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

and wears proudh' its own record of Revolutionary happenings. The trees that crown this ridge and sentinel its slopes gi\'e an impression of venerable antic[uity, and it is difficult to receive without a grain of allowance the record that tells how, during the severe winter of 177980, when the island was under martial law, General Robertson stripped the land of its trees for …

With a superficial area of 8100 square feet and an extreme height of 150 feet, fashioned in The Hudson River white granite from Maine, this mausoleum takes rank among the most cek^brated commemorative buildings in the world. The circular cupola, surrounded by columns and surmounted by a conical cap or dome, rests upon a massive cube of masonry, relieved by entablature, frieze …

Grant, ex- President of the United States of America, for the purpose of commemorating his greatness, by Li Hung Chang, Guardian of the Prince, Grand Secretary of State, Earl of the First Order Yang Hu, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of China, Vice-President of the Board of Censors. Kwang Hsu, 23d year, 4th moon, May, 1897. Some distance to the south of …

In form, its describes a Maltese cross, surmounted by a dome of noble proportions, Ijcneath which is the already famous rotunda that constitutes the central feature of the building. A statue of Pallas Athene stands at the doorway, within the ample colonnade, to reach which one must cross the broad, paved esplanade and mount a wide flight of stairs -- for the architects wisely …

At 120th is the Teachers College, founded in 1886 by Miss Grace Dodge. This also is now a part of Columbia. One of the most notable structures along the ridge is that of St. Luke's Hospital, opposite the Cathedral grounds, at 113th Street. Back from the river and hidden, except at one or two points, where a transverse \^alley crosses the main ridge of the island at i6ist …

Besides the buildings of a public character that have been enumerated here, and others w^hich are omitted for lack of space, there are numberless private residences, some of them quite palatial in extent, that crown the heights or are scattered along the slopes of the shore. Immediately above Riverside Park is the former village known to its residents as Manhattanville. A …

Here the statesman and soldier passed the last years of his busy and brilliant career, surrounded by his friends, but not entirely free from the animosities of political life -- enmities that finall}^ culminated in the fatal encounter between himself and Aaron Burr. The thirteen elm trees planted Ijy Hamilton near his house, to celebrate the thirteen original states of the …

North of this is the cluster of residences that occupies Audubon Park, where the famous naturalist once had his home. A little above is the building of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, between the Kingsbridge road and the Hudson and nine miles from the City Hall. Now we approach the section known as Washington Heights, a region of park-like aspect, traversed by delightful avenues …

Among the most recent of notable transfers of Hudson River property was the sale of a tract of one hundred and sixty city blocks at Mount Washington in January, 1902. This was formerly a part of the estate of Lucius B Chittenden, well known as a Broadway merchant, who died about thirty years ago. The last owner was Mrs. Chittenden, a widow, living in England. This land lies …

Along the ridges and through the woods where they disputed titles with their neighbours, the bears and the catamounts, generations of white men have Riverside to Inwood 159 come with their feuds and friendships, their loves and their hates, and ha\-e also passed away. From the great city, less and less distant every year, the rumble and the roar of approaching activity warn …

Inquiries, it was said, had been made by Englishmen high in authority as to the feasibility of erecting forts in the Highlands, thus controlling the navigation of the river. x\lbany was also included in these designs for keeping open communication between Quebec and the lower provinces. vSuch reports, whether well or ill founded, had the desirable effect of inciting the …

John Adams, being near at hand at the time, was consulted, and strongly endorsed the proposed measure, considering as a sufficient warrant the extraordinary authority with which Washington had recently been invested by Congress. Lee w^as thereupon commissioned to raise volunteers in Connecticut, secure military aid from New ycrse^^ disarm the Tories in the neighbourhood of New …

We, therefore [continued the letter], ardently wish to remain in peace for a little time, and doubt not we have assigned sufficient reasons for avoiding at present, a dilemma, in which the entrance of a large body of troops into the city, will almost certainly involve us. Should you have such an entrance in design, we beg at least the troops may halt on the western confines of …

The Island and the River in 1776 165 But nothing came of Clinton's visit. He protested that he had simply called to pay his respects in a friendly way to Governor Tryon, a proceeding that Lee reported as " the most whimsical piece of civility I ever heard of. ' ' The British fleet sailed south and the inhabitants of New York, relieved from their fears for the time, began to …

We are to erect enclosed batteries on both sides of the water, near Hell Gate, which will answer the double purpose of securing the town against piracies through the Sound, and secure our communication with Long Island, now become a more important point than ever; as it is determined to form a strong fortified camp of three thousand men, on the island, immediately opposite to …

The threats of Governor Tryon, the carpings of Tory residents, and the pleas of the timid were all disregarded, while with an energy and foresight highly creditable, he placed the city in such a condition of defence as was then possible. The peremptory measures adopted to put an end to supplying the enemy's fleet with provisions were efi^ectual; Sir Henry Clinton, evidently …

Following in their general outline the plans made by his predecessor, Putnam continued the construction of defences on the East River and imdertook also to close the Hudson by erecting several batteries along shore and placing obstructions in the channel. Washington arrived on the 14th of the month, his appearance being the signal for rejoicing on the part of the majority of …

About this time Clinton was also in receipt of several letters from committees in Cornwall and Newburgh, informing him of the presence of certain active Royalists who were forming a conspiracy to cooperate with the British troops upon their arrival. But not even the ])resence of a powerful enemy on the one side and dangerous neighbours on the other could dampen the ardour with …

The forts commanding the North River about this time included the Grand Battery, at the southern extremity of the island; Fort George, immediately north of it ; White Hall Battery, on the left of the Grand Battery ; Oyster Battery, behind General Washington's headquarters; Grenadier Battery, " Near the Brew House on the North River"; Jersey Battery, at the left of the one last …

But, I hope, by the blessing of God and good friends we shall pay them a visit on their island. For that end, we are preparing fourteen fire-ships to go into their fleet, some of which are ready charged and fitted to sail and I hope soon to have them all fixed. We are preparing clievaux-de-frisc, at which we make great dispatch by the help of ships, which are to be sunk; a …

More than that, before the obstructions were in place in the channel two British war-ships left their anchorage and, taking advantage of a brisk breeze, sailed past the forts and ascended the river. They were fired upon by the shore batteries and replied sharply with a broadside, but did not linger or turn back. Where they were bound, whether to land troops at some point on …

The following day Washington's messenger arrived, only to find that his orders had been anticipated and that the most energetic measures for the defence of the river were already under way. The arrival of Lord Howe, Admiral of the British The Island and the River in 1776 171 fleet, filled with consternation those whose sym])athies were enlisted with the American cause. It was …

Ha\'ing cnlled attention to the means by which the Americans endeavoured to protect the city and ri\'er from the British encroachment during the spring and summer of 1776, we may now proceed to describe briefly the disposition of the opposing forces after the disastrous battle of Long Island, in September of that year, and especially to indicate the ground upon which was …

It was evident to Washington and his officers that the plan of the British was to enclose us on the island of New York, by taking posts in our rear, while the shipping secures the front, and thus, by cutting off our communication with the country, oblige us to tight them on their own terms or surrender at discretion; or by a briUiant stroke endeavour to cut this army to pieces …

Congress having left the decision relating to the evacuation of New York entirely to the Commanderin-chief, and nearly all of his officers determining, upon a second council being held, that retreat was a necessity, preparations were rapidly made to complete the withdrawal of the Continental forces. The attack of the British, concentrated upon the forces under Greene and …

I had frequent opportunities that day of beholding him, for the purpose of issuing orders and encouraging the troops, flying on his horse covered with foam, wherever his presence was most necessary. Without his extraordinary exertions, the guards must have been inevitably lost, and it is probable the entire corps would have Ijeen cut in pieces. When we were not far from …

The proprietor of the house was absent; but his wife set cake and wine before them m al)undance. So grateful were these refreshments in the heat of the day, that they lingered over their wine, quaffing and laughing, and bantering their patriotic hostess about the ludicrous panic and discomfiture of her countrymen. In the meantime, before they were roused from their regale …

Johnston, whose study of the action on Harlem Heights has been exhaustive, says in this connection : It is enough to know that when we hear of tliem [the Rangers] a Httle later, they were at the most important point on the enemy's front. We hnd them stirring up their pickets on the left, that left which rested, as we have seen, somewhere on the Bloomingdale Road, not far above …

But the odds against them were too great, and after holding their ground valiantly for a while, losing about ten men, they fell back, the line of their retreat being along the old Bloomingdale road "As it was subsequently extended through Manhattanville to the Kingsbridge road above." Close to where Columbia University and Barnard College now stand the British light troops …

Washington, on the other hand, put Spencer's and Putnam's men in readiness along the line of 147th Street, where they seem to have been immediatelv engaged in throwing up earthworks. It is doubtful if General Putnam could have rested for half an hour in any position without leaving something in the nature of a redoubt to mark the spot. Adjutant-General Reed, who joined …

The place where this flank attack occurred has been located at 123d Street, east of the Boulevai'd. The Connecticut men, then and throughout the day, retrieved their honour, fighting like veterans, and for the first time driving the seasoned troops of the King before them. It must have been a novel sensation for both parties. But both the Rangers and the Virginians, their …

Other detachments were engaged in various parts of a held that embraced woodland, hill, and valley. The centre of the battle was in a buckwheat field that appears to have been midway between Columbia Uni\'ersity and Grant's tomb. The main engagement lasted from eleven o'clock till about half-past two, and was participated in l:)y more than four thousand out of the eight …

FOR a month after the battle of Harlem Heights the Americans held possession of the northern end of the island, with the works they had erected there. There were three main lines in the Heights. The first was at 147th Street, the second, with four redoubts, along 153d to 155th Street, and the third, incomplete and with no redoubts, was at i6ist Street. Mount Washington, as it …

One needs only to insj^ect the river, or even a good map of it, to be convinced that if a reasonable hope of controlling navigation from any point below the Highlands could be entertained, this was the place. The river between Forts Washington and Lee is narrow and is commanded upon both banks by high hills. But the stream is swift and deep, as well as narrow, and the task of …

It has been shown that the policy which led to an effort to hold this natural gateway after the retirement of the Americans from the city was strongly urged by Congress; nor must we forget, in criticising the military judgment of Washington, that an almost irresistible pressure was brought to bear upon him in this matter by the civil authorities as well as by the counsel of …

On the 9th of October, however, the Roebuck and Phoenix, each of forty-four guns, and the Tartar, of twenty guns, which had l^een lying for some time opposite Bloomingdale, got under way with their three tenders, at 8 o'clock in the morning, and came standing up the river with an easy southern breeze. At their approach, the galleys and the two ships intended to be sunk got …

He ordered that two hulks which lay -- as hulks still lie -- in Spuyten Duyvil creek, be ballasted and sunk, and that others that had grounded near Yonkers be brought down and consigned to a similar use. A council of officers, called by the commander, discussed the question of attempting to retain the position occupied by the American army upon Manhattan Island, and it was …

Two of the enemy's war-ships had anchored at Burdett's Feny, a short distance below the forts, with the evident purpose of cutting communication between the island and the mainland, by stopping the ferr3\ At the same time British troops appeared on Harlem plains. When the lines in that direction w^ere manned by Americans from the forts, the vessels opened fire, attempting to …

That they will invest Fort Washington, is a matter of which there can be no doubt ; and I think there is a strong probability that General Howe will detach a part of his force to make an incursion into the Jerseys, provided he is going to New York. He must attempt something on account of his reputation, for what has he done as yet, with his great army? While still in doubt as …

If we cannot prevent vessels from passing up the river, and the enemv are possessed of all the surrounding country, what valuable purpose can it answer to hold a post from which the expected benefit cannot be had? I am, therefore, inchned to think, that it will not be prudent to hazard the men and stores at Mount Washington; but, as you are on the spot, I leave it to vou to …

After making a mihtary visit to the Highland posts, reconnoitring in company with Generals Heath, Clinton, and others, and directing the disposition of the various bodies of troops, he crossed the Hudson below Stony Point with a force which was to find its way to Hackensack by a pass in the Ramapo Mountains. The commander took a more direct route to Fort Lee. Arriving there on …

Upon the 15th, two months to a day after the hurried evacuation of New York by Putnam's hard-pressed columns, Howe sent Magaw a summons to surrender. The latter answered in somewhat stilted butunequi\'ocal English that, " Actuated by the most glorious cause 1 88 The Hudson River that mankind e\'er fought in, I am determined to defend this post to the very last extremity." …

In other words, this is believed to have been one of the rare occasions upon which Washington swore. And certainly, if there was ever an excuse for profane invective, he could plead it at that time. Besides Magaw there w^ere Cadwalader, Rawlings, Baxter, and other officers of merit at the beleaguered fort, together with a force of about two thousand picked men, the flower of …

This story has a strongly apocrA^phal flavour. From Fort Lee the Chief saw the greater part of the attack upon Fort Washington and his spirits were alternately raised and depressed by the varying fortunes of the fray. The battle commenced about noon, with General Kn3^phausen's division attacking from the north, General Mathew advancing from the Harlem Ri\^er and Lord Percy …

It is said so completely to have overcome him that he wept "with the tenderness of a child." By the hands of a daring messenger Washington managed to get a note to Magaw, telling him that if he could hold out till night, he would then endeavour to bring off the garrison. The messenger was one Captain Gooch, of Boston, whose intrepidity reminds one of some mighty deed from the …

Washington's own reflections upon the closing scene, given in a letter to his brother Augustine, will throw much light upon the difficulties that beset him, and his frame of mind regarding an action against which his better judgment rebelled. This is a most unfortunate affair and has given me great mortification; as we have lost, not onlv two thousand men, that were there, but …

And what adds to my mortification is, that this post, after the last ships went past it, was held contrary to my wishes and opinion, as I conceived it to be a hazardous one: but it having been determined on by a full council of general officers, and a resolution of Congress having been received, strongly expressive of their desire that the channel of the river which we had …

Upon the passing of the last ships, I had given it as my opinion to General Greene, under whose care it was, that it would be best to evacuate the place; but, as the order was discretionary, and his opinion differed from mine, it was unhappily delayed too long, to my great grief. The abandonment of Fort Lee was of course a foregone conclusion as soon as the enemy was in …

Anthony the Trumpeter was dispatched on a warlike mission to the Patroon Van Rensselaer, when he came to the stream that forms the upper boundary of Manhattan Island. Warned not to cross, he still persisted in advancing, intending to gain the other shore by swimming. " Spuyt den Du3^vil!"he shouted, " I will reach Shoraskappock. " But his challenge to the Duyvil was …

A little way up the stream the Manor Lord, Frederick Filipse, purchased a ferry right and afterwards erected a bridge with a toll gate between the island and the main shore. Near the mouth of the creek occurred, in the early fifties, one of the most dreadful of the steamboat disasters of which the history of the Hudson presents not a few: it was the burning of the Henry Clay …

The road which ran about the base of the hill was the scene of many a wild foray and the echoing hillsides resounded with the shouts of marauding cattle thieves and the lowing of frightened herds, urged towards the lines by their reckless drivers. Now the mouth of the creek is shut by a drawbridge and the northern shore is a place of division between the passenger and freight …

There he enjoyed six years of something as nearly approaching calm and happiness as one born under his turbulent star could ever hope to attain. Within those blue granite walls he entertained bountifully and indulged his vehement passion for historic study. Then, in 1844, he went abroad, taking his wife with him. Out of the quiet eddy where he had found rest for six years he …

Fascinating, if not beautiful in general outline, wonderful in detail and often exquisite in colour, the great mass of weather-beaten rock seems to rise out of the very bosom of the river. Deep at its base runs the swift current of the channel and in its crowning belt of trees the clouds drift. Here and there in the wall are deep rifts cut by little torrents that have been …

Notice what Professor Archibald Geikie, the celebrated Scotch geologist, wrote thirt)^ years ago: Hardly is the traveller out of New York than he notices tliat every natural rock, islet, or surface of any kind that will hold paint is disfigured with advertisements in huge letters. Tlie ice- worn bosses of gneiss which, rising out of the Hudson, would in themselves be such …

One of the mutilated landmarks that used to be the pride of those who lived near the banks of the lower Hudson was the jutting shoulder of rock known as Indian Head, nearly the highest point of the Palisades. It was one of those peculiarly striking features in nature that persistently claim and invariably receive the consideration due to eminence. No one seeing the rugged …

It did seem dreadful; but it took the people who really cared so long to wake up to the dreadfulness of what was being done, and so much longer to discover a way to stop it, that before thev could do anything Indian Head was gravel. However, the people succeeded, though apparently with some difficulty, in saving the rest of the Palisades. The blasting and crushing processes …

The narrator claimed that he fell naturally into that attitude in order to get a steady and restful position and that he noticed that his knees and palm fitted into the depressions. It is possible that the gentleman may have been in error in his conclusions, but that lonely vidette, waiting through uncounted centuries for the appearance of the ship of destiny that must at last …

In the afternoon, at two of the clocke, wee weighed, the winde being variable, between the north and northwest. So we turned into the river two leagues, and anchored. This morning at our first rode in the River, there came eight-and-twentie canoes full of men, women and children to betray vs: but wee saw theire intent and suffered none of them to come abord of us. At twelue of …

The Company, or the Company's Director, was under some obligations to Van der Donk, it is said, for advances of money; and land grants have been convenient for discharging obligations of that sort in all ages of the world. The deed named the tract so acquired " Nepperhaem" ; but the names by which it was popularly known to the Dutchmen of that day were " Coin Donk, " or the '■ …

He was actually Lord of the Manor, with baronial power. From 1693 till his death in 1702 his country residence was probably at Tarrytown, in the stone house -- called "Castle Filipse" -- that he built there, and that has been going slowly but surely to decay up to this year of grace, 1902, because of a lack of public spirit or sentiment, or whatever the emotion may be that …

Stcinding in the doorway, he delivered himself in this wise: "Your possessions shall pass away when the eagle shall despoil the lion." If the reader wishes to take a grain of salt with that Indian no objection will be made. All of the central portion of the present city of Yonkers was purchased in 181 3 by Lemuel Wells. This estate, having the Nepperhan River running through …

In 1876 it was thus described: A few miles north of Spuyten Duyvil is the large village of Yonkers. Thirty years ago a church, a few indifferent houses, a single sloop at a small wharf, and the gray walls and roof of a venerable structure, which you may see stretching among the trees parallel with the river, comprised the whole borough. That building is the Philipse Manor …

Y., in which four generations of his family had lived, he passed the declining years of his busy and influential life within the walls of "Graystone," his substantial and costly home at Yonkers. His house is situated to the north of the city on an elevated plateau and is massive and ample rather than ornate. Its granite walls and Mansard roof, rising from the surrounding …

between the httle centres of po])ulation there are fragrant miles of tree-shaded banks where the violets and anemones nod in the spring and the scarlet spires of the cardinal flower hide in August by the watercourses. Half a century ago Alfred B. Street wrote a characteristic description of the woodland scenery which in his day formed so striking a feature of the Hudson, and …

There had been some notice or rumour of a frolic at Kakiat, a secluded hamlet hidden away among the hills of Rockland County, and Van Dam on hearing the news rowed from his home at Spuyten Duyvil the whole length of the Tappan Zee and the Palisades to boot in order to be there. Most modern yotmgsters would be conscious of some slight fatigue after such a ])ull, but not so …

Whethei living or dead, none can say, but doomed to a perpetual journey across the river he undoubtedly is,for many a boat-man on the river has heard the sound of his oars, and more than one damsel, being rowed o' moonlit nights on the river, has clung in terror to her swain, as she fancied she saw in the distance the shadowy form of Rambout Van Dam. There is another haunting …

She was flying Dutch colours and her sails bellied with a w4nd that certainly was not apparent to those who gazed at her, wide-eyed and whispering, from the fort. In spite of the trade regulations that forbade the passing of any vessel up the river without a permit, regardless of signals or challenge, the stranger sailed on. Then a gun was fired from the battery, but her hull …

believe that she runs for anchorage into the mouth of the Pocantico, and others that she hides near the pineshaded banks of the Hafenje, but no one has ever seen her at rest. She is always flying swiftly before a wind that mortals cannot feel. There is the memory of another craft, more substantial than the phantom shi]), and more successful in attaining a port than Rambout's …

But Aaron Burr was no ordinary lover, which is perhaps the reason why in his generation his enemies were seldom found among the gentler sex. History discreetly neglects to furnish the details of the courtship that we know ultimately resulted in the winning of Theodosia 's hand and heart. By daybreak horse and rider were back within the American lines and no one but the …

the Hudson these were among their principal sources of subsistence, as evidenced by the extensive shellheaps that still mark the site of many of their villages or camps. The water of the Tappan Zee is brackish, about half sea water and half fresh. The width from Tarry town to Nyack is between three and a half and four miles, and communication between the two shores is kept up …

Piermont, above the northern extremity of the "iceworn bosses of gneiss," is a village that was created when the Erie Railway built the mile-long pier that still projects into the river at this point. It is chiefly interesting because of its proximity to the village of Tappan, where Major Andre w^as executed. The house, that was long pointed out as the headquarters at Tappan …

not usually either safe or pleasant to cross. On the east bank the poorer dwellings and the coal and lumber yards are near the river, while on the west the grounds of handsome residences slope to the water's edge. One of the results of the difference just noted is that there is quite a fleet of pleasure boats belonging to Nyack and a flourishing boat club there, while …

A headland that used to be eagerly looked for by the passengers 222 The Hudson River on the river boats, and was pointed out by every riverman, who viewed it with the pride of conscious proprietorship, No-Point satisfied the cultivated sense of the artist and impressed the untutored wayfarer with its perfection. It is safe to say that not even the Hudson River affords a more …

In one scale are beauty, sentiment, the delight of the eye, the restful, health-conserving qualities inherent in a harmonious landscape; in the other -- gravel. Gravel is a marketable commodity. Gravel pays. Gravel fills the pockets of the contractor, and must be secured for that purpose without regard to sentiment or local pride. The story of the Palisades over again? Yes …

Its curving contours, from any point of view, are so nearly perfect that it is inconceivable that the work now going on can result in anything but permanent injury. No one can tell how long this outrage is to continue if the people of the State do not take measures to protect themselves ; but as there seems to be no limit to the gravel market, it is reasonable to suppose that …

Even as far away as Tarrytown, which is eight or ten miles distant across the river, windows are shaken, and the sick often seriously disturbed by the heavy detonations, while at Ossining, more nearly opposite the Point, invalids and the aged are particularly distressed by the rattling and shaking, the shock and the uproar. It is time that there should be a general …

Do we not admit that diseases of the nerves are among the most prevalent, the most varied, the most stubborn, and the most dangerous of any with which medical science has to cope? There is no reason why the population of the towns upon the Hudson should sit down supinely. If the aesthetic basis is asserted by a community, it will be recognised by the law. Let people understand …

What the tradition may ha\^e been that associated such a name with the little brook that enters the river here, and afterwards applied it to quite an extensive territory, no antiquary has discovered. Dobbs had a shanty on Willow Point and eked out his modest living by ferrying chance passengers over the river in his ]:)eriauger, or dugout. His name was easier to pronounce than …

The last ]}ro])osition was met by a gravely advanced argument in favour of dro]^ping the Van from the last name and sim])ly calling the place " Warton-the-Hudson." For a short time, Greenburgh was accepted as a compromise, and Dol:)bs Ferry became Greenburgh to the ])Ost-office authorities, but as a cjuiet after-thought the old name was finally restored. There are at this …

When Arnold arranged his first interview, relative to the betrayal of West Point, with Andre, he was to meet him at Dobbs Ferry, but as the name seems to have applied equally to the eastern and western landings, it is uncertain which side of the river was indicated. We know that the plan miscarried, and the treacherous American general was so closely pursued by a British …

And opposite this point May 8, 1 783, a British sloop-of-war fired seventeen guns in honour of the American Commander-in-chief, the first salute by Great Britain to the United States of America. In the Land of Irving 229 111 1861, Lossing wrote: The Livingston mansion, owned l)y Stephen Archer, a Quaker, is preserved in its original form. Under its roof in past times many …

Almost immediately following this skirmish two gunboats ascended the river from New York, with the evident intention of cutting out the vessels congregated near the ferry, but they were discovered and driven away by shot from the shore l:)atteries. Dobbs Ferry was in the heart of that debatable region known as the neutral ground, the inhabitants of which were so harried and …

His home was in what some one has called the great millionaire belt of the east shore of the Hudson. For mile upon mile the prospect along shore is that of magnificent residences and highly developed grounds. Although it is no part of our purpose to fill these pages with a descriptive list of the mansions that multiply till they suggest a celestial comparison, yet we think …

Her home is palatial, but it was not considered too good to be the resting-place for convalescent soldiers, broken dowm by a Cuban campaign; her conservatories are remarkable even in this neighbourhood of millionaires, but they are not too fine to be open wdth a welcome to the poorest child that seeks admission. Lyndhtu-st means a forest of linden trees, but its park-like …

The British threatened to destroy stores near the village and made one or two attempts to do so, landing in force upon at least one occasion. General Lincoln marched through on his way to Kingsbridge; Colonel Luddington commanded five hundred militia here; "Light-Horse Harry" Lee had a brush with some of Dunop's Yagers, -- we might go on indefinitely wath such details, none of …

The troops in the neighbourhood at that time consisted of a sergeant's guard of French infantry and a troop of dragoons commanded by Colonel Sheldon, whose regiment lay at Dobbs Ferry. These soldiers, dismounting, worked with great spirit in assisting to unload the stores from the sloops, but were soon subjected to a galling fire from the British frigates. Under cover of this …

This action, hardly noticed in general history, should at least be chronicled among important minor actions of the war, and the name of Hurlburt be honoured with those of Gushing or Hobson. The most notable of all historic events connected with this part of the river was the capture of Major John Andre at Tarrytown, in September, 1780. Fresh from his interview with the …

Whether Paulding really exclaimed, " My God, he is a spy, ' ' or whether the question of ransom was ever seriously discussed, are matters that will probablv never be settled. What is important is that the men In the Land of Irving- 237 who captured Andre did not conclude any bargain for ransom, but actually held their prisoner till they had turned him over to some one who had …

Among the famous men whose homes were, for a longer or shorter period, at Tarrytown, Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perry, to whom the world owes the opening of Japan to Western influences, must not be forgotten. His house was to the north of the estate of Mr. William Aspinwall, now owned b>' Mr. William Rockefeller. Not far away was the cottage in which Captain Alexander Slidell …

At that time a company of roughs from farther down the ri\-er were marching upon Tarr}^town, with the intention of doing mischief to the cok)ured ])ortion of the i;)0])ulation. The latter, badly frightened, swarmed over the hills, taking refuge in the woods back of the village. But the rioters never reached the town. A brave minister of the place, the Rev. Abel T. Stewart …

James Kirke Paulding, his senior by several years, was his guide and friend, if not philosopher; and it is not improbable that the people of the neighbourhood, who have conjured for half a century by Geoffrey Crayon's name, must thank that engaging youngster for their titular saint. It is hard for us to realise, looking at the cultivated "grounds," the "improved" residences …

A century has made mighty changes. Years afterward, Washington Irving wrote: To me the Hudson is full of storied associations, connected as it is with some of the happiest portions of my Hfe. Each striking feature brings to mind some early adventure or enjoy- In the Land of Irving- 241 ment, some favourite companion who shared it with me, some fair object, perchance, of …

One of the resorts well known to all the fishermen on the Tappan Zee was the Hafenje, or little harbour, a i^leasant bay that indented the shore to the north of the "Yellow Rocks." In later days the old Dutch name became corrupted to "Hobbinger." It can hardly be doubted that the youthful companions wet their lines in its quiet water or beached their boat under the pines and …

He describes "the little market town on the river, from whence the boats plied weekly to New York with produce," as a "pestilent little place [in 1793] for running races, pitching quoits, and wrestling for gin-slings," but adds: I must do it credit to say that it is now [1S28] a very orderly town, sober and quiet, save when Parson Mathias, who calls himself a Son of Thunder …

Silent was the sonorous harmony of the big spinning wheel, silent the village song, and silent the fiddle of Master Timothy Canty, who passed his livelong time in playing tuneful measures and catching bugs and butterflies. It may not be out of place to let the careful Duyckinck supply the grain of salt with which he warns us that Paulding should be enjoyed: In almost all the …

Around his garret were disposed a number of unframed pictures, painted on glass, as in the olden time, representing the four seasons, the old King of Prussia, and Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, . . . the beautiful Constantia Phillips, and divers others. . . . The whole village poured into the garret to gaze at these cltcfs d\vitvrcs, and it is my confirmed opinion . that …

His nephew teUs us that he explored the recesses of Sleepy Hollow with a gun in 1798, but we know that the best spoils of those expeditions were not to be found in his game-bag. Clarence Cook, writing, in 1887, of his school days at Tarry town, more than half a century ago, gives a pleasing picture not only of the place that still retained enough of simplicity to stamp its …

Irving made good dramatic use of this tree in his Legend of Sleepy Hollozu, but it is likelv enough he had not seen it when he wrote the story. . . . While I was at school at Tarry town, Mr. Irving was Hving on his little Sabine farm of Wolfert's Roost, which afterward was so widely known as Sunny side. The place, which originally contained ten acres, afterward increased first …

Irving, out of his abounding good nature and hking for young folks, to visit the school occasionally at "commencement" time and give out the prizes. This, of course, made it necessary to keep us acquainted with Irving's writings, and there were some of us who found this no ungrateful task. TJic History of Xcw York and The Sketch Book we knew by heart. Mr. Irving first heard …

We might copy a fashion much in vogue among art publishers of a generation ago and style our picture Irving and his Friends; for it is certain that the names that present themselves most prominently in this connection are those of his intimate associates. Irving may almost be said to have discovered the Hudson. He found a stream that was wonderful in beauty and already rich in …

"Come and see me." he wrote, years afterward, from Sunnyside, " and I will give you a book and a tree." A whimsical picture he drew of his first reading of Scott's Lady of the Lake, while he was at the Hoffmans' home on the Hudson in 18 10: " Seated leaning against a rock, with a wild-cherry tree over my head, reading Scott's Lady of the Lake ; the busy ant hurrying over the …

Miss Hoffman's death occurred in 1809, when she was but eighteen years old and he twentysix. From that time till, in 1859, his own dust was laid to rest in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, he w^as never knowm to mention her name, even to his most intimate friends; but, after his death, his literary executor found a paper relating the story of his passion and lifelong attachment to …

Another of Irving 's early hamits on the Hudson was the Philipse house in the Highlands. There Paulding, Renwick, and the Kembles -- Peter and Gouverneur -- met, along with Henry Brevoort, whose acquaintance Irving had made while travelling on the St. Lawrence with Mr. Hoffman. The two young men soon formed a friendship which was destined to be lifelong. Of a visit to the …

Had you but seen me, happy rogue, up to my ears in "an ocean of peacock's feathers," or rather like a " strawberry smothered in cream "! The mode of living at the Manor is exactly after my own heart. You have every variety of rural amusement within your reach, and are left to yourself to occupy your time as you please. We made several charming excursions, and you may suppose …

There the " Lads of Kilkenny" used to hold their informal meetings, as partly told in the Salmagundi papers. Peter Irving and Henry Ogden were both members of that convivial nine, and long afterwards the former alluded in a letter to " the procession in the Chinese saloon, in which we made poor Dick McCall a knight; and I, as the senior of our order, dubbed him by some …

His home, near Hyde Park, where he passed in retirement the final years of a busy life, is described in another chapter. In the effervescent period of Cockloft Hall and Salmagundi, his familiar nickname was Billy Taylor, from a song that he was fond of singing upon festive occasions. Closely connected with Irving, in that circle of writers that we are wont to group under the …

254 The Hudson River . . . in liquid light Does the wine our goblets gleam in, With hue as red as the rosy bed Which a bee would choose to dream in. He sang of the Hudson in an exalted strain, in verse that may sound formal and, perhaps, a little pedantic to our modern ears ; but the fashions change in fifty or sixty years, and it is certain that he celebrated her beauties as …

Its sinking arches once gave back as proud An echo to the war-blown clarion's peal, As gallant hearts its battlements did crowd, As ever beat beneath a vest of steel, When herald's trump on knighthood's haughtiest day Called forth chivalric host to battle fray. For here amid these woods did he keep court, Before whose mighty soul the common crowd Of heroes, who alone for fame …

On one occasion Irving speaks of him in a letter as "little Charles." In early l^oyhood he was crippled for life by being crushed between a river steamboat and the wharf, an accident that may have driven him to more diligent stud\% by depriving him of many of the active sports of boyhood. He was sent to the old Poughkeepsie Academy, then a somewhat famous school, but ran away …

This editorial work threw him into agreeable relations with some of the most brilliant and celebrated men of his day. His familiar associates included William Cullen Bryant, Chancellor Kent, Lewis Gaylord Clarke, Colonel William Leete Stone, and a score of others, some of whose names have a prominent place in this chapter. The honourary degree of Master of Arts was conferred …

His first visit to New York was made in 1808, and was an event to which the metropolis may point with pride, for no native-born son of Manhattan, with the blood of all the Dams and Bilts and Blinkers in his veins, ever became more intimately associated with the city. His celebrated friendship for Joseph Rodman Drake, -- a memory embalmed in the exquisite tribute of verse that …

Drake's claim to association with the Hudson River rests on his beautiful and imaginative creation, The Culprit Fay, which was composed among the Highlands in the same year that saw the production of the " Croaker" papers and of Fanny. The story goes that while walking with some friends, one of them remarked to the poet that, without the introduction of human characters it …

Till he came where the column of moonshine lay. And saw beneath the surface dim The brown-back'd sturgeon slowly swim; Around him were the goblin train -- Literary Associations of the Hudson 259 But he scull'd with all his might and main, And follow'd wherever the sturgeon led, Till he saw him upward point his head ; Then he dropp'd his paddle blade. And held his colen-goblet …

A moment, and its lustre fell; But ere it met the billow blue, He caught within his crimson bell A droplet of its sparkling dew -- Joy to thee. Fay! thy task is done; Thy wings are pure, for the gem is won. Cheerily ply thy dripping oar, And haste away to the elfin shore. It was once the fashion among admirers of Drake's dainty work to ])lace the author upon a somewhat dizzy …

WilHs, that versatile worker, idler, flaneur, poet, city dandy, and country gentleman, who made no deep impression by his literarv labours, but is nevertheless vividly remembered when many a man of greater power is forgotten. General James Grant Wilson wTote, in 1886, in a reminiscent vein, of a visit to the scene of the poet's retirement at Cornwall, where he was trying to …

Around us we see the Storm King and other wooded mountains, towering to a height of nearly two thousand feet: the whole river, -- here expanded into a broad bay, on whose bosom the white-sailed sloops and schooners are idly floating with the flood tide: and on the opposite shore vallevs and hillsides, sprinkled with country-seats ; from aniong which our companion points out …

I passed over the rough and rocky fifty acres with the owner, who looked his astonishment as well as expressed it, that a New Yorker should have any use for his unimproved property. He said, 'What on earth can you do with it" it is only an idle wild.' I did not tell him, but I bought it and you see what I have done with it, and that I was indebted to my Dutch predecessor for a …

His grandmother was a daughter of Daniel Crommelin of Amsterdam, and by her the boy, motherless from infancy, was reared. He graduated at Columbia College when only fifteen years of age, and studied law with Edward Livingston, being finally admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one years, by Chief- Justice (afterwards Chancellor) Kent. Mr. Verplanck was one of those earnest …

He was Regent of the University of the State of New York ; member, and afterwards Warden, of the Vestry of Trinity Church; President of the Century Clul:); President of the Board of Emigration; and chairman of various charitable bodies. To the task of editing the edition of Shakespeare that bears his name, he added that of making a strenuous and successful fight for the …

Commenting on this, Irving wrote to his brother, Ebenezer : I have seen what Verplanck says of my work. ... He is one of the honestest men I know of in speaking his opinion. . . . I am sure he wishes me well . . . but were I his bitterest enemy, such an opinion have I of his integrity of mind, that I would refer any one to him for an honest account of me, sooner than to almost …

Near the village of Coldspring, his " summer seat" (as it used to be the fashion to call one's country home), commanded a noble view of the Highlands, and was the goal of many a pilgrimage. "America's best lyric poet," as Benson J. Lossing calls him, was in intimate relations with most American men of letters in his day. His long Literary Associations of the Hudson 269 …

A man greatly valued by his literary cotemporaries and hand in glove with the leading spirits of the Knickerbocker school was that delightful humourist, Frederick Swartw^out Cozzens, author of the Sparron'grass Papers. He was younger than Irving and Halleck, of the generation to w^hich Willis and Hoffman belonged ; a New Yorker by birth and a wine merchant b\' occupation. The …

We cannot long dwell with the Knickerbocker group without coming in close contact with the patient collector of every printed scrap of American writing. Evart Augustus Duyckinck, compiler, with the assistance of his brother, of the monumental cyclopedia that bears his name, was the preserver of many a local reputation. There are numberless early American authors who were only …

The Literary World was established by Duyckinck and his brother, and was considered by the ]]»oet Dana to be the best journal of its kind ever published in America. One of the bibliographer's associates and warm admirers was William Allen Butler, the author of Nothing to Wear, who pronounced an eulogy upon his memory at a meeting of the New York Historical Society in 1879. Mr …

It is said of him that, "half a century ago the now-forgotten singer's name was one of the brightest poetical names of the dcLY, and alwa^'s mentioned along with those of Bryant, Dana, Halleck, Percivale, Pierpont, Pinckney, Sprague, and Woodworth. " Leggett, in his Biographies of American Poets, included Brooks and excluded Dana. Another early poet, once of considerable …

I gaze, but they have vanish'd; and the eve, Free now to roam from where I take my stand, Dwells on the hoary pile, let no rash hand Attempt its desecration: for though I Beneath the sod shall sleep, and memory's sigh Be there for ever stifled in this breast, -- Yet all who boast them of a land so blest, Whose pilgrim feet may some day hither hie, -- Shall melt, alike, and …

But we cannot accord to Schoolcraft any prominent place in the literary associations of the Hudson, for his work was mainly the result of thirty years of sojourn and study among the redskins upon the frontier. John Romeyn Brodhead, the patient comj^iler of the ten great tomes that contain transcripts of all discoverable documents relating to the early history of New York, was …

At his place, which he named Coldenham, he spent the delightful leisure years of a life that had known, and was destined to know, many activities. There he collected, cultivated, and classified plants, assisted by his daughter, of whom Peter Collinson wrote to Linuceus that she was "perhaps the first lady who has so perfectly studied your system. She deserves to be …

Many an elderly man will remember with pleasure and no small degree of gratitude America's first landscape-gardener, -- first in eminence ifnot in time, -- Andrew Jackson Downing. He had two qualities that are not always combined in one individual, namely, artistic sensibility and practical sense. The latter enabled him to make the former effective. Before his day we are led …

He will be remembered as a scholarly man of sweet, rare character. His contributions to Christian hymnology possibly constitute his chief claim to remembrance, though he devoted nearly twenty years of his life to public speaking and writing. While James K. Polk was President, Doctor Bethune was offered the appointment to the chair of Moral Philosophy at West Point, which he …

He wrote as artists of his day painted; every leaf on every last twig was described with conscientious care. His almost ])assionate love for nature was retained through the cares and acti\'ities of professional life, and the influence of the wild, rugged scenery amidst which several years of his boyhood were passed never deserted him. He loved to sing of "sweet forest odours" …

While others have lived upon one bank or the other of the river, they have spent their lives almost in the midst of it, on an island in the \'ery wonderland of the Highlands. Henry Warner, a member of the New York bar, removed to Constitution Island with his family before the middle of the nineteenth century. An old house, occupied as headc[uarters during the Revolution, was …

Some hundreds of thousands of copies were sold in European editions, which brought to the writer fame, if not wealth. The sisters frequently worked together. The younger, who had chosen Amy Lathrop as her literary title, made her Ijow to the reading public with a novel called Dollars and Cents; ])ut she was associated with the elder Miss Warner in the production of The Hills …

regular army of the United States to-da>' to whom the name of the two sisters is not famihar, and the impression of their work has gone wherever the flag has gone. When Miss Susan Warner died, in 1885, the Government, upon special application of the cadets, permitted her burial in the military cemetery at the Point, -- an honour, it is said, never granted to any other woman …

to assign merely local limits; Init the writer likes to recall a walk over one of the rough Highland roads, while, beside him, leading his horse by the reins, the great orator forgot his greatness to talk in a wdse, sweet way of wayside things. Mrs. Fremont -- Jessie Benton Fremont -- used to live just above Tarry town, and the house that was General Fremont's had formerly …

Her workroom is in the tow^er that commands a \-iew that an eagle might envy, -- a view of river and hill, farmland and town, -- that melts at last in a horizon that is sixty miles distant. Next door to Cherry Croft is Julian Hawthorne's summer home, and nearer the foot of the hill lives Dr. Lyman Abbott, at whose house, it need hardly be suggested, Hamilton Wright Mabie is a …

His own stated residence is a properly constituted country home, where he raises the best Niagara grapes that come into the market; but, to satisfy the cravings of a born woodsman, he has built for retiring a less pretentious nest, which he calls Slabsides, a little "city where nobody lives," and the number of those who find it are few. Stephen Henry Thayer, long a resident of …

We have with us as this is written, Doctor David Cole, at Yonkers, a veteran in educational work, in pulpit work, in historical work ; Joel Benton at Poughkeepsie ; Harrold Van Santvoord at Kinderhook. We remember that E. P. Roe, when he was " Driven Back to Eden," found the delectable mountains of that blessed country al )0\'e the Highlands, with John Burroughs established as …

The station at Scarborough is an isolated building, an outpost for the village that lies eastward over the hill. In the distance one sees a massive group of low, marble buildings, the melancholy residence of convicts, -- it is the State prison at Sing Sing. It is natural, but unfortunate, that the fair fame of one of the most attractive of Hudson River towns should for years …

Not far away, at the mouth of the kill that finds its wa}- to the Hudson, through a deep gore, from the plateau above, the smelting furnace was erected. There the ore was reduced, the precious metal being shipped to England. The Revolution put a stop to the operations of the mine, which seems never to ha\'e been reopened. At the time of its abandonment, the length of the works …

Many of them, it is said, found their lodging in what used to be known as the Great Kill cave, near the brook already referred to. Years ago. Sing Sing was the terminal station for the stages that ran on the Bedford Pike. Hachaliah Bailey of Somers, who had a stage route between New York and Danbury, Conn,, made the Bedford Pike line a connecting link between the latter place …

Its capacity is 100,000,000 gallons a day, but this supply was found to be inadec[uate for the rapidly growing city, and a new aqueduct, commenced in 1884 and finished in 1890, was constructed to the east of the earlier one. This has a capacity three times as great as the first, and taps the numerous lakes of a watershed embracing between three and four hundred square miles …

Recent [1876] discoveries, while repairing it, of loopholes for musketry near the floor of the diningroom clearly show that it originally composed a fort, which was probably built by Governor Dongan. John Van Cortlandt enlarged itto its present dimensions in the early years of Queen Anne's reign. . . . Over the main entrance to the manor-house hangs the strong bow of Croton …

Encompassed and o\'erwhelmed, amid showers of arrows and surrounded by the smoke and flames of his burning ]3alisades, he fought with desperate valour, as one by one his com])anions fell; till at length, he stood alone and wounded; then, as his foes rushed forward, he fell headlong into the l:)lazing fire. But again and again, it is said, he has a])- peared in great crises …

At the old ferry-house at Croton, a party of New York yeomen, under the command of Captain Daniel Williams, were surprised and captured in 1782 by a party of British cavalry. But there was one incident in the history of this place that seems to have been the small pivot upon which the great structure of America's future swung. From Haverstraw, on the other side of the river …

That was all; yet it certainly cost Andre his life and Arnold his reward -- and ])ossibly cost King George a kingdom. Early on the twenty-first, Arnold had, in expectation of his meetine, left the Robinson house, his head- «j^!«./^:.»rir CROTON A\n VFRPLANCK S POIXTS AND ANTHONY NOSE -- FROM OF SING SING quarters, and proceeded to Verplanck's Point; from thence he went to the …

The landing [of Andre, from the V';(/////-r] was made at a dock used as a shipping place for wood and stone. A portion of this dock still remains. There is an old stone house three hundred feet north of the dock and an abandoned stone quarry north of the house, and the landing place is therefore easily found. There was a road leading up from the dock to the Long Clove road and …

from the Haverstraw hills -- or, one should say, views, for there is a panorama of them -- are of unique beauty. The swelling shoulder of Point-no-Point is below, and, still more to the south, the venerable figure of High Taur. Croton and Sing Sing lie opposite, and;' northward, the buttressed gates of the Highlands. There is a legend of High Taur that runs something in this …

Their leader, a nobleman, Hugo by name, refused to follow the custom of the old country, which decreed that the forge fires should be extinguished once in seven years. The belief used to ol)tain that a salamander grew in the fire, and if allowed to remain unmolested for more than seven years would develop his perfect form and be able to issue from the flames and work …

She in her innocence would have ex]:)ressed her love for him, but he repelled her gently, saying: "When you sle^^t, I came and put a crown of gems on vour head; that was because I was in the power of the earth S]:)irit. Then I had power only o\'er tlie element of fire, that either consumes or hardens to Stone, but now water and life are mine. Behold! wear these, for you are …