USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
Sir Henry Clinton sent out several exasperating expeditions from New York in the early autumn, which served to widen the chasm between England and America, and render the present conciliatory system hope- less, whatever might have been its chances under other circumstances. One party crossed into New Jersey and ravaged the country ; discovering that a body of Virginia cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Baylor, styled " Mrs. Washington's Guards," were sleeping in barns at Old Tappan, near Hackensack, General Gray, of marauding renown - afterwards Earl Gray - stealthily surrounded them in the night, and with the bayonet slaugh- tered them indiscriminately, without regard to their naked and defense- less condition or cries for mercy. Three days afterward Tarrytown and the country as far as Dobb's Ferry was overrun by one or two hundred Hessians, who plundered and destroyed everything within their reach, until checked by detachments of Americans under Major Henry Lee and Colonel Richard Butler. Little Egg Harbor, on the eastern coast of New Jersey, was visited about the same time by three hundred British troops and a band. of Tory volunteers, under Captain Furguson, and became the
403
212
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
scene of a massacre similar to that of the Virginia cavalry. It was a night attack, and fifty of the American infantry were butchered on the spot. On the Long Island shore, about Buzzard Bay, at Fairhaven, and at Martha's Vineyard American vessels were taken or destroyed, store- houses, dwellings, and churches burned, and sheep, oxen, hogs, and horses carried to New York.
Washington's headquarters after leaving White Plains was at Fred- ericksburg, now Kent, New York, where he gave special attention to re- pairing the roads and bridges through Connecticut to Boston, in order to facilitate the marching of troops. He was frequently at the house of Colonel Henry Ludington, a large commodious mansion a few miles north of Lake Mahopac, in what is now Kent, Putnam County, then the northern border of the "neutral ground." Colonel Ludington was in command of the militia of the region, and, through his resolute vigilance, performed services of the utmost moment to the country. His troops were in constant requisition to quell the turbulent Tory spirit, repress the vicious lawlessness of the "Cowboys " and "Skinners," intimidate the foraging gangs from New York City, and assist in active operation with the Continental army. His independence of character, sterling integrity, and military skill inspired confidence upon every hand. He had in nu- merous instances completely thwarted Howe's designs, and a large reward was offered for his capture, dead or alive. His house was surrounded one night by a band of Tories from Quaker Hill, while on their route to join the British in New York, and but for the presence of mind and spirit of his two young daughters, Sibyl and Rebecca, he would undoubtedly have been taken. These fair maidens were keeping watch as sentinels, with guns in their hands on the piazza. They discovered the approach of the foe in time to cause candles lighted in every room, and the few occupants of the house passed and repassed the windows continually. The ruse led the assaulting party to believe the house was strongly guarded, and, hiding behind the trees and fences, they watched until day- break for signs of repose. Ere it was light enough to discover by whom they had been held in check, they vented their disappointment in un- earthly yells and rapidly fled.
Washington found Colonel Ludington a ready and efficient counselor, and together they planned various methods for learning the intentions of the British in New York.1 Enoch Crosby, the original of Cooper's " Harvey
Colonel Henry Ludington was born in 1739, at Branford, Connecticut. He was the third son of William Ludington, who was descended from the William Ludington who was one of the first settlers of Charlestown, Massachusetts. He married his cousin, Abigail Lud- ington, and with other members of his family removed to what is now Putnam County, New York. He served in the French war with much credit - was at the battle of Lake
404
213
COLONEL LUDINGTON.
Birch," was often admitted to the house for rest and concealment on his adventurous travels ; and the regiments and tenantry of Colonel Luding- ton furnished other successful spies who procured intelligence of great consequence to Washington. The British army was found to be gradu- ally dispersing in different directions. Admiral Byron, the successor of Lord Howe, came and refitted the fleet, and sailed for Boston to entrap, if possible, Count D'Estaing. An expedition was sent to Georgia, and another to the West Indies. Therefore nothing important in the neigh- borhood of New York would probably be attempted.
Sir Henry Clinton had been ordered to carry the war into the Southern States. The Continental troops of Georgia and the Carolinas were chiefly with the main army at the North, and it was deemed a propitious moment for obtaining possession of their strongholds. The Ministry were in no mood to discontinue hostilities. It was told in Parliament that the Conciliatory Bills had been treated with contempt in America, that the British army had received them with inexpressible indignation, and that the rebel army trod them under their feet, or caused them to be burned by the common hangman. Fox declared it his deliberate opinion that " the dependency of America was no longer a thing to be dreamed of." Burke inveighed bitterly against those who had reduced the nation to such an acme of humiliation. David Hartley moved an address to the king to represent that recent events were such as to call for speedy meas- ures to put a stop to the progress of the war; but it was negatived. The next day he moved another address, praying the king not to prorogue Parliament for the present. He said: "I am very confident that the day will soon come when the house will regret having been so touchy upon every proposition that has but the shadow of American independence. It is want of prudence in the extreme to become more and more attached
George, where his uncle and cousin were killed by his side. He was one of the foremost in espousing the cause of America at the outbreak of hostilities, and received his first commission as colonel from the Provincial Congress, which commission was superseded in May, 1778, by one from Governor George Clinton. His duties were multifarious, never-ceasing, and attended with great danger. His own house was his headquarters throughout the war. He filled many positions of trust, public and private, before and after the war. He served in the legislature of the State, was deputy sheriff of the county, for a long time justice of the peace, and through the whole of an honored life was one of the most public spirited men in that part of the State. He died in 1817. He left six sons and six daughters. His youngest son, Lewis, removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1840, and afterwards founded the city of Columbus, in Columbia County, Wisconsin ; he died at Kenosha in 1857, aged seventy-two. Among the well-known grandchildren of Colonel Henry Ludington are Ex-Governor Harrison Ludington of Wisconsin, Nelson Ludington of Chicago, James Ludington, founder of the city of Lud- ington in Michigan, and Charles H. Ludington, of New York City ; also Major Edward A. Ogden of the United States army (who died at Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1855), son of Sibyl Ludington, who married the Hon. Edward Ogden.
405
214
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
to impossibilities in proportion as they became more evidently such. The Americans, you all know, are, in fact, at this moment independent. If you regret that independence, you have your ministers alone to thank for the event. Your force is now, in all effect, defeated in America. One army entire is taken prisoners ; what remains is so far from being ade- quate for conquest, that I fear it will find great difficulty even to defend itself. The Ministry of this country first introduced foreign forces into the contest. The Americans have now, in their turn, called in a foreign power." After combating for some time with the arguments of those who still insisted upon the possibility of bringing the Americans into their former relations, Hartley submitted certain points to the consideration of the Ministry as the only grounds upon which a negotiation could at pres- ent be based : "That the United States be declared independent of Great Britain ; that the two countries agree mutually not to enter into any treaty offensive to each other ; that an open and free trade and a mutual naturalization be established ; and that commissioners be appointed on each part to negotiate a federal alliance between Great Britain and North America." His motion was seconded by Sir George Saville, and warmly · supported by Burgoyne, now in his place in Parliament, who in a power- ful speech denounced the false policy and incapacity of Lord Germain. One of the stanch adherents of government sprang to his feet and denied all the premises upon which Burgoyne had based his remarks ; and con- tended that, as a prisoner of war, Burgoyne had no right to speak, much less to vote in that house, continuing in a strain of offensive personality until called to order. Fox made an eloquent address in support of the motion, declaring that "the Ministry were as incapable of making peace as of carrying on the war": the motion was, however, ultimately lost upon a division of one hundred and five against fifty-three. The refugees from America, embittered by the advice of Congress to the several states to confiscate their property, thronged the antechamber of the Minister and counseled sanguinary measures to punish and subdue. The king be- lieved the colonies would soon beg for pardon. Clinton was not thus deluded, and although he reluctantly obeyed the peremptory instructions received for the conquest of Georgia, and the service of the West Indies, he wrote to the Secretary of State in December, "Do not, my Lord, let anything be expected of one circumstanced as I am."
Washington established for the winter a line of cantonments around New York from Long Island Sound in the vicinity of Danbury, Connecti- cut, where Putnam was in command, to the Delaware, choosing Middle- brook, New Jersey, for his own headquarters. By a plan of alarm-signals one post would reinforce another in case of an incursion of the enemy
406
215
DR. JOHN COCHRANE.
to any particular point; thus comparative security was afforded to the country. General Lincoln was sent by order of Congress to take com- mand of the Southern department.
Lafayette had been ly- ing dangerously ill with a fever for many weeks at the Verplanck Man sion inFishkill, and dur- ing his convalescence in November was pre- paring to visit France on leave of absence, full of a grand project for the next summer's cam- paign, which he de- signed to lay before the cabinet at Versailles. He was closely attended by Dr. John Cochrane,1 of Washington's staff, the surgeon-general of the hospital of the army, whose wife was Ger- trude, the only sister of General Philip Schuy- Dr. John Cochrane. [From a miniature in possession of his grandson, General John Cochrane. ] ler. Lafayette was fond of him, appreciated his intelligence and force of character, and often called him "The good Doctor Bones," from a song with the somewhat
1 Dr. John Cochrane was born in 1730, received a careful education, and finished his medical studies before the breaking out of the French war in 1755. Entering the army as surgeon's mate, he left the service at the close of that war with the character of a skillful and experi- enced practitioner. In 1776 he offered his services as a volunteer in the hospital department of the American army, and being personally known and admired by Washington, was shortly appointed physician and surgeon-general in the middle department ; in October, 1781, Con- gress appointed him director-general of the hospitals of the United States. When peace was restored he removed his family to New York City, residing at 96 Broadway ; he continued on terms of cordial intimacy with Washington as long as he lived, and with the general officers of the army. He had two sons, James Cochrane and Walter L. Cochrane ; and a step-daugh- ter, Cornelia, who became the wife of Walter Livingston, the eldest son of Robert, third Lord of Livingston Manor. Walter L. Cochrane was the father of General John Cochrane of New York City, who was graduated from Hamilton College in 1831, was surveyor of the port of New York from 1853 to 1857, member of Congress from 1856 to 1862, attorney-general of the State, and brigadier-general of volunteers in the late war.
407
216
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
singular refrain of "Bones," which he would sometimes sing to enliven the tedium of camp life, and which was a never-failing source of amuse- ment to both Washington and Lafayette. A familiar letter from Lafay- ette to Dr. Cochrane, bearing this endearing sobriquet, is now in pos- session of the New York Historical Society. The respite from actual fighting gave the officers stationed at West Point and vicinity many idle hours, which they improved in social entertainments. Suppers, followed by music and dancing, were frequent. General Muhlenburg, the clerical Virginia soldier, on one occasion entertained forty guests at a banquet served in the historical dining-room of the Beverley Mansion, opposite West Point. This house had been turned into a military hospital, and Dr. James Thatcher, the author, was quartered there, having been ap- pointed surgeon to the first Virginia regiment, commanded by Colonel George Gibson. He often rode to Fishkill, visiting Dr. Cochrane and others. On one occasion he paid his respects to Lafayette, and describes in his journal the politeness and affability with which he was received, remarking also upon the elegant figure of the young nobleman, the "in- teresting face of perfect symmetry, and fine, animated, hazel eye." Wash- ington was with Lafayette frequently prior to his departure for Boston, where he embarked in December for France.
The dissensions and party feuds in Congress, together with the startling financial outlook, distressed Washington. He repaired to Philadelphia, where he spent much of the winter in discussing plans for 1779. The army were hutted as at Valley Forge, suffering for food, although better clad than ever before through importations from France. But officers and men were growing impatient with their privations and their pay ; while it took one hundred dollars in paper to secure three dollars in specie, they necessarily were laden with debts and their families were starving at home. And to add to the general embarrassments of the situa- tion, skillful artificers were counterfeiting the American bills in London by millions and circulating them in this country. The exchange of prisoners was attended with an endless amount of negotiation and perplexity. Spain just now was apparently using Great Britain as her instrument for bridling the ambition and repressing the growth of the United States ; with a true instinct she saw in their coming influence the quickening ex- ample which was to break down the barriers of her own colonial system. And clear-sighted Americans perceived with alarm that Congress had lost too many of its strong men, that the body was becoming enfeebled, and that its chief acts were only recommendations and promises ; that through the natural course of political development state governments were dearer to the inhabitants than the general government; that the
408
217
WASHINGTON AT PHILADELPHIA.
present Congress actually renounced powers of compulsion, and by choice devolved the chief executive acts upon the separate States; and that in point of fact there was scarcely a symbol of national unity except in the highest offices, while there were thirteen distinct sovereignties and thirteen armies. "If the great whole is mismanaged," said Washington, in trying to rouse the country to a sense of the public danger, " it will an- swer no good purpose to keep the smaller wheels in order." New York was the first State to act in the emergency, and, much as she needed her best men at home, increased her delegation by sending John Jay into the national counsels, who was made president of Congress, Laurens having retired from that office in December.
Upon one great military necessity all were agreed. The Indians of Western New York must be severely chastised; otherwise it was re- solved to adhere to a strictly defensive campaign during the coming season. The movement against the powerful savage confederacy was to be something more than a raid for purposes of retaliation. Nothing less than the harshest of treatment and a decided victory, would prevent the tomahawk and its attending horrors from traveling eastward with the spring sunshine. The Six Nations had exerted great influence through more than two centuries of warfare, and had been courted by both Eng- land and France, as the reader has learned in former pages of this work. They had been treated with all the consideration ever accorded to power- ful governments. They had acquired through intercourse with the whites many of the comforts of civilized life, with enlarged ideas of the advan- tages of private property. Their populous villages contained castles as well as cabins ; the grand council-house at their capital was built of peeled logs two stories high, with gable ends painted red. Their fertile fields and thrifty orchards teemed with corn and fruit. In the beginning of the strife they had engaged to be neutral. But they could not resist the seduction of British presents ; and the influence of Sir John Johnson, of the great chieftain Brandt, and of the Tories and desperadoes who in the disguise of Indians besought them to act as guides, with their natural thirst for blood and plunder, had rendered them more ferocious than the wild beasts of the forest. Their shocking cruelties in the rich Wyoming, Mohawk, Schoharie, and Cherry valleys could not be overlooked. An extensive plan of operations was devised. Into the heart of the Indian country Sullivan was to lead an expedition, marching by the Susque- hanna; General James Clinton, his second in command, was to join him after penetrating the Indian country by the Mohawk River; and a third division was to proceed by the Alleghany River. So important was the success of these movements esteemed, that Governor George Clinton
409
218
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
intended to accompany the troops until the last moment, but was pre- vented by the State affairs. The New Hampshire and Massachusetts regiments were commanded by General Enoch Poor, and the Pennsylva- nia brigades by General Hand. This army altogether amounted to about five thousand men.
The anniversary of the alliance with France was celebrated in camp shortly after Washington returned to headquarters. An elegant dinner was given by General Knox and the officers of artillery to the comman- der-in-chief, who with Mrs. Washington, the principal officers of the army and their ladies, and a number of the prominent personages of New Jersey, formed a brilliant assemblage. In the evening there was a curious display of fire-works and a ball opened by Washington with Mrs. Knox for his partner. Not long afterward a party of British troops crossed into New Jersey at midnight, under orders to capture Governor Livingston. His wife and daughters had returned to " Liberty Hall " in the autumn, and the governor was now at home ; a farmer's son, on a fleet horse without saddle or bridle, brought tidings of the enemy's approach, and he had barely time to make his escape. His valuable correspondence with Washington and other documents were crowded by his daughter Susan into the box of a sulky and taken to an upper room.1 Then she stepped out upon the roof of a little porch over the door to watch for the coming of the redcoats. The day was just dawning when they suddenly appeared in full view, and a horseman dashed forward and begged her to retire lest some of the soldiers from a distance mistake her for a man and fire at her. She attempted in vain to climb in at the window, although it had been easy enough to step out; and an officer, seeing her dilemma, sprang from his horse, ran into the house, and gallantly lifted her through the casement. She was a handsome young woman of magnetic presence, and turning to thank her preserver, inquired to whom she was indebted for the courtesy. "Lord Cathcart," was the reply. "And will you protect a little box which contains my own personal property ?" she asked with quick earnestness ; then added more quietly, "if you wish I will unlock the library, and you may have all my father's papers."
A guard was instantly placed over the box, while the house was ran- sacked. A large quantity of old law papers were stuffed into the sacks of the Hessians, who cut the balusters of the stairs in anger when they found themselves checked in the work they had come so far to perform. They
1 Miss Susan Livingston subsequently married John Cleve Symmes, the eminent jurist, who was member of Congress, judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, chief justice in 1788, appointed judge of the Northwest Territory, and was the founder of the settlements in the Miami country. Their daughter became the wife of President William Henry Harrison.
410
219
THE VERPLANCK MANSION.
were gratified, however, in the matter of burning and plundering several other houses, and retreated with speed to Staten Island closely pursued by Maxwell's brigade, with the loss of a few men on both sides.
The British aim through 1779 was to inflict as much misery as possi- ble upon the inhabitants of America. The war was prosecuted in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, without any distinct or decisive object, in numerous small encounters, and with varying success. Virginia was ravaged by a force under General Matthews, her two chief commercial cities, Portsmouth and Norfolk, sacked, the town of Suffolk wantonly plundered and burned, public and private property indiscriminately de- stroyed all along the track of the invaders, who spent twenty-one days in the employment, and then returned to New York laden with the spoils. On the 30th of May, Sir Henry Clinton commanded an expedi- tion which sailed up the Hudson River and captured the two opposite posts, Verplanck's Point and Stony Point, which were in no condition to resist the army of more than six thousand men. Washington drew his troops suddenly from their cantonments and placed them in such positions above Stony Point that the British general was discouraged from attempt- ing anything further, and leaving strong garrisons in his newly acquired fortresses, he returned to New York.
Baron Steuben established his headquarters in June at the Verplanck Mansion, which, standing amid fine lawns and gardens, a short distance from the village of Fishkill, with patches of primeval forest on either hand, overlooked the Hudson some half a mile from the water's edge. By rapid marches through Pompton and the Ramapo valley the troops under St. Clair, Lord Stirling, and Baron De Kalb, were drawn from Middlebrook and well posted near West Point. Putnam was placed in command at Smith's Clove, while Washington's head- June. quarters were at Newburgh. Numerous regiments were scattered along the eastern bank of the Hudson to guard the passes, it being supposed that the British would soon attempt to carry West Point. Washington was frequently at Fishkill, and with the baron reviewed the various sections of the army; the remarkable degree of adroitness to which both officers and soldiers had attained in their evolutions was gratifying. The silence maintained during the performance of their manœuvres as- tonished experienced French generals. "I don't know whence noise should proceed, when even my brigadiers dare not open their mouths but to repeat the orders," exclaimed Steuben in reply to certain adiniring comments.
The Verplanck Mansion was built in the early part of the eighteenth century, upon property which has been in the possession of the Ver-
411
220
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
plancks since 1682, when Gulian Verplanck and Francis Rombouts bought seventy-six thousand acres of land of the Indians. Long prior to the Revolution wheat had been shipped from this place to France and ex- changed for pure wine, with which the vaults of the dwelling were well stocked. It was a roomy, comfortable home, and the foreign noblemen who enjoyed its shelter were charmed with its abundant resources for substan- tial comfort. The house is still preserved, with all its antique peculiarities ; the very chairs used during the war are cherished with tender reverence. The new and larger part, revealed in the sketch, is at least seventy- five years old. The Verplancks are one of the oldest as well as one of the most honorable of the New York families of Holland origin ; the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.