USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. II > Part 49
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The Rev. Mr. Caldwell had been pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth until the edifice was burned by the British, and his position on
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the great questions at issue was a matter of public notoriety ; he was also chaplain of a New Jersey regiment. His wife was Hannah Ogden, the daughter of Judge John and Hannah Sayre Ogden of Newark.1 She was the mother of nine children. The circumstances of her murder are variously stated. Her husband had entreated her in the morning to seek a place of greater safety than the little parsonage, but she thought that her presence might serve to protect the house from pillage. She was in a back room, holding an infant in her arms, attended by her maid, when a soldier jumped over the fence into the yard and fired his musket at her through the window, killing her instantly. Whether it was an act of personal malice or otherwise, it shocked the whole American people, and rendered the British name more execrable than ever.
At "Liberty Hall " the wife and daughters of Governor Livingston spent the day in speechless terror, as the British troops passed in front of their residence, and they could hear the guns and see the flames rising from the church and dwellings at Connecticut Farms. Late in the even- ing some British officers rushed in to take shelter from the storm, and finally decided to remain until morning ; thus assured of safety, the family retired. About midnight they were startled by a sudden commotion about the house, caused by the departure of the officers who were hurried off by unexpected news. Soon afterward a band of drunken or vagabond hangers-on to the army broke into the mansion, swearing they would " burn down the rebel house." The frightened ladies locked themselves into a chamber, but their whereabouts were quickly discovered and the door attacked. As it was likely to give way before their blows, one of the governor's daughters resolutely opened it; a ruffian grasped her arm, and she with the quickness of thought seized his collar; at that instant a flash of lightning illumined the scene, and the fellow staggered back in a scared manner, thinking it the ghost of the murdered Mrs. Caldwell whom he saw before him ! An old neighbor was presently recognized among the men, to whom the ladies appealed, and through his interven- tion the house was cleared of the marauders.
1 Judge John Ogden was the brother of Colonel Josiah Ogden, who founded the Episcopal Church of Newark, and of Rev. Uzal Ogden, D. D., its first rector. He was the son of David Ogden, who was the son of the David Ogden who married Elizabeth Swaine, widow of Josiah Ward, the lady whose foot first rested upon Newark soil when the town was settled, himself the son of John Ogden, one of the principal founders of Elizabeth. The Ogdens were among the most wealthy and influential families of New Jersey, but were divided on the ques- tion of independence. Judge David Ogden of Newark, who had recently been commis- sioned chief justice of the province by the King, a cousin of Mrs. Caldwell's father, was in New York with his family, counseling with the enemy, and retired to Nova Scotia at the close of the war.
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BATTLE OF SPRINGFIELD.
The governor was at Trenton at the time of the invasion, overwhelmed with public duties of the most perplexing character; and, aware that Knyphausen had within a month offered large inducements for his capture, he had little expectation that his house would be spared. The enemy remained at Elizabethtown Point waiting for Clinton, who having left Lord Cornwallis in command of South Carolina, with instruc- tions to invade North Carolina as soon as circumstances would permit, was on his route to New York. Two days after his arrival he visited June 19. New Jersey, and expressed his disapproval of the movement of
Knyphausen. The only objects sufficient to warrant such an expedition were the stores at Morristown and the capture of the American army. The prospect of success was not promising, and he resolved to withdraw the troops ; but he chose to mask his retreat by a feint, and to give it the air of a military manœuvre. Washington, discovering that a bridge of boats to Staten Island was in readiness for the return of the British army, suspected that a design upon West Point was in contem- plation, and immediately strengthened his forces in the Highlands, con- fiding the post at Short Hills to the command of Greene. Early on the morning of June 23d the British, five thousand strong, with ten or June 23. twenty field-pieces, swiftly advanced towards Springfield. They
reached Connecticut Farms about sunrise, from whence they diverged in two compact columns, one by a circuitous route to the North through Milburn, the other directly over the Rahway River. Major Henry Lee, with his dragoons, supported by Colonel Aaron Ogden, took post at Little's Bridge on the Vauxhall road, while Colonel Dayton, aided by Colonel Angell, opposed the left column. There was a sharp contest at both points ; the right column was compelled to ford the river before it could drive Lee and Ogden from their position, although their force was small. At the lower bridge the left column was held in check for forty minutes. During the heat of the battle Rev. Mr. Caldwell galloped to the church near by, and brought back an armful of psalm-books to supply the men with wadding for their firelocks, exclaiming, as he handed them round, "Now put Watts into them, boys !" Greene's command was extended over the mountains, to guard the different passes, and he hastily prepared for action. The enemy, having gained the village, saw little hope of proceeding further, and while manœuvring with their cannon plundered the houses and burned the town. The church and nineteen dwelling-houses were destroyed. Four habitations only were spared, and those were occupied by their wounded. Then they retreated with almost as much celerity as they had advanced ; the militia, maddened by the sight of their burning homes, pursued them with an incessant fire the whole
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distance to Elizabethtown Point. They immediately crossed to Staten Island, and by midnight their bridge of boats was removed.
It was shortly apparent that Sir Henry Clinton had no present in- tention of navigating the Hudson. The fleet under Admiral Arbuthnot cast anchor in Gardiner's Bay. Why the British army, twice as large as its adversary, did not strike some grand blow puzzled many a brain. But Clinton had a scheme in view which he believed would end the war. Benedict Arnold had been in his pay upwards of a year, and at specified rates furnished material intelligence. If Benedict Arnold succeeded in obtaining the command of West Point, the whole American army could be purchased from his hand. The only question at issue was that of price. Lord Germain was cognizant of the ignoble plot, and promised that all expenses would be cheerfully defrayed. He wrote to Clinton in September, 1779, that next to the destruction of Washington's army the gaining over influential officers would be the speediest means of subduing the rebellion.
Meanwhile two important events occurred. Congress, regardless of the views of Washington, placed Gates on the 13th of June in command of the Southern department; and the French fleet, with Rochambeau and one division of his army, entered the harbor of Newport on the 10th of July. Washington took post at Tappan, opposite Dobb's Ferry.
Clinton, while waiting for the development of Arnold's treachery, made a journey by land to Easthampton, the extreme eastern point of Long Island, ostensibly to confer with the Admiral as to the policy of an attack upon the French at Rhode Island, but in reality to enjoy a few weeks of sportive recreation. He was accompanied by his favorite aide-de-camp, Major André, and several officers of high rank, including Lord Percy 1
1 Lord Percy was Hugh, eldest son of Sir Hugh Smithson, Baronet, who assumed the surname of Percy on his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Seymour, only child of the Duke of Somerset, and by act of Parliament was created Earl Percy and Duke of Northumberland October 22, 1766. Lord Percy, so well known in New York, became in 1786 second Duke of Northumberland. His brother, James Smithson, founded, through a bequest of $ 515, 169, the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among men "; he took an honorary degree at Oxford in 1786 (the same year that Hugh became a duke), and devoted his life to scholarship, often saying that his name would outlive those of his family who possessed inherited titles and honors only. The Smithsons were of England's proudest nobility, dating back to the eleventh century, holding large estates, and conspicuous in all the generations for intellectual strength. The titles and dignities of Knight and Baronet were conferred upon Sir Hugh Smithson in 1660. The first Duke of Northumberland was the fourth Baronet in the direct line. Lord Percy's son Hugh became third Duke of Northumberland in 1817 ; he was succeeded as fourth Duke by his brother Algernon, the late Viceroy of Ireland, in 1847. The present Duke of Northumberland is a Smithson, although not in the direct descent from Lord Percy, and his galaxy of armorial bearings, representing the distinguished alliances of his ancestry, number nearly nine hun-
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SIR HENRY CLINTON AT EASTHAMPTON.
and Lord Cathcart. Sir William Erskine was in command of Eastern Long Island, with headquarters at Southampton, but Sir Henry and his suite were billeted upon Colonel Abraham Gardiner, whose mansion at Easthampton was the largest and finest in the region; its garret had a trap-door, and was used to confine prisoners. The chief pastime of the party was deer-hunting.1 The son of their host, Dr. Nathaniel Gardi- ner, surgeon of a New Hampshire regiment, came home on a furlough during their stay, cutting his visit short, however, when he discovered the character of his father's guests. The family thought his presence their own secret until the morning following his departure, when Major André expressed his regret at not having been able to make the acquaintance of the young surgeon, as, had he done so, duty would have obliged him to cause his arrest as a spy. A messenger appeared one rainy August morning with a letter from Arnold, and before noon Sir Henry was on his route to the city. André, upon leaving, exchanged wineglasses with Colonel Gardiner, taking two from his camp-chest, and receiving two from the table in return. These mementos are still preserved by the family.2
America quivered with disappointment as the summer slipped by without military movements. Washington's feeble army was unprepared to act with the French immediately upon their arrival; and the second division of Rochambeau's army were blockaded by the British at Brest, and unable to cross the Atlantic. The idle troops of the king amused themselves with forays into the country, and the patriots injured the enemy whenever they had an opportunity. Now and then daring exploits were planned and executed for the relief of prisoners, as in the case of General Silliman and Judge Jones, the historian. The former was captured by a party of refugees at his house in Fairfield, May, 1779, and carried to New York. There being no officer in possession of the Americans whom the British would accept in exchange for Silliman, a bold and successful expedition into Long Island was projected in No- vember for the capture of Judge Jones, who was residing quietly at his country-seat, at Fort Neck, and he was taken to the home of Mrs. Silli- man, thence to Middletown. It was the 27th of April, 1780, before the
dred, among which are those of several younger branches of the Royal family of England, the sovereign houses of France, Castile, Leon, and Scotland, and the ducal house of Normandy and Brittany - heraldic honors almost without a parallel.
1 See, Vol. I. 596.
2 David Gardiner, the grandson of Colonel Abraham Gardiner, was several years in public life ; he was killed by the explosion of a gun opposite Mount Vernon in 1844, while on a pleas- ure-trip by invitation of the President. Two cabinet ministers and three other distinguished gentlemen were instantly killed at the same time, and the six were buried from the Execu- tive Mansion. A few months afterward Julia, the beautiful daughter of David Gardiner, was married to John Tyler, President of the United States.
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exchange was finally effected, and both gentlemen restored to their families. A volume might be filled with the thrilling incidents, hair-breadth es- capes, and harrowing trials of the people within fifty miles of the metrop- olis during this period of inaction. The neutrals suffered more if possible than the violent partisans, being persecuted by both parties. Washington's forces were changing along the Hudson like a kaleidoscope. Baron Steuben had wrought wonders. Every man and every horse knew his place and his duty. Such was the perfection of detail in the regulations that the whole army, occupying an extent of several miles, could be put in motion and take up the line of march in less than an hour. The season was sickly, great dearth of food was frequent, the ranks were thin, and nearly every man had a grievance. But a hopeful spirit was maintained through the judicious policy of Washington, who, whatever his forebodings, never lost self-command. He was essentially aided by Greene, whose character and bearing created confidence and enthusiasm. Lord Stirling was an- other officer whose example was a perpetual source of strength and inspi- ration ; the troops were proud of his martial appearance, and boastfully compared his courtly dignity with the brusque mannerism of many for- eign generals, although the laugh occasionally went round at his expense on account of his supposed ambition of the title of lordship; the story was told, how, at the execution of a soldier for desertion, the poor criminal called out, " Lord, have mercy on me !" and Stirling responded with warmth, "I won't, you rascal ! I won't have mercy on you." The elegant dragoons of Colonel Henry Lee were the admiration of the arny ; not England herself could exhibit a better-disciplined, more stylishly equipped, or finer-looking body than these gallant Virginians. And the lively concern evinced by the French affected the rank and file of the American army like a charm.
Eager expectation, however, succeeded suddenly to deep despondency. News came from South Carolina early in September that Gates had been totally defeated on the 19th of August by Lord Cornwallis in a general action near Camden, with the loss of forty-eight American officers, and that the brave Baron De Kalb had been killed while leading the Mary- land and Delaware troops into battle. This mortifying disaster opened the eyes of Congress at last to the fact that a man could be a skillful intriguer and yet no soldier. In the midst of the general sorrow the army paid the final tribute of respect to the amiable and popular General Enoch Poor, who had died of fever. On the 17th Washington, accom- panied by Lafayette and Hamilton, left headquarters for Hartford, to meet and confer with Rochambeau and his generals, who were to ride to that point from Rhode Island. Arnold proceeded in his barge to meet
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TREASON OF ARNOLD.
Washington at King's Ferry, crossing the Hudson in full view of the Vulture, anchored below. He was in possession of a letter concerning the property opposite West Point which had been confiscated to the State of New York; and he urged in vain for permission to receive an agent from Colonel Beverley Robinson, its former owner, on the subject. Hamilton said it was strange that Robinson should attempt to confer with a military officer upon a question belonging to the civil authority alone ! Lafayette in a tone of pleasantry asked Arnold to ascertain as soon as possible - since he was in correspondence with the enemy - what had become of the French squadron so anxiously expected. Had Washing- ton consented to Arnold's appeal, the conference with André would have been conducted under a flag of truce, seemingly authorized by the com- mander-in-chief.
No event in modern history has been more discussed than the treason of Benedict Arnold. The character of the man who could deliberately under- take to destroy the life of a nation at a stipulated price is a curious study. He seems to have possessed exceptional will-power, unlimited audacity, tolerable acquirements, an excitable imagination, a cold heart, inordinate selfishness, singularly captivating manners, great personal magnetism, an irritable temper, and a cruel disposition. He excelled in a certain order of military ability, but lacked all the moral qualities which go to make the hero. His patriotism was a splendid piece of deception from first to last. He plunged into the Revolution as he would have dashed into a jungle for game, with an eye to the rewards. He had no sense of duty or military honor. He was capable of taking the most solemn oath with the full intention of perjury in his soul. He could lead brave men up to the cannon's mouth with an irresistible fascination, and then coolly turn round and sell them bodily, with all they held dear on earth, to the enemy. The plea that he was driven to the perpetration of an unpardonable crime by a series of acts of injustice has no basis in point of fact. He was angered by his failure to extort money from Congress which he claimed as his due, and became nearly furious when charged by the civil author- ities of Philadelphia with resorting to improper means to obtain money. But under the assumption of injured innocence he was striving to hide an already maturing criminal scheme of overwhelming magnitude. Had he ever been a man of honor, worthy of high trusts, no wrongs could have driven him into forgetfulness of the supreme sanctity of obligations. A glimmer of the blackness of his nature was discernible in all stages of his career, and now he was to make his final plunge into everlasting infamy.
The picture of Arnold hastening to bring about the comtemplated meeting with Andre while Washington was in Hartford is one of the
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most dark and repulsive of the Revolution. The preliminaries were all arranged ; the interview was to close the bargain. Arnold had intimated in a letter to Clinton, August 30, that " speculation might be made witlı ready money." At midnight of the 21st, Arnold sat upon his horse among the fir-trees at the foot of a shadowy hill on the west side of the Hudson, in waiting attitude. A boat with muffled oars approached cautiously from the Vulture, and Andre presently stepped forth, wrapped in a blue cloak. Arnold received him politely, and the two conversed until day- break. Their business not being completed, they rode through Haverstraw village to the house of Joshua Hett Smith, whose family were absent.
Sept. 22. Here they concluded arrangements. Arnold was to distribute the garrison at West Point in such a manner as to destroy its effi- ciency. Clinton was to bring his army to the siege in person, and it was decided in what manner to surprise the reinforcement which Washington would doubtless himself conduct. Arnold returned in his barge; while André, with sketches of the routes and passes which were to be left un- guarded, together with a plan of the fortifications of West Point, and the number of the garrison, cannon, and stores, all in the handwriting of Arnold, crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry in the night, conducted by Smith, and commenced his journey to New York by land. The Vulture had been obliged to shift her anchorage during the day through the sharp fire of a party of Americans ; thus Smith refused to risk the attempt to row André back to the sloop of war, but accompanied him on horseback as far as Pine's Bridge over the Croton River. About an hour before noon on the 23d, when just above Tarrytown, André was stopped by three men, and the fatal papers were discovered in his stockings; despite his magnani- mous bids for release, he was taken to North Castle and delivered to the commandant of that post, who was induced by him to dispatch an ex- press to Arnold with intelligence of his capture.
Washington, returning from Hartford, where nothing had been settled in the way of future operations for lack of superiority at sea, changed his route to spend the night in Fishkill. The next morning he was in the saddle early, and sent a messenger in advance to inform Mrs. Arnold that he should do himself the pleasure of breakfasting with her. When within a mile of " Beverley," he turned aside to inspect some redoubts, two of the aids galloping forward to the house with a message from him that the meal should not be delayed.
Arnold and his family accordingly gathered at the breakfast-table. The traitor was not in a happy mood. Washington's presence sooner than anticipated was inopportune, to say the least. This was the very day for the ships of Clinton, ready and waiting for Andre, to ascend the
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AARON BURR.
river. Suddenly a horseman rode into the door-yard, and Arnold received the letter with information of Andre's capture, and that the papers found upon his person had been forwarded to Washington on the road from Hartford. Thus the mine which Arnold had prepared for others was about to explode under his own feet. With superlative self-control he remarked that he had been summoned to West Point, beckoned his wife from the table for a word in private, ordered the messenger to keep silence, on pain of death, and leaping upon the fellow's horse dashed down the slope to his barge, and escaped. The communication had missed Washington because of his change of route, but he received it on his return from West Point later in the morning. The revelation was appalling. Hamilton was sent upon a fleet horse to order the guns at Verplanck's Point turned upon Arnold's barge ; but he had already passed in safety, and was on board the Vulture. The extent of the treason being unknown, an alarm was sounded in every division of the army ; at three o'clock next morning Greene held the entire force at Tap- pan in waiting to march at a moment's warning. An unspeakable disgust took possession of the American soul as the facts came to light ; and the man who had so nearly sold for a paltry sum of money all that had been won through labor and hardship, through blood and anguish, through a spirit of heroism and love of country superior to bribery and corruption, was held in universal detestation.
Mrs. Arnold was believed innocent of any knowledge of her husband's crime up to the moment of his flight, and treated in her apparently ago- nizing distress with the utmost consideration by Washington and his officers. Within a few days she was furnished with a passport and an escort of horse, and started for her father's house in Philadelphia. She stopped on her way in Paramus, at the home of the charming Mrs. Pre- vost, afterwards Mrs. Aaron Burr, where Colonel Burr was at the time a guest, and is said by him to have given a lively narration of the man- ner in which she deceived Washington, Hamilton, and others, and per- sonated the outraged and frantic woman. Colonel Burr's relations with the Shippen family had been of the most intimate character from child- hood, and he kept Mrs. Arnold's secret until she was past being harmed by the telling of it.
Major André wrote to Washington frankly stating that he was the adjutant-general of the British army, but no spy. He said he had been drawn into a snare, not intending to enter the American lines. But a secret midnight mission in a borrowed garb and under an assumed name, even if he did not intend to subject himself to danger, was not according to the chivalry of modern warfare. He was ordered to " Beverley," and
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thence conducted by Colonel Tallmadge to Tappan, where on the 29th he was tried before a board of officers consisting of Greene, Lord Stirling,
St. Clair, Lafayette, Steuben, Howe, Parsons, James Clinton, Glover, Sept. 29. Knox, Stark, Hand, Huntington, and John Lawrence - the judge advocate general- all men of the highest character. Upon his own confes- sion, without the examination of a witness, and after showing him every indulgence, this tribunal reported that he was in effect a spy, and accord- ing to the usages of war in all countries should suffer death. On the 30th, Washington approved the sentence and ordered it to be carried into effect. Sir Henry Clinton solicited André's release on the ground of his having been protected by " a flag of truce and passports," but Washington inclosed the report of the board of inquiry, saying, that " Major André was employed in the execution of measures very foreign to flags of truce, and such as they were never meant to authorize." Clinton requested a con- ference, and sent General Robertson and two civilians to Dobb's Ferry, who were met by General Greene and staff, but Robertson only was allowed to land. He had nothing material to urge except that André was under the sanction of a flag - which was untrue, André having come on shore in the night on business totally incompatible with the nature of of a flag- and spoke of freeing Andre by an exchange. Greene replied that Arnold, then, must be given up. Robertson absurdly gave Greene an open letter from Arnold, filled with insolent threats of retaliation should André suffer death ; this was conveyed to Washington, but ignored with silent contempt. As for André, his fate excited universal commiseration. His virtues and his graces, his youth, his accomplishments, his high posi- tion, and his engaging manners rendered him an object of romantic in- terest. Even Washington was greatly moved. And yet André's errand had been unmistakably to buy with gold what British steel could not con- quer ; and concealed upon his person had been found the means through which the enormous crime was speedily to have been consummated. His execution took place on the 2d of October ; and the general verdict Oct. 2. of mankind has been that no man ever suffered death with more justice. The firmness and delicacy with which he was treated won the respect of all nations. Thousands of pens have since paid tributes to his memory. But the civilized mind should have a care about confounding standards of character and conduct. André's mission was neither heroic nor reputable. Honors belong to other enterprises and deeds.
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