USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution > Part 35
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The contemporary records do not present the cir- cumstances which attended the seizure of the Mayor of the Borough of Westchester; but it is probable they were similar to those which attended the similar seizure of Judge Fowler and that of Mr. Seabury- the banditti undoubtedly ransacked the house and examined his papers and helped themselves to such articles of his movable property as best pleased them. From Judge Fowler's house, there were carried away a beaver hat, a silver-mounted horse- whip, and two silver spoons, + besides the sword, gun, and pistols which formed portions of his offi- cial equipments as a Colonel in the Colonial Militia ; 5 and at Mr. Scabury's, besides assaulting one of that gentleman's daughters, thrusting a bayo- net at her breast and through her cap, and tearing down her hair, the marauders cut a quilt which was in the frame, rendering it useless; examined his
· See pagey 72-74, ante.
2 " At East Chester they seized Judge Fowler, then repaired to West " Chester and secured Seabury and Underhill."-( The Connecticut Jouruol, No. 424, [NEW HAVEN, ] Wednesday, November 29, 1775. )
In his Memorial to the General Asertably of Connecticut, Seabury ex- pressly stated that he was arrested by a detachment ; that the main body of the party was subsequently joined, by the detachment ; and that all, then, returned to Lust Chester.
3 Memoria of Samuel Century to the General Assembly of Connecticut, December 20, 1775.
See, also, The Connecticut Journal, No. 424, [NEW HAVEN. ] Wednesday, November 20, 1775 ; Jones's History of New York during the Revolutionary · War, i., GR, 67 ; etc.
A Memorial of Samuel Seabury to the General Assembly of Connecticut, De- cember 20, 1773.
5 Jones's History of New York during the Resolutionury War, i., 67.
" To the Public, "SAMUEL SEABURY, M.A. " Rector of the Purish of Westchester,
FTATHE opened a School in that Town, and offers his Service to " prepare young Gentlemen for the College, the Compting- " House, or any goute-l Business for which Parents or Guar lians may "desigh them. Children who know their Letters will be admitted to " bis School, and taught to read English with propriety, and to write it "with a fair Hand, and with grammatical accuracy. They will be in- "structed in Arithmetic, if required, in its utmost exteut; and in the " Elements of Geometry ; in Trigonometry, Navigation, Surveying, etc. "-The Latin and Greek Languages will be taught those who are in- " tended for a learned Education.
"There are already eleven Students under Mr. Seabury's Care, and as "soon as the Nundwer of Scholus shall require it, a good Usher will be " provided : And no Care or Diligence shall be wanting to give Satisfac- "tion to those Gentlemen who sball favor him with the Education of " their Children.
" Proper attention will be paid to the young Gentlemen, that they be " kept clean and decent, atl that they behave with propriety ; and as "the most essential Part of Flucation is to qualify them to Discourge "the Duties and Offices of Life with Integrity and Vittne, particular "Care will be taken to explain to then. the Principles of Morality, and "the Christian Religion, by frequent short Lectures, adapted to their "Capacity.
" Board, (Washing included) may be had, in nuexceptionable Fami- "lies, at about twenty Pounds per Ann, and the Tuition will be six "Pounds, New-York Currency, and eight Shillings for Fire wood,
"Westchester is about nineteen Miles from New York, by Land, and "about fifteen by Water ; and a Water passage may be had almost "every lity, when the Weather will perunt, in good Life Boats."
i Mertrial of Samuel Sunbury to the fieneral Issoubly of Connecticut, De- cember 20, 1775.
"" Having possessed themselves of these three caitidis, they sent them " to Connecticut under a strong guard."-(The Connecticut Journal, No. 424, [NEW HAVEN, ] Wednesday, November 29, 1775.)
See, also, Meneril of Samuel Seuburg to the General Assembly of Con- neclient. December 20, 1775.
2 The Connecticut Journal, No. 424, [NEW HAVEN. ] Wednesday, Noven: ber 229, 1775.
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131
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
Jawing night is not now known --- it is not in the | portions which could not be taken away, and demol- o siteet degree probable that it paid its way, in what- ishing. also, his presses and other office-material." rier part of Westchester county it billeted itself-it It is said that three quarters of an hour were spent in that work of reckless destruction, without the slightest attempt by either the Municipal or the Colonial authorities, legal or revolutionary, to inter- fere, for the preservation of the peace or for the protection of the property of the citizen or for that of the freedom of the Press; and, consequently, after its appetite for outrage had become satisfied, taking with it the type which it had not destroyed and such articles from the Bookstore as were fancied by those who entered it,6 the banditti mounted its horses, its music striking up the tune of Yankee Doodle, and its local sympathizers in the Square and around the head of the Coffee-house Ship giving it cheers which were returned, and left the City by the same route as that on which it had entered it.7 very evident, however, that it was expected by the des of the Relation, in the City of New York, witte it was art and escorted into town by Samuel Broome, John Woodward, and others of their class ; 1 and it is said, also, that Alexander Me Dougal, Peter 1 :. Livingston, John and Joshua Hett Smith-the latter so conspicnons, subsequently, in the interviews between General Arnold and Major Andre and in the evident exposure of the latter to arrest-and a num- ber of others, their canfelerates if not their tools, were assembled on Hanover-square, on which the Backstore and Printing-office of James Rivington were situated, apparently and nominally for military exercises, but really for the purpose of covering and protecting the approaching banditti, in its proposed work of devastation and robbery.2
The column appears to have moved from East- chester, by way of Kingsbridge and the old Boston post-road, through what are, now, the Central Park and Madison-square and Broadway and the Bowery and Chatham-square and Chatham-street, to what is, now, Pearl-street-then known as Queen-street 3- which was the direct route to Hanover-square, the objective point of. its march. With its escort of local sympathizers, its progress was not obstructed; and, on Thursday, the twenty-third of November, at noon, whew it reached the Square, it "drew up, in close "order, before the printing-office of the infamous "James Rivington," 4 those who had already assembled there, evidently for the purpose of covering it, if not for the purpose of doing more than that, should any opposition to its purposes be manifested by any one welcoming it, as their auxiliaries and confederates.
It is said that, while the main body of the banditti remained in position, in front of the Bookstore and Printing-office of the proscribed Englishman, "a "small detachment " entered the latter, and gathered " the principal part of his types," which was placed in sacks prepared for the purpose, destroying those
1 Minutes of the General Committee of the City and County of Noir York, Tinaislay, November 2, 1776 ; Jones's History of New York during the Reealniontry War, i., 66 ; Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartswith, No. 22, ON BOARD THE SHIP DUTCHESS OF GORDON NEW YORK HARBOUR, CHE D.c+ 1755 ; etc.
Jones's History of New York during the Revolutionary War, i., Co. 3 Manual of the Corporation of the City of NewYork for 1555, 311. " " The main body, consisting of 75, then proceeded to New- York, " which they entered at noon-day on horseback, with bayonets fixed, and "in the greatest regularity, went down the main street, and drew up in " close order before the printing-office of the infamous James Riving- ' un." (The Connecticut Journal, No. 121, [NEW HAVEN, ] Wednesday, November 20, 1775.)
bre, also, Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth, No. 22, " ON BOARD " THE SHIP DUTCHESS OF GORDON NEW YORK HARBOUR. 6th Deer 1775" ; Portion of the Goorral Committee of the City and County of New York to the Pericial Congress, (Male page 131 post ;) the Provincial Congress of Nove Yri to the Governor of Connecticut, " Is PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, NEW. " YORK, With Derr. 1775 ;" Jones'a History of New York during the Nero- alanury War, i., bei ; etc.
5 " A small detachment eutered it, " [the printing-office, ] " and in about "three quarters of an hour brought of the principal part of his types, " for which they offered to give an order on Lord Dunmore" [irh. had previously stolen John Holt's type and press, at Nonjon.] (The Connecti- cut Journal, No. 424, [NEW HAVEN, ] Wednesday, November 29, 1775. )
They "entered his" [ Rirington's] " house, demolished his printing "apparatus, destroyed a part and carried off the remainder of his "types. "- Jones's History of New York during the Revolutionary War, i., 65.) See, also, Gorernor Tryon to the Earl of .Dartmouth, No. 22, "ON " BHARD THE SHIP DUTCHESS OF GORDON NEW YORK HARBOUR, Gh Dec! "1773 ;" etc.
6 Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth, No. 22, " ON BOARD THE SHIP " DUTCHESS OF CORDON NEW YORK HARBOUR CA Deer 1775."
" ". They then faced and wheeled to the left, and marched out of town to " the tune of Yankee Doodle. A vast coucourse of people assembled at "the Coffee House bridge on their leaving the ground, and gave them " three very hearty cheers." -(The Connecticut Journal, No. 124, [NEW HAVEN, J Wednesday, November 29, 1775.)
The Petition of the General Committee of the City and County of New York, laid before the Provincial Congress, on the eighth of December, 1775, presented the general facts of the outrage on James Rivington, while it also called for the protection of the City, by that body. The despatch of Governor Tryon to the Fart of Dartmouth, No. 22, " ON BOARD THE SHIP "DUTCHESS OF GORDON NEW YORK HAERQUE 6% Decr 1775," described the raid on Westchester county as well as that on the City of New York, and narrated the blustering threats which were made by Sears, to return with "a more numerous body of the Connecticut Rioters and to take "away the Records of the Colony." The letter of the Provincial Congress to the Governor of Connecticut, "IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, NEW-YORK, "12th Decr., 1775," recited the outrage in Westchester-county as well as that in the City ; but in such delicate terms as indicated that that body was ticher in sympathy with the banditti et vas intin:idated by those who were so. Judge Jones, in his History of New York during the Bardu- tionary Wir, (i., 65-65,) noticed the entire raid, saying that Swars "en- "tered the town at the head of about 200 inen, well mounted," which, from the context, evidently included those who had gone out to meet the bauditti. Gordon, ( History of the American Revolution, London : 17-8, ii., 121, 122.) made meution of nothing else than of the robbery of the printing-office, of which he said, "While thus employed, people col- " lected, and the street was thronged. To prevent interruption, he called "out and told them that if they attempted to oppose him, he would "order his men to fire on them ; and preparation was inade for doing it, "in case it should be needful. This appearance instantly cleared the "street, when Captain Scars and his party rode off in triumph, with the " booty they were pleased to take away." Dunlap, ( History of Noi Fork, ii., Appendix, coxx,) erroneously stated That the destruction of the printing-office was efforted "by the Courertient Light Horze," on the fourth of December. Bancroft, (History of the United States, original edit. viii., 275.) said Sears was " vexed at his want of influence, impatient at "being overlooked, and naturally inclined to precipitate counsels ;" and in the same work, centenary edition, v., 181, the same author stated
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132
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
The progress of the banditti, through Westchester- "ing it- fire collection of pdunder and its three pris- county, on its return, was necessarily slow, siger it finished, at that time, the work of pillage among the farmers of that County, which it had commenced on its outward march -- it left the City of New York on Thursday, at two o'clock; and it did not reach Horse-neck, where the detachment which was guard-
that Sears "deserved a high appointment in the Anterican Navy," which he did not receive ; that he was " impatient nt being overlooked." etc. Not the slightest allusion is made to the doings of the banditti in Westchester county, in either of the editions of that much- praised work. Lossing, ( Fiell Book of the Revolution, IL, 796, 797, )stated that Mr Riving- ton " aided by his Royal facetter," was very influential ; that he had no regard for the truth nor for "common fairness ; " that Sears had gone to Connecticut " to plat schen -- for the future with ardent Whigs ; " that the type which was stolen frion Rivingtou was converted Into bullete ; etc. ; but the truth is that the Royal Gazette was not established until December, 1777, as he had stnted on the opposite gageof the Field Bank; that livington published everything of news and political papers, re- gardless of party ; that Sears hud removed his family and hinself to New Haven, to get ont of the way of threatened danger and to pout over personal grievances; und that the printers in Connecticut were too glad to increase their limited supplies of type to convert the stolen type be- longing to Rivington into bullets, for which common and far cheaper lead was better adapted. Rev. Doctor Beardsley, (History of the Episcopal Church in Connectent. i., 302-205, and Life and Correspondence of the IN. Rev. Samuel Secbury, D.D., 35-17,) appropriately noticed, in detail, the dealings of the banditti with Mr. Seabury, withont, however, making the slightest mention of what was done elsewhere than in Westchester- county.
In Connecticut, from that day to this, the doings of that party of ruf. fians have been considered only as praiseworthy. Governor Trumbull, after having snubbed General Washington by sheltering and justifying the wholesale desertion of the Counecticut troops which the latter ha:l denounced, (Compare General Washington's letter to Governor Trumbull, " CAMBRIDGE, December 2, 1775," with the reply, "LEBANON, December " 7, 1775 ; " that of the former, "CAMBRIDGE, December 5, 1775," with the reply, " LEBANON, December 9, 1775" ; etc., ) waited antil the following June, before he paid the slightest attention to the letter which the Pro- vincial Congress had sent to him, in December, 1775, and then only to shelter, if not to justify, the offenders. (Jour, Trumbull to the Humble. Nath !. Woodhull, " HARTFORD, June 10, 1775.") Hinman, (Historical Collection of the part sustained by Connecticut during the War of the Revolu- tion, 79, 80,) inchided that lawless raid among the notable and praise- worthy acts of Connecticut ; and the following, which is the latest speci- meu which has met onr eye, presents, at once, the satisfaction with which respectable men, of our own day, in Connecticut, continue to re- gard that outrage, and the character of what is circulated, in New Ling- latul, as veritable history : "Some time during the War, a paper was " published in the City of New York, by one, Kivington. This paper was " professedly and to all outward appearance devoted to the British in- "terests. It was afterwards, however, known to have aided the Amer- "icans much, and was under the control of Washington himself. The "hostile appearance of the sheet, however, deceived the Americans as "well as their enemies, and about half a dozen Greenwich men Tr- "solved that the press should be stopped ; they stole into the City, de- "stroyed the press, and bagged the type, which they brought off with "them from the very midst of a watchful enmuy. Messrs. Andrew and " Peter Mead were the principal men of the expedition. It is said that "they only of the company were able to carry the bags of type from the " printing-office to the street and throw them across the backs of their " horses. After the type was brought to Greenwich, it was totally de- "stroyed, except enough to print each of the company's names, which "the veterans kept for a long time in memory of their exploit." One might readily suppose this latest tidbit of what has currency as history, was written in China or Timbuctoo ; but the curious reuder may find it in an elegant aud expensive History of Fairfiell Gmaty. Comw client, compiled under the supervision of D. Hamilton Hurd, and published by J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadeh.bia, in IS81. It ecrupies a portion of page 378 . of that handsomely printed volume, and affords a fine example of the character of what is written, concerning New Englanders and their character and doings, when the pen of the writer and the patronage of the publisher are within that pretentious portion of the Union.
offers athe farterof whom as the practice then wa- among that now-formed power, having been pro- vided, meanwhile, with neither food nor shelter) had halted, until the following Monday, the twenty-sev- enth of November. Its progress through Connecticut appears to have been attemled with the highest pop- ular approval; many joined it, " the whole making a "very grand procession ;" and, on Tuesday, the twen- ty-eighth of November, amidst the salutes of two cannon and the cheers of the populace, it re-entered New Haven. The procession moved through nearly every street in the Town, stopping at every corner, in order that the crowds might gaze on the victims and jeer at and insult them ; and, after having quartered the latter, at their own expense, at one of the Tav- erns, the successful banditti, sustained by what there was of the ignorance and lawlessness of the New Haven of that period, spent the remainder of the day in " festivity and innocent mirth."!
The principal portion of the bitterness of the ban- ditti appears to have been bestowed on Mr. Seabury -- indeed, there was wisdom in that discrimination, since Judge Fowler and Mayor Underhill were dif- ferently constituted men, more easily intimidated and, therefore, more pliable than he, and very soon re- canted and were dismissed from their confinement ?--
1"On their way home they disarmed all the tories that lay on their "route ; and yesterday [ Vorember 28,] arrived here, escorted by a great "number of gentlemen from the westward, the whole making a very "grand procession. Upon their entrance into town, they were saluted "with the discharge of two cannon, and received by the inhabitants with "every mark of approbation and respect. The company divided into "two parts and concluded the day in festivity aud innocent mirth. "Captain Sears returned in company with the other gentlemen, and "proposes to spend the winter here, unless publick business should re- "quire bis presence in New- York .- Seabury, Underhill, and Fowler, "three of the dastardly protestors against the proceedings of the Conti- " nental Congress, and who it is believed had concerted a plan for kid- " napping Captain Sears, and conveying him on board the Asia man-of- " war, are (with the types and arms) safely lodged in this town, Where "it is expected Lord Underhill will have leisure to form the scheme of "a lucrative luttery, the tickets of which cannot be counterfeited ; an 1 " Parson Seabury sufficient time to comprese sermons for the next Conti- " rental fast."- (The Connecticut Journel, No. 424, [NEW HAVEN, ] Wellues- day, November 29, 1775 )
Sce. also, Soubery's Memorial to the General Asumbly of Connection!, De- cember 20, 1775, cat page 136, post; and Jones's History of Nie York during the Perolutionary Wie, i., 6, 67.
: Although they instruments of the recantation of these two of the three victimas d Int appear in The franteclient I ure, they were printed in Holt's New- York Jourunt, No. 116, NEW-YORK, Thursday, December 7, 1775, and may be seen in Force's American Ar hiers, IV., ill., les.
I. " Whereas I. Jonathan Fowler, Esq., one of His Majesty's Judges of " the Inferior Court for the County of Westchester, in the Province of " New- York, did, some time ago, sign a Protest against the Honourable " Continental Congress, which inconsiderate conduct I am heartily sorry ". for, and do hereby promis for the future not to transgress in the view " of the people of this Continent, nor in any sense to oppose the me is- "ures taken by the Continental Congress.
"". I do also certify that. some time past, being at Court at the White- " Plains, " heard a person siy, whom several people present believed to " ben Lientenant or Midshipman of the Asia, man-of-war, that the (x]- "tain of the Asia intended to take Capettiu Sears up, and that there " would soon be delivered, gratis, from on board the muin-of-war. great "quantities of Paper Money, in imitation of Continental Currency.
133
WESTCHESTER COUNTY.
, i he was " prevented from enjoying a free inter- are with his friend -; forbidden the visits of . one of them, though in company with his guard ;
- "1"hibited from reading prayers in the Church, and "in performing any part of Divine Service, though " invited so to do; interdieted the use of pen, ink, " and paper, except for the purpose of writing to his "family, and then it was required that his letters " should be examined and licensed " [by the leaders of ne interdite. ] "before they were sent off; though " captain Sears condescended that he should be in- ".laland in writing a Memorial to the Honourable ".twombly. He received only one letter from his ' family, and that was delivered to him open, though "I.rought by the post." Indeed, with characteristie bravado, and entirely conscious of his influence among those. in Connecticut, who were then controlling the B& hellion. Sears told his only remaining victim -- the others having ransomed themselves from the hands of their captors with cowardly-made recantations- " that they did not intend to release him, nor to "make such a compromise with him as had been "made with Judge Fowler and Mr. Underhill, but to " keep him a prismer, till the unhappy disputes be- "tween Great Britain and America were settled- "that, whatever he might think, what they had done " they would take upon themselves and support." 1
At that time, and, indeed, until 1818, the Govern- ment of Connecticut, under her Charter, like that of Rhode Island, was based on the Sovereignty of the King of Great Britain; and the lawlessness of the Rebellion had not been permitted to disturb the forms and formalities of either her Executive or Legislative or Judicial Departments of Colonial Government- adroitly securing the monopoly of that Government in the hands of the comparatively few by whom it was held under the Royal Charter of 1661, no matter what the result of the Rebellion might be-and all these were being carried on, in the several long-estab- lished forms, nominally in the name of the Sovereign. Knowing these facts, Mr. Seabury is said to have ap- plied to the Magistrates, in New Haven, for protec- tion and redress, sinee he was held in captivity, in that Town, by no pretense of legal process nor by any other authority than the individual will of the ruf-
"which would be printed with the types taken from Mr. Holt, of Vir- "ginia ..
"As witness my baud : "JONATHAN FOWLER.
"NEW-HAVEN, November 29, 1775."
"Whereas I. Nathaniel Underhill, of Westchester, in the Province of "New- York, did, some time ago, sign a Protest against the Resolves of "the Honomable Continental Congress, which inconsiderate conduct I "ain heatily sorry for, and do hereby promise, for the future, not to "!runagrows in the view of the people of this Continent, nor, in any " where to oppose the measures taken by the Continental Congress.
"Ax witness muy hand, in New- Haven, November 30, 1775.
"N. UNDERHILL.
" Mayor of the Borough of Westchester."
I Memorial of Samuel Senburg to the General Assembly of Connecticut, the ember 20, 1175.
fian, Sears, who was, at best, only a sojourner in that Colony and, subsequently, was sheltered by the Giov- ernor, on that ground ; but his application found to favor before those Magistrates, notwithstanding their authority wa .: undisputed. He then sought the inter- ference of the local revolutionary Committee, with | the same result. The Governor, also, disregarded his demand; and when the banditti who continued to hold him, a captive, in the midst of that Capital-town of the Colony, consented that be should memorialize the General Assembly of the Colony, which does not appear to liave been, then, in Session.2 no benefit to the memorialist, from the Legislature of the Colony, could have been intended.3
While these proceedings were in progress, in Con- neeticut, the revolutionary authorities. in New York, were almost equally unmindful of what was due from them, in the protection of the individual Colonists from the aggressions of their neighbors, and in the support of the autonomy of the Colony, which those from Connecticut were beginning to threaten"-the Colonial Government and the armed vessels which
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