USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V.1 > Part 28
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RICHMON HILL BURR'S RESIDENCE.
INMi
ALEXANDERHA
MI ILTO N.
TOMB OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
DUELING GROUND-WEEHAWKEN
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
on the " Weehawken Dueling Ground," opposite Thirty- first Street, marked the exact spot of the fatal encounter; and even as late as 1860, a cedar-tree, against which Hamilton stood, while the seconds were arranging the preliminaries, was still standing. Now, however (1871), the newly-completed road-bed of the West-side Railroad has destroyed the tree, besides removing every vestige of the narrow ledge on which the principals stood .*
The year 1807 is also one yet more memorable, not only in the city's history, but in that of the United States . and the globe. In that year was witnessed the 1807. successful introduction of steam navigation. " Who shall say," writes Dr. Osgood, "what steam navigation has done to emancipate mankind from drudgery, and con- struct society upon the basis of liberty ? It is science turned liberator ; and the saucy philosophy of the eight- eenth century become the mighty and merciful helper of the nineteenth century. To us, individually and generally, how marvelous has been the gift ! Wherever that piston- rod rises and falls, and those paddles turn, man has a giant for his porter and defender. The liberty of the nation has been organized under its protection; and the great States of the Mississippi valley and the Pacific coast are brought within one loyal affinity, and build their new liberties upon the good old pattern of our fathers. Clinton and Fulton-the one identified with the rise of steam navigation, the other with the Erie Canal-are names that belong to universal history, as having given
* The details of this duel have been so often given that we may properly omit them here. But one recent landmark of the city, connected with that event-viz., RICHMOND HILL, where Burr was residing at the time, and at the foot of which the boat was moored that conveyed him across the river to meet Ilamilton on that fatal morning-has entwined around it so many interesting memories that our readers will thank us for giving a sketch of it from the scholarly pen of General Prosper M. Wetmore, who wrote it originally for The Historical Magazine. This sketch will be found in Appendix No. II.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY. 349
America its business unity, and brought its united wealth to bear upon the industry and commerce of the world."
But, notwithstanding the place which Dr. Osgood assigns to Fulton, justice requires it to be stated that to JOHN FITCH, and not to Robert Fulton, belongs the honor of inventing the steam-boat.
Probably no person has received so much praise, and deserved it so little, as Robert Fulton. A man of no practical ingenuity-of no power of conceiving, much less of executing, an original mechanical idea-his friend Colden has succeeded in persuading the public that to him alone is due the successful navigation of our rivers by steam. The facts, however, as I gathered them from the late Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania, who in turn received them from Chancellor Livingston himself, are as follows : Thirteen years before Fitch experimented with his steam- boat upon the Collect in New York, he had, as is well known, run a little steamer on the Delaware, between Philadelphia and Bordentown, with great success. During that period he had experimented with various kinds of propelling power-the screw, the side-wheel, and sweeps or long oars. The most primitive thing about his vessel was the boiler, which consisted simply of two potash kettles, riveted together. Mr. Livingston, who was greatly interested in the success of Fitch's experiments,* seized the opportunity, when Minister to France, to visit the workshops of Watt and Bolton, in England, where, for the first time, he saw a properly constructed steam-boiler. But how was he to introduce it into the United States, unless (which was then impossible) he went there himself ? At this crisis he thought of Robert Fulton, who, originally an artist in Philadelphia, was then exhibiting a panorama in
* The Chancellor had previously expended large sums in boats and machinery for navigating the Hudson by steam, and obtained an act giving him the exclusive right to do so in 1798. This was three years before he saw Fulton.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Paris. His panorama, however, failing to pay, was at- tached, and he himself arrested for debt and thrown into prison. Livingston also, at this time, had in his possession the plans, models, and drawings of what was afterwards the successful steam-boat, which he had obtained from the American Consul, then residing at Havre, who, in turn. had purchased them of Fitch, when the latter, com- pletely discouraged, and a stranger in France, utterly destitute, had given up in despair. Livingston, falling into the error so common to many, of believing that, because an artist can draw cleverly, he must necessarily succeed equally well in mechanical conception and execu- tion, paid off Fulton's debts, and sent him over to New York with one of James Watt's boilers. Fulton, how- ever, thoroughly incompetent and untrustworthy, failed to rise to the occasion ; and when Livingston returned, a year after, he found his pet project precisely where he had left it several years before. He, therefore, at once took hold of it himself, and by his energy and perseverance, finally brought bis idea to a successful issue-Fulton, whom he could not entirely shake off, acting as a kind of general superintendent. These facts, moreover, are con- firmed not only by the late President William A. Duer. in his New Yorker (Letter 7th), but by Mr. Ransom Cook, now (1871) living at Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Mr. Cook informs me that, in the summer of 1837, he was in the city of New York, engaged upon his electro- magnetic machinery. Among his workmen were two who had been employed by Livingston and Fulton, while those gentlemen were perfecting their steam-boat. They surprised him greatly by stating that Fulton was a capital draughtsman, and that was all. They added, that he was so deficient in a knowledge of the laws of mechanics as to furnish daily mirth for the workmen, and that it was a long time before Livingston could convince him that the
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" starting-bar " of an engine should be made larger at the fulcrum end than at the handle !*
On the 7th of August, 1807, the first steam-boat, the Clermont, constructed and finished under the nominal superintendence of Robert Fulton, encouraged by Chan- cellor Livingston, stood in the stream opposite Jersey City, ready at a signal to start on her way to Albany. Thousands of citizens lined both banks of the river, and tilled every kind of available water-craft with the expec- tation of witnessing the utter failure of "Fulton's Folly " -as they had tauntingly christened the new boat-and of having the satisfaction of saying, " I told you so." But
THE CLERMONT.
that sentence was never to be uttered; for, at the word from the alleged inventor, the wheels began to revolve, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until " Fulton's Folly" vanished up the river, leaving the scoffers staring after it
* In the above statement regarding the claims of Fitch and Fulton to be considered the inventors of the steam-boat. I have written what I believe to be the true facts of the case. It i- far from my wish. however, to do injustice to any one, and I therefore here give a portion of a letter written to me by Mr. J. H. B. Latrobe, of Baltimore, Md. Mr. Latrobe recently read a paper before the Maryland Historical Society, designed to show that Mr. Nicholas J. Roosevelt. of New York city, was the real inventor of the present side-wheels to the steam- boat. This paper has been published, and is accessible to those wishing to pursne the ques- tion further. Mr. Latrobe writes: " It was Fulton who made the plans and superintended the work of the Clermont. The Chancellor was wholly incompetent. He was an inventor in a small way,-a man, rather, of ideas to be carried out by others. His inventions. or his idea. wanted the merit of practicability. I have letters on letters of his-original Letters-which prove this beyond question. An able lawyer : a statesman. too. he was but a >matterer in the sci- . ences that involve accuracy in the mechanic arts. This is the impression his correspond- ence gives me. So it would you. Fulton, a miniature painter, a panorama-man, a torpedo- man. a man of shifts through necessity, was a man of re-onrce -. There are papers in my collection that abundantly prove this. With regard now to Fitch. I mention him in my monograph. There is a drawing somewhere of his boat, but he was not the first who had the idea of steam. Many had it. He practically antedated the Chancellor. and Roosevelt. and Fulton with his vertical paddles or oars : but you are the first that I have ever heard ray that he had anything to do with vertical wheels on the sides, which was the success. Had it been as you state, it would have come out in the proceedings before the Legislature of New Jersey. at Trenton, on the very river where his experiments took place. The merit of Roose- Velt was that he not only snagested, but described the mechanical details of construction of these wheels -and this to the Chancellor, too ! It was not to Fitch, but to two New Yorkers. of the old Knickerbocker stock, too, that the side-wheel boat owes its origin-Roosevelt, why suggested and described it, while working at the Chancehor's impracticability.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
with blank visages and open mouths. The triumph was complete-yet to Fitch, not Fulton, belongs the honor.
In the summer of 1867, I chanced to be a passenger on one of the swift and fairy-like steamers that ply in the day-time between New York and Albany .* While passing
VIEW AT CATSKILL LANDING.
Catskill, the birth-place of Thurlow Weed, the latter, who was also a passenger, was reminded of an incident of his
* In the course of the trip mentioned in the text, the distance between West Point and. Newburg-ten miles-was made in twenty minutes and a half. nearly thirty miles an hour. The speed of the boat (the Chauncey Vibbard) on this occasion was timed by Mr. Weed, Mr. Erastus Brooks, of the Express, and Mr. Wilkes, of the Spirit of the Times. This time becomes the more remark- able when it is stated that, at the time, the steam-boat had five hundred and fifty passengers on board. The speed of Fulton's boat was about six miles an hour! The Chauncey Vibbard and Thos. Powell are at present considered the fastest boats in the United States, if not on the globe. In this connection. also, it will be interesting to give the following account of the dimensions and speed of the Clermont. The Clermont was 100 feet long, 12 feet wide, and ? leep. The following advertisement appeared in the Albany Gazette on the 1st of Sep- tember. 1807 :--
" The North River Steam-boot will leave Paulus-Hook [Jersey City] on Friday, the 4th of September, at 9 in the morning, and arrive at Albany at 9 in
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
„boyhood, connected with the first trip of the Clermont, which he related to the little circle gathered around him : "Sixty years ago, this very day," said Mr. Weed, "the first steam-boat passed up the Hudson from New York to Albany. The news spread like wild-fire, although there was then no telegraph, and the banks of the entire river were almost literally lined with people, to whom the first steam-boat was a much greater wonder than the Great Eastern to the present generation." To be on the bank, however, was not enough for Mr. Weed; so, stripping off his clothes and placing them on a rude raft improvised for the occasion, he swam out into the streamn, pushing the raft before him; and from an island (now forming the main-land) he watched in actual fear and trembling, the singular, and to him weird, spectacle-
" A peaceful bark o'er the waters sped, As the monster form drew near ; From his perilous post the helmsman fled, And the hailing captain bade with dread From her demon-wake to steer. * › * * * * * *
"From the fishermen's cabins the inmates burst, And were moved in their panic to say,
That the ghosts of the Dutchmen had risen from dust To smoke their great pipes with a terrible gust, And hasten from Gotham away." *
the afternoon. Provisions, good berths, and accommodation are provided. The charge to each passenger is as follows:
Dollars.
Hours.
To Newburg.
3 00
14
« Poughkeepsie 4 00
17
Esopus 5 00 20
= Hudson
" Albany
7 00
5 50 30 36
" Mr. Fulton's new steam-boat," said the same paper, on the 5th of October, " left New York on the 2d, at 10 o'clock, A. M., against a strong tide, very rough water, and a violent gale from the north. She made a headway, against the most sanguine expectations, and without being rocked by the waves."
Mr. Charles Dyke, who died in 1871, at the age of eighty-five years, in this State, was the engineer of Fulton's little trial steamer, the Clermont, at the time she made her first trip from New York to Albany, on the 7th of August, 1807.
* The First Steamboat by Mrs. Sigourney.
45
1
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
It was not, however, until 1811 that "Crossing the Ferry " at New York became an accomplished fact. In- deed, the difficulties experienced in crossing the IS11. North and East Rivers before horse or steam fer- ries were known, will never be realized by the present generation. They may be judged of somewhat by the fol- lowing extract from a letter to the writer, written by a gentleman who now (1871) is still living, at the age of eighty-eight, hale and hearty. "When a boy of fifteen," he writes, " I first visited New York city, in 1801. Then
we crossed from Brooklyn in small sail-boats-two cents ferriage. With ice in the river, it was sometimes ex- tremely perilous. To get a gig across, of course, the wheels must be taken off, and the horse jumped. On that first visit I saw the fine farms below the present City Hall-and one farmer was just driving out the gate with . a fine calf to carry down town to the butcher. My father took me to the old Fly Market, whither he carried his produce." *
* Letter from Isaac Rushmore, of Westbury, L. I., to the writer, duted Vo- - cember Ath, 1871.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
The first announcement of a steam ferry-boat appears in the Columbian newspaper of the 18th of September, 1811, as follows : " Hoboken Steamboat. - Mr. Godwin respectfully acquaints the citizens of New York and the public at large, that he has commenced running a steam- boat on the Hoboken Ferry, of large and convenient size, and capable of affording accommodation in a very exten- sive degree. The boat moves with uncommon speed and facility, and starts from the usual ferry stairs, at the Cor- poration wharf, foot of Vesey Street, New York, where passage may be taken at any hour of the day." On the 24th of the same month, the following editorial appears in the same paper: "Steam-boats are rapidly getting into the 'full tide of successful experiment' in this country. Last week one of Colonel Stevens' ferry-boats, employed by Mr. Godwin, of Hoboken, was started into operation, and yesterday made sixteen trips back and forth, between that place and this city, with a probable average of one hun- dred passengers each trip .* Her machinery, we under- stand, is somewhat different from that of the large North River boats, and we presume she sails considerably faster than any other heretofore constructed in our waters."
Even in those days it seems that there was sharp com- petition. Especially was this the case between Fulton, who represented 'the Paulus Hook Ferry Company, and Colonel John Stevens that of the Hoboken Ferry. The latter, it would appear, started the first passenger steam ferry-boat, but the former produced, although at a later period, a boat (or rather a double boat) which proved suc- cessful for the general wants and uses of such a craft. In July of the year following, 1812, the Columbian says, editorially : "The large and commodious Steam-boat which
* Compare this statement with the fact that now two hundred thousand per- sons daily cross the East River, and as many more on the other side to New Jersey and Staten Island.
,
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
has been for some time erecting in this city by Mr. Fulton, as a ferry-boat to ply between this city and the city of Jersey, will be in full operation on Thursday next. The crossing of the North River has beeen such an obstacle to the communication with this city, that it is a matter of real congratulation to the public that their difficulties are removed. The most timid may cross now without fear. As the fare of a market-wagon, loaded, will be but fifty cents, there is no doubt but our markets will be better supplied than ever they have been." "The boat impelled by horses, from the New (Catharine) Slip to the upper Brooklyn Ferry, carried at one time 543 passengers, be- sides some carriages and horses. And a horse-boat is to run soon from Grand Street Dock to Williamsburgh."
The same authority, a short time afterwards, announces the successful launching of this boat, called the Williams- burgh, from the ship-yard of Mr. Browne. It was not, how- ever, until May, 1814, that steam ferry-boats superseded those propelled by horse-power on the Brooklyn ferry .* In speaking of this great improvement, the paper we have before quoted (the Columbian), under date of May 14th, says : " Brooklyn Ferry-Boat .- The Nassau, the new steam- boat belonging to Messrs. Cutting & Co., which commenced running from Beekman Slip to the lower ferry at Brook- lyn a few days ago, carried, in one of her first trips, 549 (another counted 550) passengers, one wagon and a pair of horses, two horses and chairs, and one single horse. She has made a trip in four minutes, and generally takes from four to eight, and has crossed the river forty times in one day." "Yesterday (Sunday, May 10th), between twelve and one o'clock, Mr. Lewis Rhoda accidentally got hurled into the machinery of the new steam-boat Nassau,
* The picture of the Brooklyn Ferry-house, on the opposite page, is copied from a colored engraving published in London, by Thomas Bakewell, in 1740, entitled, " A South Prospect of ye Flourishing City of New York, in ye Prov. ince of New York, in America."
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FULTON FERRY IN 1740
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
which cut off his left arm a little below the elbow, and broke his neck. He expired in about three hours."*
In 1808, De Witt Clinton was again appointed Mayor of the city, which office-with the exception of only one
1808. year, when he was superseded by Judge Radcliffe
in consequence of a change in party politics-he retained by successive annual appointments, until the year 1815.
" In the discharge of his duties as Mayor," says Dr. David Hosack, in his address before the Literary and Philosophical Society, " whether presiding.at the Common Council Board, superintending the general interests of the city as the President of the Board of Health, or officiating in the character of a judge on the bench, Mr. Clinton acquired the confidence, the respect, and the gratitude of all classes of citizens, uninfluenced by the various party feelings that distracted the community. As the presiding
* This may probably be considered the first "steam-boat accident "-now become so frightfully common-on record.
The first ferry ordinance on record (1654) lays down the following rates of ferriage :
The ferryman is to be allowed for a wagon, cart (either with horses or Flor. stiv. oxen), or a head of cattle 2 10 For a one-horse wagon 2 For a plough 1
For a hog, sheep; buck, er goat. 3
For a savage, male or female.
6
For each other person .. 3
Half for children under ten years.
For a horse, or four-footed horned beast. 1 10
For a hogshead of tobacco 16
For a tun of beer. 16
For an anchor of wine or spirits. 6
For a keg of butter, or anything else. 6
For four schepels of corn. 1
The ferryman cannot be compelled to ferry any one over before he is paid. The hours shall be from 7 o'clock, A. M., to 5 P. M., in winter ; but he is not to be obliged to ferry during a tempest, or when he cannot sail.
The directors and members of the Council, or court messenger, and other persons invested with authority, or dispatched by the Executive, are to be exempt from toll.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
officer of the Common Council, the dignity, the ability, and the dispatch with which he performed the duties of that important office, were always the theme of eulogy ; and to the municipal concerns of the city he paid a devoted and unremitted attention."
In this year, also, he was instrumental in obtaining from the State Legislature an appropriation of $100,000 for the fortification of the city. He was likewise the President of the Board of Commissioners appointed to
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FORT HAMILTON.
superintend the accomplishment of those important mili- tary works on Staten Island and in other portions of the bay for the defense of the city.
It was while Clinton was Mayor that the affair took place which is generally known as the " Trinity Church Riot."*
* The following account of this riot is taken from Chief-Justice Daly's scholarly discourse, delivered before the Century Club, on the death of Gulian C. Verplanck.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
" In 1811, one of the graduating class of Columbia Col- lege, afterwards well known as Dr. J. B. Stevenson, who had been appointed one of the disputants in a politi-
1811. cal debate which was to take place at the college commencement, submitted, as required, what he was to say, to the inspection of one of the faculty, Dr. Wilson. It contain- ed this passage : ' Representatives ought to act according to the sentiments of their constituents,' which Dr. Wilson required him to modify by limiting it to one instance only. The young man remonstrated, but the doctor was inexorable, because, as he afterwards testified, he con- sidered it expedient that the young man should deliver correct principles, as he was to be the respondent in the debate. The commencement was held in Trinity Church before a crowded audience, and, when Stevenson came to reply, he omitted the qualification, and delivered the passage exactly as he had written it. When his name was called for the delivery of a diploma, he ascended the stage, and, as the president was in the act of handing him the one prepared for him, one of the professors interposed, and the president refused to confer the degree. The young man withdrew, overwhelmed by this public ex- posure ; but, upon returning to the body of the church, he was surrounded by his fellow-graduates and friends, for he had been an industrious and most exemplary student, and, at their instigation, here turned to the platform and demanded his diploma. One of the professors, anxious to accommodate matters, said to him, 'Probably you forgot ;' but the young man promptly answered, 'I did not, but I would not utter what I did not believe.' The diploma was again refused, upon which he had the courage to turn to the audience and say : 'I am refused my degree, ladies and gentlemen, not from any literary deficiency, but because I refused to speak the sentiments of others as my own.' This at once produced a sensation, upon which
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Hugh Maxwell, an alumnus of the college, and afterwards # distinguished advocate, went upon the stage and ad- dressed the audience in support of Stevenson, condemning the faculty in what they considered very bold and offen- sive language. At this juncture Mr. Verplanck also went on the platform and demanded of Dr. Mason, the provost, who was the ruling power in the college, why the degree was not conferred. Dr. Mason informed him, and Ver- planck answered: 'The reason, sir, is not satisfactory ; Mr. Maxwell must be sustained.' The audience now became greatly excited in favor of Stevenson, and Ver- planck, turning towards them, moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Maxwell- for his zealous and honorable defense of an injured man,' a proposition which the graduating class received with three cheers, followed by three groans for the provost. Verplanck's manner in this scene, as subse- quently described by Dr. Mason, ' was loud and rude, with an air of consequence and disdain, calculated to aid and increase the disturbance,' and, according to the doctor's account, he 'appeared as if erecting himself into a tribunal to judge above the heads of the faculty,' a statement in which others who were present did not concur. Old as well as young men now took as active a part as Verplanck or Maxwell; and when Dr. Mason, in his official character as provost, came forward to restore order, he was, to employ his own words, when examined as a witness, re- ceived with a ' hiss that, in manner and quality, would not disgrace a congregation of snakes upon Snake Hill in New Jersey.' He was compelled to retire, the police were brought in, and the commencement came to an end in confusion and disorder.
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