On the other hand, whilst the recollection of this prodigious

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

deed of valor was still fresh in men's minds, Major Andre, who was to be the next central object of sentimental attention, found it fitting to select Wayne, of all American generals, as the hero of his Hudibrasian poem, "The Cow Chace." Wayne happened to be distinguished for unconthness of general demeanor no less than for lion-like daring before the armed foe and woman-like tenderness before the vanquished. Andre, the little curled and perfumed drawingroom darling, noted this uncouthness of the man, which indeed was the subject of many a smart jest among the fashionable ladies of New York, and discovered no artistic inconvenience in fitting the magnificent conqueror of Stony Point to his farcical verse. There probably is no more informing test of Andre's real parts, about which so much amusing hysterical nonsense has been written, than this little circumstance. As the guns of the Stony Point fortress bore only on the land side and northward (there being no occasion for the British engineers to direct them athwart the river, since the Americans could not attack from below), it was impracticable to reduce the Westchester Fort Lafayette from the captured height. Moreover, Washington considered it unprofitable to rearrange the Stony Point armament, or even to hold the place, exposed as it was to attack by land and water. It was estimated that a garrison of 1,500 would be required for it, which could not be spared from the army. So after transporting the cannon and stores to West Point, the works were demolished.1 The loss of Stony Point caused Sir Henry Clinton to give up his design against New London, and that place was spared until September of 1781, when the traitor Arnold was sent against it and the Fort Griswold garrison was massacred.