USA > New York > Staten Island > History of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York : from its discovery to the present time > Part 22
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There is an instance of extraordinary self-possession and prompt decision related of a young man named Housman, which probably saved his life. He resided in the vicinity of the Four Corners, and one morning, after a slight fall of snow during the night, he went out with his gun in quest of rabbits.
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Though the people of the island, during its occupany by the British, were prohibited from keeping tire-arms of any descrip- tion in their houses, some few had succeeded in concealing guns, which, from the associations connected with them, or for some other reasons, were valuable to them. Such was the gun car- ried by young Housman on this occasion. While tramping through the woods, a sudden turn in the path brought him in sight of two soldiers, who were probably out on the same er- rand. They saw each other simultaneously, and each party stopped. The young hunter thought of the loss of his gun, and probably of his life also, but suddenly turning his back to the soldiers, he waved his hand as if beckoning to some other per- sons as he stepped back round the turn, and shouted out, "Hurry up, here are two Britishiers ; three of you go round to the right, and three to the left, and the rest of you follow me ; hurry up, before they run away." What the "Britishers" had to fear we know not, but hearing these directions, and fear- ing there might be a small army about to surround them, they turned and fled, throwing away their arms to facilitate their flight. What report they made when they reached their quar- ters is not known, but a detachment was sent out to capture the young man and his army. Their surprise and mortification must have been extreme, when at the turn in the path they could only find the tracks of a single individual in the snow.
A farmer, whose name has passed into oblivion, residing " in the Clove," left home late one day, leaving only his wife and a lad of seventeen years at home. It was after dark before the boy completed his work about the barn, but just as he was coming out he saw a soldier enter the house with a musket in hand. Before he had time to reach the house he heard his mother shrieking for help. He rushed forward, and as he entered saw the soldier holding his mother by the throat with his left hand, while his right was drawn back to strike her. When he entered, the soldier had placed his musket by the side of the door in the passage ; the son seized it, and at the risk of shooting his mother, levelled it at the ruffian's head and sent a ball crashing through his brain, killing him on the spot. But there was still cause for alarm. If the shot had been heard, and should attract any person to the spot, an exposure must necessarily follow and the lad would be executed, for no cir- cumstances would be admitted as justification for killing a
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soldier. Fortunately, however, the noise had not been heard, or at least had attracted no attention, All that could now be done was to conceal the body until the return of the husband and father in the morning. This was done by dragging it under the stairs, where it was not likely to be seen by any person but themselves. The next morning, when the farmer returned, he removed a part of his barn floor, under which he dug a grave; and after dark the evening following the body was thrown into it, and the musket also, and buried, and there they prob- ably remain to this day. The family kept their own secret until after the close of the war, and the evacuation of the island by the British.
A man named Cole, residing in Southfield, was the proprietor of a remarkably fine gray horse. Several of the officers of the army had offered to purchase him, but he declined to part with him at any price. He had before sold a horse to an officer, who had promised to pay for him within two months, but two years had passed, and the debt was not yet discharged, At another time a Hessian officer, who had been quartered upon him for a short time, when he left, forcibly took away another horse, and Cole had repeatedly vowed that no other officer should have another horse of his unless he stole him ; he would shoot him first-the horse, not the officer. Early one bright winter even- ing he heard a commotion in his stable, and, always on the alert, he thrust two pistols in his pockets and hastened out. At the stable door he saw two soldiers attempting to put a halter on the head of his favorite horse. "Hi, there," he cried, " what are you going to do with that horse?" "Going to take him away," replied one of them; "Colonel - wants him, and sent us to get him." "Well," said Cole, "you just make up you minds that neither you nor the colonel shall take that horse away without my consent." "Stand aside, you d-d rebel," said one of them, as Cole attempted to take the horse from them, at the same time pointing a bayonet at him, " or I'll make a hole through your heart." Without far- ther reply, he drew one of his pistols and shot the horse through the head ; "There, you infernal thieves," he exclaimed as he threw the pistol down, "now you may take him." For a moment the soldiers were amazed as they gazed on the struggles of the dying animal, but soon recovering themselves, they prepared to rush upon him with their bayonets, when Cole,
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presenting the other pistol, exclaimed, "Come on, you thieves and robbers, with your bayonets, and I'll drop one of you at least." The soldiers considering discretion, in this instance, the better part of valor, turned and walked away, threatening him with the vengeance of the colonel. "Go tell your master," said Cole, as he followed them to the gate, " that I'll serve him, or you, or any other thief who comes upon my premises at night to steal my property, as I served that horse."
The majority of the English, of all ranks, regarded the colo- nists as physically, intellectually and morally inferior to them- selves. In their social intercourse with them as well as in their plundering, they made but little distinction between loyalists and rebels. But there were some exceptions. Among thie officers of the British army were some who were gentlemen by nature and by culture, and a few were eminently pions men, who found no difficulty in reconciling their obligations to their king with their duty to their Maker. These two latter classes were ever ready to listen to the complaints of the oppressed, and as far as lay in their power, to redress the wrongs of the injured.
Of this class was Captain John Voke, of whom the following anecdote has been preserved. He was billeted upon a farmer in the vicinity of Richmond for some two or three months, and, nnlike many other officers, regularly paid for his board and lodging. A few days after he had removed his quarters, the farmer came to him and informed him that during the previous night his house had been entered and robbed of a sum of money, and that he suspected that it had been done by soldiers, be- cause beneath the window through which the house had been entered, and which had been left open, he had found a button, by means of which, perhaps, the culprits might be detected. The captain took the button and promised to give the matter his immediate attention. The button indicated the regiment as well as the company to which the loser of it belonged. During the parade that same day, lie closely scrutinized the company indicated, and found a soldier with a button missing on the front of his coat. After parade he communicated his suspicions to the colonel of the regiment, and the soldier was sent for. When he arrived, the colonel, nsing a little artifice, informed him that he suspected him of being implicated in a drunken brawl the night before at a tavern a mile or two distant. This
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the soldier denied, saying that he could prove he was nowhere near that tavern, or even in that direction, during the night pre- vious. "Were you out last night?" inquired the colonel ; "Well-yes," answered the soldier, "but not in that direc- tion." "Where were you?" "In various places, but not at that tavern." "By whom can you prove that you were not at that tavern : " The name of another soldier was mentioned, and the colonel sent for him. When he arrived, he corroborated all the first had said, adding that they two had been together all the night. "Then," said the colonel, " you two are the burg- lars who entered the house of Mr. - - through a window last night, and robbed him of twenty guineas. Lay down the money upon this table, or you shall both be executed for burglary and robbery." The affrighted soldiers, taken by surprise, confessed their crime, and each placed ten guineas upon the table. What punishment was meted ont to the culprits is not related, but Captain Voke had the satisfaction of returning the money to the owner thereof in less than twenty-four hours after it had been stolen.
Though there were, in the royal army, both among the Eng- lish and Hessians, a great many idle, dissolute and very wicked men, officers as well as privates, there were also among them many exemplary and industrious men, some of whom were me- chanics and some agriculturists. An army doing garrison duty has generally a good deal of idle time, which was employed by these men to their own profit and advantage. Shoemakers, for instance, frequently made boots and shoes for the officers and their families, when they had any, and for the citizens of the county ; and were permitted to take their surplus work to the city to sell to dealers, for all of which they were generally well paid. The government supplying all their personal wants, the money thus earned accumulated until, at the close of the war, many had large sums at their command. It was generally this class who contrived to stay behind, purchase land, or commence business on their own account, sometimes, it is said, under as- sumed names. Some of the agriculturists obtained permis- sion from the neighboring farmers to clear and cultivate an acre or two of land which the owners, in many instances, had con- sidered worthless, because it was overgrown with bushes and briars, and would cost more to clear, as they said, than the land was worth. It is said that these industrious men literally made
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the wilderness " blossom as the rose." By a thrifty system of culture which they applied they were able to produce, as a ven- erable informant declared, "more from a single acre than I could raise on five."
That there was no lack of patriots on the island during the war is shown by the following anecdote :
A man named Taylor-not of the Staten Island family of that name-came over from New York, and took up his abode here for the avowed purpose of trading with the English vessels. He carried on the business for several months openly, and in defiance of all the cautions he had received by means of anonymous letters, which he openly exhibited in public places, and held up to ridi- cule. He defied any power which the rebels possessed to pre- vent his doing as he pleased in the matter of trading with the ships. One very dark and stormy night, five men entered his dwelling nnannounced. They were all disguised, and while a part of them seized and bound him, the remainder per- formed the same service for his wife. With pistols at their heads, they were cautioned to make no outcry. Having se- cured Taylor, they led him to his own barn, put a noose around his neck, threw the rope over one of the beams, and hoisted him from the floor by his neck ; then having fastened the rope to a post, left him and went their way.
His wife hearing the men depart, apprehended something ser- ious had occurred, and made most desperate efforts to loose the thongs which bonnd her, and finally succeeded. Fortunately a lighted lantern stood in an adjoining room, which she seized and ran into the barn, where she found her worst apprehensions realized by seeing her husband struggling in the agonies of death. Finding she could not untie the knot around the manger post, she found a hatchet, with which she cut the rope and let him down upon the floor. Having removed the noose around his neck, and finding him insensible, she ran to a neigh- boring house for assistance, and at length succeeded in restor- ing him to consciousness. Two or three days afterward Taylor removed back again to New York, but he was accompanied by a guard of soldiers all the way to the city.
At some time between the cessation of actual hostilities and the evacuation by the British, the following incident is said to have occurred :
There were many ships of war lying at anchor in various
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parts of the harbor, mostly in the vicinity of the city ; there were some, however, which lay in, and even beyond the Narrows, and these were anchored as near the shores of Long and Staten Islands, as could safely be done, for the convenience of easy access to the land in all conditions of the weather, in order that the officers might obtain supplies of butter, vegetables, etc., from the farms in the vicinity. One day a boy, some seventeen or eighteen years of age, was in search of some stray cattle in the woods near the water, and saw a ship's boat with two sailors approaching. Supposing he might as well keep out of their sight in that solitary place, he concealed himself behind a large tree ; he saw them land, and while one of them remained in charge of the boat, the other, with a basket in his hand, en- tered the wood. After having proceeded a few rods, until he was out of sight of his companion, and of everybody else, as he supposed, he took off his coat, knelt down at the foot of a large, gnarled tree, and, with an instrument resembling a ma- son's trowel, dug a hole in the earth, and having deposited something therein, carefully filled the hole again with earth, and laid a large flat stone upon it. This done he arose to his feet, and took a long and careful survey of the surroundings, then proceeded on his way. The youth kept in his place of concealment for two full hours, when he saw the sailor return- ing with his basket apparently filled with vegetables. He passed by the place where he had dug the hole, scrutinized it closely, and then proceeded to the boat, which was still in waiting for him, and returned to the ship. Assuring himself that the coast was clear, the young man went to the place, re- opened the hole, and found therein a heavy canvas bag, evi- dently containing, as he judged by its sound, a quantity of money. Securing the prize, and without waiting to re-fill the hole, he hastened away, and found some other place of deposit, known only to himself. A day or two thereafter posters were put up in every public place, offering a large reward for the recovery of three hundred guineas, which had been stolen from one of his majesty's ships, being the property of the govern- ment, and an additional reward for the detection of the thief, but the boy kept his own counsel. The theft occasioned a good deal of talk at the time, but it was soon forgotten in the ex - citement consequent upon the declaration of peace and the preparations for the departure of the British from the country.
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For nearly four years the young man kept his own secret, at which time he had attained his majority ; and then, when he purchased a farm for himself, and paid for it, did he first re- veal, to his parents only, the manner in which he obtained his means.
During the whole time of their occupancy of the island the British kept a lookout on some convenient elevation for the arrival of vessels. At one time a sentinel was stationed in the top of " a large chestnut tree which grew upon the summit of the island, about a mile from a small wooden church which stood near the King's highway." There is a tradition confirma- tory of this statement, which says that the British kept a num- ber of soldiers on the top of Todt hill to guard the road and to keep a lookout over the land and water. From the locality indicated this might have been done very easily, for it com- mands a view of the outer bay and Sandy Hook in one direc- tion, and the kills, and New Jersey beyond, in another. The sentinel in the tree was provided with a platform npon which to stand, and signals to elevate npon a pole lashed to the high- est limb of the tree. This position was a perilous one in a heavy wind, and peculiarly so during a thunder storm. It is said that on one occasion a soldier on duty in that elevated place was overtaken by a sndden storm of rain, thunder and lightning. The ladder by which he had ascended was blown out of his reach. and he was unable to escape from the dangers which surrounded him. When the storm had passed away his body was found on the ground beneath the tree, with his neck broken; and certain livid marks on his person, together with the condition of the tree itself, indicated that he had been , stricken by lightning and fallen to the ground. About a month afterward another storni passed over the same locality, and the lookout descended from his elevation as quickly as possible, but he had no sooner reached the ground than the tree was again struck, and he was killed at its foot. After that the place of lookout was changed, and brought down the hill nearer the church, probably in the vicinity of the light house. The following season the doomed tree was again struck, and riven to splinters.
An aged man named Britton, residing in Southfield, with his wife and granddaughter, a young lady about seventeen years of age, were seated before a bright fire on the hearth, one chilly
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autumn evening. On a table stood a mug of cider, and in the fire was one end of a long iron rod, with which, after heating it, the old man was in the habit of " mulling " his cider, a bever- age of which he partook every evening before retiring. While thus waiting the outer door suddenly opened and a huge Hes- sian soldier entered. After regarding the family group for a moment, he walked to the corner in which the young lady was sitting, and seated himself beside her. "Hey, missy," said he, attempting to put his arm around her waist, "how you like a big Dutelnnan for a husband, hey ?" "Go away, you Dutch brute," said she. "Oh, no," he answered renew- ing his attempt at familiarity, " me not go away yet." "Go away," she repeated, " or I shall hurt you." Laughing at this threat he persisted in annoying her, until suddenly she stooped down, and seizing the iron rod, thrust the red hot end of it into his face. He uttered a yell, and in the effort to spring up, fell over his chair. She continued her assault upon him, by pushing the rod into any part of his person she could reach and when he regained his feet and made for the door, she con- tinued to pursue him, even following him out of doors. He made repeated attempts to strike her, but her rod being longer than his arm, effectually prevented him from touching her. Hle also attempted to seize the rod, but it was too hot to hold, and every such effort only burned him the more. Foiled at every point, he turned and ran away.
During the war British officers were quartered at the house of a Mrs. Dissosway, near the present site of Tottenville. Her husband was a prisoner in the hands of the British. Captain Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, who was very troublesome to the British, was her brother. A tory colonel once promised to procure the release of her husband if she would prevail upon her brother to remain quietly at home and become a neutral party. "And if I could" she replied, with a look of scorn, at the same time drawing up her tall figure to its utmost height, " if I could act so dastardly a part, think you that General Washington has but one Captain Randolph in his army?"
On one occasion after the establishment of independence, it is related that several families of those who had suffered dur- ing the war were returning from a religious service in sleighs. As they approached the house of a certain tory captain, they all drew up in front, and Dissosway, the leader, went to the
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front door and with the butt of his driving whip rapped. When his call was answered by the captain the former ex- plained, " We stopped to let you know we rebels have been to church. It is our turn now to give thanks."
A Mrs. Jackson resided on the island during the war. Her husband was for nine months in the provost, and for two years afterward on parole. During his absence the house was the abode of British officers and soldiers. One day this resolute woman caught a soldier carrying her tin milk pail through the house to take it to his master, who wished to bathe his feet in it. Seizing the pail and tearing it from his grasp she fearlessly retorted, "Not for your master's master shall you touch what yon have no business with." This lady used to send provis- ions to the American army on the opposite shore. To do this the utmost secrecy was required. To avoid suspicion she would often set her husband's mill going and attend to it herself while the black man who usually performed that service left his work to go across the river with provisions. One day she kept a fatted calf muzzled under her bed all day to send it to the Americans at night. On one occasion she received intelligence that the Americans were coming to surprise and capture the British who were lodged in her honse. She gave no warning to the latter till the whig force was just at hand; then, not wish- ing to have a bloody contest in her honse, she told them the whigs were coming. " Run, gentlemen, run, or yon are all pris- oners." They did run, without ceremony, but the whigs were upon them.
After Jackson's return the house was robbed. A knock was heard at the door one night, and on opening it a disgnised man appeared, with a pistol which he placed at the head of Mr. Jackson and enjoined silence under pain of instant death. A little daughter standing by involuntarily screamed out, when one of the ruffians struck her a blow on the head, which laid her in- sensible on the floor. The house was then stripped of what- ever articles the thieves desired to take away. Their path next morning could be traced by the articles they had dropped by the way in their haste as they departed. The family believed they were a band of tories, who were often more cruel and ra- pacions than the British soldiers.
The following incident is related as being one of the most daring exploits of the revolution. A colonel of the American
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army having been taken prisoner, and there being no British officer of a similar grade in their possession with whom to re- deem him, three men entered upon the perilous enterprise of taking a colonel from the very midst of the enemy then sta- tioned on Staten Island. They crossed the sound on a dark night, and approached the house where several officers were lo- cated, but found it strongly guarded. Proceeding with the utmost caution they were able to evade the guard in the dark- ness, and approaching the honse took their stand near a window, through which they conld see what was going on within. Watching a favorable opportunity they entered the honse, and placing a pistol to the breast of a colonel they ordered him to march out as their prisoner, threatening to shoot him in case he made the least noise. or resistance. They took him away from his companions, out through the guard by which the house was encircled, and delivered him safely in Elizabethtown by sunrise the next morning. One of the men who performed this daring feat was Henry Willis, who died about forty years since, but of the names of the other two we are ignorant.
The murder of Stephen Ball and its attendant circumstances are so intimately associated with Staten Island that we may be excused for introducing here an account of the matter. Ball was in the habit of supplying some of the British on Staten Island with such beef and other provisions as he had to sell. Upon one occasion a tory sent out from the British as a spy, had been taken by the Americans, tried by a regular court mar- tial and, being found guilty, was hung. One Hetfield, the leader of a notorious band of ruffians, vowed vengeance by re- taliation, and the next time Ball came to the island they seized him. This was in January, 1781. He was taken before General Patterson, and then before General Skinner, charged with being a spy, but they both knew his mission on the island and refused to try him, directing his release. The Het- field gang, however, were determined to execute their threats of vengeance, and accordingly, after robbing him of whatever valuable articles he had with him, took him over to Bergen Point and there hung him to a tree. This act of independent violence appears to have been deprecated by the British authorities as well as the Americans, from the fact that the victim was acting no partisan character, but simply engaged in a commercial transaction. The party engaged in it consisted of Cornelius,
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