History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 106

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

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. II > Part 106

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1 Anecdotes collected by Mlvan Purdy.

2 " Magazine of American History," May, Isso, p. 306.

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it that a tavern was kept by a Mr. Brewer, and where a public house is set down on the American military maps of the region. The army lay encamped about it, probably for the most part to the south at each side of the road.

On the 26th of August the French army crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry and started with the Amer- ican forces on their march to Yorktown, Va. A por- tion of the American army was left behind under the command of General Heath. He makes the following entry in his diary : " Aug. 22d-The army [Ameri- cans under himself] marched from North Castle and encamped at Crompond. 23d-The army [American] marched from Crompond and took a strong position at Peekskill."

After the capture of Cornwallis the French army did not return northward for many months, and it was not until the 14th of September, 1782, that they be- gan to recross the Hudson to Verplanck's Point. On the 18th they were all on the east side of the Hudson, and on the 24th they moved to Crompond, where they remained till October 22d. The first division left at the latter date, on their march eastward, and were followed the next day by the second division. They afterwards embarked from Boston under command of Baron de Viomenil for the West Indies. Rochambean sailed from Annapolis shortly afterwards for France. The legion of Lauzun and the heavy artillery remained near Crompond nntil October 27th, because of a lack of transports after which they left for Wilmington, Del., and went into winter-quarters. March 11, 1783, they sailed for France.

In a recent history of the French in America1 the following reference is made to the encampmeut at Crompond : " The American army remained in camp at King's Ferry with its vanguard at the mouth of the Croton, on the Hudson River. The French army took a strong position on the hills in front of Cron- pond. The corps of Lauzun was in advance guard on the heights which skirt the Croton, and from this po- sition the two armies could in one day's march reach New York and Staten Island." Between the French and American officers there was constant interconrse.

The main army was encamped in two divisions. The northernmost limit of its encampment was not farther south than the present Fair Ground. It ex- tended in a southerly direction nearly to the Little Pond, beside Mohansic Lake, then southeasterly to the foot of French Hill ; eastwardly it stretched over at least a portion of the farm now owned by 'Colonel Nicholas E. Paine, where cannon-balls and other rel- ics of a military character have been found and as far as Flewellen Ridge, now owned by W. H. Flewel- len. A redoubt was visible on French Hill, sontheast of Mohansic Lake, until a few years ago. This local- ity was probably occupied by the cavalry Legion of

Lauzun, as such a supposition would agree with the statement of Balch, before quoted, that Lauzun was encamped on a hill skirting the Croton. The head- quarters of the Connt de Rochambeau are said to have been at the residence of Captain Henry Strang, which was near the present Fair Grounds, and several hnn- dred feet east of the residence of the late J. Hazard Strang.

Ovens constructed by the French for baking bread are still to be scen on the Flewellen farm, and a num- ber of military buttons have been found there.

While the feeling between the French and Ameri- cans was generally friendly, there were some lawless ~ spirits on both sides who inflicted injuries or insults on their allies. Such offenses were generally severely punished by the officers of both armies. It is related that a French trooper during the time of this encamp- ment came to the house of Lieutenant Alvan Purdy, who resided opposite the Presbyterian Church, at Crompond, and, without provocation, deliberately tramped on his foot. Being shoved away by Mr. Purdy, he tried to strike him with his broadsword, and being foiled in that attempt, he went to his horse as if to get his pistols. Mr. Purdy thought it pru- dent to withdraw out of reach, and did so. The inci- dent was related to one of the French officers, who told Mr. Purdy that his assailant, if identified, should be flogged. The man was pointed out, but on Mr. Purdy's request, the punishment was remitted.

Another incident may be mentioned as an illustra- tion of this desire of the French officers to maintain their friendly relations with the Americans. A French soldier dug from the field of Mr. Isaac Underhill, without permission or the knowledge of the owner, abont a peek of potatoes. His offense was discovered and he was tried and condemned to death. Mr. Underhill interceded with the Count de Rocham- beau for the soldier's life, but his request was re- fused, Rochambeau insisting that a regard for the discipline of the army required that the sentence should be carried out.

A third occurrence, which took place during the stay of the French in Yorktown, may be best narrated as Rochambeau has told it, --- 2

" On the departure from Crompond of the French corps to proceed to Boston to embark, a captain of the American militia, at whose honse I had been quartered, conducted himself towards us in a manner which strikingly characterizes republican liberty. The day before our departure, he called on me to de- mand payment of fifteen thousand francs for the wood that the brigade of the Soissonnois had burned for fnel in their camp. I thought this demand rather exorbitant, and referred him to Villemanzy, the com- missary appointed to settle, in concert with the arbi- ters of the country, all claims for provisions con- sumed by the army in its respective encampments.

1 " Les Francais en Amerique pendant la Guerre de l'Independence des Etats Unis, 1777-1783," par Thomas Balch, Paris, 1872.

2 Memoirs of Marshal Count de Rochambeau.

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On the moment of departure, just as the drums had beaten to arins and the troops were drawn up in marching order, a man respectfully walked up to me, and addressing me, stated that he was aware of the eminent services I had rendered the country, that he respected me greatly, but that, at the same time he was obliged to do his duty. He then presented a paper to me, and tapping me slightly on the shoulder, told me that he constituted me his prisoner. 'Very well, sir,' I replied, jocosely, ' bnt take me, if you can.' 'No, please your Excellency,' replied the sheriff's officer, 'but I beg you will allow me, after the per- formance of my duty to withdraw ummolested.' As I continued on the march, I sent the Commissary Villemanzy to the house of the American, whom he found surrounded by his fellow-citizens, who were all upbraiding him loudly for such conduct towards a French officer. The commissary made his way through them, and made the captain put his signature to a paper by which he consented to compromise the matter by referring it to the decision of an arbitration. The latter reduced the demand to two thousand francs, and cast on the plaintiff the whole of the costs." De Segur, who was with the French army at the time, states that this incident was impressively referred to afterwards on the floor of the First National Assem- bly in France.

Blanchard writes that his name was Delavan and that he was of French descent.

YORKTOWN DURING THE CIVIL WAR .- The town of Yorktown was more prompt in its responses to the ealls of the President of the United States for troops during the late Civil War than most of its neighbors, and was one of the few towns that reimbursed all indi- vidual expenses to its residents in connection with the procuring of substitutes.

The number of men furnished by the town of Yorktown under the call of the President of April 15, 1861, for seventy-five thousand militia, and the act of Congress of July 22, 1861, calling out five hundred thousand men, can only be estimated, as all the soldiers required were obtained withont each town being assigned a quota. Estimating the number of volunteers under these calls, however, as equal to the number assigned to the town as its quota under sub- sequent calls for the same number of troops, the number of men furnished was about sixty.

from forty dollars to one hundred and ten dollars, and in incidental expenses.

A call was made by the President October 17, 1863, for three hundred thousand men, which was, however, merged into and considered a part of a call issued February 1, 1864, for five hundred thousand men. In accordance with a resolution adopted at a town- meeting, held on September 23, 1863, a system of mutual insurance, as it were, against draft, was estab- lished, which provided, that every person enrolled as liable to military service, who should pay into a common fund the sum of thirty dollars, should be entitled, if drafted, to receive from the town the sum of three hundred dollars to procure a substitute or pay the government for his exemption. In accord- ance with further resolutions passed 'at town-meet- ings, the sum of fourteen thousand four hundred dol- lars was raised by the town authorities, for which the bonds of the town were issued. It was sufficient to pay all the expenses ineurred in procuring the fifty- five volunteers necessary to fill the quota of the town, and the contributors of thirty dollars to the "mutual insurance" fund above described were all reim- bursed.

A call was issued March 14, 1864, for two hundred thousand more men. Yorktown supplied twenty-two men as her quota, paying three hundred and sixty dol- lars bounty to each man. To meet this expense the bonds of the town were issued to the extent of eight thousand dollars.

July 18, 1864, a call was issued for five hundred thousand men. To assist the towns in filling their quotas, the county had decided to issue its bonds and apportion the proceeds among the towns, according to their population. The allotment of Yorktown was nineteen thousand five hundred dollars. Her quota was forty-seven men. (?) The town afterwards paid out from funds raised both by taxation on the property of the town and by the issuing of bonds, fourteen thousand six hundred and forty-five dollars to reimburse persons who had been compelled to pay out money for substitutes in addition to the help which they received from the town. The sum of forty-nine hundred dollars was also raised to re- imburse those persons who had contributed thirty dollars each to the " mutual insurance " find against a draft. The total expense, therefore, of this quota was thirty-nine thousand and forty-five dollars.

Under the calls of the President on July 2, 1862, for three hundred thousand men to serve for three A last call was made December 19, 1864, for three hundred thousand men. As the war was fast drawing to a close, the quotas assigned to the different towns were not usually filled. The number of men fur- nished by Yorktown was probably about twenty-five. The payment of bounties to volunteers under this call was entirely assumed by the State, which paid to Yorktown twenty-one thousand three hundred dol- lars. years, and on Angust 9, 1862, for three hundred thou- sand men to serve for nine months, the quota of York- town was sixty-seven. The adjutant-general of the State of New York, in his report for the year, states that the number of soldiers furnished by the town was seventy-two, an excess of five over the number actually required. In order to secure volunteers, it had beeome necessary to pay bounties. The sum of five thousand dollars was raised by tax on the town The total sum expended in Yorktown for vohin- and consumed in the payment of bounties varying : teers was therefore eighty-seven thousand seven

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hundred and forty-five dollars, and by the town itself, exelusive of the help received by the State under the last eall, sixty-six thousand four hundred and forty- five dollars.

The number of men furnished by the town cannot be exactly obtained, but adding together the number furnished under each eall, when the number is known, and the estimated number as previously given, when it is not known, it would appear that Yorktown sent out appoximately two hundred and eighty-one soldiers. The population of the town in 1860 was two thousand two hundred and thirty-one people. Of course, many of these volunteers were sub- stitutes, who were obtained by bounty brokers. A list of names of residents of the town who entered the army, compiled at the time by John B. Tompkins, supervisor of Yorktown in 1861 and 1862, which has been added to somewhat by further inquiry contains one huudred and thirty-three names, which is doubt- less very elose to the correct number. They were dis- tributed in the different regimeuts as follows: Sixth New York Heavy Artillery, 56; One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Regiment New York Volunteers, 14; One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Regiment New York Volunteers, 13; Ninety-fifth New York Volunteers, 9; Fifty-ninth New York Volunteers, 6 ; Harris Light Cavalry, 5; Fourth New York Artillery, 6; Seven- teenth Regiment New York Volunteers, 7; Fifty- seventh New York Volunteers, 3; Monitors (the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh New York Volun- teers), 2; and one each in the Twelfth New York, the Sixty-ninth New York, the Fifty-first New York, the Forty-eighth New York, the Nineteenth New York, the Eighty-seventh New York, the Seventieth New York (Excelsior Brigade), the Ninth New York and the First New Jersey Cavalry. The regiments to which the remainder were attached were not ascer- tained.

The following volunteers from Yorktown fell in battle or died in the military service of the United States.

John H. Boyce, Sixth New York Heavy Artillery.

Lieutenant Elias Fountain, Sixth New York Heavy Artillery, died from effects of a wound received at Cedar Creek, Va., 1864.

John Valentine, Sixth New York Ileavy Artillery, killed at Cedar Creek, 1864.

George Guinea, Sixth New York Heavy Artillery, died at Maryland Heights.

llarvey L. Sarles, Sixth New York Heavy Artillery.

Lewis M. Sarles, Sixth New York lleavy Artillery.

Obadiah Oakley, Sixth New York Heavy Artillery.

Thomas Jefferson Ilead, Sixth New York Heavy Artillery.

George Powers, Fifty-Ninth New York State Volunteers.

Eugene M. Wright, Fifty-Ninth New York State Volunteers.

Joshua B. Young, Fifty-Ninth New York State Volunteers.

Thomas Harvey, Cavalry.

John Jones, Fourth New York Artillery.

Peter J. Ames. Twelfth New York State Volunteers, killed at battle of Fair Oaks, Va., 1861.

William Sarles, Fifty-Seventh New York State Volunteers.

Elias Sarles, Eighty-Seventh New York State Volunteers ..

William Sheppard, Eighty-Seventh New York State Volunteers. William Sherwood, died in hospital, 1861.

Cyrus H. Brown, killed at South Petersburg, Va.

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MOHEGAN LAKE AND SURROUNDINGS .- In the northwestern corner of the town, five miles from Peekskill, nestled in the midst of a well-cultivated and attractive country, is Lake Mohegan, eovering about two hundred acres.

MOHEGAN LAKE SCHOOL is located at the northern end of the lake. The main building was originally a hotel, and was purchased for a school about 1865 by Prof. Charles D. Morris, who conducted it with emi- nent success for about ten years, when he left to assume a professorship at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Prof. Morris is a grandson of Mrs. Col. Morris, who, as Mary Philipse, is said to have eapti- vated the heart of George Washington.

In 1880, after the building had lain idle for about five years, it was re-occupied by the present sehool, of which Wallace C. Willeox is principal. This school was founded at Stamford, Conn., in 1850.

Students are edueated in the English and commer- cial branches, and prepared for college. Military drill forms a feature. The number of scholars for the year ending in June, 1884, was thirty-three.

Adjoining the grounds of the school is the resi- denee of Henry S. Billinge, a tea merchant of New York City.

The vieinity of the lake forms a pleasant place of resort during the summer, and two hotels near the shores are well filled during the season. They are the St. Nicholas Hotel, erected on the western bank about 1872, managed by Frank Frye, and eapable of accommodating about one hundred guests, and the Mount Pleasant House, on the hill arising on the other side of the lake, built about 1859, and owned and managed by Walter R. Jones. It has also accommo- dations for about one hundred guests. Other houses in the vicinity take boarders.

A mansion ereeted on the eastern side of the lake, near the Mt. Pleasant House, by Guillaume Merle, a former merchant of New York City, is now oceupied by his son-in-law, John Darrow. Mr. Merle's brother was Merle D'Aubigne, the distinguished author of the " History of the Reformation."

The dwelling of William J. Horton, at present supervisor of the town, is located on the western shore of the lake, not far from the St. Nicholas Hotel.

Between Mohegan Lake and Shrub Oak is the Swiss cottage of Mr. Thomas Jones.

ST. MARY'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, situated on the border of Mohegan Lake, was ereeted in 1868. It has never had any regular rector, but services have been condueted quite regularly by lay readers, or Episcopal clergymen who happened to be in the neighborhood. On one side of the church is an ivy vine which has been brought from Sir Walter Scott's home at Abbots- ford, in Seotland.

SHRUB OAK .- In the northern portion of the towu, about one mile east of Lake Mohegan, is located the village of Shrub Oak, containing about one hundred and sixty people. It is situated on the road leading

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

to Peekskill, and six miles from that place. It is in the midst of an extensive plain, divided up into fine farms. Immediately to the north rise the Highlands of Putnam County.

A number of dwellings are located in the village and its neighborhood, some of them being the resi- dences of New Yorkers. Mr. J. C. Nichols, a land- seape artist, and a prominent member of the Water- Color Association, has his summer residence in the ' the summer months. During the years 1877, '78, '79, western portion of the village. A handsome dwell- ing is that of Mrs. John C. Hart, whose husband was formerly a wholesale druggist in New York City.

John Coleridge Hart was of English descent. He | dren,-Charles W., Walter and Jennie. was born at Shrub Oak, Westelrester County, June 22, 1822, and attended the district school at that place which he left, at the age of sixteen, for New York City.

Ilere he engaged as elerk in a retail drug store, after- ward becoming a partner in the concern, the firm name being Wheeler & Hart. Mr. Hart finally purchased Mr. Wheeler's interest and continued in the business for many years at No. 20 Beekman Street. About four years before his death, which took place in New York City, May 3, 1872, he sokl out the business and re- tired to private life.

Mr. Hart was prominent in business circles. Hc was a director of the East River Savings Bank. He was an attendant of the Shrub Oak Metho- dist Church, and was largely instrumental in the build- ing of the handsome edifice at present in possession of the congregation.

Mr. Hart married Miss Mary A. Allen, daughter of Stephen Allen, formerly mayor of New York City. He spent his latter days mostly in Shrub Oak, where he purchased, some twenty years before his death, the pleasant residence at present in the hands of his daughter, Mrs. Dresser.

Mr. Hart was a quiet, unostentatious man, fond of his country-place and domestic in his habits. His death took from the quiet village where he had lived so long a useful citizen and a kind neighbor.

Among the oldest and most prominent residents of

Shrub Oak is John Wilson Carpenter, who was born January 7, 1817. The names of his parents are Wal- ter Carpenter and Ann Summerbell. His paternal ancestors were from the north of England, while his maternal were Scotch. He received a common-school education. Much of his active life has been spent on his farm at Shrub Oak. He is also proprietor of the Carpenter House, Lake Mahopac, where he spends

'80 he represented his town in the Board of Super- visors. November 22, 1850, he married Eliza Horton, daughter of Ebenezer Horton. They have three chil-

SHRUB OAK METHOD- IST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.1 -According to a record made by Peter Badeau, who was born in 1776 at Mahopac Falls, the first service by a Methodist preacher near Shrub Oak was held in the house of his grandfather, also nam- ed Peter Badeau. The latter was a strict Presby- terian, and a descendant of the Huguenots. He moved in 1775 from New Rochelle to Mahopac Falls, then Red Mills, and took up his abode in a dwelling since remodeled and now occupied by his great-grandson, Isaac Ba- deau Pierce. "In 1788," says the record above al- luded to, " the Rev. Thos. Ware, Methodist preach- er came along inquiring for place to preach in; my grandfa- ther opened his house for that purpose, and my father invited him, after preach- ing, home with him to stay all night.

He was one of the first Methodists I ever saw. He left an appointment for preaching there again in two weeks, which was filled by Rev. Cornelius Cook, who passed on to the north, and left an appointment for another preacher two weeks later. Two or three preachers followed him in succession, but I do not re- member their names. Then the deacons of the church got alarmed, declaring that the Methodists were preaching false doctrine, and advised my grandfather to shut his door against them, which he did. But my

1 From an article prepared in 1883 by Amos C. Requa, of Peekskill.

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YORKTOWN.

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uncle, Jacob Badeau, believed the doctriues they taught, and got them another place, at Mr. Thomas Kirkham's, about a half-mile off, 6 where they preached many years, till the old man died, and a society was raised up and built a meeting-house at Shrub Oak Plains. Some years after they built another at the head of Lake Mahopac."

The statement in the preceding quotation that Thomas Ware visited the locality in 1788 is doubtless somewhat erroneous, as he went south in 1787 and did not return till 1792. He records himself that he made a tour of Westchester in December, 1786, and it is probable that it was on this occasion that he made the visit above narra- ted.

The date of the building of the first church at Shrub Oak is somewhat uncertain. Both As- bury and Garrett- son preached at a church in Shrub Oak in 1789. Bish- op Asbury made the following entry in hisjournal: "Thurs- day, June 11, 1789, I came on to Crom- pond, and expected to have preached at Oakley's church, but my appointment was at P --- s, where I had but few. Returned to F-s. We had a comfortable time at Oakley's church at 7 o'clock." Mr. Garretson was pre- sent five days later and made the following note: " Both at the Stony Street church on the morning of the 16th, and at the English church iu the evening at Peekskill. I found much freedom in preaching the word of truth." From these records it is inferred that there was a Methodist Church at Shrub Oak as early as 1788.

In 1788 Freeborn Garrettson was appointed a pre- siding elder, to extend the borders of the Methodist Episcopal Church up the Hudson. He was assisted in this work by twelve young preachers. His labors extended as far as Lake Champlain, and into Eastern New York, Western Connecticut, and Vermont. Be-

sides these places he traveled extensively throughout the States of Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. He was severely persecuted during the Revolutionary War and his life frequently threatened.

In his journeys through Westchester County and 'New York, Mr. Garrettson came to Poughkeepsie, and was invited to preach at Rhinebeck. He was invited to make his home at Mr. Tillotsou's, whose wife was a sister of Miss Catharine Livingston, a daugliter of Judge Robert R. Livingston, who had inherited a large estate in the Livingston Manor, on the Hudson

CHANCELLOR ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

River. Her mother was the daughter of Colonel Beekman, a descendant of Wil- liam Beekman, who was governor of what is now the State of Delaware, under a commission of Beekman. Her brother, Robt. Liv- ingston, was one of the committee who framed the Decla- ration of Independ- ence, and was first Chancellor of the State of New York, administering the oath to Washington when first inaugu- rated as President.

Miss Livingston became deeply im- pressed with the preaching of Mr. Garrettson, and as soon as a class was formed she joined it. In 1793 she mar- ried Mr. Garrettson and six years after a place was purchased on the Hud- son, and a house built, in which she resided until her death. Her husband was born, August 15, 1752, in Maryland, and died in New York city, September 26, 1827, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and in the fifty-second year of his itinerancy.

The first legal incorporation of church trustees was made April 14, 1792. At that date " The male per- sons of full age belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church in Yorktown were duly convened at the said church, the place where they statedly attend for divine worship, and did elect Timothy Oakley, John Oakley, Solomon Fowler, Joseph Hadden, Thomas Kirkham and Jacob Badeau as trustees."

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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 106

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