Benjamin Acker
John M. McDonald interview — 1847-11-20 — Stymats Fishers
Benjamin Acker (1763-1851) recalls his service as a ferryman at King’s Ferry (now Verplanck). On September 22, 1780, the day before the capture of British Major John André, Acker ferried André and Joshua Hett Smith across the Hudson River. Acker later served as a witness at the trial of Smith, and was a waterman at Dobbs Ferry during the Franco-American encampment of 1781. He then recounts an incident in which he and four other militiamen attacked a boat that landed from a British frigate lying in the Hudson River at Sparta. During the British raid that burned Crompond in present-day Yorktown in 1779, Acker was stationed with a guard near Roswell’s Corner near present-day Pleasantville and hid to avoid capture. He concludes by noting that Armand’s Legion encamped at the farm of Jacob Ryder in Ossining.
Original findings from this interview
Manuscript page facsimiles
High-resolution images served from the Westchester County Historical Society's IIIF endpoint. Click any page to view full size.
Transcription
- Hufeland Index Page 658 -
Novr. 20th Benjamin Acker, (at Stymats Fishers): “I saw service during the Revolutionary war, and in the latter part of it was employed as a ferryman at King’s Ferry where we made use of Scows, flatboats, and Pattianges. I ferried Smith and Andre across the river, September 22d 1780, and was a witness on Smith’s trial. In 1781, when the French army lay at White Plains, I was employed
- Hufeland Index Page 659 -
as a waterman at Dobbs Ferry. Once in, I think, the month of October – but in what year I don’t remember, I was engaged in watching a British frigate which lay off Sparta, in company with John Paulding, John Requa, David Martling, and Isaac Lent. We lay in ambush in the bushes above above Judge Kenney’s place Presently a boat from the frigate approached us with nine men and a woman on board. Not wishing to hurt the woman we let them land, then rose and fired upon them. They made fight and would not surrender till we had fired twice. We killed two, wounded two, made prisoners of the other five, and let the women go. I belonged to the guard that was watching the road near Roswell’s corner about two miles below Clark’s corner, when the British went up to burn Crompond in 1779. We hid. It was a dark night. About two hundred horse passed, and then at some distance came the infantry. I don’t know
- Hufeland Index Page 660 -
whether they advanced at this time through White Plains or by way of Tarrytown. Colonel Armand lay with his legion once or twice at Jacob Ryders in Ossining about seven miles from Tarrytown.