USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 32
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As the Delegates from New York, in Philadelphia, were well-informed, not otily concerning the Resolution bot concerning the secret corre. spondence of the Continental Congress, which evidently formed a portion of the information which was communicated to the Governor, there is reason for believing that the correspondent of the Governor was a mem- ter of that Delegation ; and the reader need not be told, in view of the fact that Lieutenant governor Colden rapored the names of his cuire. spondents, one of whom was in the Pelegation of 1775, which was the particular Delegate who was undoubtedly the correspondent, alow, of Governor Tryen, especially since, as was well known, the Governor's
the Hafifer parker, and, subsequently, ou lmand the Dithe way region, the latter lying under the pro- lecting guns of the 1xin. The prisoners in the Jail. victims of arbitrary power, were less fortunate, in their intercourse with those exercising authority, among the revolutionary faction.
.There is no record of the discharge of Godfrey Haines from the Jail, in the City of New York ; but. on the contrary, when the record of the proceedings of the Committee of Safety, on the morning of the twenty-ninth of September, when he was taken before that body by Daniel Winter and the guard who had brought him trom the White Plains,' was laid before the Provincial Congress, after the latter body had re-
officially approved ; $ and, subsequently, the further proceedings of the Committee of Safety, on the morn- ing of the thirtieth of September, when Godfrey was committed to the Jail, in New York," were also offi- cially approved by the same Provincial Congress .? He was not officially released; but, very soon after his Petition had been filed, without receiving any other attention, his necessities nerved his arms ;$ and, about midnight, he broke six grates out of the win- dow of his prison, and released himself. Hastening to the wharf, on the East River, the starved fugitive, from whom all food and drink had been withheld for more than a week," he "impressed," if he did not steal. a boat ; and found refuge and food on board of
official and personal leanings were toward the Livingstons rather than toward the rivals of the latter, the De Lanceys, who had previously oc. cupied the nearest place to the throne, in the Colony ; and, especially, since the Delegate referred to was, by marriage, a member of the Liv- ing-ton fumnily.
The Memorandum which the Governor is said to have subsequently stated " was the ground of my subsequent conduct in removing on Board " the Packet," (Governar Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth, " ON BOARD THE " DUTCHESS OF GORDON NEW YORK 11 th Nov 1775,") bears, on its face, the date when he is said to have received it-" Max. Reed from N York : "the best authority Nov 2 1775 W T."-and it may have been sent to him by Egbert Dumont, as stated by Judge Jones and his commentator ; but, when it wassaid to have been received, the Governor had surely been on the Haline or on the Duchess of Gordon, more than a fortnight.
The name of the real author of that Memorandum, ou which Governor Tryon is inconsistently said to have placed so much dependence, and the purpose for which it was transmitted to him, after he had been turned of his danger and land secured his anjety, are questions which need not be discusseil, in this place.
Aser jage Ili, ante. S Jenernat of the Provincial Congress, " The Jovis, In ho., A. M., October " 26th, 1775."
*see page 117, Ante.
i Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Veneris, 10 ho., A. M , Oc- ". tober, 27, 1773."
8 " David Rhea says that Captain Haines told him he was put in jail " because he refused to deliver up his arms; and that his punishment " had been determined, that he should not eat uor drink until be bad "delivered them up."-(Testimony of David Rhea, before the Committee of Safety-Jarrand of the Committe, " Die Sabbati, 10 ho., A.M., January "20th, 175.")
2 laines was tried and sentenced, at the White Plains, ou the twenty- eighth or twenty-ninth of September, when hi- sentence of starvation prebaldy rondeneed to run. Six, if ters seven, days afterwards, he petitioned for food, saying "he had not wherewithal to suport himself," his jailere, in the City of New York, doing nothing more than to read his Petition, and to piace it on their files, ( pug: 117, andte. ) It is not probable that his long fast was continued longer than the succeeding miduight
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det, manofwar. then lying in the stream .! . appart Vandepet of that ship, treated him kindly ; gave him an order for some ours ; and evidently found a way to re-tare him to his home. in Rye. He was there, during the same month, engaged in "getting "pat a parcel of wars for the man-of-war," in New York,: d. luring, at the same time, that he "was " ! brunel to have satisfaction on some particular "ffwith" evidently in retaliation for the wrongs n. I hs those persons had inflicted on him.'
I .braquent career of that unfortunate victim w: We-tchester county's " patriotism " would afford material for a romance, as it has done that for dis- pavi nate histery. During the succeeding Decem- ler [ 1505], in company with "one Palmier"-said to have been of Mamaroneck-he loaded the Sloop Fully and atan, which he had recently purchased from Tane Gelney, with Beef, Pork, and other Provisions : and, taking on board three quarter-casks of Madeira Wine, a package of Turnips, and other articles, all of them for General Howe, and other packages for General Ruggles, Mr. Willard, and Mrs. Aun Wood, together with Isaac Gedney. Bartholomew Haines (who was his cousin) Mr. Palmer ( who was one of the owners of the cargo), and seven other persons, pas- seugers, he sailed for Boston. He sailed from New York, on a Wednesday, the nineteenth of December, nominally for the West Indies, but undoubtedly for Boston. It appears, however, that adversity still ac- companied him ; and, on the following Saturday night, [ December 23, 1775], the Polly and Ann was driven ashore, at Squam Beach, on the coast of New Jersey, so widely known as the " graveyard" of the mercantile marine of the world.
The savory reputation of the "wreckers " of that treacherous coast, sometimes made more treacherous by reason of the false lights displayed by those who lived there, will prepare the reader for the remainder of that sad story of adventure and of disaster-the vessel does not appear to have gone to pieces; and that and what remained of her cargo, after the "wreckers " had satisfied themselves from it, were seized by the local revolutionary Committee of Monmouth-county, and soll, not for the benefit of the owners of either the vessel or the cargo, but for what- ever other purpose the Provincial Congress of New Jersey should determine; while "the Captain, Mas- "ter, and Passengers," or such of them as had not already abandoned the scene of their last affliction, after nineteen days had elapsed since the wreck of
1 Haines mode this statement to one of the guard which subsequently conveyed him to New- York, after he had been re-captured. ( Testimony vf Mogor H ederson, before the Committee of Safety ;) and he also made the sine statement to David Rhea, (Textantony of David Ries, before the same Fammite: Journal of the Committee of Safety, " Die Sabbati, 10 ho .. "A.M., January 20 1776.")
: Bromination of Gelert Bad before the Provincial Congress-Journal ( the Poemrial Congress, " Die Veneris, 5 ho., P.M., November 3,
: Marit of Philip Pinckney, November 1, 1775-page 125, post.
the Sloop, were ordered to be sent, duly guarded, to the City of New York, and delivered to the Committee of Safety of that Colony. As may be foreseen, God- frey Haines was remitted to the tender mercies of those from whom he had escaped, in the preceding October. '
Three daysafter Major Henderson and his prisoners reached New York, [January 23, 1776,] "The Com- " mittee of Safety took into consideration the case of " Godfrey Haines, lately apprehended and sent here " by the Committee of Safety of New Jersey; are of " opinion that his many and mischievous machina- " tions are so dangerous that he ought to be kept in " safe custody and close jail ; and that, by the Res- " olutions of the Continental Congress of the second " day of January instant,3 they are fully authorized, " and that it is their duty to the Country, to have him " confined; and as the said Godfrey Haines lately " broke the Jail of this City, and escaped, when he " was confined there, as a prisoner,6 and, continuing " his evil practices," set off to navigate a vessel loaded " with Provisions to supply the Ministerial Army and " Navy, at Boston, they conceive it will be very " dangerous to keep or convey the said Godfrey " Haines to Ulster-county Jail, unless he is fettered " or manacled ; therefore
"RESOLVED AND ORDERED, That the said Godfrey " Haines be conveyed to Ulster-county Jail, to be " there confined in safe and secure custody, in close "jail, until the further order of the Continental or " Provincial Congress, or of this Committee. And "ORDERED, That the said Godfrey Haines be sent, " manacled or fettered, under guard, to Ulster-county " Jail; and that Colonel MeDougal be requested to " procure an Officer, with a proper Guard of the " Militia or Minute-men of this City, to guard the " said prisoner and the other prisoners heretofore " ordered to jail, to Kingston, in Ulster-county."^ At the same time, a letter was written to the Ul-ter- county Committee, "praying" that body " that very " particular directions for keeping him in safe cus- " tody, to prevent his cseape, be given as to Haines,
+ This statement is based on the Afdorit of James Webb, one of the passengers; on the Proceedings of the Committee of Safety of New Jersey. "with request to those Prisoners;" on the Supplementary florent of James Webb ; on the Testimony of Ducit hhea ; and on the Statements of Major Thomas Henderson of the Monmoth-county Minute man, who con- veyeil the prisoners to New York.
> The reader will not fail to observe that the Committee carefully con- cealed the notable enactment of the Provincial Congress, of the first of the preceding September, (rile pages 111-113, ante.)
" The Connaitre made no mention of the fact that he had, then, been kept without food or water, a full week ; and that, since los prayer for food had been disregarded by the Provincial Congress, he was compelled either to foPce his way out of the prison or to starve, (cide puye 115,
7 The only "evil practises " for which he had been condemned were "denying the authority and speaking contemptuously of the Congresses "and the Committee of Westchester county"-Ennice Partly bel made other charges against him, which, however, had evidently tren disnused by the County Comunitter, (ride page 116, ante.)
& Journal of the Conduittee of Safety. " Die Martis, 3 ho. P.M., 25ml "l'y, 1570."
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" as he formerly broke the Jail, in this City, and made " his escape ; " and, at the same time, directing that Committee to "appoint some person whom you shall " think proper, to supply them with the necessaries of " life, at their own expense, if they can pay for them ; " and if they cannot, at the public expense."1 Agree- ably to that prayer, a special Guard of Grenadiers was placed over Godfrey and his two fellow-prisoners; and the Committee, in Kingston, said, " they will be " safe, we think." 2
The subsequent career of Godfrey Haines, as far as it is known, can be told in few words -- the severity of the treatment which he had received and which he continued to receive broke down his health ; and the Committee of Ulster-county was applied to, to permit him to be removed from his close confinement and to have " the liberty of the house," until he should have recovered his health and strength. Permission was accordingly given for hisliberation from his manaeles and his close.imprisonment ; and, very evidently, the sympathy of those who held him in custody was turned toward him far enough to permit him to escape .? We have found nothing further concerning him.
There were other arrests in Westchester-county similar to that of Godfrey Haines, one of which, that of Elijah Weeks, was followed by an attempt to rescue him, by an armed force, among the latter of whom were Isaac Gedney, Junior,4 William Nelson, Joshua Boyea, Joshua Ferris,6 Bartholomew Haines,7 Elijah Haines, William Haines, and John Haines, the per- sons who made the arrest having been Job Haddon, of Harrison Precinct, Benjamin Morrell, of New ' York, and Isaac Sniffen, of Rye-neck.8
1 Letter from the Committee of Safety to the Committee of Ulster-county "IN COMMITTEE OF SAFETY, NEW-YORK, 23rd Jany, 1776."
? Letter from the Ulster county Committee to the Committee of Safety, "KINGSTON, January 27th, 1776."
3 William Elsworth, Chairman of the Ulster-county Committee, to the Provincial Congress, " KINGSTON, May 22, 1776 ;" Journal of the Provin cial Congress, " Die Sabbati, 9 ho., A.M., May 25, 1776."
4 Isaac Gidney, probably the same person, visited Governor Tryon, on the Duchess of Gordon, a few months afterwards, (Examination of Wil- liem Sutton before the Westchester county Committee, July 23, 1776.)
5 William Nelson was one of those who, in the following year, "were "supposed to have gone to the British Army," (List of Suadry Persons, Inhethituato of Cortland's Manor, etc .: Historical Manuscripts, etc. : Mix- celicaroux Papers, xxxVI., 694).
4 Joshua, Ferris, A son of Caleb Pertis, was one of those who went on board the Phonis, when that ship went up the Hudson, in July, 1776, (Extinization of Joshua Ferry Historical Manuscripts, etc .: Miscellaneous Papers, xxxv., 69, 85.) He, or another person bearing the same name, was a prisoner, in the Jail at the White Plains, in September, 1776,at which time he petitioned the Provincial Congress "that His Trons may be "taken off as he cannott posibly Shift Himself or get clear of the Ver- "min, with which he is Greatly Infected to the great disturbance of his "unfortunate fellow prisoners," (Historical Manuscripts etc. : Petitions, xxxiii., S2.)
I Bartholomew Haines, a cousin of Godfrey flaines, was one of those who were reported to the Provincial Congress, as obnoxious to the revo- lutionary fiction in Westchester county, ( page 114, ante;) and he was, also, oue of those who were arrested and thrown into the Jail, lat the White Plains, in the snumer of 1776, ( Historical Manuscripts, etc. : Petitions, xxxiii., 198.)
Letter from the Sub-committee of the Committee of Westchester county to the Provincial Congress, " WHITE PLAINS, NovemberA, 1775."
Among those who were, also, arrested and throws into prison, by the Committee of Westchester-com'y. under the provisions of the enaetment of the Pro- vincial Congress which is now under consideration, were Joshua Purdy, Caleb Morgan, John McCord. Gilbert Horton, Josiah Brown. EInmind Ward, Samuel Merrit. Philip Fowler, Gabriel Purdy, Wil- liam Barker, Junior, John Besley, Isaac Brown, Bar- tholomew Haines, Joseph Purdy, and Jonathan Purdy ; and, as an evidence of the wide-spread ruin which was inflicted on the inhabitants of the County, by the requestrations of the real and personal estates of those who were " suspected " of being op- posed to the Rebellion, there were sequestrated in the single Town of Salem, prior to the sixth of December, 1776, the properties of Ephraim Sanford. Thomas Smith, Beujamin Close, Gilbert Hunt, Samuel Bax- ter, Abraham Close, Job Keeler, Jonathan Wallace, Ezra Morehouse, Jacob Wallace, Samuel Wallace, Nathaniel Palmer, Nathan Osborn, Abraham Dan, Edward Jones, and George Butson."
It was a reasonable consequence, under the exist- ing circumstances, that questions should be raised, concerning the legitimacy of any such authority as the Provincial Congress had created, in these enact- ments, and delegated to the several local Committees, none of which were recognized by the Law of the land and all of which were antagonistic to those Laws. It was a short-sighted policy, also, even among those who were in rebellion, which inflicted penalties, especially such penalties as these, on those .persons who continued, peacefully, on their respec- tive farms, quietly pursuing their daily labors, hon- estly respecting the Laws of the country, and con- sistently recognizing and honoring the Sovereignty of the King, whom even those who were in rebellion quite as fully recognized, as their undoubted Sove- reign ; and these, for no other reason than for disre- spectful words, concerning the several Committees and Congresses, and for the utterance of questions concerning their respective authorities. It was a reasonable consequence, under existing circumstances, we repeat, that quiet men should become excited and excitable men angry, and that all should become alarmed and indignant, when a mere handful of their neighbors, without their " consent" and without the slightest warrant of Law and without the slightest necessity, usurped and maintained such unheard-of authority as was created in these enactments ; and it was equally reasonable, under the eireumstances which then existed, that there should be neighborly consultations and neighborhood organizations, as well as personal efforts, for the support and protection of
9 The natues of those who were arrested and imprisoned, which are maned in the text, were copied from a single Petition for relief, (Historien) Mannscripts, etc. : Petitions, xxxiii., 10%); but there were many others. The names of those farmers, in Salem, whose Farms, Stock. Tools, Crops. Household Furniture, etc., were thes seized and soll, were taken from the same Hidoried Manuscripts, etc .: Magellannas Papers, XXXX. 3 %, in which the properties are mentioned, in detail.
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the personad and domestic and political Rights and seen in the agricultural and prosperous and "sinh those farmers indispentady possessed, under peaceful County of Westchester, in New York. But the end of such outrages had not yet come. the Constitution and the Laws of the Kingdom-they would have been unworthy of their manhood and of their families, of their homes and of their Rights, had they failed to become excited and alarmed, to have armed and organized and fought, for themselves and their wives and their little ones, for their homes and their properties and their Rights, whenever and by whomsoever and under whatever pretence of ill- gotteu authority, these might have been assailed. 1: was a mistake, as well as a crime, therefore, to as- .mar authority for the arrest and imprisomnent of men and for the sequestration of their properties and the impoverishment of the aged and of the dependent and helpless, withont a shadow of legal authority and in audacious defiance of it ; without a shadow of ex- i-ting necessity, even from the standpoint of the Re-
While the excitement occasioned by the enact- ments of the Provincial Congress, authorizing local Committees to seize and imprison and disarm and deprive of their estates those who should become obnoxious to those local demagogues and against whom, by fair means or by font, an accusation of un- friendly thoughts or words against the Rebellion conhl possibly be trumped up, was at its height, and while some of the inhabitants of the County were already suffering from imprisonment, attended by the most distressing circumstances, under the provis- ions of those enactments, the Committee of Safety, whom the Provincial Congress had left on duty, with a limited authority, during a brief recess of the lat- ter body, still further aroused the excitement and the bellion, for the enactment of such extreme measures; : indignation of the greater number of the Colonists in New York, of nearly all of those within Westches- respect among those who were proscribed, would be ter-county, by the publication of the following Reso- Intion and Orders :
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and with a reasonable assurance that a manly self- surely aroused, not only for their own and their fam- ilies' protection, but, as far as they could do it, for the suppression of that haughty lawlessness which had presumed to create and to enforce so grave an enactment of despotism. It was loudly declared to have been the most ardent wish of even the most advanced advocate of rebellion, to have secured a reconciliation with the Mother Country and a restor- ation of harmony and good-will among the adverse parties throughout the several Colonies : ' how much more of wisdom there would have been displayed among those who had seized the reins of government, therefore, had they practised their hands in the work of reconciliation and harmony and goodwill among their neighbors, instead of driving the staid and the quiet and the conscientious and the law-abiding. among the latter, into active and bitter partisanship. anal of spreading alarm aud strife and misery and ruin over the entire County. There might have been fewer transformations of moral and intellectual pig- mies into potent political giants-there might have been a smaller number of fortunes rapidly and largely increased from the plunder of neighboring better- provided-for honscholds and farmyards-but there would have heen, also, fewer outrages against the Laws of both man and of God ; less occasion for bit- terness among the descendants of those who were, then, neighbors in locality, if not in tact ; and very much less for the faithful historian to condemn and to denounce, while reciting the annals of the Ameri- can Revolution, as thet Revolution was developed
" " The thought that we might la driven to the sad necessity of break- " ing our connection with Great Britain, exclusive of the carnage and " destruction, which it was easy to see must attend the preparation, always " gave me a great deal of grief. And even now, I would cheerfully re- "toto frota public life, forever, romance all chatter for honory or "profita from the public, nay. I would cheerfully contribute my little "Fr quanty, In obtain peace and liberty." -John Alone to his Wife. " *** t.dar. 1775.">
" IN COMMITTEE OF SAFETY, " FOR THE COLONY OF NEW YORK, "September 16th, 1775. " WHEREAS, a great number of the men enlisted in "the Continental Service, in this Colony, are desti- "tute of Arms, and in order to carry into execution "the Resolutions of the Continental Congress, it is "absolutely necessary to have those troops armed : "AND WHEREAS, every method to hire or purchase "Arms, hitherto attempted, has failed to proeure a " sufficient number of Arms for the said troops, and "the only method remaining is to impress Arms for "their use,
" RESOLVED, therefore, That all such Arms as are " fit for the use of the troops raised in this Colony, " which shall be found in the hands or enstody of any " person who has not signed the General Association "in this Colony, shall be impressed for the use of the "said troops. And
"ORDERED, That the person or persons who shall " have the charge of the carrying this Resohttion into "execution, in cach County, shall direct all the Arms "that shall be so impressed, to be collected at some " place in the County where they are impressed, and " there valued and appraised by three indifferent men "af reputation of the County, any two of whom "agreeing, shall be sufficient to ascertain the price ; "that an account be kept from whom every Musket. "Gun, o" Firelock, so impressed, shall have been "taken ; and each such Gun, Musket, or Firelock "caused to be marked with the initial letter of the "name of the County where it is impressed and nin- "bered, the numbers following each other, succes- "sively ; and that the same be entered in a book pro- " vided for that parpose, with the name of the owner "opposite to the number marked on each Musket, "Con, or Firelock, respectively. And
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"ORDERED, That a Certificate, specifying the value " and the mark of the Musket, Gan, or Fireluck sa " impressed, appraised, and marked, shall be signed " by the Appraisers and Impressers, which shall enti- " the the owner thereof to receive the appraised value "from the Treasurer of the Provincial Congress of "this Colony : PROVIDED the same be not returned at "or before the conclusion of the present unhappy "controversy between Great Britain and the united "Colonies. And that an account, signed by the said " Appraisers and Impressers, of all such Muskets. " Guns, and Firelocks, so impressed, shall be sent, " forthwith, to the Secretaries of the Provincial Con- " gress, or either of them, to be filed. And that all " the Muskets, Guns, and Firelocks so impressed, on " Nassau Island,' be delivered, without delay, to Peter " T. Curtenius, the Commissary of the Provincial "Congress of this Colony ; and those that shall be im- "pressed in the other Counties of this Colony, to be "deposited with their respective Committees, subject "to the order of the said Provincial Congress or Com- "mittee of Safety. And
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