USA > New York > Essex County > Bloomingdale > The New York of yesterday; a descriptive narrative of old Bloomingdale, its topographical features, its early families and their genealogies, its old homesteads and country-seats, the Bloomingdale Reformed church, organized in 1805 > Part 6
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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
When the question of the war was thought to be the immediate course of Congress, after the embargo law of April, 1812, Mr. Barker, looking to his own personal inter- est to choose between war and peace, and believing that the British Orders in Council would soon be rescinded and leave American ocean commerce free, drew a petition ask- ing Congress to continue the embargo and defer a declara- tion of war for a short period. He obtained the signatures of the most influential men in the city, of both parties, to this petition, which was presented to the Senate by Senator Smith, the only Democratic Senator from New York, on June 15, 1812. On motion of Col. Taylor of South Caro- lina, it was ordered printed.
This did not stem the tide. When, however, Congress, on February 18, 1813, passed an act authorizing the borrowing of $16,000,000, and in answer to advertised
Kdemereenn
Portrait and signature of the Hon. Thomas R. Mercein, Comptroller of the City of New York and Treasurer of the Committee of Defence. Reproduced from the portrait in pos- session of his great-grandson, Daniel Stanbury Mercein, Esq.
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Bloomingdale Militant
proposals only $4,000,000 were offered, Barker and a few associate merchants opened a subscription which he led with $100,000. Other Bloomingdale individu- als whose names appeared on this list were:
Harman Hendricks
$40,000
Gabriel Havens
10,000
Brockholst Livingston
20,000
John Howland
50,000
John S. Roulet
10,000
Gurdon S. Mumford
20,000
Ichabod Prall
10,000
John Clendening
20,000
Garrit Storm
10,000
Isaac Jones
4,000
Samuel Stilwell
10,000
Bradhurst & Field
Wholesale Druggists
5,000
John Shute
10,000
Frederick de Peyster
25,000
The National Advocate of August 24, 1814, published an appeal issued by the Committee of Defence, asking for donations to supply the immediate wants of the thousands of volunteers who flocked into the city from the interior of the State and elsewhere to serve in the military. Hon. Thomas R. Mercein, who had been named by the Council of Appointment, 1807, to organ- ize a third regiment of artillery, became a Captain therein in 1810, Brigade Major 1813, 11th Regiment of Artillery, was serving at this time as Ist Major of the same regiment and in 1815 succeeded Colonel Harsen as Lieutenant-Colonel thereof. Comptroller of the city, he was also treasurer of the committee and into his hands came the funds which were subscribed as a re- sult of this appeal. On August 29th, the committee
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The new Dork of Desterday
made a report to the Common Council which contained the statement that "the expenses of whatever ad- ditional defences may be necessary for the city, both as to the erection of the works and the paying, provis- ioning, and accommodating men for our defence, must be derived from our resources or not obtained at all. If this city is to be defended from hostile attacks, the Corporation must provide the funds in the first place and look to the General Government for an in- demnification." A loan was thereupon authorized and subscription lists opened at all the banks, under the direction of the Finance Committee, of which Augustine H. Lawrence was chairman. In this way $1,000,000 was obtained and put in charge of Mr. Mercein, the treasurer. Four hundred thousand dollars thereof was loaned to the United States on Treasury notes, personally guaranteed by Governor Tompkins.
Fractional currency became so scarce because of the suspension of specie payments that on September 2, 1814, the Common Council passed an ordinance author- izing its Finance Committee to issue small notes not to exceed twelve and a half cents each to the amount of five thousand dollars. On September 12th, twenty- five and fifty-cent bills, not to exceed twenty thousand dollars more, and on November 21st, fifty thousand dollars additional, were authorized. They were printed by F. & W. Mercein, 93 Gold Street. The proposition of the Comptroller on December 26, 1814, that a fund be created looking to their redemption was adopted.
This extract from the minutes of the Committee of Defence has not been heretofore published.
COMMITTEE OF DEFENCE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK Extract from Minutes, March 4, 1815.
Resolved unanimously that the thanks of this Committee
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be presented to Thomas R. Mercein, Esq., for his assiduity and faithful discharge of the important duties of Treasurer of this Committee, for the regularity of his accounts and vouchers, for encountering the fatigue and expense of going to Washington at an inclement season, and par- ticularly for his correct, prompt, and satisfactory settlement of accounts with the
General Government.
Resolved that Five hundred dollars be appropriated to the purchase of Plate which he be requested to accept for his services above expressed.
[Signed] NICHS FISH, Chairman of Committee.
An engrossed copy of the above tribute and the ser- vice of plate, inscribed, " Presented to Col. Thomas R. Mercein by the Committee of Defence of the City of New York, 4th March, 1815," are in possession of the Comptroller's grandchildren, the Heiser family, them- selves later residents of Bloomingdale.
The news of the declaration of war was received by mail from Washington at about 9 o'clock on the morn- ing of June 20th, and was proclaimed to the troops by Gen. Joseph Bloomfield from his headquarters in the Fort (former Castle Garden). He was a Revolutionary officer and by commission, dated March 27, 1812, be- came Brigadier-General in command of all the fortifi- cations in New York City and harbor. Announcement of hostilities aroused the officers of the militia and vol- unteers from tranquillity. On the 24th, ninety pieces of field artillery, some of brass, others of iron, had arrived from Washington, which were distributed among some of the infantry regiments drilled as artillery. The uniformed corps of militia in April were composed, in all, of 3000 men. The first body of citizens to volunteer
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labor and contribute services towards defence was Capt. Andrew Bremner's company of artillery, of Col. Cornelius Harsen's IIth Regiment, which work was done at Fort Greene in Brooklyn. On Sept. 12th, the of- ficers of this command met and resolved to appropriate a portion of their pay to the support of the families of privates in the regiment; and donations were asked from other persons for the same purpose, the pay of a private in the volunteers being only $6.66 a month. This regi- ment was a new one, being almost entirely recruited within the three months previous, and was composed of a battalion of artillery and one of infantry, having some 300 men. Harsen received his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel May 26, 1812. On July 29th, it paraded for drill, when he proposed in an eloquent and patriotic speech that it volunteer its services. The sug- gestion was received with enthusiasm, and on Aug. Ist the Colonel officially tendered the regiment to Gov- ernor Tompkins, who accepted by letter dated Aug. 8th addressed to Colonel Harsen. In September it was detailed to Bedloe's and Ellis's Islands, whither it was conveyed in schooners on the 12th, which position it held with distinction. In all that concerned the de- fence of New York during the war, says Col. Emmons Clark, in the History of the Seventh Regiment, Colonel Harsen was an active and popular leader and the proud position occupied by his regiment was due in no small degree to his energy, ability, and patriotism. At the close of the war (1815) he resigned his commission and continued a prominent and distinguished citizen of the city until his death, which occurred in 1838, three years after the decease of his honored father. The monotony of routine military life in New York in 1813 was relieved by the famous "Harsen-Gedney duel"-a duel which
3
Cornelis Harsen
Portrait of Col. Cornelius Harsen From the collection of the late John Harsen Rhoades, Esq.
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was much talked of but never fought. Colonel Clark relates the incident in these words :
Col. Harsen of the 11th Regiment of Artillery, had, for good and sufficient reasons, relieved certain members of the Corps from fines imposed by Capt. Gedney of the Ist Battery, acting as president of the regimental court- martial. Capt. Gedney was exceedingly offended at this action and at a meeting of the board of officers held in Feb., the irate Captain publicly used the most violent and insult- ing language towards Col. Harsen. At this period duelling was still a favorite method among military men of settling disputes and a hostile meeting of the belligerents was anticipated; but Col. Harsen having been brought before a magistrate and placed under bonds to keep the peace, and the officers of the regiment having interposed to pre- vent a collision, the affair was settled for the time by an apology from Capt. Gedney, who soon afterward retired from the regiment. In September, at a meeting of the board of officers, a letter from Capt. Gedney was handed to Col. Harsen which he publicly refused to receive and returned unopened. This letter was supposed to have been a formal challenge, for a few days afterwards the streets and public places were placarded with the following notice:
"TO THE PUBLIC.
"Whereas, Lieut. Col. Harsen of the IIth Regt. of Artillery has behaved in a very unbecoming manner and has refused to give that satisfaction which one gentleman has a right to expect from another, I hereby publish him to the world as an unprincipled coward and poltroon."
Immediately upon the appearance of this placard, Col. Harsen was again arrested and held to bail to keep the peace. In a long card which was published in the daily newspapers, Col. Harsen stated the facts in the case and
5
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The new Dork of Desterday
proved that Gedney had instigated his repeated arrests for the purpose of protecting himself from deserved chas- tisement; too clearly did Col. Harsen vindicate himself, and in so ridiculous a position was his assailant placed, that the quarrel, which had been so long a subject of public gossip, degenerated into a farce. The officers of the IIth Regiment also published a card confirming Col. Harsen's statement of the facts and testifying to his brave and honorable conduct on all occasions. The finale of the affair was a suit by Col. Harsen against Gedney for libel, which resulted in a compromise by which Gedney apolo- gized and consented to a verdict of one thousand dollars damages.
The Evening Post of Dec. 10, 1814, states that :
On Saturday last the 11th Regiment under command of Lieut. Col. Harsen paraded for muster and inspection preparatory to a discharge from further duty in the service of the United States. Previous to the regiment being dismissed, Lieut. Col. Harsen delivered an address ap- propriate to the occasion. Subsequent to the parade, the officers assembled at the quarters of the North Battery, when a committee was appointed to wait upon Lieut. Col. Harsen to request a copy of the address for publication, which, with diffidence, was granted.
The address thereupon follows in extenso.
For two years it was thought the enemy would attack by water; consequently land fortifications were neglected. Induced thereto by the bombardment of Stonington, Conn., Aug. 10, 1814, earnest prepara- tions were undertaken to defend the northern ap- proaches to the city. Following the suggestion of Gen. Joseph G. Swift, Chief of Engineers and Super- intendent of Land Fortifications, who had made an examination of the topography with Gov. Daniel D.
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Tompkins, Commander of the Third U. S. Military District, and Mayor De Witt Clinton, the Committee of Defence, on which body served Alderman Nicholas Fish, Chairman, and Peter Hawes, met at the City Hall and called for volunteers. So great was the answer that by the 13th, 3000 men had been entered on the list. The Common Council thereupon author- ized the construction of a fort at McGown's Pass and the work was started on the morning of the 18th. This was named in honor of the Mayor. The N. Y. Columbian of that evening contained this announce- ment:
Harlaem Heights. This morning the new works (at the gap or pass at McGown's, on the old Kingsbridge Road) on Harlaem Heights were commenced by the regiment of Col. van Beuren's militia (comprising all the companies from Spring Street to Kingsbridge); and Capt. Messeroe attended with a piece of his flying artillery to fire a salute on the occasion.
On Friday, Aug. 19th, sixty men employed by Robert Macomb, Esq., in the construction of his mill-dam, turned out for work on the Heights. [N. B. This stone dam was finished and opened to the public Dec. 23.] On behalf of the Washington Benevolent Society, William A. Hardenbrook, Valentine Nutter, Jonathan Hardman, and Dirck Ten Brook were appointed to receive the signatures of volunteers in the Ninth Ward and at a meeting of the citizens thereof Gerard de Pey- ster, Jacobus Dyckman, Isaac Jones, Henry Post, and Joseph Mott, among others, were empowered to call on their fellow-citizens to aid by labor or subscriptions. They forwarded, as a result of their efforts, over seven hundred dollars to the Committee of Defence on
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The new Dork of Desterday
Aug. 22d. Jordan Mott was a member of a com- mittee representing the importers of the lower city, appointed at a meeting held at Martin's Hotel on the same date to offer the services of such citizens as enrolled. Ichabod Prall and Henry Post were dele- gated on the 23d by Tammany to receive contributions in the Ninth Ward. The inhabitants of the ward worked for the first time at Harlem on Monday the 22d, and 450 more assembled at the works on the 25th. On the following day an acknowledgment of the brigade of militia, dated at the "Cantonment at Harlaem Heights," of a donation of 350 bushels of potatoes from Messrs. Bradhurst & Field was pub- lished. It is noted that Anthony Post subscribed five dollars to the fund on the 27th, and on the 31st the Columbian prints :
We passed through the camp on Harlaem Commons. The soldiers paraded and were a body of sturdy yeomanry and will receive their arms to-day.
The journals of Sept. 2d tell of the mustering in of the militia the previous day "under the military law of the United States." The artillery, horse, and foot (including the Governor's Guards and some new corps raising), amounting to about 1200 men, with 14 pieces of ordnance and equipage complete, and the small arms in perfect order, paraded on the Battery. The articles of war were read to them in detachments and received with cheers of approbation, when the line was taken up and the whole proceeded to join the brigade of infantry in Broadway, which formed a solid column extending from the Park (City Hall) to the Battery.
On this Friday (Sept. 2d) Lemuel Wells appeared at
etterleaves
Portrait and signature of Peter Hawes, Esq., of the Committee of Defence, from the oil painting in possession of his grandson, Gilbert Ray Hawes, Esq.
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Harlem with twenty men and five yoke of oxen for work on the fortifications. The Evening Post printed this advertisement on the previous day:
CAMP AT HARLAEM HEIGHTS, Aug. 27, 1814.
The Brigade under the command of Brig. Gen. Hermance expresses its acknowledgment to Messrs. Valentine Nutter, James Beekman, Abraham Bra- zier, Henry Post, Mr. McGown, and the inhabi- tants of Harlaem for their friendly attentions to the officers and men by franking the use of their dwellings and barns during the unsettled state of the camp.
David Wagstaff was thanked for the reception of the sick and for 10 bushels of potatoes and 10 of corn; Mr. Bogart for a quantity of carrots and cabbages and a gentleman of the Ninth Ward at Bloomingdale [James Striker] for 62 cabbages. Bradhurst & Field have contributed 130 additional bushels of potatoes.
Signed, WILLIAM MACOMB, Brigade Quartermaster.
The inability of obtaining meals caused Cato Alex- ander to announce in the Mercantile Advertiser on the 3d the opening of a branch establishment in this wise:
HARLAEM HEIGHTS.
Gentlemen who may be engaged to work on Harlaem Heights will please to take notice that on and after Monday next 5th of Sept., an ordinary will be opened and dinner on the table every day from half past 12 o'clock till 2 P.M.
Cato was a colored man who kept a famous place on a lane known as Cato's Road, which began on the east side of Third Avenue not far from 42d Street and
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The new Dork of Desterday
again reached that avenue just below Jones's Wood. It was located between 53d and 54th Streets at present Second Avenue, and was the terminus of the Drive from town. Here the horsemen of the day convened. He catered to an element contact with which, to quote another,
had imparted to his gentle, modest nature an unpre- tending dignity of manner, which won the esteem of all who approached him and secured for his humble house of enter- tainment such a wide-spread reputation, that for years it was one of the prominent resorts of our citizens and at- tracted many of the prominent sightseers who made pil- grimages to the Island of Manhattan.
On the 8th, the first delegation of Columbia students, 100 in number, lent assistance, their slogan being the paraphrase from Horace:
Let those dig now who never dug before And those who often dig, now dig the more!
Subscription lists had been opened by the Com- mittee of Defence to pay for 500 days' work, and on the roth the results were published. For the Third Ward these individuals subscribed:
J. C. van den Heuvel $5.00 Stephen Jumel $25.00
Alexander Hosack 2.00 Jotham Post, Jr. 10.00
Jacob Schieffelin 10.00 John W. Weyman 10.00
In the Fourth Ward:
Daniel Gassner $5.00 Christopher Milde- berger $10.00
The Bloomingdale Ward (the Ninth) made a brave showing. Some of the contributors were:
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Frederick de Peyster
$30.00 J. C. van den Heuvel $20.00
John Beekman
10.00 Nicholas de Peyster 20.00
Samson Benson 20.00 Benjamin D. Benson 10.00
Andrew McGown
10.00 John Hopper 10.00
David M. Clarkson
10.00 James Beekman 10.00
Valentine Nutter
5.00 Samuel A. Lawrence 10.00
Caspar Meier
5.00 Abraham Dyckman 2.00
Widow Dyckman
2.50 William L. Rose 5.00
Peter Meyer
5.00 Jacobus Dyckman
10.00
William Holmes
2.50 Widow Cozine 1.00
Andrew Hopper
2.50 Philip Webbers
1.00
Abraham K. Beekman
5.00 Jacob Le Roy 5.00
Widow Hardenbrook
2.00 Jacob Harsen
20.00
Wm. A. Hardenbrook
10.00 Henry Post
5.00
Effingham Schieffelin
5.00 Wm. Weyman
10.00
John Asten
10.00 Stephen N. Bayard 20.00
The inhabitants of this ward to the number of 200, with forty teams, turned out for work at the Heights on Wednesday the 21st, together with a detachment of 400 militia.
In the meantime the Brooklyn fortifications were progressing. On the 29th, 500 individuals belonging to the churches under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Drs. Kuypers and Milledoler and the Rev. Messrs. Burk, Mathews, and Rowan labored there, and on Oct. 4th the pupils of Mr. Bansel's school, forty-three in number, and on the 8th thirty of the Orphan Asylum boys also aided. These two were later Bloomingdale institutions. John Randall, Jr., advertised on the 5th that he had withdrawn his map from the hands of the engraver, the impropriety of furnishing the enemy with such accurate information of the topog- raphy of the country having been suggested.
Much excitement was caused this month by the announcement that the enemy's fleet were in the
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Sound and construction was renewed with unabated vigor. The Committee of Defence issued another call,
having reason to believe that the city is in great danger of an attack and that it may be reasonably expected to take place within a few weeks. They deem it proper thus publicly to make it known and to call on their fellow citizens for a renewal of their patriotic labours without delay for a completion of the defenses at Harlaem.
Six hundred men of Gen. Steddiford's Brigade (Col. Ward's regiment) worked at Harlem on the 13th, 14th, 17th, and 18th, and 500 under Col. Laight on the 15th. The Columbian of the 18th stated that
on Friday morning Oct. 14th, the Regiment of City In- fantry commanded by Col. Edward W. Laight broke ground in the height above their encampment and in true military style, under a salute of small arms, named the post after their respected Colonel, "Fort Laight." Some officers in the meantime by strategem detained him in the encampment, unadvised of the compliment until com- pleted. The Regiment was relieved on Saturday by a detachment of Col. Ward's Regiment.
This command labored on the 19th, 21st, and 22d. Sunday no delegation was appointed but on Monday the 24th Col. Dodge's regiment of Gen. Mapes's bri- gade, 750 men, took up the work and continued at it during the week ending the 29th. Work was stopped at Brooklyn on the 27th and all efforts were concen- trated at Harlem. On Oct. 31st Col. Isaac A. van Hook's regiment of the same brigade began work, at first, numbering 450 and finishing the week's labor with 650 men. This was the last regiment so em- ployed. The chain of fortifications thus completed commenced with a redoubt at Benson's Point (Third
Central Park aver magazin a= 1812
R
BLOCK TOWER, NO. 1, IN CENTRAL PARK, 1864
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Avenue and 106th Street), ran west to the works at the Pass where there was a Barrier Gate, on to the Bat- tery near the house of Valentine Nutter, and continued south and east by means of a breastwork to Fort Fish, named for the chairman of the Committee, which lay opposite Fort Clinton. Another defence in the chain was the Blockhouse (No. I) now existing in Central Park just south of where 109th Street and Seventh Avenue would cross. Other distinctive works in Bloomingdale were the stone tower between 113th and 114th Streets, Columbus and Amsterdam Ave- nues, another on the south side of 12Ist Street about II0 yards east of the latter avenue, a similar tower on the south side of 123d Street about 54 yards east of said avenue, and Fort Laight about twenty yards north of 124th Street and 120 yards east of Eleventh Avenue. (Vide Public Papers of Gov. Tompkins, vol. i., 76-7; McGown's Pass and Vicinity, by Edward Hagaman Hall; Ulman's Landmark History.) The Committee of Defence acknowledged in the press Nov. 9, 1814, the donation of flagstaffs for the works at Harlem from William A. Hardenbrook, Esq., Assistant Alderman of the Ninth Ward, who had just been re- elected with Nicholas Fish as Alderman. Five hun- dred and seventy pieces of cannon and mortars were mounted for the defence of the city, a number of Columbiads of 50 pounds calibre at Fort Greene being among them. The "handsome and formidable park of field artillery and battalion guns" belonging to the brigades of militia are not included in this enumer- ation.
Gen. Swift's Report on Fortifications of December, 1814, is made a part of the final report of the Common Council. In describing the defences which covered
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The new Dork of Desterday
a portion of the site of the battle of Harlem Heights, it states:
At a battery marked on the plan [Fort Laight] com- mences a line of entrenchments with faces and flanks, crossing the Bloomingdale Road to a commanding height on Mark's [sic] grounds and running along its summit to the banks of the North River which falls abruptly and nearly perpendicularly to the water's edge.
This property was that of Asher Marx, who m. Mary, niece of Johannah Beekman, a benefactress of the Church at Harsenville. She resided with her husband, Abraham K. Beekman, at present 120th Street near the river, and Marx's house was situated between 123d and 124th Streets on the same bluff. It was known as "Monte Alta." "The works compre- hended in the foregoing description," continues the Report,
have been chiefly constructed by the labour of the citizens of the city of New York, Long Island, and neighboring towns along the North River and in New Jersey. All classes volunteered, supplying daily working parties of from 500 to 1500. The fortifications are testimonials of patriotic zeal.
The works at McGown's Pass were erected under the immediate direction of Major Joseph Horn, a descendant of John Horn "of the Bloomingdale Road" as Riker's History of Harlem has it. James Horn of the same family served as Ensign in the 5Ist Regiment, 3d brigade of infantry, by appointment April 2, 1813. He was Lieutenant in Col. van Hook's regiment in 1815 and resigned June 2Ist of that year. James de Peyster was Ensign in the 3d Regiment, 1811, promoted to Lieutenant in 1812, and resigned the same
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year to enlist in the U. S. Army. James F. de Peyster served as Ensign in the 97th Regiment, appointed thereto in 1813. Another well-known resident of Bloomingdale did his part in defence of his native city. The troops by orders dated Sept. Ist, were pro- visionally consolidated into two regiments. Garrit Hopper Striker served as Captain of the 4th Company, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel van Hook (Vide Guernsey, vol. II., 557). His services will hereafter be mentioned. On Feb. 22, 1900, the United States Daughters of 1812 caused to be erected one of a series of bronze tablets intended to mark points which gained historic interest during that war. It had been decided to place it on Blockhouse No. I, but owing to the isolated position of this tower and the likelihood of the memorial being hidden from view by foliage, the plan was changed. The Board of Trustees of Columbia University then sanctioned its being affixed to the wall of Fayerweather Hall, on Amsterdam Avenue facing 117th Street, which it now adorns.
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