Dawson, Henry B. Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution. Morrisania, NY: (privately printed by the author), 1886.

It is positively and authoritatively stated, that, with the exception, the only exception, of one, who, when " he was at some "distance" -- out of harm's way -- turned and "gave them the guts "of his gun," not a single gun was fired by the Colonists. Those curious to learn more on that subject -- that " Battle " in which one of the parties did all the firing, and the other all …

6 The Committee of Inspection had recommended the dissolution of that Committee, because it was invested with powers respecting only the " Association " of the Continental Congress; and it had also recommended the election of a new Committee of one hundred persons, thirtythree of whom should be a quorum, all of whom should retire and the Committee be "dissolved within a …

Inasmuch as the City and, to a considerable extent, the Colony were practically in a state of anarchy, the Colonial Government being confessedly unable to do anything, even for the maintenance of a shadow of its official dignity and authority, 1 the calmness and ability with which the Committee controlled the excitable masses, within the City-- those who had been schooled, for …

It is proper, however, that notice should be taken, in this connection, of the fact that, during the entire period preceding the publication of that call for a Provincial Congress, there had been a wholesome fear, among all classes, unless the most radical and reckless, that such a body, called and organized without warrant in law and liable to become controlled by those who …

" The Governor desired their advice in the " then critical situation of affairs. Several things were mentioned, pro- " posed, agitated, and talked of, but to little purpose. A Judge of the "Supreme Court," [Tliomas Jones, who wrote this statement^ "then "present, boldly proposed that the Militia should be called out, the " Riot Act read, and if the mob did not thereupon …

This proposal was instantly opposed by William " Smith, one of his Majesty's Council, who openly declared ' that the ' ' ' ferment which then raged in the City was general and not confined to " ( a few ; that it was owing to a design in the British Ministry to cn- " 'slave the Colonies, and to carry such design into execution by dint of " 'a military force ; that the Battle of …

fact that, there, the entire machinery of the Colonial Government had been stopped; the Courts had been closed; and decrees of the most oppressive character had been enacted ; and these, not by the Colonial Government nor by those who were peculiarly supporters of the authority of the King, but by those who had assumed to lead the popular movement, who had utilized the project …

That serious distrust, among thoughtful men, to 1 The Provincial Congress of South Carolina assembled at Charleston, on Wednesday, the eleventh of January, 1775, and adjourned on Tuesday, the seventeenth of the same month. Besides approving the doings of the Continental Congress, it forbade the commencement of any Action for Debt, and the prosecution of any such Action as had …

Besides approving the doings of the Continental Congress, it forbade the commencement of any Action for Debt, and the prosecution of any such Action as had been commenced since the preceding September, unless with the consent of the Committee of the Parish in which the Defendant resided; "that " Seizures and Sales upon Mortgages should he considered on the same " footing as …

Descriptions of that Provincial Congress and of its remarkable methods and still more remarkable doings, may be seen in Ramsay's History of the Revolution in South Carolina, i., 23-25; Drayton's Memoirs of the Anutricau Resolution as rotating to South Carolina, i., 166-180 ; etc. See, also, Journal of the Congress, ro-printed in Force's American Archives, Fourth Series, i …

They lived, on their way through Westchester-county as well as while they were within the City, entirely on their wits and on the products of their wits, professing to have come only ■' with a view of aiding and assisting " us in preparing for our defense ;" but their reckless arrogance and audacity, in their assumption of authority in local affairs as well as in other …

The excitement and bitterness of factional strife, not always of a purely political character, with which the City of New York had been unceasingly afflicted, during several years preceding the period now under consideration, had tended to the serious disturbance of the individual and social relations of many of those who lived in that City ; and the political annals of that …

History has recorded two notable instances of that rapidly developed, so called, " pub- "lic opinion," among the new-born and, consequently, unnaturally zealous " fire-eaters " of that ancient and orderly County ; and they may properly find attention, at this time, not only as portions of the history of Westchester-county, during the era of the American Revolution, but as …

" TT7E the subscribers do hereby make this VV public Declaration, That whereas we and several others in Westchester-County, having signed a certain Number of Resolves, which at the Time of our said signing, we deemed Constitutional, and as having a Tendency to promote the Interest of our Country ; but since, upon mature Deliberation, and more full Knowledge of the Matter, find …

The second of those acts of terrorism, to which reference has been made, was that in the case of Isaac Wilkins, that leading Member of the General Assembly of the Colony, in its contest with the Home Government; that very able "A. W. Farmer " who, with his pen, had aroused so much indignation ; and that spokesman of the protestants, at the Meeting at the White Plains, with …

God is my judge, " and God is my witness, that all I havedone, written, •" or said, In relation to the present unnatural dispute " between Great Britain and her Colonies, proceeded '•'from an honest intention of serving my country. " Her welfare and prosperity were the objects towards " which all my endeavours have been directed. They "are still the sacred objects which I …

"New York, "May 3, 1775." While these unwelcome features of the political movements, in Westchester-county, were extending over the entire community, Lewis Morris was busily employed, after his seat in the forthcoming Congress of the Colonies had been secured beyond a peradventure, in an attempt to belittle the Declaration and Protest of those, at the White Plains, who had …

"By whom this performance was given to the pub- " lie, is uncertain, and being as little distinguished by " decency as by truth, there is reason to suspect, the " author's name will remain a secret. " The falsities contained in this representation, are " too flagrant to impose upon any person in this col- " ony, and nothing but the apprehension of its gain- " ing credit in …

" Much pains, I confess, were on that day taken to " make temporary enthusiasts, and with other more " exhilirating spirit, than the spirit of loyalty. " To give the appearance of dignity to these curious " and very orderly protestors, the author has been " very mindful to annex every man's addition to his " name, upon a presumption perhaps that it would " derive weight from …

Luke Babcoek, who preaches and " prays for Col. Philips and his tenants at Philipsburg. " In this formidable catalogue of 312 sober and loyal " protestors, there are not less than one hundred and " seventy, who after a most diligent enquiry, I cannot " find have the least pretensions to a vote, and indeed " many of them are lads under age. Their names are " as follows : " ' …

" ' James Mott, John Whitmore, " ' Daniel Purdy, William Underhill, " ' John Crab, Nehemiah Tomkins, " ' Izariah Whitmore, Henry Leforge, " ' Absalom Gidney, Evert Brown, " ' John Brown, Benjamin Beyea, ■" ' Jasper Stivers, John Lorce, " ' Peter M 'Farthing, Elnathan Appleby, " ' Joshua Purdy, jun. John Baker, •" ' Haccaliah Purdy, jun. Jonathan Underhill, " ' James Tomkins …

" ' Isaac Smith, " ' John Hyatt, " ' Abraham Odell, " ' Thomas Lawrence, " ' John Seyson, " ' Isaac Forsheu, ' ' ' Gabriel Requeaw, " ' Gabriel Archer, " ' Elias Secord, " ' James Peirce, " ' Edward Bugbe, '' ' Daniel Haight, " ' John Hunt, junr. " ' Abraham Losee, " ' Isaac Tomkins, " 'Joseph Paulding, " ' Hendricus Storm, ' ' ' Francis Secord, " ' John Parker, " ' Gilbert …

Philips, so that the truth " really is, that very few independent Freeholders objected to the appointment of Deputies. " Lewis Morris. " m0rri8ania, " May 7, 1775." l It will be seen that, with more than his usual shrewdness, Lewis Morris postponed his attempt to reply to the Declaration and Protest which had been made, some weeks previously, by those who had objected to the …

author of their Declaration and Protest, had left America, when he knew that he was probably secured from challenge concerning the untruthfulness of whatever he should write, in that reply -- neither Samuel Seabury nor Luke Babcock had written anything concerning the political questions of that period ; 1 it was not thought they would do so; and there was no other person, in …

The author of the latter was very profuse in his very general charge of " falsities contained in this representation ; " but he failed to specify, even a single instance in which the former had presented an untruth ; and every one will perceive that he did not except, from the general impeachment, even those portions of the Declaration and Protest which agreed, in their …

He impeached the bona fide of the " enthusiasm " of the protestants, at the Plains ; but he " confessed," and only those who are guilty " confess," that his own companions, those who had given the much coveted place and authority to him, were also noisy, from the effects of other Spirits than that of loyalty to the King -- inasmuch as each of the two factions, at the Plains …

Seabury, in his Memorial to the General Assembly of Connecticut, presented on the twentieth of December, 1775, in reply to one of the four accusations which had been made against him, exprossly stated that he had not, at that time, written any "pamphlets and newspapers " against the liberties of America ; " which effectually disproves much that has been written, on that …

He insinuated that one hundred and seventy of those who had signed the Protest were not voters -- " after the most diligent inquiry, " I cannot find they have the least pretensions to "vote," he said ; adding, " and indeed, many of them " are lads under age" -- but he conveniently omitted to make a direct and positive averment of such a want of qualification, in any one of …

Philips; " but he conveniently forgot to tell how a mere tenant at will could, thereby, become a Freeholder, or how many, in the Manor of Cortlandt, who were only tenants or who held lands at the will of the Proprietors of that Manor, had been induced by other causes than loyalty to those Proprietors or discontent with the General Assembly, to go to the White Plains, to assist …

respect, as was that of Colonel Lewis Morris or that of any other member of that unpopular family ; and his practises, in private and in public life, against which not even a Morris, in his bitterest mood, could say a word of open disrespect, merited no such fling from the office-seeking head of the small, new-born revolutionary , faction, then in Westchester-county -- from …

At the same time, and through the same public press in which Lewis Morris published his reply to the Declaration, and Protest, to which reference has been made, he also published the following Cards, 1 evidently the only trophies of the kind, which he had secured, during the political campaign in which he had been engaged, since the publication of the Declaration and Protest …

" TN your paper lately I saw my name to a pro- J_ " test. I never signed it, but went into Capt. " Hatfield's house, and was asked, whether I was a " Whig or a Tory ? I made answer, that I did not " understand the meaning of those words, but was for " liberty and peace. Upon which somebody put down 1 Rivington' » New- York Gazetteer, No. 108, New-York, Thursday, May 11, 1775 …

With these four publications -- the reply to the Declaration and Protest and the three Cards of recantation -- as far as Westchester-county was concerned, the literature of the first Provincial Convention of the Colony of New York ended -- and, as every farmer had returned to his rural home, at the close of the eventful eleventh of April, and had resumed his work, the …

Reference has been made to the action of the Committee of Inspection, in the City of New York, on the twenty-sixth of April, providing for its own dissolution ; for the election of a new Committee of one hundred, to occupy its place, in that City; and for the organization of a Provincial Congress, with general authority for the government of the entire Colony. 2 For the …

"Most of the Deputies who composed the late " Provincial Congress, held in this City, were only " vested with powers to chose Delegates to represent "the Province at the next Continental Congress, "and the Convention having executed that trust " dissolved themselves : It is therefore thought "adviseable by this Committee, that a Provincial "Congress be immediately summoned to …

We there- " fore entreat your County heartily to unite in the " choice of proper persons to represent them at a " Provincial Congress to be held in this City on the " 22d of May next. -- Twenty Deputies are proposed " for this City, and in order to give the greater weight ■" and influence to the councils of the Congress, we " could wish the number of Deputies from the …

It is said, however, that " a general "notice," inviting a Meeting of the Freeholders of the County, was published ; and history has recorded, over the official signature of the "Chairman for the " day," that such a Meeting was held, at the White Plains, on Monday, the eighth of May, 1775, " pur- " suant to a general notice for that purpose," James Van Cortlandt, of the …

2 The re-print of this Circular Letter, in the text, is made from a carefully-made copy of one of the originals, which has been preserved among Associations in the Historical Manuscripts relating to the War of the Bevolulion, in the Secretary of State's Office, at Albany, Volume XXX Page 182. "'. termiued that any twenty of them, "should be "impowered to act for the said …

There were only twenty-three of the ninety who had been named for the Committee, present and acting on the subject which had been referred to it ; but it was not slow in nominating, " to represent the said "County in Provincial Convention," Gouverneur Morris, Doctor Robert Graham, Colonel Lewis Graham, and Colonel James Van Cortlandt, all of them from the Borough Town of …

3 The Association, which was thus "signed by the Committee" -- if any others than Members of the Committee had been present, they also would have signed it-- was not that Association which the Continental Congress bad decreed and promulgated, in the preceding October, but another and entirely different affair, which had been drawn up by JameB Duane, John Jay, and Peter Van …

tl pERSUADED that the salvation of the rights and liberties of -L "America, depends, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants, in a vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its " safety, and convinced of the necessity of preventing the anarchy and " confusion which attend a dissolution of the powers of government-, "we, the freemen, freeholders, and …

"Dated in New-York, Apnl and May, 1775." This Association, with some slight changes, was re-printed (without any WESTCHESTER COUNTY. and after that had been done, the Meeting was adjourned. 1 The official report of the proceedings of the Meeting does not give the names of any of the ninety persons who were said to have been chosen as a " Com- " mittee for the County of …

It will be evident to the reader that, until the appointment of the "Committee for the County of West- " Chester," by the Meeting which was held at the White Plains, on the eighth of May, 1775, as has been already stated, there had not been even the slightest appearance of any central organization, for political purposes, within the County ; that, until they were crowded into …

1 This statement if the proceedings of the Meeting at which a Deputation was chosen to represent WestcheBter-county, in the first Provincial Congress, is made on the authority of the official report of that Meeting, signed by " James Van Cortlandt, Gliairman for the Day," and pub_ llshed in Bivmgton's New-York Oanetteer, No. 108, New-Yobk, Thursday, May 11, 1775 ; and on that …

It will be seen, also, that the Morris family, strengthened by its alliance with its kindred family of Graham, had fully entrenched itself, as the political head of the County ; and it will be particularly noticed of what kind of material Delegates were made, even at that early period of the revolutionary movement in Westchester-county, the most ill-disguised monarchists and …

If a mere handful of the inhabitants of the County, who neither possessed nor claimed to possess any legal qualifications whatever to do such an act ; who ' did not act nor claim to act under the guidance of any thing except its own unrighteous impulses ; and who neither possessed nor claimed to possess even a shadow of delegated authority from any one, within or without the …

Of the remaining forty-nine, one rose no higher than a place in the Committee of his Town ; six were satisfied with only places on the Committee of the County, in whom, however, great power in local matters was vested, and by whom much money was disbursed for the support of prisoners of war quartered in their vicinities ; one aspired to both the Town and County Committees, and …

Even the Secretary of the first County Committee looked out for the profits of official station, and secured, through his associations, some of the fat things of place -- Micah Townsend, the Clerk of the first County-Committee,- secured the command of a Company of Colonial Troops, early in 1776 j and he' was, in other respects, well provided for, during that era of distress …

abreast of the moat advanced of the anarchists of that period ; and if, without a semblance of that "consent" of which so much had been said and written, as a prerequisite to any change of government-- without, also, any of those qualifications in itself and authorities from others, of which mention has been made -- the same handful of new-born revolutionists, at the same …

With those partisan catchwords and political maxims which, a very short time previously, had filled the air with their noisiness, before the reader, he will readily determine how much of even revolutionary consistency and propriety and integrity there was in those doings which are now under consideration ; but, among such as those by whom those doings were inaugurated and …

with the tinsel which was not what it seemed to be, was secretly perfecting the juggle which was intended to deceive all others than those who were participants in the performance and sharers in the profits to be derived from it, -- neither consistency nor propriety nor integrity was regarded or even thought of, the cupidity of the end entirely justified the unrighteousness of …

The careful reader will not have failed to see, in what has been written in this narrative and in the testimony which has been adduced to sustain it, the stern fact that, as far as the Colony of New York was concerned, and we write of no other Colony, the opposition to the measures of the Home Goverment, from 1763 until the Spring of 1775, which, subsequently, became more …

WESTCHESTEK COUNTY. Empire, .and to enforce on each of those Merchants, in his individual business, that obedience to the Laws which would be no more than his reasonable duty, while it would also tend to the suppression of that corruption of the local Revenue-officers and of that general practise of Smuggling from which he was so complacently acquiring wealth and influence …

In fact, while the aristocracy of the Colony was thus confederating and consolidating discordant elements and plotting and breeding disaffection to the Mother Country, the unfranchised Mechanics and Working-men, residents of the City and toilers for their daily bread, with occasional exceptions, pursued their respective industrial vocations, peacefully and industriously …

It is, indeed, true, in this connection, that the aristocratic Merchants and Ship-owners, in the City of New York, had been, during many years, more or less reasonably aggrieved by reason of the governmental interference with their well-established and very profitable " illicit trade," to which reference has been made : it is also true that, for the purpose of influencing and …

called, was deceptive ; and, particularly, in the lastmentioned of the two means employed, as hazardous as it was fraudulent -- but it is also true that, while the maxims and the teachings of the fundamental law which they so freely bandied, were only words of convenience, meaning nothing beyond the end for securing which they had been thus employed, their auxiliaries, thus …

As we have said, also, the elaborate essays on the " Rights of Man and of Englishmen," on the " consent " which was necessary in order to give validity to Laws, and, generally, on the assumed grievances to which the Colonists had been subjected, all of them the productions of well-paid Counsel or other interested writers, with which the newspapers of that period were filled to …

-- were no more than additional instrumentalities in the hands of wealthy and unprincipled lawbreakers, Smugglers, employed for the purpose of sheltering those aristocratic culprits from the penalties which the Bevenue-laws had imposed on them and, if possible, of enabling them to continue, with impunity, those flagrant violations of morality and of Law which men of less …

The careful reader will not have failed to see, also, in what has been written in this narrative and in the testimony which has been adduced to sustain it, that, while honesty and integrity and humanity and patriotism formed no portion of the motives which led the aristocratic Smugglers, in the City of New York, to inaugurate and to sustain a general disaffection against the …

had employed for the intimidation of the Home Government and by their own persistent selfishness, gradually produced a new and powerful political element, adverse to their own pretensions to exclusiveness, to which they had been, previously, strangers. Their want of abilities, as navigators on the troubled waters of Colonial politics, was painfully evident to all others than …

The outlay of wealth can generally secure ingenious advocates for any cause, no matter how unsavory it may be ; and, in that of the confederated aristocratic Smugglers of the City of New York, of which mention has been made, well-paid Counsel and ready writers for the newspapers, in their eagerness to support their wealthy and liberal connections and clients, in their …

WESTCHESTER COUNTY. that long period, presumed to have asserted, tor themselves, their own manhood, and to have claimed, for themselves, those Eights which had been speciously conceded as having properly belonged to them as much as to any others. In the progress of events, however, either on their own motion or on that of their ambitious leaders -- the latter, generally of …

As we have already intimated, the confederated aristocracy of New York witnessed the appearance of that new element in the politics of the Colony, with anxiety and alarm ; and it evidently noticed, also, the constituent parts of it, and duly measured its probable strength, and judiciously determined that, in opposing it, "art" would be better suited to ensure success ; than …

Indeed, the high-toned "Gentlemen in Trade/' guided by their acute legal and political advisers, John Jay and James Duane, determined to continue the same system of contemptuous deceit and treachery which had characterized all their previous political intercourse with the Working-men of the Colony; and, in doing so, they very clearly indicated, a second time, how ill-qualified …

were notMerchants, but Lawyers -- was really intended quite as much for the adoption of measures which should practically rebuke the evidently growing sense of their own political power which has been recently seen arising among the Working-men and the lowly, throughout the City, if for nothing else, as for the adoption of measures in further opposition to the Home Government …

It was not long, however, before that fraudulent treatment of the Working-men produced "the " great Meeting in the Fields," and the dissolution of that incongruous alliance, and the resumption of the antagonism of the masses ; and it was not long, also, before the confederation of the aristocracy itself, within as well as without the Committee of Fifty-one, was broken by the …

There was no abatement of the previously united opposition to the demands of the Working-men, however ; and in each of the new-formed factions of the confederated aristocratic Opposition to the Home Government and in all which they or either of them did, there was the same entire disregard of the political rights of the Working-men, then without leaders, which had been so …

He will remember, also, what has been said of the various movements and counter-movements of the rival factions, after the defeat of the Committee's candidates ; of the treachery to the Committee who had nominated them and to their aristocratic associates, of four of the five candidates of the Committee; of the consequent election of those five candidates, in the absence of …

He will remember, also, what has been stated concerning the General Assembly of the Colony ; its organization ; its bold and determined opposition to the obnoxious Colonial policy of the Home Government ; its sturdy refusal to become auxiliary to or identified with the Continental Congress, notwithstanding it was not less determined in its opposition to the Ministry ; its …

It will, also, be remembered that, during a long period of years, one of those powerful families and its friends had occupied all or nearly all the high places in the Colonial Government, and had dispensed the extensive patronage of that Government and disposed of its valuable emoluments among those who were known to have been the friends and adherents of the family, agreeably …

When the Home Government, eager to reduce the heavy land-tax to which the country gentlemen of England had been subjected by reason of the demands of that Government, in its vigorous prosecution of the War with France and Spain, first tightened the lines of those who administered the Customs, in the Colonies, and thereby seriously interfered with the smuggling in which every …

At the time of which we write, the threatened danger from the working classes appeared to have heen averted ; the Committee of Fifty-one, or those who had remained in it after the treachery of those who had used it for a stepping-stone to something of greater influence, had slowly retired from the field of political action and had been dissolved by its own action ; the …

A ■Delegation of twelve had been elected, by a Convention which had been convened for that purpose, to represent the Colony in a second Congress of the Colonies ; and of that Delegation, two were Livingstons, two were of those who had married Livingstons, and two others were assured and well-tried supporters of the Livingston interest. The excitement which was occasioned by …

of the Provinces of Massachusetts-Bay and New Hampshire and the Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in North America, with Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Islands in the West Indies; and to prohibit such Provinces and Colonies from carrying on any Fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland or other places therein mentioned, under certain …

The disturbance of Trade which was consequent on the political differences, had already produced great distress, in Great Britain, among those whose lives and labors and properties were employed in the manufacture of goods specifically intended for the American market ; and, at the same time, the Merchants, in that country, and those who had given credits, commercial or …

In New York, at the time of which we write, as far as the great body of the Colonists in the rural Counties were concerned, there does not appear to have been any noticeable change -- the farmers had not been disturbed in their labors, during 1774 ; and the surplus of their productions, which had found early markets, had undoubtedly been disposed of at those better than …

The Schedules of Goods thus shipped afford amusing evidence of what were officially considered as Army Stores : they clearly show, also, the relative weight of morality and immorality, whenever the profits of trade are considered, and how vastly more the Profit and Loss Accounts, on their respective Ledgers, will influence the morals and the religion and the doings of " Men in …

sion of the foreign trade, by the experimental action of the first Continental Congress, must have been as disastrous to the great body of the inhabitants-- those possessing small Estates as well as the Tradesmen and Mechanics and Workingmen, of every lowly class -- as that much written-of Port Bill, imposed by the retributive action of the King and the Parliament of Great …

The suspension of their business, by the aristocracy of America, who could sustain the present strain in order to ensure the receipt of an ultimate advantage, was, we say, no less severe in New York than the similar suspension of her business, by the aristocracy of Great Britain, had been in Boston; and the sufFerngs of of the working classes were, undoubtedly, quite as keenly …

The " determination " of the Continental Congress of 1774, to appoint Committees "in every County, " City, and Town," " whose business it should be at- " tentively to observe the conduct of all persons, " touching the Association," which that Congress also enacted, and with extraordinary powers for persecuting and bringing ruin on whomsoever those local Committees should …

But, notwithstanding all these, the great body of the inhabitants of the County was entirely undisturbed ; the labors of the day had been done, as they had previously been done, on the hundreds of homesteads, throughout the County ; political questions in which they felt no interest had not slackened the domestic or the out-door industries nor lessened the holiday or evening …

A Committee has been chosen in every "County, whose business it is to carry the Associolion of the Congress " into execution : which Committee assumes an authority to inspect the " books, invoices, and all other secrets of the trade and correspondence " of Merchants; to watch the conduct of every Inhabitant, without dis- " tinction ; and to send for all such as come under …

being disturbed, by any one ; and James De Lancey, who had been the Sheriff of the County, since June, 177(1, and David Dayton, who had been the Surrogate, since June, 1766, and John Bartow, who had been the Clerk of the County, since April, 1760, each in his appointed official place, continued to discharge the official duties which were incumbent on them, and to receive and …

It was composed of only a series of conclaves, each of which exercised, arbitrarily, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial functions, unrestrained by either constitutional or statutory provisions, and controlled, in whatever it determined to do or not to do, only by the individual impulses of such, within this Colony, as the Livingstons and the Morrises, the Van Cortlandts and …

The Congress of the Continent assembled at Philadelphia, agreeably to order, on Wednesday, the tenth of May, 1775 ; and, ten Colonies being represented -- only three of the Delegates from New York having been present, that Colony was not counted -- it was formally organized by the election of Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, as its President, and Charles Thomson, of 1 It was …

The barbarities which were officially inflicted on individuals and families, in many instances only for ah opinion extorted by their persecutors, without an overt act or the inclination to commit one, as those barbarities have been officially recorded, were perfectly shocking ; and some of those which were inflicted on residents of Westchester-county, under the guidance of …

Earl of Stirling, so called, who figured so largely in the military history of the War of the Revolution -- to be its President ; and John McKesson and Robert Benson, the latter a brother of that Egbert Benson whose extraordinary election as a Deputy from Duchess-county to the earlier Provincial Convention, has been already noticed, were elected to be its Secretaries. 3 …

As has been already stated, the local Committee for Westchester-county was created on the eighth of May, 1775, ninety members having been miraculously created out of the • material of which twenty-three were actually composed; and Gilbert Drake was made its Chairman. 4 Micah Townsend, subsequently holding other offices of honor, in both Westchester and Cumberland-counties, was …

The organization of the Provincial Congress, on the twenty-third of May, 1775, has been already mentioned and described : ' a more particular description of the membership of that body which, in the interest of those who were in rebellion, was to take places beside the several departments of the legally constituted Colonial Government, in the government of the Colony, and …

From such widely dissimilar constituencies, in town and country, therefore, even from those who were not widely separated and differently situated, there could not be expected Delegations to the Provincial Congress who were homogeneous in their characters and dispositions and inclinations ; and as all those rural Delegations possessed more or less of the elements which …

Home Government was said to have subjected it ; but, at the same time, their inclinations were peaceful; and they preferred a reconciliation with Great Britain, instead of a Civil War, which had been already commenced; and, because they had not yet been corrupted by the social influences of life in the City nor by the allurements of official plunder, they were ready to join …

The individual members of the first Provincial Congress of New York, at the opening and during the earlier period of the existence of that body, may, therefore, be classed as, first, the avowed Conservatives, who were led by such as John De Lancey and Benjamin Kissam and Abraham Walton and Richard Yates and George Folliot and Walter Franklin; as, second, the "Corporal's Guard" …

As the several Delegations voted as units, the votes of the several Counties having been cast in accordance with the determination of the majority of the Delegates of each who were then present, the votes of individual Delegates, unless in instances of formal dissent, are not recorded ; but the conservatism of the organized Congress, as an aggregate, was seen, immediately …

2 See his letter to Mr. Perm, pages 11, 12, ante. WESTCHESTER COUNTY. "Resolved, As the opinion of this Congress, that im- " plicit obedience ought to be paid to every recom- " mendation of the Continental Congress, for the gen- " eral regulation of the associated Colonies ; but this " Congress is competent to and ought, freely, to deliberate and determine on all matters …

The signal rebuke which the not yet corrupted "country gentlemen," members of the Provincial Congress of New York, had thus given to those who had proposed to make the Colony of New York and all which it possessed subject, in all its relations, except in the local power of police, to a foreign body over whom neither the individual Colonists nor the aggregated Colony could …

This vote alBO affords a lesson of the greatest significance, illustrative of the effects of that ill-considered policy of uniformity in political opinions, enforced by a military power, which the Provincial Congress, in its later and more corrupt dayB, adopted and enforced -- by the adoption and enforcement of such an extremely violent policy, instead of one in which …

As the Colony of New York had not yet given that public testimony of its entire and cordial accession to the confederacy of the revolted Colonies which had been given to it by the other Colonies, in the express approbation, by each, of the proceedings of the Continental Congress of 1774, of which proceedings detailed mention has been made in other portions of this narrative …

But, as we are informed, " debates arose on " the said motion "--there were grave questions, at that time, concerning the propriety of such an approval of all the proceedings of that first Congress, as was proposed by the leaders of the ultra-revolutionists -- and the rural Delegations again determined on the side of peace and reconciliation and Colonial independence from all …

tionary faction, represented by John Morin Scott and Thomas Smith ; but, whatever may have led to the practical rejection of those two propositions, each of which tended toward the centralization of the entire authority and all the power of Ihe several Colonies, in the Congress of the Continent, thereby destroying the autonomy of each of the Colonies, without subjecting that …

In short, from the beginning, the Provincial Congress of New York recognized no superior, controlling power, except that of its own actual constituents ; and, at no subsequent period -- not even when the Governor of New York declined the release of Alexander McLeod, though demanded by both the Government of Great Britain and the President of the United States -- has there been …

of the Session of that revolutionary body, during the same afternoon, a motion was made by Alexander McDougal, a Presbyterian, providing for the appointment of a Committee of two, to apply to all the Ministers in the City who could pray in English, "to "make such an arrangement among themselves as "would enable them alternately to open the Congress, "every morning, with …

On Friday) the twenty-sixth of May, the Provincial Gongress adopted, unanimously, a Resolution, offered by Gilbert Livingston of Duchesscounty and seconded by John De Lancey of New York City, providing for the appointment of a Committee of one from each County, "to draw "up and report a proper Resolve of this Con- "gress, recommending to the different Counties "in this Colony …

The Resolution which was thus reported, was in these words : " Resolved : That it be recommended, " and it is hereby accordingly recommended, to all the " Counties in this Colony, (who have not already done " it,) to appoint County Committees, and also Subcommittees for their respective Townships, Pre- " cincts, and Districts, without delay, in order to carry "into execution …

" in those Counties or Districts who have not appoint- " ed Committees, as shall be appointed by the mem- " bers of this Congress representing such Counties and " Districts respectively, 1 do make such tender as afore- "said in such Counties and Districts respectively; *' and that the said Committees and persons respec- " tively do return the said Association and the names " …

" It may, nevertheless, be proper to inform you that it " is the sense of this Congress that no coercive steps " ought to be used to induce any person to sign the " Association. The propriety of the measure, the " example of the other Counties, and the necessity of " maintaining a perfect union in every part of this " Colony, it is presumed, are sufficient reasons to " induce …

1 The authority which appeal's to have been vested in members of the Provincial Congress, to appoint local Committees where the inhabitants had not ■ done so, probably originated in that. Congress, in an earlier secret meeting of that body ; but no record of any such action is seen on its published Journal-- like the Secret Journals of the Continental Congress, those of the …

ment ; and there is very little evidence, as far as we have been able to find any, which indicates that the several Towns throughout the County paid any attention to the recommendation of the Congress, for the appointment of Town-committees; * and there is no evidence whatever, that any attempt was made, in any of those Towns, to obtain the signatures of the body of the …

The Committee of the Provincial Congress who had been appointed to consider the very important subject of the Currency, for the support of the Rebellion, made a very clear and able Report, on the thirtieth of May, in which some of the commercial troubles produced or likely to be produced by the Rebellion werevery graphically presented; and an issue * There were Committees in a …

The files of that Congress, which are preserved in the office of the Secretary of State, at Albany, show, however, that the only Counties or Towns which made any Returns of Associators, in response to this Resolution, were Orange, Ulster, Suffolk, Duchess, one District in Charlotte, three Districts in Cumberland, and a few scattering names, not more than fifty, in Queens ; but …

This may sertyfy all pepel whonie It may " cornsern that I the Svbscriber am willing to do what is best and " wright to secure the priviligs of a mariga both sivel and sacred and to " follow the advise of our Reverend congres so far as they do the word " of God and the exzample of Jesvs Christ and I hope in the grace of God " uo moro will be required, as witness my hand, "John …

8 Journal of lite Provincial Congress, " 5 ho., P.M., May 25 th ," pages 93, ante. WESTCHESTER COUNTY. of that Currency by the Continental Congress, with specified provisions for the payment of it, was recommended ' -- the original proposition for the emission of those immense amounts of " Continental-bills," which, subsequently and with the help of friendly legislation in the …

One week after that body had been originally organized, [May 30, 1775] Benjamin Kissam, of the City of New York, " moved in the words following, " to wit : ' Forasmuch as a reconciliation between " Great Britain and these Colonies, on constitutional " principles, is essential to the well-being of both "' countries, and will prevent the horrors of a Civil " War, in which this …

A question of such great importance and so distasteful to many of the Deputies, was reasonably discussed with much warmth ; and it is very evident that, had the vote been taken, at that time, the motion would have been adopted by the Provincial Congress. It was evidently approved hy a majority of the Counties ; but, if the vote could be postponed, changes might be effected, by …

period of the existence of that Congress, to secure that advantage and, thereby, if possible, to defeat the motion -- " at the request of the Deputies of the City " and County of Albany and the Counties of " Ulster, Suffolk, and Charlotte," it was " Okdered, " That the same be deferred." * Although the Rule required the Congress to resume the consideration of the motion, on …

The revolutionary faction, led by John Morin Scott and Alexander McDougal, resolutely opposed the motion ; and the last-named, seconded by Abraham Brasher, moved for the previous question, in order to defeat it; but only Ulster, Orange, Suffolk, and Duchess-counties favored the motion for the previous question ; and it was defeated -- Philip Van Cortlandt, differing from all …

Colonel Woodhull, of Suffolk, one of those who had opposed the motion, then moved, as an amendment of the motion, the addition of these words: " That we may be ready, if we shall think it neces- " sary, to communicate our sentiments upon thatsub- " ject to our Delegates at Philadelphia ;" which was subsequently adopted, without a division, in the following words : " Resolved …

* Journal of the Provincial Congress, "5 ho., P.M., May 30 1775." '■> Journal of the Provincial Congress, "Die-Mercurii, 9 ho AM Mav '31, 1775." 8 Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Die Jovis, 9 ho., June 1, 1775." WESTCHESTEK COUNTY. Westchester-county ; Ephraim Paine, of Duchesscounty ; John Williams, of Queens-county ; and Paul Micheau, of Richmond-county -- six of whom …

" Ordered, That the same be taken into consider - " ation on Saturday morning next ; that the mem- " bers of each County have leave to take one copy " thereof, each copy to be numbered by one of the " Secretaries, who shall take a memorandum of the " name of the member who shall take with him such " copy and the number of the copy by him taken, " that all such copies may, on …

On the following Saturday [June 24, 1775.] the Provincial Congress proceeded to consider the Report, agreeable to its Order made on the preceding Thursday ; and, after the Report had been read and re-read, debated and amended, during the greater portion of that day and a portion of the following Tuesday, the proposed " Plan of Accommodation " with Great Britain," thus amended …

" dated the twentieth day of October, 1774, and all the " Statutes of the British Parliament, passed since that "day, restraining the Trade and Fishery of Colonies "on this Continent, ought to be repealed. " That from the necessity of the case, Britain ought " to regulate the Trade of the whole Empire, for the "general benefit of the whole, and not for the sep- " arate …

"That if objections be made that a resort to a " variety of Colony Legislatures, for general aids, is " inconvenient, and that large, unappropriated Grants "to the Crown, from America, would endanger the " Liberty of the Empire, then the Colonies are ready "and willing to assent to a Continental Congress, " deputed from the several Colonies, to meet with a " President …

" That the Colonies, respectively, are entitled to a "free and exclusive power of legislation, within "themselves, respectively, in all cases of internal " polity, whatsoever, subject only to the negative of " their Sovereign, in such manner as has been, here^ " tofore, accustomed. " Resolved : That no one Article of the afore; " going Report be considered preliminary to …

The principles on which' that Plan was constructed and the methods which were proposed for the execution of its provisions were so radically subversive of all the purposes for which Colonies were established and protected ; so singularly presumptuous in claiming all the privileges and benefits enjoyed by Englishmen without assuming any of the burdens under which Englishmen …

Such a Plan, had it been submitted to the Home Government and to the Parliament, would, unquestionably, have aggravated instead of conciliated, and have widened the breach which then separated the Colonies and the Mother Country, instead of closing it. It is serviceable, however, to the careful student of the history of that period, to indicate, how much the Rebellion had …

were their honor and their patriotism, and at what price the Home Government could purchase their adherence and their " patriotism " and their sympathy with their compatriots, whenever that Home Government should incline to enter the market of "patriot- " ism," for such a purpose. At a very early period, the security of the pass at Kingsbridge appears to have attracted the …

Immediately after the receipt of intelligence concerning the raid of the Royal troops on Lexington and Concord, without any formal order from the Committee of One hundred, great numbers of men were employed in hauling the cannon from the City to Kingsbridge, in readiness for the work of intrenchment; 2 and on the fourth of May, the Committee " ordered, that Captain Sears …

The published Proceedings of the Committee of One hundred, in the City of New York, make no mention of the doings of that Committee ; and it is not probable that it accomplished anything, in the way of fortifying Kingsbridge ; but, on the twenty-fifth of May, the Continental Congress agreed to the following Resolutions, " respecting New York," one of which relates to the …

" 2.-- Resolved, that a Post be also taken in the " Highlands, on each side of Hudson's River, and Bat- " teries erected in such manner as will most effectual- " ly prevent any Vessels passing, that may be sent to " harass the Inhabitants on the borders of said River ; " and that experienced persons be immediately sent " to examine said River, in order to discover where it " …

"4."-- [Resolved.] " That it be left to the Provincial " Congress of New -York to determine the number of " men sufficient to occupy the several Posts above- " mentioned, and also that already recommended to be " taken at or near Lake George, as well as to guard the " City, Provided, the whole do not exceed the number " of three thousand men, to be commanded by such " Officers …

On the following day, [May 26, 1775,] the Continental Congress further " Resolved, That it be recom- " mended to the Congress aforesaid, to persevere the " more vigorously in preparing for their defence, as it " is very uncertain whether the earnest endeavours of "this Congress to accommodate the unhappy differences " between Great Britain and the Colonies, by concilia- " tory …

Scott, of the City of New-York, they were taken into consideration -- that portion of them which directed the fortifying of Kingsbridge, was referred to Captain Richard Montgomery, of Duchess-county, Henry Glenn and Robert Yates, of Albany-county, and Colonel James Van Cortlandt and Colonel James Holmes, of Westchester-county, with orders " to view " the ground at or near …

Both these Resolutions were initiatory of prolonged and not always harmonious and agreeable proceedings, both without and within the Provincial Congress and both without and within the Congress of the Continent, all of which can be considered with greater propriety in the local publications concerning the Towns of Kingsbridge and Cortlandt and in the general publications …

On the thirty-first of May, in its further consideration of the Resolutions of the Continental Congress, which have been already laid before the reader, the Provincial Congress resolved, "that it berecommended " to the Inhabitants of this Colony, in general, im* "mediately to furnish themselves with necessary arms " and ammunitions ; to use all diligence to perfect " …

" embodying men according to the said Resolutions ; " and by appointing a Committee "to report an arrangement of the troops to be embodied for the ''defence of this Colony ; and to report such Rules " and Regulations as would be proper to be established "by this Congress, for the government of such " troops." 1 The doings of the Provincial Congress were, of course, entirely in …

There were, of course, plenty of applications from those of the well-born, among the revolutionary faction and from among those who had been instrumental in bringing the Livingstons and the Morrises and others into authority, for each of the offices, in each of the four Regiments into which the levy on New York was arranged ; but there was an evident backwardness, among the …

soldier of the former War, was its Colonel; 3 and Philip Van Cortlandt, of Cortlandt Manor, who held, also, a Royal Commission of Major in the Colonial Militia, was its Lieutenant-colonel; 4 Barnabas Tuthill, of Southold, Suffolk county, was its Major; Benjamin Chapman was its Quarter-master ; and Ebenezer Haviland was its Surgeon. 6 Of the ten Companies of which the Regiment …

He went with his Regiment to the northern frontier, and occupied Ticobderoga, very much to his disgust ; quarrelled with General Schuyler, who commanded in that Department ; declined to continue in the service, after the term of the enlistment of hie command had expired ; became a Loyalist ; took the Lieutenant-colonelcy of the Corps of the Westchester-county Refugees …

He was a Surveyor and a Country Merchant and Miller ; a Major in the Westchester-county Militia, under Governor Tryon ; and a member of the Provincial Congress by whom he was made Lieutenant-colonel of this Regiment. He continued in the military service, until the close of the War of the Revolution ; after which he was one of the Commissioners of Forfeitures ; represented …

He was elected a Delegate to the Provincial Convention called to elect Deputies to the Continental Congress of 1774 ; he was a member of the first County Committee of Westchestercounty, in 1775 ; and a member of the fourth Provincial Congress, or, as it was called after a while, the Provincial Convention-- that which declared the Independence of New York from the King of Great …

1 Captain Daniel Mills continued in the service, after the Regiment was disbanded, at the close of the year, serving as a Captain in Colonel Van Schaick's Regiment of the New York Line, in the Continental Array. 2 Elijah Hunter was originally named for Second Lieutenant, with Samuel Haight, subsequently sheriff of the County, as First Lieutenant. He was a member of the County …

The following paper, with the names of the men enlisted into this Company, is taken from the original manuscript, among the Historical Manuscripts relating to the War of the Revolution : Military Returns, xxvii., 266 ; and will be interesting to those who have descended from the older families of Bedford : "Beadfoed, July 29th, 1775. "A Return of the Men inlisted by Daniel …

* There is some reason for supposing that Ambrose Horton was imported from Southold, in Suffolk-county, to take the command of a Company in this Regiment ; but, wherever he may have originated, he enlisted "fifty-six able bodyed men" for the Company; and reported them to the Provincial Congress, from the White Plains, on the twentysixth of July, 1775, (Historical Manuscripts …

A considerable number of the latter classes, with no other claim to distinction than their physical ability to work or to fight and theif good intentions, was probably taken from the yeomaury of Westchester-county ; and, notwithstanding they were mostly detained at Ticonderoga, without having been permitted to join General Montgomery, before Quebec, as he particularly desired …

It will be remembered that the Continental Congress, among the Resolutions relating to the Colony of New York, which it adopted on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of May, 8 included a requisition " that the Militia of New- York be armed and trained "and in constant readiness to act at a moment's "warning," etc.; and that those Resolutions were duly transmitted to the …

The latter was evidently promoted to the First Lieutenancy, when, in August of that year, Lieutenant Palmer was promoted to the command of a Company ;.and, on the same day, Isaac Van Waert was appointed to the vacant Second Lieutenancy. 7 Captain David Palmer, Lieutenant Samuel T. Pell, and Lieutenant Isaac Van Waert are particularly noticed as having served in Canada, in …

month, with a very important change, which permitted those who were not residents of the Districts or Beats to take and to hold offices therein, that Report was included in an elaborate " Militia Bill," which provided that every portion of the Colony should be divided into "Districts or Beats,'' in such manner that each of those Districts should include, as nearly as possible …

There does not appear to have been much discontent, in any part of the Colony, because of the passage of that Ordinance or Act for the re-organization of the Militia ; but it afforded opportunities, in various places, for displays of that contempt for the unfranchised and lowly masses, which those of higher social and political rank, even those who were ostentatiously assuming …

The enrolled members of the Company, in whom the right of election rested, preferred one of their own number, John Cock, for their Captain ; and when the Poll was closed, it was found that the aristocratic aspirant had received only eleven votes, while his plebeian opponent had received forty-eight, and one had been given to William Betts. 2 The defeated aspirant subsequently …

of the Company, and had received only twelve of the sixty votes which were cast for that office; 4 and, of course, the Committee of Safety of the County transmitted the affidavit to the Provincial Congress, promising to supplement what was then sent with evidence that Cock had "spoken very disrespectfully of the Congress ;" and inviting that body to withhold the Commission to …

"before the Committee of Safety for the County aforesaid, and being "duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of the Almighty God, saith that " be the Deponent beiug appointed one of the Sub-Committee for the "superintending the signing of the General Association of this Province, " carried the same to one, John Cock, of the Yonkers, in said County, "and asked the said John Cock to …