History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 28

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868

USA > New York > Dutchess County > History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 28

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and Arthursburg to Fishkill Plains, and crossed the Hudson River from Fishkill Landing [to] New- burgh." "In my boyhood," he adds, "I have heard old people speak of this march of the Hes- sians through the country, and of the many women and children, wives and offspring of the soldiers, who were forlorn-looking camp-followers."*

It will be of interest to note Anburey's intelli- gent observations in so far as they pertain to this locality.

"Just before we crossed the North River," he says, "we came to the town of Fish Kill, which has not more than fifty houses, [in 1777] in the space of near three miles, but this place has been the principal depot of Washington's army, where there are magazines, hospitals, workshops, etc., which form a town of themselves. They are erected near a wood, at the foot of a mountain, where there are a great number of huts, which have been the winter-quarters of the American army, and to which they are shortly expected to return for the ensuing winter; they are a miserable shelter from the severe weather in this country, and I should imagine, must render their troops very sickly, for these huts consist only of little walls made with uneven stones, and the intervals filled up with wood and straw, a few planks forming the roof; there is a chimney at one end, at the side of which is the door. Near the magazines are some well-constructed barracks, with a prison, surrounded with lofty pallisadoes. In this prison were a number of unfortunate friends to Govern- ment, who were seized in their plantations, for re- fusing to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and who were confined till a sloop was ready to take them to New York ; for the Americans are so oppressive, they will not let any one remain neuter ; and they compel every inhabitant, either to take the oath, or quit the country. When we crossed the river, there were two large sloops going to New York, crowded with people of this descrip- tion, many of whom, the boatmen informed us, had left beautiful houses, with extensive and well culti- vated plantations." " The small part of New York we passed through," he says, "seems to be well cul- tivated ; it affords grain of all sorts ; there are abundance of cattle, hogs and poultry."

Further on, he says :--

"We passed through a little town called Hopel, [Hopewell,] before we crossed the North River, which is chiefly inhabited by the Dutch. At a house where we were quartered, the people behaved extremely civil and attentive, and upon leaving them, would scarce permit us to pay for what we had; from which circumstance we concluded they were friends to Government, and some officers opening their hearts, spoke very freely about the Congress, Washington, etc., observing how great a shame it was, that we should be put to such ex- pence, and that Congress ought to pay for us, the

* Poughkeepsie Weekly Eagle, Jan. 22, 1876.

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THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

man went out of the room in a moment, and just as we were mounting our horses, brought us an enormous bill, exhorbitant in every article, which he insisted upon being paid, and upon our urging that we had paid him what he had demanded, he replied, 'Yes, gentlemen, so you have, but then I thought Congress were to defray all your expences, now I know you are to pay me, I can't take a farthing less than this bill, which we were com- pelled to discharge ; however, it served as a lesson in future, to be cautious before whom we railed against Congress."*

While this army of prisoners was en route, Wash- ington, uncertain of the intentions of Lord Howe, and apprehensive that Sir Henry Clinton would attempt a rescue at the crossing of the Hudson, or the passage through the Jerseys, moved his army into the latter State, and on their arrival at Fishkill, detached a large escort, consisting of a brigade for each brigade of prisoners,¡ who num- bered between 5,000 and 6,000.

At an early period of the war, Washington evinced an appreciation of the importance of an adequate defense of the Hudson River, and when he withdrew his army from New York, the selec- tion of eligible defensive situations revealed to him the strategical advantages of West Point. The campaign of 1777 having revealed the apparent effort of the British to gain control of the Hudson, and thus separate New England from the rest of the country, led to the improvement of the defen- ses of that stronghold, which were in progress in the fall of 1777. Fishkill, from its secure posi- tion at the head of the Highlands, and being on a direct route of communication with the New Eng- land States, was the natural depot of supplies for this section, and at an early period was selected for that purpose, a sergeant and fourteen men being detailed from each regiment within the county to erect barracks there. Each man so detailed was required to provide himself with either "a good sufficient spade, shovel, stubbing hoe, felling ax, or corn hoe, and every other necessary for his ac- commodation." Large quantities of stores from the Eastern States and adjacent country were there accumulated for the use of the Continental army ; and there numerous refugees sought shelter on the evacuation of New York City in 1776.

Considerable bodies of troops were stationed in Fishkill at different periods. The Wharton House."} ** Anburey's Travels, II., 234-243. t Ibid, 236,

$ Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, 1, 690 ; The same author in one of a series of Historical Sketches, published in the Poughkeepsie Eagle, reiterates the name. Mr. Brinkerhoff, in the sketch already noted, calls it the "Walton House," a name, he says, which " has already lead to much needless mistake." "The place, " he adds, "has always been in the possession of the Van Wyck family, from the first settlement of the country."

named from Mr. Wharton, who then owned it, and made memorable by Cooper's story of The Spy,* but now the residence of Sidney E. Van Wyck, was the head-quarters of the officers. The house stands a short distance south of the village, on the turn- pike, near the foot of the mountains. The bar- racks extended along the road, a half-mile south of the village, in close proximity to the house. Near this residence, "by the large black-walnut trees," says Mr. Brinkerhoff, before quoted, " and east of the road near the base of the mountain, was the soldier's burial-ground. *

* This almost un- * known and unnoticed burial-ground holds not a few, but hundreds of those who gave their lives for the cause of American Independence. Some fif- teen years ago, [about 1861,] an old lady who was then living at an advanced age, and who had lived near the village until after she had grown to woman- hood, told the writer that after the battle of White Plains she went with her father through the streets of Fishkill, and in places between the Dutch and Episcopal churches the dead were piled up as high as cord wood. These were buried there. The wounded of the battle who afterwards died, were buried there. The constant stream of death from the hospitals were buried there. The small-pox, which broke out in the camp, and prevailed very malignantly added many more." The same writer adds, "it is doubtful whether any spot in the State has as many of the buried dead of the Revolution as this quiet spot." Some of the hospitals were located in the barracks, others, in the more imme- diate vicinity of the village. The Episcopal church was used for that puspose when needed ; also the Dutch church, though less often. The academy building was likewise used for hospital purposes ; and finally the Presbyterian church.

Fishkill was, for brief periods, the headquarters

* In this house a company of Tories, who were lured by Enoch Crosby into the power of the Whigs, were tried before the Committee of Safety in the fall of 1776. Crosby was a native of Massa- chusetts, and in infancy removed with his parents to South East, in Duchess, (now Putnam, ) county, where he learned the trade of a shoe- maker. When the Revolution broke ont he was living at Danbury. He laid aside the lap-stone and last and shouldered a musket. In 1776, after rendering service on the northern frontier, he engaged in the " secret service," at the suggestion of the Committee of Safety of this State, and distinguished himself by his exploits in luring bands of Tories, with whom he was usually captured, tried and imprisoned, but managed to escape through the connivance of his captors, until his frequent escapes from durance excited the suspicions of the Tories of Westchester and the southern portion of Duchess county, among whom he had freely mingled as a traveling cobbler. He, in company with the band of Tories above referred to, was confined in the old stone (Dutch) church at Fishkill; in which, also, were confined several British and Hessian soldiers captured through a stratagem of Crosby's at Teller's Point. This old stone church still stands, an eloquent relic of the dim past. Enoch Crosby, it is asserted, was the original of '' Harvey Burch," the hero of James Fennimore Cooper's Spy; a Tale of Neutral Ground.

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

of Gen. Washington, who always, when in that town, stopped at the residence of Col. John Brinck- erhoff,* which "is one of a group of buildings in and around Fishkill village made notable by their connection with historic events." This building, which, as a stone in one of its gables testifies, was erected in 1738, by the same Col. Brinckerhoff, stands a few rods from the line of the Duchess and Columbia Railroad, about three miles north-east of Fishkill village. It is an old-fashioned farm house, built of stone, its gables being formed of bricks imported from Holland. It also accommo- dated other distinguished guests, among whom was La Fayette, who remained there during a six weeks' sickness. It is now the property of Mr. Alfred White. Many other buildings in Fishkill have connected with them Revolutionary associa- tions, but for more minute descriptions of these, as well as the complicity of Joshua Hett Smith in Arnold's treason and his subsequent arrest in Fishkill, we must refer the reader to the history of that town. In the spring of 1779, Fishkill Land- ing was the headquarters of Anthony Wayne- " Mad Anthony "-the hero of Stony Point. There, also, were the headquarters of John Fisher, Quartermaster-General of the Continental Army. Pawling, too, is made memorable by its Revolu- tionary associations. Within its borders, on the slopes of " Purgatory Hill," a portion of the Con- tinental army was cantoned in the fall of 1778. They occupied log huts, the remnants of the chim- neys of which might be seen a few years ago. Washington, whose headquarters were at or near Fredericksburg, (now Patterson,) a few miles be- low Pawling station, spent several weeks with these troops-from late in September till the close of November, excepting some ten days spent at Fish- kill. Well authenticated tradition says that he sometimes occupied the Ferris house, a first- class farm house, situated about two miles from the Harlem Railroad station at Pawling, a little distance from the more southerly road leading to Quaker Hill, and built in 1771, by Reed Ferris, one of a number of families of Friends who immigrated to that town from Rhode Island. This house is further made notable by the trial there, in the fall of 1778, of Gen. Philip Schuyler, (the victim of Gen. Gates' intrigues,) by court-martial, on the general charge of neglect of duty while in command of the

Northern Department in 1777, especially for his absence at the capture of Ticonderoga July 6th, of that year. General Lincoln, whose headquarters were at the Ferris house, was President of the court. Gen. Schuyler was honorably acquitted, and pend- ing the action of Congress on the verdict of the court, he was appointed to that body by the Leg- islature of New York, then in session at the court- house in Poughkeepsie. Some changes have been made in the Ferris house, but it remains substan- tially the same as when Washington occupied and Schuyler was tried in it.

While the army lay encamped on " Purgatory Hill," this region was infested by a band of Tory robbers, known as " Cowboys," who plundered the Whigs and were not over-scrupulous in appropriat- ing the property of moderate Tories. The suffer- ing Whigs, prominent among whom were Messrs. Sherman and Akin, of Quaker Hill, unwilling longer to endure the injuries to person and property in- flicted by this band, determined to exterminate them, and securing the services of Col. Pearce, of the Duchess county militia, and a file of men, accom- panied them to the house of one named Peaseley, (a leader of the band,) which was situated on a high hill about a mile east-south-east of the Ferris house, and was the chief place of rendezvous. The heavy growth of woods which almost surrounded the house enabled them to approach closely with- out being observed. One Vaughan, a chief leader of the band, and two of his companions were sitting near a rock, with their guns by their sides, playing cards. One division of Pearce's men fired on them, mortally wounding Vaughan, and lopping a finger from the hand of another. This broke up the band and gave peace to the neighborhood. In one corner of a secluded burying ground on Quaker Hill, two rude stones yet mark the grave of Vaughan .*

On the first of August, 1776, as previously stated, the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York appointed a committee to de- vise a form of government for the State ; but this committee did not report till March 12, 1777. The draft of the constitution, which was drawn by John Jay, was amply discussed and underwent some amendments and additions, but was adopted on the 20th of April, 1777, with but one dissenting voice, in almost the same form as prepared by Mr. Jay. The same night one of the secretaries was directed to proceed to Fishkill and have printed

* Mr. T. VanWyck Brinkerhoff says Washington quartered at the " Wharton, " or "Walton House." Its builder, Col. John Brinckerhoff, was the maternal grandfather of the late Col. John B. Van Wyck, of Poughkeepsie, who occupied the mansion till his removal to Pough- keepsie, in 1817,

* Historical Sketches, Nos. 56 and 61, by Benson J. Lossing, LL. D., in the Poughkeepsie Eagle.

141

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, GEORGE CLINTON ELECTED GOVERNOR.

500 copies of the Constitution with, and 2,500 without, the preamble, and was instructed to give gratuities to the workmen to expedite the work.

This constitution was printed by Samuel Lou- don, a Whig printer of New York, who fled from that city on its evacuation by Washington's army and set up his press in Fishkill. It "was the first, as well as the most important book ever printed in the State " ;* and the New York Packet, which he established in December, 1776, and published there during the war, was the first newspaper published in Duchess county. ¡

The document was promulgated the following Thursday in front of the court house at Kingston, by Robert Berrian, one of the secretaries, who read it to the assembled multitude from the end of a hogshead. The Convention, having provisionally appointed officers to carry on the government until an election could be held, adjourned sine die, May 13, 1777. "Thus," says Hon. Chauncey M. De- pew, " passed into history this remarkable Conven- . tion. In lofty patriotism, steadfastness of pur- pose, practical wisdom, and liberal statesmanship, it had few, if any, equals, even among the legisla- tive bodies of extraordinary merit which marked the era." George Clinton was duly elected Gov- ernor. The returns were made to the Council of Safety, July 9, 1777, and on the 30th of that month he took the oath of office at Kingston.

Governor Clinton, who was then in the field in command of the State militia, discharged the du- ties of his office by correspondence with the Coun- cil of Safety, which remained the governing power until the Legislature niet. August 1, 1777, was designated as the time of meeting of the latter body, but for obvious reasons, Gov. Clinton twice deferred it. The Senate had no quorum till Sep- tember 9th, 1777 ; and the Assembly, though in session on the first of that month, did not organize until the 10th. The Legislature remained in ses- sion at Kingston till Oct. 7th, when, having made provision for the public welfare, and appointed a new Council of Safety, it dispersed on the approach of Sir Henry Clinton's forces up the Hudson.

On the burning of Kingston, the State govern- ment was removed to Poughkeepsie, and there the Assembly next met, Jan. 5, 1778, and the Senate on the 15th of that month.

In Poughkeepsie the Legislature met first in the old VanKleeck House, which was then a tavern, and subsequently in the court house, and there

continued its sessions, at intervals, until March 17, 1779. After that it met at irregular intervals at Kingston, Albany, Poughkeepsie and New York, till the final removal of the State capitol to Albany in 1797. Its subsequent sessions at Poughkeepsie were :- September 7 to October 10, 1780; June 15 to July 1, and October Io to No- vember 3, 1781 ; February 23 to April 14, and July 8 to 25, 1782; January II to March 22, 1788; December 1I, 1788, to March 3, 1789; and January 6 to 14, 1795.

On the removal of the State capitol to Pough- keepsie in 1778, Governor Clinton took up his residence there, in the old stone house now known as the Washington Hotel, on the corner of Main and White streets, on the north side of the former street. It was then the fine mansion of Clear Everett, (who was Sheriff of the county from 1754 to 1761,) by whom it was built.

In 1781, efforts were made by the British in New York City to make prisoners of notable men in the State, in order to secure the release by exchange of distinguished British captives. An attempt to seize Gen. Schuyler in August, 1781, was almost successful. A similar attempt to seize Governor Clinton at Poughkeepsie was made about the same time. The Governor, writing to Gen. Schuyler from the stone mansion of Clear Everett, said :-

"I sincerely congratulate you on your fortunate escape from the villainous attempts of Meyer and his party. * The evening before I re- * * ceived your letter, I received an account by express from his Excellency, General Washington, (then at Dobb's Ferry, on the Hudson,) of a party out from New York, to seize and deliver me there, for which they are promised a considerable reward. I have persons out to watch their motions, and am not without hope of soon having some of them at least, in my power. This is the third party which has been sent out on this business, and of which I have been apprised, in the course of the spring and summer, and some of them have met their fate at this place, though for different crimes." *

During its first session in Poughkeepsie, in the old VanKleeck House, in 1778, the Legislature ratified the Articles of Confederation, and on the 9th of July of that year New York's delegates in

* Lossing's Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, 1, 693.

A Sketches of Local History, by Benson J. Lossing, in T'he Dutchess Farmer, Dec. 12, 1876.

* Among these was Huddlestone, a notorious British spy, who was hung on what was afterwards known as "Forbus's Hill," in rear of the Nelson House, and in the square formed by Market, Jefferson, Union and Church streets. This hill was, at an early day, a beautiful elevated plateau, but has been leveled somewhat and its peculiar characteristics destroyed. There too, a hundred years ago, a negro slave belonging to Jacob Van Benschoten, of Poughkeepsie, was burned at the stake, for the crime of burning his master's barn and barrack .- Sketches of Local History, by Benson J. Lossing, in The Dutchess Farmer, December 12, 1876.

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

Congress signed the articles. But New York's ratification was conditioned on a like ratification by all the other States. The delegates from Con- necticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Penn- sylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia, signed them the same day ; but the last of the States to do so,-Maryland,-did not sign until March 1, 1781.

The news of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Oct. 19, 1781, which virtually terminated the struggle for American independence, (for peace was concluded the following year,) was received with delight by the patriotic citizens of Duchess county on the 29th of October. The Legislature was then in session at Poughkeepsie, and both houses, with the Governor, proceeded to the Re- formed Dutch church, and there offered thanks- giving to God for the great deliverance. The Rev. John H. Livingston, (father of the late Col. Henry A. Livingston, of Poughkeepsie, and after- wards President of Rutger's College,) who was a native of Poughkeepsie, and was then pastor of that church, officiated on that occasion. From the church the members of the Legislature went to the residence of Governor Clinton to tender their congratulations. Cannon were fired, bonfires were lighted in Main (now Market,) street, and the houses of Whig citizens were illuminated in the evening.

At that time there were only two stores in Poughkeepsie, one kept by Beekman Livingston, on the site of the present Park House, on the corner of Market and Cannon streets, and the other by Archibald Stewart, "adjoining the Dutch church." On the occasion alluded to, Livingston's store was illuminated ; that of Stewart, who was a Scotchman and a loyalist, was "darkened," so to speak, by the light of a single tallow candle.

At Fishkill, the victory was celebrated with demonstrations of great joy. " A roasted ox and plenty of liquor formed the repast," and a number of toasts were drank. French and American colors, indicative of the alliance, were displayed, and cannon, bonfires, illuminations and fire works marked the general joy. An immense bonfire was displayed on the summit of Beacon Hill, in the Highlands, that shed its light far over the country, and attracted the attention of the citizens of New- burgh, who on that day had hung Benedict Arnold in effigy .*

" When the war of 1812 broke out, recruiting

* Sketches of Local History, by Benson J. Lossing, in The Dutchess Farmer of Dec. 12, 1876.

offices were opened in this county, and many men were sent off to the scene of action. . As a matter of course, deep interest was felt in every scrap of news, and when finally the intelligence was re- ceived that peace had been declared, it was re- ceived with the greatest rejoicings. The news reached here, [Poughkeepsie,] on Sunday morn- ing, and was announced in the churches, the day being made a general thanksgiving. The next . night many of the villages were illuminated, and the event was further celebrated by great proces- sions of sleigh riders, (it was in February, 1815,) who went dashing through the streets, their jingling bells and merry shouts testifying to the general joy."*

CHAPTER XV.

WAR OF THE REBELLION-SECESSION OF SOUTH CAROLINA-FORMATION OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT-SURRENDER OF FORT SUMTER- EARLY MEASURES TO SUPPRESS REBELLION- THE READY RESPONSE OF THE NORTH-PROMPT AND GENEROUS RESPONSE OF DUCHESS COUNTY. -ADDITIONAL TROOPS CALLED FOR-SOME OF THE ORGANIZATIONS WITH WHICH THE EARLY VOLUNTEERS UNITED-CALL OF JULY 2D, 1862 -MILITARY DISTRICTS FORMED-REGIMENTAL CAMP AT TIVOLI-CHANGED TO HUDSON - NATIONAL AND STATE BOUNTIES-A DISTRICT REGIMENT AUTHORIZED-TOWN QUOTAS UNDER THE CALL OF JULY 2D-CALL OF AUGUST 4TH, 1862-EFFORTS TO PROMOTE ENLISTMENTS- THE 128TH REGIMENT-ITS ORGANIZATION AND SERVICES.

T HE war of the rebellion covers a period in the history of Duchess county to which the descendants of those who participated in it may recur with just pride.

December 17, 1860, the people of South Caro- lina met in Convention at Columbia, and adjourned thence by reason of the prevalence of small-pox to Charleston, where they repealed the act of May 23, 1788, ratifying the federal constitution and the amendments thereto, and declared " that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." An address to the people of the other slave-holding States was issued, inviting them to join in " a slave-holding Confed- eracy," and reciting that "we must be the most in-

* Poughkeepsie Weekly Eagle, July 8, 1876.

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THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, FIRST VOLUNTEERS.

dependent, as we are the most important of the nations of the world." This action was followed in a few days by Georgia, Florida, Texas, Missis- sippi, Alabama and Louisiana. " The Border States foreseeing inevitable war, and that the shock of the conflict would fall upon them, temporized. After all had been done to pledge them to the movement, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky, 'Tennessee, Maryland, though a reign of terror political and social, was inaugurated in them, either took the step with great reluctance, or avoided taking it at all."* Prominent among these, and indeed among the States composing the Con- federacy, was Virginia, which did not pass the ordinance of secession until April 17, 1861, and then only after exacting the foremost rank in the Confederacy and protection for her slave interests. Even then she did not carry the whole State with her ; for the western portion maintained its de- termination to adhere to the Union, and was af- terwards recognized as a separate State. Arkan- sas, North Carolina and Tennessee also passed ordinances of secession.

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History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 28

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 868

Author: Smith, James H. (James Hadden); Cale, Hume H; Roscoe, William E
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 868