Shortly after his decease, his body was brought up from New York, and interred on the farm, near the site of the present monument. In 1819 the remains of Paine \ were disinterred by William Cobbett, and conveyed to England. ^

The site of his grave has been recently purchased by his friends, and a handsome marble monument erected upon it. On tlie side facing the road is a medallion likeness, beneath which is inscribed,

Thomas Paine, author of ^- Common Sense."

In the northern part of this town is situated the small hamlet of Upper Rochelle, which contains a Methodist Church, a school house, two stores, and about fourteen or fifteen dwellings. The high grounds in its vicinity command extensive prospects of the surrounding country and Sound.

From the commencement of the revolutionary war, New Rochelle appears to have suffered considerably from the incursions of the enemy and their emissaries. On the 18th of October, 1776, Lord Howe, the British commander, took post in the village, General Washington occupying the intermediate heights between the two rivers. Whilst in New Rochelle, the enemy were joined by the second division of Germans, under the command of General Knyphausen, and by an incomplete regiment of cavalry from Ireland, some of which had been captured on their passage.

The Scotch Highland battalion occupied the heights of New Rochelle. From this place both armies moved toward White

» Abridged from Cheetham's Life of Paine.

t Among the household goods and chattels of the late William Cobbett, occurs a tox nj hones.