It wa.s of honest brick througliout, and not, like most of the city houses, a wooden structure with a veneered front of l)ricks " brouglit from Holland." To-day tlie walls and the oaken window-sills sliow no reason why they miglit not last for centuries to come, unless the onward march of business shall demand the destruction of the relic. So long as it lasts, the Scluiyler mansion stands as a link between the past and the present.

An effort to capture General Schuyler at his home was made at one time l:»y a band of Tories and Indians, who siuToundcd the house and forced an entrance 1)efore the inmates could effect their esca]:)e. When the latter had reached the upi)er floor, Mrs. Schu}der discovered that her infant, Catherine, had l)een left in a room upon the lower floor and would ha\'e returned for it if the General had not forcibly detained her. The savages and their allies were now in the house, ]:)illaging the dining-room of the rich plate it contained. Unobserved in the turmoil, Margaret, one of General Schuyler's daughters, slipped away and rescued the infant, though she narrowly missed death from a tomahawk thrown by one of the Indians as she was ascending the stairs. A Tor}', taking her for one of the servants, called out, " Wench, where is vour master?" --

542 The Hudson River

"Gone to alarm the town," was the ready answer. Schuyler, hearing this, acted upon the hint, and, putting his head out of a window, called as though to a large body of men, to surround the house and capture the rascals ; u]ion which the in\'aders fled, but, unfortmiately, took the plate with them. Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, and was counted by the General as one of his dearest friends.