History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 86

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 86

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It has been said, apologetically, that the Congress was intimidated ; and that the moh was the controlling power ; but the overwhelming mil- itary force which was then in the City, with General Washington at its head, indieated no such state of affairs; and it is undoubtedly true that that series of Mobs, directed hy leaders of the Rebellion-one of whom, if no more, was a member of the Provincial Congress-against those of the Colonists who were not of the Rebellion, was intended to give to the new-formed "Committee to detect Conspiracies," subsequently so ob- noxious to every honorable man, a good set-off in its work of persecution and outrage.

341

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

and compelling the latter to seek safety in flight.1 It assumed judicial functions, in putting some of its victims on " trial," before itself or a Committee of its members ; 2 sometimes it graciously absolved those whom it had seized on mere "informations ;" 3 and, occasionally, it honored a victim of a local Com- mittee, by listening to an Appeal from the decision of that inferior tribunal,4 although it was not always exempt from an appearance, at least, of partiality to the Respondent in the Case.5 In the same connection, it called into existence and inaugurated the "Com- " mittee to detect Conspiracies," that powerful in- quisitorial agency of the Rebellion, in New York, whose doings will be noticed more fully, hereafter.

Those who had been hoist with their own petard, in becoming the speculative holders of Dutch Tea, which they had smuggled into the Colony, and which they could not, now, dispose of, unless on terms and at prices which would have been disastrous to them, pestercd the Provincial Congress with appeals for relief from the enactments of their own friends ; and some of them-one of them a member of the preced- ing Provincial Congresses, and another a Delegate of the Colony in the Continental Congress-were charged with violating those enactments, in their

! The Continental Congress having authorized the employment of Con- tinental troops for such a purpose, a Regiment was sent to Hempstead, for the purpose of seizing those who were disaffected to the Rebellion. The proposed victims having been disarmed, by order of the Provincial Congress, during the Winter of 1775-'6, they had no means for their de- fense, and, therefore, they fled and hid themselves in swamps, in woods, in barns. in hollow trees, in eorn-fields, and in the marshes. Numbers took refuge in the pine barrens of Suffolk-county ; otbers, in small boats, kept sailing about the Sonud, landing in the night and sleeping in the woods, and taking to the water again in the morning. They were pur- sued like wolves and bears, from swamp to swamp, from one hill to another, from dale to dale, and from one eopse of wood to another. Numbers were taken ; some were wounded ; and a few were killed-all that, too, on a peaceful, unarmed, passive community ; unable to de- fend itself, because it had been stripped of its arms; in advance of any adverse movement : and only to promote the individual purposes of a handful of ambitions and reckless men : all that, too, in the name of " Liberty " and the " Rights of Man." (Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Sunday afternoon, June 30, 1776 ;" General Washington ta the President of Congress, "New York, June 28, 1776; " " Jones's History of New York during the Revolutionary War, i., 108, 109.)

Journal of the Provincial Congress, "D'e Luna, 9 ho., A.M., May 27, " 1776 ; " the same, " Tuesday morning, NEW YORK, June 11, 1776 ; " etc. 3 The Provincial Congress ta the Committee of Queens-caunty, " IN PRO- " VINCIAL CONGRESS, NEW-YORK, A. MI., June 11, 1776 ; " Janrnal of the Provincial Congress, " Thursday morning, Juno 27, 1776; " the same, " Die Mercurii, 9 ho., A.M., June 5, 1776."

4 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Saturday. P.M., June 1, 1776 ;" the same, "Die Martis, 9 ho., A.M., June 4, 1776 ;" the same, " Die Mer- "enrii, 9 ho., A. M., June 5, 1776;" the same, " Die Jovis, 9 ho., A M., " June 6, 1776 ;" the same, " Die Luna, 9 ho., A.M., June 10, 1776."

5 In the Appeal of Thomas Harriot from the decision of the General Committee of the City and County of New York, the latter of whom was, also, very evidently the Complainant in the original Case, on the sixth of June, the Provincial Congress, without any application from either party, volun- tarily offered to give its aid to the Respondent, " for tho attendance of " their witnesses," leaving the Appellant without any such favor. As might have been foreseen, in such an instance of pre-entertained par- tiality in the Appellate body, the decision which the General Committee had made in its own Case, was sustained by the Provincial Congress ; and the Appeal therefrom, of Thomas Ilarriot, was promptly dismissed.

efforts to "work off" some portions of their stocks of the article ; but, of course, in such instances as Isaac Sears and John Alsop, the offenders sustained no evil consequences from the exposure of their commercial peccadillos.6

There were other subjects, of greater general in- terest than these, which received the hurried atten- tion of that very busy body of men ; and to some of these, places in this narrative may properly be given.

The first of these is that " Committee to detect "Conspiracies," already alluded to, which originated in that much talked-of " Hickey Plot,"-the latter, a partisan bugbear which, before long, will descend to the low level of " the Negro Plot," in the same City of New York, in which the conspiracy against the helpless victims was greater than any which had pos- sibly existed among them, against others; or to the lower level of that "Witchcraft" excitement, in Salem, led by clerical narrowness and bigotry, whichi had brought so much shame on the Mathers and on Colonial Massachusetts.

Sometime between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon, [May 20, 21, 1776,]-as no entry of its ap- pointment was made on the Journals of the Provincial Congress, nothing is known concerning the time nor the circumstances of the appointment, unless from in- ference™-that body appointed a Committee "to con- " sider of the ways and means to prevent the dangers "to which this Colony is exposed by its intestine " enemies." Beyond the single fact that John Alsop, one of the most determined encmies of Independence and subsequently a recognized Loyalist,8 was a mem- ber, if not the Chairman, of that Committee, there is no record of the names of those who constituted it ; and, beyond the information which was contained in its title, there is quite as much obscurity surrounding the purposes for which it was created.

On Tuesday afternoon, [May 21, 1776.] as we have said, Mr. Alsop submitted the Report of the Commit- tee ; 9 and it was duly debated, with several motions for amendments, until the following Friday, [May

6 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Die Mercurii, 9 ho., A.M., May "29, 1776 ; " the same, " Friday Afternoon, June 14, 1776."

See, also, the Provincial Congress to the Irlegates in the Continental Con- gress, "IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, NEW YORK, July 28, 1775," and the " really anxious" reply of James Inumne, John Alsop, John Jay, Robert R. Livingston, Junior, and Francis Lewis, " PHILADELPHIA, 20th Sept. 1776;" General Washington to the Provincial Congress, " NEW- YORK, 13 May, 1776," enclosing a letter from Isaac Sears. concerning those who were under- selling their teas ; and what shall be, hereafter, said on the subject.

1 Jolin Alsop did not take his seat in the Provincial Congress until Monday morning, May 20th ; but on Tuesday afternoon, May 21st, he presented the Report of the Committee to the Congress. The Com- mittee, of which he was evidently the Chairman, must have been created during that brief interval.

8 See his letter, resigning his seat in the Continental Congress, be- canse of the Declaration of Independence. " PHILADELPHIA, 16 July, "1776," and Jones's History af New York during the American Rem Intion. i., 35.

9 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Martis, 4 ho., P. M., May 21, ** 1776."

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

24, 1776,] when it was approved, not, however, with- out several very important omissions, if the record of the approved Report may be relied on.1 In its amended form, the Report was in the following words :

" Your Committee do report: That there is great " reason to believe that the enemies of American Lib- "erty have a general communieatiou with each other "through this and part of the neighbouring Colonies, " by reason whereof the influence of the British Gov- "ernment is much extended and the minds of the " people poisoned by false reports and suggestions.

" That many ill-disposed people have lately resorted "unto, and a great number dwell in, the southern and " eastern parts of Queens-eounty; that there are also " several ill-disposed persons in the City and County "of New York, and in Kings County, and in sundry " other parts of this Colony, many of whom will most " probably take up arms on the part of our foes, when- " ever they shall see a prospeet of sueeess.

" That from the various reports and the best intel- " ligenee which can be obtained from Europe, as also " from the positive assertions of the disaffected through- "out this and the neighbouring Colonies, and from " such of their measures as have eome to the knowl- " edge of your Committee, there is no room to doubt " that a large hostile armament will soon arrive in " this Colony.

" That the greater part of those who now hold Of- " fiees and Commissions under the Crown, and many " others who are generally reputed inimieal to Amer- "iean Liberty, will be liable to suffer injuries from "the resentment of the people,2 and the Colony in "general exposed to great danger from the active ex- " ertions of those among us who are determined to " assist in the subjection of America.

"Your Committee are, therefore, of opinion that, " as well out of regard to the safety of individuals as " for the general welfare of America, it is highly and " indispensably necessary to take speedy and effeetual "measures to prevent the hostile intentions of our " foes, to stop the channels of intelligence and eom- " munication among the disaffected, and to quell the " spirit of opposition which hath hitherto prevailed.

" Your Committee do propose that, for these pur- " poses, the following persons be apprehended by the " assistanee of the Continental troops, now stationed " in and near this City, to wit,

[ The names were not entered on the Journals.]

" That a Committee be appointed to confer with the " Commander-in-chief, now here, upon the subject of " apprehending the persons above-named, and to su- "perintend the taking of them. That upon and after "the apprehension of the said persons, such of them as " shall give good and sufficient seeurity, on oath, and "otherwise, as the said Committee shall think proper, "that they will not be eoneerned in any ineasures " taken or to be taken against the United American " Colonies, or any or either of them, and that they " will discover all measures taken or to be taken " against the said Colonies, or any or either of them, " as far as the same shall come to their knowledge, re- " spectively be permitted to go at large; and that as " to such persons as shall refuse snch security, it shall "be in the diseretion of the said Committee to admit " on their parol of honour, to be given to the said " Committee or to the Continental Congress, as many " of the said persons as may, in the judgment of the "said Committee, safely be trusted ou their said "parol, to reside in some part of one of the neigh- "bouring Colonies, such as shall be chosen by the " said respective persons, and approved by the said "Committee; and that all such persons as, in the "opinion of the said Committee, eannot safely be "trusted on their said parol, or if to be trusted shall " refuse to give such parol, shall be reported to this " Congress, to be severally dealt with, as this Congress " shall think proper.

" That it be recommended to all the General County "Committees, in the several Counties in this Colony, " to apprehend all persons holding Military Commis- " sions under the King of Great Britain, and also all " sueli persons holding Civil Offices under the said " King, or, being possessed of influence in their re- " spective Counties, as are suspected of holding prin- "ciples inimieal to the said United Colonies; and " atter they shall have apprehended, to deal with them "in such manner as is preseribed for the conduet of " the Committee above named.

" All which is, nevertheless, most humbly sub- " mitted.

" JOHN ALSOP, Chairman." 3

When that Report was presented, read, and ap- proved, there were, throughout Westehester-eounty, the entire body of officers of the Colonial Militia, in- cluding some of the members of the Van Cortlandt and other leading families ; the entire number of the King's Jnstiees of the Peace; the entire bodies of the Court of Sessions and Court of Common Pleas, at the

1 On Tuesday afternoon, on motion of Mr. Sands, Richmond-county was ordered to be named as one which was especially proscribed ; and on motion of John Morin Scott, an oath of some kind was ordered to " be "extended to all such as refused to sign the Association," to which only Gouverneur Morris, to his honor be it said, objected. On Wednesday morning, an attempt to authorize the seizure and detention of residents of Queens-county, as hostages, to secure the submission of those who were left within that County, was rejected, only Westchester and Tryon- counties having supported the proposition. "Sundry other amendments "having been made therein," an attempt to commit the mutilated paper to its parent Committee, to re-model it, was rejected. It is evident, from the final entry on the subject, that other important changes had been made during a session of the Congress, on Thursday evening ; but the Journal of that Session makes no mention of any action on that subject : and on Friday morning, the amended Report, from which many peculiarly obnoxious features had been removed, was adopted.

2 The connection of the Mobs, in the City of New-York, already referred to, with the purposes of the authora of this enactment, is distinctly seen, in these words.

3 Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Die Veneris, 9 ho., A.M. May 24, "1776."

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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

head of the last-named of which was John Thomas, who is already known to the reader as, also, one of the members of the former General Assembly and as the head of that prolific family of office-holders bear- ing that Welsh surname; and the entire body of County Officers, including those of the Prerogative Court, the Sheriff, the County Clerk, etc. All these, together with those who were especially obnoxious and all those whose social standing did not warrant the admission of them into the first class, were to be apprehended-the more prominent by detachiments of the Continental Army, the less prominent by the County Committee-and "dealt with," after a " man- " ner " which was " prescribed for the conduct " of those under whose directions the several " apprehen- " sions " should be made. No overt act was charged against any one: it was sufficient that "suspicions " were entertained by some one in revolutionary author- ity, that one of the inhabitants of the County, no matter whom, was "holding principles inimical to the " said United Colonies," whatever those "principles" might have been; and the unfortunate vietim, for nothing else than his opinions' sake, was liable to be exiled or subjected to any other penalty, personal or pecuniary or both, as his captors, unrestrained by any Statute or any enactment of the revolutionary author- itics, should incline to impose on him. It is not stated in the annals of that period, however, that either Major Philip Van Cortlandt or Judge John Thomas or any other of those officeholders under the Crown who were also officeholders or supporters of the Revolutionary party, sustained any injury from the provisions of that enactment.

Although there is no entry on the Journal of the Provincial Congress which makes mention of the cre- ation of such a Committee, it is very evident the Com- mittee was appointed, with instructions "to report a " Law or 'set of Resolutions of this Congress, to "' prevent the dangers to which this Colony is ex- """posed by its internal enemies,'" sinee, on the twenty-eighth of May, such a Committee made a Report to the Congress, through Johu Morin Scott, who was probably its Chairman. It is not shown what that Report provided for ; but Richmond-county voted against it,1 which may afford some evidence of the character of the paper, siuce that County and Queens-county were always the especial objects of the resentment of those who were iu rebellion, a feeling, as far as Richmond-county was concerned, which was amply reciprocated within the succeeding six weeks.

The work of proscription did not cease with the ac- tion of the Congress which has been already referred to. On the fifthi of June, iu the unexplained words of the Journal of that body, "the Congress proceeded to " licar the Resolutions relative to persons dangerous

" and disaffected to the American cause and to per- "sons of equivocal character." There is not the slightest allusion to the origin of the Resolutions ; but it is very probable they proceeded from the Commit- tee of which John Morin Scott was the mouthpiece, to whom allusion has been made in the preceding para- graph ; and, possibly, they may be the Report therein referred to. Notwithstanding the great length of these Resolutions, the notice which was taken of Westches- ter-county and of Westchester-county interests, in their several provisions, render it necessary that they shall find a place in this narrative. They were in tliese words :

" WHEREAS the Continental Congress, by their Re- "solve of the sixth day of October last, did recom- "mend to the several Provincial Assemblies, and "Conventions, and Councils or Committees of Safety, " to arrest and secure every person in their respective " Colonies, whose going at large might, in their opin- "ion, endanger the safety of the Colony or the lib- " erties of America :

" AND WHEREAS, from sundry informations and "evidences exhibited to this Congress, it appears " that the enemies of American Liberty, in this and "the neighbouring Colonies, have a general com- " munication with each other, by reason whereof " the influence of the British Ministry, however " feeble, is, in some measure, sustained, and the "minds of the people frequently alarmed and poi- " soned by false reports and misrepresentations, pur- " posely framed and propagated with design to pro- " mote the views and machinations of the enemies of " America.

" AND WHEREAS certain persons in Queens-county, " Kings-county, the City and County of New York, "Richmond-county, and Westchester-county Have " been represented to this Congress as disaffected to "the American cause, and, together with others in "various parts of this Colony who, having little or no " property in it, or regard for its Rights, may be in- "fluenced, by the hope of plunder and confiscation, " to take an active part with our enemies, whenever "it may, in their opinions, be doue with success :

" AND WHEREAS, froui various reports and the best " intelligence which could be obtained from Europe, " as well as from the positive assertions of the dis- " affected throughout this and the neighbouring Col- " onies, there is great reason to expeet that an hostile " armament will soon arrive in this Colony, whereby " it hath become highly expedient and necessary to " provide that the inhabitants of this Colony, while " employed in repelling a foreign invasion, be not " injured or annoyed by domestic enemies :

" RESOLVED, THEREFORE, That the following per- " sons in Queens-county, the City and County of New " York, and Richmond-county, whose conduct has " been represented to this Congress as inimical to the " Cause and Rights of America, and who, if sum-

1 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Martis, 9 ho., A. M., May 28, "'1776.""

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY

" moncd, would probably not appear, but seerete " themselves, be arrested and brought before a Com- " mittee of this Congress, hereinafter nominated and " appointed, to wit :

" In Queens-county. - Richd. Hulett, Thos. Cor- " nell, Stephen Hulet, Jos. Beagle, of Rockaway ; " John Kendall, at Danl. Thomas's, Flushing; John " Bodin, - Chase, of Jamaica; John Hulet, of " Oyster Bay ; and Isaac Denton, of near Rockaway. " In the City and County of New- York .- Peter Me- " Lean, Saml. Galsworthy, Franeis De La Roach.1

" In Richmond-county .- Isaac Decker, Abm. Harris, " Ephm. Taylor, and Minne Burger.

" And that the following persons, in the Counties " aforesaid, and in the County of Westchester and " Kings-county, whose eonduet has been represented " to this Congress as equally inimical with that of " the former, but who would probably appear on be- "ing summoned, be summoned by the said Committee " to appear before them, at such time and place as " they may appoint ; and, in default of appearance, "on proof of the service of the summons, that they " be arrested in like manner as the former, to wit: [In the City and County of New- York,] " Wm. " Newton, Linus King, John B. Dash, Henry Law, " Theop. Hardenbrook, Saml. Burling, John Woods, " Benjn. Williams, Christopher Benson, Wm. Bayard, " Fredk. Rhinelander, Jas. Coggcshall, John Mil- " liner, and Theot. Baelie.

" In Kings-county. - Theo. Bache and Benjamin " James.

" In Queens-county. - Chas. Arden, John Moore, " Senr., and David Beatty, of Hempstead.

" In Westchester-county. - Fredk. Phillips, Caleb " Morgan, Nath. Underhill, Saml. Merrit, Peter Corne, " Peter Huggeford, James Horton, Junr., Wm. Sutton, " Wm. Barker, Josliua Purdy, and Absalom Gidney. " Which said Committee are licreby authorized and " required impartially to inquire and determine " whether any, and which, of the said persons have " afforded aid or sustenance to the British Flects or " Armies, contrary to tlie Resolutions of the Conti- " nental Congress or of the Provincial Congress or " Committee of Safety of this Colony, or been active " in dissuading any of the inhabitants of this Colony " from associating for the defence of the United Col- " onies, against the unjust claims and hostile attaeks " of the British Parliament ; decried the value of the

1 As an illustration of the manner in which people were secretly put into danger, at that time, the following instance, relating to these three men is presented :

"An information, signed by Aaron Stockholm, Samuel Prince, John " Bogert, and Thomas Gardner, referred to this Congress by the General "Committee of the City of New-York, charging Peter McClean, Samuel " Galsworthy, Francis Delaroach, and a young man, in military clothi- "ing, of their acquaintance, with uttering sentiments highly inimical "and dangerous to the cause of America, was read and filed. "ORDERED, That the names be added to the list of dangerous, disaf- "fected persons, to be apprehended," (Journal of the Provincial Congress,

" Die Jovis, 9 ho. A.M., May 30, 1776.")

" Continental money, and endeavoured to prevent its " eurreney, contrary to the Resolutions of the Conti- " nental Congress or Provincial Congress or Con- " mittce of Safety of this Colony ; or been concerned " or actually engaged in any sehemes to defeat, retard, " or oppose the measures now pursuing by the United " Colonies, for their defenee against the tyrannical " and cruel attacks of the British Ministry or their " allies, adherents, or agents.

" That all such of the said persons as shall be " found by the said Committee to be innocent of the " said offenees be immediately discharged ; and that a " Certificate of such acquittal and of the true light " in which they may respectively appear to the said " Committee, under the hands of the said Committee, " be given to them, the said several persons so aequit- " ted ; and that they also report to this Congress, the " names of the persons so acquitted, that the same " may be entered on their Journals and published, to " the end that the reputation of such innocent persons " may not suffer or be injured by their having been so " arrested. PROVIDED, NEVERTHELESS, that if the " said persons so to be acquitted should appear in a "suspicious light to the said Cominittee, that the said "Committee proceed against them, in the manner " hereinafter preseribed for their conduct against " persons of a suspicious and equivocal character.

" And with respect to all such of the said persons " as the Committee shall find guilty of all or any of " the said offences, the said Committee are hereby " authorized and required to commit to safe custody, " all such of them whose going at large would, in " their opinion, endanger the safety of the Colony or " the Liberties of America ; and that they discharge " the remainder of them, on their giving Bond, with " good security, to the President of the Provincial " Congress, for the time being, by namne, to cease and " forbear all opposition to the Resolutions and meas- " ures of the Continental Congress or Provincial Con- " gress or Committee of Safety of this Colony, for the " defence of the United Colonies against the unjust " claims and hostile operations of the British Minis- " try to enforee 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 86

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