Philipse had written to him in not too amiable terms about seizures of cattle belonging to her family which had been made for the American army. His reply, dated " Headquarters at Mr. Valentine's, 22 Oct., 177(5," is couched in strictly ceremonious language. "The misfortunes of war,'' he says, "and the unhappy circumstances frequently attendant thereon to individuals, are more to be lamented titan avoided, but it is the duty of every one to alleviate these as much as possible. Far be it from me to add to the distresses of a lady who 1 am but too sensible must already have suffered much uneasiness, if not inconvenience, on account of Col. Phillips' absence." He adds that the seizures complained of were made not at his instance, but at that of the State convention; and the only satisfaction he affords her is the observation that as it was not meant by the convention to deprive families of their necessary stock, he "would not withhold" his consent to her retaining such parts of her stock as might be necessary to that purpose. In view of this correspondence, and the connecting circumstances, the idea that Washington could have paid even a passing visit to the Manor House during his progress to White Plains is not to be entertained. Frederick Philipse, as our readers know, never returned to his home on the Nepperhan, and the residence was permanently abandoned by his family in 1777, afterward being in the custody of a steward. Again, from the fall of 177(5 to the summer of 1781, Washington certainly never spent a night in the lower part of Westchester County. Hence the traditions which associate him with the last hospitalities of the Philipses at the Manor House have not the slightest likely foundation. It is unquestionable, however, that on more than one occasion during the Revolution he was the guest of the patriotic Colonel James Van Cortlandt at the old Van Cortlandt mansion in the " Little Vonkers." The old Valentine house, from which Washington's Vonkers dispatches were dated, was torn down many years ago.