USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 33
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ARRIVAL OF LORD HOWE.
commanded the regiment detailed to guard the public stores at Peekskill. He was a brilliant young man of twenty-seven, and proved a most effi- cient officer. He was the son of the proprietor of the manor at that time, Pierre Van Cortlandt, who was soon to be made the first lieutenant-gov- ernor of New York as a State, the grandson of Philip Van Cortlandt and Catharine De Peyster,1 and great-grandson of Honorable Stephanus Van Cortland and Gertrude Schuyler. Both father and son had nobly declined the offers of royal favors, honors, grants of land, etc., if they would aban- don the popular cause, made by Tryon when he visited them at the old manor-house for a few days in 1774. The younger Van Cortlandt de- stroyed a major's commission sent him by Tryon, and in the service of the new nation acquitted himself with exceptional ability.
Lord Howe's mission was peace. He had no very clear conception of the actual condition of affairs in America, and greatly overestimated the extent of his powers. He was a manly, good-natured, brave, unsuspicious noble- man, who thought to conciliate by overtures, which the able-minded of America regarded as an attempt to corrupt and disunite them. The prop- ositions he brought from the ministry left untouched the original causes of complaint, and virtually offered nothing but pardon on submission. He was vaguely authorized to ride about the country and converse with private individuals on the subject of their grievances, and report opinions. But he was strictly forbidden to treat with Congresses, either continental or provincial, or with any civil or military officer holding congressional commissions. In earnest conference with his brother, Gen- eral Howe, his views were confirmed as to the readiness of a large majority of the inhabitants of New York and New Jersey - and of Connecticut even - to prove their loyalty, if protected.
His first step was to address a letter to " George Washington, Esq.," which he sent in charge of an officer under a flag of truce; Colonel Henry Knox, Colonel Joseph Reed, and Washington's private secretary, Samuel B. Webb, went out in a barge, meeting Lord Howe's messenger at a point about half-way between Staten and Governor's Islands. The officer, standing, hat in hand, bowed low, and said he was the bearer of a letter to " Mr. Washington." Colonel Reed, also bowing, with his head uncovered, said he knew of no such person. The officer produced the letter. Colonel Reed said it could not be received with the superscription it bore. The officer expressed much disappointment, and said Lord Howe lamented the lateness of his arrival; the contents of the letter were of moment, and he wished it might be received. Colonel Reed declined with polite decision, and the parties separated. In a few moments the
1 See Vol. I., 606, genealogical note.
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officers' barge was put about to inquire how " Mr. Washington " chose to be addressed. Colonel Reed replied that the General's rank was well known to Lord Howe, therefore the question needed no discussion. The interview closed with courteous adieus.
On the same day Lord Howe sent copies of his declaration in circular letters to the governors to Amboy, under a flag of truce; these papers fell into the hands of General Mercer, who sent them to Washington, by whom they were at once transmitted to Congress, and published for the benefit of the people who had expected more and better of England's com- missioners. The result was increased inflexibility of determination, and greater unity of action on the part of the patriots. Congress delayed no longer, but caused their own great state paper of the 4th to be engrossed and signed. Of this last solemn transaction a humorous incident is re- lated. Benjamin Harrison of Virginia (the father of William Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States) was a large, portly gentle- man, while Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts was small, slender, and spare. As Harrison threw down the pen after affixing his signature to the docu- ment, he turned to Gerry with a smile, saying : "When the hanging scene comes to be exhibited I shall have the advantage over you on account of my size. All will be over with me in a moment, but you will be kicking in the air half an hour after I am gone."
The day following the reading of the Declaration from the City Hall in Wall Street, General Howe sent an officer with a flag to learn July 19. whether Colonel Patterson, the adjutant-general of Lord Howe, could be admitted to an interview with Washington. The request was granted, and an appointment made for the following morning. At the hour specified, Colonel Reed and young Webb went down the harbor to meet Colonel Patterson, took him into their barge, and with much lively conversation escorted him to the city.1 The customary precaution July 20. of blindfolding was omitted, a courtesy warmly acknowledged by the British officer. They rowed directly in front of the grand battery, and landing, conducted their guest to the Kennedy House, No. 1 Broad- way, where he was received by Washington with much form and cere- mony, in full military costume, "elegantly attired," with his officers and guards about him. Colonel Patterson addressed him by the title of " Excellency," apologized for the commissioners, who meant no disrespect,
1 Colonel Reed was thirty-five years of age at this time. He was a native of Trenton, New Jersey, graduated from Princeton College at the age of sixteen, and went to England to com- plete his studies prior to the practice of his profession in Trenton. In 1770 he revisited England and married a daughter of Dennis De Berdt, agent of Massachusetts. A brother of Mrs. Reed had concerted with Lord Howe before he sailed for this country in the prepara- tion of conciliatory letters for several prominent Americans.
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INTERCOURSE WITH WASHINGTON.
and produced, but did not offer, a letter bearing the inscription, " George Washington, Esq., &c., &c., &c.," which, as it implied everything, it was hoped would remove all obstacles in the way of correspondence. Wash- ington replied that three et ceteras might mean everything, but that they also implied anything ; and that he could not with propriety receive a letter from the king's commissioners addressed to him as a private person, when it related to his public station. Colonel Patterson then attempted to communicate, as far as he could recollect, the substance of what was contained in the epistle. Lord Howe and his brother were invested with exceedingly great powers, and were very desirous of healing all difficul- ties. Washington replied that he had read their declaration, and found they were merely empowered to grant pardons. The Americans, having committed no wrong, wanted no pardons ; they were only defending what they considered indisputable rights. Colonel Patterson seemed confused, and remarked that this would open a wide field for argument. He mani- fested great solicitude concerning the results of the interview, which was conducted with stately courtesy by all concerned. Washington invited him to partake of a collation prepared for him, and he was introduced to the general officers. After many graceful compliments he took his leave, asking, " Has your Excellency no commands to my Lord or General Howe ?" " None, sir, but my particular compliments to both of them," was the courtly reply. General Howe, in writing an account of this con- ference to the ministry, observed, " The interview was more polite than interesting ; however, it induced me to change my superscription for the attainment of an end so desirable, and in this view I flatter myself it will not be disapproved." Henceforward all letters from the British comman- ders to Washington bore his proper title.
Lord Howe was humiliated when the truth of the actual and power- less nature of his commissions entered his soul. He was more than half inclined to act upon the suggestion contained in a letter from Dr. Frank- lin, and relinquish a command which would compel him to proceed by force of arms against a people whose English privileges he respected, and whose wrongs he heartily desired to see redressed.
At this crisis all manner of sectional and personal jealousies were dis- turbing the even tenor of preparations for the conflict. The troops from the different Colonies regarded each other with curiosity, which not infre- quently developed into animosity. Those wearing high-colored uniforms fashionably cut sneered at the irregulars in homespun tow. The officers were more troublesome even than the men : of Maryland and Virginia, where military rank was sharply defined, they were mostly from the cities, and of aristocratic habits ; of Connecticut, though men of reputation and
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wealth, they were often elected by the men out of their own ranks, and distinguished only by a cockade. Then, again, pride of equality prevailed to such extent that every one insisted upon his own opinion, and was ever ready to question the wisdom of those above him. It required the utmost tact and discretion to harmonize these bewildering elements and maintain the semblance of proper discipline over all.
A clash between the two generals, Schuyler and Gates, who had in charge the northern frontier, caused anxious forebodings. General Sulli- van, who had conducted the retreat of the American army from Canada, was deeply hurt when Gates, his former inferior in rank, was appointed over him. The command of Gates was totally independent of that of Schuyler while the army was in Canada. But the moment it crossed the line it was within the limits of Schuyler's command. Thus there were two generals in the field with corresponding authority over the same troops. A council of war decided to abandon Crown Point and fortify Ticonderoga, and for a time the two authorities worked in unison to prevent the invasion of New York by the British from the north.
Tidings from the Southern department of the repulse of Sir Henry Clinton in an attack upon Charleston was of a more cheering character. General Lee wrote begging Washington to urge Congress to furnish more cavalry. With a thousand of this species of troops he declared he could insure the safety of the Southern provinces. About the beginning of August the squadron of Sir Henry Clinton anchored, as if suddenly dropped from the clouds, in New York Bay.
General Putnam was busy during the hot days of July in planning a mechanical obstruction to the channel of the Hudson opposite Fort Washington, which, however, practically came to nothing. A scheme for destroying the fleet in the harbor with fire-ships, proposed by Ephraim Anderson, an adjutant in one of the New Jersey battalions, occupied con- siderable attention about the same time, but the arrival of a hundred sail, with large reinforcements of Hessians and other foreign troops to "assist in forcing the rebels to ask mercy," necessitated its abandonment. The Phoenix and the Rose, in Tappan Sea, were attacked in a spirited manner
on the 3d of August by six of Tupper's row-galleys, and a brisk
Aug. 3. firing was kept up for two hours, when the commodore gave the signal to retire. An attempt at submarine navigation also awakened no little interest during the same period of suspense. David Bushnell of Saybrook, Connecticut, invented a novel machine for the purpose of blow- ing up the entire British shipping. It was ingeniously constructed of pieces of oak timber with iron bands, the seams calked, and the whole smeared with tar. It was large enough for a man to stand or sit inside,
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ATTEMPT AT SUBMARINE NAVIGATION.
the top shaped to the head, with thick glass inserted for light ; it was balanced with lead, and two forcing-pumps managed by the feet enabled its occupant to rise or sink at pleasure. It had a rudder, a pocket-compass fastened near a bit of shining wood (for light at night), and a glass tube inclosing cork for measuring depth of sea. It could be rowed horizontally under water by means of two paddles revolving upon an axletree in front like the arms of a windmill, and turned by a crank inside. To its back was attached by a screw, an egg-shaped magazine containing one hundred and thirty pounds of gunpowder, also a clock, a gunlock, and a flint. The withdrawal of the screw started the clock, which, after running thirty minutes, would strike and fire the powder. The magazine was to be fastened into the bottom of a ship, the performer escaping while the clock ticked out its minutes prior to the explosion. Ezra Lee, of Lyme, Con - necticut, a sergeant under Parsons, was sent out one dark night (just after the retreat from Long Island) to make the experiment, a party in whale- boats towing him within easy distance of the fleet. He descended under one of the largest ships, but, owing to an iron plate above the copper sheathing, could not fasten the apparatus. He tried to force the screw into the ship's bottom in various spots, until warned by the light of early dawn that it was too late for further effort at that time. Then he com- menced his perilous return of four miles to the city, where Putnam, Parsons, and others stationed on the wharf awaited results. Off Gov- ernor's Island he was discovered by the British soldiers, who gathered in great numbers on the parapet to watch his queer motions, and finally rowed after him in a barge. As an act of defense he disconnected the magazine ; and it exploded throwing high into the air a prodigious column of water with a deafening roar, which sent his pursuers paddling swiftly back from whence they came, dazed with fright.
The city was like a furnace during August. Mrs. Washington was on her way to Virginia ; and the other ladies, wives of the general officers, who had enlivened headquarters by their presence, had been sent out of the way of the coming storm. There was sickness on every side; soldiers from the country were constantly falling ill ; " the air of the whole town seems infected," wrote Volckert Peter Douw.1 Alarms were perpetual. It
1 Volckert Peter Douw was one of the able supporters of the Revolution. He was the representative of a substantial Dutch family, the ancestor of whom, Volckert Jansen Douw, a man of wealth and influence, settled on the Hudson in 1638, whose descendants have inter- married with the Van Rensselaers, Beekmans, Banckers, Ten Broecks, De Peysters, Van Cort- landts, Livingstons, and other leading families. Volckert Peter was born in 1720, and died in 1801. He was the Vice-President of the first New York Congress, and held many impor- tant positions in social and civil life. His father was Petrus Douw, who built the old house at Wolvenhoeck (the Wolves Point) Greenbush, in 1723, with bricks brought from Holland,
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was confidently rumored that the British intended to " put all to the sword." It was suspected that they would attempt to surround Man- hattan Island. Some of Washington's advisers thought he was only endangering the army by remaining in New York, and counseled evacu- ating and burning the city. John Jay regarded this course proper if the post could not be held ; perched in the Highlands, the Americans might baffle England's experts in the art of war for an indefinite period. Con- gress, less gifted in warfare than in constructing an empire, abounded with impracticable resolutions. New York must be defended under every dis- advantage. To do this it was plain that the Heights of Brooklyn must be held, as also Governor's Island, Paulus Hook, and the posts along the Hudson - points separated by water, and some of them fifteen miles apart - and the army to be thus distributed numbered less than seven- teen thousand, of whom full one fifth were sick and disabled from duty. Few regiments were properly equipped, in several the muskets were not enough to go round; scarcely six thousand of the soldiers had seen actual service, and skilled artillerymen were altogether wanting. Before them was an armada outnumbering in both ships and men that which Philip II. organized for the invasion of England in 1588. It was snugly anchored in a safe haven between Sandy Hook and Staten Island, with no possi- bility of being scattered by any providential storm. It was a spectacle of surpassing brilliancy. Thirty-seven men-of-war and four hundred transports formed a bristling forest of masts. Trustworthy spies reported forty thousand disciplined warriors (accurately the number was about thirty-five thousand), including the seven thousand eight hundred Hes- sians purchased by King George at the rate of $34.50, per man killed, reckoning three wounded as one dead.
In the urgency of danger Washington called for volunteers, however brief their terms of service. Connecticut responded as best she could, her population being already largely represented. The Convention of New York called upon the militia to form temporary camps on the shores of the Hudson and the Sound, and to aid in repelling the enemy wherever they were most needed. The farmers dropped their scythes and cycles with surprising alacrity, and manfully shouldered their muskets. King's County, Long Island, being reputed a stronghold of Tories, the Conven- tion ordered that any of the militia in that county refusing to serve should be immediately disarmed and secured, and their possessions laid waste.
and his mother was Anna Van Rensselaer, great-granddaughter of the first Patroon, and also the great-granddaughter of Anneke Jans. His wife was Anna De Peyster, great-granddaugh- ter of Johannes De Peyster.
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MATTHEW CLARKSON.
The situation was painful beyond language, embracing, as it did, all the horrors of civil warfare. Fathers, sons, and brothers were in a mul- titude of cases arrayed for battle against each other. The efforts of the British officers to enlist the Long-Islanders in their service was not with- out its effect in many districts, for with such a formidable fleet before their eyes, what promise could they see in resistance ? But neither Lord nor General Howe had measured correctly the spirit of New York. They were to discover to their sorrow that the influential families were much more numerously represented in the " rebel " ranks than they had been led to expect. William Floyd wrote from Philadelphia to the Convention in great anxiety concerning the escape of his family from Long Island. He made earnest inquiries about relatives and personal friends : " What must they sub- mit to ? Despotism or destruction I fear is their fate." David Clarkson hastily quitted his sum- mer residence in Flat- bush, taking refuge in New Brunswick, New Jersey ; his wife was accompanied by her wid- owed sister, Mrs. David General Matthew Clarkson. [From a painting by Stuart, in possession of Matthew Clarkson.] Van Horne, and five handsome, well-bred young lady daughters. The Hessian soldiers entered, and amused themselves with plundering Clarkson's vacant home. They discovered his choice imported wines, and exhibited a royal drunken frolic on the back piazza and in the yards. This large dwelling was subsequently converted into a hospital by the enemy. A trusty slave, in the moment of danger, managed to secrete a large amount of silver plate and other family treasures, which were thereby preserved to later generations. Scarcely had Clarkson heard of the disasters attending the battle of Long Island, when the great fire destroyed his elegant city residence with all its contents, portraits and ancient relics, and he was reduced from the greatest affluence to comparative penury. He had still quite a number of houses in the city from which he might have derived a tolerable revenue, but his real estate was seized, and he was
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kept out of his income until the end of the war.1 His two sons were in active service ; David was captain of a company, under Colonel Josiah Smith, to which Matthew was attached as a volunteer, and met the British on the 27th in the memorable battle of Long Island. Matthew (after- wards General) was a youth of brilliant parts, handsome, engaging, and of great strength and beauty of character.2 He was shortly promoted, acquit- ting himself nobly throughout the struggle, and for nearly century was one of New York's most spirited citizens. half a subsequent useful and public-
Washington's deficiency in fighting material at this cri- sis was only equaled by the lack of military coun- sel upon which he could rely. Few of his offi- cers were known to have superior capacity for war; the majority of them were untrained, and some were without
1 See (Vol. II.) pages 34, 35, M. Clarkson 36. Mr. Clarkson remained at New Brunswick until the spring of 1777, when, through the in- tervention of some of his old friends who had espoused the Royal cause, he was permitted to return to his house in Flat- bush, leaving his "char- ARMS AND SIGNATURE DOFLED FROM, A CONVEYANCE iot, four-wheeled chaise, chair, and sulky" on the EXECUTED BY MATTHEW CLARKSON, FEBRUARY. 15-1701. Raritan. Mr. Nicholas Couwenhoven welcomed him home by a kind note of congratulation, and not only offered his wagon and horses to help him with his family to his seat in Flatbush, but extended hospitalities to them all until they should be better provided for. The Van Hornes returned with the Clarksons, and, although avowed Whigs, were treated with great respect by the British officers. - The Clark- sons of New York, Vol. I. 251- 258. The coat of arms and autograph illustrated in the sketch were those of Secretary Matthew Clarkson, the first of the name in New York.
2 Smith's company was the first to cross the river on the retreat, and Matthew Clarkson slept the following night in the deserted house of his aunt, Mrs. Van Horne, in Wall Street. He shortly joined the family at New Brunswick. From here he went to the house belonging to his father in Percepany, occupied during the summer by Governor William Livingston (whose wife was the sister of young Clarkson's mother and Mrs. Van Horne), where he met and made the personal acquaintance of General Greene, who recommended him to Wash- ington, by whom he was appointed aide-de-camp to General Benedict Arnold.
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ARMY OFFICERS.
aptitude for the service. Greene was stationed at Brooklyn, and engaged in throwing up works with remarkable vigor and rapidity ; but he was scarcely thirty-four, without experience, except in theory and such as he had acquired at the head of his Rhode-Islanders at Bunker Hill, and his military judgment was crude. Mifflin was about the same age, of highly animated appearance, full of activity and apparently of fire, but too much of a bustler, harassing his men unnecessarily. Knox, the artillery colonel, although brave as a lion, or any braver thing, was only twenty-six, and fresh from a Boston bookstore. Reed was thirty-five, and invaluable from many points of view, but no veteran in the management of battles. Heath was one year under forty, and while a born organizer, ever on the alert, breathing the very spirit of control, and possessing a well-balanced mind, his qualifications for the field remained to be proven. Scott was older, and commanded an effective brigade of New-Yorkers, intent upon defending their capital to the last drop of their blood, but he was more valorous than discreet, and violently headstrong under excitement. Spencer, born on the shore of the Connecticut (at East Haddam) was sixty-two, one of the oldest of the major-generals, with experience in the French war, but he stood higher in the esteem and good-will than in the confidence of Washington, for his wisdom in great emergencies had not yet been tested. Parsons, the Lyme lawyer, with less knowledge of the practical application of the theories of war, and younger by twenty-three years, was much the greater military genius; he divided with the un- tiring Wadsworth the honor of commanding the flower of the Connecti- cut soldiery, but his tactics and generalship were yet to be learned and appreciated. Wolcott, a statesman of fifty ripe years, who had served the Crown manfully during the struggle with France, and whose capa- cious mind might have helped in grappling the problem had he been present in season, came through the scorching heat and dust at the last moment, leading the several regiments hurriedly raised by Governor Trumbull to assist in the city's defense. Stirling was also fifty, of fine presence and the most martial appearance of any general in the army save Washington himself, was quick-witted, intelligent, far-seeing, and vocifer- ous among his troops ; he had had, moreover, considerable military school- ing, but his special forte, so far as developed, lay rather in enginery and the planning of fortifications than in the conduct of great battles. Nixon, of about the same age, had served at the capture of Louisburg, and for years subsequent to that event, fighting at Ticonderoga when Abercrom- bie was defeated, and in the battle of Lake George; he was wounded at Bunker Hill, from the effects of which he was still suffering, and although commanding a brigade his endurance of any protracted hardship was not
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