Hyatt, Nathaniel, 1781-1873
John M. McDonald interview — 1849-11-23
Macdonald. He discusses the murder of a French doctor by three men near Pines Bridge in New Castle. Hyatt names the three men, and explains that James Totten drew the lot to kill the doctor. When Totten refused to commit the act, James Tillett shot the doctor instead. Hyatt notes that the Totten family was outraged by the retelling of the incident in Robert Bolton’s A History of the County of Westchester, which was published in 1848. The French army offered a reward for the apprehension of the three men, and Hyatt’s father, Captain Abraham Hyatt, led a party that unsuccessfully attempted to capture Tillett in Morrisania. Nathaniel Hyatt concludes by telling John Macdonald that he will send him additional information, but this material, if it was ever sent, is not included with Macdonald’s papers.
Manuscript page facsimiles
High-resolution images served from the Westchester County Historical Society's IIIF endpoint. Click any page to view full size.
Transcription
62 968 59. [margin: PARIS] Nov 23d Nathaniel Hyatt, Esq. of New Castle, Pines Bridge Post Office: "Mr. Samuel Chadayne requested me to call and see you. The names of the men who captured and robbed the French Doctor near Pines Bridge, during the Revolutionary war were: Henry Weeks, James Tillett and James Totten. After stripping him they sat down and cut a pack of cards to decide who should kill him. The lot fell upon Totten but he refused to do the deed saying, "I am a boy only seventeen years old, and will not perform so bloody a task. Tillett then offered to take his place, and no opposition being made, he shot the Frenchman dead.
[margin: Henry Weeks, Jas. Tillett, and Jas. Totten.]
The Totten family who are rich and respectable are highly incensed at Bolton's account of this affair, and have long talked of prosecuting him.
The French general offered a reward of one thousand guineas for the capture of those concerned in this transaction. Just at the [page break] 969 65 60 [margin: PARIS] close of the Revolutionary war, my father Captain Abraham Hyatt went down to Morrisania with a party to take Tillett and surrounded the house in which he lived, but did not succeed.
I will write you a full account of this affair, and also communicate some interesting Revolutionary incidents together with a biographical sketch of my father's life," &c.
Novr 23. Isaac Davis of Norseneck Society, Connecticut, aged 79. "Some time towards the end of the war, Captain Frink at the head of about three hundred Refugees came up the road leading from Norseneck Meeting House by Zaccheus Woods to Round hill, Pecks land and Bedford. They halted at a spot called Bleap board Ridge