Old Fort at Dobbs's Ferry.

The Livingston Mansion.

Rendezvous of the British.

The Palisades.

Tappan.

up in the vicinity, remains of which are still visible. One, a little southwest of the resi-
dence of Mr. Stephen Archer (the ancient mansion of Van Brugh Livingston), appears to
have been equally strong with the one just mentioned. A few rods north of this
mansion, in a locust grove, on the west of the post-road, are very prominent re
mains of a strong redoubt. They extended through the adjoining garden, but
there the mounds have been leveled and the fossé filled up. These forts com-

manded the ferry to Paramus (now Sneeden's) landing on the Jersey shore, and
also the passage of the river. They often greatly annoyed the
British shipping while passing and repassing.

1776.

November 18.

In this vicinity the British portion of the enemy rendezvoused a October 28, after the battle of White Plains, a before march6 November 16. ing against Fort Washington ;b and at Hastings, one mile below, a British force of six thousand men, under Corn wallis, embarked in boats, and, crossing over to Paramus, marched to the attack of Fort Lee, and then commenced the pursuit of Washington and his broken army through the Jerseys. Here, in January, 1777, the division of the American army under Lincoln was encamped for a brief space. Here was the spot selected by Arnold for his first conference with Andrè in 1780; and here, on the night of the 3d of August, 1781, while the American army lay in the neighborhood, and the chief's head-quarters were at the Livingston mansion, a skirmish ensued between some guard-boats of the enemy and the little garrison of the fort on the river bank.

After viewing the remains of the old forts, and passing a pleasant half hour with Mr Archer (a member of the society of Friends) upon the shaded porch of the Livingston Mansion, I crossed the Hudson in a small boat to Sneeden's, and proceeded on foot to Tappan, a distance of about two miles, where I arrived in time to sketch the head-quarters of Washington, printed on page 196, and to visit the place of Andrè's execution.

Tappan village lies in the bosom of a fertile, rolling valley, not far from the head of the deep gorge which terminates on the Hudson at Piermont. Southwest of the village is a lofty ridge, on which the American army lay encamped. Upon its gentle slope toward the road to old Tappan, Major Andrè was executed. Travelers passing up the Hudson, and viewing with astonishment the mighty amorphous wall of the Palisades, along the western. shore, have no idea of the beauty and fertility of the country in the rear. The Palisades, so bare and precipitous in front, present a heavily-wooded slope in the rear, reaching down into a plain of great fertility. This plain extends, with a slight variance from a level, from Tappan to Bergen Point, a distance of twenty-seven miles, and is watered by the Hackensack and its tributaries. It was a country noted for the abundance of its forage at the time of the Revolution, and was an eligible place for an army to encamp. After visiting the interesting localities in the neighborhood, I walked to Piermont, about two miles distant, where I arrived in time to embark in the boat of the Erie Rail-road Company, at eight o'clock, for New York. Though "wearied and worn" with the day's ramble, let us turn to history a while before retiring to rest.

Tappan, lying upon one of the great lines of communication from the East, by way of treme right, in the distance, is the mountain near the foot of which Ardrè and Arnold first met. Piermont is the port of Tappan, the place where Andrè was executed. The sketch here presented was made when I visited Dobbs's Ferry in the autumn of 1849, after the rail-way was finished.

This is a view from the lawn on the north side. It is embowered in trees and shrubbery, and is one of the most pleasantly-located mansions in the country, overlooking interesting portions of the Hudson River. Within its walls many of the leading men of the Revolution were entertained. It was the head-quarters of Washington, when he abandoned an attempt to capture New York city, changed his plans, and marched his whole army to Virginia to capture Cornwallis. There, at the close of the war, Washington, Governor Clinton, and General Sir Guy Carleton, and their respective suites, met to make arrangements for the evacuation of the city of New York by the British. Washington and Clinton came down the river from West Point in a barge; Carleton ascended in a frigate. Four companies of American Infantry performed the duty of guards on that occasion.

Massacre of Baylor's Corps at Tappan.

The "76 Stone House," where Andrè was confined. Washington's Headquarters

2

King's Ferry, was made a place of considerable importance as a camping-ground; its posi tion among the hills, and yet contiguous to the river, being very favorable. When, in September, 1778, Cornwallis had possession of the Hudson portion of New Jersey, foraging parties were sent in this direction, as well as scouts, to ascertain the condition of the posts at West Point. General Knyphausen, with a large force, was at the same time on the east side of the Hudson, at Dobbs's Ferry, and Washington believed that an expedition up the river was intended. Lieutenant-colonel Baylor, with a regiment of light horse, was sent to watch the movements of the enemy, and to intercept their scouts and foragers. He made his head-quarters at old Tappan, and there lay in a state of such unsoldierly insecurity, that Cornwallis was led to form a plan for taking his whole corps by surprise.1 General Grey, September 27, with some light infantry and other troops, was sent, at night, to approach Tap1778. pan on the west, while a corps from Knyphausen's division was to approach from the east, and thus surround and capture not only the sleepers in Baylor's camp, but a body of militia, under Wayne, who were stationed near. Some deserters from the enemy gave the militia timely warning; but Baylor's troops, who lay unarmed in barns, were not apprised of the proximity of the enemy. At midnight, Grey approached silently, cut off a sergeant's patrol of twelve men without noise, and completely surprised the troop of horse. Unarmed, and in the power of the enemy, they asked for quarter, but this was inhumanly refused by Grey, who, like Tryon, was a famous marauder during the war. On this occasion he gave special orders not to grant any quarter. Many of the soldiers were bayoneted in cold blood. Out of one hundred and four persons, sixty-seven were killed or wounded. Colonel Baylor was wounded and made prisoner, and seventy horses were butchered. The event of the most importance which occurred at Tappan was the trial and execu tion of Major Andrè. He was confined, while there, in the old stone mansion, now occupied as a tavern, and called the "76 STONE HOUSE." Its whole appearance has been materially changed. The room wherein the unfortunate prisoner was confined, and which was kept with care in its original condition more than half a century, has been enlarged and improved for the purposes of a ball-room! I was there a few years ago, when the then owner was committing the sacrilege, and he boasted, with great satisfaction, that he had received a "whole dollar for the old look that fastened up Major Andrew!" Sen

1850.

1 Gordon, ii., 391.

timent does not obey the laws of trade -it seems to cheapen with a decrease of supply. The sign-board is now the only evidence that there is any on hand at the "76 Stone House." The trial took place in the old Dutch church, which was torn down in 1836. Upon its site another and larger one of brick has been erected. It stands within a few yards of the house where Andrè was confined. Washington's head-quarters were in the old stone building now occupied by Samuel S Verbryck, situated near the road from Sneeden's Landing, within a few rods of its junction with the main street

? The encampment, on the night in question, was about two and a half miles southwest of Tappan village, near the Hackensack River.

3 General Grey, on account of his common practice of ordering the men under his command to take the flints out of their muskets, that they might be confined to the use of the bayonet, acquired the name of the no-flint general.

This view is from the yard, near the well. The date of its erection (1700) is made by a peculiar arrangement of the bricks in the front wall. In the large room called "Washington's quarters" the fire

Court of Inquiry in Andrè's Case. The Prisoner's Conduct. Names of those who composed the Court. Judge Laurance. of the village. It was then owned by John de Windt, a native of St. Thomas's, West Indies, and grandfather of Mrs. Verbryck, who now resides there.

1780.

I have mentioned that, on the arrival of Washington at Tappan, he ordered a court of inquiry. This court, consisting of fourteen general officers,' was convened at Tappan on the 29th of September, and on that day Major Andrè was arraigned before it and examined. John Laurance,' afterward a distinguished legislator and jurist, was judge advocate. Andrè made a plain statement of the facts we have been considering; acknowledged and confirmed the truthfulness of his statements in his letter to General Washington from Salem; confessed that he came ashore from the Vulture in the night, and without a flag; and answered the query of the Board, whether he had any thing further to say respecting the charges preferred against him, by remarking, "I leave them to operate with the Board, persuaded that you will do me justice." He was remanded

JOHN ANDRE.

From a Miniature, by himselt

to prison, and, after a long and careful deliberation, the Board reported, "That Major Andrè, adjutant general of the British army, ought to be considered as a spy from the enemy, and that, agreeably to the law and usage of nations, it is their opinion he ought to suffer death." On the next day Washington signified his approval of the decision as follows:

place is surrounded by Dutch pictorial tiles illustrative of Scripture scenes. Indeed, the whole house remains in precisely the same condition, except what the elements have changed externally, as it was when the chief occupied it. When I visited it, Mrs. Verbryck's sister, an old lady of eighty, was there. She said she remembered sitting often upon Washington's knee. She was then ten years old.

The following are the names of the officers who composed the court martial on that occasion: Majorgenerals Greene, Stirling, St. Clair, La Fayette, R. Howe, and the Baron Steuben; and Brigadiers Parsons, James Clinton, Knox, Glover, Paterson, Hand, Huntington, and Stark. General Greene was president of the board, and John Laurance judge-advocate general.

2 Mr. Laurance was a native of Cornwall, England, where he was born in 1750. He held the rank of colonel in the Continental army, and was highly esteemed by the commander-in-chief. Colonel Laurance was a representative for New York in the first Congress held after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and retained a seat therein during President Washington's first administration. On his retiring from office, Washington appointed him a judge of the District Court of New York. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1796, and served four years, when he resigned his seat and retired to private life. He died at No. 356 Broadway, New York, in November, 1810, in the sixtieth year of his age. Judge Laurance married a daughter of General Alexander M'Dougall, of the Continental army, who, with Sears, Willett, Lamb, and others, early and earnestly opposed the British government in its aggressive acts. An interesting sketch of the public life of Judge Laurance, from the pen of Edwin Williams, Esq., was published in a New York journal in February, 1851.

3 This is a fac simile of a pencil sketch which I received from London with the drawing of Andrè's monument in Westminster Abbey, printed on page 767. I do not know from what picture the artist copied, but, considering the channel through which I received it, I think it may be relied on as a correct profile.

JOHN ANDRE was a native of London, where he was born in 1751. His parents were from Geneva, ir Switzerland, and at that place he was educated. He returned to London before he was eighteen years of age, and entered the counting-house of a respectable merchant, where he continued nearly four years

Washington's Approval of the Decision of the Court. Memoir of Andre. Honora Sneyd. Mr. Edgeworth. Miss Seward

"Head-quarters, September 30, 1780.

"The commander-in-chief approves of the opinion of the Board of general officers respecting Major Andrè, and orders that the execution of Major Andrè take place to-morrow at five o'clock P.M."

Possessing a literary taste and promising genius, he became acquainted with several of the writers of the day, among whom was Miss Anna Seward, the daughter of a clergyman in Litchfield. Miss Seward had a cousin named Honora Sneyd, a charming girl of whom Andrè became enamored.* His attachment was reciprocated by the young lady, and they made an engagement for marriage. The father of the girl interposed his authority against the match, and the marriage was prevented. Four years afterward, Honora was wedded to Richard Lovell Edgeworth,† father of the late Maria Edgeworth, the novelist, by a former wife. Until that event occurred, Andrè had cherished the hope that some propitious circumstance might effect their reunion. The portal of hope was now closed, and, turning from commercial pursuits, he resolved to seek relief from the bitter associations of his home amid the turmoils of war. He entered the army which came to America in 1775. He was taken prisoner at St. John's, on the Sorel, when that post was captured by Montgomery, and was sent to Lancaster, in Pennsylvania. In a letter written to a friend from that place, he said, “I have been taken prisoner by the Americans, and stripped of every thing except the picture of Honora, which I concealed in my mouth. Preserving that, I yet think myself fortunate." This picture had been delineated by his own hand from the living features of his beloved, at the time of his first acquaintance with her at Buxton, in 1769. The bravery and talents of Andrè secured for him the affectionate regards of his commander, Sir Henry Clinton, and he raised him to the duty of adjutant general of the British army in America, with the rank of major. His future career was full of brilliant promises, when Arnold, the wily serpent, crept into the paradise of his purity and peace, and destroyed him. He was not yet thirty years old when he suffered the death of a spy.

Major Andrè possessed a graceful and handsome person, with rare mental accomplishments. He was passionately fond of the fine arts, and his journal, kept during his life in America, was enriched by many drawings of such objects of interest as attracted his attention. While here, he wrote several poetical pieces for the loyal newspapers; and it is a singular fact that the last canto of his satirical poem, called THE Сow CHASE, was published in Rivington's Royal Gazette, in New York, on the 23d of September, 1780, the day of his capture. It ends with the following stanza:

"And now I've closed my epic strain,

I tremble as I show it,

Lest this same warrio-drover, Wayne,
Should ever catch the poet!"

His memory has been embalmed in verse by his friend, Miss Seward;§ and his king testified his admiration of his character and genius by the erection of a beautiful monument to his honor in Westminster Abbey, near the Poets' Corner. The monument is in relief against the wall, and is about seven and a half feet in height. It is composed of a sarcophagus, elevated on a molded paneled base and plinth, and was executed in statuary marble by P. M. Van Gelder, from a design by Robert Adam. On the front of the sarcophagus is a basso relievo, in which is represented General Washington and officers in a tent at the moment when

* Miss Seward, in her poem entitled "The Anniversary," thus alludes to her cousin :

"Why fled ye all so fast, ye happy hours,

That saw Honora's eyes adorn these bowers?
These darling bowers that much she loved to hail,
The spires she called The Ladies of the Vale !"

↑ Mr. Edgeworth was educated partly at Trinity College, Dublin, and partly at Oxford. Before he was twenty, he ran off with Miss Elers, a young lady of Oxford, to whom he was married at Gretna Green. He embarked in a life of gayety and dissipation. In 1770 he succeeded to his Irish property. During a visit to Litchfield soon afterward, he saw Honora Sneyd, loved her, and married her after the death of his wife. Honora died six years afterward of consumption, when he married her sister. -Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature, ii.. 568.

This satirical poem was written at General Clinton's head-quarters, now No. 1 Broadway, New York. It is not a little singular that Wayne commanded the division of the army at Tappan when Andrè was executed.

§ In Ainsworth's Magazine of a recent date I find the following record of A dream realized: “Major Andrè, the circumstances of whose lamented death are too well known to make it necessary for me to detail them here, was a friend of Miss Seward's, and, previously to his embarkation for America, he made a journey into Derbyshire to pay her a visit, and it was arranged that they should ride over to see the wonders of the Peak, and introduce Andrè to Newton, her minstrel, as she called him, and to Mr. Cunningham, the curate, who was also a poet.

"While these two gentlemen were awaiting the arrival of their guests, of whose intentions they had been apprised, Mr. Cunningham mentioned to Newton that, on the preceding night, he had a very extraordinary dream, which he could not get out of his head. He had fancied himself in a forest; the place was strange to him; and, while looking about, he perceived a horseman approaching at great speed, who had scarcely reached the spot where the dreamer stood, when three men rushed out of the thicket, and, seizing his bridle, hurried him away, after closely searching his person. The countenance of the stranger being very interesting, the sympathy felt by the sleeper for his apparent misfortune awoke him; but he presently fell asleep again, and dreamed that he was standing near a great city, among thousands of people, and that he saw the same person he had seen seized in the wood brought out and suspended to a gallows. When Andrè and Miss Seward arrived, he was horror-struck to perceive that his new acquaintance was the antitype of the man in the dream."

Andrè's Death-warrant.

His Will.

Disposition of his Remains.

His Monument.

The youth, candor, and gentlemanly bearing of Andrè during the trying scenes of his examination made a deep impression upon the court; and had the decision of those officers been in consonance with their feelings instead of their judgments and the stern necessities imposed by the expedients of war, he would not have suffered death. When the decision of the court was made known to him, the heroic firmness of his mind challenged the admiration of all. He exhibited no fear of death, but the manner was a subject that gave him uneasiness; he wished to die as a soldier, not as a spy. Tender of the feelings of his commander, he obtained permission of Washington to write to Sir Henry Clinton, for the purpose of assuring him that the dilemma in which he found himself was not attributable to the duty required of him by his general. In that letter he implied a presentiment of his fate, and said, "I have a mother and two sisters, to whom the value of my commission would be an object, as the loss of Grenada has much effected their income." There could be no question among military men as to the equity of Andrè's sentence, and

September 29.

the chief had received the report of the court of inquiry; at the same time a messenger has arrived with the letter from Andrè to Washington, petitioning for a soldier's death (see page 770). On the right is a guard of Continental soldiers, and the tree on which Andrè was executed. Two men are preparing the prisoner for execution, while at the foot of the tree, Mercy, accompanied by Innocence, is bewailing his fate. On the top of the sarcophagus is the British lion, and the figure of Britannia, who is lamenting the fate of the accomplished youth. Upon a panel is the following inscription: "Sacred to the memory of Major JOHN ANDRE, who, raised by his merit at an early period of life to the rank of adjutant general of the British forces in America, and employed in an important but hazardous enterprise, fell a sacrifice to his zeal for his king and country, on the 2d of October, A.D. 1780, universally beloved and esteemed by the army in which he served, and lamented even by his FOES. His gracious sovereign, KING GEORGE THE THIRD, has caused this monument to be erected." On the base of the pedestal upon which the sarcophagus rests has subsequently been inscribed the following: "The remains of MAJOR JOHN ANDRÈ were, on the 10th of August, 1821, removed from Tappan by JAMES BUCHANAN, Esq., his majesty's consul at New York, under instructions from his Royal Highness, the DUKE OF YORK; and with the permission of the Dean and Chapter, finally deposited in a grave contiguous to this monument, on the 28th of November, 1821."*

The king settled a pension upon the family of Andrè; and, to wipe out the imputed stain produced by his death as a spy, the honor of knighthood was conferred upon his brother. A certified copy of Andrè's will is in the office of the Surrogate of New York. It is dated at Staten Island, 7th of June, 1777, and signed "JOHN ANDRE, captain in the 26th regiment of foot." The date of probate is October 12, 1780, ten days after his execution. The will is sworn to October 9, 1781, before Carey Ludlow, Esq., then Surrogate of New York. By his will, Andrè gave the bulk of his property to his three sisters (Maria, Anna Marguerite, and Louisa) and his brother, each $3500, on condition that they pay to his mother, Mary Louise Andrè, each $50 a year. Anna Marguerite Andrè-" the tuneful Anna," as Miss Seward called herhis last surviving sister, lived a maiden, and died in London in 1848, at the age of ninety years. Andre's watch was sold for the benefit of his captors. It was bought by Colonel William S. Smith, of the Continental army, for thirty guineas, and, through General Robertson, he generously transmitted it to Andre's family. His commission was sold by Sir Henry Clinton for the benefit of his mother and sisters.

1 Colonel Hamilton, who was the bearer of the request from Andrè to Washington asking his permission to send this open letter to Clinton, observes, in an account which he gave to Colonel Laurens, that Andrè seemed to foresee the result of the proceedings in which he was concerned. "There is only one thing which disturbs my tranquillity," he said to Hamilton. "Sir Henry Clinton has been too good to me; he has been lavish of his kindness; I am bound to him by too many obligations, and love him too well, to bear the thought that he should reproach himself, or others should reproach him, on the supposition of my having conceived myself obliged, by his instructions, to run the risk I did. I would not for the world leave a sting in his mind that should imbitter his future days."

* An account of this transaction may be found on page 773.