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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
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Banks, Robert L.
Banks, Warren S.
Barber, Simeon M.
Barbour, William D.
Barck, Oscar Theodore
Barker, Irving Haynes
Barker, James F., M. D.
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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
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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.
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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
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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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