History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 41

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 41

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The line through Abraham III .- the oldest sur- viving son-failed through the successive death of all the males, without male issue. James II. left no children ; and James (III.) F., the eldest son of Frederic I., became 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 her great-uncle Gilbert R. Livingston, Helen, only daughter of Commissary-General Samuel Hake, B. A. The house referred to, and doubtless known in 1800 as "Green Hill," was purchased about 1810 by John S. 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

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had been an officer in the Royal service. The mother of Helen (Hake) de Peyster was Helen Livingston, eldest daughter of Robert Gilbert Liv- ingston, eldest son of Gilbert, 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. Rob- ert Gilbert Livingston married Catherine McPhead- res, daughter of a rich landed proprietor, who at that time resided in Duchess County. Captain McPheadres, like the Gilbert Branch of the Liv- ingston family, the de Peyster, Watts, and other kindred stocks, adhered to the Crown, and like all the Loyalists atoned for his adherence to principle by the confiscation of his property.

Frederic II., youngest and only (1881) surviv- ing 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 Hill, thus styled-mentioned in Burke's Peerage, 1850, (p. 836, ) and other similar works-in connec- tion with the marriage of his daughter, Margaret, with Sir Walter Riddell, Bart. This Robert, born in Edinburgh, came out to New York towards the close of the seventeenth century and married, about 1706, Mary, daughter of William Nicolls or Nicoll, Esq., of Nicoll Manor, or Islip, on Long Island, N. Y. Robert Watts intended to return to, and re-settle 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 offices 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 suc- ceeded in putting down the Rebellion, he was des- tined to be the Lieutenant-Governor and acting Governor of the Province. He was the first Pres- ident 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 coun- try residence, Rose Hill, between the Bloomingdale and Old Post Roads and the East River, and be- tween Twenty-first and Twenty-seventh streets, covered about fifty-four whole and half blocks in the 18th ward of the city of New York.

His letters to Gen. Monckton, accidentally dis- covered in England, and published by the Massa- chusetts Historical Society, present the best pic- tures of men and manners, politics and public feeling, just previous to the outbreak of the Amer- ican Revolution, of any that have been preserved or recovered. Like his son John, he was a monu- ment of affliction. Driven into exile by an un- grateful populace whose rights he had always en- deavored to maintain, his elegant property was con- fiscated ; although, through absence from the coun- try,he should have been excepted from the effects of such an iniquitous act of spoliation and vengeance. 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, Jan. 22, 1794, and was buried in St. James Church, Piccadilly, London. Of their children, Robert, the eldest son, married Mary, eldest daugh- ter of William Alexander, Major-General in the Continental Army, and titular Earl of Stirling ; Ann, their eldest daughter, married Hon. Archi- bald Kennedy, and became Countess of Cassilis ; Susan married Philip Kearny and was mother of Major-General Stephen Watts Kearny, the con- queror of New Mexico and California ; Mary mar- ried Sir John Johnson, Bart., and like her father, suffered the pains of exile and confiscation of proper- ty; Stephen, was the famous Major Watts, of Oris- kany; and John, the public benefactor, married Jane de Lancey, youngest daughter of Peter de Lancey, "of the Mills," Westchester county, N. Y., and was,-through his youngest child and daughter, the lovely and intellectual Mary Justina, -the grandfather of General John Watts de Peyster, of Rose Hill.

FREDERIC (II.) DE PEYSTER-father of General de Peyster-occupies an enviable position. After attaining a ripeness of years-85-which is reached by very few in the fullness of health and intelli- gence, he is reaping a full harvest, the fruits of a life of virtue, industry and ability. He is, and has been for years, President of the New York His- torical 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 au- thor of a number of historical works of the highest merit, which have 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 the N. Y. Histor- ical society since January, 1824 ; Corresponding Secretary, 1827-'28, 1838-1843 ; Secretary, 1829- '37 ; Foreign Corresponding Secretary, 1844 ; Sec- ond Vice-President, 1850-'63 ; President, 1864- '66, 1873-'81 ; Member of Executive Committee, · either by appointment or ex-officio, since 1827.

He was also Vice-President of the Association of the Alumni of Columbia College, Vice-Presi- dent of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children ; for over fifty years Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the Leake and Watts Or- phan House, founded by the father of his wife, Mary Justina Watts; Senior Warden of Ascension Church ; Vice-President of the Home of the In- curables; one of three, Committee on Instruction, Institution for the Instruction 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 prominently connected with the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, at Bath, Steuben county, N. Y., and with the Halleck and the Farragut Monument Associations.

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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 Rich- ard, 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 New York Historical Society. The most remarkable facts connected with this address are that it was prepared and delivered by a gentle- man 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 prepare for it by long and arduous study and labor. It is probable that Mr. de Peyster has ready for the rostrum and printer, unpublished, Ist. A Brief Sketch of the New York Society Library, with Proofs of its [comparative as regards this country] Antiquity; 2d. 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 :- Ist. The Cul- ture Demanded by the Age; 2d. William III. as a Reformer ; 3d. Prominent Men of the English Revolution ; 4th. Life and Administration of Earl Bellomont ; 5th. Early Political History of New York ; have been pronounced by a competent judge as " worthy productions-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, military and miscellaneous subjects, including poems, besides contributing long series of articles to monthlies, weeklies and dailies, par- ticularly in connection with the American Revolu- tion and "Slave-holders' Rebellion."

He 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 generation -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 have 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.

Just as, in 1775, the de Peysters adhered to the government under which they had prospered, and "paid the last full measure of devotion " to Loyalty and duty to the Crown, just so, in 1861-5, they 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 December 2, 1841,

and who died April 12, 1873, in his native city of New York, are best told in the reports and by the attests of his superiors, and are almost suffi- ciently 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., who 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 to talking to the latter about the battle of Chan- cellorsville, or, rather, Fredericksburg 2d. Shaler said, " de Peyster, when we were marching down to Bank's Ford, I can recall with 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 Rebs, that would otherwise press us as we continue on down to the bridge of boats. I kept my ear fixed on those guns and, while 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 guns 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 namesake. 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 magnifi- cent attest in regard to his son's behavior on this occasion, and Gen. Owens was hardly less eulo- gistic; Owens told and wrote Gen. de Peyster that his son, Watts, behaved in such an admirable man- ner that he remained under fire at the risk of his life to see him handle his artillery and give the Rebels 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 commanded 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 obsti- nate 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 infantry

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and Chief of Artillery deserve the highest praise for the admirable manner in which they discharged their responsible duties. The Howe Division ar- tillery was handled with great gallantry and effect, and, in conjunction with its infantry supports, they together had a marked effect in preserving the Sixth Corps and in enabling it to make a success- ful retrograde in the face of a victorious [as to gen- eral results ] enemy."

Col. Frederic de Peyster, Jr.,-born December 12, 1842, at New York, died October 30, 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 con- sequences 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 ad- mired him there. Perhaps the most extraordinary achievement in which he participated, was when Gen. B. F. Butler, on the night of May, 13-14, 1861, with a wing of the 8th New York Militia and another of the 6th Massachusetts Militia and Va- rian'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 submis- sion, which kept it from farther exhibitions of its innate wickedness during the rest of the war.

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 tri- umphantly for the National and Union arms. Both of these were virtually terminated by the capture of the Capital (1847) of Mexico, and of the "Slave- holders' 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 Luth- eran-known as the "Stone Church"-at Pink's Corner, or Monterey, on the Old Post Road, about a 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 Red Hook, as the representative center of the neighbohood 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. V., and Colonel N. Y. V. 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 Gen- eral Quitman by his hoisting the colors of the United States on the National Palace. In the same manner the honor of raising the "first REAL 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, ex- pecting to encounter the perils of an assault, and he hoisted it assisted by Capt. Langdon, Ist U. S. Artillery. General Shepley looked forward with horror to the storming, which he considered inev- itable, as he set forth in an article entitled, " Inci- dents of the Capture of Richmond," published in the Atlantic Monthly Magazine for July, 1880. Admiral Farragut gave it as his opinion, that 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., Dec. 24, 1880, that General Grant decided that the cavalry guidons are not to 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." In his "Life of Gen. Grant" (Vol. III., page 543) Gen. Badeau uses the follow- ing 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 Rich- mond by Weitzel, on Monday morning, April 3, 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 immi- nent risk of being bloodily repulsed. The idea was, that by this active demonstration, this terrible sac- rifice-Longstreet occupying the strongest works in front of Richmond, on the north side of the James, with numbers superior to those under Weit- zel-would, if thus assaulted boldly and persistent- ly find himself unable, not knowing Weitzel's com- parative feebleness of force, to send re-enforcements across the James to Lee, and thus the latter [Lee] would not have men enough to garnish, adequately, the defences of Petersburgh, and consequently Grant could at length carry his entrenchments and overwhelm the Rebel Army of Northern Virginia.

Is was under these circumstances that Colonel- then Lieutenant-JOHNSTON LIVINGSTON DE PEYS- TER, Aide-de-Camp to General Shepley, and con- sequently attached to the staff of General Weitzel; wrote a letter to one of his friends, a letter dis- patched in the firm conviction that he was about to

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venture his life in a supreme effort, in which the vast majority of the chances were adverse to his success and to his escaping unscathed.

The narrative of this exploit is told at length by Rear Admiral George Henry Preble, U. S. N., in his " History of the Flag of the U. S. A.," pp. 536- 8, and through the official attest of Hon. Geo. W. McCrary, Secretary of War, Washington, May 25, 1877.

Admiral Preble observes that Lieut. de Peyster, then in the eighteenth year of his age, was a member of one of the oldest families of colonial New 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 was placed in his especial keeping.

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

The hoisting of these guidons failed to secure the "grateful service," as it was styled in Mexico by General Scott, of a formal pos- session of the Capitol at Richmond, and as was reserved to General Quitman, in the former case, the honor of formal occupation, by "hoisting the colors of the United States on the National Palace," so to Lieutenant de Peyster and Captain Langdon rightfully be- longs the honor of hoisting the colors of the United States over the Capitol of the Con- federate States and the formal occupation of that edifice.

Two days after the event, (April 5th,) General Weitzel wrote to the father of de Peyster :-

"Your son, Lieut. J. de Peyster, and Captain Langdon, 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 previously 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, Lieut. de Peyster, raised the first flag in Richmond, replacing two small cavalry guidons on the Capitol. The flag is in the pos- session 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, re- marking sportively, that it would do to float over the Capitol in Richmond, where I hoped to see it. De Peyster, who heard the remark, said, 'General will you let me raise it ?' I said, 'Yes, if you will bring it with you, and take care of it, you shall raise it in Richmond.' As we left our lines to ad- vance towards Richmond, Lieut. de Peyster said, 'General, do you remember your promise about

Hoisting First Real American Flag over the Capitol of the captured Rebel Capital, Richmond, Monday, 3d April, 1865, by Lt .- Col. Johnston Livingston de Peyster, A.D.C.

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 Ist of May, 1865, the Governor of the State of New York honored Lieut. de Peyster with a brevet Lieutenant-Colonel's commission, for gallant and meritorious conduct, and for hoisting the first American flag over Richmond, Va., after the capture by the Union forces, April 3d, 1865, and as a testimonial of the zeal, fidelity and cour- age with which he had maintained the honor of the State of New York in her efforts to enforce the laws of the United States, the supremacy of the Con- stitution, 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

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the City, for giving to New York this historic honor. The United States Senate subsequently confirmed his nomination as a brevet Lieutenant- 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.

after the deciduous trees have shed their foliage as when they were in full leaf.

The long avenue is another striking feature, and the color of the roadbed, bistre-grey, harmonizes with the bordering trees, deciduous and evergreen alternating, that form a long continuous arch over- head ; midway one patriarchal white oak throws an enormous branch across the road to meet the op-

Admiral Farragut, whose name is a synonym for patri- otism and every heroic quali- ty, and who endorsed the rec- ommendation for Lieut. de Peyster's brevets, expressed the opinion 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 Cap- itol, did not detract from the merits of the deed. He said the intent was all sufficient ; that when Lieut. de Peyster undertook the performance he expected-as he previ- ously wrote home-to fulfil it at the peril of his life, and therefore the altered condi- tion of circumstances be- yond his control could not lessen his credit or claims to reward. 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 acknowledgment to which he was clearly entitled, and which to obtain he had bravely and cheerfully put his young life in the most imminent peril .*

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History of Duchess county, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 41

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