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NICROTTINED BY UMI
LITTLE VISITS
TO
HISTORICAL
POINTS IN
WESTCHESTER
COUNTY
PART ONE
BY
AN AUTHORITY'
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White Plains - .-
MAMARONECK, N. Y.
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PUBLISHED
BY THE RICHBELL PRESS . MC MII
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THE NEW YORK PUBLICLIBRARY 355664
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1900 L
Copyrighted 1902 BY WATERBURY & CLAPP.
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The Richbell Press . Waterbury & Clapp · Mamaroneck · N. Y.
LITTLE VISITS TO HISTORICAL POINTS IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY
WHITE PLAINS
W HITE Plains was originally included in the Richbell patent, but in 1683, by some authorities said to be November 22d of that year, the people of the town of Rye bought of the Indians a tract of land embracing approximately 4,500 acres, and thereby obtained pro- prietorship; this tract of land was called by the aborigines Quaroppas, and by the whites the White Plains, from the fact that when first seen by them the plain was covered with White Balsam, (Gnaphalium Polycephalum. Meaning a head of soft down or wool) then in full blossom.
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After the purchase, White Plains was with Rye under the government of Connecticut; White Plains' connection with Rye was dissolved in 1816. After a time a new boundary line was fixed which gave both Rye and White Plains, to New York. As early as 1760 White Plains constituted one of the precincts of Rye parish, and paid a small sum annually towards the support of the Rector and poor.
The original county seat of Westchester was in the village of the same name, but in 1759 the courts were removed to White Plains, as a half shire town with Bedford, the courts being held alternately at both places. The first Court House was built and here were enacted many stiring events which lead in time to the establishing of our national liberty. The present Court House stands near the centre of the village and occupies the site of the old building. Upon the · removal of the Courts from Westchester, the first Court of Common Pleas assembled here the 27th day of
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May I760. Previous to the American Rev- olution party feeling ran high, the people to a unit were in favor of adhering as loyal subjects to his most Gracious Majesty King George the Third; but there were different ideas as to what constituted this allegiance; many deemed it prop- er to pay without dissent the taxes demanded by the King, others held that the interpretation of the British constitution permitted the inhabitants of the Country, or at least the freeholders to a voice in the disposal of the revenue, they were opposed to taxes without representation, and as the press was entirely in the hands of the King's officers, the revolutionary party was compelled to issue circulars and hand-bills, to publish their sen- timents. Both parties held many meetings and passed resolutions declaring their adherence to what each considered right. Meanwhile the rev- olutionists were quietly drilling and preparing for the conflict, which they thought might take place, as they saw the uncompromising spirit manifested
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by the King who continued sending troops to the Colonies.
There are events connected with White Plains which will long live in the pages of Amer- ican History.
It was here that the Whigs of Westchester Co., solemnly in convention promised at the risk of their lives and fortunes, to join with the other colonies in supporting the liberties of the country and protesting against the army that King George was sending into the country, presumedly with the intention of frightening the people into submission.
It was in White Plains that the Whigs of Westchester Co., appointed to meet the commit- tees of the several towns to elect deputies to the Continental Congress, who were to assemble at Philadelphia on the first day of September 1774.
Earnest and spirited efforts were made to get the voice of both parties on the great ques- tion of the day, and a special meeting was called
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to obtain an expression of the sentiments of the freeholders or voters of the county, to be held at White Plains on Tuesday the eleventh of April 1775. A spirited article appeared in Rivington's Gazette on the sixth of April addressed to the Freeholders and inhabitants of Westchester Co., calling them to be prompt in acknowledging their county. On the 13th of June the Provincial Congress of this State adjourned from the City of New York, to the Court House in White Plains where they met on the 9th of July following and there continued in session until the 29th of that month, it was there resolved that the Treasurer and Secretary of this Congress, be, and they thereby are, directed forthwith to repair with all and singular the public papers and money now in their custody or possession unto the White Plains, County of Westchester, and this Congress be and hereby is adjourned to the Court House aforesaid there to meet on Tuesday the 2d. day of July next, and proceed upon business; and that the
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next Congress of this County do meet at the same place on Monday the 8th of July aforesaid unless otherwise ordered by Congress.
It was further ordered that all the lead, pow- der, and other military stores, belonging to this State be forthwith removed to White Plains.
It was at White Plains on the 9th of July 1776, the Provincial Congress received the Dec- laration of Independence; there it was read in front of the Court House, and there the people solemnly in convention promised at the risk of their lives, and fortunes, to join with the other It was there resolved colonies in supporting it.
that 500 copies of the Declaration of Independ- ence be published in hand-bills and sent to all the county committees of the State. The letter of John Hancock enclosing to them that declara- tion, after acknowledging their dependence for suc- cess upon the Ruler of the Universe, with almost prophetic vision announced the important conse- quences, which would flow from that declaration.
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"The Declaration of Independence was read by John Thomas Esq. and seconded by Michael Varian and Samuel Crawford two prominent Whigs of Scarsdale. The latter met a sad and early fate by the hands of British refugees."
On Thursday the IIth day of July 1776 with beat of drum the official proclamation of the great Declaration on the part of the Representa- tives of the State of New York was made before the Old Court House.
The Old Court House honored by this fear- less step in the cause of liberty and associated with the wisdom and virtue of the great and good men of the period, was destroyed by fire about 12 o'clock on the night of the 5th of No- vember 1776, together with every dwelling left by the enemy at White Plains. By order of Gen- eral Washington the culprits were tried by the laws of the state. Pierre van Cortlandt vice pres- ident of the committee of public safety in a letter to the Honorable John Hancock, President of
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the Congress of the United States, writes, "The soldier who plunders the country he is employed to protect is no better than a robber, and ought to be treated accordingly, and a severe example in the opinion of the committee ought to be made of the officer who, without any necessity, or his general's permission, set fire to the Court House and other buildings at White Plains." At the trial which followed it was made known that the firing of the town which consumed the Court House, the Presbyterian Church, with a quantity of timber desined for its enlargement, besides all that remained of the town, was done by order of Major Osborne of the Massachusetts line, for the purpose of preventing them from being used by the British troops, then in the neighborhood, during the ensuing winter; these facts are fully proven by affidavits of witnesses, said to be now in existance.
Washington's army was stationed at Harlem Heights and King's Bridge, but kept a lookout
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on the Sound and Hudson river routes, to pre- vent the enemy moving south and east, consider- able bodies of troops were advanced along these lines and temporary entrenched camps were es- tablished all the way to White Plains. The prin- cipal magazine of provisions had been accumulated at the town of White Plains; a place not too far removed from Harlem Heights headquarters and yet at a sufficient distance in the interior to be deemed safe. White Plains commanded the whole country above, since all the roads centered there. These various conditions positively indi- cated White Plains as the essential point for Washington to reach. The military stores at White Plains were under the guard of a militia force of 300 men. Washington accordingly made a deliberate countermove for that place. Mean- while General Howe had transported his army from New York City, to Throgg's Neck, and from there to Pell's Neck or Point, each army keeping a sharp lookout on the other. Washing-
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ton's troops had been filing into White Plains for several days, and finally on October 26th 1776 General Lee's division had the honor of bringing up the rear, more than three days being required to cover the distance. The full strength of Washington's army finally concentrated at White Plains, was in the neighborhood of 13,000 al- though many authorities give a much less number. The British soldiers were well equiped and thor- ougly disciplined; while the Americans were principally raw recruits, indifferently fed and armed. Directly across the Bronx, in the pres- ent town of Greenburgh rose an elevated height called Chatterton's Hill which was to be the scene of the impending battle, which General Howe supposed would be the decisive conflict of the War; on the crest of this Hill a breastwork had been begun on the night of October 27, 1776 but it was not sufficiently advanced to prove of any value. There were no American troops west of Chatterton's Hill. From his camp in Scarsdale
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General Howe marched early on the morning of Monday, October 28th, 1776 to White Plains. He proceeded in two heavy columns, the right commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, and the left by General de Heister; on arriving at Hartsdale he was met by a body of 2,600 New England troops under Major General Spencer; this force had been pushed forward by Washington to stop the enemy's advance, some authorities say these New Englanders made only a sorry defence, and this circumstance largely determined the scene of the conflict known as the battle of White Plains.
The Hessian force was commanded by Colonel Rhal; Rhal in his pursuit of the New Englanders approached Chatterton's Hill and ob- serving that the summit was occupied by an American force turned his attention thither, he accordingly took a station commanding the Hill. The American troops on Chatterton's Hill who had engaged the attention of Colonel Rahl were Colonel Haslet's Delaware regiment and a regi-
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ment of Massachusetts militia commanded by Colonel John Brooks. During Rahl's artillery attack, Washington sent over a strong force com- manded by General Mc. Dougall to assist the Americans already on the Hill, the united force was about 1,800 and made a respectable showing as they took their positions. Just outside Wash- ington's lines the English commander ordered a halt, and General Howe and his officers held a consultation on horseback. They concluded that the force on Chatterton's Hill was a serious menance and that it must be dislodged. There- upon their best regiments were ordered to storm the Hill; the attacking army was large, some authorities placing it as high as 7,500. The Massachusetts militia again showed their weekness, and although protected by a stone wall fled in confusion without more than a random scattering fire, when Rahl's troops who it was their duty to oppose, advanced upon them. Shonnard and Spooner thus describes the affair.
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"The Massachusetts militiamen who had been so skittish under the artillery fire, showed themselves equally disinclined to sustain an in- fantry shock, and although sheltered by a stone wall fled in confusion, without more than a ran- dom, scattering fire." "Dawson calls this the Rout of the Bashful New Englanders."
The Delaware men were only about 300 strong and made a most gallant defense; the Dela- ware riflemen stood their ground nobly and their remarkable steadiness in maintaining their posi- tion was greatly supported by the artillery, under command of Alaxander Hamilton. In fact the crowning honors of the day were won by the Delaware riflemen and Hamilton's artillery. The engagement on Chatterton's Hill was not fought by the Americans from behind entrench- ments, but on ground fully exposed to the on- rush of the enemy relieved only by the slight protection of two or three stone walls or an oc- casional rock before troops outnumbering them
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by three or four to one. The retreat when noth- ing but retreat remained was performed with dignity and without material loss.
The British loss in killed and wounded was 157, the mercenery regiments 79, total on the enemy's side 233. The losses in killed, wound- ed, and missing was 93, which added to the 47 lost on the march through Hartsdale, made the American total 147.
It has been proposed to erect a monument commemorative of this battle either in White Plains or on Chatterton's Hill to mark this in- teresting Revolutionary event.
The following account of the military quar- ters in this town, and its vicinity, in October 1776, is from the address of J. W. Tompkins, deliver- ed at White Plains.
"The county of Westchester at the com- mencement of the Revolution, contained a multi- tude of hardy yomen inured to toil whose ancestry had fled from oppression abroad, and in the en-
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joyment of greater freedom in the colony, had imbibed an ardent love of liberty. When the star of Independence arose in the east, they were ready to follow its lead; and when New York in 1776, was threatened with invasion, they flocked with alacrity to its defence. When the battle of Long Island turned the tide of war against us, they still adhered to the American army, contending every inch of ground to Harlem, thence to Kings- bridge, and through the southern part of West- chester County to White Plains, where General Washington again determined to entrench himselt and make another stand against an overwhelming force of the choicest British troops, flushed with victory and confident of success. A brief ac- count of the movement of the two armies to this place, and of their operations here, it is my pur- pose to give."
"The City of New York was selected by the English as the centre of their military operations, with the view of commanding the North River
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and acting in conjunction with a force from Can- ada, descending through Lake Champlain, thus securing the Colonies. Their march into West- chester County was designed to obtain command of the two principal routes leading to New Eng- land, one through Rye and the other by way of Bedford, and thereby cut off the American army from its supplies principally derived from the East, and obtain the rear of General Washington's army, and force him to a general battle, or to a precipitate retreat. But Washington penetrated their intentions, and conducted his forces north- ward from Kingsbridge with great skill, moving in a line parallel with the British a little in ad- vance of them, facing them constantly, with the Bronx in his front, which was fortified at every assailable point.
On the 12th of October 1776, a portion of the British army, consisting of the Guard, Light Infantry reserve, and Count Dunop's Corps land- ed on Throgg's Neck, and on the night of that
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day, Colonel William Smith (then a lieutenant) with a Corporal's guard, broke down the bridge connecting the Neck with the Town of West- chester, and left Sir William Howe upon an island. On the 16th and 17th of October, the English force on Throgg's Neck were augmented by the Ist, 2d, and 6th Brigades crossing from Long Island, and by the 3d Hessian battalion from New York.
On the 18th the whole British Army cross- ed to Pelham Point, and marching northerly, en- camped the same night on the high ground be- tween Hutchingson River and the village of New Rochelle, where they remained until the 2 1st.
On the 21st the British removed, and en- camped on New Rochelle Heights, north of the village, and both sides of the road leading to Scarsdale. This camp was broken up on the 25th, and the Army moved forward to a position upon the high ground in Scarsdale and there remained till the morning of the 28th of
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October.
General Washington during that time had not remained inactive; as early as the 11th of October a part of his army crossed from Harlem Heights, reached White Plains on the 12th and commenced erecting fortifications, and on the 22d General Washington leaving his headquarters at Fort Washington established them at Valentine's Hill, whence they were removed to White Plains on the 23d.
The entrenchments at White Plains were erected under the directions of a French engineer, and consisted of a square fort of sods in the main street, with breast works on each side running westerly over the south side of Purdy's Hill on the Bronx, and easterly across the hills to Horton's Pound.
When the English attacked Chatterton's Hill on the 28th they were unfinished, but dur- ing the night of the 28th and 29th of October they were raised and strengthened, being intended
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for temporary use until the position above Abraham Miller's in North Castle could be forti- fied, which was done, and to which the American army afterwards retired.
During the march of the two armies to White Plains frequent skirmishes occurred. On the 18th the vanguard of the British army was attacked by a detachment under General Sullivan, and the fight which ensued near New Rochelle, has always been represented as very creditable to the Americans.
On the morning of the 28th of October, the British army marched from their camp, in two columns- the right commanded by General Clin- ton, the left by De Heaston, and came in sight of the American forces about 10 o'clock.
On the previous day two regiments had been sent over to throw up entrenchments on Chatter- ton's Hill, and the next morning General Wash- tngton ordered Colonal Haslet to take command of the Hill, having under his command a Delaware
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Regiment, the Militia, and a part of the Mary- land troops. General McDougal soon followed him, and took command. Colonel Haslet says the enemy in the first place moved toward the fortifications in the village- they then halted- the general officers then had a council of war on horse back in the wheat-field and the result was that their forces inclined towards the Bronx. Fifteen or twenty pieces were placed upon the high ground opposite the Hill, and commenced a furi- ous cannonade upon McDougal's forces, under cover of which fire the British built a bridge over the Bronx and prepared to cross.
General McDougal placed two field pieces upon a ledge of table rock, which did great execu- tion among the British officers and soldiers. So soon as the bridge would admit their crossing, they rushed forward and attempted to take the two pieces by a charge up the Hill- these two cannons were in charge of Alexander Hamilton, and never did officers and men do better execu-
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tion. When upon the spot in after years, de- scribing it to a youthful friend he was heard to say, "For three successive discharges the ad- vancing column of British troops were swept from hill-top to river."
The British finding this table-rock inaccessi- ble inclined to the left down the river, and joined the troops under General Rhal which had cross- ed about a quarter of a mile below.
They now attacked McDougal and at- temped to turn his right flank. He retreated, but contested the ground all the way up to the summit of the hill, making a stand at every fav- orable point. At length the British cavalry gained the crest of the hill, and charging, cut to pieces the militia on McDougal's right.
The last stand was made by the Americans behind a fence at the top of the hill, where the Delaware regiment and part of McDougal's brigade twice repulsed the British Light Infantry and Cavalry. At length compelled to retreat, it
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was done in good order over the bridge at the foot of the hill under cover of some regiments detached by Washington from his main army. The militia and a few of the regulars were dis- persed among the hills of Greenburg, but soon returned to headquarters. The British forces engaged in the attack were the flower of the army consisting of the second brigade, the twenty- eight, the fifth, and the forty-ninth regiments, Rhal's battalion, the Hessian Grenadiers under Dunop, and a party of Light Dragoons all com- manded by General Leslie.
That General Washington did make a suc- cessful stand at this place has ever excited the wonder of miltary men. His troops were greatly inferior in numbers, and discipline and composed in parts of militia and raw recruits. After the battle, the enemy for several days attempted to gain Washington's rear, tried to alarm him and induce him to retreat or fight by threatening his flanks. At several times they formed a semicir-
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cle about him. On the night of the 31st of Oc- tober, Washington evacuated his camp at White Plains and establishes his new position in the hills of North Castle, about one mile in the rear of his former encampment, when the British ap- pear to have relinquished all further offensive operations. At the advance of the British army to White Plains, the Whig families were seen hurrying unprotected before them with their clothing and a scanty supply of provisions to seek shelter for the coming winter, they knew not where. Desolation and famine marked that fair region over which the two armies passed. The English army finding all attempts to circumvent General Washington hopeless, broke up their camp at White Plains on the 5th of November and retired to Dobb's Ferry, and from thence to Kingsbridge where they encamped on the 13th of that month. Thus ended in Westchester for the year 1776 the movements of the British army.
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The Wars of 1776 and 1812 impoverished the County and the population declined. In one year (1814) there was a shrinkage of nearly 4,000. This loss is easily accounted for, West- chester County responded with alacrity to the calls of the National and State governments for troops to serve in the war of 1812 with England, and therefore the decline was considerable in every township.
Early in the twenties rail-roads were brought into use. Trains commenced running on the New York and Harlem railroad in 1842, but is was not until 1844 that the road extended to White Plains, this was the first railroad in the County. Although the road was conducted in a very im- perfect manner its completion through the Coun- ty was an event of great importance, not only to the people living along the route, but also to those of other sections, and as the work progres- sed, stage communication between the villages near the railroad was immediately established.
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With the completion of the railways the population quickly increased, and the value of personal property and real estate was almost doubled.
The first County Judge elected in West- chester County, was John W. Mills of White Plains 1850-1856; the first surrogate, Lewis C. Platt of White Plains 1848-1856; the first Coun- ty Treasurer, Elisha Horton of White Plains 1849-1852.
Intense partisan feeling characterised the dis- cussion of political issues in Westchester County in the electoral campaign of 1860. The County has always been on the conservative side political- ly, and the Democrative party was largely domi- nant; the startling events of 1861 made a radical change in the political sentiments of very many. It was no longer a question of the supremacy of this party, or that, but of the existance of the federal union. The president's proclamation calling for 75,000 militia volunteers was issued on
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the 15th of April 1861. White Plains immedi- ately responded to the call, but for financial reasons the men drifted into different regiments, some were credited to Elmira, their captain being made lieutenant-colonel on the 21st of May. The original line of White Plains officers were: Company B-Captain E. W. Anderson, Lieuten- ants Thomas W. Dick and Horton R. Platt. Another regiment in which the White Plains men were largely represented was the 16th New York Cavalry mustered into service between June and October 1863. The war interfered seriously with the growth of this section of the country.
A beautiful monument which is shown in the half-tone cut on the frontispage, was erected by the Patriotic Town's people of White Plains, in memory of the Soldiers who fell in the War of Secession.
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