History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 117

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

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Cougress, "IN COMMITTEE OF SAFETY, FOR THE STATE GF NEW YORK, " FISHKILL, November 28, 1776."

10 Report of the General Court-martial, held by order of Major-general Lee, for the trial of Major Austin, "PHILIPSBURG, November 12, 1776."

11 General Howe to Lord George Germaine, "NEW-YORK, 30 November, '. 1776 ;" [Hall's] History of the Civil War in America, i., 211, 212 ; etc. 12 General Washington to the President of the Congress, " WHITE-PLAINS, "6 November, 1776."

The Council referred to agreed, unanimously, that, in case the enemy was really retreating towards New York, it would be proper, immediate- ly, to throw a body of troops, into New Jersey; that those troops who were from the States to the westward of the Ihudson, should be thus de- tached, the others to be subject to "the movements of the enemy and "the circumstances of the American Army ; " and that three thousand men should be detailed to take post at Peekskill and the passes iu the Ilighlands, for the defence of those posts, for erecting fortifications, etc. 13 General Howe to Lord George Germaine, " NEW-YORK, 30 November, " 1776.""

14 General MeDougal to Colonel De Witt, " WHITE-PLAINS, November 7, "1776;" Memoirs of General Heath, 84.

15 General Howe to Lord George Germaine, " NEW-YORK, 30 November, " 1776."

16 General Washington to General Greene, "Il EAD-QUARTERS, 8 November, " 1776."

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

of the line, which it had so honorably occupied; and took up its line of march, towards Peekskill, where it was to be permanently posted, for the defense of the Highlands : 1 and, on Sunday, the tenth of November, General Washington left the White Plains, to take command of those troops who had erossed the Hud- son-river, and who, soon afterwards, were engaged in that disastrous retreat, through the Jerseys, and in that subsequent recovery of the greater part of that State, which so greatly distinguished him, as a com- manding General, and which have been recorded, with such entire approbation, on the pages of history.2 General Lee was left at the White Plains, with his own Division and those commanded by Generals Spencer and Sullivan, generally New York and New England troops, with orders to watch the movements of the enemy ; to secure and carry off the Stores; and, then, to follow the main body of the Army, into the Jerseys.3

While General Washington and the main body of the American Army were thus falling back from their position, at North Castle, General Howe and the main body of the Royal Army continued to fall back and approach Kingsbridge. On Sunday, the tenth of November, a Brigade of Hessians was moved to that place, to increase the strength of General Knyphau- sen's already strong Division ;4 and, two days after- wards, [Tuesday, November 12,] the main body of the Royal Army broke up the encampment, at Dobbs's- ferry, which it had oceupied since the preceding Wed- nesday, and, in two columns, moved towards Kings- bridge, resting, on the following day, [ Wednesday, November 13,] on the heights of Fordham, and form- ing a line, with the Right upon the road leading to the Borough Town of Westehcster, and covered by the Bronx-river, and with the Left on the Hudson- river,5 where it remained, until the preparations for the assault on Fort Washington, which had been rea- sonably determined on, had been completed.6

The progress of the Royal Army through West- chester-county was distinguished by the outrages which were inflicted on the inhabitants, without respect to persons or sexes, on both those who were entirely conservative and disposed to favor the Royal cause and those who were radically and actively opposed to it-as General Washington described them, whilc forewarning the Governor of New Jersey of what the fate of that people would be, "they have treated all, " here, without discrimination : the distinction of

" Whig and Tory has been lost in one general seen ? " of ravage and desolation." 7 In that work, the Hes- sians and the British troops were equally notorious ; and what the soldiery spared, was frequently carried away by the soldiers' wives and mistresses, who formed a part of the retinue of the Army.8 Indeed, the warmth of controversy called out from one of the most prominent Loyalists of that period, the following graphie description of the outrages inflicted by the King's troops: "The inhuman treatment alluded to, " was the indiscriminate plunder suffered to be eo in- "mitted, by the soldiery under his command, on "Staten Island, Long Island, the White Plains, and "in the Province of New Jersey, where friend and "foe, loyalist and rebel, met with the same fate-a "series of continued plunder, which was a disgrace to " an Army pretending to discipline, and which, while "it tended to relax the discipline of the troops, could "not fail to create the greatest aversion, even in the "breast of loyalty itself, to a service whichi, under the " fair pretence of giving them protection; robbed them, "in many instances, of even the necessaries of life." 9

But the sufferings endured by the inhabitants of Westehester-county were not confined to those which were produced by the outrages inflicted by the Royal Army and its followers. We have already alluded,10 incidentally, to the robberies of Horses which were inflicted on the farmers of that County, by Officers of the American Army, for their private uses, at their respective homes-not by the Rank and File, nor by the soldiers' wives and concubines, nor in a foreign country ; but by the Commissioned Officers of the Army of Americans who had been moved into the County, for the protection of the inhabitants and of their properties. To such an extent were those robberies of Horses, to be sent to the homes of the thieves, for their private uses, carried on, that, after several General Orders, bearing on the subject, had

1 Memoirs of General Heath, 84.

2 General Washington to the President of the Congress, "PEEKSKILL, 11. " November, 1776."

3 Instructions of General Washington to General Lee, "HEAD-QUARTERS, " NEAR THE WHITE-PLAINS, 10 November, 1776;" Return of the Conti- mental Troops under the command of General Lee, "NORTHI-CASTLE, NO- " vember 16, 1776 ;" Memoirs of General Heath, 84.

4 General Howe to Lord George Germaine, "NEW-YORK, 30 November, " 1776."

& General Howe to Lord George Germaine, "NEW-YORK, 30 November,

" 1776 ;" [Hall's] History of the Civil War in America, i., 212; etc.

6 [Hall's] History of the Civil War in America, i., 212.

7 General Washington to Governor Livingston, "WINTE-PLAINS, 7 NO- " vember, 1776."

In a letter to General Greene, written on the same day, the General said. " They," [the farmers, in New Jersey, ] "may rely upon it, that the " enemy will leave nothing they find among them ; nor do they dis- " criminate between Whig and Tory. Woful experience has convinced " the latter, in the movements of the enemy, in this State, of this truth." -- (General Washington to General Greene, " WHITE-PLAINS, November 7, "1776.")

8 "" The people who remained in that part of the country," [ Westchex- ter-county, ] " throngh which they pass'd, have been most cruelly plun. " dered ; many helpless women had even their shifts taken from their " backs by the soldiers' wives, after the great plnnderers had done ; and, " in this general ravage, no discrimination was made of Whig or Tory." (Letter from Stamford, dated "12th Nov. 1776," published in The Free- man's Journal, or New-Hampshire Gazette, Vol. I., No. 28, PORTSMOUTH, Tuesday, December 3, 1776.)

9 [Galloway's] Reply to the Observations of Lieut. Gen. Sir William Howe on a pamphlet entitled Letters to a Nobleman, 17, 18.

On the general subject, sce, also, General McDougal to Colonel De Witt, " WINTE-PLAINS, 7 November, 1776;" Letter to a Gentleman in Virginia, "HIEAD-QUARTERS, WHITE-PLAINS, November 8, 1776," pnb- lished in Force's American Archives, V., iii., 603 ; The Committee of Safety to the President of the Congress, "IN COMMITTEE OF SAFETY FOR THE "STATE OF NEW-YORK, FISHKILL, November 20, 1776; " etc. 10 Vide pages 415, 416, ante.

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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

been issued, without having checked the carcer of robbery, General Washington was constrained to issue another, in these words, sufficiently illustrative of the practices and of his views concerning them : " It is with astonishment the General hears that some "Officers have taken Horses, between the enemy's "Camp and ours, and sent them into the country, for "their private use. Can it be possible that per- "sons bearing Commissions and fighting in such " a cause, can degrade themselves into plunderers of " Horses ? He hopes every Officer will set his face "against it, in future; and does insist that the "Colonels and commanding Officers of Regiments in- " mediately inquire into the matter, and report to him " who have been guilty of these practices ; and that "they take an account of the Horses in their re- " spective encampments; and send to the Quarter- "master-general all that are not in some public " service." 1

While some of the Officers of the American Army were thus employed in replenishing their own stables, at their respective homes, from the stables of the farmers of Westchester-county, others of that Army, Officers and Privates, were systematically visiting the houses of those farmers and robbing them of what- ever was acceptable to them. Like the British and Hessians, they were not respecters of either the friends of the American cause or those of the King ; nor did they hesitate to rob helpless and unprotected feinales and their families ; sometimes turning them out of their houses, undressed and in their night- clothes ; and, generally, adding personal abuse of their victims to the crime of robbing them. Nothing whatever was unacceptable to the thieves; and the bags of Feathers and of unmanufactured Wool, the Desks and Tea-tables and Chairs, the Book-cases and Books, the Andirons and brass and eopper Kettles, the linen Curtains and Looking-glasses and women's Hats, the Churns and Washtubs, the sets of Sleigh- harness and skips of Bees, which appear recorded among the articles which were thus stolen by the soldiers whom Massachusetts and Connecticut had sent into the Army, very clearly indicated that while the Horses of the farmers of Westchester-county were stolen for the supplying of the stables of the thieves, at their respective homes, the Household Furniture belonging to the same farmers, and the Clothing of their wives, and their unmanufactured Wool and Feathers, and their Bees, were also stolen for the purpose of enriching the homes and the work- rooms and the gardens of those same "Christian" New Englanders, and the wardrobes of their families. Among those who were thus robbed were Miles Oak- ley, who was the Landlord of the Tavern, contiguous to the Court-house, in the Village of the White Plains ; 2 John Martine, the grandfather of the late

Caleb Martine of Greenburgh and of the widow of the late Thomas Dean of Tarrytown, whose home- stead is now occupied by Isaac F. Van Wart, of Greenburglı ; Talman Pugsley, who is said to have lived where the brick School-house now stands, oppo- site to the residence of Abraham Beare, of Green- burgh; Phoebe Oakley, who was the sister-in-law of Talman Pugsley ; Marmaduke Foster, who was the son-in-law of John Martine ; and Solomon Pugsley and the widow Elizabeth Pugsley, whose places of residence are not known to us; and their Depositions and Statements and the Schedules of the articles stolen from John Martine and his son-in-law, afford, at once, the evidence of the robberies and of the com- forts which were to be found in the homes of the quiet and industrious and intelligent residents of Westchester-county, at that time.3 Among the thieves whose names have come down to us, were Major Bacon, Captains Gale, Shaddock, and Ford, and others, of Colonel Brewer's Regiment of Artificers, of the Massachusetts Line ; and Officers and Privates of the Regiment of Connecticut troops, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb.4

In view of these great outrages, and of many others of which no records have been preserved, the Com- mittee of Safety for the State addressed a letter to the President of the Continental Congress, in which are these concluding words : " I have the satisfaction " to assure you that the fortitude of this State and " their zeal for the glorious cause in which we are " engaged, is not abated ; on the contrary, we are " prepared to meet even severer misfortunes, with a " spirit and firmness becoming the gencrous advo-

meeting-placo of Lewis Morris and his friends ; to have been kept by Isaac Oakley; and to have stood until about 1868, when it was burned.

Unless there were two Taverns, in the White Plains, with Oakleys for their Landlords, in 1775 and 1776; or, unless Miles had succeeded Isaac, as the Landlord of the one Tavern which was "Oakley's "Tavern," between April, 1775, and November, 1776, we were probably in error, in our former statement, concerning the name of the Oakley who was tho Landlord of that Tavern which was, thero, mentioned : and if only ono "Oakley's Tavern" was in existence, in the Whito Plains, at that time, it was among the buildings which were burned by Major Anstin, on the fifth of November, 1776, (ride pages 452, 453, ante ;) and, therefore, was not standing until 1868, as stated on page 244. We have not been able to ascertain the facts ; and so leave the matter in doubt.

3 Petition of Miles Oakley to General Washington, "November 9, 1776;" Deposition of John Martine and Memorandum of Goods plundered from him, "dated November 13, 1776"; Deposition of Talman Pugsley, "dated "the second day of December, 1776" ; Petition of Phobe Oakley to the Con- vention of New-York, and her Deposition, "dated the second of December, "1776" ; Deposition of Marmaduke Foster and a List of Articles taken by the soldiers, from him, "dated the thirteenth of November, 1776" ; Re- lease, by Stephen Oakley, "in behalf of Solomon Pugsley and the widow " Elizabeth Pugsley, to Captain Ford, "for the things that said Captain "Ford and his men did take out of the house of Solomon Pugsley, near " the lines of the enemy, at White Plains, on Philips's Manor ; " etc.

No more interesting papers, connected with the history of that period and illustrative of the morality and integrity of New Englanders of the era of the Revolutionary War. can be found, anywhere, thau these.

Depositions of Phabe Oakley, John Martine, Talman Pugsley, and Marmaduke Foster ; Release, by Stephen Oukley to Captain Ford ; Deposition of Ebenezer Burrül, "dated the second day of December, 1776" ; etc.

1 General Orders, " HEAD-QUARTERS, WHITE-PLAINS, October 31, 1776." : On page 68, ante, note 1, we referred to a Tavern, also contiguons to the Court-honse, which, in April, 1775, was said to have been the

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

" cates for Liberty. Unhappily am I to add, that, " amidst all our suffering, the Army employed for " the protection of America have not refrained from " embittering even the calamities of War. At a " time when the utmost resources of this State were " laid open to their wants, and the members of Con- " vention personally submitted to the labour and " fatigue which were necessary, on a sudden emer- " gency, and after frequent losses of Provisions and " Barracks, to supply two numerous Armies, aug- " mented by the Militia, with every article which " they requircd, the Court-house and the remains of " the Village, at the White Plains, which had been " spared, on the retreat of our forces, was, after the " enemy had, in their turn, retired, wantonly de- " stroyed, without the Orders and to the infinite re- " gret of our worthy General. Besides, in spite of " all his Excellency's efforts, wherever our troops " have marched or been stationed, they have done " infinite damage to the possessions and farms, and " have pilfered the property of the people.

" I am directed, Sir, to submit it to the honourable " Congress, whether some effectual remedy ought " not to be provided against such disorderly and dis- " graceful proceedings. The soldier who plunders " the country he is employed to protect, is no better " than a robber, and onght to be treated accordingly ; " and a severe example ought, in the opinion of the " Committee, to be made of the Officer who, without " necessity or his General's permission, set fire to the " Court-house and other buildings, at the White " Plains. He is guilty of the crime of Arson ; and if " lie cannot be punished by the Articles of War, he " ought to be given up to the Laws of the land. If " so glaring a violation of every sentiment of human- " ity should be passed over, in silence, if the Army " is not seasonably restrained from such acts of bar- " barity, the consequence must be fatal to the cause " of a people whose exalted glory it is to be advocates " for the Rights of Mankind against the tyranny and " oppression of lawless power." 1

The conduct of General Washington, in the trying events of that memorable Campaign, in Westchester- county, has received the unqualified approbation of his country and of the world, and secured for him the highest honors, as a Soldier and as a commanding General. The conduct of General Howe, during the same Campaign, received nothing else than the ap- proval of the King, his step-brother, and that of the party of the Opposition, in the Parliament, of which he was a member, and which was, peculiarly, the party who was in sympathy with America.

Both the Admiral and the General, commanders, respectively, of the King's Fleet and Army, were ac- cused, by the Press of Great Britain and in the Par-

liament, with want of wisdom, in the formation of their plans; and with want of vigor and energy, in the execution of those plans.2 " A connection with "the Opposition, and a resolution, assumed before " their departure from England, to frustrate every "measure of the " [then] " present Administration, " and, thereby, to bring them" [the Administration,] "into disgrace with their Sovereign and the Nation," were, also, boldly charged on the two brothers ;3 while others "shrewdly suspected that their poverty, not " their will, consented "-they said that it was "ob- " vious to all, that, had the Admiral destroyed the " rebel ships, in their ports, or effectually blockaded " up their harbors, no valuable captures of Tobacco or " Indigo could have fallen to the share of the British " Admiral ;" and they did not hesitate to assert that large fortunes were accumulated, from that source.+ They also took advantage of the friendship which had existed between the family of Howe and the Americans, during the French War ; and they boldly charged the brothers with positive friendship for the American cause.5 All of these charges were, prob- ably, more or less true. The two brothers were indolent men ; fond of company, wine, and play : they were, in fact, identified with the party of the Opposition : they did not attempt to conceal the sympathy, which, to some extent, they felt for the Americans : like other Commanders, in both ancient and modern times, they probably kept a sharp eye on the spoils. But there were, also, other circumstances, of which their accusers knew nothing and of which the world, to-day, knows only very little, which largely controlled them ; and it is only reasonable and fair, therefore, that the accused should, also, be heard on the subject-when a Committee of the House of Com- mons was charged with the grave duty of inquiring into the conduct of General Howe, during his com- mand of the King's troops in North America, that distinguished Officer made a written defense, in which we find the following words, relative to the operations of the Royal Army, in Westchester-county :

"From the twelfth of October, the day the Army "landed on Frog's-neck, to the twenty-first of the " same month, we were employed in getting up Stores "and Provisions ; and in bringing over the Dragoons, " the Second Division of Hessians, and the carriages " and horses for transportating Provisions, Artillery, " Ammunition, and Baggage. Four or five days had

2 [Galloway's] Letters to a Nobleman, 36 ; [Galloway's] Reply to the Ob- servations of Lieut. Gen. Sir William Howe, on a pamphlet, entitled Letters to a Nobleman ; Letter from " Cicero " to Lord Howe, 2, 3 ; Wraxall's Memoirs of his own Time, Edit. Philadelphia : 1845, 163; etc.

3 A Letter to the Right Honorable Lord Viscount II -- e, Edit. London: 1779, 42, 43 ; Letter from " Cicero" to Lord Howe, 196 ; Wraxall's Mem- oirs, 163 ; etc.

4 A Letter to the Right Honorable Lord Viscount H-e, 43, 44 ; Letter from " Cicero " to Lord Howe, 1, 2; etc.

5 A Letter to the Right Honorable Lord Viscount HI -- e, 42, 43 ; Letter from " Cicero" to Lord Howe, 7-9; The Middlesex Journal and Adver- tiser, No. 1207, London : From Saturday, December 14, to Tuesday, De- cember 17, 1776; etc.

1 The Committee of Safety to the President of the Congress, "IN COMMIT

" TRE OF SAFETY FOR THE STATE OF NEW-YORK, FISHKILL, November " 20, 1776."

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MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

" been unavoidably taken up in landing at Frog's- " neck, instead of going, at onee, to Pell's-point, " which would have been an imprudent measure, as it " conld not have been excented without much un- " necessary risk.

" On the twenty-eighth of October, the engagement " at the White-Plains took place. But it has been " asserted, that, by my not attacking the lines, on the " day of that action, I lost an opportunity of destroy- "ing the Rebel Army ; and it has been also said, " that I might have cut off the enemy's retreat by the " Croton-bridge. Sir : an assault npon the enemy's " right, which was opposed to the Hessian troops, " was intended. The Committee mnst give me credit " when I assure them, that I have political reasons, " and no other, for deelining to explain why that as- " sanlt was not made. Upon a minute inquiry, those " reasons might, if necessary, be bronght ont, in evi- " dence, at the Bar. If, however, the assault had been " made, and the lines carried, the enemy wonld have "got off, withont much loss; and no way had we, " that I conld ever learn, of cutting off their retreat " by the Croton-bridge. I cannot conceive the foun- " dation of such an idea. By forcing the lines, we " should, undonbtedly, have gained a more brilliant " advantage. some Baggage, and some Provisions ; bnt " we had no reason to suppose that the Rebel Army "conld have been destroyed. The ground in their " rear was sneh as they conld wish, for secnring their " retreat, which, indeed, seemed to be their particular " object. And, Sir, I do not hesitate to confess that, "if I conld, by any manœuvre, remove an enemy " from a very advantageons position, without hazard- "ing the consequences of an attack, where the point "to be carried was not adeqnate to the loss of men to " be expected from the enterprise, I should certainly " adopt that cautionary condnet, in the hopes of " meeting my adversary npon more eqnal terms." 1

The carefnl stndent of that portion of the history of our own country which relates to the Campaign in Westchester-county, in 1776, will arise from the ex- amination of it with the words on his lips which the Apostle Paulemployed, in another connection : " God " hatlı chosen the foolish things of the world to con- " found the wise, and God hath chosen the weake "things of the world, to confonnd the mighty things, " and vile things of the world, and things which are " despised, hath God chosen, and things which are " not, to bring to nought things that are."2

Henry Branjoão

1 sprech of General Howe before the Committee of the House of Com- mous, April 29, 1779-Almon's Parliamentary Register, Fifth Session, Fourteenth Parliament of Great Britain, xii., 324.

See, also, The Narrative of Sir William Howe, 6, 7.

" The Newe Testament, Genevan Version, Edit. London : 1595, 1 Corinth. ians, i., 27, 28.

CHAPTER VII.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS DURING THE COLONIAL AND PROVINCIAL PERIODS.

BY J. THOMAS SCHARF, A.M. LL.D.

"THE history of nations," said Taine, "is the history of the men who make up nations; it is in the homes of the common people, their daily lives and their ambitions, that we find the motives which actuate the most important national events, revoln- tionize governments and change the political geogra- phy of continents." To no communities could this jndicions comment of the keenest of critics be more aptly applied than to those which, derived from all the maritime peoples of Enrope, laid broad and deep the stable foundations of Cancasian civilization in North America and erected upon them the impregnable structure of free government. Writers of history never so generally recognized as they do now that to construct an intelligent and comprehensive narrative of a State, or its divisions they must seek the sonrce of truth and the springs of action at the firesides of the pioneers of population and the civil establishment. No department of historical research is more fascinat- ing to the student orthe reader than that which throws a penetrating light upon the domestie life of the founders of onr present society and government, and brings them ont in bold relief as they transacted their business and household affairs, paid conrt to the blooming maidens who became their wives, reared their children, mingled in their feasts and festivals, built their churches and struggled to bequeath to their children the heritage of honored names and goodly estates. Rich as were all the early settle- ments of North America in this field of study, no section is more attractive than that in which West- chester Connty is embraced. The successive tides of Dutch and English immigration, the original sharp definition of the lines which separated the two nation- alities, the obliteration of those lines by a merging of racial interests, the institution of slavery, the growth of the colony toward moneyed prosperity, the influence of the Revolutionary War in domestic circles, the politi- eal and social readjustment which followed it-all these epochs are vitalized by stirring, important and interesting incidents and phases that are gifted with an enduring charm for the generations succeeding the actors in them.

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 117

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354