A few days later, while wearing the same conspicuous garment, he assisted in capturing ]\Iajor Andre at Tarry town. After the foregoing cursory glance at Peekskilbs historic past, which we reluctantly leave, we must make an equalh' rapid stu'vey of more recent days. - Of the man}^ eminent men that the inhabitants of the town have delighted to honour, there are several that we may not be forgi\'en for omitting. One of these is Henry Ward Beecher, whose summer home was a short distance east of the village. Senator Chauncey

At the Gate of the Highlands 3^9

M. Depew was born in this |)lace. and has enUvened a thousand dinner- tables with his more or less apocryphal recollections of it. Then there is the long roster of those who went out to battle for the Re])ublic on Southern 1lattle-fields in the dark days of the Civil War. To name an\', when we ha\'e not room for all, would be to make a distinction that their patriotism neither suggests nor warrants. In 1882, the Governor of Xew York, Alonzo B. Cornell, sent a committee of officers of the National Guard to select a site for a mihtary camp of instruction. The choice finally rested upon the plateau to the north of Annsville creek, which comprised ninety-seven acres belonging to the estate of John McCoy. This was purchased, with an additional tract for a rifle-range. Here, at an elevation of a hundred feet above the river, all arrangements were made for the convenience of a permanent camp. A reser\'oir was formed by damming a brook, and the water distributed in jnpes through the grounds, while facilities for cooking on a large scale have also l:)een perfected. Here, summer after summer, the \'arious regiments of the National Guard have succeeded each other in encampments that have come to be a feature of the service.