USA > New York > Comley's history of the state of New York, embracing a general review of her agricultural and mineralogical resources, her manufacturing industries, trade and commerce, together with a description of her great metropolis, from its settlement by the Dutch, in 1609 > Part 11
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George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, accepted the appointment of general and commander-in-chief of the American armies, on the 16th of June, 1775. On the 6th of October, Congress decreed that the Provincial Convention of New York be directed immediately to render Hudson River defensible; that in doing this, they be particularly attentive to form such works as may be finished before the winter sets in ; and that the Convention be directed to inquire whether there are not some other places where small batteries might be erected, so as to annoy the enemy on their passage, particularly a few heavy cannon at, or near Moorehouse, and at a point on the shore a little above Verplanck's Point.
On the 5th of January, 1776, Congress passed this Resolution : That having .conferred with the gentlemen sent by the Convention of New York, and resumed the consideration of the report on the state of that colony, they decreed that no further fortifications be erected on Martless Rock on Hudson's River, and that a point of land on Puplopenskill on the said river, be without delay effectually fortified.
Congress, on the 9th of January, passed a resolve in these memorable words : " That it recommended to the Committee of Safety of the Province of New York to appoint proper persons to inquire into the propriety and practicability of obstruct- ing or lessening the depth of water in the Narrows, or in any other place at the entrance of New York, or of any way of fortifying that pass, so as to prevent the entrance of the enemy ;" and also to inquire whether the depth of water in Hudson's River, below the Battery, may not easily be lessened so as to prevent large ships passing up, and to make an estimate of the expense, and report their proceedings in the premises immediately to Congress.
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On the 26th of the same month, a committee of three members of Congress. consisting of Messrs. Harrison, Va .; Lynch, S. C .; and Allen, Pa., was appointed to repair directly to New York to consult and advise with the Council of Safety of that colony, and with General Lee, respecting the immediate defence of the city of New York; and that General Lee be allowed to follow the determination of the said committee thereon. And the said committee was further instructed to consult with General Lee and the Committee of Safety about the fortifications on Hudson's River, and about fortifying the pass at Hell Gate. In case the city cannot be defended, the inhabitants are recommended immediately to remove their most valu- able effects to a place of safety.
Eight thousand men were voted for the defence of New York on the 14th of March, 1776; and on the 15th, the Governors of Connecticut and New Jersey were requested to hold their militia in readiness for that service, to be paid, when on duty, as continental troops ; and on the 9th of April, two hundred thousand dollars were ordered to be sent to New York, for the continental troops there.
Congress, on the 16th of May, 1776, directed their President to write to General Washington, requesting him to repair to Philadelphia, so soon as he conveniently could, in order to consult with Congress upon such measures as may be necessary for carrying on the ensuing campaign.
In consequence of a conference held with Generals Washington, Gates, and Mifflin, Congress, on the 13th of May, authorized the commander-in-chief to direct the building of as many fire-rafts, row-galleys, armed boats, and floating batteries as may be necessary and suitable for the immediate defence of the port of New York and Hudson's River.
On the 23d of July, Congress informed General Washington that they had such entire confidence in his judgment that they gave him no particular directions abont the disposition of the troops, but desired he would dispose of those at New York, the Flying-Camp, and Ticonderoga as to him shall seem most conducive to the public good.
The Convention of New York having represented, on the 20th of August, that for want of blacksmiths they were greatly delayed in obstructing the passage of Hudson's River in the Highlands, which is an object of great importance, Congress ordered that the Convention of New York be empowered to employ for the purpose aforesaid the blacksmiths that are now engaged in building the continental frigates at Poughkeepsie.
General Washington's letter of the 31st of August reached Congress on the 2d of September, inclosing the determination of a council of war, and the reasons for quitting Long Island. In consequence of that decision, the city, with all its fortifi- cations and appurtenances, was given up to the British fleet and army, under Ad- miral and General Howe. They fortified it and its environs strongly, to secure themselves against the American forces.
On the 20th of September, 1776, Congress appointed a committee of its own body, consisting of Mr. Sherman (Ct.), Mr. Gerry (Mass.), and Mr. Lewis (N. Y.). to repair to headquarters, and inquire into the state of the army, and the best means of supplying their wants. During this season, the commander-in-chief was zeal- ously employed in providing the means of safety to New York. Between April and August, he undertook various tours and expeditions to accomplish this object. The historian records with pleasure the exertions of Washington for the security of New York. His biographers ought to give him credit for the pains he took to guard so important a station from an invading enemy. The public will peruse, with interest,
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the following extract from his own book accounts and vouchers, now to be seen in the office of the Register of the Treasury.
These official papers are among the most memorable that exist. After the gen- eral had resigned his commission, he made a statement of his accounts with his own pen, and presented himself with them in his hands at the Treasury. There he con- tinued personally to attend until they were passed. In this honorable manner he underwent the ordeal of fiscal examination. This remarkable collection of docu- ments exists in the Treasury, as an example to all public agents, of the correctness and fidelity of George Washington. They are contained in a box by themselves, and are marked on the outside by a suitable inscription.
The extract from a book in his proper handwriting was copied in the course of these inquiries concerning the general defence :
1776.
April 25th. To the expenses of myself and party reconnoitring the several landing places, etc., on Staten Island. . .£16 10 0 May IIth. To expenses of a tour, and reconnoitring Long Island. . . 26 8 6 June 26th. To expenses in reconnoitring the channel and landings on both sides the North River, as high as Tarrytown, to fix the defences thereof ... 10 16 0 To reconnoitre of the East River and along the Sound as far as Mamaroneck. 16 9 4
July 15th. To my own and party's expenses laying out Fort Lee on the Jersey side of the North River .. 8 15 0 July 23d. To the expenses of reconnoitring the country as far as Perth Amboy. 19 10 0
Oct. 29th, 1748. At night we took up our lodgings at Elizabeth-town Point, an inn about two English miles distant from the town, and the last house on this road belonging to New Jersey. The man who had taken the lease of it, together with that of the ferry near it, told us that he paid a hundred and ten pounds of Pennsyl- vania currency to the owner.
Oct. 30th. We were ready to proceed on our journey at sunrise. Near the inn where we had passed the night, we were to cross a river, and we were brought over, together with our horses, in a wretched, half-rotten ferry; this river came a con- siderable way out of the country, and small vessels could easily sail up it. This was an advantage to the inhabitants of the neighboring country, giving them an oppor- tunity of sending their goods to New York with great case; and they even made use of it for trading to the West Indies. The country was low on both sides of the river, and consisted of meadows. But there was no other hay to be got than such as com- monly grows in swampy ground; for as the tide comes up in this river, these low plains were sometimes overflowed when the water was high. The people hereabouts are said to be troubled in summer with immense swarms of gnats or mosquitoes, which sting them and their cattle. This was ascribed to the low swampy meadows, on which these insects deposit their eggs, which are afterwards hatched by the heat.
As soon as we were over the river, we were upon Staten Island, which is quite surrounded with salt water. This is the beginning of the province of New York. Most of the people settled here were Dutchmen, or such as came hither whilst the Dutch were yet in possession of the place. But at present they were scattered among the English and other European inhabitants, and spoke English for the greatest part. The prospect of the country here is extremely pleasing, as it is not so much inter- cepted by woods, but offers more cultivated fields to view. Hills and valleys still continued, as usual, to change alternately.
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The farms were near each other. Most of the houses were wooden ; however, some were built of stone. Near every farm-house was an orchard with apple-trees. Here and on the whole journey before, I observed a press for cider at every farm- house, made in different manners, by which the people had already pressed the juice out of the apples or were just busied with that work. Some people made use of a wheel made of thick oak planks which turned upon a wooden axis, by means of a horse drawing it, much in the same manner as the people do with wood; except that here the wheel runs upon a plank. Cherry-trees stood along the inclosures round the corn-fields.
The corn-fields were excellently situated, either sown with wheat or rye. They had no ditches on their sides, but (as is usual in England) only furrows, drawn at greater or lesser distances from each other.
In one place we observed a water-mill, so situated that, when the tide flowed, the water ran into a pond ; but when it ebbed, the flood-gate was drawn up, and the mill driven by the water flowing out of the pond.
About eight o'clock in the morning, we arrived at the place where we were to cross the water, in order to come to the town of New York. We left our horses here, and went on board of the yacht : we were to go eight English miles by sea; however, we landed about eleven o'clock in the morning at New York.
We saw a kind of wild ducks in immense quantities upon the water : the people called them blue-bills, and they seemed to be the same with our pintal ducks or Linnæus's Anas acuta; but they were very shy. On the shore of the continent we saw some very fine sloping corn-fields which at present looked quite green ; the corn already had come up. We saw many boats, in which the fishermen were busy catch- ing oysters : to this purpose they make use of a kind of rake with long teeth bent inwards ; these they used either single or two tied together in such a manner that the teeth were turned toward each other.
October 31st. About New York they find innumerable quantities of excellent oysters, and there are few places which have oysters of such exquisite taste and of so great a size : they are pickled and sent to the West Indies and other places; which is done in the following manner: As soon as the oysters are caught, their shells are opened, and the fish washed clean ; some water is then poured into a pot, the oysters are put into it, and they must boil for a while; the pot is then taken off from the fire again, the oysters taken out and put upon a dish till they are somewhat dry : then you take some mace, allspice, black pepper, and as much vinegar as you think sufficient to give a sourish taste. All this is mixed with half the liquor in which the oysters were boiled and put over the fire again. While you boil it, great care is to be taken in scumming off the thick scum; at the last the whole pickle is poured into a glass or earthen vessel, the oysters are put into it, and the vessel is well stopped to keep out the air. In this manner oysters will keep for years together, and may be sent to the most distant parts of the world.
The merchants here buy up great quantities of oysters about this time, pickle them in the above-mentioned manner, and send them to the West Indies: by which they frequently make a considerable profit : for the oysters which cost them five shillings of their currency, they commonly sell for a pistole, or about six times as much as they give for them; and sometimes they get even more: the oysters which are thus pickled have a very fine flavor. The following is another way of preserv- ing oysters : They are taken out of the shells, fried with butter, put into a glass or earthen vessel with the melted butter over them, so that they are quite covered with
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it and no air can get to them. Oysters prepared in this manner have likewise an agreeable taste, and are exported to the West Indies and other parts.
Oysters are here considered very wholesome. Some people assured us that they have not felt the least inconvenience after eating a considerable quantity of them. It is likewise a common rule here, that oysters are best in those months which have an "r" in their name, such as September, October, etc., but that they are not so good in other months. However, there are poor people who live all the year long upon nothing but oysters and bread.
The sea near New York affords annually the greatest quantities of oysters. They are found chiefly in a muddy ground, where they lie in the slime, and are not so fre- quent in a sandy bottom : a rocky and a stony bottom is seldom found here. The oyster-shells are gathered in great heaps, and burnt into a lime, which by some people is made use of in building houses, but is not reckoned so good as that made of lime- stone. On our journey to New York we saw high heaps of oyster-shells near the farm-houses upon the sea-shore, and about New York we observed the people had carried them upon the fields, which were sown with wheat. However, they were entire and not crushed.
The Indians who inhabited the coast before the arrival of the Europeans have made oysters and other shell-fish their chief food ; and at present, whenever they come to a salt water where oysters are to be got, they are very active in catching them and selling them in great quantities to other Indians who live higher up in the country : for this reason you see immense numbers of oyster and muscle-shells piled up near such places where you are certain that the Indians formerly built their huts,
This circumstance ought to make us cautious in maintaining that in all places on the sea-shore, or higher up in the country, where such heaps of shells are to be met with, the latter have lain there ever since the time that those places were over- flowed by the sea.
Lobsters are likewise plentifully hereabouts pickled much the same way as oysters, and sent to several places. I was told of a very remarkable circumstance about these lobsters, and I have afterward frequently heard it mentioned. The coast of New York had already European inhabitants for a considerable time ; yet no lobsters were to be met with on that coast ; and though the people fished ever so often, they could never find any signs of lobsters being in this part of the sea : they were therefore continually brought in great well-boats from New England, where they are plentiful; but it happened that one of these well-boats broke in pieces near Hell-gate, about ten English miles from New York, and all the lobsters in it got off. Since that time they have so multiplied in that part of the sea, that they are now caught in the greatest abundance.
Nov. ist. A kind of cold fever, which the English in this country call fever and ague, is very common in several parts of the English colonies. There are, how- ever, other parts where the people have never felt it. I will in the sequel describe the symptoms of this disease at large. Several of the most considerable inhabitants of this town assured me that the disease was not near so common in New York as it is in Pennsylvania, where ten were seized by it to one in the former province ; therefore they were of opinion that this disease was occasioned by the vapors aris- sing from stagnant fresh water, from marshes, and from rivers, for which reason those provinces situated on the sea-shore could not be so much affected by it. How- 'ever, the carelessness with which people eat quantities of melons, peaches, and other juicy fruit, in summer, was reckoned to contribute much toward the progress of this fever, and repeated examples confirmed the truth in this opinion. The Jesuits
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bark was reckoned a good remedy against it. It has, however, been found to have operated contrary to expectation, though I am ignorant whether it was adulter- ated, or whether some mistake had been committed in the manner of taking it.
Mr. Davis Van Horne, a merchant, told me that he cured himself and several other people of this fever, by the leaves of the common garden sage, or Salvia officinalis of Linnæus. The leaves are crushed or pounded in a mortar, and the juice is pressed out of them : this is continued till they get a spoonful of the liquid, which is mixed with lemon-juice. This draught is taken about the time the cold fit comes on, and after taking it three or four times, the fever does not come on again.
The bark of the white oak was reckoned the best remedy which had as yet been found against the dysentery. It is reduced to a powder, and then taken. Some peo- ple assured me that in cases where nothing would help, this remedy had given a cer- tain and speedy relief.
The people in this place likewise make use of this bark (as is usually done in the English colonies) to dye wool a brown color, which looks like that of bohea tea, and does not fade by being exposed to the sun. Among the numerous shells which are found on the sea-shore, there are some which by the English are called clams, and which bear some resemblance to the human car. They have a consider- able thickness, and are chiefly white, excepting the pointed end, which both without and within has a blue color, between purple and violet. They are met with in vast numbers on the sea-shore of New York, Long Island, and other places.
A considerable commerce is carried on in this article, with such Indians as live further up the country, When these people inhabited the coast, they were able to catch their own clams, which at that time made a great part of their food; but at present this is the business of the Dutch and English, who live on Long Island and other maritime provinces. As soon as the shells are caught, the fish are taken out of them, drawn upon a wire, and hung up in the open air, in order to dry by the heat of the sun. When this is done, the fish is put in proper vessels, and carried to Al- bany upon the river Hudson ; there the Indians buy them, and reckon them one of their best dishes. Besides of the Europeans, many of the native Indians come annually down to the sea-shore in order to catch clams, proceeding with them after- wards in the manner I have just described.
The shells of these clams are used by the Indians as money, and make what they call their wampum ; they likewise serve their women for an ornament, when they intend to appear in full dress. These wampum are properly made of the pur- ple parts of the shells, which the Indians value more than the white parts. A tra- veller, who goes to trade with the Indians and is well stocked with them, may become a considerable gainer; but if he take gold coin or bullion, he will un- doubtedly be a loser ; for the Indians who live further up in the country put little or no value upon these metals, which we reckon so precious, as I have frequently observed in the course of my travels. The Indians formerly made their own wam- pum, though not without a deal of trouble ; but at present the Europeans employ themselves that way ; especially the inhabitants of Albany, who get a considerable profit by it.
November 2d. Besides the different sects of Christians, there are many Jews settled in New York, who possess great privileges. They have a synagogue and houses, and great country-seats of their own property, and are allowed to keep shops in town. They have likewise several ships, which they freight and send out with their own goods. In fine, they enjoy all the privileges comnion to the other inhabitants of this town and province.
COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
During my residence at New York this time, and in the next ten years, I was frequently in company with the Jews. I was informed, among other things, that people never boiled any meat for themselves on Saturday, but they always did it the day before; and that in winter they kept a fire during the whole Saturday. They commonly eat no pork ; vet I have been told by several men of credit that many of them (especially among the young Jews), when travelling, did not make the least difficulty about eating this or any other meat that was put before them, even though they were in company with Christians. I was in their synagogue last evening for the first time, and this day at noon I visited it again; and each time I was put in a particular seat, which was set apart for strangers or Christians. A young Rabbi read the divine service, which was partly in Hebrew and partly in the rabbinical dialect. Both men and women were dressed entirely in the English fashion ; the former had all of them their hats on, and did not once take them off during service. The galleries, I observed, were appropriated to the ladies, while the men sat below. During prayers, the men spread a white cloth over their heads ; which perhaps is to represent sackcloth. But I observed the wealthier sort of people had a much richer cloth than the poorer ones. Many of the men had Hebrew books, in which they sang and read alternately. The Rabbi stood in the middle of the synagogue, and read with his face toward the east: he spoke, however, so fast as to make it most impossible for any one to understand what he said.
New York, the capital of a province of the same name, is situated under forty degs. and forty min. north lat. and seventy-four degs. and four min. of western long., from London; and is about ninety-seven English miles distant from Philadel- phia. The situation of it is extremely advantageous for trade; for the town stands upon a point which is formed by two bays, into one of which the river Hudson discharges itself not far from the town. New York is therefore on three sides surrounded with water; the ground it is built on is level in some parts, and hilly in others : the place is generally reckoned very wholesome.
The town was first founded by the Dutch. This, it is said, was done in the year 1623, when they were yet masters. They called it New Amsterdam, and the coun- try itself New Holland. The English, toward the end of the year 1664, taking possession of it under the conduct of Des Cartes, and keeping it by the virtue of the next treaty of peace, gave the name of New York to both the town and province be- longing to it. In size it comes nearest to Boston and Philadelphia. But with regard to its fine buildings, its opulence and extensive commerce, it disputes the preference with them; at present it is about half again as large as Gottenburgh in Sweden.
The streets do not run so straight as those of Philadelphia, and have some- times considerable bendings; however, they are very spacious and well built, and most of them are paved, except in high places, where it has been found useless. In the chief streets there are trees planted, which in summer afford a cooling shade. I found it extremely pleasant to walk in the town, for it seemed quite like a garden. The trees which are planted for this purpose are chiefly of two kinds. The waterbeech, Linnans's Plantanns occidentalis, are the most numerous, and give an agrecable shade in summer by their great and numerous leaves. The locust-tree, or Linmeus's Robinia pseudacacia, is likewise frequent; its fine leaves and the odoriferous scent which exhales from its flowers make it very proper for being planted in the streets, near the houses and in gardens. There are likewise lime-trees and elms in these walks; but they are not by far so frequent as the others. One seldom met with trees of the same sort next to each other, they being planted in general alternately.
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Besides number of birds of all kinds, which make these their abode, there is likewise a kind of a frog which frequents them in great numbers in summer ; they are Dr. Linnaus's Rana arborea, and especially the American variety of this animal. They are very clamorous in the evening and in the nights (especially when the days had been hot and a rain was expected), and in a manner drown the singing of the birds. They frequently made such a noise that it is difficult for a person to make himself heard.
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