Home / Macdonald, John MacLean. The Westchester Guides in the War of the Revolution. Paper read at the New-York Historical Society, May 4, 1852; re-read Nov 3, 1863 and May 4, 1897. Published as The McDonald Papers, Part I, Chapter 3 in Publications of the Westchester County Historical Society, Vol. IV. 1925-26. / Passage

The McDonald Papers, Part I, Chapter 3: The Westchester Guides in the War of the Revolution

Macdonald, John MacLean. The Westchester Guides in the War of the Revolution. Paper read at the New-York Historical Society, May 4, 1852; re-read Nov 3, 1863 and May 4, 1897. Published as The McDonald Papers, Part I, Chapter 3 in Publications of the Westchester County Historical Society, Vol. IV. 1925-26. 304 words

A stranger, traversing in these days, what was once the "Neutral Ground," and hearing for the first time recounted, the adventures of the "Three Great Guides," some of which in hardihood and success, approach the fictions of knight-errantry, might be moved to seek for their tombs, and might natural say to those around him: "Where shall I find the monuments that have been erected by the gratitude of the age to indicate the sepulchers of such men, and to commemo-rate their lives, services and virtues?" Vain would be the inquiry, unsatisfactory the research. The remains of Dyck-man were deposited in the obscure corner of a sequestered church yard at Crompond, where they repose forgotten, with-out a letter or a stone, to mark the last resting place of one of the bravest men that ever drew his sword in a just and noble cause. Even the precise locality of the spot where his bones now moulder is, and for ever must remain uncertain. The mortal relics of Oakley were interred in the Purchase street burying ground in the town of Harrison, where unmarked and unhonored they long lay, mingling with the ashes of the peaceful children of Fox. Later, and when almost half a century had passed by, the spot of sepulture was fortunately identified, and a plain stone put up, with this inscription (all that Quakerism permits) "Cornelius Oakley, died January 29th, 1805, aged 49 years." Odell's body was placed in the Cemetery of the ancient Dutch Church on the banks of the Pocantico, near Tarrytown, in contiguity with the sepulchers of his ancestors. A small stone designates the grave, but his age, the day of his departure, and the bare fact that he was an officer of the revolution, are all the information it gives of one of New York's most faithful sons.