History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 98

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 98

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" These Resolutions are almost identical with other Resolutions, of the same tenor, which had been adopted by the Continental Congress, on the twenty-fourth of June preceding, (ride pages 355, 356, ante ;) but, be- cause of the subsequent abrogation of all the Laws of the Colony, and because no other Laws had been enacted, even provisionally, to take their places, the truth was, that, on the day of the adoption of these Resolutions, by the Convention, there were no Laws, of any kind, in force, within the State, uor any Courts to try offenders, of any kind; and the Resolutions were, therefore, practically, mere buncombe, mean- ing nothing.

But the ridiculousness of the Resolutions was not confined to their allusions to Laws which had been formally abrogated and to Conrts which had been as formally abol shed. Obedience to the Laws, had there been any Laws, would have been truly due from every one withiu the limits of the State ; but that was something which was entirely distinct from Allegiance, which was not dne to the Laws but to the Sovereign to whose supreme authority the person was legally subject, and from whom even the Laws themselves, had there been any, had derived all the authority which they could have pos- sibly possessed. Treason bas always consisted, and still consists, of something else than a mere misdemeanor or a simple felony ; aud . the subject of another Sovereign, although a violator of the lex loci, to which he properly owed obedience, could not, then nor since, have been legally tried and convicted of Treasou, for any such violation of the local Law, in the State of New York or elsewhere, else, under these Resolu- tions, every officer and soldier of the Royal Army, whether British or Irish or German, who were withiu the State of New York, on aud after the sixteenth of July, 1776, were Traitors "against the State." liable to be tried for that very capital offence, and to "suffer the paius and "penalties of Death," therefor.

The Convention, in its eagerness to secure the State, made itself ridiculous by the passage of such Resolutious, especially since it was exercising despotic authority, nnrestrained by any Law, and needed no such Resolution as a warrant for declaring any one, no matter whom, either with or without a reason, to have been a traitor, and to have hung and quartered him after the most approved fashion of despots, had it inclined to have done so.

387

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

' such persons, whose going at large, at this eritieal " time, they shall deem dangerous to the Liberties of " this State;" 1 and the measure of its zeal was filled by asking a loan from General Washington, for the payment of what it had undertaken to do, promising to " take the earliest care to replace what nothing " but urgent necessity would have induced it to bor- " row ;" by requesting him to send an immediate sup- pły of Ammunition for the troops who were already in motion and " but ill-supplied " with that very nec- essary artiele; by expressing a fear to him that the enemy would attempt " to eut off the communication " between the City and country, by landing above " Kingsbridge," and its desire to " have some force " ready to hang on his rear, in ease such a step should " be taken ;" and by suggesting to the General, also, that if Governor Trumbull would form a Camp of six thousand men, at Byram-river, the westernmost limit of Connecticut, any designs which the enemy might have, to land above Kingsbridge, would become “ ex- · " tremely hazardous." 2

While the Convention was thus bravely and, gener- ally, with excellent judgment, employed in making preparations for a vigorous and effective resistance, whatever the purposes of the enemy may have been, General Clinton, then at Fort Montgomery, as we have already seen, not only welcomed one of the en- emy's tenders, which was beating up the river, taking soundings as she went, with a thirty-two pound shot, which caused her to put about and run down the river, to the place where the ships had anchored ; but he also made preparations for the removal of all the goods, from the storehouses, and all the Cattle, Sheep, ete., from the farms which were contiguous to the river, to places of safety ; and, on the following day, [July 17, 1776,] he went down with a force sufficiently strong to do what he had proposed ; successfully re- moved what had not yet been removed by others ; and left one hundred and eighty Militia, under the command of a prudent officer, to oppose any attempt which might be made to effect a landing or to open a communication with the shore.3

On the same day, [July 17, 1776,] the Rose and one of the tenders ran up the river, the former within

three miles of Fort Montgomery ; plundered the house of a poor man-taking, among other things, "a " handkerchief full of Salad and a Pig so very poor " that a erow would scarcely deign to eat it"-setting the house on fire, when it was left ; and then, return- ing to the place where the tender had run aground, in the morning, east her anchor, where, on the fol- lowing day, the Phoenix joined her.4

The purposes for which these vessels were sent up the river have never been satisfactorily explained ; and where historians have referred to the movement at all, they have generally left the subject imperfectly told. General Howe, in his first despatch on the mat- ter, informed the Home Government that he had " submitted to Admiral Shuldham's consideration the " propriety of sending a naval force up the North- " river, above the Town of New York, with a view to " distress the rebels on that Island, by obstructing " supplies coming down the river, and other good " consequences dependent upon that measure, which " meeting with his approbation, orders are given for " two ships, one of forty and another of twenty guns, " to proceed upon that service, the first favorable op- " portunity ; and I flatter myself that these ships, "more than which cannot be spared at present from " the protection of the transports, will prove of suffi- "cient force to support themselves against all at- " tempts of the enemy, from the upper river, and to " answer the purposes for which they are intended," 5 from which it will be seen that it was a naval move- ment made for a purely military purpose, originated by the General-in-chief of the Army; and, it is said, unwillingly aequieseed in, by the Admiral.6

It was said by General Howe, as we have seen, that the purpose was to eut off the supplies, for the City, which were brought down the river; but he also said, it will be remembered, there were "other good " consequences dependent upon tltatt measure," of the character of which " consequences " he prudently said nothing. If, antong those "other good consequences," it was intended to cut off the communication, by wa- ter, between New York and Albany and, therefore, between the Army on the northern frontier and the main Arnty, at the former place, as General Washing- ton suspected,7 that would have been a well-devised

Journal of the Convention, "Tuesday afternoon, 16 Inly, 1776."

The Convention to General Washington, " WHITE PLAINS, Inly 16, 1776." Of the last-named excellent suggestion, General Washington subse- quently wrote, * * * "but I did not think myself at liberty to "urge or request his " [Governor Trumbull's] " interest in forming the " Camp of six thousand men, as the levies, directed by Congress, on the " third of June, lo be furnished for the defense of this place, by that " Government, are but little more than one-third come in. At the same "time, the proposition I think a good one, if it could be carried inte "execution. In case the enemy should attempt to effect a landing "above Kingsbridge and to cut off the communication between this " City and the country, an Army to hang on their rear would distress "them exceedingly." (General Washington to the President of the Conts- reutal Congress, " NEW YORK, 19 July, 1776.")

See, also, the General's unusually warm approval of the project, in his lutter to the Convention, " HEAH-QUARTERS, NEW YORK, July 19, 1776." & General Girorge Clinton to General Washington, "FORT MONTGOMERY, "July 23, 1776."

General George Clinton to General Washington, "FORT MONTGOMERY, " July 23, 1776."

The sworn statement of Jucob Hallsted, the owner of the properly carried away or destroyed, which isa well-told narrative of some of the evils attendant on every War, may be seen in the Historical Mann- triple, etr .: Miscellaneous Papers, XXXV., 77.

5 Cirneral Hour to Lord George Germaine, "STATEN ISLAND, 8 July, " 1776."

G The direct authority for this statement has been mislaid ; but a con- firmation of it may be seen in General Howe's statement, in his despatch to Lord George Germaine, (" STATEN ISLAND, 8 July, 1776,") that no more than the Phoenix and Rose could have been spared, at that time, from the protection of the transports, even for the important service in which those two ships were employed.

i General Washington to John Augustine Washington, "NEW-YORK, 22 " .Inly, 1776."

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

purpose, since the same movement which would have cut the line of communication between the two Armies, would, also, have cut off the supplies intended for the City. It was feared, also, by General Washington,1 that troops were on board, intended for the seizure and occupation of the passes in the Highlands; and it was also supposed, by the same vigilant commander,2 that Arms, for the use of those who were inclined to declare for the King, were carried up the river, by these ships and by their tenders.

The success of the expedition, in the purpose for which General Howe said it was principally sent out -to cut off' the supplies for the City-was unques- tionable ; but if that had been the real and principal purpose of the movement, in view of its complete suc- cess, the ships would not have been withdrawn after so short a stay -- the command of the river, for such a purpose only, would have been just as useful, perma- nently, as it had been during the short period of their limited stay on the river. There must, therefore, have been "other good consequences dependent on " that measure ;" and we are not inclined to admit that any Arms were aboard the ships, for the equipment of Westchester-county Loyalists, nor that any design against the Highland passes was on the programme of their proposed operations-we incline, rather, to the belief that only ostensibly were those ships sent up the river to cut off the supplies ; and that, really, they were sent up to sound, not only the river but the inhabitants of the Philipsborough and the Cortlandt Manors, on the eastern bank of the river, and, to some extent, those of Orange-county, below the mountains, on the western bank, as to their disposition to declare themselves favorable to the Royal causc. The vigi- lance with which the Westchester-shore of the river was generally watched and the extreme backwardness of even those who had been outraged by the County and Town Committees, to abandon their families and their homes, even in retaliation or because of their honorable loyalty to their Sovereign, were so pain- fully evident, however, that General Howe became convinced that if " the Militia of Westchester-county " could not be depended on," in the revolutionary interest, it was equally untrustworthy, in the interest of the King; that the farmers of Westchester-county were reliable, mainly, in their love of their respective homes ; that they desired nothing more than a peace- ful occupation of their respective farms; and that he need not expect any military co-operation from then. He learned the lesson, faithfully ; and no one who reads what he subsequently wrote,3 no one who studies

) General Washington to John Augustine Washington, "NEW-YORK, 22 "July, 1776." 2 Ibid.

3 In his published Despatches to the Home Government, while he held the chief command of the Army in America, and in his Narrative in a Committee of the House of Commons, relative to his Conduct, etc., es- pecially iu his Observations upon a pamphlet entitled Letters to a Noble- man, General lowe told the story of his great expection of active co- operation, in the field, from those who favored the Royal canse ; of the

what he subsequently did, concerning the alleged loy- al element of the country, will fail to trace the spirit of both his words and his actions, back to the teach- ings of that not unprofitable expedition of the Phoenix and the Rose into the western waters of Westchester- county.

Whatever may have been the real purposes of the expedition, the eastern shore of the river was so well guarded that no attempt was made to land, in force, for any purpose, ou the Westchester-county side of it, nor was there any open communication between the ships and the inhabitants of that County, although it is known that frequent communications were effect- ed, secretly and in the night, with some of the in- habitants of the Cortlandt Manor+-it is not pretended by any one, that any Loyalist, from either of the three Counties of Orange, Westchester and Duchess, sought refuge on board of either of the ships. The river

assurances, to that effect, which he received from Governor Tryon and others; of the measures adopted by himself, under the most favorable circumstances ; and of the bitter disappointment which he had experi- enced, in every instance.

As the inhabitants of Staten Island, and those of Queens, Westchester, and Duchess-counties were supposed to have been especially conserva- tive and, consequently, had been most terribly outraged by the domi- nant fuetion, it was reasonably supposed, by those who were familiar with the farts, that retaliation if not loyalty would induce these, especially, to declare against those who had oppressed and ontraged them ; but the peaceful disposition of the farmers of lower Orange and Duchess and Westchester counties, their simple domestic habits and controlling love of home, and their almost universal contentment with their old-time pros- perity and comfort and happiness, were not taken into consideration ; and, as the expedition of the Pharnic aud the Rose ascertained and as General Howe subsequently learned, these were more powerful thanany other consideration-the farmers referred to, preferred to endure the hardships to which they might be subjected, at home, instead of ahan- doning their homes and wives and children, of throwing themselves into what wouldhave been new and untried associations and methodsandex- periences, and of being subjected to other hardships; in the field or in garrisons, as severe, if not more severe, as those from which they would have thus escaped.

General Ilowe very well said, after experience had taught him the farts, " Much might be said upon the state of loyalty and the principles "of loyalty, in America. Some are loyal from principle ; many from in- "terest ; many from resentment ; wany wish for peace, but are imliffer- "ent which side prevails ; and there are others who wish success to Great " Britain, from a recollection of the happiness they enjoyed under her " government." (Obserrations upon a pamphlet entitled Letters to a No- bleman, 39.)

Although there may have been individuals among the farmers of Westchester-county who, under this classification, were "loyal from "principle " or from " interest" or from "resentment," there can be very little doubt that the mass of those farmers were loyal, as far as they were loyal in any degree, because of their desire for peace, no matter from whom it might come, and because of their recollection of the hap piness they had enjoyed under the Colonial Goverment.

They practically illustrated the theory of the party of the Opposition to the llome Goverment, with whom they had been, generally, in har- mony-" LET US ALONE."

4 General Washington to John Augustine Washington, " NEW YORK, 22 " July, 1776."

There is not known to have been any communication between the Westchester-county bank of the river and the ships, while the latter re- maiued on their lower anchorage-ground, except those referred to on page 208, ante; but, subsequently, while the ships were off the Cort landt Manor, their boats as we shall see, were very active, during every night ; and it is known the ships were visited by some of the neighboring in- habitants. The guards were less vigilant, in the upper part of the County, than they had been, near Tarrytown,

389

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783.

was carefully sounded, as far as the tenders went ; 1 the inhabitants, especially those on the western bank of the river, were widely robbed, and, sometimes, their houses were burned ; 2 and the line of communi- cation, between the City and the upper portions of the country, was effectually cut ; 3 but, if the purpose liad been merely to cut off the supplies, since the sup- plies of the City which were taken from Westchester- county, were drawn, during the harvest-season, only in very limited quantities and those from only the near- by farmers, possessing only limited means, the ships were anchored too far up the river; and that par- ticular purpose of the expedition must have been, to some extent, defeated, by the mistake of the officer commanding it.

The Militia who were ordered out for the protection of the storehouses and the passes in the Highlands, responded with great promptitude,4 so much so, in- deed, that General Washington was warranted in calling to the main Army some Massachusetts troops who had been sent to that vicinity ; 5 and the vessels dropped down aud anchored "a little below Ver- " planck's Point," and ceased to make any attempt to effect a landing, anywhere.6

On the twenty-sixth of July, the ships were said to have dropped down the river, still further,? probably to the mouth of the Croton-river ; 8 and it is very evident they fell down to their original station, off

1 General Clinton to General Washington, "FORT MONTGOMERY, July " 23, 1776."

2 Colimel A. Hawkes Huy to General Washington, " HAVERSTRAW, July " 19, 1776 ;" General Clinton to General Washington, "FORT MONTGOM- "ERY, July 23, 1776;" Extract from a letter dated at Fort Muntyouery, July 23, 1776, in Force's American Archives, V , i., 516.

3 Journal of the Courention, "Thursday morning, July 18, 1776 ;" Gen - eral Washington to John Augustine Washington, "NEW YORK, 22 July, " 1776."

+ Pierre l'an Cortlandt and Zephanich Platt, Junr. to the Convention, " PEEKSKILL, July 18, 1776."

5 General Washington to the Cureution, " HEAD-QUARTERS, NEW YORK, "July 19, 1776."

6 l'ierre Van Cortlandt and Zephanich Platt, Juur. to the Coureutiou, " PEEKSKILL, Inly 22, 1776."

7 Memoirs of Major-general Heath, 50.

" l'ierre l'un Cortlandt and Zephanich Platt, Juur. to the Convention, " HEADQUARTERS, MOUTH OF CROTON, Augt. 2, 1776."

On the twenty-sixth of July, Joshua, son of Caleb Ferris-a member of the County Committee, during 1775-6-weut on board the Phonic, remaining all night ; and Philip Schurman-who had been in Boston, while the Royal Army had occupied the Town ; who had been taken prisoner, by the Americans; and who had been released by reason of per- sonal influence of his friends-Frederic Secore, "one Bailey,"* and Lewis Purdy, " from Croton River," are also known to have golle to the same ship, on that day or subsequently. (Examinations of Joshua Ferris, Historical Manuscripts, etc. : Miscellaneous Papers, xxxV., 69, 85.)

* On Sunday night, the twenty-eighth of July, because the New Eng- land troops Ind gone away, on the preceding day, leaving the river-line unguarded, the boats from the ships went ashore, "at one Bailey's," near the month of Crotou-river; " went back, half a mile ; and drove off "a pair of oxen, two cows, one calf, one heifer, and eleven sheep : no "donbt had the assistance of some Tories, on shore." ( Pierre l'an Cortlandt and Zephanich Platt, Jaur., to the Convention, " ILEAD QI ARTERS, " MOUTH OF CRUTUN, Augt. 2, 1776.")

Was the Bailey, at whose house the landing was thus made, the same Bailey who was seen on board the Phunix, a few days afterwards ?

Tarrytown, during either the second or third of August.9

In the meantime, while the ships were thus alarm- ing nearly every one, by their movements up the river, General Washington, notwithstanding his multitude of other cares, promptly adopted measures for securing the removal of those unwelcome visitors from the waters of the Hudson. Immediately after their successful passage up the river, the General wrote to the Governors of Connecticut and Rhode Is- land, for the use of some of the galleys which those States had built; and, on the twenty-fourth of July, he wrote to the Convention of New York, telling it what he had done ; that he was in expectation, "every "hour," that three or four of those galleys would reach the City of New York ; that he had one, already ; that if any measures were being taken for attacking the ships, in which these galleys could be usefully employed, to let him know ; and that, "if not other- " wise materially engaged," he should be glad to co- operate with them, and to furnish any assistance which the galleys could give.10 The reply of "the "Secret Committee" of the Convention, to whom this portion of the General's letter was referred, has not been found ; but the tenor of it may be seen in the fact that two of the galleys went up the river, on the twenty-eightli of July, and three or four more on the first of August; 11 and that they probably "ran into "shoal water and creeks, whence they could warp out, " at certain times of tide, and annoy the shipping." 12 On the afternoon of the third of August, these galleys-bearing the names, respectively, of Wash- ington, Lady Washington, Spitfire, Whiting, Indepen- dence, C'rane, and an unnamed whaleboat-boldly at- tacked the ships, at their anchorage ; and as this early naval conflict occurred in the waters of Westchester- county, we make room for the contemporary account of it:

" TARRYTOWN, (Sunday morning,) August 4. " SIR :

"I have just opportunity to inform you that, " yesterday, at one o'clock, P.M., the galleys attacked " the Pharnie and the Rose, off Tarrytown.

" The Lady Washington fired the first gun on our "side, in answer to one received from the Phoenix: " this first shot from ns entered the Phoenix. The " Washington, galley, on board of which the Commo- " dore's flag was hoisted, then came up within grape- " shot of the ships, and singly sustained their whole " fire, for about a quarter of an hour, before any other "of our vessels took a shot from her (the tide wasting " them more than the pilots expected to the eastern " shore; and the Lady Washington falling back to

9 Compare the letter of Pierre Van Cortlandt und Zephianish Platt, Junr., of the second of August, with the reports of the engagement bo- tween the galleys and the ships, off Tarrytown, on the evening of the next day.

10 General l'ashington to the C'onrention, " NEW-YORK, July 24, 1776." Il Memoirs of Major-general Houth, 51.

12 [I]all's] History of the Civil War in America, 186.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

" take her station in the line, according to orders). " The Spitfire advanced, in a line with the Washing- " ton ; and, with her, behaved well.

" Wc had as hot a fire as, perhaps, was ever known, " for an hour and a half. The Washington, which I " was on board, during the whole engagement, had "the ledgings of her bow-guns knocked away, which " prevented our working them, and was otherwise " considerably damaged, being thirteen times hulled, " had three shot in the waist, many of her oars car- "ried away, etc. The Lady Washington, after hulling " the Phoenix six times, had her bow, and only, gun, " a thirty-two-pounder, on which we placed much " dependence, split seven inches, and her gun-tackles " and breechings carried away. The Spitfire was " hulled, several times, and received one shot between " wind and water, which, not being quickly discov- " ered, occasioned her making much water. The rest " of the galleys received considerable damage in their " rigging, sails, and oars.1 Under these circumstances, " our Commodore, Colonel Tupper, thought it pru- " dent to give the signal for our little fleet to with- " draw, after manfully fighting a mnuch superior force, " for two hours.

1 It will be seen that very little was said, in this Report, of the opera tions of the Connecticut galleys, the Crune and the Whiting : the follow. ing correspondence will remedy that defect :

I. " NEW- HAVEN, October 14, 1776. " SIR :

" By Captain Tinker am informed of the misfortune and situation of " the row-galleys sent into the Continental service from this State ; and "as circumstances are altered, respectiug them, since my last to you, on "the subject of dismissing their crews and arms, must again request your "attention to that matter, that the crew of the Crane, Captain Tinker, " who escaped, may be dismissed, and be admitted to return to the em- " ployment of this State ; and that if the crews of the other two galleys "can be of no further service to yon, they, likewise, may be dismissed ; " of one or both, as you see fit, as we can employ them to advantage on " board onr armed vessels, fitting out, into which service they are desir- "01.8 of entering.

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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 98

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