USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 52
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Sinoloque on opening the Theatre of Newyorke Jarig. 1779
Spoken by (ap limone + Stage
Well formebody must Yournost shew his face Sure modesty's the virtue in this place+ And Bashful nets withsoldiers were disgrace > But life , His time you are a handy Mand.
Contrewhom we players have to make our Ghan The well accounted for the dire afo auth. Unerring Markomen at an actors fault.
Oneline as Shall dito brandich Patines dant, Unorm'a we all appear in way fast, And least of all protected at the heart
Met we have Grown, and Ground to be maintained; Upon the Blanks & were pretty well sustains; and let me tell you, twist your selves and me That A Promptor is no bad April. Why should we fear she You in the Ravizet We've upper bound and Paliva des* between And, Nivan Dea, none come behind the Scene. Nor troverid thus, the Perils shall we prove Of Mifile Poppins from the Heights above Should all this fail, We adepts in this hade! Can foil you by. Mancouvre retrograde Of Fate much prowes has been thus displayed.
55 Generali Boxes.
-
Get er the Gateall sounds the dread Alarm Gani nought arrest the Gritins Vengeful arm? a plea will unge which Portons must admit. One that shake silence all the Path of wir. Gan Gemsure Maire a dart against our Scene? When Charity extends her hand between?" Thus when on Latias Show the Sabine hor' - (Twar than the fashion Via ged for Spouses last,. Lech
491
THE CAPTURE OF ANDRE
Last Bloodshed Should ensure, auch gentle woman With Conducension look her favorite Roman non compliant, to apprais the Ques Each Sabine, in trueten, gave up husleje .- Si Clarity our Compromise proclaims, and interponer like the sabine dames, We face you here , to claim her at your hands Each Virtuous feeling Secondo our demand; Critic and actor in the middle Piel. Shall meet and harley - shall relent & yield Give but the fact the treaty shall prevail We will like Pomans , use the Lady well
Proloque Spoken by Cap Andre
PROLOGUE WRITTEN BY ANDRE.
iams, and Van Wart being nearby.1 There was a single possible difficulty that might have occurred to them in this connection: not one of them had ever visited the British camp except as a prisoner, or had had any previous experience in the line of experimental trans- actions. This fact was highly honorable to them; but there is not the least reason for thinking that it, or any other consideration except their incorruptible patriotic integrity, was instrumental in determining their decision.
The simple honesty of these country boys, as well as their freedom
1 It is presumed that Andre was questioned and searched by the three raptors only. But the three were still an integral part of the expedition of eight, the other five, at whose head was Sergeant John Dean, being In ambush some distance farther up the road. The two quads, on separating, had mutually agreed to fire a gun in case either needed help; and the five were equally interested with the three (and rice versa) in any advantageous results that might issue from the day's doings. After
the three discovered Andre's irne character, and, for themselves, rejected his bribes, they still hnd to deal In the matter with their tive associates. Rejoining these associates, with their prisoner, they undoubtedly reported to them Andre's dazzling offers. That these offers were not accepted redounds as much to the credit of Dean, Romer, Yerks, Sec, and Abraham Williams as to that of Paulding, David Williams, and Van Wart.
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
from all the characteristics of the common thieving and violent marauders of the Neutral Ground, is evidenced by every other con- necting circumstance. In possessing themselves of Andre's money and valuable personal property they took only lawful prize, and Washington, whose serupulous courtesy to the prisoner in all ro- spects was conspicuous, found no impropriety in this conduct, and did not cause them to make resti- tution. Moreover, the three captors magnanimously shared the booty with their comrades who had no part in the arrest. All were entirely respectful and considerate to Andre. They had to march more than ten miles to the nearest American post, but for the whole distance they permitted Andre to ride, attending him on foot ; and they offered him refreshment on the way. And when Andre was delivered to Jameson the three claimed no reward, and immediately went to their several homes, so that Washington, writing to congress three days later, did not even know their names, and apparently had to send to find them out.
Tallmadge says that they belonged to an objectionable class, and that if he, as an American officer, had fallen in with them whilst following their adventurous pursuits, he would have promptly arrested then. But in view of the known character of these particular young men, and of the recognized necessity of such expeditions as they en- MAJOR ANDRE. gaged in, it is safe to say he would have done nothing of the sort-or, if he had, would have been duly reprimanded by his superior officer. On this point an intelligent writer remarks:
They were branded as " cow-thieves," etc. Perhaps they were eow-thieves; but at that period the most honorable men, both Whigs and Tories, living between the lines, were eow- thieves. The British soldiers and American Tories stole eows from the Whigs; the Whigs had no remedy but to steal them back again. . It is evident they were not thieves for gain, else would they have taken the priee which Andre offered for his ransom, which was more than would have sufficed to purchase the whole stock of cows, sheep, and oxen which belonged to Job when he was in the land of Uz. Every New Yorker should be proud that he was born in the State which produced three such men; and the faet of their being boys, and poor boys, adds very much to the glory of the act. Had this been done by a Van Cortlandt, a Philipse, a Van Rensselaer, or any three of the " Lords of the Manor," on the Hudson River, the aet would have been engraven on the rocks with the point of a diamond.
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THE CAPTURE OF ANDRE
Andre has been represented as one of the darlings of nature, an adorable child of genius. He was a poet, a painter, an amateur per- former, and, most interesting of all, a lover. But in all he was only a dabbler. He belongs to the large class of attractive characters of every age who are " said to have been " witty, wise, and fashioned for great things-but have left no tangible evidence of it. The story of his love is representative of the man. He loved a fair lady, Honora Sneyd, who loved and married another. That was in 1773. As a matter of fact she rejected him as early as 1771, and he then entered the army. There was no reason for her rejection except that it did not please her to love him back, but did please her to love someone else; for Andre was a person of good fortune and family, though with- out title-and Honora did not marry a fitle. For nine long years Andre mourned his lost Honora-his lost Honora who had no love for him. Once when taken prisoner in Canada by Montgomery, he saved his happily married Honora's picture, and deemed that "compensation enough for all his sorrows." What exquisite sensibility for a very healthy young soldier who could convert himself into a cattle driver in case of need; what romantic softness for the mean thief of Dr. Franklin's books and the cold-blooded negotiator of the most devilish treason of history! Andre's pensive love was much overacted, or else it was a kind of hopeless Schwärmerei inconsistent with a nature of any fundamental strength-as in like manner his protestations of honor were the mere vaporings of an extremely self-conscious man given to the abstractions more than the substance of virtuous things. In neither case were his fraits those which mark the vigorous mind.
The true Andre was a brave and enltivated but not high or ample minded individual, no better and no worse than most of the well- bern, well-educated, and well-favored British youth of his period. lle had all their usual charming qualities in somewhat more than the average degree-but no original parts of any important interest that very searching inquiry has ever disclosed. His sole claim to distinction-aside from his part in an infamous transaction-is that he was put to one of the most righteous and exemplary deaths over administered, in a highly dramatic conjunction of circumstances, commiserated and mourned by great-hearted formen whose rnin and enslavement by the vilest methods he had plotted.
The spot where Andre was captured at Tarrytown was not marked by any public memorial of the event until 1853. For many years previously sporadic efforts had been made to arouse interest, but without substantial result. In the winter of 1852-53 a " Monument Association to the Captors of Major Andre " was organized in the village, the most prominent promoters of the movement being Amos
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
R. Clark and N. Holmes Odell. The locality where the capture oc- enered was at that time owned by William Taylor, a colored man and ex-slave, and he donated sufficient land for the purpose. The corner-stone was laid July 4, 1853, with much local ceremony, by Colonel lames A. Hamilton, a son of Alexander Hamilton. The re- sulting monument, consisting of a base and shaft of conventional pattern, was out from Sing Sing marble, material and labor being the gift of the officials of the State Prison. The inscription was written by the Hon. James K. Paulding, ex-secretary of the navy and the intimate friend of Washington Irving. On the 7th of October, 1853, the monument was dedicated, Governor Horatio Seymour and staff, many distinguished guests, and a great concourse of people being present. After an appropriate address by Governor Seymour, the oration of the day was delivered by Henry J. Raymond, the fa- mons editor of the New York Times. This oration, admirable alike for its well proportioned treatment of the varied aspects of the theme, its elevation of feeling and warmth of sympathy, its beauty yet sim- plicity of diction, is probably the most satisfactory epitome of the story of Andre in its significant relations that is to be found in all the voluminous literature of the subject. We quote a single eloquent passage, contrasting the fate of Andre with that of the noble Ameri- can patriot, Nathan Hale:
From the moment of Andre's arrest he was treated with unvarying kindness and con- sideration. No restraint not essential to the security of his person was for a moment imposed; not a harsh or unfeeling expression, from officer, sollier, or citizen, ever grated on his ears or chilled the youthful eurrent of his heart. Books, paper, and ink were at his command; he wrote freely even to the British commander-in-chief; messages of kindness and relies of re- membrance to his friends were promptly sent forward ; and a sad solemnity, full of tenderness and of pity, presided at his execution. From all that vast multitude assembled on yonder heights to see him die arose no word of exultation; no breath of taunt or triumph broke the sereneness of the surrounding air; melancholy musie gave voice to melancholy thoughts; tears dimmed the eyes and wet the cheeks of the peasant soldiers by whom he was surrounded; and so profound was the impress of the scene upon their patriot hearts that long succession of years could not wear it ont, nor seal the fountains of sorrow it had unclosed.
At an earlier stage of the Revolution, Nathan Hale, captain in the American army, which he had entered, abandoning brilliant prospects of professional distinction, for the sole purpose of defending the liberties of his country-gifted, educated, ambitious,-the equal of Andre in talent, in worth, in amiable manners, and in every manly quality, and his superior in that final test of character, the motives by which his aets were prompted and his life was guided, laid aside every consideration personal to himself and entered upon a service of infinite hazard to life and honor, because Washington deemed it important to that sacred cause to which both had been sacredly set apart. Like Andre he was found in the hostile camp, like him, though without a trial, he was adjudged a spy, and like him he was condemned to death. And here the likeness ends. No consoling word, no pity- ing or respectful look, cheered the dark hour of his doom. He was met with insult at every turn. The sacred consolations of the minister of God were denied him; his Bible was taken from him; with an excess of barbarity hard to be paralleled in eivilized war his dying letters of Farewell to his mother and sister were destroyed in his presence; and, uncheered by sym- pathy, mocked by brutal power, and attended only by that sense of duty, incorruptible, un-
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THE CAPTURE OF ANDRE
defiled, which had ruled his life, finding its fit farewell in the serene and sublime regret that he " had but one life to lose for his country," he went forth to meet the great darkness of an ignominious death.
As the centenary of the capture of Andre approached a widespread interest was felt, and it was decided to hold a grand celebration at Tarrytown. With great propriety, the monument was first remod- eled. The original base was retained, but a bas-relief, depicting the capture, was inserted in one of its sides. The gravestone-like shaft was removed and a bronze statue (the gift of Mr. John Anderson, of Tarrytown), resting upon a neat pedestal, was substituted. This statue represents Paulding. The ceremonies, held on the 230 of Sep- tember, 1880, were presided over by the Hon. Samnel J. Tilden, of Yonkers, and the oration was by the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew. It was one of the most characteristic efforts of that distinguished son of our county. The crowd in attendance was estimated at seventy thousand. There was an imposing procession, General James W. HIusted, of Peekskill, acting as grand marshal.
The inscriptions on the Tarrytown monument are as follows:
[Inscription on the south side.] On this Spot, the 23d day of September, 1780, the Spy, Major John Andre, Adjutant General of the British Army, was cap- tured by John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac Van Wart, all natives of this County. History has told the rest.
The People of Westchester County have erected this Monument, as well to commemorate a great event, as to testify their high estimation of that Integrity and Patriotism which, re- jecting every temptation, rescued the United States from most imminent peril, by baffling the arts of a Spy, and the plots of a Traitor.
Dedicated October 7th, 1853. [Inscription on the north side of the second pedestal.]
Their conduct merits our warmest esteem. They have prevented in all probability our suffering one of the severest strokes that could have been meditated against us .- Washington.
[Inscription on the east, on base of statue.] This state. the gift of John Anderson, a citizen of Tarrytown. was placed here Sept. 23d, 1880. 1780-1880.
The inscription on Major Andre's memorial in Westminster Abbey is in these words:
Sarred to the memory of Major John Andre, who, raised by his merit, at an early period of life, to the rank of Adjutant-General of the British forces in America, and, employed in an important but hazardous enterprise, fell a sacrifice to his zeal for his King and Country, on the 2d of October, 1780, aged twenty-nine, universally beloved and esteemed by the army in which he served, and lamented even by his foes. His gracious Sovereign, King George III .. has caused this monument to be erected.
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
An unpretentious monument to the memory of Andre was raised in 1880 at Tappan, over the spot where his body was buried, by the late Cyrus W. Field, of our county. An inscription was engraved upon it, written by the noted Dean Stanley, reciting that the stone was placed there " not to perpetuate the record of strife, but in token of those better feelings which have since united two nations, one in race, one in language, and one in religion, with the hope that this friendly nion will never be broken." This memorial has had a troubled history, having several times been dynamited by cranks and subjected to defacements of various kinds. It is hard to con- (Inde whether the ill taste of Mr. Field in cansing its erection or the silly vandalism of the persons committing these resentful acts is the more regrettable.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE WESTCHESTER OPERATIONS OF THE ALLIED ARMIES, 1781 -- END OF THE WAR
FTER the execution of Andre (October 2, 1780), the enemy, greatly embittered by that act, made many hostile mani- festations in Westchester County, and the Tory inhabitants and lawless bands showed a correspondingly venomous and enterprising disposition. Major Tallmadge returned to the West- chester lines from Tappan on the 3d. " There," he writes, " my duties became very ardnous, the late events having excited much rage on the part of the enemy. What with Cowboys, Skinners, and Refugees, we had as much as we could turn our hands to to keep from being waylaid and fired upon from thickets and stony eminences about Salem, North Castle, and White Plains. Indeed, it was not an un- usual thing to have our sentinels fired on from parties who would crawl up in the darkness of night and then disappear." But during this period, and indeed throughout the winter of 1780-81, there were few engagements or surprises in our county on any important scale. It was mostly a petty border warfare. The only movement of more than ordinary consequence was a foraging expedition made by the American General Stark, the hero of Bennington, with some 2,500 men, to White Plains and vicinity. But he encountered no force of the foe.
The impetuous Lafayette was anxions before the close of the sea- son to perform something aggressive which would redound to the credit of the Revolutionary arms and produce a moral effect to re- lieve the general gloom caused by the desertion of Arnold. He formed a project for an attack on New York through Westchester County. But nothing came of this. The army was in no condition for that scheme of aggression or any other, and indeed, as too soon appeared, its officers had all they could do to hold it together. Winter quarters were entered about the end of November in camps at Morris- town, Pompton, West Point, and the Highlands. The French, under Rochambeau, remained at Newport, where, since their arrival in July, they had lain inactive.
The year 1781, which was to terminate the armed struggle for in-
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
dependence, opened with an event not less appalling in its way than had been the disasters of the preceding year in the South and the Arnold treason. On the 1st day of January the whole Pennsylvania line, 2,000 strong, mutinied and marched off from the Morristown camp toward Philadelphia to seek a redress of grievances. This was no impulsive, ill-considered action, but well deliberated and care- fully organized. The troops, wearied ont by a long course of neg- lectful treatment-unpaid, unfed, and unclothed,-were grimly determined to obtain their rights or quit the service. General Wayne attempted to quell the mutiny by arbitrary methods, and, confronting the men with pistols in his hands, was ready to shoot the leaders if they refused to obey; whereupon he was told that they loved and honored and would die for him, but if he fired he would be killed that instant. On the other hand, the revolting regiments not only dis- dained seductive inducements con- veved to them from Sir Henry Clinton to join his standard, but seized his emissaries and delivered them to Wayne to be dealt with by military law. Finally their most pressing wants were relieved by PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT. congress, and they returned to their duty. A smaller mutiny in the same month by the New Jersey line was summarily ended by hanging its chief promoters.
Toward the end of Jannary a bold and successful raid was made by Lieutenant-Colonel Hull from the Westchester lines upon de Lan- cey's corps at Morrisania. A number of the British were killed and fifty were captured, some of their huts were burned, and the pontoon bridge across the Harlem River was cut away; and in another en- gagement, which occurred during the retreat of the Americans, the British suffered a further loss of thirty-five. Thacher, in his Military Journal, speaks of this affair with the greatest praise, saying that it " is calculated to raise the spirits of our troops and to divert their minds from the unhappy occurrences which have recently taken place in the camp."
The episode of the mutinies shows more vividly than can be done by any format recital of the circumstances of the times what funda- mental diffienlties Washington had to contend against in entering
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upon his arrangements for the general military proceedings of 1781. The time had now arrived when something decisive must indispensa- bly be undertaken. A large and perfectly appointed French co- operative army was at hand, and additional land forces from France were sure to come, together with a powerful fleet. All that was required was for the Americans to prove themselves worthy of this assistance by respectably matching it with forces of their own; whereas they appeared almost unequal to the task of maintaining any army at all: Moreover, the situation at the South was weekly becoming more desperate. In December Clinton sent Arnold to Vir- ginia with a large expedition, and in the spring Cornwallis also began aggressions in that quarter. The Southern emergencies were so ex- treme that Washington's individual command, wretchedly weak and neglected though it was, could not be strengthened or receive any fostering attention without prejudicing interests at the seat of war. And finally he was continually importuned to abandon the North altogether, let befall what might there, and fly to the rescue of his native State-importunities which Rochambeau, the French general, seconded by favoring an immediate Southern campaign. In such circumstances it is wonderful that Washington was nevertheless able to have a decent force at the North to unite with the French when the hour of action struck. But most of all it demands admiration- admiration without limits or bounds -- that from the very outset of the year 1781 up to his masterly movement to Virginia in Angust, he never faltered in his plan of an exclusive Northern demonstration with his French allies as the one vital policy of strategy. It was to this plan and its steadfast pursuance with every manifestation of soberest carnestness that the conquest of American liberties at York- town was undividedly due. And it is the proud boast of our County of Westchester that here, on our soil-entirely on our soil-the grand programme was inaugurated, developed, proseented, and brought to the threshold of assured success.
At the opening of the spring (March &) Washington left his head- quarters at New Windsor on the west side of the Hudson and went to visit the French general at Newport. The result of this inter- view was indecisive. At that time the further immediate intentions of the French ministry were uncertain. It was not known at what part of our coast the expected fleet would arrive, or when. Upon his return Washington occupied himself with the details of improving the organization of his army, meantime giving such attention as he could to the situation at the South. Lafayette had been sent thither and had begun the brilliant work in Virginia which stands so much to his credit.
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
On the 13th of May a terrible event happened on the lines in West- chester County. Colonel Christopher Greene, in command at Oblenus's Ford on the Croton River, above Pine's Bridge, was sur- prised by a party of de Lancey's Refugees (supposed to have con- sisted of about one hundred horse and two hundred foot), and was killed with excessive barbarity, several other officers and many men perishing with him. Greene was an officer of notable courage, ad- dress, and proficiency; brilliant, generous, and noble; a great favorite of Washington's and indeed one of the ornaments of the American army. A citizen of Rhode Island, he entered the service at the bo- ginning of the war, was with Arnold in Canada, and during the opera- tions on the Delaware in the fall of 1777 was intrusted by Washing- ton with the defense of the vitally important post of Fort Mercer (Red Bank). There he was attacked by 1,200 Hlessians under Count Donop, whom he put to ront, inflicting a loss of 400 in killed and wounded. One of the enemy's mortally wounded on that occasion was Donop himself, whom Greene very tenderly cared for until his death.
Greene, at his post on the Croton, says General Heath in his Memoirs, had "practiced the greatest vigilance in guarding this ford in the night time, taking off the guards after sunrise, appre- hending that the enemy would never presume to cross the river in the day time." Gilbert Totten, a native of that portion of Westchester County, who was in the enemy's service, informed de Lancey about Greene's custom of removing the guards at daybreak, and guided him to the spot. At the time Greene was asleep in the house of Rich- ardson Davenport, some distance back from the river. In the same bedroom with him were Major Flagg (also a gallant officer) and a young lieutenant, and the men were quartered in tents around the dwelling. De Lancey's party crossed the ford unobserved and quickly surrounded the house. The young lieutenant, aroused by the com- motion, sprang to the window and discharged two pistols at the approaching Refugees. This deed of rashness infuriated the assail- ants, who, with shouts of "Kill! Kill! No quarter!" rushed for the house. Greene called on his men to defend themselves, and seized his sword. But before he could leave the room the door was burst open, and, single-handed (the lieutenant had already been killed and Flagg felled by musket-balls fired through the windows), he had no choice but to sell his life as dearly as possible. " His right arm was almost eut off in two places, his left in one, a severe eut on the left shoulder, a sword thrust through the abdomen, a bayonet in the right side, and another through the abdomen, several sword cuts on the head, and many in different parts of the body." The dying Major
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