USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 40
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of the war these men were far more to be feared than the British or Hes- sian soldiers, as they were constantly fitting out expeditions into their old neighborhoods for revengeful murder and plunder. Their inroads were similar to the border forays in Scotland. They made sundry at- tempts to burn "Liberty Hall," and threatened the governor's life with fierce intent. His family removed in the early spring from Lord Stirling's home at Baskinridge to Percepany. On the night of July 27, while the governor was paying a flying visit to them, the house was surrounded by a band of refugees; but, knowing that gentlemen guests were within from whom they might not be able to distinguish their victim, they laid down in the grass waiting for daylight, and overslept themselves. When roused by the sunshine, Governor Livingston was galloping over the roads, miles away, to meet some important appointment, wholly uncon- scious of what he had escaped.
The right wing of Washington's army was at Princeton under Putnam, who had hardly as many men as miles of frontier to guard; the left wing was under Heath in the Highlands, and cantonments were estab- lished at various points along this extended line. Wooster, Scott, Lin- coln, Parsons, McDougall, and Benedict Arnold were all in the Hudson River division, and were stationed at various times as far south as North Castle, New Rochelle, Dobb's Ferry, and even Kingsbridge, but nothing of importance transpired. Parties of the enemy prowled through the neighborhood of New York City for cattle, horses, hay, and grain, when-
ever it was practicable. In March, Colonel Bird, with a detachment
March 23.
of five hundred troops under a convoy of one frigate and some smaller vessels, suddenly appeared at Peekskill, where the magazines and stores of Heath were collected, and, driving McDougall with his small force from the town, captured a considerable amount of booty. Colonel Willett with sixty men dashed upon them before they had finished their business, with such vigor that they fled precipitately to their vessels. Heath was at the time in Massachusetts, having been appointed on the 14th to the command of the Eastern department.
April was notable for the British raid upon Danbury, Connecticut, where the Americans had stored supplies and munitions of war. Tryon commanded the expedition, and was accompanied by Sir William Erskine and General Agnew, with two thousand men. They landed at Compo beach, just east of Norwalk, from twenty-five vessels, and marched April 26. twenty-two miles inland, reaching Danbury Saturday afternoon, April 26. The guard was too small for effective resistance, and withdrew. The inhabitants fled for safety into the country to the north and east. Sergeant Nathaniel Hoyt, of Washington's Continental Artil-
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lery,1 chanced to be home on a furlough, and hastily removed his wife and young children to New Milford upon an ox-cart, passing out of the town just as the red-coated legions came in. His cousin, Comfort Hoyt, was less fortunate in escaping, his handsome horses being discovered by the invaders and taken from his wagon on the road. The families, sud- denly abandoning their homes, took such valuables as they could carry, but the greater portion of their household goods were left to the mercy of the foe. The church was packed to the galleries with provisions in barrels, and several barns and other depositories were full to the roof; these were rolled into the street in a pile, and the torch applied. Eighteen hundred barrels of pork and beef, seven hundred barrels of flour, two thousand bushels of wheat, corresponding quantities of rye, oats, corn, and hay, and a large invoice of tents, were consumed, the smoke filling the air with a suffocating odor, and the melted pork running in streams through the streets. Rum was found and drank by the British soldiers, and the night was made hideous with their revelry. The country was aroused far and near. Wooster and Arnold were both in New Haven on fur- loughs, but were quickly speeding by a forced march to the rescue, and Silliman was on the wing. Late in the evening a flying messenger for aid reached Colonel Ludington in Carmel, New York, whose men were at
1 Sergeant Nathaniel Hoyt, born 1750, was one of the rear-guard in the retreat from Long Island, and also from New York City (see page 127). He served in the Continental Army during nearly the whole period of the conflict. His home was in Danbury. He was de- scended in the direct line from Simon Hoyt, who came to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1628, with Governor Endicott, and who was one of the founders of seven different towns. He was of the party who traveled on foot from Salem through the woods to explore and settle Charlestown. In 1636 he was among the founders of Windsor, Connecticut, and a deacon in Rev. Thomas Hooker's church. He bought an extensive territory of land in Fairfield County, and with his sons aided in the settlement of Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford, and Danbury, and also Deerfield, Massachusetts. His eldest son, Walter Hoyt (born 1618), was the fifth of the ten proprietors named in the instrument when Norwalk was incorporated in 1653, they hav- ing owned the land for twenty years. Walter's son, John Hoyt (born 1644), was one of the eight original proprietors of Danbury in 1685. John's son Benjamin had a son Nathan- iel, who was the father of Sergeant Nathaniel Hoyt, whose son Nathaniel was a resident of Western New York, an honored and useful citizen, within the memory of the present genera- tion. The Hoyts have intermarried with the Benedicts, Trowbridges, Fields, Nashes, Lock- woods, Welds, and other eminent families, and have held many offices of trust civil and military. Among the distinguished descendants, through their mother, Mary Hoyt, are John Sherman, present Secretary of the Treasury, and General William Tecumseh Sherman. The Deerfield branch of the Hoyts descended from Nicholas, the second son of Simon Hoyt of Windsor. Several generations of the family lived in the famous old Indian House in that town. General Epaphras Hoyt, historian and antiquarian writer (born 1765), was one of four brothers, all of whom were military officers and members of the legislature. Their sister married Justin Hitchcock, and was the mother of President Edward Hitchcock of Amherst College.
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their homes scattered over the distance of many miles ; no one being at . hand to call them, his daughter Sibyl Ludington, a spirited young girl of sixteen, mounted her horse in the dead of night and performed this service, and by breakfast-time the next morning the whole regiment was on its rapid march to Danbury. But the mischief had been accomplished. The British, apprised of the approach of the Americans in the early morning of the 27th, burned all the dwelling-houses in the town, and retreated upon the Fairfield road towards the sound. Wooster, effecting a junction with Silliman, pursued and harassed them, and about noon a sharp fight was maintained for upwards of an hour, in which Wooster fell mortally wounded at the very moment while shouting, " Come on, boys, never mind such random shots!"1 Arnold behaved with remark- able intrepidity ; his horse was killed when within ten yards of the enemy, and a soldier leaped upon him with fixed bayonet, whom he instantly shot. The skirmishing continued until the whole force had re-embarked for New York. The enemy were so hotly pursued that they were only able to cross the Segatuck bridge by running at full speed. Their loss was between three and four hundred. General Agnew was among the wounded. Howe never considered the advantages gained by this exploit equal to the costs.
May was marked by an act of retaliation on the part of the Americans which evinced so much ability of plan and boldness of execution that the British generals were confounded. Parsons,2 commanding in Con-
1 Major-General David Wooster, born in Stratford, Connecticut, March 2, 1710, had been a valuable officer in the French War ; but for twelve years prior to the Revolution was collector of the port of New Haven, and surrounded with all the comforts and elegances of wealth. His wife was the daughter of President Clapp of Yale College. His mansion in Wooster Street, then isolated among country scenes, had an unobstructed view of the beau- tiful bay of New Haven, and was the resort of the learning and polish of the time; his style of living, his bountiful table, his troupe of black domestics, his horses and his phaeton, were all in the highest elegance of the olden period. He was offered a high commission in the British army, which he spurned, and enrolled himself upon the side of America with the first knell of hostilities, drawing from his own ample fortune to equip and pay his officers and men. His death was deeply lamented.
2 Samuel Holden Parsons was a lawyer, and one of the most scholarly writers of the Revolution. He was the son of Rev. Jonathan Parsons, pastor of the church in Lyme, Connecticut - afterwards at Newburyport, Massachusetts - a protégé of Rev. Jonathan Edwards, and the intimate friend of Whitfield. The mother of Samuel Holden Parsons was Plebe Griswold, the sister of Governor Matthew Griswold, and his wife was a Miss Mather, of Lyme, descended from the distinguished Boston Mathers. Ezra Lee, who experimented with Bushnell's machine for submarine navigation (see pages 98, 99), married a sister of Mrs. General Parsons. Inheriting brilliant qualities from both father and mother, carefully educated, and trained in legal lore by his accomplished uncle, Governor Matthew Griswold, General Parsons was well fitted for public life. He was admitted to the bar in 1759, when
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necticut, sent Colonel Meigs to destroy the military stores and provisions which the enemy had collected at Sag Harbor. He sailed from New Haven May 21, with two hundred and thirty-four men in thirteen whale- boats, but the sea being rough anchored in Guilford harbor until the 23d ; in the afternoon they crossed the sound undiscovered by the May 24. British cruisers with which it was alive, and at midnight landed,
concealed their boats in the woods, and marched four miles. It was two o'clock in the morning when they reached and stormed Sag Harbor, de- stroying twelve vessels - brigs, schooners, and sloops, one of which was armed with twelve guns - one hundred tons of pressed hay, twelve hogs- heads of rum, grain, merchandise, and other stores in immense quantities, and captured the whole guard of ninety men, carrying them across the sound to Connecticut. All this was accomplished without the loss of a man; and about noon on the 24th the victorious party arrived in Guil- ford, having been absent less than twenty-four hours. Meigs 1 was warmly complimented for his gallantry by Washington ; and was voted (August 3) thanks and a sword by Congress.
Meanwhile the Convention of New York, long since elected for the express purpose of establishing a state government, had been tossed from place to place - meeting at White Plains, Harlem, Kingsbridge, Philipse Manor, Fishkill, and now at Kingston - its members performing every class of public duty. A committee was appointed August 1 (1776) to prepare and report a constitution, consisting of John Sloss Hobart, William Duer, General John Morin Scott, Colonel John Broome, Charles De Witt, William Smith, Henry Wisner, Samuel Townsend, Robert Yates, Abraham Yates, Robert R. Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, and John Jay, who was made the chairman. Such, however, was the critical urgency for energetic action in other directions, that no time was found for the completion of the task until the beginning of 1777. The shaping of the instrument fell chiefly to Jay, Livingston, and Morris. They were young men - Jay thirty-two, Livingston thirty, and Morris only twenty-five - each possessing the best education of the time, belonging to the wealth- iest families in the State, and by birth and opportunity certain of Royal
twenty-two years of age, settled in Lyme, and was elected to the Assembly of Connecticut in 1762, and successively for eighteen sessions. After peace was restored he was appointed by Washington first judge of the Northwestern Territory.
1 Return Jonathan Meigs was born in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1740 ; he belonged to one of the best families in New England, and was an officer of great ability. In 1788 he was one of the first settlers of Marietta, Ohio. His son, Return Jonathan Meigs, the distinguished jurist and statesman, was born in Middletown in 1765. He also settled in Marietta, was Chief Justice of the Ohio Superior Court in the early part of the present century, United States Senator from 1808 to 1810, and four years governor of Ohio.
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favor should they choose otherwise than peril their lives for civil liberty and self-government. We shall see how they chose the latter. On the 12th of March the draft in the handwriting of Jay was first read to the Convention by James Duane. It was discussed by sections, and April 20. in all its bearings, until April 20, when it was adopted almost in its original form. It recites in full the Declaration of Independ- ence, and the unanimous resolution of the Convention (9th July) in- structing the New York delegates at Philadelphia to give it their support ; and, providing for the naturalization of foreigners, for trial by jury, for a militia service with recognition of the Quakers, for the protection of Indians within the State limits, and for absolute religious liberty, it is equal in the scope of its provisions and in dignity of expression to any similar instrument ever prepared by the hand of man. We may well pause with wonder at the vigorous ease with which these govern- ment-makers wielded the public affairs of New York at the very moment when nearly every county within her borders was invaded by the enemy, her chief city captive, her vessels burned and her store-houses empty, and hostile forces gathering strength at the North for a descent with fire and sword upon the smiling valleys of the Hudson. The Empire State was the last of the thirteen colonies to frame an individual government, but when accomplished, in the face of greater dangers than overwhelmed any other, it excelled them all in the largeness of its humane liberality.
The Constitution was published on Tuesday, April 22, the church-bell April 22. calling the people of Kingston together at eleven o'clock in the morning. Vice-President Van Cortlandt, with the members of the Convention, appeared in front of the court-house, and the secretary, Robert Benson, mounted upon a barrel, read the immortal document to the assembled multitude. Three thousand copies were immediately printed for distribution by John Holt, at Fishkill.
The committee appointed to report a plan for organizing the govern- ment were John Jay, Robert R. Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, General John Morin Scott, Abraham Yates, and John Sloss Hobart. Before its adjournment this remarkable Convention empowered fifteen of its num- ber to govern the State until an election could be held for governor, lieutenant-governor, legislature, etc. It was called the Council of Safety, and wielded an absolute sovereignty. The judicial power was vested by the Constitution in a chancellor and judges of the Supreme Court ; local county courts and a probate judiciary were constituted ; while a final appellate court, both in law and equity, was to be formed by the senate, the chancellor, and the judges of the Supreme Court. For the immediate execution of the laws, Robert R. Livingston was elected chancellor, John
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" Vice-President Van Cortlandt with the Members of the Convention appeared in front of the Court-house, and the Secretary,
Robert Benson, mounted upon a barrel, read the immortal document to the assembled multitude. " Page 162.
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Jay chief justice. Robert Yates 1 and John Sloss Hobart2 judges of the Supreme Court, and Egbert Benson 3 attorney-general. Each county was provided with judicial officers, that the courts so long closed might be reopened. The first judge for the county of Albany
May 3. was Volkert Peter Douw, and the other judges were Jacob C. Ten Eyck, Abraham Ten Broeck, Henry Bleecker, Walter Livingston, and John A. Ten Eyck. For Dutchess County, Ephraim Paine, Zephaniah Platt, and Anthony Hoffman were elected; for Ulster County, Levi Pawling and Dirck Wyncoop.
The day following was Sunday. But there was no rest for the weary legislators. Three commissioners were appointed, John Jay, Colonel Henry Ludington, and Colonel Thomas, to quell and subdue insurrections and disaffection in the counties of Dutchess and Westchester, and directed to co-operate with Robert R. Livingston, Zephaniah Platt, and Matthew Cantine (the committee for a like purpose in the manor of Livingston), and to call aid from the militia of George Clinton and McDougall whenever needful. The commissioners were also commanded to use every means in their power (torture excepted) to compel the discovery of spies or other emissaries of the enemy.
John Jay declined the nomination for governor.4 The office was be- stowed upon George Clinton, who was elected in June and inaugurated July 30. Pierre Van Cortlandt, as president of the Council of Safety and of the new senate, became lieutenant-governor of the State.
Before the end of May Washington had formed his plans for the dis- posal of his army in such a manner that the widely separated parts might reciprocally aid each other. It was supposed that Burgoyne, who was now in command of the British forces at the North, would endeavor to take Ticonderoga and penetrate the Hudson, and that Howe would either attack the Highlands or Philadelphia. As a convenient point from which to move as soon as the enemy's intentions were further developed,
1 Robert Yates was born in Schenectady, New York, Jan. 27, 1738. Received a classical education in New York City, became a lawyer, and was admitted to the bar in Albany in 1760. He was a jurist and statesman of distinction ; was chief justice of the State from 1790 to 1798.
2 John Sloss Hobart was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1738 ; he was the son of the eminent Fairfield clergyman, Rev. Noah Hobart, and had been carefully educated in every phase of ancient and modern lore. After the war he was one of the three judges of the Supreme Court of New York ; and was also United States Senator from New York.
3 Egbert Benson, who subsequently held a high rank in jurisprudence and in letters, was then thirty years of age. He was born in New York City, June 21, 1746, and was one of the early graduates of King's (Columbia) College.
4 The intellect, character, culture, and social distinction of John Jay, and the prominence
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Washington advanced from Morristown to the ridge of strong and com- manding heights in the rear of Plainfield and Scotch Plains, where from the rocks in front of his camp he could look down upon the Raritan, the road to Philadelphia, and a considerable portion of the country between Amboy and Trenton. Sullivan was at Princeton, and Lord Stirling, Greene, and other officers were upon the plains which intervened between the main army and New Brunswick. Arnold was with Mifflin in Philadelphia,
with which he figured in our national development, leads us to penetrate beneath the surface of historical narrative for further light respecting his origin and the influences under which he was reared. To the Hugue- not movement, which brought so much of the best blood of France to our shores, America is indebted for this great jur- ist and statesman. His grand- fatlier, Augustus Jay, came to New York in 1686, when twen- ty-one years of age. He was the son of Pierre Jay, of La Rochelle ; lie was born March 23, 1665, and at the age of fourteen was sent to England for his education. He was ab- sent in 1685, on an exploring expedition to the coast of Africa, when his father's family found refuge from persecution in Eng- land. (See Vol. I. 696, 697.) He came to New York, and ob- tained letters of denization from Governor Dorgan on the Will DEL 4th of March. While on a voyage to Hamburg in 1692, he was captured by pirates, but effected his escape, and reached La Rochelle, France, where he Augustus Jay, was secreted by his mother's Born at La Rochelle, France, March 23, 1665, died at New York, Nov. 16, 1756. [From the portrait in the possession of Miss Eliza Clarkson Jay. ] sister, Madame Mouchard, and embarked on a vessel for Denmark ; from there he proceeded to Plymouth, England, and visited his father's family. His brother Isaac was in the Huguenot regiment which fought so bravely for William III., under Count Schomberg, and died from wounds received at the battle of the Boyne. His sister Frances married Stephen Pelaquin of Bristol, England, whose son . David was afterwards mayor of Bristol. Returning to New York, Augustus Jay married, in 1697, Anna Maria, daughter of Balthazar Bayard. He was a man of unblemished character, and possessed all the graces and accomplishments which distinguished the French of that period ; his wealth and scholarship, together with his fine presence and engaging manners, rendered him one of the notable personages of his time. His son, Peter, born in 1704, and educated in Europe, who married Mary Van Cortlandt, was the father of John Jay, residing in the evening of his life in Rye, New York.
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preparing for its defense. Howe's object was the Quaker City, and he evidently preferred the straight route across New Jersey ; the demonstra- tion was made, on the 13th of June, of being about to force his way, but he was so harassed by small parties without drawing Washington into a general engagement, that he suddenly retreated to Amboy and began to pass his troops over to Staten Island. To cover the light parties detached to injure the British, Washington moved with the main army to Quibble- town, the van under Stirling proceeding to the Metuchen meeting-house, with orders to act according to circumstances, but in no case to bring on a general engagement. Howe wheeled suddenly about, recalling his troops from Staten Island, and on the night of the 25th marched in two columns for the heights and passes on the American left.
Washington received timely intelligence and fell back to his June 26.
stronghold at Middlebrook. During this retrograde movement, Stirling encountered the British right column under Cornwallis, and a spirited engagement ensued at Scotch Plains ; but he joined Washington upon the heights without severe loss. Upon the brow of the mountain in the rear of Plainfield is a bold projecting rock, at an elevation of four hun- dred feet, where tradition says Washington often stood during these five days, taking observations. Baffled in his main design, Howe June 30. withdrew from New Jersey. On the 30th he embarked with
sixteen thousand troops, the fleet prepared apparently for a long voyage.
The purposes of Howe were inexplicable to Washington. According to the science of war he would naturally aim to effect a junction with Burgoyne, who was marching with a strong force against Ticonderoga ; and his route would be the smiling valley of the Hudson. Therefore the American posts in the Highlands were strengthened. But the fleet, after lolling in the hot July sun for two weeks, finally disappeared from New York harbor, and Washington must needs make Philadelphia his princi- pal care. He moved his main army to Germantown, and conferred with Congress, which had returned to Philadelphia.
In the interim a brilliant achievement raised the spirits of the army. The British General Prescott commanded in Rhode Island, and was quartered in a house about five miles from Newport. Colonel William Barton, an intrepid young officer from Providence, learned the situation through a deserter, and with forty men rowed across Narragansett Bay in the dead of night, July 10, passed three frigates unobserved, July 10. landed noiselessly and stole along three fourths of a mile to head- quarters, passing the general's guard not two hundred yards from his window, seized the sentry, burst into the house, and reached Prescott's door before an alarm could be given ; as this was not opened instantly
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on demand, the colored guide broke in the panels with his head, and Barton, springing forward, saw a man sitting up in bed. " Are you Gen- eral Prescott ? " he asked. "I am, sir," was the reply. "You are my prisoner," said Barton. "I acknowledge it," replied Prescott. Silence was compelled, and the humiliated general was hurried, undressed, into the night-fog, over a fence, and through a rye-field where blackberry briers prevailed, much to his discomfort; he was desired to run, but he said he was an old man and could not. Therefore a strong hand taking him under the arm on each side enabled him to run. " Gentlemen, do you mean to kill me ? " he exclaimed. "No, we mean to exchange you for General Lee, and after that we do not care how soon the devil has you," was the reply. They reached the boats and rowed back the same way they came, passing the men-of-war and forts undiscovered. When they were nearing Warwick Neck, fire rockets and alarm-guns revealed the consternation upon the island. A flag was sent in the morning for the general's clothes.
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