But while there was no battle at White Plains, the whole engagement having transpired on Chatterton's Hill in the Town of Greenburgh, the name of the battle of White Plains, by which alone the event is known in general histories, is a strictly appropriate one; and indeed it would have been regrettable if this exceedingly important conflict-- one of the most important and representative of the struggle for independence-- had received the merely local designation of the isolated, incidental, accidentally chosen, ami unpopulated summit where it was fought. The strategic situation was at White Plains exclusively, which was the place deliberately selected by Washington days in advance for his final stand, and fully accepted by Howe as the battle-ground: and up to the moment that Howe arrived in sight of our lines the attention given to Chatterton's Hill bv the American commander, even as a locality of incidental conse-

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

quence, was of the most informal nature, no defensive works of any availability having been erected and not a single piece of artillery planted upon it. That the action on Chatterton's Hill proved accidentally tobe the whole of the duly appointed battle of White Plains, would have been no suitable reason for robbing the latter place of the honor of the name. Moreover, as rural battlefields are always named alter the most conspicuous and most familiarly known locality of their vicinage, it would have been a peculiar departure from such ethics not to dignify this very notable engagement with the name of tin1 flourishing and widely known village beside which it occurred. There exists no public memorial, either on Chatterton's Hill or in White Plains village, commemorative of the battle. Upon the approach of the centennial anniversary of the day in 1876, arrangements were made, under the auspices of the Westchester County Historical Society, for a public celebration on Chatterton's Hill, to include the laying of the corner-stone for a monument.