USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 55
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In this uncertain posture of affairs, and amid the general regret excited by the news of the French disasters at sea, Washington re- ceived intimations that Carleton was preparing to dispatch a large portion of his New York command to the West Indies for the pur- pose of conquering several of the French islands. He thereupon ad- vised Rochambeau (still in Virginia) to march to the Hudson and again effect a junction with the American army in Westchester
THELE
JOHN JAY'S SNUFFBOX.
County, so as to menace New York and prevent Carleton from ex- ecuting that design. Rochambeau willingly agreed to the proposal, set his army in motion, and after a leisurely march crossed King's Ferry to Verplanck's Point on the 14th of September. Meantime Washington had begun serious preparations for threatening Now York. On the 22d of August, says Heath, the " light infantry of the American army moved down and encamped near Peekskill." On the 29th " an order of encampment and battle for the American army was published." On the 31st as many of the army still remaining in the Highlands as could be carried in boats "embarked at their respective brigade landings, and the whole of the boats being in order fell down to Verplanck's Point, where the troops disembarked and encamped. They made a most beautiful appearance when in
520
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
the boats and in motion. The remainder of the army marched down by land."
The ceremonies and amenities attending the second junction of the French and American armies in our county are thus described by Thacher in his valuable Journal:
September 14 .- The whole army was paraded under arms this morning in order to honor his Excellency Count Rochambeau on his arrival from the southward. The troops were all formed in two lines, extending from the ferry, where the Count crossed, to headquarters. A troop of horse met and received him at King's Ferry, and conducted him through the line to General Washington's quarters, where, sitting on his horse by the side of his Excellency, the whole army marched before him and paid the usual salute and honors. Our troops were now in complete uniform, and exhibited every mark of soldierly discipline. Count Rochambeau was most highly gratified to perceive the very great improvement which the army had made in appearance sinee he last reviewed them, and expressed his astonishment at their rapid prog- ress in military skill and discipline. He said to General Washington: "You must have formed an alliance with the king of Prussia. These troops are Prussians." Several of the officers of the French army who have seen troops of the different European nations have be- stowed the highest encomium and applause on our army, and declare that they had seen none superior to the Americans.
The last of the French troops arrived on the 18th of September. The army of Rochambeau made its encampment at and about the village of Crompond,1 the Americans remaining on Verplanck's Point. During the continuance of the allies in these positions they undertook no hostile movement against the British, and Sir Guy Carleton was reciprocally inactive. Heath records, however, that on the 16th of September " The enemy made a grand forage near Valentine's Hill. Sir Guy Carleton was out in person, as was the young prince [ William Henry ]. The covering party, it was said, con- sisted of five or six thousand men." And on our side Washington took the significant proceeding of an extensive reconnoiter in per- son. September 27, according to Heath, " General Washington, cov- ered by the Dragoons and light infantry, reconnoitered the groundis on the east side of the river below the White Plains." Record of this enterprise appears also in Washington's " Accounts with the United States," as follows: "September, 1782 .- To the Expences of a Reconnoitre as low as Philipsburg & thence across from Dobbs's ferry to ye Sound with a large Party of Horse, £32 Ss [lawful cur- rency ]."
In that charming book of personal reminiscences, the Memoirs and Recollections of Count Segur, several pages are devoted to the impressions made upon the poetic temperament of the author during a sojonrn at Rochambean's camp at Crompond. The Count Segur
1 During the first two weeks, however, Rochambeau had his headquarters at Peekskill, where also most of his army was apparently stationed after its arrival. See, In this connce- tion, the Memoirs of Count Segur (Boston ed., 1825, pp. 275, 276). Count Segur arrived at the
camp on the 26th of September, and found Rochambran quartered at " Piskill " [Peek- skill], whener, "a few days afterward," the French proceeded to occupy another position, " that of Crampont " [Crompond].
521
END OF THE REVOLUTION
was one of the most ardent enthusiasts for American liberty among the young French nobility. An officer in the army, he had repeatedly, during the progress of the Revolution, sought opportunity to come to America and tight under Washington, but to his intense disgust had been denied that privilege. Finally, in the spring of 1782, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel in the regiment of the Soison- mais, then with Rochambean in Virginia; and he also was intrusted by his father, the minister of war, with dispatches to General Rocham- beau and a large amount of goldl for the royal troops. Landing on the coast of Virginia after a perilous voyage, he proceeded to Rocham- beau's camp in our county, where he arrived on the 26th of Sep- tember. The observations that he made there, and particularly his remarks upon the personality and character of Washington, are ex- tremely agreeable and instructive; but, being quite lengthy, and having no practical bearing on the course of events, it is not con- venient to reproduce them in this narrative, which already threatens to pass the hounds fixed by the publishers.1
Count Segur's dispatches from the ministry to Rochambeau di- rected that general to transfer the operations of the French army from the United States to the Antilles, and preparations to that end were soon begun. On the 22d of October the French struck their tents at Crompond and marched across Westchester County on the route to Newport, whence they sailed on the 24th of December for the West Indies. An amusing incident of local interest, which oc. enrred just as the French were making ready to leave, is thus related by Segur:
At the moment of our quitting the camp of Crampont (sic), as M. de Rochambeau was pro- eceding, at the head of our columns, surrounded by his brilliant staff, an American approached him, tapped him slightly on the shoulder, and, shewing him a paper he held in his hand, said to him: " In the name of the law you are my prisoner!" Several young officers were indig- nant at this insult offered to their general, but he restrained their impatience by a sign, smiled, and said to the American: "Take me away with you if you can." " No," replied the American, " I have done my duty, and your Excellency may proceed on your march if you wish to set justice at defiance; in that case I only ask to be allowed to withdraw unmolested. Some soldiers, of the division of Soissonnais, have cut down several trees, and burnt them to light their fires; the owner of them claims an indemnity. and has obtained a warrant against you, which I come to execute." M. de Rochambeau, having heard this explanation, which was translated to him by one of his aides-de-camp, ealled M. de Villemanzy, now a peer of France, and then intendant of the army, appointed him to be his bail, and ordered him to set- tle this affair, and to pay what should be considered fair, if the indemnity he had already of- fered was not thought sufficient. The American then withdrew; and the general and his army, who had thus been arrested by a constable, continued their march. A judgment of arbitration was afterwards pronounced, fixing two thousand Franes, that is to say, a sum less than the general had offered, as the amount of damages due to this unjust proprietor, who had elaimed fifteen thousand, and he was even condemned to pay costs.
I The Marquis de Chastellux, one of Rocham- beau's principal subordinates, has also left a
highly picturesque description. Bolton (rev.
«1 .. 1 .. 1721 makes extracts from it, which we commend to our readers.
522
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
It is regrettable that our entertaining author omits to record the names of the energetic local functionary and the claimant whom he represented.
On the 24th of October, two days after the departure of the French, the American army on Verplanck's Point maneuvered before the secretary of war; and on the 26th it began to retire to its former position in the Highlands, where it continued until its gradual dis- bandment the next year.
The preliminary treaty of peace (drawn by John Jay) was signed at Paris by the representatives of Great Britain, France, and the United States, on the 30th of November, 1782. Early in the spring of 1783 a cessation of hostilities was proclaimed by both sides in America. New York was then the only place in the United States still occupied by a British force.
In April Sir Guy Carleton commenced to arrange the preliminaries necessary to be observed before withdrawing liis command. The chief thing to be provided for was the conveyance of the Tory refu- gees ont of the United States to the British dominion.1 As the refugees were many thousands in number, and all of them claimed considerate treatment at the hands of the British authorities, this was not a task capable of being performed with expedition. Sev- eral months would indispensably be required for its completion. Meanwhile, however, Sir Guy Carleton deemed it appropriate to have a personal meeting with Washington and come to an understand- ing with him on the general subject of the prospective evacuation.
The meeting between the two commanders, attended by their staffs, occurred with much eclat on the 6th of May, ceremonials being pro- longed through the 7th and terminating on the Sth. A belief has always obtained among the citizens of Dobbs Ferry that this his- torie event transpired in their village, at the old Van Brugh Liv- ingston house. Lossing, in his Field Book of the Revolution, lo- cated it there, and the statement has been repeated by numerous other writers, including the author of the article on the Town of
1 " Sadness and despair," says Mrs. Lamb, "overwhelmed the Loyalists. New York City presented a scene of distress not easily de- scribed. Men who had jolned the British army and had exhibited the utmost valor In battle qualled before the inexorable necessity of exlle from their native land. They must leave the country or be hanged. Such was the general belief, for those who had shown no mercy counted on none in return. The conscientlous and the unprincipled were allke Involved in pecuniary ruin. Seeing that they must aban- don large estates, many appealed to Carleton for power to collect debts due upon bonds,
mortgages, and contracts before the evacua- tion of the city should take place, for they were penniless. The complications were insur- mountable, and nothing was accomplished in that direction. Angry lamentations filled the very air. The victims of civil war invelghed against England for abandoning them, and against their own kindred and country for the inexorable harshness of their doom. They did not pause In thelr wretchedness to consider what would have been the fate of those who had expended or lost fortunes in the cause of liberty If triumph had becu with themselves."
523
END OF THE REVOLUTION
Greenburgh in Scharf's History of Westchester County. Local tradition also identified the Livingston house as the place where Washington and Rochambeau met upon the junction of the allied armies in JJuly, 178t, and where they planned the Yorktown cam- paign upon receiving the news from de Grasse's fleet in August of the same year. Reposing confidence in the accuracy of the published statements and prevailing beliefs regarding the venerable house, some members of the Sons of the Revolution started a subscription in 1893 to erect a monument commemorative of such immortal asso- ciations. Ample contributions were forthcoming promptly, and the monument was dedicated on the 14th of June, 1894.1 It was a gala day for the village. The oration was delivered by General Stewart L. Woodford, and the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew and Vice-President Stevenson were among the conspicuous participants in the exercises.
But since the erection of the Dobbs Ferry monument it has been established by indisputable evidence that the memorable meeting of Washington and Carleton did not occur in the Livingston house or at Dobbs Ferry, but at Tappan (Orangeiown) on the opposite side of the river.2 A conclusive article on this point by Mr. Daniel Van Tassel, of Tarrytown, was published in the Tarrytown Argus for March 23. 1895. The principal testimony cited by Mr. Van Tassel is a letter from the well-known Colonel Richard Varick, dated May 18, 1783, describing the affair with much circumstantiality. It is unnecessary to go into the particulars of the matter here, and indeed we fear that even the brief allusion to it which we have permitted ourselves may wound the sensibilities of some of our readers. It is proper to add that the originators of the monument at Dobbs Ferry acted in entire good faith and with very praiseworthy motives, upon grounds deemed sufficient at the time.
1 The inscription on the Dobbs Ferry monn- mont is as follows:
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS
Here. July 6. 1781, the French allles under Rochambeau joined the American army
Herr. Angust 14. 1781, Washington planned the Yorktown campaign, which brought to a triumphant end the war for American Inde- prudence
Here, May 6, 1783. Washington and Sir Guy Carleton arranged for the evaenation of Amer- fran soll by the British
And opposite this point, May S. 1783, a Brit- Ish sloop of-war fired 17 guns in honor of the American commander-In-chlef. the first salute
by Great Britain to the United States of America
WASHINGTON ROCHAMBEAU
Erected June 14, 1894 By the New York State Society Sons of the American Revolution
The claims made in the first two paragraphs of the inscription are shown by Mr. Van Tas- sel. in his article referred to in the text, to be as incapable of historical demonstration as the third claim is mistaken.
2 The following entry appears In Washing- ton's " Accounts with the United States," writ- ten In his own hand: " To Expenditures upon an Interview with Sir Guy Carleton at Orange Toin exclusive of what was paid by the Con- tract," etc., £24 9s.
天可成石
ـرعامـ
525
END OF THE REVOLUTION
The practical outcome of the conference at Tappan was an agree- ment by Sir Guy Carleton to give up the various outlying posts of New York, and finally New York itself, as soon as convenient. The first step in this direction was taken on the 14th of May, when (says Colonel Varick) Westchester County was surrendered to the State goverment by the withdrawal of the British garrison from Morri- sania. We have not seen this circumstance mentioned in any pub lished work on Westchester County or formal contribution to its history.
But though the 14th of May was Evacuation Day for Westchester County, it was not until the 25th of November that the British troops in New York City took their farewell. The deportation of the thon- sands of Tories to Nova Scotia, the West Indies, and Great Britain faxed all the shipping facilities of Sir Guy Carleton until that time.
As the great day approached, Washington made his arrangements for taking possession of the city in conjunction with the constituted anthorities of the State of New York. He dispatched from West Point, through our county, a force sufficient for the occupation of Kingsbridge and other outlying posts as they should be surrendered. And then, attended by his staff and joined by Governor Clinton, Lieutenant Governor Van Cortlandt, and other representatives of the State government, he followed. The following itinerary of the dis- tinguished party through Westchester County is from a memoran- dum written at the time by Lieutenant-Governor Van Cortlandt:
I went from Peekskill, Tuesday, the 18th of November, in company with his excelleney Gov. Clinton, Col. Benson, and Col. Campbell; lodged that night with Gen. [ Philip] Cort- landt at Croton River, proceeded and lodged Wednesday night [19th] at Edw. Coven- haven's where we mett his excellency Gen. Washington and his Aids. The next night [20th] we lodged with Mr. Frederick Van Cortlandt at The [Little] Yonkers, after having dined with Gen. Lewis Morris, Fryday morning [21st] we rode in company with the Commander- in-Chief as far as the Widow Day's, at Harlem where we held a council.1
Irving says that after Sir Guy Carleton no- ttini Washington of the time when the differ- out posts would be vacated. Governor Clinton " summoned the members of the State council tu romvene at Eastchester on the 21st of No- vember, for the purpose of establishing civil government in the districts hitherto occupied
by the British." From a Westchester County point of view, it would be pleasing to belleve that our Town of Eastchester was the place where these final official arrangements were made. But, according to Lieutenant-Governor Van Cortlandt, the merling of the council for that purpose was held on Manhattan Island.
CHAPTER XXIV
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY CONTINUED -- FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE COMPLETION OF THE CROTON AQUEDUCT (1842)
N a previons chapter we have briefly noticed the organiza- tion of the State government of New York on the 20th of April, 1777, when a constitution, framed by John Jay, was adopted by the " Convention of Representatives of the State of New York " in session at Kingston.
At the time of the British invasion of Westchester County, begin- ning October 12, 1776, the county records were removed from the court house at White Plains by Theophilus Barton, clerk of the county court, and deposited in a place of safety, where they remained until the end of the war. White Plains, which had been the county seat since 1759, ceased to be adapted for that purpose, partly because of the burning of the court house on the night of the 5th of Novem- ber, 1776, and partly because of the exposed sitnation of the village between the lines of the two armies. Upon the destruction of the court house the village of Bedford was made the seat of the county government, and it was in the Presbyterian meeting-house of Bed- ford that the first county court organized under the provisions of the constitution of 1777 held its sessions. That building, in its torn, was burned by the British officer Tarleton, when he made his raid on Poundridge and Bedford, July 2. 1779. Thereupon the courts transferred their sittings to the meeting-house in Upper Salem, where they continued until 1785. In that year, the church at Bedford hav- ing been rebuilt, it was ordered that the courts should resume their sessions at Bedford. By an act of the legislature passed May 1, 1786, the sum of £1,800 was appropriated for the erection of two new conrt houses, one at White Plains and the other at Bedford, under the superintendence of Stephen Ward, Ebenezer Lockwood, Jona- than G. Tompkins, Ebenezer Purdy, Thomas Thomas, Richard Hat- field, and Richard Sackett, Jr. These two structures were completed in 1787, and thenceforward until 1868 Bedford shared with White Plains the honor of being a " half shire" town. The second White
527
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1812
Plains court house of 17871 occupied the same site as the first, on Broadway, and continued in use until 1857, when the present fine building on Railroad Avenue was finished. The Bedford court house, also erected in 1787, is still in existence, being now used as a town hall.
After the Revolution the board of supervisors, which had had but a meager membership during the war, resumed at once its char- acter of a representative body of all the organized communities of the county. The following is a list of the members of the board, by localities, for the year 1784:
Abel Smith, Precinet of North Castle. Gilbert Budd, Town of Mamaroneck.
Thomas Ilunt, Borough Town of Westchester. William Paulding, Manor of Philipseburgh.
Ebenezer S. Burling, Town of Eastchester. Daniel llorton, Precinet of White Plains.
Jonathan G. Tompkins, Manor of Scarsdale. Thaddeus Crane, Town of Upper Salem.
Israel Honeywell, Yonkers.
John Thomas, Town of Rye.
Philip Pell, Manor of P'elham.
William Miller, Harrison's Precinct. Joseph Strang, Manor of Van Cortlandt. Ebenezer Lockwood, Precinct of Poundridge. Abijah Gilbert, Town of Lower Salem.
Benjamin Stevenson, Town of New Rochelle. William Morris, Manor of Morrisania.
In addition to the localities represented in this list was Ryck's Patent- the present Peekskill and its vicinity,-which had always retained an identity distinct from that of the Manor of Cortlandt, and even previously to the Revolution had been represented in the board of supervisors.
No reconstruction of the civil divisions of the county having as yet been effected under the State government, the localities claim- ing and receiving representation in the board of supervisors after the Revolution were only the old established ones of colonial times, and indeed no innovations in the local designations of political divi- sions were made uutil the legislative art of 1788, setting off the county into townships. The eastern portion of Cortlandt Manor, however, comprehending the "Oblong" and considerable territory to the west, had acquired the local name of Salem, and indeed there was an " Upper " Salem 2 and a " Lower " Salem, each of which had its supervisor. The representative from the old confiscated Manor
' Much to the general regret, the second rourt hunse at White Plains, which gave place to a more modern structure. together with the adjoining property belonging to the rounty, passed into the hands of private partles several years ago, and the building was torn down, carried off. and passed into the unknown. The remembrance Is all of the historie structure that remains,-Smith's Man- Nal of Westchester County.
2 I'pper Salem was also known locally as "De Laneey Town." so-called for Stephen
de Lancey. its principal proprietor under the division effected by the Van Cortlandt heirs. Other parts of the manor had their local designations in common parlance, Mrs. Brekman's estate on the Hudson was, from her Christian name, styled Gertrudesborongh, and what is now the Town of Somers was called first Hanover and afterward Stephentown ifor Stephen Van Cortlandti. The name Cart- landttown was applied to the district where Philip Van Cortlandt had his residence.
528
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
of Philipseburgh was still styled the supervisor for the Manor of Philipseburgh; and although there was a separate supervisor for the lower section of that manor, known as Yonkers, this was no change in the former order of things, since the Yonkers portion of the manor had had its own supervisor from early times.
The recovery of Westchester County from the effects of the Rey- olutionary War was an exceedingly slow process. We have shown in a previous chapter (see p. 418) that there was an increase of only 2,258 in the population of the county from the time of the last colonial census, taken in 1771, to that of the first federal enumera- tion, made in 1790, and that the meagerness of this growth during nine- teen years (including seven years of peace) is even more significant when it is remembered that many thousand acres of confiscated lands were sold after the war by the State at low prices.
C
The principal confisca- 1777. tion by the State of lands ORIGINAL NEW YORK STATE SEAL .. of British adherents in Westchester County was that of Philipseburgh Manor. The act forfeiting the manor was passed in 1779, whereupon all its lands, extending from the Spusten Duyvil Creek to the Croton, and from the Hudson to the Bronx, became the property of the State of New York. In due time provision was made by the legislature to sell to private persons all the confiscated lands in the State (with the exception of certain properties which were re served for gifts to particular individuals), and to that end commis- sioners of forfeiture were appointed for the four districts into which the State was divided-the Eastern, Western, Middle, and Southern. General Philip Van Cortlandt, son of Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt, was one of the commissioners for the Southern district. which comprehended our county. Most of the resulting sales of- curred in 1785, although a few were made in 1786. The following is a list of the purchasers of forfeited lands in the Yonkers portion of the manor, which we extract from Allison's History of Yonkers :
529
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842
ACRES
ACRES
John Lawrence
188
Eleazer Hart.
154
Ward Hunt.
343
Isane Odell.
144
Abraham Odell ..
324
Robert Reid.
141
Jacob Post
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