draper,  Charles  A. 

Draper,  T.  Wain.  Morgan,  Capt.  U.  S.A. 

Driggs,  Elliott  F. 

Driggs,  Laurence  L. 

Drowne,  Henry  R. 

Dudley,  Plimmon  H.,  C.  E. 

du  Bois,  William    M. 

Du  Fais,   John 

Duffield,  Howard,  D.  D. 

Duncan,  David   B. 

Dunmore,  Watson  T. 

Dunn,  Cleveland  A. 

Dunn,  Gano  S. 

Dunn,  Harris  A. 

Dunnell,  Rev.  William  N.,  S.  T.  D. 

Dunning,  Charles  T. 

Dunscombe,  George  E. 

Durell,  David  M. 

Duryee,  Harvey  H. 

Dutton,  William  D. 

Du  Val,  Horace  C. 

Dyer,  Fdward   T. 

Dyer,  George  R. 

Dyer,  Henry   L. 

Eager,  William  P. 
Eagle,  Clarence  H. 
Eames,  Francis  L. 
Eastman,  John   M. 
Eaton,  Charles   B. 
Eaton,  Frank  D. 
*Eddy,  William  S. 
Edmonds,  John   W. 
Edmonds,  Joseph  L. 
Edson,  Jarvis  B. 

Edwards,  Arthur  M.,  Maj.  U.  S.  A. 
Edwards,  James  T. 
Ehlers,  Edward  C,  M.  D. 
Eldredge,  Robert  L. 
Eldridge,  Frederick    L. 


Eldridge,  Henry  F. 
Elliott,  Charles  G. 
Elliott,  Frederic  B. 
Elliott,  Richmond  B.,  Jr. 
Ellis,  William  D. 
Ellsworth,  William  W. 
Elmendorf,  Dwight    L. 
Elmendorf,  John  B 
Elmendorf,  William  B. 
Elseffer,  John  H. 
Elsworth,  Edward 
Ely,  Alfred 
*Ely,  Augustus  G. 
Ely,  Smith 
Emerson,  John  W. 
Emery,  Livingston 
Enos,  Alanson  T. 
Enos,  Frank 
Esler,  Peter  C. 
Esterbrook,  Richard 
Estes,  Webster  C. 
Evans,  Dudley 
Everett,  Henry  W. 

*Fahys,  George  E. 
Failing,  John  P. 
Fairbanks,  Adolphe  St.  A. 
Fairbanks,  Charles  M. 
Fairbanks,  Thomas   N. 
Fairchild,  Benjamin   T. 
Fairchild,  Samuel  W. 
Falls,  DeWitt  C. 
Fargo,  James    F. 
Fargo,  William  C. 
Farlee,  Robert  D. 
Farman,  Elbert  Eli. 
Farnam,  Charles  H. 
Farrand,  Oliver  M. 
Fash,  Charles  W. 
Fash,  Hobert  C. 
Featherstonhaugh,  George  W 
Ferguson,  Arthur  deV. 
Ferguson,  Frank  C. 
Ferree,  Barr 
Ferris,  Morris  Douw. 
Ferris,  Morris  P. 
Field,  Augustus    B. 
Field,  Thomas  P. 


93 


Field,  William   B.  O. 

Findley,  William   L. 

Finney,  Robert  S. 

Fish,  George   F. 

Fish,  Hamilton  W. 
*Fish,  Henry  Van  C. 

Fisher,  H.    Clarence 
♦Fisher,  Oliver  L. 

Fischer,  Rudolph  H. 

Fisk,  Willard    C. 

Fiske,  Harrison   G 

Fiske,  Lyman    O. 

Fitch,  Ashbel   P. 

Fitch,  Francis   E. 

Fitz-Gerald,  Aaron  Ogden 

Fitz-Gerald,  John   D. 

Fitz-Gerald,  Paul,  M.  D. 
♦Fitzpatrick,  John  T. 

Flagg,  Rev.  Edward  O.,  D.  D. 

Fletcher,  Henry 
♦Fletcher,  Robert  S. 

Floyd,  Augustus 

Floyd,  Nicoll 

Floyd,  William 

Floyd-Jones,  George  S. 

Foote,  George    B. 

Foote,  Gilbert  F. 

Foote,  Robert  E. 

Forbes,  Rev.  Elmer  S. 

Forbes,  Harry  R. 

Forbes,  Henry  H.,  M.  D. 

Ford,  Edwin  L. 

Ford,  William  H. 

Ford,  Willis  E.,  M    D. 

Fordham,  Herbert  L. 

Foster,  Edward  W. 

Foster,  Frederic  De  P. 

Foster,  Giraud 

Foster,  Pell  W. 

Foulke,  Bayard   F. 
♦Fouquet,  Morton  L. 

Fowler,  Edward  S.,  Col.  U.  S.  A. 

Fowler,  Robert  L. 
Fowler,  Thomas  P. 
France,  Marshall  M. 
Francis,  Charles  S. 
Frear,  Charles  W. 
Frear,  William  B 


Freeborn,  James  L. 
French,  Harlan  P. 
Frisbie,  Gen'l  John  B. 
Frisbee,  Orlando  C. 
Frissell,  Algernon  S. 
Frost,  Benaiah  Y. 
Frothingham,  Charles  F. 
Frothingham,  Samuel 
Frye,  Jed 

Fuller,  Howard   N. 
Fuller,  Linus    E. 
Fuller,  Waldo  E. 
Fuller,  William   A 
Furey,  Charles  W. 
Furman,  Harry  A. 

*Gale,  Noel 

Gallatin,  Frederic 

Galusha,  Henry 

Gamage,  Frederick  L. 

Gardiner,  Asa  Bird,  LL.D. 

Gardiner,  George  N. 

Gardiner,  George  N.,  Jr. 

Gardner,  Faxton  E.,  M.  D. 

Gates,  Horatio  H. 

Gawtry,  Harrison  E. 

Gawtry,  Lewis    B. 

Gaylord,  Irving   C. 

Gazzam,  Edwin  Van  D.,  M.  D. 
*Geer,  Danforth 
*Geer,  Olin  P. 

Geer,  Walter 

Genung,  George  L. 

Gerry,  Elbridge  T. 

Gibbons,  Willard  Smith 

Gibson,  Charles  L.,   M.  D. 

Gibson,  Henry  P 

Gifford,  Frank    Edward 

Gilbert,  Charles  P.  H. 

Gilbert,  Henry  W. 

Giles,  John  C,  Jr. 

Giles,  Stephen  W. 

Gilfillan,  W.  Whitehead,  M.  D. 

Gillette,  Abram  D. 
♦Gilley,  William  C,  M.  D. 

Gillis,  Frederick  S. 

Gilmour,  Andrew  J.,  M.  D. 

Glenney,  William  P. 


94 


Goldsborough,  Washington  L.,  Capt.  U. 
S.  V. 

Goldsmith,  Alden  M. 
*Goodier,  James  H. 

Goodier,  Wadsworth  L. 

Goodrich,  George  S. 

Goodrich,  Paul  M. 

Goodrich,  Thomas   P. 

Goodridge,   Edwin  A.,  M.  D. 
♦Goodwin,  Clifford  C. 

Goodwin,  Edwin   P. 

Goodwin,  James  J. 

Goold,  Clarence  W. 

Gordon,  George   C. 

Gorham,  George  E.,  M.  D. 

Gott,  Joseph  W. 

Gould,  Edwin 

Gould,  Frank  J. 

Gould,  George  J. 

Gould,  Howard 

Graff,  Edwin  D.,  Capt.  U.  S.  V. 

Graham,  Malcolm 

Granniss,  Robert  A. 

Granniss,  Robert  A.,  Jr. 

Grant,   Francis    E. 

Grant,  George   M. 

Gratwick,  Frederic    C. 

Gratwick,  William  Ff. 
♦Green,  Arba  R.,  M.  D. 

Green,  Ashbel 
*Green,  Crawford  R.,  M.  D. 
*Green,  Lansdale  B. 

Greene,  Charles  A. 
*Greene,  Donald 

Greene,  Marshall  W. 

Greene,  Richard  Ff. 

Greenleaf,  John  T.,  M.  D. 

Greenough,  Charles  E. 

Greenwood,  Isaac  J. 

Greenwood,  Langdon 

Greer,  Charles 
*Greer,  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.,  D.  D. 

Gregory,  Franklin  U. 

Gridley,  Edward  M. 

Gridley,  Horace  W. 

Griffin,  Francis  B. 

Griffin,  Henry  A.,  M.  D. 

Griffith,  Charles  G. 


Griffith,  William  H. 
Griswold,  Chester 
Griswold,  Frank  G. 
Griswold,  John  C. 
Griswold,  Le   Grand   C. 
Groo,  Byron 
Groo,  George  W. 
Groo,  Sidney 
Groo,  William  J. 
Guild,  Frederic  A. 
Gulick,  Horace   M. 
Gulick,  John  C. 
Gulick,  James  C,  2d 
Gunther,  Clarence  E.,  M.  D. 
Gunther,   Franklin  L. 
Gunther,  William  L. 
*Gurley,  William  F. 
Gwyer,  Fred.  W.,  M.  D. 

Hackstaff,  William  G. 
Hadley,  Frank  W. 
*Haight,  Russell  W 
Haines,  Frederick    W. 
Haines,  George  Wr. 
Hale,  Edward  W. 
Hall,  A.   Mitchell 
Hall,  Alexander  Mitchell,  2d. 
Hall,  Charles   S. 
Hall,  Dudley 
Hall,  E.  Spencer 
Hall,  Frederick  J. 
Hall,  George  A. 
Hall,  Richard  F. 
Hall,  Thomas  George 
Hall,  W.   Hunt 
Hallam,  Frederick    W. 
Hallowell,  Thomas  J. 
Halsey,  Charles  W. 
Halsted,  John  F. 
Halsted,  Samuel   H. 
Hamersley,  Andrew  S. 
Hamilton,  Henry  De  W. 
Hamilton,  Schuyler  Van  C. 
Hamilton,  William  G. 
Hamilton,  William  P. 
Hamlen,  Arthur  B. 
Hamlen,  George  D.,  M.  D. 
Hammer,  Edwin  W 


95 


Hammond,  Graeme  M.,  M.  D. 

Handy,  Parker  D 

Hanford,  Robert  B. 

Harding,  George  C. 

Harmon,  Benjamin  S. 

Harrington,  Arvin  W.,  Jr. 

Harriot,  Samuel   C. 

Harriot,  Samuel   J. 

Harriot,  Samuel  W. 

Harris,  Henry  S.  T.,  Major  and  Surgeon 

U.   S.  A. 
Hart,  Henry  G. 
Hartley,  Wilfrid 

Harts,  William  W.,  Maj.  U.  S.  A. 
Harvey,  Leon  F.,  M.  D. 
*Harwood,  George  A. 
Hasbrouck,  Dudley  C. 
Hasbrouck,  Frank 
Haskell,  Frederick  A. 
Haskin,  William  L.,  Genl.  U.  S.  A. 
Hastings,  Hugh 
Hatch,  Arthur  M 
Hatch,  Henry  P. 
Hatheway,  Curtis  R. 
Haven,  Franklin  C. 
Hawes,  Charles  F. 
Hawes,  Gilbert  R. 
Hawkins,  Rush  C,  Brev.  Brig.  Genl.  U. 

S.  A. 
Hawley,  Benjamin  A. 
Hawley,  Irad 
Hay,  Charles  C. 
Hay,  James  R. 
Hay,  Louis  C. 
Hay,  Silas  C. 
Hayes,  Alfred,  Jr. 
Hayes,  Charles  W.,  D.  D. 
Hayes,  Francis  M.,  M.  D. 
Hays,  Daniel 
Hazeltine,  Abner 
Hazen,  Henry  C,  M.  D. 
Healey,  Jacob  F. 
Healey,  Warren  M. 
Heath,  George    G.    B. 
Heath,  M.  Angelo 
Heaton,  Charles  A. 
Hebert,  Henry  B. 
Hedden,  Josiah 


Hedden,  Warren  R. 

Hegeman,  Adrian  G. 

Hegeman,  John  R.,  Jr. 

Heilner,  George  C. 

Helmuth,  Wiliam  T.,  M.  D. 

Henderson,  Norman 

Henry,  Charles   S. 

Henry,  Douglas 

Henry,  Philip  W. 
*Henry,  William  T. 

Hepburn,  Leonard  F. 

Herrick,  Charles  W. 

Herrick,  Frank  C. 

Herzog,  Adrien  B. 

Herzog,  Edward  H. 

Hewitt,  Erskine 

Hewitt,  Fred.  W. 

Hewlett,  George 

Higgins,  Eugene 
*Higginson,  James  J. 

Highet,  Frank  B. 

Hill,  Charles  B. 

Hill,  Frank  H. 

Hill,  John  L. 

Hill,  Joseph  Eliot 

Hill,  Robert  C. 

Hill,  William  B. 

Hill,  William  S. 

Hills,  Elbndge  R.,  Col.  U.  S.  A. 

Hine,  Francis  L. 

Hinman,  Edward 

Hinman,  Matthew 

Hitchcock,  Bradford  W. 
*Hobbie,  George  S.,  M  .D. 

Hobson,  Henry  D. 

Hodges,  Alfred. 

Hoe,  George  E. 

Hoe,  James  C. 

Hoe,  William  A. 

Hoes,  Rev.  Roswell  R.,  U.  S.  N. 

Hoff,    John    Van    R.,    Col.    and 
Surg.-Genl.  U.  S  A.. 

Hoffman,  Alexander  W. 

Hoffman,  Samuel  V. 

Holbrook,  Levi. 

Holden,  Frederick  C,  M.  D. 

Holden,  James  A. 

Holland,  John  B. 


Dept. 


96 


Hollister,  Henry  H. 

Holmes,  Artemas  H. 

Holmes,  Edwin  T 

Holt,  George   C. 

Holt,  Henry 

Holt,  Roland 

Hone,  John 

Hone,  John,  Jr. 

Hoppin,  Francis  L.  V. 
*Hoppin,  Hamilton  L. 
*Hoppin,  Samuel  H. 

Hoppin,  William  W. 

Hopson,  Francis  J. 

Hornblower,  William  B. 

Horton,  Daniel  S.,  Jr. 

Horton,  Thomas  R. 
*Hosmer,  James  Ray,  Col.  U.  S.  A. 

Hotaling,  George  P. 
*Hotaling,  George  R 

Hotchkin,  Walter  B. 

Hotchkiss,  Henry  D. 

Hotchkiss,  Lucius  W.,  M.  D. 

Houghton,  Rev.  George  Clarke,  D.  D. 

Houghton,  Owen  E.,  D.  D.  S. 

Howard,  Arthur  P. 

Howard,  Ora 

Howard-Martin,  Edmund 

Howe,  Emerson 

Howe,  Jacob  F.,  M.  D. 

Howe,  John  M.,   M.  D. 

Howell,  Edwin  A. 

Howell,  Francis   B. 

Howell,  Henry  W. 

Howell,  Richard    L. 

Howell,  Rev.  Richard  L. 

Howland,  Henry  R. 

Hoyt,  Albert  E. 

Hoyt,  Gerald  L. 

Hubbard,  Grosvenor   S. 

Hubbard,  Ralph  K. 
*Hubbard,  Walter  C 

Hubbell,  Charles  B. 

Hughes,  Charles  W. 

Hull,  George  H. 

Hull,  Joseph  T. 

Humphreys,  Edward  W. 

Humphreys,  Rev.  Frank  L.,  S.  T.  D. 

Humstone,  Walter  C. 


Huntington,  Charles   R. 
Huntington,  Frederick  J. 
Huntington,  Henry 
Huntington,  William  R.,  D.  D. 
Hurd,  Arthur  W.,  M.  D. 
Hurd,  Frank  B. 
Hurlburt,  Percy  D, 
Husted,  Albert  N. 
*Husted,  Chester 
Hutchinson,  Cary  T.,  Ph.  D. 
Hyatt,  Abram  M. 
Hyatt,  Frank  S. 
Hyatt,  George  E. 
Hyatt,  Herbert  R. 
Hyde,  Augustus  Lord 
Hyde,  Benjamin  T.  B. 
Hyde,  Clarence  R.,  M.  D. 
Hyde,  Edwin    F. 
Hyde,  Elmer  W. 
Hyde,  Frank  H.  S. 
Hyde,  Frederick  E.,  M.  D. 
Hyde,  Henry  St.  John 
Hyde,  Herbert    M. 
Hyde,  William  H. 

*Ide,  James  M. 

Ide,  Robert  L. 

Imlay,  W.  T.  B.  S. 

Ingalls,  Harvey  H.  G. 

Ingersoll,  Chandler  G. 
*Ingraham,  Phoenix 

Innis,  Hasbrouck 

Ireland,  John  B. 

Ireland,  John  De  C. 

Irvin,  Rev.  William,  D.  D. 

Isham,  Charles 

Jackson,  Ernest  H. 
Jackson,  Ezra  T. 
Jackson,  Frank  W.,  M.  D. 
Jackson,  John  D. 
Jackson,  Joseph  C. 
Jackson,  Joseph  C,  Jr. 
Jackson,  Oswald 
Jackson,  Stuart  Wells. 
Jackson,  William    H. 
Jacobus,  John  S. 


97 


Jaffray,  Robert 

Jahne,  Henry  C. 

Jameson,  Robert  W. 

Jay,  John  C,  M.  D. 

Jay,  John   Garkson,   Jr. 

Jay,  William 
*Jeffery,  Oscar  W. 

Jenkins,  E.  Fellows 

Jenks,  Robert    I. 

Jennings,  Albert    G. 

Jester,  Claude  W. 

Johnson,  Bradish 
♦Johnson,  Carlton  P. 

Johnson,   Frederick   M. 

Johnson,  Herman  I. 

Johnson,  John  Q.  A. 

Johnston,  Prof.  Henry  P. 

Johnston,  John  Holmes 

Jones,  Meredith  L. 

Jones,  Paul  E. 

Judson,  Albert  L. 

Judson,  William  David 

Judson,  William  Pierson,  C.  E. 

Kasson,  Henry  R. 
Keegan,  Dermot  W. 
Keep,  Henry  V. 
Kelley,  Frank  M. 
Kellogg,  Edwin  W.,   M.  D. 
Kellogg,  John  M  ,  M.  D. 
Kellogg,  Richards 
Kemp,  Edward 
Kemp,  George  W. 
Kemp,  Rev.   Robert   M. 
Kennedy,  Elijah   R. 
Kennedy,  McPherson 
Kennedy,  McPherson,  Jr. 
♦Kennedy,  Theodore  T. 
Kent,  George  H. 
Kent,  Halsey  Wing 
Ketchum,  William  H. 
Kimball,  Harold  C. 
Kincaid,  Frederick  W. 
King,  Edward  B. 
King,  Landreth  H. 
Kingman,  William    L. 
Kingsbury,  Howard  T. 
Kingsbury,  Jerome,  M.  D. 


Kinnan,  Alexander  P.  W. 
Kirk,  Chester  H. 
Knapp,  Harry  K. 
Knapp,  Rev.  Shepherd 
*Kniffin,  Sidney  L. 
Knight,  Charles  H.,  M.  D. 
Knight,  Erastus   Cole 
Knight,  Henry  B. 
Knowlton,  Miner  R 
Knox,  John  M. 
Knox,  Schuyler  B. 
Koop,  Eugene  J. 
Kunkel,  John  A. 
Kunkel,  Robert  S. 
Kuper,  William   H. 

Ladd,  William  W 

Laimbeer,  Francis  E. 

Laimbeer,  John,  Jr. 
*Lamb,  Charles  R. 

La  Mont,  Herbert  M. 

Landon,  Francis  G 

Landon,  Henry  H. 

Lane,  Edward  Van  Z. 

Lane,  Francis    T.    L. 

Lane,  Smith   E. 

Lathrop,  Francis. 

Latting,  Charles  P. 

Latting,  Charles  P.,  Jr. 

Latting,  Walter  S. 
*Lawton,  Daniel  L. 

Lawton,  Edward  P 
*Lawton,  George  P. 

Lawton,  William  M. 

Lawyer,  George 

Leavitt,  Sheldon 

Leaycraft,  John  E. 

Leggett,  Edward  H. 

Leggett,  William  F 

Leigh,  Frederick  T. 
*Leland,  Arthur   S. 

Leland,  Charles  H. 

Leonard,  Clarence  E. 

Leonard,  Edgar  C. 

Leonard,  Gardner  C. 

LeRoy,  Frederick  G. 

LeRoy,  Henry  W. 

Lesley,  George  H. 
Lewis,  Thompson  H. 


98 


Lincoln,  Frederic  W. 

Lindsay,  John  D. 

Lindsley,  Henry  W   H. 

Lines,  Harvey  K. 
*Lines,  Theodore  T. 

Little,  Arthur  W. 

Little,  Thomas. 

Livingston,  D.  McRa 

Livingston,  Harold  M. 

Livingston,  Phifip. 

Lloyd,  Francis  G. 

Lloyd,  Henry  A. 

Lloyd,  Henry  D. 

Lloyd,  Herbert  DeN. 

Lloyd,  Isaac   F. 

Lockwood,  Henry  B. 

Lockwood,  Isaac   F. 

Lockwood,  W.  T. 

Long,  Isaac  S. 

Loomis,  William  H. 

Lord,  Frank  H. 

Lorton,  Heth. 

Lott,  Erskine  H. 

Loudoun,  Wood  D. 

Lounsbery,  Henry  H.  F. 

Lounsbury,  Herbert  S. 

Love,  Henry  M. 

Low,  Abbot  A. 

Low,  Joseph  T. 

Low,  Joseph  T.,  Jr.,  M.  D. 

Low,  William  G.,  Jr. 

Lowrie,  Charles  N. 

Luce,  Robert  Lee 
*Ludlow,  Henry  S. 

Lummis,  Benjamin  R. 

Lummis,  Charles  A. 

Lummis,  William. 

Lyman,  Robert   M 

Lyman,  Walter  H. 

Lyon,  Amos   M. 

Lyon,  Eldorus  D.,  M.  D. 

Lyon,  William  S. 

MacArthur,  Arthur. 
*MacArthur,  Charles  A. 
Macdonald,  Pierre  F. 
Macdonough,  George  H. 
MacHarg,  Martin,  M.  D. 


Mack,  Laurence    A. 

Maclay,  Augustus  W.,  M.  D. 

Maclay,  Isaac  W. 

MacNeille,  John  R. 

MacNulty,  Alexander  C. 

Malcolm,  Philip  S. 

Malcolm,  Richard    L. 

Mann,  S.   Vernon. 

Mann,  S.  Vernon,  Jr. 

Manson,  Thomas  L. 

March,  Alden. 

Marsellus,  Max  de  M. 

Marshall,  Charles  C. 

Marshall,  Hermann  Le  Roy 

Marshall,  Hermann  Le  Roy,  Jr. 

Marshall,  Howard 
*Martin,  Ferris  B. 

Martin,  George  F. 

Martin,  William  V. 

Marvin,  Robert  N. 

Mason,  A.  Livingston 

Mason,  James  K. 

Mattes,  William  F 

Mayhew,  Zeb. 

McAlpin,  Benjamin  B. 

McAlpin,  Edwin  A. 

McCaffrey,  John  T. 

McCandless,  Gardiner  F. 

McChain,  Richard  F. 

McClellan,  George  B. 

McClintock,  Emory. 

McClure,  William 

McCulloch,  Walter  B. 

McCurdy,  Richard  Aldrlch 

McCurdy,  Robert  H. 
*McEwan,  Walter  S. 

McGowan,  John,  Rear  Admiral  U.  S.  N. 

McGuire,  James  C. 

McHarg,  John  V. 

McKell,  David  McC,  Lieut.  U.  S.  A. 

McKesson,  George  C. 
*McKown,  William  J. 

McLanahan,  George  X. 

McLaughlin,  Edward  T. 

McLaughlin,  George  E.,  M.  D. 

McMurray,  Charles  B. 

McMurray,  Clarence  F. 

McNamee,  Charles  ; 


99 


McNamee,  Theodore  H. 
McWilliams,  Howard 
Mead,  Charles  A. 
Mead,  Charles  L. 
Mead,  E.  Russell. 
Mead,  James   H. 
Mead,  Joseph  D. 
Mead,  Spencer  P. 
Mead,  Walter  H. 
♦Mead,  Zachariah,  Jr. 
Mears,  Rev.  David  O.,  D.  D. 
Meeks,  Robert  T. 
Meigs,  Peveril,  Jr. 
Melville,  Henry 
Meredith,  William  T. 
Merrall,  Frank  R. 
Merrill,  John  L. 
Merriman,  Harry  M. 
Merritt,  Douglas 
Merwin,  Berkley  R. 
Metcalf,  Bryce 
Middleton,  George  W. 
Miles,  William  B. 
Miller,  Charles  B. 
Miller,  George  W. 
Milliken,  James  F. 
♦Milliman,  Myron  C. 
Mills,  Borden  H. 
Mills,  Charles  H. 
Mills,  Isaac  N. 
Mills,  John  F. 
♦Mills,  Philip  O. 
Mills,  Walter  S.,  M.  D. 
♦Milne,  Clyde 
Miner,  Frank  D. 
Minor,  Charles  W. 
Mitchell,  Clarence  B. 
Molleson,  George  E. 
Montgomery,  George  P. 
Montgomery,  Henry  E. 
Montgomery,  James  M. 
Montgomery,  James  M.,  Jr. 
Montgomery,  Richard  M. 
Montgomery,  Richard  M.,  Jr. 
Moore,  Charles  A. 
Moore,  Dwight 
Moore,  Frank  L. 
Moore,  Thomas  C. 


Moore,  William  C. 
Moorhead,  John,  Jr. 
Moran,  Charles 
Morfit,  Clarence 
Morgan,  Rev.  Brockholst 
Morgan,  Edwin  D. 
Morgan,  Junius  S. 
Morgan,  William  R. 
Morris,  Lewis  N. 
Morris,  Lewis  R..  M.  D. 
Morris,  Newbold. 
Morris,  Robert  C. 
Morris,  Robert  S.,  M.  D. 
Morris,  Robert  T.,  M.  D. 
Morrison,  Charles  K. 
Morrison,  George  A.,  Jr. 
Morrison,  Thomas  Hamblen 
Morse,  Waldo  G. 
Morton,  Henry  H.,  M.  D. 
Moses,  Horace  C. 
Mosher,  George  A. 
Mott,  Frank  H. 
Mott,  Lewis  Camp 
♦Mott,  Walter  W. 
Munson,  George  S.,  M.  D. 
Munson,  Paul  B. 
Munson,  Samuel  L. 
Munson,  Samuel  L.,  Jr. 
Murphey,  Elijah  W. 
Murray,  Charles  H. 
Murray,  Russell 
♦Murray,  William 
Muzzey,  Austin  K. 
Myer,  Albert  J. 
Mygatt,  John  Tracy 
Mygatt,  Otis  A. 
Mygatt,  William  R. 

Nathans,  John  A. 
Nathans,  Thomas  A. 
Neilson,  Henry  A. 
Nellis,  William  J.,  M.  D. 

Nelson,  Dean 
♦Nelson,  James  W. 

Nesmith,  Henry  E. 

Nesmith,  Howard  M. 

Nevius,  Theodore  M. 

Newcomer,  George  M. 

IOO 


Newkirk,  Warren  B. 
Newman,  Charles 
Newman,  John   L. 
Newton,  Rev.  Edward  P. 
Nichols,  Acosta 
Nichols,  George  L. 
Nichols,  James  A.,  M.  D. 
Nichols,  William  E. 
Nicholson,  Chrystie  F. 
Nimmo,  Ray  E. 
Norris,  Charles,  M.  D. 
Norvell,  Duncan  R. 
Norwood,  Lewis  M, 
Noyes,  James  A. 

Oakley,  Robert  H. 
O'Connor,  James. 
O'Connor,  Robert  K. 
O'Connor,  William  S. 
Oddie,  Orville,  Jr. 
Odell,  Charles  M. 
Ogden,  Louis    M. 
Olcott,  J.  Van  V. 
Olcott,  Richard  M. 
Olds,  Frank  W.,  M.  D. 
*01msted,  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  T.,  D.  D. 
Olmsted,  Edward 
Olney,  George  W. 
Olyphant,  Frank  M. 
Olyphant,  J.  Kensett 
Olyphant,  Murray 
Olyphant,  Robert 
Olyphant,  Robert  M. 
Olyphant,  Robert  M.,  Jr. 
Olyphant,  Talbot 
Osmer,  John  A. 
Ostrander,  George  N. 
Otis,  A.  Walker 
Otis,  George  Ford 
Owen,  Rev.  William  H.,  Jr. 
Owens,  William  W. 

Paige,  Edward   W. 
Palmer,  Ernest,   M.   D. 
Palmer,  Francis  S. 
Palmer,  Josiah    Culbert. 
Palmer,  Lucius  N. 
*Palmer,  Peter 


Park,  Roswell,  M.  D. 

Park,  William  G. 

Parker,  Daingerfield,  Gen.  U.  S.  A. 

Parker,  Frederick  S. 

Parker,  Samuel  E. 

Parmelee,  Charles  L. 

Parris,  Edward  L. 

Parsons,  Samuel. 

Parsons,  William  D. 

Partridge,  Frank  H, 

Patterson,  Edward  L. 

Patterson,  John  H.,  Brig.  Gen.  U.  S.  / 
Patteson,  Herbert  L. 
*Payne,  Harry  F. 

Peabody,  Charles  A. 
*Peabody,  Rushton 

Pease,  Herbert  Julius 

Peck,  Guy  D. 

Peck,  John  H. 

Peckham,  Thomas  Proctor 

Peet,  John  N. 

Peck,  William  E. 

Pell,  Frederick  A. 

Pelletreau,  Robert  S. 

Pendleton,  Edmund 

Perkins,  Charles  E. 

Perkins,  A.  Erickson 

Perkins,  James  D. 

Perkins,  Joseph  F.,  M.  D. 

Perrine,  William  W. 

Perry,  A.  J.,  Brig.  Gen.  U.  S.  A. 
*Perry,  William  Barker 

Perry,  William   Sumner 

Peters,  Andrew 

Peters,  Ralph 

Phelps,  John  Jay 

Phelps,  Samuel  F. 

Phillips,  Edgar  J. 

Phillips,  Wendell  C,  M.  D. 

Phisterer,  Karl  J. 

Pierce,  Charles  H. 

Pierce,  George  W. 

Pierce,  Lewis  Leland 

Pierrepont,  Henry  E. 

Pierrepont,  John  Jay. 

Pierson,  James  R. 
*Pierson,  Henry  L. 

Pinkerton,  Charles 

Pinkney,  Townsend 


IOI 


Pinto,  William  Albert 

Piper,  Alexander  R.,  Capt.  U.  S.  A. 

Piper,  Robert  A. 

Plum,  David  B. 

Plum,  Frederick  A. 

Plumb,  James  I. 

Plumer,  David  B. 

Plympton,  Gilbert  M. 

Polk,  William  M.,  M.  D. 

Pollard,  Frederick  C. 

Pomeroy,  George  E. 

Pond,  Charles  H. 

Poor,  Charles  L. 

Pope,  Frederick  W. 

Popham,  George  M. 
*Porcher,  Charles  M. 
*Porter,  Augustus  D. 

Porter,  Thomas  W. 

Porter,  William  H.,  M.  D. 

Postley,  Sterling 

Potter,  Albert  J. 

Potts,  Charles  E. 

Potts,  William  Rockhill 

Poucher,  John  W.,  M.  D. 

Prall,  John  H. 

Pratt,  Alexander,  D.  B. 

Pratt,  Dallas  B. 

Prentice,  Robert  K. 

Prentice,  William  S.  P. 

Prentiss,  Evarts  L. 

Prentiss,  Nathaniel  A. 

Price,  Alfred  B. 

Price,  Guernsey 

Prime,  Edward 

Primrose,  John  S. 

Prince,  Benjamin 

Proctor,  Frederick  T. 

Proctor,  Thomas  R. 

Proudfit,  William  Henry 

Provost,  David 

Pruyn,  Foster 

Pruyn,  Robert  C. 

Pumpelly,  Raphael 

Purdy,  Edward   L. 

Pyle,  Henry   S. 


Quinlan,  Charles  S. 


Raborg,  Thomas  M.  T. 
*Radford,  Harry  V. 

Ragland,  Samuel  H. 

Ralph,  George  F. 

Rand,  John  H. 

Rand,  William,  Jr. 

Rankin,  Egbert  G.,  M.  D. 

Raser,  William  H. 

Rasines,  Antonio 

Rathbun,  Frank  B. 

Raymond,  Marcius  D. 

Raymond,  William  L. 

Raymond,  William  O. 

Raynor,  Russell 

Raynor,  Samuel 

Rea,  Thomas  B. 

Read,  Harmon  P. 

Redington,  Lyman  W. 

Reed,  Dayton  F. 

Reed,  Frederic  Holly 

Reed,  Henry  B.,  M.  D. 

Reed,  Lewis  B. 

Reed,  Theodore  F. 

Reeve,  Willis  A. 

Remsen,  Cornelius  W. 

Remsen,  Phoenix 

Remsen,  William  O. 

Requa,  Isaac 

Requa,  James  M. 

Requa,  R.   Russell 

Revere,  Augustus  L. 
♦Reynolds,  Alonzo  P. 

Reynolds,  Alvah  L. 

Reynolds,  Charles  W. 

Reynolds,  Frederick  G. 

Reynolds,  John  Jay. 

Reynolds,  Rev.  Joseph 

Reynolds,  Wakeman   F. 

Reynolds,  Walter  V. 

Reynolds,  William  B.,  Major  U.  S.  A. 

Reynolds,  William  G. 

Rhinelander,  Philip 

Rhinelander,  T.  J    O. 

Rice,  Edward  R. 

Rice,  Frederick  H. 

Rice,  George  S. 

Rice,  William  G. 

Rich,  William  T. 


I02 


Richards,  Benjamin 

Richards,  Charles  S. 

Richards,  Edward  O 

Richards,  Frederick  B. 

Richards,  Hamilton  C. 

Richards,  William  M. 

Richards,  Rev.  William  R.,  D.  D. 
♦Richards,  William  W. 

Richardson,  Samuel  W. 

Riker,  John  J. 

Riker,  John  L. 

Riker,  Samuel,  Jr. 

Riley,  Robert  H. 
*Ripley,  John  W. 

Robbins,  Rowland  A. 

Robbins,  William  A. 

Roberts,  Erastus  T. 

Roberts,  Evelyn  P. 

Roberts,   Frederick    Rudolph. 

Roberts,  John  S. 

Roberts,  Nathan  B. 

Roberts,  Thomas  B.  G. 

Roberts,  Walter  F. 

Robeson,  Henry  B.,  Rear  Admiral  U. 

Robinson,  Alfred  B. 

Robinson,  Beverley  R. 

Robinson,  Charles  D. 

Robinson,  John  M. 
*Robinson,  Myron  W. 

Robison,  William 

Roby,   E.   Willard 

Rochester,  De  Lancey,  M.  D. 

Rochester,  Montgomery 

Rockwood,  George  G. 

Rodgers,  John  P. 

Rodgers,  Robertson 

Roe,  Charles  F.,  Gen'l. 

Roe,  Frank  O. 
*Roe,  Jesse  G. 
*Roe,  Leonard  I. 

Rogers,  Allen  M. 

Rogers,  Archibald 

Rogers,  Chas.  B. 

Rogers,  John  B. 

Rogers,  Lebbens  H.,  Jr. 

Rogers,  William  E 

Rollins,  Edward  A. 

Romer,  Alfred 

Root,  Arthur  G.,  M.  D. 


S.N. 


Root,  Talbot 
Root,  Valentine  E. 
Ropes,  Albert  G. 
Ross,  Elias  Ogden 
*Ross,  William 
Rossiter,  Lucius  Tuttle 
Rountree,  Robert  H. 
Rowland,  Charles  B. 
Rowland,  Henry 
Rowland,  Thomas  F.,  Jr. 
Rowland,  William 
Rowley,  Henry  Waite 
Rowley,  Warren  Curry 
Rucker,  William  J. 
Rudd,  William  P. 
Rundall,  Clarence  A. 
Russell,  Waldo  Putnam 
Rutherford,  Harry  V. 
Rutherford,  Robbins  S. 
Rutherfurd,  John  A. 
Rutherfurd,   Walter 
Ruxton,  Philip. 
Ryer,  Elmer  LeRoy 

Sabin,  Charles  D. 

Salisbury,  Richard  L. 

Salter,  Jasper  C. 

Sands,  Benjamin  J.,  M.  D. 

Sands,  John  A. 
*Sanford,  Edward  B. 
*Sanford,  Frederic  H. 

Sanford,  Henry  G 
*Sanford,  James  E. 

Sanger,  William  Cary. 

Sard,  Grange 

Satterlee,  F.  Le  Roy.  M.  D. 

Satterthwaite,  Thomas  E.,  M.  D. 

Sawyer,  Philip 

Saxe,  Henry  W. 
*Saxton,  Harold  N. 

Schanck,  George  E. 

Schenck,  George  E.  P. 

Schenck,  Gilbert  Van   E. 

Schermerhorn,  Arthur  F. 

Schermerhorn,  Charles  A. 

Schermerhorn,  Edward  G. 

Schermerhorn,  George  S. 

Schley,  James  M.,  M.  D. 


103 


♦Schley,  Robert  M.,  M.  D. 
♦Schuyler,  Philip  Van  R. 

Schuyler,  Sidney  S. 

Scott,  Alfred 

Scott,  Alfred   Irving 

Scott,  Walter  I. 

Scudder,  Alanson   H. 

Scudder,  Rev.  Henry  T. 

Scudder,  Willard 

Seabrook,  Harry  H.,  M.  D. 

Seaman,  Alfred  P.  W. 

Searing,  Peter  J.  L. 

Sears,  Clinton  B.,  Brig. -Gen.  U.  S.  A. 

Seaverns,  Francis 

Sedgwick,  Cyrus  S. 

See,  Horace 

See,  Joseph  E. 

See,  Milton 

Seeley,  William  Wyx 
♦Selkirk,  Frank  E. 
♦Sewall,  Rev.  Charles  G. 

Sewall,  Frederick  Beach 

Seward,  Frederick  W.,  M.  D 

Seward,  Frederick  W.,  Jr.,  M.  D. 

Seward,  George  F. 

Seward,  George  S. 

Seward,  William  H.,  Gen'l. 

Sexton,  Lawrence  E. 

Shannon,  Richard  C. 

Shannon,  Richard  C,  2d. 

Shaw,  Charles  G. 

Shea,  Rufus  I. 

Shehan,  Dennis  Thomas 

Sheldon,  Charles  Henry 

Sheldon,  George  R 

Sheldon,  Henry  K. 

Sheldon,  Ralph,  M.  D. 

Sheldon,  William  C. 

Shelton,  William  A. 

Shepard,  Charles  Taylor 

Shepley.  Behmar,  C.  H. 

Sherman,   Benjamin   P. 

Sherman,  Charles  A. 

Sherrill,  Charles  H. 

Sherry,  Arthur  G. 

Sherry,  Norman  Burt 

Shirley,  Rufus   G. 

Shoemaker,  George  MacDuffie 


Shoemaker,  Henry  F. 
Shoemaker,  James  D. 
Shrady,  Jacob 
Shrady,  John,  M.  D. 
Shurtleff,  Roswell  M. 
Sicard,  Montgomery  H.,  M.  D. 
Sill,  Francis  Livingston 
Sill,  John  T. 
Sillcock,  John  J. 
Sillcocks,  Henry 
Sillcocks,  Warren  S. 
Simmons,  Joseph  F. 
Simons,  Charles  D. 
Simons,  Charles  D.,  Jr. 
Simons,  Edward  H. 
Simons,  Edward  H.  H. 
Simons,  Harriman  N. 
Simpson,  Frank  Bradford 
Simpson,  Louis  W 
Skinner,  James  H. 
Slade,  George  T. 
Slade,  Henry  L. 
Slade,  William  G. 
Slingerland,  Cornelius  H. 
Slocum,  Herbert  J.,  Capt.  U.  S.  A. 
Smedberg,  Edmund  M. 
Smith,  Alanson  Page. 
Smith,  Alfred   E. 
Smith,  Andrew  H.,  M.  D. 
Smith,  Chandler. 
Smith,  Clarence  Wilbur 
Smith,  Edward  R. 
Smith,  Floyd  Robinson 
Smith,  Gilbert  L. 
Smith,  Guy  C. 
Smith,  Henry  Cole 
Smith,  Henry  E. 
Smith,  J.  Agustus 
Smith,  J.  Augustus,  Jr. 
Smith,  Rev.  Dr.  James  Tuttle 
♦Smith,  L.  Bertrand 
Smith,  Leonard  B. 
Smith,  Leonard  K. 
Smith,  Lewis  B. 
Smith,  Louis  G. 
Smith,  Sydney  L. 
Smith,  Thomas  E.  V. 
Smith,  Thomas  Guilford. 


104 


Smith,  Thomas  W. 

Smith,  W.   D.   Griswold 

Smith,  William  A. 
*Smyth,  Douglas    G. 

Snimn,  Elisha 

Snow,  John  L. 

Soule,  Louis  Hollenbeck. 

Southard,  J.  Bennett 

Spafford,  Joseph  H. 

Sparks,  Benjamin  Covel 
*Spears,  Harry  D. 

Speir,  Archibald  W. 

Speir,  Gilbert  MacMaster 

Spence,  Charles  R. 

Spencer,  Joseph  H. 

Spencer,  Lorillard 

Spencer,  Ralph  L. 

Sperry,  Joseph  A. 

Sperry,  Thomas  A. 

Sperry,  William  M. 

Squire,  George  H. 

Staats,  Edward  P. 

Staats,  John  H. 

Stackpole,  George  F. 

Stafford,  William  F. 

Stanton,  F.  McM. 

Stanton,  John  R. 

Stanton,  Walter 

Starr,  Peter  De  B. 

Starr,  Walter  D. 

Stearns,  John  Noble 

Stedman,  Francis  W. 
*Stedman,  Robert  L. 
♦Sterling,  William  C 

Sterry,  John  De  Witt 

Stevens,  Alexander  H. 

Stevens,  Byam  K. 

Stevens,  Franklin  E. 

Stevens,  John  A. 

Stevens,  John  B. 

Stevenson,  Clinton,  M.  D. 

Stevenson,  Richard  W. 

Stevenson.  William   P. 

Stewart,  Douglas  H.,  M.  D. 

Stewart,  Henry  P. 

Stewart,  William  D. 

Stickney,  Herbert  Whiting 

Stillings,  William  E. 


Stillman,  Thomas  B.,  Ph.  D. 
Stillwell,  William  M. 
Stockton,  John 
Stokes,  William  E.  D 
Stone,  Charles  F. 
Stone,  Charles  F.,  Jr. 
Stone,  John  K. 
Stoneback,  Charles  H. 
Stoneback,  Frank  A. 
Storer,  Albert  H. 
Storer,  Ebenezer 
Storm,  Clarence 
Storrs,  William  M. 
Story,  Henry  G. 
Story,  Joseph  G. 
Stover,  George  H. 
Stow,  George  G. 
Stow,  William  L. 
Stratton,  Albert  Elbridge 
Stratton,  Frank  Lawrence 
Stratton,  Gerald 
Stratton,  Philip  G. 
Streeter,  William  Walter 
Stringer,  George  A. 
Strong,  Alan  H. 
Strong,  Gilbert  W. 
Strong,  James  R. 
Strong,  John  R. 
Strong,  Lewis  B. 
Strong,  Prentice 
Strong,  Theron  G. 
Strong,  Wilson  B. 
Stryker,  Thomas  H 
Studwell,  Edwin  Augustus 
Studwell,  Edwin  Francis 
Studwell,  George  Augustus 
Studwell,  George  Washington 
Sturgis,  Granville  F. 
Sturgis,  Wm.  P. 
Sutliff,  Allan  H. 
Sutliffe,  Robert  S. 
*Sutphen,  John  S. 
Suydam,  John  R. 
Suydam,  Walter  L. 
Swan,  Edward  H.,  Jr. 
Swasey,  William  A. 
Sweet,  George  Sullivan 
Swift,  Edward  L. 


105 


Swift,  Edwin  E.,  M.  D. 
Swords,  Henry  C 

Taggart,  William  R. 

Talbot,  Charles  N. 

Talley,  John  Day 

Talley,  Preston  Lea 

Tallmadge,  Henry  O. 

Talmadge,  Edward  T.  H. 

Tapp,  Edward  W. 
*Tappan,  J.  B.  Coles 

Tappin,  Lindsley 

Taylor,  Edgar  A. 

Taylor,  George  A. 

Taylor,  Howard  A 

Taylor,  Joseph  F. 

Taylor,  Moses  W. 

Taylor,  Sutherland  G. 

Taylor,  W.  Irving 

Taylor,  William  A 

Tennille,  George  F. 

Tennille,  William  A. 
*Terhune,  Harold  L. 
Terhune,  Nicholas 

Terry,  John  T. 
Terry,  John  T.,  Jr. 
Terry,  Robert  Ezra  Huntington 
Terry,  Wyllys 
Thayer,  Francis  A 
Thayer,  Stephen  H. 
Thebaud,  Paul  G. 
Thorn,  Williamm  Benjamin 
*Thomas,  Aaron  S. 
Thomas,  Allen  M. 
Thomas,  Frank  W 
Thomas,  Frederick  C. 
*Thomas,  John  F. 
Thomas,  Theodore 
Thompson,  Alexander  R. 
Thompson,  Clarkson  Crosby 
Thompson,  Hobart  W. 
Thompson,  Robert  H. 
Thompson,  Von  Beverhout,  M.  D. 
Thompson,  William  L. 
Thompson,  William  P. 
Thornall,  Edward  V. 
Thorne,  Joel  W. 
Thome,  Robert 


Throckmorton,  Charles  W. 

Thurston,  Nathaniel  B. 

Tilden,  John  N. 

Tilford,  Frank 

Tillinghast,  Gen'l  Charles  W.,  2d 

Tinker,  Arthur  L. 

Tinker,  Charles  A 

Todd,  Herbert  W. 

Todd,  Judson  Scott 

Todd,  Perry  C. 

Tolles,  Brainard 

Tomlinson,  John  C. 

Tompkins,  Hamilton  B. 

Tostevin,  William  L. 

Totten,  John  R.,  Capt.  U.  S.  A. 

Towle,  Harry  F. 

Townsend,  David  C. 
*Townsend,  Eugene  D. 

Townsend,  Rev.  Frank  W. 

Tracy,  Ira  Otis,  M.  D. 

Treadwell,  George  C. 
*Treadwell,  Munson  H. 

Treat,  Edwin  C. 

Treat,  Erastus  B. 

Treat,  Payson  Jackson 

Tremain,  Henry  E 

Trevor,  Henry  G 

Trott,  James  P. 

Trowbridge,  Samuel  B.  P. 

True,  Clarence  F. 

Trull,  William  Evans,  Jr. 

Tucker,  Gilman  H. 

Tucker,  William  A 

Tucker,  Willis  G.,  M.  D. 

Tufts,  Walter  B. 

Turner,  Thomas  M. 

Turner,  Thornton  F. 

Tuttle,  Ezra  B. 

Tuttle,  Frank  D. 
Tuttle,  Winthrop  M. 
*Twiss,  Charles  V. 
Tyler,  Henry  W. 

Underhill,  Francis  T. 
Underhill,  Frederic  E. 
Underwood,  Frederick  D. 
Urmy,  Louis  Victor 
Urmy,  Winfield 


106 


Vail,  Floyd 

Valentine,  Benjamin  E. 

Valentine,  Samuel  H. 

Vanderbilt,  Charles  H. 

Van  Antwerp,  Daniel  Lewis 

Van  Court,  Robert  H. 

Vander  Veer,  Edgar  A.,  M.  D. 
*Vander  Veer,  James  N.,  M.  D. 

Van  Dyk,  James 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  D.  D. 

Van  Guysling,  George  E. 

Van  Iderstine,  Augustus 

Van  Lennep,  Frederic 

Van  Loan,  Zelah 

Van  Ness,  William  P.,  Major  U.  S.  A. 

Van  Orden,  Wessel  Ten  Broeck 
*Van  Pelt,  John  V. 

Van  Saun,  Henry  R. 
♦Van  Schaick,  Arthur  P. 

Van  Tuyl,  George  C,  Jr. 

Van  Volkenburgh,  Thomas  S. 

Van  Winkle,  Edgar  B. 

Van  Woert,  James  Burtus,  Jr. 

Van  Wyck,  William  E. 

Varnum,  Robert  T. 

Vedder,  Maus  R.,  M.  D. 

Vernon,  Granville  P. 

Ver  Planck,  William  G. 

Viele,  Charles  D.,  Brig. -Gen.  U.  S.  A. 

Viele,  Herman  K. 

Viele,  Sheldon  T. 

Voorhies,  Gordon 

Wade,  Alfred  B. 
Wade,  Daniel  T. 
Wade,  Herbert  T. 
Wade,  William  D. 
Wadhams,  Frederick  E. 
Wagner,  Charles  G,  M.  D. 
Wagstaff,  Cornelius  D. 
Wainwright,  John  H. 
*Wainwright,  John  W.,  M.  D. 
Wainwright,  William  P. 
Wait,  William  B. 
Wakefield,  Rev.  Wilson  F. 
Wakeman,  Abram 
Wakeman,  Wilbur  F. 
Walbridge,  Robert  R. 


Walden,  Franklin 

Walden,  Lienau 

Walker,  Edmond  B. 

Walker,  I.  Henry 

Walker,  John  McKeon 

Walker,  William  Macy 

Wallace,  William  A.  " 

Wallis,  Harrison  P. 

Walsh,  Samuel  A. 

Warbasse,  James  Peter,  M.  D. 

Ward,  Edwin  C. 

Ward,  Franklin  W 

Ward,  Henry  G. 

Ward,  Jacob  E. 

Ward,  John  Erskine 

Ward,  Reginald  H. 

Ward,  Rodney  A. 

Ward,  Sylvester  L.  H. 

Waring,  Welles  Catlin 

Warren,  Charles  E. 

Warren,  Edward  S. 

Warren,  Frank  Kaile 

Warren,  John  B. 

Warren,  Walter  P. 

Warren,  William  Y. 

Washburn,  John  H. 

Washburn,  William  I. 

Washington,  Wm.  De  H. 

Waters,  Henry 

Watkins,  Philip  L. 

Watson,  John  S. 

Weatherbee,  Edwin  H. 

Webb,  Charles 

Webb,  William  E. 

Webster,  Frank  D.,  Capt.  U.  S.  A. 

Weed,  Lewis  M. 

Weed,  Samuel  R. 

Weekes,  Henry  H. 

Weekes,  John  Abeel 

Weeks,  Anson  H. 

Weeks,  Bartow  S. 

Weeks,  Frederick  E 

Weeks,  William  H. 

Weeks,  William  Raymond 

Weir,  Levi  C. 
*Welch,  Ashbel  R. 

Welch,  Samuel  M. 
*Welcher,  Lester  G. 


107 


Weld,  DeWitt  C,  Jr. 

Weld,  j:  Edward 

Weld,  Robert 

Welles,  Charles  E. 

Welles,  Charles  S.,  M.  D. 

Welles,  Edgar  T. 

Welles,  Lemuel  A. 

Welling,  Richard  W.  G. 

Wellington,  Walter  L. 

Wells,  Edward    H 

Wells,  Frederick  H. 

Welsh,  Henry  B. 

Wemple,  Harry  Y. 

Wemple,  Henry  Y. 

Wemple,  John  R. 

Werner,  Carl  Reinhold 

Weston,  Albert  T.,  M.  D. 

Weston,  Charles  W.,  Jr. 

Wetmore,  Edmund,  LL.D. 

Wetmore,  Edward  W.,  A.  M.,  Pd.  D. 

Wheeler,  Charles  B. 

Wheeler,  Edward  J.,  Ph.  D. 

Wheeler,  Walter  R. 

Whipple,  Henry  B. 

Whipple,  Napoleon  D. 

Whipple,  Sherburne,  Lieut.  U.  S.  A. 

Whitaker,  Rev.  William  F.,  D.  D. 

White,  Alain  C. 

White,  Erskine  N.,  D.  D. 

White,  Henry  Kirke 

White,  James  G. 
*White,  Matthew,  Jr. 

White,  William  F. 

Whitehead,  Henry  Hedden 

Whitlock,  Herbert  P. 
*Whitmore,  Arthur  E. 

Whitmore,  Raymond  D. 

Whitney,  Alfred  R.,  Jr. 

Whitney,  Drake 

Whitney,  Howard  F. 

Whitney,  Warham 

Whiton,  James  Bartlett 

Whiton,  Louis  C. 

Whittemore,  George,  Jr. 

Whittemore,  Henry 

Wicker,  Cassius  M. 

Wilcox,  Reynold  W.,  M.  D. 


Wiley,  William  M. 
*Wilkes,  William  D. 

Willard,  David  S. 

Willard,  James  Le  Baron 

Williams,  Charles  H. 

Williams,  Charles  S. 

Williams,  Chauncey  P. 

Williams,  Clark 

Williams,  George  L. 

Williams,  Gibson  Tenney 

Williams,  Henry  D. 

Williams,  James  B 
*Williams,  Joseph 

Williams,  Leonidas  C. 

Williams,  Richard  H. 

Wilson,  Charles  R. 

Wilson,  Frederic  Hart,  M.  D. 

Wilson,  Henry  A. 

Wilson,  John  A. 

Wilson,  John  V. 

Wilson,  Richard  A. 

Wilson,  William 

Wiltsie,  Lawrence   Warren 

Wingate,  George  Albert 

Winne,  Charles  K.,  Col.  U.  S.  A. 

Winne,  Willis  Alvin 
*Winter,  Henry  Lyle,  M.  D. 

Winthrop,  Grenville  B. 

Wise,  Charles  F. 

Wisner,  Charles 

Wisner,  Horatio  S. 

Wisner,  Percy 

Witherbee,  Frank  S 

Wodell,  Silas 

Wood,  George  W. 

Wood,  John  H. 

Wood,  William  S. 

Woodhull,  Daniel  E. 

Woodhouse,  Joseph  S. 

Woodhull,  Jesse  C. 

Woodruff,  Charles  H. 

Woodruff,  Charles  H.,  Jr. 

Woodruff,  Frederick  S. 

Woodruff,  Henry  Gilbert 

Woodruff,  Lewis  B. 

Woodruff,  Timothy  L. 

Woodworth,  Abel  Milton 


1 08 


Wotkyns,  Tom  S. 
♦Wright,  Albert  M. 
Wright,  Charles  J.,  Brevet  Col.  U.  S.  A. 

Yeager,  James  M.,  D.  D. 
Yeaton,  Albert  S. 
York,  Edward  Palmer 
Young,  Andrew  M. 


Young,  John  V.  D.,  M.  D. 
Young,  Thomas  S. 
Young,  William  H. 
Youngman,  Harry  V. 
Youngman,  Vreeland  H. 
Youngs,  Edgar  G. 

Zacharie,  Charles  Cowing,  M.  D. 


TRANSFERS. 

Joseph  S.  Frelinghuysen,  to  New  Jersey  Society, 
James  R.  Stewart,  to  District  of  Columbia  Society. 


109 


Sons  of  the  Revolution 


IN  THE 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


REPORTS 

OF  THE  BOAED  OF  MANAGERS 
TREASURER    AND    HISTORIAN 


December  4,  1909 


Object  of  the  Society 

CONSTITUTION 

Preamble 

Whereas,  it  has  become  evident  from  the  decline  of  proper  celebration 
of  such  National  holidays  as  the  Fourth  of  July,  Washington's  Birthday,  and 
the  like,  that  popular  interest  in  the  events  and  men  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  is  less  than  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic ; 

And  Whereas,  this  lack  of  interest  is  to  be  attributed  not  so  much  to 
lapse  of  time  as  to  the  neglect  on  the  part  of  descendants  of  Revolutionary 
heroes  to  perform  their  duty  of  keeping  before  the  public  mind  the  memory 
of  the  services  of  their  ancestors,  and  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  and 
of  the  principles  for  which  they  contended ; 

Therefore,  the  Society  of  the  "Sons  oe  the  Revolution"  has  been 
instituted,  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  men  who,  in  military,  naval  or 
civil  service,  by  their  acts  or  counsel,  achieved  American  Independence ;  to 
promote  and  assist  in  the  proper  celebration  of  the  anniversaries  of  Washing- 
ton's Birthday,  the  Battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  the  Fourth  of 
July,  the  Capitulations  of  Saratoga  and  Yorktown,  the  Evacuation  of  New 
York  by  the  British  Army,  and  other  prominent  events  relating  to  or  con- 
nected with  the  War  of  the  Revolution ;  to  collect  and  secure  for  preservation 
the  manuscript  rolls,  records  and  other  documents  and  memorials  relating  to 
that  War ;  to  inspire  among  the  members  and  their  descendants  the  patriotic 
spirit  of  their  forefathers ;  to  inculcate  in  the  community  in  general  senti- 
ments of  Nationality  and  respect  for  the  principles  for  which  the  patriots  of 
the  Revolution  contended ;  to  assist  in  the  commemorative  celebration  of 
other  great  historical  events  of  National  importance,  and  to  promote  social 
intercourse  and  the  feeling  of  fellowship  among  its  members. 


General  Society 

(Organized  at  Washington,  D.  C,  April  19,  1890.) 

OFFICERS,  1908—1911 

General  President, 

Hon.  John  Lee  Carroll,  LL.D., 

Maryland  Society. 

General  Vice-President, 
Edmund  Wetmore,  LL.D., 
New  York  Society. 

Second  General  Vice-President, 
Major  Wilson  Godfrey  Harvey, 
South  Carolina  Society. 

General  Secretary. 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

New  York  Society. 

Assistant  General  Secretary, 

Prof.  William  Libbey,  D.  Sc. 

New  Jersey  Society. 

General   Treasurer, 

Richard  McCall  Cadwalader, 

Pennsylvania  Society. 

Assistant   General    Treasurer, 

Henry  Cadle, 

Missouri  Society. 

General   Chaplain, 

*Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  S.T.D.,  LL.D., 

Massachusetts  Society. 

General  Registrar, 

Walter  Gilman  Page, 

Massachusetts  Society. 

General   Historian, 
Capt.  William  Gordon  McCabe,  M.A.,  Litt.D.,  LL.D. 
Virginia  Society. 
*Deceased. 


Sons  of  the  Revolution 

IN    THE 

STATE   OF   NEW   YORK 

Instituted  February  22,  1876. 

Reorganized  December  4,  1883. 

Incorporated  May  3,  1884. 


FOUNDERS 


John  Austin  Stevens, 

John  Cochrane, 

Austin  Huntington, 

George  H.  Potts, 

Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge, 

George  Washington  Wright  Houghton, 

Asa  Bird  Gardiner, 

Thomas  Henry  Edsall, 

Joseph  W.  Drexel, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

James  Duane  Livingston, 

John  Bleecker  Miller, 

Alexander  Ramsay  Thompson. 


Officers,   1909 


President: 
Edmund  Wetmore,  34  Pine  Street. 

First  Vice-President: 
Robert  Olyphant,  17  Battery  Place. 

Second  Vice-President: 
John   Hone,  5  Gramercy  Park. 

Third  Vice-President: 
William  W.  Ladd,  20  Nassau  Street. 

Secretary: 
Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Fraunces  Tavern. 

Assistant  Secretary: 
Eugene  K.  Austin,  257  West  74th  Street. 

Treasurer: 
Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  71  Broadway. 

Registrar: 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Chaplain: 
Rt.  Rev.   David  H.   Greer,  D.D..   7  Gramercy  Park. 

Assistant  Chaplain: 
Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

Historian: 
Talbot  Olyphant,  32  Nassau  Street. 

Board   of  Managers: 

Philip  Livingston,  Metropolitan  Club.  Frederick  S.  Woodruff,  165  Broadway. 

Clarence  Storm,  100  Broadway.  Joseph  Tompkins  Low,  41  Liberty  Street. 

Henry  D.  Babcock,  17  Broad  Street.  William  Graves  Bates,  128  Broadway. 

John  C.  Tomlinson,  15  Broad  Street.  Edgar  C.  Leonard,  472  B'way,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Dallas  Bache  Pratt,  52  William  Street.  John  B.  Holland,  65  Broadway. 

John  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  71  Broadway.  Charles  Isham,  27  William  Street. 

Frederick  D.  Underwood,  50  Church  Street.  Beverly  Chew,  49  Wall  Street. 

Ralph  Peters,  Long  Island  City,  N.  Y.  William  Floyd,  84  William  Street. 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  102  Front  St. 

6 


Chapters  of  the  Society: 

Buffalo  Chapter,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Henry  R.  Howland,  Regent. 

George  W.  Comstock,  Secretary,  124  Lexington  Avenue,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Edgar  C.  Leonard,  Regent. 

Borden  Hicks  Mills,  Secretary,  44  Tweddle  Building,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

William  Floyd  Chapter,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 

William  Barker,  Jr.,  Secretary,  7  Hawthorne  Street,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Frederick  W.  Kincaid,  Regent. 

A.  Vedder  Brower,  Secretary,  306  Genessee  Street,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Orange  County  Chapter,  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  Roswell  W.  Chamberlain,  Regent. 
Jamestown  Chapter,  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Winfield  Scott  Cameron,  Regent. 
Frank  H.  Mott,  Secretary,  Fenton  Building,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

Executive  Committee: 
John  Hone,  Chairman,  Joseph  T.  Low. 

William  G.  Bates, 
President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  ex-officio. 

Real  Estate  Committee: 
Robert  Olyphant,  Chairman,  James  M.  Montgomery, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Henry  A.  Wilson, 

Charles  Isham,  Arthur  M.  Hatch. 

Membership  Committee: 
George  DeForest  Barton,  Chairman,  150  Broadway. 
Silas  Wodell,  149  Broadway. 
Wyllys  Terry,  60  Wall  Street. 

Landreth  H.  King,  Room  517,  Grand  Central  Station. 
Edward  L.  Parris,  45  Broadway. 

Richard  A.  Wilson,  499  Monroe  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Alfred  B.  Robinson,  206  Broadway. 
Caldwell  R.  Blakeman,  Coffee  Exchange. 
Benjaman  W.  B.  Brown,  18  Wall  Street. 
Talbot  Root,  52  Broadway. 
Chandler  Smith,  68  Broad  Street. 
Nathaniel  A.  Prentiss,  120  Broadway. 
Robert  Thorne,  30  Broad  Street. 

Historical  Committee: 
Clarence  Winthrop  Bowen,  Chairman,         George  B.  Class, 
David  Cromwell,  Norman  F.  Cushman, 

Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  Talbot  Olyphant,  Ex-officio. 


Essay  Committee: 

Marcius  D.  Raymond,  Chairman,  Richard  Henry  Greene, 

R.  Russell  Requa,  Augustus  Floyd, 

Herbert  L.  Bridgman. 

Library  Committee: 
John  R.  Totten,  Chairman,  Henry  Phelps  Johnston, 

Henry  Holt. 

Museum  Committee: 
Beverly  Chew,  Chairman,  Clarence  Storm, 

Charles  Isham,  William  Bunker, 

William  G.  Low,  Jr. 

Tablet  Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Henry  Russell  Drowne, 

Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  Alexander  R.  Thompson, 

Pierre  F.  Macdonald. 

Stewards: 

Benjamin  R.  Lummis,  Chairman,  Warren  S.  Banks, 

Rufus  I.  Shea,  Charles  E.  Warren, 

Henry  B.  Barnes,  Jr.,  Montgomery  H.  Sicard,  M.  D. 

Marshal: 
John  Butterfield  Holland. 

Aides: 

Eugene  K.  Austin,  Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 

Albert  Delafield,  Talbot  Root, 

DeWitt  Clinton  Falls,  Arthur  F.  Schermerhorn, 

Francis  Laurens  Vinton  Hoppin,  Clarence  Wilbur  Smith, 

John  Noble  Stearns. 

Publication  Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Charles  Isham, 

Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

8 


Annual  Church  Service. 

Aisle  Committee: 
Talbot  Olyphant,  Chairman, 

Banyer  Clarkson,  Robert  Morrison  Olyphant,  Jr., 

Cullen  Van  Rensselaer  Cogswell,  William  Rockhill  Potts, 

Robert  Grier  Cooke,  Edward  Lawrence  Purdy, 

John  Francis  Daniell,  Philip  Rhinelander, 

Gano  Dunn,  Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford, 

Joseph  N.  Lord  Edmonds,  Arthur  Frederic  Schermerhorn, 

Morris  Douw  Ferris,  Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 

S.  Vernon  Mann,  Charles  Hitchcock  Sherrill, 

Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr.,  Joseph  Ferris  Simmons, 

Murray  Olyphant,  Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff. 

Excursion  Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Edward  P.  Casey, 

Clarence  Storm,  John  C  Gulick, 

William  G.  Bates,  J.  Wray  Cleveland. 

Auditing  Committee: 
Joseph  T.  Low,  Dallas  B.  Pratt. 

For  Raising  Funds  for  Frounces  Tavern: 

Clarence  Winthrop  Bowen,  Chairman,     William  G.  Bates, 
George  C.  Buell,  Frank  E.  Tilford. 

Daniel  N.  Crouse,  Joseph  T.  Low, 

Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  Committee: 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  John  C.  Gulick, 

Chairman,  J.  Wray  Cleveland, 

Clarence  Storm,  Robert  Olyphant,  Ex-officio, 

William  G.  Bates,  Eugene  K.  Austin,  Ex-officio, 
Edward  P.  Casey,  Secretary  of  Committee. 

Committee  on  Constitution  and  By-laws: 

Edmund  Wetmore,  Chairman,  William  G.  Bates, 

William  W.  Ladd,  Frederick  S.  Woodruff. 


Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers 


To  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  State  oe  New  York  : 

The  Board  of  Managers  submits  the  following  report  for  the  year  ending 
December  4th,  1909 : 

Ten  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  have  been  held  during  the  year. 
At  the  last  Annual  Meeting,  December  4th,  1908,  in  the  absence  of  the  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Robert 
Olyphant,  the  First  Vice-President,  who  made  a  short  address,  welcoming 
the  members  to  the  first  Annual  Meeting  that  had  been  held  in  Fraunces 
Tavern  for  many  years,  and  congratulating  the  Society  on  its  flourishing  con- 
dition. 

In  the  absence  of  the  Secretary,  Mr.  Edwin  Pinckney  Collins  was  ap- 
pointed Secretary  pro  tern.  The  Chairman  read  a  communication  from  Mr. 
John  Austin  Stevens  in  regard  to  the  formation  of  the  Society,  and  also  the 
following  telegram :  "Congratulations  to  the  Sons  at  this  their  quarter-cen- 
tennial anniversary. — John  Austin  Stevens." 

The  reading  of  the  reports  of  the  Board  of  Managers  and  of  the  Treas- 
urer was  dispensed  with,  these  reports  having  been  printed  for  distribution 
to  the  members. 

The  Historian's  report  was  presented  by  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  during 
the  reading  of  which  all  the  members  rose  and  remained  standing. 

The  amendment  to  the  Constitution  as  to  the  wearing  of  the  Insignia 
proposed  by  Mr.  Levi  Holbrook  was  finally  adopted,  making  Paragraph  5  of 
Article  X  to  read  as  follows : 

"The  Insignia  shall  be  worn  by  the  members,  on  all  occasions  when  they 
shall  assemble  as  such,  and  may  be  worn  on  any  occasion  of  ceremony,  only 
on  the  left  breast  except  as  hereinafter  provided.  Members  who  are  Officers 
or  Ex-Officers  of  the  General,  or  of  the  State  Society,  may  wear  the  Insig- 
nia suspended  from  the  regulation  ribbon  around  the  neck.  The  Insignia 
shall  not  be  worn  as  an  article  of  jewelry,  nor  shall  the  use  of  it  be  allowed 
to  any  person  not  a  member.  The  rosette  must  not  be  displayed  at  the  same 
time  with  the  Insignia." 

11 


Mr.  Edgar  C.  Leonard  gave  notice  that  at  the  next  Annual  Meeting  he 
would  move  to  amend  the  above  Article  of  the  Constitution  by  inserting  the 
words  "and  Chapter  Regents,"  before  the  words  "may  wear  the  Insignia,  etc." 

The  Chairman  announced  that  Mr.  Townsend  Wandell,  a  late  member, 
had  left  the  Society  by  bequest,  one  thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  Storm  made  a  short  address  calling  attention  to  the  Museum  and 
asking  for  relics  either  as  donations  or  loans. 

Messrs.  Talbot  Root,  John  H.  Wood,  Warren  S.  Banks  and  J.  Edward 
Weld,  were  appointed  Tellers. 

The  polls  were  kept  open  from  3  :30  to  5  :oo  p.  m.  and  the  regular  ticket 
for  Officers  and  Board  of  Managers  was  duly  elected,  the  Tellers  announcing 
that  eight  hundred  and  eleven  ballots  had  been  cast. 

Since  the  Annual  Meeting  Col.  Eugene  K.  Austin  has  been  appointed 
Assistant  Secretary ;  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Assistant 
Chaplain ;  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  Historian ;  Col.  John  B.  Holland,  Marshal ; 
and  Messrs.  John  Hone,  Joseph  Tompkins  Low  and  Col.  William  G.  Bates, 
as  members  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

Various  Committees  have  also  been  appointed,  a  list  of  which  is  printed 
with  this  report. 

A  Stated  Meeting  was  held  at  Delmonico's,  New  York,  on  Monday 
evening,  January  25th,  1909,  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Frederick  Samuel 
Tallmadge,  late  President  of  the  Society,  and  was  observed  by  an  address 
made  by  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant,  who  recalled  how  much  the  Society  was  in- 
debted to  President  Tallmadge.  This  was  followed  by  a  lecture,  illustrated 
with  stereopticon  views,  by  Austin  Baxter  Keep,  A.  M.,  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity on  "The  Library  in  Colonial  New  York." 

On  Monday  evening,  April  19th,  1909,  the  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
fourth  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  a  Stated  Meeting  was  held 
at  Delmonico's,  New  York,  at  which  Mr.  Charles  Winthrop  Sawyer  delivered 
an  address,  illustrated  with  stereopticon  views,  on  "Fire  Arms  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  meeting  Col.  William  Graves  Bates,  gave  an 
account  of  the  proposed  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  to  take  place  in  the 
early  fall. 

At  the  Stated  Meeting  held  on  November  26th,  1909,  at  Delmonico's, 
New  York,  to  celebrate  the  Evacuation  of  the  City  of  New  York  by  the 
British  troops,  Mr.  Clarence  Storm  read  a  paper  on  Revolutionary  Powder 
Horns,  which  was  illustrated  with  stereopticon  views. 

12 


The  Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Society,  commemorative  of  the 
birth  of  George  Washington,  was  held  on  Sunday,  February  21st,  1909,  at 
St.  Bartholomew's  Church,  Madison  Avenue  and  Forty-fourth  Street. 

It  was  conducted  by  The  Rev.  R.  S.  W.  Wood,  Assistant  Minister  of 
St.  Bartholomew's  Church,  assisted  by  The  Rev.  George  Stuart  Baker,  D.  D., 
The  Rev.  Berry  Oakley  Baldwin,  The  Rev.  Pelham  St.  George  Bissell, 
M.  A.,  A.  K.  C,  The  Rev.  Albert  Alonzo  Brockway,  M.  A.,  The  Rev.  Henry 
Barton  Chapin,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  The  Rev.  Frank  Warfield  Crowder,  The  Rev. 
James  Shepard  Dennis,  D.  D.,  The  Rev.  Howard  Duffield,  D.  D.,  The  Rev. 
William  Nichols  Dunnell,  S.  T.  D.,  The  Rev.  William  Reed  Huntington, 
D.  D.,  and  The  Rev.  James  Tuttle-Smith,  D.  D. 

Representatives  were  present  from  the  Colonial  Dames  of  America,  the 
Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York,  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution, 
and  the  Societies  of  the  Cincinnati,  Colonial  Wars,  War  of  18 12,  Foreign 
Wars,  Aztec  Club,  and  Loyal  Legion,  the  Military  Society  of  the  War  of 
1812  furnishing  a  uniformed  escort. 

The  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Society  took  place  in  the  large  banquet  hall 
at  Delmonico's  on  February  22nd,  1909,  the  anniversary  of  Washington's 
Birthday,  and  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  the  President  of 
the  Society. 

The  following  invited  guests  were  present : 

Hon.  Horace  White,  Lieut.  Gov.  State  of  New  York ; 

Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.  D.,  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution ; 

Major  General  Leonard  Wood,  U.  S.  A.,  representing  the  Army ; 

Rear  Admiral  Francis  J.  Higginson,  U.  S.  N.,  representing  the 
Navy; 

Dwight  W.  Morrow ; 

Robert  Frater  Munro,  Saint  Andrew's  Society ; 

McDougall  Hawkes,  Society  of  the  Cincinnati; 

William  Temple  Emmet,  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick ; 

Edward  K.  Beddall,  St.  George's  Society; 

Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  Society  of  the  War  of  1812; 

Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  New  York  Historical  Society; 

Evert  Jansen  Wendell,  The  Holland  Society ; 

Hon.  James  H.  Codding,  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution ; 

Hon.  Gilbert  Collins,  New  Jersey  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 

13 


Herbert  Messinger  Leland,  Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  the  Rev- 
olution ; 
Frederick  Dwight,  Society  of  Colonial  Wars ; 
Capt.  James  M.  Andrews,  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars ; 
Capt.  George  T.  Langhorne,  U.  S.  A. ; 
Rev.  Robert  S.  W.  Wood. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.  D.,  Chaplain  of 
the  Society. 

The  banquet  hall  was  appropriately  and  tastefully  decorated  and  an  or- 
chestra was  furnished  for  the  occasion.  After  coffee  had  been  served  the 
Society's  banners  were  brought  in  with  drum  and  fife  accompaniment,  fol- 
lowed by  beautiful  baskets  of  flowers  presented  on  behalf  of  the  Colonial 
Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  and 
the  President  was  as  usual  duly  decorated  with  the  historical  cocked  hat. 

President  Wetmore  made  some  eloquent  and  appropriate  remarks  as  to 
the  occasion  we  were  celebrating,  and  the  toasts  were  responded  to  as  fol- 
lows : 

"George  Washington,"  by  the  Hon.  Horace  White,  Lieutenant  Governor 
of  the  State  of  New  York. 

"The  Army,"  Major-General  Leonard  Wood,  U.  S.  A. 

"The  Navy,"  Rear  Admiral  Francis  J.  Higginson,  U.  S.  N. 

"The  Revolution,"  Dwight  W.  Morrow. 

There  were  two  hundred  and  ninety-one  members  and  guests  in  attend- 
ance at  the  Banquet,  which  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  those  present. 

The  Society  took  an  active  part  in  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  in 
New  York  City,  September  25th  to  October  2nd. 

A  large  stand  was  erected  in  59th  Street  for  the  accommodation  of  mem- 
bers and  their  guests  for  the  several  parades,  and  two  floats  for  the  His- 
torical Parade  were  assigned  to  the  Society,  one  representing  "Washington's 
Farewell  to  his  Officers  at  Fraunces  Tavern,"  and  the  other  "Marinus  Willett 
Taking  Arms  from  the  British." 

Some  hundred  or  more  members,  led  by  First  Vice-President  Robert 
Olyphant  and  preceded  by  the  71st  Regiment  Band,  with  men  in  Continental 
uniform  carrying  the  banners  and  flags  of  the  Society,  participated  in  the 
Historical  Parade  on  Tuesday,  September  28th,  1909,  as  an  escort  to  the 
floats. 


The  steamer  Shinnecock  was  chartered  for  the  Naval  Parade  on  Fri- 
day, October  ist,  1909,  to  Newburgh  and  return,  and  some  four  hundred 
members  and  guests  passed  a  most  enjoyable  day  and  evening  on  the  Hud- 
son River.    Music  and  meals  were  provided  on  the  boat. 

A  special  loan  exhibition  at  Fraunces  Tavern  was  also  gathered  by  the 
Museum  Committee  for  the  Celebration. 


At  the  December  Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  the  Committee  on 
the  "Year  Book"  submitted  estimates  and  were  authorized  to  proceed  with 
the  publication  in  commemoration  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Anniversary  of  the 
reorganization  of  the  Society.  A  special  Committee  on  revision  and  print- 
ing of  Constitution  and  By-Laws,  was  appointed,  consisting  of  President 
Wetmore,  Col.  Ladd,  Col.  Bates  and  Mr.  Woodruff.  Attention  was  also 
called  to  the  workmanship  of  the  present  Insignia  and  a  resolution  adopted 
requesting  the  First  Vice-President  to  communicate  with  the  Bailey  Banks 
and  Biddle  Co.,  of  Philadelphia,  requesting  that  the  work  be  improved  and 
a  new  die  made. 

At  the  request  of  Col.  H.  L.  Scott,  Superintendent  of  the  United  States 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  the  Society  endorsed  the  appropriation  of 
$3,210.00  by  the  National  Government  for  the  preserving  and  marking  of 
Revolutionary  forts,  redoubts  and  other  historic  sites  within  the  West  Point 
Military  Reservation. 

At  the  January  Meeting  the  Treasurer  reported  receipt  of  bequest  of 
Townsend  Wandell  of  $1,000.00  and  on  motion  a  vote  of  thanks  was  extended 
to  the  executors  of  the  Estate.  Mr.  Montgomery  reported  that  the  Commit- 
tee on  Portraits  for  the  "Long  Room"  expected  to  receive  a  portrait  of  Gen- 
eral McDougall. 

At  the  request  of  Mr.  Henry  K.  Bush-Brown,  the  Society  endorsed  the 
appropriation  bill  before  Congress  for  the  improvement  of  the  light  house 
grounds  at  Stony  Point  adjacent  to  the  grounds  of  the  State  Park. 

At  the  March  Meeting  it  was  resolved  that  the  Society  participate  in 
the  ceremonies  incident  to  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  by  taking  part  in 
the  Historical  Parade  on  September  28th,  1909,  and  chartering  a  steamboat 
for  the  Naval  Parade  on  October  ist,  1909. 

It  was  also  resolved  that  the  First  Vice  President  and  the  Assistant 
Secretary  be  added  to  the  Excursion  Committee,  ex-ofncio. 

At  the  April  Meeting  the  following  resolution,  presented  by  Col.  Ladd, 
was  adopted  by  a  unanimous  and  rising  vote :  "Resolved,  that  the  members 

IS 


of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  have  heard  with  great  sorrow  of  the  loss  sustained  by  their  beloved 
associate,  James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  in  the  death  of  his  eldest  son,  James 
Mortimer  Montgomery,  Jr.  Taken  suddenly  at  the  very  threshold  of  man- 
hood, they  are  profoundly  impressed  with  the  great  grief  that  has  come  to 
his  parents,  and  they  tender  to  them  the  assurance  of  their  affectionate  sym- 
pathy in  this  their  great  sorrow." 

The  Society  offered  to  assist  the  South  Carolina  Society  of  the  Sons  of 
the  Revolution,  should  they  deem  it  appropriate  work  to  restore  the  grave  of 
General  Marion  in  the  town  of  St.  Stephen,  S.  C. 

Certificates  were  authorized  to  be  issued  to  the  High  School  pupils  who 
received  honorable  mention  for  their  essays. 

The  Board  of  Managers  accepted  with  thanks  the  courteous  invitation 
of  Mr.  William  Floyd  to  visit  and  partake  of  luncheon  at  the  old  mansion 
of  General  William  Floyd  of  the  Revolution  at  Mastic,  L.  I.,  on  May  ist, 
1909,  and  also  Mr.  Ralph  Peters'  kind  offer  to  provide  a  special  train  on  the 
Long  Island  Railroad  for  their  use  on  this  occasion. 

At  the  May  Meeting  the  Museum  Committee  was  authorized  to  request 
the  loan  of  portraits  and  relics  of  the  period  of  the  Revolution  for  exhibition 
in  Fraunces  Tavern  during  the  Hudson-Fulton  Cc'cbration. 

Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  for  the  special  Committee  on  the  Golden  Hill  Tab- 
let, read  a  report  on  the  site  of  the  '"Battle  of  Golden  Hill"  by  Professor 
Henry  P.  Johnston,  which  located  the  fight  of  1770  on  Golden  Hill  Street, 
now  John  Street,  from  William  Street  east  to  Pearl,  and  the  tablet  has  been 
ordered  to  be  placed  on  the  Phelps,  Dodge  &  Co.  Building,  99  John  Street. 

An  invitation  was  received  from  the  William  Floyd  Chapter  of  Troy, 
N\  Y.,  inviting  the  Officers,  Managers  and  Members  of  Committees  to  Troy 
for  Bunker  Hill  Day,  June  17,  as  guests  of  the  Chapter. 

A  resolution  was  passed,  authorizing  a  contribution,  equal  to  fifty  cents 
for  each  member  of  the  Society,  to  the  fund  being  raised  by  the  General 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  for  a  monument  to  be  erected  at  An- 
napolis, Md.,  in  memory  of  the  French  soldiers  and  sailors  buried  there  who 
lost  their  lives  in  the  Revolution,  and  the  Secretary  was  authorized  to  have 
a  circular  prepared  and  sent  to  members  requesting  that  contributions  in 
amounts  not  to  exceed  $5.00  be  sent  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Society. 

The  thanks  of  the  Society  were  voted  to  Mr.  John  B.  Riley,  of  Platts- 
burg,  N.  Y.,  Commissioner  of  the  Lake  Champlain  Tercentenary  Celebra- 
tion, for  his  gift  of  a  piece  of  the  "Royal  Savage,"  Arnold's  flagship  in  the 

16 


Battle  of  Valcour,  October  n,  1776,  and  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant  was  author- 
ized to  have  a  gavel  made  from  a  portion  of  the  wood,  and  the  remainder 
placed  in  the  Museum  with  a  suitable  inscription. 

The  Essay  Committee  reported  ninety-four  essays  received  from  fifty 
schools  on  the  subject,  "The  Services  of  Commodore  John  Paul  Jones  in  the 
Revolution,"  and  that  prizes  and  honorable  mention  have  been  awarded 
as  follows: 

First  Prize :  Sherman  Merritt  Smith,  Brockport  State  Normal  School, 
Brockport,  N.  Y. 

Second  Prize :  Glendon  Austin  Schubert,  Oneida  High  School,  Oneida, 
N.  Y. 

Third  Prize :  G.  Raynolds  Stearns,  Jr.,  Lafayette  High  School,  Buffalo, 
N.Y. 

Honorable  Mention. 

Bessie  R.  Schwartz,  Washington  Irving  High  School,  New  York 

City. 
Harold  A.  Grotke,  Buffalo  Central  High  School,  Buffalo,  X.  Y. 
Rose  M.  Levy,  Buffalo  Central  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
A.  Howard  Aaron,  Buffalo  Central  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Louise  M.  Lawton,  Skaneateles  High  School,  Skaneateles,  N.  Y. 
Olga  Rosenquist,  Yonkers  High  School,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
Ethel  Lennox,  West  Seneca  Union  School,  West  Seneca,  N.  Y. 
Calvin  P.  Vary,  Newark  High  School,  Newark,  N.  Y. 
Edmund   R.  Pendleton,   Schenectady  High  School,   Schenectady, 

N.  Y. 
Laura  Adelia  Cook,  Ithaca  High  School,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

A  letter  from  Mr.  William  M.  Wiley,  of  Holly,  Colorado,  was  read, 
calling  attention  to  the  dilapidated  condition  of  historic  buildings  at  York- 
town,  Va.,  and  on  motion  was  referred  to  the  Virginia  Society,  Sons  of 
the  Revolution,  with  an  offer  to  co-operate  in  their  preservation. 

The  Society  during  the  year  has  received  courteous  invitations  to  the 
following  banquets: 

Holland  Society, 

Naval  and  Military  Order,  Spanish-American  War, 

Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 

17 


Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick, 

Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 

South  Carolina  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 

Society  of  the  War  of  1812, 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars, 

Saint  Andrew's  Society, 

and  has  also  received  the  following  invitations : 

Reception  at  Fraunces  Tavern;  Knickerbocker  Chapter,  D.  A.  R. 

Reception  to  Admiral  Evans;  Navy  League  of  the  United  States. 

Centenary  of  birth  of  Edgar  Allen  Poe ;  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and 
Sciences. 

Meeting  at  the  Colony  Club,  New  York;  Daughters  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati. 

Exhibition  of  Pictures ;  Architectural  League. 

Celebration  at  Washington's  Headquarters,  New  York  City ;  Presi- 
dent of  Park  Board. 

Memorial  Continental  Hall  Completion,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution. 

Luncheon  at  Fraunces  Tavern,  New  York ;  Dixie  Club. 

Thomas  Paine  Centenary  Celebration  at  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y. ;  The 
Paine  Historical  and  Memorial  Associations. 

Unveiling  Tablet,  and  Luncheon  at  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y. ;  Hugue- 
not Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  Revolution. 

Lake  Champlain  Tercentenary  Celebration;  Lake  Champlain  Com- 
mission. 

Annual  Meeting  at  the  Nathan  Hale  School  House,  East  Haddam, 
Conn. ;  Connecticut  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

Tablet  Unveiling  at  Baton  Rouge,  La. ;  Louisiana  Society,  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Revolution. 

Unveiling   and   presentation   of   Memorial   Arch   at   Stony   Point 
Park ;  New  York  Society,  Daughters  of  the  Revolution. 

Presentation  to  the  City  of  New  York  of  the  Hudson  Memorial ; 
Colonial  Dames  of  America. 

Unveiling  of  a  Memorial;  Washington  Heights  Chapter,  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution. 

Dedication  of  Tablet  to  Soldiers  and  Sailors  of  the  Revolution ; 
Ohio  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

Church  Service ;  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  New  York. 

18 


Church  Service ;  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 
Church  Service ;  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  New  York. 
Memorial  Service  to  Washington  Irving,  Tarrytown,  N.  Y. 
Evacuation  Day  Exercises;  City  History  Club,  New  York. 
Unveiling  of  Marker,  site  of  Old  Charles  Town,  S.  C. ;  Charles 
Town  Chapter,  Children  of  the  American  Revolution. 


Our  Chapters,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  have  been  actively  engaged 
during  the  year,  and  report  as  follows: 

The  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  held  its  Annual 
Meeting  at  the  Fort  Orange  Club  on  January  14th,  1909.  Officers  were 
elected  for  the  new  year  and  the  annual  dinner  enjoyed.  The  speakers  on 
this  occasion  included  Hon.  James  W.  Wadsworth,  Rev.  Charles  A.  Rich- 
mond, D.  D. ;  Rev.  William  F.  Whitaker,  D.  D.,  and  Mr.  James  F.  Barker. 
On  February  21st  the  Chapter  attended  a  Washington's  Birthday  Service  at 
the  State  Street  Presbyterian  Church.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev. 
Charles  C.  Sewall.  The  William  Floyd  Chapter  of  Troy  and  various  other 
patriotic  societies  attended  as  guests  of  the  Chapter.  On  April  19th  a 
meeting  was  held  at  the  University  Club,  when  Hon.  Curtis  W.  Douglas 
delivered  an  address  on  "Some  Phases  of  the  Politics  of  the  Revolutionary 
Period"  and  Hon.  John  A.  Howe,  Jr.,  gave  patriotic  readings.  The  Chapter 
has  devoted  much  time  and  work  to  secure  the  enactment  of  laws  to  provide 
a  more  sane  and  safe  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July.  On  June  14th  a 
meeting  was  held  at  the  Albany  Historical  and  Art  Society,  when  a  paper 
was  read  by  Hon.  Victor  H.  Paltsits  on  "The  Commissioners  for  Detecting 
and  Defeating  Conspiracies  in  the  State  of  New  York  during  the  American 
Revolution."  On  this  occasion  the  members  of  the  Albany  Historical  and 
Art  Society  and  the  Mohawk  and  Gansevoort  Chapters,  D.  A.  R.,  were 
guests  of  the  Chapter.  On  October  8  the  Chapter  paraded  at  the  head  of 
the  Patriotic  Societies  Division  of  the  Hudson  Fulton  Parade,  in  Albany. 
The  Chapter  has  held  six  meetings  and  there  have  been  thirteen  meetings 
of  the  Executive  Board.    Total  membership,  122,  being  a  gain  of  11. 

The  Buffalo  Chapter,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  has  held  a  series  of  meetings  for 
social  intercourse,  and  the  reading  of  papers  on  patriotic  subjects.  Atten- 
tion is  called  to  the  loss  by  sudden  death  of  their  beloved  member  and 
former  President,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Williams,  who  had  been  a  leading  spirit 
in  the  Chapter.  As  a  mark  of  love  and  respect  to  his  memory  a  suitably 
engraved  bronze  tablet  has  been  erected  in  Trinity  Church,  Buffalo.    On 

19 


September  16th  they  met  in  a  body  at  the  Lafayette  High  School  to  present 
the  Prize  Essay  medal,  when  several  speeches  were  made,  and  the  affair 
was  of  great  interest.    Total  membership,  45. 

The  William  Floyd  Chapter  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  held  its  Annual  Meeting 
at  the  Troy  Club  on  February  22d,  1909.  After  the  election  of  officers 
Mr.  F.  W.  Thomas  delivered  an  able  address  on  Col.  Albert  Pawling,  a 
Revolutionary  soldier  and  friend  of  Washington.  The  Regent,  Col.  Walter 
P.  Warren,  suggested  the  desirability  of  honoring  Col.  Pawling  by  a 
monument,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  take  up  the  matter.  Col. 
Arthur  MacArthur,  Chairman  of  the  Upper  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration, 
then  outlined  the  proposed  work  of  the  celebration.  The  following  mem- 
bers of  the  'Chapter  did  excellent  work  on  the  various  committees  during 
the  celebration:  Col.  Arthur  MacArthur,  John  H.  Peck,  Eugene  Bryan, 
J.  C.  Cowee,  E.  W.  Douglas,  George  W.  Daw,  W.  B.  Frear,  Hon.  C.  S. 
Francis,  W.  F.  Gurley,  L.  B.  Green,  A.  W.  Harrington,  J.  M.  Ide,  H.  S. 
Ludlow,  A.  G.  Sherry,  Gen'l  C.  Whitney  Tillinghast,  II,  Capt.  W.  Leland 
Thompson,  Col.  Walter  P.  Warren,  Tom  S.  Wotkyns  and  William  Barker, 
Jr.  In  May  the  Chapter  was  invited  by  Mr.  William  Floyd  of  New  York 
to  visit  the  home  at  Mastic,  Long  Island,  of  Gen'l  William  Floyd  of  the 
Revolution,  from  whom  the  Chapter  takes  its  name.  Quite  a  delegation 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  this  most  interesting  spot,  where  they  were  met 
by  the  officers  of  the  New  York  Society  and  spent  a  most  enjoyable  day. 
On  Bunker  Hill  Day,  June  17th,  the  Chapter  received  as  guests  a  number  of 
the  officers  of  the  New  York  State  Society,  who,  after  a  ride  through  the 
city,  were  taken  to  the  Watervliet  Arsenal,  and  from  there  to  Van  Schaick 
Island,  after  which  all  enjoyed  lunch  at  the  Island  Golf  Club.  For  October 
9th  the  Chapter  chartered  the  steamer  Quackenbush  and  participated  in 
the  celebration  to  welcome  the  arrival  of  the  Half  Moon  and  Clermont  at 
Troy.  The  death  of  two  valued  members — Frederick  Augustus  Plum  and 
Henry  Galusha — has  occasioned  great  regret.  Eleven  new  members  were 
elected  in  1909  and  the  roster  now  contains  69  names. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  of  Utica,  N.  Y.,  held  its  Annual  Meeting 
on  the  morning  of  February  22d,  1909,  and  in  the  evening  the  Annual  Ban- 
quet was  held  at  the  Fort  Schuyler  Club.  Hon.  Henry  J.  Cookinham,  the 
retiring  Regent  of  the  Chapter,  acted  as  toast-master.  Responses  to  toasts 
were  made  by  the  Reverend  Ralph  Brokaw,  D.  D. ;  Thomas  R.  Proctor, 
Frederick  T.  Proctor,  Dr.  Willis  E.  Ford  and  Justice  Wright  of 
Oswego,  N.  Y. 

The  Jamestown  Chapter  of  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  held  its  Annual  Meet- 

20 


ing  and  election  on  July  5th,  at  the  Country  Club  at  Lakewood,  on  Chau- 
tauqua Lake.  In  April,  on  the  anniversary  of  Paul  Revere's  ride  and  the 
memorable  incidents  attending  it,  the  Regent,  Col.  Winfield  S.  Cameron, 
entertained  the  members  by  giving  a  dinner  at  his  residence,  which  was  a 
delightful  social  event  and  stimulated  interest  in  the  Chapter.  The  guest 
of  the  occasion  was  the  Hon.  Obed  Edson,  the  venerable  historian  of  the 
county,  who  spoke  eloquently  of  the  services  of  Samuel  Chattuck,  who  as 
a  mere  lad  had  served  in  the  French  and  Indian  War  and  later  in  the  War 
of  the  Revolution  with  great  credit.  Prizes  as  usual  were  offered  by  the 
Chapter  to  the  students  of  the  High  School  for  essays.  The  subject  for 
this  year  being  "The  Mohawk  Valley  in  the  Revolutionary  War." 

The  Orange  County  Chapter  of  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  reports  progress. 

The  Library  of  the  Society  has  grown  steadily  during  the  past  year 
and  our  Museum  has  received  a  great  many  very  important  and  desirable 
accessions.  At  the  present  time  it  is  unusually  attractive,  for  many  of 
the  interesting  documents  and  relics  relating  to  the  Revolutionary  War 
loaned  for  the  Hudson-Fulton  Exhibition  are  still  in  the  cases.  At  the  time 
of  the  celebration  hundreds  of  strangers  visited  Fraunces  Tavern,  and 
during  the  year  the  building  and  the  "Long  Room"  have  been  practically 
open  to  the  public  at  all  times. 

The  members'  dining  room  on  the  fourth  floor  should  be  more  gen- 
erally used  than  it  has  been  during  the  past  year,  for  it  is  not  only  very 
attractive,  but  it  offers  the  members  every  facility  and  convenience. 

The  suggestion  has  been  made  that  if  a  lunch  club  could  be  formed 
among  our  members  it  would  be  a  desirable  feature  and  do  much  to 
promote  acquaintance  and  social  intercourse. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-six  new  members  have  been  admitted  during 
1909,  and  the  Society  now  has  on  its  roll  twenty-one  hundred  and  forty-two 
being  a  gain  of  fifty-four. 

A  great  deal  of  time  has  been  devoted  to  the  correction  and  prepara- 
tion of  the  new  "Year  Book,"  which  will  shortly  be  issued,  and  it  is  antici- 
pated that  all  will  be  more  than  pleased  with  its  attractive  appearance  and 
valuable  historical  data. 

The  Secretary  desires  to  express  his  thanks  to  Mr.  Louis  B.  Wilson,  the 
Curator,  for  his  very  efficient  assistance  during  the  past  year. 

For  the  Board  of  Managers, 

Henry  Russeix   Drowne, 

Secretary. 
Fraunces  Tavern,  New  York  City. 

21 


Sons  of  the  Revolution,  General  Society 

Triennial  Meeting,  1908. 

The  Regular  Triennial  Meeting  of  the  General  Society,  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,  with  the  accompanying  exercises,  was  held  in  the  City  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  on  Monday  and  Tuesday,  April  27th  and  28th,  1908. 

The  headquarters  of  the  General  Society  was  at  the  New  Willard  Hotel 
and  the  itinerary  was  as  follows : 

On  Monday,  April  27,  members  and  guests  of  the  General  Society  left 
Washington  by  special  train  for  Annapolis,  Md.,  and  were  received  by  the 
Governor  of  Maryland,  at  the  Government  House,  after  which  an  oppor- 
tunity was  afforded  to  visit  the  Senate  Chamber  of  the  State  Capitol,  in 
which  Washington  resigned  his  commission  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Continental  Army,  and  other  points  of  interest  in  the  City  of  Annapolis. 
Luncheon  was  served  at  Carvel  Hall  and  afterwards  a  special  drill  and 
dress  parade  by  the  Brigade  of  Midshipmen  of  the  United  States  Naval 
Academy  was  tendered  to  the  General  Society  through  the  courtesy  of 
Capt.  Charles  T-  Badger,  U.  S.  N.,  Superintendent  of  the  Naval  Academy. 

After  the  ".lose  of  the  exercises  a  special  train  was  provided  for  the 
return  to  Washington. 

On  Tuesday,  April  28th,  the  Triennial  Meeting  of  the  General  Officers 
and  delegates  was  l/eld  at  the  New  Willard  Hotel  at  10  a.  m.  Through 
the  courtesy  of  Majoi  General  Frederick  D.  Grant,  U.  S.  A.,  commanding 
the  Department  of  the  East,  Col.  Charles  N.  P.  Hatfield  ordered  a  special 
drill  in  the  riding  hall  at  Fort  Myer,  Virginia,  of  the  Thirteenth  Cavalry 
and  a  battery  of  artillery,  at  3  p.  m.  At  7  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  General 
Society  entertained  its  members  and  guests  at  a  banquet  at  the  New  Willard 
Hotel. 

Addresses  on  this  occasion  were  delivered  by  Hon.  Edmund  Wetmore, 
Ambassador  Jusserand,  Attorney  General  Bonaparte,  Major  General  Bell, 
Ex-Secretary  Hilary  A.  Herbert  and  Mr.  John  Canfield  Tomlinson.  One 
of  the  most  pleasant  events  of  the  evening  was  the  presentation  to  the 
General  Secretary,  Mr.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  of  a  service  of 
silver  as  a  testimonial  of  appreciation  of  his  many  years  of  active  work 
for  the  Society. 

22 


The  Delegates  and  Alternates  appointed  to  represent  the  New  York 
Society  at  the  Triennial  Meeting  were  as  follows : 


Edmund  Wetmore, 
Robert  Olyphant, 
Joseph  T.  Low, 
William  G.  Bates. 
Henry  Russell  Drowne, 
Arthur  M.  Hatch, 
Samuel  L.  Munson, 
William  W.  Ladd, 
Philip  Livingston, 
Hugh  Hastings, 
Dallas  B.  Pratt, 


Delegates. 


Henry  D.   Babcock, 

Talbot  Olyphant, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson, 

John  B.  Holland, 

Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D. 

Charles  H.  Sherrill, 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Brugler, 

Frederick  De  P.  Foster, 

James  M.  Montgomery, 

John  C.  Tomlinson, 

Judge  Alphonso  T.  Clearwater. 


Alternates. 


Col.  Eugene  K.  Austin, 

Frederick  S.  Woodruff, 

Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 

George  DeForest  Barton, 

James  B.  Van  Woert, 

J.  Morgan  Howe,  M.  D. 

Alfred  Ely, 

Reese  Carpenter, 

Brig.-Genl.  Daingerfield  Parker, 

James  Van  Dyk, 

Elliot  L.  Butler, 


T.  Guilford  Smith, 
Henry  G.  Woodruff, 
Charles  D.  Belden, 
Edmund  Pendleton, 
Wm.  L.   Cowan, 
Edmund  Howard-Martin, 
Rev.  Wm.  W.  Atterbury, 
Col.  J.  Wray  Cleveland, 
Col.  A.  Noel  Blakeman, 
Gilbert  Livingston  Smith, 
E.  Fellows  Jenkins. 


Quite  a  number  of  our  members  were  also  present. 


*3 


REPORT 


OF  THE 


TREASURER 


SONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

Treasurer's    Report, 


RECEIPTS 

Real  Estate — 

Fraunces  Tavern — Rents  and  Return  Premium.  $4,040.06 
Use  of  Dining  Room,  Jan.  12  and  25,  Feb. 
13   and  23,    $54;    E.    Westerburg,   bis 

share  of  painting,  1908,  $50 104.00 

West  55th   Street— Rents 4,038.72 

Fire  loss  adjustment 93.00 

Legacy— Estate  of  Townsend  Wandell 1,000.00 

Initiations   1,230.00 

Interest  on  balances 52.77 

Tablets — 

Balance  Nov.  18,  1908 $172.04 

Interest    4.63 

General — 

Balance  Nov.  18,  1908 $526.01 

Dues  :    1907,  $5 ;  1908,  $155.75 ;  1909,  $10,674.97 ; 

1910,  $15    10,850.72 

Insignia,  Rosettes  and  Ribbon 887.76 

Sales  at  Secretary's  Office  :  Match  Boxes,  $5.75 ; 
Canes,  $79 ;  Tallmadge  Memoirs,  $36 ;  Tall- 
madge  Medals,  $21;  Red  Jacket  Medals, 
$13;  Hale  Statuettes,  $160;  Supplementary 

Year  Book,  $3 ;  Applications,  $47 364.75 

Interest  on  balances,  $111.20;  check  replaced, 
$5 ;  guests  at  meetings,  $12 ;  collection  on 
checks,  $0.50;  N.  Y.  Telephone  Co.,  Rebate 
on   Contract,   $12.60 ;   Banquet ;    Souvenirs, 

$81,  balance  from  Stewards,  $3.07 225.37 

Hudson-Fulton  Celebration    5,680.45 


Real  Estate. 


$10,558.55 


General. 


$176.67 


18,535.06 


$10,558.55 


$18,711.73 


E.  &  O.  E.  New  York,  November  18,  1909. 

26 


IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

November  18,  1908,  to  November  18,  1909 


DISBURSEMENTS 

Real   Estate — 

Deficiency,  November  18,  1908 

Fraunces  Tavern — Interest,  $1,500;  Taxes, 
$503.41;  Tax  Registration,  $2;  Insurance, 
$198.27;  Flags,  $126;  Watchman's  Clock, 
$15;  Mantel,  $35;  Mantel  Clock,  $65;  Jan- 
itor, $600;  Painting,  $413;  Carpets,  $55.32; 
Air  Valve,  $1 ;  Window  Flowers,  $4.50 ;  Glass 
Knobs,  $1.75;  Repairs,  $111.41;  Picture 
Framing,  $7.50;  Notary,  Wandell  Legacy, 
$1;  Visitors'  Book,  $13.75;  Water  Supply, 
Gas  and  Electricity,  $36.50;  N.  Y.  Edison 
Co.,  $37.80   $3,728.21 

West     55th     Street— Interest,     $1,500;     Taxes, 

$1,241.74  ;  Insurance,  $432.24 3,173.98 

Insurance  on  Archives 14.09 


Genebal — 
Treasurer — Postage,     $100.59;      Printing     and 
Stationery,  $64.40;  Auditing,  $40;  Clerical, 
$732.S0;    Collecting    Dues,    $17.50;    Collec- 
tions on  Checks,  $9.80;  File  and  Repairing 

Stamp,  $1,15 ;  Safe  Deposit  Box,  $10 $976.24 

Secretary—Printing,  $617.90;  Coal,  $250.63; 
Clerical,  $2,329;  Petty  Cash,  $235;  N.  Y. 
Telephone  Co.,  $110.60;  N.  Y.  Edison  Co., 
$202.90;  Binding  Applications,  $8.50;  Hang- 
ing and  Removing  Awnings,  $4.50 ;  Repair- 
ing Flags,  $5.50;  Replenishing  Flowers  in 
Boxes,   $5 ;    Leather    Cases,    $11 ;    Leather 

Boxes,  $7 ;  Wood  Boxes,  $2.32 3,789.85 

General   Society — Dues    518.50 

Appropriations  to  Chapters 541.00 

Death  Notices  250.25 

Insignia,  Rosettes  and  Ribbon 684.40 

Annual  Meetings— 1908,  $247.43  ;  1909,  $67.75. . .  315.18 

Stated   Meetings,   $1,286.37;   Banquet,   $171.76; 

Church  Service,  $187.42   1,645.55 

Manager's  Report,  $394;  Salary  of  Exam- 
iner, $300 694.00 

"First   Census,"    $2;    "Journal   of   Continental 

Congress,"  $10   12.00 

Triennial  Meeting  Reports,  $89 ;  N.  Hale  Statu- 
ettes, $105 ;  Greer  Genealogical  Work,  $65 ; 
Insignia  Rev.  Francis  Craft,  $20;  Prize  Es- 
says, $75;  Printing  same,  $57;  Medals  for 
same,  $21;  Memorial  Wreaths,  $75;  French 
Monument,  Printing,  $27.50;  Canes,  $89; 
Canes  to  State  Societies,  $27.09;  Stewards' 
Badges,  $11;  Checks  returned,  $10;  Dues 
overpaid  and  returned,  $5;  Year  Book, 
Printing,  $12.75 ;  Insurance  on  Portraits  for 

same,  $6.12    695.46 

Hudson-Fulton  Celebration    6,593.50 

Balances — Real  Estate  ~ 

Tablets    $176.67 

General  Fund 1,819.13 


Real  Estate. 


$578.50 


6,916.28 


3,063.77 


$10,558.55 


General. 


$16,715.93 

1,995.80 
$18,711.73 


ARTHUR  MELVIN  HATCH,  Treasurer. 

27 


SONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 


Balance   Sheet 


ASSETS 

Real  Estate — 
Nos.  146  and  148  West  55th  Street  (cost  1902)  . . 

Fraunces  Tavern   (cost  1904) $80,000.00 

Reconstruction  Fund    66,014.82 

Cash    

General  Fund — 

Balance  Tablet  Subscriptions $176.67 

Balance  Cash  1,819.13 

Books,  Pictures  and  Relics 8,000.00 

Office  Furniture  and  Fixtures 600.00 

Six  Silk  Flags  and  One  Banner 500.00 

Tallmadge  Memoirs   612.00 

Tallmadge  Medals    333.00 

Nathan  Hale  Statuettes 36.00 

Rosettes,  363  @  14  cents 51.02 

Insignia,  2  old  @  $11  and  12  new  @  $18 238.00 

Ribbon,    297%    yards    @    71.18    cents 

(imported  1905)   211.86 

Initiations  unpaid,     5  ->  ^  J..       .    „  „^„  M 

Dues                  "        41}Estimated    200.00 


$62,000.00 

146,014.82 
3,063.77 


$211,078.59 


12,777.68 


$223,856.27 


E.  &  O.  E.  New  York,  November  18,  1909. 


28 


IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


November  18,  1909 


LIABILITIES 

Real   Estate — 

West  55th  Street— Balance  Mortgage $30,000.00 

Interest 445.83 

Fraunees   Tavern — Balance  Mortgage 30,000.00 

Interest 445.83 


Assets    $223,856.27 

Liabilities    60,891.66 

Net  assets $162,964.61 


$60,891.66 


ARTHUR  MELVIN  HATCH,  Treasurer. 


29 


REPORT 


OF  THE 


HISTORIAN 


In  Memoriam 


Admitted 
Maj.  William  Butler  Reynolds,  U.  S.  A.,  1892 

Rev.  Charles  Wells  Hayes,  D.  D.,  1894 

Oliver  Grant  Barton,  1894 

George  Bradley  Culver,  1894 

Joseph  Fleming  Perkins,  M.  D.,  1893 

Charles  Benjamin  Miller,  1888 

Herman  Knickerbacker  Viele,  1900 

Henry  Broughton,  1908 

Lewis  Barton  Strong,  1892 

Isaac  Walker  Maclay,  1893 

Edwin  Albro  Howell,  1900 

William  Gray  Park,  1893 

Benjamin  Prescott  Sherman,  1891 

Frederic  Van   Lennep,  1889 

Smith  Edward  Lane,  1892 

Robert  Newland  Marvin,  1895 

Duncan  Robertson  Norvell,  1891 

Harry  Saltonstall  Babcock,  1889 

Charles  Hornblower  Woodruff,  Jr.,  1894 

Rev.  William  Irvin,  D.  D.,  1900 

Charles  Howard  Williams,  1891 

William  Madison  Cole,  1890 

Frederick  Augustus  Guild,  1884 

James   Mortimer   Montgomery,  Jr.,  1904 

Henry  Hutchinson   Hollister,  1891 

Franklin  Bartlett,  1895 

Edward  Piatt  Staats,  1899 

John  Blackman  Frisbie,  1893 

Thomas  Sears  Young,  1893 

Cyrus  Clark,  1891 

Clarence  Eugene  Gunther,  M.  D.,  1901 


Died 

January  25th,  1908. 
November  29th,  1908. 
December  6th,  1908. 
December  6th,   1908. 
December  8th,   1908. 
December  8th,    1908. 
December  14th,  1908. 
December  19th,  1908. 
December  21,  1908. 
December  29th,   1908. 
January  2nd,   1909. 
January   19th,    1909. 
January  20th,  1909. 
February   1st,    1909. 
February  1st,   1909. 
February  7th,  1909. 
February    13th,    1909. 
February  17th,  1909. 
February  17th,   1909. 
February  22nd,  1909. 
February  27th,  1909. 
March  5th,   1909. 
March  13th,   1909. 
April  6th,  1909. 
April  10th,  1909. 
April  23rd,   1909. 
April  26th,  1909. 
May  nth,  1909. 
May  21  st,   1909. 
May  24th,  1909. 
June  12th,  1909. 


33 


John  Lawrence  Riker, 

Frederick  Augustus  Plum, 

James  Bogart  Williams, 

Rev.    William   Reed    Huntington,   D. 
IX.  D.,  D.  C.  L.,  L.  H.  D. 

Douglas  Smyth, 

Eugene  Bissell, 

Peter  de  Baun  Starr, 

Henry  Galusha, 

Charles  Henry  Farnam, 

Edward  Flint  Brown, 

John  Jones  Sillcock, 

Herman  Isaiah  Johnson, 

Francis  Lathrop, 

Richard  Lord  Annesley, 

Charles   Felter  Hawes, 

William  Lightner  Cowan, 


D. 


Admitted 

Died 

1890 

July  6th,  1909. 

1895 

July  20th,  1909. 

1892 

July  26th,   1909. 

1896 

July  26th,   1909. 

1909 

July  31st,   1909. 

1889 

August  28,  1909. 

1896 

September  10th,  1909. 

1898 

September  14th,  1909. 

1897 

September  24th,  1909. 

1889 

September  26th,  1009. 

1886 

September  30th,  1909. 

1904 

October  14th,  1909. 

1886 

October  18th,  1909. 

1808 

October  24th,  1909. 

1894 

October  30th,   1909. 

1894 

November  24th,  1009. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

Talbot  Olyphant, 

Historian. 


34 


Donations 

Books,  Pamphlets,  Etc. 


TITLES 

Descriptive  Book  on  Glens  Falls, 
Program  of  Ceremonies,  Prison  Ship,  Mar- 
tyrs  Monument, 
Hall  of  Fame,  Unveiling  of  Tablets, 
Vol.  17th  Mass.  Soldiers  and  Sailors, 
Washington's   Farewell   Address   and   Let- 
ter to  Madison, 
Report  of  Librarian  of  Congress, 
Pamphlet  "The  Mayflower  Flag," 
Tremain  Genealogy, 
Bryant  Park,  Brochure, 
By-Laws,  North  Carolina  Society,  S.  of.  R., 
Address  on  Gov.  Alexander  Martin, 
Baker's    Itinerary    of    Gen'l     Washington, 

1775-1783, 

Bulletin  of  Brown  University, 

Banquet,  Church  Service  and  Essays,  Mis- 
souri Society,  S.  of  R., 

Roster  Cincinnati  in  Virginia, 

List  of  Benjamin  Franklin  Papers, 

Naval  Records  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, 1775-1778, 

Papers  of  James  Monroe, 

Vernon-Wager  Manuscripts, 

Claflin  Family,  Genealogy, 

Paper  on  Major-General  W.  B.  Franklin, 

Booklet,  Green's  Retreat, 

N.  Y.  State  Historical  Association,  Vol. 
VIII, 

Letters  and  Recollections  of  George  Wash- 
ington, 

Washington  in  His  Relation  to  the  Na- 
tional Idea, 

Catholic  Footsteps  in  Old  New  York, 

Preserving  the  Health  of  Soldiers, 

History  of  Newton,  Massachusetts, 


DONOR 


J.  A.  Holden. 


Aaron  Bancroft. 
H.  M.  MacCracken. 
Wm.  M.  Olin. 

Wm.  Scott  Lyon. 

Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian. 

Jas.  Le  B.  Willard. 

Henry  E.  Tremain. 

Republican  Club. 

M.  de  L.  Haywood,  Secretary. 

M.  de  L.  Haywood,  Secretary. 

Geo.  H.  Coutts. 

Rev.  Thos.  D.  Anderson,  D.  D. 

H.  Cadle,  Secretary. 

Heth  Lorton. 

Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian  of  Congress. 

Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian  of  Congress. 

Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian  of  Congress. 

Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian  of  Congress. 

Chas.  H.  Wight. 

Gen.  Joseph  C.  Jackson. 

John  Selby  Primrose. 

Robert  O.  Bascom. 

H.  B.  Barnes,  Jr. 

Hampton  L.  Carson. 
Benjamin  R.  Lummis. 
Andrew  J.  Gilmour,  M.  D. 
Wm.  M.  Noble. 


35 


TITLES 

Fraunces  Tavern, 

National  Register  1909  Military  Order  of 
Foreign  Wars, 

Pennsylvania  Society,  S.  of  R.,  Proceed- 
ings, 1 908- 1 909, 

California  Society,  S.  of  R.,  1903- 1907, 

California  Society,  Colonial  Wars,  1903- 
1907, 

Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  1779, 
Vol.  XIII,  XIV  and  XV, 

Lake  Champlain  Tercentenary  Programme, 

David  Sprout  and  Naval  Prisoners, 

Whitemarsh,  Address  by  Charles  Henry 
Jones, 

Poem,  Salutation  to  our  United  States  Flag, 

Memorial,  Oliver  Grant  Barton, 

Year  Book,  1908-9, 

Memoirs  of  Major-General  Charles  Lee, 

Our  Flag,  Illustrated  Pamphlet, 

Pocket  Register,  Commandery  of  California, 
Loyal  Legion, 

Speeches  Delivered  and  Year  Book,  1908- 
1909, 

Reception  to  Officers  of  the  Atlantic  Fleet 
by  California  Society,  S.  of  R., 

Romance  and  History  of  Eltweed  Pome- 
roy's  Ancestors, 

Constitution  and  Register,  General  Society, 
War  of  1812, 

Year  Book  1909  Ohio  Society,  Sons  of  the 
Revolution, 

2  Vols.,  New  York  Historical  Society  Pub- 
lications, 

Dorrance    Inscriptions, 

Minutes  of  Commissioners  for  Defeating 
Conspiracies  in  the  State  of  New- 
York,  2  Vols. 

Nathan  Hale  of  '73,  a  Drama, 

A  Century  of  Population  and  Growth  in 
the   United   States,    1790-1900, 

The  Hungry  March,  a  paper  read  before 
the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars, 

Journal  of  American  History, 

Calendar  of  Sir  William  Johnson  Manu- 
scripts, 

36 


DONOR 

Mrs.  Julia  E.  Bates. 

J.  H.  Morgan,  Sec.  Gen'l. 

Ethan  Allen  Weaver,  Sec'y- 
Holdridge  O.  Collins. 

Holdridge  O.  Collins. 

Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian  of  Congress. 
Education  Department. 
James  Lenox  Banks. 

E.  A.  Weaver,  Secretary. 
Dr.  Wm.  F.  H.  Kruger. 
Geo.  DeForest  Barton. 
Empire  State  Society,  S.  A.  R. 
Valentine  Everit  Root. 
H.  C.  Brown. 

Bat.  Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  R.  Smedberg, 
U.  S.  A.  Recorder. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Holdridge  O.  Collins. 

A.  A.  Pomeroy. 

J.  E.  Burnett  Buckinham,  Secretary. 

Jackson  W.  Sparrow,  Secretary. 

Clarence  Storm. 
Emma    Finney    Welch. 


Victor  Hugo  Paltsits,  State  Historian. 
Henry  B.  Barnes,  Jr. 

Philip  L.  Watkins. 

Gilbert  Ray  Hawes. 
Gilbert  Ray  Hawes. 

Education  Department,  N.  Y. 


Miscellaneous  Donations 


Pictures,  Relics,   Etc. 

TITLES  DONOR 

Photograph  of  tablet  "Edenton,  N.  C,  Tea 

Party,"  J.  S.  Primrose. 

Picture   of   house  in   New   Utrecht,  L.    I., 

where   Genl.    Nath'l   Woodhull    died, 

Sept.  30,   1776,  Nath'l  Woodhull  Chapter,  D.  A.  R. 

Badge,   Prison   Ship   Martyr's  Monument,       Stephen  W.  Giles. 
Engraving,    "Washington's    Adieu    to    his 

Generals,"  John  N.  Golding. 

Engraving,   "The   Surrender  of  Cornwallis 

at  Yorktown,"  John  N.  Golding. 

Wood    and     coins     from     British     frigate 

"Charon,"  Wm.  L.  Cowan. 

Paper  cutter  from  shingle  of  Washington's 

Headquarters,  at  Morristown,  N.  J.        H.  R.  Drowne. 
Cannon  ball  from  British  frigate  "Hussar,"     J.  Augustus  Smith. 
Portrait  of  Washington.  J.  Augustus  Smith. 

Piece  of  beam  of  "Royal  Savage,"  John  B.  Riley. 

Piece   of    Railing,    Manor    Hall,    Yonkers, 

N.  Y.,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Berthof. 

Photograph   of    Statue    of    Gen'l    Anthony 

Wayne,  H.  K.  Bush-Brown. 

Engraving,     "Baron     Steuben     at     Valley 

Forge,"  Augustus  G.  Heaton. 

Letters  of  Col.  Sidney  Berry,  Sept.  11  and 

Dec.  28,   1776,  Sidney  J.  Cowen. 

Major's    Commission    of    Daniel    Delavan, 

Oct.  19th,  1786,  Marinus  W.  Dominick. 

Lieutenant  Colonel's  Commission  of  Daniel 

Delavan,  Feb.  1,  1792,  Marinus  W.  Dominick. 

Letter  to  Governor  George  Clinton  from  E. 

Benschoten,  June  18,  1781,  Marinus  W.  Dominick. 

Washington   Badges,  H.  Russell  Drowne,  Jr. 

37 


TITLES  DONOR 

Cup  and   Saucer,   Souvenir  of  the  Centen- 
nial  Celebration  in  Rhode  Island  of 

the  Burning  of  British  Ship  "Gaspee,"  Mrs.  Mabel  W.  Drowne. 

Bust  of  Samuel  Adams,  Charles    D.     Burrage,     President    Mass. 

Society,  S.  of  R. 

Photograph  of  Steamboat  "Shinnecock,"  Benjamin  R.  Lummis. 

Two  Revolutionary  powder  horns,  Benjamin  R.  Lummis. 

Letters  patent  from  Gov.  Clinton  to  Wil- 
liam Floyd,  William  Floyd. 

Loaned  to  the  Society 

By  Chandler  Smith 

Masonic  Jewel  presented  by  the  First  Masonic  Lodge  in  America  to  Gen.  Burbeck's 

father,  Lt.-Col.  William  Burbeck,  in  1756. 
Hat,  epaulettes,  swords  and  belts  of  Gen.  Henry  Burbeck. 
Miniatures  of  Gen.  Henry  Burbeck  and  his  wife,  Lucy  Elizabeth  Burbeck. 


By  Henry  Russell   Drowne 

Papers  and  letters  of  the  French  Officers  in  Newport  during  the  Revolution. 

Hat  and  sword  of  Dr.  Solomon  Drowne,  surgeon  of  the  Revolution. 

Bayonet  case  of  Capt.  William  Drowne,  1775-1778. 

French  Officer's  pistol  of  the  Revolution. 

Brass  pistol  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

Revolutionary  fife  from  Bemis   Heights,  near   Saratoga,  N.  Y. 

Revolutionary  spontoon. 

Lock  from  Officer's  trunk  and  pocket  knife  found  at  Bemis  Heights. 

Piece  of  one  of  the  booms  of  the  West  Point  chain  across  the  Hudson  River. 

Revolutionary   bayonet    from   the   Arnold    Homestead,    Warwick,   R.   I. 

Sergeant's  sword  of  the  Revolution  from  the  Arnold  Family. 


By  Joseph  H.  Adams 

Commission  of  John  Adams  of  Andover. 

By  Edgar  G.  Youngs 

Portrait  of  Daniel  W.  Gantley. 

By  Alexander  R.  Thompson 

Enlistment  certificate  and  dagger  of  Lt.  Alexander  Thompson,  1779-1783. 

38 


By  J.  E.  Kelly 

Revolutionary  sword,  canteen,  and  flint-lock  gun. 
Bronze  placque  of  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne. 

By  A.  Murray  Young 

Silhouettes  of  Col.  William  De  Hart,  Elizabeth  Bleecker  De  Hart,  Mr.  Genet  and  Mr. 

Pennant. 
Invitation   to   Dancing   Assembly,   New  York,   1791. 

By  William  Floyd 

Sword  and  scabbard  of  Gen.  William  Floyd. 
Spoon  mold,  shot  mold  and  two  powder  horns. 

By  Leonard  Irving 

Flint-lock  gun  of  Beverly  Knapp,  one  of  Washington's  body  guard. 

By  William  L.  Calver 

Sleeve  links,  buttons,  badge  of  bonnet  piece,  British  belt  plate,  and  belt  plate  of  the 
Cold  Stream  Guards. 

By  Morris  P.  Ferris 

Engraving  of  Washington  at  the  age  of  18. 

Gazette  of  the  United  States,  April  15th,  1789. 

Letter  of  Gen.  George  Washington  to  Major  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  July  27th,  1779. 

By  George  H.  Coutts 

Mortar  and  pestle  of  Captin  John  Hampton,  1745-1822. 


39 


Members  Admitted,  1909 


Frederic  Gregory  Mather,  Stamford,  Conn. 
Charles  Freeman  Fishbeck,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Morris  Simpson  Daniels,  Suffern,  N.  Y. 
John  Mears,  M.  D.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Harry  Tucker  Crissey,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Theodore     Faxton     Gardner,     Le     Vesinet, 

France. 
Harry    Harrison    Bissell,    Fort    Mackenzie, 

Wyoming. 
Arthur  Delano  Weekes,  New  York  City. 
Ralph  Waldo,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 
Lawrence  Lewis  Gillespie,  New  York  City. 
Homer  Thrall  Joy,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 
James  Barnes  Bouck,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
George  Castor  Martin,  New  York  City. 
Zeb  Mayhew,  Jr.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Walter  Ewing  Hope,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Edward  S.  Kaufman,  New  York  City. 
Harrison  Wright,  New  York  City. 
Edward  Simmons  Hall,  New  York  City. 
Darwin  Pearl  Kingsley,  Riverdale-on-Hud- 

son,  N.  Y. 
Henry  Titus  Hodgskin,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
William  Leonard  Benedict,  New  York  City. 
James  Spencer  Hedden,  New  York  City. 
Arthur   Du    Puy   Chambers,    East    Orange, 

N.J. 
Richard  William  Brass,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
James  Whitney  Wilson,  Geneva,  N.  Y. 
Mortimer  Fargo,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
Ezra  Parmalee  Prentice,  New  York  City. 
Irving  Piatt  Withington,  M.  D.,  New  York 

City. 
Douglas  Smyth,  New  York  City. 
Henry  Woodward  Sackett,  New  York  City. 
Rolfe  Floyd,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 


James  Henry  Ottley,  New  York  City. 
Francis  Winfield  Collins,  New  York  City. 
Francis  DeMilt  Jackson,  New  York  City. 
Arthur  Cowee,  Berlin,  N.  Y. 
Russell  Benedict,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Frederick  Howard  Cookinham,  Utica,  N.  Y. 
Henry  Jared  Cookinham,  Jr.,  Utica,  N.  Y. 
Albert  Eliphalet  Mitchell,  New  York  City. 
Robert  Rennie  Atterbury,  Wyckoff,  N.  J. 
Harison  Williams,  New  York  City. 
Calvin  Eugene  Nichols,  M.  D.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Lindley  Murray  Franklin,  Jr.,  Flushing,  N.  Y. 
George  Wheeler  Meacham,  New  York  City. 
Charles  Howard  Piatt,  New  York  City. 
Henry  Theodore  Kellogg,  Plattsburg,  N.  Y. 
George  Casper  Kellogg,  Plattsburg,  N.  Y. 
Carol  Dater  Stone,  New  York  City. 
Henry  Aspah  Stone,  New  York  City. 
William  Herman  Hopkins,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Isaac  Henry  Vrooman,  Jr.,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Joseph  Morton  Sheridan,  New  York  City. 
John  Pierre  Frothingham,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Frederick  Grayston  van  Antwerp,  Montclair, 

N.  J. 
Henry  Hutchinson  Hollister,  Jr.,  New  York 

City. 
Buell  Hollister,  New  York  City. 
John  Fred.  Pierson,  New  York  City. 
James  Cole  Hancock,  M.  D.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
William  Henry  Class,  New  York  City. 
William  Hathaway  Class,  New  York  City. 
Walter  Whipple  Batchelder,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
A.  L.  Benedict,  M.  D.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Henry   St.    Claire   Whithead,    Port  Chester, 

N.  Y. 
Willard  Louis  Caler,  Norfolk,  Va. 


41 


Lyman  Tiffany  Dyer,  New  York  City. 

George  Jones  Dyer,  New  York  City. 

Marion  McMillan,  M.  D.,  New  York  City. 

Stanley  Lyman  Otis,  New  York  City. 

Charles  Hepburn  Class,  New  York  City. 

Louis  Stanislaus  Burdett,  New  York  City. 

Henry  Wickes  Goodrich,  New  York  City. 

Francis  Joseph  Vernon,  New  York  City. 

Harold  Standish  Bradford,  Glen  Ridge,  N.  J. 

John  Jay  Barker,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Edgar  Patterson  Redfield,  New  York  City. 

Archibald  Alexander  Campbell,  Jersey  City, 
N.J. 

Henry  Emerson  Dean,  New  York  City. 

Isaac  Henry  Vrooman,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Thomas   Fatzinger   Patterson,   New  Bright- 
on, S.  I. 

James  Henry  Elmore,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Augustus  George  Heaton,  New  York  City. 

Jacob  Charles  Edgar  Scott,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Roclif  Brinkerhoff  Smith,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Andrew  Douglas  Salkeld,  New  York  City. 

Edwin  Willard  Deming,  New  York  City. 

Robert  Brockway  Reeves,  New  York  City. 

William  Henry  Warren,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Walter  Phelps  Warren,  Jr.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Chester  Ingersoll  Warren,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Clifford  Webster  Estes,  New  York  City. 

Joseph  Beecham  Estes,  Princton,  N.  J. 

Frank    A.    Palmer,    M.    D.,    Mechanicville, 
N.  Y. 

Curtis  Noble  Douglas,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Varick  Dey  Martin,  New  York  City. 

Ithamar  Whitney  Copeland,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

William  O.  Bartlett,  New  York  City. 

Everett  Abbott  Brett,  New  York  City. 

David  Burger  Young,  Huntington,  N.  Y. 

Edward    Ewing   Williams,    Richmond 
Hill,  N.  Y. 

Charles  Anderson  Williams,  Richmond  Hill, 
N.  Y. 

Paul  Alexander  Larned,  Lt.  U.  S.  A.,  Platts- 
burg,  N.  Y. 

John  Verner  Henry  Nott,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Russel  Headley,  Albany,  N.  Y. 


Harry  Roberts  Wheeler,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
William  Bowen  Boulton,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 
George    Knowles    Swinburne,    M.   D.,   New 
York  City. 

Edward  Franklin  Weld,  Richmond  Hill, 
N.  Y. 

Hugh  Henry  Lansing,  Watervliet,  N.  Y. 
Nathaniel  C.  Robbins,  Pelham,  N.  Y. 
John  Walter  Benson,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Horace  Secor,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 
James  Francis  Upham,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Leonard  House  Giles,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Louis     Frederick    William    Wallace,     New 
York  City. 

Douglas  Campbell,  Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y. 

Clifton  Otis  Smith,  New  York  City. 

Harvey  Roberts  Kingsley,  Rutland,  Vt. 

Howard  Randall  Butler,  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

Rev.  Albert  Richard  Allen  Bradford,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y. 

Kenneth  Johnston,  New  York  City. 

George  Abbott  Stevens,  New  York  City. 

William  Arthur  Whitcomb,  New  York  City. 

Howard  Valentine  Smith,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

William  Earl  Lowther,  New  York  City. 

Henry  Hunt  Romer,  Pleasantville,   N.  Y. 

George  W.  Van  Boskerck,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 

Edward     Cohman      Delafield,     Riverdale-on- 
Hudson,  N.  Y. 

Albert  Vander  Veer,  M.D.,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Allan  Beach  Arnold  Bradley,  New  York  City. 

Daniel  Richards  Bradley,  New  York  City. 

Frank  Orlando  Manning,  M.D.,  New  York 
City. 

Hunter  Brooke,  Jr.,  transferred  from  Penn- 
sylvania Society. 

James  May  Duane,  transferred  from  Penn- 
sylvania Society. 

Julian  Van  Ness  Whipple,  transferred  from 
the  Colorado  Society. 

Edward  Butler  Pillsbury,  transferred  from 
Massachusetts   Society. 

Philip  Max  Miller  Phelps,  transferred  from 
Illinois  Society. 


42 


Edwin  J.  Dikeman, 
Henry  B.  Hebert, 
Henry  Yates  Wemple, 
Ray  Everett  Nimmo, 
Montgomery  Rochester, 
Wilson  F.  Wakefield, 


Resignations 


Richard  McCurdy, 
Dr.  W.  C.  Douglass, 
Richmond  B.  Elliott,  Jr., 
Herman  L.  Marshall, 
Edwin  Van  D.  Gazzam, 
James  E.  Dean. 


Transfers 


Brig.-Gen.  Clinton  B.  Sears  to  Massachusetts  Society. 
George  X.  McLanahan  to  District  of  Columbia  Society. 
F.    Howard    Lewis   to    Massachusetts    Society. 
Gerardus  Clarkson  to  Pennsylvania  Society. 


43 


George   Washington 

Address  by 
Hon.  Horace  White,  Lieutenant-Governor,  State  of  New  York, 

Before  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
Washington's  Birthday,  Monday,  February  22d,  1909. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution: 

In  our  studies  of  great  men,  we  are  confronted  by  two  theories,  put  for- 
ward to  explain  their  eminence.  On  the  one  hand,  we  are  told  that  a  career 
of  greatness  is  the  product  of  environment,  acting  on  a  responsive  mind  and 
character.  On  the  other  hand,  we  are  assured  that  the  achievements  of 
eminent  men  are  due  to  their  native  qualities,  for  which  environment  merely 
provides  a  theater  of  action.  The  history  of  Washington  might  readily  be 
used  in  support  of  either  theory.  There  we  perceive  remarkable  natural 
qualities  and  a  succession  of  extraordinary  opportunities.  Without  those 
opportunities,  he  would  doubtless  have  been  a  prosperous  colonial  planter,  a 
contented  British  subject,  and  would,  we  may  assume,  have  kept  his  seat  in 
the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  and  commanded  on  different  occasions  the 
provincial  militia.  Yet,  as  often  as  he  was  challenged  to  a  supreme  test  of 
power,  his  countrymen  felt  that  he  was  the  one  man  in  America  that  could 
meet  it. 

In  a  sense  it  is  true  of  every  man  that  the  life  which  he  lives  is  unique, 
and  no  other  person  could  live  that  life;  but  in  the  case  of  Washington, 
Americans  agree  that  none  other  could  have  created  the  armies  of  the 
Revolution,  directed  the  campaigns,  combined  the  sentiments  of  the  colonies, 
controlled  the  mind  of  Congress,  compelled  the  respect  of  Europe,  and,  when 
the  military  power  was  most  exalted,  most  conscious  of  invincible  strength, 
have  planted  the  civil  authority  above  it,  and  laid  the  wreath  of  victory  at 
the  feet  of  a  free  republic. 

Nathaniel  Greene  was  a  master  of  campaign  operations  and  field  tactics. 
Baron  Steuben  had  the  ability  to  drive  masses  of  untrained  recruits  into  a 

45 


disciplined  body.  Philip  Schuyler  was  familiar  with  all  the  detail  necessary 
to  the  formation,  equipment  and  maintenance  of  a  military  organization. 
Benjamin  Franklin  could  enlist  the  interest  of  foreign  courts  and  ministries. 
Washington,  uniting  the  knowledge  and  skill  of  soldier  and  councilor,  was, 
beyond  all  this,  the  one  leader  who  could  establish  the  federal  principle 
among  the  jealous,  contentious  colonies,  and  gain  their  acceptance  for  a 
government  clothed  with  all  the  attributes  of  nationality. 

The  man  who  possessed  these  gifts  doubted  his  fitness  to  lead  the 
American  army.  To  the  Continental  Congress,  which  called  him  to  the  chief 
command,  he  said :  "I  beg  it  may  be  remembered  by  every  gentleman  in 
the  room  that  I,  this  day,  declare  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  I  do  not  think 
myself  equal  to  the  command  I  am  honored  with."  Yet  no  burden  was  ever 
laid  upon  him  which  his  strength  was  inadequate  to  bear.  As  the  country 
grew,  he  advanced  in  mental  and  moral  stature.  And  here  the  secret  of  his 
greatness  appears.  From  the  day  when  he  received  his  commission  from 
Congress  to  the  day  on  which  he  penned  his  Farewell  Address  to  the  People 
of  the  United  States,  he  was  the  absolute  embodiment  of  the  American  idea. 

He  was  not  of  the  company  of  agitators  and  political  prophets.  Neither 
was  Abraham  Lincoln.  Before  the  engagement  at  Lexington,  few  repre- 
sentative colonists  desired  separation  from  England.  The  most  active  and 
outspoken  demanded  only  the  rights  of  English  freemen,  and  in  that  demand 
were  supported  by  liberal  men  in  the  older  country.  It  is  true  that,  if  the 
pretended  right  to  tax  the  colonies  had  not  been  exercised,  American  longing 
to  possess  the  vast  and  fertile  region  of  the  Northwest,  American  impatience 
at  the  restrictions  which  the  policy  of  the  crown  cast  around  the  purchase 
of  Indian  lands,  and  the  long-smothered  resentment  at  navigation  laws  and 
repression  of  colonial  manufactures  must  have  provoked  rebellion ;  but  the 
appeal  to  arms  would  not  have  been  heard  in  the  time  of  Washington, 
Franklin  and  Jefferson.  Washington  was  not  an  agitator,  I  have  said ;  nor 
was  he  a  professional  warrior,  eager  to  draw  the  sword,  nor  an  ambitious 
statesman,  seeking  an  arena  ample  as  his  powers.  He  was  a  patriot, 
American  to  the  core,  loving  his  country,  as  the  outlines  of  that  country 
emerged  before  him  from  the  smoke  of  conflict,  with  the  strength  of  feeling 
possible  only  to  those  deep,  calm  natures  of  which  he  was  the  world's  best 
type. 

During  the  five  years  between  the  Boston  massacre  and  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill  the  sense  of  nationality  developed  remarkably  in  the  breasts  of 
the  colonists.  It  was  stimulated  by  such  coercive  measures  as  the  Boston 
port  bill,  the  Massachusetts  acts,  enlarging  the  power  of  the  king,  while 

46 


annulling  the  political  and  personal  rights  of  the  subject,  and  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  military  governor  over  the  province  where  the  spirit  of  resistance 
flamed  highest.  In  a  letter  to  Joseph  Reed,  written  at  Cambridge,  February 
10,  1776,  he  said:  "I  have  never  entertained  an  idea  of  an  accommodation, 
since  I  heard  of  the  measures,  which  were  adopted  in  consequence  of  the 
Bunker's  Hill  fight."  Washington  understood  the  challenge  which  these 
arbitrary  acts  conveyed.  Already  he  felt  the  men  of  the  North  as  well  as 
the  men  of  the  South,  of  Massachusetts  no  less  than  Virginia,  to  be  his 
countrymen.  Under  the  hammer  strokes  of  tyranny  he  saw  a  new  system 
of  constitutional  freedom  beaten  into  shape.  The  decisive  stroke  was  the 
order  which  sent  the  British  regiments  up  the  slope  of  Bunker  Hill. 

After  that  memorable  engagement,  Britain  might  have  saved  her 
colonial  empire  by  receding  from  her  position.  But  neither  the  monarch 
nor  his  ministers  understood  the  temper  and  resources  of  the  colonies.  They 
were  blind  to  the  tokens  of  military  and  political  greatness  in  the  English- 
speaking  men  of  the  New  World.  So  they  devoted  themselves  to  the 
subjugation  of  rebellious  subjects ;  while  the  patriot  chief  devoted  his  energies 
to  the  reduction  of  Boston,  and  the  creation  of  an  army  out  of  the  raw 
material  of  the  farm  and  frontier. 

During  these  labors  and  those  that  followed,  the  elements  of  Washing- 
ton's own  character  were  forged  into  unity  and  shape.  Long  Island,  Harlem 
Heights,  White  Plains,  Trenton,  Princeton,  Brandywine,  Germantown, 
Valley  Forge,  Monmouth,  West  Point,  Morristown,  Yorktown,  Newburgh, 
all  abound  in  that  interest  which  attaches  itself  to  brave  deed,  heroic  suffering 
and  the  conquest  of  iron  circumstance.  When  character  is  forming  at  the 
white  heat  of  trial,  it  is  hardly  conscious  of  itself ;  and  Washington  was  not 
of  the  type  of  men  who  are  given  to  self-examination.  At  the  close  of  the 
Revolution,  he  was  easily  the  foremost  man  of  his  day — not,  perhaps,  the 
most  eminent  in  arms,  yet  illustrious  as  a  soldier,  and  in  moral  stature  over- 
topping any  that  might  be  brought  into  comparison  with  him.  Still  the  same 
modesty  which  made  him  dumb,  when,  at  the  close  of  the  French  war,  he 
received  the  thanks  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  mingled  with  the 
dignity  and  force  of  his  personality.  The  proposal  to  make  him  the  first 
President  under  the  Constitution  did  not  fall  upon  a  willing  ear.  He  was 
not  easily  persuaded  that  his  selection  was  necessary  to  the  successful 
inauguration  of  the  national  union,  nor  ready  to  believe  that  the  expectation 
of  his  election  had  contributed  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  by  the 
states.  If  ever  a  man  sacrificed  private  inclination  to  public  interest,  George 
Washington  did,  when  he  turned  from  the  pleasures  of  a  dignified  retirement, 

47 


the  agricultural  pursuits  to  which  he  was  keenly  attached,  put  in  peril  his 
immense  popularity  and  accepted  the  chance  of  a  temporary  eclipse  of  his 
enduring  fame.  Yet,  when  it  was  made  manifest  that  his  work  would  not 
be  complete  until  he  had  guided  the  ship  of  the  republic  through  the  initial 
dangers  of  its  course,  he  was  again  the  servant  of  the  people. 

It  has  been  well  said  by  George  Ticknor  Curtis :  "The  idea  of  reward- 
ing Washington,  of  remunerating  him  by  this  grand,  new  dignity  of  the 
presidency  for  what  he  had  done  and  what  he  had  been,  never  entered  into  the 
imaginations  of  the  people.  *  *  *  The  people  saw  before  them  the 
creation  of  a  supreme  magistracy,  and  the  fitness  of  uniting  it  with  the 
highest  virtue  was  all  that  occurred  to  them." 

Let  us  consider  the  circumstances  under  which  Washington  became 
President.  The  meeting  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  early  revealed  the 
presence  of  two  parties,  which  may  be  described  as  the  party  of  state  rights 
and  the  party  of  centralized  government.  How  to  combine  their  ideas, 
abate  their  jealousies  and  create  the  fabric  of  nationality  was  the  problem. 
The  difficulty  cannot  well  be  exaggerated ;  and,  when  the  Constitution  had 
been  approved  by  nine  states,  the  two  rival  parties  existed,  alert,  jealous, 
aggressive.  Their  hostilities  would  have  wrecked  an  administration  less 
capable,  impartial  and  patriotic  than  that  of  Washington,  and  less  entrenched 
in  popular  confidence.  The  contentions  of  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  were  a 
cause  of  distress  to  their  chief,  but  never  of  prolonged  hesitation.  Leaning 
more  to  the  positive  and  constructive  policies  of  the  great  Federalist,  still  he 
saw  in  the  powers  reserved  to  the  states  and  in  the  powers  committed  to  the 
general  government,  guarantees,  alike  valuable,  of  the  independence  which 
he  had  helped  to  achieve  and  the  prosperity  which  he  was  striving  to  create. 

If  Hamilton  and  Jefferson  represented  conflicting  ideas  in  domestic 
affairs,  not  less  did  they  embody  antagonistic  views  of  foreign  policy. 
Jefferson's  idea  seems  to  have  been  to  keep  out  of  war  but  to  favor  France 
as  much  as  possible  in  her  struggle  with  the  European  monarchies.  Hamil- 
ton's idea  was  to  observe  neutrality,  and  put  the  nation  in  a  strong  position, 
repelling  with  vigor  all  assaults  upon  its  honor.  Here  also  Washington 
was  more  in  sympathy  with  Hamilton  than  with  his  rival,  but  he  would  have 
no  war  while  there  remained  an  honorable  resource  for  the  preservation  of 
peace.  Under  the  next  administration  the  country  came  into  armed  collision 
with  France;  and  it  is  pathetic  to  remember  that  Washington  was  sum- 
moned once  more  from  retirement,  and  his  last  public  service  was  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  army. 

Why  pause  to  ponder  the  various  achievements  of  the  first  President's 

48 


administration,  or  the  poise  and  calmness  of  his  bearing  under  injury  and 
insult?  He  had  withstood  the  Conway  cabal  during  the  Revolution  and  its 
attempts  to  supplant  him  with  Gates ;  he  had  endured  the  insolence  of 
Charles  Lee,  and  suffered  the  treachery  of  Arnold.  He  could  not,  then,  be 
moved  by  the  newspaper  attacks  of  Freneau  or  the  bitter  opposition  of 
Minister  Genet.  He  had  learned  patience  in  other  schools;  and  was  not  to 
learn  anew  that  men  are  sometimes  fickle  and  ungrateful.  Yet  it  is  pleasing 
to  remember  that  the  first  President,  like  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Continental  armies,  was  never  separated  from  the  popular  heart.  The 
people  recognized  in  him  the  best  expression  of  that  which  was  in  themselves. 
He  knew  no  boundary  line  between  colonies  or  states.  In  the  campaigns  in 
which  he  had  engaged,  Washington  had  commanded  troops  in  Massachu- 
setts, New  York,  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  as  well  as  in  his  own  state,  and 
directed  their  operations  in  other  territory.  Thus  it  was  that  his  sentiments 
of  Americanism  were  nourished  by  the  common  sufferings  in  which  he 
shared  and  the  sacrifices  which  made  up  the  price  that  was  paid  for  our 
liberties. 

If  we  would  realize  how  Washington  loved  the  Union,  we  must  reflect 
once  more  on  the  words  of  warning  which  he  uttered  in  his  Farewell 
Address — warning  against  influences  which  might  imperil  its  perpetuity. 
The  warning  was  forgotten  less  than  fifty  years  ago;  but  its  meaning  was 
mastered,  through  great  tribulation,  to  be  forgotten,  I  trust,  nevermore. 
On  the  ground  made  sacred  by  the  last  campaign  for  independence,  the 
peninsular  campaign  of  1862  was  conducted;  and  Yorktown  and  Williams- 
burg took  on  new  significance.  Yet  the  later  struggle,  like  the  earlier,  was 
necessary  to  the  working  out  of  the  great  democratic  experiment  on  this 
continent.  On  the  soil  of  the  state  which  gave  to  us  Washington,  the  battle 
for  liberty  and  union  was  twice  fought  and  won. 

In  the  address  of  which  I  have  spoken,  these  words  are  found :  "In 
contemplating  the  causes,  which  may  disturb  our  union,  it  occurs  as  matter  of 
serious  concern,  that  any  ground  should  have  been  furnished  for  characteriz- 
ing parties  by  geographical  discriminations,  Northern  and  Southern,  Atlantic 
and  Western;  whence  designing  men  may  endeavor  to  excite  a  belief  that 
there  is  a  real  difference  of  local  interests  and  views."  The  tendency  which 
the  Father  of  his  Country  deplored,  aggravated  by  the  passions  which  the 
slavery  contest  kindled,  culminated  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion ;  and  many 
times  in  subsequent  political  contests  we  have  seen  an  approach  to  sectional 
division,  and  heard  the  appeal  on  the  stump  and  in  the  press  to  the  prejudices 
and  antipathies  of  section.      It  is  a  part  of  the  splendor  of  Washington's 

49 


renown  that  he  had  risen  out  of  the  sectional  view  and  spirit  to  the  lofty 
altitude  and  serene  atmosphere  of  nationality.  It  is  only  by  a  particular  act 
of  reflection  that  we  realize  that  he  was  a  Virginian,  a  slaveholder  and 
planter,  with  the  tastes  and  interests  of  his  class ;  for  the  state  and  sectional 
elements  in  his  life  were  so  grandly  overshadowed  by  those  large  features 
which  make  up  his  real  personality  and  his  fame. 

If  Washington's  fealty  to  his  country  was  complete,  transcendent,  the 
sympathy  and  support  accorded  him  by  his  countrymen  were  equally  gener- 
ous. It  is  good  to  reflect  that  the  generation  to  which  he  belonged  was 
worthy  of  him.  A  great  leader  and  a  great  people  came  together.  In  a 
free  country  statesmanship  of  a  high  order  seems  to  be  impossible  without 
the  co-operation  of  the  public  man  and  the  people.  While  Washington  was 
at  the  head  of  the  Continental  forces,  although  envy,  jealousy,  hatred  con- 
spired against  him,  working  with  the  instruments  of  detraction  and  deprecia- 
tion, the  whole-hearted  devotion  of  the  people  made  him  its  object,  and  their 
faith  rested  unwaveringly  in  him.  They  questioned  neither  his  capacity 
nor  his  integrity.  They  suffered  when  he  suffered,  waited  when  he  waited, 
struck  when  he  struck,  triumphed  when  he  triumphed,  drinking  with  him 
the  cup  of  humiliation  and  the  cup  of  rejoicing.  It  is  this  ability  to  work 
with  the  people,  in  crisis  and  trial,  that  makes  the  success  of  national  leaders 
and  creates  in  them  the  conquering  mind.  The  type  of  statesmanship  which 
he  established  remains  the  only  successful  model  under  institutions  like 
ours.  The  leaders  who  have  followed  him  have  reaped  permanent  success 
exactly  in  the  measure  in  which  they  have  imitated  his  behavior ;  and  like 
him  they  have  felt,  in  hours  of  trial  and  danger,  the  warm,  life-giving  throb 
of  the  popular  heart. 

In  dwelling  on  those  features  of  Washington's  personality  in  which 
his  essential  greatness  consists,  we  often  overlook  his  genial  human  traits. 
Many  have  discovered  with  surprise  and  delight  that  Washington  had 
humor,  and  keenly  enjoyed  a  comic  incident.  He  was  fond  of  manly  sports — 
leaping,  riding,  hunting.  He  danced  with  ease  and  grace,  and  excelled  in 
the  accomplishments  of  society.  His  correspondence  is  sometimes  marked 
by  pleasantries.  Attendance  at  the  theatre  was  a  favorite  diversion,  from 
which  he  did  not  entirely  abstain  during  the  Revolution.  A  picture  of  the 
times  is  afforded  by  the  action  of  the  Continental  Congress  concerning  cer- 
tain amusements,  including  theatrical  representations.  October  16,  1778,  it 
adopted  a  resolution  declaring  "that  any  person  holding  an  office  under  the 
United  States,  who  shall  act,  promote,  encourage  or  attend  such  plays, 
shall  he   deemed  unworthy   to  hold  such   office,   and   shall   be   accordingly 

50 


dismissed."  The  president  of  Congress  gravely  sent  a  copy  of  the  resolu- 
tion to  Washington,  who  of  course  submitted.  To  a  very  late  period  in 
his  life  he  seems  to  have  attended  "the  play"  very  frequently,  finding  a 
relief  from  the  intense  strain  of  the  burdens  which  he  bore. 

Not  a  philosopher,  like  Ben  Franklin,  still  Washington  had  grasped  the 
fundamental  principles  that  make  the  success  of  nations.  They  were  the 
principles  by  which  he  lived,  and  by  which  he  governed  men,  and,  when 
uttered  by  him,  they  had  all  the  weight  and  impressiveness  which  his  own 
example  could  give.  There  may  be  those  among  us,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century,  who  will  maintain  that  the  problems  of  the  present 
would  be  above  the  reach  of  Washington's  powers,  were  he  living  now.  They 
imagine  that  the  simple  principles  by  which  he  directed  his  personal  con- 
duct and  his  public  policy  would  break  down,  if  applied  to  the  political 
and  commercial  questions  of  our  day.  I  do  not  share  that  opinion.  The 
questions  which  trouble  us  are  complex  and  vast;  but,  if  they  are  solved,  as 
I  believe  they  will  be,  it  must  be  because  the  Americans  of  the  present  time 
attack  them  in  the  spirit  and  with  the  principles  of  Washington. 

It  was  the  testimony  of  Pitt  that  the  men  of  the  first  Continental 
Congress,  judged  by  their  proceedings  and  papers,  were  the  equals  in  dignity, 
firmness  and  wisdom  of  the  great  senates  of  the  ancient  world ;  and  it  was 
the  opinion  of  Patrick  Henry  that  the  wisest  councilor  in  that  resolute  body 
was  Washington.  Let  us  not  doubt  that  he  would  approach  our  problems 
and  perils  with  the  same  insight  and  breadth  of  view  which  he  displayed  in 
the  great  crises  of  the  revolutionary  and  constructive  periods,  and  with  the 
same  success. 

To  the  founders  of  states  mankind  has  always  offered  extraordinary 
honors.  Washington  was  the  foremost  figure  in  the  group  of  great  men 
who  carved  the  foundations  of  the  American  commonwealth,  and  sketched 
the  plan  of  its  structure.  As  the  pillars  of  liberty  and  justice  rise  from 
generation  to  generation,  sheltering  larger  and  larger  segments  of  humanity, 
the  work  does  not  transcend  the  design  of  the  founders.  We  shall  not  fall 
into  error,  if  we  dwell  on  their  deeds  with  gratitude  and  reverence;  for 
thereby  we  draw  inspiration  from  the  past,  and  are,  ourselves,  uplifted  as 
citizens  and  as  men. 


51 


The  Prize  Essays 

ON 

The  Services  of  Commodore  John  Paul  Jones 

in  the  Revolution. 


First  Prize  Essay 

by 
SHERMAN   MERRITT  SMITH, 

of  the 

Brockport  State  Normal  School 
Brockport,  N.  Y. 

There  are  at  least  three  requirements  necessary  in  order  that  a  man 
may  be  of  the  highest  degree  of  service.  These  are  capability,  willingness 
to  serve,  opportunity.  A  naval  writer  of  to-day  has  said,  "Where  strength 
of  head  and  of  heart  meet,  only  opportunity  is  wanting  to  bring  things  to 
pass." 

John  Paul  Jones  was  equipped  for  service  by  his  inborn  fighting  genius 
and  early  life.  His  tastes,  ambition,  and  sense  of  justice  inspired  his  zeal.  A 
great  opportunity  came  to  him  but  once,  and  then  not  in  proportion  to  his 
qualities ;  but  that  event  has  caused  his  name  to  be  written  in  the  annals 
of  fame  as  the  greatest  naval  hero  of  the  Revolution.  Who  can  say  what 
would  have  been  the  glorious  achievements  of  our  infant  navy  had  he  had 
the  opportunity  he  deserved? 

The  services  which  Paul  Jones  rendered  this  country  were  of  three 
kinds — advice,  service  in  arms,  diplomacy. 

Among  the  first  to  see  the  need  of  a  navy  was  Paul  Jones.  Great 
Britain's  navy  was  the  "right  arm  of  English  puissance,"  our  navy  did  not 
contain  a  single  vessel.  Hers  could  ravage  our  long  unprotected  coast  with- 
out molestation  and  was  indispensable  to  the  land  forces,  for  at  Saratoga 
and  Yorktown,  her  armies  were  forced  to  surrender  when  cut  off  from  com- 
munication with  the  fleet.  Our  government,  on  the  contrary,  had  little 
money  for  building  ships  and  no  plans  for  doing  so  if  it  wished  to. 

By  letters  to  Congress,  Jones,  now  an  experienced  seaman  and  naval 
authority,  gave  his  opinions  concerning  the  construction,  equipment,  and 
manning  of  war  vessels.  Besides,  he  used  his  rare  judgment  and  experience 
in  inspecting  vessels  offered  for  sale,  so  that  the  little  money  forthcoming 
was  applied  to  the  best  advantage. 

But  the  great  service  of  Paul  Jones  and  the  one  in  comparison  with 
which  all  others  seem  but  naught,  was  that  performed  by  actual  fighting 
upon  the  sea. 

This  began  with  his  appointment  as  lieutenant  of  the  Alfred,  Com- 
mander Ezek  Hopkins'  flagship,  in  the  first  expedition  under  our  flag.    Here 

55 


he  raised  with  his  own  hands  the  first  flag  hoisted  from  an  American  battle- 
ship. Although  New  Provincetown  in  the  Bahamas  was  captured  and  there 
was  an  engagement  with  the  Glasgow,  the  cruise  was  not  a  success.- 

In  his  next  voyage  as  commander  of  the  Providence  his  work  consisted 
in  ravaging  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia;  burning  the  shipping  in  the  harbor 
of  Canso,  Nova  Scotia ;  and  capturing  sixteen  prizes.  Though  this  cruise  was 
of  little  practical  importance  it  was  the  first  really  effective  one  in  the  war. 

The  next  cruise,  in  which  Jones  commanded  both  the  Providence  and 
Alfred,  was  planned  for  the  purpose  of  liberating  prisoners  of  war  who  were 
being  worked  in  the  coal  mines  of  Nova  Scotia,  injuring  the  British  com- 
merce, and  intercepting  supply  ships.  The  most  important  capture  was  the 
Mellish,  a  supply  ship  laden  with  clothing  for  the  British  forces.  The  im- 
portance of  this  capture  will  be  understood  when  we  say  that  the  clothing 
was  transferred  to  Washington's  ill-clad  and  shivering  army  on  the  Dela- 
ware. 

Jones'  work  in  American  waters  was  now  practically  completed.  The 
value  of  his  services  up  to  this  point  was  in  inspiring  confidence  at  home  and 
raising  our  prestige  abroad. 

On  October  31,  1777,  he  received  command  of  the  Ranger,  then  in 
Boston  harbor,  for  a  voyage  to  France,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  carry 
the  news  of  Burgoyne's  surrender,  enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  French  and 
harass  the  English.  This  news,  carried  with  incredible  speed,  brought  about 
the  French  Alliance  and  won  for  Jones  the  first  salute  ever  offered  our  flag 
by  a  foreign  nation. 

On  April  10,  1778,  he  sailed  from  Brest  on  a  daring  voyage  right  among 
the  British  Isles,  intending  to  teach  England  a  lesson  concerning  her  cruel 
marauding  policy  in  Virginia.  During  the  first  descent  at  Whitehaven,  dis- 
covered before  the  work  of  burning  was  completed,  he  kept  at  bay  with 
two  pistols  an  infuriated  mob  while  he  and  his  men  escaped.  The  next 
attempt  was  to  carry  off  as  hostage  against  future  depredations  in  America 
the  Earl  of  Selkirk.  Unable  to  find  the  Earl  the  sailors  plundered  his  castle 
of  its  silver  plate.  The  next  encounter  was  with  the  English  ship  Drake, 
with  which  the  Ranger  had  previously  fallen  in  off  Carrickfergus.  The 
struggle  lasted  one  hour  and  four  minutes,  when  the  Drake  struck.  "It  was 
the  first  instance  in  modern  naval  warfare  of  the  capture  of  a  regular  British 
man-of-war  by  a  ship  of  inferior  force.  It  announced  to  mankind  the  advent 
of  a  new  sea  power." 

The  effect  of  this  cruise  in  general  was  that  it  alarmed  the  English 
people,  caused  them  to  spend  large  amounts  of  money  in  providing  defences 

56 


for  their  harbors ;  raised  the  rates  of  insurance  on  English  vessels  enor- 
mously, and  filled  the  French  with  enthusiasm  for  their  new  found  ally. 

After  putting  into  Brest  with  six  prizes,  besides  the  Drake,  he  turned 
the  Ranger  over  to  his  subordinate,  Simpson,  and  secured  from  the  French 
government,  by  a  personal  interview  with  the  King,  the  Bon  Homme 
Richard,  after  months  of  waiting. 

Thinking  a  squadron  better  adapted  to  his  purpose  he  gathered  about 
him  one,  consisting  of  his  flagship,  the  Richard;  the  Pallas,  Captain  Cot- 
lindan;  the  Vengeance,  Captain  Ricot,  and  the  Alliance,  Captain  Landais. 
But  being  compelled  to  sign  a  "Concordat"  he  virtually  lost  control  over  the 
other  ships. 

On  August  14,  1779,  began  the  cruise,  which,  even  if  Jones  had  accom- 
plished nothing  else  of  importance,  would  have  made  him  unquestionably  the 
greatest  naval  hero  of  the  war. 

The  first  important  capture  on  this  memorable  cruise  was  that  of  the 
Union,  containing  supplies  for  the  army  in  Canada,  and  called  the  second 
most  valuable  prize  captured  during  the  war,  since  its  loss  probably  caused 
the  abandonment  of  the  invasion  from  Canada. 

After  sailing  around  west  and  north  of  the  British  Isles  the  fleet  made 
an  unsuccessful  attack  on  Leith,  port  of  Edinburgh. 

Soon  afterward  there  was  sighted,  off  Flamborough  Head,  the  Baltic 
fleet,  containing  lumber,  and  convoyed  by  the  Serapis  and  the  Countess  of 
Scarborough.  The  details  of  the  fight  which  followed  are  well  known :  how 
the  Serapis  and  Richard  contended,  first,  with  broadsides,  then  lashed  to- 
gether by  ropes  from  the  Richard;  how  an  explosion  destroyed  the  lower 
guns  of  the  Richard;  how  its  gallant  commander  replied,  "I  have  not  yet 
begun  to  fight,"  when  asked  if  he  had  struck;  how  the  treacherous  Landais 
repeatedly  fired  into  the  Richard;  how  the  British  prisoners,  unwisely  lib- 
erated, became  a  menace  but  were  put  to  work  at  the  pumps;  and  how, 
finally,  the  Serapis  struck  her  colors  to  a  sinking  ship. 

What,  now,  were  the  conditions  under  which  this  remarkable  victory 
was  won?  The  Serapis  with  320  well-trained  men  was  a  new  and  fast 
vessel ;  the  Richard,  old  and  rotten,  might  have  been  considered  a  beaten 
ship  from  the  beginning.  For  it  had  to  struggle  against  the  perfidy  of  the 
best  ships  of  the  squadron,  an  ill  fortune  manifested  in  the  bursting  of  the 
cannon,  fire,  water,  and  the  liberated  English  prisoners.  The  fight  was 
won  in  the  first  place  by  the  crew  of  the  Richard;  the  fighting  strength  of 
that  crew  consisted  mainly  of  her  149  Americans,  and  these,  in  turn,  were 
encouraged  and  personally  directed  by  their  intrepid  commander.     There- 

57 


fore,  we  say,  the  battle  was  won  by  the  downright  fighting  endurance  of 
John  Paul  Jones. 

Of  this  battle  the  moral  effect  was  greater  than  the  practical,  since  the 
United  States  navy  had  electrified  and  won  the  respect  of  Europe  by  vic- 
tory over  the  maritime  power  to  which  all  Europe  was  then  opposed  because 
of  troubles  growing  out  of  the  "Armed  Neutrality." 

Transferring  the  wounded  and  putting  into  a  port  of  safety  the  fleet 
soon  arrived  at  the  Texel,  belonging  to  Holland.  Here,  by  skillful  diplo- 
macy, Jones  succeeding  in  causing  the  Dutch  government  to  face  the  ques- 
tion of  recognizing  the  independence  of  America  and  thus  in  embroiling 
Holland  in  war  with  England. 

The  later  services  of  Paul  Jones  may  be  enumerated  briefly.  After  a 
period  at  the  French  capital,  marked  by  popular  flattery  and  royal  favor, 
he  sailed  for  America  on  the  Ariel  and  reached  Philadelphia  in  February, 
1 781.  For  fourteen  months  after  the  following  June  he  was  engaged  in 
superintending  the  construction  of  the  America  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  protecting  it  from  the  British. 

Three  years  more  were  then  spent  in  diplomatic  service  for  the  country 
in  Europe.  This  was  mainly  in  collecting  prize  moneys  in  France  and  Den- 
mark. 

To  sum  up,  now,  what  John  Paul  Jones  accomplished  directly  we  may 
best  quote  a  writer  in  Harper's :  "He  fought  23  battles  on  the  sea ;  made 
seven  descents  on  Great  Britain  or  her  colonies ;  snatched  from  her  navy, 
by  conquest,  four  large  ships  and  many  tenders,  store-ships,  and  transports ; 
constrained  her  to  fortify  her  home  ports,  to  desist  from  cruel  burnings  in 
America,  and  to  change  her  barbarous  policy  of  refusing  to  consider  cap- 
tured Americans  prisoners  of  war." 

We  may  judge  by  the  treatment  Jones  received  that  his  services  were 
held  in  high  regard  at  that  time.  For  he  was  lionized  at  the  French  court ; 
received  the  Decoration  of  the  Military  Order  of  Merit  and  a  gold  sword 
from  the  King;  was  given  a  vote  of  thanks  and  granted  one  of  six  medals 
given  to  Revolutionary  heroes,  by  Congress. 

Then,  for  a  time,  his  signal  services  were  somewhat  forgotten.  He 
died  in  obscurity  in  Paris.  But  now,  we  are  glad  to  say,  there  is  a  revival  of 
interest  and  admiration  in  the  deeds  of  the  great  hero,  as  is  evidenced  by 
the  removal  of  his  body  to  America  in  1905. 

To-day,  while  our  mighty  navy  is  circumnavigating  the  globe,  winning 

58 


respect  and  admiration  everywhere,  let  us  not  forget  that  it  was  cradled 
during  the  perilous  years  of  its  infancy  by  the  military  genius  and  fighting 
endurance  of  that  greatest  of  Revolutionary  naval  heroes,  John  Paul  Jones. 

Sherman  Merritt  Smith. 


59 


Second  Prize  Essay 

by 
GLENDON  AUSTIN  SCHUBERT, 

of  the 

Oneida  High  School, 
Oneida,  N.  Y. 

Of  all  the  great  men  brought  forth  during  the  Revolution,  few  did 
more  for  their  country,  none  were  more  unique,  and  none  will  be  remem- 
bered longer  than  John  Paul  Jones.  At  a  time  when  our  country,  striving 
for  liberty,  resembled  greatly  an  infant,  struggling  almost  vainly  for  some- 
thing dear  to  its  eyes,  Paul  Jones  furnished  one  of  the  baby  arms — the 
navy.  Later,  he  gave  that  arm  utility  by  providing  it  with  a  hand — his  own 
brilliant  daring  and  ability. 

John  Paul,  Jr.,  was  born  July  6th,  1747,  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
Scotland.  Entered  at  the  age  of  twelve  in  the  West  India  trade,  he  ad- 
vanced rapidlly  and  at  twenty  was  captain  himself  of  his  employer's  finest 
ship.  At  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  he  gave  up  the  sea — for  a  time.  He  went 
to  Virginia  to  take  up  the  fine  estate  his  brother  William  left  him.  He  now 
assumed  the  name  Jones,  and  under  the  illustrious  name  of  John  Paul  Jones, 
he  rendered  such  invaluable  services  to  his  adopted  country. 

At  this  time  he  had  developed  his  self-education  so  far  that  he  was 
master  of  English  and  French  and  was  fairly  proficient  in  Spanish.  It  is 
also  doubtful  if  there  was  one  man  of  his  age  in  the  British  navy  who  was  so 
well  versed  in  naval  history  or  the  theory  of  tactics  as  was  Paul  Jones. 

About  two  years  afterwards — June  14th,  1775 — Congress  appointed  a 
"Marine  Committee."  Jones  was  immediately  requested  to  assist  this 
committee. 

He  at  once  showed  them  the  undesirability — the  almost  impossibility — 
of  Congress's  making  ships  of  the  line.  Instead,  he  advocated  making  pow- 
erful frigates.  For  this  end,  he  altered  the  plans  of  the  strongest  thirty-six 
gun  frigates,  so  as  to  increase  their  cost  but  little,  while  their  effectiveness 
was  increased  one-half. 

Six  ordinary  frigates  were  built  at  once,  and  later  the  Alliance  and 

60 


Indien  were  built  on  the  lines  of  Jones'  enlarged  frigate.     His  service  in 
purchasing  ready-built  ships  was,  moreover,  almost  invaluable. 

Without  Paul  Jones,  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  what  kind  of  navy 
we  should  have  had.  At  that  time  there  was  no  man,  living  in  this  hemi- 
sphere, so  competent  in  naval  affairs  as  he.  Without  his  organizing  genius, 
the  story  of  our  naval  successes  and  adventures  in  the  Revolution — if,  indeed, 
we  should  have  had  any — would  have  been  a  sorry  tale. 

In  the  middle  of  December,  1775,  Congress  commissioned  five  captains 
and  thirteen  lieutenants,  with  Paul  Jones  the  senior  lieutenant. 

Though,  in  the  spring  of  1778,  on  the  return  from  its  first  enterprise, 
our  little  squadron  resolved  itself  into  a  series  of  court-martials,  votes  of 
censure  and  dismissals  from  service,  it  showed  Congress — too  weak  to 
adopt  in  the  beginning,  Jones's  excellent  list  of  qualifications  for  officers — 
the  competent  men.  Thus  Jones,  hereafter,  was  given  separate  commands, 
and  was  always  ranking  officer  on  his  own  station,  reporting  direct  to  Con- 
gress. 

He  now  made  two  short  cruises,  in  little  sloops,  taking  in  all  twenty- 
one  prizes.  One  prize,  on  account  of  its  almost  invaluable  military  stores, 
was  the  salvation  of  the  starving  and  freezing  American  army,  and  thus, 
perhaps,  the  salvation  of  the  American  Revolution. 

The  main  value  of  all  these  operations  was  to  convince  Congress  that 
commerce  destroying,  directed  against  unprotected  ports,  where  all  the 
shipping  could  be  destroyed,  rather  than  against  fleets  under  convoy,  when 
only  a  few  ships  could  be  captured  at  best,  was,  as  Jones  had  repeatedly 
urged,  the  only  efficient  means  of  our  affecting  the  enemy. 

At  this  time  the  British  destroyed  Jones's  plantation.  He  had  been 
living  on  its  revenue  and  had  drawn  from  Congress  but  "£50  for  expenses  in 
enlisting  men."  He  had  not  received  and  did  not  obtain  for  years  his  pay 
or  allowances.  From  now  on,  he  had  to  live  himself  and  even,  at  times, 
pay  for  the  up-keep  of  his  ship  and  his  men  out  of  what  cash  he  had  left,  or 
could  borrow  on  his  personal  credit. 

In  June,  1777,  Jones  was  given  command  of  the  Ranger  18,  then  build- 
ing at  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  to  proceed  to  France,  refit,  and  do  what  com- 
merce-destroying he  could  in  the  British  Isles. 

With  the  glad  tidings  of  our  victory  over  Burgoyne,  and  with  valuable 
state  papers,  he  started  for  France  before  daybreak  of  November  1st.  The 
news  and  the  papers  he  carried  did  much  to  clinch  the  nails  that  Dr.  Frank- 
lin and  his  colleagues  had  been  trying  to  drive  through  the  vacillating  French 

61 


Ministry  so  as  to  hold  it  to  a  treaty.     The  preliminary  articles  were  signed 
January  17th,  and  the  final  "Treaty  of  the  Alliance,"  February  6th,  1778. 

When  Jones  left  America,  he  was  promised  the  Indien,  then  building 
at  Amsterdam.  But  England  suspected  that  the  ship  was  intended  for 
America,  and  complained  to  Holland.  Before  war  broke  out  between 
France  and  England,  the  former  purchased  the  Indien,  but  as  France  was 
then  a  neutral  we  were  no  better  off  than  before.  So  Jones  had  to  be  con- 
tent with  the  Ranger,  as  he  had  been  sent  to  stay  in  these  waters  and  there 
was  no  other  ship  available. 

Sailing  from  Brest,  April  10th,  1778,  he  made  for  the  Irish  Sea  to  de- 
stroy the  shipping  along  the  coasts.  His  descent  on  Whitehaven  failed 
through  an  insubordinate  lieutenant,  but  of  its  ultimate  results  Jones  said : — 
"Its  actual  results  were  of  little  moment,  for  the  intended  destruction  of 
shipping  was  limited  to  one  vessel.  But  the  moral  effect  of  it  was  very  great, 
as  it  taught  the  English  that  the  fancied  security  of  their  coasts  was  a  myth, 
and  thereby  compelled  their  Government  to  take  expensive  measures  for 
the  defence  of  numerous  ports  hitherto  relying  for  protection,  wholly  on 
the  vigilance  and  supposed  omnipotence  of  their  navy.  It  also  doubled  or 
more  the  rates  of  insurance,  which  in  the  long  run  proved  the  most  grievous 
damage  of  all." 

As  for  the  "omnipotence  of  their  navy"  he  shattered  that  idea  the  next 
day,  April  23d,  by  taking  the  Drake  20  with  his  inferior  Ranger  18.  This 
battle,  one  of  the  most  famous  in  naval  history,  placed  the  United  States 
firmly  before  the  near-sighted  eyes  of  Europe  and  gave  us  the  significance 
of  a  new  and  mighty  power.  "The  little  ships  were  lost  sight  of  in  the 
colossal  fact  that  England  and  Englishmen  could  be  conquered  on  the  sea ; 
a  new  fact,  before  unknown." 

As  these  coasts  were  getting  too  hot  for  him,  he  returned  with  the  Drake 
and  his  other  prizes  to  Brest. 

Now  came  a  most  discouraging  period:  his  drafts  on  the  American 
Commissioners  were  returned,  dishonored  for  lack  of  funds :  he  was  with- 
out a  ship,  as  he  had  let  the  Ranger  return  to  America  in  expectation  of 
the  ship — or  ships — the  French  Ministry  kept  promising  him.  The  French 
having  purchased  the  Indien,  flatly  refused  it  to  Jones,  and  gave  it,  with  all 
their  new  ships,  to  their  own  importunate  officers.  Finally  after  a  personal 
appeal  to  the  King,  a  rotten  old  East  India  trader  was  bought.  The  ship 
was  hardly  worth  refitting,  but  she  was  all  that  he  could  have. 

Jones  renamed  her  the  Bon  Homme  Richard,  and  after  much  delay 

62 


sailed  August  14th,  1779,  from  the  Isle  de  Groaix,  accompanied  by  the 
Alliance  36,  Pallas  32,  Cerf  18,  Vengeance  12.  The  Alliance  was  American, 
but  the  others  were  French,  owned  under  American  commissions.  His  being 
compelled  to  sign  the  "Concordat"  reduced  his  authority  as  leader  to  a  min- 
imum. He  much  resembled  his  own  Congress — each  was  at  the  head  of  a 
league  of  self-sustaining  units,  any  of  which  obeyed  its  leader  as  it  suited 
its  interests. 

Every  schoolboy  knows  the  cruise  of  the  Bon  Homme  Richard  and 
her  wonderful  fight  with  the  Serapis,  her  superior  by  one-third  after  the 
first  broadside.  It  is  so  thoroughly  known  that  lack  of  space  will  well 
forgive  its  omission. 

When  he  reached  his  appointed  destination,  the  Texel,  October  3d,  he 
was  only  plunged  into  fresh  difficulties.  As  Holland  was  a  neutral,  the 
English  ambassador,  Sir  Joseph  Yorke,  demanded  that  Jones  leave  the 
Dutch  territory  immediately — and  fall  into  the  overpowering  English  squad- 
ron outside.  Jones  refused,  and  in  the  diplomatic  duel  that  followed  came 
off  best.  He  knew  that  if  he  could  stay  long  enough,  he  would  arouse  the 
Dutch  people,  who  were  strongly  for  America,  to  demand  a  recognition  of 
the  independence  of  the  United  States.  Although  he  had  to  transfer  all 
the  ships,  and  prizes  even,  except  the  Alliance,  to  France,  and  finally  ship 
out  in  that  ship,  his  end  was  accomplished.  His  action  soon  put  the  Dutch 
common  people,  instead  of  the  aristocrats,  in  the  legislatures  and  thus  gained 
official  recognition  of  and  favor  for  the  United  States. 

He  returned  to  France  and  as  the  war  was  nearly  over,  soon  went  back 
to  America.     Here  he  was  enthusiastically  and  thankfully  received. 

Before  long,  as  claim  agent  for  prize  money  due  America,  he  was 
again  sent  to  Europe.  After  settling  this  successfully,  he  entered  the  Rus- 
sian service.  His  country  had  no  further  use  for  his  sword  and  he  had  to 
accept  the  good  chance  offered  him,  as  he  had  lost  his  estate  for  his  country's 
sake  and  had  not  the  money  to  build  it  up  again. 

Thus  passed  from  American  service  John  Paul  Jones.  For  that  coun- 
try he  fought  twenty-three  battles  on  the  sea,  taking  by  conquest  from 
England's  navy,  four  large  ships  and  many  tenders,  store-ships,  and  trans- 
ports :  he  made  seven  descents  on  her  or  her  colonies,  forcing  up  the  rates 
of  insurance,  constraining  her  to  fortify  her  ports,  to  desist  from  cruel 
burnings  in  America,  and  to  change  her  barbarous  policy  of  refusing  to 
consider  captured  American  seamen  as  prisoners-of-war,  and  of  torturing 
them  in  prisons  as  "traitors,  pirates,  and  felons" ;  and  above  this,  he  forced 

63 


Europe  to  a  recognition  of  America  as  a  power  and  impressed  upon  her  the 
fact  that  this  power  could  conquer  England  on  sea,  as  well  as  on  land,  an 
unheard  of  thing  before. 

These  things  John  Paul  Jones  did  for  his  country.    "The  fame  of  the 
brave  outlives  him;  his  portion  is  immortality." 

Glendon  Austin  Schubert. 


64 


Third  Prize  Essay 

by 
G.  RAYNOLDS  STEARNS  JR., 

of  the 
Lafayette  High  School, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

The  motto,  "Stand  with  anyone  that  stands  right,  but  part  with  him 
when  he  goes  wrong,"  was  the  spirit  of  John  Paul  Jones'  life  when,  though 
a  Scotchman  by  birth,  he  fought  against  the  tyranny  of  Great  Britain,  and 
became  so  true  an  American  in  thought  and  deed  that  few  of  American 
blood  have  equalled  his  splendid  record  and  still  fewer  surpassed  it. 

Since  early  boyhood  he  had  had  experience  on  the  sea  and  had  earnestly 
studied  everything  concerning  naval  affairs.  And  so,  because  of  this  great 
knowledge,  he  was  called  from  the  life  of  a  Virginia  planter,  which  he 
loved,  to  hurl  himself  into  the  cause  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  to 
start  his  wonderful  career  by  being  made  first  lieutenant  of  the  Alfred,  and 
being  the  first  man  to  raise  an  American  naval  flag,  with  its  rattlesnake 
and  the  words  which  later  became  so  true  of  himself,  "Don't  tread  on  me." 

The  Alfred  was  one  of  the  first  ships  composing  the  American  navy, 
which  had  to  cope  with  England's  mighty  fleets,  manned  by  eighty-seven 
thousand  seamen  and  marines. 

Paul  Jones'  participation  in  the  capture  of  the  forts  at  New  Provi- 
dence, and  his  later  safe  convoying  of  ships  along  the  coast,  in  spite  of 
English  blockade,  were  valuable  exploits  for  America  and  were  so  recog- 
nized, when,  in  August,  1776,  he  received  his  commission  as  captain.  He 
was  now  commander  of  the  Providence,  and  his  escape  soon  after  from 
the  frigate  Solway,  and  his  capture  of  twelve  British  vessels  at  Canso  and 
Island  of  Madame,  showed  his  great  ability.  At  Canso  he  destroyed  the 
fisheries  and  brought  away  three  heavily  laden  prizes.  He  captured  eight 
more  vessels  before  he  returned  to  Newport.     On  his  next  cruise,  near 

65 


Louisburg,  he  captured  two  very  valuable  ships  containing  enormous  quan- 
tities of  clothing  which  later  proved  so  useful  to  Washington's  army. 

Paul  Jones  spent  the  winter  at  Boston,  and  there,  and  in  the  spring 
at  Philadelphia,  he  rendered  valuable  service  by  his  worthy  suggestions 
concerning  naval  affairs.  Congress  appointed  him  commander  of  the 
Ranger.  From  her  deck,  Paul  Jones  was  the  first  man  to  raise  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  to  a  masthead.  He  carried  this  flag,  on  the  Ranger,  soon  after 
to  France,  and  there  at  Brest,  through  his  able  management,  he  secured 
for  it  the  first  national  salute  ever  awarded  to  America  by  a  foreign  power. 
From  Brest,  Jones,  with  only  the  Ranger,  started  for  England  on  a  cruise 
which  terrified  the  British  coast.  His  attack  on  Whitehaven  and  his  ex- 
ploits there  of  spiking  the  guns,  locking  up  two  garrisons,  burning  part 
of  the  shipping,  and  holding  the  populace  in  check,  were  wonderful. 
Failing  in  his  attempted  capture  of  Lord  Selkirk  for  a  hostage,  Jones  con- 
tinued his  cruise  and  the  next  evening  met  and,  after  an  awful  battle  of 
over  an  hour,  defeated  the  English  frigate  Drake.  This,  and  the  later 
battle  with  the  Serapis,  were  turning  points  in  naval  history.  The  pecuniary 
loss  was  almost  nothing.  England  had  hundreds  of  frigates  to  replace  them, 
but  in  "moral  significance"  it  ranks  only  with  the  ancient  battle  of  Sphac- 
teria.  It  was  the  first  time  a  regular  English  man-of-war  had  been  cap- 
tured by  an  inferior  ship  and  was  the  greatest  disgrace  since  Tromp  and 
his  broom.  Paul  Jones  had  given  America  her  naval  name  with  the 
powers,  and  the  news  flew  over  Europe. 

After  his  arrival  at  Brest,  he  was  compelled  to  remain  there  under 
trying  conditions  because  America  could  not  pay  his  sailors.  He  had  given 
seven  thousand  dollars  for  the  war  when  he  left  America,  and  now  only 
by  personal  credit  was  he  able  to  provide  for  his  crew  and  prisoners. 
Louis  XVI  finally  appointed  him  commander  of  the  Duras,  which  Paul 
Jones  renamed  Bon  Homme  Richard. 

Accompanied  by  the  Alliance  and  two  other  vessels,  the  Richard  first 
convoyed  merchant  ships  and  then  drove  English  cruisers  from  the  Bay  of 
Biscay.  The  fleet  soon  after  returned  to  L'Orient,  where  they  remained 
some  time  before  starting  on  Jones'  second  great  cruise  of  the  English 
coast. 

Within  a  short  time  after  they  had  again  set  sail,  the  little  fleet  had 
captured  sixteen  vessels.  Then  occurred,  between  the  magnificent  fifty-gun 
Serapis  and  the  old,  made-over  merchantman  Richard,  that  battle  which, 
in  its  awful  fierceness  of  over  three  hours'  indescribable  havoc,  has  no 
naval  parallel  in  history.    The  great  spirit  of  Paul  Jones,  "I  have  not  begun 

66 


to  fight  yet,"  brought  him  success,  and  no  further  detail  is  needed  for  this 
world  famous  engagement. 

After  the  victory  Jones  sailed  to  Texel  with  his  two  prizes  and  five 
hundred  captives,  which  later,  through  Franklin,  were  able  to  be  exchanged 
for  Americans.  Having  delivered  up  his  prizes,  he  sailed  for  France  in  the 
Alliance,  and  after  a  miraculous  escape  from  forty  British  frigates,  reached 
L/Orient.  Statistics  show  the  result  of  Jones'  victories.  "The  number  of 
vessels  leaving  Newcastle  for  foreign  trade  that  year  was  little  more  than 
half  the  number  in  1777.     The  coasting  trade  diminished  almost  as  much." 

Four  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  stores  were  now  to  go  to 
America,  and  with  this  care  Jones  acted  nobly.  The  Ariel  was  at  last  loaded 
and  he  set  sail.  He  reached  Philadelphia  after  an  absence  of  three  years, 
in  which  he  had  toiled  so  hard  for  his  country.  He  received  the  greatest 
honors  the  nation  could  lavish  upon  him,  including  three  separate  thanks 
of  Congress  and  appreciative  letters  from  Washington  and  other  great  men. 
Nor  were  these  undeserved,  for  he  had  fought  "twenty-three  sea  battles 
and  was  never  vanquished.  He  made  seven  successful  descents  upon  towns 
and  he  captured  two  ships  of  equal  size  as  his  own  and  two  far  his  superior 
in  armament  and  strength."  England  now  unintentionally  honored  him  by 
offering  ten  thousand  guineas  for  his  body  dead  or  alive. 

He  was  unanimously  appointed  by  Congress  to  superintend  the  build- 
ing and  become  commander  of  the  America,  For  sixteen  months  he  de- 
voted himself  to  making  this  the  finest  ship  possible.  And  yet,  after  great 
labors,  he  received  news  that  Congress  had,  on  account  of  the  loss  of  the 
MagniUque,  presented  the  ship  to  France.  His  spirit  was  never  so  severely 
tested  and  never  so  magnificently  shown.  He  continued  superintending 
the  building  just  the  same,  and  when  the  America  was  launched  "the  best 
judges  pronounced  her  a  model  of  naval  architecture." 

He  now  joined  the  French  fleet  leaving  Boston  for  an  expedition  against 
Jamaica,  but  before  any  great  engagement  took  place  they  received  the 
welcome  news  of  peace.  Paul  Jones  had  been  stricken  with  a  serious  fever 
in  this  voyage,  but  almost  before  he  had  recovered  Congress  appointed  him 
their  agent  to  collect  the  money  in  the  French  Treasury  received  from  the 
sale  of  his  prizes.  This  work  involved  the  most  delicate  complications,  and 
Paul  Jones,  by  his  life  of  study,  was  the  only  living  man  capable  of  per- 
forming this  stupendous  task.  After  two  years  of  trying,  patient  labors, 
he  accomplished  his  work  and  obtained  for  America  from  France  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-one  thousand  lires. 

67 


He  then  attempted  a  somewhat  similar  mission  to  Denmark,  but  in 
spite  of  earnest  efforts  he  was  unable  to  carry  out  his  hopes. 

Paul  Jones  was  now  deeply  interested  in  the  question  of  the  American 
sailors  enslaved  in  Algiers,  and  so,  as  America  was  at  peace,  when  Queen 
Catherine  requested  him  to  become  rear-admiral  in  the  Russian  navy,  which 
was  fighting  the  Turks  and  Algerians,  he  willingly  accepted.  Here  the 
account  of  his  great  services  to  America  must  end,  because  after  his 
worthy  deeds  on  the  Black  Sea  he  returned  to  Paris,  and  there,  from  the 
effects  of  his  former  exposures  and  hardships,  he  died,  even  before  the 
commission  arrived  by  which  Washington,  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  had  appointed  him  consul  to  Algiers. 

His  troubles  have  been  mentioned  very  briefly,  if  at  all,  in  this  account, 
such  as  the  utter  destruction  of  his  plantation  and  the  disappointments  re- 
sulting from  the  frequent  failures  of  promises  commanding  splendid  ships. 
Very  incompetent  and  insubordinate  under  officers,  as  Hacker  at  Louis- 
bourg,  Wallingford  at  Whitehaven,  Simpson  with  the  Drake,  and  especially 
the  diabolical  "niddering"  Landais,  made  his  life  almost  miserable  and  ruined 
many  of  his  brightest  hopes;  while  terrible  storms  often  entirely  destroyed 
his  well-made  plans,  as  at  Canso,  Whitehaven,  Lochryan  and  Leith.  These 
troubles  were  not  exactly  services,  but  his  rising  from  them  and  making 
the  best  use  of  what  little  he  had  were  services,  and  were  the  only  means 
by  which  he  was  able  to  perform  his  magnificent  achievements.  It  was 
this  phase  of  his  life  of  which  Napoleon  must  have  been  thinking  when, 
after  the  news  of  Trafalgar,  he  said  he  wished  Paul  Jones  was  alive  so 
that  he  might  send  him  against  Nelson. 

John  Paul  Jones,  called  a  pirate  and  a  gentleman,  a  traitor  and  a 
patriot,  is  acknowledged  by  all,  American,  French  and  English,  a  wonderful 
man.  His  trials  and  disappointments  were  surpassed  only  by  those  of 
Washington,  and  his  devotion  to  his  country  after  these  troubles  was  worthy 
of  Morris.  In  great  bravery  and  reckless  daring  he  resembled  Wayne  and 
Arnold,  and  yet  his  love  of  peace  and  humanity  put  him  in  a  class  with 
Penn.  He  coupled  the  diplomacy  of  Franklin  with  the  courtesy  of  Lafayette. 
Add  to  these  traits  of  character  his  life-long  perseverance  in  studies,  which 
made  him  the  best  informed  man  on  all  branches  of  naval  affairs  of  his 
time  and  then,  with  his  deathless  grit  and  inexhaustible  energy,  it  is  truly 
said,  "Nature  gave  him  the  genius  and  he  supplied  the  industry." 

And  now  the  great  American  Republic  has,  after  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  years,  brought  another  of  its  heroes  home  to  rest  in  the  land  for 
which  he  did  so  much.     Paul  Jones  had  difficulty  in  receiving  a  salute  of 

68 


four  guns  less  than  his,  in  1778,  but  in  1905  the  French  squadron  willingly 
thundered  forth  a  glorious  salute  to  General  Horace  Porter  and  the  funeral 
fleet,  in  appreciation  of  the  exploits  of  our  great  Commodore. 


AUTHORITIES. 


Life  of  John  Paul  Jones, 

Life  of  John  Paul  Jones, 

Life  of  Commodore  Paul  Jones, 

The  History  of  Our  Navy, 

Great  Men  and  Famous  Women, 

American  Naval  Heroes, 

New   International   Encyclopaedia, 

History  of  the  United  States, 


Buell. 

J.  S.  C.  Abbott. 

C.  T.  Brady. 

J.  R.  Spears. 

C.  F.  Home. 

J.  H.  Brown. 

Gilman,  Peck,  Colby. 

Bryant  and  Gay. 

G.  Raynolds  Stearns,  Jr. 


69 


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Sons  of  the  Revolution 


IN  THE 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


REPORTS 


AND 


PROCEEDINGS 
1909-1910 


December  4,   1910 


Object  of  the  Society 

CONSTITUTION. 
Preamble 

Whereas,  It  has  become  evident  from  the  decline  of  proper  celebration 
of  such  National  holidays  as  the  Fourth  of  July,  Washington's  Birthday, 
and  the  like,  that  popular  interest  in  the  events  and  men  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  is  less  than  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic ; 

And  Whereas,  This  lack  of  interest  is  to  be  attributed  not  so  much  to 
lapse  of  time  as  to  the  neglect  on  the  part  of  descendants  of  Revolutionary 
heroes  to  perform  their  duty  of  keeping  before  the  public  mind  the  memory 
of  the  services  of  their  ancestors,  and  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  and 
of  the  principles  for  which  they  contended ; 

Therefore,  The  Society  of  the  "Sons  oe  the  Revolution"  has  been 
instituted  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  men  who,  in  military,  naval  or 
civil  service,  by  their  acts  or  counsel,  achieved  American  Independence ;  to 
promote  and  assist  in  the  proper  celebration  of  the  anniversaries  of  Wash- 
ington's Birthday,  the  Battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  the  Fourth  of 
July,  the  Capitulations  of  Saratoga  and  Yorktown,  the  Evacuation  of  New 
York  by  the  British  Army,  and  other  prominent  events  relating  to  or  con- 
nected with  the  War  of  the  Revolution ;  to  collect  and  secure  for  preserva- 
tion the  manuscript  rolls,  records  and  other  documents  and  memorials  re- 
lating to  that  War;  to  inspire  among  the  members  and  their  descendants 
the  patriotic  spirit  of  their  forefathers ;  to  inculcate  in  the  community  in  gen- 
eral sentiments  of  Nationality  and  respect  for  the  principles  for  which  the 
patriots  of  the  Revolution  contended;  to  assist  in  the  commemorative  cele- 
bration of  other  great  historical  events  of  National  importance,  and  to  pro- 
mote social  intercourse  and  the  feeling  of  fellowship  among  its  members. 


General  Society 

(Organized  at  Washington,  D.  C,  April  19,  1890.) 

OFFICERS,  1908-1911 

General  President, 

Hon.  John  Lee  Carroll,  LL.  D., 

Maryland   Society. 

General  Vice-President, 

Edmund  Wetmore,  LL.  D., 

New    York    Society. 

Second  General  Vice-President, 

Major  Wilson   Godfrey  Harvey, 

South  Carolina  Society. 

General  Secretary, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

New    York    Society. 

Assistant   General   Secretary, 

Prof.  William  Libbey,  D.  Sc, 

New  Jersey    Society. 

General  Treasurer, 

Richard  McCall  Cadwalader, 

Pennsylvania   Society. 

Assistant   General   Treasurer, 

Henry   Cadle, 

Missouri   Society. 

General  Chaplain. 

*  Rev.   Edward  Everett  Hale,  S.  T.  D.,  LL.  D.. 

Massachusetts  Society. 

General  Registrar, 
Walter  Gilman  Page, 
Massachusetts  Society. 

General  Historian, 
Capt.    William    Gordon    McCabe,    M.  A.,   Litt.  D.,    LL.  D. 

Virginia   Society. 


Deceased. 


Sons  of  the  Revolution 

IN    THE 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

Instituted  February    22,    1876. 

Reorganized  December  4,   1883. 

Incorporated  May  3,    1884. 


FOUNDERS 

•     John  Austin  Stevens, 
John   Cochrane, 
Austin  Huntington, 
George  H.  Potts, 
Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge, 
George  Washington   Wright  Houghton, 
Asa  Bird  Gardiner, 
Thomas  Henry  Edsaj.l, 
Joseph  W.  Drexel, 
James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 
James  Duane  Livingston, 
John  Bleecker  Miller, 
Alexander  Ramsay  Thompson,   Jr. 


Officers,  1910 

President: 
Edmund  Wetmore,  34  Pine  Street. 

First   Vice-President: 
Robert  Olyphant,  17  Battery  Place. 

Second   Vice-President: 
Philip  Livingston,   115   East  61st   Street. 

Third    Vice-President: 
Henry  D.  Babcock,  32  Liberty  Street. 

Secretary: 
Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Fraunces  Tavern. 

Assistant  Secretary: 
Eugene   K.   Austin,    15    William    Street. 

Treasurer: 
Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  71  Broadway. 

Registrar: 
Henry   Phelps  Johnston,  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Chaplain: 
Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.  D.,  7  Gramercy  Park  . 

Assistant  Chaplain: 
Rev.    Frank    L.    Humphreys,    S.  T.  D.,    Morristown,   N.   J. 

Historian: 
Talbot  Olyphant,  32  Nassau  Street. 

Board   of  Managers: 

Johx  Clarkson  Jay,  Jr.,  71  Broadway.       Beverly  Chew,  49  Wall  St. 
Ralph    Peters,    L.  I.  R.  R.  Co.,    7th     Ave.  William   Floyd,  84  William   St. 
and  32d  St.  John   Hone,  5  Gramercy  Park. 

Frederick   S.  Woodruff,  165  Broadway.        William  W.  Ladd,  20  Nassau  St. 
Joseph  Tompkins   Low,   i  W.   51st  St.        Benjamin  R.  Lummis,  28  W.  33d  St. 
William  Graves  Bates,  43  Cedar  St.  John  Adams  Dix,  25  Broad  St. 

Edgar  C.  Leonard,  472  B'way,  Albany,  N.Y.  Walter  L.  Suydam,  5  E.  76th  St. 
John  B.  Holland,  65  Broadway.  James  May  Duane,  59  Wall  St. 

Charles  Isham,  27  William  St.  Hon.  Charles  W.  Dayton,  County  Court 

House,  Manhattan. 


Chapters  of  the  Society: 

Buffalo  Chapter,  Buffalo,  X.   V.,  Henry   R.   Howland,  Regent. 

George  W.   Comstock,  Secretary,   124  Lexington   Avenue,  Buffalo,   N.   Y. 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Edgar  C.  Leonard,  Regent. 

Borden    H.   Mills,    Secretary,   44  Tweddle   Building,   Albany,    N.   Y. 
William  Floyd  Chapter,  Troy,  N.   Y.,  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 

William  Barker,  Jr.,  Secretary,  c/o  William  Barker  Co.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Utica,  N.   Y.,  Sylvester  Dering,   Regent. 

A.  Vedder   Brower,  Secretary,  306  Genesee  Street,  Utica,  N.  Y. 
Orange  County  Chapter,  Goshen,  N.  Y. 
Jamestown  Chapter,  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Winfield  Scott  Cameron,  Regent. 

Frank  H.  Mott,  Secretary,  Fenton  Building,  Jamestown,  N,  Y. 


Executive  Committee: 

John    Hone,   Chairman,  Joseph   T.   Low, 

William    G.    Bates. 
President,   Secretary   and  Treasurer   Ex-Officio. 


Real  Estate  Committee: 

Robert    Olyphant,   Chairman,  James   M.   Montgomery, 

Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Henry    A.    Wilson, 

Charles   Isham,  Arthur    M.    Hatch. 


Membership    Committee : 

George   DeForest   Barton,   Chairman,    150   Broadway. 

Silas  Wodell,  41   Park  Row. 

Landreth  H.  King,  Room  517,  Grand  Central   Station. 

Edward  L.    Parris,  45    Broadway. 

Richard  A.  Wilson,  499  Monroe  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Alfred  B.  Robinson,  206  Broadway. 

Caldwell  R.  Blakeman,  Coffee   Exchange. 

Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown,  52  Wall  Street. 

Talbot   Root,  52    Broadway. 

Chandler  Smith,  68  Broad  Street. 

Nathaniel  A.  Prentiss,  120  Broadway. 

Pierre  F.  Macdonald,  45  Vestry   Street. 

Charles  A.   Coe,  117  East  57th   Street. 

Historical  Committee : 

David  Cromwell,  Chairman,  George    B.    Class, 

Norman  F.  Cushman,  Wilbur  F.   Wakeman, 

Talbot  Olyphant,  Ex-Officio. 


Essay  Committee: 

Richard  Henry  Greene,  Chairman,  R.     Russell    Requa, 

Herbert  L.  Bridgman,  Henry   Cole   Smith, 

Rev.  Albert  A.  Brockway. 


Library   Committee : 
John  R.  Totten,  Chairman,  Henry    Phelps    Johnston, 

Museum   Committee: 

Beverly   Chew,    Chairman,  John  DuFais, 

Clarence   Storm,  William    Bunker, 

William   G.  Low,  Jr. 

Tablet  Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Henry    Russell    Drowne, 

Henry   Phelps   Johnston,  Alexander   R.   Thompson, 

Pierre  F.   Macdonald. 

Stewards: 


Warren  S.  Banks,  Chairman, 
Charles  E.  Warren, 
Montgomery  H.  Sicard,  M.  D., 


James  A.  Burden, 
Lawrence   L.    Gillespie, 
Francis  G.  Landon. 


Marshal: 

John    Butterfield   Holland. 

Aides: 


Eugene  K.  Austin, 

Albert   Delafield, 

De  Witt  Clinton  Falls, 

Francis  Laurens  Vinton  Hoppin 


Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 
Talbot    Root, 
Clarence    Wilbur    Smith 
John    Noble    Stearns. 


Publication  Committee: 

James  M.   Montgomery,   Chairman,  Charles    Isham, 

Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

8 


Annual  Church  Service. 


Aisle   Committee: 


Talbot  Olyphant,  Chairman, 
Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff,  Vice-Chairman. 


Worcester  Bouck, 

Banyer  Clarkson, 

Cullen  Van  Rensselaer  Cogswell, 

Robert  Grier  Cooke, 

John  Francis  Daniell, 

Joseph  N.  Lord  Edmonds, 

Morris   Douw   Ferris, 

Henry  Van  Cortlandt  Fish, 

Schuyler  Brush  Knox, 

Charles  Percy  Latting,  Jr., 

George  Peabody  Montgomery, 


Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr., 
Murray  Olyphant, 
Robert  Morrison  Olyphant,  Jr., 
William  Rockhill  Potts, 
Edward  Lawrence  Purdy, 
Philip  Rhinelander, 
Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford, 
Arthur  Frederic  Schermerhorn, 
Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 
Joseph  Ferris  Simmons, 
Alfred  Byers  Wade. 


Excursion   Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Edward  P.  Casey, 

Clarence  Storm,  John  C.  Gulick, 

William  G.  Bates,  J.   Wray   Cleveland, 

Robert  Olyphant,  Ex-Officio. 


John  B.  Holland, 


Auditing   Committee : 

Joseph  T.  Low, 
Frf.df.rick    S.    Woodruff. 


Committee   on    Constitution   and   By-Laws. 


Edmund  Wetmore,  Chairman, 
William  W.  Ladd, 


William  G.  Bates, 
Frederick  S.  Woodruff. 


General  Philip   Schuyler  Statue    Committee: 
Edgar  C.   Leonard,  Chairman, 


Samuel  L.   Munson, 
Arthur  G.  Root,  M.  D., 


William  G.   Bates, 
Robert  C  Morris. 


9 


Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers 


To  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  State  of  New  York: 

The  Board  of  Managers  submits  the  following  report  for  the  year  end- 
ing December  4th,  1910: 

Nine  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  have  been  held  during  the 
year.  The  Annual  Meeting  was  held  at  Fraunces  Tavern,  December  4th, 
1909,  at  12:30  P.  M.,  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  President  of  the  Society, 
presiding. 

The  polls  were  declared  open  for  one  hour  and  a  half,  the  following 
tellers  having  been  appointed  by  the  President :  Messrs.  Talbot  Root, 
Varick  Dey  Martin,  Harrison  Wright  and  Chandler  Smith. 

The  reading  of  the  reports  of  the  Board  of  Managers  and  of  the 
Treasurer  was  dispensed  with,  these  reports  having  been  printed  for  dis- 
tribution to  the  members. 

The  report  of  the  Historian,  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  was,  owing  to  his 
absence,  read  by  Mr.  Walter  L.  Suydam,  during  the  reading  of  which  all 
the  members  rose  and  remained  standing. 

The  amendment  to  the  Constitution  as  to  the  wearing  of  the  insignia, 
proposed  by  Mr.  Edgar  C.  Leonard  and  amended  by  Mr.  Alexander  R. 
Thompson,  was  adopted,  making  Paragraph  5  of  Article  10  to  read  as 
follows : 

"The  insignia  shall  be  worn  by  the  members  on  all  occasions  when  they 
shall  assemble  as  such,  and  may  be  worn  on  any  occasion  of  ceremony, 
only  on  the  left  breast,  except  as  hereinafter  provided.  Members  who  are 
officers  or  ex-officers  of  the  General  or  of  the  State  Society,  and  such  other 
members  as  may  be  authorized  by  the  Board  of  Managers,  may  wear  the 
insignia  suspended  from  the  regulation  ribbon  around  the  neck.  The  in- 
signia shall  not  be  worn  as  an  article  of  jewelry,  nor  shall  the  use  of  it 
be  allowed  to  any  person  not  a  member.  The  rosette  must  not  be  dis- 
played at  the  same  time  with  the  insignia." 

1 1 


The  meeting  then  took  a  recess  until  2  :$o  for  luncheon,  which  was 
served  in  the  fourth  floor  dining  room,  and  on  being  again  called  to  order, 
Mr.  Talbot  Root  reported  for  the  tellers  that  897  votes  had  been  cast,  of 
which  792  were  by  proxy,  and  that  the  regular  ticket  had  been  elected. 

Since  the  Annual  Meeting,  Col.  Eugene  K.  Austin  has  been  appointed 
Assistant  Secretary;  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Assist- 
ant Chaplain;  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  Historian;  Col.  John  B.  Holland, 
Marshal ;  and  Messrs.  John  Hone,  Joseph  Tompkins  Low  and  Col.  William 
G.  Bates,  members  of  the  Executive  Committee.  Various  committees  have 
also  been  appointed,  a  list  of  which  is  printed  with  this  report. 


A  Stated  Meeting  was  held  at  Delmonico's,  New  York,  on  Monday 
evening,  January  24,  1910,  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Frederick  Samuel 
Tallmadge,  late  President  of  the  Society,  and  was  called  to  order  at  8:45 
P.  M.  by  the  Third  Vice-President,  Col.  William  W.  Ladd.  Mr.  Marcius 
D.  Raymond,  of  Tarrytown,  New  York,  an  old  member  of  the  Society, 
who  had  been  a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Tallmadge,  made  a  brief  address  in 
eulogy  of  the  late  President,  giving  interesting  reminiscences.  Mr.  Hop- 
per Striker  Mott  then  delivered  an  illustrated  lecture  on  "The  Blooming- 
dale  Road."  Mr.  Edward  Demarest  Butler  loaned  to  the  Society  the  key 
of  old  Fort  Stanwix,  of  the  Revolution,  near  Rome,  N.  Y. 

On  Tuesday  evening,  April  19,  1910,  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-fifth 
anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  a  Stated  Meeting  was  held  at  Del- 
monico's, New  York,  at  which  Mr.  Charles  William  Burrows  delivered  an 
illustrated  lecture  on  "The  First  Flying  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  Battle 
and  the  Burgoyne-Saratoga  Campaign." 

At  the  Stated  Meeting,  held  Friday,  November  25th,  1910,  at  Del- 
monico's, New  York,  to  celebrate  the  evacuation  of  the  City  of  New  York 
by  the  British  troops,  Mr.  Austin  Baxter  Keep  delivered  an  illustrated  lect- 
ure on  "Libraries  in  Pre-Revolutionary  America,  Their  Founders  and 
Patrons." 

The  Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Society,  commemorative  of  the 
birth  of  George  Washington,  was  held  at  the  Collegiate  Church  of  St. 
Nicholas,  Fifth  Avenue  and  Forty-eighth  Street,  New  York,  on  Sunday, 
February  20th,  1910,  at  4  o'clock  P.  M. 

It  was  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  As- 
sistant Chaplain  of  the  Society,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  George  Stuart  Baker, 
D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Pelham  St.  George  Bissell,  M.  A.,  A.K.C.,  the  Rev.  Albert 

12 


Alonzo  Brockway,  A.  M.,  the  Rev.  Henry  Bartin  Chapin,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  the 
Rev.  Edward  Benton  Coe,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  James  Shepard  Dennis,  D.  D., 
the  Rev.  William  Nichols  Dunnell,  S.  T.  D.,  and  the  Rev.  James  Tuttle- 
Smith,  D.  D. 

The  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  James  I.  Vance,  Minister  of  the 
North  Reformed  Church  of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  and  is  printed  in  full  in 
this  report. 

The  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812  furnished  a  uniformed  escort 
on  this  occasion. 

The  followiing  representatives  of  Societies  were  present :  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati :  Talbot  Olyphant,  Dr.  Thomas  M.  L.  Chrystie,  Dr.  Wrilliam 
Sturgis  Thomas  and  Dr.  Paul  Ernest  Tieman ;  Military  Society  of  the  War 
of  1812:  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Dudley  Evans,  George  W.  Olney,  Charles  A. 
Schermerhorn  and  George  L.  Nichols ;  Colonial  Wars :  Dallas  B.  Pratt, 
Frederick  Dwight,  Edward  Trenchard,  Edward  N.  Crosby  and  Benjamin 
R.  Lummis ;  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  State  of  New  York:  Mrs.  Zeb 
Mayhew,  Mrs.  Ashbel  P.  Fitch,  Mrs  William  H.  Hotchkin,  Miss.  Katherine 
J.  C.  Carville  and  Mrs.  John  H.  Abeel ;  Colonial  Dames  of  America:  Mrs. 
William  Warner  Hoppin,  Mrs.  Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford,  Miss  Effie  Beek- 
man  Borrowe,  Miss  Elizabeth  L.  Gebhard  and  Miss  Katrine  Woolsey 
Carmalt;  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York:  Mrs.  Robison,  Miss 
McAllister,  Miss  Dudley,  Mrs.  Chauncey  and  Miss  Stimson ;  Aztec  Club  of 
1847:  Dr.  John  W.  Brannan,  Loyal  Farragut,  H.  Fitzjohn  Porter,  Dr. 
William  M.  Polk  and  William  M.  Sweeney.  The  Military  Order  of  Foreign 
Wars  and  the  'Loyal  Legion  were  also  represented  by  delegates. 

The  Annual  Banquet  took  place  in  the  large  banquet  hall  at  Del- 
monico's  on  February  22nd,  1910,  the  anniversary  of  Washington's  Birth- 
day, and  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  the  President  of  the 
Society.     The  following  invited  guests  were  present: 

The  Rev.  Henry  van  Dyke,  D.  D. ; 

The  Rev.  James  I.  Vance,  D.  D. ; 

Rear  Admiral  Joseph  B.  Murdock,  LI.  S.  N.,  representing  the  Navy  ; 

St.  Clair  McKelway,  LL.  D. ; 

The  Hon.  Joseph  T.  Orme ; 

Capt.  Walter  C.  Cowles,  U.  S.  N. ; 

George  W.  Olney,  Society  of  the  Cincinnati ; 

William  M.  Macbean,  Saint  Andrew's  Society ; 

William  Temple  Emmet,  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick ; 

!3 


Floyd  B.  Sanderson,  Saint  George's  Society; 

Paul  G.  Thebaud,  Society  of  the  War  of  1812; 

Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  New  York  Historical  Society ; 

Henry  L.  Bogert,  The  Holland  Society. 

John  F.  Daniell,  Society  of  Colonial  Wars ; 

Amory  S.  Carhart,  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars ; 

Herbert  M.  Leland,  Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution  ; 

Edward  Hart  Fenn.  Connecticut  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution  ; 

Bayard  Stockton,  New  Jersey  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

Major  General  Leonard  Wood,  U.  S.  A.,  who  was  to  represent  the 
Army,  sent  regrets  on  account  of  illness. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  As- 
sistant Chaplain  of  the  Society. 

The  banquet  hall  was  appropriately  and  tastefully  decorated  and  an 
orchestra  was  furnished  for  the  occasion.  After  coffee  had  been  served 
there  was  the  usual  flag  procession  in  the  following  order :  Fifer  and 
Drummer  in  continental  uniform ;  the  Stewards ;  flags  and  banners  of  the 
Society ;  the  cocked  hat  carried  on  a  cushion ;  and  a  handsome  basket  of 
flowers  from  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

Mr.  William  W.  Hoppin  in  presenting  the  President  with  the  cocked 
hat,  spoke  as  follows : 

"Mr.  President,  we  bring  you  no  jeweled  crown  to-night.  We  bring 
you  the  cocked  hat,  which  represents  the  patriotism  of  our  forefathers,  and 
reminds  us  that  they  created  a  Nation  and  that  we  are  to  preserve  that 
Nation. 

"We  ask  you  to  put  it  on  your  head,  for  we  like  to  see  it  upon  you, 
Sir,  for  we  love  you  and  we  recognize  you  as  a  distinguished  representative 
of  all  the  sentiments  of  loyalty  that  adorned  the  character  of  our  fore- 
fathers." 

The  hat  was  received  by  President  Wetmore,  who  put  it  on  with  ap- 
propriate remarks. 

The  Stewards  then  brought  in  the  loving  cup,  which  had  been  sub- 
scribed for  by  the  members  of  the  Society,  as  a  testimonial  to  Mr.  Arthur 
M.  Hatch,  who  has  been  its  Treasurer  for  twenty-two  years. 

Mr.  Wetmore  presented  the  cup  in  the  following  words : 

"Mr.  Hatch,  you  have  been  the  Treasurer  of  the  Society  for  nearlv 
the  full  term  of  twenty-five  years.     During  that  period  all  our  funds,  from 

14 


the  very  small  amount  at  the  beginning  to  the  very  large  amount  at  the  end, 
have  passed  through  your  hands.  To  your  care,  your  watchfulness,  your 
accuracy  and  your  unfailing  attention  do  we  owe  it,  that  all  those  funds  have 
been  faithfully  received  and  all  faithfully  spent. 

"Grateful  for  your  continued  care  for  their  interests,  your  friends  and 
fellow  members  in  the  Society  have  commissioned  me  to  present  to  you  this 
loving  cup,  as  a  token  of  their  appreciation  for  what  you  have  done. 

"Please  take  it  with  our  best  good  wishes  and  the  good  wishes  of  all 
of  us,  that  you  may  live  long  to  enjoy  this  proof  of  the  estimation  in  which 
you  are  held."    Three  cheers  were  then  given  for  Mr.  Hatch. 

In  receiving  the  cup  Mr.  Hatch  said : 

"Mr.  President  and  members  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution :  When 
my  friend  Montgomery  told  me  that  I  was  to  be  presented  with  a  memento 
of  my  twenty-two  years'  service  as  Treasurer  of  this  Society  I  was  some- 
what disturbed.  In  facing  such  an  audience  as  this  I  find  it  is  a  difficult 
task  for  me  to  express  adequately  how  deeply  I  appreciate  this  exquisite 
gift.  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  thought  which  prompted  this  very  tangible 
recognition  of  my  services ;  that  you  should  be  moved  to  give  expression  to 
your  approval,  not  only  in  words,  but  in  an  offering  of  such  beauty,  af- 
fords me  the  greatest  gratification. 

"During  my  term  of  office  our  Society  has  prospered.  When  I  assumed 
my  duties,  nearly  twenty-three  years  ago,  our  cash  balance  amounted  to  less 
than  $500.  To-day  our  assets  are  $163,000.  This  is  all  very  satisfactory, 
but  I  have  been  more  impressed  with  the  fine  purposes  which  have  animated 
the  men  who  have  served  this  Society  as  officers  and  managers ;  they  have 
never  faltered  in  their  allegiance,  nor  lost  sight  of  the  high  aims  for  which 
this  Society  was  founded.  It  has  been  a  rare  privilege  to  be  associated  with 
them  in  the  pursuit  of  my  duties,  and  I  beg  that  you  will  accept  the  as- 
surance of  my  deepest  gratitude  for  this  beautiful  gift." 

All  then  joined  in  singing  heartily  "For  He  is  a  Jolly  Good  Fellow" 
and  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner." 

President  Wetmore  made  some  eloquent  remarks,  suitable  to  the  oc- 
casion and  read  a  telegram  which  was  received  from  Mr.  John  Austin 
Stevens,  the  Founder  of  the  Society,  and  was  as  follows :  "Congratula- 
tions to  the  Sons  on  this  their  thirty-fourth  birthday." 

The  orchestra  then  played  the  historic  tune,  to  which  the  British 
marched  out  of  Yorktown,  entitled,  "The  World  Turned  Upside  Down"  or 
"The  King  Shall  Get  His  Own  Again."' 

The  toasts  were  responded  to  as  follows : 


15 


"The  United  States  of  America,"  in  silence,  all  present  rising. 
"George  Washington,"  Rev.  Henry  van  Dkye,  D.  D. 
"The  Navy,"  Rear-Admiral  Joseph  B.  Murdock,  U.  S.  N. 
"The  Revolution  and  Civil  Service,"  St.  Clair  McKelway. 
All  these  speeches  are  printed  in  full  in  this  report. 

In  the  absence  of  Major-General  Leonard  Wood,  who  was  to  have 
responded  to  the  toast,  "The  Army,"  but  was  prevented  from  attending  by 
illness,  all  present  rose  and  drank  to  his  health  with  an  expression  of  best 
wishes  for  his  speedy  recovery. 

Mr.  Wetmore  then  introduced  Mr.  Joseph  T.  Orme,  of  Atlanta,  a 
member  of  the  Georgia  Society,  who  made  a  humorous  impromptu  speech 
which  closed  the  events  of  the  evening. 

There  were  three  hundred  and  sixteen  members  and  guests  in  attend- 
ance at  the  banquet,  which  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  those  present. 

During  the  year  the  Society  has  met  with  the  loss  of  its  Founder  and 
first  President,  Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens,  who  had  not  only  always  main- 
tained a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  our  Society,  but  had  also  been  a 
liberal  and  constant  contributor  to  its  collections. 

In  consequence  of  his  death  the  following  notice  was  issued : 

"The  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State 
of  New  York  announce  with  the  deepest  sorrow  the  death  of  our  honored 
Founder  and  first  President,  John  Austin  Stevens,  at  his  residence  in  New- 
port, R.  I.,  on  Thursday,  June  16,  1910.  The  funeral  services  will  be  held 
in  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  Broadway,  corner  of  Vesey  Street  on  Tuesday,  June 
21  st,  at  3  130  P.  M. 

"Through  the  courtesy  of  the  Rector,  the  members  of  the  Society  will 
meet  in  the  hall  on  the  third  floor  of  the  Parish  House,  29  Vesey  Street, 
at  3:10,  wearing  the  insignia. 

Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Secretary." 

The  services  on  this  occasion  were  most  impressive  and  were  conduct- 
ed by  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Assistant  Chaplain  of 
the  Society,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  William  Montague  Geer,  D.  D.,  Vicar  of 
St.  Paul's  Chapel,  the  Rev.  George  Stuart  Baker,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Charles 
Daniel  Trexler,  the  Rev.  William  Nichols  Dunnell,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  George 
Clarke  Houghton,  A.  M.,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Pelham  St.  George  Bissell,  A.  M., 
A.  K.  C,  the  Rev.  Henry  Bartin  Chapin,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  James  Tuttle- 
Smith,  D.  D.,  and  the  Rev.  Berry  Oakley  Baldwin,  B.  D. 

16 


The  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  headed  the  procession  and  acted  as 
escort.  The  pall  bearers  were  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  Mr.  William  W. 
Hoppin,  Mr.  Robert  Olvphant,  Mr.  Arthur  M.  Hatch,  Mr.  James  Mortimer 
Montgomery,  Mr.  Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  Mr.  Sereno  S.  Pratt,  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  Colonel  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Mr.  Robert  H.  Kelby  and 
Mr.  Alexander  R.  Thompson. 

Representatives  were  present  from  the  Military  Society  of  the  War 
of  1812,  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the 
New  York  Historical  Society,  etc.  The  procession  was  conducted  by 
Colonel  John  B.  Holland,  Marshal  of  the  Society.  Many  of  our  members 
were  present. 

An  Excursion  to  West  Point,  N.  Y.,  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of 
the  Saratoga  Campaign  was  arranged  for  October  8th,  1910.  About  five 
hundred  persons,  including  members  of  the  Society,  their  families  and 
guests,  went  and  had  a  most  enjoyable  time. 

The  steamer  "Albany"  started  from  the  foot  of  West  42nd  Street  at 
10:00  A.  M.,  and  West  129th  Street  at  10:20,  arriving  at  West  Point  about  1 
o'clock.  Luncheon  was  served  on  the  steamer  on  the  way  up,  and  dinner 
on  the  return  trip. 

Major-General  Frederick  D.  Grant,  U.  S.  A.,  commanding  the  De- 
partment of  the  East,  was  the  guest  of  honor  of  the  Society  and  as  he 
stepped  on  the  boat,  the  Major-General's  Flag  was  unfurled  and  the  cus- 
tomary call  was  sounded  by  the  bugler. 

On  arriving  at  "the  Military  Academy,  after  witnessing  a  brief  drill, 
our  First  Vice-President,  Mr.  Robert  Olvphant,  on  behalf  of  the  Society, 
made  a  brief  address  and  presented  the  Cadets  with  a  large  silver  cup,  in- 
scribed as  follows:  "Presented  by  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  October  8,  1910,  to  the  Corps  of  Cadets  U.  S.  Military 
Academy  as  a  trophy  on  which  to  inscribe  each  year  the  name  of  the  Cadet 
having  the  highest  military  efficiency." 

Mr.  Olvphant  made  the  presentation  in  the  following  words : 

"It  is  with  great  regret  that  I  have  to  speak  for  our  beloved  President. 
Edmund  Wetmore,  who  is  unfortunately  detained  at  home  by  illness.  On 
behalf  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New  York,  it  gives  me 
great  pleasure  to  present,  through  you  as  their  Commandant,  to  the  Corps 
of  Cadets  of  the  U.  S.  Military  Academy,  this  cup,  to  be  held  as  a  trophy, 
on  which  to  inscribe  each  year  the  name  of  the  Cadet  of  the  graduating 
class  having  the  highest  military  efficiency. 

"In  giving  this  cup  we  also  desire  that  it  may  serve  as  a  token  of  the 

17 


loyalty  of  our  Association,  as  a  patriotic  Society,  to  the  regular  army  and 
our  appreciation  of  the  services  rendered  to  that  army  by  this  famous 
academy.  The  history  of  our  country  has  been  largely  shaped  by  its  gradu- 
ates, and,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  it  has  owed  its  salvation  to  their  skill 
and  valor.  Under  despotic  and  imperial  governments  the  army  is  regarded 
as  a  menace  to  the  people.  In  our  country  we  feel  and  know  that  the  art 
and  science  of  warfare,  so  perfectly  taught  here,  are  among  the  surest 
guarantees  of  our  national  security  and  peace.  And  the  young  men  of  our 
land  can  have  no  higher  standard  of  honor  set  before  them  than  the 
standard  that  always  has  been  and  is  maintained  here  of  what  constitutes 
a  gentleman  and  a  soldier.  The  cup  is  accompanied  by  our  warmest  wishes 
for  the  continued  prosperity  of  the  academy,  and  we  wish  to  give  to  you 
and  your  fellow  officers  the  assurance  that  as  far  as  civilians  may,  our  As- 
sociation will  always  be  ready  to  do  all  that  lies  in  our  power  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  Army  and  to  give  respectful  attention  to  the  counsels  of 
its  officers  as  to  the  best  mode  of  advancing  its  interests. 

"I  now.  Sir,  commit  the  cup  to  your  keeping." 

Lieutenant-Colonel  W.  S.  Sibley,  U.  S.  A.,  Commandant  of  Cadets, 
received  the  cup  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  and  said : 

"I  feel  greatly  honored  at  having  been  designated  by  the  Superintendent 
of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  to  accept  in  the  name  of  the  Corps  of 
Cadets  this  beautiful  cup  from  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
in  the  State  of  New  York. 

"This  trophy  will  be  placed  among  others  heretofore  presented  to  the 
United  States  Corps  of  Cadets  and  will  have  engraved  upon  it  the  name 
of  the  cadet  of  each  graduating  class  who  has  shown  the  highest  military 
efficiency  during  his  four  years  at  this  Academy. 

"It  is  especially  appropriate  that  such  a  trophy  should  be  presented  by 
the  descendants  of  the  noble  men  who  so  heroically  fought  for  and  achieved 
the  independence  of  this  Xation  to  the  young  graduate  about  to  enter  upon 
his  career  as  a  soldier  whose  duty  it  will  be  to  defend  this  liberty  so  hardly 
won  by  our  ancestors. 

"I  thank  you  in  the  name  of  the  Corps  of  Cadets." 

At  the  December  Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  in  accordance 
with  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution  regarding  the  wearing  of  the  in- 
signia. Chapter  Regents  and  members  appointed  by  the  President  to  for- 
mallv  represent  the  Society  at  banquets,  were  given  the  same  privilege  as 
State  Officers  with  regard  to  wearing  the  insignia  suspended  from  a  rib- 
bon around  the  neck. 

18 


l« 


<r 


CUP  PRESENTED  BY  THE  SONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW 
YORK,  OCTOBER  8,  1910,  TO  THE  CORPS  OF  CADETS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
MILITARY  ACADEMY.  WEST  POINT.  N.  Y..  AS  A  TROPHY  ON  WHICH  TO  INSCRIBE 
EACH  YEAR  THE  NAME  OF  THE  CADET  HAVING  THE  HIGHEST  MILITARY 
EFFICIENCY.        DIMENISIONS     16     INCHES     HIGH.    9     INCHES     DIAMETER, 


At  the  January  Meeting  an  invitation  was  accepted  to  a  Memorial  Serv- 
ice for  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  R.  Richards,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  draw  up  a  resolution  which  was  adopted  at  the  next  meeting,  and  is  a? 
follows : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
have  heard  with  sorrow  of  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  R.  Richards 
and  record  this  minute  of  their  appreciation  of  the  loss  sustained.  Long 
and  actively  identified  with  the  Society  and  its  objects,  he  was  a  valued 
member,  ever  ready  to  do  whatever  lay  in  his  power  to  advance  and  further 
its  interests.    By  his  death  this  Association  has  suffered  an  abiding  loss." 

At  the  February  Meeting  the  petition  of  the  General  Society  requesting 
that  the  Government  print  all  the  unpublished  official  records  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  together  with  transcripts  from  the  records  of  the  original 
Thirteen  States  relating  to  Muster  Rolls  of  Officers,  Soldiers,  Sailors  and 
Marines  not  embraced  in  the  government  collection  was  endorsed,  and  the 
Secretary  was  instructed  to  so  inform  Senators  and  Representatives  from 
this  State  with  the  request  that  they  use  their  influence  to  further  this 
project. 

Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant  handed  to  the  Chairman  a  silver  mounted  gavel 
and  a  block  of  wood  from  the  "Royal  Savage,"  Arnold's  Flagship,  in  the 
Battle  of  Valcour.  Fake  Champlai.n,  X.  Y..  October  n,  1776,  the  wood  for 
which  had  been  presented  to  the  Society  by  Mr.  John  B.  Riley,  of  Platts- 
burg,  N.  Y. 

At  the  March  Meeting  the  following  resolution  was  introduced  by  Mr. 
PMgar  C.  Leonard,  of  Albany,  and  adopted  : 

Resolved.  That  Senator  George  B.  Agnew  be  asked  to  introduce  in  the 
Senate,  and  Assemblyman  Clarence  Mac  Gregor,  in  the  Assembly,  a  bill  to 
provide  for  the  erection  by  the  State  of  Xew  York  of  a  statue  of  General 
Philip  Schuyler  in  the  City  of  Albany,  X.  Y.,  where  he  resided  and  laid 
the  plans  for  the  successful  capture  of  General  Burgoyne's  Army  in  1777. 

Mr.  Leonard  also  reported  for  the  Committee  that  had  been  appointed 
to  consider  the  observance  of  the  4th  of  Jul)',  that  the  Committee  believe 
Xew  York  should  have  a  restrictive  ordinance  in  relation  to  the  use  of 
heavy  explosives,  and  offered  the  following'  resolution  which  was  adopted : 

•  Resolved,  That  we  notice  with  approval  the  action  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  at  Albany  where,  through  their  efforts,  the  city  has  adopted  an 
ordinance  forbidding  the  use  of  the  heavier  and  more  dangerous  forms  of 

19 


explosives  and  we  believe  a   similar  ordinance  would  be  wise  in  tbe  City 
of  New  York. 

Tbe  following  resolutions  were  also  adopted: 

Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion in  the  State  of  Xew  York  approves  the  purpose  of  legislation  proposed 
in  the  'Legislature  concerning  the  better  care  of  the  public  records  of  the 
State  and  respectfully  petitions  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the  Assembly  to 
recommend  favorably  such  a  bill  as  will  advance  this  object. 

Resolved.  That  the  Excursion  Committee  be  requested  to  take  up  the 
advisability  of  a  trip  to  West  Point  during  the  Autumn  of  1910  and  take 
all  steps  necessary  to  ascertain  the  views  of  the  Society  regarding  the  mat- 
ter and  further  resolved  that  the  Committee  consider  whether  on  this  trip 
it  would  not  be  advisable  to  allow  members  to  bring  ladies. 

At  the  April  Meeting,  Mr.  Arthur  M.  Hatch  tendered  to  the  Society 
the  balance  remaining  of  the  "Hatch  Testimonial  Fund"  for  the  purpose  of 
placing  in  the  "Long  Room"  at  Fraunces  Tavern  a  suitable  tablet  com- 
memorating the  names  of  the  Founders  of  the  Society.  On  motion  thi= 
offer  was  duly  accepted  with  the  thanks  of  the  Board. 

The  inscription  on  the  tablet  is  as  follows : 

Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  State  of  New  York 


Instituted 

Incorporated 

1876 

Founders 

1884 

John  Austin  Stevens  John  Cochrane 

Austin  Huntington  George  H.  Potts 

Frederick  S.   Tallmadgc  George  IV.  Wright  Houghton 

Asa  Bird  Gardiner  Thomas  Henry  Edsall 

Joseph    W.   Drcxel  James  Mortimer  Montgomery 

James  Duanc  Livingston  John  Bleecker  Miller 
Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Jr. 

At  the  May  Meeting  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant  reported  for  the  Special 
Committee  on  the  Golden  Hill  Tablet,  recommending  that  the  matter  be 
dropped  as  the  Golden   Hill  Riot  occurred  in   1770,  which  was  before  the 

20 


Revolution  ;  further  that  the  present  tablet  erected  on  the  building  at  the 
corner  of  Ann  and  William  Streets  be  taken  down  and  not  renewed. 

The  recommendation  of  the  Committee  was  adopted. 

Mr.  Wetmore  reported  that  a  delegation  of  six,  officers  and  members  of 
the  Board  of  Managers,  had  paid  a  visit  to  the  Buffalo  Chapter,  leaving  on 
May  13th  and  returning  on  the  15th,  and  that  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr. 
Ralph  Peters  the  party  had  the  use  of  his  private  car  for  the  trip.  They 
were  received  with  great  cordiality  by  the  members  of  the  Chapter  and  con- 
ducted to  many  interesting  places  around  Buffalo  and  to  Niagara  Falls. 

At  the  June  Meeting  an  invitation  was  received  from  Colonel  George 
A.  Wingate  for  the  Society  to  participate  in  the  parade  on  the  Fourth 
July  and  a  reply  sent  regretting  that  the  Society  would  be  unable  to  parade 
as  the  members  were  so  generally  out  of  town  at  that  time. 

At  the  October  Meeting,  a  project  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the 
State  of  New  Jersey,  for  marking  the  spot  where  Washington  crossed  the 
Delaware  by  a  park  of  about  four  hundred  acres  on  the  New  Jersey  side 
of  the  river  and  a  similar  park  on  the  Pennsylvania  side,  connected  by  a 
monumental  bridge  of  artistic  design  to  be  built  by  the  National  Govern- 
ment, was  endorsed  and  the  Secretary  instructed  to  so  inform  the  Senators 
and  Representatives  from  New  York  State  and  the  Hon.  Frank  O.  Briggs, 
United  States  Senator  from  New  Jersey. 

A  letter  was  received  and  read  from  Mrs.  Stevens  and  the  Misses 
Stevens  expressing  their  appreciation  of  the  funeral  services  in  New  York 
City  for  the  late  Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens,  the  Founder  and  first  President 
of  the  Society. 

The  Essay  Committee  reported  one  hundred  and  twelve  essays  re- 
ceived from  sixty-three  schools  on  the  subject,  "General  Steuben's  Services 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.*'  and  that  prizes  and  honorable  mention  had  been 
awarded  as  follows : 

First  Prize — Dorothy  Thorne,  Yonkers  High  School,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

Second  Prize — George  Burnett  Overhiser,  Montgomery  High  School, 
Montgomery,  N.  Y. 

Third  Prize — James  Moffatt.  Buffalo  Central  High  School,  Buffalo, 
X.  Y. 

Honorable  Mention. 

Henry  Coe  Place,  White  Plains  High  School,  White  Plains,  N.  Y. 
Ralph  Bowen  Gage,  Forestville  High  School,  Forestville,  N.  Y. 
C.  Hubert  Bonsall.  Haverstraw  High  School,  Haverstraw,  X.  Y. 

21 


Alice  V.  B rower,  Mount  Vernon  High  School,  Mount  Vernon,  X.  Y. 
Inez    Marie    Rogers,    North    Tonawanda    High    School.    Xorth    Tona- 
wanda,  X.  Y. 

Edna  Johnson,   Binghamton  High  School,  Binghamton,  N.  Y. 
Francis  H.  Phipps,  Mount  Vernon  High  School,  Mount  Vernon,  X.  Y. 
Grace  M.  Malcolm,  Lafayette  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Susie  Adelaide  Depew,  Oakside  High  School,  Peekskill,  NV  Y. 


The  Society  during  the  year  has  received  courteous  invitations  to  the 
following  banquets : 

Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 
Society  of  the  War  of  1812, 
Holland  Society, 
Colonial  Order  of  the  Acorn, 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick, 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars, 
Saint  Andrew's  Society, 

and  has  also  received  invitations  to  the  following  functions : 

Reception  to  the  President  of  the  United  States :  Military  Order  of 
Foreign  Wars. 

Reception  to  State  Regent;  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 

Meeting;  Daughters  of  the  Cincinnati. 

Twenty-fifth    Annual   Exhibition   of   the    Architectural    League. 

Exhibition  of  Relics,  Washington's  Headquarters. 

Celebration  on  Steamer  George  Washington  ;  Daughters  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  State  of  New  York. 

Luncheon  at  Fraunces  Tavern,  New  York ;  Xew  York  State  Society, 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution. 

I  Fnveiling  of  Monument  marking  birthplace  site  of  the  State  of  New 
York  at  White  Plains ;  White  Plains  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution. 

Unveiling  of  the  Tablet  in  Claremont  Viaduct,  New  York ;  Knicker- 
bocker Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 

Unveiling  of  Tablet  on  Schooner  "Polly,"  foot  of  50th  street,  Xorth 
River,  Xew    York;   United  States  Daughters  of  the  War  of  1812. 

22 


Church  Service,  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  New  York. 
Church  Service ;  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 
Memorial  Service  at  Governor's  Island,  Society  of  the  War  of  1812. 
Two   hundred  and  fiftieth   Anniversary   of   the  Collegiate   Church   of 
Harlem. 


The  Secretaries  of  our  Chapters  give  the  following  reports  for  the  year : 

PHILIP  LIVINGSTON  CHAPTER,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

During   the  thirteen  months  ending   November   1st,   1910,  the  following 
events  have  taken  place,  which  are  of  peculiar  interest  to  this  Chapter : 

At  the  Regular  Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  Chapter,  held  at  the  Uni- 
versity Club  on  November  10th,  Mr.  Russell  Headley  read  a  highly  inter- 
esting and  most  carefully  prepared  paper  on  "The  Last  Cantonment  of  the 
Revolutionary  Army,"  which  was  greatly  enjoyed  by  the  members. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  the  Fort  Orange  Club  on  January 
19th,  the  following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year :  Edgar  Cot- 
rell  Leonard,  Regent ;  William  Addison  Wallace,  Vice-Regent ;  Borden 
Hicks  Mills,  Secretary ;  Herbert  Whiting  Stickney,  Treasurer ;  Edward 
Willard  Wetmore,  Registrar ;  George  Elmer  Gorham,  M.  D.,  Historian ; 
Rev.  Charles  Grenville  Sewall,  Chaplain;  Edgar  Albert  Vander  Veer,  M.  D., 
Marshal;  Walter  Stuart  McEwan,  Curator. 

The  meeting  was  followed  by  the  Annual  Dinner,  at  which  the  speak- 
ers were  the  Hon.  John  C.  Tomlinson,  of  the  New  York  State  Society ;  Hon. 
Frederick  M.  Davenport,  State  Senator  from  the  Oneida  District ;  Hon. 
James  B.  McEwan,  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Albany,  and  the  Rev.  J.  Valde- 
mar  Moldenhawer,  Pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Albany. 

Largely  through  the  efforts  of  the  Chapter  an  anti-high-explosives  or- 
dinance was  passed  during  the  year  by  the  Albany  Common  Council,  and 
thereafter  an  Albany  Independence  Day  Association  was  formed,  partially 
officered  by  members  of  the  Chapter,  which  was  highly  successful  in  con- 
ducting an  Independece  Day  celebration  along  safe  and  sane  lines.  This 
Association  has  become  a  permanent  organization. 

The  Chapter  held  no  Church  Service  during  the  year,  but  a  number  of 
the  members  accepted  the  invitation  of  William  Floyd  Chapter,  of  Troy,  to 
attend  the  services  held  by  them  in  commemoration  of  the  Birthday  of 
Washington. 


At  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  held  at  the  University  Club  on  April  20th, 
1910,  a  paper  on  "Modern  Tendency"  was  read  by  Colonel  M.  W.  Larned. 
U.  S.  A.,  of  the  Faculty  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point. 

Through  the  efforts  of  Douglas  Campbell,  Esq.,  of  Cherry  Valley,  a 
member  of  the  Chapter,  a  marker  has  been  erected  during  the  year  to  desig- 
nate the  site  of  the  Revolutionary  fort  at  Cherry  Valley,  the  same  being 
inscribed:  "Site  of  Fort  on  the  Land  of  Colonel  Samuel  Campbell,  main- 
tained for  the  defense  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Cherry  Valley,  Newton-Martin, 
Springfield,  Unadilla,  and  the  Old  English  District,  1777- 1778.  Erected  by 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  1910." 

The  marker  consists  of  a  pyramidical  stand  of  shells,  donated  by  the 
Ordnance  Department  of  the  United  States  Army,  and  the  inscription  is 
carried  on  two  marble  tablets  sunk  in  the  concrete  base  of  the  pyramid. 

At  the  October  Quarterly  Meeting,  held  at  the  University  Club  on  Oc- 
tober 27th,  1910,  papers  were  read  by  Mr.  Frederick  B.  Richards  on  "The 
Black  Watch  at  Ticonderoga,"  and  by  Borden  H.  Mills,  Esq.,  on  "Old  Al- 
bany in  Revolutionary  Days,"  and  an  address  was  delivered  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  G.  Sewall  on  "Historic  Lake  Champlain ;  a  Resume  of  the  Recent 
Trip   of   the   New   York   Historical   Association." 

During  the  past  thirteen  months  the  Chapter  has  held  four  meetings, 
one  Annual  Meeting  and  three  Quarterly  Meetings.  During  the  same  pe- 
riod the  Executive  Board  has  held  nine  meetings.  The  average  attendance 
at  Chapter  meetings  has  been  40  and  the  average  attendance  at  Board 
Meetings  has  been  six. 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  to,  iqio.  Borden  Hicks  Mills, 

Secretary,  Philip  Livingston  Chapter, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

BUFFALO  ASSOCIATION,  Buffalo.  N.  Y. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Buffalo  Association,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, the  following  officers  were  elected:  Henry  R.  Howland,  President; 
Charles  R.  Wilson,  Vice-President ;  George  W.  Comstock,  Secretary  and 
Treasurer. 

Four  meetings  were  held  during  the  year  and  on  January  27th,  1910,  a 
dinner  was  given  at  the  University  Club  at  which  a  large  number  were 
present. 

The  Chapter  also  entertained  a  visiting  delegation  from  New  York  on 
May    13th.    which    included    President   Wetmore   and   five  members   of  the 

24 


Board  of  Managers.  A  special  trolley  car  was  chartered  for  a  trip  to  Ni- 
agara Falls,  the  Gorge,  Queenstown  and  Lewistown  and  the  delegation  was 
accompanied  by  a  goodly  number  of  members  of  the  Chapter.  A  dinner  was 
also  given  at  the  Prospect  House,  Niagara  Falls,  and  the  trip  was  a  most 
enjoyable  one. 

It  is  proposed  during  the  coming  winter  to  hold  meetings  about  once 
a  month.    The  Chapter  is  in  a  live  and  flourishing  condition. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  9,  1910.  George  W.  Comstock, 

Secretary  Buffalo  Association, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

FORT  SCHUYLER  CHAPTER,  Utica,  New  York. 

The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Fort  Schuyler  Giapter,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, was  held  at  their  offices  in  the  Second  National  Bank  Building, 
Utica,  N.  Y.,  on  the  morning  of  February  22nd,  and  the  following  officers 
were  elected :  Sylvester  Dering,  Regent ;  Warren  C.  Rowley,  Vice-Regent ; 
A,  Vedder  Brower,  Secretary ;  J.  Francis  Day,  Treasurer ;  Rt.  Rev.  Charles 
T.  Olmsted,  Chaplain ;  William  M.  Storrs,  Marshal ;  Wadsworth  L.  Good- 
ier,  Historian ;  Thomas  R.  Proctor,  Willias  E.  Ford  and  Egbert  Bagg, 
Trustees. 

On  the  evening  of  that  day,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Chapter, 
the  Annual  Banquet  was  held  at  the  Fort  Schuyler  Club.  In  the  absence  of 
the  retiring  Regent,  Frederick  W.  Kincaid,  the  newly  elected  Regent,  Gen- 
eral Sylvester  Dering,  presided.  Covers  were  laid  for  sixteen.  The  table 
decorations  were  flags  and  red  and  white  roses.  The  speakers  of  the  evening 
were  Doctor  Charles  H.  Baldwin  and  the  Rev.  J.  Howard  Hobbs,  the 
latter  speaking  on  George  Washington. 

On  Columbus  Day,  October  12th,  the  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Sons  of 
the  Revolution,  acting  in  conjunction  with  the  Oneida  Historical  Society, 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  and  the  Children  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  unveiled  a  granite  boulder  to  mark  the  site  of  old  Fort 
Schuyler.  This  historic  fort  stood  at  what  is  now  the  intersection  of  Park 
Avenue  and  Main  Street,  in  the  city  of  Utica.  Twenty-five  years  ago  the 
Oneida  Historical  Society  built  a  foundation  on  this  site  upon  which  it  was 
proposed  to  erect  a  monument.  It  also  placed  field  pieces  at  the  corners 
of  the  foundation,  but  here  the  work  stopped.  It  remained  for  the  present 
Societies  to  complete  the  monument.  The  base  is  of  Barre  granite  and  is 
six  feet  and  two  inches  square.  This  is  surmounted  by  a  boulder,  also  of 
granite,  measuring  three  feet  and  three  inches  across  the  face  and  four  feet 

25 


and  four  inches  in  height.  It  is  two  feet  and  two  inches  in  diameter.  The 
whole  stands  about  five  feet  above  the  foundation.  On  one  side  of  the  stone 
is  inscribed,  "Old  Fort  Schuyler,  1758."  and  on  the  other  side  a  bronze 
tablet  bears  this  inscription : 

"The  Historical  and  Patriotic  Societies  of  Utica  Place  This  Stone  to 
Mark  the  Site  of  One  of  a  Chain  of  Forts  Built  to  Protect  the  Northern 
Frontier  from  the  French  and  their  Indian  Allies,  and  to  Guard  the  Great 
Ford  Across  the  Mohawk  River. 

Oneida  Historical  Society, 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, 

Sons   of   the   Revolution, 

Children  of  the  American  Revolution. 

Utica,  October  12,  1910." 

The  unveiling  occurred  at  2 130  in  the  afternoon.  General  Sylvester 
Dering,  Regent  of  the  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  pre- 
sided and  stated  the  object  of  the  gathering.  Prayer  was  offered  by  the 
Reverend  Octavius  Applegate,  after  which  the  company  sang  "America." 
The  stone  was  then  unveiled  by  Philip  Van  R.  Schuyler,  of  Utica,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  family  for  whom  the  fort  was  named.  The  flag  was  raised 
by  Miss  Catharine  Jewett,  a  descendant  of  the  Bleecker  family,  who  with 
the  Schuyler  family  originally  held  joint  title  to  the  property  on  which  old 
Fort  Schuyler  was  erected.  As  the  Stars  and  Stripes  waved  over  the  spot, 
the  people  sang  the  "Star  Spangled  Banner."  The  company  then  adjourned 
to  the  Munson-Williams  Memorial,  where  an  historical  address  was  deliv- 
ered by  William  Pierrepont  White.  The  exercises  closed  with  music  and 
a  reception  tendered  by  the  ladies  of  the  Oneida  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution. 

Utica,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  10,  191  o.  Abram  Vedder  Brower, 

Secretary,  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

WILLIAM   FLOYD  CHAPTER,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  William  Floyd  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, was  held  at  the  Troy  Club  on  February  22nd,  1910,  and  resulted 
in  continuing  the  old  officers,  which  are  as  follows :  Col.  Walter  P.  War- 
ren, Regent;  Dr.  Russell  F.  Benson,  Jr.,  Vice-Regent;  William  Barker,  Jr.. 
Secretary ;  D.  B.  Plum,  Treasurer ;  Henry  F.  Boardman,  Historian. 

After  the  election  a  paper  entitled,  "Human  Nature  in  the  American 

26 


Revolution,"  was  read  by  Francis  T.  Joslin,  editor  of  the  Troy  Record,  and 
this  was  followed  by  a  collation. 

Three  new  members  were  elected  during  the  year  and  the  Chapter  lost 
one  member  by  death,  Mr.  D.  L.  Van  Antwerp. 

It  has  now  73  active  members. 

Troy,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  10,  1910.  William  Barker,  Jr., 

Secretary,  William  Floyd  Chapter,  " 
Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

JAMESTOWN  CHAPTER,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

During  the  present  year  two  new  members,  Theodore  Zador  Root  and 
Edward  Robert  Bootey,  have  been  admitted  to  the  Jamestown  Chapter, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

The  Chapter  awarded  a  prize  of  ten  dollars  to  the  high  school  student 
having  the  best  essay  on  the  subject,  "The  Assistance  of  France  in  Our 
Revolution ;  its  Basis,  Effect  and  Result."  The  prize  was  awarded  to 
Harry  D.  Churchill.     Albert  T.  Underwood  received  favorable  mention. 

Jamestown  Chapter  actively  co-operated  with  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution  and  with  the  Chautauqua  County  Society  of  History 
and  Natural  Science  in  an  appropriate  celebration  of  the  100th  anniversary 
of  the  settlement  of  Jamestown. 

The  officers  of  the  Society  are :  Major  Winfield  S.  Cameron,  Regent ; 
Doctor  Morris  N.  Bemus,  Vice-Regent;  Frank  H.  Mott,  Secretary  and 
Treasurer ;  Hon.  Abner  Hazeltine,  Archivist. 

Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  8,  1910.  Frank  H.  Mott, 

Secretary,  Jamestown  Chapter, 
Sons  of  the  Revolution. 


In  the  early  fall  the  new  Year  Book  of  the  Society,  giving  a  com- 
plete roster  of  members  to  December  31st,  1909,  with  the  records  of  the 
services  of  their  ancestors,  was  issued.  This  book  is  larger  and  more  beau- 
tifully illustrated  than  any  we  have  heretofore  published  and  meets  with 
very  general  approval. 

The  Library  of  the  Society  is  growing  steadily.  Among  the  more  im- 
portant works  recently  added  is  "The  History  of  the  United  States,"  pub- 
lished by  Burrows  Brothers,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Our  Museum  is  also  being  constantly  increased  by  gifts,  as  well  as  by 

27 


the  loans,  of  interesting  relics  and  documents,  so  that  we  have  a  valuable 
lot  of  historical  material  now  on  exhibition. 

Out  of  town  members,  when  visiting  New  York,  should  avail  them- 
selves of  an  opportunity  to  see  Fraunces  Tavern  and  our  collections.  Mr. 
Emil  Westerburg  conducts  the  restaurant  on  the  premises  and  the  mem- 
bers' dining  room  on  the  top  floor  offers  splendid  facilities  to  those  who  de- 
sire to  rest  and  recuperate.  During  the  past  year  fifty-nine  hundred  and 
twenty-two  visitors  registered  in  the  "Long  Room"  of  Fraunces  Tavern. 

One  hundred  and  four  members  have  been  admitted  during  1910  and 
the  Society  now  has  on  its  roll  two  thousand,  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight. 

The  Secretary  desires  to  express  his  thanks  to  Mr.  Louis  B.  Wilson, 
the  Curator,  for  his  very  efficient  assistance  during  the  past  year,  as  well 
as  to  the  Assistant  Secretary,  Colonel  Eugene  K.  Austin,  for  attending  to 
the  numerous  duties  of  his  office  during  his  long-continued  illness. 

By  order  of  the  Board  of  Managers, 

HENRY  RUSSELL  DROWNE, 

Secretary. 

Fraunces  Tavern, 
New  York  City. 


jS 


REPORT 

OF  THE 

HISTORIAN 


In  Memoriam 


William   Hopkins   Young, 

David  Marks  Durell, 

Horace  See, 

Poster   Abel   Kimball    Bryan, 

John  Henry  Washburn, 

Rev.  James  William  Armitage  Dodge,  A.M., 
D.D., 

Homer  Phelps  Beach, 

Robert  Hudson  Riley, 

William  Henry  Class, 

Rev.  William  Rogers  Richards,  D.D., 

Rev.  Richard  Lewis  Howell, 

Thomas   Benjamin   Griggs  Roberts, 

Leonard   Bacon  Smith, 

William   Tompkins  Lockwood, 

Edmund  Pendleton,  2nd  Lieutenant,  4th  N. 
Y.,  V.,  H.  Art.  1863-4. 

Charles   Samuel   Hall, 

Pred.    Dayton    Alexander, 

Prancis  Emory  Fitch, 

Dudley  Evans, 

Levi  Candee  Weir, 

Richard   Esterbrook, 

Archibald   W.  Speir, 

Albert  Sullivan  Yeaton, 

Andrew  Heermance  Smith,  A.M.,  M.D.. 
LL.D.,  Captain  and  Assistant  Sur- 
geon, Brevet  Major.  U.  S.  V., 

Elbridge  Romeyn  Hills,  Colonel,  U.  S.  A. 
(Retired), 

Charles   Prancis  Stone, 

Henry  Belt.   M.D., 

Prederic  Tilden   Brown,    M.D.. 

Augustus  Le  Pevbre  Revere. 

Clarence  Morfit. 

Charles  Courter  Dickinson, 

Charles  Henry  Sheldon, 

Wessel  Ten  Broeck  Stout  Imlay, 

George  Livingston  Baker, 

John  Austin   Stevens, 

Joseph  Bensel, 

William  Gilbert  Davies, 

Zeb  Mayhew, 

Henry  Percival  Butler, 

Sylvester  L'Honimedieu  Ward. 

Gilbert   MacMaster  Speir. 

Daniel    Lewis    Van    Antwerp. 

Alfred  Scott. 

Linus  Elisha  P'uller. 

Clarke  Winslow  Crannell.  A.B.. 

George    Frederick   Seward,  L.L.D.. 


Ad 


mitted 

Died 

1894 

December  1st,  1900. 

1896 

December  8th,  1909. 

189/ 

December  14th,  1909. 

1894 

December  21st,  1909 

T892 

December  23rd,  1909. 

1901 

December  24th,  1909 

1904 

December  26th,  1909. 

1893 

December  30th,  1909. 

1909 

January  4th,  1910. 

1903 

January  7th,  1910. 

I904 

February  1st,  1910. 

1891 

February  16th,  1910. 

1895 

February  17th,  1910. 

1891 

March  12th,  1910. 

1893 

March  14th,  1910. 

1903 

March  16th,  1910. 

T908 

March  igth,  1910. 

1889 

March  19th,  1910. 

1806 

March  27th,  1910. 

1895 

March  28th,  1910. 

1897 

March  29th.  1910. 

1896 

March  30th,  1910. 

1889 

April  2nd,  igio. 

1890  April  8th,  1910. 

1904  April  14th,  ■  1910. 

1895  April  27th,  1910. 
iSgs  May  6th,  1910. 
T907  May  7th,    1910. 
1887  May  20th,  1910. 
1886  May  22nd,  1910. 
1899  May  24th,   19 10. 
1904  June  1st,  1910. 

1886  June  gth,   1910. 

1891  June   nth,   1910. 
1876  June  16th,  1910. 

1890  July  2nd,  1910. 

1 89 1  July  26th,  1910. 
1899  July  30th,  1910. 
t8qo  October  17th.  1910. 

1887  October  25th,   1910. 
1901  October  26th,  1910. 
1004  November    rst,    1910 
T895  November  nth.  1910. 
tqoo  November  t3th.  toio. 
1898  November    13th,    1910. 

1896  November    28.    tqto. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

Talbot  Olyphant, 


Historian 


31 


JOHN  AUSTIN  STEVENS 
1  881 


John  Austin  Stevens 

Founder  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 


2£ 


John  Austin  Stevens 

Founder 
Sons  of  the  Revolution 

Founded  in  the  rooms  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 

February  22nd,  1876. 

Reorganized  in  Fraunces  Tavern,  Dec.  4th,  1883. 

First  President  of  the  Society 

1 883- 1 884 

"Exegi  monumentum  acre  perennius." 

(Prepared  by  a  member  of  the    family.) 


Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens,  the  only  surviving  son  of  John  A.  Stevens 
of  New  York,  and  Abby  Weld  of  Boston;  and  grandson  of  'Lieut.-Colonel 
Ebenezer  Stevens,  a  distinguished  officer  of  the  Continental  Artillery,  was 
born  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  January,  (St. 
Agnes'  Eve,)  1827  in  St.  John's  Square  and  died  at  his  residence  "Pleas- 
aunce,"  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  on  the  sixteenth  of  June,    1910. 

Mr.  Stevens  was  of  purely  English  origin,  his  ancestors  being  among 
the  earliest  of  the  Puritan-Pilgrims.  Colonel  William  Perkins  of  Boston, 
who  in  1775  was  a  Captain  in  Knox'  Artillery,  was  Mr.  Stevens'  great 
grandfather,  as  was  also  Judge  John  Ledyard,  prominent  in  the  history  of 
Connecticut,  and  Deputy  for  many  years  to  the  "Colonial  Assembly"  of  the 
Hartford  Colony.  Mr.  Ledyard  was  the  father  of  Colonel  William  Ledyard, 
who  commanded  Fort  Griswold  at  Groton,  opposite  New  London;  so 
treacherously  murdered  by  the  British  Commander  Bloomfield,  after  he  had 
honorably  surrended  the  fort,  on  Sept.  6th.  1781.  The  paternal  grand- 
father of  Mr.  Stevens;  Ebenezer  Stevens.  'Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Artillery 
in  the  Continental  Army,  son  of  Ebenezer  Stevens  and  Elizabeth  Weld  of 
Roxbury,  Mass.,  was  born  at  Boston  in  1751. 

Young  Ebenezer  Stevens  had  just  completed  his  fourteenth  year,  when 
the  first  tree  of  Liberty  was  christened  in  the  Stamp-Act  days,  and  was 
hardly  twenty  when  the  Boston  massacre  startled  the  continent.     He  inher- 

35 


ited  the  military  taste  of  his  ancestors,  and  while  still  a  vouth  joined  Pad- 
dock's Company  of  Artillery  in  the  "Train"  and  with  them  took  part  in  the 
celebrated  Boston  Tea  Party.  Pursued,  in  Dec.  1773,  by  Hutchinson  the 
Tory  governor,  for  his  share  in  this  transaction,  he  fled  to  Providence,  R.  I. 
When  the  news  came  of  the  Lexington  fight  he  abandoned  his  business, 
and  took  active  part  in  enlisting  the  Artillery  Company,  which  marched 
with  the  Rhode  Island  Army  of  observation  in  May  1775,  under  Col. 
Nathaniel  Greene  to  the  American  camp  at  Cambridge.  On  the  disband- 
ment  of  this  temporary  force  he  passed  into  the  Massachusetts  regiment 
and  remained  in  active  service  to  the  close  of  the  war. 

Ordered  by  Washington  to  reinforce  the  American  Army  in  Canada, 
he  was  promoted  at  Ticonderoga,  Major  in  command  of  the  Northern  De- 
partment 1777,  and  fought  at  Stillwater,  Bemis  Heights,  and  the  battle  of 
Saratoga.  He  was  present  at  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  Oct.  1777. 
Breveted  by  Congress  with  special  thanks  for  his  services,  he  was  promoted 
Lieut.-Colonel,  and  transferred  to  Col.  John  Lamb's  regiment  New  York 
Second  Continental  Artillery.  He  then  served  under  Lafayette  in  Virginia 
and  in  1781,  was  as  Lieut.-Colonel  one  of  the  three  Commanders  of  Artillery 
at  the  Siege  of  Yorktown.  The  person  of  Colonel  Stevens  has  been  admir- 
ably portrayed  by  Trumbull,  in  the  large  painting  of  the  Surrender  of 
Burgoyne  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and  he  is  again  introduced,  in 
the  picture  by  the  same  artist,  representing  the  Surrender  of  Cornwallis. 

Colonel  Stevens,  was  one  of  the  military  escort  of  General  Washington 
on  his  triumphal  entry  into  New  York  City  on  the  day  of  the  British 
Evacuation,  Nov.  25,  1783.  Settling  here,  he  was  the  founder  of  the  New 
York  branch  of  the  family.  One  of  the  original  founders  of  the  Cincinnati, 
Colonel  Stevens  was  one  of  Washington's  pall  bearers,  at  the  memorial 
service  in  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  1799. 

After  the  Revolution,  he  superintended,  in  1800,  the  building  of  the 
fortifications  on  Governor's  Island,  New  York  harbor,  and  during  the  War 
of  1 81 2,  as  Major-General  of  Militia,  had  a  part  in  the  defences  of  New 
York. 

He  was  twice  married,  first  in  1774,  to  Rebecca  Hodgdon  by  whom  he 
had  two  children;  a  son,  Horatio  Gates  Stevens,  later  Major-General  of 
the  New  York  Militia.  His  wife  dying  in  1783,  General  Stevens  married  in 
the  following  year,  Lucretia,  daughter  of  Judge  John  Ledyard,  of  Hartford, 
and  widow  of  Richardson  Sands,  by  whom   he  had  a  numerous   family. 

John  A.  Stevens,  the  elder,  1795- 1874  was  the  fifth  son  of  Lieut.-Col- 
onel Ebenezer  Stevens,  and  Lucretia  Ledyard.     He  graduated  from  Yale 

36 


College  in  1813  and  in  1824  married  Abby  Weld,  daughter  of  Mr. 
Benjamin  Weld  of  Boston  of  the  "'Lexington  Alarm,"  later  attached  to  the 
Commissary  Department  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

Mr.  Stevens  left  one  son,  John  Austin  Stevens,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  who  was  born  as  we  have  stated  elsewhere,  in  New  York,  and 
educated  in  private  schools  in  that  city,  receiving  his  early  training  at  the 
New  York  Grammar  School  and  at  the  famous  French  Academy  of  Mr. 
Peugnet,  laying  in  youth,  the  foundation  for  the  splendid  education  which 
he  later  acquired.  In  1842,  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen,  he  entered  Harvard 
being  graduated  therefrom  in  1846  with  no  special  distinction  in 
classics,  but  with  proficiency  in  mathematics,  logic  and  literary  com- 
position and  thoroughly  versed  in  English,  French  and  Spanish  literature. 
Among  his  classmates  were  the  late  Senator  George  F.  Hoar  and  three 
eminent  Harvard  professors  Francis  J.  Childs,  George  Martin  Lane  and 
Charles  Eliot  Norton.  Mr.  Edward  Everett,  was  at  this  time  President  of 
the   faculty. 

Mr.  Stevens  writes,  "It  is  interesting,  in  connection  with  my  college 
days  to  cite  that  my  first  visit  to  the  sacred  grounds  of  Bunker  Hill,  (where 
at  the  time  of  the  fight  my  grandfather  was  stationed  at  Boston  Neck  with 
his  guns  to  control  that  narrow  passage)  was,  when  I  was  marched  there 
with  my  class  in  1843,  to  listen  to  the  memorable  address  of  the  immortal 
Webster,  whose  matchless  oratory,  made  things  glorious,  more  glorious 
than  they  were  before,  gilding  them  with  an  ore  as  brilliant  as  their  own, 
which  time  cannot  corrupt  or  stain !  It  was  fitting  that  he,  whose  impas- 
sioned words  at  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  had  awakened  busy  Boston 
to  the  duty  it  owed  to  the  martyrs  whose  blood  sanctified  this  historic  field, 
should  stand  again  at  the  completion  of  the  great  monument  to  their  mem- 
ory, and  give  his  benediction  to  the  structure  he  had  christened,  and  so  long 
as  the  tall  granite  shaft  shall  stand,  so  long  shall  the  names  of  the  fathers 
who  founded  the  nation,  and  of  that  statesman  of  heroic  mould  who  was 
its  great  defender,  be  inscribed  together  on  the  roll  of  fame." 

On  his  return  from  college  in  1846,  Mr.  Stevens  entered  the  office  of 
Spofford  and  Tileston,  then  one  of  the  largest  houses  in  the  city,  where  he 
was  charged  with  their  entire  correspondence,  and  was  for  many  years 
their  cashier.  In  1852  Mr.  Stevens  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  John 
Storey  of  Cuba,  with  which  island  they  carried  on  extensive  importations. 
This  connection  was  closed  with  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities  in  1861. 

In  1855,  Mr.  Stevens  married  Miss  Margaret  Morris,  the  daughter 
of   William   Lewis   Morris   of   Morrisania,   and   great  grand-daughter   of 

37 


Richard  Morris  the  old  Chief  Justice ;  his  home  in  Fifteenth  Street,  a  feu- 
doors  from  Fifth  Avenue  and  the  New  York  Club  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber, where  he  spent  the  next  few  years,  being  the  scene  of  notable  gather- 
ings of  distinguished  men  during  the  War  time,  and  the  repository  of  his 
rare  and  beautiful  library,  to   him  a  delight. 

In  the  panic  of  1857,  Mr.  Stevens  was  secretary  of  the  Exchange  Com- 
mittee, appointed  by  the  banks  of  New  York  to  purchase  produce  bills. 
He  also  raised  the  special  fund  which  enabled  Dr.  Hayes  to  carry  with  him 
the  facilities  for  photography  on  his  voyage  to  the  Artie  Seas.  It  was  dur- 
ing these  years  that  Mr.  Stevens  spent  much  time  and  thought  in  familiar- 
ising himself  with  the  details  of  the  struggles  of  his  native  land  for  freedom 
and  progress.  That  he  made  this  study  his  specialty  throughout  his  long 
life,  was  due  to  a  marked  intent  for  such  research,  and  a  worthy  pride  in 
the  share  his  ancestors  had  taken  in  founding  and  establishing  the  govern- 
ment of  the  city  and  nation  upon  a  sound  and  enduring  basis. 

Mr.  Stevens  came  early  into  prominence  through  his  father,  who,  hold- 
ing many  positions  of  trust,  and  being  one  of  the  leading  bankers  of  the  day, 
frequently  employed  his  son  in  matters  connected  with  his  business,  who  in 
this  way,  formed  the  acquaintance  of  many  of  the  influential  men  in  New 
York,  Philadelphia  and  Washington.  Among  these,  Mr.  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
the  distinguished  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  whose  masterly  talent  for 
finance  carried  the  Treasury  Department  safely  through  the  Civil  War. 
Attracted  by  Mr.  Stevens'  brilliant  intellect,  handsome  person  and  courtly 
address,  Mr.  Chase  soon  formed  a  sincere  attachment  for  the  gifted  young 
man,  who  had  already  shown  a  positive  genius  for  grappling  with  the 
problems  of  the  times. 

In  the  autumn  of  i860,  he  organized  the  great  meeting  on  the  steps  of 
the  Merchants  Exchange,  over  which  his  father  presided,  which  rallied  men 
of  all  parties  in  New  York  to  the  support  and  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Also, 
the  meetings  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  in  that  political  campaign  at  which 
Grew,  Thad  Stevens,  Doolittle,  and  Doubleday  and  other  leading  statesmen 
from  outside  the  State  spoke  in  turn. 

Mr.  Stevens  brought  the  influence  of  the  people  to  bear  upon  the  ad- 
ministration in  a  novel  manner.  Drawing  up  a  short  document,  he  called 
upon  the  people  to  associate  themselves  into  a  Loyal  National  League, 
pledging  themselves  to  unconditional  loyalty  to  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  to  an  unwavering  support  of  its  efforts  to  suppress  the  rebellion, 
and  to  spare  no  endeavor  to  maintain  unimpaired  the  national  unity,  both 
in  principle  and  territorial  boundary.     This  appeal   he  had  posted  on  the 

38 


newspaper  buildings  throughout  New  York,  inviting  signatures,  where- 
upon nearly  ten  thousand  persons  affixed  their  names.  Those  who  signed 
the  pledge  were  invited  to  a  monster  meeting  at  the  Cooper  Institute  on  the 
evening  of  March  20th,  1863.  At  the  time  appointed,  masses  of  the  sturdy 
loyalty  of  the  city  steadily  marched  in  until  the  large  hall  was  densely 
filled.  At  eight  o'clock  an  immense  roll  handsomely  mounted  with  the 
national  colors  and  containing  over  five  thousand  names  (a  part  only  of  the 
headings  having  been  returned  and  several  hundred  of  them  being  still 
outstanding)  was  rolled  in,  placed  upon  the  de^k  in  front  of  the  audi- 
ence and  greeted  with  great  applause,  and  thus  the  Loyal  National  League 
was  formed,  which  soon  had  branches  all  over  the  country.  Probably  no 
man  of  his  age  did  more  to  bring  about  compact  and  efficient  organization 
among  the  men  of  the  North  than  young  Mr.  Stevens. 

He  was  also  the  manager  and  general  director  of  the  Loyal  Publica- 
tion Society,  was  secretary  of  the  National  War  Committee  which  succeeded 
the  Union  Defence  Committee,  and  received  the  thanks  of  Secretary  Stanton, 
and  General  Halleck  for  timely  service.  The  plan  of  depot  camps  suggested 
by  him  received  the  approval  of  the  War  Department.  In  1862  he  managed 
the  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Texas,  and  was  confidential  secretary  of 
the  Treasuary  Note  Committee.  That  committee  managed  the  great  loan 
of  1862  to  the  government  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  in  coin,  which 
enabled  it  to  carry  on  the  war.  He  was  secretary  of  the  committee  which 
raised  a  very  large  sum  (over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars)  for  the 
relief  of  East  Tennessee,  personally  raising  the  fund.  At  the  appeal  of 
General  Gilmor,  Mr.  Stevens  sent  him  at  Charleston,  (again  raising  the 
fund),  the  calcium  lights,  which  secured  the  desertion  of  Fort  Wagner 
by   the   rebels. 

In  1861  Mr.  Stevens  took  under  his  special  charge  the  recruitment  of 
the  51st  Regiment,  N.  Y.  State  Volunteers,  sending  it  to  the  front,  main- 
taining it,  and  keeping  it  in  the  field  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the 
war.  Contributing  liberally  towards  its  support  himself,  and  by  personal 
solicitation,  securing  the  necessary  fund  for  an  extra  bounty  from  our 
liberal  citizens.  It  was  purely  a  New  York  regiment.  Mr.  Stevens  shared 
with  others  in  the  movement  to  recruit  the  Ninth  Army  Corps,  for  the 
conquest  of  the  Carolina  coast  under  Burnside.  Mr.  Stevens  was  with 
General  Stoneman  at  Poolsville,  when  his  lines  were  turned  by  the  rebel 
cavalry  under  Stuart,  and  rode  as  his  aid  to  White's  Ford  in  pursuit  of  the 
retreating    column. 

He    was    a    member   of   the   Arms    and    Trophies    Committee    of   the 


Sanitary  Fair.  He  was  also  offered  the  positions  of  Consul-General  to 
Paris,  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue  and  Registrar  of  the  Treasury. 
Air.  Stevens  was  with  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  morning-  of  the  day  of  his 
assassination,  having  visited  Washington  with  a  delegation  to  request  the 
President  in  the  general  interest,  to  name  a  day  of  national  rejoicing  over 
the  peace. 

In  1862  Mr.  Stevens  was  chosen  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, serving  in  that  capacity  till  1868,  during  which  time  he  presented 
valuable  statistical  reports  and  many  interesting  memorial  papers.  In  1867 
he  compiled  the  Colonial  Records  of  the  Chamber  from  1768-1784  with 
biographical  and  other  notes,  making  a  valuable  addition  to  the  history  of 
New  York.  While  secretary  he  founded  the  large  gallery  of  portraits 
which  now  adorn  its  walls,  and  in  1868  organized  the  celebration  of  the 
one  hundredth  anniversay  of  the  founding  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
resigning  his  position  in  the  same  year  to  join  his  family  abroad.  On  his 
retirement,  Mr.  Abiel  A.  Low  in  offering  the  resolutions  of  the  Chamber 
said,  "whatever  influence  this  Chamber  has  exerted  there  has  been  a  very 
great  increase  of  labor  on  the  part  of  its  members,  and  perhaps  no  one 
connected  with  the  Chamber  has  contributed  so  much  to  its  usefulness  as 
our  retiring  secretary." 

In  1868  Mr.  Stevens  joined  his  family  in  Europe  for  an  extended  tour, 
and  during  his  five  years'  sojourn  abroad  witnessed  many  stirring  events. 
He  saw  the  downfall  of  the  French  Empire,  and  the  proclamation  of  the 
Republic  in  1870.  Forced  to  leave  France  that  autumn  on  account  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  war,  he  visited  Belgium  and  Holland,  spending  some 
months  at  the  Hague,  where  he  became  intimate  with  the  Prince  of  Oranee 
and  the  gentlemen  of  his  household.  The  winter  of  the  ever  memorable 
siege  of  Paris  1 870-1 871  he  spent  at  Wiesbaden,  Germany,  where  his  draw- 
ing-room was  nightly  the  rendezvous  of  the  French  officers  of  General 
MacMahon's  staff,  captives  of  Sedan  and  Metz.  Among  these  the  dashing 
Colonel  Henri  Lasalle,  who  in  1871  led  the  Versailles  Troops  to  the 
deliverance  of  Paris  from  the  Communists. 

Receiving  notification  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  his  appoint- 
ment on  the  commission  to  distribute  its  contributions  to  the  relief  of  Paris 
after  the  siege  Mr.  Stevens  entered  the  city  by  the  first  train,  but  at  the  in- 
sance  of  Minister  Washburn,  waived  his  action  in  favor  of  Mr.  Riggs,  who 
had  been  conected  with  the  ambulance  corps  during  the  siege,  remaining 
in  Paris  to  the  close  of  the  Commune.  He  was  with  General  Sheridan  at  the 
Westminster  Hotel,  at  the  time  of  the  affair  of  the  Place  Vendome.     After 

40 


the  Commune  Mr.  Stevens  resided  for  a  year  in  London  where  he  was  the 
agent  for  Messrs.  Jay,  Cook  and  Co.,  in  connection  with  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad,  and  in  1872  made  a  tour  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  to  ex- 
amine into  the  feasibility  of  an  extensive  emigration  from  these  captured 
provinces. 

In  1873  Mr.  Stevens  returned  to  New  York  to  resume  his  interest  in 
public  affairs,  and  financial  matters.  He  found  the  business  world  convulsed 
with  the  agitation  for  the  resumption  of  specie  payment,  the  government 
on  the  verge  of  a  serious  financial  crisis.  He  contributed  to  the  New  York 
Times,  September  and  October,  1873,  a  series  of  financial  articles  under  the 
signature  of  "Knickerbocker,"  on  the  resumption  of  specie  payment  by  the 
government.  These  articles  attracted  widespread  interest,  and  in 
1875  Congress  passed  a  law  that  specie  payment  should  be  resumed  in  1879. 

In  1874  Mr.  Stevens  was  a  delegate  on  behalf  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  to  the  Convention  of  Boards  of  Trade  at  Baltimore,  and  de- 
livered an  address  at  their  request  on  the  national  finances.  In  the  same 
year  he  visited  Washington  to  procure  the  repeal  of  the  odious  Moiety  Law, 
and  remained  at  his  post,  until  the  law  was  repealed. 

Mr.  Stevens  was  a  liberal  contributor  to  the  history  of  his  country,  and 
to  him  more  than  any  other  man,  belongs  the  credit  of  the  movement  to 
create  an  interest  in  American  History.  "In  his  articles,  it  was  difficult  to 
decide  what  one  should  most  admire,  the  vigor  and  sweep  of  his  thought,  or 
the  purity  and  power  of  his  style.  His  mastery  of  English  was  superb;  he 
had  all  the  resources  of  the  language  at  command,  and  the  result  was  a 
lucidity  of  style  that  made  clear  the  subtle  calculations  of  philosophy,  the 
sophistry  of  politics,  the  enigma  of  historical  episode,  the  abstruse  theories 
of  high  finance,  and  the  delicate  fancies  of  the  poetic  muse.  A  powerful 
thinker  and  master  of  style  was  he — acquirements  which  won  him  recogni- 
tion far  and  wide  as  a  scholar — even  unto  the  pages  of  the  "Encyclopedia 
Britannica"  which  hands  down  to  posterity  the  achievements  of  the  most 
notable  of  mankind. 

The  sacred  fire  the  patriots  had  kindled  on  the  altar  of  liberty  in  1776, 
had  smouldered  a  century,  their  heroic  deeds  almost  forgotten,  when  the 
approach  of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  battles  of  Lexington, 
Concord  and  Bunker  Hill,  awakening  sleeping  memories,  caused  it  again  to 
burst  into  flame.  All  the  patriotism,  that  had  been  inherited  from  the 
fathers  of  those  battles,  being  poured  out  into  the  greatest  demonstration 
ever  witnessed  in  this  country.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  people  having  grown 
to  a  state  of  expectation  difficult  to  describe. 

4i 


Keenlv  interested  in  the  coming  national  events  Mr.  Stevens'  feelings 
at  this  time  are  best  described  in  the  following  letter:  "A  grandson  of  a 
founder  of  the  Cincinnati,  I  felt  it  rather  hard  that  I  and  those  in  my  case.  • 
could  take  no  recognized  part  in  the  Philadelphia  Centennial.  Remembering 
that  a  few  years  previously  the  Cincinnati  had  opened  their  gates  I  wrote 
President-General  Fish,  to  know  if  they  intended  making  any  provision  for 
the  descendants  of  other  than  elder  sons  of  founders.  This  was  in  the 
summer  of  1875.  I  was  answered  No."  It  was  then  in  December  of  that 
year,  that  Mr.  Stevens  conceived  the  idea  of  forming  a  patroitic  society,  on 
the  order  of  the  Cincinnati,  yet  more  democratic  in  its  plan  admitting  the 
descendants  of  those  who  served  in  the  military,  naval  and  civil  services. 

In  planning  this  organization  Mr.  Stevens  consulted  with  Mr.  William 
Kelby,  Librarian  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  and  one  of  the  best 
informed  students  of  the  history  and  events  of  New  York,  Major  Asa  Bird 
Gardiner,  then  Professor  of  Military  Law  at  West  Point,  and  others. 
With  this  end  in  view  Mr.  Stevens  sent  out  the  following  circular  letter,  in- 
viting a  meeting  at  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  February  22nd,  1876: 

"SONS   OF  THE   REVOLUTION. 

The  Socety  of  the  Cincinnati  founded  at  West  Point  by  the  officers  of 
the  Army  of  the  Revolution  in  1783,  originally  limited  its  membership  to 
descendants  of  officers  in  the  elder  branch,  and,  with  a  temporary  and  short 
variation  from  the  rule  ever  since  maintained  its  restriction. 

The  approach  of  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  American  Independence 
is  an  appropriate  time  for  the  formation  of  a  Society  on  a  broader  basis 
which  may  include  all  descendants  of  those  who  served  in  the  Army  of  the 
Revolution. 

The  undersigned  have  formed  themselves  into  a  Society  under  the  name 
of 

"SONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION." 

and  invite  the  membership  of  all  who  like  themselves  are  descendants  of 
officers  or  soldiers  of  the  Revolutionary  Army. 

The  object  of  the  Society  is  to  take  part  in  the  Centennial  Exhibition  at 
Philadelphia. 

A  meeting  will  be  held  for  organization  at  the  rooms  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society  on  the  morning  of  Tuesday  the  22nd  of  February  next 
( 1876)  at  12  o'clock. 

All  persons  having  a  right  and  desire  to  become  members  may  send 

42 


their  names  and  the  names  of  those  they  represent  to  the  undersigned  (Box 
88,  Station  "D,"  New  York  Post  Office.) 

John  Austin  Stevens." 
'The  Call'  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Society,  which  has  spread  to 
31  states  in  the  Union  and  was  the  origin  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution." 
There  was  not  enough  interest  to  proceed  further  then,  but  the  celebration 
of  Evacuation  Day,  showed  Mr.  Stevens  what  a  great  latent  interest  there 
was  in  such  matters. 

In  1876  Mr.  Stevens  was  elected  librarian  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  which  position  he  held  for  two  years,  his  deep  interest  in  the  history 
of  his  native  city  leading  him  to  prepare  and  deliver  before  the  Society  in 
1876  an  historical  address  on  the  Progress  of  New  York,  in  the  Century 
1776-1876.  He  read  papers  before  the  Society  on  the  "Stamp-Act  in  New 
York  1775,"  and  on  ''New  York  in  the  Continental  Congress;"  he  organized 
the  celebration  of  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Harlem  Plains 
and  in  the  fall  of  1877,  the  meeting  at  the  Academy  of  Music  in  commemor- 
ation of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  state  of  New  York;  on  Sept.  19th.  1877  he  delivered  an  address,  "The 
Burgoyne  Campaign,"  on  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  Battle  of  Bemis 
Heights,  on  the  battle  field  where  a  century  before  his  grandfather  Colonel 
Ebenezer  Stevens  of  the  Continental  Army,  had  commanded  the  Artillery 
of  the  Northern  department.  Mr.  Stevens  was  for  sixty-two  years  a  member 
of  the  Historical  Society,  his  love  for  historical  research  leading  him  to 
contribute  at  different  times  many  valuable  documents  to  its  archives. 

In  1877  Mr.  Stevens  founded  the  Magazine  of  American  History, 
which  he  edited  for  several  years,  many  of  his  finest  articles  appearing  in 
its  pages,  among  these:  "The  French  in  Rhode  Island,"  "The  Southern 
Campaign,"  "Gates  at  Camden,"  "The  Allies  at  Yorktown,"  and  "The  Duke 
de  Lauzun."  Mr.  Stevens  was  ably  assisted  by  his  son,  young  John  Austin 
Stevens  Jr.,  who  at  the  time  was  under  twenty. 

At  the  approach  of  the  Yorktown  Centennial,  and  the  laying  of  the 
corner  stone  of  the  monument,  voted  by  Congress  to  perpetuate  the  mem- 
ory of  the  victory,  and  the  alliance  with  France,  invitations  were  extended 
to  the  French  Government,  to  be  represented  on  this  occasion,  and  also  to 
the  descendants  of  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette.  Mr.  Stevens  was  appointed 
one  of  the  state  commissioners  for  the  reception  of  the  French  delegation 
and  at  the  beautiful  banquet  given  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  on  the 
evening  of  Nov.  5th,  1881  to  the  guests  of  the  nation,  responded  in  French 
to  the  toast  "La  Ville  de  Paris."    A  trip  to  West  Point  on  the  Vandalia  and 

43 


Kearsage,  a  handsome  ball  and  the  princely  gift  of  Mr.  Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 
of  a  special  train  to  Niagara  Falls,  were  among  the  notable  features  of  this 
historic  event. 

The  centenary  Celebration  of  the  Evacuation  of  New  York  by  the 
British,  Nov.  25th,  1883,  will  long  be  remembered  in  the  annals  of  the  city, 
as  a  day  of  festivity  and  general  rejoicing.  Mr.  Stevens  who  had  a  per- 
sonal interest  in  this  event  was  elected  chairman,  taking  an  active  part  in 
the  affair  and  being  in  fact  its  prime  mover.  The  great  procession  in  which 
the  Old  Guard  in  Continental  uniform  and  Washington's  coach  wreathed 
in  flowers  figured,  were  among  its  most  attractive  features.  In  carriages, 
heading  the  procession  were  President  Arthur,  Governor  Cleveland,  Gen- 
eral Grant  and  Mr.  Stevens  and  his  son.  Dinners  in  commeration  of  the 
event  were  given  that  evening  by  societies  and  clubs  throughout  the  city, 
the  subscription  banquet  at  the  Brunswick,  at  which  the  lineal  descendants 
of  the  Whigs  and  Tories  (old  New  Yorkers,  but  not  of  Revolutionary 
descent  were  represented)  being  arranged  by  Mr.  Stevens,  who  deemed  it 
fitting  that  they  should  have  their  share  in  the  festivities.  The  outcome  of 
this  dinner  was  the  Society  of  '83,  which  for  some  years  had  its  annual 
meetings  on   Evacuation   Day. 

It  was  originally  planned  that  Fraunces  Tavern,  the  old  Revolutionary 
hostelry,  should  share  in  the  honors  of  this  celebration  and  be  thrown  open 
for  the  entire  day;  but  the  saloon  keeper  although  offered  a  large  price, 
declined,  saying  "he  could  make  more  money  with  his  saloon."  Disappointed 
Mr.  Stevens  writes,  "in  the  use  of  the  Tavern  on  Evacuation  Day,  it  was 
under  my  management  that  that  ancient  body,  in  commemoration  of  the 
founding  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  gave  a  memorial  lunch  in  the  Long 
Room,  Fraunces  Tavern  on  the  4th  Dec.  1883,  and  it  was  at  a  turtle  feast 
arranged  by  me  also,  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day  that  The  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  (whose  birth  was  at  the  "New  York  Historical  Society,"  Wash- 
ington's Birthday,  1876)  was  here  organized.  It  will  be  remembered 
by  our  older  members  that  we  held  our  annual  meetings  here  for  many 
years.  The  day  will  be  long  remembered  as  the  occasion  of  a  feast  which 
began  at  noon  and  ended  at  midnight  of  that  ever  memorable  "Centennial 
Day."  Let  us  step  back  into  the  past  and  join  the  sixty  gentlemen  assembled 
at  Fraunces  Tavern,  to  commemorate  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
Washington's  Farewell  to  his  officers,  on  this  Tuesday  evening  Dec.  4th, 
1883.  The  old  room  substantially  the  same  as  it  stood  a  hundred  years  ago, 
is  papered  in  blue  and  white  willow  tiles.  A  bright  fire  glares  and  splutters 
in  the  hearth  just  as  it  glared  and  spluttered  in  the  days  of  Washington. 

44 


The  room  is  decorated  in  honor  of  the  occasion  with  a  profusion  of  flags 
which  hang-  in  fancifully  draped  folds  about  the  picture  of  the  father  of  his 
country,  and  float  from  the  windows  facing  Broad  and  Pearl  Streets. 
Bunches  of  holly  with  shining  red  berries  and  long  garlands  of  green,  are 
tastefully  arranged  along  the  walls.  Down  the  centre  of  the  room  runs  a 
long  table,  crossed  at  the  lower  end  by  smaller  tables  on  which  are  placed 
the  memorial  plates  and  bowls.  The  feast  provided  for  the  guests  is  one 
for  which  the  old  tavern  was  famous ;  turtle  soup,  stilton  cheese,  sherry  and 
madeira  wines,  and  arrack  punch,  served  in  two  beautiful  large  punch  bowls 
with  borders  of  blue  and  gold,  lettered  in  red,  a  medallion  of  Washington 
in  the  centre.  The  waiters  wear  old  fashioned  English  black  coats,  with  blue 
neck  cloths ;  long  pipes  are  provided  for  the  guests,  and  speech  and  song 
follow  in  quick  succession ;  and  when  the  continentals  in  buff  and  blue, 
strike  up  the  old  march,  to  the  fife  and  drum,  Mr.  Stevens  sings  the  accom- 
panying words  ? :  "We  are  the  troops,  That  ne'er  will  stoop,  to  wretched 
slavery"  midst  peals  of  applause;  and  thus  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  was  organized,  the  Spirit  of  1776  walked  abroad  that  night. 
Those  present  were : 

John  Austin  Stevens,  Henry  C.  Lockwood,  Ingersoll  Lockwood,  How- 
ard Lockwood,  John  Wilkinson  Forbes,  James  W.  Hale,  Charles  Baumann 
Marsh,  C.  Van  E.  Gallup,  James  Duane  Livingston,  George  W.  W.  Hough- 
ton, William  H.  Crosby,  Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Winslow  S.  Pierce,  John 
Cochrane,  Wiliam  H.  Sloan,  Robert  E.  Livingston,  Frederick  S.  Tallmadge. 
J.  Bleecker  Miller,  Paul  W.  Burdge,  M.D.,  Samuel  Chase  Coale,  James 
Mortimer  Montgomery,  G.  Willett  Van  Nest,  Alex.  R.  Thompson,  Jr.,  S.  H. 
Shreve,  James  M.  Varnum,  F.  A.  Burrall,  G.  Wotherspoon,  Jr.,  James  B. 
Townsend,  George  C.  Genet,  George  Wilson,  Richard  H.  Greene,  Marcus 
Hunter,  Floyd  Clarkson,  W.  W.  Greene,  Asa  C.  Warren,  George  P.  Bar- 
rett, William  H.  Barrett,  Jesse  W.  Page.  John  Merchant.  Frederick  J. 
Huntington,  Austin  Huntington,  Frank  S.  Bolton,  William  Kelby,  Thomas 
H.  Edsall.  George  H.  Sharpe,  John  Austin  Stevens,  Jr.,  Gilbert  R.  Hawes, 
John  Fitch,  John  C.  O'Connor. 

At  the  reorganization  meeting  held  December  31,  1883,  New  Year's 
Eve,  the  following  were  present : 

John  Austin  Stevens,  Henry  C.  Lockwood,  Ingersoll  Lockwood,  How- 
ard Lockwood,  John  Wilkinson  Forbes,  James  W.  Hale,  John  Austin 
Stevens,  Jr..  Charles  Baumann  Marsh,  C.  Van  E.  Gallup,  James  Duane 
Livingston,  George  W.  W.  Houghton,  William  H.  Crosby,  Asa  Bird 
Gardiner,  Winslow  S.  Pierce,  John  Cochrane,  William  H.  Sloan,  Robert  E. 

45 


Livingston,  Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  J.  Bleecker  Miller,  Paul  W.  Burdge, 
M.D.,  Samuel  Chase  Coale,  James  Mortimer  Montgomery.  G.  Willett  Van 
Nest,  Alex.  R.  Thompson,  Jr.,  S.  H.  Shreve,  James  M.  Varnum,  F.  A. 
Burrall,  G.  Wotherspoon.  Jr..  James  B.  Townsend,  George  C.  Genet,  George 
Wilson,  Richard  H.  Greene,  Marcus  Hunter,  Floyd  Clarkson,  W.  W. 
Green,  Asa  C.  Warren,  George  P.  Barrett.  William  H.  Barrett,  Jesse  W. 
Page,  John  Merchant. 

The  history  of  Fraunces  Tavern  in  connection  with  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,  is  too  well  known  to  dwell  upon  it  here.  The  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  the  earliest  mercantile  body  in  the  colonies  was  founded  here 
in  1768.  And  it  was  at  the  time  of  the  contennial  anniversary  of  that  event, 
that  Mr.  Stevens,  then  Secretary  of  the  Chamber,  searched  out  the  mystery 
of  the  old  building,  in  his  own  words,  "rediscovered  it"  and  inducted  it  in 
his  notes  of  the  "Colonial  Records  of  1868." 

It  has  been  seen,  how  at  the  turtle  feast,  the  long  cherished  plan  of  a 
patriotic  society,  on  broader  lines  than  the  Cincinnati  was  presented  and 
adopted,  and  how  the  reorganization  of  the  Society  founded  in  1876  (the 
first  of  the  hereditary  societies),  was  carried  out  on  the  evening  of  Dec.  4th, 
1883,  by  Mr.  Stevens  when  he  was  elected  its  first  president.  The  Society 
in  ensuing  years  had  as  it  will  be  remembered,  its  vicissitudes,  but  thanks 
to  the  judicious  judgment  and  firm  determination  of  Mr.  Stevens,  and  the 
co-operation  of  the  board  of  managers,  triumphed  over  all  obstacles,  grew, 
and  prospered. 

At  the  Centennial  Celebration  in  1889,  of  the  inauguration  of  George 
Washington  as  first  president  of  the  United  States,  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion figured  prominently,  holding  a  commemorative  service  at  St.  Paul's 
Chapel  on  Tuesday  April  30th,  and  again  the  following  year,  Dec.  14th, 
1899,  a  memorial  service  on  the  death  of  his  Excellency,  General  George 
Washington.  For  over  twenty  years  it  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Society 
to  hold  an  annual  service  on  the  Sunday  nearest  to  the  date  of  Feb.  22nd, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  through  this  class  of  religious  observance  of 
the  day  the  Society  has  won  a  strong  hold  on  the  hearts  of  the  religious  part 
of  our  community. 

On  this  centennial  occasion  Mr.  Stevens,  a  member  of  the  general  en- 
tertainment committee  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  took  an  active  part 
in  all  the  ceremonies. 

In  Sep.  1898,  Mr.  Stevens  in  appreciation  of  his  labors,  was  presented 
by  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  with  the  Founder's  badee  a 
beautiful  medal  artistically  wrought  and  inscribed.     The  gift  was  accom- 

46 


panied  by  a  letter  from  the  president,  Mr.  Tallmadge,  who  in  closing  said  : 
"The  noblest  tribute  that  can  be  paid  to  your  partiotism  is  the  fact  that  the 
Society  organized  by  you  now  numbers  over  two  thousand  members,  that,  of 
itself,  is  the  proudest  monument  you  could  ask  for  to  your  energy  and 
patriotism." 

On  Feb.  22nd,  1900,  at  the  request  of  the  president,  Mr.  Tallmadge,  Air. 
Stevens  delivered  an  address  before  the  Society  on  ''The  Past,  Present  and 
Future  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,"  together  with  an  open  letter,  a  sum- 
mary of  its  history,  conditions  and  prospects.  'T  will  not  further  allude," 
said  Mr.  Stevens,  "to  the  struggles  we  have  had  in  the  past  to  maintain 
our  identity,  struggles,  only  put  an  end  to  by  the  determined  resistance  of 
our  earlier  members,  and  their  declared  intention  to  cling  to  our  charter, 
our  name  and  our  colors,  although  but  a  corporal's  guard  remained  to  hold 
the  fort ;  but  it  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  there  was  no  bitterness  in  that 
contest,  and  there  is  none  now,  but  only  the  best  feeling  in  our  organization 
towards  each  and  all  of  the  patriotic  societies  of  both  sexes,  which  have  been 
formed  on  our  lines.  The  past  is  secure,  our  present  is  one  of  which  we 
may  well  be  proud ;  we  are  a  public,  not  a  private  society,  gentlemen ;  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  I  greet  you  one  and  all  with  a  pride  in  your  prosperity 
beyond  expression,  and  in  the  profound  belief  that  it  will  endure." 

On  June  1st,  1904,  Mr.  Stevens  went  to  New  York  to  attend  the 
meeting  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  called  to  ratify  the  recent  purchase 
by  its  managers,  of  Fraunces  Tavern.  In  this  same  month,  Mr.  Tallmadge. 
the  honored  president  of  the  Society  for  twenty  years,  died,  leaving  it  a 
large  bequest,  which  later  made  possible  the  restoration  of  the  old  building. 

On  Dec.  4th,  1907,  with  much  formal  ceremony,  Fraunces  Tavern 
enshrined  in  sacred  memories,  and  hallowed  by  the  unseen  presence  of  the 
immortal  Washington,  passed  forever  into  the  keeping  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution.  "Prevented  by  distance  and  age,"  writes  Mr.  Stevens,  "from 
being  with  you  in  the  flesh  at  your  festivities  on  this  interesting  anniversary, 
yet  I  am  with  you  in  spirit.  For  to-day  one  of  my  dearest  wishes  for  more 
than  thirty  years  has  come  to  a  perfect  fulfillment,  of  which  I  never 
dreamed — the  establishment  of  our  Society,  not  only  in  a  home  of  its  own, 
but  in  the  very  building  in  which  it  was  instituted." 

On  the  evening  of  that  day  Mr.  Stevens  received  the  following  tele- 
gram :  "John  Austin  Stevens,  Newport,  Rhode  Island :  'Six  hundred  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  assembled  at  Fraunces  Tavern,  tender  to  you  the  founder 
of  the  Society,  their  sincere  congratulations,  and  regrets  that  you  are  not 
present  at  the  dedication  of  this  historic  building,"  James  Mortimer  Mont- 
gomery." 

47 


That  night,  Mr.  Stevens  sent  this  answer :  "Congratulations  to  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution ;  the}-  have  made  history." 

At  the  April  meeting  1908,  the  Board  of  Managers  authorized  the 
placing  of  a  tablet  to  John  Austin  Stevens  in  the  Long  Room,  with  the 
following   inscription : 

"Sons  of  the  Revolution — founded  February  22,  1876, 

by  John  Austin  Stevens. 

New  York  Historical  Society  Library. 

Organized  December  4,   1883,  in   this   room. 

Incorporated  April  29,  1884 — Esto  perpetua. 

Erected  by  the  Board  of  Managers." 

Over  the  large  fire  place  in  this  same  room,  hangs  the  Fraunces  Tavern 
tablet  and  on  either  side  the  portraits  of  Mr.  Stevens  and  Mr.  Tallmadge. 

Mr.  Stevens'  relations  with  the  Society  of  the  Sons  were  to  him  for 
well  nigh  thirty  years,  a  source  of  pride,  and  pleasure ;  one  might  almost 
say  his  greatest  interest.  His  long  and  friendly  intercourse  with  its  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  Tallmadge,  and  with  Mr.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery  (whom 
he  loved  as  a  son),  bringing  him  both  satisfaction  and  delight. 

In  1882  Mr.  Stevens  wrote  the  Life  of  Albert  Gallatin  for  the  States- 
man's Series.  In  1883  he  prepared  an  article  upon  New  York  State,  which 
appears  in  the  ninth  edition,  1884,  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 

He  was  also  the  author  of  a  revolutionary  play,  "Colonel  Beverly," 
and  an  historial  novel,  "The  Major's  Quest"  (a  tale  of  three  cities  in 
1783)    (unpublished),  also  a  translation  of  "Taine's  Notes  on  Paris." 

In  addition  to  contributing  frequently  to  historical  publications,  Mr. 
Stevens  published  many  addresses,  books,  pamphlets  and  papers,  among 
others,  "The  Expedition  of  Lafayette  against  Arnold;"  "Yorktown  Hand- 
Book;"  "Battle  of  Harlem  Plains;"  "Birth  of  the  Empire  State;"  "The 
Merchants  of  New  York,  1765,  1775,"  and  an  exhaustive  work  on  the 
"Progress  of  New  York  in  a  Century  1800-1900."  This  history  he  looked 
upon  as  the  crowning  of  his  literary  labors,  his  desire  being  to  leave  within 
the  archives  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  a  complete  and  accurate 
account  of  his  native  city. 

In  1893  on  the  four  hundredth  anniversary,  of  the  discovery  of  America 
by  Columbus,  an  appropriation  was  made  by  a  special  committee  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  of  which  Mr.  Stevens  was  the  Secretary,  for  the 
reception,  and  entertainment  of  the  lineal  descendants  of  Columbus,  His 
Grace  the  Duke  of  Veragua,  Lord  High  Admiral  of  Spain,  and  his  family. 

48 


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From  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  these  celebrations,  viz :  The  address 
of  welcome  to  the  Duke  of  Veragua  by  the  three  institutions  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  and  the  American  Geo- 
graphical Society,  the  grand  reception  of  the  Duke  and  his  family  at  the 
Hotel  Waldorf,  the  banquet  to  the  foreign  and  United  States  naval  officers, 
the  ball  to  the  gutsts  of  the  city,  at  the  Madison  Square  Garden,  and  the 
shore  parade  of  the  foreign  and  United  States  sailors  from  the  banks  of 
the  Hudson  to  the  City  Hall,  each,  and  every  one,  was  carried  out  by  Mr. 
Stevens  and  his  son. 

For  the  next  twenty  years  of  his  life  Mr.  Stevens  made  his  home  at 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  where  he  continued  his  literary  labors,  contributing 
many  chapters  to  "Baylis'  History  of  Newport  County,"  and  also  to  Gen- 
eral James  Grant  Wilson's  Memorial  History  of  New  York  City.  In  1895 
he  wrote  the  History  of  the  Newport  Artillery,  and  on  July  5th,  1897,  de- 
livered an  address,  "Rhode  Island  in  the  Revolution,"  before  the  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati,  in  the  Senate  Chamber  of  the  State  House.  He  was  for 
years  a  prolific  writer  on  the  leading  topics  of  the  day,  sending  many  articles 
to  the  columns  of  the  Newport  papers,  and  "New  York  Sun,"  he  loved  his 
home  and  his  garden,  giving  much  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  roses. 
Washington's  Birthday  and  the  Fourth  of  July  were  never  allowed  to  pass 
unnoticed ;  these  National  holidays  being  the  occasion  for  festive  gather- 
ings, at  which  he  delighted  to  welcome  his  friends. 

Mr.  Stevens  retained  to  the  end  of  a  long  life  his  remarkable  health; 
and  vigor,  and  it  was  not  until  after  the  death  of  his  only  son,  in  1909 
(to  whom  he  was  devotedly  attached),  that  he  began  to  fail.  He  passed 
away  on  the  morning  of  June  10th,  1910,  in  the  home  he  had  christened 
"Pleasaunce."  surrounded  by  those  he  loved. 

Funeral  services,  were  held  on  the  afternoon  of  June  18th,  at  his 
residence  on  Rhode  Island  Avenue,  where  a  large  number  of  friends 
gathered  to  pay  a  last  tribute  to  one  of  Newport's  most  prominent  citizens. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Emory  H.  Porter  (rector  of  Emmanuel  Church  and  honorary 
Chaplain  of  the  Rhode  Island  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution), 
officiating. 

Final  honors  were  paid  Mr.  John  Austin  Stevens  by  the  New  York 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  at  the  funeral,  services  held  by  them 
in  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  New  York  City,  en  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday,  June 
21st.  1910,  services  in  which  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  New  York 
Historical    Society,   corporations   with   which   Mr.    Stevens   had   long   been 

49 


identified,  joined;  the  cortege  forming  at  the  Chapter  House  where  the 
remains  of  Mr.  Stevens,  which  had  been  brought  to  New  York,  rested. 

The  funeral  procession  which  had  a  military  setting,  wound  its  way 
through  the  old  church  yard,  to  the  sound  of  fife  and  drum ;  led  by  a  de- 
tachment of  the  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  of  the  War  of  1812  consisting  of 
Charles  Elliot  Warren,  Adjutant  in  Command ;  Lt.  Clarence  H.  Eagle ;  Lt. 
Paul  G.  Thebaud;  Sergt. -Major  Brvce  Metcalf ;  Lt.  Frank  L.  Humphreys, 
Chaplain  ;  Sergt.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery  ;  Sergt.  Norman  B.  Gardiner  ; 
Sergt.  I.  Henry  Walker ;  Corporal  Walter  L.  Suydam ;  Corporal  Mortimer 
Delano ;  Corporal  John  B.  Elmendorf ;  Corporal  Harrison  Williams ;  Cor- 
poral Frederick  S.  Woodruff ;  John  R.  Delafield ;  Chandler  Smith ;  Colonel 
Asa  Bird  Gardiner ;  Four  Musicians ;  in  black  and  gold  uniform  and  Napol- 
eonic shakos  wearing  mourning  badges,  their  sword  hilts  tied  with  crepe. 
The  corps  was  preceded  by  standard  bearers,  the  colors  veiled  in  crepe,  the 
field  music  in  scarlet  and  gold.  Major  Holland  was  chief  marshal  of  the 
ceremony.     Next  followed  the  pall  bearers : 

Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore ;  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant ;  M  r.  Samuel  Ver  Planck 
Hoffman,  President  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society ;  Mr.  Sereno  E. 
Pratt,  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce ;  Colonel  Asa  Bird  Gardiner ; 
Mr.  Alexander  R.  Thompson ;  Mr.  Robert  H.  Kelby,  Librarian  of  the  New- 
York  Historical  Society ;  Mr.  Arthur  Melvin  Hatch  ;  Mr.  William  Warner 
Hoppin;  Mr.   James    Mortimer   Montgomery. 

The  coffin,  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  six  bearers,  was  wrapped  in  the 
American  flag,  and  the  silken  banners  of  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution,"  and 
surmounted  by  a  superb  cross,  and  wreath  of  blue  corn-flowers  and  the 
golden  coreopsis,  tied  with  the  colors  of  the  Society,  a  farewell  tribute  of 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  to  their  Founder.  At  the  church  door  the 
Veteran  Corps  was  drawn  up,  and  stood  while  the  procession  filed  into  the 
church  (later  occupying  the  front  seats).  Directly  following  the  coffin 
were  Mr.  Stevens'  two  daughters,  and  other  members  of  his  family.  Then 
came  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and  the  delegations  from  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Historical  Society,  and  other  Patriotic  Societies.  The  services 
were  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Assistant 
Jhaplain  of  the  Society ;  assisted  by  the  Rev.  William  Montague  Geer,  D.  D.. 
Vicar  of  St.  Paul's  Chapel ;  the  Rev.  George  Stuart  Baker,  D.  D. ;  the  Rev. 
Charles  Daniel  Trexler ;  the  Rev.  William  Nichols  Dunnell,  D.  D. ;  the  Rev. 
George  Clarke  Houghton,  A.  M.,  D.  D. :  the  Rev.  Pelham  St.  George 
Bissell,  A.  M..  A.  K.  C. ;  the  Rev.  Henry  Barton  Chapin  D.  D. ;  the  Rev. 
James  Tiittle-Smith,  D.  D. ;  and  the  Rev.   Berry  Oakley   Baldwin,  B.   D. ; 

50 


ifo 


Only  the  Episcopal  burial  service  was  read,  but  a  full  choir  sang  the  music 
prepared  as  a  requiem  for  King  Edward  the  Seventh.  It  included  the 
anthem  "Blest  are  the  departed"  from  Spor's  last  Judgment,  the  choral 
"O  God  our  help  in  ages  past,"  and  Tschaikowsky's  great  Revolutionary 
march. 

At  the  close  of  the  impressive  ceremony,  Dr.  Humphreys  read  a  letter 
from  Bishop  Greer,  Chaplain  of  the  Society  regretting  his  inability  to  be 
present,  in  which  he  said :  "The  career  of  John  Austin  Stevens  has  been 
a  notable  one.  In  all  of  his  activities,  which  have  been  many  and  varied, 
he  has  been  actuated  by  the  highest  and  noblest  motives.  In  the  best,  and 
truest  sense  of  the  word  he  was  a  patriot,  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  his 
country,  and  desirious  in  every  way  to  promote  it. 

It  was  this  unselfish  quality,  which  inspired  him  to  establish  the  order 
of  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution,"  as  a  Society  which  would  represent  and 
cherish  the  best  traditions  of  the  American  Nation." 

The  beautiful  colonial  church,  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity,  the 
chancel  decorated  with  the  numerous  wreaths  and  flowers,  sent  by  friends 
and  patriotic  societies  of  both  sexes. 

The  funeral  procession  viewed  by  uncovered  thousands,  moved  down 
Broadway  to  Beaver  Street,  on  its  way  to  Broad  and  Pearl ;  passing  Fraun- 
ces  Tavern,  which  draped  in  black  stood  a  silent  touching  tribute,  to  one 
who  in  evoking  her  from  out  the  shadowy  past  had  restored  her  to  old  time 
dignity,  and  prestige. 

The  interment  was  in  the  family  vault  in  Greenwood  Cemetery,  where 
the  old  Revolutionary  general  lies. 

Telegrams  of  sympathy,  and  regrets  at  their  inability  to  be  present, 
were  received  by  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  from  the  Gen- 
eral President,  the  Hon.  John  Lee  Carroll,  of  Maryland ;  from  Mr.  Richard 
M.  Cadwalader,  President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society;  from  Mr.  William 
Libbey,  of  the  New  Jersey  Society;  from  President  Burrage,  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Society;  from  Mr.  E.  Hart  Fenn,  of  the  Connecticut  Society; 
and  from  Mr.  Albion  Keith  Parris.Jr.,  of  the  District  of  Columbia  Society. 

To  Mr.  James  Mortimer  Montgomery,  is  due  the  perfecting  of  the 
arrangements  which  made  of  the  services  at  St.  Paul's,  an  inspiration ;  to 
the  exquisite  taste  of  Mr.  Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  the  choice  and  selection 
of  the  lovely  flowers. 

The  history  of  Mr.  Stevens'  eventful  life,  which  alone  would  fill  a 
volume,  has  been  only  half  told ;  that  he  was  endowed  with  mental  powers 
of  the  highest  order,  will  not  be  questioned,  and  that  he  was  possessed  of 

51 


that  rarest  quality  in  the  human  mind,  the  organizing-  faculty,  is  also  be- 
yond doubt.  As  a  historian  he  had  won  for  himself  a  world  wide  reputation, 
his  ability  as  a  financeer  has  been  shown. 

Born  to  a  position  of  wealth  and  affluence,  idleness  and  luxury  had 
no  charm  for  him  ;  lie  threw  himself  early  into  work  for  work's  sake  with 
the  cherished  ambition  that  some  day  his  talents  might  be  applied  to  the 
public   weal. 

Patriotism,  the  key  note  of  his  noble  life,  dominated  all  his  thoughts 
and  actions;  those  who  in  later  years  knew  him  best  hardly  realizing  the 
extent  of  his  services  to  the  government,  services,  rarely  alluded  to,  since 
he  had  deemed  them  his  privilege. 

His  love  of  country  might  here  be  likened  to  that  of  the  gallant  Mont- 
rose for  his  dear  and  only  love,  in-as-much  "that  he  not  only  made  her 
glorious  by  his  pen. 

"But  served  her  in  such  noble  ways 

Was  never  heard  before. 
He  crown'd  and  deck'd   her  all   with  bays, 

And  loved  her  more  and  more." 


52 


Members  Admitted,    1910 


Samuel   Marvin   Kookogey,   Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Eugene  Klapp,  Wyckoff,  N.  Y. 
Edwin  Nesbit  Chapman,  Greenwich,  Conn. 
Frederick  Heber  Eaton,  Xew  York  City. 
William  Wilson  Jefferies,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Frank  Stuart  Smith,   New  York  City. 
William  Toan  Mills,  Montclair,  N.  J. 
Henry  Snow  Giles,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Clifford  Albert  Wiltsee,  New  York  City. 
Guy  Frederick  Swinnerton,  Wynantskill,  N.  Y. 
John  Nixon  Drake,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
George  Carleton  Dominick,  M.  D.,  N.  V.  City. 
Ernest  Michael  Fuller,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
William   Richmond   Peters,   New  York  City. 
Francis  Elbert  Du  Bois,  M.  D.,  Plainfield,  N.  J. 
Roscoe  Darwin  Addis,  Haworth,  N.  J. 
Horace  Thurber  Aplington,  New  York   City. 
Charles  Sumner  Withington,   Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Edward  Gilbert  Williams,  New  York  City. 
Henry  Rudolph  Kunhardt,  3rd,  New  York  City. 
Noel  Bleecker  Fox,  New  York  City. 
Matthew  Linn  Bruce,  New  York  City. 
Eldridge  Warren   Estes,  Jersey  City,  N.  J. 
Edward  Garry  Munson,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Edward  Stanley  Atwood,  New  York  City. 
Eugene  Pintard  Bicknell,  Woodmere,  L.  I, 
Lyndon  Peck  Smith,  Piermont,  N.  Y. 
William  Henry  Falconer,  New  York  City. 
Bruce   McLean   Falconer,    New   York   City. 
Alexander  Selkirk,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
John  Packwood  Tilden,  New  York  City. 
Charles  P.  Brett,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Herbert  Wheaton  Congdon,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
William  Van  Brunt  Findley,  New  York  City. 
Edward  Warner  Allen,  New  York  City. 
Harry  Lincoln  Snyder,  Montclair,  N.  J. 
Rev.  Charles  Daniel  Trexler,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
John  Oscar  Wade,  East  Orange.  N.  J. 


Charles  Fearing  Swan,  New  York  City. 

Walter  Luce  Hutchins,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Charles  Landon  Jones,  New  York  City. 

Julian  Park,  Buffalo,  N.   Y. 

Clark  Harold  Foster,   Troy,   N.  Y. 

Charles  Davies  Brewer,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

William  Gardner  Lottimer,  New  York  City. 

P.  Hubbard   Bancroft,   New   York  City. 

Francis  Colgate  Dale,  New  York  City. 

George  Homan  Furman,  Patchogue,  N.  Y. 

Norman  Joseph  Coudert,  New  York  City. 

Benjamin  Tappan  Fairchild,  Kingsbridge, 
N.  Y.  City. 

George  Doubleday,  New  York  City. 

Henry  Rowland  Mygatt,  New  York  City. 

Dwight  Smith,   Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 

Leonard  Bacon  Smith,  Jr.,   New  York  City. 

Charles  Fish  Howell,  New  York  City. 

John  McKeon  Hecker,  New   York  City. 

Walter   Huntington   Bond,   Brooklyn,   N.   Y. 

Howard  Lansing  Waldo,  M.  D.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

Guy   Henry  Witthaus,  New  York  City. 

John  Jesse  Lapham,  New  York  City. 

Theodore  Denton  Mills,  M.  D.,  Middletown, 
N.  Y. 

Benjamin  Garrison  Demarest,  Ph.  D.,  New- 
York  City. 

Alanson  Trask  Enos,  Jr.,  New   York  City. 

John  Seymour  Gardner  Best,  New  York  City. 

William  Merriam  Chadbourne,  New  York  City. 

John  Howe  McClurkin,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Edward  Staats  Luther,  New  York  City. 

Benjamin  Fowler  Hall,  New  York  City. 

John  Peter  Haines,  New  York  City. 

Thomas  Staples  Fuller,  New  York  City. 

Franklin  Selleck,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Edwin  Sheldon  Whitehouse,  New  York  City. 

Samuel  Wretherill,  Cranford,  N.  J. 


53 


Floyd  Melvin  Horton,   New  York   City. 
Matthew  Corry  Fleming,  New  York  City. 
Elles  Willard  Leavenworth,  New  York  City. 
Raymond  Weeks,  New  York  City. 
Jay  Herbert  Pearsall,  Westfield,  N.  J. 
Herbert  Roome  Mann,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
John  Henry  Elliott  Valentine,  New  York  City. 
Herbert  X.  Rothenmeyer,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Lydig  Hoyt,  New  York  City. 
Oliver  Edwards,  Ft.  Leavenworth,  Kansas. 
Elmo  Neale  Pickerill,  New  York  City. 
Edward  Hinman,  Jr.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Floyd  Swallow  Leach,  New  York  City. 
Charles  Porter  Wagoner,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Charles  White  Nash,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Melvin  Thomas  Bender,  Albany,  N.  Y. 


Edward  R.  Bootey,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 
Theodore  Zadoc  Root,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 
Samuel  Herbert  Mapes,  Ramapo,  N.  Y. 
Landon  Ketchum  Thome,  New  York  City. 
Morton  Kiah  Maynard,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
Frederic  Rose  Keator,  New  York  City. 
Ex.  Norton,  New  Brighton,  S.  I. 
John  Charles  Fremont  Gardner,  N.  Y.  City. 
Frederick  William   Stoneback,  Orange,  N.  J. 
Charles  Edward  Crowell,  Jr.,  New  York  City. 
Benjamin  Tredwell  Van  Nostrand,  Brooklyn, 

N.  Y. 
Louis  Leland  Robbins,  Nyack,  N.  Y. 
Alexander  Wallace  Perry,  Washington,  D.  C. 
De  Witt  Clinton  Jones,  Jr.,   Elizabeth,   N.  J. 
Franklin  Delano  Wiliams,  New  York  City. 


Resignations 


Richard  L.  Malcolm, 
George  M.  Grant, 
John  W.  H.  Bergen, 
Samuel  B.  P.  Trowbridge, 
Perry   Curtis  Todd, 
Edwin  L.  Ford, 
Ferris  B.  Martin, 
Howard  Marshall, 


Horace  H.  Brockway, 
Frederic  C.   Gratwick, 
James  P.  Warbasse,  M.   D., 
Cyrus  S.  Sedgwick, 
Lawrence  D.  Alexander, 
George  H.  Betts, 
William  J.  Groo, 
Theodore   T.   Lines, 


Transfers 


Donald   Green  to   Missouri   Society. 

George  Castor  Martin  to  Pennsylvania  Society. 

Albert  J.  Potter  to  Connecticut  Society. 


54 


Donations 

Books,  Pamphlets,  Etc. 


TITLES 

Register  of  Members,  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
in  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts, 

Register  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the 
State  of  Missouri,  1907-1909, 

Catalogue  of  the  Works  of  Art  belonging  to 
the  City  of  New  York, 

Governor  Abner  Nash, 

Poems, 

Among  Rhode  Island  Wild  Flowers, 

Botanical  Note   Book, 

Regimental  Colors  in  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion,  Supplement,  1910. 

The  Heraldic  Assembly  of  America, 

Year  Book,  Society  of  Mayflower  Descen- 
dants, 1910. 

Program  of  Church  Service  and  Menu  of 
Banquet,  Missouri  Society,  S.  of  R., 

The  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States, 

Adjutant  General's  Report, 

Vols.  36  and  37,  New  York  Historical  Society, 

The  Yorktown  Campaign, 

Amos  Richardson  of  Boston, 

Union  League  Club  Year  Book,  1910, 

Military  History  of  Gen.  John  Green  Ballance, 

Pennsylvania  Society,  S.  of  R.,  Proceedings, 
1909-1910, 

Journal  of  Larocque, 

University  Club  Annual,  1910, 

Bulletin, 

A  Trip  to  Alaska  and  British  Columbia, 

Baron  Steuben,  Drill  Master  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, 

California  Society,  S.  of  R.,  Dinner  and  Re- 
ception to  Naval  Officers,  1908, 


DONOR 

Edwin    Birchard   Cox,    Registrar 

Henry  Cadle,   Secretary. 

The  Art  Commission. 
Marshall   DeL.   Haywood,  Secretary. 
VVm.   Whitman   Bailey,  LL.D. 
Wm.   Whitman   Bailey,  LL.D. 
Wm.   Whitman   Bailey,   LL.D. 

Gherardi  Davis. 
Mortimer  Delano. 

E.   S.  Atwood,   Secretary. 

Henry  Cadle,   Secretary. 

Charles  A.  Greene. 

N,    H.    Henry,    Adjutant    General. 

Clarence   Storm. 

Prof.    Henry    P.    Johnston. 

Roswell   L.    Richardson. 

George  H.  Taylor,   Secretary. 

Holdridge  O.  Collins. 

Ethan    Allen    Weaver,    Secretary. 
George    F.    O'Halloran,    Archivist. 
University   Club. 
New  York  Public  Library. 
William  H.    Raser. 

Richard  Spillane. 

Holdridge  O.  Collins. 


55 


TITLES 


DONOR 


Unveiling  Statue  of  Gen.  Lew  Wallace,  Pro- 
ceedings, 

The  American  Flag, 

Commissioners  for  Detecting  Conspiracies, 
Vol.  Ill, 

Jersey  City  of  To-Day, 

Down  Town  Association  Year  Book, 

Proceedings,  New  York  State  Historical  As- 
sociation, 

Military  Documents  in  Canadian  Archives, 

History  of  St.  Andrew's  Society  of  the  State 
of  New  York, 

Chamber  of  Commerce  Bulletin, 

New  York  State  Historical  Association  Pro- 
ceedings, 

Maryland  Club,  Year  Book, 

The   Hill   School,    Pottstown,    Pa.,   Register, 

Tercentenary  of  the  Landing  of  the  Popham 
Colony, 

The  Wadsworth-Longfellow  House, 

History  of  Col.  Edmund  Phinney's  Regiment, 

Col.  James  Scammon's  Regiment, 

Journal  of  American  History,  Vol.  IV,  Num- 
ber III ;  Nine  Centuries  of  Pomeroy 
Blood   in  History, 

Oneida  Historical  Society  Year  Book,  iqio, 

The  Palisades  of  the  Hudson, 

Northfield,  N.  Y.,  Celebration  4th  of  July, 
1876, 

Addresses :  The  Paul  Revere  of  the  West, 
Amusements  in  Detroit  in  Colonial  Days, 
Patriotism, 

Fitchburg   Soldiers   of   the   Revolution. 

Saint   Nicholas    Society    Year   Book, 

The  Ticonderoga  Expedition  of   1775, 


Hon.    Albert    J.    Beveridge. 
Education    Department. 

Victor  H.  Paltsits,  State  Historian. 
The  Board  of  Trade  of  Jersey  City. 
George  G.   Haven,  Jr.,  Secretary. 

F.    B.    Richards,    Secretary. 
George    F.    O'Halloran,    Archivist. 

William  M.  Macbean,  Secretary. 
Miss   Stevens. 

James    A.    Holden. 
George    May,    Secretary. 
Allen  D.  Hopper,  Secretary. 

Maine  Historical  Society. 

Maine  Historical  Society. 

Maine  Historical  Society. 

Maine  Historical  Society. 


George  E.  Pomeroy. 

William   M.  Storrs,  Cor.   Secretary. 

Lyndon    P.    Smith. 

Sidney  F.   Rawson. 


C.  M.  Burton. 

Fitchburg  Historical  Society. 
Clarence  Storm,  Secretary. 
F.  B.  Richards. 


Miscellaneous  Donations 


Pictures,  Relics,  Etc. 


ARTICLES 


Bronze  Plaque,  the  Colonial  Washington, 
Two   Bowls  and   Plate  used  at  Turtle  Feast, 

December  4th,    1883,    when   the    Society 

was  reorganized. 
Souvenirs  of  the  Holland   Society  of  N.  Y., 
Copy   of  Advertisement   of    Samuel   Fraunces 

and  Deed  of  Stephanus  Van  Cortlandt, 
Pictures    of    Washington's    Headquarters    at 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  Gov.  George  Clinton, 

St.     George    Tucker    and    James    Mc- 

Henry, 
Old  Maps  of  New  York, 
Picture  of  Fraunces  Tavern, 
Picture   of    Washington    taking    leave    of    his 

Officers, 
Five    Photographs    of    Paintings    of    Colonial 

and    Revolutionary    Scenes    by    E.    L. 

Henry, 
Mountings  and  Frames, 
Picture  of  The  Long  Ferry  Tavern, 
Picture,  Washington  at  Dorchester  Heights, 


DONOR 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Estate  of  George  Wilson. 
Henry  L.  Bogert,  Secretary. 
John  Austin  Stevens. 


John  Austin  Stevens. 
N.  W.  Browne. 
William    S.   Eddy. 

William    S.   Eddy. 


E.  L.  Henry. 

Rev.  George  S.  Baker,  D.D. 
George  H.  Coutts. 
Herbert  M.  Leland. 


57 


Loaned  to  the  Society 

By  Edward  Demarest  Butler 

Key  of  Old  Fort  Stanwix,  Rome,  N.  Y. 

By  Robert  L.  Eldredge 

Saber  used  by  Private  John  Oilman,  Middlesex  County,  N.  J.,  Militia  in  the  Revolution. 

By  Henry  Russell  Drowne 

Prints  of  the  Revolutionary  Period. 

By  Walter  F.  Bullard 

Relics  from  Battle  Field  of  Saratoga: 
Two  Cannon  Balls. 
Hand-made  Military  Button. 
Three  Rifle  Balls. 
Tomahawk  Head. 
Canteen. 
Door-knocker. 
Adze. 

By  Henry  Metzinger 

Ten  Frames  containing  Washington's  Mother's  hair :  Martha  Washington's  hair  at  68 
and  when  a  girl,  Anthony  Wayne's  hair,  Aaron  Burr's  hair,  Benjamin  Franklin's 
hair,  Benedict  Arnold's  hair,  Israel  Putnam's  hair,  George  Washington's  hair, 
Lafayette's  hair,  Clara  Pollock's  hair,  Hair  Braclets  worn  at  Washington 
Reception. 

Land  Bounty  Certificate  signed  by  Patrick  Henry;  Writing  and  Signature  of  Lafayette; 
Paper  signed  by  John  Hancock. 

Compass,  a  Relic  of  the  Revolution. 

Napoleon  Portrait  with  his  and  his  Parent's  hair. 

By  Frederick  L.  Colwell 

Bowl  and  Saucer  which  was  at  Colonel  Ludington's  House,  where  General  Washington 
breakfasted  and  from  which  he  ate  his  porridge. 

By  Henry  K.  Bush-Brown 

Statuette  of  General  Anthony  Wayne. 


58 


Catalog 

of 

Relics  in  Museum 

1910 


Catalog  of  Relics  in  Museum 

1910 


Case  1. 

Deeds  of  Fraunces  Tavern  dated  and  signed  respectively:  January  15,  1762,  Oliver 
DeLancy  and  wife,  Beverly  and  Susanna  Robinson,  and  James  Parker;  April  3. 
1785,  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  Fraunces ;  April  13,  1795,  George  and  Anne  Pow- 
ers ;  June  24,  1800,  Nicholas  Romagne. 

Muster  Roll  of  the  6th  Company,  3rd  Regiment,  Connecticut  Militia,  October  7,  1782. 

Autograph  letter  of  Lafayette. 

Return  of  the  2nd   Pennsylvania   Regiment,   Philadelphia,  April  9,   1777. 

Old  prints  of  the  Revolutionary  Period. 

Case  2. 

Six  commissions  of  General  Henry  Burbeck,  2nd  Lieut,  to  Lieut.  Col.,  1775-1709, 
signed  respectively  by  Joseph  Warren,  who  was  killed  at  Bunker  Hill ;  John 
Hancock,  Henry  Laurens,  Samuel  Huntington,  George  Washington  and  John 
Adams. 

Master  Mason's  certificate  of  Henry  Burbeck  in  St.  Andrew's  Lodge,  No.  82  F.  & 
A.  M.,  June  23rd,  1777. 

Masonic  jewel  presented  by  St.  Andrew's  Lodge  to  General  Burbeck's  father,  Lt. 
Col.   William    Burbeck,    1760. 

Miniatures  of  General  Henry  Burbeck  and  his  wife,  Lucy  Elizabeth  Burbeck. 

Photograph   of   General   Henry   Burbeck. 

Hat,  belt,  epaulettes  and   swords  of  General  Henry   Burbeck. 

Robert  Richie's  commission  as  1st  Lieutenant,  signed  by  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Society  of  the  Cincinnati  Membership  Certificates  of  Major  Henry  Burbeck  and  his 
successors  in  the  same  line,  Win.  H.  Burbeck  and  Chandler  Smith. 

Case  3. 

Official  Bulletin  of  the  French  Army  in   Providence,  R.  I. 

Autograph  of   Viscount   De  Noailles. 

Picture  of  Count  Alexis  de  Noailles  . 

Official   Bulletin  of  the  French  Army  in  Newport,  R.   I.,  1780-1781. 

Agreement  of  the  Army  of  Rochambeau  with  Dr.  Solomon   Drowne,  of  Providence, 

R.  I.,  to  maintain  and  care  for  the  sick  soldiers  unable  to  return  to  France  with 

the  Army,  December  2,  1782. 

6l 


Copy  of  letter  of  Chevalier  De  La  Lucerne,  July  9,  1782. 

Cards  obtained  in  Paris,  France,  1785,  by  Dr.  Solomon  Drowne. 

Letter  of   Dr.   Solomon   Drowne,  praising  the  generosity  of   Louis  XVI,   of   France, 

December  18,  1783. 
Dr.  Solomon  Drowne's  appointment  as  Surgeon,  Aug.  3,  1780. 
Receipt  for  passage  to  New  York  on  the  King's  Ship,  Le  Courier  de  L'Orient,  signed 

by  Genay,  June  30,  1785. 
Autograph  of  De  Bourgainville. 
Letter  of  Lieutenant  General  Mathiew  Count  Dumas,  Aid-de-Camp  to  Rochambeau, 

1780-1781. 
Transportation  of  Dr.  Drowne,  apparently  signed  by  Gen.  Dumas,  June  15,  1785. 
Letter  of  Due  de  Perigord. 

Letter  of  Petibeay  to  Dr.  Solomon  Drowne,  December  3,  1781. 
Letter    (copy  by)    Dr.   Solomon  Drowne,  August  31,   1780. 
Letter  of  Gen.  Custine,  who  was  guillotined  at  Paris  in  1793. 
Letter  of  M.  Lanfrey  Delisle,  June  13,  1784. 
Letter  of  Beaulieu,  September  6,  1780. 

Autograph  of  Le  Gardeur  De  Tilly,  Vice-Admiral  of  the  French  Fleet,  1780-1781. 
Letters  of  De  Silly,  Chevalier,  1780-1781. 
Letter  from  Miss  Sally  Drowne  to  her  sister-in-law,  describing  presence  of  Lafayette 

and  the  French  soldiers  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  August  6,  1778. 
Autograph  of  Count  de  Rochambeau,   Commander-in-Chief  of  the   French  Army  in 

America,  1780- 1782. 
Louis  XVI,  King  of  France,  showing  the  approval  of  the  King,  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, of  a  plea  addressed  to  him,  April  3,  1785. 
Picture  of  Louis  XVI,  King  of  France. 
Picture  of  Marie  Antoinette. 
Picture   of   Bourgainville. 

Pictures  of  Luzerne,  Du   Portail,  Rochambeau,  Viomenil  and  De  Grasse. 
Autograph  of  Gen.  Lafayette,  March  14,   1778. 
Picture  of  the  death  of  Louis  XVI. 
Picture  of  De  Custine. 
Picture  of  Rochambeau. 
Two  pictures  of  Lafayette. 
Autograph  of   Lafayette   in  the   book,   "Tragedy  of   Elizabeth   of   France,    Sister   of 

Louis   XVI." 

Case  4. 

Box  made  by  soldier  in  Washington's  Army  at  Valley  Forge. 

Two  sheets  of  Continental  money,  containing  thirty-two  bills. 

Diary    of    Lieut.    Matthew    Gregory,    containing    an    account    of    the    surrender    of 

Yorktown. 
Commissions  of  Matthew  Gregory,  dated  respectively  1777,  1778,  1780,  1783,  1793. 
Poem  entitled  "British  Taxation  in   North  America." 
Hymns  and  ode,  "Funeral  Honors  to  the  Memory  of  La  Fayette." 
Bill    of    fare   at   "Public   Festival   in   honor   of   the   completion    of   the    Bunker    Hill 

Monument,"   1843. 

62 


Badge  to  commemorate  death  of  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson,  June  8,  1845. 

Badge  to  the  memory  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  February  11,  1828. 

Badge  of  the  Washington  Benevolent  Society. 

Badge  of  the  Army  of  the  Revolution. 

A  piece  of  the  hulk  of  the  "Morning  Star,"  a  privateer  sunk  in  New  York  Harbor 

by  explosion  of  powder  which  she  carried,  August  7,  1778. 
Coins   from  the   British  Frigate  "Charon." 
A  piece  of  the  British  Frigate  "Charon." 
John    Paul    Jones— A    water-color    facsimile   after   the    original   painting   by   Charles 

Wilson  Peale. 
A  piece  of  one  of  the  "Hamilton  trees." 
Gavel  made  of  wood  from  the  Jumel  Mansion. 
Gavel  made   from   a  piece   of  teak  wood  taken   from  the  wreck   of   the   "Christobal 

Colon." 
Gavel  made  from  belfry  of  Middle  Dutch  Church,  New  York. 

Paper  cutter  made  from  shingles  of  Washington's  Headquarters  at  Morristown,  N.  J. 
Copy  of  miniature  of  General  George  Washington. 
Tallmadge — Fraunces  Tavern  Medal. 
John  Quincy  Adams  Medal. 
George  Washington  Medal. 
Medal   to   commemorate   inauguration    of   George   Washington   as    first    President   of 

the  United  States  of  America  at  New  York. 
Cane  made  of  wood  from  Middle  Dutch  Church,  New  York. 
Case    of    Washington    Medals. 
Medal  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 
Pintard-Benson   Medal. 
John  Paul  Jones  Medal. 

John  Paul  Jones  Medal  in  case  of  wood  taken  from  wreck  of  frigate  "Alliance". 
Commodore  Bainbridge  Medal. 
Washington  Medal. 

Piece  of  pew  railing  in  gallery  of  North  Dutch  Church,  New  York. 
Badge  of  Prison  Ship  Martyrs,  Monument  Association,  Brooklyn,  November  14,  1908. 
Washington  head  from  an  Itaglio-Cornelian  cut  by  Harris  of  London  about  1800. 
Colonial  and  Continental  Currency. 

Case  5. 

Benjamin  Tallmadge,   Yale    College    Diploma,   September  9,   1778. 

Benjamin    Tallmadge,    Captain's   Commission,    December    14,    1776. 

Benjamin   Tallmadge,   Appointment  as   Adjutant,   June  20,    1776. 

Benjamin    Tallmadge,    Major's    Commission,    December    18,    1779. 

Discharge   from   2nd   Regt.    of   Light   Dragoons    (Tallmadge's)    of    Private   Abraham' 

Bartholemew,  signed  by  General  George  Washington. 
Letter  from  General  George  Washington  to  Major  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  July  27,  1779. 
Letter  of  George  Washington  to  Major  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  October  9,  1779. 
Revolutionary  powder  horn  which  belonged  to  Col.  Benjamin  Tallmadge. 
Epaulet  and  spurs  of  Col.  Benjamin  Tallmadge. 

63 


Cannon-balls  and  bullets  found  on  battle-field  of  Saratoga. 

Hand-made  military  button  found  on  Schuyler  farm. 

Indian  tomahawk  head. 

Door-knocker  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

Adz  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

Revolutionary   canteen. 

Bayonet  point   from  battle-field,  Fort  Ticonderoga. 

Grape-shots  from  battle-field,  Fort  Ticonderoga. 

Part  of  hinge  from  barracks,  Fort  Ticonderoga. 

Sword  from  Fort  Ticonderoga. 

Iron   from   Fort  Ticonderoga. 

Button  from  Fort  Ticonderoga. 

Revolutionary  cannon-balls. 

Cannon-ball  from  British  frigate  "Hussar". 

Photograph  of  Webb's  3rd  Connecticut  Regiment  flag  used  during  the  Revolutionary 

War. 
Picture  of  flag  of  3rd  New  York  Regiment  of  the  Revolution. 
Button   from   Fort   Erie — 26th   Regiment,   Foot. 
English   penny  of   the  time  of   George    II,   Fort   Ticonderoga. 
Gun  flint  from  Fort  Ticonderoga. 
Charcoal   from  French  Army,  Yorktown,   N.  Y. 
Button,   naval   officer,   English,    from   Fort   Ticonderoga. 
Button,  Anspach  Regiment,  Hessian,   from  Fort  Ticonderoga. 

Section  cut  from   last  of  "Washington   Elms"   in   St.   Paul's   Churchyard,   New   York. 
Letters  patent  to  William  Floyd,  April  13,  1787,  signed  by  Governor  George  Clinton. 
Official  Medal  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration. 
The  Colonial  Washington   (after  Peale). 
Revolutionary  powder  horns. 


Case  6. 

Soldier's  hat  and  shoulder  straps,  1812. 

Revolutionary  canteen. 

Section  of  Charter  Oak. 

Brick   from   old   Powder   House   of   Fort   Montgomery,   N.    Y. 

5219— Gal  3-A  VEBER,  Nov  17 

Stone  from  Hall  of  Records,  New  York. 

Wood  from  Frigate  "Constitution". 

Wood  from  Paul  Revere  House. 

Block  of  wood  from  the  "Royal  Savage,"  Arnold's  Flagship,  Battle  of  Valcour, 
Lake  Champlain,  N.  Y. 

Saber  used  in  the  Revolution. 

Sword  of  Governor  George  Clinton,  1777. 

Flint  lock  gun  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

Cane  cut  from  one  of  the  joists  of  the  building  in  which  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  written. 

Cane  made  of  wood  from  the  galley  "Congress". 


64 


Bark  from  the  "Hamilton  elms". 

Piece  of  railing  of  the  Manor  Hall,  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 

Copper  spike  and  brick  taken  from  Fraunces  Tavern  in  1890  when  alterations  were 

made. 
Brick  and  piece  of  stone  from  Fort  Frederick,  Lake  Champlain,  N.  Y. 
Wood  and  original  latch  from  the  Nathan  Hale  School  House,  East  Haddam,  Conn. 
Revolutionary  sword  found  at  Harlem  Plains. 
Plates  from  which  invitations  were  engraved  to  the  formal  opening  of  the  restored 

Fraunces  Tavern,  December  4,  1907. 
British  canteen  of  the  Revolutionary  period. 

Certificate  of  enlistment  of  Alexander  Thompson,   February  7,  1777. 
Sword  carried  by  Lieutenant  Alexander   Thompson,    1779-1783. 

Case  7. 

Bank  bill  showing  minute  engraving  of  Washington  in  the  corner. 

Regulations  for  Order  and  Discipline  of  the  Troops  of  the  United  States,  1779. 

Letter  to  Governor  George  Clinton  from  E.  Benschoten,  June  18,  1781. 

Picture  of  house  in  New  Utrecht,  Long  Island,  where  Gen.  Nathaniel  Woodhull  died, 

September  30,  1776. 
Photograph  of  document  signed  by  George  Clinton,  appointing  several  judges. 
Drawing  of  delineations  on  Gen.  Israel  Putnam's  powder  horn. 
Copy  of  the  announcement  of  the  General  Peace,  March  25,  1783. 
Letter  written  by  Alexander  Hamilton. 
Portrait  etching  of  Samuel  Putnam  Avery. 
From   the    John    Trumbull    Collection — Hair    of    George    Washington,    Washington's 

mother,  Martha  Washington,  Nellie  Curtis,  Lafayette,  Benjamin   Franklin,  Israel 

Putnam,  Anthony  Wayne,  Aaron   Burr,  Benedict   Arnold. 
Compass,  a  relic  of  the  Revolution. 

Photograph  of  Ordinance  closing  the  Broad  Street  Ditch,  May  9,   1696. 
Land  Bounty  Certificate  signed  by   Patrick  Henry. 
Writing  and  signature  of  Lafayette. 
Note  of  Nathaniel  Minor  witnessed  by  John  Hancock. 
Below  the   case — 

Iron  bars  from  a  cell  in  the  Hall  of  Records.  New  York. 

Lintel  taken  from  entrance  to  Ethan  Allen's  cell  in  Hall  of  Records,  New  York. 

Case  8. 

Souvenirs  from  banquets,  insignia,  badges,  etc. 

Gavel,   handle   from   Old    Dutch    Church    of    Sleepy   Hollow,    and    head    from    U.    S. 

Frigate  "Kearsarge". 
Picture  of  Boston  Massacre. 
Photograph  of  Washington's  commission  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army,  signed 

by  John  Adams,  July  4,  179S. 
Picture    of   inauguration   of   General    George    Washington   as   first    President   of   the 

United  States  of  America. 
Old  receipts,  bills,  etc. 

65 


Case  9. 

Sharpless  portrait   of   Washington. 
Philip  Livingston's  watch. 

Watch  presented  to  Talma,  actor  and  artist,  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 
Colonel  Benjamin  Tallmadge's  watch,  that  timed  the  execution  of  Major  Andre. 
Souvenir  spoon,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 
Copy  of  Paul  Revere  punch  bowl. 

Loving  cup  presented  to  Mr.  Frederick  S.  Tallmadge  by  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
February  22,  1901. 

Case  10. 

Mortar  and  pestle  which  belonged  to  Captain  John  Hampton  of  the  Revolution. 

Print  of  Washington  at  the  age  of  18. 

Picture  of  old  Court  House  at  Poughkeepsie. 

Picture  of  old  Senate  House  at  Kingston,  N.  Y. 

Tiles  from  Trinity  Church,  Newport,  R.  I. 

Mug  dug  up  in  Shakespeare's  garden. 

Foot  warmer  from  old  St.  George's  Church  in  Beekman  Street,  New  York. 

Souvenir  of  the  Centennial  Celebration  in  Rhode  Island. 

Bowl  and  saucer  from  which  Washington  ate  his  porridge. 

Copy  of  Portrait  of  Washington  by  John  Trumbull. 

Picture  of  Vernon  House,  Newport,  R.  I. — Headquarters  of  Rochambeau. 

Picture  of  the  Odell  House — Rochambeau's  Headquarters,  Westchester  County,  N.  Y. 

Dish  used  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton. 

Case  11. 

Cards  of  Turtle  Feast  held  at  Fraunces  Tavern,  December  4th,  188,3,  when  the  So- 
ciety of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  was  instituted. 

Things  used  on  that  occasion. 

Box  which  belonged  to  Raleigh  Chinn,  who  married  Esther  Ball,  sister  of  Mary 
Ball,   Washington's   mother. 

Washington  pitchers. 

Original  call  issued  by  John  Austin  Stevens  for  the  organizing  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,   February  22,   1876. 

Photograph  of  Washington's  instructions  to  Captain  Howe. 

Case  12. 

Gazette  of  the  United  States,  April  15,  1789. 
Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  Diploma  of  Columbia  College. 
Frederick   S.   Tallmadge,  two  Columbia   College  certificates. 

Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  certificate  of  admission  to  Court  of  Chancery,  July  3,   1847. 
Frederick  S.  Tallmadge,  certificate  of  membership  in  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  August 
20,  1892. 

Case  13. 

Flag  and  banner  of  the  General  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  The  flag  is  a  facsimle  of 
the  one  designed  by  Baron  Steuben  after  the  Revolution. 

66 


Case  14. 


Sons  of  the  Revolution  flag. 

United  States    flag. 

Thirteen  star  flag. 

Colonial  flag. 

Harlem  Heights  flag. 

French  flag,  Revolutionary  period. 

Saratoga  flag. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution  banner. 


Case  15. 


Portrait  of  Napoleon  with  his  hair  and  his  parents'  hair. 

Letter  of  Major-General  William  Heath  to  Brigadier-General  Nixon. 

On  Wall. 

Picture  of  the  home  of  Asa  Pollard,  the  first  man  killed  at  Bunker  Hill. 

Picture  of  the  Wythe  House,  Washington's  Headquarters  at  Williamsburgh,  Va. 

Picture  of  the  residence  of  Major-General  Philip  Schuyler. 

Two  letters  of  Col.  Sidney  Berry,  dated  September  n,  1776,  and  December  28,  1776. 

Washington  entering  New  York,  December  4,  1783. 

Washington  arriving  at  the  foot  of  Wall  Street,  New  York,  1789. 

The  Old  Mount  Vernon,  by  Eastman  Johnson. 

Portrait  of  Captain  Bizabel  Howe  with  copy  of  his  instructions  from  Washington. 


67 


u 


The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers" 


A  Sermon  by  the  Rev.  James  I.  Vance,  D.  D. 

Minister  of  the  North  Reformed  Church,  Newark,  N.  J. 


Preached  in 

The  Collegiate  Church  of  St.  Nicholas, 

New  York  City, 

on 

Sunday,  February  20th,  19 10. 


The  Twentieth  Annual  Serine e 

of  the 

Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  Nezv  York, 

in  commemoration  of  the 

One  Hundred  and  Seventy-eighth  Anniversary 

of  the  birth  of 

George  Washington 


69 


"The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers 


55 


Text,  "Whose  are  the  fathers'' — Romans  ix  :  5. 

Paul  is  announcing  an  asset.  He  is  not  declaring  a  disability.  He  is 
registering  the  wealth  of  his  nation,  not  its  poverty.  He  is  proclaiming 
Israel's  glory,  not  its  shame.  He  is  calling  the  roll  of  the  things  which  have 
made  his  nation  great.  He  begins  at  the  bottom  and  ascends.  lie  names 
matters  of  minor  importance  first  and  gradually  climbs  to  a  sublime  climax. 

He  begins  with  adoption,  when  God  picked  up  a  lonely  man  out  of  a 
strange  nation  and  made  him  His  Son,  and  packed  into  his  blood  the  hopes 
and  destinies  of  a  chosen  people.  He  follows  adoption  with  glory,  and 
speaks  of  that  august  hour  when  the  Shekinah  became  a  national  asset 
and  the  Divine  Presence  took  up  its  residence  in  the  nation.  He  speaks  of 
the  covenants,  of  those  solemn  compacts  in  which  the  destiny  of  the  nation 
was  tied  up  to  God-hood.  He  refers  to  the  giving  of  the  law,  the  service 
of  the  sanctuary,  and  the  promises  of  Jehovah.  Surely  a  nation  with  such 
assets  as  these  may  hold  its  head  high  among  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  in 
the  long  files  of  time. 

But  the  writer  has  not  finished.  He  reaches  his  climax  and  crowns  the 
list  with  that  "name  which  is  above  every  name."  He  speaks  of  the  Savior 
of  the  world,  and  says,  "Of  whom  was  Christ  according  to  the  flesh,  who  is 
over  all;  God  blessed  forever."  Then  next  to  that  name  which  is  above  every 
name  he  writes,  "Whose  are  the  fathers."  Just  under  the  personality  of  the 
Son  of  God,  above  adoption  and  divine  immanence  and  the  covenants,  he 
proclaims  the  wealth  and  glory  his  country  possesses  in  a  faith  handed 
down  from  sire  to  son  along  a  godly  line. 

Blessed  Israel !  "whose  are  the  fathers".  Shall  we  say  "Blessed  Amer- 
ica! whose  are  the  fathers"?  What  is  our  estimate  of  the  faith  of  the  men 
who  founded  this  Republic?  Do  we  regard  it  as  their  glory  or  their  shame? 
Do  we  think  of  their  faith  as  an  infirmity  or  a  virtue?  Does  the  piety  of  our 
fathers  excite  in  us  pride  or  pity?  Did  they  worship  God  because  they 
had  great  souls  or  because  they  were  so  ignorant  they  did  not  know  better? 
How  would  we  read  this  text  today,  with  our  faces  down  and  our  mouths 


filled  with  apologies,  or  with  heads  erect  and  brows  wearing  a  look  of  hon- 
est pride  and  voices  of  mingled  reverence  and  song? 

In  our  worship  this  afternoon  we  would  reverence  the  memory  of  the 
founders  of  this  nation  and  thank  God  for  that  dim  heroic  line  we  summon 
from  the  vistas  of  remembrance  into  our  Hall  of  Fame ;  and  whose  names 
make  the  hero  roll  of  America.  Foremost  among  them  towers  the  tall, 
sun-crowned  figure  of  our  immortal  Washington,  whom  Mr.  Greene,  in  his 
Larger  History  of  the  English  People,  declares  to  be  the  noblest  figure  that 
ever  stood  in  the  forefront  of  a  nation's  life.  Along  with  Washington, 
around  him  and  in  the  shadows  behind  him,  are  the  faces  of  the  men  and 
women  who  made  possible  this  Republic  in  the  Wrestern  world. 
"They  were  a  glorious  company, 

The  flower  of  men  to  prove, 

A  model  for  the  mighty  world, 

And  be  the  fair  beginning  of  a  time." 

What  shall  we  say  of  their  faith  ?  Shall  we  reverence  it  or  repudiate  it  ? 
Does  it  come  to  us  clothed  with  authority  or  devoid  of  power?  Is  it  worth 
anything  in  this  modern  day  of  the  nation's  life  or  is  it  like  an  old-fashioned, 
worn-out  piece  of  furniture,  too  frail  for  use  and  too  sacred  to  destroy, 
which  must  be  kept  a  while  longer  with  the  rubbish  in  the  attic  until  we  can 
get  our  consent  for  its  journey  to  the  junk  shop? 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  faith  of  our  fathers,  it  was  good  enough 
for  them. 

It  cost  them  something.  They  paid  for  their  faith  with  a  great  price. 
For  the  sake  of  it  they  unhesitatingly  sacrificed  position,  property,  home, 
friends  and  all  earthly  comforts  and  prospects.  There  was  a  day  when  men 
went  to  prison  for  their  religious  convictions,  when  they  went  to  the  block 
and  the  stake  singing  hymns  and  repeating  the  name  of  the  Savior.  How 
far  away  it  all  seems  now !  How  strange  and  unreal  in  this  cheap  age  of 
dollars  and  gluttony !  Our  fathers  did  not  talk  heroism,  they  practiced  it. 

If  you  would  know  something  of  their  heroism,  read  the  story  of  those 
old  days  of  religious  struggle  in  Holland  and  Scotland  and  France.  Take  a 
single  instance — the  long  siege  of  Leyden  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  when  the 
city  was  reduced  to  such  straits  that  the  only  food  the  people  had  left  con- 
sisted of  dogs  and  cats.  In  great  derision  their  Spanish  foes  called  them 
"dog  and  cat  eaters."  Hear  the  old  burghers'  defiant  reply:  "As  long  as  you 
can  hear  the  mew  of  a  cat  or  the  bark  of  a  dog,  know  that  the  city  holds ; 
and  when  these  fail  us,  we  will  devour  our  left  arms,  retaining  our  right  to 
defend  our  homes  and  our  churches ;  and  when  all  has  failed  us,  we  will  with 

72 


our  own  hand  set  fire  to  the  city  and  perish — men,  women  and  children  to- 
gether— rather  than  see  our  churches  defiled  and  our  homes  violated."  That 
was  the  spirit  of  the  people  who  fled  to  America ;  and  the  people  who  sur- 
vived those  days  of  religious  persecution  founded  this  nation.  The  modern 
day  American  who  can  read  the  story  of  those  days  without  a  thrill,  without 
some  spark  of  heroism  flaring  up  into  flame  in  his  own  soul,  is  only  dead 
freight. 

Yes,  the  faith  of  our  fathers  was  good  enough  for  them.  It  made  them 
what  they  were.  Before  all  else,  they  were  a  people  of  ideals.  Religion  was 
the  dominant  note  in  their  lives.  They  fled  hither,  not  so  much  to  make  a 
fortune  as  to  find  a  refuge  where  they  might  worship  God  unmolested.  They 
had  convictions.  They  had  not  outgrown  the  supernatural.  They  were 
the  product  of  faith  in  the  supernatural.  That  faith  sustained  them.  Their 
courage,  their  heroism,  their  hardy  independence  was  wrought  out  in  their 
religious  experience. 

Yes,  it  was  good  enough  for  them.  It  enabled  them  to  play  a  great  part 
in  the  world's  affairs.  They  were  not  perfect;  they  made  mistakes;  some- 
times they  were  narrow,  fanatical,  bigoted  and  intolerant;  but  they  were 
pioneers,  and  the  wilderness  was  no  place  for  softness.  They  worked  in  the 
dark.  They  faced  not  only  the  perils  of  the  frontier,  but  did  original  work 
in  nation  building.  This  Republic  which  has  come  down  to  us  with  its  hopes 
and  aims,  its  perils  and  possibilities,  is  their  legacy.  It  is  the  product  of  their 
faith.  The  difference  between  North  and  South  America  is  not  so  much  a 
difference  in  the  natural  resources  of  these  countries  as  it  is  in  the  people 
who  created  the  two  nations;  and  the  difference  between  the  people  was  a 
difference  of  faith,  of  ideals,  of  convictions.  Our  fathers  had  a  faith  that 
made  them  virile.  What  they  thought  about  God  they  built  into  their 
country ;  and  wherever  our  flag  flies  to-day  it  proclaims  a  freedom  by  a 
race  that  towered  tall  enough  in  stature  to  touch  the  feet  of  God. 

The  faith  of  our  fathers  was  good  enough  for  them,  but  is  it  good 
enough  for  us?  Times  have  changed.  Have  we  not  outgrown  their  creed? 
Their  world  was  a  simple  story  compared  with  the  complexity  of  modern 
life.  America  is  no  longer  a  little  Eden  of  refuge  in  the  wilderness, 
whither  the  oppressed  may  flee  from  tyranny  and  despotism.  It  is  a  great 
world  power.  The  conditions  of  life  have  changed.  The  last  century 
has  witnessed  a  revolution  in  thought  and  government.  We  are  out  of  the 
kindergarten  forever.  Science  has  given  us  a  new  theory  of  ourselves  and 
a  new  view  of  life.  We  no  longer  think  in  the  old  terms.  We  live  in  a  new 
world  economically,  politically,  industrially.    Social  questions,  not  even  men- 

73 


tioned  in  the  forefathers'  curriculum,  now  hold  the  centre  of  the  stage.  Per- 
haps it  was  well  enough  for  people  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  to  read 
the  Bible  and  go  to  church  and  pray  and  try  to  keep  the  Sabbath  holy,  but 
is  there  any  sense  in  our  doing  it?  Is  religion  still  a  power  to  control  the 
present  and  to  mould  the  future,  or  is  it  merely  a  withered  tradition  that 
has  lost  all  its  red  blood  and  survives  by  force  of  habit? 

The  modern  man  is  no  pigmy.  He  is  not  what  he  is  going  to  be.  He 
has  some  things  to  forget  and  much  to  learn.  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison,  in  a 
recent  magazine  article,  is  reported  as  saying,  "We  are  only  animals.  We 
are  just  emerging  from  the  dog-stage,  and  getting  a  glimpse  of  our  en- 
vironment. We  don't  know ;  we  just  suspect  a  few  things.  It  will  take  an 
enormous  evolution  of  our  brains  to  bring  us  anywhere."  There  may  be 
some  truth  in  all  of  this.  If  so,  it  is  the  truth  uttered  in  a  finer  way  a  long 
time  ago  by  one  who  wrote  by  inspiration  and  who  said,  "It  doth  not  yet 
appear  what  we  shall  be." 

But  for  all  that  may  characterize  the  present  as  the  dog-age  of  the 
world,  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  the  fact  that  man  is  not  degenerating. 
The  people  who  are  pessimistic  over  the  present  and  who  imagine  that  all 
greatness  is  behind  us,  are  short  on  facts.  The  modern  man  is  the  finest 
of  his  kind  in  the  annals  of  the  race.  He  is  doing  things  which  his  an- 
cestors in  the  dead  centuries  did  not  so  much  as  dream  of. 

It  is  a  day  of  great  things  in  subduing  and  controlling  the  forces  of 
nature.  The  earth,  the  sea,  and  even  the  prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air, 
are  all  subject  to  this  modern  man.  He  discovers  the  North  Pole.  He  digs 
a  ditch  across  the  Isthmus  and  connects  the  waters  of  two  world  oceans  and 
divides  the  Western  Hemisphere  into  two  vast  island  continents.  He  hangs 
his  messages  on  the  wireless  currents  of  the  sky  and  sends  them  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth.  He  pushes  his  adventurous  bark  out  on  the  wide  ether  sea 
and  reports  the  progress  of  events  on  the  moon  and  makes  a  map  of  the 
geography  of  Mars.     Nothing  is  too  daring  or  too  difficult  for  him 

It  is  a  day  of  great  things  in  the  battle  with  disease.  Already  some 
dreadful  scourges,  like  small-pox  and  diphtheria  have  been  disarmed  of 
their  terrors.  Tuberculosis  has  had  to  yield  its  fearful  secret  and  it  is  only 
a  question  of  time  when  the  great  white  plague  will  be  numbered  with  the 
dead.  What  is  it  men  are  not  doing  in  the  interests  of  sanitation  and  health  ? 
No  cost  is  too  great,  no  sacrifice  is  too  severe.  The  story  of  the  conflict 
of  modern  medical  science  with  the  enemies  of  health  is  one  of  the  wonders 
of  the  world. 

It  is  a  day  of  great  things  in  finance,  in  philanthropy,  in  education,  in 

74 


art,  in  exploration.  Wherever  man  turns  his  face  and  to  whatever  he  sets 
his  hand  with  grim  determination,  there  is  achievement.  Nothing  seems 
impossible.  Let  but  the  undertaking  be  mentioned  and  somewhere  there 
will  be  found  a  brain  big  enough  and  a  heart  bold  enough.  Some  day  we 
shall  warm  our  houses  and  cook  our  food  with  imprisoned  sunshine,  and 
some  day  we  shall  run  our  factories  and  do  our  work  with  power  captured 
from  the  tides  of  the  restless,  resistless  sea.    The  modern  man  is  a  giant! 

Has  he  reached  a  stage  in  his  development,  in  his  mighty  onward  prog- 
ress, where  he  can  dispense  with  God?  Is  it  not  possible  in  these  modern 
days  to  get  along  quite  comfortably  without  the  Bible  or  the  church?  Has 
not  the  time  arrived  for  laying  aside  a  useless  garment  ?  True,  some  still 
go  to  church,  but  does  it  have  any  effect  on  their  lives?  Some  continue  to 
pray,  but  do  they  receive  a  reply?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  is  not  Christianity 
unnecessary  so  far  as  many  people  are  concerned?  They  do  not  subscribe 
to  its  teachings  nor  conform  to  its  practices,  and  yet  they  tell  us  that  they 
are  not  conscious  of  missing  anything. 

If  it  be  true  that  we  have  outgrown  the  faith  of  our  fathers,  one  of  two 
things  follows.  Either  we  have  reached  the  point  where  we  can  do  without 
religion  altogether,  or  the  time  has  arrived  for  a  new  and  better  religion. 

Have  we  reached  the  point  where  we  no  longer  need  a  religion?  Pro- 
fessor James,  the  author  of  Pragmatism,  divides  people  into  "the  tender 
and  the  tough."  The  tender  are  those  who  are  not  yet  sufficiently  evolved 
to  dispense  with  all  help  from  the  outside.  The  tough  are  self-sufficient.  Has 
the  modern-day  American  become  so  "tough"  that  he  can  do  without  God? 
Does  the  human  heart  no  longer  cry  out  for  the  Infinite?  Does  human 
nature  no  longer  need  the  restraints  of  religion?  Go  ask  that  question,  at 
the  prison  cell,  of  the  poor  wretch  inside,  branded  by  his  crimes  and 
damned  by  despair.  Ask  it  of  the  victim  of  some  enslaving  habit.  Ask  the 
soul  that  is  despondent  and  discouraged.  Ask  those  who  are  broken-hearted, 
who  are  victims  of  remorse.  No,  no!  Man  has  not  yet  reached  the  point 
where  he  can  do  without  a  Savior. 

When  Mr.  Kipling  was  so  ill  in  this  country  a  few  years  ago,  at  the 
crisis  of  his  illness,  the  nurse  saw  his  lips  moving,  and  thinking  that  he  was 
asking  for  something,  bent  over  to  hear  what  he  might  say.  She  discovered 
that  he  was  praying,  and  drawing  back,  said:  "Forgive  me,  Mr.  Kipling; 
I  thought  you  wanted  something."  He  said,  "I  do.  I  want  my  Heavenly 
Father.  He  only  can  help  me  now."  And  not  only  in  that  last  hour,  but 
all  through  the  journey  of  life  do  we  need  our  Heavenly  Father.  The  soul 
ever  cries  out  for  God  as  a  child  for  a  mother's  love.     "God  has  made  us 

75 


for  Himself,"  as  Augustin  says,  "and  our  hearts  are  restless  until  they  rind 
rest  in  Him." 

If  we  are  to  give  up  the  faith  of  our  fathers,  we  must  find  a  better 
religion.  Where  shall  we  find  it?  Men  criticise  the  Bible,  but  where  will 
you  find  a  better  book?  They'  criticise  the  Christian's  hope,  but  where  will 
you  find  a  more  glorious  vision  of  destiny  ?  Sometimes  they  criticise  Christ, 
but  where  will  you  find  a  kinder,  tenderer,  truer  friend? 

Some  years  ago  when  the  Parliament  of  Religions  was  being  held  at 
Chicago,  Puck  issued  a  cartoon,  which  represented  the  little  god  of  love 
standing  on  the  steps  of  a  hall  where  the  Parliament  was  to  be  held,  hold- 
ing in  his  arms  a  bundle  of  his  magazines,  on  the  front  page  of  which  was 
printed  in  bold  type,  "Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you  do 
ye  even  so  to  them."  To  each  representative,  as  he  appeared,  Puck  would 
hand  a  copy,  saying,  "Gentlemen,  this  is  the  best  religion."  He  was  right. 
There  is  no  better  religion  than  Christianity.  There  never  will  be  a  better 
religion  than  Christianity,  for  there  is  nothing  beyond  Christ  but  Christ.  The 
trouble  is  not  with  Christianity,  but  with  our  poor  treatment  of  it. 

If  we  will  put  the  faith  of  our  fathers  to  a  fair  test,  we  shall  find  it 
good  enough  for  us.  We  should  give  it  a  chance.  There  is  where  failure 
breaks  in  on  our  program.  Yonder  on  the  wall  hangs  a  stout  sword.  It 
has  fought  a  score  of  battles  through  to  victory.  Today  we  call  it  a  poor 
blade.  It  is  rusting  in  its  scabbard.  Its  day  is  over.  Ah,  but  the  trouble  is 
not  with  the  blade.  Its  steel  is  as  stiff  and  its  edge  as  true  as  ever.  The 
trouble  is  the  old  sword  has  lost  the  arm  that  once  wielded  it.  Give  the  blade 
back  that  good  right  arm  and  you  will  see  it  again  sweep  the  battle  front. 
It  is  not  our  father's  faith  that  is  bad.  I  fear  the  trouble  is  we  do  not  man 
the  faith  as  in  the  old  days.  Let  us  give  that  faith  the  old-time  devotion, 
the  ancient  enthusiasm,  the  forefathers'  reverence  and  earnestness,  and  we 
shall  find  it  as  potent  for  the  battles  of  the  modern  world. 

I  am  not  pleading  for  a  slavish  imitation  of  the  past,  even  in  so  sacred 
a  matter  as  religion.  I  am  not  saying  that  this  age  should  be  in  bondage 
to  the  dogmas  and  forms  of  an  age  that  is  gone.  Faith  is  something  more 
than  dogma.  Religion  is  life.  Life  clothes  itself  in  a  variety  of  garments. 
I  am  not  advocating  a  sectarian  view  of  religion,  although  every  man  who 
has  any  depth  to  his  religious  experience  must  be  something  of  a  sectarian, 
yet  he  who  would  trammel  religion  with  sectarian  bands  would  strangle  the 
life  out  of  it. 

I  am  pleading  for  the  faith  of  our  fathers,  not  their  dogmas ;  for  their 
idealism.    One  may  change  his  theological  view  without  changing  his  faith, 

76 


just  as  one  who  draws  nearer  a  mountain  changes  the  picture  of  the  moun- 
tain in  his  mind.  Neither  the  mountain  nor  his  eye  has  changed ;  he  has 
simply  gotten  a  better  view.  It  would  be  strange  if  living  toward  God  for 
some  hundreds  of  years,  the  race  should  not  get  a  clearer  conception  of  his 
plan  and  person.  What  we  need  is  not  necessarily  the  old  dogma  and  not 
necessarily  the  new  dogma,  but  the  changeless  faith  in  a  changeless  God. 
The  glory  of  America  is  and  has  always  been  its  idealism.  It  is  not  our 
trade  that  makes  us  great,  not  our  expanding  commerce,  not  the  rapid 
growth  of  our  cities,  but  the  fact  that  we  are  a  nation  with  ideals.  What  we 
need  for  the  present  and  the  future,  to  meet  our  problems  and  win  battles, 
is  conviction.  The  war  is  not  over.  We  have  still  to  fight  for  the  rights 
of  man,  and  we  will  win  only  as  we  believe  the  rights  of  man  are  God- 
given.  We  have  still  to  fight  for  constitutional  government,  and  we  will 
win  as  we  have  faith  in  a  government  of  law  and  order  handed  down  by  the 
God  of  nations. 

This  faith  of  our  fathers  has  been  tested.  It  has  seen  service.  It  is 
no  experiment.  It  has  a  right  to  recognition.  It  comes  to  us  wearing  a 
worn  uniform,  blood-stained,  gun-shot  and  saber-scarred. 

It  is  our  priceless  legacy.  As  a  people  we  are  proud  of  our  treasures 
of  art,  of  our  old  pictures  and  of  the  relics  of  our  wars.  We  build  houses 
where  these  things  may  be  preserved  and  to  which  succeeding  generations 
may  come  as  to  a  shrine  and  receive  inspiration  for  the  duties  of  life.  What 
more  precious  and  inspiring  legacy  than  the  faith  of  a  people. 

Our  fathers'  faith  is  likewise  an  obligation.  We  owe  something  to 
the  present  and  to  the  future,  but  do  we  not  also  owe  something  to  the 
past?  He  is  a  base  ingrate  who  dishonors  a  great  name.  It  is  something 
for  a  man  not  to  be  ashamed  of  his  ancestors,  but  is  it  not  also  something  for 
one's  ancestors  not  to  be  ashamed  of  him  ? 

Shall  we  give  to  our  posterity  as  glorious  a  legacy  of  faith  as  our 
fathers  gave  to  their  posterity?  When  two  hundred  years  hence  some  one 
arises  to  speak  of  the  faith  of  the  fathers,  will  he  find  it  necessary  to  pass 
over  our  heads  as  over  a  stretch  of  sterile,  barren  desert,  and  go  further 
back  for  materials  and  inspiration  for  his  theme?  Are  we  making  it  easy 
or  hard  for  the  next  generation  to  be  religious,  to  reverence  the  Bible,  to 
love  the  church?  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  are  we  handing  down  to  those 
who  come  after  us  a  positive  faith  and  a  reverence  for  sacred  things,  or 
will  our  children  need  to  build  anew  their  temple  of  worship? 

Whose  are  the  fathers!    May  we  never  fall  so  low  as  to  shame  them! 

77 


May  we  never  drift  so  far  from  the  truth  as  to  feel  that  their  God  was 
false  and  their  faith  a  lie ! 

"God  of  our  fathers,  known  of  old. 

Lord  of  our  far  flung  battle  line. 
Beneath  whose  sovereign  hand  we  hold 

Dominion  over  palm  and  pine. 
Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 

Lest  we  forget  !     Lest  we  forget !  " 


78 


Addresses 

at  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the 

Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New  York 

Delmonico's 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  22,  1910, 

in  commemoration  of  the 
One  hundred  and  Seventy-eighth  Anniversary 

of  the  birth  of 

GEORGE   WASHINGTON 


79 


George  Washington 

Address  by  the 
Rev.  Henry  van  Dyke,  D.  D. 


Mr.  President,  and  brethern  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution :  We 
are  met  here  to-night  to  honor  the  memory  of  Washington,  not  because 
he  was  the  first  American,  for  his  father  and  mother  were  before  him,  not 
because  he  was  the  only  great  American,  because  this  land  has  not  been 
unfruitful  in  noble  manhood;  but  because  George  Washington  was  the 
first  American  whose  greatness  was  acknowledged  by  all  the  world. 

There  has  been  an  impression  abroad  that  Washington  was  the  only 
great  man  that  America  has  produced.  I  came  across  a  curious  illustration 
of  that  the  other  day  in  one  of  Byron's  poems,  his  Ode  to  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte, written  in  1814,  "The  Days  of  Elba."  He  says,  asking  where  we  shall 
look  for  unselfish  greatness :  "Yes,  one.  The  first,  the  last,  the  best,  whom 
envy  dared  not  hate,  bequeathed  the  name  of  Washington  to  make  man 
blush,  there  was  but  one." 

That  is  a  fine  sentiment  and  a  fine  tribute,  but  we  cannot  join  in  it,  be- 
cause the  glory  of  Washington  to  my  mind,  lies  in  the  fact  that  his  greatest 
achievement  was  in  leaving  a  standard  of  manhood  to  this  country  to  which 
Americans  have  always  looked  up,  and  towards  which  they  have  walked 
and  striven — the  greatest  of  them. 

We  are  inclined  to  believe  nowadays  that  Washington  belonged  to  an 
extinct  type,  which  is  not  true ;  we  are  inclined  to  accept  the  statement 
nowadays  that  the  American  character  has  changed,  and  that  America  is 
now  composed  of  a  melange  of  foreign  emigrants  who  have  come  in  here 
and  who  have  absolutely  taken  possession  of  the  Republic.  That  is  not 
true.  Do  you  know,  gentlemen,  that  we  have  never  had  a  President  of 
these  United  States,  except  one,  whose  ancestors  did  not  come  to  this  coun- 
try before  the  Revolution.  It  was  James  Buchanan,  the  only  man  who  sat 
in  the  Presidential  chair  in  the  United  States,  whose  ancestors  did  not  i-ome 

81 


to  this  country  before  the  Revolution,  and  his  father  came  in  17P3,  and  he 
was  a  Scotch-Irishman,  and  of  course  he  was  an  American  before  he 
came. 

This  year  our  attention  has  been  fixed  by  orators  upon  the  great 
change  that  has  taken  place  in  American  ideals  and  characters,  as  illustrated 
by  the  contrast  between  Washington  and  Lincoln.  The  change  from  the 
stately  pillared  mansion  of  Mount  Vernon  to  the  Kentucky  log  cabin;  the 
change  from  the  silver  buckles  and  silk  stockings  to  the  cowhide  boots  of 
the  rail-splitter ;  the  change  from  the  great  landed  proprietor  to  the  country 
lawyer — quite  a  striking  change,  externally.  There  are  some  who  regret 
it,  but  their  regret  reminds  me  of  what  one  Irishman  said  to  another  after 
they  had  heard  Bryan's  speech  in  Madison  Square  Garden  after  his  return 
from  Europe.  Patrick  said,  "Ah,  Bryan  is  not  the  man  that  he  used  to 
be,"  and  Michael  said,  "No,  and  he  never  was,  either." 

And  there  are  some  who  rejoice  in  this  professed  change  and  con- 
gratulate themselves  upon  it.  Their  gratulation  reminds  me  of  what  a 
New  England  farmer  said,  who  borrowed  from  Emerson  a  copy  of  his 
Plato,  and  when  the  farmer  brought  it  back  again,  he  said,  "I  kind  of  Hke 
that  Greek  fellow ;  he  has  got  some  of  my  ideas." 

But  neither  the  regret  nor  the  gratulation  was  justified,  for  really  the 
change  from  Washington  to  Lincoln  is  not  a  change,  only  on  the  surface, 
and  not  in  essentials.  There  is  a  continuity  between  the  two  men  that  if 
they  could  have  seen  each  other,  would  have  made  them  stand  together  in 
whichever  crises  their  life  had  fallen. 

So  Washington  was  not  the  last  American,  nor  was  Lincoln  the  first 
American,  though  Lowell  said  so.  Franklin  was  an  American  and  Alex- 
ander Hamilton  was  an  American,  and  Philip  Schuyler  was  an  American, 
and  John  Jay  was  an  American.  And  every  one  of  these  men  who  had 
spirit  enough  to  take  his  heritage  from  England  or  Scotland  or  France  or 
Ireland  and  lay  it  on  the  shrine  of  liberty  and  equal  rights,  was  an 
American. 

Washington  and  Lincoln  were  rooted  in  the  same  soil  of  fundamental 
justice,  they  expanded  their  manhood  in  the  same  hour  of  liberty.  Thev 
were  like  the  stately  silver  pine  and  the  gnarled  black  oak,  growing  on  the 
same  hillside,  and  throwing  abroad  their  branches  for  the  shelter  of  man- 
kind. 

I  am  struck,  not  by  the  difference  in  their  dress,  but  by  the  resem- 
blance in  their  hearts.  They  lived  by  and  for  the  same  aims ;  they  hitched 
their  wagon  to  the  same  star. 

82 


It  was  Washington  who  saw  most  clearly  the  necessity  of  union,  and  he 
did  most  to  make  it  possible,  and  durable ;  and  it  was  Lincoln  who  met  the 
dangers  which  Washington  had  predicted  for  that  union  and  saved  it  from 
disaster  and  shipwreck. 

It  was  Washington  who  first  gave  to  America  the  lesson  of  toleration, 
and  forgiveness,  by  his  treatment  of  those  who  had  calumnied  and  con- 
spired against  him  in  the  Revolution;  "forgiving  all,"  he  said,  "for  the  sake 
of  the  common  cause."  And  it  was  Lincoln  who  wrote  the  words  of  peace 
and  reconciliation  upon  the  firmament,  when  the  lurid  clouds  of  Civil  War 
had  rolled  by,  so  that  Jefferson  Davis  said  of  him,  "Since  the  fall  of  the 
Confederacy,  the  South  has  suffered  no  loss  so  great  as  the  death  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln." 

It  was  Washington  who  saw  the  inconsistency  and  the  shame  and  the 
peril  of  slavery,  and  it  was  Lincoln  who  ended  it. 

Washington  was  a  soldier  who  fought  for  the  supremacy  of  just  and 
peaceful  law.  And  Lincoln  was  the  lawyer  who  invoked  the  sword  to  de- 
fend a  supreme  equity.  Both  were  too  great  for  personal  jealousy,  were  too 
noble  for  personal  revenge ;  too  great  for  personal  affectation,  whether  it  be 
reputation  or  self-sacrifice ;  too  sincere  for  personal  concealment.  Neither 
of  them  had  any  secrets  from  their  country.  They  served  her  as  a  whole 
with  a  clean  and  glad  heart  and  they  asked  no  greater  reward  than  simply 
to  serve  America. 

You  know  very  well  that  neither  of  these  men  was  what  is  called  in 
ordinary  terms,  a  great  orator;  and  yet  both  of  them  were  magnificently 
eloquent.  Washington  used  long  words,  Lincoln  used  short  words ;  and 
yet  both  of  them  used  words  for  the  same  purpose  ;  namely,  to  speak  to  the 
hearts  of  Americans — and  they  did. 

And  throughout  the  speeches  of  both  there  run  these  three  things ; 
never  a  speech  made  by  one  of  these  men  that  does  not  have  these  three  ele- 
ments in  it :  first,  a  recognition  of  the  nation's  dependence  upon  the  Al- 
mighty God ;  second,  a  strong  emphasis  upon  the  necessity  of  union  and 
the  sacrifice  of  factional  differences  and  sectional  disputes ;  and  third,  a 
strong  insistence  upon  moral  ideas,  not  commercial  ideas,  and  moral  ideas 
as  a  foundation  of  the  nation's  greatness. 

These  are  the  three  elements  you  will  find  in  every  speech  made  by 
either  one  of  these  two  men.  They  were  not  ckeptics,  they  were  not  cynics ; 
they  were  believers.  They  were  enthusiasts ;  they  were  not  plaster  of  paris 
saints,  thank  God. 

Washington  had  the  power  of  indignation  which  at  times  led  him  to 

83 


express  himself  in  language  which  was  not  fit  to  print.  Lincoln  had  a 
sense  of  humor  which  made  him  occasionally  tell  stories  whose  latitude 
was  greater  than  their  longitude.  And  for  both  of  them — for  Washington's, 
you  may  say,  decorative  and  explosive  English,  and  for  Lincoln's  exuberant 
and  sometimes  eccentric  humor — we  may  find  in  both  of  these  things  the 
effort  of  a  profoundly  serious  man  to  relieve  himself  at  the  moment  of  a 
burden  which  weighed  upon  him  too  heavily  to  be  borne.  And  that  is  the 
truth ;  that  is  the  simple  truth.  At  heart  they  were  both  profoundly  serious 
men;  they  were  not  triflers,  they  were  not  jesters,  they  were  men  in  earnest. 
"When  I  die,"  said  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  he  never  said  anything  more 
beautiful,  "I  want  it  said  of  me  by  those  who  knew  me  best,  that  I  always 
plucked  a  thistle  and  planted  a  flower,   where   I   thought  a   flower  would 


grow. 


"If  I  know  my  own  heart,"  w7rote  Washington  from  Valley  Forge — this 
cold  dignified  English  squire  that  some  of  the  historians  have  presented  to 
us — "if  I  know  my  own  heart,"  said  Washington,  "I  could  offer  myself  a 
living  sacrifice  to  the  butchering  enemy,  provided  that  would  contribute  to 
the  people's  aid  and  peace."  And  I  leave  it  to  you,  gentlemen,  to  say  wheth- 
er the  key-note  of  both  these  sayings  is  not  precisely  the  same.  The  love, 
the  love  of  humanity,  the  sentiment  of  brotherhood  that  makes  a  man  willing 
to  give  his  life  for  those  who  are  bound  to  him. 

I  am  tired  of  the  talk  which  makes  of  Lincoln  a  rude,  ungainly, 
jumping-jack  jester;  I  am  tired  of  the  talk  that  makes  of  Washington  a 
proud,  self-satisfied  British  squire.  One  of  those  men  was  great  enough  to 
refuse  a  crown,  and  the  other  was  great  enough  to  accept  the  cross  for  his 
country's  sake. 

Let  us  learn  to  recognize  in  both  of  them  the  representatives  of  the 
true  spirit  of  America.  Let  us  learn  to  understand  that  Americanism  does 
not  reside  in  dress,  or  in  manners  or  in  accent;  Americanism  resides  in  the 
heart,  it  is  devoted  to  the  ideals  of  justice  and  liberty  and  truth  and  human 
brotherhod,  and  so  beneath  the  sunlight  which  has  fallen  for  these  1 1 1  years 
upon  America  from  the  celebration  of  Washington's  birthday,  we  profess 
our  creed,  and  celebrate  our  heroic  chiefs — Washington  who  lived  to  create 
the  union,  Lincoln  who  died  to  save  it ;  we  celebrate  a  republic  which  be- 
longs neither  to  the  classes  nor  to  the  masses,  a  republic  which  has  room  for 
the  selfish  aristocrats,  as  w-ell  as  for  the  noble  democrats ;  a  republic  which 
speaks  of  self-reliance,  fair  play,  common  order,  self-development ;  and  a 
country  which  belongs  to  all,  from  Washington  to  Lincoln,  to  Cleveland,  to 
Roosevelt,  to  Taft. 

84 


The  Navy 

Address  by 
Rear-Admiral  Joseph  B.  Murdock,  U.  S.  N. 


Mr.  President  and  Sons  of  the  Revolution :  I  fully  appreciate  the  honor 
of  being"  asked  to  respond  to  The  Navy  before  such  an  audience  as  this, 
an  audience  whose  hospitality  and  appreciation  of  a  national  service,  I  have 
no  doubt,  has  called  upon  its  representative  to  respond  to  throughout  the 
34  years  you  have  been  in  existence.  If  that  be  so,  I  as  its  34th  representa- 
tive may  appeal  to  you  that  I  am  ignorant  of  what  the  other  33  may  have 
said,  and  I  trust  I  shall  not  make  it  any  harder  for  the  35th. 

The  history  of  the  Navy,  of  course,  must  be  associated  with  the  his- 
tory of  the  Revolution.  The  Navy  started  in  the  Revolution,  had  its  ups 
and  downs,  as  everybody  else  did  who  entered  into  that  struggle.  It  ended 
up  the  contest  with  a  very  clean  record  and  nearly  everything  it  had  cap- 
tured. But  this  is  what  could  not  but  have  been  expected  otherwise  under 
the  circumstances. 

There  are  one  or  two  things,  however,  that  are  connected  with  the  Navy 
in  that  war  that  I  like  to  think  of.  One  of  the  men  of  whom  we  have  heard 
a  great  deal  recently  was  John  Paul  Jones.  John  Paul  Jones  had  a  very 
queer  habit  of  claiming  whatever  he  wanted,  and  he  had  an  equally  fortu- 
nate habit  of  getting  a  great  many  of  the  things  he  claimed.  Among  his 
claims  is  that  he  hoisted  the  first  American  flag.  I  think  it  is  a  matter  of 
history  that  he  did,  on  the  Alfred,  hoist  the  first  Continental  flag,  but  he  also 
claims  that  he  hoisted  the  first  stars  and  stripes  on  the  Ranger.  In  the 
Ranger  he  obtained  the  first  salute  to  an  American  flag  from  a  foreign 
power,  from  a  French  Admiral.  He  also  fought  the  first  action  under  the 
American  flag. 

These  statements  I  find — I  have  seen  them  in  several  places,  but  my 
present  authority  where  last  I  have  seen  them  is  in  Preble's  History  of  Our 
Flags.    And  he  states  that  in  April,  1778,  that  Jones  in  the  Ranger  fought 

S5 


the  British  sloop-of-\var  Drake,  and  he  specifically  mentioned  that  it  was 
fought  under  our  present  flag. 

The  flag  I  think  was  shown  the  year  previous  to  the  surrender  of  Bur- 
goyne,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  actually  shown  in  any  of  the 
engagements  of  the  year  1777. 

I  think  we  of  the  Navy  have  a  right  to  appreciate  such  things  as  these, 
that  go  back  so  far. 

The  Army  and  the  Navy  were  abolished  after  the  Revolution ;  they  are 
not  the  same  organization  we  have  today.  They  are  a  very  different  or- 
ganization in  character;  they  are  chronologically  different.  The  Navy  and 
the  Army  both  went  out  of  existence  and  did  not  come  into, — were  not  re- 
vived until  long  afterwards,  after  the  present  national  government  was 
formed. 

I  want  to  speak  briefly  to-night.  I  feel  that  I  am  before  a  sympathetic 
audience ;  I  want  to  speak  of  one  or  two  peculiarities  which  inhere  in  both 
services. 

We  are  not  a  military  nation.  We  must  depend  in  these  days  of  what 
you  may  call  specialized  warfare,  inkwhich  wars  are  short,  sharp  and  sud- 
den, upon  existing  forces.  The  time  has  gone  by  when  we  can  raise  volun- 
teers and  have  time  to  train  them.  The  volunteer  will  be  as  good  in  the 
future  as  he  has  been  in  the  past,  provided  he  has  time  to  get  his  full 
training.  That  time  will,  however,  be  lacking,  and  the  Army  and  Navy 
must  perforce  be  military  institutions.  We  must  keep  up  a  strict  military 
organization,  military  discipline  and  military  thought  and  military  action. 
This  leads  us  into  a  very  different  frame  of  mind  from  that  which  must  per- 
vade other  portions  of  our  citizenship.  While  we  are  under  the  civil  law 
we  are  also  under  the  naval  law.  If  a  blue-jacket  is  so  unfortunate 
as  to.  commit  any  offense,  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  he  can  be 
brought  up  on  either  side  of  the  Navy  Yard  gate ;  he  can  offend  against  the 
municipal  law,  he  can  offend  against  the  United  States  law,  and  either  one 
of  them  can  get  hold  of  him.  We  have,  of  course,  a  great  many  offenses 
under  this  military  law  which  are  absolutely  unknown  in  civil  life.  We  are 
restricted  from  the  right  of  free  speech.  The  articles  of  war  forbid  muti- 
nous language  or  words.  We  are  restricted  in  our  rights  and  we  have  to  be 
very  careful  that  we  recognize  our  officers,  and  it  is  a  very  dangerous  pro- 
ceeding if  that  man  happens  to  be  your  superior  officer.  A  great  many 
other  things  could  be  brought  up  besides  this,  but  I  only  allude  to  this  to 
show  the  difference  of  what  that  organization  must  be. 

Now  the  Army  and  Navy  are  the  two  combined  armies  of  our  national 

86 


defense  to-day.  In  order  to  be  efficient  they  must  be  kept  under  strict  mili- 
tary control.  I  am  sure  that  the  people  are  getting  to  understand  this  more 
every  day.  We  find  less  interference ;  there  is  less  of  the  political  element 
entering  into  our  program  of  existence  now  than  there  was  formerly.  In 
the  Navy  we  have  been  particularly  fortunate  that  on  the  outbreak  of  a  war, 
we  have  never  had  a  dozen  congressmen  who  wanted  to  command  battle- 
ships. The  Army  has  not  been  equally  lucky.  Quite  a  number  I  think 
raised  regiments  during  the  Spanish  war.  It  may  be  that  this  differentia- 
tion operates  at  once  to  our  advantage ;  it  certainly  puts  it  up  to  us  very 
clearly  that  we  are  directly  responsible  to  the  country  for  an  efficient  con- 
dition as  we  are  left  alone  to  work  out  our  own  salvation. 

The  fact,  however,  that  the  Navy  is  a  military  organization  makes  us 
the  butt  or  the  subject  of  considerable  adverse  criticism.  I  think  at  one 
time  the  Army  bore  the  brunt  of  this  criticism.  After  the  Civil  War  the 
Army  was  called  upon  sometimes  to  interfere  in  elections  in  the  Southern 
States.  It  has  been  called  upon  to  interfere  on  a  few  occasions  lately  in 
strikes,  in  inter-state  strikes,  railroad  strikes,  and  things  of  that  kind,  and 
it  gets  itself  unpopular  among  certain  classes  of  this  nation  in  upholding  the 
authority  of  the  government.  The  Navy,  I  think  lately,  however,  has 
cropped  out  in  the  minds  of  a  certain  class  of  our  citizens  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  warlike  spirit  in  that  it  possesses  a  certain  definite  number  of 
battleships.  Now,  the  battleship  is  a  very  useful  institution.  To  some 
minds,  however,  it  seems  to  represent  everything  in  the  line  of  despotism, 
blood  and  warfare. 

I  would  like  to  ask  you  in  this  connection  to  hark  back  in  your  mem- 
ories, and  decide  this:  Is  the  United  States  to-day  with  a  good  Navy  any 
more  bellicose — any  more  liable  to  get  into  trouble?  Are  we  seeking  war- 
fare any  more  than  we  ever  did  when  we  had  no  Navy?  We  have  been 
through  one  foreign  war  and  it  was  just  Providence  that  gave  us  a  few 
ships  to  fight  the  war  with.    It  was  hardly  well-concerted  effort. 

In  1884  we  commenced  building  our  present  ships ;  the  nation  was  peace- 
ful ;  the  nation  remained  peaceful  until  1898.  I  think  that  no  one  who  has 
studied  up  the  conditions  which  existed  in  those  times  will  not  agree  to  the 
idea  which  is  common  in  some  quarters  that  the  war  of  1898  was  in  no  de- 
gree one  of  aggression  on  our  own  part. 

From  my  own  experience  I  spent  four  months  in  Cuba  in  1872  and  I 
made  up  my  mind  then  that  unless  there  was  a  change  in  the  method  of  the 
administration  of  that  island,  that  there  would  be  sooner  or  later  war  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Spain,  in  Cuba.  The  conditions  were  apparent 
even  then. 

87 


I  have  tried  to  think  of  certain  occasions  in  which  we  have  indeed  pos- 
sibly shown  a  quarrelsome  spirit,  and  I  can  only  think  of  the  one  in  1895 
when  President  Cleveland  sent  in  his  Venezuelan  message.  In  1895  we 
had  no  Navy  to  speak  of.  There  was  nothing  in  our  ability  to  carry  on  a 
war  which  should  have  in  any  way  provoked,  a  message,  such  a  message 
which  Cleveland  sent  in,  and  I  had  a  rather  interesting  experience  with  that 
message.  I  had,  the  day  before  the  message  was  published,  dined  with  the 
Governor  of  Gibraltar.  I  happened  to  be  in  port  as  a  navigator  of  ship  and 
as  a  matter  of  courtesy  the  Governor  extended  us  an  invitation  to  dine,  and 
we  had  a  very  pleasant  occasion.  The  next  morning,  however,  the  news 
came  of  the  Venezuelan  message  of  President  Cleveland,  which  had  been 
sent  in,  and  that  message  was  certainly  a  most  remarkable  document.  And 
its  effect  was  remarkable  in  Gibraltar.  The  officers  of  that  ship  who  the 
day  before  were  only  the  officers  of  a  Yankee  cruiser,  were  the  day  after 
the  representatives  of  a  nation  that  dared  defy  England ;  and  I  really  think 
that  from  that  day  the  English  so  respected  and  appreciated  the  spirit 
shown  by  President  Cleveland,  as  shown  in  that  message,  and  the  stand 
taken  by  Congress  in  supporting  him  in  it,  and  by  the  people  at  large,  I 
really  think  that  from  that  date  commenced  the  relations  which  exist  to-day 
between  England  and  the  United  States. 

Now  this  matter  of  a  warlike  spirit  which  a  Navy  would  create  is  not 
one  that  is  associated  directly  with  us.  It  is  our  business,  having  the  tools 
put  in  our  hands,  to  do  what  we  can  with  them.  There  is  no  tool  in  the 
world  today  more  complex  than  a  battleship  fleet.  There  is  nothing  that 
will  call  for  harder  drill,  for  keener  and  closer  study  to  develop  and  bring 
out  all  there  is  in  the  capacity  of  a  squadron  of  vessels  of  that  kind,  and  we 
should  be  very  derelict  if  we  did  not  by  every  means  in  our  power  keep  up 
the  military  spirit  and  military  discipline  by  hard  work  and  doing  all  that 
we  can  to  develop  that  fleet,  we  should  be  very  derelict  if  we  adopted  any 
other  course.  And  yet  doing  this  subjects  us  to  the  criticism  that  we  are 
preparing  for  war. 

Peace  is  one  of  the  greatest  blessings — the  greatest  blessing  a  nation  can 
possess.  But  there  are  only  two  ways  of  getting  it.  The  first  thing  is  to 
have  a  desire  for  peace,  and  the  second  thing  is  to  have  the  ability  to 
command  it. 

If  you  have  only  the  desire  for  peace  you  may  frequently  go  begging 
for  it.  If  you  have  only  the  ability  to  command  it,  you  may  get  a  peace, 
but  it  will  not  be  a  permanent  one.  The  peace  which  is  imposed  by  force 
alone  is  more  or  less  unstable,  and  will  sooner  or  later  result  in  further 

88 


trouble.  There  is  no  question  about  our  desire  for  peace  in  all  things.  I 
think  it  pervades  all  of  our  nation ;  it  pervades  every  class  of  our  society, 
it  runs  in  the  heart  of  every  one  of  our  citizens,  and  we  have  shown  that  we 
do  have  this  desire.  There  is  no  nation  on  the  earth  that  has  taken  so 
prominent  a  part  in  arbitration  as  has  the  United  States.  We  have  gone 
further  in  the  discussion  of  The  Hague  Tribunal  for  the  prevention  of  war 
than  any  other  nation  in  the  world.  Now,  arbitration  appeals  to  us  all,  but 
back  of  arbitration  there  must  be  something  else.  International  law  is  not 
like  the  criminal  law ;  there  is  nothing  behind  it  excepting  an  agreement. 
If  certain  nations  agree  to  refer  all  their  difficulties  to  The  Hague  Tribunal 
the  decrees  of  the  tribunal  would  be  useless  unless  there  is  some  way  of 
enforcing  them,  and  I  think  if  you  follow  up  the  possibilities  of  The  Hague 
Tribunal  far  enough  you  will  find  it  lands  probably  in  the  creation  of  an  in- 
ternational army  and  navy  to  enforce  its  decrees. 

You  take  a  court  which  did  not  have  a  sheriff  behind  it  and  it  would  be 
of  very  little  use  in  settling  any  troubles.  And  arbitration  itself,  if  car- 
ried on  to  its  logical  termination,  the  agreement  of  other  nations  to  sub- 
mit their  difficulties  must  be  associated  with  something  stronger  than  moral 
force  to  render  those  decrees  binding. 

Situated  as  we  are,  it  seems  as  though  there  was  a  great  chance  for  the 
struggle  still  to  go  on.  The  lion  and  the  lamb  have  not  come  to  lie  down 
together  yet.  If,  in  spite  of  all  that  can  be  done  to  preserve  peace,  and  no 
one  wants  peace  more  than  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Army  and  Navy, 
then  the  only  thing  to  do  of  course,  the  only  thing-  we  can  ask  for  is  that  if 
war  does  come  in  spite  of  everything,  then  the  only  thing  remaining  is 
to  fight  it  out  to  a  finish  and  get  a  peace  that  will  be  permanent,  based  on 
righteousness  and  equity,  and  that  is  the  only  thing  that  we  are  training  for 
in  the  warlike  question.  It  is  the  last  thing  and  one  that  may  never  come 
to  the  country —  one  that  we  may  all  hope  never  will.  But  in  the  meantime, 
as  long  as  the  country  upholds  the  Navy  and  the  Army,  and  cultivates  the 
spirit — cultivates  in  itself  a  desire  for  peace — it  will  render  our  work,  rigid 
and  untiring  as  it  may  be,  lacking  still  the  supreme  fruition  of  war;  and  to 
that  I  hope  we  will  all  look  forward  as  the  attainment  of  lasting  peace  from 
which  there  can  be  no  reversion  into  further  trouble. 


89 


The  Revolution  and  Civil  Service 

Address  by 
St.  Clair  McKelway,  LL.  D. 


My  friends,  one  of  your  members  asked  me  the  other  day 
by  telephone,  "What  will  you  speak  about,"  and  I  telephoned  back  to 
him,  "About  ten  minutes."  He  said  to  me,  "No,  I  would  like  to  have  your 
subject."  "Well,"  I  said,  "I  will  say  something  about  George  Washington." 
He  said,  "You  can't  do  that — he  has  been  foreclosed  by  Henry  van  Dyke." 
Then  he  said,  "Now  give  me  a  title  that  will  do  for  our  program."  Well, 
I  did  so  with  a  conscientiousness  that  he  did  not  appreciate.  He  thought  I 
would  give  him  a  title  and  come  here  and  talk  about  something  else.  But 
eventually  and  venturesomely  I  told  him  I  would  talk  about  George  Wash- 
ington and  the  Civil  Service  Reform.  What  his  thoughts  were  were  ex- 
plosive and  hard  to  express,  but  what  his  thought  was  I  do  not  know  be- 
cause communication  was  suspended  by  the  impatient  nymph  at  the  end  of 
the  inter-communicating  office.  Then  I  was  put  to  it.  What  could  I  say 
about  Washington  and  the  Civil  Service  Reform? 

It  occurred  to  me  to  go  back  to  that  moral,  though  often  underrated 
philosopher,  Samuel  Pickwick.  Not  that  I  intend  to  speak  to  you  in  a  Pick- 
wickian sense ;  not  that  I  intend  to  suggest  to  you  that  the  fathers  of  the 
Revolution  were  Civil  Service  reformers  in  a  Pickwickian  sense,  but  you 
will  remember  that  Mr.  Pickwick  on  a  notable  occasion  asked  the  stage- 
driver  how  two  entomological  steeds,  with  that  highly  rheumatic  and  over- 
laden vehicle  could  keep  going  at  the  pace  they  maintained,  and  the  driver 
said  to  him,  he  had  difficulty  in  starting  them,  but  after  they  were  started, 
and  his  whip  got  to  cracking,  they  had  to  go,  for  fear  the  coach  would  run 
over  them.  And  you  will  remember  on  another  occasion  that  the  scholarly 
Frenchman,  speaking  English  at  a  difficulty,  said  to  Mr.  Pickwick  on  a 
social  occasion,  "Politics  surprises  by  itself."  WTell  I  made  up  my  mind  if  I 
might  bring  here  a  statement  of  Washington's  relation  to  Civil  Service  Re- 

90 


form,  my  address  if  it  did  not  comprise  novelty  of  statement,  would  sur- 
prise those  who  listened  to  me,  or  I  feared  that  they  might  disgrace  me  like 
too  many  committee  bills  towards  the  close  of  legislative  sessions  put 
through  to  the  third  reading  without  the  fact  of  a  first  reading  and  en- 
tered by  title  only.  But  there  was  another  occasion  in  Mr.  Pickwick's  his- 
tory at  the  dinner  of  Mrs.  Leo  Hunter.  She  introduced  Mr.  Pickwick  to  a 
distinguished  author  and  said  that  that  author  had  written  for  an  encyclo- 
pedia a  learned  installment  upon  Chinese  Metaphysics.  Mr.  Pickwick 
expressed  his  surprise  that  the  man  knew  anything  about  the  Chinese,  or 
the  Chinese  knew  anything  about  metaphysics ;  and  he  asked  him  how  he 
got  up  his  paper  and  he  said  he  gathered  all  that  he  could  learn  about 
China  and  all  that  he  could  learn  about  metaphysics,  and  then  he  combined 
the  information. 

Now  I  know  something  about  Civil  Service  Reform.  I  have  lived  into 
the  present  stage  of  it  from  its  feeble  beginnings  in  the  early  Congresses 
after  the  war  of  which  I  was  a  spectator. 

I  have  also  learned  something  about  the  patriotic  fathers  or  the  fathers 
of  our  Revolution,  and  I  have  made  up  my  mind  that  by  combining  my  in- 
formation I  can  pass  the  ordeal  of  the  gentleman  who  on  behalf  of  this 
organization  interrogated  me  by  telephone  until  he  found  a  substitute  for 
profanity  in  the  sweet  mouth  of  the  communicating  lady  at  the  distributing 
end  silencing  him  and  setting  me  to  thinking. 

Now,  the  combination  idea  is  not  a  bad  idea  outside  of  matters  of  rapid 
transit  and  trans-continental  railroads. 

I  have  discovered  of  our  patriot  fathers  that  while  they  knew  little  of 
Civil  Service  Reform  as  a  name,  they  knew  much  about  the  evil  as  a  thing 
and  much  about  how  to  neutralize  it  in  their  narrower  time.  They  learned 
these  abuses  when  our  thirteen  states  were  only  crowned  colonies.  Nearly 
all  the  great  places  were  filled  by  appointments  from  Great  Britain.  Nearly 
all  the  small  places  were  filled  by  appointments  by  those  elevated  to  those 
great  places.  To  the  colonies  was  given  a  privilege  of  choosing  colonial 
legislatures,  but  to  the  colonial  governor  was  given  the  power  to  veto  the 
every  act  of  the  legislature,  and  the  power  to  dissolve  the  legislatures  them- 
selves at  will.  That  brought  about  abuses.  Under  those  abuses  reform 
was  impracticable,  redress  impossible,  revolution  a  necessity.  It  was  a  ne- 
cessity that  knew  no  law ;  the  kings  or  colonial  governors  could  execute  or 
impose  on  men  determined  to  be  free. 

Our  reverend  fathers  knew  the  spirituality  of  liberty  and  restraint,  for 
they  had  tried  both,  and  they  achieved  liberty  and  at  first  in  the  period  be- 

9i 


tween  Yorktown  and  the  confirmation  of  the  Constitution  they  reveled  in 
liberty,  they  quarreled  about  liberty,  they  schemed  and  dreamed  concerning 
liberty,  and  with  a  recurrence  of  sanity  they  organized  a  federal  govern- 
ment for  others  as  a  check  on  license  and  as  a  check  on  themselves.  The 
Revolution  as  it  came  into  life  was  a  free-for-all  war.  It  had  a  single  ob- 
ject. The  object  was  to  win  liberty  from  the  Spoils  System.  The  Spoils 
System  had  been  illustrated  by  all  crown  patronage  and  imposition  of  tax- 
ation without  representation.  It  was  declared  by  our  Revolutionary  fathers. 
tyranny — it  was  tyranny.  They  threw  up  that  tyranny  by  seven  years'  war. 
Then  as  already  suggested,  they  toyed  with  a  loose  jointed  and  wrangling 
federation  for  long  years  after  Yorktown  until  they  evolved  equality  in 
statehood  and  nationality  under  a  common  constitution  of  which  they  made 
Washington  the  national  executive.  They  achieved  freedom.  Afterwards 
they  combined  their  experience  of  freedom  and  license  as  Mrs.  Leo  Hunter's 
guest  did  his  information,  with  the  result  of  an  indestructible  union,  or  an 
indivisible  union  of  indestructible  states. 

You  wall  tell  me  the  fathers  said  nothing  about  the  merit  system  as 
such.  Well,  they  had  overthrown  that  system  on  the  battle  field.  It  did 
not  occur  to  them  after  the  Revolution  to  jump  on  the  corpse  of  an  abuse 
which  they  had  shot  to  death.  Their  case  was  stated  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence ;  their  case  was  won  at  Yorktown ;  they  did  not  have  to  re- 
state it  in  the  Constitution.  That,  my  friends,  is  a  body  of  tissues,  not  a 
glittering  tissue  of  declarations. 

The  cured  patient  rarely  rhapsodizes  about  dress  or  drugs ;  he  seeks  to 
get  to  work  as  soon  as  he  can.  The  fathers  should,  however,  perhaps  have 
been  sentimentalists  as  well  as  state  builders  and  constitution  makers,  but 
they,  your  ancestors,  as  your  presence  signifies,  were  filled  with  Anglo- 
Saxon  ideas  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  not  addicted  to  rhapsody  or  to  reitera- 
tion, and  very  often  hardly  addicted  merely  to  historical  review.  Curiously 
enough,  however,  the  merit  system  of  appointments  and  promotions,  which 
is  now  done  by  law,  is  just  what  Washington  did  without  law  and  without 
the  need  of  law.  Law  is  necessary  now.  The  government  is  larger ;  the  of- 
ficers are  infinitely  more ;  the  states  and  population  have  greatly  increased ; 
the  tasks  of  administration  have  stupendously  multiplied.  The  formation  of 
parties  was  not  thought  of  until  nearly  the  close  of  Washington's  second 
term.    Parties  now  are  as  plenty  as  blackberries. 

There  are  forty-six  states  where  there  were  thirteen ;  there  are  to  be 
more  still ;  there  are  ninety  millions  of  people  where  there  were  scarcely  four 
millions;  the  limits  of  home  government  then  were  east  of  the  Mississippi, 

92 


now  they  are  the  Pacific  and  Alaska.  Colonial  government  then,  there  was 
none ;  it  now  edges  on  Asia,  it  acquires  a  protectorate  over,  or  stepmothers, 
Cuba;  it  dominates  the  Isthmus,  and,  as  Richard  Olney,  said,  "Is  dream- 
ing of  all  to  the  south  of  us."  A  government  could  not  be  produced  and 
cannot  be  imagined  to-day,  with  the  orderly  simplification  of  appointment  by 
merit,  which  does  not  hark  back  to  the  volunteer  example  of  Washington, 
actualized  by  his  own  option  of  the  merit  system,  which  his  successors 
legalized  in  all  our  infinitely  expanded  jurisdiction  and  through  our  infinitely 
augmented  population,  and  the  powers  which  Civil  Service  Reform  gives 
go  back  to  him  and  to  his  colleagues,  just  as  the  secrets  of  the  terrestrial 
order  go  back  to  gravitation. 

As  the  flower  is  in  the  seed,  as  the  harvest  is  in  the  kernel,  as  the 
forest  is  in  the  acorn,  as  religion  is  in  the  decalogue,  so  is  harmony  of  lib- 
erty with  justice,  the  fitness  of  men  to  functions,  inherent  in  the  method, 
exalting  to  a  government  of  the  people,  which  Washington  pursued.  The 
order  of  his  mind  and  the  exaltation  of  his  character  established  our 
Constitution  and  government  in  the  very  beginning.  The  very  grounds 
of  his  efforts  and  the  non-partisanship  of  his  service  established  the  incen- 
tive and  the  hope  of  civilization  around  the  world. 

Not  less  signal  in  the  long  run  of  the  centuries  is  his  militant  might  or 
his  administrative  wisdom  in  the  services  he  rendered  and  the  example  he 
set  of  the  merit  system  in  government ;  it  was  only  the  outworking  into  a 
public  trust  of  the  merit  system  dominant  in  his  just  and  illustrious  mind 
and  in  his  colossal  soul. 


93 


The  Prize  Essays 


on 


General  Steuben's  Services  in  the 
Revolutionary  War 


First  Prize  Essay 

By  Dorothy  Thorne,  of  the  Yonkers  High  School 

Yonkers,  N.  Y. 


Steuben.  Baron  Friedrich  von  Steuben.  What  does  that  name  call  to 
the  mind  of  the  average  reader?  Probably  to  most  people  it  brings  only 
a  dim  recollection  that  Steuben  was  a  German  who  figured  in  the  American 
Revolution.  To  those  who  study  United  States  history  the  name  means 
much  more.  It  calls  up  the  image  of  a  man  who  came  in  the  hopeless  winter 
of  Valley  Forge  and  drilled  our  troops  till  they  were  able  once  more  to  cope 
with,  and  finally  to  conquer  the  splendidly  trained  British  army.  But  to 
very  few  does  it  mean  much  more  than  that,  although  it  ought  to  mean  much 
more  to  every  American  who  is  capable,  as  every  one  should  be,  of  realizing 
the  vast  importance  of  Steuben's  service  in  the  cause  of  American  inde- 
pendence. 

How  well  fitted  he  was  for  that  great  service  may  best  be  judged,  per- 
haps, from  the  fact  that  in  education  and  experience  he  was  considered  one 
of  the  finest  officers  in  the  world-famous  army  of  Prussia.  This  is  not  sur- 
prising, for  military  blood  ran  in  his  veins.  Besides  his  more  remote  an- 
cestor who  had  been  famous  in  the  history  of  Magdeburg,  Steuben's  birth- 
place, his  father  had  served  for  forty  years  in  the  engineer  corps,  while  he 
himself,  it  is  said,  took  part  in  the  siege  of  Prague  at  fourteen,  and  at 
twenty-two  became  a  member  of  the  staff  of  Frederick  the  Great.  How- 
ever, in  spite  of  distinguished  service  throughout  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
Steuben  left  the  army  when  the  war  was  over  and  remained  in  private  life 
until  1777. 

In  the  spring  of  that  year,  while  in  Paris,  he  was  persuaded  to  offer  his 
services  to  the  United  States.  This  was  the  result  of  his  meeting  Benjamin 
Franklin  and  certain  French  officials  who  were  then  secretly  considering 
the  alliance  which  materialized  the  next  year,  and  who  realized  that  Steu- 
ben with  his  scientific  military  training  could  be  of  great  use  in  America. 

97 


So  the  fall  of  1777  found  him  in  the  United  States  and  already  learning  to 
love  the  country  which  he  was  finally  to  adopt  as  his  own. 

After  presenting  himself  to  Congress,  who  gladly  accepted  his  ser- 
vices, Steuben  went  at  once  to  Valley  Forge,  where  the  American  army  was 
in  winter  quarters.  He  was  received  with  the  greatest  distinction  by  Wash- 
ington, who  even  supplied  him  with  a  bodyguard,  and  when  he  reminded 
the  Commander-in-Chief  that  he  was  simply  a  volunteer,  Washington  (to 
quote  Steuben  himself)  "replied  in  the  most  courteous  manner  that  the  en- 
tire army  took  pleasure  in  protecting  such  volunteers."  Steuben  continues : 
"My  services  as  a  volunteer  lasted  no  longer  than  five  weeks  during  which  I 
drilled  the  army  and  made  various  dispositions  in  it  which  met  with  such 
approbation  that  I  received  my  commission  as  major-general  on  the  26th 
of  April.  This  was  also  accompanied  at  the  same  time  with  another  com- 
mission of  inspector-general  of  all  the  armies  of  the  United  States." 

During  the  months  of  drilling  at  Valley  Forge,  Steuben  made  a  new 
army  out  of  the  ragged,  disheartened  troops  he  found  there.  Through  his 
tireless  energy  the  camp  became  a  veritable  military  school  where  every  one 
worked  enthusiastically,  and  where  the  zeal,  industry  and  scientific  knowl- 
edge of  Steuben  formed  the  vitalizing  influence.  Day  after  day,  from  morn- 
ing till  night,  the  energetic  baron  taught  military  tactics.  He  did  not  con- 
tent himself  with  standing  off  and  giving  commands,  but  went  through  the 
various  manoeuvres  himself,  shouldering  a  musket  or  doing  whatever  else 
was  called  for. 

The  readiness  with  which  the  men  learned  astonished  Steuben,  but 
nevertheless  he  sometimes  resorted  to  lusty  swearing  when  his  orders 
needed  to  be  especially  emphasized.  It  is  said  that  after  exhausting  his  own 
vocabulary  of  German  and  French  oaths,  he  would  call  loudly  for  assistance, 
not  content  till  his  aide  had  supplied  satisfactory  English.  Apparently  it 
had  a  good  effect  because  the  change  which  came  over  the  army  as  a  result 
of  the  winter's  work  was  nothing  short  of  marvelous. 

Steuben  had  found  the  soldiers  using  their  bayonets,  if  at  all,  to  cook 
their  meat  on,  but  he  taught  them  how  effective  a  weapon  it  was  when 
properly  used.  The  battle  of  Stony  Point  bears  witness  to  how  well  this 
lesson  was  learned.  Another  correction  which  he  made  was  in  regard  to  the 
loss  of  muskets.  The  administration  had  been  so  lax  that  recruits  on 
leaving  the  army  had  been  allowed  to  carry  home  their  weapons,  thus  caus- 
ing a  yearly  loss  of  from  five  to  eight  hundred  muskets.  In  the  first  year  of 
Steuben's  control,  however,  the  loss  of  muskets  amounted  to  less  than 
twenty.     In  all,  the  reforms  instituted  by  General  Steuben  saved  the  gov- 

98 


eminent  more  than  eight  hundred  thousand  livres.  Another  reform  of 
somewhat  different  character  but  perhaps  equally  important,  was  brought 
about  when  Steuben  showed  the  necessity  of  a  staff  for  the  Commander-in- 
Chief.  "Before  the  end  of  the  war,"  says  Fiske,  "Washington  had  be- 
come provided  with  a  staff  that  Frederick  need  not  have  despised." 

It  was  thus,  by  faithful  and  untiring  labor,  that  Steuben  raised  the 
army  from  its  discouraging  condition  to  a  compact,  well-disciplined  body 
of  troops,  with  splendid  military  bearing  and  ability  to  perform  difficult 
manoeuvres  with  speed  and  dispatch  which  must  have  astonished  outsiders 
no  less  than  it  delighted  Washington. 

The  battle  of  Monmouth,  June,  1778,  afforded  a  splendid  opportunity 
for  the  results  of  Steuben's  work  to  be  shown.  And  they  most  certainly 
were  shown  to  advantage.  The  traitor  Lee  ordered  a  retreat  from  a  won- 
derfully advantageous  position  and  the  retreat  soon  became  a  flight.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  situation,  the  narrow  causeway,  the  leader — apparently 
either  insane  or  a  dastard — combined  to  throw  the  army  into  disorder. 
Fortunately  Washington  came  up  in  time  to  save  the  situation,  but  even 
his  presence,  a  few  months  before,  could  not  have  put  the  fleeing  soldiers 
into  fighting  order  in  time.  Victory  would  have  been  impossible  had  not  the 
recent  training  of  the  soldiers  enabled  them  to  form  quickly  even  though 
under  fire,  and  so  stop  the  British  advance. 

Steuben  himself  was  present  at  this  engagement.  Coming  up  from 
the  rear  with  three  brigades  in  response  to  Washington's  order,  he  met  Lee, 
who  had  just  been  sent  from  the  field.  The  traitor  tried  to  prevent  Steuben 
from  carrying  out  his  orders,  on  the  ground  that  they  had  been  misunder- 
stood, but  the  German  was  not  of  Lee's  calibre. 

The  training  of  the  army,  great  as  it  was,  was  not  the  only  service 
which  Steuben  rendered  his  adopted  country.  In  spite  of  his  many  duties 
during  the  winter  of  1777-8,  he  prepared  a  manual  of  infantry  and  cavalry 
tactics  which  was  printed  and  immediately  put  into  use  in  the  army.  In  it 
were  combined  the  results  of  Steuben's  experiences  in  both  Prussia  and 
America,  and  the  results  proved  valuable  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  Steuben  retired  to  country  life  near  Oriskany, 
where  he  remained  until  his  death  in  November,  1794,  on  a  sixteen  thousand 
acre  farm  which  the  State  of  New  York  had  presented  to  him  in  recognition 
of  his  services.  Congress,  also,  voted  him  an  annuity  of  two  thousand  five 
hundred  dollars,  but  although  these  attentions  were  doubtless  much  appre- 
ciated by  the  generous  baron,  they  were  by  no  means  a  requital  for  all  he 
had  done.     For  not  only  had  he  given  the  nation  the  benefit  of  his  ex- 

99 


perience,  his  knowledge  and  his  toil,  but  he  had  spent  the  whole  of  his 
private  fortune  for  his  soldiers.  And  all  this  for  an  adopted  country !  Surely 
we  who  reap  the  benefit  of  his  work  should  remember  this  generous,  faith- 
ful man,  and  realize  the  full  importance  to  ourselves  as  well  as  our  fore- 
fathers, of  General  Steuben's  services  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Dorothy  Thorne. 


ioo 


Second  Prize  Essay 

By  George  Burnett  Overhiser,  of  the  Montgomery  High  School 

Montgomery,  N.  Y. 


Among  the  most  important  of  all  the  foreign  officers  who  helped  win 
our  independence  was  Frederick  William  Augustus,  Baron  Steuben,  a  Ger- 
man of  noble  and  respected  lineage.  Trained  in  the  Seven  Years'  War  un- 
der Frederick  the  Great  and  a  member  of  his  staff,  the  Baron  became  one 
of  the  best  educated  and  most  experienced  soldiers  of  Germany.  In  the 
spring  of  1777,  when  on  a  visit  to  the  French  Court,  he  met  Franklin,  and 
became  greatly  interested  in  America.  At  that  time  the  American  Alliance 
was  under  contemplation,  and  the  French  Ministry,  knowing  that  the 
American  armies  needed  nothing  so  much  as  organization  and  discipline, 
finally  persuaded  Steuben  to  go  to  America  and  offer  his  services.  Pleased 
with  the  chance  for  action  again,  the  Baron,  having  arranged  his  affairs, 
did  accordingly,  and  in  December  of  that  year  appeared  before  Congress 
with  his  offer.  That  body  wisely  accepted  him  and  ordered  him  to  repair 
immediately  to  Valley  Forge  to  train  and  discipline  the  troops.  Thus  were 
the  services  of  one  of  Europe's  most  skillful  soldiers  secured  for  our  cause. 

Having  conferred  with  Washington  upon  his  arrival  at  Valley  Forge, 
Steuben  immediately  began  his  work.  He  found  officers  and  men  generally 
ignorant  of  discipline  and  unskilled  in  the  use  of  arms,  poorly  equipped  and 
weakened  by  prolonged  hunger  and  exposure.  Lack  of  organization,  shorr 
terms  of  enlistment  and  impolitic  promotions  of  inexperienced  officers  by#a 
meddling  Congress  heightened  the  confusion  and  hampered  his  work.  Un- 
daunted he  labored  on,  toiling  incessantly,  sparing  no  pains,  and  gradually 
from  the  confusion  of  men  came  forth  an  army,  strong  and  effective.  This 
army,  which  he  found  so  crude,  so  ignorant  of  all  things  military,  a  few 
weeks  later  at  Monmouth,  in  the  confusion  of  retreat,  hard  pressed  and 
under  heavy  fire,  rallied  about  Washington,  formed  into  battle  line  and 
drove  the  British  from  the  field.     This  army  not  many  months  later,  which 

101 


lie  found  so  unskilled,  in  one  of  the  most  spirited  bayonet  charges  of  his- 
tory, without  a  shot,  stormed  the  works  at  Stony  Point.  Thus  from  its  win- 
ter of  intense  suffering  and  bitter  deprivation  the  army  came  forth  better 
trained  and  better  able  to  compete  with  the  polished  British  regulars  than 
ever  before. 

After  three  months  of  such  efficient  work  Steuben,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Washington,  was  appointed  Inspector-General  of  the  army.  Then 
began  reforms  as  beneficial  as  they  were  sweeping.  No  more  did  supplies 
waste  along  the  road  while  men  starved  and  froze ;  no  longer  did  the  sick 
die  from  lack  of  care ;  the  annual  loss  of  about  five  thousand  muskets 
dwindled  the  first  year  to  twenty ;  ended  was  the  useless  waste,  the  indiffer- 
ent extravagance ;  each  man  became  accountable — the  soldier  for  his  traps, 
the  officer  for  his  men,  the  chief  for  his  department ;  gone  was  the  black  con- 
fusion, the  bitter  deprivation,  and  in  their  places  reigned  order  and  plenty. 
So  effectual  were  these  reforms  that  in  one  year  with  the  men  better 
equipped  and  provisioned  than  ever  before,  the  country  was  saved  eight 
hundred  thousand  French  livres. 

Between  Valley  Forge  and  Camden  stretched  a  period  in  which  Steuben 
greatly  advanced  the  army.  He  was  sent  much  about  the  country  organ- 
izing and  drilling  troops  or  giving  advice.  Thus  he  was  twice  in  Rhode 
Island,  first  with  Sullivan,  then  with  Gates,  assisting  them  by  advice  and 
service.  In  1780  he  was  in  Philadelphia,  concerting  with  Congress  regard- 
ing the  coming  campaign.  A  few  weeks  later  he  was  at  West  Point  or- 
ganizing and  drilling  troops.  While  there  he  was  a  member  of  the  court 
which  convicted  Andre.  Between  these  principal  excursions  he  was  kept 
exceedingly  busy  in  the  main  army.  At  this  period  the  Baron  rendered  one 
of  his  greatest  services  to  this  country.  The  different  divisions  of  the  army, 
except  those  immediately  under  himself,  were  trained  with  no  uniformity  of 
discipline.  Thus"  when  thrown  together  confusion  resulted,  a  serious  con- 
dition in  time  of  battle.  On  the  request  of  Washington  and  the  Board  of 
War,  Steuben  wrote  a  manual  of  arms,  modeled  after  the  Prussian  system 
but  adapted  to  our  needs.  So  good  was  it  that  it  met  with  Washington's 
hearty  approval,  and  after  being  adopted  by  Congress  it  remained  the  Blue 
Book  of  the  army  until  a  late  date.  Thus  by  hard  drilling,  by  supplying  im- 
portant advice  and  by  his  manual  of  arms  Steuben  slowly  brought  the  army 
up  to  the  British  standard. 

Following  the  disastrous  battle  of  Camden,  Greene  was  appointed  to 
command  in  the  South.  Steuben  accompanied  him  as  far  as  Virginia,  where 
he  was  left  to  protect  the  State  and  to  raise  reinforcements  and  supplies 

102 


for  the  Southern  army.  With  the  -greatest  difficulty  the  Baron  forced  the 
necessary  troops  and  supplies  from  the  reluctant,  war-ridden  people.  These 
were  of  great  service  to  Greene,  but  before  long  a  series  of  invasions 
checked  the  good  work.  The  first  under  Arnold  and  the  second  under  Phil- 
lips were  minor,  but  the  third  under  Cornwallis  was  of  graver  moment.  Its 
purpose  was  the  capture  of  Virginia  as  a  basis  for  another  southern  cam- 
paign. Advancing  steadily  through  the  State  he  met  with  little  open  re- 
sistance for  Lafayette,  who  had  been  sent  south,  and  Steuben,  with  their 
meagre  forces,  dared  not  offer  battle.  However  they  incessantly  harassed 
him,  and  by  stirring  up  the  natural  hostility  of  the  people,  made  it  im- 
possible for  him  to  successfully  use  Virginia  as  a  basis  of  operations,  and 
before  long  he  began  that  retreat  which  ended  in  Yorktown,  his  ultimate 
surrender  and  practically  the  end  of  the  war.  Steuben  accomplished  his  pur- 
pose for  he  both  greatly  aided  Greene  and  though  buffeted  about  kept  his 
hold  on  Virginia. 

With  the  ending  of  the  war  Steuben  retired  to  his  estate  near  Utica, 
New  York,  given  him  by  that  State.  There  on  an  annuity  of  twenty-five 
hundred  dollars  finally  granted  by  Congress,  he  passed  not  unhappily  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  in  the  country  for  which  he  had  sacrificed  so  much,  and 
which  he  had  grown  to  love. 

Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter.  What  were  Steuben's 
services  and  were  they  truly  of  value  ?  He  found  the  army  in  disorder,  lack- 
ing organization  and  ignorant  of  discipline,  little  better  than  a  mob.  By 
constant  and  untiring  drilling  and  by  his  manual  of  arms  he  reduced  this 
army  to  a  strong,  well-trained,  homogeneous  mass,  able  to  outflank  and 
capture  one  after  another  the  great  British  armies.  By  his  work  as  inspector- 
general  he  brought  forth  order  from  the  confusion,  eliminated  the  misery 
and  want,  provided  each  soldier  sufficiently  and  saved  the  country  vast  sums. 
These  were  Baron  Steuben's  services.  Were  they  truly  of  value?  What, 
think  you,  would  have  been  the  lot  of  those  glorious  campaigns  had  there 
been  no  unselfish  hard-working  Steuben?  Could  the  day  have  been  saved 
at  Monmouth?  Could  the  works  have  been  carried  at  Stony  Point?  We 
cannot  tell,  but  each  has  his  own  secret  opinion.  But  you  say,  "There  were 
others  who  could  have  done  the  work".  If  so,  where  were  they?  Why  did 
they  not  come  forth  ?  But  hold ;  oh  doubter,  wait !  There  is  one  last  testi- 
mony to  their  value,  the  strongest  and  best  of  all,  a  letter  which  reads : 

"Although  I  have  taken  frequent  opportunities  in  public  and  private 
of  acknowledging  your  great  zeal,  attention  and  abilities  in  performing  the 
duties  of  your  office,  yet  I  wish  to  make  use  of  this  last  moment  of  my  pub- 

.       103 


lie  life  to  signify  in  the  strongest  terms  my  entire  approbation  of  your  con- 
duct, and  to  express  my  sense  of  the  obligations  the  public  is  under  to  your 
faithful  and  meritorious  service.     George  Washington." 

George  Burnett  Overhiser. 


lu-i 


Third   Prize  Essay 

By  James  Moffatt,  of  the  Buffalo  Central  High  School 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


The  success  of  a  modern  drama  is  not  always  due  to  the  mere  abilities 
of  those  who  portray  it  to  us ;  more  often  it  is  the  result  of  the  untiring  ef- 
forts on  the  parts  of  the  unseen  managers,  the  men  who  rehearse  the  actors 
in  their  respective  parts,  who  organize  the  companies  into  well  drilled  and 
smooth  running  bodies,  who  attend  to  the  vexatious  but  vitally  important  de- 
tails of  costume  and  properties,  who  do  all,  in  fact,  that  is  possible  to  afford 
the  players  the  best  of  opportunities,  and  then  receive  themselves  the  small- 
est share  of  the  public  applause.  So  it  is  in  the  great  tragedy  of  war.  Men 
there  are,  unknown  and  unrenowned,  slaving  from  morning  to  night;  or- 
ganizing, drilling,  planning — paving  the  paths  on  which  the  others  may  rush 
to  glory,  only  to  be  forgotten,  if  ever  known,  not  many  years  after  their 
death.  So  it  was  in  our  Revolutionary  War  and  the  men,  and  particularly  the 
man,  who  without  the  impetus  and  excitement  of  the  battle  but  with  all  the 
miseries  and  hardships  of  warfare,  did  more  to  win  our  independence  than 
most  of  our  much-flaunted  heroes.  Today,  that  man  stands  alone,  obscured 
and  forgotten.     The  man?     Baron  Steuben. 

In  the  year  1777  the  American  Revolutionary  army  had  won  several  en- 
gagements, some  of  great  importance,  in  consequence  of  which  the  confidence 
of  the  nation  rose  to  its  highest  pitch.  Xow  it  was  vitally  necessary  that  it 
should  stav  there,  for  without  enthusiasm,  without  the  exhilara- 
tion of  success  in  face  of  the  constant  reinforcements  of  the 
enemv,  it  might  have  gone  very  badly  with  us.  Our  army  was 
indeed  nothing  but  a  mob,  a  dreadfully  earnest  and  purposeful 
mob,  but  a  mob  just  the  same.  It  had  the  most  rudimentary  organization, 
had  absolutely  no  ideas  of  important  and  necessary  evolutions,  was  pitifully 
clothed  and  indifferently  paid.  Were  the  spirit  to  be  taken  out,  a  last  de- 
spairing attack  defeated,  then  nothing  but  disaster  would  result.     All  this 

10=; 


was  apparent  to  several  discerning  statesmen  who  determined  to  anticipate 
it  by  drilling  the  army  under  capable  and  experienced  men.  Europe  of- 
fered the  only  field,  hut  an  exceedingly  rich  one,  since  the  Seven  Years' 
War  had  just  come  to  a  close.  Among  the  men  invited  was  this  Baron 
Steuben,  a  former  officer  under  Frederick  the  Creat,  well  known  in  court 
circles  and  situated  in  comfortable  circumstances.  The  inducements  held 
out  to  him  were  scarcely  alluring' ;  a  foreign  land,  cause,  language,  with  no 
definite  arrangements  for  remuneration,  indeed  no  prospect  of  any  sort 
save  that  of  the  struggle  itself.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  he  already  enjoyed 
position,  friendship,  income  and  renown  at  home.  Yet  to  the  man  with  the 
spirit  of  war,  "formed  in  infancy,  cherished  through  boyhood  and  accepted 
in  manhood  as  the  chief  spring  of  action,"  the  chance  of  entering  once  more 
the  old  atmosphere  of  powder  and  conflict  proved  too  much  and  on  De- 
cember ist,  1777,  he  landed  on  American  soil. 

Coming  auspiciously  from  France  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general 
he  was  heartily  welcomed,  but  from  the  first  he  indicated  the  whole-hearted 
determination  to  do  things  that  characterized  his  entire  service  and  refusing 
all  offers  to  winter  in  Boston,  he  pressed  Congress  for  admittance  to  the 
ranks  as  a  volunteer,  and  on  being  successful,  set  out  immediately  for  head- 
quarters, Valley  Forge.  Here  he  obtained  his  first  glimpse  of  the  American 
army  and  a  sorry  one  it  was :  some  17,000  men  encamped  in  cold,  comfortless 
huts,  half  clothed,  less  than  half  fed,  without  any  signs  of  medicine,  devoid 
of  any  discipline,  variously  armed  with  muskets,  fowling-pieces  and  rifles, 
dispirited  and  infested  with  disease;  a  very  sorry  sight  indeed.  But  he  was 
not  the  man  to  despair.  Having  gained  the  respect  and  admiration  of  Wash- 
ington he  was  soon  invested  with  sufficient  authority  to  commence  his  work 
and  began  at  once  his  "Plan  of  Inspectorship." 

This  plan  embodied  the  great  principle  of  co-operation,  or  perhaps 
rather  of  multiplication,  as  every  soldier  under  its  rulings  became  volun- 
tarily an  apostle  of  reform.  To  begin  with  he  created  a  squad  of  a  hundred 
or  two  hundred  men,  drafted  from  every  company  in  the  camp,  and  drilled 
them  personally  each  day  until  they  were  able  to  perform  the  most  intricate 
manoeuvres,  until  they  became  proud  of  their  profession,  enthusiastic,  con- 
fident, until  they  were  the  envy  of  the  regiment,  and  then  with  their  aid  he 
reorganized  the  entire  division.  No  man  was  considerd  above  any  task  bene- 
fitting the  whole,  officers  were  taught  to  see  the  wisdom  of  drilling  the  men 
themselves ;  the  men,  to  obey  in  every  particular. 

But  his  reforms  went  deeper  than  this;  they  went  right  to  the  heart  of 
the  internal  administration  and  found  it  to  be  a  mockery.     Great  confusion 

106 


reigned  everywhere  as  a  result  of  the  enlistment  contracts ;  terms  ranging 
from  six  months,  or  even  less,  to  twelve,  were  the  usual  assignments.  This, 
of  course,  meant  a  tremendous  loss  every  year  as  5,000  or  8,000  men,  having 
served,  were  dismissed  with  equipages.  A  musket  was  worth  $18.00,  so 
these  alone  amounted  to  over  $126,000.  Then  again  no  trouble  was  taken 
by  the  officers  in  charge  to  strike  the  names  of  the  absent  members  off  the 
pay-rolls,  so  that  long  after  a  man  had  ceased  to  serve  his  wages  were  still 
being  extracted  from  the  treasury.  Now,  such  loose  methods  as  these  could 
scarcely  do  else  than  demoralize,  that  is  evident,  for  of  all  things  necessary 
in  warfare,  economy  ranks  the  foremost.  "An  army  poorly  equipped,  and 
an  army  ill  fed  is  an  army  half  beaten,"  so  it  is  said,  and  it  is  specially  true 
in  this  case,  for  the  army  was  unstable  and  untrained  and  there  was  no  hope 
of  any  possible  organization  since  the  men  were  no  sooner  trained  than  their 
terms  expired  and  they  returned  home.  The  first  step,  therefore,  in  reme- 
dying this  state  of  affairs  was  to  lengthen  the  term  of  enlistment.  The 
next,  to  install  a  system  of  inspection  which  made  it  necessary  for  every  man 
to  have  every  article  given  him  by  the  government  on  hand,  or  accounted 
for,  at  any  moment.  The  third,  to  enforce  a  somewhat  similar  system  of 
minute  reports  extending  throughout  the  whole  army  and  embracing  every 
department.  The  fourth,  to  divide  the  regiment  into  battalions  and  the 
battalions  into  companies  having  in  each  body  a  definite  number  of  men. 

In  view  of  all  this  it  is  scarcely  surprising,  then,  to  find  that  after  a 
few  weeks  a  new  spirit  had  entered  into  the  camp,  that  it  "exhibited  the 
regularity  of  a  scientific  disposition,"  that  the  reviews  displayed  in  officers 
and  men  a  familiarity  with  complex  evolutions  and  that  the  "harmony  of 
movement  which  gives  to  thousands  the  appearance  of  a  single  body  under 
the  control  of  a  single  will,"  was  at  all  times  apparent.  As  for  his  value  to 
the  treasury  it  is  only  necessary  to  state  that  in  one  year  of  his  inspector- 
ship but  three  muskets  were  missing,  and  those  accounted  for. 

His  "Plan  of  Inspectorship,"  while  a  great  undertaking,  was  not  his  only 
occupation,  however,  as  he  found  time  to  render  two  other  services  of  great 
importance.  One  world-wide  in  its  influence  and  the  other  more  domestic. 
The  first  of  these  was  his  invention  of  the  light  infantry,  by  which  the 
enemy  had  only  a  very  scattering  front  to  charge  upon  or  shoot  at,  and  the 
skirmishers  (as  those  in  the  infantry  were  called)  themselves  were  allowed 
a  greater  freedom  and  use  of  arms.  His  second  consisted  in  a  work  known 
as  the  "Blue  Book",  which  he  had  determined  to  produce  when  first  he  be- 
came acquainted  with  the  American  army.  It  aimed  to  do  away  with  the 
practice  in  vogue  of  having  every  brigade  and  company  under  a  different 

107 


system  of  its  own,  by  setting  forth  a  complete  treatise  of  martial  laws  as  he 
had  known  them  in  Europe,  adapted  to  colonial  conditions.  This  was  au- 
thorized by  Congress  and  became  the  standard  in  our  army  for  many  years, 
indeed  until  quite  a  recent  date. 

As  an  active  soldier,  meaning  a  combatant  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
word,  he  is  not  often  mentioned,  for  his  was  the  less  brilliant  career  of 
the  "unseen  manager."  Yet  he  did  conduct  several  engagements  or  cam- 
paigns with  great  credit.  The  first  was  more  like  his  accustomed  work,  in 
the  raising  of  an  army  for  Greene,  but  immediately  on  accomplishing  this 
he  commanded  a  detachment  himself  and  succeeded  in  forcing  Arnold  to 
retreat,  thus  preventing  great  damage  to  the  country  in  the  vicinity  and 
probably  the  nation  in  general.  His  second  campaign  was  the  siege  of 
Yorktown  which  with  the  co-operation  of  Lafayette  and  others,  he  brought 
to  a  most  satisfactory  close,  thus  playing  a  leading  part  in  the  last  real  act 
of  the  drama  which  his  zeal  had  so  materially  assisted  towards  a  successful 
conclusion. 

To-day  the  name  of  Frederick  William  Steuben  is  practically  unknown. 
This  seems  incredible,  but  it  is  true.  This  man  who*  left  home  and  country 
for  a  war  in  a  foreign  cause,  who  created  a  well-organized,  disciplined  and 
confident  army  out  of  a  horde  of  half-starved  and  pain-racked  men,  who 
placed  the  treasury  in  such  a  position  that  it  was  able  to  render  twice  the 
value  of  its  former  services  to  the  furtherance  of  independence,  who  origi- 
nated the  effective  and  now  widely  known  formation  of  light  infantry,  who 
bound  together  all  the  American  armies  under  the  common  rulings  of  his 
book  of  martial  laws,  who  was  instrumental  in  the  victorious  results  of  the 
last  few  decisive  encounters ;  this  man  is  but  rarely  remembered ;  and  the 
men,  who  having  the  advantage  of  well-trained  soldiers,  lead  them,  in- 
spired with  the  recklessness  and  bravery  of  the  battle,  to  great  and  glorious 
goals,  these  men  are  the  only  ones  enshrined  in  our  halls  of  fame.  It  is  not 
right,  it  is  not  just,  and  we  ought  not  to  rest  quiet  until  the  name  of  Baron 
Steuben  is  as  indelibly  printed  in  our  hearts  and  halls  as  are  those  of  the 
other  patriots  whom  we  immortalize  in  verse  and  eternalize  in  stone  across 
the  length  and  breadth  of  our  fair  land. 

James  Moffatt. 


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Sons  of  the  Revolution 


IN    THE 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


REPORTS 


AND 


PROCEEDINGS 


19  10-1911 


December  4,    1911 


Object  of  the  Society 


CONSTITUTION. 

preamble 

Whereas,  It  has  become  evident  from  the  decline  of  proper  celebration 
of  such  National  holidays  as  the  Fourth  of  July,  Washington's  Birthday, 
and  the  like,  that  popular  interest  in  the  events  and  men  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  is  less  than  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  Republic; 

And  Whereas,  This  lack  of  interest  is  to  be  attributed  not  so  much  to 
lapse  of  time  as  to  the  neglect  on  the  part  of  descendants  of  Revolutionary 
heroes  to  perform  their  duty  of  keeping  before  the  public  mind  the  memory 
of  the  services  of  their  ancestors,  and  of  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  and 
of  the  principles  for  which  they  contended ; 

Therefore,  The  Society  of  the  "  Sons  of  the  Revolution  "  has  been 
instituted  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  men  who,  in  military,  naval  or 
civil  service,  by  their  acts  or  counsel,  achieved  American  Independence ;  to 
promote  and  assist  in  the  proper  celebration  of  the  anniversaries  of  Wash- 
ington's Birthday,  the  Battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  the  Fourth  of 
July,  the  Capitulations  of  Saratoga  and  Yorktown,  the  Evacuation  of  New 
York  by  the  British  Army,  and  other  prominent  events  relating  to  or  con- 
nected with  the  War  of  the  Revolution ;  to  collect  and  secure  for  preserva- 
tion the  manuscript  rolls,  records  and  other  documents  and  memorials  re- 
lating to  that  War ;  to  inspire  among  the  members  and  their  descendants 
the  patriotic  spirit  of  their  forefathers ;  to  inculcate  in  the  community  in  gen- 
eral sentiments  of  Nationality  and  respect  for  the  principles  for  which  the 
patriots  of  the  Revolution  contended ;  to  assist  in  the  commemorative  cele- 
bration of  other  great  historical  events  of  National  importance,  and  to  pro- 
mote social  intercourse  and  the  feeling  of  fellowship  among  its  members. 


General   Society 

(Organized    at    Washington,    D.    C,    April    19,    1890.) 

OFFICERS,     1911-1914 

General  President, 

Edmund  Wetmore,  LL.  D., 
New   York   Society. 

General  Vice-President, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 
New  York  Society. 

Second  General  Vice-President, 

Hon.  John  W.  Weeks, 
Massachusetts  Society. 

General  Secretary, 

William  Libbey,  D.  Sc, 
New  Jersey  Society. 

Assistant  General  Secretary, 

W.   Hall  Harris,  Jr., 
Maryland   Society. 

General  Treasurer, 

Richard  McCall  Cadwalader, 
Pennsylvania  Society. 

Assistant  General  Treasurer, 

Henry  Cadle, 
Missouri  Society. 

General  Chaplain, 

Rev.  Randolph  H.  McKim,  D.  D., 
District  of  Columbia  Society. 

General  Registrar, 

Hon.  George  E.  Pomeroy, 
Ohio   Society. 

General  Historian, 

Marshall  Delancey  Haywood, 
North  Carolina  Society. 


Sons  of  the  Revolution 

IN    THE 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

Instituted  February   22,    1876. 

Reorganized  December   4,    1883. 

Incorporated  May  3,  1884. 


FOUNDERS 


John  Austin  Stevens, 

John  Cochrane, 

Austin  Huntington, 

George  H.  Potts, 

Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge, 

George  Washington  Wright  Houghton, 

Asa  Bird  Gardiner, 

Thomas  Henry  Edsall, 

Joseph  W.  Drexel, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

James  Duane  Livingston, 

John  Bleecker  Miller, 

Alexander  Ramsay  Thompson,  Jr. 


Officers,   1911 

President : 
Edmund  Wetmore,  34  Pine  Street. 

First   Vice-Presidcn  t : 
Robert  Olyphant,  17  Battery  Place. 

Second  Vice-President: 
Ralph  Peters.  L.  I.  R.  R.  Co. 

Third   Vice-President: 
Frederick  S.  Woodruff,  165  Broadway. 

Secretary: 
Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Fraunces  Tavern. 

Assist  an  t  Secretary : 
Eugene  K.  Austin,  15  William  Street. 

Treasurer : 
Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  71   Broadway. 

Registrar: 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Chaplain: 
Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.  D.,  7  Gramercy  Park. 

Assistant  Chaplain: 
Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Morristown,  N.  J. 

Historian: 
Talbot  Olyphant,  32  Nassau  Street. 

Board  of  Managers: 
William  Floyd,  84  William  St.  Walter  L.  Suydam,  5  E.  76th  St. 

Beverly  Chew,  49  Wall  St.  James  May  Duane,  59  Wall  St. 

Edgar  C.  Leonard,  Albany,  N.  Y.  Henry  D.  Babcock,  32  Liberty  St. 

John  B.  Holland,  65  Broadway.  Samuel  E.   Hoffman,  258   Broadway. 

John  Hone,  5  Gramercy  Park.  Francis  L.  Hine,  2  Wall  St. 

William  W.  Ladd,  20  Nassau  St.  Parker  D.  Handy,  22  Pine  St. 

Benjamin  R.  Lummis,  28  W.  33d  St.  Benjamin  T.  Fairchild,  74  Laight  St. 

John  Adams  Dix,  25  Broad  St.  George  H.  Coutts,  273  Broadway. 

I.  Wray  Cleveland,  176  Broadwav. 


Chapters  of  the  Society: 

Buffalo  Chapter,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Robert  M.  Codd,  Regent. 

George  W.  Comstock,   Secretary,   124  Lexington  Avenue,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Edgar  C.  Leonard,  Regent. 

Borden  H.  Mills,  Secretary,  44  Tweddle  Building,  Albany,  N.  Y. 
William  Floyd  Chapter,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 

William  Barker,  Jr.,  Secretary,  c/o  William  Barker  Co.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Sylvester  Dering,  Regent. 

A.  Vedder  Brower,  Secretary,  306  Genesee  Street.  Utica,  N.  Y. 
Orange  County  Chapter,  Goshen,  N.  Y. 
Jamestown  Chapter,  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Winfield  Scott  Cameron,  Regent. 

Frank  H.  Mott,  Secretary,  Fenton  Building,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 


Executive  Committee: 

John  Hone,  Chairman,  Joseph  T.  Low. 

William  G.  Bates, 
President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  Ex-Offioio. 


Real  Estate  Committee: 

Robert   Olyphant,   Chairman,  James   M.  Montgomery/ 

Alexander  R.  Thompson,  Henry  A.  Wilson, 

Tohn  Hone.  Arthur  M.  Hatch. 


Membership  Committee : 

George  DeForest  Barton,  Chairman,  150  Broadway. 

Landreth  H.  King,  Room  4020,  Grand  Central  Station. 

Edward  L.  Parris,  45  Broadway. 

Caldwell  R.  Blakeman,  Coffee  Exchange. 

Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown,  52  Wall  Street. 

Talbot  Root,  52  Broadway. 

Chandler  Smith,  68  Broad  Street. 

Nathaniel  A.  Prentiss,  120  Broadway. 

Pierre  F.  Macdonald,  45  Vestry  Street. 

George  P.  Lawton,  14  East  60th  Street. 

Edward  C.  Delafield.  25  Broad  Street. 

William  B.  Hill,  160  Broadway. 

Edmund  Howard-Martin,  160  West  59th  Street. 

Historical  Committee: 

David   Cromwell,   Chairman,  George   B.   Class. 

Norman   F.   Cushman,  Wilbur   F.   Wakeman. 

Talbot  Olyphant,  Ex-Ofhcio. 


Essay  Committee: 

Richard  Henry  Greene,  Chairman,  R.  Russell  Requa, 

Herbert  L.  Bridgman,  Rev.  Berry  Oakley  Baldwin, 

Alfred  Ely. 


Library  Committee: 

John  R.  Totten,  Chairman,  Henry   Phelps  Johnston, 

Henry  Cole  Smith. 


Museum  Committee: 

Beverly  Chew,  Chairman,  William  Bunker, 

Clarence   Storm,  William   G  Low,  Jr., 

Charles  Wisner. 


Tablet  Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Henry  Russell  Drowne, 

Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  Alexander  R.  Thompson, 

Pierre  F.  Macdonald. 


Stewards: 

Charles   E.  Warren,  Chairman,  Robert  M.  Olyphant.  Jr., 

Montgomery  H.  Sicard,  M.  D.,  Philip  Rhinelander, 

Lawrence  L.  Gillespie.  Phoenix  Ingraham. 


Marshal: 
John  Butterfield  Holland. 

Aides  to  the  Marshal : 

James  Wray  Cleveland,  Henry  De  Witt  Hamilton, 

Albert  Delafield,  Henry   Melville, 

Charles  Whipple  Furey,  Talbot  Root, 

Clarence  Wilbur  Smith. 

Publication  Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Charles  Isham, 

Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

8 


Annual  Church  Service 
Aisle  Committee: 

Talbot  Olyphant,  Chairman, 
Frederick  Sanford  Woodruff,  Vice-Chairman. 


Warren  Sanford  Banks, 

Worcester  Bouck, 

Banyer   Clarkson, 

Cullen  Van  Rensselaer  Cogswell, 

Robert  Grier  Cooke, 

John  Francis  Daniell, 

Gano   Dunn, 

Joseph  N.  Lord  Edmonds, 

Morris  Douw  Ferris, 

Schuyler  Brush  Knox, 

Charles  Percy  Latting,  Jr., 

George  Peabody  Montgomery, 


Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr., 
Murray  Olyphant, 
Robert  Morrison  Olyphant,  Jr., 
William  Rockhill  Potts, 
Alexander  Dallas  Bache  Pratt, 
Edward  Lawrence  Purdy, 
Arthur  Frederic  Schermerhorn, 
Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 
Rufus  Ingalls  Shea, 
Joseph  Ferris  Simmons. 
Landon  Ketchum  Thorne, 
Alfred  Byers  Wade. 


Excursion  Committee: 

James  M.  Montgomery,  Chairman,  Edward  P.  Casey, 

Clarence  Storm,  John  C.  Gulick, 

William  G.  Bates,  J.  Wi:ay  Cleveland, 

Robert  Olyphant,  Ex-Officio. 


John  B.  Holland, 


A uditing  Committee : 

Frederick  S.  Woodruff, 
Walter  L.  Suydam. 


Committee  on  Constitution  and  By-Laws. 


Edmund  Wetmore,  Chairman, 
William  W.  Ladd, 


William   G.  Bates, 
Fredfrick  S.  Woodruff. 


Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers 


To  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  State  of  New  York: 

The  Board  of  Managers  submits  the  following  report  for  the  year 
ending  December  4,  1911 : 

Seven  meeetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  have  been  held  during  the 
year.  The  Annual  Meeting  was  held  at  Fraunces  Tavern,  December  5, 
1910,  at  3.30  P.  M.  In  the  absence  of  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  President 
of  the  Society,  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant,  the  First  Vice-President,  presided. 
In  the  absence  of  Mr.  Henry  Russell  Drowne,  the  Secretary,  Col.  Eugene 
K.  Austin,  the  Assistant  Secretary,  officiated  and  read  the  call  for  the  meet- 
ing. 

The  polls  were  declared  open  for  one  hour  and  a  half,  the  following 
tellers  having  been  appointed  by  the  Chairman :  Messrs.  Talbot  Root,  Varick 
Dey  Martin,  Harrison  Wright  and  Chandler  Smith. 

The  Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Assistant  Chaplain,  offered 
the  prayer  for  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  contained  in  the  printed  order  of 
service  of  the  Society. 

The  reading  of  the  report  of  the  Board  of  Managers  was  dispensed 
with,  same  having  been  printed  for  distribution  to  the  members.  The  Chair- 
man stated  that  the  Treasurer's  Report  would  also  be  distributed  later. 

Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  Historian  of  the  Society,  read  his  report,  during 
the  reading  of  which  all  the  members  rose  and  remained  standing. 

The  Assistant  Secretary  read  the  report  of  the  Nominating  Commit- 
tee. The  Chairman  announced  the  names  of  the  new  Stewards  appointed 
and  read  the  preamble  to  the  Constitution  as  prescribed,  after  which,  the 
Rev.  Henry  Barton  Chapin,  D.D.,  one  of  the  General  Chaplains  of  the  So- 
ciety of  the  Cincinnati,  offered  prayer,  and  a  recess  was  taken  until  five 
o'clock,  during  which,  refreshments  were  served  in  the  fourth  floor  dining 
room. 

11 


On  being  again  called  to  order  the  tellers  reported  that  850  of  the  reg- 
ular proxies  had  been  received  and  100  proxies  of  the  Albany  Chapter,  which* 
with  100  members  present,  made  a  total  of  1,050  votes  for  the  regular  ticket, 
which  had  been  duly  elected. 

Since  the  Annual  Meeting,  Col.  Eugene  K.  Austin  has  been  appointed 
Assistant  Secretary;  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Assist- 
ant Chaplain:  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  Historian;  Col.  John  B.  Holland, 
Marshal ;  and  Messrs.  John  Hone,  Joseph  Tompkins  Low  and  Col.  Willam 
G.  Bates,  members  of  the  Executive  Committee.  Various  committees  have 
also  been  appointed,  a  list  of  which  is  printed  with  this  report. 

A  Stated  Meeting  was  held  at  Delmonico's,  New  York,  on  Tuesday 
evening,  January  24,  1911,  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Frederick  Samuel 
Tallmadge,  late  President  of  the  Society,  and  was  called  to  order  at  8.40 
P.  M.,  by  the  First  Vice-President,  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant.  The  Chairman 
made  a  brief  address  giving  a  sketch  of  the  life  and  service  of  Frederick 
S.  Tallmadge  and  speaking  of  the  interest  which  he  took  in  the  Society  and 
his  bequest,  making  possible  the  purchase  and  restoration  of  Fraunces 
Tavern.  The  speaker  of  the  evening,  Mr.  Reginald  Pelham  Bolton,  M.E., 
was  then  introduced  and  delivered  a  lecture  on  "  Naval  Engagements  on  the 
Waters  of  New  York  City  in  1776,"  illustrated  with  stereopticon  views. 

On  account  of  the  Triennial  Meeting  at  Washington,  D.  C,  the  Battle 
of  Lexington  was  celebrated  on  Wednesday  evening,  April  26,  by  a  Stated 
Meeting  at  Delmonico's.  President  Wetmore  called  the  meeting  to  order 
at  8.45  o'clock  and  made  a  short  address  on  the  historical  event.  He  also 
gave  an  account  of  the  Triennial  Meeting  and  the  unveiling  of  the  monu- 
ment at  Annapolis  to  the  memory  of  the  French  Soldiers  and  Sailors,  and 
closed  his  address  by  urging  all  the  members  of  the  Society  to  use  their  ef- 
forts to  increase  its  membership  and  to  establish  societies  in  those  States 
which  have  none  at  present.  Mr.  Aaron  Bancroft,  a  venerable  member  of 
the  Society,  then  gave  a  short  account  of  an  enthusiastic  meeting  in  Bermuda 
to  celebrate  Washington's  Birthday,  after  which,  Mr.  Clarence  Storm,  the 
speaker  of  the  evening,  was  introduced,  and  read  a  most  interesting  paper 
comparing  the  City  of  New  York  to-day  with  the  City  as  it  existed  seventy- 
five  years  ago,  illustrated  with  stereopticon  views. 

At  the  Stated  Meeting  held  at  Delmonico's  on  Saturday  evening,  No- 
vember 25,  Mr.  Albert  Bushnell  Hart,  Professor  of  Government  in  Har- 
vard University,  delivered  an  instructive  lecture  on  "  Benjamin  Franklin  as 
an  Upbuilder  of  the  American  Constitution." 

The  Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Society,  commemorative  of  the  birth 
of  George  Washington,  was  held  at  the  Church  of  the  Heavenly  Rest,  Fifth 

12 


avenue  and  Forty-fifth  street,  New  York,  on  Sunday,  February  19,  1911,  at 
4  o'clock  P.  M. 

It  was  conducted  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.D.,  Bishop  of 
the  Diocese  of  New  York  and  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  as- 
sisted by  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Assistant  Chaplain, 
the  Rev.  George  Stuart  Baker,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  Pelham  St.  George  Bisseil, 
M.A.,  A.K.C.,  the  Rev.  Albert  Alonzo  Brockway,  M.A.,  the  Rev.  Henry 
Barton  Chapin,  D.D.,  Ph.D.,  the  Rev.  William  Nichols  Dunnell,  S.T.D., 
and  the  Rev.  Floyd  Swallow  Leach,  B.D.,  Ph.D. 

The  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Herbert  Shipman,  Rector  of 
the  Church  of  the  Heavenly  Rest,  and  is  printed  in  full  in  this  report. 

The  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812  furnished  a  uniformed  escort. 

The  following  representatives  of  Societies  were  present:  Society  of 
the  Cincinnati :  Talbot  Olyphant,  F.  K.  Pendleton,  Dr.  Thomas  L.  M.  Chrys- 
tie,  Dr.  William  Sturgis  Thomas  and  Dixon  Gedney  Hughes;  Military  So- 
ciety of  the  War  of  1812:  John  F.  Daniell,  John  Adams  Dix,  George  N. 
Gardiner,  John  Hone  and  Col.  John  Van  Rensselaer  Hoff ;  Colonial  Wars . 
Edward  Nicoll  Croshy,  Frederick  Dwight,  William  Henry  Folsom,  Herbert 
T.  Wade  and  Dr.  Faneuil  Suydam  Weisse;  Daughters  of  the  Revolution, 
State  of  New  York :  Mrs.  Clarence  S.  Bleakley,  Mrs.  Zeb  Mayhew,  Mrs. 
Ralph  Waldo,  Mrs.  William  J.  Harding  and  Mrs.  George  W.  Hodges ;  Col- 
onial Dames  of  America:  Mrs.  George  A.  Lung,  Mrs.  Edwin  B.  Sheldon, 
Miss  Elvira  L.  Sistare,  Miss  Sara  Arden  Cheesman  and  Miss  Kathrinc 
Woolsey  Carmalt ;  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York :  Mrs.  William 
B.  Beekman,  Mrs.  Elihu  Chauncey,  Mrs.  Benjamin  W.  Franklin,  Mrs.  F.  F. 
Thompson  and  Miss  Wells;  Aztec  Club  of  1847:  Dr.  John  W.  Brannon, 
Loyal  Farragut,  Dr.  William  M.  Polk,  H.  Fitz-John  Porter  and  William  M. 
Sweeney;  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars:  Amory  S.  Carhart,  William  G. 
Bates,  Dr.  J.  H.  Claiborne,  Clinton  E.  Braine  and  A.  J.  Bleecker ;  Military 
Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion ;  General  George  P.  Borden,  William  S.  Cogs- 
well, Munson  B.  Field,  L.  H.  Gein  and  Henry  M.  Davis. 

The  Annual  Banquet  took  place  in  the  large  Banquet  Hall  at  Del- 
monico's  on  February  22,  1911,  the  anniversary  of  Washington's  Birthday, 
and  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  the  President  of  the 
Society.      The  following  invited  guests  were  present : 

Hon.  John  Alden  Dix,  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York ; 
Major-General    Frederick   D.    Grant,   U.    S.   A.,    representing   the 
Army ; 

13 


Rear- Admiral  Francis  J.  Higginson,  U.  S.  X..  Retired,  represent- 
ing the  Navy ; 

William  Verbeck,  Adjutant-General  of  the  State  of  New  York ; 

Lieut.  Eckford  C.  de  Kay,  Military  Secretary  to  the  Governor; 

The  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.  D..  Chaplain  of  the  Society; 

The  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.T.D.,  Assistant  Chaplain; 

George  Lawyer,  LL.  B. : 

Judge  Almet  F.  Jenks ; 

Hon.  Hugh  Gordon  Miller ; 

Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  Society  of  the  Cincinnati ; 

David  Mitchell  Morrison,  St.  Andrew's  Society ; 

Frank  H.  Cauty,  St.  George's  Society ; 

Paul  G.  Thebaud,  Society  of  the  War  of  1812 ; 

Samuel  Y.  Hoffman,  New  York  Historical  Society ; 

Judge  Alphonso  T.  Clearwater,  the  Holland  Society ; 

Amory  S.  Carhart,  Society  of  Colonial  Wars ; 

Col.  William  G.  Bates,  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars ; 

Herbert  M.  Leland,  Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 

Hon.  Giarles  W.  Parker,  New  Jersey  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. 

• 

Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.D.,  Chaplain  of 
the  Society. 

The  banquet  hall  was  appropriately  and  tastefully  decorated,  and  an 
orchestra  was  furnished  for  the  occasion.  After  coffee  had  been  served 
there  was  the  usual  flag  procession  in  the  following  order :  Fifer  and  Drum- 
mer in  continental  uniform ;  the  Stewards ;  flags  and  banners  of  the  Society ; 
the  cocked  hat  carried  on  a  cushion ;  and  two  handsome  baskets  of  flowers 
from  the  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  the  Daughters 
of  the  Revolution. 

The  Hon.  Alphonso  T.  Clearwater,  in  presenting  the  President  with  the 
cocked  hat,  spoke  as  follows : 

I  am  happy  to  present  to  you  the  hat  as  worn  by  General  George  Wash- 
ington. It  is  presented  to  you,  sir,  because  of  the  great  similarity  of  char- 
acter between  yourself  and  the  Father  of  his  country.  It  is  presented  also, 
sir,  because  you  chose  as  your  profession,  that  calling  which  is  renowned  for 
its  adherence  to  unalterable  truth.  Every  man  in  this  room,  sir,  recognizes 
and  realizes  the  significance  and  the  appropriateness  of  this  presentation, 
and  this,  sir,  is  the  proudest  moment  of  my  life,  to  present  to  the  representa- 
tive of  Washington  the  hat  of  the  forefather  of  his  country. 

14 


The  hat  was  received  by  President  Wetmore,  who  put  it  on,  with  the 
following  remarks : 

You  have  deprived  me,  sir,  of  the  power  of  expressing  my  thanks. 
When  General  Washington  was  called  upon  to  make  a  speech  he  stammered 
and  could  say  nothing,  until  the  speaker  said,  "  Sit  down,  sit  down,  Mr. 
Washington ;  your  modesty  is  as  great  as  your  valor,  and  that  is  beyond  the 
power  of  man  to  express." 

I  am  obliged  to  you,  sir,  for  all  that  you  have  said.  I  feel  a  great  deal 
more  like  taking  my  own  hat  off  in  the  presence  of  this  assembly  than  I 
do  like  putting  any  man's  hat  on ;  not  only  on  account  of  our  distinguished 
guests,  but  because  I  am  facing  the  members  of  one  of  the  first  patriotic 
societies  in  our  land.  It  is  an  honor  as  great  as  to  look  like  General  Wash- 
ington, to  belong  to  it  and  still  a  greater  honor  to  be  chosen  as  its  Presi- 
dent. No  man  can  be  more  conscious  than  I  am  of  my  shortcomings  in  re- 
gard to  the  difficulty  of  putting  on  this  hat. 

All  then  joined  in  singing  heartily :  "  My  Country  'Tis  of  Thee,"  and 
President  Wetmore  made  the  following  introductory  address : 

Gentlemen,  we  are  here  to  keep  our  annual  festival  and  to  renew  our 
pledges  of  loyalty  to  the  memory  of  our  forefathers  and  to  draw  closer  the 
ties  of  brotherhood  that  unite  us  in  our  cherished  Society.  We  are  here  to 
eulogize  the  deeds  of  the  makers  of  the  nation — and  before  all.  of  him  whose 
birthday  we  keep  and  who  led  the  country  through  the  perils  of  war,  and 
the  still  greater  perils  of  peace  until  the  foundation  of  the  government  was 
laid  so  broad  and  deep  that  for  more  than  a  century  it  has  proved  sufficient 
to  fulfill  the  exalted  purpose  of  its  creation.  It  has  promoted  the  general 
welfare  and  secured  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  the  generations  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  who  have  gone  before,  and  it  is  left  us.  charged  with  the  solemn 
duty  of  seeing  to  it  that  unshaken  and  unimpaired  it  shall  continue  to  secure 
those  blessings  to  ourselves  and  to  our  posterity. 

Mr.  Lincoln  said  at  Gettysburg  that  the  world  would  little  note  nor  long 
remember  what  they  said  there,  but  could  never  forget  yvhat  was  done 
there  ;  but  we  come  here  in  the  hope  and  faith  that  what  we  say  here  and  what 
year  after  year  we  repeat  here,  may  do  something  towards  turning  the 
thoughts  of  our  fellow-townsmen  and  of  our  fellow-countrymen  to  whom 
our  words  may  reach,  lest  they  do  forget  what  was  done  here. 

We  would  recall  the  things  that  have  happened  within  the  circle  of  our 
own  island,  the  places  it  still  holds,  the  scenes  it  once  witnessed.  We  would 
have  them  remember,  when  they  cross  the  Brooklyn  Bridge  and  look  down 
on  the  waters  below,  that  one  misty  night  in  the  year  1776,  right  from  the 
front  of  a  victorious  enemy,  and  almost  under  the  guns  of  a  hostile  fleet, 

15 


Washington,  after  forty-eight  hours  in  the  saddle,  by  a  masterly  retreat, 
silently  withdrew  the  whole  of  his  shattered  army  right  across  those  swirling 
waters  we  see  below,  himself  the  last  man  over,  and  when  he  set  foot  on  the 
New  York  shore  he  could  thank  God  that  he  had  saved  his  army,  which  at 
that  date  and  hour  meant  that  he  had  saved  his  country  as  well. 

We  would  have  them  remember,  when  the  trolley  takes  them  up  on  the 
east  side  of  town,  that  the  spot  now  crowded  with  houses,  between  First 
avenue  and  the  East  River,  near  the  foot  of  Forty-fifth  street  is  the  very 
spot  where  Nathan  Hale  yielded  up  his  young  life  with  the  immortal  regret 
from  his  lips  that  he  had  but  one  life  to  give  for  his  country. 

We  would  have  them  remember,  when  they  pass  the  beautiful  grounds 
and  the  stately  buildings  of  our  Colleges  and  Universities  that  adorn  and 
dignify  the  upper  part  of  our  Island,  that  it  was  over  this  region  that  our 
raw  and  untrained  forces  were  hardened  by  the  rough  discipline  of  defeat 
into  the  Continental  Army,  that  born  with  the  flag,  carried  it  to  final  and 
triumphant  victory;  or  we  would  have  them  pass  through  the  doors  of  our 
own  home  at  Fraunces  Tavern,  and  there  stand  in  the  very  room,  where, 
with  feeling  too  deep  for  words,  and  that  reached  the  fountains  of  men's 
rare  tears,  his  companions  in  arms,  after  suffering  the  perils  and  triumphs 
of  eight  years  of  warfare,  assembled  and  bade  farewell  to  their  beloved 
chief.  And  then — then  we  would  have  them  remember  that  these  were 
but  some  of  the  scenes  of  the  great  drama,  the  theatre  of  which  was  the 
whole  country,  the  actors  in  which  were  a  whole  people,  and  the  theme 
of  which  was  the  duty,  in  the  last  resort,  and  where  all  other  means  had 
failed,  to  fight  for  a  principle  that  it  would  be  criminal  to  surrender  and 
base  to  compromise. 

We  would  forget  all  animosity  to  our  ancient  foe  and  bury  it  deep  and 
erect  a  lasting  monument  to  peace  and  friendship  over  its  grave,  as  we  have 
done,  but  at  the  same  time  we  would  not  forget  the  lesson  of  our  Revolution, 
that  matters  of  principle  that  touch  and  should  touch  the  national  conscience, 
lie  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  any  court  of  arbitration,  and  that  as  long  as 
human  nature  is  what  it  is,  war  at  any  time  may  become  a  duty,  and  such  a 
war  and  its  sufferings  and  struggles  are  one  of  the  conditions  of  human  prog- 
ress, and  it  is  the  cultivation  of  the  primitive  and  hardy  virtues,  the  re- 
ligion and  morality  of  our  early  days,  that  can  alone  save  our  latter  days  from 
degeneracy,  but  this  is  a  time  for  faith  and  not  for  fears.  Neither  now,  nor 
at  any  time,  would  we  falter  for  one  moment  in  our  belief  that  the  same 
virtues  and  patriotism  that  sustained  our  government  thus  far  constitute  the 
great  reserve  force  that  is  sustaining  it  to-day  and  will  sustain  it  in  the 
time  to  come.      The  child  of  the  Revolution — it  has  become  the  heir  of  the 

16 


ages  and  the  hope  of  humanity ;  we  rejoice  that  we  live  under  it  and  with 
hearts  devoutly  thankful  for  its  blessings,  let  us  join  in  our  first  toast:  "  The 
United  States  of  America." 

All  present  thereupon  rose  and  drank  the  toast  standing,  after  which 
the  "  Star  Spangled  Banner  "  was  sung. 

The  rest  of  the  toasts  were  responded  to  as  follows : 

"  The  State  of  New  York,"  His  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  Hon.  John  Alden  Dix. 

"  George  Washington,"  George  Lawyer,  LL.B. 

'  The  Army,"  Major-General  Frederick  Dent  Grant,  U.  S.  A. 

'  The  Navy,"  Rear-Admiral  Francis  J.  Higginson,  U.  S.  N.,  Retired. 

'  The  Bench,"  Almet  F.  Jenks,  Presiding  Justice  Appellate  Division 
Supreme  Court. 

"  Lincoln,  the  Preserver  of  the  Union,"  Hon.  Hugh  Gordon  Miller. 

All  these  speeches  are  printed  in  full  in  this  report. 

There  were  362  members  and  guests  in  attendance  at  the  banquet  which 
was  greatly  enjoyed  by  those  present. 

During  the  year  the  Society  met  with  the  loss  of  its  General  President, 
the  Hon.  John  Lee  Carroll,  formerly  Governor  of  Maryland,  and  at  the  Feb- 
ruary Meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  the  following  minute  was  adopted 
and  a  copy  sent  to  Governor  Carroll's  family : 

'  This  Board  have  learned  with  profound  sorrow  of  the  death,  this  day, 
at  Washington  of  John  Lee  Carroll,  the  General  President  of  the  Society  of 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

"  A  direct  descendant  of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  Governor  of 
Maryland,  in  the  Centennial  year  of  1876,  and  the  first  General  President 
of  the  Society,  which  office  he  held  for  twenty-one  years,  Governor  Carroll 
was  widely  known  and  regarded  for  his  abilities,  his  public  spirit  and  his 
attractive  personal  qualities.  The  Society  during  the  time  that  he  has  been 
at  its  head  has  grown  and  prospered.  He  was  devoted  to  its  interests  and 
eloquent  in  its  behalf.  A  worthy  representative  of  the  men  who  stood  in 
the  forefront  in  civil  affairs  during  the  era  of  the  Revolution ;  he  inherited 
their  patriotism,  and  their  earnestness  and  zeal,  set  off  with  the  gracious 
manners  of  the  generation  to  which  they  belonged. 

"  The  loss  the  whole  Society  has  suffered  in  the  death  of  Governor  Car- 
roll is  one  we  all  share  and  keenly  feel,  but  while  we  record  our  sorrow  for 
that  loss  and  the  respect  and  love  we  bore  him,  we  also  record  our  thankful- 
ness that  he  died  full  of  years  and  full  of  honors  after  such  a  life  as  was  be- 

17 


fitting  the  head  of  our  Society  and  won  him  the  lasting  esteem  of  his  fellow 
countrvmen." 

The  Board  also  lost  two  of  its  members,  the  Hon.  Charles  W.  Dayton, 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  James  J.  Higginson. 
The  following  minutes  were  adopted : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Society 
of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New  York  desire  to  record  this 
expression  of  their  sorrow  for  the  loss  which  has  befallen  them,  since  their 
last  meeting,  in  the  decease  of  their  colleague,  Judge  Charles  W.  Dayton, 
who  died  in  this  City  upon  the  7th  of  December,  1910. 

"  Judge  Dayton  was  a  valued  member  of  this  Board.  He  rilled  many 
offices  of  public  trust  and,  as  an  able  and  impartial  magistrate  and  a  faithful 
and  efficient  officer  in  the  discharge  of  the  public  duties  with  which  he  was 
entrusted,  he  showed  the  qualities  that  made  him  a  faithful  and  loyal  mem- 
ber of  this  Society.  In  his  intercourse  with  ourselves  he  was  invariably 
courteous  and  considerate.  His  counsels  were  wise  and  moderate  and  his 
patriotism  earnest  and  sincere.  We  lament  his  loss  as  that  of  a  friend  and 
brother  and,  as  fellow  workers,  in  a  common  cause,  pay  this  token  of  lasting 
respect  to  his  memory. 

"  Resolved,  That  this  resolution  be  entered  in  our  minutes  and  a  copy 
sent  to  his  family  to  whom  we  tender  our  most  respectful  sympathy." 

'Mr.  James  J.  Higginson,  a  member  of  this  Society,  was  elected  one 
of  the  Board  of  Managers  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  held  on  the  5th  day  of 
December,  1910.  Before  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board  to  which  he  had 
been  elected,  and  on  the  5th  day  of  January,  1911,  he  died,  after  a  few  days' 
illness.  We  have  never  therefore  had  the  advantage  of  his  counsel  and  com- 
panionship as  one  of  our  colleagues,  and  those  who  best  knew  him  can  best 
appreciate  the  loss  we  have  thus  met.  His  acceptance  of  the  office  was  a 
pledge  for  the  faithful  performance  of  its  duties  and  an  honor  to  the  Society; 
for  Mr.  Higginson,  for  his  philanthropy,  his  generosity,  his  patriotism  and 
noble  character  occupied  a  high  position  in  this  community  and  was  esteemed 
and  beloved  by  his  fellow  citizens,  not  only  within  but  far  and  wide  outside 
the  circle  of  our  own  members.  We  here  record  our  respects  for  his 
memory  and  our  profound  sorrow  for  the  loss  which  has  befallen  ourselves, 
and  the  whole  Society  in  the  ending  of  so  honorable  and  useful  a  life." 

Mr.  George  H.  Coutts  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
death  of  the  Hon.  Charles  W.  Dayton,  and  Col.  J.  Wray  Cleveland  to  fill 
the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Mr.  James  J.  Higginson. 

18 


At  the  January  meeting  of  the  Board  Mr.  George  H.  Coutts  presented 
the  calendar  of  the  Title  Guarantee  and  Trust  Company,  giving  a  picture 
of  the  capture  of  General  Nathaniel  Woodhull,  stating  that  at  present  there 
is  no  tablet  erected  to  his  memory,  and  suggesting  that  one  be  erected.  The 
matter  was  referred  to  the  Tablet  Committee  and  a  tablet,  designed  by  Mr. 
Albert  Weinert,  will  be  placed  on  one  of  the  school  buildings  in  Jamaica, 
Long  Island,  and  unveiled  in  the  spring  with  appropriate  ceremonies. 

At  the  February  meeting  the  special  committee  appointed  to  work  for 
the  erection  of  a  statue  in  Albany  to  the  memory  of  General  Philip  Schuyler, 
consisting  of  Edgar  C.  Leonard,  Chairman,  Samuel  L.  Munson,  Arthur  G. 
Root,  M.  D.,  William  G.  Bates  and  Robert  C.  Morris,  were  instructed  io 
use  their  efforts  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  bill  before  the  Legislature  for 
the  purchase  by  the  State  of  the  historic  Schuyler  Mansion.  The  bill  has 
since  been  passed  and  the  mansion  acquired  for  the  purpose  of  a  museum, 
so  that  it  will  be  preserved. 

A  letter  was  read  from  Captain  G.  de  Grasse  Catlin  suggesting  that  the 
Society  present  to  Battery  D,  5th  U.  S.  Field  Artillery,  formerly  Alexander 
Hamilton's  Battery,  a  guidon  flag,  to  replace  the  one  presented  to  the  Battery 
by  the  descendants  of  Alexander  Hamilton  twenty-nine  years  ago,  which 
is  now  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition.  The  matter  was  referred  to  Mr. 
James  Mortimer  Montgomery  with  power,  and  at  the  Banquet  of  the  Gen- 
eral Society  in  Washington,  a  handsome  flag  was"  presented  to  Major-Gen- 
eral Leonard  Wood,  U.  S.  A.,  for  the  Battery,  who  expressed  the  thanks 
of  the  Battery  to  the  Society. 

At  the  May  Meeting  of  the  Board,  Mr.  Beverly  Chew,  the  Chairman  of 
the  Museum  Committee,  reported  that  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Society,  had  presented  to  the  Society  a  plaster  cast  of  Houdon's 
bust  of  Admiral  John  Paul  Jones,  the  Founder  of  the  United  States  Navy, 
with  a  suitable  bracket,  which  has  been  placed  in  the  Museum. 

At  the  same  meeting  Mr.  John  Adams  Dix  presented  to  the  Society  the 
insignia  of  his  father,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Morgan  Dix,  for  the  use  of  its  Chaplain. 
The  insignia  was  acepted  with  thanks  and  has  since  been  put  in  perfect  con- 
dition and  presented  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer.  Chaplain  of  the  So- 
ciety. 

A  letter  has  been  received  from  Bishop  Greer  offering  the  use  of  the 
Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine  for  the  next  Annual  Church  Service  of  the 
Society  and  expressing  the  hope  that  he  will  be  able  to  accept  the  invitation 
of  the  Society  to  preach  on  that  occasion. 

At  the  October  meeting  of  the  Board,  the  Committee  on  Constitution 
and  By-Laws  recommended  amendments  to  the  By-Laws,  as  to  the  duties 

19 


of  Officers  and  Committees,  which  were  endorsed  by  the  Board,  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Committee,  Mr.  Frederick  S.  Woodruff,  was  instructed  to 
present  them  at  the  Annual  Meeting  and  to  give  notice  of  a  motion  to  adopt 
at  a  future  meeting. 

At  the  same  meeting  the  following  resolution  with  regard  to  grave 
markers  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  that  the  Tablet  Committee  be  authorized  to  procure  grave 
markers  to  be  made  of  bronze  metal  of  the  present  design  but  with  a  suffi- 
ciently large  rim  or  margin  to  permit  of  the  insertion  of  the  soldier's  name 
and  corps  of  organization,  with  authority  to  place  markers  on  the  graves 
of  all  Revolutionary  soldiers  within  this  State  that  have  no  descendants  to 
pay  for  the  same,  and  the  committee  is  further  authorized  to  supply  such 
markers  at  cost  to  persons  who  desire  to  erect  them  and  to  send  out  a  cir- 
cular to  members  of  the  Society  to  this  effect. 

At  the  November  meeting  of  the  Board  President  Wetmore  appointed 
Messrs.  William  W.  Ladd,  James  May  Duane,  William  G.  Bates,  James  G. 
Cannon  and  Alexander  R.  Thompson  as  the  Finance  Committee. 

The  President  stated  that  a  letter  had  been  received  from  Commander 
W.  C.  Cole,  of  the  Navy,  calling  attention  to  the  dilapidated  condition  of 
the  naval  battle  flags  and  requesting  the  endorsement  by  the  Society  of  a 
bill  to  be  presented  to  Congress  for  their  preservation. 

It  was  resolved  to  send  out  a  circular  letter  on  the  subject  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Society  and  to  enclose  a  copy  of  Commander  Cole's  letter. 

A  delegation  of  the  Board  of  Managers,  headed  by  Mr.  Frederick  S. 
Woodruff,  the  Third  Vice-President,  accepted  an  invitation  to  visit  the 
Philip  Livingston  Chapter  of  Albany  on  January  14,  1911.  The  party  was 
received  with  great  courtesy  and  hospitably  entertained  at  the  Fort  Orange 
Club.    They  were  also  taken  to  many  places  of  historic  interest. 

The  Triennial  Meeting  of  the  General  Society  on  April  18  and  19,  1911, 
was  one  of  special  interest  on  account  of  the  unveiling  on  Tuesday,  April 
18,  of  the  monument  at  Annapolis,  Maryland,  erected  by  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  to  the  memory  of  the  French  soldiers  and  sailors  who  sacrificed 
their  lives  in  the  Revolution.  The  ceremonies  consisted  of  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  monument  to  the  custody  of  St.  John's  College,  Annapolis,  by 
Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  General  President  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution ; 
unveiling  of  the  monument  by  Miss  Amelie  de  Pau  Fowler,  a  descendant 
of  Count  de  Grasse,  and  the  Count  de  Chambrun,  a  descendant  of  Marquis 
de  Lafayette;  acceptance  of  the  custody  of  the  monument  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Fell,  President  of  St.  John's  College;  Address  by  His  Excellency,  William 
H.  Taft,  the  President  of  the  United  States  ;  Address  by  M.  Jean  J.  Jusser- 

20 


and,  Ambassador  of  France;  Benediction  by  the  Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys, 
S.  T.  D.,  Assistant  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of 
New  York.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremonies  a  special  drill  was  given 
by  the  cadets  of  the  Naval  Academy. 

The  Triennial  Meeting  was  held  at  the  New  Willard  Hotel,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  on  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  April  19,  the  following  delegates 
representing  the  New  York  Society:  Messrs.  Edmund  Wetmore,  Robert 
Olyphant,  Frederick  S.  Woodruff,  Henry  Russell  Drowne,  William  W.  Ladd, 
Talbot  Olyphant,  John  B.  Holland,  Harry  D.  Spears,  Robert  M.  Codd,  Ed- 
win E.  Swift,  M.  D.,  J.  Wray  Cleveland,  Benjamin  R.  Lummis,  J.  Morgan 
Howe,  James  Van  Dyk,  John  H.  Prall,  Talbot  Root,  Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown, 
William  B.  Davenport,  Warren  S.  Sillcocks,  William  A.  Fuller,  F.  Murray 
Olyphant,  William  W.  Owens,  Levi  Holbrook  and  Emerson  Chamberlin. 

On  Wednesday  afternoon  the  Society  went  to  Fort  Meyer,  Virginia, 
where,  through  the  courtesy  of  Frederick  D.  Grant,  U.  S.  A.,  commanding 
the  Department  of  the  East,  a  special  drill  was  ordered  by  Colonel  Joseph 
Garrard,  U.  S.  A.,  commanding  the  15th  Cavalry.  In  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  the  General  Society  entertained  its  members  and  guests  at  a  superb 
Banquet  in  the  New  Willard  Hotel. 

The  Society  accepted  an  invitation  to  participate  in  the  Fourth  of  July 
Celebration  at  the  City  Hall,  New  York  City,  serving  as  escort  to  the  Mayor 
and  joining  in  the  Parade  of  Nations.  Although  the  day  was  intensely  hot 
about  fifty  members  of  the  Society  paraded  from  Fraunces  Tavern  under 
the  leadership  of  President  Edmund  Wetmore  and  headed  by  a  fifer  and 
drummer  and  seven  flag  bearers  dressed  in  Continental  uniform  and  carry- 
ing the  handsome  silk  flags  of  the  Society.  Of  the  members  who  took  part, 
Mr.  Joseph  L.  Delafield  was  Secretary  of  the  City  Hall  Celebration  Com- 
mittee ;  Col.  John  B.  Holland,  Marshal  of  the  Parade  of  Nations ;  and  Col. 
Eugene  K.  Austin,  Marshal  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  delegation.  The 
others  were  William  W.  Atwood,  Frederick  H.  Brooks,  Nathan  G.  Boze- 
man,  M.  D.,  Henry  J.  Brightman,  Edward  D.  Butler,  Alexander  O.  Burn- 
ham,  John  W.  Benson,  Henry  S.  Colding,  D.  D.  S.,  Wallace  D.  Chace, 
Horace  J.  Campbell,  Edward  P.  Casey,  James  H.  Elmore,  Charles  W.  Fash, 
Morris  P.  Ferris,  Theodore  W.  Frink,  William  C.  Gilley,  M.  D.,  Edwin 
D.  Graff,  Stephen  W.  Giles,  Clinton  B.  Hale,  Floyd  M.  Horton,  Henry  C. 
Jahne,  Samuel  M.  Kookogey,  Clarence  E.  Leonard,  C.  Percy  Latting,  Jr., 
William  W.  Ladd,  Harvey  K.  Lines,  Richard  M.  Montgomery,  Jr.,  Frank 
L.  Moore,  Henry  R.  Mygatt,  Edward  L.  Parris,  Peter  Palmer,  Charles  E. 
Perkins,  Henry  Cole  Smith,  Robert  L.  Stedman,  Andrew  D.  Salkeld,  Fred- 
erick H.  Sanford,  Preston  L.  Talley,  Zelah  Van  Loan,  John  H.  Wood,  Al- 

21 


bert  T.  Weston,  AI..D.,  Louis  F.  W.  Wallace,  Philip  L.  Watkins,  John  W. 
Wainwright,  M.  D.,  and  Abram  Wakeman.  There  were  also  in  the  proces- 
sion three  prospective  members  of  the  Society,  Frank  D.  Hale,  Jared  B. 
Moore  and  Edward  B.  Idell,  a  brother,  son  and  grandson  of  members,  and 
Cecil  F;  Colton,  a  member  of  the  Rhode  Island  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 

The  Essay  Committee  reported  one  hundred  and  seven  essays  received 
from  seventy-two  schools  on  the  subject,  "The  Assistance  from  France  in 
Our  Revolution — Its  Basis,  Effect  and  Result,"  and  that  prizes  and  honor- 
able mention  had  been  awarded  as  follows: 

First  Prize— George  A.  Neubauer,  Buffalo  Central  High  School,  Buf- 
falo, N.  Y. 

Second  Prize  Winifred  Fisher,  Schenectady  High  School,  Schenec- 
tady, N.  Y. 

Third  Prize — Marjorie  Hunt,  Girls  High  School,  Borough  of  Brook- 
lyn, New  York  City. 

Honorable  Mention. 

Harold  B.  Allen,  Albion  High  School,  Albion,  N.  Y. 

Sidney  B.  Pfeifer,  Buffalo  Central  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Thomas  Haven  Ross,  Jr.,  Cato  High  School,  Cato,  N.  Y. 

Hazel  M.  Bailey,  Oneonta  High  School,  Oneonta,  N.  Y. 

Myron  Blumenthal,  Stuyvesant  High  School,  Borough  of  Manhattan, 
New  York  City. 

W.  A.  Hanft,  Flushing  High  School,  Flushing,  Borough  of  Queens, 
New  York  City. 

Thyra  M.  Jerennassen,  Ithaca  High  School,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

Herbert  W.  Schneider,  Boys  High  School,  Borough  of  Brooklyn, 
New  York  City. 

The  three  prizes  essays  are  printed  at  the  close  of  the  reports,  speeches, 

etc. 

The  Society  during  the  year  has  received  invitations  to  the  following 

banquets : 

Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 

Society  of  the  War  of  1812, 

Holland  Society, 

Society   of  the   Cincinnati. 

Friendlv  Sons  of  St.   Patrick. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Saint  Andrew's  Society, 
and  has  also  received  invitations  to  the  following  functions : 

22 


Reception  to  the  President  of  the  United  States :  Military  Order 
of  Foreign  Wars. 

Reception:  Daughters  of  the  Cincinnati. 

Reception:  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

Reception  to  the  Honorable  Richard  Bartholdt  on  Steamship, 
George  Washington,  Hoboken,  N.  J. :  Daughters  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution. 

Church  Service:  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

Unveiling  of  Tablet  to  Anne  Hutchinson  in  Pelham  Park,  N.  Y. : 
The  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

Unveiling  of  Tablet  to  Lafayette  in  Public  School  Number  3,  New 
York  City :  John  E.  Wade,  Principal. 

Exhibition  of  Antiques  and  Heirlooms :  Kings  County  Historical 
Society,  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  New  York  City. 

Laying  of  corner  stone  of  a  memorial  and  historical  building, 
Topeka,  Kansas :  Kansas  State  Historical  Society. 

Annual  Church  Service  of  The  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  of  the 
State  of  New  York  and  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812  in  the 
Chapel  of  Saint  Cornelius  the  Centurion,  Governors  Island,  N.  Y. 

The   Secretaries  of  our  Chapters  give  the   following   reports   for  the 
vear : 


BUFFALO  ASSOCIATION,  Buffalo,  X.  V. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Buffalo  Association,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, the  following  officers  were  elected:  Robert  M.  Codd,  President; 
Louis  W.  Simpson,  Vice-President;  George  W.  Comstock,  Secretary  and 
Treasurer.  Three  meetings  were  held  during  the  year,  at  each  of  which 
papers  were  read  of  an  interesting  character,  on  Revolutionary  topics.  A 
fourth  meeting  was  abandoned  owing  to  the  death  of  the  venerable  mother 
of  the  President. 

A  series  of  meetings  for  the  coming  year  is  now  being  arranged  for. 

There  have  been  no  deaths  among  the  members  of  the  Association  dur- 
ing the  year. 

Buffalo,  New  York,  October  16,  1911. 

George  W.  Comstock; 
Secretary. 

23 


PHILIP  LIVINGSTON  CHAPTER,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

The  past  twelve-month  has  been  one  of  which  the  Chapter  may  well 
feel  proud.  Increasing  activity  along  the  lines  laid  down  in  our  Institution, 
and  constantly  growing  membership,  have  borne  witness  to  the  prosperity  of 
our  organization. 

The  following  is  a  resume  of  the  year : 

The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Chapter  was  held  at  the  Albany  Country 
Club  on  the  evening  of  January  14,  1911,  at  which  the  following  officers 
were  unanimously  chosen  for  the  coming  year :  Regent,  Edgar  Cotrell  Leon- 
ard ;  Vice-Regent,  Howard  Newton  Fuller ;  Secretary,  Borden  Hicks  Mills , 
Treasurer,  Herbert  Whiting  Stickney ;  Registrar,  Edward  Willard  Wet- 
more;  Historian,  George  Elmer  Gorham ;  Chaplain,  Charles  Grenville  Se- 
wall ;  Marshal,  Edgar  Albert  Vander  Veer;  Curator,  Isaac  Henry  Vroo- 
man,  Jr. 

Following  the  meeting,  Fifty-four  members  of  the  Chapter  and  eight 
guests  partook  of  the  Annual  Dinner.  The  speakers  on  this  occasion  were 
Hon.  William  P.  Rudd,  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  former  Re- 
gent of  the  Chapter;  Dr.  George  B.  Stewart,  President  of  Auburn  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Frederic  G.  Mather,  of  the  New  York  Society,  and  Fred- 
erick S.  Woodruff,  Vice-President  of  the  State  Society. 

The  Chapter  had  been  active  throughout  the  year  in  support  of  the 
movement  looking  to  the  purchase  of  the  Schuyler  Mansion  by  the  State, 
and  largely  on  account  of  a  hearing  given  to  the  Chapter  by  the  Governor 
on  March  22,  the  bill  authorizing  the  purchase  of  this  historic  landmark  be- 
came a  law  on  that  date.  Our  Regent,  Mr.  Edgar  C.  Leonard,  was  later 
named  by  Governor  Dix  as  a  member  of  the  Commission  which  will  have 
the  management  of  the  Mansion. 

Prof.  Edward  Willard  Wetmore,  a  Charter  Alember  of  our  Chapter 
and  for  many  years  its  Registrar,  passed  away  on  the  same  day,  and  in  his 
death  the  Chapter  in  particular  and  the  Society  in  general,  suffered  a  dis- 
tinct loss. 

The  Quarterly  meeting  of  the  Chapter  was  Held  at  the  University  Club 
on  March  29,  on  which  occasion  the  members  were  entertained  in  a  most 
delightful  and  interesting  manner  by  Dr.  Oscar  D.  Robinson,  Principal  of 
the  Albany  High  School,  with  a  paper  on  "  The  Vicksburg  Campaign  " 
and  by  Mr.  Isaac  Henry  Vrooman,  Jr.,  Curator  of  the  Chapter,  with  a  dis- 
sertation on  "  When  Was  the  Schuyler  Mansion  Constructed,  and  by 
Whom?" 

24 


On  Wednesday,  April  19,  in  celebration  of  the  136th  Anniversary  of  the 
Battle  of  Lexington,  public  announcement  and  award  was  made  of  the  prizes 
previously  offered  by  the  Chapter  to  students  of  the  secondary  schools  of 
Albany  for  essays  on  subjects  connected  with  the  Revolutionary  history 
of  Albany,  as  follows:  First  Prize,  to  Miss  Inez  C.  Bentley,  of  the  Albany 
High  School,  for  essay  on  "Historic  Landmarks  of  the  Revolution  in  and 
about  Albany  " ;  Second  Prize,  to  Miss  Edith  M.  Bell,  of  the  Albany  High 
School,  for  essay  on  "  The  Schuyler-Gates  Controversy,"  and  Third  Prize, 
to  Miss  Alice  E.  Cassidy,  of  St.  John's  Academy,  for  esasy  on  "  Old  Albany 
Customs  of  the  Eighteenth  Century." 

A  large  number  of  highly  creditable  essays  were  received  in  the  com- 
petition, great  interest  was  shown  by  the  pupils  of  the  schools  generally, 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  Chapter  will  make  the  contest  an  annual  feature 
of  its  work. 

At  the  Quarterly  meeting  held  at  the  University  Club  on  the  evening  of 
May  24,  Mr.  Borden  H.  Mills  read  a  paper  on  "  Captain  Jonas  Hubbard's 
Company  in  Arnold's  Quebec  Expedition." 

The  program  for  the  October  Quarterly  meeting  included  a  paper  on 
"Benedict  Arnold  "  by  Rev.  Charles  G.  Sewall,  and  one  on  "The  Science 
of  Military  Surgery  during  the  Revolution  "  by  Dr.  Albert  Vander  Veer. 

A  Committee  has  been  appointed  by  the  Chapter  to  undertake  the  rais- 
ing of  a  fund  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  marker  on  the  Battlefield  of 
Saratoga  to  commemorate  the  services  of  General  Abraham  Ten  Broeck 
and  the  New  York  troops  who  served  under  him  at  that  battle,  and  is  now 
actively  at  work. 

The  Executive  Board  has  held  thirteen  meetings  during  the  year.  Eigh- 
teen candidates  for  membership  have  been  elected  on  their  preliminary  ap- 
plications, two  members  of  the  State  Society  have  been  received  into  Chap- 
ter membership,  and  eighteen  candidates  recommended  by  the  Chapter 
have  been  elected  to  membership  by  the  Board  of  Managers. 

Mr.  Charles  Francis  Bridge  has  been  elected  Regent  by  the  Executive 
Board  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Mr.  Edgar  C.  Leonard,  who  resigned, 
and  Mr.  Peter  Gansevoort  Ten  Eyck  was  elected  Curator  in  place  of  Mr. 
Bridge. 

The  present  active  membership  of  the  Chapter  is  150,  a  net  gain  over 
last  year  of  sixteen — the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  Chapter. 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  November  14,  1911. 

Borden  H.  Mills, 

Secretary. 

25 


FORT  SCHUYLER  CHAPTER,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

The  Chapter  held  its  annual  meeting-  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  on  the  22d  day 
of  February,  1911,  the  Regent,  General  Sylvester  Dering,  presiding.  Offi- 
cers were  duly  elected  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  Treasurer,  J.  Francis  Day,  reported  a  balance  on  hand  of  $340.2^. 

The  Historian,  Wadsworth  Leach  Goodier,  chronicled  the  deaths  of 
William  Livingston  Watson  and  Herman  Isaiah  Johnson  and  read  a  most  in- 
teresting narrative  of  their  lives. 

He  also  gave  an  account  of  the  ceremonies  participated  in  by  the  Fort 
Schuyler  Chapter  in  connection  with  the  unveiling  of  the  granite  monument 
to  mark  the  site  of  old  Fort  Schuyler  on  Columbus  Day,  October  12.  1910. 

Several  interesting  donations  were  received  and  the  thanks  of  the  Chap- 
ter extended  for  same. 

The  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Chapter  was  held  in  the  evening.  The 
speakers  on  this  occasion  were  the  Hon.  Thomas  W.  Bacot,  of  Charleston, 
S.  C,  Prof.  N.  L.  Andrews  and  the  Rev.  Octavius  Applegate.  They  were 
followed  by  the  Rev.  Dana  W.  Bigelow,  D.  D..  who  made  an  address  on 
Samuel  Kirkland,  the  Missionary  Patriot. 

A  meeting  of  the  Chapter  was  held  on  July  6,  1911. 

Utica,  N.  Y.,  November  14,   1911. 

Abram  Vedder  Brower, 

Secretary. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  has  published  its  Reports  and  Proceedings 
for  1911.  with  the  names  of  its  thirty-seven  members  and  a  list  of  donations 
received,  etc.,  which  makes  a  very  creditable  showing. 


JAMESTOWN  CHAPTER,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

Jamestown  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  at  its  annual  meeting 
elected  the  following  officers :  Regent,  Major  Winfield  S.  Cameron,  James-: 
town,  N.  Y. ;  Vice-Regent,  Gilbert  W.  Strong,  Sherman,  N.  Y. ;  Historian, 
Abner  Hazeltine,  Jamestown.  N.  Y. ;  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  Frank  H. 
.Mott.  Jamestown,  N,  Y. 

The  Society  participated  with  other  patriotic  organizations  in  an  ap- 
propriate celebration  of  Washington's  birthday,  February  22.  1911,  which 
was  held  at  Institute  Hall,  in  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

The  Chapter  offered  a  prize  of  $10.00  to  the  young  man  of  the  High 
School  passing  the  best  examination  on  the  subject  of  Alexander  Hamilton. 


26 


There  were  seven  contestants  and  the  prize  was  awarded  to  J.  Russell  Rog- 
er son. 

Wednesday  evening,  April  19,  last,  the  members  of  the  Chapter  were 
entertained  at  dinner  by  Captain  Fred  W.  Hyde. 

Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  20.  1911. 

Frank  H.  Mott, 

Secretary. 

WILLIAM  FLOYD  CHAPTER,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

The  annual- meeting  of  the  William  Floyd  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution, was  held  at  the  Troy  Club  on  February  22,  1911,  when  the  follow- 
ing officers  were  elected:  Colonel  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent;  Dr.  Russell 
F.  Benson,  Vice-Regent;  David  Banks  Plum,  Treasurer;  William  Barker, 
Jr.,  Secretary. 

After  the  election  the  Rev.  Charles  M.  Nickerson  delivered  an  address 
which  was  followed  by  a  collation. 

Three  new  members  were  elected  during  the  year,  making  a  total  mem- 
bership of  seventy-six. 

Troy.  N.  Y,  November  20,  1911. 

William  Barker,  Jr., 

Secretary.  William  Floyd  Chapter. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution. 


During  the  year  a  very  complete  card  index  of  members  and  ancestors, 
with  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  members,  has  been  compiled.  It  was  found 
on  its  completion  that  there  are  about  thirteen  hundred  of  these  juniors,  of 
whom  about  five  hundred  and  fifty  are  of  age  at  the  present  time.  A  cir- 
cular has  already  been  sent  to  the  fathers  of  those  who  are  of  age,  asking 
them  to  impress  on  their  sons  the  desirabilitv  of  joining  this  Society,  and 
offering  to  prepare  application  papers  from  their  fathers'  on  file  with  the 
Society.  As  more  of  the  younger  sons  become  of  age  we  will  send  a  simi- 
lar letter  to  the  fathers,  and  it  is  thought,  in  this  way,  the  membership  of 
the  Society  can  be  largely  increased.  Members  who  have  not  already  done 
so  are  requested  to  send  in  the  names  with  dates  of  birth  of  sons,  grand- 
sons and  nephews,  so  that  they  may  be  included  in  our  card  index,  and 
to  see  that  they  become  members  of  the  Society,  so  that  the  work  may  be 
carried  on  in  perpetuity. 

27 


The  Library  of  the  Society  is  growing  slowly  and  surely  and  our  Mu- 
seum has  received  a  number  of  important  additions,  among  which  it  seems 
desirable  to  mention  an  interesting  old  'bowl  having  on  it  the  portrait  of 
Lieutenant-General  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  K.  B. 

For  the  historic  "  Long  Room  "  we  have  received  a  fine  oil  painting  of 
Major-General  Alexander  McDougall,  a  gift  from  Hon.  McDougall  Hawkes. 

The  two  following  portraits  have  also  been  promised :  Alexander  Ham- 
ilton, by  William  Pierson  Hamilton,  a  member  of  the  Society ;  and  Major- 
General  Philip  Schuyler,  by  Howard  Townsend. 

Our  members  should  not  fail  to  visit  Fraunces  Tavern  and  see  the 
"  Long  Room  "  and  inspect  our  collection  of  interesting  relics  and  docu- 
ments in  the  museum.  At  the  same  time  should  they  desire  any  refreshment 
they  will  find  a  fine  restaurant  on  the  lower  floor,  as  well  as  the  members' 
dining   room   above. 

There  have  been  sixty-three  hundred  and  twenty-five  visitors  registered 
in  the  "Long  Room"  for  1911. 

During  the  past  year  there  have  been  one  hundred  and  nineteen  mem- 
bers admitted,  fifty-one  died,  one  transferred,  nine  resigned  and  seventeen 
dropped  for  non-payment  of  dues.  The  Society  now  has  on  its  rolls 
twenty-two  hundred  and  six  members. 

The  Secretary  desires  to  express  his  thanks  to  Mr.  Louis  B.  Wilson, 
the  Curator,  for  his  very  efficient  assistance  during  the  past  year,  as  also  to 
the  Assistant  Secretary,  Col.  Eugene  K.  Austin. 

By  order  of  the  Board  of  Managers. 

Henry  Russell  Drowne, 

Secretary. 
Fraunces  Tavern,  New  York  City. 


2cS 


REPORT  OF  THE  HISTORIAN 


In  Memoriam 


Admitted. 

Collins  Lawton  Balch 1891 

Charles      Jefferson      Wright,      Brevet      Colonel, 

N.  H.  V.  Inf.,  1861-5 1893 

Frederick  Lines  Bradley 1892 

Hon.    Charles    Willoughby    Dayton,    Justice    Su- 
preme Court,  New  York 1889 

Henry    Edwin    Tremain,    A.B.,     LL.B.,     Brevet 

Brigadier-General,  U.  S.  V.,  1861-5 1886 

George  Clifford  Buell,  A.B 1895 

Rev.  James  Tuttle-Smith,  D.D 1888 

Augustine  Banks    1891 

Alexander  James  Clinton 1890 

Benjamin  Covel  Sparks 1906 

Evelyn  Pierrepont  Roberts 1890 

Eugene  de  Kay  Townsend,  Captain  71st  N.  Y.  V. 

Inf.,    1898    1908 

Charles  Arthur  Greene 1891 

James    Jackson    Higginson,    Captain    and    Brevet 

Major,  1st  Mass.  V.  Cav.,  1862-5 1908 

Henry  Burr  Barnes,  A.B.,  A.M 1890 

John   Lindsay    Hill 1885 

Jarvis  Bonesteel  Edson 1902 

Harold    Chandler   Kimball 1896 

Edward   Elsworth    1888 

Theodore  Frelinghuysen  Reed 1885 

John  Jesse  Lapham 1910 

Rev.  Erskine  Norman  White,  D.D 1891 

James  Bird  1896 

Wilson   de   Peyster  1901 

David  Banks   1891 

Frederic  Stark  Gillis,  LL.B 1899 

Edward  Willard  Wetmore,  A.M.,  Pd.D 1890 

James  Dudley  Perkins 1904 

Charles  Stedman  Bull,  A.B.,  A.M.,  M.D 1891 

George  W.  Van  Boskerck 1909 

29 


Died. 
September  24th,  1910. 

November  6th,  1910. 
December  4th,  1910. 

December  7th,  1910. 


December 
December 
December 
December 
December 
December 
December 


9th,  1910. 

17th,  1910. 

18th,  1910. 

19th,  1910. 

26th,  1910. 

27th,  1910. 

30th,  1910. 


December  31st,  1910. 
January  3rd,  1911. 

January  5th,  1911. 
January  12th,  1911. 
January  16th,  1911. 
January  26th,  1911. 
February  1st,  1911. 
February  2nd,  1911. 
February  2nd,  1911. 
February  11th,  1911. 
February  13th,  1911. 
March  5th,  1911. 
March  7th,  1911. 
March  11th,  1911. 
March  20th,  1911. 
March  22nd,  1911. 
March  27th,  1911. 
April    17th,  1911. 
April  21st,  1911. 


Richard  Church    

Samuel   William    Richardson 

William   Alexander   Smith 

Edward    Reuel    Smith 

Paul  Eugene  Jones 

Smith    Ely    \ 

William    Edward    Stillings 

William  Rogers  Morgan 

William    Henry   Jackson 

Rev.  William  Wallace  Atterbury,  D.D.. 

Rev.  Edward  Octavus  Flagg,  D.D 

Charles   Frederick  Wise 

Richard  Fitch  Hall 

Henry  Pierce  Stewart 

William  Rowland  

Roswell  Wilcox  Chamberlain 

Robert   Manley    Lyman 

James   Farwell  Cowee 

Henry  Evelyn  Pierrepont,  A.B.,  A.M .... 

Henry  Edwin   Cleveland 

John  Neilson  Carpender 

George  Stevens  Bell 


Admitted.  Died. 

1893  May  8th,  1911. 

1895  May  10th,  1911. 

1890  May  31st,  1911. 

1896  June  16th,  1911. 

1897  June  17th,  1911. 

1891  July  1st,  1911. 
1897  July  11th,  1911. 
1899  July  25th,  1911. 

1890  July  27th,  1911. 

1894  August  6th,  1911. 

1894  August  24th,  1911. 
1899  September  5th,  1911. 
1904  October  1st,  1911. 

1892  October  17th.  1911. 
1896  October  22nd,  1911. 

1903  October  24th,  1911. 

1893  October  27th,  1911. 
1908  October  31st,  1911. 

1891  November  4th,  1911. 

1904  November  20th,  1911. 
1888  November  21st,  1911. 

1895  November  25th,  1911. 

Respectfully   submitted, 

Talbot  Olyphant, 

Historian. 


30 


Members  Admitted 

January  1,  1910 — December  1,  1911. 


Members. 

1910 — Addis,   Roscoe  Darwin, 
Haworth,   N.  J. 

1911— Alexander,  Charles  Beatty, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Allen,  Edward  Warner, 
New  York  City. 


1910 — Aplington,  Horace  Thurber, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Atwood,  Edward  Stanley, 
New  York  City. 

1911— Bagg,  Egbert,  3d., 

Utica,  N.  Y. 

1910— Bancroft,  P.  Hubbard, 
New  York  City. 

1911— Barden,  William  Alfred, 
New  York  City. 


1911 — Beck,  James  Montgomery, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Beckwith,  Nathan, 

Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y. 


1910 — Bender,  Melvin  Thomas, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 


Ancestors. 

Asa  Davison  (1736-1824), 

Private,  Connecticut  Line. 

William   Ferguson    (1752-1791), 
Captain,  Pennsylvania  Artillery. 

Archelaus  Allen   (1749-1828), 
Private,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Aaron  Hall    (1760-1839), 

Private,  Connecticut  Line. 

Daniel  Piatt  (1738-1826), 

Captain,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Joshua  Webster   (1750-1830), 
Sergeant,    Connecticut    Line. 

David  Atwood  (1758-1817), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Daniel  Bagg  (1697-1784), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

John   Lay    (1737-1813), 

Private,  Connecticut  Line. 

William  Few   (1714-1828), 

Colonel,  Georgia  Militia. 
John   Bush    ( 1779), 

Lieutenant,  South  Carolina  Line. 

Eliakim    Darling. 

Private,  New  Hampshire  Militia. 

Sylvanus   Beckwith    (1742-1839), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Josiah  Gale   (1742-1798), 

First  Lieutenant,  New  York  Militia. 

Christian  Bender   (1732-1808), 
Sergeant,   New  York  Militia. 


31 


Mkmbers. 


Ancestors. 


1911 — Benson.  Arthur  Davis, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Best,  John  Seymour  Gardner, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Bicknell,  Eugene  Pintard, 
Woodmere,  L.  I. 


1910— Bond,   Walter   Huntington, 
Brooklyn,   N.  Y. 

1910— Bootey,  Edward  Robert. 
Jamestown,  X.  Y. 


1911— Booth,  Walter  Cowles, 
New  York  City. 

1911 — Bouck,  James  Barnes,  Jr. 
Brooklyn,  X.  Y. 


1911 — Brainard,  Charles  Green, 
Waterville,  X.  Y. 


1910— Brett,  Charles  Porter, 
Albany,  X.  Y. 

1910 — Brewer,  Charles  Davies, 
Brooklyn,   X.  Y. 

1911 — Brower,  Charles  Coffin, 

Mt.  Vernon,  X.  Y. 

1911— Brown.  Walter  Backus, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Bruce.    Matthew    Linn, 
New  Y<>rk  City. 

1911 — Bryan,  Robert  Townley, 
Xcw  York  City. 


Benjamin  Benson  (1732-1779), 

Private,  New  York  State  Militia. 

Joel  Champion   (1755-1846), 

Private,  Xew  York  Militia. 

William  Constable   (1751-1803), 

Major,     Aid-de-Camp     to     General 
Lafayette. 

Alpheus  Bigelow    (1757-1847), 

Gunner,  Massachusetts  Regiment  of 

Artillery. 


Jonathan  Gardner  (- 


-1824), 


Private,  Massachusetts  Line. 
Hendrick   Strunk, 

Private,    Xew  York  Militia. 

Samuel  Richards  (1753-1841), 

Lieutenant,    Connecticut    Line. 


Johannes  Bouck  (1720- 


-). 


2d  Lieutenant,  Xew  York  Militia. 
Eldad  Worcester  (1763-1853), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

William  Brainard   (1746-1820), 
Ensign,  Connecticut  Militia. 

James  Green    (1745-1817), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

George  Brett  (1751-1833), 

Private,  Xew  York  Militia. 

Jacob  Brewer   (1744-1815), 

Private,  Xew  York  Militia. 

John  Gustin   (1760-1830), 

Private,  Xew  Jersey  Militia. 

Cornelius  Van  Yeghten   (1735-1813), 
Lieutenant-Colonel,      Xew      York 
Militia. 

James  Linn   (1760-1838), 

Private,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 

Caleb  Kimball   (1744 ), 

Captain.  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Jonathan    Foster    (1747 ), 

Private,   Xew  Hampshire  Militia. 


32 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


1911— Burdett.    Cyril   Herbert, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Burhans,   Samuel, 

Westfield,  N.  J. 

1911— Byron,  Charles  Ely, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Cannon,  James  Graham, 
Scarsdale,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Cardoze,  Frederic  Theodore, 
Albany,   N.  Y. 

1910 — Catlin,  George  de  Grasse, 
Captain,    U.    S.    A., 

Fort  Snelling,  Minn. 

1911— Catlin,  Isaac  Swartvvout. 

Brigadier-General,  U.  S.  A.  (Re- 
tired), 
Fort  Snelling,  Minn. 

1910— Chace,  Wallace  David, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Chadbourne,  William  Merriam. 
New  York  Citv. 


1911— Chase,  Arthur  Booth, 

New  York  City. 

1910 — Congdon,  Herbert  Wheaton, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


1911— Cook,  Paul, 

Troy,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Cooke,   Henry  David, 

Lieutenant,  U.   S.  N., 
Washington,  D.  C. 

1910 — Coudert,  Norman  Joseph, 
New  York  Citv. 


Samuel   Gilchrist    (1754-1834), 

Private,    Rhode    Island    Continental 
Infantry. 


Samuel  Burhans   (1755- 


-), 


Private,      New      York     Continental 
Regiment. 

Daniel  Beckley  (1758-1843), 

Private,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Joseph  Enos  Goodrich, 

Private,   Massachusetts    Militia. 

Dirck  Wynkoop  (1732-1796), 

Member,  New  York  Assembly. 

Daniel  Shoemaker  (1752-1836), 

1st  Lieutenant  Pennsylvania  Militia. 

John  McDowell  (1714-1779), 

Ensign,  Pennsylvania  Battalion. 

John  Decker  (1735-1805), 

Major,  New  York  Militia. 


Solomon  Southwick  (1731-1787), 
Deputy  Commissary,  R.  I. 

Simeon  Chadbourne    (1750-1846), 

Sergeant,    Massachusetts    Continen- 
tal Regiment. 

Samuel  Lancey   (1760-1837), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Line. 

Jonathan  Greenleaf  (1723-1807), 

Member,    Massachusetts    Provincial 
Congress,  1775. 

Moses  Greenleaf  (1755-1812), 
Captain,  Massachusetts  Line. 

Ellis  Cook   (1732-1797), 

Colonel,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Asher  Humphreys   (1759-1826), 
Private,   Connecticut  Militia. 

Samuel  Edmonds  (1760-1826), 
Ensign,  New  York  Troops. 


oo 


Members. 

1911 — Cowec,  Harvey  Denison, 
Troy,   N.  Y. 


1911— Cowdin,  Winthrop, 

Mt.  Kisco,  N.  Y. 

1°11—  Crofts,  Clarence  Livingston, 
Little  Falls,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Crofts,  Frederick  Sharer, 
New  York  City. 

1911 — Crooks,  John   Strickland, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Crowell,  Charles  Edward,  Jr. 
New  York  Citv. 


1910 — Dale,  Francis  Colgate. 

New  York  City. 

1911— Davis.  Dudley, 

New  York  City. 


1911 — Davis,  Pierpont, 

New  York  City. 


ANCESTORS. 

James  Cowee   (1727-1801), 

Colonel.   Massachusetts  Militia. 
Abner  Holden   (1722-1805), 

Private,   Massachusetts    Militia. 
Edward  Jackson  (1739-1830), 

Private,    Massachusetts    Militia. 
Samuel  Merriam  (1723-1804), 

Private,   Massachusetts   Militia. 

Thomas  Cowdin  (1720-1792), 

Captain,   Massachusetts   Militia. 

Peter  R.  Livingston   (1737-1794), 
Colonel,  New  York   Militia. 

Peter  R.  Livingston  (1737-1794), 
Colonel,  New  York  Militia. 

John    Crooks    (1755-1822), 

Corporal,   Massachusetts   Militia. 

William   Popham    (1752-1847), 

Major,  Delaware  Continental  Regi- 
ment. 

James  Ferris  (1734-1780), 

Member  of  Committee,  New  York. 

Daniel  Lyman  (1756-1830), 

Colonel,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Aaron  Davis    (1709-1777), 

Colonel,  Massachusetts  Militia. 
Moses  Davis   (1744-1823), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 
Benjamin  Baker  (1753-1830), 

Private,  New  Hampshire  Continen- 
tal Regiment. 
Jesse  Davidson    (1758-1800), 

Private,   New   Hampshire   Militia. 
Silas  Whitney,  (1758-1838), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Aaron  Davis  (1709-1777). 

Colonel,   Massachusetts   Militia. 
Moses  Davis  (1744-1823). 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 
Benjamin  Baker   (1753-1830), 

Private,  New  Hampshire  Continen- 
tal Regiment. 
Jesse  Davidson  (1758-1800), 

Private,   New   Hampshire   Militia. 
Silas  Whitney   (1758-1838), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 


34 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


1910 — Demarest,  Benjamin  Garrison,  Ph.D., 
New  York  City. 

1911— De  Meli,  Henry  Gabriel  Diophebo, 
Rosebank,  N.  Y. 

1911— Diefendorf,  John  Edwards, 
Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y. 

1911— Dix,  John  Alden, 

Thomson,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Dominick,  Henry  Blanchard,  Jr., 
New  York  City. 


1910 — Doubleday,    George, 

New  York  City. 

1911 — Duane,  Richard  Bache, 
New  York  City. 


1910— Du  Bois,  Francis  Elbert,  M.D., 
Plainfield,  N.  J. 


1911 — Durston,  Harry  Cranston, 
Manlius,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Eaton,  Edward,  Cornelius,  Jr., 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1910— Edwards,  Oliver, 

Captain,  U.  S.  A., 

Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas. 

1911 — Elder,  Thomas  Lindsay, 
New  York  City. 


1910 — Enos,  Alanson  Trask,  Jr., 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Estes,   Eldridge  Warren, 

Jersey   City,   Ni"  J. 


Ebenezer  Wood  (1729-1810), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Simeon  Draper  (1765-1848). 

Private,  Massachusetts  Line. 

John  Jacob  Diefendorf  (1747-1839), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Ozias    Dix    (1750 ), 

Private,   Connecticut   Militia. 

George  Dominick   (1739-1832), 

Captain,  New  York  City  Militia. 

James   Cock    (1746-1801), 

Adjutant,  New  York  Militia. 

Seth  Doubleday   (1761-1836), 
Private,   Connecticut   Line. 

Benjamin  Franklin  (1706-1790), 

Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

Cornelius  C.  Wynkoop  (1732-1796), 
Captain,  New  York  Militia. 

Peter  Sylvester   (1734-1808), 

Member,      New     York      Provincial 
Congress,  1775-1776. 

Joseph  Edwards, 

Sergeant,    Connecticut    Militia. 

Samuel   Eaton    (1732-1820), 

Sergeant,  Massachusetts   Militia. 

Oliver  Edwards  (1755-1829), 

Private,    Massachusetts   Militia. 


Robert  Elder  (1751-1837), 

Private,  Pennsylvania  Associators. 
Robert  Orr  (1744-1833), 

Captain,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 
Thomas  Whitesides  ( 1805), 

Captain,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 

Lawrence  Taylor   (1744-1785), 

1st  Lieutenant,  New  Jersey  Militia. 


Benjamin  Estes   (1761- 


-), 


Private,  New  York  Militia. 


35 


Members. 

1910 — Fairchild,  Benjamin  Tappen, 

Kingsbridge,   N.   Y.    City. 


1910 — Falconer,  Bruce  McLean, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Falconer,  William   Henry, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Findley,  William  Van  Brunt, 
New  York  City. 


1910 — Fleming,   Matthew   Corry, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Foster,  Clark  Harold, 
Troy,  N.  Y 

1910— Fox,  Noel  Bleecker, 

New  York  City. 


1911— French,  Elston  Marsh, 
Plainfield,  N.  J. 


1911 — Frink,  Theodore  Wimple, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Fuller,  George  Washington, 
Potsdam,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Fuller,  Thomas  Staples, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Furman,    George    Homan, 
Patchogue,   N.   Y. 

1910 — Gardner,  John  Charles  Fremont, 
New   York   City. 

1911 — Gossett,  Thomas  Henry, 
New   York   City. 

1911 — Graves,  Charles   Edwin, 
Albany,   N.  Y. 


Ancestors. 

Thomas  Elwood, 

Lieutenant    of    Marines   on    frigate 
"  Alliance." 

John   Falconer    (1747-1831), 
Ensign,  New  York  Militia. 

John  Falconer  (1747-1831), 
Ensign,  New  York  Militia. 

William  Findley  (1741-1821), 

Captain,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 

William  Amberson  (1755-1838), 

1st    Lieutenant,    Pennsylvania    Line 

John   Fleming   (1731-1814), 

Captain,    Pennsylvania   Militia. 

William  Foster    (1834-1825), 

Ensign,    Connecticut   Militia. 

Anthony     Lispenard     Bleecker      (1741- 
1816), 
Major,   New   York   City   Militia. 

David  French    (1747-1838), 

Private,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Lewis  Noe  (1760-1838), 

Private,   New  Jersey   Militia. 

Peter  Low    (1750-1820), 

Captain,    New    Jersey    Militia. 

Asa  Day   (1760-1853), 

Private,   Massachusetts   Line. 

Jones  Fuller  ( 1815), 

Private,   North  Carolina   Militia. 

Joseph  Homan  (1757-1846), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Latham  Gardner  (1760-1803), 
Served  on  the  "  Ranger." 

John  Gossett, 

Private,  Virginia  Line. 

Samuel  Shirts    (1752-1782), 
Private,    New   York   Line. 


36 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


1911 — Graves,  Guy  Anthony, 
Albany,   N.  Y. 

1911— Groo,   Scott, 

Boise,   Idaho. 

1911— Groo,    Virgil    Mair, 

American  Fork,  Utah. 

1910— Haines,    John    Peter, 

New  York  City. 

1911— Hale,   Clinton  Baker 

Jersey   City,   N.  J. 


1910 — Hall,   Benjamin  Furber, 
New  York  City. 

1911— Handy,  Cortlandt  Waite, 
New  York  City. 

1911 — Harrington,  Harry  Garfield, 
Newark,  N.  J. 

1911 — Harrington,   Joseph    Washington, 
Newark,   N.   J. 

1911— Hawley,   Cornell   Smith, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1911— Hay,  Woodhull, 

New  York  City. 


1910— Hecker,   John   McKeon, 
New  York   City. 


1911— Hill,   William   Ely, 

New  York  City. 


Samuel  Shirts   (1752-1782), 
Private,   New   York  Line. 

Samuel   Groo    (1755-1825), 

Private,    Connecticut  Line. 

Samuel   Groo    (1755-1825), 
Private,  Connecticut  Line. 

John  Stagg  (1732-1803), 

Member  of  Assembly,  N.  Y. 

Moses  Field   (1722-1815), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 
Richard  Woolworth    (1717-1802), 

Corporal,   Massachusetts   Militia. 
Shubael,  Baker,  Jr., 

2d    Lieutenant,    Massachusetts    Mil- 
itia. 
Seth  Allen   ( 1838), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Samuel  Lancey    (1760-1837), 

Private,    Massachusetts    Line. 

Samuel    Sloane     (1740-1813), 

Captain,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

William  Vanhorn   (1754-1826), 

Private,    Pennsylvania    Militia. 

William    Vanhorn     (1754-1826), 
Private,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 

Jehiel  Bouton  (1731 ), 

Ensign,  New  York  Militia. 

Samuel  Chamberlain  (1724-1802), 

Member  of   House   of  Representa- 
tives, N.   H. 

John  Woodhull  (1719-1794), 

Member  of  Committee,  N.  Y. 

Ashbel  Martin   (1760-1833), 

Private,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Josiah      Winslow      Wentworth      (1752- 
1841), 
Private,      Connecticut      Continental 
Infantry. 

Samuel    Sloane    (1740-1813), 

Captain,   Massachusetts   Militia. 


37 


Members. 

1910 — Hinman,  Edward,  Jr., 

Brooklyn,   N.   Y. 

1911 — Hodges,  George  Winthrop, 

Pelham  Manor,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Holcombe,  Charles  Spencer, 
Cape  Vincent,  N.  Y. 

1910— Horton,  Floyd  Melvin, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Howell,  Charles  Fish, 
New  York  City 


1910— Hoyt,    Lydig. 

New  York  City. 


1911 — Hughes,   James   Rowland, 
New  York  City. 

1911 — Humphreys,  Frederic  Erastus, 
New  York  City. 

1911— Hurd,  Charles  Russell, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Hutchins,  Walter  Luce, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 


1910 — Jones,   Charles   Landon, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Jones,  De  Witt  Clinton,  Jr., 
Elizabeth,  N.  J.  " 


AXCESTORS. 

Benjamin  Hinman   (1720-1810), 
Colonel,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Joseph  Hodges  (1752-1810), 

Captain,   Massachusetts   Militia. 

Abner  Holcombe    (1752-1839), 
Private,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Thomas  Horton   (1724-1778), 
Captain,  New  York  Militia. 

Charles  Howell   (1741-1797), 

Ensign,  New  Jersey  State  Troops. 
William  Garrison   (1742-1785), 

Captain,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Morgan  Lewis    (1754-1844), 

Colonel,  N.  Y.  Militia. 
Francis   Lewis    (1713-1802), 

Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

Isaac   Anderson    (1758-1829), 

Lieutenant,   Pennsylvania   Militia. 

Asher  Humphreys    (1759-1826), 
Private,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Oliver  Edwards   (1755-1829), 

Private,    Massachusetts   Militia. 

William  Hutchins, 

Captain,    Vermont    Militia. 
Peter  Snell   (1730-1804), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Dr.  Samuel  Cobb  (1717-1781), 
Member  of  Assembly,  Conn. 

James    Clinton     (1738-1812), 

Brevet    Major-General,    Continental 
Army. 
Ebenezer  Crosby   (1753-1788), 

Surgeon,  Washington  Life  Guards, 
Massachusetts. 
William  Floyd  (1734-1821), 

Colonel,  New  York  Militia. 
John  Neilson   (1745-1833), 

Brigadier-Genera],  New  Jersey  Mil- 
itia. 
Samuel  Jones    (1734-1817), 

Member  of  Committee,  N.  Y. 


38 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


1911 — Jones,   Walter   Rysam. 

New  York  City. 

1910— Keator,  Frederic  Rose, 
New  York  City. 


1911— Keller,    William    Brodhead,   Jr., 
New  York  City. 

1911— Kellogg,  Andrew  Hyde, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Kunhardt,  Henry  Rudolph,  3d, 
New  York  City. 

1910— La  Fetra,  Edward  Burrough, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — *Lapham,  John  Jesse, 

New  York  City. 

1911 — Latting,    Emerson, 

New   York   City. 

1911— Lawson,  Joseph  Albert, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Lawton,  Jenkins  Mikell, 
Brooklyn,   N.   Y. 

1910 — Leach,    Rev.    Floyd    Swallow, 
A.  B.,  A.  M.,  B.  D., 
New    York    City. 

1910— Leavenworth,   Ellis  Willard, 
New  York  City. 

1911 — Lent,    Frank   Andrew, 

New  York  City. 

1910 — Lottimer,  William  Gardner, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Luther,  Edward  Staats, 
New  York   City. 

1911— McCahill,  Thomas  Jay,  Jr., 
New   York   City. 


Ezekiel  Mulford  (1727-1819), 
Captain,  New  York  Militia. 

Peter  Roggen   (1752 ), 

2d    Lieutenant,    New    York    Conti- 
nental Regiment. 
John    More    (1745-1840), 

Private,   New  York  Militia. 

Daniel  Gore   (1746-1809), 

Captain,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Thomas  French    (1752-1822), 

Captain,    Massachusetts   Militia. 

Daniel  Ingalls    (1758-1832), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Thomas  Little   (1741-1810), 

Captain,   New  Jersey   Militia. 

Micah  Vail   (1730-1777), 

Captain,  Green  Mountain  Boys. 

Daniel  Hopkins,  D.  D.   (1734-1814), 
Chaplain,   Massachusetts   Militia. 

Isaac  Lawson  (1760-1839), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Joseph   Maybank    (1735-1783), 

Colonel,  South  Carolina  Militia. 

Jabez   Leach, 

Private,    Connecticut    State   Troops 

David  Leavenworth   (1738-1820), 
Captain,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Isaac  Lent    (1764-1849), 

Sergeant,  New  York  Line. 

Elisha   Wells    (1750-1836), 

Private,    Connecticut   Line. 

Philip   Staats    (1754-1821), 

2d  Lieutenant,  New  York  Militia. 

George  Reid    (1733-1815), 

Lieutenant-Colonel,      New      Hamp- 
shire   Line. 


39 


Members. 

1910— McClurkin,  John  Howe, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Maires,  Samuel  Evans, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Mann,   Herbert   Roome, 
Troy,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Mapes,    Samuel   Herbert, 
Ramapo,   N.   Y. 

1911 — Matthews,   Thomas   Anson, 
New  York   City. 

1911— Mattice,  Paul  Brown, 

Middleburgh,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Maynard,  Morton  Kiah, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Merwin,    Horace   Willard,   Jr., 
New  York  City. 

1910—  Mills,  Theodore  Denton,  M.  D., 
Middletown,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Moore,  Allen  Henry, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Munson,  Edward  Garry, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1910— Mygatt,    Henry   Rowland, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Nash,   Charles  White, 
Albany,   N.   Y. 

1911— Newman,    Henry, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 

1910— Norton,   Ex, 

New   Brighton,   S.   I. 

1911 — Ott,   Harrison  Worthington, 
New  York  City. 

1910— Park,  Julian, 

Buffalo.  N.  Y. 


Ancestors. 

Matthew    McClurkin    (1761-1847), 
Private,  South  Carolina  Militia. 

George  Anderson   (1751-1839), 
Captain,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Michael  Mann  (1745-1823), 
Private,  New  York  Line. 

Henry  Mapes    (1735 ), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Richard    Thorne, 

Major,  New  York  Militia. 

Conrad   Mattice    (1744 ), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Nathaniel  French  (1760-1834), 
Private,    Massachusetts    Line. 

Jacob  C.  Van  Hoesen  (1756-1809), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Daniel  Bailey   (1757-1841), 

Sergeant,  New  York  Militia. 

Luke  Moore   (1736-1836), 

Sergeant,    Massachusetts    Militia. 

Stephen  Munson  (1759-1824), 

Private,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 

Eli  Mygatt   (1742-1807), 

Lieutenant-Colonel,  Connecticut 
Militia. 

John  Nash   (1747-1815), 

Sergeant,   New  York  Militia. 

James  Lyman    (1748-1804), 

Lieutenant,    Massachusetts    Militia 

John  Green   (1730-1793), 
Colonel,  Virginia  Line. 

John  Hart  (1708-1780), 

Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

Roswell   Park    (1758-1847), 

Private,  Connecticut   Militia. 

Loami  Baldwin   (1745-1807), 

Colonel,    Massachusetts    Continental 
Infantry. 


40 


Members. 

1911 — Parris,  Edward  Lowden,  Jr., 
New   York   City. 

1911— Peabody,   Marshall  Gralfs. 
Brooklyn,   N.   Y. 

1910— Pearsall,  Jay  Herbert, 
Westfield,   N.   J. 

1911 — Perry,   Alexander, 

New  York  City. 


1910 — Perry,    Alexander    Wallace, 

Captain,  U.  S.  A.   (Retired), 
Washington,   D.    C. 


1911 — Phelps,  William  Learned  Marcy, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1910— Pickerill,  Elmo  Neale, 

New  York  City. 

1911 — Prescott,  George  James, 
New   York    City. 

1911 — Raborg,    Paul    Christopher, 
2d  Lieutenant,  U.  S.  A., 
Washington,  D.  C. 

1911 — Rawson,   Sidney  Fuller, 

Port  Richmond,  S.  I. 

1911— Reed,  Henry  Budd-Stockton, 
New  York   City. 


.Ancestors. 

Josiah    Parris    (1760-1856), 

Sergeant,   Massachusetts   Militia- 
Richard   Peabody   (1731-1820), 

Captain,    Massachusetts    Militia. 

Thomas  Terry  (1724-1776), 

Colonel,  New  York  Militia. 

Christopher     Raymond      Perry      (1761- 
1818), 
Midshipman,      Continental      frigate 
"  Trumbull." 
William  Hull  (1753-1825), 

Lieutenant-Colonel,      Massachusetts 
Line. 

Christopher     Raymond      Perry      (1761- 
1818), 
Midshipman,      Continental      frigate 
"  Trumbull." 
John  Thatcher  (1740-1805), 

Captain    of    galley    "  Washington," 
Lake  Champlain. 

Amos  Adams    ( 1775), 

Chaplain,  Massachusetts  Continental 
Regiment. 

John  Phelps  (1758-1812), 

Lieutenant,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Samuel  Pickerill  (1757-1850), 

Drummer,  Virginia  State  Regiment 

Jeremiah  Prescott    (1741-1817), 

Captain,  New  Hampshire  Militia. 

Christopher   Raborg    (1750-1815), 
Private,  Continental  Infantry. 

Simeon  Rawson    (1753-1834), 

Fifer,  Massachusetts  Continental 
Infantry. 

Jacob  Reed   (1730-1820), 

Lieutenant-Colonel,  Pennsylvania 
Militia. 

James  Fitz-Randolph  (1735 ), 

Member,  Woodbridge,  New  Jersey 
Committee  of  Observation, 
1775. 


41 


Members.  • 


Ancestors. 


,1911 — Revere,  Herbert  Eugene, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


1911 — Rhoades,    John    Harsen, 
New  York   City. 

1911 — Risley,  John  Franklin, 

New  York  City. 


1910 — Robbins,  Louis  Leland, 
Nyack,  N.  Y. 


1911 — Robinson,  Rev.  Millard  Lyman, 
New  York   City. 

1911 — Rogers,  Henry  Livingston, 
New  York   City. 

1910— Root,  Theodore  Zadoc, 

Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

1911— Ross,  William,  Jr., 

Hastings-on-Hudson,    N. 

1910 — Rothenmeyer,  Herbert  Norris, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

1911— Sayres,  Gilbert  Barker, 

Richmond  Hill,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Seabrook,  Raymond, 

New  York  City. 

1911 — Seabnry,   William   Marston, 
Phoenix,    Arizona. 

1910—  Selkirk,   Alexander, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 


Paul  Revere   (1734-1818), 

Lieutenant-Colonel,      Massachusetts 
Militia. 
Paul  Revere,  Jr.   (1760-1813), 

Captain-Lieutenant,      Massachusetts 
Militia. 
Solomon  Peirce  (1742-1821), 

First      Lieutenant,       Massachusetts 
Militia. 

Samuel  Rhoades  (1737-1823), 

Private,    Massachusetts    Continental 

Infantry. 

John   Hubbell    (1745-1808), 

Lieutenant,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Isaac  Hadley    (1752-1836), 

Sergeant,  New  York  Levies. 


Jonathan  Robbins   (1742- 


-). 


Sergeant,  Massachusetts  Line. 
Alden  Burrill    (1753-1831). 

Private,  Artillery  Artificers,  Mass. 

Issachar  Robinson   (1753-1833), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 


William  Thompson    (- 


-1794), 


Adjutant,  Pennsylvania  Line. 

Jasper  Marsh    (1760-1841), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Line 

John  Addoms  (1737-1823), 
Major,  New  York  Militia. 

Nicholas  Keller, 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Isaac  Sayres  (1762-1842), 
Fifer,  New  Jersey  Line. 

Thomas  Seabrook  (1735-1805), 
Lieutenant-Colonel,      New 
State  Troops. 


Jersey 


Leonard  Lispenard   (1715-1790), 

Member  New  York  Provincial  Con- 
gress, May  22-November  4,  1775. 

James  Selkirk  (1757-1820), 
Sergeant,  New  York  Line. 


42 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


"1910— Selleck,  Franklin, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Sherman,  Charles  Fayerweather, 
Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Simpson,  Francis  Fielder, 
Matawan,  N.  J. 

1910— Smith,   Dwight, 

Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Smith,  Rev.  Edmund  Banks, 
Chaplain  to  U.  S.  Army, 
Governor's  Island,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Smith.  James  Reuel, 

New  York  City. 

1910 — Smith,  Leonard  Bacon,  Jr., 
New  York  City. 

1911— Smith,  Rev.  Milford  Hale, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1910— Smith,  Lyndon  Peck, 

Piermont,  N.  Y. 


1911— Smith,  William  Harvey,  Jr., 
Mamaroneck,  N.  Y. 

1911— Smith,  Wilmot  Moses,  Jr., 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Snow,   Elbridge  Gerry, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Snyder,  Harry  Lincoln, 
Montclair,   N.  J. 

1911 — Stanford,    Charles, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 


Joseph  Mather  (1753-1840), 

Ensign,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Chauncy  Downs   (1743-1814), 

Sergeant,  Connecticut  Militia. 

John  Clark  (1750-1806), 

Express    Rider,    New    Jersey    State 
Troops. 

Uriel  Smith   (1743-1818), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 


David  Banks   (1751- 


-). 


Corporal,   Connecticut   Militia. 

Joshua  Smith    (1744-1793), 

Corporal,   Massachusetts   Militia 

Richard  Montague  (1729-1794), 

Adjutant,    Massachusetts    Continen- 
tal Regiment. 

Dr.  Jacob  Ruback,  M.D.   (1740-1809), 
Surgeon,  Vermont  Rangers. 

Solomon  Bigelow   (1742-1808), 

Corporal,  Massachusetts  Continental 
Regiment. 
John    Boynton    (1736-1825), 

Captain,  Massachusetts  Militia. 
Thomas  Leland    (1760-1830), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Line. 
Joshua  Martin,  Jr.   (1751 ), 

Lieutenant,  Massachusetts  Militia. 
Ephraim  Sherman,  2d  (1734 ), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Ebenezer  Lockwood    (1737-1821), 
Major,  New  York  Militia. 

Theophilus  Wood   (1752-1793), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Jonathan  Coe   (1742-1824), 

Sergeant,    Connecticut   Militia. 

Aaron  Benedict  (1745-1841), 

Lieutenant,   Connecticut  Militia. 

Abner  Stanford  (1747-1821), 

Corporal,  Massachusetts  Line. 


43 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


1911— Stewart,  Rev.  George  Black,  D.D.. 
Auburn,  N.  Y. 

1911— Stickney,  Herbert  Whiting,  Jr., 
Albany,  N.   Y. 

1910 — Stoneback,  Frederick  William. 
Orange,  N.  J. 

1911 — Sutherland,  John  Edgar, 
Cornwall,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Swan,   Charles   Fearing, 
New  York   City. 


1911— Taft,  Henry  Waters, 

New  York  City. 

1911 — Ten  Eyck,  Peter  Gansevoort, 
Albany,   N.  Y. 

1911 — Thomas,  Clarence  Proctor, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Thorne,  Landon  Ketchum, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Tilden,  John  Packwood, 
New  York  City. 

1910 — Trexler,  Rev.  Charles  Daniel, 
Brooklyn,    N.   Y. 

1911 — Tuckerman,    Bayard, 

New  York  City. 


1911 — Underwood,    Harry   Gregory, 
Glens   Falls,   N.  Y. 

1911— Upham,  Moses  Allen,  Jr., 
Troy,  N.  Y. 

1910— Valentine,  John  Henry  Elliott, 
New   York  City. 


Nicholas   Hill    (1766-1856), 
Sergeant,  New  York  Line. 

Abraham  Stickney,  Jr.   (1733-1803). 
Lieutenant,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Daniel   Springer    (1744-1825), 

Captain,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 

Samuel  Brewster  (1718-1802), 

Member,  New  York  Provincial  Con- 
gress. 

Samuel  Swan    (1750-1825), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Joseph  Lamson  (1728-1789), 

Corporal,   Massachusetts  Militia. 

Jonathan  Holman  (1732-1814), 

Colonel,    Massachusetts    Militia. 

Jacob  C.  Ten  Eyck, 

Member  Albany,   N.   Y.   Committee 
of  Safety,  1775. 

Samuel  Thomas,  Jr.   (1748-1839). 
Captain,  Rhode  Island  Militia. 

Jacobus  Van  Schoonhoven   (1744-1814). 
Colonel,  New  York  Militia. 

Ebenezer  Tilden    (1757-1823), 

Private,  Connecticut  State  Troops. 

Peter  Trexler,  Jr.    (1748-1828), 

Lieutenant-Colonel,  Pennsylvania. 
Militia. 

Edward  Tuckerman    (1740-1818), 

Disbursing    Officer,    Massachusetts 
1779. 
Oliver  Wolcott   (1726-1797), 

Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

Jonathan    Underwood    (1744-1801), 
Private,    Massachusetts    Militia. 

Nathaniel  Upham  (1745-1833), 

Private,    Massachusetts    Militia. 

Edward    Briggs    (1741-1824). 

Member  Westchester  County  New- 
York  Committee  of  Safety 
\776-7. 


44 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


1911 — Van    Buren,   Howard. 
Nyack,  N.  Y. 

1910 — Van  Nostrand,  Benjamin  Tredwell, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Vinton,  Thomas  Maclntire, 
New  York  City. 

1911— Vorse,  Albert  Ogden, 

Ardmore,  Penn. 


1910— Wade,  John  Oscar, 

East  Orange,  N.  J. 

1910 — Wagoner,   Charles   Porter, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1910— Waldo,   Howard  Lansing,   M.   D.. 
Troy,   N.  Y. 

1911— Walker,   Amasa, 

Scarsdale,  N.  Y. 

1911 -Walker,   John   Baldwin,   M.   D., 
New   York   City. 

1910— Weeks,  Raymond, 

New   York  City. 

1911 — Westerfleld,  Randolph  Foss, 
Manhasset,  L.  I. 

1910— Wetherill,  Samuel, 

Cranfcrd,    N.   J. 

1910 — Whitehouse,    Edwin    Sheldon, 
New  York  City. 

1911— Willcox,  Orlando  Blodgett, 
New  York   City. 


Peter  Swart   (1752-1829), 

Ensign,  New  York  Militia. 

Reuben  Curtiss   (1751-1816). 
Private,   Connecticut  Militia. 

Pelatiah  Vinton    (1738-1798), 

Private,    Massachusetts  Militia. 

James  Fowler   (1756-1826), 

Private,   Pennsylvania  Line. 
John  Adam  Shafer   (1757-1840), 

Private,     Pennsylvania    Rifle    Regi- 
ment. 
Charles    Byer    (1757-1830), 

Private,    Pennsylvania   Line. 
Stephen   Flanagan    (1757-1832), 

Private,    Pennsylvania   Navy. 

Jonathan  Wade,  Jr.    (1749-1801), 
Sergeant,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Oldham   Gates    (1759-1843), 

Corporal,   Massachusetts   Militia. 

John  Waldo,  M.  D.   (1750-1786), 

Surgeon,     Connecticut     Continental 
Infantry. 

John   Comey    ( 1746-1825 L 

Private,    Massachusetts    Militia. 

Gideon  Walker   (1738-1793), 
Ensign,  Vermont  Militia 

Jonathan  Weeks,  Jr.    ( 1778). 

Volunteer,      killed      in      action      at 
Wyoming. 

Jacob  Bennet, 

Private,  New  York  Line. 

David  Cowpland  (1700-1778), 

Member     of     Committee,    Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Job  Sheldon  (1758-1832), 

Sergeant,  Rhode  Island  Line. 

John  Willcox    (1760-1811), 
Private,  Connecticut  Line. 


Members. 

1910— Williams,    Edward    Gilbert, 
New  York  City. 


1910 — Williams,    Franklin    Delano, 
New  York  City 

1911 — Wilson,   Kenneth   Tucker, 
New    York    City. 

1910 — Withington,    Charles    Sumner, 
Brooklyn.    N.    Y. 

1910— Witthaus,   Guy  Henry, 

New   York   City. 

1911 — WTood,  Rawson  Lyman, 
New   York   City. 

1911 — Woodburn,  Lewis  Henry, 
Elmhurst,  L.   I. 

1910 — Woodworth,  William  Lewis, 
Philadelphia,   Pa. 

1911— Young,    William    Ashley, 
Xew  York  City. 


Ancestors. 

Ebenezer   Williams    (1759-1819), 

Private,      Connecticut      Continental 
Infantry. 


Richard  Godfrey   (1711- 


-), 


Member    of    Committee,    Massachu- 
setts. 

Abraham  Dow  Fonda  (1733-1799), 
Major,   New   York    Militia. 

Jeremiah  Wood,  2d   (1713-1797), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

John  Gowen   (1740-1800), 

Private,   Massachusetts   Militia. 

Nathaniel  Fuller  (1747-1797), 

Sergeant,    Massachusetts    Militia 

George  Woodburn   (1722-1802), 
Private,    Connecticut    Line 

William  Burns   (1760-1820), 
Private,  Connecticut  Line. 

John  Youngs    (1745-1801), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 


Transfer 


Charles  D.  Viele  to  California  Society. 


46 


Donations 

Books,  Pamphlets,  Etc. 


TITLES  DONORS 

Proceedings,  New  York  State  Historical  Associa- 
tion, Volumes  VII.  and  VIII James  A.  Holden. 

Proceedings,    Society    of    the    War    of    1812,    in 

Pennsylvania,  1908-10  J.  E.  Burnett  Buckingham,  Secretary. 

Gilbert  Thompson,  Memorial  Paper Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin. 

Annals    of    Iowa Historical  Department  of  Iowa. 

Report  of  Librarian  of  Congress,  1910 Herbert  Putnam,  Librarian. 

The    Harvard    Graduates    Magazine,    September, 

1910    Miss  Mary  M.   Stevens. 

Register  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  in  the 

State  of   California,   1910 Holdridge  O.   Collins. 

Collins  Genealogy    Holdridge  O.   Collins. 

Personal     Narratives :     My     Boyhood     at    West 

Point    William  Whitman  Bailey,  LL.D. 

The  Quarterly  Publication Historical  and   Philosophical   Society 

of  Ohio. 

Annual  Report,  1910,  Volumes  II.  and  III New  York  State  Education  Depart- 
ment. 

Executive  Council  Minutes,  Volumes  I.  and  II... Victor  H.  Paltsits,  State  Historian. 

Washington  Birthday  Hymn Mrs.  Joseph  Tottenham  Cook. 

Francis  Adrian  Van  Der  Kemp Mrs.  Charles  P.  Fairchild. 

Atlas  to  Accompany  the  Official  Records  of  the 

Union  and  Confederate  Armies Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants.. 

A  Memorial  Tablet  at  Ticonderoga Ticonderoga  Historical  Society. 

Menu,    Church    Service,    etc.,    Missouri    Society, 

Sons  of  the  Revolution Henry  Cadle. 

Holland  Chapter,  Michigan  Society,   Sons  of  the 

Revolution Hoyt  G.  Post. 

New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Regis- 
ter Supplement   Charles   Knowles  Bolton. 

A    Funeral    Oration    of    the    Death    of    George 

Washington,  January  1,  1800 L.  Bayard  Smith. 

Annual  Report  and  Essay  on  Lincoln Chicago  Historical  Society. 

Proceedings,    Rhode    Island    Historical    Society, 

1908-9  and  1909-10 Rhode  Island  Historical  Society.. 

Verplanck   Colvin,    Biographical   Sketch Verplanck  Colvin. 

47 


TITLES  DONORS 

Hudson-Fulton  Celebration,  Volumes  I.  and  II. ..  Henry  W.  Sackett,  Secretary  of  the 

Hudson-Fulton  Commission. 

Pomeroy  Number,  Journal  of  American  History.  George  E.  Pomeroy. 

Address  Book  Daughters  of  the  Revolution. 

A  Writer's  Inkhorn Dr.  Plimmon  H.  Dudley,  C.E. 

Indiana  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Consti- 
tution and  By-Laws William  Allen  Wood. 

Union  League  Club  Year  Book George  H.  Taylor,  Secretary. 

List  of  Officers,  etc.,  California  Society,  Sons  of 

the   Revolution    Holdridge  O.  Collins. 

Connecticut   Historical   Society   Collections,   Vol- 
ume XII Albert  C.  Bates,  Secretary. 

Pennsylvania  Archives,   Second   Series,  Volumes 

XL,  XIIL,  XIV.,  XV Thomas      L.       Montgomery,       State 

Librarian. 

The  American   Flag Free  Public  Library,  Jersey  City. 

The  Battle  of  Groton  Heights L.    M.    Randall,    Curator    of    Monu- 
ment   House. 

Catalogue    of    Kings    County    Historical    Society 

Exhibition    Stephen  W.  Giles. 

Catalogue,     Kings     County     Historical     Society 

Exhibition    Charles  A.   Ditmas,   President. 

The     Battle     of     Fort     Moultrie,     Address     by 

D.  E.  H.  Smith Henry   Russell    Drowne. 

Programme,    Triennial    Meeting,    Society   of   the 

Cincinnati,  June  21,  22,  23,   1911 Henry   Russell    Drowne. 

National  Year  Book,  Sons  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution,   1910    Teunis  D.  Huntting,  Registrar. 

Year   Book,   Empire   State   Society,   Sons  of   the 

American   Revolution,    1911 Teunis  D.  Huntting,  Registrar. 

The  Black  Watch  at  Ticonderoga New    York    State    Historical    Asso- 
ciation. 

Major    William    Ferguson Charles   B.  Alexander. 

Sketch  of  the  Author's  Life General  Isaac  S.  Catlin,  U.  S.  A. 

Proceedings,  Twentieth  Annual  Meeting Daughters  of  the  Revolution. 

Memorial  Address  to  Memory  of  Captain  Solo- 
mon Peirce   Herbert  Eugene  Revere. 

Military    Service   of    Amherst,    Belchertown    and 

Granby    Herbert  L.  Bridgman. 

Historical    Address,     Centennial     Celebration    in 

Easthampton,   Mass Herbert  L.  Bridgman. 

Public  Papers  of  George  Clinton,  Volume  IX James  A.  Holden,  State  Historian. 

Orderly  Book  and  Journal  of  Major  John  HawksSociety  of  Colonial  Wars. 

University  Club   Annual University  Club. 

Proceedings,    New   York   State   Historical  Asso- 
ciation,  Volume   X James  A.  Holden. 

George  Mills — Genealogy  of  His  Descendants.  ..  Borden   H.   Mills. 

4S 


TITLES  DONORS 

Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 

Reports  and  Proceedings,  1911 A.  Vedder  Brower,  Secretary. 

Catalogue,  1905  Litchfield  Historical  Society. 

Catalogue,  1906  Litchfield  Historical  Society. 

Semi-Centennial    Litchfield  Historical  Society. 

Society  of  American  Wars  Year  Book,  1911 Rufus  G.  Shirley,  Recorder. 

St.    George's    Church,    New    York,    Year    Book, 

1911 The    Rev.    Hugh    Birckhead,    D.D., 

Rector. 

History   of   the   New   York    Society   Library The  Trustees. 

Chancellor  Robert  R.  Livingston  and  His  Family. Joseph  Livingston  Delafield. 


49 


Miscellaneous  Donations 

Pictures,  Relics,    Etc. 

ARTICLES  DONORS 

Pocketbook  and  Continental  Money  of  Sergeant- 
Major    Homer   Phelps Mrs.  Homer  Phelps  Beach. 

Pocket  Wallet,   1752,  carried  through  the  Revo- 
lution      Clarence  W.  Goold. 

Oil      Painting      of      Major-General      Alexander 

McDougall    McDougall  Hawkes. 

Engraving  of  Washington Henry  D.  Babcock. 

Engrossed  Verses  on  Long  Room Mrs.  Dudley  Evans. 

Cane  from  Wood  of  Dr.  Spring's  Brick  Church, 

New  York    Warren  C.  Crane. 

Head  of  Newell-post,  George  Washington  House, 

No.  1  Cherry  Street Warren  C.  Crane.. 

Piece    of    Cornice    from    Brick   Meeting    House, 

New  York    Warren  C.  Crane. 

Brick  from  Middle  Dutch  Church,  New  York. .  .Warren  C.  Crane. 

Stone  from  Middle  Dutch  Church,  New  York. .  .Warren  C.  Crane. 

Impression  from  an  intaglio  cameo  of  Lafayette.  Edward  Trenchard. 

Bark  taken   from  the  tree  under  which   General 

Mercer  was  killed George  H.   Coutts. 

Photographs   of   General   Isaac  Huger  and  His- 
torical Manuscripts   Georgia  Society,   Sons  of  the  Revo- 
lution. 

Picture  of  Washington's  Inauguration Archibald  A.  Campbell. 

Bust  of  John  Paul  Jones Edmund  Wetmore. 

Medals,      Kings      County      Historical      Society, 

Borough  of  Brooklyn,  New  York  City Stephen  W.   Giles. 

Copy    of    Order    from    General    Washington    to 

Captain   Amos   Diller G.  F.  Matthew. 

Medal,  Kings  County  Historical  Society Charles  A.  Ditmas,  President. 

Pistol,  Mexican  War  Period Dr.  H.  G.  Steinmeyer. 

Original  Brick  of  Fraunces  Tavern William  H.  Mersereau. 

Brick  imported  from  Holland  used  in  the  resto- 
ration of  Fraunces  Tavern William  H.  Mersereau. 

Historic  Maps,  Letters,  etc Samuel  P.  Avery. 

Revolutionary    Cannon    Ball    from    Philadelphia, 

Pa Elmo  N.   Pickerill. 

Revolutionary    Cannon    Ball    from    180th    Street 

and  Broadway,  New  York A.  Maynard  Lyon. 

Silhouette — Photograph   of   Samuel   Foster Edward  W.  Foster. 

Document,  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  1775. L.  Bayard  Smith. 

50 


Loaned  to  the  Society 


By  Fellowes  Davis 

Wineglass   that  belonged  to   General  William  Heath. 

By  Walter  F.  Bullard 

Nails  from  burned  Schuyler  Mansion  at  Schuylerville,  New  York. 

Pieces  of  Indian  pottery  found  on  bank  of  the  Hudson  River,    New  York, 

Buckle  found  on  Saratoga  Battlefield,  New  York. 

Part  of  shell  found  on  Saratoga  Battlefield,  New  York. 

Piece  of  canteen  found  on  Saratoga  Battlefield,  New  York. 

Piece  of  elm  tree  under  which  the  British  laid  down  their  arms  after  the  Battle  of 

Saratoga. 
Pieces  of  tile  used  in  Saratoga  Monument,  New  York. 


51 


Sermon  by  the  Rev.  Herbert  Shipman 

Rector  of  the  Church  of   the   Heavenly   Rest 

New   York   City 


Sunday,    February    19,   191 1 


The   Twenty-first  Annual  Service 

of  the 

Sons  of  the  Revolution   in  the  State  of  New  York 

in  commemoration  of  the 

One   Hundred  and  Seventy-ninth  Anniversary 

of  the  birth  of 

George  Washington 


In  the  old  Chapel  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point, 
just  above  the  eagle  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  at  the  Chancel  end,  these 
words  from  the  Book  of  Proverbs  are  written :  "  Righteousness  exalteth  a 
nation,  but  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people."  The  words  are  appropriate 
to  the  place.  They  link  together  the  two  factors  which  count  most  for  the 
welfare  of  any  nation — Religion  and  Patriotism. 

You,  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  are  here  to-day  I  take  it,  because 
you  believe  that  this  link  is  a  real  one.  We  have  brought  our  Patriotism  to 
Church,  not  only  because  a  Church  is  a  convenient  place  for  such  a  gather- 
ing, but  because  we  believe  that  God  had  something  to  do  with  the  great 
life  we  honor  here  to-day ;  because  we  believe  that  Religion  is  concerned  not 
only  with  the  saving  of  our  own  individual  souls,  but  in  some  real  way  with 
the  saving  of  our  country  and  our  national  soul.  It  is  good  that  this  is  so. 
In  this  day  of  ours  we  make  much  of  money  and  of  other  material  things. 
Time  and  time  again  we  are  tempted  to  put  the  gospel  of  external  comfort 


DO 


and  "  getting  on  "  first  and  the  gospel  of  service  second;  to  think,  if  not  to 
say:  "  My  power  and  the  might  of  my  hand  have  gotten  me  this  wealth."  It 
is  good,  therefore,  to  shift  the  emphasis,  as  this  occasion  does  shift  it,  to  the 
fact  that  Almighty  God  and  Religion  are  still  considerable  factors  in  the 
life  of  America  to-day,  and  that  character  is  quite  as  much  a  national  asset 
as  trade,  or  commerce,  or  bank  deposits. 

"  Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  prosperity," 
said  Washington  in  his  Farewell  Address,  "  Religion  and  morality  are  in- 
dispensable supports.  *  The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious 
man,  ought  to  respect  and  cherish  them.  *  *  :|c  And  let  us  with  caution 
indulge  the  supposition  that  morality  can  be  maintained  without  Re- 
ligion."    *     *     * 

Whatever  may  be  true  of  other  forms  of  Government,  under  our  form 
of  Government  the  character  of  the  people  is  the  supremely  important  thing. 
We  can  make  all  kinds  of  mistakes  and  live  them  down ;  we  can  now  and  then 
put  the  wrong  man  in  a  place  he  doesn't  fit,  and  still  survive  it.  But  we 
cannot  live  without  honesty  and  uprightness,  morality  that  is,  in  the  hearts 
of  our  people.  And — let  us  remember  it — the  moral  life  of  the  people  is  not 
made  or  preserved  merely  by  passing  laws.  WTe  can  shut  up  a  man  in  jail 
if  he  steals  contrary  to  the  law,  but  the  law  has  not  yet  been  framed,  nor 
ever  will  be,  that  will,  of  itself,  make  him  an  honest  man.  We  can  legislate 
against  Child  Labor  and  disease-breeding  factories — to  control  congestion 
and  dangerous  trades  and  all  the  rest,  but  we  cannot  by  law  alone  make  a 
man  care  one  iota  more  for  his  brother  man  than  he  did  before,  nor  prevent 
his  exploiting  him  to  the  very  margin  of  safety,  if  he  can  do  it  without  being 
caught.  Unless  our  law  has  close  behind  it  the  conscience  of  the  people,  our 
law  simply  does  not  count.  i 

The  moral  life  of  the  people  must  be  fed  by  springs  whose  source  is 
higher  than  any  legislative  assembly  ever  gathered  here  on  earth.  Like  all 
life — and  in  every  man,  believer  or  unbeliever — it  comes  from  God,  and  only 
God  can  make  it  and  keep  it  pure  and  strong. 

Therefore,  to  show  God  to  men,  to  build  Religious  conviction  and  prin- 
ciple into  the  fibre  of  our  common  manhood  and  womanhood,  to  make  men 
hear  behind  the  call  to  every  right  thing,  the  divine  Amen  ;  and  over  the 
temptation  to  every  mean  and  false  and  wrong  thing  "  Thou  shalt  not !"  as 
though  the  very  Reality  of  life  had  spoken- — to  do  this  is  just  as  much  your 
duty  and  mine  as  loyal  citizens,  as  it  is  our  duty  to  vote  or  to  volunteer  for 
service  in  time  of  need. 

I  am  perfectly  conscious  that  all  this  has  been  said  before.  I 
am   saying  it  again  because   it   is   true,   because   this   occasion    suggests   it, 

54 


and  because  we  men  of  to-day  need  to  realize  and  emphasize  the 
fact  that  it  is  true.  Our  great  men — and  chief  among  them  the  great 
man  whom  we  honor  ourselves  by  honoring  here — were  men  of  strong 
convictions,  of  clear-cut  principles,  of  faith  and  vision.  They  not 
only  did  great  things ;  they  saw  things  greater  still.  They  were  prophets  as 
well  as  builders.  From  them  to  us  has  come  a  trust  that  is  sacred  and  which 
we  are  in  honor  bound  to  administer  as  sacred ;  from  them  to  us  has  come 
the  message  which  was  the  heart  of  all  they  did — that  the  moral  life  of  the 
people,  based  upon  Religion,  is  the  secret  and  safeguard  of  our  national 
welfare.  And  of  that  message  we  men  of  to-day,  for  the  needs  and  con- 
dition of  our  time,  are  the  appointed  and  commissioned  messengers. 

That  is  one  reason  for  emphasizing  here  the  link  between  Patriotism  and 
Religion.  There  is  another.  All  of  us  appreciate  the  influence  of  service 
of  Washington  as  a  soldier,  as  a  statesman,  as  a  man  of  lofty  and  unblem- 
ished character.  Not  quite  so  generally,  I  think,  do  we  realize  and  appre- 
ciate his  influence  upon  the  religious  life  of  to-day.  It  was  an  influence  real 
and  far-reaching  none  the  less.  Through  Washington  and  those  who  thought 
and  acted  with  him,  the  spirit  of  democracy  was  released  and  given  here 
the  most  splendid  opportunity  it  has  ever  had  or  ever  can  have  to  prove  and 
justify  itself.  And  what  is  democracy?  Most  of  us  think  of  it  as  a  form 
of  political  government  and  nothing  more.  It  is  a  great  deal  more  than 
that,  however.  It  is  the  assertion  of  a  fact  that  touches  every  part  of  human 
life.  It  is  the  assertion  of  the  fact  that  Demos — man  as  man,  has  divine 
rights.  It  is  the  emergence  and  growth  of  humanity,  the  coming  of  age  in 
its  father's  house,  the  world.  It  is  the  spirit  of  sonship  under  one  Father, 
even  God,  breaking  through  every  barrier;  it  is  the  proclamation  that  the 
common  people — which  is  only  another  name  for  people  as  God  originally 
made  them — reign  under  God,  in  all  the  departments  of  life.  Not  in  one, 
but  in  all  the  departments  of  life ;  not  in  government  only,  but — to  go  di- 
rectly to  the  point — in  religion  as  well  and  by  the  self-same  spirit.  That 
is  the  spirit  which  Washington,  and  those  we  call  "  the  fathers,"  set  free 
upon  the  greatest  and  most  promising  stage  it  ever  had  to  work  upon. 

If  it  be  revolutionary,  as  some  are  saying — this  emergence  of  the  demo- 
cratic spirit  through  religion — it  is  a  revolution  backed  by  high  authority, 
and  such  an  one  as  was  foretold  with  divine  approval — for  it  means,  "  the  re- 
moving of  those  things  that  are  shaken  as  of  things  that  are  made,  that  those 
things  which  cannot  be  shaken  may  remain." 

If  it  be  a  reaction  as  others  are  saying,  it  is  a  reaction  to  the  ideal — a 
reaction  that  carries  us  back,  of  the  days  when  the  church  became  sick  with 
longing  for  temporal  power,  and  to  gain  it,  poured  its  democratic  organiza- 

55 


tions  into  the  molds  furnished  by  Imperial  Rome — back  of  those  days  the 
democratic  spirit  carries  us  to  the  day  when  One  taught  men,  rich  and  poorr 
small  and  great  alike,  to  kneel  side  by  side  and  say:  "  Our  Father  ";  taught 
them  that  the  essence  of  life  is  not  competition,  but  brotherhood ;  taught  them 
that  the  secret  of  success  is  not  in  place  or  wealth  or  rank,  but  in  service 
only. 

Whether  one  thing  or  the  other — revolutionary  or  reactionary — the  spirit 
that  is  moving  in  our  religious  life  to-day  is  the  spirit  of  democracy,  claim- 
ing and  defining  religion,  as  well  as  government,  in  the  words  of  that  other 
incomparable  American,  as  "  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people." 

In  spite  of  those  who  cry  the  danger  of  it,  its  coming  is  inevitable,  and 
the  thought  of  it  is  a  joy  to  ever-increasing  numbers  of  men  who  believe — 
believe  in  all  their  hearts — that  they  hear  in  its  voice  the  very  voice  of  God. 

"  Of  the  People!"  Is  Religion  that?  Let  us  believe  it.  We  have  been 
taught  long  enough  that  it  is  a  foreign  product,  imposed  upon  us  by  some 
power  outside  ourselves,  rather  than  a  thing  born  in  us.  natural  to  us  and 
only  supernatural  as  we  ourselves  are  supernatural. 

Long  enough  have  we  been  looking  for  authority  in  Religion  from  an 
infallible  Church,  an  infallible  Book,  and  infallible  Man,  and  meantime 
neglecting  the  example  of  Him  Who  spoke  with  authority  because  He  dared 
to  trust  in  the  conscience  of  men — the  common  people  who  heard  Him 
gladly.  He  did  not  convince  by  argument;  He  did  not  overwhelm  with 
proof ;  He  did  not  appeal  to  any  external  court  for  backing  or  support ;  He 
held  up  the  truth  before  men  and  they  responded;  out  of  their  very  hearts 
and  through  all  the  centuries  since,  has  come  the  cry :  "  That  is  Truth  !,r 
He  held  up  righteousness  before  men,  and  ever  since  their  wills  have  been 
shouting  back  to  Him  :  "  That  is  Righteousness  ;  that  must  we  do !"  He  lifted 
up  Himself  before  men  and  said:  "  I  came  forth  from  God;  I  am  man,  as 
God  meant  every  man  to  be!"  and  out  of  the  very  heart  of  human  nature — 
broken,  blundering,  blinded,  falling — out  of  its  very  heart  and  all  across  the 
world,  has  gone  up  the  cry  to  Him :  "  Thou  earnest  forth  from  God ;  Thou 
art  I,  as  God  meant  that  I  should  be!  Help  me.  Lord,  to  reach  unto  myself!" 

If  Jesus  Christ  was  right,  the  spirit  of  democracy  is  right.  Religion  is 
"  of  the  people,"  and  what  we  need  is  to  learn  not  only  to  trust  in  God,  but 
to  trust  in  men,  to  believe  that  "  He  that  doeth  righteousness  is  righteous,"" 
because  back  of  all,  he  is  a  son  of  God. 

'  By  the  people!"  Is  Religion  that?  When  one  thinks  of  the  stupend- 
ous fabric  of  the  Mediaeval  Church,  lifting  itself  high  and  holy  before  the 
faith  and  imagination  of  the  world,  laying  its  strong  hand  upon  the  heart 

56 


and  mind  and  will  of  king  and  peasant  alike,  commanding  the  voice  of  indi- 
vidual judgment  to  be  dumb  before  it,  dominating  a  whole  world  which 
otherwise  had  no  single  cohesive  element — when  one  thinks  of  this,  the  ques- 
tion whether  or  not  the  democratic  principle — "  By  the  people,"  has  a  place 
in  Religion  and  the  Church,  seems  an  idle  one.  There  is  the  answer.  No! 
But  it  was  not  so  that  Religion,  the  Religion  we  profess,  began.  It  began 
among  the  common  people.  Its  first  officers  were,  as  regards  the  only 
ecclesiastical  organization  then  existing,  laymen.  They  were  charged  to 
call  no  man  Master  upon  earth,  because  they  all  were  brethren.  They  were 
rebuked  because  of  their  undemocratic  desire  for  place  and  position,  and  the 
spirit  of  democracy  was  given  expression  in  the  words :  ''  So  shall  it  not  be 
among  you ;  but  whosoever  will  be  great  among  you,  shall  be  your  minister ; 
and  whosoever  of  you  will  be  the  chief  est,  shall  be  servant  of  all." 

The  voice  of  the  laity,  that  is,  of  the  people,  backed  by  the  spirit  of  de- 
mocracy, is  speaking  more  plainly  and  more  potently  to-day  than  in  any 
age  since  the  very  first.  To-day  we  are  realizing  that  the  Church,  like  the 
Sabbath,  exists  for  men  and  not  men  for  the  Church ;  that  it  is  not  a  bodi- 
less abstract  thing,  floating  in  the  air,  from  which  the  Christian  man  may 
dissociate  himself  and  impersonally  criticize,  refusing  all  responsibility  for  it, 
and  thanking  God,  perhaps,  that  he  is  not  responsible  for  it ;  but — as  in  the 
days  when  Peter  and  James  and  the  others  were  the  Church,  as  in  the  days 
when  little  groups  of  men  and  women  scattered  here  and  there  were  the 
Church — so  to-day,  the  Church  is  mainly  you- — its  successes  are  your  suc- 
cesses, and  its  failures  are  your  failures. 

To-day,  in  this  communion  at  any  rate,  no  man  may  be  set  apart  to  the 
office  of  deacon,  priest  or  bishop,  no  legislation  may  be  enacted  without  the 
participation  and  consent  of  you — the  laity.  It  is  the  emergence,  again,  of 
the  democratc  principle  that  authority  in  religion  is  "  by  the  people."  The 
result  is  bound  to  be  that  the  ministry,  and  the  laity  will  be  drawn  closer 
together,  and  that  we  shall  realize  at  last  that  there  is  only  one  standard  of 
service  and  of  stewardship,  only  one  standard  of  morality  for  both  alike.  It 
will  demonstrate  the  fact  that  God's  work  is  not  my  work,  the  priests' 
work,  for  the  support  of  which  a  contribution  may  be  asked  from  your  work 
— but  that  it  is  our  work,  the  whole  of  it ;  it  will  demonstrate  the  fact  that 
one  man  can  no  more  hire  another  man,  called  a  clergyman,  to  serve  God 
for  him,  than  he  can  hire  another  man  to  love  God  for  him. 

If  it  seems  to  strip  from  the  priest  something  of  his  time-worn  vest- 
ments of  professional  sanctity,  at  any  rate  it  clothes  him  in  the  garments  of 
manhood,  it  acknowledges  that  he  is  doing  a  man's  work,  and  it  honors  him  > 
when  he  does  it  like  a  man. 

57 


If  it  imposes  upon  the  laity  a  heavier  burden  of  responsibility  and  holds 
them  to  a  standard  which  is  nothing  short  of  the  very  highest  that  they 
know,  it  is  because  the  responsibility  belongs  there ;  it  is  because  standards 
are  not  things  simply  to  be  admired  or  to  measure  other  people's  failures 
by,  but  things  to  be  lived  toward  ourselves ;  because  vows  and  ordination  do 
not  make  a  man  God's  servant,  but  only  clinch  the  truth  that  he  is  God's 
servant,  and  bound  to  be  about  His  Father's  business. 

The  spirit  of  democracy  is  right,  Religion  is  by,  as  it  is  of,  the  people. 

And  then — "For  the  people.'-'  Is  religion  that,  too?  Not  only  for 
the  saint;  not  only  for  the  individual  soul  on  its  journey  heavenward;  not 
only  for  the  righting  of  wrongs  and  the  vindication  of  justice  in  the  world  to 
come;  not  only  that,  but  is  Religion  for  the  whole  great  mass  of  men  and 
women,  struggling,  suffering,  doubting,  hoping,  searching,  here  and  now 
in  this  present  world  ?  Is  it  for  them  ?  That  is  what  the  spirit  of  democracy 
is  demanding  of  Religion  in  this  day  of  ours.  Certainly  the  very  dream 
that  is  stirring  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men  to-day  was  in  the  heart  and 
mind  of  God  when  He  sent  His  Son,  with  the  vision  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  before  His  eyes,  not  merely  to  point  to  it,  but  to  establish  it  here  on 
earth.  Certainly  it  was  to  that  dream  and  vision  that  the  early  Church 
realized  that  it  was  pledged.  It  had  a  Gospel — a  good  news — and  news  is 
announcement,  not  prophecy — for  those  to  whom  it  spoke,  and  not  merely  a 
spiritual  telescope  through  which,  while  remaining  still  in  their  present 
misery,  they  might  see  far,  far  off,  the  blessedness  which  they  might  some 
day  know.  It  had  a  gospel,  a  good  news,  for  the  present  misery.  It  told 
the  poor,  the  weak,  the  oppressed,  the  unfit  of  every  kind,  that  in  the  King- 
dom of  their  Father  they  were  going  to  get  justice  and  to  have  a  fair  chance, 
that  they  would  not  be  forever  driven  and  exploited  by  the  strong  because 
they  were  poor  and  weak  and  unfit,  but  would  receive  the  treatment  a  brother 
gives  his  weaker  brother  whom  he  loves.  And  then,  it  turned  upon  the 
strong,  the  favored,  the  world's  elect,  the  Life  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  one  abso- 
lutely successful  life  the  world  has  ever  seen — the  life  which  had  risen  out  of 
humiliation  and  disaster  and  seeming  failure,  vindicated  and  justified  in  its 
principles — it  turned  that  life  upon  the  strong  and  told  them  to  look  squarely 
at  it,  and  in  its  light  to  readjust  their  views  of  what  it  means  to  succeed  and 
what  it  means  to  fail. 

That  was  the  Gospel  of  the  early  Church,  and  with  that  Gospel  it  won. 
It  was  a  vision  worth  working  for  and  waiting  for.  Then  came  the  tragedy 
of  the  Church's  history.  She  learned  worldly  wisdom.  She  learned  to 
think,  if  not  to  say:    "  This  and  that  is  impossible  to  God,  because  I  do  not 


58 


see  how  it  can  be  done."  She  still  prayed,  "  Thy  Kingdom  Come,"  but  she 
no  longer  believed  as  she  had  once  believed,  that  it  would  come,  and  that  to 
make  it  come  constituted  her  reason  for  existence.  She  adopted  a  program 
of  postponement,  of  putting  off,  and  set  herself  the  dreary,  uninspiring  task 
of  patching  up,  of  pointing  men  to  the  world  beyond  to  see  accomplished 
the  will  of  Him  she  continued  to  call  Almighty  God. 

The  spirit  of  to-day,  the  democratic  spirit,  is  out  of  all  sympathy,  out 
of  all  patience  with  this  makeshift  program.  It  is  tired  of  it.  It  is  demand- 
ing something  more  and  better  of  Religion.  It  is  demanding  that  if  it 
really  be  alive,  it  demonstrate  that  important  fact  by  entering  the  field  of 
living  issues,  by  coming  out  of  the  Churches  and  getting  into  the  streets, 
into  the  homes  and  factories  and  slums,  by  throwing  its  weight  without  fear 
of  consequence  or  favor  to  any  class  on  the  side  of  right  and  justice. 

The  parish  priest  of  Austerlitz 

Climbed  up  in  the  high  Church  steeple, 
To  be  nearer  God,  that  he  might  hand 

His  word  down  to  His  people. 

In  sermon,  script  he  daily  wrote 

What  he  thought  was  sent  from  heaven, 
And  dropped  it  down  on  the  people's  heads. 

Two  times  one  dav  in  seven. 

In  his  age  God  said,  "  Come  down  and  die," 

And  he  cried  out  from  the  steeple 
'  Where  art  Thou,  Lord?"  and  the  Lord  replied, 

"  Down  here  among  My  people." 


God  has  not  been,  but  Religion  as  we  have  taught  it  has  been  too  often, 
like  the  parish  priest,  in  the  steeple.  The  spirit  of  democracy  is  calling 
it  to  come  down,  not  to  die,  but  to  live.  It  is  demanding  of  it  a  gospel,  not 
only  for  the  next  world,  but  for  this,  for  the  regeneration  of  society,  as  well 
as  for  the  salvation  of  the  individual.  It  is  asking  of  it  an  unequivocal  and 
convincing  answer  to  the  question,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?"  and  to  that 
other  question,  "How  much  is  a  man  better  than  a  sheep?"  and  to  that 
other  question,  "  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  though  he  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  his  own  soul?" 


59 


The  voice  of  God,  it  seems  to  me,  is  speaking  very  plainly  to  us  to- 
day, above  all  to  us  men ;  and  if  our  churchmanship,  our  religion,  our  patriot- 
ism are  more  than  words,  we  must  listen  to  His  Voice. 

"  In  the  years  that  have  been  I  have  bound 

Man  closer  to  man, 
And  closer  woman  to  woman ; 

And  the  stranger  hath  seen  in  a  stranger  his  brother  at  last,. 
And  a  sister  in  eyes  that  were  strange. 
In  the  years  that  shall  be,  I  will  bind  me 

Nation  to  nation, 
And  shore  unto  shore,"  saith  our  God. 

"  Lo !  I  am  the  burster  of  bonds,  and  the  breaker  of  barriers ; 
1  am  He  that  shall  free,"  saith  the  Lord, 
"  For  the  lingering  battle,  the  contest  of  ages  is  ending, 
And  victory  followeth  me !" 

The  call  that  comes  to  us  who  are  men,  through  our  Religion,  and  that 
which  comes  to  us  through  the  needs  of  the  State,  is  one  and  the  same  call — 
it  is  a  call  to  bind  our  patriotism  and  our  faith  together  and  with  them  make 
a  lever  strong  enough  to  lift  the  standards  of  our  social  morality,  where  they 
belong  and  where  they  ought  to  be.  It  is  a  call  for  effective  righteousness — 
for  the  efficient  to  be  righteous  and  for  the  righteous  to  be  efficient.  All 
too  often  in  the  past  there  has  been  a  divorce  between  the  two.  We  need 
them  brought  together,  and  the  twain  made  one.  We  need  the  man  who 
can  grasp  opportunity  and  resist  temptation ;  who  can  command  the  wider 
vision  and  eliminate  himself  from  the  nearer  foreground ;  who  can  win  suc- 
cess and  keep  his  own  soul.  We  need  the  man  of  economic  knowledge  who 
will  do  away  with  prejudice  and  indifference,  those  misbegotten  children  of 
their  mother  Ignorance.  We  need  the  man  of  moral  enthusiasm — not  the 
too  common  enthusiasm  for  righteousness  in  other  people,  but  the  enthusi- 
asm which  bears  fruit  in  personal  consecration,  sacrifice  and  service. 

And — we  need  the  man  of  Religious  faith ;  faith  to  believe  that  all 
the  relations  of  human  life  may  be  filled  with  the  purposes  of  God  ;  faith  to 
believe  that  God  is  among  us  now,  that  no  miracle  of  moral  regeneration  was 
wrought  in  little  Palestine  two  thousand  years  ago,  that  may  not  be  repeated 
in  big  America  to-day ;  faith  to  believe  that  as  John  and  Andrew  and  Peter 
and  Matthew  were  called  then,  so  men  are  called  to-day,  and  more  especially 
you  and  I  are  called,  to  our  respective  ministries. 

60 


These  are  the  things — knowledge,  goodness,  faith — that  make  for  effec- 
tive righteousness.  From  these  are  the  springs  of  life  in  the  democratic 
state  and  the  democratic  Church  alike. 

With  these  "  the  fathers,"  won,  and  with  these  alone  can  we,  their 
sons,  hope  to  win  to-day? 

It  is  for  us  to  do  more  than  build  their  tombs  and  remember  them  with 
the  service  of  our  lips.  It  is  for  us  to  carry  on  their  work,  to  see  their 
vision  and  to  weld  it  solid  into  the  life  of  America  to-day,  that  here,  under  a 
Government  "of  and  by  and  for  the  people,"  inspired  and  guarded  by  a 
Religion  "  of  and  by  and  for  the  people,"  the  people  may  go  forward  into 
the  full  freedom  of  the  Sons  of  God,  establishing  as  they  go  the  one  king- 
dom for  which  America  was  made,  which  it  will  ever  tolerate,  looking  as 
they  go,  and  hasting  toward  the  coming  day  of  the  one  King  to  whom  it 
-will  ever  bow. 


61 


Addresses 

at  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the 

Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State 

of   New  York 

Delmonico's 

WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY  22,  1911 

in  commemoration  of  the 
One  Hundred   and   Seventy=ninth    Anniversary 

of   the   birth   of 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


George  Washington 

Address    by 
George   Lawyer,    LL.  B. 

Mr.  President,  Guests  and  Members  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in 
the  State  of  New  York: 

xA.s  members  of  this  noble  order,  we  are  met  once  again,  appreciative  of 
the  sacrifices  of  the  fathers,  to  certify  our  reverence  for  the  central  figure 
of  our  national  independence,  and  we  are  not  alone,  for  Republics  are  not 
always  ungrateful,  and  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  land  and 
wherever  true  Americans  shall  gather,  this  day,  the  inspiration  of  every  loyal 
heart,  shall  be  the  memory  of  Washington. 

Lord  Rosebery,  in  his  late  masterly  review  of  the  life  of  Chatham,  ob- 
serves that  in  the  estimation  of  the  country's  heroes  we  are  apt  to  ignore  the 
shadows  and  to  make  ideals  and  to  see  stars,  for  it  is  an  illuminating  worship, 
but  high  achievement  always  obscures  the  shadows  and  a  nation  must 
guard  its  heroes.  Favored  are  we  then,  that  in  commemoration  of  this 
day  there  are  few  flaws  to  count,  and  it  is  enough  for  us  to  consider  the 
virtues  of  the  man  who  helped  lay  the  foundations  of  the  Republic. 

The  country  has  been  generous  at  all  times  since  the  age  of  Washington 
in  its  appreciation  of  his  character  and  not  only  in  appreciation  of  his  char- 
acter and  services,  but  in  the  affection  the  American  people  have  retained 
for  the  place  of  his  life  residence  at  Mt.  Vernon,  and  for  a  moment  I  wish 
to  ask  permission  to  digress  because  of  the  exigency  of  a  matter  which  is 
now  pending  before  the  State  Legislature,  and  which  I  am  sure  will  interest 
every  member  of  this  Society  and  every  patriot  who  has  at  heart  the  preser- 
vation of  monuments  of  national  history. 

Next  to  Mt.  Vernon,  the  abode  of  Washington,  the  residence  of  Major- 
General  Schuyler,  in  the  City  of  Albany,  is  said  to  be  the  only  building  now 
existing  that  has  been  kept  in  its  original  identity,  according  to  the  plans  and 
specifications  originally  laid  down,  and  this  building  we  are  bound  to  con- 
sider at  this  time  of  serious  importance  to  us  who  favor  proper  recognition 
on  the  part  of  the  State  and  its  people  for  the  preservation  of  those  monu- 

65 


ments  of  our  history  which  are  really  as  much  a  part  of  us  and  concern  us 
as  much  as  the  lives  of  the  men  whom  we  commemorate. 

The  residence  of  Major-General  Schuyler  is  historic.  It  is  situated  in 
the  City  of  Albany,  easily  accessible  to  the  main  thoroughfares,  and  for 
many  years  it  has  been  the  property  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Diocese  of  Al- 
bany. It  has  been  used  as  an  Orphanage.  During  this  time  the  building 
has  not  been  changed  in  any  of  its  proportions  or  in  any  of  its  details,  so 
that  for  all  practical  purposes  the  house  is  the  same  house  that  Schuyler  left, 
the  same  house  where  Alexander  Hamilton  was  married,  the  same  house 
where  Burgoyne,  after  his  little  unpleasantness  at  Saratoga,  was  guest. 

The  exigency  arising  is  because  of  the  necessity  of  the  Diocese  for  larger 
quarters,  and  it  has  been  made  known  within  the  past  few  weeks  by  the 
Catholic  Bishop  of  Albany,  that  he  is  willing  to  dispose  of  this  shrine  to 
the  State  of  New  York  for  a  consideration  expressed  at  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars, but  that  immediate  action  is  necessary  for,  because  of  the  pressing 
necessity,  unless  something  is  done  at  once,  the  building  will  be  torn  down 
to  be  replaced  by  one  better  fitted  for  the  uses  for  which  a  building  is  re- 
quired. In  conformity  with  this  information,  a  bill  has  been  introduced  in 
the  Legislature  providing  that  the  State  shall  take  over  this. property  at  the 
price  stipulated  by  the  authorities  in  control,  and  that  the  State  shall  be  and 
shall  remain  the  custodian  of  the  building,  to  be  used  as  a  repository  for 
Revolutionary  relics  and  be  for  all  time  continued  in  its  present  proportion 
and  details. 

It  is  a  matter  to  be  considered  now,  for  if  action  is  not  taken  the  build- 
ing will  be  demolished  during  the  coming  summer.  My  injunction  then,  is 
this,  that  if  this  Society  and  the  several  members  of  it  are  interested  in 
this  project,  it  would  be  eminently  fitting  that  immediate  request  be  made  of 
your  representative  in  the  Assembly  or  in  the  Senate  to  favor  this  Bill,  that 
it  may  become  a  law,  and  that  this  building  may  not  be  torn  down,  that  we 
may  have  another  shrine  of  American  liberty  to  which  we  may  turn,  as  we 
turn  to  Mt.  Vernon. 

Now  you  will  pardon,  I  know,  this  momentary  digression  from  the  sub- 
ject. Washington  was  entertained  at  this  building  at  least  once  and  prob- 
ably more  than  once  during  his  command  of  the  American  Army  and  for 
its  owner,  Major-General  Schuyler,  he  expressed  the  highest  opinion,  both 
as  to  his  character  as  a  man  and  his  capacity  as  a  militarv  officer.  Let  us 
see  to  it  that  this  enterprise  is  carried  out  and  whatever  we  may  do,  shall 
be  done. 

The  early  life  of  him  whom  we  commemorate  to-night  foretold  little 
of  the  subsequent  achievements  which  were  to  follow.      Like  Lincoln,  his 

66 


greatness  was  evolved  out  of  the  responsibilities  that  weighed  upon  him  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  met  them.  Almost  his  first  public  appearance  in 
1754  as  a  soldier  of  his  King  was  a  disaster,  and  on  the  4th  of  July,  1754, 
twenty-two  years  to  the  day  before  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, he  became  a  prisoner  of  the  French ;  but  to  him  defeat  was  but 
the  incentive  to  higher  endeavor.  He  was  passing  through  a  great  school 
that  was  to  fit  him  for  the  undertakings  and  accomplishments  of  his  life,  and 
how  well  he  met  the  occasions  that  presented  themselves  we  are  here  to- 
night to  certify  in  his  memory. 

Sometimes  it  is  observed  that  Washington  was  the  favored  child  of  for- 
tune, and  that  in  a  certain  sense  at  least  he  should  have  succeeded  where  he 
achieved  great  results.  Still,  let  us  not  forget  Washington's  early  life  wTas 
barren  of  accomplishments  to  fit  him  for  those  things  that  came  after,  either 
in  military  science  or  in  the  great  field  of  statesmanship,  in  which  he  stands 
as  a  great  example  to  succeeding  administrations  and  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions. It  has  seemed  to  me  that  Lincoln,  himself,  came  to  the  Presidential 
Chair  with  a  better  equipment  to  discharge  the  duties  of  that  office  than  did 
Washington. 

Lincoln  was  a  lawyer  in  active  practice  for  many  years.  He  had  been 
a  member  of  Legislative  bodies,  had  framed  bills,  and  was  a  politician  in 
touch  with  the  sentiment  of  his  time.  Washington  had  none  of  these  sup- 
ports to  sustain  him  in  the  great  undertaking  that  he  assumed  as  Chief 
Magistrate  of  a  free  and  a  united  people  and  whatever  opinion  we  may  enter- 
tain as  to  the  military  accomplishments  of  the  man,  and  no  one  will  doubt 
his  military  genius  after  the  British  were  driven  out  of  Boston  in  1776, 
still  it  is  as  Chief  Magistrate  of  many  sovereignties,  with  conflicting  inter- 
ests, that  furnishes  us  so  great  an  inspiration  as  a  people. 

During  the  first  administration  of  Washington,  at  the  very  outset  were 
perplexing  questions  enough  to  baffle  the  most  astute  politician,  but  he  met 
them  with  a  judgment  which  John  Marshall  described  as  being  supreme,  for 
judgment  was  his  accomplishment  and  not  genius,  and  howT  well  he  brought 
together  the  warring  elements  of  his  Cabinet  and  the  conflicting  interests  of 
the  Colonies,  the  Union  afterwards  fully  demonstrated. 

Because  of  his  success  as  a  statesman,  his  insight  and  his  honesty  in 
dealing  with  every  matter  that  was  presented  to  him  he  obtained  the  con- 
fidence of  the  people,  and  it  is  in  the  confidence  of  the  people  that  the  strength 
of  the  Executive  always  lies,  despite  partv  affiliations. 

It  was  evidenced  more  than  once,  even  before  Washington  was  called 
to  the  Chief  Magistracy.  How  well  did  the  confidence  of  the  people  serve 
him  in  the  Gates-Conway  cabal,  when  it  was  intended  that  he  should  be 

67 


retired,  and  if  such  a  calamity  should  have  occurred,  the  army  of  independ- 
ence would  have  been  ruined.  Perhaps  the  war  would  have  been  successful, 
but  the  day  of  our  freedom  would  have  been  postponed. 

And  again,  during  the  first  and  second  terms  of  his  Presidency,  this 
same  confidence  of  the  people  in  which  he  gloried,  and  for  which  he  cared 
most,  stood  him  well  in  hand. 

His  suggestions  for  Legislation  were  spurned,  his  appointees  for  office 
were  rejected,  until  the  trust  of  the  people  in  the  unselfish  ambition  of  the 
man,  who  was  not  only  brave  but  honest,  overcame  all  opposition  and  upon 
an  unwilling  Congress  measures  were  forced  that  were  manifestly  neces- 
sary for  the  preservation  of  the  weak  and  struggling  States.  Surely  this 
was  statecraft  of  the  highest  order. 

Because  he  was  a  lover  of  righteousness  Washington  believed  in  the 
diplomacy  of  truth,  and  it  seems  to  me  among  the  very  greatest  accomplish- 
ments of  this  man  his  ability  as  a  diplomat  is  foremost.  How  well  in  hand 
did  he  manage  the  warring  Cabinet,  bringing  together  the  two  great  leaders 
of  the  future  political  parties,  harmonizing  existing  differences  at  a  time 
when  harmony  meant  everything  to  the  preservation  of  the  feeble  Union, 
for  he  saw,  with  the  foresight  and  the  vision  of  a  prophet,  that  if  disintegra- 
tion occurred  at  the  outset,  the  perpetuity  of  our  institutions  was  in  danger, 
and  at  the  end  of  his  second  administration  the  establishment  of  government 
had  become  so  complete,  the  perils  from  party  faction  and  sectional  strife 
were  not  strong  enough  to  shake  its  foundations. 

It  is  the  general  idea  that  a  diplomatist  must  be  one  that  is  artful  and 
dexterous  in  negotiating  with  foreign  people,  and  that  he  must  not  main- 
tain a  weakness,  even  if  that  weakness  is  right,  if  it  should  shield  his  people, 
but  Washington  believed  in  truth  and  in  his  negotiations  with  France  and 
England  during  the  perilous  times  of  his  administration,  it  was  truth  and 
the  facts  that  he  demanded,  and  like  the  statesman  he  was  he  marshaled 
facts  against  facts  and  then  demanded  the  judgment  to  which  he  was  entitled, 
and  which  he  secured  at  the  hands  of  the  American  people. 

And  the  last  words  of  this  man,  his  message  to  the  people,  after  all  is 
done  and  over,  after  the  Government  is  founded,  after  it  is  secured,  after 
there  is  a  guaranty  for  its  perpetuation,  has  been  a  beacon  to  subsequent 
administrations.  When  we  have  followed  his  chart  we  have  outrun  the 
storms  and  we  have  trembled  with  fear  when  the  pilot  has  lost  the  light. 

Washington  believed  in  his  fellow-men.  He  did  not  suffer  so  much 
from  exposure  during  the  war,  or  from  the  grievous  labors  to  which  he 
was  put,  as  he  did  from  the  falseness  of  some  of  the  men  in  whom  he  trusted 
most.     He  had  a  large  heart,  magnanimous  in  everything  and  to  those  who 

68 


played  him  false  surely  he  was  unforgiving;  he  was  a  man  of  passions,  but 
his  passions  never  biased  him  in  his  judgment.  He  was  fair,  he  was  judi- 
cious, and  he  was  a  lover  of  peace.  They  who  know  what  war  is,  are  always 
lovers  of  peace.  It  is  usually  those  who  have  never  tasted  conflict  who  are 
always  ready  for  arms,  but  he  believed  in  a  peace  that  was  honorable  and 
just,  and  in  his  farewell  address,  that  classic  which  we  should  read  and  re- 
read to  understand  the  principles  of  our  American  Government  and  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  planned  and  established,  he  admonishes  us  that  to 
secure  peace  a  sufficient  preparation  must  be  made.  The  peace  that  Wash- 
ington believed  in  was  a  condition  in  which  nothing  else  but  peace  could 
exist  and  that,  forever,  it  seems  to  me,  must  be  the  policy  of  our  country, 
and  the  time  to  make  preparation  for  such  a  condition  certainly  is  not  amid 
the  excitement  of  impending  conflict,  but  when  the  public  mind  is  judicious, 
discreet,  sober  yet  determined. 

The  legacy  of  Washington  was,  the  United  States,  an  aggregation  of 
many  sovereignties,  of  many  peoples,  of  many  nationalities,  of  many  inter- 
ests. That  legacy  was  handed  down  to  us,  as  your  worthy  President  has 
stated  to-night,  pure  and  unsullied.  May  it  be  our  hope  to  transmit  it,  as 
we  have  received  it,  in  all  its  integrity  and  in  all  its  purity,  this  fair  and 
priceless  fabric  of  the  Republic. 


69 


It  is  fitting  that  we  should  recall  here  the  deeds  of  those  who  dedicated 
their  lives  for  the  cause  of  liberty,  for  the  cause  of  human  freedom  and  in 
commemorating,  as  we  do  to-day,  let  us  not  forget  that  at  a  time  when  it 
seemed  hopeless,  Washington  came  forth  and  met  those  conditions.  He 
made  his  impress  not  only  upon  this  country,  but  upon  the  world,  because 
he  established  the  very  thing  that  human  life  was  seeking — liberty. 


72 


The   Army 

Address  by 
Major=General    Frederick  Dent   Grant,    U.   S.   A. 


Mr.  President  and  your  Excellency,  the  Governor  and  Friends,  Sons 
of  the  Revolution :  I  assure  you  of  my  great  appreciation  of  your  courtesy  in 
asking  me  here  this  evening  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  our  Washington. 
I  did  not  suppose  that  I  would  have  anything  to  say  or  that  I  would  be 
called  upon  to  speak  to  you,  as  I  have  addressed  this  audience  before,  and 
believe  it  a  very  intelligent  set  of  people,  and  generally  speaking,  an  intelli- 
gent audience  never  asks  me  to  speak  a  second  time. 

This  morning  in  reading  one  of  the  journals  I  saw  that  I  was  to  answer 
to  the  toast  of  the  Army,  and  I  set  to  work  to  try  to  get  out  something  new 
on  that  subject,  but  found  it  very  difficult  to  compose  anything  that  I  had  not 
said  before,  and  consequently  I  took  a  paper  that  I  had  written  for  a  recent 
celebration  on  the  Army,  and  I  brought  it  here  to-night  to  read  to  you,  mak- 
ing some  few  changes.  I  think  there  are  some  here  that  have  heard  it  be- 
fore, but  if  they  will  forgive  me  I  will  give  you  that  paper. 

The  Army  is  a  human  machine  t>y  which  peace  is  maintained,  and  when 
war  is  brought  on  through  influences  of  outside  parties  and  varied  inter- 
ests, the  Army  is  the  instrument  to  restore  peace  to  the  country  as  quickly 
as  possible,  and  at  the  same  time  maintain  national  honor. 

The  Army  is  a  means  to  an  end,  that  end  being  peace,  so  that  if  by 
arbitration  courts  or  by  Hague  Conferences,  peace  can  be  assured,  the  Army 
might  be  dispensed  with,  so  far  as  its  being  a  necessity  for  national  defense 
against  outside  aggression,  but  if  this  happy  condition  could  be  perfectly  ac- 
complished, the  necessity  of  an  Army  would  still  exist  for  our  protection 
against  internal  disorders  and  dangers.  The  records  of  history  do  not  indi- 
cate that  the  day  has  yet  arrived  when  harmonious  international  inter- 
course, which  depends  entirelv  on  the  good  will  and  justice  of  man,  may  be 
safely  counted  upon  between  the  rich  and  prosperous  nations. 

The  strength  of  the  United  States  Army  has  varied  greatly  from  time 
to  time.     It  has  been  increased  or  diminished  according  to  the  fears  or  con- 

73 


fidcnce  of  the  American  people  with  regard  to  our  country's  safety.  The 
unwise  policy  of  keeping  our  regular  army  down  to  a  minimum  strength, 
which  is  in  the  belief  of  the  majority  of  our  people  the  lowest  limit  which 
insures  safety,  has  been  the  cause  of  the  enormous  expenditures  of  the 
United  States  in  blood  and  treasure. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  for  instance,  if  the  United  Colonies  had 
organized  and  maintained  a  regular  Army  of  twenty-five  thousand  men,  cer- 
tainly the  Revolutionary  War  would  not  have  lasted  long,  nor  wo.ild  it  have 
cost  such  a  great  number  of  lives,  nor  expenditure  of  money  as  was  neces- 
sary, nor  such  great  human  suffering. 

The  War  of  1812  also  would  have  been  of  short  duration  and  would 
have  cost  much  less  in  human  life  and  money,  and  in  the  victories  won  far 
greater  credit  would  have  redounded  to  our  country,  had  the  United  States 
Government  before  then  maintained  a  regular  thoroughly  trained  army  of 
twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  men.  In  fact,  if  our  Army  had  been  sufficiently 
large  the  War  of  1812  would  never  have  occurred. 

The  battles  of  the  Mexican  War  were  practically  all  fought  by  our 
regular  troops,  except  the  Battle  of  Buena  Vista.  The  Mexican  War  was 
short  and  peace  was  insured  in  two  years'  time,  which  was  an  honor  to  our 
nation. 

J  f  the  United  States  Government  in  1861  had  at  its  disposal  fifty  thou- 
sand regular  soldiers,  that  terrible  strife,  so  expensive  in  blood  and  treasure, 
the  great  Civil  War  would  have  been  but  a  flash  in  the  pan  and  quickly  over 
and  the  attending  disorders  would  not  have  been  heard  of  longer  than  a 
year. 

This  point  has  been  disputed,  but  I  can  say  that  if  we  had  had  an  in- 
creased army  we  would  have  had  troops  stationed  in  the  various  places  that 
became  of  importance.  Two  batteries  of  artillery  stationed  at  Charleston, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  War.  would  have  enabled  Anderson  to  have  held  Fort 
Moultrie  and  also  Fort  Sumter.  The  probabilities  are  that  we  would  have 
been  able  to  maintain  those  and  we  would  not  have  been  practically  driven 
out  of  that  place. 

A  battalion  of  regulars,  had  it  been  at  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  and  in  sup- 
port of  the  regular  battery  there  that  was  successful  and  driving  the  Con- 
federates back  at  the  time  when  their  reserve  gave  way — a  battalion  of 
regulars  would  not  have  given  way  against  the  force  that  was  brought  against 
it — the  battle  of  Bull  Run  would  have  been  to  the  Union's  credit  instead 
of  to  the  Confederates'  credit,  and  the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  would 
have  dampened  the  Confederate  cause  to  such  an  extent  that  the  war  would 
probably  have  fizzled  out  after  that. 

74 


During  the  interval  between  the  time  of  the  Civil  War  and  the  Spanish- 
American  War  the  United  States  regular  troops  protected  the  Western 
frontiers  of  our  country.  American  citizens,  being  thus  protected  from  the 
attack  of  Indians,  were  enabled  to  cultivate  and  bring  into  productiveness 
a  larger  area  of  land,  three  or  four  times  over,  than  had  ever  been  brought 
into  human  use  before  during  the  same  period  of  time. 

In  the  year  1898,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Spanish- American  War,  the 
United  States  had  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  men,  seventeen  thousand 
of  whom  were  mobilized  and  sent  to  Cuba,  where,  after  a  short  and  quick 
campaign,  they  were  victorious.  Santiago  was  captured  and  peace  was 
honorably,  and  I  trust,  permanently  secured. 

The  Spanish-American  War  resulted  in  the  territory  and  influence  of 
the  United  States  being  greatly  extended,  and  in  placing  our  country  in  the 
foremost  ranks  of  commercial  nations. 

Subsequently  the  necessity  has  now  arisen  for  the  maintenance  of  that 
instrument,  the  Arm}-,  which  can  uphold  the  strength  and  dignity  of  our 
country  in  the  eyes  of  other  nations,  who  must  respect  us,  realizing  our  in- 
fluence and  power. 

Until  within  a  few  years  the  weapons  of  warfare  were  of  a  compara- 
tively short  and  high  trajectory.  Battles  were  formerly  fought  at  close  range, 
with  slow  firing.  Great  individual  training  was  not  essential,  except  for 
officers  of  high  rank.  Troops  fighting  in  close  order  were  directed  by  their 
lieutenants  and  captains,  good  discipline,  with  bravery,  was  ail  that  was 
needed.  Now,  however,  with  our  long  range  and  quick-firing  arm,  the 
skill,  discipline  and  character  of  each  and  every  individual,  from  the  pri- 
vate to  the  commanding  general,  must  be  developed  along  every  line. 

That  army  which  in  all  details  is  the  most  thoroughlv  trained  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest  in  rank  is  the  most  efficient  and  effective  one.  And  a 
comparatively  small,  but  thoroughly  efficient,  trained  army,  can  easily  over- 
power any  mass  of  men  untrained,  however  numerous  or  brave  they  may  be. 

The  military  rifle  in  general  use  now  throws  its  projectile  to  a  distance 
of  three  and  one-quarter  miles.  It  can  be  discharged  from  thirty  to  forty 
times  a  minute.  Opponents  are  subjected  to  its  effective  fire  at  any  distance 
when  they  can  be  discerned  by  the  human  eye.  Troops  are  now  considered 
to  be  within  pointblank  range  who  are  seven  or  eight  hundred  yards  distant. 

Guns  of  the  field  artillerv  can  be  fired  now  with  aimed  shots,  in  fact, 
accurately  aimed  shots  are  required  from  these  guns  at  intervals  of  ten  sec- 
onds and  rapid  firing  can  be  increased  to  seventeen  shots  a  minute.  One  bat- 
tery of  our  present  gun  is  more  effective  than  all  the  artillery  on  both  sides 
that  was  used  at  Gettvsburo-. 

75 


Light  three-inch  field  guns  are  constructed  to  be  effective  now  at  six 
thousand  five  hundred  yards  and  the  heavier  guns,  such  as  the  o.S  and  the 
4.7  inch  guns,  are  effective  at  a  much  greater  distance. 

The  cannon  and  ammunition  for  them  now  are  so  perfect  that  it  would 
be  difficult  for  troops,  not  thoroughly  trained  and  disciplined,  to  approach 
or  to  protect  themselves  against  these  cannon  while  within  three  to  seven 
miles  of  a  trained  army. 

The  regular  army  of  the  United  States  is  the  custodian  of  all  war 
records  and  traditions  of  the  past.  The  officers  and  men  are  now  students, 
and  the  army  has  evolved  into  a  great  school  of  instruction  to  prepare  young 
patriotic  men  to  be  of  service  to  their  country  when  necessity  arises.  Our 
regular  army  as  it  is,  without  being  increased,  is  not  large  enough  to  meet 
any  one  of  the  military  nations  of  the  world,  but  we  are  educating  soldiers 
who,  in  case  of  war,  would  become  instructors  and  commanders  of  the  patri- 
otic American  citizens  who  surely  will  always  come  into  the  ranks  to  defend 
their  country.  This  instruction  is  broad  in  its  scope.  Soldiers  now  must 
not  only  learn  to  shoot,  but  must  have  experience  in  all  details  nnd  a  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  hygiene  and  of  sanitation.  Soldiers  must  learn  and 
understand  the  business  of  transporting  men  and  supplies  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  their  food.  They  must  know  how  to  protect  themselves  on  the  field 
of  battle,  and  at  the  same  time  to  do  the  most  efficient  work  against  their 
enemy.  The  range  of  education  in  the  army,  in  fact,  is  on  the  highest  pos- 
sible plane,  and  includes  everything  pertaining  to  the  development  of  human- 
ity and  the  protection  of  life.  The  man  carrying  his  gun  for  the  protection 
of  the  nation  must  be  able  to  keep  himself  in  the  finest  possible  physical  con- 
dition to  effectively  do  the  most  in  defense  of  his  country  against  its  foes. 

The  modern  army  must  contain  trained  efficient  engineers,  electricians, 
mechanics,  veterinarians,  medical  men,  as  well  as  trained  cavalry,  artillery 
and  infantrymen. 

At  the  present  time  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States  consists  of 
fifteen  regiments  of  cavalry,  aggregating  twelve  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-five  men ;  six  regiments  of  field  artillery,  aggregating  five 
thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty  men;  the  Coast  artillery  Corps,  aggre- 
gating nineteen  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-one  men ;  thirty-one  regi- 
ments of  infantry,  aggregating  twenty-five  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight 
men,  or  a  total  of  sixty-three  thousand,  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  men. 
This  limited  number  represents  the  fighting  line  of  the  United  States 
Army,  which  is  augmented  by  technical  troops,  Philippine  scouts,  etc.,  so  as 
to  bring  the  total  number  of  officers  and  soldiers  to  the  number  of  eighty- 
two  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-four.    This  number  could  be  extended 

76 


in  the  case  of  war  by  adding  trained  men  who  had  served  in  the  army  and 
are  now  in  civil  life,  to  probably  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to  one  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  men. 

Any  call  for  a  greater  number  of  soldiers  than  this  must  be  answered  by 
citizens  who  lack  military  experience  and  training,  however  brave  and  patri- 
otic they  might  be. 

It  is  now  the  policy  of  the  United  States  Government  to  augment  its 
military  strength  by  the  militia  or  State  Troops,  and  under  the  Dick  Bill  the 
National  Guard  now  forms  part  of  the  first  line  of  National  defense.  Great 
effort  is  directed  to  the  instruction  of  the  militia,  and  I  am  happy  to  say 
that  these  troops  are  very  earnest  in  their  endeavors  to  become  efficient 
soldiers.  The  greatest  improvement  in  the  effectiveness  of  the  militia  has 
developed  during  the  last  five  or  six  years,  and  the  National  Guard,  as  a 
body,  are  now  far  more  valuable  as  defenders  of  their  country  than  they 
were  a  few  years  ago. 

One  difficulty  in  the  system  is  that  these  militia  troops  are  citizens, 
busily  engaged  in  their  own  pursuits,  and  therefore  can  give  but  little  time 
to  the  study  of  the  art  of  war  and  to  training  in  the  use  of  arms.  While 
they  have  improved  greatly,  it  is  very  difficult  for  militia  troops  to  keep  up 
in  the  great  and  complicated  science  of  modern  warfare. 

I  have  endeavored  to  give  an  outline  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States, 
but  beg  you  will  divorce  from  your  minds  the  idea  that  the  American  Army 
is  an  instrument  of  aggression,  ready  to  involve  the  American  people  in  war. 
On  the  contrary,  a  regular  army  is,  as  I  have  said,  for  the  maintenance  of 
peace.  Wars  are  brought  on  through  political  or  commercial  questions  and 
strife,  in  which  the  Army  has  no  word  whatsoever. 

Recent  Conventions  have  assembled  and  Commissioners  been  appointed 
to  promulgate  sentiments  of  peace.  They  earnestly  hope  and  are  working 
for  arbitration  between  nations  and  people.  No  one  more  heartily  joins 
with  these  Commissioners  and  their  earnest  followers  in  their  desire  for  peace 
than  I  do,  as  do  all  other  military  men,  hut,  alas,  as  long  as  men  live  with 
human  frailties,  selfishnesses  and  weaknesses,  it  is  probable  that  perfect  peace 
will  not  exist,  and  that  the  rich  nations,  lacking  military  strength,  may  find 
themselves  the  prey  of  covetous  and  aggressive  people. 

Some  enthusiastic  Commissioners,  in  their  worthy  and  earnest  zeal  for 
peace,  have  gone  so  far  as  to  discourage  the  maintenance  of  armies  for  pur- 
poses of  defense  and  have  criticized  those  who  are  interested  in  the  military 
profession,  men  who  I  claim  do  more  than  all  others  in  upholding  peace 
between  nations  and  in  preserving  order  at  home.  Ideas  upon  this  line  have 
been  expressed  by  a  Japanese  in  a  speech,  which  I  read  lately  and  which 

77 


runs  as  follows :  '  For  two  thousand  years  Japan  kept  peace  with  the  world 
and  was  known  to  the  nations  only  by  the  exquisite  handiwork  of  her  artists 
and  her  artisans.  We  were  treated  as  barbarians  and  called  heathen.  In- 
sults were  heaped  upon  us,  and  we  were  oppressed  until  our  condition  became 
intolerable.  We  raised  armies  to  kill  men  and  asserted  our  rights.  We 
are  now  recognized  as  a  civilized  people  by  all  Christendom." 

In  ending,  gentlemen,  I  hope  you  will  believe  that  our  United  States 
troops,  a  band  of  students  and  patriots,  are  fitting  themselves  at  great  per- 
sonal sacrifice  to  be  of  service  to  our  country  when  it  may  be  in  trouble,  or 
if  it  ever  be  involved  in  war,  which  I  trust  will  not  be  soon.  No  one  hopes 
for  peace  more  than  do  the  officers  of  the  army.  Please  keep  in  mind  that 
the  United  States  troops  stand  ever  ready  to  bare  their  breasts  to  the  storm 
of  battle  and  to  risk  their  lives  when  necessary  to  secure  to  our  great  and 
beloved  nation  harmony  at  home,  the  respect  of  foreign  people,  and  to  main- 
tain in  our  country  glory,  honor  and  peace. 


7S 


The  Navy 

Address    by 
Rear=Admiral  Francis  J.  Higginson,    U.  S.  N.,  Retired 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Society:  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  be 
with  you  here  to-night  to  answer  to  the  toast  of  the  Navy,  because  I 
feel  sure  that  vou  are  interested  in  that  branch  of  our  national  armament, 
and  I  feel  that  you  realize,  as  I  do,  that  in  the  problems  which  are  coming 
to  us  in  the  present  century,  the  navy  is  destined  to  perform  no  unimportant 
part.  You  all  know — those  of  you  who  survived  the  Revolution  and  lived 
down  to  1861 — how  reluctant  the  people  of  the  North  were  to  realize  that 
the  political  difficulties  of  that  time  would  end  in  war,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  actual  gun  was  fired  on  Fort  Sumter  that  the  people  of  the  North 
realized  that  they  were  in  for  a  struggle.  It  only  goes  to  show  the  limited 
horizon  of  temporary  vision,  which  is  sometimes,  even  within  that  limit, 
obscured  by  mental  fogs  of  passion  and  prejudice,  so  that  it  is  unwise,  al- 
though the  sky  is  clear,  to  predict  that  the  future  will  not  bring  forth  its 
trouble. 

I  read  in  the  papers — I  cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  it — that  on  a  cer- 
tain Saturday  in  1898,  some  peace  advocates  called  on  President  McKinley, 
who  was  also  a  peace  advocate,  and  they  were  assured  by  him  that,  Cuba 
having  accepted  the  ultimatum  of  autonomy  and  other  legislative  reforms 
in  Cuba,  there  would  be  no  war.  On  the  following:  Sundav  he  was  waited 
upon  by  some  elder  statesmen  of  the  dominant  party,  and  as  a  result  of  that 
conference  on  Monday  he  sent  a  warlike  message  to  Congress  and  war  was 
declared,  and  these  instances  go  to  show  that,  however  clear  the  sky  may 
appear,  from  some  unexpected  direction  and  from  some  causes  unknown  a 
nation  may  suddenly  be  called  upon  to  exert  its  strength. 

Now  there  is  a  popular  opinion,  a  kind  of  happy  optimism  in  this  coun- 
try that  great  wealth  and  numbers  are  sources  of  strength  in  warfare  and, 
while  it  is  true,  that  wealth  as  a  factor  in  warfare  has  a  certain  potentiality, 
which  to  the  unthinking  mind  may  appear  a  conquering  force,  it  is  in  fact 
only  secondary.      Wealth,  however  limitless,  can  only  buy  arms  and  am- 

79 


munition  and  stores  and  transportation  and  pay  salaries.  It  cannot  buy 
valor  or  self-sacrifice  or  endurance  or  discipline  or  military  knowledge.  Gold- 
furnished  heroism  is  only  the  dream  of  the  nation  sunk  in  commercialism. 
Opulence  in  a  nation  is  not  always  strength,  for  opulence  breeds  arrogance 
and  arrogance  regards  dollars  and  trade  and  mortgages  and  industries  as 
sources  of  power  superior  to  armies  and  navies. 

To  be  perfectly  equipped  for  the  battle  as  a  world  power  there  should 
be  a  certain  co-ordination  between  the  industrial  strength  of  a  nation,  and 
the  military  strength,  and  without  that  while  certain  results  may  be  accom- 
plished, we  do  it  at  great  sacrifice  of  life  and  enormous  sacrifice  of  treasure. 

The  Civil  War  was  a  war  of  volunteers,  and  while  as  the  previous  speaker 
has  said  very  truly,  we  look  upon  pictures  of  daring,  pictures  of  glory, 
splendid  examples  of  self-sacrifice  and  ideal  heroes,  there  are  shadows  to 
the  picture  which  it  is  not  pleasant  to  contemplate,  but  which  should  be 
considered. 

For  instance,  during  the  Civil  War,  under  the  first  impulse  of  the  preser- 
vation of  the  country,  men  sprang  to  arms  with  an  enthusiasm  which  was 
ready  for  any  sacrifice,  but  when  the  serious  phase  of  that  war  began,  volun- 
teering ceased  and  drafts  and  conscripts  and  bounties  were  resorted  to,  and 
nearly  two  hundred  millions  of  bounties  were  paid  during  the  Civil  War,  and 
there  were  riots,  as  you  had  here  in  this  city.  I  am  informed  between  '61 
and  '65  there  were  more  officers  discharged  from  the  army  for  the  good  of 
the  service  than  were  killed  in  battle,  and  during  that  same  period  there  were 
two  hundred  thousand  desertions.  Now  while  it  is  true  that  that  war  was  car- 
ried through,  it  was  under  a  system  which  was  bad  and  false  and  which,  if 
the  result  is  properly  taken  to  heart,  we  should  not  in  this  generation  pass 
along  to  our  successors,  because  while  a  kind  Providence  has  so  far  exer- 
cised a  benign  charity  over  our  unpreparedness,  and  in  our  struggles  put  us 
up  against  weaker  powers,  we  are  now,  as  a  world  power  and  with  the  ex- 
pansion following  the  Spanish  War,  occupying  a  position  which  brings  us 
in  contact  with  and  causes  our  line  of  expansion  to  converge  towards  more 
powerful  nations  and  nations  more  worthy  of  our  steel. 

When  the  people  of  a  nation  sit  down  to  consider  their  military  prepara- 
tion, it  should  be  as  a  business  man  does  when  he  sits  down  and  reckons  up 
his  liabilities  and  his  assets  and  determines  upon  what  expenditure  and 
upon  what  lines  he  must  continue,  and  in  considering  the  military  problems 
of  this  country  I  beg  and  beseech  that  it  may  be  done  upon  the  merits  and 
considering  the  liabilities  we  have  to  deal  with. 

To  excite  a  desire  for  armaments  by  impugning  the  motives  of  a  nation 
at  peace  is,  I  think,  an  unworthy  argument.     We  should  look  to  what  we 

80 


have  to  cover  and  adjust  our  resources  and  our  powers  to  that  alone.  If 
we  do  that  in  this  country  we  find  that  we  have  four  liabilities  of  primary 
importance. 

The  first  is  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  which  is  an  adopted  child,  having 
originated  in  England,  but  we  have  adopted  it  and  taken  it  to  our  heart.  It 
is  in  itself  a  gigantic  proposition. 

Second,  we  have  our  oversea  possessions,  commencing  first  with  Alaska 
and  later  with  the  Spanish  War  possessions,  the  Philippines,  Hawaii,  Guam, 
Samoa  and  Porto  Rico. 

Third,  we  have  the  guarantee  of  neutrality  of  Cuba  and  a  guarantee  of 
neutrality  requires  just  as  much  force  behind  it  as  an  actual  possession. 

Fourth,  we  have  the  Panama  Canal,  on  which  this  nation  is  spending 
such  an  enormous  amount  of  money  and  which  it  behooves  us  to  see  is  pro- 
tected both  by  sea  and  by  land. 

Now,  anyone  of  these  are  serious  enough,  but  taking  them  all  together 
they  would  cause  any  thinking  man  to  consider  the  best  way  of  maintaining 
them,  and  if  you  are  going  to  maintain  them  at  all  you  must  maintain  them 
with  a  sufficient  force.  A  weak  navy  is  no  better  than  none  at  all ;  it  is  simply 
a  waste  of  money,  and  the  same  with  an  army.  We  are  a  little  more  for- 
tunate than  some  nations,  because,  being  a  continental  nation,  if  our  first 
line  of  defence,  the  navy,  is  destroyed,  we  fall  back  on  our  second.  Insular 
nations  like  Japan  and  England  are  not  so  fortunate.  Their  first  line  is 
their  only  line,  and  when  that  goes  their  country  goes. 

We  have  during  the  last  century,  not  counting  the  Indian  wars,  five  for- 
eign Wars  and  one  Civil  War. 

The  early  wars  of  that  century,  principally  clue  to  outrages  on  our  com- 
merce, are  not  likely  to  occur  to-day,  because  we  have  no  commerce,  and  also 
because  we  are  stronger  and  therefore  they  would  not  be  attempted,  even 
if  we  had.  I  hope  also  there  is,  as  General  Grant  has  referred  to,  a  spirit 
of  peace  and  an  arbitration  board  which  may  change  the  method  of  settling 
difficulties  which  has  been  maintained  in  the  human  race  ever  since  its  begin- 
ning, but  you  cannot  expect  to  change  the  habit  of  centuries  immediately  in 
one  generation. 

Now,  the  advocates  of  peace  are  fond  of  decrying  military  expenses. 
They  want  to  abolish  battle-ships,  but  you  do  not  destroy  a  tree  by  plucking 
its  fruit ;  you  must  take  it  up  by  the  roots  and  the  battle-ship  in  a  naval 
sense  is  the  fruit  of  the  war  tree  and  that  tree  has  its  roots  in  the  hearts 
and  passions  of  the  people,  and  when  we  shall  become  a  people  that  instead 
of  looking  to  the  sword  to  settle  their  difficulties,  would  prefer  to  settle  them 
by  arbitration,  why  the  battle-ship  falls  of  its  own  weight ;  you  need  not  cry 

81 


against  it ;  it  will  become  non-existent ;  but  as  long  as  the  present  idea  of 
the  settlement  of  difficulties  by  the  sword  exists  and  passions  exist  in  the 
minds  of  the  people,  the  tree  will  produce  the  battle-ship. 

Treaties  of  arbitration  are  certainly  excellent  things.  They  enable  a 
statesman,  when  the  hysterical  passion  of  the  nation  cries  for  war,  as  it  did 
in  this  nation  in  1898,  to  retire  behind  the  bulwarks  of  his  arbitration  treaty 
and  say  to  the  nation,  "  Gentlemen,  if  that  which  you  say  is  true  perhaps 
we  ought  to  resort  to  the  sword,  but  we  have  with  our  antagonist  a  solemn 
treaty  of  arbitration,  and  before  we  proceed  to  the  length  .of  actual  warfare 
we  must  in  accord  with  that  treaty  submit  this  cause  to  a  tribunal ;  and  while 
that  is  being  done,  unless  the  nation  tears  up  the  arbitration  treaty  in  its 
passion  and  will  have  none  of  it,  the  chances  are  that  the  passion  ot  the  na- 
tion will  subside  before  the  arbitration  is  ended. 

Now  a  tribunal  of  arbitration  where  two  opposing  nations  come  before 
it  with  their  difficulties  will,  as  a  court,  decide  upon  the  merits  of  the  case 
and  award  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  contestants  the  victory.  If  the  defeated 
nation  accepts  that,  there  is  no  more  to  be  done.  If  it  does  not  accept  it, 
if  it  says,  "  This  is  a  question  of  honor,  and  our  honor  is  our  life  and  we 
will  die  before  we  will  submit,"  then  we  come  finally  to  a  resort  to  force, 
even  under  a  system  of  arbitration,  because,  unless  the  tribunal  and  the  na- 
tions composing  that  tribunal  can  enforce  their  decree,  they  might  as  well 
not  exist.  If  every  nation  composing  the  tribunal  assembles  its  quota  of 
armed  forces,  whether  the  army  or  navy,  and  forces  the  compliance  with  its 
decrees,  in  the  final  analysis  of  all  the  peace  advocates  ask  for,  you  still 
come  down  finally  possibly  to  a  resort  to  force.  That  ha?  this  advantage, 
that  while  the  aggregate  of  that  force,  the  tribunal's  force,  may  be  large 
and  overpowering,  and  the  more  overpowering  the  better,  it  requires  from 
each  nation  only  a  small  military  establishment,  because  all  they  have  to  do 
is  to  furnish  a  quota  instead  of,  as  it  is  now,  furnishing  the  whole  force, 
and  therefore  military  expenses  can  be  very  materially  reduced  among  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  We  have  not  arrived  there  yet,  but  we  are  trying 
to  do  so. 

Now,  a  word  in  regard  to  the  navy.  I  beg  to  inform  you  that  it  is  still 
afloat  and  more  powerful  and  more  efficient  than  ever.  We  have  to-day.  in 
commission,  building  and  in  reserve  thirty-five  battle-ships.  They  are  of 
varied  capabilities.  The  early  ones  of  ten  thousand  and  twelve  thousand 
tons  are  not  to-day  able  to  keep  up  with  the  modern  line  of  battle,  because 
they  have  not  the  speed.  They  are  not  useless  by  any  means,  but  for  sea  per- 
formance, a  fleet  must  be  homogeneous  as  regards  speed  and  guns,  because 
the  speed  of  the  fleet  is  equal  onlv  to  the  speed  of  its  slowest  ship.     But 

82 


these  ships  that  are  not  able  to  keep  up  with  the  first  line  may  very  well 
form  a  second  line  among  themselves  or  they  may  be  very  useful  in  harbor 
work,  covering  mine  fields  and  torpedo  channels  with  their  guns  in  the  day 
time  and  with  their  search  lights  at  night. 

This  go-as-you-please  building  which  is  now  going  on  among  the  nations 
is  a  terribly  extravagant  thing.  Our  earliest  battle-ships,  as  I  said,  were 
ten  to  twelve  thousand  tons ;  then  we  went  to  fourteen  and  to  sixteen  thou- 
sand, and  then  to  eighteen  arid  twenty  and  twenty-one,  and  our  last  ones  are 
twenty-six  and  twenty-seven  thousand  tons,  and  the  price  of  battle-ships  has 
gone  up  from  five  million  to  twelve.  All  this  is  in  consequence  of  no  restric- 
tion as  to  tonnage.  I  said  a  while  ago  that  it  was  impolitic  to  prevent 
the  building  of  battle-ships,  but  at  least  one  thing  can  be  done  in  that  direc- 
tion, and  that  is  to  have  an  international  limit  of  tonnage,  so  that  all  nations 
can  build  the  best  and  the  most  powerful  ship  within  that  limit.  It  would 
put  nations  upon  a  fair  and  square  basis  of  building,  because  now  when  one 
nation  wishes  to  get  ahead  of  another  they  simply  throw  in  more  tonnage,  as 
a  railroad  corporation  might  throw  water  into  the  stock.  Of  course  we  can 
do  anything  on  more  tonnage  in  that  way,  because  more  tonnage  means 
greater  speed,  greater  armament,  more  powerful  guns,  a  larger  unit,  and  the 
navy  is  not  different  from  commercial  life  in  that  evolution  towards  large 
units ;  as  railroads  now  use  100-ton  locomotives  where  they  used  50-ton  ones 
some  time  ago ;  but  if  we  could  get  at  least  a  limitation  of  tonnage,  what- 
ever you  put  it  at,  twenty-six,  twenty-seven  or  thirty  thousand  then  at  least 
we  would  know  among  all  the  nations  how  far  we  could  go  in  that  direction, 
and  no  nation  could  take  advantage  of  another  nation,  except  ns  to  num- 
bers which  would  be  regulated  by  her  wealth. 

I  wish  that  proposition  could  be  brought  before  the  Hague  Tribunal 
and  something  done  about  it  in  that  way.  We  are  coming  now  slowly  to 
that. 

Congress  gives  us  about  two  battle-ships  a  year,  which  we  put  into  shape 
and  make  as  efficient  as  possible.  There  has  been  wonderful  advance  in  the 
gunnery  of  the  navy.  The  records  of  our  target  practice  have  exceeded  the 
expectations  of  even  our  experts  and  the  rank  and  file  of  the  navy,  splendid 
young  men,  between  twenty  and  twenty-five,  boys  from  the  West  of  unim- 
peachable character,  are  making  records  as  gun  pointers  in  those  turrets — • 
ten  bulls-eyes  out  of  ten  shots — that  is  most  satisfactory  to  naval  officers. 

We  shall  go  on — I  don't  know  that  any  limit  has  been  put  to  the  fleet 
exactly — my  own  idea  is  that  every  State  in  the  Union  should  be  represented 
in  the  line  of  battle.  That  would  mean  forty-six  battle-ships,  and  with 
those  divided  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  we  would  have  a  basis  at 

83 


least  to  go  upon.  Of  course  our  problems  are  principally,  or  will  be,  in  the 
future,  in  the  Pacific,  and  while  our  possession  of  the  Philippines  has  made 
our  expansion  converge  towards  the  nations  of  Asia,  I  trust  that  the  near- 
ness of  possessions  will  not  change  the  friendly  relations  which  have  always 
existed  between  the  United  States  and  China  and  Japan. 


84 


The  Bench 

Address     by 

The    Honorable   Almet    F.   Jenks 

Presiding  Justice  of  the  Appellate  Division 

of  the  Supreme  Court 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  While  I  appreciate  the  compliment  of 
this  invitation,  for  your  sakes  I  regret  that  I  was  not  scheduled  to  speak  be- 
tween the  Army  and  the  Navy,  because  the  old  Latin  maxim  is  "  Inter  arma 
silent  leges." 

We  speak  of  the  attractions  of  gravitation,  but  we  never  speak  of  the 
attractions  of  gravity,  and  yet  tradition  says  that  the  Bench  must  be  taken  se- 
riously ;  hence  I  feel  that  where  you  want  not  antidote,  but  anecdote,  the 
place  of  the  Bench  at  such  a  dinner  as  this  is  to  be  simply  a  lay  figure,  and  if 
this  company  were  not  so  respectable  and  so  eminent  I  would  understand  the 
function  of  my  office  was  to  add  dignity  and  silence,  not  verbosity  and  flip- 
pancy, to  such  a  meeting  as  this.  As  the  old  negro,  who  was  brought  before 
the  Justice  and  accused  of  carrying  concealed  weapons,  said,  when  he  was 
charged  with  carrying  a  razor,  "  Well,  it  is  only  a  safety  razor."  '  Well, 
what  is  the  difference  ?"     '  Why,  I  simply  carry  that  for  the  moral  effect." 

A  Judge  has  very  little  practice  in  public  speaking.  If  he  sits  at  trial 
term  and  opens  his  mouth  he  is  always  met  with  an  exception,  and  if  he 
sits  on  the  Appellate  Court,  he  is  regarded  as  impertinent  when  he  makes 
an  interruption,  and  the  only  excuse  that  he  gives  is  a  lie  to  the  proverb  of 
the  Chinese  that  "  Inattention  is  the  highest  form  of  politeness."  So  when 
I  come  to  speak  to-night,  not  with  the  glib  tongue  of  the  orator  from  Albany 
or  the  poised  periods  and  polish  and  precision  of  the  Army  and  the  Navy, 
I  feel  very  much  in  the  situation  that  the  negro  clergyman  in  the  South 
described  as  the  condition  of  that  dead  attendant  of  his  church  whose  life 
was  famous  for  his  misdeeds,  for  when  he  came  to  the  funeral  service  he 

85 


paused  and  said :  "  Brevern,  we  very  much  fear  that  he  am  where  we  hope 
he  ain't." 

Now  the  toast  of  the  Judiciary  or  the  Bench  has  been  exploited  hun- 
dreds of  times.  It  may  he  described  in  venalities  or  in  beatitudes;  but  it 
has  been  described  in  polished  periods  time  and  time  again,  and  there  is 
nothing  that  I  can  say  touching  its  function  as  a  governmental  agency  that 
every  school  boy  does  not  know  and  that  every  school  boy  could  not  repeat 
in  better  words  than  mine.  If  I  were  to  indulge  in  these  platitudes  which 
you  know  so  well,  I  would  be  very  much  subject  to  the  criticism  that  the  old 
negro  made  of  the  Episcopal  Church  when  asked  how  he  liked  the  service 
and  he  said,  "  Well,' the  trouble  with  it  is  they  take  up  so  much  time  in  read- 
ing the  minutes  of  the  last  meeting." 

Of  course,  like  the  katy-did,  I  can  say  an  undisputed  thing  in  a  very 
solemn  way.  I  can  say  the  same  thing  over  again,  as  in  the  story  of  a  little 
girl,  the  daughter  of  a  clergyman,  who,  on  being  asked  whether  her  father 
repeated  the  same  sermon  often,  said,  "  Yes,  but  he  hollers  'n  different 
places."' 

This  is  not  the  time  for  oracular  expression  or  the  time  for  auricular 
confession.  I  might  interest  you  in  the  biography  of  the  members  of  the 
Bench;  "  The  world  knows  nothing  of  its  greatest  men,"  the  poet  said  a  id 
yet  another  poet  says :  "  On  their  own  merits  modest  men  are  dumb,''  and 
there  we  are  confronted  with  a  classic  quotation.  The  old  familiar  line  of 
Goldsmith,  "  Remote,  unfriended,  melancholy,  slow,"  describes  the  condi- 
tion of  the  Bench.  They  may  not  be  remote;  they  may  not  be  unfriended; 
they  are  often  slow  and  always  melancholy;  they  are  as  lonesome  as  the 
graveyard  at  midnight;  or  the  Desert  Sahara  under  the  mid-day  sun;  they 
are  the  hierarchy  of  hermits;  they  are  the  isolation  of  individuals;  they  do 
not  add  to  .the  gayety  of  nations,  but  they  increase  the  gravity  of  the  indi- 
vidual ;  they  cannot  subscribe  for  press  clippings ;  they  do  not  support  an 
advertising  agency ;  they  cannot  caper  before  the  public  and  they  cannot 
bawl  typewritten  interviews  in  the  pubic  ear ;  there  is  no  reciprocity  in 
the  friendship  of  a  judge;  there  is  no  retaliation  in  the  enmity  of  a  judge; 
he  is  the  only  public  officer  that  cannot  stab  an  enemy  or  aid  a  friend ;  he  is 
not  the  searchlight  that  throws  the  glare  of  publicity  upon  public  events ; 
he  is  not  the  sunlight  which  gives  life  and  joy  and  hope ;  he  is  nothing  more 
than  the  miserable  X-ray  of  the  body  politic. 

One  man  out  of  every  two  and  he  only  meets  two  men  at  a  time,  is 
his  enemy,  the  man  he  decides  against.  He  is  regarded  as  irrelevant,  incom- 
petent and  immaterial  always  by  the  defeated  suitor.  The  defeated  suitor 
does  not  remember  that  the  Judge  is  not  the  Cadi  at  the  gate,  seeking  to  gain 

86 


truth  with  a  bastinado,  but  that  he  is  a  man  who  is  attempting  to  apply  rea- 
son on  the  doctrine  of  general  average  and  on  the  principle  of  the  greatest 
good  of  the  greatest  number.  And  then  a  judge  must  be  fearless.  The  fear 
of  God  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  but  the  fear  of  man  is  the  end  of  it.  He 
cannot  dash  aside  the  bitter  cup  of  unpopularity ;  he  cannot  seek  the  intoxi- 
cant of  public  applause ;  he  can  only  hope  for  the  popularity  that  Lord  Alans- 
field  described  as  the  popularity  that  follows,  but  which  is  not  pursued.  Oh, 
gentlemen,  uneasy  is  the  head  that  wears  a  gown  for  a  just  judge  is  just  a 
judge  and  nothing  more 

The  cowboy  out  West  upon  being  told  the  story  of  the  prodig-al  son  said 
that  was  not  right;  he  would  have  killed  the  boy  and  raised  the  calf.  That 
shows  how  dangerous  it  is  to  project  a  specialist  into  decisions  on  broad, 
equitable  principles. 

No,  law  is  a  science,  and  it  is  the  science  of  applying  rules,  regulations, 
judicial  decisions,  to  that  combination  of  circumstances  which  daily  arise  in 
the  kaleidoscope  of  life,  and  so  you  will  pardon  us  if  some  of  us  devote  our 
lives  to  it.  for  after  infinite  struggle  and  perseverance,  all  we  have  to  ask 
for  is  charity  at  your  hands.  The  great  power  of  the  court  is  the  power  of 
repression,  not  of  expression,  but  repression ;  the  repression  of  public  opinion. 
That  power  comes  in  what  we  call  the  pronouncement  of  the  unconstitu- 
tionality of  law,  but  we  do  not  condemn  a  law,  we  of  the  Judiciary,  because  it 
is  against  the  fundamental  organic  law  of  the  people.  The  Executive  acts 
because  he  must  act,  and  is  called  upon  to  act;  the  Legislature  acts  because 
it  is  the  People  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  Senate  and  Assembly  assembled 
and  must  act,  but  the  judge  stands  at  gaze,  impossible  of  action  until  he  is 
invoked  by  the  individual  and  that  is  really  the  secret  of  the  strength  and 
harmony  of  our  government  after  all.  If  the  Judiciary  should  set  itself  up 
against  the  people  and  say,  "  This  is  wrong  or  that  is  wrong  as  an  abstract 
principle,"  how  long  would  it  stand  the  veto  power?  But  the  Judiciary  does 
not  say  that  the  Legislature  has  done  something  that  it  does  not  ap- 
prove of :  it  calls  the  Legislature  back  to  its  sober  second  senses. 
It  says,  '  This  thing  is  repugnant  to  the  law  that  you  have  put  upon 
yourselves,"  for  the  Constitution  is  organic  and  founded  on  judg- 
ment with  broad  principles  and  no  private  interests  behind  it  and  legisla- 
tion springs  from  socialism  or  humanism  or  communism  or  collectivism.  It 
may  represent  the  tyranny  of  the  majority,  the  mere  fancied  panacea  of  the 
hour,  and  yet  the  Court  does  not  rise,  as  if  an  independent  branch  of  the 
government,  to  say,  "  So  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther,"  but  it  says, 
'  Your  law  has  offended  John  Smith  or  Richard  Jones  and  the  people  have 
done  an  injustice  to  the  individual."  and  thus  it  is  preserving  individual  rights 

87 


when  it  pronounces  a  law  unconstitutional,  and  hence  that  beautiful  expres- 
sion of  Lord  Bacon,  where  he  says,  "  The  questions  of  meum  and  tuum 
often  rise  to  the  dignity  of  a  State." 

Historians  you  know  are  apt  to  trace  the  causes  of  wars  and  revolutions 
to  occult  things.  Rice  says  that  the  great  turning  point  of  the  War  of  the 
Revolution  is  hardly  realized  by  any  student  of  history  except  himself.  He 
says  it  was  the  guns  of  DeGrasse  at  Cape  Charles  which  made  Yorktown 
possible ;  that  it  cut  England  from  control  of  the  sea. 

Well,  I  am  going  to  tell  you  what  I  found  the  other  day  in  history,  for 
it  is  of  application  so  far  as  the  Judges  are  concerned.  You  know  that  in 
the  year  1700,  by  the  Act  of  Settlement  the  Judges,  who  had  been  the  cor- 
rupt slaves  and  the  fawning  sycophants  of  the  Stuarts,  were  assured  not  only 
their  salaries,  but  their  tenure  of  office  so  long  as  they  should  behave  them- 
selves, but  in  1772,  72  years  after  the  settlement,  the  King  of  England  sent 
word  to  Hutchinson,  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  that  the  salaries  of 
the  Judges  in  the  Colonies  henceforth  should  be  paid  by  the  Crown,  and 
then  it  was,  and  it  is  all  history,  Sam  Adams  rose  in  his  might  and  called  a 
meeting  and  asked  that  letters  might  be  sent  to  all  the  Towns  of  the  Colonies 
and  they  called  on  Governor  Hutchinson  to  ask  him  whether  he  intended 
to  obey  the  order  of  the  King,  and  they  called  upon  the  Governor  to  call 
the  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  together  that  they  might  meditate  upon  this 
thing  and  protest  against  the  action  of  the  King,  and  Hutchinson  declined, 
but  in  a  year  eighty  towns  of  that  colony  and  in  a  year  and  a  half  all  through 
the  country  there  sprang  up  the  correspondence  of  committees  brought  into 
action  and  roused  into  life  by  this  attempt  to  suborn  the  Judiciary ;  which 
was  the  origin,  the  beginning  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  so  it  is  that 
we  poor  Judges  happen  to  have  been — or  our  predecessors  rather — the  cause 
of  the  creation  of  the  system  which  has  made  the  fabric  of  this  nation. 

Gentlemen:  I  have  about  done.  I  have  detained  you  too  long.  You 
remember  that  Webster  comments  on  the  great  wisdom  of  Washington, 
shown  in  his  careful  selection  of  the  judges,  but  it  did. not  need  Webster  to 
tell  us  the  twice  told  tale,  even  in  his  own  day,  that  neither  State  nor  nation 
can  live  nor  long  endure  without  a  fair,  honest  and  clean  Judiciary.  We 
need  the  support  and  the  kindness  of  all  good  men;  we  ask  you  to  be  jealous 
of  us,  that  we  may  be  zealous  for  you  and  we  ask  you  to  keep  us  out  of  party 
politics,  lest  the  judges  at  the  cry  of  the  majority  should  be  degraded,  not  to 
expound  the  law,  but  to  declare  a  policy.  For  any  party,  however  great  and 
strong  it  may  be,  that  would  seek  to  degrade  the  Judiciary  to  become  a  mere 
instrument  of  the  party  shibboleth  or  cry,  welcome  the  stroke  that  hurls  it 
down  to  dusty  death. 

88 


Then  may  the  temple  of  justice  stand — stand  like  the  temple  in  Greece, 
tranquil,  serene,  calm  and  beautiful,  as  the  Parthenon  stood,  the  bright  gem 
of  the  City  of  the  Violet  Crown.  As  another  has  said,  "  The  Courts  may  end 
and  the  Judges  may  die,  but  justice  lives  and  though  she  sleep  a  while,  she 
will  awake  and  must  be  satisfied." 


89 


Lincoln,  the  Preserver  of  the  Union 

Address  by 
The  Honorable  Hugh  Gordon  Miller 


Mr.  President  and  Soias  of  the  Revolution :  In  the  presence  of  the  dis- 
tinguished presiding  Judge  of  the  Appellate  Division  of  our  neighboring 
department  and  of  the  representatives  of  the  Army  and  of  the  Navy  and 
all  of  these  other  distinguished  guests,  you  can  scarce  expect  one  of  my 
age  to  speak  in  public  on  this  day,  especially  at  such  an  hour  as  this. 

The  actual  sons  and  fathers  of  the  American  Revolution  may  have  lost 
New  York  temporarily  in  1776,  but  the  daughters  of  the  Revolution  re- 
captured it  shortly  thereafter,  and  they  have  held  it  very  well  ever  since; 
held  it  so  well  that  all  these  brave  soldiers  and  admirals  are  very  willing 
captives  indeed,  and  the  position  of  the  American  woman  in  American  na- 
tional patriotism  is  -well  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  of  the  two  greatest  monu- 
ments in  America,  one  is  to  Washington  and  the  other,  standing  at  the  gate- 
way of  the  Republic,  with  her  torch,  uplifted,  pointing  to  the  heavens,  is 
the  figure  of  a  woman.  From  that  we  can  very  well  estimate  woman's  posi- 
tion in  the  Republic,  with  women  of  the  stamp  of  Martha  Washington, 
Betsy  Ross  and  others. 

I  cannot  take  up  much  of  your  time  and  before  you  conclude  I  wish  to 
offer  a  toast  to  Martha  Washington  and  the  daughters  of  the  Revolution. 

It  is  impossible  for  me,  at  such  an  hour,  to  launch  into  an  address.  It 
is  impossible,  for  an  ordinary  man  like  myself,  at  least,  to  think  of  anything 
new  to  say  upon  this  occasion — to  make  an  address  on  Washington's  birth- 
day after  all  the  material  has  been  threshed  over  for  so  many  years,  is  very 
hard  and  I  find  my  mind  drifting  in  self-defense  into  poetry,  as  Judge  Jenks 
has  done  before  me.  This  occasion  recalls  to  my  mind  the  words  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  when  he  inquired  if,  after  all, 

"  Breathes  there  the  man  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said, 
This  is  my  own,  my  native  land ! 
Whose  heart  hath  ne'er  within  him  burn'd 
As  home  his  footsteps  he  hath  turned 
From  wandering  on  a  foreign  strand? 

90 


If  such  there  breathe,  go,  mark  him  well! 
For  him  no  minstrel  raptures  swell ; 
High  though  his  title,  proud  his  name, 
Boundless  his  wealth  as  wish  can  claim — 
Despite  those  titles,  power  and  pelf, 
The  wretch,  concentered  all  in  self, 
Living,  shall  forfeit  fair  renown, 
And,  doubly  dying,  shall  go  down 
To  the  vile  dust  from  whence  he  sprung, 
Unwept,  unhonored  and  unsung." 

While  I  know  you  would  not  bear  with  me  to  make  an  address,  I  cannot 
refrain  from  answering  to  the  roil  call  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  to 
speak,  even  if  it  be  but  a  word  or  two,  of  the  heroism  not  only  of  those 
heroes  of  the  Revolution  about  whom  we  have  listened  tonight,  but  of  the 
heroism  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  throughout  the  battles  from  Agincourt 
to  Bunker  Hill,  Yorktown  and  Gettysburg;  the  heroism  of  the  race  that 
wrested  the  Charter  of  English  liberty  from  King  John  at  Runnymede; 
that  took  this  countrv  from  the --Indians,  carved  it  from  the  wilderness,  and 
at  last,  stilling  its  own  tumult,  conquered  itself  and  its  own  internal  revolu- 
tion ;  of  the  heroism  of  the  race  that  has  in  this  twentieth  century  carried 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  with  its  message  of  liberty  and  life  around  the  world ; 
that  saw  Admiral  Sperry  of  the  Navy  with  his  fleet  at  Tokio  welcomed  'by 
ten  thousand  Japanese  ghildren  singing  "America  "  in  English,  while  the 
very  angels  in  heaven,  it  seems  to  me.  must  have  sung  "  Glory  to  God  in 
the  Highest ;  on  Earth  Peace  and  Good  Will  to  Men." 

After  all,  what  constitutes  a  State?  Let  us  ask  ourselves  once  again 
for  a  moment. 

"  Not  high-raised  battlement  or  labored  mound,  thick  wall,  or  moated 
gate.     No, — men,  high-minded  men." 

We  are  very  much  given  to  celebrating  great  events  in  our  country. 
We  love  to  celebrate  and  with  great  enthusiasm  we  celebrate  each  year  espe- 
cially the  birthdays  of  Lincoln  and  Washington.  We  have  celebrated  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  Territory,  the 
first  permanent  settlement  of  America ;  we  will  soon  celebrate  the  opening  of 
the  Panama  Canal  and  at  Washington,  at  the  Capital  of  this  country,  we 
have  erected  in  memory  of  Washington  a  monument  of  marble,  granite 
and  stone  towering  higher  than  the  pyramids  of  Egypt;  higher  than  St. 
Peter's  dome,  but  never  before,  in  all  the  countries  of  the  world,  was  the 
memorv  of  any  mortal  man  celebrated  with  such  unanimity  of  feeling  as 

91 


we  of  the  North  and  the  South  and  the  East  and  West  celebrated  two  years 
ago  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  As  your 
distinguished  president  and  toastmaster,  the  leader  of  our  Bar,  has  said,  I 
am  a  native  of  the  South.  I  have  lived  for  some  years  in  New  York  City. 
I   hail  from  down 

"  By  the  flow  of  the  inland  river ; 

Whence  the  fleets  of  iron  have  fled, 
Where  the  blades  of  the  green-grass  quiver 

Asleep  are  the  ranks  of  the  dead : 
Under  the  sod  and  the  dew. 

Awaiting  the  judgment  day; 
Under  the  one  the  Blue, 

Under  the  other  the  Gray." 

1  have  no  apology  to  make  for  the  fact  that  on  this  Washington's  birth- 
day, as  1  answer  to  the  roll  call  of  the  admirers  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  I  say 
that  my  father  was  a  Confederate  soldier,  but  1  am  prouder  of  the  fact  that 
I  am,  as  you  are  tonight,  thanks  to  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his  supporters, 
first  and  above  all  an  American  citizen. 

I  do  not  believe  in  forever  dragging  over  or  raking  up  some  phases 
of  the  past ;  in  some  respects  the  dead  past  might  better  be  allowed  to  bury 
its  dead,  but  the  nation  which  fails  to  honor  its  heroes,  the  memory  of  its 
heroes,  whether  those  heroes  be  living  or  dead,  does  not  deserve  to  live,  and 
it  will  not  live,  and  so  it  came  to  pass  that  in  1909  nearly  a  hundred  millions 
of  people  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Rio  Grande  and  from  ocean  to  ocean 
and  far  out  into  the  islands  of  the  sea  were  singing  the  praises  of  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

I  shall  not  attempt  tonight  to  go  over  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
You  have  read  all  about  him  that  I  could  possibly  re-tell.  Two  years  ago 
ten  thousand  tongues,  made  eloquent  by  as  great  a  theme  as  ever  inspired 
the  mind  or  tongue  of  man,  were  singing  the  praises  of  the  Great  Emanci- 
pator. For  me  to  attempt  at  this  late  day  and  hour  to  paint  that  picture  over 
after  those  great  orators  and  statesmen  have  spoken,  would  be  like  the  ruth- 
less, reckless  stroke  of  some  amateur  artist  across  the  face  of  some  master- 
piece of  Raphael  or  Michael  Angelo,  hanging  upon  cathedral  walls  to  point 
the  souls  of  men  towards  heaven  ;  for  surely  such  a  picture,  the  picture  of 
Abraham  Lincoln,  is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  His  image  of  the  Almighty 
artist  and  architect  of  this  earthly  world. 

Permit  me  also,  before  I  conclude,  to  trespass  upon  your  time  to  say, 
as  the  son  of  a  Confederate  soldier,  and  T  say  it  because  T  know  that  my 

92 


father,  if  he  lived  and  were  here,  would  have  me  say  it  in  this  presence, 
and  I  believe  that  Abraham  Lincoln,  if  he  lived,  would  have  me  say  it  too, 
because  he  was  a  just  and  a  generous  man  and  he  would  wish  no  tribute  to 
him  that  did  not  carry  with  it  a  tribute  to  the  great  captain  of  his  armies, 
and  I  say,  therefore,  as  the  son  of  a  Confederate  soldier,  that  when  Ulysses 
S.  Grant  at  Appomattox  entered  into  that  unparalleled  stipulation  which 
told  the  Confederate  soldier,  the  soldier  of  the  armies  that  had  been  fight- 
ing him  and  slaughtering  his  followers,  that  they  could  go  merely  upon  their 
parole  of  honor ;  when  he  bade  my  father  and  his  comrades  keep  their  side- 
arms  and  their  war  horses  that  had  just  been  treading  the  blood  of  his  men, 
to  go  home  and  plow  up  the  soil ;  that  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  an  American  soldier. 
rose  to  a  further  height  of  greatness  and  glory  than  did  even  Caesar  or 
Charlemagne  or  Frederick  the  Great  or  Napoleon  Bonaparte  or  Wellington. 
Ulysses  S.  Grant  placed  himself  that  day  upon  a  higher  plane  than  did  ever 
any  warrior  who  ever  rode  to  battle  and  to  victory  in  all  the  annals  of  the 
wars  of  the  world. 

Plato  dreamed  of  the  republic  of  love ;  Moore  wrote  out  with  elaborate 
care  a  charming  Utopia.  Bacon  dreamed  in  imagination  of  a  beautiful 
New  Atlantis.  Montesquieu  discoursed  of  the  perfect  democracy.  All 
these  were  far  in  advance  of  their  time,  but  it  remained  for  the  American 
Commonwealth  to  put  together  all  of  the  best  theories  of  those  great  men, 
those  imaginative  geniuses,  into  a  concrete  form  of  government ;  those  ideals 
which  with  those  men  had  been  merely  poetic  creations.  It  is  that  govern- 
ment founded  by  Washington  and  preserved  by  Abraham  Lincoln  and  his 
supporters  that  we  enjoy,  with  one  strong  common  government  under  one 


flag. 


'  Your  flag  and  my  flag,  and  how  it  flies  today, 
On  your  land  and  my  land  and  half  a  world  away; 

•  Rose  red  and  blood  red  its  stripes  forever  gleam, 
Snow-white  and  soul  white,  the  good  forefathers'  dream. 
Sky-blue  and  true  blue,  with  stars  that  gleam  aright. 
The  gloried  guidon  of  the  day,  a  shelter  through  the  night, 
Your  flag  and  my  flag,  and  oh !  how  much  it  holds, 
Your  land  and  my  land,  secure  within  its  folds ; 
Your  heart  and  my  heart  beat  quicker  at  the  sight. 
Sun-kissed  and  wind-tossed,  the  red  and  blue  and  white ; 
The  one  flag,  the  great  flag,  the  flag  for  me  and  you, 
Glorified  all  else  beside,  the  red.  the  white  and  blue." 


93 


The  Prize  Essays 


on 


The  Assistance  from  France  in  Our 

Revolution 

ITS    BASIS,    EFFECT   AND   RESULT 


First  Prize   Essay 

By  George  A.  Neubauer,  Buffalo   Central    High  School 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


There  is  an  ancient  proverb  which  says  "A  friend  in  need  is  a  friend 
indeed."  This  is  as  true  when  applied  to  nations  as  when  referring  to  indi- 
viduals, and  the  United  States  can  give  eloquent  testimony  on  this  point 
when  it  recollects  the  aid  received  from  France  during  the  Revolution. 
That  this  assistance  from  a  European  nation  had  an  important  'bearing  upon 
the  successful  issue  of  that  struggle,  is  vouchsafed  by  all  historians,  and  in 
considering  the  topic  from  this  point  of  view,  we  will  first  glance  at  the 
conditions  in  the  colonies  during  the  early  days  of  the  war  and  briefly  re- 
view the  means  through  which  France  gave  assistance  to  the  patriots.  Then, 
with  these  facts  in  mind,  a  more  detailed  explanation  of  the  grounds  upon 
which  this  help  was  given  will  be  made,  together  with  its  effects  and  final 
results. 

When  the  "  Minute  Men  "  gathered  at  Lexington  and  Concord  on  that 
April  morning  and  sent  their  leaden  protests  into  the  British  ranks,  they 
were  not  fighting  for  independence  from  the  Crown ;  only  for  their  rights 
as  Englishmen.  It  was  not  until  early  in  the  following  year,  1776,  that  it 
dawned  on  the  patriotic  leaders  that  reconciliation  with  the  mother  country 
wns  beyond  hope,  and  that  thereafter  the  war  must  be  one  of  independence. 
After  a  survey  of  the  country's  resources,  even  the  most  sanguine  members 
of  Congress  saw  that  unless  help  from  some  outside  source  was  received, 
the  situation  of  the  patriots  was  desperate,  if  not  hopeless.  The  people 
were  divided,  many  being  opposed  to  the  war.  They  could  not  manufacture 
their  own  supplies  and  they  were  fighting  a  rich,  determined  nation  with 
practically  unlimited  resources  in  money  and  men. 

With  a  full  realization  of  the  desperate  straits  of  the  country,  Congress 
decided  to  call  upon  France  for  aid.  Inquiries  had  quietly  been  made  as  to 
how  such  an  appeal  would  be  received,  and  so  favorable  were  the  indica- 
tions that  Silas  Deane  was  sent  across  as  a  commissioner  to  negotiate  with 

97 


the  French  Government.  He  arrived  in  Paris  in  July,  1776,  where  he  was 
later  joined  by  Arthur  Lee,  and  both  immediately  entered  upon  their  mis- 
sion of  gathering  supplies  for  the  Continental  army.  So  successful  were 
they  that  late  in  the  same  year  Congress  decided  to  send  out  Benjamin 
Franklin,  the  "  Grand  Old  Man"  of  the  Revolution,  in  the  hope  that  he 
could  persuade  Louis  XVI.  to  openly  espouse  the  cause  of  the  United  States 
and  join  in  the  war  against  England. 

While  Franklin  was  negotiating  with  the  French  Government  for  an 
alliance,  France  had  been  secretly  giving  aid  to  the  Colonies.     Even  before 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed,  the  great  Beaumarchais  threw 
himself  heart  and  soul  into  the  task  of  raising  money  to  buy  arms  and  am- 
munition for  the  patriots.    He  importuned  the  French  Government  for  funds 
but  was  told  that,  being  a  neutral  nation,  France  could  not  openly  aid  the 
revolutionists.     Beaumarchais  then  organized  a  company  under  the  fanciful 
name  of  Roderique,  Hortalez  and  Company,  ostensibly  to  act  as  a  commer- 
cial agency  in  promoting  business  projects,  but  in  reality  to  assist  the  strug- 
gling Colonies.    Beaumarchais  collected  nearly  five  million  livres,  and  it  was 
from  this  company  that  Silas  Deane  received  cannon,  muskets,  ammunition, 
clothes  and  boots  sufficient  to  equip  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  men. 
The  news  of  Bunker  Hill  and  the  heroism  displayed  by  the  raw  soldiers 
had  reached  Europe  and  evoked  untold  admiration  from  the  French  to  whose 
love  of  adventure  and  romance  it  appealed  all  the  more  strongly  because 
the  struggle  took  place  in  a  land  beyond  the  sea.     These  tales  of  heroism 
induced  Lafayette,  Segur  and  Dumas  to  leave  France  and  cast  in  their  lot 
with  the  revolutionists.     They  fought  because  they  believed  the  cause  of 
the  Colonies  to  be  the  cause  of  humanity.     The  name  of  Lafayette  is  as 
familiar  to  every  school  boy  as  is  Valley  Forge.     He  not  only  led,   but 
equipped  and  paid  his  own  soldiers.     Then  there  were  Rouerie  and  Fersen, 
men  who,  tired  of  the  monotonous  routine  of  army  life  in  times  of  peace, 
went  to  America  to  secure  a  change,  but  nevertheless  did  good  service  in 
drilling  the  raw  farmer  boys  and  transforming  them  into  soldiers.     Still 
another  type  of  warrior  sent  here  from  France  were  Rochambeau,  D'Estaing: 
and  De  Grasse,  professional  fighting  men,  who  came  because  their  monarch 
ordered  them  and  who  looked  upon  war  as  a  duty  to  their  king.    These  last 
were  sent  by  Louis  XVI.  after  the  news  of  Burgoyne's  surrender,  which 
leached  Paris  in  December,  1777,  had  finally  induced  the  French  Govern- 
ment to  accede  to  Franklin's  request  for  an  alliance  against  England.    Two 
treaties  were  made ;  one  of  amity  and  commerce  which  recognized  the  United 
States  as  an  independent  nation,  and  one  of  alliance  whereby  France  agreed 
to  join  in  the  war  until  the  independence  of  the  United  States  was  assured. 

98 


As  a  result  of  these  treaties  Rochambeau  with  four  thousand  men  was  sent 
across  to  join  the  patriots,  and  also  D'Estaing  and  De  Grasse,  each  with  a 
formidable  fleet  to  operate  against  the  British  in  American  waters.  France 
also  opened  her  ports  to  Paul  Jones,  Wilkes,  Johnson  and  Nicholson,  those 
daring  sea-rovers  who  terrorized  the  British  Channel  for  many  months, 
and  also  sent  stores  to  the  Continental  army  from  the  royal  arsenals. 

Now,  why  did  France  grant  this  assistance?    There  were  several  rea- 
sons.   Louis  XVI.  and  his  nobles  had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  bitter  hu- 
miliation of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  which  had  terminated  so  disastrously  for 
fair  France.     The  efforts  of  a  century  of  exploration  and  colonization  were 
nullified  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  when  France  gave  up  practically  all  claim 
to  North  America.    The  artistocracy  smarted  under  the  shame  and  disgrace 
resulting  from  this  war;  their  pride  was  humbled  and  their  valor  questioned. 
Then,  again,  France  saw  in  the  new  nation  an  open  market  for  her  goods, 
a  market  which  had  long  been  monopolized  by  England.     From  the  United 
States  she  could  get  directly  many  things  she  could  not  produce  herself — 
tobacco,  corn  and  raw  materials  for  her  manufactures.     The  question  of 
commerce  has  always  been  an  important,  if  not  the  important  one  in  interna- 
tional relations,  and  France  saw  her  opportunity  to  open  up  a  field  which 
would  add  vastly  to  her  prestige.  About  this  time,  also,  the  germ  of  discon- 
tent was  just  beginning  to  appear  among  the  French  peasantry.    They  were 
becoming  weary  of  the  yoke  of  an  oppression  placed  around  their  necks  by 
the  ruling  aristocracy.     The  struggle  for  independence  which  was  taking 
place  in  America  appealed  to  their  sense  of  brotherhood,  to  their  sympathy, 
because  they  could  feel  as  none  others  could  the  wrongs  which  had  prompted 
the  Revolution.      It  was   because  of  that  intangible   force,  more  power- 
ful than  the  greatest  of  armies,  more  subtle  than  the  shrewdest  of  statesmen, 
public  opinion  as  voiced  by  the  aristocracy,  the  merchant  class  and   the 
peasantry  demanded  intervention,  that  France,  secretly  at  first,  then  openly, 
gave  aid  to  the  United  States. 

Its  effect  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  The  supplies  obtained  by  Deane 
filled  a  much  needed  want  in  the  ranks  of  the  Continental  army.  The  com- 
ing of  Lafayette  and  his  aides  encouraged  the  raw  soldiers  comprising  the 
patriot  army  because  it  showed  them  that  their  efforts  were  not  in  vain,  that 
their  valor  had  attracted  the  attention  of  one  of  the  proudest  nations  in 
Europe  and  had  evoked  sympathy.  It  also  caused  apprehension  in  England 
because  the  British  had  already  tasted  of  the  fighting  qualities  of  the  un- 
trained farmer  soldiers  and  feared  what  these  same  troops  might  do  when 
drilled  by  the  skilled  soldiers  of  France.  But  all  this  was  as  nothing,  com- 
pared to  the  furor  created  in  America  by  the  news  that  France  was  to  join 

99 


the  revolutionists  in  their  fight  for  freedom.  It  had  seemed  as  though  the 
war  was  practically  over  and  the  patriots  must  yield.  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, Newport  and  Savannah  were  all  held  by  the  British.  The  Continental 
army  had  never  fully  recovered  from  the  horror  of  that  terrible  winter  at 
Valley  Forge.  But  with  the  news  of  the  coming  of  Rochambeau  and  his 
army  and  the  fleets  of  D'E9taing  and  De  Grasse  a  new  life  was  put  into  the 
men,  new  hope  into  the  cause. 

The  first  result  of  this  news  was  Lord  North's  third  plan  of  reconcilia- 
tion. Then  Clinton  decided  to  evacuate  Philadelphia  and  march  to  New 
York.  The  patriots  renewed  the  war  with  increased  vigor,  regained  the 
South  and  besieged  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  It  was  here  that  the  French 
gave  splendid  assistance  in  one  of  the  critical  periods  of  the  war.  De  Grasse 
repulsed  a  British  fleet  bringing  reinforcements  from  New  York,  blockaded 
the  Chesapeake  and  landed  3,000  French  troops.  Lafayette  and  Rocham- 
beau joined  Washington  in  drawing  the  net  around  the  British.  The  sur- 
render of  Cornwallis  foreshadowed  the  end.  England  realized  this,  and  after 
making  several  half-hearted  attempts  to  regain  lost  ground,  finally  acknowl- 
edged the  independence  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  the  American  colonies  could  ever  have  won  their 
independence  without  the  help  of  France.  From  the  first  they  had  the 
moral  support  of  the  French  as  a  nation,  together  with  such  secret  aid  as 
could  be  given,  without  openly  violating  the  laws  of  neutrality. 

Then  came  the  glorious  news  of  Saratoga  which  resulted  in  the  alliance. 
The  news  of  this  God-sent  help  put  new  life  into  the  worn-out  patriots,  re- 
vived their  drooping  hopes  and  imbued  them  with  a  determination  to  fight 
until  England  acknowledged  their  right  to  exist  as  an  independent  nation. 
Asa  result  victory  followed  victory  for  the  Continental  blue,  and  after  Corn- 
wallis's  surrender  at  Yorktown  England  saw  the  handwriting  on  the  wall. 
After  a  desultory  continuance  of  hostilities,  King  George  III.  finally  admit- 
ted defeat,  and  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  acknowledged  the  independence  of 
the  United  States.  Thus  a  new  nation  was  born  to  give  to  the  world  new 
ideas  in  political  and  social  life — a  new  interpretation  of  the  word  "  govern- 
ment." Whatever  credit  is  due  to  the  patriots  and  their  indomitable  leaders, 
we  cannot  overlook  the  part  taken  by  France  and  the  aid  she  rendered  at 
the  eleventh  hour. 


100 


Second   Prize   Essay 

By  Winifred   Fisher,   Schenectady  High   School 

Schenectady,   N.   Y. 


The  keynote  of  the  assistance  from  France  in  our  Revolution  was  the 
world-old  cry  for  freedom,  which  found  emphatic  voice  a  few  years  later  in 
that  most  wonderful  of  all  political  movements,  the  French  Revolution. 
King-ridden  France  awoke  to  the  realization  that  thirteen  Colonies  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  of  North  America  were  struggling  for  independence  from 
a  tyrannical  king,  who  transgressed  their  liberty-loving  wishes.  And 
France,  tired  of  her  long  degradation  and  suffering,  aroused  herself  to  the 
assistance  of  the  cause  of  humanity,  and,  throwing  herself  into  the  balance, 
decided   this  struggle  between   republicanism  and  monarchism. 

But  a  less  noble,  though  perhaps  more  potent  motive,  seems  to  have 
actuated  the  king  and  ministry.  France  and  England  had  long  been  im- 
placable enemies;  wars  and  treaties  had  followed  in  such  rapid  succession 
that  it  was  often  difficult  to  tell  whether  hostile  or  peaceful  relations  existed. 
And  at  this  time,  though  nominally  they  were  at  peace,  the  same  old  hatred 
existed  between  the  two  nations.  England  was  superior  to  France,  having 
almost  entire  control  of  the  high  seas,  and  monopolizing  commerce  to  a 
degree  very  distasteful  to  her  European  observers.  So  it  was  with  a  joyous 
welcome  that  the  French  Minister,  Vergennes,  greeted  the  opportunity  of 
simultaneously  humbling  England  and  advancing  the  interests  of  France. 
And  the  French  people  as  a  whole  received  gladly  this  chance  for  revenge. 
Surely  this  was  the  time  to  blot  out  their  disgraces  and  defeats ;  and  the 
French  heart  laughed  at  the  thought  of  England's  discomfiture,  should  she 
lose  these  valuable  and  treasured  colonies. 

As  early  as  the  passing  of  the  Stamp  Act  the  attention  of  France  seems 
to  have  been  directed  toward  America ;  for  at  that  time  she  sent  to  the  Col- 
onies Baron  de  Kalb,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  their  attitude  toward 
the  mother  country.  From  this  time  interest  increased,  until,  at  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  France  decided  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  struggle. 
However,  since  selfishness  was  the  motive,  extreme  caution  was  observed 

101 


throughout  that  no  public  step  should  be  taken  until  success  was  reason- 
ably sure. 

In  1776  Congress  sent  Silas  Deane  to  France  to  interest  that  country  in 
the  cause  of  American  Independence.  When  Deane  arrived,  he  found 
affairs  in  a  very  promising  condition.  A  friend  of  Franklin's.  Dr.  Duborg, 
had  already  mysteriously  secured  15,000  stands  of  arms  from  the  royal  arse- 
nals, for  the  assistance  of  the  Colonies.  And  Baron  de  Beaumarchais,  a 
great  favorite  at  Court,  was  urging  the  king  to  send  aid  to  America.  The 
French  Minister,  Vergennes,  desired  to  lengthen  out  the  war  for  another 
year  at  least;  his  idea  was  that  if  this  could  be  accomplished,  the  Americans 
would  be  so  embittered  by  their  sufferings  that  they  would  abandon  all  pos- 
sible thought  of  concession,  and  gladly  accept  almost  any  terms  of  treaty 
from  France,  rather  than  conciliate  with  England.  Yet  everything  had  to 
be  done  secretly,  to  prevent  complications  with  England  if  America  should 
fail. 

About  this  time  Beaumarchais  conceived  the  brilliant  scheme  of  carry- 
ing on  a  mercantile  business  under  the  name  of  "  Hortalez  &  Co.,"  nominally 
to  be  under  the  control  of  a  Spanish  banker,  trading  with  the  United  States 
on  a  purely  commercial  basis.  In  reality,  however,  the  capital  was  to  be 
largely  furnished  by  the  government,  and  leniency  exercised  in  demanding 
payment.  In  return  for  the  arms  and  provisions  which  the  Americans  were 
to  receive,  Deane  promised  cargoes  of  tobacco  and  other  native  products. 
But  English  warships  unfortunately  blocked  the  harbor,  preventing  the  sail- 
ing of  ships,  and  Deane  and  Beaumarchais  were  involved  in  hopeless  diffi- 
culties. 

Vergennes  and  Beaumarchais  also  persuaded  Louis  to  grant  the  Colonies 
a  subsidy  in  this  year,  though  at  every  turn  they  were  obliged  to  cajole  or 
bully  the  king  to  action.  Louis  was  by  no  means  an  intellectual  monarch,  but 
he  did  have  perception  enough  to  see  the  inconsistency  of  an  absolute  mon- 
arch's assisting  rebellious  colonies  to  independence.  And  had  Vergennes 
guessed  what  a  world-wide  revolution  he  was  helping  to  bring  about,  his 
zeal  would  have  been  likely  to  abate.  But  he  did  not  guess,  and  it  was 
largely  through  his  efforts  that  the  Commissioners  obtained  help. 

The  next  year  after  Deane's  commission,  Congress  decided  that  more 
than  one  man  was  needed  to  uphold  the  interests  of  America  in  France.  Ac- 
cordingly, Arthur  Lee  and  Benjamin  Franklin  were  sent  to  join  Deane,  with 
instructions  to  secure  subsidies,  loans,  and  supplies ;  and  to  conclude  if  pos- 
sible, a  treaty  of  alliance  with  France.  When  Franklin  arrived  in  France, 
he  was  received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm  and  respect  by  the  whole  peo- 
ple, with  the  exception  of  Louis  XVI.    Lee,  however,  occupied  himself  in 

102 


making  as  much  trouble  as  possible  for  everyone,  and  succeeded  admirably 
in  becoming  a  wholesale  nuisance  to  the  American  cause  and  to  France. 

Shortly  after  the  Commissioners  arrived,  a  subsidy  of  2,000,000  livres 
was  granted,  and  in  1781  Franklin  again  managed,  with  Vergennes'  assist- 
ance, to  extract  from  the  unwilling  king  a  gift  of  6,000,000  livres.  Between 
1777  and  1783  Franklin  was  almost  continually  begging  Vergennes  for 
loans,  and  secured  during  this  time  $6,352,000,  to  be  replaced  after  the  war. 

Another  great  advantage  came  through  Franklin.  He,  by  dint  of  much 
persuasion  and  scheming,  induced  Vergennes  to  allow  American  privateers- 
men  to  sell  their  prizes  and  refit  their  ships  in  French  ports.  Without  this 
privilege  that  sea-warfare  along  the  coast  of  England  which  contributed  so 
much  to  American  success  would  have  been  practically  impossible. 

But  the  English  Ambassador  Stormont  repeatedly  demanded  the  dis- 
missal of  the  American  Commissioners,  and  looked  with  growing  suspicion 
and  disfavor  on  their  presence  in  France.  Vergennes,  however,  diplomat- 
ically avoided  the  necessity  of  dismissing  them.  But  when,  in  1777,  the 
case  began  to  look  almost  hopeless  for  America,  the  French  became 
even  more  cautious,  and  Franklin  was  almost  on  the  verge  of  despair.  Then 
suddenly  came  the  great  tidings  of  Saratoga,  spreading  swiftly  through 
France.  America  had  'at  last  proved  that  she  was  capable  of  defending 
herself.  Vergennes  was  alarmed  lest  she  should  make  peace,  and  France's 
chance  be  lost.  Accordingly,  he  hastily  sought  an  alliance.  On  December  7 
Franklin  was  informed  that  the  King  was  ready  to  acknowledge  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  States.  A  treaty  was  soon  drawn  up,  and  signed  on 
February  6,  1778;  the  provisions  of  this  agreement  guaranteed  an  immediate 
and  public  compact  of  friendship,  and  an  ultimate  and  secret  alliance,  "  to 
take  effect  only  in  case  England  should  make  war  upon  France."  France 
acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  United  States,  and  guaranteed  sov- 
ereignty and  whatever  possessions  she  should  have  at  the  end  of  the  war. 
The  United  States  guaranteed  to  France  her  possessions  in  America.  Com- 
mercial reciprocity  was  to  exist  between  the  two;  and  neither  was  to  make 
peace  with  England  without  the  consent  of  the  other.  The  alliance  was 
formally  communicated  to  England  on  March  13,  as  an  informal  declaration 
of  war.     And  three  months  later  hostilities  began. 

From  this  time  France  became  more  active  in  assisting  America.  Sup- 
plies increased ;  and  fleets  were  sent  at  various  times.  The  first,  under 
D'Estaing,  was  prevented,  by  ill-fate,  from  usefulness ;  those  under  De 
Barras  and  De  Grasse  made  Yorktown  possible.  French  troops  arrived,  and 
under  Lafayette  did  good  service  in  Virginia ;  these  troops,  together  with 
those  under  Rochambeau,   did  good  service   at  Yorktown   also.      In   fact, 

103 


Cornwallis  would  never  have  been  compelled  to  surrender,  had  not  French 
troops  helped  to  overcome  him  by  land,  and  a  French  fleet  shut  him  off 
from  aid  or  escape  by  water. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  value  of  the  personal  assistance  from  the 
officers  who  came  here  from  France.  Late  in  1777  the  French  Govern- 
ment sent  over  Baron  Steuben,  a  German  noble,  who  had  received  his  train- 
ing under  Frederick  the  Great.  He  found  the  army  at  Valley  Forge  almost 
ignorant  of  the  proper  methods  of  warfare;  but  left  them  in  the  spring,  "  as 
good  soldiers  as  could  be  found  among  the  British  regulars."  His  serv- 
ices along  this  line  were  invaluable. 

The  Marquis  de  Lafayette  came  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  in  a  ship  fitted 
at  his  own  expense,  and  offered  his  services  without  pay.  His  bravery, 
shrewdness  and  devotion  to  the  cause  soon  made  him  one  of  Washington's 
valued  officers.  Several  Polish  officers  came  with  Lafayette,  among  whom 
Kosciusko  is  especially  noticeable  for  his  engineering  work.  These  all  felt, 
with  Lafayette,  that  "  The  wefare  of  America  is  closely  bound  up  with  the 
welfare  of  mankind,"  and  delighted  in  giving  their  lives  for  the  cause  of 
liberty. 

The  extent  of  the  assistance  from  France  is  easily  seen ;  but  what  did 
this  assistance  accomplish  ?  The  immediate  effects  are  plainly  perceived.  In 
the  first  place,  Yorktown  was  made  possible,  and  through  Yorktown  the  suc- 
cessful termination  of  the  struggle.  We,  as  Americans,  dislike  to  admit  a 
possible  defeat ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  true  that,  without  foreign  aid,  the  issue 
of  the  Revolution  would  have  been  extremely  doubtful.  The  news  of  a 
French  Alliance  came  near  being  disastrous,  for  the  country  at  once  decided 
that  no  further  action  was  necessary  on  its  part.  But  when  the  people  did 
once  more  awake,  the  alliance  brought  them  great  encouragement. 

The  loyalists  were  throughout  the  war  one  of  the  most  fruitful  causes 
of  trouble.  And  this  alliance  with  a  Roman  Catholic  power  added  a  great 
number  to  their  overcrowded  ranks.  They  thought  that  the  new  country 
had  done  wrong  in  seeking  a  foreign  alliance — and  perhaps  she  had.  But 
we,  as  American  citizens,  although  we  regret  the  necessity  for  any  for- 
eign alliance,  can  hardly  condemn  that  act  which  makes  us  to-day  an  inde- 
pendent nation,  "the  first  in  war,  the  first  in  peace." 

The  alliance  caused  great  consternation  in  England,  and  if  it  had  had 
no  other  result,  would  have  been  worth  while  as  causing  Parliament  to 
acknowledge  that  its  policy  had  been  both  unwise  and  unjust.  But  it  also 
drew  England  into  wars  with  half  of  Europe,  absorbing  a  large  part  of  her 
attention  at  home,  and  so  allowing  America  a  better  chance. 

Of  course  the  most  outstanding  result  was  the  success  of  America,  and 

104 


the  loss  of  England's  power  in  this  country.  But  the  results  of  this  result 
have  influenced  largely  the  subsequent  history  of  the  world.  Encouraged 
by  American  success,  the  oppressed  of  France  came  to  hope  that  they,  too, 
might  find  freedom.  Had  this  war  not  been  fought,  the  French  Revolution 
would  certainly  have  been  greatly  retarded,  perhaps,  even,  might  never  have 
occurred. 

The  Colonies  had  already  outgrown  the  Mother  Country,  and  a  con- 
tinuance of  her  control  would  have  harmed,  not  helped,  them.  Their  loss 
left  England  free  for  expansion  in  other  countries  where  her  civilizing  influ- 
ence was  needed ;  and  perhaps  without  this  that  splendid  work  in  India  and 
elsewhere  might  never  have  been  accomplished.  This  blow  also  had  a  most 
beneficial  effect  upon  England  herself;  for  it  aroused  her  to  a  sense  of  her 
own  needs  and  defects. 

But  above  all  other  results  one  stands  out  with  surpassing  importance. 
The  assistance  from  France  in  our  Revolution,  bringing  about,  as  it  did,  the 
success  of  America,  gave  the  United  States  a  chance  to  prove  to  the  world 
that  republicanism  is  a  practical  reality,  and  not  a  vague  ideal ;  and  that  all 
governments  may  be,  as  ours  is,  "  A  government  of  the  people,  for  the  peo- 
ple and  by  the  people." 


105 


Third   Prize   Essay 

By  Marjorie  Hunt,  Girls'  High  School,  Borough  of 
Brooklyn,  New  York  City 


Although  some  of  the  causes  of  the  success  of  the  American  Revolution 
are  still  a  matter  of  dispute,  the  assistance  of  France  is  acknowledged  to  be 
an  important  factor,  and  must  therefore  be  carefully  considered  in  studying 
the  war.  This  aid  was  not  based  on  an  impulsive  decision  on  the  part  of  the 
French  Government  to  befriend  a  liberty-loving  people  and  help  the  new 
nation  to  get  on  its  feet.  It  was,  rather,  a  policy  adopted  as  the  result  of 
careful  consideration  of  the  different  courses  which  might  be  pursued  and 
the  probable  advantage  to  France  from  each.  Hence  it  is  necessary  to  give 
some  attention  to  the  state  of  affairs  in  France. 

Contradictory  as  it  may  seem,  the  French  and  Indian  War,  in  which  the 
Americans  fought  against  the  French,  was  one  of  the  most  important  causes 
of  the  alliance.  By  this  war  England  seized  French  possessions,  humbled 
French  pride  and  aroused  in  all  patriotic  Frenchmen  a  desire  for  revenge 
and  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  power  of  France.  Watching  for  an  op- 
portunity, they  soon  came  to  believe  that  a  blow  to  Great  Britain  could  be 
struck  through  her  Colonies.  The  great  minds  of  France  were  divided, 
however,  as  to  the  best  way  of  striking  this  blow.  Comte  de  Vergennes, 
the  head  of  the  Ministry,  believed  that  the  independence  of  the  Colonies 
would  cause  the  greatest  loss  to  England,  and  that  France  should  therefore 
give  them  all  possible  aid.  Turgot,  another  Minister,  believed  that  the 
greatest  advantage  to  France  would  be  derived  by  keeping  the  Colonies  sub- 
ject to  England,  as  much  of  her  strength  would  then  be  required  to  control 
them.  He  believed  it  unwise  to  attempt  to  render  any  great  assistance,  ow- 
ing to  the  state  of  the  French  finances. 

Until  now,  France  had  merely  kept  herself  informed  by  means  of  an 
agent  in  America  and  her  Minister  to  England  concerning  the  growing  dis- 
content. Now,  learning  from  Baron  de  Beaumarchais,  who  had  made  in- 
vestigations in  England,  that  war  was  imminent,  Vergennes  sent  Bon  Vou- 
loir  to  America  to  find  out  whether  the  Americans  wished  for  French  inter- 
ference, without  making  any  statement  with  regard  to  France.     Bon  Vouloir 

106 


soon  came  into  communication  with  the  Secret  Committee  of  Correspond- 
ence, appointed  in  November,  1775.  The  committee  divined  that  he  was 
not  simply  a  traveler  and  decided  to  send  an  agent  to  France  to  discover 
whether  aid  could  be  obtained  from  that  nation,  and  to  arrange  for  the  pur- 
chase of  arms  and  supplies. 

In  March,  1776,  Silas  Deane  was  chosen  for  this  mission.  He  was  in- 
structed to  purchase  a  full  equipment  for  thirty  thousand  troops  and  twenty 
pieces  of  field  artillery,  promising  payment  when  Congress  should  be  able, 
and  to  inquire  of  Vergennes  whether  aid  might  be  expected  from  France  if 
the  colonies  declared  their  independence.  Vergennes  refused  to  commit 
himself,  referring  to  the  expense  France  was  under  and  to  existing  treaties 
with  England.  Deane  came  into  communication  with  Beaumarchais,  who 
established  a  commercial  house  under  a  fictitious  name  for  the  purpose  of 
furnishing  arms  and  supplies  to  the  Colonies.  The  money  for  this  enter- 
prise was  furnished  him  by  the  government,  which  also  loaned  the  Colonies 
one  million  livres  and  obtained  for  them  a  similar  loan  from  Spain.  Through 
the  enthusiastic  efforts  of  Beaumarchais  the  entire  equipment  was  ready  for 
shipment  in  November,  1776. 

There  had  been  much  discussion  in  Congress  as  to  the  advisability  of 
making  foreign  alliances.  Franklin  thought  we  should  wait  until  our  inde- 
pendence was  established,  when  other  nations  would  seek  alliances  with  us. 
The  majority  in  Congress  sided  with  Adams,  who  wished  to  make  treaties 
with  all  the  European  nations.  In  September,  1776,  a  plan  for  a  treaty 
with  foreign  powers  was  adopted,  and  a  commission,  consisting  of  Frank- 
lin, Deane  and  Arthur  Lee,  was  sent  to  France.  In  December  the  Com- 
missioners reached  Paris.  The  work  practically  devolved  upon,  Franklin, 
for  Deane  had  not  sufficient  knowledge  for  the  task,  and  Lee  was  continu- 
ally casting  suspicion  on  his  associates  and  inconvenienced  them  greatly. 
Negotiations  dragged,  for,  although  at  the  news  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence France  had  been  ready  for  open  warfare,  the  news  of  the  defeat 
on  Long  Island  had  changed  her  plans,  and  now  she  was  awaiting  devel- 
opments, meanwhile  furnishing  the  colonists  arms  and  supplies.  The  news 
of  Burgoyne's  surrender  changed  the  attitude  of  France;  the  Americans 
had  shown  themselves  capable  of  maintaining  their  independence,  and  it 
seemed  safe  to  acknowledge  them.  Work  on  the  treaty  was  immediately 
begun,  and  the  Commissioners  decided  to-  make  a  political  as  well  as  a  com- 
mercial treaty.  Terms  were  soon  agreed  upon,  and  the  two  treaties  were 
signed  on  February  the  sixth,  1778. 

The  commercial  treaty  was  practically  the  same  as  the  plan  drawn  up 
by  Congress.     It  gave  careful  lists  of  contraband  merchandise,  prohibited 

107 


the  searching  of  ships  of  either  nation  by  the  other,  gave  each  nation  the 
right  to  take  into  the  ports  of  the  other  the  prizes  of  its  privateers,  forbade 
the  ports  of  either  to  captors  of  prizes  from  the  other,  and  established  free 
West  Indian  ports.  By  the  treaty  of  alliance  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  was  recognized,  joint  military  movements  were  provided  for, 
the  existing  territory  of  both  parties  was  guaranteed,  probable  conquests 
were  divided,  and  the  consent  of  both  nations  was  made  necessary  for  the 
conclusion  of  peace. 

The  first  military  aid  sent  by  France  was  in  the  July  following  the 
treaty  (Lafayette,  who  had  been  serving  enthusiastically  for  a  year,  had 
come  of  his  own  accord  and  without  troops).  Vice-Admiral  Comte  D'Es- 
taing  left  Toulon  with  a  powerful  fleet,  purposing  to  shut  the  British  fleet 
in  the  Delaware,  but  when  he  arrived  off  the  capes  of  Delaware  in  July, 

1778,  he  found  that  the  fleet  had  sailed  for  New  York.  His  coming  was, 
however,  hailed  with  joy,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  discussion  about 
the  best  way  to  use  his  fleet.  It  was  decided  to  employ  it,  in  connection 
with  the  land  forces,  in  blockading  New  York.  This  plan  was  abandoned, 
as  the  channel  was  not  deep  enough  to  afford  entrance  to  the  larger  vessels. 
The  next  plan  was  to  attack  Newport,  the  land  and  naval  forces  uniting. 
Troops  had  been  landed  from  the  French  fleet  when  the  English  fleet  ap- 
peared. The  French  immediately  re-embarked  and  put  to  sea  to  meet  them. 
After  two  days  of  manoeuvring  both  fleets  were  scattered  by  a  storm,  and 
several  French  ships  were  disabled.  D'Estaing,  thinking  it  unsafe  to  attack 
them,  sailed  to  Boston  for  repairs.  Later  he  sailed  away  to  the  West  Indies, 
leaving  behind  him  a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  and  distrust,  due  to  his  re- 
peated failures. 

During  D'Estaing's  campaign  in  the  West  Indies  the  war  continued  in 
the  South,  with  great  loss  to  the  Americans.     He  returned  in  September, 

1779,  to  aid  in  the  siege  of  Savannah.  The  first  attack  was  unsuccessful, 
owing  to  the  re-enforcement  of  the  British  while  they  delayed.  D'Estaing, 
fearing  the  approach  of  the  fall  storms,  would  not  wait  for  another  attack, 
but  left  for  France,  and  the  troops  under  General  Lincoln  were  repulsed. 
This,  of  course,  increased  the.  ill-feeling  toward  France.  In  July,  1780,  the 
other  fleet  which  had  been  promised  by  France  and  eagerly  awaited  by  the 
Americans  arrived  at  Newport  under  De  Ternay,  with  six  thousand  troops 
under  Comte  De  Rochambeau.  After  a  year  of  practical  idleness  the  army 
began  its  march  southward.  Washington  and  Rochambeau  planned  to  attack 
New  York,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  strong  French  fleet  then  in  the  West 
Indies  under  Comte  De  Grasse.  After  considerable  delay  they  learned  that 
the  bar  which  had  prevented  the  entrance  of  the  other  fleet  to  the  harbor 

108 


would  again  cause  trouble.  About  this  time  Washington  received  word  of 
the  campaign  in  the  South  and  the  present  cooped-up  position  of  Cornwallis 
in  Virginia.  He  decided  to  march  south,  keeping  the  English  under  the 
impression  that  New  York  was  the  abjective  point.  This  it  was  possible  to 
do  for  some  time,  since  the  march  into  New  Jersey  might  indicate  an  at- 
tempt to  occupy  Staten  Island  as  a  vantage  point  for  the  siege  of  New  York. 

Meanwhile  Cornwallis  had  occupied  and  fortified  Yorktown.  Grasse's 
fleet,  arriving  from  the  West  Indies,  was  joined  by  De  Ternay's,  which  had 
escaped  from  the  British  blockade  at  Newport.  The  British  fleet  followed, 
attacked  them  unsuccessfully  and  withdrew.  The  French  fleet  blockaded 
the  harbor  and  cut  off  Cornwallis's  hope  of  escape  in  that  direction.  La- 
fayette, who  with  a  small  force  had  annoyed  Cornwallis  all  summer  and 
finally  forced  him  into  his  present  position,  now  stationed  his  troops  so  as 
to  prevent  his  retreat  by  land. 

The  army  reached  Williamsburg  on  September  26.  Two  days  later 
the  combined  forces  moved  on  Yorktown.  The  French  were  very  enthu- 
siastic all  through  the  siege,  vying  with  each  other  in  deeds  of  bravery. 
Cornwallis,  after  keeping  up  the  defense  until  October  17,  was  obliged 
to  acknowledge  it  was  useless  and  accept  Washington's  terms.  On  the  19th 
the  British  laid  down  their  arms  before  the  combined  forces  of  France  and 
the  United  States.  The  French  evidently  left  soon  after  this,  for  they  are 
not  recorded  as  taking  part  in  any  subsequent  fighting.  Negotiations  were 
soon  opened,  for  France  and  England  both  felt  the  need  of  peace.  In  spite 
of  considerable  antagonism  between  the  Americans  and  the  French,  the 
treaty  was  at  last  arranged  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  and  was  signed  at 
Versailles  by  representatives  of  all  three  nations  on  the  third  of  September, 
1785. 

In  conclusion  we  may  say  that  the  negotiations  with  France  form  the 
most  important  part  of  the  diplomatic  history  of  the  war,  and  are  connected 
with  the  greatest  statesmen  of  that  time ;  and  that  the  aid  from  France  in 
furnishing  us  with  money  and  arms,  which  enabled  us  to  carry  on  the  war 
when  our  own  resources  would  have  been  insufficient,  in  supplying  us  with 
a  navy  with  which  to  resist  the  attacks  of  the  British  navy,  in  sending  us 
an  army  that  made  possible  the  decisive  victory  at  Yorktown,  was,  with  the 
exception  of  the  character  of  the  Americans  and  the  condition  of  England, 
the  most  important  cause  of  the  success  of  the  American  Revolution. 


109 


,',  A  S  - 


C  N 


I-     FT    OF    THE     FRENCH     =  E  =  _  3  _     C    TO    ~  -  E    EC".  =     I-     THE    REVO ¥     DN 

FEBRUARY      2  2       1912 


Sons  of  the  Revolution 


IN  THE 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


REPORTS 

AND 

PROCEEDINGS 


1911-1912 


December  4,  1912 


V 


Object  of  the  Society 

CONSTITUTION. 

Preamble 

Whereas,  It  has  become  evident  from  the  decline  of  proper 
celebration  of  such  National  holidays  as  the  Fourth  of  July,  Wash- 
ington's Birthday,  and  the  like,  that  popular  interest  in  the  events 
and  men  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  is  less  than  in  the  earlier 
days  of  the  Republic ; 

And  Whereas,  This  lack  of  interest  is  to  be  attributed  not  so 
much  to  lapse  of  time  as  to  the  neglect  on  the  part  of  descendants 
of  Revolutionary  heroes  to  perform  their  duty  of  keeping  before 
the  public  mind  the  memory  of  the  services  of  their  ancestors,  and 
of  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  and  of  the  principles  for  which 
they  contended ; 

Therefore,  The  Society,  of  the  "Sons  of  the  Revolution"  has 
been  instituted  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  men  who,  in  mili- 
tary, naval  or  civil  service,  by  their  acts  or  counsel,  achieved 
American  Independence ;  to  promote  and  assist  in  the  proper  cele- 
bration of  the  anniversaries  of  Washington's  Birthday,  the  Battles 
of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  the  Fourth  of  July,  the  Capitula- 
tions of  Saratoga  and  Yorktown,  the  Evacuation  of  New  York  by 
the  British  Army,  and  other  prominent  events  relating  to  or  con- 
nected with  the  War  of  the  Revolution;  to  collect  and  secure  for 
preservation  the  manuscript  rolls,  records  and  other  documents 
and  memorials  relating  to  that  War;  to  inspire  among  the  mem- 
bers and  their  descendants  the  patriotic  spirit  of  their  forefathers ; 
to  inculcate  in  the  community  in  general  sentiments  of  Nationality 
and  respect  for  the  principles  for  which  the  patriots  of  the  Revolu- 
tion contended ;  to  assist  in  the  commemorative  celebration  of  other 
great  historical  events  of  National  importance,  and  to  promote 
social  intercourse  and  the  feeling  of  fellowship  among  its  members. 


General  Society 

(Organized  at  Washington,  D.  C,  April  19,  1890.) 
OFFICERS,  1911-1914. 

General  President, 

Edmund  Wetmore,  LL.  D., 
New  York  Society. 

General  Vice-President, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 
New  York  Society. 

Second  General  Vice-President, 
Hon.  John  W.  Weeks, 
Massachusetts  Society. 

General  Secretary, 

William  Libbey,  D.  Sc, 

New  Jersey  Society. 

Assistant  General  Secretary, 

W.  Hall  Harris,  Jr., 

Maryland  Society. 

General  Treasurer, 

Richard  McCall  Cadwalader, 
Pennsylvania  Society. 

Assistant  General  Treasurer, 

Henry  Cadle, 
Missouri  Society. 

General  Chaplain, 

Rev.  Randolph  H.  McKim,  D.  D. 

District  of  Columbia  Society. 

General  Registrar, 

Hon.  George  E.  Pomeroy, 
Ohio  Society. 

General  Historian, 

Marshall   Delancey    Haywood, 
North  Carolina  Society. 


4 


Sons  of  the  Revolution 

IN   THE 
STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

Instituted  February  22,  1876. 

Reorganized  December  4,  1883. 

Incorporated  May  3,  1884. 


FOUNDERS. 

John  Austin  Stevens 

John  Cochrane, 

Austin  Huntington, 

George  H.  Potts, 

Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge, 

George  Washington  Wright  Houghton, 

Asa   Bird   Gardiner, 

Thomas  Henry  Edsall, 

Joseph  W.  Drexel, 

James  Mortimer  Montgomery, 

James  Duane  Livingston, 

John  Bleecker  Miller, 

Alexander  Ramsay  Thompson,  Jr., 


OFFICERS,  1912 

Presiden t : 
Edmund  Wetmore,  34  Pine  Street. 

First  Vice-President: 
Robert  Olyphant,  17  Battery  Place. 

Second  Vice-President: 
John  Hone.  5  Gramercy  Park. 

Third  Vice-President: 

William  W.  Ladd.  20  Nassau  Street. 

Secretary: 

Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Fraunces  Tavern. 

Assistant  Secretary: 
Eugene  K.  Austin,  15  William  Street. 

Treasurer: 
Arthur  Melvin  Hatch,  71  Broadway. 

Registrar: 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  College  of  tlie  City  of  New  York. 

Chaplain: 
Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.D.,  416  Lafayette  Street. 

Assistan t  Chapla in  : 
Rev.  Frank  L.  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Morristown  N.  J. 

Historian: 
Talbot  Olyphant,  32  Nassau  Street. 

Board  of  Managers: 

John  Adams  Dix,  25  Broad  St.  Ralph    Peters,    L.    I.    R.    R.    Co.,    7th 

Walter  L.  Suydam,  5  E.  76th  St.  Ave.  and  o'2nd  St. 

Benjamin  R.  Lummis.  25  W.  33d  St.  Frederick  S.  Woodruff,  165  Broadway. 

James  May  Duane,  59  Wall  St.  William  G.  Bates,  43  Cedar  St. 

George   H.   Coutts,   273   Broadway.  Charles    F.    Bridge,    13   N.    Pearl    St., 

Henry  D.  Babcock.  32  Liberty  St.  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Samuel  Y.   Hoffman.  258  Broadway.  Norman  S.  Dike,  County  Court  House, 

J.  Wray  Cleveland,  176  Broadway.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Parker  1).  Handy.  22  Pine  St.  John  It.  Delafield,  27  Cedar  St. 

Benjamin  T.  Fairchild,  74  Laight  St.  Philip  Livingston,  115  E.  61st  St. 

6 


Chapters  of  the  Society: 

Buffalo  Chapter,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Robert  M.  Codd.  Regent. 

George  W.  Comstock,  Secretary,  124  Lexington  Avenue,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Philip  Livingston  Chapter,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  Charles  Francis  Bridge,  Regent. 
Borden  H.  Mills,  Secretary,  44  Tweddle  Building,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

William  Floyd  Chapter,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent. 

William  Barker,  Jr.,  Secretary,  c/o  William  Barker  Co.,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Fort  Schuyler  Chapter,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Sylvester  Dering,  Regent. 

A.  Vedder  Brower,  Secretary.  306  Genesee  Street,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

Orange  County  Chapter,  Goshen.  N.  Y. 

Jamestown  Chapter,  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Abner  Hazeltine,  Regent. 
Frank  H.  Mott,  Secretary,  Fenton  Building,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

Real  Estate  Committee: 

Robert  Olyphant,  Chairman,  James    M.    Montgomery, 

John  Hone,  Henry  A.  Wilson, 

Arthur  M.  Hatch. 

Membership  Committee: 

George  Deforest  Barton,  Chairman.  150  Broadway. 

Landreth  II.  King,  Room  4020,  Grand  Central  Station. 

Edward  L.  Parris,  45  Broadway. 

Caldwell  R.  Blakeman,  Coffee  Exchange. 

Benjamin  W.  B.  Brown,  52  Wall  Street. 

Talbot  Root,  52  Broadway, 

Chandler  Smith,  68  Broad  Street. 

Nathaniel  A.  Prentice,  2  Rector  Street. 

Pierre  F.  Macdonald,  45  Vestry  Street. 

George  P.  Lawton,  14  East  60th  Street. 

Edward  C.  Delafield,  27  Cedar  Street. 

William  B.  Hill,  160  Broadway. 

Edmund  Howard-Martin,  160  West  59th  Street. 


Committee  on  Speakers: 

William  B.  Hornblower,  John  A.  Dix, 

David  Cromwell,  Horace  Barnard, 

Edmund  Wetmore. 


Essay  Committee: 

Richard  Henry  Greene,  Chairman.        R.  Russell  Requa, 
Herbert  L.  Bridgman,  Henry  R.  Howland. 

Alfred  Ely, 


7 


Library  Committee: 

John  R.  Totten,  Chairman,  Nathaniel  B.  Day, 

Douglas  Campbell,  Henry  Cole  Smith, 

Howard  T.  Kingsbury. 


Museum  Committee: 

George  B.  Class,  Chairman,  William  Bunker. 

Robert  R.  Atterbury,  William  G.  Low,  Jr., 

Charles  Wisner. 


Tablet  Committee: 

James  M.   Montgomery,  Chairman,       Henry  Russell  Drowne, 
Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  Pierre  F.  Macdonald, 

Junius  S.  Morgan. 


Stewards: 

Philip  Rhinelander,  Chairman,  Phoenix  Ingraham, 

Lawrence  L.  Gillespie.  George  P.  Montgomery, 

Robert  M.  Olyphant,  Jr.,  Pierpont  Davis. 


Marshal: 

John  Butterfield  Holland. 

Aides  to  the  Marshal: 

Eugene  K.  Austin,  Robert  Kelly  Prentice, 

Albert  Delafield,  Talbot  Root. 

De  Witt  Clinton  Falls,  George  Albert  Wingate. 

Publication  Committee: 

James  M.   Montgomery,  Chairman,       Henry  Phelps  Johnston, 
Henry  Russell  Drowne,  Charles  Elliot  Warren, 

Talbot  Olyphant,   Historian. 

Committee  on  Church  Service: 

Talbot  Olyphant,  Chairman.  Frederick  S.  Woodruff,  Secretary. 

Arthur  Frederic  Schermerhorn,  Robert  Grier  Cooke, 

S.  Vernon  Mann. 
Rt.     Rev     David     H.     Greer.     D.     D.,  Rev.  F.  Landon,  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D., 

Chaplain.  Asst.   Chaplain. 

8 


Aisle  Committee: 


Charles  Adams, 
David  Banks, 
Henry  Burr  Barnes, 
Waldron  Phoenix  Belknap, 
Frederick  Melvin  Crossett, 
John  Francis  Daniell, 
Charles  Francis  Darlington, 
Joseph  N.  Lord  Edmonds. 
Morris  Douw  Ferris, 
Lindley  Murray  Franklin,  Jr., 


Marshall  Winslow  Greene, 
Frederick  Erastus  Humphreys, 
Richard  Malcolm  Montgomery,  Jr., 
Charles  King  Morrison, 
Murray  Olyphant, 
Robert  Morrison  Olyphant,  Jr., 
Henry  Gansevoort  Sanford, 
Edward  Gibert  Schermerhorn, 
Prentice  Strong, 
Alfred  Byers  Wade, 


Reynold  Webb  Wilcox,  M.  D. 


Excursion  Committee: 


William  G.  Bates,  Chairman,  John  C.  Gulick, 

Edward  P.  Casey,  J.  Wray  Cleveland, 

Benjamin  B.  McAlpin. 


Finance  Committee: 

William  W.  Ladd,  Chairman,  James  G.  Cannon, 

James  May  Duane,  Alexander  R.  Thompson, 

William  G.  Bates. 


Committee  on  Memorial  Decorations: 

Charles  R.  Lamb,  Chairman,  Walter  P.  Warren, 

Robert  Thorne,  David  Cromwell, 

John  C.  Fremont  Gardner. 


Auditing  Committee: 

Warren  M.  Healey,  Chairman.  Elbridge  G.  Snow, 

John  N.  Peet. 


Committee  on  Constitution  and  By-Laics: 


Edmund  Wetmore,  Chairman, 
William  W.  Ladd, 


William  G.  Bates, 
Frederick  S.  Woodruff. 


Committee  on  Washington  Memorial  Building: 

Philip  Livingston,  Chairman,  Arthur  M.  Hatch, 

Charles  F.  Bridge. 


Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers 


To  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 

in  the  State  of  New  York  : 

The  Board  of  Managers  submits  the  following  report  for  the 
year  ending  December  4,  1912 : 

Eight  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Managers  have  been  held  during 
the  year.  The  Annual  Meeting  took  place  in  Fraunces  Tavern, 
Dec.  4,  1911,  at  3 :30  P.  M.,  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  President  of  the 
Society,  presiding.The  Secretary  read  the  call  for  the  meeting  and 
the  polls  were  declared  open  for  one  hour  and  a  half,  the  following 
tellers  having  been  appointed:  Mr.  Talbot  Root,  Chairman,  and 
Messrs.  Chandler  Smith,  Varick  Dey  Martin  and  Harrison  Wright. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Barton  Chapin,  D.D.,  General  Chaplain  of  the 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  offered  prayer. 

The  reading  of  the  report  of  the  Board  of  Managers  was  dis- 
pensed with,  the  report  having  been  printed  for  distribution,  and 
the  Treasurer,  Mr.  A.  M.  Hatch,  read  his  report. 

Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  Historian  of  the  Society,  read  his  report, 
during  the  reading  of  which  all  the  members  rose  and  remained 
standing. 

Mr.  Robert  Olyphant,  Chairman  of  the  Real  Estate  Committee, 
announced  that  during  the  year  the  mortgage  on  Fraunces  Tavern 
had  been  reduced  from  $30,000  to  $25,000  and  the  rate  of  interest 
from  five  to  four  per  cent. 

Mr.  Frederick  S.  Woodruff  gave  notice  of  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  to  be  acted  on  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Society, 
and  the  Secretary  read  the  report  of  the  Nominating  Committee. 

The  General  Secretary,  Col.  William  Libbey,  called  attention  to 
the  report  at  the  last  Triennial  Meeting  of  the  Committee  on  the 
proposed  law  punishing  desecration  of  the  American  Flag,  and  the 
following  resolution,  offered  by  Col.  William  W.  Ladd,  was 
adopted: 

Resolved,  that  a  Committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  secure 
such  action  as  may  be  necessary  on  the  part  of  the  State  Legisla- 

11 


hire  and  the  National  Congress,  to  prevent  the  desecration  of 
either  the  United  States  Flag  or  the  State  Flag  of  New  York,  by 
their  use  for  advertising  purposes  or  any  other  purpose  not  con- 
sistent with  their  dignity  as  National  or  State  emblems. 

The  General  Secretary  also  called  attention  to  the  following 
report  of  the  Committee  upon  the  proper  wearing  of  the  ribbons 
and  the  insignia  of  the  Society : 

1.  The  rosette  should  be  worn  in  the  left  lapel  of  the  coat,  but 
never  in  the  overcoat.  Where  members  belong  to  several  orders 
or  societies  having  rosettes,  choice  should  be  made  of  one  rosette ; 
more  than  one  should  never  be  worn  at  a  given  time.  It  is  proper 
to  wear  rosettes  with  ordinary  house  or  street  dress.  No  rosette  of 
any  order  or  society  should  ever  be  worn  at  the  same  time  with  the 
insignia. 

2.  Members  of  the  Society  may  wear  the  insignia  on  the  left 
breast  as  prescribed  in  the  Constitution.  But  it  is  recommended 
that  when  the  insignia  of  this  Society  is  used  together  with  the 
insignia  of  other  orders  or  societies  the  regulations  of  the  United 
States  Government  for  army  officers  be  understood  as  applicable  to 
civilians  also,  as  follows :  "The  badges  are  to  be  worn  on  the  left 
breast  of  the  coat,  the  tops  of  the  ribbons  forming  a  horizontal 
line,  the  outer  end  of  which  shall  be  from  two  to  four  inches  (ac- 
cording to  the  height  of  the  wearer)  below  the  upper  line  of  the 
shoulder."  It  may  be  added  for  information,  that  the  Govern- 
ment regulations  further  provide  that  "the  ribbons  be  suspended 
from  a  bar  of  metal  passed  through  the  upper  ends,  and  attached 
to  the  coat." 

3.  Persons  who  are  or  have  been  State  officers  are  entitled 
to  wear  the  insignia  suspended  from  ribbon  around  the  neck,  and 
are  recommended  for  the  dignity  of  the  Society  to  so  wear  it,  and 
this  ribbon  should  be  used  only  with  a  dress  suit  or  dress  uniform. 
In  the  case  of  a  dress  suit  the  insignia  should  be  drawn  up  to  within 
an  inch  of  the  tie.  In  the  case  of  a  uniform  it  should  hang  close  to 
the  opening  of  the  military  collar. 

4.  Persons  who  are  or  have  been  General  officers  or  who  hold 
or  have  held  the  office  of  President  or  Vice-President  of  a  State 
Society,  are  entitled  to  wear  the  broad  ribbon  across  the  breast, 
and  are  recommended  for  the  dignity  of  the  Society  to  wear  it.    But 

12 


this  ribbon  should  be  used  only  with  a  dress  suit  or  dress  uniform. 
In  the  case  of  a  dress  suit,  it  should  be  worn  under  the  waistcoat ; 
in  the  case  of  a  uniform,  it  should  be  worn  over  the  coat.  It  is 
recommended  that  the  neck  ribbon  should  not  be  used  at  the  same 
time  with  the  broad  ribbon.  When  the  latter  is  worn,  the  insignia 
may  be  suspended  from  the  left  breast,  or  appended  to  the  broad 
ribbon  where  the  latter  crosses  the  hip. 

5.  The  prestige  and  influence  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  depend  largely  upon  the  loyality  of  its  members.  It  is 
therefore  deemed  especially  important  that  every  member  should 
possess  and  should  use  on  all  suitable  occasions  the  emblems  and 
insignia  of  the  Society.  It  is  hoped  that  members  who  may  not 
have  procured  insignia  as  yet  will  do  so  as  soon  as  possible.  Finally 
it  is  recommended  that  on  all  public  patriotic  occasions  the  officers 
and  members  of  our  Society  shall  urge  that  proper  recognition 
be  given  to  the  representatives  of  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution. 

Col.  William  W.  Ladd  offered  the  following  resolution  which 
was  adopted: 

Resolved  that  this  Society  endorses  the  action  of  the  General 
Society  upon  the  subject  of  the  proper  wearing  of  the  Society  rib- 
bons and  insignia,  and  recommends  that  its  members  wear  them 
in  accordance  with  the  action  therein  proposed,  and  that  the  report 
upon  this  matter  be  incorporated  in  the  By-Laws  of  the  Society 
for  the  future  guidance  of  its  members. 

Col  Libbey  called  attention  to  the  following  motion  of  Mr. 
Henry  Cadle,  the  Assistant  General  Treasurer  for  the  amendment 
of  Section  8  of  the  Constitution  of  the  General  Society: 

Resolved,  that  Section  VIII  of  the  Constitution  of  the  General 
Society  be  amended  by  adding  one  Vice-President  for  each  State 
Society  and  adding  two  more  General  Chaplains  so  that  the  Section 
as  amended  will  read  as  follows : 

VIII. 

At  the  regular  meeting  a  General  President,  General  Vice-Presi- 
dent, General  Second  Vice-President,  and  one  Vice-President  for 
each  State  Society,  Secretary,  Assistant  Secretary,  Treasurer, 
Assistant  Treasurer,  Registrar,  Historian  and  three  Chaplains, 
shall  be  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  votes  present  to  serve  until  the 

13 


next  regular  general  meeting  or  until  their  successors  are  duly 
chosen. 

The  following  resolution  offered  by  Col.  Ladd  was  adopted : 

Resolved  that  this  Society  adopt  the  resolution  proposed  at  the 
last  General  Meeting  of  the  Society :  That  Section  VIII  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  General  Society  be  amended  by  adding  one  Vice- 
President  for  each  State  Society,  and  adding  two  more  General 
Chaplains. 

Mr.  Alexander  R.  Thompson,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  So- 
ciety, called  attention  to  two  beautiful  punch  bowls  used  on  the  4th 
of  December,  1883 — the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  Washington's 
Farewell  to  his  Officers  in  the  "Long  Room"  of  Fraunces  Tavern, 
on  which  occasion  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  was  reorganized — be- 
queathed to  the  Society  by  its  founder,  John  Austin  Stevens,  and 
to  two  handsome  mats  for  the  bowls  presented  by  Mrs.  and  Miss 
Stevens. 

Mr.  Thompson  spoke  as  follows:  Mr.  President,  and  Sons  of 
the  Revolution,  I  have  been  asked  by  our  dear  friend,  Montgomery, 
to  call  your  attention  to  these  beautiful  punch  bowls,  and  mats  upon 
which  they  stand,  and  to  give  you  a  bit  of  their  history,  how  we 
came  to  have  them.  The  bowls  were  given  to  us  by  the  will  of 
John  Austin  Stevens,  and  the  mats  are  presents  from  Mrs.  and 
Miss  Stevens. 

Twenty-eight  years  ago,  on  Tuesday,  the  4th  of  December,  a 
goodly  company  of  patriotic  Americans  of  Revolutionary  descent 
assembled  in  the  Long  Room  in  Fraunces  Tavern,  to  celebrate 
the  centennial  anniversary  of  Washington's  farewell  to  his  officers. 
It  was  a  memorable  evening.  These  beautiful  bowls  had  been 
made  for  Mr.  Stevens  for  that  occasion.  The  dinner  was  good,  the 
punch  made  in  accordance  with  a  Revolutionary  recipe  was  de- 
lightful, the  speeches  were  bright,  witty  and  eloquent.  To  some,  in 
the  cold,  gray  dawn  of  the  morning  after,  came  a  feeling  of  wonder 
at  the  capacity  of  their  ancestors  who  could  drink  thirteen  toasts  of 
that  beautiful  punch.  But,  with  all  the  good  fellowship  and  elo- 
quence of  that  meeting,  there  was  a  sub  tone  of  earnestness.  The 
host  and  presiding  officer,  John  Austin  Stevens,  a  courtly  gentle- 
man of  the  old  school,  a  learned  historian,  an  ardent  patriot,  with 
the  fire  of  his  eloquence  lit  a  beacon  light  of  patriotism  that  burns 
brightly  at  this  place  to-day,  and  I  believe  will  burn  brightly  here  as 
long  as  the  tides  ebb  and  flow  in  the  bay  and  rivers  at  our  doors. 

14 


For  then  and  there  came  the  reorganization  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Eevolution;  and  then  and  there  were  built  the  foundations  upon 
wYLch  this  magnificent  institution  has  been  erected.  They  builded 
well,  better  than  they  knew.  There  were  but  a  score  or  two  present 
on  that  occasion,  a  mere  handful,  and  yet  look  at  the  result  of  the 
work  they  started,  not  only  this  great  organization,  but  all  others, 
organized  in  co-operation  with  it,  or  in  imitation  of  it. — This  insti- 
tution with  its  magnificient  roll  of  membership,  its  large  property 
interests,  maintaining  Fraunces  Tavern  at  its  own  cost,  with  its 
museum  of  Revolutionary  relics,  and  this  "Long  Room"  to  which 
come  thousands  and  thousands  of  people  every  year;  erecting  that 
beautiful  statute  of  the  young  hero,  Nathan  Hale,  in  our  City  Hall 
Park,  who  could  say,  before  he  was  hung,  that  his  only  regret  was 
that  he  had  but  one  life  to  give  for  his  country — and  doing  this 
not  in  a  spirit  of  self-advertising  or  of  self-aggrandizement,  but  to 
perpetuate  the  memories  and  principles  of  those  heroic  men  who 
won  for  us  and  for  our  descendants  and  for  our  beloved  country 
the  inestimable  blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Looking 
back  over  those  twenty-eight  years  there  cannot  but  come  to  me  a 
feeling  of  sadness.  As  I  scan  the  faces  in  this  room  and  in  these 
corridors,  I  see  so  few,  so  few  of  the  men  who  were  present  in  the 
early  days,  those  patriotic  comrades  of  ours,  and  co-workers,  to 
whom  we  owe  so  much.  But  let  us  put  away  any  such  feelings  of 
regret,  and  let  me  read  to  you  the  brave  words  written  by  Mr. 
Stevens  in  1904,  on  his  77th  birthday : 


Fill  high  the  bowl !  the  festal  bowl ; 

I  toast  the  wan  ins  years ; 
When  Time  has  run  its  measure  full, 

The  hour's  for  joy,  not  tears. 

I  care  not  what  the  days  to  come, 
Hold  in  their  closed  hands ; 

The  joyous  pleasures  of  the  past 
Are  still  at  my  commands. 


The  friends  of  old  have  left  the  shore, 
And  crossed  the  silent  stream  ; 

Yet  their  loved  spirits  linger  here. 
And  living  still  they  seem. 

Then  hang  bright  wreaths  above  my  door, 
And  deck  the  walls  with  flowers ; 

With  fairies'  dance  and  sirens'  song, 
I'll  while  away  the  hours, 


While  Memory's  candle  brightly  burns. 
What  shadows  need  I.  fear? 

I  keep  the  dear  past,  in  my  grasp 
Nor  waste  an  idle  tear, 


Thus  in  the  classic  way  of  old, 

When  Sappho  turned  the  lyre ; 

The  parting  hour  was  mirthful  made 
With  all  Love  could  inspire. 


On  what  the  future  has  in  store 

Of  sorrow  or  of  pain. 
The  days  of  yore  are  with  me  still ; 

Though  they  come  not  again. 

"Pleasaunce," 
Newport,  R.  I. 


Now  fill  once  more,  fill  high  the  bowl ! 

I  toast  the  passing  day ; 
I'll  drain  the  foaming  goblet  dry, 

And  toss  the  glass  away. 

JOHN  AUSTIN   STEVENS. 


15 


Col.  Asa  Bird  Gardiner  offered  a  resolution, M  That  the  thanks  of 
this  Society  be  tendered  to  the  family  of  the  late  Mr.  John  Austin 
Stevens  for  the  presentation  of  these  two  punch  bowls,  which  are 
received  not  only  with  gratitude,  but  with  feelings  of  love  and  affec- 
tion for  the  memory  of  the  donor. ' '  Colonel  Gardiner  then  gave  an 
account  of  his  meeting  John  Austin  Stevens  at  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society,  December  18, 1875,  when  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
wras  organized. 

The  resolution  was  then  amended  to  include  the  mats,  and 
adopted  as  amended. 

The  President  called  attention  to  a  letter  which  had  been  re- 
ceived from  the  Commandant  of  the  Naval  Station  at  Annapolis, 
which  had  been  printed  for  distribution  to  the  members  of  the  So- 
ciety, in  reference  to  the  preservation  of  the  flags  captured  by  our 
Navy,  mostly  in  the  War  of  1812,  for  which  an  appropriation  has 
been  asked  of  Congress,  and  stated  that  the  Commandant  desires 
members  of  the  patriotic  societies  to  use  their  influence  in  Con- 
gress to  forward  the  project. 

Mr.  Lyndon  P.  Smith,  of  Piermont,  N.  Y.,  called  attention  to  the 
Andre  Prison  at  Tappan,  and  the  desirability  of  taking  some  steps 
towards  its  preservation. 

The  First  Vice-President,  Robert  Olyphant,  read  the  preamble 
to  the  Constitution  as  prescribed,  and  Dr.  Chapin  pronounced  the 
benediction,  after  which  a  recess  was  taken  until  5:15  o'clock. 

On  being  again  called  to  order  the  tellers  announced  that  1115 
votes  had  been  cast,  of  which  1009  were  by  proxy  and  106  by  mem- 
bers present,  and  that  the  regular  ticket  had  been  unanimously 
elected. 

Since  the  Annual  Meeting  Colonel  Eugene  K.  Austin  has  been 
appointed  Assistant  Secretary;  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Hum- 
phreys, S.  T.  D.,  Assistant  Chaplain;  Mr.  Talbot  Olyphant,  His- 
torian, and  Colonel  John  B.  Holland,  Marshal.  Various  committees 
have  also  been  appointed,  a  list  of  which  is  printed  with  this  report. 


A  special  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  at  Delmonico's,  New 
York,  on  "Wednesday  evening,  January  24th,  1912,  at  8:30  o'clock, 
when  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  which  Mr.  Frederick 
S.  Woodruff  gave  notice  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  were  adopted  as 
follows : 

16 


Section  IV,  referring  to  the  duties  of  the  Secretary,  striking 
out  the  words,  "He  shall  have  charge  of  all  printing  and  publica- 
tions directed  by  the  Society  or  by  the  Board  of  Managers." 

Section  VIII,  duties  of  the  Historian,  changing  the  sentence 
"and  he  shall  edit  and  prepare  for  publication  such  historical  ad- 
dresses, essays,  papers  and  other  documents  of  an  historical  char- 
acter other  than  a  register  of  members  as  the  Secretary  may  be 
required  to  publish"  to  read  "as  may  be  authorized." 

Substituting  for  Section  XXI,  relating  to  the  Commitee  on  His- 
torical Documents,  the  following : 

Section  XXI.  Committees.  The  Board  of  Managers  may  from 
time  to  time  appoint  such  standing  and  special  committees  as  in 
its  judgment  seems  wise  and  may  prescribe  their  duties  and  the 
manner  of  filling  vacancies  therein.  The  terms  of  office  of  mem- 
bers of  such  committees  shall  extend  to  the  next  annual  meeting 
of  the  Society  and  until  their  successors  are  appointed.  Eligibility 
to  membership  on  such  committees  shall  not  be  limited  to  members 
of  the  Board  of  Managers,  but  shall  extend  to  all  members  of  the 
Society. 

Section  XXII,  referring  to  Stewards  and  Marshals,  striking 
out  the  words  "who  shall  have  charge  of  the  banquets  of  the  So- 
ciety," and  inserting  at  the  end  of  the  Section  the  words  "the 
Stewards  shall  perform  such  duties  as  the  Board  of  Managers  may 
from  time  to  time  prescribe." 

The  Special  Meeting  then  adjourned  and  the  members  were 
called  to  order  for  the  Stated  Meeting  to  celebrate  the  birthday 
of  Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge,  late  President  of  the  Society. 

President  Wetmore  made  a  brief  address  commemorative  of 
our  former  beloved  President  and  benefactor,  who,  in  dying,  left 
to  the  Society  a  noble  gift  which  was  devoted  to  the  restoration  of 
Fraunces  Tavern,  our  historic  headquarters,  and  out  of  respect 
to  whose  memory  we  gathered  once  a  year  to  record  our  lasting 
and  grateful  remembrance. 

He  then  alluded  gracefully  to  Franklin,  the  French  Alliance 
and  Lafayette,  and  introduced  the  lecturer  of  the  evening,  Miss 
Lida  Rose  McCabe,  who  addressed  the  Society  on  "Madame  de 
Lafayette."  The  lecture  was  illustrated  with  stereopticon  views 
and  presented  a  most  interesting  account  of  the  history  and  per- 

17 


sonality  of  this  remarkable  woman,  who  was  referred  to  as 
"America's  forgotten  friend." 

A  Stated  Meeting  was  held  at  Delmonico's  on  Friday  evening, 
April  19th,  1912,  at  8:45  o'clock,  to  celebrate  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty-seventh  Anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington.  First  Vice- 
President  Robert  Olyphant  presided. 

The  Chairman  made  a  few  remarks  as  to  the  importance  of  the 
event  the  Societv  met  to  celebrate  and  also  stated  that  President 
Wetmore  was  sick  and  unable  to  be  present. 

William  Elliot  Griffis,  D.  D.,  L.  H.  D.,  was  then  introduced,  who 
delivered  a  lecture  on  "Washington's  Strategy:  a  Bird's-Eye  View 
of  the  Revolution,"  which  was  illustrated  with  stereopticon  views. 

A  Stated  Meeting  was  held  at  Delmonico's  on  Monday  evening 
November  25th,  1912,  at  8:45  P.  M.  to  celebrate  the  one  hundred 
and  twenty-ninth  anniversary  of  the  Evacuation  of  the  City  of 
New  York  by  the  British  troops.  First  Vice-President  Robert 
Olyphant  presided.  Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  General  President  of 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and  President  of  the  Society  in  the 
State  of  New  York  delivered  an  address  on  "The  Birth  of  the  Con- 
stitution." At  its  close  three  cheers  were  given  for  the  President 
and  Col  Bates  moved  that  the  thanks  of  the  Society  be  extended 
to  him  for  his  very  interesting  and  instructive  paper  and  that  it  be 
printed  in  pamphlet  form  and  distributed  to  all  the  members  of 
the  Society,  the  officers  of  the  General  Society,  and  the  various 
State  Societies.  There  was  a  very  large  attendance  of  members 
at  the  meeting. 

The  Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Society  commemorative  of 
the  birth  of  George  Washington  was  held  at  the  Cathedral  of  St. 
John  the  Divine,  Cathedral  Heights,  Amsterdam  Avenue  and  111th 
Street,  New  York,  on  Sunday,  February  18th,  1912,  at  4  o'clock 
P.  M.,  conducted  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.  D.,  Bishop  of 
the  Diocese  of  New  York  and  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, assisted  by  the  Rev.  Frank  Landon  Humphreys,  S.  T.  D., 
Assistant  Chaplain,  the  Rev.  George  Stuart  Baker,  D.  D.,  the  Rev. 
Pelham  St.  George  Bissell,  M.  A.,  A.  K.  C,  the  Rev.  Albert  A. 
Brockway,  M.A.,  the  Rev.  Howard  Duffield,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  William 
Nichols  Dunnell,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Floyd  Swallow  Leach,Ph.  D.,  the 
Rev.  William  Henry  Owen,  Jr.,  B.  D.,  the  Rev.  Millard  Lyman 
Robinson,  S.  T.  B.,  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  and  the  Rev. 
Canon  Douglas,  the  Rev.  Canon  Voorhis  and  the  Rev.  Canon  Jones 

18 


of  the  Cathedral  Clergy.  The  sermon  was  delivered  by  the  Very 
Eev.  Dean  Grosvenor,  D.  D.,  Dean  of  the  Cathedral,  and  is  printed 
in  full  in  this  report. 

The  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812,  furnished  a  uniformed 
escort. 

The  following  representatives  of  Societies  were  present:  So- 
ciety of  the  Cincinnati :  Talbot  Olyphant,  Hon.  Francis  K.  Pendle- 
ton, Francis  B.  Hoffman,  Edward  Wright  Tapp  and  Dr.  Thomas 
M.  L.  Chrystie ;  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812 :  Beverly  Chew, 
Major-General  Frederick  Dent  Grant,  Major  John  Hone,  Augustus 
Lord  Hyde,  Captain  Herbert  Satterlee,  Hon.  Nathaniel  A.  Prentiss, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Nathaniel  B.  Thurston,  and  Captain  Andrew  C. 
Zabriskie;  Colonial  Wars:  Edmund  Howard-Martin,  Frederick 
Dwight,  Herbert  T.  Wade,  Prof.  Lea  M.  Luquer  and  George  E. 
Koues;  Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  State  of  New  York:  Mrs. 
Clarence  I.  Bleakley,  Mrs.  Zeb  Mayhew,  Mrs.  Ralph  Waldo,  Mrs. 
William  J.  Harding  and  Mrs.  George  W.  Hodges ;  Colonial  Dames 
of  America :  Mrs.  T.  Matlack  Cheesman,  Mrs.  Ira  Davenport,  Mrs. 
Arthur  T.  Sutcliffe,  Miss  Mary  B.  Williamson  and  Miss  Clara  L. 
Cheesman ;  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York :  Mrs.  F.  F. 
Thompson,  Mrs.  William  M.  Kingsland,  Mrs.  Robert  T.  Emmet, 
Mrs.  William  Robison  and  Mrs.  Hamilton  Fairfax;  Aztec  Club  of 
1847 :  Dr.  William  M.  Polk,  H.  Fitz- John  Porter,  Dr.  John  W.  Bran- 
non,  Loyal  Farragut  and  William  M.  Sweeney;  Military  Order  of 
Foreign  Wars :  Talbot  Root,  Captain  De  Witt  Clinton  Falls,  Cap- 
tain George  Perrine  and  David  Banks ;  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal 
Legion:  Major  J.  Langdon  Ward,  George  DeF.  Barton,  General 
Gilbert  H.  McKibbon,  Colonel  William  S.  Cogswell  and  Colonel 
Henry  L.  Swords. 

The  Annual  Banquet  took  place  in  the  large  Banquet  Hall  at 
Delmonico's  on  February  22nd,  1912,  the  anniversary  of  Wash- 
ington's Birthday,  and  was  presided  over  by  Mr.  Edmund  Wet- 
more,  the  President  of  the  Society.  The  following  invited  guests 
were  present:  Lieutenant-Commander  Benoist  d'Azy,  Naval  At- 
tache to  the  French  Embassy ;  the  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.  D., 
Chaplain  of  the  Society;  the  Rev.  Harry  Emerson  Fosdick,  the 
Rev.  John  Calvin  Goddard,  Hon.  Job  E.  Hedges,  Dr.  John  Wilson 
Poucher,  Society  of  the  Cincinnati ;  George  Austin  Morrison,  Jr., 
St.  Andrew's  Society;  Charles  W.  Bowring,  St.  George's  Society; 
Oliver  Hazard  Perry,  Society  of  the  War  of  1812 ;  Hon.  Edward 

19 


E.  McCall,  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick ;  Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  New 
York  Historical  Society;  William  L.  Brower,  Holland  Society; 
Colonel  Eugene  K.  Austin,  Society  of  Colonial  Wars;  Amory  S. 
Carhart,  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars;  Herbert  M.  Leland, 
Massachusetts  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

The  William  Floyd  Chapter  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  engaged  one  of  the 
tables  and  had  ten  members  present. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.  D.,  Chap- 
lain of  the  Society. 

The  Banquet  Hall  was  appropriately  and  tastefully  decorated, 
and  an  orchestra  was  furnished  for  the  occasion.  After  coffee  had 
been  served  there  was  the  usual  flag  procession  in  the  following 
order :  Fif er  and  Drummer  in  Continental  uniform  and  Stewards ; 
flags  and  banners  of  the  Society;  the  cocked  hat  carried  on  a 
cushion,  and  two  handsome  baskets  of  flowers  from  the  Colonial 
Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. 

The  cocked  hat  was  presented  to  the  President  by  Mr.  William 
W.  Hoppin,  and  was  received  by  Mr.  Wetmore  who  read  the  fol- 
lowing original  poem : 

You  may  boast  of  your  derbies,  your  auto-fur  caps, 
Your  Panama  straws,  and  your  shiny  silk  hats, 
But  none  can  compare,  though  you  search  the  world  o'er, 
With  the  three-cornered  hat  that  our  ancestors  wore. 

We  've  nowhere  its  equal  in  beauty  or  style, 
(Just  think  of  George  Washington  wearing  a  tile !) 
While  this,  graced  the  bow  that  swept  down  to  the  floor, 
The  elegant  hat  that  our  ancestors  wore. 

It  matched  the  lace  ruffles  and  black  velvet  suit, 
It  had  no  brim  to  hinder  the  lovers'  salute, 
In  the  rich  squire's  hall,  by  the  cottager's  door, 
Hung  this  versatile  hat  that  our  ancestors  wore. 

They  carried  it  jauntily  through  the  quadrille, 
They  danced  till  the  daylight  and  kept  it  up  still, 
Then  cocked  it  on  tipsily — hindside  before — 
This  jolly  old  hat  that  our  ancestors  wore. 

20 


In  the  hot  summer's  sun,  in  the  winter's  cold  damp, 
In  the  smoke  of  the  battle,  the  frost  of  the  camp, 
In  fight  or  in  foray,  it  waved  at  the  'fore, 
This  gallant  old  hat  that  our  ancestors  wore. 

Then  greet  it  with  reverence,  guard  it  with  pride, 
'Tis  the  symbol  of  days  when  brave  souls  were  tried ; 
We  hold  it  in  honor  and  all  it  stands  for, 
The  noble  old  hat  that  our  ancestors  wore. 

Mr.  Wetmore  expressed  the  thanks  of  the  Society  to  the  Col- 
onial Dames  and  the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution  for  the  flowers, 
and  read  the  following  telegram  from  the  Honorable  John  A.  Dix, 
Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York : 

"Sons  of  the  Revolution  Banquet,  New  York: 

"An  unexpected  situation,  connected  with  public  business, 
makes  imperative  my  presence  in  Albany  to-day  and  to-morrow.  I 
profoundly  regret  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  enjoy  the  hospitality 
of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  join  them  in  doing  honor  to 
the  memory  and  deeds  of  George  Washington.  Patriotism  and 
good  citizenship  require  that  we  should  ever  keep  fresh  the  inspir- 
ing recollection  of  the  noble  sacrifice  and  unexampled  achievements 
of  the  great  General  of  the  Revolution  and  his  compatriots. 

"JOHN  A.  DIX, 

Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York. ' ' 

All  present  then  rose  and  drank  to  the  first  toast,  "The  United 
States  of  America,"  at  the  same  time  singing  "The  Star  Spangled 
Banner." 

The  President  made  the  following  remarks  introductory  to  the 
speeches  of  the  evening : 

And  now,  brethren,  we  approach  the  serious  period  of  these  pro- 
ceedings for  some  of  our  guests,  for  uneasy  sits  the  head  that 
carries  a  speech.  But  it  is  a  joyous  occasion  for  the  rest  of  us,  for, 
in  the  matter  of  speech  making,  it  is  more  blessed  to  listen  than  to 
deliver.  But  in  order  to  aid  the  delivery  as  much  as  I  can  on  this 
occasion,  I  will,  while  these  gentlemen  are  saying  over  to  themselves 
their  opening  lines,  break  the  ice ;  that  is  to  say,  I  will  give  a  help- 
ing hand  to  what  is  to  come  out  of  their  heads,  by  saying,  for  just 

21 


a  minute  or  two,  whatever  comes  into  my  own.  And  the  first  thing 
that  comes  into  my  own,  is  this:  What  are  we  here  fori 

The  one  desire  of  the  present  time  is  for  something  new.  The 
constant  cry  is, ' '  Give  us  something  new ! ' '  And  yet  we  come  here, 
year  after  year,  to  give  to  ourselves  and  those  wiio  will  listen  to  us, 
something  old ;  to  tell,  over  again,  an  old  story  told  many  times,  the 
story  of  our  Revolution,  the  wondrous  story  of  our  country's  birth. 
And  yet  we  never  tire  of  it.  Why  I  Not  because  of  its  picturesque 
or  dramatic  incidents,  for  those  are  as  familiar  to  us  as  the  pic- 
tures that  used  to  hang  on  the  walls  of  our  boyhood  homes,  but  for 
the  inspiration  we  draw  from  it,  for  our  own  lives  and  characters 
and  conduct  in  this  day  and  hour.  Therefore,  wTe  no  more  tire  of  it 
than  we  tire  of  the  springs  and  the  cool  mountain  lakes  upon  the 
wTaters  of  which  we  depend  to  keep  us  alive.  And  the  source  of  that 
inspiration  lies  in  this:  That  story  shows  to  us  what  a  faithful 
minority  may  do  in  a  free  republic.  I  say  "minority,"  because 
our  Revolution  wTas  won  by  those  who  were  faithful  to  the  cause, 
not  only  when  they  were  part  of  a  large  and  enthusiastic  majority, 
but  when,  from  discouragement,  from  the  weariness  of  suffering, 
from  love  of  ease,  from  the  longing  for  peace,  that  majority  fell 
away  and  they  were  left  without  means,  without  revenue,  without 
adequate  support,  in  the  darkest  hour  of  the  struggle,  to  alone  up- 
hold the  fight. 

The  instruction  that  that  gives  us  is  this:  These  men  whose 
constancy  accomplished  the  great  work  of  founding  this  nation, 
were  no  demigods.  They  were  our  ancestors,  mortal  men,  such  as 
you  and  I,  and,  like  ourselves,  prone  to  weakness  and  error.  They 
made  many  blunders,  they  often  mistook  the  road  and  took  the 
wrong  turning,  they  yielded  to  temptation,  they  sometimes  let  their 
vanity  get  the  better  of  their  judgment,  they  intrigued  and  quar- 
relled over  the  distribution  of  offices,  and  yet  they  won.  Why? 
Because,  having  chosen  what  they  believed  and  felt  and  knew  to  be 
the  right  side,  they  kept  on,  and  sometimes  coming  splendidly  up 
to  the  mark,  and  sometimes  falling  and  failing  and  stumbling  and 
getting  into  holes,  and  scrambling  out  as  best  they  could,  they 
nevertheless  stuck  to  it.  There  was  one  thing  they  never  did  do; 
they  never  lay  down  and  gave  up. 

And  what  they  did  we  can  do.  We  are  living  in  the  midst  of  a 
greater  war  than  the  Revolution,  the  war  against  ignorance,  the 
war  for  justice  to  all,  not  only  for  the  many,  but  for  the  few,  not 

22 


only  for  those  whose  rights  it  is  popular  to  exaggerate,  but  for 
those  whose  rights  it  takes  courage  to  defend,  the  war  for  the  pre- 
servation of  representative  government,  which  was  what  our 
fathers  fought  for,  the  war  to  save  from,  mischievous  intermeddling, 
and  to  perpetuate  the  Constitution  that  we  have  received  from  our 
fathers.  And  in  that  war  we  will  never  surrender,  and  never  lay 
down  our  arms.  The  power  that  must  prevail  in  the  end  is  the 
power  of  public  opinion,  and  to  that  mighty  force  each  and  every 
one  of  us,  by  his  words,  by  his  actions,  by  the  sincerity  of  his  pa- 
triotism, whether  in  the  shady  walks  of  private  life,  or  in  the  full 
glare  of  publicity,  according  to  the  powers  that  God  has  given  him, 
can  lend  his  share.  And  by  our  constancy  and  standing  together, 
we  can  do  as  much  for  ourselves  and  our  posterity  as  our  ancestors, 
whom  we  are  here  to  honor  to-night,  did  for  us. 

Therefore,  we  turn  from  the  contemplation  of  their  deeds,  with 
confidence  and  joy.  If  I  might  frame  a  simile  in  the  eighteenth 
century  style,  in  which  they  themselves  would  dress  it  if  they  were 
here,  I  would  say  that  from  the  flowing  spring  of  memory,  we  fill 
high  the  crystal  goblet  of  hope — hope  for  the  future,  faith  in  our 
country,  faith  in  ourselves,  and  with  thankfulness  that  we  have  such 
a  pledge  to  offer,  such  a  life  to  revere,  and  such  an  example  to  fol 
low;  I  give  you  the  toast  peculiarly  our  own,  to  the  memory  of 
George  Washington. 

He  then  introduced  the  Reverend  Harry  Emerson  Fosdick,  who 
responded. 

Following  this  address  the  Stewards  brought  in  the  Houdon  bust 
of  Washington  presented  by  the  French  Republic,  escorted  by  the 
flags  of  the  Society  while  the  company  assembled  sang  "My  Coun- 
try 'Tis  of  Thee"  and  "The  Marsellaise." 

The  President  introduced  Lieutenant-Commander  Benoist 
d'Azy,  Naval  Attache  of  the  French  Embassy  at  Washington,  in  the 
following  words : 

Brethren,  last  April  at  Annapolis,  we  dedicated  the  monument 
which  we  had  caused  to  be  erected  there  in  memory  of  the  French 
soldiers,  who,  far  away  from  their  own  country,  and  in  behalf  of 
ours,  there  laid  down  their  lives  at  the  Seige  of  Yorktown.  In 
graceful  recognition  of  this  act,  as  evidencing  our  desire  to  keep 
alive  our  gratitude  for  what  was  done  for  us  by  France  in  our 
Revolution,  the  French  government  has  sent  this  fine  reproduction 
of  Houdon 's  bust  of  Washington,  and  we  have  the  great  happiness 

23 


of  having  with  us  now  a  representative  of  that  government,  to 
whom  we  give  our  heartiest  welcome.  I  present  Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Benoist  d'Azy,  of  the  French  Navy,  and  the  Naval  Attache 
of  the  French  Embassy  at  "Washington. 

Lieutenant-Commander  d'Azy  as  the  representative  of  France 
made  the  presentation,  speaking  as  follows : 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen:  His  Excellency,  Mr.  Jusserand,  re- 
grets having  been  prevented  from  coming  here  to-day.  An  en- 
gagement made  prior  to  the  receipt  of  your  invitation  has  kept  him 
away.  It  is  a  great  honor  for  me  to  have  been  delegated  by  him  to 
appear  before  you.  A  year  ago,  at  the  same  date,  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  being  with  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  at  Savannah,  of  which  I 
have  kept  such  gratifying  memories  that  I  came  here  with  the  ut- 
most joy. 

On  the  day  of  the  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Washington,  noth- 
ing pleases  me  more  than  to  be  once  again  included  in  one  of  the 
great  family  meetings,  as  formerly,  our  American  and  French  an- 
cestors found  themselves  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  for  the 
triumph  of  the  sacred  rights  of  liberty. 

Every  page  in  the  records  of  this  war,  keeps  in  view  the  union 
of  our  compatriots,  the  union  of  freedom,  and  the  union  in  common 
dangers,  faced  together  often  to  the  death. 

Your  Society,  whose  object  is  so  often  to  record  the  past,  has 
taken  as  its  task  to  mark  by  monuments  the  lasting  marks  of  its 
history,  which  is  also  a  page  of  our  own.  Even  more,  it  is  under- 
stood so  well  that  our  victorious  generals,  our  celebrated  heroes, 
should  be  so  glorified  as  to  serve  as  examples  for  the  new  genera- 
tion. But  those  humble  soldiers  are  too  often  forgotten,  who  have 
given  their  lives  unselfishly  to  make  the  success  and  glory  of  this 
great  man.  Should  they  not  be  also  cited  as  examples?  Surely 
they  merit  it.  In  this  way,  your  sympathetic  understanding  has 
showed  itself  at  Annapolis. 

It  is  with  satisfaction  that  I  express  to  Mr.  Edmund  "Wetmore 
how  deep  my  emotion  was,  when,  in  the  warm  and  eloquent  lan- 
guage, he  presented  this  monument  which  every  Frenchman  coming 
into  America  ought  to  visit.  This  work  was  completed  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  He  said  on  that  day  an  unforgetable 
word  for  us  French.  "This  artistic  monument,"  he  said  "is  some- 
thing more  than  the  recognition  of  an  historical  fact ;  it  is  the  tri- 
bute of  one  nation  to  another  nation." 

24 


It  is  a  monument  to  some  unknowns  who  are  well-known,  to  these 
French  soldiers  and  sailors,  who,  even  more  than  a  century  after 
their  obscure  death,  are  still  living  in  your  memory.  This  homage, 
so  delicately  defined  by  the  chief  of  your  great  country,  cannot  fail 
to  touch  us,  and  show  that  the  spirit  of  the  old  friend  of  France, 
whose  anniversary  we  celebrate  to-day,  hovers  always  about  us. 
May  his  benevolent  spirit  still  continue  to  illuminate  us,  and  main- 
tain, through  the  centuries,  the  deep  friendship  between  our  two 
countries. 

Such  is  the  meaning  of  this  bust  of  Washington  presented  by 
France  to  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  who  know  so  well  how  to  per- 
petuate this  friendship.  In  lifting  my  glass  before  this  image,  I 
drink  to  our  friendship  and  to  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 

The  toast  was  drunk  by  the  guests,  standing,  amid  great  ap- 
plause.    Mr.  Wetmore,  in  accepting  the  gift,  said : 

Lieutenant-Commander  Benoist  d'Azy,  on  behalf  of  our  Society 
I  extend,  through  you,  to  the  French  government,  our  thanks  for 
this  most  beautiful  and  interesting  gift. 

One  of  the  objects  of  our  association,  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  alive  the  memory  of  the  deeds  of  our  ancestors,  is  to  keep 
alive  the  memory  of  what  was  done  for  those  ancestors  by  the  noble 
country  which  you  represent.  The  inscription,  in  lasting  marble,  on 
the  monument  at  Annapolis,  will  tell  the  world,  for  years  to  come, 
that  we  are  not  ungrateful,  and  this  faultless  image  of  Washington, 
to  be  preserved  in  our  home  in  this  City,  where  it  will  be  yearly 
seen  by  thousands,  will  show  that  the  friendship  of  your  nation,  as 
real  as  it  was  romantic,  that  sent  its  armies  and  its  fleets  and 
lavished  its  treasure  to  aid  us  in  our  struggle  for  independence, 
has  not  burned  to  ashes,  but  still  keeps  aglow,  from  1777  to  1912. 

Every  day  the  world  is  coming  nearer  together ;  every  day  the 
peoples  of  the  world  are  learning  to  know  each  other  better.  I 
would  have  the  story  of  our  revolution  taught  in  the  schools  of 
France,  because  I  believe  that  that  would  draw  the  two  peoples 
nearer  together,  and  a  mutual  regard  and  respect  between  the  two 
peoples  is  a  stronger  guarantee  than  Hague  tribunals,  or  arbitra- 
tion treaties,  for  lasting  peace.  It  was  before  the  uprising  of  the 
people  of  France,  that  France  came  to  our  aid,  in  the  time  of  our 
trouble.  She  was  a  monarchy  then ;  she  is  a  republic  now ;  but  the 
people  have  remained  the  same  throughout.  As  a  monarchy,  she 
was  our  friend ;  as  a  republic,  she  is  our  sister. 

25 


There  were  many  patriotic  verses  that  were  made  on  the  occa- 
sion of  our  alliance.  One  of  them  I  have  found  lately  on  the  pages 
of  one  of  the  latest  histories  of  that  period,  which  was  written  by 
whom  I  do  not  know,  but  I  do  know  that  it  expresses  our  sentiments 
here  to-night. 


lSJ 


' '  Once  more  the  land  of  arms  and  arts, 

' '  Of  glory,  grace,  romance ; 
"Her  love  lies  warm  in  all  our  hearts, 

"God  bless  her,  dear  La  France!" 

The  following  letter  was  received  from  M.  Jusserand,  the  Am- 
bassador from  France : 

Washington,  January  29,  1912. 
Dear  Mr.  President : 

My  Government,  who  as  you  know,  has  been  very  deeply 
touched  by  the  friendly  and  patriotic  sentiments  which  inspired 
the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  when  they  erected  the 
Annapolis  monument,  want  to  show,  in  a  very  small  fashion,  how 
grateful  they  are  to  this  patriotic  Society.  They  have,  in  this  view, 
asked  me  to  present  to  your  association,  so  that  if  agreeable  to  you 
it  might  be  preserved  in  your  museum,  a  copy  of  the  bust  of  Wash- 
ington made  by  Houdon  when  he  came  over  to  perpetuate  from 
life  the  features  of  the  Founder  of  this  great  and  very  friendly 
Republic. 

I  have  the  honor  of  forwarding  to  you,  at  the  same  time  as  the 
present  letter,  the  said  bust,  expressing  the  hope  that  it  may  prove 
acceptable  to  your  Society. 

Believe  me,  dear  Mr.  President,  with  sincerest  regards, 

Very  truly  yours, 

JUSSERAND. 
Hon.  Edmund  Wetmore, 

President  of  the  Society  of  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
Fraunces  Tavern, 
New  York. 

"The  Red,  White  and  Blue"  was  sung  in  response  to  the  toast 
The  Army  and  the  Navy,  and  the  Hon.  Job.  E.  Hedges  delivered 

26 


"tKMEMORY  Oi:  OLNlil \AL  NATHANIEL  VvQ^OLL-VRBlCtNl  OF'l  HE 
.  ^ROVl^a$iSCOKGRBS  OFN&WIORk  IN  1775  WHO  ON  /WGU5T2S  17T6 
WAS  CRDEL0  \M3UNDED  BY  THE  ENEWAEJlAH^lCA.  VtfilLE  COOPERATING 

"Willi  N^SHINGIUN  ON  LONG  ISLANEKHE  DiEDArW>NERv«^EWUrRKHT 
h  SEPTEMBSPO  1T7(5  ^GlIZEN^OLDlEK-PAlHIOrOFTlCREVauriON 


/l/*»r(  Wtintrl.  ftcil. 
BRONZE    TABLET    AT    HOLLIS,    L.    I.,    COMMEMORATIVE    OF 
BRIGADIER-GENERAL  NATHANIEL  WOODHULL 
ERECTED   MAY   23,    1912   BY  THE  SONS  OF  THE   REVOLUTION   IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


an  address,  his  subject  being  "Have  We  Outgrown  the  Fathers." 

Mr.  Hedges  was  followed  by  the  Reverend  John  Calvin  God- 
dard,  who  spoke  on  "The  Three  Eurekas  of  America." 

All  these  speeches  are  printed  in  full  in  this  report. 

There  were  334  members  and  guests  in  attendance  at  the  ban- 
quet. 

On  Thursday,  May  23rd,  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-fourth 
anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Sag  Harbor,  the  Society  unveiled  a 
bronze  tablet  to  the  memory  of  Brigadier-General  Nathaniel  Wood- 
hull  at  Hollis,  L.  I.,  presented  by  the  Society  to  the  City  of  New 
York. 

The  special  train  left  the  Flatbush  Avenue  Station  of  the  Long 
Island  Railroad  at  3:30  P.  M.,  arriving  at  Hollis  at  4:15,  where 
the  Society  and  its  guests,  headed  by  the  Drum  Corps  and  flag 
bearers  of  the  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  marched  to  Public 
School  35,  on  the  outer  wall  of  which  the  tablet  had  been  erected. 

The  program  consisted  of  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Prank  Landon 
Humphreys,  S.  T.  D.,  Assistant  Chaplain  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ;  singing  by  the  children  of  Public  School  35 ;  presentation  ad- 
dress by  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant,  First  Vice-President  of  the  Sons 
of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New  York;  unveiling  by  Miss 
Ruth  Woodhull  Lawrence,  great-great-granddaughter  of  Brigadier- 
General  Nathaniel  Woodhull;  acceptance  of  tablet  by  Mr.  Joseph 
Flanagan,  Secretary  of  the  Borough  of  Queens,  who  represented 
the  Hon.  Maurice  E.  Connolly,  President  of  the  Borough ;  historical 
address  by  the  Hon.  Norman  S.  Dike;  the  singing  of  "America" 
and  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner;"  and  benediction  by  the  Rev. 
J.  Balfour  Smith  of  the  town  of  Hollis. 

The  tablet  was  designed  and  executed  by  Mr.  Albert  Weinert, 
the  sculptor.  The  Tablet  Committee,  consisted  of  James  Morti- 
mer Montgomery,  Chairman,  Prof.  Henry  Phelps  Johnston,  Henry 
Russell  Drowne,  Pierre  F.  Macdonald  and  Junius  S.  Morgan,  and 
the  arrangements  for  the  unveiling  ceremonies  were  made  by  the 
Committee  of  Arrangements  consisting  of  Elijah  R.  Kennedy, 
Chairman ;  George  H.  Coutts,  Ralph  Peters,  Frank  Bailey,  Edward 
W.  Tapp,  Herbert  L.  Bridgman,  John  H.  Prall,  Colonel  James  R. 
Hosmer  and  John  M.  Knox  and  the  Transportation  Committee 
consisting  of  Benjamin  R.  Lummis,  Chairman,  Varick  D.  Martin, 
Alanson  T.  Enos,  Marshall  G.  Peabody,  William  B.  Hill,  S.  Vernon 
Mann,  Jr.,  and  Charles  F.  Swan. 

27 


After  the  exercises  refreshments  were  served  and  the  return 
trip  was  made  at  5 :45,  arriving  in  New  York  about  6 :30. 

Mr.  Olyphant,  in  presenting  the  tablet,  spoke  as  follows : 

Members  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Children  of  Public  School  No.  35 :  I 
welcome  you  this  afternoon.  We  are  gathered  here  to  fulfill  one 
of  the  purposes  of  the  institution  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  in  perpetuating  the  memory  of  one  of  the 
men,  who,  in  the  civil  and  military  service  of  his  country,  and 
by  his  acts,  aided  materially  in  achieving  American  Independence. 

Near  this  spot,  on  the  28th  day  of  August,  1776,  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Nathaniel  Woodhull  was  captured  by  the  British.  He  had 
been  sent  by  Congress  to  drive  the  cattle  on  Long  Island  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  British  troops.  The  Battle  of  Long  Island  was  in 
progress.  "Woodhull  having  sent  his  small  detachment  of  troops 
in  advance,  stopped  at  the  Inn  of  Increase  Carpenter,  expecting 
to  receive  orders  from  General  Washington.  Here  he  was  sur- 
prised by  a  detachment  from  the  17th  Light  Dragoons  and  Frazer's 
Highlanders  under  Sir  William  Erskine.  As  he  was  about  to  mount 
his  horse,  it  is  said  that  he  was  captured  by  Lieutenant  Huzzy,  who 
roughly  bade  him  say,  "God  save  the  King."  Whereupon  Wood- 
hull  replied, ' '  God  save  us  all. ' '  This  not  being  to  the  Lieutenant 's 
satisfaction,  he  slashed  him  several  times  with  his  sabre,  from 
which  wounds  Woodhull  passed  away  on  the  20th  day  of  September. 

I  leave  to  the  orator  of  the  day  the  task  of  portraying  in  words 
more  eloquent  than  I  can  command,  the  deeds  both  civil  and  mili- 
tary that  Woodhull  performed  for  his  country,  and  for  which  he 
finally  gave  his  life. 

In  the  absence,  on  account  of  illness,  of  our  beloved  President. 
Mr.  Edmund  Wetmore,  it  devolves  upon  me  to  present  to  the  City 
of  New  York  this  tablet,  erected  by  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  which  bears  this  inscription : 

"In  memory  of  General  Nathaniel  Woodhull — President  of  the 
Provincial  Congress  of  New  York  in  1775,  who,  on  August  28, 1776, 
was  cruelly  wounded  by  the  enemy  at  Jamaica,  while  co-operating 
with  Washington  on  Long  Island.  He  died  a  prisoner  at  New 
Utrecht,  September  20,  1776 — Citizen — Soldier — Patriot  of  the 
Revolution." 

28 


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Mr.  Flanagan  then  accepted  the  tablet  on  behalf  of  the  Borough 
of  Queens  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

The  historical  address  of  Judge  Dike  is  printed  in  full  in  this 
report. 

Among  the  guests  of  the  Society  present  were:  Miss  Ruth 
Woodhull  Lawrence,  the  Rev.  Henry  Nicoll  Wayne,  Alexander 
Hamilton,  Jr.,  Mrs.  Eugene  Delafield,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  E. 
Sherman,  descendants  of  General  Woodhull;  Robert  H.  Kelby, 
Librarian  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society ;  John  Ward  Duns- 
more,  painter  of  the  picture  of  the  capture  of  General  Woodhull; 
Albert  Weinert,  sculptor,  designer  of  the  tablet ;  Nathaniel  Wood- 
hull  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution;  representa- 
tives of  other  patriotic  societies;  representatives  of  the  Board  of 
Education ;  and  residents  of  Hollis. 

The  Society  took  part  in  the  4th  of  July  Celebration,  forming  in 
procession  at  Fraunces  Tavern  at  9:30  escorted  by  the  Veteran 
Corps  of  Artillery  with  their  fife  and  drum  corps,  and  headed  by 
fifer  and  drummer  and  flag  bearers  dressed  in  Continental  uniform. 
The  Society  marched  with  the  other  patriotic  organizations,  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  Company  I,  29  Infantry,  U.  S.  A., 
to  the  City  Hall.  The  procession  was  headed  by  the  Mayor  and 
City  officials.  On  arriving  at  the  reviewing  stand  the  members 
took  their  places  on  the  stand  and  witnessed  the  second  division  of 
the  procession,  consisting  of  the  Exempt  Firemen's  Association, 
representatives  of  the  City  Departments  and  the  Parade  of  Nations 
led  by  Mohawk  and  Seneca  Indians. 

The  members  of  the  Society  who  took  part  were:  Joseph  L. 
Delafield,  Secretary  of  the  City  Hall  Celebration  Committee ;  Col. 
Asa  Bird  Gardiner,  Samuel  V.  Hoffman,  Col.  William  De  H. 
Washington  and  Henry  W.  Sackett,  of  the  Committee ;  Col.  John 
B.  Holland,  Marshal ;  Edmund  Wetmore,  President  of  the  Sons  of 
the  Revolution;  Robert  Olyphant,  Chairman  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution  4th  of  July  Committe,  and  William  W.  Atwood,  Colonel 
Eugene  K.  Austin,  Aaron  Bancroft,  Rev.  Pelham  St.  G.  Bissell, 
Henry  J.  Brightman,  Frederick  H.  Brooks,  Edward  D.  Butler, 
Archibald  A.  Campbell,  Wallace  D.  Chace,  Charles  H.  Class,  Henry 
S.  Colding;  Cecil  F.  Colton,  Fellowes  Davis,  James  May  Duane, 
James  H.  Elmore,  Morris  P.  Ferris,  Henry  B.  Fuller,  John  C.  F. 
Gardner,  John  C.  Giles,  Jr.,  Stephen  W.  Giles,  William  C.  Gilley, 
M.D.,  Capt.  Edwin  D.  Graff,  Clinton  B.  Hale,  Floyd  M.  Horton, 

29 


Frederic  R.  Keator,  Col.  William  W.  Ladd,  Theodore  H.  McNamee, 
William  V.  Martin,  Frank  D.  Miner,  Frank  L.  Moore,  Robert  S. 
Morris,  Samuel  L.  Munson,  James  A.  Nichols,  Peter  Palmer,  Ed- 
ward L.  Parris,  Rev.  Millard  L.  Robinson,  Charles  A.  Rose,  W.  N. 
Scharff,  Lyndon  P.  Smith,  Robert  L.  Stedman,  Capt.  WTilson  B. 
Strong,  Robert  S.  Sutliffe,  George  S.  Sweet,  Preston  L.  Talley,  A. 
Wakeman,  L.  F.  W.  Wallace,  Albert  T.  Weston,  M.  D.,  John  H. 
Wood. 

The  Members  of  the  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  who  served  as 
escort  were  Sergeant-Major  Norman  Bentley  Gardiner,  Commis- 
sary-Sergeant Benjamin  Rush  Lummis,  Sergeant  Walter  R.  Jones 
and  Bugler  George  F.  Shrady. 

The  celebration  was  a  great  success,  and,  celebrating  as  it  does 
the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  should  receive 
the  enthusiastic  support  of  the  Society. 

At  the  December  meeting  of  the  Board  it  was  decided  to  make 
the  first  prize  for  essays  on  a  subject  relating  to  the  Revolutionary 
period  in  the  history  of  this  country  a  bronze  medal  and  $50,  the 
second,  a  bronze  medal  and  $30,  and  the  third  a  bronze  medal  and 
$15,  to  be  competed  for  by  scholars  in  the  last  year  or  the  graduat- 
ing class  of  a  High  School  or  of  the  Preparatory  Department  of 
a  Normal  School  or  College  in  the  State  of  New  York  and  who  are 
candidates  for  graduation. 

It  was  also  decided  to  have  grave  markers  made  of  bronze 
metal  of  the  present  design  but  with  a  sufficiently  large  rim  or  mar- 
gin to  permit  of  the  insertion  of  the  soldier's  name  and  company 
or  organization,  such  markers  to  be  placed  by  the  Tablet  Com- 
mittee on  graves  within  this  State  of  Revolutionary  soldiers  who 
have  no  descendants  to  pay  for  the  same  and  to  be  supplied  by  the 
Committee  at  cost  to  members  who  desire  to  erect  the  same  on  the 
graves  of  Revolutionary  soldiers. 

At  the  January  meeting  the  following  resolution  with  regard  to 
the  preservation  of  Naval  Battle  Flags  was  adopted : 

Whereas,  there  are  at  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis,  Mary- 
land, about  150  flags  taken  in  battle,  or  after  battle,  with  foreign 
nations  as  well  as  some  used  in  such  battles  by  Officers  of  our 
Navy,  notably  Perry's  battle  flag  bearing  the  historic  words  of 
Captain  Lawrence  ' '  Don 't  give  up  the  ship ; ' '  and 

30 


Whereas,  these  flags  are  now  moth  eaten,  torn  and  falling  to 
pieces,  and  rapidly  losing  all  their  identity;  but  they  can  be  re- 
paired and  preserved  and  suitable  arrangement  for  their  exhibition 
made  by  an  expenditure  of  $30,000.00. 

Therefore, 

Resolved,  that  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New- 
York  respectfully  urge  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  this 
State  to  use  their  best  efforts  to  secure  the  enactment,  at  as  early 
a  date  as  possible,  of  Senate  Bill  3894,  House  Bill  15471,  being  an 
Act  appropriating  the  amount  of  $30,000.00  for  the  repair  and  pre- 
servation of  these  flags  and  their  exhibition  at  the  United  States 
Naval  Academy,  as  a  slight  evidence  of  the  appreciation  by  the 
people  of  to-day  of  the  gallant  conduct  of  the  officers  and  men  of  our 
Navy  in  its  historic  past,  and  as  an  incentive  to  patriotic  devotion 
to  the  flag  and  to  the  faithful  performance  of  duty,  to  those  men 
who  within  the  walls  of  the  Naval  Academy  are  qualifying  to  enter 
our  country's  service  as  well  as  to  the  people  of  the  nation  at  large. 

Resolved  further,  that  a  copy  of  this  Resolution  attested  and 
certified  by  the  President  and  Secretary  be  sent  to  each  Senator 
and  Representative  of  this  State  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States. 

At  the  February  meeting  a  communication  was  read  from  Mrs. 
Nelson  H.  Henry,  Recording  Secretary  of  the  George  Washington 
Memorial  Association  requesting  a  loan  of  certain  engravings  of 
the  Society  for  an  exhibition  to  be  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
George  Washington  Memorial  Association  at  the  Women's  Indus- 
trial Exhibition  in  the  Grand  Central  Palace  from  March  14th  to 
24th,  and  it  was  unanimously  resolved  that  the  Board  approve  of 
the  granting  of  the  request.  In  accordance  with  this  resolution 
many  of  the  historical  pictures  at  Fraunces  Tavern  were  loaned 
to  the  George  Washington  Memorial  Association  and  made  a  most 
interesting  exhibit  in  the  Industrial  Exhibition. 

At  the  request  of  the  Washington  Heights  Chapter,  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution,  the  President  was  authorized  to  sign  a 
petition  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen  for  an  appropriation  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  Alexander  Hamilton  residence  on  Convent  Avenue 
to  a  better  location  on  the  Hamilton  property,  and  for  the  preser- 
vation and  exhibition  of  the  building. 

31 


At  the  March  meeting  the  Secretary  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  Society  has  on  hand  a  large  number  of  year  books  of  1896 
and  1899  and  the  Supplement  of  1903,  and  he  was  authorized  to  dis- 
pose of  the  same  to  members  at  $1.  for  the  Year  Books  and  $.50 
for  the  Supplement. 

At  the  April  meeting  a  letter  was  read  from  Mr.  J.  E.  Blaine, 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  General  Society  of  the  Sons  of 
the  Revolution  for  the  publication  of  Revolutionary  Archives  with 
regard  to  the  publication  of  Government  Archives  relating  to  the 
War  of  the  Revolution,  for  which  a  bill  was  introduced  in  Con- 
gress, and  the  following  resolution  was  drawn  up  and  sent  to  the 
Senators  and  Representatives  from  New  York  State : 

Whereas,  it  is  desirable  to  collect  the  unpublished  archives  of 
the  United  States  Government  relating  to  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, to  perpetuate  them,  to  render  them  available  for  historic  re- 
search and  to  make  readily  accessible  to  the  people  at  large  the 
vast  fund  of  historical  information  they  contain ; 

And  whereas,  Senate  Bill  No.  271  provides  an  appropriation  to 
cover  the  expense  of  collecting,  arranging  and  printing  these  his- 
toric documents,  and  has  been  passed  by  the  Senate  and  reported 
favorably  with  amendments  by  the  Military  Committee  in  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

Therefore, 

Resolved,  that  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New 
York  respectfully  urge  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  this 
State  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  to  use  their  best  efforts  to  secure  the  enactment  of  this  Bill, 
so  as  to  secure  and  make  available  an  appropriation  to  meet  the  ex- 
pense necessary  to  compile,  edit  and  publish  the  records  and  ar- 
chives of  the  Government  relating  to  the  Revolutionary  War,  to  the 
end  that  the  heroic  deeds  of  all  who  took  part  in  that  memorable 
struggle  which  gave  life  to  our  nation  may  be  perpetuated  and  the 
knowledge  of  them  diffused  among  our  people  to  the  encourage- 
ment and  strengthening  of  patriotism  and  love  of  country. 

Resolved  further,  that  a  copy  of  this  resolution,  attested  and 
certified  by  the  President  and  Secretary,  be  sent  to  each  Senator 
and  Representative  of  this  State  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States. 

32 


At  the  May  meeting  of  the  Board  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant,  Chair- 
man of  the  Real  Estate  Committee,  reported  that  ninety-eight 
different  engraved  portraits  of  Washington  had  been  presented  to 
the  Society  by  the  Secretary,  Henry  Russell  Drowne,  and  that  they 
had  been  framed  and  placed  in  the  4th  floor  dining  room,  forming 
a  very  beautiful  and  interesting  decoration  above  the  wainscoting 
encircling  the  room. 

The  Secretary  read  a  letter  of  invitation  to  the  Society  from 
Col.  J.  C.  L.  Hamilton  of  the  Greenburgh  Reformed  Church,  Elms- 
ford,  N.  Y.,  for  the  morning  of  May  26th,  1912,  when  ten  grave 
markers,  donated  by  the  Society,  would  be  placed  on  the  graves  of 
Revolutionary  soldiers  in  the  churchyard.  The  invitation  was  ac- 
cepted and  the  Society  was  represented  on  that  occasion  by  Messrs. 
Charles  C.  Zabriskie,  George  C.  Andrews,  Oscar  T.  Barck,  Charles 
Greer  and  Lyndon  P.  Smith. 

A  resolution  was  adopted  endorsing  the  measure  before  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  introduced  through  the  efforts  of  the  Wash- 
ington Heights  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Hamilton  Grange. 

At  the  October  Meeting  the  Chairman  of  the  Church  Service 
Committee  reported  that  the  next  Annual  Service  in  commemora- 
tion of  Washington's  Birthday  will  be  held  at  the  Brick  Church, 
Thirty-seventh  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue. 

The  Essay  Committee  reported  that  sixty-one  essays  had  been 
received  on  the  subject  "The  Efforts  of  Lafayette  for  the  Cause 
of  American  Independence,"  which  represented  forty-four  schools. 
Prizes  have  been  awarded  as  follows: 

First  Prize — Jacob  Sicherman,  Buffalo  Central  High  School, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Second  Prize — Bessie  Carolyn  McClain,  Gloversville  High 
School,  Gloversville,  N.  Y. 

Third  Prize — Avrom  M.  Jacobs,  Albanv  High  School,  Albany, 
N.  Y. 

Honorable  Mention. 

Paul  P.  Cohen,  Masten  Park  High  School,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Marion  S.  Lock,  Schenectady  High  School,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
Edna  Lonigan,  Girls'  High  School,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  City. 

33 


Georgette  Moses,  Mount  Vernon  High  School,  Mount  Vernon, 
N.  Y. 

Pauline  Nichthauser,  Normal  College,  N.  Y.  City. 
Margaret  Titchener,  Ithaca  High  School,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
Signe  Toksvig,  Troy  High  School,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

The  subject  for  next  year's  Essays  is  "The  Preamble  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence — Its  Sources  and  Value." 

Mr.  Robert  Olyphant  reported  that  he  had  attended  the  dedica- 
tory exercises  of  the  Saratoga  Battle  Monument  at  Schuylerville, 
N.  Y.,  that  the  other  representatives  of  the  Society  were  Mr.  A. 
Vedder  Brower,  Secretary  of  the  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  of  Utica, 
N.  Y.,  and  Colonel  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent  of  the  William  Floyd 
Chapter  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  that  the  colors  of  the  Society  were 
paraded  on  this  occasion  and  attracted  much  attention. 

A  letter  was  read  from  Colonel  William  Libbey,  General  Secre- 
tary, calling  attention  to  the  project  to  erect  a  Washington  Mem- 
orial Building  at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  requesting  that  steps  be 
taken  for  a  popular  subscription  in  this  Society.  On  motion  a 
committee  of  three  was  appointed  to  look  into  the  matter  and  report 
such  measures  as  they  deem  best  to  further  the  object. 

A  letter  was  read  from  Chaplain  E.  S.  Travers  of  the  United 
States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  N.  Y.,  expressing  thanks 
for  the  alms  basin  presented  to  the  Chapel  at  that  place  by  this 
Society. 

The  Society  during  the  year  has  received  invitations  to  the  fol- 
lowing banquets : 

Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars, 
Society  of  the  War  of  1812, 
Holland  Society, 
Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick, 
Society  of  Colonial  Wars, 
Saint  Andrew's  Society, 

and  has  also  received  invitations  to  the  following  functions : 

Reception  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution. 
Reception  of  the  William  Floyd  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. 

34 


Church  Service  of  the  Naval  and  Military  Order  of  the  Spanish- 
American  War. 

Church  Service  of  the  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of 
the  United  States. 

Church  Service  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars. 

Annual  Church  Service  of  the  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  of  the 
State  of  New  York  and  Military  Society  of  the  War  of  1812,  in  the 
Chapel  of  St.  Cornelius  the  Centurion,  Governor's  Island,  N.  Y. 

Memorial  Service  to  Mrs.  John  Howard  Abeel,  Ex-Regent,. 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution. 

Memorial  Service  to  Revolutionary  soldiers,  Greenburgh  Re- 
formed Church,  Elmsford,  New  York. 

Dedication  of  the  Saratoga  Battle  Monument. 


The  Secretaries  of  our  Chapters  give  the  following  reports  for 
the  year: 

PHILIP  LIVINGSTON   CHAPTER,   Albany,  N.  Y. 

While  the  Chapter  has  not  attempted  anything  of  an  unusual 
nature  during  the  past  year,  yet  its  various  activities  have  given 
evidence  of  continued  interest  in  the  organization,  particularly 
among  the  younger  members,  upon  whom  dependence  must  be 
placed  for  future  work. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Chapter  held  at  the  Hotel  Ten 
Eyck,  on  the  evening  of  Tuesday,  January  16th,  sixty  members 
were  present.  The  constitution  was  amended  so  as  to  provide  for 
the  holding  of  the  annual  meeting  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle 
of  Saratoga,  September  17th,  it  being  intended  to  separate  the  an- 
nual meeting  from  the  annual  dinner  to  the  mutual  advantage  of 
both,  and  the  annual  dinner  will  continue  to  be  held  on  or  near 
the  birthday  of  Philip  Livingston  as  heretofore. 

Officers  were  unanimously  chosen  to  serve  until  October  17th 
as  follows:  Regent,  Charles  Francis  Bridge;  Vice-Regent,  Albert 
Ellis  Hoyt ;  Secretary,  Borden  Hicks  Mills ;  Treasurer,  Peter  Gan- 
sevoort  Ten  Eyck;  Registrar,  Isaac  Henry  Vrooman,  Jr.;  His- 
torian, Charles  Grenville  Sewall ;  Chaplain,  William  Herman  Hop- 
kins ;  Marsha],  Gilbert  Van  Evera  Schenck ;  Curator,  Jacob  Charles 
Edgar  Scott. 

35 


The  annual  dinner  was  held  on  the  same  date,  covers  being  laid 
for  sixty-seven,  the  largest  number  in  the  history  of  the  Chapter. 
The  speakers  of  the  evening  were  the  Hon.  John  Alden  Dix,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  and  an  active  member  of  the  Chapter;  Hon. 
Henry  Jared  Cookinham,  the  former  Regent  of  the  Fort  Schuyler 
Chapter  of  Utica ;  Rev.  George  Dugan,  of  the  Fourth  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Albany ;  William  T.  Byrne,  of  Albany.  The  other  guests 
of  the  Chapter  were  Abram  Vedder  Brower,  Secretary  of  the  Fort 
Schuyler  Chapter  of  Utica ;  Dr.  William  A.  Howe,  of  Albany ;  W. 
Sanford  Van  Derzee,  of  Selkirk;  Commander  Eckford  C.  DeKay, 
Military  Secretary  to  the  Governor. 

The  March  Quarterly  Meeting  took  place  at  the  University  Club, 
upon  which  occasion  the  State  Archaeologist,  Arthur  Caswell 
Parker,  addressed  the  Chapter  most  interestingly  on  the  subject, 
"The  Indians  in  the  Revolution,"  and  the  Hon.  James  Austin 
Holden,  State  Historian,  and  a  member  of  the  Chapter,  read  a 
highly  entertaining  and  instructive  paper  on  the  subject,  "The 
Office  of  State  Historian  and  Its  Value  to  the  Commonwealth." 

The  Prize  Essav  Contest  first  instituted  in  1911  was  continued 
with  greater  success,  both  in  the  quality  of  the  work  submitted  and 
the  number  of  contestants  participating. 

The  decision  was  announced  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle 
of  Lexington,  the  prizes  being  awarded  as  follows :  First  Prize  to 
Harriet  R.  Tedford  of  the  Normal  High  School,  subject  "Dutch 
Kitchens  and  Cookery  in  Old  Albany,"  the  Second  to  Inez  C.  Bent- 
ley  of  the  Albany  High  School,  subject  "Travel  and  Transporta- 
tion in  the  Eighteenth  Century,"  and  the  Third  to  Mary  E.  Burgess 
of  St.  John's  Academy,  subject,  "Lessons  from  the  Life  of  Bene- 
dict Arnold. "  Following  the  usual  custom,  a  number  of  the  essays 
possessing  particular  merit  were  published  from  time  to  time  in  the 
Albany  Argus. 

The  Chapter  had  the  honor  on  September  24th,  of  having  its 
Vice-Regent  present,  on  behalf  of  the  New  York  Society,  the  Third 
Prize  in  the  state-wide  Essay  Contest,  to  Avrom  M.  Jacobs  of  the 
Albany  High  School,  for  his  essay  on  "The  Efforts  of  Lafayette 
for  the  Cause  of  American  Independence." 

Our  organization  has  suffered  during  the  past  year  more 
severely  on  account  of  deaths  among  its  membership  than  in  any 
other  year  of  its  history,  the  loss  through  this  cause  being  five. 

36 


At  tlie  Annual  Meeting  held  at  the  University  Club,  on  October 
17th,  the  Chapter  was  honored  by  having  as  it  guest  Dr.  Henry 
Mitchell  MacCracken,  Chancellor  Emeritus  of  New  York  Univer- 
sity, who  delivered  an  address  on  the  ' '  Hall  of  Fame. ' :  The  officers 
elected  at  the  January  Meeting  were  all  re-elected  for  the  coming 
year. 

The  present  active  membership  of  the  Chapter  is  one  hundred 
fifty-one,  a  gain  of  one  since  the  last  report  to  the  Board,  but  in 
addition  our  local  board  has  approved  four  applicants  who  have 
not  as  yet  submitted  their  final  papers,  so  that  the  real  gain  for  the 
year  has  been  five. 

Borden  H.  Mills, 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  November  4,  1912.  Secretary. 

WILLIAM  FLOYD  CHAPTER,  Troy,  N.  Y. 

The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  William  Floyd  Chapter,  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,  was  held  on  February  22nd,  1912,  when  officers  were 
elected  as  follows :  Colonel  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent ;  Dr.  Rus- 
sell F.  Benson,  Vice-Regent ;  David  Banks  Plum,  Treasurer ;  Will- 
iam Barker,  Jr.,  Secretary. 

Mr.  Thomas  spoke  on  a  Revolutionary  subject,  after  which  a 
collation  was  enjoyed. 

On  May  30th,  1912,  Colonel  Walter  P.  Warren,  Regent,  enter- 
tained the  members  of  the  Chapter  at  his  home,  where  they  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  Mr.  Robert  Olyphant,  Vice-President  of  the 
New  York  State  Society.  During  the  evening  the  members  of  the 
Chapter  presented  Colonel  Warren  with  a  loving  cup  as  a  token 
of  their  regards. 

On  October  18th,  1912,  several  members  of  the  Chapter  escorted 
Mr.  Robert  Olyphant,  the  representative  of  the  New  York  State  So- 
ciety, to  Schuylerville,  on  the  occasion  of  the  dedication  of  the 
Saratoga  Battle  Monument,  which  was  a  most  enjoyable  event. 

William  Barker,  Jr., 

Troy,  New  York,  November  4th,  1912.  Secretary. 

.  FORT  SCHUYLER  CHAPTER,  Utica,  N.  Y. 

The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Chapter  was  held  at  Utica,  New 
York,  on  the  22nd  day  of  February,  1912,  when  the  following  offi- 
cers were  elected:     Regent,  Sylvester  Dering;  Vice-Regent,  Wil- 

37 


liam  Mansfield  Storrs;  Secretary,  Abram  Vedder  Brower;  Treas- 
urer, John  Francis  Day;  Chaplain,  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Tyler  Olm- 
sted, D.  D. ;  Marshall,  Henry  Jared  Cookinham,  Jr.;  Historian, 
Wadsworth  Leach  Goodier. 

The  Treasurer,  Mr.  J.  Francis  Day,  reported  a  balance  on 
hand  of  $165.08. 

It  was  duly  moved  that  the  Committee  on  Publications  publish  a 
year  book. 

The  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Chapter  was  held  at  the  Fort 
Schuyler  Club  on  December  21st,  1911.  The  guests  on  this  oc- 
casion were  the  Hon.  Edmund  Wetmore  of  New  York  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Charles  A.  Richmond,  President  and  Chancellor  of 
Union  University.  The  dinner  was  well  attended  and  proved  a 
most  delightful  occasion.  Professor  William  H.  Squires  of  Hamil- 
ton College  was  the  first  speaker,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Borden 
H.  Mills  of  Albany,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richmond  of  Union,  and  Mr.  Wet- 
more,  the  guest  of  honor.  The  dinner  concluded  with  the  singing 
of  ' 'America." 

At  the  Banquet  of  the  Chapter  on  February  22nd,  1912,  the 
Rev.  J.  Howard  Hobbs,  D.  D.,  delivered  an  address:  "The  Man, 
George  Washington." 

Abeam  Vedder  Brower, 

Secretary. 
Utica,  N.  Y.,  November  9,  1912. 

The  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter  has  published  its  Reports  and 
Proceedings  for  1912  with  the  names  of  thirty-six  members,  to- 
gether with  a  roll  of  ancestors  and  the  record  of  their  services; 
also  a  list  of  the  property  and  donations  of  the  Chapter. 

The  pamphlet  is  illustrated  and  is  a  very  creditable  piece  of 
work. 

BUFFALO  ASSOCIATION,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Buffalo  Association,  Sons  of  the 
Revolution,  the  following  Officers  were  elected:  Robert  M.  Codd, 
President;  Charles  R.  Wilson,  Vice-President;  George  W.  Corn- 
stock,  Secretary. 

Three  meetings  were  held  at  different  times  and  places  dur- 
ing the  year,  at  each  of  which  papers  on  patriotic  subjects  were 

38 


read,  and  the  social  intercourse  after  each  meeting  was  greatly 
enjoyed  by  all  present. 

On  December  15th,  1911,  the  prize  essay  medal  was  presented 
to  the  winner  of  1911  at  the  Central  High  School  in  a  public 
session. 

On  July  10th,  1912,  a  banquet  was  held  for  the  members  at 
the  University  Club,  which  was  much  enjoyed  by  all. 

The  Association  mourns  the  loss  of  its  former  President,  the 
Hon.  T.  Guilford  Smith,  who  passed  away  on  February  20th,  1912. 
Other  than  this,  there  have  been  no  deaths  among  our  members 
during  the  past  year. 

George  W.  Comstock, 
Secretary. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  November  7,  1912. 

JAMESTOWN  CHAPTER,  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

The  Jamestown  Chapter,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  at  its  Annual 
Meeting  elected  the  following  officers :  Regent,  Hon.  Arthur  Hazel- 
tine;  Vice-Regent,  Gilbert  W.  Strong;  Secretary  and  Treasurer, 
Frank  H.  Mott;  Historian,  Edward  R.  Bootey. 

The  Chapter  erected  a  tablet  to  mark  the  place  where  the 
King's  Eighth,  a  British  regiment,  was  stationed  during  the  Rev- 
olution, at  the  outlet  of  Chautauqua  Lake,  now  known  as  the  Cha- 
dakoin  River,  in  the  City  of  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  which  was  unveiled 
with  appropriate  ceremonies  on  Saturday  afternoon,  May  11th, 
1912,  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-seventh  anniversary  of  the  cap- 
ture of  Fort  Ticonderoga.  The  tablet  bears  the  following  inscrip- 
tion: 

"In  preparation  for  an  attack  on  Fort  Pitt  a  detachment  of 
the  *  King's  Eighth,'  a  British  regiment  in  1782,  raised  the  water 
of  this  stream  by  driving  piles  at  this  point  that  they  might  float 
their  bateaux  carrying  themselves  and  their  Indian  allies.  Fort 
Pitt  being  reinforced  the  original  design  was  abandoned  and  they 
then  proceeded  to  the  massacre  and  annihilation  of  Hannistown, 
Pa. 

"This  tablet  was  erected  by  the  Jamestown  Chapter  of  the  Sons 
of  the  Revolution." 

FRANK  H.  MOTT, 
November  21,  1912.  Secretary. 

39 


We  have  materially  added  to  our  card  index  system  of  members 
and  ancestors  with  sons  and  grandsons  of  members,  by  adding  the 
names  of  sons  of  deceased  and  former  members,  and  solicit  the 
assistance  of  our  members  in  furnishing  us  with  any  information 
that  will  promote  this  good  work,  so  as  to  make  our  index  as  com- 
plete as  possible  with  the  object  of  increasing  the  future  member- 
ship of  the  Society. 

The  museum  has  received  a  number  of  valuable  additions,  the 
most  important  of  which  are  a  handsome  painting  of  "The  Old 
Mount  Vernon,"  by  Eastman  Johnson,  N.  A.,  presented  by  Mr. 
Levi  Holbrook;  a  Revolutionary  spontoon,  loaned  by  Major  O.  N. 
Hill,  Quartermaster  General's  Department,  Trenton,  N.  J. ;  two  en- 
gravings, "The  Capture  of  Andre"  and  "The  Destruction  of  the 
Statute  of  George  III  at  the  Bowling  Green,"  loaned  by  Miss  Mary 
Hill  Sayre. 

During  the  summer  months  the  completion  of  our  sets  of  socie- 
ties'  publications  in  the  Library  was  taken  up,  resulting  in  dona- 
tions of  some  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  books,  reports,  etc.,  all 
of  more  or  less  historical  interest. 

A  card  and  subject  index  to  the  library  has  also  been  made  so 
that  the  material  here  would  be  made  more  available  for  historical 
research. 

For  the  Long  Room  we  received  a  fine  oil  painting  of  Major- 
General  Philip  Schuyler,  presented  by  Justine  Van  Rensselaer 
Townsend,  great-granddaughter  of  General  Schuyler ;  and  a  replica 
of  the  Houdon  bust  of  Washington,  presented  by  the  French  Re- 
public. 

Our  members  should  not  fail  to  visit  Fraunces  Tavern  and  see 
the  "Long  Room"  and  inspect  our  collection  of  interesting  relics 
and  documents  in  the  museum.  At  the  same  time  should  they  desire 
any  refreshment  they  will  find  a  fine  restaurant  on  the  lower  floor, 
as  well  as  the  members'  dining  room  above. 

Sixty-two  hundred  and  three  visitors  registered  in  the  "Long 
Room"  in  1912,  including,  on  May  2d,  1912,  His  Excellency  J.  J. 
Jusserand,  the  Ambassador  of  France,  accompanied  by  M.  Dejean, 
the  Secretary  of  the  French  Embassy. 

During  the  past  year  one  hundred  and  three  applicants  were 
admitted  to   membership  in  the  Society.        Forty-five  members 

40 


have  died,  two  were  transferred,  nineteen  resigned  and  twenty- 
one  were  dropped  for  non-payment  of  dues. 

The  Society  now  has  on  its  rolls  twenty-two  hundred  and 
twenty  members. 

The  Secretary  desires  to  express  his  thanks  to  Mr.  Louis  B. 
Wilson,  the  Curator,  for  his  very  efficient  assistance  during  the 
past  year,  as  also  to  the  Assistant  Secretary,  Col.  Eugene  K. 
Austin. 

By  order  of  the  Board  of  Managers. 

Henry  Russell  Drowne, 

Secretary. 
Fraunces  Tavern,  New  York  City. 


41 


REPORT  OF  THE   HISTORIAN 


In  Memoriam 


Admitted. 

Charles  Speucer  Francis 1  894 

Bvain   Kerby   Stevens 1803 

William    George   Hackstaff 1SS7 

Mareius    Denison    Raymond 18<S0 

Isaac    John    Greenwood 1890 

John  Howard  Wainwright 1807 

Elbert  Eli  Farman,  A.  B.,  A.  M.,  LL.D 1801 

William    Philips   Baker 1808 

Henry  W.  Everett 1805 

Leonard  Klrby  Smith 189(3 

Edwin    Henry    Weatherbee 1894 

Charles  Dennison  Belden 1890 

Richard   Harrison   Chipman 1 893 

Thomas  Guilford  Smith,  C.  E.,  LL.D 1S02 

Francis   Malbone   Breese 1803 

Lorillard    Spencer 1 803 

Amory  Sibley  Carhart 1008 

John   Murdock  Robinson 1S07 

Charles  Edwin   Welles 1803 

Alexander   Noel    Blakeman 1004 

John  Fraser  Mills 1902 

Ithamar     Whiting     Copeland,      Private,     44th 

Mass.  V.,  Civil  War 1909 

Lucius  Noyes  Palmer 1904 

Rev.  Albert  Alonzo  Brockway,  A.B.,  A.M 1897 

Isaac  Henry  Vrooman,  LL.B 1900 

Henrv  Augustus  Neilson 1890 

Frederic  Betts  Elliott 1S95 

Henry   Gilbert  Woodruff 1003 

Joseph  Hawley  Spencer 1000 

Dexter  Baldwin  Chambers 1S03 

Joseph    Stuyvesant    Woodhouse 1005 

George    Williams    Pierce 1804 

James  Edmund  Childs 1803 

Harry  Van  der  Veer  De  Hart 1007 

Daniel   Shields  Lathrop  Gunning 1012 

William  Alfred  Hoe,  Private,  7th  X.  Y.  V.  Inf., 

1863    1805 

Paul   Babcock  Munson 1905 

Abbot  Augustus   Low 1896 

Willis  Alvin  Winne 1800 

Anthony    Dey 1S02 

Albert  Nathaniel  Husted,  A.M.,  Ph.  D.,  Captain, 

44th  N.  Y.  V.   Inf.,  1862-4 1.805 

Sidney  Howard  Carney,  M.D 1805 

Francis  Luther  Eames 1800 

Leon  Ferdinand  Harvey,  M.  D 1801 

Edward    Curtis,    M.    D 1802 

Respectfully    su 


43 


Died. 
December   1st,   1911. 
December  12th,  1911. 
December  12th,  1911. 
December  15th,  1911. 
December  16th,  1911. 
December  29,  1911. 
December  30th,  1911. 
January  6th,  1912. 
January  21st,   1912. 
January  30th,  1912. 
February  11th,  1912. 
February  12th,  1912. 
February  16th,  1912. 
February  20th,  1912. 
February  26th,  1912. 
March  14th,  1912. 
March  18th,  1912. 
March  30th,  1912. 
April  2nd,  1912. 
April  7th,  1912. 
April  9th,  1912. 

April  10th,  1912. 
April  18th,  1912. 
April  10th,  1912. 
April  27th.  1012. 
May  6th,  1912. 
May  16th,  1012. 
June  5th,  1012. 
June  7th.  1012. 
June    10th,  1012. 
June  27th,  1012, 
July  11th,  1012. 
July  16th,  1912. 
July    16th.   1912. 
August  ISth,  1912. 

August  20th.  1912. 
September  18th,  1912. 
September  25th,  1912. 
October  2nd,  1012. 
October  11th,  1912. 

October  16th,     1912. 
October  22nd.  1912. 
November   10th,    1912. 
November  10th.  1012. 
November  28th,  1012. 

)mitted, 
Talbot  Olyphant, 

Historian. 


Members  Admitted 

January  1,  1911— December  1,   1912 


Members. 

1912— Allen,  Henry  Butler,  M.  E., 
New  York  City. 

1912— Allen,  Thomas.  3d.,  A.B.,  LL.  B., 

New  York  City. 

1912— Atwood,    Charles    Edwin,    B.S., 
M.D.,  New  York  City. 


1911— Badglev,   Henrv  Cleo, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Bailey,  Theodore  Layton, 
New  York  City. 

1912— Bidwell.  Frederick  David, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Blake,  John  Mason. 

Brooklyn.  N.  Y. 


1912 — Bosson,  George  Chapman,  Jr., 
Greenwich,  N.  Y. 

1911 — Brown,  William  Brigham, 
New  York  City. 


1912— Canfield,  Palmer,  Jr., 

Kingston,  N.  Y. 


1912— Canfield.  Yon  Beck, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 


Ancestors. 

Jerome  Ripley  (1757-1S38), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Thomas  Allen    (1743-1810), 

Chaplain,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Jonas  Parker  (1722-1775), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Ambrose  Hill   (1744-1S16), 

Captain,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

John  Kilmer  (1739-1823), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

John  Bayley  (1757-1827), 

Private,  New  York  militia. 

John  Bidwell   (1750-1825), 

Sergeant,   Connecticut  Militia. 


Seth  Blake  (1752- 


-). 


Matross,  Continental  Artillery. 

Samuel  Guild  (1739 ), 

Private,   Massachusetts  Militia. 

Samuel  Flint  (1733-1777), 

Captain,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

William  Brown   (1749-1816), 

1st       Lieutenant,       Massachusetts 
Militia. 

James  Canfield   (1752-1830), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Samuel   Adsit    (1719-1806), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Jacob  Brower  (1721-1S06), 

Private,  New  lork  Militia. 

James  Canfield   (1752-1S30). 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 
Samuel  Adsit  (1719-1S06), 

Private,  New  York  Militia- 
Jacob  Brower  (1721-1S06), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 


45 


Membebs. 


Ancestobs. 


1912 — Class,  Theodore  Sherman, 
Westfield.  N.  J. 

li>ll — Colver,  Henry  Andrews, 

New  Haven,  Conn. 


1912 — Colyer,  Joseph  Henry,  Jr., 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


1912 — Cookinham,     Walter      Sherman, 
C.E.,  Utica,  N.  Y. 


Frederick  Class, 

Private,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Nathaniel  Colver    (1728-1809), 

Private,     Connecticut     Continental 
Regiment. 

Joseph  Lane  (1736 ), 

2d  Lieutenant,    Massachusetts 
Militia. 
Benjamin    Hasbrouck    (1767-1841), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 


Robert  Colfax  (- 


-1829), 


Private,  Additional  Continental  In- 
fantry. 

Ebenezer  Rockwell   (1720-1783), 

Corporal,    New    York    Continental 
Regiment. 


1912 — Coutts,  William  Hampton, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Crosby,    Frederic    Van     Schoon- 
hoven.      Tuxedo      Park, 
N.  Y. 

1912 — Crum,  John  Egbert, 

New  York  City. 

1912 — Davis,  Fellowes,  Jr.,  M.D., 
New  York  City. 


1912 — Dodd,  Louis  Frederic, 

Montclair,   N.  J. 

1912 — Dunsmore,  John  Ward, 
Hoboken,  N.  J. 

1912— Du  Val,  Guy, 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1912— Einstein,  William, 

New  York  City. 

1912— Elsworth,  Edward  Wead, 
Water  town,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Estes,  Louis  Carman 

New  York  City. 


Joun  Hampton  (1745-1822), 

Lieutenant,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Ebenezer  Crosby,  M.D.,  (1753-1781), 
Surgeon,  Washington's  Life  Guards, 
Massachusetts. 


John  Krum  (- 


-1813), 


Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Moses  Davis  (1744-1823), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 
Benjamin  Baker   (1753-1830), 

Private,  New  Hampshire  Continen- 
tal Regiment. 
Silas  Whitney   (1758-183S). 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 
Jesse  Davidson  (1758-1S00), 

Private.  New  Hampshire  Militia. 
Aaron  Davis  (1709-1777), 

Colonel,  Massachusetts  Militia. 


Abraham  A.  Herring  (1742- 


-), 


Captain,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Joseph  Hedden  ( 1S33), 

Private,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Thaddeus  Nichols  (1762-1S42), 
Private,  Vermont  Militia. 

David  Lewis  (1747-1839) 

Private,  Continental  Dragoons. 

Benjamin  Westervelt  (1727-1822), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Richard  Estes,  Jr., 

Private,  Rhode  Island  Militia. 


46 


Members. 

1912— Fisher,  Alfred  Bryant, 

New  York  City. 

1912 — Fisk,  Harvey  Edward,  Jr., 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Fitz-Gerald,   Reverand  Aaron 
Boylan,  Dover,  N.  J. 


1912— Fitz-Gerald,    Charles    Stuart 
Haines,  Newark,  N.  J. 


1912— Frost,  Le  Roy, 

Nyack,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Fuller,  Henry  Bowerman, 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Gallaher,    Selim    Arthur, 
Newark,  N.  J. 

1912— Geer,  Danforth,  Jr., 

Hoosick  Falls,  N.  Y. 


1912 — Goodspeed,  Charles  Albert, 
Rutherford,  N.  J. 

1912 — Greenwood,  Joseph  Rudd, 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Gunning,  Daniel  Shields  Lathrop, 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Gunther,  Franklin  Mott,  A.B., 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Haddea,  Howard  S., 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


1912 — Hibson,  Albert  Van  Velsor, 
Cranford,  N.  J. 

1911— Hill,  William  Ely, 


Ancestors. 
Abraham  Hunt  (1748 


-), 


Captain,  Massachusetts  Line. 

Amos  Scudder  (1740-1824), 

Ensign,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

William  Fitz-Gerald  (1729-1813), 
Lieutenant,  New  York  Militia. 

James  Boylan  (1743-1829), 

Corporal,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

William  Fitz-Gerald  (1729-1813), 
Lieutenant,  New  York  Militia. 

James   Boylan    (1743-1829), 

Corporal,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Samuel  Delavan  (1752-1786), 
Captain,  New  York  Militia. 

Timothy  Field  (1744-1818), 

Lieutenant.  Connecticut  Militia. 

Ezekiel  Harris  (1756-1837), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Walter  Geer  (1759 ), 

Private,  New  Hampshire  Line. 

Jonathan  Danforth  (1736-1802), 

Captain,  Massachusetts  Continental 
Infantry. 

Adam  Wheeler  (1732-1802), 

Captain,  Massachusetts  Line. 

Dr.  John  Greenwood  (1760-1819), 
Captain,  Schooner  "Resolution." 

Jedediah  Lathrop,  Jr.,  (1744-1824). 
Private,  Connecticut  State  Troops. 

James  Griffin   (1739-1824), 
Private,  New  York  Line. 

Thomas  Hadden  (1736-1778), 

Lieutenant-Colonel,      New      Jersey 
Militia. 
John  Ganson, 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Cornelius  Williams,  (1754-1831), 

Captain,  New  Jersey  State  Troops. 

Squire  Hill  (1747-1830), 

Captain,  Connecticut  State  Troops. 
Henry  Wager  (1764-1840), 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 
Benjamin  Whipple  (1754-1819), 

Private,  Marine  Corps,  U.  S.  N. 
John  Hall  (1735-1812), 

1st      Lieutenant,       Massachusetts 
Militia. 
Ebenezer  Walker  (1716-1799), 

Private,  Continental  Dragoons. 


47 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


1912 — Hine,  Lyman  Northrop, 
New  York  City. 

1012— Holliday.  Robert  Fleming,  C.E., 
New  Brighton  S.  I. 

1912— Holstein  Otto, 

Lima,  Peru. 

1912 — Hopping,  Andrew  Howard, 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Houghton.  Russel  Channing, 
Helena,  Montana. 


1912 — Howe,  Julian  Bigelow, 
Sewickley,  Pa. 

1912— Hubbard,  Ernest  Valentine,  M.D., 
New  York  City. 

1912— Hubbard.  Ralph  Hustace, 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Jones,  Reverend  James  Clarence, 
B.S..     Ph.D.,     Brooklyn. 

N.  Y. 

1912 — Kinnan,  Morris  Egenton, 


1912 — Kunhardt,  George  Farnham, 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Linn,  Wallace  Hetherington, 
Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

1911 — Lloyd,  Martin  Van  Voorhees, 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 


1912— Mallett,  Percy  Smith, 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


1912 — Manvel,  Frederick  Converse, 
New  York  City. 

1912 — Mason,  Arthur  Eugene. 

Glens  Falls,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Meeks,  Clarence  Gardner, 
Woodcliff,  N.  J. 


1912 — Molleson,  Francis   MacDonald, 
Mt.  Kisco,  N.  Y. 


Stephen  Hine  (1754-1833), 

Private,  Connecticut  Militia. 

John  Holliday  ( 1S23) 

Captain,  Pennsylvania  Line. 

Benjamin  Fox   (17GO-1S40), 

Private,  New  Hampshire  Militia. 


Joseph  Hunt  (- 


-1790), 


Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Jonathan  Houghton, 

Lieutenant,     Massachusetts    Conti- 
nental Regiment. 

Ivory  Bigelow  (1753-1806) 

2d        Lieutenant,        Massachusetts 
Militia. 

Jonathan  Burr  (1756-1804). 

Corporal,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Jonathan  Burr  ( 1756-1 S04), 

Corporal.  Connecticut  Militia. 

Abraham  Van  Doren  (1743-1S13), 
Lieutenant,  New  Jersey  Militia. 


Peter  Kinnan  (1751-1S36) 

Sergeant,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Daniel  Ingals  (175S-1S37), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

John  Linn  (1763-1S24), 

Sergeant,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Robert  Shewell  (1740-1S25), 

Lieutenant-Colonel,  Pennsylvania  As- 
sociators. 

Peter  Mallett  (1744-1805) 

Commissary,   North   Carolina  Con- 
tinental Regiment. 

James  Converse    (1725-1811), 

Colonel,   Massachusetts  Militia. 

Dan  Weller  (17G0-1829), 

Corporal,  Massachusetts  Line. 

John  Meeks  (1739-1817), 

Captain,  Continental  Infantry. 
John  Van  Dyk  (1754-1840), 

Captain-Lieutenant,        Continental 
Artillery. 

Aaron  Tuttle  (1756 ), 

Private.       Canadian       Continental 
Regiment. 


48 


Members. 

1912— Molleson,  Gilbert  Cox, 

Mt.  Kisco,  N.  Y. 


1912— Munson,  Robert, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Neely,  Robert  Thompson, 
New  York  City. 


1912— Nielson,      Robert      Hude,      A.B., 
LL.B.,  New  York  City. 


1911— Oldt,  Charles  Franklin, 
Easton,  Pa. 

1912— Olney,  Elam  Ward, 

Convent,  N.  J. 


1912— Peake,   William  Woodhouse, 
Montclair,  N.  J. 


1912— Perkins,  George  Fitch,  Jr.,  A.  B., 
Jersey  City,  N.  J. 

1912— Peters,    Edward    MeClure,    B.S., 
A.M.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1911— Peters,  Thomas  MeClure, 
New  York  City. 

1912— Polk,  Frank  Lyon, 

New  York  City. 


1912— Potter,  Owen  Lincoln, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1912— Putnam,  Albert  William,  A.   B., 
LL.B.,  Rye,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Richardson,  William  Butler, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


Ancestors. 

Aaron  Tuttle    (1756 ), 

Private,       Canadian 
Regiment. 


Continental 


Stephen  Munson   (1759-1824), 

Private,   Pennsylvania  Militia. 
William  Neely  (1742-1819), 

Private,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 
Robert  Smith   (1720-1803), 

Lieutenant,   Pennsylvania  Militia. 
Reverend  John  Rosebrugh   (1714-1777), 

Chaplain,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 
John  Hays  ( 1796), 

Member  Committee  of  Observation, 
1775. 


John  Neil  son   (1745-1833), 
Brigadier-General,      New 
Militia. 


Jersey 


Isaac  Hodges    (1728-1807), 

Captain,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Charles  Olney  ( 1790), 

Captain,  Rhode  Island  Militia. 

Thomas  Olney  (1726-1793) 

Captain,   Rhode  Island  Militia. 

Thomas  Olney,  Jr.   ( 1795), 

Ensign,  Rhode  Island  Rangers. 

Jonathan  Peake   (1755-1831), 
Private,   New  York  Militia. 

William  Wainwright   (1717-1775), 

Private,     Connecticut     Continental 
Regiment. 

Elisha  Crocker   (1750-1834), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

John   Peters    (1741-1S21), 

Member  Committee  of  Safety,  1778- 
79. 

John  Peters  (1741-1821), 

Member  Committee  of  Safety,  1778- 
79. 

Thomas  Polk   (1732-1793), 

Colonel,  North  Carolina  Line. 

William  Polk   (1758-1834), 

Colonel,      North     Carolina      State 
Troops. 

Philip  Shafer  (1759-1851), 

Private,  Pennsylvania  Line. 

Jeremiah  Putnam   (1737-1799), 

Captain,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Lemuel  Richardson    (1766-1847), 
Private,  New  Hampshire  Line. 


49 


Members. 


Ancestors. 


1911 — Rifenburgh,  George  Lafayette, 
Albany,  N.  T. 

1912 — Robinson.  Clarence, 

Jersey  Channel   Islands, 
England. 

1912 — Rose,  Charles  Alfred, 

New  York  City. 


1912 — Sanford,  William  Moore, 
Glen  Ridge  N.  J. 

1912— Scharff,  Walter  Niekerson, 
New  York  City. 

1912— Seott,  Stanley  De  Forest, 
New  York  City. 


1912 — Sherman.  Richard  Buck, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

1912— Shields,  Nelson  Turner.  D.D.S., 
New  York  City. 

1912— Shields.  Sturges  Bradford,  A.B., 
New  York  City. 

1912— Smith.  Thomas  Herbert. 
New  York  City. 


1912— Spadone,  Amedee. 

New  York  City. 

1912— Sparks.    Clarence    Ashton,    B.S. 
LL.B.,  New  York  City. 


1912 — Spaulding,  Harry  Van  Ness,  M.D. 
New  York  City. 


1912— Sperrv.  William  Miller.  2d, 
Cranford,  N.  J. 


Caleb  Clark    (1742-1822). 

2d  Lieutenant.  New  York  Militia. 

John  Yeomans 

1st  Lieutenant.  Massachusetts  Line. 


David  Fellows   (- 


-1779), 


Ensign,   Continental  Regiment. 
John  Richard  Watrous  (1754-1829), 

Surgeon.  Connecticut  Line. 
John  More  (1745-1840). 

Private,  New  York  Militia. 
Peter   Roggen    (1752 ), 

2d   Lieutenant    New   York    Conti- 
nental Regiment. 

James  Burt  (1760-1852), 

Sergeant,  New  York  Militia. 

James  Robinson  ( 1832), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

Eli  Smith  Rowley, 

Private.  Connecticut  Militia. 
Frederick  Class, 

Private,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

Roger  Sherman  (1721-1793). 

Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

William  Russell   (1735-1793), 
Colonel,  Virginia  Line. 

William  Russell  (1735-1793), 

Colonel,  Virginia  Line. 
Michael  Smith  (1750-1846). 

Sergeant,  New  York  Militia. 

Jonathan  Knight  (1759-1837), 
Private.  Massachusetts  Line. 

Henry  Dusenbery  (1760-1825), 
Private,  New  Jersey  Militia. 

James  Spock  (1741-1804). 

Private.  New  York  Militia. 
Peter  Romer  <  1755-1830). 

Private,  New  York  Continental  Reg- 
iment. 
Bogart,  Pieter  (1736-1 841). 

Private,  New  Jersey  Militia. 
Thomas  Banta  (1740-1824), 

Prisoner  of  War.   1777-1778. 


Sampson  Spalding,  Jr., 
1st       Lieutenant, 
Militia. 


(1745-1832), 
Massachusetts 


Jacob  Sperrv  ( 180S). 

Private.  Virginia  Riflemen. 


50 


Members. 

1912 — Stone,  Isaac  Frank, 

Greenwich,  Conn. 


Ancestors. 

Frederick  Owen  (1752-1837), 

Private,     Connecticut     Continental 
Regiment. 


1912 — Storer,  Francis  B., 

Ridgefield,  Conn. 

1912 — Strong,  George  Templeton, 
New  York  City. 


1912 — Supplee,  James  Franklin, 
New  York  City. 


Ebenezer  Storer  (1758-1846), 

Lieutenant,  Massachusetts  Line. 

Lazarus  Ruggles  (1756-1801), 

Lieutenant,  Connecticut  Militia. 

Joseph  Bulkley   (1760-1S41), 

Sergeant,  Connecticut  Militia. 

James  Ferrell   (1758-1SOO), 

Private,  New  Jersey  Line. 


1912— Ten  Eyck,  Mills, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 


Jacob  C.  Ten  Eyck  (1705-1793), 

Member  Committee  of  Safety,  1775. 


1912 — Thompson,  Andrew  H.  A., 
New  York  City. 


Benjamin  Montanye    (1745-1825), 
Confidential  Messenger. 


1912 — Tows,     Ferrars     Heaton,     A.B., 
LL.B.,  New  York  City. 


Theophilus  Goodyear  (1731-1793)  r 
Corporal,  Connecticut  Line. 


1912 — Tuckerman,  Alfred, 

New  York  City. 


Edward  Tuckerman  (1740-1818), 

Disbursing   Officer,    Massachusetts, 
1770. 
Oliver  Wolcott   (1726-1797), 

Signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 


1912— Uhl,  Byron  Hamlin, 

Rutherford,   N.  J. 


Amasa  Hamblin   (1737- 


), 


Private,  Connecticut  Militia. 
David  Doty   (1741-1S17), 

Wagonmaster-General,        Northern 
Army. 


1912 — Van  Derzee,  William  Sanford, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 


Cornelius  Van  Derzee    (1740 ), 

Ensign,  New  York  Militia. 


1912— van  Dyke.  Tertius, 

Princeton,  N.  J. 


1912 — Watson,  Theodore  Conrow, 
Jersey  City,  N.  J. 


1912 — White,   George  Addison, 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

1912— White,  James  Dugald, 

New  York  City. 


Frederick  van  Dyke,  (• 


-) 


Minute  Man,  New  Jersey  Militia. 
John  van  Dyke   (1709-1778), 

Private,  New  Jersey  Militia. 


David  Buell, 
Sergeant, 
goons. 


Continental    Light    Dra- 


Ithamar  Taylor  (1752-1818), 

Private,  Massachusetts  Militia. 

George  Beaver   (1755-1830), 

Captain,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 

Isaac  Adams  (1746-1S09), 

Captain,  Pennsylvania  Militia. 


51 


Members. 

1912— Whitney,    Howard   Fletcher, 
New  York  City. 


1912 — Wodell,  Ruthven  Adriance, 
New  York  City. 


1912— Wood,  Ben, 

Wells,  N.  Y. 

1912 — Yates,  Blinn  Francis,  A.B., 
Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


Ancestors. 

Solomon  Bliss   (1737-1803), 

Private,  Company  of  Volunteers. 

William  Carruth, 

Private,  Massachusetts  Line. 

John  Smith, 

Private,   Massachusetts  Militia. 

Noah  Wheeler  (1743-1S23), 

1st  Lieutenant,   New  York  Militia. 
Cornelius  Van  Wyck   (1744-1776), 

Captain,  New  York  Militia. 
James   Vander  Burgh    (1729-1794) 

Lieutenant-Colonel,       New       York 
Militia. 
Aaron  Hall   (17G0-1S39), 

Private,  Connecticut  Line. 

Ebenezer  Wood   (1729-1810), 
Private,  New  York  Militia. 

Christopher  Peter  Yates, 
Major,  New  York  Line. 


Transfers 

Henry  K.  Bush-Brown  to  District  of  Columbia  Society. 
Lester  Groome  Welcher  to  Connecticut  Society. 


52 


Donations 

Books,  Pamphlets,  Etc. 


TITLES  DONORS 

The  Colver  Genealogy Frederic  Lathrop  Colver. 

Booth  and  Allied  Families Charles  Edwin  Booth. 

My    Country,    An    Illustrated    Version    of    the 

American  National   Anthem Lyndon  P.  Smith. 

Goodrich's  History  of  the  United  States Hobert  Stewart  Sutliffe. 

Bulletins,  January,  April,  October,  1912 Newport  Historical  Society. 

Address  of  M.  E.  Charles  Dana  Burrage Charles  Dana  Burrage. 

Library  of  Congress  Report Herbert  L.  Putnam,  Librarian. 

Reports  and  List  of  Members The  New  Haven  Colony  Historical 

Society. 

Annals  of  Iowa,  Dr.  Salter  Memorial ;  Volumes 

1-8,  10,  Index Historical  Department  of  Iowa. 

Governor  Benjamin   Smith,  Address  by   Collier 

Cobb North  Carolina  Society,  Sons  of  the 

Revolution. 

The  Life  of  Washington  with  Curious  Anecdotes, 

Published  in  1811 L.  Bayard  Smith. 

The  Tomb  of  Washington  at  Mt.  Vernon L.  Bayard  Smith. 

Deck  and  Field Frank  W.  Hackett. 

Founders  and  Patriots  Register,  1911 George  C.  Batcheller. 

The  British  Invasion  of  New  Haven,  Conn Henry  B.  Barnes,  Jr. 

Revolution  in  the  Upper  Ohio State  Historical  Society  of  Wiscon- 
sin. 

Dunmore's  War    State  Historical  Society  of  Wiscon- 
sin. 

Carney   Genealogy    Sydney  H.  Carney,  Jr.,  M.  D. 

Colonial  Days  and  Ways Gilbert  Livingston  Smith. 

Ye  Historie  of  Greenwich Spencer  P.  Mead. 

Holland  Documents,  1003-1078;  Paris  Docu- 
ments, 1631-1778 ;  English  Documents,  1G31 ; 
10   Vols William  A.  Tucker. 

The  Founders  of  America,  Address  by  Winches- 
ter Fitch,  B.  L Founders  and  Patriots  of  America. 

Origin,  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  State  of  Franklin, 

Address  by  William  Edward  Fitch,  M.  D..  .  .Founders  and  Patriots  of  America. 

Some  Things  the  Colony  of  North  Carolina  Did, 

Address  by  William  Edward  Fitch,  M.  D. .  .Founders  and  Patriots  of  America- 

William  Smith  Livingston John  Mason  Knox. 

53 


TITLES  DONORS 

Presentation    Reeve    Law     School     Building    to 

Litchfield  Historical  Society Mrs.  E.  N.  Vanderpoel. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Fathers,  Address William  Allen  Wood. 

Revolutionary  Soldiers  of  Virginia Purchased. 

Naval  Records  of  the  American  Revolution Purchased. 

Relchertown,  100th  Anniversary Rev.  Payson  W.  Lyman. 

Poem,     Washington's     Farewell     at     Fraunces 

Tavern,  December  4th,  17S3 C.  W.  Whittlesey. 

Annual  Report,  1911 Chicago  Historical  Society. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  Register,  1912 Frederick  Dwight,  Secy. 

Societv  of  Colonial  Wars  in  California,  190G, 
1907.  1910,  1911;  Obituary  Notitices;  13th 
Annual  Dinner;   Memorial   Service,  1910. .  .Holdridge  O.  Collins. 

Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  District  of  Columbia 
Society, — William  Herman  Wilhelm,  Francis 
Asbury  Roe,  An  American  Sea  Captain  of 
Colonial  Times,  Historical  Military  Powder 
Horns,  Charles  Frederick  Tiffany  Beale, 
Braddock    Boulder    Dedication,    Dedication 

Service,  1910,  1911,  Colonel  Ninian  Beall. . .  .Caleb  C.  Magruder,  Jr.,  Historian. 

Publications  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  So- 
ciety, April,  1S93,  October,  1900,  January, 
1901.  Proceedings  of  the  Rhode  Island  His- 
torical Society,  1872-1892,  1910-1911 Amasa  M.  Eaton,  Secy. 

Proceedings,  6th  Triennial  Convention,  National 
Commandery,  Military  Order  of  Foreign 
Wars,  Military  Order  of  Foreign  Wars,  New 
York  Commandery David  Banks,  Secretary-General. 

Register  of  the  Commandery  of  the  State  of  New 

York  Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion. 

The  North  Carolina  Booklet,  July,  1912,  October, 

1912 North  Carolina   Society,  Daughter* 

of  the  Revolution. 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, — 

Annual  Reports,  1st,  3d,  4th,  5th,  6th,  7th, 

10th,  11th,  12th,  13th Hon.  J.  Van  Vechten  Olcott. 

Annual  Reports,  10th,  11th,  12th,  14th Dr.  Marcus  Benjamin. 

Lineage  Books,  Vols.  33  and  34 Miss  Amaryllis    Gillett,    Librarian- 
General. 

City  History  Club  Excursions Frank  Bergen  Kelley,  Ph.  D. 

Ohio   Society  of  New   York,   Proceedings,    1910, 

1912  C.  E.  Althouse,  Superintendent. 

New  England  Society  in  the  City  of  New  York, 
Year  Books,  1895,  1S97,  1903,  1904,  190S, 
1909,   1910,  1911 Harry  A.  Cushing,  Secy. 

National  Arts  Club  Year  Book,  1912 National  Arts  Club. 

Massapequa  Rod  &  Gun  Club Dr.  Sidney  Carney,  Jr. 

Oneida  Historical  Society  Year  Book,  No.  12.  .Oneida  Historical  Society. 

.Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  Annual  Dinner 
Books,  1906,  1908,  1909,  1912;  Charter,  Con- 
stitution, By-Laws,  etc.,  1909, William  J.  Clarke,  Secy. 

54 


TITLES  DONORS 

Nebraska    State    Historical    Society    Collections. 

Volume  16,  1911 Clarence  S.  Paine,  Secy. 

Saint  Nicholas  Society,  Charter,  Constitution 
and  By-Laws ;  Record  of  the  61st  Anniver- 
sary Dinner,  December  7,  1896 ;  Record  of 
the  Dinner  Given  in  Honor  of  the  Officers 
of  H.  N.  M.  Frigate  "Van  Speijk" Clarence  Storm,  Secy. 

Report,   ISth  Annual   Lake  Mohonk   Conference 

International  Arbitration  H.  C.  Phillips,  Secretary. 

Year  Book,  1912 University  Club. 

The  Washington  Year  Book Henry  Burr  Barnes. 

The  American  Numismatic  Society  Proceedings. 

1883-1S93,    1906-1912 Bauman  L.  Belden,  Director. 

Kansas  State  Historical  Society  Collections,  Vol. 

xn   George  W.  Martin,  Secretary. 

Historical    and    Philosophical    Society   of    Ohio, 

Vols.  VI,  VII Charles  T.  Greve,  Secretary. 

Carnegie  Library  of    Atlanta,  Ga.,    Report  and 

Bulletins Katherine  H.  Wootten,  Librarian. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Pennsylvania  Society, 
Constitution  and  By-Laws;  Proceedings 
1911-1912    George  C.  Gillespie,  Secretary. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Missouri  Society,  Pro- 
ceedings     Henry  Cadle,  Secretary. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  California  Society,  Reg- 
ister, 1912  Holdridge  O.  Collins,  President. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Massachusetts  Society, 
Annual  Meeting  and  Banquet,  1912 ;  Pros- 
pectus, 1911,  1912.  Address  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Frederick  W.  Hamilton Herbert  M.  Leland,  Secretary. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Iowa  Society,  Register, 

1912  Frank  Hayward  Kincaid,  Secretary. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Colorado   Society,  Roll 

of  Members,  1912 Harry  L.  Aldrich,  Secretary. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Buffalo  Chapter,  Year 

Book,  1912  George  W.  Comstock,  Secretary. 

Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Fort  Schuyler  Chapter, 

Year  Book,  1912 A.  Vedder  Brower,  Secretary. 

Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  National  So- 
ciety, Official  Bulletin LIugh  Hastings. 

Year  Books,  1911. 1912  ;  Addresses ;  Sermons ; 
Dedication  of  Monument  to  Mark  Site  of 
Fort  Washington;  Medal  List  of  Members 
in  the  War  with  Spain;  Official  Bulletins.  .Teunis  D.  Huntting.  Registrar. 

Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  Empire  State 

Society  Year  Book,  1912  ;  Notices. Tennis  D.  Huntting.  Registrar. 

Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  Rhode  Island 

Society.     Manual.   1900-1910 Christopher  Rhodes,  Secretary. 


55 


Miscellaneous  Donations 

Pictures,  Relics,  Etc. 

ARTICLES  DONORS 

Oil    Painting,    "The    Old    Mount    Vernon,"    by 

Eastman   Johnson.    X.   A Levi  Holbrook. 

Two  Punch  Bowls  used  at  Fraunces  Tavern  De- 
cember 4,  1883,  bequeathed  to  the  Society 
by    John  Austin  Stevens. 

Silk  Mats  for  the  Bowls Mrs.  and  Miss  Stevens. 

Bust  of  Washington,  by  Houdon The  French  Republic. 

Fragment  from  Cell  Floor  of  Ethan  Allen,  Pro- 
vost Prison,  City  Hall  Park,  N.  Y George  H.  Coutts. 

Brick   from  Old  Post  Office  on  Nassau   Street, 

New  York,  with  picture Benjamin  R.  Lummis. 

Pictures  of  Grave  Stone  Simeon  Chadbourne  and 

Governor's  Mansion,  Perth  Amboy,  N.  J George  H.  Coutts. 

Hessian  and  44th  Regiment  Buttons,  Dug  up  at 

Fort  George,  New  York,  1895 Warren  C.  Crane. 

Engrossed  Copy  of  Verses  on  the  "Cocked  Hat" 

(framed)    George  H.  Coutts. 

Photographs  of   Historic   Buildings   and   Grave 

Stones  Roswell  M.  Shurtleff. 

Proof  Reproductions  of  Historic  Paintings John  Ward  Dunsmore. 

Plaster  from  Cornwall  is'  Headquarters,  Closter 

Landing,  Bergen  County,  N.  J Lyndon  P.  Smith. 

Picture  of   Mary   Ball   Washington,   mother  of 

George  Washington   W.  Lanier  Washington. 

98  Engraved  Portraits  of  Washington Henry  Russell  Drowne. 

Wrought  Iron  Nails  from  Cornwallis'  Head- 
quarters, Closter  Landing.  N.  J S.  Quinn. 

Musket  Lock  and  Key  from  the  Ruins  of  Fort 

Ticonderoga.  N.  Y Mrs.  George  H.  Olney. 

Flowers,  Memorial  to  John  Austin  Stevens The  Misses  Stevens. 

Oil  Painting  of  Major-General  Philip  Schuyler, 

for  the  Long  Room  at  Fraunces  Tavern. .  .Justine  Van   Rensselaer   Townsend. 

Photograph  of  Veteran  Corps  of  Artillery  and 
Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  4th  of  July 
Parade American  Press  Association. 

Framed  Pictures  of  Fraunces  Tavern W.  B.  Urbrock. 

56 


ARTICLES  DONORS 

102  Notes  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America.  .Treasury  Department. 

Photographs  of  Old  Jumel  Mansion Charles  W.  Stoughton. 

Engravings :     Washington  at  Dorchester  Heights 

and  The  Fairbanks  House,  Dedham,  Mass.  .Herbert  M.  Leland. 

Dressing  Table  of  the  Revolutionary  Period  (in- 
laid), supposed  to  have  been  used  by  Wash- 
ington when  a  guest  at  the  Mixter  home- 
stead in  Massachusetts George  B.  Class. 

Fragment  of  Corner- Stone  of  Washington's  Flour 

Mill  at  Mt.  Vernon Warren  C.  Crane. 

Fragment  of  Balcony  of  Federal  Hall,  New  York. Warren  C.  Crane. 

Wood  of  Tree  under  which  General  Washington 
Stood  When  the  British  Troops  Evacuated 
New  York,  Nov.  25,  1783 Warren  C.  Crane. 

Wood  of  Pulpit  from  St.  John's  Church,  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  where  Patrick  Henry  made  his 
Famous  Speech  Warren  C.  Crane. 

"American  Immortals" — Historic  Pictures Benjamin  R.  Lummis. 

Fac-simile  of  Declaration  of  Independence Clarence  H.  Eagle. 


07 


Loaned  to  the  Society 

By  Henry  Russell  Drowne 

Roger  Williams  Watch,  Rotterdam,  Holland,  1660-1680. 

History  of  Paul  Jones,  New  York,  1809. 

History  of  Revolution  in  North  America,  Berlin,  1784. 

By  Miss  Mary  Hall  Sayre 

Two  Engravings : 

Capture  of  Major  Andre,  Tarrytown,  N.  T. 

Destruction  of  Statue  of  George  III.    Bowling  Green,  New  Tork  City. 

By  Major  O.  N.  Hill, 
Quartermaster  General's  Department,  Trenton,  N.  J. 

Revolutionary  Spontoon. 

By  Mrs.  Thomas  Hamblin  Morrison 

Colonial  Ware  as  follows : 

Salt  Cellar. 
Cup  and  Saucer. 
Sugar  Bowl. 
Decanters. 

By  John  Ward  Dunsmore^ 

Revolutionary  Canteen. 
Revolutionary  Cannon  Ball. 


58 


Bust  of  Washington 

By  Houdon. 

Jean  Antoine  Houdon,  the  eminent  French  sculptor,  was  born 
at  Versailles  March  20,  1741,  studied  at  Rome,  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  July  15,  1828,  was  a  member  of  the  Institute  and  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor. 

The  Legislature  of  Virginia,  by  a  resolution  adopted  in  1784, 
directed  that  a  statue  of  Washington  should  be  placed  in  the  Cap- 
itol of  that  state.  In  compliance  with  this  law  and  at  the  request 
of  Governor  Harrison  of  Virginia,  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Thomas 
Jefferson,  who  were  then  in  Europe,  engaged  Houdon  for  the  sum 
of  £1000  to  come  to  this  country  to  take  from  life  an  exact  resem- 
blance of  Washington's  person.  Following  this  engagement 
Houdon  accompanied  Benjamin  Franklin  to  Philadelphia,  arriving 
at  Mount  Vernon,  Va.,  on  the  3rd  of  October,  1785,  where  he  re- 
mained a  fortnight  as  the  guest  of  Washington,  studying  his  host's 
pose,  action  and  physiognomy.  While  there  he  made  a  mould  of 
Washington's  face,  head  and  the  upper  part  of  the  body  and  took 
accurate  measurements  of  his  entire  frame.  From  these,  on  his 
return  to  Paris,  he  completed  the  life  size  statue  within  the  con- 
tract time  of  three  years,  which  now  stands  in  the  hall  of  the  Capi- 
tol of  Virginia  at  Richmond. 

Houdon  exhibited  a  marble  bust  of  Washington  in  the  salon 
of  1786,  which  was  at  Versailles. 

The  life-size  figure  has  been  pronounced  by  many  of  the  per- 
sonal friends  of  Washington  as  the  best  representation  of  him 
ever  made,  and  by  Lafayette  "a  facsimile  of  Washington's  per- 
son, ' '  while  the  bust,  simple  yet  dignified,  grand,  but  full  of  human- 
ity, is  the  acknowledged  likeness  and  stamped  by  Gilbert  Stuart  as 
the  ideal  of  the  great  original. 

The  following  extracts  from  letters  of  Washington  are  inter- 
esting in  connection  with  this  subject.  To  Benjamin  Franklin,  on 
the  26th  of  September,  1785,  he  says:  "When  it  suits  M.  Houdon 
to  come  hither  I  will  accommodate  him  in  the  best  manner  I  am 

59 


able  and  shall  endeavor  to  render  his  stay  as  agreeable  as  I  can." 
On  the  same  day  he  writes  to  M.  Houdon :  ' '  By  a  letter  which  I 
have  lately  had  the  honor  to  receive  from  Dr.  Franklin  at  Phila- 
delphia, I  am  informed  of  your  arrival  at  that  place.  Many  let- 
ters from  very  respectable  characters  in  France,  as  well  as  the 
doctor's,  inform  me  of  the  occasion,  for  which,  though  the  cause  is 
not  of  my  seeking,  I  feel  the  most  agreeable  and  grateful  sensa- 
tions. I  wish  the  object  of  your  mission  had  been  more  worthy 
of  the  masterly  genius  of  the  first  statuary  in  Europe,  for  thus  you 
are  represented  to  me."  To  Thomas  Jefferson  (then  in  Paris), 
on  the  same  day  he  writes :  "I  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  favors 
of  the  10th  and  17th  of  July,  which  were  committed  to  the  care 
of  M.  Houdon,  but  I  have  not  yet  had  the  pleasure  to  see  that 
gentleman.  His  instruments  and  materials,  Dr.  Franklin  informs 
me,  were  sent  down  the  Seine,  but,  not  being  arrived  when  the  ship 
left  Havre,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  them,  and  is  now  busied  in 
supplying  himself  with  others  at  Philadelphia,  with  which,  when 
done,  he  will  come  to  this  place  (Mount  Vernon).  I  shall  take 
great  pleasure  in  showing  M.  Houdon  every  civility  and  atten- 
tion in  my  power  during  his  stay  in  this  country ;  for  I  feel  myself 
under  personal  obligations  to  you  and  Dr.  Franklin  (as  the  State 
of  Virginia  has  done  me  the  honor  to  direct  a  statue  to  be  erected 
to  my  memory)  for  having  placed  the  execution  in  the  hands  of 
so  eminent  an  artist  and  so  worthy  a  character."  To  Lafayette, 
November  8, 1785,  he  writes :  "I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  favors 
of  the  9th  and  the  14th  of  July ;  the  first  by  M.  Houdon,  who  stayed 
no  more  than  a  fortnight  with  me,  and  to  whom,  for  his  trouble 
and  risk  in  crossing  the  seas  (although  I  had  no  agency  in  the 
business),  I  feel  myself  under  personal  obligations." 

James  B.  Longacre,  engraver  and  designer  of  the  TJ.  S.  Mint, 
said,  many  years  ago:  "Respecting  the  authenticated  portraits 
of  "Washington  in  sculpture,  as  a  faithful  transmission  of  the  fea- 
tures of  Washington  nothing  can  in  my  view  be  permitted  to  take 
precedence  of  the  head  by  Houdon,  to  which  on  the  score  of  fidel- 
ity, I  must  give  a  decided  preference  over  any  other  extant ; ' '  and 
for  which  statement  he  said  he  had  the  authorization  in  1825  of 
Gilbert  Stuart,  so  justly  renowned  as  an  artist  in  portraiture,  when 
on  visiting  him  in  his  Boston  studio  he  had  agreed  that  Houdon 's 
bust  was  the  head  par  excellence  that  he  had  always  preferred  as 
his  ideal  of  the  great  original.     Longacre  adds:  "This  emphatic 

60 


statement  from  an  artist  so  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  features 
of  Washington  leaves  no  room  to  question  the  fact  of  the  fidelity 
of  the  bust  by  Houdon  and  establishes  the  propriety  of  regarding 
it  as  the  standard  from  which  subsequent  representations  of  the 
original  in  statuary  or  bas-relief  should  be  taken." 

In  this  bust  truth  has  not  been  sacrificed  to  imagination;  they 
have  been  blended  and  commingled  but  not  lost  to  each  other.  In 
other  words,  this  portrait  is  both  real  and  ideal,  the  perfection  of 
true  art. 

This  gift  has  been  appropriately  placed  on  a  pedestal  in  the 
"Long  Room"  at  Fraunces  Tavern,  and  is  inscribed  as  follows: 
"Presented  by  The  French  Republic  MCMXII." 

Houdon  is  also  celebrated  for  his  busts  of  Voltaire,  Napoleon 
I,  Empress  Josephine,  John  Paul  Jones,  our  great  naval  hero,  and 
others. 

A  copy  of  the  John  Paul  Jones  bust,  a  recent  gift  to  the  Sons  of 
the  Revolution  by  its  President,  Edmund  AVetmore,  is  on  exhibi- 
tion in  the  Museum  at  Fraunces  Tavern. 


01 


Tablets  Erected  by  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
in  the  State  of  New  York 

Marinus  Willett  Tablet,  on  the  Morris  Building,  corner  of  Broad 
and  Beaver  Streets,  New  York,  commemorating  his  seizure  of  arms 
the  British  troops  were  trying  to  remove  on  June  6,  1775. 

Tablet  marking  the  landing  place  of  George  Washington,  July 
23, 1775,  at  foot  of  Laight  Street,  North  Eiver,  New  York. 

City  Hall  Tablet,  New  York,  commemorating  the  reading  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  to  the  Revolutionary  Armv  on  July 
9, 1776. 

Kennedy  House,  No.  1  Broadway,  New  York,  where  Lee,  Wash- 
ington, and  afterwards  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  Robertson,  Carleton 
and  other  British  officers  were  quartered,  and  commemorating 
destruction  of  Statute  of  George  III  on  Bowling  Green. 

Battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  September  16, 1776,  placed  on  Colum- 
bia University,  Broadway  and  116th  Street,  New  York. 

Battle  of  Long  Island,  August  27,  1776,  Flatbush  Avenue  and 
Fulton  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Fraunces  Tavern,  commemorative  of  the  building,  events  that 
took  place  there  and  beneficence  of  Frederick  Samuel  Tallmadge. 
The  John  Austin  Stevens  Tablet,  Founders  and  Building  Commit- 
tee Tablets. 

Fort  Independence,  Redoubt  No.  8,  1776,  placed  on  walls  of 
New  York  University,  Morris  Heights,  New  York. 

Cold  Spring,  New  York,  Commemorative  of  Washington's  fre- 
quent visits  there  during  American  Encampment. 

Fort  Ticonderoga,  New  York,  Commemorative  of  the  capture  of 
the  Fortress  by  Colonel  Ethan  Allen  on  May  10, 1775. 

63 


Action  at  Tarrytown,  July  15,  1781,  commemorating  "Gallant 
behavior  and  splendid  exertions"  on  that  occasion.  Erected  in  co- 
operation with  citizens  of  that  vicinity. 

Tablet  marking  the  spot  where  Washington,  Putnam  and  other 
officers  met  to  stem  the  tide  of  panic  September  15,  1776,  Broad- 
way between  43rd  and  44th  Streets,  New  York. 

Pomeroy  Memorial,  Monument  to  the  memory  of  General  Seth 
Pomeroy  on  the  grounds  of  Hillside  Cemetery,  Peekskill,  N.  Y. 

St.  Paul's  Chapel,  Broadway  and  Fulton  Street,  New  York  City, 
Centennial  Anniversary  of  Death  of  Washington,  December  14, 
1799.  Erected  in  co-operation  with  the  General  Society  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati. 

Line  of  Defence,  September,  1776,  Broadway  and  153rd  Street, 
on  walls  of  Trinity  Cemetery,  New  York. 

American  Encampments,  1776,  placed  in  building  of  the  College 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  Amsterdam  Avenue  and  138th  Street. 

General  Nathaniel  Woodhull  Tablet,  placed  on  schoolhouse  at 
Hollis,  near  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  New  York,  commemorating  the 
cruel  attack  on  him  by  a  British  officer  August  28,  1776. 

Erected  by  Chapters 

Colonel  Marinus  Willet  Boulder  and  Tablet  in  Washington 
Park,  Albany,  N.  Y ,  erected  by  the  Philip  Livingston  Chapter  of 
that  Citv. 

Tablet  marking  the  place  where  the  "King's  Eighth",  a  British 
regiment  was  stationed  in  1782,  at  the  outlet  of  Chautauqua  Lake, 
Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  when  preparing  to  attack  Fort  Pitt.  Erected  by 
the  Jamestown  Chapter. 

and 

Statute  of  Nathan  Hale  by  MacMonnies  in  City  Hall  Park,  New 
York  City. 

Nathan  Hale  School  House,  East  Haddam,  Connecticut,  restored 
and  presented  to  the  Connecticut  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. 

64 


Sermon   by  the  Very  Rev.   Dean  Grosvenor, 

Of  the  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine,  New  York  City. 


Sunday,  February  ISth,  1912 


The  Twenty-second  Annual  Service 

of  the 

Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State  of  New  York, 

in  commemoration  of  the 

One  Hundred  and  Eightieth  Anniversary 

of  the   birth  of 

George  Washington. 

''Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's,  and  unto 
God  the  things  which  are  God's." 

I  most  cordially  welcome  to  this  service  to-day  this  most  dis- 
tinguished Society,  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  It  is  a  happy  coin- 
cidence that  on  Friday  of  this  past  week,  the  Colonial  Chapter  of 
the  Daughters  of  the  Revolution  presented  to  the  Cathedral  the  flag 
which  now  envelops  this  pulpit  in  its  ample  folds,  and  with  its  beau- 
tiful colors. 

The  most  serious  reason  for  the  existence  of  such  organizations 
as  this,  is  that  we  may  maintain  the  great  fundamental  principles 
of  our  American  Republic,  the  principles  for  which  George  Wash- 
ington and  his  compatriots  gave  their  lives,  the  great  truths  which 
have  made  possible  the  freedom  and  the  democracy  of  the  nation. 
You  will  let  me  remind  you  this  afternoon  of  one  of  those  great 
principles ;  I  mean  the  great  American  experiment  of  the  absolute 
separation  of  church  and  state.  That  principle  is  being  questioned 
from  two  opposite  directions  to-day.  Some  of  us  are  saying  we 
cannot  separate  the  religious  and  the  secular ;  they  both  belong  to 
human  society.  It  is  fatal  to  divide  life  into  compartments.  Re- 
ligion must  assert  its  sway  in  art,  in  science,  in  social  life,  in  trade, 
in  commerce,  in  legislation,  in  politics,  in  social  service,  and  the 
economic  life  of  the  people  and  in  international  relations.  We  say 
that  just  so  long  as  religion  confines  itself  to  personal  conversion,  it 

65 


loses  much  of  its  power.  Its  life  is  saved  by  human  service.  In 
order  to  be  social,  it  must  touch  the  total  life  of  man.  And  then 
we  are  told  that  this  religious  service,  in  order  to  be  efficient,  must 
be  organized;  that  the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  the  human 
organism  that  is  alone  coherent  and  powerful  enough  to  wield 
through  the  centuries  this  religious  influence.  Then,  some  of  our 
brethren  say  the  only  true  church  is  the  Church  of  Eome,  and 
others  say  that  the  true  church  consists  only  of  churches  with  an 
Apostolic  Ministry,  and  others  say  that  only  such  as  are  Ortho- 
dox in  their  creeds  are  true ;  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  however  we 
may  define  it,  is  the  one  great  organism  that  to-day,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  represents  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth,  and  that  must 
rule  all  things  by  restoring  all  things  in  Christ.  Now,  both  these 
ideals  are  very  attractive.  We  sympathize  deeply  with  both  of 
them,  but  at  the  same  time  we  have  a  profound  sympathy  with  cer- 
tain great  movements  of  modern  democracy,  which,  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  seem  to  be  indifferent  to  these  ideals. 

Men  and  brethren,  one  thing  we  can  never  escape  is  the  experi- 
ences of  human  history.  The  early  church  saw  the  great  vision, 
that  Christ  should  be  the  Master  of  life.  Then,  as  time  went  on, 
the  church  came  to  the  rescue  of  human  society  in  the  period  of  the 
break-up  of  the  Roman  Empire.  If  the  church  represents  Christ, 
then  the  church  certainly  at  one  time  ruled  all  tilings  in  Christ. 
Every  department  of  human  life  was  in  its  control ;  each  life  in  its 
most  personal  concern,  from  birth  to  death,  and  then  throughout 
eternity,  was  plastic  in  the  hands  of  the  church.  Kings  went  to 
Canossa;  parliaments  were  ruled  by  legates;  courts  of  law  were 
ecclesiastical.  The  Reformation  was  the  beginning  of  the  separa- 
tion of  the  religious  and  the  secular,  but  even  the  Reformers  could 
not  get  away  from  tradition. 

Our  Puritan  ancestors  certainly  tried  to  set  up  a  theocracy,  a 
state  church,  governed  by  God  alone.  A  town  meeting  was  prac- 
tically the  meeting  of  the  religious  society.  To  this  day,  church 
and  state  are  united  in  many  countries.  But  do  we  not  feel  some- 
thing of  sympathy  toward  the  long,  dreary  battle  that  the  nations 
of  Europe  have  been  waging  in  trying  to  accomplish  this  separa- 
tion? We  do  not  blame  the  sincere  believer  in  the  vision  of  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church  ruling  all  the  world.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
can  we  not  see  how  necessary  it  has  been  for  the  secular  to  assert 
its  freedom?    The  truth  is,  that  religious  people,  or  the  ecclesias- 

66 


tical  machine,  never  did  govern  well.  The  rule  of  the  church  in  civic 
affairs  has  always  been  a  failure,  for  designing,  ambitious  poli- 
ticians used  the  church  for  worldly  purposes. 

Education  in  the  hands  of  the  church  has  very  largely  failed. 
To  the  church  belongs  the  credit,  from  earliest  time,  of  teaching 
children,  but  modern  life  and  its  needs  have  outgrown  the  church, 
and  the  state  has  been  compelled  to  take  over  into  its  large  power  the 
education  of  the  people. 

Our  American  fathers  started  on  the  right  path.  They  were 
big  enough  to  cut  loose  from  ancient  tyrannies  and  set  our  feet  in 
a  large  room.  We  of  the  twentieth  century  are  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  significant  democratic  movement  that  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Of  course,  there  will  be  extravagances,  and  there  will  be 
extremes.  Of  course  there  will  be  the  overthrowal  of  creeds  and 
doctrines  and  churches.  Religion  may  become  more  and  more  ob- 
scure, but  we  cannot  stop  the  process.  And  the  most  foolish  thing 
in  the  world  will  be  for  anyone  to  try  to  stop  the  process  by  think- 
ing that  they  can  possibly  go  back  to  any  form  of  ecclesiastical  con- 
trol. 

To  me,  there  is  a  great  deal  that  is  very  cowardly  about  much 
of  our  religion,  because  we  are  tired  of  thinking  for  ourselves,  be- 
cause we  are  morally  indolent.  We  fling  ourselves  into  our  religion, 
believing  anything  and  everything,  provided  we  are  guaranteed 
a  personal  salvation.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  in  all  de- 
partments of  life  to-day,  you  business  men,  we  clergy,  all  of  us, 
are  afraid  of  freedom.  We  dare  not  trust  the  future.  We  who  be- 
lieve in  Almighty  God,  can  afford  to  trust  the  future.  We  who  are 
waiting  for  new  revelations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  pure  hearts  and 
open  minds,  can  trust  it. 

Archbishop  McGee  startled  England  by  saying,  "I  had  rather 
see  England  free  than  sober."  Well,  we  had  rather  see  the  nation 
free  than  religious,  and  you  cry  out,  "How  dare  you  say  that?" 
Because  my  Master  said  it ;  he  said  it  to  the  Pharisees.  Because  St. 
Paul  said  it ;  he  said  it  to  the  Athenians :  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth, 
and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free";  "Ye  can  do  nothing  against 
the  truth,  but  for  truth" ;  and  it  is  possible  for  religion  to  be  utterly 
degraded  and  demoralized ;  it  is  possible  for  religion  to  keep  nations 
in  ignorance  and  superstition.  The  church  has  had  many  a  chance 
to  rule  the  civil  power.  How  did  she  use  it?  What  means  this 
long,  bitter  struggle  to  rescue  the  secular  from  the  control  of  the 

67 


religious?  Why  did  the  Church  fail?  Because  she  was  too  timid 
to  boldly  face  Christ's  eternal  truth.  She  was  not  free  enough 
to  teach  the  children  all  the  facts  of  life.  She  has  stood  paralyzed 
before  the  overwhelming  mass  of  modern  science  and  modern 
knowledge,  and  I  ask  you,  what  means  the  life  and  the  death  of 
Jesus,  if  it  be  not  a  judgment  against  all  false  and  debasing  relig- 
ion; a  driving  out  of  the  false  that  He  might  establish  in  Himself 
the  Kingdom  of  Truth? 

But  now  you  say  to  me, ' '  What  are  we  Christians  to  do  ? "  Are 
we  to  talk  in  generous  platitudes,  while  the  forces  of  unbelief  are 
driving  Jesus  Christ  out  of  the  lives  of  the  people  ?  Let  me  repeat 
my  words.  Never  mind  what  comes,  cling  to  freedom,  cling  to  tol- 
erance, be  tolerant  even  with  the  intolerant,  for  I  tell  you,  men  and 
brethren,  that  there  is  nothing  that  will  ever  drive  us  back  to  the 
slavery  of  old.  We  must  allow  our  culture  and  our  wider  knowl- 
edge to  grow,  not  into  indifference,  but  into  zeal.  Why  is  it  that  we 
always  think  of  zeal  in  connection  with  narrow-minded  men?  The 
zeal  of  God's  House  consumed  Jesus  our  Lord,  and  He  came  with 
the  vision  and  the  truth  for  all  life,  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
Let  us  be  enthusiastically  zealous  to  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  where- 
with Christ  has  made  us  free.  If  we  become  zealous  for  large 
things,  for  the  truths  that  are  worth  living  for,  for  the  truths  that 
all  the  people  need,  for  the  truths  that  are  worth  dying  for,  then 
we  will  cease  quarreling  over  petty  and  foolish,  and  miserable  little 
things.  We  who  are  true  Americans  and  followers  of  Jesus  Christ, 
we,  all  of  us,  of  whatever  name  we  call  ourselves,  to  whatever 
church  we  belong,  we  must  all  get  together.  We  must  be  loyal  first 
to  our  own  church,  but  we  must  insist  that  the  church  which  we  love 
be  kept  absolutely  true  to  the  simple  gospel  of  the  love  of  the 
Heavenly  Father,  and  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  must 
be  chiefly  concerned,  not  about  its  government,  or  about  its  ritual, 
but  about  the  purity  and  the  sincerity  and  the  moral  character  of 
the  people  that  it  produces.  We  must  make  the  church  we  love 
free  and  tolerant  and  brave,  and  merciful,  and  strong,  for  the 
church  of  the  future  will  be  the  Church  of  the  living  Christ,  who 
seeks  all  men,  and  loves  all  men,  and  opens  for  the  whole  world  the 
Gate  of  Everlasting  Life.  That  simple,  sincere,  manly,  straight 
gospel  we  must  teach  to  our  children.  We  need,  oh,  how  sadly,  more 
home  religion.  Tell  them  of  the  love  of  Jesus ;  teach  them  the  beau- 
tiful stories  of  the  Bible  that  reveal  to  them  His  love.    Teach  them 

68 


how  to  pray ;  make  them  know  the  lif e  of  Jesus ;  show  them  how 
beautiful  is  righteousness;  strengthen  their  wills  by  manly  self- 
discipline  ;  make  all  the  people  become  so  conscious  of  the  presence 
of  Jesus  Christ  within  themselves,  that  we  all  will  be  able  to  walk 
alone  with  Him,  self-reliant,  free.    With  only  Him  as  Master. 

Christ  gave  wondrous  spiritual  powers  to  his  disciples.  As  the 
years  went  on,  they  misused  that  spiritual  power,  and  turned  His 
church  into  an  earthly  empire,  but  by  His  Holy  Spirit,  he  stood  once 
more  in  the  Temple  of  His  Church,  and  with  the  whip-cord  of  a 
divine  indignation,  He  drove  out  those  who  were  unclean.  It  was 
the  unity  and  the  uniformity  of  spiritual  death,  and  Jesus  broke  it 
up.  He  scattered  the  disciples  far  and  near.  He  broke  them  into 
separate  sects  and  parties.  He  compelled  each  man  of  them  to 
stand  before  God,  the  Almighty  Judge  of  the  earth.  He  made  each 
man  of  them  think  for  himself,  to  stand  like  men  upon  their  own  feet 
and  when  they  were  driven  out  of  the  temple  they  walked  up 
and  down  the  lanes  of  the  countryside,  and  in  the  streets  of  the 
city,  and  there,  when  they  ministered  to  Christ's  little  ones,  and  to 
men  of  humble  and  contrite  hearts,  they  found  Jesus  walking  by 
their  sides.  And  I  tell  you,  that  all  these  scattered  disciples  of  the 
Lord  never  will  become  one  again  until  they  feel  and  know  that 
within  that  Kingdom  of  the  Lord,  there  will  be  simplicity  and 
sincerity,  and  service  and  freedom,  even  the  freedom  of  truth 
and  life. 

To-day  Christ  stands  and  says  to  us,  "Henceforth  I  call  you 
not  servants,  for  the  servant  knoweth  not  what  his  Lord  doeth.  I 
ask  no  longer  your  blind  obedience,  your  ignorance,  but  I  call  you 
my  friends  for  all  things  that  I  have,  all  things  that  I  had,  I  had 
of  my  Father,  and  I  have  given  them  unto  you. ' ' 


69 


Addresses 

at  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the 

Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the  State 
of  New  York 

Delmonico's 
THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY  22,  1912 

in  commemoration  of  the 

One  Hundred  and    Eightieth  Anniversary 

of  the  birth  of 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON 


George    Washington 

Address  by  the 
Rev.  Harry  Emerson  Fosdick 

Mr.  President  and  Toastmaster,  Gentlemen  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Eevolution : 

I  am  mighty  glad  that  it  is  my  time  first,  so  that  I  can  relieve 
this  stuffed  bosom  of  that  which  weighs  upon  my  heart. 

A  deacon  went  to  sleep  in  prayer  meeting  a  few  weeks  ago,  and 
when  the  minister  noticed  his  somnolent  condition  he  said,  "Brother 
So-and-So,  will  you  please  lead  in  prayer?"  And  he  blinked  him- 
self wide  enough  awake  to  say,  "It  is  not  my  lead;  I  dealt."  I 
am  glad  that  the  toastmaster  has  dealt  to-night,  and  it  is  my  lead. 

First  off,  I  want  to  express,  alike,  my  amazement  and  my  joy 
to  find  there  are  as  many  Americans  as  this  in  New  York  City. 
When  my  friends  from  Europe  come  over  here,  and  cast  animad- 
versions against  New  York  City,  and  therefore  against  American 
life,  I  assure  them  that  New  York  City  isn't  American.  New 
York  City  is  almost  everything  else  except  American.  A  man 
from  the  suburbs  was  walking  down  the  Bowery  a  few  weeks  ago, 
and  he  passed  a  store  in  front  of  which  a  gentleman  sat,  who  said 
to  him,  "Come  on  in  and  buy  somethings." 

He  said,  "I  can't  buy  anything  here ;  I  am  looking  for  a  depart- 
ment store." 

' '  Oh,  well, ' '  he  said, ' '  what  you  call  a  department  store  ?  Come 
on  in  and  see.  "We  have  collars  from  Colarado,  neckties  from  Con- 
necticut, vests  from  Vest  Virginia,  coats  from  South  Dakota, 
underwear  from  Delaware,  pants  from  Pantsylvania,  and  shoes 
from  Shoerusalem. " 

Well,  it  is  such  a  geographical  salmagundy,  such  an  interna- 
tional pot  pourri,  that  we  have  here  in  New  York  City,  that  I  am 
delighted  to  find  this  really  notable  gathering  of  Americans  in  the 
heart  of  this  metropolis. 

73 


Now,  when  I  came  here  to-night,  I  did  not  really  know  that  I 
was  going  to  respond  to  a  formal  toast  to  George  Washington, 
and  I  take  the  liberty,  therefore,  to  understand  my  text  as  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  understood  his  text.  He  said  it  was  a  small  gate 
into  a  large  field,  where  a  man  could  wander  around  anywhere 
he  wanted  to. 

I  suppose  our  ancestral  societies  get  laughed  at  on  account  of 
their  patting  themselves  upon  the  back  because  they  were  born 
of  their  forebears. 

A  little  village  in  Arabia  has  this  story  told  of  it,  that  once 
there  came  to  town  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Prophet  Allah,  and 
the  leaders  of  the  village  community  held  a  pious  seance,  and 
went  forth  and  religiously  put  this  lineal  descendant  of  the  Prophet 
to  death ;  not  because  they  had  anything  against  the  lineal  descend- 
ant of  the  Prophet,  but  because  they  thought  that  in  the  long  run  it 
would  be  best  for  the  greatest  number  that  they  should  have  a 
sacred  tomb  in  that  village  where  they  might  worship. 

Such  stories  as  that  are  always  kept  conveniently  in  the  vest 
pockets  of  those  of  our  friends  who,  owing  to  circumstances  over 
which  they  have  no  control,  are  unable  to  join  our  Society.  Dante, 
for  example,  said  that  when  he  took  his  famous  trip  to  Hell,  he 
found  a  man  down  there  who  had  been  one  of  the  old  aristocrats  of 
Florence,  lying  in  a  coffin  of  flame,  wrapped  in  a  blazing  winding 
sheet,  and  as  Dante  came  up,  this  aristocrat,  whose  ruling  passion 
was  strong,  not  only  in  death,  but  in  Hell,  lifted  up  his  blazing 
crest,  and  before  he  would  condescend  to  indulge  in  conversation, 
he  said,  ''And  who,  pray,  are  your  ancestors?"  Dante,  in  making 
fun  of  that,  I  fear,  would  have  ruled  himself  out  from  the  possi- 
bility of  answering  a  toast  at  such  a  banquet  as  this. 

And  yet,  Dante  or  no  Dante,  I  take  a  pile  of  pride  in  my  an- 
cestors. I  wonder  if  you  dare,  now,  really,  to  tell  to-night  just  the 
story  of  your  ancestors?    I  will  tell  you  mine. 

My  great,  great,  great,  great,  great  grandfather  was  expelled 
from  the  Puritan  Colony  in  Massachusetts,  not  at  all  because  he 
was  a  bad  man,  but  because  he  was  discovered  reading  Baptist 
books.  My  great  grandfathers,  in  their  succession,  took  part  in 
the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  Wars,  and  my  other  great  grand- 
fathers, after  the  first,  were  blacksmiths,  and  out  of  their  smithies 
came  many  a  sword  and  musket  that  went  through  the  wars  that  we 
celebrate  to-night.     My  grandfather  was  a  cobbler,   and  as  he 

74 


tacked  shoes  at  his  bench,  he  had  a  Latin  grammar  put  before  him, 
and  he  conjugated  the  verbs  and  declined  the  nouns  as  he  put  his 
tacks  into  the  shoes,  and  before  he  died,  he  was  Superintendent  of 
Education  of  the  City  of  Buffalo.  And  so  I  stand  to-night,  the 
possessor  of  a  typical  American  genealogy,  one  of  the  first  genera- 
tions of  Fosdicks  in  the  history  of  the  world  that  ever  put  on  an 
evening  suit.  And  all  Europe  hasn't  a  king  on  a  throne  that  is 
prouder  of  his  genealogy  than  I  am  to-night. 

Now,  there  is  a  certain  false  exclusiveness  that  may  creep  into 
an  organization  such  as  this.  None  of  us  would,  for  a  moment,  sup- 
pose that  because  a  man  was  born  of  his  forebears,  who  went  back 
to  Revolutionary  times,  of  necessity,  he  is  a  good  American. 
Rather,  we  would  willingly  admit  that  many  of  the  men  who  have 
been  over  here  but  a  single  generation,  have  drunk  deeply  of  the 
springs  of  inspiration  of  our  American  life. 

A  friend  of  mine,  a  little  while  ago,  went  to  Harvard  at  gradua- 
tion time.  He  was  giving  them  a  lecture  on  immigration.  He  was 
talking  especially  about  the  Ruffinians.  Those  of  you  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  Ruffinians  in  their  native  haunts,  are  aware  of 
the  fact  that  they  are  among  the  most  backward  and  laggard 
people  who  come  to  our  shores.  Such  remarks  as  this  my  friend 
made  concerning  the  Ruffinians.  When  he  was  through,  a  young 
fellow,  excellently  dressed,  one  of  the  honor  men  of  his  class  in 
Harvard,  came  up  and  said,  "Well,  sir,  I  am  a  Ruffinian." 

"Well,"  he  said,  "my  friend,  do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  have 
really  graduated  from  Harvard,  an  honor  man  in  your  class,  and 
you  are  a  Ruffinian?" 

He  said,  "That  is  so,  sir." 

"Well,"  he  said,  "the  nation  ought  to  thank  you  for  that." 

"Oh,"  said  the  boy,  "don't  you  thank  me.  You  go  and  thank 
my  father.  He  is  digging  coal  in  the  Scranton  mines  to  put  me 
through  college. ' ' 

Many  a  man  comes  over  here  and,  in  the  first  generation, 
gets  settled  into  the  spirit  of  our  American  life.  Yet  it 
is  easy  to  see  why  those  who,  generation  after  generation,  have  had 
born  and  bred  in  them  the  traditional  ideals  of  our  American  dem- 
ocracy, may  well  organize  themselves  into  exclusive  societies  to 
perpetuate  those  ideals,  and  be  what  our  President  has  called  a 
working  minority  in  the  heart  of  the  republic,  for  the  continuation 
of  the  old  principles  that  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  American 

75 


democracy.  AVe  cannot  live  upon  the  patriotism  of  our  ancestors. 
What  if  George  Washington  did  serve  without  pay  through  the  long 
arduous  years  of  the  Eevolutionary  War;  what  if  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin did  impoverish  himself  in  Paris  endeavoring  to  gain  the  sup- 
port of  the  French  nation — and  we  thank  you  sir,  to-night,  as  the 
representative  of  that  nation,  for  what  France  did  for  us  in  those 
trying  days ;  what  if  Governor  Nelson  of  Virginia,  at  the  Siege  of 
Yorktown,  did  stand  opposite  an  American  gunner  and  say,  "Do 
you  see  that  fine  house  in  the  center  of  the  town !  Well,  that  is  my 
house.  It  is  the  best  house  in  Yorktown,  and  it  is  sure  to  be  British 
headquarters.  Blow  it  off  the  face  of  the  earth  as  soon  as  you  can." 
What  if  General  Grant  was  approached  once  by  one  of  his  staff 
officers,  who  said  to  him,  "You  have  made  no  provision  for  feeding 
the  army  in  case  of  a  retreat, ' '  and  what  if  Grant  did  turn  to  him 
and  say,  ' '  Sir,  when  this  army  retreats,  it  will  not  need  any  provi- 
sions " ;  we  cannot,  in  our  day,  go  on  living  merely  upon  the  impetus 
of  the  old  inspiration.  I  am  sure  we  feel  to-night  the  possible 
danger,  in  our  modern  American  republic,  that  we  may  become 
like  the  Rhine,  which  comes  bubbling  over  Splugen  Pass  in  Switzer- 
land, a  lively  stream,  and  then  flows  down  through  lower  lands, 
more  sluggish  and  yet  more  sluggish,  until  finally,  it  has  to  be 
pumped  into  the  sea  at  Rotterdam.  It  is  to  prevent  that  sort  of 
thing,  that  organizations  like  this  must  exist. 

Now,  in  the  enterprise  of  keeping  alive  the  spirit  of  a  high  and 
true  patriotism  in  the  hearts  of  our  people,  we  are  singularly 
fortunate  in  the  nature  of  the  men  toward  whom,  by  the  force  of 
circumstances,  we  turn  in  admiration  and  devout  esteem,  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  George  Washington.  "Show  me  the  man  whom  you 
admire"  said  Emerson,  "and  I  will  show  you  the  type  of  man 
you  inexpressibly  desire  to  be."  And  from  the  beginning  of  our 
national  life,  this  has  been  one  of  the  great  steadying  points  in  the 
center  of  our  democracy,  that  the  two  men  who  came  to  the  front  in 
the  hours  of  crisis  were  not  simply  great  men  in  strategy,  not 
simply  great  men  in  statesmanship,  but  that  in  all  that  goes  to 
make  elemental  manhood,  they  were  great  in  character. 

Said  the  physician  of  Abraham  Lincoln  in  Washington  after  his 
death,  "I  never  knew  a  purer  hearted  man  in  all  my  life."  Said 
one  of  his  Cabinet  members  after  he  had  gone,  "I  never  heard  him 
say  a  thing  that  was  not  really  so."  And  I  was  made  proud  re- 
cently when  I  discovered  that  it  was  an  Englishman,  Frederick 

76 


Harrison,  who,  comparing  George  Washington  with  Oliver  Crom- 
well and  William  the  Silent,  and  other  great  leaders  and  states- 
men of  our  comparatively  modern  times,  said  this:  "In  point  of 
sheer  character,  George  Washington  stands  first — almost  first,  if 
not  quite — among  all  the  modern  statesmen  of  the  world. ' '  No  one 
can  begin  to  estimate  what  it  has  meant  to  the  weaving  of  the  pa- 
triotic spirit  into  the  lives  of  the  young  manhood  of  our  people, 
that  the  two  men  whom  we  most  admired  have  been  like  Lincoln, 
sheared  of  all  the  foliage  and  finery  of  life,  that  the  more  he  may 
show  what  a  great,  stalwart,  rock  of  a  man  he  was,  in  all  the  ele- 
ments of  character.  Indeed,  I  think  that  we  oftentimes  make  a 
great  mistake  and  miss  the  truth  of  the  matter  in  too  violent  con- 
trasts between  Washington  and  Lincoln.  They  were  far  more  alike 
than  we  oftentimes  think.  We  are  well  acquainted  with  the  fact, 
for  example,  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  very  roughly  brought  up. 
We  know  well  that  he  used  to  work  for  thirty-one  cents  a  day, 
and  that  the  first  day  he  got  one  dollar  for  his  day's  work, 
he  said  it  made  him  a  more  thoughtful  man  for  all  the  rest  of  his 
life.  We  remember  his  borrowing  Weem's  "Life  of  Washing- 
ton, ' '  and  sticking  it  under  the  cracks  of  his  log  hut  when  he  went 
to  sleep  at  night.  Upon  waking  in  the  morning,  we  recall  his  des- 
pair at  finding  that  it  had  been  rained  on  in  the  course  of  the  night, 
and  we  remember  his  getting  the  man  who  had  loaned  him  the  book 
to  give  him  the  battered  copy  for  three  days'  husking  of  corn. 

All  these  things  we  are  accustomed  to  hear  about  Lincoln, 
and  we  think,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Washington  was  a  good  deal 
of  an  aristocrat.  Washington  was  a  younger  son,  whose  elder 
brother  was  sent  to  England  for  his  education.  Washington  had 
to  dig  along  on  the  frontiers  of  this  country  with  such  an  educa- 
tion as  he  could  get.  He  was  off  in  the  wilds  fighting  Indians.  At 
nineteen,  he  stood,  a  bashful  boy,  before  the  house  of  the  Virginia 
Burgesses,  trying  to  receive,  as  politely  as  he  could,  their  vote  of 
thanks,  and  so  great  was  his  diffidence,  that  he  ran  away  and  took 
to  the  woods  again.    He,  too,  had  a  rough  bringing  up. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  draw  contrasts  between  these  two 
men  in  point  of  humor.  We  are  well  aware  that  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  sometimes  a  ridiculously  funny  man.  For  example,  recall  that 
incident  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  when  he  led  his  troop  up  to  a  fence 
that  had  a  narrow  gate  in  it,  and  could  not,  for  the  life  of  him, 
think  of  the  millitary  command  that  gets  a  company  through  a 

77 


small  hole  in  the  fence,  and  so,  with  the  keenness  of  wit  that  took 
him  through  many  a  ticklish  crisis,  he  said,  " Company,  halt!  Com- 
pany, fall  out !  Company,  fall  in,  in  one  minute,  on  the  other  side 
of  that  fence ! ' ' 

We  are  well  aware,  that,  with  all  the  great  burdens  that  Lincolr 
bore, — for  no  man  bore  heavier  griefs,  or  carried  a  diviner  sym 
pathy  for  both  sides  in  the  great  struggle — he  had  a  spirit  fit  for 
sorrow,  as  the  sea  for  storms  to  beat  upon — we  know  that  through 
it  all  he  kept  an  unconquerable  good  humor,  and  even  when,  in 
the  midst  of  all  his  trials,  he  got  the  smallpox,  you  remember  that 
he  said  to  one  of  his  attendants,  "Bring  them  all  in  now,  bring  in 
all  those  office  seekers ;  I  have  got  something  I  can  give  them  now." 

Now,  in  contrast  with  this  humorousness  of  Lincoln,  we  are 
oftentimes  accustomed  to  speak  of  the  rigid  and  stereotyped  dig- 
nity of  Washington.  Now,  the  rigid  and  stereotyped  dignity  of 
Washington  is  a  good  deal  of  a  myth.  Owen  Wister,  for  example, 
has  pointed  out  to  us  that  even  his  literary  memoirs  have  been 
changed  to  give  him  such  dignity  as  befitted  the  Father  of  his 
Country.  He  said  once,  for  example,  "A  hundred  thousand  dollars 
will  not  be  a  flea  bite,"  and  his  literary  executor  has  changed  it  to 
read,  "A  hundred  thousand  dollars  will  be  totally  inadequate." 
That  is  a  fair  sample  of  what  they  have  done  with  Washington, 
for  it  is  stated  of  him,  truly,  that  he  had  a  laugh  on  him  like  a  great 
bell ;  it  was  not  easy  to  get  it  started,  but  when  it  got  started,  you 
could  hear  it  over  a  whole  county.  To  be  sure,  he  always  called  his 
mother, ' '  Honored  Madam  " ;  to  be  sure,  when  you  read  his  letters, 
you  are  reminded  of  the  remark  made  about  Samuel  Johnson, 
that  he  never  could  have  written  a  storv  about  little  fishes,  because 
he  would  have  made  them  talk  like  whales ;  to  be  sure,  sometimes, 
when  you  read  his  most  familiar  epistles,  you  will  recall  what 
Queen  Victoria  said  about  Gladstone,  that  he  made  her  tired,  be- 
cause he  always  addressed  her  as  though  she  were  a  public  meet- 
ing; but  in  these  things  George  Washington  simply  carried  out  the 
spirit  and  custom  of  his  time,  and  there  are  some  tales  told  about 
him  that  equal  almost  anything  told  about  Lincoln. 

For  example,  after  he  had  retired  from  the  Presidency,  when 
he  was,  by  all  odds,  the  most  noted  and  revered  man  in  the  com- 
monwealth, Justice  Marshall  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  a  nephew 
of  his,  went  down  to  Mount  Vernon  to  see  the  great  Father  of  his 
Country.    As  it  was  a  toilsome  journey  in  a  stagecoach,  they  put  on 

78 


their  ordinary  clothes,  and  took  their  Sunday-go-to-meeting  clothes 
in  a  valise  up  on  the  top  of  the  stagecoach.  They  intended  to  get 
off  when  they  got  close  to  Mount  Vernon  and  make  the  change  be- 
fore they  ventured  into  the  presence  of  the  Father  of  his  Country. 
Well,  unfortunately,  it  happened  that  a  peddler  went  down  with 
the  same  stagecoach,  with  a  valise  a  good  deal  like  Justice  Mar- 
shall's, and  the  peddler  got  off  first.  When  they  got  to  the  vicinity 
of  Mount  Vernon,  they  alighted,  in  a  little  piece  of  woods,  and  went 
in  and  divested  themselves  of  their  outer  clothes,  until  they  got 
down  to  that  stage  of  apparel  in  which,  ordinarily,  decent  people 
do  not  appear  in  public,  and  then  they  opened  the  valise,  and  found 
toilet  articles,  perfumes,  handkerchiefs,  knives  and  forks,  and 
other  articles  which  the  country  peddler  of  that  time  would  be 
likely  to  be  carrying  about  with  him,  and  just  as  they  stood  there, 
utterly  confused  and  dumfounded  at  their  situation,  the  Father  of 
his  Country  walked  in  among  the  trees,  and  they  say  that  George 
Washington  lay  down  in  the  grass  and  rolled  over  and  over  in  con- 
niptions of  laughter  at  the  plight  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States. 

But  I  think  there  is  one  point  where  these  two  men  stand,  not 
in  contrast,  but  identical.  It  is  in  the  great  central  purpose  that 
mastered  their  lives.  It  is  easy  enough  to  be  patriotic  in  Del- 
monico's,  under  such  favorable  conditions  as  this,  but  think  what 
it  meant  to  be  patriotic  out  there  on  the  Montclair  hills  that  hard 
winter  when,  one  by  one,  and  thousands  by  thousands  his  soldiers 
were  drifting  away  from  Washington  until  only  three  thousand 
were  left!  Think  what  it  meant  to  be  patriotic  there  at  Valley 
Forge,  when  not  only  the  terrors  of  winter,  but  the  cabal  of  his 
enemies  were  trying  to  relieve  him  from  the  supreme  command  of 
the  American  army.  You  see,  there  is  just  one  thing  that  made 
those  men  what  they  were,  and  that  was  an  utterly  indefectible 
consecration  to  this  great  purpose  that,  before  they  died,  they 
would  make  some  worthy  contribution  to  the  commonweal. 

I  take  it  that  it  will  do  us  no  good  to  garnish  the  graves  of  the 
prophets,  if  we  do  not,  in  this  regard,  take  the  spirit  of  the  prophets 
to  ourselves.  Ruskin  said  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  great  Prus- 
sian-Austrian WTar,  in  Vienna,  you  heard  nothing  but  the  glory  of 
war,  and  the  glory  of  victory,  and  the  undying  glory  of  Austria, 
but  he  says,  "When  I  came  to  Berlin,  I  heard  no  more  of  glory, 
but  men  with  hard  eyes  and  stern  faces  were  making  ready  for 

79 


war,  and  I  saw  those  magnificient,  machine-like  regiments  setting 
out  for  battle,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  their  thunderous,  martial 
tread  across  the  pavements,  and  the  inspiration  that  moved  the 
hearts  of  the  loyal  soldiers  of  Bismark  and  Von  Moltke,  were 
timed  to  a  nation's  chanted  anthem,  "Wir  mussen  unser  Pflicht 
thun!"  "We  must  do  our  duty!"  I  would  say  to-night  that  be- 
fore we  get  through  with  our  thinking,  there  must  be  something 
more  than  the  glory  of  Washington  and  the  glory  of  liberty,  and 
the  undying  glory  of  America !  We  too  must  say  in  our  own  hearts, 
"Wir  mussen  unser  Pflicht  thun!" 


80 


Have  We  Outgrown  the  Fathers 

Address  by  the 
Hon.  Job  E.  Hedges 

Mr.  Toastniaster,  Lieutenant  Commander,  and  others:  It 
seems  to  be  necessary,  following  the  reverend  gentleman  who 
started  the  evening's  exercises,  to  give  some  account  of  myself. 
He  could  read  his  title  clear;  so  can  I,  although  I  did  enjoy  very 
much  that  episode  of  the  deacon.  The  man  who  can  discard  and 
then  pray,  is  rare.  My  ancestry  is  respectable  but  not 
numerous.  We  came  over  with  neither  the  Puritians  nor  the  Pil- 
grims, because  at  that  time  we  didn't  have  the  price.  We  did  come 
over,  however,  just  in  time  to  get  into  this  little  Revolutionary  diffi- 
culty, and  believe  me,  every  one  of  them  got  into  it,  so  much  so  that 
I  narrowly  escaped  not  being  here.  Fortunately  one  escaped,  hence 
I.  Then  we  came  along  to  our  little  difficulty  that  occurred  along  in 
the  '60 's,  and  only  one  escaped  then,  hence  I. 

The  compliment  of  speaking  here  to-night  is  really  appreciated 
by  me,  because,  confidentially,  to  go  no  further,  I  belong  to  the 
other  Society.  I  don't  know  why;  I  don't  know  that  anyone  cares, 
except  that  I  was  asked  first,  but  if  I  can  belong  to  the  other  and 
speak  at  this,  that  suits  me. 

I  seek  to  pay  my  respects  to  the  complacent  and  long-suffering 
post  prandial  audiences  of  New  York  City.  So  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, they  have  been  very  decent,  and  I  love  them  for  it,  and 
while  it  takes  some  time,  incidentally,  it  has  saved  some  money,  and 
I  live  entirely  on  the  European  plan. 

I  didn't  have  the  advantage  of  being  born  of  as  humble  extrac- 
tion as  I  would  have  liked  to  have  been,  politically.  "We  were 
very  respectable,  but  pathetically  poor.  We  didn't  learn  it  at 
the  forge ;  we  knew  it.  My  immediate  ancestors  would  have  made 
it  unnecessary  for  me  to  be  speaking  to  gain  the  price  of  a  dinner, 
had  they  understood,  in  all  its  significance,  the  difference  between 
a  bond  and  a  share  of  stock.    They  bought  stock. 

81 


Still,  I  am  glad  to  be  here,  and  I  am  very  thankful  to  be  able 
to  participate  in  the  sentiments  of  such  an  occasion  as  this. 

I  want  to  say,  in  my  opinion,  we  have  not  outgrown  our  an- 
cestors, but  think  we  have.  I  am  very  grateful  to  those  who  have 
spoken  before  me  for  not  startling  me,  on  behalf  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, by  saying  it  is  divided  into  three  parts.  When  a  man  seeks 
to  perpetuate  a  real,  all-pervading  thought,  he  always  starts, 
at  a  political  gathering,  by  saying,  "The  government  is  divided 
into  three  parts ! ' '    As  if  nobody  knew  it. 

To  Mr.  Wetmore,  whom  I  am  fonder  of  than  he  can  be  of  me — 
I  will  make  a  confession  to-night.  He  asked  me  to  speak,  and 
I  told  him  I  would  have  to  think  it  over.  I  thought  it  over  during 
two  luncheons  at  his  expense.  I  knew  all  the  time  I  was  going  to 
speak,  but  it  is  a  little  way  we  have,  Lieutenant  Commander,  in 
New  York. 

Kepresentative  government  isn't  in  the  balance,  Mr.  Wetmore. 
The  only  trouble  nowadays  is  as  to  who  is  to  represent  it. 
In  these  good  old  days,  our  memories  do  not  reach  as  far  back  as 
they  might.  We  insist  nowadays  on  saving  the  country,  despite 
the  country.  In  the  old  days  they  saved  it  despite  other  people, 
and  if  I  had  my  way — and  it  seems  almost  sacrilege  to  say  it — I 
would  rewrite  "America,"  and  say  "our  country"  instead  of 
"my."  What  I  loved  about  our  ancestors  was  that  they  were  opti- 
mists. They  could  now  and  then  find  something  decent  that  was 
going  on.  They  could  really  see  something  wholesome  in  everyday 
life,  something  worth  fighting  for.  They  believed  in  somebody 
else  besides  themselves,  and,  to  my  mind,  patriotism  is  the  test  of 
whether  you  really  love  the  other  man.  If  you  don't,  you  aren't  a 
patriot.  You  just  are;  that's  all.  And  a  man  who  won't  make  a 
sacrifice  for  somebody,  doesn't  amount  to  much  except  in  his  own 
contemplation. 

What  we  are  suffering  from  is  a  sort  of  ingrowing  mind.  We 
are  sort  of  inbreeding.  We  believe  in  the  Constitution,  academi- 
cally. Poor  old  Constitution !  If  any  instrument  in  the  world  has 
had  things  done  to  it,  it  has.  The  question  nowadays  isn't 
whether  we  get  our  share  under  the  Constitution,  but  whether  we 
get  all  there  is. 

They  had  trusts  in  those  days.  They  trusted  in  Providence  and 
the  Continental  Congress.  We  talk  about  Providence  and  curse 
Congress.    But  still  I  am  constrained  to  believe  that  notwithstand- 

82 


ing  the  pessimism  of  some  of  our  re-organizers,  the  thing  will  run 
along  for  a  few  days.  It  may  be  a  youthful  hobby ;  it  may  be  due 
to  my  relatively  few  years,  but  I  believe  in  a  providential  dispensa- 
tion. I  lose  confidence  in  it  when  I  see  its  representatives.  It  al- 
ways weakens  my  belief — not  my  belief  nor  my  faith,  but  my  joy — 
in  the  fact  that  there  is  a  Power  above  us,  when  I  hear  people 
tell  of  the  power  here. 

I  believe  in  this  same  public  opinion  that  Mr.  Wetmore  has 
spoken  of,  but  I  don't  believe  in  the  public  opinion  that  is  only 
declared  on  a  platform.  I  like  the  fathers,  and  I  really  could  have 
associated  with  them  very  comfortably  had  I  lived  in  those  days. 
It  is  a  perfect  joy  to  me  to  know  that  Washington  lay  down.  I 
have  always  wondered  if  it  was  accurate,  the  number  of  taverns 
he  stopped  at.  It  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  know  that  he 
rolled  in  the  grass  and  laughed.  Think  of  a  modern,  self-sacrific- 
ing, hall-climbing  statesman  laughing,  and  think  of  the  self-con- 
trol of  the  people  who  do  not  laugh  when  they  see  these  funny 
things !  The  most  glorious  thing  in  the  world  to  me  is  a  sense  of 
proportion,  and  a  sense  of  proportion  is  the  direct  result  of  a  nor- 
mal kind  of  decent  sense  of  humor,  and  a  sense  of  humor  is  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  that  quality  which  recognizes  that  somebody 
else  has  a  right  to  live.  Now,  the  fathers  never  said  how  people 
must  live  to  let  this  thing  go  on.  They  just  decided  a  few  general 
propositions,  and  let  it  go  at  that,  and  then  they  wrote  it  down, 
and  said  what  those  few  propositions  were,  and  then,  after  having 
said  that,  they  lived  up  to  those  propositions. 

Now,  we  are  re-organizing.  To  my  mind,  the  initiative  was 
the  Constitution,  and  the  referendum  is  the  way  we  take  it.  I 
don't  know  much  about  these  new  doctrines.  I  am  not  clear  on  this 
judicial  recall,  but  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  convict  vote  is 
unanimous  in  favor  of  it.  The  fact  that  a  crowd  working  hur- 
riedly may  not  know  as  much  as  a  man  working  deliberately,  has 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  ' '  Down  with  'em ! ' '  The  fact  that  the  learn- 
ing of  the  judges  would  indicate  that  possibly  a  man  deciding  some- 
thing impersonally  might  yield  any  result,  does  not  make  any  dif- 
ference. The  question  is,  whether  you  like  the  result.  I  recall  a 
time  when  Judge  McCall,  with  all  the  evidence  of  judicial  dignity 
and  the  outward  and  physical  evidence  of  intelligence,  made  a  glar- 
ing mistake,  and  yet  I  am  willing  to  let  him  stay  there.    Judge 

83 


Davis  isn't  perfect.     I  remember  when  he  made  a  mistake.     The 
allowance  should  have  been  $250  more  than  it  was,  at  least. 

The  way  to-day  is  to  take  these  things  just  naturally  and  whole- 
somely. I  am  glad  that  all  these  doctrines  are  being  discussed, 
because  they  will  be  settled  if  they  are  discussed.  The  most 
terrible  thing  in  life  is  an  unexpressed  grievance,  and  the  meanest 
thing  on  earth  is  not  to  give  a  man  a  chance  to  express  it,  because 
it  is  not  half  as  bad,  when  he  says  it.  But  think  of  the  hope  and 
joy  it  is  to  a  man's  family  when  he  has  said  it,  when  they  don't  have 
to  hear  it  every  day ! 

Now  we  have  outgrown  the  fathers  in  some  things,  and  in  some 
things  we  have  not.  We  have  not  outgrown  the  fathers  in  the  abil- 
ity to  make  a  sacrifice,  and  not  talk  about  it.  They  were  so  busy 
making  them  that  they  hadn't  time  to  converse  on  general  topics. 
What  we  do  nowadays  is  to  talk  about  it  first  and  then  make  the 
sacrifice,  carefully  picking  out  the  particular  sacrifice  that  we 
prefer  to  make.  And  whenever  you  see  a  man  willing  to  immolate 
himself  upon  the  altar  of  public  duty,  watch  him.  He  has  already 
calculated  the  distance  from  where  he  stands  to  the  top  of  the  altar, 
and  he  generally  can  make  it  in  one  jump. 

I  like  the  fathers  because  they  were  interested  in  those  who  were 
to  come  after  them.  They  were  satisfied  to  do  their  duty  and  wait 
for  approval.  To  be  a  patriot  nowadays,  you  must  discover  some- 
thing that  isn't  so.  To  be  a  real  martyr,  you  must  look  the 
whole  ground  over,  shut  out  everything  that  is  decent,  and  save 
the  republic  all  by  yourself,  so  framing  your  argument  that  after 
you  state  the  major  and  minor  premise,  the  conclusion  leads,  not  to 
a  result,  but  to  you.  And  the  only  thing  that  makes  me  worry 
about  the  future  of  the  republic  is  that  if  the  men  wlio  know  the 
only  solution  for  its  preservation  should  happen  to  die,  what  would 
become  of  it? 

As  Mr.  Wetmore  says,  this  is  a  government  of  minorities — very 
small  minorities — and  I  don't  wonder  that  the  gentleman  who  spoke 
first  was  surprised  at  this  number  of  Americans  here.  Why,  we 
have  to  compare  ourselves  to  everything  that  is  wrong,  to  get 
applause.  We  have  to  tell  a  man  that  he  is  what  he  is  not.  We  have 
to  tell  him  that  he  is  being  ground  down;  that  what  he  has  in  the 
bank  isn't  there;  that  when  he  has  a  good  job,  he  is  out  of  work, 
and  that  somebody  else  has  more  than  he  has.  He  knew  it;  you 
don't  have  to  tell  him  about  that.    He  just  wants  his  share,  and  be- 

84 


fore  you  can  amount  to  anything  nowadays,  you  must  prove  that 
you  are  not  what  you  are.  And  I  am  for  the  good  old  days  of  the 
optimists — the  Revolutionary  optimists — who  really  could  find 
something  in  life,  to  whom  it  was  a  joy  to  make  a  sacrifice.  I  mean 
the  kind  of  optimists  who  come  from  where  this  gentleman  came 
from,  just  to  get  into  the  game,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  just  to 
come  over  here  to  see  what  we  were  doing  along  the  general  lines 
of  freedom,  and  then  get  busy,  and  I  am  glad  they  came  over,  be- 
cause if  they  hadn't,  we  might  not  be  here.  My  creed  is  very  simple 
— my  political  creed  and  my  temporal  creed. 

I  believe  that  in  the  providence  of  the  Almighty,  we  are  a 
family.  I  don't  believe  it  is  just  rhetoric  to  call  each  other  brother. 
I  believe  that  to  be  a  member  of  this  great  government  of  ours,  a 
man  should  know  what  has  gone  before,  not  what  he  thinks  is 
going  to  come — I  believe  that  this  country  doesn't  depend  on  the 
life  of  a  single  individual.  I  am  taking  my  life  in  my  hands  when  I 
say  that.  I  believe  that  everyone  has  a  right  to  think  as  he  pleases, 
providing  he  thinks.  I  believe  the  time  has  come  now  to  quit  talking 
about  rights,  and  to  begin  talking  about  obligations.  I  think  the 
thing  to  do  is  not  to  dissect  the  Constitution,  but  to  give  it  a  stimul- 
ant. I  think  the  thing  to  do  is  just  to  be  ordinary,  everyday  human 
people,  recognizing  that  everybody  else  has  a  right  to  live,  even 
if  we  are  a  little  bit  peevish  about  the  way  they  live  at  some  times. 

Since  I  received  this  invitation,  I  have  read,  in  what  free  time 
I  have  had,  much  that  has  been  written  about  Washington. 
I  have  sat  through  the  Continental  Congress,  I  have  re-fought 
the  Revolution,  I  have  re-consecrated  myself  to  the  memory  of 
an  ancestor  who  signed  the  Declaration. 

A  wonderful  thing  about  Washington  was  that  after  he  got 
through  talking,  one  wanted  to  follow  his  advice.  After  you  listen 
to  most  of  the  modern  statesmen,  you  don't  want  to  follow  their  ad- 
vice ;  you  want  to  take  a  drink.  This  man  lived  it ;  they  talk  it.  And 
when  they  sent  him  a  letter,  out  there  on  Long  Island,  addressed  to 
George  Washington,  he  wasn't  peevish  about  it.  He  didn't  care 
whether  they  called  him  George  as  a  matter  of  social  intercourse ; 
no,  but  he  was  standing  for  somebody  else.  And  he  sent  it  back. 
That  was  the  finest  thing  he  ever  did,  to  my  mind.  He  just  let 
them  know  that  he  was  there  for  business  purposes,  and  then  he 
went  up  and  down  and  waited,  and  they  went  up,  and  then  things 
happened,  and  the  whole  matter  was  worked  out  and  we  are  here. 

85 


I  am  glad  they  fought.  I  am  sorry  they  died.  I  thank  God  for 
the  Constitution.  It  doesn't  need  revising;  it  needs  reading.  It 
doesn't  need  amendments;  it  needs  study.  It  doesn't  need  meta- 
physical analysis;  it  needs  a  human  heart  that  can  understand  it 
when  they  read  it.  It  doesn't  need  men  who  can  tell  what  is  better 
than  it;  it  needs  men  who  should  say,  "We  will  try  and  be  better 
than  the  men  that  made  the  Constitution. ' ' 

I  am  for  men  who  believe  in  the  mission  of  a  heart  beat.  I  am 
for  the  men  who  love  a  brother  and  don't  merely  talk  about  him.  I 
am  for  the  man  who  wants  to  help  somebody  in  trouble,  instead 
of  telling  him  how  badly  he  is  off.  I  am  for  the  man  who  is  a 
patriot  on  other  days  than  the  Fourth  of  July.  I  am  for  the  man 
who  believes  that,  instead  of  discounting  the  present,  he  had  bet- 
ter prepare  for  the  future.  I  am  for  the  man  who  thinks  he  is 
a  trustee,  not  a  cestique  trust.  I  am  for  the  man  who  spends  less 
time  in  discounting  others  than  he  does  in  getting  himself  up  to 
par.  I  am  for  the  man  who  wants  to  be  better  and  will  take  a 
chance  on  the  remedy. 

I  don't  believe  in  these  patent  nostrums.  I  don't  believe  in 
any  mechanical  way  to  make  a  man's  mind  work  in  a  given  line. 
I  believe  in  those  lines  of  thought  that  make  the  Constitution 
acceptable,  and  do  not  make  it  necessary  for  us  to  apologize  to  our 
forefathers  to  make  ourselves  important.  I  am  for  the  man  who 
will  stand  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  ourselves  from  each  other,  but 
won't  from  anybody  else.  I  am  for  the  man  who  looks  for  trouble 
when  an  outsider  tries  to  make  it.  I  am  for  the  forefathers.  I  am 
for  my  forefathers.  I  am  convinced  that  we  should  try  to  conduct 
ourselves  as  prospective  forefathers.  I  don't  believe  in  taking  the 
Constitution  for  granted.  I  believe  in  taking  it  as  a  sort  of  a  par- 
ticular, providential  dispensation.  Most  men  have  so  much  confi- 
dence in  it  that  they  do  nothing  to  perpetuate  it.  I  would  rather 
make  a  mistake  than  stop  to  explain  why  I  didn't  try. 

I  am  not  in  favor  of  manikin  citizens.  I  am  not  in  favor  of 
men  who  merely  go  through  the  outward  and  visible  motions  of 
existence.  I  am  not  in  favor  of  any  man  who  cannot  be  something. 
A  pessimist  is  a  very  vain  man,  because  he  can  only  see  those  things 
that  he  can  remedy. 

I  don't  believe  in  political  doctrines  that  inject  some  disease  in 
order  to  effect  a  cure. 

I  am  for  "Washington,  and  I  am  for  the  old  days  when  it  was 

86 


decent  to  do  something  for  somebody  else.  I  would  like  the 
ability  to  speak  so  that  I  could  moisten  an  eye  when  referring 
to  the  American  flag.  I  would  rather  be  able  to  stir  aheart 
than  stupefy  a  mind.  I  would  rather  be  able  to  have  someone  say 
that  I  had  inspired  an  emotion  to  be  better,  than  tell  him  the  only 
way  to  be  good.  I  would  rather  be  able  to  make  someone  believe 
that  it  is  worth  while  to  be  an  American  citizen,  than  tell  him  how 
much  better  he  could  be  if  he  were  different  from  what  he  is. 

Washington  said  one  day,  after  he  had  lost  nearly  all  of  his 
army,  "Give  me  a  banner,  and  let  me  plant  it  upon  the  mountain 
tops  of  West  Augusta,  and  I  will  take  up  my  bleeding  country  from 
the  dust,  and  set  her  free." 

I  say  that  men  to-day  can  take  the  flag  and  plant  it  before  the 
vision  of  reasoning  men  and  persuade  them  that  they  are  better 
because  of  it,  and  trust  them  to  do  the  rest.  It  isn't  a  bad  idea,  now 
and  then,  to  let  other  people  think.  There  is  no  monopoly  in 
thought.  Our  Heavenly  Father  hasn't  surrendered  control  of  tem- 
poral matters  yet.  Many  men  who  think  they  are  chosen  angels,  are 
just  rehearsing.  We  need  statesmen  who  believe  in  the  State 
primarily,  and  themselves  secondarily. 

I  am  for  the  forefathers,  I  am  for  Washington,  I  am  for  the 
flag,  I  am  for  any  gathering  of  men  that  can  stir  emotion  when 
they  mention  the  forefathers. 


87 


The  Three  Eurekas  of  America 

Address  by  the 
Rev.  John  Calvin  Goddard 

Mr.  President,  (an  hour  ago  I  would  have  said,  ''Mr.  Man-hat- 
on"),  and  Sons  of  the  Revolution:  When  Cornwallis  marched  out 
to  his  surrender  at  Yorktown,  we  are  told  that  the  British  band 
played  the  appropriate  tune,  "The  World  is  Upside  Down."  Now, 
in  this  other  York-town,  there  seems  to  be,  while  the  band  is  play- 
ing, another  indication  of  topsy-turvy.  It  occurs  in  this  program, 
for  whereas,  gentlemen,  hedges  are  usually  put  on  the  outside  of  a 
field,  in  this  instance  Hedges  is  put  in  the  center.  And  I  am  glad, 
sir,  that  your  blandishments  and  your  two  lunches  were  sufficient  to 
induce  that  result,  with  the  same  pleasure  that  occurred  in  the 
town  of  Colebrook  in  my  county,  where  resides  a  minister 
by  the  name  of  Hedges.  He  was  a  very  shy  man ;  it  seems  to  run 
in  the  family.  When,  on  a  certain  occasion,  a  church  social  was 
proposed,  it  was  asked  if  anything  more  could  be  done  to  procure 
a  quorum,  one  spoke  up  and  said,  "Nothing,  unless  someone 
should  go  out  into  the  highways  and  compel  Hedges  to  come  in." 

"Eureka"  was  a  word  first  made  famous  by  Archimedes, 
when,  as  we  are  told,  he  discovered  in  the  public  bath,  the  problem 
presented  to  him  by  the  king  with  reference  to  the  gold  crown,  and 
was  so  overcome  with  his  discovery  that  he  ran  home  without  his 
clothes. 

"Eureka"  was  also  adopted  in  1848  by  California,  upon  the  dis- 
covery of  gold,  and  when  a  certain  town  in  the  northwest  corner  of 
that  great  State,  called  itself  by  the  name  "Yreka,"  it  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  corruption  of  that  word.  And  when  the  baker  put 
up  his  sign  "Yreka  Bakery,"  it  was  discovered  to  be  a  perfect 
palindrome,  which  read  backward  and  forward  just  the  same. 
We,  too,  to-night  here,  are  to  go  backward  and  forward  under  these 
three  Eurekas,  and  I  trust,  as  in  the  bake  shop,  we  will  find  some 
food  for  reflection. 

88 


Our  first  Eureka  is  a  geographical  one.  It  seems  to  be  a  rule 
that  all  great  discoveries  should  have  rival  claimants;  that  is  to 
say,  differential  calculus  was  alike  discovered  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
and  the  philosopher  Leibnitz.  The  planet  Neptune  was  announced 
by  both  a  French  and  an  English  astronomer,  and  the  dispute  over 
the  priority  of  the  telephone  has  not  yet  died  away.  The  case  is 
true  also  with  reference  to  the  discovery  of  America. 

If  you  should  throw  a  stick  into  the  sea  off  the  coast  of  Japan, 
what  would  be  the  history  of  it!  It  would  be  caught  by  the  Arctic 
current,  carried  up  into  the  Behring  Sea,  and  finally  would  be 
dashed  upon  the  snores  of  Alaska.  Now,  that  simple  voyage  has 
been  repeated  thousands  of  times,  and  is  being  repeated  to-day. 
So  that,  given  a  Japanese  canoe,  that  is  blown  out  into  the  sea,  pro- 
vided, we  will  say,  with  weapons  and  provisions,  and,  after  some  ad- 
ventures is  cast  upon  the  shores  of  Alaska,  behold  the  first  dis- 
coverers of  America  in  the  persons  of  some  half-starved  Japanese 
fishermen. 

They  have  erected  a  monument  in  Boston  to  the  discoverer  of 
America.  That  monument,  strange  to  say,  does  not  contain  the 
initials  C.  C,  but  L.  E.,  which  stand  for  "Lief  Ericssen."  It  has 
been  said  of  the  average  Bostonian  that  what  little  he  does  not 
know,  together  with  what  he  does  know,  would  make  a  book. 

Lief  Ericssen  started  from  Iceland,  we  are  told,  with  the  inten- 
tion of  discovering  new  land,  and  found  Greenland,  which  he  so 
named  in  the  belief  that  people  would  be  attracted  to  it  if  it  were 
given  a  good  name.  Said  the  father  to  his  boy, ' '  Peleg,  a  good  name 
is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great  riches."  "Sure,"  said  Peleg,  "but 
what  show  did  I  ever  have  in  choosing  a  good  name?"  Yet  Green- 
land, in  spite  of  its  name,  did  not  attract  population.  For,  as  they 
say  in  Eastern  Connecticut, ' '  How  many  legs  has  a  calf,  calling  his 
tail  one?"  The  answer  is,  "Four,  because  calling  his  tail  a  leg 
does  not  make  it  one." 

From  Greenland  he  sailed  down  the  coast  of  Labrador,  and 
made  a  few  landings,  but  Lief  could  only  say,  like  the  Icelandic 
Caeser  that  he  was,  "I  came,  I  saw,  I  went  away."  After  a  few 
ineffectual  attempts  at  settlement,  they  packed  their  baggage  for 
Iceland  and  took  passage  with  it.    That  was  in  1013. 

We  now  come  to  the  beginning  of  the  history  of  modern  Europe, 
to  1492,  to  Friday,  the  third  of  August.  That  Good  Friday,  behold 
the  departure  of  those  adventurous  vessels  three,  with  their  daring 

89 


but  reluctant  crew  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  men.  There  is  a 
man  aboard  the  "Santa  Maria"  who  was  about  to  do  the  greatest 
feat  in  arithmetic  ever  attempted.  He  will  multiply  the  world  by 
two.  "Howbeit  he  meaneth  not  so;  neither  doth  his  heart  think 
so."  This  is  one  more  of  the  frequent  surprises  of  history.  Men 
are  always  starting  with  the  intention  of  doing  a  certain  thing, 
and  ending  by  building  better  than  they  know.  Saul  goes  forth 
in  search  of  asses,  and  he  finds  a  kingdom.  Philosophers  tried  to 
discover  the  elixir  of  life,  and  find  truths  in  chemistry  more  valu- 
able than  gold.  Wise  Men  came  from  the  East  in  search  of  a  King 
of  the  Jews,  and  they  discovered  the  Sovereign  of  the  stars. 

Even  so  Columbus.  'Twas  off  the  blue  Canary  Isles  that  things 
began  to  happen. 

To  begin  with,  the  "Nina"  lost  her  rudder,  and  they  had  infi- 
nite difficulty  in  repairing  it.  Shortly  after  they  were  alarmed  by 
a  shower  of  meteors  falling  into  the  sea,  but,  as  John  P.  Hale  once 
said,  "To  be  well  lathered,  is  to  be  half  shaved,"  this  was  only 
getting  ready  for  the  surprises  that  were  to  follow. 

On  the  13th  of  September,  they  made  the  first  observation  of 
the  now  well-known  fact,  the  variation  of  the  compass.  Columbus 
himself  was  surprised.  His  pilots  were  alarmed,  and  at  once  attrib- 
uted it  to  the  devil.  Columbus  knew  no  more  about  it  than  a  Hin- 
doo knows  about  skates,  but  nevertheless  he  had  to  have  some  solu- 
tion for  it,  and  he  promptly  ascribed  it  to  the  variation  of  the 
North  Star.  Then  he  sailed  into  the  Sargasso  Sea,  full  of  floating 
weeds.  Mutiny  broke  out,  and  nothing  kept  them  true  to  their  pur- 
pose but  the  Admiral's  unalterable  determination  to  sail  it 
out  on  that  line  if  it  took  all  summer.  They  were  sailing  on  the 
parallel  of  the  Great  Canary,  say  thirty  degrees  north  latitude,  aud 
had  that  course  been  persisted  in,  with  a  little  influence  from  the 
Gulf  Stream,  they  would  ultimately  have  landed  on  the  coast  of 
Georgia.  But  a  curious  circumstance  deflected  them  toward  the 
southwest;  namely,  Martin  Pinzon  observed  a  flight  of  parrots  to 
that  quarter,  and  after  a  long  argument  with  Columbus,  he  induced 
him  to  steer  in  that  direction.  "Never,"  says  the  philosopher 
Humboldt,  ' '  had  a  flight  of  birds  more  momentous  consequences  in 
history. ' ' 

And  yet  I  think  the  great  philosopher  forgot  another  flight  of  a 
bird,  in  the  Hegira,  when  Mohammed  was  hiding  in  a  cave,  and 
his  adversaries  were  close  upon  him;  and  as  they  approached  the 

90 


cave,  a  bird  flew  out  of  it,  from  which  they  inferred  that  no  one 
could  have  taken  refuge  in  there,  or  the  bird  would  have  been 
disturbed  and  so  they  passed  on.  And  thus,  in  an  earlier  instance, 
the  history  of  the  world  was  changed  by  the  flight  of  a  bird. 

As  they  came  to  a  floating  green  bush,  to  a  piece  of  wood  shaped 
by  a  tool,  and  to  the  sight  of  land  birds,  excitement  rose  to 
fever  pitch.  A  reward  had  been  offered  by  the  king,  of  a  yellow 
jerkin,  and  ten  thousand  maravedis  to  the  man  who  first  sighted 
land.  When  I  first  heard  of  that  magnificent  reward,  I  thought 
that  its  possessor  must  inherit  a  fortune,  but  when  I  learned  later 
that  it  takes  a  hundred  maravedis  to  make  thirty  cents,  I  under- 
stood, as  you  do,  that  a  maravedi  was  a  coin  invented  by  thrifty 
Spaniards  for  the  purpose  of  taking  up  missionary  collections  in 
church. 

On  the  night  of  the  11th  of  October,  no  man  on  that  little  flotilla 
could  sleep.  Columbus  himself  paced  the  deck  ceaselessly,  and  was 
the  first  to  discover  the  light,  low  lying  upon  the  horizon. 

We  like  to  think  that  his  glory  was  not  dimmed  by  another's  dis- 
covery of  the  fact,  although  he  announced  it  and  conceded  it  to 
another.  But  it  was  not  until  two  A.  M.  that  it  was  confirmed  by 
the  ' '  Pinta, ' '  and  the  gun  was  fired,  the  shot  heard  round  the  earth. 
When  the  sun  rose,  the  new  land  lay,  like  a  vision,  before  them, 
and  the  greatest  discovery  possible  to  the  human  race  was  a  fixed 
fact. 

Columbus  received  the  treatment  the  world  has  always  given  to 
its  greatest  men,  the  world  that  denounced  Jenner,  and  drove 
Priestly,  the  discoverer  of  oxygen,  into  exile.  But,  although  the 
last  resting  place  of  Columbus  is  in  the  city  of  Havana,  the 
cathedral  is  not  the  monument,  in  fact,  of  the  great  admiral.  I  like 
to  think  that  his  true  monument  is  that  little  flower  which  takes  its 
name,  also,  as  does  that  of  the  great  sailor,  from  Columba,  the 
dove,  as  the  one  that  was  sent  out  across  the  waters,  on  an  errand 
of  peace.  It  is  the  widespread  national  flower,  the  columbine.  And 
that  is  the  history  of  the  first  Eureka,  the  great  geographical  dis- 
covery of  our  land. 

We  come  now  to  the  second  Eureka,  the  discovery  of  its  worth. 
Columbus  himself  little  dreamed  of  the  extent  of  his  discovery.  It 
is  an  open  question  whether  he  ever  saw  the  mainland  of  North 
America.  The  colonists  were  equally  at  fault.  A  committee  sent 
out  to  explore  from  Boston,  reported  that  there  would  probably 

91 


be  no  settlements  west  of  Concord.  Alexander  Hamilton  used  as 
an  argument  for  the  probable  success  of  the  new  republic,  the  small- 
ness  of  the  territory  to  be  governed. 

When  Livingston  contracted  for  the  great  Louisiana  purchase, 
he  comforted  himself  with  the  thought  that  a  great  part  of  that 
land  could  probably  be  re-sold. 

Monroe  also  claimed  that  no  republic  could  exist  that  was  so 
great  as  to  reach  the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi. 

Yet  to-day  the  republic  has  more  than  twice  as  much  land  the 
other  side  of  the  Father  of  Waters  as  this  side  of  it.  But  the  nation 
grew,  by  degrees,  to  appreciate  its  great  domain.  At  first  there  were 
but  eight  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  The  Louisiana  purchase 
doubled  the  national  area,  Florida  added  fifty-nine  thousand  more, 
the  Mexican  cessions  brought  it  up  to  three  millions,  the 
Alaska  purchase  in  1867  added  six  hundred  and  three  thousand 
more,  and  now  we  have  reached,  in  our  own  generation,  the  high- 
water  mark,  with  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and  the  Phillipines  added, 
of  three  million,  seven  hundred  twenty-five  thousand  square  miles. 
To  this  day,  we  are  always  surprised  to  learn  how  many 
times  New  York  or  Massachusetts  can  be  laid  in  Colorado,  or  that 
even  the  great  republic  of  France  is  exceeded  by  the  single  State  of 
Texas  by  more  than  ten  thousand  square  miles.  It  was  the  real 
worth  or  appraisement  of  that  great  expanse  that  grew  upon  the 
nation  by  degrees.  You  will  remember  how,  in  your  early  geo- 
graphies, a  large  part  of  that  western  territory  was  marked  on 
the  map  as  the  Great  American  Desert,  and  a  particular  part  of  it, 
in  Western  Texas,  was  denoted  the  " Staked  Plains,"  a  tract  sup- 
posed to  be  so  large,  so  treeless,  so  trackless,  that  guides  could  only 
cross  it  by  the  erection  of  stakes. 

Now,  your  speaker  happens  to  have  been  through  that  so-called 
Staked  Plains,  and  I  am  free  to  say  that,  like  the  snakes  of  Ireland, 
the  stakes  are  simply  not  in  it.  I  met,  in  the  western  part  of  that 
same  land,  a  company  of  wild  Indians,  and  had  great  difficulty  in 
preventing  them  from  souveniring  themselves  with  a  lock  of  my 
hair.  That  land  was  then  selling  at  forty -two  cents  an  acre,  land 
that  is  selling  for  fifteen  dollars  an  acre  to-day,  and  if  you  ask  me 
why  I  did  not  put  myself  beyond  the  reach  of  the  trusts,  by  invest- 
ing at  that  time,  I  will  answer,  sir,  that  I  did  not  lack  the  courage 
of  my  convictions,  but  I  lacked  the  fortitudo. 

Now   that  land  is,  to-day,  highly   esteemed  in   our   country. 

92 


Yet  to  read  the  vaporings  of  the  statesmen  of  those  early  ages,  one 
would  think  they  were  voices  from  the  Middle  Ages. 

Senator  Dayton,  in  inveighing  against  the  Great  American 
Desert  said,  "Russia  has  her  Siberia,  England  her  Botany  Bay, 
and  the  United  States  her  Oregon."  Imagine  how  that  would 
sound  to  a  real  estate  agent  in  Portland  to-day ! 

Senator  Benton,  the  great  statesman  of  Missouri,  held  the  same 
views.  He  declared  that  the  territory  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains 
ought  to  be  dedicated  to  the  ' l  God  Terminus, ' '  by  which  I  suppose 
he  meant  that  there  was  nothing  beyond.  The  motto  of  Spain  used 
to  be  Ne  plus  ultra,  but  after  Columbus  had  sailed  and  come  back 
again  it  was  amputated  at  the  "Ne,"  and  became  "Plus  ultra," 
a  grander  motto  still.  Senator  Benton  lived  to  see  the  beginning 
of  the  Pacific  railways,  and  that  transcontinental  and  Asiatic  traffic, 
and  wisely  took  back  his  remark.  On  the  statue  of  the  heroic  old 
man,  as  you  see  him  on  his  pedestal  at  St.  Louis,  with  his  hand 
extended  toward  the  Western  horizon,  is  inscribed,  "This  way  lies 
the  East." 

The  virtual  discovery  of  the  worth  of  that  country  began  with 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  It  began  in  1784,  by  the  officers  of 
Washington's  army,  when,  with  their  land  scrip,  they  started  that 
Muskingum  colony  which  was,  according  to  Washington,  the  most 
important  colony  ever  founded  on  the  continent.  And  that  was 
the  beginning  of  the  great  Western  march,  a  march  that  kept  on 
during  the  distracting  days  of  the  Civil  War,  and  still  continues 
with  the  tread  of  nations. 

Now,  English  observers  have  not  been  so  willing  to  say,  with 
Americans,  "Eureka,"  with  reference  to  the  worth  of  that  great 
continent.  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold,  when  he  was  here  last,  said  that 
"American  civilization  is  not  interesting."  It  is  not  the  first  time 
that  English  observers  have  been  willing  to  set  us  right.  But  to 
you  and  me,  the  proper  word  to  use  as  to  that  great  continent,  is  not 
that  it  is  interesting,  but  that  it  is  fascinating.  The  rise  of  great 
commonwealths,  the  growth  of  giant  cities,  the  completion  of  the 
Panama  Canal,  the  steady  moving  of  the  center  of  population  from 
within  the  waters  of  Chesapeake  Bay  in  1790,  to  the  western  line  of 
Indiana,  in  1910,  sometimes  four  and  sometimes  eight  miles  a  year, 
but  always  moving — why,  that  means  to  us  something  more  than  in- 
teresting. 

93 


And  here  I  leave  the  second  Eureka,  the  discovery  of  the  true 
worth  of  the  land.  Our  children  and  our  children's  children  will 
be  engaged  in  the  carving  out  of  that  great  domain,  and  the  mak- 
ing of  two  Americans  grow  where  but  one  grew  before. 

And  lastly  I  come  to  the  third  Eureka.  What  is  the  meaning 
of  this  great  continent?  If  one  should  find  a  strange  tool  in  the 
desert,  the  immediate  inquiry  would  be,  what  is  it  for?  It  is  impos- 
sible that  a  great  mechanism,  with  part  fitted  to  part,  like  this 
United  States  of  America,  should  exist  for  no  purpose  at  all.  What 
is  that  purpose? 

Some  people  have  thought  that  the  purpose  was  one  of  political 
economy;  that  we  should  buy  in  the  cheapest  market  and  sell  in 
the  dearest ;  that  we  should  say  to  ourselves,  "Go  to,  now,  let  us  get 
money ;  put  money  in  thy  purse. "  It  is  true  that  the  age  we  live  in 
has  witnessed  the  rise  of  colossal  fortunes.  The  English  who  come 
over  here  are  more  frequently  interested  in  staring  at  our  great 
money  kings  than  at  our  Niagara. 

George  Washington  died  the  richest  man  in  America,  but  his 
entire  estate  totalled  under  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars.  There 
are  to-day  probably  more  than  a  thousand  estates  in  New  York 
City  alone,  that  would  exceed  that  sum.  The  wealth  of  the  nation 
grows  every  year  at  the  rate  of  four  thousand,  five  hundred  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  That  is  to  say,  in  two  years  we  have  added  more 
than  the  accumulations  of  the  first  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of 
English  life  on  our  continent.  That  is  not  to  be  disputed.  Yet  there 
is  not  a  man  here  who  believes  that  this  country  exists  simply  on 
a  gold  basis,  or  for  that  principle  alone.  It  is  part  of  our  unwritten 
law  that  it  is  not  millionaires,  but  men,  that  make  millenniums. 

Some  there  are  who  tell  us  that  the  reason  of  our  national  being 
is  one  of  politics ;  that  we  are  here  to  demonstrate  that  a  govern- 
ment of  the  people  should  not  perish  off  the  earth.  Now,  it  is  true 
that  this  nation  illustrates  the  two  great  principles  upon  which  the 
universe  itself  is  organized  and  constructed.  One  of  them  is  the 
development  of  the  individual  to  his  highest  perfection,  and  the 
other  is  the  development  of  the  mass.  But,  after  all,  government  is 
only  a  means  to  an  end.  You  can  go  to  destruction  as  surely  by  way 
of  a  republic,  as  by  way  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It  is  claimed  that 
the  census  of  1940  will  show  a  population  of  more  than  two  hundred 
millions  upon  the  ground,  and  that  the  nation,  already  the  richest 

94 


of  all,  will  then  have  become  a  very  Rothschild  among  its  fellows,  to 
which  shall  be  added  enlarged  scientific  knowledge  and  stupendous 
mechanical  forces. 

All  this  may  make  a  nation  great,  but  a  great  what?  It  might 
be  a  great  appetite,  a  great  bully,  or  a  great  target  for  the  shafts 
of  judgment.  It  has  been  well  said  that  North  America  has  been 
the  graveyard  of  nations  before  ours,  and  it  may  be  the  graveyard 
of  our  own. 

Then  there  are  those  who  tell  us  that  the  nation  exists  for  the 
sake  of  labor — to  prove  that  labor  is  divine.  Part  of  the  unwritten 
law  of  our  country  is,  "Six  days  shall  thou  labor."  It  is  true  that 
America  is  a  vast  anti-poverty  society.  It  is  sometimes  spoken 
of  as  a  poor  man's  country.  We  dignify  labor  and  advance  it.  We 
do  not  hesitate  to  raise  a  man  to  the  presidency,  though  he  wero 
reared,  like  John  Adams,  at  a  shoemaker's  bench,  or  like  Andrew 
Johnson,  at  a  tailor's  goose.  But,  after  all,  the  question  remains, 
"What  is  the  man  laboring  for?"  A  man  may  be  a  skilled  and  in- 
dustrious workman,  and  if  he  be  a  counterfeiter,  the  more  skillful 
and  industrious  he  is,  the  greater  danger  he  will  be  to  society. 

So  the  sum  and  substance  of  it  is  the  question  of  national  char- 
acter— what  is  the  nation  living  for?  No  man  liveth  unto  himself, 
and  no  nation  liveth  unto  itself.  If  this  nation  attempts  to  live  unto 
itself,  it  will  meet  the  fate  of  all  selfishness  everywhere.  And  here 
I  am  optimistic,  with  those  who  have  gone  before  me.  I  believe 
that  the  way  to  encourage  a  nation  in  the  development  of  character 
is  by  the  encouragement  of  better  men  and  better  measures.  One  of 
the  distinguished  journals  of  New  England,  widely  read  and  ably 
edited,  nevertheless  inoculates  all  public  characters  with  the  "mi- 
crobus  pessimisticus  Springfieldiensis. "  I  should  be  happy  in- 
deed if  it  could  be  proved,  in  this  city,  that  the  car  of  progress  is  not 
hitched  to  the  Evening  Post.  No,  gentlemen,  pessimism  never  con- 
verts anybody,  and  never  helps  anybody. 

It  is  true  that  we  hear,  now  and  then,  of  defalcation  and  defec- 
tion in  high  office.  Well,  these  are  the  sensations  of  the  hour. 
They  are  the  exceptions  to  the  rule,  and  for  that  reason  make  scare- 
heads  in  the  newspapers.  A  tree  falls  in  the  forest,  the  village  hears 
it.  A  thousand  trees  grow,  nobody  hears  it.  Go  where  you  will  in 
this  land,  you  will  meet  thousands  of  people  who  are  ready  to  sacri- 

95 


fice  for  their  country.  Go  and  ask  the  man  who  wears  the  empty 
sleeve,  or  the  woman  who  wears  the  empty  heart,  and  they  will  each 
tell  you  of  a  devotion  to  the  country,  a  devotion  that  knows  no 
winter  and  that  has  no  grave. 

I  am  glad  to  believe,  sir,  that  the  elements  of  devotion  are 
symbolized  in  that  ''Star-Spangled  Banner": 

''For  every  stripe  of  crimson  hue, 

' '  And  for  every  star  in  that  field  of  blue, 

"Ten  thousand  of  the  brave  and  true, 
' '  Have  lain  them  down  and  died. ' ' 

And  we  are  taught  by  Drake  that  the  emblems  are  drawn,  not 
from  the  ephemeral  and  the  evanescent,  from  lilies  of  the  field  or 
beasts  that  perish,  but  from  the  eternities  that  over-arch  us  all. 
And  when,  -with  the  dying  sage  of  Marshfield,  our  eyes  shall  turn  to 
behold,  for  the  last  time,  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  may  they  see  that 
resplendent  banner  still  waving  over  hearts  that  love  it,  decked  with 
the  splendors  of  the  day  and  the  glories  of  the  night,  shining  and  to 
shine,  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and  as  the  stars,  forever 
and  ever. 


96 


Address  by  the 

Hon.  Norman  S.  Dike 

Judge  of  Kings  County  Court 

At  the  Ceremonies  Attending  the  Unveiling  of  the  Tablet  to  the 

Memory  of  Brigadier-General  Nathaniel  Woodhull, 

at  Hollis,  Long  Island,  May  23,  1912. 

This  is  an  occasion  for  retrospection.  To-day  we  are  to  revive 
the  memories  of  1776 — like  a  traveler  climbing  some  lofty  moun- 
tain, picking  his  way  with  difficulty  along  unbeaten  paths,  and  who, 
gaining  the  summit,  turns  to  gaze  over  the  trail  that  he  has  con- 
quered and  to  the  dim  and  misty  point  of  his  departure. 

1776.  What  was  the  setting  for  the  world's  stage  then?  France 
had  been  rejoicing  for  two  years  in  the  accession  of  Louis  XVI., 
weak  and  vacillating,  and  his  fair  Queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  hopeful 
that  the  new  sovereign  would  correct  the  evils  of  the  old  regime; 
welcoming  Voltaire  at  the  end  of  his  eventful  life ;  devoted  to  Rous- 
seau,  and  later  watching  the  growing  popularity  of  Mirabeau  and 
Robspierre,  and  manifesting  that  sympathetic  interest  in  our 
struggle  for  American  independence  foreshadowing  their  own 
struggle  ending  in  the  uprising  of  the  people  against  the  treachery 
and  tyranny  of  the  former  reigns.  The  benign  and  popular  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  was  shortly  to  be  received  by  this  court  and  to 
secure  immediate  aid  for  the  struggling  colonies.  Italy  is  divided 
into  kingdoms  with  various  antagonisms,  little  foreshadowing  the 
union  years  later  of  the  new  Italy  under  one  king.  Russia,  under 
Catherine  the  Great,  great  for  evil  as  well  as  good,  then  at  the 
height  of  her  power  and  compelling  the  recognition  of  Russia  as 
one  of  the  great  nations  of  Europe.  Germany,  panting  still  under 
the  exhaustive  drain  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  and  very  far  from 
the  unified  Germany  of  to-day.  Austria,  under  Marie  Theresa, 
alleviating  the  condition  of  the  peasants  and  inspiring  the  nobles  to 
support  that  nation  and  preserve  its  integrity.  England,  under 
George  III.,  stupid  and  unappreciative  of  the  character  of  the 
American  colonies ;  Pitt,  Burke  and  Fox,  the  brains  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  that  time,  the  brilliant  trio  who  did  appreciate  the  stand- 

97 


point  of  the  colonies  and  fearlessly  set  forth  the  justice  of  their 
cause.  This  was  the  setting  of  the  stage  at  the  time  Gen.  Nathaniel 
Woodhull  had  his  eventful  life  brought  so  dramatically  to  a  close. 
What  mighty  changes  have  occurred  since  then  here  in  this  neigh- 
borhood of  his  home  life !  The  ruthless  hand  of  time,  the  pressure 
of  a  mighty  population,  spreading  in  irresistible  waves,  have  well- 
nigh  obliterated  the  sacred  places  of  history  of  his  day.  Here  in 
this  mighty  metropolis  are  rising  palaces  where  were  the  huts  of 
pioneers ;  elevated  roads  thunder  over  and  subways  pierce  beneath 
the  earthworks  of  our  Revolutionary  army.  And  in  all  the  vivid, 
varied  life  of  this  teeming  population,  it  is  well  to  pause  as  we  do 
for  a  moment  to-day,  and  consider  the  life  of  one  who  richly  de- 
serves to  be  remembered  by  his  countrymen.  In  fact,  is  there  not 
a  certain  pleasure  in  turning  to  these  times  from  the  mighty  poli- 
tical and  controversial  conflict  of  this  presidential  primary  and  the 
clash  and  clangor  of  great  personalities. 

Now  a  few  words  as  to  the  historical  points  of  interest : 
Brig.-Gen.  Nathaniel  Woodhull  was  born  at  Mastic,  L.  I.,  on 
Dec.  30,  1722.  He  was  the  grandson  of  Richard  Woodhull,  who 
settled  at  Setauket  in  1656,  and  came  of  a  fine  old  English  family. 
In  1758  he  was  appointed  a  major  in  the  Provincial  forces  of  New 
York  and  served  in  the  expedition  under  Gen.  Abercrombie  against 
Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point  and  in  the  fruitless  attempt  to 
storm  the  former  post,  gaining  that  knowledge  of  men  and  mili- 
tary affairs  so  useful  to  him  later  on,  under  the  generals  of  the 
English  King  against  whose  country  he  was  later  to  take  up  arms. 
He  afterwards  accompanied  the  expedition  against  Fort  Frontinac 
under  Lieut. -Col.  Bradstreet  and  was  present  at  the  capitulation  of 
that  place.  In  1760  he  served  as  colonel  in  the  Third  New  York 
Provincials.  He  accompanied  the  army  under  Gen.  Amherst  from 
Oswego  to  Montreal.  On  the  dissolution  of  the  Assembly  in  1769 
Col.  Woodhull  was  elected  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  county 
of  Suffolk,  and  the  people  of  Suffolk  County  expressed  their  confi- 
dence that  Col.  Woodhull  and  his  colleagues  would  exert  their 
abilities  "to  preserve  their  freedom  and  their  command  over  their 
own  purses."  In  April,  1775,  he  attended  the  convention  held  in 
New  York  to  choose  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and 
in  the  following  May  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress, 
which  organized  the  militia  and  which  appointed  Col.  Woodhull 
brigadier-general.  He  was  elected  President  of  the  Provincial 
Congress  in  August,  1775,  and  had  the  honor  to  preside  over  that 

98 


body  in  1776  when  it  accepted  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Participating  in  the  growing  feeling  of  discontent  against  the 
mother  country  on  the  subject  of  taxation  for  the  expense  of  what- 
ever attacks  she  might  make  upon  them,  the  Assembly  of  New  York 
at  the  close  of  December,  1768,  resolved  that  no  tax  could  or  ought 
to  be  imposed  upon  the  persons  or  estates  of  His  Majesty's  sub- 
jects within  the  colony  but  by  their  own  free  gift  and  by  their 
representatives  in  General  Assembly. 

On  the  landing  of  the  British  army  in  August,  1776,  on  Long 
Island,  Gen.  Woodhull,  who  had  been  appointed  general  of  the 
forces  of  Queens  and  Suffolk,  was  ordered  to  march  a  force  to  the 
western  part  of  Queens  County  and  drive  off  the  stock.  Now, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  are  getting  down  to  the  heart  beats  of 
that  eventful  period.  He  marched  accordingly,  to  Jamaica,  whence 
he  proceeded  to  execute  his  orders  with  a  very  small  force  under 
his  command.  On  the  28th  of  August  he  fell  back  with  his  small 
force  in  the  vicinity  of  Jamaica,  two  miles  east  of  which  place  he 
was  overtaken  by  a  detachment  of  the  Seventeenth  Light  Dragoons 
and  the  Seventy-first  Highlanders.  What  of  the  episode,  painful, 
and,  from  all  the  material  available,  still  perplexing  in  the  ex- 
treme, as  to  the  capture  and  wounding  of  Gen.  Woodhull?  From 
the  confused  and  widely  divergent  accounts,  fragmentary  and 
unsatisfactory,  it  seems  to  me  unnecessary  now  to  state  a  conclu- 
sion which  might  so  grievously  affect  the  reputation  of  an  English 
officer  or  any  of  his  family  now  here.  All  the  interested  parties  in 
that  controversy  were  of  Anglo-Saxon  stock.  There  is  a  natural 
pride  in  the  record  of  that  race.  Only  lately,  in  the  mightiest  and 
most  mournful  of  all  sea  tragedies,  the  calmness  and  courage  dis- 
played by  those  of  that  race  in  charge  of  the  vessel  in  those 
moments  of  despair,  are  a  heritage  to  the  race.  Onderdonk,  who 
wrote  in  such  detail  in  our  day  of  all  the  history  of  that  episode, 
and  at  that  time  Judge  Jones,  of  Jamaica,  one  of  the  well-known 
and  splendid  citizens  of  that  time,  Fenimore  Cooper  also  wrote 
extensively  about  it,  and  others  entered  the  arena  in  the  en- 
deavor to  clarify,  from  the  meagre  evidence  available,  the  story  of 
the  tragic  events  which  caused  the  death  of  Gen.  Woodhull.  From 
the  best  accounts  it  would  seem  that  when  the  British  army  landed 
on  Long  Island  here,  Gen.  Woodhull,  with  his  small  band,  with 
rations  for  five  days  only,  was  on  a  march  to  join  the  main  body 
of  our  troops  at  Brookland,  but  before  he  could  reach  the  main  body 
of  Revolutionary  troops  the  battle  had  been  fought,  and  his  chance 

99 


for  joining  the  main  army  was  lost.    Gen.  Woodhull,  whose  origi- 
nal detachment  consisted  of  about  100  militiamen  from  Suffolk, 
forty  from  Queens  and  fifty  horse  from  Kings  and  Queens,  found 
himself  left  by  most  of  his  force  who,  for  various  reasons,  returned 
to  their  farms,  and  took  up  his  quarters  at  an  inn  two  miles  east  of 
Jamaica,  the  inn  of  Increase  Carpenter,  already  spoken  of  by  the 
Chairman.     It  was  at  this  point  that  he  was  surrounded  by  the 
British  troops  and  a  part  of  the  Scottish  regiment,  during  a  tre- 
mendous storm,  evidently  unconscious  of  any  immediate  danger. 
In  the  face  of  the  superior  forces,  the  incontrovertible  evidence 
would  indicate  that  he  delivered  up  his  sword  in  token  of  surrender 
upon  the  assurance  that  he  would  be  treated  like  a  gentleman.  Then 
one  of  the  British  soldiers  ordered  him  to  say,  "God  save  the 
King,"  to  which  the  General  replied,  "God  save  us  all."    It  was 
after  this  that  he  was  so  cruelly  assailed  while  obviously  unarmed. 
The  most  irrefutable  evidence  in  his  favor,  and  what  must  ever  be 
a  black  stain  upon  the  British  army  in  that  campaign,  was  the  char- 
acter of  the  frightful  wounds  that  he  received  at  that  time,  defense- 
less and  alone,  and  which,  within  a  short  time  after,  were  the  cause 
of  his  death.    Wounded  in  the  head  and  with  his  arms  hacked,  he 
was  taken  to  Jamaica,  where  he  was  detained  until  the  following 
day,  when,  with  other  prisoners,  he  was  conveyed  to  Gravesend 
Bay,  and  confined  aboard  a  vessel  employed  to  transport  live  stock 
for  use  in  the  British  army,  and  with  no  proper  accommodations 
for  a  dangerously  wounded  man.    His  faithful  wife  being  allowed 
to  join  him,  it  is  said  that  he  requested  that  she  should  bring  all  the 
money  possible,  and  which  he  caused  to  be  distributed  among  his 
fellow  prisoners  to  alleviate  their  suffering.     You  can  judge  of 
the  man  from  this  act.    From  these  wounds  he  died  on  Sept.  20, 
1776,  in  the  fifty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  and,  as  reads  the  inscrip- 
tion on  his  tombstone,  "regarded  by  all  who  knew  how  to  value 
his  many  private  virtues,  and  that  proud  zeal  for  the  rights  of  his 
country,  to  which  he  perished  a  victim. ' ' 

In  Wood's  History  of  Long  Island  the  following  account  of  this 
episode  is  given:  "The  General  immediately  gave  up  his  sword  in 
token  of  surrender.  The  ruffian  who  first  approached  him,  said  to 
be  Baird  of  the  Seventy-first,  ordered  him  to  say  'God  Save  the 
King.'  The  General  replied:  'God  save  us  all,'  upon  which  he 
cruelly  assailed  the  defenseless  General  with  his  sabre  and  broad- 
sword, when  he  was  saved  by  Major  Delancy  of  the  dragoons." 

The  affidavit  of  Troop,  who  was  a  fellow  prisoner  with  Gen. 

100 


Woodhull  on  the  cattleship,  which  was  sworn  to  on  the  17th  day  of 
January,  1777,  details  the  conversation  had  with  Gen.  Woodhull, 
and  in  describing  the  episode,  he  says  that  Major  Oliver  Delancy, 
who  was  in  charge  of  the  detachment  after  his  surrender,  ' '  struck 
him  and  others  of  his  party  and  cruelly  cut  and  hacked  him."  It 
is  true  that  Delancy  had  been  a  brother  officer  of  Woodhull  in  the 
expedition  under  Gen.  Amherst;  that  Delancy  was  a  pronounced 
Tory  and  must  have  regarded  Gen.  Woodhull  as  a  traitor  to  his 
cause ;  but  one  hesitates  to  credit  to  an  English  officer  such  acts  of 
brutality.  Gen.  Delancy,  as  he  was  later,  always  vehemently  denied 
this  charge,  because  the  episode  partakes  more  of  the  elements 
of  an  attempted  assassination  by  political  enemies  than  a  death 
under  the  chances  in  war. 

Of  a  man's  real  usefulness,  the  true  value  of  his  services,  pos- 
terity is  the  best  judge.  Contemporary  judgment  is  often  misled 
by  elements  of  personality.  Time  clears  the  vision  and  calmness 
succeeds  controversy.  What  Gen.  Woodhull  did  at  his  time  shows 
him  a  broad,  well-balanced  man,  a  natural  leader  and  one  who 
looms  large  among  the  dramatic  figures  of  those  stirring  times.  As 
was  said  by  Thompson  in  his  history  of  Long  Island,  of  Gen.  Wood- 
hull:  "With  personal  courage  he  possessed  judgment,  decision 
and  firmness  of  character  tempered  with  conciliatory  manners 
which  commanded  the  respect  and  obedience  of  his  troops  and  at 
the  same  time  secured  their  confidence  and  esteem." 

The  inspiration  for  this  gathering  of  people  here  to-day  is  the 
commendable  love  of  patriotic  sentiment  in  this  community,  and 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  have  most  wisely  revived  by  this  tablet 
and  by  these  exercises,  the  recollection  of  this  interesting  episode 
in  the  early  days  of  our  Revolutionary  history.  And  the  commit- 
tee who  have  set  within  the  walls  of  this  schoolhouse  the  imperish- 
able bronze  that  has  been  to-day  unveiled  have  most  wisely  selected 
its  resting  place.  Where  better  could  it  be  placed  than  upon  this 
edifice  dedicated  to  the  greatest  work  our  country  from  the  first 
has  ever  undertaken ;  namely,  the  education  of  the  young  and  the 
forming  and  education  of  the  children  of  to-day  who  will  be  the 
strong  men  and  women  of  to-morrow,  at  once  the  promise  and  the 
hope  of  a  nation's  greatness;  placed  here  that  these  children  may 
daily  read  this  tablet,  and  reading,  may  receive  the  inspiration 
to  emulate  in  their  days  the  splendid  qualities  of  true  statesman- 
ship as  exemplified  in  the  life  as  well  as  in  the  death  of  Nathaniel 
Woodhull. 

101 


The  Prize  Essays 

on 

The  Efforts  of  Lafayette  for  the  Cause 
of  American  Independence 


First   Prize   Essay 

By  Jacob  Sicherman,  Buffalo  Central  High  School, 

Buffalo,  N.  Y' 

Wonderful  things  are  youth  and  love.  Infinitely  more  marvel- 
ous is  the  man  willing,  even  eager  to  sacrifice  the  one  and  desert 
the  other  for  what  to  him  is  merely  an  abstract  principle.  Surely 
the  person  who  leaves  this  all  behind  him — country,  king,  wife,, 
friends  and  wealth — to  embark  in  a  desparate  conflict  against  a 
mighty  nation ;  surely  such  a  man  is  a  hero,  or  there  is  none  so  this 
side  of  the  grave.  It  is  a  natural  impulse  of  youth  to  ally  itself  with 
the  winning  side,  or  at  least,  to  shun  all  connection  with  the  losing 
party.  Yet,  when  our  star  was  by  no  means  in  the  ascendant, 
when  he  had  just  learned  of  our  reverses  at  New  York,  Long  Island 
and  White  Plains,  Gilbert  Motier,  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  nineteen 
years  of  age,  loved  by  his  friends  and  favored  by  his  king,  prof- 
fered his  services  to  a  weak,  impotent  band  of  ' '  insurgents. ' '  And 
proffered  these  so  sincerely  that  when  the  United  States'  envoy 
proved  unable  to  furnish  the  promised  ship,  he,  out  of  his  personal 
fortune,  procured  and  equipped  the  necessary  vessel  for  himself 
and  Ms  eleven  compatriots. 

It  was  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  who  first  actively  aroused  Lafay- 
ette 's  ardor  then,  whilst  the  unequal  struggle  was  in  progress  on 
American  shores.  Though  a  brother  to  the  English  monarch,  the 
Duke  at  a  banquet,  which  Lafayette  attended,  expressed  himself, 
in  no  uncertain  terms,  disgusted  with  the  arbitrary  policy  pursued 
towards  the  unfortunate  colonists.  Thus,  strangely  enough,  Lafay- 
ette 's  passion  to  be  an  actor  in  this  epoch-making  revolution  was 
excited  by  words  uttered  by  George  Third's  very  brother. 

However,  when  the  enthusiastic  Marquis  communicated  his 
heart's  desire  to  his  friends,  some  were  astounded,  some  chagrined, 
but  all  labored  to  dissuade  him  from  his  foolish  enterprise — all 
but  his  wife  and  her  mother.    This  support  was  apparently  quite 

105 


sufficient.  At  any  rate,  lie  outwitted  the  French  government, 
eluded  the  wary  English,  and  on  June  14, 1777,  he  landed  at  George- 
town, S.  C. 

With  his  romantic  arrival,  new  hope  was  infused  into  the  de- 
sponding patriots,  on  account  of  his  coming  itself,  and  because 
his  impetuous  action  seemed  significant  of  France's  attitude.  La- 
fayette's sympathy,  moreover,  assumed  a  more  pleasant  and  tangi- 
ble form  than  empty,  ostentatious  promises,  for  upon  reaching 
Charleston,  he  provided  100  men  with  raiment  and  arms. 

Liberality  did  not  save  Lafayette  from  now  stumbling  upon 
an  unforeseen  obstacle  in  the  shape  of  Congressional  irritation. 
Congress  was  decidedly  hostile  towards  foreign  volunteers,  since 
these  hitherto  had  succeeded  only  in  sowing  jealousy  and  dissen- 
sion amongst  the  native  American  officers.  When,  therefore,  Lafay- 
ette applied  for  formal  appointment,  he  was  bluntly  refused;  and 
it  was  not  until  he  had  generously  proposed  to  serve  as  an  unpaid 
officer  that  Congress  constituted  him  Major-General.  This,  Con- 
gress did  more  to  rid  itself  of  Lafayette's  importunities,  and  to 
avoid  offending  France,  than  because  of  any  idea  entertained  of 
his  ever  heading  a  division. 

But  Lafayette  soon  clearly  showed  that  he  had  not  the  remotest 
intention  of  remaining  idle  or  resting  content  mth  the  empty  honor 
bestowed  upon  him.  He  immediately  won  Washington's  unwav- 
ering affection  and  confidence,  not  at  all  a  simple  matter.  Nor  did 
Washington  ever  have  to  regret  the  faith  he  reposed  in  his  young 
aide  and  admirer.  Lafayette's  heroic  conduct  became  a  glowing 
example  to  the  discouraged  troops.  So  mucli  so,  indeed,  that  an 
official  report,  seldom  the  organ  for  aught  sentimental,  declared 
that  "The  Marquis  is  determined  to  be  in  the  way  of  danger." 

Brandywine  was  the  first  engagement  in  which  Lafayette  par- 
ticipated. The  Americans  were  being  routed,  in  vain  Lafayette's 
efforts  to  rally  the  fleeing  troops — the  Americans  heeded  him  not. 
A  bullet  struck  him  in  the  leg.  Yet  the  hero  did  not  flinch  in  his 
impassioned  endeavors  to  check  the  panic.  His  wound  remained 
unheeded  while  he  persisted  in  his  fruitless  exertions,  until  it  was 
called  to  his  attention  by  his  aide,  but  for  whose  timely  succor 
Lafayette  might  not  have  escaped.  As  it  was,  the  injury  proved 
sufficiently  grave  to  restrain  him  from  service  for  two  months. 

About  this  time  the  Conway  Cabal  was  verging  to  a  successful 
conclusion  and  had  need  of  every  powerful  friend  obtainable.    The 

106 


plotters  astutely  designed  to  gain  over  Lafayette  by  flaunting  be- 
fore him  the  honors  they  controlled.  In  its  futile  schemings,  the 
Board  of  War,  the  Cabal's  tool,  without  Washington's  knowledge, 
offered  Lafayette  command  of  an  expedition  against  Canada.  The 
Marquis  hesitated,  for  he  was  keen  enough  to  detect  the  ulterior 
purpose  of  the  flattering  assignment.  He  resolved  to  entrust  the 
Commander-in-Chief  with  the  matter,  to  abide  by  his  counsel,  and 
it  was  on  Lafayette's  receiving  Washington's  advice  that  he  finally 
accepted  the  offer. 

En  route  for  his  fictitious  command  (there  really  were  no  troops 
available),  the  Marquis  dined  with  the  powerful  traitors.  Toasts 
were  exchanged,  and  the  turn  of  Lafayette  to  propose  one  came. 
"The  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  American  Armies!"  cried  he 
boldly.  This  sudden  antagonism  from  one  whom  they  had  thought 
seduced,  greatly  perturbed  the  Cabal's  smug  equanimity,  and  soon 
after,  the  undertaking  was  relinquished.  Lafayette's  steadfast- 
ness in  quite  a  measure  effected  the  downfall  of  the  conspiracy, 
hurrying  it  on  to  that  destruction  which  it  richly  merited. 

Soon  several  opportunities  were  afforded  Lafayette  of  display- 
ing his  abilities  as  a  general,  in  all  of  which  he  revealed  himself  as  a 
superior  strategist.  At  Barren  Hill,  through  no  fault  of  his  own, 
his  force  was  surrounded  by  a  vastly  larger  body  of  British  under 
General  Grant.  So  skillfully  did  Lafayette  maneuver  in  this  pre- 
dicament that  he  escaped  seemingly  inevitable  capture,  adroitly 
extricating  his  detachment  from  what  appeared,  and  really  was,  a 
most  serious  situation.  Again,  at  the  Battle  of  Monmouth,  he 
ably  commanded  the  Light  Horse.  He  here  distinguished  himself 
to  such  a  degree,  that  Congress  extended  its  heartiest  thanks  to 
him.  The  first  to  perceive  Lee's  contemplated  treachery,  it  was 
his  urgent  summons  that  had  hurried  Washington  to  the  front. 
That  night,  after  the  momentous  battle,  snatched  from  dire  defeat 
only  by  the  banishment  of  Lee  from  the  field,  Washington  and 
Lafayette  shared  the  same  cloak  as  they  wonderingly  discussed 
Lee's  unexplicable  behavior. 

Yes,  Lafayette's  services  as  a  soldier,  particularly  in  the  Vir- 
ginia campaign,  which  came  some  time  later,  were  incontestably 
great,  but  whilst  we  could  probably  boast  of  other  generals  as  good, 
we  assuredly  had  no  such  fervent  and  powerful  advocate  at  the 
French  Court — not  even  witty  Ben  Franklin.  In  1779,  the  Marquis 
sailed  for  France,  to  aid  her  against  England,  and  to  enlist  her 

107 


more  active  interference  in  our  behalf.  His  eloquence  prospered 
almost  beyond  our  fondest  hopes.  The  French  Minister,  De  Mau- 
repas,  half  jocularly,  half  seriously  laughed,  "It  was  well  that 
Lafayette  did  not  ask  to  be  allowed  to  strip  Versailles,  for  stripped 
Versailles  would  have  been."  But  without  having  to  resort  to 
that  extreme  necessity,  Rochambeau  was  despatched  with  6,000 
troops  to  America.  What  was  as  important  at  the  actual  sending, 
Lafayette  secured  for  Washington  an  appointment  as  Lieutenant- 
General  and  Vice-Admiral  of  France.  Once  before  it  had  taken  all 
Lafayette's  influence  and  tact  to  avert  a  very  dangerous  rupture 
between  the  French  and  American  forces.  Now,  all  possibility  of 
a  similar  disagreement  arising  was  forever  removed,  as  French 
officers  were  to  regard  themselves  the  inferiors  of  Americans  of 
equal  rank.  Thereafter,  French  and  Americans  fought  together, 
side  by  side,  in  perfect  concord. 

Returned  to  America,  Lafayette  received  his  long-expected 
division.  His  powers  by  this  time  wTere  almost  implicitly  trusted, 
and  he  was  given  command  of  the  decisive  Virginia  campaign. 
"The  boy  cannot  escape  me,"  confidently  avowed  Cornwallis,  in 
the  same  spirit  as  Howe  had  once  invited  the  British  officers  "to 
dine  with  a  captive  Marquis, ' '  only  to  have  that  elusive  individual 
slip  through  his  blundering  grasp.  So  too,  now  once  more  Lafay- 
ette displayed  his  brilliancy  as  a  tactician,  completely  out-general- 
ing  Cornwallis  and  effecting  a  junction  with  Wayne,  he  began  to 
harass  the  British.  Cornwallis'  line  of  action  became  untenable. 
He  retreated  into  Yorktown  where  Lafayette  kept  his  quarry  until 
the  fleet  under  De  Grasse  and  Saint  Simon,  and  land  reinforce- 
ments arrived. 

And  now  comes  the  crowning  glory  of  Lafayette's  glorious  con- 
duct in  America.  When  he  might  himself  have  ended  the  war,  and 
indeed  was  urged  to  do  so,  he  not  only  firmly  refused,  but  even  re- 
strained his  eager  friends.  His  generosity  reserved  this  final  and 
signal  victory  for  George  Washington,  who  soon  came  up  to  take 
command. 

The  war  was  practically  over.  Another  might  well  have  rested 
content  with  the  fortunate  event  of  his  labors.  Not  so  Lafayette. 
He  returned  to  Europe,  gathered  together  60  ships  with  34,000  men,, 
and  was  only  deterred  from  sailing  to  the  attack  by  the  news  that 
a  satisfactory  treaty  had  been  concluded  at  Paris. 

108 


Such  were  Lafayette's  efforts  for  the  cause  of  American  In- 
dependence. Who  shall  term  them  paltry?  Or  say  that  such  and 
such  are  the  limits  of  our  debt  to  him?  Who  but  will  admit  that 
his  contributions  to  American  Independence,  to  our  Independence, 
exceeded  those  of  almost  any  man,  except  the  immortal  Washing- 
ton's? Truly,  no  good  American  will  deny  Lafayette  this,  his  due. 
His  first  coming  was  an  inspiration  and  an  incentive ;  his  stay  was 
an  example  of  courage  and  skill,  of  magnanimity  and  liberality; 
and  his  services  in  1779  settled  forever  that  we  were  to  be  free, 
that  freedom  of  which  we  are  to-day  so  justly  proud,  that  freedom 
which  to-day  shelters  ninety -million  souls.  Of  what  avail,  pray  to 
deprecate  that  France  might  have  aided  us  even  without  Lafa- 
yette's mediation?  As  well  say  we  might  be  free  without  having 
had  George  Washington,  that  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 
might  have  been  issued  without  Lincoln.  Such  remarks  detract 
not  a  whit  from  Washington's  or  Lincoln's  fame.  It  is  to  Wash- 
ington, it  is  to  Lincoln,  we  bow  in  worship.  Let  us  then  be  just! 
He  is  a  foreigner,  but  let  us  nevertheless  worship  Lafayette,  the 
hero  who  forsook  all  that  mortals  prize  and  hold  dear,  to  help 
fight  the  battles  of  a  weak  nation,  because  it  was  in  the  divine 
cause  of  Liberty. 


ioy 


Second  Prize  Essay 

By  Bessie  Carolyn  McClain,  Gloversville  High  School, 

Gloversville,  N.  Y. 

Probably  no  other  foreigner  accomplished  so  much  or  sym- 
pathized so  deeply  with  the  cause  of  American  Independence  as 
did  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette.  A  French  nobleman  by  birth,  an  heir 
to  an  immense  estate  at  thirteen,  married  to  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful ladies  of  the  French  Court,  he  chose  a  life  of  privation  and 
hardship,  to  one  of  luxury  and  idleness.  The  love  of  liberty,  in- 
herent in  his  soul,  made  him  a  champion  of  the  cause  which  seemed 
the  last  chance  for  liberty  to  obtain  a  foothold  upon  the  earth. 
From  the  time  the  situation  of  the  English  American  colonies  was 
made  known  in  France,  in  1776,  until  they  became  a  free  and  in- 
dependent nation,  he  gave  himself,  heart  and  soul,  to  their  cause. 
He  served  them  both  by  his  personal  qualities  and  by  his  active 
efforts,  as  a  French  nobleman,  and  as  an  American  soldier  and 
general. 

The  qualities  by  which  Lafayette  most  aided  this  country  in  its 
great  conflict,  were  his  love  of  liberty,  enthusiasm,  generosity  and 
loyalty.  His  love  of  liberty  first  made  him  interested  in  the  strug- 
gle of  the  American  Colonies  with  their  Mother  Country,  and  this 
same  love  of  liberty  kept  him  enthused  in  the  cause,  and  gave  him 
the  strength  and  courage  to  depart  from  his  home,  his  friends  and 
his  country.  Indeed  it  was  the  root  of  the  other  qualities  by  which 
he  did  us  service. 

When  once  his  enthusiasm  was  aroused,  nothing  could  diminish 
it.  When  he  heard  that  the  credit  of  the  "insurgents"  was  so  low 
that  they  couldn't  possibly  provide  him  a  ship,  he  said  in  that  case 
they  needed  him  all  the  more,  and  he  bought  one  with  his  own 
money.  It  was  enthusiasm  that  led  him  to  the  front  in  the  battle 
of  Brandywine.  It  was  enthusiasm  that  made  him  ride  seventy 
miles  and  back,  for  the  French  fleet  when  it  was  needed  so  sorely. 
Of  course,  was  not  his  motto  "cur  non?" 

110 


In  all  his  dealings  with  this  country,  he  showed  his  generosity 
and  disinterest.  What  was  it  if  not  generosity,  when  at  his  own 
expense,  he  fitted  out  the  ship  that  brought  him  and  the  other  offi- 
cers to  this  country?  How  many  times  during  the  war  did  he 
clothe  his  soldiers  and  supply  their  wants  when  the  country 
couldn't?  He  proved  his  disinterest  to  the  satisfaction  of  Con- 
gress, when  he  offered  to  serve  as  a  volunteer  without  pay  and  at 
his  own  expense.  Gladly  did  he  forego  the  comforts  and  pleasures 
to  which  education  and  rank  entitled  him,  and  bear  with  the  soldiers 
every  hardship  and  privation.  When,  chiefly  through  his  influence, 
France  agreed  to  send  aid  to  America,  and  offered  him  a  commis- 
sion, he  refused  it  so  as  not  to  arouse  jealousy  among  other  French 
men.    Was  not  this  disinterest  of  the  plainest  type? 

His  most  striking  characteristic,  and  I  think  the  one  by  which 
he  did  us  the  most  service,  was  his  loyalty.  It  strengthened  Wash- 
ington to  have  one  man  upon  whom  he  could  rely  so  completely. 
When  Gates  was  trying  to  stir  up  trouble  against  him  and  had 
appointed  Lafayette  to  take  charge  of  an  invasion  into  Canada  over 
which  he  had  no  control,  he  urged  him  to  accept,  because  it  would 
be  safer  with  him  than  any  one  else.  Lafayette  did  accept  and  he 
carried  it  out  in  such  a  way  that  Gates'  scheme  failed  completely. 
At  the  Battle  of  Monmouth,  too,  when  Washington  sent  Lee  to  com- 
mand over  him,  he  showed  his  loyalty  to  Washington  by  submitting 
quietly  and  doing  all  he  could  to  bring  a  victory  out  of  a  defeat.  But 
what  counted  most,  perhaps,  was  the  faithfulness  with  which  he  car- 
ried out  every  order  no  matter  how  small  and  unimportant. 

Lafayette  also  aided  this  country  by  his  active  efforts  as  a 
French  nobleman.  He  induced  France  and  Spain  to  join  in  pre- 
paring a  fleet  against  the  British,  and  it  was  not  his  fault  that  Spain 
kept  putting  it  off  until  too  late — he  made  the  effort.  He  did  suc- 
ceed in  raising  the  popularity  of  the  Colonies  in  France,  and  in 
securing  six  thousand  troops  under  Rochambeau,  a  fleet  under 
d'Estaing  and  supplies  for  our  soldiers.  After  the  French  forces 
arrived,  he  was  very  useful  in  keeping  harmony  between  the  armiesr 
because  of  his  influence  over  his  own  countrymen  as  well  as 
Americans. 

Lafayette  was  one  of  the  most  faithful  soldiers  as  well  as  one  of 
the  best  generals,  this  country  had  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 
From  the  time  he  offered  himself  as  a  volunteer,  until  the  war  was 
over  he  served  the  country  faithfully  and  well.     At  the  very  be- 
lli 


ginning  of  his  career  in  this  country,  he  became  Washington's 
aide-de-camp,  and  as  such  learned  a  great  deal  of  the  latter 's 
methods  of  fighting.  In  this  capacity  he  was  in  the  thick  of  the 
battle  of  Brandywine  and  did  much,  by  his  ready  daring  to  en- 
courage the  soldiers.  Before  a  wound,  which  he  received  in  this 
battle,  had  entirely  healed,  and  while  he  was  out  to  reconnoitre, 
he  came  unexpectedly  upon  a  large  body  of  Hessians.  He  attacked 
boldly,  and  they,  believing  they  were  fighting  all  of  Greene 's  men, 
retreated.    Thus  he  was  ever  ready  with  his  wit  and  daring. 

Throughout  the  long  dreary  months  when  the  army  was  winter- 
ing at  Valley  Forge,  Lafayette  suffered  with  the  soldiers  and 
helped  alleviate  the  misery  as  best  he  could.  It  was  during  this 
winter  that  Gates  and  Conway  made  the  conspiracy  to  put  Wash- 
ington out  of  power  and  to  put  Gates  in  his  stead.  To  accomplish 
this,  they  wished  to  secure  Lafayette's  help,  so  they  contrived  to 
put  him  at  the  head  of  an  expedition  into  Canada,  with  Conway 
second  in  command.  Upon  Washington's  entreaty  he  accepted  the 
commission,  but  under  such  conditions  that  they  knew  beforehand 
that  their  scheme  was  a  failure.  When  he  arrived  at  Albany,  he 
saw  that  nothing  was  ready  for  an  invasion  of  Canada,  and  that 
the  affair  could  be  nothing  but  a  disappointment  to  America  and 
Europe,  and  a  humiliation  to  himself,  nevertheless  he  made  the 
most  of  his  time  by  improving  the  forts  and  pacifying  the  Indians. 

When  the  British  left  Philadelphia,  Washington  wished  to  fol- 
low and  force  a  battle,  and,  when  General  Lee  laid  down  his  com- 
mand, put  Lafayette  in  charge.  Hardly  had  the  latter  started, 
when  Lee  asked  for  the  command  again.  Washington  could  not  re- 
call Lafayette,  yet  he  wished  to  pacify  Lee,  so  he  trusted  to  Lafay- 
ette's  affection  for  himself,  and  sent  Lee  ahead  with  two  extra  divi- 
sions, when,  as  senior  officer,  he  would  take  charge  of  the  whole. 
Lafayette  retired,  sensibly,  and  did  all  he  could  to  rally  the  battle 
that  Lee  was  conducting  so  poorly.  Finally  he  sent  for  Wash- 
ington— the  only  man  that  could  save  the  day. 

The  only  real  opportunity  Lafayette  had,  of  showing  his  gen- 
eralship, was  in  the  southern  campaign  of  1781,  when  he  was  placed 
in  charge  of  a  thousand  light  infantry  and  ordered  to  check  the 
raids  of  the  British.  By  a  rapid  march  he  forestalled  Philips,  who 
was  threatening  valuable  stores  at  Richmond,  and  harrassed  him 
all  the  way  to  the  Chickahominy  river.  Then,  while  he  was  separat- 
ing the  stores,  Cornwallis,  joined  by  Philips,  took  a  stand  between 

112 


him  and  Albermarle  where  lie  had  placed  a  large  part  of  the  stores. 
While  Cornwallis  was  preparing  to~  fight,  Lafayette,  keeping  in 
mind  the  admonition  of  Washington  not  to  endanger  his  troops, 
escaped  to  Albermarle  by  an  unused  road.  After  this  Cornwallis 
gave  up  hopes  of  trapping  ''that  boy,"  as  he  called  Lafayette, 
and  fortified  himself  at  Yorktown. 

When  Lafayette  had  been  given  the  defense  of  Virginia,  his 
soldiers,  hungry  and  destitute,  were  on  the  point  of  desertion. 
With  ready  tact  he  had  supplied,  from  his  own  pocket,  the  direst 
necessities,  and  then  had  given  them  an  opportunity  of  going 
north.  Of  course,  when  placed  on  their  honor,  they  followed  him 
with  good  will.  Having  received  orders  from  Washington,  not  to 
let  Cornwallis  escape,  he  took  his  stand  on  Malvern  Hill,  a  good 
strategic  position,  to  await  the  coming  of  Washington  and  Rocham- 
beau.  When  the  siege  was  on  and  the  only  possible  escape  for 
Cornwallis  was  through  North  Carolina,  this,  Lafayette  closed  and 
his  light  infantry  also  captured  one  of  the  redoubts  the  British 
had  fixed.  The  Siege  of  Yorktown  ended  his  sendees  for  the  in- 
dependence of  this  country;  the  war  was  over  and  he  was  needed 
no  more. 

The  results  of  Lafayette's  efforts  for  the  cause  of  American 
Independence  can  hardly  be  estimated.  They  say  enthusiasm  is 
contagious  and  it  seemed  so  in  his  case,  for  his  very  enthusiasm  for 
the  cause  won  others  to  it  and  gave  it  greater  popularity  in  Europe 
than  it  would  otherwise  have  had.  In  this  country  he  improved 
the  condition  of  the  soldiers  by  his  ready  generosity,  and  raised 
the  spirit  of  the  army  by  his  own  example  of  disinterested  patriot- 
ism. He  gave  Washington  what  he  most  needed,  at  that  time,  a 
friend  whom  he  could  trust  implicitly,  and  by  his  loyalty  did  his 
share  towards  keeping  the  army  undivided.  The  forces  he  secured 
from  France  encouraged  our  soldiers  and  the  supplies  did  a  good 
deal  towards  satisfying  their  discontent.  By  inducing  France  to 
acknowledge  the  United  States  of  America,  he  did  us  one  of  the 
greatest  services  possible.  We  were  then  one  of  the  world's  na- 
tions, and  our  credit  went  up  accordingly.  It  isn  't  likely  that  the  re- 
sults of  his  efforts  as  an  American  soldier  and  general,  can  ever  be 
fully  ascertained.  He  did  so  many  little  things  just  when  they 
seemed  to  be  so  needed,  that  it  is  impossible  to  sum  up  their  re- 
sults. All  we  can  sav  is  that  he  did  his  best  for  the  cause  of 
American  Independence. 

113 


Third  Prize  Essay 

By  Avrom  M.  Jacobs,  Albany  High  School, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 

Were  I  to  tell  you  the  story  of  the  knights  of  King  Arthur  who 
rode  forth  to  the  jousts  or  to  do  battle  for  their  fair  ladies, 

' '  Who  reverenced  their  conscience  as  their  king, 

Whose  glory  was  redressing  human  wrong, 

Who  spake  no  slander,  no,  nor  listened  to  it," 

where  conjured  elegance  vied  with  enchanted  splendor,  when  mor- 
tals gloried  in  their  goodness — were  I  to  speak  of  this  paradise,  or, 
were  I  to  make  mention  of  the  fairy  prince  who  freed  his  lady  fair 
from  the  dragon's  enchantment,  you  would,  perchance,  say  to  me, 
1 1  You  speak  your  piece  extremely  well,  but  we  want  facts  here,  my 


son." 


But  the  facts  I  mean  to  tell  you  are  stranger  than  any  legend ; 
they,  too,  are  of  a  knight  who  rode  forth  to  free  his  beloved  one 
from  the  enchantment  of  a  cruel  master.  The  beloved  one  was 
America,  the  cruel  master,  Great  Britain,  and  the  young  noble- 
man— but  who  needs  further  introduction? 

France  has  given  to  the  world  the  character  of  Marquis  de  Lafay- 
ette, and  if  French  institutions  had  accomplished  no  other  purpose, 
that  alone  would  have  entitled  France  to  the  profound  respect  and 
gratitude  of  every  liberty -loving  heart. 

Franklin  was  in  France.  He  had  almost  persuaded  King  Louis 
XVI,  the  reigning  monarch,  to  aid  the  thirteen  struggling  colonies, 
when  news  arrived  that  America  had  met  with  severe  reverses,  that 
the  cause  was  almost  lost.  The  American  commissioners  even 
ceased  for  a  time  their  representations  to  the  king,  and  tried  to 
dissuade  Lafayette,  a  young  Frenchman  of  noble  lineage  and  im- 
mense wealth,  vitally  interested  in  America's  struggle,  from  his 

114 


purpose  of  coming*  to  America,  in  aid  of  the  colonists.  But  they 
were  not  yet  aware  of  that  determination,  of  that  nobleness  of  re- 
solve, which  was  to  make  him  stand  pre-eminent  among  patriots  of 
his  time.  Thanking  the  American  commissioners  for  their  frank- 
ness, he  replied,  "Now  is  precisely  the  moment  to  serve  your  cause ; 
the  more  the  people  are  discouraged,  the  greater  utility  will  result 
from  my  departure.  If  you  cannot  furnish  me  with  a  vessel,  I  will 
purchase  one  and  freight  it  at  my  own  expense  to  convey  your 
despatches  and  my  person  to  the  shores  of  America.  The  moment 
I  heard  of  America  I  loved  her ;  the  moment  I  knew  she  was  fighting 
for  freedom,  I  burned  with  a  desire  of  bleeding  for  her;  and  the 
moment  I  shall  be  able  to  serve  her,  at  any  time  or  in  any  part 
of  the  world,  will  be  the  happiest  moment  of  my  life." 

"The  characteristic  of  genuine  heroism  is  its  persistency,"  said 
Emerson.  Less  determined  men  than  Lafayette  would  have  paused 
at  any  one  of  the  obstacles  that  beset  the  youth,  but  his  irrevocable 
determination  that  right  should  triumph  made  all  difficulties  appear 
as  naught.  What  would  have  been  a  stone  wall  to  others  was  an 
open  gateway  to  Lafayette.  Let  us  consider,  then,  some  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  this  dauntless  young  nobleman  had  to  overcome. 

King  Louis  had  by  this  time  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
the  best  policy  for  France  to  remain  neutral.  England  threatened 
war  at  the  first  intervention.  Consequently,  he  forbade  Lafayette 
to  take  the  side  of  the  Americans.  The  displeasure  of  a  monarch 
was  nothing  to  be  scoffed  at,  even  by  a  Marquis,  particularly  since 
it  might  incur  exile  and  confiscation  of  his  vast  estates.  Neverthe- 
less, Lafayette,  having  made  a  trip  to  England  in  order  to  mislead 
the  king,  sailed  a  few  weeks  later  from  Spain,  accompanied  by  a 
few  friends,  in  a  ship  which  had  been  there  fitted  out  according  to 
his  orders. 

Not  onlv  did  the  king  oppose  his  plan,  but  his  relatives  as  well 
did  all  in  their  power  to  thwart  his  undertaking.  The  displeasure 
of  the  kino"  was  bad  enough,  but  how  infinitely  worse  must  it  have 
beon  to  risk  the  affections  of  those  whom  he  really  loved?  His 
dpvotion  to  his  ideal,  however,  was  stronger  even  than  ties  of 
blood,  and  thus  another  difficulty  was  mastered. 

Not  only  did  almost  insurmountable  obstacles  have  to  be  over- 
come, but  great  sacrifices  had  also  to  be  made,  and  a  due  con- 

115 


sideration  for  these  sacrifices  is  necessary  for* a  proper  apprecia- 
tion of  his  services.  Doubtless  there  were  others  willing  to  take 
America's  side  in  her  struggle  since  they  had  nothing  to  lose  and 
all  to  gain,  but  Lafayette  was  no  such  "soldier  of  fortune."  He 
had  been  but  recently  married  and  was  exceptionally  devoted  to 
his  wife ;  he  had  been  bred  in  ease  and  luxury,  surrounded  by  every 
mark  of  wealth,  living  on  beautiful  estates  with  many  servants;  he 
held  a  high  place  at  court  and  was  favored  with  the  good  will  of 
the  king.  All  this  he  relinquished.  His  wife  he  left,  his  estates 
he  jeopardized,  his  king's  friendship  he  for  a  time  lost.  Still,  he 
did  not  abandon  or  forget  his  wife,  for  his  biographies  abound  with 
touching  letters  to  her,  letters  full  of  feeling  and  devotion  and 
which  exhibit  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  of  the  knight  upon  whom 
this  country,  with  its  new  scenes,  customs  and  people,  had  made  a 
lively  impression. 

Lafayette's  reception  in  America  was  most  discouraging.  No 
flag  bedecked  gunboat  boomed  a  salute  as  the  future  defenders  of 
our  liberty  first  set  foot  upon  American  soil,  but  covertly  they 
rowed  to  the  shore  and  proceeded  to  a  house  near  by.  In  justice 
to  the  American  nation,  let  it  be  said  that  there  was  some  excuse 
for  this.  Silas  Deane,  while  in  Europe,  had  contracted  for  so  many 
foreigners  to  come  to  America,  all  of  whom  demanded  large  sums 
of  money  and  high  rank,  and  who  really  were  no  better  than  our 
soldiers,  that  Americans  in  the  service  were  justly  affronted  at 
having  to  make  way  for,  and  be  controlled  by,  men  of  foreign  na- 
tionality. Conseouently,  Congress,  thinking  Lafayette  in  the  same 
class  with  the  others,  determined  to  have  little  to  do  with  him. 
But  when  he  requested  to  be  allowed  to  enlist  as  a  volunteer,  and 
without  pay,  the  eyes  of  all  were  opened  and  Lafavette's  worth 
was  at  last  appreciated.  Though  he  served  cheerfully  as  a  volun- 
teer, he  was  ambitions  for  distinction.  That  he  was  sensible,  dis- 
creet and  earnest  was  soon  evident  to  Washington,  through  whose 
inflnonce  he  was  given  the  rank  of  Major-General. 

We  are  wont  to  picture  Lafayette  as  the  brilliant  youth  of  eigh- 
teen, born  to  every  courtly  luxury,  whose  heart  was  enlisted  when 
he  heard  of  America's  fight  for  independence.  Washington  said 
of  him,  "This  noble  soldier  combines  all  the  military  fire  of  youth 
with  an  unusual  maturity  of  judgment."  Tn  most  cases  where  we 
see  Lafayette  in  action,  he  appears  as  defender,  rather  than  as  an 

116 


aggressor.  His  retreats  were  clever,  skillfully  planned  and  well 
executed,  especially  that  one  from  Barren  Hill  in  1778,  which  was 
commended  as  masterly.  He  fought  in  the  Battle  of  Monmouth  in 
that  year;  he  was  severely  wounded  at  Brandywine,  and  received 
from  Congress  a  formal  recognition  of  his  services  on  the  Rhode 
Island  expedition.  He  was  charged  with  the  defense  of  Virginia  in 
which  Washington  gave  him  the  credit  of  having  done  all  that  was 
possible.  A  tribute  like  this  from  the  greatest  military  genius  of 
the  age  is  undeniable  proof  of  his  services  on  the  field.  At  Valley 
Forge  we  find  him  occupying  a  conspicuous  position,  ready  and 
eager  to  do  his  share  in  the  great  work.  The  Battle  of  Yorktown, 
in  which  he  bore  a  most  honorable  part,  terminated  his  military 
career  in  the  United  States. 

Lafayette's  services,  however,  were  not  confined  to  the  battle- 
field alone.  It  was  this  noble  youth  who  imbued  the  almost  dis- 
couraged Americans  with  an  undying  spirit  of  patriotism.  To  see 
a  stranger  so  valiantly  contending  in  another's  behalf  must  have 
been  an  incentive  to  action  to  each  and  everv  American.  It  was 
he  who  rekindled  the  smouldering  fires  of  patriotism ;  he,  too,  who 
fanned  the  spark  of  enthusiasm  until  it  burst  forth,  a  powerful  and 
consuming  flame. 

Then,  too,  Lafayette's  efforts  to  gain  recognition  of  America's 
independence  and  material  assistance  from  France  were  most 
diplomatic.  All  appreciate  that  Franklin  was  directly  instrumental 
in  gaining  the  much  desired  alliance,  but  Lafayette 's  energy  was  of 
no  mean  value.  Clever,  affable  and  courtly,  he  could  accomplish 
what  to  others  meant  certain  failure. 

But,  you  ask  me,  how  did  this  man  spend  his  later  life?  Did 
he  reap  the  fruits  of  those  services?  When  we  visit  his  grave,  not 
in  the  great  cemetery  of  Pere  Lachaise,  not  in  the  Pantheon,  but  in 
a  remote  little  burying  place  on  the  outskirts  of  Paris,  we  obtain 
our  answer.  Here  we  are  reminded  of  a  different  Lafayette.  We 
see  the  dark,  sad  side  of  his  later  years  and  the  echoes  of  the  un- 
fortunate happenings  which  came  to  the  liberty-loving  hero.  One 
day  of  honor,  the  next  day  in  prison;  an  hour  of  pleasure  and  an 
hour  of  sorrow  fill  the  last  days  of  the  man  who  had  fought  for  over 
half  a  century,  although  he  detested  war;  who  had  struggled 
mightily  for  social  equity,  although  he  himself  was  an  aristocrat; 

117 


but  who  has  left  posterity  a  heritage,  prouder  than  a  pedigree  of 
kings — the  heritage  of  an  effort  well  made. 

Yes,  Lafayette  has  done  America  a  service.  This  courageous 
youth,  with  his  kind  and  generous  heart,  his  brave  and  heroic 
demeanor  and  his  extraordinary  ability  to  overcome  obstacles  has 
won  for  himself  an  everlasting  place  in  the  hearts  of  Americans  and 
Frenchmen  alike.  The  people  of  America  honored  him  on  his 
visits  here  as  the  nation's  guest;  they  honored  him  by  raising 
statues  to  his  memory,  but  the  greatest  honor  is  the  regard  in  which 
we  hold  him.  ' '  The  man  of  two  worlds, ' '  he  has  been  called.  ' '  The 
man  of  two  worlds"  he  was.  He  was  the  connecting  link  between 
two  continents  estranged  by  the  scourge  of  war.  He  left  the  world 
better  for  his  having  lived  in  it.  It  is  said  that  Republics  are  un- 
grateful, but  America  does  not  forget  Lafayette. 


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