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1 
 
FIRST ANNUAL MEETING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HistoricalSociety 
 
 NEWBURGH BAY AND THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 WITH • 
 
 Address by Hon, Erastus Brooks, 
 
 COLONEL DAWSON, AND OTHERS, 
 
 Held at Newburgh, n, Y„ Feb, 22d, 1884, 
 
 NEWBURGH, N. Y.: 
 E. M. RUTTENBER <$- SON, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, 
 
 Second Street, corner nf Smith Street. 
 1884 
 
NgSs? 
 
 Articles of Incorporation 
 
 We, the undei'signed, citizens of the United States, residing in 
 the counties of Orange, Duchess, and Putnam, State of New 
 York, of the age of twenty-one years and over, do hereby associ- 
 ate ourselves and form a corporation, pui'suant to the provisions 
 of the Statutes of the State of New York, and particularly under 
 Chapter 267 of the Laws of 1875, as amended by Chapter 53 of the 
 Laws of 1876. 
 
 The name by which such corporation shall be known in law is 
 The Historical Society of Newbukgh Bay and the Highlands. 
 
 Said corporation is formed for historical and literary purposes, 
 and the object and business thereof shall be the discovery, col- 
 lection, and ] (reservation, and i)ublication of the history, histori- 
 cal records and data of and relating to the territory or districts 
 of country formerly occupied by the army of the Revolution, 
 in defence of West Point and the Hudson river; and more es- 
 pecially to fix upon the position of the several forts, camping- 
 grounds, barracks, huts, residences, meeting places for religious, 
 social and military purposes, depots for arms and provisions, revo- 
 lutionary burial-]ilaces, and all spots of historic interest connect- 
 ed with the said defence, for the purpose of establishing and per- 
 petuating the truth of history by apj^ropriate monuments and 
 memorial structures and inscriptions, and to acquire title to such 
 parcels of real estate as may be needed for the above purposes. 
 
 The principal office and place of business of said Society shall 
 be in the city of Newburgh, in the county of Orange, at such 
 place as may be designated by the Society. 
 
 The said corporation shall be managed by its President, four 
 Vice Presidents, a Recording and a Corresponding Secretary, a 
 Treasurer, and eight members of said Society (sixteen in all) who 
 shall constitute its Board of Managers. 
 
 The names of such Managers for the first year of the existence 
 of said corporation are : 
 
 Enoch L. Fanchee, President. 
 Edward C. Boynton, First Vice President. 
 William W. Carson, Second Vice President. 
 Lewis Beach, Third Vice President. 
 J. Hervey Cook, Fourth Vice President. 
 
 Chas. Estabrook, Recording Secretary. 
 William J. Roe, Corresponding Secretary. 
 Jonathan N. Weed, Treasurer. 
 Hamilton Fish, Edward M. Ruttenber, 
 
 John J. Monell, John R. Caldwell, 
 
 Joel T. Headley, James Gr. Graham, 
 
 Thomas B. Brooks, Hi^:nry Dudley. 
 
 The foregoing being all the offit^ejs of the Society for the first 
 year. , ; " 
 
 Gift 
 
 Carnegje ius/'-ition 
 Eaiwibooii Oiace. 
 
FIRST ANNUAL MEETING, 
 
 'li 
 
 The first annual meeting of the Historical Society of 
 Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, was held in Calvary 
 Presbyterian Church, in Newburgh, on the evening of the 
 22d of February, 1884. The exercises were mainly com- 
 memorative of the birthday of Washington. The pulpit 
 platform was beautifully decorated with foliage plants. 
 On the wall at the back of the platform was a portrait of 
 Washington framed with the national colors. There was 
 a large attendance of ladies and gentlemen, including 
 many well known gentlemen from the vicinity. Major. E. 
 C. BoYNTON presided. The pastor of the church, Rev. J. 
 Seaele, opened the j^roceedings with prayer. 
 
 We thank thee, O God, for having' raised up him whose memory 
 we delight to revere, qualified him with wisdom and courage and 
 perseverence to lead on our fathers unto the victory until the end 
 for which they struggled was attained, and gave him such un- 
 flinching loyalty to the principles for which they fought that he 
 turned away from an offered crown, and that we to-day because 
 of his loyalty are in the enjoyment of a government by the peo- 
 j pie, for the people. We thank Thee that as Thou hast been with 
 our fathers, so Thou hast been with us, their children, and that 
 we have experienced so much of blessing at thy hand, so many 
 tokens of favor, so much of enlargement and growth, until we 
 have come to be great among the nations of the earth. Help us 
 to remember that except the Lord build the house, they labor in 
 vain that build it ; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman 
 waketh but in vain. And let us never fall into the blasphemy of 
 saying, This is great Babylon which we have built. But rather 
 may we always recognize, as we delight to do. Thy hand in deal- 
 ing with us as a people. We pray Thee that Thou wouldst con- 
 tinue Thy mercies unto us, and that we may be preserved from all 
 the evils which threaten us ; that we may be delivered from cor- 
 ruption and from vice of every kind, and that this may be a nation 
 
FIRST [annual meeting. 
 
 which shall long exist to be a light to all the world, showing how 
 a people can righteously govern themselves. We ask that Thou 
 wouldst grant that there may be an inclination on the part of all 
 our people to keep in mind the wondrous facts of our history, and 
 to recognize Thy hand as it is seen in these facts, and to give Thee 
 the praise for all Thy great doings. Be pleased to bless this meet- 
 ing and grant that we may have our hearts stirred up to love as 
 we have never loved before our own, our native land. And all we 
 ask is for the sake of the extension of our Eedeemer's kingdom, 
 and for the glory of Thy great name. Amen. 
 
 The Chairman, Major Boynton, followed in an introduc- 
 tory address : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : We have assembled on this memor- 
 able evening to inaugurate the first public meeting of the Histori- 
 cal Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands. We are in our 
 day living witnesses of a greater movement of the human race, 
 both as to numbers and influence upon civilization, than is re- 
 corded in all past history. 
 
 Its pages convey no idea of any such continued and great trans- 
 fer of population from one continent to another. Unlike other 
 invasions, it does not bring war and rapine, but bears peaceful arts 
 and civilization into vast regions, heretofore occupied only by 
 sparse tribes of warring savages. 
 
 Familiar with this movement, we are prone to forget that this 
 vast increment is ignorant of our traditions, our past history— in 
 fact of our language, and is clinging fast to the events which 
 characterize the nationalities from whence they have come. 
 
 A degree of censure attaches to us, that the events which gave 
 birth and form to the American Kepublic are not more widely 
 taught and disseminated. Our prosperity has been so rapid, so 
 steady and broad, that we are constantly looking forward, rather 
 than backward. 
 
 Other nationalities, other States, and other portions of this 
 State, are recalling the scenes which render their soil historic, 
 and from the remote past are summoning back the names of their 
 heroes and their memoral)lc deeds, and rescuing them from the 
 depths of oblivion into which the present age is fast suffering 
 them to relapse. 
 
 The old forts, the hills and valleys around us, all proclaim with 
 perennial eloquence the story of i>atriotism, of prowess, and of 
 suffering. To gather up the threads of chronicle and tradition, 
 and patiently separate the truth from error, to translate these 
 
NEWBURGH BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 and perpetuate facts, is a task in which our society has under- 
 taken a part. 
 
 Heroic achievements of every description have a voice which 
 mankind delights to hear, and our beautiful bay and its vicinity, 
 inchiding the whole valley of the Hudson, are not wanting in in- 
 cidents which should be recorded in fact as well as in fiction. 
 
 With this brief introduction I surrender the time to more enter- 
 taining and eloquent speakers, who have kindly consented to aid 
 us on this occasion. 
 
 Mr. Charles Estabrook, Secretary of the Society, read 
 a list of the members of the organization. He also stated 
 that the New Windsor Committee in charge of the centen- 
 nial celebration at Temple Hill in June last, had, by the 
 payment of $25, constituted Hon. James G. Graham a life 
 member of the Society. Miss Julia E. Leroy, formerly of 
 Newburgh and now of New York, had signified her inten- 
 tion to become a life member by a like contribution. He 
 also read a letter of regret from Hon. Hamilton Fish, who, 
 in consequence of the meeting of the Society of the Cin- 
 cinnati in New York city, was unable to be present at this 
 meeting. 
 
 Hon. James G. Graham then offered some remarks ap- 
 propriate to the occasion. Referring to the centennial cel- 
 ebrations of last year, he said they were outpourings of the 
 people. The hearts of the people were in them ; their 
 homes were thrown open for the entertainment of guests ; 
 their banners were on the outer walls. This was in mark- 
 ed contrast with the New York celebration in November 
 last, where the open doors were almost confined to the 
 hotels, and where the display of bunting was quite limit- 
 ed, a result which was no doubt largely due to the changes 
 in the character of the population of that city, which had 
 become so cosmopolitan that there were comparatively few 
 who held connection with or who apparently appreciated 
 the significance of the celebration then being held. This 
 fact had quickened the thought of many throughout the 
 land to the necessity of more efficient work for the educa- 
 tion of the people in the history of this country, the strug- 
 
6 FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 gle wliicli won and the character of its political institutions. 
 In this work every association that is formed for tlie pur- 
 pose, every celebration that is held, every monument that 
 is erected, has an important part. To share in this worthy 
 effort this association had been formed. Its field of duty 
 though local embraced the preservation of records and the 
 marking of sites of many of the most imjjortant events in 
 the nation's history, with more battle-fields in its circuit 
 than fall to the keeping of any other district, the scenes 
 of treason, stratagems and strife as well as of the most 
 trying sacrifices and the most lofty manifestations of pat- 
 riotism. We ask the cooperation of all that the duty we 
 have undertaken may be so thoroughly performed that 
 even its selfish features may contribute to the accomplish- 
 ment of the purpose designed. 
 
 Mr. Graham then read extracts from the articles of asso- 
 ciation, showing the scope of the Society's work, and also 
 quoted, with the same design, articles which had appeared 
 in the local press. 
 
 The clioir then sang very efi'ectively an anthem entitled 
 " No King but God," but which had little resemblance to 
 the grand revolutionary anthem by Billings. 
 
 Mr. Graham then introduced the orator of the evening, 
 Hon. Erastus Brooks, and took occasion to warmly com- 
 mend his meritorious work as a journalist and his valua- 
 ble services as a member of the state legislature. Mr. 
 Brooks was received with applause and spoke as follows : 
 
 Friends and Fellow-citizens: 
 
 In accepting an invitation to address the Historical Society of 
 Ncwburgh Bay and the Highlands, I am not unmindful of the 
 day, of the place where I speak, nor of the old time history and 
 homes of your surrounding country. 
 
 The day, almost by common consent, recalls the one name most 
 revered in all the land, and in all human probability, by common 
 consent also, it will be so revered for all time to come. The same 
 name, for quite one hundred years in history, has been more hon- 
 ored abroad than that of any other citizen of the world. The 
 
NEWBUEGH BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 places around you in the struggles of the Eevolution, while com- 
 paratively free from battles, save in the heroic defense of Fort 
 Montgomery and Fort Clinton, October 7, 1777, and the dangerous 
 midnight advance of July 15th, 1779, at Stony Point, were all situ- 
 ations of interest to the country at large, and to its friends and 
 its enemies alike beyond any other part of the colonies. 
 
 KEVOLUTIONABY GROUND. 
 
 From Staten Island, my home, the first place occupied by the 
 enemy in real warfare, and the last place in the colonies they left, 
 and at one time there were 20,000 of the enemy in arms. There 
 all through the war the Island was under control of the British, 
 with Admiral Howe on the bay and sea, and Lord Howe on the 
 land. There Franklin and Adams and Eutledge, by consent of 
 Congress, upon the invitation of Lord Howe, met and consulted 
 as to the possible surrender of the colonies, and received an an- 
 swer worthy of the country and this triumvirate of civil chief- 
 tains. On to Newburgh, all along this side of the Hudson, at 
 least, all are places of historic interest. 
 
 We pass to Weehawken, where Hamilton was killed by Burr ; 
 Hackensack valley, where both armies were encamped ; Tappan, 
 where Andre was hung ; Haverstraw, where the British spy treat- 
 ed with the American traitor; Stony Point, where Washington 
 planned the attack which Mad Anthony Wayne was selected to 
 execute, and where two columns of 150 men eacti led the way, 
 each column headed by a forlorn hope of twenty men over a single 
 causeway ; Wayne, upon the right, was the first to enter the post 
 and the first to receive the enemy's shot. Falling wounded and 
 bleeding he asked only the poor leave to die at the head of his 
 column ; but happily for the country he lived all through the war. 
 The Point taken was not by ball and powder, but with the bayon- 
 et's charge. Five hundred and forty prisoners and sixty-three 
 dead were the cost to the enemy of this bold adventure. Pass- 
 ing Fort Montgomery and West Point and on to Newburgh and 
 Kingston, the land above and below, the grand river on both 
 shores, were the scenes of great events, and while the war con- 
 tinued, they never ceased to arouse the hopes of friends and foes 
 alike. Nearly all the important strategic points of the war for 
 independence were connected with the Hudson. The God of na- 
 ture from the beginning, clothed the mountains above, and the 
 waters at your feet with a moral power and physical sublimity 
 which belongs to few other parts of our country. 
 
 Here between the East and the West, was the natural pathway 
 for armies in war, for exiles, travelers and laborers at home in 
 peace, and from the old world they have made their way from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific in multitudes whom no man can number. 
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE STATE, 
 
 indeed, especially leading to and along the Mohawk and Hudson, 
 
FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 more than anything else has made New York known as the Em- 
 pire State of the Union. What Fontenac attempted for the French 
 against the British, nearly 200 years ago, the British hoped to ac- 
 complish against the Americans in the armies led by Burgoyne 
 and Howe in 1777. By both commanders the Mohawk and Hudson 
 were deemed the two natural gateways between Canada and the 
 sea. "In the war of the rebellion," said Governor Wige, of Vir- 
 ginia, "we should have won our cause had not God made our rivers 
 which sprung from the Highlands of New York, to flow from the 
 north to the south, thus making by their valleys, pathways for 
 their armies into all parts of our territories." 
 
 To the natural advantages of New York the people owe much of 
 that growth which has made her the first State in the Union, in- 
 stead of the fifth, which was her place when and before Washing- 
 ton was made President. Around the State are the deepest chan- 
 nels for commerce, and within her borders, canals and railroads 
 leading through valleys and rivers to the most distant parts of the 
 country. Two-thirds of all our territory and twenty-four States 
 are open to us in the line of these connecting valleys. While one 
 State angle rests upon the Atlantic, a second is upon the St. Law- 
 rence, and a third leads by lakes and valleys to the Mississippi. 
 The Mohawk and the grander Hudson thus becomes great high- 
 ways that stretch from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from 
 the lakes to Georgia. It is just these connections which in ninety- 
 four years have added nearly five millions of people to our State 
 population, and contributed largely to the 54,000,000 which now 
 make the population of the United States. 
 
 IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION, 
 
 the British, with keen eyes to the work before them, seized Stony 
 Point, Forts Clinton and Montgomery, and passing West Point 
 captured Kingston, where the British Admiral waited in full ex- 
 pectation of meeting Burgoyne as a victor. Had Burgoyne 's ad- 
 vance been extended to Albany, "the ancient place of treaty," as 
 it was called, and where the Iroquois and western Indian tribes so 
 long held their councils, either the battle of Saratoga might have 
 been a failure or the army of Gates compelled to retreat. 
 
 General Howe had ordered and expected this union and co-op- 
 eration of the British forces on the Hudson, but a good providence 
 kept them apart, and secured for the Americans one of the grandest 
 victories of the war— the one victory, indeed, which occurred in 
 1777, and which meant in reality the victory at Yorktown in 1781, 
 and the peace which came in 1783. 
 
 The war of the revolution needs in this place no fresh records to 
 remind the American people of the valor here displayed in the 
 field, nor while the war went on of the practical wisdom generally 
 seen in the national councils. 
 
NEWBUKGH BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 9 
 
 What we are most reminded of to-day is the fact that the Hud- 
 son was at once the most exposed, and with one exception, the 
 best guarded liighway of tlie whole war. Washington found licre 
 and near here tlie best points of observation, and liere also was 
 the best resting place for his army before and after the victory at 
 Yorktown in 1781, and the peace which came in 1783. 
 
 Here, too, was his own military home and the military home of 
 his gallant army for a year and a half after Cornwallis was de- 
 feated. Here, also, from disappointed and disaffected men came the 
 great temptation — a temptation in form and spirit at the time not 
 unlike that offered to the Savior of Mankind, when the kingdoms 
 of the world were offered in exchange for a single act of worship 
 and obedience. Here, too, came to Washington the offer of the 
 kingly crown. The "get thee behind me Satan," the words of the 
 great Master, were not more ready, nor more emphatic than, min- 
 gled with surprise, was the answer that came — "I must view with 
 abhorrence, and reprehend with severity, the sentiments you have 
 submitted to my perusal." 
 
 No wonder that Washington then cried out in the full sorrow 
 of his heart, " My God ! What can this writer have in view in rec- 
 ommending such measures ? Can he be a friend to the army ? 
 Can he be a friend to the country ? * * * He is plotting the 
 ruin of both, and sowing the seeds of discord and separation be- 
 tween the civil and military powers of the continent." 
 
 THE country's CRISIS AFTER THE WAR. 
 
 And this dread drama— but one step removed from civil war and 
 final ruin— occurred while the British army under Carleton, was 
 upon the soil of New York strong in numbers, and a powerful 
 British fleet was in New York harbor. 
 
 The President of your Society and others, just eight months 
 ago to-day, told the story of old New Windsor, and of the old new 
 building or Temple, of the encampments on the east and west 
 banks of the Hudson, of the summer and winter of 1779, when 
 Washington established his headquarters here, of the 23d and 26th 
 of October, 1782, when his troops marched to the Highlands, cross- 
 ed the river and moved on over the Storm King, encamping at 
 night in the open field upon the northern slopes of the mountain, 
 and when one day later they found their autumn and winter rest 
 at New Windsor. 
 
 I can add nothing to what was so well and timely said near this 
 spot in June last. I may, however, remind you that Lafayette in 
 1824 received in this place the welcome of a grateful people, and 
 recall the remembrance of many, at that time here, of his pres- 
 ence at New Windsor in 1781, as the guest of officers and men, 
 many of whom, more than forty years before, he had led — whether 
 in disaster or victory, always in honor. Near here also was the 
 
10 FIE8T ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 stamping ground of Morgan and his famous riflemen marching 
 through the Highlands with recruits for the army. 
 
 It was at the Temple, also, that Washington ordered the an- 
 niversary celebration of the French alliance. There, too, was 
 read the Proclamation of Peace, and heard the loud huzzas of 
 the army soon to be relieved from the presence and roll-call of the 
 camp, and welcomed to their near or distant homes. Here, too, 
 signal lights were seen in the evening burning all around from the 
 mountain tops and slopes. Here mingled with the voices of the 
 happy people were heard the noise of musketry and the roar of 
 cannon until the surrounding hills seemed at moments in their 
 brightness to equal the lightning in the skies and the thunder- 
 peals of heaven. The night just then seemed to have no darkness, 
 for the dawn of peace had come. 
 
 The war with weapons was now over. West Point, though al- 
 ways threatened, had not been assailed by fleet or army ; Koscius- 
 co had left the Point with fortifications completed, and he declar- 
 ed them to be equal to the resistance of twenty thousand armed 
 men. Washington, when he had seen this work done, and well 
 done, moved on to complete the work begun at Saratoga, and in 
 arms ended at Yorktown. 
 
 Over the river, also, Washington, en route to Connecticut, was 
 in close communication with Arnold just a week before the traitor 
 was hand in glove with Andre engaged in his midnight work of 
 treason. While returning through the Highlands to his own head- 
 quarters, the sad and startling story of Arnold's treason was re- 
 vealed to him, and in his great distress of heart and mind he cried 
 out, " Whom can we trust now ?" 
 
 EVENTS ALONG THE HUDSON, 
 
 Down the river, also. Fort Montgomery, captured in the war, was 
 named in honor of Eichard Montgomery, then a familiar name on 
 the banks of the Hudson, and later on made more renowned by 
 the same man, who lost his life at the siege of Quebec. In the 
 soldiers' graves at Fishkill also rest the dust of a multitude not 
 now to be numbered nor even known by name, but never to be 
 forgotten, for they were among the great host who gave their lives 
 for their country. 
 
 Where these dead rest the first constitution of the common- 
 wealth of Nejv York — much of it the labored and loving work of 
 John Jay at Kingston — was printed in part in 1777, as was the 
 proceedings of the Kingston "Committee of Safety." Newburgh 
 had her "Committee of Safety" engaged in the same great work 
 of defence, made in the name of liberty and union. The free press 
 of New York, driven from the city by the sea, found only a safe re- 
 treat at the nearest point on the opposite shore. 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 
 
 Before leaving your local surroundings, let me record one event 
 
NEWBUBGH BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 11 
 
 of more than common interest, in its natural sequence of griev- 
 ances complained of while the army was at New Windsor. I refer 
 to the organization of the Society of Cincinnati. 
 
 The history of men and nations are full of examples where, from 
 seeming or real manifestations of evil, good has come. As the 
 consequence of the apparent indifference and long neglect of the 
 American congress to the American army, stationed at and near 
 the Newburgh headquarters, came the Society of the Cincinnati. 
 The Commander-in-Chief had by patience and wisdom changed 
 the turbulence of those who were without pay for long service in 
 the camp and in the field, and whose mistrust and anger were just 
 ripening into a spirit of resistance, into better thoughts than those 
 of military censure of the civil government. As the first fruits of 
 this better opinion this Society resolved to observe and secure — 
 1st. An incessant attention to preserve inviolate the exalted rights 
 and liberties of human nature. 2. An unalterable determination 
 to pi'omote and cherish between the States, union and national 
 honor. 3d. To render permanent the cordial affection subsisting 
 among the officers. All officers with three years honorable ser- 
 vice, were eligible as members, and the name of George Washing- 
 ton headed the list. 
 
 The symbol of the Society was a badge bearing the motto Esto 
 Perpetua, inscribed upon the breast of a bald eagle, made of en- 
 amelled gold, with suitable devices, and a pendent of blue ribbon 
 edged with white. This eagle, symbolizing the bird of liberty, has 
 descended from the father to the elder son since May, 1783, and, 
 where direct issues have failed, to collateral heirs, in the due 
 forms of inheritance. Gates was made the First Vice-President, 
 Knox the first Secretary, and the Fourth of July for one hun- 
 dred years past has been the day of its annual meeting. 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES. 
 
 What Jefferson prayed for in the first Congress was resistance 
 to the slave trade, in the end declared piracy, the non-extension 
 of slavery in the Northwest, and in his own colony for the total 
 abolition of slavery. His failures to remove these evils drew from 
 him the startling words : "I tremble when I think that God is 
 just, and that his justice will not sleep forever." Governor Mor- 
 ris spoke and wrote in the same free spirit. It was in Fishkill 
 that he urged that the first constitution should secure absolute 
 "freedom for every citizen in the State, and his words as we read 
 them at Kingston were that "in future ages every human being 
 who breathes the air of heaven in this State shall enjoy the privi- 
 leges of a freeman." 
 
 It took four score years and more after the Declaration of in- 
 dependence to secure an affirmative answer to the prayer of its 
 author, and the answer finally came through civil war, in the loss, 
 
12 FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 all in all, of nearly a million of lives and five thousand millions 
 of money value, not counting the slaves themselves. The cost 
 was enormous, but it became necessary to save the nation from the 
 presence and consequence of more than four millions of slaves, 
 who made no part of a really free republic. Without emanci- 
 pation, when it came, continued slavery would have perpetuated 
 the wrong until in a double number of slaves a double sacrifice 
 of life and property might have been essential to the safety of the 
 people in the union of the States. The prayer of Morris in New 
 Yoi'k was answered only when the institution brought neither 
 honor to the State nor profit to the slave-holders of the common- 
 wealth. 
 
 The Clintons, Generals James and George, the latter twice 
 elected as Vice-President of the United States and twenty-one 
 years elected Governor of the State, were among the men who set 
 the ball of the revolution in motion. Two of these men of the 
 times were your immediate neighbors. Philip Livingston and 
 Lewis Morris, not far olT, have their names appended to the De- 
 claration of Independence. Still nearer to you in their military 
 honors were Generals Knox and Steuben, Putnam and Wayne, 
 Kosciusco and DeKalb, of the military staff or family of Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 In the civil service, there were Jay at Kingston in 1777, and 
 Hamilton and Jay in 1788 at Poughkeepsie, where the Federal 
 Constitution passed through an ordeal of fire. After a six months' 
 strife, and by the close vote of thirty to twenty-seven — seven mem- 
 bers refusing to vote — New York, upon pledges of amendment, 
 reluctantly accepted the little surrender of state rights as they 
 were embodied in the first fundamental law of the land. Hamil- 
 ton, who had unfalteringly fought against the Constitution in the 
 Federal Convention, saved it in the State Convention, where three 
 of the four members from Orange county voted No. 
 
 EVENTS WHICH LED TO THE WAR. 
 
 The nation at this time had passed through the crisis of war 
 which in New York began wheii the colonial Assembly fought the 
 stamp act day by day until it was repealed in 1766, and the people 
 rebelled again after it was repealed, because the King and Parlia- 
 ment still insisted upon the right "to bind the colonies in all cases 
 whatsoever," and upon the right also of taxation without rep- 
 resentation. The then few people of the now great city sent' 
 back a whole cargo of tea, permitting not a pound nor an ounce 
 to be removed from the ship. Failing in forcible but peaceful 
 measures the citizens of old Boston, with forty or fifty of their 
 number disguised as Indians, cast 346 chests of tea from British 
 bottoms into the bottom of the sea, and this was the famous Bos- 
 ton tea party of December 16, 1773. The massacre of her citizens 
 
NEWBURGH BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 13 
 
 by British soldiers in 1770 had prepared the people for just this 
 kind of resistance. "Peaceably if we can ; forcible if we must," 
 was the general cry. New York, the same year, 1770, had her lib- 
 erty poles inscribed with the names of "Chatham and Liberty," 
 and the King's name in advance. This was thrice destroyed and 
 thrice restored, once destroyed by gunpowder, and the last time 
 restored in the presence of soldiers and citizens. 
 
 In all these times the yeomanry along the Hudson wei-e as true 
 as the needle to the pole, and had the courage of men failed there 
 were women ready to take their places, and not only to perfoi'm 
 all the womanly needs and mercies of war ; but as one of the sex 
 just across the river declared, to have arms placed in their hands 
 for the defence of their country, while another of the sex from the 
 same neighborhood, fought side by side with her husband, while 
 he lived, and took his place in the artillery when he died, serving 
 through the war, and received a pension when it closed. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF THE ARMY AND PEOPLE. 
 
 AVhile all along the seashore of the State there were thousands 
 loyal to the crown, and false to the country, the people at large 
 whether called Britons or Americans meant to be as free to think 
 and speak and act, at least as the no more than mortal men three 
 thousand miles away, who claimed to be the lords and masters of 
 all the people on this side of the Atlantic. In this region of coun- 
 try how could it be otherwise? Upon this free soil of hard earned 
 homes, and in sight of these lofty hills, every peak and crag re- 
 minded the people that they breathed the free air of heaven. 
 Here, no true man feared or faltered. The people had not for- 
 gotten the lessons taught not long before at Concord Bridge, on 
 Lexington Green, and at Cambridge, Boston and Bunker Hill. 
 
 Upon the departure of the army from the Hudson came the real 
 crisis of civil liberty, of free government, of the American revolu- 
 tion, and it came when and where it was least expected, and long 
 after the contests had closed in the form of battles between the 
 common enemy in arms and the people. 
 
 There are often worse calamities than war ; greater losses than 
 the loss of life, and more severe sufferings than those which come 
 from frost and cold, and from hunger and disease. Washington 
 had encountered all these disasters at Valley Forge and elsewhere. 
 But only once, in all his remarkable life, had he been invited to 
 become the leader of men discontented, wronged and wretched, 
 and therefore in spirit rebellious. It needed but the consent of 
 the chief to march at the head of these malcontents, to raise the 
 red flag of treason then and there inspired by hostility to the civil 
 government, and the effect of which, to use Washington's words, 
 would have "overturned the liberties of our country, opened the 
 flood gates of civil discord, and deluged our rising empire in 
 
14 FIEST ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 blood." Yes, once and here, he had been asked, and by those 
 whom he had commanded in the field, to be by title and authori- 
 ty "the protector" of the nation. The word protector was but an- 
 other word for king. Washington knew this, and you know his 
 answer, and then, when the first temptation failed, came that 
 anonymous letter, filled with stinging truths and as full of danger 
 as the words of Marc Antony over the dead body of Caesar. These 
 words were addressed to the army under Washington, and in 
 spirit and intent, were like sparks of fire among the dry leaves of 
 the forest, and for a time they kindled a flame that threatened a 
 general conflagration : " Suspect the man who would advise you to 
 more moderation and longer forbearance. Let nothing but death 
 separate you from your arms." This envenomed poision aimed 
 directly at Washington, caused his own deep sorrow and great 
 alarm among his friends. Near the place where I speak he called 
 around him Steuben and Knox and Wayne, Greene and Colonel 
 Brooks, and men like them, and just here was discussed the best 
 way to lift the curtains which hung like a cloud over the country 
 and the army, and the consequences which might follow to free 
 government throughout the world. Had the American Revolu- 
 tion failed in this, its conclusion after nearly eight years of severe 
 but in the end successful war, a free Republican Government 
 would long have been postponed — perhaps set back half a century 
 of time. And with no example like our own then in the world, 
 who could feel secure that a free republic would even now exist. 
 If, my friends, in all this world an over-ruling Providence ever 
 governed in the affairs of men, it was then, when, accompanied 
 by the counsellors I have named— names that shine on the earth 
 like meteors in the sky, Washington spoke in your famous old 
 Temple with a trembling voice and with, as he said, "eyes made 
 dim, and locks grown white in the service of his country," and in 
 the presence of men — not one of whom survives, and the chief of 
 whom since the closing month of the closing year of the century 
 past, has rested upon the banks of the Potomac. His words were : 
 "Had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last 
 stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attain- 
 ing." You also know the sequel of this impressive appeal, and I 
 need not repeat it here. The body dies and decays, but a life like 
 this is immortal and its record is eternal. 
 
 It was in a like Christian spirit also that Franklin, as one of 
 the Peace Commissioners, with Adams, Jay and Laurens for his 
 colleagues, wrote from London to Robert Livingston that "the 
 treaty of peace having at last been signed, I feel like Simeon of 
 old, when he said : ' Now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
 peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.' " The civil troubles 
 which followed the American army from the Hudson, the British 
 
NEWBURGH BAY HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 15 
 
 army from New York, the utter failure of a Confederacy to form 
 a perfect union in the Colonies, four years of labor to form a con- 
 stitution, and the two years of strife— in 1787 and 1788— to secure 
 its adoption, make a history so full and absorbing, especially in 
 the long resistance to the letter of the constitution in this State, 
 are topics for at least one address and leave me no time even to 
 glance at the trouble and "storms that tossed the private State." 
 
 This storm raged from the close of 1783 to the period of time 
 when the constitution was made the supreme law of the land. 
 
 As a part of the whole history of the famous Newburgh Ad- 
 dresses of 1783 it ought to be stated that fourteen years later, on 
 the 23d of February, 1797, Washington wrote General Armstrong 
 that at the time he did not suspect him of the authorship of the 
 treasonable letters or addresses, for they were nothing else, and 
 generously added these words : 
 
 "I have since had sufficient reason for believing that the ob- 
 ject of the author was just, honorable and friendly to the country 
 —though the means suggested by him were certainly liable to 
 much misunderstanding and abuse. George Washington." 
 
 Then commenced the real civil history of the United States of 
 America, and I hope I may be pardoned for suggesting that the 
 30th of April, 1889, which will be the centennial anniversary of 
 Washington's brief inauguration in the city of New York as the 
 first President of the United States, under the Constitution, be 
 commerorated to the end of time. Should September 17, 1889, the 
 centennial day of 1779, when the constitution was completed in 
 convention be deemed the better day for another centennial, so 
 be it. The long time taken before the British troops left the city 
 of New York— one hundred years on the 2oth of the last Novem- 
 ber, deserves before I close at least a passing notice. The last 
 gun fired was against the shores and people of Staten Island. 
 The joyous cheers and galling jeers of the people on land were 
 more than John Bull could patiently endure and in very bad 
 British temper, perhaps not in the best American taste, the 
 ships of John Bull passed on to the open sea. 
 
 What caused the long delay after peace was declared was the 
 time required to secure a safe departure for the American tories 
 who fled from the country they had wronged and opposed. The 
 tories remembered the patriot cry of the early war days which 
 was "join or rfie," and feared to face the consequences, of their 
 choice between rebellion and patriotism. 
 
 The masterly retreat with nine thousand colonial troops, and 
 most of them in wretched condition, was the masterly act of the 
 of the Eevolution war. In one night all save one boat load were 
 safely landed on the New York side of the river, and marched 
 to Washington Heights, leaving the British army on Long and 
 Staten Island, numbering some twenty thousand men, and most 
 
16 FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 of them among the best troops the mother country could send 
 to America. All in command stood in mute amazement at the 
 quiet exit which had been made by the American army. 
 
 In the military history of the world I think there is no example 
 of skill, patience, readiness, action and courage, that excels this re- 
 treat from Long Island, and if I mistake not it will bear the closest 
 comparison with Xenophon's classic retreat in command of his 
 picked and drilled ten thousand men. Both retreats are deserved- 
 ly celebrated in history, the one in ancient time and the other al- 
 most in our own time and our own country and State. Both armies 
 were surrounded by a powerful and victorious enemy, and both 
 in their chiefs, at least, were superior to all surrounding condi- 
 tions or dangers. 
 
 Washington's service and character. 
 
 But this is war, and let me add to it just one more evidence of 
 Washington's highest moral achievements in preparation for the 
 field, but not now in the field, and if you ask what this service 
 was, I point to the words uttered by him in the Virginia Conven- 
 tion upon that stupendous act of cruelty and tyranny when news 
 came to him across the Potomac that the "Port of Boston had 
 been closed against 'all trade and commerce." This was an act 
 which consigned the people to certain poverty, rich and poor 
 alike, and was pronounced in burning words "The bill to enslave 
 America." "I will," said Washington, and not in a spirit of 
 boasting, but in his quiet way and place in the Legislative Cham- 
 ber, "raise a thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and 
 march with them at their head to the relief of Boston." 
 
 It was in this same American spirit, January 20th, 1789, that 
 Washington wrote to Lafayette upon what might be done to pro- 
 tect the manufactures of the country in the very morning of the 
 government. "I have," he says, "been writing to our friend, Gen. 
 Knox, this day to procure me homespun broadcloth of the Hart- 
 ford fabric to make a suit of clothes for myself. I hope it will not 
 be a great while before it will be unfashionable for a gentleman 
 to appear in any other dress. * * * I use no porter or 
 
 cheese in my family but such as is made in America, and they are 
 of an excellent quality." 
 
 And now, in conclusion, let me say, and in the place which may 
 well inspire the best words which man can here exi^ress — and I 
 wish that my own words were worthy of the man and the day — may 
 the time never come when we shall see a generation of Americans 
 so unmindful of duty to themselves and their posterity as to for- 
 get the life long services of Washington. Contemporary writers 
 in the old world — statesmen, warriors, orators, poets, — have made 
 his name historical, and why? Because his purity of life, his pa- 
 tience, skill and courage in the field, and beyond all this his great 
 
NEWBURGH BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 17 
 
 military success, with the little means placed in his hands— his 
 undimmed glory in the civil service— marked him for his own time, 
 and for all time, as the great public man of the age. Look upon 
 him as he was— through all his public career, survey him in the 
 light of the severest criticism, scan him as you would a work of 
 art, and you behold in him the foremost man of his race ; in war 
 with no blood upon his garments but blood shed for liberty and 
 free government— in peace untainted by any selfish ambition— a 
 revolutionist solely in the name of Justice— a conqueror only in 
 in the service of his country — the master in himself, of every 
 thought and word which could seduce him to indulge in the com- 
 mon infirmities of a man's nature. Alexander died lamenting 
 that he had no more worlds to conquer. Washington lived both 
 to refuse a crown and then to surrender a position of almost un- 
 limited power He put under his feet the invited sovereignty over 
 men which the army could and perhaps would have placed upon 
 his head had he asked it, and he declined all power, dominion 
 and reward for pre-eminent public service. 
 
 The heroes of ancient time, each in their way, may perhaps have 
 possessed some one quality equal to or greater than his. Fabius 
 was as patient, Hannibal as cautious, Scipio as continent and for- 
 bearing, Csesar was as brave and forgiving, but Washington blend- 
 ed and combined all these qualities in his one complete life. He 
 was no prodigy like Napoleon, who rose like a meteor and like a 
 meteor, 
 
 " streamed through the troubled air," 
 
 falling in the end, if not like Lucifer, like "a bright exhalation 
 in the evening," but in all its flight no one knowing the course it 
 would take, whether it would burn brighter, nor when, where nor 
 how the light would finally become extinguished. In the life of 
 Napoleon, as in the life of Alexander, we behold chieftains full of 
 genius and gorgeous display. But except in their power over men 
 and armies there was no real resemblance. The life of the one 
 was as a perfect piece of j^olished marble, without spot, seam or 
 blemish, while each of the other two for a time strode the world 
 like a colossus, each one and at times seeming like Sampson to 
 break asunder the very pillars of the temple. The one walked 
 through life upon safe and solid ground, and in the end calm in 
 repose, "glided ungroaning to the tomb" ; the others moved as 
 upon volcanic earth until the fires burned beneath and all around 
 them, and from each of these restless spirits came in the end the 
 final consuming flame. The one dead almost in the morning of 
 life at the age of 32, the other just beyond life's meridian at the 
 age of 52, while Washington before the end came reached his three 
 score and seven years, after more than forty years of service for 
 his own country and in his example for all mankind. I seem to 
 
18 FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 behold Washington in this presence here to-night, as I have seen 
 him to-day at his old headquarters, the place where he toiled, and 
 where he reposed, not as we look upon the statues and monu- 
 ments erected to commemorate the virtues and courage of the 
 early and trying days of the Republic in the persons of its heroes 
 and benefactors, but rather as a real tabernacle of flesh and blood 
 into whose bodily form and presence God breathed, as nearly as 
 human life can be perfect, a pure and spotless character. No won- 
 der that Charles James Fox spoke of him in the British Parlia- 
 ment in 1794 as the man who was wiser in his policy than the min- 
 isters of his own country or of any of the European courts, and as 
 the illustrious man deriving honor less from the splendor of his 
 situation than from the dignity of his mind, before whom all hon- 
 ored greatness sinks into insignificance and all the potentates of 
 Europe become little and contemptible. * * * For him 
 
 it has been destined to run the race of glory without experiencing 
 the smallest interruption to the brilliancy of his career." 
 
 Lord Erskine a year later, in a letter addressed to Washington, 
 added if i^ossible, the greater tribute to this "august and immor- 
 tal name." "I have," he said, "a large acquaintance among the 
 most valuable and exalted classes of men, but you are the only 
 human being for whom I ever felt an awful reverence. I sincere- 
 ly pray God to grant a long and serene evening to a life so glori- 
 ously devoted to the universal happiness of the world." 
 
 In this same spirit the great Frederic of Prussia, in his reign 
 addressed Washington : " From the oldest to the greatest general 
 of the world." Carlyle wrote of him as one who was superior to 
 Cromwell or William of Orange, adding, however, the mistaken 
 thought that " he was not great enough for fame," but saying that 
 " he was too groat for vulgar ambition." When the news came to 
 France that Washington was dead, Napoleon exclaimed: "The 
 great light of the world has gone out!" and all the Consular Guard 
 and armies of France were ordered to hang crape upon all the 
 colors and standards of the Republic. 
 
 Perhaps the most touching personal scene in the later life of 
 Washington was the final benediction, when, surrounded by his 
 chief companions in arms for the last time he took leave of them 
 one by one amidst manly tears which from all around seemed to 
 fall like rain drops from the sky, with these memorable words : 
 " I cannot come to each of you to take my leave, but I will be 
 obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand. * * 
 With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you, 
 most devoutly wishing that your latter days may be as prosi)erous 
 and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honor- 
 able." 
 
 And the last scene of all was Washington's resignation from all 
 
NEWBUEGH BAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 19 
 
 command on the 23d of December, when he laid his commission 
 upon the table and officially handed his sword to the President. 
 I close with these brief words from his address : 
 
 " I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last act of my 
 official life by commending the interests of our dearest country 
 to the protection of Almighty God and those who have the super- 
 intendence of its welfare to His Holy keeping." 
 
 Amen and Amen to the end of time. 
 
 At the close of his address Mr. Brooks was warmly ap- 
 plauded. The choir then gave a spirited rendering to the 
 Ode " On Temple Hill." 
 
 Colonel Dawson, of New York, formerly of Georgia, was 
 introduced by Mr. Graham, and delivered an address of 
 great earnestness and eloquence. After referring to some 
 points of contrast between Washington and Caesar and 
 Alexander, he said : 
 
 It may be well to analyze the feeling that impels the descend- 
 ants of the men of the Kevolution to meet together on such oc- 
 casions as this to renew their vows of fealty to the memory of 
 Washington. Expressions of love for his virtues, and acknowl- 
 edgments of gratitude for his illustrious services and achieve- 
 ments, are common everywhere; there is no division in the 
 churches, in the parties, in sexes, ages, classes or conditions of 
 society in the reverence which is cherished for his memory. It 
 is common and universal; but is it merely a sentiment that 
 has popular voice? has it no strong ^hold on the hearts of the 
 people? When we are drawn near to those who are living, 
 there may be something of that personality which is peculiar to 
 each individual by which we are attracted, and we may christen 
 the feeling friendship. But when those we admired and loved 
 are dead and gone, our regard for them must be impersonal— it 
 could not have the slightest tinge of personal friendship. Redu- 
 ced to its last analysis, we could call our regard for Washington 
 as nothing but a phase of i)atriotism. We cherish his personal 
 character and his political example, but do we appreciate that 
 the highest type of homage which we can render is in the extent 
 to which his example and character moulds our own in private 
 and in public life? What a nation might we not become were 
 this the rule of our statesmen and the requirement of their con- 
 stituents—a nation indeed whose God is the Lord. 
 
20 FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 
 
 The speaker then considered the subject of monuments, 
 and enforced the necessity for their erection as the best 
 method for marking the historic spots on our soil and pre- 
 serving the record of events which had developed our na- 
 tional independence and the principles of our free govern- 
 ment. His remarks elicited expressions of warm approval. 
 
 On motion of Hon. Joel T. Headley, a vote of thanks 
 to the speakers for their eloquent and patriotic addresses, 
 was unanimously adopted. The President, Major E. C. 
 BoYNTON, read the following resolution, which was also 
 adopted without dissent : 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Society are gratefully tender- 
 ed to the choir of the Calvary Presbyterian church, consisting of 
 Mr. Hammerstein, organist ; Misses King Scofleld, Chapman and 
 Mrs. Marsden ; and to Messrs. Marsden, Chapman and Peck ; as 
 also to Misses Phillips and Hewitt and Messrs. Eammstedt and 
 Holdredge, who kindly volunteered their assistance. 
 
 The meeting then closed with a benediction by Rev. W. 
 K. Hall, D.D. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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