Bacon, Edgar Mayhew. The Hudson River from Ocean to Source: Historical, Legendary, Picturesque. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1903.

^x> ■-f" ^'^' ->> '■"v^*.■•.- oo By EDGAR MAYHEW BACON THe Hudson River from Ocean to Source Historical -- Legendary -- Picturesque 8°. With over loo Illustrations. Chronicles of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollo\v iG"". With 23 full-page Illustrations. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Ne-w "VorK London The "Half-Moon" on the Hudson -- 1609 From a painting by L. W. Seavey poO/ {(()^!, [\o …

A reference to the index may in many cases dis])el an impression that some im])ortant event or i)erson has been neglected or forgotten l^ecause its ]dace in a chronological sccjuence has of necessity been disregarded. In commencing the story with the arriwal of TTenry Hudson, the claims of Verrazani and other early na\-igators have been ignored, not because history disowns …

TJic Hudson River is offered to the ]iu])lic with a consciousnes ofthe vastness of the suljject and the im])ossibility of treating it exhaustively in a single volume. The author \w\\\ ask his archaological readers kindly to bear in mind that for no town in the land vv^ould the antiquaries be found in accord concerning all points of local history. Whoever writes the history (jf …

VI -- On the Jersey Shore VII Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley 139 VIII-- The Passing of the White Wings . 100 IX Fulton and the Hudson River Steamhoat 41 X -- Riverside to In wood XI -- The Island and the River in 1776 XII -Forts Washington and Lee 181 XIII ^From Spuyten Duyvil to Yonkers XIV-- Spectres of the Tappan Zee . 211289 XV -- In the Land of Irving . 226 XVI …

The Month of Spuytoi Dnyvil Creek in Early Days Earliest Map of the City A Bit of Old Neiv York 20 Before the Day of Skyscrapers 21 The House that icas Built for Washington The Staten Lsland Ferry and Barge Office (about nS33) 33 Peaks of the Manhattan Range The City that Hides Majihattan . TJie Barge Office and the Bay Cover noCs Island from Battery Park 43 A Tow Going out to …

" Paragon,'' 181 1 ..... " Richmond," 181 j ..... The " North America" and " Albany,'^ 1 82^-1 82g The Modern Flying Dutcliman Riverside Drive, Manhattan The Apthrope Mansion, Bloomingdale . Grant's Tomb, Riverside Drive The Notable Buildings on Harlem Heights, ivherc tJic Battle was Fought in 1776 Burnham's Mansion House, Bloomingdale Road about i8jj Illustrations Page …

From an old print. The River Road, near Coldeuham Where the Brooks }h^t -Pilewild . 299 View South from Sing Sing, about iS4(S 2gi Croton and Verplanck\s Point and Anthony's Nose from Hill back of Sing Sing . High Taur and the Short Clove -- Haverstraw Illustrations Page Stony Point and H arc rst raze, jyoiu W-rplanck's 307 Point Bird^s-Eyc View of tJic Hudson from a Peak in …

Murderer's (Moodna) Creek--By the Butter Hill 399 380 Across the Hudson from Cornwall 403 h^roni a ilraieinii bv \V. 'J. ]Vi!.'<oii. Ncivburgh as Seen from Ftshkill and Coldspring Road 4og The Cantilever Bridge at Poughkccpsie . 419 Tomkins's Cove ...... 423 Ice-boat Fleet near Hyde Park 433 Illustrations Page Mciidiiii^ Wis at (larn'soii . Mooiiliglit 0)1 llic Hudson 445 …

Along the River beloiv Troy . 532 Looking doivn River, near Troy 540 On the Hudson above Troy . 555 From an ohl print. Congress Spring in 1820 559 550 The Rapids below Glens Falls 552 xii Illustrations Page On the River between Glens [''alls and Sandy Hill I'l-oni a draicnii^ by \V . 7. Wilson. The Bridge at (ilens Falls . . . . . j6q A Logjam on the Upper Hudson . . . jyo …

The vovage of Henry Hudson, English navigator in the service of the Dutch East India Company, to find a passage through polar seas to the shores of farthest Ind; the happy accident which led him into the mouth of the river that was afterwards to bear his name and to perpetuate his memory; and the wonder of the Indians of Manhattan when the Half Moon anchored at last, are the …

He dispatched his mate with a boat's crew, to make sure of the disappointing fact, and not till this expedition returned, after a journey of eight or Introductory nine leagues, did he finally abandon the enterprise in that direction and prepare to descend the river. Hudson ascended the stream in eleven days. He recorded his impressions and adventures, especially with regard to …

in that year, 1610, they sent a ship thither and obtained afterwards, from the High and I\hghty Lords States-General, a grant to resort and trade exclusively in these parts, to which end they likewise, in the year 161 5, l)uilt on the North River, about the Island Manhattans, a redoubt or little fort, wherein was left a small garrison, some people usually remaining there to …

The sweeping verdure of a nearly unbroken forest on the one bank, and precipitous, wild, pine-clad rocks on the other, bordered a land of mysterious possibilities and unguessed extent. Early writers have noticed particularly the prevalent abundance of the wild grapes that in their season filled the air with spicv perfume. Yet the forests were not uninhabited, for from every …

There is, however, for those who have sufficient patience and enthusiasm, a delightful study in those old Indian names that cover the Hudson and its tributarv waters with |)oly syllabic strangeness. The Rev. Charles E. AUison says of the Algonquin tongue, in which these names had their birth, that it "was agglutinative. The wild men of the rapid water settlement strung words …

The Indians, themselves loaded with the unpronounceable name of Meckquaskich, called a river between hills, that ran near AHpconc (shady place), now Tarry town, Pocantico or Pockhantes. Besightsick was Sunnyside brook, Ossin-ing -- "stone upon stone," appropriate prophecy of present State buildings -- was Sing Sing at a later day, though very recently the inhabitants have …

Albany claims the first of these, a palisaded enclosure antedating even that upon Manhattan Island. At the extreme ends of the navigable river, nearly a fortnight apart in ordinary weather and absolutely shut off from communication after the winter ice and snow appeared, they became each the centre of dependent communities. The settlements from New Amsterdam, or Manhattan …

In relation to the purchase of Manhattan there is one old document, written in 1634, that concludes with a burst that has the ring of prophecy: " Further, not only were the above named forts enlarged and renewed, but the said company purchased from the Indians, who were the indubitable owners thereof, the island of Manhattes, situated at the entrance of said river, and there …

There are, besides, divers other wild animals in the interior, but these are unknown to Christians. Introductory 13 After the account here quoted of the black and white deer, we are inchned to wonder whether it was knowledge or invention that failed. Certainly one may be more indulgent to the flocks of flamingoes with which Campbell brightened his picttn^e of the Wyoming …

Kinderhook -- spelled Kinderhoeck -- is about where it should be, and Hinnieboeck suggests Rhinebeck. Esopus has unaccountably slipped down the river, and is surrounded by forests belonging to the Waronawanka Indians. Then we find Blinkersbergh and Vischershoeck (or letters to that effect) in the country of the Pachami. Finally the familiar bend of "Havestro" and "Tappans" is …

What is really important is that some one who constructed a map less than a decade after the discovery of the river should have known the names of Nassau, Kinderhook, Esopus, and Tappan, and should have placed them in their approximate order on the shores of a river making a line of cleavage through the wilderness. Those little settlements were the nuclei from which …

having married Susanna Janss, at the time widow of Aert Teunissen, her previous husband, who had entered into a contract with Director Kieft to lease a certain boniverie named Hobog/n'n, situate in Pavonia on the west side of the North River, . . . fenced the lands, cleared the fields, and erected a suitable brew house which is yet standing there, and brought thither eight and …

" We respectfully request 3'our honours to institute a rigid inquiry into this matter ; how many first-class bouweries and ])lantations were abandoned in the war EARLIEST MAI' OF THE crrY b}' our Dutch and English, whose houses were burnt as has been stated." It may well be believed that, except within the stockades at Manhattan or under the protection of the fort at …

The rest of the Indians, as soon as their maize was ripe, followed this example; and through seml)lance of selling beavers, killed an old man and woman, leaving another man with five wounds, who, however, fled to the fort, in a boat, with a little child in his arms, which, in the first outbreak, had lost father and mother, and now grandfather and grandmother; being thus twice …

In it there is a statement that all fruits which will grow in Netherland will also thrive in New Netherland, without requiring as much care as must be given in the former. All garden fruits succeed likewise very well there, but are drier, sweeter, and better flavoured than in Netherland. As a proof of this we may properly instance melons and citrons or watermelons, which …

Either this writer, or another of his tribe, was overjoyed to report that " indigo silvestris grows spontaneously here without any human aid or cultivation." Experiments with this plant were made in the extensive gardens of Rensselaerwyk and promised great things. We find added to that report a statement that madder would " undoubtedly ' ' thrive well ; " even better than in …

From a thousand miles of streets the aur? ')f its multitudinous life seems to rise, and the hum ■ traffic and the murmur of its striving never ceases On the river the scene changes ii oat not in character. The boats cross and recross t.^ch other's courses like mammoth shuttles, w^eaving a pattern of a marvellous ta]:)estry, and the e\-e is bewildered in tr\'ing to follow their …

It is the city that hid behind palisades for fear of Indian neighbours; that fretted and prospered under Dutch and English governors; that in j^lace of stock exchanges and produce exchanges raised live stock and farm produce: the little city that entertained the first representative Congress in the Colonies and inaugurated the first President of the new Republic. Fort …

For many years the church in which the early Dutch domines exhorted their flocks fostered its s];)iritual courage behind that tem])oral bulwark, and no doubt the many-breeked worshippers slei)t more comfortably in the knowledge that the hewn timber of their fence was strong, and the matchlocks of the guard ready for all comers. The names by which the fort was known, judging by …

It has Thirty nine Guns, two Mortarpieces, thirty Barils of Powder five hundred Ball some Bomb Shells and Grenados, small arms for three hundred men, one flanker, the face of the Xorth Bastion «& three points of Bastions & a Courtin has been done & are rebuilt by mee with Lime and Mortar and all the rest of the Fort Pinnd and Rough Cast with Lime since my coming here. And the …

To this he adds a word about the human wall, upon which more reliance was to be placed than in rotten planks and dismantled guns. In this country there is a Woman yet ahve from whose Loyns there are upward of three hundred and sixty persons now living. The men that are here have generally strong and lusty bodies. In the face of such a statement as the foregoing the historian …

High and Mighty Lords. One Andries ^Hchielsen, having been placed by Captain Binckes, the Commander of a squadron of four ships and one sloop-of-war, on board a prize of about fifty tons burthen, taken by the aforesaid Commander near Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean Islands, to bring her here, was forced, by leakage and insecurity of the ship, to run through the Channel, where he …

What a century and a half have wrought of change and growth may best be appreciated by reading the description he wrote when Domine Ritzemer dispensed unadulterated Calvinism to his flock, when the Dutch farmers " in the small village of Harlem, pleasanth^ situated" on the north-western part of New York Island, cultivated ]iroduce for the cit}^ markets, and the oyster beds …

Within the walls is the house in which our governors usually reside; and opposite to it brick barracks, built, formerly, for the independent companies. The Governor's house is in height three stories and fronts to the west; having from the second story a fine prospect of the bay and the Jersey shore. There was formerly a chapel, but this was burned down in the negro conspiracy …

The ladies in general seem more partial to the light, various, and dashing drapery of the Parisian belles, than to the elegant and becoming attire of our London beauties, who improve upon the French fashions. The winter is passed in a round of entertainments and amusements. The servants are mostly negroes or mulattoes ; some free and others slaves. Marriages are conducted in …

When at last, in March, the news reached America that Great Britain had acknowledged the absolute independence of the American States, there was a mighty thanksgiving that reached from the general commanding the army to the poorest private in the ranks, and included all classes of citizens, save those whose hearts were with the cause of royalty. New York, which had been in …

General Henry Knox, who was with the Commander-in-chief, was there to take a conspicuous part in the ceremonious entrance. When the American troops, having marched through the length of New York, halted in Broadway, near Wall Street, and two companies were sent forward to take formal possession of the fort, with instruction to hoist the American flag and fire a salute of …

When the Americans, in accordance with orders, tried to pull it down to hoist the American colours in its place, they found that it had been securely nailed to the pole, the halliards cut, and the staff well slushed with grease. It was a dilemma awkward on one side as it was amusing on the other. We may imagine the departing soldiers waiting a short distance from the shore to …

AT the end of the eighteenth century there were a large number of historic houses clustering about the old fort. The names of some of the most notable New Yorkers were associated with them, and the reign of social leaders long celebrated for courtly and unstinted hospitality gave distinction to a neighbourhood now occupied by steamship offices and noisy with a jargon of …

The fort and batter}^ that, to the discomfiture of all good Continentals, were held by the British troops, and which, to the immense satisfaction of the elect, they evacuated in 1783, were in large part within the hne of the present elevated railway, and never very far beyond it. The extension of the Battery Park to the south and west of the ancient water-front has finally …

The grounds ran down to the water's edge, and were laid out after the approved EngHsh fashion of the day, with stately terraces and parterres of flowers. Kennedy was the son of the Hon. Archibald Kennedy, Receiver General under British rule, and he afterwards became by inheritance the eleventh Earl of Cassalis. His son, born in the old house at No. i, was afterwards Marquis of …

It was the favourite meetingplace for British officers during the war, and was the scene of the great ball given on May 7, 1789, in h(jnour of Washington's Inauguration. John Peter de Lancey sold the property to a New Buildings and Old 35 syndicate composed of Philii) Li\'ingst()n, Gulian Verplanck, Ivloses Rogers, and others, in trust for subscribers to the "Tontine hotel and …

Now the Equitable Building covers the place where Damen sat on his stocp and enjoyed his garden and listened to the hum of bees in the apple blossoms, -- covers house, garden, orchard, and all, to the extent of nearly an acre of grotmd. The old Middle Dutch Church in time disappeared from Nassau Street, as even churches do in New York, and on the i8th of October, 1882, the …

Separate structures have been shot into the air as though impelled by some terrific volcanic agency, but there is no hint of any idea of relationship between them; they suggest rather the accidental huddlins: of more or less unrelated and even incon- New Buildino-s and Old n gruous elements. The saw-tooth sky-hne thus produced does not add an element of beauty to the aspect of …

There are cities, and even small towns, that present themselves to the imagination as units and are in their degree satisfying to that sane something within us that demands balance and proportion in art. They are at once comprehensive and comprehensil^le. But Manhattan is without a plan. Each building is a unit, sufficient unto itself, and the city is chaos. It is aside from …

There is old Trinit>' spire, that we used to think was in danger of tearing the silver lining from the clouds with its heavenward-pointing ti]x How dwarfed and insignificant itseems now among all its tall worldlx' neighbours! And yet, with the rush of a thousand thronging associations, how the eye seeks and dwells upon it, recognising in it a significance deeper and stronger …

There are no drawbacks or incongruities then ; but the corruscation of uncounted lights -- flashing galaxies, not of stars, but of constellations and firmaments of stars -- render the scene one of indescribable beauty. Below the zone of white brilliants there is that other, of coloured shore lights. The Hudson River fountains of emerald and ruby that overflow and paint the …

The site was grant ed by the Cor- ])oration of New York City to the United States Government in May, 1807, and a fortification was built soon afterwards, but owing to bad engineering the foundations of the structure were not strong enough to support the weight even of what at that day was considered as heavy ordnance, and in March, 1822, the fort and ground were reconveyed to …

The Hudson River 4Of all the various tides in the affairs of this notable fort (whose aspect and name have been warlike, but whose record has all been suggestive of the piping times of peace), none has led more im.mediately to fortune, as well as fame, than Jenn}^ Lind's first concert on September ii, 1850. An account of this event was published in the New York Herald of the …

Scena and Cavatina -- "Casta Diva. ' ' Swedish Melody -- "Herdsman's (Norma) Bellini. Song" (known as the Echo Song) ^I'lle Jenny Lind. Sung by M'lle Jenny Lind. Grand Duet for two Piano Fortes. Greeting to America -- Prize Com- Thalberg. position, byBayard Taylor, Esq. Messrs. Benedict and Hoffman. Benedict -- Composed expressly for Duet -- "Per Piacer." this occasion. (II …

The ladies' dresses were very magnificent, and such as the great mass of women in no other country in the world can afford to wear. The fair sex were not as numerous as might be expected, the gentlemen outnumbering them considerably; but those who were present seemed to enjoy the concert in the highest degree. It is very probable that many ladies were kept away for the first …

Here, more than once, the people of the city have welcomed a celebrated guest with all the enthusiasm that in later days we have seen evinced for an Am.erican or a German admiral. The accounts given of the landing of Lafayette and his reception at Castle Garden, in August, 1824, show how far from being a new thing it is for the average Manhattanite to express his feehngs …

The animated scenes attending his landing at Castle Garden, upon a carpeted stairway, under a magnificent arch, richly decorated with flags and wreaths of laurel, while groups of escorting vessels, alive with ladies and gentlemen, and adorned in the most fanciful manner, circled about; and the prolonged shouts of hosts of people, and the roar of cannon echoed far away over the …

It was a festival that realises all that we read of in the Persian tales or Arabian Nights, which dazzled the eye and bewildered the imagination, and which produced so many powerful combinations, by magnificent preparations, as to set description almost at defiance. We never saw ladies more brilliantly dressed -- everything that fashion and elegance could devise was used on …

admitted they had never seen anything equal to this fete in the several countries from which they came -- the blaze of light and beauty, the decorations of the military officers, the combination of rich colours which met the eye at every glance, the brilliant circle of fashion in the galleries, everything in the range of sight being inexpressibly beautiful, and doing great …

The year following Lafayette's visit brought another event to be written large in the chronicles of Castle Garden. One of the brightest of the spectacular dis])lays that New York witnessed in the first half of the nineteenth century was that connected with the completion of the Erie Canal, 1825. A fleet as large as had ever assembled before the city up to that time thronged …

Medals were then distributed to the honoured guests of the occasion, after which we may surmise that dignity unbent and a somewhat more rampant Americanism reigned. We are told that a lad}^ who was present wrote at a late hour that night; We met all the world and his wife; military heroes, noble statesmen, artificial and natural characters, the audacious, the clownish, the …

The advance giiard of the marine procession was a broad line of some twenty-one tugs, stretching hah' across the mile- wide Hudson with an almost perfect alignment, as if a file of soldiers on parade; they were manned by white-uniformed volunteers. Among the craft that followed the saucy-looking tugs, was conspicuous the torpedo boat Cnshing, on which was Commander Kane, and …

Our flagship Philadelphia, of the White Squadron, was on the right, with her high white hull, and her two yellow smokestacks. The trim despatch vessel Dolphin followed in her wake, and the long, low, dynamite projector VesHvins, looking like a torpedo boat enlarged, brought up the rear. The place of honor in the centre was given to the French flagship Arcthiisc, the largest of …

From the start to the finish tliere was no place where the pageant made such an impressive display as between the shores of the incomparable Hudson. It was a picture of the civilization of the nineteenth century, too vast for a painter and inexpressible in words. From the vessels in the procession the spectacle was even more remarkable. Xo other city in the world has such a …

The vessel which closed the procession was the Wiiuoose, restraining her speed like a greyhound in leash. It was altogether a great display, and one of which New York may ever be justly proud. "The queen of the western waves sat by her waters in glory and in light all day, proud of the past and hopeful of the future. " Space fails in which to print even a Hst of the notable …

As a race we appreciate spectacles: we love the gleam of metal, the concourse of people, the rolling of drums, and the fanfare of trumpets. We love a parade, and we fall into paroxysms of patriotism when a hero appears. We have only one limit: we do not wish our Festivals and Pageants 53 enthusiasms to be remembered against us. When wc tell a hero that he is a demigod and can …

So and so did such and such a deed, and there was an end of it. We have a sample of such tales in the following veracious narrative: Previous to 1812, a riverman, or some one connected with one of the markets alongshore, was impressed by the captain of a British vessel. The people of the neighbourhood, roused by this highhanded proceeding, seized a boat belonging to the said …

At the foot of West loth Street -- or near it -- was the old State prison, which at least one boardinghouse-keeper in the vicinity advertised as an attraction. One of the early morning sights of the city is that of the market at West Street, near Gansevoort and Little West Tenth. This is one of the survivals from the old days of river boats and farm trucking, and is a part of …

Between the hospital and the river stood a chapel, and to the south of that, on the double square between Murray and Barclay Streets, the old college buildings. There was nothing then to hide St. Paul's Church from those who w^ent up or down in the sloops and schooners that thronged the river, and above all else in the city old Trinity loomed, a magnificent landmark. Old …

His widow was considered a ver}^ desirable match, and no dotibt had many suitors, but she conveyed her goodly inheritance, along with her buxom person, to the grave and reverend Domine Everardus Bogardus, stated minister of the Dutch Church. What a ])air they were! he with his austere bearing, his ministerial garb, and theological bent ; she sprightly and not too unworldly. It …

But to return to the farm : e\'ery one who knows his New York at all knows what years of litigation over the inheritance of part of that property ha\-e made it one of the most famous pieces of real estate in the 6o The Hudson River world, and its mistress as well known as Queen Anne or Pocahontas. And wherever the name of Anneke Jans is mentioned, and the now fabulously …

Along the river shore above Lispenard's swam]), or meadow, and reaching inland nearly to the old Boston and Albany Road (that is, the Bowery) was that delightful suburl) known as Greenwich Village. Along the shore northward from old Vauxhall and Harrison's Brewery the old maps show the " Road to Greenwich." Its first name was Sa]3okanican, which the Dutch changed to the Bossen …

"Admiral" Peter Warren (who was only Captain Warren at that time) built a house somewhere about 1744 in Greenwich. That house afterwards became, and was for many years, the residence of Abraham Van Ness, Esq. Around it clustered other fine houses: there came the Bayards and the de Lanceys and James 62 The Hudson River Jauncev, and there the fashionables of their time were …

After the erection of this memorial to the hero of Quebec the drive of good society was out the Post Road to the Greenwich turning; thence across to the Obelisk; thence by the Great Kill Road (the present Gansevoort Street) over to the Hudson; and so homeward by the river-side while the sun was sinking in golden glory behind the Jersey hills. Or the drive could be extended a …

But popular appreciation had not yet reached far enough to restrain the predatory bands of boys and men who enjo}'ed the fruits of nocturnal forays upon the garden and orchards of Chelsea, so in a fit of desperation the owner sought counsel and concluded to survey his land and la}^ it out in building lots. There was some question whether merchants doing business in New York …

Rapelje was at one time a wine merchant, and the cellars of the house at the farm were well stocked with port and Madeira, and a pipe of good wine was always on tap for visitors. Perhaps, after all, the name of " Glass House" was no misnomer. At that time the farm was three miles and a half from the city:- it is now practically downtown. Nothing could more strikingly …

Here the intrepid crew of the Gocdc Vroniv first cast the seeds of empire. Hence proceeded the expedition under Olofife the Dreamer, to found the city of New Amsterdam, vulgarly called New- York, which, inheriting the genius of its founder, has ever been a city of dreams and speculations. Communipaw, therefore, may truly be called the parent of NewYork, though, on comparing …

The secret of all this wonderful conservation is simple. At the time that New Amsterdam was subjugated by the Yankees and their British allies, as Spain was, in ancient days, by the Saracens, a great dispersion took place among the inhabitants. One resolute band determined never to bend their necks to the yoke of the invaders, and, led by Garret Van Home, a gigantic Dutchman …

Here are to be seen articles of furniture which came over with the first settlers from Holland; ancient chests of drawers, and massive clothespresses, quaintly carved, and waxed and polished until they shine like mirrors. Here are old black-letter volumes with brass clasps, printed of yore in Ley den, and handed down from generation to generation, but never read. Also old …

Nicholas took it under his protection, and the Dutch Dominie of the place, who was a kind of soothsayer, predicted that as long as these four chimneys stood Communipaw would flourish. Now it came to pass that some years since, during the great mania for land speculation, a Yankee speculator found his way into Communipaw ; bewildered the old burghers with a project to erect …

Among all the gruesome legends of the west shore of the river none is more famous than that of the "Guests from Gibbet Island." Yan Yost Vanderscamp, the scapegrace nephew of the innkeeper of Communipaw, disappeared with old Pluto, his uncle's negro servant, and reappeared years afterwards -- "a rough, burly bully ruffian, with fiery whiskers, a copper nose, a scar across his …

These were the times of the notorious Captain Kidd, when the American harbours were the resorts of piratical adventurers of all kinds, who, under pretext of mercantile voyages, scoured the West Indies, made plundering descents upon the Spanish Main, visited even the remote Indian Seas, and then came to dispose of their booty, have their revels, and fit out new expeditions, in …

What was the surprise and disquiet of the inhabitants, to see Van Yost Vanderscamp seated at the helm, and his man Pluto tugging at the oar. Vanderscamp, however, was apparently an altered man. He brought home with him a wife, who seemed to be a shrew, and to have the upper hand of him. He no longer was the swaggering, bully ruffian, but affected the regular merchant, and …

Sometimes boats pulled in at night, in front of the Wild Goose, and various articles of merchandise were landed in the dark, and spirited away, nobody knew whither. One of the more curious of the inhabitants kept watch, and caught a glimpse of the features of some of these night visitors, by the casual glance of a lantern, and declared that he recognized more than one of the …

The old negro made no reply, but shaped his course so as to skirt the rocky shores of Gibbet Island. A faint creaking overhead caused Vanderscamp to cast up his eyes, when, to his horror, he beheld the bodies of his three pot companions and brothers in iniquity, dangling in the moonlight, their rags fluttering, and their chains creaking, as they were slowly swung backward and …

The rain fell in torrents, the thunder crashed and pealed, and the lightning kept up an incessant blaze. It was stark midnight before they landed at Communipaw. Dripping and shivering, Vanderscamp crawled homeward. He was completely sobered by the storm; the water soaked from without having diluted and cooled the liquor within. Arrived at the Wild Goose, he knocked timidly and …

"Is this a time," said she, "to keep people out of their beds, and to bring home company, to turn the house upside down?" "Company?" said Vanderscamp meekly, ''I have brought no company with me, wife." "No, indeed! they have got here before you, but by your invitation; and a blessed looking company they are, truly." Vanderscamp's knees smote together. ' ' For the love of …

To an earlier generation Jersey City was known as Paulus, Powles, or Pauws Hook. It was important as the w^estern end of the Paulus Hook Ferry, that was one of the chief means of communication between New Jersey and Manhattan Island. The Cortlandt Street Ferrv still crosses the same water, but the multitude that it transports each day would populate a goodsized citv; the …

Hobock was an Indian village, which appears in at least one Dutch On the Jersey Shore 'jT) record, ah-eady cited, as Hoboquin. Ahiiost its first appearance in history is as the scene of murders and massacres, of arson and pillage. But the atrocity was not all upon the side of the Indians. In 1643, after a long feud, marked by excesses on both sides, a body of the Dutch …

A century ago the woods of Weehawken were the scene of one of the most significant and famous private encounters that have ever been recorded. Not only did the participants hold exalted positions in the political and social world, l^ut at least one of them had connected his name indissolubly with the history of his country and the record of her progress. At the time of the …

On the Jersey Shore 75 recently come to my knowledge. Mr. A''an Ness, who does me the favour to deliver this, will ])oint out to you that clause of the letter to which 1 particularly request your attention. You must perceive, sir, the necessity of a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or denial of the use of any expression which would warrant the assertion of Dr. Cooper. I …

I stand ready to avow or disavow promptly and explicitly any precise or definite opinion which I may be charged with having declared of any gentleman. More than this cannot fitly be expected of me. I trust, on more reflection, that you will see the matter in the same light with me. If not I can only regret the circumstance and must abide the consequences. The pul)lication of …

There can be no doubt that his inclination, if not his efforts, was adverse to a peaceful solution of the difficulty. The correspondence culminated, as might naturally be expected, in a challenge delivered by Mr. Van Ness in Ijehalf of his princi|xd in the affair. From the Lijc of Aaron Burr, by Samuel Lorenze Knapp, published in 1835, we may quote a brief account. The …

The intervening time is not expressed, as the seconds do not precisely agree on that point. The fire of Colonel Burr took efifect and General Hamilton almost instantly fell. Colonel Burr then advanced towards General Hamilton with a manner and gesture that appeared to General Hamilton's friends expressive of regret, but, without speaking, turned about and withdrew, being urged …

presiding officer of the Senate, dehvering at the conclusion a speech long remembered for its eloquence. The subsequent trial of Aaron Burr for conspiracy against the Government of the United States, and the intrigue that led up to it, while of extraordinary interest to the student of American history, has no place in the present volume. A monument erected to mark the spot of …

There, on a warm summer afternoon [wrote Lossing], or on a moonlit evening, might be seen scores of both sexes strolling upon the soft grass, or sitting upon the green sward, recalling to memory many beautiful sketches of life in the earlier periods of the world, given in the volumes of the old poets. Castle Point, the promontory from which the Dutch drove the Indians …

committed, and that the scene of the atrocity was the Elysian Fields. But there the poHce and the papers aHke stopped, baffled. Then Poe, changing the scene from the Hudson to the Seine, and hiding the name of Mary Rogers under a transparent French equivalent, wrote one of his most marvellous tales, the Mystery of Marie Roget. One by one he took up the clues; with an …

A trolley line connects with the Forty-second Street Ferry and carries the passengers to the top of the bluff and beyond. But there are still, between this point and Fort Lee, unoccupied and wooded acres lying back of the shore along the heights that are still among the finest points of ^4ew in the neighbourhood of New York. More than half a century ago Fitz-Greene Halleck …

Stevens, as elsewhere noted, bnilt and operated the first steam ferryboats that were ever used, and they ran Ijetween Manhattan Island and Hoboken. One cannot realise the primitive Hoboken of that day in the place of many wharves, where the ocean liners lie at their piers, or move niajesticalh' out into the stream. Among the |:)rincipal steamers that make a landing at Hoboken …

There was in 1 7S0 a blockhouse near the ferry, and for a time it was garrisoned by a British picket, whose duty it was to protect the loyalists of the neighbourhood. A numl3er of cattle and horses belonging to Americans had strayed on to Bergen's Neck, and offered a tempting bait for Tory marauders from Paulus Hook. From his headquarters near the Ramapo Hills, Washington …

The officer was the ill-fated Major Andre, whose name is for ever associated with the attem]3t of Arnold to betray West Point into the hands of the enemy. In his ballad, which he called the Coiv Chase, Andre gave free rein to his satirical humour. As the poem contains seventy-one stanzas, the reader will excuse its full insertion in this place. But here is a sample of it : All …

It is not always clean nor abounding in good taste, nor even clever, except with a variety of wit that suggests the barrack room and the stables, but it contained one remarkable verse, that had a touch of prophecy in it. The verses were 86 The Hudson River published in Rivingtojfs Gazette, the last one being as follows: And now I 've closed my epic strain I tremble as I show …

'T is moreover, to be borne in mind that the Patroon of the Colonie Rensselaerwyk causes all his tenants to sign, that thev will not appeal to the IManhattans. in direct contravention of the exceptions, by which the colonists are bound to render to the director and council at the Manhattans an annual report both of the colony and the administration of Justice. . . . 'T would …

We are accustomed to point to those colonial princelings as though they had brought to the New World the inestimable advantages of blue blood along with the favour of the sovereign Lords of Holland. But history shows that land patents were never supposed to imply either birth, breeding, or previous rank of any kind on the part of the recipient. Patroonships, like houses …

Early Settlers of the Hudson Valley 89 per day, and those who go and eat in the orlop, shall have their board and passage gratis, and in case of an attack, offensive or defensive, they shall be obliged to lend a hand with the others, on condition of receiving, should any of the enemy's ships be overcome, their share of the booty pro rata, each according to his quality, to wit …

But they shall be warned that the Company reserves the Island Manhattes to itself. All Patroons and Feudatories shall, on requesting it, be granted Venia Testandi, or the power to dispose of, or bec[ueath, his fief by Will. For Masters or Colonists, shall be acknowledged, those who will remove to New Netherland with five souls above fifteen years; to all such, our Governor …

The Patroons shall forever possess all the lands situate within their limits, together with the produce, superficies, minerals, rivers and fountains thereof, with high, low and middle jurisdiction, hunting, fishing, fowling and milling, the lands remaining allodial, but the jurisdiction as of a perpetual hereditary fief, devolvable by death as well to females as to males, and …

There is in the provisions of this act a survival of customs fostered under a mediaeval feudatory system, -- customs that seem strangely out of place in the new land. Another clause provides that: Should any Patroon, in course of time, happen to prosper in his Colonic to such a degree as to be able to found one or more towns, he shall have authority to appoint ofificers and …

Whereas it is found that greater pains have generally been taken to promote the fur trade than the agriculture and poi^ulation of the country, the supreme court there, shall, in consequence, above all things, provide that cattle be not exported, but be as much as possible retained and reared there : also that a good quantity of grain be kept in store to be furnished and sold …

On the north of Van Cortlandt Philipse again appears; the Highland Patent, as it was called, taking in nearly all of Putnam Coimty and reaching to Fishkill creek. Rondout came next, including the land between Fishkill and Wappinger's creek. The Schuylers ruled where Poughkeepsie now is, and Falconer's purchase lay to the north. Above Falconer's was the Henry Beekman tract …

Let us in the first place remember that the scholarly men and those whose lives are passed amidst luxurious surroundings seldom make colonists. To strike into the wilderness for anything more than a dash of adventure usually indicates that one has more to gain than to lose, and that his habit is active rather than contemplative. If noble families are represented in any colony …

The Schuylers appear to have been of gentle blood, and Robert Livingston, the father of all the Livingstons, was the son of the Rev. John Livingston, a Scotch dissenting minister, who was banished to Holland for contmnac}- in 1663. The remainder of the colonists, from Patroons to tenants, seem to have been of that race that has always furnished the best colonisers in the …

For the enlightenment of his masters, the StatesGeneral, and incidentally for the instruction of posterity, the careful Secretary Van Tienhoven in 1650 wrote a re])ort that contained a section relating to the conveyance of farmers and handicraftsmen, the charges and responsibilities for which were assumed by the Patroon or land patentee. A large fly boat of 200 lasts, which …

" If in the course of time, with God's blessing, the stock multiph-, the bouweries can be fully stocked with necessary cattle, and new bouweries set off with the remainder, as is the practice in Rensselaer's Colonic and other places, and so on, dc novo, so as to lay out no money for stock." The houses used at first by those who settled the new lands were rude affairs, often …

It is suggestive of recent South African history that the tenant farmers were referred to in some of the old documents as boors or boers. To us of to-day the name is associated with sweltering velts and beleaguered kopps and laagers of waggons bristling with guns. Perhaps the best way for us to comprehend the Boer of the seventeenth century, with his energy, pluck, thrift, and …

He has accepted Calvinism, but does not allow it to disturb him; wherein he differs essentially from his New England neighbour, who wears his creed as an ascetic would wear a hair shirt, to the discomfort of himself and the annoyance of his neighl)ours. The Hudson River Boer worked out his salvation with infinite difficulty and toil, though fear and trembling were foreign to …

He would perhaps be bewildered, while he could not fail to be impressed, by the spectacular display of steam craft of every description, from the smallest launch that darts shoreward from the side of some trim yacht or imposing war vessel, to the ocean liners that move majestically from their piers and succeed in preserving an imposing dignity of demeanour in spite of the …

John Stevens set afloat between New York and Hoboken in 181 1. Now the huge arks pass and repass, some to the point most nearly opposite, others crossing their course diagonallv, bound for a distant slip, and all engaged in what would seem to be a leviathan performance of Sir Roger de Coverley. The freighters find their way among the throng, some light and riding high, with …

Here is power, but at the expense of the romance, the poetry, may we say the l^eauty and grace of an earlier day. What naval spectacle or pageant can compare with the flight of the white wings that once were spread through all the sunUt reaches of the river, enchanted argosies that bore about them, if not the scent of sandal wood and musky odour of spice islands, at least an …

Many an old resident will recall Thomas Brown, Charles and Isaac Depew, the Requas, the Lyons, James B. and John L. Travis, Vermilye, Storm, Conkling, Farrington, and others. Harvey P. Farrington is, at the time of this writing, a hale octogenarian, who graduated from a schooner into the steamboat ranks, from captain became owner, and is now, at a time of life when most men …

There are a few of them left, -- grizzled, keen-eyed, hard-fisted, broad shouldered, -- a race by themselves, unhappily passing away, -- the men who followed the river. They were in many cases the sons and grandsons of sires who had browned in the sun and wind and shed the blood from their cracked fingers on the frozen sails and sheets of their craft long before Fort …

The Passing of the White Wings 107 Whereas divers Skippers and Sloop captains have requested leave to sail to Esopus and Willemstadt with their vessels, whereby this city would be almost wholly stripped of craft, and the citizens greatly weakened, to prevent which those of the Court of this city are ordered to summon all skippers and sloop captains of this city before them …

An amusing record of a Dutch attem.pt to put a stop to English trading is given in the following words: 7 November 1633. Jacob Jacobson Elkins, of Amsterdam merchant, aged about 42 yeares, sworn before William Merricke, doctor of lawes, surrogate to the righte worth Sir Henry Marten, Knight judge of his Majesties highe court off the Admiralltye. To the first interreye, hee …

To the second hee sayeth, that the said shippe, the William arrived att the forte, called ^lanhatton, also Amsterdam, in the said Hutsons river, uppon the twelvth daye of Aprill, last past; and sayeth, that the entrance of the said river is in the latitude of fourtie degrees and a halfe or thereaboutes, and in longitude aboud one and fortie degrees and a halfe. And after …

And he tould the said Governor, if he would not give him his good will soe to doe, hee would goe upp the said river without it, although it cost him his life. Whereuppon the Governor commannded all the companye of the said shippe to come on shoare. And in the presence of them all, the said Governor commannded, that the Prince of Orange his fiagge should bee putt upp in the …

Whereuppon this deponente wente a mile belowe that forte, and there sett upp a tent, and carried all theire goodes on shoare, and was in trade with the Salvages. And the Dutch sett up a tent by the said englishe tent, to hinder theire trade as much as they could. And then there came souldiers from both the said dutch forts with musketts, halfe pikes, swords and other weapons …

The Governor commannded him to sende all the beaver and other skinnes on shoare to the fort, which this deponente and companye had gott in trucke with the salvages; which this deponente refusinge to doe, the Governor then demanded a particular of all the skinnes that were abord the said shippe. The principal Towns within this Government [wrote Governor Dongan to the home …

To the West Indies wee send Flower, Bread, Pease Pork and sometimes Horses: the return from thence for the most part is Rumm, which pays the king a considerable Excise, and some Molasses which serves the people to make drink and pays noe custom. There are about nine or ten three Mast Vessels of about eighty or a Hundred tons burthen, two or three ketches and Barks of about …

Of course the War for Independence interfered for a while with trade and travel, but they were resumed as soon as the country was once more at peace. Almost the last to disappear when steam superseded sail propulsion were the boats that carried the least perishable kinds of farm produce. But now, except for an occasional Haverstraw brick schooner, or a pleasure boat from Nyack …

The first extended past the long wall of the PaHsades, the " Great Chip rock" of the old deeds. The second reach included the Tappan Zee, and took the voyager as far as Haverstraw, which gave name to the third. Beyond the Haverstraw was Seylmaker's Reach, then Hoge's, next Vorsen, which included the hazardous passage of the Highlands. After that was Fisher's Reach, to Esopus …

The Passing of the White Wings 115 I\Iy first voyage up the Hudson was made in early boyhood, in the good old times before steamboats and railroads had annihilated time and space, and driven all poetry and romance out of travel. A voyage to Albany then, was equal to a voyage to Europe at present, and took almost as much time. We enjoyed the beauties of the river in those days …

In this way the captains of Albany sloops were personages of more note in the community than captains of European packets or steamships at the present day. A sloop was at length chosen ; but she had yet to complete her freight and secure a sufficient number of passengers. Days were consumed in " drumming up " a cargo. This was a tormenting delay to me who was about to make my …

What a time of intense delight was that first sail through the Highlands. I sat on the deck as we slowly tided along at the foot of those stern mountains, and gazed with wonder and admiration at cliffs impending far above me, crowned with forests, with eagles saiHng and screaming around them; or listened to the unseen stream dashing down precipices; or beheld rock, and, tree …

The sloops which ply the Hudson, by the way, are remarkable for their picturesque beauty, and for the enormous quantity of sail they carry on in all weathers, and nothing is more beautiful than the little fleets of from six to a dozen,] all scudding or tacking together, like so many white sea birds on the wing. Up they come, with a dashing breeze, under Anthony's Nose, and the …

It took a large amount of hard horse sense to run a river schooner successfully in the old days of frequent crises and sharp competition, and the man who could cope with the shippers and the market men, keep the weather gage of rivals and more than hold his own with wind and tide, was very apt to be a valuable man in any active business. In most cases it was the old schooner …

This was published, the author at the same time ol:)taining patents on a double inclined plane designed to take the place of locks in small canals. This work, done by Fulton while sojourning in England, found its way across the ocean and attracted the attention of Albert Gallatin and others, who were the means of introducing the inventor and his ideas to the notice of …

He carried a supply of air compressed in a copper globe, and propelled the boat by means of a hand-engine. , We have seen that Bushnell, in 1776, invented a torpedo and submarine boat to act in conjunction with it, -- contrivances in which Israel Putnam seems to have placed great confidence, -- but he never succeeded in making them practicable. Fulton, on the contrary, did …

Fitch sailed a scrczv steamer on the old collect pond in New York before the Clermont was built ; but both Rumsey and Fitch died before their tasks were accomplished. Then there were Ormsbee, Morey, and others, busy with experiments. The thing was so evidently in the air that it would have been almost a miracle if a busy brain like Fulton's had not caught the infection. When …

His connection seems rather to have been that of a business partner or backer. Preparations for a trial of their boat in the Seine were interrupted by the collapse of the contrivance, which broke in two and sunk in the river. Fulton succeeded, however, in raising the wreck, and, having repaired the hull, proceeded to demonstrate his theory. The trial was pronounced a success …

used because he did not wish to have it connected with such a preposterous scheme. The vessel was built at the shipyard of Charles Brown, on the East River, and not, as some writers have claimed, in the North Bay, near the Livingston manorhouse of Clermont, at Tivoli. Xor can we find any warrant for the tradition that the plans for the boat were made at Clermont, though very …

Altogether, she was something of a monstrosity, as compared with the river boats of to-day. A contemporaneous account of the trial trip of the Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 125 CIcnuoiit, in the summer of 1807, makes interesting reading. d Nothing could exceed the surprise and admiration of all who ....nessed the experiment. The minds of the most incredulous were …

The jeers of the ignorant, who had neither sense nor feeling enough to suppress their contemptuous ridicule and rude jokes, were silenced for a moment by a vulgar astonishment, which deprived them of the power of utterance, till the triumph of genius extorted from the incredulous multi- j tude which crowded the shores, shouts and acclamations of / congratvilation and applause …

On Thursday, at nine o'clock in the morning, I left Albany, and arrived at the Chancellor's at six in the evening: I started from thence at seven, and arrived at New York at four in the afternoon -- time, thirty hours; space run through, one hundred and fifty miles; equal to five miles an hour. Throughout mv whole way, both going and returning, the wind was ahead; no advantage …

The use of fat pine wood for fuel made a particularly impressive spectacle when night overtook the voyagers, for the sparks flew in a ceaseless stream and warranted the statement that " It was a monster, moving on the river, defying wind and tide, and breathing flames and smoke. ' ' Such wa s the progenitor of all the steam-craft in the world, and this the death-warrant to the …

The taste and temperament -- in a word, the personality -- of the average American citizen of antebellum times was made concrete in the Hudson River steamboat. It somehow suggested the man who might buy an onyx mantel-piece for the satisfaction of putting his feet on it. Those great, resplendent, costly, comfortless, tasteless vessels, overloaded with ornament and …

the rates of fare were such as to be prohibitive to any but travellers of means, though the accommodations were hardly such as would be considered "palatial" by the tourist of latter days. The advertisement of distances, time, and charges, was as follows: From New York to Newburg S3. Time 14 hours " Poughkeepsie 4. " 17 " Esopus 5. " 20 " " " " Hudson 51. " 30 " " " Albany 7 …

All passengers other than those regularly shipped at the stated landing-places were required to pay at the rate of one dollar for every twenty miles, and half a dollar for each meal taken on board. Baggage was allowed free, if below sixty pounds in w^eight, and freight was carried at the rate of three cents a pound. Some of the old river boats had an interesting historv. One …

The war ended b}" the purchase of a controlling interest in the new boat by the " Commodore" and the restoration of high rates. Thomas Stanton built the Trojan at West Troy, and, afterwards, several other steamboats, the two best known being the Anjieiiia and the Daniel Drew, which was his last. The Dreiv was chartered to take the Prince of Wales and his suite to Albany, at …

In 1852, this po])ular boat, while making her regular run and crowded with passengers, was discovered to be on fire. She was headed for the shore at Riverdale and ran hard aground near the wharf. But while from the bow of the boat it was only a step to the shore, yet the stern floated in deep water, and the majority of the passengers w^ere imprisoned by the flames in that part …

The scene is one of inextricable confusion, and it is not till the twenty miles of the Palisades are well passed that the bewildered passenger knows rightly whether his wife, child, or baggage, whichever may be his tender care, is not being left behind at the rate of fifteen miles in the hour. I have often flung my valise into the corner, and, sure that the whole of my person …

The plank is drawn in, the wheels begin to paw like foaming steeds impatient to be off, the bell rings as if it were letting down the steps of the last hackney-coach, and away darts the boat, like half a town suddenly slipping off and taking a walk on the water. The "hands" (who follow their nomenclature literally, and have neither eyes nor bowels) trip up all the little …

The negress disappears, is called twenty ways in twenty seconds, and an hour afterwards the patient husband sees the faithless messenger pass with a glass of lemonade, having utterly forgotten him and the lady in the black bonnet and gray eyes, who may be, for ought he knows to the contrary, wringing her hands at this moment on the wharf at New York. By this time the young …

disappeared, and now the traveller finds great floating hotels, run to maintain, in comfort and fidelity to schedule time, a successful rivalry with the modern railroad service. Their appointments are no longer barbaric, their accommodations no longer uncomfortable, their voyages no longer invitations to disaster and sudden death. By day, they sweep by the base of the echoing …

mere RIVERSIDE PARK has been called "the aggrandiseme nt of a road." In a sense that is true and yet the aggrandisement of such a road in such a way suggests the embellishment of a book by extra illustration, till the original volume appreciates in value beyond computation. From 7 2d Street to 130th Street, between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues -- the latter near the river …

The changing hues of colour, the evanescent shadows playing across the distant hills, the long lanes of winddrift vanishing in perspective, present not one picture, but a never-ending succession of them. Near the southern end of Riverside Drive used to be a place of resort known as Elm Park. Mr. Benson J. Lossing describes it as a camp-ground for recruits during the Civil War …