History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 102

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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One of the most important events in which he had engaged in 1777 was going in company with George Clinton, John Jay and some members of the Legisla- ture to select a new site for a fort After consulta- tion with General Washington, West Point was deter- mined upon, and early in January the embankments were commeneed. Van Cortlandt was now chosen Lieutenant-Governor, and as George Clinton, the Governor, was constantly in the field, the labors of both offices fell upon him, and they were not light. He served as Lieutenant-Governor from 1777 to 1795, " filling the office with great dignity." 2 He was the president of the convention that established the Con- stitution. 3 In 1783 he saw the desire of his heart

granted, when he entered once more the city of his birthi at the head of a train of exiles, who, for seven years, had been strangers to their homes and hearthis, and he thus transcribes a brief record of this entry into New York : " I went from Peekskill Tuesday, the 18th of November, in company with His Excellency, Governor Clinton, Coll. Benson and Coll. Campbell, lodged that night with Genl. Cortlandt at Croton River, proceeded and lodged Wednesday night at Ewd. Cowenhoven's, where we met His Excellency General Washington and his aids. The next night lodged with Mr. Fredk. V. Cortlandt at the Yonkers, after having dined with Gen. Lewis Morris. Friday- morning, in company with the Commander-in-Chief, as far as the Widow Day's at Harlem, where we held a Council. Saturday I rode down to Mr. Stuyve- sant's, 4 stayed there until Tuesday, then rode trium- phant into the City with the Commander-in-Chief."

In 1778 he was one of the commissioners appointed to extinguish the Indian titles of the State and the manuscript journal of these proceedings was presen- ted by his grandson, Pierre Van Cortlandt, to the Al- bany Institute and was printed by that learned society. Van Cortlandt always retained a most devoted attach- ment to Washington, and was constantly a guest at the dinners given by his Excelleney, when the latter was in New York.

At the close of the war, Van Cortlandt returned to the Peekskill House and resided here for several years. This house, occupied during the struggle by Gerard G. Beekman and his wife (Cornelia Van Cortlandt was for a time the American headquarters. Washi- ington nominally stayed at Peekskill, but every even- ing mounted his horse and attended by his orderly rode off' to this mansion.5 Mrs. Beekman allowed no hands but her own to make his bed and arrange his room, which for fear of surprise was a secluded one. This lady's life had been full of adventures-her braving Colonels Fanning and Bayard, her spirited replies to the insults heaped upou her. hnsband-her threatened capture by Tryon, the stealing of her "riding beast," the brave demand for its return, which seenred its restoration, are all graphically told in the sketch of her life by Mrs. Ellet," and form a part of the Van Cortlandt family history.

After some years Pierre Van Cortlandt and his wife returned to their old home, the Manor House. Free- born Garretson, who had married a cousin of both, was an ardent Methodist, and became a constant vis- itor, bringing with him Asbury and many other great preachers of that denomination. Mrs. Van Cortlandt, whom Asbury calls "a Shunamite, indeed," had always a prophet's chamber in readiness for the welcome

1 Address of llon. Chauncey H. Depew, at Sing Sing, July 4th.

" W. Irving's " Life of Washington," vol. ii., page 192.

3 " In the Senate he presided with dignity and propriety, nor ever suf- fered his opinion to be known until called upon constitutionally to de- cide, and his vote was then given with promptness, uninfluenced by party feelings and evidencing the conditions of a sound and honest mind."-Guzette, 1814.

4 Mr. Stuyvesant married the sister of Mr. Van Cortlandt.

6 Sce Original Documents, Sir Henry Clinton's Secret Record, from Captain Beckwith's report July 1, 1781. Magazine American History text and note May, 1884, page 438.

6 " The Women of the American Revolution," by Mrs. Ellet, vol. 2, page 191.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

gnests. The site of the Methodist Church at Croton, and its extended burial-ground, was Van Cortlandt's gift, and he largely aided in the ercetion of the church. In 1808 his wife entered into rest at the age of eighty-seven. Many years before her death, she selected a spot in sight of her window to lay a be- loved little daughter ; here, too, were buried Stephen and Gilbert, (who had died in New York, ) in 1786, and here the mother was laid to rest. She " was a model wife, a model mother and a model Christian ; she made the Manor House an earthly paradise."1

On the Ist day of May, 1814, her husband followed her at the age of ninety-four. " A man of exemplary practical virtnes, kind as a neighbor, fond and indul- gent as a parent, and forever the friend of the poor. He lived an honest man, respected, cherished and be- loved. The simplieity of his life was that of an an- cient Patriarch. He has descended to the grave, full of years, covered with honor and grateful for his country's happiness. He retained his recollec- tion to the last, calling npon his Savionr to take him to himself."2 His personal appearance was very striking; he was of large stature, and the portrait by Jarvis shows a massive head. " An honest facc, mild eyes and a benignant countenance, a face one loves to look upon and never weary." 3

Five children survived him,-Philip, the brave sol- dier; Pierre, Catharine, (the widow of Abram Van Wyck, who, since her widowhood, lived at the Manor House) Cornelia, (Mrs. Beekman, whose home was at Castle Phillipse, her husband having purchased a large amount of land in the forfeited Phillipse Manor) and Ann, who resided in Albany, having married the only brother of the Patroon, Philip S. Van Rensselaer, long the Mayor of Albany. Mrs. Van Wyck died in 1829, aged seventy-eight ; Mrs. Beekman in 1847, aged ninety-four, and Mrs. Van Rensselaer, the last of her generation, died in Albany in 1855 in her eighty-ninth year.

Philip, the eldest son, now succeeded to the entail. He had been a member of the Provincial Congress in 1775, from Westchester, and finding a crisis fast ap- proaching, he threw the commission given by Tryon In the fire, and on the 18th of June, 1775, received a commission as lientenant-colonel in the Fourth Bat- talion of the New York troops, umder command of General Montgomery, signed by John Hancock, President of Congress. This acceptance involved many sacrifices; his store, mills and other property were totally lost. The young soldier met, too, with many discouragements. At Newtown his enlisted men, not receiving the clothing promised, marched off, only returning when Van Cortlandt agreed to supply all de- ficiencies from his own purse. At Albany he was ob- liged to borrow fimds to pay his men, a mutiny having

broken out, in the midst of which, harassed and dis- eouraged, there came to him the heavy tidings of the death of his favorite brother Stephen. Spent with fa- tigue and distress, after quelling the mutiny, he fol- lowed the troops to Ticonderoga, where he lay at the point of death for weeks from a nervous fever. As soon as practicable, General l'hilip Schuyler, his father's cousin, brought him to his own house, in Albany, to be nursed and eared for, until he could reach his home. It 1776 he returned to Ticonderoga, when Gates took command, and was sent to Skenesborough in place of Colonel Wynkoop, who was ill. "I remained suthi- cient time to discover the vile conduct of Arnold, in procuring goods from the merchants of Montreal, and appropriating them, I believe, to his benefit; he would have been arrested, but escaped by procuring an order from General Gates to send me the morning after the eourt had adjourned, to Skenesborongh, by which means the court was dissolved, Hazen released from arrest,4 and Arnold escaped the censure which he ought to have had." 5 A return of fever sent Van Cortlandt south, and he joined Washington at King's Bridge, near the residence of the Yonkers Van Cort- landts, and acted for a few days as aid to Washington. Shortly afterwards the battle of White Plains was fonght, and Colonel Ritzema having displayed dis- affeetion or fear, absconded to New York, and Wash- ington filled up one of the blank commissions furnished him by Hancock with the name of Van Cortlandt, appointing him Colonel of the Second New York Regiment, in November, 1776. He joined the regiment immediately after the battle of Prince- ton, recruiting and disciplining it, and in 1777 they were sent to Peekskill to join the Fourth Regiment under the command of Colonel Henry B. Livingston, as a number of British ships and transports had ap- peared in the Hudson. "No one shewed more zcal at this time of alarm than Colonel Van Cortlandt, of an old colonial family, which held its manorial resi- denee at the month of the Croton. With his regi- ment he kept a dragon watch along the eastern shore of Tappan Sea and Haverstraw Bay."6 From Peekskill he was sent to Bergen, and after a skirmish there with the enemy took command at White Plains. His duty here was exceedingly severe, being surrounded by a force treble in number to his own, but he kept them at bay, and effectually guarded the neutral ground. The army left for Philadelphia, and Colonel Van Cortlandt, in command of the Second and Fourth New York Regiments, was ordered to relieve Fort Stanwix, now besieged by St. Leger, aided by an In- dian force under Brant.

The fort, commanded by General Peter Gansevoort. was invested, but a sally was made, resulting in the battle of Oriskany and Colonel Willett putting the

1 Skelch of Pierre Van Cortlandt, by the Rev. 1. B. Wakely. D. D., Ladies' Repository, December, 1866.

" Obituary notice.

A Sketch by Dr. Wakely.

4 Colonel Hazen had been arrested by Arnold, for disobedience to orders. & Manuscript journal of Philip Van Cortlandt, published in "American Magazine of History, " Muy, Ists.

6 " History of Washington, " by W. Irving, vol ii.

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CORTLANDT.

enemy to flight. A relief party had been sent by Arnold and the enemy withdrew to Canada. Colonel Van Cortlandt now rejoined the brigade of General Poor, encamped at Stillwater, and on the 17th of September a severe engagement came off. Van Cortlandt's regiment was engaged first against the Hessians and next against a troop of light infantry. " This was one of the longest, warmest and most obdurate battles fought in America."1 " The theatre of action was such that although the combatants changed ground a dozen times in the course of the day, the contest terminated on the spot where it began. It was truly a gallant confliet in which death by familiarity lost its terrors." 2 The hostile armies lay opposite each other until the 7th of October. At the battle of Saratoga, where Burgoyne surrendered on the 17th of October, the Second Regiment under Van Cortlandt, attached to Poor's Brigade, bore themselves with the greatest gallantry.3 In the memoirs of Wilkinson, he states that after the sur- render he was so ill that he had to be placed on a bed in a wagon with Colonel Van Cortlandt, who was in similar ease, and both were conveyed to Albany. After his recovery Van Cortlandt joined the main army lintted at Valley Forge.

General Clinton applied for the Second Regiment to gnard the frontier, where Brant and his Indians were ravaging and destroying, and he was on this duty during the winter of 1778-79. The ensuing spring Van Cortlandt set off with two hundred and fifty men to surprise Brant on the Delaware, but received orders to join Sullivan in Pennsylvania. While pre- paring to do so, news was brought that the Indians were at hand, and with Colonel Cantine and the Ulster militia, they set off' and the Indians retired. During the skirmish, as Colonel Van Cortlandt was leaning against a tree, waiting for his men to close up, Brant ordered one of his Indians to pick him off, but the ball passed three inches above his head.+

1 " Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt and New York Continentals," by Mrs. Helen Beck Parmelee. New York Genealogical and Biographical Rec- ord, July. 1874.

2 Memoirs of General James Wilkinson.

3 " No men did more efficient service on this memorable occasion than the Sons of New York, led by Colonel Van Cortlandt and other gallant officers, who, in disputing the pathway to their own broad acres, were contending for a continent. They resented the removal of Schuyler from the chief command and declared that an able general might have utterly ronted Burgoyne."-" History of New York," by Mrs. M. J. Lamb.

4 The conclusion of this story is characteristic of both men. Some years after the war was ended, General Van Cortlandt was seated in church. Ax the general' was near the window he saw a stranger passing through the adjoining grave-yard, and who, as he went by, glanced in at the window. The face was a striking and familiar one, Where had he scen it ? A few minutes meditation solved the question. When Brant visited England in 1776 he was received at court with marked distinction, and Romney painted his picture in full war costume. From this likeness some fine engravings had been published, and the general (for he was breveted a general after the war) had at the manor-house a framed copy of this portrait, still in the possession of one of the family. The moment that the conviction "this is Brant" crossed his mind, he rose and quietly left the church, and, walking after the stranger, accosted him by name. Brant replied politely, but expressed surprise that he should be recognized in that neighborhood. The general introduced himself, and,

After the retreat of the Indian force Colonel Van Cortlandt joined Sullivan, who ordered him to con- struct a road to Wilkesbarre, a duty for which his carly training as a surveyor fitted him. Here he awaited the arrival of Sullivan, who marched over the road with Maxwell's and Poor's brigades, and at Newtown, (now Elmira). they joined the main body under Gen- eral James Clinton. There Butler and Brant had made a stand.

" I requested General Clinton to permit me to charge with bayonet as soon as I gained the heights on the flank of the Indians; he consented, and I ordered the charge to be made, he leading the First Regiment and I the Second, which ended the battle in five minutes. They ran and left their dead behind them, which they seldom do unless obliged to." 5 The troops proceeded to the Genesee Flats and the Indians retreated to Niagara, their confederacy broken. The Second Reg- iment returned to Morristown, erecting there log huts for their use. Colonel Van Cortlandt was ordered to Philadelphia to a court-martial on Arnold. The men- bers agreed with one accord to cashier him ; but they were overruled and the sentence changed to a repri- mand from the commander-in-chief, "a fatal lenity, as events subsequently proved." In 1780 the regi- ment marched to Northern New York. The colonel was sent to West Point to command a regiment of in- fantry under Lafayette, who had two brigades under his command and was stationed at Tappan. Lafay- ette went from there to Virginia, and the five New York regiments were consolidated under the command of Colonel Van Cortlandt, who was ordered to Fort Schuyler (now Utica) to relieve Colonel Coelirane. He went on and removed the cannon, etc., to Fort Herkimer, where a new fort was commerced. From here he was sent to Albany, and thence to West Point, receiving secret orders when here (from Wash- ington) to proceed through New Jersey to Yorktown. On his arrival " Van Cortlandt was ordered out with a strong pieket guard to relieve Colonel Sehammil, who had invested the town ; but this officer, unfortu- nately mistaking a British patrol of horse for our own men, had been surrounded, and was mortally wounded.

falling into conversation, they walked back to the tavern, where they dined together and talked over their various adventures during the war. In the course of their interview the skirmish near Laghawack was spoken of, and Brant related his orders to shoot down the commanding officer, but the man's sight was deceived by the fluttering of the leaves or some such canse, and he sighted an inch or more too high. " Had I fired myself," continned Braut, "I should not have had the pleasure of meeting you to day." "Indeed," replied the general, smiling, " I am very happy that you did not." "Ainl I, sir," said Brant, bowing-for with all his native ferocity, he was a polished gentleman-" And 1, sir, am also extremely happy I dul not."

From "Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt and the New York Continentals " -Mrs. Parmelee .- N. Y. Bio, and Gen. Record.

In the manor-house hangs the original portrait of Brant, painted for James Caldwell, the grandfather of Mr. Pierre Van Cortlandt, and copied for Stone's " Life of Brant; " also for the Indian Gallery at Washington by permission of William Caldwell.

6 Manuscript journal of Philip Van Cortlandt published in . Am Mag. of Ilistory.

tou-

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

The commander-in-chief and other officers eame to the redoubt, and were fired on by the enemy, but with- out effect. General Washington then directed Col- onel Van Cortlandt to keep his men as they were at present disposed, out of sight of the battery, and at night to surround the town to the right with sentinels all the way to York River, whilst the French piekets would do the same to the left, and the next morning the enemy saw themselves surrounded by a line of vigilant troops, who threw up an intrenehment and planted eannon, to which Washington himself applied the first match. The ball crashed through the town, and struck a house where some British officers were at dinner, killing the one at the head of the table. The enemy had two redoubts about 350 yards in ad- vance of the line, and batteries which surrounded the town, and it was determined to storm them. General Lafayette's light infantry was sent to one, the French grenadiers, under the Baron de Viomenil, to the other. The light infantry, under Colonel Hamilton, Major N. Fish and other officers, took the one near the river in a few minutes. When General Lafayette sent word to the French baron, he returned answer that his bat- tery was not taken, but would be in five minutes, 'which,' says Colonel Van Cortlandt, 'I believe he did.' Both the above were brilliant exploits, and erown the assailants with everlasting honor, particu- larly as they extended mercy to every one who solie- ited it after entering the works, which was not the case when Dayton's horse were surprised. 'After the redoubts were taken,' continnes the colonel, 'we ad- vanced our lines in their range, and the next morn- ing I advanced the New York Brigade, which I then commanded, with drumsand colors flying, and carried arms up to the redoubt which Baron Viomenil had taken; which insulting movement drew on ns the re- sentment of our enemies, who fired an incessant shower of shells, withont doing any injury, only killing a French grenadier in my front, and a Vir- ginian retiring on my left. One of the shots, as I entered the entrenchment, ent its upper part, and almost covered me and the Baron Steuben, who was meeting me, when he directed me to stop my music, when the firing ceased. When Heame to the redoubt, it was necessary to cut away a part to get a mortar to play on the enemy. One of Captain Vandenburgh's fatigne party was killed the first stroke he struck by a nine-pound ball, which earried off his thigh elose to his body. On seeing this, a volunteer was called for, as the case was desperate, when a soldier who lad been disgraced, as he told me, without a eanse, took the place and performed the work, although during its execution three balls were fired at him, all of which came within six inches, and one almost covered his head with sand. His name was Peter Christian Vonghit and his brother is my neighbor at Peekskill. One night, the enemy, I sup- pose to save appearances, made a sortie on a French battery by surprise, killed some, and spiked the

guns, but were soon obliged to retire with some loss." !

On the 19th of October, 1781, the British army sur- rendered. The prisoners were sent to the interior, and as both General Clinton and Colonel Dayton were ill, Colonel Van Cortlandt took command of the New York Division and the New Jersey troops, and marched seven hundred Hessian and British prisoners to Fredericksburg, delivering them to the Virginia militia.

Silver in those war times seems to have been a rari- ty in the Old Dominion, for the colonel remarks : " I was asked at Hanover Court House five dollars for a bowl of apple-toddy, but was satisfied by paying onesil- ver dollar." After delivering up the prisoners, he eon- tinued his march through Alexandria, Georgetown, Bladensburg, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, to Tren- ton, where the New Jersey troops left, and the New York brigade marched to Pompton, and commenced huts for their winter accommodation, which, after all, appears to have been ofa miserable sort. They were scant of clothing and provisions, and obliged to labor hard to keep their huts warm. ?

While in their huts they were visited by Stenben, and also by Washington and his wife, who remained in Van Cortlandt's quarters from Saturday until Monday. The succeeding year the regiment was sent to Verplanck's Point, where they were joined by the New Jersey and New England troops. The French army, under Rochambean, halted there on their way to Peekskill, where they were reviewed by the Com- mander-in-chief. In the autumn they hutted at New Windsor, and while there, Colonel Vav Cortlandt at- tended the meeting called by Washington to consider the disaffection that had arisen from the fear enter- tained lest the army should be returned penniless to their homes. The meeting resulted in a imanimons resolution to patiently await the doings of Congress, and trust that their faithful services would meet a due reward. Soon after the army was disbanded, and the musical instruments of the band of the Second New York and the colors of the two regiments were presented by Colonel Van Cortlandt to George Clin- ton at Ponghkeepsie.

In 1783 Congress conferred on Philip Van Cort- landt the rank of Brigadier-General for gallant con- duct at Yorktown. He returned to the Manor House, but his activity of mind and body prevented him from leading a quiet life. He was one of the Commissioners of Forfeitures, and was sent by the district in which he resided, for sixteen years as its representative in Congress. He filled many local offices in his own town of Cortlandt, acting as supervisor, school com- missioner and road master, serupulously discharging the duties of each office with the same zeal and activ- ity he had displayed when heading his regiment in

Sketch by Mrs. Parmelee. New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. : Ibid.

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the field. He had been one of the original members and founders of the Cincinnati Society, established at the cantonment of the army on the banks of the Hud- son in 1783, and was on most intimate terms with all the foreign officers belonging to this Society. In 1824 Lafayette, his old comrade in arms, visited this country. An express notifying General Van Cort- landt, reached Croton at midnight, and at daylight he set off' to the city, where " he had the inexpressible satisfaction of embracing his old compatriot, and felt it one of the happiest moments of his life." le ac- companied Lafayette on the greater part of his ex- tended tour through the country. He died at his home November 21, 1831, in the eighty-second year of his age, and is interred near the graves of his pa- rents.

The Manor House, with its surrounding estate, now became the property of Pierre Van Cortlandt ; by his will the General bequeathed portions to his three sis- ters, and the residue to his nephew, Philip G. Van Wyck, who had always resided with him.

Pierre Van Cortlandt was born in 1762, and his early education was received at the school on the es- tate. He entered Rutgers (then Queen's) College at an early age. While pursuing his studies there, an attack was made on New Brunswick by the British, and the small body of students sallied out with the towns-people. Shots were exchanged, and one of the enemy was killed, but the honor of firing the fatal shot was disclaimed by the lads, all dreading the con- sequenees. During his college sojourn the brave Captain Voorhees was murdered by the British, being literally hacked to pieces near New Brunswick. Van Cortlandt knew him well, and vividly described the occurrence in after years. The degree of LL.D., was conferred upon him by his Alma-Mater in his old age. On one of his visits to his home at Peekskill, made on horseback, from his college, he met on the road a carriage in which was a lady apparently in distress. Near the carriage rode his acquaintance, Lieutenant Franks, to whom he addressed some in- quiries, to which the latter answered briefly, "That is Mrs. Arnold ; there is treason ; you will hear all about it when you get home." Ile found ou reaching Peekskill that Andre had been taken to a small house at the fork of the roads, two miles north of Peekskill and a short distance from the Van Cortlandt mansion. Ann Van Cortlandt (afterwards Mrs. Van Rensse- laer,) accompanied her brother Pierre on a visit to Andre.

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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. II, Part 102

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286