Full text of "St. Paul's Church, Red Hook, Duchess [sic] County, New York : ... Rose Hill ... De Peyster family ..."

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RELATING TO THE

DE PEYgTEI^ ^ND W;qWS

AND AFFILIATED FAMILIES,

CONNECTED WITH

Red Hook Township, Duchess Co., S. N. Y

" And oft conducted by historic truth,
We tiead the long extent of backward time."

THOMSON.

" There is a history in all men's lives,
Figuring the nature of the times deceased."

SHAKSPERE.

" History is the essence of innumerable biographies."

" We leave
Our home in youth — no matter to what end-
Study— or strife — or pleasure, or what not ;
And coming back in few short years, we find
All as we left it outside : the old elms.
The house, the grass, gates, and latchets self-same click ;
But lift that latchet, — all is changed as doom."

BAILEYS " FESTUS.'

^tw lovh:

CHARLES H. LUDWIG, PRINTER, 10 & 12 READE STREET.

1881.
♦ 0 (b «

ft. f auFs mxMVch.

RED HOOK, DUCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

" Thy best type, Desire
Of the sad heart, — the Heaven-ascending spire ! "

Sir E. B. Lytton.

asc Bill.

" Know'st thou this country ? "

Shakspere's ^^Tmel/th Nights

" • — it is a goodly sight to see
What Heaven hath done for this delicious land !
What goodly prospects o'er the hills expand."

V,\ROii's ''ChiUc Harold."

-^h^&^tt:^^^

§e ^cijstcr !^amily.

" Signor, is all your family within ? "

Shakspere's ^^Othello"

On Fame's eternall bead-roll worthie to be fyled."

Spenser's ''^Faerie Qucene.

" Superior worth your rank requires;
For that mankind reveres your sires;
If you degenerate from your race,
Their merit heightens your disgrace."
Gay.

y ".A.NCH;OR."rD6eu3.-3

(•J.W. »e p. •)

1 nv 1 0 r fe :

CHARLES H. LUDWIG, PRINTER, 10 & Vi READE STREET.

188 1.

MAY 20 IIM

3T. ffmii^ cjiu^cp.

' High springs the church, like
Some fount-shadowing pahn."

MlI.MAN.

" 1 love the ivy-mantled tower,
Rocked hy the storms — "

Cunningham.

St. Paul's Episcopi?l*Cliurt;li*is situated in the extreme
north-west corner of Red Hook (tlie north-west town of
Duchess county.) The first entry in connection with it,
to l)e found in the records, bears tlate in December, 1816.

Tliis Church was incorporated agreeably to an Act of
the Legislature, State of New York, in 1817, and was
admitted into the Union of the Protestant Episcojjal
Church, State of New York, 21st of October, same year.
Rev. Henry Antlion, then Deacon, afterwards Rector of
St. Mark's, New York — was the first minister, having com-
menced his services in the neighborhood of Upper Red Hook
Landing — now Tivoli — in Decendjer, 1816. The first
bajDtism noted was that of Mary Kimball, and the first
burial, Joseph Kimball, occurred in December, 1816.

On the Tth of July, 1818, the corner-stone of the first
church building was laid in a lot on the north-west corner

of the main road running east from Tivoli to Upper Red
Hook and the Germantown or Telegraph, then known as
the River road, crossing the former at right-angles. The
structure, unpretending, was of wood, and known as tlie
" White Church," in contradistinction to the Dutch Re-
formed Church, less than a mile farther to the north, on
the same road, which was the oldest place of w^orship in
the town, and recognized far and near as the "Red
Church," from its color.

On the 27tli of May, 1819, St. Paul's was consecrated
by the beloved and revered Bishop John Henry Hobart,
who at the same time celebrated the marriage of the
Rector. St-. Paul's is the second Episcopal congregation
organized in Duchess county, that of St. James, at Hyde
Park, being the first.

The first Wardens were Edward P. Livingston, Lieu-
tenant-Governor State of New York, 1831-32, and John S.
Livingston, who had been first Judge of Columbia county.

After a zealous discharge of his duties for three years,
Mr. Anthon was succeeded in his charge by the following
gentlemen, several of whom rose to high dignities or pro-
minent positions: Rev. ISTathaniel T. Bruce, M. D.,
1820-24 ; Rev. William Sheldon, 1824- ; Rev. Cicero
S. Hawks, D. D., subsequently Bishop of Missouri ; Rev.
Ravaud Kearny; Rev. John McCarty, D. D., afterwards
Chaplain, U. S. A., with General Scott, who held the first
Protestant services in the capital of Mexico, and preached

the first Evangelical sermon in tlie cathedral of that city ;
llev. John Henry Ilobart, son of the bishop of the same
name ; Rev. Henry cle Koven ; Rev. R. O. Page ; and Rev.
G. Lewis Piatt, A. M. The latter is still Rector, having
officiated twenty-three years.

The Rev. Messrs. E. A. Nichols, Adams, Bartlett and
Punderson also, at different times, have had temporary
charge of the chm-ch, but not as Rectors.

The original site was selected on account of its ceiitral
position as to the congregation, who were scattered along
the river and River road, north and south, for a distance
of over sixteen miles. The building of several other Epis-
copal churches — three in this town and one in Clermont,
Columbia county, — having drawn oif a number of mem-
bers, it was determined to sell the old, and build a new,
church. The change was not satisfactoi-y to all, because
the grounds had been fenced and improved by one member
and a free school erected by several in union, which finally
fell into the hands of General de Peyster as sole trustee,
in which about fifty scholars were educated by him at one
time, many of whom did great credit to the institution.

On June 16th, 1868, the corner-stone of the new Church
of St. Paul's was laid with impressive services, and an ap-
propriate address was delivered by the Rector, Rev. G.
Lewis Piatt, A. M.

The site is beautiful, on new River road, about a quar-
ter of a mile north of the main road from Tivoli station

to MacLaliii village. The grounds originally contained two
acres, of wliicli one and a lialf were deeded as liis subscrip-
tion to the Church by Mr. E. A. Livingston, and half an
acre by General de Peyster as a part of his subscrij^tion.
The latter gentleman subsequently added another acre to
the west, and tM^o acres more were purchased by the con-
gregation to the south. The gi-eater part of the land is
handsomely disposed and thickly set with noble trees.
The total cost of the structure, including the organ and all
complete for consecration, according to one statement was
$18,000; according to another, $22,000.

The original subscription jiapers contain the following
names: John S. Livingston, Kobert E. Livingston and
Johnston Livingston, .each $1,500 ; the Misses Clarkson,
$1,200; General J. Watts de Peyster, $1,150, besides the
land donated ; Thomas Streatfield Clarkson and Miss
Fredericka Clarkson, $1,000; Clermont Livingston, $800;
Miss Mary Clarkson, E. II. Ludlow, E. L. Ludlow,
Valentine G. Hall, Jr. and Wm. 11. Hunt, the present
Secretary of the Navy, each $500 ; Mrs. Margaret Clarkson
and Colonel Frederic de Peyster, Jr., each $100.

A second call for funds was generously responded toby
a majority of the original donors. Thomas Streatfield
Clai'kson and Johnston Livingston gave each $500 ; Mr.
and Mrs. Clermont Livingston and sister, $400 ; Robert E.
Livingston, $300; Eugene A. Livingston, $200; Mrs.

Henry B. Livingston, $150 ; and E. L. Ludlow, E. H.
Lndlow and Yalentine G. Hall, Jr., each $100.

St. Paul's is a building of rough stone, roofed with slate,
about 92 feet long and 57 feet wide outside of all, with a
spacious chancel to the rear, and a tower and spire at the
northeast corner 90 feet high, partly stone and partly tim-
ber, surmounted by a large gilt cross. The windows are
partly of ground and partly of stained glass between
buttresses. There is a semi-sexagonal transept to the
south, whose interior constitutes the spacious pews of
Johnston Livingston, Esq. and General de Peyster. The
style of architecture is pure original English or Norman
Gothic, and now that it is almost entirely overgrown with
five-leaved or American ivy, popularly known as the
Virginia creeper — planted for the most part with her own
hands and fostered with care by Mrs. Estelle L. de Peyster —
there is scarcely a church to be seen anywhere throughout
the land which presents a prettier picture. It faces the
east and stands on a sort of esplanade ; from this fact, and
through the judgment exhibited in taking advantage of the
natural disposition of the ground, and moreover, from its
resting, as it were, upon a long row of substantial vaults in
the rear that seem to constitute a portion of the foundation
of the edifice, — the church, viewed from the west, towers
aloft with graceful outline amid the original trees, as if
constructed upon an elevated artificial plateau. Thence, in
every direction, the eye of a ^^sitor rests on beautiful or

pleasing scenery, and to the westward lie enjoys a mag-
nificent prospect of the whole range of the Catskills.

The grading around the church was done under the
personal superintendence of Gen. de Peyster, and at the
expense of Mr. Johnston Livingston and himself For
this a handsome Resolution of Thanks was voted and
presented by tlie Vestry. From the northwest, again, the
appearance of the church, springing up among the tall
trees and above the vaults, is imposing, and resembles
some of the religious structures of Europe which are
deemed worthy of especial notice in guide-books.

■ The vaults, beginning to the south with that of Gen.
de Peyster, immediately in the rear of the chancel, were
built by Johnston Livingston, by the Estate of John S.
Livingston, Col. Louis Livingston, Pobert E. Livingston,
T. Streatfield Clarkson, the Clarkson family and E. H.
Ludlow. Cambridge Livingston has a handsome vault
apart, and Gen. de Peyster owns two plots to be used as
positions for monuments, some of which have been already
set up. James B. Toler, E. A. Livingston, V. G. Hall,
Jr. and Col. Frederic de Peyster, second son of the
General, each have been purchasers of plots for vault
purposes.

Very peculiar arrangements have been entered into by
the original subscribers for the protection for all time of
their burial-places, so that this "God's acre" is less liable
to probable or possible desecration or vandalism than any

other in tlie country. Even the style of monuments is
under the safeguard of a committee, and the jurisdiction of
the Yestry is restricted to the church itself and a space of
only a few feet outside of the walls of it.

As the grounds are new, the monuments are as yet few
and principally erected to members of the Watts and de
Peyster families. One of these, quite imposing from its
situation and surroundings, of a pecidiarly hard gray
marble which seems calculated to last forever, bears the
name of John Watts on the east base, and • John Watts
DE Peyster* on the west base and the following inscrip-
tions on two faces, east and north :

In Memory of
JOHN WATTS,

born in the city of NeAV York,
27 th of August, 1749 (Old Style),

and died there

3rd (6th) Sept., 1836 (New Style) :

(3d Son of Hon. John Watts, Senior,

Member King's Council,

and destined Lt. Gov. Province of New York.

and of Anne, eldest daughter of

Etienne ( Stephen ),de Lancey,) —

Last Royal Recorder, City of New York, 1774-77;

Speaker of Assembly, S. N. Y., 1791-94 ;

Member of Congress, U. S., 1793-95 ;

First Judge of Westchester Co., N. Y, 1806 ;

&c., &c., &c.

Founder and endoAver of the Leake & Watts

Orphan House, New Yoi'k City.

"VlR ^QUANIMITATIS."

10
In Memory of

and of his wife

Maiy Justina Watts,

youngest Child and Daughter of

Hon. John Watts, 2d ; and of Jane, —

[the latter] Daughter of Peter de Lancey,

" of the Mills," Westchester Co., N. Y.

and [of] Elizabeth Colden, Daughter of

Cadwallader Colden, Royal Lt. Gov.

and Acting Gov. Province N. Y. —

Born in New York City, 26th Oct., 1801,

and died there 28th of July, 1821.

The west and south sides of the plintli have no lettering.

Westward of this is a large and extremely tasty marble
memorial of a young and handsome Union officer, who
died of the ultimate results of exposure and disease con-
tracted during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862. On
the obverse are a few lines, setting forth his name, rank,
Ac, as follows :

FREDERIC DE PEYSTER, Jr.
Brevet Colonel, N. Y. V.,

Brevet Major, U. S. V.

Born in New York City,

13th December, 1842,

Died at Rose Hill,

in the Township of

Red Hook, Duchess Co.,

3()th October, 1874.

of diseases contracted in the field, with the

Army of North-

Eastern Virginia in 18(51,

and with the Army of the

Potomac in 18G2.

The reverse indicates where his remains have found
their last resting-j^lace, as follows :

(Fourth Corps Badge, Second Division.)
A. of the P.

Tlie mortal remains lie
in liis fatlier's vault,
west of the church.

As he discharged hoth line and staff, or medical, duty
in one of the New York regiments which was considered
as belonging to the- artillery, a ten-pounder Parrot gun
which had performed service in putting doM^n the "Slave-
holders' Rebellion," is planted at the corner of this
monumental plot, which is guarded from intrusion by an
apparently simple but costly fence of strong wrought iron
standards set in blocks of stone connected by heavy rods
of the same metal.

Immediately south of the southern projection of the
church, within an enclosure, and guarded by two ten-
pounder Parrot guns, perhaps the very ones with which
he served, is an ol)elisk of white marble, sculptured with
appropriate military emblems, erected in honor of a young
Union artillery officer. It bears the following inscription :

In Memory of
JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER, Jr.
Major First New York Vol. Artillery,
Brevet Colonel U. S. V. and N. Y. V.

" Greatly distinguislied for gallantry

and good conduct at the Battle of

Williamsburg" (Monday, 5tli May, 1862,

as Aid to his cousin, Maj. General
Philip Kearny), "and no less remarked

for his coolness and courage under

me (Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker) at the

Battle of Chancollorsville" (2d, 3d, 4th

May, 1863, as Chief of Artillery,

2d Division, 6th Corps), to Maj. General

Albion P. Howe.

After nearly ten years unremitted

suffering, the consequence of

arduous service in the field, he

died 12th of April, 1873, in his native

City of New York, aged 31 years,

4 months and 10 days.

Immediately in the rear of the clmrch and against the
chancel wall is another marble tablet, lettered as follows :

Third Corps, 1st Div. and Sixth Corps, 2d Div. Badges.

In the Vault beneath

rest the mortal remains

of Brevet Colonel

JOHN WATTS i)E PEYSTER, Jr.

Major 1st N. Y. Vol. Arty.

Born 2d December, 1841,

in the city of New York,

and died there 12th of April, 1873.

" A yoimg officer " ( whom Kearny

styled " as brave as himself") "of

zeal, energy, and fired with a

})atriotic ambition."

(Major Gen. Peck.)

"A soldier of great force in

action, and capable by his

personal heroism of inspiring

others with his own fiery courage."

( Brig. Gen. Josh, T. Owen.)

" The chivalric gallantry of

. character and the patriotic

devotion to duty Avhich led

Col. de Peyster in the voluntary

performance of more than duty,

to sacrifice upon the altar of

his country, his health and the

bright promise of a noble manhood,

justly entitle him to the favorable

consideration of his government

and the kind consideration of

his countrymen."

(Maj. Gen. A. P. Howe.)

In every position, as a Staff,

Cavalry, and Artillery officer,

equally distinguished, he died

a martyr for the Union.

In alluding to the vault, special mention should be made
of the plain but enduring appearance of the one which
belongs to Gen. de Peyster. It is constructed of enormous
blocks of Hudson river bluestone, laid in courses, and
looks as if it would last as long as humanity requires a
place of sepulture ; the entrance is closed with a wrouglit-
iron door as strong as the structure itself, and bears a
forged iron monogram. Everything seems to be calculated
to insure durability. On either side of the entrance are two

1-i

other ten-pounder Parrot guns, conceded by tlie United
States Government after the war. They are most appro-
priate in their position, as they seem to sentinel tlie last
repose of two, who, on terrible fields,

" Knew their voices of old,"

although — as Tennyson beautifully expresses it in his
"Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" — these
young soldiers, who

" — heard great ordnance in the field,"
" — in pitched battle heard
' Loud 'larums ; neighing steeds and trumpets chmg ! "
are

" Silent
Forever : and whatever tempests lower,
Forever silent ; even if tliey broke
111 thunder, Silent ! "

The facade of Gen. de Peyster's vault is surmounted
by a very handsome sarcophagus in Italian marble, bearing
the following inscriptions :

Facing west, obverse —

In Memory of
MARIA LIVINGSTON de PEYSTER,

youngest daughter and child of

John Watts and Estelle

de Peyster.

Born 7th July, 1852,

Died 24th September, 1857.

15
Facing east, reverse —

In Memory of

our beloved aunt,

ELIZABETH WATTS LAIGIIT,

daughter of

John and Jane de Lancey

Watts.

Died 23d June, 18G6,

aged 82 years.

The first, on the obverse, is a record of one of the most
remarkable children that ever gladdened the hearts of
parents : she realized the hackneyed truism of Shakespeare
so often quoted and too often misapplied,

" So wise, so young, they say, did ne'er live long."

The reverse commemorates tlie name of one of the best
of women ; one of noblest examples of self-denial and
benevolence. Blessed with means, she employed thevn
almost entirely in doing good and giving pleasure ; not
through a blind and indiscriminate charity, but by dividing
among the needy and "God's poor" over six-sevenths of her
income. Such examples of unostentatious generosity are
very rare ; but her gifts were inherited, for she was the
daughter of the Hon. John Watts of Kew York, who,
becoming possessed of a large fortune by the premature
death of a noble son, he would not appropriate the funds
that came into his hands through such a calamity, but
with them founded a Refuge for the Fatherless. Nor w^ould

lie take to himself the sole credit for his disinterestedness,
but associated with his own name that of the connection
from M'hom the fortune was originally derived and also the
idea of such an institution.

Thus this grand charity, whose buildings on the crown-
ing height overlook Central and Morning Side Parks, is
known as the Leake and Watts Orphan House. It was so
entitled by John Watts, wdio furnished the endowment.
The John G. Leake, whose name precedes his own, was
the brother of Major Robert Leake, who married Mar-
garet Watts, sister of the philanthropist. He (John G.
Leake) bequeathed his property to Robert Watts, the only
surviving son (who died before his father) of John Watts,
the founder.

i^e3E Hiiiii.

" Come, we'll e'en to our country-seat repair."

John Norkis.

" Cedar and pine [hemlock] and branching [oak],
A sylvan scene ; and as the ranks ascend,
Shade above shade, a woody theatre
Of stateliest view."

Milton.

" Within an ancient forest's ample verge.
But for convenience, and the use of life ; — "

Nicholas Rovve's T>agiii}\ '■"yiii/e S/io>c."

" Which sloping hills around enclose,

There stands a lonely, but a healthful dwelling.
Where many a beech and brown oak grows ;
Beneath whose dark and branching bowers,

It's tides a far-famed river pours:
By nature's beauties taught to please.
Sweet Tusculum of rural ease."

Whakton.

Rose Hill, the countrj-seat of Gen. Jolin Watts de
Peyster, is one of the loveliest spots conceivable. It is
especially so through the care taken to preserve the
primeval trees, of which there are nearly fifty varieties
upon the grounds. The latter are suifered to remain, as far
as possible, in their natural and romantic wildness. There
are ravines spanned by simple bridges, precipices, a small
artificial lakelet, hills, dales, dells, and curious roads
climbing rough elevations ; all under the shade of a forest
in which evergreens predominate, so that the domain,

overhead, appears almost as green after the deciduous
trees have shed their foliage as when they were in full
leaf.

The long avenue is anot'her striking feature, and the
color of the road-bed, bister grey, harmonizes with the
bordering trees, deciduous and evergreen alternating, that
form a long continuous arch overhead ; midway one
patriarchal white oak throws an enormous branch across
the road to meet the opposite wild pear and pines, which
spring up and mingle their varied green to constitute a
massive span such as is rarely seen without the assistance
of careful cultivation.

The domain takes its name from the country-place of
the owner's great-grandfather, Hon. John Watts, Senior,
in the city of New York, on a portion of which domain
the General's city residence is erected. This original
estate gave its name to a large district of north-east ISTew
York a half century since, and embraced the grounds noM'
occupied by Bellevue Hospital. The original title was
derived from an estate in Scotland, just outside, but now
within, the limits of Edinburgh, wherein the old mansion,
"Rose Hill," is still standing, massive and almost intact,
although the gi-ounds have been perverted to utilitarian
purposes. About two hundred years ago its owner was
known from this property as "John Watt of Rose Hill,"
in connection with the marriage of his daughter, Margaret,
to Sir Walter Riddell, Barfc., whose family charter dates

back to between 1124 and 1153, and to David, King of
Scotland. A number of poems by Burns were addressed
to members of this family, of wliom the present baronet is
the tenth.

'* RosEHiLL " — according to a response from Scotland in
relation thereto — " is an old estate, or district, about one mile
west from Edinburgh on the old Glasgow road, where Gard-
ner's Crescent and several large churches are built. The
Caledonian Railway passes thi'ough it. There are two places,
or one-sided streets, both called ' Rosehill Place.' When
Gardner's Crescent is mentioned in the ' Edinburgh Directory'
it is called Gardner's Crescent ' Rosehill,' denoting the district
or country ; but it is nearly all built over and must be very
valuable property to the proprietors. Grove street is also
part of it ; the Canal Basin is on it, and Union Canal passes
through it. There are several places ' Rosebank ' and ' Rose
Crescent' in the vicinity; it is near Dalay House. It was a
beautiful place before it was built over ; I remember it nearly
fifty years since myself.

" Rosehill House described in this paper is about 2000 feet
south-west of the Castle and just north-east of Grove Square,
and about 2000 feet west by south of the Grassmarket.

" There is an hospital for decayed merchants and shop-
keepers, called ' Watt's Hospital,' in Leith Lincks, near the foot
of the Easter road, a fine house and grounds. I have seen it
hundreds of times. It was built and endowed with funds left
by a gentleman of the name of Watt, who died many years
since. It is for people who have been in good circumstances,
but decayed ; but whether this Watt was connected with
' Rosehill ' or not I cannot ascertain."

" Rosehill House is still standing and in very good repair,
although likely to be pulled down in two or three years to
make room for new houses. It is on the left hand side of
Tobago street, as you go west from the Canal Basin to the
Haymarket station of the Caledonian Railway, a little bit

past Grove street. It is a large square building, sixty feet
square, [plastered] yellow [dull oclire] harled (mottled),
within a gate. It is three stories high, four windows in a row
on every floor to the front,with a belt of stone above the under-
windows ; the semi-circle or half-round projection has a
splendid view to the west and has windows on each floor. The
windows are a good distance from each other, on the old
fashioned plan. A modern house of the same size would have
twice as many windows. It has a flattish slated roof. There
are very large grounds connected with it ; the gardens have
been let to a market-gardener for many years, but the great
portion of the grounds have been used as a coal-depot by the
Caledonian Railway Company. The house is occupied by
Mr. Burn, coal merchant; although too large for any ordinary
family.

" There is [another] good oldliouse called 'Rose Hall' on the
old Dalkeith road, [at the] head of Blackett place ; but Edin-
burgh has extended so much and been built over, and the old
names are altered and forgotten."

" There is also a place called ' Rosehill,' or ' The Ifermitage,'
at Frithfield, near the Baths, F^ast End, Leith Links."

So dear was their original liome, '"Rose Hill," to all of
the "Watt" or " Watts " family, tliat, wherever tlioy
locate, tliey testify their aft'ectioiiate regard by naming
their country-places after the ancestral lionse near " Anld
Reekie."

Few private residences, on any river, stream or estuar}^,
liave been or could be placed in sncli a position as the Rose
Hill Mansion on the Hudson. It stands on a bluff between
seventy and eighty feet above tide-w^ater, and about the
same distance from the original edge of the steep bank. It
commands a view up and down the Hudson of, perhaps,

twenty miles of water, although the eye can 4etect the
course of the stream much farther than this distance, since
the eminences, on either side, which mark its course, are
plainly visible from the piazza for nearly twenty-five
miles to the southward. From the same spot a sea of
mountains are in sight : the highest summits of the
Catskills ; "Hunter Mountain or the Liberty Cap,"
or "Kound Top," 4050 feet, and "High Peak or the
Man on the Mountain," are almost directly opposite,
while to the south-west stretches away the Shawangunk
range. On the night of a National festival, for instance
the 4th of July, the symbols of rejoicing, such as bonfires,
illuminations and rockets, are plainly visible throughout a
vast area.

The channel runs immediately along the shore in front of
the de Peyster house, and fishermen w^ho set their eel-pots
in the "Pool," say that these require lines between eighty
and ninety feet long ; so deep is it, in fact, that the largest
steamboats have r\m so close in, that from the brink
above a biscuit could have been pitched upon the upper
deck. This actually occurred some years ago, before the
railroad w^as built, when a huge day-boat, forced out of
its course to avoid a collision with sailing vessels, sheered
in so near to the bank that between the vessel and the
shore was less than the cast of an ordinary fishing line.
In the era of sailing vessels, over eighty have been counted
in sight at once ; and at present, at night, very often, from

just north of the "Klein Sopus Light," or " Swaannen
Plaat," below Port Ewing, the stream is ablaze with the
light of steamboats and their luminous ' ' tows, ' ' as brilliant
as if it was an aquatic "festival of lanterns." In rarely
exceptional years, but more frequently of late, the salt
water makes farther and farther up the river, especially in
times of drouth, when, its fresh sources and feeders being
diminished in volume, the waters of the Hudson become
brackish. In such seasons, crabs have been taken within a
few miles of Rose Hill, and its owner is perfectly cogni-
sant of the capture of seals in Esopus, or Saugerties, creek,
opposite ; having seen the fresh and bleeding pelt of one,
just skinned, which had been taken in a fyke. According
to the old records, a whale once ascended to Albany,
grounded and died on a flat ; and once, if not twice, within
forty years, porpoises were seen leajiing in front of Rose
Hill. Sea-gulls, driven inland by tempests, often make
their appearance in flocks in the vicinity.

Since the Hudson River Railroad so completely marred
the beauty of the left bank of the Hudson, it is almost
impossible to realize the former beauties of Rose Hill
promontory, originally known as "Snake Point," on account
of the enormous number of copperheads which frequented
its rocks and the dense undergrowth which covered it. It
did not take long, hoM^ever, to exterminate these reptiles.
Specimens, some of them enormous, over four feet long
and three or four inches through, were killed ; and, almost

incredible as the statement may seem, a black snake,
twelve to fourteen feet long, was seen by the owner of
Rose Hill and other credible witnesses, and hunted by the
former, escaping up a tree. Clearing up the woods, but es-
pecially burning the leaves — which accumulate annually in
enormous quantities — and the branches thrown down by
violent winds at different periods of the year, have so
completely rid the premises of snakes that even harmless
ones are very rarely met.

Eose Hill projects so far out into the river that it is
beyond the islands two miles below, which at one time
were about in the centre of the wide expanse of water
between the main shores. Nearly one-half of this, how-
ever— to the eastward, through natural as well as artificial
causes — has been gradually — in the course of a century —
converted into pasture or bog and a waste of water-weeds.
To give a better idea, however, of the projection,
steamboats which pass down in front have to sheer in so
far in making their landing at Tivoli, a quarter of a mile
below, that they disappear from the sight of those looking
southward and watching them from the piazza of the
mansion.

Rose Hill House itself has grown like one of the old
English family houses, Matli the increase of the family,
until in strange but picturesque outline — the prevailing
style being the Italian — somewhat in the shape of a cross ;
it is now 114 feet long by 87 feet deep. Tlie tower in the

rear, devoted to library pin-poses, rises to the height
of about sixty feet. Tliis library, first and last, has
contained betw^een twenty and thirty thousand volumes.
Such indefinite language is used, because the owner has
donated over half this number to the New York Historical
Society, the New York Society Library, and a number of
other similar organizations in diflferent parts of the United
States. As a M^orking library, replete with dictionaries
and cyclopasdias, in many tongues and on almost every
subject, it is a marvel. It is likewise very valuable for its
collections on military and several other special topics.
From it was selected and given to the New York
Historical Society, one of the finest possible collections
on the History of Holland, from the earliest period down
to the present time. In spite of all these donations it is
still a curiosity shop ; not only for a bibliophile, but for
a cui'io-seeker.

The figures vary from the vast basalt image of Centeotl,
the Aztec Goddess of Plenty, from the "House of the
Gods," atToluca — brought thence by Major-General (then
Major, U. S. A.) J. W, Phelps — down to exquisite miniature
modern bronzes ; the swords from the most valuable
Damascus blades down to the rude Javanese M^ood-knife
and a Kabyle yataghan brought home from Algiers by the
General himself; the firearms, from the first breech-
loading rifle ever used by troops in line of battle — invented
in 1775 and a present from the inventor, Col. Patrick

Ferguson, who fell in command at King's Mountain, 7tli
October, 1780 ; to the General's grandfather, a young and
trusted captain under him — down to the most approved
breech-loaders of the present time ; the pistols, froin
diminutives of exquisite workmanship (one pair richly-
inlaid) presented by Governor, the Earl of Bellomont, to
Colonel de Peyster over 180 years ago, dow^n through a
series representing various changes of locks and mountings,
to the "leveling" last improvements in revolvers; tlie
flags, from Union colors which bear the marks of years
of battle, down to Rebel standards brought out of captured
Richmond by the General's youngest son, who hoisted the
jirst REAL American FLAG over the cajDtured Rebel
capitol and capital ; tlie curios, from tlie seal, cup and
fork of the first de Peyster, through seven generations and
changes of form and engraving, to curiosities of similar
kinds of recent date. A long series of family portraits
cover the walls, beginning with a reproduction rejDresenting
"The Six Worthy de Heers," who drew up the earliest
charter of the city of New York — of whom one was
Johannis de Peyster, first in the country — through many a
distinguished civilian and soldier down to the likenesses of
the General's three gallant sons, who, between the ages
of eighteen and twenty-two, won the brevet of Colonel
during the bloody war to suppress the " Slaveholders'
Rebellion." The log-books of Arent Schuyler de Peyster,
an adventurous navigator, the discoverer of the de Peyster

and other groups of islands in the Pacific, giving the
details of his voyages — lie beside records of the even
stranger life of his uncle, Colonel Arent Schuyler de
Peyster, of the 8th, or the King's Regiment of (British)
Foot, who, in early youth, was one of the first British officers
to visit and record in verse the beauties of Lake George,
embodied in his rare and valuable "Miscellanies," and to
erect one of the first buildings in that region : a saw^-mill
near the falls, worked by the water-poM^er of the rapids of
the Niagara.

Among the portraits referred to, embracing likenesses
of a number of distinguished soldiers, is one of the
General's uncle, George Watts, who, as First Lieutenant,
First U. S. Light Dragoons, and Aide-de-Camp to General
Winfield Scott, by his coolness and courage saved the life of
his superior from the tomahawk and scalping-knife of
Indians in British pay — as Scott has often related to friends
— when the General had been invited out to breakfast for
the very purpose of betraying him to the savages. This was
just previous to the battle of Chippewa. General Scott said
that on this occasion he made quicker running than at any
other time during his life, after setting down untasted the
cup of coffee he was just raising to his lips, and abandoning
his cocked hat as a trophy.

On a sand bluff", belonging to the present de 'Peyster
property, and overlooking Tivoli landing and post-office,
is the oldest graveyard in this section of the country: so

old that there has been no recorded, or remembered,
or designated interment within the century, dt was
once a very pretty spot, shaded with large, wild plum
trees, quite a grove. Beneath these, there were a con-
siderable number of funereal tokens, several very costly
for the era in which they were placed, besides others of
less pretention. The vandalism which denuded the
spot of its trees for firewood was not as bad as that
which had previously made spoil of the memorials. It
is said that the brick supports and foundations of the
slabs were appropriated to other uses, and the slabs them-
selves, in some instances, converted into flagstones. The
oldest stone, on which the inscription is legible, is that :

" In Memory of Tryntie (English Catharine) [Benson],
wife of Col. Martin Hoifmann, who died 81st of March,
1765." This Colonel Hoffman was the great-grandson of
Martinus Hoifman, who emigrated from Sweden to America
and settled at Shawangunk, in Ulster county, New York.
He was a man of mark and means. The next in order of
time is that of Mrs. Hannah Yosburgh, daughter of Col.
John Ashley of Sheflield (? Mass. ), wife of Martin Yosburgh,
another man of property for his day. She died 30th June,
1764. The next again, in regard to time, is the slab in
memory of Mr. Lawrence Knickerbacker, who died 20th
December, 1766. The last on which the record is
decipherable, has the date of 3d April, 1773 ; it bears
the name of Helena Yan Wyck, wife of Zacharias

Hoffman, who appears to have heen the father of Colonel
Martin-, and the grandson of the first Martinns-, Hoffmann.
If so, Col. Martin Hoffman and Tryntie, his wife, are the
great-grandparents of Theodore A. Hoffman, the present
able and influential postmaster at Tivoli.

Another stone, which was thrown out by the frost,
slipped down and was recovered from a barnyard below —
and belongs properly to the bnrial-gronnd above described
— is now set np in the monumental plot belonging to Gen.
de Peyster in the rear of St. Paul's Church, facing his
vault. The material is red sandstone, and time and frost
has rendered the lettering very indistinct ; the following,
however, is still legible :

' ' In Memory of John Vosburgh, Was born November :
the 5 : 1680 : and Departed this Life May the : 28 : 1775:
Aged : 94 : Years : 6 : Months and : 23 : Days."

The family of whom deceased was a member are no
longer residents of this immediate vicinity, in which they
once exercised a considerable influence.

About half a mile south of Rose Hill is tlie dwelling of
his son, Colonel Johnston Livingston de Peyster, "the
Chateau of Tivoli," from which the landing, post-office,
station and incorporated village take their name. It was
built shortly after the Revolution, for it appears on an old
map, very finely executed by the celebrated engraver St.
Memin, which bears the date of 1795. At this time the owner.
Monsieur de Labaygarre, had been for some time domiciled

in Red Hook, and occupied in developing a succession of
visionary projects, all of which resulted in brilliant failures.
A mulberry-grove — the germ of a projected vast silk-worm
culture — still flourishing on an adjacent hill ; the vestiges
of pits opened in search of porcelain clay ; the surveys of
a projected city that was to rival New York and render
the enthusiastic schemer as wealthy as Rothschild : all
these and more such projects went to water, and only the
Chateau and a portion of the enciente, or encompassing wall
with its oaken postern, remain to recall the memory of a
man of grand ideas but of little practical application.

This old home, remodeled so that merely the original
octagon centre remains, is now in the possession of Col.
Johnston Livingston de Peyster, who enjoys the rare
honor of having been breveted up from Lieutenant to
Lieutenant-Colonel by the United States, and to full
Colonel by his native State, for what he performed when
only eighteen years of age. It is likely that he was the
youngest Brevet Colonel in the country, and he was
worthy of the distinction, for Providence accorded to him
the glory which could not be duplicated, of hoisting tlie
"first real American flag" over the capitol of the captured
Rebel capital, Richmond ; an act which put the seal, so to
speak, to the fact consummated thereby, the termination
of the War of Secession; more appropriately styled by
many, "the Slaveholders' Rebellion" — the term justly as-
cribed to it, as selected to appear in the inscription upon

the Soldiers' Monument, erected in Nov., 1866, in tlie
village of Madalin, formerly Myersville, now Madalin
P. O., about half a mile east of Rose Hill.

This Iivoiediate Neighborhood

TO HER

DEFENDERS,

WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN SUPPRESSING THE

SLAVEHOLDERS' REBELLION

AND SUSTAINING THE

GOVERNMENT

OF THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOl'LE.

DE PEY^TE^ F^MIIiY.

" Their choice nobility and flower

Met from all parts to solemnize this feast."
Milton.

" One whose extraction from an ancient line

Gives hope again that well-born men may shine ;
The meanest in your nature mild and good,
The noble rest secured in the blood."

Waller.

" Nobility claimed by the right of blood.
Shews chiefly, that our ancestors desired
What we inherit : but that man ivkose actions
Purchase a real tnerz't to himself.
And ranks him in the file of praise and honour,
. Creates his ouni advancementy

Beaumont & Fletcher's '■'■Fair Maid 0/ the Inn." 162^.

" When real Nobleness accompanies the itnaginary one of Birth, the imaginary
seems to mix with the Real and becomes Real too." Lord Grevillk.

" Gentle deed, makes gentle bleid."

Scotch Proverb.

It is somewhat remarkable tliat tlie idea presented by
Solomon as to physical progression in a circle — "Unto the
place from whence the rivers come, thither ' ' [by evapo-
ration gathering into clouds and discharging their
moisture in snow, hail, sleet and rain] "they return
again " — this same rule in many instances applies to
families. How often does the exile and even the emigrant

struggle and straggle back to repossess himself of, or
35

establish himself near, or lay down his wearied bones in,
an ancestral nest. This rule has certainly applied to the
owner of Rose Hill. Two hundred years ago his ancestors
owned much land, and successive generations of progeni-
tors resided where they are now to be found. In the very
mansion in which his grandfather, Frederic de Peyster,
married his wife, Helen Hake, about ninety years ago,
General de Peyster found his wife, Estelle Livingston,
belonging to the same race. The fact is, all the leading
families in the Colony of the New i^etherlands, afterwards
the Province of New York, had not only become connected
by marriage before the commencement of the Revolution,
but in many instances they were knit together by the
strongest and closest additional ties of blood.

Brigadier-General (M. F. S. N. Y.) Brevet Major-
General (N. G. S. N. Y.) John Watts de Peyster, the
owner of Rose Hill, is the immediate representative of
two families who exercised a leading influence in the
Colony and Province of New York, and filled the most
important offices under the Dutch and English adminis-
trations, through his paternal and maternal, as well as
collateral lines, through reciprocal marriages with Wattses,
de Lanceys, Coldens, Livingstons, Beekmans, Schuylers,
van Cortlandts and other prominent stems.

The first of the de Peyster family, Johannis I., who came
to this country about 1645, was the scion of an exiled or
refugee French Protestant family, and was a young man of

means for the period and of unusual al)ility. However
noble or closely allied to the nobility of France, the ex-
patriated Huguenots soon had to turn their abilities to
whatever would produce the means of livelihood. Johannis
seemed already to belong to the class in Holland whom Sir
William Temple styles "Renteneers" (French, Rentiers)^
i. e., those who had means enough to produce a fixed
income sufiicient to support them comfortably. As Col.
Richard Nicolls, the first English Governor, remarked,
"he could make a better platform speech than any other
man outside of Parliament." This Johannis was descended
from one of the unhappy Huguenot families who w'ere
compelled to leave France after the Massacre of St. Bar-
tholomew, 24th August, 1572. The other members of this
circle were scattered far and wide by this cruel, crimson
catyclysm. One wandered as far east as Greece (?), others
settled in Holland, another in England. Johannis, born
in Harlem (Holland) — where he married his wife, Cornelia
Lubbertse, a native of the same place — transferred his
fortunes to the New World. He brought out with him
many curious articles of furniture, some beautiful pictures,
portraits, and articles of silver, which for their conception
and execution are equal to any manufactured at this time.
His 'first commission on record, was that of Adelborst
(or noble-horn)^ or cadet in one of the city companies.
This shows he must have been very young when he first
came over, and consequently it is likely that he returned to

Holland for his wife, who survived, him. It may be asked
why there is any uncertainty about such important facts in a
family history. The answer is as simple as clear. Time, the
great destroyer and scatterer, was, in the case of the de Pey-
ster and Wattses, assisted by confiscation, exile, and, worst
of all and most destructive to archives, fire ! According to
a sketch for a picture executed at the period, he was one
of "The Six," who were associated to draw up the first
charter for the city of New Amsterdam, now New York.
He filled, successively, between 1665 and 1677 the offices of
Schepen, Burgomaster, Alderman and Deputy Mayor. On
the 15th of October, 1677, he was appointed Mayor, but
declined the j)romotion in consequence of his imperfect
acquaintance with the English language. His descendants
were all distinguished for their public spirit and activity in
connection with the affairs of the city. One of his grand-
daughters was mother of "William Alexander, titular Earl
of Stirling, major-general in the Continental army. Gris-
wold, in his scarce work, "Washington and his Generals of
the Revolution" (I., 165), observes, "the mother (of the
Earl of Stirling) was an extraordinary person." Those
'udio knew her personally, and lived to relate their early
■experiences to individuals still alive, confirmed this remark,
adding that her remarkable mental charms and capacity
were not more striking than her graces of face and person.
The eldest son of this Johannis I., Abraham I., was
one of the most distinguished men in the Colony in which

he was bora, 8tli Jul-y, 1657. On the 5th April, 1684,
during a visit to Amsterdam, he married his kinswoman,
Catherina de Peyster. This Abraham held successively
the offices of Alderman, 1685; Mayor, 1691-5; Judge of
the Supreme Court ; Member of the King's Council ; as
presiding officer of the same, acting Governor in 1700 ;
and Colonel commanding the Militia (Horse, one company,
and Foot, eight companies, 685 men) belonging to the
City and County of New York.

' ' Col. Abraham de Peyster presided occasionally at
the Council in 1700, as the eldest member of the Board
present, in the absence of Col. Smith, with whose preten-
sions at that time any one acquainted with the political
history of New York must be familiar. In point of sen-
iority Col. de Peyster stood No. 3, Col. Peter Schuyler
being also his senior, but he absented himself likewise.
It is singular, as showing how historical evetits, like
fashions in dress, repeat themselves and reappear, that
the very principles of government that divided Smith
and de Peyster in those days, caused a division in the
Cabinet in Canada under the late Lord Metcalf and the
constitutional views advocated hy de Peyster were only
perTYianently triumphant under the present Lord Elgin.
The progress of the present age is sometimes in a circle."

In 1 706, he was appointed Treasurer of the Provinces of
New York and .New Jersey. Few men have exhibited
more patriotism than he did in crises. This quality was

only equalled by his liberality. Whoever became his ac-
quaintance was speedily transmuted into a warm friend.
He was the intimate friend of Richard Coote, Earlof Bello-
mont, the best governor who ever administered the affairs
of this Colony, Province or State. He was likewise the
friend of a man of the most opposite character, the cele-
brated William Penn, who in one of his letters particularly
alludes to the fascination of de Peyster's good humor.
Wherever he went he won golden opinions, and he lived
long enough to see his children holding or fitting them-
selves to hold the highest positions in society and public
affairs.

Although this sketch will be confined as far as possible
to direct descent, still it is impossible not to mention other
members of the family who have peculiarly distinguished
themselves. One of the grandsons of Abraham I. was the
good and gallant Col. Arent Schuyler de Peyster, who re-
ceived his first commission as Ensign in the deservedly
celebrated Eighth, " the King's ' ' Regiment of British Foot,
(in 1688, Princess Anne's Regiment) lOtli of June, 1755,
and rose through a long period of interesting and im-
portant service to its command, 12th of October, 1793.

For many years, as Captain and Major, he was stationed
on the remote frontier, particularly at Michilimacinac.
While at this post his control of the Indian tribes was ex-
ercised for good. After the Revolution became a certainty,
he more than once was called upon to bring them from the

remotest points — from the Mississippi, clown towards St.
Louis, W., from the shores of Lake, Superior, N. W., and
from the colder regons of Lake Nipissing, N. — to partici-
pate in operations which cnhninated in conflicts on Lake
Champlain, the upper Hudson, on the Mohawk, at Oriskany,
and Hoosic, miscalled Bennington, in 1777. Curious to
state, one of his first orders in this connection was dated
4th July, 1776, which will be forever famous as the nomi-
nal^ not the actual^ Anniversary of the Declaration of
American Lidependence. As a subaltern he was one of
the first British officers to explore the region about Lake
George, and he recorded the incidents of his visit to these
lovely and historic spots in a series of poems, one or more
of which were embodied in his "Miscellanies." This rare
work — now almost unattainable — containing a large
amoimt of valuable and interesting information in connec-
tion with the Indians and the period, published at Dumfries
some ninety years ago, has been a mine for historians in
preparing treatises on regions in which he exercised com-
mands or influence. Colonel, then Lieut, de Fey ster,
built on the site of the Porter mansion, a saw-mill at Magara
Falls in 1767, one of the first, if not the first, civilized
construction at that point.

About the end of the XVIII. century. Col. de Peyster
settled at Dumfries, Scotland, and resided at a country-
seat named "Mavis (Lark) Hall," and he lies buried
under an imposing monument in the chapel-yard of St.

Michael's in that city. Here, "towards the close of his
life, having held a royal commission for over fourscore
years, he was called upon to embody, discipline and com-
mand the First Regiment of Dumfries Volunteers, organized
to defend the United Kingdom against the menaces of
invasion by the forces of the successive French revolution-
ary governments. The poet Burns carried a musket in this
regiment, and the private and field officer engaged, unknown
to each other, in a poetical controversy in the columns of
the Dumfries Journal. Many of the surviving members of
this regiment, to mark their regard for the memory of the
deceased, resmned [at his funeral] the habiliments so long
laid aside, while a party of the privates carried his body to
the grave, supported by the staff of the Dumfriesshire
Militia." To this Col. de Peyster, Burns addressed, in
1796, his sparkling verses sometimes entitled "A Poem
on Life."

" In his person Col. de Peyster was tall, soldier-like and
commanding ; in his manners easy, affable and open ; in
his affections warm, generous and sincere ; in his principles,
and particularly his political principles, firm even to
inflexibility. No man, we believe, ever possessed more of
the principle of vitality. Old age, which had silvered his
hair and furrowed his cheeks, appeared to make no im-
pression on his inner man ; and those who knew him best
declare that up to the period of his illness his mind
appeared as active, and his intellect as vigorous, as they

43-

were fifty years ago. When the weather permitted he
still took his accustomed exercise, and walked round the
billiard table or bestrode his gigantic charger, apparently
with as little difficulty as a man of middle age. When so
mounted we have often fancied we beheld in him the last
connecting link between the Old and New Schools of
military men."

The nephew and namesake of the colonel, Arent
Schuyler de Peyster, junior, was quite a distinguished
navigator and explorer of the Pacific and the western
coast of America, when both as yet were little known to
our people. No sensational romance, ever written, could
embody more startling adventures than fell to his lot.
Poving over the Pacific, of which there M^ere then few and
unreliable charts, he more than once narrowly escaped
shipwreck on coral reefs, the existence of which were
utterly unknown. On one occasion, at night, the jib-a-jib-
boom of his vessel, the " Elizabeth," was actually over
the outer breakers of an exterior reef when she came
about. The grim horror of the situation and the knowledge
of the rich cargo confided to his skill, had such an effect
upon the young skipper's mind that when he came on deck
the next morning he M'^as told that a large tuft of hair, just
above the forehead, had become white through anxiety.
During one voyage, in 1809, he discovered several groups
of islands to the north of the Fijee Archipelago, one of
these comprising seventeen islands. One of considerable

size bears his name, the de Peyster or Peyster Group.
Another circlet of islets, surrounding a large lagoon, in
the South Pacific, he named after a friend, Mr. Ellice. He
was on the South American coast at the same time when
the celebrated Admiral Cochrane was operating against
the Spaniards, and, the one in blockading the ports, then
Spanish, and the other in running the blockade, came in
contact more than once. Young de Peyster was very near
engaging with his clipper brigantine, a Spanish corvette
which undertook to deprive him and his crew of the fruits
of a dangerous venture, and the action was only prevented
by the interference of his personal friend, the British
Admiral Hardy — the officer in whose arms Nelson died —
then lying in the harbor of Yalj)araiso. Hardy intimated
to the Spanish Captain-General of Chili, who had invoked
his interposition, that if the royal officials did not right
the matter, he believed that de Peyster would attempt the
capture of the corvette, and the admiral subsequently
admitted that he thought de Peyster, despite the disparity
of his force, would have been successful. On another
voyage from Calcutta to England, the young American
ran so close in to St. Helena, in a fog, that he was satisfied
that if Napoleon had only been able to take advantage of
the circumstance, the captive Corsican could have been
carried off from Longwood. When the fog lifted and the
proximity of the "Elizabeth" was discovered, the whole
garrison and the flotilla of guard-ships were in commotion.

A sloop-of-war slipped her cables and started out to investi-
gate, and it was with difficulty that de Peyster could give
satisfactory explanations of his untimely apparition oif the
island and receive permission to resume his voyage.

Abraham II., eldest son of Abraham I., married Mar-
garet, eldest daughter of Jacobus van Cortlandt. He
succeeded his father as Treasurer of New York and New
Jersey. His benevolence has been celebrated in the work
devoted to a description of the startling "Adventures of
Mons. Viaud." The whole city turned out to accompany
his remains to their last resting-place. He was a gentleman
of large means, and very commanding influence, both per-
sonally and through his powerful connections, as Smith in his
history admits — although the historian was a bitter political
enemy of the de Peyster, "Watts, and de Lancey families,
and those united to these through blood or marriage.
He died 17th September, 1767, universally respected,
regretted and beloved. His fifth son, Frederic — from his
elegance of dress and deportment, known as "the Mar-
quis,"— was appointed Treasurer in his room. This son
Frederic did not serve, but resigned the position to go to
France to inherit an estate left him by Madame van der
Hulst de Peyster of Rouen.

James I., the eldest son of Abraham II., married
Sarah, daughter of Hon. Joseph Eeade, Member of the
King's Council. Her brother, John Reade, was the owner
of the land and point now in possession of Johnston

Livingston, known as Reade Iloek ; and from tliis known
circumstance the oldest inhabitants always agreed that the
present town of Red Hook took its name. Margaret, the
eldest daughter of James, married Colonel Thomas James,
commandant of the (single) British Regiment of Royal
Artillery. Her three brothers, Abraham IIL, at the age
of 23, was senior Captain in the 4th or King's American
Regiment; James II., about 20, was Captain-Lieutenant,
commanding Colonel's Company, Grenadiers, of the same
regiment; and Frederic I., before he was 18, was Captain
of an Independent Loyal Company, known as the "Nassau
(Long Island) Blues " and afterwards Captain in the N. Y.
Vols, or King's (Third) American Regiment. All these
troojjs were organized by the British government to
oppose the rebellion or revolution of the Thirteen Colonies.

The line through Abraham III. — the oldest surviving
son — failed through the successive death of all the
males, without male issue. James II. left no children ;
and James (HI.) F., the eldest son of Frederic, I., be-
came the head of the family, although Frederic, III., the
youngest surviving son, is much the best known and most
eminent.

Frederic (I.) de Peyster married in the house of his
great-uncle, Gilbert R. Livingston, Helen, only daughter
of Commissary-General Samuel Hake, B. A. The house
referred to, and doubtless known in 1800 a^ "Green Hill,"
was purchased about 1810 by John S. Livingston, and is

now in possession of his youngest surviving son, Col. Louis
Livingston. This was the only 'edifice in this neighborhood
spared by the British when they ascended the Hudson in
1777. It was preserved because the owner was a Loyalist
and had been an officer in the royal service. The mother
of Helen (Hake) de Peyster was Helen Livingston, eldest
daughter of Robert Gilbert Livingston, eldest son of Gil-
bert, second son of the First Lord of Livingston Manor, who
settled in Duchess county ; his brothers having their estates
in what is now known as Columbia county. Robert Gilbert
Livingston married Catharine McPheadres, daughter of a
rich landed proprietor, who at that time resided in Duchess
county. He afterwards removed to Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, where he built the noted mansion now known
as the Warner, Sherburne, or Whipple House, described
in Brewster's "Rambles About Portsmouth, " First Series,
Ramble xxv., pages 140-44. Capt. McPheadres, like the
Gilbert Branch of the Livingston family, the de Peysters,
Wattses, de Lanceys and other kindred stocks, adhered to
the crown, and like all the Loyalists atoned for his ad-
herence to principle by the confiscation of his proj^erty.
Capt. McPheadres returned to England and occupied
even as high a social position there as he had enjoyed in
America.

James F. (Ferguson, so named after Col. Patrick
Ferguson, B. A. the hero and victim of King's Mountain,
7th October, 1780), the eldest son of Frederic (I.) de

Peyster, entered the United States Army at tlie age of 21,
as First Lieutenant of the 4:2d Infantry, on the 30th
March, 1814, and on the 14th next month, April, he was
promoted to a captaincy.

Frederic II., youngest and only (1881) surviving son of
Frederic (I.) de Peyster, married Mary Justina, youngest
child and daughter of Hon. John "Watts, II.

Robert Watt or Watts, the first of his family in America,
was the second son of John Watt, of Rose Hilly thus
styled — mentioned in Burke's Peerage, 1850, p. 836, and
other similar works — in connection with the marriage of
his daughter, Margaret, with Sir Walter Riddell, Bart.
This Robert, born in Edinburgh, came out to New York
toward the close of the XVIItli century and married, about
1706, Mary, daughter of William Nieolls or Nicoll, Esq.,
of Nicoll Manor, or Islip, on Long Island, N. Y. Robert
Watts intended to return to, and resettle in, Scotland, but
the death of his first two children at Edinburgh, in 1724,
determined his remaining in America. John Watts, the
son of the above Robert and Mary, was one of the most
noted men in the Colony or Province of New York. After
filling a number of public oflices, with credit to himself
and benefit to his fellow-citizens, he was made a member
of the King's Council, and, had the mother country
succeeded in putting down the Rebellion, he was destined
to be the Lieutenant-Governor and acting Governor of
the Province. He was the first President of the New

York City Hospital. His town-house was in Pearl street,
near Whitehall, and was consumed in the great fire of
1776, and his country residence, Rose Hill, between the
Bloomingdale and Old Post Roads and the East River,
and between Twenty-first and Twenty-seventh streets,
covered about fifty-four whole- and half- blocks in the
XVIIIth ward of the city of New York.

His letters to Gen. Monckton, accidentally discovered in
England, and published by the Massachusetts Historical
Society, present the best pictures of men and manners,
politics and public feeling, just previous to the outbreak of
the American Revolution, of any that have been preserved
or recovered. Like his son John, he was a monument of
aflliction. Driven into exile by an ungrateful populace
whose rights he had always endeavored to maintain, his
elegant property was confiscated ; although, through absence
from the country, he should have been excepted from the
effects of such an iniquitous act of spoliation and ven-
geance. His noble, stately and handsome wife, Ann de
Lancey, died of a broken heart in New York and her
husband a martyr to duty and loyalty in exile in Wales,
2 2d January, 1794, and was buried in St. James, Piccadilly,
London. Of their children, Robert, the eldest son, married
Mary, eldest daughter of William Alexander, Major-
General in the Continental Army, and titular Earl of Stir-
ling ; Ann, their eldest daughter, married Hon. Archibald
Kennedy and became Countess of Cassilis ; Susan married

Philip Kearny and was niotlier of Maj.-Gen. Stephen
Watts Kearny, tlie conqueror of New Mexico and Cali-
fornia; Mary* married Sir John Johnson, Bart., and like
her father, suffered the pains of exile and confiscation of
property; Stephen, the famous Major Watts, of Oris-
kany ; and John, the public benefactor, married Jane de
Lancy, youngest daughter of Peter de Lancy, "of the
Mills," Westchester Co., N^. Y., and was through his
youngest child and daughter, the lovely and intellectual,
Mary Justina, the grandfather of Gen. John Watts de
Peyster, of Rose Hill.

■5{- -X- * * -X- * *

Feedeeic (II.) dePeystee — father of Gen. de Peyster
— occupies an enviable position. After attaining a ripeness
of years— 85 — which is reached by very fcNV in the fullness
of health and intelligence, he is reaping a full harvest, the
fruits of a life of virtue, industry and ability. He is, and

* The sufferings of this luideservedly unfortunate wife —
whose infant perished through the sufferings attending lier
escape from the disloyal Americans — were communicated in
a pamphlet entitled "Adventures of a Lady [Mary (Watts)
Johnson, wife of Sir John Johnson, Bart.] in the War of Inde-
pendence in America," written by one of her descendants?
mai-ried to the hereditary owner of Workington Hall, " the
fine castellated mansion of the Curwen family, on a wooded
height above the town, ' Avhich was a refuge of Mary, Queen
of Scots, after her flight from her defeat at Langside ' " (15th
May 1568), and printed at Workington, by P. D. Lambe,
"Solway Pilot Office," 1874.

has been for years, President of the New York Historical
Society, of the Board of Trustees of the New York Society
Library and of the St. Nicholas Club. In addition to these
he occupies important positions in connection with a
number of societies — charitable, literary and business. He
has been President of the St. Nicholas Society. He is
author of a number of historical works of the highest
merit, which liave won for him a reputation at home and
abroad such as few amateur writers enjoy.

Frederic de Peyster (II.), LL. D., H. F. R. H. S. G.
B., has been a Member of tlie, N. Y. Historical Society
since January, 1824 ; Corresponding Secretary, 1827-28 ;
1838-43 ; Secretary, 1829-37 ; Foreign Corresponding
Secretary, 1844; Second Yice-President, 1850-63; Pres-
ident, 1864-66, 1873-81; Member of Executive Com-
mittee, either by appointment or ex-officio, since 1827.

He was also Yice-President of the Association of the
Alumni of Columbia College, Yice-President of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Cliildren ; for over forty
years Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the Leake and
Watts Orphan House, founded by the father of his wife,
Mary Justina Watts ; Senior Warden of Ascension Church ;
Yice-President of the Home of tlie Incurables ; one of
three. Committee on Instruction, Institution for the In-
struction of the Deaf and Dumb ; Trustee of the Bible and
Common Prayer-Book Society ; Honorary Member of the
Royal Historical Society of Great Britain, &c., &c., &c. ;

formerly prominentlj connected with tlie Soldiers and
Sailors' Home at Bath, Steuben county, N". Y. ; and with
the Halleck, and the Farragut, Monument Associations.

He is the author of a number of obituary notices,
pamphlets and addresses, amounting in matter and value
to volumes, the latest of the series being his "Address on the
Life and Administration of Richard, Earl of Bellomont, ' '
an exquisite production, both as a literary and publishing
effort, illustrated with portraits taken by a peculiar process
from originals in possession of the author, and fac-similes of
manuscripts from originals among the treasures of the
'N. Y. Historical Society. The most remarkable facts con-
nected with this address are that it was prepared and
delivered by a gentleman 83 years of age, the delivery
occupying one hour and three-quarters. How very few
persons who have reached this advanced term would have
been able to make such a physical effort ; much more pre-
pare for it by long and arduous study and labor. It is
probable that Mr. de Peyster has ready for the rostrum
and printer, unpublished, 1. A Brief Sketch of the New
York Society Library, with Proofs of its [comparative ? as
regards this country] Antiquity ; 2. A Review of the Ad-
ministration of Governor, Col. Benjamin Fletcher, the bad
predecessor of the good Bellomont. Mr. de Peyster' s five
principal works : 1. The Culture Demanded by the Age ;
2. "William III. as a Reformer ; 3. Prominent Men of the
English Revolution; 4. Life and Administration of Earl

Bellomont ; 6. Early Political History of New York — have
been pronounced by a competent judge as "worthy pro-
ductions— accurate, logical and scholarly."

Gen. de Peyster, like his father, has been one of the
most industrious of literary workers. He has published a
small library of volumes and pamphlets on historical, mili-
tary and miscellaneous subjects, including poems, besides
contributing long series of articles to monthlies, weeklies
and dailies, particularly in connection with the American
Revolution and "Slaveholder's Rebellion." These latter,
in themselves, would constitute, if gathered together, a
score of volumes, in small pica type, of 500 pages each.
They are absolute authorities on the subjects of which
they treat.

The following beautiful tribute to the owner of Rose
Hill, from the pen of one of the loveliest and brightest
young ladies of ' ' blue blood ' ' of New York, and written for
a magnificent social entertainment, was endorsed by one
of oui* most enterprising and generous naval worthies,
Com. C. H. B , as " True Poetry and Strikes Home : "

" I know a mind both clear and bright,

A memory keen and true ;
A wond'rous power for wrong or right,

And granted to the few.
Dost recognize my hero's fame ?

And yet I'll not reveal his name."

Of all the rewards which the General has received —
and they are numerous and valuable — he esteems most

54-

highly, 1, the three magnificent medals sent to him by Oscar
I., King of Sweden, for a military Biography of Field
Marshal Leonard Torstenson, Generalissimo, 1641 to 1646,
the manliest figure of the " Thirty Years' War;" 2, a gold
medal, in accordance with general orders, issued in 1851,
through the Adjutant-General S. IS'.Y., for "zeal, devotion
and meritorious service ; " 3, another medal presented by
Governor Washington Hunt, in 1852, as a testimonial of the
valuable results of his military investigations in Europe
as applicable to the Militia and Fire Departments of his
native State and country — reports embodying a vast number
of suggestions, all of which the General has lived to see
developed in practical application, especially in the Paid
Fire De]3artment of the City of New York ; 4, the most
magnificent badge ever fabricated in this country, set with
jewels of appropriate colors, voted to him in 1870 by the
Third Army Corps Union, of which the General is the
first and one of the only three honorary members permitted
by its constitution, for his successful efforts to perj)etuate
the services of "the glorious old fighting Third Corps, as
WE understand it ; " and 6, "the Brevet of Major-General
S. N. Y.," conferred upon him in 1866 by Concurrent
Resolution, after investigation and debate, of the JSTew
York State Legislature. This last honor is the only
instance of such a high brevet accorded to an officer, in
the same manner, by any State in the Union.

Gen. de Peyster married Estelle Livingston, daughter

of John S. Livingston and Anna Maria Martina Thompson,
only daughter of Capt. William Thompson, an officer in
the Pennsylvania Line of the Revolutionary army. Strange
to say, the General and his wife belong to the same gene-
ration— the seventh — the first through the second and the
second through the first — from the first Lord of Livingston
Manor, and they both resided and still live on land, or
adjoining that of ancestors who owned it six generations
previous. They had five children — two daughters, the
eldest, Estelle Elizabeth, married to James B. Toler, Esq.,
and the youngest, Maria Livingston, who died a child ;
also three sons, all of whom were in the Union service,
and will be the subjects of esj^ecial mention hereinafter.

So few are cognizant of the facts alluded to in the letter
following, that its insertion seems a simple matter of duty.
The reference to Gen. Oust requires a short explanation.
After reading a pamphlet by Gen. de Peyster on "Practical
Strategy," this General Sir Edward Oust, Bart., a Wel-
lington and Peninsular veteran, author of the "Annals of
the Wars," 9 vqIs., &c., &c., &c., dedicated to his subse-
quent American friend, as yet unknown, his next work,
"Lives of the Warriors (XVII. Century)," 2 vols., pub-
lished at London in 1869. This Dedication was not a mere-
ly formal compliment, summed up in a few M^ords, but a
"Letter Dedicatory" of xxxvii. pages. Nor did the
esteem end with this. A long correspondence ensued, kept
up until just before Gen. Gust's fatal illness. In his last

the British officer notified Gen. de Peyster that lie had had
his portrait painted for him, and that it would follow the
letter immediately. News by cable of the veteran' s decease
almost immediately ensued, and his son, the present baro-
net, transmitted the likeness, elegantly painted and
mounted.

[copy.] New York, June 4th, 1869.

Dear General :

I see the question agitated by the English press, Who is
Gen. de Peyster, to whom Gen. Oust dedicated his last mili-
tary work? As one who knows, I can answer from several
standpoints. First and foremost he is blood cousin of my
friend, Major-General Phil. Kearny, who proved himself the
best field-fighting general of the war, and who I have no
hesitation in pronouncing the most thorough and accomplished
general the war produced up to the period of his untimely
death at Chantilly, which alone prevented his advancement to
the command of the Army of the Potomac, as I have reason
to know from repeated assurance of President Lincoln.

Next, I do knoA\^ that President Lincoln at one time con-
templated giving General de Peyster. the high military
position of chief of his personal staff, an independent organi-
zation contemplated, and warranted by the demands and
necessities of the occasion, which appointment was overruled
by interested parties who were unwilling the General should
occupy a position so important and independent.

Yrs. truly,
[signed,] Pet. Halstbt).

Just as, in 1775, the de Peysters adhered to the govern-
ment under which they had prospered, and paid the last
full measure of devotion to Loyalty and Duty to the croMni,

-just so, in 1861-5, tliey were found, again, in the front
rank of Loyalty and Duty to the Union.

The services rendered to his country by Col. J. Watts
de Peyster, Jr., born 2d December, 1841, and died 12th
April, 1873, in his native city of New York, are best told
in the reports and by the attests of his superiors, and are
almost sufficiently summed up through the quotations
inscribed upon his monument, hereinbefore cited.

One piece of duty, however, performed by this young
officer, has never been sufficiently dwelt upon, and is best
told in the language of another Union officer, Major-
General Alexander Shaler, U. S. V., w^lio had the amplest
opportunities of judging of its value.

Just after this gallant soldier came back from the war,
he met Gen. de Peyster in the street and got talking to
the latter about the battle of Chancellorsville, or, rather,
Fredericksburg II. Shaler said, ' ' de Peyster, when we
were marching down to Bank's Ford, I can recall Math
what attention we listened to the thunder of Howe's
artillery on the heights above. I said to myself, as long
as those guns keep on talking at that rate, I feel that we
are safe, for they are holding off the Hebs, that w^ould
otherwise press us as w^e continue on down to the bridge
of boats. I kept my ear fixed on those guns and, w^hile
we were crossing, still on those guns. When we were
safely over the river, Howe's artillery was still bellowing
away, but the sound came nearer and nearer, and more

and more distinct. Pretty soon the leading regiments of
Howe's Division came filing down to the bridge, but the
gims were still going. Those guns saved the Sixth Corps.
The man who handled those guns must have been a brave
and a capable fellow."

Upon this Gen. de Peyster remarked, "Shaler, you are
paying me a great compliment. ' '

Shaler looked surprised. "Why? How so? What had
you to do with those guns ? "

"A great deal," de Peyster answered, "the Chief of
Howe's Division Artillery was my eldest son and name-
sake. He handled those guns. "

"Well," said Shaler, "I did not know- that your son
was there. This, however, is a fact, Howe's artillery
saved the Sixth Corps that day, and, if your son was in
command of that artillery, he proved himself a brave
and capable officer."

Gen. Howe sent Gen. de Peyster the most magnificent
attest in regard to his son's behavior on this occasion, and
Gen. Owens was hardly less eulogistic ; Owens told and
wrote Gen. de Peyster that his son. Watts, behaved in
such an admirable manner that he stayed under fire at
the risk of his life to see him handle his artillery and
give the Pebels fits.

Gen. Shaler also furnished, about the same time, a
communication to this, the same effect :

"I am not aware of the name of the officer who com-

manded Howe's Division Artillery, but all I can say is
that he did his duty well and in the most admirable
manner. Had not Howe been the obstinate and superior
officer he ever proved himself to be, the Sixth Army Corps
would have 'gone in' under the Rebel pressure at the
Bank's Ford. Howe fought his division with distinguished
ability and tenacity^ and the combined action of his in-
fantry and Chief of Artillery deserve the highest praise
for the admirable manner in which they discharged their
responsible duties. The Howe Division Artillery was
handled with great gallantry and effect, and, in conjunction
with its infantry supports, they together had a marked
effect in perserving the Sixth Corps and in enabling it to
make a successful retrograde in the face of a victorious
(as to general results) enemy."

Col. Frederic de Peyster, Jr. — born 12th December,
1842, at New York, died 30th October, 1874, at Rose Hill
— served comparatively but a short time in the Great
American Conflict, but sufficiently long to entail what
Lincoln styled the "last full measure of devotion," and
finally, through the consequences of his Loyalty, died a
martyr to duty faithfully performed. Like his elder brother,
how he carried himself in the presence of the enemy and
in the field has its best attest in the language of officers
of rank and experience who saw and admired him there.
Perhaps the most extraordinary achievement in which he
participated, was when Gen. B. F. Butler, on the night of

the 13-14 May, 1861, with a wing of the 8th New York

Militia and another of the 6th Massachusetts Militia and

Yarian's Battery of Artillery belonging to the 8th New

York Militia, took the perfidious city of Baltimore by the

throat and choked it into a sullen submission, which kept

it from farther exhibitions of its innate wickedness during

the rest of the war to put down the "Slaveholders'

Eebellion."

Col. Frederic de Peyster, Jr., married Mary, only

daughter of Clermont Livingston (eldest grandson of

Chancellor Livingston) of Clermont, proper, and Cornelia,

only daughter of Herman Livingston of Oak Hill. They

had two children, Mary, who died a few days before her

father, and Clermont Livingston, who survives.

* * * * * * *

Within the last thirty-five years the United States has
been engaged in two wars which resulted triumphantly
for the National and Union arms. Both of these were virtu-
ally terminated by the capture of the Capital (1847) of
Mexico, and of the "Slaveholders' Rebellion," Richmond,
(1865). In both instances the colors of the United States
were hoisted by officers, born immediately adjoining, or in,
the town of Red Hook : in the first place by Major-General
John Quitman, in the second by Lieutenant (now Colonel)
Johnston L. de Peyster. The former was the son of the
pastor of the Lutheran — known as the "Stone Church"
— at Pink's Corners, or Monterey, on the Old Post Road,

about half-a-mile below the southern limit of the town-
ship of Red Hook, who, after the war, returned and
had a re-union of his friends at Lower Eed Hook,
as the representative centre of the neighborhood to
which he felt that he belonged. The latter was born
at Rose Hill, near Tivoli station, and is now the owner of
the "Chateau of Tivoli," from which the locality takes its
name. He was brevetted Lieut. -Col. U. S. Y. and Col.
N^. Y. Y. for this deed done by him in his eighteenth year.
According to the decision of General Scott in 1848 (as
cited by Rear-Admiral Preble in his "History of the
Flag of the U. S. A.," p. 537), the grateful service of a
formal occupation of Mexico was reserved to General
Quitman by his hoisting the colors of the United States on
the JS^ational Palace. In the same manner the honor of
raising the ''''first keal American flag," to use the words
of Major-General G. Weitzel, over the Capitol of the
Confederate States, and the formal occupation of that
edifice, belonged to Lieut. Johnston L. de Peyster. This
feat he proposed to do nearly a week before the opportunity
was really presented, and he carried on his saddle-bow the
flag entrusted to him, expecting to encounter the perils of
an assault, and he hoisted it assisted by Capt. Langdon,
1st U. S. Artillery. General Shepley looked forward
with horror to the storming, which he considered inevitable,
as he set forth in an article entitled, "Licidents of the
Capture of Richmond," published in the Atlantic Monthly

Magazine for July, 1880. Admiral Farragut gave it as his
opinion, tliat the fact that the assault did not take place did
not detract in the slightest degree from the credit due to
Lieut, de Peyster for his act, which General Grant observed
put the seal to the termination of the Rebellion, General
Adam Badeau, author of the "Military History of U. S.
Grant, ' ' wrote to General de Peyster from Jamaica, L. I. ,
24th Dec, 1880, that General Grant decided that the
cavalry guidons are not\,o be considered "National flags.'.'
' ' I shall therefore state [as Gen. Badeau did in his History]
that Lieut, de Peyster raised the first flag over Richmond."
Li his "Life of Gen. Grant" (Vol. HL, page 543) Gen.
Badeau uses the following words, "Lieut, de Peyster,
of Weitzel's staff", a New York stripling, eighteen years of
age, was the first to raise the National colors, and then, in
the morning light of the 3d of April, the flag of the
United States once more floated over Richmond."

A great many invidious persons have undertaken to
detract from the glory of the capture of Richmond by
Weitzel, on Monday morning, 3d April, 1865, because it
was achieved at no cost of blood or life. Ignorance is
their only excuse. Weitzel had orders from Grant to
assault on the 3d, a. m., and not only to assault, but to do
so at the innninent risk of being bloodily rej)ulsed. The
idea was, that by this active demonstration, this terrible
sacrifice — Longstreet occupying the strongest works in
front of Richmond, on the north side of the James, with

numbers superior to tliose under Weitzel — would, if tluis
assaulted boldly and persistently — find himself unable, not
knowing Weitzel's comparative feebleness of force, to
send reinforcements across the James to Lee, and thus the
latter [Lee] w^oiild not have men enough to garnish,
adequately, the defences of Petersburg, and consequently
Grant could at length carry his entrenchments and over-
whelm the Rebel Army of ITorthern Yirginia.

General Geo. F. Shepley, Chief of Staff to General
Weitzel, left a paper explaining all this, which, after his
death, was published in the Atlantic Monthly for July,
1880. He says :

" Every preparation had been made for this assault.
Saturday afternoon General Weitzel and one or two of his
general officers were occupied in a meadow near Dutch Gap,
experimenting with chain-shot and every available form of
projectile — firing at a double line of abattis, Avliich had been
constructed for the purpose, as nearly as possible like Long-
street's, and endeavoring to break it down with caimon."

" Sunday was passed in preparation for the attack. Every-
thing gave to the project of the expected battle ' a rather
disheartening outlook.' In many respects it bore the appear-
ance of the desperate uncertainty of a 'Forlorn Hope.'" — At-
lantic Monthly,'' July, 1880, p. 19.

It was under these circumstances that Colonel — then
Lieutenant — Johnston Livingston de Peystek, Aide-de-
Camp to General Shepley, and consequently attached to
the staff" of General Weitzel ; wrote a letter to one of his

friends, a letter dispatched in tlie firm conviction tliat he
was about to venture his life in a supreme effort, in which
the vast majority of the chances were adverse to his suc-
cess and to his escaping unscathed.

In order that the carping critic may not allege that
this narrative is presented by an interested or prejudiced
pen, it is given in the words of Rear- Admiral Geo. Henry
Preble, U. S. K, in his "History of the Flag of tlie
U. S. A.," pp. 636-8.

" The honor of raising the colors of the United States over
the Capitol at Richmond, on its occupation by the Union
forces, was souglit for by many gallant men. One young
man proposed to do so long before the ojiportunity was
really presented. Nearly a week before the surrender of the
city, Lieutenant de Peyster wrote to a young friend :

"'My Dear Lew: — To-morrow a battle is expected — the
battle of the war ; I cannot tell you any of the facts, for they
are contraband ; but we are all ready and packed. Anyway,
I expect to date my letter soon, if I escape, 'March 29,
Richmond.'

" ' I have promised to carry out a bet made by my general,
if we take Richmond, to put a certain flag he has on the
house of Jeff. Davis, or on the Rebel Capitol, or perish in the
attempt.'' "

'' The writer of this letter, then in the eighteenth year of
his age, was a member of one of the oldest families of
colonial INew York, and allied with nearly every family of
consequence in that State. He entered the army to seek
glory, and doubtless felt that the honor of a long line of
ancestors M^as placed in his especial keeping.

"•Six days after the date of his letter the city of Richmond
was occupied by the Federal troops ; and among the first
to enter it was Lieutenant Johnston Livingston de
Peyster. On the pommel of his saddle was strapped a
folded flag, the "Colors of the United States." This flag
had formerly belonged to the Twelfth Regiment of Maine
Volunteers, of which General George F. Shepley, his
chief [Chief of Stafl" to Major-General Godfrey Weitzel]
liad been the colonel. It had seen active service in 'New
Orleans, when General Shepley was the military governor
of that city, and, some time before the movement on Rich-
mond, the General, in his fondness for the flag, made a
w^ager that some day or other it should wave over the
Capitol of the Confederacy. Lieutenant de Peyster carried
this storm-flag thus secured not far behind the advance-
guard of the army M'lien the city was occupied by the
Federal trooj^s.

" General Shepley had entrusted it to him on his promise
to take care of it, and to raise it on the flag-staff of the
Capitol. The following letter to his mother shows how he
redeemed that promise :

" Hbabquarters, Army of the James,
" Richmond, April 3d, 1865.
"My Dearest Mother — This morning-, about four o'clock,
I was got up, just one hour after I retired, with the inform-
ation that at six we were going to Richmond. At six we
started. The Rebs had gone at three, along a road strewn
with all the munitions of war. Richmond was reached, but
5

the barbarous South had consigned it to ashes. The roar of
the bursting shells was terrific.

"Arriving at the Capitol, I sprang from my horse, first un-
buckling the Stars and Stripes, a large flag I had on the front
of my saddle. With Captain Lan'gdon, Chief of Artillery, I
rushed up to the roof. Together we hoisted the first large
flag over Richmond, and on the peak of the roof drank to its
success.

" In the Capitol I found four flags — three Rebel, one ours. I
presented them all, as the conqueror, to General Weitzel. I
have fulfilled my bet, and put the first large flag over Rich-
mond. I found two small guidons, took them doAvn, and
returned them to the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, where
they belonged. I write from Jeff. Davis' private room.

" I remain, ever your affectionate son, Johnston."

''Two small guidons, belonging to the Foiirtli Kegimeiit
of Massachusetts Cavalry, were found on the roof of the
Capitol by Lieutenant de Peyster and Captain Langdon,
which Lad been placed there by Major Stevens and Major
.Graves, members of the militai-y staff of General Weitzel,
who had accompanied the party of cavalry which was
sent forward in pursuit of the fugitive enemy. By an un-
authorized detour they raised the guidons of their party
on the roof of the abandoned Capitol.

'"''Tlie hoisting of these guidons failed, to secure the
grateful sei'vlce^ as it was styled in Me,noo hy General
Scott, of a for III al possession of the Capitol at .Rich no ndy
and as was reserved to General Quitman, in the former
case, the honor of formal occupation, hy '•'•hoisting the
oolors of the United States on the National Palace,-'' so

to Lieutenant de Peyster and Captain Langdon right-
fully helo7igs the honor of hoisting the colors of the
United States over the Capitol of the Confederate States^
and the formal occupation of that edifice.

"Two days after the event (April 5tli) General AVeitzel
wrote to the father of de Pevstee :

" Your sou, Lieutenaut J. de Peyster, aud Captain Laug-
dou, my Chief of Artillery, raised the first real American
FLAG over the Capitol in Richmond. It was a flag formerly
belonging to the Twelfth Maine Volunteers. Two cavalry
guidons had, however, been placed over the building prcviousl}^
by two of my staff officers ; these were replaced by the flag-
that DE Peyster and Langdon raised.

"Yours truly, G. Weitzel, Maj.-Gen."

April 22d, General Shepley wrote his father:

" Your son, Lieutenant de Peyster, raised the frst flag
in Richmond, replacing two small cavalry guidons on the
Capitol. The flag is in the possession of Major-General
Weitzel ; I enclose a small piece of the flag. The history of
the affair is this : I brought with me from Norfolk an old
storm-flag, which I had used in New Orleans, remarking
sportively, that it would do to float over the Capitol in Rich-
mond, where I hoped to see it. De Peystei', Avho heard the
remark, said, ' General, will you let me raise it ? ' I said, 'Yes,
if you Avill bring it with you, and take care of it, you shall
raise it in Richmond.' As we left our lines to advance towards
Richmond, Lieutenant de Peyster said, ' General, do you
remember your promise about the flag ? ' I said, ' Yes, go to
my tent and get the flag, and carry it on your saddle, and I
will send you to raise it.' The result you know."

"On the 1st of May, 1865, the Governor of the State

of New York liouored Lieut, de Peyster with a brevet
Lieutenant-Colonel's commission, for gallant and meritori-
ous conduct, and for lioistiug the first American flag over
Richmond, Ya., after the capture by the Union forces,
April 3d, 1865, and as a testimonial of the zeal, fidelity
and courage with which he had maintained the honor of the
State of New York in her efi^orts to enforce the laws of
the United States, the supremacy of the Constitution, and
a republican form of government.

"On Christmas day, 1865, the city of New York, by a
formal vote, tendered to him the Thanks of the city, for
giving to New York this historic honor. The United
States Senate subsequently confirmed his nomination as a
brevet Lieut. -Colonel of United States Volunteers for the
same service. The Governor of New York finally
gave him a brevet of full Colonel for this achievement,
which could only be performed once and by one man in
the history of the country.

Admiral Farragut, whose name is a synonym for jja-
triotism and every heroic quality, and wKo endorsed the
recommendation for Lieut, de Peyster 's brevets, expressed
the oi)inion that the fact that the Union troops were not
opposed in their occupation of Richmond, and that Lieut,
de Peyster hoisted '■''the first real American FLAG " over
the Rebel Capitol, did not detract from the merit of the
deed. He said the intent was all suflicient ; that when
Lieut, de Peyster undertook the performance he expected

—as he previously wrote home — to fulHl it at the peril of
his life, and therefore the altered condition of circumstances
beyond his control could not lessen his credit or claims
to rcM^ard. Other military chiefs took the same view of
the case. In the light of such opinions Lieut, de Peyster
promptly received from the United States, his native
State, and the City for which his direct ancestor assisted in
framing its first charter, the rewards and acknowledgments
to which he was clearly entitled, and which to obtain he
had bravely and cheerfully put his young life in the most
imminent peril.

Note. — Compare : 1. " The American Conflict : a History of
the Great Rebellion " in the U. S. A., by Horace Greeley, H.,
1867, pp. 737-8. 2. " Harpers' Pictorial History of the Great
Rebellion," 1868, part II., pp. 765-6. 3. "Pictorial History
of the Civil War in the U. S.," by Benson J. Lossing, Vol.
III., 1868, pp. 547-50. 4. " History of the American Civil
War," by John William Draper, M. D., LL. D., N. Y., 1870,
pp. 577-8. 5. Atlantic Monthly : "Incidents of the Capture
of Richmond," by Maj.-Gen. George F. Shepley, July, 1880,
pp. 18-28. 6. " The History of the First Regiment of [U. S.]
Artillery," Fort Preble, Portland, Maine, 1879, pp. 218, 463,
etc. 7. "Boys in Blue." 8. "The Volunteer." 9. "The
Soldier's Friend." 10. " The Citizen and Round Table."

Hoisting First Real American Flag over the Capitol of the captured Rebel Capital,
Richmond, Monday, 3d April, i 865, by Lt.-Col. Johnston Livingston de Peyster, A.D C.

FiRgT Fii^6 mm l^ICPM^ND.

United States of America. ,

War Department,
Washington City, May 25th, 1877.
Pursuant to Section 882 of the Revised Statutes, I hereby
certify that tlie annexed documents are true copies of the
originals on file in this Department.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and
caused the seal of the War Department to be affixed, on the
day and year first above written.
cf~«"«-s.^^^ Geo. W. McC/Rary,

(i Seal, with J,

i .^ia'ch^d. ^ Secretary of War.

[copy.] War Department,

March, 1866.

Case of (/apt. Johnston L. de Peyster, 13th N. Y. Art'y —
recommended for Brevet Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
[was on Gen'l Weitzel's staff, near Richmond].

Referred, to have the name put on the list to be presented
to Sec'y. By order of Secretary of War,

[signed,] L. H. Pelouze, A. A. (4.

[Senator Norton. ]

[copy.] United States Senate Chamber,

Washington, March 7th, 1866.
CoL. L. H. Pelouze,

Dear Sir : — I would like very much if you would, if you
can, add to the memoranda which I gave you the other day
for B'v'ts of J. L. de Peyster, that they are given for hoisting
the first Union flag in Richmond, April 3d, 1865.

De Peyster was on Weitzel's staff, I believe, performed
"that feat," and would like to have it so recorded.

Very Resp't'ly,
[siGNKD,] D. L. Norton.

[copy.] "Rose Hill," Red Hook,

[Tivoli P. O.] Duchess Co., N. Y.,
7th April, 1877.
To the Hon. Geo. W. MoCrary,
Secretary of War,

Washixgton, D. C.
Sir : — In presenting this case of my son, Johnston Living-
ston de Peyster, I might drag in my own services and sacrifices
for the Union cause and the Republican party, for which I
have received no return from the Federal Government, al-
though they were most generously acknowledged by my own
native State, New York, and its Republican leaders.

I never asked any favor from the Federal Gov't except
this certificate or statement. It may even be impolitic for me,
at this time, to introduce references to my position, action,
and influence during the last political campaign, but they can
be and will be cheerfully acknowledged by those who are the
best judges of the value of such services.
I have the honor to be.

Very resp'y? yr. obt. serv't,
[signed,] J. Watts de Peyster, N. Y.

[copy.] Rose Hill, Red Hook [Tivoli P. 0.]

Duchess Co., N. Y.,

7th April, 1877.
To the Hon. Geo. W. McCrary,
Secretary of War,

Washington, D. C.
Sir : — Colonel Johnston L. de Peyster was a pupil of the
Highland Military College, Newbnrgh, S. N. Y., organized

on a basis intended to resemble West Point. In his sixteenth
year (1862) he enlisted quite a number of recruits [to whom
I paid extra boimties] for a company, out of whose command
he was tricked after organizing it. As he was so young, and
as I had two sons already in the field, I siicceeded for the
time in keeping him out of the service. During the riots in
New York citj', in 1863, he participated as a volunteer, in the
ranks of the 7th Keg't, N. Y. S. National Guard, and behaved
remarkably well in the different street fights in which it was
engaged. Meanwhile, my eldest son, Major 1st N. Y. Artillery,
returned home, completely destroyed, physically, by injuries
received and disease incurred in the Peninsular Campaign of
1862, and Chancellorville Campaign of 1863, of which he
died, after protracted suffering. My second son was likewise
home from the Peninsular Campaign, bringing with him the
seeds of the terrible disease of which he, in turn, also, eventu-
ally died.

Early in 1864, Johnston Livingston de Peyster, my only
surviving son, then in his eighteenth year, was commissioned a
Lieutenant in the 13th New York Heavy Artillery, and sta-
tioned at Norfolk, Virginia, where he served as Post Adjutant
of the battalion garrisoning the forts commanded by Major
F. R. Hassler. After recovering from a very severe attack
of district malarial fever, which clung to him for many years,
he was transferred to the staff of Brigadier-General George
F. Shepley, as Aide-de-Camp. Li this capacity he won the
esteem of his superiors, and was highly commended for his
efliciency. When General Shepley was made Chief of Staff
to Major-General Weitzel, commanding 25th Army Corps,
he took his Aide with him, who then became a member of
General WeitzePs military family.

On the night of the 2d-3d of April, 1865, my son, from
the signal tower, M'as the first to discover evidences that
Richmond was on fire, and movements tending to its evacua-
tion. The plan then, at first, seemed to be to storm the Rebel
works; and he was entrusted with an American fiag, with the

intention, in case of assault, to display it, if possible, over the
Rebel Capitol, or venture his life in the attempt.

That the place was not assaulted, and that he did not incur
this peril, is no faiilt of his. In the life of Field-Marshal Sir
John Burgoyne, B. A., it is mentioned that a young French
soldier was decorated, in 1854, because he was the only one of
a party of sixty-five left alive after a visitation of the cholera.
Now this young man was rewarded militarily for his provi-
dential escape from a peril out of the ordinary line of military
service proper, and beyond all military calculation. Moreover,
Admiral Farragut, in endorsing my application for my son's
State brevets, instanced a case of intrepidity, purely and
simply moral, as equally worthy of recognition. My son was
willing to risk his life to achieve a great result. He perfected
his intention. The absence of the peril was not only beyond
hope but beyond all earthly probability. At all events, he
completely, faithfully and successfully discharged the duty
assigned to him, and he hoisted " the first real American flag"
over tbe Capitol of the captured Rebel Capital.

No other man did this, and it could only be done once ;
and by one man, and he, my son, alone, had the flag with him,
ready to do it.

When my son was brevetted Lieut. -Colonel U. S. V., it was
understood to be for this service, and it was supposed that the
brevet commission would set forth the fact that it was con-
ferred as a I'eward for having hoisted " the first real American
flag " over Richmond, but Avhen the commission Avas received
it was found not to contain these, so important, words.

Although the Corporation of the city of New York passed
a vote of thanks to her eighteen year old son, for conferring
this historic honor upon his native city, and the Governor of
the State of New York brevetted him Colonel, setting forth in
the commission that it Avas granted for the express reason
that he had so hoisted " the first real American flag " [to use the
very words of General Weitzel] over the Rebel Capitol ; he
had no recognition of his deed from the United States : a
deed whose duplication was impossible.

I now approach the Honorable Secretary of War, to ask
for this, my only surviving son, an official statement from the
War Department which v^ili supply the omission in the
brevet commission, by setting forth that he hoisted " the first
real American flag " o\qy Richmond, in order that it may be
preserved in the archives of the family, which, in successive
generations, have won so many attests of gallant and distin-
guished conduct upon the battle-field.

The accompanying letters of Major-General AVeitzel,
U. S. A., and Brigadier-General Shepley, V. S. Y., his Chief
of Staff, set forth and attest this claim in behalf of my son,
Johnston Livingston de Peyster, and suggest the ac-
knowdedgment of this first hoisting of the flag, which was
reported by the correspondents in Richmond at the time, and
is recorded in different histories of the war.

All which is very respectfully submitted, with strong
hopes of the favorable consideration and action of the Honor-
able Secretary of War.

I have the honor to be,

Yr. obt. serv't,

[sKiNKO,] J. VYaTTS J)K PkVSTEK.

[copy. J United States Engineer Office,

85 Washington Avenue,
Detroit, Mini., April 4th, 1H77.

To the Hon. Geo. W. McCrary,
Secretary of War,

Washington, D. V.

Sir : — In compliance with a request from General J. Watts
de Peyster, of 'Xew York city, I have the honor to state a
fact, which I have heretofore officially reported.

When my command entered and took possession of Rich-
mond, Yirginia (the Rebel Capital), on the morning of the 3d
of April, 18(35, Mr. Johnston Livingston de Peyster, the
youngest son of the General, was an acting Aide-de-Camp on

my staff. He entered the city with me, carrying with him a
United States flag, that had once belonged to the 12th Maine
Volunteers, and Avhich was the first United States flag raised
by our troops over New Orleans, on its occupation in May,
1863. On this occasion General Geo. F. Shepley Avas Colonel
of the 12th Maine Regiment, and the flag was presented to
him subsequently by the regiment. At the time I took pos-
session of Richmond, General George F. Shepley was my
Chief of Staif, and Lieut, de Peyster was an Aide-de-Camp on
his staff. Immediately after Ave entered the city, Lieutenant
de Peyster, assisted by my Chief of Artillery, hoisted this flag
over the Capitol building, and this was the " first real American
flag" raised over Richmond after its fall.

I think that this should be commemorated and recognized ;
and I therefore, and also in view of his previous faithful and
good service, think it proper that Lieut, de Peyster be granted
a brevet for it. I am, sir.

Very respectfully,
• • Your obt. servant,

[signed,] G. Weitzel,

Major of Engineers,
Brevet Major-General V. S, Army.

[copy. J Portland, Maine,

April 4th, 1877.
Gen. de Peyster,

Dear General : — At your request I again state the facts in
relation to the act of raising the first flag over Richmond.

As Chief of Staff of that portion of the 24th and 25th
Army Corps which constituted the Army of the James, on
the north side of the river [after a portion, under Gen. Ord
had left to reinforce the Army of the Potomac], I received
the first intelligence of the withdrawal of Longstreet's Corps
from our front. As this left Richmond open for the advance
of the 24th and 25th Corps, under Gen, Godfrey Weitzel, I

immediately, acting under Gen. Weitzel, gave the necessary
orders for an advance upon Richmond.

At this time your son, Lieut. Johnston de Peyster, re-
minded me of a promise I had made him previously.

When leaving my command of the District of East Vir-
ginia and North Carolina, for the Army of the James, de
Peyster asked me what was to be done with my flag ? This
was a flag belonging to me, individually, which I had at my
headquarters when Colonel of the 12tli Regiment of
Maine Volunteers — a regiment I had raised in 1861. I had
raised it over my headquarters, when military commandant
at the occupation of New Orleans and also when Military
Governor of Louisiana. I answered Lieut, de Peyster rather
sportively. " That flag floated over New Orleans ; it will do to
float over Richmond." He said, " If I will carry it up to the
Army of the James, and take care of it, will you let me raise
it ? " I said, " Yes." When we were leaving for Richmond, at
daylight, before the occupation of Richmond, he reminded
me of this promise. I said, " Go to my tent, get the flag, and
carry it on your saddle into Richmond with lis, and you shall
raise it over Richmond." As we entered Richmond, Lieut,
de Peyster and Capt. Langdon, Weitzel's Chief of Artillery,
Avere ordered to raise the flag. De Peyster had with him this
flag, and they went together, and de Peyster hoisted it. I
subsequently presented the flag to Gen. Weitzel, who has in
turn presented it to some public institution in Cincinnati,

Ohio.

Most respectfully and sincerely yours,

[signed,] G. F. Shei'ley,

late Brig-Gen. U. S. V.

LADY MARY (xee Watts) JOHNSON.

The pamphlet alluded to in note (p. 50, supra), "Adven-
tures of a Lady in the War of Independence in America,"
was by Miss Susan Griffiths Colpoys — daughter of Admiral
Griffiths Colpoys, of the British Navy — who married Colonel
Christopher Johnson, B. A., sixth son of Sir John Johnson,
Bart. She was consequently sister-in-law of Adam Gordon
Johnson, third Baronet, and aunt of Sir William G. Johnson,
the present and fourth Baronet, the grandson of Sir John
Johnson, the second Baronet. The publication referred to was
received and the main particulars in regard thereto were
derived from the latter. Consequently Mrs. Col. Johnson had
every opportunity of hearing all the incidents from those
most interested in the narrative and cognizant of the sad facts
of the case. It was the youngest daughter of this Mrs. Col.
Christopher Johnson that married Mr. Henry Curwen, who
inherited the ancestral abode of the Curwens, the historic es-
tate of "Workington Hall," noted as having been the tem-
porary residence or place of detention of Mary, Queen of
Scots, in L568.

The authoress, when she Avrote her little book, was staying
with her daughter at "Workington Hall," in Cumberland, the
northeast shire, or county, of England, looking out upon the
Solway Firth where it was traversed by the perhajjs deserv-
edly unhapjjy, but beautiful Queen of Scots, on her passage
from Port Mary, in her hereditary realm, to Maryport, in the
dominions of her rival, Elizabeth, — where her captivity or
actual close confinement of nineteen years was brought to a
close by her decapitation, at Fotheringay Castle, three and
one-half miles N. N. W. of Oundle, in the eastern corner of
Northamptonshire, one of the central counties of England, on
the 8th February, 1687. After the accession of James VI.,
son of Mary, to the crown of England, this castle was razed
to the ground. It would have been more to the honor and
manhood of James to have exerted his royal authority in
striving to prevent the execution of his mother than this
endeavor to rehabilitate his credit by exercising his power
on innocent stones.

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 9999 06439 729 0

(Dec, 1888, 20,000;

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBMEY.

One volume allowed at a time, and obtained onlv bv
card ; to be kept 14 days (or seven days in the case of fictioii
and juvenile books published within one year) without tine ;
not to be renewed; to be rechuiiied by messenger after 21
days, who will collect 30 cents besides fine of 2 cents a dav,
includingf Sundays and holidays; not to be lent out of the
borrower's household, and not to be transferred; to be re-
turned at this Hall.

Borrowers finding this book mutilated or unwarrantably
defaced, are expected to report it; and also any vindue delav
in the delivery of books.

***No claim can be established because of the failure of
any notice, to or from the Library, through the mail.

The record below must not te mada or altered 1:7 borrower,

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Full text of "St. Paul's Church, Red Hook, Duchess [sic] County, New York : ... Rose Hill ... De Peyster family ..."

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