USA > New York > Rockland County > The history of Rockland County > Part 13
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Residing at the upper end of the Hackensack Valley, near the present Congers Station on the West Shore Railroad, during the Revolution, was Theodorus Snedeker, who, according to his statement, incurred the dis- trust and enmity of both parties and was relieved of his property by each. Early in the conflict, as Snedeker afterward stated, he furnished the Con- tinental troops with provisions and forage, and, by so doing, attracted the watchful eyes of his Tory neighbors. When, in the changeful fortunes of war, the British vessels were at anchor off Snedeker's house, his aid to the Americans was remembered, and, guided by some Tories, the enemy visited his farm and looted it. Besides carrying off four horses, two yokes of oxen, fourteen cows and ten sheep, they took Snedeker into custody and only released him on his payment of a large ransom. Of his after difficulty with the Americans I will speak later.
Haverstraw, during the Revolution, like Nyack, was but a hamlet. Its proximity to the Kings Ferry at Stony Point, and its position on the Kings Highway, rendered it more than once, as we have already seen, the theater in which portions of the army encamped or through which they marched; while its connection with Arnold's treason gives it more than a passing fame. In this village, as elsewhere, the citizens were divided in their allegiance. Few were as deeply involved with the British as Joshua Hett
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Smith, but all the loyalists wished success to the King, and in every way, commensurate with their safety, aided his troops. Of Smith's connection with Arnold and Andre, and of his final escape, I have briefly spoken in a preceding chapter. Of his actions at other periods of the war further mention may not be amiss.
Joshua Hett Smith was a man of more than ordinary ability, and was looked upon by his patriot neighbors as fitted to represent thein in the Assembly then called "The Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York," of 1777. While serving in that body he voted for the State Constitution, which was adopted at Kingston, April 20th, 1777. For some unexplained reason his influence among the patriots seemed to wane from this time, and he was not taken into their full confidence when any enterprise was on foot. That this was because one of his brothers- William-was a noted Tory Justice in New York, would seem much more probable if another brother, Thomas, a firm patriot, had also lost the con- fidence of his Whig neighbors. Such was not the case, however. Thomas was not even suspected of treason after his brother's implication with Arnold. From the beginning, Colonel Lamb, whose wife was closely re- lated to Smith's wife, suspected him of being a Tory and persistently refused to associate in any way with him. In regard to his being duped by Arnold. As before said, he was a man of intelligence. That his suspi- cions should not have been aroused by Arnold's previous career at Phila- delphia, is entirely probable, but, that in conjunction with that career, the strange and earnestly pushed midnight visit to an enemy's ship; the con- veyance from that ship to shore of a man in the uniform of the enemy, the secrecy of that nights' conference; that these things should not have excited the suspicion of a man with more than ordinary wit, seems im- probable; and if, to still further clinch the evidence against Smith, we remember the removal of his family to Fishkill, that his house might be vacant in case the interview between Arnold and the stranger was pro- longed ; his anxiety, as the early hours of the morning passed on toward dawn, that the conspirators should seek a more concealed spot for further talk ; his indifference to the presence of a stranger in his house during that September day, his refusal, point blank, to reconvey that stranger back to the British ship, while perfectly willing to ride anywhere with him, pro- tected by Arnold's pass ; his loan to that stranger of a coat to replace his military dress and thus disguise himself; these many things, while they might not have excited Smith's suspicions, would most certainly have ex- cited the distrust of men far duller in mind than he.
In his defence, Arnold wrote Washington, that Smith was his dupe,
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and the Tory Justice wrote to the patriot Thomas, asserting that Joshua was Arnold's dupe because Arnold said so. The word of Benedict Arnold against the circumstantial evidence! We have seen that Smith was acquitted by a court martialand escaped from a civil trial by flight. That by that flight he escaped a fate he richly deserved was believed by his neighbors at the time, and the lapse of years has not cleared his repu- tation.
One incident connected with this period at Haverstraw has come to me. At that place was residing a wealthy widow named Robart, who had infatuated a Tory neighbor. When the section became unpleasantly patriotic for this class, and all could see that the Americans had won the long struggle, the loyalists made haste to embark on British vessels for Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Mrs. Robart's lover had determined to move, but ere departing hastened to press his suit with the fair lady. That suit was rejected by the patriotic woman with scorn, and in revenge the suitor that night fired her buildings, which were totally destroyed, then fled for refuge to his British friends.
The furthest north that British troops passed by land in our County, was to a spot opposite the house formerly owned by James Lydecker, a few rods north of the turnpike at Clarksville. This invasion was made by a squadron of cavalry, doubtless acting as a scouting and foraging party. Major John Smith, commanding a small force of mounted men, met the enemy near Greenbush, but whether, believing discretion better than valor or being vastly outnumbered, certain it is that the meeting was not pro- longed by the Americans, who hastened off at topmost speed.
While never advancing further up the Hackensack Valley than Clarks- ville, the enemy frequently overran the lower portions of the County. In 1777, a detachment of the foe marched into Orangetown in scarch of pro- visions. Avoiding the road along Snake Hill, this party followed the old Clausland road till about Greenbush, and then, finding no cattle, retraced their steps. Had this force advanced but a few rods further and ascended a small hill, they would have found a large number of cows and horses, which had been driven to this retired spot for safe keeping.
On the march north, the commanding officer halted at the residence of Mrs. Blauvelt, mother of Mrs. Elizabeth Haring, and asked her where her son was. He was told in the American army. He then stated that he was very dry, and asked for some liquor. This was produced. Raising the flask this officer said: "Here's health, safety and success to your son. May he always be a true soldier to his country and no harm befall him. I honor the man who is true to his country, but damn the one, who turns
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traitor." After a long drink he returned the flask, expressed his thanks, and promised that not a thing belonging to Mrs. Blauvelt should be molested by the troops.
When the order to counter-march was given, plunder began, and the residence of Mrs. Blauvelt was invaded by soldiers, bent on destruction. Looking-glasses were taken from the walls, laid on the floor, and jumped upon ; crockery was smashed, furniture was broken, feather beds ripped open, and other acts common to a devastating army were carried on. When the uproar was at its height, the officer, who had stopped earlier in the day, appeared, ordered the destruction stayed and the soldiers to withdraw, and made every apology for his unavoidable detention. "Mammy," said he at parting, "don't blame my men for this, but blame the traitors among your own countrymen. They are the ones who lead the soldiers to plunder and tell them whereto go, and, but for them, there would be no scenes like this."
Some two and a half miles west of Tappan, dwelt, in the early days of the Revolution, Minard Kissike, with his wife and a daughter about four- teen years of age. Kissike had accumulated a goodly property and was a patriot, either of which facts was sufficient inducement for the Tories, who infested the neighborhood of Tappan Town, to pay his place a visit. A raid by the cow boys was soon planned. Captain Outwater, of Tappan, had organized a company of Minute Men for the purpose of guarding the property of the patriots, and, learning of the contemplated attack on Kissike's house, gathered his men, silently marched to a wooded hill some yards west of the house, and prepared to receive the enemy.
The night passed without trouble, and the Minute Men, suspecting the Tories had gotten wind of their preparation, were about to retire when a large force of marauders appeared, and entered the house. The inmates had just sat down to their breakfast, when the foe entered, and were abso- lutely unwarned. Before anything had been accomplished, Outwater's men surrounded the house and demanded the Tories' surrender. But they had miscalculated the pluck of their opponents, and a conflict was at once begun. In the confusion that followed, Kissike pushed his wife and daughter through a rear door, and pointed toward the wooded hill the Americans had but just left. Before half the distance was covered, a bul- let struck the daughter, and she fell to the earth. Only long enough did the mother pause to raise the wounded fugitive in her arms, and then con- tinued her flight, bearing her precious burden, to the safe retreat afforded by the woods.
For a brief space the conflict between Outwater's band and the Tories
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continued, but the latter were protected by the house, and at length won the day. At their leisure they looted the place, and then took their de- parture after setting fire to the buildings.
In the evening, a few neighbors visited the spot, and found sitting near the ruins, and lighted by the fitful flashes of fire which still burned, a ma- niac, with the head of her dead child resting on her lap, and the charred body of her husband lying beside her. Were these the deeds of sons of men or the actions of demons direct from Hell?
Among the members of Captain Outwater's company was Samuel Garritsonethird son of Dominie Ver Bryck. In one of the scouting ex- peditions of a detachment of his company, young Ver Bryck was captured by Van Buskirk's band of Tories, conveyed to New York, and lodged a prisoner in the Provost, under charge of the fiend, Cunningham. For a long time his rations consisted of old English peas, "hard enough," as Cunningham said, "to shoot the rebels with." These had to be par- boiled in lye for four or five hours, and then pounded in a mortar before they could be boiled in clean water. In addition to this unpalatable food, each prisoner was allowed a quarter of a pound of rusty salt-pork weekly. If complaint was made about the food, the prisoner was beaten and might consider himself lucky, if Cunningham did not take the law in his own hands, and hang him ere midnight.
Unused to such treatment, and still a boy under twenty, Ver Bryck's health gave way and he rapidly failed. When almost beyond recovery he was visited by a Tory-then resident on Long Island-who had formerly been a communicant in his father's church, at Tappan. This man heard that his old dominie's and neighbor's son was a prisoner in the Provost, and visited it to ascertain the truth of the statement. Through his efforts, young Ver Bryck was bailed, and carried, for he could no longer walk, to the residence of a man named De Bevoise, on Long Island. Ten months had been passed in the Provost and nine and twenty months under bail at the house of De Bevoise, when Ver Bryck was paroled, through the inter- cession of an English officer, for whom he had performed some favor, and allowed to visit his house. Through the kindness of his English friend, he carried with him many luxuries to the parents he had not seen for over three years. Before his parole expired, Ver Bryck was exchanged. He immediately re-entered the patriot service and remained till the end of the war.
The Tory, who thus saved young Ver Bryck's life on one occasion, was on the verge of taking that of the Dominie on another. We have already said that this clergyman was, heart and soul, with the patriot cause,
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and that he never ceased his efforts for the success of liberty. Naturally his deeds and words drew upon him the wrath of his Tory neighbors, and he found it necessary to abandon the highway on his trips to and from the church, and follow a secret path through the woods. This path was dis- covered by the Tory above mentioned, and he laid in wait, with loaded musket, to kill his pastor. The Dominie appeared and the Tory took aim, but-was it the thought of the cup he had received from that vener- able hand, of the mysterious symbol which represented the body of Him, before whom he must appear with his victim when the dead shall be raised, that stayed his purpose ? He could not fire, and the aged disciple passed on his way unaware of how near the angel of death had passed him by. When young Ver Bryck was a prisoner, this Tory told him of this fact.
While in the Provost, Ver Bryck saw, among a number of newly ar- rived prisoners, a near neighbor, named John Frelin. According to the regulations of the British army, no one was allowed to purchase over a stated quantity of provisions at any one time, and the restriction on salt limited the amount to a half bushel. Frelin was in the habit of visiting New York at regular times and making such purchases as his neighbors might wish. On this occasion his commission embraced several half- bushels of salt. He had no sooner procured these, than he was placed under arrest, and taken to the Provost on a charge of violating military law. Explanations were useless, and Frelin was given his choice between joining Van Buskirk's band of Tories or being flogged. He chose the former with an idea of deserting at his earliest opportunity. The next morning he was taken to the yard of the Provost, stripped and lashed to a stake, and given one hundred lashes. For the first nine blows he bore his suffering unflinchingly. At the tenth he uttered a frightful yell, and, as blow followed blow, he gave shriek after shriek. Before the punish- ment was ended Frelin's cries had grown fainter and fainter, and at length ceased, and unconsciousness came to his relief. At last the stripes were ended and the victim, upon being unbound, fell to the earth a gory, mangled mass. Upon his recovery he was placed in Van Buskirk's band, and nearly four months elapsed before he effected his escape. From the hour of his freedom he devoted himself to revenge, and, only attending the demands of nature sufficiently to preserve life, he followed Van Bus- kirk's band to and fro, killing one or more at each and every opportunity till he actually destroyed more of that party than ever fell in any of their numerous combats.
In the autumn of 1780, a party of eight or ten patriots, living at Tap- pan or in its vicinity, learned that at the residence of one of their neigh-
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bors, strongly suspected of favoring the British, a large amount of provision, cattle and forage had been gathered; that a party of the enemy would make a pretended attack on this residence, and that, after a brief and bloodless resistance, the stores were to be carried off.
Quietly marching to the suspected point, these men found their story confirmed by the presence of a dozen British troopers, who were loading the provisions on wagons and preparing the cattle for removal. The Americans separated into two parties and attacked the foe on both sides. At the first volley four saddles were emptied, and the foc, unaware of the force which opposed them, thrown into confusion. The regulars fought well and, though defeated, only retired with Abraham Storms as a prisoner and after leaving most of the patriots severely and David Clarke fatally wounded.
Slowly the Americans retraced their steps toward home, taking with them the fruits of their capture, and tenderly bearing their wounded com- rade, but the journey to Tappan was left uncompleted by Clarke, and by the roadside, where he was laid by grieving comrades, he uttered his last words, and started on the other journey which we all must take.
Abraham Storms, who was only three and twenty years of age and had but recently been married and settled near the Waldberg Church, was taken to New York and confined in the Sugar House. After a long imprison- ment he was exchanged, and re-entering the American army, continued in the service till the close of the war.
On another occasion the patriots received word that a suspected Tory, living a short distance north of Tappan, was about to convey a heavily laden team to the British camp. A half dozen of them, determining to intercept this movement and take the goods for the American army, laid in wait for the Tory by the roadside. At length the rumbling of wheels was heard and the suspected man drove among them, but, owing to the intense darkness, he was unaware of their presence till ordered to halt. The night favored his escape, but the patriots seized the wagon and started toward home. As they proceeded, laughing and joking at the Tory's surprise, they were themselves surprised by marching directly into the midst of a foraging party of the enemy. Escape was their only thought and all were rapidly off in safety, except Abraham O'Blenis. This indivi- dual was snugly stowed away in the wagon. Upon discovery, he asserted himself to be a Loyalist and joined the troopers in a search for his com- rades. In the course of the hunt he gradually drew further and further away from the main body until, with the exception of one trooper who accompanied him, he was alone. At the top of the declivity north of the
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Tappan Church, which runs along the mill-dam, O'Blenis suddenly stopped as if listening. In an instant he called the trooper in a whisper and bade him look below. This the unsuspecting soldier did. With a lunge from his musket, which tumbled the Englishman into the dam, O'Blenis turned and fled, escaping before an alarm could be given.
During the period of hostilities the residence of Joost Mabie, at Tappan, was visited by the Tories, and the usual robbery and destruction took place. So unexpected was the attack, that Mabie's son, Peter C., had but time to hide behind an immense clothes-press which stood in one of the rooms. In the process of destruction this clothes-press was forced open and rifled, but not before the whole front was broken and battered by mus- ket blows. Young Mabie escaped discovery, but his father was taken to New York and confined for some time in the old Provost. A few years ago the old press was in the possession of Peter R. Haring.
On one occasion, about 1778, Peter Van Orden, later a Division com- mander of militia in the war of 1812, and member of Assembly from our County, had been on a scouting expedition near the British camp. He was scen by the foe and chased till he found refuge in the swamp near the log tavern, which formerly stood on the property now owned by John A. Bogert. In this swamp the fugitive remained for a night.
About the same year, 1778, a man named Shuart, who had caused sus- picion of his patriotism, was detected in the act of driving cattle, which he had stolen from about Kakiat, to the British camp. His pursuers over- took this cow-boy at a spot just west of the present school-house in Nan- uet, near the house of the Rev. J. Cooper, and shot him dead.
Just north of the Ramapo valley, in the present village of Monroe, dwelt Claudius Smith, the most daring marauder, the most merciless cow- boy, the most thorough scoundrel that ever met a just fate on the gallows. At the outbreak of hostilities in this region, Smith, with his three sons, William, Richard and James, collected about them a gang of desperadoes and began a warfare against mankind so lawless and violent as to terrorize this whole section, and call forth the offer of a large reward for their cap- ture. A correct list of the names of those associated with Smith will pro- bably never be obtained, nor is it needful, as most of them came from other parts of the country, attracted by the boldness of his crimes. Among the names preserved are those of Wm. Cole, John Babcock, Wm. Jones, Thomas Ward, John Everett, Jacob Ackner, Geo. Harding, James Twad- dle, Martinus and Peter Dawson, John Mason, Henry McManus, Wm. Stagg, Geo. Bull, Jacob Low, James Terwilling and James Conners.
This band of banditti ravaged the southern section of the present
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Orange county, raided down the Ramapo pass, and alternately visited the houses of patriots in the present township of Ramapo, or in the northern section of New Jersey. When they attacked a place it was not left till the process of looting was complete. Horses, harness, cattle, provisions were forcibly taken from the barns of the unfortunate recipients of their visits ; everything of any value that could be carried was stolen from their houses, while the proprietor was either beaten or murdered, and his family out- raged. Extending their sphere of operations as they grow stronger, this gang of cow-boys attacked government property as it passed through Ramapo pass, and among the spoils thus seized were several thousand muskets. On July 18th, 1777, Claudius Smith, then a prisoner at Goshen, and one of his band, named John Brown, were indicted for stealing a yokc of government oxen, but succeeded in escaping from custody.
Among the rocky fastnesses of the Ramapo mountains, this band found plenty of safe resorts. In one just east of the Augusta Iron Works, they frequently divided their spoils. In another, near Sherwoodville, at a spot called " Horse Stable Rock," on Round Mountain, they often rendez- voused, while among their neighbors were many who sympathized with them, and gave them shelter in time of need. Of these Tory participants in their hellish actions, werc Benjamin Demarest, John Harring. John Johnson, Wm. Conkling, Peter Ackner, in Pascack, Arie Ackerman, of the same place, and one Isaac Mabic, at whose place these robbers had exca- vated a cave for a retreat. At length their decds reached such an alarm- ing state, that Governor Clinton, offered a reward of $500 for the arrest of Claudius Smith. This frightened that leader, and he hastencd to place himself under British protection in New York, from whence, with the idea of reaching still greater safety, he crossed to Long Island. Through the instrumentality of Major John Brush, he was at length captured, conveycd to Goshen, and brought to trial January 11th, 1779. As already said, the result of that trial was his conviction and execution with two others of his band on January 22d, 1779. One of his last acts depicts his character. Always wicked, one of his early crimes had drawn from his mother the prophecy that he would "die like a trooper's horse with shoes on." The remembrance of this came to him at the last, and in presence of eternity, he kicked his shoes off to make his mother a liar.
After the death of Claudius Smith, his sons swore revenge and the ex- cesses of the band were worse than before. On April 28th, 1779, a Goshen paper published the following: "We hear from Goshen that a horrible murder was committed near the Sterling Iron Works, on Saturday, March 26th, by a party of villians, several in number, the principal of whom was
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Richard Smith, eldest surviving son of the late Claudius Smith, of in- famous memory, his eldest son having been shot last fall at Smith's Clove, in company with several other villians, by one of our scouting parties sent out in search of them. These bloody miscreants it seems that night in- tended to murder two men who had shown some activity and resolution in apprehending these robbers, and murderers who infest this neighborhood. They first went to the house of John Clark, near the iron works, whom they dragged from the house and then shot him, and observing some re- mains of life in him shot him through the arm again and left him. He lived some hours after."
Among the homes visited by these British partisans was one, situated near the State line at Masonicus, occupied by a family named Lee. This home they devastated, killed young Lee, and violated the person of his sister Elizabeth. The sufferings she had witnessed and undergone, upset this poor girl's reason and from the time of the assault till her death, which occurred soon after from exposure in a bitter snow storm, Bessie Lee wandered through the present township of Ramapo, entreating by her ap- pearance, far more potent than word of tongue, the revenge of her patriot neighbors.
In 1781, the British held several positions in New Jersey near the State line, and their presence gave rise to much uneasiness among the patriots in Ramapo township. On one occasion a Captain Babbitt, with a dozen horsemen, started on a reconnoissance, and at evening camped in a wood by the side of the road near the present village of Monsey. After breakfast, next morning, the troopers were lounging about, when a coun- tryman was descried riding toward their place of concealment. After he passed he turned south on a narrow lane, which intersected the highway just beyond the Americans, and soon met a British troop of two score dragoons. With the commanding officer of this party he had a long con- versation, frequently pointing toward the American's wood. Babbitt's band, concluding they were discovered, determined to charge.
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