History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 76

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 76

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"One Mayhew, a pedler well-known in Massachusetts, was of this detachment : he made off up the road, hut fiuding the horse rushing on, he struck off into the snow almost up to his hips. Two of the enemy's horse turned into his frack after him and gaining fast upon him, he asked them if they would give him quarter, they replied 'Yes, you dog, we will quarter you.' This was twice repeated, when Mayhew, finding them inflexible, determined to give them one shot before he was quar- tered ; and, turning round, discharged his piece at the first horseman, who cried out, 'The rascal has broke my leg,' when hoth of them turued their horses round and went off, leaving Mayhew at liberty to tread back his path to the road and come off."-Pp. 229-232.

An account of this same affair at Young's house is given by Thacher in a single paragraph of his "Mili- tary Journal" as follows :

" February (1780) .- Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson had the command of about two hundred and fifty men as an advanced party on our lines.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Hle was instructed to be constantly alert and in motion, that the enemy might not be able to take advantage and form a plan for his destruction. It happened, however, that a detachment of British, Ilessians and mounted refugees were discovered advancing towards him, but, on account of a very deep snow obstructing the road, they marched slowly, and Colonel Thompson resolved to defend his ground. The enemy's horse first ad- vancel and commenced skirmishing till their infantry approached, when a eharp conflict ensued, which continued about fifteen minutes ; some of our troops manifested symptoms of cowardice and gave way. The enemy secured the advantage and rushed on with a general shout which soon decided the contest. The Americans lost thirteen men killed aud Captain Roberts, being mortally wounded, soon expired. Seventeen others were wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Thompson and six other officers, with eighty-nine rank and file, were made prisoners. Of the enemy, two officers and eighteen men were wounded and five men killed. One of our men, by the name of Mayhew, of Massachusetts, was pursued by two of the enemy's horse, the snow heing almost up to his hips ; they gained fast on him; he inquired if they would give him quarter ; they replied, 'Yes, yon dog, we will quarter you,' and this was again re- peated. Mayhew, in despair, resolving to give them a shot before he eubmitted to his fate, turned and fired at the first horseman, who cried out, 'The rascal has broken my leg,' when both of them wheeled round and rode off, leaving Mayhew to rejoice at his fortunate escape."-Pp. 189-190.

There is a little difference in the orthography of General Heath and Dr. Thacher, the latter giving the name " Thompson " with a p, and the former " Thomson " withont it, but it is deemed best to give the extracts just as they stand in the printed volumes.

The charge of cowardice, insinuated against some of the Continental troops by Thacher, does not seem to be sustained by the facts. The truth appears to have been quite the contrary, when less than one hun- dred and fifty Continentals, for a considerable portion of their two hundred and fifty men were posted too far away to engage in the conflict, dared to resist nearly six hundred disciplined troops, and thus held them in check for any length of time at all, it indi- cated not cowardice, surely, but rather courage even to the verge of rashness. Dr. James Thacher, who wrote the " Military Journal," was not a soldier, but an army surgeon, who rendered excellent service through the war, and made in his book a very valua- ble contribution to its history. He was born at Barn- stable, Massachusetts, February 14, 1754, and died at Plymonth, in the same State, May 26, 1844, a little over ninety years of age. It is noticeable, however, that General Heath, who was a soldier, says nothing to countenance the insinnation of cowardice, which, probably, had its origin among the Westchester Tories, and was taken up by Thacher without being carefully weighed.

It is said that while a portion of the American army was encamped in the neighborhood, Brigadier - General Thaddeus Kosciusco had his headquarters at the Four Corners, and also that the duel fought " a few days " before September 6, 1778, of which Thach - er makes mention, p. 147, took place near a black - smith shop, east of the Four Corners, on the White Plains road, between General Gates and Colonel Wil kins. Thacher's account of the duel is given thus:

" 6th .- A duel was fought a few days since between General G. an d Colonel W. Two shots were exchanged without bloodshed, and a

reconciliation was effected. The gentlemen, it is said, displayed a firm- ness and bravery becoming their rank and character, and have estab- lished their claim as gentlemen of honor. As their courage has never been called in question, the present rencontre was unnecessary, unless it he to evince that they possess malice enough in their hearts to commit a murderous deed. The example of superior officers will have great in- fluence with those of inferior rank, whether contending with the dogs of war, or in adjusting the minor points of honor."

In the interview with the Rev. Alexander Van Wart, in his home at Pleasantville on June 15, 1885 (see under GREENBURGH), he gave to the writer, among other recitals, the following :

His mother's maiden-name was Rachel Storms, and her house was just down the hill from the Four Cor- ners toward the west, on the Tarrytown road. His maternal uncle, Nicholas Storms, lived there at the same time. Looking up toward the east one day he saw a military company manœuvering at the Four Corners, on the top of the hill, near Young's house, and, supposing them to be Americans, he mounted his horse, and rode up to learn the news. He did not discover until he was right in front of them that they were British troops out on a scouting and foraging expedition. It was too late to retreat, for they saw him, and so, putting on a bold face, he rode up and inquired of them what was the news. They ordered him to dismount, took him prisoner and kept his horse. His sister, Rachel Storms, afterwards the wife of Isaac Van Wart, one of the captors of Andre, was sent to beg for her brother's release. She did so, and to such good purpose, that one of the soldiers said to . the others, "Oh, she must be his sweetheart. Let's give him up." And they did. She was sent back a second time to beg for a cow they had taken, and then, too, she gained her request.

The Rev. Mr. Van Wart, after speaking of the fact that his father had sold the farm given to him by Congress in Putnam County, and had purchased the Young place, at the Four Corners, described the somewhat elevated sandy field just north of the Cor- ners, on the east side of the Unionville road, as the place where some thirteen American and three Brit- ish soldiers, who fell in the fight at Young's house, were buried, " and," he added, "I have ploughed many a furrow over the graves of those who were there killed."

It was here, too, at the Four Corners, that James Fenimore Cooper, in his novel entitled "The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground," published in 1821, lo- eated, in the Sixteenth Chapter, and thence on to the end, the "house of entertainment for man and beast," known, by its old sign, written in red chalk, on a rough board suspended from its gallows-looking posts, as " Elizabeth Flanagan, her hotel." The house was a rendezvous for the American soldiers, and particu- larly, according to Cooper, for the Virginia Dragoons, under " Major Dunwoodie" and "Captain Lawton." It was at one of their convivial meetings at the " Ho- tel Flanagan " that "Captain Lawton " is represented to have sung his song " to a well-known bacchanalian

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air, several of his comrades helping him through the chorus with a fervor that shook the erazy edifice they were in." And this, as Cooper gives it, was the [ soug :

" Now push the mng, my jolly boys, And live, while live we can ; To-morrow's sun may end your joys, For brief's the hour of man. And he who bravely meets the foe, His lease of life can never know.

Old mother Flanagan, } Come and fill the can again ; For you can fill, and we can swill, Good Betty Flanagan.

" If love of life pervades your breast, Or love of ease your frame ; Quit honor's path for peaceful rest, And bear a coward's name . For soon and late we danger know, And fearless on the saddle go.

Old mother, &c.

" When foreign foes invade the land, And wives and sweethearts call ; In freedom's cause we'll bravely stand, Or will as bravely fall ; In this fair home the fates have given, We'll live as lords, or live in heaven.

Old mother," &c.

Cooper adds, " At each appeal made to herself by the united voices of the choir, Betty invariably ad- vanced and complied literally with the request eon- tained in the chorus, to the infinite delight of the singers, and with no small participation in the satis- faction on her own account."

"Betty Flanagan," who kept the hotel, is said in The Spy to have been the inventor of the American drink, whatever it is, that has since been known as a "cocktail." Cooper says : "Betty had the merit of being the inventor of that beverage which is so well known at the present hour to all the patriots who make a winter's marelı between the commercial and politieal capitals of this great State, and which is dis- tinguished by the name of 'cocktail.' "

Some idea of the condition of things in Westehester County during that stormy period may be gathered from a letter written by Judge Samuel Young to R. V. Morris, member of Assembly, uuder date of "Mount Pleasant, January 25, 1814," and published in the Historical Magazine for June, 1871. Judge Young wrote,-

" I resided in the lines from the commencement of the Revolutiou until the wiuter of 1777, when my father's house was burned by order of the British General. The county of Westchester, very soon after the comnieneement of hostilities, beeame, on account of its exposed situation, a scene of the deepest dis- tress. From the Croton to Kingsbridge every species of rapine and lawlessness prevailed. No one went to his bed but under the apprehension of having his house plundered or burnt, or himself or family mas- sacred before morning. Some under the character of

Whigs plundered the Tories, while others of the lat- ter description plundered the Whigs. Parties of ma- rauders assuming either character, or none, as suited their convenience, indiscriminately assailed both Whigs aud Tories. So little vigilance was used on our part that the emissaries and spies of the enemy passed and repassed without interruption. These ca- lamities continued undiminished until the arrival of Colonel Burr, in the autumn of the year 1778." Mr. Young then attached himself to Colonel Burr's corps of aids aud confidential helpers as a volunteer, but without pay.

As a companion picture of the times and the region - given in this letter of Judge Young, it is interesting to read the statements of General William Hull, him- self an army offieer on duty in Westchester County during the period referred to. In the book entitled "Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull; prepared from his Manuscripts by his Daughter, Mrs. Maria Campbell; together with the History of the Campaign of 1812 and Surrender of the Post of Detroit, by his Grandson, James Freeman Clarke, New York; D. Appleton & Co., 1848," the writer gives also, iu connection with the following ac- count, some eurious explanations of the method of conveying informatiou iu those days:

"The Cowboys and Skinners ravaged the whole region. The first, called Refugees, ranked themselves on the British side. They were em- ployed in plundering cattle and driving them to the city ; their name is derived from their occupation. The latter, called Skinners, while professing attachment to the American cause, were devoted to indis- criminate robbery, murder and every species of the most brutal outrage. They seemed, like the savage, to have learned to enjoy the sight of the sufferings they inflicted. Oftentimes they left their wretched victims, from whom they had plundered their all, hung up by their arms, and sometimes by their thumbs, on barn-doors, enduring the agony of the wounds that had been inflicted to wrest from them their property. These miserable beings were frequently relieved by our patrols, who, every night scoured the country from river to river. But, unhappily, the military force was too small to render the succor so much needed ; although by its vigilance and the infliction of severe punishment ou the offenders, it kept in check, to a certain extent, this lawless race of men. The commaud on the lines covered an extensive section of country, and there were many roads leading from Kingsbridge to the different stations which were occupied by the detachment. It was, therefore, necessary to avail of the friendly inhabitants to obtain intelligence of the first movement of the enemy. Those who resided below the lines, being entirely in the power of the British, were obliged to feign an attachment they did not feel.

"Major Hull selected a certain number of families on whose fidelity he could rely, and formed a line of them, extending from Kingsbridge to his most advanced guards. lle requested these persons to come to him at night, that he might communicate to them his plan of securing information, which he said would depend on their good faith, alertness and secrecy. He told the man who lived nearest Kingsbridge, that whenever he perceived any extraordinary movement, or whenever the enemy passed the bridge, to take a mug or pitcher in his hand, and in a careless manner go to his ueighbour who composed one of the line for some cider, beer, or milk, and give him notice, and then immediately return home. His neighbor was to do the same, and so ou, until the in- formation reached the station of Major Hull. Every individual thus employed was faithful to the trust reposed in him.

" The enemy could make no movement, without the detachment being informed and prepared to meet or avoid them. Major llull rewarded, as lie was authorized, these good people, who could not, in their situa- tion, perform a duty of this nature without much personal risk. Yet they ceascd not to exhibit the virtues of patriotismu and constancy, by a faithful devotion to their country's interests, while exposed to imminent danger and surrounded by hardships and privation."-Pp. 147-149.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

These representations are all in perfect harmony with the statements given to the writer by the Rev. Alexander Van Wart, in his recital of what he had often heard from his father. "The British and Tories came up so often," said he, " that people did not dare to sleep in their houses. My father then lived just north of Mine Brook, a little stream so called from the supposition that there was a gold mine in its ris- ing banks, because streaks of something like gold were found in the rocks that were taken from them. The old house was west of the road, which there bends and runs down to Elmsford, just a little in front of the new or later house now oeenpied by Mr. Frank Decker, and near to the Mine Brook, which there flows westward across the road. In the glen or ravine east of the road my father's family made a little house of straw, and often five or six would go up there to spend the night. After getting into it, they would stop up the hole or entrance with sheaves of straw, so that altogether it appeared from the outside to be a simple straw stack. In this way they were able to sleep undisturbed. On one occasion a British cavalry company came up, and charged on the old house across the road. The dog outside set up a great bark- ing, which notified the inmates of their danger. My father, Isaac Van Wart, and my uncle, Nicholas Storm, made their eseape out of the back-door, but a man named Moses Harris and some others were eap- tured."

UNIONVILLE .- Unionville is a quiet little hamlet in the midst of a productive farming region, situated on the east side of the Neperan or Saw-Mill River, and on the line of the Harlem Railroad, twenty eight and a half miles from the Grand Central Depot in New York City. It is nearly in the centre of the township of Mount Pleasant, about four and a half miles northeast of Tarrytown, and be- tween six and seven miles north of White Plains. Though the place is known as Unionville, the post- office has always retained the name of Neperan, which it derived from the fact that that stream runs through the western border of the hamlet. The pop- ulation is small, not over two hundred at the utmost, and probably less. The places of business are a grocery and dry-goods store, a freight, express and passen- ger depot connected with the Harlem Railroad, a piekle-factory, a blacksmith-shop and a saw and grist-mill. There are also about twenty-five or thirty dwellings in the neighborhood. Just back of the place, on the west, rises a high hill or mountain, known to some as Mount Pleasant and Mount Zion, but usually spoken of ns Buttermilk Hill. The view from the top of it is very extensive nnd striking. New York City and the East River are said to be dis- tinctly visible, and also the region lying upon the shores of Long Island Sound. To the spectator on the summit the inequalities of the surface seem to be lost, and the whole country below presents the ap- pearanee of a level plain. The locality is said to be

one of more than ordinary healthfulness, as indicated by the fact that the monuments in the Old Reformed Church burial-ground show that the people there have frequently lived to a very advanced age, some of them to over one hundred years, and many to dif- ferent points in the nineties.

The Reformed Church is the only religions society in the place. The church edifice was built in 1818, under the earc of the Rev. Thomas G. Smith, pastor of the old Dnteli Church of Sleepy Hollow, who de- voted a part of his time to this new enterprise. The Reformed Dutch Churches in Westchester County were then connected with the Classis of New York, and the records of that body show that the Rev. Mr. Smith was appointed to effeet the organization, and that he afterwards reported, at a meeting of Classis held October 17, 1820, that the work assigned him had been performed. Being regarded as a branch of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, all its records were kept in the books of that ehureh, so that the church of Unionville never had any sepa- rate record of its own membership until the year 1840, when they were copied from the records of the old ehureh, and for the first time in its history the church of Unionville had a record of its own.

The first pastor of the church was the Rev. Thomas G. Smith. A document drawn up by him, and still preserved in his own elear handwriting by the eonsis- tory, gives an account of a peculiar complication in which the church was involved, by having undertaken to transact business in a too careless way before it had a legal corporate existence, and at the same time gives some important dates and facts bearing upon the history of the church. The document, which will explain itself, is as follows :

" May 16, 1827.

" The Consistory of the Reformed Dutch Church at Unionville, to the heirs of Mrs. Cornelius Ray, deceased, sendeth greeting.

" Gentlemen,-Whereas, the Inhabitants of that section of country, known and distinguished by the name of T'uion Ville, in the town of Mt. Pleasant, County of West Chester, and State of New York, Did, in the year 1818, build a house for the public worship of God, which for that purpose hath been occupied ever since.

"The ground for this house and Grave-yard, containing oue Acre, was got of Thomas Hammond, since deceased, which cost them fifty- nine dollars. But as this was a new Congregation not yet Organized, and without a Consistory, it was agreed upon by the people that the Revd Thomas G. Smith should take a Deed of said Hammond, and that as soon as the people could be organized into a Church, that the said Thomas G. Smith should give the Consistory of said Church a deed for said land similar to the deed which he received of said Thomas llam- mond. All this was done. Ilut be it remembered, That before the exe- cuting of said Deed by the said Hammond to the said Smith, that he. the said Thomas Hammond, was questioned and examined by numbers belonging to said Congregation, Whether there was any Incumbrances upon said Land by Mortgages, Judgments, &c., who always answered, that there were none exeept one mortgage of Abont Eight hundred, In favor of Lawyer Mitchel, of White plains, That there were no Incum- brances upon said Land, either by Mortgages or otherwise, the said Thomas Hammond repeatedly declared. It is true, we might have searched the Records, but as Thomas Hammond was a Member in full Communion in the Church, and as it would have betrayed a want of con- fidence in the man, We confided in his declaration, which hath proven a soltree of much trouble and vexation to ns. It was about 4 or 5 years after the building of said church that we found there was a Mortgage in favor of Mr. Cornelius Ray. The above is u plain and simple state-

Map of the Town of

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

ment of facts, for the truth of which we are ready to give you the most clear, ample and satisfactory Testimony. We would likewise state to you that your Venerable Father, Cornelius Ray, who we humbly hope is now enjoying the smiles of bis God in a happy Eternity, repeatedly told us that we should not be burt. And, but a very short time before his death, lle said that it was his determination to exonerate the Consistory and Congregation from said Mortgage and from all trouble Arising therefrom. Of this declaration of your Venerable father we are ready to give you ample satisfaction. It is now our province to give you a description of the house and grave-yard. The House is a wooden building, in dimensions, 40 feet by 36, all finished but the seats. The Grave-yard contains about one Acre, perhaps something less. In said Grave- yard there are interred about the number of 60 or 70 persons, and a number of Marble monuments are erected to perpetuate their memory. The Church and grave-yard adjoining thereto make both a soleiun and respectable appearance. Now, Gentlemen, to you, the heirs of Mr. Cor- nelius Ray, we apply ' that you would exonerate and acquit ns from said Mortgage.' We indeed find the Church and Grave-yard compre- hended in the Advertizement for the sale of your other property ; but we cannot believe but that you will give Orders to your Agent to ex- empt said llouse and Yard from sale. We think, that if it should be your pleasure to Grant the prayer of our petition that it would redound to your honor, and to your temporal and eternal interest, and even the people of l'uion Ville, as well as the world at large, wherever this should be publishd would praise you for your generous Conduct, and for the respect and esteem that you have shown for the memory of the dead, and the Worship and Temple of the living God.

" And we appoint Doctor Isaac G. Graham and Mr. Benjamin Brown to present our petitiou.

" Signed THOMAS G. SMITH, Past. " Benjamin Brown.

" Abraham Onderdunk.

" Johu Newman.

" Jonathan Newman.

" William W. Yerks.

" Isaac G. Graham, Jr."

Including its first pas- tor, the Rev. Thomas G. Smith, the church of Un- ionville has had ten pastors since its organization and one stated supply. Its last pastor, whois still in office, is the Rev. Peter A. Wes- sels, who assumed its re- sponsibilities May 1, 1884. His predecessor, the Rev. Howard Harris, resigned the charge in January, 1884, in order to become a missionary to Japan, where he is now laboring under the care of the Foreign Missionary Board of the Reformed Church. The church reports a membership of ninety-eight.

The country around Unionville was involved in great uncertainties and dangers during the Revolu- tionary War. The site of the old farm-house, now owned by Mr. Alvah Newman, is said to have been the scene of a bloody tragedy in those perilons times. Two Continental soldiers, on their way home after having been honorably discharged, stopped at the old house, which was then used as a tavern. They had not been there long when a British trooper rode up

Moses Pierce

and fired two pistols through the window. Then, dis- mounting, he rushed into the house and killed both the unoffending soldiers with his sword before they could make effectual resistance. Mr. Newman still has in his possession an old musket that belonged to his father. It has a deep sabre-cut in the stoek that was made by a British trooper in a cavalry eharge, in which he was himself killed by Mr. Newman's father.

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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 76

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