History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 72

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

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 72

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While the Provincial Congress was this monopolizing the supplying of The men-of-war, it "was filled with the utmost anxiety " when, during the Antumn of 1775, "small boats from Queens and Westchester-conn- " ties " undertook to enter into the same business; and "to prevent so " great a mischief," a small armed vessel was purchased, " to watch those " and other dangerous supplies of the like kind,"-(The Committee nf Safety to the New- York Delegates in Continental Congress, " IN COMMITTEEOF "SAFETY, NEW-YORK, January 22, 1776.") On the seventh of February, 1776, when the Chairman of the Committee of the City asked permission for an unnamed applicant to send on board the Asio, Iwo hogsheads of Spirits, two dozens of Coffee, and one dozen of Chocolate, the solicited permission was withheld until the name of the applicant could be ascer- tained, which does not appear to have been accomplished, ( Letter fcom Heary Remseu, Chairman of the Committee of the City, to the Committee of Safety, and the reply of the latter, both undated : Journal of the Committee of' Safety : " Die Mercurii, 10 ho., A. MI., Feb'y 7th, 1776.")

There does not seem to have been any hesitation in supplying the pro- visions, on the part of any one, either in New York, or in Westchester- county, or in Queens-county-why should There have been ? The only question appears to have been, by where and for whose pecuniary benefit they should be thus supplied. There were those, In the Provincial Con- gress, who were always ready lo enjoy an advantage, in trade or else- where : There was a commercial advantage, in virtualing the ships, which those "patriots " preferred to retain. Had the boatmen of West- chester and Queens-counlies, while bringing their surplus products to market, been wiso enough to have consigned their cargoes to some of Those enterprising " Merchants," Alexamler Me Dougal and his armed vessel, watching " those dangerous supplies," would not have been necessary.

Verily, patriotism and pelf were closely connected, in those times.

6 ,lames Dnane, the friend nud correspondent of lieutenant-governor Colden, was, nt That time, one of the Delegales from New York, in the Congress of The Colonies ; und Egbert Dimond, the friend and corre- ¡ spondent of the Royal Governor, William Tryon, represented Ulster- county, in That Provincial Congress, and was probably present-he was in New York-when this enactment was considered and adopted.

1 Thus prinled in the otlicial copy of the Joucual of the Provincial Con- gress.

2 Those who shall desire to learn more of that Brookhaven matter may be gratified by n perusal of Gaine's New- York Gazette and Mercury, No. 1217, NEW-YORK, Monday, February 6, 1775 ; of a Letter from Major Benjamin Floyd and others to James Rivington, " BROOK-HAVEN, SUF- " FOLK-COUNTY, NEW-YORK, March 6, 1775," (Rivington's New- York Guzel- teer, No. 103, NEW-Yonk, Thursday, April 6, 1775 ; ) and of a Declaration of the Inhabitants of Brook-huren, Suffolk-county, New York, "BROOK- " HAVEN, March 10, 1775," (Guine's Ver- York Gazette : aud the Weekly Mercury, No. 1223, NEW-YORK, Monday, March 20, 1775.)

3 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Die Veneris, Dho. A.M., Angust " 11th, 1775."

4 Journal of the Proriacial Congress, " Die Sabbati, 9 ho. A.M., Angnst " 26th, 1775."

288

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

"or any of them, ' such person or persons, so found "guilty, shall be punished at the discretion of the " Committee before whom he or they shall be so found " guilty, or at the discretion of the Congress or Con- " mittee of Safety of this Colony, so as the punish- "ment, by them, at their discretion inflicted, shall " not exceed three months imprisonment or other the " punishments hereinafter mentioned, for the first " offence.

" RESOLVED, That if any person or persons shall " be found guilty, before the Committee of any City or " County in this Colony, of having furnished the, " Ministerial Army or Navy (after the date of this " Resolution,) with Provisions or other necessaries, " contrary to any Resolution of the Continental or of " this Congress, such person or persons, so found " guilty thereof, upon due proof thereof, shall be "disarmed and forfeit double the value of the Pro- " visions or other necessaries so furnished, to be ap- " plied to the public exigencies of this Colony, in " such manner as the Congress or Committee of Safety " of this Colony, for the time being, shall order and " direct. And that such person or persons, so found "guilty, shall be put into and detained in close con- " finement, at his or their own expense and charge, " until three months after he or they, respectively, " shall have paid such forfeiture. And that every " such person or persons, who shall be found guilty " of a second offence of the same kind, shall be ban- "ished from this Colony, for the term of seven years " from the time of such second conviction.

" Although this Congress have a tender regard to " the freedom of Speech, the rights of Conscience, " and personal Liberty, as far as an indulgence in " these particulars may be consistent with our gen- " eral security ; yet, for the public safety, be it

" RESOLVED, That if any person or persons shall, " hereafter, oppose or deny the authority of the Con- "tinental or of this Congress, or the Committee of "Safety, or the Committees of the respective "Counties, Cities, Towns, Manors, Precincts, or Dis. " tricts in this Colony, or dissuade any person or " persons from obeying the recommendations of the "Continental or this Congress, or the Committee of "Safety, or the Committees aforesaid, and be thereof "convicted before the Committee of the County or "any thirteen or more of their number, who shall or " may meet upon a general call of the Chairman of " such Committee where such person or persons may "reside, that such Committee shall cause such of " fenders to be disarmed ; 2 and for the second offence-

1 Charles le, the second in command in the Continental Army, had not, then, laid his well-devised " Plan " before General lowe; General Samuel 11. Parsons had not yet commenced the supply of information, concerning projected military movements, etc., through "'Squire "lleron," to Sir llenry Clinton ; Israel Putnam had not yet led Robert R. Livingston to "question " "his very fidelity ; " aud Benedict Arnold, maddened by wrongs imposed on him, had not yet commenced his cor- respondence with John André.

2 Compare this particular penalty with the particular requirement,

"they shall be committed to close confinement, at "their respective expense.3 And, in case any of the "said Committees are unable to carry this or any " Resolution into execution, they are hereby directed " to apply to the next County Committee or command- "ing Officer of the Militia, or to the Congress or the " Committee of Safety of this Colony, for necessary "assistance, as the case may require.4 But if it " shall so happen that any violators of this Resolu- " tion shall reside in a County where there is no "Committee of the County, in that case, the matter "shall be triable before the Committee of the next "County : PROVIDED that no person shall be tried "before the General Committee of the City and "County of New York, upon the Resolutions herein "contained, unless the stated quorum be present ; "and in the City and County of Albany, unless " there are present twenty-five members.

" RESOLVED FARTHER, That the respective Com- " mittees and the Militia of the several Counties, by " order of the respective Committees or of the Com- "missioned Officer of the Militia then nearest, are " hereby expressly enjoined to apprehend every " Inhabitant or Resident of this Colony, who now is "or who shall hereafter be discovered to be enlisted "or in arms against the Liberties of America, and to " confine such offender or offenders, in safe custody ; "and his or their punishment is reserved to the " determination of this or some future Provincial "Congress. And the Committee nearest to any per- "son who shall be so enlisted or have taken up "arms against the Liberties of America are hereby " directed to appoint some discreet person to take " the charge of the Estate, both real and personal, of "any such person or persons; which person so ap- " pointed shall be invested with such Estate, and "render, on oath, a just and true account thereof, to " this or some future Cougress or to Commissioners "by them to be appointed, and to pay the issues and " profits thereof to the Treasurer appointed by this " Congress, for the use of the associated Colonies.

" RESOLVED, That if any person be taken up on " suspicion of any of the Crimes in the above Reso- "lutions specified, he shall immediately be taken " before the Committee of the City, Town, Manor,

contained in the enactment concerning the Militia, adopted eleven days previously, (page 102 ante,) that every Inhabitant, between sixteen and fifty years of age, should fully equip himself with arms and largely supply himself with ammunition, heavy penalties being imposed, in case of de- fault, in either respect.

3 That partienlar feature of this enactment was intended to impoverish the victim, if he possessed property, or to leave him to be starved, if he had uone ; and the barbarism of the provision and of those who framed it, was seen, subsequently, in the physical sufferings of John O'Connor and David Purdy ; and in those of the Berghs, the Dobbses, and Timothy Donghty, (Historical Manuscripts, etc. : Petitions, xxxi., 98, 96, 88, 70, 36 ; etc.)

4 Not long after this enactment was made, the Committee of West- chester-county, as will be seen, hereafter, called for and received the armed assistance of men of Connecticut, to enforce obedience to its Reso- lutions or submission to some of its arbitrary seizures of the properties of some of their law-abiding neighbors.

289

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

" Precinct, or District where the offender shall have " been taken up; and if, upon examination, the sus- "picion shall appear to the said Committee to bc " groundless, that he be discharged : PROVIDED, " ALSO, that no person charged to be an offender " shall be tried upon any of the foregoing Resolves, " until the persons to be Judges of the offence be " first severally sworn to try and adjudge the person " so charged, without partiality, favour, or affectiou, " or hope of reward, according to evidence ; and that " every witness who shall be examined on such trial " shall have the. charge distinctly and clearly stated "to him ; and be thereupou sworn to speak the truth, " the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." 1 * * * * * *

It will be seen that, by this remarkable enactment, every person in the Colony was placed at the mercy of the local Committee of the County in which he lived ; that no one was permitted to disregard or to treat with disrespect either the "recommendations " or the "Resolutions " of Congresses or Committees, of either high or low degree, no matter with what disclaimers of obligation those "recommendations" and " Resolutions " might have been accompanied,2 nor to dissent from whatever outrages on persous or properties there might be inflicted on quiet, law- abiding persons, by even the most insignificant " District Committee" in the Colony, nor even to question the authority to do whatever it should incline to do, no matter how monstrous its actions should be, in any such Congress or Committee; that sequestra- tion, if not confiscation and absolute sale,3 of proper- ties, real and personal, and close confinement in bar- racks or jails, and banishment from home and family, 110 matter at what cost to him or to those who were depcudent on him, were penalties to which every one was subject, whenever a County Committee saw fit to inflict them ; that, by making the offences and the penalties matters of general interest to " the associa- " ted Colonies "-for doing which no one can pretend that a local Provincial Congress, even during a Re- bellion, could consistently assume to legislate-this enactment afforded a warrant for inroads from other Colonies, whenever the latter were inclined to make them, for the direct adjustment of matters in which

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "4 ho., P.M., September Ist, " 1775."

2 Compare the disclaimers which accompanied the Associations which were sent out, for signatures, (pages 270, 271, ante;) with the penalties which were subsequently imposed on those who had declined to sign those Associations, in the orders issued for their disarmament, (page 288, ante ;) in this remarkable enactment ; and with the multitude of arbitrary ar- rests and painful imprisonments, throughout the Colony, with which the pages of the records of the duings of the revolutionary faction so pe- culiarly abound.

3 We are sensible that the letter of this enactment affords a warrant for nothing else than a sequestration of the properties of those who were proscribed ; but the spirit of it was seen in the action of those Commit- tees who were, by this enactment, made masters of the grent body of the Colonists, when those Committees, as will be seen, hereafter, not only sequestrated, but confiscated aud sold, tbe properties of those who were personally obuoxious to them.

they possessed a conceded interest ; that no appeal from the judgment of such a local revolutionary tribunal, too often controlled by personal or family quarrels + or by ecclesiastical or neighborhood feuds or by foreigu interferences, was provided for or allowed ; and that the dictates of his conscience and the oath of his office, if he held an office, as far as these should assert his duty to his Sovereign and to the Colonial and Home Governments, must be sternly disregarded and suppressed, by every one.

History has failed to record, in the annals of any other community, another such instance of solemn mockery and of refined hypocrisy and of relentless personal and partisan bitterness as is seen in this enactment, framed and ordained and promulgated by men who pretended to so much of honor and intelli- gence, to so much of loyalty to the King and of re- gard for the Constitution, to so much of veueration for the Rights of Man and of reverence for the supreme Laws of God, as were claimed, for themselves, by the Livingstons and the Morriscs, the Vau Cort- landts and the Clinton's, and their several supporters, in the Provincial Congress of Colonial New York ; and the annals of partisan malignity, ecclesiastical or civil, afford few instances wherein an ecclesiastical or civil enactment, no matter by what authority nor under what circumstances it may have been ordained and promulgated, has been more relentlessly enforced, in its peualties, than this enactment of a revolution- ary Congress was enforced, in the Colony and State of New York. Scarcely a homestead existed in Colonial Westchester-county, in which the unbridled despotism of a self-constituted Precinct or District or Town Committee did not display its ill-gotten, ill-regulated power, under the sanction of this enactment, protected aud supported, whenever protection and support were needed to ensure entire success, by the local and the Continental military power or by hungry ruffians from over the border; 5 aud there are enough of

4 " The information you bave received, in respect to Captain Cuthbert, "is, I believe, in part true, but has originated from a private pique, and "is much exaggerated. You will observe I have bought bis wheat from " him, which he readily sold me, at the same time complained, most "bitterly, of being threatened with the loss of bis life, by the same Don "you mentioned, who. I believe, is a very bad man. Many persons in " the country are seeking for private revenge under pretence of conceru " for the publick safety."-General (Benedict Arnold to Samuel Chase, "SOREL, May 15, 1776.")

General Arnold's remarks were perfectly applicable to every portion of tbe Colony. Who, among bistorical students, does not know that one of the most virulent of those who persecuted the loyal and law abiding Colonists, in Colonial New York-a very thinly disguised monarchist wbo was thus figuring as a most zealous republican-had been largely prompted to phry a part in the politics of the period which was radically distasteful to himself, in order that he might, thereby, revengefully op- pose and persecute the friends and family of the two young ladies, sisters, who had successively preferred more graceful and more companionable, if not as mentally and scholastically deserving, suitors for their hands and fortunes ?

5 This sentence has been written with a perfect understanding of what is stated in the text, concerning those who passed from Conuertient into Westchester-county, to assist the local Committees, in that County, in their work of outrage and robbery. Greenwich, Stanford, Ridge feld, Danbury, Wilton, New Canaan, and the other border Towns

290

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

merely incidental allusions, left among the well-con- cealcd records of those times, to say nothing of those more startling evidences which went, unrecorded, into the graves of those who had been thus plundered and outraged, when the latter were carried to their last earthly homes, to show that the Drakes and the Thomases, the Odells and the Martlings, the Lock- woods and the Dutchers, and those who were associated with them, "patriotically " supporting what was called " the glorious cause of Liberty," were experts in ruth- less barbarism, and entirely worthy of thecrowns of in- fanny which history has awarded to more distinguished, but not more accomplished, inquisitors and despots.

The publication of this barbarous enactment was followed, immediately, by active preparations for persecution, by those, in Westchester-county, who were engaged in promoting the cause of the Rebel- lion ; and they promptly reported to the Provincial Congress, for what purpose is very evident, the fol- lowing list of those, in that County, who were espe- cially obnoxious to them : 1

" Col. Phillips,2

"Joseph Harris,

" James Harris,

Bartholomew Hains,5 Mr. Duncan and Brown at Marroncek,

Capt. Joshua Purdy,6 Jeremiah Travess,

" Isaac and Josiah that

"lives at home,3

Solomon Fowler,7

" Lyon Miller,4

Joshua Purdy,8

in Connecticut, as is well known, were too nearly akin in sentiment to the Towns in Westchester-connty to have supplied respectable men, for such a questionable service ; and specimens of those of Connecticut who were so zealous in the support of the Rebellion, in New York, when there was no armed forces hefore them-those, from that Colony were not so zealons, on the northern frontier and in Canada, at Kips Bay and in New Jersey, when an armed enemy was either before or behind them- might have been scen in those who were led hy Waterbury and by Sears, by Wooster and hy Webb, of whom and of whose peculiarly "New Eng. "land Ideas," concerning the laws of meum et tuum, history has left abundant evidence.

1 Historical Manuscripts, etc. : Miscellaneous Papers, xxxiv., 193.

2 Colonel Frederic Philipse, of Yonkers and Sleepy Hollow, Member of the General Assembly, already made known to the reader. He was exiled ; and his property sequestrated, confiscated, and sold.

3 Isaac and Josiah Brown were arrested ; thrown into the Prison at the White Plains; and subsequently released on condition that they should hoard with William Miller, Deputy Chairman of the County Committee, at their own expense, instead of at their own homes.

4 Lyon Miller was First Lieutenant in tho Harrison Precinct Company of Militia, reorganized under the enactment of the Provincial Congress, in August, 1775.

5 Bartholomew Ilaines was arrested and thrown into Prison at the White Plains. His name will be seen, very frequently, in the following pages of this narrative.

6 Captain Joshına Purdy was, probably, the person of that name who has been referred to, elsewhere, in these notes, in connection with another person, bearing the same name but without a title, who was, also, named on this list of the proscribed of Westchester-county. Although the rec- ords do not mention the distinguishing title, if he had ono, of tho victim whose arrest and imprisonment and conditional release are mentioncd in the note referred to, and, therefore, the untitled "Joslina Purdy " lias been connected with those records, there are circumstances which favor the impression that Captain Joshna was the person to whom they really referred.

7 Solomon Fowler was reported to the Provincial Congress, a second time, in June, 1776, and summoned to appear before the "Committee " on Conspiracies," soon after.

8 Joshua Purdy, either this person of that name or Captain Joshua who

" Elijah Purdy,

"Gilbert Horton,9

" Edmond Ward,10

"Caleb Morgain,11

" James Hortan, Esq.12

" William Barker, Esq.13

Mr. Peter Hatfield, Isaac Hatfield,

" Person Seabury,14 Edward Palmer,18

"Godfrey Haines, added Nath. Whitney, Esq.

"on Saturday evening, 15 Pater Drake,19

" Jeremiah Travess, Junr., "Joshua Carne."

There need be no surprise that that remarkable en- actment and the activity in enforcing its provisions which was seen among those who favored the Rebel- lion and among those who desired the advantages which a general breaking down of those who opposcd that Rebellion would probably ensure to them, in the expected and intended sequestrations and confisca- tions and sales of properties, real and personal, throughout the County, aroused the attention and the indignation of the great body of the conservative

is also named on this list, was reported to the Provincial Congress, a second time ; summoned before the "Committee on Conspiracies ;" in- prisoned at the White Plains; and released from prison on condition that he should board with William Miller, Deputy Chairman of the County Committee, at his own expense, instead of at his own home.

9 Gilbert Horton was arrested and thrown into the Prison at the White Plains.

10 Edmund Ward was arrested and thrown into tho Prison at the White Plains.

11 Caleb Morgan was reported to the Provincial Congress, a second time ; arrested ; and thrown into the Prison at the White Plains.

12 James Horton, Esq., was sunnnoned before the "Committee of "Safety," as the Connty Committee called itself, in August, 1777; was nnusually independent in his answers to that body ; and appears to have remained without further trouble.

13 William Barker, Esq., was reported to the Provincial Congress, a socond timo; arrested ; examined by the Committco on Conspiracies ; and thrown into the Prison at the White Plains.

14 Rev. Samuel Scabury, soon afterwards, was seized and carried to Connectient, where he was imprisoned. His very peculiar case will be noticed in the text, in its order.

15 Godfrey Ilaines was seized, and sent to the City of New York, a few days after the transmission of this memorandum. His case will bo seen in the text of this narrative, pages 291-296, post.

16 Jonathan Purdy, of the White Plains, was arrested and thrown into the Prison at that place.

17 Samuel Mcrrit was reported to the Provincial Congress, a second time ; arrested ; and thrown into the Prison at the White Plains.

18 Edward Palmer was a resident of Cortlandt's Manor ; and was snbse- quently accused of enlisting men for the Royal Army. There are some reasons for supposing that he was the young man who was so ostenta- tionsly hung, as a spy, by the order of General Putnam, in August, 1777, of which mention will be made hereafter.

19 l'eter Drake was one of the Drakes of the Cortlandt Manor; and was an active Loyalist ; but was not disturbed-he was a Drake.

20 Peter Corney was reported to the Provincial Congress, a second time ; arrested and taken before the "Committee on Conspiracies ;" and permitted to go to Long Island, where he was peculiarly serviceable to those who desired to remove from that place. Because of this, the Committee of Safety and Committee on Conspiracies of tho Provincial Congress, permitted his son-in-law to take and occupy his property ; but the local Committee of Sequestration disregarded that permission ; seized the property ; and sold it, nnder peculiarly distressing circumstances. (Historical Manuscripts, etc. : Petitions, xxxiii., 522 ; the same : Mixcella- neous Papers, xxxvii., 95, 99 ; xxxviii., 147; Journal of Committee of Safety, with Corney's son-in law's affidavit, "Die Veneris, 4 ho., P.M " June 6, 1777.")

Jonathan Pardie, White Plains, 16

Saml. Merrit, Manor of Courtlandt,17

Petcr Corney,20

" Major Brown's two sons

291

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

farmers of Westchester-county-they would have been less than men, and unworthy of either respect or sym- pathy, had they remained passive spectators of what was then in progress, for the seizure of their persons, for the sequestration of their homes and of their estates, and for the impoverishment of their aged parents, of their wives, and of their dependent chil- dren, without just cause, without due process of Law, and by those who were in acknowledged rebellion against their recognized Sovereign. Indeed, the honest, hard-working yeomanry, throughout the entire extent of the County, those of revolutionary as well as those of conservative associations, was im- mediately thrown into a state of the most intense excitement; suspicion between those who had been peaceful neighbors and friends, was aroused and fostered ; memories of half-forgotten piques and quarrels were recalled; and the animosities and the jealousies and the misunderstandings and the disputes of the past were revived and intensified ; and, while the more zealous of the party of the Rebellion were loud in their threats and aggressive in their actions, those who constituted the great body of the inhabit- ants of the County and who were peaceful in all their relations, anxiously watched the progress of events, and, iu some notable instances, denounced the enaet- ments of the Provincial Congress and the Congress who had enacted them ; declared their confidence- their ill-founded but honest confidence - that the Home Government would soon interfere for their pro- teetion ; armed and organized themselves for their immediate security ; and established strong patrols, from among themselves, to guard against surprise, by night or by day. Violence on the one side, of actions as well as of words, begat violence on the other. A lawless assault on the persons or the properties of the conservatives and the loyal, by the promptings of embittered human nature and the unwritten law of retaliation, was followed, sooner or later, by equally lawless assaults on the persons or on the families or on the properties of those, of the opposite party, who had been the original aggressors ; and, very seldom, on those occasions, was a tooth or an eye regarded as a sufficient equivalent for the tooth or the eye which had been taken. "They hunted every man his " brother with a net ; " the reign of peace, of happi- ness, and of prosperity - the era of good-feelings between neighbors, of regard among friends, of affee- tion in families-in the old agricultural County of Westchester was ended ; and partisan strife and per- sonal and domestie misery and general waste and ruin prevailed.

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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 72

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