USA > New York > Schoharie County > History of Schoharie County, New York : with illusustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 72
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Springing to their feet, with presented mus-
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
kets, they bid the stranger stand and announce his destination. Surely the darling of the Brit- ish army, who, by sagacity, prudence and brav- ery, has been elevated to the rank of Adjutant- General of the British forces in America, is pos- sessed of sufficient caution to disarm this bris- tling trio! Not so. Although armed with Arnold's pass to guard him against the only real enemies he has cause to fear, and which has already put to sleep the awakened suspicions of the wary Captain Boyd, some over-ruling Providence leads him to make that fatal answer, " My lads, I hope you belong to our party." The reply comes quick, " What party is that ?" "The lower party," he answered. "We do," is the reply. "Thank God, I am once more among friends," he cried, deceived by the rude simplicity of the men, and recognizing a British militia coat upon Paulding's back, a coat in which (in lieu of his own, of which he had been despoiled,) Paulding had escaped from the enemy, in whose hands he had fallen some five or six days before the capture of Andre. "I am glad to see you, I am a British officer ; I have been up in the country on particular busi- ness, and I hope you wont detain me a minute," confidently continued Andre.
The long agony was over! That mine which had been set for the overthrow of the citadel of American freedom and independence, whose train it had taken months to lay, was now ex- posed and harmless, unless
"The jingling of the guinea
That helps the hurt that honor feels,"
can successfully assail the virtue of Williams, Van Wart and Paulding. This vast assemblage, these ceremonies, the projected monument over the remains of David Williams, but above all that waving symbol of the power and greatness of this nation, tell with unmistakable and an answerable emphasis of the incorruptible in- tegrity of these simple rustic men.
The State of New York has honored herself
by making the appropriation necessary to com- mence this monument over the remains of the only one of that immortal three, whose grave remains to this day unhonored. In 1827, the city of New York erected a monument over the remains of Paulding near Peekskill, bearing this significant inscription :--
" On the morning of the 23d of September, 1780, accompanied by two young farmers of the county of Westchester (whose names will one day be recorded on their own deserved monuments) he intercepted the British spy, Andre. Poor himself, he disdained to acquire wealth by the sacrifice of his country. Reject- ing the temptation of great rewards, he con- veyed his prisoner to the American camp ; and by this act of noble self-denial the treason of Arnold was detected, the designs of the enemy baffled, West Point and the American army saved, and these United States, now, by the grace of God, free and independent, rescued from most imminent peril."
At Greenburgh, near Tarrytown, on the spot where the remains of Isaac Van Wart lie buried, the citizens of the vicinity erected, in 1829, a suitable monument, with the following inscription engraven thereon :-----
" Fidelity. On the 23d of September, 1780, Isaac Van Wart, accompanied by John Pauld- ing and David Williams, all farmers of the county of Westchester, intercepted Major Andre on his return from the American lines in the character of a spy ; and, notwithstanding the large bribes offered them for his release, nobly disdained to sacrifice their country for gold, secured and carried him to the command- ing officer of the district, whereby the dangerous and traitorous conspiracy of Arnold was brought to light, the insidious designs of the enemy baffled, the American army saved, and our beloved country free."
On the memorable site where the capture occurred, the young men of Westchester county,
1
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APPENDIX.
in 1853, built a cenotaph in honor of the cap- tors. How appropriate, then, that in this beautiful valley and in this County, where the survivor of the three lived for twenty-six years, and where he died and was buried, there should rise an enduring mark of the gratitude and appreciation of this people!
It does not become the time nor the occasion to enter upon any extended discussion of the mooted questions surrounding the purposes and motives of Andre's captors. It is too late a day to reverse the judgment of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, of Congress and the Legislature of this State, all pronounced at the time. Besides the united testimony of a host of their neighbors and acquaintances, the sworn statement of Paulding and Van Wart, and the solemn asseverations of Williams, seven months before his death in 1831, all unite in bearing down, with an unanswerable weight of testi- mony, the eleventh-hour statement of Colonel Tallmadge thirty-seven years after the capture. To all this we may add the critical analysis, by Henry J. Raymond, of the whole testimony bear- ing on the subject. That acute publicist dis- missed the slander to the reprobation it de- serves, and the almost universal judginent of the American people confirms the verdict. For myself, I may be permitted to add, that in my judgment, when examined with fairness, and attested by the rules of common sense and com- mon justice, every candid mind must inevitably conclude that the overwhelming balance of proof is upon the side of the incorruptible hon- esty and purity of their motives. Nothing more reliable than rumor and suspicion arising from statements made solely by Andre, stand upon the other side, statements, it must never be for- gotten, which sprang from a heart sorely de- jected, chagrined and mortified by his own lack of common prudence; made, too, at a time when his mind, sunk beneath a weight of woe almost incalculable, was seeking for relief in the
contemplation of what might have been. It is our duty to guard the reputation of these hum. ble patriots against this misty testimony rising out of such a cauldron of self-interest. It must always be borne in mind that the British would not concede that true virtue was a feature of character belonging to Americans ; and Andre, fresh from a field where he had witnessed the debased character of a high officer, was in no condition of mind to stem the tide of opinion that flowed within the English lines. The virtue of these men, under such circumstances, could not be, and evidently was not comprehended. In the words of Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury, written from Newport, on the 5th of October, 1780 :- " How great, compared to Arnold, are those peasants who refused the bribe of Andre. Let this be remembered in favor of the poor."
I may be permitted to express the hope, that somewhere upon this projected monument to David Williams will appear these notable words of Washington in his letter to the President of Congress : "The party that took Major Andre * . acted in such a manner as does them the highest honor, and proves them to be men of great virtue, * * their conduct gives them a just claim to the thanks of their country."
Perhaps the true nature of this conduct is more eloquently and luminously told in the words of Alexander Hamilton, in the Laurens letter, where he says : "Arnold's conduct and that of the captors of Andre, form a striking contrast. He tempted them with the offer of his watch, his horse and any sum of money that they should name. They rejected his offer with indignation, and the gold that could seduce a man, high in the esteem and confidence of his country, who had the remembrance of past ex- ploits, the motives of present reputation and future glory to prop his integrity, had no charms for these simple peasants leaning on their vir- tue and an honest sense of their duty. While Arnold is handed down with execration, poster-
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
ity will repeat with reverence the names of Van Wart, Paulding and Williams!"
I owe it to the occasion, to you and to myself, to present some considerations in support of the constantly recurring thought, throughout this discourse, of the grave importance of Arnold's plot. I have already alluded to the estimate of its advantages to the British government pro- nounced by King George the Third. From the abundant materials furnished by those in the English service at the time, I will only add the following from the memoirs of Sir Henry Clin- ton, commander of the British forces in New York. In speaking of the arrest of Andre, he says: "I was exceedingly shocked, as may be supposed, by this very unexpected accident, which not only ruined a most important project which had all the appearance of being in a happy train of success, but involved in danger and distress a confidential friend for whom I had deservedly the warmest esteem."
Creasy, in his " Decisive Battles of the World," has succinctly described the great and pivotal victory of the Americans at Saratoga, on the 7th of October, 1777. He has conclusively shown the plan of operations which the English attempted in that year, and which the battle of Saratoga defeated. The English had a consider- able force in Canada, which had been re-enforced for the purpose of striking a vigorous and crush- ing blow against the Colonies. It was intended that the force thus collected should march south- ward by the line of the lakes and thence along the banks of the Hudson river. The British army in New York was to make a simultaneous movement northward up the line of the Hudson, and the two expeditions were to meet at Albany. In this manner all communications between the Colonial army in New England, and the princi- pal army under Washington, which was watch- ing over Pennsylvania and the South, would be cut off. The army from Canada was under command of Burgoyne, and that in New York
under Sir Henry Clinton. 'The plan was ably formed, and was defeated only by the consum- mate skill of General Gates, and the unprece- dented bravery of his men at Saratoga, aided by the delay caused by the fortifications on the lower Hudson, the key of which was West Point, which fortification hindered the prompt co-operation of Sir Henry Clinton with Bur- goyne. Clinton, in fact, reached Kingston, where, hearing of Burgoyne's surrender, he burned the place and returned to New York.
What the capture of West Point would have been to the British, will be more fully appreciated by an illustration familiar to all. It will be re- membered how the country was stirred to its very center, on the 4th of July, 1863, by the glorious tidings that Vicksburg had fallen, and that " the great Mississippi swept unvexed to the sea." What that meant was soon known. Surrounded, like West Point, with fortifications, redoubts and bastioned forts, it held within its iron grasp the control of the great Mississippi. When it fell, that great artery through which ran the life-blood of the Southern Confederacy, was absolutely within the power of the Federal army. The Rebellion had been cut in twain. In the language of Sherman, "the reduction of Vicksburg made the destruction of the Re- bellion certain." What Vicksburg and her de- pendencies were to the Mississippi in 1863, West Point and her dependencies were to the Hudson in 1780.
What had been lost at Saratoga by open force, would have been regained, had West Point and its dependencies fallen by means of the secret plottings of Arnold. " This was the great object of British and American solicitude," says Irving, in speaking of West Point, " on the possession of which was supposed by many to hinge the fortunes of the war." And again he says, "the immediate result of this surrender, it was anticipated, would be the defeat of the combined attempt upon New York, and its ulti-
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APPENDIX.
mate effect might be the dismemberment of the Union and the dislocation of the whole Ameri- can scheme of warfare." From the mass of American testimony at hand, the following ad- ditional proofs are selected : LaFayette wrote to his wife, October 8th : "A frightful conspiracy has been planned by the celebrated Arnold ; he sold to the English the fort of West Point which was under his command, and consequently the whole navigation of the North river."
General Greene issued a general order on the 26th of October, from which the following is taken :-
" Treason, of the blackest dye, was yesterday discovered. General Arnold, who commanded at West Point-lost to every sentiment of honor, of private and public obligation-was about to deliver up that important post into the hands of the enemy. Such an event must have given the American cause a deadly wound, if not a fatal stab. Happily this treason has been timely dis- covered to prevent the fatal misfortune. The providential train of circumstances which led to it affords the most convincing proof that the liberties of America are the object of divine
. protection. At the same time, though the trea- son is to be regretted, the General cannot help congratulating the army on the happy discovery. Our enemies, despairing of carrying their point by force, are practicing every base art to effect by bribery and corruption, what they cannot ac- complish in a manly way. Great honor is due to the American army that this is the first,in- stance of the kind, where many were to be ex- pected from the nature of the dispute; and nothing is so bright an ornament in the charac- ter of the American soldiers, as their having been proof against all the arts and seductions of an insidious enemy. * * * His Excellency the commander -in-chief has arrived at West Point from Hartford, and is no doubt taking proper measures to unravel fully so hellish a plot."
It must be borne in mind, that had the " hell- ish plot" succeeded, it would have involved the captivity of Washington himself. The following remarkable letter of Governor William Living- ston to General Washington so entirely ex- presses the emotions of the hour, that it is inserted in full.
" TRENTON, 7th October, 1780.
DEAR SIR-I most heartily congratulate your Excellency on the timely discovery of General Arnold's treasonable plot to captivate your person and deliver up West Point to the enemy, of which the loss of the former, had his infernal machinations succeeded, would have been more regretted by America than of the latter. The remarkable disposition of Providence to frus- trate the diabolical conspiracy, will inspire every virtuous American with sincere gratitude to the Great Arbiter of all events; and I hope that no true Whig among us will ever forget the memorable era when we were, by the peculiar guardianship of Heaven, rescued from the very brink of destruction.
" I have the honor to be
your very obedient servant, " WILLIAM LIVINGSTON."
Is it any wonder, then, that with pomp and circumstance, and with grateful hearts, we as- semble to perpetuate with enduring granite, here under the broad sky, and upon the free acres of our beloved country, that tran- scendent act and that renowned virtue of these captors of Andre !
Though neglected, he whose ashes lie buried here, was not absolutely forgotten by his coun- try, and it is proper that allusion should be made to the rewards which a grateful country has bestowed upon him.
By authority of Congress, in 1780, a silver medal bearing the inscription of " Fidelity," and the legend " Vincit Amor Patria," was presented to each of the captors, and at the
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
same time an annuity was authorized to be paid to each, of $200 in specie. In addition, Congress granted to each the privilege of locat- ing any confiscated lands in the county of West- chester to the amount of $1,250, or of receiving that sum in cash. The Legislature of the State of New York granted to each a farm, reciting in the act as a consideration "their virtue in refusing a large sum offered to them by Major Andre as a bribe to permit him to escape." In the fall of 1830, the corporation of the city of New York invited David Williams (the survivor of the three), by special messenger to be present in that city at the celebration of the French Revolution. He was drawn, with other heroes of 1776, in a carriage at the head of the pro- cession and attracted much attention. He was presented with a silver cup at one of the schools, and at another with a silver headed cane, the stem of which was made out of a chevaux-de-frise used near West Point during the Revolution. His widow obtained a con- tinuation of his pension, which ceased at the time of his death. Forty-five years ago, amid a concourse of honoring friends and country- men, he was buried at Livingstonville, in this County. His remains have been removed by the consent of his descendants to this place.
Here in this locality, made memorable by the ruinous invasion of Johnson about the time when the events we have described were trans- piring near Tarrytown-here near the place where the "peeled log " of the enemy left its mark upon the old Dutch church -here where brave men and braver women stood with un- daunted courage in the midst of conflagration, ruin and death-where the red men showed no mercy, and where patriots never flinched-let his ashes lie. Not in the midst of royal sar-
cophagi or carved shrines, but surrounded by the veneration of untold generations of freeborn Americans ; not wholly unhonored, as hereto- fore, but graced and adorned with a permanent token of our remembrance and esteem. For at last, thanks to the interest and sense of jus- tice of many good men and true, the Legislature of the State, by making an appropriation for the monument, has removed the stain which the neglect of forty-five years had fastened upon us.
Standing where we do to-day, as it were upon the apex of a pyramid, we look back over the way the nation has so grandly trod. In the be- ginning we perceive the toiling multitudes, who, regardless of personal sacrifice, conscious of their own rectitude and relying upon the favor of God, wrought out the greatest empire of free- dom the world has ever seen. In that great work, so full of the richest blessings for us and for our children, let it be remembered, that the part performed by the humblest, was often as important as that of the greatest. The cause of the colonies was near to the hearts of the people. That was the security of the nation then, and it cannot endure without it now.
Oh! if the young men of our time would glow with a healthy pride of race ; if they would kindle with the inspiration of patriotism; if they would find annals wealthier in enduring lesson, and bright with the radiance of a holier virtue than ever Rome embraced or Sparta knew, let them read their own land's history. Then may we be hopeful for the future. Then may the story we rehearse here to-day be borne to future ages along with the growing grandeur of this mighty nation which was built upon the devo- tion, and will be sustained by the bright ex- ample of the Revolutionary patriots.
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APPENDIX.
POEM,
BY ALFRED B. STREET.
What fires the human heart with noblest flame, And fills, with grandest swell, the trump of fame-
Strengthens the sinews, war's dread arms to wield-
Scorns the red horrors of the battlefield- Tunes to triumphant song the failing breath, And sheds live brilliance on the brow of death ? 'Tis love of country ! mystic fire from Heaven ! To light our race up stateliest heights'tis given ; To guard man's home-make that his holiest shrine
Where his soul's love grows purest, most divine ; Where dear domestic virtues safely bloom,
And joy's rich rainbows deck grief's transient gloom ;
At whose bright hearth is changeless summer found
Heightening to pleasure daily duty's round ; Where humble wishes sweet enjoyments shed Like violets fragrant in their lowly bed. Not this alone ! beyond the narrow span Of single souls, it rivets man to man ; Links in one circling chain the stretched out hand,
And makes one fireside of the whole broad land.
Thus home meets home though mountains rise between,
And winter storms beat backward summer sheen ;
O'er the wide river, through the forest, all
That most repels, on runs the living wall,
Against which, should its faithful strength re- main,
The world shall hurl its angriest waves in vain.
It turns the rocks to roses, stormiest skies To loveliest calm ; where cloudy crags arise The anointed eye views plains knee deep in flowers ;
The ear in dumb wastes, hears melodious bowers.
Deem we the .Esquimaux, though brutish, sees Heavens that but frown and waters that but freeze !
Think we the Arab, though untaught, surveys Sands that but burn and sunbeams that but blaze !
No! In that frown the cold dwarfed shape per- ceives
Summer's soft gold poured out on emerald leaves ;
His wooden streak, wild plunging, ripples smooth O'er glassy seas that undulate to soothe ;
And the fierce roamer of the ocean gray Treads velvet grass, feels sweet the pleasant ray, Till one oasis smiles along his songful way.
Grand love of Country ! from the earliest time Our race has deemed its glory most sublime. To its proud praise the lyre has loftiest rung, Eloquence woke the music of its tongue ;
A Hector's deed filled Homer's breast with fire, And when shall patriot Scipio's fame expire ? Though Rome's dread Eagle darkened earth at will,
Thy name, Caractacus, shines brightly still !
Planting his foot upon his native sod He fought ; though made a slave to Cæsar's rod, His big heart burst its chains, and up he towered, a god !
And thus with willing minds we meet to lay Our gifts on a loved patriot's shrine to-day.
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HISTORY OF SCHOHARIE COUNTY.
Not fortune's favorite he-his humble sail Felt but the shock of penury's ceaseless gale ; Never he knew the rose, but felt the thorn ; His pathway led through chill neglect and scorn ;
Yet, though man glanced on him disdainful eyes, God had built up his nature for the skies ; His heart was mighty, though his path was low-
Man made the cloud-God tinged it with his bow.
And thus it is ; the humble lifted up ; The pearl oft decks the lowest of the cup. Fame doffs aside the Sovereign of a day
To make a Shakespeare King with endless sway;
Genius, from wealth and titled grandeur, turns To touch as with live flame the tongue of Burns.
And thus though Williams' eye but saw the rim Of the low valley, where alone for him Life's pathway upward led, his mental sight Flashed with the Eagle's from the mountain height ; -
And when the bribe was proffered, off he turned, And with a scornful wrath the base temptation spurned.
Well, well for us, worth, honor were not sold By this high patriot heart for British gold ! Treason had woven his most cunning coil Around our land, its liberty the spoil; The British Lion stood with hungry gloat To flesh his fangs within the victim's throat ; And had the glittering bribe its errand wrought, Treason had found the victory he sought, And the fierce Lion fastened in his spring Our Eagle's glazing eye, and drooping, dying wing.
Oh, Treason, foulest demon earth has seen, Darkening ev'n darkness with his midnight mien !
How oft his spell has fettered Freedom's brand ! And, for a smiling, left a blighted land ! In vain has Liberty uprisen ;- unbound Her glorious folds to call her sons around ! In vain the crag has burst out into hordes, Trees into lances, thickets into swords !
In vain the cataract's white has turned to red, And the wind's murmuring to the war-cry dread ! The dingle's sylvan stillness, where the bird Sprang to its wing if but a leaflet stirred, Changed to the tramp of steeds, the clang of arms,
The grassy music to War's wild alarms ! In vain, in vain, the blood in vain that ran While the soul soaring lifted up the man ! In vain has Liberty with reverent head Heaped to one altar all her sainted dead, And kneeling there fought sword in hand, till down
Her foes have fallen, and she but grasped her crown !
Like a fell serpent Treason low has crept In patriot garb, till oft disguise he swept Striking his blow with such sure aim, his cry Of triumph drowned his victim's dying sigh. Oh mountain peaks, where clouds were cannon- smoke !
Oh glens, whose green light battle-banners broke !
Oh waves, whose tossings broadside-thunders crushed !
Oh skies, whose tempests strife's wild tumults hushed !
All spots where man for native land has fought, Have ye not seen how Treason's curse has wrought ?
How the broad front that Freedom reared to foe, Has felt base Treason creeping from below, Close twining round herself and sons till she A grand Laocoon has died to Treachery ?
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But pæans to brave Williams, and the two, Van Wart and Paulding ! no such fate we rue. Song to the Three! our whole broad land should raise
One sounding anthem to their patriot praise ! For had base Arnold's treason won, we now Perchance, instead of jewels on our brow, Jewels of freedom, with our doom content, Under some kingly bondage might have bent, Native or foreign ; or like those wild seas Of tropic States, have surged to every breeze, Dashing in endless strife-for freedom here, And here, for kings, until some ruthless spear The war had ended, and a waste of graves Upheld a Despot's throne, and ours a land of slaves.
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