John Romer gives the following account of that affair : "I don't know who commanded the party that burnt Gen. Delaucey's house on the 25th of November, 1777, but believe it was Capt. Buchanan of the Water Guards. The party came down the river from above in whale boats with muffled oars and stopped at Tarry town. After taking some volunteers on board they then went on down the river. They burnt the house and brought off considerable plunder."
Sergeant Isaac Martling, the story of whose tragic death still lives in tradition, as well as on the pages of history, and with all of its grim import is perpetuated on the moss-covered tombstone at his grave, herewith reproduced, was a son of Abraham Martling, Sr., and a brother of Captain Daniel and Corporal David Martling. He had been a soldier in the French war, having enlisted in Captain Gilchrist's Company, March 27, 1759, and mustered on May 1 of that year. On the original roll his age is given as 17 at that time, his height 5 feet 7 inches, with dark eyes and dark complexion.
The account of his tragic death is thus related bv Mrs. George Lawrence, now 76 years of age, and residing at Hartsdale, Westchester County, whose maiden name was Adaline Requa, granddaughter of Gabriel Requa, a soldier of the Revolution, and Elizabeth Martling his wife, who was the daughter of Sergeant Isaac Martling: Her greatgrandfather was killed in front of the old Martling house, at Tarrytown. He had been to the nearby spring, still in common use in that neighborhood, fora pail of water and was just about to enter the house, when he was murderously stricken down, inhumanly slain, as is recorded upon his tombstone, "by Nathaniel Underhill," the "inhumanity" of